GeekwithEnvy

Richard Vincenti Jr

Internet Explorer Security Issue To Be Addressed

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If you use Internet Explorer then you may want to be extra careful when surfing the web, as a hole in the browsers security has been exploited. This security hole allows an attacker to gain access to your system simply by visiting a malicious website.

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This exploit has gone unnoticed for the last few releases of Internet Explorer and has primarily been used to infect machines with “Poison Ivy”, a back-door Trojan. Many computers have already been infected with the Trojan, so it’s important that you keep up on your definition updates and scans for your preferred anti-malware, anti-virus software.

This only goes to show that even if you think you’re fully protected from malicious software, you’re still at risk if you don’t use your best judgement when visiting unknown websites. Stick to sites you know have a good track record. You can use tools like Site Advisor to check url’s before you visit them, this site is ran by McAfee and does not require you to download anything, you simply type in the url you wish to check and search. It will let you know if the site has been flagged for malicious activity and it will also show you a list of files and other sites the website links to and whether or not they could pose a risk to your computer. However, some sites that are new and haven’t been scanned by McAfee will show up as untested, these sites should probably be avoided until you know for sure that they are safe to visit.

No matter what operating system you use, you should always have you computer check for updates automatically. You can even manually check from time to time and make sure the latest updates are installed. Microsoft releases updates constantly and the majority of what your downloading is to protect you from malicious code. This doesn’t just apply to OS software either, make sure your anti-virus software is also up-to-date with the latest definitions.

Microsoft is aware of this vulnerability and has listed it as critical, the company has recently posted a security bulletin on the matter here. An official fix is slated to be released on Friday and should allow IE users to browse securely again.

iOS 6 Rundown

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So, we got the update but.. what changed? I notice a few different icons on the screen but what else has happened? Well, we round up some key features of iOS 6 here so you don’t have to. Apple Logo

Facebook

Facebook is now fully integrated into the OS it self, which is really nice for Facebook users out there as it allows you to connect with Facebook without you having stop what your doing and switch apps. Facebook events are tied directly into Calendar and sharing links is super easy. ‘Likes’ are now part of iTunes and the Apps store.  It almost feels as if Facebook was meant to be a part of iOS from the start.

Maps

Well, no more Google Maps as Apple has decided it’s time to do the map business all by itself. The new map application looks really good and it would seem that, at least initially, Google Maps users should’t miss much. The new maps are quite detailed and look really slick even standard mode. I test drove the the 3D view by flying around Los Angeles and everything seemed to work really well. Turn-By-Turn navigation also makes an appearance with this map update, which has been long overdue.

Siri
Our old friend Siri gets some improvements as well, including movie reviews,facts and trailers from Rotten Tomatoes. Siri can also help you find something to eat by listing restaurants by price and rating. Need to know any sports scores? Siri covers that for you too, simply ask what the score is of a specific team and you’re good to go. You can also open applications by simply asking Siri what to launch.  Siri has seen quite a few improvements with this update and I can see Siri becoming more and more useful in the future, especially if Siri is to be integrated into new automobiles.

 

Safari

Safari gets iCloud Tabs which will allow you to view any open tabs form one iOS device on any other connected iOS device. Safari now features full screen landscape browsing, which looks great. Safari will also save entire webpages so you can view them offline later.

 

Facetime

Facetime will now work over a cellular network. Simple enough but I have yet to see it in action, I am wondering how the overall quality will be.

Phone

Well with everything the iPhone can do I think we tend to forget that it actually makes phone calls. Apple has added some features for the phone including being able to instantly send a text message to a recently declined phone call. You can also set call reminders when you decline a call or use a do-not-disturb mode to completely block all calls or only allow calls from high priority contacts.

 

Mac will also see the integration of Facebook into OSX Mountain Lion along with a few other updates in the new version 10.8.2. These are just a few of the new features on iOS 6, if your interested in everything head to Apple’s official site.

Torchlight II Soundtrack for Free and My Rant

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To help you get in the Torchlight mood, Runic games has released the Torchlight II full soundtrack with album artwork, pretty nice right? You can download the soundtrack for free on the official Torchlight II website. The release day for Torchlight II is Thursday September 20th.Torchlight II Outlander

I don’t know if you’re into this kind of thing or not but personally I love the music from many of my favorite game titles. I think that the music in games is often overlooked, which is quite sad considering the amount of hard work and talent that goes into these compositions. I love listening to soundtracks while I work, I find that it can really put me in a creative mood.

