News & Current Affairs

December 25, 2008

Making the laptop

Filed under: laptop — Tags: , , — expressyoureself @ 5:42 pm

The laptops are becoming increasingly popular product of people working in catering and casual players. However, it is very difficult to make a laptop that is good for you and so many specifications as well as a selection that can correct a very difficult task. This little guide will help you achieve that, as you have a laptop.

Think about your needs

May Some people think they need a laptop, when really a desktop PC is so good. The benefit of buying a desktop computer to a laptop is the price – the jobs are much cheaper. However, if you need something about cell phone, a laptop is the ultimate solution.

It’s important work, what you really need to leave your laptop. There is no point in spending $ 2000 on a high-end mobile phones, when all you have to do is to review the e-mails on the subject.

If your needs are mainly the review of e-mails and creating documents, a laptop computer at low cost is all you need. If you intend to burn movies and files on the hard drive and a mid-range notebook computer, you can fit better. High-end laptops are really necessary for the games with graphics or for the treatment of emissions, which require much power to the computer, such as graphic design packages.

The main features

The main features of a laptop computer, battery life, CPU speed, RAM, hard disk and memory. A DVD player / recorder is another popular, as well as the size and weight. For high-end laptop graphics cards are also important. May also want to know whether the MS Office (or equivalent) with the team or not, whether they intend to written documents.

The purchase of a laptop

It is very important to do the trick, if you’re looking for a laptop. Offers vary widely from one place to another, but in general the Internet is a great place to refine your search.

17 laptop | best cheap laptops | laptop computers

August 26, 2008

Bank customer data sold on eBay

Bank customer data sold on eBay

EBay sign

eBay was first launched as Auction Web in 1995

An investigation is under way into how a computer containing bank customers’ personal data was sold on an internet auction site.

The PC, which was reportedly sold for £35 on eBay, had sensitive information on the hard drive.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and its subsidiary, Natwest, have confirmed their customers’ details were involved.

RBS says an archiving firm told it the PC had apparently been “inappropriately sold on via a third party”.

It said historical information relating to credit card applications for their bank and others had been on the machine.

The information is said to include account details and in some cases customers’ signatures, mobile phone numbers and mothers’ maiden names.

RBS and Natwest – two of the three businesses involved – said they are taking the issue very seriously and are working to resolve it “as a matter of urgency”.

A spokeswoman for data processing company Mail Source, which is part of the archiving firm Graphic Data, said it was investigating how the computer equipment had been removed from a secure location.

“The IT equipment that appeared on eBay was neither planned nor instructed by the company to be disposed.”

Clearly such details should never have been included in the hard drive of the computer offered for sale on eBay
eBay spokesman

When financial data goes missing

She said the incident was extremely regrettable and the firm was “taking every possible step” to retrieve the data and ensure it was an isolated incident.

It is thought the problem came to light when Andrew Chapman, an IT manager from Oxford, bought the computer, noticed the data and raised the alarm.

The Daily Mail said the computer, containing a million bank customers’ personal data, had been sold for £35.

A spokesman for eBay said they were currently looking into what had happened.

“Clearly such details should never have been included in the hard drive of the computer offered for sale on eBay. We fully expect Mr Chapman to hand it back to Graphic Data as soon as possible. We will of course work with Graphic Data to establish how it came to be available for sale on our site.”

Banks have an obligation under the Data Protection Act to keep all personal information secure.

Last year the Financial Services Authority fined the Nationwide Building Society £980,000 for a security breach, after a laptop containing customer data was stolen from an employee’s home.

August 14, 2008

Spending on communications falls

Spending on communications falls

Person using mobile phone, PA

Mobile use has doubled in five years, Ofcom says

Britons are spending more time using communications services but paying less for them, says an Ofcom report.

Every day in 2007, the average consumer spent 7 hours and 9 minutes watching TV, on the phone, using the internet or using other services, it says.

Since 2002, mobile use has doubled and PC and laptop use has grown fourfold, says the watchdog’s annual review.

But the average UK household spend on communications in 2007 was £93.63 a month – a fall of £1.53 on 2006.

TV remains the most popular pastime, with the average person watching for 3 hours and 38 minutes a day last year.

In 2007 the average person in the UK spent 24 minutes per day on their computer and 10 minutes using their mobile.

Graph showing household spend on communications services between 2002and 2007

Ofcom’s annual communications market review notes that monthly spend on communications has fallen for three years in a row.

Ofcom says consumers are getting increasingly canny about the way they buy services, switching providers or paying one fee for a bundle of services.

COMMUNICATIONS FACTS
Communications industry revenue topped £51.2bn in 2007
Average households spend £93.63 per month on communications services
87.2% have digital television
80% of new TV sales are high-definition sets
40% buy communications services in a bundled package
44% of adults use text messaging every day
36% of adults use the net every day
Source: Ofcom market review

Lower prices for broadband are one factor, with the average household spending £9.45 for an internet connection in 2007 compared with £9.87 in 2006.

