291 Posted Topics
 | Forgive the guffaws of uncontrolled laughter from over here. I've just seen that the US Government - January Obama edition - is considering making IT security a matter for its specific attention and put someone in charge of Cybercrime. So why the laughter from the UK? Yes, I can understand … |
| | The fact that Apple is now encouraging people to use antivirus software on its systems is to be welcomed. I use a Mac myself but I'm regularly disturbed by the number of fellow users who refuse utterly to use AV because 'there aren't any viruses, they're all on the PC' … |
| | There's the start of a cult of the personality thing going on in the UK technology sphere. Traditionally people have done their research on a gadget before buying it by remarkably old-fashioned means; they look in a magazine, they check online, they ask friends and get a consensus. It's a … |
| | Here we go again. I can't remember how many years ago it was that I gave a talk to a major Enterprise software supplier's customers (and a couple of its executives - two of them, that becomes important a little later) on the nature of the small to medium enterprise … |
| | There is of course nothing wrong with Apple getting a slapped wrist because of its current advertising campaign for the iPhone in the UK. Essentially the ad demonstrated how simple it is to download and install applications to the phone, followed by how easy it was to surf the Internet … |
| | If this is the year of anything then it's the year of social media. And yet I start to see the tide turning. I'm quite a keen Twitterer ([URL="http://www.twitter.com"]www.twitter.com[/URL] for anyone who doesn't know, and anyone wanting to follow me is welcome as GuyClapperton - and hello to anyone reading … |
| | Symantec's research on the apparent rise in the 'black market' for goods on the Internet makes for interesting reading. That's 'interesting' if we take it to mean 'nothing much has happened so we might as well read it in case there are any odd findings'. The interesting thing for me … |
| | This is unusual. When I started as a journalist in the late eighties it went pretty much without saying that some territories would be ahead of my own home in the UK for technological take-up. America and Japan would typically be three years ahead of us while Germany would be … |
| | I don't know the extent to which this story has crossed the shores to America, but our local friendly far-right political party the British National Party has had details of its members published on the Internet. I'm not going to rehearse their arguments for them - you know the sort … |
| | It's happened at last. Someone has come unstuck because of the contents of their blog. And, relief of reliefs, it's not me. I should explain. Among my activities as a journalist I offer media training - coaching for people who're about to talk to the press. Not how to spin …  |
| | A typically eloquent contribution from my colleague Happygeek tells us a great deal about the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3522.html"]games console wars[/URL]. Xbox is outselling the PS3 but they're both being trounced by the Wii. So far so good, but my guess is that the Xbox will still be the long-term loser. And I'll … |
| | The news that a couple has split up because the man was having an affair with someone else playing Second Life - not that they'd met, you understand, they were having this online thing - and the wife wants a real-life divorce is no great surprise. They first met online, … |
| | I've been doing some work on social networking recently. Specifically my column in the UK's Sunday Telegraph newspaper has found a number of companies that have used the idea very much to their advantage - Christopher Ward Watches, for example, gets its customers to talk about what would go into … |
| | Gaah, here we go again. Google is attaching video conferencing to its Gmail service. Gmail users, if they have a webcam and microphone, can now download a little utility and IM and talk to people as well as mailing them. The IM facility has been around for a while. And … |
| | So Apple has taken the rare step of announcing it's not going to update its range by the end of this year. It's done this because the rumors have been floating around for so long - people were expecting a new iMac and a new Mac Mini to come out … |
| | It's ironic in many ways that UK firms are asking for more help with IT security. The link is [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7702823.stm"]here[/URL] but that's the basics of it - Brits aren't happy with what the Government is doing to prevent Cybercrime, particularly in the business world. Well, OK, there's always more to … |
| | The fact that Hewlett-Packard is taking its netbooks more seriously is to be welcomed. A while ago I was going away and my laptop broke down; armed with my existing 3G dongle and an Asus eeePC I was able to use Google Docs to keep all my work up to … |
| | Yeah, look, a good definition of 'workaholic' is probably someone who sees something he likes on the Internet while he's supposed to be on holiday, logs onto his blog and tells everyone about it. I know, I know, I'm supposed to relax. But when the iTunes store starts censoring harmless … |
