The Most Used Password

The number one way hackers get into protected systems isn't through a fancy technical exploit. It's by guessing the password. That's not too hard when the most common password used on business systems is "Password1."

There's a technical reason for Password1's popularity: It's got an upper-case letter, a number and nine characters. That satisfies the complexity rules for many systems, including the default settings for Microsoft's widely used Active Directory identity management software.

Security services firm Trustwave spotlighted the "Password1" problem in its recently released "2012 Global Security Report," which summarizes the firm's findings from nearly 2 million network vulnerability scans and 300 recent security breach investigations.

Around 5% of passwords involve a variation of the word "password," the company's researchers found. The runner-up, "welcome," turns up in more than 1%.

Easily guessable or entirely blank passwords were the most common vulnerability Trustwave's SpiderLabs unit found in its penetration tests last year on clients' systems. The firm set an assortment of widely available password-cracking tools loose on 2.5 million passwords, and successfully broke more than 200,000 of them.

How to Tell if Anyone Has 'Unfriended' You on Facebook

A new browser add-on alerts Facebook users the instant that someone on their friends list 'unfriends' them - cutting off their link on the social network. It also alerts users when someone rejects or ignores a friend request.

The script, called Unfriend Finder, is free, and has been a huge hit worldwide. Unfriend Finder has been downloaded 44 million times. It can be installed in almost any internet browser. Users see a red counter in their menu bar which comes up '-1' the second someone unfriends them - a dig at Facebook's logo for adding friends, which is a '+1'.

The news will horrify many Facebook users. Facebook itself does not alert people when you click to 'unfriend' them, and it's become normal for people to do so stealthily.

It's a crucial 'get-out' clause from friendships that have grown apart - and useful when relationships go bad. Many users also accept friend requests to be polite, then quietly 'unfriend' the people later if they're not close.

Unfriend Finder's page says, 'Unfriends are people who were previously your friend but have either deactivated their account or have removed you from their friend list.'

'Unfriend Finder will also tell you people you have requested friendship with and who has declined your friend request.'

'Unfriend Finder makes identifying unfriends easy by displaying a red counter in the menubar with the amount of unfriends you have.'

The script works in browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer, and can be downloaded for free from the official site. There are Facebook apps that also offer the same functionality, but apps that offer such functions have been a hotbed of spam in the past.

Several apps for smartphones such as Frienemy for Android also offer this functionality - but many cost money, and none offer the simplicity of watching directly in your internet browser.

Unfriend Finder is prone to bouts of down time, though, users say - if Facebook changes its website code, the script will no longer work, and Facebook does so quite frequently.

Smartphone to Improve Your Mood

Could a phone be smart enough to work out when we’re suffering from depression?

According to researchers at Northwestern University, the answer is yes. The very smart phone being developed by the scientists would work as a virtual therapist and sense the user’s mood.

And it will even offer a cure. The phone would send a text message urging you to get out and do something to feel better. By learning all the user's usual patterns, it can sense when he or she is isolated.

'We’re trying to develop individual algorithms for each user that can determine specific states, so their location where they are, their activity, their social context, who they’re with, what they’re engaged in and their mood,' said psychologist David Mohr.

So if someone is stuck inside for days and feeling down, the 'Mobilyze!' phone could sense it.

'It can provide them an automated text message, or an automated phone call to make a suggestion to give somebody a call or get out of the house,' he added.

Tests on eight volunteers have shown the phone doctor has helped boost their moods.

The Folding Electric Car

Tiny urban car can fold in half and drive sideways, making it ideal for congested cities. European officials have taken the covers off a new electric car that folds in half to fit in to tight parking spots.

The CityCar, developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, can also crab sideways, making parallel parking a cinch. The first production prototype of the car - dubbed the Hiriko – was inspected by European Union Commission chief, José Manuel Barroso, and is expected to hit the road in a 20-car trial in Spain next year.

The diminutive car, which weighs less than 500kg, folds up when parked, allowing three or four cars to fit in the average parking space. The car is driven by an electric motor at each wheel, which allows it to spin on its own axis and move sideways into parking spots. The wheel also houses the car’s suspension and steering components. Instead of a U-turn, the Hiriko can do an O-turn.

