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Cheers to the folks at LogMeIn for taking care of existing customers. Several people, myself included, purchased the Ignition app for $20 (before they had a free app and a $99 app, there was a single $20 iOS app), and these people will retain full control via their mobile app whether or not they ever upgrade to the Pro tier of service.

We hope as a LogMeIn Ignition customer you are enjoying your complimentary 6-month subscription of LogMeIn Pro. We’re reaching out to help clear up any confusion surrounding the recently announced change to LogMeIn Free and clarify what the changes mean for Ignition app users.

The discussion on The Prompt last week (episode 31) sparked a series of thoughts for me regarding whether or not Apple is even considering an iPad Pro (12.9") and what exactly the device would be. Despite being an unlikely product for the near term, it is an interesting discussion.

Federico gives three scenarios: #

1. Just a larger iPad. Same iOS, same hardware features, larger (12.9") screen.
2. iPad Pro with substantial hardware and software feature changes.
3. Hybrid device, or “convertible” as Intel calls them.

Let’s be clear here, Federico isn’t making the case for any of the three options, this is merely a game of “what if” that we’re playing. I think it is also important to preface this analysis with an immensely relevant comment from the podcast -

30 years, a lot of progress. The Mac sold for $5,594 in today’s dollars and had 400KB of storage. 

It pains me to see the free tier getting discontinued, but I understand it. I have used LogMeIn for many years to manage my always-on PC server at home, to remote into my laptop if a security camera appears offline, and more. I paid $20 for the app before they offered a free one and never regretted it.

Thankfully in today’s market, there are free options to replace it.

The breach of data from Target (along with Neiman Marcus and reportedly a few more) seems to be getting worse by the day. There are some things I find highly concerning.

First, some facts. #

1. Attacks started on November 27, 2013 (just in time for Black Friday).
2. The attack went unnoticed until December 15, 2013, over two weeks later.
3. Hackers got names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers of 70 million people; 11GB of data total.
4. Siphoned data has been sent to Russia and who knows where else from there.
5. Attackers used a RAM scraper to capture un-encrypted data from point-of-sale systems after the credit card swipe, but before it was encrypted and sent to a central location for routing to the credit card companies.
6. Target and Neiman Marcus both passed all annual compliance testing for their handling of credit card data by the credit card industry standard (PCI-DSS).
7. A similar attack happened in 2005.

Why does this keep happening? #

The short answer is pretty simple, as disappointing as it is. The industry standard is subpar, retailers are too cheap to upgrade, and people are frequently reactive in nature. Now there’s something to react to, let’s see if it works.

Looks like Samsung is putting some effort into design cleanliness. Not something they’re exactly known for. The question is whether they’re giving the UI a genuinely fresh overhaul, or are we seeing a friendly face with the same Samsung clutter behind it?

It is worth mentioning that the “Samsung clutter” does enable a lot of niche uses for users, but it certainly doesn’t lend itself to a clean user experience.

Java is a nice introductory language, it is pretty ubiquitous, and it is platform agnostic. Those are likely the primary reasons for schools using it so frequently in computer science departments, the University of Colorado does anyway (and interviews I’ve conducted lead me to believe that is normal).

When Cisco reported that 91% of attacks exploited Java vulnerabilities, it triggered some concerns.

1. Just take a minute and think about how shocking this is.
2. Android is largely written in Java. No surprise that Android sees 97% of malware in the mobile space.
3. Schools are too slow to adapt to changes in the real world.

Path is a simply wonderful social network. I connect with my close friends and family and we use the app to share more intimate moments that aren’t appropriate for the public or large following of acquaintances. The app is beautifully designed on iOS, it is acceptable on Android, and now has finally launched for Windows.

Path has enjoyed noteworthy success, though is not, and will never be, the next Facebook or Twitter. The fact that it took them this long to launch on the Windows platform goes to show how much Windows is struggling in the smartphone realm. This isn’t to say the platform isn’t good, but it seems too be too little too late.

Top 10 This… Top 25 That… or just plain slide shows of a new car… somehow we still have websites that don’t use dynamic slideshows. What is dynamic? Clicking ‘Next’ and having the photo advance without having to load anything else on the page, let alone the whole page. That is dynamic.

AutoBlog is just a notch under unbearable. They load a whole new page for the first photo, but subsequent photos load dynamically.

If we reported on every screen size, material, product, and mold shape that Apple has tried, it would be like drinking from a fire hose. I’m not saying new screen sizes won’t appear in new devices eventually, but let’s be realistic.

• iPad “Pro” - Nope*.
• Larger iPhone - likely in the next 2 years. I would expect an announcement related to vector-izing graphics in the OS to be part of this.
• Smart “Watch” - I don’t see what Apple has to gain here. I think Gruber’s idea of a new iPod with a watch strap is more likely, but even that isn’t something I’d bet on. Once battery technology improves, I think this could change. Right now the batteries needed are far too large for a device worthy of the Apple brand.

*The time frame on the “nope” projection is 2-3 years. Not happening.