News & Information
Hyde Abbey Bowls Website Launched
Posted on 4th April 2013 | News and Information | The Glitch
I'm pleased to announce the release of new website created by The Glitch. Hyde Abbey Bowls Club is situated in the heart of the historic city of Winchester in the North Walls Recreation Ground. As the club was founded in circa 1812 they have just enjoyed a very busy bicentenary year which included the visit of the Bowls England team. The club members enjoy the excellent facilities of a bar, fully equipped kitchen and most importantly, one of the finest greens in the county that regularly hosts Hampshire County and Southampton & District Association games. New members are always welcome especially new bowlers who will be fully supported in developing their game.
For more information visit their new site:
http://www.hydeabbeybowls.co.uk/
BT's Solution to Slow ADSL Connections
Posted on 8th November 2012 | News and Information | The Glitch
The roll out of new superfast fibre services should eventually reach up to 90% of the UK by 2014; unfortunately this still leaves many thousands of users with poor or even no broadband connections. Although BT continues to seek affordable solutions to providing broadband to remote parts of the UK, it is currently trialing (with good results) a device that boosts standard ADSL broadband connections. This solution isn't trying to provide broadband connections to areas that don't already have one, it's merely trying to boost the speed of existing, very slow, ADSL connections. This is achieved by placing a small repeater or 'Regenerator' unit between the exchange and the customer's premises. Customers in a trial group who were suffering from slow ADSL connections (well under 1MB/s) have seen a significant improvement in speed of up to 4MB/s; although these speeds are nothing to write home about, they do provide a much more usable connection. Sadly, BT has not indicated a launch date for their 'Regenerator' units as yet.
Posted on 31st August 2012 | News and Information | The Glitch
First the floppy disc was officially announced as dead, now there are reports that optical media will soon go the same way. It was back in April 2010 that Sony announced that it was to cease production of floppy disks, but two years later and a quick search online still brings up a good selection of both media and drives. So you will have to forgive for being just a little skeptical when a manufacturer leaves the optical storage arena, and then declares the optical media market is dead, because its just not true. Even if optical storage is on the decline, it will be many, many years before it will become difficult to source.
Apple's share price dropped 5% after a report that it's Q2 sales decreased by more than 3 million units. But Apple is shrugging off the results, stating that a significant number of consumers were waiting for the new iPhone 5 model (due to be launched at some point in September/October). This drop in sales has been seen previously, albeit not so large, but it's a stark reminder to Apple that its continued success is reliant upon it producing desirable, innovative, high-quality devices. Ultimately, as with any company, their new products need to be a significant improvement on the last to maintain their market position!
EU Approves Sale of Used Licences
In a landmark case the European Court of Justice has ruled that companies can sell used software licences. The case saw 'usedSoft' win it's case against 'Oracle' over reselling used versions of it's software licences, even after 'Ocacle' said that it breached the terms of it's licence. 'usedSoft' is a company that purchases spare licences from businesses and liquidators and then resells them. Although major software developers may be concerned by this new ruling, there was some solace, in that the EU court did state that multi-user licenses could not be broken down and sold off individually.
Microsoft Kills Home & Small Business Server
In
a move that has surprised many, Microsoft has announced that
it will no longer offer 'Windows Home' or 'Windows Small
Business' Server products. Windows Home Server 2011 and
Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard will be
amalgamated into a new product called 'Windows Server 2012
Essentials'. Even though this is a sensible move by
Microsoft, and does bring so very welcome/important
improvements, it does have a significant down side; Home
users will see a price increase and a diluting of features
that the perhaps only the home market utilize, while the
small business sector sees standard, critical features such
as bundled Exchange and Share Point services being removed.
Although Microsoft have done a great job with Server 2012, I
think it has also, now limited its scope significantly!
