Phone World

T-Mobile's Censorship Tool Goes Way Off the Mark

T-Mobile’s opt in censorship tool, called Web Guard, is supposed to act as a parental control and block websites containing violence, hate, drug use, pornography, alcohol, and other things kids probably don’t need to be seeing. It’s activated by default on all prepaid accounts but can be opted out of, although for some reason T-Mobile doesn’t provide clear instructions on how to do so. However, a study by the Open Observatory of Network Interference revealed the tool is censoring many sites that don’t fall under any of its predefined categories such as The Internet Archive Way Back Machine, Cosmopolitan Magazine, French TV Guide, a Russian programming site, a Japanese sports site, a religious news site, and more.

When contacted, T-Mobile didn’t have much to say. They claimed that if a site was erroneously censored it was because the Web Guard software picked up certain keywords from it but offered no solutions on how to get the sites off the censor list except to have the software disabled. While the vast majority of adult customers would probably want Web Guard disabled regardless, what about the customers who have children under 18 and want porn, hate, and other such sites censored? By keeping the obviously flawed Web Guard tool on their account, they could be blocking their kids from many harmless sites as well. This is not a new problem. The PC censorship tool Net Nanny was known for blocking sites about breast cancer, civil rights, and other perfectly harmless and legit sites. What these tools don’t understand is that you can’t use keywords to create a censorship list. For example they may think censoring any site with the word “dick” on it would block porn, but it would also block any site that mentions a person with that name, or the English food Spotted Dick. It’s just not that simple!

What To Do If Your Phone Gets Wet

We never intend for it to happen, but it does. Our phones take a bath in a pool, lake, toilet or rainstorm. Does getting soaked mean the end? Not necessarily. Believe it or not, it is possible for a phone to survive, and here’s how to increase those odds.

First, be aware the chances of success depend a great deal on the liquid it was submerged in. If it took its bath in the ocean, I’m afraid you’re most likely out of luck, because the salt in the water quickly corrodes the phone’s innards. Same goes for a bath in a soda or any other sweet liquid. The sugar and acids have a similar affect.

Pool water isn’t much better because of the chlorine, but you have a better chance than if it fell in ocean water or soda. A phone that has fallen in plain water has the best chance.

The first thing to do if your phone gets wet is take the battery out. (If you have an iPhone, turn it off ASAP) Leave the battery out and the back off. If it got wet with pool water or something other than fresh water, a quick rinse with rubbing alcohol (91% only please) or distilled water may help. Pat dry and then submerge in a bowl of uncooked rice. Leave it alone for a few days to a week. Don’t try and turn it on before then-if there is any moisture still inside the phone, doing so will short out it’s circuitry.

If you aren’t patient enough to do the rice treatment, using a hair dryer on low or cool can also be effective in drying it out, as can a sunny window or a spot near a fan or A/C. Don’t place it near on a heat source as further damage could occur.

RIM, Don't Follow in Palm's Footsteps!

I’m proud to be a Blackberry owner. There, I said it. I know RIM is floundering a bit these days and their outage issues have understandably angered many users, but I just love my Blackberry. I love the keyboard (on screen keyboards are useless for serious typing, IMHO) the screen, the powerful email features, the security and the usefulness of my Blackberry. I have an iPod Touch and while I have nothing against the iPhone, it seems like a toy to me. I love Android-have an Android tablet in fact-but I think their handling of email is weak.

That said, I still have a few bones to pick with RIM. First, stop dragging your feet! You’re starting to be just like Palm, and that scares me. Palm used to be at the top of the world. Their PDA phones were hot. If you were serious about your phone being a tool and an all in one communications center, you had a Palm. But then they decided to rest on their laurels and got very lazy. They pumped out new handsets that were really not new at all. They refused to upgrade their OS in any meaningful way for a long time, and once they decided that hey, it might be a good idea after all, took FOREVER to do it and by the time they rolled out WebOS, it was a huge failure because they’d already driven most of their users away. I loved Palm-I had a Palm IIIx, a Handspring Visor, a Sony Clie, and a Palm Centro-but I got sick of Palm’s apathy and snail-like pace and I too left for the sunny fields of Blackberry.

I also have a serious problem with the poor treatment they gave to the Blackberry Style. This was their flip style BB, and honestly it’s a great phone. I know some feel flip phones are dorky, but there is something to be said for being able to protect the screen and keyboard. However, RIM refused to promote it, and so the carriers didn’t either. This led to poor sales and the refusal of many third party accessory makers and app developers to refuse to make their products compatible with the Style. In fact, it’s the only Blackberry you can’t get an extended battery for. I’ll never understand it. Had RIM take some pride in the Style like it does for all their other models, the carriers would have been more excited and maybe, just maybe, the Style wouldn’t have been discontinued after just 6 months.

I hope RIM will learn from Palm’s mistakes before it’s too late.

Apple Sues Samsung-AGAIN

The arrogance continues. Apple has filed yet another lawsuit against Samsung, this time claiming the Galaxy Nexus is infringing on their copyright. Apple is giving itself quite the reputation of being a corporate bully and it seems the death of Steve Jobs won’t change that. They previously managed to get the Samsung Galaxy Tab yanked off the market claiming it looks just like the iPad. (Seriously, how many ways can you design a tablet? Big screen, black bezel...you see one you’ve seen them all.). Now they are pitching a fit over Ice Cream Sandwich, claiming it stole their patent regarding unified search.

