Technology News Feeds

Intel lifts curtain on Nehalem performance (hint: it's fast)  

Intel isn't quite ready to launch Nehalem, but the company is willing to let us talk more freely about its performance. There's really no other way to put it—Core i7 is a beast.

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Opinion: A lesson from the White Space War  

Why will the FCC vote on white space devices this Tuesday? Here's one reason: NBC doesn't own Google.

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Asus profits down, netbooks up, with $299 model on the way  

Asus is now talking up a $299 Eee PC that the company intends to introduce within the next 12 months, complete with larger screen. Hopefully, Asus manages to hit the target this time.

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Court to review legal docs on NSA wiretapping in secret  

A federal judge is ordering the Justice Department to hand over ten documents concerning the legal basis for the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program. The court will review the documents in secret to determine whether they can be made public.

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Intel's Atom Chip Propels Worldwide Processor Market in the Third Quarter  A new report from IDC finds that Intels Atom processor, a chip designed to create a whole new market of low-cost desktop and notebooks, helped propel the entire microprocessor market in the third quarter of 2008. The results meant that Intel kept its dominance in the overall market. AMD, meanwhile, watched as its market share of notebook processors shrank, but the company did gain back some momentum in the server and workstation segment thanks to its quad-core Opteron processor.
- Intels Atom processor is starting to have a significant impact on the overall microprocessor market, as shipments of the chip for a series of low-cost notebooks and desktops helped the worlds processor market grow in the third quarter of 2008, according to a new IDC report. Overall, shipments ...

Vulnerabilities Fade from the Threat Foreground  Systems still get exploited through vulnerabilities, but it's a declining factor and there isn't a good reason for it anymore. If you use up-to-date products and take reasonable precautions, your chances of getting hit are small and decreasing.
- The reports of Microsoft's quot;out of band quot; patch last week of a critical vulnerability in Windows all took note of how unusual it was. Out-of-band updates are unusual the last one was MS07-017 on April 3, 2007 because Microsoft has gotten on top of the vulnerability problem better than a...

IBM, Sun Deliver OpenSolaris Prototype for IBM Mainframes  IBM and Sun Microsystems deliver a prototype of OpenSolaris running on the IBM System z mainframe, with the help of a consultancy named Sine Nomine Associates.
- IBM and Sun Microsystems have made good on a promise to make open source code from the OpenSolaris operating system available on IBM System z mainframes. Enlisting the help of Sine Nomine Associates, a consultancy out of Ashburn, Va., IBM and Sun on Nov. 3 announced the availability of OpenSola...

How to Encourage Employees to Strengthen Password Security  Companies need to protect their electronic assets. IT departments need to get employees on board with password security policies-not as another bothersome procedure imposed by management, but as a reasonable security precaution that they understand and willingly embrace. Knowledge Center contributor Bill Carey explains five steps a company can take to educate their employees on how to strengthen password security.
- Alaska Governor Sarah Palin might not have realized how important her online e-mail account would be, but when she was chosen as the Republican vice presidential nominee, she became a target for hackers. David Kernell got into her account by using Yahoos “password reset” feature and guessing th...

Oh, the Horror! Inside the Visual Effects of Saw V and a Crop of Fall Fright Flicks  Error parsing this feed !
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Motorola MotoZINE ZN5  With its Motorola MotoZINE ZN5, developed with Kodak, T-Mobile finally brings a high-quality camera phone to the masses.

Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7)  The Falcon Northwest Mach V sports the new Intel Core i7 Extreme processor and 12GB of RAM, making this one fast Falcon.

iGoogle (Fall 2008)  Outraged users are petitioning Google to roll back implementation of iGoogle's new "Canvas" display style, but I don't agree.

Sharp LC-52SB55U  The 52-inch Sharp LC-52SB55U is a solid big screen value, but it's not the only bargain you'll find.

Discuss the US Presidential Election & Education  In 24 hours, many of you will be able to vote. So as we come down to the wire, this is really our last chance to talk about the issues. We've already discussed Health Care, The War, and the Economy. Today I'm opening up the floor to discuss education. Perhaps no other issue will matter more in 50 years. Which candidate will make the next generation smarter?

