Sunday, 5th September 2010
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Tap versus Swipe

Posted on 11. Aug, 2010 by jacques in iTech

Tap versus Swipe

It may sound like the latest cartoon/video game produced by some Japanese tech company but it involves a much more mundane reality than that. iPhone owners will immediately sympathize with this most basic of iphoning dilemmas – do you prefer the tap or do you prefer the swipe?

Given the chance would you do away with the possibility of answering calls by having to swipe the bottom of the screen? Do you, like me, have an aversion to certain commands prompted by swiping on the iphone? Have you remained guiltily silent about the olympic difficult of performing a simple scroll on certain websites even when they have a mobile version?

I was reorganizing my app icons on the iphone last night when I stumbled upon a wonderful discovery. It was not as life changing as, say, the invention of sliced bread or the reorganization of KSU but in its own way it will have its positive effects on my standard of living. iPhone users will be familiar with the possibility of giving your iphone apps what seems to be like a collective epileptic fit by keeping your finger depressed on one of them long enough. Normally what happens next is that while the apps shake vigorously onscreen you are allowed to slide them around the different “pages”/”screens” of the iphone.

Well I was doing just that last night when I inadvertently and very serendipitously slid one app icon over another. What happened next caused my jaw to drop for a full five seconds before eventually getting over it with a shrug of the shoulder and a conclusion that such a development was inevitable. The app icons merged into one icon that – for want of a better word – we shall call a folder app. It collected the two previous apps in one and asked me to prompt it with a name for this Happy App Collective. Which I did. I called them news – because that is what the apps are about.

I then went about aggregating other apps together in the same manner and reduced the number of iphone screens to just two. That’s from an original five you know. That, my friends, is a victory for the tap over the swipe. For to access a different screen you need to swipe. To access a folder and then its various constituent apps all you do is tap happily away. And boy am I a happy tapper.

The main disadvantage with swipes is that they fail to take into consideration the grippy hand and the sticky screen. The iphone tends to gaze back at you fuzzily while it wonders whether you really meant the swipe or whether it was yet another endearing mini-hug being applied to the device that (to plagiarize Carlsberg) is probably the best handheld device in the world. iphone fails to note that our honeymoon period is over and that I am still fuming at its transformation into a senile degenerate ever since its new cousin (iphone 4) and the new OS (4.1) has entered the landscape.

At least taps are beating swipes. For now.

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The Global Village

Posted on 30. Jul, 2010 by jacques in Mediawatch, iTech

The Global Village

Time for J’accuse to share two new TED videos. Both concern the new media (and to a certain extent the old). Watch Alisa Miller demonstrate how little a window on world news is really available in the media and then watch Ethan Zuckerman point out the flaws in the idea of the Global Village and what is needed to fix things right.

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Dangers of Facebook

Posted on 21. Jul, 2010 by jacques in iTech

Dangers of Facebook

It’s only recently that Facebook has finally given in to installing a “panic button” that should allow young, vulnerable browsers and users to alert the authorities whenever they perceive a danger. Facebook dangers are not only about paedophiles and sex-offenders though. There’s the risk of scavengers for information and personal data gaining access to your inner sancta sanctorum. Knowing how to manage the information that you make available on facebook is just as important as the panic button for youngsters.

One of the most common ways of gaining access to other peoples’ profile and photos is by creating a fake identity and then befriending people on facebook. Most people are flattered by a friend request and more so when the person in question looks rather “attractive” in his or her profile pic. Which is why probably more men fall for the add a friend bit than women. Men are suckers for what they assume to be another admirer. I was alerted to the activities of a supposed “Anne Borg” on facebook.

So I checked out Ms Borg. The profile photos aren’t exactly revealing – a single photo taken of a woman looking sideways – and a supposed location of Los Angeles (California). There’s little or nothing by way of clues and activity only a long list of friends. The usual suspects really. Semi-celebrities who might have been flattered by another “fan” and politicos – quite a few of those. Funny how nobody’s suspicion was piqued by a one photo character with the commonest surname in Malta and innocuous name living in LA. I was.

