Tired of being blog spammed (or blammed as it is known), we have decided to work on a new method to stop the automatic submission of comments. While we are working on it I have disabled our comment feature. We are getting hammered one per ten seconds at the moment. At least this way I waste some of their bandwidth as well.

I’ve been saying it for ages, but sometimes it’s good to get a second, or third, or forth opinion. That said, here is Wired.com’s review of the latest Firefox release.

For those of you that just want the facts, here are a couple of quotes from the article:

Once you try Firefox, you’ll wonder why anyone uses any other web browser.

The only reason I keep IE active on my Windows computer is to access Microsoft’s auto-update service.

Firefox also clearly indicates when you are on a secure web page, suitable for transmitting credit card data for example, by highlighting the page’s URL in yellow. The browser also indicated when I was viewing bogus sites set up specifically to steal credit card information and passwords — an attempt at online fraud commonly known as phishing.

There you have it, cool features, cool looks and great security, and it is not just me saying it.

Franki

After seeing this article at TheInquirer, I was intrigued enough to go looking for some examples of this new advertising method. My first Google search turned up this explanation of the system at TMF. Scroll down that page until you see the double underlined Green link called “credit” and move your mouse over it. It is bascially a way of advertising via popup tooltips.

The new advertising method is apparently called “IntelliTXT” and for some reason it seemed very familiar to me. Then it hit me, this is very similar to the Smart Tags system that Microsoft tried to introduce a couple of years back. They were not successful because Microsoft were going to roll it out via Internet Explorer onto sites that they had nothing to do with. IntelliTXT appears to be similar to Google adwords in that you sign up for an account with them and they manipulate any text they want in the site to create ad links. The information from the horses mouth can be found here.

I’m not sold on this idea, but I guess advertising is always going to be part of the Internet experience and they have to come up with ways to reach their target markets without being blocked. These green text links are still less annoying then popup or popunder ads.

Franki

Motorola and Trolltech have announced they are working together to bring embedded Linux to a series of new phones. The Trolltech system allows a fully theme-able interface, full support for MMS, touch screens, handwriting input and full Java compatibility. So Motorola will be able to theme the whole OS to suit the phone. Apparently the new system has lower memory requirements as well. The first two Motorola phones to benefit from the new system are the E680 and A780.

NEC have also announced the intention of working with MontaVisa Linux to bring Linux to their embedded OS devices. You can read the full article here.

Franki

According to this article on SecurityFocus, new ATM machines can be vulnerable to the same Windows Virus’s and Trojans that are plaguing normal Windows users. The problem stems from the new machines using Windows embedded instead of the OS2 operating system the older units had.

This is not mere idle speculation, it has already happened at least once when the Nachi worm infected ATM’s at two different financial institutions. And we have this quote from the above mentioned article:
“Last year’s Slammer worm indirectly shut down some 13,000 Bank of America ATM’s by infecting database servers on the same network, and spewing so much traffic that the cash machines couldn’t processes customer transactions. ”
These Virus’s were not even designed to target ATM’s, what happens when they actually start going after these things intentionally to collect user financial data?

So, Microsoft is moving their software into places it was never designed to run, namely mission critical places like ATM’s and Naval ships. I suspect that this is just the start. Perhaps it is time to go back to keeping your cash in your mattress. It might be safer.

Franki

Google has a calculator built into it’s search engine. I never knew that. If you type “meters in mile” for example, it will give you the answer. You can also type typical math problems such as (2*4)+9 and the answer will appear.

You can also ask it to return definitions. Type “define: google” for example, and you get the answer. It appears as though a “:” is mandatory to see the results in the “definition” format.

Because I use firefox browser I always have the google seach bar on my browser … so I doubt I will “reach” for start/programs/accessories/calculator much in the future … and I never did reach for the dictionary, just ask my teachers.

A fascinating article on the use of WiFi networks to relay messages via remote control cameras in high crime neighborhoods. New Orleans reports significant drops in crime. Of course then the question is how much standard monitoring do we as a free society tolerate? Do we have an expectation of privacy when we look around and don’t see anyone near us? Does crime prevention override issues of freedom from scrutiny? It might be one thing to kick on the cameras when they get a call, but to keep them running continuously … it has some downsides it might seem.