Quick Tip: Navigating Apple iBooks From Open Book To Library

Apple iBooks LibraryWhen reading iBooks using the Apple iPad, particularly if you are using the new iBooks Author application, it may not be immediately obvious how to navigate from an open book back to the library.

To navigate back to the Library you need to tap the open book just once which brings up a menu bar at the top of the screen with buttons for Library, Book Navigation, Notes, Screen Brightness, Zooming and Bookmarking.

You can also double-tap a particular word to highlight, define or copy a word or phrase and you can also attach notes and search for further occurrences of the phrase.

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Another Look At The Samsung GALAXY Note

I have been using the 5.3” Samsung GALAXY Note (GT-N7000) for around a week now so I thought I would follow up the previous article (see An Initial Look At The Samsung GALAXY Note) with some further experiences of using this new device and the smartlet (smart tablet) form factor.

Samsung GALAXY NoteIn the nicely presented box arrived the Note itself, a Samsung headset (earphones) with inline controls, a couple of different sized ear buds, a USB cable for charging and a UK plug (travel adaptor) for the USB cable, a Warranty Card, and a Quick Start guide.

I am not one for typically reading user guides however reading the Quick Start Guide accompanying the Note was a good thing as it described some interesting functions the various buttons perform. For example, pressing and holding the power button whilst the device is on brings access to the quick menu where you can activate/deactivate Silent Mode, Flight Mode, Data Network Mode and also switch the device off .

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Get More From Your Disks With A NAS Part 2

In this, the second article in the “Get more from your disks with NAS” series, we will be creating shared folders on the network attached storage unit. Before we can do this however we need to install the Samsung hard disks into the Synology DS211j unit then install the latest version of the DiskStation Manager (version 3.2) before setting up a volume and creating some shares. You can read part one to catch up with the series so far.

Synology DS211jIf you are looking to upgrade your computer based disk storage you should consider purchasing a pair of disks as it is always worth matching the disks and buying two at a time because it often makes mirroring your data much easier. Mirroring data simply means that copies of your files will be stored on both disks so that if one disk fails you can still access your files. There are other ways of securing your data, particularly if you have more disks available, however for this article we will focus on just two disks and disk mirroring (also known as RAID level 1).

On this particular NAS unit the side slides open and the two hard drives slide into position using guide rails and dock into connectors onto the unit after which they can be screwed into place. The side slides back onto the unit and two screws ensure it stays in position.

Once the disks are connected the unit can be attached to the network and powered up and we can move onto the installation of the DiskStation Manager (DSM) management application.

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Synology XS NAS Servers Receive Certified VMware Ready Status

Synology XS SeriesSynology have recently announced that their XS series of NAS (Network Attached Storage) servers have received official VMware Ready certification with, as the press release says, “full support for vSphere 5, offering better flexibility, higher performance, better storage and management efficiency in VMware virtualisation platform.

The XS series of NAS, such as the DS3611xs shown in the image, support a range of protocols including iSCSI, CIFS, AFP, NFS, FTP, WebDAV, together with an array of RAID levels including JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 5+Spare, RAID 6, and RAID 10. Support for Windows, Mac and Ubuntu is supported for various versions.

VMware vSphere 5 is the latest generation of virtualisation platform, for building cloud based infrastructure, from VMware. Version 5 of vSphere introduced support for Windows Aero based 3G graphics and support for USB 3.0 devices.

Wane An, Product Manager at Synology said, “We are proud to be among the first to deliver data storage solutions optimized for VMware vSphere 5”.

For more information head over to the Synology website.

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Are You Sitting On Hundreds Of Pounds Worth Of Unused Gadgets?

The Gadget Show Live 2012With Christmas looming and the year drawing to a close we can look forward to a bright technological start in 2012. There are a bunch of tech rumours circulating about things we might expect next year including an iPhone 5, iPad 3, new evolutions of the Xbox and Wii, Windows 8 for Desktop PCs, OLED televisions, 4G Wireless, and no doubt more changes to social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter than you could shake a stick it.

Also, in early 2012 there is the Gadget Show Live 2012 event running for five days from 11th to 15th April 2012 which includes a new show in the ever popular super theatre.

An interesting bit of research that was sent to me recently from the Gadget Show Live team, carried out by Explori.com, is that the average UK household could make around £322 by turning old gadgets into cash, by using regeneration sites who buy your old gadgets and refurbish them, which make a great start to the new year. So, when you are cleaning out the old stuff from Boxing Day make an extra special note of any old or unused gadgets laying around – you could be sitting on enough money to buy your next bit of tech gadgetry.

For more information about the Gadget Show Live event head over to the Gadget Show Live website.