| | This is possibly going to be very badly timed. A lot of users are going to get very confused. Essentially in the UK we have a lot of free or very cheap Internet services. We also have a lot of people - Apple, the BBC, many media providers - offering … |
| | Here we go again. It seems like only last week (there's probably a reason for that) that I was at my desk talking about the amount of alarmist stuff about malware that's out there on the Internet. You know how it goes; someone proves in a lab that something can … |
| | This is just what we needed to make us comfortable as the recession (I think we can stop calling it the credit crunch as we've been doing in the UK) starts to bite uncomfortably. Mobile devices are becoming vulnerable to malware attacks. It must be true, I've read it on … |
| | I'd like to start today's blog with a big hello to the British Government. I say a big hello although they won't be watching everything I type just yet, that's going to be a little later. They're trying to pass laws over here that mean they'll be allowed to monitor … |
| | I've written about broadband speeds twice lately. Never being one to quit while I'm ahead, here I go again. Yesterday I looked at the forthcoming superfast broadband to the home (or at least as far as the outer wall of the home, the ageing cables inside are another matter) and … |
| | It's starting, then. In the UK we're going to follow some experiments I've seen in France and start getting fibreoptic connections to the home for superfast broadband. The [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7667761.stm"]BBC[/URL] has notes on where this is starting, but what interests me more is just why they're bothering just yet. 18 months … |
| | Apple is making an announcement tomorrow. It's known to be about notebooks and wiser heads than mine are speculating about what it's going to be - so in the meantime I'll present my own wish list for the company. It's not based on any evidence and I haven't based it … |
| | It seems Apple may be on the brink of yet another iPhone redesign. Not, this time, because of any fault or because of any user demand but because the European Union (that's my continent, folks) is considering a directive that would force phones to have an easily removable battery. This, … |
| | Sometimes someone has something that's just a grand idea and everyone should have one. Take Google Goggles. The idea is that when you send an e-mail at certain times of day, particularly from home, they'll set you some [URL="http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-in-labs-stop-sending-mail-you-later.html"]maths questions[/URL]. Why would it do a thing like that? Why, to …  |
| | First some good headline news amid all the gloom: spam incidents are going down. There has been 8 per cent less unwanted junk e-mail over the last year worldwide, according to a new report from Messagelabs. The reason is relatively simple; an American ISP called Intercage went down the swannee … |
 | The problem with citizen journalists (and I speak with vested interests as a paid one, on this site and elsewhere) is that there's nobody editing their posts when they blog. This is OK as long as they understand they're operating under the same constraints as the paid variety - if … |
| | OK, I've been putting some longer and frankly heavier entries up just lately - but sometimes something's just so damned silly you have to tell everyone about it. And if you happen across it on a Friday afternoon (it's afternoon over here anyway) you've just got to spread it around … |
| | Of all the most cloying and over-rated virtues, for me self-deprecation is the worst. You know the sort of thing: people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them I write a bit, only when they press me do I confess that I write for most … |
| | On the face of it it's excellent news that Microsoft and the Washington State Attorney General are fighting against web scams. The sort of scam they're looking at is pretty clever if you're an inexperienced user. You're surfing a website or three - never mind what sort, we're not here … |
| | ...with the idea that the world is coming crashing down around our shoulders, particularly with IT stocks falling and banks making tech staff redundant, let's have a think about one particular story. The EU is going to try to get [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7637215.stm"]broadband to every house[/URL] on the continent from which I … |
| | You really get the impression this should be a bad idea. Microsoft has announced a [URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10048061-56.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.0"]delay to Windows Mobile 7.0[/URL]. This, you'll remember, was going to allow people to release phones to rival Apple's iPhone and, we assume, Android. The announcement comes in the wake of the Android release. Could … |
| | Here we go again. The hypemeisters are in full swing, the prediction market is growing again - glory be, Android is coming to a phone near you tomorrow, or at least it's going to do so if you live in America. The launch is in New York, America will get … |
