2009 - NEWS ARCHIVE
The
Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)
is to establish a 'whitelist' of allowed websites,
effectively
locking down China's internet to ensure that the Chinese
population only see what is deemed
acceptable by the Chinese government. This type of censorship will probably mean that tens of millions of
legitimate foreign websites will end up being blocked. It is
true that the world-wide-web is populated with less than
savory internet sites, and full of information that some prefer not
to be published, but censorship is never a good
route to take. The internet is all about connecting people with information
from around the world, it should be a global resource open
to all that wish to sample it, saying this, censorship is
nothing new for China, but this does seem to be a step too
far!
The
Glitch is now 5 years old, and I hope people are still
enjoying the site, and the various improvements I've made
over the past 12 months. I would like to take this
opportunity to thank all those who have visited the site and
a special thank you to those who purchased items via The
Glitch, your continued support is very much appreciated. If
you haven't posted a message in my Guest Book, then please
feel free to do so, all comments are welcome. If you have
any feedback or suggestions then please feel free to use my
contact page.
Merry Christmas to you all !
After
many months of intense discussions, Microsoft and the EU (European
Union) have finally come to a conclusion over the use of a browser
ballot screen which allows users of Windows operating systems to
choose which browser they would like to install/use rather
than having Microsoft's Internet Explorer as the only option. It
has to be said that the option to use any browser has been
available to Windows users for many, many years, but the new
'Browser Ballot' screen will at least show people the
different options available, but I predict that most users
will still choose Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Up to a
dozen different browsers will be available, with the top
5 most used randomly displayed first. The
'Browser Ballet' screen should go live within the
next couple of months, being delivered via 'Windows Update'.
For additional information visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/oct09/10-07Statement.mspx
URL
stands for 'Uniform Resource Locator'; a globally recognized
syntax to define and identify the location of a particular
resource/site on the Internet. The Glitch's base URL is
'http://www.theglitch.co.uk'. URLs are used to reference
information on the web, unfortunately these URLs can
sometimes become very long, and this makes them difficult to
incorporate into website/blog pages and tedious to copy or
write down. Thus short URLs were born; this is where a third
party converts a long URL into a short, easy to handle link.
Companies such as 'TinyURL' have been offering this service
for many years, and now Google is offering it's own version
called 'Goo.gl', but it's not a global link generator like
'TinyURL', but one that can only be used with Google's own
products...for now!
For more information visit:
http://tinyurl.com/ or
http://goo.gl/
VAT Reverts Back To 17.5% For 2010
For
all those who are unaware, the rate of VAT (currently at
15%) will revert back to 17.5% in the New Year. This means
that if you are considering any significant purchases at the
moment you may do well
to consider buying them before then end of 2009. This is not such an
important consideration for small purchases, although
every penny does count these days, but the difference soon
adds up with more expensive items. Ultimately your item may
end up in the January sales which may well negate the
difference in VAT, saying this, anything your purchase at
this time of year could potentially be marked down during
the January sales!
Intel Scraps Discreet Graphics
Intel have
dominated the low-end on-board graphics market for some time
now; they did have a stab at a discreet graphics chipset
some years back, but unfortunately their products could not
compete with the likes of ATI and nVidia and thus were
committed to the history books. More recently Intel was
developing a new discreet graphics chipset called 'Larrabee' the design of
the chip was different to the mainstream market in that it
used a more standard CPU instruction set, rather than a
dedicated graphics instruction set. The idea behind this
design was that it would be far more flexible in the ways it
could be programmed; unfortunately for Intel history has
repeated itself, and yet again the hardware has fallen
short of expectations forcing Intel to scrap the project,
but at least it did not get to the mass manufacturing stage
this time!
In
the early days of the internet, before the Domain Names
System (DNS) was created, all websites were accessed using
an IP address. You had to know the exact set of numbers that
represented the address of the resource you were trying to
access (not very user friendly), but these days DNS
translates easy to remember website names into source IP
addresses for you. 'OpenDNS' have offered a good alternative
to your ISP's default DNS service for many years, and it has
proved to be a quick, secure and reliable service, but it
seems that Google has its own ideas as they have just
launched their own DNS service, stating that it is faster
and more secure. Saying this, I doubt they could really
improve on 'OpenDNS's already impeccable service.
For more information visit:
http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html
Microsoft
recently announced that they had started work on
Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), and although it is still many
months from release, some details have already been made
available. One area of particular interest is
the move to allow IE9 to utilize Window's DirectX to render
web pages, this basically means that all browser graphics
can be off loaded to your graphics card, which should make IE9
a much more responsive browser. Saying this Mozilla, the
makers of the Firefox browser, are also working on a new
version of their browser that supports GPU acceleration
technology. Both companies hope to have their new web
browsers available sometime in 2010.
Google Chrome Operating System
After
months of speculation, Google has finally announced details
of its new 'Chrome' operating system. It's release is still
many months away, but (as many predicted), Chrome will be an
internet (cloud) based operating system. The idea is that
you boot the basic system via some kind of flash based
device, and then access your required applications on-line.
This type of system should prove to be very quick at
starting up, but is obviously totally reliant on your
internet connection and the speed of said connection.
Another note worthy point is that the OS does not support
any type of local storage, hard drive or otherwise, thus all
data that your create from within the OS is storage on-line.
Unfortunately, the idea that you will be able to download this new OS
and install it on any system looks to be a pipe dream,
as Google indents to specify specific hardware requirements!
Back
in April, I wrote an article about general
browser security and the need to keep your browser updated
and patched, but it seems that many people are still using
older, less secure versions. On the face of it, this might
seem to be more about personal preference than anything
else, but when you begin to understand that most browser
based malware is now targeting vulnerabilities in the older,
less secure browsers the decision to upgrade becomes far
more critical and ultimately a matter of system security. A
lack of browser security can very easily compromise a well
protected operating system, so stay safe, and make sure
you're using the very latest's version of your browser.
For links to the latest internet browsers visit my
Browsers
page.
High
Definition (HD) TV for the masses was always going to take
time, but the BBC has announced that it will be rolling out
freeview HD channels much sooner than most people expected.
By the end of 2010 many areas of the UK should be able to
view freeview HD channels; any regions not covered
initially will acquire the additional HD channels when their
area has gone fully digital (currently being called the
digital switchover). The technology that has made freeview HD
a reality is called 'DVB-T2'; it uses state-of-the-art modulation and
coding techniques to free up additional bandwidth, which in
turn allows much more information to be broadcast. But there
is a down side to this race towards HD, the first is the
limited number of channels that will be available initially
(BBC HD & ITV HD) and then there is the need for a
compatible (DVB-T2 aware) set-top box to decode the HD
signal.
'You
Tube' has announced support for full HD (1080p) video. 'You
Tube' already supports the lower HD resolution of 720p, but this
news will no doubt please the video purists; but the
inclusion of 1080p is unlikely to change the site's video
landscape in the short term. The reasons are two fold,
firstly, even thou there is now far more 1080p capable video
equipment available, many people have yet to upgrade, and
secondly, the large increase in file size that comes with
higher resolution HD images, means longer upload (and indeed
download) times to share/view 1080p material. 1080p is the
standard for HD, and it is good to see 'You Tube' embracing
it, unfortunately UK broadband speeds need to improve
significantly, otherwise 1080p video will remain the
plaything of high bandwidth broadband connections only!
