Plan A Journey

Plan A Journey (via AA Route Planner)

From Shakespeare Road, Bedford to Tottenham Court Road Underground Station, London
Distance: 57.4 miles (show in km) | Time: 1 hr 29 min

Road	Distance (miles)	Directions	Total (miles)
A5141	0.00	Start out on Shakespeare Road	0.00
A5141	0.30	At roundabout take the 2nd exit, then at mini-roundabout turn left onto the A5141 Signposted Kempston	0.30
	0.17	Bedford Railway Station	0.47
	0.21	At mini-roundabout turn left onto the A5141 Signposted All routes	0.68
A5141	0.08	At roundabout take the 3rd exit onto the A5141 Signposted Kempston B531	0.76
	0.36	At traffic signals turn right onto the A5141 (not shown) Signposted Luton M1	1.12
	0.27	At traffic signals turn right onto the A6 Signposted Luton	1.39
	0.30	Warning: Speed Cameras along the A5141	1.69
	0.63	At traffic signals continue forward onto the A5141 Signposted Luton A6	2.33
	0.09	At mini-roundabout continue forward onto the A5141 Signposted Luton A6	2.42
	0.20	At traffic signals continue forward onto the A5141 Signposted Luton A6	2.62
A421	0.24	At roundabout take the 4th exit, then merge onto the A421 Signposted M1, Milton Keynes	2.86
	1.09	At Marsh Leys Junction continue forward onto the A421 Signposted Milton Keynes	3.95
	6.90	Branch left, then at traffic signals turn left onto the A421 Signposted M1 South	10.84
M1	0.46	At roundabout take the 2nd exit, then join the M1 motorway Signposted London	11.30
	7.35	Toddington Service Area	18.66
	9.08	Warning: Speed Cameras along the M1	27.74
	0.67	Holiday Inn (Luton-South M1, Jct.9)	28.41
	7.24	Continue forward at junction 6a Signposted London	35.65
	9.24	London Gateway Service Area (WELCOME BREAK)	44.89
	4.84	End of Motorway (junction 1)	49.73
A406	0.12	At roundabout take the 1st exit, then merge onto the A406 Signposted N Circular (E), C. London, Wood Green	49.85
A41	0.48	At Brent Cross Interchange branch left, then at roundabout take the 3rd exit, then merge onto the A41 Signposted Kilburn, Cricklewood, C London	50.33
	0.59	Warning: Speed Cameras along the A41	50.92
	0.84	At traffic signals continue forward Signposted Central London, Kilburn, Swiss Cottage	51.76
	0.32	At traffic signals turn right onto Finchley Road - A41 Signposted C. London, Kilburn, Swiss Cottage	52.08
	1.18	Finchley Road Underground Station	53.26
	0.32	At Swiss Cottage, traffic signals continue forward	53.57
	0.13	Take right-hand lane and at tarffic signals turn right, then merge onto the A41 Signposted Central London, St Johns Wood	53.70
	0.08	At traffic signals turn left onto Finchley Road - A41 Signposted Central London, St Johns Wood	53.78
	0.52	St Johns Wood Underground Station	54.30
	0.43	At roundabout take the 2nd exit onto the A41 Signposted Central London, Marylebone	54.73
	0.61	Keep in left-hand lane then continue forward onto Allsop Place Signposted Ring Road A501, The City, Kings Cross	55.34
A501	0.19	Turn left onto Marylebone Road - A501	55.53
	0.06	Madame Tussaud's	55.58
	0.33	Regents Park Underground Station	55.91
	0.25	Warning: Speed Cameras along the A501	56.16
	0.00	At Euston Underpass branch left Signposted Camden Town, Westminster	56.16
A400	0.13	At traffic signals turn right then left onto the A400 Signposted West End, Westminster, Holborn	56.29
A400	0.13	Then at next traffic signals bear right take right-hand lane then shortly	56.42
	0.07	Continue forward onto the A400 Central London Congestion Charges Apply Mon-Fri 7am-6pm	56.48
A40	0.72	At Shaftesbury Theatre, traffic signals turn right then bear right onto the A40 Signposted St Giles Circus, Euston	57.20
	0.11	Branch left Signposted Local Access	57.31
A400	0.09	At traffic signals turn right onto the A400	57.40
	0.03	Arrive on Charing Cross Road	57.43
		Section time 1:29, Total time 1:29 The following directions from this point are from walkit.com: Distance Time Calories CO2 Saved 0.7 miles 10 mins (fast) 77 Cal (fast) 0.08 kg tube 1.1 km 14 mins (med) 69 Cal (med) 0.22 kg car 1555 steps 21 mins (slow) 67 Cal (slow) 0.16 kg bus I looked at various route/direction planning websites such as Bing and Google but the layout wasn't clear and it sometimes wouldn't take you to where you want to go. On the other hand, AA route planner gives clear step by step instructions, times, and even services, in effect this is a lot more convinient and also safer for the person using the instructions due to service and stopping locations. Since the AA instructions only took me to Charring Cross Road and not exactly on to Tottenham Court road, I used walkit.com to walk there since it's not to far away (only 0.7miles). This activity makes it clear that technology does not have a built in 'initiative' so you have to be very precise on where you want to go otherwise you can end up in places you don't want to be. This analogy applies to technology in general. Cost: Approx £8 (average 40-50 mpg). Traffic and congestion will affect price.

