Thursday, April 07, 2016

The Truth Will Out…FBI Can Only Hack One Type of Phone

FBI Comey

The Director of the FBI has come clean: the hack that opened the terrorist’s phone will only work on the iPhone model 5C. He also admitted that the FBI paid for that tool, but did not disclose where they got it from or how much it costs. So I guess for now, all our non-5C phones are safe. But I am sure we will hear much more on this subject.

In other news, Google has unveiled a new feature for Gmail…the ability to enter reminders that go right into your calendar. I’ve been experimenting with it today and it works great. But, be aware that you can only see those to-do’s when using Google Calendar.

If you have a calendar program that can access Google Calendar entries, the reminders do not show up there yet. I tried it out with 6 different calendars on IOS, my MAC and Windows Calendar.  All showed the calendar entries from Google as usual, but none showed the reminders. That will probably be corrected soon. See the first story in our “Computer Tips and Tricks” section.

As usual, there is more interesting tech news and some great tips for your computers and mobile devices. So get started. I am off to start my weekend. -JRC

Tech News and Opinions

FBI says hack tool only works on iPhone 5c

Only the iPhone 5c running iOS 9 can be unlocked by the tool the FBI bought to crack the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers.

How to Spot and Avoid Credit Card Skimmers

Criminals can easily capture your credit and debit card information with small devices called skimmers. Don't fall victim to these insidious attacks!

 

Amazon Prime's free same-day deliveries arrive in 11 more US cities

The service, which started last year, is now in a total of 27 metro areas around the country, including my hometown of Tucson.

 

Windows 10: Microsoft reveals new look for Start menu in Anniversary Update

Microsoft has enlisted its army of Windows Insider testers to tell it whether it's on the right track with changes to the Start menu in its latest OS.

 

Painful Comcast cancelation phone calls targeted by California legislation

Proposed legislation in California would require Internet service providers to let customers cancel online, potentially ending the scourge of long, awkward cancellation phone calls.

Computer Tips and Tricks

Add to-dos to your Google Calendar using Reminders

Now there's a single way to manage your day: starting this week, you can create Reminders in Google Calendar to keep track of your to-dos alongside your scheduled events.

 

7 Windows taskbar tricks

That bar of icons at the bottom of the desktop isn't just for pretty pictures. Here are a few ways to configure the taskbar and make Windows easier to use.

 

Windows 10 tip: Defrag secrets for hard disks and SSDs

Should you defrag your solid-state drive? Absolutely not! Here's how to keep conventional hard disks, SSDs, and even virtual disks running at peak efficiency.

 

Music Organizer Software to Organize Music Library

This article will introduce you how to organize your music library safely and quickly by deleting duplicate songs, adding album artworks, fixing music tags manually or automatically.

 

Vivaldi browser review: Powerful features outshine slightly sluggish performance

Vivaldi's free, eponymous browser offers a degree of flexibility and new features which makes it quite attractive as a browser option

Mobile Computing

How to set up and use the keyboard on iPhone and iPad: The ultimate guide

A keyboard isn't just a keyboard — when it's virtual. On iPhone and iPad you can set it up to predict, shortcut, emoji, and do pretty much anything else you want it to!

 

How to survive an iPhone with only 16GB of storage

Whether you couldn't afford a pricier model or just misjudged how much storage you'd need, these tips can help you get by.

 

Have you got it yet? Android Marshmallow doubles its share on smartphones

After seven months Marshmallow now runs 4.6 percent of all Android devices. JRC: This is the main reason I would never want an Android Phone...you can't get new versions of Android, thanks to your carriers. 

 

Reddit’s official Android app is now available

The dev team has added a moveable scroll-to-next-top-level-comment button, which lets you place this oft-needed tool wherever is most comfortable on the screen.

 

Outlook on Android adds Facebook, Evernote and Wunderlist support for calendar events

Microsoft is adding support for third-party apps to its calendar feature in Outlook for Android. The feature is launching with the ability to add content from apps like Facebook, Evernote and Wunderlist to an Outlook calendar.

 

VR video on your Android phone: How to watch it, where to find it

Your Android phone holds the key to virtual reality. Low-grade VR, mind you, but VR. Through Google’s Cardboard platform, you can slot your handset into a cheaply-made viewer.

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