24/04/2010

Blue Sky Thinking

Looks like the carnage at the airports is coming to an end with flights back on schedule, but whilst the planes were grounded instead of watching endless news reports of Brits stuck abroad, I was stuck looking at the most amazing blue skies I have ever seen.

I live near Manchester Airport, so I am so used to seeing the sky full of white trails, it was simply surreal seeing none in the sky. There will be very few occasions in a lifetime when you will experience it, ( last time would have been post 9/11 )..and I miss the clean skies already.

Anyway, on a side trip into Manchester to catch up with an old mate and his missus, I pointed the camera up at the sky and snapped away.

Click the image for the rather simple results...


I also set up a competition via my work Twitter feed @LoweproUK with some very skilled photographers taking pics and uploading them to Flickr. Check out the entries here.

18/04/2010

My gmail got hacked...gutted!


I've had a Gmail account since September 2004... it was still in the Beta testing as well, so I am I suppose one of the first users in the UK. In the years I have had the account I have sent thousands of emails and ended up with hundreds of contacts. It has been superb, far better than my old Madmail ( remember them? ), Yahoo and Hotmail accounts. It's been solid too, no issues for all that time...Until Saturday.

Yes, my email got hacked.

First off, let me make this clear. The hackers didn't gain access to my computer, or my wireless, or did they sit in a white van looking through binoculars at my keyboard to work out my password. The hackers got access to my account via Google Servers....yep the mighty Google made a boo boo. How do I know this? Well a simple search on yes, google, and you can find lots of articles on gmail hacks ( with rather a large number of fingers pointing to China? ). I am also rather confident that my password for this account got never be guessed ( and I have all other security measures in place ).

All I can say it is feels nasty... it is like someone breaking into your house and using the toilet ( but not flushing ).

So sorry to everyone my account spammed, I'm hoping that you either noticed before you opened it ( and deleted it accordingly ) or your spam filter picked it up before you saw it. Weirdly it looks like it was only accounts A to M?

More info on potential Chinese link here

More info on the various problems in this forum link here

Long techy document ( from 2008! ) here

09/04/2010

Biking 2010 - It's Begun

Classic day out in the Spring sunshine enjoying the mighty trails of North Wales...morning at the Pump Track and Skill Areas at Llandegla and the afternoon at the Gasnach.

Click the image below to check out the shots.


And for some top coaching follow 'Campbell Coaching' on Facebook!

05/04/2010

That there London - Easter 2010

Don't you just love late minute trips? Well this one was to that there London courtesy of the Bro-In-Law and his Fiance lending us their flat in Highgate ( what nice folks ). We caught up with Family and Friends and even squeezed in some time at Hamleys and the Science Museum ( Immy preferred the latter )...and then there was the Olive with a face?

Click the pic below to check out some images from the weekend.