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Techradar |
- Patent points towards touchscreen Apple MacBooks
- Hospice charity single hit by iTunes cover version
- Tutorial: How to build your own router
- Nintendo 3DS dating sim has facial recognition
- VLC media player for Android out soon
- Dyson reinvents the vacuum cleaner
- Buying Guide: Best 1TB external hard drive: 10 drives tested
- Mozilla inadvertently publishes thousands of user IDs
- Review: Chillingo Cut the Rope
- Over a million UK kids have no home computer access
- Review: Wordfeud
- New evidence that PSP Phone due next spring
- New evidence that PSP Phone due next spring
| Patent points towards touchscreen Apple MacBooks Posted: 29 Dec 2010 01:18 AM PST  Apple has been granted a new integrated touchscreen patent, pointing towards the possible development of touchscreen MacBooks. The details of the patent were unearthed by the folks over at patentlyapple – detailing plans for an integrated touchscreen relating to touch-sensing circuitry integrated into the display pixel stackup of a display. 20 new Apple patents The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a total of 20 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. this week. In addition to a number of new Apple patents relating to its photo-centric Aperture application and a key on-chip decompression engine relating to the iPhone's A4 processor, it is this 'integrated touchscreen' tech patent that is of most interest. The patent also mentions a number of end-user examples of devices that the tech relates to, including uses on mobile phones, media players and notebooks. Apple has of course not commented publicly to date on any official plans for a touchscreen MacBook, but this patent is one of the most convincing examples to date that such a device must be in development somewhere in one of its Cupertino HQ's many secret labs. 
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| Hospice charity single hit by iTunes cover version Posted: 28 Dec 2010 11:12 AM PST  Two Manchester lads who recorded a tribute single and raised £7,000 through iTunes for the hospice that cared for their late mother have seen their efforts undermined by a cover of their song. Lonely Sky, recorded by teenagers Ben and Jamie Hazelby, has raised a total of £82,500 for St Anne's Hospice, but iTunes proceeds dropped-off when a "tribute" version appeared on the download portal. The alternate version of the song is appearing above the original in the iTunes listings and it is not known whether producers JWH Records intends to donate their proceeds to the hospital. Apple investigates Jamie, 14, says that Apple is investigating and could remove the rival song. He said: "On iTunes people can post comments and they've been posting 'your Mum would be really proud' and stuff like that." "They [iTunes] have told us that the company that's done it has five days to prove that they were allowed to release the song before it gets taken off, and all the money goes back to the hospice," added Ben, 17. The song was recorded with Chris De Burgh on vocals after the two lads featured on TV show Noel's Christmas Presents on December 19th. Ben and Jamie lost their mum to ovarian cancer in January 2009. 
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| Tutorial: How to build your own router Posted: 28 Dec 2010 05:00 AM PST  Linux is built on networking. It's at the core of the operating system, not a bolted on extension. This means that if you want to build an internet appliance, Linux is the obvious choice. The most popular internet appliance is a router and most homes have one these days, translating your DSL or cable internet connection into Ethernet or wireless to be used by your computer. If you have more than one computer, such a device is even more important because it enables them to use the internet at the same time without getting their packets in a twist. If you do have a number of computers, it's possible you have at least one that's neglected and gathering dust in a cupboard somewhere because it's no longer considered powerful enough for current needs. You've probably thought about putting it on Ebay, but a combination of apathy and the rapidly diminishing value of older hardware means you never got round to it. Well, you can give this box a new lease of life as an internet gateway. You may be asking why you would want to do this instead of using a pre-packaged modem/router. One reason is that you can have far more control over exactly what goes on in the box, what functions it has and who can do what. Another reason for doing it is because it's a fun way of learning about such things, rather than just leaving it all to a magic black (or, more likely, white or silver) box. There are two ways of approaching this task; the first is to use a distro specifically designed for the job, already set up with the packages you need. The other is to build it entirely yourself, using a minimal Linux installation and adding the software you need to do what you want. This month, we'll look at the first path, but we'll cover the full DIY approach in the next issue. Pick a distro There are quite a few distros intended for use on firewall appliances, and some of them are based on FreeBSD rather than Linux. The distros can be divided into two groups, those that provide a dedicated firewall/router and those that comprise a more complete internet gateway, including things like print, mail, file and even web servers. For this tutorial, we are concentrating on a pure gateway, a more flexible and powerful alternative to an off-the-shelf modem/router and one that enables the other services to be run more securely behind the firewall. The distro that we've picked for this example is IPCop. We are using the stable 1.4.21 release, although the more adventurous might consider the 1.9 version. You will also need a computer, obviously. Just about anything modern enough to be powered by electricity should be acceptable. An i586 or later box can handle the internet requirements of a medium-sized network. There's no desktop with IPCop – after