Online Banking

Online Banking

Lloyds TSB:

• 4.9 million Lloyds TSB customers already using Internet Banking.
• View statements, your balance and recent transactions.
• Make transfers between your accounts, pay bills and make payments to other people.
• Register for text alerts.

Lloyds TSBs bank accounts give offers and insentives to students and people who are starting university. And most people who are in that age group usually have smart phones 3G which are perfectly capable of internet/mobile app banking, so in general, it's very helpful for active people who are 'on the go' and need quick simple service.
How to log on:
 1. Go to the login page and type in your 'User ID' and password. This is set up by you through the website or when you create your account. Your User ID is a serveral digit code.
2. Once step 1 is completed you are asked to give 3 different characters to your 'memorable information' code. Your memorable information code is a 6-15 character word including numbers chosen by you. E.g. If your code is ABCD1234 and it asks your for the 1st, 4th and 7th character you would type in AD3. Once you have done that you have logged in.

• " quick and secure way to manage your finances 24/7.
• You can view statements, check your balance, manage Direct Debits and standing orders, move money and make payments.
• Money Manager – a free tool that can track and categorise most of your spending, and help you save money.
• View, pay and manage your bills online with Bill Manager.
• Keep on top of your money with Mobile Banking.
• We guarantee to refund your money in the unlikely event you experience a fraud with your Internet Banking*. We use the latest online security measures to protect your money, your personal information and your privacy." - tp://www.lloydstsb.com/new_internet_banking.asp 

Barclays (Target audience unclear):

Barclays offer little information on how many people are using their online banking or any other potentially interesting quick facts.

How to log on:
1.Go to the login page and type in your surname and online membership number (A several digit number that is personal to you and different to your card number)
2. Once you have completed step 1 you will be directed to a different page where it will ask you for the last 4 digits of your card number and your 'Pinsentry' code. To aquire your pinsentry code you have to put your card into a small device that looks like a calculator that is given to you when you set up your account. Once the card is inserted you have to type your pin in and an 8digit code will come up on the device. That is your pinsetry code that you have to type in. Once thats typed in your logged into your account.

I strongly believe that online and phone banking will become increasingly popular over the next few years. Especially with students taking gap years or people who are out of the house and need to use the app to get some money or make a transaction. However, it will become more popular with people who can't get out the house as much due to illness or old age etc, because they will have the convenient abilty to do their banking (with a litttle help from a computer literate friend or family) to do transactions straight from their home computer.

 

Weather: Internet Predictions Vs Reality

Over the next week I'll be looking at real time information, mostly BBC Weather results and seeing how accurate they are.

BBC Weather

Wednesday: 12-16 degrees. Early morning showers then sunny spells throughout the day.

Reality Check: everywhere was damp, so there probably was rain before I awoke. And the sun did come out.

Thursday: 12-15 degrees. Generally rather cloudy with outbreaks of rain, perhaps heavy at times, but becoming drier during the afternoon with some bright or sunny spells developing later.

Reality Check: One light shower in the morning and another a few hours later. Not enough to say 'outbreaks of rain'. It did dry up eventually, but the sun barely came out.

Friday:   Staying unsettled with a good deal of cloud for most of the time and further rain or showers, too, perhaps more persistent and heavy at times. Near normal temperatures.    

Reality Check: Very cloudy, no rain, average temperature (12-16 degrees).

Saturday:Staying unsettled with a good deal of cloud for most of the time and further rain or showers, too, perhaps more persistent and heavy at times. Near normal temperatures.

Reality Check: Sun came out, no rain, average temperature, very cold.

