Nagios calls itself an "open source host, service and network monitoring program". In reality, though, it's more of a monitoring framework, in that it allows an administrator to quickly fold the one-liners they use to gather information right into the configuration. Add to this the numerous plugins available, and you can easily integrate Nagios with monitoring tools you already use, like RRDTool or MRTG.
New battery technologies have the potential to take notebook battery life beyond five hours, ultimately reaching eight hours of charge by 2010.
"When we talk to people about mobile computing, battery life is the thing they most want improved," said Anand Chandrasekher, general manager of Intel’s Mobile Platforms Group. "But delivering more is tough, technically."
When Michael McCreary bought three new computers for his company, he had no need for one of the oldest and most common computer technologies, the floppy drive.
But like many computer customers, he ended up buying floppies anyway. After all, they're cheap and he still has a few of the 3.5-inch disks lying around.
"As long as I need those files, I need a floppy drive around. Then I can toss them," said McCreary, the president of an eight-employee Atlanta-area real estate management company. "The next computers I buy probably won't even have a floppy."
Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. are revving up for what they see as the next big step in the evolution of x86 processors—the introduction of dual processing cores. Both companies are demonstrating technology that puts two processing cores on a single chip, providing users with almost double the processing power in the same amount of space.
Apache have written an open letter to the IETF regarding the Sender ID proposal. Sender ID is a technology designed to reduce spam on the internet. Although well designed and a technology that could do a serious amount towards reducing spam, the proposal is tied up with patent problems. Who’s the prime culprit? Your favourite vendor, Microsoft.
Enterprise IP telephony—love it or loathe it, it’s hard to ignore it. Much has been written about IP telephony, which involves the seamless integration of data and voice into a single communications environment to deliver advanced applications to end users—wherever they may be. This convergence enables businesses to reduce costs, consolidate and simplify networks, and deliver more informative customer service. In fact, the technology is fast maturing and many adopters are enjoying the benefits that it brings, beyond just saving money on international business call charges.
Japanese banks are turning to a new biometric identification system, based on the unique nature of the patterns of veins in our palms.
Fujitsu says it has sold the vein pattern recognition technology to two banks already, one of which has implemented the system already, according to IDG News reports.
Optware Corp., the developer of Collinear Holographic* Data Storage System, announced today that it had achieved successfully world's first recording and play back of digital movies on a holographic recording disc with a reflective layer using Optware's revolutionary Collinear Holography. This is a major milestone for commercializing holographic data storage system.
A software glitch that paralyzed the Mars "Spirit" rover earlier this year was caused by an unanticipated characteristic of a DOS file system, a NASA scientist said Monday.
The flaw, since fixed, was only discovered after days of agonizingly slow tests complicated by the limited "windows" of communication allowed by the rotation of Mars, said Robert Denise, a member of the Flight Software Development Team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
British boffins have developed wallpaper that blocks Wi-Fi traffic but still allows other wireless transmissions to pass through in a bid to prevent unauthorised access to sensitive data via the WLAN. Developed by UK defence company BAE Systems, the wallpaper uses Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) sheeting, a material more commonly found slapped on military aircraft, naval vessels and radar antennae, New Scientist reports. In this case, the FSS material is manufactured to absorb signals in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands used by 802.11a, b and g equipment.
