Posts by happygeek

Hardly a week goes by without yet another press release hitting the desk of your technology journalist, or research flag being raised amongst the IT Security profession, that claims Android is insecure. What Android actually is, just like Windows on the desktop in fact, is a big and attractive target; which in turn makes it the focus of attention for those looking to exploit mobile device vulnerabilities. The bad guys will pour their resources, in terms of both time and money, into discovering and exploiting those vulnerabilities which will present them with the best profit making potential. That, dear reader, is a truism.

The latest such vulnerability to appear on the media radar as far as Android is concerned has been the discovery of a 'privilege escalation flaw' that, according to the headlines at any rate, has the potential to 'leave billions of devices vulnerable to malware attack'. How much of a truism is that, I wonder?

The fact that the privilege escalation vulnerability exists is not in any doubt, despite it being uncovered by Indiana University researchers working in conjunction with Microsoft Research. Just because 'the enemy' (as Microsoft, along with Apple, is oft-perceived when talking about mobile platforms) finds fault does not mean that fault is non-existent. If you want to check out the technical details for yourself, then go read 'Upgrading Your Android, Elevating My Malware: Privilege Escalation Through Mobile OS Updating' which explains all in some sixteen pages of gloriously geeky detail.

The long …

So you've got a tablet, be that an Android, iPad or Windows powered device. Maybe you've got a phablet or just a bog-standard smartphone. Whatever you have, the chances are that it will have a capacitive touch screen. Most people, however, won't have got a stylus. The reasons are straightforward enough: 'I come equipped with a finger, thank you' and, well, that's it actually. For those people who have experienced stylus enlightenment, there's no turning back. A stylus brings more precise input to your device, be that just launching apps, using the on-screen keyboard or maybe getting a little more adventurous than playing Angry Birds by drawing friendly ones with an art app. Not only does a stylus bring precision, it removes an awful lot of dirt. Fingers, well mine at least, are not the cleanest of things and come complete with sweat and oils which leave a residue on your device screen. Indeed, there's a whole industry out there which revolves around the cleaning of fingerprints from screens.

Let's assume you have found stylus religion and decided to join the ever-growing army of pointy-feely recruits; the big question that emerges at this point is 'which one should I buy?' and the answer is usually lost in a sea of claims to be the best, the cheapest, the longest lasting. Having bought and tried pretty much every different kind of stylus over the last few years, if you factor in the word 'cheapest' then you …

I know someone who is using one and is very satisfied with it. They are a die-hard Windows user across all platforms including mobile though, personally I think I'd find the jump from iOS and Android a leap too far. I'm seriously considering dumping iOS altogether when the next hardware upgrade decision has to be made, as Android simply gets the flexibility over finesse edge for me, but Windows Phone (even WP8 Black in the Lumia 1520) just seems a little too lacking in functionality right now - it reminds me of iOS at the start of the development cycle.

Here in the UK you can buy network locked phones (cheaper initially, buit tied to a contract which makes them more expensive over the full term) or unlocked SIM free ones (which are more expensive to buy initially but work out cheaper over the same term).

As for the US-looney-law that is the DCMA, I can't see that being used in the real world when it comes to phone contracts and I doubt that any individual unlocking their handset is going to find themselves in court.

Summer was last week...

Welcome from the wet and windy (and freezing cold this morning) wilds of West Yorkshire...

Your school has blocked 'almost everything' for a reason, and I'm afraid we won't be helping you to circumvent these blocks. See the rules, specifically:

Do not ask for help to pursue any illegal activity including, but not limited to, hacking...

The best you can do is ask your school IT people to lift the blocks if there are genuine resources that you need to access in relation to your studies, in which case I'm sure they would be happy to help.

You don't have that list, CNN has that list (published in May 2012 so now long out of date) and you simnply cut and pasted the first line of each entry here without even crediting the original source. Nice... :(

The original source is, by the way, http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/18/whats-the-next-facebook-or-is-there-one/

Welcome, Johnny.

I recently swapped my iPad 2 for a Google Nexus 7 2013 LTE, and once my iPhone 5s is off contract I am seriously thinking about taking the phablet 'one device to rule them all' route.

Illegal? Really? It may be in breach of your contract with the network carrier/supplier, but hardly illegal...

Please start a new thread for this question.

Seeing as EVERY SINGLE POST YOU MAKE is plugging some disk recovery/partioning solution, I would have thought you would already know. Just goes to show that all those recommendations you have made CANNOT BE TRUSTED...

I appreciate that 4 and 5 amount to much the same thing, but that's OK as avoiding notification overload really is going to be a vital part of Android Wear app development success in my opinion.