Apple's
iPhone has recently been targeted by malware, but in
reality the iPhone is still a totally secure device, with the
only iPhones at risk being those that have been 'Jail Broken' (A method used to hack the iPhone so that it's
built-in software can be altered). iPhone owners who have not felt the need to alter their handsets
in this way are totally
safe. Saying this, even 'Jail Broken' iPhones can be made
more secure as long as their owners remember to change their
phone's default
'root' password. You may ask why people 'Jail Break'
their iPhones in the first place, well many feel that Apple
puts too many restrictions on their handsets, so people
tweak the software in their iPhones to enable features that
even the most basic mobile phones have by default. Should
Apple take some reasonability for this malware
situation?...well in a way yes, I think they should, some of
the iPhones limitations are pretty draconian, if Apple
simply addressed some of the basic features that are missing
from the iPhone software, it would more than likely negate
the need for people to hack them in the first place...come
on Apple sort this mess out...give the people what they
want!
Military Response For Cyber Attacks
It
has been revealed that the UK Government would consider
military action as a valid response to counter a serious
cyber attack. You would hope this action would only be taken
when the authorities were 100% certain of the origin of the
attacks, but this is the crux of the problem, it is very
difficult to fully determine the origin of many cyber
attacks, due to the fundamental way cyber criminals attempt
to disguise their tracks. The outcome of acting upon
intelligence gathered that may not be accurate would be
catastrophic, possibly leading to an innocent nation being
blamed for another's wrong doing. This is not to say that
governments are not making massive steps forward in their
methods for tracking cyber attacks, because they are, but in
my opinion, any military action would have to stem from a
totally unanimous, worldwide, identification of the cyber
activity in question.
O2 Tethering Now With Free Broadband!
O2's
tethering package allows people to use their iPhone's
built-in 3G modem to connect a Laptop or similar portable
computer to the internet. O2's tethering service,
which costs around £10 per month and allows users to
download up to 3GB of data, will now include their standard 8Mbits/sec broadband package free
of charge. Unfortunately this is a time limited offer which
is only available until the 31st December 2009, so make sure you
sign up before then end of the year if you're interested. This offer my surprise
some, but it is important to remember that competition has
increased now that O2 is no longer the exclusive mobile
provider for the iPhone. (See last months article: 'Orange
Customers Get The iPhone').
On-line
gamers are increasingly being targeted by malware,
particularly players of MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer
Online Role-playing Games) such as 'World Of Warcraft' and 'Lineage'.
Microsoft are particularly concern about a Worm called 'Tater F' which
has already infected almost 5 million computers. The idea
behind on-line gaming malware is to steal login details and
then raid the account for personal information, credit card
details and even steal a players hard earned in-game
belongings. This last item may surprise some people and
others may even dismiss this as irrelevant and unimportant,
but the facts are that people are willing to spend serious
amounts of hard earned cash for rare and unique in-game
artifacts and this has created a new type of very lucrative
business, something the criminals want in on! The Glitch's
advice never really changes; check and maintain your
anti-malware software and keep your operating system and
applications updated.
Orange Customers Get The iPhone
O2 have been the exclusive provider of Apple's iPhone for
some time now, but this is all due to change as Orange and
other mobile providers prepare to offer the iPhone on their
networks. This is great news for existing iPhone users as
opening up the market should bring much needed competition
to iPhone contracts, it will also please all those who have
been unable to purchase the iPhone because their provider
does not support them. Reports suggest Orange might start
offering iPhone contracts in early November, with other
providers adopting the iPhone early in the new year.
Grisoft
have released a new version of their popular free anti-virus
program AVG. Version 9.0 provides improved virus scanning,
while still having a low impact on overall system
performance. It also has the added advantage of being
Windows 7 compatible. AVG 9.0 continues to offer high
quality, free, virus and spyware protection, whether this is
enough to ward off the likes of Microsoft's new 'Security
Essentials' will remain to be seen, but this new version
seems to be another genuine improvement over their previous
offering.
For more information visit my 'Anti-Virus' page within my Software section.
Microsoft's
new operating system 'Windows 7' has finally been released.
Windows 7 corrects the inefficiencies seen in Microsoft's
previous operating system 'Windows Vista' and further
improves the 'Windows' experience. I was a very unsure about
the move to Windows 7, especially when my XP based system
seemed to do everything I needed, but now that I have
finally taken the plunge I am very pleased I did and all
concerns have vanished. After just two days I'm totally
convinced, a fast, easy to use OS that is a genuine
improvement over Vista, a worthy replacement to my tired old
XP installation.
For the latest Windows 7 pricing, visit my 'Operating
Systems' page within my Software section.
Hantsweb Awards Nominated Website
It
doesn't seem that long ago since the last 'Hants Web
Awards', but time flies when you're website developing. The
'Hants Web Awards' are run by the 'Hampshire County Council' and
seek to award web sites that, in their words 'celebrate
excellence in website design, accessibility and service'.
The Glitch has been nominated for the last few years, and as
always I hope to do better than last year. I think the site
is really beginning to mature now and although there is
still a lot more I want to do, I believe it has a lot to
offer in it's current state!
Microsoft's Security Essentials
Microsoft
has finally released it's long awaited, free, anti-malware
software package. 'Security Essentials' will install on any
computer using Windows XP (SP2 or later), Windows Vista or
Windows 7. You will need a Genuine copy of Windows as
'Windows Genuine Advantage' (WGA) is used to verify the
system before an install can take place. Even though the
name may suggest to some the protection it offers is basic, the product
does in fact provide full real-time protection and automatic updates
against malware and does so using a simple, uncluttered and
easy to understand user interface. It would be obtuse to believe Microsoft would release
an inadequate anti-malware product onto the market, but as long
as it performs well, I'm sure it will find a permanent
spot within my Software pages.
When
BT was privatised (back in 1984) Ofcom established a
framework to safeguard competition, creating an
extensive list of conditions that restricted BT's activities
and services. But after 25 years Ofcom has finally decided
to lift some of the restrictions that prevent BT from
bundling it's services together. This in turn will create a
more level playing field, as BT will now be able to offer
combined Phone, Broadband and TV packages, something that
the competition has been doing for years. This deregulation
comes at an important time for BT as it struggles with
falling customer numbers in an increasingly competitive
market.
There
have been numerous reports of Phishing and Hacking
attacks on email and social networking accounts (Microsoft's Hotmail, Google's
G-Mail and Twitter to name but three), but it is no wonder some of these attacks
have been so successful when people seem to be using some of the most obvious
passwords you could imagine. As an example, a very large number of the
recently compromised Hotmail accounts used very simple
passwords, in fact amongst the top ten passwords were '12345', '123456789' and '11111'. These are hardly secure
and (obviously) very easily guessed. Users of these types of
service need to be far more savvy when it comes to password
security. More importantly if you have used a simple
password (in any type of online account) I would change
it immediately!
For more information read my Guide on password security.
Intel
have been hard at work developing what they hope will be the
next interfacing standard. 'Light Peak' is a high speed
optical based technology designed to connect multiple
devices using multiple protocols simultaneously. Light Peak
is fast, and is able to transmit data at 10Gb per second,
that's enough bandwidth to transfer 1.25GB of information
every second, or to put it in another way you could transfer
a full-length Blu-Ray movie in less than 30 seconds. If this
was not enough Intel hopes the technology will scale to
100Gb/s over the next few years. The good news is we
shouldn't have to wait too long for this technology to
appear, as Intel's development of Light Peak is
already advanced and they expect to have products ready to
ship some time next year.
Twitter
gets it first worm, and no it's not because the birds
hungry! This worm is not edible, but a nasty Phishing scam. It seems direct messages (DMs) are being sent
via compromised Twitter accounts that ask the recipient to
click a link which takes them to an almost exact copy of the
standard Twitter logon page. This rouge page then steals
your logon details and uses them to send more Phishing
messages (amongst other things). The duplicate site has now
been closed down, and it's origin widely reported, so anyone
using any form of Phishing filter should find the site well and truly blocked.