For more information on Windows Server 2012 Essentials visit
the following link:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server-essentials/default.aspx
O2 is a leading provider of mobile services, it handles around 125 million calls each and every day, and currently has around 23 million UK customers. With such a large user base there is always the potential that a significant number of users would be effected by any problems that arise, in fact over 8 million customers were caught up in the problems O2 had recently. The issue seems to have stemmed from a network upgrade to one of their core switching systems (in preparation for the London 2012 Olympics), that affected the way handsets were registered/recognized on their network. O2 reacted quickly to resolve the problem, drafting in hundreds of engineers to resolve the issue; they were also quick to offer compensation to all affected users.
RBS Group IT Staff Cuts To Blame?
After many days of disruption and inconvenience it seems that the RBS Group have finally sorted out there banking system problems. Some are blaming the 30,000 IT job cuts the group has slashed over the last couple of years, which many believe has left them vulnerable and without in-house systems knowledge. The problem seems to have stemmed from a critical clearing system that did not run correctly for three nights in a row, leaving payments unprocessed and accounts out-of-date. The bank has promised to compensate all those affected by the issue, and the FSA (Financial Services Authority) has indicated it will leave no stone unturned in order to find out the reason for this appalling failure.
Office 2010 Starter Edition Ends
Office 2010 Starter Edition was one of Microsoft's better ideas, providing users of new Windows 7 PCs with cut down versions of Word 2010 and Excel 2010 (supported by advertising). This offered basic word processing and spreadsheet functionality to the masses, and allowed a quick upgrade route for people requiring a more powerful suite of software. Unfortunately the free version of Office 2010 (Starter Edition) will soon be replaced with an Office 2010 try and/or buy setup, effectively doing away with the free version altogether. This is a big mistake in my opinion, and a decision more than likely based on making some extra cash, rather than a tactical decision to squeeze out the competition; looks like Open Office/Libre Office will be getting a lot more downloads in the coming months!
Apple is to offer free, built-in, turn-by-turn Satnav functionally in the new version of their mobile operating system iOS 6. Not only will the implementation support live traffic information and be integrated with Apple's voice-recognition assistant Siri, but it will also contain 3D models of cities and landmarks for easier route recognition (Early indications suggest that Apple maybe using TomTom's map data, although this is still to be verified). Apple has suggested that iOS 6 will be available by the autumn for most iPhone and iPad devices, unfortunately the Satnav function may only be compatible with later models!
LinkedIn has confirmed that around 4% of it's 160 million users have had their account passwords stolen after a a file containing more than 6 million passwords was posted on the internet. The file contents is protected with the use of a cryptographic hash function, making it much more difficult to decode, and although not impossible, it will take time before any data can be accessed. LinkedIn has already sent all affected users a passwords reset request, but it's recommended that all users change their password as a precaution, especially if your current password is not unique to your LinkedIn account.
IPv6 is a new 128bit hexadecimal based address system that will eventually replace the current (IPv4) 32bit numeric system; this is needed because the current IPv4 address pool is now becoming exhausted due to our ever increasing need to connect internet enabled devices. June 6th represents the launch date of IPv6 worldwide, after a successful test last year during 'World IPv6 Day'. More than 3,000 organisations will participate in the initial launch, with many more thousands coming on-line as the weeks progress; but it's important to understand that 'World IPv6 Launch Day' is voluntary, and is simply a tool to highlight the work required to ensure the continued, uninterrupted, operation of the internet, and gather momentum behind the most important change in the way the internet connects us together!
Facebook shares continue to tumble from their Initial Public Offering (IPO) of $38. Currently below $30 the over-hyped share price could not be sustained. Shareholders seem a little angry with their investment, with some launching 'Class Action Lawsuits' against Facebook and it's bank (Morgan Stanley). It's surprising that anyone would think that Facebook was a great investment, especially at such a high price, in fact many experts expect Facebook share prices to drop to around the $20 mark in the next few weeks, but what I really don't understand is all the whinnying from people with more money than sense...Facebook...shares...really!
