Archive for February, 2008

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

REVIEW: Epson PictureMate 290

Posted in Printer with tags , , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2008 by chopperarris

The PictureMate 290’s (£179/$249) improvements over its predecessor are subtle but significant - it’s faster, more affordable, and easier to use - and allows you to produce lush borderless lab-quality 4×6-inch photos in just 37 seconds.

Designed for people like me who can’t be bothered with the hassle of a computer, the car battery-shaped PictureMate 290 lets you view your snaps on its large 3.5-inch LCD colour screen before putting ink to paper. And a new zoom button means close-up sections of the image can be selected and printed. Direct printing from a digital camera and memory card is another bonus, as is the ability to burn all your photos onto CD-RW/DVD-ROM for safe keeping.

The LCD screen acts as much more than a photo viewer. Its user-friendly menu provides access to a range of editing and printing options such as crop and red-eye removal, and you can choose from colour, black-and-white or sepia prints. Different photo effects such as clip-art and text are also easily added. Flexible layout options let you choose to create an index card for quick identification of photos or to print photos with or without a border. An optional rechargeable battery is available for printing on the move, though the extra expense isn’t really worth it.

Keeping the printer in tip-top shape is a snap thanks to Epson’s PicturePack, a convenient solution that includes paper and ink cartridge, providing everything required to print premium quality photos. The PicturePacks are available in 50 or 150 sheet packs - resulting in a cost of around 20p per print. Though not cheap, this is still on par with printers from other manufacturers.

Just when I thought that home photo printing couldn’t get any easier or better than the PictureMate 280, Epson rolls out this amazing small-format photo printer. For those wanting optimum image quality without the need for manual photo manipulation, the PictureMate 290 is a stunner. I’ll definitely be upgrading … [9]

pm290_31.jpg

1 Comment »

RIP: Dress Down Fridays

Posted in Biz with tags , , on February 28, 2008 by chopperarris

It seems that Richard Branson’s ban on his employees at Virgin from wearing jeans is not unusual. According to a Reed Employment survey, jeans and comedy ties are banned from the majority of offices, with 47% of workers wearing smart casual business wear to work every day and 40% wearing formal office attire such as suits.

What’s more, the majority of people questioned felt that dressing smartly will advance their careers, with 51% believing it will help them win a promotion. Surprisingly, there was tickbox for ‘shagging the boss’.

Office workers seem to like dressing up in their fetish uniforms as it helps them to remember that they’re not at home and can’t touch themselves. Some losers even feel proud to wear a uniform as it represents their company’s brand image. Only 16% stated they are unaffected by what they wear to work and just 1% stated they felt uncomfortable in their work clothing. We are not a rebellious lot either - 90% of respondents stated that they strictly adhere to their work dress codes every day. It’s a sad day for revolution!

85% feel that in today’s office environment having a dress code is still highly relevant; 87% would always wear a suit to an interview and 62% also believe that wearing a suit is important to create the right impression on the first day at a new job. Again, there’s no mention of shagging.

However, some casual elements have crept into work dress codes - wearing a tie is no longer the norm in most offices, with 61% of men stating they never wear ties, 20% wear a tie only for business meetings, with only 19% wearing one every day. On the other hand comedy ties, together with jeans, short skirts, flip flops, trainers and sportswear are amazingly deemed unacceptable by the majority of businesses.

‘Dress down Fridays’ is still quite popular and a third of respondents claimed that their company had a policy in place to allow more casual business wear on Fridays. What’s the point? Ah, yes, now I remember.

Leave A Comment »

Viglen Goes Back To School

Posted in Desktop PC with tags , , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2008 by chopperarris

Viglen, the biggest computer manufacturer no-one has ever heard of, has become the first UK-based company to be appointed to a national storage and servers framework suppliers contract. How did that happen?

The National Server and Storage Framework Agreement (NSSA) has announced that the firm, chaired by Apprentice star Sir Alan Sugar (now it all becomes clear), is among its list of companies which have been recommended to provide Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with a range of server and storage products. Viglen was awarded two framework supply positions.

Viglen’s place on the NSSA, which facilitates contracts worth around £14m annually, takes immediate effect with the company having made both the ‘Server Providers and Resellers’ and the ‘Storage Providers and Resellers’ lists.

Viglen, which is based in Colney Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, now becomes the first UK company to appear on both lists. Its inclusion on the register was confirmed following a six month shagfest evaluation for this national agreement. Viglen says its underlying value proposition - ‘It’s personal’ - was key to the success. Wow! That is powerful …

Leave A Comment »

IT Grads Suck!

Posted in Biz with tags , , , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2008 by chopperarris

SteelEye Technology, the world’s bestest continuous data protection and disaster recovery solutions provider, said new IT graduates suck.

