Tranquil PC, a computer maker in the U.K., is taking orders for two home servers based on Intel's upcoming Atom processor, formerly called Diamondville.
The two home servers, the T7-HSAi and T2-WHS-A3i, are both based on Intel's 1.6GHz Atom 230 processor, which will be launched at the Computex exhibition in Taipei next week.
The £278 (US$550) T7-HSAi comes with 512M bytes of RAM, a 500G-byte hard disk, and Windows Home Server. The T2-WHS-A3i costs £299 and has the same basic specifications, but has room for two 3.5-inch hard disks, while the smaller T7-HSAi can hold a single 3.5-inch hard disk or two 2.5-inch hard disks.
The Atom-based systems replace earlier systems based on Via Technologies' older and less powerful C7 processor. The C7-based home servers are no longer available, although Tranquil still sells other computers based on Via processors.
The home servers are not the first products to be offered by Tranquil that use Atom, a chip designed for low-cost laptops and desktops. Last week, the company began accepting preorders for a motherboard with an Atom processor, priced at £53.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Vodafone CEO Sarin steps down, to be replaced by Colao
Vodafone Group CEO Arun Sarin will step down from the top job at the mobile operator in July, the company said Tuesday.
Sarin will leave the CEO's chair, a position he has occupied for the last five years, on July 28 at the company's annual general meeting, Vodafone said. He will be replaced by Vittorio Colao, the group's deputy CEO.
Vodafone also announced its full-year results, posting a £6.66 billion (US$13.1 billion) net profit for its fiscal 2008, compared to a loss of £4.93 billion for fiscal 2007.
Sarin was appointed CEO of Vodafone in July 2003, after serving as a non-executive director of the company. He also did a stint as CEO of Vodafone United States and Asia-Pacific. Sarin joined Vodafone in 1999, when the company acquired AirTouch Communications, where he served as president and CEO.
"Sarin has done a very good job, but has he done everything right? Of course not," said Martin Gutberlet, analyst at Gartner.
Gutberlet gave Sarin high marks for transforming Vodafone from a pure mobile operator into more of a service provider.
Under Sarin's tenure, Vodafone continued to expand its international reach, most recently with the acquisition of Indian operator Hutchison Essar, Gutberlet said. Fixed networks are also part of Vodafone's services now, he said.
Through this expansion, the number of Vodafone subscribers worldwide increased from 120 million to more than 260 million, Vodafone said.
Sarin received a lot of credit for his frank comments about what he thinks the vendors' development plans. At the Mobile World Congress in February, Sarin said WiMax and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) should be merged into one technology. Last year, Sarin challenged vendors to develop LTE faster.
Sarin's comments, along with other pressure from companies such as NTT Docomo and T-Mobile, lit a match under the vendor community resulting in faster LTE development, Gutberlet said.
Colao previously served as head of Vodafone Italy and regional CEO for Southern Europe. He left Vodafone in 2004 to become group CEO of the Italian publisher RCS MediaGroup. He rejoined Vodafone in 2006 as CEO of Vodafone's European region before taking on his current position.
The CEO of Vodafone is one of the most important roles in the industry. The rest of the mobile operators look to Vodafone for technology leadership, according to Richard Webb, directing analyst at Infonetics.
"He has to have a very clear vision and be very vocal about it, but I don't think Vodafone would pick someone who hasn't got that," Webb said.
"Colao's biggest challenge will be to keep Vodafone from turning into a bit pipe, but that is true for all mobile operators. Colao needs a dedicated Internet approach, including areas like advertising," Gutberlet said.
Sarin will leave the CEO's chair, a position he has occupied for the last five years, on July 28 at the company's annual general meeting, Vodafone said. He will be replaced by Vittorio Colao, the group's deputy CEO.
Vodafone also announced its full-year results, posting a £6.66 billion (US$13.1 billion) net profit for its fiscal 2008, compared to a loss of £4.93 billion for fiscal 2007.
Sarin was appointed CEO of Vodafone in July 2003, after serving as a non-executive director of the company. He also did a stint as CEO of Vodafone United States and Asia-Pacific. Sarin joined Vodafone in 1999, when the company acquired AirTouch Communications, where he served as president and CEO.
"Sarin has done a very good job, but has he done everything right? Of course not," said Martin Gutberlet, analyst at Gartner.
Gutberlet gave Sarin high marks for transforming Vodafone from a pure mobile operator into more of a service provider.
