Stories by Keir Thomas

The clock is ticking: Give IPv6 a test drive

Major Websites are to test Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) by participating in World IPv6 Day, scheduled for June 8. Google, Facebook, and Yahoo, among others, have agreed to ensure that IPv6 entrances to their sites will be available, along with any network infrastructure needed to receive IPv6 traffic.

Cloud computing used to hack wireless passwords

German security researcher Thomas Roth has found an innovative use for cloud computing: cracking wireless networks that rely on pre-shared key passphrases, such as those found in homes and smaller businesses.

How useful are tablets for business?

Last week's CES brought forward a huge number of tablets. It doesn't take a genius to realize we're entering the era of tablet computing. Either that or there will soon be a lot of red-faced manufacturers. (Don't laugh; it happens regularly in the world of IT.)

Motorola Atrix hints at a virtualized, cloud future

Motorola announced the Atrix smartphone at the Consumer Electronics Show, and while many have been concentrating on its 4G connectivity and clever desktop dock that lets it run a cut-down Linux desktop on a full-sized monitor, nearly everybody has missed something very important.

Overclock your smartphone, if you dare

WARNING: Overclocking is not for the faint of heart. Do not attempt to hack your phone unless you understand and accept the risks of turning it into a useless "brick."

LG to launch first dual-core phone

Nvidia's much-hyped Tegra 2 CPU has finally found a home in a smartphone courtesy of LG's new Optimus 2X, which will be launched in Korea next month. As such, the Optimus 2X takes the honor of being the first dual-core phone to get to market.

Dropbox makes cloud syncing faster and more selective

Cloud sync service Dropbox has announced the final release of its client software. Dropbox 1.0 "Rainbow Shell" comes with performance increases, courtesy of a reduction in resources used by the program, as well as hundreds of bug fixes. However, the biggest new feature is Selective Sync, which allows users to control which files are downloaded to client computers.

Forget the CR-48: Google is best at the cutting edge

The results are in, and the overwhelming verdict when it comes to Google's Chrome OS is: "Why?" I lost track of the number of reviewers who pointed out that anybody can recreate the Chrome OS experience by simply maximizing a Chrome browser window.

Wikileaks attacks prove the Cloud is reliable

It's a strange world. When Amazon Web Services booted Wikileaks off its servers last week, many people (including me) said it raised significant questions about the rush into cloud services.

Is jailbreaking a device becoming acceptable?

A little mentioned fact about the new Google CR-48 notebook is that it's designed to be jailbroken. This was announced by Sundar Pichai, during Google Chrome's recent preview presentation. There's a switch on the inside of the battery compartment that slips the unit into developer mode.

Solid state drives no better than others, survey says

Solid state drives (SSD) appear to be as <unreliable as traditional hard disks. In fact, they're marginally less reliable: Taken as an average across models, 2.05 percent of SSDs got returned as non-functioning, compared to 1.94 percent of hard disks.

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