Tracing the Route
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Have you ever wondered what route your internet activities are taking? You’ve just visited kkomp.com from wherever you’re logging onto your computer or handheld device; but your download of the page you requested didn’t come straight from the server to you: Instead it went through a number of other servers, acting as relays, to get to you. You may be surprised how many of these it passed through en-route. You can find out the identities of these servers with the Windows command "tracert". ("traceroute" on a Mac.) - For instance; if I wanted to see which servers my communication passes through to kkomp.com’s server; I first open a command prompt in XP. (Start>Run, and type "cmd" in the dialogue-box. ¬) I get a DOS window with the following in it: - Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] C:\Documents and Settings\Sharron>_ The _ is the command-prompt. At the command-prompt I type "tracert kkomp.com"; thus: - C:\Documents and Settings\Sharron>tracert kkomp.com The computer responds by pinging all the servers en-route and asking them to identify themselves: - Tracing route to kkomp.com [213.171.218.145] The first stop is my BT Home Hub router: - 1 19 ms 100 ms 99 ms BThomehub.home [192.168.1.254] Then the separate BT internet network switches. (Because I use BT internet in the UK, and BT have their own mini-web which connects to the real internet at various nodes. You’ll probably get something different, unless you’re a BT customer in the UK.):- 2 25 ms 25 ms 24 ms 217.47.206.250 It’s made it to the big switch at Reading… 11 161 ms 102 ms 27 ms core2-pos0-0-0-13.ilford.ukcore.bt.net [62.6.201.201] Which passed it on to another big BT switch at Ilford… 12 127 ms 123 ms 179 ms core2-pos9-1.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.74.65.118] Which sent it to the real internet… 13 125 ms 245 ms 40 ms linx.bb-c.the.lon.gb.oneandone.net [195.66.224.98] It’s just about to hit Fasthosts’ main server… 15 222 ms 82 ms 64 ms pc2.prt0.fhdis.fasthosts.net.uk [88.208.255.1] Followed by one of their internal web-servers… 16 53 ms 32 ms 32 ms 213.171.217.3 …And to the individual hosting server. 17 176 ms 158 ms 61 ms server213-171-218-145.livedns.org.uk [213.171.218.145] Trace complete. C:\Documents and Settings\Sharron> Target neutralised. Here’s the actual window’s content without my comments: - Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] C:\Documents and Settings\Sharron>tracert kkomp.com Tracing route to kkomp.com [213.171.218.145] 1 19 ms 100 ms 99 ms BThomehub.home [192.168.1.254] Trace complete. C:\Documents and Settings\Sharron>
Try it for yourself: You can use any domain or IP address in place of kkomp.com . Here you learn something new every day; even New Year’s Day. Happy New Year. May 2009 bring you much enlightenment. |
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BitTorrent Bootleg Windows 7 Beta has Issues
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A beta version of Windows 7 is out on BitTorrent. You can get a copy and run it before you’re supposed to - but it’s illegal; and if you live in the UK, or possibly some other countries in Europe, you’ll be aware that certain ISPs are watching you. It might be a mistake to download it, because it’s not possible to apply security updates to the bootleg version. That includes the recent "out of band" update for a seriously critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer. The build which was leaked was a daily build for the beta, probably only for the development purposes of Microsoft staff. It wasn’t supposed to be leaked; and those who do have legal access to it have access to a proper beta version which may include the fix. Microsoft has no reason to release a patch for this version; after all it’s not supposed to be in the wild. If you download this version you are risking your online safety.
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Zune-Tastic Failure
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Microsoft’s 30GB Zunes are failing on a colossal scale. Around 2AM, (In an American time-zone presumably. My source is indefinite as to which one.) 30GB Zunes that were switched on reset themselves. When they were switched on again they froze in the loading process, becoming totally unresponsive and practically useless. Zune users have dubbed this crisis Z2K9; a parody of the Y2K bug. (Although the New Year hasn’t even started at time of writing. Reports of this problem are continually appearing across the internet. It would seem that the bug lies within the latest firmware at this point; as many who failed to update their firmware seem to be unaffected. The source material I used was unable to give a proper explanation as to why this was happening; and as yet I am none the wiser myself. I’m sure that an explanation will soon be forthcoming though. It’s certainly one method of advertising; but probably not a good one. Have you had similar problems? If so please do tell in the comments.
