IT news

Scam busters
The Association for Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) is providing a website to advise internet users on guarding against online scams and threats. The launch is based on research by Apacs that revealed 4% of respondents would reply immediately to an email that appeared to be from their bank. By extrapolation, that would mean almost half a million people could be fooled into revealing their online banking log-on details. More worrying is that less than half follow advice from their bank on keeping their accounts secure - which does not augur well for the website's success.
www.banksafeonline.org.uk

Fingering security
IBM is adding a secure notebook to its PC range. The ThinkPad T42 incorporates a fingerprint scanner on the keyboard wrist rest to allow a user to log-on by swiping a finger across the narrow reader strip. The swipe method was chosen in preference to a glass plate scanner to avoid the risk of a dirty finger leaving a residual print. This could fool the system into reading the imprint as an actual fingerprint. The biometric log-on is backed up by IBM's Client Security Software to manage the log-on process and Rescue and Recovery disaster recovery software. Encryption can be added with the optional Safeware package from Ultimaco.
www.pc.ibm.com/us

Tiger release
Sun Microsystems is pushing out a new release of its Java 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE). Version 5.0, code-named Tiger, adds 100 new features to the language. The main ones are aimed at making the graphical interface easier to use and enabling faster loading times while using less memory. In response to corporate demands, J2SE has also added features to allow applications to be managed and monitored more easily. J2SE 5.0 was developed through the Java Community Process in conjunction with 14 other companies, including BEA Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Oracle.
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.jsp

Fast encryption
SSH is adopting software from Cryptico, a Danish encryption company, to speed up the encryption process in its Tectia managed security middleware. SSH says that the CryptiCore engine allows data to be encrypted on the fly rather than using hardware accelerators. This means that data can be backed up and stored much faster. Both companies believe that data encryption is often ignored because of the conversion overhead and that this could compromise legislative requirements to securely store customer information. Cryptico claims that its algorithm allows CryptiCore to run about four times faster than Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and 12 times the speed of Triple DES.
www.ssh.com
www.cryptico.com

Sound ideas
The DVD industry is gearing up for a next-generation formats battle along the lines of VHS v Betamax. The two contenders are HD DVD, backed by the DVD Forum, and Blu-ray, backed by Sony and Philips, the inventors of the CD. In the latest round of announcements, the rivals have been choosing audio formats. The DVD Forum has selected Dolby Digital Plus and MLP Lossless as mandatory audio formats for HD DVD, while the Blu-ray Disc Association has picked Dolby Digital. Both formats will support the rival DTS++ lossless audio format from Digital Theater Systems Inc. Both systems will be demonstrated at the 117th AES Convention in San Francisco, October 28-31.
http://www.dolby.com/about
www.dtsonline.com/company

Symbian support
Intel, Nokia and Symbian say they have agreed to co-develop Nokia Series 60 Platform phones based on Intel technology, while Intel and Symbian will co-develop a reference platform for 3G phones. In this case, the Intel technology is the ARM-based XScale, which Intel has developed from the Strong- ARM it picked up from DEC (Digital Equipment Corp). The deals are non-exclusive.

Access anxiety
A quarter of the British business executives who use mobile technology, such as PDAs and notebook PCs, suffer from "access anxiety", according to research conducted by the International Research Bureau for Citrix. Professor Cary Cooper at Lancaster University has defined this as occuring when executives have constant difficulty trying to access corporate IT resources from their mobile devices. Apparently it takes, on average, 3.8 minutes to get access to email when working outside the office, which wastes 24 hours a year, and is the third most stressful aspect of business travel.