installation, everything is done remotely via a web browser, so memory requirements on the hardware are minimal. You will need a keyboard and monitor for installation, but these can be removed once the system has rebooted. The computer will need at least two network interfaces: Ethernet for the local network and whatever your internet connection needs. This could be a PCI DSL modem card, another Ethernet card to connect to a standard cable or DSL modem or even just a USB port if you have no wired connection and are using a 3G dongle. If you want to set up a demilitarised zone (DMZ) you'll need another Ethernet card, and you'll need a wireless card if you want this box to also act as a Wi-Fi access point. An Ethernet switch or hub plugged into the green Ethernet port will enable multiple computers to be connected to the network. Installation Boot from the IPCop CD to get into the text-based installer. If you have only used the graphical installers of the likes of OpenSUSE, Mandriva and Ubuntu, this may come as a bit of a shock – use the cursor keys to move around, the Space bar to select options and Enter to proceed. Heed the warning early on: this installer will wipe your hard drive. You can't dual boot your router with Windows – this is a one-shot machine. The lack of partitioning or package choices means there's very little for you to do prior to installation. Select Skip at the restore screen. The next step is to pick the Ethernet interface to use for the green network; the other interface(s) will be set up later.
Letting the installer probe for a suitable interface is generally best, although there are manual configuration options should your network adaptor need special module options passed to it. Because the router will also act as a DHCP server for your network, it must have its address assigned statically. If in doubt what to put here, 192.168.1.1 is a good choice. You are now given the web address for configuration, so make a note of this. The network configuration type is one of the most important choices during installation; the historical default is to use Ethernet for green and a modem for the red network. If your modem connects via Ethernet, change this to GREEN + RED. Choose the option that includes ORANGE or BLUE if you also want a DMZ or wireless sector in your network – you can change this later if you would rather keep it simple and just set up the red and green networks to start with. You then need to tell IPCop what to use for the extra interfaces in the Drivers And Card Assignments section. Address configuration The DNS and Gateway section can be left blank if your modem gets this information from your ISP with DHCP, but the DHCP configuration section relates to the addresses that IPCop gives out over the green and blue networks. You specify a range of addresses from which IPCop can choose, but leave some for any computer that may use static addressing. I generally start the DHCP range at 100 (192.168.1.100 if you used 192.168.1.1 for IPCop itself) and use lower addresses for any static allocations, for no other reason than it makes it immediately obvious whether an address has been given by DHCP. You must also enable the DHCP server here. The primary DNS server can be left at the address of the IPCop computer, which means IPCop will act as a DNS cache, speeding up lookups when the same domain is referenced by more than one computer – how many computers on your network don't look up www.google.com or www.linuxformat.com?
Finally, you need to set passwords for three users. The root user is not normally used, unless you want to log in directly on the router, the admin user is the user of the web interface, which you will normally use for configuration, and the backup user. Now you can remove the installation CD and reboot. Starting up The computer will reboot to an unhelpful-looking login prompt, but you won't be using this. Open a browser on another computer on the green network and go to https://192.168.1.1:445, replacing the IP address with whatever you set in the installation. If the computer you're connecting from had its network started after rebooting the router, you can use the hostname set in the installation instead; the default is ipcop (https://ipcop:445). Your browser will probably complain about an untrusted certificate when connecting, which you can tell it to accept. This is because IPCop is using a self-generated certificate, so your browser can't check its trustworthiness. Since you've just installed it, you know you can trust it.
Remember the admin user's password you set up during installation? IPCop enables you to view the home page without it, but selecting anything pops up a password requester. The first link you should select is System > Updates since the home page will have told you there are updates available. Press the Download button, which doesn't appear to do much, but the description of the updates should appear in the section below, so press Apply Now. If you see an error that this is not an authorised update, your hardware clock is probably way out. This isn't uncommon on hardware that has not been used for years or had a BIOS reset. Go to Services > Time server and set the time manually. Then tick the box to use a network time server and press Save. You have to set the time manually first because NTP will not change the time if the jump is too great. The web interface is where you do everything from now on. If you want, you can now power down the router, disconnect the keyboard and monitor and tuck it away somewhere out of sight and sound before switching back on (but make sure it has enough air to cool itself). Your new router should now be providing DHCP and DNS services to your local network and giving access to the internet, so it's time to start exploring the options. Your first stop should be System > Backup, where you can create a DAT file containing all your settings, enabling you to roll back if your changes don't work out as intended. Do this before you start experimenting. You can even use the Export button to transfer this to a USB stick for safe keeping.