Addendum: Here’s the official fix: - “Microsoft’s responded to the Zune 30GB failure, blaming a leap-year handling bug. And they’ve provided a fix. Which is to wait til New Years, when the bug will go away by itself…” |
The BT Syndrome
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British Telecommunications (BT) appear to have a good and fairly reliable standard of service with respect to their technology and technological services; such as internet, telephone, and the other technologies that they cover. I find that it’s pretty solid, made of sturdy stuff, and things rarely go wrong. When they do go wrong, though, the flaws start to show. I’ve mentioned this a few times before, and I feel that it’s a subject that I should cover again, as despite my earlier posts, as well as the public’s experiences with their appalling customer-services regarding their foreign call-centres, combined with my reporting them for dodgy advertising practices and awful customer relations practices, nothing seems to have changed: They just nonchalantly carry on regardless.
Whenever I ring BT for whatever reason I get stress. They usually pass me around departments; each one of which interrogates me with the same stet spiel before passing me on to the next. Most are in India and I have to say everything in triplicate before they understand me anyway. As a bonus they appear to have been trained to think that no BT customer is intelligent enough to use a word of more than 2 syllables or to have any idea whatsoever of using a computer. When I do finally get through to the right department, I usually find that I’m talking to a fairly young Indian girl with an extremely strong Indian accent who appears to think she knows everything there is to know about everything, talks down to me in a patronising manner - slowly as if I was retarded - avoiding using technical terms, and despite my indicating that I build computers and install software + have qualifications in analogue and digital electronics, treating me as if I was a technophobe with an IQ of 10. If I ask to talk to her supervisor it takes about 10 minutes to get her supervisor on the line after 5 minutes of requesting; only for the supervisor to read from the same script that was earlier read to me, and tell me that she can’t help me any further than she already has, but if I’d like to pursue the matter further I should ring another of BT’s trillions of departments, (Probably in a room next door, or at the back of the call-centre in India.) on such-and-such a number. (When I do I find that I’m told that I’m speaking to the wrong department, and after being transferred through another X departments - undergoing identification interrogation at each of them, I find I end up speaking to the same Indian girl who offers to put me on hold while she transfers me yet again; after which the line goes dead. Right BT: I’ve had enough. - As have millions of others who’ve switched their telephone service and/or ISP to another provider. - They’re crafty bleeders too: Every time I phone them to get a better deal from them, (I must admit that they can be bargained and bartered with, and that’s a good thing. - But they’ll only drop a certain amount: If you push them too far they’ll just end the call.) I end up signing a 12 or 18-month contract in order to get what I want. That means that I spend over half the time tied to them. A bit more on bartering with BT: If you feel that you’re not getting a fair deal, and/or you know that you can get a better deal elsewhere as regards price; ring their sales department - Which is at least partially located in the UK, ask to speak to someone in authority, and tell them exactly why you think you’re not getting a good deal from them. Don’t lie: They may be incompetent but they’re not stupid. If you lie they’ll just politely tell you that they are unable to help you and end the call. Be honest with them and they’ll hopefully be fair with you. I can almost guarantee that they’ll tie you into a contract; but don’t be put off by that: If you’re properly self-aware then you’ll be able to negotiate further deals whilst under contract on the basis that you renew your contract for a full-term. Snide Ba—rds! OK back to the point: BT; you are getting to a point where you are going to shoot yourself in the foot if you squeeze any harder: That thing which you’re squeezing has become a trigger which will lead to your eventual self-destruction in the present economic climate. Either get your act together or prepare to slowly and tortuously go under. I feel that the only reason why anyone would use BT’s internet services is because they’re less fault-prone than anyone else’s: That’s the positive side to them. They work and they work properly 99.99% of the time. - However, aside from their abysmal PR efforts, BT are rather expensive, also they’re neither the fastest ISP in the UK, nor are they future-proofed at the present moment. In fact Virgin Media are beginning to appear a nicer and nicer alternative as time goes by. Virgin Media aren’t quite as reliable as BT in my opinion: They have got a lot better in this respect though, and they continue to do so. To anyone in a cabled area who’s thinking of changing ISP; I suggest Virgin Media as one of the best options. As for those in a non-cabled area; I suggest Virgin Media or BT - BT being the most reliable of the two for now, as two of the best options; whereas Virgin Media will probably have more chance of being the better of the two in the future. The choice is yours out of the two. There is a single lower-cost provider who I would recommend to the same, even in some cases to a greater, extent than either of these two, though. More on that further down. Other ISPs? Other ISPs? Well I’m not too bothered about most other ISPs as far as landline communications are concerned. Mobile communications are a different matter and are outside the scope of this article. Most other ISPs probably use BT or Virgin Media’s equipment to carry their data, and probably buy up spare capacity in wholesale amounts; hence their pricing policies being discounted in some way. When something goes wrong, though, they have to check their own equipment first -The delay caused at this point can be anything between immediately and eternally. Following that, if they can’t find a fault, they have to ask their providers to check if there are any faults on the carrier equipment, which is requested but usually goes to the back of the queue. Some parts of some cheaper networks have been known to be down for weeks at a time in the past. - If you pay peanuts you get the services of monkeys.
