Heard rumors that Apple may release another iPad Mini in March (yes in only 5 months) with retina display. If they do that, I'll be PISSED! Other rumors have suggested that it'll be this time next year and if that's the case, I won't be as mad because I would have gotten almost a year's use out of it.

In other news, GM will be first automaker to use Apple's 'Eyes Free' Siri integration

I was wondering when something like this was going to be rolled out and it appears it'll be sooner rather than later. I'm curious to see how it performs.

Now if we could just make BACK TO THE FUTURE II a reality where we say "lights" as we walk inside our home and Siri turns them on for us. Or "TV on/off"

^another reason why I hate apple, they dont give a damm about their customers. It is all about squeezing as much profit out of the public as possible, but then again that is most corporations.

you can blame the customers just as much for falling for their scams. Every thing they put out is the same thing with one difference and people pay hundreds of dollars for it.

I will agree and disagree. I personally believe that Apple products are great and very beneficial to make our lives easier/more convenient. However, the past year or so they have been coming out with products WAY too quickly following the rest of another.

If they want to update their iPhone or iPad line yearly, I have no problem with that. Minor tweaks are appreciated (remember, just because they offer it doesn't mean you have to buy it!) I personally skipped the iPhone 4S to wait for the iPhone 5. It sucked waiting an extra year but I'm glad I didn't have to wait an additional 2 or more or bite the bullet and buy a phone I wasn't really crazy about. However, this year Apple released the iPad 3 and within 6 months, for some reason, decided to release the iPad 4. A lot of customers were upset and rightly so and for some of them (I'm not quite sure how they figured this out with the exception of you had to have purchased it through Apple itself), were able to swap out their iPad 3 for an iPad 4. I'd be upset if they release another iPad Mini in 5 months with retina display because I'd pay the extra for the retina display and the original that I bought would only be 5 months old. However, I purchased mine from Wal-Mart, not Apple direct, so I'd be screwed if they allowed people to upgrade again. But again, I have no problem with them updating their products yearly, just not every 6 months now!

WTF?

I was in the middle of updating the TV listings early afternoon yesterday when all of a sudden the computer hung up. The hard drive would not stop spinning, and the computer barely responded (it'd take minutes for a button click to register). I forced the machine off, and the same thing even after a reboot! I tried everything for about an hour then just turned it off and went for a walk.

When I got back, I turned it on and the computer acted normally. Whew! But now no internet access whatsoever. I tried every geeky thing I could for 2 hours to no avail, so I called Verizon FiOS and they tried everything they could as well, and concluded it's probably a computer issue. After watching TV a bit, I spent another few hours trying to fix it. Nothing.

I shut it down and went to bed all pissy. Wake up, turn it on for Round 3 of troubleshooting, and it's working just fine! WTF? I'm not complaining, but it has me a bit worried that maybe it's a hardware issue or something, but why would it just start working (or stop working, for that matter) all of a sudden? Sheesh.

I gotta get back into the habit of always rebooting at the start of the day, just to "refresh" the computer which gets bogged down after a few days of heavy use.

Probably not related, but for a brief time yesterday I couldn't get on the BB. I got this "CloudeFaire" message saying it was off-line. THEN, I see a "click here to go on-line (or was it live?) Anyway it worked.



TIS

Has anyone upgraded to iTunes 11.0? I just got some books that I'm trying to sync to my iPad mini but am having problems thus far. Still trying to familiarize myself with the new interface. Any help is appreciated!

Not sure about your issue (don't have books nor an iPad), but I'm trying the new iTunes right now -- and it seems ridiculously slower than the last version updating my iPhone apps, to the computer! And it was hard to find things that used to be right in your face. I'm not sure what they were smoking when they came up with this chit.

I figured it out. I had the books on a jump drive and dragged them into iTunes but for whatever reason, if the jump drive wasn't plugged in, they wouldn't sync. And yes I agree, I'm not digging the new interface either. Stuff is hidden too much.

I was having intermittent problems with my desktop; freezing, shutting down unexpectedly, Yahoo not responding on IE, sloooooow loading programs, etc. Short story; I purchased RegCure and Malware Bytes and had a four hour "Cleansing" through a tech firm. The cleansing cost $220, plus I have unlimited access to them (Advanced Tech Support) for one year; Reg Cure was about $30 and Malware is lifetime $90.

The PC runs like a deer, problems are gone. Yeah, yeah, I know I could get this and that for free, blah, blah.....but, I now have a functioning PC. For me, it was worth the money.

MalwareBytes cost you $90 for a lifetime subscription? I was always told it was between $20-$40. May I ask where you purchased it?

You purchased Malware. There's a free version at CNET along with an immense inventory of other PC fix software. I've never purchased any such software; I get it all free from CNET.

