Author Archive
Smartphone security put on test
BBC News – Smartphone security put on test: “BBC News has shown how straightforward it is to create a malicious application for a smartphone.
Over a few weeks, the BBC put together a crude game for a smartphone that also spied on the owner of the handset.
The application was built using standard parts from the software toolkits that developers use to create programs for handsets.”
Generally speaking apps from the official distribution channels should be safe. Be careful if you habitually go for pirated versions, the bad guys can easily modify someone else’s code to sniff out your personal data.
Jailbreakers should be similarly careful.
Reposted from Spalding Computers
TweetHard as Nails
Several years ago in a wholly irresponsible fit of “spending the savings to do up the house” we had a new conservatory built.
I say new because there was already a conservatory on the house but it’s wooden framework was quietly rotting away, and it seemed like a good idea at the time to get it professionally replaced. DIY for me usually means Destroy It Yourself for all but the simplest of things and the more difficult jobs tend to take years.
We got quotes and settled on Coldseal to do the job.
I’ll not go into the details, suffice to say the build process was not a happy one. I did manage to squeeze a small discount when it was eventually finished, after threatening not to pay and telling them to take the damn thing away.
It is still standing and every time I look at it, from inside or out, I’m reminded of how easy it is to simply throw money away on useless things. It currently houses an old sofa, bursting stuffing at the seams but so supremely comfortable it would be a sin to even think of throwing it away, a hideous IKEA uplighter too ugly to put anywhere else in the house, the Dyson, a pine box full of old VHS cassettes and a clothes airer.
The builders, for want of a better word, used copious quantities of mastic to glue various bits of the non stressed plastic structure together. Surprisingly this works quite well and as I say it’s not actually falling apart. However one fairly large bit of plastic architrave, forming the frame round the inside of the door, did fall off. About 3 years ago.
It’s been on my todo list since then but there is always something more interesting to do.
However I have to report, it’s fixed.
Browsing round one of the local cheapo cheapo shops where everything costs a pound or less, or a little bit more, I came across Hard as Nails. A chunky tube of super glue guaranteed to stick your granny to the sky, forever.
Well it actually promises to do away with those pesky nails when reattaching things like skirting boards to the wall and stuff like that, but you get the picture.
I can report the job is done. Beads of glue on the plastic architrave, press onto the wooden frame round the door, temporarily hold in place with some carefully positioned Gaffa tape and 24 hours later if you tried to pull it off you’d probably have the whole conservatory down on your head.
And it cost a quid. Recommended for people like me who just don’t get on with hammers, nails and screws.
TweetMicrosoft quashes proposed industry leading privacy setting for IE8
This is a must read, especially for those still using IE, but also for web browsing in general. It should influence the way you use the browser, and which browser you choose to use.
Basically it describes the tussles within Microsoft between the developers of Internet Explorer 8 and other MS executives more interested in what the proposed new privacy settings within IE8 would do to Microsofts advertising revenues. Not to mention the fact they would seriously upset a lot of the online advertisers and tracking companies.
The result is you the user is shafted in favour of Microsoft’s bottom line.
Of special interest to users of IE8 are these 3 paragraphs. Particularly the second one.
“When Microsoft released the browser in its final form in March 2009, the privacy features were a lot different from what its planners had envisioned. Internet Explorer required the consumer to turn on the feature that blocks tracking by websites, called InPrivate Filtering. It wasn’t activated automatically.
What’s more, even if consumers turn the feature on, Microsoft designed the browser so InPrivate Filtering doesn’t stay on permanently. Users must activate the privacy setting every time they start up the browser.
Microsoft dropped another proposed feature, known as InPrivate Subscriptions, that would have let users further conceal their online browsing habits, by automatically blocking Web addresses suspected of consumer tracking if those addresses appeared on “black lists” compiled by privacy groups.”
TweetStating the bleedin’ obvious. 20 MPH zones cut road deaths.
“20 MPH zones cut road deaths”.
Of course they would, the chances of dying after being hit by a 30 tonne artic at 20 mph are drastically reduced to, ooh I dunno have a guess.
“The BMJ’s report said that the greatest reduction in deaths and injuries was in young children.”
Better education would be more useful. Running into the road in front of moving traffic can best be described as bloody stupid.
When I were a lad it was drummed into us from primary school onwards, look right, look left, look right again and if the road is clear WALK across.
Unfortunately some meddling bureaucrat decided that was a waste of time.
As a driver I see people wandering about in the road every day, and not just children, apparently either oblivious to the danger or in the misguided belief they own the bloody road. They don’t, I do as a road fund licence holder.
Oh wait, that’s not true, I probably own a bit of Afghanistan now, but you get the point.
Of course an accident at low speed is likely to be less fatal, but it would be totally un-fatal if the stupid pedestrians stayed on the pavement until the road was clear.
And pity the poor residents of 20mph streets having to put up with the increased CO2 emissions from all the vehicles grinding past in low gear, using up even more petrol and diesel.
And traffic lights controlled pedestrian crossings? What a complete waste of money, what’s wrong with a good old zebra crossing and Belisha beacons? I’ll tell you, we’re all complete morons who can’t be trusted not to hurt ourselves.
And don’t get me started on cyclists.
