Managing E-Mail on a Small Tablet
Tablets, no matter how big, seem to be a challenge for text-heavy applications such as e-mail. When I first started using a tablet, my e-mail responses were usually limited to a word or two, typed slowly with my thumbs. An e-mail application designed for tablets and a keyboard application that provides a swipe (or, if you prefer, "glide") option has changed all that.
Google provides its own e-mail client that now looks and acts a lot like K-9 with a Google interface, which is probably because both appliations are built on the same code base. K-9 Dog Walkers (that's what the developers call themselves) have just done a better job, so I'll stick with K-9.
For one thing, K-9 can sync with multiple accounts and display them in what's called the Unified Inbox. That makes on-the-go mail review simple. And if you set K-9 up using the Internet Mail Application Protocol (IMAP) instead of the Post Office Protocol (POP3), it's easy to get rid of messages that you don't want to see on your desktop or notebook computer.
The user interface is simple and clean, but the amount of customization is surprising. If you leave your tablet powered all the time, but you'd like K-9 not to bother alerting you to messages when you're sleeping, you can turn off the alerts during specific hours. Or turn them off entirely if you'd prefer not to be interrupted at all.
Before you ask, yes, K-9's name and logo stem from a dog-like robot in the British cult TV series "Doctor Who".
The K-9 interface is far more configurable than any other e-mail client I've seen for Android devices (and I've seen several of them). Choose whether you want to see just the subject line or the subject line and some of the text. Choose how much of the message you want to see when you open a message to read it and this is particularly helpful if you're on a slow connection or a metered connection. No need to download all of a 3GB message with a dozen photos if you're paying a wireless provider for every byte.
There's not a lot of choice when it comes to themes, though. You can have light or dark, kinda like at KFC. Nothing else. But you can choose the date format and how messages are sorted. There's even a built-in search feature that targets not only the subject line and sender ID, but also text within the message.
K9 Dog Walkers also offer "Kaiten" in both free and paid versions. The primary difference between the two seems to be that Kaiten includes the ability to edit formatted text while K-9 is plain-text only. Kaiten can also display the sender's picture (if you've loaded it), will properly display threded messages, can encrypt or digitally sign messages with OpenPGP, and has a split-screen view.
These are all useful features, but K-9 seems to be more than sufficient, particularly on a smaller tablet such as the Nexus 7.
Gliding through Text
Another reason that e-mail is now easy to handle on a tablet is SwiftKey, which has free and paid versions. After working with the free version for about 10 minutes, it was clear to me that buying the paid version (all of $4) would be a good buy.
The free version is actually a free 30-day trial. If you don't pay up, it will stop working a month later. I would have paid double or more the asking price and I wish the developers would create an app for Windows tablets. Typing on a Windows tablet is painful after using SwiftKey on an Android device.
If you have both a phone and a tablet, you need to pay the $4 only once: "Once you have purchased SwiftKey, as long as you continue to use the same account and app store that you originally purchased with, you will be able to download and install SwiftKey onto both your devices."
SwiftKey replaces the touch keyboard, but that's just the beginning. It analyzes typing patterns and learns the words you use. After a few days, it started accurately predicting even unusual words that I use. If you're multi-lingual, so it SwiftKey. And the ability to type by swiping (sliding? gliding?) takes only a few minutes to get used to. In fact, I thought I would detest the glide option (you can still tap to type if you want to), but quickly found that it's the superior method of typing on a tablet.
Which is why I wish there was a Windows version.
Here's a promotional video (less than 2 minutes) that shows what I'm talking about.
There's only one feature that's a bit of a drag: Every time the developers issue an update, the tablet reverts to the built-in keyboard. The default keyboard is gray and I use a red interface for SwiftKey, so the change is obvious if I happen to miss the upgrade notice on the main page. This is done for security reasons and I understand the reasoning, but it's still a very minor annoyance.
For more information:
Life Without Firefox
Several weeks ago, I mentioned that I had stopped using Firefox because it routinely caused a computer with a fast (i7) processor and a lot of memory (32GB) to slow unacceptably. Since then, I've been using Chrome as my primary browser, Maxthon (the Chinese entry in the browser market) as my secondary browser, and Internet Explorer, Opera, or Firefox when I need a third browser. You might be wondering how this is working out.
Although I still prefer the Firefox user interface to Chrome's, the transition has been relatively smooth. Three plug-ins provide either the functionality that Firefox provided or that I obtained with plug-ins.
AdBlock Plus is available both for Chrome and for Firefox, so little has changed there.
Adblock Plus blocks all ads by default. This incluldes video ads on YouTube, Facebook ads, Flash banners, pop-ups, pop-unders, and such. It's available for Firefox, Chrome, and Opera (not Internet Explorer). There's also a version for Android smart phones or tablets.