On line, I was drunk, sounded like a good deal.

I read in CIA Weekly that all that free shit is a plot by Islamic terrorists to infiltrate your PC and gain access to valuable personal data. Keep an eye on your bank accounts.

^^^CIA Weekly? I am a big CIA/intelligence community buff, where can I find this?

In the corners of your mind.

haha

Out of curiosity, anybody got the Google Nexus 4 smartphone? How about the Google Nexus 7 or Nexus 10 tablets?

I have a quick question. A few months ago a friend of mine was trying to put a Ubuntu partition onto an 8GB flash drive for me but for whatever reason he never got it working on my computer. So now I want to use the flash drive as just a basic storage device. However, when I pull up the properties it only says I have 93.9MB available on it. How can I delete the partition because it sounds like it's taking up the rest of the space on this drive?

Security vendors warn users to disable Java after zero day exploit is found

Flaw is being used by toolkits to distribute ransomware

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news...xploit-is-found

By Lee Bell
Fri Jan 11 2013


A JAVA ZERO DAY EXPLOIT has been found in the wild and security vendors are advising users to disable Java support in their computers in order to stay safe.

Millions of computer users, whether they favour the Windows, Mac or Linux operating systems, are at risk from a recently discovered zero day vulnerability for which there is as yet no fix.

According to Trend Micro, the flaw is being used by toolkits like the Blackhole Exploit Kit (BHEK) and the Cool Exploit Kit (CEK) to distribute ransomware, particularly Reveton variants.

"Currently, we detect the exploits as JAVA_EXPLOIT.RG, with the sites that load this exploit code detected as HTML_EXPLOIT.RG. The Reveton payloads are detected as TROJ_REVETON.RG and TROJ_REVETON.RJ," Trend Micro said in a post on its blog.

Reveton is one of the most common ransomware threats in existence and works by locking users' systems and showing spoofed notifications from local police agencies. These tend to inform users that to unlock their system, they must pay a 'fine' ranging from £100 to £300.

To prevent this exploit, Trend Micro recommends that users consider whether they really need Java in their systems.

"If it is needed, users must use the security feature to disable Java content via the Java Control Panel, that shipped in the latest version of Java 7," Trend's blog post said.

"If Java content is not needed, users may opt to uninstall Java as it can pose certain security risk."

Writing in a blog post, Alien Vault's head of Labs Jaime Blasco also recommended disabling Java software.

"Right now the only way to protect your machine against this exploit is disabling the Java browser plugin," he said. "Let's see how long does it take for Oracle to release a patch."

We contacted Oracle for comment on the flaw. It said it has received a number of requests for a statement around the issue but is keeping schtum for now. If it does have something to add, it will issue a statement next week, Oracle said.

Trend Micro said that this year we will see more developments from toolkits seen using the Java flaw, especially that versions that are stealthier or more difficult to detect will emerge.

"Perhaps, this use of [a] zero-day exploit is a taste of trends to follow with regards to cyber criminal toolkits," the firm added. µ

The patch is now available. I downloaded it but I've since disabled Java in my browser. I'm not sure how often I use it, if at all.

For those who are more technologically advanced than myself, should I just uninstall Java or disabling it should be enough? Again, I'm not sure if I use it and if so, how much. What are you guys doing to protect yourself now that Java's been compromised so many times lately?

I stay off questionable websites

I have some program that seemed to install itself I think its along the same line I don't know if it came from software I bought but says "will clean registry for free" bla blah blah

right click the drive in my computer and click format



media hypes things up much more than what is needed imo, just update to the newest version and you should be good



i highly suggest NOT clicking install

Anyone here have Satellite Internet? I was curious as to how good it is; speed, reliability. Some of the carriers are expensive for what you are getting.

I'm paying almost $60 a month with Comcast and my TV bill is $90 and I don't watch much TV or many channels. I need alternative delivery of both.

Not me. I've got Time Warner Cable. I have a friend who uses AT&T in Austin and seems to like it.

Just a quick question for you guys. Is it necessary to run antivirus and spyware scans in safe mode? The only reason I'm asking is because I do and it comes up clean. However, as I'm typing this, I'm running a scan in normal mode and it's saying it found something.

I thought it was better to run it in safe mode because not all of the applications launch and it can find things that it normally wouldn't in normal mode?

I would think that the more files that are scanned, the better.

I'm gonna assume that "normal" mode will find more things -- but not all those things are necessarily "bad"

I thought this was pretty sick (see attached video)

Myo

Apparently you'll be able to control your Mac, PC, Xbox, etc view this armband that you wear. It seems like a fun idea and only costs $150. It's not suppose to ship until later in the year so I would definitely wait until others have had a chance to use it and post reviews but I must say my interest is at least peaked.