DaniWeb Forum Index

Inside Edge - IT News, Analysis and Opinion

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All About happygeek (Davey Winder)

Follow me on Twitter: happygeek

I am a freelance technology journalist from England, and have been for fast approaching 20 years now. For 14 of them I have enjoyed being Contributing Editor with PC Pro magazine, the biggest selling monthly IT publication in the UK.

Currently, I hold the title of Information Security Journalist of the Year (2008) an award that I also was fortunate enough to win in 2006 as well. Other awards include Best Information Security News Story (2008) for a DaniWeb piece about TomTom satnav Trojans, Best IT Security Feature (2008) and (2007), as well as Technology Journalist of the Year back in 1996. All of the above being UK based awards, I hasten to add.

My latest book 'Being Virtual' was published by Wiley, in conjunction with the Science Museum in London, during May 2008.

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Viruses, Spyware and other Nasties

Chinese Takeaway Hacker Website

22 Hours Ago - Three men have been arrested, and what is thought to be a training site for hackers closed down, as Chinese officials get tough in the wake of the Google Gmail human rights hacking scandal. While China has something of a history of being tough on political activists, online multi-player gaming... (Read More)

The Trojan porn dialler is back

11 Days Ago - Those of us who can remember when Internet access meant slow dial-up modems connecting via pay per minute service providers will also be all too familiar with the concept of the porn dialler. For the youngsters out there, these took advantage of the fact that most punters had no idea what number... (Read More)

Why cracked encryption is a good thing

28 Days Ago - Some might argue that it has been a bad year for encryption. After all, just as the last decade was ending came reports that the algorithm that is used to encrypt GSM mobile phone calls (as used by some 4 billion people around the world) had been cracked wide open. Now this has been followed by the... (Read More)

WARNING: new Adobe zero-day vulnerability in the wild

Dec 15th, 2009 - Still using Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader? Maybe it is time to switch to something that's not glowing red on the bad guy radar, or which is more securely coded depending upon how you look at these things. Yes, Adobe has admitted that there is yet another possible zero-day vulnerability in Adobe... (Read More)

OMG! Gumblar gets busy

Nov 19th, 2009 - I just had a Jaws moment. You know, you think it is safe to go back in the water and then a bloody great shark bites your legs off. Except in this case you can replace the sea with the Internet and the shark with the equally dangerous Gumblar. According to the latest ScanSafe numbers, Gumblar... (Read More)

How to destroy a botnet

Nov 14th, 2009 - Botnets are, without any shadow of a doubt, one of the biggest scourges of IT security today. From sending spam to launching DDoS attacks and distributing malware, botnets can be found at the centre of most of the security problems facing computer users right now. So wouldn't it be fun if you... (Read More)

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Social Media and Online Communities

Internet HoneyGrid reveals 95% of User Generated Content is spam or malicious

2 Days Ago - Websense Security Labs has published its bi-annual State of Internet Security report and, as usual, it makes for pretty interesting if somewhat scary reading. Covering the last six months of 2009, the report is based upon the findings of the ThreatSeeker Network which is used to discover,... (Read More)

Johnny Depp is NOT dead (Twitter FAIL)

16 Days Ago - When Twitter gets it right, it beats all the major news gathering organisations to the punch with the really big news. I heard about the Haiti earthquake first on Twitter, and it took a fair while for the traditional news networks to catch up. But what happens when Twitter gets it wrong? Well... (Read More)

Haiti tragedy reveals best and worst of online folk

22 Days Ago - I would like to think that anyone watching, reading or listening to news reports of the unfolding tragedy that is post-earthquake Haiti could not fail to be moved first to tears and then prompted to want to do something. Most people have responded by asking themselves 'what can I do to help?' and... (Read More)

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Cellphones, PDAs and Handheld Devices

Is this the world's smallest smartphone?

3 Days Ago - The trend in recent years has been from smartphones to get bigger screens and slimmer profiles, with everyone pretty much following where the Apple iPhone leads them. Until now, that is, with Nokia breaking free from the constraints of a huge touchscreen and apparently opting for a tiny candy-bar... (Read More)

How to turn your iPhone into a spyPhone

4 Days Ago - Apple has this week released a software update for the iPhone which addresses a total of five security vulnerabilities. But not, it would seem, the small matter of a year old glitch which could turn your iPhone into a spyPhone. First the good news, Apple has released iPhone OS 3.1.3 which seals... (Read More)

Google hurts own foot kicking China in the Android nuts

20 Days Ago - For a while it looked like the Google threat to pull out of China was just a load of hot air, and pretty late hot air at that considering it had taken years for the search giant to realise that state censorship is a bad thing. But that has all changed now that Google landed a well aimed kick right... (Read More)

