The dpivision.com Ltd Weblog

Date:         Tuesday 20 October
Time:        5.30–9pm (event begins at 6pm sharp)
Venue:     The County Thistle Hotel, Newcastle (opposite Central Station)
Cost:         Free

Software companies of the North East: working internationally could be the next exciting step for your business.  Discover opportunities available and how to take the next step at the “International Working” seminar on 20 October.

Run by Codeworks Connect the trade association for digital businesses in North East England, in partnership with Sunderland Software City this free seminar will give you real life expertise from local businesses who are successfully trading internationally.

Why should you attend?

A full line up of engaging speakers from local businesses will take you through the peaks and troughs on the road to becoming successful international traders.  Learn from their mistakes and get one step ahead at the beginning of the journey!

Listen and learn from local businesses that ultimately succeeded after finding out what not to do the hard way. There are many routes into international working find out which path best suits your company.

•    Using a reseller hear how Ross Cooney at Rozmic currently does it
•    Acting as a reseller Derek Curtis explains what worked for Bond Solutions
•    Joint ventures knowledge of local culture is the key says Andrew Charlton of Back Consulting
•    Legal aspects Speechly Bircham’s Mark Bailey takes you through the legal minefield in a “bite size” presentation
•    Hands on an informative workshop with help from local solicitors WardHadaway, Crutes, WatsonBurton, Muckles and Mincoff Jackson

All our speakers and solicitors are available for questions and answers during the networking session.  Anything you need to know, we will have the answer!

Book your company’s free place today

Places for this free event are strictly limited and we expect them to go quickly. To book yours, call Alison Wilson at Codeworks Connect on 0191 556 1138 or email alison.wilson@codeworks.net

FREELANCE coders and developers are being invited to brush up on their skills at a networking event.

Headed by Sunderland Software City, the event aims to bring together the region’s freelance software coders and developers.

The event, at the Thistle Hotel, Newcastle, will include an informative talk from a leading freelancer, a talk on current software market trends, future job prospects, training and skills and stalls from networking exhibitors.
Food and drink will also be provided.

The event runs from 5.30pm to 9pm on October 14.

To register, or for more details, contact Alison Wilson on 0191 556 1138 or email alison.wilson@codeworks.net.

Think you’ve secured yourself against online hackers with a foolproof password?

Well think again because with the number of cases of reported hack attacks on the rise, hackers are getting even craftier at cracking those codes.

But fear not, here at DpiVision we’ve been busy trawling the Internet to find out ways to keep hackers at bay and we’ve stumbled across web geek John P’s top tips on protecting yourself from online crime.

After extensively researching the subject, John’s pretty clued up on how to smash those passwords you and I reckon are rock solid, and now he’s using his knowledge to help fellow friends online.

His first tip is to ditch obvious passwords like your partner, pet or sibling’s name.
Lose naming your password after your hometown, school or favourite football team, and don’t use date of births.

Secondly, use a different password for each log-in you set up.

Many people make the mistake of using identical or similar passwords for all online accounts, meaning that hackers don’t need to attempt to take on steel-ringed websites like banks, they can just hack into the softer site you used years ago to buy your aunt that hat.

Pay particular attention to the difference between using only lowercase characters and using all possible characters (uppercase, lowercase, and special characters – like @#$%^&*). Adding just one capital letter and one asterisk would change the processing time for an 8 character password from 2.4 days to 2.1 centuries.

John has also compiled a list of tips to toughen up your password:

1.    Randomly substitute numbers for letters that look similar. The letter ‘o’ becomes the number ‘0′, or even better an ‘@’ or ‘*’. (i.e. – m0d3ltf0rd… like modelTford)
2.    Randomly throw in capital letters (i.e. – Mod3lTF0rd)
3.    Think of something you were attached to when you were younger, but don’t choose a person’s name! Every name plus every word in the dictionary will fail under a simple brute force attack.
4.    Maybe a place you loved, or a specific car, an attraction from a holiday, or a favourite restaurant?
5.    You really need to have different username / password combinations for everything. Remember, the technique is to break into anything you access just to figure out your standard password, then compromise everything else. This doesn’t work if you don’t use the same password everywhere
6.    Since it can be difficult to remember a ton of passwords, John recommends using Roboform. It will store all of your passwords in an encrypted format and allow you to use just one master password to access all of them.
7.    Once you’ve thought of a password, try Microsoft’s password strength tester to find out how secure it is.

To read John’s full blog, visit http://onemansblog.com/2007/03/26/how-id-hack-your-weak-passwords/

About the workshop

Join designer and author Andy Clarke for a full day learning how to use the most up-to-date CSS in your work today. Be inspired to find new ways of designing using CSS.

Modern web browsers now better capable of rendering advanced CSS than ever before. From highly targeted CSS selectors to new ways to work with layout, colour and typography, if you are a web designer or developer, working with CSS has never been more exciting.

‘Advanced CSS Styling’ is a unique one-day master class presented by Andy Clarke, designer and author of the best-selling Transcending CSS. Spend the day with Andy learning how to use the most up-to-date CSS techniques in your everyday work.

What you will learn

• How to design balanced, inspired layouts using advanced CSS positioning techniques
• New ways to work with colour using RGBa
• Using multiple background and border images
• How to use text and box shadows
• About CSS gradients, reflections and transitions

Of course the browser landscape is varied and each browser supports different CSS properties. You will learn how to design around, rather than hack around these natural differences to create experiences that are enjoyable for everyone, no matter which browser they use. You will learn:

• How to improve a browser’s CSS support using Javascript
• Modernizr and how it will help you to design around browser support
• When using Universal Internet Explorer 6 is appropriate

Web typography is one of the hottest topics in web design and development. As a self-confessed typography perfectionist, Andy will teach you:

• Working with font embedding solutions including Typekit, Kernest and Cufon
• Creating striking, readable type with typographic hierarchies
• How to improve typography with kerning, leading and baseline shifts

In this full day master class, you will also learn the latest techniques for designing in a browser and how to test your designs for web accessibility throughout your design process.

Don’t miss out

Don’t miss this opportunity to be inspired to find new ways of using CSS and how to use the most up-to-date CSS techniques. Places for each workshop are limited to thirty and prices start at only £275.00+VAT for limited early bird places.

Schedule

The current economic situation represents the greatest adversity to face the North East for decades. The North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) is working to ensure that all businesses in the region receive the vital support required to provide stability to their businesses during this period.

It is vital that the region’s businesses stand firm during these turbulent times and at the NECC they feel it is their responsibility, as your regional Chamber of Commerce, to provide a firm foundation on which businesses can meet the challenge of recession head-on.

Please find a help guide below with topics that include:

• Controlling Costs
• Improving Cash Flow
• Increase Your Marketing
• Maintain Service Levels
• Preparing For the Up Turn
• General Tips

Top tips for business during the economic downturn (PDF)