Week in Tweets: Apple Trashtalk Week

This week, top execs at Dell, HP, and Microsoft took turns bashing the Apple iPad. Dell said it was doomed to fail in the enterprise world; HP said its channel partners couldn't stand Apple's arrogance; Microsoft called tablets a "fad."

Microsoft also took another shot at Apple's increasingly unpopular attempt to trademark the phrase "app store." Eric Goldman, an intellectual property lawyer, told me Apple's case was weak and suggested the company divert all the money spent on its lawyers to re-establishing goodwill among its disgusted consumers.

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It's one thing for Apple's rivals to bash Apple, that comes with the job, but it's another thing entirely when the trashtalk derives from Apple's own consumers.

This week on Twitter, we came across some pretty angry sentiments from Apple fans. Many originated from outside the U.S., which makes sense given that Apple apparently sold out of iPad 2s a day after launching overseas (and domestically, analysts estimate Apple sold around half a million tablets during launch weekend). Others came from recent iPad 2 owners who dissatisfied with their new tablet.

In the run-up to the iPad 2's launch earlier this month, many in the tech community professed their love and anticipation over Apple's "magic" and "genius" and guidance into a "post-PC" world. We gave it an Editor's Choice award. We concluded you should get one. And based on the lines wrapping around Apple Stores that Friday, it looks like many of you did.

But this week, the gloves came off. Coincidence, or did we miss the memo about Apple Trashtalk Week?

iPhone Users Are About to Be Screwed Over

There has been a lot of talk about the addition of an NFC (near field communication) chip to the next-gen iPhone. This will allow the phone to be used as a swipe-it-yourself credit card. I consider this technology to be the most onerous ever.

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I first discussed the idea of your mobile phone becoming your credit card in the mid-1990s and was just biding my time before it came to pass. Bluetooth was invented in 1994 and gave rise to a lot of speculation regarding its usefulness. For a few years, all sorts of futuristic uses were imagined and a serious discussion of the so-called PAN (personal area network) began, but never went anywhere.
Apple iPhone

The PAN, spurred on by Bluetooth, would allow you to walk down the street and be told about sales, bargains, events and other nonsense from nearby stores and museums. You'd walk into Walmart and your name would be displayed a computerized sign to greet you as an old man pointed at the sign and then pointed at you in some creepy manner.

When you checked out, the Bluetooth device would take care of the payment accounting, and you'd never use cash again. This process could easily be mobile phone centric.

Over the years, through what I consider incompetent marketing, Bluetooth was relegated for use as a wireless earpiece technology and not much else. The PAN was dead as a doornail and my take on the phone as a credit card fell by the wayside. For the moment.

But good ideas can't be killed. But this "good idea" isn't about the convenience of paying with a phone swipe, but the idea of running your tab through the phone company. If you think your banker is a gouger with dubious fees and no-leeway, what do you think the phone company will be like? Yes, let AT&T handle all your money for you, and see how that works out in the end.

I'm immediately reminded of the online scams that took place during the modem era of communications. You'd be given a number to call, and it would actually be some sort of scam. The local number would connect to a BBS of some sort which would send a code back to the modem to turn off the speaker, so you couldn't hear the modem disconnect and then redial a number in Bulgaria or some obscure island. You'd then be connected to a phone service that charged $100/minute for the connection. After racking up thousands and thousand of dollars in phone costs, you'd get the bill from your phone company for $30,000.

You'd bitterly complain about the bill—these stories were all over the news during this era—but the phone companies said they couldn't do anything about the charges. The rates were protected by some U.S. treaty scammed together by the phone companies and signed into law. There was nothing they could do! So, you had to pay or lose your phone service and be sued in court.

This was unbelievable.

I've always been convinced this was test marketing to show the banks and everyone that the phone companies were the best collection agencies and should be in charge of your credit card and other transactions. After all, you can stall the bank, and what can they really do, anyway? You stall the phone company and you are disconnected from the world.

