Evil-doers the world over are coming around to the idea that Facebook and other social websites are a potential treasure trove: the BBC's got a story worth a read on the subject.
This is just the beginning, you can expect to see more virus delivery systems and identity theft schemes hit in the future. As always, careful what you make available on Facebook, and don't just install any ol' app just because Joe Blow tagged/bit/slammed/whatever you with it.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
PS3 Is Awesome
Over the holidays I took the plunge and finally went HD-new TV, sound system, the whole nine. The most useful piece of the whole setup, short of the TV that is, has proven to be the PlayStation 3. Here's why.
Blu-ray
Until recently the PS3 was just about the best Blu-ray player there was, and even now it's still a top contender. The fact that its firmware can be updated means that as the BD standard evolves the PS3 can keep up. Some of the earliest Blu-ray adopters can't get the BD-Live content for example on their older players. The PS3 also ranks pretty high when it comes to startup time-some cheaper BD players can take nearly a minute to get you to the root menu on a disc.
Media Center
This goes for the Xbox360 as well-both consoles are great for media centers. You can either download the music, photos, or videos straight to their hard drives, plug in an external storage device like a thumb drive or USB hard drive, or stream it across your network. I'll give the leg up to the 360 for now with the Netflix support (but read on for the PS3 alternative), but if you're thinking of Blu-ray I think you have to give the advantage to the PS3.
So far the PS3 browser's support of Hulu is touch and go. I can usually get it to play the "HD" (480p) episodes of Dilbert in full screen for example, but only after a few minutes of crashes. Hopefully this will get better soon. Youtube is flawless, even more so since they launched their TV beta for easier browsing from the couch.
For better Hulu and to add Netflix streaming, I recommend dropping the $40 for PlayOn instead. I got in on the beta, and after a day or two of using it was convinced to pick it up. Playback is flawless, even though I'm streaming over WiFi. I find the fast-forward / reverse controls aren't exactly stellar, but that's a standard gripe for both Hulu and Netflix and doesn't have much to do with PlayOn itself. Other than that it works perfectly...quality is identical to watching in a standard browser window. Which means you are not going to be blown away by the video quality. :)
Rentals
New to the PlayStation Store is the ability to rent (and occasionally buy) SD and HD movies and TV shows. Prices aren't too bad (or maybe it's better to say about the same as any other online rental service) and the selection is decent for a brand new service, but for what it costs to rent 1 HD movie you can have Blu-ray movies added to your existing Netflix account for half a year. I do like the option though because PSN movies hit the store before they're generally available from Netflix, and you can't beat the "instant" access rather than waiting for the mail. I have my PS3 connected to my home network over WiFi, so "instant" for me is more like "download it tonight, watch it tomorrow." And I'm not a fan of the expiration-expires in 2 weeks, or in 24 hours the second you press Play. Unfortunately that's not all that different than other download services though. I blame Hollywood.
Games!
Turns out this thing plays games too. I'm not a huge gamer, but I did pick it up again a while back. I blame my brother for that-had too much fun playing a FPS last time I made it back to the old country. Right now there aren't as many games for the PS3 as the 360, but things are improving.
Speaking of the Old Country, just about 99% of what I've described here for my setup flat-out won't work in Canada. Last I heard Hulu, Netflix streaming, and PSN are all U.S.-only. Sorry relatives. You can definitely blame Hollywood for that.
Blu-ray
Until recently the PS3 was just about the best Blu-ray player there was, and even now it's still a top contender. The fact that its firmware can be updated means that as the BD standard evolves the PS3 can keep up. Some of the earliest Blu-ray adopters can't get the BD-Live content for example on their older players. The PS3 also ranks pretty high when it comes to startup time-some cheaper BD players can take nearly a minute to get you to the root menu on a disc.
Media Center
This goes for the Xbox360 as well-both consoles are great for media centers. You can either download the music, photos, or videos straight to their hard drives, plug in an external storage device like a thumb drive or USB hard drive, or stream it across your network. I'll give the leg up to the 360 for now with the Netflix support (but read on for the PS3 alternative), but if you're thinking of Blu-ray I think you have to give the advantage to the PS3.
So far the PS3 browser's support of Hulu is touch and go. I can usually get it to play the "HD" (480p) episodes of Dilbert in full screen for example, but only after a few minutes of crashes. Hopefully this will get better soon. Youtube is flawless, even more so since they launched their TV beta for easier browsing from the couch.
