2010 - NEWS ARCHIVE
Mozilla's
fourth generation web browser Firefox 4 has been in
development for around 6 months now and is already in it's
9th Beta release. Firefox 4 is not due for full release
until early next year, but this latest beta version is said
to be stable enough for use. Saying this, when you download
and install any Beta software you do so at your own risk.
Firefox 4 promises many improvements over it previous
versions including faster browsing, more security, HTML 5
support, 64-bit Support and a simplified user interface.
To download the latest beta version visit the following link:
http://nightly.mozilla.org/
Microsoft
has retracted an update for Outlook 2007 due to
reported issues after installation. The Outlook 2007 patch
(KB2412171) was being listed as a 'Stability and
Performance' update, but in this instance it seemed to have
the opposite effect. The update was made available on the
14th December, but was removed just two days later after
multiple users reported issues with failed connections when
using Secure Password Authentication (SPA), significant
performance problems when switching folders and with the AutoArchive feature not working. If you have installed this
update, and are experiencing any of the above symptoms, it
is recommended that you uninstall it.
For more detailed information visit:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/outlook/archive/2010/12/17/issues-with-the-recent-update-for-outlook-2007.aspx
Microsoft has
just launched their latest version of their on-line
office suite. 'Office 365' offers 'Office Professional
Plus', 'Exchange Online', 'SharePoint Online' and 'Lync
Online'. The idea being that you will be able to access
email, documents, contacts and calendars anywhere, at any
time on almost any device. The whole package is based
on-line (In the Cloud) in a very secure (128-bit encrypted),
reliable (99.9% scheduled uptime), compliant (ISO 27001
standards) environment. The product is licensed per user and
starts from as little as $2/month for just the basic package
and goes all the way up to $27/month for a fully featured
enterprise environment. 24/7 IT support is provided as
standard. The package hopes to help small and large
organizations a like, reducing software and hardware setup
time and costs, while still giving users the most up-to-date
applications Microsoft can provide. I have to admit I am yet
to be fully convinced that 'The Cloud' is the route to
success, simply because of the very heavy reliance on
connectivity; if your ISP, phone exchange, phone line or
modem is playing up you are not only isolated from your
office applications but all your data as well. Saying this,
I think Microsoft have done a good job with Office 365,
making the office in 'The Cloud' a very real proposition!
For more information visit:
http://office365.microsoft.com/en-US/online-services.aspx
For
all those who are unaware, the rate of VAT (currently set at
17.5%) will be increased to 20% in the New Year. This means
that if you're currently considering any significant
purchases you may save some money by buying them before the
end of the year. This is not a big factor for small
purchases (although every penny does count these days), but
the difference can soon add up with more expensive products.
Ultimately your item may end up in the January sales which
could negate the difference in VAT, or you may find some
suppliers offer special 'post VAT' increase offers to ward
off the expected lull in sales, but these things aren't
guaranteed, so it's worth bearing in mind the VAT increase!
The Glitch is 6 Years Old Today !
The
Glitch has been running for 6 years now 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 needed and 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 and a Happy New Year to you all !
'Anonymous' Disrupts Payment Systems
'Anonymous'
is a group of hackers that have taken it upon themselves
to target companies and government bodies that try to
suppress freedom of speech/information. This could
almost be seen as a noble cause if executed intelligently,
but sadly it now seems to be more about idiots trying to
flex their cyber-muscles than making a real point. When the
main financial institutions closed their systems to 'Wikileaks' (to
stop financial aid to the site owners) this was seen by
'Anonymous' as an attack on 'Wikileaks' rights
and so they began targeting these payment systems, and
in doing so, prevented people from using them. This action is every bit as
idiotic as 'Wikileaks' inability to show a little
restraint in publishing some of the more sensitive documents
that started this whole issue in the first place. Neither of
these groups actions are either helpful or even particularly
useful, they just irritate and in doing so turn people
against them. In fact 'Anonymous' itself is now so
unpopular that other sites (Twitter to name one) are
beginning to turn their backs on their inappropriate
activities. 'Anonymous' go on about rights, well what about my right to
make a credit card payment when I want to...
Wikileaks Mirror Site Located in Paris
'Wikileaks'
original DNS provider (EveryDNS.net) has pulled the plug
over concerns that the continued DOS attacks on the site
were a threat to their stability, in fact almost no one
wants to be associated with 'Wikileaks' right now, with
Amazon also dropping them from their servers indicating that
'Wikileaks' had broken their service agreement by hosting
information that it does not own or control. A mirror site
(IP address will not be given, out of principle) on a
server located on the outskirts of Paris, France is still
hosting the 'Wikileaks' site, but generally, intelligent
people are steering well clear of them. 'Wikileaks' proved
to be a useful tool in the past, but their release of
sensitive information over critical locations and
infrastructure across Europe could potentially put millions
even billions of lives at risk. No information, no matter
how interesting is worth this type of risk. I can only
assume that all those people still supporting 'Wikileaks'
have no regard for anyone, lets just hope this information
is not eventually used to impact any of their families or
loved ones.
IPv4 Address Space Running Out
Less
than 3% of assignable IPv4 addresses now remain unallocated,
sparking new fears that the IPv4 address space could become
exhausted sooner than previously thought. Many predicted
that it would be up to two years before they would become
depleted, but latest figures indicate that the IPv4 address
space might start to become restricted sometime next year.
All computer systems that connect to the internet require an
IP address, if they are not able to be assigned an IP
address they won't be able to communicate with other systems
over the internet. Until IPv6 is fully adopted/embraced
(which allows up to 340 trillion, trillion, trillion
addresses) the IPv4 system will rely on the release and
reallocation of already allocated address blocks to continue
to try to provide additional address resources. Although
this move is valid (due to previous over-allocation and
inefficient use of address space) it is only a short term
solution, and is only delaying the inevitable.
2010
could end up being known as the year of malware, with increasing evidence that
this Christmas season will not only be leaden with presents, but malware
too. Cyber-criminals are homing in on often used search terms such as 'Apple iPad' or 'Xbox Kinect', tempting the
unsuspecting shopper into clicking on a deal that
is too good to be true, and in doing so, infecting their systems with malware. The
advise is the same as always, keep your wits about you, use well known,
trusted
sites and suppliers and if a price really does seem too good to be true, then
you already have your answer!
'Wikileaks'
is a media company setup in 2006 to anonymously publish
sensitive government, corporate or even religious documents
that would not necessarily be brought to the public domain
otherwise. Unfortunately, they seem to have taken things a
little too far this time, and their latest collection of
confidential documents relates to highly sensitive
correspondence between the US and it's embassies around the
world. Many think that 'Wikileaks' are wrong to publish this
information, freedom of speech is one thing, but there are
some words, said in confidence, that should not
automatically be considered for the public domain,
especially if it could potentially push countries closer to
war and put people at risk. In fact the site has been
severely criticised by nations worldwide; and such is the
strength of this feeling that their site has already been
silenced by an unidentified DOS (Denial Of Service) attack
which effectively removed them from the internet for a
significant period of time. If this was not enough warning
for the founders of 'Wikileaks' then the fact that they are
now personally under investigation to see if they have
broken any laws (in any of the counties being effected by
these releases), should do the trick.
The
Stuxnet worm has been described, by some, as one of the most
complex viruses ever written; but
the most interesting thing about Stuxnet is
its low level and subtle nature, with
analysis showing that it only targets the Programmable Logic
Controllers (PLCs) that are used to control the speed of
motors and pumps used in industrial plants. This type of
very specific attack not only shows how clever the malware
writers are becoming, but also the new and particularly
worrying industrial espionage aspect of the attack.
Thankfully the very fact that Stuxnet has
been identified and dissected means it has failed to
propagate into a widespread threat, and importantly, with
the control network removed and no variants detected, it
should have no way of being reused or resurrected!
After many months in
development Adobe have finally released a
new, more secure, version of their popular PDF reader
software; Adobe's new 'Reader X' (Version 10) introduces
'Protected Mode' which utilizes 'Sandboxing' techniques to
help safeguard your system from mal-formed PDF documents
which, until now, could permit the execution of undesirable
code. Even though 'Sandboxing' is more of a 'ring-fencing'
approach to security it has been proved to provide an
excellent additional line of defense which should help
contain malware that tries to exploit any current or future vulnerabilities in Adobe's
PDF reader software.
For a link to the latest Adobe PDF Reader download visit my PDF Software page.
It
was back in April this year that I wrote
an article on corrupt IT support, with rogue companies
calling unsuspecting computer users in an attempt to deceive
individuals into thinking they had computer issues even
though there was nothing wrong. The message back then, is
the same as it is now, never accept cold calls from unknown
computer support companies. These unscrupulous companies
prey on unwary users who are panicked or duped into giving out personal details and paying
for a service they did not need in the first place. Stay
vigilant and always seek information from recommended sources that can be
trusted and give transparent, impartial advice.
Rhythm Method Website Launched
I am proud to announce the release of
another new website created by The Glitch. Rhythm Method are
a 6 piece pop & rock covers band specialising in weddings,
celebrations and corporate events. Established in 1997 they
perform a selection of the very best numbers from the last 4
decades right up to the present day, catering for the
broadest tastes in music. Being a 6 piece band they are able
to produce a richer, professional sound that lesser bands
just can't match; why not take a look at their 'Audio Clips'
page for some great samples.
