ITServicesConnected.co.uk - NEWS

802.11ac : The new wireless standard

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:32:14 GMT

802.11ac is a new standard of wireless introduced this year that is bringing a whole new set of technologies to the table. Beamforming is the most important technology in 11ac, as it is the technology that brings the 2-3x speed increase on 11n. Traditional WiFi technology is like a light bulb, radiating signal in every direction. Beamforming however, acts like a laser directing the signal straight at the client and can do this for multiple client devices simultaneously. Beamforming also allows us to send signal through walls and around corners. 11ac works on the 5GHz range only, unlike 11n which works on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. But 11ac can have bandwidths of up to 160Mhz, whereas 11n can only have a bandwidth of up to 80MHz.

Microsoft fixes three critical flaws on patch Tuesday.

Wed, 09 May 2012 09:18:27 GMT

Microsoft released seven new security bulletins for May's patch Tuesday. Out of these four are rated as important with the other three rated as critical updates. The two in particular getting the most attention are MS12-034 and MS12-029. The first fixing 10 separate vulnerabilities in many Microsoft products such as office, .NET framework. It is the result of Microsoft's efforts to seek out other products affected the by the same flawed code exploited by Duqu. It is unusual for so many security bulletins to overlap so many products in one go, especially when this particular update, addresses a problem Microsoft fixed last year and is likely to cause a challenge for patch management teams. MS12-034 provides a patch for vulnerability in the RTF file format that can be exploited through Office 2003 and 2007, where simply previewing the file attachment is enough to trigger the exploit. The other 5 updates should also be addressed but IT administrators should be looking to ensure these two patches are deployed within their IT environment.

Raspberry Pi, a $25 computer

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:54:34 GMT

The Raspberry Pi is a small ARM processor powered device that is set to revolutionize the ARM computing market, by bringing 256MB RAM, Audio out, USB, RCA Video, HDMI, USB, LAN,GPIO and an SD Card slot all for $25. The original Model A Raspberry Pi only had 128MB RAM, but it was announced before release that it was to be upgraded to the current 256MB. This has allowed more distributions of Linux to be ran on the board with ease. The Raspberry Pi board has been created to bring a cheap development board to the masses. One of aims being to bring an affordable platform in the education sector to allow software development. But the Raspberry Pi Foundation has already discussed the possibilities of it having other uses, like a HTPC or a small portable computer. XMBC, a popular HTPC application for presenting media in a TV-Friendly manner (much like Apple TV) has already been ported, and is being optimized for the board. The Foundation’s initial motive was to manufacture the Raspberry Pi in the UK, but because individual components are import taxable, but finished products are not, the Foundation are building the first 10,000 boards in Taiwan and China. There are two licensed stores selling them in the UK, Premier Farnell and RS Components, promising a new batch to be on sale soon.

7.85-inch iPad prototype rumored in Apple’s labs

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:51:45 GMT

According John Gruber of Daring Fireball, Apple has been working on a smaller version of its world famous iPad. In the early days of the iPad, Steve Jobs dismissed any prototypes at 7 inches as ‘Dead on arrival’, and jested that any tablet of that size should be sold with sandpaper, to file the users fingers thin enough to use it. Although there are a few android 7 inch tablets on the market, like the kindle fire, they haven’t made a big impact on the tablet market. This information, you would have thought, should put Apple off of releasing this, yet John Gruber has a brilliant track record of being correct about Apple releases. Although there have been many rumors in the recent months about a smaller iPad, none have came directly from John Gruber, and none came with any more details than screen sizes. John has given a resolution of 1024x768, which is the same as the iPad 1 and 2, with a pixel density of 163, which would offer a sharp display, but it wouldn’t be on the same level as the new iPad’s Retina Display.

Google planning online tablet store

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:21:38 GMT

Google is apparently considering setting up an online Android tablet store to boost sales. Although Android is extremely successful in the Smartphone world, it has not been very successful on tablets. This has been extremely disappointing for Google as their sights have been set more on tablets, starting with honeycomb which was a tablet only OS, and now by baking in the tablet functionality into Ice Cream Sandwich, unifying the experience between smartphones and tablets. According to The Wall Street Journal’s anonymous sources, the store will be a new attack on the tablet market by selling co-branded devices directly. Instead of consumers having to shop around multiple websites to find what they need, Google’s new store aims to simplify the tablet shopping experience by unifying all manufacturer’s devices in one marketplace, allowing ease of comparison.The Rumored manufacturers to be selling on the store at the moment are Google’s own Motorola, Samsung and Asus. According to the WSJ sources more manufacturers are to be applying for the service soon. Google declined to comment on the report.

