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Submission + - Geek comics: an illustrated history (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "For as long as there’s been a tech industry, there have been cartoons lampooning it. PC Pro explores the evolution of the geek comic, running from Dilbert to xkcd.

"It’s no surprise that xkcd managed to do in a single panel what most obituaries were struggling to do in a thousand words," writes PC Pro of the site's tribute to Neil Armstrong. "Geek comics are the tech world’s fairground mirror, presenting a truth that’s distorted but still familiar. ""
Hardware

Submission + - Rise of the mobile processors (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "Something strange is happening, something that could leave the latest developments in desktop CPUs and GPUs looking like a sideshow. What if the real battle for the future of computing isn’t between Intel and AMD, but Intel and ARM? What if the next crucial step in graphics technology comes not from Nvidia, but from Imagination Technologies or Qualcomm? What if mobile processor technology is the mainstream? This feature looks at the phenomenal rise in power of mobile components, and asks the experts whether they'll soon be capable of handling all of our needs."
Security

Submission + - The zero-day bounty hunters (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "Fewer than 1% of the exploits detected by Microsoft in the first half of last year were against so-called zero-day vulnerabilities – those that were previously unknown. That figure raises a question: if the vast majority of real-world exploits are “known threats”, what makes zero days so valuable that they have spawned a hidden industry of bounty-hunting researchers? The zero-day bounty hunters looks at the big money involved in finding zero-day vulnerabilities, what kind of people — with good and bad intentions — make it their business to look for them, and whether offering "bounties" is actually the wisest way for the security industry to handle the issue. It also includes an interview with a professional security researcher and ethical hacker about how and why he does what he does."
Windows

Submission + - Hit game makes £52 in first week on Windows RT Read more: Great Big War G (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "Great Big War Game, a popular iOS and Android app, made only £52 in its first week on Windows RT. In an angry blog post titled "Windows RT — Born to fail", UK-based developer Rubicon blamed Microsoft for the paltry sum and said it won't be bringing any more of its titles to the fledgling platform. It seems Microsoft refused to promote the app as it would only run on Windows RT devices. However, Microsoft quickly got in touch with Rubicon, and the post was deleted and replaced with an apologetic response saying "Microsoft have graciously decided work with us to iron out the problems and get us past this incident". Rubicon will be hoping that £52 figure improves quickly, as it spent £10,000 porting the game to Windows RT."
Education

Submission + - Rise of the online code schools (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "When it comes to programming, the classroom is moving online. A new wave of start-ups has burst onto the scene over the last year, bringing interactive lessons and gamification techniques to the subject to make coding trendy again. From Codecademy — and its incredibly successful Code Year initiative — to Khan Academy, Code School and Udacity, online learning is now sophisticated and high-tech — but is it good enough to replace the classroom? “We are the first five or six chapters in a book,” says Code School's Gregg Pollack in this exploration of online code classes, but with the number of sites and lessons growing by the week that might not be the case for long."
Linux

Submission + - Which is the best Linux distro for you? (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "To the average mainstream Windows user, Linux can be an unusual and sometimes frightening prospect. So for this feature PC Pro has taken an unusual approach. In keeping with the open source Linux philosophy, its eight distro reviews are part-based on a wiki, to which numerous readers contributed over a period of six weeks. The results combine PC Pro's own testing and analysis with real-world community experience for an all-round view. There's no winner, as different distros will suit different needs, but the feature gives verdicts on Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Mint, openSUSE, Puppy Linux and PCLinuxOS, along with a look at how touchscreens fare with various Linux distros at the helm."
Facebook

Submission + - Man arrested for photo of burning poppy on Facebook (pcpro.co.uk) 1

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "A British man has been arrested for posting a picture of a burning poppy on Facebook. The poppy is a symbol of remembrance for those who died in war, and the arrest was made on Remembrance Sunday.

"A man from Aylesham has tonight been arrested on suspicion of malicious telecommunications," Kent police said in a statement after the arrest. "This follows a posting on a social network site of a burning poppy. He is currently in police custody awaiting interview."