This highlights a very important lesson, even if you
receive a message from someone you know, it does not
automatically mean
they have knowingly sent it. Always try to check the
authenticity of a message before acting upon it, or indeed
clicking anything! If you think you have fallen pray to this
worm, it is important that you change your Twitter logon
password immediately.
It's been about a year since Google first released it's 'Chrome' web browser, and although there have been updates, Google hasn't released a new version for a while. That was, until now; Chrome 3 brings even faster page rendering (especially JavaScript) and support for the very latest web-standards. Other features include a thumbnail representation of recent sites you have visited, improved web-address/search bar and, more importantly, much improved stability. Many argue that these features alone do not warrant a whole new version, but this seems a little academic to me, as any major release should represent a significant improvement on the previous version, which this does.
Most of Intel's current processors are manufactured using a 45nm (Nanometre) fabrication process, but this is due to change as Intel moves to a 32nm fabrication process in 2010. If this was not enough Intel hopes to offer chips based on a minuscule 22nm process by 2011. All this adds up to smaller more powerful processors, which should be cheaper to produce and use less power to operate. Intel is really coming up with the goods at the moment, it will be very interesting to see the final specification of these new chips; as these changes will enable Intel to produce much faster quad-core processors and make possible the production of powerful 8-core CPUs.
The
number of rogue security applications now circulating the
internet is huge, and web users need to be much more careful
of what they are actually downloading. Rogue security
programs are now taking on the names of real, legitimate
programs or using very similar names just to bamboozle
users in to installing what is in fact Malware.
'Nortel Antivirus' and 'Windows PC Defender' are just two examples of the names of rogue security applications which both have very similar names to existing legitimate products. What makes things even worse is the fact that many of these rogue applications look the part and seem totally legitimate, making it very difficult for the average user to differentiate between what is legitimate and what is not.
My advice is simple, visit my Anti-Spyware and my Anti-Virus pages within my software section for a group of high quality, legitimate security applications...they are all free!
Carrier Pigeon Faster Than Broadband
Next
time you start complaining about your slow broadband
connection spare a thought for the South American company
that used a carrier pigeon to transfer data
between offices because their broadband speed is too
slow. Winston (the Pigeon) had to fly more than
80km while carrying a small USB memory stick, the journey
took him a little over an one hour to complete. Even though
this does not sound particularly fast, it was around 80%
faster than using their broadband connection. The company
was quick to point out that using Winston was less than ideal as
he is obviously susceptible to things like weather and predators, but
he completed his task in an acceptable time frame, something
that was difficult to achieve when using their broadband
connection.
Toshiba's Latest 1.8" Hard Drives
Toshiba
released the world's largest capacity 1.8" hard drive (250GB)
late last year. In contrast to this, their new range of 1.8"
hard drives have much smaller capacities, but importantly
only use a single platter to attain their total capacity.
The advantages of a single platter device are numerous, less
noise, vibration, heat and less power required. The devices
only spin at 4,200rpm but come with 8MB cache; capacities
range from 60GB up to 160GB. Toshiba is mostly targeting
these new drives at the lucrative mobile mp3 player market,
but with so many basic improvements over previous models I
think their usage is likely to expand beyond portable music
devices.
For more information visit:
http://www.storage.toshiba.eu/cms/en/hdd/computing/product_detail.jsp?productid=245
Windows 7 UK Pricing in Disarray
While
updating my price listings for Windows 7 (Pre orders) this week, it
became clear that the UK's Windows 7 pricing structure is in
disarray. There are massive differences in the prices suppliers
are charging for the different editions of Windows 7. It is
a sorry state indeed when full retail software is being sold
for less than the equivalent upgrade editions, and things
get worse the deeper you look. For instance, even though the 'E' versions
of Windows 7 are no longer available, some suppliers are still apparently offering
them, and if this was not bad enough, the massive price
differentials between different suppliers is both confusing
and absurd.
The true reason behind this mess is due to some suppliers
still offering low cost, full retail versions of Windows 7,
making the (now available) upgrade version's standard
pricing look expensive. Only when Windows 7 is finally
released will we see pre-order pricing disappear, this will
hopefully bring some order back to the pricing structure.
To see for yourself visit my Operating
Systems page.
Orange
and T-Mobile are to merge creating the largest UK mobile
operator. Their combined customer base will be around 28
million users, which represents approximately 37% of the total UK
mobile market. The deal could see a massive £3.5 billion
saving for the joint companies due to consolidation of their
networks, workforce and administration. Rival operators O2
and Vodafone had both shown great interest in T-Mobile but
the Orange merger has now laid to rest any plans either
company previously had. The merger should give T-Mobile some
stability after posting a rather disappointing £1.5billion
gross pre tax loss this year.
A
small Canadian software company called 'i4i' has taken
Microsoft to court over the way XML documents are created in
Word 2003 and 2008, in each case the software apparently
infringes one of their patents. Unfortunately for Microsoft
the US district court sided with 'i4i' awarding them damages
of over £175 million and ordered Microsoft to stop selling
Word with immediate effect.
Microsoft were quick to react, and won a stay of execution by the court of appeals against the judgment, stating that the evidence presented was not reliable or even relevant. Microsoft will be back in court on the 23rd September 2009 to present it's counter arguments. If Microsoft lose this case we could see Word removed from sale while they make the required software changes, something that would ultimately damage Microsoft and cause massive disruption for it's customers.
US
Customs and Border Protection Agency have recently been
granted new rights to search, seize, retain and share (with
other government agencies), any information found on Laptops
and other forms of electronic equipment. These rights can be
executed with or without your consent, or indeed without any
prior suspicion of wrong doing. This policy is controversial
and is bound to irritate and concern both businessmen and
holiday goers alike, anyone traveling to or through the US
with information of a sensitive nature (medical, legal or
company confidential) may now think twice.
Illegal File Sharers To Be Cut Off
Plans
are being resurrected by the UK government that may well see the broadband
connections of illegal file sharers being suspended. Even
though the number of illegal file sharers have dropped over
the last few years, illegal file sharing still remains a big
problem for the music and film industry. In new plans
setup by the government users who are identified as illegal
file sharers will be sent warning letters, if they persist,
then their connections will be suspended.
These measures are pretty controversial, and many are
already questioning their effectiveness, especially when you
consider the unreliable nature of much of the evidence
gathered, thus only time will tell how successful these
measures will be...but, like it or not, sharing copyrighted
material is illegal and it is right that people should
expect repercussions for infringement!
No,
apple are not getting in to animal conservation; 'Snow
Leopard' is the name of their much anticipated new operating system. The
introduction of 'Snow Leopard' doesn't bring any massive
changes to Apple's operating system, even the name
is similar to it's current offering 'Leopard'. But even though
there are no big surprises in 'Snow Leopard' it's still a
worth while upgrade, especially when the price is a mere £20 (take note Microsoft).
The biggest changes are under the hood, the software has
been optimized to better support multi-core processors and
64-bit architectures, and due to a re-written installer it
even claws back around 6GBs of disk space when you upgrade.
other new features include direct Exchange support, which
should please business users and better wireless
connectivity. All in all another great OS from Apple!
For more information visit:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/
Microsoft's Bing to use Wolfram Alpha
In
a surprise move Microsoft have negotiated a deal to allow
their new 'Bing' search engine to return additional results
generated by fellow search engine 'Wolfram Alpha'. This is a
smart move by Microsoft, one that will allow Bing to use
'knowledge based computing' to actually answer queries as
well as return simple search results. If Wolfram Alpha
continues to improve and expand as intended, it could be a
real boon for Bing. Google will be watching with interest,
but is unlikely to be really worried by this news, as they
are currently working on their own search engine
improvements.
