Anyone that’s dabbled with Linux in the past few years will know of the distribution, Ubuntu. It’s widely regarded as one of the most user friendly and easy to use distributions out there and is used by millions of people around the world on both desktop computers and servers. Soon you’ll also be able to boot up your smartphone and be welcomed by Ubuntu’s home screen. Why’s this? Well, Canonical (the guys behind the Ubuntu project) have announced that they will be releasing a version of their operating system specifically for use on smartphones, allowing them to replace the often stock, outdated versions of Android (Google’s own Linux based operating system) most users are running now. An additional feature that users will be able to make use of is it’s ability to double up as an Ubuntu based PC when the phone is connected to a TV/PC Monitor and with the latest smartphones often being on par / more powerful than basic laptops these days, it’s a huge step in mobile computing.

Ubuntu’s creators themselves claim that it will be faster and easier to use than Google’s Android system and it includes some nifty touch screen gestures that do look interesting (a full list with examples can be found here – http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/phone/design). It also boasts the ability to utilise full desktop applications on your phone, although this has come under criticism from certain people as they want to know if people really want to be able to do that on a mobile device that for the vast majority of its life, will be in someone’s hand, not docked to a TV or PC screen.

When exactly can you get your hands on the mobile OS is the big question, though! Canonical have announced that in October this year (2013) they will begin shipping mobile devices with the OS pre-loaded and ready to go. If you’re an app developer though and looking to get on board early, they’ll let you begin your work with the OS later this month (February, 2013). On the subject of apps though, the interesting thing with Ubuntu is that you can develop an app for use on the smart, mobile device and then have it work flawlessly on the desktop version too, offering seamless integration between the two. The first device to get the Ubuntu Mobile OS treatment will be the Samsung Galaxy Nexus which is still a great phone and will no doubt show the world what the OS is all about!

Can Ubuntu really challenge Android though in the grand scheme of things? Personally, I don’t think so. I feel it’s going to be much the same as the Desktop OS situation where Ubuntu will be used more by the tech-savvy users that already know of it and of Linux operating system. Canonical pushing this to mobile phone networks/carriers will be a big step in getting the name out there and I even with my reservations, I hope that a new wave of users decide to pick it up and give it a try as there are a lot of exciting things happening with Ubuntu at the moment!

If and when a release is available for the Samsung Galaxy S3, I’ll be loading it up and giving it a shot so expect a hands-on review of the OS in the future!

A recent poll by Broadband Genie stated that around 40% said they would drop their fixed line service in favour of fast mobile broadband, with 17% planning no change and 45% saying they would probably opt for both.

Well I for one wouldn’t be rushing to put all of my soon-to-be-excess electrical equipment on eBay just yet and here’s why.

• Signal: For those of us who don’t live in the city, many are still waiting for that ever-elusive 3G signal. Despite being out for years, 3G in some rural areas such as Cornwall is sketchy at best, with numerous homes still unable to receive a quality signal, if anything at all. I doubt these folks will be racing to purchase a 4G enabled device based upon the advertisements.
• Less effective than expected already: Aside from all those who can’t receive a quality 3G signal, there are already problems with 4G across much of the nation with reports coming in that the service is nowhere near the 10 times the speed of  3G that has been advertised. If this is already the case in the major cities where it is being tested, it doesn’t bode well for those of us in towns and regions that are not as ‘important’ as the big cities.
• Other teething issues in cities: An article in Gizmodo reports that only 40% of test sites within the city of Manchester were able to receive a signal at all. This seems to be the case across most cities apart from central London.
• Cost: There is an auction being held in January 2013 by Ofcom for 4G and one hopes that with the service being available across other networks, the price may come down. However, as it stands prices can be quite expensive with EE wanting a minimum of £36 per month for a handset that includes a meagre 500MB download allowance, which isn’t going to last long. On top of that, if you’re hoping to be accessing your 4G or on a top of the range handset such as a Samsung Galaxy SIII, you can expect to pay at least £46 per month and be tied in for a long time.  The reality is you can often get a phone, landline and the net for a figure around this with some very competitive broadband deals and a lot of people aren’t going to think the extra outlay is justifiable.