Under Sarin's tenure, Vodafone continued to expand its international reach, most recently with the acquisition of Indian operator Hutchison Essar, Gutberlet said. Fixed networks are also part of Vodafone's services now, he said.
Through this expansion, the number of Vodafone subscribers worldwide increased from 120 million to more than 260 million, Vodafone said.
Sarin received a lot of credit for his frank comments about what he thinks the vendors' development plans. At the Mobile World Congress in February, Sarin said WiMax and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) should be merged into one technology. Last year, Sarin challenged vendors to develop LTE faster.
Sarin's comments, along with other pressure from companies such as NTT Docomo and T-Mobile, lit a match under the vendor community resulting in faster LTE development, Gutberlet said.
Colao previously served as head of Vodafone Italy and regional CEO for Southern Europe. He left Vodafone in 2004 to become group CEO of the Italian publisher RCS MediaGroup. He rejoined Vodafone in 2006 as CEO of Vodafone's European region before taking on his current position.
The CEO of Vodafone is one of the most important roles in the industry. The rest of the mobile operators look to Vodafone for technology leadership, according to Richard Webb, directing analyst at Infonetics.
"He has to have a very clear vision and be very vocal about it, but I don't think Vodafone would pick someone who hasn't got that," Webb said.
"Colao's biggest challenge will be to keep Vodafone from turning into a bit pipe, but that is true for all mobile operators. Colao needs a dedicated Internet approach, including areas like advertising," Gutberlet said.
Via releases laptop design as open source
Via Technologies released the hardware design for a low-cost laptop with WiMax support under an open-source license on Tuesday, a move intended to make customization easier and shorten design cycles for system makers.
The CAD (computer-assisted design) files for the OpenBook reference design can be downloaded for free and made available to anyone under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license. The terms of this license allow the CAD files to be freely copied, shared and modified.
The only requirements are that use of the design is attributed to Via and changes made to the design can only be distributed under the same license or one that has similar terms.
"We're hoping we'll get some interesting feedback, and look forward to seeing what the community thinks about this concept," said Richard Brown, vice president of marketing at Via.
The OpenBook is based on Via's 1.6 GHz C7-M processor and VX800 chipset. The design includes an 8.9-inch screen with a resolution of 1,024 pixels by 600 pixels and calls for a hard disk with a capacity of 80G bytes or more. The basic wireless module included in the design supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Optional modules include Assisted GPS (AGPS), WiMax, and support for high-speed cellular networks based on EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized), HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access), and WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access).
Other features of the 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) OpenBook include a full-size keyboard, up to 2G bytes of DDR (double data rate) memory, a 2-megapixel camera, a memory-card reader, and a 4-cell battery that offers up to three hours of life. The laptop is designed to run Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Linux, including G/OS, SuSE Linux, and Ubuntu.
The OpenBook design is similar in appearance to Everex's CloudBook Max unveiled at the CTIA Wireless exhibition in April, but the two designs are different, Brown said, pointing to subtle design changes made to suit the requirements of Sprint, the operator that commissioned the CloudBook Max.
Depending on the exact configuration, OpenBook systems will likely cost between US$500 to $800, Brown said, adding that the first products will likely hit the market during the third quarter.
Via isn't the first company to release a hardware design as open source. In March, Openmoko, a company set up by Taiwanese hardware maker First International Computer (FIC), released an open-source smartphone design, the Neo 1973. The handset, which runs Linux, supports GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) networks, and includes Bluetooth and AGPS.
Like Via's OpenBook, the Neo 1973 hardware design was released under a Creative Commons ShareAlike license.
The CAD (computer-assisted design) files for the OpenBook reference design can be downloaded for free and made available to anyone under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license. The terms of this license allow the CAD files to be freely copied, shared and modified.
The only requirements are that use of the design is attributed to Via and changes made to the design can only be distributed under the same license or one that has similar terms.
"We're hoping we'll get some interesting feedback, and look forward to seeing what the community thinks about this concept," said Richard Brown, vice president of marketing at Via.
The OpenBook is based on Via's 1.6 GHz C7-M processor and VX800 chipset. The design includes an 8.9-inch screen with a resolution of 1,024 pixels by 600 pixels and calls for a hard disk with a capacity of 80G bytes or more. The basic wireless module included in the design supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Optional modules include Assisted GPS (AGPS), WiMax, and support for high-speed cellular networks based on EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized), HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access), and WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access).
