Did you know that everything you do on your computer is recorded, even when not online. Documents are saved, credit card information is recorded, passwords are encrypted but still noted. Normally this isn’t a problem and is a vital peice of the computer’s functioning.

When you come to sell the computer however, issues can arise. Deleting files isn’t enough, even some harddrive wipe software doesn’t quite do the job, and a good expert can gain access to your information despite the wipe. As you surf social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, banking sites, registration forms, online tax returns etc. the hard disk records all aspects of you and your life giving a hacker enough information to open bank accounts and get loans in your name. They can obtain credit leaving you to pick up the peices. You really don’t expect them to pay the money back do you?

Scary stuff? Well you don’t have to be worried because there is an easy, ultra-secure way to solve the problem. All the information whether on a PC or laptop is stored in a removable box. For someone who knows what they’re doing, 10 minutes is enough time to open the PC or laptop, remove the drive and replace it with a brand new, blank disk. These can cost as little as £40 so is well worth the investment, cheaper than a lot of disk wipe software and ultimately gives complete peice of mind.

Destroying data on the removed drive should be done with care. Safety goggles should be used as smashing it with a hammer is the best way to ensure the hard disk data is gone forever. In the casing is a vacuum sealed cavity containing metal disks, these store data magnetically so make sure these are in as many pieces as possible. They shatter easily so once you’re through the protective layer, they go without much of a problem. Just make sure you’ve pulled out the right part from the PC.

Rather than destroy it, if it’s not a laptop, you can sometimes install the hard drive into your new computer giving you access to all the files you had before on a second drive. This isn’t always recommended as relying on older hard drives isn’t usually a good idea.

If you’re based in Watford, Hertfordshire and surrounding areas and are not happy with doing this yourself. Give Simon a call at Zako Media on 0208 123 6609 and we’ll be happy to pop round with a new drive and kill your old one on site for a small fee. We can also reinstall Windows providing you have the original disks for a little extra but the choices are yours.

Don’t get caught out, information is far too easy to get hold of, and impossible to get back, so make sure you’re secure. Destroy your hard disk before sale.

As more and more businesses are shutting shops and offices to concentrate on their online presence, is the Internet really connecting people or is it devaluing the real connections we have and isolating us?

Despite some of our larger clients, I refuse to charge corporate fees to small businesses because I enjoy working with them so much more than faceless executives. This means I am regularly speaking to people working from home offices and around 50% of the time, work alone.

Before the Internet, this wouldn’t have been possible, a lone worker would need an office and exceptionally expensive marketing techniques. Before the telephone they needed meeting spaces and prominent postal addresses. With the Internet here and rapidly growing, the meeting space has gone, the office has been sacrificed, the telephone sits silently and formal office-wear has been replaced by the dressing-gown.

According to retail analysts: Verdict Research, in 2007 online shopping grew by 33.4% to £10.9bn in 2007. They foresee online sales tripling over the next five years. All the major supermarkets now deliver shopping for you. Pubs are closing countrywide faster than ever, real social lives are slowly diminishing.

Meanwhile, as the Internet makes working from home a more convenient and cheaper option, the media and Government are making it as difficult as possible for us to leave our homes, Petrol prices are forever rising, knife crime, war, terrorism, danger danger danger!

To fill the need for social interaction, Internet users are now resorting to Facebook, Myspace, email, instant messaging, online dating, online chat, anything to keep the social interaction going. Using these systems connects us with old friends, clients, suppliers, family and new people from all over the world, but is it enough? Today in 2008, we can wake up, have conversations with family and friends, catch up with clients, and answer a few enquiries all before brushing our teeth. What is the world coming to? We’re dropping human interaction for the convenience of the Internet, then finding a way to replace what we’ve lost through the same medium.

From a marketing point of view, this is not necessarily a bad thing, our demographic is becoming easier to find and reach as they’ve all pigeon-holed themselves to their favourite communities.

From a business and financial point of view, it helps keep overheads down and allows people to work at their own pace, particularly useful for single-parent families or other situations where available time is sporadic.

From a personal point of view, we’re connected to people we never thought we’d hear from again, but in many cases, slightly less connected to our neighbours and family. We see major family news on Facebook before we hear about it directly, with the extra connections and busier lifestyle, we leave family dinners longer and longer, people who should be close family, we see once a year.

Are we isolating ourselves in our homes and offices or are we better connected than ever before? Is networking the new socialising?

 

Website Accessibility

2.2 (p7): “The Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public.”4.7 (p39): “From 1st October 1999 a service provider has to take reasonable steps to change a practice which makes it unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of its services.”

2.13 – 2.17 (p11-13): “What services are affected by the Disability Discrimination Act? An airline company provides a flight reservation and booking service to the public on its website. This is a provision of a service and is subject to the act.”

5.23 (p71): “For people with visual impairments, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to provide to ensure that services are accessible might include … accessible websites.”

5.26 (p68): “For people with hearing disabilities, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to provide to ensure that services are accessible might include … accessible websites.”

