6 iPad Security Tips

                                               6 iPad Security Tips 

You probably use your iPad about as much or more than your Laptop or MacBook, but is it as secure as your laptop, or have you left it wide open without even a simple passcode to protect it?

If you leave your iPad in a cab or in an airport, how can you be sure that whomever finds it won't be able to harvest the huge treasure trove of information that you may have left on it unprotected?
Let's take a look at some tips for turning your iPad into a security-hardened mobile information fortress:
 

Tip #1 - Create a Strong Passcode and Encrypt Your Data
One of the first steps to securing your iPad is creating a passcode to lock it so that if someone steals it that they won't be able to access your data. Setting a passcode also turns on data encryption. Additionally, you should choose the strong passcode option because the 4-digit numeric password is way too simple to be effective. Check out our article on How to Strengthen Your iOS Passcode for full instructions.

Tip #2 - Lojack Your iPad
Another feature that you should enable out of the box is the Find My iPad app. Find My iPad allows your iPad to relay its location should it become lost or stolen. You must have location services enabled in order for your iPad to know its location and your iPad must be connected to a Wireless network for it to communicate with Apple's services which will hopefully tell you where it is.

Tip #3 - Turn on Anti-Tamper Self Destruct Mode (Remote Wipe)
If you have sensitive data on your iPad and you travel a lot you may want to consider turning on what I like to call the iPad's Self-Destruct mode. This setting will automatically wipe all the data on your iPad should the wrong passcode be entered more than a set number of times. For full details on how to turn this feature on, check out our article on Enabling the iPad's Data Wipe on Failed Passcode setting (I still think that self-destruct mode sounds cooler).

Tip #4 - Prevent Disabling of Find My iPad
The first thing a savvy iPad thief would do after they stole your iPad would be to turn off the Find My iPad app and disable location services. You can prevent them from doing this by turning on restrictions and changing a few settings which are discussed in our article on How to Prevent Thieves From Disabling Find My iPad.

Tip #5 - Tell Siri to Never Talk to Strangers
While the novelty of Siri may have worn off for many, chances are, you have the Siri personal assistant enabled and you may be allowing Siri to bypass your lock screen security for certain functions. In certain situations this might be a security risk. Check out our article on How to Secure Your Siri Assistant so Siri won't allow strangers to access your contacts and other information on your iPad.

Tip #6 - Use a Personal VPN to Protect Your Network Traffic
Your iPad has the capability to connect to and use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). VPNs provide a wall of encryption that helps protect your network traffic from hackers and eavesdroppers. VPN's used to be a luxury that was only associated with large corporations who provided secure VPN access for their employees to access their corporate networks. Now, with the advent of cheap personal VPN services such as WiTopia and StrongVPN, the average Joe can afford the added security provided by a VPN. Read our article on Why You Need a Personal VPN for more details and check out this article on how to configure your iPad to connect to a VPN.

Cool Futuristic/Concept Gadgets That Really Inspire

About 10 years ago, we didn’t really expect the 1.4mb 3.5 inch floppy to evolve into flash drives 10x smaller with storage capacity as big as 32gb. The interesting thing about technology is; it’s just going to get more and more high-end but the size, is just going to get smaller and slimmer.

These concept gadgets you see before you today, have extremely high chance of getting into production anywhere in the future. For example, Microsoft’s Surface Computing Technology certainly tells us they are for real. Here’s some really cool concept gadgets, just concepts for now but we really hope it’ll be implemented, that inspires. If we happened to missed something impressive, please let us know in comment. Full list after jump.

