2005 - NEWS ARCHIVE
£40,000 fine for the 'Crazy Frog'
The company that created the 'Crazy Frog' ringtone has been fined £40,000 by the ICSTIS (premium phone rate watchdog) for not making clear, the exact nature of the services they were offering to customers, thus duping people into signing up for subscription contracts they did not want. Many companies on the internet use these tactics to boost their sales, and it is not just limited to ringtone companies. Thousands of people each year sign up for services that they did not actually want, and with many of the companies concerned being based outside the UK, unsubscribing to them can prove very difficult, so be careful what you are downloading and more importantly what you are signing up for.
EBay user pays almost £500 for picture of Xbox 360
Yes, you read it correctly, a picture. It seems that they did not
fully read the description of the Ebay item on sale and paid £470 for just a
picture of an Xbox 360. This proves, yet
again that Ebay can be a dangerous place to shop if you don't
read the item descriptions properly, or if you just don't know
what you are doing. If you are unsure, double check you are
purchasing what you think you are, email the seller, if
necessary, and ask questions, they don't mind, they would
rather have a happy customer than get bad feedback! Otherwise
what more can I say, other than, Caveat emptor.
Sober set to pounce on 5th Jan 06
Anti-virus experts are warming that the Sober X worm is set to strike again on the 5th Jan.2006. There has been dozens of variants of the Sober virus this year, making it one of the most prevalent viruses to date. It is difficult to know for sure what the Worm is going to do, but an early warning is always a good thing. So make sure you keep your anti-virus software fully updated in the new year!
A public beta release of IE7 is due in January
next year, this long awaited release (first mentioned on these
pages back in February) will finally see IE with better
security and new features such as 'tabbed' browsing, I will
let you know what the verdict is, as soon as I get hold of the
download.
A 29 year old US
mother of five, is set to go to jail for illegally downloading
music, if she does not pay the now $22,500 fine imposed upon
her. She used the KaZaA p2p network to download the files. The
idea that she was not 'stealing' the tunes but was merely
sampling them with a view to buying them later, was quickly
rejected by the court. This case is one of the first of its
type to be brought to the US courts, but with 260 more
cases due to be heard and many more waiting in the wings, the
US courts are going to be kept busy for some considerable time.
Music industry to wipe out lyric sites
In yet another unpopular move, the music
industry is set to wipe out all the free lyric sites on the
internet. Even going as far as to recommend that the owners of
these website should face a jail sentence, if they don't
comply. I have to say that I agree that the sharing of music
should not be encouraged, but most of us at some point in time
have written down the words of a song we love or admire and
pinned it up on a notice board or even framed them. Is the
music industry saying this is copyright infringement. Come on
people this heavy handed approach is getting stupid. The music
industry will next be saying that listening to another persons
radio or stereo will be breaking some kind of copyright, and
we need to have our ears licensed, they need to get a grip,
because even the people who were initially supporting them,
are now beginning to have second thoughts.
Happy 1st Birthday 'The Glitch'
It has been exactly one year, since I started
'The Glitch' website. Thank you to all those who frequent the
site, and to all those who have given me feedback (very
useful). I would also like to say a special thank you for all
the kind words posted in my Guestbook, and thank you for all
those who purchased products from me, I hope you get many
years of trouble free service from them. Lastly, thank you to
my wife for her understanding, when I spend hours on the computer and finally
get to bed at 1:00 in the morning.
Music industry to destroy search sites
Where will it all end, even I now think that
the music industry is getting too big for it's own boots. A
number of lyric search sites have been issued with cease and
desist orders from one of the four main record companies. This
is a sad day for the freedom of Internet and its users. These
sites are no more than advanced search engines, locating
publicly available information. I have to assume that the
likes of Google and Yahoo will also be issued with cease and
desist orders, as the same types of searches are possible
using these everyday tools. The music industry is starting to
look very stupid, if they are not careful they will be tarred
with the same brush as Sony.
Intel is planning a whole host of new multi-core processors over the next two years. All new multi-core processors will start shipping in the third quarter of 2006, initially only dual-core and quad-core CPUs will be released, but with a powerful 8-core processor with up to 12MB L2 Cache, being sited for 2008. If Intel gets its way, multi-core technology is set to become common place by 2007.
New information compiled recently, reveals
that last year, cyber criminals managed to turnover more money
than drug traffickers. Well that's it then, illegal narcotics
such as heroin and cocaine are out and phishing fraud and
copyright offences are in. Come on 'drug barons', get with
it, your old skool now. It seems that in the US alone,
e-commerce fraud almost hit $3bn, and this figure does not
even take into account losses due to software piracy and
computer viruses.....I'm obviously in the wrong type of job.
Doctors in the UK have started to see cases of repetitive strain injury caused by using an iPod too much. First, lets get things into context, there are always going to be people who use these types of devices to extreme, and these issues are not special to the iPod, with people reporting similar problems with keyboards, mice and mobile phones. Saying this, there has been reports of people in the US losing the full use of their thumb from iPod related use....tut..only in America.
The advice is simple....stop playing with
it......no sorry.....the real advice is to flex your hand
muscles from time to time.
The next generation of the high quality NEC DVD burners (models ND-3551A and ND-4551A) are set to offer 'Labelflash' Technology (similar to HP's LightScribe), where special coated discs can be laser etched with 256 different shades, producing more creative disc designs and giving an alternative to paper labels. The Glitch will be offering these drives in my hardware section, as soon as they become available.
Legal, pay-for music downloaders are still
very much in the minority it seems, being out numbered 3-to-1
by illegal file-sharing. The current crop of legal proceedings
made against individuals, by the music industry, has had
little effect on the rate at which people are sharing
copy-righted material. The music industry is said to be very
worried for it's future, because of the near limitless, free,
on-line resources available to the current digital generation.
And they are right to be worried, as a recent survey showed
that one third of all 15 to 24 year olds share and download
music illegally. With the likes of Sony's DRM 'rootkit' code
making even buying a CD to play on your computer a lethal
issue, it is no wonder more people are using downloads...
sorry I couldn't resist!
There's not a week that goes by, these days, that doesn't see the unification of yet another IT/ISP and Telco company. This week it is the turn of NTL and Virgin Mobile. In a bid estimated to be over £800 million, NTL hopes to acquire Virgin and it's 5 million customers. If successful the new group would be able to offer 'quadruple' play of telephone, broadband, TV & mobile, a highly sort after combination.
