Welcome to the Radcomm UK’s Weekly Tech Roundup. Here, you will find the latest and greatest tech stories all in one convenient spot; ensuring you are kept up to date with current events. If you wish to join our mailing list, feel free to drop us an email at sales@radcommuk.co.uk and we’ll sign you up straight away. Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for news updates and exclusive online deals.

Now, in case you are wondering why no CES story has been included in this week’s news – fear not! Next week’s issue will be a CES featured special. We wanted to wait for the event to be over so that we would do justice to the event picking the top 5 stories from CES. So expect a CES focused newsletter next week.

1. Controversy as white noise video on youtube is struck with five copyright claims

The internet has unquestionably opened opportunities to countless numbers of individuals over the last two decades. Perhaps one of the best features the internet holds – is the ability to make money from products. With that being said – unfortunately, every so often – a story like this pops up

Introduce Sebastian Tomczak, a musician based in Australia – who recently uploaded a 10-hour long video titled ’10 Hours of Low Level White Noise’. The video in question can be found below. Be warned: it really is just 10 hours of white noise. We highly recommend that you don’t try to watch the entire video.

The BBC has reported that the accusing parties are not looking for the removal of the video; but instead, are demanding that any revenue made from advertising instead be paid directly to them.

On Monday, Tomczak confirmed via Twitter that Youtube had dropped the copyright claims, however, is still unsure at this time whether or not the accusing parties will further pursue their claims in court.

‘I will be disputing these claims,’ Tomczak told the BBC. ‘I am intrigued and perplexed that YouTube’s automated content ID system will pattern-match white noise with multiple claims

“If I were making substantial money from YouTube content, such a broken system may prove to be unusable,” he said.

YouTube has now released the copyright claims on my white noise video. Nonetheless, I think the Content ID system needs to change.

— Sebastian Tomczak (@littlescale) January 8, 2018

To clarify where Mr. Tomczak stands legally in the eyes of the law, intellectual property lawyer Iain Connor at UK law firm Pinsent Masons stated the following on the matter:

‘Copyright does not protect the idea, but the expression of the idea.

‘If I record background white noise or if I have a random white noise generator and I record that, with me being the first person to fix that recording, then I am the owner of its copyright.’

Whilst at a glance, a case like this seem amusing and trivial, serious questions must be asked about the financial safety of content creators if such trivial claims can instantly put a temporary freeze on their income. Youtube currently use a complex Content ID system which compares sample files submitted by content creators against what is already up on their platform to check for any copyright infringement. It currently stands as a good (if not slightly flawed) system, with Google (Youtube’s parent company) claiming the rate of invalid claims is now below 1%. Whilst this low percentage may look encouraging, one has to consider the detrimental affect false claims may have on content creators with smaller channels who lack the following to be heard.

2. Pyeongchang Olympics targeted by hackers

Cybersecurity firm McAfee has confirmed that malware-infected emails were sent to organisations associated with the Olympics. According to the BBC, these emails were sent from a Singapore IP address and contained instructions to open a text document written in Korean. The hackers posed as South Korea’s Nation Counter-Terrorist Center.

The hackers used a method called ‘steganography’, a covert method of tricking users to download Malware by hiding the virus in text and images. The document in question was titled: Organised by Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

In a statement, McAfee warned that ‘The majority of these organisations had some association with the Olympics, either in providing infrastructure or in a supporting role,

‘The attackers appear to be casting a wide net with this campaign.

“Based on our analysis, this implant establishes an encrypted channel to the attacker’s server, likely giving the attacker the ability to execute commands on the victim’s machine and to install additional malware,’

Following the statement, McAfee reiterated the warning from the University of California to expect more cyber-attacks at major events around the globe in the future. This may become the norm (if it isn’t already).

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3. Carphone Warehouse data breach results in fine

Carphone Warehouse has been fined by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a data breach which took place in 2015. The breach resulted in approximately 2.4m customers having their data being compromised which included their names, addresses, dates of birth and bank details.

The ICO has determined that the ‘number of distinct and significant inadequacies in the security arrangements’ of Carphone Warehouse as ‘striking”’ and said that it was ‘particularly concerning that a number of the inadequacies related to basic, commonplace measures’ as reported by The Guardian.

