Monday, August 27, 2007
filter hacked by 16 year old
Last week a 16-year-old Melbourne teenager has described to a Melbourne newspaper how he managed to bypass the new federal government porn filter designed to protect families from such material. The 16 year old boy has described a Federal Government computer filter against pornography as useless.
The Federal Communications Minister Helen Coonan says this of course will be investigated.
The Federal Communications Minister Helen Coonan says this of course will be investigated.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Matsushita-made batteries could bust open Nokia cell phones
Lithium-ion batteries are giving more than just laptop makers constant headaches. Cell phone goliath Nokia today issued a product advisory for the Nokia-branded BL-5C battery warning consumers that the device could potentially experience overheating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge.
As the cells in mobile phone batteries are smaller than those found in laptops, the risks are the same. Nokia told Engadget that the batteries will “overheat, expand, and pop out of the phone (due to the expansion of the battery).” The Finnish company said that no serious injuries or property damage have been reported.
Nokia has several suppliers for BL-5C batteries who have collectively produced more than 300 million BL-5C batteries. The estimated 46 million BL-5C batteries at fault are manufactured by Matsushita Battery Industrial Co., Ltd. of Japan between December 2005 and November 2006, from which there have been approximately 100 incidents of overheating reported globally. Nokia said that is working closely with Matsushita and will be cooperating with relevant authorities to investigate this situation.
Nokia is offering that all customers with affected BL-5C devices a replacement BL-5C battery free of charge. For a full list of affected phones and a form to check via product identification number, see Nokia’s website.
Battery recalls are a familiar thing for laptop makers, as over 10 million lithium ion laptop batteries have been recalled worldwide since last year. A long list of computer manufacturers has felt the effects of the defective batteries, including Sony, Dell, Apple, Lenovo and Toshiba.
Interestingly, Matsushita said in late 2006 that was mass producing improved lithium ion battery technology that safeguards against overheating. It is unclear if the BL-5C batteries incorporate this anti-overheating technology.
“When any supplier has a problem, it creates concern for the technology itself. The challenge that we must meet is to reassure the public that Lithium-ion batteries are safe,” said Michael Buckner, senior manager for Panasonic's Energy Solutions Lab, in an interview with DailyTech. “Safety has always been the number one priority at Panasonic. The incidents last year just reconfirmed that we need to maintain safety first in our designs.”
As the cells in mobile phone batteries are smaller than those found in laptops, the risks are the same. Nokia told Engadget that the batteries will “overheat, expand, and pop out of the phone (due to the expansion of the battery).” The Finnish company said that no serious injuries or property damage have been reported.
Nokia has several suppliers for BL-5C batteries who have collectively produced more than 300 million BL-5C batteries. The estimated 46 million BL-5C batteries at fault are manufactured by Matsushita Battery Industrial Co., Ltd. of Japan between December 2005 and November 2006, from which there have been approximately 100 incidents of overheating reported globally. Nokia said that is working closely with Matsushita and will be cooperating with relevant authorities to investigate this situation.
Nokia is offering that all customers with affected BL-5C devices a replacement BL-5C battery free of charge. For a full list of affected phones and a form to check via product identification number, see Nokia’s website.
Battery recalls are a familiar thing for laptop makers, as over 10 million lithium ion laptop batteries have been recalled worldwide since last year. A long list of computer manufacturers has felt the effects of the defective batteries, including Sony, Dell, Apple, Lenovo and Toshiba.
Interestingly, Matsushita said in late 2006 that was mass producing improved lithium ion battery technology that safeguards against overheating. It is unclear if the BL-5C batteries incorporate this anti-overheating technology.
“When any supplier has a problem, it creates concern for the technology itself. The challenge that we must meet is to reassure the public that Lithium-ion batteries are safe,” said Michael Buckner, senior manager for Panasonic's Energy Solutions Lab, in an interview with DailyTech. “Safety has always been the number one priority at Panasonic. The incidents last year just reconfirmed that we need to maintain safety first in our designs.”
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Break open the bubbly because the spinning media is 25 years old!!!
On August 17, 1982, an assembly line in a suburb of Hanover, Germany began manufacturing the laser-encoded palm-sized discs.
There is some argument on what was the very first CD ever pressed, according to Phillips it was ABBA's The Visitors. However, the first commercially available CD was Dire Straits Brothers In Arms and in Australia the very first CD was Whispering Jack by John Farnham in 1986.
However, the CD has evolved into much newer formats as the outlook for the Compact Disc looks like it will be life extinct within the next 10 years. Audio CDs are rapidly being replaced with digital music players, CD-ROMs have been scrapped for the higher capacity DVD-ROM format, and rewritable CD sales are on a decline.
There is some argument on what was the very first CD ever pressed, according to Phillips it was ABBA's The Visitors. However, the first commercially available CD was Dire Straits Brothers In Arms and in Australia the very first CD was Whispering Jack by John Farnham in 1986.
However, the CD has evolved into much newer formats as the outlook for the Compact Disc looks like it will be life extinct within the next 10 years. Audio CDs are rapidly being replaced with digital music players, CD-ROMs have been scrapped for the higher capacity DVD-ROM format, and rewritable CD sales are on a decline.
