Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
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Live in New York? Pop over here and register for your free Wi-Fi! If you have a RoadRunner cable account, you can connect to free WiFi in “several” locations around New York including Bryant and Madison Square Parks and some parks in Queens. If you’re thinking to yourself “Hey, a few parks in Manhattan, some DMZ out in the boonies, and some spots in Port Washington (probably where the uncles of Time Warner executives live) do not make overarching WiFi access for the masses,” then you’re probably right. But when’s the last time Time Warner Cable did anything nice for you? Maybe you could be appreciative? Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi Zones Now Available To New York City Area Road Runner High-Speed Online Customers Time Warner Cable and Cablevision’s Optimum WiFi Partner to Provide Free Seamless Wireless Internet Connectivity to High-Speed Internet Customers of Both Companies New York, NY (Vocus/PRWEB ) March 25, 2010 — Time Warner Cable’s NYC Region today introduced Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi service, giving its one million local Road Runner residential customers unlimited access to a fast and free wireless Internet connection at several locations in the NYC area. Through a partnership with Cablevision, Time Warner Cable customers will also have access to thousands of free Optimum WiFi locations throughout Cablevision’s service area. Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi is now available at several Wi-Fi zones in Manhattan and Queens, including several parks and some Long Island Railroad platforms and their respective parking lots in the company’s service area. High-Speed Internet customers of both Time Warner Cable and Cablevision will be able to access free, unlimited Wi-Fi services in each other’s New York City metro service areas, allowing for a fast Internet connection at designated Wi-Fi zones. Time Warner Cable Road Runner customers will have access to Cablevision’s Optimum WiFi network, and Cablevision’s Optimum Online customers will have access to Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi zones when they travel out of their service area. Time Warner Cable’s New York City service area includes Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, western Brooklyn, Mt. Vernon, parts of the Hudson Valley region, and Bergen and Hudson Counties in New Jersey. Cablevision’s coverage area includes Long Island, parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, Westchester, Rockland, Northern Hudson Valley, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. “Our sophisticated network is a combination of wireless and wireline services, bringing a wide spectrum of products and services to our customers. This free new Wi-Fi option adds another dimension for Road Runner customers, bringing even more convenience,” stated Howard Szarfarc, Executive Vice President of the company’s New York City Region. “Road Runner customers can experience a fast, simple and easy connection from their laptops or portable Wi-Fi-enabled devices in Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi zones, meeting their growing need for mobility.” According to Kevin Curran, Cablevision’s Senior Vice President of Wireless Development, “Optimum WiFi has become a valuable and popular enhancement for our high-speed Internet customers, who appreciate the ability to take their Internet connection ‘to go’ when they are out of the home or office. We are very pleased to help mark the launch of Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi by linking our networks and expanding our customers’ access to fast and free wireless Internet, especially as demand for mobile data continues to increase.” Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi zones include: Eight commuter rail platforms on the Long Island Railroad Port Washington line: Woodside, Flushing Main Street, Murray Hill, Broadway, Auburndale, Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck; Manhattan: Bryant Park, Madison Square Park and 79th Street Boat Basin; Four parks in Queens: Bowne Park and Kissena Park in Flushing, Baisley Pond Park and Railroad Park in Jamaica. Road Runner customers will also have access to thousands of Cablevision’s Optimum WiFi zones. For a complete listing of Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi zones, visit TimeWarnerCableWiFi.com. A user-friendly Q+A is available on the site too. For a complete listing of Optimum WiFi locations, visit Optimumwifi.com.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