For more information visit their new site:
http://www.rmlivemusic.co.uk
Mobile Phones Could Replace Game Consoles
The
idea that a mobile phone could replace your XBOX 360 or PS3
may seem a little far fetched to some people, but the
fact that a number of companies are working hard to produce
very low powered but extremely powerful graphics processors is a sign
that we could see HD quality games on mobile phones
sooner rather than later. In fact you could be forgiven for
thinking it's already happening with the likes of the
Apple's iPhone 4 getting a significant graphics boost,
allowing developers to produce some truly amazing games. A great example of this
is a demo
called 'Citadel'
from Epic. But it's not just Apple making progress in this
area, ARM (A British Processor Designer) is working on their
'Mali T604' chip which has around 25x more graphics
processing power than the iPhone 4, but still only draws 850
milliwatts of power.
Cyber Bullying is a Criminal Offence
Anyone
who is over the age of 10 that threatens, commits an assault
or harasses someone could be prosecuted under the Harassment
Act 1997, with the law only requiring two such incidents for
the Police to act; this act applies to your on-line conduct
every much as it does to your conduct out in the real world.
Late last year (October 2009) a land mark case saw the first
ever court injunction being served for an anonymous cyber
bully via Twitter, this case has clearly defined cyber bullying
as
a criminal offence, and UK Police forces are now training
detectives to deal with these types of on-line crimes.
Schools are also beginning to understand how important it is
to act swiftly when they become aware of cyber bullying,
with many involving the authorities sooner rather than
later. It is a sad fact that students have been know to take
their own lives because of sustained cyber bullying and it is for this reason that the
Crown Prosecution Service is now making it
very clear that bullies will not be allowed to hind
behind they computers anymore!
TalkTalk's
warning comes after more than 1000 complaints were sent to
Ofcom from customers who moved to other providers, only to
find they were still being billed by TalkTalk for services
which had been cancelled many months previously. Some
ex-TalkTalk customers have even been faced with debt
collecting agencies. The idea that a company is so
incompetent that it tries to claim money for services that have been cancelled, in some cases,
years previously is shocking. This is clearly an
unacceptable situation and one
that Ofcom has taken very seriously; it has given TalkTalk
until December 2010 to clean up it's act or face significant
financial penalties. Lets hope TalkTalk takes notice and sorts out
it's
appalling billing system.
Windows 7 SP1 Candidate Release
A
positive sign that Windows 7's first service pack (SP1) is
nearing completion is Microsoft's recent publication of a
Release Candidate (RC). Release Candidates tend to be
mature, stable products which could potentially end up as
final production versions, but as with all pre-release
software there is always the possibility of issues, and I
would not recommend installation on an essential computer
system. As indicated previously by Microsoft, no new
features are expected in SP1, just all previous updates, bug
fixes and any incremental updates/improvements made to
Windows 7 since it's first release. This service pack can be
applied to both Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2.
For more information visit:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ff183870.aspx
The
fight against cybercrime is constant and authorities,
worldwide, are finally creating (and sharing) the resources
needed to help track and remove internet based criminal
activities. It was only last month that the UK's E-Crime
unit spearheaded the investigation into the Zeus 2 malware
attacks, which saw 19 people arrested and now Dutch law
enforcement agencies have crippled the infamous Bredolab
botnet which is responsible for transmitting (amongst other
things) rouge anti-virus software, spoofed Facebook password
reset messages and fake UPS delivery emails. In all more
than 140 servers were either seized or disconnected, which
has effectively crippled the Bredolab network.
Kaspersky's Security Found Wanting
Kaspersky's
security software is well regarded, unfortunately you can't
say the same of their website security. Kaspersky have
suffered a number of server attacks, but this latest incident seems
almost identical to
an attack that occurred back in February 2009 (an SQL
injection attack) which is a little worrying, as it would
suggest that little improvement has been made in security
over the last 18 months. What makes things worse for Kaspersky
is the fact that both customer and product details have
again been compromised. Luckily for Kaspersky the
group responsible for this latest hack are more interested
in making Kaspersky aware of their on-going security issues rather than
stealing company information; But this does highlight what
can happen when companies become a little too complacent and do not
ensure that all aspects of their infrastructure are kept
up-to-date and protected!
Anyone
who is currently still using a Beta copy of Microsoft's Office 2010 should
be aware that it will expire soon. As of the 31st October
2010 all copies of Office 2010 Beta will revert to a
read-only mode, effectively preventing anyone using the
package to do anything but view documents. The Beta program
has been running for several months now, allowing people to
use a completely unrestricted version of Office 2010 for
free. Unfortunately the time has now come to make a decision
to purchase it, or remove it!
For more information and the latest price comparisons visit my Office Applications page.
National Identity Fraud Prevention Week
National
identity fraud prevention week is all about helping people
become more knowledgeable about the ways identity theft can
occur and the simple measures we can all take to
significantly reduce its likelihood. When people talk about
identity theft they normally associate its occurrence with
computers, but thousands of people fall victim to identity
theft who don't even own a computer. The theft of personal
information can stem from something as simple as improperly
discarded paperwork, or from inadvertently giving aware
superfluous personal details over the phone. Vigilance is
the key, keep all personal documents safe, shred any
unwanted documents with personal information and never give
away security information to any person who cold calls
pertaining to be from a known company (if in doubt ring the
organisation directly and check); these are just some of
measures we can all take to help minimise our exposure to
identity fraud.
For more information visit:
http://www.stop-idfraud.co.uk/how-to-prevent-id-fraud.aspx
It
was way back in November 2007
that I posted my first article about IP addresses running
out, but it seems that many businesses and even
some ISPs are still not ready for IPv6. There's no doubt that
the latest news that 'UK based IPv4 addresses will be exhausted in
300 days' is an exaggeration, but it does highlight the fact
that available IP addresses on the current IPv4 system
will run out over the next couple of years. Most ISPs
have updated their systems, but many businesses do not even
seem to be aware that IPv6 addresses need to be handled
differently to current IP addresses, and that they are not
directly compatible with each other. But simple measures
such as ensuring that any new equipment is "IPv6 Ready"
could make all the difference when it comes to guaranteeing
a smooth transition to IPv6 (when it happens), lets hope
that more organisations become a little more IPv6 savvy over
the coming months!
Microsoft
will release a new version of it's mobile phone
operating system on the 21st of October 2010. Six handsets
are lined up for it's release, with the likes of HTC, Samsung and
Dell being the first to offer devices based on 'Windows
Phone 7'. Microsoft are keen to point out that their new
phone operating system is a significant departure from their
previous offering (Windows Mobile 6.5) with a completely
redesigned user interface that allows people to form unique
phone setups by customizing their phones in numerous ways;
what Microsoft is calling it's 'My Phone' experience. But
it's not just it's flexible interface that Microsoft want to
stress but also the way the system brings many connected
pieces of information together. 'Windows Phone 7' does seems
to offer a fresh perspective to the smart phone market,
which is just as well because they are going to need
something a little different to stand a chance against the
likes of Apple who seem to be dominating the market at the
moment.
For more information visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-gb/default.aspx
AVG
has released a new version of their free anti-virus
product 'AVG Anti-virus Free Edition 2011'.
AVG currently provides malware protection for millions of
computers world-wide, and I am pleased to note that their new 2011 product
continues to be free for home use. AVG has always been a
excellent product and their latest version seems to continue that
trend with good protection against viruses,
malware and other web threats. But AVG can't afford to sit
on their laurels with the likes of Microsoft
currently making serious inroads into the free anti-virus market.
The positive news is that AVG's 2011 is a definite
improvement over previous versions but we will have to wait
until Microsoft release their new version of 'Security
Essentials' to gauge just how well it stands up against the
competition.
For a link to the latest AVG downloads
visit my Anti-Virus section
within my software area.
It's
no mean feat to create an all new image format, but the
trick is getting it widely accepted/adopted. This is the
problem Google faces with it's new image format 'WebP'. Pronounced 'weppy', it's a 'lossy' format which has the
ability to heavily compress images while still maintaining
image quality. The formula used by WebP is based on
Google's own open-source VP8 compression algorithm, and the
advantages are clear, smaller file sizes that load faster
with no perceivable drop in image quality; these
characteristics are always going to be of
value to people. Unfortunately for Google WebP has to
compete with well established formats such as JPEG and GIF;
saying this, history has shown that modern formats, if good
enough, can and do get adopted and eventually find their way
into main-stream usage (the comparatively new image format
PNG comes to mind).
For more information and some 'WebP' examples visit:
http://code.google.com/speed/webp/gallery.html
E-Crime Unit Arrest 19 Over Zeus Malware
It
was only last month that I reported on the Zeus 2 malware
attacks targeted on the UK, but it seems that the UK's
E-Crime unit is keen to prove that it's not only crime that
does not pay, but E-Crime as well! 19 arrests have now
been made over the Zeus attacks, (which successfully
siphoned millions of pounds from UK bank accounts). The
group arrested could face very stiff penalties under a whole
host of acts including the Misuse of computers and Fraud
acts, but it doesn't stop there, with the E-Crime unit
already closing in on many more perpetrators. The
Metropolitan Police stated that they believe they have
uncovered a highly organised criminal network which are a
considerable threat not only to UK banks but also to the
world-wide banking system in general.
Blu-ray's HDCP Security Key Leaked
Blu-ray's
protection systems are a significant irritation to many, with
some users not even able to view Blu-ray media due to it's over
zealous security, something that I believe has slowed Blu-ray's up take.
