Judy’s Tech News Digest

Microsoft’s Office for iPad Wildly Successful

Microsoft’s Office for iPad has had more than 12 million downloads in the week since its release.  Each of the apps —Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote — are free but require an Office 365 subscription to be able to create and edit documents.   Word, Excel and PowerPoint take the top three spots, respectively, in the top selling paid iPad apps.

There had been some speculation that maybe Microsoft was too late to the game but, apparently, they are doing just fine.  But, in my opinion, the true measure of success will not be in how many app downloads there are but in how many new Office 365 subscriptions there are.  After all, that’s where Microsoft will make their money.  Granted that many who have downloaded the apps may already have Office 365 but I think there are a significant number that do not.  It’s easy to download a free app.  How many will take the next step and purchase an Office 365 subscription?

Time for Your Facebook Privacy Checkup?

Facebook has started conducting ‘privacy checkups’.  These checkups are being done for users that are ‘oversharing’ in that their privacy setting is set to ‘Public.’  During the ‘checkup’, you are given the option to immediately update the setting to only share with your Facebook friends.

Generally, I think it’s better to ‘undershare’ (post to friends) than ‘overshare’ (post to public) on social media sites.   Otherwise, you have no idea who may be looking at your posts and photos.

Facebook has historically had issues with privacy settings, particularly when rolling out new features.  It’s good to see them taking a proactive step regarding users’ privacy.

This Hacker is Just a Kid

A 5-year-old was able to hack into his dad’s Xbox Live account using an Xbox One console. Kristoffer von Hassel would go to his dad’s account and type in an incorrect password. On the password verifications screen, he would tap the space bar repeatedly and then press “enter.”

His father, Robert Davies, reported the vulnerability to Microsoft. Microsoft has since issue a fix for the vulnerability.

For his craftiness, Kristoffer has been given the title of ‘Security Researcher’ and will receive four games, $50 and a year’s subscription to Xbox Live from Microsoft.

According to his dad, he has also found a few other hacks on other devices. Someone hire this kid!