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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Don’t Blame The IQ, Blame The Carrier
You couldn’t swing a cat this week without hitting a story aboutCarrier IQ, which (if you have somehow avoided this information) is a bit of software installed on millions of phones that has access to a huge amount of user data. As developers hinted for months and eventually proved on camera, the software is aware of SMS content, secure web traffic, contacts, key presses, and more.
Naturally there has been an outcry. Who are these people? What phones is the software on? How do you remove it? What can’t it do?
The surprising thing is that the ire has been directed at Carrier IQ themselves. Why? If someone runs you over in their car, you don’t write a stern letter to Ford. Carrier IQ made and sold an invasive piece of software, certainly. But they didn’t install it on your phone. Sprint did.
No doubt that part of the problem is simply yet to be addressed, but I have to say I genuinely sympathize with Carrier IQ, a company that sells a legitimate and potentially useful product, and is now facing the rage of the entire internet, and what’s worse, Al Franken.
Who wrote the contracts the users signed? The carriers. Who handled the phones? The carriers. Who added bloatware and special services and skins and branding to the OS? The carriers, the carriers, the carriers. And who called Carrier IQ in the first place and said “Hi, we’d like a surreptitious method of peeking at certain user habits”? That’s right, the carriers.
Who should have informed their customers of this tracking software and its capabilities, regardless of what information they intended to collect, or what was turned on or off by default? The carriers. Who would own the information scraped from the millions of phones being monitored? The carriers. And who should be the object of the internet’s rage right now? You’re damn right it’s the carriers.
What makes the whole thing even worse is that it wasn’t just some marketing deal Sprint had where they would collect stats from, say, Samsung phones running Android. T-Mobile and AT&T have used the software as well, and it’s not much of a leap of faith to suggest that Verizon and smaller carriers have something similar in place. Hell, Apple had a (mostly harmless) version of it, though understandably RIM was careful to note it avoided the software entirely.
If it was a misguided scheme by an isolated individual company, that would make it stupid. But it’s not — it’s an industry-wide collaboration that shows how incredibly little the carriers value their customers’ needs and privacy. If it was as integral to maintaining quality service as they seem to think it is, you’d think at least one of them might have mentioned it sometime in the last couple years. Do you remember anything like that?
There’s not a lot we can do, but if Senator Franken and the FTC and others can roll this ball of deceit uphill (as they indeed are attempting), they might be able to force carriers into having some basic standards for privacy and disclosure. It’ll take time, but the fact is that the damage is already done and these jokers have been caught in the act. Carrier IQ isn’t blameless, of course, and their handling of the situation has been bad, but they’re just the dealer. Sprint and the rest are the ones behind the wheel.
Are you mad? You should be. Go tell them so.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
A List of What the iPad Does
Unquestionably, you need the human touch to accomplish many things, such as cook a meal and wash the dishes afterward. For virtually everything else, there's iPad. What iPad cannot do for you physically, it can enhance with an app or expert advice from the Web. IPad combines the power of a computer with the mobility of a smartphone to conveniently serve as a personal organizer, productivity tool, communications device and entertainment center on the go.
Connects to the Internet
To deliver the Internet to you along with all its goodies, iPad latches onto a Wi-Fi network that you set up at home or onto public Wi-Fi hotspots that are typically free or inexpensive to use. An iPad Wi-Fi + 3G model can also use 3G cellular networks to reach the Web when Wi-Fi is unavailable. You can purchase 3G service as needed, on a monthly, no-contract basis.
Plays Videos and Music
With iPad, you can stream your favorite tracks, albums, artists and genres from your music library or Internet radio. You can also enjoy videos, high-definition movies, TV shows and podcasts on its high-resolution display. As you listen or watch, iPad lets you quickly switch views and selections, and rewind, pause, play and fast-forward with ease.
Delivers Books
IPad opens the door to millions of free books in the public domain, as well as paid books from major book retailers and specialty publishers. Most e-reader apps allow you to flip through pages, jump chapters, check word definitions and adjust reading fonts and color. With iPad, you can even play mood music in the background as you immerse yourself in a book.
Organizes
Using the Contacts, Calendar and Notes apps, iPad lets you manage your contacts, appointments, notes and reminders. To stay optimally organized, you can also synchronize the iPad with your computer or laptop so that changing them on one device updates them on the other devices also.
Communicates
IPad's Mail app lets you set up new and existing accounts from Google Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL and other email providers. Then, you can receive and reply to all your emails on the go. Third-party apps, such as Skype and Textfree, enable you to make and receive phone calls and text messages over the Internet, often at no cost. IPad 2 comes with a FaceTime app and two new built-in cameras for up close and personal video chats.
Navigates
IPad uses its Google-powered Maps app to help you find your way virtually anywhere. You can use crisp and detailed maps to get directions, bookmark locations, get street views, search for nearby landmarks and broadcast your whereabouts.
Shops
IPad is a portal to a wealth of media, merchandise, software and services. The Safari app grants you access to virtually every favorite retailer that resides on the Web. App Store puts hundreds of thousands of apps at your fingertips, from games to productivity. ITunes Store offers up a huge and ever growing collection of music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks and podcasts.
How to Behave Professionally on Facebook
Social networking has become an integral part of the lives of people across the world. Prior to social networking, reconnecting with family members and old friends meant resorting to making phone calls or hiring a private detective. Such sites as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare are growing communities that make it simpler to reconnect with more people than any high school reunion can ever accomplish. Although using the sites mentioned may yield positive outcomes, it is important to use them in a professional manner.
- Difficulty:
- Easy
Instructions
- 1
Select each profile and album picture carefully before submitting. Pictures depicting you playing sports or having a peaceful family get-together at the beach are appropriate for keeping a clean profile and seeming active. Pictures displaying a potentially offensive activity, such as alcohol abuse or sexual explicitness, should not be a part of the photo album. Business employers can check over a candidate's profile on Facebook, and immature pictures could be a deciding factor in hiring the candidate or not.
- 2
Contribute a status update to Facebook relating to daily activities, special events or upcoming vacation plans that is suitable for a public environment. Although status updates are also useful for sparking group discussions, refrain from posting embarrassing and verbally hurtful comments that may offend someone.
- 3
Write a friendly message to catch up with friends and family members, but avoid revealing anything personal on someone’s wall where everyone has access to the message. If anything personal needs to be communicated to any single person, send this information as a private message, accessed through the profile section.
- 4
Assign only familiar people to a friends list rather than adding complete strangers. Keeping a friends list limited to these contacts helps prevent privacy violations and the spread of viruses. Set privacy settings accordingly to protect your profile.
- 5
Communicate with fellow co-workers and managers on Facebook to learn more about your career choice.
- 1
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