HP is still the worlds largest PC manufacturer, and employs almost 350,000 people worldwide. Although HP saw profits of well over $1.5bn in the second quarter of 2012; this figure represented a 30% drop on the same quarter last year. HP now plans to restructure, in the hope to save billions; unfortunately this means unwelcome redundancies with up to 27,000 jobs being cut. HP employs around 20,000 staff in the UK and it's likely that up to 8% of this workforce will be shed in the next couple of years.
Diablo 3 Fastest-Selling PC Game
Blizzard Entertainment's latest PC gaming title has sold more than 3.5 million copies in the first day of release, breaking all previous records, to become the world's fastest-selling PC game. In fact Diablo III's popularity has now risen to well over 6 million active players. Blizzard Entertainment first officially announced Diablo III almost 4 years ago in 2008, but development started way back in 2001. Diablo III is a fantasy/horror role playing game, that employs a well recognised, globally enjoyed mix of hack and slash & dungeon crawl genres.
Intel continues to invest heavily in research and development and is on target to shrink its latest 'Ivy Bridge' processor fabrication process (currently at 22nm) down to a mere 14nm by 2013...and it doesn't stop there, as Intel is confident that they will continue to improve their chip production process down to a 10nm by 2015. Ultimately this means faster processors that are still energy efficient, allowing the production of much more powerful processors. This will not only provide much more mobile processing power, but ensures the continued development of class leading desktop CPUs.
The deadline for compliance with the EU e-Privacy directive fast approaches (25th May 2012). The EU Cookie law states that all website owners must audit their website's cookie usage and assess how intrusive they are; based on these finding website owners must apply an appropriate consent mechanism. As a minimum, all sites should have clearly defined 'Privacy Policy' that is made available on every page; it should fully explain (amongst other things) the use and content of all cookies used. This should be supported by a statement or even notification on the 'Home Page' that cookies are being used and that usage of the website is based on this understanding. Unfortunately, sites that rely heavily on cookies will need to consider more complex consent measures.
Visit the following link for more information about the EU
Cookie Law:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/
It seems VMWare is the latest company to be concerned by a security breech that has seen many thousands of email accounts compromised at a Beijing-based China National Import & Export Corp (CEIEC) defense contractor. The hacker responsible claims the Chinese company is at the center of significant criminal activity and that the accounts contain information pertaining to US military and law enforcement agencies, as well as large American firms. Although this must be a concern to many, EMC the owners of VMWare were quick to point out that the source code posted was in fact several years old and of little significance to their current virtual server platform. Saying this, many now speculate whether the hacker might soon publish far more sensitive information.
In November last year the FBI arrested a number of cyber criminals operated under the company name "Rove Digital". These criminals were distributing malware that redirected infected systems to their rouge DNS server network, which in turn sent users to fake, malicious websites. A court order allowed the ISC (Internet Systems Consortium) to take control of the rouge servers and terminated all malevolent links and content, and in doing so prevent any further harm to redirected traffic; importantly this action allowed infected machines to continue to link to the internet even though their DNS entries had been changed. On July 9th this court order expires and the "Rove Digital" server network will be shutdown completely; when this happens any remaining computer systems still infected with the 'DNS Changer' malware will lose connectivity with the internet. Make sure your system is not one of them!
To check for and/or remove the DNS
Changer malware visit:
http://www.dcwg.org/fix/
Intel's 'Tri-Gate' or 3D transistor based processors are finally here. These new chips are based on Intel's 22nm process, their smallest yet. The 'Ivy Bridge' architecture significantly reduces power requirements (by up to 20%) and operating temperatures, while still providing an improvement in performance. The chips also debut Intel new 2500 and 4000 series HD graphics cores, which support DirectX 11 and Open GL 3.1; these new GPU's are said to be up to 33% faster than the previous 'Sandy Bridge' on-chip graphics.
BT is now able to offer a faster connection to their fibre broadband customers. BT's 'Infinity 2' package has been boosted from 40Mbits/sec to 80Mbits/sec, effectively doubling its speed. All new BT Infinity customers will automatically get the faster speed, and existing customers will be able to apply for an upgrade by starting a new contract. If the new super fast download speed wasn't enough to sway you, then the fact that BT has also significantly increased the 'upload' speed of their new fibre service, from 10Mbits/sec to 19Mbits/sec should do it. In fact BT's new 'upload' speed is said to be the fastest available in the UK!