Many gamers will just queue up their favorite play list and turn the in-game music off, which I totally get why you would want to do this after playing the game several times, but when you first play a game, try to experience the game the way the developers wanted you to experience it. I am also referring to the sound effects here too, remember that these guys are custom tailoring the audio to the in-game world around you, it adds an entire layer of depth to your experience.

What’s more interesting is that if you ask most gamers today if they enjoy classical music they would probably answer no, but in reality we are surrounded by it, whether it’s in our favorite games or movies. Now, I’m not limiting everything to just the classical stuff, there’s a lot of other good non-classical tracks out there. I often prefer the more ambient music while I work or study. There are plenty of crazy game soundtracks out there that I like, in fact there’s a ton of classic game music that has be re-done with a full orchestra and includes music from titles like Zelda, Castlevania, and even Sonic The Hedgehog. Just Youtube any of your favorite songs and you will most likely find many different versions and interpretations, there’s even a whole orchestra dedicated to game music. You can check them out here.

So I say to those who work in the game industry and create music and audio effects, your work is appreciated!

MacBook Pro Retina Display A Bit Fuzzy

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The latest version of the MacBook Pro from Apple features a retina display screen that crams 5.1 million pixels into a 15.4 inch display with a max resolution of 2880 x 1800, which looks absolutely stunning. This is the kind of technology that makes you wonder how you ever used any other display.MacBookRetina

However, once you get your new MacBook Pro home and unboxed and once you finish choosing your picture for your desktop as you drool over how much detail you can see in each image, you decide it’s time to move on and start browsing the inter webs. You open Safari and see the ever-so familiar Apple website appear and of course it looks amazing but as you begin to navigate the web, you start to see something a bit unsettling, you notice that things look a bit blurry.

Yes, it sucks but its true, much of the web just isn’t made for a retina display. Sometimes it can be bad enough to make your eyes water and that’s no fun at all, but what makes things worse is that as you begin to install and work with your favorite applications, you notice that they don’t look so good either.

There is a solution, albeit temporary but nonetheless, a solution. You can adjust your display settings by going to System Preferences->Display, then choosing “scaled” instead of ” Best For Retina Display”. Once you choose scaled, you can choose to work with larger text or more space in order to accommodate your needs. This does work well enough to get you by in most cases but it’s really only a temporary solution.

When you first run into this problem you might tend to look at this as an Apple problem but as you step back and look at the big picture here, it’s really more about the display it self being a bit ahead of everything else. Let’s not get too frustrated here, as most likely your apps will get an update to work correctly with the new display and sooner or later your favorite sites may follow, but by no means do I think that this puts the new MacBook at any disadvantage. Overall, the Retina display MacBook is designed with the future in mind as it moves away from optical drives, replaces the old hard disk with a new solid state drive, and adds in one of the clearest displays we’ve ever seen.

Windows XP Usage Starting to Drop

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Ever since it’s release Windows XP has dominated the PC landscape and when Windows Vista came around, XP users wouldn’t budge. If you ask most XP users why they haven’t upgraded you’ll get a variety of answers but most will likely point toward XP’s solid track record as a stable well performing operating system that works on older and newer hardware with ease. It really is that simple, it works well, and it works well on most of the hardware out there.

Another point to take into consideration here is that most of the people who have tried to upgrade from XP did so while Windows Vista was around and this left a bad taste in their mouths. With what I would call one of Microsoft’s worst operating system releases, I can understand why you would return to your old friend XP, which even on it’s worst day was better than Vista.

However, with the web becoming more media rich, and with more and more people trying to edit videos and photos taken with their favorite mobile devices, the need for better hardware beckons us. Our 512mb of RAM and our old processors, (yes,people are still using these) just aren’t cutting it and PC users are going out and buying new hardware with Windows 7 pre-installed.  Once consumers get a chance to try Windows 7, most are surprised at how nice the operating system is and how well it works with your new hardware.  Windows 7 has been patched, re-patched and optimized over the years to a point to where it just works and that is exactly what XP users wanted the last time they tried to upgrade.

Let’s not forget forget that consumers are not the only important factor when considering operating systems, there are vendors too. Vendors now have more faith in moving on as well. Take Adobe for example, they have indicated that the next release of Photoshop will not support Windows XP. If we look at some statistics, Wikimedia indicates that 38.58% of OS usage belongs to Windows 7 while XP holds out around 21.75%. Windows Vista holds on to a slim 6.98%.

What turns out to be kind of strange and well, a bit of a problem for Microsoft, is that these users are just now starting to catch on to Windows 7 when Windows 8 is about to make it’s big debut and not just any debut, this is going to be a huge change for Microsoft. We will just have to wait and see what develops and I think it will be interesting to see if people can connect with Windows 8’s primarily touch-based interface.