On 1st of March next year (2011) there is going to be a major shake-up for how online advertisements are to be handled in the UK. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is due to begin regulating this area and will be in a position to remove any ads that don’t meet their specifications. If you live in the UK or intend to advertise to people in the UK, this change is going to have an impact on how you do things. It means that the ASA will have the ability to remove any misleading or offensive ads – in fact they can remove anything that they don’t like.

Those people who currently make a living advertising online have not had to worry about regulation too much up until now. This has meant that anybody could advertise almost anything they wanted. There is no doubt that many ads have been extremely misleading and some are little more than scams that have hurt people financially. The ASA aims to tackle this in order to protect citizens in the UK. This is something that will be welcome by a lot of people but others will worry that it is a further example of increasing interference by governments on the web. In places like Britain there is an outcry when other countries interfere with what is available online; yet they seem to have qualms about enforcing their own censorship.

If this forces advertisers to be more careful about what they are saying it is probably going to be a good thing. Many of us are fed up with advertisers providing misleading information and conning us into purchasing things that aren’t what the claim to be. It will be interesting to see how this all works out but we will have to wait a few months to find out.

There are rumours circulating at the moment that Apple might be releasing a new type of computer monitor. This will be something that stays on your desk like a standard monitor in one position, but you can then turn it on its side and you have an iPad. The reason for these rumours is in regard to a patent that Apple filed a couple of years back; it contains the blueprint for just such a device. This is all very exciting and it would definitely revolutionise the world of computing.

I think that a problem a lot of us have these days is that we just have too many gadgets. We have our laptops, our home computer, and our mobile devices. If this new type of iMac could be used as a portable iPad it would be wonderful because it would cut down on the number of devices we need to own. Let’s face it, Apple now almost owns the world of technology so we might as well just turn to them for everything.

If anyone could create such an exciting device as a computer monitor that can turn into an iPad it is Apple. In fact the technology is probably fairly straight forward. There are few people who would doubt that such a device would be popular; in fact it would likely assure Apple’s domination. It would also give those of us where were a bit deflated by the problems surrounding the iPhone 4th generation to have something new to look forward to. It would be nice to think that such a device would reach our stores within a couple of years. Personally, I can’t wait to hear more information about this new iMac – of course it could all just be a rumour.

There is little doubt that there are many powerful people who would be quite happy to shut up the found of Wikileaks, Julian Assange. He has been the cause of a few headaches for high officials and this means that there are probably people who would do willing to go to extreme lengths to stop him causing more trouble.  This is why the recent shenanigans in Sweden seem very suspicious. Last Friday he was accused of rape and there was an arrest warrant put out for him; this was followed the next day by the removal of this accusation. Now Assange himself is claiming that this is all part of a carefully orchestrated smear complain.

You wouldn’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to smell something fishy going on here. Wikileaks has already released a ton of information that many government officials would like to keep quite. They are likely terrified about what else is going to appear on this website. There are many people who would be very happy to see Assange have his name muddied. He doesn’t even have to be convicted because if you throw enough mud you can be sure some of it will stick.

Wikileaks is one of the prime examples of how the internet can benefit all of us. Those of us who are tired of being misled by governments, or being treated like children who don’t need to know anything, welcome the website.  If this website is making some secretive government types nervous, then so much the better.  On the other hand, it could well be that Assange has broken the law and if this is the case he should be punished – it all just seems a bit convenient though. It will be interesting to see how this story works out.

There have been many predictions that TV is soon going to be replaced completely by social media – I’ve made such claims myself. The reality in the UK though does not seem to be backing this prediction up. The latest research from OFCOM suggests that we are actually watching more television than we did five years ago – it is up 3%.  Apparently the average person in the UK is watching almost four hours of television a day.