The
launch of the Nintendo Wii brought to the market a new form
of games console. The Wii gaming system showed us that you
didn't need to use a joystick or gaming pad to enjoy games,
the Wii controller's intuitive design allowed all members of
the family to join in. Until recently I could not imagine
where console manufactures will take us next, but that was
until I heard about Microsoft's Project Natal.
Project Natal was formed to look into new ways of making
interactive entertainment as easily assessable (to the
masses) as any other form of entertainment (music, video
etc). Microsoft's results are truly impressive; how can you
possibly improve things further...simple, remove the need
for a controller completely...that's right...no controllers,
hands-free gaming. Using state-of-the-art technology this
Xbox 360 add-on actually processes peoples movements and
gestures, if this was not enough it can even recognise
voices, and scan in images of people and objects so that
they can become part of the game. Project Natal is true
astounding, and has possibilities well beyond gaming.
For more information visit:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/
Mozilla is
still moaning about Microsoft's Internet Explorer; it seems
they are still unhappy with Microsoft's new proposal for a
browser ballot screen in Windows 7. First Microsoft decided they would
not give users any browser choice in Windows 7 and for this they were berated, so
they
then came up with a solution that allows users to choose the
browser they want, and they are again berated...this is
totally ridiculous and makes no sense to me, you have to have
one or the other!
Mozilla really does need to be very careful, they
have a good product, but it's not a product that everyone
wants to use. There are many, many people who are totally happy
with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, but Mozilla is trying to tell
users what they want, unfortunately for Mozilla this kind of
groundless complaining can only have a detrimental effect on
their reputation as Windows users get irritated by
unnecessary complications.
I have said it before, and I will say it again, if a user
wants a different browser they will go and get one, but most
people want to use Internet Explorer.
For the past few months, a group of Google software
engineers have been hard at work on a project called 'Caffeine'; the aim
of this project was to rewrite parts of Google's base code to improve the speed, accuracy and
comprehensiveness of the search results returned by the
search engine. Although these initial 'Grass Root' changes to Google's
code have been successful, most users are unlikely to notice
much difference in their day-to-day search experience. What
these important changes will facilitate is the introduction of
further enhancements, and hopefully allow Google to offer new and clever advancements
to their internet search engine.
For a side-by-side comparison of the new Google and the old Google visit:
http://www.comparecaffeine.com/
BT Offers Customers Free iPlate
BT
is now offering it's much heralded iPlate for free. Now
renamed the 'BT Broadband Accelerator' (no doubt for marketing purposes),
this small device replaces the lower part of BT's standard
two part master phone socket. So if you have an older
all-in-one face plate you will not be able to fit the unit
until you have your master socket upgraded (at additional
cost). The iPlate is said to improve the majority of
broadband connections, with most customers seeing between
0.5MB and 1.5MB improvements to their internet service.
Please be aware that there is a small (£1.20) postage cost,
which is normally charged directly to your BT bill.
If you are a BT customer then click the following link to
claim your free iplate:
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=25075&s_cid=btb_FURL_accelerator
Microsoft
have given in to the the EC and will offer a selection of
browsers in Windows 7; this move will effectively nullify
the need for the 'E' or European versions of Windows 7,
which do not install any internet browser by default.
The whole idea that people are unable to make a choice as to
which browser they want is beyond me, your average internet
user wants IE. Rightly or wrongly, that's what's become
familiar and that's what most of them use now, so why make
things more complex and give users options that many won't
even understand. And I don't mean this disrespectfully,
humans are creatures of habit, they want their systems to
work in a way they are used to. This is not about choice,
you already have a choice; if a user wants to try another
browser they can download one and make it the default, you
have been able to do this since Windows XP!
Visit my Browsers page if you
are interested in an alterative to Internet Explorer.
1TB Western Digital Laptop Hard Drive
Western
Digital continues to push the storage envelope, this time
with the worlds first 1TB (1000GB) laptop hard drive. Even though it's a standard sized 2.5"
drive, it conforms to the slightly taller 12.5mm height
standard, so be careful if you have a particularly slim laptop.
The device's specification is otherwise unremarkable, with
an SATA interface, 5,400 RPM rotation speed and 8MB cache.
The drive will also be available as an external device as
part of Western Digital's 'Passport' hard drive range. Prices
will be a little on the high side initially, but price drops
are inevitable over the next few months.
For some more great Western Digital
Hard Drives see my Hardware section
The
64-bit computing phenomenon continues to gather pace, with
many more users now adopting 64-bit environments. In fact
Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system will, by default,
come with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions in the box,
allowing the user to opt for a 64-bit installation, risk
free, happy in the knowledge that if things don't go to plan
they can always revert back to the 32-bit version. This is
great for the user, but not so great for all the software
companies who have decided to ignore 64-Bit. I
predict that most if not all users who move to a Windows 7
64-bit environment, will stay with it and enjoy the extra
speed and other benefits it brings; they won't fight with
incompatible software they will just find alternatives. So
software writers beware, make your software 64-Bit
compatible or be prepared for your products to be committed
to the history books!
Computer Repairs: Who Can You Trust?
Who
can you trust when big high street names such as 'PC World'
and 'Micro Anvika' fail to provide an accurate diagnosis of your
computer problems and show little or no respect for your data
privacy. It seems many computer repair centres are
using minor (and easily fixable) issues as an excuse to
charge customers an arm and a leg for replacing major
components that don't need replacing and indeed never
actually get
replaced. It also seems that many companies are not
respecting
peoples privacy; this is of key importance to customers who
take systems to be repaired. Above all else, customers must be able to trust
the advice they are given and have
confidence in the work being carried out on their computers,
moreover, these companies must respect their customers privacy and conduct
themselves in a professional manner, anything less is
unacceptable!
Windows
Azure could be available by the end of the year, but don't
panic, although this is indeed another version of
Microsoft's Windows operating system, it's a very different
product to their normal offerings and importantly not
predominantly aimed at the consumer market. Windows Azure
basically allows applications to be accessed via the
internet (this is sometimes referred to as 'Cloud
Computing'). The idea is that all your applications are
hosted via a external company using the Windows Azure
platform to deliver many common Windows based software
applications. The big advantage of 'Cloud Computing' is that
it allows companies to manage their computing resources
efficiently, only investing in resources when they really
need to. The
main disadvantage to this type of arrangement is it's heavy
reliance on both the hosting company and ISP to provide an uninterrupted service, if one becomes unavailable then
you could literally be left high and dry!
It
seems that Microsoft may have finally got things right with
Windows 7; initial indications suggest that the UK will
exhaust it's pre-order quota way before Microsoft's
pre-order offer end date of the 9th August 2009. In fact, Amazon has already sold it's quota
of pre-orders just 24 hours after the offer started, even
Microsoft's own Windows 7 pre-order page has been straining
under the frenzy of orders. It is predicted that Windows 7
Home Premium will be all but sold out in the UK before the end
of the month, with Windows 7 Professional following soon
after! If you want to take advantage of the special pre-order pricing, I would act very soon, before supplies
are exhausted!
To place your Windows 7 pre-order visit my Operating Systems page before it's too late!
A
controversial new 'Mobile Directory' service has been
launched by a company called 118800. This is the first
mobile directory in the UK, with the idea that people are
charged for requesting information from their massive 15
million strong mobile phone database. This all sounds like
an OK idea, but many people are concerned that they could
eventually be inundated with call/text requests, but as
118800 never give out your mobile numbers unless you
specifically give them permission, your mobile number should
be safe.