If you don't fancy downloading 'Windows
OneCare' (beta), the latest security software from Microsoft
then why not give 'Windows Live, Safety Center' a try.
It's a new, free service, from Microsoft. It is designed to
help ensure that your PC stays healthy. You can check for and
remove viruses, learn about current threats, improve your PC's
performance and even get rid of junk on your hard disk.
Go to Windows Live.
It has been a relatively quite period on the viruses front of late, but all this has changed, as we now see that more than 5% of all email traffic is infected by the latest raft of viruses. Most anti-virus firms are on high alert as the current epidemic shows no sign of abating, and at the time of writing, actually seems to be getting worse. The advice is always the same, check you anti-virus and anti-spyware products are running and are up-to-date.
Samsung, LG and Philips have all now demonstrated flexible displays. This new type of LCD display is made from non-brittle plastics rather than glass to sandwich the liquid crystal thus allowing them to be bent into curved shapes. These new screens could be used to produce some very amusingly shaped devices, but also have more practical uses as they are much less susceptible to damage.
Back in May 2005 I reported that Microsoft was working on a new security suite called 'OneCare', well they have just released the first public beta of this new software. It is free to try, but it is set to become a subscription based product in the future. Go to the Windows OneCare site to download the software and see for yourself; it contains anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software and much more!
800 million mobile phones sold
Worldwide sales of mobile phones has soared by
over 22% with all indicators suggesting that over 800 million
phones will be sold by the end of the year. These figures have
been helped by the large number of new camera and video-phone
models being brought to the marketplace by companies like
Nokia and Motorola. We will just have to wait and see what
they will be tempting us with next year, to make us all go out
and buy yet another new handset, or is that just me.
Legitimate digital music download sites are going from strength to strength, with the likes of Apple's iTunes now reporting better sales than a number of high street resellers. With an 80% market share of all US downloads, iTunes has become one of the biggest music sellers in 2005. On the other hand, we see that the file sharing giant KaZaA may soon close, as the deadline for it to fully comply with the terms of an earlier legal ruling is almost up. (After being found guilty of encouraging its users of its software to share copyrighted files). I have said before, these companies will need to reinvent themselves into legitimate services or they will risk disappearing forever, overwhelmed by legal costs and red-tape.
While the fight goes on between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, a new format is waiting in the wings. 'Tapestry holographic memory storage' is a technology developed between InPhase Technologies and Hitachi using laser light interference to store up to 300GB per disc. The 13cm discs should be able to store more than 25 hours of high definition video, that's six times more that it's closes competitor. All going well, devices using these discs should start to appear towards the end of next year.
The much anticipated US launch of the Xbox 360 has started, it is now only a short wait for the UK until the Xbox is released in Europe, on the 2nd December. Eighteen gaming titles should be available immediately with many more to follow in the new year. The hardware specified in the new Xbox is impressive, and used properly should deliver games of a quality that, until now, have never been possible on a console before.
IBM keeps crown for fastest computer
IBM's Blue Gene super computer keeps the crown as fastest super computer in the world. It has 131,072 PowerPC 440 700MHz processors and 32,768GB of main memory. Its performance peeks at 367,000GFlops. I think my computer has just got a serious inferiority complex !
Word on the street is that Apple are due to
release a new tiny iPod shuffle in 2006.
Early reports suggest that the new Shuffle will be no bigger
that a stick of gum, maybe even smaller. It has taken time
for Apple to source a new, physically smaller flash memory
type, but now that this has been achieved, it is only a matter
of time before these tiny devices go into production...just
don't get it mixed up with your real stick of gum!
Sony's problems just keep getting worse
Although most of Sony CD's containing their controversial DRM 'rootkit' code were sold in the US, some were imported by UK companies; so the news that Sony has agreed to recall some 4.7 million CDs from sale, shows they have not completely lost their marbles after all. But it seems that the mass withdrawal has less to do with the DRM software damaging computers and more to do with the actual 'rootkit' coding itself, in that it illegally borrows from a number of open source projects thus infringing copyright. This whole 'rootkit' code episode has been one hell of a disaster for Sony, and it will take some time for people to trust them again...a very sad day for Sony.
We could all see it coming a mile off, well everyone except Sony it seems. A new Trojan Virus is doing the rounds that uses the poorly written DRM 'rootkit' code that Sony wrote to protect it's current crop of CD's. If this was not enough to convince Sony, a lawsuit is imminent from an Italian online civil rights organisation that is alleging that Sony's coding contravenes current Italian legislation. Now add to this the fact that the program posted on Sony's web site to correct these issues, actually did nothing helpful, and that most of the major anti-virus and anti-spam software companies are now treating the code as hazardous, then also add falling sales of Sony CD's and Sony has a major disaster on your hands.
Is this why they have finally decided to suspend their current DRM project....I wonder.....But beware, it will take some time for the dodgy CD's to work their way out of the system...
Microsoft's Antispyware changes it's name
Microsoft's 'Antispyware' is soon to get an update and name change. The new product is to be called 'Windows Defender', and with radically improved detection, extends its protection to include both keyloggers and rootkit code (that should stop Sony's shenanigans ...hehe...sorry couldn't resist). For the main part the update is in readiness for Microsoft's new Vista operating system , but the new download should become available for all Windows XP users. Early indicators are that it may well appear as a download within the 'Windows Update' service.
Its not in the bag yet, but it looks very likely that ITV will buy Friends Reunited for at least £100 million. Friends Reunited was a site initially setup to help reunite old school friends, work colleagues and neighbours, but has more recently added recruitment, internet dating and even genealogy sections to its services. With over 12 million subscribers, it it a valuable commercial resource. It was previously thought that BSkyB would clinch the deal, but ITV is now the front runner.
Soon Nokia is to offer a series of mobile phones designed for multimedia and entertainment on the move. The new 'N' series models will have such features as, high quality digital music, videos and FM Radio playback, 5-band graphic equalizers, SD slots for additional storage, connection to a PC via standard USB 2.0, and much more. If this was not enough, the more expensive models have a 2.8" anti-glare QVGA screen supporting 16 million colours and will be able to access PC networks and connect to devices. The new Nokia range is set to move the mobile nearer to being a complete portable entertainment system in your pocket, just don't expect them to be cheap !
