The consensus from the review sites seems to be that this is going to be quite a let-down to users of Windows Mobile devices. Microsoft seems to have done the bare minimum to put a new look on top of Windows Mobile 6.1 without address any of the real short-comings or problems with the platform. Matthew Miller at ZDNet: "Windows Mobile 6.5 disappoints":

I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from this point release, but I was expecting more than what Microsoft delivered. I expected to be able to place icons where I wanted them on the Start displays, I expected to have finger friendly menus throughout the OS, and I expected some attention to the media player, device search, and more. I am a fan of Windows Mobile, but find very little added value in this Windows Mobile 6.5 release and would never recommend anyone actually purchase a new device just to get this update on their smartphone.

And: From Greg Kumpara at MobileCrunch: "Windows Mobile 6.5 Review: It Still Sucks"

Windows Mobile 6.5 is a spit and polish job on 6.1 – nothing more, nothing less. It’s a means of holding people over until Windows Mobile 7 – at least, we hope that’s all it is. Every single change in Windows Mobile 6.5 feels like it was made by a team of homebrewers or modders, rather than a huge corporation with truckloads of money to blow on one of their flagship products. Absolutely NONE of it seems like it was made with the rest of the OS in mind; one screen will be finger friendly, the next will require a stylus, and then back. One will be packed from edge to edge with gorgeous gradients, and the next will fall back on WinMo 6.1’s terribly archaic visuals.

Finally: John Herrman at Gizmodo: Windows Mobile 6.5 Review: There's No Excuse For This:

It's a superficial update, and not a very thorough one. It's an interim product, and a vain attempt to hold onto the thinning ranks people who still choose Windows Mobile despite not being somehow tethered to it until the tardy Windows Mobile 7 comes out, whenever that may be. And it won't work.

If you're still working your way through all the quoting, I think the bottom-line is pretty clear, this just isn't worth too much. If you can get a free upgrade from your provider, that seems reasonable, but otherwise, if you have 6.1 you're not really going to be missing anything.

Using BumpTop, it reminds me a lot of what the Microsoft Surface demos showed they were doing, only this is for your standard computer. Definitely worth checking out the free version. I know I'll be playing around with it on my Windows machine for awhile.

I stumbled across Nick Cernis' site Put Things Off and his excellent take on the smart phone.

So, I’ve started to realise that there’s little point in resisting. The mobile revolution is here, and it’s time to make a half-arsed effort and pretend we’re on board. Paper, while I shall always cling to it lovingly, is being left behind. What’s more, so is conventional desktop computing.

As someone who's not a "part-reformed nerd" and lives immersed in technology I completely agree with his conclusions, but come at them from a nearly opposite angle. So, if you're not quite the technophile you think you need to be to take advantage of the latest gadgets, you might read what Nick has to say and give it some thought. He certainly says it much more eloquently than I ever could.

I can't agree with Jason Kottke more in his article Your company? There's an app for that.

Few technology and device-making companies probably realize it, but they are in direct competition with Apple (or soon will be). How did this happen? Well, the iPhone1 does a lot of useful things pretty well, well enough that it is replacing several specialized devices that do one or two things really well. Space in backpacks, pockets, and purses is a finite resource, as is money (obviously). As a result, many are opting to carry only the iPhone with them when they might have toted several devices around.

If you haven't joined the smartphone revolution, you better hurry. You don't want to be late to the party. In a few years, everyone will have a smartphone, just like everyone now has relatively decent broadband internet. The applications that ubiquitous broadband internet accessed has opened up on that platform, will be similar to what happens in the mobile space with smartphones. Kottke continues with a comparison that shows just how capable a device the iPhone currently is:

Once someone has an iPhone, it is going to be tough to persuade them that they also need to spend money on and carry around a dedicated GPS device, point-and-shoot camera, or tape recorder unless they have an unusual need. But the real problem for other device manufacturers is that all of these iPhone features -- particularly the always-on internet connectivity; the email, HTTP, and SMS capabilities; and the GPS/location features -- can work in concert with each other to actually make better versions of the devices listed above. Like a GPS that automatically takes photos of where you are and posts them to a Flickr gallery or a video camera that'll email videos to your mom or a portable gaming machine with access to thousands of free games over your mobile's phone network. We tend to forget that the iPhone is still from the future in a way that most of the other devices on the list above aren't. It will take time for device makers to make up that difference.

He also notes in his article that while he refers to the iPhone specifically, other smartphone platforms such as the the Palm Pré, Andriod phones, etc. All of these devices offer a set of features in a handheld that hasn't really ever existed before and the software is still playing catch-up. Even so, there's probably already an app for that.

The new version of iPhone OS has included anti-phishing support in the MobileSafari browser. Early reports indicated that the feature didn't work or wasn't working correctly. The guys at The Loop got ahold of Apple and cleared up the confusion.

We talked to Apple to find out what was going on and if the anti-phishing technology was working. “Safari’s anti-phishing database is downloaded while the user charges their phone in order to protect battery life and ensure there aren’t any additional data fees,” Apple spokesman, Bill Evans, told The Loop. “After updating to iPhone OS 3.1 the user should launch Safari, connect to a Wi-Fi network and charge their iPhone with the screen off. For most users this process should happen automatically when they charge their phone.” It is necessary for the iPhone to completely download the database before the anti-phishing feature can protect you against phishing Web sites. This will also allow Apple to update the anti-phishing database when needed to keep users protected.