However, despite the teething issues and hefty cost involved for 4G, this doesn’t mean that it won’t work eventually and be cost effective too. What is more likely is that, as with 3G, eventually most people will be able to receive a signal, handsets will come 4G enabled as standard and it will be a lot  more appealing. The question is, by the time all the cracks have been ironed over and 4G does everything it claims at a reasonable price, will we be then moving on to a product that is beyond that, making 4G defunct? After all, research into 5G has already begun in the UK universities.

Guest Author Bio: Kerry Butters writes on behalf of Broadband Genie, the broadband deals website for consumers.

]]> http://www.nethosted.co.uk/blog/guest-posts/will-4g-make-home-broadband-redundant/feed 1 http://www.nethosted.co.uk/blog/ecommerce/credit-cards-technology-forget-contactless-this-one-has-its-own-screen http://www.nethosted.co.uk/blog/ecommerce/credit-cards-technology-forget-contactless-this-one-has-its-own-screen#comments Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:22:24 +0000 Bret http://www.nethosted.co.uk/blog/?p=1259

Everyone wonders what the next big thing will be in the consumer financial world. Contactless payment has been the big thing recently and with its ease of use, it’s not hard to see why. Another option has now come to the table in the form of a Mastercard with a built in keyboard and LCD screen. Yep, you read that right, a keyboard and screen on your credit card!

In partnership with Standard Chartered Bank, Mastercard have launched the interesting item in Singapore to test the waters. At the moment it’s in its infancy stage, with bigger and better features planned for future revisions, however I’ll give you a quick run-down of what you can expect on the current iteration of the well known plastic payment solution!

• Touch sensitive keypad
• 6 digit LCD display
• One time use code to verify each use, similar to the authentican fobs handed out by banks
• Ability to use online and instores

One of the best features of this technology is that it makes it impossible for criminals and data thieves to make use of stolen credit card information without having the card in their hands. This will do 2 things in the long run, both of which will greatly benefit everyone using the technology:

1. There will be less of a risk of having money disappear from your account due to identity theft
2. Lower transaction fees on payments due to banks not seeing as many fraudulent / risky transactions in their networks

On the subject of benefits, let’s move on to what we can expect from future versions of this next generation payment card! There is already talk of being able to view your balance directly on the card, which would be a bonus for the vast majority of people that want to check in on how much money they have left in their accounts whilst on the move and away from telephone/internet banking. There are also plans for customers with specific cards, to be able to check how many loyalty / reward points they have with the specific vendor, another handy feature for those of us that love to stay loyal to stores and rack up points for future expenditures! Finally, one that I’m excited for myself. The ability to view recent transactions directly on your card. This is something would be extremely handy in various situations and would allow the end user to see where their money has gone and check if payments have gone out of their accounts whilst on the move.

It’s not brand new technology by any means, however it’s only now being brought to the end user on a larger scale. Many will pose the question, “Is it too late?” seeing as contactless payment technology is being phased in and used in more and more systems (Google being a big advocate of the technology) such as smartphones, which are massive items in most people’s lives now. Chances are it is too late, however these announcements and developments will no doubt spur on the companies behind contactless technology to speed up and further develop intuitive ways of paying for our everyday lives.

Now we’re all used to seeing SKY24384 or BTHomeHub3-3483 (or their variants!) when we search for our wireless networks at home, but have you ever had a neighour ramp things up a bit and leave you a message via their network name? It seems that it’s a growing trend for home network admins to leave messages via their SSID (Service Set Identification)

There was a large discussion on the subject on the self-dubbed “Front page of the internet”, Reddit recently that got people talking and sharing their own experiences with neighbours.

An anonymous user said:
“I used to have GetYourOwnInternet. That way if someone was snooping around for some wi-fi to borrow, they would have to look elsewhere. I changed to EatTheChildrenFirst when I moved into a neighbourhood with a lot of kids – I thought it would be a cheeky name.”

However there’s always a serious side to this sort of thing and there was also talk about unsecured wireless networks being used in the Reddit thread and wireless network security should be of utmost importance for everyone running a wireless network in their home. There are 3 main types of security available on the majority of home-user routers and these are WEP, WPA and WPA2, each one providing substantial protection benefits over the other.

