So here is the question - “are the mobile phones next on the hackers list of targets ?”

To answer this we have to look at how the mobile devices themselves. If we cast our minds back just a little bit, the mobile phones were just that - phones. You could make AND receive phone calls and have talk time of about 30 minutes before having to recharge that battery. This has completely changed and now we have phones that are in colour, have music capabilities, take photos and video clips with sound, store documents, record minutes of meetings, have Internet access, synchronise with our pc, have our appointments, emails and contacts etc. etc. etc. etc. - so in other words they are just like our PC (just smaller)

So going back to the question - hackers, virus writers, spammers - all look for the weakest link in order to attack it and exploit it. Finally over the years people have finally understood the need for anti-virus and firewalls and Updates - so the pc is getting harder and harder to access. However, how many people do you know who have their phone’s anti-virus installed and updated ? How many people have firewalls on their phone ? So are these mini-computers vulnerable ? You bet !!!

Think of it this way: You have your bluetooth enabled and set to discoverable with no protection, a hacker sitting in the same coffee shop secretly loads spyware software on your phone. You get back to the office and synchronise your phone with your pc and this software moves from your phone to your company network !

These days Identity theft is on the increase and you travel with your little min-computer/ phone all day and night - so hackers have easier access to your phone and therefore to your personal infromation.

So now what ?

Well, anti-virus companies are developign solutions for the mobile platform - find one and install it and keep it updated.

Make sure bluetooth is off untill you need it and make sure your Wi-Fi on your phone is also off untill you need to use it.

DO NOT put sensittive information or access sensitive websites (scuh as banking sites etc. )in a public hot spot

When you store info on your phone, put some sort of encryption on it at the very least come up with something that only you know. For example: if you store your PIN number invert the last two digits so a PIN 19876 becomes 19867

Be street wise -

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Being mobile with my laptop and various internet connections (wi fi spots, 3G, client networks etc.) I find that sometimes my Outlook email get stuck in the Outbox and refuse to leave !

As you know whenever you send an email, it goes into your Outlook’s Outbox folder and wait there until you have an Internet connection. When you hit the Send and Receive button the email leaves your computer and it is sent.

HOWEVER, there are times when the email simply will not leave the Outbox and will not send. You try to delete it and you get some obscure email that you can not delete this as it is in the process of being sent.

So what do you do ?

Glad you asked -

1.Firstly, Open Outlook 2007, Click on File menu and Select Work Offline. This stops outlook from trying to send anything.

2. Open the Outbox folder  and now you can either simply Delete the message or you can drag the message out of the Outbox and drop it into your Drafts Folder (or any other folder).

3. Click on File and deselect Work Offline (this will now put Outlook into Online mode again to receive and send messages again)

4. If you moved your email to the Drafts folder, you will then need to go to that folder, open that email, and then press the Send button again.

 This should take care of this email problem and your email should flow !

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This is interesting for our Mobile space in South Africa -

Huge Group which is listed on AltX-listed  has received competition approval to purchase 59% of iTalk Cellular. MTN still own the other 41% if iTalk.

What is also interesting is that Huge Group has also just bought 25% in a technology start-up company that specialises in Mobile advertising called Eyeball Mobile.

Looks like Hue is playing in all sort of spaces - do we have another Datapro in the making ?

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Here are some Video clips that show the phone capability ! (a follow up to the first HTC diamond post )

HTC Touch Diamond & TouchFLO 3D - Overview:

HTC Touch Diamond & TouchFLO 3D - Photos and Videos:

HTC Touch Diamond: TouchFLO 3D — People:

HTC Touch Diamond: TouchFLO 3D — Music:

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Practical blogging on mobile phone is it a reality ?

As most of you know I am an HTC mobile phone fan. Today, I am on route to Johannesburg and I got to thinking - is it practical to Blog whilst on the go ?

I am using my HTC P4350 which has a full QWERTY keyboard, an internet connection and a web browser. So technically I have all the right tools and therefore blogging should be do-able.

