iMac Sandy Bridge upgrade hints Remote Wipe for Mac
The morning began and Apple's online retail store was unavailable with the customary, "We'll be back soon" sign appearing on the store's front page (above). At 8.30am (Eastern) the company announced its quad-core iMacs, which it says are 70 percent faster than before with graphics promising "up to three times the performance" of the previous generation. More specifications below, and here. Read more...
Several Kaspersky Products Get VB100 Award
Kaspersky Lab, company that offers award-winning antivirus and mobile security software for home and corporate users, was glad to announce that several of its products won the prestigious VB100 accolade from Virus Bulletin, the independent British magazine that focuses on the prevention, detection and removal of malware and spam. The products that got a VB100 award are Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 for Windows Workstations and Kaspersky PURE.
Virus Bulletin put a grand total of 69 antivirus products to the test, some of the most popular products on the market. For a period of 5 weeks, Virus Bulletin tested their malware detection capabilities on Windows XP SP3-powered machines. Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 for Windows Workstations and Kaspersky PURE properly protected against malware on XP SP3. Read more...
Hosting virtual desktops: Tips for a successful outcome
If you've already virtualized the servers in your data center, desktop virtualization may seem like the next logical step. But businesses are finding that the benefits of hosted virtual desktop technologies are more nuanced. The advantages may be harder to quantify and harder to justify based purely on traditional ROI calculations.
So, how do you calculate and quantify those advantages, choose the right technology and build out a successful hosted virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)? Computerworld asked consultants, analysts and users who have been there to report on what works, what doesn't and how you can learn from their experiences. The first place to start, they say, is with a clear-eyed understanding of the potential benefits. Read more...
Sony cuts off Sony Online Entertainment service after hack
The widely publicized hack of Sony's computer networks is worse than previously thought, also affecting 24.6 million Sony Online Entertainment network accounts.
Sony -- which has kept its Sony PlayStation Network offline for nearly two weeks as it investigates a computer intrusion -- took a second gaming network offline on Monday, saying it too appears to have been hacked. It said banking and credit card information belonging to more than 23,000 customers outside the U.S. may have been compromised.
The Sony Online Entertainment network, used for massively multiplayer online games like EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies and Matrix Online, has been suspended temporarily, Sony said Monday. Add this to the 77 million accounts that may have been compromised last week, and Sony is responsible for one of the largest recorded data breaches. Read more...
Coming Soon: A Faster Firefox for Linux Users
Linux users' proverbial cup is already overflowing this spring thanks to several recent coups for the open source operating system. Just last week, however, more good news arrived for users of the free software in the form of an announcement from Mozilla that Firefox has been given a huge speed boost on Linux.
Specifically, despite several failed attempts in the past, a group of Mozilla developers has succeeded in getting the open source browser's Linux builds to compile with version 4.5 of GCC, or the GNU Compiler Collection.
"We finally managed to get our Linux (and, obviously, Linux64) builds to use GCC 4.5, with aggressive optimization (-O3) and profile guided optimization enabled," wrote developer Mike Hommey on Friday. Read more...
Twitter Acquires TweetDeck
Twitter has acquired TweetDeck, we’ve heard from a source with knowledge of the deal, and the transaction will be announced in the next few days. The $40 million – $50 million purchase price includes both cash and Twitter stock.
TweetDeck is an Adobe Air desktop application, currently in public beta, that looks to capture the abundance of social media and display it in a unique columned user interface. Read more...
Fake AV makers, scammers exploit Bin Laden news
'Hackers love a big, breaking story,' says researcher
Malware makers and scammers have quickly latched onto the news that U.S. military forces killed Osama Bin Laden, security researchers said today.
Antivirus vendors have spotted multiple threats based on the news, including links that lead to fake security software -- dubbed "rogueware" -- attack code masquerading as plug-ins that users must supposedly download to view video, and attempts to harvest personal information. Read more...