Angelina Jolie's "Lara Croft" replaced by...

Angelina Jolie's "Lara Croft" replaced by...

Angelina Jolie has been replaced as the in-the-flesh variant of Tomb Raider-legend Lara Croft. The new name to note is Karima Adebibe.Karima who? Well, we can't blame you. Most of the world has never heard of her, but after a series of unlikely twists of fate, she is about to launch from obscurity into stardom: Computer game house Eidos have chosen Karima Adebibe from Bethnal Green as the new flesh and blood representation of Lara Croft.

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Linux Professional Institute's Restructuring Begins with Staff Reductions

Linux Professional Institute's Restructuring Begins with Staff Reductions

On February 10th, LPI announced what they call Restructuring for Growth. But today, word reached us that LPI management terminated the entire development team including test developers and subject matter specialists in North America and those in Europe. Sifting through the disappointment of terminated staff members, one has to look at the new CEO's strategy. This isn't necessarily a sign of bad times for Linux. In fact, Linux training companies report stout growth for the enterprise sector. According to our sources, the virtual structure of the development team did not work for new management. The President and CEO, Jim Lacey, evidently prefers having his team on-site in Toronto. We also understand that LPI plans to incorporate volunteers into its development efforts. While successful internationally, LPI hasn't made much of an impact in the US. Without support from the US...

Disable the Administrator account in Windows Server 2003

Disable the Administrator account in Windows Server 2003

When reading through guides about how to harden earlier versions of Windows, one of the recommended courses of action is to rename the Administrator account to slow down potential hackers. In Windows Server 2003, you can take it one step further by actually disabling the Administrator account. But before you take this step, you should first consider the ramifications. You need to have an administrator-equivalent account to perform all of the legitimate security and maintenance functions that the original made possible. Before you disable the Administrator account, make sure you create another account to act in this capacity and assign the permissions that it will need to carry out the duties of the Administrator account.

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Linux is no tougher to manage than Windows

Linux is no tougher to manage than Windows

People say that a lot, but now there's proof. The proof is in a survey of 200 managers by Enterprise Management Associates, a market research firm. It was sponsored by Levanta, which makes a Linux-based change management product. Here's the bottom line. According to EMA, "Sophisticated management tools now allow Linux management to be fast, effective, and inexpensive. With far lower acquisition costs, Linux is now a cost-effective alternative to Windows." The study examined issues like provisioning, patch management, configuration management, reliability and resource costs, concluding that studies showing large cost differences are outdated.

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You can read more about this subject at Linux-Watch.com

E-mail changes spark two-tier fears

E-mail changes spark two-tier fears

Fee-based systems for commercial e-mails raise the spectre of the two-tier internet, writes internet law professor Michael Geist.

America Online and Yahoo's recent announcement of a new fee-based system for commercial e-mail has generated enormous discussion within the internet and marketing communities.

Supporters argued that the plan represents an innovative marketing approach that will help reduce spam.

Detractors, on the other hand, fear that the plan will choke off free speech by limiting the use of e-mail to those who can afford to pay millions in new service fees.

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CompTIA A+ Exams Undergoing Update

CompTIA A+ Exams Undergoing Update

Thanks to _omni_ for this:

2/8/2006 -- The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) confirmed to CertCities.com this morning that it is currently revising its A+ certification exams and hinted that the update may be significant.

In a statement released to CertCities.com today, Neill Hopkins, vice president of skills development for CompTIA, said in part, "We are currently working with the industry on an update of our CompTIA A+ certification to meet the needs of the modern day IT technician. The most exciting development as a result of all of the research conducted...is the fact that the technician of the immediate future will have broad-based skills beyond the basic technical fundamentals, and CompTIA aims to include these options in the new A+."

CompTIA declined our request for more details on on what these options might be, as well as questions regarding the current status of the...

Windows Vista will be released December 1st

Windows Vista will be released December 1st

Take this one with a grain of salt, gang. -Trip

Or November 30th. How do I know? Well, Microsoft EMEA has put up a website where you can guess the launch date for Windows Vista. After you submit a date, it plays a “hint” video. There’s actually a bunch of videos, some of which are quite funny. Anyway, here comes the interesting part: If you take a look at the page source, the videos are hosted on a Microsoft server in Switzerland. And depending on your guess, they are being loaded either from a subdirectory /early/ or another one named /late/. By simple iteration I quickly found that “early” ends Nov 30th while “late” starts Dec 1st. So either one of these will be the launch date. If this all is not a dirty little trick from the webmaster, of course…

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The ABCs of WPA2 Wireless LAN Security

The ABCs of WPA2 Wireless LAN Security

Looking for more secure Wi-Fi? WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) gives wireless networks both confidentiality and data integrity, two terms not previously associated with Wi-Fi. Security, of course, has long been the trade-off with Wi-Fi. Early wireless networks leaned heavily on VPNs to provide Layer 3 security, which--aside from the additional overhead of encapsulation and the challenges of roaming, quality of service, client support and scalability--left the IP network vulnerable to attacks. The Layer 2-based WPA2 better protects the network.

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Automatically back up your hard drive

Automatically back up your hard drive

When was the last time you backed up the important files on your computer? Last year when your best friend called in tears after the Blue Screen of Death ate her thesis? Yeah, I thought so. Hard drives fail. It’s a fact of computing life. It’s not a matter of whether or not your computer’s disk will fry, it’s a matter of when. The question is how much it will disrupt your life. Don’t expect yourself to remember to back up your data, or stack your closet full of burned CD’s or DVD’s. Today we’re going to set up automated nightly, weekly, monthly local and off-site backups for your PC using free software. Once you get this up and running, you’ll never have to worry about losing data again.

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VMware to make server product free

VMware to make server product free

VMware, an EMC subsidiary whose software lets multiple operating systems run on the same computer, is expected to announce next week that it will begin giving away one of its key products for free, CNET News.com has learned. The company sells three core products, VMware Workstation, GSX Server and ESX Server, but competition is on the horizon in a market VMware once had to itself. On Monday, however, the company is expected to announce it will give away GSX for free, sources familiar with the plan said.

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