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Get More From Your Disks With A NAS Part 1

Synology DiskStation ManagerWithout any form of management system a hard drive enclosure offers just that – enclosed hard drives; vast amounts of storage and, in a way, that would be fine however through the implementation of an effective management interface the combined system can offer so much more – it can form the basis of a Network Attached Storage (NAS) system.

The term NAS may sound a little daunting however it is basically just a small computer with a number of disks inside and its primary purpose is to handle most of the things you would do with files. A NAS does not usually need a keyboard, mouse, or screen and instead often relies on a network connection through which you configure the NAS using a typical web browser.

One key benefit of moving from storing data on disks in your computer to using a NAS is that your files can be accessed from a number of places.

Synology DS211j

In this series we will be taking a closer look at the benefits of upgrading from disks to a NAS system, whilst exploring some of the added features on offer, using the Synology based DSM as an example.

DSM, or DiskStation Manager, is the NAS management system which complements the Synology NAS range of products.

Samsung HD502HJFor purposes of these articles the host unit will be a Synology DS211j that Synology describe as a “budget-friendly 2-bay NAS Server for Small Office and Home Use”. A pair of matched Samsung hard drive units (HD502HJ) will both have a capacity of 500 GB each – these units will need to be inserted into the DS211j and screwed into position (screws are provided).

The DiskStation Manager running on the Synology unit will initially be version 3 however much is being made of the latest DSM 3.2 version so the first thing we will do, post installation, is to download and install version 3.2 upon the unit.

Why a NAS device?

Before we begin let us consider some of the reasons why you should consider using a NAS system over simply adding more disks to your computer:

  • Centralise your data – by knowing where your data is you can make more informed decisions on how best to protect it and back it up. You can also make your data available in many more places and access it on a 24/7 basis.
  • Surveillance – If you utilise network based web cameras you can usually store the camera data, and access it, using the NAS.
  • Mail Server – as the NAS is on all the time you can get it to handle your electronic mail just as if you were a big company. This can be particularly useful if you have a lot of emails, with attachments, to send as the NAS can get on with the work on your behalf.
  • Print Server – if you have a number of computers and just one printer things can get a little hairy. One thing you might initially do is nominate one of the computers as being the print server and connect all the other computers to that server however this requires the nominated computer to be on and it places an additional overhead on the computer. Instead just makes the NAS the print server and off-load the print overhead from your  computer.
  • DLNA/UPnP Media – all the latest ways of sharing data on a home network can be made much easier using a central NAS.
  • iTunes – iTunes users with multiple computers can centralise their iTunes on an independent device. No more guessing if computer A is switch on when you are using computer B.
  • More Features – there are more advantages which we will uncover throughout this series.

In the next article we will look at installing the DiskStation Manager and setup some shared folders.

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A Smart Revolution Is Coming To Our Meters

British Gas Smart MetersSome time ago I wrote about the planned roll out of Smart Meters across the UK with the aim of having Smart Meters in every UK home by 2019 and in particular the impact it may have (see Will Smart Meters Affect Our Privacy?).

In this sponsored article on behalf of British Gas we will look into how British Gas are rolling out the technology and explore some of the benefits Smart Meters may bring such as real time monitoring of energy usage.

The Smart Revolution

In the UK around 120,000 homes already have energy smart meters installed by British Gas so if your home already benefits from smart meter technology please get in touch and let us know about your experiences. By the end of next year, 2012, it is planned for around 1.5 million British Gas customers to have smart meters installed with many more to follow.

Through the implementation of smart meter technology British Gas are embarking on one of the biggest UK wide infrastructure initiatives since the 1970s – this is the just the beginning of the “Smart Revolution”.

What is a Smart Meter?

British Gas Smart MeterIf you have been wondering what Smart Meters are all about they are a new kind of energy meter that replace existing energy meters (gas and electric) in our homes. However, these new smart meters go further than before as they also come with a remote display unit which can be placed within the home to provide real-time information, in pounds and pence, about energy usage. This display can show real-time information, cost per hour, usage over 24 hours and usage over 7 days.

Installation of smart meters is free as part of the British Gas nationwide upgrade and installation takes just under two hours and will not require a change in tariff however it is likely that smart meter based tariffs may appear in the future.

You may already utilise an independent electricity smart energy monitor such as the kind that clip onto our incoming mains cables and transmit information to a remote display unit and these units are already helping many people make savings and understand more about energy usage. However, by installing smart meters into the infrastructure of the UK the usage and understanding of the information coming from smart meters should rapidly increase.

What are the benefits of a Smart Meter?

