Pages

Monday, October 21, 2013

Why iPhone Apps Request Access to Use Microphone in iOS 7

apps want microphone access
Adobe AIR would like access to your iPhone microphone

In the new iOS 7, Apple added a permission request for apps that want to use the microphone.

Why do apps need to use the microphone?
Why do apps want to use the microphone?
Why do apps need to access my iPhone microphone?
Why do apps invade on my privacy by accessing the microphone?

Those are excellent questions.

Some Apple iPhone Apps That Request to Use the Microphone:


  1. Adobe AIR
  2. Google Maps
  3. Waze
  4. Blitz Brigade 
  5. Shazam
  6. Skype
  7. Snapchat
  8. YouTube
  9. Discovery
  10. Songpop
  11. Square (credit card reader)

Is There a Logical Reason for Requesting Microphone Access?


Some Apple apps would seem more logical to need microphone access than others. If you need sound input in order to execute commands, it would seem logical. For other apps that have no sound input built into the functionality, granting access to the iPhone microphone seems rather invasive to one's privacy.

If the app does not deal with sound input for executing a command within the app, there is a possibility that it requests microphone access because the developer was leaving the microphone access open on purpose for future functionality. If that isn't the case, it could be asking because the developer did not turn off this feature in error, or lastly, because an app really wants to collect sound data from you.

One app developer, Color (in a 2011 article), stated that it used the microphone to find out when several poeple were in a room to gather "social" data. 

Are you okay with that?

Apple iOS 7 now asks your permission before granting apps access to your microphone. Thank you iOS 7, for respecting our privacy.

How to Manually Disable iPhone Apps From Using Your Microphone

Go to Settings -> Privacy -> Microphone. In this settings screen, you can go through each app and turn off the microphone access to any app that should not need to access your iPhone microphone.

Paranoid People Beware


If you are a paranoid person, then the only way to be sure that your iPhone (or smartphone) isn't spying on you is to turn it off completely when you are not using it. This may seem a little extreme, but it is really the only way you can be guaranteed that your privacy is respected.

Read more about the iPhone in the following blog post:

This accessory may not be supported
iPhone error message: This accessory may not be supported.
 

Sunday, October 13, 2013

'The Walking Dead' Season 4 Episode Recap on AMC

The Walking Dead Season 4
The Walking Dead Season 4 Premiere on AMC

'The Walking Dead' Season 4 premiere aired Sunday October 13, 2013 on AMC. The episode is titled "30 days Without an Accident."

Counting down to the premiere of Season 4, AMC aired a marathon of The Walking Dead episodes, so viewers could catch up on missed episodes building up to the new season.

Where will the show's band of survivors go in Season 4? Will they stay at the prison if zombies figure out a way to overrun the prison fences?

In Season 2, the band of survivors stayed on a farm. Season 3, they were holed up in a prison, surrounded by prison fences that were topped with Byzantine barb wire. But zombies still found a way in.

In Season 3, The main character, Rick (played by Andrew Lincoln), told his fellow survivors to clear all of the dead bodies from the prison yard so they could grow crops without zombie corpses rotting into the soil. Entering into Season 4, Rick is now a farmer, planting crops for their new home, which is literally a prison. Rick is learning to farm from Hershel (played by Scott Wilson).

The Walking Dead Season 4
The Walking Dead Season 4: Hershel teaching Rick to farm at the prison
What happened on 'The Walking Dead' last night?


Glad you asked.

Check out the recaps of what happened in Season 4 episodes 1 - 5:

'The Walking Dead' Season 4 Episode 1: 30 Days Without an Accident

In Season 4, Episode 1 you  see an increase of zombies outside of one side of the fence by watchtower 3. What is causing this?
Rick is learning to farm, and growing fond of his little pigs, but the mother pig is very sick. Rick finds a zombie-looking woman in the woods. She is looking for food. She tells him it is for her husband. She says she wants to join his camp. Rick tells her he needs to meet her husband and ask him three questions.
When they get back to her camp, she tries to kill him with the knife he gave her. She ends up stabbing herself to become a zombie. Her husband is already a zombie and his head is in a burlap sack at the camp.