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How To Make Money With Free Software  bmsleight writes "The Dutch Ministry of Finance organized an architecture competition to design not a building, but rather the new 5-Euro commemorative coin. The theme was 'Netherlands and Architecture'. The winning design was made 100% with free software, mainly Python, but also including The Gimp, Inkscape, Phatch, and Ubuntu. The design is amazing — the head of Queen Beatrix is made up of the names of architects based on their popularity in Yahoo searches (rendered in a font of the artist's own devising). In the end the artist, Stani Michiels, had to collaborate closely on location with technicians of the Royal Dutch Mint, so all the last bits were done on his Asus Eee PC. Soon, 350,000 Dutch people will use and enjoy the fruits of free software."

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In UK, 12M Taxpayers Lost With USB Stick  An anonymous reader tips a piece from the UK's Daily Mail that recounts another sad tale of the careless loss of massive amounts of private user data. "Ministers have been forced to order an emergency shutdown of a key Government computer system to protect millions of people's private details. The action was taken after a memory stick was found in a pub car park containing confidential passcodes to the online Government Gateway system, which covers everything from tax returns to parking tickets. An urgent investigation is now under way into how the stick, belonging to the company which runs the flagship system, came to be lost."

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Netflix Extends "Watch Instantly" To Mac Users  CNet is reporting that Netflix has opened up its "Watch Instantly" feature to Mac users (here is Netflix's blog entry). They accomplished this by using Microsoft's Silverlight technology on both platforms, abandoning the Windows Media Player solution that had been employed in the first, Windows-only, version. Silverlight's DRM capabilities meet Netflix's needs, apparently. Netflix warns that this is beta software. Mac users can opt in here, then watch instantly with Safari or Firefox 2+, with the Silverlight plugin in place. Movie selection is somewhat limited.

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Why no c*nt and paste for the iPhone?  

It's just Jobs being awkward, suggests ZDnet

Yes, we know it's childish, but we couldn't resist bringing you this crisp autumnal Monday a bit of a classic from our chums down at ZDnet, whose sub-editors were evidently suffering this morning from a touch of pub flu:…

Music royalties group pooh-poohs Belgian P2P appeal reports  

ISP must filter, just later, SABAM says

The Belgian music royalties collecting society SABAM has denied reports that a judge last week binned a landmark decision forcing an ISP to block unlicenced file sharing.…

Intel Core i7 'Nehalem' processor and X58 chipset  

We put the chip giant's new architecture to the test

Review In appearance, the new Intel Core i7 - based on the 'Nehalem' microarchitecture - looks like a bigger, chunkier version of the Core 2 Quad but under the heat spreader and casing it has a radical design that breaks new ground.…

MPs join fight to save McKinnon from US prison  

Pentagon hacker 'too vulnerable' to survive hard time

MPs are being asked to support accused Pentagon hacker via a motion demanding he serves any jail time he might eventually receive in the UK, even if his long-running campaign to avoid extradition and trail in the US fails.…

MySpace ad deal lets members use copyright video (AP)  AP - Instead of trying to take down all copyright-protected videos that its members post, MySpace will let certain clips stay — and give the creators of the original content a cut of the revenue from advertising that will be attached to the snippets.

Court limits 'business method' patents (AP)  AP - A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled against a man trying to patent a business idea, a decision with far-ranging implications for the financial services and high-tech industries, which have major players on both sides of the issue.

Verizon told to sell assets with Alltel merger (AP)  AP - The Justice Department on Thursday effectively gave Verizon Wireless the go-ahead to buy Alltel Corp. in a $28 billion deal that would create the nation's largest wireless carrier.

Mining for minerals fuels Congo conflict (AP)  

AP - The conflict in eastern Congo is being fueled and funded by a tussle for mineral resources that end up in cell phones, laptops and other electronics — deepening the stakes in a war that sprung out of festering hatreds from the Rwandan genocide.