Thursday, December 31, 2009

Adopting your USB Pet Rock for 2010? (Gadget, news, tech, report, Auckland, Strange)

The Pet Rock phenomenon was an unbelievable experiment performed in the 70s by an advertising executive. The challenge: could he take a simple idea, market it, make people happy, and use it all to turn himself into a millionaire? Well, the answer is yes. And now it it time to reinvent the classic product by… adding an USB port to the rock.

Simply plug the USB cable into a free port and let the fun begin. The USB Pet Rock will instantly begin to work its magic. People will stop by and ask you what your USB Pet Rock does. Each time, you can make up a new story; for no matter what you say, it will be greater than the truth – because these USB Pet Rocks don’t do a dang thing. Except make you smile. And confuse your friends and coworkers, which will make you smile even more. So, get your USB Pet Rock today.

Here’s why you need a USB Pet Rock now:

- They make a great gift for everyone we can think of.
- They don’t need food or water.
- They don’t chew on your stuff.
- They will make you instantly cool.
- They never talk back to you.
- They will forever love you in their own rocky way.
- They are the greenest USB products ever created, as they draw absolutely no electricity.
- They are compatible with Windows (7 and lower); Mac (all OS’s); Linux; and all other past, present, and future operating systems – no drivers needed!

This post is sponsored by:
ASPA Computers Limited
Unit I, No. 1, Hayr Road
Three Kings, Auckland
Tel: (09) 625-2068, Fax: (09) 625-2069
Mobile: 0211138880
Skype username: aspamobile
Email: henry@aspa.co.nz
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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Nokia X3 review: Music X-three-M (Symbian, ASPA Mobile Phone Repair, Auckland)

The Nokia X3 is our first glimpse into the new Xseries and we’re excited to see how things have changed since XpressMusic ran the show. And they have changed, the new angular look is a testament to that. The S40 on the inside has changed as well, throwing Ovi Store and basic multi-tasking into the mix.

Currently the Xseries is composed of two completely different phones. The
Nokia X6 is a touch phone running Symbian, and the X3 is an affordable Series 40 slider. It packs stereo speakers, excellent audio quality and a built-in FM radio antenna for a complete sonic experience. All right, we said affordable, so don’t go looking for top-notch gear beside the obvious full music package.

The Nokia X3 runs the Series 40 6th edition but it’s unlike any S40 handset we’ve seen before. For a brief, joyful moment, we thought Nokia have finally given in and added multitasking. The truth turned out to be different but still there were small steps taken in the right direction. And you should see what they’ve done with the Gallery – it’s only a notch bellow the S60 one.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and let’s take a look at the Nokia X3 pros and cons.

Key features

  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
  • 2.2" 262K color QVGA display
  • 3.2 megapixel fixed focus camera
  • S40 user interface, 6th edition; rudimentary multitasking
  • Stereo FM radio with RDS; Built-in antena (so it plays on the loudspeakers even if you don’t plug the headset)
  • Stereo speakers
  • Standard 3.5mm audio jack
  • Up to 26 hours of music playback
  • Bluetooth (with A2DP) and microUSB port
  • microSD card slot (16 GB supported, 2GB included)
  • Rich preinstalled application package
  • Ovi Store, Ovi Maps and Ovi Share

Main disadvantages:

  • No 3G connectivity
  • Smallish display with poor viewing angles and sunlight legibility
  • Slider action has an unpleasant plastic-on-plastic friction
  • S40 interface feels clunky and out of date
  • No true multitasking
  • No smart dialing or an office document viewer
  • A bunch of software bugs
  • Video recording maxes out at QCIF@15fps

The specs look like nothing to be excited about but a shortish feature list never tells the whole story. So, think before you go “Nah, it sounds lame”, because you’ll be wrong about sound. We spent several days with it and now we’re ready to tell you the story behind those specs, the good, the bad and the ugly, the whole thing.

Do we have your interest? Good. Jump to the next page where we open the box and take a look at the Nokia X3. After the hardware inspection we’ll try to explain what the deal is with this multitasking-but-not-quite situation.

This post is sponsored by:
ASPA Computers Limited
Unit I, No. 1, Hayr Road, Three Kings, Auckland
Tel: (09) 625-2068, Fax: (09) 625-2069
Mobile: 0211138880, henry@aspa.co.nz
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Worm attack bites at Apple iPhone (By: ASPA Mobile Phone Repair & Unlock, Auckland)


This post is sponsored by:
ASPA Computers Limited
Unit I, No. 1, Hayr Road, Three Kings, AucklandTel: (09) 625-2068, Fax: (09) 625-2069
Mobile: 0211138880, henry@aspa.co.nz
Website and Blog
The first worm to infect the Apple iPhone has been discovered spreading "in the wild" in Australia.