Fierce competition between broadband providers is causing some concern that it may be difficult for the industry to raise the investment needed for faster networks.

But the report shows that broadband take-up is continuing to grow both at home and on the move.

By the end of 2007, Ofcom found, 58% of homes had broadband, compared with 52% a year earlier.

Dongle surge

The real surge, though, came in the use of mobile broadband after a big marketing push by mobile phone companies selling so-called “dongles”.

Between February and June this year, monthly sales of these devices, which give internet access to laptop users, rose from 69,000 to 133,000 a month.

According to Ofcom figures, two million people say they have used mobile broadband via a dongle or similar device and three-quarters of them say they use it at home as well as on the move – evidence that the mobile operators are beginning to compete with fixed-line businesses for broadband customers.

Children watching TV, BBC

TV retains its popularity despite booming net, mobile and computer use

British consumers are also spending more time on the phone than ever before, with a 21% increase in minutes spent on mobile calls.

Even fixed-line calls are holding up with Ofcom seeing just a 2% fall in minutes spent calling.

The Ofcom report paints a picture of a country where consumers are making more and more use of modern media services – from YouTube to personal video recorders – while still retaining an interest in the traditional services.

Digital television is now in use in 87% of British homes, with many having hundreds of channels to choose from. Despite the variety, 57% of viewing in these multi-channel homes is of the five main channels.

Ofcom also noted that while the amount of TV viewing is up on 2006, the longer term trend shows a slight decline in viewing.

August 13, 2008

Digital nomad drives laptop sales

Digital nomad drives laptop sales

Courtesy BBC

By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, San Francisco

Dell poster

One of the demands of the new digital nomad is constant connectivity

The demands of the digital nomad are expected to drive laptop sales to over one billion in the next five years.

The prediction by Dell came as it unveiled 10 new laptop models aimed at this emerging working class.

The new Latitude line boasts as much as 19 hours of battery life for the always connected 21st century worker.

“There is no business as usual in the connected era,” said Andy Lark, Dell’s vice president of global marketing.

“Boundaries for businesses are virtual. This is a new class of worker who maybe doesn’t have an office and who maybe visits 10 offices in a day and visits several different customers.”

Andy Lark of Dell

Andy Lark says Dell has shipped 53 million Latitude laptops since 1994

Mr Lark told BBC News that the ranks of the digital nomad were swelling as were expectations about the functions their laptops and notebooks could perform.

“The majority of people coming online and buying their first computer today are doing it in emerging countries like China, India and Brazil.

“If you look at India, about 67% or more of their workforce is going to be entirely mobile and that is driving the demand for new features in the laptop like all day connectivity, long battery life, high-level security and uncompromising design and durability.”

‘Performance leaders’

At a press launch in San Francisco, Jeff Clarke, senior vice president of Dell’s business group, showed off the new line to reporters and analysts.

The laptops include seven Latitude business laptops and three Dell Precision workstation laptops which Mr Clarke described as “performance leaders and something the tech community will absolutely die for”.

The computers have just under 10 hours of battery life which can be extended with a so called “battery slice” to total 19 hours.

Mr Clarke said the company spent more than one million man hours and two years designing the updated Latitude line which range in price from $800 (£400) to around $1,400.

The company also consulted more than 4,000 customers to find out what they wanted in their laptop. As well as battery life being a priority, security was the other big concern.

Dell's Jeff Clarke

Dell’s Jeff Clarke shows off some of the new ultra mobile laptop colours

Mr Clarke told reporters: “With 17,000 notebooks being lost, left unattended or reported missing at airports around the world, many with important information on them, our customers asked for the notion of a vault to secure their information.”

Dell said it had done that by including the ability to track down or disable the device if it was stolen.

The machines also have a fingerprint reader and a “control vault” processor that stores an owner’s identity and credentials on protected hardware.

‘Tiniest of differences’

Dell may have declared “freedom from business as usual”, but is it enough to regain market share and compete with devices made by rivals such as Apple and HP?

Mr Clarke certainly seemed to think so.

“We have defined mobility for the business computer. We are at that forefront of being different.”

Dell launch

In discussions with customers, security emerged as a major issue

Charles King of technology industry analysis firm Pund-IT told the BBC Dell had produced a product for today’s workforce.

“I think what it comes down to is that for most of those customers, highly mobile, highly robust and highly secure systems are critical for large organizations’ ease of management and administration.

“I think what Dell has done here is really very much focused on meeting the needs and wishes of this different class.”

Dean Takahashi of VentureBeat.com said he wasn’t totally convinced.

“I am not sure this is going to do it for Dell. The differentiation in this space is based on the tiniest of differences. Still it gives Apple, HP, Toshiba and Lenovo a target to strike at.”

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