A 21 year old Australian man who allegedly uploaded to the internet a pirated copy of The Simpsons Movie could face up to five years in prison.
According to authorities the recording of films in Australian cinemas is increasing with police attending several reported incidents of camcording across three states in the last six weeks. But what is more troubling is that with mobile phones becoming more sophisticated with high resolution cameras and sound recording built in, people are using mobiles to record the movies and then upload the “screener” to the internet.
It appears the “screener” was recorded in a cinema in the western suburbs of Sydney on Thursday 26th July and with in hours of it being recorded was up online this meant the movie was first identified on the Internet by the film's publisher Twentieth Century Fox within hours of its Australian premiere.
With the film released in Australian before the USA it mean hundreds of US connected Simpsons fans logged on and watched before the film had its first screening in the United States depriving the movies makers of revenue.
It appears the “screener” was recorded in a cinema in the western suburbs of Sydney on Thursday 26th July and with in hours of it being recorded was up online this meant the movie was first identified on the Internet by the film's publisher Twentieth Century Fox within hours of its Australian premiere.
With the film released in Australian before the USA it mean hundreds of US connected Simpsons fans logged on and watched before the film had its first screening in the United States depriving the movies makers of revenue.
Computers have big carbon outputs!
The first audit of the carbon output of Australia's IT systems details that IT and communications used by the commercial sector put out the same carbon emmitions with the aviation and steel industries as an atmospheric polluter.
A study by the Australian Computer Society has revealed that the use of information and communications technology by Australian businesses produced 7.94 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2005. Desktops are among the biggest contributors to IT's carbon footprint as many machines are never turned off.
A study by the Australian Computer Society has revealed that the use of information and communications technology by Australian businesses produced 7.94 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2005. Desktops are among the biggest contributors to IT's carbon footprint as many machines are never turned off.
Skype users were effected by a major issue last Thursday night our time is still causing problems for business users?
A programme called Skype is a very popular instant messaging and voice over internet protocol program used by millions all over the world. However, a major software glitch on Thursday night Australian left 220 million customers around the world hanging on the line after it took down its network.
Skype is owned by the internet auction giant eBay. Ebay bought Skype to allow its customers to talk for free between the seller and buyer and others to use VOIP services. Network Engineers working for Ebay’s Skype division are indeed at a loss as to why the problem had crashed its network and has struggled to resolve the issue. The fault left millions of Skype users (including me) around the world unable to log into the service on Thursday night.
A large number of small businesses around the world have become reliant on Skype. Many of these business took the mistake of cancelling traditional fixed-line telephony packages so when they were been hit by the Skype network fault. Meant, these businesses were left high and dry with no contact.
Although, skype has now corrected the problem, many of the small business’s are asking for compensation for the lack of access to the skype network. The fix took over 24 hours to roll out world wide. Whilst it appears users will not abandon the skype platform they may be a little more careful on how much they rely on VOIP platforms exclusively for communications.
Skype is owned by the internet auction giant eBay. Ebay bought Skype to allow its customers to talk for free between the seller and buyer and others to use VOIP services. Network Engineers working for Ebay’s Skype division are indeed at a loss as to why the problem had crashed its network and has struggled to resolve the issue. The fault left millions of Skype users (including me) around the world unable to log into the service on Thursday night.
A large number of small businesses around the world have become reliant on Skype. Many of these business took the mistake of cancelling traditional fixed-line telephony packages so when they were been hit by the Skype network fault. Meant, these businesses were left high and dry with no contact.
Although, skype has now corrected the problem, many of the small business’s are asking for compensation for the lack of access to the skype network. The fix took over 24 hours to roll out world wide. Whilst it appears users will not abandon the skype platform they may be a little more careful on how much they rely on VOIP platforms exclusively for communications.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
No news on service pack 1 for vista or SP3 for Windows Xp
There has been a lot of speculation that Vista Service Pack 1 is not to far away but Microsoft has confirmed that it has alpha versions for both Vista SP1 and the long-delayed Windows XP Service Pack 3 to small, invitation-only groups of testers. However, both Service Packs are due out now early in 2008 but if you know where to look you can find Windows XP SP3. However, I suggest users think twice about going and grabbing it as lets face it Microsoft is trying to debug the bug fix, this means SP3 could be more buggier than a roach farm, so what till Microsoft have got most of the bugs out of the bug fix and release it publicly.
Patches for Vista
People running Microsoft’s newest domestic and commercial operating system called Windows Vista are cheering as last week Microsoft released a pair of Windows Vista. However, the updates are only available at the windows vista site and Microsoft have not said when it will begin pushing them to users via Windows Update.
One of the updates is said to be a performance booster for the new operating system, which will indeed be an important as a lot of reporters have been complaining about the slowness or sluggishness of the operating system on some hardware.
The other patch is said to be for reliability issues and also provides several fixes intended to resolve compatibility glitches between the operating system and third-party video drivers.
