Archive for the ‘technology’ Category

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Online site probes new privacy fears

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

SMH reports that the website www.reverseaustralia.com is a directory which links names and phone numbers, to addresses.  It has caused the Australian Communications and Media Authority to investigate whether it constitutes a privacy breach.

The service, created by an Australian man living overseas, not only links to phone numbers which may otherwise be unlisted, but also asks users to login using their Facebook details, which is arguably also using private information.

James (first name given only), the maker of the site, wants to create an i-Phone Ap for this service too.

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Posted in ACMA, cybercrime, media, reverse listing, technology | No Comments »

Obama hands out innovation awards

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

SMH reports today that President Obama presented the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and the National Medal of Science to leading US scientists and inventors, in a White House ceremony.  These awards are said to be the highest honour to be given by the US government.

One of the award winners was Stephan Sasson who was the first builder of the digital camera prototype in 1975. These cameras “revolutionized photography, as all these folks back here can testify,” Obama said to the press.

Awards also went to Federico Faggin, Marcian Hoff and Stanley Mazor, who designed in 1971 the Intel 4004, the California firm’s first commercial microprocessor, and Stanley Prusiner, the man who discovered prions, misfolded proteins that can cause mad-cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

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Posted in awards, innovation, technology, Washington DC | No Comments »

Tap and Pay: new card technology

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Don’t have cash, don’t want to sign or use your pin? Just tap your card in front of the new reader, and you are off.  Mastercard and Visa have been rolling out  the “tap and pay” machines for transactions under $100 AUD.

Banks are quick to roll out the machines, with Commonwealth Bank expecting to have 20,000 introduced in stores by the end of the year. NAB expects to have 25,000 out by mid 2011.

Not all cards have the technology yet, but those that do have the logo clearly displayed on the card.

What about privacy and theft concerns? Commonwealth Bank says the $100 limit is too small to attract fraudsters, who are interested in large, big ticket purchases.  The Banking Ombudsman notes that the Electronic Funds Transfer Code of Conduct covers transactions using tap and pay, so customers can be compensated for fraud providing the other conditions under the code of conduct are met.

The full article from Sydney Morning Herald is available here.

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Posted in cybercrime, Expansion to Australia, NAB, technology | No Comments »

Consumer devices need a clean bill of health

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

Scott Charney, Microsoft’s VP for trustworthy computing spoke at the International Security Solutions Europe (ISSE) conference in Berlin, suggesting that the IT Industry, government and ISPs institute a new “health model” for the internet.

The suggested health model would mean that relevant stakeholders would have to ensure that consumer devices were safe from malware before allowing the devices to access the internet.  A health certificate would be required from consumer machines  showing what software patches were used, firewalls, and anti-viruses in place before the machine could access the internet.

Therefore, if major problems were found, such as a malware infection, the device’s bandwidth could be constricted.

A risky idea which requires a balance between privacy and risk control, but perhaps wise given increasing cybercrime worldwide.

The full article at SC Magazine is available here.

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Posted in E-mail & the internet, Microsoft, technology, web filter | No Comments »

Top 10 business/technology trends for 2010

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

So the year is not yet over, but Sydney Morning Herald would like to update us on the top 10 biztech trends for 2010.

Some of the best trends noted in the article include:

  • The ‘big four’ Microsoft upgrades, including Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010.  And Windows 7 (as XP starts to wane).
  • Virtualisation, which will soon become a standard industry recovery and available technique.  Desktop virtualisation in particular is something for businesses to give more thought to as the technology develops.
  • Biometric Authentication - NAB now uses voiceprints to authenticate its customers for phone banking.  This technology will be available for wider deployment soon.

View all 10 trends in the article here.

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Posted in browsers, children, E-mail & the internet, Microsoft, NAB, Online Sales, technology | No Comments »

Tech giants face new lawsuits

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

Sydney Morning Herald reports today that Ric Richardson, owner of Uniloc, who won a multimillion dollar lawsuit against Microsoft for the use of his patent, only to face the horror of having the decision overturned, is launching further lawsuits against Sony America, McAfee Security, Activision (maker of video games), and Quark, Borland Software and Aspyr Media (software makers).

Mr Richardson contends that his patent has stood up to legal scrutiny, so he is taking these new lawsuits on principle.  However, if succesful, the damages awarded will be given to charity.

Richardson, patented the technology designed to deter software piracy in the early 1990′s, and the proceedings against Microsoft have been ongoing since 2003. And yes, Uniloc is appealing the Microsoft decision to overthrow its lawsuit, by alleging bias from the Judge.

Stay tuned, this saga will be interesting…..

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Posted in controversy, technology, Uniloc | No Comments »

Apple iPhone 4 fuels recall speculation

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Continuing faulty antenna issues with the iPhone 4 may lead to a product recall, an embarrassing event for Apple, which may have costs of up to $1.5 billion USD.  It is harder to put a price on the cost to Apple’s reputation.

Consumer Reports stated that it could not recommend the iPhone, due to the antenna, which, if the device is held a particular way, substantially cuts the phone’s reception resulting in “signal loss issues”.

This result was upheld by Engadgets, who in their own testing, found that the iPhone 4′s dropped calls and experienced low data rates at a much higher frequency than other phones.  Engadget‘s full review of the iPhone 4 is here.

Consumer Reports blog contains further detail as to why the iPhone 3 is preferable to the latest model.

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Posted in Apple Mac, E-mail & the internet, iphone, smartphone, technology | No Comments »

Are arcade games teaching children to be gamblers?

Monday, July 5th, 2010

A complaint from anti-gaming establishments is that clubs which install arcade games are encouraging children to be gamblers at an early stage, thereby ‘grooming’ them to be problem gamblers as adults.

Independent senator Nick Xenaphon is encouraging the federal government to take action on this point, as there is no legislation handling it in the meantime.  Mr Xenaphon believes that while parents play the pokies inside a club, the kids are getting the same ‘training’ on arcade games not far away.

The Productivity Commission appears to be in agreement with Mr Xenaphon, in its report on gambling which states that “minors should not…be exposed to gambling areas within venues”.  Unfortunately, the report did not continue on to make further recommendations about fixing this problem.

To read the full article, click here.

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Posted in children, E-mail & the internet, gaming, technology | No Comments »

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