Search? You mean the one thing Google is known best for? Yep, it appears so. However this particular patent is related to Siri, Apple’s shiny new voice recognition software. Don’t think for a moment Apple created Siri as a useful tool for iPhone 4S users (the other models of iPhones and the iPod Touch have been snubbed), No. They created it to take search revenue away from Google. Hence the latest lawsuit.

It seems Apple’s unexplainable hatred for Google runs so deep and so vicious they will stop at nothing, not even the risk of damaging their own reputation, to destroy them. It’s rather disturbing. All companies have competitors and perhaps even enemies, but Apple brings it to a whole new level.

Give it a rest Apple. There’s plenty of room for both you and Google to thrive. Stop being so greedy and arrogant. It just may backfire on you one of these days. After all, no one likes a bully.

Security Companies Argue Over Apps in the Android Market

"is it Advertising or Malware?"

Security firms are locking horns over whether a group of apps in the Android Market are malware or not. The apps, all from three publishers, iApps7, Ogre Games and redmicapps are accused by some security firms such as Symantec as containing malware called Android.Counterclank, which is said to act like a botnet and possibly steal personal info from the phone. Other firms disagree saying Counterclank is at best just a piece of overly aggressive adware. What makes the apps even more suspicious is that none of the developers have a website or even any contact info and don’t appear to be actual developers at all. The apps have absolutely no support whatsoever. Their only link is to a site called Apperhand.com, which is completely blank except for the phrase “Hello World!” and which has its domain registration made private. I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want those apps anywhere near my Android!

Malware distributors are turning to Android in droves thanks to its dominance in the smartphone world and the sheer number of devices-everything from phones and tablets to e-readers-that it runs on. The fact that they, unlike Apple, don’t have any sort of preapproval system in place for their app store makes Android even more attractive to hackers and scammers.

To protect yourself, check out apps your are interested in thoroughly before you download them. Read the reviews and look for and check out the developer’s website. Do a Google search for the app as well. If the app is at all sketchy, you’ll find out quickly. Be safe, not sorry.

RIM Makes Changes, But Is It Enough?

RIM announced on Sunday that its CEOs had stepped down from their shared position and from their position as co-chairmen. They were promptly replaced, but will it do much to pump new life into the company that once dominated the smartphone market? Experts aren’t sure and neither am I. At one time, Blackberry was THE phone. If you wanted to be a serious businessperson, you got one. In fact they were so popular they got the nickname “Crackberry”. When they began seeing their popularity grow among consumers, some felt the company was riding high and things couldn’t be better.

Then came the iPhone, and a bit later, Android. Both platforms enjoyed enormous growth in a relatively short time, and even though Blackberry remained the handset of choice for the business world due to its unparalleled email handling and security features.

However, RIM made the colossal mistake of resting on their laurels. They didn’t bother to keep up with Android, where new phone models were released almost monthly, or Apple, whose visually stunning and functional OS made the aging Blackberry OS seem positively clunky. “No”, they said,”we don’t need to. We’ll always be the phone of choice for business. No need to update the OS with things like strong web browsing or multimedia! No need to release updated phone models regularly! They are fine with the old ones!”

Then companies started letting employees use their own phones rather than be locked into using company owned ones and that was the beginning of the end. They’ve lost an unbelievable 90% of their market share. Sadly, it seems they didn’t learn a thing from Palm, which at one time was a top PDA and Smartphone maker until they too decided they could simply rest on their laurels. Palms were great devices and they wasted SO much potential! I’m afraid RIM is about to do the very same thing.

Fancy a Game of Phone Stacking?

Finally, A Solution for Obnoxious Cell Phone Users

As one of those people that can’t stand it when others obnoxiously yak on their cell phones in public—particularly when trying to eat a meal that I’ve paid for—I am very much in favor of this new game that is spreading across the country. It’s called Phone Stacking, and it’s very simple: everyone at the table simply stacks their phones on top of one another in the center of the table during the meal. No one is allowed to answer his or her phone (or to use it in the first place); if so, he or she is deemed the loser of the game and must pay for the entire group’s bill.

You might find this an unfair game to play if you are one of those people who has fascinatingly grown dependent upon your cellular phone, but if you are one of those people, I have to tell you that this is a game to protect the rest of us from your own rudeness. Only ten years ago we would say, “Excuse me while I take this call,” and we would never dream to discuss our private matters in front of others. Now not only do you do this; you also feel the need to call up other people right in the middle of a conversation with someone else—be it a friend or a waitress, in the drive-thru or at the dinner table. You even text without meeting people in the eyes for conversation and you don’t think you’re being rude. You’re just being a typical, modern, busy young person enjoying life, right?

Wrong. You are annoying the hell out of the rest of us, and perhaps even helping to destroy the quality of our lives with your environmental noise. Perhaps this simple game will help you curb your phone addiction while helping the rest of us enjoy our conversation and food.

It’s really a fair game; you don’t have to turn off your phone until after you have ordered your food, and you lose by flipping your phone over. If no one loses, then everyone wins—and everyone pays their own bill. I’d much prefer to keep the phones out of sight myself because I’m just sick of them, but I know that could result in cheating—which is pretty pathetic, when you think about it.

The next time you are dining out with a group of friends—or a notorious texter/caller—see if you can get this game going. Chances are you’ll have a much more enjoyable time, and you might even get a free lunch out of it.