Explore the features IPCop provides a number of services that are not enabled by default but are worth investigating and turning on. These can be found in the Services menu and include a web proxy, to reduce traffic and response times for commonly used pages, a time server, a dynamic DNS feature to update your IP address on services like www.dyndns.org, intrusion detection with Snort and traffic shaping. The last is useful with several machines sharing limited bandwidth, you don't want someone's BitTorrent download of the latest Ubuntu ISO image to slow down your browsing of the Fedora forums. By setting various port ranges to High for email ports such 25, 110 and 143, Medium for web ports 80 and 443, and Low for FTP (21) and BitTorrent (6881–6999) you can stop file downloads from slowing down browsing by too much while making sure that email always gets through. We said that you can add a network post-installation, so how do you do this when there doesn't appear to be an option in the web interface? The answer is that this has to be done on the command line, either directly on your IPCop box (assuming it still has a keyboard and monitor) or via an SSH connection from the green network. For the latter, you need to enable SSH access from the System menu, then connect to it with: ssh -p 222 root@ipcop Then run setup to get a curses GUI similar to the installer from where you can change choices made at that time. Go into Networking > Change Network Type and pick GREEN + ORANGE + RED to add a DMZ, or add a BLUE for a wireless sector. Either way, you must have a suitable network card already installed in the computer.
Go to Drivers And Card Assignments to pick the card for the new network, then use Address Settings to pick an address for the new network's interface. This must be on a different subnet, so if you used 192.168.1.1 for green, use 192.168.2.1 for orange. Once you have done this, turn off SSH for security. Setting up the DMZ Now that you have a DMZ, you can begin setting it up. There is no DHCP server on the orange network, so any computer you add here should have a static address, which is a good thing if you're providing access from outside because you need to forward traffic to a specific address. To set up access to a web server with the address of 192.168.2.2, the first step is to set up port forwarding, just as you would on a standard modem/router, except here we are forwarding to the server on the DMZ. Go to Firewall > Port Forwarding page. The Source IP Or Network box is normally left blank, to enable access from all external addresses, but you can restrict access to a specific address or range if you wanted your server to only be accessible from one location (although a VPN may be a more suitable approach in this situation). Set the source and destination ports to 80 (HTTP) and the Destination IP to 192.168.2.2, press Add to see the rule appear in the list below. Now hit Reset and repeat the process for port 443 (HTTPS). Now you have a web server that is accessible from the internet and from your LAN (the green network), but it cannot access your green network. This means that if the server, or perhaps some PHP code it is running, is exploited, it can only harm itself, not the rest of your computers. Poking holes There may be times when your web server needs to communicate with a machine on the green network, for example sending a backup of its MySQL tables.
IPCop has a feature called a DMZ pinhole that provides restricted access from one computer in the orange network to one port on one computer in the green network. This is set up in Firewall > DMZ Pinholes but use this option only when you have to, because it partially compromises the security provided by the DMZ. There is lots more you can do with IPCop, but we've given you enough to get started. Browse around the web interface and read the associated documents on the IPCop website for more information. 
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| Nintendo 3DS dating sim has facial recognition Posted: 28 Dec 2010 04:22 AM PST The forthcoming Nintendo 3DS version of Japanese 'love sim' Project LovePlus is to make use of facial recognition tech in the shape of a 'boyfriend lock' button.
Project LovePlus is a pretty popular DS game over in Japan, with the next version set to make use of the 3DS's front- and rear-facing cameras. Who hell you? The game will use the 3DS's front-facing camera to implement what is being referred to as a 'boyfriend lock' feature. That's right! Konami is genuinely calling this feature the "Boyfriend Lock," and hopes it will allow players to feel closer to their virtual girlfriends. This means that if anybody else picks up your Project LovePlus 3DS game, your imaginary girlfriend will not recognise their faces and will ask them things such as "who the hell are you!?" and so on… Publisher and developer Konami has no current plans to release the game in the UK, so it looks like you might have to look to the import market next easter if you are really that desperate to obtain a new virtual girlfriend to live inside your new Nintendo 3DS. 
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| VLC media player for Android out soon Posted: 28 Dec 2010 03:31 AM PST  VLC Media Player for iPhone and iPad was one of the best apps released in 2010 for Apple's smartphone, with an Android version of the popular player set for release very soon. The latest version of VLC Media Player for mobiles will only work on Android 2.3 'Gingerbread' phones. Movies on the move This means that most Android users will have to wait for their phones to get the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update until they can fully enjoy all of their movies on the move. The media playing software will be arriving for Android phones 'within weeks' according to insider sources. VLC Player for Android beta will finally allow Android phone users the ability to play pretty much any movie file they like on their mobile. 