TweetWe Live in Interesting Times
I was struck by what I thought was just plain over indulgence and quite barmy thinking when I first visited Dubai a couple of years ago. That didn’t change much when we went back there last year.
I just could not figure out where they expected all the people to come from that would fill all the hotel rooms, apartment blocks, villas and offices that were being built with, it must be said, impressive speed.
The crazyness of the traffic jams on Sheik Zaeed Road, a multi lane super highway that runs the length of Dubai from the old city up to and beyond the Marina complex to the site of the new, under construction, airport. It’s actually one of the few roads in Dubai that has a name.
The Burj Dubai, the worlds tallest building. Why bother?
The Atlantis Hotel sitting out on a man made sandbank which, according to some reports, is already sinking, and so expensive to even walk into for a cup of coffee. What were they thinking?
The taxi drivers who generally speaking don’t speak much English and have no idea where you want to go anyway if it’s not a famous landmark.
And the sewage system. Well actually more the lack of a proper sewage system for all the new buildings that have shot up in last few years.
Dubai trucks it’s sewage out of the city to the one and only sewage farm on the outskirts of town in a huge fleet of tankers.
When we were there last year there was a huge stink over the tanker drivers, fed up with up 15 hours queuing in the boiling desert heat to dump their loads, driving out to a deserted beach and off loading it there. Beaches were closed as a result.
These are just a few of the examples of why in my opinion they got it all arse about face.
The banking system is a farce even against western standards, the telephone system is creaking at the seams and very expensive. The internet is ADSL, very expensive and slow even by UK standards. Mobile coverage is all there but overloaded. Calls generally drop within a few seconds.
And all this in a place that has expectations of becoming not only the major tourist destination in the Middle East, but also the economic and business hub of the region.
There is much work to do if they wish to achieve this.
When you see it in the flesh it’s like a cross between Las Vegas and Disneyland, but both those places are built better and actually work.
On the plus side the food is good and relatively cheap.
So what’s all this got to do with us? Quite a lot actually. Dubai has no real money of its own, most of what you see there is financed by debt, much of it from Abu Dhabi.
Both of these Emirates own considerable portfolios of property overseas. Abu Dhabi owns a considerable amount of Jolly Old England for a start.
The worry is that in order to save Dubai they will have “bring the money home” by offloading these investments.
What that will do to an already depressed world market is what makes these ‘Interesting Times’.
TweetKwikFit and the very expensive brake bits.
Prompted by an odd noise from the front end of my car and short on
time I cruised into the local KwikFit and asked them to check over the
brakes etc. Luckily they were not busy and looked at it there and then.
I went for a stroll while they did. Came back to find that all four
brake discs are “Totally shot mate” and all the pads will need replacing
too.
OK so how much is that?
“Blimey” he says, “they’re a bit expensive. £1250.00.”
I’m not paying that put it back together and I’ll think about it. To
their credit there was no charge for the inspection.
Slightly bothered by this I contacted my usual garage, although short on
time I made the effort to drive over to Moulton Chapel so they could have a look.
Yes the discs and pads all need replacing but the car is safe to drive,
which is good news as I need it this week.
OK how much.
£350.00.
Booked in for the job later this month.
I’m not suggesting KwikFit are ripoff merchants, I think he just made a
mistake. But mistakes like that don’t inspire confidence, do they.
Hotmail and Google email scam.
So Hotmail and Google email accounts, among others, have been compromised by a series of phishing attacks, and login details including passwords published on the internet.
Here’s a quote from a “security consultant”
“This should be a wake-up call to Google and Microsoft to educate their users”
Carole Theriault, Security consultant
I’m sorry but it’s quite clear from this incident that the users in question are blithering idiots and further education isn’t going to change that any time soon.
It’s not only Google and Microsoft either, what about the banks, the social networks, any number of other secure websites. All are being targeted on a daily basis by cyber criminals after users login details. And despite persistent warnings in all the media, both traditional and digital, stupid people still fall for it.
A wake up call to Google and Microsoft?
No. It’s the somnambulistic users who need a damn good shaking.
And if you are one of them, wake up, change your passwords, and please do not fall for this blindingly obvious scam again. None of these services will ever ask you for your login name and password by email.
If you get an email that looks genuine and contains a link to a website that looks genuine and asks for your password and user name, leave. And then go to the website through the usual url or your bookmarks, not the link in the email, to be sure you are actually on the genuine site. And then see if they still want your details for any other reason than to log in to your account.
TweetFlying Face-To-Face: The New Economy Class
Flying Face-To-Face: The New Economy Class: “
I’ll say this right now, this is bonkers. If this illustration is anything to go by will the unfortunates in the window seats pay less for not having a padded seat back?
Note to airlines thinking about this, count me out.
If you can’t give me a proper seat, facing the front, with a backrest and an armrest, you’re not having my money.
Unbelievable nonsense.
TweetMuffins!: Teen Girls Accused Of “Food Contamination” After Squeezing Muffins
Muffins!: Teen Girls Accused Of “Food Contamination” After Squeezing Muffins: “
Some of the comments under this post are obviously from morons with no conceptions of basic food hygiene.
You do not touch foodstuffs openly on display in shops. Period.
Grow up.
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