BUT… There is one that is cheap-er than BT, but is pretty reliable: That being the Utility Warehouse, who actually own a percentage of the network that they use, in addition to purchasing spare-capacity from other carriers. - Which is why I advertise them on this site. A FTSE-listed company that can win an award from Which? magazine must be worth considering as an option. I’ll say no more; but why not click on the ad and find out more about them? They’re a UK-only service currently, so I hope I haven’t wasted your time if you live outside the UK. If there’s anything you’d like to add, contradict, or express an opinion on, then please do comment.
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Successful Blogging
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Blogging: It’s another popular bandwagon; and it seems that everyone is trying to climb on it these days. Of course there’s only so much room; so those who don’t stay balanced and upright are going to end up falling off and left behind as the bandwagon moves onwards.
With so many millions of blogs online these days; a large percentage of them trying to generate some kind of profit for their owners, it’s starting to get, shall we say "crowded" out there. Many bloggers are complete rookies; first-timers who are just getting their feet wet in the blogosphere. - People who may be being hit by the current economic climate and who have turned to blogging to make a little extra perhaps; or possibly full-time newbie-bloggers who are hoping to make their total income from blogging. The unfortunate thing is that not all are going to make it: The laws of probability state that there must be losers for there to be winners. The fortunate thing is that there are those who already have the necessary experience, and who have been watching the scene unfold and the changes taking place in the blogosphere over the last few years.
and have been observing the blogosphere changing with times and trends. They have teamed up to share their knowledge and expertise with the less-experienced and even the currently operative bloggers today. They have put together the becomeablogger course; a course which takes you through the very basics, like initially setting up your WordPress blog, to optimising, monetising, and correctly commercialising your blog in the light of current internet-marketing trends, in order that you can make it a profitable operation whilst at the same time making it interesting and readable. - Generating enough traffic to make it a viable commercial and social knowledge-base, so that it not only pays for itself but it actually generates revenue from its operation.
The internet is changing; if you didn’t realise it already. The old ways of operating now have limited, if any, success. As a result of this, those who weren’t able to evolve are falling by the wayside. Yaro and Gideon have kept their fingers on the pulse and have adapted their strategies accordingly: In this course they’ll show you how to blog successfully in today’s online marketplace. There is a mass of material you should read if you’re new to the blogging scene, and a lot of it is absolutely free of charge at Yaro and Gideon’s site. The real McCoy though - the bit that puts the meat on the bones and provides you with everything you’ll need to be a regular successful blogger who makes an income from their blogging activity, is contained within the becomeablogger tutorials. That’s enough rabbit from me: Click on the ad below and grab yourself some free samples so that you can see for yourself that they know what they’re on about. You’d be crazy not to.
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Processors Speeds: Can They Get Any Higher?
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Not long ago, processor speeds just seemed to get faster and faster. In the last 10 years we’ve seen CPU speeds go up from around 233MHz to over 2.3 GHz: A tenfold increase in just ten years. - But suddenly they stopped getting faster. Why? There are two combined main reasons: The first being market-forces. Everybody continually demands more processing power from their processor; therefore chips became faster, as processors that were able to operate at greater speeds were developed; able to process the same amount of data more quickly. Due to a combination of the limited speed of the frequency of operation of the motherboard, plus design constraints that we will look at shortly, there was only so far that this could go. Secondly two brains are better than one. When you’ve gone as high as it’s realistically possible to go; they way to further increase capacity is to build outwards, or duplicate the structure as an annexe of the original. That’s what chipmakers did: Around 2005; AMD, having developed a commercially-available 64-bit processor, then fabricated it as 2 of those processors on a single die. The Athlon 64 x 2 was born. (The computer I’m writing this article on now has one of these processors.) Intel stapled 2 dual-core dies together in a single package and produced a quad-core processor. At the time of writing 6 and 8-core processors are looming on the horizon.
