October 2009 Archives

A DRIVER who took his sports car into a West Midlands garage was shocked when he found out mechanics had taken it on a 125 mph joy ride - and has posted a video of it on Youtube.

The man took his £30,000 Vauxhall Monaro to a garage behind the Hallmark Motor Sales car dealership on Portway, just off the A435 near Redditch where it was due to have a radiator leak fixed.

When he returned to pick up the car he discovered footage on his in-car "black-box style" recorder which showed the mechanics taking the car on a high-speed burn along a nearby road.

The recorder had activated automatically when it sensed the car being put under unusual g-forces, caused by the reckless speed of the drivers.

The car's owner said: "It was supposed to be in my local friendly garage having a radiator leak fixed. In fact the boys in the garage were out having fun."

When he confronted the mechanics was told that they hadn't realised how fast they were going, before apologising."

He said the police are now involved in the incident.

The car - which was once described by television's Jeremy Clarkson as "truly wonderful" - is reportedly capable of speeds of up to 180 mph.

The footage was captured on a Roadhawk recording device. The camera starts recording whenever it senses anything unusual so that footage can be used in court to settle disputes in case of an accident.

It is thought to be available in shops for as little as £300.

Video captured during the joy ride shows the mechanic taking the car on to the A435 and accelerating up to 125mph before turning on to country roads where he continues to flout the speed limits.

New operating system Windows 7 is outselling Harry Potter according to online retailer Amazon.

Computer enthusiasts ignored cautious warnings over Microsoft's latest Windows operating system today as high street electronics stores celebrated bumper sales.

More than 500 people queued outside a PC World store in central London to be among the first Britons to get their hands on Windows 7 as it was released to positive reviews.

The operating system aims to improve on its predecessor Vista by simplifying everyday tasks. Microsoft says it has listened to feedback from billions of customers around the world.

Despite advice from consumer watchdog Which? urging computer users to wait a year before switching to Windows 7, online and high street stores recorded sales surges.

Frustrated broadband users with faulty connections spend millions of pounds kept on hold by technical support phone lines, a survey revealed today.

More than 15 million calls, costing an average of £1.75, are made to technical support lines every year, according to data from the uSwitch price comparison website.

Almost half of the 12,000 customers questioned said they were not satisfied with computer technical support.

Of the service providers, Orange and Tiscali finished bottom of the satisfaction table, with ratings of 42% and 47% respectively.

Nearly half of young people say they feel happiest when online, according to a report identifying a new generation of so-called "digital natives" who are at ease with a range of modern communications technologies.

The internet plays a "vital" role in the lives of the 16 to 24 age group, with three quarters saying they feel they could not live without it, research conducted for YouthNet has found.

A survey commissioned by the online charity into the views of 994 young people in the UK in July this year showed 45% said that they felt happiest when online.

Millions of families are missing out on savings running into billions of pounds because they do not use the internet, the Government's digital inclusion champion said today.

Some 10 million people - 17% of the entire population - have never been online, and four million of them come from economically or socially excluded backgrounds, according to research carried out for internet tsar Martha Lane Fox.

She warned today that those without access to the web were missing out not only on shopping bargains, but also work and training opportunities and official information on issues like the swine flu outbreak.

Why do people fall victim to internet fraudsters?

Because they're stupid, that's why.

It's one thing clicking on a very convincing email from your bank or building society. I can understand why people might fall for that.

But the recent revelation that passwords for more than 10,000 Hotmail accounts have been stolen and then posted online revealed something else too.

Incredibly the most popular hotmail account password was 12345. Some people went for engima machine-style complexity though. Yes, they drastically upped the number of symbols to 1234567 and even in some extreme cases 12345678!

It's a good job the Germans didn't have such codemasters otherwise Bletchley Park would never have broken their transmissions!

Just one more of the top ten passwords worth passing on - 111111.

A Microsoft spokesman said: "We are aware that some Windows Live Hotmail customers' credentials were acquired illegally by a phishing scheme and exposed on a website.
"Upon learning of the issue, we immediately requested that the credentials be removed and launched an investigation.

"As part of that investigation, we determined that this is not a breach of any Microsoft servers.
"Subsequently, we are taking measures to block access to all of the accounts that were exposed and have resources in place to help those users reclaim their accounts."

Sadly for Microsoft, raising the iq of their users is beyond their capabilities.

According to a new survey which just arrived in my inbox, we're all becoming 'Netspressives' - which basically means socially useless and only able to communicate online.

The (admittedly rather limited) report found that half of us spend more time talking to friends online than on phone or in person and find it hard to express their feelings in the real world.

In a tragic coincidence it was today revealed that Little Britain star Matt Lucas' former partner Kevin McGee, 32, (both pictured right) was found dead in his Edinburgh flat by police, after leaving a message on the social networking site Facebook.

McGee reportedly chose to post: "Kevin McGee thinks that death is much better than life."

A quick google search reveals a host of people who have left suicide notes on Facebook before killing themselves.

I remember reading years ago a short story in a science fiction collection about the unlikely scenario in a little populated world where people were just living alone, communicating via computers, and a prospective meeting of another person causes feelings of terror in the main protagonist.

It was a sad reflective piece, but, the truth seems to be even more tragic and bizarre - where people at the end of their tethers feel only able to express their feelings to electronic friends.

Yahoo, which commissioned the survey (admittedly small - only 1,050 nationwide were asked) have put up Psychologist Jo Hemmings to say: "The stereotype is that Britons are typically unexpressive people, but the rise of online communication has highlighted that this isn't true - we just need the right outlet. This study shows that the online world is acting as our self-expression release valve and 'Net-pression' is an important daily act for millions of Britons".

It'll be interesting to see how the first ever internet only England World Cup qualifier against Ukraine will do.

After, all you wonder if the average football fan is technology savvy enough to arrange to see the game on his or her computer screen. (Although don';t forget meanny people watch games online for free via foreign websites to avoid paying for Sky)

It has certainly got some interest going - England defender Rio Ferdinand has described it as: "A good step forward".

He added: "I read that online advertising has taken over from TV, so that tells you something about where it's going in terms of the digital world.

"So I'm sure it'll be the way forward and in the future it'll probably be the reality. I think it's a good way to gauge how many people are interested."

The match will represent the first time in recent history that British-based viewers will not be able to watch an England match live on television.

Watching the game online will cost £4.99 for early subscribers.

Fans spokesman Mark Perry said the fact the match was available only on the internet was "disastrous and an outrage."

"A World Cup qualifier should be available for everybody on free-to-air TV," Perryman said.

Anyone interested should go to http://www.ukrainevengland.com/

Charges rise to £9.99 for those who subscribe on Thursday and Friday, and £11.99 on Saturday.

So is Rio right? The figures will show, but in the past his judgment has included reviving the career of model Francoise Boufhal, pictured below, to front his magazine after she 'impressed' him during her interview. I leave you to draw your own conclusions about his judgment (perhaps though it might be said that it 'understands' what works on the internet).

The High Court showed it was in step with the times when it granted an order which allowed service of an injunction via Twitter.

Solicitors Griffin Law, who dealt with the matter, dubbed it "Blaney's Blarney Order" after the subject matter - a blog called Blaney's Blarney (donalblaney.com).

It requires an unknown Twitter user anonymously posting under the same name, and thus breaching the copyright and intellectual property of the blog's owner, to stop posting and immediately identify themselves.