I.N: A rating based on age
According to BBC News, UK was considering giving websites ratings as what countries would do to movies. It is to ensure that Children would be protected from content that is deemed undesirable for them. In the report, UK Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said that “clearer signposting” is required for the “confusing (online) world”.
The move is definitely a pertinent one. Many could see it happening in the near future. In fact, I think no one expects the internet content to go relatively unregulated for long. In fact, I am sure that many other countries are considering the same kind of measures. The only limiting factor is the implementation and its reception.
I really wonder how effective such a implementation would be. The most a site can do would be to display the rating prominently on their sites. After that, whether or not the person acknowledges the rating is a whole different matter. In fact, there may be reverse psychology invovled (as in movie ratings), where the young, seeing a rating which advices them not to enter would be more likely to enter the website.
Furthermore, it is hard for a single country to get jurisdiction on any website that is hosted in servers out of its own soil… A solution to that would be to implement a ISP level proxy filtering for sites that are not conforming to their rating systems or modify the websites by adding the ratings before serving up the pages. I am sure many would provide a leeway for this without protesting or using the old “deprivation of human choice/rights” argument against this…
I think ultimately, the best move would be develop something like a plug-in for web browsers, leaving the choice of whether to be filtered to the end users.
I.N: Increasing Net Crimes
I read this CNET article stating that web site-based crimeware is hitting all-time high.. I must add that I am definitely not surprise by this development.
An excerpt from the article:
“The number of URLs with hidden code for stealing passwords nearly tripled between July 2007 and July 2008, to a record high of 9,529, while the number of malicious-application variants hit a high of 442 this May, the APWG reports in its quarterly report (PDF) issued this week.”
With the current generation all internet connected and the older generation starting to move online, with more seeing it as an avenue to connect, it is not surprising that the percentage of crimeware would increase.
As population increases, I a proportional increase in the number of online crime would be expected. However, I think that this does not mean that more people are turning to crime, rather, the increase in online population is an incentive for current perpetrators of online crime to become more active. With more people online, the chances of having someone fall prey to them would increase. Furthermore, according to the CNET article, the current recession is also making things worse…
So what should we do? I guess the usual “do not be click happy with our mouse” applies as well as always. With online applications become more sophisticated, direct attacks (some of which are quite simple in methods) like SQL injections would become increasingly common.
In the end, I guess our best option is to hope that developers test out their applications thoroughly enough, and trust our own intuition when it comes to submitting information online…
Opinion: Happy People
A week ago, there was a news article published in the New York Times on the effects of television (TV) on a person’s happiness. The article mentioned that:
“… the people who did the activities more — visiting others, going to church, all those things — were more happy… TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less”
The study acknowledges that it does not conclusively show that the watching TV is the main cause unhappiness. It only shows the negative correalation. So even if you turn off your TV, it may not neccessarily make you any happier.
After doing some thinking about TV in my life, I realize that I seem to watch more TV shows when I am unhappy or bored. Rather than TV being the source of unhappiness for me, it is actually a avenue to “cool” myself off. I wonder if there are others who would use TV to the same effect though….
At this juncture, I guess most people would tell themselves the over-used line: “balance is the key”. I doubt we can go without TV. Especially since TV has gotten more “alive” with reality shows, movies and other kinds of entertainment. Moreover, TV may be the only source of news for some people who doesn’t read the newspaper much.
It would have been more helpful if the study had shown, how much TV is too much. But I think that’s another area that is hard to come up with a conclusive judgment.
I.N: Facebook’s Money Pot
Main Story: Most technology websites and news sites would already have announced that Facebook has recently rolled out a “verified apps program”. According to Techcrunch, the “program was first announced over the summer at their F8 Developer Conference”. From now on, Third party facebook applications will be categorized into into “Great Apps”, “Verified Apps” (trusted apps), and everything else.
So how to get in? You pay. After going through facebook’s initial vetting process, you have to pay $375 to get the verified badge… However, that’s not the end. The badge is only good for a year. In order to retain it, you pay again.. annually.
Reading the details of the program, one would no doubt have to agree that the scale is tipped very much in Facebook’s favour. There is a huge money making potential in this program, especially since many developers put many hours into developing the application.
It is still early to say whether this program will be successful as some applications are already used by so many that the developer doesn’t really need to get it verified unless FB steps in and decides to take them out till they get verification. However, if FB were to do that, it may backfire.
Over to Microsoft, the Windows Live SkyDrive Team announced that Window Live Skydrive storage limit will jump “soon” to 25GB. Furthermore, new features like, downloading of photos directly to your Windows Live Photo Gallery, downloading an entire folder in one compressed file will be made available.