One of the biggest problems is Blu-ray's
HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) a system
that only allows authorised devices to playback HD content; if your monitor is not HDCP compliant, you won't get
any output. But it seems this might all now change, with the HDCP
master key (used to generate product keys) being leaked
onto the internet. No one is sure how long before a software
HDCP crack will appear on the web, but one things for
certain, it's only a
matter of time!
Internet Explorer 9 Beta Released
Microsoft
have released the official Beta of their new browser
'Internet Explorer 9' (IE9). Microsoft's latest
browser brings with it a clean, new interface, HTML 5
support and GPU accelerated page rendering as well as
improvements in security. Other noteworthy features include
full multi-core CPU support, to speed through tasks such as
Javascript code execution, full Tab isolation and improved
browser crash recovery. Microsoft has not only worked
hard to ensure that IE9 integrates beautifully with many of
Windows 7's standard features, but has also added new and
useful options such as the ability to Pin sites directly to
the task bar. If you are tempted to take a look at IE9
remember that it is still Beta software, and so currently
unfinished, Microsoft does not give any support for Beta
products; if this concerns you then simply wait until the
final version is released in a few months time!
For more information and a link to the IE9 Beta download
visit:
http://www.beautyoftheweb.com/
Portable Storage Device Safety
Most
people understand that the
internet poses a security
risk, but being on-line is not the only hazard your
computer system faces. Portable storage devices, such as
USB Memory sticks, and hard drives create a whole host of
security problems that many people seem blissfully unaware
of; the ease with which these types of devices are moved
from one computer system to another creates a perfect
scenario for malware transmittal. It doesn't matter whether
you are a private individual, or a high profile
company, dealing with portable storage security is
imperative. But few people are aware that some very simple
and straight forward precautions, like always scanning USB
devices before they are used, and stopping USB devices from
auto loading, are all that is needed to have
an immediate positive impact on your system's security.
Ultimately it is better to be safe than sorry, keep
unchecked portable devices away from your system(s)!
Rogue Software Blights Mobile Phone Users
Mobile
smart phone users are being affected by rogue software, with
Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform and Google's Android
platform both suffering from malware outbreaks. There are
not only reports of malware stealing user information but
also rogue dialer software calling international numbers
from users mobiles. The issue basically stems from
users downloading software with out any thought (or system)
to thoroughly validate/check it first. In an
interesting twist, this is something that Apple has been
berated for over the last few years. People have been
moaning about Apple's closed system ever since the iPhone
was released, and I, by and large, understand their
concerns, but the fact is that Apple has successfully
protected it's mobile operating system (iOS) by vetting each
and every application that is submitted to their store. This
mechanism has basically kept it's users safe and isolated
from malware, and even though I don't agree with their
approach, it is easy to see the advantages of such a system!
Analogue Radio Switch Off 2015
Most
of us understand that analogue TV signals are being
switched off and that many of us will need to purchase a digital 'Freeview'
set-top box to keep using our current
TV's; but many people aren't aware that the on-going 'Digital
Switch-over' also effects radio. To this end the Government has
indicated that analogue radio could well be switched off as
early as 2015,
with all main radio stations moving to DAB (Digital Audio
Broadcasting). There are certain prerequisites, such as
a 50% take-up of DAB being required before the switchover is
announced and there will then be a two year period
before the final change over occurs, but I feel the
government has not fully thought this through. Don't get me wrong, I am all for
moving forward with digital broadcasts, but there still seems
to be a way to go with the DAB technology with many DAB
users experiencing bad reception and limited station choice. But even if you accept this
less than ideal situation, there is much more to
consider...what about the millions of cars on the road that
have standard analogue radios, does the government expect
every car driver to replace their car radio (if they
can)...and even if they did, would that not be a colossal
waste of perfectly working electronics?
Microsoft's Windows
XP operating system was first launched back in December 2001,
which means its been around for almost 9 years. But no
matter how good Windows XP was, it is now beginning to
show its age, especially when you compare it with
Microsoft's latest operating system 'Windows 7'.
Support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 has already ended
(July 2010)
and as of 22nd October 2010, you'll no longer be able to buy
new PCs with Windows XP installed (XP downgrade rights will
also be terminated at the same time). But all is not lost
for current users of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 as they
should still
receive updates via Microsoft until April 2014, so there's a little
time yet before Windows XP is finally put to rest. But these are the hallmarks
of a dying operating system, and as great as XP was, Users
now need to seriously consider whether the risks of using an
increasingly out-of-date operating system out way the cost(s)
of upgrading!
Toshiba's Ultra High Speed SD Cards
Toshiba
will soon release what is being touted as the worlds fastest SDHC
(Secure Digital High Capacity) media card, with read speeds of 95MB/s and write
speeds of 80MB/s. These figures represent a significant
(quadrupling) speed improvement over previous generation SD
cards. Much of this speed enhancement is due to the fact
that they are based on the all new UHS-I
(Ultra High Speed 1) specification, which supports
a theoretical maximum data transfer speed of 104MB/s. The
idea behind these speed improvements is to improve
flexibility allowing multiple, simultaneous accesses and
high data rate storage capabilities to the format. On an
interesting side note, these new UHS-I SDHC cards (or SDHC-I
for short) are almost as
fast as older generation hard drives, so it would not be
totally outrageous to suggest the possibility of the
media being used as a main storage device within a Windows
PC in the future!
Apple
has just released their latest iPod products, with it's
all new iPod Nano, finally living up to it's name measuring just 37.5mm high, 40.9mm wide and
weighing in at a
paltry 21 grams. Due to it's petite size it now incorporates a
smaller 1.5" (240x240 pixel) TFT screen, but this new
display does have 'multi-touch' capability. The Nano also
has an Accelerometer, FM Radio and can be purchase with 8GB or 16GB
of memory. One of the few negative aspects of this new
design is the lack of video capability, something that might
well disappoint some users. On a more positive note, the new
iPod Touch has many of the iPhone 4 features (as predicted by
many), with two cameras, one front facing to allow 'Facetime'
functionality and a rear facing 3.2Megapixel camera. It also
sports a 3.5" (960x640 pixel) 'Retina' display, has HD
Video capability, Three-Axis Gyro, Accelerometer, Powerful
A4 processor and comes with 8GB, 32GB or 64GB of memory.
Both devices are beautifully put together and represent
everything we have come to expect from Apple.
For more information visit:
http://www.apple.com/uk/ipod/
YouTube's Free Movie Streaming Service
When
new on-line film or TV services are launched they are very
often linked with specific countries and (due to broadcast
restrictions) never make it to foreign shores. So when
YouTube announced a new movie streaming service I almost
ignored it assuming that it was going to be a US only based
service, but I was wrong. YouTube's new movie streaming
service is a UK based service, and it's free...OK, the
initial 400 title movie library isn't exactly chock-a-block
with Hollywood block-busters, but there are a few diamonds
in the rough, if you search hard enough...and if your into
'cult' horror or marshal arts movies then there are plenty
of titles to keep you occupied. OK so it might not impress
everyone, but it is nice to see YouTube's UK film services
develop.
For more information visit:
http://www.youtube.com/movies
Canon
have developed a digital camera sensor with a staggering
resolution of 120-Megapixels (13,280 by 9,184 pixels). The
sensor is based on Canon's APS-H sensor (as used in the
professional range of DSLR's), but due to the sheer quantity
of image information it can gather, it employs a very different
method to read all the information from the sensor's output,
this ensures it can still output several frames a second. This is all
very clever but any camera utilising this sensor would require
lots of very fast memory and an equally fast memory
interface to be able to store the vast amounts of data being
gathered. Canon's current flag-ship DSLR camera employs a 21-Megapixel
sensor and is very expensive, so the idea that a 120MP sensor will
find it's way into a consumer product any time soon is
highly unlikely. In fact these types of very high resolution
sensor are more likely to be used for industrial/medical
imaging applications.
Intel
is to acquire software security firm McAfee for
almost £5 Billion, in what has been seen by many as
an unusual move. To make things worse this figure is
considered to be a premium price for McAfee, indicating
Intel's eagerness to buy. On the face of it, it does seem a
little odd, why would a chip manufacturer want a software
security firm. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to
understand that security is a problem facing all areas of
computing, and it's becoming increasing difficult to keep
one step ahead of the malware. So perhaps the idea of hardware based or at least
processor assisted security is a logical progression. More over the
upsurge of mobile communications has created the need to
look more seriously at mobile security and this could easily
take the form of embedded or 'on-chip' security
technologies!
An
unsecured Wi-Fi connection can represent a security risk,
many people understand this, but it's not just the computers
that are
connected to it that are at risk, but also your broadband connection too.
If your computer becomes compromised, due to someone gaining access
using your unsecured Wi-Fi connection, you could lose
personal data, but should they use your broadband connection
for illegal activity you could be found liable. Your legal
rights when you decide to leave your Wi-Fi network
unsecured are still untested, but law firms generally
believe that you are leaving yourself open to litigation if
your connection is abused. But is this ultimately true; some would
argue that it is the responsibility of the broadband 'contract holder'
to ensure no unauthorised access occurs, while others would
liken this situation to your car being stolen and being used
for a bank robbery and you being found guilty
of the bank robbery! Ultimately I leave it up to you to
decide...but while you are making up your mind, make sure you
secure your Wi-Fi connection!!