Flash Updates

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:18:02 GMT

Adobe Flash is one of the most popular multimedia platforms on the web today, used frequently all over the world to add animations and interactivity to a webpage. Almost everyone who has used a computer regularly over the last 5 years will at some point, have installed a flash update. The software is now up to version 11.2 and for the first time, it comes with a ‘background updater’ that utilizes Windows Task Manager to install the updates across the system. Apart from the annoyance of having to update Flash every few months, the latest version provides this feature as a security measure. “99.8% of malware installs through exploit kits are targeting out-of-date software installations” was one reason given in an Adobe blog written by Peleus Uhley. Infections are usually installed by users who manually search for the latest version of Flash via internet search pages that may lead them to illegitimate pages created by attackers specifically got that purpose.

Android Set to Overtake Microsoft Windows by 2016

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:14:48 GMT

By the end of 2016, the number of Android devices will expand well beyond that of Microsoft Windows, according to IDC analysts. It is predicted that Microsoft’s currently leading market share of 35.9% will shrink to 25.1%, whereas Android is on target to climb from 29.4% to 31.1%, leaving Windows in its shadow, despite the fact that Microsoft are releasing their new ‘tablet friendly’ version of windows later this year. Also, Android’s figures are only including installations running on ARM CPU’s, which means it excludes the new x86 Intel chipset that is already being widely adopted. Intel are expecting a large increase in sales with the x86 mobile chips, due to the reduced power consumption and faster processing (in most cases).

Android Market To Be Rebranded As Google Play

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:49:55 GMT

The Android market place is being renamed to “Google Play”, however the name is not the only change. Although many of the current features will remain the same users will now be offered a range of cloud services, most are existing services being rebranded to live in the Google play market. "Google Play is entirely cloud-based so all your music, movies, books and apps are stored online, always available to you, and you never have to worry about losing them or moving them again," writes the company's director of digital content, Jamie Rosenberg, on the Google blog. Android users will see the Market rebranded on their device in the coming days, although music syncing will be missing at launch. Users will have the option to rent/buy a film and watch it on their android device or web browser, Books and apps will also be ready at launch although the devices you can use them with is limited.

Apple’s Mac OS X ‘Mountain Lion’

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:22:24 GMT

Apple has been showing its new version of the Mac operating system, OS X Mountain Lion is the next in a series of animal named releases. Coming sometime this summer, Mountain lions features will be inspired heavily by iOS found on mobile devices. One main option will be the direct integration with iCloud , Apples cloud solution allows users to save mail, calendar, contacts and documents in one place accessible by all devices. Many of the announced features seem to be mobile focused, a new messaging system will let users text chat from any device. Apple seems to be paying attention to similar services such as Whatsapp which lets users text/picture/audio chat across most of the mobile platforms. Undoubtedly many users will enjoy using the official solution when it launches with direct compatibility with Apple software. Other features include a desktop game centre app that lets you tack scores and game information, Security improvements, Notification centre to see all messages in one place and desktop reminders/notes. Mountain Lion will launch around the same time as Windows 8 which also has many mobile focused features, with both companies trying to bridge the gap between desktop and mobile how will they stack up?

New Dell Servers Reflect Focus on Enterprise

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:48:24 GMT

Dell has announced the next generation of PowerEdge servers, updates to the range focus on storage, network hardware and a new version of Dells server management tool. All the products in dells server range will see changes, this includes both high capacity and small business lines. Very popular with small to medium sized businesses is the PowerEdge T620, keeping a traditional tower form but with professional server hardware inside. Sometimes overlooked because of cheaper options the T620 is a sensible future proof choice, with room for upgrade the T620 can scale as your requirements change. Dell say the new model with be “Library quiet” for customers who want to place a server close to workers. Dells looks in good shape to grow its server products after a recent acquisition of Force10 and Compellent. "We are beginning to build this out, where now we feel like we have a very rich portfolio where we can deliver solutions end-to-end," said Brad Anderson, president of Dell's enterprise systems group. Dell is yet to announce availability or final specifications for the new range.