How to save a million lives with SMS

Dec 29th, 2009 - The hugely popular act of text messaging is many different things to many different people, from a cool way to keep in touch at one end of the spectrum to something that is destroying the English language at the other. You can use SMS to hack an iPhone or send sexy text messages in Scotland and... (Read More)

iPhone data down? Merry bloody Christmas

Dec 23rd, 2009 - If you are expecting a nice shiny iPhone or BlackBerry as a gift this Xmas, your joy may be short lived if network crashes this week are anything to go by. Earlier this week Twitter users in the UK were reporting data network access as being down for close on two days, with attempts to access... (Read More)

What are the top 10 iPhone apps for journalists and bloggers?

Dec 13th, 2009 - I've been a freelance journalist for 20 years now, and can honestly say that the iPhone has changed the way I work more than anything since wireless Internet access came along all those years ago. But what are the essential iPhone apps that a jobbing journalist, or blogger for that matter, cannot... (Read More)

I had that phone in the back of my taxi 10,000 times!

Nov 30th, 2009 - According to a new survey of London taxi drivers, an average of 10,000 mobile phones are left behind by customers every single month. If that total is not staggeringly high enough, you can top it up with another 1000 iPods and memory sticks if you like. December is the worse month for losing a... (Read More)

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Monitors, Displays and Video Cards

What is the difference between a netbook and a notebook?

4 Days Ago - I thought the answer to this question was pretty straightforward, to be honest, in that a netbook was smaller, cheaper and less powerful than a notebook. That was until this press release about a couple of new Toshiba models arrived in my inbox which kind of muddies the water somewhat. You see... (Read More)

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Web Browsers

File under boggle: how safe is Internet Explorer your Lordship?

9 Days Ago - It doesn't take a search genius to go and find plenty of reports of how Internet Explorer is, how can I put this nicely, not exactly the safest bet if you are looking for the most secure browsing experience. Quite apart from anything else it has the biggest market share and so the bad guys will... (Read More)

Internet Explorer vulnerable on Windows 7

23 Days Ago - So it seems that an Internet Explorer zero day vulnerability allowed the back door to be opened that resulted in the hack attack on Google and many others that has received such publicity this week. According to McAfee it has identified an Internet Explorer vulnerability as being one of the... (Read More)

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Database Design

Busted: the anonymous dataset myth

12 Days Ago - In an interview with The Observer newspaper, Dr Ian Brown from the Oxford Internet Institute who is writing a report on anonymous datasets for the European Commission warns that "criminals could identify individuals through mobile phone data and use the information to track people's movements and... (Read More)

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Apple Hardware

15 reasons why the iPad is no game-changer

12 Days Ago - OK, so Apple has done it again. Whipped the technology and consumer media up into a feeding frenzy that is. But has it delivered with the truly magical and revolutionary product that was promised? Er, no dude, not by a long shot and here (in no particular order) are 15 reasons why the iPad is not a... (Read More)

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Apple voids Mac warranties for smokers, claims hardware is biohazard

Nov 22nd, 2009 - This has to be the most bizarre excuse for voiding a warranty ever, but according to The Consumerist at least two Mac owners have been told their Applecare warranties are no good because they smoke. In both cases, we are told, the Mac owner concerned took the matter up with the Apple supremo,... (Read More)

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Promotion and Marketing Plans

How to become an online celebrity

13 Days Ago - Back in 1992 a national newspaper interview referred to me as being the first virtual celebrity, which wasn't really true. Sure, I had managed to build something of a high profile in the emerging world of the Internet courtesy of my Wavey Davey persona and a disregard for the traditional... (Read More)

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Search Engine Optimization

Will Google pull out of Italy over new censorship row?

23 Days Ago - If it is so concerned about the online rights of users, as the Google statement about pulling out of China would suggest, maybe it should consider pulling out of Italy next. Unless of course the China crisis is more to do with commercial failure to dominate an emerging and important online... (Read More)

Hacked Google Points Finger at China

27 Days Ago - Google has signalled, in the strongest possible manner, that it will be pulling out of China unless something is done to address censorship of searches. It has also accused China of launching a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack" on the Google corporate infrastructure, along with another... (Read More)

Preserve Polar Bears, Don't Use Google During Copenhagen Week

Dec 7th, 2009 - A new search engine officially launches today, the same day as the World Climate Summit in Copenhagen commences. According to Ecosia you can help battle climate change by switching away from Google and here's how. Not only will the new guy on the search block give 80% of the advertising revenue... (Read More)

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eCommerce

Microsoft loses Great Patent Race (again)

