Apple That

First off, why would you want to hook up your iPad to your TV? The answers to this are… limited actually. The iPad doesn’t hookup to your television like most laptops, which basically show your entire laptop display on the TV screen. When you hook up your iPad to the television, it allows apps to send data to the television, much like a DVD or Blu-Ray player. This means you aren’t going to hook your 9″ iPad to your 46″ plasma and play FieldRunners, view your calendar, or check your email. The only real reason for connecting  your iPad to a TV is for playing videos, either directly from the iPad or from an application like: YouTube, NetFlix, ABC Player, etc. Apple claims that you can view photo slide shows as well, but I’ve been unsuccessful in doing so.

Another thing to remember is that not all applications will stream video your to television. I haven’t tried many, but I do know that YouTube and NetFlix work just fine, as well as videos stored locally on the iPad. According to an Apple service representative I spoke to yesterday, it is “up to the app developer if they want to allow that or not.” So, if you have a certain video app that you want to play on your television, check with the application developer before investing in the hardware required to hook your iPad up to your TV.

So, if video steaming to your TV is what you’re wanting, and the application you want to use supports it, how do you hook the iPad to your television? Luckily Apple did make this press simple (but not cheap). For $49 you can purchase an Apple Composite AV Cable or Apple Component AV Cable. Which one you’ll need really depends on what type of connection your TV offers. Composite inputs are three RCA type connectors, colored red, yellow and white. They are pretty standard on all TVs and have been around since the 1980′s. Component inputs look the same as composite, but are comprised of five RCA connectors colored red, green, blue, white and yellow. Whichever connection you choose, hooking it up to the iPad is as simple as hooking anything else up… just plug it in. There are no settings to modify (unless you’re outside of the U.S. and need to set your output type from NTSC to PAL) and once the cable is connected to both the TV and the iPad, you’re good to go. Simply launch your video app (like NetFlix) and click play, then let the iPad do the work.

Keeping your data safe should be a top priority these days, with so many different security threats.  And people often think of viruses and hackers attacking their computer data, but it doesn’t occur to them that something bad could happen to their smartphone as well.   And since smartphones are still relatively new technology, there is lots of potential for new and unheard of threats in the future.   With the recent news of the Apple App Store being hacked, we decided we’d offer a few common sense tips for protecting yourself and your iPhone data.

1.  Use only reputable iPhone apps. When you visit the App Store, check out the reviews and ratings.  If you see an app that doesn’t have favorable reviews or even worse, doesn’t have any reviews, you’re probably not going to want to purchase that one.  Generally, an app is secure but there is always the potential for a hacker to find his way through if you aren’t using apps from the top developers.   If you still aren’t sure, check out the app-maker’s website.  And just because it’s in the App Store, doesn’t mean it’s trustworthy.  Sure, Apple goes to great lengths to check into apps but as we saw this week, that doesn’t always mean anything.

2.  Back up your data.

Almost everyone has experienced a computer crashing in their lifetime and wished they’d put those pictures or a documents on a disc or an external hard drive. Did you know you could lose your smartphone data, too, or even have it hacked?  Backing up your smartphone data is an important way to keep yourself secure.

3.  Keep up with the news.

If you’re reading your favorite news website and don’t usually check the technology section, go ahead and do so.  It only takes a few minutes.  Be aware of any new security threats or even new ways to protect yourself.  If you walk by your TV and the anchorman is discussing some sort of security problem, stop and listen.  Be aware of what’s going on in the world of technology.  Even if the problem doesn’t directly relate to your iPhone, pay attention anyway because as security threats advance, it could end up being a problem for you in the future, and will also help you make informed decisions.

4.  Use data encryption apps.

As mentioned, backing up your data is a great idea, but encrypting it works as well.  There are several apps and programs in the App Store that help you keep things secure, many of which do encrypt your data.  But also as mentioned, only use reputable programs.  Just because something says it will keep your information secure, doesn’t mean you should trust it.  Read what other consumers have to say about the product.

5.  Reset your phone.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, but you know if it comes down to it, you can always reset your phone to factory settings.  This is great for when you’ve found that you have downloaded a harmful app or you’re carrying harmful data.  Sure, this may not always be enough but it’s just like owning a PC.  When all else fails, sometimes you just have to reinstall Windows.

If you noticed something strange going on at the Apple App Store over the weekend, you weren’t alone…and you weren’t imagining things.   It appears as though the store hacked.  It hasn’t been made clear just how many accounts were affected, but the hacked accounts were  used to buy hundreds of dollars worth of  apps over the weekend.

Meanwhile, a blogger who noticed an unusual occurrence in the book category.  It looked as though 40 of the top 50 books had been wiped out and replaced with books by someone named Thuat Nguyen.  Since the books had very few user reviews, the blogger became suspicious and rightfully so.   Apple contacted Alex Brie and assured him the matter was being “looked into.”  Brie’s own app, Self Help Classics, had been in the top 50 for the last 18 months.

In an interview with IDG News Service, Brie said

I had hoped things would get back to normal thinking that, eventually, these weird apps would just go out of fashion.  There was a drop in sales, not only for me but for all the developers whose apps had been shifted by the 41 apps in question.

As time progressed, many complaints started pouring out in the MacRumors forum, such as this one:

Yesterday my credit union contacted me saying there was suspicious activity on my debit card. Sure enough over 10 transactions in the $40-$50 area all on iTunes equaling to $558. This is definitely a problem, since then I’ve e-mailed MSNBC hoping they’ll pick up the story and investigate this problem.

According to PC World, as of today, the books and apps by Thuat Nguyen have been removed from the App Store all together.   Brie said in an interview that his book is back in its rightful place.

Both The Next Web and Engadget reported on the story over the weekend, and The Next Web even had screenshots of Twitter users complaining about their accounts being compromised.   Do the hacked accounts have anything to do with the Thuat Nguyen books?  That hasn’t been confirmed yet by Apple but it does seem likely, and both The Next Web and Engadget reported it as so.

This incident just proves that it’s important to keep your accounts safe and secure.  One of the most important things you can do is choose a long password that contains a combination of letters, numbers, and other characters, and that is not easy to figure out.   For more tips on choosing a password and keeping yourself safe from hackers, check out the article: Never Use These Passwords.