Jeff Rivett has worked with and written about computers since the early 1980s. His first computer was an Apple II+, built by his father and heavily customized. Jeff's writing appeared in Computist Magazine in the 1980s, and he created and sold a game utility (Ultimaker 2, reviewed in the December 1983 Washington Apple Pi Journal) to international markets during the same period. Proceeds from writing, software sales, and contract programming gigs paid his way through university, earning him a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree at UWO. Jeff went on to work as a programmer, sysadmin, and manager in various industries. There's more on the About page, and on the Jeff Rivett Consulting site.

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Firefox 25 released

Mozilla released Firefox 25 on October 29, with the usual lack of any kind of announcement. I was alerted to the new version via posts on the SANS ISC Diary and the CERT alerts list.

The only thing even close to an announcement of the new version from Mozilla is a blog post from the 29th that describes one of the new features in Firefox 25. The blog post never even mentions the new version.

The version 25 release notes list the changes in this version, which consist of several security vulnerability fixes, a few other bug fixes, Web Audio support, and some CSS and HTML standards tweaks.

The Known Vulnerabilities page shows the security-related fixes in version 25.

Update for Opera 17

The Opera development team is working on the next major revisions of the Webkit-based version of the browser, which we will eventually see in the form of Opera 18 and Opera 19. The current stable version is 17, meaning that Opera 17 is not undergoing active development. However, the developers are fixing bugs in Opera 17, and that’s the reason for this update. Version 17.0.1241.53 includes fixes for several crashing problems in the previous release.

Google axed Talk – and I missed it

I suppose I shouldn’t be too upset about this, at least not like this guy. I wasn’t actually using Google Talk, but of all the chat clients I’ve evaluated, it was one of the best. Recently I’ve been using Skype for chat, and it works reasonably well. Everyone already runs it, which helps.

But I’m still surprised that Google snuck this one past me. I only discovered it when I allowed Secunia’s PSI (software that checks for missing updates) to update Google Talk. PSI claimed there was a newer version than the one I was running, so I told it to download and install the update. When it was finally finished, I was running Google Talk version zero: it had been removed completely from my computer. So I started looking into it, and discovered that Google eliminated Talk some time in May 2013. Google will tell you that what replaced it (Google+ Hangouts) is much better, but that’s complete crap.

Google has got to be hurting itself by eliminating all these services. Most serious professionals (including me) are now wary of using any free service offered by Google.

Smartphones just became useful

I don’t have a smartphone. I’ve fiddled with them, and I use one for app development. But the mobile device I actually use for day-to-day phone communication is an ancient Nokia 2610b.

Nokia 2610b
Hey, don’t laugh – it works.

I’ve never had any issues with call quality, or any other problems with this phone. It lets me download media from arbitrary web locations and use any sound file as a ring or other tone. It’s sturdy; I literally use it as a beer bottle opener. Of course it doesn’t have a full keyboard, and the buttons are tiny, but I’m no rapid-fire texter anyway. The display is very basic, but it works for me.

I’ve been tempted on many occasions to buy a smartphone. The coolness factor alone has almost triumphed, but so far I’ve resisted its lure. Sure, smartphones can do lots of cool stuff, and I have no doubt that if I owned one, I’d spend a lot of time playing with it. But in the end, the only features I would really use are the phone, contacts, text messages (including alerts from Google Calendar), and occasionally the timer and alarm.

Until today, I thought I might end up using the 2610b until it died (which is unlikely), the battery stopped holding a charge (original battery is still going strong), or somehow it was no longer supported by my carrier (also unlikely).

What changed my mind? Microsoft released a mobile version of Remote Desktop. That’s the software I use to remotely control the Windows PCs I administer. I use it to administer the media computer downstairs, and the server next to me. I use it to manage client computers in this and other cities. And I use it to access my main PC when I’m elsewhere. It’s indispensable. And now it runs on Android and iPhone devices.

This changes everything: now I have a valid reason to buy a smartphone. But I’ll continue to resist as long as I can.

Windows 8.1 released today

Windows 8 Service Pack 1 Windows 8.1 is now available. If you’re not already running Windows 8, you can purchase 8.1 from the Windows Store. If you are using Windows 8, you should start seeing prompts in the Windows Store to upgrade to 8.1 (a free download).

In the past, when a Windows Service Pack became available, savvy users tended to stay away until the inevitable problems were resolved. I don’t see any particular reason to charge blindly into Windows 8.1 either. My advice is to wait for at least two weeks and monitor this and other tech blogs for reports from early adopters.

Ars Technica and The Verge have additional information:

Java 7 Update 45 released

As part of a massive quarterly ‘CPU’ (Critical Patch Update), Oracle recently announced Java 7, Update 45 (7u45).

This new version of Java includes several security enhancements, mostly related to Java component deployment. A new button on the Security tab of the Java Control Panel, labeled ‘Restore Security Prompts’, allows the user to completely clear the list of allowed Java applications.

As for the contentious ‘Issue 69‘ Java security vulnerability reported by security researcher Adam Gowdiak: according to Mr. Gowdiak’s latest research, this issue was resolved in Java 7, Update 40 (7u40).