| | I've been doing a piece lately that's involved me talking to a number of IT support types and they're all coming out with similar comments and views: too many managers, they're saying, are declaring that something is an IT issue when actually it's no such thing, it's a management thing. … |
| | That was quick, but I suppose it would be. Readers might have heard that while America has had the Lehmann Brothers crisis, we've had our own little meltdown in the UK and two of our banks, HBOS and Lloyds, have decided to merge. And they've been [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7621647.stm"]Cybersquatted[/URL]. Now, this can … |
| | This is a strange one. Forgive me for bringing the subject up but airline staff are [URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10040910-1.html?tag=mncol"]asking that their providers restrict the sites people can look at when they're flying[/URL]. Essentially they're asking that people shouldn't look at porn while they're serving coffee, and funnily enough some of the passengers … |
| | There comes a time when a fellow just has to admit he's made a mistake. I've said on this blog a couple of times that I believe some technology fans - particularly people wanting to see violent games on the iTunes store and elsewhere - are crazy to object when … |
| | The BBC in the UK has been interviewing Tim Berners-Lee, the effective inventor of the Internet. The news item is [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7613201.stm"]here[/URL]. He's expressing concern that the Net is being used for rumour (or rumor in America) rather than fact and he'd like it repurposed. Well, sure. But how in blazes … |
| | So today, according to Tuesday's announcement, there will be new iPhone software available from Apple. We don't know exactly when, in the UK at 1.20 it wasn't there, but no matter - it's going to arrive. And it's going to address issues a few users have noticed, specifically poor battery … |
| | I think I'm going to start compiling a list of these. Last week we had complaints from people not wanting Apple or Facebook to do stuff they didn't like to their websites - excluding content and the like. Now we have [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7609555.stm"]this story[/URL] about Facebook's redesign going ahead regardless of … |
| | One of my favourite things about Microsoft is that whatever its critics say, it popularised computers as easy to use items. Windows, on its third run, brought the graphical user interface to the fore (and yes of course I know it had been around for a while as Gem, Apple … |
| | It's interesting, isn't it - we all try to be greener (in London today is 'can the car day') and to consume less. Then they release a shiny new iPod and we WANT MORE TOYS, regardless of whether there's any actual need for them or whether we already have something …  |
| | This is incredible. In the UK, police are worried that criminals can use mobile devices to [URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10032823-94.html?tag=nl.e703"]wipe a corporate network[/URL] if they know what they're doing Well, OK, I understand the concept. Same as I understand the threat to internal network security when someone can walk into their workplace with …  |
| | So I'm scrolling through the features rather than the news and I come across [URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10031076-93.html?tag=mncol"]this[/URL]. Software developers, apparently, are under threat from censors. Apple is refusing to put violent games onto its iTunes store and Facebook is going to refuse to distribute some applications. I'm interested mostly in the psychology … |
| | Google's new venture will go public as most of you are reading this (assuming 'most of you' means our American readers, who I assume are a substantial majority). Google is going to [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7593106.stm"]release a browser.[/URL] It's called Chrome and it's going to be geared towards the things we all want … |
| | Word has reached us in the UK that there is some sort of election happening in the US. In fact it has been happening for an incredibly long time, with one of the candidates in particular making more premature victory speeches (although not to Americans, I mean, they're only the … |
| | It looks like the browser wars may be hotting up as Microsoft has fired its salvo - it seems that by [URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10020157-93.html?hhTest=1"]storing our previous search behaviors[/URL] it's going to beat Google at its own game. I guess this is a different approach. [URL="http://www.cuil.com"]Cuil[/URL] appears to be trying the 'if it … |
| | Here we go again with the iPhone, Apple says it's issuing a fix without - as is Apple's habit - [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7569393.stm"]telling us what it's fixing[/URL]. Even as a satisfied user I can think of plenty. Searchable e-mail. MobileMe that really works on my iPhone (it still does nothing outside theb … |
The End.