Categories
Bad Stuff End User online safety security

I blog about nail polish – what’s wrong with your filters?

  Web filters block list includes fashion blog https://twitter.com/SmashleighJayne/status/559720386112552960 https://twitter.com/SmashleighJayne/status/559720218155835394 https://twitter.com/SmashleighJayne/status/559722059660795904 https://twitter.com/SmashleighJayne/status/559722582921207808 The point about this is that the only reason Ashleigh-Jayne found about about this is because she is a TalkTalk customer. TalkTalk’s own web filters block list had her site down as being adult only. Now maybe parents wouldn’t want little girls (or […]

Categories
Business online safety Regs

To decapitate or not to decapitate – a political bet? Vodafone filter

An eagle eyed reader spotted this little piece of bemusement from Vodafone. His newsfeed this morning had an interesting enough looking headline “Labour to launch decapitation strategy against Clegg” meaning that they were going to have a go at unseating him in the next general election. Interest piqued, the reader clicked on the link only […]

Categories
End User piracy

Virgin media filter block post resurgence in popularity

Last year following the court order imposed on the large consumer ISPs requiring them to “block” access to Pirate Bay I wrote a blog post outlining how to bypass the Virgin Media filters and discussing the futility of the court order. I also recently added that the same methods were usable to bypass the BT, […]

Categories
Business online safety piracy

School connectivity and filtering – google translate

Dropped the kids off at school today. I don’t normally do it. It’s out of my way and gets in the way of my early morning swimming regime. It’s the last GCSE so it was only fair that the run in would be comfortable. Let the lad get in the zone. I mentioned that last […]

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End User piracy

Alternative ways of bypassing the Virgin Media filter to access Pirate Bay – Google Translate

Since publishing the original post on this subject that described how to access Pirate Bay using free proxy servers I’ve had a few people point out other ways. Some were left as comments on the post itself. Some came in by email. The most innovative is where Google Translate service is used as a proxy […]

Categories
gadgets online safety piracy Regs

How to bypass the Virgin Media web filter to access Pirate Bay

How to bypass the Virgin Media web filter to access Pirate Bay Before you start reading this post, and many thousands have, take a look at Broadbandrating – if you are looking to move ISP then the site will help you choose which one to go for. Now the post: Industry colleague Gary Hough left […]

Categories
Apps End User Regs security surveillance & privacy

how to get round your school’s web filter #deappg #DEAct

Somewhat a contentious title for a post? Provocative? It is topical though with all the discussion in the media regarding the government’s review on whether web blocking really works or is cost effective (re Digital Economy Act), and also MP Claire Perry calling on ISPs to implement filtering to stop kids reaching online porn. I just did […]

Categories
Business social networking

LinkedIn invite strategy

LinkedIn invite – do you really wanna be my friend? I haven’t got a LinkedIn invite strategy. I don’t collect contacts as such. They just happen as and when. On occasion LinkedIn  shoves me some. Sticks em in my face and says “how about this one Tref”. Sometimes I connect. The other day I sat […]

Categories
travel Weekend

Ice cream on Llandudno pier

Llandudno pier – all life is there dead on a wet Sunday night in July It wasn’t a particularly good ice cream but it was an appropriate use of my time and money. When on holiday it is important to indulge in relaxing holiday pastimes such as strolling on piers and licking ice creams. This […]

Categories
broadband End User

how to choose a broadband provider

Just writing out aloud the process I’m going through of choosing a broadband provider. I currently have an 80/20 line from which I get 35/7 performance, most of the time. It’s an unlimited service. Bandwidth usage is approaching 300GB a month. My current supplier is Timico a business ISP. As such I get great service […]

Categories
Business business applications fun stuff

How to be a woman in tech

How to be a woman in tech When the wonderful @tref was looking for ‘women in tech’ to write a guest blog I had to answer a few questions: am I in tech, how did I get here, and what can I do to encourage others? What do you do? I perform the pivotal role […]

Categories
End User gadgets

Pebbles, Pebbles, Pebbles everywhere.

Pebble smartwatch review – @Baskers compares 1st & 2nd gen   When Tref first approached me to write a guest blog post for Women in Tech week, to be honest I was kind of scratching my head a bit about what to write about. Where to begin? What should I say? What to choose? I’ve […]

Categories
Engineer engineering

Experiences as a Siemens IT graduate

Siemens IT graduate –  my career experiences so far… On October 1st 2014 I embarked on the first step into my career in IT. After completing four years at the University of Lincoln and gaining a Masters degree I was lucky enough to be offered a place on Siemens IT Graduate Scheme. Congleton is the […]

Categories
broadband Business

Rural Broadband’s disaster – why I care – what’s wrong – what’s to be done

A farmer’s wife speaks – rural broadband solutions why I care – what’s wrong – what’s to be done I am a hairdresser and a farmer’s wife, and I don’t want to run the country, but I do want to set a few facts straight. I got involved with tech in the late 80s, when […]

Categories
Business engineering

Veteran board level techie has seen some progress in her career

30 years in tech has seen some progress When I was asked if I would like to contribute a blog item on Women in Tech I seriously wondered if I was the right person to do it.  You see I have never thought of myself as a Woman in Tech. I am simply a person […]

