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**** NewsBytes **** NewsBytes **** NewsBytes ****
MS outlook 2005
Microsoft's latest filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicates some belt-tightening may on the cards for 2005. The report recognises that PC growth (on which it depends) is slowing and that its server sales "grew modestly" in 2004 compared with Linux distributions. Industry pundits are already predicting product price cuts to win more small- and medium-sized businesses over.
New Linux standard
A new consortium of 20 companies will provide powerful backing to Linux standards. The Free Standards Group (FSG), which promotes open-source standards, announced that major companies like including IBM, HP and Intel will put their weight behind Linux Standard Base 2.0 (LSB) to help assure developers that their applications will run on any 'flavour' of Linux.
Broadband for everyone
BT broadband services extended further from last month, with anyone being able to get broadband, irrespective of distance from their ADSL-enabled exchange. Very remote customers requiring updates to their cabling will be accommodated free of charge. Additionally, the range of 1Mbps services increased from 4Km to 6Km, though 2Mbps services remain limited to 4km. www.bt.com/broadband/
Design business cards online ... charitably
... and donate to Cancer Research UK (CRUK) at the same time. This innovative scheme is hosted using Surfprint's technology while raising funds for the charity. The website allows visitors to design business cards, personal notepaper, letterheads and so on, fine-tuning the colours, fonts and layout before it's printed and delivered a few days later. www.surfprint.co.uk/cancerresearchUK
End of Windows 2000
Microsoft plan to end mainstream support for Windows 2000 Professional by end of June 2005. Licences for this operating system will cease to be available to system builders (OEMs) after March 2005 so licences for later versions like XP would have to be purchased instead. See Product Lifecycle Dates.
Using your nous(e)
A hands-free, nose-steered mouse or "Nouse" could make computer operations easier for the disabled or for gamers. Dmitry Gorodnichy's nose-tracking technology also allows eye blinks to stand in for mouse button clicks. Full story at Reuters. Acknowledgements: Suki Singh.
Longhorn to plug slow leak
The gradual 'leak' of corporate data via users' USB memory sticks and iPod-type personal storage devices has become of great concern to network administrators. Microsoft's next generation 'Longhorn' operating system will provide tools and a common policy to constrain how peripheral gadgets connect to PCs.
Mobile phone with hard drive
Samsung has unveiled its SPH-V5400 mobile phone containing a one-inch 1.5GB hard drive, 15 times the memory provided in phones so to date. Aimed at providing capacity for its built-in media capture devices, the phone sports a mega-pixel camera, an MP3 player and a video camcorder with '3D sound effect' speakers.
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1. Protect IT and survive
Preparing for emergencies: self-defence for IT administrators. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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When somebody says "Just put together a protection strategy", where on earth do you start? You couldn't do better than adopt the basic tenets of RFC 2196 - a Request For Comment document that provides basic guidance in developing a security plan for your site. It's such good common sense, that the basic approach is worth re-iterating.
As a first step, let's identify a generally well-known and well-protected item: a server. The likelihood or rating of each threat has been given a rating of 1 (unlikely) to 5 (dead cert), but circumstances will obviously vary for each site or organisation and these parameters have been chosen to show variety rather than actual susceptibility.
Here you can see we've assumed that the room in which the server(s) reside is kept under lock and key as opposed to being parked next to the reception area. However, in a scenario where there may not be a sufficient amount of equipment to warrant air-conditioning, be wary! Heat is a killer and sooner or later will degrade the life of servers that run 24 hours, 7 days a week; among the components working hardest inside the machine, a server hard disc drive will rotate over 14 million times just in one a day. The disappearance of mains in your locality may be so rare that the possibility doesn't cross your radar, but it will strike eventually, whether from a lightning storm or an electrician with a bout of enthusiasm. A battery-backed Uninterruptible Power Supply takes the load off your mind and the server by stepping in within milliseconds and ensuring the server is shut down safely without any attention. Attacks from without, for most us being the Internet, should be high on any organisation's list. An unprotected machine these days will usually be hacked and virus-ridden within 60 seconds of Internet connection (try it, with a PC your don't mind wiping later)! Anti-virus, firewalls, Windows updates and service packs are essential defences here.
Attacks from within, normally rank low in not-for-profit organisations - because they comprise such lovely, co-operative people, of course - but be wary of public areas with terminals, like library facilities, and remember that disgruntled employees and learning-hungry computer volunteers can bring grief to a well-ordered file system.
