Network Manager by Day, Blogger by Night.
Archive for May, 2010
Will you be Quitting Facebook Today?
May 31st
According to QuitFacebookDay.com, a website set up by Matthew Milan and Joseph Dee, today is the big day that you should commit to quiting Facebook due to it’s data privacy concerns.
However currently only 26080 people are committed Facebook quitters of the over 400 million plus users of Facebook, that’s only around 0.00652% of facebook users! WOW not a lot – but I guess everything has to start somewhere.
But the question today is – Will you be Quitting Facebook Today?
Why are we quitting?
For us it comes down to two things: fair choices and best intentions. In our view, Facebook doesn’t do a good job in either department. Facebook gives you choices about how to manage your data, but they aren’t fair choices, and while the onus is on the individual to manage these choices, Facebook makes it damn difficult for the average user to understand or manage this. We also don’t think Facebook has much respect for you or your data, especially in the context of the future.For a lot of people, quitting Facebook revolves around privacy. This is a legitimate concern, but we also think the privacy issue is just the symptom of a larger set of issues. The cumulative effects of what Facebook does now will not play out well in the future, and we care deeply about the future of the web as an open, safe and human place. We just can’t see Facebook’s current direction being aligned with any positive future for the web, so we’re leaving.
What should I know?
Quitting Facebookisn’t easy. Facebook is engaging, enjoyable and quite frankly, addictive. Quitting something like Facebook is like quitting smoking. It’s hard to stay on the wagon long enough to actually change your habits. Having peer support helps, but the way to quit Facebook is not to start a group on Facebook about leaving Facebook.Part of quitting is understanding the nature of the problem, and there have been a number of recent articles and posts that do a much better job than us at articulating what’s wrongwith Facebook. We encourage you to read them and form your own opinions. Moving on will be easier to do when you have made a clear and conscious choiceabout why you’d prefer your online life to be Facebook-free.
What are my options?
There are alternatives to Facebook. Understanding what is best for you will depend a lot on what you need out of your social graph on a daily basis. For some, a combination of services like email, Twitter and Flickr might work. For others, a Ning group or a specialized social site like Akohamight be an option. If the entire population of Brazil can use Orkut, we think that there’s hope for you to find a new home on the web. Wired, ReadWriteWeb and others have recently called for an open alternative to Facebook, and we’re personally excited about the potential of the Diaspora project. At the moment, there aren’t a lot of great options for direct replacement, but know that you’re not alone. When there’s a market need, it’s not long before better options appear. In our minds, the best thing to do is to contribute to that need – and that’s what Quit Facebook Day is about.Who set this up?
@mmilan and @josephdee. Putting that for disclosure, but we want the focus on the real issue: Should you leave Facebook
Real time live video feed of BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill
May 30th
Thought this would be of some intrest to my readers, the following is a real time live video feed of the BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill via a remotely operated vehicles (ROV):
Call Of Duty Modern Welfare 2 Hacked Servers Rank Level 70
May 26th
I was playing Call Of Duty Modern Welfare 2 today and all of a sudden my Rank Level shot up from Rank Level 28 to Rank Level 70 Commander! :-O
On seeing this I was pretty angered to say the least! However lucky enough I was able to recover my original Level, well one level back from the orginal anyhow, I managed to recover my stats back to Level 27! What happened to me is that Call of Duty placed me in a Hacked Server Lobby which hacked my Level to Level 70, unbelievable I know but it does happen: here and here and man more here
I managed to restore my level by doing the following:
- First of all ensure you do not have CODMW2 open and running.
- Navigate to “C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 2″
- Right click on the “C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare\players” folder and choose “Properties” then select the “Previous Versions” tab.
- Find the folder version just before the hack occurred.
- Copy it to a secure location such as your desktop.
- Delete the “C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 2\players” folder or rename it “players_hacked” for example.
- Copy the restored “players” folder to “C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 2\”
- Navigate to “C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\”
- Right click on the “C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\randomnumber” folder and choose “Properties” then select the “Previous Versions” tab.
- Find the folder version just before the hack occurred.
- Copy it to a secure location such as your desktop.
- Delete the “C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\randomnumber” folder or rename it “randomnumber_hacked” for example.
- Copy the restored “randomnumber” folder to “C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\randomnumber”
- It’s worth noting that the C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\randomnumber” folder is all your userdata from all your steam games so you could browse into this folder and just restore C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\randomnumber\10190″ which is the specific folder for COD 6.
Fly.com Takes Off in UK
May 26th
A new concept in online flight search officially takes off in the UK today with the launch of Fly.com.