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| Dyson reinvents the vacuum cleaner Posted: 28 Dec 2010 03:09 AM PST -200-200.jpg) While we rarely get that excited about new developments in domestic cleaning technology, Dyson's latest reinvention of the good old vacuum cleaner certainly caught our eyes this week. This is mainly because James Dyson's latest vacuum cleaner has done away with wires, with the bag and with most of the rest of the appliance as well! 15 minute charge Dyson's new Digital Slim vacuum cleaner is totally cordless, being powered by rechargeable batteries that, somewhat strangely, only last for 15 minutes on each charge. (After all, whoever likes to spend more than a quarter of an hour cleaning their house each weekend?). James Dyson claims: "Our digital motor has taken over ten years to develop. Because of its speed – it spins five times faster than a Formula 1 car engine – it can be smaller, stronger and efficient. The digital motor is light, small and powerful, which means DC35 can be light, small and powerful." Despite recently 'restructuring' much of its manufacturing away from the UK to the far east, Dyson also claims to be doubling the number of engineers and scientists in the UK from 350 to 700, the company announced in the launch release for the Dyson Digital Slim. These new UK-based staff include design, mechanical and acoustic engineers, increasing the company's UK staffing level to 1,600, out of 2,500 worldwide. Dyson claims that its digital motors are the fastest, highest power density motors ever developed for domestic appliances, turning at 104,000rpm and making up to 3,300 adjustments each second. The battery-powered Dyson Digital Slim will set you back £199 and will be on sale at http://www.dyson.co.uk/ and The Conran Shop from 4 January 2010. 
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| Buying Guide: Best 1TB external hard drive: 10 drives tested Posted: 28 Dec 2010 03:00 AM PST  These days, you can never have too much storage space. However much you have, you're bound to fill it sooner than you think. But what do you do if you want more? Internal drives are all very well, but your PC doesn't have an infinite number of drive bays, and what if you want to transport your digital data as well as access it from your own PC? For this test then, we're comparing external desktop hard drives that have a 1TB capacity. A desktop drive is based on the 3.5-inch hard drive and is plugged into the mains, as opposed to portable external drives, which use smaller 2.5-inch HDDs and draw their power from their data connection cable, normally powered USB. The main advantage offered by desktop drives over their portable counterparts is price. They can, of course, be unplugged and carried away should you wish to (for example) take data between work and home, but if your drive is likely to spend as much time in your bag as it does on your desk, a portable unit may prove a better option. So you can compare like with like, we've benchmarked the drives by average random read/write speeds in MB/s under the ubiquitous USB 2.0 connectivity, though most drives offer faster methods, such as eSATA. Hard drives on test LaCie Starck 1TB - £89 Iomega Minimax 1TB
This almost-square hard drive is clearly designed to sit under small-form factor machines. Of course, that also means it's fairly convenient to slip into your bag and carry from computer to computer. Not as convenient as a portable drive, of course. It's bigger, and you need to carry the MiniMax's power supply as well as the drive. But if your need an external hard drive that will spend most of its life on your desk, but take the occasional trip to the office or your friend's house, this drive is well worth considering. The MiniMax is very sturdy, and its large rubber base stops it sliding about on your desk. Its brushed aluminium sides and white top look great next to most PCs (small-form factor or otherwise), and its transfer speeds are very respectable. Perhaps most interestingly of all, as well as a USB 2.0 and twin FireWire 800 ports (a cable for FW400 connections is supplied), there's also a three-port USB hub for connecting further peripherals. Just the thing if you want a USB hard drive, but are running out of ports. Verdict: 89% LaCie Starck 1TB
If you're looking for an external hard drive that looks great next to almost any PC, you could do a lot worse than check out this one. Designed by top industrial designer Philippe Starck, its sturdy aluminium casing and shiny, molten metal front look absolutely gorgeous. Starck's signature cross sign is projected onto the desktop as a drive status LED too, which is a nice touch. The molten front panel is touch-sensitive, functioning as a shortcut button that can be set up to launch an application, open a file or mount and unmount the drive. Unfortunately, the configuration software that controls this function is a little flaky. The Starck isn't LaCie's most versatile external desktop hard drive. It's USB 2.0-only, though it gave us reasonable speeds in our benchmarking tests. For even faster speeds, you can download a turbo driver, to boost USB speeds by up to 33 per cent. Also bundled is 10GB of Wuala online storage, which is free for a year, and LaCie Genie Backup Assistant for an easy way to back up your files. Verdict: 83% G-Technology G-Raid 1TB