Taking the items under scrutiny one at a time like this brings a complete protection strategy within your grasp and makes it less arduous. Once again a more comprehensive list can be found in RFC 2196, and though that document is beginning to look a little dated in it's technology, it's still a good starting point. Contacts
-IB-
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2. Viruses can kill
... your PC stone dead. | ||
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Stark but true. I visited a new client recently whose apparently simple complaint was that one of their PCs would not start. A cursory investigation indicated the hard drive was completely empty! How could this happen? With an anti-virus package that was updated regularly, all had appeared to be well on the Windows XP computer. A few odd quirks had been noticed in the week prior to its demise - occasional sluggishness, the odd application freeze. This second PC contained anti-virus software too, but the latter offered no useful protection at all, having failed to update itself for 980 days - longer than a complete lifetime for some hamsters! Sure enough, the culprit in the corner contained viruses, one of them being a variant of Klez that is particularly fond of wiping hard drives. This strain of virus doesn't get to spread itself far on single home PCs because a complete wipe may result in its own 'suicide', therefore no spread of infection. But when it has a handy networked PC close by .... !! A lack of firewall protection on either machine didn't help. Moreover, the so-called dial-up modem behaved much like an 'Always-On' connection, since the service chosen was BTOpenworld AnyTime charging only a flat monthly fee irrespective of call duration. Thus the rationale had been: why disconnect the modem if the cost is always the same? Summary of damaging factors
LessonsThe mere actions of buying and installing the anti-virus software made the owners feel secure in the misplaced understanding that things would then look after themselves. Failing to configure the self-updates for the AV package probably rendered it useless within a matter of days, as new viruses appeared on the Internet scene and found their way down the dial-up modem.In the end, a lack of attention to setting up anti-virus and firewall measures brought their business to a halt. -IB- |
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3. Interpreting Flat Panel technology
As more and more of us buy flat panel monitors to replace the bulky screens that once occupied what seemed most of our working space, we are faced with new set of choices in the specifications they offer. | ||
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What do they all mean? 
We run through the basics with a brief guide.
SizeThis is the easy one, but it matters, as they say, if only because size is the principal factor that adds to the cost. Available sizes are 15", 17", 18" (not that common), 19” and 20". The screen size is is measured in inches, diagonally across the viewable area of the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). If it's measured any other way the specification usually says so. The larger the flat screen, the higher the price. And it's not like buying potatoes either; prices go up on a sliding scale so that a 20" isn't just 25% more costly than a 15"; think more like double! For sizes larger than 20 inches, it may be best to go to another display technology, since current LCDs excel at smaller sizes but are less suitable with for large display surfaces. 
Screen HeightA new incoming feature on flat panels is the ability to raise and lower the monitor height so it suits the user's eye level. After all, unlike the rectangular boxes we stare at, humans aren't built identically! Expect adjustable height ranges of around 80mm (3.25") to 110mm (4.4").Dot PitchThe smallest dot pitch that can be defined on the flat panel determines how fine a picture can be 'drawn'. So the smaller this separation, the more detailed an image you see, and obviously, the more you pay for this detail. Typical pitch sizes are 0.24mm, 0.26mm and 0.28mm. Although larger than 0.28mm pitches are seen, these cheaper displays will definitely be noticeably more blurred and aren't worth the disappointment. ResolutionHow many separate dots can the monitor resolve? In older models, monitor drivers limited themselves to addressing the physical number of pixels manufactured into the monitor. When you needed a larger area, say for DTP (Desk Top Publishing) or CAD (Computer Aided Design), you bought a larger screen, like a 24 incher. Wow - expensive! However, large display areas can now be delivered to folk who can only afford small physical screens by showing just a portion - say a quarter of a 2048x1536 dot area on a 1024x768 LCD display (XGA). Operating systems like Windows XP, allow us to pan around the full area viewing just what will fit on to the display we have in front of us at the time. Long, long ago, display resolutions were given acronym shortcuts to avoid spelling out lots of numbers. Derived from Colour Graphics Adapter (CGA) and so on they developed into this list:
Today's standard 17-inch monitor is normally shipped with an SXGA resolution, but screens with alternative aspect ratios have different widescreen resolution standards. This article also explains more about resolutions and refresh rates .Contrast RatioThis parameter simply defines how well the 'black's and 'whites' are displayed. Typical values are a 450:1 image contrast ratio, but good displays can go up to 700:1. A poor 300:1 ratio screen might appear as though permanently viewed through a veil.
Image BrightnessA unit of luminous intensity measuring the brightness of a display, the candela per square metre (cd/m2) is the figure to look for. Where the display is be used in daylight, choose an image brightness of at least 200 cd/m2, while even brighter LCDs now each 400 cd/m2 or more.Response TimeMeasured in milliSeconds (mS), this is an indication of how much blurring you will get from objects moving across the display area. The response time is how long it takes for a liquid crystal cell to change from active (black) to inactive (white) and back to active (black) again.Scrolling a web page or moving an icon are typical but inconsequential manoeuvres than will suffer from blur, but video or TV scenes containing fast movement may become unwatchable on a flat panel with slow response times. Slow specifications will be those of around 30-40mS so try to find response times of less than 20mS to reduce smearing or even single-figure response times if moving images are important. 
