Not more that a week after Gmail’s major outage which occurred on Tuesday the service has been hit just hours after with a major phishing attack.

The malicious message spread via the Google Talk instant messaging chat system, urging users to a video by clicking on a link connected via the TinyURL service. The link points to a website called ViddyHo, which invited users to submit their Gmail usernames and passwords.

Once extracted from marks these login credentials could be used for a variety of malign purposes ranging from impersonation to identity theft, or simply for sending spam. The motive for the attack is unclear.
The Register

This issue illustrates the need to have a collection of passwords for all you different online accounts. Sophos recently carried out research which showed that 41% of web surfers use the same password for all their online accounts which, if compromised can cause major implications later on!

Change those passwords regularly people and keep them different!!!

A

Ok this news is a couple of days old now but this week for me has been manic to say the least so this is (gods honest truth) the 1st time I have put my pc on in 2 days!!!!!

For 2 and a half hours on Tuesday Google Mail was offline, this was one of the longest outage the big G has ever suffered. Some reports however say that certain users were out for 4 hours but these rumours are unfounded. Google apologised to it’s users for the outage saying;"

“We’re really sorry about this, and we did do everything to restore access as soon as we could.”

“We know how important GMail is to our users so we take this very seriously,”

Since Google launched the premium service designed for businesses more than a million businesses have signed up and are using the paid for services. The SLA (service level agreement) states that for the paid members are promised 99.9% uptime in a calendar month, as this means that the SLA was broken and so Google gave every user a 15 day extension to their subscription.

Considering the time Google has been running I’d say this is small blip is a pretty minor thing. Yeah I know I am a Google fan boy and biased but hey, who cares.

A

Just over a year ago I bought my Nikon D40 D-SLR, this for me has been one of the best if not the best purchases I have ever made. In that time frame I have taken over 3000 photos of various subjects and quality. I have also learned a lot from my purchase, as a keen amateur (and believe me that’s all I am) I had had a SLR for a few years but was never able to experiment or take the volumes of photos I have done, as processing costs here in the UK are too high. On average a to develop roll of film in the UK costs about £5 for 36 exposures, that’s 14p per shot and on the amount I have taken this year that would add up to £420 in processing costs.

Having the ability to just snap whatever I want and see if it makes a good shot or not is so useful, I can just put it on my pc, mess around with it in Photoshop etc and learn every time I take a new set of photos.

I still have and will never get rid of my 35mm SLR which I absolutely love. It’s an old Minolta Dynax 4 with a couple of extra lens’ and from time to time I will use the old camera if I am feeling nostalgic.

I know it’s a bit of a trade off in terms of quality of picture as well but that is something I can live with if it means saving £420 a year, in fact that figure means I have already paid for the camera in cost savings (just, but not the extra lens or accessories).

Below are just some of my favourite shots from the past year to see more just click here to go to my Flickr site.

A

So Palm has updated the UK site with a picture of the Pre and a caption about it coming soon. They have however used a picture of the CDMA handset which, is defo not going to work over here. 

This is however a good thing for us Brits waiting for the device to be released, let’s hope it’s going to be sooner rather than later.

I sit and wait yet more *sigh*

A

So it’s begun the Mobile World Congress I talked about earlier this week has started. Engadget Mobile seems to be the best place so far to find news on the event. I am away this coming week working from another store, I do however have my laptop and mobile broadband so should be fine to collate and post the info in the evenings from my hotel room.

On the subject of mobiles Palm have released a new video promoting the Pre and showing usage possibilities, it can be viewed by clicking this link.

Hope your all having a nice Sunday.

A

US and Russian communications satellites have collided in space in what is thought to be the biggest incident of its kind to date.

The US commercial Iridium spacecraft hit a defunct Russian satellite at an altitude of about 800km (500 miles) over Siberia on Tuesday, Nasa said.

The risk to the International Space Station and a shuttle launch planned for later this month is said to be low.
BBC

Well it had to happen sooner or later, and on the plus side the debris from the collision was small enough that it does not pose a threat for STS126 or the ISS. It seems to me however that a way to remove space junk such as defunct satellites needs to be investigated, it’s getting crowded up there!!

See the full BBC article here

A

Not much has been going on really with space exploration recently, the last shuttle mission was in November (STS 126) when they repaired the solar panels on the ISS. The next mission is slated for no earlier than Feb 22nd but this is under review tomorrow.

NASA’s Space Shuttle Program managers will hold a special meeting Feb. 13 to review flow control valve data and determine whether to proceed with the Joint Flight Readiness, or FRR, scheduled for Feb. 18. The official launch date will be announced at the end of the FRR, although for planning purposes, liftoff currently is scheduled for no earlier than Feb. 22.
NASA.GOV

One of the fuel control valves that channel gaseous hydrogen from the shuttle’s main engines to the external fuel tank was found to be damaged on STS 126’s return and as a result the valves were removed checked and reinstalled in Discovery. The result is the meeting that is to be held tomorrow to discuss the implications and reasoning behind the damage. If all is said to be well then the FFR that is on the 18th will go ahead and a date for launch will be named. If however there is cause for concern the mission could well be pushed back to later in the year. The launch was originally slated for today but this has since been pushed back twice while assessments were carried out on the valves.

STS-125 which is the 5th and final mission to the Hubble telescope was originally set for May 2008 but then pushed back to October 08 after problems with production of the external fuel tanks. This then was again postponed after an anomaly aboard the telescope that occurred on September 27 and now launch will not occur until at least May 2009 giving NASA time to prepare a second data handling unit replacement for the telescope. Also there needs to be a second shuttle ready to launch for this mission in case of an emergency,

Due to the difference between the orbit of the International Space Station, and that of the HST, Atlantis will be unable to reach the safe haven of the ISS in the event of its heat shield becoming damaged upon launch. Therefore the mission will require another shuttle to be ready on launch pad 39B for immediate flight on the STS-401 Launch On Need (LON) rescue mission throughout Atlantis’ mission. 

All good stuff, here’s hoping Discovery gets launched this month!

A

P.S. a bit more space news to come tonight, stay tuned.