The demise of P2P has started, or at least in its current form. Grokster has finally closed, after agreeing to pay $50 million in damages for promoting copyright infringement. They were not the first to go, several other P2P services have already closed and more are expected in the near future. But on a positive note, more legal downloads services are now beginning to appear, joining the likes of the hugely popular iTunes and Yahoo. Many more will soon joint their ranks as the original, misguided, P2P companies reinvent themselves into squeaky clean legitimate peer-to-peer services.
In what has been seen, by many, as a
monumental mistake by Sony, sees Sony’s latest music CDs use
something called 'rootkit code' to protect their music. This
code infiltrates your PC without your knowledge
or more significantly, your permission... this is very wrong.
The software is part of Sony’s new DRM
(digital rights management), but it is done in such an
underhand and more importantly, inept way that it makes it
possible for viruses (or any other malicious program) to use
the ‘rootkit code’ to hide themselves, even if you have
anti-virus software. If this was not enough it is incredibly
difficult to remove, with most people damaging their systems
in the process.
This is an unacceptable situation, and
probably breaks privacy and other laws. This will harm both
Sony and their signed artists…what a stupid move. I for one
will not be buying any more Sony label CDs until they stop
this ridiculous, devious behaviour. If you don’t trust your
customers, they will not trust you. Period.
Use F-Secure's Blacklight software to check your system for Rootkit code.
The Grinch that stole the Flash Memory
It seems that there will be a shortage of flash memory over this holiday period, as complaints are being voiced that Apple has scooped up a large chunk of the worlds stocks of flash memory chips for inclusion in its range of iPod mp3 players. This move has left flash memory availability at an all time low, with other manufactures being left out in the cold, struggling to find stock.
BT hopes, (by this time next year), to be able to offer a set-top box that will, amongst other things, receive all freely available digital terrestrial channels, movies on demand, and catchup TV; which allows viewers to watch the past weeks television on-demand through a broadband connection. The device will allow people to watch what they like when they like, no longer begin slaves to television schedules. The cost of said device has still not been made clear, but you will need a decent broadband link (2MB) to stream the programmes from the internet. The box is said to also offer PVR (personal video recorder) functionality.
In an interesting move Google has announced that it will help develop the open source 'OpenOffice' productivity suite, a product that is similar to Microsoft's 'Office' suite. For many this will be seen as more evidence of growing competition between Microsoft and Google. But one thing is for sure, it will be good for the consumer. If Google can revamp and polish 'OpenOffice' and create a real alternative to Microsoft's programs.....that is free or at least very cheap....then they will probably create one of the most popular products ever written...we will have to wait and see!
A number of credit card companies, in Japan, have formed a standard (QUICPay) for making transactions via your mobile phone. This new technology could replace cash, credit cards and store cards, but it does not stop there as the system has many other possible uses. Users would pay for goods by having there phone scanned and, as now, products purchased would appear on a standard, itemised, bill at the end of each month. Security details were unavailable at time of writing, but I would guess some kind of pin or code would probably be entered at the time of transaction.
A new, government lead, public internet safety campaign has been started, it's propose is to help people protect themselves against internet threats. Many well know, leading companies like Dell, BT, Microsoft and eBay are sponsoring the new website. Most of the issues listed on the site are things that 'The Glitch' has tried to make people more aware of, over the past year.
Visit the site Getsafeonline.
Sky is to buy Easynet for over £200 million. Easynet is the UK's leading LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) based company, who currently provides broadband services for the likes of Wanadoo and Plusnet. It is responsible for over 90% of the unbundled lines in over 200 BT exchanges. In acquiring Easynet, Sky is hoping to add broadband, IP telephony and video-on-demand services to its satellite TV services and further extend Easynets LLU programme.
An estimated £5 million deal has been struck between the Football Association (currently building the new Wembley Stadium) and Microsoft. The stadium is due to be finished in late 2006, about the same time as the new Windows Vista is to be launched! As a 'Founding Partner' in the construction Microsoft is due to sponsor Wembley for 5 years, so expect to see a large number of Microsoft related ads in the near future. Maybe some new chants during matches....
vista, vista, vista, oiy, oiy, oiy.....I just can't see it some how !
A new report out this week suggests that most internet users will, unknowingly, have some kind of spyware and/or adware on their computers. They can originate from a number of sources, from emails to internet downloads, but they all cause no end of trouble for the end user. I have said this before, most of us are good at keeping our anti-virus software up-to-date, but very few have any anti-spyware even installed let alone updated. Get protected, download and install Microsoft anti-spyware It's free, so there is no excuse not to.....do it today.
MSN & Yahoo messaging converge
For the first time users of MSN & Yahoo instant massagers will be able to communicate directly. In a joint venture Microsoft and Yahoo are to link their free services together, and in doing so also offer VoIP voice calls in the bargain. This would produce the second largest IM group (after AOL) with 44% of the market share, but if rumors are to be believed AOL is also considering joining the party. This would propagate a truly unified, fully compatible IM service for all. Well all except the fledgling Google offering 'GoogleTalk' with only 0.5% market share, they would well and truly be left out in the cold.....Doh !
No, this is not about you giving your printer some quality time to itself ! Its about your printer printing tiny yellow dots on each and every page your print, that when decoded reveal the date, time and serial number of the printer used ! Only a small number of printers do this, and they tend to be larger workgroup printers like the Xerox DocuColor range. It was designed to be used against counterfeit crimes but there is no legal framework to prevent the information being put to other uses. Is this a breech of your civil rights ? Does this brake any privacy policy documented ? Do I really care ? All these, and many more questions will be answered in the next exciting instalment !
After a flurry of rumours, Apple has finally released their new iPod. It can now play up to 150 hours of video. It has a 2.5-inch color display and at only 0.43 inches thick, this new slimmer device lets you take music videos and TV shows on the road. This has got to be the best iPod yet !
The existence of a virus that deletes critical system files from the flash memory of Sony's PSP handheld games console, has been confirmed. The Trojan has been placed in a number of replacement firmware downloads, and when used, renders the PSP useless. The PSP community have been playing around with the PSP's firmware ever since it's launch, and many owners change their firmware in order to gain better functionally and freedom of use, but this new issue is bound to make people think twice. Sony has always made it clear that they frown upon such things as firmware mods and have activity tried to stamp it out.......makes you wonder who really wrote the Virus !!