Categories
Business net neutrality Regs

EC Single Telecoms Package position on roaming charges and Net Neutrality

European Commission plan to end roaming charges and establish net neutrality rules – EC Single Telecoms Package Hot in from the ITSPA (Internet Telephony Service Providers Association) secretariat is this commentary:  Late last night the European Commission, Council and Parliament concluded their final round of negotiations on the Single Telecoms Package. The key parts of this […]

Categories
Business internet Net peering

Valeria Rossi defends the not for profit IX model

Valeria Rossi, general manager of MIX is passionate about not for profit IX model I am in front of the typical “blank page” … I read “Women in tech – a blog written by women, not a blog about women”, and I wonder if a woman would write about technology differently from a man. But […]

Categories
Engineer engineering internet

Life in the network automated future

Network automation – yea baby A long time ago, in Operations the world was very fragmented – web admins, sysadmins, database administrators.  Now most people at good companies are generalists. Tools allow you to administrate all of the different programs in the same way.  Specialists still exist, but for most day to day operations, specialists […]

Categories
Engineer engineering internet

Who sez geeks don’t do prosecco?

Geeks and prosecco do mix! I’ve been working within the networking industry since 2007. This isn’t the longest time compared to some of you die-hard industry types, but with my first UKNOF in 2009 I was thrust straight into the fabulous world of ISPs, networking and geeks. It was an odd industry to join as […]

Categories
End User internet online safety Regs security surveillance & privacy

Julian Huppert MP proposes that the next government implements an online rights framework of principles

Online rights framework will help safeguard privacy The internet is increasingly key to our daily lives and a crucial part of public policy making with ramifications across all areas. However, too often what we get from politicians is poorly thought through kneejerkery. I’ve seen this myself, on far too many occasions. Just to pick up […]

Categories
End User Legal Regs surveillance & privacy

Why Magna Carta matters to technology policy – listen up Dave

Dr Monica Horten continues the internet privacy rights debate This year is the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, the Great Charter that established the right to a fair trial and  put an end to arbitrary justice in private hands. What, you may ask, does this have to do with technology policy for the 21st century? […]

Categories
End User Legal Regs

Internet Policy advice for whoever wins next election

Paul Bernal offers winners of general election advice re government internet policy – how about hiring advisers who know what they are talking about Perhaps the most defining feature of government internet policy – and this means pretty much all governments around the world, and particularly the last two governments here in the UK – is […]

Categories
End User piracy

Virgin Media iTunes vouchers

Virgin Media iTunes vouchers on offer to new customers Virgin Media making some interesting ground at the moment. It was not so long ago they were in the news for being subjected to more blocking orders re websites promoting copyright infringement. We saw a lot of whingeing on Twitter about this and the traffic to […]

Categories
Business social networking

Dear LinkedIn community manager

Dear LinkedIn community manager. I realise that I signed up for the group (or at least I think I did – there are so many of them) but I don’t really want to be spammed with invitations to Webinars. I don’t do webinars. I have a short attention span and webinars want you for a lengthy […]

Categories
End User security surveillance & privacy

Pretty graphic reaction to ISP porn blocking

Thought I’d slip this one in – adult content filter eh 😉 I don’t know John Harvey but he seems a fairly forthright kind of guy. From Yorkshire maybe. It’s not so much that you are telling your ISP anything when you opt out of the adult filter, or whatever it’s called. We doubt that […]

Categories
End User online safety

Sky asking customers to tell them if they want to access adult content

Sky adult content filtering to be left on as standard unless asked otherwise It was in the news yesterday. Sky is phasing in the inclusion of an enabled Sky adult content filtering as standard unless specifically requested not to. I was told by Lyssa Mcgowan herself. Well on her blog. This is going to be […]

Categories
End User piracy

List of websites blocked by Virgin Media due to court orders

Taken from the Virgin Media website. Found this and thought you might be interested. List of websites blocked by Virgin Media due to court orders. No comment really.  I don’t support copyright infringement. Easy to circumvent the blocks though. I wonder how effective they are. Potentially a lot of work for the ISP for little […]

Categories
End User internet Legal net neutrality

Consumer Rights and Net Neutrality

Consumer Rights is a far less toxic term than Net Neutrality. I’ve previously written for Trefor.Net on the subject of Net Neutrality and what it means to members of the VoIP community. And I think it’s high time for an update, but this time considering consumer rights. After a promising start the European Union went […]

Categories
Engineer google

Lost in translation – Google Translate Ukrainian, Chrome and The Huffington Post cc@tonyhatfield

Google translate Ukrainian offer is v odd reports reader @tonyhatfield Today, using my Nexus 7 running KitKat and the latest version of Google Chrome, I clicked on a link to the Huffington Post. A page appeared asking me if I wanted to translate from Ukrainian. Here’s a screenshot. V odd considering the page is clearly […]

Categories
broadband End User H/W internet media piracy

The Hump Day Five (9-July-2014)

In line with Broadband Week on trefor.net, the Hump Day Five either benefits, suffers or remains mind-numbingly inconsequential…you decide. 1 Fourteen years have passed since I arranged my first broadband Internet service in Paris with France Telecom, and yet it is no effort whatsoever to recall that first setup. Is this because I have an […]