The
next few weeks will see many of the major browser producers
release new, beta versions of their products. Mozilla's
Firefox 4 Beta sees updates to it's JavaScript engine and
interface to support Windows 7 multi-touch features.
Google's Chrome 6 Beta sees further speed increases to it's
JavaScript rendering, user interface tweaks and Autofill
features. And the eagerly awaited Microsoft Internet
Explorer 9 Beta, which is sited for release early next
month, promises HTML5 support, massively improved JavaScript
performance and page rendering assisted by your GPU. So it
looks like 2010 is shaping up to be a interesting year for
internet browsers; so if you're tempted by any of the above
releases then remember, by it's very nature, Beta software
can be buggy and is normally unsupported, so if you're in
any way concerned by this, simply wait until the final
versions become available in a few months time.
Adobe PDF Reader Vulnerabilities
Adobe
created the PDF format, and have been providing PDF software
for well over 15 years now, thus their software can be found
on millions of computer systems worldwide. Unfortunately
numerous vulnerabilities have been discovered in Adobe's
software over the last few months and although Adobe are
working hard to remove these security problems, the sheer
dominance of their format makes them an easy target for
criminals who know any vulnerability successfully exploited,
potentially means access to a substantial number of PCs. To be
fair to Adobe they fully understand this, and they are working
hard on new versions of their PDF software that use the
latest techniques (Sandboxing) to help isolate their
software from the host system and in doing so significantly
reduce the security risks, but until these software changes
are completed, it is strongly recommended that you ensure
your version of Adobe's PDF Reader is not only the latest
version but that is fully updated/patched.
For a link to the latest Adobe PDF Reader download visit my
PDF Software page.
JailBreaking iPhone Still Illegal In The UK
After
a landmark ruling by the US Copyright Office found that it
was not illegal to Jailbreak (hack) your iPhone, many UK
iPhone users think they now have the green light to modify
their handsets. Now, even though I completely agree with the
US ruling, it is a sad fact that it is still illegal to
Jailbreak an iPhone in the UK; as it would be classified as
an attempt to 'circumvent a protection system'. It is also
worth being aware that if your handset becomes
unusable/faulty and is returned to Apple in a Jailbroken
state, then any warranty cover you have will more than
likely be forfeited. So, even though I am all for loosening
the iPhone from Apple's grip (and I know many people
Jailbreak anyway), I really can't recommend it especially
for a handset that is still under warranty!
A new version of the infamous Zeus virus has been detected
(Zeus is famous for sealing personal data). Zeus 2 has
already infected more than 100,000 systems creating a
significant Botnet, but what makes this particular version
so dangerous is it's polymorphic ability, changing and
mutating every time it is downloaded making it difficult to
detect. Another serious concern is that almost all (98%) of
the infections are based in the UK, making this a country
specific or regional malware attack. What is even worse is
the speed that other cyber-criminals are moving their own
malware to the Zeus 2 model. Progress to eradicate all the
Botnet's control servers are on-going, but the Met Police eCrime
unit reported a significant result just recently as
they successfully terminated the primary control server
located somewhere in Eastern Europe.
Middle Eastern Countries Could Ban Blackberry
Research
In Motion (RIM) are the company that developed the Blackberry, their
main business is based around a smartphone designed to make
business messaging easier. Unlike other mobile
operators the Blackberry uses RIM's own servers to relay messages and this is
the heart of the problem, it seems that a number
of middle eastern countries have concerns over the fact they
are unable to intercept RIM's encrypted messages should they
need to, sparking fears for security. The UAE, Saudi Arabia
and even India have all warned that unless a way can be
found to give them access they will ban/block Blackberry
messaging. Even though RIM will not be particularly happy
about granting these requests, they will
more than likely comply.
Just
recently I wrote an article about
the predicted increase in solar
activity over the next few years, with NASA warning of the
real possibility of communication disruption due to solar
flares. Solar events are not uncommon, but it seems a more significant solar event
did occur on
Sunday 1st Aug. It's effects will take time (at least 48
hours) to reach the Earth, and although no one is completely sure of
the magnitude of these effects, it has been suggested that satellite
communications
might be effected to some degree, but whether this will be
noticed or not is still unknown.
A more pleasant side affect of the increased solar activity
is the predicted amplification of the 'Northern Lights'
(Aurora Borealis), so you can expect to see some impressive
images posted on the web very soon!
BT
has announced it will be increasing it's line rental charges
by 50p a month from October 2010. This increase is not only
the same amount suggested by the Labour government in what
was called their 'Broadband Tax' but it coincidentally also
begins at the same time too! This move is pretty obvious,
and represents a middle finger, not only to the current
government, but to every BT customer as well...its like
saying, we wanted the investment and we'll going to get it whether
you like it or not. If this was not enough they are also
increasing their call charges by 10% at the same time. I
actually agreed with the 50p increase suggested by the
Government, but this is different, BT needs to tread very
carefully as people will now expect to see big improvements
in their network, and soon, otherwise I predict a mass
exodus!
Apple's iPhone 4 Signal Solution
Apple
has finally admitted that they have a problem with their
iPhone 4 and their solution is simple; all customers will be
sent a free 'Apple Bumper' cover. Many people predicted this
move, as the idea of a full product recall would have sent
Apple's share price tumbling, not that they needed any help
at the moment due to the fall out over the issue. But, even
with all of this going on there's still no sign of any
reduction in the demand for this beautiful handset. Even
though this was the minimum Apple could do, it is still good
to see them finally take the bull by the horns and appease
the masses. At least we won't now be seeing lots of iPhone
4s with small bits of non-conductive tape stuck across the
antenna gap, which is one of the solutions being suggested
by the iPhone 4 community...crude but effective!
Government Scraps Broadband Pledge
In
yet another broken promise the government has now scrapped
plans to implement a nationwide minimum broadband speed of
2Mbits/sec by 2012. This means no possibility of any
broadband speed improvement for an estimated 2 million UK
families that currently have exceptionally poor broadband
bandwidth/connections. This turnabout by the government
makes no sense, as it will stifle rural businesses and
deprives individuals of what is now seen as a basic
commodity. But it seems the government has decided to leave
'Digital Britain' in the hands of the ISPs, another very
naive and short-sighted move. It was only very recently that
BT reiterated that there was no economic case for trying to
reach or improve bandwidth in rural locations, thus without
any help from the government, BT will obviously concentrate
on more profitable parts of their infrastructure, which in
turn will only serve to further boost already acceptable
broadband connections and in doing so continue to widen the
digital divide!
I
wrote an article back in July
2009 about 'The Move To
64-bit Computing', and it seems I was not far off the mark
with my predictions. 46% of all Windows 7 users have
installed
64-bit versions of their operating systems, that's almost half of all Windows 7 systems running
a 64-bit environment. This change has no doubt been
facilitated by the sheer number of 64-bit compatible system
now available, and represents a significant shift away from
standard 32-bit systems; this is made all the more
remarkable by the fact that Windows Vista 64-bit only managed
a 11% adoption rate. More importantly this has to be the
clearest indication yet to software companies that they need
to ensure their software is fully 64-bit compatible or they
run the real risk of isolating what is now a significant
number of Windows users.
It
is a sad fact that we are still waiting for mobile phone manufactures to
finally agree on a single standard for mobile phone changers,
so when I heard that Laptop manufactures are now also beginning to
talk about adopting a universal standard for laptop power
supplies I was more than a little skeptical. Don't get me
wrong, like mobile phone chargers, the idea of a universal
power supply is great, but the reality is that it will take
years for manufactures to come to a decision and even longer
for them to roll out changes to their products. Lets hope
more manufactures sign up to the idea sooner rather than
later.
Bluetooth 4.0 Specification Approved
It
was only back in April 2009 that the Bluetooth 3.0
specification was ratified, so it was a surprise
to learn that a new revision had now been approved. Where
Bluetooth 3.0 seem to be mostly about transfer speed
improvements, Bluetooth 4.0
is all about reducing the amount of power devices require.
In fact the new specification dramatically reduces power
requirements with some implementations able to use just 10%
of the power used by traditional Bluetooth products. This could pave the way for a whole host of new Bluetooth
communication devices which would be able to be powered, for
many years at a time, on something as small as a watch coin cell battery.
Apple's iPhone 4 Signal Problems
It
seems that Apple thinks it's iPhone 4 customers will happily accept the idea that poor
reception is simply down to a software bug. Well most people
would seriously question that software could have a baring on the fact that
if you hold the iPhone 4 in a certain way you sometimes
suffer loss of signal. Apple could have a design
fault, they could have a manufacturing fault, but what Apple needs to do is
appease their customers and sort the issue. Very few people
will actually give up there beloved iPhone 4 (its just too
good), but they can seek compensation. Many more will see
this as a test for Apple, as it is often said you can gauge
the quality of a company by the way it acts when things go
wrong...lets hope Apple does not disappoint!
Mozilla's
fourth generation web browser Firefox 4 is not due for full
release until later this year, but a pre-release version is
available to download for those who simply can not wait for
the beta version due later this month. As with all
pre-release and beta software when you download and install
you do so at your own risk. Firefox 4 promises many
improvements including faster browsing, more security, HTML
5 support, 64-bit Support and a simplified user interface. I'm sure there will be many other additions to the browser
but details are still limited at this early stage of
release.
