Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth's Weekly Web Wrap-up

Apple Watch satisfaction is off the charts

Among 800 early adopters, 97% were either very or somewhat satisfied.

What makes the score even more striking is that it flies in the face of a lot of mixed reviews and negative press coverage.

Techies much more critical of the Apple watch than average people.

It was almost as if the farther away people were from tech or the tech industry, the more they liked the Apple Watch.

http://fortune.com/2015/07/20/apple-watch-adopter-satisfaction/



In Apple Watch Debut, Signs of a Familiar Path to Success

Asking if the Apple Watch will become a hit or a flop is a bit like asking if my 2-year-old daughter is destined to go to Yale or to jail.

Apple has declined to provide sales figures for the watch, its newest product.  Analysts’ estimates vary wildly.

Apple’s product debuts tend to follow a well-worn script: A first-generation device is always criticized as overpriced and a bit lacking in utility and is often vulnerable to the charge that it is a solution in search of a problem. Then, over a few years, Apple and its customers figure out the best uses for the gadget, and the company methodically improves design and functionality to meet those needs. It also tends to lower its prices. Correspondingly, sales explode.

So far, Apple is following exactly the same playbook for the watch that it did for the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/technology/personaltech/in-apple-watch-debut-signs-of-a-familiar-path-to-success.html?emc=edit_ct_20150723&nl=technology&nlid=11893479&_r=0



Apple says more people are ditching Android for the iPhone now than ever before

http://www.businessinsider.com/people-ditching-android-for-iphone-2015-7



9 tips and tricks to get the most out of your iPhone's email app

http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-email-tips-features-2015-7



How to clear out a ton of space on your iPhone superfast

http://www.businessinsider.com/clear-out-iphone-storage-space-2015-6



Office 2016 for Mac: Installation was an unexpected hassle

I'd forgotten just how much of a DMV-like experience dealing with Microsoft products can be. Let the runaround begin.

When customers dread installing your software, you've got some serious problems.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/i-just-bought-office-365-again-and-already-regret-it/



Dear Apple, Your Chargers Are Crap

I love your products; a patron of your services. I own a MacBook Pro, an iPhone, a former iPod owner and it's only right that I own an Apple Watch at some point in the future.

Apple chargers just are not meant to sustain the wear and tear that most of their users take them through. Nothing is perfect and electronics have an expiration date. Every company has their charger issues, you just cannot make me believe yours aren't the worst, Apple.

MacBook chargers lead the way for the worst of the bunch. They are expensive to replace and they cannot be repaired nor recycled.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/caslee-sims/post_9808_b_7837854.html



How the Apple store took over the world

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/21/the-unlikely-success-story-of-the-apple-retail-store/



Apple Now Has $203 Billion In Cash On Hand

Why is the company raising debt when it already has an obscene amount of money?

Mainly because cash in the United States is extremely cheap at the moment, and most of Apple’s cash hoard is located offshore. The company decided that the tax costs of bringing this cash into the U.S. is more expensive than just raising debt.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/21/apple-now-has-203-billion-in-cash-on-hand/#.dtmyne:m49q



This crazy addictive game tests how well you see color — but be ready for the results

http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-game-specimen-tests-how-well-you-see-color-2015-7



People who post selfies on social networks are more likely to exhibit what some psychologists call "the dark triad" of personality traits...

narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/beware-of-people-who-always-post-selfies-on-facebook-2015-07-16

http://bit.ly/1vkneNm



How Twitter lost the stream wars

There are a lot of possible explanations for Twitter’s user growth problems, but they really boil down to one simple thing: As the content shared into streams grows exponentially, the streams have to get smarter in order to remain relevant to users.

Twitter presents cards in a straight reverse chronological stream that shows all content. The more people you follow and the more you use Twitter, the worse the Twitter experience becomes.

http://venturebeat.com/2015/07/15/how-twitter-lost-the-stream-wars/



Advocates for debt-free college crash financial aid conference

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/advocates-for-debt-free-college-crash-financial-aid-conference-2015-07-21

http://t.co/fIvyXeHlL7

http://twitter.com/NASFAA15/status/623160891144433666/photo/1

https://twitter.com/NASFAA15



43 free online courses you can take this summer to advance your career

http://www.businessinsider.com/free-online-summer-courses-that-will-advance-your-career-2015-7



Hackers threaten to expose secrets of 37 million Ashley Madison users

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hackers-threaten-to-expose-secrets-of-37-million-ashley-madison-users-2015-07-20

https://t.co/9DlyNAS1ZU



Data breach aside, your Ashley Madison affair was never a secret

ALWAYS assume anything you do on the Web is discoverable-unless you're taking some serious operational security measures to remain hidden, such as anonymizing Internet routing services, encryption, aliases, etc.

http://fortune.com/2015/07/20/data-breach-ashley-madison-affair/



The Ashley Madison Data Breach Explained in One Cartoon

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-23/ashley-madison-data-breach-explained



Hackers take over a Jeep from 10 miles away

Two security researchers remotely took over a Jeep on a highway to prove they could control its dashboard, steering, brakes and transmission from their laptop.

"Drivers shouldn't have to choose between being connected and being protected," Markey said in a release.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hackers-take-over-a-jeep-from-10-miles-away-2015-07-21

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/



Interesting commentary on the above story

http://www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=230405



Firewalls can't protect today's connected cars

The Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu once wrote, "What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy." 
The automobile industry needs to follow Sun Tzu's advice to secure increasingly connected vehicles from hackers, according to experts.

With self-driving, connected cars comes greater risk And, as autonomous functionality -- even fully self-driving cars -- emerge, it will mean that protecting computer systems from attack will become more crucial. 
At the same time, car makers already remotely collect data from their vehicles, unbeknownst to most car owners, in order to alert the drivers to needed repairs or maintenance and for future research and development.

Once past a firewall, hackers can make computers imitate any other computer on a network, and that means they can control the systems through electronic messaging. That's basically what Miller and Valasek did: They had the head unit pretend to be the electronic control unit (ECU) for the brakes, the transmission and other systems.

Carmakers are far behind the security curve, not only because vehicles have an average six-year development cycle, but also because they haven't taken the potential security problem seriously.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2951878/telematics/firewalls-cant-protect-todays-connected-cars.html



It’s disturbingly easy to become a hacker millionaire

That’s what Ziv Mador, VP of security from information-security company Trustwave, showed me.

The long and the short of it is that Mador and his team witnessed hackers and hacker gangs rake in money by pulling off not too difficult online schemes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trustwave-shows-the-business-breakdown-of-professional-hackers-2015-7