Other features of the 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) OpenBook include a full-size keyboard, up to 2G bytes of DDR (double data rate) memory, a 2-megapixel camera, a memory-card reader, and a 4-cell battery that offers up to three hours of life. The laptop is designed to run Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Linux, including G/OS, SuSE Linux, and Ubuntu.
The OpenBook design is similar in appearance to Everex's CloudBook Max unveiled at the CTIA Wireless exhibition in April, but the two designs are different, Brown said, pointing to subtle design changes made to suit the requirements of Sprint, the operator that commissioned the CloudBook Max.
Depending on the exact configuration, OpenBook systems will likely cost between US$500 to $800, Brown said, adding that the first products will likely hit the market during the third quarter.
Via isn't the first company to release a hardware design as open source. In March, Openmoko, a company set up by Taiwanese hardware maker First International Computer (FIC), released an open-source smartphone design, the Neo 1973. The handset, which runs Linux, supports GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) networks, and includes Bluetooth and AGPS.
Like Via's OpenBook, the Neo 1973 hardware design was released under a Creative Commons ShareAlike license.
Sierra Leone set for solar-powered school PC center
Plans are set to install the first computer center powered by solar energy in Sierra Leone.
The beneficiary, the Prince Of Wales (POW) Secondary School, is located less than a third of a mile from Kingtom Power Station, a major Freetown electricity distribution center, but has no power.
The Prince Of Wales Alumni Association (POWAA) branch in the U.S. state of Georgia has proposed to provide the center with new desktop and laptop computers, a solar-power system and high-speed satellite Internet access – which is the only broadband option -- for their school. The estimated total capital cost of the project is between $60,000 and $70,000.
The government-owned school was officially inaugurated by the prince of Wales in 1925, and chartered to foster science education and studies in modern languages. The POWAA in Georgia was founded in 2002 by former POW students residing in the U.S.
The alumni also plan to extend Wi-Fi capability so that students and teachers who already have their own laptops can access the Internet without going to the computer center.
The solar power basics will comprise photovoltaic (PV) panels, batteries, three charge controllers, inverters, meter and breakers. The system will require about 30 solar panels to produce a total wattage of between 5 kilowatts and 6kw.
According to POWAA President Samuel O. Atere-Roberts, the solar equipment including panels and other accessories was procured from African Energy in Arizona. Atere-Roberts said that there have been delays in shipping the equipment to the U.S., due to fluctuating costs, and that installation of the center depends on when the equipment will arrive in Freetown.
POW school principal Millicent Ogoo confirmed the plans, and said that the school is expecting laptops next week.
"We’ve been getting support from organizations but this is the first time we’ll be getting a solar power system. We are also expecting 20 laptops next week. We are very proud of the project. They have really done well. It also shows that they have concern for the school," she said.
A contract for securing the classroom that will host the new computer center has been awarded to Sky Construction in Freetown and work has started in earnest, Atere-Roberts said. He charged more donors to join the project and change history in Sierra Leone as they follow the footsteps of Myeka High School in South Africa. In 2000, Myeka overcame many logistical problems courtesy of a similar project. Pass rates at Myeka school reportedly increased from 55 percent to 69 percent.
The beneficiary, the Prince Of Wales (POW) Secondary School, is located less than a third of a mile from Kingtom Power Station, a major Freetown electricity distribution center, but has no power.
The Prince Of Wales Alumni Association (POWAA) branch in the U.S. state of Georgia has proposed to provide the center with new desktop and laptop computers, a solar-power system and high-speed satellite Internet access – which is the only broadband option -- for their school. The estimated total capital cost of the project is between $60,000 and $70,000.
The government-owned school was officially inaugurated by the prince of Wales in 1925, and chartered to foster science education and studies in modern languages. The POWAA in Georgia was founded in 2002 by former POW students residing in the U.S.
The alumni also plan to extend Wi-Fi capability so that students and teachers who already have their own laptops can access the Internet without going to the computer center.
The solar power basics will comprise photovoltaic (PV) panels, batteries, three charge controllers, inverters, meter and breakers. The system will require about 30 solar panels to produce a total wattage of between 5 kilowatts and 6kw.
According to POWAA President Samuel O. Atere-Roberts, the solar equipment including panels and other accessories was procured from African Energy in Arizona. Atere-Roberts said that there have been delays in shipping the equipment to the U.S., due to fluctuating costs, and that installation of the center depends on when the equipment will arrive in Freetown.
POW school principal Millicent Ogoo confirmed the plans, and said that the school is expecting laptops next week.