Do not let AT&T or Verizon or any phone company anywhere near your day-to-day financial transaction business!

Low-Tech Tools for Your High-Tech Toys

Angus MacGyver could take seemingly insignificant every day items and combine them in such a way that he could foil any villain’s nefarious plans. All MacGyver needed to make a hang glider was a paperclip and a piece of tissue paper (okay, well maybe he needed more than that, but you get the point). If the show took place today, MacGyver would have a lot more tech tools at his disposal, but he’d still need some low-tech stuff to make it all work.

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Even though the technology we surround ourselves with is far and away more advanced than anything made 10 years ago, it's still based on some pretty basic underpinnings. If you want to keep your gadgets functioning, your tool set may resemble the improvised tool set of an Army field medic more than that of a Star Trek character.

What would your luddite-like kit contain? Gather a paperclip, tweezers, tape, and assorted hand tools and it could easily look like a pile of junk. It turns out, though, that these very items are essential to keeping all of your gadgets running. Seeing these basic tools next to your high-tech toys is like seeing a ridiculously expensive Rolex timepiece with a Velcro strap. It’s a very odd combination, but it’s what works.

Without the right tools, your next repair may resemble an episode of MacGruber more than MacGyver. Find out which essential low-tech tools you should keep handy for your high-tech toys in our slideshow.

How to Create an Online Backup of Your Documents Spreadsheets and Files

Storing your files in the cloud isn't just for large public companies and non profits; even a very small one person business needs to have a secure, safe back up of their files. You never know when your computer will get a virus, or possibly hardware malfunction, which could disrupt or even destroy your saved files. The cost associated with backing up one's files is minimal compared to the risk of losing an important spreadsheet or document file.Being risk adverse means having multiple software backups in different locations; from an external hard drive to an online remote backup... being safe can save you both time and money.

Creating an offsite data backup solution allows you to feel secure that, no matter what happens to your main storage unit, the remote location will survive.Having an onsite backup is never a bad thing, though it can be costly; redundant back up files and tapes can take up much needed space in the office or home. Having your files stored in the cloud is often cheaper and safer than an onsite backup; it protects you from the unknown risks of putting all your files in one location.

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Online backup solutions have become quite robust over the years. They give you the ability to create your own backup schedule; the data will be automatically sent to the secure data center of your data protection provider. There are many professions where robust layers of security and file backups are both fiscally and legally necessary.Whether it's financial services, healthcare, education, government institution, or legal service... all companies find it critical to their business to have a robust array of back up options both onsite and offsite.

Vault Logix is a data protection company who has been providing online remote data backup plans for over 12 years. With a single focus on data protection, Vault Logix provides an array of clients with a secure solution for storing their businesses' most important assets.Meeting strict file backup compliance regulations for the government, Vault Logix is certified to work with government groups as a General Services Administration contract holder... not to mention compliance with HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, NASD, and Graham-Leach-Bliley which all have strict guidelines for cloud and remote backup service providers.

With six unique locations for data storage and 24 hour security guards, along with electronic and strategic monitoring system, your data backup is certified safe with Vault Logix. Whether you are looking to protect your personal data files or back up your critical business data, using Vault Logix and DataProtection.com is a safe secure data protection solution.

EBay Buys GSI Commerce for $2.4B

EBay on Monday announced plans to buy e-commerce company GSI Commerce for $2.4 billion.

The move will help it better compete against traditional e-commerce sites like Amazon as eBay moves away from its online auction roots.

"We intend to lead the next generation of commerce innovation. The acquisition of GSI, which offers the most comprehensive integrated suite of online commerce and interactive marketing services available, will significantly strengthen our ability to connect buyers and sellers worldwide," John Donahoe, eBay president and CEO, said in a statement. "Combined with eBay Marketplaces and PayPal, we believe GSI will enhance our position as the leading strategic global commerce partner of choice for retailers and brands of all sizes."

