Month: February 2009

Solving the ‘cannot find flash.ocx’ problem

Some people are being plagued by PC error messages saying “cannot find flash.ocx”. Often there is no indication of the program that has been looking for the missing file, so diagnosis is difficult. Flash is an application that is great…

SSL Encryption hacked

No, don’t worry, it doesn’t quite mean the end of the world as we know it. SSL encryption itself is still reliable and safe. That isn’t entirely true of websites using it though. In a little reported paper at the…

Will VPNs challenge state surveillance?

Some customers are bypassing action by their ISP to block troublesome protocols, such as P2P, by subscribing to foreign VPN (Virtual Private Network) services.  Others are routing their internet traffic via a free VPN, using the advertising-supported Hotspot Shield – software…

Sky to recall 90,000 Pace HD boxes

Having problems with your Sky HD box? That may be the reason Sky are going to swap out 90,000 boxes made by Pace and which have some sort of non-safety related internal wiring fault, according to reports on Broadband TV…

What the heck is a googlewhack?

Type any two words into Google and press enter. The result usually brings you hundreds or even thousands of pages. The elusive Googlewhack is a magic combination of words that returns a single result. There are two rules – the…

How much does it cost to use an Espresso machine?

We plugged our energy meter into a mains socket then plugged our espresso machine into it. We had already entered our electricity price into the meter so it could give us a direct readout of running cost. Having filled the…

How much does it cost to use a small TV?

We plugged our energy meter into a mains socket then plugged our 10″ CRT TV into it. We had already entered our electricity price into the meter so it could give us a direct readout of running cost. The TV…

How much does it cost to use a deep fat fryer?

We plugged our energy meter into a mains socket then plugged our thermostatically-controlled deep fat fryer into it. We had already entered our electricity price into the meter so it could give us a direct readout of running cost. The…

How much does it cost to use a steam iron?

We plugged our energy meter into a mains socket then plugged our iron into it. We had already entered our electricity price into the meter so it could give us a direct readout of running cost. Having topped up the…

How much does it cost to use a kettle?

We plugged our energy meter into a mains socket then plugged our kettle into it. We had already entered our electricity price into the meter so it could give us a direct readout of running cost. Having half-filled the kettle…