WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) – Introduced back in 1999, WEP is still one of the most popular encryption protocols. Despite the fact it has several serious weaknesses and can be readily cracked in minutes with freely available software, it is the default choice presented to a user when setting up security on a wireless network which probably explains its continued popularity.

The standard is so weak because it relies on a small piece of data being pre-pended to all transmissions which when matched to the key held by an authorised machine allows the data to be decrypted. With it being on almost every packet of data transmitted the cracking process just involves listening out for enough of them in order to obtain sufficient numbers to decrypt the key.

If your wireless router currently only supports WEP then do check out the manufacturers website as there is a very real possibility that a free of charge firmware update might be available to improve support for more advanced standards; WEP should only ever be used if the only alternative was no encryption whatsoever.

MAC Filtering – This will allow you to individually grant access to your wireless network for individual machines by pre-specifying their MAC addresses; these addresses are used to uniquely identify network adaptors.

Unfortunately the theory also suffers in much the same way as WEP; someone need only listen to enough network traffic to be able to obtain a list of MAC addresses. Once it has been obtained, the hacker creates a fake MAC address which caused your router to grant access by fooling it in to thinking that it’s communicating with an authorised machine.

Disabling SSID Broadcast – The SSID (Service Set IDentifier) has to be identical on both the router and client machine in order for them to communicate. In order to ease setup, the SSID broadcast reveals the location of your network to all computers within range so they can easily connect if required. The broadcast can be disabled which would then mean rather than searching for your local network you would be required to memorise the SSID. Unfortunately, as before, this can be easily circumvented by simply listening to network traffic with freely available software.

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) – In the home market WPA usually relies on a pre-shared key which consists of a passphrase used to access the network. This passphrase can be from 8 to 63 characters long however in the interests of security I would suggest choosing at least 13 completely random characters. WPA succeeds where WEP failed as the encryption key pre-pended to the transmissions is changed frequently so that a hacker is unable to obtain sufficient data in order to decrypt the key.

In summary, I would recommend that all users with a wireless network ensure that firstly they are actually employing some form of wireless security and secondly that it is set to the secure WPA standard; whilst it is not unbreakable it is considered extremely secure and certainly the best that we have for now.

There isn’t enough space in this article to go in to the actual working of the technologies used in both types of TV so we’ll leave that for another week. For today though I thought it would be best to have simple bullet points simply explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Screen Size – Plasma TV’s still currently have the advantage when it comes to the larger screens although as mentioned above this is quickly changing. It is possible that LCD’s will even surpass Plasma before too long due to the fact they use plastic screens as opposed to Plasmas which use glass - As you can imagine it becomes difficult to produce flat glass in sizes required by the largest of screens.

Contrast – Plasma TV does tend to offer better contrast due to an ability to display deeper blacks than LCD. With regards to the contrast changing when viewed at an angle Plasma traditionally has been able to claim a greater viewing angle however just recently the LCD technology has improved. This means that with either unit you will be able to view the screen at a large angle without losing picture quality.

Screen Refresh Rates – Plasma has the slight edge as they refresh about as well as the traditional CRT TV’s. LCD technology on the other hand was traditionally designed to display data on computer screens so only just recently have impressive refresh rates ideal for viewing fast moving video been achieved.

Burn-in effect – This used to be a real problem for Plasma displays as static images left on the screen would actually permanently burn in and leave a ghost image. With the latest technology manufacturers have addressed this issue so on this point neither LCD nor Plasma should suffer this effect.

Product Life Span – Even with fairly intensive use both Plasma and LCD screens should last over a decade before the lamp (Plasma) or backlight (LCD) fails so this really isn’t an issue in either case.

Physical Attributes – LCD TV’s are considerably lighter and slightly thinner than their Plasma counterparts – this isn’t really an issue to worry about though unless you’re thinking of wall mounting your TV. Plasma TV’s also tend to run a lot hotter than LCD and so again, when wall mounting they will require more planning as to suitable location and ventilation. As a side issue it is interesting to note that Plasma TV’s also use more power than their LCD counterparts.

That pretty much covers all the bases and so as a very broad conclusion we can say that if you’re looking for a large screen with high picture quality then Plasma TV might still be the way to go. The LCD technology is perfect for those that want a lighter, more cost effective TV especially when we talk about sizes under around the 40” mark. I would like to point out at this point that I am not a TV specialist so please do check the above for accuracy before making an expensive purchase!

As you would well imagine the variety of the content is huge – with 65,000 videos being uploaded every 24 hours you can type practically any word or phrase in to the search box and without fail a number of results will be returned. All videos are rated by users of the site and if you choose not to search by keyword you can also view videos by category, user rating, age and popularity.

