26th May 2008 Archive

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Home Office hands over £50m for police mobile devices

Day of the networked copper dawns

The Home Office has finalised plans to distribute £50m in extra funding to UK police so that they can purchase 10,000 mobile, networked devices for use by plods in the field. "We are investing in new technology to make crime fighting more effective and to save officers’ time,” said Tony McNulty, minister for cops and spooks …

Policing 26 May 2008, 00:02
A reading from the second book of Codh

Stob Embarcadero takes on the Sons of Kahnanrado

And it had come to pass that the Sons of Kahn were, to make no bones about it, being flogged off. For the Borland Leadership Team had looked upon the works of the Sons of Kahn, and had posed a question unto them. And the question of the Borland Leadership Team was this: In what respect does your input enhance the four phase …

Verity Stob 26 May 2008, 08:02
CoolerMaster 900W PSU grabs top energy efficiency rating

80plus grants silver status

PC power supply specialist CoolerMaster has become the first manufacturer of gaming-friendly PSUs to win a Silver rating from US energy efficiency monitor 80 Plus. CoolerMaster's RS-900-AAAA-A3 - part of its Ultimate line - is rated at 900W. That's the sort of power output you need to run a top-of-the-line processor and a …

Reg Hardware 26 May 2008, 08:02
Phoenix beams back Martian postcards

In 'great shape' following successful landing

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has beamed back its first snaps of the Martian Arctic's Vastitas Borealis region, having successfully landed at around 23:40 GMT yesterday: The spacecraft is apparently in "great shape" and lying at at 68° north, 234° east on a flat valley floor free of any large boulders which could have scuppered …

Space 26 May 2008, 08:10
The Transparent Society revisited

CFP 2008 Watching the watchers, ten years on

A little over ten years ago, science fiction author David Brin stood up at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference and delivered the first draft of some of his 1998 book The Transparent Society. The crowd, he said Thursday, was "both helpful and actively hostile". The resulting book was, as Michael Froomkin noted, widely …

Law 26 May 2008, 09:02
Pentax snapper plumbs the depths

The Action Man of compacts?

With summer just around the corner, Pentax has decided to deepen its compact camera range with the addition of a waterproof snapper capable of reaching the deepest depths – sort of. Pentax's W60: photograph fish or icebergs, your choice The Optio W60 can reach underwater depths of up to 13 feet and stay there for up to two …

Reg Hardware 26 May 2008, 09:02
Samsung hammers out stylish Steel slider

Avoid airport security

Style and steel aren’t usually something you hear of together, unless you’re an architect. But Samsung’s mashed the two into one to create its latest slider handset - dubbed, simply, Steel. Samsung's Steel: metal meets HSDPA The phone is awash with brushed metal surfaces, which sit well alongside the talker’s black plastic …

Reg Hardware 26 May 2008, 10:02
The music biz's digital flops - a short history

Beware of The Next Big Thing

Since the record industry first noticed that some of the kids were using the internet in the mid-90s, it's flopped from one puddle to the next. Despite a desperate need to evolve - guys, the pond is drying up, do try to breathe - recording industry strategy has flopped from one muddy puddle to the next, and a muddy puddle is …

Music and Media 26 May 2008, 12:02
Sony notion for retractable USB stick just clicks

Sony has taken a leaf out of Biro's book and come up with a retractable USB Flash drive design. Dubbed the MicroVault Click and Click Excellence, the new line up of drives runs from 1GB to 16GB. Sony's MicroVault Click: closed and open The Click Excellence drives are the faster of the two series - they offer a read speed of …

Reg Hardware 26 May 2008, 13:02