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Sara et Sara

Né(e) le 11 août 2016

10 ans

Depuis sa naissance

Les échographies : les nouvelles et les souvenirs du blog de Sara et Sara.

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Les échographies

Les échographies

Battery for LENOVO ThinkPad W701

Using the iPad Pro made for some confused moments when reaching for a mouse that wasn’t there, but I quite quickly became accustomed to mashing the screen instead of rolling a rodent. I found the touch screen is not a precise instrument for selecting an edit point in text and therefore a little frustrating compared to a mouse. Over time I found I can live with it.I don’t like to write directly into The Reg’s CMS, because it is a web app and I worry about losing work with a fat-fingered mistake. So I write in a word processor and then copy and paste into the CMS.That’s a bit tricky in the iPad Pro, and rather slower than using a mouse. On the upside, iOS now has just enough filesystem so it’s easy to save into Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive. And also easy to find files and do things like send them as attachments.Writing Reg stories and loading them into our CMS requires simple tools and processes.When Apple familiarised me with the iPad Pro (Cupertino doesn't just shove kit into a courier bag and let you start playing alone) it mentioned that the device really shines when you run apps built for a touch interface. Those apps also make use of the Pencil, which I've tried and found just doesn't fit into my workflows.


For now, it's clear that the iPad Pro and Smart Keyboard is a very, very capable mobile device that offers exceptional convenience to travellers and can do a job for simple content creation.But I must confess I couldn't stop myself reaching for the laptop when assembling a photograph-heavy story, and had to force myself to use the iPad for the photographs it contains as my instinct was to use my phone.“Lappability”, for me, therefore did not translate into easy ubiquity. At least at nine inches. But the iPad Pro can clearly do a job for many mobile workers, who will find it an elegant and reliable tool. Developing and deploying software is too hard, according to Chef co-founder and CTO Adam Jacob. An application may work fine on a developer's laptop or as a prototype on a single VM (virtual machine).However, if you want to run a production environment across thousands of servers, it gets significantly harder. Most of what's hard about it is about, how do I build the application that goes in the virtual machine? How do I build the virtual machine image? How do I orchestrate the way to deploy? How do I know that deployment is safe? How do I handle dynamic topology? How do I do service discovery, if my application depends on 15 other services for it to run? How do you know where they are? How do you update them? Those are the sorts of problems that are intractable, he told The Register.



His solution is Habitat, which went public today under the Apache license.What is Habitat? The core concept is that instead of deploying applications as-is, you deploy them as packages that are managed by a Habitat supervisor. A Habitat package includes the software and all its dependencies and configuration options. The supervisor manages the lifecycle of the package for which it is responsible, and is able to start, stop and update it. Habitat supervisors can be linked to form rings, which are groups of services. Habitat is agnostic about where it runs, which could be in a container or on a VM or on a physical server.The Habitat command line tool lets you build and install packages. It is most at home on Linux, but also works on Mac OS X in conjunction with Docker Toolbox, which creates a Docker environment on a Mac. A Windows version is on the way.We're going to work closely with Microsoft to get the Windows port of Habitat so that you can write Windows native apps and run them under the Habitat supervisor, said Jacob.The software in a package is ideally built from source, but can also be a proprietary binary. Habitat records all the dependencies and version information in a manifest. You also include configuration files in a language called TOML (it stands for Tom's Obvious, Minimal Language).


Using Habitat, all the behavior of the application through its entire lifecycle lives with the application itself as it moves through the lifecycle. It doesn't need any other system in order to behave correctly. So if you deploy the application and it's using Habitat, and you put it on bare metal, you manage it the same way you would manage it if you deployed that application on Cloud Foundry, or if you deployed it on Docker, or Mesos, or Kubernetes, said Jacob.The capabilities of Habitat supervisors, when linked, include dynamic configuration of services, called topologies. An example would be, you have a database. And you need to have one leader and lots of followers, so you're replicating all the data that comes into the database. The supervisor can manage that for you without you having to do anything. You don't have to deploy a configuration management server, or service discovery, or a deployment orchestration engine, or any of those things. You just tell the supervisor: this service runs in this topology, and it just works, Jacob told The Reg. As you deploy the application, you are also deploying the automation.



Is Habitat middleware? We describe it as application automation because we think that is the best possible fit for what it is. In a way it's middleware. It provides a bunch of services that an application can use. What's very different is that traditionally, you write the application for the middleware. That's backwards from Habitat. Habitat wraps around your application as it is. It's actually a new way of solving the problem, said Jacob.Habitat itself is written mostly in Rust, a systems programming language created by Mozilla. It makes some really great guarantees about safety. And it has no runtime, so it allows the supervisor itself to be very small. We love Rust, Jacob said.The most telling part of my conversation with Jacob came toward the end, when I asked what benefit Habitat brings to those who have already embraced fully automated application delivery.If you've gone through the trouble to understand how to do it the hard way, Habitat is like doing that in easy mode, he said. It sounds like a confession that doing DevOps right is currently too difficult.The project has initial support from others including Intel, Mesosphere and CoreOS. Future plans include an automated public build service as well as extending Habitat to cover more scenarios and platforms. An intriguing project, which you can check out here. Information about ChefConf 2016 in July can be found here.

Les échographies

Akku für HP ProBook 6360b

Der japanische Autohersteller Nissan verkauft sein gesamtes Batterie-Geschäft an den chinesischen Finanzinvestor GSR Capital. Das teilt Nissan auf seiner Webseite mit. Davon umfasst seien die Batterie-Sparte Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) sowie zwei Batterie-Werke in Nordamerika und Großbritannien. Auch Teile der Entwicklungsabteilung in Japan seien vom Verkauf umfasst. Das Geschäft solle im Dezember abgeschlossen sein.

Nissan will weiter Batterien für seine Elektroautos von GSR beziehen. Über den Kaufpreis des Geschäfts wurde nichts bekannt. Nissan-Chef Hiroto Saikawa sprach von einer Win-Win-Situation für beide Seiten: Man könne sich nun stärker auf die Produktion und das Design von Elektrofahrzeugen konzentrieren und gleichzeitig eng mit dem neuen Akku-Giganten kooperieren. So steigere man seine Wettbewerbsfähigkeit.


Neuer Akku-Gigant aus China

Der GSR-Vorsitzende Sonny Wu sagte, man werde sowohl bei der Produktion als auch bei der Entwicklung seiner Akkus in den USA, Großbritannien, Japan, China und Europa die Kapazitäten ausbauen. Die chinesische Autoindustrie bereitet sich bereits seit Jahren vor, unter anderem den europäischen Markt mit Elektroautos zu beliefern. So planen unter anderem die wiederbelebte Marke Borgward sowie der Geely-Konzern über Volvo und die neue Marke Lynk Co , chinesische Elektrofahrzeuge auch in Deutschland zu verkaufen.


Die Hand von Stein H. Auno gleitet über den Tisch zu seinem Smartphone. Zuerst ruft er die App auf, die ihm die Akkufüllung seines BMW i3 anzeigt. Fast voll, er grinst zufrieden. Dann wischt der Manager des norwegischen Netzbetreibers Statnett durch die Menüs, bis im Browser eine Nordeuropa-Karte erscheint. Blaue Pfeile darauf geben an, in welche Richtung der Strom durch die Netze der Region fließt. Aunos Grinsen wird breiter. Wir exportieren mal wieder kräftig.



Keine der fünf Preiszonen, in die Norwegen unterteilt ist, führt zu diesem Zeitpunkt Strom aus dem Ausland ein. Stattdessen fließt er über die Landgrenzen nach Russland, Finnland und Schweden sowie durch zwei Seekabel nach Dänemark und Holland.


Bald kommt eine neue XXL-Trasse hinzu: Nordlink, ein 623 Kilometer langes Kabel, das Statnett zusammen mit dem niederländischen Netzbetreiber Tennet und der KfW-Bank zwischen Norwegen und Deutschland baut. Es ist der Grund, warum sich die Projektpartner an diesem Abend Ende Juli zum Festmahl im malerisch über dem Fjord gelegenen Utsikten-Hotel treffen: Wenn alles glattläuft, wird Nordlink am kommenden Morgen ganz in der Nähe von einem Kabelverlegungsschiff aus mit dem Land verbunden.


Zwei-Milliarden-Euro-Leitung: Norwegen wird zur Batterie Europas


Es ist ein Meilenstein beim Bau der Zwei-Milliarden-Euro-Leitung, durch die ab 2020 bis zu 1400 Megawatt Strom fließen sollen. Das entspricht in etwa der Leistung des aktuell größten deutschen Atomkraftwerks Isar 2 und fast einem Drittel aller derzeit installierten deutschen Offshore-Windparks.


Damit wächst die ohnehin große Bedeutung Norwegens für Europas Stromversorgung. Das Land im hohen Norden mit seinen 5,2 Millionen Einwohnern wird mehr und mehr zur Batterie des Kontinents.


Der Grund sind seine gewaltigen Wasserkraftwerke. Nirgendwo in Europa sind die Bedingungen dafür günstiger als im regenreichen Norwegen mit seinen steilen Fjordwänden und den Seen in den fast menschenleeren Hochebenen darüber. Sind die Speicher komplett gefüllt, könnten sie theoretisch 82 Terawattstunden Strom liefern - fast ein Fünftel des gesamten deutschen Jahresverbrauchs.


Wir haben viel mehr Energie als wir brauchen, sagt Statnett-Manager Auno, der Nordlink als Projektleiter verantwortet. Und Deutschland braucht nach dem Atomausstieg neue Quellen. Von dem Kabel profitieren also beide Seiten. Dann steckt er das Handy weg. Zeit, zu Bett zu gehen - die Verlegung der Leitung beginnt am frühen Morgen und vorher hat sich auch noch das norwegische Radio für ein Interview angemeldet.


Die Skagerrak verlegt tonnenschwere Unterwasserkabel


Auf der Baustelle am Vollsfjord herrscht anderntags gespanntes Warten. Unten auf dem Wasser liegt die Skagerrak, eines der größten Kabelverlegungsschiffe der Welt. Sie hat die ersten 124 Kilometer des Nordlink-Kabels an Bord. Gesamtgewicht: etwas mehr als 6000 Tonnen.


Eine Kamera überwacht 30 Meter unter dem Wasserspiegel den ersten heiklen Moment des Tages: Das Kabel, samt Ummantelung so dick wie ein Bein, wird an ein Stahlseil angeschlossen, das es durch einen nur wenig breiteren, aber 400 Meter langen Tunnel bis hinauf zur Baustelle oben am Fjord ziehen soll. Dort entsteht derzeit eine sogenannte Kabelübergangsanlage, von der aus die Leitung später an Masten aufgehängt über 50 Kilometer bis zu einer weiteren Großbaustelle bei Tonstad geführt wird.


Hier errichtet der Schweizer Industriekonzern ABB auf einer Fläche von 16 Fußballfeldern eine Konverterstation. Sie ist nötig, weil durch Nordlink Gleichstrom fließt - eine Technologie, die es erlaubt, Energie über große Distanzen nahezu verlustfrei zu transportieren.



Von einer vertikalen Integration von Batterie- und Elektroautoproduktion, wie sie Tesla Motors propagiert, hält der japanische Autohersteller Nissan offenbar nichts mehr: Die Japaner verkaufen ihre komplette Batteriefertigung inklusive aller zugehörigen Werke an einen chinesischen Finanzinvestor.


Während der US-Elektroautobauer Tesla den Vollausbau seiner eigenen Gigafactory-Batteriefabrik vorantreiben und so die Kosten für die Akkus senken will, wendet sich Nissan nun von dieser Strategie ab - und will sich künftig auf die Fahrzeugentwicklung konzentrieren.


Es ist eine Kehrtwende, die auch den deutschen Autoherstellern zu denken geben dürfte. Denn hierzulande wird immer wieder die Forderung nach einer herstellereigenen Fertigung von Lithium-Ionen-Zellen laut - die Japaner glauben offenbar nicht mehr dran.


Dabei sind Nissan und sein Partner Renault alles andere als eine kleine Nummer im Elektroauto-Geschäft: Die japanisch-französische Autohersteller-Allianz verkaufte im ersten Quartal weltweit 36.723 Elektroautos und damit um gut 50 Prozent mehr Stromer als der kalifornische Konkurrent Tesla.


Das nicht mehr taufrische Modell Nissan Leaf, dessen Neuauflage im September auf den Markt kommt, war noch im Mai das weltweit meistverkaufte Elektroauto. In den ersten fünf Monaten dieses Jahres verkaufte Nissan weltweit 21.888 Leafs, wie die Autozähler von EV Sales ermittelten, Teslas Model S kam im selben Zeitraum auf 18.720 verkaufte Fahrzeuge.


Les échographies

Battery for Lenovo ThinkPad X300

Chircop thinks: The container market is on the verge of being enterprise-ready, there being a vast ecosystem of developers and products pumping huge momentum into the area. OpenStack supports containers. So too does VMware, with Photon. NetApp has a container plug-in and its SolidFire unit is involved with DockerCon, as will IBM.In the fast-moving container compute environment, traditional storage is too slow, too awkward, too complex and over-expensive. It has to have lower cost and automated provisioning yet, for enterprise container use, it must also have enterprise-class data services. That balance of features is what StorageOS intends to provide.StorageOS is available now – www.storageos.com/download. The Professional Version costs less than $30/month. The beta test is this month and full product GA is scheduled for the Autumn. Check out the product at DockerCon in Seattle, June 19-21, stand number E12. DockerCon Docker will kick off its DockerCon 2016 conference in Seattle this morning with a bunch of announcements: its OS X and Windows Docker clients will be made publicly available as beta software for anyone to try out; out-of-the-box orchestration is coming to Docker 1.12; and integration with Amazon's AWS and Microsoft's Azure is in the works.


First off, the OS X and Windows clients: these were available to about 70,000 developers as a private beta; you had to ask nicely for access to the software. After its tires were thoroughly kicked, and the crashes ironed out, the code is now available for all to experiment with. The clients allow you to easily and seamlessly fetch, craft and fire up Docker containers on your laptop or workstation.The OS X client uses Apple's builtin hypervisor framework – yeah, Apple quietly embedded a hypervisor API in its desktop operating system. Previously, you had to use Docker with Oracle's VirtualBox, but it was a rather clunky setup and relied on Oracle not screwing around with VBox. Now, the client is neatly packaged as an OS X app and uses the underlying framework to bring up Linux containers at the flutter of your fingers on the keyboard in a terminal.Apple's hypervisor framework provides an interface to your Intel-powered Mac's VT-x virtualization hardware, allowing virtual machines and virtual CPUs to be created, given work, and shut down. Docker provides a thin hypervisor layer on top of this to craft an environment for the Linux kernel to run in, and then on top of that sits your software containers. On Windows, Docker uses Microsoft's Hyper-V.



Interestingly, Docker founder and CTO Solomon Hykes told The Register gurus from Unikernel Systems – acquired by Docker in January – helped develop both clients. Unikernel Systems, a startup in Cambridge, UK, includes former Xen hypervisor programmers; the team are otherwise working on creating all-in-one software stacks that roll kernels and microservices into single address spaces running in sandboxes on a hypervisor.The OS X and Windows clients use a lot of unikernel technology under the hood to make the software integrate with the underlying hypervisor, said Hykes.Eighty per cent of that client work is unikernel tech. We try to use as much as possible the native system features. MacOS bundles its own hypervisor, so we use that, although it still requires developing a thin hypervisor on top. On Windows, there’s Hyper-V, so we use that. We did consider bundling VirtualBox, but it’s such a monster to bundle.Installing the OS X client is pretty painless, takes up a couple of hundred megabytes of disk space once you get going with it, and requires an administrator password to setup. Once in place, it's accessible from a menubar icon, and you can configure how much memory and many CPUs you're willing to throw at it. Docker hired designers from the mobile gaming world to polish the user interface, we're told.
Initially, you have no images installed. So let's pull in the Ubuntu image by firing up a simple Hello World. Open an OS X terminal and run docker run --rm ubuntu /bin/echo 'Hello world'.


When the download completes and the container is built – which takes a minute or so – it's fired up by Docker, and runs /bin/echo 'Hello world' on Ubuntu Linux, outputting the text to the OS X terminal. That part happens almost instantly on your humble hack's mid-2012 Core i7 MacBook Pro. An instance is brought up, the command run, and it's all torn down.
Checking the images present on the system with docker images shows our little Ubuntu is ready and waiting for its next command or workload; there's no need to fetch it again.
So at this point, you've got a tiny but capable Linux installation running as close to the bare metal as possible on your Mac: you can use it as you would SSHing into a one-shot Linux virtual machine. For example, you can inspect its CPU and RAM info by looking into /proc/cpuinfo and running free -m.


If you're scratching your head at this point and wondering why bother with any of this, then – and forgive me if I sound like a character from a Philip K Dick novel – you need to clear your mind and think about containerization. Like plenty of Reg readers, I've got virtual and bare metal systems in the cloud and at home for various tasks, from build servers to VPN boxes, which are all a SSH away. Why would I need Docker to run Linux apps on my laptop?The point is to create container images of software – little bundles of dependancies and services needed to perform a particular task – and test them locally, let fellow developers also use them knowing they have the same sane environment as you do, and ultimately deploy the containers.Think of it as you watching the four-hour-long director's cut Blu-ray edition of a movie at home, then going to the bar and chatting about it to your friend, who has only seen the 90-minute cut-for-TV version. There are scenes in the flick you've seen that your pal hasn't so what you're saying isn't making much sense to them. You get into an argument. Evening ruined.



