I hope you had an enjoyable 3 day holiday. Mine was fine although with our desert heat this time of year, I was inside much of the time. Still I got to see the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500, the Stanley Cup playoffs, and, of course, some baseball.
For the next few months, my regimen includes getting out for some exercise around sunrise, then sitting outside and reading at the pool until it gets too hot…then inside for the rest of the day. I have plenty of projects I planned for this time of year, so I will be busy. It got up to 103 today and about the same for tomorrow.
In about a month or so, the monsoon season will begin with lots of rain and amazing thunderstorms…but of course then the humidity goes up to Florida levels with no letup for the heat. Thank God I have a month-long get-a-way planned during the height of the monsoon season.
Seems like the tech news cycle is always slow after a 3 day holiday. And so it is today. Still, I managed to coble a newsletter that has some good information in it. I hope you find something of interest in this edition. Thanks for reading. -JRC
News and Opinions
Nadella's Bid To Fix Microsoft: What Ballmer Didn't Dare
How could anyone who tolerated Microsoft’s flaws for the past decade suddenly see the company with fresh eyes and declare: “Enough already!”
Microsoft challenged an FBI National Security Letter, and won
Documents unsealed by a federal court in Seattle reveal Microsoft successfully litigated an information request from the FBI on one of its enterprise customers.
Encrypted Web Traffic More Than Doubles After NSA Revelations
We’re still long way from ubiquitous encryption, but according to new research conducted by network equipment company Sandvine, we’re at least making progress.
Why the iPad is popular and Windows 'tablets' are not
When a tablet tries to be a laptop, people buy a laptop instead -- or a real tablet
Facebook tightens the privacy of your updates
The default option for your first Facebook update will be to share with friends and not with the public at large.
Computer Tips and Tricks
5 Best Firefox Themes
Firefox allows you to customize its background look with more than 300,000 themes. Plus, with complete themes, a more in-depth form of theme, you can separately personalize the address bar, buttons, menu, tabs and window frame.
The Best Photo Viewer I've Seen In Years. And It's Free
If you keep your photos on your computer as digital images, rather than storing them as prints in albums, then you'll need a decent program for viewing them. Here is a brilliant program called Diffractor, which is pretty close to the ideal image viewer.
Go incognito when launching Chrome on Windows
Need to keep your browsing habits private or just trying to avoid cookies? Read on to find out how you can launch Chrome into incognito automatically.
Everything You Need To Know About Ethernet Cables
What’s all this about Cat 6 or crossover cables? Here’s everything you need to know about Ethernet cabling
Get Organized: Streamline Your News Feeds
Keeping up with the news takes very little time and effort, if you have the right tools and spend a few minutes setting them up to cater to your needs.
Mobile Computing
The 12 best weather apps for iPhone
For iPhone users there exists a wealth of weather information right at your fingertips in Apple’s own App Store. However, sifting through the many available choices leaves even the most adept app users feeling gloomy. Here is some help. PS: Many of these are available for Android also.
The only 6 iPhone apps you need to take stunning, professional-quality photos
The iPhone's camera is already pretty strong for a smartphone camera but what if you need it to do more? Here you'll find a list of Dan Rubin's six favorites along with descriptions of what they do as well as pricing information.
The Top 5 iPad Science Apps
A multitude of educational apps for Apple's iPad are helping to make science understandable, visual—and even fun. Here are our favorites. PS: Not on this list is one of my favorites...Exoplantets. It keeps track of all the discovered planets in our galaxy.
The 5 Best Android launcher applications
Chances are, you look at the home screen of your phone more than almost any other screen on your device. It should look good, but still be functional. Here are a few different launchers that provide the best experience for everyday use.
Six clicks: Great tips and tricks for Android
Android is probably the most versatile mobile platform ever produced. It is so broad there are layers of features buried deep under the facade. These tips will help peel back those layers.
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