Point, Click, Repeat

Microsoft has acquired UK based map service Multimap for a rumoured £25 million. With online map services being a frequently visited resource by browsers, this appears to be Microsoft's attempt to hook into the UK/EU map market, where it has a very small foothold with its late appearance to that sector.

I like many others, used Multimap extensively and exclusively back in the 2000 - 2005 era.

Sadly, Multimap did not seem to evolve, yes there were changes to the website and the use of the mapping tools. The main change that I encountered was the increase of adverts, which combined with a general slow down of the website; it really was a pain to use on my NT4 - IE5.5 machine.

Admittedly, it has all changed again and now has that smooth and slick feeling to it, using Ajax and drag-drop scrolling. There are still some adverts on the website and when I last visited it attempted to open a popup window.

Was it all too little, too late?

When Google maps appeared on the scene, it changed how maps were used and accessed online. Gone was the continual refreshing of the page and trying to focus on a place that was halfway between two sections of a map. It was quicker and less cluttered and didn't offer you cheap hotels on every screen.

I would guess Microsoft would be looking to link in this newly acquired service with its existing products, so expect Live Search to make an appearance soon along with the advertise side of things when the current contracts end.

Microsoft has set up a research website (http://www.inkblotpassword.com) that allows users to generate a password, based on a random series of inkblots that the user links to a keyword. The first and last letters of that word are entered by the user and so starts the base of their password.

The first thing you will notice on this site is that it uses another Microsoft research project asirra (http://research.microsoft.com/asirra/). On choosing your username and playing the "guess the animal right" game, you get to the generate password screen.

The Inkblots are stacked up in 2 rows allowing you to enter 2 different passwords based on the images. You can customise the number of images to show from 5 to 10, effectively limiting the password length between 10 and 20 characters in length.

The about page hints that this system can lead to highly randomised yet memorable passwords increasing security, Yet it's recommended you don't use your account for any important data.

In an effort to maximise the potential of this system it is run on a OpenID server and allows single sign-on usage using Open ID, across any website that supports the
Protocol.

Therefore, a different approach to password generation, can allow the user more chance to create visual relationships in order to remember their password.

It leaves me with two questions.
The first was originally a little fun, hence the blog title but then the second occurred to me.

1) How many passwords will contain the letters "by" (butterfly)? :)
2) And could all those butterlfies be a potential security risk?

It appears that Google is now offering IMAP on their email accounts. Although POP3 support has been in place since late 2004, the one key element that was missing was the Internet Message Access Protocol.

This has been a missing feature that has been a barrier for many potential users looking to migrate to google mail. With the introduction of this feature users will be able to access and interact with their inbox from multiple devices (PC, Laptop, Mobile, PDA). This provide users with more flexibility on how they manage and manipulate their inbox, no-matter which device they choose logon from.

This sole feature could be the element that opens the door for Google where business customers are concerned. As part of their Google Apps (http://www.google.com/a/) for Businesses, Gmail is thrown in, as part of the bundle.

While POP3 was the only method for retrieving emails from devices unless you used the Ajax-rich online client, the users' experience was somewhat limited.

I doubt if I'd be wrong in saying the targetted/potential audience for this protocol is more within the business sector, moreso than your standard home user.

Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/free-imap-for-gmail.html

Well considering how much effort Microsoft has put into the Windows Genuine Advantage program. It's suprising to learn they are going to disable it in Internet Explorer 7 for users on XP.

But since launch IE7 hasn't really seen a big uptake. people choosing to remain on IE6 either by choice or because they can't pass the WGA validation. Another reason is that people are using other browsers now and like some of the options other browser offer.

Personally I have IE7 on my desktop and still have IE6 on my laptop, but always I use Firefox on both, unless i'm website testing. :)

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2007/10/04/internet-explorer-7-update.aspx

The number of people potentially impacted by recent data loss story seems to be increasing at an alarming rate. Only last month did a laptop contain names & addresses of childrens get stolen in Nottingham, luckily this was recovery by the Police.

The most recent story is of a laptop stolen from a hospital in Cornwall containing 10000 payroll records on health workers, this includes address, date of birth and banking information.

The Royal Cornwall Hospital HHS Trust who manages the payroll for NHS Staff across the country said that no patient information was held on the laptop. ( that's ok then :| )

It brings about many questions for employees that are part of large organisations:
Who has access to company employee information and why?
What restrictions are in place for the security of that data?
Why does all this important information get stored on laptops?

Should we all worry that our companies are copying inforamtion and transporting it about the country?

What rights do you have if your details are lost and then exploited?

Source : http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/security/data-control/news/index.cfm?newsid=2852