News

One of our team attended the preview last week of the new HP Elite X3 Windows 10 Phone.  This is HP’s latest venture in to the phone space, but they see this more as a tiny computer with phone capabilities.
The Elite X3, once back in the office, can be slotted into a small dock which has a monitor, keyboard and mouse connected.  The phone then becomes a desktop PC allowing the user to run the phones applications on the big screen.

There is also a “laptop” option which is basically just a screen, keyboard and battery which once the phone is connected behaves like a laptop.  This laptop device can be left in the glove-box of a car without concerns of losing data as the applications and data are held on the phone.

This is a powerful and small device which will be ideal for users who need mobility and want to cut down on the number of devices they use.

Hydropower was used by farmers in ancient Greece to grind grain and today is used in iconic locations like Nevada with the Hoover Dam. But a start up in South Korea have revealed a hydropower device called the eStream, which converts running water into electricity, so you can charge your phone and other USB devices. The eStream is about the size of a water bottle with a turbine that rotates underwater and generates electricity that gets stored in a built in battery. This takes about 4.5 hours to charge fully. A full battery can charge up to 3 smart phones, cameras or other USB devices. Click here to see the eStream in action.

HP last week announced a worldwide voluntary safety recall and replacement program for certain notebook computer batteries. The affected batteries were shipped with specific HP, Compaq, HP ProBook, HP ENVY, Compaq Presario, and HP Pavilion laptops sold worldwide from March 2013 through August 2015.

These batteries have the potential to overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard. It is extremely important for customers to check whether their batteries are affected, and to cease use of affected batteries immediately.

Not all batteries in all HP, Compaq, HP ProBook, HP ENVY, Compaq Presario, and HP Pavilion Notebook Computers are affected. To check whether your HP laptop is affected, download this utility from HP.

Queen’s University have developed a prototype of a bendable smartphone named ReFlex. LG have already created a flexible screen in the past, but they have yet to use it on a device. ReFlex was made to revolutionise the way we communicate with a smartphone. Bending the ReFlex will make the pages flip in an eBook, making you feel like your reading an actual book. The bending also works on games & apps.

Windows 10 Mobile has now been released after months of waiting. The OS is available to selected Windows Phone 8.1 devices, including the Lumia 1520, 930, 640, 640XL, 730, 735, 830, 532, 535, 540, 635 1GB, 636 1GB, 638 1GB, 430, 435, BLU Win HD w510u, BLU Win HD LTE x150q, and the MCJ Madosma Q501.

Here is the procedure to upgrade your phone if your device supports the Windows 10 Mobile upgrade.  If you are not confident about carrying out the upgrade yourself, or would like some advice please call our helpdesk.

1) Get Update Advisor

To check if the Windows 10 Mobile upgrade is available for your phone, you firstly need to install an app called Update Advisor app from the Windows Store on your Windows Phone 8.1 device, which you can download from here

2) Enable Windows 10 upgrade
Once you have downloaded and installed the Update Advisor, you need to open it by heading over to the All Apps list on your Windows Phone 8.1 device. After opening up the app, click on “Next” and let the app check for updates. If the app says that the Windows 10 upgrade is available, tick the Enable Windows 10 upgrade checkbox and tap on “Next”. Once the app tells you that your phone is “Ready to upgrade”, tap on “Done”

3) Get the update
After following the above two steps, you should now be able to get the Windows 10 Mobile update. To get it, open up the Settings app on your Windows Phone, scroll down and open “Phone Update” and check for updates to download the OS. Once the OS is ready to install, you will get a simple notification and be able to install the OS.

Here are some important things to check for when purchasing a power bank.

1. Ensure the power bank is of a higher capacity than your phone's battery. Most smartphones have batteries that range from 1500 to 2500mAh. If your phone has a battery of 1800mAh and you purchase a power bank with a capacity of 5400mAh, you should get at least two charge of the phone. It is recommended that you do not to discharge the power bank completely.
   
   
2. Ensure that the power bank has USB connections in for both charging and discharging.  Also check that the unit has the correct cable to fit your device.
   
   
3. Check pricing and the quality of the unit by looking for reviews on Google
   
   
4. Make sure it has short circuit and overcharge protection.
   
   
5. Check the weight and dimensions of the unit as this may restrict the ability to carry these with you.

Batteries are a critical part of our mobile devices, and as such they need to be cared for properly. There is still a lot of inaccurate information circulating since nickel-based batteries were replaced by lithium-based batteries. We have provided some handy tips to help you keep your batteries healthy.

