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According to Techradar’s Steve Jobs was ‘deceptive’ says FBI file article, the FBI has released Steve Jobs file, and so you can now either go read or download this file at vault.fbi.gov/steve-jobs/steve-jobs-part-01-of-01/view.  The file is around 3.9 MB which is huge for just being a PDF file (at least to me).  Anyhow, according to Techradar, Steve Jobs was under investigation by the FBI for he was considered to be nominated for a high profile government position which had something to do with George H.W. Bush’s administration (i.e., the White House).  Again, according to Techradar, FBI found Steve Jobs to be deceptive.

So, in a way if you had read Steve Jobs’ biography which was written by Walter Isaacson with the title “Steve Jobs,” you may as well want to read the FBI file on Steve Jobs to compare the two to see if there is any discrepancy.  Sure, it might not be necessary to do so, but if you’re interested in learning more on Steve Jobs, how the man was and still is being worshiped by so many in the tech industry, I guess digging into the FBI file on Steve Jobs might shed some more light on what you think you already know about the man himself.  You might also want to be diligent too on judging the man from the FBI file, because it might be that the FBI could not have been entirely correct, and the same would go for Steve Jobs’ biography.  Why?  In truth, nobody would probably know Steve Jobs better than himself, therefore you can only know what you’re being fed to read.

I find that it’s quite interesting to see Steve Jobs, just a man of building a tech giant, has been the talk of the town since he made his few first headlines back in the day.  Even though he is now rest in peace, the talk of the town apparently is still buzzing about him, still.  They talk of him as if they’re worshipping him, isn’t this quite fascinating?  Some even seeing him as a celebrity even though the man wasn’t a celebrity.  Yes, you might agree why he is being worshipped or being seen as a famous dead celebrity too, because you are willing to spend lot of money on his products still.  Nonetheless, I forgot who but someone had pointed out Bill Gates has done much more than Steve Jobs in term of making the world better and so Bill Gates should be the one to be worshipped of and not Steve Jobs.  This person probably was talking about how Bill & Melinda foundation has changed the world.  I believe, Bill & Melinda foundation was found by Bill Gates and his wife.  I have heard how Bill & Melinda foundation has been involved with projects that have huge positive impacts on the world such as allowing the children of the poorest nations to have access to much needed vaccines.

With Steve Jobs is no longer with us, his company is continuing making huge gains to which Amazon and other competitors are very much like to see Apple stumbles.  Just recently, Amazon has released a commercial to point out how expensive iPad has been.  The lady in the commercial said to the man, even with her Kindle which could be read in sunlight and the other two Kindle Fires put together would still be cheaper than the man’s iPad.  The man was embarrassed and asked her who would be sitting in the empty seat next to her, and she said it was her husband.  The commercial ended gradually as it showed the man left in embarrassment and the prices of the regular Kindle ($199) and Kindle Fires ($79) appeared to confirm what the lady in the commercial had said.

Source:  http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/steve-jobs-was-deceptive-says-fbi-file-1062235?src=rss&attr=all

Image via Wikipedia

Don’t ask me, but I’m not too clear on how one man’s iMessages has got onto another iPhone which clearly belonged to someone else, consequently allowing a stranger to basically see every single iMessage text which had been sent from this man.  This story is being reported by Gizmodo.  Gizmodo suggested there was a bug in relation to how Genius Bar technicians proceed in swapping SIM card somehow to fix an iPhone, but the end result was the tethering of the iMessage data of a SIM card onto the iPhone which it wasn’t belonged to.  Somewhat unclear of how the bug actually had happened, but this whole mess has allowed one iPhone owner to unintentionally see every iMessage text of another iPhone owner.  Gizmodo went as far as posting some pictures and iMessages of the man who got spied on unintentionally.

