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The Prius is not listed among the models that Toyota recently recalled (and temporarily stopped selling) for sticking accelerator pedals, but according to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, it has its own acceleration problem. At the same time, on Wednesday, reports of Prius brake problems on that same model year emerged.

Steve Wozniak was speaking at the Discovery Forum 2010 when went off on a sidebar and began discussing his Prius’ problems. Wozniak is a big fan of Toyota’s hybrid, and has several. It’s even appeared on camera when he was guesting on Kathy Griffin’s “My Life on the D-List” as her faux boyfriend.

“I don’t get upset and teed off at things in life, except computers that don’t work right. Toyota has this accelerator problem we’ve all heard about. Well, I have many models of Prius that got recalled, but I have a new model that didn’t get recalled. This new model has an accelerator that goes wild, but only under certain conditions of cruise control. And I can repeat it over and over and over again, safely.

“This is software. It’s not a bad accelerator pedal. It’s very scary, but luckily for me, I can hit the brakes.”

Older models of the Prius have been recalled for accelerator issues, but in that case it was because driver’s side car mats could interfere with the pedal. I kid you not, and my 2006 and 2008 models have been recalled, as well.

Meanwhile, Wozniak should be glad his brakes work. On Wednesday, a Toyota brake problem was announced, and according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA), it has received about 100 complaints involving the brakes of the Prius new model. Two involved crashes resulting in injuries. At the same time, Japan’s transport ministry said Wednesday it has also received 14 complaints since July last year about Prius brake problems with Toyota’s 2010 model.

This is just the latest blow to Toyota’s reputation over quality. It’s widely expected that Toyota, which managed to wrest the global market share crown from General Motors earlier, will see severe consumer backlash over this. Both Ford and GM are offering incentives for customers who switch from Toyota models.

Some analysts have theorized that in the race to #1, Toyota eschewed quality somewhat.
http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2010/02/wozniak-details-2010-prius-acceleration.html

Those who hacked their Nexus One to allow multi-touch no longer need that hack. Google has released a ROM update for the Android powered phone which, among other things, enables multi-touch on the device.

The changes now allow Nexus One users to pinch-to-zoom mechanism in the phone’s Browser, Gallery and Maps applications. The ROM update also adds fixes to 3G connectivity issues Nexus One users were seeing, except for those simply because of T-Mobile’s scanty 3G network.

Other changes:

Google Goggles: (which allows you to use pictures to search the web) this mobile application will now be available directly on your device by launching it from your All Apps menu. Just use your Nexus One camera to start searching the web

Google Maps: the Maps application with be updated to a new version, Google Maps 3.4, which will include:

• Starred items synchronized with maps.google.com – access your favorite places from your phone or computer
• Search suggestions from your personal maps.google.com history – makes it easy to search for places you’ve searched for before
• Night mode in Google Maps Navigation – automatically changes your screen at night for easier viewing and driving

The update will come over-the-air, and Google said most users won’t receive notification that the update is available until the end of the week.

Watch the video demo:

http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2010/02/nexus-one-gets-rom-update-adds.html

All of you out there still running the Windows 7 release candidate (RC), start looking forward to the shutdown of that OS. It won’t totally expire until June 1st of this year, but you will start getting nagged every few hours starting on February 15th.

Then, on March 1st, users will begin seeing bi-hourly shutdowns of the OS. Microsoft warned, in a blog post:

To avoid any data loss, I suggest making plans to move to a released version of Windows 7 before the automatic shutdowns start. During these shutdowns, your work will not be saved.

Unfortunately for users, in-place upgrades from the RC to a full version of Windows 7 are not supported. Microsoft suggests users look here for how to do a custom (clean) install of the OS.

For users still running it, the final change to the RC will come on June 1st. At that time, the OS will be marked as “non-genuine” and the message “This copy of Windows is not genuine” will be displayed in the lower right corner above the taskbar. The background will also change to black. From this point, your PC will no longer be able to download optional updates or those that require genuine Windows validation.

http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2010/02/microsoft-reminds-of-windows-7-rcs.html

I’ll put the PSA at the top of this post: if you have a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch, don’t update to iPhone OS 3.1.3. At least, don’t do so until a new jailbreak is available.

The latest release of the iPhone OS is a minor update. Many of the changes are security-focused. Aside from those, there are more updates:

• improves accuracy of reported battery level on iPhone 3GS
• resolves issue where 3rd party apps would not launch in some instances
• fixes bug that may cause an app to crash when using the Japanese Kana keyboard

Nothing of critical significance, unless perhaps you have one of those apps which don’t launch or use Kana.  On the other hand, the number of super-cool jailbroken apps many have installed will instantly stop working if you upgrade before new tools are released.
http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2010/02/apple-releases-iphone-os-313.html

Hot on the heels of one study that found that users are still using way-too-easy passwords (like the most popular, 123456), a new study by Trusteer shows that nearly three-quarters of users use online account password to access other websites, and that nearly half use both their online banking user ID and password to login elsewhere on the Web.

