Christmas Decorations

Remember when putting up your christmas decorations to not unplug important equipment such as your router. BT haven't worked out a way of distributing an internet connection via fairy lights.

Marmite spill sparks biohazard threat

flood of yeast extract has blocked the M1 motorway in South Yorkshire after a truck containing the Marmite ingredient crashed and spilled its load.

The road is still closed this morning, according to the latest traffic information, as cleanup workers scoop 23.2 tonnes of the gloopy brown stuff off the road surface.

South Yorkshire police said that the truck overturned after a collision with a motor caravan at 2215 GMT yesterday. The driver was taken to hospital, but it is understood his injuries are not serious.

The dumped yeast extract was described as "waste" by the BBC, so is highly unlikely to now end up in Marmite jars.

Left uncleaned, the vitamin-rich syrup, packed with denatured yeast cells, could cause a minor biohazard as it is highly nutritious to bacteria cultures. Yeast extract is a key element in lysogeny broths.

Obviously it would block the road too. Police have said it should be cleared from 1000 GMT today, though.

Kids demand Apple kit for Xmas

You grown-ups may not give a fig for fruit-flavoured products, but it's clear youngsters love Apple. Respected US market research firm Nielsen asked a playground full of 6- to 12-year-olds what they want for Christmas, and Apple kit took the top three places on the list.
The most desired item by far is the iPad. Some 44 per cent of the 3000 US kids questioned in October expressed an interest in obtaining one.
In second place, named by 30 per cent of those surveyed, was the iPod Touch. The iPhone came third, picked by 27 per cent of nippers.
The good news for Android fans: other tablet computers came in joint fourth place, selected by 25 per cent of sprogs. Ditto a computer and a Nintendo 3DS.
Handheld consoles? The poor old PlayStation Portable was the least desired item, named by only ten per cent of kids. So was the PlayStation Move.
The Wii was only one percentage point ahead, chosen by 11 per cent. The Xbox 360 was wanted by 16 per cent, though Kinect was desired by 23 per cent of those questioned. Some 17 per cent of kids said they want a PS3.
E-book readers are not popular - 17 per cent want one. Only 19 per cent want a non-Apple smartphone.
Nielsen also asked older kids aged 13 and up, and they favour the iPad too. Around 24 per cent said they want one, while 18 per cent said they want a computer, 18 per cent an e-book reader, 17 per cent a TV and 17 per cent a non-Apple tablet.
Games consoles rate even less highly, but it's important to bear in mind that many of them - and those in the 6-12 group too - already own them.
Equally, a low score does not equate to 'everyone has one' - it's also a sign that the device and/or brand isn't seen as being desirable.

London to get another £60m of CCTV surveillance

Transport for London (TfL) has invited companies to join a framework agreement worth up to £60m for the supply of CCTV equipment to a range of public sector organisations in the capital and beyond.
A notice in the Official Journal of the European Union says that the equipment will be supplied to TfL and the other Greater London Authority bodies, including the Metropolitan Police. London boroughs, Network Rail, train operating companies, the Highways Agency and the Ministry of Justice will also be able to use the framework.

The deal, valued at between £20m and £60m, will be divided into six lots covering camera lenses; camera fixings and fixtures; control equipment; cable and accessories; cabinets and storage; and monitors and fixtures. Although the four-year contract will include the provision of warranties, it will not include installation or the ongoing maintenance of equipment. "The value reflects the importance of CCTV to the capital, for both emergency services and transport operators, but also the procurement power of TfL to bring these numerous bodies together," said Josh Hewer, transport analyst at Kable.

This article was originally published at Guardian Government Computing.

600,000 hacks a day, welcome to Facebook

Every 24 hours 600,000 Facebook accounts are subject to attempted hacking or violation, Facebook has revealed.

The Social Network™ disclosed details of hacking activity as it unveiled new measures to protect user’s privacy. “We are adapting and responding to new threats everyday and will continue to roll out new ways to protect your account,” Facebook said.

In a blog post, Facebook revealed new tools to help users access their accounts if they are locked out and help prove your identity through your friends. “It's sort of similar to giving a house key to your friends when you go on vacation - pick the friends you most trust in case you need their help,” it explains.

‘Trusted friends’ allows users to nominate a few friends as a default measure that will be given access codes to your account if you cannot access it.

It is also testing a feature that allows users to use app passwords for logging into third party applications.

Initial feedback from users has been mixed with many pointing out that “friends” are also subject to hacking and security maybe further compromised by exposing access information to other parties.

Meanwhile according to researchers at Barracuda Labs, one in 100 tweets are malicious while one in 60 Facebook posts are malicious

Hackers could have TAKEN OVER Amazon Web Services

Security researchers have unearthed a flaw in Amazon Web Services that created a possible mechanism for hackers to take over control of cloud-based systems and run administrative tasks.

The flaw, which affected Amazon's EC2 cloud and has already been plugged, could have been abused to start and stop virtual machines or create new images in an EC2 virtual environment, for example. The root cause of the security weakness stemmed from poor cryptographic practices

BT cable hooks up punters to wrong numbers

Several BT phone customers in Surrey ended up fielding calls from strangers after engineers screwed up while rewiring their cables.

Pauline and Thomas Rodgers started to receive phone calls for a bloke called Charlie after BT relaid cables in their local area. The repair work in Wanborough Hill, Surrey, took place after thieves stole hundreds of metres of BT's copper cables, taking down phone and internet connections in the area.

Some customers are concerned that with the mix-up they'll be liable for other people's phone bills. BT have told them to get in contact to resolve the issues.

A BT spokesman explained: “During complex repairs such as this there can be instances where individual lines can be connected incorrectly.

“We are working on a handful of residual faults caused by this cable theft.”

He said anyone experiencing problems should contact BT. ®