The fine; which totaled a staggering £400,000 (one of the largest fines ever issued by the ICO) matches that which was issued to TalkTalk in 2016 under similar circumstances. The ICO determined through their investigation that as many as 11 issues directly related to the Carphone Warehouse’s data protection and security practice were present. One of these failures alone would have breached the data protection act.

The list of infractions included using software which was several years out of date, whilst also failing to ensure appropriate security had been in place in relation to login details to their system as well as an absence of any antivirus software. The same root password was also present on every one of their servers which held valuable data.

‘A company as large, well-resourced and established as Carphone Warehouse should have been actively assessing its data security systems, and ensuring systems were robust and not vulnerable to such attacks,’ the Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said.

Image result for Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham — Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham

‘Carphone Warehouse should be at the top of its game when it comes to cybersecurity, and it is concerning that the systemic failures we found related to rudimentary, commonplace measures.’

In a statement, Carphone Warehouse said: ‘We accept today’s decision by the ICO and have co-operated fully throughout its investigation into the illegal cyber-attack on a specific system within one of Carphone Warehouse’s UK divisions in 2015.

‘As the ICO notes in its report, we moved quickly at the time to secure our systems, to put in place additional security measures and to inform the ICO and potentially affected customers and colleagues. The ICO noted that there was no evidence of any individual data having been used by third parties.’

4. Facebook to start prioritising humans over pages on news feed, but is there a sinister twist?

Facebook took a decision this Thursday to start prioritising what friends and family share on users’ news feeds in order to reduce the amount of content non-advertising publishers and brands share.

The changes are set to be implemented over the next following weeks, with Zuckerberg explaining his decision due to the high number of posts from brands and businesses dominating users’ newsfeeds.

‘We’ve gotten feedback from our community that public content – posts from businesses, brands and media – is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other,’ Zuckerberg said in a post. You can read his full statement below.

Ultimately, there are two conclusions that we may draw from this decision. Conclusion A: Facebook are being honest and are trying to go back to their roots in an attempt to get their users to engage with other users instead of traffic being diverted to posts from fan pages. This decision will likely lead to people spending less time on the site, an admission Zuckerberg himself concedes.

Those who are slightly more cynical may opt for Conclusion B: how this decision will create a new incentive for business pages to boost posts, in order to not get lost in the high amount of daily posts. Let us not forget that every 60 seconds on Facebook: 510,000 comments are posted, 293,000 statuses are updated, and 136,000 photos are uploaded.This may turn Facebook into a pay-to-play for businesses looking to grow their online following (more than it already is).

Remember, the proposed changes to prioritise real users will not have an effect on advertisers.

5. Amazon’s top-selling computer monitors: 2018

Every week, we’ll take a look at the highest trending products on the net, to let you know the hottest gizmos and gadgets out there. This week, we’ll be taking a look at the top 5 selling monitors on Amazon, highlighting the model, the price and the people’s verdict.

See below the top 5 most sold monitors currently on Amazon including features, price, rating and a hand-picked review from the Radcomm UK team.

5. AOC 21.5″ LED Monitor

Price: £79.97

Rating: 4 Stars

This 21.5″ display delivers a good performance for home users. It also helps them save costs with its modest energy consumption, and offers tilt and wall-mount options.

Display diagonal: 21.5″, Display brightness: 250 cd/m, Display resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
RMS rated power: 2 W. Color of product: Black, Feet colour: Black. Cable lock slot: Kensington, VESA mounting interfaces: 100 x 100 mm, Swivel angle range: 45 – 45
AC input voltage: 100-240 V, AC input frequency: 50/60 Hz, Power consumption (standby): 0.5 W. Visible Screen size -476.64 x 268.11 mm

Radcomm’s top review – CP

For the price (£75) for a 22″ screen, these are great. I bought the version with HDMI and VGA inputs and have both hooked up to my PC running Windows 10. The picture is sharp, screens are thin with little border, and the stands work well enough, though the amount of adjustment (tilt) is limited. I shopped for value so am fine with no built-in speaker, but the built-in audio-jack seems to limit the volume of the headphones. I have headphones connected to the screen I have connected using HDMI, with sound up to maximum on the PC, but only what I would describe as medium sound levels coming out of the headphones. But as I say above, the value and quality of the screens deserves 5 star anyway. No comment on durability as I’ve only had a few days so far.