500,000 Strong Apple Mac Botnet
This
article is for all Apple Mac owners who don't think they
need anti-virus software installed on their systems. A least
500,000 Apple computers (and still growing), have now been
infected by the 'BackDoor.Flashback.39' malware, these
infected machines are all connected forming an enormous
Botnet. The malware uses Safari to steal passwords, banking
details and to perform search redirection and is basically
pretty nasty. The malware infiltrates the Mac system when an
infected site is visited (and there are a large number of
sites infected...4 million and growing), at which point an
executable file is downloaded its payload installed and
connection to the Botnet is established. If you are worried
about your Mac being infected make sure you are using some
kind of Anti-virus protection, Sophos provide a free
anti-virus application for Mac's see the link below.
For more information on free Apple Mac anti-virus software
visit:
http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition/download.aspx
EU Mobile Data Roaming To Be Capped
It was back in 2009 that the EU was set to bring in a group of laws to cap the cost of data roaming while traveling in Europe, unfortunately it has taken the European Parliament a lot longer to bring in its ruling. But this is all about to change with a ruling set for May that will see a cap set at 0.70c/MB, falling to 0.20c/MB by 2014. Although this will still add up when using data intensive applications, it does mean that sending the odd email or accessing the internet while in Europe will soon be far more affordable, and something many more people will be more inclined to try as the worry of excessive costs will be significantly reduced.
Earth hour is in it's Sixth year, and support is growing every year. To show your support and that you care about climate change, just switch off as many of your electrical devices as you can on Saturday 31st March at 8.30pm, for an hour. Many, significant landmarks will also go dark for an hour, with Tower Bridge, London Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral to name but three, along with tens of thousands of businesses, organisations and individuals. Why not visit the link below and see how your area of the UK compares by visiting the 'Earth Hour Around You' section.
To sign-up and see how your area is doing visit:
http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/
Seagate has recently made a significant breakthrough in linear bit density, using a new technique called HAMR which stands for 'heat-assisted magnetic recording'. This new process has allowed Seagate to achieve a linear bit density of 1TB per square inch, which is more than a 50% improvement on their standard PMR (Perpendicular Magnetic Recording) technique in use currently. Ultimately this will mean a doubling in storage capacity in the near future, but Seagate have stated that this technology is scalable and that even 10TB per square inch are theoretically possible, although they are quick to state that 60TB hard drives are still some way off yet!
Colin Hall Publishing Website Launched
I'm
pleased to announce the release of
new website created by The Glitch. Colin Hall Publishing is
celebrating 15 years in publishing, they specialise in
Books, Photos, Greeting Cards and even DVDs of transport,
mostly ships and steam trains typically in and around the
South of England. There are some great photos in their
library, so if your interested in an image of the QE2
sailing out of Southampton or the Oliver Cromwell steaming
through Hilsea, why not spend a brief moment browsing
thought their collection.
For more information visit their new site:
http://www.colin-hall-publishing.co.uk/
Apple have released their latest iPad, although they have not called it the iPad 3, but instead they have named it 'New iPad'. Sadly many think it's a ridiculous name, one that will serve to confuse and irritate people rather than be considered a clever marketing ploy...predictable no, stupid yes! But I digress, the specifications of the 'New iPad' reveal a new 3.1 million pixel high resolution (2048x1536) screen, a 5-megapixel (1080p) camera (like that found on the iPhone 4s), a new dual-core A5X processor with integrated quad-core graphics and 4G connectivity. The 'New iPad' is more of an organic update to the iPad 2, and although all these updates are noteworthy and worthwhile improvements, there's nothing here that is truly ground breaking...maybe next year, when they release the 'Newer iPad' (lol) we will see something truly special!!!!
