FUD Zilla reports Fujitsu Siemens will add more (optional) security features to its notebooks to protect confidential data in case of theft. The notebooks will get a feature to track the stolen machine in real-time, and also a "kill pill" to remotely block the system:
With DataProtect, FSC says that confidential data on a laptop can be protected, because if a machine is stolen, the support desk can access the system and save the confidential data centrally in the system or, if necessary, completely delete the data.
The help desk can also render the hardware useless via a so-called "kill pill" although this software does not mean there will be a low level disk format to wipe the data. It just means that after the system is blocked, the BIOS expects a password to do anything new.
If the device is returned to the customer after the kill pill has been activated, users can remove the protection and boot the system again using a special password.
X-bit Labs reports cheap Blu-ray players will barely be available in Europe this holiday season:
Some Blu-ray disc (BD) players can be found at below $150 price-point in the U.S., but players are still expensive in Europe, especially on smaller markets. According to a market research firm, the situation is not going to change in the coming weeks, hence, this holiday shopping season will not become a breakthrough for the high-definition format on the mainstream European market.
“A shortage of cheaper Blu-ray players means that the sub-$300 machines that are already appearing on U.S. shelves are unlikely to materialize in Europe this Christmas. Combined with the recession, this means the format is unlikely to move much beyond the early adopter market this year,” said Screen Digest analyst Richard Cooper in a report.
Screen Digest has recently lowered its European Blu-ray sales forecasts for 2008 and beyond. Contrary to increasingly widespread suggestions, this is not due to ‘disappointing’ consumer take-up of the new format; instead, hardware supply constraints earlier in the year meant that the anticipated European BD promotional campaigns had to be reined in. Rather ironically, the unexpectedly rapid withdrawal of rival format HD DVD from the market in early 2008 caused a problem for Blu-ray by stimulating retailer demand for BD players when a severe shortage of an essential component meant that manufacturing could not keep up, according to the market research firm.
Akihabara News reports Samsung has released 32", 40", 46", 70" and 82" touchscreen LCD displays for commercial and information applications:
Samsung announced in Korea 5 New large LCD’s for business usage and presentation with touchscreen technology. These LCD’s will be brander under the TS series with the 320TSn (32”), 400TSn (40”), 460TSn (46”), 700TSn (70”) and the 820TSn (82”).
Made to be used as POS or Information LCDs, these new panels receives the MagicInfo technology, giving you the possibility manage several screen at the same time in order to display a large video.
TechRadar takes a look at some of the changes Microsoft made in Windows 7 to offer notebook users an improved battery life. The upcoming version of Windows will better manage system resources, Microsoft will urge software and hardware makers to improve power saving features and you can also expect big savings when playing back DVDs:
Getting better battery life when you're watching a DVD is good because it means you're more likely to get to see the end of the movie. But it's also a good test of how energy efficient a PC is because it uses so many different systems like memory, graphics and IO.
Microsoft has made specific changes to Windows Media Player (and will be working with other media player software companies) like caching video in a buffer so it can spin down the DVD drive and using less CPU power to deal with DRM and copy protection.
On one notebook that added up to almost 5W less power and an hour more battery life; on other machines Microsoft is seeing at least 11 per cent improvement - that's at least 20 minutes more battery life.
Of course, software, devices and how your PC is set-up are to blame for many problems. "We see notebooks out there that we know should have four hour battery life and they only have two hours," says Pat Stemen, the senior program manager of the Windows kernel team. To fix that Microsoft is asking manufacturers to use its energy troubleshooter across the system to check settings that affect battery life. On one notebook, setting USB devices to go into selective suspend added 29 minutes of battery life.
Windows 7 systems will also check their own power efficiency every two weeks (but only if the PC is idle and plugged in); you'll get a report and Microsoft will use the anonymised information to look for devices that aren't configured for power saving and ask the manufacturers to improve them.
A recent survey by Leichtman Research Group shows that 18 percent of HDTV owners don't see the difference between standard-def and HD video:
A recent survey by the Leichtman Research Group (LRG) shows that 18 percent of HDTV owners think they're watching high-definition shows, when in fact they're viewing standard definition programming. The findings are based on a telephone survey of 1302 U.S. households. This is LRG's sixth annual study on the topic.
Given the general consumer confusion surrounding HDTV-all those mind-numbing specs like 1080p and HDMI aren't easy to grasp-it's no surprise that many buyers are still clueless. Standard content that's stretched to fill the entire screen may look funny, but at least the picture's big. Problem is, buyers may start to wonder why they abandoned their tube TV for a pricey set with a worse picture.
The halfhearted roll-out of HD service by cable providers isn't helping either. Optional high-definition service often includes only a dozen or so highly compressed HD channels, which look pretty crappy and don't do justice to HD's potential.
In this tutorial we will teach you everything you need to know about one of the most important components of digital cameras: the sensor.
"The sensor is the part of the digital camera that captures light to create an image. It is analogous to the film in non-digital cameras. Similar to the coating of light-sensitive material on photographic film, the sensor of a digital camera has light-sensitive cells. In this tutorial we will teach you everything you need to know about this important component.Although there are technical and design differences in digital camera sensors, they all operate on the same basic principles. A sensor has millions of light-sensitive cells or photodiodes on a wafer of silicon. Each of these generates an electrical charge when struck by a particle of light that enters the camera through the lens. A colored filter produces the proper coloration. Then the camera's processing turns these electrical charges into an image which is then stored on the camera's memory or storage card. Each photodiode creates one pixel in the final image. This is where the term megapixel comes from..
Bit Tech reports Apple is now recommending its users to use an anti-virus application:
According to ITWire's Stephen Withers, Apple has quietly been updating its knowledge base with an entry which “encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult.”
While not actually going all-out and saying that the Mac platform is vulnerable to viruses – indeed, many Mac users consider the enhanced security of the platform to be one of its main selling points over the more popular Windows OS – the company does go on to recommend three different packages – Intego VirusBarrier, Norton Anti-Virus, and McAfee VirusScan – which can help protect your Mac from those nasty virus writers.
This change of heart from the company seems to be a direct response to the spread of the RSPlug trojan, which is often found disguised as a key generator or software cracking tool. The trojan is designed to alter the configuration of an infected system to use a hijacked DNS server, potentially diverting users to phishing sites in place of legitimate destinations. In a move that mirrors advancements made in the world of Windows malware, the most recent version preceeding the anti-virus advice from Apple featured an auto-downloading update process through which the virus author could distribute new and potentially more damaging payloads to already infected systems.
Plextor has introduced the 60GB PX-PPH60U and the 120GB PX-PPH120U pocket-sized external hard drives, these models feature 1.8" HDDs and will be available from mid-December 2008.
Perfect for PC and Mac users who find memory sticks too limiting, yet don’t want the bulk of a full-sized external drive, the Plextor Pocket HDDs are only about the size of three memory sticks, yet offer much larger capacities - up to 120GB of storage.
Plextor’s pocket HDDs come in two sizes, the 60GB PX-PPH60U and the 120GB PX-PPH120U.
Ideal for transporting photos, presentations, data, music and movies, the useful Plextor drives are bus-powered (requiring no external power supply), easy to install (simply Plug & Play) and very quiet in operation.
The diminutive unit measures just 12mm thick, 90mm long and 62mm wide. It features a fast USB 2.0 data transfer (480Mbps) and is compatible with both PC and Mac users.
Rudy De Meirsman, Sales & Marketing Manager at Plextor Europe, comments: “The Plextor Pocket HDDs are incredibly useful, offering much more scope than memory sticks with the footprint of a credit card. The fast USB transfer is ideal for transporting multimedia and data files.
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