Daily Internet Digest

Poor old television has just lost to the Internet according to a survey released by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA). Apparently, a majority of the 7,000 survey participants in 10 European go online between five and seven days a week. Only 77 percent watch television just as often with 48 percent saying that their TV consumption has been reduced because of the Internet. A European teen spends an average of 11.9 hours of Internet time every week. 32 percent of the respondents cite the e-mail as particularly indispensable. Participating countries were Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

I wonder what the results will be like in the rest of the world. I guess it must be the same. I myself don�t even watch TV anymore. And if I do access my TV, it�s to watch DVD�s. Ask me about the recent TV commercials and I won�t be able to answer you. I even get my news over the Internet.

Source: Yahoo! News

Face-to-face transactions over the internet may be limited only with the webcam (that is, if you consider this as face-to-face). Some believe that there is really no way a person can trace his/her online friend’s location, so it may seem to be easy (but not necessarily true) for fraudsters to lie about their real location (useful for anti internet scam too!).

Say goodbye to internet frauds since IP addresses are traceable. An IP address is a unique address, normally composed of four sets of numbers separated by three dots (i.e. 127.0.0.1). It works just like a house address since no IP addresses are alike.

Although IP addresses too change every time a person goes offline (through disabling the internet connection or turning off the router for LAN and WiFi etc.) and going online again, there will never be a time that your IP address will be exactly the same as another’s.

How to easily obtain the person’s real location through their IP address:
1. Go to http://www.ip-adress.com/ipaddresstolocation.
2. There is a tiny box (beside the “Lookup this IP or website” button) and type in the person’s IP address.
3. Click the said button and viola! The country origin of the said IP address is revealed.

Photo taken from http://www.cartoonstock.com

The internet nowadays is the best playground for business. Millions of people worldwide have access to it and since we live in an audio-visual culture, online markets have induced opportunity seekers with different splashes (programs made with Macromedia Flash), creative writing (such as excellently written ads) and videos to encourage them of venturing into their business.

Unfortunately, since the internet is an “all access” medium, many abuse it and many scams are continuously prevalent. If you have seen a “too-good-to-be-true” website, offering a relatively large paycheck for a “good-for-nothing” job (sites that offer “work from home and earn $50,000.00 per month while doing nothing!”), then might as well check the history of the said website.

How to do it:
1. Type in your address bar: http://whois.domaintools.com/
2. Affix the web address of the suspected website (i.e. if the website is http://www.website.info, then affix website.info AFTER THE SLASH).
3. You should now be able to see the history of the website, complete with the registrant’s name, how many other domains the registrant owns and how many times the said website has changed their domain name over a period of time).

Photo taken from http://theshadeswriter.wordpress.com

People who go on blind-dates sometimes have to lie about certain details about them to get their dates to like them. Internet socializing is just the same, it’s even hard to prove because you can’t see the person, maybe just with a picture and that’s it. People in the internet can lie about their age and even the gender. Some people will just do about anything to get your attention and hook up with it. Internet socializing sites are one of the best things these days, but warn the kids with extreme caution; you are not separating them from the computer until their 30, just advising them what’s right or wrong.

They may not have experienced growing up with the internet and the dangers it may bring, but similar events may happen to their kids even if it’s on the internet. Online chatting is one, be afraid when topics get into sex or physical details. It’s hard to warn the kids when it gets too late, and since they are curious (since they are growing up), they just might engage in it. So if you are a parent, it’s good if you talk these sensitive topics to your kids. In addition, there have been popular social networks that just about anybody can join; all you need is an email account.

Looks can be deceiving they say. Talk to a person on a street, later on he/she is being paid to get information from you (possible, it can happen). Looking at a person can deceive, what more someone you are talking to that you can’t see? Since kids have been more into the internet than the wiser ones, their curiosity explores the wide world of the web: internet. When will they know when and what they are doing is bad for them? That is why we have the wise people, to help the kids and teach them and keep them out of trouble based on their experience.

Carrie in the Sex and the City movie looked silly when she was in need for a phone to call her fiancé, and one of her friends hand her their iPhone, she just returned it admitted that she doesn’t know how to use it. Another scene there was when she was hiring an assistant, she ended up hiring someone who has a degree in Computer Science, and added a comment that she couldn’t even text message. They say that some older people are technically challenged, and the youth are tinkering with programming codes easy as pie. But one thing kids today can’t dig up on a search engine, experience.

From online mapping technology to the latest venture of Google to help homeowners monitor the amount of electricity they use with PowerMeter, the company has been on the forefront of internet technology for a long long time. The much anticipated and now praised Google maps has become a very useful tool for most people who want to see the world as it is and for what it is. Available to the public, it allows people to learn more about the world through maps loaded with all the information they need. They added the ability to see paces of interest with street-view that is possible with extensive mapping and scanning technology that lets you stand in front of the place you were interested in. Continue Reading »

The case of the Pirate Bay people who were convicted and found guilty of violating several copyright and intellectual property rights issues has seemingly ended with their conviction, sending them straight to the slammer, end of story. We hoped it was but it seems these guys have a trick or two up their sleeves in their appeal process where they seek to overturn charges levied against them by seeking an impartial judge to preside in their affairs. Their lawyers argue that the previous judge that handled the case was quite biased from the start and that they were found guilty even before the process started.
The Pirate Bay is one of the longest and largest FTP file sharing sites the world over that has damaged the film, music and other industries where intellectual property rights were violated hundreds if not thousands of times every day. Continue Reading »

China has long been identified as one of the leading sources of hackers and malware the world over along with Russia and many other countries. Their aims may be for economic and other means yet the country itself is falling victim to it’s generation of computer savvy youth’s armed with the know how and cheaper technology coming in from the West to do more damage it now fears itself from home-based hackers. There have been publicized cases of hackers being caught and prosecuted but the government is taking more steps to prevent such incidents happening from within its borders. Continue Reading »