Microsoft
have finally made available its 'Consumer Preview' of
Windows 8, but it's important to understand this software is
still very much pre-release and as such will more than
likely contain bugs and may lack features that will be
available in the final operating system. It's also important
to be aware that this release is totally unsupported by
Microsoft and so, if you run into any issues, you're on your
own. As with the 'Developer Preview' it's not recommended
you install this as your default operating system on your
main computer, but either install it as a virtual machine or
on a spare computer, if you have one lying around that meets
the requirements of Windows 8.
For more information
and a link to the download visit the following link:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download
East African Connectivity Blackout
It was back in December 2008 when a ship's anchor cut through communication cables running between Sicily and Tunisia causing major disruption for the region, and now it seems something similar has happen off the coast of Mombasa when a ship severed the Sub-Saharan Undersea Cable TEAMS (The East African Marine System) that provides Kenya and surrounding areas with the majority of their communications. This event has been made all the worse because of another damaged cable in the area which saw Djibouti and Port Sudan services cut. There are at least 13 main sub-sea communications cables that surround the coast of Africa, and these incidents shows just how fragile and vulnerable the region's infrastructure really is. Repairs are already underway but it could be weeks before all services are returned to normal!
Government Unworried by Solar Event
It seems the UK government is being pretty complacent over the possibility of a 'Solar Event', with no real contingency plans or plans to protect it's infrastructure against a significant event, should it occur. But the facts are clear, due to increased solar activity over the next few years, the likelihood of a Solar event is far more likely. The last time our Sun went though a similar, heighten period of activity was back in September 1859, when many fires were reported as telegraph wires spontaneously shorted out across the US and Europe. And this is the biggest issue, are modern communications infrastructure is now more susceptible to the magnetically charged plasma that can be ejected by the Sun during a significant solar flare (or coronal mass ejection) and even more complex to repair. Lets hope the UK government begins to plan a appropriate contingency, otherwise it could get pretty difficult if a significant event occurs!
With each new release of Windows comes a new look logo, sometimes they represent a major overhaul in branding, other times they're more organic in there redesign, this time Microsoft have gone for a simplistic light-blue, window logo. Some have already started to comment that it's not particularly exciting, and that it almost looks like Microsoft couldn't be bothered to design a logo. Although this might be a little on the harsh side, it does look like someone has taken a glance at the first four tiles of the 'Windows Phone 7' operating system and decided that it would make a good logo; ultimately it's pretty uninspiring stuff, lets just hope they didn't pay too much for it, because that would be very embarrassing!
SOCA Shuts Down Illegal Website
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has arrested the owners of a website which is said to have offered downloads of copyrighted material. The 'rnbxclusive' website was seized and its illegal content removed with only a SOCA warning message left behind. This is the first site that the UK's serious organised crime agency has acted against, and indicates a step change in their determination to crack down on illegal content. Visitors have been left stunned by the blunt nature of SOCA's message, which initially stated "If you have downloaded music using this website you may have committed a criminal offence which carries a maximum penalty of up to ten years imprisonment and an unlimited fine under UK law". This message has now been toned down, but don't think this is an indicate that SOCA is softening their stance, as action on further sites (that host illegal material) is expected!
Apple Requests Factory Inspections
Apple has been under pressure for years to do more to ensure its foreign manufacturing plans are safe places to work and that its employees are looked after properly. So it was a good sign that Apple themselves requested that the FLA (Fair Labor Association) audit 90% of their suppliers (including Foxconn, Wintek and Quanta), with instructions to leave no stone unturned. In fact, if the audits go as far as indicated, the depth and scale of the investigations are said to be unprecedented. Some might say this is too little too late, and that Apple is just buckling under mounting bad press over its work ethics, but this is a little disingenuous, as Apple did not need to go this far. More over Apple knows that it will be judged not by the findings of these reports, but by the actions it takes to correct any issues found, and any failure to act could damage Apple's reputation irreparably.
