Verizon joins the rip-off train

Starting April 22, Verizon will start charging customers $30 to upgrade their phone to a newer model.  Their reaction to the outcry is to tell us that their fee is less than what AT&T and Sprint charge.  Both Sprint and AT&T had been charging $18 to customers for buying new phones with two-year contracts for some time. Sprint doubled its fee to $36 in September of 2011, followed by AT&T in February of 2012, while T-Mobile is sticking to its $18 upgrade fee.

From bogus text messaging rates, to having "unlimited" plans that really are not, the rip-offs don't stop.  If the Department of Justice can go after Apple for E-book scheming, you would think they would have the time to go after these guys. 

Hey Mac Users!..Welcome to life with Windows!

With the recent outbreak of the Flashback virus hitting Mac users worldwide, they have been introduced to a new reality.  The life of a Windows user.  A life where you are consumed with virus and malware threats.  It was bound to happen.  As Apple gained more and more marketshare, it was a matter of time before malware authors turned their attention to Apple users.  

Sales of Mac security software have jumped since the news broke last week about a massive malware infection of Apple computers, according to application statistics and some antivirus vendors.

"We've seen a substantial increase in both sales and downloads of trial versions of our software," said Peter James, a spokesman for French security company Intego. "Part of this is certainly due to Flashback."

I really feel for Mac users.  They have been conditioned into this false sense of security for so long over Mac OS software and now the house is burning down.  Not a good time to work at the Genius bar.

The biggest indicator that this is real is that Apple acknowledged the problem.  Apple is known for not acknowledging anything that might taint the Apple brand.  Apple acknowledged Tuesday that a flaw in Oracle’s Java software has left Macs open to the Flashback botnet.

In a page on the company’s Knowledge Base Web site, Apple said that it is working on a tool to recognize and remove the malware. The company has already released an updated version of Java that plugs the hole, but had yet to release an easy way for the average computer user to find out if they had been already affected by the botnet.

Where do you use your tablet at the most?

You would be wrong if you said the bathroom, although I would understand that answer.  

Eighty-five percent of U.S. tablet owners fiddle around on their tablet while watching TV, according to a new report by marketing research company Forrester.

"Analysts and press have paid much attention to the cannibalistic relationship of tablets and PCs," one of the report's authors, Sarah Rotman, wrote in a blog post today, "but there's another screen whose relationship to the TV is worth considering."

According to the report, tablets, like the iPad, Kindle Fire, and Nook, are taking over both laptops and smartphones as the "couch computer," while also turning the TV into a "dumb" device.

Windows Vista support ends....Tuesday

Many of you know that Windows Vista has gone down as one of the biggest failures in Micosoft history.  This is pretty significant considering the past bombs of Windows Millenium and Microsoft Bob.  In the continued effort to make you forget about Vista, Microsoft has announced that as of Tuesday, free support of Vista will end.  Essentially you are on your own if you have a Windows Vista problem, unless you cough up some money.  The reason for this is simple, they want you to move on to Windows 7 so that you can forget the mess that was Vista.  Actually, good advice Microsoft.

Update on Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 9:20AM by Thom McClain

Correction, I had the wrong day, it was this past Tuesday, not next week!

An alternative to CCleaner...SlimCleaner

For some bizarre reason (to me at least), the most popular content on this website is my explanation on why CCleaner is no longer on Ninite.com.  I had no idea that so many people would be as upset about the removal as I was.  In short, the reason is simple.  Piriform, the makers of CCleaner (and Recuva) get partially funded by Google. Google pays to have the Google Toolbar added as an optional install with CCleaner and Recuva.  Since Ninite strips all additional add-on installs from their site, Google is essentially throwing money away, given the popularity of ninite.com.  Piriform made an easy decision, remove it from ninite and preserve the cash they get from Google.  Simple.  And for those who may write saying that they were not prompted to install the Google toolbar when they installed CCleaner, it is because you already have the toolbar installed.  If the installation detects that the Google toolbar is already installed, it will not prompt you to install again.

If you are tired of the hoops on trying to get CCleaner (really not hard, just open and go to update, or go to filehippo.com, it's always the number one download there, thus on the homepage), try SlimCleaner.  Slimcleaner is essentially CCleaner with one difference, crowd-sourcing.  It takes the recommendations of thousands of users to clean other non-essential files and issues that have been detected by common users.  Worth a try.

Download everything Google has on you

Interesting name, Google Takeout, but the service is straight forward.  Go to the page, log in with your google account and the service will allow you to download everything Google and all its services has on you.  It supports Buzz, Contacts and Circles, Picasa Web Albums, Profile and Stream, but Google promises support for more services and products later on.

Once you recover your data, you’ll be able to save it in open, portable formats, so you should be able to import it to other services easily.

We’ve tried out the service, and it’s really straightforward. You can either recover all your data at once or choose individual services. Google will automatically calculate the estimated size and the number of files in the package, which will show up under the Downloads tab. You might need to enter your password again before downloading the package, which Google says is for security reasons.  If only Facebook were this simple about the information it has on you.