Saying this, you can simply request that 118800 make your mobile phone number Ex-Directory. Unfortunately their service is currently unavailable due to development work, but once their service is up and running again you will be able to either click an Ex-Directory link on their website, or send a text asking them to remove your number from their directory!
For further information visit the 118800 website.
Windows 7 Pre-orders Start 15th July
From
the 15th of July Microsoft will allow a small selection of
suppliers to take pre-orders for their new operating
system Windows 7. Windows 7 Home Premium will be available
for £49, while Windows 7 Professional will be offered for
£99, both represent a significant saving when compared to
the final release pricing. To guarantee your copy, visit my
Operating Systems page within my Software section on or
soon after the 15th.
For additional information on Windows 7 visit my
FAQ page.
EU Mobile Roaming Gets Cheaper
The cost of making and/or receiving
calls when in an EU country will soon be reduced. The EC has
stated that, over the next two years, EU roaming charges are
to be reduced, capped and standardised, this includes
all data charges as well. More good news for mobile
customers is that 'by-the-second' billing and cut-off limits
are to be introduced. The idea behind the latter is your
mobile phone will cease to operate when a pre-determined
total cost has been reached, thus if your phone charges exceed this, you will need to
contact your provider to enable your phone again. This
could be irritating if you need to use your phone
a lot, but it does stop users unwittingly running up
massive bills and also limits the use by thieves if your
phone is stolen!
See my FAQ's on Mobile Phones for more information.
BT Distances Itself From Phorm
BT no longer intends to roll out Phorm's
controversial behavioural-advertising service. Several other ISP's are
also distancing themselves with behavioural-advertising,
with the likes of Virgin Media stating they wish to take
more time over any decision they may eventually make. In my opinion Phorm has been pretty arrogant; this is a
company which thought they could bring in a new technology
that many people did not want or need, and in doing so
ignore the customer's right to say 'No'. In fact it was
only after they realised that public opinion was so strongly
opposed to the idea that they brought in their opt-in/out
policy!
Mozilla's new version of it's popular 'Firefox'
browser has finally been released. It's been over a year
since it was given it's last significant update, but this
new release sees many worthwhile improvements and new
features; including faster page render speeds and swifter
javascript execution, you will also find an IE esk 'Private
Browsing' mode. Firefox 3.5 seems to be a notable step
forward for Mozilla and anyone still using Firefox 3.0 or
older should consider updating very soon.
For more information visit:
http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/
Microsoft's 'Ultimate Steal' Ends
Microsoft's 'Ultimate Steal' offer has
ended. Up until the 30th June 2009 students with a valid
[.ac.uk] email address were able to purchase Microsoft
Office 'Ultimate' (containing all of Microsoft's office
applications) for just £38.95 inc VAT.
If you missed the offer don't worry, just take a look at my 'Office Applications' page within my Software section for a great alternative Office 2007 academic offer; no proof of academic status is required so there's no messing about waiting for your software either!
It looks like Microsoft will not have
it's upgrade versions of Windows 7 ready for European/UK
distribution in time for it's official launch
on the 22nd October 2009. Instead Microsoft intends to offer
it's European/UK customers full retail versions of Windows 7
for the same price as the upgrade versions. This means that,
on the launch date, 'Windows 7 Home Premium' will be sold for £79,
'Windows 7 professional' will retail for £189 and 'Windows 7
Ultimate Edition' will be sold for £199. Microsoft expects their upgrade versions will be
available by the end of the year, at which point the full retail versions will
be increased to £149, £219 and £229 respectively.
A 'Plug Computer' is a tiny computer
based around a conventional three-pin plug, often no bigger
than a standard AC adaptor. These devices have numerous
applications, but are often sold as media servers, allowing
people to remotely access their files when away from home.
Their specification is minimal often having just a 1.2Ghz
Processor, 512MB RAM, Networking and USB ports, with the
device being accessed using a standard Internet browser. The
devices themselves cost as little as £30 and consume less
than 5watts when in use and 50milliwatts when in standby
mode, making them an ideal system to leave on 24/7. I can
certainly see the benefits to having such a device connected
to your router, why leave your whole system active, when a
5watt device is all you need to keep you connected with your
data!
For more information visit:
http://www.marvell.com/featured/plugcomputing.jsp
'Bing' is Microsoft's latest stab at a search engine,
some have suggested that 'Bing' stands for either 'Bing Is Not
Google' or 'But It's Not Google', but I don't think
Microsoft will openly admit to either of these acronyms.
Even though the name leaves a lot to be desired, ultimately
the only thing that matters is whether 'Bing' is any
good, and whether we will all be using 'Bing' instead of
'Google' in the coming months. Well 'Bing' is actually OK, some
would suggest it's just a revamp of their older 'Live
Search' technology, but 'Bing' is a new product in many ways.
You will have to decide for yourself, but I think that 'Google' is a better search engine, this
does not mean that 'Bing' will not mature into a true
alternative to 'Google' in time, it just means that 'Bing'
has a way to go before it's a true 'Google'
competitor.
For more information visit:
http://www.bing.com/
BBC iPlayer Statistics Worry ISPs
The BBC's iPlayer service basically allows people to download/stream TV programmes via the internet. The trouble with this is that video streaming uses up a large amount of bandwidth compared to other forms of internet traffic, something that ISP (Internet Service Providers) are well aware of. Currently only 10% on the BBC's viewing public are apparently using iPlayer, but during peak usage times 12GB (Gigabytes) of video data is already being requested every second and around 7PB (Petabytes) or 7,000TB (Terabypes) of data is being streamed every month. When it comes to total internet traffic these values are still relatively small, but if iPlayer usage continues to grown, it would become a unwelcome burden for most ISPs, and this is why some ISPs are already beginning to protect their bandwidth by throttling back iplayer data streams.
Apple have just released a new version
of their popular iPhone, the iPhone 3GS.
New features include more storage with up to '32GB of Memory', a higher resolution '3.0 Megapixel Camera' with 'Video Recording' capability, 'Voice Control' that allows you to ask for a contact or song, a 'Digital Compass' that helps the iphone automatically reorient maps to match the direction you’re facing and 'Internet Tethering' that allows you to use your iPhone's built-in 3G modem to connect to the internet on your laptop. Top this with much improved performance and you have a worthy successor to the current iPhone 3G!
Windows 7 Release Date Revealed
Microsoft has finally revealed a release
date of the 22nd October 2009 for it's new operating system
'Windows 7' well ahead of it's initial estimate, which would
have seen the O.S. emerge sometime in early 2010. As with
previous incarnations of Windows there will be a number of
different versions. Starter (for lower performance Netbooks
and Nettops systems), Home Premium (the main consumer
version and likely the most popular version), Professional
(for business users), Enterprise (for larger organisations)
and Ultimate (a full featured version for the discerning
user and enthusiast market).
For more information on Windows 7 visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/
Broadband in the UK is still pretty poor with over 3 million UK households still suffering with poor broadband connection speeds (not to mention the 4000 or so homes unable to get broadband at all). The government has plans to ensure that all UK households have a minimum connection speed of 2Mbits/sec by 2012 (no doubt helped by BT pushing forward with their numerous network improvements). Sadly a 2Mbit connection is nothing to write home about; arguably adequate for a single user, it would (more than likely) become swamped when more than a couple of people start using it at the same time, what with streaming media and on-line gaming, it's a shame that a more reasonable minimum speed was not proposed.
Microsoft has finally released service pack 2 for their Vista operating system. The service pack further improves Vista's stability, performance and security and also contains all previously released updates and patches. Notable extra features added by SP2 are support for Blu-ray disk recording, compatibility with the Bluetooth 2.1 standard and newer VIA 64-bit processors.
For more information on Vista
service pack 2 visit:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948465
To download Vista SP2 visit my
Operating Systems page.