Technology thieves prey on the young
There has been a sharp rise in the number of gadget related thefts and muggings. Mainly due to the ever rising number of smart phones and iPods that people carry around these days. Information shows that children, students and teenagers are most likely to fall victim, with thieves picking the easy target. Many teenagers now carry around hundreds of pounds worth of gadgets and police are urging them to be more cautious with their belongings, and not to overly advertise such items as their iPods. That's all very well, but Apple's white ear phones are a bit of a giveaway....... !
Thumbs-up for Independent computer retailers
A recent survey by 'Which' revealed that
independent computer retailers offered a better overall
service than high street retailers. The likes of 'PC World'
faired particularly badly with 'Dixons' and 'Currys' not far
behind. Although it is of no surprise now, both Time & Tiny
also faired very badly with a massive 32% of their systems
needing repair within the first year ! Dell did much better
than most with 75% of people saying they would recommend Dell
if asked. So don't buy your next computer from 'PC World' buy
it from 'The Glitch' instead, 'Which' said so....
It has been predicted that the file sharing business as it stands has little hope of surviving. The current crop of P2P operators will have to reinvent themselves as closed services which allow controlled (licensed), centralised, paid-for file sharing or be forced to close. This is not because any court has ruled, definitively, that P2P software is illegal, but because the cost of proving otherwise is too great. Confronting unimaginably larger opponents that can outspend small, under-funded technology companies to death makes the question of "legal" or "illegal" a moot point.
NTL is to pay £6.5bn for Telewest. Many have predicted, as far back as 2003, that it was just a matter of time before these two companies merged. Significantly this marks the end of the gradual consolidation of the network of UK cable companies. All going well, the union should be complete by early 2006, and would mean that NTL will become the UK's second largest communications company after BT.
No it’s not science fiction, its science fact.
South Korea is to spend $32 million, in research and
development, over the next 5 years, into armed robots to help
patrol the sensitive border with North Korea. They will be
able to carry out missions via remote control; some will be
mounted on wheels while others will need legs to cross rough
terrain. Let’s hope they don't get a mind of their own and
wander off to play somewhere inappropriate!
During 2006 Intel will be making sweeping changes to its processor design. In a major change of direction, Intel will focus on power efficiency and performance per watt, rather than pure Ghz ratings. All the new CPUs will be dual-core, 64bit; they will all be manufactured using a 65nanometer process and offer significantly increased power efficiency over their predecessors. This would mean the end of the power hungry P4 processor, being replaced by a chip that is more powerful but uses less than 65watts, and it doesn't stop there. Even less power is used in the new mobile version of the chip, making possible the advent of small hand-held devices with the power of a current desktop computer.
Google is to trial a free wireless service. Based in the US, the trials will offer a secure, (encrypted) service, via a utility available from Google. The company has been offering many different and diverse internet applications and services over the past months, but, until now, has stopped short of offering internet connections (ie. becoming an ISP - Internet Service Provider). As always we will have to wait to see how it all pans out, but this could be a significant piece of the 'Internet domination' puzzle for Google.
You have all heard of CPU (Central Processing Unit), and most of you will have heard of GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). Well this is set to be the next big thing for gaming a PPU or 'Physics Processing Unit'. What this will bring to games is basically realistic real-time physics. Even the current basic physics calculations in games can take a lot of processing power to produce and this in turn limits the amount of realism that game designers place within games, but the PPU will change all this. Even now, there is even talk of games with totally free form, realistic, destructible, environments and objects...wow can't wait.
No it's not some kind of kinky festival, but a statement of fact. London is the most bot-ridden area in Britain. In fact the UK has been named as the having the highest proportion of bot-infected computers in the world, at 32%....shame on us. Ignorance over security amongst on-line users is still high, we are not properly addressing these issues. Keep your anti-virus software up-to-date, Get some kind of anti-spyware and keep it up-to-date, Keep your Windows operating system patched and up-to-date, and consider some kind of firewall.....have you got it......come on sort yourselves out.....its embarrassing. (London....tut.....typical....there's always one).
You know, there is not a month that goes by without Google doing something useful. I don't know, when will it ever end....it just means more work for me. 'Google Blog Search' is the long awaited search facility for web-logs. It is still in beta form, but offers a area of searching that has never been offered by a search engine before. Because of the inherent structure of blogs and the way the Google works, listings and feeds will be updated virtually in real time, now that is useful.
Go to Google Blog Search to start searching.
Is you teenage son/daughter using ? Bloodshot eyes, always tired and moody. They may already be addicted ! But it's not substance abuse, its computer abuse, on-line gaming to be precise. It is a real problem for Asia, with as many as 2 percent of gamers suffering with the addiction, South Korea has even designed clinics to help wean gamers away from their PCs. It has even been associated with crime, with people giving up the jobs to spend more time on-line, and then robbing people to fund their habit, bizarre !
XBox 360 UK Launch in December
It has finally been announced that the UK launch date of Microsoft's second-generation games console the 'XBox 360' will be on the 2nd December 2005. This is only one week after its US release and one week before the release in Japan. Lets hope they have enough stock. With more than 200 software titles currently in development and a powerful portfolio ready for the launch the console should be a resounding success.
Not due to late 2006, Microsoft's office 12 is going to look very different to previous versions, offering a new streamlined user interface. Command tabs are to replace the more commonly used menus and toolbars and Galleries are to replace standard dialog boxes. It all sounds very dynamic. I'm not going to get too excited, as many great features were promised with Office 2003, but there was little evidence on final release. We shall have to wait until the first beta releases to find out more!
The Australian and Netherlands governments have expressed their concerns over the level of detail available on Google Earth. They say that the images are a threat to their national security, showing amongst other things pictures of nuclear facilities. Although it is important to be aware of possible terrorism issues, one thing they have all missed is that the internet has already got lots of information about all of these facilities and much, much more.
The Glitch is proud to announce 'Glitch Systems'. Offering high quality, custom built, bespoke systems to those who want something a little different to that supplied by the main stream computer retailers.
Click Glitch Systems for more information.
NAND chip to replace hard drives
Samsung is set to revolutionise storage for the future, with it's new high capacity NAND chips. NAND development, at the moment, is so aggressive that Samsung hopes to be able to offer 64GB/128GB memory cards within 18 months. At this rate of advance, solid-state memory will become a real alternative to hard disks drives in many devices and even computers.