For better Hulu and to add Netflix streaming, I recommend dropping the $40 for PlayOn instead. I got in on the beta, and after a day or two of using it was convinced to pick it up. Playback is flawless, even though I'm streaming over WiFi. I find the fast-forward / reverse controls aren't exactly stellar, but that's a standard gripe for both Hulu and Netflix and doesn't have much to do with PlayOn itself. Other than that it works perfectly...quality is identical to watching in a standard browser window. Which means you are not going to be blown away by the video quality. :)
Rentals
New to the PlayStation Store is the ability to rent (and occasionally buy) SD and HD movies and TV shows. Prices aren't too bad (or maybe it's better to say about the same as any other online rental service) and the selection is decent for a brand new service, but for what it costs to rent 1 HD movie you can have Blu-ray movies added to your existing Netflix account for half a year. I do like the option though because PSN movies hit the store before they're generally available from Netflix, and you can't beat the "instant" access rather than waiting for the mail. I have my PS3 connected to my home network over WiFi, so "instant" for me is more like "download it tonight, watch it tomorrow." And I'm not a fan of the expiration-expires in 2 weeks, or in 24 hours the second you press Play. Unfortunately that's not all that different than other download services though. I blame Hollywood.
Games!
Turns out this thing plays games too. I'm not a huge gamer, but I did pick it up again a while back. I blame my brother for that-had too much fun playing a FPS last time I made it back to the old country. Right now there aren't as many games for the PS3 as the 360, but things are improving.
Speaking of the Old Country, just about 99% of what I've described here for my setup flat-out won't work in Canada. Last I heard Hulu, Netflix streaming, and PSN are all U.S.-only. Sorry relatives. You can definitely blame Hollywood for that.
E71 Round II
Two months to the day I first wrote about the E71, I'm back with a few more thoughts. I've had some time to really get used to this phone, and thanks to 2 firmware updates in the interim it's really come along.
The latest firmware upgrade among other things adds 4 new themes, and they're a marked improvement. They use the same stock icons as the original themes, but as it happens I don't notice them as much with the new themes for some reason.
Nokia's Download! app (think iPhone's App Store) has really filled out. If you bought the unlocked E71 (and not the E71x coming soon to an AT&T near you), a lot of the apps are free for the downloading. Among other things that means that instead of buying Psiloc Connect to seamlessly switch between cell and WiFi networks, you can download a free copy of Birdstep's SmartConnect. It could be that Psiloc packs in more functionality with the paid application, but I've been using SmartConnect for a couple of months now and it's been flawless. Other free apps worth checking out include Slifter (price checking in local stores), Locr (tag your photos' locations automatically with the GPS), and a handy Gizmodo reader for the techies. There's even a Facebook client available-I'd offer my $.02 on it but since I never use Facebook I've never bothered to check it out. :)
I used Nokia Email (now Nokia Messaging) for a month or two and found it to be quite good. Definitely a step up over the email clients built into the phone. As you might expect with the always-on "push" email though, it did eat the battery-on average I had to recharge about once every two days. I've since stopped using it mainly because I don't really have a need for instant email and because they'll eventually be moving to a paid service. Without it I find I have to recharge about once every 3 days or so. You can also fake push email with some services like Gmail, if you're looking for the free alternative to the service.
All in all I still recommend the E71-iPhone and Blackberry fiends will still find lots to loathe, but if you don't fall in either camp there's lots to love here as well.
The latest firmware upgrade among other things adds 4 new themes, and they're a marked improvement. They use the same stock icons as the original themes, but as it happens I don't notice them as much with the new themes for some reason.
Nokia's Download! app (think iPhone's App Store) has really filled out. If you bought the unlocked E71 (and not the E71x coming soon to an AT&T near you), a lot of the apps are free for the downloading. Among other things that means that instead of buying Psiloc Connect to seamlessly switch between cell and WiFi networks, you can download a free copy of Birdstep's SmartConnect. It could be that Psiloc packs in more functionality with the paid application, but I've been using SmartConnect for a couple of months now and it's been flawless. Other free apps worth checking out include Slifter (price checking in local stores), Locr (tag your photos' locations automatically with the GPS), and a handy Gizmodo reader for the techies. There's even a Facebook client available-I'd offer my $.02 on it but since I never use Facebook I've never bothered to check it out. :)
I used Nokia Email (now Nokia Messaging) for a month or two and found it to be quite good. Definitely a step up over the email clients built into the phone. As you might expect with the always-on "push" email though, it did eat the battery-on average I had to recharge about once every two days. I've since stopped using it mainly because I don't really have a need for instant email and because they'll eventually be moving to a paid service. Without it I find I have to recharge about once every 3 days or so. You can also fake push email with some services like Gmail, if you're looking for the free alternative to the service.
All in all I still recommend the E71-iPhone and Blackberry fiends will still find lots to loathe, but if you don't fall in either camp there's lots to love here as well.
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