Sunday:Staying unsettled with a good deal of cloud for most of the time and further rain or showers, too, perhaps more persistent and heavy at times. Near normal temperatures.

Reality Check: Rain pretty much all day, sunny, average temperature, humid.


The Weather Channel (http://uk.weather.com/weather/10day-Bedford-UKXX0014)

Wednesday: 11 degrees. cloudy and rainy

Reality Check: everywhere was damp, so there probably was rain before I awoke. And the sun did come out.

Thursday: 9-14 degrees. Cloudy, sunny and rainy.

Reality Check: One light shower in the morning and another a few hours later. Not enough to say 'outbreaks of rain'. It did dry up eventually, but the sun barely came out.

Friday: 8-14 degrees. Cloudy.

Reality Check: Very cloudy, no rain, average temperature (12-16 degrees).

Saturday: 8-14 degrees. Mostly cloudy with a bit of sun.

Reality Check: Sun came out, no rain, average temperature, very cold.

Sunday: 9-14 degrees. Rainy.

Reality Check:  Rain pretty much all day, sunny, average temperature, humid.


Conclusion: The BBC predictions became less acurate as the days become further away. However the information it gives is rich in quantity and relatively good quality compared to uk.weather.com.
 uk.weather.com provides many statistics but fails to explain them thoroughly. The short hand forcasts are vague and inferior compared to the BBCs forecast. Overall, the BBC website is usefull to people who  aren't familiar with weather related linguistics.

Viruses, Worms Trojans, Spam and Spoof Emails etc

Emails

   The workings of emails are actually quite simple. Each user has an email client. This program that sends and receives email, this could be software on your desktop such as outlook or an online service like those provided by websites such as yahoo or Hotmail. This is responsible for sending and receiving its user’s mail. When it’s sent, the email goes to a mail server (The server name is what is listed after the @ in an email address) and to an individual post box. It stays there until it is picked up by your email client. This means that an internet connection is necessary to allow the client to access the servers.

 

   The message is normally text based and easy to compose but you can now send and receive HTML messages. The messages are commonly sent using a simple mail transfer protocol-port 25 (also known as the SMTP) server and received through either the post office protocol-port 110 (POP3) or the internet mail access protocol-port 143 (IMAP) server.

 

   Emails are popular and commonly used due to how easy they are to create, and the speed which they can be sent and received. You also have the capability to send it to multiple people simultaneously as well as the ability to attach almost any file type to be sent as long as there is an internet connection.

 

 This however comes with its disadvantages. Spamming and spoofing is not at all uncommon as well as malicious software being easily attached.

 Spamming and spoofing

   Spamming is sending a unsolicited email to thousands of people and while not causing any damage, can get very frustrating if you’re on the receiving end of to many. Spoofing Is when you change the name in the “FROM” box on the email making it look like they are receiving an email from someone else, although occasionally the intention is harmless this can often be designed to trick into giving the sender some details that you wouldn’t want them to see.

 

  Phishing

   Phishing is a type of spam designed to trick you into entering personal or account information allowing the sender to commit fraud or theft. This commonly uses spoofing to send you an email that appears to come from a reliable source. It will then ask you to click a link to update your account or download some software updates. You will then be asked to fill in your details by giving them details such as the answers to your security questions, your social security number, date of birth and your bank number and pin.

 

   Trojan horse

A Trojan horse claims to be a simple computer program or game but then when it’s run causes damage to your computer in a variety of different ways, from wiping your hard drive to taking control of the users machine. Unlike other malicious software Trojan horses have no way to replicate automatically.

 

   Worm

A worm is capable of replicating itself in large amounts once it’s installed without any files being opened. Some then can “borrow” into the infected computer and can allow the creator to take control of the computer.

 

   Virus

A virus is a bit of software that can attach itself to another piece of software then replicate when it is opened allowing it to spread in  a very similar fashion to a biological virus.

 

 

 

Internet Usage Statistics

In 2012, 21 million households in Great Britain (80 per cent) had Internet access, compared with 19 million (77 per cent) in 2011.

The number of households with Internet access has increased by 7.1 million (23 percentage points) since 2006, when directly comparable records began.

In 2012, 93 per cent of households with Internet access used a fixed broadband connection, of which 30 per cent used a cable or fibre optic connection.

Of the 5.2 million households without Internet access, the most common reason for not having a connection was that they 'did not need it' (54 per cent).

In 2012, 67 per cent of adults in Great Britain used a computer every day.

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