Keep Your Passwords Crack-free with These Tips

Security has become a top priority in this digital age. The use of handheld electronic devices and the internet are now a tradition for keeping all sorts of valuable information, either public or strictly confidential. And considering the potential vulnerability of these kinds of data against crackers, it’s only about time till we experience having our accounts compromised.

Figures show that almost 73% of Americans have become victim to some type of internet crime in their lifetime. And one of the reasons why this happens is because their passwords have been known by someone else. It is an absolute truth that no information online is 100% safe, but there are always steps that you and I can take to augment our safety measures. Because passwords are considered the first line of defense, you are obliged to keep them as secure as possible. Given this, here are some tips to make your passwords crack-free.

1. Remember: a password easy to remember is easy to crack. We have a tendency to use passwords that has something to do with our daily lives. Our password of choice might be a series of predictable set of numbers, a birth date, a name of our family member, or anything else that says about us. One best practice is to mix and match numbers, letters, and symbols. It may complicate things, but at least, you will be spared from the high probability of being a victim of an internet crime.
2. Do not use the same password for your every account. Some people practice using a single password for all of their accounts to make every login a tad easier. But mind you, this is a very unhealthy habit, most especially if those accounts with the same password include your email account. Your email is typically used to reset the passwords of your other sites; therefore, if someone has taken over your email, he can easily gain access to all your accounts and wreak havoc to your life.
3. Don’t let security questions make you insecure. Security questions are a great way to retrieve your accounts in the event that you have forgotten your password. But you have to bear in mind not to choose to answer the questions that solicit an obvious answer which can be easily googled, such as the name of your pet, the high school you’d attended to, the car you’re driving, or your mother’s maiden name. Don’t set a trap that you yourself will fall victim into.
4. Make your passwords long and strong. The longer the password is, the harder it will be for an attacker to crack it. However, length is not the only factor that you can take advantage of; its complexity can also serve as an advantage for you. After coming up with a long enough set of characters, try to employ a combo of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols to make it even harder to crack.
5. Do a routine password change. Same as with your underwear, you also have to routinely change your passwords. A good practice is to change them every three months.

Make sure to practice these tips to ward of any threats to your digital life. While the fingerprint technology isn’t yet widespread on every device and logins yet just like with the innovative iPhone 5s, make do of your set of alphanumeric characters for a moment. Keep in mind, a healthy password today keeps the crackers away.

Why Too Soon with the Galaxy S5, Samsung?

Samsung is one of the major players in the smartphone industry. It has managed to stay alive and kicking amidst the myriad of adversities it had and is still consistently encountering. Due to Samsung’s constant innovation, it has overtaken Apple in terms of number of units shipped. Today, Samsung is regarded as the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.

Just recently, it had announced its first ever smartphone that utilizes a bendable display, which is called the Galaxy Round. The said handheld device is incorporated with a virtually unbreakable screen that can withstand all sorts of physical insults. Despite the fact that the Galaxy Round per se isn’t a flexible device, Samsung still pushed through with the concept. Many analysts and lay people alike deem that having a bendable screen in a hard shell, together with non-bendable internal components is absurd. It’s simply useless. It’s just like having any other smartphone available on the market but with a concave display.

According to Sascha Segan, a mobile analyst at PC Mag, “I don’t think this particular model is going to be a big deal on the market.” But the South Korean tech giant never did doubt its concept. The Galaxy Round will be a jump-start to the bendable screen technology that will benefit its future smartphones. And this is what mobile consumers find admirable with Samsung; it sticks to finding ways to innovate regardless of the risks associated with the technology to be adopted.

Well, that was quite a lengthy introduction; better yet, let’s go to what we’re supposed to talk about here, and that’s about the allegations of the premature date of announcement of the Galaxy S4’s successor. The Samsung Galaxy S4 was just announced in March of 2013, and rumors are already circulating that the Galaxy S5 will be unveiled sooner than expected. Some say that it will probably be scheduled in January of 2014.

Just like me, I suppose that you are wondering as well on why the hurry. As it turns out, the disappointing sales of the Galaxy S4 prompted the company to launch a new flagship device earlier than usual. Every battle becomes fiercer in the ongoing smartphone wars, and Apple seems to be enjoying a short-lived victory with the impressive sales of the iPhone 5s. And of course, Samsung will never let this pass by without a fight. So, to show that its really means business, it has decided to shorten the gap of its phone releases from 11 months to 9 months that be succeeded by an advanced smartphone that can outperform each and every handset on the market.

Samsung had kept in mind its tightest competitor, Apple, with its flagship phone powered by a 64-bit processor. Given this, it plans to sport the Galaxy S5 with a 64-bit, octa-core Exynos 5430 chip. With such striking processor, it may be the most powerful handset there is. In addition, it will feature a 16-megapixel camera with an enhanced low-light performance and Optical Image Stabilization. Anyway, these are merely rumors. Don’t get too excited just yet. There are a lot of things that can happen in a span of 3 months, so watch out.

Nokia 108 Begs to Differ

Mobile phone manufacturers have gone to great lengths just to produce the best handheld device there is. The arduous smartphone war to this very day is still at large. You hear patent suits being filed here and there, all around the world by one company to another. Every fierce battle is but a testament of how serious these tech giants are in securing their place on top and in increasing their market share.

All the drama behind every successful product launch brings more excitement to mobile consumers. But sad to say, some of those mobile manufacturers have looked past what others are in search for: a simple phone that is very affordable. Nokia still clings to its roots, and although there are preparations going on to change its company name and perhaps change its business direction, the Finnish phone maker still won’t be stopped from launching a well-thought, well-made, affordable handset that caters to first time mobile phone users, those who prefer it simple, or for people who just want a dependable backup device for emergencies. According to Timo Toikkanen, executive vice president of Nokia, “We continue to connect millions of people, including those for whom mobile phone ownership was previously out of reach.”

Not only will you find the powerful devices on shops or online stores like e_cell; you can now choose a feature phone that has decent features, equivalent to the cost of a few cell phone cases. Yes, the new Nokia 108 is this cheap. It is predicted to have a retail price of just $29. But mind you, not all cheap items are poor in quality. Nokia holds the title of having one of the sturdiest mobile phones on the market.

So, what will you get from the $29 feature phone? The Nokia 108 comes with a VGA camera that is capable of capturing photos and videos. It also features a music player to entertain the music lovers out there. Sharing media files is made better and faster by the use of Slam. After snapping a great photo, just touch your handset to another Bluetooth-enabled device to share that media file in an instant. Anxious about storage space? Well, this phone enables a user to expand the built-in memory using an SD card to up to 32 GB of space. The best feature is yet to be said; the best thing about this device is its battery life. Never again will you have to worry about having a replacement battery handy because the Nokia 108 has a standby time of up to 31 days.

Now, if you have decided to purchase your very own Nokia 108, you can choose among the different unit colors. It’s available in black, red, white, yellow, and cyan. Anytime soon, sometime in the 4^th quarter of 2013, you can now get hold of this $29 phone. Who knows, this might be the very last Nokia phone that you can ever own before it ultimately gets taken over by another tech giant, so better grab this opportunity to patronize the company that revolutionized the mobile phone industry before it’s too late.