Koobface

There are around 120 million people who use facebook and they are now being targeted by a virus. This virus has been designed to get hold of personal information like credit card details etc...

The virus is known as, “Koobface,” and is spreading across facebook into people’s inboxes; the message is pretending to be from a friend, this results in people opening the message therefore opening the virus. The message is a trick, it usually says, “You look funny in this video, or You look awesome in this new video.” Once users have clicked on the link they are asked to look at "new videos by Tom."

To watch the video users have to download Adobe Flash Player, once this is done the virus starts to spread into your computer getting hold of personal information. from your cookies or they get you to try and buy something.

Teenage Hackers

Computer Security professionals have found many net forums where teenagers populate and swap credit card number, give each other phising kits and hacking tips. Security say that they will be caught and arrested.

Forums are firstly made with people sharing files and even sharing stolen data. Some people look for exploits and virus codes that can be run against social network sites where there are many young people.

Though teenagers have been said to creating virus' and hacking, experts say they have very poor IT skills, "They do not even know enough to get a simple phishing or attack tool right," said Kevin Hogan.

Many of the hackers post what they have done on sites such as youtube and sign on like they would if they were going to hack a site, by running a phishing attack or writing a web exploit.
Some are even stupid enough to leave their personal details, making it really easy for computer security's to track them and shut them down.

TV Screens

With new plasma TV becoming more and more popular old CRT's are being replaced.
Though there is a new TV screen being made from Organic Light-Emitting Diodes, which promise better pictures, lower power consumption and lighter screens.
SONY is the producer of this screen and is releasing OLED screens in Japan in December month and worldwide in 2009.
The OLED screen is only 3mm thick and is very energy efficient as it doesn't need a back light, unlike Plasma and LCD screens.
The price of a OLED TV is currently priced at about £3.500.

Nokia Phone

The new Nokia phone system is said that once developed further could eventually control central heating, home security cameras and draw your curtains.

The Nokia phone would have a wireless router, which interfaces with equipment around the house. Nokia has paired up with a European Energy company to manage heating. The Nokia phone is currently out in Barcelona and should be on our shelves by the end of the year 2009.

The phone has a 6 GB storage, necessary to act as a camera for video security cameras if needed. The phone is also able to read the temperature and if it knows that the temperature is getting too cold and the house –owner is away, it automatically turns the heating on to avoid the pipes from freezing.

Apple Iphone

The Apple Iphone advert has been banned by the BBC for exaggerating its speed to the viewers. The advert was showing the phone loading Internet pages within seconds, though this is not true.
The advert received many complaints from people who had been mislead by the advert, thinking that the phone was a lot better than it actually is.
Due to the complaints the ASA have said that the advert will be shown but in a different form, a more accurate one.
Apple said its claims were "relative rather than absolute in nature" - implying the 3G iPhone was "really fast" in comparison to the previous generation - and therefore the advert was not misleading.
Apple also said that the advert did claim that the speed of the Internet would vary due to the location that you were in!

Spam

It is said that if you surf the web without web-protection you are likely to receive 70 spam messages in your inbox a day, according to an experiment taken out by McAfee.
McAfee invited 50 people from any where around the world, including 5 from the UK, to surf the net without spam filters. Results have shown that UK residents are more likely to be targeted by the infamous Nigerian e-mails.
One UK participant, over one month received 5,414 spam e-mails. Though the US still beats this, they received a total of 23,233 spam email throughout the course of the experiment. Brazil received 15,856 were the second most spammed country.
In the UK 5 participant received a total of 11,965 spam messages throughout the whole experiment.
Germany attracted the least spam, with just 2,331 junk messages.

This experiment shows that spam is showing no sign of slowing down, participants noticed that their computers were slowing down due to the amount of spam they were receiving.

How "Tool Man" could change the way he works.

PDA= He could Carry this around with him and enter customers home addresses, email addresses and phone numbers; this way he will have all his customers details on him all the time.
There is also a calender on the PDA so he can enter appointments and then the PDA will tell him where he has to be and at what time, it would be like his personal organiser.
He could have a price list of all his products etc and have a list of what people owe him.

GPS= This is like a Satellite navigation system, this would be very useful for him and would not only be easier but would save him a lot of time as he wouldn't have to look for a location on a map, instead the Sat Nav would tell him where to go and he would be more likely to arrive on time to places. The GPS would be linked with the PDA therefore would have all customers address' on it.

