From The Front End - ZDNet Edition
My ZDNet version of my blog. Will feature news my mad opinions and relevant posts or partial quotes from my blog - http://www.fromthefrontend.co.uk
Topics: Wed Standards, Tools and Services for Designers, Photography and graphics, Accessibility and other Front-End Webdesign related info.
Monday 29 October 2007, 12:18 PM
Domain name scammers get sneakier
Long ago scammers discovered that they could trick domain name owners into paying grossly inflated fees for domains they already owned. They would send official looking letters to domain name owners telling them their domain name was about to expire and to pay immediately to avoid losing their precious web site address. In many cases the inflated fee was paid without checking.
As companies/owners have become more wise against this they are now trying another approach. A colleague's client had a phone call from "the uk domain registrar" warning them that another company is trying to register all the alternative TLDs for his domain. This means that although the client owned hiswebsite.com this other company was about to register hiswebsite.co.uk, hiswebsite.org etc.
The caller kindly offered to secure all the domians for him before it was too late for a small fee of £800.
Firstly the real domain registrar would never call you to warn you of a similar domain to one you own is being registered. Considering you can buy these domains for £2-£10 each it is clear the £800 fee is extortionate.
This scare tactic and out right lying is just the latest tactic in the spammer/scammers box of tricks.
Thursday 18 October 2007, 10:31 AM
O2 Apple tariffs stretches the term “fair use“
When O2 announced it's tariffs for the Apple iPhone they conveniently skipped over what they meant by unlimited data by saying that "it was subject to their fair use policy" that allowed upto 1400 internet pages per day to be viewed. What they don't tell you is that in O2s opinion each page would only be 4-5kb in size each as their limit is 200mb per month.
Strange that the O2 homepage is over 33kb and BBC is 22kb and that is without images of flash units which if included would likely more than double the file size.
Sounding like less of a good deal when you compare unlimited tariffs from other providers like T-mobile.
Their unlimited data plan is also subject to a fair usage policy but they say fair use is up to 1GB per month - 5 times more than O2!
When comparing the complete Tariff T-mobile seems better value despite having to pay for the data seperately:
T-Mobile Flext 30 + Web 'n' Walk
Price of handset: Free*
Price per month: £32.50
Contract length: 18 months
Inclusive minutes: Up to 450, based on the T-Mobile Flext 30
Inclusive SMS: Up to 900, based on the T-Mobile Flext 30
Data: Unlimited (fair usage policy of 1GB/month)
Voicemail: 12p per message
Total cost**: £585
O2 iPhone
Price of handset: £269
Price per month: £35
Contract length: 18 months
Inclusive minutes: 200
Inclusive SMS: 200
Data: Unlimited (fair usage policy of 200MB/month)
Voicemail: Free
Total cost**: £899
*Not all handsets on this network are free with this deal, but certain ones are. You may have to pay some money towards high-end models.
**The total cost figure is how much it would cost if you stuck within the limits of your inclusive calls, SMS and data charges over the 18-month contract period. You will be charged more if you go beyond these limits.
source
This means with T-mobile you get 5 times more data, 3G access rather than edge and more minutes and texts and it still costs you less.
Even if you love the new iPhone you could buy an Apple iPod Touch and still be paying less. (£585+ ipod touch at full RRP = £854)
You may feel that you don't even need the iPod touch when you consider T-mobile are offering the Sony Ericsson W910i with 8GB memory and great music, video and photo features. It even has the iPhone title action to change from landscape to portrait when you tilt the the device. It also has a very unique Shake 'n' shuffle feature which enables you to shake the phone to randomly change the track playing - even when you are in a different menu such as typing a text message.
Sadly it seems O2 are re-couping the 40% cut that Apple squeezed out of them from their customers with less than competitive tariffs that while initially seem like a good deal doesn't stand up to the competition.
Credit to Andrew Lim of CNET.co.uk for researching most of the info.
Saturday 13 October 2007, 10:30 AM
Dell still gets thumbs up
Despite my last post regarding Dell component shortages I feel it only fair to say I am still ordering from them. Why?
1) There laptops are well spec'd covering almost all types of user needs
2) Their laptops out-perform similarly priced models from the likes of Sony
3) The level of customisation
4) The customer service. I've heard mixed reaction from people - some complaining some saying how great it is. In my experience it has been excellent. I've currently got a dell and although it's 2nd hand I had great help through the Dell forums without "oh do you have premium support etc." I got advice, helped diagnose the problem and Dell created brand new drivers for me (and other users having the problem). Also with my current order - I messed about and changed it and the Dell staff were really helpful and patient - I was able to get through to the same sales guy every time.
So I would still recommend a Dell - although there are occasionally delays due to high demand - they are worth the wait. If I was in that much of a rush I could pick one up off ebay brand new but don't get me started on the problems of buying expesive stuff on ebay or I'll be here all day.
Thursday 11 October 2007, 3:13 PM
Dell runs out of...glass?
Users waiting on orders of laptops and PCs from Dell may wonder what is causing the unusually long delays for their systems to arrive.
When I asked Dell what is causing lead times of up to a month I was advised they have shortages of some components such as the biometric fingerprint reader which has a 7 week waiting list. However, as my order does not include this I investigated further.
It appears Dell has a server shortage of glass! I was expecting some hi-tech or rare component but it appears that glass is in short supply. This is obviously needed for all laptops and Monitors - desktops without monitors will not be affected by the problem.
Maybe I can go down to Brighton and borrow some sand for them...
Thursday 11 October 2007, 9:38 AM
Vista receives more security updates
Last night Microsoft released several security and reliabilty updates for Windows Vista.
Most of the updates were minor in that they fixed compatibility/rare stability issues. However, some were classed as "important" by Microsoft update (as opposed to "recommended"). None were listed as "critical".
Ironically there was an update to XML core services which was solely to fix the issues that a previous update had caused. The original update addressed some vulnerabilities in Office, Windows media player and Internet Explorer.
Another 2 updates were made to Vista and Internet Explorer to patch a vulnerability that allowed a user to gain control of the system. Why this was listed as important and not critical I am not sure. The Vista update is perhaps not "critical" as it was a single "privately reported vulnerability" about potential Denial of Service problem rather than something that was in active use by hackers or easy to carry out.
The Internet Explorer cumulative update although only listed as "important" on the update is shown as Critical on the Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-057 which states the update resolves 3 privately reported and 2 publicly disclosed vulnerabilities. The most serious of these vulnerabilities was that a clever person could craft a web page that if viewed using Internet Explorer could allow remote code execution and allow the hacker to take control of the users system. The update was rated critical for all windows versions running IE6 or IE7 except windows Server 2003 in which it was rated moderate.
The Malicious Software Removal Tool received an update and immediately scans for potentially harmful software - this causes the update to take longer than expected.
Updates also included one for windows media player to prevent lock-ups and database corruption that can occur in certain scenarios. Two updates to Outlooks Junk mail filter to help catch more spam.
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