Google Hangouts easier, faster: no need Google+ or Gmail

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I’m a huge fan of Google Hangouts and use them any time I need a video connection. Hangouts are fabulous for holding meetings where you want the face to face connection.  The only problem was that actually starting Hangout required  traversing a labyrinth of clicks.

That’s no longer the case. Now, you just go to https://hangouts.google.com/ and get started. Finally!

The only requirement is that you have a Google Account. You don’t need to have a Gmail address; you can register your existing email address as a Google account.

If you have the webcam hardware and haven’t tried videoconferencing, you don’t know what you’re missing. If you have used Google Hangouts in the past, it’s now easier than ever to start a Hangout.

 

Do it!

Backblaze publishes hard drive reliability stats

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Let’s cut to the chase. Get either the Seagate or HGST 4TB drives.   Personally, I’d go for the 3x more reliable HGST drive that costs 30% more than the Seagate.

The 4TB drives continue to rock, with both Seagate and HGST 4TB drives performing well. The Seagate 4TB drive has a current cumulative failure rate of 3.0% and has a street price of $131.58 each on Amazon. The HGST 4TB drive has a higher street price of $174.99 on Amazon, but a lower cumulative failure rate of 1.18%. Both drives have been in service for over a year and we currently own 17,000+ Seagate and 11,000+ HGST 4TB drives and continue to purchase more.

Source: The Most Reliable Hard Drive 2015

Hold off on buying Apple hardware until after Sept 9, 2015

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If you’re considering and iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV, hold off until Apple unveils the new versions of them in what looks like will be their special event in early September.

Sources familiar with Apple’s plans tell BuzzFeed News the company intends to hold a special event the week of Sept. 7, with Wednesday the 9th being the most likely date. Sept. 9 is the same day on which Apple held this event last year.

Source: Apple’s Fall iPhone Event To Be Held Sept. 9 – BuzzFeed News

Xbox inches closer being your DVR

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As a once-avid user of Windows Media Center to record TV, it was pretty clear to me that the Xbox could make a great DVR.  This latest move is indicative of where they are going.

Microsoft is adding recording and playback capability to live, over-the-air TV. You still have to purchase some hardware and an antenna to receive the broadcasts, but the Xbox provides the program guide and recording software.

Of course the next logical question is, “When will Xbox allow me to record cable TV shows, like a TiVo?”.

One can only speculate. They certainly could have rolled out that feature now, so there is clearly a strategy behind their moves.

Time will tell.

Xbox One owners will soon be able to use their game console to record and play back live television from free, over-the-air broadcasts, Microsoft announced

Source: Microsoft unveils Xbox One DVR features, enabling recording and playback of free over-the-air TV – GeekWire

Scary security hole lets attackers remotely control Chrysler with Uconnect feature.

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If you have a 2013 or earlier Chrysler product with the Uconnect feature, contact your dealer immediately and get the upgrade to patch this serious, scary security hole.

Reading this article was horrifying as the author described how (with his consent) hackers took over his Jeep Cherokee.  At first they just played w/ the A/C and radio, but later they messed with the transmission and the brakes, all from remote Internet locations.

 

Miller and Valasek’s full arsenal includes functions that at lower speeds fully kill the engine, abruptly engage the brakes, or disable them altogether. The most disturbing maneuver came when they cut the Jeep’s brakes, leaving me frantically pumping the pedal as the 2-ton SUV slid uncontrollably into a ditch.

Source: Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway—With Me in It | WIRED

Force a Windows Update and patch a “serious security hole” ASAP 

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Looks like there’s a serious security hole in Windows that is based on a type of font. Presumably, this goes undetected by anti-virus software and can be activated by opening up a Word document.

Don’t wait. Go to Windows Update right now and force a “Check for Updates”, then install the patches.

More details:

The software giant said in an advisory Monday that the vulnerability, if exploited, could “allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted document or visits an untrusted webpage that contains embedded OpenType fonts.”

Source: Microsoft releases emergency patch for all versions of Windows | ZDNet

It’s time to keep your phone on silent by default

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This didn’t quite occur to me until I read the article, but yes, it’s time to keep that phone on silent. These days, the phone is either in your hand or on the table where you can see it, so why annoy the rest of us with whatever your ringtone is?

A ringing phone is really a relic of the past when we had one phone in the house and had to hear it ring from anywhere in the home.

Most savvy people know that their phones should be muted in public. According to a Quora poster, all the young, hip “millennials” have switched their phones to silent mode, “even though they use them incessantly.” A brave member of the clan explained what was happening: “It spares the person from the constant beeping of their cell and also from the weird looks that one receives when one’s phone keeps on beeping.”

Source: Attention, people: Your phone should never make noise in public | Fusion

If the fastest mobile speed across the nation is your priority, looks like it’s Verizon for you. 

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For me personally, I chose to compromise for imperceptibly lower speed in exchange for much lower cost, so I chose Tmobile. However if you must have the highest speed and you travel across the country a lot, Verizon might be worth looking into if you haven’t already.

For the second year in a row, Verizon Wireless takes the crown as America’s fastest mobile network by delivering the quickest speeds and the best coverage across the map.

Source: Fastest Mobile Networks 2015 | PCMag.com

PC on a stick for $130

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I’m going to have to try this. Just plug this stick into an HDMI port of any modern monitor/TV, bring your bluetooth keyboard & mouse, and you’re up and running. Combine this with a cloud-based service platform like Google Apps or Microsoft Office/365 and you are up and running for next to nothing.

Lenovo’s new HDMI dongle is basically a PC in stick, and though we’ve seen this type of devices before, the Ideacenter Stick’s price might make it quite attractive. The device starts at $139 and comes with the following specs:Intel Baytrail Z3735F CPUUp to 2GB of RAMUp to 32GB of storageSpeakersWiFI 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.01 x HDMI, 1x Micro USB 2.0, SD card readerWindows 8.1 with Bing

Source: Lenovo unveils the Ideacenter Stick 300: a $130 PC on a stick running Windows

This is why it’s not a good idea to use password-storing services like LastPass

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Looks like there was a breach in the LastPass service. While it’s not a complete disaster, it should give everyone a good signal that it’s really not a good idea (IMO) to use cloud-based password-storing systems.

If I was using LastPass, I would be deleting my account and all its data immediately.

We want to notify our community that on Friday, our team discovered and blocked suspicious activity on our network. In our investigation, we have found no evidence that encrypted user vault data was taken, nor that LastPass user accounts were accessed. The investigation has shown, however, that LastPass account email addresses, password reminders, server per user salts, and authentication hashes were compromised.

Source: LastPass Security Notice | The LastPass Blog