The lack of an engine or motor up front means the driver and passenger can exit through the front of the car, allowing it to fold in the middle and park nose-to-kerb in a spot that would usually require parallel parking.

The two-seater, which has a 100km range, will be initially trialled in Spain as part of an inner city car sharing scheme. The car’s lithium-ion batteries are placed low in the floor of the car, which frees up passenger and luggage space while keeping the centre of gravity low. Its makers say the car can be recharged either at home, in the office or by parking in special recharging spaces.

Twitter Needs to Do More to Protect Children from Abuse and Exploitation

A child protection unit has called on Twitter to help tackle online child abuse by working harder to report suspicious activity.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre said 'more can be done' to safeguard children who use the micro-blogging website.Social networking sites Facebook and Bebo both report far more incidents of illegal activity to Ceop than Twitter does.

Peter Davies, head of Ceop, said: 'Providers of online services have a responsibility to safeguard their environment in order to minimise the risk to children and close down opportunities for offenders.

'Many companies work closely with us to enhance their ability to do this, including Facebook and Bebo.

'The centre does receive reports relating to material on Twitter but it’s important to say these amount to a very small proportion of 1,000 reports a month relating to a wide range of online environments.'

iPad 3 Claims Machine Will be Very Similar to Last Year's iPad 2

Popular Apple-watching website iLounge claims to have had a first hands-on with iPad 3, behind the scenes at CES. The claim isn't too outlandish: iLounge broke a story about iPad 2 at CES last year, which turned out to be authentic.

Apple itself never exhibits at CES, but the various third-party companies that make cases and add-ons for iPad do - and it's from these that iLounge claims to have had its sneak preview.

Most tech insiders also agree that a new iPad is due, and soon. Predictions of a launch date for the gadget range from as early as February to a later spring launch.

The site's editor-in-chief, Jeremy Horwitz claims to have seen a pre-production model of the upcoming gadget - and goes so far as to claim that others might have seen the gadget too, but it's so similar to iPad 2 that they would have had no idea.

Horwitz claims to have seen a casing for the device, not the screen itself - a crucial point, since an ultra-high-resolution screen is strongly rumoured to be the big improvement that Apple delivers this time round.

Apple iPhone, iPad Batteries to Last 'Days or Even Weeks'

Sometime in the future, Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad and MacBook might work longer than ever on a smaller and lighter battery pack. How is this possible? By using hydrogen fuel cells, which convert oxygen and hydrogen into water, heat and electricity. The US Patent & Trademark Office has recently published two Apple patent applications, detailing how fuel cells might power smartphones, laptops and tablets of the future.

Hydrogen fuel cells aren't exactly a new technology; they've been used to power Honda cars, for example, and they bring their own set of problems, especially in the context of smartphones or laptops.

But Apple might have a solution. One of the patent applications describes a "fuel cell system which is capable of both providing power to and receiving power from a rechargeable battery in a portable computing device. This eliminates the need for a bulky and heavy battery within the fuel cell system, which can significantly reduce the size, weight and cost of the fuel cell system."

Named after voice of Starship Enterprise Google to Create Rival to Apple's Siri

Apple's Siri voice control system is as a 'digital personal assistant' designed to allow you to talk to your phone like you talk to other people. Many Google Android functions already have similar apps built in - although not quite to the specifications of Apple's much-hyped control systems.

Now it seems Google may be about to unveil an official Android rival to Siri - called Majel after Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the actor who played the voice of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek. The name was reported by sources speaking to the Android and Me blog this week. The name tallies with earlier comments from Google staffers about a 'Star Trek'-like approach.

Google is definitely working on such a system - and this week announced that it had acquired the company Clever Sense, which offers a voice control app.

Differences between the iPhone family: iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 4 vs. iPhone 3GS

Given that the last two versions of the iPhone aren't going away any time soon, and they all support the new iOS 5 operating system, it's helpful to know the differences between the three phones. Not only is there a price difference, but the technical specs are different as well. As a quick note, the new Siri voice assistant feature is only included on the iPhone 4S.