Laptop= This would be very much like the PDA, though the only main difference is the size of the screen. He could use a laptop to store information; on customers, price lists, amount owed, invoices etc. The laptop would be very useful as it would save him having to visit the office as much and he could just do his work where ever he wanted in spare time.

Mobile Phone= would be very useful as he can communicate with customers, although if he had their email address it would be cheaper for him to mail them. Though a mobile phone is very important to have imidiate contact with the customer, for example if he was stuck in traffic he could let them know he would be running late.

Disadvantages of using this technology:
He would at some point need to visit the office to print off invoices etc.
Over Reliance; if it were to break he could loose all of his information therefore he needs to have a back-up system, i.e carry a road map with him just encase his GPS broke.

Ambulance - Technology

Ambulances are now being installed with a touch-screen communication system, which is costing £300,000.
The technology transmits information on patient health and shows schedules to and from patients. Patient’s information is recorded using touch screens, which are clearer and more accurate than written records.
Paramedics enter the patient’s data by tapping on the screen. Updates of the patient’s information can be altered as well; for example their blood pressure, these changes can also be sent to the hospital if needed.
A&E staff use web portal to access the data, here they can retrieve all the patients’ details too.
Customer Services Director Andy Jones, said: "This is good news for patients because it allows us to react more efficiently than we have previously been able to."
This new technology uses touch screen technology to allow ambulance staff to provide LIVE updates.
The technology avoids unnecessary journeys resulting in a lot of time being saved.
The NHS is now expected to have a summary of electronic patient records for every person in England. The summary of information would be shared with the patients GP, Paramedic’s and emergency care doctor’s and nurses. This is very important as now the doctors etc will be able to see what problem the patient has straight away and know what drug they can and cannot take.

How the Web is helping Obama

Obama is using the web to help him as he prepares to be the new American President via a website called change.gov.com
The site is proided as a guide to the transition process. The site also shows suggestions from US citizens and how they see America.
The site shows the 13 most urgent issues that Obama needs to deal with.

Though it is not just Obama who is using the internet to get his message accross, there are high-tech criminal who are tricking web users into handing over valuable information.

"E-mail users who are eager to get the latest scoop on Obama's monumental presidential win should be careful that they are not being tricked by conniving cybercriminals," said Graham Cluley from Sophos.

Windows 7

Microsoft has released a new operating system named Windows 7. The release follows the make Vista, which is under great criticism from its users.
Vista was launched in January 2007, the complaints slowly were due to some programs and devices not working. So customers have been slow to switch from Windows XP to Vista.
Microsoft has allowed Windows XP to continue selling as there are customers who prefer it and don't want the upgrade.
Vista took more than 5 years to be produced whereas Window 7 should be out and in use in a couple of years.

Windows 7 has added a variety of new products:

• A different task bar to allow quicker access to Programs etc.
• A feature called HomeGroup, allowing users easy sharing of data across PCs and other devices in the home.
• Better support for devices like camers, video recorders, printers, mobile phones.
• Touch Screen- a different way for users to publish their information.
• There are also improvement to some publications; Paint and calculators etc.

Windows 7 is said to be published in 2010, though there should be a trial taking place by the year 2009.

Life in the Information Age - Working Styles

The range of ICT technologies have a great effect on the population and the way people work now is very different to before.
Before people used to use calculators and pencils etc..... which they still do now just not as often. Nowadays people use spreadsheets.
Office staff are now expected to know how to use a computer; Word Process, Excel, Spreadsheets, Email etc.
Moreover, shop assistants are now using computerised tills, (EPOS) and Stock Control Systems.
Car mechanics use computerised equipment to figure out what is wrong with certain parts in the car.
As you can see technology is having a great affect on the way people live their lives. Nowadays people find it strange to discover that there are some who do not know how to use a computer, this is Prof that the digital divide is slowly closing, become smaller.
Over the years jobs have changed dramatically because of computers and will still continue to do so, with even greater effect.

Battleseen.com

This website is an overview of real life through the eyes of a soldier. There are videos available to watch real battles and chaos in action, blogs where people have written stories, news- updating you with the latest information and battles, forums – where you can talk to others about the current situation in Iraq etc.

I think this website is very good as it is not the same as newspapers telling you what has happened; you can actually see for yourself what life is really like for the soldiers.

