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iOS 7 – New in the best way

Boses Muhinda

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Jun 11, 2013

During Apple’s keynote at the WWDC in California, Apple gave us a sneak peek at the new operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Well the glossy icon appearance has been changed for a rather more plain interface with the icons appearing flat. However the update is now available to Apple developers. The Official launch will be this fall.

Much as a lot has changed Apple says it tried to leave a few thing the way they are so that the interface still feels familiar.

I must say the new interface feels like new born baby, and by this i mean pretty, simple and from pictures powerful, i only have to wait for the official release to test this.
The new iOS 7 will have Airdrop a sharing feature that uses wifi and bluetooth to share files, photos. Then Apple a multitasking features that displays a preview window of the previous apps you have been to on tapping the home button twice and trust me the interface is crisp.

Some of the features that i found really amazing include a feature called “Power control” that has options for you to turn on or off your wifi, bluetooth, play the next track and has shortcut to some of your favourite apps. Similarly there is a notification centre that has a list of events in way that you have a list of today’s events, all events and those you have missed like missed calls, missed events and messages.

The camera has got an update too, you can now take photos in new formats like square for instagram lovers, front and center as well as the previous panorama, still and video modes.
The photo library has made it easier to find old photos by making a collage with all photos for either a previous event together or in eith moments or collections so you wont struggle a lot finding a old photo.

Siri just got improved with new features such as returning calls, playing voicemail, controlling iTunes Radio, and a new look as well as what Apple calls a new natural voice that’s either female or male. Apple goes on to say that Siri is faster at answering questions and checks more sources, such as Bing, Wikipedia, and Twitter.

For those that might lose their costly iPhones, The find My iPhone app now can show your phone number when you lose your phone.

The App store has a simpler interface with a new “Kid zone” where parents and teachers can find apps for children, so finding games just got easy.

And before i forget, iOS7 comes with iTunes Radio that is free on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple TV and wait even on PC free. You can create stations, choose artist and even have Siri to assist you search, more so, iTunes radio apparently gets more personalized the more you listen, well we just have to wait and see.

Remember iOS 7 is compatible with the the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch 16/24/32 GB, the iPad 2, iPad with retina display, and the iPad mini. Well just be a little patient for fall to get these updates on your iOS device.

Photos and video Source: Apple

Apple WWDC [Worldwide developer conference] kicks off

GURU8 Staff

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Jun 10, 2013

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The Apple Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco has started today and we are going to be bringing you live updates on all key and minor occurances at the event. So sit back, relax and let us keep you updated with live feed, no need to refresh and live Video for you to watch.

Lets see whats new from Apple and keep checking for updates on Apple’s keynote.

A lot of bad blood in Windows Phone Ads!

Boses Muhinda

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Jun 5, 2013

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Recently Windows commercials especially windows phone video commercials have gone beyond their purpose of marketing a brand to tarnishing rival brands, at least that’s what they think, though they are not doing it right. Usually I expect an ad to be purely about a product by the advertiser and maybe disguised rivalry however when an Ad actually ignores the informative bit a goes to hitting on rival products especially when the element is using to show rivalry is not that substantial, it actually portrays the advertiser as a little kid showing off his new toy that is actually worse than what the other kid’s toy is. Much as this strategy may give Windows phone some attention because of the rivalry shown in the videos since some may fall for the dirty trick which sometimes is a big deal because different people choose smartphones basing on different reasons.
The Ad that really shows the bad blood the commercial where the Asus windows 8 tablet vs the IPad where it’s clearly pointed out at the end with a comparison of the price of the iPad and Asus windows tablet. Here Microsoft tried to tarnish the iPads’ reputation in a manner I would call unprofessional as ‘Techies are interested in innovation and not some trash talking and innovation also caters for marketing strategies. The idea of showing your rivals price in a commercial is highly an professional and thats what makes me wonder as to wether Windows has a proper marketing strategy since an iPhone commercial will only and only talk about the iphone and they will tell us what they believe not say we are a better than company “x” because of blah blah, Crisp and clear commercials make a lot of sense compared to commercials based on rivalry.
See the Windows ASUS tablet vs the ipad commercial below;
http://youtu.be/86JMcy5OqZA

