Who is on Your Network?

As soon as you set up a computer network you are opening up a great big can of worms. Cabled networks are pretty secure but wi-fi can create problems. Providing you take sensible precautions and enable encryption you should be okay. Nevertheless, you still might like to keep an eye on who is using it and connecting to the Internet  especially if you have kids in the house – in which case this little utility, called LookatLan puts you back in control. It generates a lot of infomration, most of which probably won’t be of much interest to you, but the main window tells you what you need to know, about who is connected to your network, and what they are up to.

Introducing the Firefox 3.0 CD

The gold bits of Firefox 3.0 went live on June 17, 2008, over half a year past the initially planned launch which was targeted for the end of 2007. At just a few days short of the first two months on the market for the successor of Firefox 2.0, users of Mozilla’s open source browser now have access not only to the download version of Firefox 3.0, but also to the CD. Via Mozilla’s store, Firefox 3.0 CDs go for $4.20 a pop in the U.S. and £3.00 per item for additional international markets.

“With more than 15,000 improvements, Firefox 3 is faster, safer and smarter than ever before,” reads a fragment from the description of the browser. “Dozens of new features including the “awesome” bar, one-click bookmarking, full zoom, advanced tabbed browsing and blindingly fast performance. Instant Web Site ID and other security features keep you safe from scammers and spammers. Over 5000 add-ons let you customize your web experience to your personal needs.” Read More »

Wi-Fi Internet Solution from Google

Google, along with its partners, is supporting an initiative that is supposed to bring wireless high-speed Internet to every home, for an affordable price. The method is somewhat unusual, although the search giant has been promoting it for five months now, and it consists of allowing Internet providers to use the white spaces between the frequencies that are already employed by TV and satellite microphone providers.

“Our nation typically uses only about five percent of one of our most precious resources. Unlike other natural resources, there is no benefit to allowing this spectrum to lie fallow. The airwaves can provide huge economic and social gains if used more efficiently, as seen today with the relatively tiny slices utilized by mobile phones and WiFi services.” said the company in a plan filed to the Federal Communications Commission. Read More »

New Security Programs from Microsoft

Black Hat USA 2008 was the stage where Microsoft revealed that it was kicking its security game up a notch. The software giant’s commitment to protecting its customers has spawned a pair of new initiatives designed to enable a new level of security-information sharing. In this regard, the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) along with the new vulnerability Exploitability Index, are the programs offered to both end users and partners for added security.

“The introduction of these new programs helps address evolving online threats and provides more practical guidance to assess and manage risk,” said Andrew Cushman, director of security response and outreach at Microsoft. Read More »

Digg for Mobiles Gets Enhanced

In a piece of news that might or might not be Digg-worthy, the mobile version of the popular social networking website has gone through a reconditioning process and is now said to be better than ever. Which means that you can digg and/or bury articles from your handset more efficiently (if there’s any efficiency in “dugging” at all).

However, the refreshed Digg Website is not targeted for all the mobile diggers out there, but only for those who own handsets supporting a “full web browsing experience”. You know, the likes of BlackBerry, Palm Treo (or even Centro), Samsung Omnia, HTC Touch Diamond, Apple’s new iPhone 3G and so on. Read More »

Personalised emoticons for Windows Live Messenger

Can’t find the right image to use for your Live Messenger character? Help is at hand from the new minimise me website. This has an online designer for creating a new avatar for Live Messenger software. Once installed they will appear as the character picture in conversations and also as four different emoticons to use in conversations.

It is simple to use although it is sometimes a little slow to respond when clicking on some of the icons, but this is common complaint with web based editors and it is a limitation with the technology as a whole. Read More »

Free Firefox Wallpapers

Good news for Firefox fans out there. If you are getting bored with your wallpaper, we’ve got something cool to spice up your desktop. We’ve crawled deep into the Internet and this weekend, we present you with some of the nicest Firefox wallpapers you’ll ever find. Get your fingers ready on the mouse wheel, here’s 70+ nice and beautiful Firefox wallpapers. Full list after jump. Read More »

Opera 9.50 Fixes Fiesta

On its official website, Opera describes the latest version of its browser as “beautifully engineered”. However, it looks like Opera 9.50 was made available to end users before the cooking process was ready. After the release of the gold version of Opera 9.50 on June 12, 2008, the feedback starting pouring in, and it was not a pretty sight. As a direct consequence of the user input, Opera is now scrambling to make available version 9.51, designed to resolve all the issues introduced with Opera 9.50.

“Discover the new standard in Web browsing. Download Opera today to get the fastest and most powerful Web browser available and make the most of your time online,” is a message on the official Opera welcoming page. And while the evolution of version 9.5 over its predecessor is indisputable, the fact is that so are the many problems plaguing the browser. June 25, 2008 saw the offering of Opera 9.51 Build 10074 Release Candidate 1, and as of June 30 users can also grab Opera 9.51 RC2 Build 10080. Read More »

Don’t Watch This Space

Microsoft, Google. HP, Philips, Samsung and Intel are amongst the big names behind the White Space Coalition, which is looking at ways to provide high-speed wireless Internet access using the gaps between TV channels. The gaps, which are designed to stop channels clashing with one another, are essentially wasted space, but until recently it was thought that any attempt to use them would result in interference and broadcasters are naturally against the idea. Read More »

IE8 Beta Now Available for Download

If you’ve just got used to Internet Explorer 7 you probably won’t want to know that the beta version of IE8 has now been publicly unleashed. One of the key features of Microsoft’s latest browser is crash recovery and if it throws a wobbly when it is restarted there’s an option to ‘restore last session. Other highlights include a new Favourites Bar, which is a bit like the old Links bar but as well as web page shortcuts it can also hold RSS links and a new facility WebSlices. This displays a thumbnail view of specially configured web pages. It depends on web developers creating the mini preview pages, and so far not many do, so don’t hold your breath on this one. Read More »