Articles about Digital Lifestyle

If you Google yourself, do you stumble across information you would rather wasn't online? Those naked photos of you cavorting in the garden or a snippet from a drunken rant in an online forum could be sitting there for all to see. The page in question may have gone, but that's not to say that you won’t still appear in Google search results.

Obviously there are situations in which this could be detrimental to your reputation, and it's understandable that you might want something done about it. Following a case presided over by the European Union Court of Justice in Luxembourg, judges have ruled that, in certain circumstances, people may ask a search operator to remove data about them from search results.

Continue reading →

Did you know the average person spends 23 full days a year using their mobile phone? That is around ninety minutes every day. Smartphones have become lifelines for many. What if you were to drop your phone in a toilet and lose everything on it? This nightmare will occur for nearly 100,000 cell phone users in the US every day who will damage their phone just by dropping it in water.

An American inventor has created a cost effective solution. DryBox Rescue is a machine designed to completely dry your phone of all moisture in 30 minutes even 2-3 days after getting it wet. I spoke to David Naumann, Partner/Managing Partner at DryBox to find out more about how it works, and what’s next for the company.

Continue reading →

It is said that Twitter is the social network for those who suffer from verbal diarrhoea, and it's certainly true that you have to be slightly selective about who you follow if you are to avoid drowning in an avalanche of overwhelming drivel. But even if you do pick and choose who appears in your timeline very carefully, there may be times when you want certain people to just shut up. You could stop following them, or even go as far as blocking them, but this might be seen as taking things a little too far. Twitter's new mute function could be the solution to the problem you didn’t know you had.

Announced in a post on the Twitter blog, Product Manager Paul Rosania says the feature is being rolled out to not only the web version of Twitter, but also the official iOS and Android apps. In many ways, muting is a watered down version of blocking a user and it could prove useful in certain circumstances. You may have some friend who is watching a show you've yet to catch up with. To help avoid spoilers, you could mute their tweets until you're up to date; the same idea rings true for sporting results, and other big announcements.

Continue reading →

The millennial generation (18 to 33 year olds) is a demographic that marketers love. We saw last week that they are more likely to use their mobiles whilst shopping but that's just part of the equation.

The reason this group excites the marketing men so much is because its members have a lot of spending power and crucially because they create buzz on social media. Brand engagement specialist PunchTab has released a new report looking at millennials' activity when shopping for fashion and accessories.

Continue reading →

The "internet of things" is one of those catch-all terms that has become one of the latest buzzwords to be bandied about hither and thither. It is often used to conjure up images of an online oven, connected kettles and web-enabled waffle makers, and is referred to as something that is yet to be. So used is this term, that it's easy to forget that it's something that already exists -- just ignore the absurd name and you simply have a collection of devices that connect to the internet for a variety of reasons. But having any device connected to the internet has advantages and disadvantages, and this is something that security experts AVG recognize only too well.

Take cars for instance. Things have advanced in leaps and bounds in recent years, to the point that the traditional key is no longer needed, and apps can be used to check vehicle stats -- who needs dials and in-car displays, eh? Just as owning a car has changed dramatically in the past couple of decades, so has the problem of car security. Numbered are the days of a brick through the window, a screwdriver or coat hanger slipped down the side of the window, and touching together a couple of wires to make a getaway in just a few minutes.

Continue reading →

What's that? It's the end of the week already? How did that happen?! Things got off to a slightly slow start, but it ended up being another jam-packed seven days. Microsoft was criticized for continuing to patch Windows XP after support was supposed to have ended, but it does seem as though usage is starting to decline. Interestingly, it is Windows 7 that suffered from a higher malware infection rate according to Microsoft's Security Intelligence Report. Windows 8.x is still struggling to gain a large audience and Wayne looked at why this is the case -- maybe a smartwatch would be a smart move.

The effects of Heartbleed are still being felt, and ExtraHop Networks had some advice during a Q&A session. Symantec unveiled its security roadmap for Advanced Threat Protection, and Dropbox discovered a vulnerability that led to the company pulling access to hyperlinked files. Many big names came together to try to make passwords more exciting -- give it up for World Password Day!

Continue reading →

Traditional retailing models have come under pressure from the internet, in particular the habit of 'showrooming' which involves browsing in store and buying online.

But according to point of sale specialist Merchant Warehouse there's a reverse effect called 'webrooming' which sees consumers browsing online but actually buying in bricks-and-mortar stores.

Continue reading →

Real life sims are very easy to get wrong -- just look at The Sims, for instance -- and Nintendo's latest venture into this branch of gaming, Tomodachi Life, demonstrates this perfectly. Taking a collection of Miis (Nintendo's sickly sweet customizable avatars) and dumping them on an island, the game presents players with a "world full of possibilities". The game's website proclaims, "in Tomodachi Life, populate your very own island with the Mii characters of family, friends or anyone else you can think of!" As long as the Miis are not gay that is.

Yes, in the Disney-like world of Nintendo, same-sex relationships are not possible. You're free to do pretty much anything you like in the game, but when it comes to striking up a relationship and getting virtually married, it's boy-girl action only. Homosexuality simply does not exist in Nintendo's little bubble, and this is something that was noted by one gamer who then launched a campaign on Twitter to try to get the gaming giant to change its ways. Tye Marini 's Miiquality Twitter account was started to try to persuade Nintendo to rethink the game and allow for lesbian and gay relationships.