To download the pre-release version visit the following link:
http://nightly.mozilla.org/
Microsoft Server 2000 Support Ends
For
all those businesses and individuals who are still using
Microsoft's Server 2000 software it's worth noting
that all support ends very soon. This basically means that
no further software updates, security patches or hot fixes
will be made available after 13th July 2010. Server 2000 has
already been left at risk due to it's limited browser support (Internet Explorer 6
or older), so this news should concern users of this 10 year
old server software, as it won't be long before new
vulnerabilities surface, which will be left unresolved and
thus open to exploitation. Microsoft's Server 2000 has had a
very good innings, but it is now time to move on!
Our
Sun goes through many solar cycles, the so called 'Sunspot
Cycle' lasts for 11 years and it is this cycle that will peak
at some point between 2011 and 2013. But the idea that it
will cause a catastrophic solar event is far fetched to say
the least, thus the end of the world is not nye. Even though
there are many, many factors involved in the prediction of
solar activity, history has proven that the Earth and it's
inhabitants have, time and time again, been able to cope
with any increased solar activity. What is more likely, due to
the mass adoption of electronic devices, is that there will
be large scale disruption to satellite services, computer
systems and communications in general, but this is a worst
case scenario and even NASA is not completely sure whether
this particular cycle with be more or less intense than
previous ones.
I am proud to announce the release of
another new website created by The Glitch. Rapport
is an independent Hairdressers based in Winchester, Hampshire.
Owner Simon Ferguson provides a broad range of hair styling
services, and is part of 'My New Hair' a pioneering new
charity founded by and inspired by Trevor Sorbie MBE.
Rapport is now part of a national network of independent
salons and professionals who provide a wig styling service
for people suffering from cancer and medical hair loss.
For more information visit their site:
http://www.rapporthairdressing.co.uk
Adobe Flash Player 10 Released
Adobe
has released a new version of it's Flash Player, this is not
normally a particularly noteworthy event, but version
10 has many significant improvements over previous versions
including performance and important security enhancements.
Hardware based H.264 video decoding, touch screen figure
gestures and improved video playback control are just some
of the other features Adobe have added to Flash Player
10. But for the security enhancements alone it's highly
recommended that you update your version of Flash Player to
version 10 when you can.
For a link to the Flash Player download visit my
Browser Add-ons page.
O2 Removes Unlimited Data From iPhone
O2
has announced that it will no longer offer unlimited data
usage for it's iPhone customers, instead it will offer a
maximum data usage of between 0.5GB and 1.0GB per month
(depending on your monthly plan). Users who reach this new
limit will be required to pay for an additional data
allowance. One of the few things that made O2's tariff stand out from the
competition was the fact that it offered unlimited data, now
this has gone, I think O2 may see customers begin to move to
other providers, especially when you consider Vodafone
offers the same data plan with better overall coverage!
Saying this O2 have suggested that up to 97% of it's
customers data usage is currently well below these newly set
limits.
Back
in August 2009 I wrote an
article on Google's 'Caffeine' project, and now, almost a
year later, Google has updated their search engine using the
technology developed from this project. The main reason for
the update was to facilitate the introduction of further
enhancements to the search engine, and further improve the
search engines ability to keep up with the ever changing
information that makes up the World Wide Web. So whether you
will notice any speed improvement when you use Google is not
really the main reason for the update, but you may fine new
and often changing information appears in the index much
more quickly than before.
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Public Beta
Microsoft
had previously indicated that Windows 7's first service pack (SP1) would be
scheduled for a late 2010 release, but with a public beta of
the service pack due for release next month, it seems
Microsoft might be on track to issue the final release service pack earlier than previously thought. When
finally available SP1 will not bring any big changes to
Windows 7 with Microsoft concentrating on delivering all the
performance/security enhancements & fixes previously
released. With over 100 million licenses of Windows 7 now in
circulation and the number of patches beginning to mount up,
it only makes sense that Microsoft push forward with SP1
sooner rather than later.
Apple
will soon release their eagerly awaited software update for their iPhone, iPad and
iTouch ranges of devices. As reported back in
April this update will introduce up to 100 new features,
but the best news is that it will be free for all, including iTouch
owners, who have until now had to pay for updates. There has
also been a change in the name, no longer will the software been known as
'iPhone OS', but simply as 'iOS', mostly
because the software now covers many more devices that
just the iPhone. It is also worth noting that not all
of the new features will be available for all device types,
so don't be disappointed if your older iPhone 3G doesn't
multitask after the update has been applied!
For more information visit:
http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/softwareupdate/
Apple's iPhone 4 On Sale June 24th
Apple's
latest smart phone, the iPhone 4 is due to hit the UK very
soon , it promises many new desirable features including: A
high resolution IPS display (960x640 pixels, that's 326 pixels per inch), 5 Mega-pixel camera with LED flash and
720p HD Video recording, super fast Apple A4 Processor,
extended battery life of up to 40%, duel microphones for noise
canceling, 3-axis gyroscope, digital compass, Accelerometer
and the list goes on. If this wasn't enough it also comes with the
latest Apple iPhone operating system 'iOS4'. Pre orders will
commence on the 15th June with the main product launch on the 24th June. With so many
new and innovative features the iPhone 4 looks to be yet
another massive success for Apple.
For more information visit:
http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/
One
of the things Apple's 'Safari' web browser has going for it
at the moment is the fact that it supports the latest HTML 5
standards. HTML 5 (as the name suggests) is the 5th major
revision of the core language of the world wide web: the
Hypertext Markup Language - HTML. Support for HTML 5 is
promised for Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) but its
release is still a little way off yet. HTML 5 brings a
number
of new commands, including ways to directly add audio and
video to websites. The beauty of HTML 5 (and a little
CSS3/JavaScript) is that it allows website developers to tap
into a number of visually clever ways to present photos and images on their
websites without the need to resort to using specialist
developer software or for the end-user to install any
additional browser add-ins. This in turn not only simplifies
access to these types of resources, but should also improve
security and compatibility.
If you have the Safari browser installed on your computer or
you have an iPhone/iPad visit:
http://www.apple.com/html5/
Microsoft's Office 2010 Released
Microsoft
has finally released their latest office suite 'Office
2010'. It brings a number of improvements over 'Office 2007'
with a more seamless integration and feel to their suite of
applications. One of the more notable changes concerns
Microsoft's ribbon interface, not only has this been updated
and generally improved, but it now features in all of the
office applications. Another feature that many will enjoy is
the integration of Office Web Apps, where documents can be
shared and edited via the internet.
For more information and latest pricing visit my
Office Applications page.
44 Million Gaming Accounts Stolen
Back
in
November last year I wrote an
article about a form of malware that attempted to steal
information from on-line gaming accounts. Well, 6 months on Symantec have discovered a huge database containing over 44
Million stolen gaming account details, covering 18 different
gaming sites including World of Warcraft, Aion, and PlayNC.
The discovery of a specifically written Trojen virus that
validates the account details and determines which accounts
can be sold on, shows just how organized the criminals are
becoming. Most of the stolen accounts are said to come from Chinese servers,
limiting UK gamers exposure, but the general advice is to
err on the side of caution and change your password if you
use any of the affected games or gaming sites.
The BBC hopes to offer a full BBC 1
high-definition
channel by the Autumn. The current BBC HD channel only offers a
limited number of programs, but this is all
due to change with the announcement of BBC 1 HD, a
'simulcast' (simultaneous broadcast) high-definition
channel with an
identical programme schedule to the standard BBC 1 channel. BBC HD
will continue to exist and broadcast BBC HD programmes, but
the advent of BBC 1 HD will see many popular BBC series
finally become available in HD. The new channel should be
available as an free channel to all terrestrial and
satellite HD services.
Apple iPad A Resounding Success
The
iPad phenomenon continues unabated, with Apple now hitting
sales of over 2 million units in just 2 months of the
product going live. In fact the iPad is fast become as
popular as Apple's last success story, the iPhone. Having now had a little 'hands on' time with an iPad
I can begin to see what all the fuss is about, as there's no
doubt the iPad adds something special to the whole internet
and media experience. Whether its just the feel of the beautifully
put together hardware, the sight of it's stunning HD screen or just it's simple, intuitive,
gesture based user interface, I don't know. All I now know is...I
want one!
Its
not only Microsoft that is ending support for Internet
Explorer 6 (IE6), as it seems many other organisations
('YouTube' and 'Google Apps' to name but two) are now, no
longer willing to support the aging browser either. For all
those still running Windows 2000, this is not good news, as
IE6 is the only compatible Microsoft browser available.
Users of later versions of Windows are more fortunate as the
latest IE8 is fully compatible with Windows XP and beyond.
The sad fact is that IE6 was a poor browser, its wasn't very
secure, it didn't conform to web standards and it's general
performance was dreadful...besides it's over 9 years old,
things have changed, it really is time to move on now!
Apple's Market Value Exceeds Microsoft's
Apple's
market value of over $222 Billion has for the first time
exceeded that of Microsoft's ($219 Billion). Microsoft's revenue
($14.5 Billion) is still higher than Apple's, but these
latest figures show how strong the Apple brand has become. This
information is made all the more impressive when
you consider how close Apple were to complete failure back
in the 1990s, but several years of high quality, innovative
and desirable products has earn them a second place ranking
in
the 'S&P 500' index. (The Standard & Poor's 500 index is
widely regarded as the single best gauge of the U.S.
equities market). Only energy giant Exxon Mobile is ranked
above them, but Apple has finally managed to push age-old
rival Microsoft into third place.