How could this be possible? How could the use of social media be sky-rocketing and our TV usage also be increasing? Do we have a lot more time on our hands? I suspect that many of us just have the TV on in the background and don’t really pay that much attention to it; I know that is the case with me. It has become a habit to switch the TV and it is more background noise than anything else. Even when there is a programme I want to watch I still have half my attention on my Twitter page. So maybe these figures from OFCOM are a bit misleading. Sure we may have the TV on even more than in the past but does that mean that it is going to stay that way.

I still feel that TV is on the way out; it just can’t compete with what is available on the web. I’m sure that the day will come when I forget to turn the box on and that will be that. I don’t really think that I’ll miss it; I’m sure this will be the same for most people. We might not consciously stop using television; maybe we’ll just forget about it. I know that every time I do go and look for something to watch on the TV I’m almost always disappointed and go back to the web.

Will the Beatles Ever be Available in iTunes?

The Beatles are the most popular band of all time so you would expect that there to be no problem finding their music on the world’s biggest provider of downloadable of music. The sad fact is that Apple still has not managed to get permission to distribute these songs, and according to John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, it might not be occur any time soon. This is bad news for Beatles fans that want to legally download this music.

It is hard to decide who is at fault in these negotiations between the technology giant Apple and the Beatles record label (that is also called Apple). Two of the Beatles are already dead but they might all be long buried before this deal is struck. It is tempting to just think that somebody is being greedy, but we really don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes.

Meanwhile many people around the world are downloading these songs for free. Maybe by the time that the two Apples get their act together there will be nobody left to buy this music. Music piracy might be destroying music but many now feel that they are left with no choice. The sad thing is that the only Beatles music you can purchase in the Apple store is by cover bands; they seem to be the only people benefiting from this failure in negotiations.

The iTunes store has managed to get the biggest names in music on board so it is a surprise that the same hasn’t happened with the Beatles. Maybe some of those involved need to wake up to the realities of a new era; otherwise there will be no money left for anyone. It is a shame that the Beatles are not in iTunes but hopefully this will be resolved sometime soon.

Many saw the arrival of the iPad as meaning the end of Kindle. The iPad just seemed to not only provide a better eBook experience but it also had so many other things going for it as well. Many people predicted that the Kindle would remain popular for a while as a cheaper eBook reader but that it would eventually fade away. Well it seems that Kindle is not willing to go down without a fight and a lot of effort has been put into making the Kindle a contender again. The latest development is that in the future we can expect Kindle games.

The Kindle has become popular as an eBook reader; this is the only function we really associate with it. Until the iPad came along it was considered the best eBook reader on the planet, but then the new Apple device came along and blew it out of the water. The idea of adding games seems like a good one on the surface, but it is hard to imagine how the Kindle could possibly compete with the games available on the iPad. The fact that the Kindle has a paper face type of screen would seem to rule out the possibility of most of the popular games appearing on that platform. If there idea of games is adding something like Tetris then they might as well save their time. On the other hand the news is that they are considering things like word puzzles and that could work well with the average Kindle user.

I must admit that there is a warm spot in my heart for the Kindle. I actually thing that it offers something a lot different from the iPad; that it is this that will keep it popular in the future. It is more of a reader’s device than the iPad.

Was it only last year that some of us were practically begging for an invite to use Google Wave? How things change. Google has just announced that it is going to bin the whole Google Wave project. It seems that this next thing that was going to change the face of the internet was grossly overhyped. Instead of changing the online world it has almost been forgotten even before it was released. The problem with Google Wave was that while there was no doubting that it was quite impressive and innovative nobody was quite sure what it was all about.

I remember how excited I felt last year after getting my Google Wave invite. I felt like one of the chosen people about to set foot in a new land; I was going to be a pioneer for the first time in my life. Never mind that I was one of the last to sign up for Twitter and joined FaceBook the same time as David Cameron; this time I was going to be in the vanguard. I opened the application that first time and immediately realised that I had no idea why I would want to use it. I tried to remain enthusiastic and even looked at the tutorials, but after a couple of hours disappointment set in. I tried it again a few times, but had actually completely forgotten about it until I heard today that Google was abandoning it.

