Tech Talk

Apple dedicated its homepage to its founder with this image within minutes of announcing Steve Jobs' death.

Apple visionary, co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs has died. He was 56. He had been battling pancreatic cancer for years.

Jobs, known for his signature black turtleneck, stepped down as CEO about a month ago. He had founded the company when he was 21.

Jobs had a knack of revolutionizing industries and inventing products that the world didn’t realize it needed — but quickly come to depend.

Apple launched the Macintosh computer in 1984 under Jobs’ leadership.

However, in 1986, he left the company in a power struggle.

Ten years later, he returned and helped transform the then-struggling technology company into the giant it is today.

At the time of his departure, he wrote: “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.”

However, he remained Chairman of the Board of the company, as well as director and a beloved Apple employee.

He recommended Tim Cook, who was formerly the company’s COO, take his place. Cook gave his first keynote speech in the position a day before Jobs’ death when the new iPhone 4S was annnounced.

Apple’s board of directors has just put out a statement on the passing of its great visionary and former CEO, Steve Jobs:

We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.

Within minutes of the news, Apple dedicated its homepage to Jobs, who was born in 1955, with the following statement:

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com

Steve jobs will be missed.

Get the latest news here on Jobs’ life and death from the Associated Press.

The FBI sent an email warning Friday evening to officials across America warning them of a potential attack on financial and law enforcement entities by the hacking group Anonymous.

The email, which Tech Talk has obtained a copy of, reports that Anonymous announced a nationwide “Day of Vengence” in dozens of cities across the U.S. beginning at “High Noon” on Sept. 24, stating:

In coordination with these protests across the USA on September 24th, Anonymous and other cyber liberation groups will launch a series of cyber attacks against various targets including Wall Street, Corrupt Banking Institutions – and the NYC Police Department. We encourage the media to follow the Twitter feed @PLF2012 for ongoing reports throughout the day.

The FBI warns that public and private entities associated with the recent execution of Troy Davis in the state of Georgia may also be targed, as well as additional law enforcement agencies.

The federal agency did not release any additional information about the threat, including to the specific nature or means.

However, the FBI did cite history as a potential guide:

[I]n the past, Anonymous has engaged in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, utilized SQL injection to gain unauthorized access to computer systems, conducted social engineering to gather personal identifying information, and released both personal information (i.e. “doxing”) and the contents of compromised systems (e.g. e-mail message content, passwords, etc.).

The FBI encouraged agencies to use strong, unique passwords, to update software to protect against known vulnerabilities and ensure that Web-based applications are not at risk to attacks, such as SQL injection.

This is an example of the new Facebook profile design. The new cover image is visible above the profile image.

Facebook has revolutionized its network for the betterment of its users.

The social media giant has unveiled a transformed profile interface that offers many beneficial upgrades.

Overall, the pages are cleaner and more visually appealing.

For starters, users will be able to select a strong horizontal cover image to showcase their personalities. Facebook allows users to select any shaped image and drag it around the canvas. This relieves users of the need to resize images before uploading them to the network.

However, it is important to note that because the cover image is so much wider than tall, not every photo will work well in the space. Users may update this space as often as they would like – and as easily as they would update their profile picture, which still exists.  Also, like with the profile picture, a new album is created with cover photos.

A common concern will likely concern privacy since years-old posts will now be visible again. However, users may easily hide such posts from their timeline. This is a good opportunity to remember that the best way to protect one’s privacy, however, is not upload embarrassing photos or posts.

Photos, stories and life events are now visible going back years on the timeline. One could scroll back to one’s birth or simply select a specific time by clicking on a date along the right side of the timeline.

A user could also expand a post, as well as hide or delete it at any time.

Although I have been on Facebook since 2004, posts seem to only go back to 2009 as of this posting. However, information that goes as far as back as one’s birth can be added.

Facebook Places is utilized to a greater degree than ever before.

One of the coolest things about the redesigned Facebook is the ability to see all of the places a user has checked-in on Facebook Places.

Check-ins are now presented on an attractive map, in a similar way to how the iPhone displays where images were captured. Photos and individuals tagged in a check-in are also included as well as the time and date of visit on a large global map. This upgrade will likely inspire more check-ins.