Vodafone Suspends Roaming Charges
From June the 1st until August 30th, Vodafone will be suspending it's roaming charges for both it's pay-as-you-go and pay-monthly customers. This effectively allows Vodafone customers to make and received calls abroad at no extra cost. (Including the use of free calling minutes). This is not a worldwide offer but does include 35 European countries, plus Australia and New Zealand. Setup is simple, as you just have to send a specific text message to Vodafone; they do the rest.
For more information and instructions on how to apply, visit this Vodafone webpage.
The latest information from Microsoft
about it's new operating system 'Windows 7', is that it will
be completed and ready for release to manufacturing (RTM) by
August. If true, this would more than likely see 'Windows 7'
on general release by October/November. Microsoft often
delays the release of it's operating systems, but with such
complete, and importantly, stable 'Beta' and 'Release
Candidate' builds already getting high praise, it seems
highly unlikely that Microsoft will need to delay 'Windows
7'.
Intel have been under investigation (by
the EU) for some time over large rebates given to PC
manufacturers between 2002 and 2005. It is not the rebates
per se that are in question, but the way they were sold. It
has been said that PC manufactures (Dell, HP, NEC and Acer,
to name but four) were told by Intel representatives that
these rebates would only be given if Intel chips were used
in the majority of their products. If this is true, then
Intel was very careful to ensure that no information ever appeared in any
official documentation, over
the conditions of these rebates. Intel has taken strong exception
over the EU's £1 Billion fine, stating that although it was
playing hard it was playing fair, and was definitely not being
anti-competitive. Intel will be appealing against the
ruling.
Virgin Media's new 50Mb broadband offering is pretty impressive (if you can justify the cost), it makes a mockery of BT's current 8Mbps offering. Saying this, BT is still moving forward with both it's 21CN (21st Century Network) and FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet) upgrade programs, which should boost the average broadband connection significantly, with speeds of up to 40Mbps possible.
Virgin Media is also investing in their network, and is already trialing 200Mbps connection speeds, which, if successful will be 5 times faster than BT's upgraded network, but one things for sure, its not going to be a service that your average home user will be able to afford.
Microsoft Windows 7 Release Candidate
Microsoft has finally made available
it's release candidate (RC) of Windows 7. This late build of
Windows 7 will be offered for at least 3 months, giving
ample time for people to download it. It's not recommended
that you install this beta product on your primary computer
system, due to the fact that pre-release software has a
tendency to be buggy and sometimes unstable. Windows 7 RC
has a long expiry date of June 2010, thus you should have
plenty of time to use and test the product, should you
decide to take the plunge!
For more information on Windows 7 RC visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx
Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2
Microsoft have just released service
pack 2 for their Office 2007 products. New features are
scarce to say the least, but the service pack does purport
to improve stability, performance and security.
Other than this it also contains all previously released Office 2007 updates and patches as well as some previously unreleased updates.
For more information on Office 2007
service pack 2 visit:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953195
To download 'Office 2007 service pack 2' visit my
Office Applications page.
The UK is no longer one of the top 12 countries responsible for relying Spam, currently just 2% of all Spam relayed worldwide originates from the UK. This is all well and good, but is little solace for the average email user who is still being bombarded with junk emails, (Spam still representing around 97% of all worldwide emails sent). For Spam to truly reduce, counties like the US, Brazil and China need to do much more, in fact these three countries alone, are responsible for more than a third of all Spam.
Grisoft has just released a new version
of it's popular, free anti-virus software; AVG 8.5 does not
look much different to AVG 8, and does not seem to introduce
any major new features to the free edition. Saying this, I
noticed that the option 'AVG Active Surf-Shield' is no
longer greyed out within the Link scanner component, which
suggests this element is now available. This release maybe
more of a bug fix than a new feature rich version, but
never-the-less it seems to be a worth while download.
To download AVG 8.5 visit my
Anti-Virus section via my Software area.
AMD is still struggling financially,
with yet another quarter well in the red. If anything things
seem to be getting worse, with their latest financial report
showing a mammoth £280 million loss, that's up another 30
million from this time last year. AMD were in trouble before
the start of the current global economic down turn, thus it
was always going to hit them harder than other similar
organizations. It would be a sad day indeed if AMD
disappeared, as they form an important part of the global
microprocessor industry, ensuring a competitive and
innovative microprocessor marketplace.
Google have had an 'Image Search' option
as part of their search engine for some time, but now Google
has added a handy new search utility called 'Similar
Images'. Rather than relying on text based searching only to
find the images you require, 'Similar Images' allows you to
search using 'visually similar' images. It's a nice idea and
one the works very well.
To give 'Similar Images' a go visit:
http://similar-images.googlelabs.com/
If you think that it's just Windows
based computers that get targeted by Malware, then your very
wrong. A new type of Trojan virus that affects Apple Mac
systems is currently being spread via software downloads
from peer-to-peer file sharing sites. The Trojan virus is
said to allow criminals to fully control any Mac system that
has been infected, creating what is being described as the
first Mac-based Botnet. Some Mac users are still very
complacent over system security and the need for anti-virus
software, but this latest scare should show that all
computers systems, no matter what operating system they
utilise, are susceptible to compromise.
Within the next few months the first high definition Blu-ray recorders should start to appear in the UK. High definition recorders have so far been limited to the like's of Sky's HD box where HD programs can be stored to an internal hard drive and watched at a later date, but the biggest drawback is that there is no simple way of transferring native HD footage to removable media or other external device. But this is all set to change with a number of companies poised to release high definition personal video recorders that not only allow high definition footage to be reordered to an internal hard drive but also archived to Blu-ray media. If this was not enough to wet your appetite, then the fact that they will also be compatible with HD camcorders should do it. As always, early adopters will pay a hefty price for this cutting edge equipment, but time will no doubt see prices come down to a more realistic level.
It looks like it's not just UK internet
users who are concerned about Phorm and internet privacy, it
seems that the European Commission is also uneasy about the
way 'behavioural advertising' has been allowed to evolve in
the UK. The problems stem from the way data is
intercepted without consent, and the UK's failure to follow
European privacy law. Phorm remains bullish, stating that
their system fully complies with current UK and EU laws and
that it was a matter for the UK government. The UK
government has two months in which to reply to the EC
concerns, before further action is taken.
New website for 'Subspection Ltd'
The Glitch has kindly donated one of
it's web templates to 'Subspection Limited' to assist in the
construction of their new website.
The new site represents a significant face life for the company, and ensures their new website complies to the latest web standards; allowing their website to look great no matter what browser people use.
For more information about Subspection
Limited visit:
http://www.subspection.com
If you haven't updated your browser
recently then the answer will, almost certainly, be no.
Microsoft has release 'Internet Explorer 8' (IE8) and
Mozilla 'Firefox 3'; both these browsers are more secure
than their predecessors and so offer better protection
on-line. Surprisingly, history has shown that Internet
Explorer has had far less vulnerabilities than Firefox, but
Mozilla is faster at releasing updates and patches, these
facts make it difficult to state which is the most secure
browser. What is more important to understand is that if you
choose Firefox over IE, this does not automatically make you
immune to web nasties, in fact, if you don't keep Firefox
updated you may actually be less secure. Which ever you
select make sure you are running the very latest version!
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8
Mozilla's FireFox 3
BT recently wrote off more than £3
million as a result of contract reviews, this obviously did
not help their falling profits margins, but it seems they
have an answer, make their customers pay for all this
mismanagement with increased line rental charges. OK so you
may say I'm being a little transparent, but look it this
another way, BT has also just embarked on a hugely
expensive fibre optic upgrade program! Either way you look
at this, it's still a poor decision, at a time when most
people are already having to tighten their belts.
