Showing 1 - 8 of 8
Thank the NSA for latest global ransomware
Life, James Hein, Published on 24/05/2017
» Everyone is talking about WannaCry(pt), the latest ransomware worm that attacked over 150 countries across the globe. It hit hospitals, universities, businesses, a telco, train stations and more. Microsoft responded by releasing emergency security patches for Windows versions as far back as XP. To Microsoft's credit they had released a patch for the issue in February, well before this exploit hit, so those that did not update were the ones hit. The lesson here is to install your security patches when they are available.
No new Vistas for us to view?
Life, James Hein, Published on 29/03/2017
» After Microsoft Bob and Windows ME, Vista would have to be the least-loved Windows operating system. It arrived in 2007 on Jan 30, and on April 11 will no longer be a supported OS. That means no more security updates, no hotfixes and no support options, paid or otherwise. Readers will not be surprised to learn that Microsoft is recommending that any remaining Vista users upgrade to Windows 10. You may be thinking that if you are a really large organisation and are willing to pay, Microsoft will provide support just like they still do for some XP customers. But the word on the street is they won't for Vista.
Money trumps morals in the online world
Life, James Hein, Published on 07/12/2016
» In a world where making everything smaller and lighter is the trend, a half-tonne CPU is certainly an anomaly. The 42,300 transistors, 10,548 LED CPU machine was built by hand from regular components and can be seen at the Centre for Computing History in Haverhill, England. The builder is James Newman, who wanted to learn about transistors and then got busy. The result is a CPU that shows how it is working in real time by following the flashing LEDS. At 15m² it roughly equates to the old 33m² Intel 8086. OK not quite that powerful as it only has 256 bytes of ROM and RAM and runs at an estimated 20kHz. I'm putting this in for the people with way too much time on their hands category. You can find out more here megaprocessor.com/programming.html.
Get ready, this week is Apple-heavy
Life, James Hein, Published on 30/07/2014
» At a talk given at the recent Hackers On Planet Earth conference, Jonathan Zdziarski found a number of hidden surveillance tools hidden in the iOS operating system. One provides a back door that, while not wide open, is enough to gain access to the user’s address book, account info and other bits and pieces. In this case, you can get data out, but not back into the device. The retrieved data is in a raw format and needs additional processing. There is also an undocumented packet sniffer (com.apple.pcapd) that can log and export network traffic. These items have been actively updated by Apple, meaning they are not left over from testing.
It’s now or never
Life, James Hein, Published on 26/03/2014
» I was having coffee with my son recently and he became frustrated because Facebook wasn’t providing the answer he was looking for fast enough. The new generation wants their information now, not in five minutes, but now. This also supports my theory that in general they are willing to accept the first answer that is provided rather than cross check the facts. This dependency on instant information means that manipulation by the media and other groups becomes a lot easier. Not sure where this is all going to end up.
Battle of the boxes heats up
Life, James Hein, Published on 27/11/2013
» The console wars are heating up again with the PS4 up against the Xbox One. As you might expect, both units have come with hardware upgrades and Microsoft has dropped the silly requirement to be always connected to the internet after it received a huge amount of negative feedback guaranteeing poor sales.
Fiddling with photos is now a lot more fun
Life, James Hein, Published on 16/01/2013
» This is definitely the age of the digital camera. What many people don't understand when they take digital snaps, however, is that the results can be a lot better with a bit of processing. In the old days the best way to do that was with Apple software and there are those who will maintain this view until they die. The PC started to come into its own about 20 years ago when Adobe released its first Windows version of Photoshop and about 10 years ago support started for RAW camera images. Then, in 2007, out came Lightroom, a product designed exclusively for the digital camera user.
A pattern of patent complaints
Life, James Hein, Published on 07/11/2012
» In what should come as no surprise to anyone, moments after Windows 8 was released someone claimed they put boring coloured squares on a screen first. The claimant is SurfCast and they say they did the equivalent of Live Tiles, what Microsoft is calling a coloured square you can click on or touch activate, first. Their patent from 2004 is for a "system and method for simultaneous display of multiple information sources". If for example you look up a screen shot of Xerox's Windows equivalent that appeared before Windows 1.0 you will see what looks a lot like a Windows 8 screen that was designed a long time before the year 2000.