Some of these humorous SSIDs mention “Stop stealing my WiFi!” or similar, implying that people are “piggybacking” off of their network. This could be something as simple as them running an unsecured network and the fix could be as easy as enabling one of the above security algorithms, however which is best?

WEP – Wired Equivalent Privacy
WEP really shouldn’t be your choice of security on your wireless network as it is the easiest to “crack”. German security experts have found a way to obtain your wireless password on a WEP secured network within seconds. 3 seconds in fact, is all it took to extract a 104-bit WEP key on an old laptop.

WPA – WiFi Protected Access
WPA is a bit beefier in its security, however if someone was determined to get in, then they could so albeit it would take much longer than it’s WEP counterpart. With a high-end desktop PC, a hacker could go through massive lists of passwords and attempt to guess your password using their PC hardware to generate potential passwords in their thousands. This is called brute-forcing and with the aforementioned setup, a hacker could have your password within 30 days. If there were extremely determined, then they could set up a network of computers with powerful GPUs (Graphic Processing Units) and potentially, have your password within hours or days.

WPA2 – WiFi Protected Access version 2
WPA2 is an updated algorithm based on (unsurprisingly!) WPA and by default it uses the CCMP encryption protocol which was developed to address the vulnerabilities of WEP. It also provides better security when compared to WPA by ensuring that only authorised users can access information and that authentication provides proof that the users are genuine. In terms of how long a password can be hacked, again, it depends on the setup being used to do this, but typically it will take a good few years with a super-computer, a lot of technical know-how and a real good reason as to why to get into your home network.

These times are extremes to show just how easily certain methods can be used to get into the weaker network security protocols and it also proves that it’s something you do need to consider whilst setting up your wireless network. Don’t just skip through steps to get things done quickly so you can get on YouTube quicker!

Surrey University – The development capital for 5G in the UK.

As it stands, in the UK we are yet to be able to access a 4G mobile network due to various restrictions and delays in getting the networks ready. Yet despite this, a research unit based at the University of Surrey have been given a grant to the tune of £35million (thirty-five million GBP) to get working on the next standard, being dubbed (rather inspiringly) 5G. The grant itself has been given to the University by mobile network operators and infrastructures as well as the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund to create a “5G Innovation Centre”.

Experts and usage patterns tell us that the mobile data usage rates are doubling each and every year and unfortunately, the current infrastructure simply won’t be able to keep up with the demand. That’s why we’re on the verge of being able to use operators’ 4G networks, which should be enough for the foreseeable future, right? Wrong! We’re being told that within the next 10 years, even the “new” 4G networks will be unable to keep up with the demand on mobile devices. This is mainly down to user demand for High Definition movies and videos on sites such as YouTube and Vimeo as well as streaming live sporting (and non-sporting) events from around the world.

The upcoming 4G networks will be able to offer speeds up to a mind boggling 1Gbit per second in low mobility situations (such as walking around or sitting at home) or 100Mbit whilst in a high mobility situation (such as on trains, in cars or other high speed vehicles). Still, 100Mbit isn’t anything to be sniffed at as it is still over 10 times faster than the UK average, making the 1Gbit peak speed over 100 times faster than the UKs average broadband!

Touching on to 5G however, the main focus is optimising features of the current technology and developing further benefits such as lower power usage of the network infrastructures. This will be a huge benefit to the network operators as as it stands, the networks are using vast amounts of power and with usage doubling every year, there’s not a lot of scope to work on this on current networks. They will also work on making better use of the spectrum to squeeze every last drop from the existing frequencies with less of a power / system outlay. It also plans to better prioritise the traffic and data that’s being sent over the network. For example, your phone calls need to be sent immediately with high-priority so that you can speak to the person at the other end without delay. On the other hand, less important data such as an app download will take lower priority and only be pushed through the network when there is less congestion. This prioritisation method isn’t likely going to be noticeable for end users, however in the underlying systems, it will make it much more manageable and allow for a smoother service. This partnered up with the more energy efficient set up and the scope to increase speeds further by making better use of the frequency spectrum will be a formidable combination for the network industry.

