PC eye-control for severely disabled

<font size="3">PC eye-control for severely disabled</font>

Award-winning Spanish technology that lets severely disabled people control a computer using eye movement could soon be available in the UK.
The Iriscom, which emulates mouse movement by tracking the iris, is already on sale in Spanish-speaking countries and Portugal. Iriscom moves the mouse pointer by tracking a person's eye movement and mouse clicks are performed by blinking. It also has an on-screen keyboard so users can input text.

It can be used by anyone who has control of one eye, including people wearing glasses or contact lenses.


Rest of Story : BBC News

BBC to sell off technology unit

<font size="3">BBC to sell off technology unit</font>

The BBC has announced plans to sell its technology arm, saying the move could save £20-30m a year. The BBC's board of Governors has backed the proposal, which will need government approval. Under the plans, outside firms will be asked to bid for the BBC's technology contract, with the condition that they buy BBC Technology Ltd. Last year the unit, which employs some 1,400 people, provided the BBC with profits and savings totalling £19m.

The move is part of a "self help" order imposed on the broadcaster by the government as part of its 2000 licence fee settlement.

Rest of Story :BBC News

BT to upgrade 21 exchanges for ADSL

<font size="3">BT to upgrade 21 exchanges for ADSL</font>

Another 21 exchanges are to be converted to ADSL after local communities managed to secure enough demand for BT to sit up and take notice.

All the exchanges listed below should be converted to broadband during February next year as part of BT's broadband registration scheme.

MINEHEAD, Somerset
BLEWBURY, Oxfordshire
ILMINSTER, Somerset
EGREMONT, Cumbria
WANBOROUGH, Wiltshire
BAMPTON CASTLE, Oxfordshire
GLASGOW PROVANMILL, Strathclyde
BALDOCK, Hertfordshire
HECKINGTON, Lincolnshire
CARDIGAN, Dyfed
BRYNMAWR, Gwent
SOULBURY, Buckinghamshire
HECKFIELD, Hampshire
FONTMELL MAGNA, Dorset
SHIPDHAM, Norfolk
FARNSFIELD, Nottinghamshire
GREAT BARTON, Suffolk
BURFORD, Oxfordshire
ECKINGTON, Hereford &amp; Worcester
EDINGWORTH, Somerset
MELTHAM, West Yorkshire

Source...

BT Network Problem

BT problem with Broadband today

Just got this info from Tiscali Service Team:

"There is a problem with BT national network affecting all broadband customes across all ISPs. The estimated time of resolve from BT is noon."

Windows 95, 98 get system restore

<font size="3">Windows 95, 98 get system restore </font>

UK-based Waycam Technologies has launched a set of data recovery tools that can add the System Restore facility to older versions of Windows. Waycam Technologies, a Lincolnshire-based security specialist, has launched a set of data recovery tools that protect PCs from accidental or malicious data loss by creating a "protected area" on the system hard drive and using it to record all changes made by the user. Waycam's Goldensoft’s Recovery Series is designed for small businesses and home users who want to add another layer of protection to their data. The system is similar to that provided by Windows XP's System Restore utility, which allows a PC's configuration to be "rolled back" in case a conflict arises, but Waycam's utility can be used with all versions of the Microsoft OS made after Windows 95.

Full Story:...

LA officials call for end to master/slave labels

<font size="3">LA officials call for end to master/slave labels</font>

The computing world's venerable master/slave naming convention has come under fire by Los Angeles county officials who charge that this type of product description is offensive.

A discrimination complaint has been filed with the county's Office of Affirmative Action Compliance after one county worker saw a video recording device with the "slave" and "master" tags, according to Reuters. The complaint was enough to call county officials into action, asking vendors to re-label their gear.

"Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label," Joe Sandoval, division manager of purchasing and contract services, said in a memo sent to County vendors and obtained by Reuters.

"We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change...

Microsoft retires NetMeeting

<font size="3">Microsoft retires NetMeeting</font>

Microsoft is retiring its six-year-old NetMeeting online conferencing application and instead will push Office Live Meeting, formerly known as PlaceWare, for online meetings.

NetMeeting helped pioneer online conferencing when it was released in May 1996, before the advent of instant messaging (IM) and other services for real-time online communication. The software still ships as part of Windows and some of its features, such as whiteboarding and application-sharing, are used by the MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger IM applications.

But NetMeeting has served its purpose and will gradually be phased out, Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake said. Microsoft has already stopped development work on NetMeeting and links from MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger will be cut in future updates to those products, she said.

News source:...

Windows Server 2003 Interactive Training Simulations

<font size="3">Windows Server 2003 Interactive Training Simulations</font>

These interactive training modules give you a quick, hands-on experience with key Windows Server 2003 technologies. Each module presents approximately 10 minutes of interactive information, which can be viewed in its entirety or as separate exercises as your time allows.

Training

• Active Directory Migration Tool 2.0 [link]
• Internet Information Services 6.0: Application Pool Architecture [link]
• Internet Information Services 6.0: Consolidation [link]
• Shadow Copies of Shared Folders...

New IE may burst pop-up bubble

<font size="3">New IE may burst pop-up bubble </font>

Thanks to Tripwire45 for this article: Pop-up advertisements have thrived for years despite numerous efforts to eradicate them, but now online marketers are seriously wondering whether the Web's most detested ad format is about to meet its match: Microsoft.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant recently indicated that it will add pop-up blocking features to Internet Explorer (IE) next year, as part of an update for Windows XP. Others have offered similar tools before, but because IE so thoroughly dominates the browser market, ad executives and Internet watchers believe the changes could finally burst the bubble for pop-ups.

"If Microsoft does it right," said Richard Smith, a well-known security and privacy expert, "I think we will see a big drop in the use of pop-ups."

Fearing that they might lose one of their most effective advertising tools, some...

For security ask yourself...what would Microsoft do?

<font size="3">For security ask yourself...what would Microsoft do?</font>

Despite taking a beating in the press and from customers for security holes in its products, decision makers at Microsoft appear to think the company still has something to teach the world about computer security. The Redmond, Washington company this week published a technical white paper that describes its internal security practices, which Microsoft hopes will "help customers successfully secure their environments," the company said. The paper, simply titled "Security at Microsoft," details the methods and technologies that the company's Operations and Technology Group (OTG) use to secure the company's global corporate network of more than 300,000 computers and 4,200 servers.

In the paper, Microsoft describes its risk management strategy, which involves classifying different computing resources according to their "value class" --...