"We’ve been getting support from organizations but this is the first time we’ll be getting a solar power system. We are also expecting 20 laptops next week. We are very proud of the project. They have really done well. It also shows that they have concern for the school," she said.
A contract for securing the classroom that will host the new computer center has been awarded to Sky Construction in Freetown and work has started in earnest, Atere-Roberts said. He charged more donors to join the project and change history in Sierra Leone as they follow the footsteps of Myeka High School in South Africa. In 2000, Myeka overcame many logistical problems courtesy of a similar project. Pass rates at Myeka school reportedly increased from 55 percent to 69 percent.
RIM says it can't provide e-mail interception in India
Research In Motion (RIM) has said it is unable to give the Indian government access to messages sent by its enterprise clients over the BlackBerry service.
The BlackBerry security architecture for enterprise customers is specially designed to exclude the capability for RIM or any third party to read encrypted information under any circumstances, the company said in an update to its Indian customers on Monday.
For enterprise customers, the security architecture is based on a symmetric key system whereby the customer creates his own key, and only the customer possesses a copy of his encryption key, RIM said. The company does not possess a "master key", nor does any "back door" exist in the system that would allow RIM or any third party to gain unauthorized access to the key or corporate data, it said.
Further, RIM would be unable to accommodate any request for a copy of an enterprise customer's encryption key, as neither RIM nor any wireless network operator possess a copy of the key, it said.
RIM also offers a separate product for individual customers, BlackBerry Internet Service, hosted by telecommunications operators. It did not comment on that service Monday, and a spokesman was unsure whether carriers offering such a service would have access to the security keys.
The Indian government had refused to allow an Indian network operator, Tata Teleservices, to offer BlackBerry services until the government was able to intercept BlackBerry messages for security reasons. Other mobile service providers, who were already offering the BlackBerry service, were also asked to introduce measures that would allow the government to intercept and read BlackBerry messages whenever necessary.
Governments have a wide range of resources and methodologies to satisfy national security and law enforcement needs without compromising commercial security requirements, RIM said.
The use of strong encryption in wireless technology is not unique to the BlackBerry platform, and is a mandatory requirement for all enterprise-class wireless e-mail services, it added.
Government sources were not immediately available for comment. Discussions between RIM and the government continue, according to informed sources.
The BlackBerry security architecture for enterprise customers is specially designed to exclude the capability for RIM or any third party to read encrypted information under any circumstances, the company said in an update to its Indian customers on Monday.
For enterprise customers, the security architecture is based on a symmetric key system whereby the customer creates his own key, and only the customer possesses a copy of his encryption key, RIM said. The company does not possess a "master key", nor does any "back door" exist in the system that would allow RIM or any third party to gain unauthorized access to the key or corporate data, it said.
Further, RIM would be unable to accommodate any request for a copy of an enterprise customer's encryption key, as neither RIM nor any wireless network operator possess a copy of the key, it said.
RIM also offers a separate product for individual customers, BlackBerry Internet Service, hosted by telecommunications operators. It did not comment on that service Monday, and a spokesman was unsure whether carriers offering such a service would have access to the security keys.
The Indian government had refused to allow an Indian network operator, Tata Teleservices, to offer BlackBerry services until the government was able to intercept BlackBerry messages for security reasons. Other mobile service providers, who were already offering the BlackBerry service, were also asked to introduce measures that would allow the government to intercept and read BlackBerry messages whenever necessary.
Governments have a wide range of resources and methodologies to satisfy national security and law enforcement needs without compromising commercial security requirements, RIM said.
The use of strong encryption in wireless technology is not unique to the BlackBerry platform, and is a mandatory requirement for all enterprise-class wireless e-mail services, it added.
Government sources were not immediately available for comment. Discussions between RIM and the government continue, according to informed sources.
San Francisco's BART in talks for full Wi-Fi rollout
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District is negotiating with a startup for a Wi-Fi network that would provide fast Internet access to riders throughout its 104-mile (167 kilometers) regional rail system.
BART would not pay anything for the network, which would be paid for by rider subscriptions and advertising, according to Wi-Fi Rail, a company based near Sacramento that says it has four patents pending on its Wi-Fi technology for predetermined paths such as railways and roads.
Municipal wireless networks have had a hard time financially, but public transit offers a daily captive audience that is growing as gasoline prices rise. Wi-Fi Rail estimates that within three years, as many as 20 percent of BART's 180,000 regular riders will subscribe to the service, according to Michael Cromar, chief financial officer of Wi-Fi Rail.
