Wired

The switch -- for now

SMARTPHONES have been quite the topic in my column over the past six months. I've discussed BB10, Samsung Galaxy S3, iPhone 5 and some older model BlackBerries.

Most of you have disagreed with my opinion, which has kept things interesting. Today I'm going to throw a knuckleball at you. Five months ago, I had an iPhone 4S and I decided it was time for a change. I switched to a Samsung Galaxy S3. I quite enjoyed the phone in the beginning and liked it much more than my iPhone.

As time went on, I began to dislike it more and more. The phone was starting to seem slow, glitchy and too many things were going on for my liking. I may portray myself as a "young tech hipster," but I love simplicity. I decided to give the BlackBerry Bold 9900 a try. I was looking for something with limited apps, great email, had a calendar for scheduling and was easy to type on. The typing on my Galaxy annoyed me. When I went to Rogers to pick up my new SIM card for my BB, I told the Rogers employee the switch I was making. He basically called me an idiot. Looking from the outside in, he's probably right.

I've used the BlackBerry for just under a week and I am enjoying its simplicity. I text, email, tweet and play a little bit of brick breaker -- that's it. I'm not wasting my time fooling around on all the apps I had loaded on my Android. Maybe I lack self-discipline, but for now I'm quite enjoying the switch. I'm starting to use my phone as an actual phone. If I want to use a plethora of apps (which sometimes I do) I simply go on my iPad Mini and play around. Don't worry, I know I may have smartphone ADHD, or maybe I just like new things all of the time, but tell me, what do you guys think of my smartphone switch? Shoot me an email: db@thdavidbell.com or tweet at me: @thedavidbell.

Cyber attacks

HAS hacking ever tickled your fancy? On Friday evening I watched The Italian Job, starring Marky Mark (Wahlberg), for the hundredth time. The way Lyle -- aka Napster -- hacked through those systems was incredibly intriguing. Now I know when you watch movies like that you have to temporarily suspend your disbelief because in real life it's really not as easy as they make it look; however, I have found a website that tracks cyber attacks as they happen. People are hacking computers and systems all day every day. Whether it's for fun or they are doing it for someone else's nefarious motives, it's happening as you read this.

According to website Mashable, Deutsche Telekom, a German telecommunications company, has developed a website that allows users to monitor cyber attacks in real time. Sicherheitstacho.eu (loosely translated as "security tachometer") displays events as they happen, giving the time of the attack, country of origin and the intended target.

They also list the places in the world hacked most often. Russia, Taiwan, Germany, Ukraine and Hungary are the top five most hacked places. The most common type of hacking, server harassment, has happened more than 27-million times in the past month. It blows my mind to think there are even that many people who have the know-how to complete these hacking missions.

IPhone 5S in production

JAPANESE blog Macotakara has reported Foxconn is ready to begin production on the iPhone 5S. Sources have reported you can expect the iPhone 5S to arrive this summer, most likely in August. This makes sense because Apple will most likely announce the new phone at the World Wide Developers Conference in June.

You can expect this new iPhone to be bigger and faster. That's what Apple likes to do, release a new device, then a year later release the same device with upgraded internals. Another rumour (which I like very much) is that the home button will have a built-in fingerprint scanner. I'd much rather scan my thumb than enter in a password. The iPhone 5S will also apparently have an improved front-facing camera, which is much needed. When you take a picture with the front-facing camera the image quality looks like it's from a Logitech Webcam from 2006. Mackotakara has been accurate in the past, so get excited for the iPhone 5S.

David Bell (@thedavidbell) is a young entrepreneur in Winnipeg. He specializes in emerging technology and online aspects of business, social media and public relations. Access his full-service digital agency online at iBXAgency.com. He is an active member of the YouTube community (http://www.TheDavidBell.com), with more than two million views and 5,000 subscribers. He was also a Dragons' Den contestant. Email: db@thedavidbell.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 10, 2013 ??65526