Care in the Community
Read on for the latest news, features and happenings for ZDNet.co.uk members from your very own community editor.
Wednesday 27 June 2007, 1:04 PM
Want to get your photo in your ZDNet profile?
We know that many ZDNet UK members would like to be able to upload their own images onto their member profile, but we're still looking into the tools. So for now, we've come up with a workaround: Send me the image, and we'll plug it in for you.
So as not to overload the folks here, who will have to do this manually, we're going to open this up initially to people who have blogged regularly. The first one up is member MobileTech, who has been actively writing about mobile security technology from the moment he signed up. That was a headshot, but you can send a pic of anything you like, as long as it doesn't contravene our terms and conditions.
Drop me a line at Community.Manager@zdnet.co.uk with a link to your blog and with attached image(s), if you'd like your physiog in the frame. (Hint: It'll cut down on the time lag if you send files at 100x110 and 36x36 pixels--the two profile image sizes.) We'll put them up, guidelines permitting.
Wednesday 20 June 2007, 12:15 PM
Microsoft sets date for Vista SP1 beta
The Service Pack 1 set of fixes and enhancements for WIndows Vista will arrive by the end of this year, Microsoft said in a US antitrust-related court filing yesterday. While it's not a firm date, at least it's an indication of how long the wait will be for those businesses holding out for SP1 before upgrading.
One of the changes planned for the service pack are tweaks to Vista's search feature, in response to Google criticism. Here's the PDF of the full filing, if you want to know more: PDF.
Monday 18 June 2007, 3:06 PM
Watch Debbie wrestle the Kraken
Or more accurately, watch as member Xwindowsjunkie gets to grips with pitting the latest test version of Windows Home Server (nicknamed the Kraken) against an open-source alternative (nicknamed Little Debbie).
As you might remember, the head-to-head experiment was announced by Xwindowsjunkie a couple of weeks ago, along with a call for suggestions as to which open-source software to use. It's now been decided--find the line-up listed in a blog posting here.
Installation of the operating systems (WHS and Debian 4.0) is now wrapped up, and one took a lot longer than the other--guess which? It's really interesting to follow the process from a user's point of view, as the Kraken goes up against Little Debbie. Take a look, and see if you have any suggestions or comments that could help.
Thursday 14 June 2007, 1:03 PM
Contest winner takes Vaio out in the field
What better place to take a lightweight, tough notebook out for a spin than the somewhat rugged Brecon Beacons? ZDNet UK member AgentK won the Sony Vaio G11 notebook in a recent competition and sent us this photo to let us see it in action.
We've got another laptop up for grabs, this time a Lenovo ThinkPad T61 notebook with Centrino Pro, as part of our Blogger at Large contest. The winner of that contest will also get a trip to San Francisco for IDF, including flight and £500 spending money--not to be sniffed at. Take a look and see if you fancy your chances...you never know!
Tuesday 12 June 2007, 6:19 PM
Are these wires the future of crypto?
How Doctor Who is this? The boffins at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have put together a prototype of a high-speed quantum key distribution (QKD) system, and they sent us a photo to prove it.
Like the TARDIS, it all looks reassuringly low tech, but is really mindbendingly sophisticated. In typical quantum crypto, the key to an encrypted message is sent from one person to another via a stream of photons of light. The beauty is that no one can copy that key, because if anyone attempts to read the data, that act of observation changes the data itself.
The NIST system shoots out photons at a wavelength compatible with existing fibre-optic telecoms networks. It then converts them to a wavelength suited to a device that can detect single photons without adding a lot of noise. The upshot? A system that generates and transmits secure keys at a rate of over half a million bits a second over 10km of optical fibre--fast enough to encrypt streaming video in real time, according to the researchers.
Physics isn't my strong point, but it all seems very cool to me. I'm sure there are lots of holes to be poked in it--aren't there always?--so if you want more details, take a look at the NIST researchers' paper here: http://w3.antd.nist.gov/quin.shtml.
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