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.

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 »

Live Your Life with PlayStation

This is certainly the day for announcements made by Sony. In addition to revealing a video rental service designed for the PlayStation 3, the company is also launching a few other initiatives that are designed to make its gaming console more attractive to other demographics than the “hardcore” gamer. The social aspect of the PlayStation Network is brought into focus in an effort to compete with the Xbox Live service from Microsoft.

While mentioning that the PlayStation 3 has so far shipped more than 12 million units all over the world, Kaz Hirai, President of Sony Computer Entertainment, revealed that this number is past the critical stage at which the company begins to focus on providing more content to its users rather than on extending the installed base at an accelerated rate. Additional content is intended to create loyalty amongst the player base. Read More »

Wi-Fi Detector Shirt

Booting up your laptop only to find there are no Wi-Fi networks nearby is a pain. Thankfully, geeks everywhere can now find a signal for surfing by simply looking down at their apparel.

The Wi-Fi Detector Shirt has a basestation design on its front with signal waves emanating from it that apparently glow according to the intensity of a nearby network’s strength. For example, a weak signal may only light up a couple of bars on your shirt, while a stronger signal could illuminate all of them. Read More »

Hack a Laptop Challenge, Winners and Losers

In a three-day contest, held at a major security conference in Vancouver recently, teams of hackers were challenged to break their way into three laptops, running Mac OS X, Windows Vista and Ubuntu Linux operating systems, reports CNet News.

Now I know what you are thinking but you’d be wrong… On the first day all three machines repulsed attacks on the operating systems and via a network connection. The Mac Air laptop was the first to fall, however, two minutes into the start of the second day’s session. This was after the judges relaxed the rules to allow the hackers to attack browser and email vulnerabilities. Read More »

Surfing with Onions….

A growing number of people, concerned about personal privacy and security are opting to get off the grid but that’s always been a bit difficult with the Internet. It knows where you are, and what you are doing, but there are ways to become totally anonymous.

One way is to use TOR, or The Onion Router. It’s a network of virtual connections or relays, dotted around the world, operating in complex ‘layers’ (that’s where the Onion bit comes in) that stops you from being identified or tracked when you are online. Ironically much of the development work for TOR was sponsored by the US Naval Research Laboratory but now it’s gone independent, and it is free to use. Read More »

Wimax Gains Some Speed

The WiMAX mobile communication technology is finally ready to go from the lab to the field testing phase and this fact makes all major telecommunication companies face a few important decisions that they should undertake concerning their 4G strategies.

According to the news site digitimes, the research firm ABI Research expects that the first WiMAX real world deployments would convince the major players in that field to more readily adopt the new standard. It is said that most mobile communication operators are expected to sooner or later field WiMAX technologies and networks all over the world, mainly using the 2.5GHz and the 3.5GHz frequencies.

“The mobile wireless industry is in a state of major change as mobile operators decide which IP-OFDMA path they will take for their 4G networks,” says ABI Research principal mobile broadband analyst Philip Solis. “The new and unproven (on a large commercial scale) mobile WiMAX has positioned itself against the potential Goliath that LTE (Long Term Evolution) is expected to become.” Read More »

iPod touch owners get cheap Wi-Fi

The Cloud is offering a new service called Cloud Unlimited Music, which offers unlimited Wi-Fi access for only £3.99 a month - but only if you own an iPod touch.

All other devices will still be charged at the usual rate of £6.99 per month. Despite the discounted price, the offer is completely independent of Apple - no subsidy is being offered by the iPod’s manufacturer. The deal also includes full internet access, unlike the recent Starbucks deal, which saw users restricted to the iTunes music store.

“We believe this is a significant step forward in making music, podcasts and video available when, and wherever, people really want it,” says Owen Geddes, Group Director. Read More »