British Library Newspaper Archive
The
British Library will soon begin to digitise a large
percentage of it's vast archive of
Newspapers. This mammoth task will take many years to
complete as there are around 700,000 volumes spanning well
over 200 years to get through. Currently the
archive (based at the British Library premises in London) gets around 30,000 visits a year from people
researching events and articles, so the idea that these
valuable resources could become an always available, fully
searchable, online resource is really using technology to
its best.
In
2009 Spotify's free music streaming service became an invitation
only affair; this was done to slow the ever increasing demand for it's
service. But Spotify has now released two new
accounts, to compliment it's 'Free' (invitation only) and high
quality 'Premium' (£10/month) accounts. The first is called
'Open' and allows people to signup immediately for an
account that allows you to play up to 20 hours of streaming music
each month (with adverts and at the same quality as their
standard 'Free' service). The second, account is called 'Unlimited'
it has no usage cap and costs £5/month, but unlike Spotify's
'Premium' service there is no option for off-line or mobile
access and the streaming quality is no better than their
free accounts.
For more information visit:
http://www.spotify.com/uk/get-spotify/overview/
BT's Super-Fast Fibre Broadband
BT
has announce it will continue with its plans to roll out
superfast fibre-optic based broadband. This is good news, as
many predicted that BT's broadband plans would be curtailed
after they posted a significant lost (£240 Million) in 2009.
But it seems BT have weathered the recession well and
recently posted a £1 Billion profit for the year ending
March 2010. Previously BT had stated that it hoped to roll
out fibre broadband to around 40% of households by 2012, but
it has recently revised this figure to 66% by 2015. Even
though the time span involved is extensive, it does show
BT's commitment to faster broadband, with most of it's
current profits being reinvested into their network.
A
new Wi-Fi standard capable of 'Gigabit' transfers has
finally got off the ground thanks to an agreement being reached
between the Wi-Fi and WiGig Alliances. Gigabit Wi-Fi uses a
60GHz frequency, unlike current
Wi-Fi standards which
predominately use the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency ranges.
Although this new standard will no doubt deliver a much needed
speed boost to Wi-Fi connections, it is very unlikely to
produce real 'Gigabit' speeds due to a number of inherent
factors. Besides, real-world Wi-Fi speeds have always fallen well short of
their stated transfer rates. But it seems there maybe other concerns
for the new standard due to the usage restrictions being
placed on the 60GHz band by Ofcom, which has not even
officially released the band for consumer use yet, although
it has been suggested that it is only a matter of time
before they do.
Back
in
October 2009 I wrote an article on Intel's Light Peak
technology, a new interfacing standard based around a high
speed optical link, with the idea that it will replace
the myriad of computer interfaces we currently use such as
USB, HDMI, Firewire etc. Well Intel have taken an important
step in their move to show what Light Peak can offer, by
demonstrating a laptop based on the technology which is able
to smoothly display
two independent HD videos on an external display. The
volume of data needed to display two concurrent HD video
streams is pretty big, so this demo clearly shows the raw transfer speeds possible with Intel's
Light Peak technology. More importantly, the integration into
a standard laptop indicates that Light Peak is closer to a
full product and may well soon be ready for mainstream adoption.
Gmail Accounts Available Again
After
Google got into a legal dispute over the rights to the
'Gmail' name back in 2005, it stopped offering UK customers
@gmail.com addresses and adopted @googlemail.com addresses
instead. The outcome of the legal case is still
undefined (previously the company owning the name wanted
millions to relinquish it) but it has obviously been resolved to
both parties satisfaction. If you have a Google
account that uses the @googlemail.com address, you should be able
to change it to an @gmail.com address by going to your
account settings. Saying this, as one address format seems to be an alias of the other,
it doesn't matter whether you change or
not, you should still get emails via either address format.
Apple iPad Sales Hit 1 Million
Apple has now sold
over 1 million iPads across the US in under a month, that's
pretty impressive when you consider it took around 10 weeks
for the iPhone to achieve the same volume of sales. iPad downloads are
also doing very well, with 'Digital Book' downloads at the 1.5
million mark and applications downloads around 12 million. This is
obviously good news for Apple, but
unfortunately for the UK, all this success might mean that the iPad's
European launch is further delayed, as demand continues to
outstrip supply. I would think that these latest sales
figures should finally silence all those who doubted Apple's
decision to market the iPad in the first place!
NHS Infected with Data Stealing Virus
A
data stealing worm virus (Qakbot) that infected around 1,100
computers has gone unnoticed for weeks by the NHS. The
NHS has stated that there is no evidence that any patient
data was stolen, but this is not the first time a computer
virus has disrupted NHS systems. Back in November 2008 three
London hospitals were significantly affected due to an
outbreak, and recent figures reveal that more than 8,000
computer viruses disrupted NHS systems in 2009. Some
trusts have blamed staff for previous outbreaks, indicated
they had turned off anti-virus software and automatic
updates, but I don't accept this; a good network
administrator knows that client systems should not be given
control over these types of applications, it is poor
practice.
McAfee Security Software Issue
McAfee
have issued a formal apology to it's customers after an
anti-virus update caused systems to crash. In an
unprecedented move McAfee's CEO David DeWalt posted a video message on the McAfee site to personally apologise and explain what had happened.
McAfee is obviously very keen to keep hold of it's existing
customers as DeWalt offered a two year license extension to any
customer that had been impacted by the fault. He
also offered to pay any 'Reasonable Expenses' that customers incurred in
order to sort out the faulty update. Business users were not
forgotten either with McAfee offering them a 'Customer
Commitment Package' containing a number of useful products
and services.
For more information on the issue visit:
http://www.mcafee.com/us/about/false_positive_response.html
Floppy Disk Production To Cease
The
Floppy disk has been around for almost 40 years now; the
first units started to appear back in 1971, and comprised of
an 8" disc in a plastic sleeve. This was followed by the
5.25" disc in 1976, and then by the 3.5" disc, in a firm
plastic case in 1981. The 3.5" floppy diskette quickly
became the standard and has remained so for almost 30 years
(with production peaking in 1997 at an incredible 5
Billion). It has taken a very long time for the floppy disk
to be phased out, with the likes of Dell and PC World only
dropping the format in the last few years (2003 and 2007
respectively), but the end is now nearer than ever for the
trusty 3.5" floppy disk with Sony announcing that it will
finally cease production of the media in early 2011.
Firefox Users At Risk From Zeus
Information
has come to light of a new password-stealing Trojan virus
that now targets Firefox users. The modified Zeus (Zbot)
Trojan, is able to bypass Firefox's security and targets
on-line banking users. Even worse news is the rapid rate at
which this virus is spreading, some are even suggesting that
it could be the fastest spreading malware ever. One of the
most frustrating problems for users is the fact that Zeus
uses advanced polymorphic algorithms to evade anti-virus
detection, making it hard for users to check whether their
systems are infected or not. The Glitch recommends 'Malwarebytes
Anti-Malware' to help detect and remove Zeus.
For a link to 'Malwarebytes Anti-Malware' visit my
Anti-spyware page.
US
sales of the iPad have been much better than Apple expected
with well over halve a million units sold since it's launch.
Unfortunately this is having a knock on affect for the iPad's
UK launch due to supply shortages. A revised launch date for the UK has now been set for
the end of May, with pre-orders being taken from the 10th of
May onwards. This delay is obviously frustrating for
Apple's UK customers, but I have to side with Apple on this
one, as there is nothing worse than a product launched with
little or no hope of getting hold of one due to poor stock
availability. In better news O2, Vodafone and Orange
have all now announced that they will be offering 'dedicated
plans' for those customers who choose the 3G versions of the
iPad.
Google Ranks Web Page Load Times
It
seems that Google is keen that all website owners ensure
their websites are performing well, with the inclusion of a
'Page load time' as one of the many factors that determine
search result ranking. Google is quick to point out that the
'Page load time' is just one of over 200 different criteria
used to determine a website's position in their index, and
that 'Load speed' has a much lower classification than more
important factors such as content and relevance. Saying this, particularly slow sites that take
a very long time to
load, say 20 seconds or more, may actually find their Google ranking
reduced.
Apple's
latest iPhone operating system has just been announced, OS 4.0 promises to
be the best iPhone OS yet containing many eagerly awaited
updates. In fact this latest version contains no less than
100 new features including multi-tasking, custom home screen
wallpapers, 5x digital zoom, tap focus, icon folders, iBook support, Unified inbox view and
much more. Apple has
been berated for not developing the iPhone operating system
quickly enough, with some people moving away from the iPhone
simply because of this issue, but I'm sure if Apple
continues to churn out significant updates like this, it should keep
the majority of
people happy. Apple has hinted that OS 4.0 will be
available within the next few months.
After
many months of controversy the government has decided to
scrap the 50p/month broadband tax. I think that this was one
of the government's better ideas, as it was an attempt to
bring 'Next Generation' broadband to the masses, especially
when history has proven that if you leave this type of
infrastructure improvement to private firms (BT, Orange to
name but two) they will only target the areas where the most
money will be made. This has left millions of households
with internet connections that can't even stream a single
video feed smoothly, let alone support a small family's
internet needs. The tax would have obviously irritated all
those already benefiting from 8MB+ connections and those who
don't want/need broadband, but for the many hundreds of
thousands of families that don't live in large towns and
cities, this tax could have helped to transform slow and
often unusable broadband connection across the UK.