Continue reading →

A new deal could be struck between ISPs and representatives of the music and film industries in UK in a bid to combat online piracy. But the proposed scheme does not go anywhere near as far as had been hoped by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) and the MPA (Motion Picture Association). Four of the country's biggest ISPs -- BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media -- have come together to create the Voluntary Copyright Alert Program (Vcap) which has the aim of educating downloaders of pirate material of the error of their ways. As the name suggests, the program is completely voluntary.

There have been years of debate on the topic, and the BBC has seen documentation that shows ISPs will be doing little more than sending out letters to those suspected of downloading pirated material. The letters are described as having an "educational" tone, while the industry bodies had been calling for warning letters to be sent out alerting downloaders to the possibility of legal action. They had also asked for access to a database of web users known to have downloaded pirated material.

Continue reading →

Security is always important, but now that we find ourselves in a post-Heartbleed world, it seems that there is more importance than ever being placed on passwords and the safety of online accounts. The constant advice, that we should be using unique passwords of ever-increasing complexity for each service we use, means that there is a greater chance of forgetting our login details. This is something that Twitter recognizes with a couple of account safety changes that are being introduced today.

A new password reset procedure lets you choose whether reset details should be sent to your registered email address or phone number. Having a choice is helpful in case you no longer use the email address you registered with, or if you have switched phone numbers. Choice is good! Mobile users will also find that the reset process has been improved, and Twitter helpfully provides some tips to aid with selecting a strong new password.

Continue reading →

Remember Unreal Tournament? Remember the hours (days?) you invested in it? Well, it's back! Or at least it will be soon… It's a game that we've heard nothing of for some time now, but Epic is wheeling out the classic title for a new airing. This time around, the gaming community is being called upon to contribute. In a post on the Unreal Engine Blog, Steve Polge says, "work on the future of Unreal Tournament begins today, and we're happy to announce that we're going to do this together, with you".

What does all of this mean? To cut to the chase, a new version of Unreal Tournament is, as of right now, being developed. Yippee! The UT community is a passionate one, and the new project is going to take full advantage of this. This is a collaborative project and the finished product will call upon the input of fans, Unreal Engine 4 developers, and Epic. If you fancy getting involved -- be it to contribute code, artwork, or just ideas -- you are free to do so.

Continue reading →

Whether you like poetry or not, you've probably seen or heard about Gary Turk's "Look Up" -- a video that laments Generation Y's constant lust for information from Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and other social media on mobile devices.

Since being uploaded to YouTube on 25 April, Look Up has racked up over 29 million views and divided opinion across the net as to whether we're drowning ourselves in a pool of useless notifications, or actually an empowered and more socialized society due to our circles of Internet friends.

Continue reading →

Heartbleed was a security nightmare that caught the technology world unaware and unprepared. There was a good deal of panicking in the immediate aftermath, but looking back a month down the line there is a lot to learn from what happened. But perhaps the most important thing is what happens moving forward.

Post-Heartbleed, Joe Siegrist, CEO for LastPass has a series of tips for companies to help protect data and improve privacy.

Continue reading →

There’s a peering crisis apparently happening right now among American Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and backbone providers according to a blog post this week from backbone company Level3 that I am sure many of you have read. The gist of it is that six major ISPs of the 51 that peer with Level3 have maxed-out their interconnections and are refusing to do the hardware upgrades required to support the current level of traffic. The result is that packets are being dropped, porn videos are stuttering, and customers are being ill-served. I know exactly what’s going on here and also how to fix it, pronto.

The problem is real and Level3′s explanation is pretty much on target. It’s about money and American business, because this is a peculiarly American problem. Five of the six unnamed ISPs are American and -- given that Level3 also said they are the ones that typically get the lowest scores for customer service (no surprise there, eh?) we can guess at least some of the names. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s 2013 report (the latest available with a new one due any day now) the worst ISPs in America are -- from worst to less bad but still lousy -- Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, Charter Communications, AT&T U-verse, Cox Communications, and Verizon FiOS. That’s seven companies and since Level3 says only five are creating this peering problem then two in there are off-the-hook but still not the best at what they do.

Continue reading →

Security is fun! Security is sexy! In fact, passwords get so many hearts pounding that World Password Day had to be dreamed up just to create an outlet for the outpouring of emotion associated with them. This may be stretching things a little, but today really is World Password Day, a global movement involving McAfee, Microsoft, Dell, Acer, Lenovo and numerous other big names to educate the world about... passwords! I jest a little, but this is a day with a serious message -- we are all incredibly reliant on passwords, but too many of them are just not strong enough.

Head on over to the website and you'll find all manner of tools designed to stress the importance of strong passwords, and to promote good practices. Things get off to a fairly gentle start with a typing game in which you're invited to type common passwords and blast them out of the sky. There are also tools and tips from each of the companies involved in the project. Microsoft has a password checker that will test the strength of your password, McAfee (now nothing to do with John McAfee!) has a Heartbleed vulnerability checker, while Dell has the handy tip that one shouldn’t type one's password into the username field.

Continue reading →