Already hugely successful abroad, simple-to-use Fly.com scours all the major airlines, international carriers and online travel sites, and then helps people easily sort and refine results by criteria such as number of stops and departure times and traveller class.
Unlike most existing flight comparison sites that rely on cached data (old pricing and availability that may no longer be valid at the time of the search), Fly.com uses ‘meta-data’ technology to deliver the latest, most competitive prices – direct from the airlines and travel sites themselves.
As an independent, unbiased authority on airfares, Fly.com provides the widest range of flight options and is the only flight comparison site to include prices for First Class, Business Class and Economy seats – not just the standard charter seats.
Because Fly.com is not a booking engine, it simply helps visitors decide which flights are right for them and refers them to the appropriate website for direct booking, so they always get maximum air miles. All fees and taxes are included and Fly.com doesn’t charge visitors for its service.
Says Aaron Ritoper, vice president of business development, Fly.com Europe: “Fly.com is the next generation of flight comparison site. Our mission is to simplify flight search in the UK and to provide exceptional service in every market in which we operate.
“In a recent study we found that people spend an average 2.6 hours and check 4 different sites when booking a flight. We believe this is because there is so much misinformation out there and the prices offered on many sites are often no longer available when it comes time to book.
“Our results are updated upon every new search, so our users get real prices and availability. This means they don’t have to spend hours comparing flight prices and will not experience the frustration of clicking through on a price and discovering that it is not really there.”
Fly.com has invested heavily in developing a fast, uncluttered and easy to use interface which is cleaner and simpler to use than other flight search engines. In addition:
- Fly.com is the only flight comparison site to have a ‘why me?’ function, which shows consumers what features each airline includes (e.g. free drinks, Wi-Fi, leather chairs, interactive TV etc.)
- Users can sort results by what’s important to them; price, airline, stops, airports or traveller class.
- The site provides a unique and easy to use slide navigation to fine tune itinerary.
British Library and brightsolid partnership to digitise up to 40 million pages of historic newspapers
May 19th
The British Library’s Chief Executive, Dame Lynne Brindley, will today announce a major new partnership between the Library and online publisher brightsolid, owner of online brands including findmypast.co.uk and Friends Reunited. The ten-year agreement will deliver the most significant mass digitisation of newspapers the UK has ever seen: up to 40 million historic pages from the national newspaper collection will be digitised, making large parts of this unparalleled resource available online for the first time online and in the Library’s reading rooms. This innovative deal is set to help safeguard the future of the world’s greatest newspaper archive.
Spanning three centuries and including 52,000 local, regional, national and international titles, the British Library holds one of the world’s finest collections of newspapers. Each year the Newspaper Library at Colindale is used by 30,000 researchers in subjects ranging from family history and genealogy to sports statistics, politics and industrial history. This vast resource is held mainly in hard copy and microfilm, necessitating a trip to the north London site for people wishing to use the collection.
The partnership between the British Library and brightsolid will enable the digitisation of a minimum of 4 million pages of newspapers over the first two years. Over the course of ten years, the agreement aims to deliver up to 40 million pages as the mass digitisation process becomes progressively more efficient and as in-copyright content is scanned following negotiation with rightsholders.
Delivering the keynote speech at the Westminster eForum this morning (Wednesday 19 May), Dame Lynne Brindley outlined how the partnership will transform access to this vital part of the national memory.
“I am delighted to announce the British Library’s partnership with brightsolid to embark upon the most significant programme of newspaper digitisation this country has ever seen,” said Dame Lynne. “Historic newspapers are an invaluable resource for historians, researchers, genealogists, students and many others, bringing past events and people to life with great immediacy and in rich detail. Mass digitisation unlocks the riches of our newspaper collections by making them available online to users across the UK and around the world; by making these pages fully searchable we will transform a research process which previously relied on scrolling through page after page of microfilm or print. brightsolid have an excellent track record of digitising archive materials and making them available to new audiences – I look forward to announcing the web service resulting from this partnership, which will launch and then steadily grow from next year.
”Digitised material will include extensive coverage of local, regional and national press across three and a half centuries. It will focus on specific geographic areas, along with periods such as the census years between 1841 and 1911. Additional categories will be developed looking at key events and themes such as the Crimean War, the Boer War and the suffragette movement. The aim will be to build a ‘critical mass’ of material for researchers – particularly in the fields of family history and genealogy.
brightsolid, a subsidiary of Dundee-based publisher DC Thomson, was selected following an EU procurement process. brightsolid has previously delivered the highly successful 1911census.co.uk project in partnership with The National Archives (TNA) and owns the leading family history resources findmypast.co.uk and genesreunited.co.uk. brightsolid is taking on the commercial and technical risks of the project, with no direct costs to the British Library. The firm will digitise content from the British Library Newspaper Library, which it will then make available online via a paid-for website as well as integrating it into its family history websites.
