Tag: test

Average UK broadband speed is 3.6Mbps – and you're probably only getting half the speed you're paying for

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Ofcom, the communications watchdog that’s in charge of making sure everyone’s phones work and no one’s getting ripped off too badly by the ring tone companies, has revealed the results of a massive survey it conducted into the UK broadband scene.

As you might expect, we’re not getting what we pay for – as anyone who spends most of their evenings conducting broadband speed tests and sighing at the results will already know…

Gary Cutlack Broadband, Computers, Internet

Merry Christmas extremely bored men – Windows 7 beta hits the torrent sites

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If you haven’t already had ENOUGH of BLOODY WINDOWS after having Vista forced down your throat and onto your hard drive, you may now start worrying about driver incompatibilities anew – Windows 7 has been leaked.

The Beta 1 build of the next MS OS, which has been reviewed very favourably by a man here and is scheduled for a much wider beta test early next year – has popped up on Bittorrent for downloading. A good 20,000 or so users are currently nicking Windows 7 off Mininova, with a similar number taking it just because it’s there and is a nice thing to have from The Bay.

Those links are for information purposes only, by the way…

Gary Cutlack Computers, Intellectual Property, Internet, Software

Government says Phorm is phine – the spying ad software can be rolled out in the UK

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The UK government has said the incredibly controversial Phorm software can be rolled out in the UK – but users must be told first and allowed to opt-out if they wish.

The Phorm system, which anonymously tracks your internet usage so it can offer you targeted advertising, was secretly tested on a small group of BT users without their knowledge, creating uproar among the sort of people who like to create uproars about privacy issues. The EU then got involved, asking for clarification about the hows and whys of Phorm, thinking that it might be a BAD THING.

So, the UK government investigated and has decided it’s OK and that Phorm is fine. Here’s what it told the EU investigators about its Phorm phindings and how users will be put in charge of turning it on and off…

Gary Cutlack Broadband, Computers, Intellectual Property, Internet, Software, Web 2.0, Websites

"Unsafe surfing" leads to 70 spam emails a day. After just a month

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Security firm McAfee, which has a vested interest in spreading panic and fear among internet users but we’ll pretend not to notice, has been experimenting with internet spam.

McAfee sent 50 people from across the world out on the internet while “unprotected” and found they were soon spammed to death within a month. The terms of the experiment were not revealed, so we’re unsure…

Gary Cutlack Computers, Internet, Software, Websites