Price of the iPhone
With a two-year contract, the iPhone 3GS with 8GB storage is free. The iPhone 4 with 8GB is $99, again under a two-year contract. The iPhone 4S with 16GB is $199; there is no 8GB model of the iPhone 4S. If 16GB of storage on your iPhone 4S isn't enough for you, you can upgrade to 32GB for $299 or 64GB for $399. Again, all of this is based on signing a standard two-year contract.

Put another way, the iPhone 3GS is free, and you're spending $12.37 per GB of memory on an iPhone 4. With the iPhone 4S, you're spending $12.43 per GB for the least expensive phone, $9.34 per GB for the 32GB model, but only $6.23 per GB on a 64GB iPhone 4S.

Carriers and bluetooh
If you're using an iPhone 3GS, you're stuck with AT&T. The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S will be carried by both AT&T and Verizon ... but also Sprint! This is especially exciting since Sprint is offering unlimited data plans.

The iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 both use bluetooth 2.1, but the iPhone 4S uses bluetooth 4.0. While this wireless upgrade won't make a difference for a while, it's nice to know the iPhone 4S is already forward compatibile.

Camera and Video
The iPhone 3GS has a 3 megapixel camera that can autofocus. The iPhone 4 camera is 5 megapixels, enjoys an LED flash, a backside illumination feature, and a four-element lens; the iPhone 4 also has a front-facing VGA camera. The iPhone 4S dwarfs them both with an 8 megapixel camera, an LED flash, backside illumination, a five-element lens, faster shooting speed, and face detection; it's also got a front-facing VGA camera.

Video becomes a big deal with these camera improvements. The 3GS can record 480p video. The iPhone 4 records at 720p and includes an LED light. The iPhone 4S is another step up, recording 1080p video and still sporting LED lighting while also adding image stabilization.

Display quality
The iPhone 3GS is a 480-by-320 display. In this regard, the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S share the same specs: 960-by-640 resolution. The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S offers a Retina Display, which is a way of saying it has an incredibly high pixel density. This density is responsible for amazingly crisp, beautiful resolution on the iPhone's screen.

Battery life
The iPhone 3GS gets 5 hours of talk time on 3G networks or 12 hours of talk on old 2G networks. On the iPhone 4, you get 7 or 14 hours of talk time. On the iPhone 4S, Apple squeezed out a little more battery life with 8 hours on 3G networks and 14 hours on 2G networks.

Interestingly, standby battery life is one of the places where the iPhone 4S is weaker than its predecessors. While the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 both expect about 300 hours of standby battery life, the iPhone 4S only gets around 200 hours. This difference probably won't be a deal-breaker for anyone, but it does likely speak to the power requirements of the A5 processor.

Presentation and color
The iPhone 3GS is only available in black now. If you want a white iPhone, you'll have to pick up an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S. These two models are available in black or white.

The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S are nearly identical in both size and weight, with the iPhone 4S tipping the scales at a scant tenth of an ounce heavier. The iPhone 3GS is a slightly bigger than its compatriots; while all three phones are 4.5" tall, the iPhone 3GS is 0.09" wider and 0.11" thicker. Overall the size differences between the 3GS and the 4 and 4S are fairly small, with the far more noticeable difference being the design aesthetic between the 3GS's rounded back and the flat back and curved corners of both the 4 and 4S.

Under the hood
The iPhone 3GS uses an old Samsung processor. The iPhone 4 uses a chip called the A4, the same chip used in the original iPad, while the iPhone 4S uses a dual-core A5 chip, the same chip found inside the iPad 2. The important thing here is that the iPhone 4S has a much more powerful processor than the iPhone 4, which was already a big upgrade over the iPhone 3GS.

The bottom line
The easiest way to understand the difference in these specs is that the iPhone 4S is better than the iPhone 4, which is better than the iPhone 3GS. Where you'll really notice the differences is in the quality of the camera, recording video, and the speed of the processor, which translates into how much raw power your phone has in order to perform tasks. All three phones are a good deal with a two-year contract, and how much you spend will depend on how much you value onboard storage and your iPhone photography – and, of course, how much you're willing to pay to have the latest and great device in your pocket.

