Review of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

This is my review of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Your mileage or experiences may vary as I can only base this on how this update has affected my Galaxy Nexus after the OTA update (on a phone that was having a few issues, so was probably due a factory reset anyway).

Minor update?

This update came a little out of nowhere. The software came out to coincide with the release of the new Nexus devices - the 'direction of the OS' hardware, produced with Google's direct guidance by the OEMs. Each new Nexus device has coincided with the release of a new version of Android, those releases being named after sweets and puddings (gingerbread, honeycomb, ice cream sandwich...) most of these have been "dot upgrades" in that the version numbers have increased by a whole number, or a decimal and had a new tasty name.

Photosphere - a review

View it properly on Google Plus

On Tuesday this week I was rather pleased to observe the notification on my Galaxy Nexus that Android 4.2 (still called Jelly Bean) was ready to install.

I plan to post a more full review of that in the coming week or so, but for now I wanted to give a short review of one of the much talked about gimmicky features... Photosphere

Online security: Using a subscription VPN

As I described in the Open Wifi post, the dangers of free Wifi are well worth considering before you connect to the internet in a coffee shop.

One very effective solution is to connect through a secure tunnel to a VPN server, which can either be set up at home on your computer, or be a paid-for service from one of the many companies online.

In this part of the VPN thread I will describe how to choose a suitable service, and then how to set it up for use on your laptop or smartphone device.

Free Wifi is scary!

The internet is such a part of our lives these days that it almost seems like a right not a privilege. 

Because of that we might be forgiven to consider it separate from our normal realisation that nothing is really FREE, that there is a price there, however hidden.

And with 'FREE WIFI' that price is your security.

Why did I get hacked? (Part 1: my story)

If you have your own webpage and have never been hacked you may think it is only something that happens to those 'other people' you hear about. Maybe major companies like Sony or LinkedIn. People with valuable data, or somewhere the hacker can make a big statement.

I KNOW you think that, because I thought that too - until I got hacked myself.

How are websites storing my details?

Websites store a lot of information about us - from our names, DoBs, addresses and email addresses to bank details and other sensitive data.
How do they deal with the responsibility of holding this stuff, and what do they do to keep us safe from marauding naughties?