Is Dropbox Dead Yet?

The highly anticipated Google Drive is alive!  I appreciate how they compare all the hype that has come with Google drive to the Loch Ness monster in this blog.  I am looking forward to giving this a try, as the prices for the professional accounts dwarf the ones for Dropbox.

Check out Google Drive for yourself here:  http://drive.google.com

Go with the Tried and Trusty Dropbox Here: www.dropbox.com

Desktop Manager for Windows for your Mobile Android Devices

Check out this link: Moborobo Is An Insanely Powerful Desktop Manager For Your Android (Or Other) Device

I'm so looking coward to trying this out! 

Adaptive Technology Dicussion

If you are interested in hearing about adaptive technology for business and personal use, catch me at the Technology Expo being held at the Sidney (Ohio) High School.  The event is tomorrow (January 20th, 2012) from 9:00 AM to noon.  One of the best parts about the expo is the price: FREE!

I will be leading a 45 minute discussion on adaptive technology.  I look forward to seeing you there if you can make it!

Click here for a full description of the event.

Click here to get directions using Google Maps.

Passwords: A Necessary Evil

So I am sure everyone has ran into the problem of not remembering a password from time to time. For most cases, I just use the Explorer add on LastPass (which by the way is beyond fantastic too if you go from computer to computer or browser to browser routinely).  I don't use the password saving function of the different browsers as I am worried about the security of these.   LastPass  uses 256-bit AES encryption to store your passwords, so you can rest easy on the security level.

What  LastPass  cannot do is help you recover the passwords for Windows log in.  This can be a major headache for you if you have forgotten the password and now cannot log in to Windows.  Rest easy, there is a tool to help you out!  Ophcrack is a password recovery tool that I have to run every now and then to recover passwords on devices for individuals.  The coolest part is that you don't even have to install a program to recover the passwords.  You can just burn Ophcrack onto a CD and then boot the CD directly when you start up your computer.  You might have to change some BIOS settings to get this to run, but if you aren't familiar with this already, I wouldn't recommend messing with it.

Passwords are extremely important when it comes to security, but they can cause quite the headache when you can't remember something.  Remembering passwords can also be difficult if you have a disability that affects your memory.  The thing to remember is that there are tools out there to help you if you get stuck!

Here are the links to the different programs/add ons I cover in the post:

Ophcrack: http://www.ophcrack.sourceforge.net/
LastPass: https://www.lastpass.com/

Box.net + LG Android Devices = Incredible Freebie

So I think this is the first time that I wished I had a LG Android device...

See this article for more details :

50GB Free Cloud Storage On Box.net For All LG Android Devices

Siri for iPhone 4s Meet Iris for Android

In all the ads for the new iPhone 4s, the main portion of what they are marketing is Siri.  Siri is a voice recognition program that intelligently responds to your questions.  For an overview of all the things that it can do, click here.  Siri is only available on the iPhone 4s

There were some similar apps to this in the Android platform, but when Siri came out, one development team (Dexetra) went into an eight hour binge to come up with a comparative app for Android.  After the eight hours, Iris was born.  

To give you an idea of what Iris is capable of, check out these screen shots.  What is in white is what I dictated to the device.  In Blue is the answer from Iris (these were taken on my Samsung Droid Charge).

So, you can see a couple of things from this.  A: Iris has a bit of an attitude when it doesn't know the answer and B: It might be a little dated when it comes to the Jim Tressel reference...

Here is another mix up that Iris had in my testing...

Oh, and by the way, this is what a Pug Jack Russel mix really looks like (not quite the worst thing that one could imagine):

So, all in all, the Iris program has a bit to do to go all the way to Apple's Siri, but given that this program was only made in 8 hours, I think Android's version of Siri will only get better.  In the meantime, we can still sit back and enjoy all the mix ups that it is giving us.

Here are some links to some of the apps and devices that I talk about in this post:

Iris Android App

GO Dev Team Launches New Beta

The team that has came out with great apps for Android such as the Go Launcher and Go SMS has recently released a new Beta called the Go LaucherEX Locker.  Basically, you can have your own custom lock screen from the options that they have...

That way, you won't have to have a regular lock screen like this one that is on my Droid Charge:

Here is a link to download the Beta Version of the Lock Screen:
GOLauncherEX Locker V1.0 Beta

Note: I believe the developers are Chinese so sometimes that translation may be a bit off...


Here are some links to get the devices and programs that I talk about in this post:

Go Launcher EX
Go SMS Pro