Facebook is Watching YOU, Even when you're NOT logged in

Do you know that as a member of Facebook social networking, it has been watching you the whole time? Facebook has admitted that it monitors every single web page its members visit – even when they have logged out.

In its latest privacy blunder, the social networking site was forced to confirm that it constantly tracks its 750million users, even when they are using other sites. Most would assume that Facebook stops monitoring them after they leave, but technology bloggers have discovered this is not the case.

In fact, data is regularly sent back to the social network’s servers – helping Facebook make billions of pounds each year from advertising, as such information is highly valuable.

The website’s practices were exposed by Australian technology blogger Nik Cubrilovic and have provoked a furious response across the internet. Mr Cubrilovic found that when you sign up to Facebook it automatically puts files known as ‘cookies’ on your computer which monitor your browsing history.

Some cookies remain on your computer after you log out, and report back when you visit a site connected to Facebook. This covers millions of websites and refers to anything with a Facebook ‘like’ or ‘recommend’ button on it.

This covers millions of websites worldwide and refers to anything with a Facebook ‘like’ or ‘recommend’ button on it. The data that is sent back is the IP address, or unique identifier of your computer, and a log of what you have been viewing.

Mr Cubrilovic wrote: ‘Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit.

‘The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate (web) browser for Facebook interactions.

‘This is not what ‘logout’ is supposed to mean’.

The admission is the latest in a series of privacy blunders from Facebook, which has a record of only correcting such matters when they are brought to light by other people.

Earlier this year it stopped gathering browser data from users who had never even been to Facebook.com after it was exposed by a Dutch researcher. The site was forced into a partial climbdown over changes to privacy settings which many claimed made too much public.

Wow ... Smartphone Goes 3D

A mobile smartphone which will be able to take 3D, panoramic photos is expected to go on sale next month. Pictures taken on Sony Ericsson's new, top-of-the-range Xperia Arc S can be viewed on any compatible television set.

The phone, however, will display them only in two dimensions. Nor will it be able to produce 3D video output.

The camera works by taking several simultaneous images and 'stitching' them together. The phone, which runs Google's Android operating system, has a 4.2" screen and the camera definition is 8.1 megapixels, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

Any 3D images are viewed by connecting the phone to a 3D TV using the HDMI output. Sony Ericsson said the Arc S's 1.4GHz processor means it will start up 25 per cent faster than its predecessor, the Arc.

It also doubles as a remote control for Sony Bravia televisions, and features Sony’s Music and Video Unlimited media stores. Most of the Arc S's other updates are software-based. It comes with Android 2.3 installed, which enables faster web-browsing.

The company said the Arc S will come in five colours - white, blue, silver, black and pink. The device was unveiled at the IFA technology fair in Berlin.

The show also featured what Toshiba claims is the first glasses-free 3D television, although the model, the 55ZL2, has had mixed reviews. Korean manufacturer LG demonstrated a glasses-free 3D computer monitor.

iPhone 5: Everything We Know so Far

Rumors about the iPhone 5 started flying nearly as soon as the iPhone 4 landed on the shelves last year.

So far, many sources have strongly suggested that Apple's newest smartphone may be right around the corner.

Releasing in October
The Wall Street Journal confirmed the new iPhone model is coming in October, although we don't know yet if the new phone will be called iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, or something else entirely. It's been well over a year since the iPhone 4 became available in June 2010, and we've had white iPhones and Verizon iPhones since then. The iPhone 3GS had been released in June 2009 and Apple tends to release its iconic smartphone on a yearly cycle.

Wireless syncing, wireless charging
We know for certain that the new iPhone using iOS 5 will sync with your computer wirelessly, since Apple made a big deal of this capability at its developer's conference in June. The iPhone may also support wireless charging. The soon to be extinct HP TouchPad had this capability, so it makes sense that Apple might be exploring the technology to improve the iPhone experience, cutting away the last cords that force you to tie your phone to your computer. That seems like an experience that Apple would want to pioneer.

