Microsoft made a major splash a few years back when they announced that the NFL would be using the Surface tablets on the field and in the locker room for various aspects of team management. Up until now it really only caught the media’s eye briefly when commentators mistakenly identified the Microsoft tablets as Apple iPads, a stinging verdict on the strength of both Microsoft and Apple’s branding. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the Surface tablets were correctly identified this time at the recent AFC Championship game between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos. Unfortunate because the Patriots were experiencing technical difficulties with the devices at a crucial moment in the most important game of the season. As you’d expect, the internet had a field day with this, even though the the technical difficulties were quickly overcome, and the Patriots carried on.
What this means for you:
Rather than taking an easy opportunity to poke fun at Microsoft as you might expect, I’m more interested in making sure everyone grasps the more important lesson here. Even though the Surfaces had become an important part of sideline operations during a game, the Patriots were able to keep moving forward with their critical processes because the Surface tablets weren’t a single point of failure in the complex workflow of team and game management. Are there parts of your business or organization that depend on a single point of technology that, if it failed, would prevent you from executing on critical processes or tasks? Always have a back up plan, both in the literal sense (as in: Back up that data!) as well as the figurative. Important presentation tomorrow that you’ve only stored on a single thumb drive and nowhere else? What would happen if that little thumb drive accidentally fell out of your pocket while you were on the way to the big meeting? When it’s game day, make sure you have more than one way to get the ball into the end zone!
It’s become a tradition here for many folks to do some technology shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The savvy shopper can often find great deals on otherwise expensive items, and if they are willing to brave the insanity of brick-and-mortar shopping on Black Friday, can sometimes get an amazing deal on the year’s hottest technology. Tablets are up at the top of everyone’s gift list, and cheap Android-based tablets are popping up everywhere, including a batch of sub-$100 tablets made by lesser-known (or unknown!) manufacturers that are flying off the shelves of discount retailers like Walmart and Walgreen’s. Unfortunately, these cheap tablets are shipping with a variety of security flaws that could pose a serious threat to you or your business.
What this means for you:
A detailed analysis performed by Bluebox Security walks through the flaws of 12 sub-$100 tablets, but I’ll simplify: if you’ve bought one of the tablets on their list, you should absolutely not access any of your important email, banking or business-service accounts with this device. The age-old rule of thumb applies here: you get what you pay for, and paying less than $50 for a tablet gets you a very unsecure device that should only be used for the most casual entertainment purposes. It is also highly unlikely that these devices can be made secure, as many of the flaws come from older versions of the Android operating system. Due to the limitations of the low-cost hardware use to build these tablets, upgrading the OS is highly unlikely without some serious hacking, and should only be attempted by a trained professional. At that point, you should really question whether the overall cost was really worth the initial savings. Long story short: these sub-$50 tablets should only be used as toys and never for serious business or personal use.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Earlier this year, CEO Thorsten Heins of beleaguered tech company BlackBerry infamously stated, “In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore.” The press had a field day with this quote and the explosive growth of tablets in 2013 alone seems to be proving otherwise. As if to rub Mr. Heins’ and other tablet-doomsayer’s faces in it, October is seeing the launch of multiple new tablets, including new lineups from Microsoft, Nokia and Apple, all essentially debuting on the same day.
Apple dominated the American media on Oct 22 with the debut of “the lightest full-sized tablet” on the market, the iPad Air, weighing in at a diminutive single pound. It also updated the wildly popular iPad Mini with its high-resolution “Retina” display, bringing the 7″ tablet up to par with competing models from Google and Amazon. In an attempt to not be out-done (and sadly not quite succeeding in that effort), Nokia announced its first tablet today as well. The Lumia 2520 will run Microsoft’s Windows RT, a move that analysts questioned given the tepid consumer response to Microsoft’s tablet OS, but is not unexpected in light of the Redmond tech-giant’s recent acquisition of Nokia’s hardware business. Not wanting to be left out of the tablet party, Microsoft held its own midnight release event on Oct 21 at its retail stores around the country to celebrate the arrival of the Surface 2. Despite loud music, flashy displays and enthusiastic staff, the Surface 2 launch parties seemed to be (unsurprisingly) sparsely attended.
What this means for you:
If you’ve been holding off on buying a tablet for some reason, the market is currently overflowing with choices, and many of them are very strong on features and backed by staunch developer support and healthy ecosystems, notably the iOS and Android family of products. Though many are saying it’s too early to tell, the Windows RT and Windows 8 tablets have a stiff, uphill climb in the market, something that is keeping developers away from the OS, leaving Microsoft’s app marketplace relatively barren compared to the competition. There’s been a minor stir of interest in the Surface tablets from the arts industry, primarily because of the hardware’s robust pressure sensitivity, but unless you have a specific use case in mind, I’d steer clear of the Windows tablets for now. If you’ve been concerned about the size and weight of the 10″ tablets (very hard to use as bedtime readers or if you spend any time as a standing commuter) you can’t go wrong with a 7″ tablet from either Apple, Google or Amazon, all of which now feature high-definition screens, robust app stores and great portability.