Personally I predominately use YouTube to search for music online as the extensive range of content means that you can easily find not only quickly and easily find any song you choose but additionally the associated video. Using YouTube I have managed to locate a number of more obscure songs that even several different popular peer to peer file sharing programs couldn’t help me with. The website also sets itself apart in the fact that you don’t actually download the video to your machine but simply watch it on demand.

Of course many use YouTube as the modern day equivalent of public access TV and come up with original material which can be informative, funny or just completely weird. Whilst theoretically no copyrighted material is available on the site in reality the sheer number of videos uploaded on a daily basis coupled with a rather primitive detection system means that this really isn’t the case. As the popularity of YouTube soars this will have to be something they pay more attention too if they are to avoid heavy legal bills in the future.

YouTube has also suffered criticism caused by its open door policy which means any user can upload material without its content being checked by a member of admin staff. Despite the huge amount of activity online there are only around 50 staff working for the company which means that very few videos can be randomly checked to ensure they don’t breech the terms and conditions of the site. Users can of course flag up questionable material however due to a shortage of manpower such material is often online for short period before being removed.

There is no doubting that YouTube will have to become more efficient in banning violent, pornographic and illegal videos that may work their way in to the system if it is to continue. I do however think that it is worthwhile remembering despite the pitfalls the site does provide a very worthwhile way for users to share videos with the world. Such a facility is especially useful for amateur producers who may have previously had no other way of showcasing their work.

Those without a broadband connection will probably want to give this site a miss but everyone else should certainly check out www.youtube.com when they have a spare half an hour as there is certainly something for everyone on this site.

Hard copies of books and magazines cannot change and as long as they are stored safely you will always be able to dip back in time but once a website has been altered there usually is no looking back.

The well established Way Back Machine (www.archive.org) website sets to redress the balance by regularly storing copies of old websites so that at any point in the future you can look back at how a site used to be. Whilst not all sites are included in their database you will find that with hundreds of terabytes of storage space at their disposal that they do have most covered to a greater or lesser extent.

Primarily I have traditionally used this resource in the past just for killing a few minutes of time – it’s interesting to see how one of my sites used to look back in their infancy or indeed how one of the worlds biggest websites www.microsoft.com looked ten years ago. It’s simply a case of heading to archive.org, typing in the URL of the website that you want to see and providing they have it in their database you can select a date in time to travel back to.

Of course there are also more serious reasons for using the Way Back Machine than simply killing a few minutes of your time. One of the defining moments in this century was the tragic events of September 11^th but everything that you read now is written in hindsight however the Way Back Machine makes vast collections of archived websites available from the actual day itself. This means in the future people will always be able to relive the events unfolding on the various news sites and bulletin boards as they happened rather than reading a synopsis of the catastrophe in a book or article. Whilst I don’t think such events make for pleasant reading it is important never to forget what happens in our past which is something that this website definitely helps to achieve.

On a lighter note the Way Back Machine has a ‘web pioneers’ section which charts the progress of sites that over time changed the face of the Internet. As well as providing a brief synopsis of the contribution a given site has made to the Web there is also a links to number of dates in time you can choose to visit.

Some users may just consider this site a bit of fun whereas others may spend hours using it to delve in to the past. Whichever way you decide to use this free resource no one can deny that it is helping to do the valuable job of storing the history of this quickly changing world we live in.

Whilst not all websites provide RSS feeds the format is rapidly growing in popularity with many of the most popular news sites such as the BBC and Sky News supporting it. Potential uses for the technology have expanded from just offering users the headlines to now offering a whole range of subjects such as Job Openings, Auction items, MP3 releases, celeb information and so on.

There are plenty of ways to begin using RSS. One is to use a compatible browser (such as Firefox or Internet Explorer 7) and to be honest this would probably be my preferred method. If your current browser doesn’t support RSS try downloading the latest version of FireFox (www.firefox.com) or Opera (www.opera.com) as these include RSS as standard. When you find a site that supports RSS you simply click on a subscribe button from then on you will be kept up to date with the latest developments.

For those that don’t have a compatible browser and don’t fancy the idea of changing there are plenty of alternatives. One would be in add a third party piece of software or plug in to your current browser in order to make it compatible – a popular option for this would be the Google Toolbar which can be downloaded free of charge from toolbar.google.co.uk.

Alternatively there are plenty of dedicated RSS readers available for a range different Operating Systems. A quick search on the Internet will yield results for many different readers and you should possibly try using a couple of them to see which one you prefer but possibly a good place to start would be to visit www.rssreader.com to download a program which is both compact and best of all free of charge.

