Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

As something of a browser butterfly, I like to keep an eye on what's happening with browsers other than the one I'm currently using fulltime. Like many tech journalists (and non-journalists for that matter), I gave up on Internet Explorer quite some time ago, opting for Firefox initially. I also dabbled with Opera and Waterfox, amongst others, but for a number of years it was Firefox that delivered web pages to me. Sadly, I noticed that things started to slow down. New versions were more bloated and sluggish, and in the search for better performance, I ended up with Chrome. I've been a Chrome user for years now, but I was recently spurred into trying out Firefox once again.

Quite where the impetus came from, I'm not sure -- just one of those "let’s see if anything's changed" moments, I guess. Apart from little quirks like the refresh button being on the "wrong" side of the program window, Firefox seems pretty decent. I was impressed by the sharpness of the display for starters -- I had forgotten that Chrome handles high DPIs very poorly. As I'm using a Surface Pro running at 1920 x 1080, running at 150 percent DPI scaling is essential (I don’t have microscopes for eyes!) and Chrome makes everything look slightly blurry... not enough to put me off -- I'm still using it, after all -- but Firefox was a revelation!

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The revelations made by Edward Snowden have irreversibly changed the face of the internet. There is now suspicions at every turn, every site and provider is the subject of questioning, and web users are warier than ever before. The use of encryption to hide the content and nature of online activity is nothing new, but it seems that it is very much on the increase. As reported by TorrentFreak, analysis from Sandvine shows that there has been a global increase in the use of encryption.

The figures have been reached by looking at the levels of SSL traffic over the past year, and these show that in North America, during peak hours, encrypted traffic just about doubled. In Europe the increase is even more marked, jumping fourfold so that it now accounts for over six percent of peak time traffic. Europe appears to have a greater interest in encryption than North America, with the latter's SSL traffic accounting for 3.8 percent of peak time traffic.

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If you Google yourself, do you stumble across information you would rather wasn't online? Those naked photos of you cavorting in the garden or a snippet from a drunken rant in an online forum could be sitting there for all to see. The page in question may have gone, but that's not to say that you won’t still appear in Google search results.

Obviously there are situations in which this could be detrimental to your reputation, and it's understandable that you might want something done about it. Following a case presided over by the European Union Court of Justice in Luxembourg, judges have ruled that, in certain circumstances, people may ask a search operator to remove data about them from search results.

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It is said that Twitter is the social network for those who suffer from verbal diarrhoea, and it's certainly true that you have to be slightly selective about who you follow if you are to avoid drowning in an avalanche of overwhelming drivel. But even if you do pick and choose who appears in your timeline very carefully, there may be times when you want certain people to just shut up. You could stop following them, or even go as far as blocking them, but this might be seen as taking things a little too far. Twitter's new mute function could be the solution to the problem you didn’t know you had.

Announced in a post on the Twitter blog, Product Manager Paul Rosania says the feature is being rolled out to not only the web version of Twitter, but also the official iOS and Android apps. In many ways, muting is a watered down version of blocking a user and it could prove useful in certain circumstances. You may have some friend who is watching a show you've yet to catch up with. To help avoid spoilers, you could mute their tweets until you're up to date; the same idea rings true for sporting results, and other big announcements.

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In something of a surprise twist on Friday, a court ruled that Oracle is entitled to copyright protection for its Java APIs. This is a case that has been rumbling on for some time now after Oracle sued Google for implementing the APIs into Android, and the implications could be far-reaching. It almost goes without saying that Google will appeal the ruling, although no announcement has actually been made to this effect. The decision that "we conclude that the declaring code and the structure, sequence, and organization of the 37 Java API packages at issue are entitled to copyright protection" seems fairly cut and dried, but the real consequences are yet to be felt.

Back in 2012, it had been decided that there was not a problem with Google, or anyone else, writing code that performed the same function as existing APIs -- this is essentially what Google had to do when implementing the Java APIs in Android -- with the judge at the time stating that "duplication of the command structure is necessary for interoperability". But the latest ruling turns this on its head, which is not good news for Google. "We therefore reverse the district court's copyrightability determination with instructions to reinstate the jury's infringement verdict. Because the jury hung on fair use, we remand Google's fair use defense for further proceedings consistent with this decision".

