Blog Posts by Tori Floyd

The iPod and iPhone have shrunk dramatically since both first debuted, but one thing has largely remained the same: the 30-pin connector port at the base of the devices. But now that port looks like it, too, will be getting smaller, and that could be a big problem for long-time Apple fans.

As we reported in February, rumours have been abundant that Apple will be shrinking the 30 pin connector port down to a 19 pin version with the release of the new iPhone. Now, it seems that Reuters has confirmed this news with two sources, making it look pretty likely that we'll all have to buy new speakers, docks and car chargers.

[ More from The Right Click: Celebrating 25 years of '.ca' ]

The reason for the change, according to Reuters' sources, is to make room for the headphone port, which is moving from the top of the device to the bottom. Due to the increasingly slim nature of the iPhone, there was no way to fit the headphone port next to a 30-pin connector port. As The Verge points out,

The two letters at the end of many Canadian website URLs may not seem like much to celebrate, but 25 years after they first became available, Canadian cyberspace could be a very different place without it.

This year, Canadians can reflect upon 25 years of the .ca domain registry and the kind of impact it's had on the Canadian online media landscape. Back in 1987, UBC computer science student John Demco thought that researchers across Canada could benefit from a top-level domain across the web.

"I saw the domain name system, and the .ca name in particular, as maybe part of the beginnings of a way to bring the disparate groups together," said Demco in an interview with The Canadian Press.

[ More Right Click: Rolling Stones 404 page may be one of the best out there ]

While the official anniversary of .ca was May 14, 2012, the creation of .ca wasn't a single-day event. While attending UBC, Demco exchanged a number of emails with Jon Postel, administrator of the Internet Assigned Numbers

A computer screen inbox displaying unsolicited spam emails. (AFP Photo/Mike Clarke)If your inbox consists solely of emails from Nigerian princes asking for your bank account, or an office overseas telling you about your inheritance from a "long lost relative," your email may be a little more sparse this week.

A computer security company based in California says that they've eliminated a piece of malware responsible 17 per cent of the world's spam.

According to a CBC report, servers that were deploying the Grum botnet had been disabled after several days of trying to pinpoint their location. They nabbed servers in Panama and Russia, but others in Ukraine and the Netherlands had taken their place before they, too, were disabled.

Shutting down the botnet took the efforts of researchers in the U.S., Britain and Russia. It had been active as far back as 2008, according to security researcher Atif Mushatq of FireEye security, the firm that spearheaded the effort to shut down the malware.

"All the known command and control servers are dead, leaving their zombies orphaned,"

News coverage across North America today has been dominated by the horrific shooting inside a movie theatre in a suburban Denver, Colorado, that has left 12 dead and another 59 injured. Some of the most gripping coverage has come from local news stations that were on the ground first in Aurora, speaking to those who witnesses the shooting and sharing their harrowing experience with the world. Here's a look at some of those local news accounts:

A witness records the chaos outside the movie theatre as everyone is evacuated:

Another person at the shooting also recorded the scene at the theatre as they were leaving the building:

Two witnesses share their terror as they witness others around them leaving the theatre with major injuries:

Other witnesses shared that they thought the person was part of the show, and that he was being "theatrical:"

The role that social media played in the shooting, and getting the word out about the shooting:

A woman describes learning

Image from arcticready.comA hoax by environmental activist group Greenpeace has gotten new legs because of a Twitter account that appeared this week, targeting Shell Oil's activities in the Arctic.

The account @ShellisPrepared was meant to be the Twitter handle for Shell's "social media response team," but in reality, it's a parody account that is designed to draw attention to a two-month-old fake Shell website. @ShellisPrepared appears to be run by an inept social media manager, who retweets users and tells them not to share links to "inappropriate ads" generated using the Shell Let's Go Social ad creator.

In reality, the Let's Go Social ad generator isn't an official site created by Shell. While the Arctic Ready site looks quite legitimate with similar branding to the Shell website, it's actually a fake site created by anti-Shell groups Greenpeace and the Yes Men, Forbes reports. It's filled with fake headlines and unusable links.

Arctic Ready and Shell site screengrabs, via Forbes

Even thought the jig is pretty much up, @ShellisPrepared is sticking with the

In one of the most curious rulings yet against Apple, the tech giant has been ordered by a British judge to run "Samsung did not copy iPad" ads on its U.K. website and in British newspapers.

Reuters reports that Judge Colin Birss ruled on July 9 that Samsung's designs were not "as cool" as Apple's iPad, and therefore were not a copy. The advertisements must run for at least six months.

The decision comes out of the case filed by Apple alleging that Samsung infringed on its registered designs. Birss' ruling last week allowed for Samsung to continue selling its Galaxy tablets in U.K. stores, even if it came at the expense of being called not as cool as the competition.

[ More from The Right Click: iPad Mini rumoured to be released before Christmas 2012 ]

As a further blow to the Korean company, Samsung's request to forbid Apple from claiming its design rights had been infringed was denied.

"They are entitled to their opinion," said Birss.

Apple has been granted permission to seek an

Thanks to a ruling today by the CRTC, your cable and satellite bills will be a little bit cheaper starting this fall.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced on July 18 that they will be doing away with the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) fee, The Globe and Mail reports. The change will be a gradual one, reducing slowly from September 2012 until it disappears altogether by August 31, 2013.

Now before you get all excited about having a cheaper cable bill, the LPIF only takes a very small portion from your monthly bill. To give you an idea, on my $79 cable bill last month, I only paid an additional $1.17 towards the LPIF.

Still, a penny saved is a penny earned, right? And all those pennies add up over the course of the year — especially for those who were benefiting from the fund.

Last year, 80 stations received $106 million in funding from the LPIF. The fund was designed to help smaller local stations make the adjustment to digital television

British Columbia bars are turning to strippers to entice patrons to come back.It's a tough time to be a proprietor of a local watering hole in B.C. Between a slouching economy, tough anti-drinking and driving laws, indoor smoking bans and lower sales than ever before, it's enough to make you want to just take off.

Take it all off, apparently.

Local business owners attempted to boost slow sales this summer by calling in strippers, The Province reports. The move, while faced with strong opposition from some local residents, is one that is seen as benefiting both the entertainers and the bar owners.

"Sales are down drastically and we're looking for a change," said Dale Stephenson, bar manager of Ma Miller's Pub on Vancouver Island, to The Province.

Last month, Ma Miller's prepared to have strippers performing at the pub daily in order to draw more of a crowd. The pub, which has been around since the 1930s, is just one of several in the province that turned to unconventional entertainment amidst low sales. Bars in Nanaimo and other parts of Vancouver Island are also