Tech Pulse 20070627: Opera Mini 4 Beta vs. iPhone, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware Tips

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Opera Mini 4 Beta launches a preemptive strike against the iPhone, but can it possibly hold a candle to the iPhone's Safari browser? Josh and Kyle also discuss anti-virus and anti-spyware solutions for Windows.

Notes and links related to this episode:

Tech News

• Opera Mini 4 beta tries to take on the iPhone—and fails, based on Josh's testing compared with the iPhone demo videos
  
• features | demo video | anti-iPhone ad (warning: really lame!)
• image quality is really low, but the browser is mostly pretty fast
  
• it's fairly glitchy on Josh's Treo 680, but it is still a beta

Tech Tips
Kyle's

• Scan with Trend Micro HouseCall before installing anything
  • You can also scan with Panda ActiveScan (removes viruses, but only tells you where spyware is so you can manually remove it) and/or X-Cleaner Micro Edition (the latter is very fast and only removes spyware)
    
• Kyle suggests that NOD32 is the best anti-virus available ($30, but he feels like he's donating rather than buying)
• NOD32 is the best at detecting unknown threats with the least false positives, according to http://www.av-comparatives.org/ (as an aside, the worst overall according to the site is Microsoft OneCare)
• AVG Free (free for personal home use) is Josh's recommendation
  
• ClamWin (free and open-source)
  
• Lacks on-access scanning
  
• Low footprint, good for people who only need an occasional scan
• ClamXav is for Mac OS X, and is based on the same ClamAV engine
  
• Products to Avoid
• McAfee products
• except VirusScan Enterprise, which is actually pretty decent in Josh's experience, but definitely stay away from the consumer/home version as it's notorious for slowing down PCs
  
• Norton anti-virus products
• same thing for Norton as McAfee: enterprise version may be good, but avoid the home edition
• Kyle mentioned that he reformats and reinstalls Windows ever couple months, and that slipstreaming comes in handy. You can learn more about slipstreaming at these sites:
  
• Wikipedia article on slipstreaming
  
• How to slipstream SP2 into a Windows XP CD
• Kyle also mentioned the Apple commercial "Security," in which the PC is bothered incessantly by Vista's built-in security notifications. You can watch it online here.
  

Josh's

• How to avoid spyware infections on your Windows PC
• Immunize your PC with SpywareBlaster and Spybot-Search & Destroy (both are freeware)
  
• Josh explains how to set up Spybot to automatically download updates and re-immunize whenever you manually open Spybot
• Josh recommends using a browser other than Internet Explorer (e.g. Firefox) and setting it as the default
• Kyle suggests that on-demand scanners may not be enough for everyone, and he recommends using real-time scanners such as AVG Anti-Spyware Pro or Microsoft's free Windows Defender
• Kyle also suggests trying Arovax AntiSpyware
• Josh also mentions that new releases of Safari 3 Beta apparently need to be downloaded manually—don't expect the beta version to auto-update!
  

iPhone Review Coming Soon!

Stay tuned! One of the Tech Pulse podcasters is getting an iPhone today, and we're planning to do a special iPhone review show next week. Subscribe to the feed to get the episode as soon as it's posted!

If you want to listen to the show live while it's being recorded, we plan on recording the review 'cast on Tuesday night around 8 PM Pacific (11 PM Eastern). Just go to www.talkshoe.com around that time and look for Tech Pulse on the homepage. If there are any changes to our live show schedule, I'll post them here.

UPDATE 29 June 2007 @ 9:30 AM - Please note that the start time has changed to 8 PM Pacific. This is still a tentative date and time and is subject to change.

Tech Pulse 20070619: OpenDNS, Booqbags, DST Patches, Levelator, and more!

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Tech Pulse podcaster Big-O introduces himself and talks about organizing the Mac OS X Applications folder and The Levelator, Josh talks about DST patches and AppleJack, Kyle gushes over OpenDNS and compares hard drives, and Anthony recommends Booqbags and ergonomic keyboards.