It
is a sad fact that there are many unscrupulous computer
support companies in existence, it was only last year that
PC World was found to be less than truthful when repairing
some systems, but it seems that some will stoop much lower
than others to make a fast buck. One company named 'The Nerd
Support' called a Pensioner and convinced him that his
computer was infected by a virus, which was totally untrue.
They then proceeded to irradiate non-existent viruses and
faults using a remote support client and tried to charge him
almost £200. If it wasn't for his son, who happened to pop
by just before any payment was made, the scam would have
been successful. So be warned, never accept a call from an
unknown computer support company, if in doubt, seek advice
from a friend or family member, or better still contact The
Glitch and I will give you some free advice!
Carphone Warehouse & TalkTalk Split
The Carphone
Warehouse and TalkTalk (the Internet Service Provider (ISP)
arm of the company) continue to be successful businesses,
but the two companies have little in common operationally
and their on-going strategies indicated that they needed to operate independently
rather than as one company, so it was inevitable that a
demerger was on the cards. Thus the Carphone Warehouse and
TalkTalk are now listed as two separate companies,
effectively splitting their retail and ISP businesses.
Earth Hour 27 March 2010 8:30PM
Earth
hour is in its forth year, and support is growing year on
year. To show your support and that you care about climate
change, just switch off as many of your electrical devices
as you can on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm, for an hour. This
year you can even see how each area of the UK compares by
visiting the 'Earth Hour Map', this shows a league based on
the percentage of population signed up. Don't forget to peer
out of your window, at your neighbors during earth hour, to
see who's not showing their support, that way you can berate
them, next time you see them!
To sign-up and see how your area is doing visit:
https://earthhourmap.wwf.org.uk/sign_up/
Yet
another warning for Facebook users, with a new scam
currently doing the rounds. This time an
email with the title 'Facebook Password Reset Confirmation!
Customer Message.' will try to convince you to open an
attachment that supposedly has new password details. It is
important to understand that Facebook would never send out
password details in this way, as the attachment actually
contains a sophisticated malware program that steals your
computer's passwords and other information. Never reply to,
open an attachment or follow a link from an email purporting
to help you with your password, unless you have specifically
just requested such a service, and even then proceed with
caution; keep vigilant at all times!
Microsoft
had previously indicated that Windows 7's first service pack
would be scheduled for some time in 2011, but
it seems that this has all changed with Microsoft
now considering a late 2010 release for Windows 7's Service
Pack 1 (SP1). No big changes are planned with Microsoft
mostly concentrating on delivering all the
performance/security enhancements & fixes previously
released. It's a real shame that Microsoft seem to be
signifying that service pack 1 will not include additional
features, but with an expected late October 2010 release we
can only hope Microsoft change their mind and incorporate a few added extras!
Private Law Firms Target Illegal File-Sharers
It
seems that the trend for private law firms taking on illegal
file-sharing cases is increasing. Unfortunately for the
illegal file-sharers some of these firms see them as a way
to make a quick buck, and are resorting to bullying tactics
asking for substantial payouts for out of court settlements.
These tactics work, with most people opting to pay the
settlement, to avoid expensive litigation. I'm afraid I have
no sympathy for the illegal file-sharers, (as long as
innocent people are not being targeted) if you get involved
in illegal activity, you should expect to pay a hefty
penalty, even if it's at the hands of less than scrupulous
law firm!
And just for all you Pirates out there:
http://www.cristgaming.com/pirate.swf
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 (IE8)
web browser has come a long way, but it's not perfect, not everyone is totally
happy with its user interface or it's general performance,
or indeed the many security issues. But it's important to
understand
that all browsers have their security issues, unfortunately
for Microsoft their browser bugs always seem to make headline news.
But Microsoft hopes to change all this, and is hard at work
on a new version of Internet Explorer. IE9 promises full
support for the latest HTML 5 standards, massively improved
JavaScript performance and GPU (Graphic Processing Unit)
assisted graphics, all this along side the inevitable
security improvements and user interface tweaks. But this is
just hearsay, what's far more interesting is Microsoft's
early code previews of IE9, which reveal a fast and powerful
browser code base!
To download an Internet Explorer 9 preview (Windows Vista
and 7 only) visit:
http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/
100,000 Apple iPads Pre-ordered
There
were countless people who could not see the point of Apple's
iPad, with many stating that people did not want such a
device and it would not sell. How wrong they were...the
latest sales figures indicate that more than 100,000
pre-orders have already been placed. This sends a very
strong message that people not only understand what the iPad
is, but moreover want to buy it. It might not have the full functionality
of a tablet PC, but many people don't need another PC, they
just need a simple to use, coffee table device for basic
internet and media tasks, and as I predicted back in
February the iPad is clearly this and more!
China Concerned Over Google Hack
Chinese
authorities are said to be concerned over the hacking
allegations made by Google. The Chinese Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology (MIIT) have stated that although they
have not
received a formal complaint from Google, they were currently
in consultations with them over the matter. If these concerns
are found to be true, and the attacks stemmed from within
China, then the Chinese government has stated that it will
take swift and decisive action against the perpetrators,
making it very clear that this type of activity is
unacceptable.
Further Graphics Boast for Netbooks
nVidia's
first attempt at a low powered graphics processor was a
resounding success with it's original 'Ion' GPU proving significantly faster than
the competition. But nVidia's new low powered GPU is even
faster; in fact there are reports that
their new chip is up to ten times faster than Intel's latest GMA
3150 GPU (found inside Intel's new Atom N450 processor).
This new 'Ion' GPU represents a significant step forward for Netbook
graphics,
which until now have struggled to play HD video smoothly, keep pace with
more modern gaming titles and run full versions of Windows 7.
Don't get me wrong, the 'Ion' graphics processor will not
replace full blown discrete graphics any time soon,
but nVidia have defiantly closed the gap a little.
Time Running Out For Illegal File-Sharers
The
government is committed to reducing illegal file sharing,
and is now considering a
number of different punishments, including significantly reducing
offenders internet bandwidth, imposing hefty download limits
and even the
possibility of suspending prolific offender's internet connections.
No one can defend illegal file-sharing activity, thus it is
only right that offenders are brought to account, there is
no such thing as 'something for nothing' illegal file
sharing is theft. The government hopes that these measures
(still currently being finalised) will send a clear message
to people, and if it doesn't then a few hundred annoyed
households with little or no internet connection should do
the trick. Remember if you are an illegal file-sharer and
you get caught, it could be the whole household that suffers!
Back
in April 2007 I wrote a news
article about Intel producing their first 80-core processor,
but as impressive as this was, it's inability to run
standard operating system code meant that was never going to
find it's way into a regular computer. But almost 3 years on
and much has changed with Intel
now exhibiting a prototype processor with no less than 48
true microprocessor cores, based on standard Intel
Architecture (IA). This means that this incredibly powerful
chip will be able to run standard operating system code, a
huge step forward from their previous many-core designs. The so called
Single-chip Cloud Computer (SCC) packs a massive 1.3 billion
transistors but still only uses around 125 watts of energy
at maximum performance, a true super computer on a chip!
For additional information visit:
http://techresearch.intel.com/articles/Tera-Scale/1826.htm
Back
in September 2006, four pupils from a school in Turin deemed
it OK to film themselves bulling a classmate with Autism and then uploaded
their sick escapade on YouTube. This was clearly very wrong, but
that fact that YouTube, at the time, acted swiftly to remove the content
from their site had no significance for the Milan court which
today convicted three Google employees of violating the boy's privacy.
This is a bizarre outcome to say the least, none of the employees had any part
in the act of taking the images, or uploading said images to
YouTube, but were still convicted. It is the four pupils that
should have be convicted not YouTube. This sends out a very poor
message 'Upload what you like, you won't get into any real
trouble; let the site owners take the fall' ... ridiculous,
people have to be accountable for the content they post,
anything else is just idiotic!
AMD
(Advanced Micro Devices) are on the verge of releasing their
new 8 and 12 core Opteron processors, (code named
Magny-Cours). Little is know about these new processors,
other than they will be in direct competition with Intel's
latest Xeon chips. Saying this, we do know that up to four of these
new CPUs will be able to work together (48 cores in total),
each supporting up to four DDR3 memory channels. So the
specification on paper at least is impressive, but as always
we will have to wait until real world performance can be measured
before we get to excited!
Windows 'Browser Ballot' Screen
Microsoft
will soon begin to roll out it's 'Browser Ballot' screen
(via Windows Updates); initially to Windows 7 users and
then, on the 1st March, to all Windows users. The 'Browser
Ballot' screen will present users with a choice of up to a
dozen different browsers, with the top 5 most used randomly
displayed first. This addition to Windows has come about
solely to appease the European Commission over Microsoft's
antitrust lawsuit. If Internet Explorer (IE) is your default
browser you will be presented with the 'Browser Ballot'
screen, whether you want it or not; if IE is not your
default browser you will be pleased to know that you will not
have to go through the 'Browser Ballot' screen malarkey!
For additional information visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/oct09/10-07Statement.mspx
Wikipedia Gets Donation From Google
Bringing
information to people is at the heart of everything Google
does, so its no wonder it has a soft spot for Wikipedia.