BT To Provide 300Mbits/sec FTTP
It was back in October 2011 that BT announced plans for a 300Mbits/sec Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) service, now called 'FTTP on demand' the service, which is being aimed at businesses, will allow any customer who currently has FTTC (Fibre-to-the-Cabinet) to request the installation of a dedicated fibre cable from the Cabinet directly to their property. As of yet, no announcement has been made over the cost of said installation or indeed the on-going fees for the 300Mbit service, but don't expect it to be cheap (out of the reach of most private individuals). BT hopes to begin to offer this service by 2013. Saying this, if you need a speed boost above and beyond your current 40Mbit connection, then you shouldn't have to wait too long, as BT hopes to start upgrading all customers to their 80Mbit service within the next few months.
Like the 'Codecademy', the 'Khan Academy' are on a mission to help people learn, but rather than specialising in computer programming like the 'Code Year' course, it covers a much broader subject base. Khan has over 2,800 videos and almost 300 exercises and assessments, covering everything from Algebra to Venture Capital. Khan is a not for profit organization, with an objective to provide free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. The 'Gates Foundation' and Google's 'Project 10 to the 100' both see incredible value in the project and are currently supporting them, and it's easy to see why, this is a truly excellent site with many great resources.
To explore this free resource, visit the following link:
http://www.khanacademy.org/
Sony, once the innovator and market leader in almost everything they turned their hand to, is bracing itself for its forth consecutive year in the red. Sony has indicated they will post another massive $2.9 billion loss this year, pushing Sony ever closer to breaking point. Sony is now pinning all it's hopes on their newly appointed CEO Kazuo Hirai, who will replace Howard Stringer. Hirai has been with Sony for many years and is said to be responsible for successfully reviving the PlayStation gaming console division. Sony is hoping Hirai can do the same for the rest of the business, although any changes will have to be pretty radical if Sony is to survive intact!
It was back in June 2010 (18 months ago) that the last Microsoft Office suite (Office 2010) was released, but there are now positive signs that a new version is getting closer to release with the news that a technical preview of Office 15 has been made available to a small number of Microsoft Partners to allow them to gather initial feedback. Although this is encouraging news, most of us will have to wait until the public beta is released later this year. Sadly, very little is still known about Office 15, but you can bet that it will be fully optimized for tablet/touch control. One interesting rumor is that there may even be an office 15 for Apple's ipad...but I will believe that when I seen it!
An oversight during a routine update, left a flaw in O2's system that could have potentially allowed websites to gather the mobile phone number of any O2 smart phone being used to surf the internet. The flaw was reported quickly and O2 investigated immediately and corrected the mistake within 24 hours. The flaw was active for 15 days, and would have required a website to know to actively interrogate the mobile phone's for its number, thus it was more of a potential flaw and not, in my mind, a particularly prevalent threat to O2 customers; never-the-less O2 did make a mistake and have apologized for any concern caused. Saying this, it is an industry wide standard that mobile phone operators share their customer's numbers with what they call 'Trusted Partners'. In fact, I would be more concerned by who these 'partners' were, rather than a 'potential' exploit that was only active for a few days!
Windows 8 might not be out until the middle of the year at the
earliest, but you can download the 'Developer Preview' if
you are interested in taking an advanced look at Microsoft's
latest Operating System. However, its not for the faint
hearted, as this is an early, beta build that is both buggy
and entirely unsupported by Microsoft. It will not install
as an upgrade, and it can't be uninstalled without a full
reformat of your system, so the recommended way to dip your
toe in the water is to install it as a virtual machine,
unless you have a spare machine lying around that happens to
fit the hardware requirements of Windows 8.
For more information Visit the following link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516
The
name might suggest something to do with fruit, but this is
simply a fun name for an
inexpensive, credit card sized computer. This mini machine
is being created in the hope that it will inspire a new
generation of technology whizz kids, much like the BBC Micro
and Sinclair ZX Spectrum did in the early 80s. It utilises a 700 MHz Arm 11 chip
(similar to that found in
mobile phones) and comes in two configurations, one with 128MB of onboard RAM and the
other with 256MB RAM and 10/100 Ethernet port. Both versions come with HDMI port, DSI display connector,
USB 2.0 port, SD Card slot, Audio jack, RCA Video Jack and a micro USB power port. There are also GPIO Headers for
interfacing. The power frugal Pi will even run well using
4xAA batteries. It currently supports RISC OS, Linux Debian, Fedora and ArchLinux.