Notes and links related to this episode:

Tech Tips
Josh's

• Unofficial DST patches for Win9x/NT/2K and Mac OS 8.5-10.2.8
• Microsoft and Apple do not release patches for these older versions of their operating systems, but third party developers have come to the rescue with unofficial Daylight Saving Time patches
  

Kyle's

• OpenDNS
• Free DNS service
• alternative to your ISP's DNS
• Compatibile with Windows, Mac, Linux/UNIX, routers, mobile devices, and even gaming systems
  
• DNS forwarding for networks
  
• Faster: very large cache, servers located in many major cities (but of course the service is available worldwide, regardless)
  
• Safer: blocks phishing scams, can block adult websites, can block custom websites
  
• Smarter: shortcuts e.g. "mail" instead of mail.google.com, correcting e.g. google.cmo = google.com
• Domain/Network features: custom branding and shortcuts, stats
• Check out OpenDNS.com/start
  

Big-O's

• Organizing your Applications folder in OS X
• Apple apps and files need to stay in their default locations or Software Update may not be able to locate or update them
• You can create custom folders inside the Applications folder categories of apps (e.g. Podcasting, Chat, Browsers, etc.) and put aliases (shortcuts) of applications into those folders
• If you name the custom folders with a space at the beginning, they will show up at the top when sorted alphabetically
• You can then drag the Applications folder into the right side of the Dock, and right-click (or Control-click) on it to bring up a hierarchical menu, and quickly access your apps through your custom folders
  

Picks
Josh's

• Mac software: AppleJack
• freeware repair utility, runs from Single User Mode (hold Command-S after the boot chime)
  
• repair boot disk directory structure, disk permissions, clear OS caches and virtual memory files, etc.
  
• Windows software: Dimension 4
• freeware time sync software; great for Win2K and older, which don't have automatic time synchronization built in
• this is also handy if, like me, you have issues with Boot Camp on an Intel Mac where the time is off when switching between operating systems
  

Kyle's

• Hard drive comparison - does Western Digital's Raptor series still take the cake?

Anthony's

• Booqbags.com's newest briefcase bag, the Vyper exo
• very rugged and durable design
  
• stylish and cool look, but passable as a "professional" bag as well
• custom-designed for MacBook and MacBook Pro, but suitable for other notebooks
• laptop can be used while sitting inside an open case
  
• Ergonomic Keyboards: Key Ovation Goldtouch (recommended) and Microsoft
  

Big-O's

• The Levelator by GigaVox Media
• cross-platform, freeware
  
• automatically adjusts volume levels in WAV/AIFF files and outputs to a new file
  
• voice podcasters should definitely try this app and consider using it
  

Tech Pulse 20070616: iPhone, Safari 3, YouTube on Apple TV, and Parallels 3

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Tech Pulse podcasters Josh, Kyle, and Anthony introduce themselves and discuss the iPhone, Safari 3 Public Beta, YouTube content on the Apple TV, and Parallels Desktop 3.

Notes and links related to this episode:

Predictions about the Apple iPhone

• Will it affect how other mobile phone makers design their most basic models?
• How many units will Apple sell in 2007?
• via Macenstein.com, Apple allegedly placed an order for 500 million Samsung NAND flash chips last monthThese were apparently only ~512 MB chips
• How soon until they really open it up to third-party developers? Like actual apps downloaded onto the phone, usable even when you can't get a phone signal?
  
• Steve Jobs recently said in the Walt Mossberg interview that it would be opened up eventually: "We're working through a way—we'll find a way to let third parties write apps and still preserve security on the iPhone."
  
• At WWDC this week, Steve said developers can make Safari-compatible Web apps using AJAX and other "Web 2.0" technologies
• The release of Safari 3 for Windows was mentioned alongside this announcement
• Why should anyone care about third-party iPhone apps?
• Skype/VoIP, for one thing

Safari 3 Public Beta

• Now available for Mac... and Windows!
• Neither Mac nor Windows version has the rumored anti-phishing features
• Safari is now the ONLY major browser without anti-phishing built-in (Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, Opera 9, and Netscape 8 and 9 all have it)
• This makes Safari a poor choice for anyone who might potentially fall for such scams—which is a huge portion of Internet users
• Only the Windows version has the choice of Yahoo! search from the toolbar
• Reasons for opening up Safari to Windows users:
• Get Windows users more accustomed to the "Apple experience"
• Make moolah off the search revenue
• Make it easier for Windows developers to develop iPhone apps without having their hands on one yet

Apple TV gains YouTube support

• So... how exactly does it work? Are all videos reencoded as H.264? Has this been done for all videos, or only the most popular ones? Will this be done for all new uploads to YouTube instantly from now on?
• What kind of interface does the Apple TV have for browsing YouTube videos?

Parallels Desktop 3.0 released

• Now with support for 3D gaming!!!