Apple on Monday rolled out dozens of patches including ones for its recently released Sierra operating system, OS X, iOS 10.1, watchOS, and Apple TV’s tvOS, along with fixes for Safari.
Tag Archives: Apple watch
Tech Gifts for Dad 2015
Not surprisingly, nearly two in ten gift-givers this year have said they will be bestowing tech-related gifts on their Dads for the occasion, according to the National Retail Federation. So, what flavor to choose? Here are my six (unscientific) picks:
The Watch
While the Apple Watch might be at the top of the list for the many tech-oriented Dads, the rather hefty price tag ($349-$17K) may put people off. The Apple Watch is also still in its early days and, perhaps, working out the kinks of any new tech entree. Many tech experts are recommending the Samsung Gear as a cheaper alternative.
Health & Fitness
For the fitness stalwart Dad who’s not really into tech for “tech sake”, a FitBit may be plenty to motivate him to work out. But an interesting feature from Spotify, exclusively for runners called Spotify Running, will also figure out your running tempo through your phone and match songs to your pace may be just the ticket. Spotify has combined recommendations based on your listening history, multiple-genre playlists and original running compositions written by some of the world’s foremost DJs and composers – all tuned to your tempo and seamlessly transitioned to ensure you’ll never miss a beat.
“Ahh” Grilling
For the grillmeister, there’s a gift that will make sure Dad never turns out charred hamburgers again…unless he wants them: the Talking Digital Grill Thermometer is a wireless thermometer that can be programmed to grill to one of four levels—rare, medium rare, medium, and well done—and then alert you when the meat is done. Just put the thermometer into meat of choice, and the wireless handset will display how ‘done’ the meat is. It’s wireless, so Dad can mingle with the guests and still be alerted to when everything’s ready. Retail is about $49.00.
Video
Wireless Talking Meat Thermometer
And for a barbecue pioneer, Weber has announced its free app, the Weber Grills App, the all-new and which contains recipes, weekly updates and plus more than 60 grilling guides, tips, and techniques.
But how about the portable grilling briefcase?
While many Dads like to barbecue, many (OK, most of us) don’t like cleaning up afterwards. Here’s a neat device for cleaning: the motorized grill brush with steam cleaning power. ($39.95)
The options are endless!
Cooling Down
What goes better with a barbeque than a cold beverage? For the 60th anniversary of the Coleman Cooler — a staple of BBQs and picnics that most of us can probably remember—Coleman has unveiled a retro-styled cooler sure to please the man in your life. Oh, and it keeps ice cold for three days (good for left-overs). About $200, available at Crate and Barrel.
Travel Organizer
For Dads (or any of us) who travel on business –the hassle of keeping all our gadgets organized is, well… a challenge. Cocoon Innovations’s CPS400 Laptop Case is a shock-absorbent molded case that features its own proprietary organization system—with a rubberized compartment inside the case that holds gadgets firmly in place. It accommodates laptops with up to a 15.4-inch screen and has a detachable/adjustable padded shoulder strap and padded handles. It’s great for organizing laptop accessories, smartphones and other digital devices and can be customized for each individual’s use. (About $70.00, see more info here.)
Handyman
If you’re fortunate and your husband, brother or significant other is a Dad who is handy around the house, consider helping out with the Handyman Calculator. Free on the Android platform, this allows the user to calculate materials, track time spent on projects, and save calculations. As they say, measure twice, cut once. This’ll help. For Apple customers, there’s the Handy Man DIY app ($1.99). These apps will save a lot of time (and money!) on renovation projects that seemed so simple at the start J.
I hope these are a few tech gifts that will allow you and your Dad to enjoy his special day and the summer to come!
TGIF: Wrap-up May 6 – June 5
We have had a busy month with multiple announcements important to Avast customers and company-watchers. Here’s the quick rundown in case you missed it.
Avast SecureMe will launch in the next month or so to protect the new Apple Watch, as well as iPhones and iPads, when connected to unsecured Wi-Fi. That’s sure to make Apple gadget freaks happy. Read Avast SecureMe Protects Apple Watch Wi-Fi Users.