One of the updates is said to be a performance booster for the new operating system, which will indeed be an important as a lot of reporters have been complaining about the slowness or sluggishness of the operating system on some hardware.
The other patch is said to be for reliability issues and also provides several fixes intended to resolve compatibility glitches between the operating system and third-party video drivers.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
To compete against the free office suits like Open Office and 602software suite Microsoft takes the bold step and offers its old bread and butter for
Microsoft works suite the oldest Microsoft application suite still in production will loose its price tag and be paid for by the displaying of advertising to its users. It’s a bold move on Microsoft’s part but the winner of course is the user. Apparently, the ad-funded version comes in the wake of customer and partner demand to make productivity apps more affordable. Microsoft is said to be extremely interested in ad-supported software in poorer markets around the world.
Second life expands, to the point where it gets the attention of the churches?
In what could be a turn up for the book or should I say books, it appears that some of the more modern thinking churches are turning their attention to lost souls in the realm of second life. According to a leading Christian publication the digital world can also be considered a “mission world”
According to the publication its thought that many people are expressing themselves through Second Life avatars may be expressing their need for a higher level of understanding and a spiritual order. If this be the case then maybe the churches should not ignore the possibility of responding to such a need.
Whist some of the forward thinking churches are embracing the chance to rescue the lost souls of second life, it appears that the media is from the outside realm is entering the second life to attempt to either coax some people out of the second life realm and back into the real world or continue to push their products in both realms. This includes the ABC which has set up a trial island in this new second life. According to ABC online the “ABC Island in Second Life is a dynamic and distinctively Australian destination providing visitors with opportunities to design, create and showcase objects, discover a hidden underground music club, listen to Indigenous stories, wander round an environmentally friendly eco house, experience ABC audio and video in a social environment and attend live screenings and concerts. Join ABC Friends to keep up to date with ABC Island events.”
To find out more have a look at http://www.abc.net.au/services/secondlife/
According to the publication its thought that many people are expressing themselves through Second Life avatars may be expressing their need for a higher level of understanding and a spiritual order. If this be the case then maybe the churches should not ignore the possibility of responding to such a need.
Whist some of the forward thinking churches are embracing the chance to rescue the lost souls of second life, it appears that the media is from the outside realm is entering the second life to attempt to either coax some people out of the second life realm and back into the real world or continue to push their products in both realms. This includes the ABC which has set up a trial island in this new second life. According to ABC online the “ABC Island in Second Life is a dynamic and distinctively Australian destination providing visitors with opportunities to design, create and showcase objects, discover a hidden underground music club, listen to Indigenous stories, wander round an environmentally friendly eco house, experience ABC audio and video in a social environment and attend live screenings and concerts. Join ABC Friends to keep up to date with ABC Island events.”
To find out more have a look at http://www.abc.net.au/services/secondlife/
ABC On Second Life
Second life expands, to the point where it gets the attention of the churches?
In what could be a turn up for the book or should I say books, it appears that some of the more modern thinking churches are turning their attention to lost souls in the realm of second life. According to a leading Christian publication the digital world can also be considered a “mission world”
According to the publication its thought that many people are expressing themselves through Second Life avatars may be expressing their need for a higher level of understanding and a spiritual order. If this be the case then maybe the churches should not ignore the possibility of responding to such a need.
Whist some of the forward thinking churches are embracing the chance to rescue the lost souls of second life, it appears that the media is from the outside realm is entering the second life to attempt to either coax some people out of the second life realm and back into the real world or continue to push their products in both realms. This includes the ABC which has set up a trial island in this new second life. According to ABC online the “ABC Island in Second Life is a dynamic and distinctively Australian destination providing visitors with opportunities to design, create and showcase objects, discover a hidden underground music club, listen to Indigenous stories, wander round an environmentally friendly eco house, experience ABC audio and video in a social environment and attend live screenings and concerts. Join ABC Friends to keep up to date with ABC Island events.”
To find out more have a look at http://www.abc.net.au/services/secondlife/
In what could be a turn up for the book or should I say books, it appears that some of the more modern thinking churches are turning their attention to lost souls in the realm of second life. According to a leading Christian publication the digital world can also be considered a “mission world”
According to the publication its thought that many people are expressing themselves through Second Life avatars may be expressing their need for a higher level of understanding and a spiritual order. If this be the case then maybe the churches should not ignore the possibility of responding to such a need.
Whist some of the forward thinking churches are embracing the chance to rescue the lost souls of second life, it appears that the media is from the outside realm is entering the second life to attempt to either coax some people out of the second life realm and back into the real world or continue to push their products in both realms. This includes the ABC which has set up a trial island in this new second life. According to ABC online the “ABC Island in Second Life is a dynamic and distinctively Australian destination providing visitors with opportunities to design, create and showcase objects, discover a hidden underground music club, listen to Indigenous stories, wander round an environmentally friendly eco house, experience ABC audio and video in a social environment and attend live screenings and concerts. Join ABC Friends to keep up to date with ABC Island events.”
To find out more have a look at http://www.abc.net.au/services/secondlife/
