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Dell,Lenovo,Apple,Toshiba all want thier batteries back

Written by Kartik Satija on 12:36 PM

Following reports of a Lenovo notebook catching fire at Los Angeles International airport earlier this month, Lenovo and Big Blue will recall 526,000 faulty notebook batteries worldwide.

The batteries were designed by Lenovo, but Sony produced the lithium-ion cell.So who is the culprit,huh?

Although no make or model of battery is immune from some overheating or failure, Lenovo has confirmed that these batteries can be subject to overheating, posing a potential fire hazard, and Lenovo is advising customers to check if they are using one of the affected batteries.

With the recall, Lenovo becomes the fourth major PC manufacturer to haul batteries back due to safety problems. Dell said that it would recall 4.1 million batteries in August, and Apple Computer subsequently announced it had to recall 1.8 million batteries. Toshiba, meanwhile, said this month that it would recall 340,000 batteries used in their machines.

Even Dell had to undertake a massive recall of laptop batteries after a few of them began overheating and then bursting into flames. The company then issued notices with details of every serial number on every relevant battery so customers would know if their battery was affected and that they needed to return it.

The fireworks have obviously started.....Are they preparing for some kind of a new year bash....it does not seem so.So if you have recently bought a notebook of anyone of the above manufacturers,just check out on their site for the model numbers with inflammable batteries.Check it out before you get that big bang !!!

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Red Hat's new Linux to hit the markets before March

Written by Kartik Satija on 12:35 PM

Red Hat plans to ship the next version of its premium Linux product on February 28, debuting major virtualisation technology but missing an earlier deadline by about two months.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 had been scheduled to ship by the end of 2006. However, the company began giving itself scheduling wiggle room in September, when Red Hat released the first RHEL 5 beta. A second beta arrived in November.

Well the delay does not matter much as long as the new release is locked, loaded and debugged before sending it out of the door and into the market.

One major feature arriving in RHEL 5 is Xen, virtualisation software that lets a single computer run multiple operating systems simultaneously. The technology's initial advantage is to let administrators load up a server more efficiently, but virtualisation in the longer run also holds promise for reliability and flexibility because virtual machines can be moved from one computer to another while running.

As far as competitor Microsoft is considered,it is working on another virtualisation competitor, code-named Viridian. It's due to ship within 180 days of "Longhorn Server," the server cousin to Windows Vista.

Let us see what does the new linux has in store for us.And it will be interesting to see that which virtualisation software turns out to be better.....Xen or Viridian.Let the game begin and let us sit back and watch!!!!

What do you feel? Comments will be appreciated.

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Wikipedia all geared up to Challenge Google

Written by Kartik Satija on 1:27 AM

Wikipedia ,the world's leading online encyclopedia, is all set to launch its own search engine and challenge the giant ,Google.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said that its upcoming search engine - codenamed Wikiasari - will use the same user-driven technologies as Wikipedia, which allows anyone with an internet connection to create and edit entries.

Mr Wales said this focus on human judgment was far more effective than using computer algorithms such as those adopted by Google.

"Google is very good at many types of search, but in many instances it produces nothing but spam and useless crap," is what he thinks.

"Try searching for the term 'Tampa hotels', for example, and you will not get any useful results."he says.
In deciding how high up a particular link appears on a search query, Google's algorithms rank sites based on how many other websites link to it.

Mr Wales' approach, however, is to use the method that has to date proved so successful for Wikipedia - let humans pick the sites that are most relevant to particular queries.

"We just look at the page. It usually only takes a second to figure out if the page is good, so the key here is building a community of trust that can do that," Times Online quoted Mr Wales as saying.

But while this approach may increase the relevance of search results, as with all user-driven web initiatives, it would open the service up to unintended manipulation.

Wikipedia, for example, has come under fire on numerous occasions this year for plagiarism and publishing inaccurate information. This sort of vandalism is difficult to remove until after it has been spotted by other users.

It is unclear how Mr Wales plans to deter vandals who would seek to manipulate Wikiasari's search rankings, but the incentive to do so is undoubtedly present.
Many websites receive a significant portion of their visitors from search engine referrals, and entire businesses have been created with the sole purpose of helping website owners optimise their search rankings.