I read a story about how a British Commander quit his job because of the deaths of his soldiers and he blames the Ministry of Defence for the deaths. He believed that soldiers weren’t provided with the correct amount of equipment to defend themselves.

4 of his soldiers died when driving in Afghanistan and hitting a roadside bomb. Maj. Sebastian Morley- the British Commander claimed that the Land Rovers they were provided with were not safe!

People are able to register on this site that way they can comment on blogs and talk to others about what life is like etc.

Limewire- Downloading Service- Music

Limewire is a FREE file sharing program which allows users on the internet to share music, videos and other files.
Limewire directly transfers files from the hard drive of one user to the hard drive of another user.
Though this software is illegal, as it is slowly destroying the music industry as people are sharing music, songs which results in people not buying CD's or even legally paying to download per song on apple etc.
Limewire has said to transfer many viruses when downloads take place, though this could be argued.
Limewire is not the only FREE illegal downloading service for music, videos etc there is bearshare.com.
Though if your computer system was traced by police having downloaded illegally there are heavy fines to be paid.

E-Government

Definition = "Refers to the use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) by governments as applied to the full range of government functions."
The E-Governement is the largest unit in Cabinet Office, the government is responsible for formulating information technology, delivering citizen-centred online services and finally promonting best practise accross government.
Government had 16 new objectives

To stimulate joined up business led IT strategies and policies
To support citizen-centred public service reform
To maximise the re-use and consistent application of common ICT components and systems across government
To promote and assist joined up identification and authentication across the public sector
To enable corporate service transformation
To be an IT ‘change agent’
To sponsor cost effective IT security
To increase IT-enabled change capability/capacity
To support ‘mission-critical’ projects
To build partnerships with IT suppliers
Stakeholder Management
Local Government Stakeholder Management
Improving confidence in Government IT
Common Infrastructure Development
Delivery of Directgov website [External website]
Delivery of Knowledge Network products

I went on the E-government Unit website and looked up there responisblities. These responisibilites are new and the priminister has set out 16 of them.
These responsiblities have been designed to encourage a ‘culture of security’ regarding information systems.

Spame attack halts Virgin e-mail

Thousands of Virgin customers were cut of from their Internet access for about 4 days due to a suspected spam attack.
The problem affected a company which processes messages delivered through the Virgin.net platform.
E-mails were held back when the large attack occurred on Tuesday; so that the spam could be removed.
There are about 200,000 people who use virgin.net, though under half of these where affected by the attack.
Those who couldn't use their email service were worried that they would loose mail, but Virgin Media stressed that no e-mails had been lost.

IceSave

Icesave have been having serious problems, they have now had to tell customers that they will probably have to claim compensation for money held in their saving accounts that they have lost. Claims from Icesave's UK customers will be handled by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
"We are gearing up to be ready to do whatever we can in order to get compensation back to UK savers as quickly as possible," said a FSCS spokesmen.
Currently Icesavers are not letting people take money out of their accounts, or put in deposits.
On Monday Icelandic government passed emergency legislation to try to rescue the country's banking system.

Online Education

Education online is becoming more popular over the years. Online education differs from traditional education because students are not required to visit an actual classroom or see a teacher face-to-face.
Microphones and headphone are used as a source of communication, videos are used for demonstrations.
There are many benefits of online education.
Student to not have to travel to school every morning.
They are not distracted by others students or noise in the classroom.
They tend to feel more comfortable in their own space.
Gain more knowledge having a one-to-one lesson.
Get a degree in a lot quicker time that those at school.
Though on the other hand there is some down sides:
If you are at home you are less likely to make friends, like at school you are surrounded by others.
Lack of communication, not becoming very sociable.
Could become lonely.
Being at home you may feel that you can do what you want, get up at the time you what. You don’t have any boundaries, this could affect you in later life when you have to get used to a routine.
Personally I like the idea of Online Education is very clever and useful. Though I don’t think I would want to do it myself. I don’t think it helps you in later life. At school you have to communicate with friends, teachers etc. whereas at home you don’t, well only through a computer, which isn’t the same.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a way of stealing or trying to pass off someone else’s work as your own, without their permission.
Examples of Plagiarism:
Talking someone else’s work and pretending that you had produced it yourself.
Taking words or ideas from someone else and taking all the credit.
If you have taken a quotation from someone else and not putting it in quotation marks.
Changing words from a sentence but keeping the other original sentence structure.
There are ways of preventing plagiarism, as long as you provide your audience with the information necessary, for example sites your have used to gather information. When using information from the internet it is recommended that you contact the person who originally produced the work and get permission from them to use it.
Why do students Plagiarise?
Students tend to plagiarise when dead-lines come up and they haven’t done the work. Also if they are confused and don’t know what they have to do they find it easier to use others work and create and understanding from it themselves.

