iPhone

Apple Inc. and You by Richard

If you got an iPhone then you are aware that Apple knows alot about you. You can run, but you can't hide!

Your identity

Apple knows your age, name, gender, date of birth, marital status, email address, telephone number, zip code, city, state, country and home address as soon as you register for an Apple account.

Your credit card information

Apple has your credit card information since you buy applications, music and movies from iTunes and the App Store.

Your outdoor location

Apple uses the GPS, Cell Tower Triangulation and WiFi access points in your iOS device to know your current and frequent locations.

Your indoor location

Apple uses iBeacon or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for micro-location geofencing, a highly accurate monitoring system for locating you inside buildings and malls at least in the US.

Your behaviour

Your purchases allow Apple to understand you and your behaviours as well as when you buy, how much you buy, what triggers your buying behaviors, just look at what the Genius recommendation service does.

Your movement

Apple’s new M7 movement coprocessor uses your device’s accelerometer, compass and gyroscope to keep track of your motion. It knows when you’re running, walking, driving and even sleeping.

Your health

Several apps monitor your heartbeat and how you sleep, as well as your blood sugar level and more depending on your apps.

Your face

Apple knows how you look since the pictures that are taken with your iOS device are stored on their iCloud servers. Apple can run these images through facial recognition algorithms and recognize you.

Your family & friends

Apple knows your family and friends since you are connected with your iOS device are stored on facebook, google+, LinkedIn...

Your voice

Apple stores your questions, messages and stern commands which you whisper to Siri for up to two years.

Your fingerprint

Apple stores your fingerprint in order for you to unlock your device and for prompt payments on iTunes and the App store.

...and FYI Apple join US government’s PRISM data mining program.

iPhone 5s with 4G LTE or not by Richard

LTE often labelled 4G for marketing purposes stands for Long Term Evolution and is a form of cellular wireless connection that represents a significant upgrade to 3G in terms of data speeds.

The marketing of 4G is often misleading in the US, 4G services delivering often 0.38 Mbp/s.

Sweden has the fastest LTE network, averaging 22.1 Mbp/s. Surprisingly Japan has the slowest at just 7.1 Mbp/s. The technical definition of 4G is that it should have data speeds capable of reaching 100 Mbp/s while on moving transport and 1 Gbp/s when stationary. 

Sweden's three operators launched its LTE network in late 2011, and is still building it out today. The operator hopes to hit 95 percent coverage by population by next year.

Apple's new LTE-enabled iPhone's does not support or are poorly supported by 4G networks in Europe, LTE on iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s and iPhone 5. However the manufacturers like Samsung, Sony, Nokia, HTC, Huawei and LG are producing 4G smartphones, tablets and routers, reaching peek speeds in Sweden.

To choose between the iPhone models is not clear, depending where you live and where you travel! 

Can I use the iPad charger with the iPhone? by Richard

All Apple chargers are 5 volts. Amps is the amount of current flowing into your device to charge your battery. Watts are easily calculated V x A = W

  • iPhone charger is 5 volts and is 1 Amp so it has 5 watts
  • iPad charger is 5 volts and is 2.1 Amp so it is 10 watts

Now you see the problem? Will it work Yes, but you are forcing to much current to your battery. End result is that you are decreasing the life time of your iPhone battery.

Next iPhone Will Track You by Richard

Apple's new operating system for iPhones and iPads, iOS 7, will track your movements and save your "frequent locations". I recently downloaded iOS 7,4 to my iPhone and discovered that iPhone logs my complete movements. In order to change this new default setting:

  1. Settings →
  2. Privacy →
  3. Location Services →
  4. System Services (at the bottom) →
  5. Frequent Locations

 Frequent Locations feature that tracks your GPS coordinates to learn about places you visit often seemingly to give you suggestions of nearby places but I am finding it more PRISM-style than helpful.

Here are my latest movements, if you ask Apple... 

fit for beach 2013 by Richard

Fitness tracking gadgets are everywhere. Even the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone have a built-in fitness tracker, in iPhone apps like Map My Fitness and DailyBurn; in a device on your wrist if you own a Nike+ Sportswatch, Jawbone Up and the Nike FuelBand, Fitbit Flex or a Pebble smart watch.

The quantified self-concept sounds a lot more intense than it really is. The idea is simply that using wearable tech to collect detailed data about everything you do, eat and feel will reveal patterns and correlations that can help you improve your life. Quantifying yourself is not the same as improving yourself.

So will this fitness tracking gadgets change your life? No, it's your will and character that can change your life. But maybe this devices makes us more conscious, just because we're paying attention.

Do you think that the mobile devices and indirectly the telecom operators are getting to much data from you, or that the Fitness Tracker's just fix your new look for the beach 2013?

You can check out, but you can't leave by Richard

As the Internet infiltrates commerce and social life more each day with our help, more users are aware that their personal information is becoming less and less personal. These experts on privacy admit and agree that not only should there be more innovation that closes the rift between consumer privacy and sharing practices, but there also needs to be new technology deleting your data from the web.

Never thought about how to disappear or at least reduce your presence on internet? In fact, it is not difficult, with a little effort and a software called “DeleteMe”.

DeleteMe is a partially human-powered service where their employees take on the onerous duty of contacting data brokers on your behalf. That's an important step because many of them have been known to add your data again, just months after removing it. Since January 14, DeleteMe Mobile comes with one free entry removal or 3 month subscription $24.99.

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“New email” alerts with NO sound by Richard

Are you annoyed by the fact that you can't receive a "new email" without any sound from your iPhone? There is no built in feature for a silent “new email” alert. Either you have sound plus vibration or nothing at all provided by Apple.

Adding a silent ring tone and assigning it to the “new email” alert will just do the trick. Here is the how you do:

  1. Download the file: silence ringtone for iPhone
  2. Unzip it
  3. Drag it to you iTunes library
  4. You’ll find the file now under  ”Tones”
  5. Connect your iPhone and drag the silent file to your iPhone. The iPhone will recognize the file and it will be available for you
  6. On you iPhone, Go to Settings, Sounds and further down the list, you’ll find “new email”
  7. Choose the "silent" sound

Then if you like to add a “flash” alert, here is how you do;

  1. On you iPhone, Go to Settings and General
  2. Further down the list, you’ll find “Accessibility”
  3. Turn on “LED Flash for Alerts”

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The snail mail postcard is back by Richard

The cool vintage postcard is booming after being beaten by e-mail services severely for the last decade. Several initiatives are taken around the globe, to promote the pleasure of receiving something in your mailbox, that is nor an invoice or advertising; just a post card for you!

A website and movement called Postcrossing shows how “the slow movement” is good for your personal ego and towards your fellow human beings. The goal of this project is to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world. The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you will receive one back from somewhere in the world.

But a postcard can be delayed, read this story.

You can produce instant postcards and send them via your iPhone or Android device. Your personal postcard will then be printed and posted. Try out Cards otherwise the less expensive Postagram or Touchnote.

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