Power consumptionWhilst even the largest flat screen displays exhibit consumptions of a couple of Watts when powered down or on standby, displaying a bright picture still generates some heat - that power has to come from somewhere! Twenty-inch models can consume 70 Watts or more - as much as an old-fashioned filament light bulb. Look for the appropriate compliancy standards like MPR II, EPA Energy Star, and TCO '99. Viewing angleWith off-centre viewing over of 170° for many displays, you can almost see round corners these days! Expect colours and brightness to fade drastically when viewing from the side, and don't place to much importance on the viewing angle parameter - it's effective for a quick demo, but your audience will actually see a terribly foreshortened view. 
What's on TV? Tax!Now that TV screens and PC monitors have collided in the LCD market place, expect to find models that can do both - also called Internet TVs. However, these all-in-one widescreen displays are relatively expensive simply because TV-capable devices are beginning to incur extra duty within the European Union. On the social environment side, you may decide that bringing your computing into the social/living space is too invasive, and equally that TV-capability in the wrong workplace may be a dangerous distraction. 
F-f-f-flicker?Now that you have a nice bright, sharp, clear picture, you'll want to ensure it doesn't give you hallucinations - but you may not have even noticed yet! Take the Screen Test to see whether your screen has unacceptable flicker - then fix it.Contacts
-IB-
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4. Buylines: Why purchase product from Co-Op
Is the best buy a DIY? | ||
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There's no doubt shopping for new IT equipment can be fun! You increase your knowledge through product information, talking to sales folk, browsing online catalogues and so on. We aim to help prepare you with information that aids suitable purchasing decisions - on site, over the phone and through the pages of InfoBulletin. But are your overall priorities right? Often, it's just more efficient to have someone do the legwork (and brainwork!) for your organisation. As a benchmark of buying and supplying experience, we've bulleted the essentials that we provide, for comparison when establishing a relationship with suppliers or just as a reminder. Purchasing Benefits
How to make it happenAsk us for a quote.-IB- Acknowledgements: Nicole Antonelli |
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5. Is broadband available in your area?
"How to check it and get it" .... made easy. | ||
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If you are still waiting to make the broadband jump, this easy online checker could be helpful, and does exactly what it says. 
By scanning popular providers like BT, Tiscali, ntl:home, Telewest and blueyonder, Broadbandchecker presents available ADSL options listed by broadband (wired), by cable or by satellite for your postcode area or for your particular phone number, if you type that in. The results provide a list of suppliers of each type (presumably by sponsored adverts), normally with priced service offerings. The free service clearly saves a lot of time browsing through the various provider web sites checking manually and searching for the best offers available in your area. For instance, the BroadbandChecker summary for our area told us we could receive all 3 types of broadband delivery:
Contacts-IB-
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6. Buy a Big Mac, get an Apple Mac free?
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In the early eighties, one of the IT courses I did had a 'futurology' element, where we pondered what effect the foreseeable avalanche of '(computer) Chips with Everything' would have on the world. Some things we anticipated - a computer in every office, packaged software, mass use of email. Some things - a computer in most homes, mobile phones, the Internet, we didn't. At about that time there were just two "McDonald's" in London and, for those who weren't around at the time, I can't explain the excitement that a "Big Mac and fries" could bring to a group of impoverished students on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Now, of course, McDonald's and IT chips are everywhere. This never ending surge in computer power and its cheapness was brought home to me again in McDonald's recently. Given away with a kids' "Happy Meal" was a perfectly serviceable computer game, including LCD screen. I wouldn't be surprised if McDonald's (already the worlds biggest toy manufacturer - Happy Meals again) don't become in effect one of the biggest computer suppliers. The other conclusion I drew was that the IT revolution will wend it's way, in ways we can't anticipate. The only certainties we have is that IT equipment will go on to be cheaper and cheaper, more and more powerful, and, in a developed economy, the only jobs going will be 'burger flipping' or being able to utilise (or 'leverage', as the consultants say) all that incredible IT power to better deliver goods and services (whatever they maybe) to people. Footnote: "Does a Big Mac really improve the quality of people's lives?" I hear you ask. Ah, that's a question for the philosophers, not the technocrats. (In the interests of balance, I think Morgan "Super Size Me" Spurlock may be one of those philosophers. Ed) -IB- |
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Clicks of the Trade - Brisk backwards browsing
--- Quick tips for happier clicks! --- | |||
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-IB-
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