According to its second annual survey examining adoption levels, best practices and attitudes regarding business continuity among IT professionals and C-level executives, universities and graduate-level information technology programs are not arming their students with the skills they need to prevent or recover from IT disasters. I reckon the company thinks grads haven’t got a clue, but is being totally PC.

While 87% of respondents indicated they think the average IT organisation faces the same or more threats to business continuity than it did a year before, a strong majority (61%) said that today’s college and graduate IT programs do not place enough emphasis on skills to implement business continuity.

Similarly, 60% of all organisations said that the average IT organisation is no more prepared for these threats to business continuity than it was a year previously. And among respondents from organisations with an admitted business need for disaster recovery or business continuity protection, the top reason given for avoiding investment was the lack of skills to implement it.

It’s very clear that there’s a skills gap that needs to be addressed when it comes to the expertise needed to assure business continuity. Universities and graduate programs need to take a leadership role by evolving their programs to keep pace with today’s biggest IT challenges. There was no mention in the report about New Zealand.

Leave A Comment »

Home Office Not-So-Confidential

Posted in Staying safe with tags , , , , , , , on February 28, 2008 by chopperarris

A computer disc marked ‘Home Office Confidential’ has been discovered hidden beneath the keyboard of a laptop bought on eBay. The disc was apparently discovered by Leapfrog Computer repairs in Westhoughton, near Bolton, Greater Manchester. The technician was gutted when he browsed the disc and there wasn’t even a sniff of hardcore prOn.

The good news with this latest data breach is that the data was encrypted. However, encryption alone is not infallible - computer hackers are determined individuals with no girlfriends and the potential to crack one layer of security. And, we certainly shouldn’t be relying on one line of protection when it comes to our national security.

Come on boys and girls. Safeguarding sensitive data should start at the network door. By monitoring and only allowing known good devices and authorised individuals to connect to a network and download data is essential. Once data access control and encryption work hand-in-hand we can go a long way to reduce the risk of sensitive data breaches and make the world a better place.

Of course, security doesn’t eradicate stupid people. Meaning, individuals given the right to download data from the network must be poked and prodded put through stringent security checks. Once the data has been extracted, technology can help to determine when data was downloaded and to which approved device. Organisations can then gain a clear picture of how data has fallen into the wrong hands and beat act accordingly.

Leave A Comment »

Buffer Overflows Scupper Facebook & MySpace

Posted in Staying safe with tags , , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2008 by chopperarris

Word on the street is that buffer overflows are at the heart of a series of hacks against Facebook and MySpace.

I tapped a man in a white coat at Fortify Software and he said a buffer overflow enabled hackers to exploit the Aurigma ActiveX image uploading software used by these two - and other - social networking sites.

He said the bad news is that this exploit is being used in a hacker toolkit currently being offered for download on several Chinese language hacker sites, meaning that novices have been able to stage these attacks, and not just professional hackers. The good news is that anyone out of college won’t be affected.

Criminal hackers now view these social networking sites as their best target for attacks. Part of the reason for this is that the sites are designed to be usable by ‘unsophisticated’ consumers. You callin’ me thick? This means that the barrier to entry for attacks is potentially lower, as users are more likely to click on a link that leads them to malware.

Social networking sites can no longer restrict their concerns solely to their own security practices, but now take in the practices of their suppliers. Had Facebook and MySpace required Aurigma to provide a proof of a code audit before sourcing the plug-in, this latest security issue could have been avoided.

Leave A Comment »

CeBIT Celebrates New Zealand

Posted in Showbiz with tags , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2008 by chopperarris

For the first time in its history, über-tech show CeBIT will have a special national day dedicated to New Zealand on 6 March 2008. Bless! New Zealand Day was initiated by the ‘Deutsche Messe AG’ and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise to celebrate New Zealand’s innovative ICT technologies and unique culture. A day is all it’ll take …

The opening ceremony will take place at 10am at the New Zealand pavilion (Hall 14, Stand G38). There will be lots of suits, including Hon Pete Hodgson, New Zealand’s Minister for Economic Development, Research Science and Technology, and Tertiary Education (how the feck does that all fit onto a business card?).

The opening speech will be made by Ernst Raue, Member of the Board, Deutsche Messe AG. All going well, Minister Hodgson will then give a brief overview of New Zealand’s ICT industry and the positive relationship between New Zealand and Germany.

Thirty second later will be a tour of the New Zealand pavilion at 10.15am - offering photo and film opportunities of the Minister and VIP guests trying out the interactive technologies at the stand. After the official opening Minister Hodgson will be available for a little speed dating. Oh, I almost forgot - there will be a prize draw for stand visitors to win a return trip for two from Germany to New Zealand. That’s perked you up hasn’t it?

