Technology

According to reports, Washington state surveillance firm Veratect Corp. raised the first warning about a possible swine flu outbreak in Mexico more than two weeks before the World Health Organization (WHO) made its own announcement. (Source: ... pnwlocalnews.com ) It also appears as that federal and international health officials had access to the Veratect Corp. warning. Emails relating to the possible outbreak spreading in Mexico were sent to 10 officials of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and prevention. It's not known why health officials didn't act sooner than they did. Data Mining ... (view more)

Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast mediums, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. People who create electronic spam are called spammers. Geographical Origins of Spam As ... of this writing and according to experts from SophosLabs, 28.4% of global spam comes from the U.S. In second place is South Korea, bringing 5.2% of global spam. Following the list are China (including Hong Kong): 4.9%; Russia: 4.4%; Brazil: 3.7%; France: 3.6%; Germany: 3.4%; Turkey: 3.%; Poland: 2.7%; United Kingdom (specifically Great Britain): 2 ... (view more)

In computing, an executable file causes a computer to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions, as opposed to a file that only contains data. Files that contain instructions for an interpreter or virtual machine may be considered ... executables, but are more specifically called scripts or bytecode. Executables are also called "binaries" in contrast to the program's source code. Binary Files A binary file is a computer file which may contain any type of data, encoded in binary form for computer storage and processing purposes. For example, a computer document file that contains ... (view more)

Not entirely impressed with that BlackBerry Storm you picked up earlier this year? Well, don't get too depressed -- BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) recently revealed that a new version of the multimedia device is already in the works. RIM ... co-CEO Jim Balsillie (the prominent executive known for his attempts to move American hockey teams north of the border) recently confirmed to Reuters that a new version of the Storm is already in development. According to Balsillie, sales of the Storm were strong enough that the company believes there's a big market for devices that employ ... (view more)

Malware (a portmanteau of "malicious software") is any software program developed for the purpose of causing harm to a computer system, similar to a virus or Trojan horse. Malware can be classified based on how it is executed, how it spreads, and/or ... what it does. The classification is not perfect, however, in the sense that the groups often overlap and the difference is not always obvious, giving rise to frequent flame wars. Overuse of the term 'Virus' Because viruses were historically the first to appear, the term "virus" is often applied, especially in the popular media, to all sorts of ... (view more)

Release Candidate (RC) The term release candidate (RC) refers to a software version with the potential to be a final product, ready to be released to the public for final testing. In this stage of product stabilization, all product features have ... been designed, coded and tested through one or more Beta cycles with no known software bugs (defects). During the 1990s, Apple Inc. used the term "golden master" for its release candidates, and the final golden master was the general availability release. Gamma, Delta, Omega, Zenith Release Candidates Other terms include gamma (and occasionally also ... (view more)

A kill switch (also called an e-stop) is a security measure used to shut off a device (usually in an emergency situation) in which it cannot be shut down in the usual manner. Unlike a normal shut down which shuts down all systems naturally in a ... progressive manner, a kill switch is designed to completely abort the operation at all costs. Often, kill switches are used to protect people from sustaining an injury or being killed, in which case damaging the machine may be considered to be acceptable. Physical World Applications Treadmills often use a safety key (essentially a kill switch) that the ... (view more)

Cybercrime (or "computer crime") consists of specific crimes dealing with computers and networks (such as hacking) and the facilitation of traditional crime through the use of computers and technology infrastructure. (Source: gc.ca ) Although the ... terms computer crime and cybercrime are more properly restricted to describing criminal activity in which the computer or network is a necessary part of the crime, these terms are also sometimes used to include traditional crimes, such as fraud, theft, blackmail, forgery, and embezzlement, in which computers or networks are used. Types of ... (view more)

A Service Pack (SP) is a collection of updates, fixes and/or enhancements to a software program delivered in the form of a single installable package. Many companies (such as Microsoft) typically release a service pack when the number of individual ... patches to a given program reaches a certain (arbitrary) limit. Installing a service pack is easier and less error-prone than installing a high number of patches individually, even more so when updating multiple computers over a network. Service packs are usually numbered, and thus shortly referred to as SP1, SP2, SP3 etc. They may also bring, ... (view more)

In computer science, a virtual machine (VM) is a software implementation of a machine (computer) that executes programs like a real machine. System Virtual Machine vs Process Virtual Machine A virtual machine was originally defined by Popek and ... Goldberg as "an efficient, isolated duplicate of a real machine". Current use includes virtual machines which have no direct correspondence to any real hardware. Virtual machines are separated into two major categories, based on their use and degree of correspondence to any real machine: a System Virtual Machine and a Process Virtual Machine. A system ... (view more)