Source:  http://gizmodo.com/5880593/the-apple-bug-that-let-us-spy-on-a-total-strangers-iphone

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Source:  http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/mars-photos-app/

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Image via Wikipedia

Nothing makes my heart tingling more with joy than having electronic devices that aren’t so depending on the traditional power sources.  For an instance, keyboard that is powered by solar cells would be something that I won’t hesitate in having to yearn for.  Now, my heart just a tad happier than usual since there is now a Kindle cover which uses solar cells for powering the Kindle, and this solar-powered Kindle cover will make its appearance in CES 2012.

I’m a Kindle user, and my Kindle rocks in term of lasting for days if not a week before I even think about recharging it.  Nonetheless, the idea of prolonging the Kindle’s battery life per charging cycle even much much more, to a point of forgetfulness is almost making my heart sings.  Why almost?  Unfortunately, this solar-powered Kindle cover will cost around $79.99.  You can check out this solar-powered Kindle cover at solarmio.com/en/.

Source:  http://ces.cnet.com/8301-33378_1-57354535/solar-powered-kindle-cover-dropping-at-ces/?part=rss&subj=latest-news&tag=title

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Here is one drawback about this dongle is that some flatscreen TVs will not carry USP ports, but usually this means these flatscreen TVs are old school.  Still, the whole selling point of this dongle is to allow users to stream movies and video games through Android OS on many old school flatscreen TVs that are capable of projecting contents at 1080p.  Nonetheless, I think this drawback can be fixed quickly if you are willing to spend around $20 bucks or a little more or less, depending on how skillfully you are with shopping around for bargains on USB chargers and extenders.  Quick look on Amazon and I see that there is a Belkin Mini Surge Protector Dual USB Charger goes for $12.  Adding USB extender cable for some bucks, and then I guess you can really extend the USB cable of this dongle to plug to a wall outlet for powering the dongle this way.

The specifications for Alaways Innovating HDMI dongle are ARM Cortex-A9, 256 MB up to 1 GB of RAM, built-in Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, NFC module, and an accelerometer.  If you watch the videos right after the break, you will see that this USB dongle can stream movies from Netflix, Hulu, and so on.  Since Android is a complete operating system for mobile, expect that you can surf the Internet on your old school flatscreen TV with this USB dongle.

Engadget suggests this Always Innovating HDMI dongle goes for $79.  Expect this little gem to make an appearance at CES 2012.  CES 2012 will go live in couple days more.  In my opinion, this USB HDMI dongle from Always Innovating is one awesome product.  This gem might lead the way for the future where everyone just needs to carry their own personal dongle so they can bring their TV everywhere.  Oh, let not forget this little gem right now can already allow you to play video games anywhere.  Well sort of, as long that anywhere means that somewhere has a stationary flatscreen TVs or computer monitors that would accept HDMI connection.

I can see a future where people would not need XBOX 360 console (Live) or even PS3 console (Playstation Network) to enjoy video games and movies.  In fact, I think mightier dongles with more capabilities might even allow users to be able to install different operating systems onto them;  users might use such dongles as mini-computers, set top boxes, and video game consoles — all on the go.  Talking about mobility for electronic/digital forms of entertainment on another whole level right?  Of course, no such thing as a mightier dongle exists yet, but at least now we have the so called Always Innovating HDMI dongle.

Will you buy Always Innovating HDMI dongle when it comes out?  I think I might want one, but as Engadget suggests, they don’t really know when this dongle will be available for customers to buy.  Let hope Always Innovating releases their HDMI dongle to the market very soon.  For your entertainment, check out the videos of Always Innovating HDMI dongle right after the break.

Source:  http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/07/always-innovating-hdmi-dongle-android-tv-video/

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According to Gizmodo‘s article “That Unbelievable $19 Unlimited Data/Voice/Text Plan Is Truly Unlimited,” Republic Wireless is now allowing customers to use the minutes, texts, and data as they see fit without having to worry about getting throttles, and the plan is still only $19 per month.  I do somewhat worry what if Sprint decides it doesn’t like this idea some months down the road?  After all, Republic Wireless is piggybacking Sprint’s wireless network.