Leave A Comment »

Bank Security Sucks

Posted in Staying safe with tags , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2008 by chopperarris

A really clever ISACA employee called Lynn Lawton says that the number of suspicious and unauthorised intrusion accesses to bank computer systems can be reduced if the banks boost security staff levels and improve governance over outsourcing. Doesn’t this go without saying?

According to the Washington Post, the number of U.S. financial institutions that have experienced a sizeable increase in unauthorised intrusions and bank account losses has increased, and the cost to the banks per incident has soared. I remember this one time when I hit some buttons and it spat out a twenty instead of a ten. Does that count?

Although the Washington Post news story is based on a closed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation report, the general trend of online bank account attacks and successful intrusions is clearly on an upward trend, judging from news reports over the last year in the U.S. and in Europe. An additional concern suggests that IT staffing levels are an increasing worry for institution managers, as is their reliance on external outsourcing.

Based on this data, if banks are to reduce the number of intrusions on their systems, and so regain the customer trust lost in recent years, they need to implement improved IT governance based on frameworks such as COBIT, which includes consideration of resourcing, training, control automation and monitoring internal and external performance and controls. Yikes, that’s a lot to take onboard!

Leave A Comment »

Phanfare Embraces Web 2.0

Posted in Web goodies with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2008 by chopperarris

Phanfare, probably the best image sharing site you’ve never heard of, is going through pretty significant transition. The business started in 2004, with the goal of enabling and empowering families to share and preserve photos and videos. The owners said they founded the company because they had nowhere they wanted to put their photos and videos.

They were willing to pay to have high-quality photo and video hosting, but over time it’s clear no-one else was. Phanfare offered premium photo and video hosting with no ads, phone support and an orientation that made each Phanfare customer a self-publisher with a direct URL, no branding and a simple email-based invitation system to see photos and videos. The system even uses synchronising desktop client software for Mac and PC.

Since 2004 the site grew to 11,000 customers. But the sad truth is that it’s going nowhere fast. The number of people willing to pay for anything online hosting of their photos and videos is too small. What’s more, its size limited its ability to do the integrations that it wanted wanted: wireless integrations, camera integrations, and digital frame integrations. At the same time, it looked at what it had created and realised it was not nearly collaborative enough. Phanfare was not exploiting the power of the Internet. Instead, it had built 11,000 little silos, each with its little audience.

Phanfare 2.0 was born! Pitched as a standard upgrade, but much more, Phanfare is now a social network rather than Web hosting. There are some important reasons why this makes sense. It should allow more collaboration between creators and viewers, increase the utility of Phanfare as it attracts more people, and is easier to use if you are connected with multiple people. Was it just me who found it cumbersome to remember the multiple URLs and passwords in Phanfare 1.0? Phanfare now comes with 1GB of free storage. Long term, it wants to monetise through some sort of advertising on the Phanfare 2.0 dashboard, but without running ads on personal albums as they ruin the experience and don’t work anyway. Give it up to the underdogs at www.phanfare.com.

1 Comment »

UK Leads The HD Revolution

Posted in Square eyes with tags , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2008 by chopperarris

Yeah, I had to read this twice before I believed it too … The UK is apparently at the forefront of the high definition (HD) revolution and is leading the way in Europe in next generation disc sales. Clipboard meisters DEG Europe claims the volume of next-generation DVDs being sold in Europe increased 85 fold between 2006 and 2007 and is expected to rise exponentially into 2008.

Although consumers are continuing to purchase standard definition DVDs (those bargain bins are great, aren’t they!), the growth curve is falling off with a marginal increase in volume sales of just 4.2%. In terms of who’s buying the most DVDs, uber-geek Brits are leading the HD revolution with 34% of total next generation DVD sales.

Yves Caillaud, senior vice president international, Warner Home Video, said: “In 2007, we saw over 2.5 million units of high definition DVDs sold within Europe. To put this in context, when compared to the transfer from VHS to DVD in 1998, only 1,480,000 DVDs were sold in the first year. This clearly demonstrates the rapid consumer adoption of HD technologies.”

Hardware sales of next generation DVD players also look sweet. According to GfK tracking, 11,100 units were sold in January 2007 which soared to 124,000 by December 2007, showing a sharp increase towards the end of the year. But standard definition (SD) players are not going away and are still the most popular choice in the market with over 33 million more units being sold in the UK compared to UK sales of next generation players. The fact that SD players are the cheapest they have ever been, averaging at just £37 a player, is a plus I guess.

Leave A Comment »

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »