Tag archive: system

We haven’t heard much about the next Xbox console – really, all we’ve got so far is a series of job postings on LinkedIn. But slowly, more and more details are starting to surface. The latest comes from designer Ben Peterson, who works with Microsoft and posted a rather interesting update to his portfolio on Sunday. It's nothing more than a blocky, unidentifiable object and a very obscure note reading “collaboration with Microsoft’s IEB… Read More

Toshiba just embraced the Blu-ray standard. I’ve often been accused of being an agent for Toshiba, even though I’ve never had any financial connection to the side of Toshiba that made the drives, and initially supported Blu-ray. (I switched to HD-DVD when I saw how much the Blu-ray technology cost, and how it destroyed the price structure of the PS3). Sony bought the market, and if you look at their financials you can… Read More

Over the last two weeks, the discussions surrounding Apple and Google have me wondering whether both companies have completely lost their collective minds. The US government now has a series of investigations surrounding both firms, ranging from collusion between them, to Apple pulling Google Voice off the iPhone. To be clear, this is like trying to find out if the companies were working together closely as criminals, or whether Google… Read More

Computer maker Gateway is expanding its LT series of netbook computers with the new LT2000, sporting a 10.1-inch display in a chassis that's only one inch thick and weighs just 2.62 pounds. The LT200 is designed to offer a good range of communications capabilities while staying lightweight and highly portable—and Gateway has thrown in a multi-gesture trackpad that enables users to (say) scroll windows using a swirling motion of… Read More

So you thought that Mac was safe from malware? It’s definitely time to think again. There might be nothing like the amount of malware there is for PCs, but the numbers are growing. The latest is known as Puper, a Trojan that disguises itself as a video program for the fictional MacCinema system on OS X. Researchers at McAfee Avert Labs have determined that the malware attack appears as a disk image, which then launches an installer… Read More

Heading home for the holidays in college was always an ordeal for this desktop diehard. While my friends dropped their laptops into messenger bags and walked out the door, I was still under the desk unhooking an ungodly tangle of monitor cables and USB cords, coughing on dust, and looking for enough dirty laundry to pad my fragile LCD monitor for the trip home. It occurred to me, at some point, that it really might be better to… Read More

If you downloaded the beta of Windows 7 when it was available, keep your eyes open this week, since Microsoft will be releasing updates for the new operating system, which you’ll need to download manually via Windows Update. In a blog entry, Windows 7 manager Brandon LeBlanc announced that Microsoft would release up to five test updates on February 24, which will “allow us to test and verify our ability to deliver and manage… Read More

Last week hackers managed to infiltrate the computer system of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), stealing personal data on around 45,000 staff and retirees. In a statement on Monday the FAA announced that 48 files had been breached, two of which contained the personal data. The server affected wasn’t connected with air traffic control in any way. The personal data files covered employees on the FAA payroll in February 2006,… Read More

For crews on those merchant and container ships, phoning home has meant using expensive satellite phones. But a new system is set to change that and allow them to make calls on their cell phones. While the new system does rely on satellites, it will see picocells – small base stations that extend mobile coverage – installed in the crew areas of the ships, the BBC reports. They’ll convert mobile calls into narrowband IP… Read More

The over-the-top gaming rig that manufacturer BFG Tech showed off at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show is no longer just a flashy display. The company began taking orders for its ultra-exclusive Phobos, with prices starting at $3,000, on Thursday. Besides the usual set of hot internals, including a choice of Intel Core i7 processors and Nvidia’s latest GTX-series graphics cards, BFG has dressed the system up with a number… Read More

Hitachi — like Toshiba — chose to show off technology demos of products that do not have a model number yet. Interestingly, while their booths were filled with products already available on the market, the tech demos were getting most of the attention. For Hitachi, a remarkable gesture technology was on display. With partners GestureTek and Canesta, the company has a new remote control system where you just use your… Read More

The Rebirth of Iomega Iomega was once a major power in the PC market. The manufacturer’s Iomega Click drive was, for a while, alone in the class of then high capacity portable storage (yes, once upon a time, 40MB was considered high capacity), but then thumb drives debuted and Iomega came close to dropping out of the market. EMC, the largest pure storage vendor in the business market recently bought the company though, and… Read More

Existing solid-state drives are fast. The next generation of such drives could perform up to 100 times faster, though, thanks to a new flash-specific file system from SanDisk. The company unveiled its new ExtremeFFS file system on Wednesday. According to SanDisk, ExtremeFFS could improve random write speeds by up to 100 times by storing it in a more efficient way, rather than actually changing up the hardware. When data needs to be… Read More

It looks like Dell has big plans for its iMac-imitating XPS One system – quite literally. On Thursday the company revealed the XPS One 24, a new version of the system that bumps the old version’s 20-inch display to a massive 24-inch, 1080p version, and brings internal components along for the ride. Dell will update the processor from an existing Core 2 Duo CPU up to Intel’s new Core 2 Quad Q8200, and offer discrete… Read More

MySpace users will have noticed something new as of yesterday. Yes, MySpace now has banner ads. But they’re not the type of banners that were ubiquitous years ago. These are a little different, and MySpace is hoping they’ll bring in money and make the social networking site more popular. So far the system is only operative in the US. MyAds is a pay-per-click system that allows anyone to buy banner ads that can be targeted at… Read More