Wi-Fi Rail has been testing the system for about a year on a stretch of track in downtown San Francisco as well as on an outdoor test track. More than 9,000 people have signed up to use the system and have signed on more than 42,000 times, Cromar said.
Now BART and the company are in negotiations on the terms of a full deployment, in phases, which would take as much as two years. On Thursday, BART staff presented an update at a meeting of the transit system's board of directors.
Unlike other, established Wi-Fi providers, Wi-Fi Rail was willing to build the network, for an estimated US$20 million, at no cost to BART, the agency said. Like Sprint Nextel, which operates cellular base stations along a busy stretch of track in San Francisco, Wi-Fi Rail will have to offer wholesale capacity to other service providers to resell, said BART spokesman Linton Johnson.
The transit agency will use the wireless bandwidth to set up its in-car security cameras for live viewing, and it plans to also put screens in cars that give service information to riders, he said. BART would also receive a licensing fee from Wi-Fi Rail.
Riders will be able to use the service free with commercials that pop up every few minutes or buy a monthly subscription, Cromar said. The monthly fee would be competitive with other hot-spot services that are priced between about $20 and $30, according to Cromar. Daily and other types of subscriptions would also be offered. For that, subscribers would share between 15M bps (bits per second) and 22M bps -- both upstream and downstream -- with other riders in a car. Tests have shown no noticeable slowdown between one and eight riders on a car, he said earlier this year. In tests, the system worked on trains moving as fast as 65 miles per hour.
Riders will connect directly to a standard Cisco Systems access point on each car, which in turn will link up to the trackside network. Underground, that system will use deliberately unshielded coaxial cable, called "leaky coax," and outdoor sections of the track will be served using solar-powered parabolic antennas.
Neither side estimated how long negotiations for the full buildout would take. But once talks are concluded, the first phase of the network should be finished and paid commercial service launched in about four months, according to Cromar.
BART would not pay anything for the network, which would be paid for by rider subscriptions and advertising, according to Wi-Fi Rail, a company based near Sacramento that says it has four patents pending on its Wi-Fi technology for predetermined paths such as railways and roads.
Municipal wireless networks have had a hard time financially, but public transit offers a daily captive audience that is growing as gasoline prices rise. Wi-Fi Rail estimates that within three years, as many as 20 percent of BART's 180,000 regular riders will subscribe to the service, according to Michael Cromar, chief financial officer of Wi-Fi Rail.
Wi-Fi Rail has been testing the system for about a year on a stretch of track in downtown San Francisco as well as on an outdoor test track. More than 9,000 people have signed up to use the system and have signed on more than 42,000 times, Cromar said.
Now BART and the company are in negotiations on the terms of a full deployment, in phases, which would take as much as two years. On Thursday, BART staff presented an update at a meeting of the transit system's board of directors.
Unlike other, established Wi-Fi providers, Wi-Fi Rail was willing to build the network, for an estimated US$20 million, at no cost to BART, the agency said. Like Sprint Nextel, which operates cellular base stations along a busy stretch of track in San Francisco, Wi-Fi Rail will have to offer wholesale capacity to other service providers to resell, said BART spokesman Linton Johnson.
The transit agency will use the wireless bandwidth to set up its in-car security cameras for live viewing, and it plans to also put screens in cars that give service information to riders, he said. BART would also receive a licensing fee from Wi-Fi Rail.
Riders will be able to use the service free with commercials that pop up every few minutes or buy a monthly subscription, Cromar said. The monthly fee would be competitive with other hot-spot services that are priced between about $20 and $30, according to Cromar. Daily and other types of subscriptions would also be offered. For that, subscribers would share between 15M bps (bits per second) and 22M bps -- both upstream and downstream -- with other riders in a car. Tests have shown no noticeable slowdown between one and eight riders on a car, he said earlier this year. In tests, the system worked on trains moving as fast as 65 miles per hour.
Riders will connect directly to a standard Cisco Systems access point on each car, which in turn will link up to the trackside network. Underground, that system will use deliberately unshielded coaxial cable, called "leaky coax," and outdoor sections of the track will be served using solar-powered parabolic antennas.
Neither side estimated how long negotiations for the full buildout would take. But once talks are concluded, the first phase of the network should be finished and paid commercial service launched in about four months, according to Cromar.
TJX staffer sacked after talking about security problems
A low-level TJX employee has lost his job for speaking in public about information security problems he uncovered while working for the company.
The employee, Nick Benson, is a University of Kansas student who worked at T.J. Maxx's Pine Ridge Plaza store in Lawrence, Kansas. In an e-mail interview, he said he was fired Wednesday for violating corporate policy by disclosing proprietary information.
TJX is sensitive about information security after being the victim of a massive data theft, apparently made possible by poor security on the company's wireless networks. That breach, which compromised 94 million credit and debit card accounts, has cost the company tens of millions of dollars in legal settlements.
Benson, also known by his hacker name, Cryptic Mauler, is a frequent poster to computer security discussion groups such as Full Disclosure and the Sla.ckers.org Web forum, where he criticized the company's password policy, its server security settings, and the competence of the technicians who install firewalls at the company's stores.
"I never use anything but cash at their stores, but it's hard to sleep at night knowing the same network stores my employee information," he wrote on Aug. 22, 2007. "For all I know that information has already been picked cleaned by the hackers and [the] company could have swept it under the rug."
Although Benson didn't disclose anything that would have been news to a "vaguely smart" criminal, he did make a mistake by not disclosing the problems he'd found through the proper channels, said Robert Hansen, the CEO of Sectheory.com and owner of the Sla.ckers.org site. He first blogged about Benson's termination on Thursday.
Hansen said he felt bad for Benson, as did many of the contributors to his Web site. "He's a young guy," he said. "He didn't know the rules."
It's an all-too-common story in the information security industry, Hansen said. "When people are new to information disclosure ... they're idealistic and young and they tend to make mistakes," he said. "A good chunk of the people who sympathize with him have had almost exactly the same thing happen to them."
Benson said he reported the issues to his store manager and the company's district loss prevention manager but no immediate action was taken.
Just last week, Benson expressed concern that he might be fired for reporting the problem. "I don't want to lose my job for reporting this," he wrote. "Unfortunately anonymously reporting this will not work, since it would require me giving the store location which would then easily zero me out. "
Apparently TJX zeroed Benson anyhow, identifying him from the IP address he used to post his comments to the Web site, Hansen said.
The company met with him on Wednesday and asked him to explain all the security issues he'd found. After that, he was "fired on the spot," he said.
TJX did not return calls seeking comment for this story.
Benson said the company has threatened to take legal action against him if he talks any more about the company's security problems.
The employee, Nick Benson, is a University of Kansas student who worked at T.J. Maxx's Pine Ridge Plaza store in Lawrence, Kansas. In an e-mail interview, he said he was fired Wednesday for violating corporate policy by disclosing proprietary information.
TJX is sensitive about information security after being the victim of a massive data theft, apparently made possible by poor security on the company's wireless networks. That breach, which compromised 94 million credit and debit card accounts, has cost the company tens of millions of dollars in legal settlements.
Benson, also known by his hacker name, Cryptic Mauler, is a frequent poster to computer security discussion groups such as Full Disclosure and the Sla.ckers.org Web forum, where he criticized the company's password policy, its server security settings, and the competence of the technicians who install firewalls at the company's stores.
"I never use anything but cash at their stores, but it's hard to sleep at night knowing the same network stores my employee information," he wrote on Aug. 22, 2007. "For all I know that information has already been picked cleaned by the hackers and [the] company could have swept it under the rug."
Although Benson didn't disclose anything that would have been news to a "vaguely smart" criminal, he did make a mistake by not disclosing the problems he'd found through the proper channels, said Robert Hansen, the CEO of Sectheory.com and owner of the Sla.ckers.org site. He first blogged about Benson's termination on Thursday.
Hansen said he felt bad for Benson, as did many of the contributors to his Web site. "He's a young guy," he said. "He didn't know the rules."
It's an all-too-common story in the information security industry, Hansen said. "When people are new to information disclosure ... they're idealistic and young and they tend to make mistakes," he said. "A good chunk of the people who sympathize with him have had almost exactly the same thing happen to them."
Benson said he reported the issues to his store manager and the company's district loss prevention manager but no immediate action was taken.
Just last week, Benson expressed concern that he might be fired for reporting the problem. "I don't want to lose my job for reporting this," he wrote. "Unfortunately anonymously reporting this will not work, since it would require me giving the store location which would then easily zero me out. "
Apparently TJX zeroed Benson anyhow, identifying him from the IP address he used to post his comments to the Web site, Hansen said.
The company met with him on Wednesday and asked him to explain all the security issues he'd found. After that, he was "fired on the spot," he said.
TJX did not return calls seeking comment for this story.
Benson said the company has threatened to take legal action against him if he talks any more about the company's security problems.
