Author: Dave Farquhar

More thoughts on the $150 Hisense Sero 7 Pro tablet

Dave Farquhar Android , , , , , ,

Steve Aubrey wrote in with a link to a useful site dedicated to the Hisense Sero 7. It collects all the useful information that’s surfaced from xda-developers and other sites, including custom ROMs, rooting instructions, and where to get accessories.

He asked if I recommend rooting. The short answer: Yes, if you know what you’re doing. If you’re willing to read the prompts when an app requests root access and understand what it’s asking for, then sure. If you just blindly click yes to everything, then no, by all means, leave the tablet stock.

But if you know what you’re doing, one nice thing you can do is install a firewall, so a rooted Android tablet can be safer than an unrooted one. Have fun wrapping your head around that slice of counter-intuitiveness.

Let’s talk about my impressions of the tablet itself.

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How to check your Java version

Dave Farquhar security, Windows ,

Sometimes, especially on Windows servers, it’s difficult to check to verify what version of Java you’re running while you’re making your rounds. If you don’t have a scanning tool to check it, here’s how to check your Java version by hand, even if the Java control panel doesn’t show up:

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Where Microsoft lost its way

Dave Farquhar Windows , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

John C. Dvorak wrote an analysis of how Microsoft lost its way with Windows 8 this week.

All in all it sounds reasonable to me. His recollection of DOS and some DOS version 8 confused me at first, but that was what the DOS buried in Windows ME was called. But mentioning it is appropriate, because it shows how DOS faded from center stage to being barely visible in the end, to the point where it was difficult to dig it out, and that it took 15 years for it to happen. He’s completely right, that if Microsoft had pulled the plug on DOS in 1985, Windows would have failed. Read more

Java. My bestest buddy.

Dave Farquhar War Stories

I patched Java on a bunch of systems this week, by hand. It was the first time I’ve done such a thing since probably sometime in 2007. So no one would blame me if it didn’t go 100% as planned, and, predictably, it didn’t. I did eight systems, and it worked on all but the first and last. Of course I didn’t discover that it failed on the first one until later in the day. Java itself seemed to work OK, but the log collector that requires Java didn’t.

The log collector is the only reason we have Java installed, so that’s not OK, of course. Read more

Advice on building your own PC on the cheap

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , ,

Lifehacker published a guide yesterday on saving money on DIY PCs. I agree with most of it, and violently disagree with one very important part of it. Read more

Give your antivirus software a workout

Dave Farquhar security , ,

Via PC Magazine, I found the AMTSO website, which is designed to test your antivirus software for proper operation. I think this is good for two reasons. One, it gives you a chance to see if antivirus software is operating properly. Two, it gives you a chance to see how your browser and antivirus software behave when something bad is going on. Read more

The good-enough $99 Android tablet

Dave Farquhar Android , , , ,

Last month, low-end television maker Hisense introduced two new 7-inch Android tablets. The $149 Hisense Sero 7 Pro is a fairly close clone of the Google Nexus 7 that adds an SD card slot. With its quad-core processor and 1280×800 display, a lot of people are excited about it. Overall, the reaction I’ve seen on xda-developers has been very positive. The $99 Sero 7 LT, which is decidedly below the Nexus 7 in capability, hasn’t gotten as much attention.

But I found this teardown. Their verdict: Nothing to get too excited about, but it’s good enough for the average user most of the time, much better than the other sub-$100 tablets on the market, and as good as or better than most of the sub-$149 tablets on the market. The two weak spots are the wimpy camera and weak battery.

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Are video games a good investment?

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

An article on Slashdot asked this weekend whether video games were a good investment. So are video games a good investment? Will they appreciate over time?

The answer is generally no. Collectibles in general are not–they follow a boom and bust cycle. I’ve seen it happen in my own lifetime.

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Brief first impressions of the Hisense Sero 7 Pro tablet

Dave Farquhar Android

I picked up a Hisense Sero 7 Pro tablet this evening. I’ve only spent about 90 minutes with it, but my first impressions of it are very favorable. It’s fast and smooth, the screen is sharp, and the price is right at $149. I’ve seen people at xda-developers say it’s the best $149 they’ve spent in a long time. While I won’t go quite that far, I’ll say this: If you’ve heard of this tablet and you’ve been thinking you might be interested, you’re interested. You won’t regret it.

I’ll talk about it some more this week, I’m sure, but here’s the lowdown on it: It’s a no-name tablet, sold in discount stores, that uses the same chipset as the Google Nexus 7, but it adds a video port so you can connect it to your TV for video playback, and it adds a microSD card slot for expansion. So it fixes the only two flaws the Nexus 7 had, but costs $50 less. It’s probably not as rugged as a Nexus 7 for that price, but for $50, you can buy a carrying case to ruggedize it a bit.

Once the word really gets out about these tablets, I think they’re going to be able to sell them as quickly as they can make them. I’m that impressed, and that’s with the stock ROM on it. I understand that if you’re willing to load a custom ROM, the first custom ROM to come available for it removes some bloat and performs even faster.

New security features for Evernote

Dave Farquhar security

This comes courtesy of Dan Bowman: If you’re an Evernote user (I’m not, at least not yet), it now has three new security features, including the all-important two-factor authentication. Those of you who rely on Evernote would do well to look into enabling two-factor authentication, at the very least.