Thanks to The Loop for digging in and getting some clarification on this new feature. Also, here's a step-by-step guide for those that aren't quite sure what the exact steps should be.

1. You need to be connected to a WiFi network.
2. Launch Safari on your phone.
3. Plug your phone into your dock, charger, or computer so that it is charging
4. Turn the screen off, while Safari is still open.

This should get you going and it is highly recommended that you make sure to do this the next time you plug your phone in.

It's been awhile since I've read these, but they popped back up and thought I'd share them here. I can't say I would agree 100%, but I'd have a hard time arguing against any of his rules. al3x’s Rules for Computing Happiness

If you use a WiFi network at home, and more importantly at work, securing it to keep out unwanted users is very important. There are now three methods in use to secure a wireless network. The earliest and most insecure is called WEP. If you're still using WEP because your computer or router doesn't support anything newer it's time to look at upgrading your equipment, especially if you value your data and privacy. The newer methods are called WPA and WPA2. As far as the end-user is concerned they both work the same way by using a password to log in to the network. WPA supports one style of encryption, called TKIP and WPA2 supports both TKIP and AES as well as a mode that uses both. WPA2 with AES is currently the most secure and modern form of encryption for your WiFi network, and if your equipment supports it you should look at turning it on. Many people, however, are still using WPA and as with any security measure, there are hackers and security researchers who try their best to find holes and ways to break it. Ars Technica has an article on a new WPA exploit.

Researchers have come a step closer to breaking open a common WiFi encryption scheme. An attacker can now read and falsify short packets in the common TKIP version of WiFi Protected Access (WPA) encryption in about one minute—a huge speed increase from the previously-required 12-15 minutes. The hack is not a complete break; it only results in the ability to read and falsify particular short data packets, but cannot retrieve a WPA encryption key. Still, the rapid development of WPA hacks suggests that those paranoid about security ensure that their WiFi networks are using WPA2 with AES encryption rather than WPA with TKIP.

So, take a few minutes to look over your WiFi security settings and upgrade them if they're using some of the outdated methods. You can never be too safe with your private or business data.

Apple has released Snow Leopard ahead of their announced schedule and it becomes available tomorrow, August 28th. If you're still on the fence about the upgrade or are looking for more information Jason Snell has a great review at Maworld.

The result is a Mac OS X update unlike any in recent memory, one that boosts speeds, reclaims disk space, tweaks dozens of features, and lays the groundwork for a new generation of computers that feature 64-bit multicore microprocessors, ultra-powerful graphics processors, and massive amounts of memory. These features, combined with the low upgrade price of $29, make Snow Leopard the biggest no-brainer of an upgrade since Mac OS X 10.1. (And that upgrade, the aged among us will recall, was completely free.)

If that wasn't enough information Macworld has a collection of Snow Leopard articles covering just about anything you may want to know. So, plan on heading out to the Apple Store on Friday. I'll see you there!

Cisco did some undercover work and was able to find out some rather interesting facts regarding what motivates people to infect computers and turn them into bots.

Researchers at Cisco recently got a rare glimpse of the inner workings of the botnet underworld after going undercover and meeting an actual botmaster online: the botmaster, who ran a botnet that had infected dozens of machines at a Cisco customer site, said his main job is to compromise a few thousand machines and then sell them off in bulk. He told a Cisco researcher posing as a fellow botmaster that the market rate for a bot is between 10 cents to 25 cents per machine, and that he recently made $800 off of a sale of 10,000 bots. ... And the botmaster isn't out to perform identity theft -- just bot-brokering. "He was not in the business of using information [on the bots]. Just in creating bots and selling them to someone else," Dallatore says.

It's important to note that the person that's doing the infecting isn't always going to be the person stealing your data or using your compromised computer to do nefarious things. However, it does show that there is a strong financial incentive just to infect your computer, regardless of the data on it. If you're not taking steps to protect your computer and your data now is the time to come up with plan. Call or email us to set up a free consultation.

These days our hard drives hold an immense amount of data. Some of that data is critical, some of it is important, and for most of the rest it is easily replaceable. In this post I'm going to mostly address ways of backing up that small amount of critical and highly important data. My preferred way to backup all of my critical personal and work files is with Dropbox. The free account gives you 2GB of storage (more if you refer some friends) and as you save your files to your Dropbox account, they will keep a version history. In case you need to go back to an older version of a file and recover something you deleted or back out of a change you made that you can't undo within the program anymore. They have an awesome screencast showing the main features and benefits of using Dropbox. If you're on a machine that can't play the video check out their text tour. Lately, I've found myself using Dropbox for most of my in-progress work as well as backing up critical files I don't want to lose. To sign up for a free Dropbox account you can visit http://www.getdropbox.com. Another option that works great, especially if you just want something in the background to backup files is Mozy. They also offer a 2GB free account, although their service is geared more towards their $4.95/mo unlimited backup. With either their free account or their full account, you can select files on your hard drive or folder locations to backup and Mozy's software will back up your contents to their servers. If you ever lose the files you can restore them either through the client software, a web download, or they can FedEx you a copy of your files on DVDs. This service is an excellent way to not only back up your critical and important files, but to cheaply make a backup of the entire contents of your hard drive, or at least all of the files that can't be replaced by reinstalling your OS and applications. Figuring out a good backup solution is one of the best things you can do to to secure and safeguard your computer. If you need help devising a strategy and choosing the right solution Infinity IT Consulting can help.