Image via TechRadar
Windows 10 is scheduled to launch in July, and Avast is ready. Avast version V2015 R2 and newer are already compatible with Windows 10. Read Latest versions of Avast compatible with Windows 10.
Avast customers who are using older versions of our Avast antivirus products cannot upgrade to Windows 10, but more importantly they will no longer receive product upgrades or enhancements. We recommend that everyone upgrade to the latest version to benefit from better detection rates and new features. Read Support for older Avast versions will end.
The new Android powered tablets by ASUS come preloaded with Avast Mobile Security, so you are protected right out of the box. Read New ASUS ZenPad to come with Avast Mobile Security.
Want a career with Avast? A new Avast Software office has opened in Charlotte, North Carolina to bring the new free Avast for Business to the U.S. market and beyond. Read The Tar Heel State welcomes Avast Software.
Check out the Avast blog for other news and how-to articles that provide useful information about security, privacy, and Avast products. Have a great weekend! 
Smart Gift Ideas for Grads
A newly released annual Graduation Spending survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF) found the majority of us will give money, with more than 50% giving cash and another 30% presenting gift cards as their graduation gift. Cash and gift cards are especially popular in gifting for people between ages 45-54, who also likely to give/spend more, according to the NRF Survey.
The NRF found, on average, people will spend $102.50 for two grad gifts. More than 10% will buy electronics as a grad gift. And, not surprising, the tech purchasing is trending up from last year, when only 8% bought something tech related.
So what are the best tech gifts for grads?
Recent research indicates that laptops remain among the most popular and practical gifts, especially for high school grads heading off to college. A survey of high school grads, conducted by Impulse Research in 2014 found the majority of students (65 percent) felt a laptop was among the greatest gifts. And, of course, their price point is much more affordable these days.
I suspect smartphones and tablets are not far behind laptops and rising in popularity in terms of your high school grads’ desires – if your grad doesn’t already have a smartphone. (According to comScore, as of December 2014, north of 86% of 13- to 25-year-olds are smartphone owners.) It’s a particularly great gift coming from Mom or Dad, or Grandparents.
CNet has done its expert comparison of the latest in smartphone options, as well as host of other popular smart tech gifts for grads. Among the other top categories on a multitude of grad gift guide lists this year are:
- Apple Watch, no doubt, is driving this category’s interest.
- Digital cameras. Smartphones have become the primary imaging device for people of all ages, but YouTube video creation is driving high interest is in GoPro.
- Headphones and Bluetooth wireless speakers. Fueled by brands like Beats and Jawbone, this is a growing category in the consumer electronics industry.
- Digital TV streaming devices, channel apps and services. Who wouldn’t appreciate a gift of Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Fire TV or Google Chromecast.
Many of the tech gifts listed above skew in appeal toward men 18-34, but not all. Consumer research consistently reveals that women not only use technology, they are early adopters and buy more than men in certain cases – especially when it comes to social media.
So what’s a good tech-oriented gift for the women grads in your life?
At the top of my list for the young women I know is Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In for Graduates. Her original and inspirational Lean In book has been expanded and updated with six additional chapters offering advice on finding and getting the most out of a first job; résumé writing; best interviewing practices; salary negotiating, and more – including leaning in for millennial men.
As for me personally, I have always believed cash to be a safe gift, especially for grads I didn’t know very well. Though, I admit, giving cash is not nearly as satisfying as picking out a thoughtful gift you know the recipient wants. But the latter point is key…
According to a Stanford research study conducted in 2011, gift recipients also more appreciative of gifts they explicitly request than those they do not. The research revealed that recipients appreciated receiving items from their wish list and perceived the requested items to be more thoughtful and considerate. Though the research found the opposite perception among gift givers, who assume that both solicited and unsolicited gifts will be equally appreciated. Likewise, contrary to gift givers’ perception, the research study showed recipients appreciate receiving money much more than receiving an unsolicited gift.
So, perhaps, the best and most thoughtful plan is to ask your grad, in advance, what’s on their wish list— if you don’t already know. That’s what I intend to do…
Happy graduation to all of those who are celebrating this milestone of new beginnings in 2015!