The next day, you both go to Netflix and watch the same damn movie, suddenly everything clicks into place, and everyone's happy again. Containers fix the software side of this story: you both install and run the same damn libraries, tools and services.That leads us into the next part: how to deploy and control large numbers – potentially thousands – of these containers at scale. Docker Swarm is available to do that, but it's a separate tool from the main client. Meanwhile, there are a bunch of other utilities out there, such as Kubernetes and Mesos, that will manage containers running on your servers for you.With Docker 1.12 – which is due out in July – that Swarm functionality will be brought into the fold and is designed to be easy to use without any extra tools.We're doing for orchestration for what we did with containerization, Hykes told us.Orchestration today is not easy to use: it's reserved for experts. What the community is telling us is that they love Docker but that the orchestration is a mess. First of all, they need to choose between 10,000 tools, choose a specific model, and once they’ve chosen a tool or a platform, they discover that setting it up and using it for a Hello World example versus using in a production-ready way is actually a lot of work.It's a really specialized job that requires the kind of engineers who work at Google, Uber or anyone else who can afford an ops team. We want to make it usable for anyone who wants to deploy an application and scale it.

Les échographies

Battery for Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E125

The Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing (CSLFR) has admitted paying off ransomware runners after one of its main test computers got infected with Truecrypt malware. The laptop was quickly isolated, but left the team's crucial test data locked up two days before a big race.Just knowing that we could lose everything that we have worked so hard to achieve over the years in 48 hours was terrifying, said Dave Winston, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Crew Chief for CSLFR.The data that they were threatening to take from us was priceless, we couldn't go one day without it greatly impacting the team's future success. This was a completely foreign experience for all of us, and we had no idea what to do. What we did know was that if we didn't get the files back, we would lose years' worth of work, millions of dollars.
After failing to recover its files, the team made the decision – a common enough one – to pay up and get its data back. After sourcing a few hundred bucks in Bitcoins to pay the fee, the encryption key was sent over by the online criminals running the code.


That gave the team the ability to get back into its data, but they were worried about other infections lurking on their systems. A survey with security firm Malwarebytes found more ransomware malware on its computers, and now the team has a cleaner network and the security firm's name emblazoned across its car.Companies of all types and sizes can fall victim at any time. Instances of ransomware infection are growing rapidly, and the first step in fighting a disease is protection, said Marcin Kleczynski, CEO of Malwarebytes. Microsoft's claim that its Edge browser is the thriftiest with power has drawn a sharp response from rival browser biz Opera, who called for open testing to work out which app provides better battery life.Earlier this week, Microsoft released research which, it claims, shows that the Edge browser that comes with Windows 10 uses less power than its rivals – although it didn't include its own legacy Internet Explorer browser in that test. But Opera claims its openly replicable tests tell a different story.Like most other engineering teams, we love it when someone picks a fight. If we get beaten in a test like this, we consider it a bug, said Opera's director of software development, Blazej Kazmierczak.Edge hadn't been included in Opera's earlier testing because it was a Windows 10-only browser, he said, but using the same test methodology as before, the Edge laptop crapped out at three hours 12 minutes compared to Opera, which managed five minutes short of four hours.



Kazmierczak published the testing metrics used in the tests and launched an implicit challenge for Redmond in return. Microsoft declined to comment to The Reg officially, but Edge program manager Kyle Pflug disputed Opera's findings online.This test turned on an ad blocker, which is off by default. Not loading+rendering the same content in all browsers. Opera is the perennial red-headed stepchild of the browser world – currently hovering at about 2 per cent of the desktop market and 5 per cent of mobile compared to more than a third of the market for Microsoft – but has skin in the game when it comes to power usage.The underdog has made battery use a big selling point of its latest build and, in a cloudy world, many users are starting to wake up to how much power their browser is costing them. Google's market-leading Chrome has been rightly criticized for being overly power and memory-hungry, and since browsers are typically the most used app on a computer, others are using this as a selling point.Chrome has nearly half of the desktop browser market, and the lion's share of the mobile sector via Android. So far there's little sign that the search giant is ready to play the power-saving game.


There'll be champagne corks popping at cloudy comms firm Twilio after shares rose 71 per cent on the first day of trading.The company raised $150m after pricing its IPO at $15, but is currently trading at $25.67 a share, up $10.67 or 71 per cent. No doubt there'll be some profit taking at the end of the day, but it's a strong showing for the first tech IPO of the year, and values the company at around $1.2bn.Twilio has yet to make a profit, but it seems to be getting close, only losing $6.5m against revenues of $59m.The voice, messaging and collaborative working tools company is now looking to augment its VoIP and messaging platform and get into the Internet of Things market. A PR snapshot of Mark Zuckerberg's desk has shown quite how seriously the king of the information sharing economy takes his own privacy.On Tuesday, the Behoodied One shared an at-work picture to celebrate hitting 500 million active monthly users on Instagram. But a closer look by California startup employee Chris Olson shows that his laptop has the webcam blocked and there appears to be tape over the audio jacks of his MacBook.The desk setup matches a Facebook Live video from September last year and the cover-up tape would make sense. FBI director James Comey does the same to his computer and while some honestly admit to not bothering, the amount of malware out there that can take secretive snapshots is huge.


Only the paranoid survive was one of the key mottos of Intel cofounder Andy Grove, and he was only talking about Silicon Valley business practices. When it comes to security, a healthy dose of paranoia isn't an aberration, it's a survival trait – and one that Zuck is lacking in.The picture also appears to show that Zuckerberg is running Thunderbird. It kind of makes sense – when Zuck cut his coding teeth, Mozilla's email client was very popular and nostalgia is a powerful force in software.Facebook has spent around $16m keeping its head honcho secure, according to SEC filings. It's telling that he's still taking such precautions over personal computer use. The fact that a multi-billionaire with a world-class IT team protecting him is taking such basic security measures like this should make IT managers concerned that their users aren't doing the same. Microsoft has published new research in which it claims that its Edge browser, bundled with Windows 10, can outperform the competition when it comes to battery life.The lab rats at Redmond set up four identical charged laptops, each using a different browser to stream an identical video. The Laptop running Google Chrome ran out of juice after just under four hours and 20 minutes, compared with five hours and nine minutes for Mozilla and six hours 18 minutes for Opera – while Edge lasted for seven hours 22 minutes.



The laptops were then powered up again and put through a series of automated tasks, including opening websites, scrolling through articles, and watching videos, each in a new tab. Again Edge won out, although Chrome did better than you might expect and Firefox proved the worst in tests.For these browsing activities, our tests show Microsoft Edge is a more energy-efficient browser on Windows 10, with up to 36%-53% more battery life to get what you need done – whether you're studying at the library, researching dream vacation destinations, or checking in with your friends on social networks, said Jason Weber, director of the web platform team for Microsoft Edge.Finally, Microsoft used its own user data from Windows 10 users that gets sent back to Redmond's servers for analysis. Here Firefox nearly held its own against Edge, with Chrome a distant third. Microsoft did not supply data for Opera.So why is Microsoft making such a fuss about all this? Well, battery usage by browsers is the next big differentiator for the applications and Redmond wants some skin in the game.Last month, Opera issued the first code for its battery-saving systems in the browser, claiming a 50 per cent power saving over some of the competition.

Les échographies

Akku für ASUS N76V

Die Entscheidung der Automobilhersteller für da 48-V-Bordnetz zur schrittweisen Umsetzung der Elektromobilität ist gefallen. Damit setzen sie auf ein hybrides Bordnetz mit 12 und 48 V. Für die Integration in das 48-V-Teilbordnetz sind im ersten Schritt vor allem Großverbraucher prädestiniert, wie die Heck-, Frontscheiben- und Sitzheizungen und der PTC-Zuheizer. Auch dynamische Lasten werden vom 48-V-Netz übernommen. Neben verschiedenen Kompressoren ist es vor allem der E-Boost, der dem Hybridfahrzeug mit praktisch verlustfreiem Antrieb den typischen niedertourigen Drehmomentverlauf eines Diesel-Verbrennungsmotors und das entsprechende Fahrgefühl verleiht. Hinzu kommt der Start-Stopp-Generator, der als zentrale Komponente von Hybridfahrzeugen die Rekuperation der Bremsenergie und damit das emissionsfreie Segeln (Sailing/Coasting) ermöglicht. Mittelfristig werden weitere Lasten folgen, wie die elektrische Lenkung, Fahrwerksstabilisierung, Audio-Endstufen und LED-Beleuchtungen, die sich dann mit höheren Spannungen betreiben lassen. Im 12-V-Bordnetz verbleiben lediglich kleinere Verbraucher.


Batterien für das hybride Bordnetz


Aktuelle Mittel- und Oberklasse-Fahrzeuge mit Start-Stopp-Generator sind mit zwei 12-V-Batterien aufgebaut: Eine versorgt primär das Bordnetz und stellt sicher, dass alle notwendigen Verbraucher stets einsatzbereit sind. Die andere speist den Start-Stopp-Generator.


Eine 48-V-Batterie wird zukünftig eine der 12-V-Batterien ersetzen. Das wird zumindest anfangs eine Lithium-Ionen-Batterie oder -Batterie-Pack sein. Denn sie verfügt über eine sehr hohe Energiedichte und übersteht wiederholt hohe Spitzenströme. Doch auch wenn diese Stromspitzen die Batterie nicht unmittelbar schädigen, wirken sie sich auf die komplexen elektrochemischen Reaktionen im Inneren der Batterie aus und tragen dadurch erheblich zu ihrer Alterung bei.



In Hybrid- und Elektrofahrzeugen ist die Batterie hohen dynamischen Belastungen ausgesetzt: Bei der Rekupera¬tion entstehen beim aktiven Bremsen des Elektromotors sehr hohe Stromspitzen, das schnelle Aufnehmen der rekuperierten Energie erfordert hohe Ladeströme. Auch das Ziel, ein Schnellladen der Batterie zu bieten, bringt hohe Ladeströme mit sich. Bei Nutzung des E-Boost hingegen wird sehr schnell viel Energie benötigt, das heißt die Batterie sehr schnell entladen. Diese Faktoren hängen weitestgehend vom Fahrverhalten ab und können nicht durch eine geeignete Betriebsstrategie vermieden werden.


Um eine lange Lebensdauer der Batterie sicherzustellen, setzen die Batterie-Pack-Hersteller auf verschiedene Maßnahmen – von einer hochwertigen und stabilen Struktur der im Batteriesystem verbauten Zellen und deren Kontaktierung, über ein ausgeklügeltes Batteriemanagementsystem bis zum Thermomanagement, das die Batterie in ihrer Komfortzone zwischen 0 und 45 °C hält.


Die im Batteriemanagementsystem hinterlegten Algorithmen sorgen dafür, die Batterie bestmöglich vor schädlichen Einflüssen zu schützen und den Degenerationsprozess gering zu halten. Hierfür müssen die Lade- und Entladeströme ebenso wie weitere Einflussfaktoren – vor allem die Temperatur – überwacht und gemanagt werden. Dann lässt sich beispielsweise die Start-Stopp-Automatik automatisch abschalten, wenn die Temperatur einen bestimmten oder definierten Wert unter- oder überschreitet oder die Last auf der Batterie bereits zu hoch ist. Ziel der ständigen Überwachung der Batterie ist die Dia¬gnose ihres Ladezustandes (State of Charge, SoC), sowie ihres tatsächlichen Gesundheitszustands (State of Health, SoH).


Rund 135 Mio. Dollar soll GSR laut der Nikkei Asian Review dafür bezahlen. Außerdem sei GSR interessiert daran, den eigenen Anteil von 49 Prozent (von NEC und NEC Energy Devices) am Batterie-Joint-Venture mit Nissan zu übernehmen. NEC Energy Devices stellt in einem Werk in Tokio vor allem Elektroden für Li-Ionen-Batterien her, die Nissan in seinen Elektroautos verwendet. Das Unternehmen setzt rund 135 Mio. Dollar um.



Dem Markt für Autobatterien prognostizieren die Analysten enormes Wachstum. Kein Wunder in Zeiten, in denen die Regierungen in Ländern wie Frankreich und Großbritannien schon die Termine für den kompletten Ausstieg aus der Verbrennungstechnik nennen. Und in China stehen ebenfalls alle eichen auf Elektromobilität. So schätzen die Analysten der japanischen Fuji Keizai , dass sich der Markt für Autobatterien gegenüber letztem Jahr bis 2015 auf 60 Mrd. Dollar verfünffachen wird.


GSR hat bereit in amerikanische und chinesische Batteriehersteller investiert, um in China eine Infrastruktur für die Fertigung von Batterien aufzubauen, die die Elektrofahrzeuge benötigen.


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Battery for Fujitsu FPCBP325AP

Beancounters like boxes you can point at, particularly when they have big black-and-white labels saying “CORP-MailServer-01”. Auditor-baiting is a great game, and you can only do it if you have core stuff in your DC.You may, of course, end up deciding to move your entire production application world into the cloud. It's inexpensive, security isn't regarded as an excessive problem, and support costs generally go down markedly when someone else has to look after the hardware and the software upgrades.Even if you do, though, the data centre remains the ideal place to do your architecture tests and prototyping – trying things out and seeing how they behave. The example I gave earlier about inviting people to pull the connection out of the simulated WAN link is exactly what I'm talking about: a platform that physically exists but isn't part of the production infrastructure. It's got routers, servers, switches, storage, bits of cable, its own internet connection, and preferably additional tools such as a WAN emulator, dedicated PC for network monitoring, and so on.The cloud has a fairly core problem: it's the cloud. You have no idea of the underlying hardware, or how far server A physically sits from server B. You have high-level monitoring but nothing below a very abstract set of statistics, so although you could use something like PerfMon/TypePerf at the Windows level (or the Linux equivalent if you're an Open Source kind of person) you have no idea what's going on on the network.


Particularly for an application specialist this is a big deal: in any networked application each contact between endpoints has several phases, from the initial DNS lookup right at the end of the delivery of the results to the user. In the cloud you just can't see this – so research on how your apps perform in this regard needs you to have some kind of data centre presence with some real, physical equipment in it.And the beauty is that you can often equip your R&D “lab” without costing the earth. After all, you didn't throw out those end-of-life switches or routers, did you? In most cases you replace kit not because it's completely unusable but because the vendor no longer supports it and hence it's no use in a business-critical infrastructure. So if you gave me a few Cisco 2600s routers, 3750G switches, ASA5510s, four-year-old Dell servers and the like I'd be perfectly happy. Although you'll need to buy some stuff, it won't be an expensive ground-up purchase.And the point is I'd be able to let my gang run riot with them and practise stuff. Flash an ancient copy of the ASA firmware onto a 5510 and let them figure out how to upgrade it to the latest release without breaking the VPN connection. We can unplug things and see how the database copes, and whether it manages to get its bearings and pick up where it left off once the connection comes back.



Engineers are like children: we like stuff that's new, and we like trying stuff out and finding things out for ourselves
Buy some assorted hard disks – SATA and SAS spinning disks and various types of Flash drive – and do real benchmarks and show yourself just what the difference is. Record what you see, because when you then look back to the cloud for your production systems you'll be so much more convinced that (say) the extra performance of the SSD storage option is worth it – because you'll remember that “Holy crap!” moment when you saw how fast the benchmark was on your own physical box, run by your own fair hand.The cloud abstracts everything too much to be useful for infrastructure research and testing, and so an in-house alternative is the obvious way to go.And the thing is, engineers are like children: we like stuff that's new, and we like trying stuff out and finding things out for ourselves. And if this can involve real engineering, with real metal boxes (preferably with the lids off where possible), and flashing lights, and bits of electric string, all the better.And this means physical kit. On our premises. Combine this with the undeniable fact that experimenting is fun, and it's the obvious way of getting the fun stuff back into the data centre.


Video People who bought the first batch of Microsoft's Surface Book slab-tops are furious that a glitch causes the screens to flicker.Microsoft's support forums and the Surface subreddit are filled with folks claiming their displays erratically wink completely on and off. This happens, we're told, whether the tablet is running on its own or when it's docked in its base station.A small number of customers have flagged some issues with their Surface Book, a Redmond spokesperson told The Register. We are working hard to resolve them quickly and easily with Windows Update.
The reports come just two days into the retail run for the high-end Microsoft tablet-notebook convertible. Marketed as a high-end expansion on the Surface Pro, the Surface Book starts at a price of $1500 and offers up to an Intel Core i7 processor and 1TB SSD in the tablet, with an additional Nvidia discrete GPU built into the keyboard dock.That high-priced, hefty hardware package seems to be coming with some early hiccups. A video captured by one Surface Book owner shows the mysterious screen flicker in action.



Just got my unit, i7 512GB. Applied all the updates (including the recent firmware). My screen keeps flickering on/off, whether or not the screen is docked, user Jarem said of the problem.I've tried resetting but the issue still persists. It also seems independent of running apps or focused windows. Adjusting the brightness doesn't resolve the issue.It doesn't seem to do it when the screen is attached in laptop mode, but flipping the screen around makes it flicker like crazy, wrote user JohnnyLocust.Spent about 2 hours with tech support on the phone. All we did was a complete factory reset and reinstall the latest firmware and drivers. One hour later, the flicker started right back up.While the cause of the flickering has not yet been determined, users have suggested the problem may be related to Hyper-V, as some reported that disabling the Windows 10 hypervisor alleviates the flickering issue.Though many Windows users will not need Hyper-V enabled, the issue could be a problem for the Surface book in particular, as Redmond has positioned the tablet, with its in-dock discrete GPU, as a solution for high-end enterprise users. This week, the pair developing the Novena open laptop have provided an update on their work. The idea is to develop a usable system that is completely open to customization and scrutiny – from the electronics to the firmware to the operating system to the applications.This is ideal for people paranoid there is malicious code hidden in closed-source drivers and firmware in their motherboards and hardware, or just fed up with insecure and broken closed-source software from manufacturers.

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Battery for Sony VGP-BPS2C

That Kermani's physical machine was seized by the police suggests that communications between himself and his sources were unavailable to the police through RIPA. Such unavailability has been a gripe of the British government in recent months, with suggestions of banning end-to-end encrypted communications – but not encryption wholesale – left open by Baroness Shields, ironically the minister for internet safety and security, in the coming Investigatory Powers Bill.Michelle Stanistreet, secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: There are serious questions to be answered about why the order obtained by the police warranted the seizing of a journalist's laptop - which may well have contained confidential information on other sources and other stories too. Terrorism laws should not be used as convenient cloaks to sidestep measures that protect press freedom and the ability of journalists to inform the public and to hold power to account.If Kermani's communications were encrypted on his device, he may now face a compulsory disclosure order under Section 49 of RIPA which would compel him to disclose the cryptographic key protecting his communications or face a maximum of two years in prison.Ian Katz, editor of Newsnight, said: While we would not seek to obstruct any police investigation we are concerned that the use of the Terrorism Act to obtain communication between journalists and sources will make it very difficult for reporters to cover this issue of critical public interest.


The cloud is a fabulous concept. If you want to try something out, or prototype your latest idea, or give yourself a relatively inexpensive disaster recovery setup, get in there and run up a cloud-based installation.There's something that the cloud lacks, though: it's just not fun or cool. Lists of virtual machines in the Azure management GUI aren't sexy. Neither is the pop-up on AWS that tells you the settings you need to paste into your router to get your VPN up and running. And incidentally, Microsoft and Amazon, I'm not having a pop specifically at you – they're just random examples that apply to the cloud in general rather to than any one supplier in particular.One of the things that has to stay in your data centre, assuming you have one, is the infrastructure that runs it. There's nothing quite as impressive as a spankingly tidy cabinet, every cable run perfectly along the cable management tray, perhaps colour-coded for important connections.I've had managers and auditors become wide-eyed and gasp when I've opened the cabinet door on a particularly sexy collection of flashing lights and cables (not, I hasten to add, my own cabling handiwork – happily I used to have a colleague called Chris who was amazing at that stuff).



And if your hardware vendor does cool kit, that's a bonus. My favourite was 3PAR's (now HP's) funky racks with yellow flashes across the doors. A colleague once referred to the yellow rack and the humming of the disks therein as “a box of angry bees”. What I do know is that everyone commented on it.Sadly, of course, the best any vendor can hope to achieve is second best, because the best-looking piece of kit ever devised has been out of production for years.Someone told me only this week of her experience rather a lot of years ago when she was a trainee accountant at the UK Atomic Energy Authority … and she went to see the Cray in its data centre. If you think anything can beat a proper Cray (the Cray-1, not one of those poncey 19-inch-rack-with-funky-doors ones they do these days), you're welcome to submit challenges in the Comments section of this page.


I come from a world of running resilient global infrastructures. This tends to mean a global network connected to a bunch of kit at each location that largely follows a standard architecture, since if everything's the same it's a breeze to manage. So you have the same firewalls, same family of switches, the same remote management servers, the same fileservers, the same storage devices, and so on at each site; the only thing that will usually change was the number of switches in the stack, reflecting the fact that some offices are bigger and have more users than others. And of course the only real way to test the resilience of your kit is to have a real setup to play with.Doing it for real has two key advantages. First, you're proving conclusively that it does what you expect. Yes, you can emulate a link failure by downing the port on (say) the WAN router, but it's still electrically connected in some cases. I've seen instances where downing the port didn't cause the link to go down entirely, but pulling the cable did – handy to know when you're testing your failover design.Second, though, is when you're trying to sell the idea of the CFO, or the company's investment committee, so they'll give you the money to actually do it.Take a bunch of senior managers to the data centre, open up the rack on your test network, run up a funky streamed music video on your laptop, and invite them to do their worst. “Pick a switch and pull the power on it,” you can tell them, and the video keeps on humming.



Stuff the power back in and watch the monitoring alerts all turn green when the switch is back on line. Invite them to pull the cable from the primary (simulated) WAN connection in the knowledge that it's supposed to be resilient; see the video pause for a few seconds while BGP re-converges and then pick up where it left off without you doing anything.If you're a techie, you think this is cool and you feel smug; if you're a manager you think the techie is some kind of wizard who does weird magic because until this point they thought this whole resilient technology was unfounded bollocks that you made up.Of course you could have demonstrated this from a distance by electronically downing ports, but being there in person and seeing it for real is worth a thousand semi-artificial demos.In these days of cloud computing, auditors can be a royal pain in the arse. Particularly the younger ones who are sent to do the initial on-site interviews and whose sole contribution to the process is the ability to write down what they're told.I love taking auditors to data centres. They're so used to people saying: “Oh, that's in the cloud” or “It's in our service provider's premises … here's a photocopy of their ISO27001 certificate” that they spend their lives with a suspicious look on their face.So it's great when they ask: “Can you tell me where XXX is stored?” You email the data centre receptionist surreptitiously to tell him to be particularly pedantic about ID, then shepherd the auditors outside, hop in the car, drive down to the data centre, go through the (now overly onerous) entry procedure, open the door of cabinet C23, point to the third disk shelf down, and say: “It's on there.” Even better, you nod to cabinet D14 and mention: “Oh, it's in there as well, and I won't bother showing you the other data centre as it's a long way away, but it's there too.”


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Akku für Acer AS07A51

In Australien soll sie das Netz stabilisieren, ein Zusammenbruch der Stromversorgung wie 2016 soll sie verhindern. Damals tobte ein Sturm über Südaustralien, der das Netz für drei Tage zusammenbrechen ließ. 1,7 Millionen Einwohner und die Industrie saßen ohne Strom da, nichts ging mehr.


Nun soll die Batterie von Tesla, die dreimal so leistungsfähig ist wie bestehende Systeme, Netzausfälle überbrücken, wie Musk twitterte. Immerhin könnte die Batterie 30.000 Haushalte vorübergehend versorgen.


Sollte es länger dauern als 100 Tagen bis die Batterie fertig ans Netz angeschlossen ist, will Musk sie sogar verschenken. Da würden sich die Regierung von Südaustralien und Neoen freuen. Das französische Unternehmen baut gerade den Windpark Hornsdale Farm bei Jamestown in Südaustralien, wo die Batterie zum Einsatz kommen soll. Den Preis beziffern Experten auf rund 200 Mio. Dollar.


Normalerweise besteht die Aufgabe der Batterie im Peak-Shaving: Sie speichert die überschüssige Energie, die der Windpark erzeugt, wenn der Wind weht und wenig Nachfrage herrscht. In windarmen Zeiten mit hoher Nachfrage gibt sie die elektrische Energie ab.


Tesla hat bereits die bisher größte Li-Ionen-Batterie in Kalifornien installiert, die 80 MWh erreicht und die das Unternehmen in 90 Tagen gebaut hat.


Musk gibt sich zuversichtlich, auch das neu gesetzte Ziel erreichen zu können: Nur einige technische Hürden müssten noch überwunden werden.


Technische Hürden zu überwinden – darin kennt sich Elon Musk aus: 2016 hat Tesla 76.000 Autos ausgeliefert, 2018 sollen es bereits 500.000 sein und 2020 rund 1 Million. Profitabel war das Geschäft bisher nicht. Dennoch katapultierten Anleger die Börsenkapitalisierung von Tesla über die Marke von General Motors. Denn sie halten den visionär Musk für einen neuen Ford des Zeitaltes des Elektroautos, der mit dem Model 3 ein Analogon zur berühmten Tin Lizzy auf den Markt bringen und die Autowelt ein weiteres Mal revolutionieren will. Bis er auf insgesamt mehrere Millionen ausgelieferte Autos und Milliarden-Gewinne wie die etablierten US-Autohersteller kommen kann, dürften allerdings noch technische Hürden zu überwinden sein.


Derweil hat über die letzten Tage die Euphorie der Tesla-Anleger offenbar etwas nachgelassen. Schleppender Absatz und Probleme mit den Sicherheitsniveau der Tesla-Autos hatten zu Kursabschlägen geführt, im Moment scheint bezüglich der Börsenkapitalisierung General Motors wieder die Nase vorne zu haben.



Optionen für Energiespeicher


Doch zurück zu den Batterien für die Speicherung von großen Energiemengen, wie sie zur Stabilisierung des Netzes und zum Peak-Shaving Einsatz finden. Große Firmen wie Siemens, ABB und Schneider Electric tummeln sich in diesem Markt genauso wie kleinere Start-up-Firmen, etwa die die 2005 in Berlin gegründete Younicos, die kürzlich die britische Aggreko für 46 Mio. Euro übernommen hatte. Younicos hat bisher Batteriesysteme mit einer Gesamtkapazität von 200 MW errichtet oder baut sie gerade.


Li-Ionen-Batterien sind nicht die einzigen Techniken, die die Grundlage für solche Großbatterien bilden können. Je nach Anwendungsfall kommen verschiedene Batterietypen, darunter auch Redox-Flow-Typen. Auch an Brennstoffzellen, die speziell für diesen Einsatzzweck gedacht sind, arbeiten verschiedene Hersteller, darunter die britische Gencell.


Eine aktuelle Studie des niederländischen Finanzinstituts ING sagt voraus, dass Batterie-Elektroautos spätestens 2035 den Verbrennungsmotor überholen werden. Während der Absatz von Stromern in China dank massiver staatlicher Fördermaßnahmen rasant steigt, verkauft sich der alternative Antrieb in Europa und den USA derzeit nur schleppend. Das Interesse an Elektroautos steigt jedoch zunehmend.


Kaufinteressenten, die gerne umsteigen würden, fürchten mit elektrischen Autos im Alltag Probleme zu bekommen. Vor allem die vergleichsweise geringen Reichweiten und lange Ladezeiten aktueller Modelle sowie fehlende öffentliche Ladepunkte schrecken viele ab. Als weiteres großes Hindernis für den Durchbruch von Elektromobilität gelten die oft noch hohen Preisaufschläge für E-Autos.


ING geht davon aus, dass die meisten Probleme rein elektrisch angetriebener Fahrzeuge im nächsten Jahrzehnt verschwinden. Maßgeblich verantwortlich dafür werden laut den Analysen der Bank Akkus der nächsten Generation mit mehr Leistung zu günstigeren Preisen sein. Kostenunterschiede zwischen Batterie-Elektroautos und vergleichbaren Verbrennern soll es spätestens 2028 nicht mehr geben.


Bereits für 2024 geht ING davon aus, dass die Gesamtbetriebskosten eines VW e-Golf im Vergleich zu der Benziner-Version deutlich niedriger liegen werden. Besitzer eines vollelektrischen Golf sollen demnach in knapp sieben Jahren 2500 Euro pro Jahr sparen können.


Solarspeicher: Bürger glauben an Erfolg der Batterie


In Deutschland sind inzwischen rund 60.000 Solarbatterien verbaut.

Dass es zukünftig noch mehr werden, davon gehen knapp 75 Prozent der befragten Bürger aus. Die Mehrheit von ihnen (42%) meint, dass die Batterien bis 2025 ihren Durchbruch erleben. Dies zeigt eine repräsentative Umfrage von YouGov im Auftrag vom Energie- und IT-Unternehmen LichtBlick.



Ungefähr jeder neunte Bundesbürger gibt an, dass er bis 2020 mit einem Durchbruch der Batteriespeicher rechnet. „Wer heute eine PV-Anlage auf seinem Dach installiert, sollte direkt auch einen Batteriespeicher mit einplanen,“ so Gero Lücking, Geschäftsführung Energiewirtschaft bei LichtBlick. „Die Speicherkapazität steigt und die Preise fallen. Bis 2020 sollen sie im Vergleich zu 2015 um 45 Prozent fallen.“ Doch noch ist der Preis der größte Hindernisgrund. 63 Prozent der Befragten geben an, dass die Kosten den Ausbau der Batterien hindern. Viele fühlen sich jedoch auch unzureichend informiert. 39 Prozent sagen, dass sie zu wenig über die Vorteile einer Batterie wissen. Weiteren 38 Prozent mangelt es an Informationen zu Fördermöglichkeiten. Ein zusätzliches Hemmnis ist für mehr als ein Drittel der Befragten, dass Mieter bislang nicht von der Installation eines Solarspeichers profitieren.


Etwa sieben Prozent der Befragten sind beim Thema PV-Strom und Solarspeicher selbst aktiv geworden: Sie haben bereits eine Solaranlage und/oder einen Speicher installiert. Fast ein Fünftel der Bürger denkt über eine Installation nach. Im Vergleich zu 2015 ist dieser Anteil leicht gestiegen. Vor zwei Jahren gaben sechs Prozent der Befragten an, eine PV-Anlage und/oder einen Speicher im Haus zu haben und 16 Prozent haben über einen Einbau nachgedacht.


Seit Anfang des Jahres ist LichtBlick in den Batteriemarkt eingestiegen und vermittelt Speicher der Hersteller Fronius und sonnen. „Wir denken das Thema Speicher heute schon vernetzt“, so Gero Lücking. „Alle Batterien im Angebot können zur SchwarmBatterie® werden, das heißt, dass sie zukünftig vernetzt im Schwarm mit den Energiemärkten kommunizieren und je nach Bedarf Strom speichern oder wieder ins Netz abgeben können.“ Neben dem Beitrag für die Energiewende werden Batterien so noch wirtschaftlicher für die Besitzer.

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Battery for Dell Inspiron 1526

This camera is so sensitive that we used it to differentiate between identical twins and the system got the right one, Skaugen explained.The camera can also be used to personalize games, mapping the player's face and body into player characters. Skaugen said that Intel has been working with Electronic Arts to add this into games, and the early results are looking very good.In China, Tencent is also adding the technology to dating sites to eliminate the nasty shock of meeting someone who looks nothing like their photo. Skaugen joked that startups should start building profile editing software.All of this is for laptops, but desktop systems are also going to rise again, Skaugen predicted, with gamers driving growth. Gamers typically refresh their systems every two years, compared to nearly six for standard desktop users.The big loser in all of this is going to be the tablet market, Skaugen said. Intel had got the growth in tablets wrong, he said, and is now revising its forecasts.18 months ago many people thought that tablet sales were going to cross over PCs in 2014; now we're sure they won't ever, Skaugen said. At Intel we've taken a billion units out of our forecasts in the last year. The Mountain View ad giant said on Monday that it has no immediate plans to kill off Chrome OS nor the army of lightweight Chromebook PCs it has spawned: the web goliath has promised a regular six-week software cycle and guaranteed auto-updates for five years for the operating system.


After that, of course, who knows? Maybe it'll find a comfy spot on the shelf next to Google Reader, Google Wave, Google Code, and Google Talk.Over the last few days, there's been some confusion about the future of Chrome OS and Chromebooks based on speculation that Chrome OS will be folded into Android, blogged Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google senior vice president for Android, Chrome OS, and Chromecast.While we've been working on ways to bring together the best of both operating systems, there's no plan to phase out Chrome OS.This followed rumors that Google was going to fold Chrome OS into Android to form a single operating system that was mobile and laptop friendly.It was speculated that this effort would focus Google engineers on the Chrome-droid hybrid, and put Chrome OS and the open-source Chromium project – the Linux-powered basis of Chrome OS – on the back burner.This drew outcry from folks who feared that in the process of merging the two operating systems, Google will mothball a pretty secure lightweight desktop OS (Chromium) in favor of developing a vulnerability-riddled phone platform (Android).



Lockheimer has been the point man for Google's response, issuing public denials that Chrome OS was going to be phased out in favor of a PC-flavored build of Android.Designed for low-cost lightweight notebooks, Chrome OS relies in large part on in-browser applications that are isolated into sandboxes that limit their reach to other components. Google estimates that 30,000 Chrome OS devices are activated every day in US schools.Even in issuing the denial, Lockheimer noted that Google was indeed looking to integrate more of Android into Chrome OS. He noted moves such as last year's launch of the App Runtime for Chrome (ARC) tool allowing Chromebooks to run Android mobile applications.We have plans to release even more features for Chrome OS, the Google senior VP said, such as a new media player, a visual refresh based on Material Design, improved performance, and of course, a continued focus on security.What that means for the future of Chrome OS remains to be seen. In the meantime, however, the Chocolate Factory stresses that the OS isn't going anywhere. Well, not for another five years, anyway. Something for the Weekend, Sir? There’s nothing worse in journalism than a big-mouthed writer who can’t take what he gives. So I would like to thank all those readers who emailed me personally to offer their opinions on last week’s column in which I cast doubt on Hollywood’s portrayal of computer hackers as sharp-witted and articulate with washboard abs rather than fat, spotty and smelling of Lynx and tramp sick.A special note of appreciation goes to those who expressed shock at my apparent lack of respect for the mighty Iron Maiden before going on to tell me which popular music combos they thought were rubbish.It was a eye-opener. I had hoped The Reg’s readership might be getting younger but I never imagined it included quite so many children.


This being the case, allow me to enhance the SEO standing of this week’s column by making an unnecessary reference to The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Thank you for your indulgence.Speaking of youngsters, I was browsing in a charity bookshop yesterday in which I noticed an old book called How to Photograph Children. One imagines it will remain gathering dust on that shelf for quite a while. It’s not exactly the kind of tome you’d wish to be seen with tucked under your arm as you bicycle back to the vicarage, is it?There is an innate creepiness about the act of watching children. This possibly explains the decision by Judge Rebecca Ward this week in the US to clear the charges made against a bloke who shot down a drone hovering over his back garden. William Merideth said he believed the drone was spying on his two girls and, being an ordinary protective father whose primary concern is for the safety of his kids, reached for the nearest shotgun lying about the house and blasted the motherfucker out of the sky.Hailing from northern Yurp, I am a stranger to back-garden gun culture. Guns themselves I have no trouble with, except when used outside club competition and forestry hunting. Perhaps for this reason, European gun owners are treated as charming throwbacks to a more innocent era rather than as survivalist psychos and ego-supremacists in constant terror of something made up in their own heads.


In France, for example, hunters are treated as figures of some amusement. Although there are cases of hunters catching careless ramblers with stray buckshot while trying to track down wild boar, they are much more likely to end up accidentally shooting their own dogs and even each other in their hapless adventures.I have heard that in many locations around the US, you can shoot whomever you like just as long as they’re on your property. This must be handy when you’ve run out of bottles and tin cans but it must make visits from family over Christmas a tense affair, what with all those simmering life-long disagreements ready to explode into an almighty bloodbath simply by leaving the cap off the toothpaste.So I am transfixed by the court’s finding that Mr Merideth is within his rights to shoot down a drone invading his personal space – not because I am appalled but because I think it’s absolutely fantastic. To me, he sounds like Fuzzy Lumpkins from the Power Puff Girls for digital generation.
Just think of all those intrusive CCTV cameras staring at you as you leave the front door, tracking you down the street, watching as you wait for a bus, record your every sniff and cough while on the bus itself, following you into work and sniggering at you all day to make sure you’re at your desk. Bugger the drones, let’s poke all those fixed-camera bastards in the eye!Then there are the unwelcome intrusions into my personal cyberspace to deal with. Perhaps I could persuade a judge to justify my violent retaliative action against every Nigerian scammer and American spammer attempting to fill my inbox.



As for Google’s laughably targeted ads or those irrelevant crap promotions you keep seeing on Twitter, how would you like a slug of digital lead between your virtual eyes, pal? Oh and what about GCHQ prying through my children’s web history? Bloody paedos, the lot of them.There are plenty of other instances when instant retribution would do me nicely.I recently had to deliver a presentation of a bespoke development project to a customer, directed onto a company laptop that had been set up with the software. Just as we began, she began plugging in an unfamiliar computer. When challenged, she said she felt more comfortable using her own laptop from home than the one I’d spent a week configuring. She refused to be talked out of it.Rather than desperately trying to install Oracle runtime and shitloads of support files before delivering what turned out to be the most incompetent tech demo since the dawn of the industrial age, what I should have done was reach into my shoulder bag for a shotgun and blasted her laptop into aluminium filings. And I’d have had the might of the courts behind me.Don’t stop there. Does the postman keep invading your private space with bills? Blamm!!! Is that nice old lady from the other end of the street about to ask you to mind her cats while she goes on another cruise to the West Indies? Kapow!!! The next time your neighbour climbs a 20ft ladder to “trim the hedge” just outside your living room window and remains there all afternoon watching your TV, take the fucker out with a Glock model 40.

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Battery for FPCBP145AP

I have started reviewing USB cables on Amazon because I have gotten fed up with the early cables from third-party vendors that so blatantly flaunt the specification, and I want to hold them to task, he wrote on Google+.You may not just get weird behavior from your devices with these bad cables ... What some of these vendors are doing is downright dangerous.The problems stem from manufacturers not complying with the interface's specifications, specifically the use of resistors: a 56kΩ pull-up resistor should be connected to the Vbus pin to signal that one end of the cable or converter is a legacy USB device that can't handle a 3A current draw.Some converters do not feature this pull-up. So, for example, a Type-C gadget could attempt to draw 3A from a USB 2.0 host or charger via one of these dodgy cables, and cause damage to the wiring and electronics.Leung has taken to publishing reviews on Amazon for USB Type-C cables using the name LaughingMan, and the results have been no laughing matter. Of the 13 cables tested so far, only three were up to spec on power – but even then, some of the highly rated cables weren't fully compatible with USB Type-C when it came to data rates, due to the use of USB 2.0 cabling.


Understandably, Leung used his new Google Chrome Pixel laptop and Nexus smartphone for the tests. He has published Linux commands that can be used to test the efficacy of cables, along with the results needed to know that the hardware will perform as expected.Cabling is a contentious issue in the industry, in part because unscrupulous vendors have tried, and succeeded, to skin consumers for massively expensive HDMI cables. Now the same trick appears to be in play for USB Type-C, so buyer beware. Hewlett Packard Inc is turning to partners to help drive business among the enterprise and small and mid-markets in the UK and Ireland.HP Inc Wednesday announced it would convert 300 of the region's largest, direct business accounts into indirect relationships to woo partners.The newly independent computer and printer-maker told The Reg it wants to grow its business alongside that of partners in “key” growth areas.Those areas are managed services, mobility and core PC.HP won’t remove itself entirely from the relationship with customers, rather fulfilment will now be in the hands of partners eager to sign up.Neil Sawyer, UKI channel director, told The Reg: “A lot of those companies have a rich history and heritage with the partners they work with.”



Also, HP will work with groups of partners serving small and mid-market companies in one of six verticals that changes every 60 days.Sawyer said that every 60 days HP would look at new vertical markets to deliver new opportunities.Verticals will include legal, financial services, transport and logistics.“We see huge growth in the small business and mid-market segments,” Sawyer said. “We want to work with those partners and to collaborate.”Changes will be rolled out over the next three weeks, and with HP looking for partners “who show and interest in working with us [HP Inc] pro-actively.”HP has made much of “pockets of growth”, which it translates as core PC and laptop business, printing services and laser imaging, and mobility.Within the PC core, it is targeting the PC; what it calls hybrid PCs; and immersive technology, such as 3D printing and also 3D workstations for designer.“We remain committed to the core PC and laptop business,” Sawyer said.All well and good, HP Inc might well need partners, but why should partners work with HP?The split from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) has left it a vastly reduced operation – approximately 60,000 head count versus more than 200,000 for HPE.And while the PC maker is smaller, it’s facing an unchanged dynamic – the problems, challengers and challenges that landed HP in the predicament that led to split, have not gone away. If anything they will seem even larger to HP Inc by virtue of the fact that HP the PC-maker has shrunk in size.


HP is trading on past reputation and status as world and UKI number-one in PC sales. Also, it remains a Fortune 100 firm with $50bn revenue.Managing director UKI George Brasher said: “We are going to be able to be a more nimble company and come up with more innovative programmes.”Sawyer echoed that: “We have to keep re-inventing how we go to market and work with partners, with new processes and improved processes that makes us more nimble and dynamic as a business.” ICGS The last few years haven't been good for the PC market as the old upgrade cycle died and buyers piled into tablets and smartphones. But Intel is convinced the PC will rise again, thanks to new hardware and form factors.I honestly feel this is a once in a decade moment, enthused Kirk Skaugen, GM of Intel's client computing group during his keynote at the Intel Capital Global Summit this week.Today there are more than a billion PCs that are more than three years old and a third of a billion that are over five years old. People are swinging back to the PC and are refreshing their systems.It used to be the case that people upgraded their PCs every two years or so, but in the last five years silicon has got so powerful that no one saw the need. They still don't, but Skaugen is betting that new form factors, particularly the two-in-one detachable-screen systems, will be a major growth driver.



Sales of two-in-one systems are up 150 per cent, he claimed, and are leading to people wanting to refresh their PCs up to 18 months earlier than they would have. The new form factors – including mini-computers – are also inspiring companies that haven't been big in laptops to get in the game he said, citing Microsoft's Surface Book and InFocus' $99 Kangaroo PC as examples.Without the growth in two-in-ones, the laptop market in the US would have shown 4 per cent negative growth, Skaugen said, but the new designs have bumped that up to 1 per cent growth. The new hardware that such systems are starting to carry, particularly 3D cameras, is also going to have people rushing back to laptops, he opined.In the next few weeks both HP and Lenovo are going to be releasing laptops with 3D cameras built into the lid, and Intel has been working with Microsoft to make them integral to the Windows 10 Hello biometric security system. The camera scans the user's face and then opens the operating system, and Intel hopes the system will also replace password logins for websites.Traditionally facial recognition has been relatively easy to fool – just holding up a picture of a face worked often – but Skaugen said the new cameras make this impossible. They take 270-degree scans of the user and have an IR component to make sure that a warm human is in its view.


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Battery for Toshiba PA3635U-1BRM

The report contains incidents contributed by organisations including the CERT Insider Threat Center; CrowdStrike, Deloitte; the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit, Kaspersky Lab and the US Secret Service, amongst others. The study also includes the US Health and Human Services incident database and a significant number of incidents from the US Veteran’s Administration, as reported to Congress.“Many organisations are not doing enough to protect this highly sensitive and confidential data,” said Suzanne Widup, senior security analyst and lead author for the Verizon Enterprise Solutions report. “This can lead to significant consequences impacting an individual and their family and increasing healthcare costs for governments, organisations and individuals. Protected Health Information is highly coveted by today’s cybercriminals,” she added.According to recent studies reference in the report, people are withholding (sometimes critical) information from their healthcare providers because they are concerned that there could be a data breach.“Healthcare organisations need to realise that patients trust them with their data and if that trust is broken, the implications can be huge,” Widup concluded.


The number of external and internal actors in personal health information breaches is nearly equal with just five percentage points difference, meaning there is more insider misuse than hacker action in this area than for data privacy breaks more generally. Detailed health records make it easier for criminals to engage in both identity theft and medical billing fraud.Differences are also evident in how the breach occurs. The primary action of attack is theft of lost portable devices (laptop, tablets, thumb drives), followed by error which can simply be sending a medical report to the wrong recipient or losing a laptop. These two, combined with a third area of employee abuse, make up 86 per cent of all breaches of personal health info data breaches, according to Verizon.Earlier this years the FBI issued a warning to healthcare providers stating that “the healthcare” industry is not as resilient to cyber intrusions compared to the financial and retail sectors, and warning that the possibility of increased cyber intrusions is therefore “likely.”Verizon’s report – which offers insights and recommendations on best practice in protecting health-related private data – is available here. The ship is a year from completion, so there is plenty of time yet to bin it for a more up-to-date and secure version of the venerable operating system.The Ministry of Defence is not returning our calls, but this could always be, as one reader says, “comedy wallpaper on a technician’s laptop...”



You can check out the BBC News report about the Queen Elizabeth here. The XP wallpaper makes its appearance at 1m 25s.A 47-year-old who posed as a 13-year-old girl in order to extort more than £40,000 from paedophiles was sentenced to nine years in prison earlier this year.Lee Philip Rees, of Marlborough Road in Roath, Cardiff, was found guilty at Cardiff Crown Court of 31 counts of computer hacking, distributing indecent photographs of children and blackmail. He was sent down in June.Rees had been placed on probation for possession of indecent photographs of children back in 1989. He was arrested in 2011 after his wife, from whom he was separated, and her new partner passed his laptop – along with their suspicions that it contained indecent images – to the police.The scam, as Rees admitted, involved pretending to be a teenage girl in chat rooms to bait paedophiles. Rees tricked his victims into downloading a remote access tool along with a video. Through this, he planted obscene images on their machines and took screencaps of it before threatening to forward their personal details to local schools and the media. He also maintained a website where he published his victims' details.Although he was arrested in connection with the scam in 2014, Rees went on to blackmail a further victim while on bail, according to the South Wales Evening Post.


Police reportedly found conversations in which Rees had boasted of his extortion and encouraged others to "paedo hunt" – despite, according to Wales Online, a psychiatric assessment having concluded that Rees himself was a paedophile.Rees described the extortion money as a "fine" but shunned the cybercrim currency of choice by opting for Amazon vouchers instead of Bitcoin. He would demand payments of between £25 and £100. Additionally, he described himself as being very close to a family in Thailand, to whom he would send roughly £500 a month.Sentencing Rees, Judge Eleri Rees – who is not related to the convict – said: "Having read all of the evidence and, in particular, the chat logs, I have reached the conclusion that you derived much enjoyment and satisfaction in controlling and manipulating these individuals, preying on their fears and extracting for yourself significant financial gain." Something for the Weekend, Sir? My underwear smells of bacon. The idea, I think, is to make carnivorous members of society salivate in the unlikely event that they should ever bring their faces into close proximity of my shreddies.Unable to test the effectiveness of this theory "in the field", as it were, I am forced to take it on trust. That said, I can confirm that the effect on vegetarians, membership of whom includes Half Life Wife, is significantly different, if hardly unexpected.


I imagine that anyone would react the same way as HLW upon encountering bacon-scented underwear: to express their distaste using the classic Gonnabee-Hugh method.Those of you who have a fetish for this kind of thing might wish to avail themselves of such porcine-perfumed pleasures by picking up their own stinky grundies for just $19.99 a pair.However, I should warn the less foresighted, not to mention olfactory challenged, among you that there might be a teensy design fault in the concept: once you pop the skid-catchers in the wash, the piggy pong will be dramatically reduced, if not blessedly removed altogether. Removing the smell from one’s smugglers is, after all, one of the principal project outcomes you come to expect from putting them in a warm cycle with a scoop of Daz.This is frustrating. Surely the manufacturers must know that even those of us in the IT trade put their clothes in a washing machine from time to time. It's as if they knew the product was destined for imminent ruination and yet it was all part of their evil plan. In order to maintain the consumerist cycle, they want you to break stuff.
Once the initial humorous "Wake up and smell the bacon" gag – and I emphasise “gag” – has worn off, your twenty-dollar chundies will end up the same as all the cheapo manties you bought from the supermarket, except with a large picture of a strip of bacon incongruously printed on the front. And with crushing inevitability, you will be forced to store them away in the bottom drawer along with other embarrassing undergarments you have acquired over the years, such as that basque you bought for the wife but never had the courage to show her and the novelty Y-fronts you ended up with after last year’s office Secret Santa – the one featuring a cartoon of a worm sitting on an angler’s hook alongside the motto “Girl Bait”.



Is it really a design flaw, though, or just an acknowledgement that certain products are developed with the expectation that they won’t be used more than once?I only ask because it might help clear up an argument I’ve been having regarding Microsoft’s Surface Pro computers. Apparently, sales are doing extremely well. There is even talk that it is catching up with the Apple iPads in terms of market penetration and that Microsoft will be the fastest-growing tablet maker by 2019.Now, I happen to think they’re the best pro-class tablet you can buy while simultaneously being the worst. The problem is the usual one with all PC kit: I suspect it might not be built to last.Over the last 20 years or so, I have bashed my way through one desktop or laptop computer after another, hanging on to them right up to the point at which they explode or spontaneously collapse into a heap of loose components. And at the risk of upsetting the sensibility of many readers, I acknowledge that all the Apple Macs I ever owned have lasted at least three times longer than their equivalent Windows PCs.With the exception of the ghastly Computer Warehouse Mac-clone crap I bought out of curiosity in the 1990s, all the Macs that passed through Dabbs ownership are still working, many having since been donated and put to good use somewhere else. All my PCs, on the other hand, broke down at some point and ended up as landfill – except for their hard disk platters, which I use as coffee mug coasters at home.

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Battery for Apple A1406

The utilitarian reason that people use to justify paying such a hefty premium for a Surface Pro is dual use. In the horrible marketing jargon, it does both lean forward for work, and lean back for watching TV, or dorking around on social media.Of course you don’t need a hybrid machine to do this: you can do much of this with a cheap tablet and keyboard combo, and then have several hundred (or more) pounds left in your pocket. (Last year’s iPad Air 32GB + keyboard = a shade over £400). The only thing you can’t do with this combo, and Android combos are cheaper, is run x86 applications.Yet the drawbacks of the Surface as a dorking-around-machine are obvious once you start using it. The range of content and cool apps is terrible, and without content and cool apps, any tablet is just a dumb screen.There’s no getting away from it, the Surface Pro a very smart looking piece of industrial design indeed. The magnesium unibody case looks and feels great. This year it has barely changed. It’s a tiny bit (50g) lighter and thinner, but you’d have trouble telling them apart side by side unless you were familiar with the Surface range, and even then, you’d probably have to pick them up to be sure. The power button has moved (it’s on the top when you’re using it in landscape mode). It has much stronger magnets down the side for a much improved Pen - and the Pen now comes “free”.


The Surface’s display has been amped up from 2160x1440 to 2736x1824, all in the same 12.3 inch diagonal. The designers have all but done away with the bezel. The display was the most startling thing about the Pro 3, and it’s even better now.The Surface Pro 4 has one spooky, Minority Report party trick. It uses biometric scanning to log you in. It couldn’t be any more futuristic unless a hoverbot popped up in front of your face then flew out again. The machine actually uses two cameras and an IR sensor to authenticate you, so you’re not holding up a picture. I found this worked uncannily well, unlike the iris scan on the new Lumias, where it guzzles power constantly, and then once it’s glommed onto a face, only recognises you some of the time.As well as a new pen, Microsoft has upgraded the keyboard (not included, of course) quite substantially. The fourth generation Surface keyboard has more spacious keys, with real distance between them, and a much larger touchpad that’s now glass. It’s terrific, and you can use the fourth-gen keyboard with a Surface Pro 3. And to be honest, given the woes I am about to describe, I wouldn’t blame you if you did.



But Microsoft wouldn’t have an absurdly aggressive launch just for a keyboard and pen, could you? Apparently so.The problems began when I began to use it, for if the Surface Pro 4 is the “Surface Pro 3 only more so”, that unfortunately includes the flaws of the SP3. My first SP4 review unit wouldn’t wake up the screen after a few days. This issue plagued early review samples, and Microsoft kindly swapped out the dodgy one.Leaving aside its versatility and design, I found the SP3 actually scored poorly compared to rival Ultrabooks for battery life and reliability - and this a PC that really cooks. Not in a good way. I concluded that there is room for a version of the kids' classic, Go The Fuck To Sleep - aimed not at parents, but Surface Pro owners. This is a machine that doesn’t go the fuck to sleep. I got used to having my bag warmed from the inside by the SP4.Battery life teetered too, barely extending to four hours in practical terms. I really wanted to show off my swanky SP4, but out of necessity, ended up taking my usual notetaking options with me instead: an ancient Thinkpad X series, or an iPad Air with a Bluetooth keyboard. How much I wondered is down to errant drivers, or the immature OS?


One thing really surprised me: Windows 8.1 is a far more natural fit for the Surface's kind of hybrid than Windows 10. The SP4 is Windows 10 only, so I’m basing this judgement from using the SP3 with Windows 8.1, and the SP4 with Win10. If you'd suggested at the start of the year that anyone would be wishing that Windows 8.x ran on their PC, I'd have thought them a bit odd.But perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised: Surface was designed to showcase the new Windows paradigm, with its touch-first UI, that also served up a desktop when you needed to run grown-up apps. What made Windows 8’s design so annoying to desktop users is actually a boon on dual-use devices. When you rip the keyboard off a Surface you want a tablet, touch-first UI. What you get instead is Windows 10’s designed-by-committee compromise.In fact, “design” isn’t a word I’d readily associate with Windows 10: it’s more of a tentative peace agreement between warring factions. When you detach the keyboard from a Surface now, it goes into a “touch-friendlier” mode but that’s it. The Explorer elements (icons) get a little larger. But the Tablet Mode desktop loses its bold, cartoon-like simplicity and its broad sweeping gestures. It’s harder to use, and harder to read. The spidery font and hard-to-distinguish wireframe icons just don’t seem natural here.



Like the latest Lumias, the Surface Pro 4 seems to me great hardware let down by the software. Windows 10 is going to take time to get ready (six months after I said it needed at least six months, it isn’t close). Meanwhile rivals are catering to the “lean forward and lean back” hybrid in their own way.HP’s Elite X2 is a hybrid that’s similar to the Surface but with a stronger battery, more ports and a SIM card. Lenovo’s Yoga range is broader, with the high end offering a better screen, and Lenovo is set to unveil some serious Surface competition at CES in a couple of weeks.Britain's new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers will be Windows XP-free zones, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed to The Register.Readers made us aware that a technician working aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth itself, which is a year away from completion, had the famous Windows XP rolling hills desktop background used by Microsoft’s ancient OS on his screen.The UK government negotiated a Custom Support Agreement in April 2014 when the software was classified as end-of-life, so the departments and agencies could use it without worrying about no more patches being written.But it seems this was indeed comedy wallpaper on the laptop owned by a white coat, for the MoD told us HMS Queen Elizabeth will be using more up-to-date software.The warship is “currently undergoing fitting-out in her test, integration and commissioning phase in Rosyth,” the spokesman said.“The MoD can confirm that Windows XP will not be used by any onboard system when the ship becomes operational,” the spokesman added. “This also applies to HMS Prince of Wales.”Prince of Wales is the second of the UK's two new carriers. It's notable that the MoD doesn't state that either ship won't use XP at all – only when they become operational, which doesn't rule it out altogether. El Reg has asked the MoD about this but they refused to comment on this point.


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Battery for ASUS A75VD

It's a great idea with (I believe) real potential... but talk of receiving samples after three years and $1.2 million dollars of investment, frankly, worries me no end, Moore writes. Water cooler El Reg, some friends of mine have been showing me blog posts about Microsoft keeping secret copies of all our encryption keys. What's going on?Since Windows 8, Microsoft has built drive encryption into its operating system, so none of this should really be a shock. And this encryption feature shouldn't be confused with Bitlocker, which is aimed at power users and businesses; think of this feature as a diet Bitlocker.Whenever you first log into a new Windows 10 computer or device using a Microsoft account, the OS quietly and automatically encrypts the internal storage drive, and uploads a recovery key to Redmond's OneDrive servers. While you're logged into your machine, your data is decrypted and accessible. If someone steals your PC or tablet, and they don't know your password, they shouldn't be able to get at your files because they can't decrypt them.If you forget your password or somehow can't log into your PC or device any more, you won't be able to use your drive because it will remain encrypted. If you change your motherboard, you won't be able to decrypt your data either because the system ties the encryption to a crypto key stored in the chipset. The new board won't have that key.


Imagine the tech support calls Microsoft and PC makers must get every day from people – people who think the caps lock key is cruise control FOR COOL. People who can't remember how to turn on Bluetooth. Now imagine the sheer hell of dealing with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who wake up one morning and can't remember their passwords, only to be told: Sorry, it's gone. All your data is gone.It's not a hassle Microsoft wants to deal with, so it provides people a recovery key, stored on the corporation's servers, to sign back in. If you have recovery key for an encrypted drive, you can decrypt it.Can't I just print out my key? Or put it on a USB stick? And not give a copy to Redmond?Yes – you can print it out or save it to a thumb drive in case you need it in future. You can download your key from here. If you can't see a key, and you're a Windows user, then your computer doesn't have the hardware – such as a suitable TPM module – to support the storage encryption, so you don't have to worry about any of this.Well, here's the rub. Maybe if Microsoft was a little more upfront with people, and made it a clear option during installation or during the first boot, this wouldn't be such a shock. Just like its privacy settings in Windows 10 that are on by default and tucked away: some are useful, others not, but a little warning would have been appreciated.



Well, I don't like it. Whoever has my recovery key can decrypt my drive. I don't want Microsoft to have my key.Fine. If you're a Windows Home user, click here, save a copy of the recovery key just in case, and then delete it from OneDrive. Microsoft promises to eventually scrub it from its cloud servers and backups.Beware: if another person logs into your machine using a Microsoft account, the recovery key may be uploaded again. To put an end to this, follow these instructions (skip step four) to create a new recovery password that is just between you and your computer. Obviously, don't lose or forget this password.Alternatively, switch off drive encryption by opening the Control Panel, and navigating to PC and devices, then PC info, then Device Encryption, and doing the deed there. Now you can use another disk encryption tool that doesn't send keys to off-site systems.Go to the Control Panel, open the Bitlocker settings screen, turn the feature off, then reenable it, and then when prompted, don't allow the recovery key to be sent to Microsoft's servers. Pro and Enterprise editions can also store recovery keys in an Active Directory service, which is an obvious thing to do in a corporate environment.Look, this is a breach of my privacy – what if the Feds get hold of the recovery key? They have ways and means to do so.Anyone with the recovery key needs physical access to your machine to use it, so that computer would have to be seized anyway for the key to be any use.


We've been watching the date since we reported on Java 9's new naming scheme a couple of weeks back and named September 22nd, 2016, as the debut date for the new code.Which wasn't entirely right, as reader Sean Coffey pointed out because in this thread Java's overseers were pondering a revised release schedule with March 23rd, 2017, as the day for Java 9's debut.That date has since been all but agreed. The chief architect in Oracle's Java Platform Group, Mark Reinhold, Oracletook to the Java developer's mailing list on December 12th with the new schedule, suggesting that anyone opposed to the new plan make themselves heard by December 16th. That date's come and gone without obvious protest on the list.Now Oracle's seen fit to ventilate the proposed schedule on its blog, proclaiming Reinhold's schedule represents the “Latest Java 9 News”.By now you probably just want us to show you the proposed schedule. So in the interests of not frustrating readers we'd best stop padding this story and just give you the list.The team's given itself an extra six months to get the job done, meaning the world will have to go through another Christmas without a new Java to play with.



Perhaps more importantly, the world will also have to wait for a new Java just as Internet of Things hype gathers even more pace. As Oracle likes to point out, Java's a fine fit for things. History suggests Big Red doesn't need to worry about missing the boat: when a topic is as hyped as the IoT, by the time version 9 emerges developers will probably only just be starting on serious work, just as enthusiasm for apparently inevitable benefits ebbs. Review Against all predictions, Microsoft has made a profitable multi-billion dollar business out of a boutique tablet. It has also turned a bog standard commodity Thing - a Windows laptop - into something desirable. And it has done it all without fully answering the question “Why should I have one?”The Surface began life only three years ago as a cosmic joke, and Microsoft soaked up expensive write-downs. But after turning the tablet into a Windows laptop (only one that came not as one expensive part, like an Apple’s laptop, but three expensive parts), Surfaces began to sell like hot cakes. This year the public’s ardour for Surface has cooled somewhat: it was down to $672m in the quarter ending September 30th, down from $908m annually, but that may reflect that the launch of the SP4 came later in the year.Why get a Surface Pro? Well the immediate answer “because it’s cool”, doesn’t cut it. It’s a circular reply. A solipsism. So is “because I needed a laptop and, er … I could expense it”, which is the second most popular answer I hear, one that's surely closer to explaining the Surface’s success.

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Akku für Toshiba Satellite L770

Von den vielen neuen Features in macOS Sierra dürften Anwender in deutschsprachigen Ländern vermutlich am meisten von der neuen Speicherverwaltung profitieren. Siri auf Deutsch kann mit den Fähigkeiten seiner englischsprachigen Schwester nicht mithalten. Gelungen sind Detailverbesserungen in den wichtigsten Medien-Programmen: Die Musik-App iTunes erscheint nun etwas übersichtlicher, beim Programm Fotos bietet Apple nun ähnliche Funktionen, die man bereits von Google Fotos her kennt. So können beispielsweise Gegenstände in den Bildern oder Motive wie "Sonnenuntergang" in der Foto-Bibliothek gefunden werden, ohne dass der Begriff im Dateinamen oder den Metadaten der Datei auftaucht.Bei den Hardware-Voraussetzungen wagt Apple bei macOS Sierra einen härteren Schnitt als sonst. Das neue System läuft nur noch auf MacBooks und iMac-Modellen ab Ende 2009 sowie auf einem MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini und dem Mac Pro aus dem Jahr 2010 oder später. Die Vorgängerversion konnte noch beispielsweise auf iMacs und MacBook Pros aus dem Jahrgang 2007 aufgespielt werden. Das Upgrade auf macOS Sierra wird von Apple im Herbst kostenlos zur Verfügung gestellt.


Die Libratone One Click und ihr rundes Schwestermodell Too sind zwei spritzwassergeschützte Bluetooth-Streamingboxen mit 360-Grad-Sound im skandinavischen Design. Bedient werden sie per Smartphone-App (iOS und Android) und dem eingebautem Touchbedienfeld. Die Batterien halten mit einer Ladung nach Herstellerangaben rund zwölf Stunden durch. Unterschiede gibt es beim Design: Während der Libratone One Click im Taschenbuchformat mit austauschbaren stoßfestem Rahmen und Griff daherkommt, ist der Libratone Too zylinderförmig. Sie passt so auch in für Trinkflaschen vorgesehene Seitentaschen von Rucksäcken oder Umhängetaschen. Der Preis: Rund 200 Euro für den One Click und etwa 150 Euro für den Libratone Too.Netgears Aircard AC810 verbindet sich per LTE mit dem Internet. Per WLAN können Notebooks, Tablets oder Smartphones mit dem kleinen Router verbunden werden und erhalten so schnellen Internetanschluss. Bis zu 15 Geräte können angeschlossen werden. Der eingebaute Akku hält das Gerät nicht nur rund 11 Stunden in Betrieb, per Jump Boost können auch Smartphones oder andere kleine USB-Geräte vom Energiespeicher des Aircard AV810 gespeist werden. Netgears LTE-Router funktioniert mit Prepaid- und Vertragstarifen und benötigt eine Micro-SIM-Karte. Das Gerät kostet rund 240 Euro.



Zeitversetztes Fernsehen für Panasonic-TVs: Per Softwareupdate bekommen die 2015er 4K-Modelle ab der CXW684-Serie eine Timeshiftfunktion nachgerüstet. Damit können Nutzer das laufende TV-Programm pausieren und bis zu 90 Minuten später weiterschauen. Die 2016er-Modelle 4K HDR ab der DXM715-Serie können mit dem jüngsten Update außerdem das HDR-Angebot des Streamingdienstes Netflix wiedergeben. Beide Updates können über die Einstellungen des Geräts abgerufen werden.München (dpa) - Der Video-Streamingdienst Maxdome will im Wettbewerb mit starken US-Rivalen wie Netflix und Amazon Kunden in ICE-Zügen der Deutschen Bahn erreichen. Filme und Serien sollen von in den Zügen installierten Servern aus abgespielt werden.Eine Internet-Verbindung ist damit nicht notwendig, wie die Tochter des TV-Konzerns ProSiebenSat.1 erläuterte. Der Service soll ab Ende des Jahres verfügbar sein.Dabei sollen auch Fahrgäste ohne Maxdome-Abo auf ihren Notebooks oder Smartphones und Tablets Zugriff auf rund 50 wechselnde Filme und Serien bekommen. Für den Zugang zu 1000 Videos sind ein Maxdome-Abo oder ein Probemonat notwendig.


Auch die Konkurrenz arbeitet daran, wie Kunden unterwegs besser erreicht werden können. So ist Netflix seit vergangenem Herbst in einigen Flugzeugen der US-Fluggesellschaft Virgin America verfügbar. Amazon ermöglicht dagegen seinen Kunden, Inhalte auf ihre Mobilgeräte herunterladen.Cupertino (dpa/tmn) - Apples neuer Browser Safari 10 wird ab Werk keine Flash-Inhalte mehr wiedergeben. Das haben die Safari-Entwickler im WebKit-Blog erklärt.Statt der für viele Sicherheitslücken bekannten Multimedialösung Flash soll künftig HTML5 der Vorzug gegeben werden. Neben Flash sollen auch andere Lösungen wie Silverlight, Java oder Quicktime blockiert und nur noch auf Einzelanforderung aktiviert werden. Neben mehr Sicherheit soll das auch zu längerer Batterielaufzeit bei Notebooks führen.Safari 10 wird als Teil des neuen macOS Sierra im Herbst veröffentlicht. Für Nutzer von OS X 10.10 Yosemite und 10.11 El Capitan wird es Updates auf die neueste Version geben.Frankfurt/Main (dpa/tmn) - Fotos und Videos anschauen, ein bisschen im Internet surfen, zwischendurch mal ein Spiel zocken oder nachgucken, was es Neues auf Facebook gibt: Wer dabei gerne einen größeren Bildschirm hätte als das Smartphone bietet, der greift zum Tablet.


Soll das Gerät auch noch zum Arbeiten taugen, dann kommen Tablets mit Displays in Notebookgröße und externer Bluetooth- oder Ansteck-Tastatur zum Einsatz. Deren Preise liegen dann aber auch im gehobenen Preisniveau um und über 1000 Euro.Und genau dieser Tablet-Typ, die sogenannten Computer-Tablets, ist derzeit besonders gefragt. "Das sind Geräte mit dem Microsoft-Betriebssystem Windows 10, so wie ein klassischer Desktop-PC oder ein Notebook, die wachsen auch gut zweistellig", erklärt Rudolf Aunkofer vom Marktforscher GfK.Microsoft wolle aus dem Tablet ein Profi-Gerät machen, sagt Sven Schulz von der "Computerbild". In den Top-Geräten stecke reinrassige Notebook-Technik, dazu ein guter Bildschirm und eine flache Tastatur. Dass man diese Tablets wie ein Notebook nutzen kann, ließen sich die Hersteller aber auch entsprechend bezahlen.



Wer die Notebook-Funktionen nicht braucht, sondern einfach nur ein gutes, neues Tablet sucht, steht vor einem riesigen Angebot an Geräten und drei verschiedenen Betriebssystemen: Android von Google, iOS von Apple und Windows 10 von Microsoft. Wobei die größeren Tablets auch schon zum Arbeiten genutzt werden können, erklärt Alexander Spier vom "c't"-Fachmagazin. Für die gebe es oft auch Tastaturen sowie Office-Programme, deren Funktionsumfang meist nicht sehr groß ist, für viele Arbeiten aber ausreicht. Wer den vollen Funktionsumfang braucht, sollte zu einem Windows-10-Tablet greifen. Die Preise für höherwertige Geräte starten bei 600 Euro.Alltägliche Aufgaben erledigen alle drei gängigen Tablet-Betriebssysteme, sagt Sven Schulz. Windows-Geräte haben den Vorteil, dass normale Windows-Software installiert werden kann. Die App-Auswahl ist aber deutlich geringer als bei den beiden anderen Plattformen. Apple wiederum sei immer noch eine Welt für sich. "Die iPads sind zwar die teuerste Lösung, was die Bedienung angeht aber auch die beste", meint Schulz. Allerdings verwende Apple eigene Stecker - und man kann keine Speicherkarten in die iPads einsetzen.


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Battery for Lenovo FRU 42T4783

Firmware-level vulnerabilities (eg, LightEater) and bungled implementations of boot security (eg, Intel TXT), alongside the small horde of attack vectors introduced through peripherals, provide ample ammunition to attackers, according to Rutkowska.This means you can't really trust your sensitive data with your hardware, and instead crucial information should really be kept apart from the main machine. She said a strict separation of state-carrying (trusted) element from the rest of the hardware has become necessary as people and personal computers become increasingly interdependent.Rutkowska said the communal effort on improving personal security in the application layer in recent years – from GnuPG and Tor, through to OpenVPN and disk encryption tool LUKS – “is meaningless if we cannot trust our operating system, because the operating system is the trusted part – if it is compromised then everything is lost.”There have been notable efforts to create a trustworthy operating system stack. Rutkowska herself had started the open-source Qubes OS project five years ago, which now has dozens of contributors. Qubes works by running different applications in their own virtual machines – for example, the VM running a browser used to visit any old website is separate to the VM running GPG; if the browser is compromised, the attacker has to break through the Xen hypervisor to get to the encrypted email client.


Version 1.0 of Qubes OS was released in 2012, while 3.0 was released in October of this year.The core of her talk dealt with the widespread assumption of trustworthiness in hardware, particular in regards to laptops, which it doesn't deserve.Intel's x86 platform is ubiquitous in modern laptops, and “present Intel processors really integrate everything and the kitchen sink,” said Rutkowska. “Ten years ago we used to have a processor, a Northbridge, a Southbridge, and perhaps even more discrete elements on the motherboard. Today, nearly all of these elements have been integrated into one processor package.“Of course there is only one company making these,” Rutkowska said. “It's an American company called Intel, and it's a completely opaque construction. We have absolutely no ways to examine what's inside [its chips]. The advantage is that it makes the construction of laptops very easy now, and lots of vendors can produce little sexy laptops.”
When we talk about processors today, we are no longer talking about just the CPU, said Rutkowska. “The processor is now the CPU, GPU, the Memory Controller Hub, PCI express, some southbridge – so for example SATA controller – and so on, as well as something called Management Engine (ME).”Intel ME is a microcontroller, and part of Intel's AMT hardware and firmware technology which allows administrators to remotely manage the hardware over network – all underneath whatever operating system is running. As this management is conducted at a low-level in the stack, it dodges the OS – meaning overwriting your out-of-the-box Windows installation with a Linux distro will not guarantee any trustworthiness.



The ME microcontroller comes with its own RAM, it can access the system's RAM, and it has its own private ROM of firmware code, which nobody may inspect. “It runs a whole bunch of proprietary programs,” said Rutkowska, “and even runs Intel's own proprietary operating system, and this is all happening whenever you have some power connected to your processor, even in sleep mode, and it could be doing anything it wants.”The first thought for security people is that this is an ideal backdooring or rootkitting infrastructure. Which is true. However there is another problem, what I call the 'Zombification' of personal computing.
As a former stealth malware researcher, Rutkowska said she could not imagine a more ideal infrastructure for malware than the Management Engine: “ME has access to everything that is important. It has unconstrained access to DRAM, to the actual CPU, to GPU, it can also talk to your networking card, especially your Ethernet card, the controller for which is also in the Southbridge in the processor. It also has its own dedicated partition on the SPI Flash which can be used to store whatever ME wants to store there. This is really problematic, and we don't know what it runs.”Typically, people run software in the application layer, and expect all the decision making by software to happen there; the low-level code below acts as a middleman, instructing the hardware to do what the users wants it to do.


Citing a book by one of the Intel architects who had designed ME – as “it's about the only somehow official source of information about Intel ME,” according to Rutkowska – the researcher reckons Intel wishes to completely invert this model.Intel “essentially wants to eliminate all the logic that touches data from apps, and the operating system even, and move it to Intel ME. Remember, Intel ME is also an operating system, a separate operating system... nobody knows how it works. Nobody has any possibility to look at the source code, or even reverse-engineer as we cannot analyse the binaries. It is an operating system which is fully controlled by Intel, as is any functionality it offers,” she said.The ME blackbox is not trustworthy, says Rutkowska: “The complexity of the architecture … doesn't look like it could be solved effectively.”Although this seemingly borked Qubes OS's confidence that it could securely lock down and compartmentalize software on a machine, there may be a different way to win the game: “You cannot really win under the old rules, said Rutkowska, who added that it was perhaps time to begin to change those rules. That starts with recognising that most of the problems here begin with the persistent state.”Infosec wild man John McAfee has taken time off from his US presidential campaign to launch a fresh funding drive for a password replacement product.



The proximity-based authentication and access control product, dubbed EveryKey, is also touted as a replacement for physical keys, as the pitch explains.Everykey replaces your passwords and keys. When Everykey is close to your phone, laptop, tablet, house door, car door, or another access-controlled device, it unlocks that device.
When you walk away, that device locks back down. Everykey can also log you into your website accounts. If you lose your Everykey, you can remotely freeze it, so no one else can use it.Everykey, which is designed to be paired with an associated smartphone or laptop using Bluetooth, would also store a password keychain.The whole idea is still at the prototype stage despite three years of development and repeated delays. Estimated delivery currently stands at March 2016.McAfee, chief evangelist at Everykey, has launched an Indiegogo campaign to fund production for Everykey. Would-be early adopters have already shelled out $61K with 13 days of the funding drive still to run.A YouTube promo video of McAfee demoing EveryKey can be viewed below.The idea tackles an all too real problem but caution is still advisable. Infosec consultant Paul Moore argues that there's still little to show for the project after three years of development and multiple delays.

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Battery for HP Compaq 6715b

I was just completely flummoxed. What do you mean a court order? her daughter Donna said. I said that was ridiculous, because we've been able to transfer the title of the house, we've been able to transfer the car, all these things, just using a notarized death certificate and the will.Donna wrote a personal letter to Tim Cook explaining the situation but got nothing back from Apple other than an affirmation that the firm would have to have a court order to allow her mother to use the iPad as intended.The family went to their local media to protest the situation and, lo and behold, Apple swung into action. The firm said that the whole thing had been a misunderstanding and has since begun working with the family to sort out the situation.The case highlights what is going to become a growing problem for those shuffling off this mortal coil. Very few people take the time to pass on their passwords when dealing with death, and unlocking electronic equipment can be an unwanted frustration for a family dealing with the death of a loved one.This gets worse with people's media increasingly being online. Under a strict interpretation, passing on your digital possessions like music and (in this case) games is illegal, since the buyer is only renting them for the length of their lives, rather than owning them outright.


Leaving a digital will containing logins and passwords for key accounts is increasingly being recommended. Naturally, writing all this stuff down is a security risk, so be sure to encrypt the data and – just to be on the safe side – give one half of the key to your executor and the other half to a good friend in rude health. Efforts to expand IT and internet connectivity in developing countries are producing results that are far less than expected, according to the World Bank.The 2016 Digital Dividends report [PDF] said that when it comes to quality of life and economic development, campaigns to bring poorer nations online have failed to meet their goals.Researchers found that, despite the growth in internet connectivity, productivity and economic growth in those newly connected regions have been far less than anticipated. Additionally, the report found that the divide between the rich and poor has grown, and more than 60 per cent of the world's population remains offline.The findings suggest that the efforts of many technology companies and non-profits to offer internet connectivity as a way of bringing large populations out of poverty will not accomplish their goal, and in many cases will only serve to increase the income gap between the wealthy and the hard-up in those areas.



One reason for this is a continuing gap in education and in the business climate in many developing countries. With large numbers of the labor force lacking access to education and job skills, the introduction of technology is serving to automate work and cost jobs for the poor while only creating opportunities for those with wealth and access to job training.Public sector investments in digital technologies, in the absence of accountable institutions, amplify the voice of elites, which can result in policy capture and greater state control, the report reads.And because the economics of the internet favor natural monopolies, the absence of a competitive business environment can result in more concentrated markets, benefiting incumbent firms.In addition to worsening economic divides, the report found that the unequal access to technology also leads to a decline in free elections, giving government regimes tools to rig elections in their favor.Rather than simply look to expand digital connectivity, the World Bank says, governments and institutions should invest in so-called analog factors including education, business growth and government oversight that will allow the growing connectivity to be used by a larger portion of the population and discourage abuse by government and powerful business groups.


We must continue to connect everyone and leave no one behind because the cost of lost opportunities is enormous, said World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim.But for digital dividends to be widely shared among all parts of society, countries also need to improve their business climate, invest in people's education and health, and promote good governance. In case anyone doubted that their work communications can be legally monitored by their bosses, the European Court of Human Rights has now ruled that employers can indeed spy on online chats.The continent-wide ruling came at the end of a case involving Romanian engineer Bogdan Mihai Bărbulescu, who was dismissed in 2007 for communicating with his fiancée via Yahoo Messenger while at work, which violated his employer's internal policy.Bărbulescu claimed he used the chat service only for professional purposes. But his superiors showed him a transcript of his conversations on Yahoo Messenger, which included messages exchanged with his fiancée and his brother.After terminating his contract for breaking policy, the engineer claimed his bosses broke the law by violating his privacy. He reckoned emails and other electronic missives are protected by article eight of the convention on human rights, which safeguards citizens' private lives and correspondence.


However, on Tuesday, the European court dismissed [PDF] Bărbulescu's argument that the company had violated his rights.In its ruling, the panel of judges said: [T]he court finds that it is not unreasonable for an employer to want to verify that the employees are completing their professional tasks during working hours.The court concurred with an earlier ruling by Romanian judges that the employer in Bucharest had acted within its disciplinary powers. It said the worker had not “convincingly explained why he had used the Yahoo Messenger account for personal purposes.” Acer's 5.5-inch Liquid Jade Primo, first announced in September last year, is a premium device set to be available in February at prices from €569.The phone runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 CPU with 3GB RAM and 32GB on-board storage. There is a 21MP rear camera and 8MP front.The key feature in the Jade Primo is support for Microsoft's Continuum feature, allowing you to use the phone like a PC when connected to a larger display – though limited to apps that run on the device's ARM processor.You can connect the phone to an external display using either a USB Type-C monitor, a wireless connection, or the optional Display Dock. Acer will also market a Desktop kit bundle, complete with Display Dock, keyboard and mouse.The idea, claims Acer, is that you can leave your laptop at home, though with all that kit the amount of space you save may be disappointing.



The company also notes the phone's support for BitLocker encryption (not new for Windows Phone) and support for device management using Microsoft Intune or other systems, pitching for the enterprise market.A more affordable Windows 10 phone is on the way from Alcatel OneTouch. The 5.5-inch Fierce XL has a 1280x720 HD display, 1.1GHz Snapdragon quad-core processor, 8MP rear camera and 2MP front camera. This will cost $139.99 in the US, exclusively on T-Mobile. Information on wider availability and pricing is not yet available.Unfortunately, it appears that the Fierce XL will not support Continuum, which requires hardware with dual display capability. The ability to connect to an external display is not enough.Although the advent of new Windows Phone vendors seems positive for the platform, these new models also reflect Microsoft's problems in this market.The success of the Jade Primo depends on enthusiasm for Continuum, which is unproven, and is it hard to see the low-end Alcatel OneTouch device winning much traction in a market dominated by Android. The ThinkPad’s answer to Johny Ive has died. Richard Sapper, a German industrial designer who orchestrated the look of the iconic laptop for IBM, was 83 years old.He designed lots more stuff - you can read his obituary here.

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Battery for Lenovo ThinkPad X300

“We need that first crack and we’ll look and look to find it,” he said. “There’s a reason its called and advanced persistent threat; we’ll poke and poke and wait and wait until we get in.”The goal is to find weak points, whether they be within the network architecture, or in staff who maybe work from home or bring in unauthorized devices. There’s also areas where the target network interconnects with other computer systems, like heating and ventilation controllers, which can be useful for an attack.Companies need to pay particular attention to cloud providers, he said. Once you use a cloud company you are essentially handing your data over to them and relying on their security, so he warned due diligence is even more important than usual.For the initial exploitation phase the key attack vectors are malware attachments in email, injection attacks from websites, and removable media - the latter being particularly useful for penetrating air-gapped systems that aren’t even on the network; Iran found that out the hard way with Stuxnet.Another common attack vector is common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) that haven’t been patched, he said. Companies need to make automatic patching the norm to protect themselves against nation-state hackers he warned. As for zero-day flaws, he said they are overrated.“A lot of people think that nation states are running their operations on zero days, but it’s not that common,” he said. “For big corporate networks persistence and focus will get you in without a zero day; there are so many more vectors that are easier, less risky, and more productive.”


As for the NSA’s own collection of zero-day exploits, Joyce said that in fact the agency had very few and each new one was discovered was evaluated by an outside committee to see when software manufacturers should be informed to build a patch. The NSA doesn’t have the final decision on this, he claimed.To protect against this admins need to lock things down as far as possible; whitelisting apps, locking down permissions, and patching as soon as possible, and use reputation management. If a seemingly legitimate user is displaying abnormal behavior, like accessing network data for the first time, chances are they have been compromised, he said.Reputation-based tools are particularly useful against malware, Joyce explained. Signature-based antivirus won’t protect you against a unique piece of attack code, but when used in conjunction with reputation databases it can be effective - if code or a domain hasn’t been seen before there’s a high chance it’s dodgy.It’s amazing how often simple issues come up and allow access to target networks, he explained. Things like administrator credentials being left embedded in scripts, how many networks are unsegmented, and how often suspicious activity reported in network logs got missed.



He cited cases where NSA hackers have performed penetration testing, issued a report on vulnerabilities, and then when they go back two years later to test again found the same problems had not been fixed. When the NSA hacking squad comes back, he said, the first thing they do is investigate previously reported flaws and it’s amazing how many remain un-patched even after the earlier warning.Once inside a network, the next stage is to establish persistence, primarily by establishing software run lines or subverting other applications. Application whitelisting is key to locking down this phase of an attack he said.A 0-day security breach at Lincolnshire County Council has exposed locals' medical records, addresses, and bank details, claimed an anonymous tipster, though the council denies any data was stolen.The breach was reported by The Lincolnite, which stated anonymous reports from inside the council suggested a major breach of its main adult care system had spaffed the sensitive personal information of constituents.Talking to The Register this morning, a council spokesperson denied that any data had been lost and claimed an email attachment with a zero-day exploit had managed to infect its internal system after being sent to multiple members of staff.In addition, The Lincolnite reported that another system which stored staff details and bank details, as well as the G Drive, which holds various other documents and forms, had been breached.According to the local paper's source, emails were not initially affected by the breach, however the attackers' access seems to have been extended to include them.


The council's response has been to order staff to close their computers and turn the power off.Judith Hetherington Smith, the council's CIO, told the local paper that the council closed down our systems very quickly to protect the data and are investigating the cause but at this stage have found no evidence of any breach.A spokesperson for Lincolnshire County Council added that, as a precautionary measure, [we] have suspended IT use until the extent of it is clear.As part of a campaign into UK councils' cyber security conducted last year, The Register was told that Lincolnshire County Council's AV solution(s) - the specifics of which the council declined to disclose - had thrown up 196,553 malware alerts in 2015.The Register has learned that the council has outsourced its IT operations to Serco since last April, although what AV solutions the outsourcer company uses has not been disclosed.The council told us that there had been 32 malware infections, via email, over that period. The areas and machines affected were not recorded, however. Faster, longer battery life, chip-based security – innovation is alive and well in its sixth-generation Core chips, Intel claims, with the company officially launching its sixth-generation Core vPro processors on Tuesday, wrapped in a series of changes it claimed would inevitably drive sales.


Two and a half times the performance of a fifth-gen CPU-powered laptop, three times the battery life, and four times faster wake-up are the promises. Also, we're looking forward to Intel authenticate – multi-factor authentication that also works with PINs and biometrics in association with a smartphone.If the phone strays further than a specified Blue-toothy connection distance from the i7 vPro machine in question, it locks you out. No more PCs going walkies in public places, mid-session documents, and data open to plunder.PC makers are lining up behind the chips, claiming about 200 business PC designs – 160 for vPro and 30 ultra book designs. Machines are coming from Acer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and others in a variety of form factors – 2 in 1s, ultra books, and desktops, you name it.The thrust is very much the business user, with Intel citing one Gartner analyst claiming the chips make PCs part of businesses’ overall security solution with users more secure and productive than ever.Innovation is still the industry’s muse: as a phrase it's over used, often mischaracterised, and its application frequently divorced from cold, hard market realities. Explaining recent years' falling PC sales and the eclipse of the PC by the tablet, vice president and general manager of Intel’s business client platform division, Tim Garrison, told The Register he believes the “innovation” on display now will shift boxes.



“Years ago we got in trouble [because] there wasn’t much innovation going into the PC. It was the same old PC we’d had for generations and people said ‘I don’t see a future here', said Garrison. “Since then, with the sixth generation core, you see so much more innovation going on.”However, the PC market's structural dynamics, which have blighted sales for the last few years, are still in place. PC makers, and those middlemen in the channel responsible for getting devices into the hands of buyers, remain saddled with a backlog of unsold PCs using old chips.They’ve been stuck for a variety of reasons: consumers flocking to new tablets, businesses holding out on Windows XP and Windows 7 on old PCs, and OEMs and channel partners burned by buying big into Microsoft’s promises on Windows 8.That was a version of Windows where Microsoft was playing the “innovation” card – innovation around the touch interface, which ultimately proved about as popular as John Lennon proclaiming the The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.Gartner this week reckoned 232 million traditional PCs would be shipped in 2016, equating to a 1.7 per cent drop on 2015. In the last quarter of 2015, 22.5 million PCs shipped into third-party sellers in EMEA, according to the research giant, a decline of 16.1 per cent year-on-year.


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Batterie pour LENOVO ThinkPad X220 Tablet

Quoi qu’il en soit, ne vous en faites pas. L’autonomie et la minceur ne sont plus exclues pour les ordinateurs portables dédiés aux jeux, et Microsoft a une véritable occasion de montrer les qualités de son dispositif 2-en-1. De plus, il ne manque pas de copies très bonnes à la Surface Pro 4, parmi lesquels on peut citer la IdeaPad Mix 700 de Lenovo, ou le Spectre x2 de HP. C’est seulement une question de temps avant que les partenaires de Microsoft aillent sur le territoire du jeu en concurrençant le Surface Book.Si le Surface Book ou un dispositif similaire doit émerger, il serait en fait à la hauteur de sa réputation comme un seul appareil qui peut tout faire. Imaginez être capable de jouer à Fallout 4 dans le train pendant une heure avant de détacher l’écran pour rattraper un épisode de The Walking Dead, le tout en rédigeant un compte rendu avant d’arriver à votre lieu de travail.Pour un ordinateur portable qui coûte le prix du Surface Book c’est la moindre des choses. En effet, en déboursant entre 1 649 et 2 919 euros, vous attendez quelque chose qui va répondre à tous vos besoins. L’autonomie de la batterie aura probablement un impact en fonction du GPU mobile que la firme intégrera à l’intérieur, mais c’est un choix que les gamers devront faire.Avec des ventes en hausse, Microsoft est dans une excellente position pour aller plus loin avec sa Surface. Le Surface Book est une tentative réussie de faire quelque chose de différent, et la firme de Redmond doit continuer dans cette voie.


Le succès de la Surface devrait aussi illustrer un autre point important ; parfois, un produit a besoin de temps pour mûrir. Il a fallu plusieurs itérations et un certain nombre d’ajustements de l’OS pour atteindre la quasi-perfection. C’est un témoignage de la volonté de Microsoft que l’entreprise est engagée à aller plus loin.Il y a quelques jours, plusieurs rumeurs ont rapporté que les premiers smartphones Android non Nexus pourraient bientôt avoir accès à Android N Developer Preview. Maintenant, Google a annoncé que le Xperia Z3 de Sony allait être ajouté à la liste des périphériques compatibles avec le prochain OS, Android N.Bien que cela semble être un choix plutôt étrange, surtout quand on considère qu’il en existe d’autres, et que beaucoup de smartphones Android sont plus populaires, comme le HTC 10 et le Galaxy S7 de Samsung, c’est parfaitement logique pour Sony.Le Xperia Z3 est probablement le modèle qui a attiré le plus grand nombre d’utilisateurs. Les smartphones les plus récents de Sony, le Xperia Z4 et le Xperia Z5 en particulier, n’ont pas réussi à attirer les foules de partout dans le monde, que ce soit en raison d’une sortie mondiale en quinconce, ou dans le cas du Z4, qui n’a pas été libéré dans tous les pays du globe.



Un représentant de Google a confirmé que les propriétaires du Xperia Z3 peuvent flasher leurs appareils dès maintenant en cliquant ce lien. Cependant, gardez à l’esprit que la compatibilité est limitée à deux modèles du Z3 : le D6603 et le D6653. En supposant que vous remplissiez ces conditions, sachez que la mise à niveau est aussi simple que de jumeler votre smartphone à votre PC par USB, et lancer l’application Xperia Companion, en maintenant enfoncée la touche alt de votre ordinateur et en cliquant sur « Software repaire » et en suivant les instructions à l’écran.Le processus d’installation peut sembler assez simple, mais gardez à l’esprit que celle-ci est une version réservée aux développeurs et qu’elle peut comporter quelques bugs.Une fois que vous mettez à jour, vous aurez toutes les nouvelles fonctionnalités liées à Android N, comme un mode de vue multifenêtre, ou encore des notifications et des messages qui sont beaucoup plus faciles à répondre. Sous le capot, il y a aussi beaucoup de choses intéressantes, comme le mode Doze pour un gain de la batterie et de la mémoire, qui font qu’Android N vaut la peine d’être testé si vous avez cette chance. Et, si vous possédez un Sony Xperia Z3, vous avez maintenant cette chance.


Google étend son étreinte autour d’un fabricant tiers pour son programme preview concernant Android N. Cela pourrait très bien signifier qu’Android N connaîtra un plus grand succès auprès des constructeurs qu’Android 6.0 Marshmallow, ou du moins que l’attente pour le voir apparaître sur les anciens (et récents) smartphones prendra moins de temps.Pour les propriétaires du Xperia Z3, ceci est évidemment une grande nouvelle. Mais, Google ne veut pas s’arrêter là, en déclarant qu’elle voulait aller plus loin dans le déploiement de son programme preview. Gardons les doigts croisés pour entendre beaucoup plus de nouvelles à la Google I/O 2016.Les rumeurs d’un nouvel iPhone dont la prise jack 3,5 mm pour un casque standard ait été abandonné en faveur d’un unique connecteur Lightning, existent depuis un certain temps. Mais, au cours des derniers mois, elles commencent à sembler de plus en plus crédibles. Maintenant, un nouveau brevet déposé par Apple montre un point de vue intéressant sur la façon dont l’entreprise pourrait faire pour que cela fonctionne.Le brevet, détaillant des écouteurs qui prennent en charge les connexions filaires et sans fil, a été publié la semaine dernière par l’U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, et repéré par Apple Insider. Les casques Bluetooth disposent souvent d’une prise et d’un câble de 3,5 mm permettant de les utiliser en mode filaire, et ce depuis un certain temps. Mais, le brevet montre une approche beaucoup plus simple.



Généralement avec la technologie Bluetooth, le passage du mode filaire au sans-fil entraîne souvent un arrêt de lecture d’une piste audio. Mais, le brevet d’Apple montre que le casque arrivera à automatiquement détecter si une nouvelle connexion sans fil provient du même dispositif, et arrivera à passer au mode sans-fil très simplement. Cela se ferait en utilisant un tampon à l’intérieur du casque, semblable à ce que l’on retrouve dans un lecteur CD.Le brevet ne précise pas exactement un connecteur Lightning, mais il fait état de nécessiter un connecteur qui est compatible avec les signaux analogiques et numériques, ce dont le connecteur Lightning est en capacité de fournir. Cela permettrait à un seul câble de transmettre les données audio et alimenter les écouteurs.Alors qu’il est facile de supposer que la connexion sans-fil va être liée au Bluetooth dès lors que l’on évoque un casque, ce ne sera peut-être pas le cas ici. Le brevet indique que la communication sans fil « peut être réalisée selon un protocole de communication souhaité ou standard, comme du Bluetooth, du Wi-Fi (WLAN), du NFC, ou similaire ».Comme cela est généralement le cas avec les brevets, la plupart des spécifications sont liées à la façon dont les composants internes fonctionneraient, sans savoir comment le produit réel serait conçu. Et, ce n’est pas parce qu’un brevet est déposé que cela signifie que nous allons voir le produit arriver sur le marché.

Les échographies

Notebook Akku Dell latitude csx

Den D810 kann man je nach Geldbeutel mit Festplattenkapazitäten von 30, 40, 60, 80 oder 100 GByte bestellen. Die Qual der Wahl besteht auch bei den Optionen, die Dell bei den optischen Laufwerken anbietet: ein 24x-CD-ROM, ein 8x-DVD-ROM, ein 24x-CD-RW/DVD-ROM oder ein 8x DVD+/-RW kann man bestellen. Die Laufzeit des 80-Wh-Akkus gab der Hersteller leider nicht an. Optional kann man das optische Laufwerk mit einem 48-Wh-Akku ersetzen. An Bord sind ein 56K-V.92-Modem, Gigabit-Ethernet, WLAN nach 802.11b/g oder 802.11a/b/g sowie optional auch Bluetooth. Bei den Anschlüssen sind ferner ein PC-Card-Slot, eine serielle Schnittstelle, VGA, S-Video-Out sowie vier USB-2.0-Anschlüsse und Infrarot zu vermelden. Das Notebook misst 41,8 x 361,2 x 260,4 mm und wiegt 2,9 Kilogramm.Als Preisbeispiel nannte Dell eine Konfiguration bestehend aus einem Intel-Pentium-M-Prozessor mit 1,73 GHz, einer Centrino-Wireless-Karte (Intel Pro Wireless 2200), einem Gigabit-Ethernet-Controller, einem V.92-Modem, 512-MByte-DDR2-Systemspeicher, einem 15,4-Zoll-Wide-XGA-Display (1.280 x 800 Pixel), einer ATI-Mobility-Radeon-X600-Grafikkarte mit 128 MByte, einer 40-GByte-Festplatte, einem DVD/CD-RW-Laufwerk und einem integrierten SmartCard-Leser. So ausgestattet soll das D810 1.499,- Euro zzgl. Versand kosten.


Mit dem Centrino-2-Notebook (Sonoma) Aspire 1691WLMi liefert Acer sein erstes Gerät mit einer CrystalBrite getauften Technik, mit der das verbaute Breitbild-LCD ein deutlich klareres Bild darstellen soll. Anstatt der üblichen angerauhten Oberfläche werden CrystalBrite-Displays mit einer glatten Oberflächenbeschichtung ausgestattet, welche einen matten, milchigen Farbeindruck vermeiden soll.

Acer 1691WLMi Im Aspire 1691WLMi arbeiten ein Pentium M 730 mit 1,6 GHz, 2 MByte L2-Cache und 533 MHz Systembus sowie der ebenfalls neue Intel-915PM-Chipsatz (Alviso) mit PCI-Express-Unterstützung. Als PCI-Express-Grafikchip ist ATIs Mobility Radeon X600 mit 64 MByte Videospeicher integriert. Damit lassen sich - wie mittlerweile üblich - bis zu zwei Monitore (LCD+CRT, LCD+TV) gleichzeitig ansteuern.Das Notebook verfügt über ein 15,4-Zoll-TFT-LCD mit CrystalBrite-Technik und einer Breitbild-Auflösung von 1.280 x 800 Bildpunkten (WXGA). CrystalBrite ist im Grunde nichts anderes als der Verzicht auf eine stärker angerauhte, oft für das etwas milchige Bild verantwortliche Anti-Reflektionsschicht. Das bringt aber in der Regel auch stärkere Spiegelungen mit sich, wie es bei ähnlichen Geräten etwa von Sony oder IBM (flexView) zu sehen ist. Ähnliches hat Acer bereits beim TravelMate 4002WLMi-M11 eingeführt.


Mit MP3s (8 bis 320 kbps und VBR) und WMAs (5 bis 192 kbps) gefüllt werden kann der Flash-Speicher des PSS110 per USB-2.0-Anschluss und wird dabei als externer USB-Datenträger angesteuert. Eine Aufnahmefunktion gibt es nicht, dafür kann man sich dank der ebenfalls integrierten Uhr aus dem Schlaf reißen lassen. Die Weckfuntion funktioniert sowohl mit dem FM-Stereo-Radio (10 Programmspeicherplätze) als auch mit der MP3-Player-Funktion.Philips PSS110 Um als PC-Lautsprecher zu dienen, verfügt das PSS110 über einen Line-Eingang. Alternativ kann ein Kopfhörer zur Tonwiedergabe an den MP3-Lautsprecher angeschlossen werden. Zur Tonverbesserung ist ein Equalizer mit sechs verschiedenen Einstellungen integriert.Im PSS110 fest eingebaut ist ein wiederaufladbarer Lithium-Ionen-Akku, der bis zu zehn Stunden MP3-Wiedergabe abseits vom Stromnetz ermöglichen soll.Inklusive Akku, Aufbewahrungs-Box und Reise-Netzteil will Philips das PSS110 ab April 2005 für 149,- Euro ausliefern.



Olympus plant, die SP-320 ab Frühjahr 2006 zu einem Preis von 299,- Euro auf den Markt zu bringen. Optional soll ein Telekonverter angeboten werden, der die Brennweite des verbauten Objektivs auf 193 mm verlängert.Zwei neue 7,1-Megapixel-Modelle sowie eine Kamera mit 8 Megapixeln der µ-Serie hat Olympus jetzt vorgestellt. Alle drei verfügen über ein wetterfestes Gehäuse, 3fach optisches und 5fach digitales Zoom. Zudem sind sie alle mit der Bright-Capture-Technik ausgestattet, die auch bei schwachem Licht gute Aufnahmen ermöglichen soll.

Olympus µ 810 Die µ 810 ist der Nachfolger der µ 800 und bietet wie der Vorgänger 8 Megapixel, womit die Kamera Bilder in einer maximalen Auflösung von 3.264 x 2.448 Pixeln aufnimmt. In der 97 x 56,2 x 22,7 mm messenden Kamera steckt ein 17 mm kurzes Objektivsystem mit 3fach-Zoom, das einer Kleinbildbrennweite von 35 bis 105 mm (1:2,8 - 4,7) entspricht. Auf dem eingebauten 2,5-Zoll-Display mit 230.000 Pixeln können die gemachten Aufnahmen betrachtet werden. Laut Olympus soll es besonders kontrastreich sein, so dass es auch bei schlechten Lichtverhältnissen abgelesen werden kann.


Der Standard-Systemspeicher von 2 x 256 MByte DDR333-SDRAM lässt sich auf 2 GByte erweitern. Die Festplatte des Aspire 1691WLMi besitzt eine Kapazität von 80 GByte. Ein Double-Layer-DVD-Brenner (DVD+R DL, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD-RW) ist fest ins Gehäuse integriert.Acer 1691WLMi Zu den Anschlussmöglichkeiten zählen ein internes V.92-56K-Faxmodem, Gigabit-LAN und 54-Mbps-WLAN. Wie für ein Centrino-Gerät üblich kommt dabei eine Mini-PCI-Steckkarte von Intel zum Einsatz: das PRO/Wireless-2200BG-Modul für IEEE 802.11b/g. Zu den I/O-Schnittstellen zählen eine Infrarotschnittstelle (FIR), drei USB-2.0-Ports, ein Firewire-400-Anschluss, je ein VGA- und ein S-Video-Ausgang, ein PC-Card-Steckplatz (PCMCIA Typ II) und ein 4-in-1 Card Reader. Letzterer schluckt Speicherkaren der Typen MultiMediaCard (MMC), Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick und Memory Stick Pro. Sound kann über Lautsprecher, den Kopfhörerausgang und S/PDIF wiedergegeben werden.Acers neues CrystalBrite-Notebook kommt mit TouchPad inkl. Scrolltaste und verschiedenen, teils programmierbaren Sondertasten. Das 36,4 x 27,9 x 33,9/38,9 cm große Gerät wiegt 2,95 kg und soll mit voll aufgeladenem Lithium-Ionen-Akku rund 3,5 Stunden arbeiten.


Das Aspire 1691WLMi soll ab sofort für 1.299,- Euro angeboten werden. Als Betriebssystem ist die Windows XP Home Edition vorinstalliert. Zur weiteren Software-Ausstattung zählen neben einigen Acer-Tools auch Microsoft Works, CyberLink PowerDVD und NTI CD-Maker.Mit der Exilim Pro EX-P505 stellt Casio jetzt eine Digitalkamera vor, die sowohl für Foto- als auch Filmaufnahmen geeignet sein soll. Die 5-Megapixel-Kamera verfügt über ein bewegliches, 2 Zoll großes TFT-Farbdisplay, das Aufnahmen aus unterschiedlichsten Winkeln erlaubt. Filmaufnahmen sind dabei schon vor dem Drücken des Auslösers möglich.
Im Fotomodus soll EX-P505 in etwa 0,8 Sekunden bei ausgeschaltetem Blitz und internem Speicher einsatzbereit sein. Die Auslöseverzögerung gibt der Hersteller mit 0,01 Sekunden nach erfolgter Fokussierung und bei ausgeschaltetem Blitz an. Die Kamera bietet neben dem Automatikmodus auch die Casio-typischen Bestshot-Programme und erlaubt eine manuelle Einstellung der Blenden und Verschlusszeiten.


Casio Exilim Pro EX-P505 Dank einer Super-Makro-Funktion sollen Aufnahmen von Fotos und Filmen ab 1 cm Entfernung möglich sein. Dabei kommt ein Objektiv mit 6,3 bis 31,5 mm (f3,3 bis f3,6) zum Einsatz, was 38 mm bis 190 mm bei 35-mm-Kleinbildkameras entspricht. Es verfügt über zehn Linsen in acht Gruppen samt einer asphärischen Linse. Dabei erreicht die Kamera maximal eine Auflösung von 2.560 x 1.920 Pixeln und unterstützt die ISO-Einstellungen 50, 100, 200 und 400.Filme nimmt die EX-P505 mit maximal 640 x 480 Pixeln auf und benötigt im High-Quality-Modus bei 30 Bildern pro Sekunde 4,2 MBit/s. Dabei zeichnet die Kamera im MPEG4-Format samt Stereo-Ton auf. Neu sind dabei die so genannten Movie-Bestshot-Funktionen, ähnlich den Bestshot-Szenarien wie Portrait oder Landschaftseinstellungen im Fotomodus. Die Past-Movie-Funktion zeichnet zudem kontinuierlich alles auf, was dem Regisseur vor die Linse kommt. Nach Drücken des Auslösers speichert sie die vergangenen 5 Sekunden vor Beginn der Aufzeichnung zusätzlich mit ab.



Casio Exilim Pro EX-P505 In der Short-Movie-Funktion können kurze Movies in bis zu 8 Sekunden Länge gedreht werden. Auch hier ist der Aufzeichnungsbeginn frei wählbar und es obliegt dem Filmenden, ob der Film vor, mit oder nach Drücken des Auslösers aufgenommen werden soll. Insgesamt bringt die Kamera bis zu 14 Sekunden Film in hoher Qualität in ihrem internen Speicher unter, auf eine SD-Card mit 256 MByte passen gut 8 Minuten.Die schwarze Kompaktkamera unterstützt den PictBridge- und USB-Direct-Print-Standard. Des Weiteren lassen sich Fotos und Filme per USB 2.0 auf den PC und via AV-Ausgang direkt auf den Fernseher übertragen. Zum Lieferumfang gehören die dafür benötigten USB-Kabel, AV-Kabel und neben Software ein Lithium-Ionen-Akku mit Ladegerät. Die Exilim Pro EX-P505 soll ab März 2005 für 499,- Euro im Handel erhältlich sein.Das auf der PalmSource-Konferenz in München im September 2004 vorgestellte PalmOS-Smartphone Qool QDA-700 soll nun auch in Deutschland erhältlich sein. Ursprünglich wollte der aus Singapur stammende Hersteller Qool Labs das kompakte Smartphone mit Klappdeckel, 1,3-Megapixel-Digitalkamera und SD-Card-Steckplatz bereits im November 2004 auf den deutschen Markt bringen.

Qool QDA-700 Das PalmOS-Smartphone Qool QDA-700 besitzt eine 1,3-Megapixel-Digitalkamera und ein TFT-Display mit einer Auflösung von 240 x 320 Pixeln. Das Display wird durch einen Klappdeckel vor Beschädigungen geschützt. Der Deckel lässt sich mit einem Knopfdruck öffnen, so dass sich viele Funktionen einhändig ausführen lassen.


Qool QDA-700 Mit Maßen von 57,7 x 103,5 x 24 mm kommt das PalmOS-Smartphone QDA-700 auf die Größe eines herkömmlichen Klapp-Handys, allerdings muss man dafür auf eine Handy-Klaviatur verzichten, so dass viele Funktionen nur über den Touchscreen möglich sind. Für die Texteingabe dient ein ein- und ausblendbares Soft-Graffiti-Feld. Um das ständige Zücken nach dem Stift zu umgehen, stehen vier Funktionsknöpfe sowie ein 5-Wege-Navigator für die Steuerung zur Verfügung.Qool QDA-700 Im Innern des Qool QDA-700 werkelt ein mit 200 MHz getakteter ARM-Prozessor vom Typ Dragonball i.MXL von Motorola sowie 32 MByte RAM-Speicher, der über einen Steckplatz für SD-Cards und MMC erweitert werden kann. Durch die Unterstützung von SDIO lassen sich so auch Funktionen nachrüsten.Qool QDA-700 Das Tri-Band-Gerät für die GSM-Netze 900, 1.800 sowie 1.900 MHz unterstützt GPRS der Klasse 10, besitzt aber kein Bluetooth, sondern nur eine Infrarotschnittstelle. Als Betriebssystem kommt PalmOS 5.4 in einem 32-MByte-Flash-ROM zum Einsatz, worüber Termine, Adressen und Aufgaben verwaltet werden können. Aber auch der Besuch von Webseiten, das Abrufen von E-Mails sowie das Abspielen von MP3- oder MPEG4-Dateien ist damit möglich. Außerdem gehört Documents To Go von DataViz zum Lieferumfang, um damit auf Word- und Excel-Daten zugreifen zu können.


Qool QDA-700 Das 139 Gramm wiegende PalmOS-Smartphone soll mit einer Akkuladung eine Sprechzeit von 3,5 Stunden liefern und im Empfangsmodus etwa 5 Tage durchhalten. Da der Akku austauschbar ist, kann man die Laufzeit durch einen Zweitakku verlängern.Das PalmOS-Smartphone Qool QDA-700 bietet unter anderem der PDA-Online-Händler Handhirn.de zum Preis von 469,- Euro ohne Mobilfunkvertrag an. Im September 2004 nannte der Hersteller einen empfohlenen Verkaufspreis von rund 550,- Euro.Creative hatte es mit dem TravelSound MP3 vorgemacht, nun bietet auch Philips ein mitnehmbares PC-Lautsprechersystem mit integriertem MP3-Player und Radio. Das Philips MP3-Soundsystem PSS110 verfügt zwar über keinen Speicherkarten-Steckplatz, dafür aber über 256 MByte Flash-Speicher.

Philips PSS110 Die Maße (58 x 53 x 182 mm) des 350 Gramm wiegenden PSS110 sollen vier Packungen Papiertaschentüchern entsprechen. Bei den Stereo-Lautsprechern setzt Philips auf seine Titan-Treiber-Technik XSL Acoustics, die trotz des kleinen Klangkörpers voluminösen Sound verspricht. Die Lautsprecherleistung gibt Philips mit 2 Watt (RMS) an. Das hintergrundbeleuchtete 5-Zeilen-Display des Geräts zeigt auch Titel-Informationen (ID3-Tags) zu Musikstücken an.



  1. http://blogs.montevideo.com.uy/retrouve3

  2. http://retrouve3.kinja.com/

  3. http://retrouve3.jimdo.com/


Les échographies

Batterie HP-HSTNN-XB2O

Côté écran, BlackBerry a opté pour un format maintenant devenu classique : du 5,2 pouces en Full HD (1080 x 1920 points). Pour les photos, deux capteurs de 13 mégapixels (ouverture de f/2.0) et 8 mégapixels (ouverture de f/2.2) sont proposés.Progressivement, mais rapidement, Flash sera écarté du navigateur web Firefox. À la clé, des performances en progrès, moins de plantages et une autonomie sur batterie renforcée.Le greffon Adobe Flash reste encore assez largement utilisé pour l’affichage d’animations, de publicités ou de vidéos sur Internet. Il est toutefois source de charge processeur, voire d’instabilité pour le navigateur web. Fort de ce constat, Mozilla compte réduire drastiquement l’utilisation de Flash dans son navigateur web Firefox.Au fil des ans, l’organisation a adopté diverses spécifications HTML5 permettant aujourd’hui de se passer de Flash, par exemple lors de la lecture de vidéos sur YouTube et Facebook. « Depuis que les sites internet sont passés du format Flash à d’autres technologies basées sur le web, le taux de plantage de Firefox a significativement diminué », constate Benjamin Smedberg, responsable qualité de Firefox chez Mozilla.


L’organisation compte poursuivre ses efforts, en bloquant dès cette année le contenu Flash remplaçable par du HTML ou invisible aux yeux des utilisateurs (comme les outils de mesure d’audience). Les plantages et blocages devraient ainsi être réduits de 10 %, les performances du butineur grimperont et l’autonomie sur batterie des ordinateurs portables sera améliorée.Une étape supplémentaire sera franchie en 2017 : « En 2017, avant qu’un site internet puisse active le format Flash, Firefox requerra l’assentiment de l’utilisateur », explique Benjamin Smedberg. À partir de mars 2017, Firefox ne supportera plus aucun greffon, si ce n’est Flash, et ce de façon limitée donc.Des notifications de Windows 10 recommandent d’adopter Edge en lieu et place de Chrome ou Firefox, pour gagner en autonomie sur batterie.


En juin, Microsoft dévoilait que son navigateur web de nouvelle génération, Edge, se montrait nettement plus économe en ressources que les offres concurrentes, comme Chrome (voir « Edge, un parangon d’efficacité énergétique face à Chrome »). Un phénomène qui concerne également la lecture de vidéos sur la Toile (voir « Le navigateur web Edge enfonce la concurrence en lecture vidéo »).Le site VentureBeat a noté l’apparition d’une notification alertant les utilisateurs sur le fait que Chrome / Firefox épuisent la batterie plus rapidement. L’éditeur conseille alors de basculer vers son offre, Edge.« Ces conseils ont été créés pour fournir aux gens une information rapide et facile qui peut les aider à améliorer leur expérience Windows 10. Cela dit, avec Windows 10, vous pouvez facilement choisir le navigateur et le moteur de recherche par défaut » explique un porte-parole de Microsoft.La firme joue une nouvelle fois avec les lignes, en utilisant les notifications de son OS pour mettre en avant un autre de ses produits.Reste que les qualités d’Edge sont bien réelles. Le navigateur web de nouvelle génération de l’éditeur est un des plus véloce et efficace du marché. Toutefois, son interface utilisateur spartiate fait qu’il est boudé par les internautes.



Ce succès d’estime d’Edge pourrait malgré tout se transformer en succès tout court avec l’arrivée de Windows 10 Anniversary Update, qui proposera une nouvelle version du butineur, plus rapide encore, plus fonctionnelle et extensible via des modules complémentaires.Une nouvelle campagne aux Etats-Unis de Microsoft promet un ordinateur portable gratuit en cas d’impossibilité de migrer vers Windows 10 depuis la version 8 en une journée.A l’approche du 29 juillet, date butoir pour obtenir Windows 10 gratuitement, Microsoft lance une campagne marketing aux Etats-Unis pour le moins originale. Elle incite les utilisateurs éligibles à la migration avec un PC portable à la clé.Concrètement, Microsoft offre un PC portable, en l’occurrence un Dell Inspiron 15, si l’installation de Windows 10 sur un PC éligible n’a pas réussi à se dérouler en une journée. La firme de Redmond ne prend pas beaucoup de risque avec cette proposition. La plupart des migrations ne prennent pas plus d’une heure d’installation et se déroulent bien.


A noter que cette campagne ne concerne que Windows 8. Pas de Windows 7, un choix un peu surprenant quand on connaît l’importance de la part de marché de cet OS. Autre point pour valider l’offre du PC portable, il faut apporter l’ordinateur réfractaire dans un magasin Microsoft pour vérifier que la migration ne s’est pas bien effectuée. Si le personnel arrive à installer Windows 10, l’utilisateur partira non seulement avec un OS gratuit, mais aussi une ristourne de 20 dollars sur Office 365 Home.Dans sa promotion, Microsoft indique que le PC pour être éligible « doit s’allumer, la batterie doit garder la charge et ne pas avoir besoin d’être branché pour fonctionner, et être pleinement fonctionnel, sans composants cassés, manquant, etc, provoquant la perte de garantie ». Nos confrères de Yahoo constatent également que le Dell Inspiron 15 promis en récompense se décline en deux modèles 3000 et 5000 comprenant des puces AMD et Intel. Il y a fort à parier que Microsoft ait choisi le modèle 3000 d’entrée de gamme comme lot.


Cette campagne est une des dernières pour inciter les personnes à migrer sur Windows 10. Des méthodes parfois agressives qui ont été critiquées par leur insistance. Des migrations parfois manquées comme l’a montré une responsable d’agence de voyage, dont l’activité a été bloquée par une installation de Windows 10 loupée. Pour éviter un procès, Microsoft avait négocié le paiement de 10 000 dollars.La prochaine version du navigateur web Edge confirme ses excellentes capacités en lecture vidéo, tant sur le plan de la résolution que des besoins en énergie.Il y a un mois, Microsoft vantait les capacités de la prochaine version du navigateur web Edge à concurrencer des solutions comme Chrome sur le terrain des besoins en énergie (voir « Edge, un parangon d’efficacité énergétique face à Chrome ») et des performances (voir « Le navigateur web Edge creuse l’écart avec la concurrence »).La firme remet aujourd’hui le couvert en présentant de nouveaux résultats de tests, où la lecture en boucle d’une vidéo a épuisé la batterie de l’ordinateur en 7 heures 22 minutes sous Edge, contre 6 heures 18 minutes avec Opera, 5 heures 9 minutes sous Firefox et 4 heures 19 minutes avec Chrome.


Le secret de cette réussite : l’utilisation des capacités du GPU à décoder les vidéos en lieu et place du processeur via la technologie DXVA (DirectX Video Acceleration) et une gestion fine de l’énergie utilisée par le processeur. Des techniques aussi employées par la concurrence, mais que la firme de Redmond pousse ici à leur paroxysme.Microsoft enfonce le clou en indiquant que lors de son test, Opera, Firefox et Chrome affichaient une vidéo Netflix encodée en 720p, alors qu’Edge proposait du 1080p. « Microsoft Edge propose la plus haute qualité de contenu et également la plus longue autonomie sur batterie », conclut laconiquement la firme.Toutes ces avancées, et bien d’autres (comme le support des extensions), seront présentes dans la version d’Edge livrée avec Windows 10 Anniversary Update.Le ZenFone 3 Deluxe d’Asus est le premier smartphone annoncé comme adoptant le nouveau Snapdragon 821 de Qualcomm. Un terminal mobile extrême.



Hier, Qualcomm présentait le Snapdragon 821, successeur de son 820. Voir à ce propos l’article « Le Snapdragon 820 de Qualcomm a déjà un successeur ». La firme promettait de premiers smartphones équipés de cette offre pour le second semestre 2016.Asus a été le plus rapide et présente d’ores et déjà un téléphone mobile en Snapdragon 821, une version révisée du ZenFone 3 Deluxe. Un, terminal qui devrait se montrer environ 10 % plus rapide que son prédécesseur.Au menu, un Snapdragon 821 comprenant 4 cœurs 64 bits cadencés à 2,4 GHz, 6 Go de RAM et 256 Go de stockage en UFS 2.0 (aux performances dignes des disques durs traditionnels). Une machine de haut de gamme, dont la vitesse de traitement et la capacité de stockage battent allégrement celles de certains PC traditionnels proposés il y a seulement quelques années.


Le reste de l’équipement est à la hauteur de ce moteur, avec un écran Full HD de 5,7 pouces, deux capteurs d’images de 23 et 8 mégapixels, une batterie de 3000 mAh et bien entendu la connectivité 4G, apportée par le processeur Qualcomm.Un prix d’environ 24.990 dollars taïwanais HT (plus de 840 euros TTC) est évoqué pour ce terminal mobile de haut de gamme, qui ne devrait arriver qu’en septembre. Là encore, c’est le prix d’un PC de milieu de gamme.Avec OpenCellular, Facebook propose une solution de réseau mobile sans fil entièrement Open Source pour étendre la connectivité à Internet.Facebook poursuit sa croisade pour rendre l’accès Internet accessible au plus grand nombre. Pour l’heure, l’entreprise de Menlo Park s’en tient aux prototypes d’équipements réseau et n’entend pas devenir fournisseur de masse ou opérateur. Mais, toujours, avec cette volonté de fournir le résultat de ses travaux en mode Open Source pour le partager avec qui veut et espérer accélérer la progression des développements, des innovations et, surtout, des déploiements.


C’est dans cet esprit que Facebook a présenté OpenCellular, une plate-forme d’accès sans fil à la sauce software-defined. La solution supporte l’ensemble des protocoles mobiles du moment, 2G, 3G et 4G LTE. Mais pas le Wifi, apparemment. Elle se compose de deux sous-systèmes principaux : GBC (General-baseband computing), la partie bande de base embarquant capacité de calcul et alimentation électrique d’une part; la cellule radio avec un frontal analogique d’autre part (schéma ci-dessous).Le module GBC dispose de plusieurs interfaces d’alimentation électrique qui pourra le rendre énergétiquement autonome. Soit par alimentation fournie par Ethernet (PoE, Power over Ethernet), soit solaire, soit encore sur batterie (externes ou internes). Le système dispose également de ses propres mécanismes de maintenance grâce à des capteurs chargés de surveiller la température, le courant ou le voltage. De son côté, la partie radio embarque un système de gestion du signal par logiciel (SDR, pour le pilotage à distance) ou embarqué (system on a chip). Les deux supportent de nombreuses piles logiciels Open Source et commerciale, assure Facebook. Le modèle software-defined vise à fournir une gestion distante et simplifiée, voire automatisée lorsque le système nécessite une reconfiguration, et à émettre des alarmes en cas de nécessité de maintenance.


OpenCellular se présente donc comme une solution de réseau clé en main avec ses deux modules (radio associée à GBC), ou plus simplement seulement comme un point d’accès lorsque le module radio est exploité indépendamment du GBC (mais seule la version avec le système de pilotage embarqué est alors disponible). Facebook entend livrer le design matériel de son projet ainsi que les firmware et logiciels de pilotage aux opérateurs, entrepreneurs, équipementiers et autres chercheurs pour les inciter à déployer des accès sans fil depuis cette plate-forme. L’entreprise a conçu sa solution pour qu’elle résiste à des conditions extrêmes (vents violents, températures élevées ou basses…). Enfin, OpenCellular peut-être déployée au niveau de la rue par une seule personne comme installée sur un point haut (pylône, bâtiment, arbre…) pour un rayonnement plus large. « Le matériel a été conçu dans un esprit de simplicité, pour encourager les gens à déployer leurs propres réseaux cellulaires […] sans nécessiter d’expertise technique », indique Facebook


Un projet qui pousse les équipes de Facebook à travailler également sur les problématiques de système de gestion du réseau, de bande de base, d’amplificateur de signal, de filtre, de dispositif de montage, et d’antennes. Bref, tout un spectre habituellement couvert par les équipementiers afin d’étendre la connectivité aux zones les moins accessibles aux opérateurs, généralement pour des raisons économiques. Un réseau mobile, ça coûte cher à déployer et entretenir, surtout si les utilisateurs n’ont pas les moyens de souscrire à des abonnements onéreux derrière. « Avec OpenCellular, nous voulons développer de nouvelles technologies abordables qui peuvent accroître la capacité et rendre plus rentable pour les opérateurs de déployer des réseaux dans des endroits où la couverture est rare. En rendant Open Source des conceptions matérielles et logicielles pour cette technologie, nous espérons réduire les frais pour les opérateurs et la rendre accessible à de nouveaux participants », résume l’ingénieur chez Facebook Kashif Ali.



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