But they’re still no longer getting any faster. Why? CPU speed of operation is limited by frequency. Also, when you get up to a certain frequency, greater heat is produced; regardless of the size of individual transistors: Heat that is generated by the frequency of operation itself to a certain extent. Go above a certain amount of gigahertz and you’re getting too close to microwave frequencies. At these extremely high frequencies a combination of things start to happen: The frequency that individual components, such as the processor and the chipset, communicate with each other at, is around 200MHz: That’s the case with all computers. You may have a 3.2 GHz processor in circuit; but 3.2 GHz is the frequency within the processor itself only. If the processor were to try to communicate with other components at that frequency; the signal would never make it to the other components: The higher the frequency the smaller the antenna needed to radiate that frequency. That’s the reason why the highest frequencies outside of any chip on the motherboard are limited: If they were any higher, the connective tracks on or between the layers of the motherboard would radiate the power away as radio-waves before it ever reached the next component. If the in-chip frequencies became too high then even the connections inside the chip would act as antennae and the chip itself would cease to function, regardless of the design of the transistors themselves.
Secondly; what happens when you put a dinner into a microwave oven? It cooks, yes?: What’s happening is that the high-frequency microwaves of several gigahertz are bombarding the food and exciting the (water) molecules to vibrate sympathetically, causing them to heat up. (I think the frequency used is around 5 point something gigahertz.) When you’re talking gigahertz; the higher the frequency (The more gigahertz.) the greater the heat generated. Also the higher the frequency the smaller the components necessary to run at that frequency. Small things tend to burn up quicker than larger things. Go figure. The cost of fabricating a chip small enough to function at higher energy microwave frequencies, as well as the cooling system it would require, doesn’t even bear thinking about: It’s just totally impractical. So once you’re getting above around 4+GHz frequency you’re starting to fight a losing battle. Logically if you can’t go upwards you go outwards. Think outside the box like AMD did: Add another core operating at an identical frequency on the same die and you theoretically and loosely have twice the frequency without having to have twice the frequency, if you catch my drift? (In actual fact it’s not quite that simple: The overall performance gain works out at somewhere just above 1.7 times rather than double; but I’m not going to type a load of complex calculus-laden quantum-linear algorithms here to prove a point, even if I could remember them.) So what of the future? 48-core processors? I think, making a logical guess, that that’s about the theoretical upper-limit using today’s technology: But things can only get better. All of this is talking from the viewpoint of today’s technologies of course: If it were possible to isolate the transmission of gigahertz-frequency waves and amplify and send them by means of a chain of nano-electronic relays over greater distances on an active-conductor, then basically the sky’s the limit as far as the number of processors in a package is concerned; once one accounts for the excessive cooling required for such a device… The mind boggles. Someone leave a comment on their theoretical predictions based upon factual or theoretically-possible engineering concepts. I’d be fascinated to delve further into the realms of possibility, even from the mind of someone better-informed than myself. I’d love to hear your ideas.
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Bloatware For The Mac?
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Do Macs require security-enhancing software? Apple appear to think not; that their osX is invulnerable and only PCs get viruses, at least seemingly from their advertising. Symantec, however, beg to differ; and have released Norton Internet Security 4.0 for the Mac.
As has been noted in recent articles on this blog; there is indeed Mac malware, and yes some Mac users have been subjected to the Macattack. - Maybe not many up until this time of writing, but even one is too many: Macs do need anti-malware then: If they didn’t then nobody who uses a Mac would ever have been infected.Could the Macattack it become a more serious problem? Yes it could, and it probably will; despite anything that Apple have to say to the contrary. Prevention being better than cure; it’s a good thing that anti-malware companies are taking action:- In addition to Symantec’s efforts there are others such as Intego VirusBarrier, to name but one other that specialises in anti-malware for the Mac. Quite obviously Mac users are already protecting themselves: If there weren’t a market then the companies wouldn’t be catering for it. Symantec claim to have the best firewall for the Mac as a part of NIS4Mac. There are location-based network rules which set different rules based on where you are connecting from, and logged preferences can be set as to which apps access the internet. There’s also blacklist data gathered from their DeepSight network to block access from known malware-bearing sites. NIS4Mac also includes phishing protection based on blacklists and heuristic analyses. There are also a number of other features that are too numerous and in-depth to mention here. The question is; is Norton as crappy and resource-hogging on a Mac as it is on a PC? I haven’t tested the software so I can’t say for definite; but knowing Norton; I’d bet that it’s almost certainly some form of bloatware. Norton’s effectiveness on a PC is commonly ranked within the lower echelons of results; so will the Norton software for the Mac be similar for all its bloat? At a guess I’d say ‘probably’. Are you a Mac user who runs Norton Internet Security for the Mac? What is your opinion of it? It would be interesting to gain insight from a first-hand user.