Although Skype has only been around for a short time (2 years), it has dominated the field of VoIP, (free calls via the internet). With well over 50 million users, it managed to make £19 million last year, and is expected to bring in £33 million this year. eBay intends to use the VoIP technology to make it easier for buyers and sellers to communicate. It is reported that eBay is to paid $2.6bn for Skype.
Is there no end to this company's antics !
Google Web Accelerator is an application that uses the power
of Google's global computer network to make web pages load
faster. Google Web Accelerator is easy to use; all you have to
do is download and install it, and from then on many web pages
will automatically load faster than before.
Please note that Google Web Accelerator is currently in beta
test mode.
Find out more at Google Web Accelerator.
Is the new iPod from Apple, and it is beautifully small at only 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27 inches. Even though it's barely bigger than the tiny iPod shuffle, it sports a crisp 1.5-inch colour display, holds up to 1,000 songs and will run for up to 14 hours before needing a charge. Exhibiting all the audio quality of its predecessors, this 1.5 ounce device is set to take the market by storm.
For more information click the following link: iPod Nano
They're at it again ! 'Google Talk' is a new product from Google that enables you to make a call or send instant messages to your friends for free–anytime, anywhere in the world. It is currently in beta form and requires a Google Email (Gmail) username and password to use it.
Go to Google Talk for more information.
Aimed squarely at overclockers and gamers, this new memory from US memory manufacturer, Patriot, is the fastest around at 1000Mhz (PC2-8000). Approved for use with the new Intel 955X chipset, and with a latency of CL 5-5-5-15, it is set to adorn only the most pampered systems.
The satellite TV provider 'Sky' will launch its first high-definition broadcast (HDTV) service next year. Requiring a new Sky-HD box and a compatible widescreen HD TV, the service will offer a massive improvement in picture and sound quality, when compared to the current (PAL) standard TV broadcasts.
The BBC is to launch a new service called MyBBCPlayer.. A trial service started earlier this year allows users to legally download TV and radio programmes from the internet up to seven days after their transmission. The on-going results of this trial are good and the BBC now hopes to offer this service to the general public early next year. Additionally, archive radio and TV programme material will also be made available on-line.
Instant Messaging for Mobile phones
A company called Senjoo, (pronounced 'Send You'), has released an instant messaging service for mobile phones. Operating on GPRS networks only, anyone who has an instant messenger account and a Java enabled mobile phone will be able to use the system. It is compatible with all the leading instant messenger services, including MSN, Yahoo and AIM. Senjoos initial cost is £9.90 for a lifetime licence or £1.50 a month.
E-label is a new label from Warner Music, it is to be used exclusively with music to be released in a digital form for downloading. It is meant to significantly reduce the costs, to new and little known bands, of releasing an album. Interestingly artists who sign up to this new label, would retain ownership of the recordings and copyright.
Google has been very busy of late, and here is another of their projects, 'Google Print'. Google knows that much of the worlds information can not be found online, and is still in book form. Google Print not only aims to get many of these books on-line, but allow you to search their full texts. It is a very big project but many books are already, ready to search and view.
Go to http://print.google.com/
A group of developers are almost ready to release an anonymous file sharing system onto the internet. Their hopes are to allow people who wish to share files to be able to do so totally anonymously. Their aim is to create what they are calling a global 'DarkNet' a subset of the current internet, where groups of people can do what they want undetected. I personally believe this is not a very smart move, with all the terrorist issues around the world, you don't want to give them a system to share information anonymously. This is just the sort of thing they are looking for....Doh!
Windows Vista has only just been released, (in its first beta form), to the developer community, and already a virus has been written to infect it. It is par for the course that any new Microsoft software will be like a red rag to a bull, in the virus writing and kiddie scripting communities. Only time will tell how Microsoft’s new baby holds up!
Blogs (web logs) are taking off big style. This is due to a number of factors, but mainly because setting up a Blog is free and building/maintaining one is a relatively easy and straight forward process. The rate at which new Blogs are being created is immense, averaging at least one a second, and the frequency of postings, to these Blogs, will soon reach more than a million a day. I wonder how many key presses that adds up to ..... no its no good my head has started to hurt.
'The Glitch' helps the 'Gosport Society' get started on the web. Their site is only just beginning and there is a lot to do, but 'The Glitch' is pleased to have been able to help them with technical and hosting advice. The site is, amongst other things, about local history for Gosport residents.
For all those interested follow the link: The Gosport Society
Japans Education and Science Ministry are planning to build a new supercomputer that can calculate 10 petaflops, that's 10 quadrillion instructions per second. This will be significantly faster than the current leader 'IBM Blue Gene', which can produce 137 teraflops.
For a list of the top 500 most powerful computers go to: Top500
Tiny & Time PCs go into administration. It turns out that they has been making month-on-month losses for some time. Is anyone surprised, I'm amazed they lasted this long !
Microsoft announced today that the new version of it's operating system, (known to many, until now, by it's code name 'Longhorn'), will be called VISTA. It is not due for commercial release until sometime in 2006, but a first beta version will be made available for public release soon.
More information can be found at: Windows Vista
OK we've had 'Google Maps' and then 'Google Earth', now we have 'Google Moon'. This first version is a little limited, but it essentially enables you to surf the Moon's surface and check out the exact spots that the Apollo astronauts made their landings, (the data was provided courtesy of NASA imagery). Wait until you zoom right in before you decide what the moon is really made of !
Find it at: Google Moon
Warning: Computer virus plays on terror attacks
It has been discovered that a Trojan-carrying email, with the subject 'TERROR HITS LONDON' and a file attached named 'London Terror Movie.avi', is currently doing the rounds, so beware.
HP breakthrough in ink jet technology
HP are using a new photolithographic process to manufacture their latest print heads. Unlike traditional methods, the inkjet print head is created in one high quality unit. This improves the manufacturing accuracy and means that HP can increase the density of nozzles. More nozzles and more precise ink placement means faster, higher quality prints. Watch out for printers using this technology soon.
Two new generic top-level domain names have been given the approval of the 'Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN). They are .mobi, for use with sites aimed at mobile phones and .xxx, for use with sexually-explicit "adult entertainment" sites. There are now 20 top-level domain names, a far cry from when the domains were first implemented in 1985 when there was only 6.
