Free-falling laptops get protection they
deserve
Here at Downtime we have always been shy of buying laptops for
fear of breaking them within 48 hours by dropping them or spilling
tea all over the keyboard. So, needless to say, we were delighted
to read this week that a clever new widget from Fujitsu will soon
be protecting us from one of these terrible fates.
Its "free-fall sensor" sounds like genius to us. It protects a
laptop's hard drive in the event of a fall by moving the read/write
head on a hard drive away from the disc itself - all in the split
second that the laptop is still in mid-air and yet to make
crunching contact with the ground.
Apparently, the sensor self-activates for falls from a height of
about 20cm, but somehow also works for drops from lesser
heights.
Our sketchy research has led us to the realisation that IBM
already offers "sensor impact protection" on some of its laptop
models, but we must say we like the sound of "free-fall sensors"
even better. It sounds like an ejector seat for hard drives.
James Bond's boss M would surely approve.
To extradite or not to extradite is the
question
It is only a small crumb of comfort, admittedly, but perhaps
Nasa hacker suspect Gary McKinnon can take some solace from the
results of a poll by Sophos, which has found that fewer than 50% of
IT professionals want him extradited for his alleged crimes.
McKinnon faces the stark prospect of up to 70 years in jail if
he is extradited to the US and ultimately found guilty of
perpetrating "the biggest military hack of all time". Earlier this
month he lost his appeal to the UK's High Court against a previous
decision to approve his extradition, meaning McKinnon is fast
running out of options.
The Sophos poll found that 48% of IT professionals support the
plan to extradite McKinnon, with the remaining 52% firmly against
the extradition (no undecideds here, it would seem).
"The IT community cannot seem to agree about what would be an
appropriate punishment in this case," said Graham Cluley of
Sophos.
"Irrespective of where he is tried, let's hope that if McKinnon
is found guilty it will be based on reliable evidence and that he
will be sentenced appropriately for the offences he is alleged to
have committed."
Downtime, for one, cannot help feeling that 70 years seems a bit
steep. How about 100 hours of community service? That should do it.
He could spend the time reformatting hard drives for the greater
good.
Rub-a-dub-dub, super realistic water in the
tub
Question: how do you get non-specialists to appreciate the finer
points of a mathematical model you have developed to simulate how
materials behave in different environments?
Answer: Create a duck-themed computer game, of course.
Downtime has to hand it to a group of enterprising scientists at
Sheffield Hallam University, who have created "the most realistic
flowing water ever seen" in the said game, which features a gaggle
of swimming ducks.
Chris Care, who works in the materials modelling group at the
university, said that creating the computer game was a logical step
to take, since much of the university's work involves developing
computer programs that simulate the way different materials
behave.
More to the point, the resultant game - Super Rub-A-Dub - allows
players to assume the role of a mother duck roaming around a
super-realistic tub of water as she attempts to free her offspring
from bubbles and lead them to safety.
Now that's progress.
Contribute to Downtime
If you have a funny IT-related story we want to hear from you.
E-mail: cwdowntime@rbi.co.uk