Better camera
The Wall Street Journal also reported the new iPhone camera sports 8 megapixels, which is a significant boost over the iPhone 4's 5 mexapixel sensor. This information seems to confirm similar, earlier rumors from Bloomberg. If we're really lucky, we might finally see an improved camera flash. Remember that the iPhone 4 was released over a year ago; newer smartphones have cameras that simply blow away the iPhone 4's offering, at least on paper. It's time for Apple to get back on top of the heap with an update.

4" screen or smaller
The size of the iPhone 5's touchscreen has been a hotbed of rumor. While many original rumors said the screen would be larger than 4", new panel suppliers indicate that the iPhone 5 screen will actually be smaller than 4". Previous rumors were based on market expectations, not any actual supply chain leaks. The newest leaks say the screen could be as small as 3.5' which is the same size as the iPhone 4 screen.

iCloud inside
One of the most exciting bits about the iPhone 5 will be its operating system and iCloud. The free service will automatically sync your pictures, music, and other data instantly between your computer and your iPhone. Using iTunes Match, you will even be able to upgrade your existing music to one of Apple's lossless, higher-quality music files. iCloud is integrated with personal computers, cloud computing, and mobile information. When you take pictures or buy content on your phone, you will be able to access all of it on your computer through iCloud.

Faster, beefier processor
It isn't a surprise to hear that the iPhone 5 will have a better processor than the iPhone 4, since every major iteration of the phone has enjoyed this kind of upgrade under the hood. The A5 processor already struts itself inside the iPad 2. Including that same processor on the iPhone 5 would give the smartphone considerable power, catching it up to the capability of the iPad itself.

Integrated earthquake warning
The Japanese version of iPhone 5 will warns its users of impending earthquakes. A simple pop-up notification will appear whenever Japan's monitoring facilities detect an impending threat, providing iPhone 5 users much needed time to get to safety and prepare for disaster. There's been no word about whether such a warning will also exist in the U.S., but that might be a concern after the recent, rare earthquake in Virginia.

iPhone available on Sprint and T-Mobile
While Verizon and AT&T both boast their own iteration of the iPhone, Apple's smartphone hasn't migrated to the remaining two carriers yet. The Wall Street Journal expects the new iPhone 5 to include Sprint among its available carriers, while other reports indicate the iPhone may land on T-Mobile. At the same time, new information suggests that the new iPhone will be a "world phone," capable of supporting multiple types of mobile networks, which would make it an attractive option for frequent travellers.

A new friend: iPhone nano
At the same time we're hearing about a bigger, more powerful iPhone 5, rumors about a smaller, cheaper iPhone also keep coming up. The lighter, more budget-minded (and purely theoretical) iPhone has been dubbed the the iPhone nano among tech blogs. This potentially petite iPhone would be aimed at more casual smartphone owners who want to use the Apple product but aren't necessarily comfortable with the iPhone's traditionally high price point. With 8 GB of storage, the iPhone nano would rely on iCloud and the internet to access a lot of its content.

Of course, none of this speculation is official fact until you've heard the words uttered from Apple itself. That being said, these rumors have all been repeated by enough independent sources that a few of them are bound to pan out — we can only wait and see.

How to save a wet cell phone?

Did you just drop your cellphone in water? Or maybe you'd like to know what to do if that happens! Here are the first aid techniques for rescuing a drowned smartphone.

Step 1: Do NOT turn on the phone

Why do water and smartphones not mix? Because the water shorts out your smartphone's electrical circuits. So whatever you do, don't turn it on to check to see if it still works.

Step 2: Pull out the battery and SIM card

You want to remove anything removeable: Pull out the battery, the SIM card and the memory card, if your phone has one. As long as that battery's in there it's providing power to your phone, and that's what you need to stop immediately.

Some phones, like the iPhone, don't have a removable battery. Unfortunately, you'll just have to skip this step and hope for the best if you dunk one of them.