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Using the internet and being subjected to advertising very much go hand in hand. Sites have server bills to pay as well as other costs, and this is offset by displaying ads as a means of generating income. This is something we're all used to, and it's generally accepted as the price we have to pay. With the spread of mobile apps, the notion of advertisements within software becomes more and more popular, but, while not entirely unknown, it's not a notion that really translated to the desktop. This could be set to change if Mozilla's experiments with in-browser advertising come to fruition.

Of course, referring to it as advertising would be a little off-putting, so the word 'sponsored' is being thrown around in its place. What's all this about? Well, back in February Mozilla's Head of Content Services, Darren Herman, posted a blog entry outlining the company's 'Directory Tiles' idea. What this amounted to was a suggestion that in future versions of Firefox, the new tab page could feature "sponsored content from hand-picked partners" as well as links to site based on location. Herman gave the reassurance that "sponsored tiles will be clearly labelled as such" but, ultimately, it still amounts to in-browser advertising.

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The "internet of things" is one of those catch-all terms that has become one of the latest buzzwords to be bandied about hither and thither. It is often used to conjure up images of an online oven, connected kettles and web-enabled waffle makers, and is referred to as something that is yet to be. So used is this term, that it's easy to forget that it's something that already exists -- just ignore the absurd name and you simply have a collection of devices that connect to the internet for a variety of reasons. But having any device connected to the internet has advantages and disadvantages, and this is something that security experts AVG recognize only too well.

Take cars for instance. Things have advanced in leaps and bounds in recent years, to the point that the traditional key is no longer needed, and apps can be used to check vehicle stats -- who needs dials and in-car displays, eh? Just as owning a car has changed dramatically in the past couple of decades, so has the problem of car security. Numbered are the days of a brick through the window, a screwdriver or coat hanger slipped down the side of the window, and touching together a couple of wires to make a getaway in just a few minutes.

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What's that? It's the end of the week already? How did that happen?! Things got off to a slightly slow start, but it ended up being another jam-packed seven days. Microsoft was criticized for continuing to patch Windows XP after support was supposed to have ended, but it does seem as though usage is starting to decline. Interestingly, it is Windows 7 that suffered from a higher malware infection rate according to Microsoft's Security Intelligence Report. Windows 8.x is still struggling to gain a large audience and Wayne looked at why this is the case -- maybe a smartwatch would be a smart move.

The effects of Heartbleed are still being felt, and ExtraHop Networks had some advice during a Q&A session. Symantec unveiled its security roadmap for Advanced Threat Protection, and Dropbox discovered a vulnerability that led to the company pulling access to hyperlinked files. Many big names came together to try to make passwords more exciting -- give it up for World Password Day!

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It's now a month since support for Windows XP came to an end, and we've already had our first exciting little post-XP incident. When a security flaw was discovered in Internet Explorer, an out-of-band patch was released for XP users despite Microsoft's previous claims that no more such updates would be issued. A month on seems like a good time to assess the lay of the land for the operating system, and that's precisely what security firm Secunia has done.

Looking at the install base for Windows XP, Secunia found that there has been an extremely steady decline in usage from the beginning of the year. According to Secunia's numbers, XP could be found on 22 percent of US PCs between January and December of 2013, but this dropped to 18 percent in the period January to February this year. It is possible that this marked drop could be attributed to people finally coming to terms with the idea that XP was no longer being supported and deciding to move on. But things start to slide further as we move into April.

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Real life sims are very easy to get wrong -- just look at The Sims, for instance -- and Nintendo's latest venture into this branch of gaming, Tomodachi Life, demonstrates this perfectly. Taking a collection of Miis (Nintendo's sickly sweet customizable avatars) and dumping them on an island, the game presents players with a "world full of possibilities". The game's website proclaims, "in Tomodachi Life, populate your very own island with the Mii characters of family, friends or anyone else you can think of!" As long as the Miis are not gay that is.

