Technofile: Amid the hurly-burly of the average neophiliac's life, it is easy to forget that there are a lot of people just dying to spoil the party. And the biggest party-poopers are the spammers and virus writers.
After falling in 2005, the rate of so-called spyware infection has risen again to their highest level since 2004. Spyware typically sits silently on your PC, sending passwords to bank accounts back to the virus writer, who these days is often connected with organised crime. Anti-spyware company Webroot found that nearly 90 per cent of consumer PCs are now infected with an average of 30 pieces of spyware. How is this happening? Surely we ought to be getting a little bit better at protecting ourselves online?
It appears not. Spyware is getting smarter all the time, and we tend to rely too much on flaky free anti-spyware applications instead of paying through the nose for something more robust. Plus, everyone is just doing more online these days. The rise of social networks such as MySpace means spammers and viruses are proliferating on these networks, masquerading as legitimate software "widgets" for members to "enhance" their MySpace page. The only advice is to keep your anti-virus software continually up to date, keep your data backed up, change your passwords regularly and beware of MySpacers bearing gifts.
• If you just can't get enough of the production line of new iPod speakers, which seem to appear every half hour, then check out the K3000 SoundTraveller (pictured) that runs off just one AA battery. this affords 12 hours of music, or it can be powered from the USB port on your PC. The 3 watt speaker - there is only one - works with any iPod and has an audio-in to connect it to any MP3 player or a mobile phone. See Powertraveller.com.
• Fujitsu Siemens has launched two notebooks, this time aiming at laptop newbies, the Amilo Pro V8210 and Lifebook C1410. Both have Intel Centrino Duo chips and are configurable according to your taste, although the Amilo Pro V8210 has a higher spec, featuring Bluetooth, Wireless LAN and a DVD burner as standard. Prices are from around €1,260. Not to be outdone, Sony has added Core Duo options to its Vaio PCs, as Intel's blisteringly-fast new chip gradually takes over the world.
• Personal video recorder (PVR) and TV maker Humax has been busy in its Dr Frankenstein-style lab, attempting to sew together a 160GB hard-drive PVR with a 32-inch LCD TV. The resulting LP32-TDR1 is a lot better looking than the good doctor's monster and does away with the tangle of cables that characterise the average corner of the average living room. With two digital terrestrial tuners, you can watch one channel while recording the other.
• If you have just put the phone down on tech support for the umpteenth time today, you may like to start investigating the range of new online applications for business emerging online. The latest is from Google, which has launched "Google Apps for Your Domain" (google.com/a/). The platform, aimed at small businesses, universities and non-profit businesses, will allow administrators to control a company's e-mail, instant messaging, calendar and the company's web page creator software.
Google hosts all this for free, with the implication that some extra features will be charged for later on. Along with word processing application Writely and its spreadsheet application, Google has Microsoft clearly in its sights.
• Worried that your technology is killing the planet? Greenpeace has launched a guide to green electronics at greenpeace.org/international
