IT

Since the " Swine Flu " can infect a person at any moment, many companies have beefed up their remote access capabilities to enable their employees to work from home in the case of sudden illness. More specifically, remote access technologies ... provide companies with secure access to applications from any location. These applications can be retrieved using a number of Internet-ready devices and enable IT administrators to enforce security and information usage policies. These policies are then used to ensure that the devices connected to a corporate network from a remote location meet internal ... (view more)

British computer researchers have produced a tiny microchip capable of using light rather than electricity to carry out calculations. It employs quantum mechanics to drastically cut the time taken for computations and could one day mean a ... substantially more secure Internet. University of Bristol researchers say the small size of the chip is the easiest change to demonstrate, but that this isn't its real innovation. And they are open about the fact that it won't replace standard computer processors. But the principle of what it does do is a genuine breakthrough. Exponentially Faster than ... (view more)

A website designed for document sharing will soon allow authors to sell electronic copies of their books. The endeavor could mark a dramatic evolution in the publishing industry. Scribd.com will take advantage of its iPaper technology, designed to ... show any document format on any computer. The iPaper format works similarly to Adobe's PDF (portable document format), but is purpose-built for the web and does not require the user have any software installed. Readers can also download the entire file in its original format. At the moment, the site exists for a variety of purposes, such as allowing ... (view more)

A new mobile WiFi hotspot device about the size of a credit card is threatening to make USB cellular modems look primitive. One such devices is the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot. It works by tapping into the Verizon 3G Mobile ... broadband network to create a personalized WiFi ' cloud ' for a fixed number of devices within a 50 foot area. USB-based modems boast similar features in allowing users to connect to the Internet while in motion or from a remote location. However, the biggest drawback of using a USB modem is that they are exclusive to only one device. (Source: ... (view more)

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)

Microsoft has revealed more about Windows 7 and its support for touch screen technology. The system sounds impressive, however, reports suggest it appears to have a high error rate. The Redmond-based company originally considered setting up a ... completely separate interface for software which used touch screens, similar to the way Media Center works. Instead, Microsoft opted to build everything into the main Windows 7 experience in order to cut down on switching back and forth between two interfaces. When Windows 7 is used with a touch screen, there will now be some slight tweaks to make it ... (view more)

According to a UCLA professor, today's kids might use their brains much differently than children in previous generations. The findings could mean that current teaching and testing methods are ineffective in estimating their intelligence. Patricia ... Greenfield looked at more than 50 studies of technology's effects on children. She found that media such as television and video games do limit some aspects of their mental skills, but also help improve them in other ways. Tests over the last 50 years show a clear and consistent increase in visual reasoning skills. These involve seeing information ... (view more)

For those of you who feel that USB 2.0 isn't quite fast enough for your needs, take note: USB 3.0 is on its way, and the new technology offers data transfer speeds that are ten times faster than the last generation. Dubbed "SuperSpeed USB" at the ... recent USB Implementers Forum in sunny San Jose, USB 3.0 is the next step in a must-have technology. USB data transfer devices can be found just about anywhere, including wireless Internet peripherals and "sticks", tiny thumb-sized disc-like storage units that allow one to carry several gigs worth of data in their pocket. USB 2.0 isn't exactly ... (view more)

Regulators have backed plans to allow unlicensed wireless devices to use that section of airwaves freed up when analogue TV transmissions cease next year. It could mean considerably faster mobile broadband, though it could be bad news for rock ... stars. The Federal Communications Commission has voted in favour of rules it calls "a careful first step" towards unlicensed use of 'white spaces'. Those are some of the frequencies currently used for over-the-air television broadcasts; those frequencies will no longer be used after February when TV networks switch to an all-digital format. While there' ... (view more)

Some of the top laptop manufacturers in the world have created a system that allows certain models to run frequently-used software in a matter of seconds. The specialized feature, called "Splashtop," does away with lengthy start-up times by avoiding ... Microsoft Windows in favor of a Linux-based "mini-operating system". For example: when a friend challenged me to a game of FIFA Soccer 2008 for the PlayStation 3, I was amazed to find that a new feature had been added that allowed users to practice perfecting their penalty shots while the game was busy loading the next page. Using this ... (view more)