Category Archives: Technology

Microsoft leaves security hole in Office 365

Scammers can add Calendar invitations to your Outlook file without permission – what’s the risk and how to fix it

Office 365 300x104 Microsoft leaves security hole in Office 365 photo

Scammers can inject Calendar invitations without permission – getting rid of them is a 2 step process

Scammers can spam email invitations to an appointment which automatically get placed in your Outlook Calendar as tentative or not accepted.

Microsoft has left a hole big enough to drive a truck with a virus or Trojan horse in Outlook Office 365. Continue reading

Tami Reller dishes out the news on Windows Blue

As Microsoft readies the big Blue update for fall 2013, Windows 8 passes 100 million licenses, 700 million Windows accounts and 250 million SkyDrive accounts

Reller web thumb 15416417 Tami Reller dishes out the news on Windows Blue photo

Tami Reller Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer

People are expecting big changes with the next version of Windows 8 but the revolutionary changes are already in place and they work beautifully.

The news of Microsoft’s death from Windows 8 is greatly exaggerated.

Windows 8, the first major change in the world’s most popular operating system in a decade, is on track for success.

In a Q&A with Windows blogger Brandon LeBlanc, Tami Reller Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer dishes out the facts.

From a user point of view, I’ve been using Windows 8 for more than a year and despite the things that need improvement, I would not go back to Windows 7.  Continue reading

The imagination of a 26-year-old saves Apollo 12

This true story will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. When Apollo was hit by lightening, all systems in the Command Module when dead. A 26-year-old Mission Control worker used his brain to resurrect an obscure fix.

When Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, and Richard Gordon and strapped themselves into the command module of Apollo 12 for the second moon landing, they could not predict the mission would fail almost immediately.   Continue reading

Will paywalls save the newspaper business

Faced with sharply declining advertising revenue for both print and online newspapers, papers are trying to entice free readers to pay up for the news. It works partially: old people will pay anything to keep their news habit but young readers have already left the barn.

Guardian digital Will paywalls save the newspaper business photo

Charlottetown Guardian erects paywall for digital readers – will it be enough (Guardian photo)

From Rupert Murdoch to the 25 local newspapers in the Quebec based Transcontinental chain, newspapers are struggling to survive the double whammy of the digital world and young readers who don’t give a flying fig about reading a paper.

Paywalls, charging for online access, is a temporary fix for the huge decline in newspaper subscription and advertising revenue.

The long-term survival of newspapers is in doubt.  Continue reading

Do you like Facebook Home?

Facebook Home as the center of our world has escaped into the wild – have you tried it and what’s the verdict?

Facebook Home 1 268x430 Do you like Facebook Home? photo

Facebook Home / Nexus 7

Facebook Home is Facebook’s launch point for Android smartphones and soon to be tablets.

Install it and you may have something to dazzle your friends with for a nanosecond.

While officially only available for a week on select HTC devices in select countries, you can get it working on most Android gear with a patch from Modaco. (see installation notes below)

After a few false starts, I got it working on my Nexus 7.

It’s cool. It’s wonderfully visual.

It’s cryptic and slightly weird. Continue reading

4 Things Microsoft Can Do To Rescue Windows 8

The media, analysts and tech writers have hammered Microsoft about Windows 8 but most of them got it wrong

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Windows 8 Start screen – the future is now

Most of the people telling Microsoft what to do with Windows 8 don’t have a clue. Microsoft should ignore 99% of what is being printed and stick to their guns. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with Windows 8 but it needs work.  Continue reading

First Look: Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone Makes Sense

The Nokia Lumia 920 is slick, easy on the eyes, fast and puts Office 365 on your phone

Nokia 920 screen shot 1 180x300 First Look: Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone Makes Sense photo

Nokia 920 home screen

{rating}  The killer feature for the Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 is Office 365.

The speed boost with the Lumia 920 versus the iPhone 4 is phenomenal.

I made the switch to Windows Phone this week from an iPhone 4 to a Nokia Lumia 920.

This is my second Windows Phone smartphone. I reviewed the Samsung ATIV S in December.

Of course, the larger 4.5 inch screen is easier on the eyes. Isn’t every smart phone larger than iPhone these days? Apple is so passé.  Continue reading