British Gas Display MeterThe first benefit of smart meters is that instead of having to take a trip outside to the meter cupboard (or wherever else it may be located ), a quick glance at the display should provide all the information you need and one display unit will show both gas and electricity information. One of the cool features about the energy monitor display unit is the traffic light system which are an at-a-glance indicator of energy usage – a green light is ideal but head through yellow into red and there is in indicator of high energy usage.

If you are a smart phone user, or have though about becoming one, there is also a downloadable application that can help you keep a closer track of energy usage (as well as online access). 

British Gas Online Energy MonitoringWith access to this real-time information we can see the impact on energy usage of the equipment in our homes from our kettles and fridges to gaming systems and showers – insights into this information should help us make smarter decisions about energy usage and help identify things which make a big impact.

Also, smart meters do not require someone to visit them to “read the meter” so we may see an end to strangers visiting our homes to look at our energy meters. Information from each smart meter is automatically collected at half hour intervals and sent to British Gas once per day.

Concerns over privacy should be alleviated quite a bit as the smart meters have built-in security features and information is encrypted prior to transmission. The added benefit of automatically sending energy usage information in this way is that we should also be able to wave goodbye to those estimated bills which can be a little frustrating at times.

The energy monitor also provides the information we need in order to make further contributions to improving the environment as the monitor also provides information about carbon usage in the form of CO2 emissions.

More Information about Smart Meters

The Smart Vision from British Gas

As I have previously written about potential privacy issues relating to smart meters it is good to see these being dealt head on by the project and  British Gas tell us that the smart meters have "robust security features to protect your data at all times, including tamper proofing and encryption.". In November 2011 UK Parliament was assured that the UK Government Department of Energy and Climate Change has a "dedicated team of security experts within the Smart Metering Implementation Programme" whose aim is to perform on-going risk assessments to minimise the security risk.

Watch the embedded video to learn more about smart meters and to learn more about British Gas activities relating to Smart Meters head over to the British Gas Smart Meter website or visit British Gas on Facebook.

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Review: DarkMarket by Misha Glenny

DarkMarket by Misha Glenny

I was recently sent a new book to take a look at entitled “DarkMarket Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You.” by Misha Glenny, the author of McMafia. If you think the internet is all about electronic mail, social networking and online gaming then this book may well open your eyes and make you think again.

A large part of the internet is home to darker, off-the-radar, and underground activities some of which is harmless, some of which is a simple annoyance, some of which is somewhat questionable and some of which is, unfortunately, highly illegal and this last part does seem to be getting worse.

Regular users of electronic mail and the internet have probably already seen the spam based fake communications from bank-like organisations attempting to lure unwary passers by into clicking through links and entering their personal banking details into a website controlled by phishers. Fortunately these days we are becoming pretty wary of these activities however as these phishers send out millions upon millions of these messages there is a chance of just a small percentage falling into the net which could make the phishers a fortune.

DarkMarket takes a peek into this world by digging into the cybercrime forum of the books title. I should point out that DarkMarket is non-fiction; DarkMarket is one reporters study into the inner workings of the darker side of the internet and it has a story to tell. As the book says DarkMarket is based around “roughly 200 hours of interviews” conducted between 2009 and 2011 and court records from trials, including CarderPlanet and DarkMarket, and archives of actual websites involved in the activities. The DarkMarket forums were shut down in 2008 after it was infiltrated by the FBI and much of the activities have since gone deeper underground.

nobody is ever 100 per cent certain whom they are communicating with on the web.” – DarkMarket.

DarkMarket by Misha GlennyDarkMarket focuses heavily on the subject of credit card fraud and is a fascinating read especially as you do not have to have a particular understanding of computing or technological terms to follow the book or appreciate the subject matter. The people, or hackers as Glenny calls them, behind many of these crimes may have cool sounding online names such as Matrix001, JilSi, Iceman, and Blade however Glenny describes them as largely psychologically vulnerable male individuals who have difficulty forming relationships offline in the real world.

In November 2011 The Guardian described DarkMarket as “A riveting study of the internet’s global crime networks” whilst The Telegraph said “’Dark Market’ is a fascinating introduction to the shadier side of the internet.

DarkMarket runs to 296 pages (277 from prologue to epilogue) and is really two books in one. The first part up to page 159 talks about the problem of internet security and builds to reveal the DarkMarket, there is a brief 24 page interlude, followed by book 2 from page 187 which focuses on how DarkMarket was brought down and what happened as a result.

The hardcover version of DarkMarket is currently available for around £9.40 (price checked 19th December 2011) which is a good price as the RRP is £20. Also, there is a paperback version and electronic versions are available so if you have ever wondered what is behind those emails you get, pretending to be from some bank you have never banked with, you should read DarkMarket.

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