So I did an image search. An easy thing to do nowadays. Anne Borg’s photo turns out to be for sale on a professional photographers’ site. Here is Nathan Rupert’s site. Now check out Scream Daisy loving Anne Borg. You gotta love the anonymous fecker behind the site. The face doesn’t get as anonymously harmless than that.

"Anne Borg" on Facebook

"Anne Borg" by Nathan Rupert

There you go. Not so difficult to tell the fake from the real is it? So to all you who have gotten sucked in by this impostor don’t forget to unfriend asap (quick Bocca if you’re reading this … it’s not a fan it’s a stalker).

Some tips from another website about security awareness are in order:

  • Consider restricting access to your profile. If the site allows it, it’s a good idea to limit access to your profile. Don’t allow strangers to learn everything they can about you. It’s just not safe.
  • Keep your private information private. Never post your full name, Social Security number, address, phone number, financial information or schedule. These will make you vulnerable to identity thieves, scams, burglars, or worse.
  • Choose a screen name that is different from your real name. Avoid using any personal information that would help someone identify or locate you offline.
  • Think twice before posting your photo. Photos can be used to identify you offline. They can also be altered or shared without your knowledge.
  • Don’t post information that makes you vulnerable to a physical attack. Revealing where you plan to meet your friends, your class schedule, or your street address is almost an open invitation for someone to find you. Remember that a photo in front of the Co-op tells strangers you are in Austin, and quite likely at the university.
  • Use your common sense. If you are contacted by a stranger online, find out if any of your established friends know the person, or run an online search on them (after all, you can use these things to your own benefit too!). If you agree to meet them, make it in a public place and invite others to join you.
  • Trust your instincts. If you feel threatened or uncomfortable during an online interaction, don’t continue the dialogue. Report any offensive behavior to the social networking Web site administrators.
  • Be suspicious. Don’t take any information you receive from a new online contact at face value. The Internet makes it easy for people to say or do things they would never say or do in public or in face-to-face interactions. Protecting yourself is the smart thing to do.

BE PREPARED!!

This has been J’accuse. Snooping so you don’t have to.

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Clean Water for Everyone

Posted on 12. Jul, 2010 by jacques in iTech

Clean Water for Everyone

I got this video from a post by Luan Galani on the Thinkaboutit site. It is too good not to share. Sometimes (just sometimes) thinking differently helps. The figures are astounding.

Right to Surf, Dude

Posted on 01. Jul, 2010 by jacques in iTech

Right to Surf, Dude

The last thing you would associate Finland and the Finns with is surfing. Insofar as jumping onto planks of wood and riding the waves is concerned you would probably be better off on a beach in Waikiki or Ooolalallalawotawave. There is another kind of surfing though that has just been granted the status of a legal right in the country that is neither Scandinavian nor Baltic but that just sits prettily between the two agglomerations.

“You have the right to surf the net at a broadband speed. You have the right to be constantly connected to the information superhighway. You have the right to kill off the boredom of those endless days and sleepless nights by hooking up to the virtual world“. That, in paraphrased J’accuse parlance, is what every Finnish citizen has just acquired thanks to a bold move by the Finnish government.

From 1 July every Finn will have the right to access to a 1Mbps (megabit per second) broadband connection. Finland has vowed to connect everyone to a 100Mbps connection by 2015.

To boldly go where no government has gone before is admirable. To do so with the declared intent to bring everyone up to standard on the information society is pure genius. The logic, according to Finland’s communication minister, is that it is useless to develop an information society if not everybody is using it. This is surely one way to tackle a huge source of poverty – ignorance.

Now listen to this. A poll conducted by the BBC World Service earlier in 2010 found out that “almost four in five people around the world believed that access to the internet is a fundamental right”. Way to go Berners-Lee.

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4

Posted on 08. Jun, 2010 by jacques in iTech

4

Not fair. There’s 1,000,000 reasons why the word “upgrade” should be declared illegal. They’ll probably sell in one week in the US starting 24th June.