Back at the prison, a boy in the camp named Patrick catches a mysterious illness and dies in the shower, and turns into a zombie.

'The Walking Dead' Season 4 Episode 2: Infected

In Season 4, Episode 2, we see a new danger spring up at the prison. People are catching a deadly flu strain, attributed to a sick pick that caught it from a sick boar in the woods. This is a 24 hr. flu, that kills the person, and then they turn into a zombie super quicklike. It all started with Patrick. At the beginning of the episode, he is roaming inside the prison and bites a man on the throat. Zombies multiply and wreak havoc inside the prison. After the population contains and kills the zombies, they deduce that Patrick caught some form of the swine flu. They wonder who all is infected and tell people to split up. 

Meanwhile, zombies congregate outside the fence by Watchtower 3. They start to bend the fence in. The group see that someone has been feeding them rats. Rick decides to sacrifice his pigs to the zombies so they can get them off of the fence for repairs. Giving up his pigs is symbolic of all of his hard work was for nothing. He gets out his gun belt because he realizes that he has to fight -- not farm.

'The Walking Dead' Season 4 Episode 3: Isolation

In Season 4, Episode 3, the episode starts with Tyreese filled with rage as he discovers that his love interest - Karen - has been burned to death (after turning into a zombie, of course) along with David. Tyreese accuses Rick of not being aggressive enough in finding out who did this. After Tyreese punches Rick in the face, Rick unleashes his fury on Tyreese. Tyreese ends up with an eye swollen shut and Rick has a sprained hand that needs a couple days of healing.

Tyreese takes out the rest of his anger by digging Karen a grave. Rick and Carol discuss fixing the water pump, since it only has about a day's worth of water left. Rick says wait until it runs out, while Carol says to go ahead and do it now. Other people discuss how to stop the spreading virus, which is killing people very rapidly. Four people decide to go: Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese, and Bob. Tyreese takes on a horde of zombies after they abandon the vehicle. Daryl, Michonne, and Bob watch as the zombies encircle him. They leave Tyreese as he fights them off one by one. Surprisingly, Tyreese survives the encounter. They continue on to find the veterinarian hospital and the antibiotics.

Carol decides to fix the water pump all by herself. She makes a contraption to distract the zombies, while she fixes the pump in the stream. The zombies start to come at her. Rick sees this and helps her back into the prison yard. 

Hershel and the children are separated from the rest of the infected people in the prison office. Hershel decides to leave to go to the woods to find herbal remedies to extend the lives of the infected. Carl (Rick's son) makes Hershel take him along or he'll tell his father. Hershel allows Carl to come. They come across two zombies in the woods - one is decaying like a rotten tree and the other is a girl with a bear trap on her leg. Hershel tells Carl he doesn't need to kill them. They leave. Hershel decides to give his remedy to the infected. He starts with the Doctor. The Doctor coughs blood on him, and Hershel takes his mask off. Hershel continues to care for the sick.

Rick finds out at the end of the episode Carol was the person that burned Karen and David after they turned into zombies.

'The Walking Dead' Season 4 Episode 4: Indifference

This was pretty much an episode "on the road." Rick and Carol set off to find goods in a close town, while the band of four (Tyreese, Daryl, Michonne, and Bob) are set to raid an veterinarian clinic of its antibiotics. We learn that Bob has an alcohol problem that has already cost one person their life, and endangered the group at the end of the episode. Daryl basically tells Bob that he will beat him into the ground if he catches him drinking. Rick and Carol find two alive but maimed people in a house named Sam and Ana. They want to prove their worthiness, but are too zealous, while Rick and Carol finish their rounds. They see zombies eating the girl (Ana), and the guy (Sam) never makes it back to the house. Rick wants to wait a few more minutes, while Carol pushes him into leaving, saying "They're not here. Let's leave."

As they head back to the vehicle, Rick says that they let them (Sam and Ana) both die back there. Rick tells Carol that Tyreese will surely kill her for what did to Karen and David. Carol hands her late husband's watch to Rick and drives off. Rick heads back to the prison alone. In the words of Donald Trump, "I'm sorry Carol, but you're fired."

