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 28 July 2008, 8:55 AM
iPhone: The Phone of Choice for Super Heros (and Villans)
This weekend I spoted the iPhone being used by various celebrity heroes and villains. Seems to be all the rage:
Lord Vader still can't get used to working without a stylus
Supergirl calls up Superman and complains about him swapping costumes again:
Batgirl checks where she parked the Batmobile on google maps:
Captain America watches videos of Wonder Woman on YouTube:
Batman likes that it comes in black (matches his outfit) but still keeps his in his pocket:
Lord Vader still can't get used to working without a stylus
Supergirl calls up Superman and complains about him swapping costumes again:
Batgirl checks where she parked the Batmobile on google maps:
Captain America watches videos of Wonder Woman on YouTube:
Batman likes that it comes in black (matches his outfit) but still keeps his in his pocket:
Friday 25 July 2008, 5:01 PM
IE8 puts dim wits ahead of tech savvy
You may have heard that IE8 will suppress subdomains on sites. This means if you have a website with a subdomain for different channels/sections - e.g. videos.cnet.co.uk it will display as cnet.co.uk in the address bar - i.e. no subdomain.
Why would they do this? I suspect they are doing this to assist dim wits that get caught out by phishing scams. They get sent a mail saying they have to update their account details or some other random reason for them to login to their bank or paypal online account. They are then given a link to the attackers website and although it looks similar to the site they expect to see it is all fake and a way of getting hold of their login details. To help trick people many register domains like "uklogin.com" and then use subdomain "natwest" or "paypal" so the url looks like http://paypal.uklogin.com and the naive user assumes they are on the official site. By hiding the subdomain Microsoft it seems are making it more obvious to users what the true domain for the site they are using is.
Why are they ruining the subdomain to help the dim wits? They already have phishing filters and this fix will affect legitimate sites not just scammers.
I hope this is one of the features that doesn't make it past beta.
Why would they do this? I suspect they are doing this to assist dim wits that get caught out by phishing scams. They get sent a mail saying they have to update their account details or some other random reason for them to login to their bank or paypal online account. They are then given a link to the attackers website and although it looks similar to the site they expect to see it is all fake and a way of getting hold of their login details. To help trick people many register domains like "uklogin.com" and then use subdomain "natwest" or "paypal" so the url looks like http://paypal.uklogin.com and the naive user assumes they are on the official site. By hiding the subdomain Microsoft it seems are making it more obvious to users what the true domain for the site they are using is.
Why are they ruining the subdomain to help the dim wits? They already have phishing filters and this fix will affect legitimate sites not just scammers.
I hope this is one of the features that doesn't make it past beta.
Thursday 17 July 2008, 3:11 PM
The App store spells death to Jailbreaking the iPhone
I'd love to say that the quality of Apps on the Apple App store is so superior to those made for jailbroken iPhones that no one would bother jailbreaking anymore. However, this is definitely not the case. While a few of the apps are quite polished a lot are on par with their jailbreak equivalents and many jailbreak apps will never make it to the Apps store as they will upset network providers or apple - e.g. the app that allows you to create multiple iTunes library's on the phone so you can sync with more than one computer, or VoIP apps that allow you to make calls without getting charged a penny by your mobile provider.
Add to this the fact that most of the apps on via AppTapp on a jailbroken phone are free and it makes jailbreaking your new iPhone 3G very tempting. Some have already managed it as seen in this video:
So what are we waiting for - lets unlock our phones and get lots of free App goodness. BUT WAIT Jailbreaking was tollerated before and some of the jailbreak app developers have been welcomed on to the App store... however, before Apple had no competing service to rival the jailbreak apps and now they do. They will not want users to be able to choose between a free jailbreak app when they are trying to sell a similar App for $9.99 in the App Store.
So what will Apple do. Expect a lot tighter policing of iPhones. Regular updates closing loopholes that hackers have used to jailbreak, and even bricking of phones that it detects have been tampered with. While not illegal it will be a lot riskier jailbreaking your phone this time round.
Add to this the fact that most of the apps on via AppTapp on a jailbroken phone are free and it makes jailbreaking your new iPhone 3G very tempting. Some have already managed it as seen in this video:
So what are we waiting for - lets unlock our phones and get lots of free App goodness. BUT WAIT Jailbreaking was tollerated before and some of the jailbreak app developers have been welcomed on to the App store... however, before Apple had no competing service to rival the jailbreak apps and now they do. They will not want users to be able to choose between a free jailbreak app when they are trying to sell a similar App for $9.99 in the App Store.
So what will Apple do. Expect a lot tighter policing of iPhones. Regular updates closing loopholes that hackers have used to jailbreak, and even bricking of phones that it detects have been tampered with. While not illegal it will be a lot riskier jailbreaking your phone this time round.