This attractive, sturdy device holds two 500GB drives arranged in a hardware RAID 0 array for additional speed. It offers USB 2.0 connectivity, twin FireWire 800 ports with a FireWire 800-to-400 cable for connection to a FireWire 400 port.For the fastest possible connection, there's also eSATA. An Oxford 936 chipset is used for its out-of-the box hardware RAID 0 array. You can switch to a RAID 1 mirrored array, which copies your data to both of the drive's two discs, halving the unit's overall storage capacity but protecting your data against drive failure. G-Technology doesn't exactly go out of its way to show you how to do this, though. You have to download an application called 'G-Tech Configurator' from the support section of its website, or search the bundled CD where it's only found under G-RAID Mini, a different product. Unlike its stable mate, the similarly-styled G-DRIVE, the G-RAID uses a fan-based cooling system. Thankfully, it's based on a thermo-regulated smart fan that only kicks in when the temperature rises, and is pretty quiet in operation even when it's running. It's also worth mentioning that the 4TB version of this external hard drive isn't compatible with Windows XP. Verdict: 86% Freecom Hard Drive XS 3.0 1TB
Freecom's Hard Drive XS 3.0 is USB-only. As you'd expect from the name, it's compatible with the new USB 3.0 standard, which is up to ten times faster than USB 2.0 and fully backwards-compatible. Although a desktop design (it's based on a 3.5-inch SATA drive format and plugs into the mains), it's clearly built with portability in mind. Described as 'the world's smallest 3.5-inch external drive', the unit as a whole is barely larger than the drive it holds. It's also wrapped in a rubber sleeve to reduce vibrations and protect against minor knocks. This rubberised finish and its fanless construction make the Hard Drive XS 3.0 almost silent in operation. Even when using a slower USB 2.0 connection, the XS 3.0 is pretty speedy. It's reasonably light at 862g too, and its power supply is a modest, pocket-sized affair. There's no enormous brick-like transformer to lug around. Given its clear advantages as a semi-portable drive, we can't think why Freecom didn't bundle a carry case. It would've rounded off a very useful and keenly-priced package. Verdict: 85% G-Technology G-Drive 1TB
This beautifully realised aluminium design from Hitachi subsidiary G-Technology is clearly conceived with the Mac user in mind, but it looks just as at home next to a brushed metal PC tower. As well as USB 2.0, G-DRIVE offers eSATA for ultra-fast connection with compatible machines, and twin FireWire 800 ports. A FireWire 800-to-400 cable is bundled, so you can connect using the slower FireWire 400 standard if you've no spare FW800 port. Like many of the drives on test here, the G-DRIVE offers a fanless cooling system. Instead, there's an aluminium heatsink between its supports that silently dissipates heat. At just under five centimetres tall it's got a very low profile, but it's certainly not designed to be vertically mounted. It performed admirably in our speed tests, being one of the faster drives in our base-line USB 2.0 test, and at the front of the pack using FireWire. The G-DRIVE isn't exactly awash with bundled software, though we wonder how many people actually use applications they get bundled with storage solutions. Despite its triple-interface connectivity options we feel it's a little expensive too, though the quality is very high. Verdict: 88% Iomega Ego Desktop Hard Drive 1TB
Iomega's popular eGo Desktop Hard Drive range comes in various fl avours. The silver model we're looking at here offers FireWire 400/800 and USB 2.0 connectivity and is Mac-formatted out of the box, but can easily be reconfigured for Windows. Other variations of the drive include a jet black or midnight blue USB 2.0-only drive, or a charcoal enclosure offering USB 3.0 connectivity. The eGo Desktop range boasts plastic enclosures, but they look as smart and attractive as any metal casing. They can be mounted vertically using the supplied stand, or horizontally. You get two free software applications with the drive, though you have to download them – they're not on the hard drive itself or on a bundled CD. Iomega QuikProtect lets you back up your data to an external or networked drive, according to a schedule or whenever a fi le changes. MozyHome Online backup service lets you back up your data to a cloud server. You get 2GB free with the drive, or you can sign up for MozyPro and buy more storage space for a monthly fee. Verdict: 85% Buffalo DriveStation 1TB
This cost-effective drive from Buffalo is USB 2.0-only, but its transfer speeds can be enhanced using the bundled TurboUSB driver. Windows users can enjoy full disk AES256-bit hardware encryption to keep your data safe and secure, encrypting all data as soon as it's written to the drive, and protecting it with a password. SecureLockManager Easy remembers your credentials and makes logging-on a simple task when using Full Automatic Encryption, and there's a power saving mode that automatically switches off the drive when you shut down your PC. Also included is Memeo AutoSync backup software and Google's Picasa software for photo and movie organising. The DriveStation's shiny black plastic casing is fairly attractive, especially next to a glossy black tower system, but it picks up fingerprints faster than the CSI team. Thankfully, being a desktop drive, you won't have to pick it up often. It's not the fastest of the drives on test here, but it's not the slowest either and its TurboUSB driver makes it a wise choice if you only plan to use USB 2.0 connectivity. Verdict: 80% Hitachi LifeStudio 1TB Desk Plus