This resource will be available for free to users on-site at the British Library and copies of all scanned materials will be deposited with the Library to be held in the national collection in perpetuity.
Chris van der Kuyl, Chief Executive of brightsolid, said: “We’re delighted to be working with the British Library on such an exciting project. Digitisation will mean that those people who haven’t previously been able to access the physical resource will now be able to access it from anywhere at any time. In particular it is an important resource for the genealogy community, which we are closely involved with through our brands findmypast.co.uk and genesreunited.co.uk, helping them to bring to life how their ancestors lived. It will also offer a unique insight into major events and key periods of historical interest.
“We’re also closely linked to the publishing community through our parent company, DC Thomson and we very much see this project as a collaboration with the industry. In fact we are already in dialogue with some rightsholders and expect this to continue throughout the project. As a business, our core strength is in building innovative online businesses around people and places, and this project fits perfectly within our expertise. We are looking forward to working with the British Library on this project and developing this hugely important online resource.”
Along with out-of-copyright material from the newspaper archive – defined in this context as pre-1900 newspaper material – the partnership will also seek to digitise a range of in-copyright material, with the agreement of the relevant rightsholders. This copyright material will, with the express permission of the publishers, be made available via the online resource – providing fuller coverage for users and a much-needed revenue stream for the rightsholders.
David Fordham, President of the Newspaper Society said: “This initiative is a hugely significant and exciting development which will unlock many of the great newspaper treasures that lie within the millions of pages in the British Library Newspaper archive at Colindale. It represents a particularly exciting opportunity for regional newspapers which have a long and rich heritage and capture changing times in local and regional areas across the centuries. I look forward to watching the project develop and hope that it makes a major contribution to the industry.”
The successful appointment of brightsolid as its newspaper digitisation partner will help the British Library to fulfil its strategic goals of long-term preservation of and access to the national newspaper collection. The Library’s newspaper strategy aims to secure the future of this unique resource by moving the hard-copy collections from the current building at Colindale to a purpose-built storage facility in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire. Access to the collection will be provided via microfilm and digital copies made available at the Library’s main site at St Pancras.
“The success of our 19th Century British Library Newspapers website demonstrated the public’s huge appetite for digitised historic newspaper content,” added Dame Lynne. “Our new partnership with brightsolid will enable us to deliver a huge increase in the amount of digitised material available – transforming access and searchability for users on and off-site and reducing wear-and-tear on our often fragile collection items. It will help the newspaper collection to remain relevant for a new generation of researchers, more used to accessing research information via their laptop than travelling to a physical location.”
She concluded: “The British Library’s newspaper archive is one of the world’s great newspaper collections. Through this partnership with brightsolid we will make millions more pages accessible – and to many more people.”
New roaming technology turns Wi-Fi into 4G
May 19th
Swedish startup Anyfi Networks today came out of stealth mode to present Anyfi.net, a Wi-Fi roaming technology they hope will shake up the mobile broadband industry. This new technology lets an Internet service provider offer the same Wi-Fi user experience both at home and on the go.
“Until now Wi-Fi hotspots have been difficult to use and inherently insecure. Our solution works with any Wi-Fi device out of the box and provides fully automatic WPA security” said Björn Smedman, CEO.
The trick is combining Wi-Fi with IP, Internet Protocol, to break the tie between logical network and physical infrastructure, much in the same way as Voice over IP separates your phone service from the physical line.
“You can think of it as Wi-Fi over IP” explained Björn Smedman. “Our cloud based matchmaking service keeps track of each device’s favorite network and makes sure it is available from the closest access point. By forwarding the raw Wi-Fi radio traffic over the Internet we can ensure security, even if an attacker is in control of the access point.”
According to the company this high level of security is one of the key features making the technology suitable for integration in modems of various types, and this is what makes it potentially disruptive, effectively turning Wi-Fi into a full-blown 4G technology.
“Today only about 1-2% of residential broadband capacity is actually used. The rest just goes to waste. At the same time we are seeing mobile networks brought to their knees under the load of data-hungry devices like the iPhone. If you can guarantee that there is no negative impact whatsoever to the subscriber, why not use some of that spare capacity to offload mobile?” asked Björn Smedman.
Using this reasoning a broadband connection with a Wi-Fi router at the end can be thought of as a building block of sorts and Anyfi.net is the mortar. By combining them, existing infrastructure can be transformed into a radio access network, license-exempt and Wi-Fi compatible. A fixed-line operator with a high density of broadband subscribers in an urban area could become a mobile operator over night by simply upgrading the modem software, something that can be done remotely. But smaller operators could also join together to collectively provide mobile Internet access, with worldwide roaming.