All Stays Quiet on the Conficker Front
All stays quite on the Conficker front as the 1st of April passes without incident. Many believe that Conficker stayed dormant simply because there was too much hype and attention and the owners of the Conficker networks are biding their time, waiting until all the attention wanes before they strike. Unfortunately for Conficker time is not on their side, as everyday sees more and more systems being protected against the virus.
Conficker Activates on 1st April
Conficker has already been one of the most successful worm viruses to date, but not even the security experts are in full agreement over how much of a threat Conficker is. Conficker's code indicates an activation date of the 1st of April, with this only a matter of hours away, it may be prudent to double check that your system is fully patched with the latest Windows updates and more importantly free from the virus!
To download McAfee's 'Stinger' tool that
detects and removes Conficker visit:
http://vil.nai.com/vil/averttools.aspx
BT will soon begin upgrading 29 of it's
exchanges to FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet).
This initial roll out will see around half a million
customers benefit from faster download speeds of up to
40Mbits per second. It is good news to see that BT is
finally moving forward with FTTC but yet again the rural
areas are being left behind, many urban areas have good
broadband speeds with significant competition from the likes
of Virgin, who can already offer 50Mbit connections. So the
idea that these areas need yet another form of fast internet
connectivity is beyond many people. BT hopes to have
10 million homes connected to fibre by 2012, so it's still
got a very long way to go!
Phorm continues to be extremely
controversial with many people unhappy with the idea of
their surfing habits being analysed (anonymously or not), moreover many more
people are concerned by the mammoth security aspects of such a
system. Such is the unrest that BT itself seems to be having
second thoughts over Phorm, indeed even Phorm themselves are
now having to consider a new 'Opt-Out' scheme to try to
appease everyone. Phorm is a
clever idea, but that does not stop it from being a step too
far, as far as your average internet user is concerned. I
predict that (if rolled out) Phorm will be the catalyst that
makes many BT customers consider other non-Phorm based ISPs.
Apple will soon release version 3.0 of
their iPhone operating system. This latest version adds a
raft of improvements, including 'Push' notifications, that
immediately informs the user when email and other messages
arrive, and a 'Cut & Paste' facility that now allows text to
be copied from one application to another. The ability to
send & receive MMS messages has finally been added, as is
the ability to use the phone's keyboard in landscape mode.
Another notable improvement is with the iPhone's Bluetooth
connection, which now performs peer-to-peer connections
allowing interactions between iPhones. All in all another
great update to the iPhone!
A new version of Microsoft's Internet
Explorer (IE8) is now available to download. IE8 has a
number of improvements over IE7 including enhanced page rendering speeds,
new ways to search the internet, improved compliance to web
standards, improved security and a private browsing mode
that doesn't leave any trace of your web browsing on the
machine you are using. Another new feature in IE8 is called
'Web Accelerators' these are basically helpful contextual options that
can be accessed quickly at any time by highlighting a piece
of text on a webpage. IE8 is a big improvement over IE7 and
thus is highly recommended.
For more information visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/ie8
Google is showing off it's 'Chrome'
browser's capabilities by creating a dedicated website
called 'Chrome Experiments' containing all sorts of entertaining demos.
Chrome's JavaScript performance is incredibly quick,
allowing it to render websites, that use JavaScript, much faster
than other browsers and it is this ability that Google is
showing off. All the demos seem to use facilities that Microsoft's Internet Explorer
does not support, if this was not enough to make Microsoft's
browser team frustrated then the fact that the latest beta
release of Google's 'Chrome' browser is said to be 25%
faster still, should just about do it!
For more information visit:
http://www.chromeexperiments.com/
'Conficker' is a particularly virulent worm virus first detected back in November 2008 and still very active today. Part of the reason for it's longevity is the fact that there have been a number of variants of the worm, with the latest mutation more resilient than ever. The worm basically takes advantage of a vulnerability found in the 'server service' running within the Windows operating system. A patch for this vulnerability has actually been available since October 2008 (MS08-067), thus all updated systems should be protected.
Phorm is a company that specializes in
developing 'behavioral targeting' advertising systems, that
allow them to analyse customers' websurfing habits in order
to deliver targeted advertising to them. The technology
behind this and the whole idea in general is seriously
controversial and has sparked concerns from many different
organizations. In fact the father of the Internet himself,
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has severely criticised BT's plans to
roll out 'Phorm' across it's network, describing the system
as the 'internet equivalent of wire tapping'.
ISP's should be very careful on this, I know I am watching this debate very carefully and if there is any doubt, at all, on the security or privacy of Phorm, I will move away from BT to another ISP that does not carry the Phorm system. This could potentially be a very quick way for BT and other ISPs (that roll out Phorm) to lose tens of thousands of customers!
Apple has just released it latest iPod
shuffle, and its their smallest iPod yet. Measuring just
45.2mm in length, 17.5mm in width and 7.8mm in thickness,
its
smaller than a pair of triple A batteries placed side by
side. With a 4GB capacity it can store around 1000 songs and
play said tunes for up to 10 hours when fully charged. Due
to size limitations there are no controls on the device
itself, but Apple have conveniently placed a set of buttons
on the earphones lead. One other clever improvement over
previous Shuffles is the inclusion of something Apple calls 'Voiceover'
where the device announces names of tracks, artists, playlists and even when
the battery needs charging.
TomTom (the well known in car satellite navigation manufacturer) and Microsoft have been in talks for sometime over alleged patent infringements, but it seems that an amicable agreement could not be reached and Microsoft has now decided to pursue legal action. Since late 2003 Microsoft have sought to make more of its intellectual property available for others to use, but this is done under a strict license agreement and it is this that is under dispute. The issues seem to stem from the use of navigation technologies and the Microsoft's file system, something that Microsoft will no doubt want to protect. Only time will tell whether TomTom is able to fight one of the biggest companies in the world (and survive).
Microsoft's Vista service pack 2 continues to move forward with a RC1 (Release Candidate 1) being released to it's software testers this week. Vista's SP2 is still a little way off, with Microsoft hoping for a public release some time in the second quarter of 2009. Vista users can expect a number of improvements to vista, including support for Blu-ray media and the Bluetooth 2.1 standard; it will also contain 'Windows Connect Now' (WCN) an improved Wi-Fi Configuration tool, and, as always, all previously released Vista patches and updates.
The Glitch Launches New Webstore
The Glitch is proud to announce the
launch of it's very own mini-webstore. Designed to replace my
existing 'For Sale' page, this new area of the Glitch is a
dedicated ecommerce micro site, hosted alongside The Glitch
at 'www.webstore.theglitch.co.uk'. It is envisaged that this
new site will slowly grow and provide a source for
inexpensive, high quality products, hosted using a fully
secure and dedicated ecommerce solution. Although its
appearance looks a little different to the normal Glitch
design, you can be sure that it's still very much part of
The Glitch website!
For more information visit:
www.webstore.theglitch.co.uk
No Intel haven't come over all biblical,
and no there isn't going to be another massive flood. ARK
stands for 'Automated Relational Knowledge', and is
basically an online database of Intel products. The problem
is that Intel have been manufacturing chips for
many years now, and currently have hundreds of active products
on the market, if this was not bad enough the second hand PC
market is also very active, keeping older Intel products
alive. All this adds up to literally thousands of possible
combinations of chipsets, processor names and chip IDs, a
minefield for even the most experienced computer geek. To
this end, Intel have made available an online database
to help correctly identify their
products.
But before you all rush to click the link,
please understand this is not the most exciting web page you
are ever going to come across...you're going to have to be
pretty bored to stick with this one!