Oh, never mind, don’t you worry too much, because if you are worrying about Sprint, then you never know how good it might feel when having unlimited minutes, texts, and data for your smart phones.  Did I use smartphone as in its plural form (i.e., smartphones)?  See, even if you get two or three smartphones with Republic Wireless, it seems you are saving so much money still that you might just have to give them customers of AT&T-Verizon-other-big-wireless-carriers your arrogant smirks, because you can do so.  So, don’t hold back you smirky, you.

Update:  I forgot to tell you that you don’t have to sign a contract to use Republic Wireless $19 unlimited wireless plan!  Give me five!

Source:  http://gizmodo.com/5870753/that-unbelievable-19-unlimited-datavoicetext-plan-is-truly-unlimited

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Image by AJC1 via Flickr

A small UK mobile network which is known as giffgaff sounds like heaven!  I have just only heard of it, and so I can’t really make head or tail of it.  Nonetheless, so far I understand that this is UK service only (for now), but if I’m wrong, please do correct me.  The mobile network giffgaff claims is that it hands over most mobile responsibilities and powers to the mobile users themselves.  As mobile users invite more users, they get more goodies from giffgaff such as free minutes, cash, and so on (correct me if I’m wrong on this).  No long term contract, and as giffgaff saves costs of not having to spend on hiring large staffs and maintaining several core business infrastructures, giffgaff can pass down the savings to giffgaff users in goodies such as free minutes, cash, and so on.

Before users can start using giffgaff, they need to have their smartphones unlocked and order a free SIM card from giffgaff.  On giffgaff official website, it shows the phone plans in £10 to £20 range.  Just take a look at its cheapest plan (£10) and get a rough idea why giffgaff can look very enticing to some mobile users.  For paying just £10 a month with giffgaff, mobile users get 250 UK minutes, unlimited UK texts, unlimited Internet, and free to giffgaff (I think this is about calling between giffgaff users is free).  After the inclusive minutes of £10 plan have been used up, extra minutes will cost somewhere 10 pences per minute.  Texting and surfing the Internet with giffgaff are truly unlimited, and so there will be no tariff on these two services for users who use £10 plan.  Voicemail per call will cost 8 pences after the inclusive minutes in the £10 plan have been used up.

In my opinion, giffgaff is still a company, therefore its main focus is still all about making profits.  Nonetheless, giffgaff is rather unique in a sense that it’s competing against other big mobile players in the arena of bringing down the costs for mobile users.  One big drawback I can see with giffgaff is that it’s somewhat depending on the members of giffgaff community to provide customer supports.  Customer supports provide by other members of giffgaff can sometimes be varied in helpful to non-helpful.  The standard for providing ultra good customer support isn’t existed.  This might prevent some people from having good customer/user experience with giffgaff.

If mobile network giffgaff continues to grow, I think some entrepreneurs in the United States might try to replicate the formula.  Bringing down the mobile monthly payment and costs are definitely two of the many priorities that mobile users in the United States have in mind.  With business model of giffgaff, I think mobile users in the United States might love it.  In fact, you never know that giffgaff model may thrive even healthier than how it’s in UK.  What do you think?

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SkyDrive app for iPhone is good but can be made better!  I can’t make the same comment for Windows Phone since I don’t have a Windows Phone.  Why it is good but not really good?  Unless I’ve no idea what I’m doing, it turns out that I can only upload individual photo or video but not entire folder of photos or videos at once onto SkyDrive with SkyDrive iPhone app.  Imagine people who have thousands of photos and more than a dozen of videos on their iPhone would have to take ages to upload all their contents onto SkyDrive using SkyDrive iPhone app.

