Web Innovations Online

The emergence of an Apple clone was a surprise to many for the term “clone” was normally associated with the standard PC or the IBM clones as they were called during the times of old. Apple was a bit surprised but they didn’t do anything much but raise a brow but they do send in the legal guys. The company that released the so-called Mac Clone if it deserves that name is PayStar but many have been unimpressed with reviews of their evaluation pc’s. They work fine but many reviews say the darned thing is just too noisy. The installer of the OS which is said to be OSX comes without the usual shrink wrapping and it does not boot as said in the accompanying brochure. Legally, I don’t think Apple likes the idea of a clone but I don’t think they’re bothered much by it due to many reasons, quality for one and many other technical issues that have to be addressed before any clone for the MAC can truly take a bite of the small percentage of MAC users.

The world still has to see the true semantic web that is part science fiction and reality. Why, well imagine software that understands what you need and searches for the information you need in the context that it is used not just the word-matching technologies of today. It would be a part realization of Artificial Intelligence that has software powerful enough to think like you and me. We all know the frustrating process of searching on the web which yield’s some relevant results yet a ton of garbage that simply have matching words you have to filter out. There are options regarding a more focused search yet they are costly and time consuming. Google and IBM have been having some success in the area but that remains to be seen in a fully working semantic web.

The basic framework of the so-called Net 2.0 or the social network is being viewed by some as the next best thing that has happened since encyclopedia started coming out as cd’s or DVDs weighing a couple or grams instead of a couple of kilos. Some are seeing it as another attempt to use technology for a sinister purpose, but imagine schooling at home as you enter a virtual world (classroom) with all your classmates ( i don’t know what they’ll be called in the virtual world) and going on with your business just as you would have in schools of today. A dream, more than that for the social network is indeed a powerful toll for education. Imagine getting constant feedback from all the possible resources that are available on the internet. Access to some of the best research labs with the latest research and development technologies plus more all at the click of a mouse. The internet can be a safe place for people if they only listened and kept quiet for a while to marvel at the advances it has made in just a few decades.

The can enter bearing the signature of one version and spread to other systems with different signatures at each instance. The only way to be protected is to have and install protection from the bottom up, where intrusion prevention is installed right after the OS making the inventory it takes as pristine as possible. That way any modifications to the system are seen and noted allowing you the best chances for avoiding intrusion. Everything you do on the internet can be a trigger for malware to get into a system. Entering a site, downloading pirated music or software, using P2P to get your latest tracks, download codec’s that are not installed automatically, etc. and the list is endless. Everything you can do can be a trigger which is kind of paranoid (keep of the net and you don’t get attacked) but the safest approach would be to stay off the net which would be impossible. The only possible, total solution to all these problems would be to re-do the net. It has been proposed and seen by many as crazy, taking the internet down just for a few minutes causes mass paranoia and tempers to flair. Blame the guys who designed and first used it to send files in the old days. Blame just everybody else including you for contributing to the internet.

Google has started to filter out results in an attempt to prevent DoS attacks from overloading their servers. This has been a somewhat frequent occurrences in the colorful life of the internet we know (which was designed to be a military network) and the attacks just keep on coming. The problem is that the complexity and frequency seems to be reaching levels by which standard measures which worked perfectly in the past are now obsolete and quite ineffective. Malware of today rival the best of the best of the intrusion prevention systems currently available. Anti-viruses which have served us so well in the past are not at all effective for these malicious codes change and morph as fast as they can be detected.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and the many other search engines out there have to implement measures to attacks aimed at their results during searches. Search Engine optimization makes searches more precise but with attacks aimed at them they have to deal with overloading of their sites. Fake and dummy sites that look as if they are from legitimate sources and even have all the makings of one are given as results to a search for particular key words. Any unsuspecting person who selects one will get an unpleasant surprise in the form of code that can be anything from a spam generator to a phishing bot which sends information to a central location or address.

Brickhouse Security, a manufacturer of security cameras, systems, spy cameras and other similar devices have come up with a Cellphone backup gadget that allows a user to obtain information from a cell phone sim card (including deleted messages and numbers) by simply plugging it into your USB port. An article on CNN has shown the potential for disaster of the said device that can cause the copying of confidential and personal information along with all your messages and numbers that are stored into the SIM Module. Again, this gadget is being treated as spy ware by many for it can be used to obtain information without the user’s knowledge of it ever having occurred. It is also possible to clone a simcard, transferring all the contents to another sim shattering all privacy issues off the chart. It is advertised as a tool but as you can see, the potential for disaster is real so keep your cell close.

As if they don’t know it already, the US has announced that it would soon be taking the war on terrorism into the internet as virtualization becomes more of a reality than a concept. These Virtual worlds or groups are the next focus of the government in their quest to root out terrorists who have been confirmed to have used our technology against us. The many terrorist activities around the world have had links to internet use with regards to communication with their cell members. The internet has long been an open place where bandits are lurking but it does bring out some moral questions as to who would tell them which they could and could not do as they snoop out these terrorists. The move raises concerns again regarding the privacy of individuals and the rights of others regarding their information. The FBI is now trying to tackle the Bot-Net problem as they try to gain ground on these zombie networks which is blamed for many losses in terms of profits for businesses all around the globe.