Z. Love's Commentary: Carol's decision-making abilities are starting to be questioned by Rick at the beginning of this episode, which ultimately leads to her separation from the group at the end of episode 4. Carol's recent decision to kill Karen and David because there was a possibility they would turn into zombies really show that Carol is too willing to kill and "play God" rather than let the scenario play out. Perhaps this is an indication that Carol has hardened too much as her character has transformed from a passive person in an abusive marriage to a "take-charge" independence and just a strong woman in general. Now she seems so independant that she does not have any close attachments, which has been called into question, and led to her departure.

'The Walking Dead' Season 4 Episode 5: "Internment"

In this episode, the character Hershel has to get his hands dirty. Two episodes ago, he resigned to pulling off his face mask and caring for the sick. His daughter Maggie is pretty much the only person at the prison, besides the children in the office, that haven't been exposed to the killer 'zombie' flu. Hershel is trying to keep people alive for as long as possible until the small group with antibiotics return. Hershel begins the episode with putting a hand pump down one guy's throat and telling the sick to keep pumping every 5 seconds to get oxygen to his lungs. If they stop, he dies.

Almost everyone in the prison is sick, including the doctor. He is very bad off, and Hershel has taken over the doctor role. He tells Hershel to start closing cell doors just in case someone dies and turns into a zombie. 

Rick goes outside Maggie at the gates trying to fend off zombies all by herself. He is reluctant to tell her that Carol is not coming back, but says it is best she is not there when Tyreese returns.

Rick goes inside to find Hershel stabbing Mr. Jacobs in the head. 

They hear gunshots and Rick tells Maggie to go help. Rick goes to check on his son, Carl, in the prison office. Carl and the kids are fine. Carl and Rick go outside to push back the zombies at the fence. They are putting log posts up against the fence. They start to snap. The fence comes down. Carl and Rick run through the tower to the other side. They have their guns out and make a stand. The zombies are coming, and they are hungry.

Meanwhile, Hershel is inside the prison and gets attacked by a female zombie, and the guy with the pump in his mouth (from earlier in the episode) has turned. A little girl is trying to lure him away from the others. Hershel finally frees himself long enough to toss this zombie over the rail.

The band of survivors with the antibiotics finally return at the end, and the prison returns to a somewhat better state, but there is someone watching from outside the prison gates: The Governor, wearing his eye patch. The episode ends on a note of suspense.

The Walking Dead Season 3 Recap

Glenn Rhee is the asian character in Season 3. He used to be a pizza delivery man. He knows shortcuts and has lived a daredevil type of lifestyle. He falls for Hershel's daughter Maggie, after doing supply runs together. Glenn and Maggie are abducted by Merle and taken to Woodbury. The Governor assaults Maggie, and Glenn is infuriated, bent to get personal revenge on the Governor. Before an assault by the Governor's crew, Glenn asks Hershel for permission to marry his daughter, Maggie. Hershel consents. Glenn cuts a ring off of a zombie, and proposes to Maggie in Season 3.

The Governor is the (alive) bad guy throughout Season 3. He says one thing, but is usually covering up something much worse. He finds Michonne and Andrea at a helicopter crash site. They witness his crew as they jack the heads of the dead helicopter crew. There was one survivor inside the helicopter. The Governor pretends like he is saving him, but really they getting information from him about the rest of his army batallion. The Governor uses this information to later meet the soldiers, and kill all of them, taking their equipment. The Governor sanctions experiments in a secret lab on zombies in hopes that he can cure his daughter Penny, now a zombie.

The Governor also has a gladiator arena, where he has zombies fight humans. Andrea denounces the gladiator fights as barbaric. The Governor rationalizes the practice as "shining a light on the monster under the bed." Viewer see that as Season 3 continues, the Governor grows with bloodlust, hungry for death.