The project is scheduled to publicly launch next year, aided in part by financial backing from online retailer Amazon. But despite being an investor, Amazon will not be involved in developing or running the search engine.

I feel that it is a very strong step that is being taken by Wikipedia.If successful it would do wonders for them and will most certainly give Goolge a run for their money.If not,Wikipedia will have to pay up for the consequences.It is indeed a Gamble!!!!!!

What do you feel ?Comments will be appreciated.

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Microsoft has admitted to a major Vista flaw

Written by Kartik Satija on 12:55 AM

Microsoft has started investigating a security vulnerability which affects Vista, its newly launched operating system.

Mike Reavey, operations manager at Microsoft’s Security Response Centre, revealed that Vista is vulnerable to a flaw that allows a malicious hacker to escalate user privileges within several versions of Windows.

"Initial indications are that in order for the attack to be successful, the attacker must already have authenticated access to the target system," wrote Reavey.

"While I know this is a vulnerability that impacts Windows Vista I still have every confidence that Windows Vista is our most secure platform to date. As always, we here at the MSRC encourage everyone to enable a firewall, apply all security updates and install anti-virus and anti-spyware software," he added.

P.S:Well if that is the answer that Microsoft is giving.....I should say that they better start trying their luck in making antispyware softwares rather than bugging to make a secure operating system,for which they obviously have a long distance to go.

Vista is Microsoft's first operating system release in five years. The company had repeatedly emphasised that it is more secure than previous versions, having been extensively rewritten.
But I feel that it is still not upto the standards that many platforms of its class are at present.

One major change in Vista is that users accounts are created with administrator privileges turned off by default, unlike in XP where they are automatically turned on. Microsoft has cited this change as a key security change, as these administrator powers can be used to turn off other security measures.

As such, this flaw could put Vista users at risk. However, Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer with Finnish security company F-Secure, has already said that the flaw it should not concern corporate or individual users as a malicious hacker can't take advantage of it unless they already have access to their machine.

Let us wait and watch what happens !!!!Then only we would be in a position to tell wether or not to spend big bucks on it.

What do you feel?Comments will be appreciated.

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Microsoft encourages Hackers to Hack Vista

Written by Kartik Satija on 3:59 PM

Microsoft's Windows Vista had a date with some of the world's smartest hackers.It used the spotlight of the Black Hat security conference in august to show off some of the key security features and functionality being fitted into Vista.

At its conference booth, Microsoft handed out preliminary Windows Vista copies, encouraging the hackers to try the program and tell the company about any problems they find.This shows the consistent effort microsoft is making prior to the release of vista.

Microsoft's appearance on the Black Hat stage is a first on many fronts. Microsoft is the first software vendor to present an entire Black Hat Briefing track on a pre-release product. According to Microsoft program manager Stephen Toulouse, the idea is to provide "deeply technical presentations" on Vista security to the hacking community. "We submitted several presentations to the Black Hat event organizers and, based on the technical merit and interest to the audience, they were accepted," Toulouse said.

Is microsoft doing the right thing ?What do you feel.Please post your comments.

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Apple ships iPods infected with Virus

Written by Kartik Satija on 3:38 PM

Yes this is true!!!!

Apple Computer has confirmed that they have accidentally shipped a small number of video iPods with the Windows trojan, RavMonE.exe. Even though only 1% of the units shipped after September 12 were affected, it should still raise concern. RavMonE.exe is a mass storage virus which only affects Windows operating system, allows hackers to get into your computer after contacting remote servers to alert the attackers of infection.

"A number of video iPods are infected with a virus", Apple said on its support site and the company was quick to take aim at archrival Microsoft for the problem.
The RavMonE.exe virus, which affects only computers running Microsoft Windows operating system, is on less than 1 percent of video iPods shipped after Sept. 12, Apple said.

It is not know that exactly how many video iPods are affected.

"So far we have seen less than 25 reports concerning this problem," Apple said on its support site. "The iPod nano, iPod shuffle and Mac OS X are not affected, and all Video iPods now shipping are virus free."
Apple has issued instructions on removing the virus - which can be done with free antivirus software - available on its Web site.

The virus does not affect Mac customers.

What do you think about it ?Feel free to comment.

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