Six randomly selected friends’ images are now automatically selected and placed beneath the cover image. The link to all of one’s friends sits next to the user’s biographical information. The user’s photos, Facebook Places check-ins (categorized as “Map,”) and likes are to the widget’s right in simply-designed boxes.

Another addition is the activity log which lists all of a user’s posts and activities going back to the beginning. A user can go to this private area that other users cannot view to change the privacy for individual stories, to delete posts and more.

Although Facebook is getting a lot of criticism over the changes, the public is likely to embrace them once folks realize just how beneficial, and in many ways, overdue, the changes are.

Facebook has implemented several new changes to its network, leaving many users upset, and reminding others of Google Plus.

Among the changes:

• An automatically scrolling newsfeed on the upper right corner of the screen that can be extended down toward the chat window
• The ability to mark posts as a “top story” by clicking the top left corner of the post
• The ability to write posts as long as 5,000 characters
• A new management interface for friend lists
• The ability to send multiple friends birthday wishes from the top right corner of the screen
• The “poke” button has been moved to the drop-down menu to the right of the “message” button on friends’ pages
• Messages can no longer be included in friend requests

As one might expect, many users are upset with the changes — as is common whenever the social media giant makes any modifications.

However, if the past is any indication, life will go on and the network will continue to grow.

One thing is certain, the influence of Google Plus is evident in the changes — from the larger photos to the refined posting options. Now if only more users would utilize that network.

A spoof film trailer making its way around the Web is offering a real glimpse into just how important Facebook — and other social media platforms have become.

In the two-and-one-half-minute YouTube video, comedians Dan De Lorenzo and Ben Stumpf equates in an over-the-top way not having a Facebook account to living an isolated existence in the wilderness.

It’s worth a watch:

The future of social media is here. It’s called Google+.

The technology giant’s latest attempt of dominating the social media world combines the best aspects of Facebook and Twitter. Millions of people around the world are already members of the Google community. Now these users have a simple and intuitive platform to join.

Among its many pluses (pun intended), a few stand out:

The circles feature, which your humble Tech Talk editor was at first very skeptical of, is a game-changer.

The feature gives you the opportunity to easily group information around a specific topic or group of individuals. It’s also much cleaner, like what Facebook was when it debuted more than a half-decade ago and has since cluttered. There are no applications or other annoyances to distract the user — yet.

Users are likely to find this platform to be refreshing in that they can still connect with whoever they’d like, but don’t have to be bombarded with every detail a given connection posts. Users may choose to select specific groups of individuals to populate their news feeds at any given moment. Sure, Facebook and Twitter have these options, but Google does it better. It’s easier, more prominently placed and more intuitive.

The integration with other services (like GMail, Calendar, Reader, etc…) people are already using will attract more people to Google+.

The platform is also fast and seemingly dependable.

Google+ also allows users to share content and updates with individuals not using the platform by still allowing you to add them to a circle. Your updates then get emailed to them.

While it remains to be seen if Facebook will continue its dominance in ways MySpace and other services could not, this editor is confident Google+ will be a major player. Facebook is not going to die anytime soon, but folks now have another viable option to connect with others.

Prediction: Within a year, Google+ will be more popular than Twitter and give Facebook a real run for its money.

One of the fastest spreading video clips of the past week focused on NBC’s Today Show hosts trying to figure out what the Internet was back in 1994. It was an eye-opening clip, not because three of the most educated and connected broadcasters of the time were ignorant or stupid, but because it showed how far the network has come in less than two decades.

It was also great publicity for NBC, a network your Tech Talk editor once proudly produced and edited content for.

Unfortunately, according to Washington Post columnist Rob Pegoraro, the peacock network still doesn’t understand how the Internet works.

Pegoraro tweeted late Wednesday:

The guy who posted the 1994 Today Show “what is Internet?” clip on YouTube e-mailed to say he got canned for that. Ugh.

An organization as large as NBC should recognize that such an action would do nothing good — or crush the story. One would think NBC would know that its own reporting of the technology.

In fact, if the report is true, it will simply reignite the story and lead to criticism of the network. A story that initially brought smiles to countless viewers’ faces will now surely bring grimaces.

Miss the clip? Simply search Google for “Couric + Internet” and you will quickly find one of thousands of sources.

Not smart, guys.