The arrest has been criticised by legal experts. "What was the point of winning either World War if, in 2012, someone can be casually arrested by @kent_police for burning a poppy?" tweeted David Allen Green, who helped clear the British man who was prosecuted for a joke tweet threatening to blow up an airport."
Microsoft

Submission + - Metro apps are now called "Windows Store apps" (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by Barence
Barence writes: The apps we used to (and many of us still) call Metro apps have a new official name: Windows Store apps. The name was revealed by Microsoft's Tim O'Brien in a media Q&A session at the company's Build 2012 conference in Redmond. In the same session, O'Brien assured the audience that the traditional Windows desktop would still have its place for as long as the demand remained. "Are we just going to shift resources away from the old thing into the new thing? No, that’s not the case at all."

Submission + - All aboard the mini-ITX steam train (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "It looks like a train and moves along a track like a train, but this £265 model locomotive isn't quite what it seems. That's because the Lian Li PC-CK101 is actually a fully functional mini-ITX PC, complete with its own battery-powered engine and — if you want to be really authentic — even a vapouriser to belch out steam. USB 3 ports sit along the side of the engine, with a discreet slot for a slimline DVD writer in the front, just below the power button right on the nose. It's not an easy build — space is tight in the cattle-class carriage — but it's highly entertaining once it's assembled and on the move."
The Internet

Submission + - The 4G data cap that's broken in 5 mins (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "The tariffs have been announced for Britain's first 4G network and they include a data cap that customers will break within five minutes.

EE's high-speed data service will start from £36 a month — or £21 a month SIM-only — although the lowest package's 500MB download limit might put data-focused early adopters off. With EE claiming average network speeds of up to 12Mbits/sec, that means users could theoretically exceed their cap in just over five minutes of full-speed downloads — or a little over ten seconds a day.

There are no unlimited data deals."
Hardware

Submission + - Inside the Ultrabook factory (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "PC Pro has been given rare access to Samsung’s Korean HQ to find out what challenges were faced in making the slimmest laptop in the world.

The feature reveals the processes Samsung's designers went through to create the Series 9 laptop in only 9,000 man hours, such as how every laptop case starts life as a brick of aluminium, and how CNC machining hollows out the laptop’s body to within an accuracy of one-thousandth of a millimetre.

The feature also reveals the battery of stress tests each laptop design is put through. "To our right, a laptop is clamped tight to a metal plate, while a metal arm tirelessly thrusts a dummy D-SUB socket in and out of its right-hand edge. That metal arm repeats the process 4,500 times before the laptop moves to the next test bench, and the process starts again. Every port on the laptop undergoes the same process before it’s declared fit for purpose.""

Submission + - Can a €10 ebook reader take on the Kindle? (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "Think Kindles are too expensive? German company Txtr does too, so it plans to launch its own Beagle ebook reader at a price that may be as low as €9.90. The catch? That price is only likely if you get the Beagle with a mobile phone contract — a deal that makes some sense as a smartphone app is required to get books onto the device. With a few other drawbacks too — only five books at a time, and a store that lacks the depth of Amazon — the thin and light Beagle is aimed at the kind of mainstream user who hasn't yet delved into the world of ebooks."
AI

Submission + - How bee brains could inspire AI in flying robots (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "Researchers at two UK universities are trying to use the guidance systems and intelligence inside the brain of a bee to improve artificial intelligence in autonomous flying robots. The AI for autonomous controls has long troubled automation experts, but the scientists believe modelling their systems on brain power found in nature could solve many issues – especially given the rise of parallel computing in graphics processors, which can be repurposed to model brain patterns. PC Pro spoke to lead researcher James Marshall about the research."
Businesses

Submission + - Does crowdfunding work? (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "Is it really practical to fund a business from hundreds of small donations harvested over the internet? With Kickstarter grabbing the headlines with some high-profile projects, it's all too easy to assume crowdfunding is great, the obvious solution for a business that needs investment. But just how feasible is it for most businesses? This feature looks at several lower-profile examples and investigates the positives and negatives of this new way to raise money."
Blackberry

Submission + - The BlackBerry typo that landed a man in jail (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "A British man was jailed for 18 months for accidentally sending an explicit text message to his entire address book.

24-year-old swimming coach, Craig Evans, intended to send a text message to his girlfriend asking her for sex. Instead, the message was accidentally sent to his entire BlackBerry address book, including two girls, aged 13 and 14, from his swimming class.

He was subsequently arrested and charged with “causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity”, and – incredibly – jailed for 18 months at Birmingham Crown Court in July. Yesterday, an appeal's court freed Evans, although he wasn't cleared — the sentence was merely reduced to a nine-month suspended jail term."

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