Rambus to improve graphics memory speeds
Rambus have developed a new version of its XDR memory interface. This new interface uses a micro-threaded DRAM core to attain data rates of up to 8GHz. This makes it five times faster than today's best GDDR graphics solutions. This is an important step forward as the continual push towards super-realistic graphics in games will require a new breed of graphics card to move far more data at a far quicker rate than anything that is current being offered on the market today.
2Mbps connection over human skin
Yes you read it correctly; a Japanese company (NTT) has developed a technology that can send data over human skin. It brings a whole new meaning to personal networking. So in the future when you shake hands with someone dodgy it's not your wallet or purse they are after but your data! More realistically how about streaming your MP3 files from your iPod via your skin to say a special device in your ear. Maybe you could share your mobile phone contacts with a friend just be touching them, the possibilities are endless. God only knows what you would have to be up to, to transfer a full DVD quality video from person to person ;O)
In the aftermath of the London disaster, the
East Anglian Ambulance Service
have launched a national campaign called ICE "In case
of Emergency". The idea is that
you store the word " I C E " in your mobile phone address
book, and against it enter the number of the person you would
want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency".
In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them.
It's so simple that everyone can do it. Please do.
BT Privacy at Home gives you more control over incoming calls. It includes Caller Display (requires compatible phone), which could let you see the number of the person that's calling, so you can decide whether to pick up or leave it to your answering service. This package also allows you to register at the same time with the Telephone Preference Service. See the BT Website to register.
Google invests $100m in broadband over power lines
A subject close to my heart, as I can't get
any wired broadband in my area, Broadband-over-power lines is
one possible way of getting good broadband access (although
issues exist here as well). This investment by Google provides
both capital and operating assistance that allows the
continued roll-out of Broadband-over-Power Lines services. It
is intended to help expand BoP from its current base out to
wider US and international markets.
So watch out
Southern Electric you may get some competition yet!
Internet Explorer 7 for XP only ?
It has come to light that a new version of Internet Explorer may well be released for Windows XP users only. Microsoft indicated that as Windows 2000 was in the later stages of its lifecycle it could not justify spending a large amount of time making IE7 work with it. Support of Windows 2000 is due to end in 2010.
More tools from Google, this time it's one to search for and play back videos. At the beginning of the year Google released a Video Upload Program enabling people to upload content to a 'video archive'. Now that this archive has been populated, primarily with US TV programmes, Google has release a new tool that allows you to search the content of this archive.
Go to: http://video.google.com/
Did you know that the modification of games consoles has been illegal since October 2003. This is when the Patent Office brought it under the scope of the Copyright Directive Act. Making the chipping of consoles illegal, including selling and advertising chips as well as providing a service for chipping !
Google 3D Interface to the planet
Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in -- Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world’s geographic information at your fingertips.
If you have a decent broadband connection and computer then the 'Google Earth' application (approx 10.3MB) can be downloaded at:
http://desktop.google.com/download/earth/index.html
This application is great for the kids geography.
Fusion is a new type of phone from BT. A mobile phone that will allow you to make landline calls when at home! It works like a normal mobile phone when you are out and about, but when you get home it connects via Bluetooth to a base station, which handles the landline calls. With off-peak calls up to 95% cheaper than an equivalent call made from a mobile phone, BT could be on to a winner!
A prototype printer from Brother can print 170 pages per minute. Unlike standard inkjets where the print-head moves up and down, the Brother has a static array of heads that stretch all the way across the page.
160GB notebook hard drive from Seagate
Seagate has announced an industry first 160GB 2.5in hard drive. Twice as big as most current notebook drives. It stores data using a perpendicular method, by applying magnetic fields 'upwards' and 'downwards' rather than along the same plane as the disc. As this technology is scalable, larger capacity drives could be seen soon.
After using the IBM PowerPC Processor in it's products for 10 years, Apple is now moving all its Macs to Intel processors, and hopes to achieve this by 2007. The decision to spurn the PowerPC chip was prompted by IBM's failure to deliver processors for their latest systems.
65 Million websites and counting
Have you got a website ?, well lots of people do. There are now more than 65 million active website sites......wow, I wonder how much html code that adds up to !
Throw away your Burger and get an Xbox instead
A scheme running in Scotland rewards kids that eat more healthily. Simply pupils gain points when they choose a healthier option at lunchtime. Over time these points can earn prizes from book tokens, cinema tickets, ipod mp3 players and even Microsoft Xboxes. Why didn't anyone think of this when I was at school ?
No, it's not the latest movie about 'the undead', its a campaign to stop Spam. Large groups of compromised computers are being hijacked into what is called 'Botnets'. These machines form a zombie army that can be used, amongst other things, to send out masses of spam emails. So far 20 countries around the world have pledged to 'educate' their ISPs about the dangers of botnets.
More broadband connections than dial-up
There are now more than 7.4 million broadband users, with the number of connections now exceeding that of dial-up. Bye-bye modem...hello router.
Broadband as accessible as running water
Broadband is now available to 99.6 per cent of UK homes, the same proportion that has running water. OK, but when will my broadband run as quick as the water out of the tap...hmm, yeah, answer that BT......no I didn't think so. Well if they will make these comparisons.
Channel4 offers music downloads
Channel4 is to offer a music download service. It will be selling 192Kbps rights-managed WMA files at industry-average prices. It already has 350,000 songs available, with exclusive live recordings of it's T4 programmes:
For more information go
to:
www.channel4.com/music/downloads
BBC to trial broadband TV service
The BBC has plans to begin making TV programmes available over broadband. During a 3 month trial the BBC will make selected programmes available for download. Using their own 'Interactive Media Player' (iMP) and using Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, it will ensure that downloaded programmes only stay active for seven days, after which they will be deleted automatically. The same DRM system will also prevent sharing or burning of downloaded material to CD/DVD.
The next generation PlayStation 3 from Sony has been officially unveiled at the E3 show in Los Angeles.
Here are the official specs:
3.2GHz Cell processor (8 processing units), 256MB of 3.2GHz
RAM, NVidia 550 MHz RSX Graphics with 256 MByte GDDR3 memory
at 700 MHz, Tri-standard optical drive (DVD, CD, Blue-Ray),
Six USB system ports, Bluetooth & WiFi support, Memory Stick
Duo, SD & CompactFlash card slots, and the list
goes on.....
