IDC Crystal Ball Smartphone Prediction

IDC on Tuesday revealed their predictions for  the “worldwide” Smartphone market in 2015.  One thing true today that will be the same in 2015 is that the Android will be the clear winner. 

 

In less than three years the Android has gone from non-existent to top of the sales charts.  The Apple iPhone had almost an 18 months head-start on the Android Smartphone.  While the Windows Smartphone Operating System (O/S) was first developed more than 10 years ago they have garnered very little attention in the marketplace.  The BlackBerry was the clear winner for a long-time, but has failed to innovate substantially, (to date) recently.  Although BlackBerry still has and will have loyal fans for a long time.

 

You might be saying to yourself:  “How will the Windows Smartphone O/S be second in sales, ahead of the Apple iPhone Smartphone by 2015”?  The reason is this:  Nokia, the worlds largest cell phone maker made a deal with Microsoft to exclusively utilize the Windows Smartphone O/S in all its Smartphones.  Nokia, a longtime proponent of their Symbian platform will put all of their future resources into Windows Smartphone devices.  Note that this is for Worldwide Sales and not just the United States. Sales locally will most likely be far lower than those of other countries. This partnership between Nokia and Microsoft should push Microsoft to be more innovative than they have been in the past with their Smartphone O/S. 

It will be interesting to look back in four years to see where the market stands.  Right now the Android O/S appears to be the big winner.  Apple needs to develop a lower-end device to be competitive so, don’t count them out as well.  Let’s see if Research in Motion (RIM - BlackBerry) and  Microsoft can make any major inroads against them.

Glasser Tech is a Full Service Technology Company based on Long Island, New York.  We specialize in software, hardware and networking for small businesses.  Our expertise is in the area of Law Office Automation.  If you would like to know more about the services we offer call (516) 762-0155

Visit our Website

Serve Mobile Payments by AmEx

 

Monday American Express entered the game in the rapidly growing electronic payments arena with Serve. 

 

 

Serve allows consumers to make in many different ways. The Serve account can be funded from a bank account or a debit, credit or charge card. Payments can be made into the account online, via mobile phones or at any store that accepts American Express.  Money can also be received from other Serve accounts much like PayPal's service does.  For ultimate mobility Serve works with the Apple iPad and iPhone as well as Android Devices.  A BlackBerry App is also in the works.

 

Glasser Tech is a Full Service Technology Company based on Long Island, New York.  We specialize in software, hardware and networking for small businesses.  Our expertise is in the area of Law Office Automation.  If you would like to know more about the services we offer call (516) 762-0155

Visit our Website

Pixel QI - Innovative Display Technology

One of the main issues with display technology is that they work poorly in direct sunlight. Pixel Qi has come up with a display that works great indoors as well as outdoors. In addition to being highly readable the display can use up to 80% less power thus allowing for devices with a much greater battery life. They are licensing this technology called “Transflective 2.0” to hardware vendors. Look for devices with this innovative technology later this year.

For the latest information about Pixel Qi read their blog: http://www.pixelqi.com/blog1/

If you would like to know more about the services we offer call (516) 762-0155 Visit our Website

Microsoft Releases Security Advisory

 

This week Microsoft released a security advisory warning that one of their trusted Root Certification Authority Partners-Comodo, issued 9 fraudulent digital certificates for some very popular domains including:

• login.live.com
• mail.google.com
• login.yahoo.com
• login.skype.com
• addons.mozilla.org
• “Global Trustee”

While Comodo has already revoked the fraudulent certificates, Microsoft released a Windows update that revokes these signatures.  If you have enabled automatic updates, you may have already received it.  Otherwise be sure to click download and install it.  

 

Michael Glasser's Linked In Page    

 

 

Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft recently released Internet Explorer 9. While Microsoft Internet Explorer is still the leading Internet browser they have been rapidly losing market share to the likes of Firefox, Google Chrome and even Apple's Safari.

Interestingly Microsoft has forgone a large part of their market with this new release. Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) is only Compatible with Windows 7 & Windows Vista Computers. They chose not to provide support for all the computers running Windows XP – which is still almost about 50% of the computers running a Microsoft Windows Operating System. So for those of you running Windows XP skip the rest of this.

Top Internet Explorer 9 Features:

• Improved Performance – Implementing Hardware Acceleration IE9 is able to take full advantage of the processing power of todays computers. Websites become faster and more responsive.
• Streamlined Interface – The address bar, tabs, and navigation buttons are now on a single row.
• Tab Pinning: Tabs can be pinned to the Windows 7 task bar. Right click on the IE9 task bar icon to bring up a a menu of Pinned and Frequent Websites.
• Download Manager: Capability to manage downloaded files in a simple interface.
• Tracking Protection Lists: Allows the user to determine which websites to allow browsing tracking, and which sites to block that do not implement good privacy practices. NOTE: This feature is Off by Default. To turn it on Click Settings (The Gear Icon on the far right of the IE9 Toolbar) then Safety then Tracking Protection
• SmartScreen Filter: Verifies websites against Microsoft’s blacklist and blocks known malicious sites.
• Add-On Performance Advisor: Looks at your installed add-ons and tells you which ones are slowing your browser down the most and allows you to disable them.

