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May |
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Newsletter | |
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Issue 10 |
| What is Portable Appliance Testing? |
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Freedom comes at a price |
The 'Inspection and Testing of In-Service Electrical Equipment' (usually referred to as Portable Appliance Testing or PAT), was introduced to enable companies & organisations to comply with the Electricity at Work Regulations. To meet these regulations it is necessary to have in place a program of inspection and electrical safety testing of portable appliances. Other legislation of specific relevance to electrical maintenance - The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
Do I need my portable electrical appliances tested? Electrical Safety Each year about 1000 accidents at work involving electric shock or burns are reported to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). Around 30 of these are fatal! Fire Safety Portable electrical appliances are a major cause of fires both in the home and at work. A sobering fact: over 2,500 people are killed or injured as a result of electrical fires every year! How can we help? We can ensure that your organisation complies with the safety regulations. If you require more information please do not hesitate to contact us at info@firststopit.com By Gemma Staines |
If the internet has transformed the way we work in the past decade, mobile technology will be the major force for change in the next 10 years. But while both the internet and wireless devices improve productivity and help us to work wherever we choose, they also share a common risk - security. Viruses and Trojans have been the bane of businesses and many have gone beyond being mere irritations. Some companies have been brought to a halt by software criminals, but a concerted and effective fight-back by software suppliers and enterprises themselves has begun to address the challenge. However, the popularity of smartphones and the take-up of 3G services poses an altogether different security threat. Thanks to the throw-away culture of mobile phones and the sheer numbers of them in use, companies are far more at risk through the loss of wireless devices than through PC hacking or internet viruses. In 2005, some 700,000 mobile phones were mislaid in the UK, although anecdotal evidence suggests that many are deliberately lost in the hope of getting an upgrade. Powerful communications Increasingly, those phones are powerful communications devices offering access to e-mails, corporate information and customer data. And no longer is it merely the iconic Blackberry that offers instant or "push" e-mail. Microsoft technology, coupled with e-mail roll-out services such as Orange Office Freedom, means that hundreds of thousands of existing devices will have an automatic "live" e-mail inbox too. |
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The Modern Swiss Army Knife |
First Origami mobile device to ship next month |
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It has long been a personal quest of mine to carry a device that had as many tools in one small device as possible. Like the good old Swiss Army Knife with a tool for every job, including the pointed implement for getting stones out of horses hooves. Being a gadget man, my tool is electronic. I need to be able to read my email, see my calendar, read documents, make phone calls and play games. The list keeps growing, I have often found myself going on business meetings with a laptop and a mobile phone. Now if my meeting is a long way I might also need the help of my satellite navigation. There I am sitting in my car, laptop on the passenger seat, mobile in my pocket and a mini TV stuck to my windscreen giving me directions.. But not any more, my new phone, the SPV C600, using Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 can now do the lot. As reported last month it is able to receive push emails like a Blackberry but over the last month I have made it do a whole lot more. It already started off pretty good; it's a phone of course, an MP3 player, a movie player, email, calendar, still camera, video camera, calculator, dictaphone, web browser, MSN and has games. Spending a little money on some additional software I am now able to use my phone to be a GPS (using Tom Tom Mobile 5). I can read documents on the go and also email attachments. Formats include Excel, Word, PowerPoint and PDF files (using Westtek, ClearVue Suite). The possibilities seem endless and there are hundreds more software packages available. I believe I am now very close to my having my perfect mobile device. If you have any questions regarding this device or any of the new windows mobile devices drop me an email at grantp@firststopit.com. By Grant Peck
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Samsung’s Q1 “ultra-mobile” PC is based on Microsoft Windows and an Intel processor, and was unveiled at the German CeBIT show in a blaze of publicity last month. The Origami platform is designed for devices bigger than a personal digital assistant but smaller than a notebook, hence the ultra-mobile tag. Both Microsoft and Intel see a potentially huge market for such devices, particularly when they are wireless-enabled. The first Q1s will go on sale in Samsung’s home market of South Korea, and cost around £750. Later in the same month, the device will be unleashed on the US, European and China market. Prices for these markets have still to be confirmed. Samsung is aiming to sell around 400,000 Q1 units in the first 12 months of its availability. See it in action here. |
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Mafia insiders infiltrating firms |
Seagate boosts drives to 750GB |
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Employees are still one of the greatest threats to corporate security, as "new-age" mafia gangs infiltrate companies, the U.K.'s crime-fighting agency has said. Speaking on Tuesday at the Infosecurity 2006 conference in London, Tony Neate, e-crime liaison for the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), said insider "plants" are causing significant damage to companies. "We have fraud and ID theft, but one of the big threats still comes from the trusted insiders. That is, people inside the company who are attacking the systems," he said. "(Organized crime) has changed. You still have traditional organized crime, but now they have learned to compromise employees and contractors. (They are) new-age, maybe have computer degrees and are enterprising themselves. They have a wide circle of associates and new structures," he added. Neate's comments are some of the first from SOCA, which so far has tended to shy away from press attention. The British agency was formed earlier this month, and combines the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service and experts from HM Revenue & Customs and the U.K. Immigration Service. The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, which previously dealt with Internet crime in the U.K., has also been rolled into SOCA. The agency is chaired by Stephen Lander, a former director general of British internal counterintelligence agency MI5, and will have a budget of more than 400 million pounds ($706.3 million) and around 4,200 staff. According to SOCA's annual plan, around 40 percent of its efforts will be directed toward combating drug trafficking; 25 percent toward organized immigration crime; and 10 percent toward individual and private sector fraud, including identity fraud and electronic fraud from Internet banking and e-commerce. By Dan Ilett |
Seagate has pushed one step closer to the terabyte hard drive with a new 3.5-inch drive that holds up to 750 gigabytes. The Scotts Valley, Calif.-based company has started to ship its Barracuda 7200.10 line of hard drives to computer manufacturers. The drive features platters that store data in vertical columns, which allow more information to be stored in a given space on the hard-drive platter. As a result, the top end of the Barracuda line, designed for the PC and workstation market, can hold up to 750GB--a record, according to Seagate (to date, Seagate and Hitachi have sold drives that top out at 500GB). The 750GB drive costs $590. Other Barracuda 7200.10 drives range in density from 500GB to 200GB. The entry-level model sells for $108. |
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