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If there’s one thing putting a spring in the step of publishers this summer and giving them just a little more impetus to initiate summer hours and “get away from the hustle and bustle of the city” by having their driver take them to their house on the Hamptons, it’s the iPad. Is there anything this thing can’t do? Absolutely not, because publishers are flocking to it in droves in an effort to save their falling circulation numbers. To wit, the nut of this story is that the Wall Street Journal will cost $17.99 a month on the iPad, considerable savings over the $2 cover price. This subscription will presumably include all of the graphics and layouts that make the Journal famous as well as ads – lots of expensive, sweet ads. For example, “Unilever, Toyota Motor , Fidelity Investments” is paying Time magazine $200,000 for eight display ads in the iPages of Time magazine. That’s for eight issues, mind you, which breaks down to $25,000 an issue. $25,000 was probably the haircut budget for the ad staff at Time Inc. How can they buy a Ski-doo for their next Vail trip with that kind of money? I’m of two minds when it comes to who’s going to survive the death of print and the rise of the ereader. I think we’re on the an MP3-style cusp. These past few years, with the Kindle leading the charge, have been the Napster days of online reading. Back then, MP3s were exotic, odd, and hard to handle. Then Apple comes along and changes all that. Overnight, grandma is thinking about picking up the new Jennifer Crusie book on an ereader and now you’re going to have to tell her what to buy. And what are you going to tell her to buy? It won’t be the the Amazon’s version of the 2010 Rio Volt MP3 CD Player . It will be the shiny thing from Apple. That said, will the old brands make the move? Probably. I’d pay $1.99 for a new issue of GQ, for example, that I can read on the plane. Heck, I’d pay $19.99 for a 12-month subscription, just like I do in meatspace. And publishers will have a new set of metrics (and will probably discover that their circulations were vastly underreported.) I also thing sites like this one and big daddy TC will have a place at the table, although we haven’t yet picked out the China pattern or the menu. Thoughts? via WSJ
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
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Pretty much spot-on, this . There’s an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that argues that Americans should badger Congress and the president, asking them to hold off on doling out stimulus dollars to electronic medical record systems that don’t have appropriate privacy safeguards in place. As it stands, electronic medial records aren’t exactly sealed—insurance companies can peek at them, as can pharmaceutical companies. So, let’s instead focus on creating an electronic medical record system that’s as foolproof as possible. Slight issue: when is your data, medical or otherwise, ever truly secure? Before I get into this, let the record show that I’m pretty much in full agreement with the op-ed, which was written by a psychiatrist. Thirty-five years on the job gives her a pretty strong leg to stand on. The main argument is that today’s electronic medial records, as set by the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act , are as porous as something porous . High-minded, yes. Not every Joe can see what medicine you’re taking, but in some cases your employer can, or your insurance company can. “What? Johnson’s on Prozac? Keep an eye on him, Mack.” “Will do, boss.” Granted, that’s a Doomsday scenario, but it’s certainly something that can happen given the nature of electronic medical records. So that’s that part of the equation, that electronic medial records as we have them today aren’t fully respectful of the privacy that every patient expects. Here’s the thing, and again I say that I agree with the op-ed: your data is never safe, anywhere. Electronic medical records falling in the hands of, well, anyone other than you and your doctor, is simply par for the course. How many times do we hear of big box merchants losing credit card records? How many times do we hear stories of dumb kids putting comprising photos of themselves on Facebook , then their schools or employers find out? For that matter, how many Facebook accounts have been hacked in recent months? (Ever get a Facebook message from a “friend” saying that he’s stranded in London and needs $2,000 as soon as possible?) How many e-mail and bank accounts are phished every day, creating a complete nightmare for the victim? It’s sorta the nature of electronic data as a thing , that makes it easier for it to fall into the wrong hands. It’s pretty much impossible for The Man to get a hold of your medical records when they’re physically in a safe at your doctor’s office. Unless the insurance company, or your icky boss, Metal Gear Solid s his way into the office, you can pretty much assume that no one untoward is going to see said records. That’s not the case when these records are a mere few keystrokes away from anyone on the planet. Of course, the benefits of electronic medical records are manifest: your primary care physician can zip them on over to the specialist you’re going to see later today in no time at all. Storage costs go way down: how much does it cost to store reams of paper versus a couple of files on a hard drive? I should probbly mention that I haven’t been to a doctor in years, so they might be using robots and dark matter to look at patients these days for all I know. So yeah, it’s tricky. Electronic medical records, by their very nature, as far more easily accessible than paper-based ones. We need to ensure that the proper safeguards are in place before embracing them full steam ahead, while keeping in mind all of the advantages of an electronic system.