The one that blows off my hair is the Windows Challenge ad against the iPhone, where “Ben the Pc guy” from Windows Phone tells us to actually to choose the Windows phone over the iPhone simply because you can actually send a text faster, personally I believe Microsoft could have done better than that.

http://youtu.be/6jfKMg3_ykc

And the whole Windows Phone Challenge is seems to be a marketing strategy that competes with other phones usually in one aspect per video commercial. However some of the Ads make sense for example the low light photo shot challenge against the Samsung Galaxy S3.

http://youtu.be/krn7kt_QksI

Well we can’t tell how this kind of rivalry video Ad is financially working for Microsoft to stick to it however I find the Ads very unprofessional and they seem to portray rival products as better or popular devices hence making Windows phone ads seem cheap in terms of brand power.
Much a Windows Phone is a growing platform I believe it needs a better marketing strategy even when rivalry is inevitable in a Commercial, I ought to be brought I a manner that so professional and at least not mention another products’ name. Take a look at the Samsung Galaxy S4 swimming Pool Ad which includes a scene that advertises NFC but does not mention the devices’ name and it rely shows maturity in advertisement.
Another question i keep asking myself is “Do the device manufacturers of windows powered devices like Nokia, Asus etc approve of such kinds of advertisement.
Otherwise keep checking we will be filling you in on the video rivalry and so much more Tech news. And kindly leave us a comment on what you think

Iphone can be hacked using a charger!

Boses Muhinda

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Jun 4, 2013

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The iPhone is among the phones people have found very secure, even professionals have found it extremely hard to jailbreak the iphone.
However Reports from Forbes have actually indicated that iphones can be hacked using a malicious charger.
In the upcoming Black Hat security conference in late July, 3 researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology plan to show off a proof-of-concept charger that they say can be used to invisibly install malware on a device running the latest version of Apple’s iOS!
This finding is quite shocking due to the high reputation the iphone has when it comes to security and the mind blowing idea of being hacked through a charger seems odd but true.

So the iphone users should stop using chargers from strangers otherwise their data might be compromised.

Google Glass won’t recognize your face for now!

Boses Muhinda

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Jun 2, 2013

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Due to privacy concerns, the search engine giant has announced to developers that apps that use facial recognition will not be approved for Google’s wearable device dubbed “Google glass”. Apparently Google is concerned about privacy an issue that has been raised several times especially with people walking around wearing Google glass. So apps like MedRef for Glass an app designed for Doctors that uses facial recognition will just have to be kept away from the glass for now. The message was posted by the Google glass team saying

[quote_center]“We’ve been listening to you, and many have expressed both interest and concern around possibilities of facial recognition in Glass, As Google has said for several years, we won’t add facial recognition features to our Products without having strong privacy protections in place. With that in mind, we won’t be approving any facial recognition Glassware at this time”
[/quote_center]
Some of the privacy advocates are having a sigh because a lot of issues about privacy on the Google glass have been raised on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google +. As some stories about Google glass explorers “cyborgs” as some refer to the wearers, have gone to several places without taking their glasses off including restrooms i.e. “loos” which seems a little creepy.
And speaking of privacy, Google might have a long battle over privacy issues in regarding data protection laws in the USA, worse still the stricter laws in Europe after Google Glass goes beyond the explorer edition into commercial production. How do they intend to stop things like spies in offices or more realistically, movie pirates? Just imagine Google glass was as popular as our regular smartphone and people entered with these devices into cinemas, trust me piracy would definitely increase.
The criticism on Google glass is on the rise however not everyone got their ‘eyes’ on the Google glass Explorer edition so we might not enjoy looking through the glass of the device but those at the front of it are surely having their say which is not that positive.