B-membrane Laptop/Desktop

Concept computer designed by Korean designer Won-Seok Lee. No bulky monitors, just a UFO shape system that displays screen like a projector. [via yankodesign]

Nokia Aeon Full Screen Concept Phone

The most prominent design feature of aeon is a touchscreen that stretches over the full surface area of the phone. [via engadget mobile]

Napkin PC

The Napkin PC is a multi-user, multi-interface, modular computer designed for creative professionals to collaborate and bring their greatest ideas to life. [via yankodesign]

Cellphone Code

This phone uses haptic technology to provide physical feedback for making a call. To turn it on…twist a section, to dial a number…twist a bunch of sections, to make an international call…break your wrist! [via yankodesign]

Virtual Goggles

Designed and conceived by Franz Steiner, he wondered what the personal assistant might look like in the future. [Blutsbrueder Design via Gizmodo]

New dSLR?

Concept of a digital camera which can be used in one hand. [perezprada via yankodesign]

Future Internet Search

All you need to do is point the tablet at any object and you should get search results as good as Google’s, just more interactivity. [petitinvention via behance.net]

Sunshine Pillow

We arent sure if it’s warm enough, but it’s good to own one. [Rei Gallery via gizmodo]

Capsule Radio Clock

Not rocket science, but definetely cool to get one. [sequoia-studio via tuvie]

Info-Live Watch

INFO Live is an data organizer for connected internet world. It is able to transfer data information to any hardware and person any moment in time of need. [via nextgendesigncomp]

Jive for the elderly

Jive is a range of 3 products that were designed to get elderly technophobes connected to their friends and family. [jive via tuvie]

LifeMap

Touch screen digital photo storing and organization product. [via tuvie]

Microsoft Arc Mouse

When you go advanced in all your computer equipments, the next best thing is to get a futuristic mouse. [via geekandhype]

Pebble Key Port

Designed with many slots so that user can easily group their keys into categories such as car keys, home keys or office keys. [via tuvie]

Pixel Perfect Hour Glass

Title says it all. A perfect gadget anyone wants to own, I suppose? [Pavel Balykin via yankodesign]

Calliper Style Radio

Like a precision calliper tool, 08 Radio by Mikael Silvanto lets you precisely find the station you want by sliding the entire radio unit up and down the scale. [via yankodesign]

Sony's big challenge: Make PlayStation 4 part of the living room experience

 

 When Sony pulls back the curtain on the next-generation PlayStation videogame console, the world will see how much the Japanese consumer electronics titan has been paying attention.Sony could double-down on hardware to power even more realistic graphics and rich game play than the impressive specifications of PlayStation 3 consoles nearing the end of a life cycle started in 2006.
Or, Sony may step toward a vision outlined by chief executive Kazuo Hirai by introducing an improved console as part of an ecosystem that weaves the company's film, music, games and electronics together with the trend toward getting home entertainment online.
"Sony needs a living room experience," Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said while discussing expectations that a PlayStation 4 will be showcased at an event being hosted by Sony on February 20 in New York City.
"They need more software, not more hardware."
The PlayStation 3 launched as an engineering triumph complete with Blu-ray high-definition disk player capabilities only to see rival Microsoft score with Xbox 360 consoles for gaming as well as online films, music and more.
"Sony can't build a company on those few people who are hardcore gamers, so they have to figure out how to bridge to the all-purpose consumer who likes games, which is most of us," McQuivey said.
"If they emphasize how this is really a television set-top box with your favorite channels and Netflix, it will mean Sony has paid attention."
Sony has remained mum, but that hasn't stopped talk of hardware upgrades such as improved graphics and controllers with touchpads, and chatter of Sony announcing its own cable-style service to route film or music content to PlayStation consoles.
Sony needs to adapt to changing lifestyles while not alienating videogame lovers devoted to its hardware.
Low-cost or free games on smartphones or tablet computers are increasing the pressure on videogame companies to deliver experiences worth players' time and money.
New generation consoles are typically priced in the $400 to $500 range, and blockbuster game titles hit the market at $60 each.
"Sony is under a lot of pressure," said National Alliance Capital Markets analyst Mike Hickey. "Gamers are desperate for innovation and better games."
While Sony is tethered to "legacy" hardware, companies such as Apple and Google are driving innovation with tablets, smartphones, and ways to route Internet offerings to television sets, according to Hickey.
While ramping up content and services for PlayStation, Sony also needs to motivate people to upgrade from the current model.
"If Sony wants to win it, they need to show some killer games to get people to go out and spend a lot of money for the core game experience," Hickey said.
He blamed a dearth of compelling titles as a reason for disappointing sales of Nintendo's innovative Wii U consoles introduced late last year.
"The Wii U is a case study you can't ignore," Hickey said. "Sony at least has to nail it with the games; the core market can drive the mass market."
Industry tracker NPD Group reported that just shy of $9 billion was spent in the United States last year on purchasing or renting video or computer games.
Another $5.92 billion was spent on game downloads, subscriptions, and play on mobile games or at social networks, according to NPD.
French videogame star Ubisoft reported that sales surged 23 percent overall in the final quarter of last year with hit installments of its "Assassin's Creed" and "Far Cry" franchises while online revenue leapt 143 percent.
"People are gaming more now than they ever have," McQuivey said. "More minutes on more devices over more types of games from consoles to mobile phones."
"Console gaming is going to face challenge because you can pull out your tablet and have some pretty amazing gaming experiences for $1.99 or free with ads," he added.
Forrester predicts that while US households will turn increasingly to accessing the Internet through videogame consoles and smart televisions, games on smartphones and tables will "negatively impact" the console market.
"Tablets are in every household and the computing power of tablets is going up every year," Hickey said. "Eventually, the tablet could very well become the console."
Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities expected Sony to remain mum about pricing and specific release date while unveiling the PS4 later this month.
"The new console will clearly be more powerful," Pachter said. "How they will use that power is unclear."

