Network+ Beta Coming Nov. 29; Free Vouchers Available

Network+ Beta Coming Nov. 29

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) announced today that the beta exam for its upcoming Network+ revision will debut Nov. 29.

The beta (N11-003) will be available at Pearson Vue and Prometric testing centers worldwide although the first 1,000 "qualified candidates" who respond to a survey on CompTIA's Web site here will receive a voucher to take the beta for free. The organization does not specify what makes someone a qualified candidate.

Full Story: certcities.com

CompTIA Considering RFID Cert

CompTIA Considering RFID Cert

Next week the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), along with the Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility (AIM Global), will announce plans to begin initial steps in developing a vendor-neutral certification for IT professionals who work with RFID technology.

A CompTIA spokesperson told CertCities.com today that the announcement does not mean that the organization will definitely develop the certification, only that it will begin working with AAIM and others in the industry to see if there is a need for such a title. The discussions will begin next month at a meeting with industry representatives.

Full Story: certcities.com

Napster creator reveals next step

Napster creator reveals next step

Napster creator Shawn Fanning has spoken publicly about his new project - a licensed file-sharing service with an almost unlimited selection of tracks.

The new technology gives consumers greater access to licensed downloads, while affording the record labels some degree of control over file-sharing.

Full story: HERE

Source: BBC News UK

Internet speed record quadrupled to 101 Gbit/s

Internet speed record quadrupled to 101 Gbit/s

Los Angeles (CA) - An international team of physicists, scientists and engineers achieved a new speed record for long distance data transfer: During the Supercomputing Bandwidth Challenge the sustained data transfer was 101 Gbit per second (Gbp/s) between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. This is more than four times faster than last year's record of 23 Gbp/s. The group's "High-Speed TeraByte Transfers for Physics" record data transfer speed is equivalent to downloading three full DVD movies per second, or transmitting all of the content of the Library of Congress in 15 minutes, and it corresponds to approximately ten percent of the rate that all forms of digital content were produced on Earth during the test, the team led by the California Institute of Technology said.



By Wolfgang Gruener, Senior Editor November 29, 2004 - 15:34 EST

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A question of trust and technology

A question of trust and technology

A major government department is without e-mail for a week, and technology analyst Bill Thompson wants to know what happened.


"A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how my girlfriend had suffered when her cable modem blew up and she was offline for several days. "

It seems that thousands of civil servants at the UK's Department of Work and Pensions went through the same thing last week. It has emerged that the internal network crashed in a particularly horrible way, depriving staff of e-mail and access to the application software they use to calculate people's benefit and pension entitlement or note changes in personal circumstances.

Full Story: HERE

Source: BBC Technology News

New browser wins over net surfers

New browser wins over net surfers

The proportion of surfers using Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) has dropped to below 90%, say web analysts.

Net traffic monitor, OneStat.com, has reported that the open-source browser Firefox 1.0, released on 9 November, seems to be drawing users away from IE.

Full Story: Link

Computer use link to eye disease

Computer use link to eye disease

Heavy computer use could be linked to glaucoma, especially among those who are short-sighted, fear researchers.

Glaucoma is caused by increased fluid pressure within the eye compressing the nerves at the back, which can lead to blindness if not treated.

Full Story: Link

Toxic web links help virus spread

Toxic web links help virus spread

Virus writers have begun using the power of the web to spread their malicious wares.
A Windows virus called Bofra is turning infected machines into distributors of its malicious code.

Those clicking on the poisoned links in e-mail messages sent out by infected machines may fall victim to the virus.

Full Story: Link

Earth Simulator loses its top spot

Earth Simulator loses the top spot

The Earth Simulator lost its top spot in this years Top500 supercomputer index, it slipped down two places to third place

The former fastest computer clocked up a staggering 35 Terraflops score, but thats nothing compared to what replaced it

Blue Gene is an IBM machine currently in testing, It is being assembled for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, for the US Department of Energy. in its current incarnation it has recorded calculations upto 70 Teraflops a second, or twice what The Earth Simulator reached, this is a staggering feat, and it will be even faster when it is complete

It's a long way from the worlds first super computer, the Cray-1, which was built almost 30 years ago, that reached a whopping 80 mega flops, Blue Gene is 5 million times faster!


read the full report at the BBC
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Firefox browser takes on Microsoft

Firefox browser takes on Microsoft

Few people get excited when some new software is released, especially when the program is not a game or a music or movie player.
But the release of the first full version of a web browser called Firefox has managed to drum up a respectable amount of pre-launch fervour.

Full Story: Here