Merry Christmas Gadgets

This year more than any other year will see an influx of network connected gadgets. Devices that will talk to each other and those that talk to the internet. What can we expect in Santa's connected sack this year.

iPhone

Internet connected phones have been with us for a long time but Apples marvelous iPhone does it all and talks to everything. Email and Internet as well as downloading all those lovely videos and music from your computer for everything on the go.

Nintendo Wii

The biggest selling games consoles in the world, why because unlike the others its pure fun and the price is reasonable. Online game play is included. We must also mention the PS3 and the Xbox 360 but they just don't have the all round family fun factor of the Wii for a happy connected Christmas.

Sony PSP

The PSP has headed the Christmas list for a few years and its still going strong. If you already have one get a second and using its built in wireless network connect to a friend for hours or head to head mayhem and fun.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year From First Stop IT

By Grant Peck

IT giants celebrate birth of the transistor

The transistor will officially turn 60 next week, and the world's largest technology firms are pausing to celebrate an invention which many credit as the creator of Silicon Valley.

Bell Labs researchers Bill Shockley, Walter Brattain and John Bardeen demonstrated the first transistor on 23 December 1947.

The device allowed computer scientists to replace vacuum tubes in circuit designs, making computers smaller, cheaper and more reliable.

All three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1956 for their achievement, which is regarded as one of the most important inventions of the 20th century.

A Bell Labs spokesperson explained that successful experiments were conducted throughout December 1947, leading some to place earlier dates on the invention. IBM and Intel, for example, place the transistor's birth on 16 December.

However, the transistor was successfully tested for the first time on 23 December and is the date which Bell Labs officially recognises.

The invention spawned an entirely new industry in the field of electronics. Hundreds of new computing companies emerged along the valley connecting the cities of San Francisco and San Jose, leading to the Silicon Valley nickname.

One of those companies was Intel. The chipmaker was founded 20 years after the birth of the transistor, and became the largest CPU vendor in the world.

"The transistor has changed the world, the way we work, the way we learn and the way we play," said Intel president and chief executive Paul Otellini. "It is probably the best friend we have."

Online Christmas spending surges

More than $22bn has been spent online in the US since the beginning of November, 18 per cent up on last year, according to the latest market data.

Research firm comScore reported that online spending reached $881m on 10 December alone, up 33 per cent on last year.

This marked the heaviest online spending day of the season and the heaviest online spending day on record.

"The strong surge at the beginning of last week saw Monday and Tuesday easily surpassing $800m in sales and showing very strong growth rates, but the remainder of the week saw more modest spending," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

"However, we anticipate that spending at the beginning of this week will again be strong with most free shipping deals available until 18 December."

This year's 18 per cent online retail spending growth rate stands well below the 26 per cent rate at the same time last year.

An analysis of online spending by household income reveals that slower growth among lower income households is weighing on the overall season-to-date growth.

While households earning at least $100,000 have increased online spending 28 percent versus year ago, households making less than $50,000 have increased their spending by just 10 per cent.

"The current economic realities appear to be having a negative impact on the growth in consumer spending," explained Fulgoni.

"From the sub-prime housing meltdown to a decline in home values, to higher gas prices and an uncertain stock market, many consumers are either feeling the pinch or are lacking the confidence to spend at the rate they had in the past.

"Consumers in lower income segments appear to be the most affected, as evidenced by the sluggish growth in their rate of online spending."

Microsoft spits out final XP service pack

Microsoft yesterday quietly dished out a beta version of its Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), but also continued to bang the less-than-convincing "Vista is better for you" drum.

By the time a full version of the update arrives, expected in the first half of 2008, it will have been nearly four years since Windows XP SP2 was made available for download.

Redmond had pushed back the final XP service pack release several times as it focused on attempting to iron out buggy issues with its little-used operating system, Vista.

Unsurprisingly, the software giant is hoping that as many users as possible choose to switch over to its latest OS rather than hold out for SP3, even though the release of Vista SP1 remains months away with a launch expected around the first quarter of next year.

Underlying the firm's desire to push up Vista sales and woo users away from XP, Microsoft said in a statement: "Windows XP SP3 does not bring significant portions of Windows Vista functionality to Windows XP."

It said the latest XP update will come bundled with security fixes and will be compatible with the Network Access Protection functionality of Windows Server 2008. ®

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HMRC loses personal details of 6,500 pensioners

The personal details of 6,500 pensioners have been lost by HM Revenue and Customs in Cardiff.

In the latest data breach to affect the government, a data cartridge went missing after it was sent to HM Revenue and Customs in Cardiff by Preston-based pension firm Countrywide Assured.

The data cartridge, which was sent by courier at the request of HM Revenue and Customs, contained names, addresses, dates of birth, national insurance numbers and pension contribution details.

The cartridge was sent in September and was signed for by HM Revenue and Customs. The loss has come to light as the tax department and the government scramble to carry out an audit of insecure data systems following the loss of 25 million child benefit records.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the Driving Standards Agency in Ireland had lost the details of three million learner drivers.

Countrywide Assured has written letters to those customers affected by the loss - HMRC's seventh major data loss this year. HMRC has informed the Office of the Information Commissioner about the loss.

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Lottery scams are fastest growing cybercrime

Microsoft says lottery scams are the fastest growing area of cybercrime.

Microsoft commissioned a survey of 3,600 internet users across Germany, Italy, Denmark, the UK and The Netherlands, and found that 50% of spam e-mails sent are lottery scams.

In the UK, 20% who received lottery spam opened some messages, with 10% having replied to them. In addition, 13% have clicked on potentially malicious links inside these e-mails.

The survey found that 3% of UK respondents had lost money through such lottery scams over the past 12 months, which is the same as the pan-European average.

Ed Gibson, Microsoft UK chief security advisor, said, "Internet lottery scams are one of the fastest growing areas of cybercrime. The scams are of increasing concern to international law enforcement, offering criminals a low-risk opportunity to steal money from internet users."

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