Jack Schofield, the Guardian’s resident geek, writing on the newly renamed Technology Blog, has pointed out this article by George Ou, of ZDNet:

Firefox not only has more vulnerabilities per month than Internet Explorer, but it is now surpassing Internet Explorer for the number of exploits available for public download in recent months…

As you can see, the facade that Firefox is the cure to the Internet Explorer security blues is quickly fading. It just goes to prove that any popular software worth hacking that has security vulnerabilities will eventually have to deal with live working exploits. Firefox mostly managed to stay under the radar from hackers before April of 2005. Since that time, new exploits are being released almost on a monthly basis

I have to say that my perception has always been that Firefox is more secure than Internet Explorer, but this does appear to be quite a strong challenge to that perception. At the same time, it’s questionable whether some of the Firefox holes are as serious as IE’s gaping chasms, but perhaps my perception of Firefox’s security is somewhat overblown. As Jack, one of Firefox’s biggest media fana, says:

I have to admit to some disappointment. I wasn’t naive enough to think Firefox would cure all IE’s security ailments, and I’m not stupid enough to think open source software has no security problems, but even taking George’s numbers with a kilo of salt, I expected better.

With this on top of the other potential disadvantages of Firefox George points out, it is beginning to look like a less attractive proposal. It certainly tightens the gap between them, and makes me wonder about just how superior Firefox is. I’ve always considered Firefox to be very much superior to IE, yet I’ve tended to use IE most of the time due to some of the sites I use being incompatable with Firefox. I will, no doubt, continue to use Internet Explorer, but perhaps I’ll stop feeling quite so inferior for a while…

I thought this photostory from silicon.com was fairly interesting, even if the Amazon.co.uk warehouse isn’t quite at fascinating as Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. In fact, it seems pretty dull. But it’s good to know that behind the veneer of a highly technological company, this is still a pretty simple operation, with guys wandering round picking books off shelves.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Longhorn is now Vista. Personally, I preferred the former.

Just doing my bit and passing on this Press Release from the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust:

A Cambridge-based paramedic has launched a national campaign with Vodafone to encourage people to store emergency contact details in their mobile phones.

Bob Brotchie, a clinical team leader for the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust, hatched the plan last year after struggling to get contact details from shocked or injured patients.

By entering the acronym ICE – for In Case of Emergency – into the mobile’s phone book, users can log the name and number of someone who should be contacted in an emergency.

The idea follows research carried out by Vodafone that shows more than 75 per cent of people carry no details of who they would like telephoned following a serious accident.

Bob, 41, who has been a paramedic for 13 years, said: “I was reflecting on some of the calls I’ve attended at the roadside where I had to look through the mobile phone contacts struggling for information on a shocked or injured person.

“It’s difficult to know who to call. Someone might have “mum” in their phone book but that doesn’t mean they’d want them contacted in an emergency.

“Almost everyone carries a mobile phone now, and with ICE we’d know immediately who to contact and what number to ring. The person may even know of their medical history.”

The campaign was launched this week by Bob and Falklands war hero Simon Weston in association with Vodafone’s annual Life Savers Awards.

Vodafone spokesperson Ally Stevens said: “The Life Savers Awards already demonstrate, through practical example, the important role a mobile phone can play when minutes matter in an emergency.

“By adopting the ICE advice, your mobile will now also help the rescue services quickly contact a friend or relative – which could be vital in a life or death situation.”

The campaign is also asking people to think carefully about who will be their ICE partner – with helpful advice on who to choose – particularly if that person has to give consent for emergency medical treatment.

Bob hopes that all emergency services will promote ICE in their area as part of a national awareness campaign to highlight the importance of carrying next of kin details at all times.

He said the idea was for the benefit of loved ones as well as the patient.

“Research suggests people recover quicker from the psychological effects of their loved one being hurt if they are involved at an earlier stage and they can reach them quickly,” he added.

He said he hoped mobile phone companies would now build the ICE contact into future models, adding: “It’s not a difficult thing to do. As many people say they carry mobile phones in case of an emergency, it seems natural this information should be kept there.”

This seems an excellent idea (despite some possible flaws – how do I know how to work someone else’s phone?), and I’d encourage you to support it, stick a number in your mobile, and pass on the information… And thank you, of course, to the reader who passed this on to me. For more information on the campaign, see the ICE website.

On another mobile note, you can now access this very site via your WAP-enabled mobile. Just point your WAP browser to sjhoward.co.uk/mobile, or text ‘sjh’ to 60300 to have the link sent to your phone (texts cost 25p). As always, full details are in the Site Guide.

Microsoft are to equip Longhorn with RSS functionality. That is a very good idea, with no end of incredibly useful applications:

For example, if you go to a conference, your calendar schedule could be continuously updated by a web feed, or you could have a regularly updated list of the top 20 downloads from a music site. Grandparents could have a screensaver auto-updated with pictures of their grandchildren as the parents post them to a photo-sharing site, or a “live” version of their kids’ Amazon wish-lists.

It’s important, though, that Microsoft do this well. If they try and restrict use, or don’t use enough imagination to enable ideas like those above to be implemented, then the value is lost.

Microsoft aren’t too good at this kind of thing. They don’t like relinquishing control. But I can hope that the leopard has changed its spots, and that Longhorn will bring a very innovative operating system from the behemoth.

And I don’t think I’ve mentioned to date (despite my best intentions) the news that the first IE7 beta is due relatively soon. Which I happen to think is also good news.

So that makes two reasons to be cheerful… at least for now

Two more ‘critical flaws’ which could allow a user to gain access to private information, such as banking details, logins and passwords have been found in Firefox. Information on temporary workarounds is provided here. This is, apparently, the fourth major security scare at Mozilla in three months – eek.

I fully understand why some people will find Google Web Accelerator scary… after all, you are effectively routing all of your surfing through Google’s servers, which gives them an enormous amount of information about you. But it’s very useful, and given how many people already know about almost every aspect of my life anyway, I have no problem with Google knowing a little more about me. So I’m using it. And recommending that you do too.

Edit: I’ve stopped using it again now – read through the comments to see why, paying particular attention here.

Google Local and it’s partner Google Maps are now available in the UK. As is Google SMS. It’s all very exciting.

I read a prediction somewhere that cheating in public exams would increase with the introduction of mobile services that would allow people to text questions and receive answers. Well, that’s not quite true. I didn’t read the prediction. I wrote it.

Being a relatively cruel person, I do love stories like this that take Firefox users off their ‘it’s SO much more secure’ pedestal.

Multiple vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to install malicious code or steal personal data have been discovered in the Mozilla Suite and the Firefox open source browser.

Yes, the Mozilla browsers are inherently more secure than IE, but they also have their own flaws (both within and outside of security issues), and there is a degree of security through obscurity which will become a useless defence as the browser becomes more popular.

Mozilla is undoubtedly more secure. But it’s not necessarily ‘better’.