How to Secure your Facebook Account: An illustrative Guide

Joel Mwanja

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Jun 1, 2013

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Facebook is the number one social network with over 700 million people and it is not surprising that many accounts on Facebook are hacked everyday. The victims end up being disconnected from their online social life and this sometimes leads to stress and other related issues, We have seen how people lose their facebook accounts and they got really frustrated, we survived due to 2 factor verification, so we decided to give you the inside scoop on how to secure your facebook account.

First of all, if you need to access your Facebook account on a PC, no smartphones in this guide, so get to a computer near you and let us get started. Log in to your Facebook account and go to the Account Settings and you should see something like this

Go to the Security tab as it is indicated in the above image. The security area provides several options for securing your facebook account and as you can see

Just to clear the air, Secure browsing only means that your facebook account is set only to connect through a secure connection and if you dare use “ancient” internet speeds, then Facebook shall not give you access to your own account! Login notifications only means that Facebook notifies you incase anyone hacks into your account, these notifications are either via email, SMS or within Facebook, but, this stunt is not anywhere effective, so, the last option of Login approvals is where we should put our focus

So, click on the Login Approvals and make sure you see that paragraph checked, otherwise, you shall have wasted your time coming this far. After clicking on it, a prompt window is shown to you as below,

Read through (that is if you want to be extra careful) and click Get Started. Remember these notifications come as SMS and every network operator is supported across the world, but, that also depends on the network operator policies, in Uganda, MTN, Orange and UTL are on top of the list since these Facebook notifications come easily within seconds. So, after clicking the get started button, you are presented with yet another prompt window looking like this Well, at this point some of you are very worried since you do not possess smartphones, well, do not work yourself up with those thoughts, relax, Facebook is in control. For those of you with smartphones, just select the first alternative and you shall be presented with a task of getting a code generator for your smartphone, but, if you have a feature phone, select the second option and let us keep going by clicking on continue. You shall be amazed by the way Facebook protects your account by simply sending an SMS to your phone and all this is for free!! No charges, no gimmicks, plain and simple, FREE! So, another prompt window is seen and it looks like this

And after reading the Facebook terms for the SMS, click continue and then this is where it gets amazing and confusing at the same time. If you have never included a phone number on Facebook, well, Facebook presents you with an option of including one and if you already included a phone number, well, Facebook automatically uses it and sends you the first SMS code, and a prompt window similar to this one is shown, note the format the mobile phone number is written, so don’t stress asking your neighbor the country code, just do it and when you input the right code, Facebook recognizes automatically!!

So, just click on continue and you shall only be a step away to completion of this great and amazing task, the last prompt window is presented and it is basically a summary of what shall be going on and looks like this. Make sure you check that box shown so that you give no room for hacking.

Having done all that, we wish to congratulate you upon securing your Facebook account and we hope you shall not be worried anymore about hacking and if you lose your phone, well, a contact Us link is presented at the checkpoint page where you can simply follow the simple instructions which Facebook lays out.

Besides that Facebook gives you a list of reset codes you can keep in your wallet after writing them down and you can reset them at any time you feel like. However keep these safe and just in case you lose them please request for new login approval codes from Facebook.

Otherwise we hope you enjoy a secure social networking. And remember to always use a stronger password. And remember to only save browsers that are on your personal devices and avvoid saving browsers on public computer lets say those in Cafes, School labs etc.And for alert purposes you can enable login notifications to know who or when you or anybody esle logs into your account, this might not save you but you might be in time to end the session of the intruder and safeguard your account.

Beware of phising sites that might appear like facebook, however the web address is not https://facebook.com, such sites have a tendency of offering unbelievable promotions or offers on facebook using links but will require you to login again. Such websites store your email address and password. So before you login into any social network website make sure the website in address bar is the official website for the website you are trying to access.