If you're looking for a big, dumb hard drive for data storage, look elsewhere. Hitachi's LifeStudio range, available in mobile and desktop form factors, is aptly described as 'the hard drive redefined'. It's far more than a bare storage device. Its bundled management suite lets you find, organise and share digital content located on both your PC and your LifeStudio drive, view photos you've uploaded to social networking sites, access online content such as games, news, music and videos and auto-sync with the removable USB key mounted on the front of the drive. This removable storage device uses a MicroSD card, which can easily be removed and replaced if you want to upgrade. It's all accessed through a gorgeous 3D browser too. The LifeStudio Desk Plus isn't the fastest of drives, and it's USB 2.0 only, with no support for faster connectivity methods. With its blue and black plastic finish it looks pretty good on your desktop, but the removable USB flash drive means you can't tuck it away out of sight and out of reach. If you're only looking for a storage device, this isn't the drive for you, but if its lifestyle and management features appeal, it's excellent value for money. Verdict: 90% LaCie D2 Quadra 1TB
This Neil Poulton-designed external hard drive is extremely versatile. It has four connectivity options (as suggested in the name); USB 2.0, twin FireWire 800 ports, a single FireWire 400 port and eSATA. It can be vertically mounted using the supplied aluminium stand or used in a horizontal position, and up to four d2 Quadras can be installed together in a convenient desk rack (sold separately). The D2 Quadra's casing is made from sturdy aluminium, and its ribbed surface provides a handy heat sink, which LaCie claims offers up to 60 per cent more surface area for heat dissipation compared to a more conventional, flat-sided external drive. The drive light on the front of the unit also functions as a shortcut button. Using the supplied software (which is a little buggy – we hope a revision is in the pipeline), you can configure it to back up your data or launch a file or application of your choice. Its speeds are very agreeable, it can be set to power down when you switch off your computer and there's bundled software too. Verdict: 91% Freecom Hard Drive Quattro 1TB
This sturdy quadruple-interface drive is clearly built for function rather than aesthetics. While far from ugly, its uncompromising box-like form factor and no-frills design make no attempt to be decorative. Build quality is superb, with a robust brushed aluminium casing and a rugged plastic facing. If you need a drive that can take the knocks, the Freecom Quattro is well worth considering. The Quattro's fanless design means it runs almost silently, making it ideal for desktop use, and it can be mounted horizontally, or vertically using the bundled rubber stands. As well as the ubiquitous USB 2.0 port, the Quattro also boasts eSATA, twin FireWire 800 ports and even a FireWire 400 port, which is unusual. Most drives that offer FireWire 400/800 connectivity usually omit the FireWire 400 port, but instead bundle a cable that lets you connect a FW800 outlet to your system's FW400 port. Although far from poor, the Freecom Quattro's transfer speeds were nothing special, putting in a mediocre performance under USB 2.0 and lagging behind some of the other FireWire-compatible drives when using FW800. Verdict: 78& 
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| Mozilla inadvertently publishes thousands of user IDs Posted: 28 Dec 2010 02:08 AM PST  Firefox developer Mozilla has revealed this week that a database containing usernames and password hashes belonging to thousands of users of addons.mozilla.org had been posted publicly by accident. 44,000 user IDs and password hashes were revealed in the accidental disclosure. Mozilla's security team has already contacted all those potentially affected via email. The weakness of the MD5 hash Sophos explains how Mozilla stored passwords set before April 9th, 2009 as MD5 hashes – which has cryptographic weaknesses that could allow security experts to still determine your password and access your account. Since April 9, 2009, Mozilla has used the far more secure SHA-512 with per-user salts to store password hashes. In the spirit of open-ness, Mozilla has disclosed all the details about the potential privacy breach. Take care with passwords Mozilla's Chris Lyon, director of infrastructure security, writes on the Mozilla Security blog: "On December 17th, Mozilla was notified by a security researcher that a partial database of addons.mozilla.org user accounts was mistakenly left on a Mozilla public server. The security researcher reported the issue to us via our web bounty program. "We were able to account for every download of the database. This issue posed minimal risk to users, however as a precaution we felt we should disclose this issue to people affected and err on the side of disclosure. "The database included 44,000 inactive accounts using older, md5-based password hashes. We erased all the md5-passwords, rendering the accounts disabled. All current addons.mozilla.org accounts use a more secure SHA-512 password hash with per-user salts. SHA-512 and per user salts has been the standard storage method of password hashes for all active users since April 9th, 2009." Mozilla is confident that no one other than the person who reported the incident had access to the file. However, it is would still be wise to change your password if you are one of the 44,000 recipients of the latest email from Mozilla Security. Better to be safe than sorry, after all!. 
