X86 virtualization is not ready for highly regulated, mission-critical applications, IBM security expert Joshua Corman argued at Interop Las Vegas this week.
In addition to security threats to the hypervisor and the virtual machines it controls, virtualization makes it difficult to meet strict regulatory requirements such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Corman told attendees in a session on virtualization.
Google has come up with a tool that can show consumers on their home computer how much electricity their appliances and gadgets are using. The Google PowerMeter can display, for example, how much it would cost to leave a TV on all day or how much energy a computer is using.
The search engine giant says it's partnering with utility companies such as the Toronto Hydro Electric System and some device manufacturers to introduce the technology. It says its software can display data from energy monitoring devices that would be installed in people's homes.
The lithium ion batteries used in laptops and cellphones, and tipped for future use in electric cars, are approaching their technological limits. But chemists in the UK say that there's a way to break through the looming energy capacity barrier – let the batteries "breathe" oxygen from the air.
Besides the “femtocell” sounding like a robotic sex toy or an individually wrapped feminine hygiene product, in technological terms it is a router-like device which converts a portion of your broadband bandwidth to provide you with a compact cell network in your house.
The concept is a relatively simple one. You buy a femtocell from your mobile network operator, because if you were on Verizon and bought a T-Mobile one, that would be pretty pointless. You switch it on, plug it into your broadband router, and as simple as that, you have cell signal.
We've all become accustomed to using the Global Positioning System, or GPS, whether via our iPhones, car navigation devices, handheld GPS units, or even watch-based devices like the Garmin Forerunner series. The GPS system went into full operation in December of 1993, was declared a dual-use (military and civilian) system by President Bill Clinton in 1996, and in 2000 had "Selective Availability" removed to increase accuracy for civilian uses. It relies on a constellation of between 24 and 32 medium Earth orbit satellites, some of which have been operating for nearly 19 years.
This year Microsoft Xbox 360 becomes four years old game console and Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 turn three years old, about time to think, or at least begin thinking, about next-generation video game systems. However, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter believes that there will be no new game consoles until the year 2013.
Norway is testing using laptops for school exams — but they're loaded with special software to prevent cheating.
In Nord-Trondelag county in Norway, all students are given a laptop for school work when they turn 16. Now the government is testing the use of those laptops for exams. Sounds like an invitation to cheating? Wrong. The computers have some specially-designed software to prevent that eventuality.
The biggest internet revolution for a generation will be unveiled this month with the launch of software that will understand questions and give specific, tailored answers in a way that the web has never managed before.
My previous posting discussed various approaches to dealing with a Windows computer that's been infected by malicious software (malware).
The easy approach, installing anti-malware software and having it scan the machine, is the least likely to fully remove the infection. At the other end of the spectrum, re-installing Windows is guaranteed to remove the infection but at a huge cost in terms of time and effort to put Humpty Dumpty back together. Somewhere in the middle is removing the hard drive and scanning it from an uninfected machine.
A police initiative to put computers in patrol cars is progressing slowly, with just 25 computers installed in the past 22 months. Police began the initiative in 2006 and by May 2007 had kitted out 85 vehicles in Auckland. Since then only 25 more computers have been installed, all in Auckland.
Communications centre national manager Superintendent Andy McGregor says the project has a flexible time frame so police can "optimise the technology available". Police plan to install computers in about 125 more cars but have not yet decided which districts will benefit.