Before RSS was created there were several similar formats available however none of these achieved widespread popularity or indeed still in common use today. Netscape initially developed the RSS format but then lost interest in it which essentially left the technology without an owner resulting in several different off-shoots being created over the coming years. This means that several different formats exist however most RSS readers should be compatible with all the existing variants.

Another good feature of the RSS technology is that if you run your own website you can use an RSS feed to display the latest news from your favourite sources on your own site. This allows you to provide your visitors with relevant on topic news that is continuously updated which as well as potentially making your site more interesting also gives it the impression of being continuously updated which wouldn’t have been easily achieved prior to RSS.

Whilst RSS will not interest everybody I would certainly recommend those with an interest in current events to look in to this flexible and free technology.

The concept of blogs dates back to the earlier days of the Internet when if you wanted to communicate an idea you got yourself a personal website. These websites would be used to put across your personal opinion on usually quite irrelevant matters as well as providing links to external sources you thought the reader might appreciate.

One reason for the current popularity of Blogging is that it is so simple to set up and there are usually absolutely no costs involved. Of course although the technology is in place it is important to bear in mind that the hardest part is writing well structured, frequent and interesting blogs which others would enjoy reading.

One website which takes care of all the technical side of things so you can just concentrate on the writing is Blogger.com. First and foremost you should decide on a subject that interests you and that you would feel comfortable and capable writing about – this could be about absolutely anything such as a hobby of yours or you could make it slightly more encompassing by using your blog as something more along the lines of a life journal. Once you’ve decided on subject material head to www.blogger.com, set up a free account, create a first post introducing yourself and then just keep heading back on a REGULAR basis to add new material. When you’re a little bit more familiar with the system you can start networking with other bloggers to discuss topics that interest you as well as co-operating together to create a collective work.

The good news is that Blogger.com makes it easy for readers to search for topics that interest them so as long as you write about something fairly interesting you’ll soon find that you have a fairly loyal following.

Another variation on Blogging that you may hear about is ‘Podcasts’ (a combination of the words ‘iPod’ and ‘broadcasts’) which are essentially the same thing but in audio format rather than simple text. You also have videoblogging and I’m sure that none of you need any help working out in which way this is enhanced over the standard text based blogging. Of course both of these variations are a little bit more involved as not only do you need equipment for the task but additionally you’ll find it harder to get hosting for your files due to the blogs that you create being substantially larger than if they were text based.

Personally I don’t have a blog and probably never will do due to the fact I can’t imagine anyone wanting to know about my fantastic interest in print cartridges. Many of you out there have fantastic hobbies and interests which you probably want to discuss and a blog is a perfect, free way of doing this. If you happen to be one of these people then do look in to blogging as I may have just introduced you to a new hobby which will result in meeting and sharing your thoughts with like-minded people.

This player wasn’t cheap and for best part of a year I have been more than happy with this it although now my flatmate has gone out and bought one for himself which can play WMA files I’m finding that all the (legitimately acquired) music that we get hold of is in WMA format which my poor old player can’t play. For those of you not in the know, WMA is Microsofts own standard which they hope will someday rival the compressed music format MP3 in popularity.

I wasn’t too happy that my player couldn’t read this new format so musing around on the Internet I’ve found a very useful program that is able to convert practically any music file from one format to another which is perfect for me as I can then simply select 100 tracks to convert from the WMA format to MP3 and then burn them straight onto a CD to play in my car. With many CD players and indeed portable CD players now also able to read CD’s filled with MP3’s a program such as this will be useful to more people than one would first imagine. Of course, a program like this would also be useful if you wanted to swap music files from say an Apple Mac file format to a PC file format.

To download this fantastic little program head to http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm and once installed you will be able to convert any music file from or to the following formats: mp3, mp4, Windows Media Audio (wma), Ogg Vorbis, AAC, Monkeys Audio, FLAC and also there are many other less popular standards supported. The beauty of this program is its simplicity as once you start the program it asks you which files you want to convert then what format you wish to convert them into and at what quality then it just goes off, takes several seconds per file and then comes back to let you know when its finished.

In addition a CD-ripper is included so that you can take any disk and copy the contents onto your machine in one of the file formats given above. Please note that it is obviously only legal to rip a disk in this fashion if you actually own the CD in question and just require it stored on your machine so you can listen to it without having to have the original disk to hand.

The program is only 1.4mg in size, is free of charge and there are no complicated settings, no spyware, no adware to worry about; it really is one of those utilities that most people will probably need once in their life so why not download it and give it a try?