10/28/2007

512GB Solid State Disks on the way

Filed under: — Aviran Mordo

Samsung has announced that it has developed the world’s first 64Gb (8GB) NAND flash memory chip using a 30nm production process, which opens the door for companies to produce memory cards with up to 128GB of storage and flash SSDs with capacities of half a Terabyte.

With flash memory becoming increasing used in consumer electronic devices, such as MP3/MP4 players, digital cameras and mobile phones, the increased capacity would allow for a significant increase in the quantity and quality of data stored. For example, a single memory card built using 16 of the new chips would be capable of storing the equivalent of 27 single-layer DVDs.

Perhaps more interesting for Custom PC readers is the prospect of solid state drives (SSDs) with capacities that rival typical hard disk drives. In our Dream PC Labs test we found that the Vadim system, which uses four 32GB SSDs in RAID 0, was significantly quicker than PCs using conventional hard disk drives, so two (or four) 512GB SSDs in RAID 0 could prove to be the ultimate storage system.

Man who urinated on dying woman for YouTube glory jailed

Filed under: — Aviran Mordo

A man who shouted “This is YouTube material” as he pissed on a dying, disabled woman has been sent to jail for three years.

Anthony Anderson, 27, had been smoking cannabis and drinking heavily with friends, when he found Christine Lakinski, 50, collapsed in a doorway in Hartlepool, in northern England.

Calling her a “smackhead”, Anderson threw a bucket of water over her. He then urinated on the comatose woman and sprayed her with shaving foam, as his friends watched and laughed. The incident was captured for posterity on a camera phone. Anderson then went a night club, as you do.

Lakinski died at the scene of pancreatic failure. She had curvature of the spine and learning difficulties and suffered bullying all her life, according to reports.

Anderson pleaded guilty to “outraging public decency”.

Does Google Know When This Picture Was Taken?

Filed under: — Aviran Mordo

This post is translated from a post (in hebrew) by Yuval on a popular Israeli blog.

Is might seem as a technical problem, but I feel it may teach us something about the way Google behaves.

Introduction: it started with a story on Israel’s channel 2 news, describing a Star of David that has been engraved into the Dahniye airport runway, now visible from space via Google Earth. The report stated that the Star of David was engraved “lately” by IDF tractors during Israeli operation in the area. I decided to check the issue and contacted Israeli Google PR, who directed me to the Digital-Globe layer in Google Earth that shows the date during which the picture was taken. But is it indeed so?
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MySpace to Add Free Games

Filed under: — Aviran Mordo

Users of the MySpace.com social networking Website will be able to add multiplayer games to their personal profile pages, and play them for free, from next year. MySpace has struck a deal with Oberon Media Inc. to make available hundreds of casual games from its portfolio, the companies said Tuesday.

MySpace provides a platform on which individuals or groups can build Web pages known as personal profiles, showcasing their tastes or talents in music or other aspects of multimedia creation. With the games channel MySpace plans, those users will also be able to highlight their favorite games, and perhaps find others to play them with.

PDF files used to attack computers: security firm

Filed under: — Aviran Mordo

Emails containing malicious PDF files have been putting computers at risk since Friday, Finnish security software firm F-Secure said on Saturday.

“The emails sent in bulk looked like credit card statements, and contained an attachment called ‘report.pdf’,” its chief research officer Mikko Hypponen said in a statement.

When such PDF files are viewed on vulnerable machines, they start downloading software from servers in Malaysia or Sweden, which are now being cleaned, he said. “There will be more such attacks.”

“We are worried about this case, as PDF attachments are typically not filtered at email gateways.”

A security update for Acrobat Reader, which opens PDF files, was made available a few days ago, but many users have not updated the program yet, Hypponen said.

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