This marks a major step in the right direction for the continued development of mobile networks and £35million will give the researchers at the University of Surrey plenty to work with to make sure that we can all get our High Definition episodes of Eastenders on our phones and tablets without buffering and lagging!

(skip to 13:30 for iPhone 5 details)

So as everyone expected the iPhone 5 (thankfully not “the new iPhone!”) was announced yesterday and there aren’t too many surprises, here’s a brief summary of the major changes from the iPhone 4S:

Size

iPhone 5 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm vs 115.2 x 58.66 x 9.3mm iPhone 4S
As you can see from these numbers it’s grown a little in height, though not as much as you would expect for the screen resolution increase which has gone from 940×640 to 1136×640, that’s a 17% resolution increase but only a 7% overall phone height increase, it retains the same 326 pixel per inch pixel density. They have also managed to make it 18% thinner than the 4S at 7.6mm, it’s the thinnest phone on the market currently and 12% thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S3 (8.6mm)

Weight

iPhone 5 112g vs 140g iPhone 4S

Apple have managed to shave 28g off the iPhone which is no mean feat, this makes it 20 per cent lighter than the 4S and 21g ligher than the S3 (133g), definitely a nice saving. Instead of having front and back glass it now has an anodised aluminium back and thinner front glass. With these combined the iPhone actually feels even lighter than the 20% weight saving would suggest.

Processor

The inevitable new CPU is named the A6 and touted to be twice as fast as the A5X, this probably won’t be too noticeable as far as standard navigation goes, but gaming on the iPhone is where this really shines, with some impressive demos already seen of graphics of a similar quality to dedicated handheld consoles like the PS Vita.

4G (LTE) network connectivity

In the UK 4G will be limited to Everything Everywhere (the combination of T-Mobile and Orange) as they are the only license holder at present, and this will remain the case until some point in 2013 it seems. Three have negotiated some of Everything Everywhere’s 1800Mhz spectrum though it will not be able to launch services until September 2013, and this is the only possible range that the iPhone 5 will be able to use. This is due to the iPhone supporting the 850Mhz and 2.1Ghz range as well as the 1800Mhz, but the 850Mhz range is not supported in the UK and the 2.1Ghz range is currently used for 3G services. This means that the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands which other operators will be bidding for in spring 2013 will be a moot point for the Phone 5 at least as it does not support these anyway. O2 and Vodafone will be pushing for alternatives, perhaps in the form of legal challenges to EE and Ofcom, as they will be a long way behind in 4G services if they cannot change the current regulations.

Real world tests of the current Everything Everywhere 4G network on the Samsung Galaxy S3 have shown that in good conditions 34Mbit is achievable, so this would be a massive increase over 3G, typically at least 10 times faster, you can see more on these tests here.

New dock connector

This will no doubt please many accessory manufacturers and annoy many consumers, as Apple have done away with the 30 pin dock connector and moved to a much smaller 8 pin “Lightning” connector, continuing their naming theme on from their “Thunderbolt” display connector. The actual benefits of this new connector seem mostly design related, as Apple stated that with the 30 pin connector it wouldn’t have been possible to achieve the size reductions. One (and possibly the only) tangible advantage for consumers is that the connector can be inserted either way, saving a few precious seconds!

The one major feature that some were expecting which could have changed phone usage somewhat was near-field communication (NFC), a wireless technology that allows for mobile payments to be made by tapping the phone to a sensor. This works in a similar way to a contactless credit card, but obviously would have potential for interaction and advertising if it was built into a phone, but it was not included in the iPhone 5.

Whether it’s worth upgrading comes down to the individual, Apple haven’t surprised anyone with this release and all the features were more or less known prior to the announcement via various leaks, but that doesn’t make the new phone any less appealing. A solid weight reduction and slimming down combined with the larger screen and 4G makes the iPhone 5 an attractive prospect even for iPhone 4S users, one thing that is not currently known is 4G data pricing which may dictate whether this is worthwhile. One thing is for sure, Apple will sell millions of these phones, whilst they have stuck to the formula and not taken risks you can be sure they are on to a winner.