Wearable computing has been a buzzword for so long that it's easy to get blinded by the hype and not realise that actually it's a reality; and one that got even more real with the announcement by Google of Android Wear. Forget the fitness bands of today and the 'smart watches' of yesteryear, with Android Wear Google hopes to get the jump on Apple (likely to announce a smart watch iOS platform real soon now) by extending the hugely popular Android OS to wearables. The starting point of this strategy being smart watches that combine time-telling with app notifications, voice access to Google Now for directions, phone calls and replying to texts etc, and not forgetting the ability to control other devices for good measure (playing music on your smartphone, casting a movie to your TV from your tablet, opening a garage door...)

Consumers, at least in the US, will be able to get their hands on the first of the Android Wear devices real soon in the shape of the new Moto 360 from Motorola, which is promised to start rolling out this summer. Google says it is "working with consumer electronics manufacturers, chip makers and fashion brands who have committed to fostering an eco-system of watches in a variety of styles, shapes and sizes" so consumers can expect a whole host of choices to arrive during the course of 2014 and, I imagine, especially as we approach the festive holiday shopping season. But what about the …

Closest 6N for ages, which is always good.

Sad to see England miss out again, especially after hitting 50 points against Italy in Rome which is never easy. Happy for BoD though, the man was one of the true rugby greats.

France threw the game away, with that missed penalty and then the forward pass on the death which meant the try was disallowed. To be honest, looking at Ireland and England across the whole of the 6N I would be putting money on England as having a chance in the World Cup next year, much stronger and improved overall.

Wales, sadly, need a complete rethink if they are to seriosuly challenege the England place in that World Cup later in the year. On current form, with the current management (how many times does that statement have to be made) they are going nowehere.

Interesting opinion piece, saying much the same thing (ticking time bomb of XP) by Ondrej Vlcek, Chief Operations Officer at AVAST here.

Yes, totally amazed. I understand that XP applications remain carved into many enterprise systems, but that really is no excuse to hang on regardless to what is fast becoming an OS dinosaur. The end of life security issues should be centre stage, and I fear that XP installations may well become one of the bigger vulnerability stories in coming months.

The ups and downs, arguments and counters, spam deleting and solution finding.

Glad you are feeling better at last! :)

Has anyone on this thread seen hide or hair of the OP? Seems to have vanished...

Who me? Well if you had clicked on my username you might have discovered I am an admin here and very active indeed. Not hiding at all, but rather have nothing pertinent to add to a posting that was made three years ago. You guys seem to be doing OK without my input.

Darryl, when I discovered the error later in the day I only had access to DaniWeb via my Android tablet and iPhone; neither of which would allow me to easily edit the piece so I added an update to the posting and my comment above. First thing I did when arriving back in the office this morning (not quite 6am here in the UK) was to edit the article so that it is now correct and not 'false information' as you call it (or an honest mistake, of the kind we all make every now and again as none of us are perfect, as I call it).

Mea Culpa, I got it wrong...

Adrian and Mark, you are right. Damn! I never even knew that existed, having not looked for it on my newish Lenovo, and got caught up in thinking 8.1 Update 1 had rolled out courtesy of a Windows update (well a couple) that installed alongside it. That will teach me to work early on a Sunday morning...

Nope, I think that this is the genuine Microsoft Windows 8.1 Start Menu. Looks like Microsoft is rolling out the update, but it's rather patchy as to who is getting it at the moment it would seem. So far, I don't have anyone else reporting they have it.

In fact, I've had two other updates this morning from MS and the Start Menu remains - so certainly looks like this may be the 8.1 Update 1 that has been much talked about, right down to the 'boot to desktop' option.

I'm running Windows 8.1 Pro, which may make a difference (or not).

So here I am working on a Sunday morning, as usual, and I when I fire up my laptop (which serves as my desktop) a message appears informing that an update is being applied and it won't take long. Imagine my surprise when it turns out that this update appeared to be the long awaited and much talked about Windows 8.1 Update.

The big news for me, and I suspected most Windows 8.1 users who actually have a keyboard and mouse attached to their device, is that despite denials and plenty of comments to the contrary over the past few months the Start Menu appears to be back. It's true, I'm looking at it now. A Start Menu taskbar icon (along with a less useful PC App Store one) appears once the update is finished, and this icon can be slid along the taskbar and positioned anywhere you like. Mine is butted right up alongside the Start screen toggle button which, sadly, is the one that looks like a Start Menu icon. I'm sure I will get used to my Start Menu icon looking like a web browser home button, but there you go; at least it's back and it's official. I can now delete my third party start menu app.