Yes, in the Disney-like world of Nintendo, same-sex relationships are not possible. You're free to do pretty much anything you like in the game, but when it comes to striking up a relationship and getting virtually married, it's boy-girl action only. Homosexuality simply does not exist in Nintendo's little bubble, and this is something that was noted by one gamer who then launched a campaign on Twitter to try to get the gaming giant to change its ways. Tye Marini 's Miiquality Twitter account was started to try to persuade Nintendo to rethink the game and allow for lesbian and gay relationships.

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A new deal could be struck between ISPs and representatives of the music and film industries in UK in a bid to combat online piracy. But the proposed scheme does not go anywhere near as far as had been hoped by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) and the MPA (Motion Picture Association). Four of the country's biggest ISPs -- BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media -- have come together to create the Voluntary Copyright Alert Program (Vcap) which has the aim of educating downloaders of pirate material of the error of their ways. As the name suggests, the program is completely voluntary.

There have been years of debate on the topic, and the BBC has seen documentation that shows ISPs will be doing little more than sending out letters to those suspected of downloading pirated material. The letters are described as having an "educational" tone, while the industry bodies had been calling for warning letters to be sent out alerting downloaders to the possibility of legal action. They had also asked for access to a database of web users known to have downloaded pirated material.

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Security is always important, but now that we find ourselves in a post-Heartbleed world, it seems that there is more importance than ever being placed on passwords and the safety of online accounts. The constant advice, that we should be using unique passwords of ever-increasing complexity for each service we use, means that there is a greater chance of forgetting our login details. This is something that Twitter recognizes with a couple of account safety changes that are being introduced today.

A new password reset procedure lets you choose whether reset details should be sent to your registered email address or phone number. Having a choice is helpful in case you no longer use the email address you registered with, or if you have switched phone numbers. Choice is good! Mobile users will also find that the reset process has been improved, and Twitter helpfully provides some tips to aid with selecting a strong new password.

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Remember Unreal Tournament? Remember the hours (days?) you invested in it? Well, it's back! Or at least it will be soon… It's a game that we've heard nothing of for some time now, but Epic is wheeling out the classic title for a new airing. This time around, the gaming community is being called upon to contribute. In a post on the Unreal Engine Blog, Steve Polge says, "work on the future of Unreal Tournament begins today, and we're happy to announce that we're going to do this together, with you".

What does all of this mean? To cut to the chase, a new version of Unreal Tournament is, as of right now, being developed. Yippee! The UT community is a passionate one, and the new project is going to take full advantage of this. This is a collaborative project and the finished product will call upon the input of fans, Unreal Engine 4 developers, and Epic. If you fancy getting involved -- be it to contribute code, artwork, or just ideas -- you are free to do so.

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Heartbleed was a security nightmare that caught the technology world unaware and unprepared. There was a good deal of panicking in the immediate aftermath, but looking back a month down the line there is a lot to learn from what happened. But perhaps the most important thing is what happens moving forward.

Post-Heartbleed, Joe Siegrist, CEO for LastPass has a series of tips for companies to help protect data and improve privacy.

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Security is fun! Security is sexy! In fact, passwords get so many hearts pounding that World Password Day had to be dreamed up just to create an outlet for the outpouring of emotion associated with them. This may be stretching things a little, but today really is World Password Day, a global movement involving McAfee, Microsoft, Dell, Acer, Lenovo and numerous other big names to educate the world about... passwords! I jest a little, but this is a day with a serious message -- we are all incredibly reliant on passwords, but too many of them are just not strong enough.

Head on over to the website and you'll find all manner of tools designed to stress the importance of strong passwords, and to promote good practices. Things get off to a fairly gentle start with a typing game in which you're invited to type common passwords and blast them out of the sky. There are also tools and tips from each of the companies involved in the project. Microsoft has a password checker that will test the strength of your password, McAfee (now nothing to do with John McAfee!) has a Heartbleed vulnerability checker, while Dell has the handy tip that one shouldn’t type one's password into the username field.

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