Well let’s look at the Fire HD from Amazon first off and see what the cheaper £159 16GB model will get you:

Whereas the Google Nexus 7 gets you these fairly similar specs for £199:

Both companies are offering credit too to spend in their respective stores (Amazon provide $10 whereas Google offer £15) so that you can download the latest apps and items to your tablet to get you going.

Things may get pricier for Fire HD users however, if they wish to “Opt out” of Amazon’s advertising system (where Amazon would place targeted advertisements every time the device was locked) due to the $15 charge to do so, something that you wouldn’t have to consider on it’s Google counterpart. It’s worth noting too, that it’s unknown how long opting out will last; whether it’s a one-off fee or an annual subscription. It will also turn up at your door with a simple USB cable to charge your device with, as opposed to a mains powered adapter. Fret not though, because if you want to receive a fast-charging device to go with your new Fire HD tablet, then you can order the Kindle PowerFast charging device for an additional £17.99 that will charge your tablet up to full power in under 4 hours.

With these 2 extras considered, the price of the Kindle Fire HD gets very close to Google’s Nexus 7 RRP and with an additional 2 faster CPU cores and support directly from the company that developed the OS, it would seem like a no brainer. Going with a Nexus device means that you’re going to be getting Android OS updates as soon as possible, without phone networks and mobile phone manufacturers adding their own apps and customisations to it (and the lengthy delays involved with them doing so!)

The Nexus 7 also comes in 2.6 ounces lighter which will be extremely welcomed by your hands when it comes to extended periods of use. In addition to that, it’s TEGRA3 chip means that it excels when it comes to gaming, something that many tablet owners are now getting into (with Minecraft now being available!) to keep themselves occupied on the move. Finally, if you’re feeling that little more adventurous, you can even attempt overclocking the CPU to get some extra performance out of the little beast. There are reports of 2GHz being hit, which is a massive 700MHz faster than the stock (already 100MHz faster per core in a straight clock speed comparison with the Fire HD) which benchmarks at nearly twice the speed of a HTC One.

The tablet market is ever growing and ever changing, but these cheaper, powerful alternatives to the iPad are definitely bringing them to the masses. Just what people will be able to cram into a few millimetres of space in the future is going to be an amazing thing to look out for, and rest assured that we will continue to keep you up to date on what’s going on in the slimbodied PC world!

In the UK we know that ISP selection can make a big difference to connection speed, with high-speed broadband services such as 100MB BT Infinity and Virgin Media having quite limited availability, but how do we really shape up against the rest of the world?

There are constant surveys and data is continuously being monitored and graphed to see where various countries measure up in the grand scheme of things. Everyone knows that Asia are leading the way, and the latest information released by Akamai shows that the top 3 spaces are occupied by countries in this area. Surprisingly, South Korea aren’t in the top spot anymore. They held on to that position for a good year or so, however there’s a new kid on the block in the form of Hong Kong with a blistering average speed of 49.2Mbps. They’ve greatly benefited from being such a small state with a high density population, meaning that the infrastructure is easier to set up and there are plenty of people nearby to take up the ISPs cheap offerings. Whilst things did seem to be on the up in the previous quarter, there are signs that growth is slowing and also warnings that prices are more likely to go up in the near future, than they are to go down.

This isn’t a small increase for Hong Kong though, it represents a 7.1% rise in the last quarter and a huge 25% rise from last year. Other countries are also on the up, with Finland, Latvia, Switzerland, Ireland and Japan all having their figures increased by up to a massive 30% than the last quarter! Spare a thought for Libya though, who even after having a 75% gain on the last quarter, are still only hitting 0.5Mbps.

Still, with all of the investment in the United Kingdom at the moment from British Telecom (BT) and the existing infrastructure from Virgin Media, we should expect to creep up the table in the next year or so when more and more people pick up the high speed FTTC and FTTP (Fibre to the Cabinet/Premises) packages being pushed at the moment. It’s long overdue and the progress being made is promising. At the moment we stand 21st in the world rankings with an average peak speed of 17.89Mbps which can only go up with the continued uptake of the new fibre products available!

Continuing advancements in the infrastructures worldwide mean that things will only get bigger and better and with demand for High Definition content growing ever larger, it’s a good job too!

