The FBI has officially taken down members of the hacker group LulzSec with the help of one of their own.
Was I against LulzSec? Not necessarily; however, this hacker group is certainly different from Anonymous hacks (primarily DDoS), which would be against government agencies perceived as doing wrong (those that supported SOPA, PIPA, etc). The most infamous LulzSec hack would be taking down Sony’s PlayStation Network. The group left PSN in shambles for nearly a month and caused many security concerns, such as exposing users credit card information. This was done for seemingly no reason; however, Anonymous seems to try to show some “patriotism” with their hacks while LulzSec would hack just for fun (lols or lulz).
Following the trend of it’s online offerings, Google has officially combined all of it’s mobile services into one; Google Play. The new hub provides apps, music, movies, games, and eBooks to users in one centralized location. However, this change does not come without the usual criticisms. The latest blog postings are showing that users are confused by the name change to Google Play, stating that it is weird and doesn’t make much sense.
On the other hand, I can see why Google wants everything unified under one roof; Google Play just happens to be a name that it will take some time to get used to. Better name suggestions:
Google Market
The Market
Google Store
Any of the above names could’ve worked just as well if not better. Regardless, it is great to see a unified ecosystem for everything Google.
Bottom line: We will get used to the change; at least everything is in one place.
Love Apple or hate Apple; regardless of what end of the spectrum you fall under, when there is tech news to be heard technology fans rejoice.
Today, there will be a constant stream of updates to this post regarding the events happening at Apple’s event; view live blogs as well as opinions on the release below:
With the new metro tiled iteration of Windows being splattered across the web due to the recent Consumer Preview release eyes are on Microsoft.
The latest tests have shown that this copy is actually very responsive with a mouse and keyboard; one aspect that was thought to be lacking since Microsoft is aiming across the board at multiple platforms. One important feature to make note of is that fact that the traditional desktop is still there and can be used just like Windows 7. In addition, the more one looks at the Windows 8 platform it seems more and more like Windows 7 with a new “launcher” on top of it. The core features will not change; yet the added features will bring more social media and apps right to your fingertips.
Motorola, Samsung, LG, HTC, Huawei, and more apply their own custom user-interfaces atop of the Android operating system. However, the question that should be asked is what is so wrong with the operating system that makes that custom UI useful? Launchers and other interfaces that can be put on top of stock Android can potentially slow down and make for an unstable experience. This is one reason that many users avoid Android is because it looks so different across the manufacturers that Google allows to use it. With the advent of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Google has told manufacturers that they must keep the original coding their to ensure that apps work properly so end-users (you, the customer) do not suffer in the end.
As a Samsung Galaxy Nexus owner, I have become more and more of an Android purist and these themes and customizations appear more useless and cluttering everyday. The user should decide what their phone looks like and has on it, including the pre-installed bloatware that manufacturers love to put on devices in order to get you to spend money.
Bottom line: Pay close attention to Android devices that are released and you will deem this as an issue to. Simple is best, Android is about customization; but it is best left up to the user.
Tech for the masses, meant to empower, educate and inform by Dexter Johnson.
Was I against LulzSec? Not necessarily; however, this hacker group is certainly different from Anonymous hacks (primarily DDoS), which would be against government agencies perceived as doing wrong (those that supported SOPA, PIPA, etc). The most infamous LulzSec hack would be taking down Sony’s PlayStation Network. The group left PSN in shambles for nearly a month and caused many security concerns, such as exposing users credit card information. This was done for seemingly no reason; however, Anonymous seems to try to show some “patriotism” with their hacks while LulzSec would hack just for fun (lols or lulz).
DexJohn's PC 