scurtis - Slashdot User

Skype Services Crash Around The World-> 0

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2011, @09:58AM

An anonymous reader writes "Skype users around the world are unable to log on and make calls using VoIP service Skype

Voice-over-IP (VoIP) service Skype has suffered some major down-time, with users around the world unable to sign on and make calls since around 12:15pm UK time.

While some users are unable to access the service at all, others can log on but are unable to make calls or communicate by instant message. Skype acknowledged the problem with a tweet at around 1.30pm, which stated: “Some of you may have problems signing in to Skype and making calls. We’re investigating and hope to have more details to share soon.”"
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From Telautograph To iPad: 123 Years Of Tablet PCs-> 0

Submitted by

scurtis

on Tuesday April 26 2011, @12:19PM

scurtis writes "All technology evolves from cruder predecessors, and tablets are no different. People have been playing with some of the technologies underlying tablet PCs for over a century: In July 1888, for example, inventor Elisha Gray received a US patent for an electrical stylus device that captured handwriting. According to his original application, this “telautograph” leveraged telegraph technology to send a handwritten message between a sending and receiving station."
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SPAM: Gigabit Wireless Will Link Smartphones To TVs 0

Submitted by judgecorp on Wednesday November 03 2010, @06:57AM

judgecorp writes "More progress for WiGig, the proposal for 3Gbps wireless links on 60GHz radio waves. The WiGig group has signed a deal with VESA, the display standards group, to include WiGig as a fast wireless option in VESA's DisplayPort standard. As well as letting you use a TV as a display for your phone, without having to connect a cable, it will also make synching and file transfer quicker."
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Ballmer Promises Microsoft Tablet By Christmas-> 0

Submitted by judgecorp on Tuesday October 05 2010, @10:21AM

judgecorp writes "Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told an audience at the London School of Economics, that there will be tablets running Microsoft’s Windows operating system available by Christmas. “We as a company will need to cover all form factors,” he told an audience of students and press. “You’ll see slates with Windows on them – you’ll see them this Christmas.” Mind you, if he's talking about the rumoured HP Windows 7 slate, he may not be so pleased when it appears. A recent Youtube video showed a supposed prototype which has been described as a "trainwreck in the making"."
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Isoc: Adopt IPv6 To Allow Copyright Snooping-> 0

Submitted by judgecorp on Wednesday September 29 2010, @12:04PM

judgecorp writes "After many years of predicting doom for the old IPv4 Internet, the Internet Society can sound like Chicken Little, but at some point we must move to IPv6. Today in London, the society warned that service providers who do not upgrade will face business risks. One of the benefits of adopting IPv6 could be the ability to meet the fileshare-snooping requirements of the UK's unpopular Digital Economy Act. At the same event, Isoc appeared to hint that there could be a future black market in scarce IPv4 addresses. Hoard them now!"
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SanDisk Shrinks Solid-State Drives-> 0

Submitted by scurtis on Thursday August 19 2010, @08:13AM

scurtis writes "SanDisk is offering what it calls the first embedded SSD, packing up to 64GB and smaller than a postage stamp. The device, called the integrated SSD (iSSD), is aimed at emerging categories of devices using high-end operating systems in small form factors, such as tablets and ultra-thin notebooks, SanDisk said. Back in June Kingston's Darwin Chen suggested that solid state storage could give the 90 million PCs reaching the end of their life a new lease of life."
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Space Internet To Bridge European Digital Divide-> 0

Submitted by scurtis on Wednesday August 04 2010, @06:58AM

scurtis writes "KA-SAT – the world’s most advanced multi-spot satellite to date – is due to launch from Kazakhstan towards the end of November this year, aboard a Russian Proton rocket. The KA-SAT satellite, developed by Eutelsat and built by EADS Astrium, has 82 independent beams which cover Europe with a mosaic of footprints. It is capable of a maximum of 40Mbps downstream and 20Mbps up, and is said to be able to serve Europe with a “DSL-comparable” broadband service, known as Tooway.

Back in February, the Space Innovation and Growth Team released a report plug claiming that, as well as helping to plug holes in the UK’s internet provision, satellite broadband services could be significantly more energy and carbon efficient than terrestrial fibre or mobile coverage."
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Most Consumers Support Government Cyber-Spying-> 0

Submitted by scurtis on Tuesday August 03 2010, @04:02AM

scurtis writes "Nearly two thirds of computer users globally believe that it is acceptable for their country to spy on other nations by hacking or installing malware, according to Sophos's mid-year 2010 Security Threat Report, with 23 percent claiming to support this action even during peace time. Perhaps more surprisingly, 32 percent of respondents said that countries should also be allowed to plant malware and hack into private foreign companies in order to spy for economic advantage.

“It's kind of curious, because these are the people that have got no time for hackers and the bad guys at all, but seem to think it's all right for countries to do this,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. “I think they need to remember that, one day, it might be a country attacking your company's network, and trying to infiltrate it, and how are you going to feel about it then?”

Last week, at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, former US National Security Agency director, retired Gen. Michael Hayden, emphasised the importance of clearly defining what cyber-war really is."
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British ISPs Favour Well-Connected Customers-> 0

Submitted by scurtis on Thursday July 29 2010, @11:24AM

scurtis writes "An insider has told eWEEK Europe that some Internet service providers in the UK only sign-up customers who can be guaranteed a good service, in order to improve average speed claims. The revelation comes after the regulator Ofcom criticised broadband service providers earlier this week for not delivering the speeds promised to consumers. Meanwhile, TalkTalk’s chairman Charles Dunstone has argued that Ofcom could be doing a lot more to push BT — as the operator of the copper infrastructure — to improve maintenance of the lines and its communication with fellow service providers."
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Europe To Get 100 Million Smart Meters By 2014-> 0

Submitted by scurtis on Tuesday July 27 2010, @06:01AM

scurtis writes "As the UK government prepares to release its own study into how deployment of smart meters and grids will progress in the country, a new report claims that the devices will be deployed in huge numbers across Europe over the next five years. However, the optimistic predictions of the analysts and the ambitious timetable proposed by the government are at odds with the views of some insiders who point to the slow-uptake of the devices so far, as well as the security implications of rushing the roll-out."
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