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A Good Reason to Dump Internet Explorer
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If you guessed from the title of this post that yet another security flaw has been discovered in Internet Explorer; then you’d be right:-
The vulnerability exists as an invalid pointer reference in the data binding function of Internet Explorer. When data binding is enabled (which is the default state), it is possible under certain conditions for an object to be released without updating the array length, leaving the potential to access the deleted object’s memory space. This can cause Internet Explorer to exit unexpectedly, in a state that is exploitable.
All you would need to do to allow your machine to become compromised via Internet Explorer is visit a site which has a special malefic type of scripting. Microsoft have not yet released a patch for the vulnerability, although they are working on it. In the meantime I would suggest that all users of Internet Explorer download Firefox, import their settings to Firefox from IE when Firefox installs, and use Firefox rather than Internet Explorer whenever possible. If you find that you don’t like Firefox and prefer IE then by all means change back as soon as Microsoft have patched the vulnerability. I advise everyone to avoid using all versions of Internet Explorer whenever possible for the time being.
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Deck the Hall With Xmas Malware
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Malware writers have started Christmas early this year (2008): A backdoor trojan used in malicious spam campaigns is linked to from a bogus animated electronic Christmas card from postcards.org . When activated, the file allows hackers to access the machine’s resources via IRC. This campaign has been around since November, and the malware writers are well in tune with the current economic situation. E-card sites are promoting e-cards as a cheap environmentally-friendly alternative to paper and card. As the trojan installs the Christmas jollity continues with a picture of a Christmas tree. How coy. Your computer is being targeted in many different ways these days, especially if you’re running Windows; and users should be vigilant and more careful than ever about what they click on. The best way to be is, if you even suspect it just that tiny bit, don’t click on it. Delete it instead - Don’t let curiosity kill the cat - or your computer either come to that.
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Horrific Figures
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On October 10th 2008 I stated the following: "In general I think that most computer users are too lax don’t take security seriously enough. I am fairly certain that the number of machines that are still unprotected by any kind of firewall is fairly big. I am fairly certain that the percentage of machines unprotected by any kind of anti-virus and anti-spyware software is quite high: Higher than you’d imagine. I am fairly certain that the number of people who have anti-virus and anti-virus software installed, but whose databases have never been updated is quite colossal. I am fairly certain that the percentage of machines that have not once taken any update to or Windows components is probably in the twenties. I am also fairly certain that there are a number of people who’ll click on links or open attachments from unknown sources without giving it a second thought." A new survey by the UK Government’s Get Safe Online Campaign allows me to put some actual figures to those statements:- Overall almost half of UK internet users fail to keep their security software up-to-date. 48% do not update their anti-virus software frequently enough to ensure it remains effective. 47% do not have website authentication software to protect against phishing attacks. 23% do not have any protection against spyware. As a result cybercrime is on the increase, especially phishing, according to the campaign. 23% of those people surveyed said that they or someone they knew was the victim of a phishing attack this year, 2008. In 2007 the figure was only 8%. According to Tony Neate, managing director of Get Safe Online: “If internet users invest a relatively small amount of time and money in ensuring they are fully protected and up-to-date, the risk of such financial loss is almost negligible.” ‘Typical couldn’t-care-less "Der I’m a Brit so I don’t need none ov this crap" attitude. What is wrong with people? Are they really so unthinking and irresponsible in the UK? Unfortunately the figures seem to speak for themselves. I’m still getting visitors to this blog who are using Windows ME and 9x. Read this article - I wasn’t joking; these operating systems are a security risk, even if you do apply all the patches available. "Oh who’d want to bother hacking Windows 9x? It’s outdated and Microsoft don’t have anything to lose ." Bad answer; you’re missing the point: The attacks aren’t so much virus and other malware attacks by criminal Linux zealots designed to discredit Microsoft these days. They are designed to rip off the public in any way possible, to steal money from you and me. Criminals launch malware designed to target old Microsoft operating systems still in use which aren’t patched against the latest threats. Your old relic machine running Windows ME/9x is probably being used right now as a malware relay and/or a remote server under the control of a criminal