Future Apple devices may be solar powered
Employees at Apple have filed a patent for integrating solar cells into portable devices by placing them underneath the layers of a touch-sensitive display, according to the filing.
Solar power could help make devices truly portable, freeing from the need for wires to connect them to a power supply.
When generating electricity from solar panels, the larger the panel the better -- but as the patent "Solar cells on portable devices" warns, after allowing space for buttons, screens and a way to hold the device, only a small area is left on most devices for solar cells.
One of the ways around that suggested in the patent is to stack a touch-sensitive layer, a display and solar panel on top of one another. That could make Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch good candidates for such a power supply, as the display occupies almost the entire face of those devices.
The use of solar powered charging in portable devices is starting to get more attention, for more immediate consumer use as well.
When Vodafone announced its plan in April to reduce its emissions of the greenhouse gase CO2 by 50 percent by 2020, it also announced plans for solar-powered phone chargers and universal phone chargers for Vodafone-branded handsets.
At the recent ITU Telecom Africa 2008 conference, Ugandan Minister for Communications and Information and Communication Technologies Ham-Mukasa Mulira talked about trials of solar-powered charging conducted there, which had showed promise.
Solar power could help make devices truly portable, freeing from the need for wires to connect them to a power supply.
When generating electricity from solar panels, the larger the panel the better -- but as the patent "Solar cells on portable devices" warns, after allowing space for buttons, screens and a way to hold the device, only a small area is left on most devices for solar cells.
One of the ways around that suggested in the patent is to stack a touch-sensitive layer, a display and solar panel on top of one another. That could make Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch good candidates for such a power supply, as the display occupies almost the entire face of those devices.
The use of solar powered charging in portable devices is starting to get more attention, for more immediate consumer use as well.
When Vodafone announced its plan in April to reduce its emissions of the greenhouse gase CO2 by 50 percent by 2020, it also announced plans for solar-powered phone chargers and universal phone chargers for Vodafone-branded handsets.
At the recent ITU Telecom Africa 2008 conference, Ugandan Minister for Communications and Information and Communication Technologies Ham-Mukasa Mulira talked about trials of solar-powered charging conducted there, which had showed promise.
Samsung shows 256GB SSD, plans launch this year
Samsung Electronics plans to launch within this year a flash memory-based solid-state disk that boasts a 256G byte capacity and high-speed interface, it said Monday.
The drive, which was unveiled in prototype form at a Samsung event in Taipei, has the same form factor as a 9.5-millimeter high 2.5-inch hard-disk drive for which it is designed to be a drop-in replacement.
Solid-state disks (SSDs) are an emerging type of storage device that use flash memory chips in place of the spinning magnetic disks used in hard-disk drives. The memory chips mean the drives are more sturdy and typically have a higher performance but the per-byte storage cost is also much higher, so they are generally more expensive. That has largely restricted them to niche applications but as flash prices come down they are expected to become more widely used.
Samsung, which is one of the world's largest makers of flash memory chips, is eager to see the drives become popular as their widespread use will represent a big new market for its chips.
The prototype drive announced by the company has a read speed of 200M bytes per second (Bps) and a sequential write speed of 160M Bps, said Samsung.
Samples of the drive will be available to customers from September with mass production due by the end of the year.
A version with a similar form factor to a 1.8-inch drive is also expected to be available in the fourth quarter of the year, the company said.
The drive isn't the first SSD launched at this capacity. Last month a competitor, U.S.-based Super Talent, began sales of a 256G byte SSD but that drive is thicker than Samsung's at 12.5 millimeters. It has a SATA I interface, which means read speeds of 65M bytes per second and write speeds of 50M bytes per second.
The drive, which was unveiled in prototype form at a Samsung event in Taipei, has the same form factor as a 9.5-millimeter high 2.5-inch hard-disk drive for which it is designed to be a drop-in replacement.
Solid-state disks (SSDs) are an emerging type of storage device that use flash memory chips in place of the spinning magnetic disks used in hard-disk drives. The memory chips mean the drives are more sturdy and typically have a higher performance but the per-byte storage cost is also much higher, so they are generally more expensive. That has largely restricted them to niche applications but as flash prices come down they are expected to become more widely used.
Samsung, which is one of the world's largest makers of flash memory chips, is eager to see the drives become popular as their widespread use will represent a big new market for its chips.
The prototype drive announced by the company has a read speed of 200M bytes per second (Bps) and a sequential write speed of 160M Bps, said Samsung.
Samples of the drive will be available to customers from September with mass production due by the end of the year.