The uploading of a photo from iPhone to SkyDrive using SkyDrive iPhone app is simple and easy.  Just tap on the sharing icon on the upper right corner of the iPhone screen, you can then tap on the Add a Photo or Video button to add a photo or video.  Right underneath the Add a Photo or Video button, you’ll see Create a Folder button which allows you to create a new folder for storing more contents.  Sharing a photo is easy too.  By tapping on a photo to view, tap the photo again when it is in full screen mode to reveal the sharing button on the upper right corner of the iPhone screen, and tap on the sharing button to review the Send a Link button.  Tapping on Send a Link button, you can send a link to someone’s email to allow a person to view or view and edit your photo.  Above the Send a Link button, there is a Download button which allows you to download a photo easily in case you have deleted such a photo from iPhone and wanted to recover it from SkyDrive.  Deleting a photo or a video, users have to view a photo or video in thumbnail mode, and then slide the finger from left to right on the thumbnail photo of a photo or video to reveal a Delete button.  Tap on Delete button to remove the photo or video from SkyDrive.  You can also delete the whole folder by viewing the folder in thumbnail mode and slide a finger the same way you do with a photo or video.

In summary, SkyDrive iPhone app is very limited in features.  The uploading and sharing of photos and videos are easy as pie, and so SkyDrive iPhone app deserves a praise here.  One other cool thing about SkyDrive iPhone app is that it allows you to take a photo or film a video immediately from your iPhone and upload to SkyDrive directly.  Altogether, SkyDrive iPhone app needs more features, but it’s still awesome since it allows users to interact with a free 25 GB of storage space on the go.

Side Note:  I’m baffled of not knowing how to upload a document using SkyDrive iPhone app.  Sure, iPhone isn’t a great tool in creating and editing documents, but I think this app should allow users to upload documents nonetheless.  Just a thought!

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Once you got all the elements in place, it is easy as pie to locate your missing iOS devices virtually; you can then remote wipe your iOS devices if you feel your data are at risk, remote lock your iOS devices if you think some stupid thieves won’t be able to hack your easy passcodes.  How about remote lock first and then keep sending remote sounds and messages to annoy the thieves?  Remote wipe your iOS devices with Find iPhone app will prevent you from locating your iOS devices virtually.

Once log into the Find iPhone app, you can actually see the physical addresses on Google map that your iOS devices currently reside.  In the case of stolen iOS devices, you obviously have the knowledge of where your devices are on Google map.

Smart thieves definitely are going to delete Find iPhone app in case you try to locate them with your iOS devices.  Of course, they can’t do so if you have strong passcodes that lock your iOS devices from prying eyes.  Even though the app is known as Find iPhone, it actually works for all iOS devices.  This means if you install Find iPhone iPad app on your iPad, you will be able to locate your iPhone with your iPad (make sure the iPhone does have Find iPhone app installed, or else it won’t work).  To find your iPad, you need to install Find iPhone app on iPad and on iPhone, then use your iPhone to find your iPad in seconds.

I think this app is using the Internet and some sort of GPS capability, therefore the distances between iOS devices might not matter much.  If it’s in fact just that, no matter where the thieves who stole your iOS devices currently hide, as long they won’t be able to delete the Find iPhone app on the iOS devices, you will be able to sneak up on them and demand your iOS devices back.  Of course, don’t fight them if they have more than just iOS devices in their hands, OK?  Call the police instead!

To see if Find iPhone app actually does work for you, try sending a sound and text message to an iOS device.  You can also try unlocking an iOS device first, then using the remote lock feature of Find iPhone on another iOS device to see if the feature does actually lock the targeted iOS device.  Don’t use the remote wipe feature just yet, because once testing this feature out, you actually really wipe all your data on an iOS device, therefore this feature is for an emergency usage only and not for testing purpose.  So, you have been warned!

You do have to know your Apple ID and password before you can log into Find iPhone app and use it.  If you haven’t had an Apple account, you definitely have to sign up for one before this app can be any used to you.

In summary, with Find iPhone app installed on all of my iOS devices, I think I’m a tad safer in term of protecting my data.  At least, I know it’s easy as pie to locate my iOS devices and remote wipe or remote lock them.  You should try this app out to protect whatever important data you have on your iOS devices.  Have fun with it!

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