Everyone knows that Apple have a legion of fans that will stop at nothing to get their paws on the latest tech, often for products with few technical changes and Apple love it. The “hype machine” is something that Apple are famous for, with people getting extremely excited over the next revision of their phones, tablets and laptops every few months. But recent comments from the Apple CEO, Tim Cook (and his right-hand man) have suggested that it’s actually caused an issue for the company recently, with rumours and hype being so great for future products, that current models aren’t selling as expected.

A recent survey undertaken by ChangeWave shows that people are actually more interested in the iPhone5 than it’s older brothers 4 and 4S at the moment, with 14% of people surveyed saying that it was “Highly Likely” that they’d purchase the new revision, whereas in a previous survey from 2010, only 10% of people said the same for the iPhone4. These results are similar in the “Somewhat Likely” column, where the figure stands at 17%, yet only 11.5% said the same for the iPhone4. What this means is that people are simply not buying the current models because there is so much hype and so many rumours surrounding the iPhone5. Why buy the current 4 or 4S model when there will be a new version to blast it out of the water in a couple of months?

Apple’s CFO, Peter Oppenheimer confirmed this by saying:

“Our weekly iPhone sales continue to be impacted by rumors and speculation regarding new products,”

Apple’s CFO, Peter Oppenheimer quoted saying that weekly sales have been affected by “rumours and speculation”.

Though being fair, we can’t pin all of the blame on Apple fans and the hype surrounding the new iPhone5. There were other issues around the world that are causes for concern such as there simply being a slump in sales for the US based company in Europe which accounted for a large slowdown in the overall quarterly report.

Tim Cook, Apple CEO said:

“We see a difference between the countries. The UK was relatively solid at 30 per cent growth, but France, and Greece and Italy were particularly poor, and Germany was also similarly a single-digit positive growth for the quarter. Eastern Europe was strong, materially stronger than Western Europe, but obviously the Western European countries drive the preponderance of the revenue in that segment. So, we’recertainly seeing a slowdown.” 

That aside, I fully expect the iPhone 5 to smash sales figures in Q4 this year and we’ll be keeping an eye out on it’s progress and post an entry nearer to the time detailing it’s features and specifications!

With the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic games just around the corner, final preparations are being done to ensure that the event runs as smoothly as possible (this is England after all!) One of the big talking points at this stage, is whether the UK mobile networks will be able to keep up with the demand of hundreds of thousands of people in the capital trying to stream video, update their social media pages and text/call their friends and family, all in one relatively small area. Spectators at the Beijing 2008 Olympics had similar concerns which came into fruition when many people complained of slow network speeds when trying to upload pictures and video of the opening / closing ceremonies. The Olympic Committee here have attempted to combat this issue by teaming up with a venture called the Join Operators Olympic Group (JOOG) which is made up of various UK network operators such as O2, Everything Everywhere, 3, Vodafone and BT. Together, they plan on making networks more available for not only the tourists and visitors to the games, but also for the residents and businesses of the area that will otherwise be affected by the major increase in network activity over the few weeks of the olympics.

British Telecom (BT) have added to this by bringing in roughly 500,000 Wi-Fi hotspots that will be stationed around the centre of London, providing fast and reliable internet access to anyone with Wi-Fi enabled devices that wishes to get online during the games. With BT’s track record of providing Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the country, they’ll be hoping that there are no issues, but they won’t be praying as much as the O2 bosses, who only yesterday had a major headache as their network went into disarray across the country. Both 2G and 3G networks experienced issues, meaning customers were left for most of the day without service, disrupting day-to-day lives and businesses too. Being one of the main members of the aforementioned JOOG group, they’ll want to make sure everything is in order as this is most definitely a huge embarrassment for the company less than 2 weeks before the Olympic games are due to start.

A new take on wireless network access in stadiums has been deployed for these games, where over 50 antennae have been placed around the stadium for a seamless internet connection. Previous events have simply had the venue split into 4 sections and 4 antennae, so engineers are confident that this is going to be one of the best connected Olympics to date.

It’s going to undoubtedly be one of the largest sporting events that the UK has ever seen and in this tech-savvy day and age, having access to the internet and mobile networks throughout the event will be key to the world seeing what we, as the United Kingdom, have to offer the rest of the world.