Pause or Stop Gmail from Receiving Incoming Emails

Pause or Stop Gmail from Receiving Incoming Emails

Email is, no doubt, the best way to mail someone without involving any physical transfers of letters or the transportation. But over the years our inbox had been controlled by others. Whenever someone wished to send us an email, our inbox received it. I always wanted some feature that allowed us to enable or disable receiving the emails.
Imagine you are on some vacation with family, and you receive some email from office. I am sure you won’t like that and you will have to go on and read the email. Wouldn’t you find it helpful if there had been some plug-in or some tool that can enable us to stop or pause the incoming emails on our will and as long as we wanted, still letting the email senders know that we haven’t read the email?
Well, if you are a Chrome or Firefox user, then here is an extension right for you called Inbox Pause. As the name of this add-on/extension suggests, it is a plug-in for your browser installing which puts a Pause/Unpause button right besides the Gmail Mail dropdown. If you click the Pause button, then your inbox will go into a paused state that means you will no longer receive an email, and the senders will be notified with the custom message that you will put (this will notify them that you have not currently read the email and the replies will be delayed).
 
You don’t need to worry about the incoming emails, as they will be temporarily stored with “paused” label and will not be shown to you until you unpause the inbox back. Also you will see a message on the email header that you have currently Paused the inbox and need to Unpause it back to read the received emails.

The service is so interesting that it protects you from receiving emails whenever you don’t want, still letting know your email senders about the email status. You can set a custom message on the auto-responder mentioning that you have currently paused your inbox, and cant read the emails. Also ask them to call you on your cell if it is urgent.
Although it uses the same concept as the out-of-office service, but is easier to use.
You can download the extension by visiting the link below.
Download Inbox Pause

Send Encrypted and Private Emails from your Gmail on Chrome

Send Encrypted and Private Emails from your Gmail on Chrome

Today with the hackers are so active that one can never be sure of the information exchange over the web. Whenever we send an email to someone, even it can be hacked before reaching the recipient. Thus, if you are required to send someone important and confidential information then sending an email would not be safe at all.
But that does not mean you should not email someone at all, in fact if the information is really private then you can send the recipient an encrypted message that will self destroy after a limited time. This way, it would not be easy for anyone to decode the message and your information will remain protected.
To implement this and to send an encrypted email, you just need to login into your Gmail account with the Chrome browser. If you can do that, then here is an extension called SafeGmail that will encrypt the normal message for you using the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) algorithm.
How to use SafeGmail:
1. Install the extension from the link provided at the bottom of this article.
2. Login to Gmail as usual but after restarting the Chrome browser.
3. Compose the email normally but now you will see two extra buttons in the Gmail menu. After you have finished composing the email, click the “Encrypt?” button.