Whether you like Wikipedia or not, it's difficult to ignore
the sheer scale of it, with more than 14 million entries
made by over 100,000 contributors, it represents one of the
largest and most read references on the web. As Wikipedia's
revenue is almost entirely generated from donations,
Google's generous (£1.3 million) support will be most
welcomed I'm sure.
This
is just a reminder to anyone who is still using the Windows
7 Release Candidate (RC), as of 1st March 2010 any active RC
versions of Windows 7 will start to shut down every two
hours (any files you have open will not be saved). Further
to this initial behaviour, on the
1st June 2010 (when all RC versions finally expire), your
wallpaper will also be set to solid black you will get a
persistent message and additional pop-ups informing you that
your Windows isn't genuine. I will stress again, this only
applies to the free RC download (meant as a short term
evaluation version of Windows 7 only), no other versions of
Windows 7 are affected.
Visit my Operating Systems page for more information on Windows 7 products.
One
thing that seems to upset most, if not all, Apple iPhone
users, is the lack of Adobe Flash support in it's internet
browser. You may not think this is particularly irritating
issue, but when you consider that approximately 40% of all
websites contain flash, then the problem does not seem so
small. The issue stems from Apple's own terms and conditions
which state that 'no application is allowed to install or
lunch any code by any means'. So full flash support can't
happen, but Adobe should take a little of the flak for not
issuing a 'Light' version of their Flash player plug-in for
the iPhone, something that would, more than likely, be more
acceptable to Apple. Saying this I can believe that Apple
aren't too worried about having Flash support; no Flash
means, the extra graphic content won't slow the iPhone down,
or for the same reason drain the battery more quickly and of
cause it side steps any possible security issues!
Windows 7 and Laptop Batteries
Some
users have been claiming that Microsoft's new operating
system 'Windows 7' is destroying laptop batteries. The idea
that an operating system could be responsible for damaging
or destroying a laptop's battery seems a little odd, but the
fact that Windows 7 incorporates a new
feature that allows it to interrogation batteries and
report back it's condition could be the reason why people
think this is so. Basically Windows 7 interrogates the
battery to glean it's original designed power capacity and it's
current power capacity so that it can
compare the two values; it then reports back to the user the
actual, maximum capacity of the battery. If this value turns
out to be less than 40% of the designed capacity (ie. 60% of
the battery's capacity has degraded) Windows 7 informs the
user that they may want to consider replacing their battery.
This seems to me a classic case of don't shoot the messenger!
Microsoft
seem to be on track for a June release of the latest version
of their Office suite, Office 2010. In fact it has been
suggested that Microsoft will soon offer free upgrades to
anyone who purchases a qualifying Office product between
March and it's June release date, under a scheme called the
'Microsoft Office 2010 Technology Guarantee Program'. As
Microsoft is due to change the products in it's Office 2010
packages, your free upgrade path will not necessarily be
obvious, but I have no doubt that more details will be
released over the coming months!
Apple
has just released its latest product, the iPad. Some people
have already started to berate Apple for releasing such a
device, stating that this is an unnecessary product
that will not sell , but I strongly disagree. The iPad is a
true coffee table device, a product that the whole family
can dabble with, it's a web browser, an e-book reader and
digital photo-frame. It has the obligatory iPod features of
music and video playback, and the fact that it has a 9.7"LED
screen, but still manages to weigh less than 0.7kg makes it
a truly lightweight device. And if this was not enough then
the fact that all standard
Apple 'Appstore' applications should work without
modification is another nice touch, and it doesn't end
there, email, notes and calendar are all present too. In fact if you
think of the iPad as a big version of Apple's iPod touch product
you won't go too far wrong! It won't appeal to everyone,
some will not be happy unless they have a PC, but for many
this will be the next must have device!
For more information visit:
http://www.apple.com/ipad/
Windows
7 is officially the fastest selling operating system
in history. Microsoft has sold 60 million Windows 7 licenses
since it's launched back in October last year. This no doubt
helped boost Microsoft's revenue in the last quarter of 2009
to almost £12bn, of which £4bn was pure profit; showing that
Microsoft has finally got it right with Windows 7. With such
interest in Windows 7 be sure to look out for my
review
(currently work in progress) and don't forget to visit my
Software pages for the latest prices with handy price
comparisons across a number of well known suppliers.
Yet
again we hear reports of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE)
coming under attack, but yet again it's the older
versions of Internet Explorer that seem to be more
susceptible. 'Should I change my browser?'...no, not because
of this, all browsers have their vulnerabilities and IE is
no worse then Firefox or any other browser for that matter.
A change of browser would simply be a knee
jerk reaction, especially when this latest vulnerability has
been described by many security companies as a limited
threat only. A better question to ask would be 'Should I update
my browser to the latest version?', and the answer would be
a resounding yes, as the latest versions of IE are much more
secure than their predecessors.
For a link to the latest Internet Explorer download visit my Browsers page.
Google Terminates China Censorship
Back
in 2006 Google setup 'Google.cn in' the hope that it could
offer a more open internet for the Chinese people.
At the time they were heavily criticised for agreeing to
censor their search results so that the Chinese government
would allow them to operate. But Google is becoming
increasingly uncomfortable, especially now that significant evidence proves phishing and hacking attacks (aimed at western
businesses and the GMail accounts of numerous human right
campaigners) are originating from the Chinese government.
This and the fact that Chinese authorities now wish to setup
an internet 'whitelist' are
putting Google in a very difficult position. So much so,
that Google have decided to only offer an 'unfiltered'
Google.cn service, something that will no doubt be
unacceptable to the Chinese authorities and could ultimately
result in the closure of the 'Google.cn' site
and possibly Google's operations in China.
Government introduces 'Home Access'
A
new scheme called 'Home Access' has been set up by the UK
government to help low-income families gain access to a
computer and broadband connection. Qualifying families (who
meet set eligibility criteria) will be given a grant to buy
a computer and/or a year's internet access. They will also
be given a year's service and support, plus all necessary
security software to keep them safe on-line. The scheme
hopes to help an additional 270,000 low-income families gain
access to the internet (something that most people take for
granted these days), and in doing so help reduce the digital
divide and unsure many more families have access to a
computer at home.
For more information visit:
http://www.homeaccess.org.uk/
Google's Nexus One Mobile Phone
Google
has finally released it's long awaited mobile phone, the
Nexus One. The specifications are impressive: Quad band (GSM/EDGE)
3G mobile phone, 1GHz Processor, High resolution 3.7" (WVGA)
800x400 screen, 5 Megapixel camera with flash (capable of
taking video with a resolution of 720x480), removable
storage using Micro SD Cards (up to 32GB), Wi-Fi b/g/n,
Bluetooth 2.1, Accelerometer, Digital compass, GPS receiver
and much more. The phone's software is based on Google's
latest 'Android Mobile' operating system, which is able to
execute multiple applications simultaneously. The system is
icon based (like the iPhone) and support is thriving for its
growing library of applications, around 20,000 at the time
of writing. Should Apple be worried by the Nexus...yes,
Nexus is probably the first real competitor to the iPhone,
it currently doesn't handle music and video quite as
seamlessly as the iPhone, but this has to be offset by the
fact it does most other tasks very well!
For more information visit:
http://www.google.com/phone
Intel will
soon extend it's current range of 'Core' processors, adding
to their existing Core i7 and i5 series of CPUs, and
introduce a new Core i3 chip. All the new CPUs (codenamed 'Westmere')
will be based on a 32nm fabrication process a reduction from
the 45nm process currently being used; they will be
dual-core based and have intergraded graphics processors (or
IGP) as standard. The IGPs will be based on Intel's new HD
graphics chip, and although an improvement on previous
incarnations, will still not worry the main-stream graphics
card manufacturers. Technologies such as Hyper-threading
(HT) and Turbo boost have been included, with all the chips
being based on the LGA1156 socket. Intel's long term plan is
that these new chips will replace their older 'Core 2 Duo' and
'Core 2 Quad' range of processors.
If you're interested in the new 'Core' range of visit my Processors page for more details.
Piracy is dead, long live 'Spotify'!
The
music industry has made some mammoth mistakes; over charging
for CDs and digital downloads, lacing said mediums with
digital rights management and generally frustrating music
lovers all over the world. But things have changed, we no
longer have to to put up with DRM and pay for every music
track we want to listen to...and I am not talking about
piracy, I'm talking about 'Spotify'. Spotify allows you to
stream pretty much any track from just about any artist you
can think of, just type in the name and away you go. The
music industry has made this possible, and has allowed
Spotify to exist in this form, for this we should be
thankful. Spotify also provides a 'Premium Service' which
carries a small monthly tariff, but in return you get access
to mobile versions of Spotify and features such as an
'offline' mode for when you are not connected to the
internet. The average music pirate can't argue with this, it
gives them everything they have been fighting for, it leaves
them with no more excuses and nothing to hide
behind...Piracy is dead, long live Spotify!
For more information visit my 'Audio
Tools' section within my Software area.
Happy
New Year, I hope 2010 is a great year for you all. During
2010 I intend to continue the optimization of the site
with the aim to have the whole site fully standards
compliant before quarter 2. I will continue to roll out my
Javascript database and convert the rest of my Hardware
pages, I also hope to form some kind of 'Glitch' forum or
social networking link at some point this year.
I hope the Glitch will prove interesting and useful to you during 2010, as I strive to continue to bring you the best products, software, sites and solutions to your problems. As always, your comments and suggestions are always welcome!