The upcomign Black Hat security conference features a topic that may give traveling iPhone users second thoughts about using a public charging station to juice up their phones. Three security researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology have built a prototype device that can hack an iPhone through the dock connector merely by being plugged in. Supposedly this hack can be accomplished on the latest iOS update, and does not require any interaction from the user, nor does it rely on the device being jailbroken.
What this means for you:
I’ve always viewed public charging stations as being rather sketchy to begin with, especially the ones that charge you for the service and offer “highspeed charging” which could easily fry your phone’s battery if not the device itself. I’d rather spend a few extra minutes locating a regular wall outlet and using my own equipment. Supposedly the prototype that will be demonstrated at the upcoming conference is too big to fit into a standard Apple-branded iPhone charger, but the designers of the device inferred that stealthier versions wouldn’t be hard to produce at all.
Most modern smartphones combine data and power in the same port (Android phones and most tablets also feature this same convenience) so it may not be just iPhones that will be vulnerable to this method of attack. For now, make sure you use chargers you know are safe regardless of what type of mobile device you use, and avoid public charging stations. This particular cow is well on its way out of that barn.
If you’ve held off buying a Surface tablet in the hopes that the new device would settle in and get its legs after a less-than-stellar showing at launch, you have probably been disappointed to find that instead of capturing the hearts and minds of the public (or the media), the Surface continues to struggle for identity in the shadow of the iPad and, to a lesser degree, Google’s Nexus tablets. Zach Epstein at BGR.com had one of the more favorable launch reviews of the tablet, and 30 days later, he updates his stance: he’s still thumbs way up on the hardware, but finds that Microsoft’s innovative hardware is limited by Windows RT, the tablet-only version of Windows 8, and its still-thin selection of apps.
What this means for you:
Mobile warriors looking to get work done via tablet alone (that aren’t already doing it via the iPad or Nexus) may still find themselves hamstrung by the limitations of the Windows RT and the lack-luster selection of apps. Even if you spend most of your time in Microsoft Office, performance of Outlook RT is still poor, and if there’s one thing people won’t suffer, its a slow email client.
Look carefully at the applications you need to exist as a tablet-capable version before chucking your laptop for any tablet (not just the Surface), and even if it does exist, make sure it meets your needs before investing. Die-hard tablet enthusiasts will be able to surmount most of the limitations of Windows RT just by virtue of their innate patience and willingness to “hack” around problems, but if you are someone who’s patience is tried even by the ultra-polished iPad, don’t even think about a Surface at least until the Windows 8 Pro versions arrive in early 2013.
Numerous leaks on the internet have all but confirmed the imminent arrival of a 7-inch version of Apple’s wildly popular iPad. Expected to be announced on October 23, 2012, sightings around the internet put the new tablet starting at anywhere from $250 to $320 for a wifi-only version. Substantial rumors also point to a 3G/4G version as well, putting it an advantage over wifi-only, 7-inch Android-based tablets like Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire.
What this means for you:
If you are one of the few people on the planet that doesn’t already own an iPad, and don’t because of the size/weight of the current 10-inch tablet, the “iPad Mini” may be worth a look. However, 7-inch screens have many limitations when it comes to browsing the web and working in business applications – your screen real estate is literally half of what you can normally see on even the first generation iPad. Seven-inch tablets have found a very comfortable niche as e-readers, casual gaming devices, and fit remarkably well into over-stuffed carryons for frequent travelers. Expect some transition troubles for your popular iPad apps as they resize the display resolution for the 7-inch screen, and the possibility of paying for a new, “mini”-version of the same app you probably already own.
Microsoft has confirmed the arrival of its new tablet, dubbed “Surface” via press-only invitations to a launch event happening on October 25. Following the conclusion of the event, the tablets will actually be available for sale at Midnight PST via Microsoft’s website as well as the actual brick and mortar retail stores – 27 locations in the US as of this writing. The new tablet will be running Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 8, and will come with a keyboard integrated into the built-in cover. Pricing is still not definite, but most analysts think the tablets will range in price from $500-800, making them slightly pricier than the current tablet champ, the Apple iPad.
What this means for you:
If you’ve been waiting for a “Windows” tablet with bated breath because your business is firmly entrenched in the Microsoft camp, or your IT department is slow to incorporate the beloved iPad into their technology implementations, I wouldn’t hold your breath that the arrival of Surface will change that timetable in the immediate future. Windows 8 is still very much untested in the corporate IT space, and the business world at large will be predictably slow in adopting it, as most businesses are only just starting to adopt Windows 7. Tablets, like laptops before them, represent a difficult challenge to most IT departments in terms of managing both the hardware as well as the data on them because of their highly mobile form-factor.
The arrival of a “Windows” tablet may allow for a more corporate style of tablet usage, with the underlying expectation that because the tablet is based around Microsoft technology, that it will be easier to manage from a corporate perspective and able to leverage existing investments in MS platforms. If you are the adventurous type and don’t already own an iPad or Android-based tablet, the Surface may be worth investigating, but don’t expect a robust app choice until (and if) the device can carve a niche into the existing tablet marketplace.