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Google is celebrating its birthday as it was born 10 years ago and from its birth as the Google Internet search engine it has grown into the electronic center of human knowledge by indexing billions of web pages as well as images, books and videos.
On September 15, 1997 Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two 24 year-old Stanford University students, registered the domain name of "google.com." The word is a variation of 'googol,' which refers to the number 10 to the power of 100, a term popularized by US mathematician Edward Kasner. Page and Brin incorporated Google one year later, on September 7, 1998, in a household garage in northern California.

This week a number of computer security experts have been warning about the growing popularity of wi-fi Internet connections and the fact it could be providing more opportunities for hackers. A spate of hacking incidents were reported to police in the central Queensland city of Rockhampton recently and one security firm is concerned that wi-fi users risk identity theft without robust security in place.
With Wi-fi networking there is a risk of an attacker using a WI-FI Internet service for free and potentially hiding their identity when they perform illegal activity using the network connection and possibly seeing a companies confidential information.
A company is also responsible for any action that is committed on their network connection so providing proper security is also the companies duty of care for its customers and other users of the internet.

Voip eating into the budgets of telcos even further as WIFI handsets enter onto the market big time and now there is no need to be anchored to your personal computer these days if you want to make free or low-cost voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone calls.
Its amazing to see the number of WiFi VoIP portable handsets reaching the market that can make calls directly via the internet. The only draw back is that you have to be within range of a WiFi network or hotspot, but with these increasing all over the country (whilst not like mobile coverage) it could see cheap calls easily made almost anywhere in a CBD. The idea is that you can use the phones in any home, office or fast food outlet that has wireless networking set up.
The manufactures of the handsets say that you can also use it in a WiFi hotspot at an airport, internet cafe, or hotel, although most of those places want to charge you for using their facilities, which does rather wipe out the point of using VoIP to make freebie or significantly cheaper phone calls via voip or the skype. Don’t go throwing your mobile out just yet as the voip WIFI phones won't connect to anything when it's out of WiFi range, typically 20-40 metres.

The English equivalent of the Actu called the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has urged employers to allow staff to continue to access social networking sites at work. They say that Simply cracking down on the use of new web tools like Facebook is not a sensible solution to a problem which is only going to get bigger and whilst employers are within their rights to forbid staff from using sites such as Facebook, MySpace or Bebo in work time, a total ban is an over-reaction.
The TUC feels that it is unreasonable for employers to try to stop staff from having a life outside work, just because they cannot get their heads around the technology and its better to invest a little time in working out sensible conduct guidelines so that there do not need to be any nasty surprises for staff or employers.

GPS manufacturer TomTom is introducing a new top-of-the-range model product line-up with the TomTom GO 920 T that will also accept voice recognition commands. The 4GB satnav will come with preinstalled maps covering Europe and North America but shortly after there will be an Australian version released.
The new device from TomTom's called the GO 920 T features a voice-recognition function to allow the users to enter destination instructions rather than having to punch in commands on the device's touchscreen.
Sadly, it doesn't sound as though there's the capability to tell the new TomTom that you know perfectly well that you should have taken the last turn, thanks very much, but you will be able to go your own way, recording your own driving instructions for routes.
Nokia earlier this year released its base model GPS phone called the Nokia N6110 Navigator, which I have been testing myself over the past few months, whilst it’s a little clunky it is an effective means for traveling easily. Whilst its navigation facility does not accept voice commands it does accept voice commands for accessing its telephone databases and other items on the phone.

Whilst there has indeed been a lot of talk about the filters provided by the government, they do serve a purposed and a great one, they make people think about safge internet practices and get people talking. Even if their effectiveness has been called into question by the 16 year old hacking past them.

The government has provided three specific web filters that do different things, I am using the second filter mentioned cause it does everything I need on the pcs on my network. Only Safe eyes works on both windows and mac operating systems. However, if your wanting to control the kids usage right down the amount of data they consume on your internet connection, then obviously integard is the best option

Integard v1.04
Integard is an internet content filter that blocks inappropriate content, monitors chat and supports multiple user profiles. It provides state-of-the-art blocking accuracy through dynamic page analysis and a continuously updated database of known websites.
It has configurable sensitivity, time and data limits, user-defined allowed and blocked lists and protects personal information such as family names, home address and phone numbers.
Integard blocks peer-to-peer file-sharing programs, and supports remote administration using a browser. The software also provides email alerts when suspicious or inappropriate content is detected including possible internet predators. View detailed and summary reports via a web browser from the next room, or across town at your office.
Optenet Web Filter PC 9.6
Optenet allows you to create individual profiles and set personal lists that allow or block access to specific sites. It uses Intelligent Content Analysis to filter accurately and adapts itself to the dynamic nature of the Internet.
Its online unblocking system will take care of any over-filtering error within ten short minutes and the reporting function will make supervision of internet activity a breeze.
Optenet comes with a default configuration but can be easily and intuitively personalised.
Safe Eyes (available for PC and Apple Mac)
Safe Eyes makes it easy to block or monitor access to objectionable online material. You can set profiles for multiple users within a household, view usage reports by user and receive instant alerts when access to inappropriate content is attempted.
With daily updates to its filtering, your parental controls are always up-to-date. Safe Eyes stores all of its settings on secure servers so your children can be protected regardless of which computer they use in your house.
Safe eyes comes with default settings, but can be individually customised by the user. It is available for PC and Mac.

In what could make Microsoft Shudder, HP and Red Hat have announced a new low-cost Linux desktop bundle for small and medium businesses in Australia. With news released just recently that HP will sell its AMD-based Compaq dx2250 PC pre-loaded with Red Hat's Enterprise Linux 5 desktop.
This is scene as one of the first bitg pushes to get desktop linux into SME’s around Australia.
Whilst Dell is offering in other countries desktops pre-loaded with Ubuntu Linux ,it is yet to announce the Linux option for Australian customers.
Pricing begins at $600 and the PC is available now through HP resellers and Red Hat will offer different levels of support for its operating system.