Google Wave reminds me of the 80′s band Sigue Sigue Sputnik. They were hyped for ages as the greatest thing to ever hit the music scene but as soon as their first single was released everyone knew they were crap. Many of us tried to force ourselves to like them but there was just not point to them – sort of like Google Wave.

It turns out that hackers now have a way of taking control of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch if you download certain PDFs. Once these hackers have control of your device they can then cause all types of problems and steal information. It wasn’t long ago that Apple was boasting about how secure their devices are, but it now seems that there is a hole in their security and hackers are now exploiting it. To make matters worse there is not anti-virus software to use on these devices and this makes them even more vulnerable.

The program that gives hackers the ability to completely control your device can be passed easily via a PDF download. Apparently the virus itself is located within the fonts function within the PDF; the program then causes a stack overflow where it uses up too much memory. The fact that the stack overflow has occurred means that the hackers are then able to get past the phone’s defences. At the very least such an attack can critically damage your iPhone or iPad.

The way to avoid becoming a victim of this hack is to not download any PDFs unless you are completely sure of the source. Hopefully it won’t take Apple long to fix this breach in their security, but it is a warning that we should always be on our guard. Most of these attacks occur because we have allowed our own guard down; we have clicked on a link we weren’t sure about or downloaded something dodgy. It is just so easy to forget to be careful, but this is what we need to do if we want to prevent becoming the victim of hackers. The big names like Apple do their best, but there will always be security breaches.

A new controversial ban on messaging using blackberry devices is to go into effect in the United Arab Emirates. There are also plans for similar bans in Saudi Arabia and possibly India. The reasons behind the ban are that the emails and other messages on this device won’t be easy to monitor, and the UAE claims that this makes it a risk for national security. The main problem seems to be with how the makers of the Blackberry handle data; Research in Motion (RIM) encrypts its data and it is all routed via Canada. This means that the authorities in the UAE and elsewhere can’t monitor it and would be dependent on RIM for information.

This ban has caused a bit of controversy around the tech world with some people seeing it as understandable while other are vehemently opposed. Those who are more in favour of it claim that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are very sensitive parts of the world and there is a huge risk of terrorism in these places. Governments there are viewed as needing to keep an eye on what people are up to if they are to stop a major attack occurring on their soil, or to stop their counties been used as a base for attacks elsewhere. Others would claim that the ban is just an attempt to keep people down, and that terrorism prevention is just a handy excuse. Some governments feel the need to really control the information that their citizens have access to.

I always feel that it is a shame when people are denied access to technology by their governments; it always seems a bit sinister to me. I would be up in arms if the UK government were to consider such a move; just as well I don’t live in the UAE.

The latest news from YouTube is that users can now upload fifteen minute videos; an extra five minutes than previously. This will come as great news to all those people who felt stifled by the ten minute limit; now these folk can really tell the world what they think. Personally, I find it difficult to talk for five minutes on a video so it is unlikely to make much difference to my life. On the other hand it will mean having to click less when watching longer videos that have been broken down into smaller parts.

Apparently the reason for YouTube’s generosity is that they now feel that their copyright protection is strong enough to trust people with an extra five minutes of film time. Apparently new controls mean that people are less likely to upload copyrighted material and so they can be trusted that little bit more. I’m not sure how true all this is, but I trust that the good folk at YouTube know what they are doing. I don’t really understand how previously only being able to post ten minutes of copyrighted material at a time made that much difference.

I think the real good thing about the extra five minutes is that it might encourage official sources to release more good material on YouTube. Maybe the BBC channel or Discovery will make the most of this and offer a much better selection. After all, we are used to watching things in fifteen minute slots in the UK with the ITV and C4 advertisement breaks. On the other hand it also means that boring people will get to add an extra five minutes onto their monologues about whatever it is they think they are expert on. Overall though, the extra five minutes should benefit the site.