Showing 1 - 7 of 7
The problem with KRACK
Life, James Hein, Published on 25/10/2017
» I decided to start this week's article by exposing a secret typically only held by IT Experts and specialists. I'll likely lose my secret decoder ring over this but the big secret is, read the pop-ups. As any IT person knows when they are called over to their parent's, friend's or work computer, the first thing to do is read the pop-up messages.
Praying to false idols
Life, James Hein, Published on 18/01/2017
» The "Apple didn't invent the iPhone" story you may have seen in the media recently, originating from the BBC, has been found to have a number flaws. Using the tried and true tactic -- if you repeat a lie enough times it becomes the truth -- they managed to convince media people everywhere that Apple didn't create the concept of the iPhone. Besides showing just how low and lazy many media people have sunk, the story is far from true.
The power of power
Life, James Hein, Published on 13/08/2014
» During a recent power failure I contemplated how reliant we are on technology. I suspect the quickest way to hear people scream these days is for any nearby telecom tower go offline. This would affect phones, tablets, notebooks and anything else that requires a data or wireless connection for internet access.
Passing the hacker hat
Life, James Hein, Published on 02/04/2014
» A “black hat” is a skilled hacker who tends to lurk in the background, rarely gets caught and is a master at breaking into systems, programs and data. These people have been represented in movies and are usually considered shady characters. There are, of course, rewards in being skilled in this field — both monetarily and in terms of underground notoriety — but there are also risks, such as retaliation from those that have been hacked and the continual threat of government agencies tracking them down. Lesser known but becoming more so are those called “grey hats”, who often straddle the line of legality. And as a recent conference showed, you can be rewarded for finding vulnerabilities in operating systems and application codes. There is a growing market for skilled grey hats, who are used to find holes in social media platforms and all manner of other products, ranging from smartphones to major systems. Government departments will even hire ex-black hats to secure their systems against attack. Major corporations do the same thing. So if you are a budding young hacker, you can potentially make up to $250,000 (8 million baht) if you find a zero-day problem in iOS or around half that for a Windows problem. The zero-day issue was recently represented in an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles.
Phone disappoints galactic expectations
Life, James Hein, Published on 05/03/2014
» So it appears the new Galaxy S5 was well overhyped in the rumour mill. No 5.3-inch. screen, but instead a 5.1-inch one. No super-high resolution, and considering it’s slightly larger screen (Galaxy S4 was 5-inch), there were actually fewer pixels per inch and neither was it, as rumours suggested, bezel free. No 20MP camera but instead 16MP and not 64-bit but at least quad core. The Galaxy S5 does not have a metal case, but it is waterproof — up to one metre for 30 minutes which will help those with slippery fingers who take their smartphones to the toilet.
Will IT firms tighten their belts in 2014?
Life, James Hein, Published on 08/01/2014
» It is just after New Year and things are quiet in the IT world as people reflect on the past and try to work out what is coming in the future. One of the stories that caught my eye was that Hewlett-Packard is planning to make 34,000 positions redundant by the middle of the year. The problem is that HP is not selling its products _ at least not in the volumes required to keep the positions active. They blame this on a contraction of the PC market, poor enterprise demand as companies tighten their belts, competitive pricing pressures and poor currency exchange rates. I suspect that HP will not be the only company to tighten its belt in 2014.
So where do smartphones go from here?
Life, James Hein, Published on 27/03/2013
» No, the upcoming release of the Samsung Galaxy S4 will not be the last of the smartphones but it does raise an interesting issue _ where do they go from here? At five inches the screen size is maxed out as far as being a comfortable handheld device and even at this size some people are already using the word Phablet to describe the cross between a phone and a tablet.