1. Battery Memory/Topping Off
You may have heard something about batteries and the “memory effect.” How if you don’t “teach” your batteries their full potential by going from completely full to empty, then they will “forget” some of their capacity. This only applies to nickel-based batteries, most modern devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops come with the lithium-based batteries. These should instead be “topped off” whenever you have the chance.
To get the most out of lithium batteries, you should always try to keep it above 50%, without charging it constantly to 100% either. If you go from 100% to 0% too often, it’s more likely to shorten the lifespan than improve it. So to summarise, to optimise the battery life, try going from around 40% to 80% between charges.

2. Hot and Cold
Heat can greatly reduce the capacity of your battery. When under load, batteries can heat up to high temperatures.
The main factor to watch out for is leaving or storing your devices in areas they can heat up externally – say in a hot car left in the sun – which will cause the battery to run down faster. Keep your device cool and avoid storing them in hot places.
On the other hand, extreme cold temperatures can also affect your battery lifespan. Don’t expose any battery to freezing temperatures if you live in a cold climate, and don’t put spare batteries in the freezer! This is a myth from the nickel based batteries era.

3. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth & GPS
There’s a common misconception that turning off these services will prolong your battery life. In most cases this isn’t true, the only time they’ll actually drain your battery is if they are being used. In other words, having Bluetooth turned on, when you aren’t connected to and using a Bluetooth device, won’t drain your battery any more than having Wi-Fi on when you’re not accessing the network.
Though they may use an immeasurable amount of energy from your battery they will not drain it over the course of a day. Dimming your screen will do more good than switching off these services.

4. 0% Batteries
Do you have a habit of infrequent charging? If possible don’t leave your batteries in a fully discharged state for a long time. If it does get to 0% then you should recharge it ASAP. If you let the battery discharge all the way and leave your device more than a week before charging, it may become incapable of holding a charge at all, dying completely.

5. Batteries will always wear out
Even by following these tips, your lithium-ion batteries will eventually wear out over time, holding less and less charge. After these have reached the maximum number of full discharge cycles rated by the manufacturer, you’ll find that the battery will only power your device for shorter periods of time. The more you use them, the more capacity they’ll lose. Even though you can make your batteries hold a long charge for longer, there’s no stopping entropy. By the time your battery has worn out it will be time to consider a device upgrade!

An important resolution that you should carry out for the New Year ought to be setting up the security on your mobile devices.  This is now critical, as so much personal and company data is now either stored on the device or the device has access to this information.

In a recent security audit, Kaspersky found that 73 percent of companies have been affected by internal information security incidents, with the largest single cause of confidential data losses being employees - 42 percent.

At Computer Culture we take security very seriously and like to be proactive about it. When we encounter issues that need to be shared we will send out email alerts. Hopefully we can save you time, money and pain by addressing the risks before they become an issue!

We have been made aware of a very serious security flaw in Android phones that requires your attention.

Many of our customers use Android phones (such as Samsung Galaxy for example) and a security vulnerability has recently been discovered that effects roughly 950 million of these devices (95%). The vulnerability can allow remote access to your phone without you knowing it, with the ability to access your data, and well as devices in your phone such as your camera and microphone.

The security researcher who discovered the flaw describes this latest Android security flaw as "the worst Android vulnerabilities discovered to date", adding that "if 'Heartbleed' from the PC era sends a chill down your spine, this is much worse."

Google (who produces Android) are aware of the issue and they have released a security patch for it. The problem however is that the security update has reached very few of the devices in use. The reason for this is that Google don’t have the ability to patch Android devices directly like Microsoft can do with Windows Update, or Apple can do with their iPhones. Google releases a patch, which then goes to the phone manufacturer (e.g. Samsung, HTC, Motorola etc), who need to rebuild their Android software with their customisations, and once tested release the update. The update is then further delayed by carriers (such as Vodafone, Spark etc) who also need to approve the updates.

The end result is there are A LOT of vulnerable Android phones out there, many of which may never be patched due to their age (often phones older than 18 months stop receiving updates). While most modern Android phones should eventually be patched, there may be a long wait.

It appears the Firefox web browser on all major platforms (Android, Windows, Mac) is also affected by the same vulnerability. Mozilla, the makers of Firefox released an update to fix the issue in May, so it is also very important you update Firefox to the latest version if you use it on your computer (our Attiva managed patch service will take care of this automatically for you).

So what’s our advice? Although we are not aware that anyone is taking advantage of this exploit, it is more then likely someone will soon. We recommend you check to see if there are any updates available for your phone, and if there are, apply them immediately. If you are unsure of how to update your device please let us know and we can help.

Click here to review the research article published describing the security vulnerability and get more info.

We’re monitoring this situation closely and will keep you updated with any additional steps that can be taken to help secure your devices.

If you would like to discuss this further with us, please call our support team on 03 377 4662 or email support@computerculture.co.nz.

Please forward this email on to anyone you know that is using an Android phone.