4. Now you will see a questionnaire in which you should put a question and the answer to it (the answer is case sensitive). This questionnaire will be used at the recipient’s side for logging into the email.
5. Now when you are done, click the Send + Encrypt button, to send the encrypted email.
6. At the other side, the recipient will need to answer the same question to receive a link with some encrypted text.


7. First copy this encrypted text, and then click on the “Click Here” link in the email.
8. Now in the text box that opens, you need to paste the above copied text. When you click the “Show my Mail” button, your decrypted text will appear.

It might be little extra effort to send and receive the encrypted private information to someone, but it is worth it and that too when you don’t have to install any third party tool for that. Please note that this extension is not found to work on new Gmail interface.
Download SafeGmail

Automatically Resize and Optimize Images while Uploading Online

Automatically Resize and Optimize Images while Uploading Online

Photos are the best way to express something that is being talked about as it does so with ease and helps the reader in gaining the insight. We all like to share and upload our photos online and via email, don’t we? But it can be a problem as the images clicked from a good camera are large in size and due to the sharing and uploading restrictions we can’t just send an image like that. We thus, need to optimize an image before uploading it.
Optimizing an image is not at all difficult, with some default photo editors like Picture Manager, anyone can do it easily but what if you wish to have different profile of optimizing for every different website? Say you wish to resize an image under 100 KB for email but around 1MB for flickr? You will do that manually right?

Here is a free application called Robosizer that can do this work for you and that too automatically. All you have to do is just install this tool in your system, and run and set it up for the first time. It will keep monitoring your photo uploading activities and will automatically resize the image whenever you are about to upload any image automatically in the background as per the profile set by you.

You can also see the different profiles while uploading and choose if you want a different one too. If you click on the system tray icon, then you will also see the resizing options that you have set for different online services.
The best thing I liked about this tool is that it runs in the background and whenever you are uploading any image it automatically detects it, resizes it, notifies you about the resizing and optimizes the image for your uploading. The tool works great with most of the browsers and applications and is supported on both 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows XP, 7 and 8.
Download Robosizer

Remotely Capture Photos from iPhone or Android Phone with Remote Shot

Remotely Capture Photos from iPhone or Android Phone with Remote Shot

These days when the cell phones or better to term as Smart phones come with really good camera, you don’t actually need to carry your camera around. Moreover the phones have really good camera optics, features, zoom and other things. There are moments when we depend upon our phones to click the picture for us.

Say you are at some get together with your buddies and need to click a group pic of yours with no body around, what shall you do? Placing the phone on some surface might turn into a bad idea as this can be risky and tedious too. We have found a small app right for handling these types of situations.

With this free app called Remote Shot, you can actually control your iPhone or an Android phone remotely. That’s right, you don’t need anyone to click your phone for you. Using the app is very easy too, you just need to install the app in two of the phones (one to click and another one to control the first one).

After you have installed the app in two phones, you can select one to be the camera and the other one to be the remote. What’s more, you also get to see the live preview of the shot being captured in the remote phone thereby letting you to adjust your position, zoom, flash, and other things before actually clicking the pic. You can also select the recording mode to be either still or video remotely.
The app makes use of the in-built Bluetooth technology to connect the two phones which is definitely not a problem. The app is really convenient to use and comes handy when you wish to click remotely.
The app is free to use and can be used in both iOS and Android platforms.
Download Remote Shot for iPhone
Download Remote Shot for Android