Big Brother is Listening to You Via Mobile Phone

These days it's difficult to take a leak without worrying you may be making a splash on YouTube and having a private life just keeps on getting harder. It has now emerged Big Brother may be listening in on people's mobile phone conversations in the UK via fake mobile phone towers called Stingers.

According to a recent report in The Independent, stinger technology is currently being used by police forces all over the world and is very useful for catching criminals. But there is a sting in the tail—the towers are unable to differentiate the difference between criminal and non-criminal activity. So if you went out and had too much to drink last night, urinated somewhere you shouldn't, and shared the tale via mobile phone, don't be surprised if the Thought Police come knocking at your door.

Investigators from Sky News located more than 20 of the mobile phone-tapping towers in just 3 weeks, so how many are actually active in the UK is anybody's guess.

When Sky News quizzed the London Metropolitan Police about the controversial technology Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe appeared to be determined to protect the force's privacy.

Refusing to confirm or deny allegations made about the use of the suspect technology he said: "The only people who benefit are the other side, and I see no reason in giving away that sort of thing."

Keith Bristow, director-general of the National Crime Agency, was equally loathed to speak on the subject. "Some of what we would like to talk about to get the debate informed and logical, we can’t, because it would defeat the purpose of having the tactics in the first place," Bristow said. "Frankly, some of what we need to do is intrusive, it is uncomfortable, and the important thing is we set that out openly and recognize there are difficult choices to be made."

A legal expert who specializes in surveillance law told Sky News: "We don’t know how they’re being overseen. We don’t know the statutory basis that’s being relied on, as a consequence we don’t know who—if anyone—is overseeing that use."

The Stinger masts work by tricking phones into thinking they are normal towers and then hi-jacking the signal and recording the information as it passes through them.

Pretty scary stuff! It just keeps getting harder and harder to have a private conversation these days. So if you think your iPhone is a smart phone you might want to think again. Big Brother is smarter and he could be listening to you right now.

photo credit: (c) Catherine (2014) CC Licence 

Google Beef-up User Account Security with Google My Account

Google always make a big deal about the many steps they take to protect their user's safety online and to be fair to the Big G they have always been pretty good at protecting their user's security. Continuing in their fight against hackers and other online miscreants, Google have now introduced a new feature called My Account.

What is Google My Account?

My Account provides Google users with  quick and easy access to a range of tools and settings that enable them to manage their "Google Experience" when using Google products like Gmail and maps and (yes) that includes the Big G's search engine as well.

Google has launched 'My Account', a new hub for privacy and security settings from which users can manage their information shared with different Google products, such as Maps and Search, as well as adjust the security settings for these services.

The new My Account hub is divided into three sections:

• Sign-in and security settings
• Personal information and privacy settings
• Account preferences

Google accounts holders will be able to change their passwords, see what apps are connected to their profiles, update personal details, and monitor / control many other aspects that relate to their "Google Experience".  As with most things in life, some learning curve may be involved, but most users will probably appreciate the new feature and the obvious benefits it provides.

Amazon Say New Kindle for Kids is More than a Toy

Amazon UK has just announced the release of a new kid-friendly kindle. It's going to retail for £119 so it's not going to be the cheapest way to occupy little hands and curious minds, but customers who buy a children's Kindle are being offered a two year guarantee. Amazon are promising "if they break it we'll, replace it" and they say there will be no questions asked.

The official release day is June 18, so parents who want to treat their children by giving them something that may give them an educational "head" start only have about a week to wait before it is all systems go. And parents who are worried initial stocks may sell-out fast and don't want their children to wait can pre-order a Kid's Kindle.

The choice of colour appears to be limited to blue or pink, and with such traditional colours (blue for a boy, pink for a girl) it seems unlikely that Amazon will offer an expanded choice of colours in the future, but  if the colour choice is limited the reading choice is not. Amazon is offering a year's unlimited access to thousands of books, videos, games, and educational apps. As a free bonus that's not bad at all because parents will not be required to pay additional costs if they wish their children to get the most from their kindles.