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There’s no such thing as a free (Wi-Fi) lunch

Posted on 02. Jun, 2010 by jacques in Mediawatch, iTech

There’s no such thing as a free (Wi-Fi) lunch

“69  main squares and public gardens around Malta and Gozo will offer free wi-fi in the coming weeks, bringing the number of open spaces offering the service to 88.” That’s wonderful news and all those involved in this project should be lauded with more than a pat on the back. But is free Wi-Fi sustainable in the long term? Does this project fit in within a wider plan or is it just a play by ear routine?

MCA CEO Philip Micallef, PS Chris Said and Minister Gatt have all expressed their enthusiasm about this project “bridging the digital divide” and this is definitely the kind of idea that makes something like Vision 2015 less words and more action. We do not intend to be the wet blankets and killjoys here at J’accuse but it is important not to lose a sense of perspective. While it is true that this kind of service is “similar to what is offered in other countries” there is one missing bit of info in all of this.

Take Luxembourg. We had free Wi-Fi “Hot Spots” a couple of years back. The city center included well signed areas where you could access the public service. After a while though the public service became a paid service. You could  register and buy credit to access the wifi system. Free-riders could go to restaurants such as McDonald’s, Books and Beans (Pierre Meilak’s old haunt) and Urban for example. Like most European cities though the trend was more for paying for credit for public WiFi than for free availability.

Wi-Fi Alliance logo
Image via Wikipedia

When travelling in Europe you can buy credit with Wi-Fi providers like Orange, T-Mobile and others and use their many hotspots around the main towns. Sadly (for Europe) even most hotels require extra payment for the wi-fi service. Few (such as the Campanile chain) offer free wi-fi. The “free” element is excellent to get people used to the benefits of browsing when out but it costs money. My honest question is will the Maltese service be sustainable in the long run?

Lest you batter me with the anti-government critic baton I am genuinely asking whether there is a long term plan. It is all well and good to set up wi-fi hotspots and encourage their use but what will happen in a year or two when the accounts department starts to creak and austerity measures hit the service? I would strongly advise clear, up-front information – that the service will probably cost money in the future is highly probable (unless sponsors are found). Even in the case of wi-fi there is a cost… and government NEVER gives you anything for free.

Answers please.

Times Report

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Scar-Face-Book

Posted on 16. Mar, 2010 by jacques in iTech

Scar-Face-Book

‘Ndrangheta boss Manfredi has been caught by the Italian police. In a weird twist of events that continues to demonstrate the naiveté of a certain generation when using networking sites, Manfredi was snatched by the mobile squad of Crotone after it was discovered that he was a frequent user of Facebook using the nickname “Scarface”.

It’s a plot worthy of a Guy Ritchie movie – complete with the all too ironic nickname and circumstances of arrest. Meanwhile Facebook does not seem to be able to keep out of the news Europe-wide whether in good or in bad. Recently, the Facebook Killer saga in the UK prompted the networking site to issue the following statement:

Facebook issued a statement after Chapman was sentenced saying it urged people not to meet anyone they had been contacted by online unless they knew who they were, “as there are unscrupulous people in the world with malevolent agendas”. It said there were a variety of measures people could use to protect themselves from unwanted contact and that Facebook strongly encouraged their use.

The Facebook Killer story also led to British child protection authorities lobbying Facebook and other social networking sites to install a one-click button which would allow children to get immediate police help if they suspect they’re at risk. Other networking sites like BEBO immediately complied though Facebook remained reluctant about installing this system.

Traffic

Posted on 15. Mar, 2010 by jacques in Mediawatch, iTech

Traffic

Is internet traffic an indication of a site’s quality, popularity or both? What do more hits really mean and where do all the hits come from? A look into the world of web hits and misses – and the infamous Alexa toolbar.

(more…)

It’s the Blog, Stupid

Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by jacques in Politics, iTech

It’s the Blog, Stupid

Where we publish a comment that the Times chose not to publish under its court report today. J’accuse is sorely tempted to start one of those useless facebook campaigns and call it: “It’s the Blog, Stupid”. Incidentally feel free to call us pedants. We’ll take the liberty to call you stupid. (more…)

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