Skitch: I think I'm addicted to Evernote.

Skitch is one of those few apps that makes me really wish I had a tablet - or a larger smartphone screen. You've always been able to draw/take actual notes using the app, but one of those drawbacks from the Evernote app (and ecosystem) was the lack of being able to markup PDFs. Well, Skitch has now integrated that ability, and now you can take notes with it. This would have been really helpful during the leadership conference I attended last week in Arkansas (http://scweb.aisnet.org/), as I forgot a notebook and pen at one point and mooched off of a friend for a paper. These apps are what's making investing in a tablet/smartphone (LARGE smartphone, in my case) so appealing. They make it so easy to have a one-stop app, and the Evernote ecosystem integrate so seamlessly with each other that it makes it a much needed tool.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2036091/skitch-brings-markup-tools-to-evernote-pdfs.html

Robots - iPhone Robots

I was skimming through articles on Wired.com, and I saw one that said something about the common man’s robot being headless… so I decided to check it out. The article started out discussing how we have all these cool technological devices in our homes, but no robots, even though that was a big thing of the sci-fi future before. This group got together and created a base (with wheels, so it’s movable) for an iPod/iPhone. You download the Romo app (that’s what the robot is called), and it gives the device a face, and it’ll even change features and track you with the sensor. They’re working on creating a lot more advances for it, such as facial recognition between family members and friends, so that it has a “personality”. You can control your Romo with another iOS device, so you could potentially use your outdated phone as the “brain” and face of the Romo, and your current phone as the controller. It looked like they’re even attempting to bring this to the Android market, as well. I think it’s really interesting how our smartphones have become central to our lives, and this is just an example. Our phones are finding ever more uses in our lives and how they interact with us daily. The hardware and the software is there, we just have to learn how to apply it all in a way that is affordable for the “common consumer”. One of the great things about this is that the team opened up the software coding and everything to let other developers create programs that are compatible with Romo, and thereby making it even better and a bigger part of the consumer’s life. One of my favorite parts about the article was the video at the end that gave a spiel about Romo, which I have included a link to on this page.

http://www.wired.com/business/2013/02/common-mans-robot/
http://vimeo.com/51263340#

A Geeky Valentine's Day

Because it's Valentine's Day, I felt like it would be nice to share some fun articles I found for geeky/techy Valentines. I chose them because, well, I am a geek. Mashable's article is focused more on decorating/personalizing your gadgets, which is always fun. For example, I've had this phone case I bought last summer that holds my three most important cards: my driver's license, my debit card, and my room key. It's the coolest. Anyway, there's some cool cases and what-not on Mashable, so if you want ideas for gifts in general, it's a good place to start. PCWorld also did an article with 15 products they love. I love them, too. There's some really cool products there that I didn't know existed, like Up and Livescribe Sky, which I am now lusting after. They also pointed out the Steam platform (that I, of course, have) as one of the cool products. There's speakers, keyboards, software, and all sorts of fun stuff packed into their article. Go have fun with it!

Mobile Updates

Yes, I'm paying attention to the cell phone tech world right now, so we get another post about iPhones! Apple released an iOS software update, and I have been delaying on updating for weeks (no real free time to just let my phone update itself). I actually decided to look up reviews about the new iOS before I got any of the problems that may be contained, and I'm glad I did. It has bugs. Vodafone (UK iPhone carrier) has announced that the update is causing problems with 3G connectivity for the iPhone 4S. One of the other problems that has come to light is that the new update drains the battery, and it's a huge problem. This isn't an unusual problem, but I just noticed it on headlines and articles while scrolling through updates about iOS 6.1. People who used to get through the day on one charge now can't. I can't make it through the day anyway on one charge, and I don't want to see what would happen if I got the new iOS. I'd probably make it a couple of hours before needing a charge, and that's not a possibility for me. Hopefully Apple will get this fully fixed soon, and I can get my phone updated.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/02/vodafone-warns-iphone-4s/

Jailbreak

For the longest time, I never quite understood what "jailbreaking" your phone was. And I didn't really care about it, as I was perfectly fine with using my iPhone with only iPhone apps, and I felt it was other people's choices to jailbreak their phones or not. I came across an article on Wired about how Apple was trying to prevent federal regulators from legalizing jailbreaking. They stated that it could bring about "'potentially catastrophic' cyberattacks", however all of the cell towers are still up and working. Jailbreaking allows users to run whatever apps they would like, rather than being limited to just that particular App Store, by giving root access to your device.

I can definitely see the potential for attacks that this enables, but the jailbreak is able to be done by exploiting five bugs that are already in the code for iOS. I feel like if a person is serious about attacking others, then they wouldn't do it through their mobile phone or even their tablets. They would most likely want to use their laptop or desktop computers, but that's my opinion and I feel like I have more flexibility and control over my laptop than over my cell phone.

Apple has stated that they have put in these protection measures in the iOS devices to help prevent jailbreaking and the potential threats that accompany it. However, I feel like this needs to be treated similar to our computers. I have protective measures in place to help prevent myself from being attacked/exploited/damaged. I am sure that if I truly had the desire to attack others (which I don't), then I could. I don't have that desire, so instead I take protective and preventative measures to protect myself from those attacks. I would be okay with doing the same thing for my phone, honestly, if that would be what could help protect my data.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/02/cell-towers-survive-jailbreak/