access

It has long frustrated me that I can't saunter into my local Starbucks, buy my favourite over-priced java, slide into an over-sized comfy chair, and browse the Internet. Well, actually, I could, but I would have to pay around $30/month to get it. ... For most Starbucks customers, myself included, the price of a coffee is high enough. Independent coffee shops have had a long tradition of offering free Internet access to customers. The logic is that, if you give them Internet, they are likely to stay longer and buy more. Plus, independent owners are often less the boardroom, bottom-line driven ... (view more)

A member of Congress who campaigns for tighter controls on how children access the Internet says it should be illegal for schools and libraries to provide access to the online game Second Life. Described as a 'virtual world', Second Life allows ... players to create their own characters and interact with others in a surprisingly wide range of activities. Some comedians and singers have given performances 'inside' the game, while one computing firm held Second Life job interviews for a real-world post. But it's more adult activities such as (entirely fictional) drug dealing and prostitution which ... (view more)

A New Zealand-based security consultant has released a tool that can unlock a Windows computer in seconds without a password. The hack, which involves Windows XP computers but has not been tested with Windows Vista, was first demonstrated by Adam ... Boileau at a security conference in Sydney in 2006. Microsoft has not developed a fix for it yet. (Source: com.au ) The tool released by Boileau can unlock Windows machines or login without a password by plugging in a Firewire cable and running a command. Boileau did not release the tool in 2006 because Microsoft was cagey about whether Firewire ... (view more)

It's now guaranteed that a major part of America's wireless airwaves will be accessible to any device or computer program. That could mean more choice for cell phone owners who want to access the Internet on their phones. The guarantee comes because ... bidding on the relevant part of the airwaves (the C block of the 700 megahertz spectrum to be precise) has passed the $4.64 billion mark. The government has agreed to proposals, championed by Google, ruling that any bidder paying more than this amount would have to follow open-access rules. The airwaves are being freed up by television ... (view more)

Internet scam artists are now using the telephone to breach your privacy and your bank accounts and it seems to be working. Last week the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center raised the alarm about the increasing number of phishing attacks that are ... using a combination of email and telephone. (Source: computerworld.com ) The use of the telephone in these schemes is a departure from the email-only type of phishing assault and is catching many companies and individuals unawares. In the past, typical email phishing scams have involved making various representations via email and asking users to ... (view more)

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In MS Word 2007 there is a great new feature that I love and I think once you learn of it you will grow to love it as well. Don't you hate it when you have your document all finished and then decide you don't like the margins? Unfortunately, when ... you change the margins in your beautiful new document all of the tabs are off. Well, guess what? The 'Alignment Tab' feature in MS Word 2007 allows you to change your margins without fussing over the tabs! This great new feature aligns data in relation to the margin in your document so that when you change your margins your text will automatically be ... (view more)

Who will Americans choose in 2008 to lead the country into a new decade? Republican? Democrat? Conservative? Liberal? Independent? The conventional wisdom is to compare the various presidential candidates on all the so-called "popular" issues: ... things like immigration, Roe vs. Wade, the war in Iraq, the economy, Global Warming, and health care. But the stance a president takes on 'high' technology can also result in world-changing events and may be more important than you think. Don't believe it? Consider President Kennedy -- his going-to-the-moon objective catalyzed years of technology ... (view more)

Yesterday, Canadian ISP (Internet Service Provider) Bell Sympatico admitted that it is restricting bandwidth access during "peak hours" to customers who are using p2p (peer-to-peer) networks such as Gnutella, Bit Torrent and Limewire. (Source: ... Betanews.com ) The company admitted to the action on its online customer support forums. "Bell Sympatico has launched a solution to enhance the online customer experience and improve Internet performance for all our customers during peak periods of Internet usage with the introduction of Internet Traffic Management," a company representative stated on ... (view more)

Just what is the cost of wireless service exclusivity on the iPhone? Last Wednesday marked the first day in the hearing of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, where representatives called for a more open wireless system. ... Both Democrats and Republicans spoke out against the hostage-type contracts, in what's been dubbed the "iPhone hearing." Being discussed is the fact that the iPhone will only work on AT ... (view more)