Minnov8 Gang 294 – The CES Lounge Singer

Graeme is headed to Las Vegas for the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show and will be performing his lounge act, no doubt. (Actually, he’s working with some of his Minnesota clients showcasing their offerings at the show, but who knows?).

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off).
Music: Handful of Stars by Midnight Music Quartet. Brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

The Podcast

Story Links

Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories

• Minnesota launches new website tracking government spending
• Consumers like super-sized smartphones, but carrying them around…
• Phablets catch fire for the holidays

Other Top Stories

• CES and the Internet of Things
  • ‘Internet of Things’ products to grab the spotlight at CES 2015
  • Here’s what to expect from CES 2015
  • SmartThings & The Opening CES Keynote Address
    • Livestream on Monday, January 5th at 8:30am Central
  • ‘Internet of Things’ is soft target for hackers
• Blu phones
• HP sells Palm trademarks; brand could be resurrected with new smartphones
• Google posts Windows 8.1 vulnerability before Microsoft can patch it
• Twitter’s ‘While You Were Away’ Recap Feature Is Rolling Out To Many Users
• Google Strikes an Upbeat Note With FCC on Title II
• Microsoft is building a new browser as part of its Windows 10 push
  • History of Internet Explorer
• Prying Eyes: Inside the NSA’s War on Internet Security
  • Skype. How big *is* the back door? (Steve’s blog post from 2008)
  • Darkmail – End-to-end encrypted email
    • Dark Internet Mail Environment paper by Ladar Levinson (PDF)

Steve’s Security Tip of the Week

Top Five Security New Year’s Resolutions

1) Use two-factor authentication whenever possible

• What is two factor authentication?
• List of sites using two factor authentication

2) Use a password manager

• 15+ Best iPhone Password Manager Apps
• Gang’s favorite: LastPass

3) Be smart, and safe, with your computing

• Top Ten Safe Computing Tips (for MIT Students)

4) Encrypt your hard drive, especially on your laptop!

• BitLocker on Windows
• FileVault2 on OS X

5) Use a VPN

• Five Best VPN Service Providers
• Ultimate VPN list

Cool Thing of the Week

• Phil: The Om/One Levitating Bluetooth Speaker
• Tim: Alcatel’s new Pixi smartphone can run Windows, Android, or Firefox OS
• Steve: Blue Mikey

Upcoming Events

• Educelerate Twin Cities Demo2, January 14, 2015
• GameCraft, January 23-25, UofM
• Date Night: How Data Science Leads to “I do”, February 3, 2015  (tickets)
• MinneDemo 19, February 5th, Guthrie Theater (tix released Jan 27th & Feb 2nd)
• Hennepin County Geo Code, February 21-22
• Mobile March, March 26th, 2015
• IoT Fuse (Internet of Things event) March 19th, 2015 (tix here)
• MinneBar 10, April 11th, Best Buy HQ
• Twin Cities TechPulse 2015 – April 21, 2015