Hotels have lifts, shops have ramps, even London underground is making an effort. (although much work still needs to be done.)

Is a website not accessible? How do you make a website accessible?

Blind people cannot read a computer screen, but many are online. How? They use a screen reader to read the page. Text content NEEDS to be in order in the code for this to work, also images should not be used for content, and any flash should have a text alternative.

Coming away from the extreme, many people in the UK are long-sighted or have difficulty reading, particularly on the back-lit screen. To combat this, the text colour should contrast the background, should be large enough or be re-sizable. You should also take into account the number of colourblind men there are out there, particularly when some colours are indistinguishable.

If you rely on video or audio files, you should provide a text alternative for the deaf.

Flash websites are BANNED! however some flash elements with text equivalents are still allowed… they are usually unnecessary. If a site must be in flash, a full HTML version should be provided, the second html site is also good for google as flash can’t be seen.

“This seems a bit like political correctness gone mad, can you be sued?”

In a word, yes. The RNIB has approached two large companies with regard to their websites. When they raised the accessibility issues of the websites under the DDA, both companies made the necessary changes, rather than facing the prospect of legal action (in exchange for anonymity).

The DRC launched a formal investigation into 1000 websites, of which over 80% were next to impossible for disabled people to use. They issued a stern warning that organisations will face legal action under the DDA and the threat of unlimited compensation payments if they fail to make websites accessible for people with disabilities.

In short, if you operate a website, this applies to you. Generally speaking, little will need to be done (if anything) to make your site accessible, speak to your web designer today or contact us for advice.

You can also check your site free on http://wave.webaim.org/

While not 100% accurate, it will give a good idea as to how much work will be needed. Have a chat to your web designer if you think your exposure could be increased.

Can I also tell you a secret? Google factors website accessibility into it’s algorythm. An accessible website will rank more highly than an in-accessible one with the same content.

 

eyeOS Screenshot

This morning, I was feeling adventurous and came across an open-source web suite called eyeOS. We’ve seen webmail in the form of Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! etc. where you can access email through your web browser. We’ve also seen web calendars, rss readers and a multitude of other systems move much of our systems away from desktop applications like Outlook Express.

 

eyeOS takes this one step further and becomes an entire desktop within itself. When you first log in, you’re presented with some desktop icons for calendars, contacts and a ‘home’ folder. (similar to the ‘Documents’ folder in Windows)

There is also a small apple-like dock at the top and a taskbar at the bottom showing open windows. From this dock, and the icons, separate applications like webmail, calendar etc can be opened. Also incorporated into eyeOS is a simple office suite containing a word processor and spreadsheet much like a full commercial OS like Windows.

Icons can be dragged around, as can windows, new icons can be created and applications can be installed within a few clicks. You can upload files into various places and download them later on.

In eyeOS’s own words:

“eyeOS is a new kind of Operating System, where everything resides on a web browser. With eyeOS, you will have your desktop, applications and files always with you, from your home, your college, your office or your neighbour’s house. Just open a web browser, connect to your eyeOS System and access your personal desktop and all your stuff just like you left it last time.”

So what’s so good about eyeOS?

eyeOS is trying to mimic most of the functionality of a windows or mac based machine, particularly the generic everyday software like mail, calendar, rss, and word processing. The reason it’s doing this is the most unique and important selling point: You can log in from another computer, anywhere in the world and all your files and desktop settings are sitting right in front of you.

Most businesses have a computer in the office, many also have a portable laptop for business meetings. When taking this laptop out, we currently have to transfer files, sync data and make sure everything’s working before we set off. With eyeOS, everything is already there. If your laptop is stolen, the information is stored online so a) you’ve not lost any data, and b) the thief doesn’t have access to your data.

eyeOS is also multi-user, every member of staff can have their own log in, their own workspace and you also get instant messaging and internal mail features to keep in touch through the system. It enables you to block access to certain users and remove access to files and data should someone leave the company, a potentially great feature for remote workers.

The future of computers

With software like eyeOS etc. computer processors, memory and disk space are becoming less and less important for the average user. Computer specifications will start to drop as will cost. Smaller laptops will start to become dumb terminals as all processing and the fun stuff is done by the eyeOS server.

High end PCs (and yes.. macs) will still be available,  gamers will still need the hardware, as will graphic designers, CAD programmers and other users of more powerful software, but for general home/office computer use, heavy machinery could be a thing of the past.

I am starting an eyeOS trial run

eyeOS is available for free as a download, but you need to install it on a hosting server yourself. If you wish to use the system internally either for yourself or your business, our hosting packages support it and I will gladly set it up, run the hosting, give you and your staff an over-the-phone training session, offer telephone support for both hosting and system, and regular upgrades as they are released for £300 per year for 1-5 users. Depending on popularity, we withhold the right withdraw the offer at any time. This will not affect customers already using the system.

In other words, get the complete system with updates and weekday telephone support for the equivalent of just £25 per month.

eyeOS official home page

Try it for yourself – eyeOS Demo

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