Realm Systems has announced the BlackDog USB powered Linux server. This handy little server can be plugged into any USB port of a PC without any special software. It’s a perfect plug and play Linux server aimed at the geeky users and corporate market. The company announced the availability of this product at LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.

BlackDog comes built in with a biometrics fingerprint reader to prevent unauthorized access. Packed with a 400MHz PowerPC Processor and 64M bytes of RAM, it comes with a choice of 256MB or 512MB flash memory running Debian Linux.

Microsoft will be launching its latest SQL Server 2005 somewhere in November. This is your opportunity to join their beta test programme.

SQL Server 2005 has a whole load of changes from the last version, including sections of code in the ETL layer that have been rewritten from scratch. Microsoft promises increased security, and scalability, and says a raft of new features have been added to help deal with unplanned downtime. Yeah right

“We’re launching a preview programme, and want to invite as many people as possible to order the beta version of the software. In parallel, we’re offering a very attractive set of benefits and lots of freebies and goodies, like TechNet subscriptions, courses and events.”

Hurry over and register for the Customer Preview Programme.

myDEFCON|DC6004 #16 (August 2005)
Time: 9pm
Date: Friday, 5th August 2005
Venue: 1st Floor, Northam Beach Cafe (opposite MBF Tower, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah)

New location, so please be punctual (9pm SHARP). Parking available at Northam Tower or infront of the coffeeshop.

For more details about the group, please visit http://mydefcon.org.

I’m not much a media person but I will be. Winamp 2.666 remains my choice for playing mp3s. Why use such an old version you may ask?

Why not when what it offers is sufficient? Not for you perhaps. That is why I am gonna torture myself and install all 4 of the most popular media players and pick my choice in the end.

The 4 media players I will be reviewing are

1. Windows Media Player 10
2. iTunes 4
3. RealPlayer 10
4. Winamp 5

We’ll see what’s my choice in a week or two

For those of you who can’t attend DEF CON 13 (like me), sulk no more. MakeZine covered the annual hacker conference Def Con in Las Vegas from July 29th to the 31st.

From lockpicking to WiFi Pistol to Cisco flaw presentation, this year’s conference sure ain’t dull.

Video Conferencing
Video conferencing is not something new on the Internet but I would to see it take step into converging mobile phone technology and the Internet.

3G is picking up fast and so is wireless technology. One fine day, we will be able to perform video conferencing with a 3G phone directly from our computer. I’m sure works are in progress to make this a reality.

For now you can just sample GPRS 3G Skype.

Now think of what happens when WiFi or WiMax coverage extends and all mobile phones start to have Internet connectivity or somewhat. Broadband phones are also the hype these days. You can also get Skype phones which hooks up to your Internet connection and talk for free to other Skype users.

No video conferencing features on Skype? No problem. There is a third party plugin which supports video conferencing from Dialcom Networks

Chances are high we would be using “Internet mobile phones” instead of “mobile phones” in the near future.

Robosapien is the first robot based on the science of applied biomorphic robotics.

Designed by a scientist, Robosapien is ready to go right out of the box. He comes to life at a touch of the ergonomically designed remote controller! Command him to perform one of his pre-programmed functions or program your own sequence of functions.

The only limitation is your own imagination.

• Fluid motions and gestures: fast dynamic 2-speed walking and turning; full-function arms with two types of grippers.
• 67 pre-programmed functions: pick-up, throw, kick, dance, kung-fu, fart, belch, rap and more; 3 demonstration modes.
• Fully programmable by remote control: Up to 84 program steps with 4 program modes for advanced operations; programmable “reflexes” to sound and touch stimuli.
• Fluent international “caveman” speech.
• Extended battery life.

This is much better than getting a dumb Aibo. Kinda lets you play god

For those of you guys using Mozilla products, MozBackup is a must have.

MozBackup is a utility for creating backups of Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird and Netscape profiles. It allows you to backup mail, favorites, contacts and profiles. Best of all, this program is freeware.

Google Moon is now available for those of you who wish to explore futher than our planet earth.

What will Google think of next? Google Sun?

Could RSS feeds become a conduit for the transmission of computer worms? Security experts are at odds over the possibility. Those who play down the threat point to the fact that no virus has ever used the propagation technique while others say it’s only when a network reaches critical mass (as in the case of instant message and file sharing networks) that malware threats show their ugly head.

Personal firewall firm Zone Labs describes RSS feeds (together with mobile phones and PDAs) as the “next battleground in security”. Gregor Freund, chief exec and co-founder of the Check Point Software subsidiary, said RSS feeds are a potential threat because whenever you have unstructured or unfiltered data you can end up with viruses. He added that Zone Labs had spotted malicious behaviour over RSS feeds but wasn’t able to supply any details on what this malfeasance might be.

Read on

This looks very interesting and very possible. To me it’s a definate.