Title image courtesy of collegelife.about.com
Watch OS 1.0.1 for the Apple Watch Released
With Watch OS 1.0.1 Apple has released the first update for its watch. While it doesn’t include any flashy new features you should definitely make sure to install the patch as soon as possible, since it includes fixes for several critical security issues.
One of them is the well known FREAK bug, the SSL/TSL vulnerability which was disclosed in March. The vulnerability can allow hackers to perform a Man in the Middle (MITM) attack on traffic routed between a device that uses the affected version of OpenSSL and many websites, by downgrading the encryption to an easy to crack 512 bits (64KB).
Other than that the update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that could lead to arbitrary code execution, disclose information, cause a denial of service, redirect user traffic to arbitrary hosts, and bypass network filters.
According to Macworld Watch OS 1.0.1 also improves your Apple Watch’s performance, adds seven new languages, and support for new emoji.
To install the new Watch OS just do the following: Open your Apple Watch app on your iPhone and go to My Watch > General > Software Update. Make sure that the watch is within range of the iPhone and connected to a charger. It should also be at least 50 percent charged.
The post Watch OS 1.0.1 for the Apple Watch Released appeared first on Avira Blog.
Apple Watch and the smartwatch revolution
The brand has done an excellent marketing campaign in rolling it out, including high-profile celebrity seedings (Katy Perry, Beyoncé and Christy Turlington Burns, to name a few) and a high-touch, pre-order program that included in-store previews for customized “fittings.”
Initial reports by analysts estimate Apple have already taken 2.3 million pre-orders, giving it the familiar headache of demand outstripping supply.
Some reports indicate the anticipated April 24 ship date has been quietly removed for their website, and Apple’s retail chief acknowledged in internal memos that the watch won’t be available for sale with inventory in its retail stores until June.
Meanwhile, research firm ABI estimates Apple will sell over 13 million Apple Watches this year. Whenever the Apple Watch arrives, it’s a big and much-anticipated step in the wearable marketplace – and one of the major reasons pundits are calling this “the year of wearables.”
No doubt, this is an exciting time and a major step in wearable technology becoming mainstream.
Excitement may be tempered by the mixed initial reaction to the Apple Watch from testers who have concerns over battery life and functionality. Others have had trouble navigating through the various features. You can see a good summary of the media reactions here.
My thoughts? The Apple Watch is certainly more attractive than most wearable technology, having that great Apple sense of style. It has many fitness features (if not all the health apps originally envisioned) and allows you to use Apple Pay along with all sorts of other apps, whose number and magnitude will rapidly increase as third-party developers come along.
Currently, the pricing may be the biggest drawback. I’m not talking about the $10,000 gold watch, but the starting price point of $349/$549 for the sport watch depending on finishes. This, in my view, makes it an early adopter choice and not yet truly mainstream.
Not to be overlooked, is Google’s Android Wear OS for watches –which recently received a major software update to greatly expand its watch capabilities. It comes just in time for the Apple Watch debut and looks to give that smartwatch platform a boost. The Android Wear watches made by Samsung and LG have opening prices in the more demur range of $150-$300. (Researchers estimated that 720,000 smartwatches based on Android Wear shipped in the last six months of 2014.)
For now, these smartwatches all seem like more of a sidekick for our smartphones. An iPhone 5 ($549 unlocked) or above is required for Apple Watch, and an Android device (around $249 and up, depending on the maker) for the Google watch platform. But then, smartphone tethering is the case with most wearable devices today.
Still, it remains to be seen whether the new category of smartwatches will become really useful tools vs. timepiece status symbols. At AVG, we have already integrated our AVG Zen product into smart watches so that you can monitor and control the protection, performance and privacy of your devices with a single touch.
Personally, I will be keeping privacy and data in mind as smart watch manufacturers add more functionality to their devices. Using the Apple Watch as an example, it already has access to my personal health and payment information as well as my contacts, email and calendar.
How smart watches store, transmit and share this information will be a major influencer on whether or not I decide to experiment with a smart watch of my own.
How secure is your smartwatch?
Last week’s Apple Watch launch has put the spotlight back on the ‘smart’ inter-connected watches that are expected to change how we interact with each other and the internet. But how secure are they?
The post How secure is your smartwatch? appeared first on We Live Security.
