Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
How Boxxy blew up the internet
Saw this is the Guardian today, think it says a lot about modern life and the internet. Apologies for now printing the article, but The Guardian get intense about that sort of thing and the emails fly, so here is the link
Luckily, Youtube is more mellow
Note to 40 plus readers, this could well be real!
Luckily, Youtube is more mellow
Note to 40 plus readers, this could well be real!
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Hub of things
After a fairly hefty bill from those lovely people at British Telecom Internet for excess internet usage over Christmas I reluctantly concluded that I was going to have to move from my BT option 1 10gb allowance to their Unlimited option. Having just set up my own PC repair firm and with a tendency to have internet TV and Radio on the go while I am working, the decision to move to an unlimited tariff was something of a no-brainer compared to the excess charges. BT sweetened the deal with the offer of a free Home hub.
For those unfamiliar with Home hub its essentially a proprietary wireless router for BT users; a rather stylish concave black affair minus the usual collection of aerials, four blue LED's show power, wireless, internet and telephone status. The router allows you to add a second phone via the router and VOIP and BT boast that international calls can be made for around 1p a minute. Calls to the UK at weekends and the evenings are free. Each hub is equipped with its own telephone number, mine starts with 05 a number which up to number I have associated with premium rate numbers which only goes to show what I know!
I had heard some horror stories about installing Home hub on Windows machines and as a Linux user suspected that things would be difficult. As it turned out I could not have been more wrong. Once the router was plugged in and the Ethernet hooked up it was simply a matter of rebooting my PC and I was connected. For windows users there is a CD with a setup.exe although it looks like a standard Ethernet connection to me.
The Home hub, aside from acting as a VOIP link also supports USB. I plugged an external hard drive and the hub recognised it as part of the network. To date I have not had time to check speeds or if it will stream media. If it does it could be a very useful feature indeed.
As a router, speed have been good and the interface is fairly clear. I can't find any mention of NAT or Port forwarding but I may have missed something. But for now at least 8/10 and it could get better.
For those unfamiliar with Home hub its essentially a proprietary wireless router for BT users; a rather stylish concave black affair minus the usual collection of aerials, four blue LED's show power, wireless, internet and telephone status. The router allows you to add a second phone via the router and VOIP and BT boast that international calls can be made for around 1p a minute. Calls to the UK at weekends and the evenings are free. Each hub is equipped with its own telephone number, mine starts with 05 a number which up to number I have associated with premium rate numbers which only goes to show what I know!
I had heard some horror stories about installing Home hub on Windows machines and as a Linux user suspected that things would be difficult. As it turned out I could not have been more wrong. Once the router was plugged in and the Ethernet hooked up it was simply a matter of rebooting my PC and I was connected. For windows users there is a CD with a setup.exe although it looks like a standard Ethernet connection to me.
The Home hub, aside from acting as a VOIP link also supports USB. I plugged an external hard drive and the hub recognised it as part of the network. To date I have not had time to check speeds or if it will stream media. If it does it could be a very useful feature indeed.
As a router, speed have been good and the interface is fairly clear. I can't find any mention of NAT or Port forwarding but I may have missed something. But for now at least 8/10 and it could get better.
Friday, 16 January 2009
Monday, 5 January 2009
Police to hack your PC
Police have been given the power to hack into personal computers without a court warrant and the Home Office faces the threat of a legal challenge after granting permission to allow Police to do this. Ministers are also drawing up plans to allow police across the EU to collect information from computers in Britain. The moves will further claims of a "Big Brother Society" where the often spurious accounts of combating terrorism and the recently promoted public enemy number, the paedophile, are used to allow police access to ever larger amounts of private information
Hacking – known as "remote searching" – has been quietly adopted by police across Britain following the development of technology to access computers' contents at a distance. Police say it is vital for tracking cyber-criminals and paedophiles and is used sparingly but civil liberties groups are worried that its usage will be expanded without any form of control.
Remote searching can be achieved by sending an email containing a virus to a suspect's computer which then transmits information about email contents and web-browsing habits to a distant surveillance team. Alternatively, "key-logging" devices can be inserted into a computer that relay details of each key hit by its owner. Detectives can also monitor the contents of a suspect's computer hard-drive via a wireless network. Users who are worried about this might want to check incoming emails and refuse any which look suspicious; set their email client to strip out HTML and receive only text (less pretty, but less prone to hacking) and to make sure their Network is encrypted. User may also want to think about using proxy servers as an additional layer of protection againts intrusion and access to your IP address.
The police say that computer hacking has to be approved by a chief constable, who must be satisfied the action is proportionate to the crime being investigated. But the recent record of the police in a propotionate reaction to a situation will not bring comfort to many users!
Dominic Grieve, shadow Home Secretary, asked how it would work in practice and what safeguards will be in place.
Police carried out 194 hacking operations in 2007-08 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including 133 in private homes, 37 in offices and 24 in hotel rooms. The spokesman said such surveillance was regulated under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
The Government faces criticism over the erosion of civil liberties on a series of fronts. It is working on plans for a giant "big brother" database holding information about every phone call, email and internet visit made by everyone in the United Kingdom.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Britain's policy of retaining samples from people never convicted of a crime – including children – breaches human rights.
I wonder what Dixon of Dock Green would have said? "Evening all!"