Posted by 010081
Tech
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
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There isn’t much to say about the HTC Supersonic that hasn’t been said already. It’s big (in a 4.3-inch-display sort of way). It’s beautiful. It’s Android-powered, and runs on Sprint’s 4G WiMax network. It’s just not.. you know, official in any way. According to the Wall Street Journal, that’s about to change. Read the rest at MobileCrunch > >
Posted by 010081
Tech
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
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We’ve spent three posts covering Street Fighter IV for the iPhone so far, and this fourth one is intended to inform you Capcom’s latest game has finally arrived in the App Store (I checked the US, German and Japanese store). Capcom itself isn’t listing the app [iTunes link] on their official “Capcom Mobile” site yet, but it is already being offered for $9.99. Initial reviews in the App Store are overwhelmingly positive. The game received 64 reviews so far, with 55 people rating it five out of five stars and 9 with four stars. And Street Fighter IV gets a lot of buzz on Twitter , too. Tell us what you think of the game in the comments.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
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The Canon PowerShot G series have always been one of the best compact shooters available. See that pic above? I shot that back in 2003 with a G3. Beautiful, isn’t? That’s Camp Tapico in Northern Michigan, where I spent every summer of my teenage life. Anyway, word on the street is that Nikon wants some of the action that the G series has enjoyed all by itself for so long. Better late then never, Nikon . Actually it’s probably a great time for Nikon to out a G rival. The Micro Four Third format isn’t taking off and Sony is developing a rival, which will help no one. Plus a good amount of amateur photographers were born over the last few years as DSLRs dropped in price. Those same folks are probably satisfied with their new cams, but long for something a bit smaller that offers a lot of the same quality and features. That’s where the G series has always thrived and Nikon could stop its loyal customers from defecting to the Canon camp with a cam of their own. Nikon’s UK senior product manager Kevin Egan recently raved about the G11 in Amateur Photographer, calling it a benchmark for high-end prosumer compacts and that Nikon has something similar in the works. This compact will borrow technology from Nikon’s DSLR line, but be built like a high-end Coolpix camera. Combine a high ISO sensor with good low-light capabilities with a fast lens and Nikon will have a winner on its hands. That’s all we need. It doesn’t have to have an HD video mode, face detection, or any of that consumer nonsense. Nikon-loyal prosumers just want a smaller camera to tout around town when it’s inconvenient to bring the DSLR.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
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I think I’m getting to the point that, instead of feeling bad for people who fall victim to phishing scheme, or any other online nonsense, I’m actually like, “You know what? Serves you right.” There’s a new scam going around that exploits Internet Explorer (in Windows XP, mostly), and it works by tricking users into pressing the F1 key at a certain time. Once the key is pressed, any ol’ code a hackers wants to execute can be executed. Right now, the only work-around is to not press F1 when prompted by any ol’ site. Cool. The thing is, what kind of person will sit there, see a flashing pop-up that says, “You’ve won a million dollars! Press F1 to claim your prize!,” and then actually presses F1? I hate to invoke common sense, but come on, people! We’re not in the Wild West days of the Internet anymore; you should be able to tell a scam when you see one. Again, if a guy on the street walks up to you, claims to be the wallet inspector, how many of you would hand it over? Not very many! Apply the same concept to your Internet life, and you’ll find it all the more enjoyable. That, or switch to Firefox, or move to Linux.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
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I think I’m getting to the point that, instead of feeling bad for people who fall victim to phishing scheme, or any other online nonsense, I’m actually like, “You know what? Serves you right.” There’s a new scam going around that exploits Internet Explorer (in Windows XP, mostly), and it works by tricking users into pressing the F1 key at a certain time. Once the key is pressed, any ol’ code a hackers wants to execute can be executed. Right now, the only work-around is to not press F1 when prompted by any ol’ site. Cool. The thing is, what kind of person will sit there, see a flashing pop-up that says, “You’ve won a million dollars! Press F1 to claim your prize!,” and then actually presses F1? I hate to invoke common sense, but come on, people! We’re not in the Wild West days of the Internet anymore; you should be able to tell a scam when you see one. Again, if a guy on the street walks up to you, claims to be the wallet inspector, how many of you would hand it over? Not very many! Apply the same concept to your Internet life, and you’ll find it all the more enjoyable. That, or switch to Firefox, or move to Linux.