Poor old television has just lost to the Internet according to a survey released by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA). Apparently, a majority of the 7,000 survey participants in 10 European go online between five and seven days a week. Only 77 percent watch television just as often with 48 percent saying that their TV consumption has been reduced because of the Internet. A European teen spends an average of 11.9 hours of Internet time every week. 32 percent of the respondents cite the e-mail as particularly indispensable. Participating countries were Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

I wonder what the results will be like in the rest of the world. I guess it must be the same. I myself don�t even watch TV anymore. And if I do access my TV, it�s to watch DVD�s. Ask me about the recent TV commercials and I won�t be able to answer you. I even get my news over the Internet.

Source: Yahoo! News

If you’ve noted that there seems to have been some sort of email silence coming from your Indian or Mid Eastern counterpart, don’t be angry. They’re not under some tight government censorship of any kind. They’re having a small problem: they have been disconnected from the World Wide Web because of two damaged undersea cables in the Mediterranean.

There was disruption to 70% of the nationwide network in Egypt, and India suffered up to 60% disruption.
UK firms such as British Airways have told the BBC that call centres have been affected by the outage.
Industry experts said it could take up to one week to repair the damaged cables and resume full service.
International telephone calls, which have also been affected, are being rerouted to work around the problem.

Not to worry though as the repair team are on their way to make the internet service available to the affected parties.

Source

To most people, the Internet is simple a wide area of space given by technology which can do no harm. Wrong! It can also be a disastrous way of losing your earnings and sanity. You just have to be aware of the scams going on in the web.

Meeting people on the Internet is fine. But the thing is, you have to be wise when dealing with them. Internet strangers should be treated in the same way that we do to people in real life. Refrain from being too close and divulging personal information temporarily. Give it time and then re-evaluate if you can really trust your cyber mate.

(Source) Boston Globe

Thanks to gamers from all over and l33t-speak (that�s hacker language for the laymen out there) shout — “w00t!” — has just been named as the “Word of the Year” by the Merriam-Webster Online Web Site. According to the Merriam-Webster Web site, the word �w00t!� (spelled with two zero�s instead of two letter O�s) is an acronym for �We owned the other team,� but is mainly used as an interjection to express joy, most especially in the case of triumph.

Such as other coded languages, l33t-speak was developed for exclusivity so as to make it harder to detect hackers� online conversations. And as the nature of speakers of coded languages, despite the popularity of “w00t!,� I�m sure that these guys have moved on and have coined another term to substitute for it. But I�m sure that whatever that new term is, it would eventually get out of its exclusivity and may even be the next catch phrase of 2008.

Source: Yahoo! News

Yep, those bloody pirates have struck again! But the British police were right to save the day as they conducted a dawn raid in Cardiff, Welsh and arrested three people suspected of involvement in Internet-based music and film piracy rings. Two men (one of which is the ring leader) and a woman were said to be part of the biggest suppliers of pirated music and films in Britain, earning about 3,000 pounds (6,173 $) a month. Now I understand how these cyber thieves find the piracy business a lucrative one. Too bad it�s considered illegal and unethical. But piracy is not going to end unless people stop buying from them. Just some food for thought, folks.

Source: Reuters

As far as this issue between Microsoft and Yahoo is concerned, everyone thought it was a closed deal already when Yahoo rescinded the offer from one of the successful software companies ever known. Apparently, there was a change in plans and Microsoft has given Yahoo 3 weeks to reconsider before it finally closes the books on this deal.

Now a $31 Million dollar offer is indeed a hefty one. But Yahoo isn’t biting it just yet. For other companies, they would have taken this offer by now. Yahoo, being a popular search engine for some time now is on the crossroads. Will they accept?

(Source) RTT News

There are still some who are not confident in using the internet. Some may think that since you need to be a “techie” on this field, you have to have other criteria to use the web space. In reality, all you need to control is patience for searching the best answers to your query especially if you are given numerous results. The advancement has certainly affect everyone’s life. It may be for the good or not but whatever it is, we have to be adaptable to changes to keep up with all the information we need to know. And yes, you don’t need to be a “techie” person in order to use the web.

Our lives right now is evolving with the technology because internet is available elsewhere. It has been proven that kids nowadays are addicted in using the “web” not only for research purposes but also for recreational activities. Gone are the days wherein you see kids playing outside the house. With their early exposure to new advancements, they become content in using the computer as their playmate. On the other side, since social activities become poor, this has a longer effect to their skills. It is why it is advisable to let the kids interact with other kids of their age and limit interaction with the computer.

Compatibility issues are being raised with the upcoming release of Windows 7 which is to take over the failed Vista OS which failed to gain the status of the former Operating system form Microsoft. Many companies have opted not to adopt the last installment for Microsoft long line of Operating systems due to very complicated security issues that seemed to ask a question each and every step of the way. Corporate markets are the biggest users of operating systems due to their size with hundreds of computers in a single office all installed with an operating system that allows it to function. There is another avenue of concern that has surfaced witht he announcement of the development and pending holiday release of the new operating system which focuses on compatibility issues. (more…)

Click jacking or hijacking in real terms is the process by which hackers take control of your computer without you even knowing about it, and everything it sees as valuable information is recorded for sending back to their makers for use. may it be through re-direction to legitimate websites that have themselves been infiltrated or some other process, these malware turns your computer and you as the unsuspecting accomplice. You may not notice anything wrong till you get hefty bills and other stuff that you have no idea of and may even get a hefty credit card bill from a purchase done using your information over the internet. (more…)