Step 3: Freshwater rinse

Did you drop your phone in salt water? The salt can corrode your device. So after you pull out the battery and SIM card, immerse your phone in fresh water to rinse out the salt.

Step 4: Dry your phone using compressed air

If you have a compressed air can handy -- the kind that's used to clean computers or keyboards -- run it full-blast all over your phone, with the back cover taken off if you can. A vacuum cleaner also works, even though it's pulling the air in the other direction. As long as it's blowing cool air over those circuits to dry them out, it's all good.

Don't stick your phone in the oven, even on low. The heat can warp your phone's circuits, and melt its internal components. You shouldn't use a blow dryer either, unless it has a heatless setting. A fan might help, but a microwave is out of the question.

Step 5: Cover your phone with uncooked rice

The premise of our experiment was to test if putting a wet phone into a sealed container of rice would actually dry it out, and bring it back form the dead. See, the idea behind the rice is that the dry grains will absorb moisture. So get a sealable plastic container, and fill it with enough rice to cover your smartphone.

Apple Overtakes Google as The World's Most Valuable Brand

After four-year reign by the internet search engine Google, now is the time for Apple to take over as the world's most valuable brand. The brand is now worth £94billion ($153billion), almost half its market capitalisation, the study by global brand agency Millward Brown, said.

Apple's portfolio of coveted consumer goods propelled it past Microsoft to become the world's most valuable technology company last year. Peter Walshe, global brands director of Millward Brown, said Apple's meticulous attention to detail, along with an increasing presence of its gadgets in corporate environments, has allowed it to behave differently from other consumer-electronics makers.

'Apple is breaking the rules in terms of its pricing model,' he said.

'It's doing what luxury brands do, where the higher price the brand is, the more it seems to underpin and reinforce the desire.

Apple iPhone Secretly Records Owners' Every Move

Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go - and saves every detail to a secret file on the device which is copied to the owner's computer when synchronised.

The file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone's recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning that anyone who stole the phone or the computer could discover details about the owner's movements using a simple program.

For some phones, there could be almost a year's worth of data stored, as the recording of data seems to have started with Apple's iOS 4 update to the phone's operating system, released in June 2010.

Laptop energy saving: hibernate, sleep, or shut down?

Here are expert tips on how to keep your computer running smoothly: It is never fun to have to consistently wait any amount of time if the shut downs are too frequent. Sleep’ requires more power, but it boots up faster, while ‘Hibernate’ uses less power, but takes longer to come online, that same logic applies to shutting off your computer completely.

Your computer will become obsolete before you wear out your computer by turning it on and off a lot. It also doesn't take more energy to start a computer than to keep it running.

Sleep mode requires a constant, though reduced use of power (0-6 watts). Colorful screensavers do nothing to conserve energy. Accessing your computer remotely with the Wake on LAN feature also can drain the power.

To get the most for your money, expert advises adjusting power settings so that it automatically goes into Sleep/Standby mode after about 15 minutes of inactivity, and then shut it down at the end of your day.

Apple's iPad 2 Hits Overseas Stores after U.S. Sellout

Customers lined up outside Apple stores in Australia and New Zealand last week for the international launch of the iPad 2, which has flown off the shelves in the United States leaving the company struggling to meet demand.

Analysts forecast some 1 million devices may have been sold in the first weekend of the launch in the United States, but many warn that it’s not clear how supply constraints will affect availability following the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Apple plans to roll out the new iPad on Friday to 25 markets including France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, and Spain. The iPad 2, a thinner and faster version that features two cameras for video chat, was introduced in the United States on March 11.

But some would-be buyers have expressed frustration at how difficult it has been to secure one of the wildly popular tablet computers, sparking speculation Apple misjudged demand.

“If it wasn’t for the iPad, I wouldn’t be in Australia right now,” said Alex Lee, a backpacker from Canada, who was the first in the queue outside the glass-fronted Apple store in Sydney’s central business district.

He said he diverted his travels from Singapore to attend the launch. “It’s like a habit. I’ve also lined up on Regent Street in London for the iPhone”, added Lee, who had a folding chair and blanket and had spent two nights waiting.