My neighbours are stealing my wireless internet access. I could encrypt it or alternately I could have fun. (more…)

The past few years have seen an increase in eBay and phishing scams out of Romania. Our resident scambusters have privately been tracking one operation in particular — a group of young Romanians that have been scamming people around the world for thousands of dollars over the past year.

The scammers hack machines for use as eBay phishing hosts, then use the acquired Paypal accounts and passwords to buy expensive items on eBay. The phishing efforts also net them plenty of eBay accounts, which are then used to hold bogus online auctions.

By tracking a number of these scams over the past year, our users were able to identify a major young Romanian phisher and scammer named Ghiuri Simionescu.

Read the rest of the story

Forgot the name of your favourite tune? Then just sing to your computer and let it download the song for you.

Australian computer scientist Dr Sandra Uitdenbogerd from RMIT University says retrieving music by singing will be possible with one of the next generation of search programs.

(more…)

When it comes to the first time you view a website, what do you look for? I suppose that hinges on the purpose of your visit. For instance, if you go to a news site you want to see the headlines first, and easy navigation. If you go to a shopping site you want a great search facility and obvious security. If you go to an advertising agency on the other hand, then what do you want?

I want originality.

There are precious few sites out there that grab my interest as much as that of Leo Burnett. Why? Because “big ideas come out of big pencils”. Have a look for yourself and let me know what you think.

I recently stumbled upon another site that makes use of a similar user experience - that of the pointer creating page patterns.

Here’s the wildcard.jp.org website.

Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from “All Rights Reserved” to “Some Rights Reserved.”

Creative Commons helps you publish your work online while letting others know exactly what they can and can’t do with your work.

View an explanation of all licenses or license your work.