As with a "grown up" versions the Kindle fire for Kids has front and rear cameras that will enable youngsters to make their own videos and develop those all-important selfie taking skills that are so handy for populating social media accounts with interesting pictures.

Whether or not it will set the world on "Fire" remains to be seen, but all-in-all the new Kid's Kindle appears to be a pretty well thought out piece of kit and the specifications are quite impressive.  This blog is no place for all that technical stuff though. Neigh I say; if you want to know more you will need to head on over to Amazon and get it from the horse's mouth.

Will the Sugar Tax Be Implemented in the UK?

A new study has revealed the cost of eating healthy continues to rise, but price of high-calorie processed foods has dropped. With obesity on the rise, on a worldwide scale, this is a situation that does not bode well for the future. Now researchers in the UK are suggesting the British Government introduce a special tax for junk food and use the proceeds to subsidise the costs of fruit and vegetable production.

Data collected in the study, conducted  by the Overseas Development Institute shows cost of fruit and vegetables has soared over the last two or three decades, but in the years between 1980 and 2012 the cost of ice cream has dropped by 50% and ready meal prices have been slashed by 20%.

The UK is not the only culprit though. In China the costs of vegetables have doubled in the last 20 years, in Brazil the prevalence of sugary drinks and crisps and biscuits has been rendered more attractive by low prices, and cabbage lovers in Korean are now paying around 60% more green for their greens.

In Mexico nearly halt the adult population is obese, but little wonder. The cost of fruit and vegetables has increased significantly since 1990, but the Mexican government has already taken a proactive stance in the fight against obesity. In January 2014, a tax was introduced and applied to high calorie food and drinks.

Obesity can shorten the average person's lifespan by around nine years so the Mexican sugar tax could prolong lives, whether or not such a tax will actually become a reality in the UK, remains to be seen.

Six Little-Known Facts about Testosterone

1. Women have it too!

I know if I tell you that women produce testosterone you are going to shout "Balls!", but it's true. Women really do produce testosterone.  Most people are aware the male testes produce testosterone, but if you want to be really accurate about it the testosterone is actually manufactured by the leydig cells that are located in the testicles. Well guess what, women have leydig cells as well. They are located in the ovaries, and they are not as productive as male leydig cells, but they can and do secrete testosterone each and every day.


2. Testosterone Can Make Your Gal Feel Horny
Although testosterone is generally associated with the male sex drive, if your lady is acting a little friskier of late it could be due to elevated testosterone levels. Testosterone can enhance the female libido by targeting the receptors in the brain that are responsible for regulating the sex drive.


3. Testosterone can make you Big and Strong

Testosterone is a natural steroid hormone that can help speed up post-exercise recovery rates, aid the anabolic (muscle building) process and assist protein synthesis.


4. Testosterone Burns Fat

There is somewhat of a paradox here, because when people become overly fat or obese the extra poundage can restrict the body's ability to produce testosterone. But when the body contains a sufficient quantity of testosterone it can assist the fat burning process and help keep you slim.


5. Testosterone Levels Decline with Age

Yep! It's a scientific fact I'm afraid. The older you get the less testosterone your body is likely to produce.  It's not an ideal situation at the best of times, but when you are trying to remain big and strong so you burn off a little extra fat with your significant other, whose producing so much she's turned into a rampant beast, it can be a particularly daunting state of affairs. But do you know what the worst thing is guys? Testosterone production often starts to diminish during adolescence. After that it's downhill all the way.


6. Testosterone Supplements Began as a Piss-Take

Testosterone was first synthesized in 1935 and the production process was strange to say the least. It required a sufficient quantity of the male hormone aldosterone, which had to be distilled from around 4,000 gallons of donated human urine.