Some websites you like may depend on advertising revenues, so the developers make it possible for you to allow inobtrusive advertising to be displayed. By default, the program allows these, but you can block them if you want to.-
NoScript works only with Firefox, but ScriptDefender is available for Chrome and in many ways it works better. NoScript, for example, has an "Allow all this page" option that one might expect would allow all scripts attached to a given page to run.
The trouble is that some scripts eventually call other scripts and NoScript doesn't honor the "all" request in a case like this. As a result, it might be necessary to click "Allow all this page" half a dozen times or more just to get a page with a lot of scripts to render properly. Script Defender makes it possible to approve individual scripts, but an option to whitelist the entire domain eliminates those annoying repeated warnings. 
A plug-in called "Sexy Undo Close Tab" works around a significant Chrome shortcoming: I usually have a lot of tabs open and each tab contains an "X" that, if clicked, closes the tab.
The tabs are so small that I often click the X instead of selecting the tab, particularly when I'm in a hurry. This plug-in maintains a list of every tab I've closed and re-opening an accidentally closed closed tab involves just selecting it from the top of the list. It would be better if somebody at Google would be clued in about the problem, but the workaround is adequate.
Matching Other Missing Plug-Ins
To determine what's wrong with a webiste page, it's helpful to be able to view the document object model (DOM). Essentially this reveals the underlying structure of the page and I had previously used several Firefox plug-ins to x-ray pages. A Web Developer plug-in for Chrome effectively replaces several Firefox plug-ins by including the ability to disable Javascript, plug-ins, pop-ups, and notifications on a page; to manage cookies; to view cascading style sheet (CSS) codes and view or disable code that's intended for specific device types; to make major modifications to forms on the page; to hide, display, and resize images; to display an amazing amount of information about the page; to clear the browser's cache and history; to display a ruler; to show hidden elements; to examine the page outline; to resize the view port; and to validate the HTML or CSS code. As multi-purpose tools go, this is little short of astounding.
Ghostery reveals information about code that's on the page to collect user statistics. In many cases, the code is harmless. For example, I use StatCounter on TechByter Worldwide to determine how many people visit the site. No personally identifiable information is collected, so it's not something that should worry anyone. On the other hand, some sites employ techniques that attempt to learn enough about visitors to make it possible to serve ads that may interest them. Some people like this idea; others don't. And finally there are some tracking functions that are little short of malicious. Besides showing you what's on the site, Ghostery makes it possible to block individual components selectively.
On Firefox I used a plug-in called WorldIP to display where (approximately) in the world a site is located. This is shown in the address line by displaying a tiny flag. On Chrome, a plug-in with a long name, "IP Whois & Flags Chrome & Websites Rating" does that and quite a bit more. Click the flag to display a panel with information about the site's popularity, its IP address, a closer approximation of its location, the owner of the hosting operation, and the nameservers in use by the site. There's also a link to a whois lookup function, and tabs for user-contributed reviews of the site, reviews of the current page, and a ranking from Norton SafeWeb.
Today more similarities exist between browsers than differences. Maxthon has the smallest number of add-ons in English and Firefox clearly has the most. But Chrome and Opera both have a modest number of add-ons that cover most of the basic needs. Even Internet Explorer has some add-ons available if you can figure out how to obtain them and install them. So far, I haven't been that desperate.
Crooks Want Your Smart Phone
Phones were once just phones. They were wired to a wall outlet. Then they got smart enough to remember phone numbers. And became mobile. Now your phone does a lot more than make calls. It probably has stored user names and passwords, maybe links to your bank account, photos, and lots of personal information. And they have significant resale value even without the data. Is it any wonder that smart phones are attractive to crooks?
If your phone is stolen, it would be nice to be able to just call your provider and have them flip a "kill switch" that would make the phone unusable. Nice, but the manufacturers and the cellular providers have refused to consider any system that would actually be functional.
The carriers do have a database that identifies stolen phones and that should keep stolen phones from being used in the United States and they have grudgingly agreed to start installing anti-theft applications on phones within a year. Many stolen phones are sent to other countries where they can be re-purposed and put into service.
That doesn't mean that the situation is hopeless. Far from it. Most smart phones have some security functions built in and apps you can download can add additional features such as the ability to remotely delete data on the phone or have the device send information about its location. Too few people bother to use these features.
Other that maintaining a high level of awareness about your phone's location, there not much you can do to keep your phone from being stolen. That sounds obvious, but even people who are normally careful about these things can be distracted and leave a phone lying on a table in a public location.
If security applications for smart phones seem to be a solution in search of a problem, consider this: Consumer Reports says that more than 3,000,000 smart phones were stolen last year. Another one and a half million phones were simply "lost".
Because of all the private information contained in smart phones, losing a phone today is at least as serious as losing a wallet
At the very least, you should set a password for any portable device. This makes the device slightly less convenient to use, but it can stop a thief from being able to see your data if the phone is stolen.
