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DSG pins hope on Christmas and new year sales to halt falling profits	29 November 2007
DSG International, the owner of Currys and PC World, is pinning its hopes on Christmas and the January sales to reignite trade in expensive white goods and stem its falling profits. However, it admitted yesterday that it was cautious about consumer spending next year.
Dell's plan for Zing	28 November 2007
The PC maker bought the small audio streaming company in August and recently applied to trademark the name of an online portal. What does Dell have up its sleeve?
Client-side vulnerabilities loom large	28 November 2007
Critical vulnerabilities in common PC software, including both applications and operating systems, continue to grow in number and stand as the leading cause for concern in the IT security landscape today, according to training experts at the SANS Institute.Holes in so-called client-side applications, including Web browsers, e-mail clients, productivity suites, and media players, have become particularly worrisome over the last year, according to SANS, which highlighted the issue as part of its annual report on the top 20 Internet security risks for 2007.As hackers have shifted their attention further away from operating system flaws and drilled down to applications-layer vulnerabilities they have found a seemingly endless wealth of possibilities for infecting PCs with everything from spyware to botnet programs, SANS researchers contend.Unless something can be done to improve software developers' coding habits or better test popular applications for such issues before they land on end-users' machines, attackers will be able to continue their successful assaults against enterprise networks and devices for the foreseeable future, said Rohit Dhamankar, project manager for the Top 20 report at SANS and a senior manager of security research for TippingPoint.?"There's just been such a dramatic rise in the numbers of vulnerabilities found in applications like Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office and a number of media players that attackers are having their way," said Dhamankar. "Enterprises are bolstering security, but desktop users still pose a massive risk if they can download anything they want from the Web; the attacks are also growing in sophistication to the extent that many can defeat antivirus and other security systems primarily by obfuscating their code."Some of the most powerful tools that hackers have adopted in hunting for potential targets are the same industrial-strength applications fuzzing tools that software vendors themselves are using to search for holes in their products, said the expert.Enterprises could do themselves a favor by enforcing stricter policies that dictate the types of applications that end-users are allowed to put on their work machines and using technical means to ensure that those rules are being followed, Dhamankar said.Other SANS researchers noted that while companies may not want to tell end-users that they cannot utilize media players, messaging clients, and other applications that have moved into the business world from the consumer sector, they could help themselves out by limiting the variety of client-side applications that people may choose from."IT departments can't focus on all the applications of the world, but they can choose several and keep their eye on those while allowing end-users some freedom," said Amol Sarwate, research manager at Qualys who studies vulnerability patterns for SANS. "What companies need to do is enforce standards for applications usage and utilize technical means to block unwanted software, devices, and even wireless access points."While many businesses have already realized that they need to shift more of their efforts toward defending client-side vulnerabilities, most have failed to embrace a proactive approach versus simply keeping track of publicly-reported flaws and patching those issues said Sarwate.Enterprises need to think about future security issues It will be particularly important for firms to examine the additional security issues that will be introduced in the coming years with broader adoption of technologies including VoIP (Voice over IP), according to the expert."The key is for people to start thinking ahead of these client-side vulnerabilities to understand what the next big thing may be. Things like VoIP need to be examined for their security implications," said Sarwate. "Many companies are already adopting these tools because of all the advantages they offer, but there will be many attacks carried out against these systems as well."Among the advice that SANS is offering organizations hoping to improve their client-side security coverage is to mandate secure configurations at installation time for all applications, to constantly verify patching and upgrading of both applications and system software, to scan for new vulnerabilities frequently, and to keep their security systems up to date.Other leading areas of concern highlighted by SANS in its report included critical vulnerabilities in Web applications that allow for cross-site scripting attacks or for computers to be otherwise compromised simply by pointing their browsers at poisoned URLs."Gullible, busy, accommodating computer users," including executives, IT staff, and others with privileged access also remain a major weak point for enterprise security, according to SANS, as these seemingly more seasoned users of computers and software are still falling for increasingly targeted spear-phishing campaigns in large numbers.One of the best ways to educate users about the problem is for organizations to create fake spear-phishing threats and send them out to internal users to determine which individuals might be most likely to fall for the schemes and follow up with additional training, the group said.Critical vulnerabilities in the software and systems that provide the operating environment and primary services to computer users, or server-side software, remain another area of leading concern, according to SANS.Problems in Microsoft Windows services, Unix and Mac OS services, back-up and AV programs, management servers, database software, and VoIP technologies in particular are proving troublesome, according to the report.Many of those issues can be addressed by following the same advice offered for solving client-side vulnerabilities, SANS said in the research.