24 Days Ago - So just how many great ideas did you have last year? IBM managed to come up with 4895 during the course of 2009 that were good enough to be granted patents from the US Patent and Trademarks Office, cementing the Big Blue reputation as being King of the Patents. That eclipses the previous record... (Read More)

Death of piracy about as likely as death of porn

Dec 2nd, 2009 - What might kill illegal downloading do you think? The long (and mostly ineffective) arm of the law perhaps, or maybe a sudden (and unlikely) feeling of overwhelming love for the poor music and movie industry? According to the Global Web Index the answer could be simple and obvious: why bother... (Read More)

Murdoch: a mogul in denial

Nov 23rd, 2009 - Rupert Murdoch is not a stupid man, his business empire is evidence of that. For anyone to become a media mogul requires smarts, but those smarts seem to be deserting Murdoch as he continues to play the fool and deny that old monetisation methods do not work for the new online model that has so... (Read More)

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Cases, Fans and Power Supplies

Acer issues melting laptop recall

30 Days Ago - Some 22,000 Acer Aspire Notebooks are being recalled because, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, they represent a burn hazard. Mainly because they have the potential to melt. Hot laptops are nothing new, of course, but generally speaking the seat of the fire risk is... (Read More)

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Windows Software

Why does Windows Mobile think it is 2016?

Jan 3rd, 2010 - Does anyone know just what is happening with Microsoft Windows Mobile devices? It would appear that many users with Windows Mobile powered mobile phones have been getting SMS text messages dated 2016. The first reports came as folk started to receive Happy New Year messages from family and friends... (Read More)

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MS SQL

SQL failure exposes plain text passwords

Dec 19th, 2009 - File under FAIL: social network widget maker RockYou has fallen victim to a SQL injection flaw and as a result some 32.6 million users are being urged to change their passwords as a matter of urgency. Security specialists Imperva discovered the problem at social networking development site... (Read More)

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Networking Hardware Configuration

Will 802.11ac Gigabit WiFi be the death of Ethernet?

Dec 9th, 2009 - The Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has started work on WiFi the next generation. While that news in itself might not exactly rock your socks off, the small matter of a big speed increase might. Word is that WiFi TNG could be fast, very fast indeed. Anyone fancy some 1... (Read More)

How to jump the BT Broadband queue

Nov 30th, 2009 - Jumping the queue for BT Broadband is possible, it would seem. Possible, but not easy - unless you happen to be the Chairman of BT that is. Imagine you've been living without broadband for years because BT cannot supply it to your rural residence. Now imagine if the chairman of BT moves to your... (Read More)

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Domains and DNS

Non-Latin domain names predicted to cause trouble in 2010

Dec 4th, 2009 - With 2009 coming to an end, it's that time of year when security experts start predicting what the (very near) future will hold in terms of likely threat landscapes. One has bucked the trend of just picking on botnet growth and SEO poisoning, although both are on its list, and instead highlighted... (Read More)

Will Google Public DNS become a valuable commercial data mine?

Dec 3rd, 2009 - Depending upon the level of your paranoia, Google is either attempting to take over the online world or simply trying to make it a better place in which to work and play. This latest announcement does nothing to clarify these already muddy waters. "As part of our ongoing effort to make the web... (Read More)

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Window and Desktop Managers

Introducing the Linux OAPC (Old Age Personal Computer)

Nov 18th, 2009 - What do you get if you combine a computer company with a group of Vegans and someone who used to present a popular children's TV show? The less than obvious answer is a Linux computer designed especially for old people. But there you have it, and according to the press release that sits before... (Read More)

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Mac Rumors and Reports

Warning: iPhone exploit in the wild and stealing user data

Nov 12th, 2009 - Over the weekend news broke that a worm had started infecting Jailbroken iPhones in Australia. Nobody really took the exploit too seriously as all the 'ikee worm' did was change the phone wallpaper to a picture of 80's pop singer Rick Astley in a kind of warped tribute to the RickRolling Internet... (Read More)

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C++

Programming Google - expressive, concurrent and garbage-collected

Nov 12th, 2009 - First Google expressed an interest in the web browser client market, and then the operating system market and now it has launched its own open source systems programming language. Google Go is being touted as 'expressive, concurrent, garbage-collected' and promises to produce fast code, fast.... (Read More)

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Game Development

Have 600,000 modders lost Xbox Live access in Microsoft cull?

Nov 11th, 2009 - Reports are starting to emerge online that Microsoft may have initiated a cull of Xbox Live accounts belonging to users of modified games consoles. One claims that a "trusty source" working in a call centre which handles Xbox 360 accounts has had an influx of "screaming teenagers who don't don't... (Read More)

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