My Android tablet has a grid that allows me to draw a pattern to unlock it. The Windows-based tablet I use has a similar function. Unlocking either of these devices take less than a second. This is hardly an inconvenience!
Applications are available to back up the data on your phone. Backup is just as important for portable devices as it is for your desktop or notebook computer, maybe more so.
Safe is always better than sorry.
Short Circuits
The FCC Moves to Wound Net Neutrality
Hope that FCC Commissioner Tom Wheeler would modify his fast-lane/slow-lane proposal that would end the Internet as it is known today were dashed Thursday when the agency voted to take the next step in the process that many say will create an Internet that will serve existing large companies and stifle competition.
By allowing providers to create a "fast" lane, the proposal relegates any company that can't afford to pay ransom to the slow lane and that means that startup companies (the next Amazon or the next Google) won't be able to get off the ground because they won't be able to pay for fast-lane service and, without that, impatient Internet users won't patronize their services.
Big companies like Netflix will be able to pay broadband providers, opening a new revenue stream for them, but the broadband providers are unlikely to roll back prices to consumers. Meanwhile, comapnies like Netflix will raise their prices (as Netflix has already indicated it will do) to cover the extra cost.
The overall result: Worse service at a higher cost. If there is a bright side to this story, it's that Wheeler's proposal at least would classify broadband providers properly, as "utilities" and this would give the FCC considerably more leeway in regulating them. But overall what we have is a fine example of a decision that will give some corporations tangible short-term benefits, but stands to harm everyone in the longer term.
The decision isn't yet a done deal, of course. This week's action simply put the proposal out for public comment. There's already been quite a bit of public comment and after another month or six weeks of public comment, the FCC commissioners are expected to disregard all the comments, follow the money, and vote to approve Wheeler's corporate-sponsored proposal.
Would now be a good time to mention that Wheeler worked for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association from 1976 to 1984 and was president of the group starting in 1979? Would now be a good time to mention that Wheeler was the CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association? Would now be a good time to mention that this is a pretty good example of the "revolving door" policy by which people move seamlessly between jobs in reguglatory agencies and businesses that the regulatory agencies are supposed to be watching?
A European Court Ruling on Privacy May Force Changes by Google
In 2009, a lawyer in Spain, Mario Costeja, typed his name in a Google search box. This was the first step in what became a protracted legal battle. Costeja's search returned legal notices that were no longer valid. The lawyer asked Google to remove the links. Google refused. This week the European Court of Justice told Google it had to comply with Costeja's request. What does this mean throughout Europe? Are there implications in the United States?
The short answers are "It's complicated" and "Maybe."
In Europe, nearly 30 national regulatory agencies will need to interpret the ruling and devise procedures to deal with the ruling. In the US, the ruling has no legal power, but similar legal actions could be taken here.
One significant question deals with what responsibilities Google has. Google, after all, simply indexes billions of Web pages and provides a way to search the resulting index. Google doesn't own, maintain, or control the data -- just the links.
The 13 judges who made the ruling in Luxembourg provided no guidance on how to implement their ruling. There was also no indication in the written decision that the judges had any idea how complex the issue is. In other words, the judges on the European Court of Justice appear to be just as clueless about technology as are justices on the US Supreme Court.
Search engine operators such as Google will probably have to develop guidelines and procedures to handle requests from those who want to have links that involve information about them erased. This is not going to be easy to implement.
In the US, the decision may have some impact, but First Amendment rights could trump privacy concerns.
My Scale told the Refrigerator Not to Order Ice Cream!
Over the years, there have been predictions about how connected devices will work together to help us. I remember writing a paper in the 1970s in which I described a "smart home" that was controlled by a computer. I envisioned something about the size of a small car that would have been stored in the basement, but I got some of it right. Today we're a lot closer to what I wrote about with devices that all have some built-in intelligence.
The Pew Research Center's Internet Project says much of what I was thinking about in the 1970s will become reality sometime in the 2020s. Well, they didn't specifically address my predictions, but you get the idea. The research, conducted in cooperation with Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center, says that wearable computers and what's been called the "Internet of Things" will become the norm within the next 10 years.
The researchers questioned analysts, developers, and others who will be responsible to inventing the future.
Most of the respondents say that we'll wear health and fitness trackers (several people I know are already wearing FitBit monitors). They say that our homes will have sensors that watch for problems. And they say that municipalities and utility companies will use more monitoring devices to maintain their systems.
Maybe your car will be able to send you an e-mail saying that you need to drop it off for service next week because the fuel-injection system needs to be adjusted and it has made an appointment.
What used to be bulky sensors are being miniaturized to the point that a garment that a baby wears can monitor the child and alert parents if there is a problem.
The Pew report says that not everyone thinks this is a good idea. In part this is because humans are inherently resistant to change and in part it's because of security concerns. What if someone hacks into your health monitor, for example? Or what if a vandal convinces your refrigerator to order 100 gallons of motor oil instead of a package of cream cheese?