Micron unveils first solid state drive offerings	28 November 2007
Micron Technology plunged headfirst into the nascent solid state drive marketplace Wednesday with the unveiling of its RealSSD family of storage devices.The RealSSD portfolio features serial ATA II-enabled 1.8-in. and 2.5-in. solid state drives in 32GB and 64GB capacities. Early next year, the company will start mass producing the drives, which are currently being "sampled," said Dean Klein, vice president of memory system development at Boise, Idaho-based Micron.Micron's RealSSD drives, noted Klein, require less than 2 watts of power during active mode and are about 50 percent lighter than hard disk drives of similar capacities. The devices do not require a SATA bridge chip but rather rely on a single-chip controller (optimized for four-channel control of NAND flash) directly targeting the solid state drive application, he added.The new RealSSD line also includes the Embedded USB and Module products. The RealSSD Embedded USB can be plugged into a PC or blade server system to provide operating system storage and boot capabilities via a USB 2.0 interface. The RealSSD Module is a SATA-enabled solid state drive for server-based applications that measures 25mm high by 133.5mm long and less than 4mm thick.Klein acknowledged that adoption of solid state drives for corporate users has been very slow, mostly because of the technology's high price tag. However, he predicted that declining prices of NAND flash technology and the inevitable development of applications for solid state systems will accelerate demand."Technology is going to make [solid state] real. The cost of the NAND components will be a large determining factor in terms of acceptance," said Klein. "Even if we could bring speed of light performance to these devices, there's a lot of applications that still won't take them because the cost is too high or the density isn't high enough."Of the many first-generation solid state drive devices currently available, Klein remarked, "benchmarks have proven them to be fairly lame in terms of performance." Going a step further, he panned BitMicro Networks' 1.6TB solid state drive unveiled this month as a "pricey piece of art." Samsung Electronics and SanDisk are considered two established leaders currently providing solid state drive offerings, analysts noted.Although initially focused on providing solid state drives for the notebook audience -- a natural fit, said Klein, because solid state is lightweight, and offers power savings and a small size -- Micron does have interest in examining larger-capacity solid state products for the desktop and enterprise industry.Jeff Janukowicz, an analyst at IDC, said his IT research firm has forecast that demand for solid state technology will "substantially" increase over the next few years. An IDC report released in July predicted that sales of solid state drives will grow from $373 million in 2006 to a total of $5.4 billion in 2011.While notebook computing will fuel solid state adoption, Janukowicz said he expects the need for improved performance and specialized applications in servers, blade servers, and enterprise storage systems to attract growing solid state interest over time.Janukowicz said Micron's decision to debut an entire family of solid state products with RealSSD and its established NAND and flash memory expertise could prove to be a key differentiator with OEMs. But much work still needs to be done, he noted."Micron needs to work well with PC OEMs that deliver solutions acceptable for the PC market," he said. "The challenge there is [a traditional] usage model of using hard disks in notebook PCs. There is a bit of education process in terms of using solid state disks as primary storage in network computing that needs to take place."Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate
Client-side vulnerabilities loom large (InfoWorld)	28 November 2007
InfoWorld - Critical vulnerabilities in common PC software, including both applications and operating systems, continue to grow in number and stand as the leading cause for concern in the IT security landscape today, according to training experts at the SANS Institute.
NXP delivers advanced PCTV processors	28 November 2007
NXP's SAA7164BE and SAA7163AE PC TV processors bring multi-streaming and PVR capabilities to desktop and notebook multimedia PC TV USB applications.
Sega broadens Steam offerings	28 November 2007
Sega and Valve have announced an agreement to deliver a lineup of new Sega titles via the Steam distribution platform for PC games
Smallest Computer Raon Digital Everun S60H for sale (Palmers Green (London), Price: £600)	01 January 0001
http w.raondigital.com (for details) One of the smallest Umpcs Retail price of over 700 Gbp.Has one year warranty from Dynamism.com.It comes with an extra extended battery that gives you 12 hours battery life (8 hours with wifi on 4-6 hours with the standard battery) plus an extra leather case for protection.You can even install an optional internal Hsdpa modem plug your sim card in and it becomes a phone This Umpc fits everybody from buisiness professionals to Pc enthusiasts. I ve been having this device for just over a month now.I m having second thoughts of selling it just by typing this.This machine is fun fast and responsive (due to its fast 2d chipset) even though its an Amd 600Mhz processor. Cash On Spot Only (or if you are far i can post it to you but you have to transfer the money to my bank account first) Cpu600MHz Amd Geode Lx 900 Microsoft Windows Xp Home 60G Hdd Memory512MB Ddr 400MHz Display4.8" Touch screen Tft Lcd 800x480 Native resolution Auto-Rotation Auto-Brightness control External display support Vga up to 1920x1200 InputFull alphabet Qwerty keypad Number Function keys (F1 F12) System control keys (mute volume or brightness up down Cpu clock control) Arrow key (Joy pad) Optical touch mouse Touch pen Wireless and NetworkingWireless Lan integrated 802.11b g Bluetooth integrated Bluetooth 2.0
Computer For Sale Must Go Son (Whitechapel, Price: £180)	01 January 0001
Selling a Pc with Optical Mouse and Ps 2 Keyboard. Pentium Celeron 2.0ghz 256MB Ram 40GB Hdd Dvd-Rom Drive Any Further Inquiries Please Phone or Text Me On 07935016334
Reliable Pc (N11, Price: £125)	01 January 0001
A reliable Desktop Pc Pentium4 2.4 Ghz speed with windows Xp antivirus internet security Microsoft office 2003 photoshop. Tft Monitor 512 Mb Memory Dvd player Cd writer Floppy drive Keybord Mouse. Usb Sound Network. 60GB Hdd Wireless adapter with extra £20. Speakers with extra £8.