First the German, now French and Australian governments have all joined in urging their citizens to stop using Microsoft Internet Explorer after it discovered major security leaks which may have helped exploit Google’s GMail system in China recently.
For years IE has become a bain in a web developers life, IE6 in particular has caused many headaches by seemingly randomly choosing which W3C standards to implement. In recent years this has begun to change with Firefox becoming more widespread and Google’s Chrome being heavily advertised not just on the Internet but on roadside billboards, but with Microsoft bundling IE with every version of Windows many users are unaware of the choices or unsure of how to switch browser.
Worse still are the users who are unable to change because IE is forced upon them by their school or business IT system. Are these systems opening themselves up to more attacks or do they boost their security in other places?
Microsoft released information regarding the problem which affects all versions of the browser with the exception of version 5.01 on Windows 2000. Microsoft’s German offices reacted to the Governments statement by saying "These were not attacks against general users or consumers. There is no threat to the general user, consequently we do not support this warning.", they also advised users to install the latest browser and use a high security zone.
Microsoft have been facing accusations of creating a monopoly on the browser market by including Internet Explorer with every release of Windows but could these various governments calling for users to try other browsers really swing the balance?

There is a growing danger that we are experiencing less these days. Ok, bear with me on this one. With the invention and growing popularity of digital cameras, internet enabled phones and other gadgetry, how many of us are guilty of spending ages fiddling with settings for the perfect shot or looking up a holiday destination on our iPhone and sticking to all the well documented tourist spots which have turned more English than parts of England for example.

This desire for instant and excellent results seems to be taking us away from the actual sights, sounds and smells of life that we miss through distraction. Gone are the days when you come home from holiday with a bunch of blurry photos and tell everyone exactly what you saw because the picture really doesn’t quite capture the full scene. Quite often people get home, download their photos onto a disc and forget about them, they rarely come out for months after to be shown off to friends and family.

Life in digital has its benefits, that is not being doubted but would it not be better to leave the camera on auto, take one shot and then really experience what you are there to see, whether it be local culture, a party or the zoo. Next time you are searching for a good restaurant, don’t search the internet for a 5 star review, take yourselves off on a drive or walk and see what you find, or speak to the locals, avoid the tourist hotspots and you find the real gems of local cuisine.

Digital is good but it can’t capture feelings.

Here are Smush HQ we like to keep up with the latest and greatest in technology but one thing has been bugging us about the last few developments, namely Web 2.0. For those of you still with Web 1.0, Web 2.0 is the perceived change from static web pages to online communities. Content created by the people for the people, sharing all aspects of our lives with the world.
This is a natural progression for the Web without a doubt. From the days of tacky animated gif’s and javascript mouse effects, people started adding user logins and therefore it seemed natural that the member or user should contribute to the site as well. The term Web 2.0 however has, in our opinion been over used and over rated. We have read a few design briefs recently which ask for a logo with a ‘Web 2.0 feel’. How can a logo convey the Web 2.0 feel of a brand when Web 2.0 is merely a concept of phrase for people sharing. We still fail to see how the Twitter of Facebook logos have a Web 2.0 ‘feel’. Don’t get us wrong however, we love the concept of Web 2.0, user generated content is great and we regularly use Twitter and Facebook but use the term wisely and you will go far in the internet world.

A few days ago we were approached by a home baking business to design and build their site to boost their online profile. Not so exciting you may think but it has given me time to get in touch with another of my passions. Photography. There is nothing better than grabbing a camera on when you have some free time and going out and about snapping the local area or further out of town. It is amazing at what you can find so close to home yet never knew about. Expect some further Smush photos soon, watch this space.
At smush we have also recently re-discovered Fail Blog. Check it out because the sheer amount of fails is huge ranging from sublime to ridiculous.
In other projects we are ahead of time and on target so bonus! Also trying to find some free time to attend Kent 2020, will keep you posted and maybe see you there.

For the moment we have had to disable comments on our blog posts due to continued mis-use. We are looking into the problem and will endeavour to get blogs back up and running as soon as possible.
On a lighter note, the re-design is almost ready to enter beta testing so hopefully it shouldn’t be too long now. That is assuming Internet Explorer plays ball. As we have mentioned several times before. We won’t discount IE from our extensive testing regimes but as a plea to Microsoft – “Please sort it out!”

There is a certain irony that the post about spam has prompted us to take measures against robots and the like from posting random and totally pointless comments on our blog. To all of our genuine readers, we apologise for having to type a meaningless string in order to submit a comment. To all of the robots out there, give up!! Its pointless and us developers can guard against you quicker than you can try to attack us.
In other news, work on our client area is progressing steadily, we have started a new project for the East Kent School of Life Saving. They are after a re-design of their current site so we are able to stretch our designing minds and have some fun with new designs.
You can also now follow us on Facebook!! We have our own page here where you can join in discussions with others, and see our work.

Each and every day everyone with an email address receives huge waves of junk mail offering all sorts of goodies ranging from viagra (and other pills) to free accident compensation, from loans to delectable offers of earning thousands of dollars for holding some money for a rich Nigerian bank who don’t seem to have their own account.
Some people block spam so never see it, some have become wise to such scams, some only wise to the blindingly obvious ones. Just the other day I saw an email supposedly from PayPal saying that my PayPal account access had been limited due to the fact that someone had tried to access my account which wasn’t me. They then proceeded to ask me if I could scan in my Passport and a recent utility bill or bank statement and email them to security@paypalfraudcheck.co.uk. Maybe being ‘tech-savvy’ helps a bit but who would do such a thing and give ‘PayPal’ details which they don’t even have in the first place?
Have these scams ever worked? On the one hand probably yes as you hear stories of people giving out details to others they have never met and subsequently complaining when they get ripped off. If you are approached in the street and asked to hand over money you would assume you were being robbed and given half the chance you would most likely not hand over your money so why do the same over the internet? This is just one side of the solution to spam however.
The flip side is to prevent scammers getting your address in the first place. This responsibility lies in part with the internet public but also with the sites that we use. If these sites did not make our email addresses available then the scammers would have fewer addresses. Yes scripts can be written to randomly (or systematically) generate email addresses and written well then all addresses can be found but the amount of computing power that would take would probably not be worth the return as the script would run indefinitely.
The simple short term answer to spam? Change your email address and don’t give it out to anyone.

2009 will hail several new projects from Smush Ltd. Soon all our clients will have access to a personal project area which will enable easier communication and file transfers so you can track the progress of your site more easily.
We also have a few other exciting projects under our belts however we would hate to spoil the surprise. In the meantime, Happy New Year from all of us here at Smush Ltd.