A left click brings up a familiar, yet redesigned for Windows 8, start menu complete with pretty much everything you could want. You have options to see your favourites, all your apps, the control …

Welcome Vaxman :)

The Google Experience Launcher, as it was, first arrived exclusively for the Nexus 5 towards the end of last year. That changed recently when the renamed Google Now Launcher (GNL) appeared in the Play Store as a standalone app for Nexus devices and those handsets running Google Play Edition (GPE), or to put it another way this is for Stock Android only.

Along with some minor visual tweaking to the home screen and dock, you get to swipe left to open Google Now instead of another home screen and on the main home screen (assuming the device is unlocked) you can simply say 'OK Google' to start a search, set a reminder, send an email, get satnav directions and so on). In fact, think of Google Now as Android Siri and you are not far wrong. It's not for everyone, and I'm not talking about the practicalities of it requiring KitKat here, and many users are not going to be sacrificing their third party launchers at the altar of GNL. However, that said, if you (like me) happen to be a great fan of Stock Android and prefer the cleaner look of a stock launcher as well, then GNL will not disappoint. Sure, you don't get all the customisation benefits of add-on launchers (assuming you see heavy customisation as a benefit, of course) but you do get a clean stock launcher on steroids. Since installing it on my Nexus 7 2013 LTE, I've got so …

Thanks both for making that clearer than I did :)

News headlines screaming that yet another Microsoft Windows vulnerability has been discovered, is in the wild or has just been patched are two a penny. Such has it ever been. News headlines declaring that a 'major security problem' has been found with Linux are a different kettle of fish. So when reports of an attack that could circumvent verification of X.509 security certificates, and by so doing bypass both secure sockets layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) website protection, people sat up and took notice. Warnings have appeared that recount how the vulnerability can impact upon Debian, Red Hat and Ubuntu distributions. Red Hat itself issued an advisory warning that "GnuTLS did not correctly handle certain errors that could occur during the verification of an X.509 certificate, causing it to incorrectly report a successful verification... An attacker could use this flaw to create a specially crafted certificate that could be accepted by GnuTLS as valid." In all, at least 200 operating systems actually use GnuTLS when it comes to implementing SSL and TLS and the knock-on effect could mean that web applications and email alike are vulnerable to attack. And it's all Linux's fault. Or is it?

The problem with all of this would appear to have started with the best intentions; a programmer working for Red Hat discovered the flaw and Red Hat then issued that advisory which suggested users apply a product update to fix it. All good stuff, with a quick discovery and time …

England also need to up their game, the 'silly penalty count' was way too high. Should have been a much bigger margin of victory, to be honest.

Looks like Ireland should have the 6N wrapped up, what with that points difference and all. However, it has been 14 years since Ireland last won at the Stade de France and the French will have their tails up methinks. Gonna be an exciting day on Saturday.

Looking at the tips at http://www.spiceworks.com/ebooks/2014-top-it-career-advice/ I do have to say that the first is less a tip and more stating the obvious: “I think that in order to get promoted in today’s environment you need to demonstrate you can do the work.” Surely that has always been the case, in any working environment?

Tip 31 resonates with me though: “Always Be Learning! - Seems straightforward but never rest on your laurels, especially in IT.” I am a constant learner, always finding out about new stuff and expanding my horizons. My job as a technology journalist really helps here, I am very lucky.

Android-driven devices, including smartphones and tablets manufactured by the likes of Asus, LG, Motorola and Samsung, are being sold with pre-installed malware according to claims made by the CTO and Founder of Marble Security. David Jevans made the claim following complaints from a potential client that a mobile security platform from the vendor was mistakenly identifying a Netflix app as being malware. Upon further investigation, Marble researchers discovered that the apps in question were not only malware but were actively harvesting both passwords and financial data which were being sent to a Russian server. Although malware is nothing new, and Android malware distribution in particular is growing at a phenomenal rate year on year according to just about every bit of statistical evidence I have seen, what peaked the interest of Jevans was the fact that the victim in question insisted that the malicious apps were pre-installed on the devices and there when they purchased them.

This is, of course, nothing really new as regular readers of DaniWeb news might recall. It was all of seven years ago now that I broke the story of TomTom satnav devices being found infected with malware direct from the factory. That news story went on to win an IT Security News Story of the Year award at the BT Information Security Journalism Awards, and served as a warning of things to come. Given the proliferation of both Android devices and Android malware, the only surprise here is that it has taken …

To be fair, you gave us Max Boyce so we are even...

I would be amazed if anyone looking for work of any kind these days, but especially within the IT sector, didn't have an online portfolio of some kind. Of course, all too often it is of the wrong kind; namely some ill advised social media activity complete with images that can, and indeed often are, used by prospective employers when compiling a personality profile of candidates.

I'm from an online era (a couple of decades and more ago) where no thought was given to such things, and as such my personality is writ large online for anyone who cares go look for it. Were I a young buck starting out now, I would keep two distinct online social profiles: one with an eye to work using my real name, and another for my wayward ways using a nickname that is less easily traceable back to the first.

And, just to clarify for those reading this, from COBOL? Thanks.

And this is relevant how? I note that the website referenced does not mention COBOL at all. So are you saying, categorically, that your product supports the coversion of COBOL code to PL/SQL? to T-SQL? to Java? to C#.NET? as asked by the original poster. If not, then I'm afraid that this is looking awfully like poorly targeted spam...

Spam is that stuff which resides in my spam folder and gets deleted automatically without me ever seeing it. Honestly, as far as email spam goes, I cannot recall the last time I saw a piece of genuine spam making it through into my inbox. Just as importantly, I cannot recall the last time I found evidence of any false positives in my spam folder. In fact, so confident am I that genuine mails no longer get flagged as spam that I've pretty much stopped checking that folder now and just let the stuff drop into a big black hole on a rolling basis.

I keep a tablet (iPad 2) in my shoulder bag, and use it many times a day to browse the web when away from the office or home, check emails, connect to DaniWeb etc. Far better than my iPhone 5s for such things due to the larger screen (my eyesight is not so good). I also have a very good integrated case/keyboard (see my review of this here) which enables me to use the tablet for writing and research as part of my job (I'm a journalist and author).

Do I use my iPad in the office? Nah! I use a powerful laptop: Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P (Intel Core i7-4700MQ, 12GB RAM, 1TB HDD/24GB SSD Hybrid, 2GB GeForce GT 755M, Windows 8.1) coupled to a Dell ST220T Touchscreen and QPAD MK85-Pro mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX brown switches for any keyboard geeks out there. Haven't had a 'PC' for a decade or more now, no need when your lappy does everything it can do and can be taken home with you.

Will the tablet be the death of the laptop? No. I think a better analogy than the desktop PC/Laptop argument, which many may claim has been pretty much won by the laptop (just look at sales figures year on year) would be a netbook/laptop one. Many people said the netbook was the death of the laptop, and initial sales were good. However, the tablet has pretty much destroyed the netbook market.

So, the question should have been will …

Yep, like I said "Pastebin does not have a problem; people who abuse it have a problem and those who report on this abuse without any real knowledge of the service itself have a problem."

It was once the biggest Bitcoin exchange in the world, accounting for as much as 80% of the global trading market in the virtual currency, but Mt. Gox suddenly stopped trading yesterday and reports suggest that some $375m worth of Bitcoins, or 6% of all Bitcoins in circulation, have gone missing.

In an official statement, the Mt. Gox management team state that: "In light of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on Mt. Gox's operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will react accordingly."

An internal document, which has been widely reported upon by the media, suggests that more than 600,000 Bitcoins were stolen in cyber-attacks on the US-owned but Tokyo-based company. It is this theft, it seems, that has prompted all withdrawals to be frozen and Bitcoin trading suspended. It has also prompted other Bitcoin exchanges to release a joint statement, with six of the biggest insisting that "This tragic violation of the trust of users of Mt Gox was the result of one company's actions. As with any new industry, there are certain bad actors that need to be weeded out, and that is what we are seeing today. There are hundreds of trustworthy and responsible companies involved in Bitcoin. These companies will continue to build the future of money by making Bitcoin more secure and easy to use for consumers …

I've heard of people being offered a year at the existing membership price in order to 'try it out' and guess the free three monther is another tool in the stop this from looking like a massive fail box. Won't work, of course, as people are not stupid and will simply move away when the freebie period ends. There is plenty of competition out there for regular shoppers when you remove the 'free' next day delivery part of the equation, and much of it works out cheaper than Amazon when you do.

So this morning I get an email from Amazon which promises to inform me of some important information about my Amazon Prime membership. This is the subscription service which, in return for an annual charge of £49 here in the UK, provides free next day delivery on any item which is flagged as eligible for Prime members. That may sound like a lot, but actually if you do the math properly it's a pretty good money-saving deal for anyone who falls into the 'regular shopper' category and likes the tracked next day delivery option which usually costs an arm and a leg. So what was the important information that Amazon had to tell me?