O2 gives you free GPS navigation on your mobile phone
May 19th
Telefónica O2 Germany is giving its customers a complete search, mapping and navigation system, effective immediately. It doesn’t matter whether you are travelling by car or on foot: almost any GPS-enabled mobile phone will become a pocket-sized route planner with Telmap Navigation – including the latest traffic information from ADAC.
Telmap Navigation uses spoken and graphical navigation instructions to guide the user to the desired destination in a precise and step-by-step manner. It is as reliable and easy as a conventional in-car navigation system. The solution is also ideal for pedestrians. For example, you can navigate to the most important sights when visiting a city and at the same time search for any bars, restaurants or hotels that are close by. O2 offers this service to its customers for FREE – regardless of whether it is a prepaid or fixed-term agreement. The only fees are for the mobile data transfer and so O2 recommend the mobile surf flat rate for customers who do not already have a data plan.
All you need is an O2 GPS-enabled mobile phone. Effective immediately, Telmap Navigator is preinstalled on many new GPS-enabled mobile phones. Customers who are already using GPS-enabled mobile phones can download the new free solution directly to their phones at http://wap.telmap.com/o2de/. Telmap Navigator is already available on numerous devices, for example for the Motorola Milestone, HTC Touch HD2, Samsung Galaxy and Sony Ericsson W995. A version for Palm WebOS is planned for the summer of 2010.
The First Internet Generation Grows Up – Whats Next For The Net Set?
May 19th
Microsoft Life Academy and Internet Explorer launches its State of the Internet Nation findings, revealing the hopes and fears of the first internet generation of 18-25 year old Brits
- 70 per cent of 18-25 year olds believe the Internet gives opportunities to bring about social change
- Nearly nine in ten are fearful of sharing details, censorship or cyber stalking and of these 78 per cent value the benefits of the Internet over its threats to their security and privacy
From inciting social change to developing business ideas, the internet generation – Net Set – are going online to secure their future. Savvy online 18-25 year olds reveal how growing up with the world at their fingertips has shaped what happens next.
Internet Explorer 8 conducted a study of 18-25 year olds as part of the launch of its Life Academy which is offering three £10K grants to help young people make their socially responsible ideas a reality.
The study found that young Brits are hoping for the best and expecting the worst with 71 per cent of young Brits claiming it’s tougher to get on the property ladder than it was 20 years ago. In fact, recent economic uncertainty sees 51 per cent say that financial security is harder than it was for previous generations. However, it’s not all doom and gloom as many believe the Internet has helped their generation to achieve great education (82 per cent), personal freedom (81 per cent) and access to information (44 per cent).
Professor Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society at Imperial College London and Life Academy judge, commenting on the research said: “The Net Set counts themselves lucky to be the first internet generation. Four in five recognise the web gives them access to valuable inspiration and knowledge, helps make changes in the world and even lets their business ideas fly. Unlike previous generations, the Net Set has grown up with global knowledge meaning they have bigger dreams, ambitions and the desire to engage with more people. The internet has changed the way we converse with each other and this age group has the ability to capitalise on this and create their own empire.”
In fact, 58 per cent of young Brits say the internet encourages them to strive for more, including more than half (55 per cent) using the web to search for new business ideas.
The Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy findings also show the Net Set believes the web makes them more socially engaged with 70 per cent agreeing that the internet helps people to do good through charity and fund raising - and nearly seven in ten have participated in an online petition or campaign.
They are also less enamoured by paparazzi celebs like Alex Reid and Victoria Beckham. Instead, the most respected celebrities are those who live the social change message such as Barack Obama (13 per cent) and marathon-man Eddie Izzard (eight per cent), but the most admired of all is Stephen Fry (18 per cent), suggesting that the Net Set want to emulate brains and compassion, rather than good-looks alone.
Julia Owen, Internet Explorer Product Manager for Microsoft said: “The immense scope of the internet means we can explore and grow ideas to help drive our future hopes. In fact, 84 per cent of the Net Set claim the Internet has made life better for their age group than 20 years ago. To help young Brits on their way, Internet Explorer 8 has launched Life Academy- encouraging 18-25 year olds to grow their socially responsible idea into a project and win £10K to do it.
“Whether people are adventurers, entrepreneurs or creative thinkers, Life Academy can help inspire them to explore their future.”
The Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy also reveals that, 83 per cent are fearful of sharing details, censorship or cyber stalking and of those four out of five 18-25 year olds believe the benefits of the internet far outweighs security and privacy threats. They value it for knowledge or inspiration (80 per cent), fostering creativity (63 per cent) and the majority say it gives them better business opportunities (72 per cent). Even though the majority are concerned about sharing personal details, online browsers like Internet Explorer 8 put the Net Set in control of their security allowing them get on with doing what they do best.
Visit it at: http://www.lifeacademy.uk.com/
Microsoft Communicator Mobile for Nokia Debuts
May 5th
Today, Microsoft and Nokia launched the first application from their alliance around mobile productivity, Microsoft Communicator Mobile for Nokia devices. This new unified communications client connects directly with a company’s communications systems to streamline mobile collaboration. Owners of a number of Symbian based Nokia Eseries smartphones can download the English version today from Nokia’s Ovi Store, the easiest place to get content on their Nokia device.
“Our alliance with Nokia aims to bring the Office productivity experience to the millions of people using Nokia smartphones around the world,” says Kirt Debique, General Manager at Microsoft. “With the arrival of Communicator Mobile for Nokia today, we have a great start to fulfilling our joint vision.”
Communicator Mobile enables people to see their colleagues’ availability, and click to communicate with them using the best method, from IM to email, text to phone call. The names and status of colleagues are embedded directly into the devices’ contacts application, enabling people to update their own presence, start and join instant messaging sessions, and begin calls directly from the contact card.
“This application really provides a much more efficient way to work with others as you can see if someone is busy or available, and the best way to start a conversation with them,” says Ukko Lappalainen, Vice President at Nokia. “It also meets all of the requirements for enterprise: cost effective to implement, secure, familiar and reliable.”
The launch is the first product from the alliance – announced last August – which was the first time either company had embarked on an agreement of this scope and nature. Since then, the two companies have been collaborating on the design and development of new solutions, as well as embarking on joint marketing efforts around others they already share.
“As part of our push to constantly enhance our unified communications proposition, we are keen to extend the collaborative benefits of Microsoft Communicator Mobile to Nokia devices,” says Scott Petty, Director at Vodafone Group Business Services. “Communicator Mobile offers great potential for our large corporate customer base who have already deployed Communicator for desktop and now are looking to extend that existing infrastructure to mobile.”
“We trial all potential offerings ourselves and have been very happy with the internal response and productivity increase we have experienced using Microsoft Communicator Mobile,” says Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler, Executive Vice President at Swisscom/ Webcall. “Having these two companies work together is really helping us serve the needs of our customers.”
This new application, available initially for Nokia E72 and Nokia E52, adds to the work Nokia is already doing in optimising direct access to email and other personal information with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. The companies plan to deliver Communicator Mobile for Nokia pre-installed on select Nokia smartphones in the future and plan to support additional devices, including the recently announced Nokia E5.
Ovi Maps in your Own Voice
May 5th
Nokia has announced the launch of Own Voice for Ovi Maps, a free app from Ovi store, which allows people to personalise the voice that gives them turn-by-turn instructions when using Ovi Maps drive navigation.
The Own Voice app lets you create a new voice pack, taking you through each step of the process. Find a quiet space to record, then let the app take you through each of the 53 required commands including the penultimate “You have reached your destination”. When you’re done recording, you simply add your name, save and the voice pack is uploaded to the Own Voice website meaning that others can also choose your voice to direct them en route.
With 10 million downloads of Ovi Maps already on devices, there’s sure to be no shortage of voices to choose from. The app lets you browse new voice packs by popularity and by recommendation. Own Voice also lets people share voice packs by Facebook and Twitter and if you find one you really like (or hate) then you can rate it.
Rupert Englander, Head of Services, Nokia UK, commented: “Nokia continues to redefine the mobile navigation market by bringing free walk and drive navigation to millions of people around the world. Many of us have a love-hate relationship with our sat nav and being able to record or choose a voice that you love is a great way to make Ovi Maps fun to use.
Own Voice is available as a free download from the Ovi Store http://store.ovi.com/content/34132
Own Voice for Ovi Maps is available only in English and is compatible with all Nokia devices which support the new version of Ovi Maps (3.03) including Nokia 5800, Nokia X6, Nokia E72, Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini and all upcoming GPS-enabled smartphones.
Walk and drive navigation is free on Nokia smartphones as part of a new version of Ovi Maps, available for download at www.nokia.com/maps. Nokia’s mapping and navigation software has been specifically designed for mobile use and is based on unique hybrid technology. The new version of Ovi Maps includes all essential car and pedestrian navigation features, such as turn-by-turn voice guidance for 74 countries in 46 languages, and traffic information for over 10 countries, as well as detailed maps for over 180 countries.