[quote_simple]”Today many social networks and email providers such as Twiter, linkedin, gmail etc have enabled 2 factor verification either by SMS or code-generator and such measure should be taken to secure our online accounts. And much as no sytem is 100% secure, 99% is better than any percentage below it” – Boses, Editor GURU8 [/quote_simple]
And before i forget, keep your phone safe!

Happy birthday: WordPress makes 10 years

Boses Muhinda

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May 27, 2013

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Today the 27th of May, the world’s most popular Content Management System marks 10 years after its release. WordPress has grown from a mere blogging online software to a fully packed CMS. Thanks to wordpress we have an open-source Content Management System we can use to create websites, blogs, forums and micro-social networks. WordPress made it easy for any rookie to create a professional looking blog or website.

Since wordpress has proven to be a high quality CMS, many plugins and themes have been developed giving it a lot of support from premium to free plugins and themes that have improved the user experience and some have dubbed wordpress as the easiet CMS to use.

Much as wordpress has its cons we forget them and celebrate its birthday! Cheers to 10 years of WordPress. 10 years of quality blog and website design using wordpress.
Happy birthday WordPress!
The Guru8 team will be at Hive Collab for the wordpress meet up to share our experience with this great CMS

Xbox One Released

GURU8 Staff

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May 22, 2013

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Microsoft unveiled the latest gaming console in a green lit event in Redmond, Washington. The build of the Xbox One resembles that of a big Decoder hence giving it an angled-glossy black box look and the Controller and Kinect unit have been redesigned. As a set the Xbox One is supposed to provide all your entertainment since this is what Microsoft has designed it to do, from linking gaming, TV and entertainment. Through several gestures and some PC features like Skype, ordering tickets as well as watching Live TV which is done by maximizing or minimizing the screen in the top corner. Live TV is available through the use of an HDMI cable.

One wonders what comes inside this Xbox that’s the size of both your DVD player and Decoder. The Xbox houses an eight-core processor and graphics made by AMD, 8 GB of RAM, a Blu-ray drive, USB 3.0, HDMI in/out, and 500GB of space. Furthermore the new Kinect’s accuracy has been improved and has a 1080p camera which allows Skype connectivity. Microsoft has gone ahead to claim it can read your heart beat. The new Controller has an integrated battery, a better D-pad and improved triggers.

Let’s not forget features like TV on Xbox, Xbox Live and Smart Glass with interactivity with a variety of phones and tablets, in built Wifi Direct and possibility of using second screens. And rumours of deeper Windows integration into the Xbox where an Os is rumoured to be developed to connect the Xbox One to windows devices.

This all comes before the scheduled release of the Playstation 4 which we shall keep you updated about.

Google I/O Livestream. Watch it live here at guru8.net

Boses Muhinda

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May 15, 2013

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Follow the Google I/O Event from San Francisco right here. Live video and announcements from Google. Dont miss a thing!

Apparently “Windows 8 criticisim is harsh…” Microsoft

Boses Muhinda

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May 12, 2013

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Aparently, Windows 8 is getting too much critisism from techies, users and bloggers who have critised the new metro-styled OS and the removal of the start button from the screen, which had the traditional users of Windows a little unhappy. Finally we have had a microsoft official claiming the critism is too harsh. Frank X. Shaw, corporate vice president of corporate communications at Microsoft, wrote on The Official Microsoft Blog on Friday,

” In this world where everyone is a publisher, there is a trend to
the extreme — where those who want to stand out opt for sensationalism and hyperbole over nuanced analysis. In this world where page views are currency, heat is often more valued than light. Stark black-
and-white caricatures are sometimes more valued than shades-of-gray reality. So let’s pause for a moment
and consider the center. In the center, selling 100 million copies of a product is a good thing. In the center, listening to feedback and improving a product is a good thing.”

This leaves microsoft users wondering whether microsoft will make major changes to its rumoured windows 8.1 upgrade. Remember microsoft claims the feedback on Windows 8 has been helpful. Lets hope it does and besides the user interface changes the price should change for the cheaper.

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