News (24)

Disk encryption is no silver bullet, researchers say

Disk encryption, which people rely on for protecting sensitive data on laptops, can fairly easily be foiled, security researchers said in presenting a paper on a so-called "cold-boot attack" at the Usenix security conference on Wednesday. Read more »

Apple previews OS X 10.6: Snow Leopard

Apple has previewed OS X 10.6 at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, code-named Snow Leopard. Read more »

Browser faceoff: IE vs Firefox vs Opera vs Safari

Web 2.0, with its complex sites and rich Ajax applications, is an increasingly demanding platform for a browser. In this review feature, we look at how the leading browsers measure up. Read more »

ASUS to release desktop Eee PC with Linux

Asus has confirmed the existence of the Ebox, a desktop version of the popular Eee PC laptop. Like its notebook counterpart, will be available with either Windows or Linux. Read more »

IBM's racetrack memory seeks 100x density boost

IBM researchers gave ZDNet.com.au's sister site CNET News.com an insight its latest "racetrack" memory, which IBM promises will bring a 100 fold increase in density — by storing data in long magnetised nanowires rather than disks. Read more »

BitTorrent file-sharing search engine shut down

A prolonged legal fight with the movie industry has forced TorrentSpy, BitTorrent's popular search engine, to shut down. Read more »

Microsoft 'Vista Capable' debacle points to Intel

Internal Microsoft e-mails coming to light in a class action against the software company have shown a tangle of chaos -- involving Intel -- surrounding the controversial Vista Capable logo. Read more »

Apple OS X flaw exposes Keychain password

Apple has confirmed a security glitch that, in many situations, will let someone with physical access to a Macintosh computer gain access to the password of the active user account. Read more »

XP SP3 makes Vista SP1 a laughing stock

New tests have revealed that XP with the beta SP3 has twice the performance of Vista, even with the long awaited SP1. Read more »

Mozilla hibernates until mobile grunt revolution

The iPhone isn't a true mobile computer yet, but it's on the right track, according to a Mozilla executive. Read more »

Features (64)

Why Apple's iPhone is like a 1981 IBM PC

Is the iPhone just a clunky 1981 IBM PC in a sexy black case? Rupert Goodwins asks some serious questions about its enduring appeal. Read more »

Firefox 3 offers numerous features for developers

Firefox's support for customisation and standards, along with plenty of add-ons, has made it a favorite among developers. Read more »

Programming smartcards with the Java Card platform

The Java Card is an open, interoperable platform for smartcards and secure tokens; the technology is also widely used in SIM cards (it's used in GSM mobile phones) and ATM cards. Read more »

10 things you should know about virtualisation

Virtualisation has been a major buzzword in the IT world for a few years. Microsoft has promised that the Hyper-V virtualisation component (formerly called Viridian) will follow within 180 days of the Windows Server 2008 release. Read more »

ORA-04030 doesn't always mean you're running out of RAM

Why give this general out-of-memory error, which mislead us into thinking RAM was the issue? If the database knew it was swap space at issue instead of RAM, it should have been indicated in the error text. Read more »

Exchange 2007: 32-bit vs. 64-bit

Many have commented on Exchange 2007's lack of 32-bit support and shown confusion about why Microsoft decided to provide a 32-bit "test" version of Exchange 2007. We offer some facts about this version and some possible reasons that Microsoft went 64-bit-only with Exchange 2007. Read more »

Generating functions rather than lists in Python

There are situations where list comprehensions are useful, but also situations where you're better served by using some other form. In this article we'll take an example of where a function factory is the better choice. Read more »

Assessment uncovers a consultant's incompetence

When one firm orders a business assessment, this consulting firm discovers a troubling history. Here's how the consulting firm tracked down the problems, including an IT consultant's blatant disregard for good business practices. Read more »

10 things you can do to give old servers a second life

Often, you can give old servers a new lease on life by upgrading to a bigger hard drive and adding RAM. The nature of your network will dictate what's best for you, but here are some ways you might get additional mileage from an old server. Read more »

Monitor your memory usage with MRTG

With MRTG you can graph your network traffic, but you can also use it to gather other network information, such as monitoring your system's swap and memory usage. Read more »

Blog (2)

Just how much memory is Firefox using?

Nick Gibson [blogs:byteclub] -- According to our logs 40% of you use Firefox: can you tell how much memory it's using? Here's a few tricks you should know if you're trying to cut it down to size. Read more »

Widgets - Revenge of the shiny things

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- In a world without widgets, would you start up separate applications for the weather, a dictionary, a screen ruler, a gmail peeker and an app that checks your favourite web comic everytime your machine boots up? Read more »

Log in


Sign up | Forgot your password?

  • Staff Apple to developer: Fart jokes aren't funny

    When Apple announced it would be vetting every application submitted for inclusion in the App Store, this was just the kind of question that entered many a mind: just how arbitrary would the company be in wielding that veto power? Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

  • Staff Chrome is just another browser

    Hands up if you missed the Chrome release -- didn't think anyone did. Google's browser arrived with all the fanfare and hype that only Google can produce. Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

  • Renai LeMay 2Vouch refers well

    Melbourne-based Web start-up 2Vouch yesterday launched the first public beta of what it dubs its "social recruiting platform". Read more »

    -- posted by Renai LeMay

What's on?