The exact numbers were 73 percent and 47 percent, respectively. Trusteer generated its findings through its Rapport security software, which prevents users from entering their banking credentials into non-banking (phishing?) websites.

Rapport was used to study the behavior of 4 million computer users during a 12-month period. The key findings of the report (full report, .PDF here) were:

• 73% of users share the passwords which they use for online banking, with at least one nonfinancial website
• 47% of users share both their user ID and password with at least one nonfinancial website
• When a bank allows users to choose their own user ID, 65% of users share this ID with nonfinancial websites
• When a bank chooses the user ID for its customers, 42% use the bank issued user ID with at least one other website

All bad stuff to do, right? At least, if you are worried about your financial information. Of course, it’s obvious that consumers are taking this route because they are afraid that they will not remember their credentials.

Of course, nowadays many financial institutions add other layers of security, asking a consumer to answer one or more challenge questions (such as where you met your spouse, your first pet’s name, etc.).

Trusteer recommends that consumers maintain at least three username / password combinations.

• the first set should be used only with financial websites;
• the second set should be used with non-financial sensitive websites that hold information about your identity;
• the third set should be used with non-sensitive websites that do not maintain confidential information about the user.

Of course, you could always break down and buy a software package such as Roboform, which maintains a single “master” password and allows you to keep track of different credentials at different sites. There are also solutions such as LastPass, which are free.
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Apple is very proud of its achievements, and in Q4 of 2009, the iPhone achieved something it hadn’t done since Q4 of 2008. The device lost market share.

The iPhone’s share of the worldwide app phone (nee smartphone) sales market slipped to 16.6 percent, down from 18.1 percent in Q3 of 2009. It’s not that the device wasn’t selling a lot; according to the Wall Street Journal, its 8.7 million in sales was 18 percent higher than Q3.

However, overall the app phone market grew 26 percent in the same quarter, as multiple Android devices were introduced and Nokia, seeing a strong comeback, boosted its sales by 4.6 million alone.

still the rise in iPhone sales can’t be ignored, and as another iPhone refresh nears (mid-year, most likely), you can expect the excitement among iPhone fans to reach a fever pitch.
http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2010/02/iphone-market-share-drops-in-q4.html

It’s not like a Zune Phone will redefine cell phones like the iPhone did, but there are Zune fans, and a Zune Phone has been rumored for some time. Now a report from Spanish tech blog MuyComputer says its 100 percent confirmed to be introduced at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) later this week.

Updated Zune drivers had already pointed to the Zune Phone, but this report indicates that

The report states the Zune Phone, which will be Windows Mobile with Zune software added, will have an NVIDIA Tegra chip in it. Thus, NVIDIA will be in attendance and helping with the introduction, as well.

The report adds that the Zune Phone is expected to have a 480 x 272 screen, Windows Mobile 7, and HDMI out. Windows Mobile 7 would put the device way out there in terms of delivery, unless Microsoft is pulling in the WinMo7 schedule by an extreme amount. Or, perhaps, it will have WinMo6.5 and be upgradeable to 7.
http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2010/02/zune-phone-to-launch-at-mwc-report.html

Wikileaks, which has been shuttered by litigation previously, now finds it self shut down by that all too familiar reason: lack of money.

The site’s mission statement is to allow whistleblowers to anonymously release government and corporate documents, “an uncensorable version of Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis.” It’s done that in the past, posting leaks from many sources. Now, it needs the help of the public. On their site, they say:

To concentrate on raising the funds necessary to keep us alive into 2010, we have reluctantly suspended all other operations, but will be back soon.

We have received hundreds of thousands of pages from corrupt banks, the US detainee system, the Iraq war, China, the UN and many others that we do not currently have the resources to release. You can change that and by doing so, change the world. Even $10 will pay to put one of these reports into another ten thousand hands and $1000, a million.

We have raised just over $130,000 for this year but can not meaningfully continue operations until costs are covered. These amount to just under $200,000 PA. If staff are paid, our yearly budget is $600,000.

Although the site has won awards, including the 2008 Economist Freedom of Expression Award as well as the 2009 Amnesty International New Media Award, as it says, “these accolades do not pay the bills.” The site adds “Nor can we accept government or corporate funding and maintain our absolute integrity.”

Just how long the site will remain offline is unclear. However, what is clear is that if the site doesn’t manage to get some influx of capital, it’s probably gone for good. Here’s an interview that details how Wikileaks spends its money.
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