The Governor captures Daryl in the rescue of Glenn and Maggie from Woodbury. The Governor calls Merle a traitor, forcing them to fight to the death. Rick and his gang come to the rescue in the nick of time, allowing Merle and brother Daryl to escape. Merle Dixon goes back with Daryl to the prison, after being in Woodbury under the rule of the Governor as the second in command for some time. Merle stays distanced from everyone at the prison. He learns of an offer from the Governor to spare everyone under Rick, as long as Michonne is captured and brought to him. Merle kidnaps Michonne and escorts her back to Woodbury. Along the trip back, she appeals to his conscious, and he frees her. Merle attracts a horde of zombies and leads them to the Governor's hideout. The Governor shoots Merle in the chest. Daryl discovers his zombie brother and tearfully kills him.

Back at the prison, Carol advises Andrea to gain the Governor's trust (as his lover) and then to end his tyranny rule of Woodbury by killing him. Andrea feels the need to save everyone but ultimately saves no one. She attempts to broker a peace treaty between the Governor and Rick. The Governor is just pretending to gain their trust, but really plans to kill them all. Andrea eventually learns that the Governor is a cruel and twisted man. The Governor leaves a dying Milton in his torture chamber with Andrea, after she attempts to warn Rick. Andrea dies in Season 3, killing herself with Rick's gun, while Michonne is at her side.

Meanwhile, the Governor leads his crew against Rick's. Rick's band of survivors fend off the Governor's band of men, and they retreat. The Governor is left with only two devoted men at this point - Martinez and Shumpert.

Show Fact:

The Walking Dead Season 3 had an average of 12 million viewers, and this cable channel viewing population is scaring broadcast networks, as it is beats shows like American Idol and Law and Order: SVU.

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

LifeProof Indestructible iPhone Case Review

Indestructible iPhone case by LifeProof
LifeProof Indestructible iPhone 4 case dipped in mud

Is there an indestructible case for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S?

Yes. There is the LifeProof Indestructible Case for iPhone 4 / iPhone 4S – (black pictured above).

How much is the indestructible iPhone case?

$77.99 on MobileFun.com (prices will vary on other websites and in stores)

The pros and cons of the LifeProof Indestructible Case for iPhone 4 & iPhone 4S:

Indestructible iPhone case by LifeProof
LifeProof Indestructible iPhone 4 case submerged underwater

Pros:
  1.  Offers superior protection for an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S while outdoors.
  2.  Looks great and is not especially bulky in a pocket.
  3. Allows you to use an iPhone 4 underwater (if assembled correctly)
  4. This is the Second generation of Lifeproof cases (improved over first gen)
  5. Made to conform to U.S. and UK military standards
  6. IP-68 rating against water and dust
  7. Double AR-coated optical glass for optimum viewing underwater

Cons:
  1. The biggest complaint with the LifeProof Indestructible Case for iPhone 4 & iPhone 4S is that the screen does not stay flat, affecting the reliability of the touchscreen.
  2. Also, one must assemble the case perfectly, otherwise you could risk letting water into the LifeProof indestructible case if it is not correctly assembled.
  3. Your iPhone may no longer fit in a normal sized belt-holder designed for iPhones after assembling the LifeProof indestructible case on your phone.
  4. One reviewer points out that if you use headphones often, the screw off cap for headphone use could become annoying.
  5. The port for the charging and data cable is difficult to open and nearly impossible to remove the cable once the phone has been fully charged.
  6. Another user review states that while this indestructible case offers the best protection for an iPhone 4, it is not practical for everyday use.
Indestructible iPhone case by LifeProof
Front-facing view of iPhone with LifeProof Indestructible case

Conclusion:
The LifeProof Indestructible iPhone case offers superior protection against natural elements, but is not practical for everyday use. This would be a great iPhone case for someone that is in the active duty military and is in a rugged terrain or for someone that wants to take their iPhone on an outdoor excursion.

Out of 52 reviews on the site MobileFun.com, the LifeProof Indestructible Case for iPhone 4 has an average rating of 4.5 stars (out of 5).

Disclaimer: This blog is not affiliated with MobileFun.com and has not been paid to endorse this website.