Category: Technology

I have been looking for an alternative to Skype for some time. Being a Linux user I do not trust that Microsoft will keep up the development pace on the platform, Well, they haven’t done so and the Linux Skype client lags behind other platforms. Not that Skype doesn’t work, but I would like to find a solid independent solution. Could Viber be it? On paper it has what I need: Voice and video calling capabilities, solid IM features and is available both for my phone and (Linux) desktop.

We are now at Viber v 4 and I found that it’s not an untested novel solution at all. If you decide to hook up with Viber you will share the network with more than 300 million registered users. I was surprised by the sheer amount of people using Viber but wondered if it would work for me.

The first thing I found out is that If you don’t have Viber’s smartphone app, then you can’t use its desktop app. Not a problem for me who wants them both. Signing up was a breeze but requires a phone number to tie your account to. Installing on Linux was not easy since the installer for my distribution is rough around the edges and installs the application in an odd location on your system which causes some issues. I will not get into detail here since the Viber devs have promised improvements in this regard. But I got it installed and it works and is well integrated into my desktop environment.

Once installed on your PC, you can use Viber for to make voice calls to other Viber users, send a text message, share pictures, or make a video call. You can also transfer calls between mobile devices and the desktop. If you start chatting with a friend using your laptop, you can quickly switch to Viber on your smartphone or vice versa. The problem is both users need to have a newer version of Viber for call transfers to work, so you may have to wait for your friends to update their apps before you can use this feature. I’ve had the same issue with Skype where certain features hasn’t worked for me being on the lagging Linux release.

Now to the important part. Call quality, and it is incredibly good with Viber on my phone, and the desktop app brings that same experience. Video calling was fine too offering about the same image quality as Skype.

The desktop app is pretty barebones and relies heavily on the mobile side of the service which is fine with me. I need to be able to place calls, do IM and transfer files. It all works very well. I have also signed up for the Viber Out service which lets me place calls to mobile and landline phone subscribers. The prices are a little bit lower than the comparable SkypeOut service and has been working very reliably although I haven’t used it that much.

One limitation as far as the desktop client goes is that I can’t add new contacts. That I have to do from the phone. It doesn’t bother me since I always have my phone with me when I work on my PC so I haven’t missed this feature and wasn’t aware of it until a friend pointed it out to me. I’m sure this functionality will be added at some point for the desktop client.

At the end of the day the reason I use, and in this case write about Viber is the call quality. It’s better than anything else I’ve tried. I can be on my phone and speak to people in another country and it sounds like a local call. In fact, I have been able to use Viber for calls I only could do by expensive long distance using my carrier network. On wi-fi, the call quality is phenomenal. There’s also very few dropped calls and less of the digital distortion and echo often found when using Skype and even Google Talk.

I really like Viber and hope it will continue to grow. Who doesn’t like to see a successful mobile service from Belarus? 🙂

I like that they are not tied to a tech behemoth like Skype is to Microsoft who will use the platform to push their own services and keep development on competing platforms lagging. 

If you’re interested go to: www.viber.com     

Hi,

 

My phone is with me all day. I use it for a lot of things like mail, IM, photography, news and social networks. Oh, and I make calls with it also! 🙂

Over the last couple of years we’ve heard and seen the wearable gadgets being taken to market. It’s something your wear, most often on your wrist as a watch (remember those?) showing time while it’s connected to your phone showing whatever is thought to be useful to put on a tiny-tiny screen instead of on your phone’s small screen. A pretty stupid concept, or so I thought until I got a Pebble Smart Watch as a gift. I said nicely thank you and put it in a drawer. I was later going to do some traveling and thought I would try the thing. I charged it and bluetoothed it to my Android phone. So now it was showing time and weather. I added some apps. Cool! Now it could be used for navigation, show incoming e-mail/IM/SMS, high and low tide, World Cup scores, and was also connected to MyTracks which I use when I hike and bike. Cooler still! 

It’s now a couple of months later and the thing is stuck to my wrist. Since it can vibrate it offers the perfect alarm in the morning. A ‘brrrrrt’ on my wrist does the trick instead of noise. Eureka! How can I go back to sound alarms? I can’t. I won’t! 🙂

So just like when I swore I would never own a smartphone and was wrong I seem to have been wrong again. This is the only wearable gadget I’ve tried so maybe I was lucky getting to know a good specimen? But I now think the wearable gadgets are here to stay. At least the Pebble has been staying on me for more time than most gadgets I’ve tried over the last few years. Very cool! 🙂

Anyone here using wearable gadgets and/or have views on them in general?