But the best part of it is the £25 asking price, which
should help make it truly universal.
For more information Visit the following link:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/
SOPA Could Cripple the Internet
I'm all for preventing copyright infringement, but (SOPA) the ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’, which is currently being considered by the US government, goes way too far. Under the new Act, any person creating a link to a site would have to check the entire site for copyright infringement. Every phrase, every picture, every video on every page would have to be checked and verified (and this assumes you know it infringes copyright). Even web search results would be covered under the proposed law, it's truly stupid. If you're found guilty (whether living in or outside the US) your website would be removed, your domain confiscated, your IP address blacklisted and all this without legal process. So join 'The Glitch' and support the protest of this ludicrous act, (along with many thousands of other sites) we ‘Go Dark’ for a day on the 18 January 2012.
The Qualcomm Foundation announced at the ‘Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas‘ that it will offer a 10 million dollar prize to anyone who successfully creates a non-invasive, portable medical tool capable of capturing "key health metrics and diagnose a set of 15 diseases". This idea comes straight from science fiction with devices such as Star Trek’s ‘Tricorder’ being used diagnose an illness just by quickly scanning a person’s body. Although it’s unlikely anyone will produce such a device in the near future, this prize on offer will no doubt be enough to catalyze someone to make progress in this essential area of technology and medicine.
'Code Year' is a new idea from
a start-up
company called 'Codecademy'. Basically, anyone can sign up to their free website course to receive an
interactive programming lesson each week, via email. The
idea behind the site is simple, to get people interested in
coding at a time when the numbers of skilled programmers is
in decline. The site has been a
huge success so far, and has seen well over 6 million lessons completed
within the first 4 weeks of going live. The site is a
wonderful idea, and it's likely to see many more millions sign up
over the coming months,
especially considering the recent report slating the way computing,
and more especially programming, is currently being taught
in UK schools.
To sign-up to this free resource, visit the following link:
http://codeyear.com/
Facebook Worm Steals Passwords
A Worm virus dubbed ‘Ramnit’ has (to date) managed to gather more than 45,000 Facebook user's passwords. Once harvested the Malware then goes on to use the stolen credentials to transmit malicious links via the user’s friends list. It has been estimated that well over 800,000 computers have been infected by ‘Ramnit’ since September of last year. The issue is not directly associated with any specific security flaw with their service, but Facebook are still urging users to read their comprehensive ‘Guide to Facebook Security’ document, which contains some good advice on how to keep your accounts safe.
To download a copy of the guide, visit the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/safety/attachment/Guide to Facebook
Security.pdf
Comet in Counterfeit Microsoft Media Dispute
Well known retail store ‘Comet’ is defending its position over claims that it illegally copied Microsoft operating system media. The issue stems from the fact that Microsoft stopped providing recovery media for all new computer systems that came pre-installed with a Microsoft operating system. This move then required customers, often with little or no knowledge, to try and create their own backup, which, more often than not, proved too complex or was simply inconvenient. This had the knock on effect that customers were left unable to restore their systems in the event of a serious crash. So Comet is arguing that they were simply providing good customer service, although it's still not clear whether they was profiting from the service, or whether any charges made were simply covering costs.
I have started the New Year with a fresh banner to head up my web pages and a new '0845 519 5319' contact number (all previous contact numbers are still available). I have also created a Tweeter page, but please be aware that this is very new and so not a lot of active content has been posted at the moment. Two of the main projects for the site this year are to finally get my 'Search Index' fully updated and working as only a small amount of the site is currently searchable, and to finish updating my PDF Guides, other than that I welcome any comments and suggestions that you may have. Happy 2012 from 'The Glitch'.