Online Banking

Online banking is becoming more and more popular as the days go by.
Online banking uses today's computer technology to help you manage your finances more quickly and efficiently.
Advantages:
> Online banking never closes, unlike your local bank, the site is avaliable 24/7.
> Whatever country you are in as long as you have a computer with the internet you can access
account at anytime.
> Transaction Speed, you can move money from one account to another very quickly.

Disdvantages:
> You have to provide personal ID information to open up an account on site.
> The sites could change, be re-designed, this sometimes requires you to re-new your personal information.

I personally don't have a online account, but i know my mum uses the Internet for online banking and she goes to the bank when she is in town. Though she believe that online banking is very useful and easy to use, the biggest advantage for her was that you didn't have to visit the bank. Online banking is very convenient.

E-Bay

Ebay is one of the world's largest marketplace, for buyers and sellers, they are able to trade anything they own together on the site.

Ebay first came out in 1995, the site started as a place to trade collectables and hard-to-find items. Though over the years it has developed and people are trading all kind of items; phones, DVD's, clothes, car etc. Ebay is an auction where you can buy the latest brands at any time of the day from all over the world.

You don't have to be a member to look at what is available on ebay, but you have to register if you want to buy or sell something.

Step by Step for using Ebay :

Once you have registered on ebay, you put your item up for auction.

When people look at your item they place bids on it.

At the end of the auction the person with the highest bid, gets the item.

The buyer pays the seller directly and provides him with an address.

Finally the seller then sends the product to the buyer.

I feel that ebay is very easy and quick to use, you have to keep checking you product to see if anyone has bidded higher on your product, if they haven't you have won the auction therefore can buy the product for your original price.

Myspace - New Music Downloads Available

Myspace is now letting online users listen to music online for free but pay for downloads. Myspace members are now able to build up long playlists of their favourite tracks.

Myspace is hoping that this will be popular to all users and will bring in extra cash.

Sony BMG, Universal, Warner and EMI are all backing up myspace with their new launch.

Though Apples itunes are at the moment the dominant music downloader, they see myspaces idea as a threat.

Currently myspace only has a few thousand tracks available but they state that this will increase as the partner labels open up their archives to it.

Halifax Banking Trouble

The UK bank Halifax has postponed plans to offer banking online. This is the third time they have tried to launch its Intelligent Finance (IF)

The telephone banking operation started on Thursday without any problems.

The original starting date of online banking was meant to be in July, the problems will add considerably to the start-up costs of the venture, which is said to be more than £90 million this year.

The company has told its customers that it hopes to start net banking "in a few months time."

Chief - Jim Spowart claimed that he had always planned to open phone banking first, followed by online and mobile banking.

Other popular online banks like Prudential's Egg have also been plagued by technical problems.

My Computer Trouble

Recently my computer has been constantly slowing down, it would take about 5 minutes for it to just turn on and work properly. Then when using the computer it would take me a long time to access the internet or certain documents. I then found out that my computer was slowing down due to a lack of memory, (so this man said who is an expert on computers.)
So we went on this website which was very useful, www.crucial.com this site provides extra memory for your computer. The site does a scan of your computer finding out which model it is etc then tells you the types of memory you can have. Obviously when doing this scan you must do it on the computer that needs the memory. I think this scan is very helpful and user-friendly, i was very impressed.
My memory slides came within 3-5 working days and i was very pleased with the service.

Weater Forecast

This is the 5 day weather forecast for Portugal, Faro airport.
The site is very good telling me when the sun rises and sets, the temperature, wind speed, pressure and relative humidity. Also it was very easy to find out my destination as the site gave my a variety of choices of the main places in Portugal.