A version with a similar form factor to a 1.8-inch drive is also expected to be available in the fourth quarter of the year, the company said.
The drive isn't the first SSD launched at this capacity. Last month a competitor, U.S.-based Super Talent, began sales of a 256G byte SSD but that drive is thicker than Samsung's at 12.5 millimeters. It has a SATA I interface, which means read speeds of 65M bytes per second and write speeds of 50M bytes per second.
China plans telecom restructuring, clears way for 3G
China announced a restructuring plan for the country's fixed-line and mobile operators on Saturday, a final step towards the long-awaited release of 3G (third-generation) mobile licenses.
The plan, long a focus of discussion among Chinese government organizations, will merge or split the operations of Chinese carriers, creating three new operators that will have both mobile and fixed-line services. At present, Chinese fixed-line operators -- which are split along geographical lines -- are not permitted to offer mobile services, while mobile operators may not offer fixed-line services.
When the restructuring is completed, China will issue 3G licenses, the government said in a statement (in Chinese) that was signed by the newly formed Ministry of Industry and Information, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance.
The 3G licenses may even be issued before the restructuring process is completed, said Bryan Wang, Springboard Research's Greater China country manager and director of connectivity research. "Optimistically, it could happen before end of this year," he said.
By restructuring the operators into companies that offer both types of services, the Chinese government hopes to enhance the competitiveness of local operators and clear the way for 3G licenses to be released. China has one of the world's biggest mobile markets, but will be one of the last to roll out commercial 3G services.
Under the restructuring plan, fixed-line carrier China Telecommunications (China Telecom) will acquire the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) mobile network from China United Telecommunications (China Unicom). China Telecom will also acquire China Satcom, which offers satellite-based communications services.
China Unicom will retain its GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) network and merge with fixed-line operator China Network Communications (China Netcom).
China Mobile Communications, China's largest mobile operator, will merge with China Tietong Telecommunication, which operates a national fixed-line network.
The most difficult part of the restructuring process will involve splitting out China Unicom's CDMA network and transferring it to China Telecom. "China Telecom has already set up a team for CDMA, but obviously that's a smaller team conducting some studies to understand Unicom's network," Wang said.
Growing that team will be a challenge, as some important China Unicom executives may not join China Telecom. "Unicom plans to keep all the key guys for its GSM business," he said.
The statement that announced the plan did not offer a deadline for when the restructuring will be completed, but a report by the official Xinhua News Agency estimated the process could take 12 months to 18 months.
However, Wang estimated the process may be completed sooner, perhaps "within 12 months."
The plan, long a focus of discussion among Chinese government organizations, will merge or split the operations of Chinese carriers, creating three new operators that will have both mobile and fixed-line services. At present, Chinese fixed-line operators -- which are split along geographical lines -- are not permitted to offer mobile services, while mobile operators may not offer fixed-line services.
When the restructuring is completed, China will issue 3G licenses, the government said in a statement (in Chinese) that was signed by the newly formed Ministry of Industry and Information, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance.
The 3G licenses may even be issued before the restructuring process is completed, said Bryan Wang, Springboard Research's Greater China country manager and director of connectivity research. "Optimistically, it could happen before end of this year," he said.
By restructuring the operators into companies that offer both types of services, the Chinese government hopes to enhance the competitiveness of local operators and clear the way for 3G licenses to be released. China has one of the world's biggest mobile markets, but will be one of the last to roll out commercial 3G services.
Under the restructuring plan, fixed-line carrier China Telecommunications (China Telecom) will acquire the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) mobile network from China United Telecommunications (China Unicom). China Telecom will also acquire China Satcom, which offers satellite-based communications services.
China Unicom will retain its GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) network and merge with fixed-line operator China Network Communications (China Netcom).
China Mobile Communications, China's largest mobile operator, will merge with China Tietong Telecommunication, which operates a national fixed-line network.
The most difficult part of the restructuring process will involve splitting out China Unicom's CDMA network and transferring it to China Telecom. "China Telecom has already set up a team for CDMA, but obviously that's a smaller team conducting some studies to understand Unicom's network," Wang said.
Growing that team will be a challenge, as some important China Unicom executives may not join China Telecom. "Unicom plans to keep all the key guys for its GSM business," he said.
The statement that announced the plan did not offer a deadline for when the restructuring will be completed, but a report by the official Xinhua News Agency estimated the process could take 12 months to 18 months.
However, Wang estimated the process may be completed sooner, perhaps "within 12 months."
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