The next generation Xbox from Microsoft (Xbox 360) has been officially unveiled at the E3 games show in Los Angeles.
Here are the official specs:
3.2GHz PowerPC CPU (Three symmetrical cores), 512MB of 700MHz
GDDR3 RAM, 500 MHz ATI Custom Graphics with 48-way parallel
floating-point pipelines, 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM, Three USB
2.0 ports, Built-in Ethernet port, Multi-channel surround
sound output, Built-in Media Center Extender for Windows XP
Media Center Edition 2005, and the list goes on.....
Toshiba strengthens HD-DVD technology
Toshiba has increased the storage capacity of its HD-DVD technology. The new capacity of 45GB is now a true rival for Sony's Blue-ray technology. HD-DVD has a major advantage over Blue-ray in that it is already compatible with existing manufacturing processes. If that was not enough, Toshiba has also produced a hybrid disc, with a standard DVD side and a HD-DVD side, making it fully compatible with existing equipment but ready for the new HD-DVD format when released. The future of blue-ray is beginning to look poor.
Microsoft announces OneCare security suite software. Still in beta testing, the suite of software will contain anti-virus, anti-spyware and a full two-way firewall. When made available it will be as a paid for subscription service.
Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition (beta)
Symantec has released its long awaited anti-spyware package as a public beta. Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition claims to offer broad protection from spyware and adware for home users.
Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP)
The long awaited PlayStation Portable will be launched in Europe on 1 September 2005, this is almost a year after it was originally scheduled. Reviews of the PSP are very positive, indicating excellent quality gaming and video playback. Early customers who register their PSP through the official Sony PSP web site will get a free copy Spider-Man 2.
Hosts file get Microsoft approval
MVPS's Hosts file get Microsoft's approval, with a mention in their "Fight Phishers" article.
You can get this Hosts file from www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm.
Also worth a mention is that the new 'Glitch Guide' called 'The Hosts file' is now available for download.
The first dual-core Pentium chips have finally started to ship. The Intel Pentium Processor Extreme Edition 840 running at 3.2GHz along with the Intel 955X Express Chipset represent Intel's first dual-core processor-based platform. These highly sort after chips will be in short supply for some time to come, so don't expect to see any of these processors for sale in the foreseeable future.
What is it ? Well SPIM is the new name given for unsolicited instant messages.
Bogus Microsoft security email
OK, you should all know better by now, but just in case you lose your mind for a moment. There is an email doing the rounds, that claims to come from Microsoft 'Windows Update' it's describes a urgent security download and urges the recipient to follow a link to a bogus website.....big no no. The security download is in fact a Trojan horse virus. Remember that Microsoft only delivers system updates via it's own "Windows update" feature within Windows, and never via email.
No, not the lack of proper meat in a tin of Spam, but 90% is now the amount of email, in regular circulation, that is classified as Spam.
Japanese record labels win landmark P2P settlement
For the first time anywhere in the world a peer-to-peer service has been found liable for the illegal sharing of files using its software. Japanese record labels have won a landmark settlement from the MMO peer-to-peer service for breach of copyright. They were awarded damages of Yen36.89mn. MMO was also found to have infringed the plaintiffs' right to make their recordings available on the Internet.
Looks like all the other peer-to-peer file sharing services better watch out....mummas a coming for ya !
5 Million ADSL broadband users
BT connects the UK's five millionth ADSL broadband user, one year ahead of schedule.....hmm, I bet there are still loads of people out there who can't get broadband.....don't congratulate yourselves yet BT.
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
This news is for all those lucky people out there with 64bit capable processors. Microsoft has released the long awaited 64-bit versions of its mainstream operating systems to manufacturing. This would imply a general public release date of around the end of April.....very soon.
"Windows XP N" without media player, ......what ?
Microsoft is to provide a version of Windows
XP without 'Windows
Media Player'.
This is a direct result of last year's antitrust ruling by the
European Commission ordering Microsoft to provide this
reduced media version of Windows XP.
It must also be noted that the EC ordered Microsoft to
used the N name.....
I think the EC are just out to confuse & baffle people....very
sad day for the EC.
Why anyone would want to buy this version is beyond me, but
there we go.
So don't get confused when you buy your next version of
Windows (or System for that matter). Make sure you get the
proper, full version of Windows.
"Windows XP Home N" and "Windows XP professional N"
do not come with media player, you have been
warned.......
I'm not going to go on about it, but it is a little stupid.....as Homer would say .. Doh
You have heard of Phishing, well Pharming is when a number of people are directed to a false site, where personal details can be harvested. This can be accomplished by redirecting the destination of a site address on your computer. What this means is that when you click on a link to a particular site (e.g. your on-line bank site), it is re-routed to a false location, which often looks almost identical. This kind of activity is still very rare.
The 'hosts' file controls the redirection of sites on your computer. This simple text file can be checked to ensure no additional entries have been made; I will be putting together a 'Glitch Guide' on this subject soon.
PlusNet increases 'backbone' connection to 10Gbps
PlusNets' new connection provides 10 times more bandwidth than the maximum previously available and should allow them to maintain service speeds and reliability during the busiest periods.
No it's not a new train! It's a six tonne satellite (one of the most sophisticated communications satellites ever built) that will carry broadband capability to almost anywhere in the world. BGAN - Broadband Global Area Network, will herald a new era in broadband communications, with access at speeds up to 432kbit/s. Allowing remote and inaccessible areas of the planet along with ships and planes to access broadband quality services.
BT to further tackle Internet Diallers
If being able to block all premium-rate numbers to your phone (call BT customer services) was not good enough for you then BT has two new initiatives aimed at tackling the problem of premium rate internet diallers. The first is a free software download called BT Modem Protection, which alerts the user if their modem dials any number other than a list of 'approved numbers'. The second is an 'early warning' system for customers, where BT will send a text or voicemail to warn the bill payer, if the phone bill starts to increase dramatically.
First Blu-ray product announced
The BW1000 by BenQ should be available in the second half of this year. It is built around the Philips' triple-laser optical pick-up, which allows three lasers to share the same optical pathway. As a result the drive is capable of reading & writing CDs and DVDs in addition to Blu-ray. Current Blu-ray discs can hold 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a double-layer disc.