For more information visit:
http://ark.intel.com/
It is a sad fact that criminals are always looking for opportunities to infect computer systems and valentines day is an ideal time for them to try. February 14th 2009 is predicted to be one of the worse yet for Valentines malware, with valentines spam trying to fool people in to downloading malware infested games and electronic greetings cards. So be extra careful what you click on to this valentines you may get much more than just a flattering message from a secret admirer...you have been warned!
Microsoft's new operating system,
Windows 7 (due to be released at the end of 2009), looks
like it will appear as six different editions, 'Starter Edition',
'Home Basic', 'Home Premium', 'Professional',
'Enterprise' and 'Ultimate'. The naming system is very
similar to that used for Windows Vista, so consumers will
hopefully find them familiar.
The 'Starter Edition' will be a significantly cut down version of Windows 7, designed for Netbooks and other similar devices. 'Home Basic' has been designed for emerging markets and will have limited capacity, something that will, no doubt, be reflected in the price. The 'Home Premium' version is for the mass market and contains everything your average PC user requires (a feature rich version). 'Professional' is a version for business users, containing advanced network options and additional security. 'Enterprise' is similar to the 'professional' version, but is intended for high volume adoption; it also has drive encryption options. Finally the 'Ultimate' edition will combined all the above features in to one package.
Printer Ink Prices Increase By 50%
It seems that printer ink prices have increased by over 50% over the last year. No one seems to really know why this is, but the rises are universal across all manufacturers. Some think its because of the increased cost of manufacturing, others just think its due to opportunists hiking the price. No matter what the reason, it does mean that (more than ever) the hidden/running costs of printers need to be carefully weighed up when trying to work out which is the best one to buy.
Google has once again enhanced it's 'Google Earth'
application, this time they've added all sorts of
information on the Earth's oceans. Called 'Google Ocean' the
new tool allows you to see underneath the ocean waves and
view 3D representations of the ocean floor, this is
accompanied by numerous photos and videos detailing points of interest,
in fact Google have added an enormous 20 new categories of
data. If all this wasn't enough, they have also added a
clever 'timeline' facility that allows you to view past images of
the Earth, to illustrate how they have changed.
For more information visit:
http://earth.google.com/
2TB (2000GB) Western Digital Hard Drive
Back in January 2007 I
reported that Hitachi was
the first manufacture to release a 1TB hard drive, since
then all the major hard drive manufactures have been hard at
work developing bigger and better drives. Seagate are on the
brink of releasing a 1.5TB hard drive, but it is Western
Digital that is about to release the worlds first 2TB hard
drive. Their drive is made up of four 500GB platters which
have a areal density (bit density) of over 400Gb per inch
squared. The Seagate 1.5TB and Western Digital 2TB hard
drives should be available very soon, but as with all new
technology expect to pay a premium initially.
Internet Explorer 8 RC1 Released
It was back in March 2008 that Microsoft
made its very first beta release of IE8 available. Now, 10
months on, the product (still in beta) has been updated to
RC1 (Release Candidate 1). This indicates that the product
has begun to mature, and is now much closer to a full
release product. IE8 should offer all sorts of advantages
over IE7, including improved compliance to web standards,
improved security and a private browsing mode that doesn't
leave any trace of your web browsing on the machine you are
using.
For more information visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/
Empire Direct and Qed-UK Close
January has seen the 'Miller Brothers' group go in to receivership, thus two of the biggest names in on-line electricals, 'Empire Direct' and 'Qed-uk' have become the latest casualties of the Credit Crunch. Both companies were put in to administration after being unable to operate due to low stocks levels and the lack of cash and credit facilities. It is always a sad day when companies who have been successfully trading for many years (25 years) go to the wall.
Intel Responds To Falling Profits
Intel will be streamlining it's
operations by closing up to five of it's older assembly plants
in response to falling profits. Factories in the US,
Malaysia and the Philippines will close with the loss of
thousands of jobs.
It's not good news for Intel employees,
but seems necessary after Intel's profits dropped by almost 90%.
If Intel can't turn things around quickly it will be in danger of posting it's first loss since the 1980s,
after almost 90 successive lucrative quarters.
When you think processors, the name
Intel tends to be the first name that pops in to your head,
and its no wonder as they produce some of the worlds fastest
desktop processors, in fact AMD, Intel's nearest rival, is
finding it all but impossible to keep up with Intel's pace
at the moment, with every Intel processor release more
powerful than the last. But all this technology and
innovation was not enough to stop Intel's profits dropping
to a new low. Intel posted a £150 million profit for the
last quarter of 2008, that's down from £1.5 Billion in 2007
a hefty drop by anyone's standard. Saying this, it's still
respectable, especially when you consider that AMD is still
struggling to make any profit at all.
There has been a lot of negative press recently about the high power requirements of large flat panel LCD and Plasma screens, but the real truth is that the power requirements of older CRT based Televisions were also significant with some 32" and 36" sets using up to 160 and 190 watts respectively. So when you compare 32" and 40" LCD screen power requirements of between 180 and 210 watts then, in my opinion, they don't seem that much higher. The trouble starts when you begin to compare the power requirements of Plasma screens, which do seem to use more power, with a 50" plasma requiring up to 400 watts, but these figures can be a little misleading as everyday plasma screen power usage is generally much lower, unlike LCD who's backlight technology is always powered!
Screen size plays a big part in the power requirements of a flat panel Televisions, thus a smaller screen will use less power, saying this most Plasma manufacturers are already hard at work improving the power requirements of their screens, so it shouldn't be long before we start to see lower power Plasma screens.
The Internet is massive, it doesn't have
geographical or, in theory, political boundaries, and it is
this inherent property that criminals exploit. But time is
slowly running out for cyber criminals, technology is moving
forward, security is tighter than ever before, and with most
international law enforcement agencies now working closely
with one another the likelihood of getting caught has never
been higher. The statement that 'crime does not pay' has
never been more pertinent, especially when you hear the
story of a group of hackers who were caught stealing
millions of credit card details from US retailer TJX (TK
Maxx in the UK). Even their clever and sophisticated usage
of computer systems could not stop them from being jailed,
with one of the key gang members locked up for a whopping 30
years for his part in the Scam!
Microsoft will soon release a
beta version of it's new operating system 'Windows 7'. Windows 7
promises all sorts of improvements over Vista, including
faster boot times, improved security and performance and an
enhanced user interface. It maybe quite tempting to download
it, but it is important to remember that it will be an early
'beta' release of the operating system, and as such not
recommended for everyday use. Beta code tends to be buggy
and unreliable and is normally unsupported, so be cautious
if you decide to take a look!
Apple is to finally drop it's much
detested DRM (Digital Rights Management) from it's iTunes
store. By the end of March 2009 Apple will offer all 10
million of it's iTunes songs DRM free. This change basically
removes usage restrictions from their music store, thus
allowing people more freedom in the way they can use their
iTunes music. Apple's DRM has been deeply unpopular and has,
in my opinion, limited the use of iTunes and Apple's
iPod range of mp3 players; this move should help change all
this!
Why not visit the all new DRM free Apple iTunes store today!
A little over a year ago Toshiba's HD DVD and Sony's Blu-ray were fighting it out to become the next generation high definition format, sadly for Toshiba, Sony's Blu-ray finally won the battle. A year on and Blu-ray sales are looking healthy, helped by the fact that Blu-ray players and media (movies) are finally becoming cheaper. Controversially, sales may have also been boosted by Blu-ray's restrictive and much hated DRM being broken by a group of hackers in 2008, thus (in theory) allowing people more freedom in the way they can use their Blu-ray movies.
Happy 2009, I hope this year proves to be a prosperous year for you all.