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| Review: Chillingo Cut the Rope Posted: 28 Dec 2010 02:00 AM PST  This is what touchscreen gaming is all about. Cut the Rope is everything we love about the iPad – fantastic graphics, incredible personality, and touchscreen controls that genuinely make you feel part of the game. Cutting ropes with a slice of a finger, popping balloons with a tap, and in later levels, dragging elements around with wheels and latches somehow never feels old. Every level has the same basic objective – to feed the candy to a monster (the adorable Om Nom) while also collecting three stars – but the amount of imagination put into the obstacles, together with constant drip-feed of new stuff, stops it becoming dull. The only slight problem is that the level of precision required can occasionally confuse the game, typically resulting in you popping a bubble rather than cutting the rope that's holding it down. The short levels stop this getting too frustrating, though – even in a worst-case scenario, you only have to replay 10 seconds worth of a level. Cut the Rope sits in the perfect middle ground of action and strategy, with some levels acting as puzzles, others speed-reaction challenges, and most sitting somewhere in the middle, where pulling off a three-star victory requires wits, skill and sometimes a little luck, too. If not for the fact that we've now finished all of Cut the Rope's levels, most of them to three-star level, we'd still be playing it now. It easily beats Angry Birds, Air Control and every other game we've played on the iPad so far. All we need now are some more levels to get our teeth into… Related Links
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| Over a million UK kids have no home computer access Posted: 28 Dec 2010 01:43 AM PST  A new report reveals that over a million British schoolkids have no access to a computer at home, with the Department for Education refusing to comment on the findings. With over a million UK children 'lacking access to computers' at home, the impact on their education is clear, with computers becoming an increasingly important tool for homework and working on collaborative school projects. Two million not online In addition to the worryingly high number of kids that do not have access to a PC or Mac at home, nearly two million are also unable to get online at home, according to the report from the the E-Learning Foundation charity. Those children from the poorest families in the UK are two-and-a-half-times less likely to have net access at home compared with kids from families at the other end of the social spectrum. The E-Learning Foundation has a clear objective – to ensure every British school-age child has access to a computer with an internet connection at home. Poverty tech trap The Department for Education has so far refused to comment on the latest findings. The E-Learning Foundation's chief executive, Valerie Thompson, said: "With so many children swamped with gifts from family and friends over the Christmas period it is important we reflect on the fact that millions of children live in poverty in this country. "For those at school, this translates into very tangible disadvantages when it comes to completing homework, researching topics, independent learning, and communicating with teachers and classmates on the school learning platform. "Without the use of a computer and the ability to go online at home the attainment gap that characterises children from low income families is simply going to get worse." 
