Tag: Centre
Britain to set up cyber-security centre
Gordon Brown has announced the creation of a cyber-security operations centre to protect Britain for cyber-attacks. “Just as in the 19th century we had to secure the seas for our national safety and prosperity, and in the 20th century we had to secure the air, in the 21st century we also have to secure our position in cyberspace,” he said.
The team is set to include young computer geeks with questionable pasts. Terrorism Minister Lord Alan West said: “You need youngsters who are actually deep into this stuff. If they’ve been slightly naughty, very often they really enjoying stopping others.”
The aim of the unit will be to protect sensitive systems from spies, thieves, terrorists and other Bond-villains. West has stated that BT’s systems, for example, come under attempted attack at least 1,000 times a day. Jonathan Evans, head of MI5, has warned that both China and Russia are spying on Britain through technology.
In response to this news I’d just like to make it known that I, myself, am somewhat of a computer geek and I do have the required questionable past – I used to copy Amiga games off of my mates. I’d be willing to join the crack team for a £50k salary, company car and Bupa membership.
(via Fox News)
Excess datacentre energy used to heat homes
Telehouse is a company based in London’s Docklands that runs massive datacentres providing servers and other network gear to major companies.
It’s building a new one – Telehouse West – that’s costing $180 million, but the carbon footprint for such a facility is absolutely massive. Tonnes of heat is generated and the cooling systems involved have to work extremely hard. The company realized that the heat could be reappropriated for use in local homes.
As a result, the company’s been able to generate up to nine megawatts of power for local homes – the equivalent of boiling 3,000 kettles continuously. It’s the first major UK datacentre to implement such a strategy, and the first datacentre to gain planning permission in London since strict sustainability rules were introduced.
(via DataCentreKnowledge)
Seagate shows off Freeagent Theater HD Media Player
Last night Zara popped over to see Seagate and managed to grab a look at their latest release – the Freeagent Theater Media Player. It’s a dock that plugs into your TV which will play content – music, video and pictures – from any USB hard drive.
Bizarrely, although it claims to be “HD”, it doesn’t have an HDMI-out. Strange. Instead you can use scart or component output. But there’s a lot of media support – AVI, DivX, MPG4, and there’s also 8x of on-screen zoom available if that appeals to you.
Bit of a mixed bag overall, but if it floats your boat then you’ll be able to grab it for £90 within the next couple of weeks.
Seagate (via ShinyShiny)
Mac Mini refresh finally announced
There’s been rumours of a an upgrade of the Mac Mini for ages. First, back in December we thought it’d come at Macworld. Then, in Feb, we tracked down an image with a surfeit of USB ports and some basic specs. Then, yesterday, we thought the refresh would come at the end of this month.
Well, Apple has confounded all our expectations, and has announced a new Mac Mini, with the following specs:
- 5x USB
- 1x FireWire 800
- 1x mini DVI
- 1x Display poort
- Nvidia chipset (like the newest MacBook)
- starting at Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 Ghz
- 2 GB DDR3 memory (max 4 GB)
- 120 GB hard disk (max 320 GB)
Not bad eh? Not face-meltingly good specs, but they’ll do. As with every Apple product announced ever, it’s available now, and costs £XXX.
Apple UK
Turn your kids all Sith-like with this Star Wars Darth Vader laptop
I just saw these Darth Vader laptops from Oregon the other day in person, and before I had the chance to write about them, Alex at Shiny Shiny beat me to it. We’re just too good here, *hair flick*
Aimed at kiddywinks, or your mate who resembles Nick Frost just a little too much for comfort, these ‘laptops’ are actually activity centres for children which contain ‘mind-blowing games in logic, music and other breathtaking activities’. Use the interactive light sabre and ‘choose a learning path with Darth Vader’,..