Hacking – known as "remote searching" – has been quietly adopted by police across Britain following the development of technology to access computers' contents at a distance. Police say it is vital for tracking cyber-criminals and paedophiles and is used sparingly but civil liberties groups are worried that its usage will be expanded without any form of control.
Remote searching can be achieved by sending an email containing a virus to a suspect's computer which then transmits information about email contents and web-browsing habits to a distant surveillance team. Alternatively, "key-logging" devices can be inserted into a computer that relay details of each key hit by its owner. Detectives can also monitor the contents of a suspect's computer hard-drive via a wireless network. Users who are worried about this might want to check incoming emails and refuse any which look suspicious; set their email client to strip out HTML and receive only text (less pretty, but less prone to hacking) and to make sure their Network is encrypted. User may also want to think about using proxy servers as an additional layer of protection againts intrusion and access to your IP address.
The police say that computer hacking has to be approved by a chief constable, who must be satisfied the action is proportionate to the crime being investigated. But the recent record of the police in a propotionate reaction to a situation will not bring comfort to many users!
Dominic Grieve, shadow Home Secretary, asked how it would work in practice and what safeguards will be in place.
Police carried out 194 hacking operations in 2007-08 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including 133 in private homes, 37 in offices and 24 in hotel rooms. The spokesman said such surveillance was regulated under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
The Government faces criticism over the erosion of civil liberties on a series of fronts. It is working on plans for a giant "big brother" database holding information about every phone call, email and internet visit made by everyone in the United Kingdom.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Britain's policy of retaining samples from people never convicted of a crime – including children – breaches human rights.
I wonder what Dixon of Dock Green would have said? "Evening all!"
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
10 or possibly less reasons that i know I am getting old!
- I am mystified as why a sixteen year old would go to a fancy dress party as a schoolboy/girl;
- I listen to radio comedy from the late 1960s and find it 'superior';
- I find myself shouting at political commentators on TV to 'Let the other guy speak for heavens sake!';
- Er...I talk to televisions...;
- I automatically assume that any advice from anyone under the age of 25 will be wrong in some fashion;
- I feel able to address a group of thirty-something males as 'you lads';
- I actually care what the weather will be like tomorrow and find myself saying that the 'nights are drawing in' from about mid-September onwards;
- I share emails via the social networking sites with old school friends that I barely knew in school and recall 'the good old days';
- I use phrases like 'well in my day' and refuse to listen to any version of a song except the original;
- Just in case anyone is unsure that I am getting old, I make lists on my blog to prove the fact!
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Dr Who spin offs
http://www.radiotimes.com/blogs/425-who-spinoffs-never-filmed
The Doctor Who spin-offs that will never be filmed
- Posted at 4:55pm
- 02 October 2008
- by DavidBrown-RT
- 6 comments
Who'd have thought that when Doctor Who returned in 2005, there'd be so much scope for spin-offs? The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and now even the possibility of a Who movie being mooted. Not bad for a sci-fi show whose only previous stab at a TV offshoot was the creaky K-9 and Company back in 1981. So how long will it be before they milk a winning formula so much that we end up with the following?
The X-terminate Factor
Saturday-night entertainment as Davros and Dalek Caan audition potential allies in their bid to enslave the universe. The X-terminate Factor: You're Fried! will immediately follow with analysis of that week's executions, plus behind-the-scenes footage of Davros reaching near hysteria over relatively trivial matters.
The Long Haul
Sitcom centred on the frustrated attempts of Harwood's Haulage transport manager Rhys Williams, husband of Torchwood's Gwen Cooper, to start a family. Gwen is never actually seen, but can often be heard shouting "Reeeeeeees!!!!" down the phone as she abandons her hubby for work yet again, leaving him eating pies alone on the sofa at home.
The Wilf Files
Alien conspiracy drama starring Bernard Cribbins as newspaper-selling astronomer Wilfred Mott. Armed only with a paint gun and a rolled-up copy of London's Evening Standard, Wilf does battle against extraterrestrial forces, assisted by fellow allotment owners Peter Sallis and Donald Sinden.
Top of the Class
Krillitane headmaster Mr Finch is given one term to turn a failing school around. Can he get the tearaway kids computer literate without bringing in his crack squad of supply teachers to effect a transformation?
Who Do You Think You Are?
One-off special of the hit genealogy show as the Doctor delves into his own history to find out about his past selves. Features moving footage of Christopher Eccleston crying over missed opportunities.
Run Rose Run
Urban adventure featuring a jaded Rose Tyler who, realising she's been lumbered with a sociopathic carbon copy of the man she loves, tries to abandon him at a motorway service station. She soon realises that the cloned Doctor will stop at nothing to get her back and will slaughter anyone who gets in his way in order for them to be reunited.
Life Swap
The Slitheen highlight dietary and health problems when they move in with Britain's most obese families after killing a member and using their skin as a disguise. Might not get beyond the pilot stage once the human participants realise what the trade-off actually involves.
Are You My Mummy?
The gas-masked Empty Child tries to reunite adopted children with their birth parents in a heart-warming Sunday-evening family entertainment series co-hosted by Cilla Black.
Acting Up
Fly-on-the-wall documentary as Martha Jones - having failed to convince anyone that she's a doctor, a scientist or a member of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce - roams the country hoodwinking employers into believing she's capable of work. As disappointments pile up, will Martha resort to acting lessons in order to succeed?
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