The ever-astute Matt Drance on why the cool ad for Samsung’s new Galaxy Gear watch doesn’t copy Apple’s original “Hello” iPhone commercial quite as much as it may seem:
The problem with this ad is not that it’s ripping anyone off. The problem with this ad is that it exhibits everything wrong with Samsung as a company.
Patrick Rhone recorded, edited, and packaged his recent
(https://gumroad.com/l/GMzT) using nothing but the software that ships with OS X. (Not including the design of the album art. But he outsourced that, so it doesn’t count.)
There’s no denying that the newest Kindle Paperwhite is the best e-reader out there. Compared to last year’s model, it’s a very nice improvement (better illumination, higher contrast, slightly lighter hardware, new software features), but it’s not an epic upgrade.
Even though my biggest quibble has been resolved — the “illumination spotlights” — I don’t think I’ll be upgrading my Paperwhite this year. If I didn’t yet own a Kindle, or if I still had my Kindle Touch, this new Paperwhite would be a no-brainer.
If you’re in want of an extra-long and/or extra-short lightning cable for your iOS device(s), there are some good and cheap options out there.
One of the premier benefits to using 1Password is how it empowers you to use a unique password for every single one of your website logins.
Instead of having all your passwords memorized, you just install the 1Password extension in Safari or Chrome, and then when you are logging in to a website, you simply let 1Password log in for you. With 1Password, there’s no reason not to have unique and strong passwords for your bank, your weblog’s admin panel, your Flickr account, your Twitter, Facebook, Adobe, etc.
Then, when one of the websites or services you use gets hacked, and your username and password are both compromised, it’s far less of a risk to the rest of your logins because the hacker has a password of yours that was unique only to the website they hacked. Therefore they can’t take that username and password and use it to log in to your email account, bank account, or anything else.
In 1Password 4 there is a brilliant new section called Security Audit. In the sidebar it shows you tabs for finding weak passwords, duplicate passwords, and old passwords.
Clicking on the Duplicate Passwords tab gives you a list with every single login item that has a duplicate password. If you have any items here then you can begin working your way through each account, by logging in to the site and changing your password with a new unique one and saving that into 1Password.
(Side note: in 1Password 3 you can create smart folders that search for a common term. If you’ve got a few passwords that you know you use for most of your logins, then do create some smart folders for that password and boom, you’ve got a good list of all your duplicates.)
If you’ve been using 1Password for a while then it has no doubt collected most of your login details, making it easy to identify which accounts have duplicate passwords.
If you’re new to 1Password, it won’t yet know your various website login credentials until you enter them in. I’d suggest starting with the handful of websites you visit most often, your email address(es), and your bank’s website — changing your password in each of them to be something unique and saving that login info to 1Password. Then, over time, as you log in to the sites you visit less often, 1Password will automatically save your login credentials. And so, maybe in a month from now and then again in 6 months from now, re-check your duplicate passwords and update them.
John Mayer, Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and guitar player is also a watch collector.
This is a fantastic update to the Mac version of 1Password. I’ve been using the beta for about 6 weeks and it’s spectacular. Highly recommended for nerds of all ages.
There are, of course, a slew of new and clever features, such as the ability to share vaults and items with others, a favorites list, a Menu Bar utility app, and more.
But of all that’s new in 1Password 4, the app’s new look is my favorite feature. I use 1Password quite a bit on my Mac, and the redesign is just such an improvement over version 3.
Also, I find myself using the Menu Bar utility — a.k.a. 1Password Mini — quite a bit as well. You can bring it up with a hotkey and quickly search your entire vault without having to launch the full 1Password app.
If you already own the Mac App Store version, then the update is free and available today. If you bought it direct from the AgileBits’ website there are some generous upgrade discounts, but they won’t be available until later this week. And if you don’t yet own 1Password, right now it’s on sale for 20-percent off as part of their launch promotion.
Much as Apple is offering free versions of iWork with a new iOS device, it’s time to stop tying backups to a storage quota and simply say: “We’ve got this. Your iOS device – no matter how much you’ve got on it – will be backed up”. iCloud Backup likely started people automatically backing up their devices for the first time – a great achievement in and of itself. It’s time to make these backups invisible, “just” a part of the service and reflect Apple’s multi-device ecosystem.
Agreed. Instead of free downloads to the iOS iWork apps, I’d much rather get a free boost in iCloud storage when I buy a new iOS device. Or at least a free boost for 24 months (the “average” upgrade cycle for iPhone owners).
Apple sells 64GB iPhones and 128GB iPads. If you own one or both of these, and fill them up with photos and documents, you literally cannot buy enough storage to back up even one of them in full — iCloud’s largest tier of storage maxes out at 50GB.
Automatic nightly backups of our iOS devices is one of iCloud’s greatest features. And restoring from an iCloud backup is a piece of cake (albeit, a piece of cake that takes a few hours to eat).
One of the awesome things about buying a new device is how you can just log in with your iCloud ID and watch your new device restore itself to the same state as your previous one. All your apps download and then place themselves in the same spots you left them with their data all there; your photos, music, movies, background wallpapers, all just set themselves back in place.
iCloud restores just work. But only if you’ve got a recent iCloud backup.
The free 5GB of storage that everyone gets has become too small many, especially those of us who own more than one iOS device. Apple’s best customers — those who own multiple iOS devices, who use iCloud email, take lots of photos, and buy and use apps that use iCloud storage and sync — are the ones being boxed in, and even penalized, by iCloud’s storage limits.
Many iOS users will elect to cease backing up their devices rather than pay $40/year to upgrade to the next plan. And of those who do pay to upgrade, some can’t buy a big enough plan even if they want to.
iCloud is one of the paramount services to a great iOS experience, allowing us to keep apps and photos in sync, perform automatic backups, easily set up our new devices, and more. Yet all “magic” of iCloud is at risk from something as silly as a measly storage limit.
Lukas Mathis:
Rather than doing extra upfront work that will provide benefits in the long run, people will continually pick the choice that is easier in the short run.
I know I’m certainly like this, and I have quite a few friends and family members who are as well.
It’s why once a year (-ish), I like to do a “workflow audit”. I try to take a few weeks every year to consider my main areas of work and the tools I use to do those jobs. I try to assess if the tasks I’m doing are still vital to my overall work and life goals and if the tools I’m using to do those tasks are still the best choices.
In short I seek to know if my schedule, habits, and tools are aiding or hindering my pursuit of doing my best creative work every day. And if they are hindering, well, then what am I going to do about it?
Our latest Tools & Toys guide, this one written by yours truly, is all about coffee gear. From beans and recipes, to grinders, coffee makers, and scales — here is what you should get if you want to make awesome coffee at home.
My pal, Scotty McNulty, confirms that the “illumination spotlights” from last year’s model of the Kindle Paperwhite have been fixed. The lighting is now even, and also has more of a yellow tint. Nice.