For those who store lots of files online and are running out of space, I guess we’ve got one new service to store them. Coupled with Office live workspace and Live Mesh, we can comfortably store a substantial amount of our lives online (not that we aren’t already doing so… with facebook, flickr and our blogs…).
On the issue of having our lives online, the recent move by youtube may put our lives in a clearer, and sharper view. YouTube was reported to be testing a even higher resolution videos. Up till now, YouTube already provides an option to view higher quality versions for some videos and you can also append “&fmt=18″ to the URLs. However it seems that if you add “&fmt=22″, some YouTube videos are now available at an even higher quality.
Looking up the web, it is reported that the difference in quality are as follows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEOID (standard format – mono, resolution: 320×180)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEOID&fmt=18 (stereo, resolution: 480×270)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEOID&fmt=22 (stereo, resolution: 1280×720)
The higher resolution videos aren’t available for all videos yet. But is something to look forward to for those frequent YouTube video viewers..
Cheers!
I.N: Microsoft and Google.. updates on services.
Google and Microsoft has been pushing constantly into the domains of one another. Microsoft has been playing the catch up game with Google’s online services while Google is trying to use its online services to encroach into Microsoft’s desktop territory. It is an unspoken competition for users.
I.N. this week
I.N: Deal? That’s a negative for Google and Yahoo
Main Story: Earlier this year, Yahoo entered into talks with Google about search advertising deal amid U.S. Department of Justice starting investigations into this alleged bold move. It can be said that Yahoo entered into these talks to fight off an aquistion attempt from Microsoft.
According to the Official Google Blog, Concerns from advertisers and government regulators as well the risk of
“a protracted legal battle but also damage to relationships with valued partners.”
has ended this deal.
While this deal would no doubt created controversy if it have gone through, it was a better alternative than Microsoft acquiring Yahoo which would have effectively removed one more search and advertising competitor. In fact, at the web 2.0 summit, Yahoo’s CEO said that
“To this day, I have to say that the best thing for Microsoft to do is to buy Yahoo. I don’t think that is a bad idea at all…at the right price, whatever the price is, we are willing to sell the company”
In those sentence, it is clear that Yahoo wants to be bought by Microsoft, a stand which is a reversal from previously where Yahoo seemed to be trying to prevent a Microsoft buyout. This reversal may have come as a direct response to this Google-Yahoo failed deal.
If Microsoft were to really hit the negotiation tables with Yahoo right now, it is safe to say that the offer may be lower as Microsoft would be buying a slightly weaker Yahoo as compared to the Yahoo during the previous offer. However, it seems that Microsoft would not be sitting at a new negotiation table as Steve Ballmer said on Friday, at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia lunch in Sydney, that:
“We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition”
Source: Mashable!
The future of Yahoo remains on a delicately balanced weighing scale, which is, at the moment, tipping away from the side favouring Yahoo. In its aftermath, you would wonder if such a opposition would have been more muted if Google and Microsoft weren’t involved.
End of Windows 3.x: For a software made in 1990, it sure has a long and arduous life. Windows 3.1 was the first of Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI). According to BBC News:
Microsoft maintained support for Windows 3.x until the end of 2001, and it has lived on as an embedded operating system until 1 November 2008.
Its hard to find anyone still using Windows 3.x nowadays except in embedded systems where tech specs are a more limited and cannot cater for current Windows O.S. systems which can demand high capability processors and up to a minimum of 1GB Ram.
In this era where software support cycles are valid only up till at most their next major software release, a 18 year software support is commendable.
USB 3.0: Just a heads-up (From: CNET News), the USB 3.0 Specification will be introduced on Novemeber 17 at a Developer’s conference hosted by USB Implementers Forum in San Jose, Calif. The spec is expected to offer 10 times the speed of USB 2.0.
I.N: Battery Calls
Main Topic: Again, it seems that there are battery problems. According to an Oct 31 press release on the Sony Electronics News and Information website:
Sony Corporation will support voluntary recalls announced today by various PC manufacturers and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, encompassing about 35,000 notebook battery packs in the U.S., with an additional 65,000 sold worldwide.
I seem to hear quite a number of recalls these few years, not necessarily only Sony.
I guess laptops aren’t meant to be used on our lap anymore especially with cases of overheating and in some cases, smoke and flames.
US Elections: Its finally here! Tomorrow will be the D-Day for the elections. I really wonder who will actually win. Its quite intriguing. It is the first time in U.S. history that two sitting senators will run against each other for president. Furthermore, it is the first time an African American is a presidential nominee for a major party. I really hope that the guy’s background won’t stifle his chances.
Well, at least it looks like Obama is on track to win this election, with a Wall Street Journal/NBC News public opinion poll released on Sunday showing that he has an 8-point advantage over McCain.
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