gang; and I also bet you that those criminals have any of your security details left on that computer too. There’s no need to buy a new computer necessarily: If your machine will run Windows XP, or Ubuntu Linux even if you can’t afford a second-hand copy of XP, then all you need do is change the operating system. I’ll write an article at some point on this. Please please please peoples; for the sake of all internet users, follow these simple rules: Yes it’ll take a little extra time; but you and everybody else will reap the rewards of doing so:- 1. Ensure that you have antivirus software installed and that it is updated daily. If you can’t or don’t want to pay for it then download Avast! Free Edition. Avast free edition includes antispyware. It updates automatically and will inform you audibly when it has done so. (Male American voice: Unchangeable.) 2. Get website authentication software. (Microsoft have this built into Internet Explorer 7 and above.) 3. Get spyware protection. Avast! free antivirus has built-in spyware protection. Some antivirus programs do not. (If your antivirus program is more than a year old it needs changing as it’s unable to detect or cope with current threats.) I’ll be blunt here: If you can’t be bothered to stick to these simple rules then I hope you get scammed/robbed; after which you might just take some care to abide by them. If you can’t be bothered then you deserve anything and everything you get. Despite that I suggest you do the sensible thing and ensure that your online security is 100% - Before it’s too late for someone else; or more importantly before it’s too late for you. |
BT Set to Pilot New, Faster, Broadband via Fibre-Optics in UK
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Multinational British-based telecommunications company BT has chosen around 15,000 homes/businesses in Muswell Hill, London, and in Whitchurch, South Wales, to be the launching-points for its new internet service of its "Fibre-to-the-Cabinet" internet-delivery-system. BT are claiming this service could give customers speeds of up to 40Mbps, and is scheduled to be in operation in the summer of 2009. BT are unclear as to which ISPs will be using the scheme as yet, but have said that those ISPs will be setting the prices for their services once this matter has been further sorted out. Further details for the next stage of the operation, in which the service will be on offer on a larger (Nationwide?) scale, is to be announced in 2010. According to David Campbell, director of next generation access at BT Openreach:- "Services in these areas will be available to all UK communication providers on a wholesale basis. The sites were chosen in consultation with communications providers and took into account feedback from regional development agencies, devolved authorities and similar organisations." "It was also necessary to take into account current network topology and our ability to run testing procedures in the chosen areas. We have a good mix of areas, allowing us to test our products in both urban and semi-rural environments."
It would appear that BT are intending to do exactly the same; thus giving the already-cabled areas a choice of hi-speed internet, while leaving the rural outlying areas with the paltry choice of slow-dial-up or expensive satellite internet services. If the above paragraph is true, then nothing changes other than an increase in variety for the select recipients in more densely-populated areas; screw the rest of them.
Having areas of 40Mbps connection whilst continuing to have areas where, to keep costs down, customers opt for a 56Kbps dial-up connection, isn’t really going to be productive: The most vulnerable point in any chain is its weakest link; so if little Jenny, who has a 40Mbps connection, is sending her granny, who has a 56Kbps dial-up connection, a 500MB file of her favourite cartoons, then Jenny may as well have a 56Kbps dial-up connection also for all the time it’ll take to reach granny. Maybe I’m being a bit melodramatic in the above paragraph; but unless everyone gets a decent deal out of a new development which affects society as a whole, then what is the point of it if it’s just going to produce bottlenecks? I mean what is the point of having a 10-lane motorway for 99% of the distance between towns A and B, if at the end of the motorway is a single-track winding lane making the final connection? Meanwhile Thailand (Which isn’t exactly a technological superpower.) continues to have its hyperfast-internet which is available to almost everyone; and the traffic between Thailand and the UK is not a massive amount. I wonder why? Perhaps it’s because they get fed up with waiting for the British to receive their message? It leaves Thailand within the second; gets to the UK 3 seconds later, and reaches its final destination as a complete download later that week! Am I being melodramatic again? Not in all cases: I’ve known email from abroad to reach its UK destination 3 days later. In some cases even longer than that. When snail-mail becomes faster than the internet it’s clear that someone somewhere is doing something wrong. So come on BT: I hope everyone, regardless of area, local population, and accessibility, is going to benefit from this: If they don’t it all seems pretty pointless and just another one of the UK’s famous postcode-lotteries.
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Unusual Presentation of 2 Items: Facebook iPhone App v2.0 & Congress’ Server Overload.
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Prologue Rabbit: Quite some time ago - 2 years plus; I’m not exactly sure how long, I got an invite from a friend to join Facebook. I’d heard a lot about it but wasn’t really into social networking at that time: Times were good economically, and I was concentrating on getting a computer-building enterprise running. I wasn’t that fussed on spending hours posting my life online and getting chatted-up by lonely losers using the internet as a last-ditch attempt at getting a date with anyone they could find. Anyway I eventually gave Facebook a try - And I found it so sucky at the time that after not long I closed down my account in protest. I kept a MySpace account going but abandoned it and forgot the login details. More than two years later; having become a Twitter, FriendFeed, etc, user - I found that everyone and anyone was using Facebook. Yesterday I made up my mind to give them a second chance and opened an account: The new look Facebook is so much better, more user-friendly, and functional. The Guts: …And so to the purpose of this article; having released and dispensed with the drivel:-
I’m going to be honest and say that I’m not an iPhone owner or user. What? A geek without an iPhone?!: Dracula without fangs, a tree not made of wood! Well, approve or disapprove; I’m a Wintard and I use Windows Mobile on my mobile phone supplied by BT, and some Linux variant on my Sony Ericsson X750i, I think it is. I simply don’t see the point of buying an iPhone, and I have possible gripes with Apple - But that’s another story. Since I don’t own an iPhone I can’t tell you much about this App from experience: So I’m going to cheat and quote a little from TechCrunch.com: “While previous releases of the Facebook application supported the News Feed feature, only mobile photo uploads and status updates were displayed. In version 2.0, the News Feed has been completely overhauled to match item-for-item with that of the site itself, throwing news posts, relationship and interest updates, and all photo uploads into the mix. Furthermore, users are now able to comment on any given bit of news, or limit the feed to only the categories they wish to peruse.” Ah what the heck: Click the link below and read: Facebook Rolls Out Version 2.0 of their iPhone Application Yes; maybe it’s not standard practice to just hand over to another blog mid-story: A little deviation from the norm won’t hurt anyone nevertheless; plus I’ve done Michael Arrington, Greg Kumparak, and the rest of the TC crew a favour. …And Finally… Something else that’s hitting the headlines is the House of Representatives’ Web site - Which has been overwhelmed this week by a tidal-wave of visitors trying to e-mail their Congressperson and/or download George Bush’s Financial Bailout Bill that the House rejected. The site saw three to four times its normal traffic yesterday, 29th September,, according to Jeff Ventura, a spokesman for the House Chief Administrative Officer. That’ll teach ‘em to vote “no”: DDOS ‘em as punishment, lol. And now; Some advertising: |
Brown’s Broadband Bonus
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I know that I’ve spoken a number of times, here on this blog as well a in comments on other blogs, about the deplorable state of the internet infrastructure in a large percentage of the world - Particularly the UK. A Post of Politics In a proposed initiative announced earlier this week; British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to unveil plans to allow low-income families in the UK to connect to the internet. The plan is to accomplish this by sending such families a voucher worth up to £700, (About $1350) depending upon the families’ means as assessed under the strange, outdated, and in places unfairly applied, British Law. These vouchers can be used to pay for broadband charges, software, technical support, or even computers themselves. This scheme is intended to be run over the next three years; and is primarily intended to assist poorer children and their parents to keep up with the recent use of computers in classrooms in UK schools which is seeing school reports, homework, and study materials being posted online at an ever-increasing rate. “To ensure we are prepared for the times to come, the Government will fund one million more households to get online, enabling parents to link with the teachers at their children’s school and helping young people with their homework and coursework.” According to Brown. It is also intended that the initiative will keep teachers and parents in constant touch with one another; rather than just by means of the three school reports per-year as under the old system. Knowing the nature of rip-off Britain as I do; I foresee a lot of exploitation by British businesses in charging unacceptable prices for these services to the unwary possibly computer-illiterate bearers of these vouchers. I see larger companies capitalising upon this opportunity by offering their old stock in exchange for vouchers: Using this as a means to clear yesterday’s technology without any loss of revenue on the original marked-up price. I foresee amateur computer “technicians” taking advantage of this scenario; taking people’s computers to a professional repair shop, adding their own profit and charging the customer a fortune, then claiming vouchers as payment. I foresee more of the following too:- Part One (Above) Part Two (Above) This kind of behaviour by supposed “professionals” is utterly diabolical, completely unethical, and also totally illegal: Nevertheless it does happen - That was a real Channel 4 TV programme about a real con-artist operating in the UK some time ago. I have plans to do something towards preventing the British public from being ripped off; although unfortunately I currently have neither the resources not the ability to provide any sort of similar service to Mike Quigley (Above); despite the fact that my service would be totally ethical and not rip the public off as this cowboy did. - And Queue Advertising… As many of my readers may be aware; I build computers: I operate under the name of “Kustom Komputa” and have been trading as such in a rather limited capacity since early summer 2007; building computers for associates, friends, neighbours, and acquaintances mainly. I have several years experience in computers and also have qualifications in both analogue and digital electronics. I once again state that unfortunately I don’t offer a technical support service or a visiting computer repair service, other than a similar support service under the terms of the Kustom Komputa warranty to my customers where the customer has their faulty computer picked up by courier and returned to me for repair should any hardware component malfunction during the warranty period. I also only deliver to addresses in the UK currently. Please do enquire with Kustom Komputa about a new PC if you find yourself on this scheme. I build each individual computer for the benefit of the customer that will own it. I will build tower-only or I will supply peripherals and/or operating system as part of the package. The website is overdue for an update; but please don’t let that put you off. Alternatively; if you’re feeling adventurous, you might try this: Enough advertising for the time being: Let’s get back to the issue of this proposed Government incentive. Despite being well-intentioned this is once again too little and too late; something that we in the UK have come to expect from any government in power at any time: The Real Politics Part Despite this bringing the possibility of allowing some of the less-well-off families in Britain access to the internet it neither answers the matter of limited broadband access nor does it answer the matter of substandard infrastructure throughout the UK: It is still the case that in many rural areas of the UK those with internet access have to rely on a dial-up service through their telephone lines at 56k on an old-fashioned dial-up modem simply because there is no alternative other than the expensive satellite broadband services. The reason for this is because the companies that deliver services such as cable have in their own immediate interests only wired up the urban and suburban areas to benefit from their services. BT themselves, despite being able to deliver broadband services of up to 8mbps to customers virtually on the doorstep of their exchanges, are nevertheless unable to offer decent connection speeds to anybody living more than about a mile-and-a-half or more from the exchanges. This means that over 40% of the population of the UK are still unable to benefit from speeds above 2mbps; with many unable to access anything faster than 56k dialup due to location and/or financial reasons. The fact is that were this 1998 this would be acceptable; although barely so. In reality this is 2008 and the situation is totally unacceptable. It has been brought about by the failure of the current Government to address the matter of proper investment in technology and the infrastructure of the World Wide Web in the UK. At the risk of sounding like a politician; although hopefully without the echo-chamber effect of the hollow words of a politician; I feel that it is time for the British people to get up out of their comfort zone and lobby Parliament to gain and institute the necessary investment. The British as a nation have become complacent and have lost all enthusiasm for keeping Britain great; in fact it appears that they’ve given up - Because the politicians that are supposed to be setting an example have also given up leading and have set about doing as little as possible for as much money as possible. This has set the tone for rip-off Britain - because our politicians are leading by example; ripping off Britain in the first place. The latest round of pay-rises in the House of Commons would themselves have partially paid for a renewed internet infrastructure rather than putting wealth into the pockets of the “elite” who are supposed to be running this country on our behalf; not on theirs. Unless further investment occurs in this area soon; the UK could end up as a third-world nation! Is that what you want? Then get off your arse and do something about it: The politicians aren’t going to do it for you; all they care about is how fat their wallet or purse is: they make token gestures but fail to address the real issues. Nothing has ever been achieved better than by people power: Politician-power is artificial synthetic crapola that fails and fails again; yet tells you that it’s working. A new Government would be a change; but we’ve surely learned over the last century that neither Labour nor Conservative are any good. How many times do they have to fail over and over again before someone gets this point? I’m not saying that any party has all the answers; but surely it’s a fallacy to keep doing the same old thing in the same old way and expect different results? - I thought that was the definition of insanity rather than the definition of politics! perhaps the two have become identical? What’s your take on it?
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Cigarettes - The Movie
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It started with a follow request: I asked Rich Menga of pcmech.com to follow me on several social media sites such as Twitter, FriendFeed, MySpace, etc… I even tempted him with the offer of a topless photo of me: I sent him, online, a picture of me with the top half cut off…
To cut a long story short he asked if I’d send him a packet of John Player Special cigarettes - Which aren’t sold in America: Getting them there was quite a feat: The first lot I sent never turned up; so 2 1/2 weeks later I sent a second mini-parcel which was better wrapped and didn’t appear to be a pack of ciggies. The disguise worked, and whoever realised, in whichever country’s postal service, that they were cigarettes and “tested” them the first time - was fooled by the disguise the second time; and about a month after the whole thing started they arrived safely - At PC Mech’s PO Box. A week later and they finally got to Rich; who made the following video regarding the purpose of the internet, using the cigarettes as a prop. …And so people; please take your seats, having bought your popcorn and ice-lollies, as - kkomp.com proudly presents:- The Purpose of the Internet A PCMech film starring Rich Menga Cert 15 The End. |