Before installing IE9 check compatibility with any special websites you visit on a regular basis. Banking and Brokerage websites particularly could be of concern. I checked the LexisNexis Requirements for online Research and IE9 is not mentioned yet – this does not mean it will not work.

Internet Explorer 9 is a step in the right direction. With its new security and performance enhancements it is now on par with their main competitors Firefox and Google Chrome. I will have to use it more over the next couple of months and will reserve final judgment.

If you would like to know more about the services we offer call (516) 762-0155 Visit our Website

PCLaw and IE9

Compatibility issues with PCLaw and IE9

Microsoft has now released Internet Explorer 9. PCLaw Customers on certain older versions who upgrade their browers to IE9 will have compatibility issues that may render PCLaw inoperable.

Impacted versions of PCLaw include:

• PCLaw v. 10 SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4 and SP5 with HF1 or HF2



• PCLaw v. 9



• PCLaw v. 8



• Current unsupported versions PCLaw v.7 and earlier.




To fix this issue, we recommend that you upgrade PCLaw to v.10 SP5HF3 before upgrading to IE9 and/or uninstall IE9, which will automatically re-set the web browser to the previously installed version on the machine. We recommend that you have Internet Explorer 8.




If you need assistance upgrading your PCLaw to the current version, please contact our office at 516-762-0155.

ADOBE FLAW




An unpatched Flash Player flaw is being used in 'targeted attacks.' Adobe announced on Monday, however, that a fix will not be available until the week of 3/21/11.


There are reports that this vulnerability is being exploited in targeted attacks via a Flash (.swf) file embedded in a Microsoft Excel (.xls) file delivered as an email attachment," Adobe said in a security advisory.


If you get an "unexpected" email, with an Excel (.xls) spreadhsheet attached, do not open it. Contact the sender and verify the legitimacy.

Return to LinkedIn

Firefox Critical Update

Firefox 3.6.14 Update Corrects 11 vulnerabilities

Summary:

· These vulnerabilities affect: Firefox 3.6 x and 3.5 x for Windows, Linux and Macintosh

· How an attacker exploits it: Typically by enticing one of your users to visit a malicious web page

· Impact: Various results; in the worst case, an attacker executes code on your user’s computer, gaining complete control of it

· What to do: Upgrade to Firefox 3.6.14 (or 3.4.17), or let Firefox’s automatic update do it for you

Solution Path:

Mozilla has released Firefox 3.6.14 and 3.5.17, to correct security vulnerabilities. If you use Firefox we recommend that you download and deploy version 3.6.14 as soon as possible. If for some reason you must remain with Firefox 3.5 x, make sure to upgrade to 3.5.17.

Note: The latest version of Firefox 3.6.x automatically informs you when a Firefox update is available. We highly recommend you keep this feature enabled so that Firefox receives its updates as soon as Mozilla releases them. To verify that you have Firefox configured to automatically check for updates, click Tools=> Options=>Advanced tab=>Update tab. Make sure that “Firefox” is checked under “Automatically check for updates.” In this menu, you can configure Firefox to always download and install any update, or if you prefer, only to inform the user that an update exists.

As an aside, attackers cannot leverage many of these vulnerabilities without JavaScript. Disabling JavaScript by default is a good way to prevent many web-based vulnerabilities. If you use Firefox, we recommend you also install the NoScript extension, which will disable JavaScript (and other active scripts) by default.

               

Top Apps for Your Android Phone

Top Must have Apps for your Android Phone

Android Apps (short for Applications) are mobile software designed for running ont he Android operating systems, which is one of the most popular platforms used in cellphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

Since Android was introduced, more than 200,000 Android apps have been developed and available for download from the Android Market, the online software store developed by Google, but not all are free. To help you to get what are the best and free, we have selected some gems in each category and added them here in a single convenient list.


Best Free File Manager-Astro File Manager

Best Free Online Back up-Dropbox

Best Free Program Launcher-Apps Organizer

Best Free Tast Manager-TaskPanel XTRA

Best Free Media Player-QQPlayer

Best Free Music Player and Organizer-Astro Player Nova

Best Free Video Sharing-YouTube

Best Free Business Card Reader-CamCard Lite

Best Free Barcode Scanner-Barcode Scanner

Best Free Office Suite (viewer)-Documents to Go

Best Free Calendar-Calendar Pad

Best Free PDF Reader-Adobe Reader

Best Free E-Book Reader-Kobo

Best Free Notepad and Notebook-Springpad

Best Free Dictionary-Free Dictionary

Best Free Translator-Google Translate

Best Free Map/Navigation-Google Maps



Your phone can be a great tool to help you be efficient and productive. We hope that you find these apps useful. If you have a great app that you would like us to know about, e-mail us at solutions@glassertech.com.