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| Posted: 28 Dec 2010 01:30 AM PST  For starters, look at the name. Does 'Wordfeud' even sound like 'Scrabble'? Next, look at the board, randomly generated at the start of every game. Is it red and green? It's not. Clearly, then, Wordfeud isn't Scrabble for Android, and if the lawyers want to argue, could they please wait until we've finished our current games? Obviously, it's the same basic – cough – idea. You make words from lettered tiles and score points accordingly. However, the nature of the game is slightly different to its board-based counterpart. It's closer to a play-by-mail game, where you make your move, then put your phone down and do something else until your opponent ruins your opportunity to get 'QUIXOTIC' with a misplaced 'TICK'. Wordfeud uses push notifications (along with notification sounds), and offers mid-game chat, although occasionally we didn't get a notification until we fired the application up again and saw that an opponent had added a new word. Even without these slowdowns, a simple game can easily last a whole day – at least, if your boss is around. If you can't wait that long to show off your vocabulary, you can play up to 30 games simultaneously, but that's not something we'd recommend unless you want to feel your brain leaking out of your ears. Wordfeud's basic edition is free, and shows you an easily skippable advert at the end of every turn. Getting rid of the ads costs a one-time fee of £2. Shamelessly firing up a Scrabble solver on the web is, as ever, a punch-worthy offence to the word gods themselves. Related Links
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| New evidence that PSP Phone due next spring Posted: 28 Dec 2010 01:21 AM PST  While there is still no official word from Sony on plans for the launch of the so-called 'PlayStation Phone' it is looking increasingly likely that the gaming phone will arrive next spring. The latest reports claiming a spring launch for the PSP-styled Android phone from Sony Ericsson come courtesy of Japanese newspaper the Asahi Shimbun - follow claims from anonymous sources earlier this month that an April launch was likely for the US and Europe. Europe and US first? According to the latest report from Japan the Sony Ericsson-developed phone might even go on sale first in the US and Europe, with Japan and other territories following at a later date. The phone will be based on the PSPgo with slide-out PSPgo-style gaming controls, with a touch-sensitive tracking pad instead of analogue thumb nubs. Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Ericsson are still to comment on the latest reports from Japan. Xperia Play However, Sony Ericsson recently sent out a press invite to an Xperia experience at Mobile World Congress, in addition to inviting UK media to a briefing on 6 January about 'how Sony Ericsson plans to enhance the Android experience for consumers'. The Japanese-Swedish alliance promises to 'share its plans for 2011, including what's in-store for the Xperia line of devices' indicating that there is certainly going to be more than one Xperia phone in the near future. The Sony Ericsson 'PSP phone' may also well be called the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play after numerous domain names containing that name have recently been purchased by the company. All will be revealed later next month followed, no doubt, by a major PR offensive at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. UMD-free and download only Whatever the official name and final specification, the PlayStation Phone is likely to be based on Google's Android 3.0 platform and feature "custom Sony Marketplace which will allow you to purchase and download games designed for the new platform." The Sony Ericsson phone is also looking likely to be based on a 1GHz Qualcomm CPU, with 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and a screen "in the range of 3.7 to 4.1 inches." Commenting on possible confusion between Sony Ericsson mobile products and Sony PlayStation gaming products and brands, Sony boss Kaz Hirai also noted recently that: "We don't want gamers to be asking, what's the difference between that [a PS phone] and a PSP... we have to come up with a message that users will understand." Hirai added: "It would have to be a product that keeps the PlayStation's strengths intact." Roll on next spring! 
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| New evidence that PSP Phone due next spring Posted: 28 Dec 2010 01:21 AM PST While there is still no official word from Sony on plans for the launch of the so-called 'PlayStation Phone' it is looking increasingly likely that the gaming phone will arrive next spring. The latest reports claiming a spring launch for the PSP-styled Android phone from Sony Ericsson come courtesy of Japanese newspaper the Asahi Shimbun - follow claims from anonymous sources earlier this month that an April launch was likely for the US and Europe. Europe and US first? According to the latest report from Japan the Sony Ericsson-developed phone might even go on sale first in the US and Europe, with Japan and other territories following at a later date. The phone will be based on the PSPgo with slide-out PSPgo-style gaming controls, with a touch-sensitive tracking pad instead of analogue thumb nubs. Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Ericsson are still to comment on the latest reports from Japan. Xperia Play However, Sony Ericsson recently sent out a press invite to an Xperia experience at Mobile World Congress, in addition to inviting UK media to a briefing on 6 January about 'how Sony Ericsson plans to enhance the Android experience for consumers'. The Japanese-Swedish alliance promises to 'share its plans for 2011, including what's in-store for the Xperia line of devices' indicating that there is certainly going to be more than one Xperia phone in the near future. The Sony Ericsson 'PSP phone' may also well be called the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play after numerous domain names containing that name have recently been purchased by the company. All will be revealed later next month followed, no doubt, by a major PR offensive at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. UMD-free and download only Whatever the official name and final specification, the PlayStation Phone is likely to be based on Google's Android 3.0 platform and feature "custom Sony Marketplace which will allow you to purchase and download games designed for the new platform." The Sony Ericsson phone is also looking likely to be based on a 1GHz Qualcomm CPU, with 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and a screen "in the range of 3.7 to 4.1 inches." Commenting on possible confusion between Sony Ericsson mobile products and Sony PlayStation gaming products and brands, Sony boss Kaz Hirai also noted recently that: "We don't want gamers to be asking, what's the difference between that [a PS phone] and a PSP... we have to come up with a message that users will understand." Hirai added: "It would have to be a product that keeps the PlayStation's strengths intact." Roll on next spring! 
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