E-Mail

E-mail first came out in 1971 and was an early online technology. Over the years email has been used more often as technology has grown.
Nowadays emails are used regularly to communicate with people; emails are often replaced by phone calls too.
Emails are fairly simply to do and for those who use computers often; it is very easy. Basically a message is sent to an individual post box on a mail server, where it waits until the person signs on their email and picks up the message. You have to be connected to an email server and have an email client to be able to sent messages. A client is a program, which allows you to produce and receive mail, for example MSN or Outlook Express.
As technology has extended throughout the years people are now able to sent emails on their phone, as long as they have the Internet. The mobiles are connected to GPRS, WAP or SMS. Emails can even be used on a Digital TV now.
An email client is a program, which allows you to send and receive mail. The server manages the communication of mail between Internet and clients.
An email system for example, Outlook Express, allows you to have a list of messages in your inbox, with an email address telling you who it is from, what time and day it was sent. You can compose messages choosing specific text, heading etc. Finally you are able to attach files to your original message.
Messages are mainly sent using SMTP and received using POP3 or an IMAP server. There are both many advantages and disadvantages or using email.
Advantages:
It is easy and fast to use.
Provides you with a record of communications.
Having attachments you are able to send almost any message and file type to anyone on your contact list.
Disadvantages:
If your Internet breaks down you are unable to use your email, so this could be seen as unreliable.
Spam mail can block up your mailboxes and affect your Internet itself.
Viruses, worms and Trojans can be caught through attachments on mail too.
A Virus is a harmful code that attaches itself to a program or file. A virus can spread and double itself once open, therefore spreading through the computer.
A Worm is a certain species of a virus, which can double itself in greater volumes once installed, as you don’t have to open any other files for it to spread. Worms can also take control over the computer system remotely and are very hard to remove from your computer.
A Trojan is another form of virus but in a code. It is made to look like an attractive attachment or download, which once clicked on harms your computer. Once installed onto the user it damages the system and could even take control of the user’s machine.
Olivia Danset – Sales

Journey Planner

Journey Summary
Departing: Thursday 25 September 2008 at: 10:15
From: Tunbridge Wells / Library
To: Tottenham Court Road
Restrictions:

Tunbridge Wells / LibraryTake the Route Bus 402 towards Tunbridge Wells StationFARNBOROUGH COMMON, BR2: From Monday 15 September for up to 18 weeks. Contractors for TfL will be carrying out pavement works to facilitate a new pelican crossing. The carriageway will be restricted to one lane, delays are possible on routes 61 261 336 353 358 402 R2 R3 and R4.
Average journey time: 8 mins

War MemorialWalk to Tunbridge Wells Rail Station
Transfer time: 23 mins
11:0812:03

Tunbridge Wells Rail StationTake the Southeastern towards Charing Cross
Average journey time: 55 mins
12:10
Charing Cross Underground StationTake the Northern Line towards Edgwareor Northern Line towards High BarnetTOTTENHAM COURT ROAD: Reduced escalator service until the end of September.

The journey was fairly easy to work out; I went on the London travel website and typed in where I was coming from and where I wanted to go.
I think this website was very good as it lets you know of road works etc which could delay your journey, they also tell you other possible routes so that you avoid that certain road where work is taking place.
Moreover I think it is extremely useful when they tell you how long it will take you to walk from one destination to another; also they tell you how long you will be on the train for. I will definitely use this site in the future, I find it a lot more useful than goggle maps.

Why do the Council block websites from schools?

There are many times at my school when students are unable to get onto certain websites that have been block by our local council, "Kent County Council." I have done some research and found out why this is done:
The council claims that they block websites to ensure appropriate, effective and safe use of electronic communications.
Furthermore they say that pupils are ahead of them with social networking, instant messaging, text and mobiles, they believe this could result in young people having a lack of appreciation of online dangers and the consequences of their actions. They recognise online bullying and want to block any sites that could encourage this behaviour, for exapmle MSN, Bebo etc . There aim is to protect children from the dangers of the internet, CEOP.
Moreover, the council state that schools have to have this policy to protect themselves from legal challenge. The council provides schools with this E-Policy to protect them, otherwise laws could be broke having children misusing the internet, (uploading abuse, inapprotriate images etc.) Schools not only are protecting their students but themselves they have to follow the
Computer Misuse Act 1990.
Though the council doesnt dicourage the use of the internet they believe that the internet is a very important part of students lives but the E-Policy is there to minimise dangers of the internet.