Demofall: Security, PC-sharing, nanotechnology touted
129970
(InfoWorld) - San Diego -- An anti-botnet appliance, PC-sharing, and codeless application development were featured technologies at the Demofall 2006 conference Wednesday, with a multitude of hopefuls vying to provide the next industry-changing innovations. A myriad of offerings in the security, application development, and virtualization areas were covered as attendees gained insight into the use of nanotechnology to improve computer storage. Trend Micro, which unlike most other Demofall exhibitors has been around for many years, showed its InterCloud Security Service, which features an appliance and a service to combat botnets, which compromise security to gather confidential information. "We're here today because security threats on the Internet are growing faster than ever before," said Dave Rand, CTO at Trend Micro. "The main objective of these threats? Profit. The main cause? Botnets." NComputing, meanwhile, pitched its technology for PC-sharing via the use of terminals. "We expand the market by allowing [any] modern PC to be shared by multiple users at an incredibly low cost," said Stephen Dukker, chairman and CEO of nComputing. The company offers PCI- and Ethernet-based devices to enable sharing of PCs and servers. On the application development front, BriteSoft touted its system for configuring applications rather than coding them. "The software industry is at a crisis," said Fazel Naghshineh, CEO of BriteSoft. "Four-hundred billion dollars are spent annually on software development," with billions wasted on canceled projects, he said. He cited code-centric development as the problem, with developers having to choose from a multitude of coding platforms such as Java or Hibernate. BriteSoft, however, offers its BriteWorks system in which templates, a drag-and-drop paradigm, and an objects library are used to assemble applications quickly. "You can develop applications without writing a single line of code," Naghshineh said. Widgetbox demonstrated its self-named online directory of Web widgets for use in blogs and Web pages. "Widgets are hard to build, they're hard to find, and theyâre hard to use, and Widgetbox aims to solve that," said Ed Anuff, president and CEO of Widgetbox. The Diggs RSS Viewer was cited as the most popular widget available from Widgetbox. Meanwhile, an IBM executive touted the potential capabilities of nanotechnology in storage devices. "Nanotechnology is going to affect that in a very dramatic way," said Gian-Luca Bona, department group manager of Science & Technology at IBM's Almaden Research Center, in San Jose, Calif. One idea being considered for building devices as small as five-by-five nanometers involves the concept of using DNA-based molecular strands, Bona said. "It's all about scaling the technology to smaller and smaller area sizes," reducing costs and increasing performance, he said. Research is being done on scaling down storage devices but obstacles remain in atomic-based developments, according to Bona. But devices are being sought that are faster than today's flash or hard disk drives. "We're talking about 1 million instructions per second that you want to retrieve information out of a device that is non-volatile," which means it holds onto information when turned off, Bona said. Also in security, Data Security Systems Solutions showed its OTPK (One Time Private Key) online digital signature technology enabling secure transactions via handheld devices. "When was the last time you saw a digital signature on a mobile phone that's legally binding?" said Tan Teik Guan, CEO and CTO of the company. Imaginestics demonstrated its 3DSeek search site that enables users to doodle diagrams of component parts they need but cannot describe in words. A user, for example, could sketch a metal bracket and the site would retrieve items that resemble that drawing. PostPath unveiled version 2.0 of its PostPath Server, providing a Linux-based alternative to Microsoft Exchange. The new version features an AJAX-based (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) Web client. "We're so compatible that Outlook thinks itâs talking to Exchange. Really, it's talking to PostPath," said Duncan Greatwood, CEO of PostPath. Teneros added disaster recovery support to its "e-mail continuity appliance," called the Teneros Disaster Recovery Appliance for Microsoft Exchange. Trigence touted its application virtualization technology that uses the concept of an application "capsule," in which a virtual application environment is created with everything needed to run an application elsewhere. Tuesday afternoon featured one of the more peculiar inventions displayed at the conference. Violet launched its "Smart Rabbit," called Nabaztag. The rabbit-shaped, interactive device performs a variety of tasks for its owners and connects wireless Internet users with others. Nabaztag can recite text messages and e-mails, monitor the weather, and play M3 and MIDI files. Responding to commands issued wirelessly or from the Internet, Nabaztag's mobile ears engage in "ear play," in which one Nabaztag owner can reposition its ears and the recipient rabbit's ears then make the same movement. Moixa Energy on Tuesday presented its new battery technology USBcell, which features batteries that leverage USB ports for recharging.
513771
Forget about cumbersome, multifunctional PDAs. The future is an open book. By Bruce Sterling from Wired magazine.
716587
By Paul Gromosiak  I must admit that I am a bit of a Luddite, but I have accepted my fair share of technology in my daily life. What concerns me is how rapidly technology seems to be taking complete control of our lives. Once our servant, I think it is now our master.
148648
Our colleagues over at PC World gathered up a list of products that each of them simply couldn't imagine going through daily life without. Some are relatively obvious, such as Windows 2003,  TiVO and Skype, and others a bit more odd, such as Cyber Systems' RoboForm. Heh?
218085
Security researchers at South Korea's first international hacker conference rip holes in Linux and VOIP. But where are the drinking games? Quinn Norton reports from Seoul.
426077
Unwanted programs that spy on PC users, deliver pop-up ads and track Web surfing habits will be a hot topic at a security conference that's usually more focused on viruses, hackers and the encryption of sensitive information.
387700
Think shredding a device is enough? Wrong. A determined expert can get data off of even a small piece of a chip. And, as an estimated 50 million or more PCs, notebooks and servers are disposed of each year. New portable storage devices, such as USB flash drives and portable music players, can store gigabytes of data and make it easier for a disgruntled insider to download and walk out the door with sensitive information. Handheld computing and communications devices such as Blackberries and PDAs, through email, can funnel sensitive data out of the organization, or let virus or other malware in.
319992
A new carbon-based nanoscale material could be used to make ultrafast computers.
56532
People have long been the weakest link when it comes to protecting computers. The same applies to mobile phones, a security expert says.
421528
For decades, computer performance has been driven largely by the increasing numbers of ever-smaller transistors squeezed into the machines' silicon brains. With each generation, speeds jumped and prices dropped.
760626
Companies are developing MRAM, which could be used in portable electronic devices.
94786
Computer security pros descend on Washington, D.C., confab to talk risks, hacks and digital self-defense.
738304
Mobile devices are slowly becoming the targets of hackers, but a more serious threat could be the arrival of the intriguing software-defined radio, which uses software instead of circuitry.
273055
By Peter Healy, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.  Dec. 17--Imagine that you just told a friend via e-mail about your idea for a new product that might outsell the iPod. But if a computer hacker finds it and steals your secrets, a lifetime of work and billions in revenues could be lost.
726498
New technology could mean superfast data transfer inside the computer.
743508
Worried about people accessing your  private information whenever you use a public computer? There  is a way to protect yourself: Devices as small as a keychain  allow you to use any computer without leaving a trail of  evidence.
472704
A reconfigurable handheld device could foster a community of hardware hackers.