Category: New Products

  • Adobe Reader X Quick Review

    Background
    Last week Adobe released a new version of Adobe Acrobat, version X.  This is a new version of the program that many of us use every day.  In the past people shied away from new versions of Acrobat reader because over the years the program had become bloated and slow.  However this new version offers important security benefits and speed improvements that make the upgrade worth it.

    As many people know Adobe Reader has become one of the favorite attack vectors for hackers and malware over the past few years for a number of reasons including.

    1. The install base is huge! Most new PC’s come with it preinstalled, if not almost everyone needs a PDF viewer and Adobe’s is the most popular.
    2. Quarterly updates that Adobe releases are too slow and infrequent, Only if an exploit is really bad does Adobe decided to do an out of cycle update.  Even with these updates few people know that the program needs updated.  The automatic updates in version 9 have been better but still seem to fail most of the time.  Manual updating seems to be required.
    3. The ability to run things such as Javascript in a PDF exist and are on by default.  Just about everyone does not need this feature and it represents a large place to exploit.

    The Good
    Security
    The biggest feature of version X is the introduction of a Sandbox.  A sandbox provides isolation  of the program from the operating system, to lessen the chance of security exploits.  Adobe does a great job in explaining all about the sandbox features in these two blog posts, Sandbox Post 1,  Sandbox Post 2, Sandbox Post 3, Sandbox Post 4.  This is such a big thing from a security angle that the SANS institute has recommended that everyone install Adobe Reader X to get this feature.  https://isc.sans.edu/diary.html?storyid=9976

    Speed
    Surprisingly this new version is faster than the old version 9.  It appears to be less bloated and quicker responding.

    Other changes
    I noticed the voice that will read text to you if you want seems to be more like a human.  The flow is greatly improved. The interface has been tweaked slightly to have more of a beveled edge, silver stainless steel look.  I like it.  Its nothing revolutionary but a nice, clean change.  The updater also now allows for you to set it to automatically download and install updates.  Hopefully this works well and allows the program to stay up to date without much user intervention.   I do hope Adobe changes their company policy and moves to a monthly update policy on the second Tuesday of the month, like Microsoft.  This will make the task of corporate administration much easier on the administrator.

    The Bad
    By default two security settings are on, when they should be disabled for increased security.  They pertain to features that a very, very small percentage of users actually use.  If for some reason you needed these someday you can easily turn them on, but for maximum security they should be off.  Adobe has even recommended doing this when the program has had problems in the past.  So to disable these settings go under EDIT—> Preferences —-> Then on the Left hand side choose JavaScript and then at the top of the page, uncheck the box that says “Enable Acrobat JavaScript”
    The second option that needs changed is under this same menu.  Choose Trust Manager on the left hand side of the page, then at the top of the page uncheck the box that says “Allow Opening of non-PDF file attachments with external applications”

    The other bad thing is that despite these new security features the very people you are trying to keep out are trying to take advantage of this new release to push their spamware most of it dubbed “Adobe Acrobat 2010” THIS IS FAKE and Malware, DO NOT INSTALL.  The SANS institute has a nice post about this as well, even with photos! https://isc.sans.edu/diary.html?storyid=9982

    In conclusion when combined with the new security features and increased performance this seems like a great thing to have if you like the official client.  Here is a direct download for Windows ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/10.x/10.0.0/en_US/AdbeRdr1000_en_US.exe

  • BlackBerry PlayBook Announced

    Good news, RIM was just kidding about calling their tablet the BlackPad! Instead, today they announced the BlackBerry PlayBook.

    The PlayBook will run on the brand new BlackBerry Tablet OS which is based on a previous platform designed by QNX named Neutrino. Honestly, the Tablet OS looks way nicer than BlackBerry’s current OS for their smartphones, so hopefully that means a major overhaul is in the works for their handsets as well.

    RIM is quick to point out that the PlayBook is a “Flash-loving” device, the real question is how will Flash usage affect the battery life? Speaking of which, did I miss the estimated battery life for this device or was it not announced.

    Expected availability in the US is early 2011.

    Technical specs:

    • 7-inch LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
    • BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
    • 1 GHz dual-core processor
    • 1 GB RAM
    • Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
    • Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
    • Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
    • HDMI video output
    • Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
    • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
    • Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
    • Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
    • Ultra thin and portable:
    • Measures 5.1″x7.6″x0.4″ (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
    • Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
    • RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.
  • Peek 9 Hits the Market

    Oh hey, Peek is still producing products. Didn’t realize that.

    peek-9.jpg

    I kid, I kid. The Peek 9 was just announced, claiming to be 9 times faster than the previous Peek Pronto, thanks to a nice software overhaul. But the bigger news in my mind is they’ve started packing more features into the OS, and the Peek 9 ships with several new apps, including Facebook, Twitter, Weather, RSS reader, and PeekMaps. It also looks like they’re launching an ad-hoc type app store called PeekTop Apps.

    Rounding out the offering is the ability to view PDF and Office files attached to emails.

    For those who are reading this and going, “Wait, what the heck does the Peek do?”. It’s a simple concept, Peek provides contract free unlimited texting/email for as little as $10 a month. Pricing for the 9 is $69.99 for just the handset or $99.99 for the handset +2 months of a service.

    [ Get your Peek 9 ]

  • Android Tablet Fever: Should You Catch It?

    Most of the Android buzz over the last month or so has been related to tablet devices. Whether it’s the Dell Streak, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, or the myriad of other announced devices, tablets are all the talk right now. The problem is that right now, it’s just talk. Only a very small number of devices have been made available in the US at this point, and other than the Dell Streak, they’re made by unknown companies that are putting out poor quality devices.

    Over the next couple months, the tablet market will take off with new devices. Samsung is going to be launching the Galaxy Tab, a 7-inch tablet that looks like a small iPad. Archos has announced four new devices ranging from 4-inches up to 10-inches. HP, Toshiba, and ViewSonic are building Android tablets as well.

    Should you jump on the emerging bandwagon and run out to get an Android tablet?  Read on to find out. (more…)

  • Axon Haptic Tablet Available for Pre-Order

    For those that are daring enough to jump off the deep end, you can now pre-order the rumored Axon Haptic tablet (not to be confused with Axiotron’s Modbook) for a cool $750 . The capacitive-touch Hackintosh tablet boasts compatibility with Windows 7 as well as all Darwin-based OS platforms, including Mac OS, though on Axon’s website they state that Apple’s EULA specifically prohibits installation on any non-Apple hardware, though that’s certainly not going to stop anyone… after all, they call it a Hackintosh for a reason.

    Some might believe the 1.6Ghz Atom N270 leaves a little to be desired, though it still has fairly decent hardware for a tablet. Specs include a 10.1″ LED backlit screen, 320GB HD, 2GB RAM, a removable battery, 3x USB ports, ethernet, card reader, VGA port, WiFi and for additional $70 you can add a Verizon 3G SIM card, and yet another $70 will get you Bluetooth GPS.

    It’s up in the air at this point how well full-fledged operating systems will behave with the capacitive touchscreen, though I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction to bring more devices to the market as alternatives to the iPad that allow something more than a mobile OS. If nothing else, it might cause Apple to consider the possibility of competing with them, but then again, does anything anyone does really ever affect what Apple does?

    For full tech specs and description, visit Axon Logic’s website, but see if I’m not the only one that’s bothered by the fact that they copied Apple’s top bar right off their website for their own….