The self-propagating program changes the phone's wallpaper to a picture of 80s singer Rick Astley with the message "ikee is never going to give you up".

The worm, known as ikee, only affects "jail-broken" phones, where a user has removed Apple's protection mechanisms to allow the phone to run any software.

Experts say the worm is not harmful but more malicious variants could follow.

The creator of the worm has released full source code of the four existing variants of this worm," wrote Mikko Hypponen of security firm F-secure.

"This means that there will quickly be more variants, and they might have nastier payload than just changing your wallpaper."
The picture of Rick Astley is believed to be a nod to the internet phenomenon known as Rickrolling, where web users are tricked into clicking on what they believe is a relevant link, only to find that it actually takes the user to a video of the pop star's song "Never gonna give you up".

'Stupid people'

The worm has so far only been found circulating in Australia, where the hacker - Ashley Towns - who wrote the program lives.

The 21-year-old told Australia's ABC News Online that he created the virus to raise the issue of security.

It only exploits jail-broken phones that have SSH installed, a program that enables other devices to connect to the phone and modify the system and files.

The worm is able to infect phones if their owners have not changed the default password after installing SSH.

"What's clear is that if you have jail-broken your iPhone or iPod Touch, and installed SSH, then you must always change your root user password to something different than the default, 'alpine'," wrote Graham Cluley of security firm Sophos.

"In fact, it would be a good idea if you didn't use a dictionary word at all."

After a phone becomes infected it disables the SSH service, preventing reinfection. The code contains numerous comments from Mr Towns about his motivation.


One comment reads: "People are stupid and this is to prove it."
"It's not that hard guys. But hey who cares its only your bank details at stake." The worm can be removed by changing the phone's password and deleting some files.

A spokesperson for Apple warned against jail-breaking handsets.

"These hacks not only violate the warranty, they will also cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably," the spokesperson said.

Some estimates suggest that up to 10% of all iPhones and iPod Touches are jail-broken.

The practice allows a phone user to install software and applications that have not been approved by Apple.

"Phone users may rush into jail-breaking their iPhones in order to add functionality that Apple may have denied to them, but if they do so carelessly they may also risk their iPhone becoming the target of a hacker," said Mr Cluley.

"My prediction is that we may see more attacks like this in the future."

This post is sponsored by:
ASPA Mobile Phone Repair
Three Kings, Auckland 1041
Tel: 09 625-2068, Mob: 0211138880
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The GSM encryption algorithm was broken (Mobile Phone Repair, ASPA, Auckland)


Put your tinfoil hats on - GSM encryption has been broken. This means that Evil Doers can listen in on your calls and read your SMS messages. Law enforcement agencies already have that capability, so this doesn't change things if Big Brother eavesdropping is what worries you.

The encryption algorithm used in the GSM network is called A5/1 and was developed in the distant year of 1987. There is a new standard called A5/3, which is much more secure, though not used by most carriers yet.

The published materials are not actually a complete wire-tapping tool - releasing that would be illegal. But it's a step away from becoming one. For about $30,000 you can buy hardware that would allow you to listen in on a call in real time. If real-time eavesdropping is not required, the price falls down to a few thousand dollars.

Of course, any sort of wire-tapping is illegal in most countries, as the GSMA was quick to point out, but that's like saying you can't buy a car that can go over 50 kilometers per hour because that would break the speed limit.

Still, wire-tapping hasn't been demonstrated (the researches don't want to go to jail and what not), so it's not clear how easy it would be to actually pull off in practice. The researchers claim that their main motivation is to push carriers to update to the new encryption algorithm and they just might - if they get enough bad publicity.

And before you actually put on a tinfoil hat and stop using your mobile phones keep two things in mind: 1) no one will pay 30 grand to listen to you talk to your mom and 2) phone scams are a much bigger security threat than breaking the GSM encryption.

This post is sponsored by:
ASPA Computers Limited
Unit I, No. 1, Hayr Road, Three Kings, Auckland
Tel: (09) 625-2068, Fax: (09) 625-2069
Mobile: 0211138880, henry@aspa.co.nz
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