Book Talk: A Few Audiobook Advantages

Everyone knows the reasons why eBook readers are supposed to a better option than normal books (no trees are slaughtered in their creation, take up less room on the shelf etc.), but there is another option out there. Yep, I'm talking audiobooks. You know—books that talk to you! And it could be argued that audiobooks are even better than eBooks because you listen to them while eating a bag of chips and not need to worry about getting grease all over your Amazon Kindle, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Let's have a look at a few more reasons why any getting your story fix from an audiobook may be a better option than you ever realized.

You can get your Stories on the Go

Yeah, I know what it sounds like, but I'm not suggesting you listen to your favourite book while you're sitting on the John—although it's certainly doable. But there are many occasions where flicking a few pages or consulting the Kindle are not really possible.

• At the gym:  Thank God for headphones and Terry Pratchett (now if only there was something you could do about the guy next to you with the terminal BO!)
• Driving the car:  always a good option and a real life-saver in a traffic jam.
• Travelling on the bus/train: Well you didn't really want to listen to the lady in front of you banging on about her verruca and varicose veins, did you?

No Glasses Required

After a long day at work the eyes can feel pretty tired and sore, and they can feel even worse if some smelly guy in the gym has given you a good hiding for complaining about his personal hygiene, so it can sometimes be nice to just put up your feet, close your eyes, and listen to a few chapters of a good book (a good book, not The Good Book—all the begatting that went on may have been fun at the time, but hearing about it thousands of years later ain't much fun and the Bible leaves out all the juicy bits that could have made kids actually want to read it last thing at night.)

Space Saving Stories

Although audiobooks were traditionally sold on CDs, and the really old may even have listened to them on cassettes or Long Playing Records, these days most people just purchase an audiobook download and downloads are famous for their space-saving capabilities. And in the case of Audible audiobooks there is no need to even worry about retaining a back-up copy of the file because Audible customers can log-in to their account and access all of the books in their library any time that they want to and download them as many times as required.

Great for Learning Languages

Budding language students or people who need a pre-holiday brush up on their Spanish chat-up lines can study on the go, any time they want, and speak along with the native speaker. Audiobooks are a great way to learn or improve your language skills, even if it does mean you sometimes get a few funny looks when you are talking to yourself at bus stops.

A few other Audiobooks Benefits

• No lights are required
• Audiooks don't discolour and go smelly with age
• Audiobooks can be a brilliant way to avoid listening to your partner during nagging sessions
• Paper cuts are extremely unlikely

Overeating Could Damage Your Liver

Binge drinking may be a big problem in the UK, but it appears overeating may is catching-up fast because a leading health expert is warning that, by the year 2020, most liver transplants are likely to be the results of overeating rather than alcohol abuse.

Dr Quentin Anstee, consultant hepatologist at Newcastle University and the Freeman hospital, says he UK is facing a "major and growing challenge" as an escalating number of Brits succumb to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Around 33% of the British population is already believed to suffer from the condition and researchers are putting it down to greed—people are quite simply cramming themselves with more food than their livers can handle.

"Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is one of the major and growing challenges facing the UK," Anstee said."

But with so much of the population at risk, Anstee says it may be hard to decide which individuals to "home in on".

"There has been a shift in the entire population," Anstee explained. "The truth is that the man in the street is carrying a few more pounds than a decade ago. The rate of liver disease has increased 400% since the 1970s."

The figures are already frightening enough, but Anstee's forecast for the future does not suggest there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

"It’s predicted that by the end of this decade, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease will be the most common underlying reason why people are required to have liver transplants, overtaking alcohol," he said.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a blanket term that covers a number of condition that are caused by a build-up of fat within the liver cells, but the condition is more common in those who are overweight or obese.

Obesity is on the rise on a worldwide scale though, so Brits are not the only culprits when it comes to going large on their meals and growing large a consequence. Unfortunately, once overeating has become a habit it can be a hard habit to break and many people lack the necessary motivation to exercise regularly and eat healthy, even when the stakes are so high, so Anstee's predictions for the future will likely be all too accurate.