Over the years web browser have become much more secure. All modern browsers are now pretty well protected against most types of attacks and fixes are released promptly after a new vulnerability is discovered. Browser vendors like Google even offers cash prizes to those who reports security holes in their Chrome browser. 

So where do we find most of the threats against browser users today? Anyone remember the Flashback trojan which infected over 600,000 Macs? How did it infect them? The Java plug-in was called from a web page and loaded a special Java applet that exploited a bug, gaining access to the system. And how is Java connected to your browser? It’s runs as a so plug-in which most often is installed separately but with access to the browser itself through a plugin API. Nothing the browser vendor does can circumvent the fact that this access to the user can represent a threat, and a threat that can only be identified and fixed by whoever wrote and published the plug-in or extension. 

Now picture a browser with multiple plug-ins – Java, Flash, PDF reader, QuickTime, Silverlight and a bunch of extensions you can easily pick up and install, and you’ll see just how much plug-ins and extensions increase your so called attack surface. While browser vendors are under heavy scrutiny to write secure code, plug-in and extension developers do not seem to be put through the motions in the same way, and many of them have mediocre security records (to put it nicely).

The great thing about compromising a plug-in or extension is that you can target multiple platforms in one go. Compromise Flash and you have a barn door open into a bunch of browsers and the platform they run on, and you can wreck a lot of havoc before it’s discovered, *if* it is discovered that is.

Plug-ins and extensions lack behind browsers as far as security goes and their often frequent automatic updates adds to the threat they represent. Some of these buggers are updated as often as once a month making it really difficult to keep track of development and security implications. In most cases frequent updates is a good thing making sure bugs are fixed and security is increased, but with plug-ins and extensions it also complicates matters and make it hard for the user to know where they are at as far as security goes. Most people think that as long as their plug-ins and extensions are installed through a familiar trusted vendor like Google or Mozilla they will be safe and do not pay much attention to the security risk. This is not the case.

You don’t have to look very long and hard to find studies about how big a problem browser plug-ins and extensions are. A study from 2011 study found that 94% of Adobe Shockwave, 70% of Java, 65% of Adobe Reader, and 42% of QuickTime installations in the enterprise were out-of-date. Although very frequent updates is a threat in itself keeping them around for too long is even worse. You simply can’t win.

Some will claim that browser plug-ins and even extensions should be on their way out. Plug-ins are still often necessary (Flash and Adobe) but companies like Google and Mozilla are working on solutions that would make many of them obsolete. The old plug-in API’s are also being phased out. As for extensions they are still very much alive and kicking and being put out there by anyone who can put together some pieces of code and think they have found a need they would like to fulfill. There are also those who would like to see a browser that does it all without needing to expose the user to the threat plug-ins and extensions represent. Personally I would welcome such a browser, but for the extension addicts it may be a step back, but one worth taking if you care about your security and privacy.

 

The most profound piece of technology I discovered in 2013 was Google Now. It is a service on my Android phone which keeps track of me. Literally! I pops up my appointment, tells me before I leave how traffic is on my normal route to kids school and work. It also pops up news stories that is presumed relevant to me based on my search patterns and use of services like YouTube, Google Music and Video. On top of that it knows how far I have walked, biked and run giving me stats at the end of the month nicely packaged with graphs and bars. Incredible! Google Now starts out as something not very useful and learns as you go getting more and more to the point and accurate the longer it is being used. It is also voice controlled to an extent I have never experienced. It really understands what I am saying and gives me the results I want. I can say “I want to go home” and it directs me home commenting on unusual traffic and gives me the weather and important news as I go.

But then there’s the dark side to all of this. I am not giving Google any more information about myself than I otherwise would. Google knows all these things already. What happens here is that it is all put together painting a picture of who I am, what I do, when I do it and often why. And if an service like Google Now can be so accurate with regards to what I am doing and where I am doing it all the time, someone else could access it and have me pictured spot on. Advertisers must love this technology and I’m pretty sure NSA is drooling over it also unless they are already using it. Sad thing is that I have somewhat given up on protecting my privacy as far as Google goes. It’s just too convenient and addictive having your life gathered and organized like Google now is able to. We need an alternative though, but who could do it? I do not have the answer to that but hope that something will come along in 2014 which can indicate other ways to go, give us other options. Right now the only other option is pulling the plug on Google and pretend you do not need them. I can do that, but right now I do not even want to comforting myself with the fact that no one would be interested in my boring where- and whatabouts anyway.

 

Happy New Year!