Look, I'm not completely stupid and know that generally speaking such an email is going to announce a price rise wrapped up the promise of some new additions to the service that somehow serve to cushion the blow. The question was, as ever, how much? I was expecting maybe 10% or so to take it up to £49.99 which, just maybe, I would have swallowed and continued to subscribe. I certainly wasn't expecting a 60% rise in Amazon Prime membership costs. Let me just run that past you again in case you missed it: AMAZON PRIME MEMBERSHIP COSTS TO RISE BY 60% WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.

Yep, Amazon want to increase my Prime membership fee from £49 to a whopping £79 per year. What possible additions to a guaranteed next day delivery …

The average DaniWeb member if not already au fait with Pastebin.com is almost certainly aware of something like it. A pastebin has become, for many programmers, a default tool in the coding box and for very good reason: it makes sharing large quantities of code very easy indeed. Of course, any pastebin is essentially just a temporary text store and that means any type of text, not just code; and it's here that the problems for pastebin.com would appear to start. The service has been branded "a major trading place for exploits and passwords" according to recently released research.

Of course, the eagle-eyed amongst you will have picked up upon the fact that I used the word 'appear' in that last paragraph, and I did so for very good reason. There is a move by some parts of the media, driven largely by press releases and research from security vendors and other 'interested' parties, to suggest that pastebin.com is a vehicle for hackers, cybercriminals and even in some cases terrorists. That suggestion is, in my never humble opinion, poppycock. I mean, come on folks, it's right up there blaming pastebin.com for someone posting a list of compromised passwords and therefore enabling the hacking of accounts with blaming the Internet for paedophiles as they can use it to distribute their filth, or the mobile telephone for terrorism as they can use it for... well, you get the idea. Medium and message, old chap, simple …

Wow! And I say again. Wow!

That was one of the best games of rugby I have seen for a long time, with both England and Ireland giving everything for the full 80 minutes. A recording of that should be given to kids learning the game along with a note saying 'this is how you play the game'.

Seriously, the passion, physicality and intelligence on display there (from both teams) was inspirational. On that performance, and no disrespect to Wales or France intended, I think it has to be Ireland (most likely given the PD) or England for the 6N.

Good luck boys, the Triple Crown is now up for grabs as well...

I have already replied to a PM request for this mass deletion of posts.

However, for the benefit of others in a similar situation I would suggest reading the DaniWeb terms of service, read the post a couple up from Mike, and understand that posting something you were told not to by your professor is not a valid reason for us to delete anything...

Hello Thomas, er sorry I mean Michael, you seem confused in so many ways. Not least that you are asking for advice that you are giving out elsewhere. One could be forgiven for thinking that a link to a certain network cable retailer will pop up from yet another account (now that Thomas is banned) real soon...

Great display of sheer power in the scrum matched with razor sharp tactical play; the Welsh are right back in it and I think the result of the England/Ireland match today is now crucial as to whether Ireland take the 6N or Wales have a chance of doing the triple-grab after all.

If that's a serious question, then I doubt anyone can help you other than a therapist of some sort...

One of the oldest technology truisms must be that you only realise the importance of backing up your systems after disaster strikes. This is especially true if you have no backups to turn to. There are, thankfully, few excuses aside from sheer laziness not to backup your data these days; be that to a separate data directory (not much use if your hard drive dies), a separate hard drive (better, but not much help if the computer is stolen or lost), a removable drive (better yet, as it can be taken away from the computer itself) and now 'the cloud' (from where your data can be accessed anyway and using any device you wish).

But what if you want to backup more than just data, what if you want a backup of everything in case the worse happens? By which I mean the OS itself, your applications, your configuration settings and your data? This is where system imaging comes in, and in the case of Windows 8.1 apparently leaves just as quickly. While there are plenty of third party system imaging solutions which work well and many will tell you work better than the built-in application, many others will prefer to stick with performing such system critical procedures using a method that the OS itself provides.

The problem being that with the release of Windows 8.1 the system image backup and recovery tool has, apparently, vanished. The keyword, of course, is 'apparently' as it is actually still there; Microsoft has …

Welcome to DaniWeb Gary!

Try ManageFB - www.managefb.com - system, I think it is free

You only think it is free? I would have thought, considering that in your community intro here on DaniWeb you say that you are "engaged in promoting system managefb.com, project in which we are actively working the last 6 months", you would have known how much it costs.

Seriously, if you are going to promote something here then declare your interest, and at the very least don't try to make out that you are just a happy user...