4. ASUS 27″ FHD Gaming Monitor

Price: £159.97

Rating: 4 Stars

When it comes to design, ASUS always have customers in mind – the ASUS VP278H features the ASUS-exclusive GamePlus hotkey with crosshair and timer functions. Gamers can select four different crosshair types to suit the gaming environment; while the latter keeps players aware of the elapsed time in real-time strategy games. These tools allow gamers to practice and improve on their gaming skills.

27 inch full HD monitor with 1 ms (GTG) quick response time to eliminate ghosting and tracers for more fluid video playback
ASUS-exclusive GamePlus provides crosshair and timer function for better gaming experience
The TÜV Rheinland-certified ASUS flicker-free and low blue light technologies
Extensive connectivity including, dual HDMI and D-sub ports; plus 2 W stereo speakers

Radcomm’s top review – Ipad Monkey

Bought this as an alternative to using my tv for connecting my PS4.
Setup was straight forward and initial inpressions were good. Works perfect with PS4, screen has great colours and depth and that was with the preset game mode within the monitors picture settings.
The monitor is very light and picture is great, sharp and clear no issues.
Make sure you sit an correct level or some of the screen can go dark but when on a table or desk it’s not really noticeable.
Only issue is that is has no headphone socket or optics connection only a audio in for if using the supplied vga cable, the speakers that are built in are very tinny, you can therefore only use headphones is you use the headphone socket from the PS4 controller, this does allow you to connect external speakers using the controller which makes all the difference.
Apart from this issue I am very happy with the monitor and would recommend to any gamer who wants to improve their set up and get the immersive gameplay that a small screen gives.
5* for me and for £159 you cannot get better for full hd display and 1ms response as well as 100,000,000 contrast ratio
Excellent buy

3. BenQ 23.8″ LED Monitor

Price: £99.98

Rating : 4.5 Stars

The GW2470H VA LED monitor brings viewing pleasure to everyday work and play with exquisite details on the exterior and striking visual performance delivered by 3000:1 high contrast ratio, 178°/178°wide-viewing angle, dual HDMI and BenQ’s eye-caring design, which consists of BenQ‘s Flicker-free technology and Low Blue Light modes.

Flicker free and low blue light mode (TUV certified)
Narrow bezel 1.2 cm
3000:1 native contrast ratio
True 8-bit colour performance
178/178 degrees wide-viewing angles

Radcomm’s top review – Sue H

Really nice monitor at a good price. I did scratch my head a bit at first as I couldn’t get the output to recognise the source from my macbook. You have to manually change the input options using the little buttons just to the left of the power button under the right hand side of the monitor frame. Since then it’s been flawless, really love it.

2. BenQ 22″ LED Monitor

Price: £95.95

Rating: 4.5 Stars

The GW2270HM monitor with Eye-Care design brings viewing pleasure to work and play with exquisite details on striking visual performance.

3000:1 high contrast ratio
HDMI input
Built-in speakers
Flicker-free technology
Low blue light mode

Radcomm’s top review – James Ward

1.ASUS 24″ Gaming Monitor

Price: £113.97

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Delicate touches make a monitor truly great, VS248H Full HD LED monitor, with 50,000,000:1 high contrast ratio and HDMI interface, is optimized for the finest image and color quality. This approach extends to the sturdy stand and slim profile without compromising style in ensuring stability and durability.