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The combination of eBay, PayPal, and GSI will create "new ways for retailers and brands of all sizes – from sole proprietors to large merchants – to drive innovation, engage customers and help people shop anytime, anywhere and on any device," Donahoe said.

As part of the deal, eBay will sell off 100 percent of GSI's licensed sports merchandise business and 70 percent its ShopRunner and Rue La La business because "these businesses are not core to its long-term growth strategy," eBay said.

"These assets will be sold to a newly formed holding company, which will be led by GSI founder and CEO Michael Rubin," according to eBay.

EBay will loan that holding company $467 million and retain a 30 percent stake in Rue La La and ShopRunner.

EBay said the deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

In December, eBay acquired online German shopping club brands4friends for about $200 million.

NASA Ditches Plans for Cameron 3D Cameras on Mars Rover

NASA has ditched plans to include 3D cameras that were jointly developed by director James Cameron on its next Mars rover.

NASA said in a statement that technicians made great strides on the 3D cameras, which were to be attached to the Mars Science Laboratory mission's Curiosity rover, but the timing was not right.

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"The possibility for a zoom-camera upgrade was very much worth pursuing, but time became too short for the levels of testing that would be needed for them to confidently replace the existing cameras," Mars Science Laboratory Project scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology said in a statement.

The rover, which will launch this year, will include the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument already on the rover, but work has stopped on a 3D upgrade, NASA said. The device was developed by Malin Space Science System, where Cameron serves as co-investigator. Malin built the Mastcam last year and secured funding from NASA to see if a zoom version could be developed in time for testing on Curiosity.

Malin also provided the Mars Hand Lens Imager and the Mars Descent Imager instruments on Curiosity. It will continue work on the zoom system, but not for this launch.

"While Curiosity won't benefit from the 3D motion imaging that the zooms enable, I'm certain that this technology will play an important role in future missions," Cameron said in a statement. "In the meantime, we're certainly going to make the most of our cameras that are working so well on Curiosity right now."

Mastcam principal investigator Michael Malin said, "Although we are very disappointed that the zoom cameras will not fly, we expect the fixed-focal-length cameras to achieve all of the primary science objectives of the Mastcam investigation."

Testing on the rover is underway at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. It is scheduled to be transported to Florida's Kennedy Space Center in the coming months for a late 2011 launch. It is scheduled to land on Mars in August 2012 for a two-year mission that will examine whether conditions in the landing area have been favorable for microbial life and for preserving evidence about whether life has existed there.

Cameron's 3D epic "Avatar" won the Best Picture Oscar at the 2010 Academy Awards, and he has been a champion of 3D technology ever since. Last year, he also had discussions with government officials about helping with the response to the disastrous Gulf oil spill.

Pop Quiz Computer Ports and Connectors

Do you know the difference between the shape of an Ethernet, eSATA, and USB port? Take this short quiz and test your knowledge of external computer ports.
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From Firewire to USB, computers have a lot of different ports. And, the number seems to grow every few years. As it’s important for IT pros to know a DVI port from an HDMI port, I put together a quick pop quiz on common external computer connectors. As you take the quick remember the following:

* The pictures are of the computer port, not the corresponding cable connector.
* This quiz doesn’t cover every port and connector in existence. I tried to focus on the most common.
* Some ports have different shapes–USB Type A, Type B, Mini A, and so forth. I tried to use the most common shape.
* The ports/connectors are listed in no particular order.
* I’ve spanned this quiz across multiple pages to limit the length of each page. There are 16 ports to identify.

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Note: Unfortunately, our poll tool, which I use to create each pop quiz, doesn’t let me indicate a correct answer after each question. To keep from giving away the answers before everyone has a chance to test his/her knowledge, and ruining all the fun, I’ve published the answers on the last page of this blog post. I encourage everyone to answer all the questions before looking at the last page or using your favorite search engine to find the answers.





Edit: I edited one answer on Question 3 (Figure C) to be more clear. The previous answer was still correct, but a bit confusing. Thanks to everyone who pointed this out.