technology - "computer"

Apple tends to prove unstoppable even when other computer makers falter. In the most recent quarter, shipments of Macs surged 41 percent. That's nearly three times the 15 percent global growth rate for PCs in general. But in the current quarter, as markets slide, banks go belly-up, and consumer confidence plunges, even the Apple growth engine may hit speed bumps.

Hugh Pickens writes 'Professor Avishai Wool has unveiled a program to watch for malware on servers with a modification to the Linux kernel. 'We modified the kernel in the system's operating system so that it monitors and tracks the behavior of the programs installed on it,' says Wool. Essentially, Wool says, his software team has built a model that predicts how software running on a server should work (pdf). If the kernel senses abnormal activity, it stops the program from working before malicious actions occur. 'When we see a deviation, we know for sure there's something bad going on,' Wool explains. Wool cites problems with costly anti-virus protection. 'Our methods are much more efficient and don't chew up the computer's resources.'' of this story at Slashdot.

rickthewizkid writes 'Recent updates to the iTunes software allow blind users to access the program without assistance. From the article: 'The new software — which transforms the written information on an iTunes-linked computer screen into speech or Braille — stemmed from an agreement between Apple, the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer company, the National Federation of the Blind and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.'' It's not just the actual iTunes app, though; the article notes that this update makes iTunes U useable as well. of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader submits news of the million-laptop order from Venezuela of Intel's version of the kid-friendly laptop. The computers are produced in Portugal. 'The machines, rebranded 'Magellan,' will also come with Linux pre-installed as opposed to Windows XP. This order alone is 50% bigger than the entire OLPC project has managed to sell worldwide.' of this story at Slashdot.

dcblogs writes 'Thanks to Wall Street's implosion, the chairman of Stanford University's computer Science Department says he is seeing more interest from students in computer science. Ditto at Boston College. computer science enrollments crashed after the dot-com bust as students turned to hedge fund majors. And are computer science grads getting jobs? The professor at one university program that graduates about 45 students a year with CS degrees, wrote in a comment: 'Last year 87% of our seniors were employed before graduation. The median starting salary was $58,500. A majority of CIS students had multiple job offers. From where I sit, there is a huge demand for entry level IT professionals in IS and in CS.'' of this story at Slashdot.

Hamburg - Laptop buyers should pay special attention to the amount of RAM installed in the computer. Two gigabytes (GB) is the rock-bottom threshold, recommends Hamburg-based Computerbild magazine, as that is enough to work with Windows Vista. Those ...