50,000,000:1 ASUS smart contrast ratio. Asus support line: 01442-265548 for queries related to the product.
Full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) support
Quick response time of 1 ms (GTG) eliminates ghosting and tracers for more fluid video playback
Aspect control function allows users to select a preferred display mode
Splendid video Intelligence technology optimises video performance and image fidelity

Radcomm’s top review – Alba

Asus VS248HR 24 inch 1 ms Gaming Monitor, 1920 x 1080, HDMI, DVI, VGA, 250 cd/m2

Sold by: Amazon
£104.99
Condition: New—(UPDATE at the end)—I did quite a bit of research before buying this, comparing other monitors and reading reviews. I was deciding between this monitor and Asus VC239H 23 inch Full HD IPS LCD Monitor (16:9, 80M:1, 250 cd/m2, 1920 x 1080, 5 ms, VGA/HDMI/DVI) . At the end, I decided to buy this “#1 Best Seller in Monitors”.And I agree. It’s probably the best monitor out there in terms of the specs, price and quality. This monitor is absolutely amazing. A 24-inch monitor, 1ms, Full HD 1080p (1920×1080) and supporting each of the different inputs of 1 x D-Sub (VGA) 1 x DVI-D 1 x HDMI 1 and a Headphone Out (3.5mm Audio). And all of this for more or less £100! No need to spend ££ more. This has everything you want, including wall mount (VESA Wall Mount Standard (100 x 100 mm). There are instructions on how to remove the stand. I reckon this is a mid to high-range monitor.Two power cords are included. One EU 2pin and one UK 3pin. VGA and DVI cable is included. No HDMI cable is included and I think ASUS should’ve included this as many would use HDMI nowadays. So I used my own HDMI cable which I had lying around. I would recommend HDMI as it transfers digital/visual data & audio data all in one cable. The DVI cable does the same but HDMI is smaller and has higher quality. The VGA cable would only transfer digital/visual data onto the screen so you would need a separate audio cable if you use VGA.
When I used the VGA to see how it is, the monitor was showing my home-screen. When I used my HDMI, it wasn’t showing anything. I was a bit worried but then I realised I had to select the input for HDMI. All I had to do was press the input button (next to the power button) twice.
I’ve seen the difference in quality when using a VGA vs. a HDMI cable. Believe me. Use HDMI.Once I got it all set up, the screen was quite bright. But before I decreased the contrast and the brightness (which is so easy to do), I did a LCD DeadPixel Test using [Search on Google]. In my research, I’ve read that a lot of people were getting dead pixels. I was taking no chance whatsoever. So I did the tests and all pixels were active. So I knew I had no pixel problems.
You can toggle through different modes: Standard Mode, Theater Mode, Game Mode, Night View Mode, sRGB and Scenery Mode. – With a press of a button. Changing image (sharpness, aspect control, position, focus, etc.) and colour (saturation, smart view, brightness, contrast, etc.) settings are easy too. However, I didn’t need to change any of these except for the brightness and contrast.
Watching videos and going through images: incredible quality. The monitor itself is good quality, including the stand- which was really easy to put on (see pics).
The monitor has a 50/60Hz refresh rate and CAN also be tilted. See pic.
It’s also good to know that the energy rating is A+I’ve read through the documentations and I noticed ASUS’s defect Policy which may be useful for you to know.
Warranty service provided if there are at least:
“More than 3 bright dots or 5 dark dots from 0 to 36 months”…
“A bright dot is a white or sub-pixel that is always on under BLACK pattern. A dark dot is a black or sub-pixel that is always off under patterns excluding black.”
^So basically, 3 white pixels or 5 black pixels.

Also, you may have read that it comes with a ‘free’ DOOM game. The promotional code is emailed to you after couple of days. This is on offer up until 31st August 2016. I have not and WILL NOT use this as I don’t play those kinds of games AND more importantly, in the Terms and Conditions, it says:
“ASUS is eligible to charge you €59.99 as DOOM game key payment if you return the product”.
So for those who buy the monitor & use the code and then decide to return the monitor after a week or so, you will be charged €59.99 (£51).