What I am discovering is:
1. The internet connection is not so stable. It lets you get to the Blog site but since it sees no activity once you get there (i.e. whilst you are typing the page doesn’t load) it times out and you loose what you just typed.
The solution: type this Blog offline in Word and then once done and spell checked you then copy and paste it into the Blog.
2. Typing with two thumbs just isn’t the same as typing on a keyboard. However HTC has the AutoComplete feature that when you type the first number of characters it open a list of word it thinks you are typing so you can select them from the list and save time.
3. Screen size is small and after a while the eyes go funny. So you need to look away and come back to the screen.

Despite the above, the HTC does make it possible to continue to work without the need to fire up the laptop. Yes you need to make slight adjustments but you can certainly continue to operate whilst on the go !

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Mobile phones are coming out with accelerometers built in (which is basically a device built into the phone that “tells” the phone which way it is being held up, down, left, right, moving etc.)

This opens up a new opportunity for developers to design new application that take advantage of this technology and whilst I am sure there are some serious applications that can be written such as making your phone into a Spirit Level so that you can hang your wife’s picture straight (very important app !!), there are many Fun applications that can be written such as a this one -

This is an example of an application created in 16 hours at the mobile developer event - Over the Air in London. The techies used that accelerometer, Bluetooth and python coding skills to create “PhoneFight” - a sword fighting game using your Nokia N95 device.

Now if this can be in 16 hours for Fun app, imagine what can be done to design other real apps…
Here is an example of someone controlling a Robot by turning his mobile phone - so now we start to get real clever…

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The Scenario : You are in the middle of a new city and you realise you need to draw out some cash from an ATM however there are none in sight.

what do you do ?

Well, if you are a Standard Bank client, you simply use their new ATM locator on your cell phone !

Using “locate me” technology, this service is not only quick and accurate but extremely easy to use. Furthermore, as part of the launch, this handy and innovative technology comes at no extra charge. Network charges apply only when you access the site.

System will recognise where you are and list the nearest ATM to you:

It will then show the ATM on a map:

It can even SMS you the location and directions:

This is pretty kewl  - for more infotmation, check out the Standard Bank website

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This is really worrying…

At the ITWeb Security Summit 2008, in Midrand, Covotsos demonstrated the Telkom ADSL router’s vulnerabilities.

“ADSL in SA comes with wireless as a feature and this leaves them open to exploitation,” he said. “Everyone that leaves their modems with a ‘default’ WPA passkey, which is by default the MAC address, is open to attack.”

“Covotsos showed delegates how easily the Telkom modems could be hacked, and said: “It is so simple, that getting them assessed isn’t even considered.”

Read this for more information…

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I have been getting a lot of mail asking why is Outlook 2007 running on Vista and XP so slow !

There is no real answer to that question but the following it is common for computers to have some corrupt .DAT files that Outlook requires.

Let me explain:

Outlook has the .DAT files that it uses in order to keep Outlook operating smoothly. If your outlook is slow or doesn’t load or doesn’t respond, then try RENAMING these files.

What you need to do is :

• Close Outlook
• Find these files (listed below with their location)
• RENAME them to <filename>.OLD
• Launch outlook which will now recreate a fresh copy of those files

Outcmd.dat - This file is usually the problem child and responsible for Outlook not opening/loading.

This file is where Outlook stores all the changes that you make to your toolbar. Whilst this doesn’t seem to be a big issue since you don’t THINK you change your toolbar,

this is where the Adware, Spyware and Virus applications normally hit. This file can become corrupted and the result is that your Outlook doesn’t not to load.

It can be found here :

XP - C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Vista - C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Extend.dat - This file is an internal cache file used by Outlook to store paths to all DLL files used for Outlook extensions

It can be found here :

XP - C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Vista - C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Frmcache.dat - This file is as an index of the individual forms that have been cached on the computer

It can be found here:

XP - C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Vista - C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FORMS

Views.dat - This file may not exist on your computer if you have not created a custom view on your folders.

If you have it can be found here:

XP - C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Vista - C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Give this a bash and see if it improves your Outlook experience !

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Related: Where are the Starups ?
 

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