Firewalls - A Quote from Microsoft
"Connecting to the Internet without a firewall is like leaving the keys in your car with the engine running and the doors unlocked while you run into the store. Although you may be able to get in and out before anyone notices, someone may take advantage of the opportunity."
There is a new worm spreading via instant
messaging and peer-to-peer systems.
As well as installing itself in the Windows Registry, it
deletes files from your computer and attempts to turn off
anti-virus software. The memory-resident worm spreads via
messenger programs and copies itself to all online messenger
contacts on your system. It does this by sending an instant
message containing a link that will download another copy of
itself. The Fatso worm is currently rated as a moderate
threat. This is mainly due to the degree of user involvement
in downloading copies, but the damage potential of Fatso,
however, is high.
As always - keep your anti-virus protection up-to-date !
Critical vulnerability found in Real Player software
A critical security vulnerability has been discovered in Real Players and other Real Networks' software. The vulnerability can be exploited by a specially written WAV or SMIL file to cause a buffer overflow and enable arbitrary code to be run. Products affected include Real Player 8 & 10.x and RealOne Player 1 & 2 as well as Helix Player 1 and RealPlayer Enterprise 1.x.
Use the link below to visit the Real Networks' site for
updates and patches:
http://service.real.com/help/faq/security/050224_player/EN/
Dual-core Pentiums on the way !
Intel is gearing up for its first dual-core processor release in Q2 of 2005, but things won't stop there, as Intel is planning a comprehensive product update for its desktop segment with, amongst others, a 65nm dual-core Pentium scheduled for Q1 of 2006.
Intel releases 64-bit Pentiums
The new Pentium 4 600 series processors have been released by Intel. These chips differ from previous versions in several key areas. First and foremost they support 64-bit instructions and are able to address larger amounts of memory. Secondly they have twice the L2 cache of the older Pentium 4s. Thirdly they support the NX instruction designed to prevent buffer overflows and so give greater defense against hackers. Finally they now incorporate 'SpeedStep' technology, like that found in Intel mobile chips, which helps to conserve power and aid cooler running of the CPU.
Watch out for the "Dual Core" versions of these chips later in the year !
Microsoft anti-spyware beta is to be released as a full product within the next couple of months. The most important thing is that Microsoft has officially stated that this product will be Free.
Microsoft has announced that it will be releasing a beta version of its' new Internet Explorer (IE7) this summer, much sooner that expected. This new version is expected to concentrate on improving IE security and functionality.
'Simply computers' and 'Misco' are the UK subsidiaries of the US manufacturer 'Systemax'. As of Wednesday 9th February 2005 the 'Simply Computers' website will be merged with the 'Misco' website.
ADSL2 (Even faster broadband on it's way - for some)
ADSL2 is on its way, providing much faster broadband links for some. It works by doubling the transmission frequency used by current ADSL links. Unfortunately only customers that are close to exchanges will benefit, as this new technology is not compatible with long reach ADSL. Early tests indicate speeds of up to 24mbps can be reached with short lines.
A new type of spyware is creating mayhem with computers, they add themselves to the "Trusted Sites" list in Internet Explorer as well as the Windows registry. What this means is that when you remove them using anti-spyware software, they are able to find their way back in again. Make sure you check your "Trusted Sites" lists and ensure you are running up-to-date anti-spyware software.
44% of UK computer users have been infected
with a virus in the past year
44% of online bank users choose the same password for all of
their services
44% of US adults who use the Internet have published their
thoughts on-line
44% of people who use the internet are between the ages of 26
and 30
44% of users just use a single search engine to locate the
information they require
44% of users can't find what they are looking for with
internet search engines
44% of users of the Internet express a lack of confidence with
the technology
44% of iPod users admit to having illegal music on their
devices
So most internet users are:
28 year old Americans, trying to change their favorite
password to their personal web-site containing, amongst other
things, their illegal music collection, but because they only
use one search engine, they can't find the instructions; lack
the confidence to try other sites, and eventually get infected
with a Virus !
No more service packs for Windows 2000
Microsoft says that there will be no more
service packs released for
Windows 2000 (W2K) after service pack 4 (released in June 2003).
The product leaves main-stream support in March 2005, and any
fourth-coming updates will be in the form of "Rollup
Updates".
Microsoft puts pressure on software piracy
Microsoft is to step up the pressure on software piracy by extending its 'Genuine Advantage` policy. In future, in order to get free updates and downloads from Microsoft, users will be required to 'validate' that their copy of Windows is genuine. The company says that security updates will be exempted in order to protect the whole Windows community.
Fraud victims could face a cold shoulder
People who fall victim to online fraud may find their banks won't compensate them in future. The growing problem of phishing and the theft of account details meant British banks compensated more than 2,000 fraud victims a total of £4.5m in refunds in the first half of this financial year. Banking organisations said this can not continue. In future automatic refunds could not be guaranteed and future claims would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Microsoft releases anti-spyware beta
The Windows anti-spyware beta consists of
scanning software to check a system for infections and a
'security agent' that, Microsoft says, monitors 59 checkpoints
at the Internet, system and application level on your computer
and blocks any infection attempt.
A word of warning though. Microsoft has labeled the software
'beta' which means it is not providing technical support other
than saying it should be removed if it is causing problems.
For more information visit my Anti-Spyware section with my Software area.
Criminals use tsunami disaster for online scams
Criminals are cashing in on the global effort to raise funds
for the tsunami disaster with bogus email and website scams.
The NCIS advises that if you are going to donate online, type
the web address of the charity directly into your browser;
don't follow a link from an email. Use recognised
charities and use the Internet to verify the legitimacy of any
organisations you are unsure of.
You can report suspicious email and websites to
tsunamifraud@ncis.x.gsi.gov.uk.
Further warnings about charity fraud is available at
FraudAid.
Christmas card virus top of the tree for December
December's Christmas card virus proved the most prevalent of the month.
The electronic card only began infecting machines in the middle of the month, yet numbers of the Zafi-D virus hidden within it accounted for more than a third of all reports.
The moral of this story - keep your anti-virus protection up-to-date !
Experts warn of Spyware/adware threat for 2005
Spyware and adware are insidious little programs that monitor internet searches, sites visited, what you type on your keyboard and can serve up pop up adverts customised to your habits.
Start your protection today and visit my Anti-Spyware section with my Software area.