RECOMMENDATIONS when buying Monitor
-Do research. Know what you are buying.
-Budget of £100 or so. You can get a GREAT monitor for around £100.
-24inch. It’s a good size. More than 24inch (i.e. 32inch) would degrade pixel quality when watching something in HD at CLOSE view (which you would do on a desk). For example, a 24inch monitor at 5ft would give the same view as 48inch monitor at 10ft. The only difference is that those pixels have been enlarged on the 48inch. Hence the degrade in pixel quality when viewed at close view.
-Full HD (1920 x 1080). Best quality giving best user experience.
-Less than 5ms. How fast pixels can change. Lower is better. Reduces the ghosting effect when pixel changes (i.e. in videos). Less than 5 is ideal although I don’t think the difference between a 1ms monitor and a 5ms monitor would be much and it’s not something I really looked into.
-Around 60Hz. How many times the display refreshes its’ image. Higher is better. This monitor is 50/60Hz (says it at the back of the monitor), which is good for normal use. If you play heavy gaming, look at 100+Hz. It should be ok though. Again, I don’t think the difference would be much and it’s not something I really looked into.
-No less than 200 cd/m2. [=Candelas per Square Meter]. It’s the measure of brightness of how well the screen will show in brightly lit environments. So it depends- it may be an issue for you or not. E.g. If you have a window giving bright light into the room, drowning out the screen. I have a bright light coming into my room and I have no problems using the monitor.
-Avoid glossy screen display. Shadow reflections / glare would be terrible. The bezels around the monitor are not a problem – Hardly notice it at all.
-Supports all three inputs: VGA, DVI and HDMI. You would have these ports available in case you need them. Like VGA for a Digital Video Recorder (DVR).
-Has some sort of Audio: 3.5mm audio or built in speakers. I would prefer built in speakers but I” be using external speaker anyways. I don’t think the built-in speakers in monitors would be good anyways. So just get a pair of external speakers and in the meantime, use your headphones.
-Ability to tilt. If you’re tall, you wouldn’t want the monitor to face your chest.
-Check it’s the right size for you. E.g. Would it fit on your desk? (See attached pics for sizes)
-Minimum 2 years warranty. This monitor has 3 years with the 1st year being with Amazon (you would have to contact Amazon after 30 days if you need help).
-Buy New from “Dispatched and Sold by Amazon”. Avoid any other sellers, including sellers that are fulfilled by Amazon. Reduce the chance of getting a defect. It would also be an easy process with Amazon if something was to go wrong.

CONS // How it could have been improved…
-Higher stand: from the base of the stand to the base of the monitor. It’s permanent at 7cm. It’s not a problem for me but maybe it could’ve been customisable (adjust it higher/lower)?
-The power and the input ports could’ve been vertical rather than horizontal (see pic).
-Like another reviewer said, the audio port would’ve been better on the sides rather than on the back. Then it would’ve been easier to plug and unplug headphone.
-External speakers with the audio port would be nice.
-When the headphone is plugged in and a sound is played, there is a static noise for around 20seconds, even if the volume is decreased. You can’t hear the static noise when something is being played. It goes away after no sound has been played for around 20sec and comes back on after a sound has been played.
This is the only main concern.

Great product at an incredible price. Packaged well and delivered well on time.100% recommended.
Please go through the attached images I have taken. The image of the back of the monitor includes 2 pics from Google and 1 from Amazon.
I’ve tried my very best to be as thorough as possible.

——-UPDATE (after 27days)——-

The monitor has been great but after using the monitor for couple of weeks, I’ve noticed a problem. Every so often, a 5cm line (dead pixels) kept appearing on the top left of the screen. (See pic). I’ve tried various tests (resetting, pixel tests…) to see if it would stop the line from appearing. As it was still there, I returned the defect one and got a replacement within two days. Nevertheless, unexpected things happen sometimes and this is why it’s important to buy these kind of items from “Dispatched and Sold by Amazon”.- they sorted everything out quickly without any issues.
Now with the replacement monitor, everything looks good and I hope all goes well. I still recommend this monitor.

——-END of UPDATE——-

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1. Controversy as white noise video on youtube is struck with five copyright claims

2. Pyeongchang Olympics targeted by hackers

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3. Carphone Warehouse data breach results in fine

4. Facebook to start prioritising humans over pages on news feed, but is there a sinister twist?

5. AOC 21.5″ LED Monitor

Price: £79.97

Rating: 4 Stars

4. ASUS 27″ FHD Gaming Monitor

Price: £159.97

Rating: 4 Stars

3. BenQ 23.8″ LED Monitor

Price: £99.98

Rating : 4.5 Stars

2. BenQ 22″ LED Monitor

Price: £95.95

Rating: 4.5 Stars

1.ASUS 24″ Gaming Monitor

Price: £113.97

Rating: 4.5 Stars

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Now only £114.99!