Snow Leopard could level security playing field
August 27th, 2009 | 
Author: Friday’s release of the new version of the Mac OS, dubbed Snow Leopard, could include some security features that would make it secure, or at least push it closer to the level of security that Vista and Windows 7 have, experts said this week.
Contrary to popular Mac fanboy belief, Macintosh is not more secure from a software standpoint than modern Windows; it’s merely safer to use because malware writers prefer to target the platform with the biggest install base, according to Charlie Miller and Dino Dai Zovi, co-authors of The Mac Hacker’s Handbook, which came out this spring.
“Apple hasn’t implemented all the security features that Vista has,” Miller said. “They made some improvements in Leopard, but they are still behind.”
If there is any truth to rumors circulating about Snow Leopard, the operating system security playing field could become more level as of this weekend and Mac users will really have something to brag about.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10318943-245.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
PG&E to compress air to store wind power
Despite all the talk about needed breakthroughs in batteries, Pacific Gas & Electric is pursuing a less high-tech approach to store wind power: underground compressed air.
The utilty on Wednesday said that it is seeking $25 million in smart-grid stimulus funds to build an underground compresssed air storage facility that would be able to deliver as much electricity as a medium-size power plant for about 10 hours.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10318412-54.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
China plans 500-megawatt solar plant
Canadian Solar has been granted rights to develop a 500-megawatt solar power plant in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China, the company announced Wednesday.
Baotou is a manufacturing city on the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia with a population of over 2 million, according to the Chinese government’s official Baotou Web site.
Canadian Solar’s agreement is with the Administration Committee of Baotou National Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone also known as its Chinese abbreviation “CPT.” The signed agreement includes rights “to design, install, operate, and maintain” the solar power plant in Baotou.
“To have a solar project of such magnitude in Baotou demonstrates our determination to develop the PV end-user market in China, as well as our commitment to cleaner and more sustainable economic development in Baotou,” Fu Ren, the committee’s director, said in a statement released to the U.S. press.
Canadian Solar, while founded in Canada, has subsidiaries based in China that already manufacture both solar cells and solar panel systems among other things. The Baotou solar project, subject to regulatory approval, will develop in three stages.
Stage one will include the installation of 100 megawatts of photovoltaics between September 2009 and December 2011, followed by two more development phases each including 200-megawatt installations.
While the installation is massive, this is not the first of its kind. In October 2008, the U.S. Army announced plans to build a 500-megawatt solar thermal power farm in Fort Irwin, Calif. in an effort to reduce its annual energy costs.
Solar Trust was also recently granted rights to to develop the construction and installation of two or three 242-megawatt solar power plants for California that would be operational by 2013 or 2014.
Baotou, a city in Inner Mongolia, China, is about 12 hours northwest of Beijing by train.
Once again: Do cell phones cause brain tumors?
A collaborative of international electromagnetic radiation (EMR) watchdogs, including Powerwatch and the EMR Policy Institute, sent a paper to government leaders and media Tuesday detailing several design flaws in a major but oft-delayed telecom-funded Interphone study.
Now consumers get to wonder yet again whether the message behind the paper, “Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern, Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone,” is legitimate or the result of overzealous conspiracy theorists.
The paper’s main conclusions are: There is a “significant” risk of brain tumors from cell phone use; EMR exposure limits that have been used by governments and supported by industry are based on the false premise that EMR has no biological effects except for heating; and design flaws of the Interphone study including selection bias, insufficient latency time to expect a tumor diagnosis, unrealistic definition of what makes a “regular” cell phone user, exclusion of children and young adults from the study, exclusion of many types of brain tumors, and exclusion of people who had died or were too ill to be interviewed as the result of brain tumors.
Read the full report here (PDF), as well as CNET’s cell phone radiation level chart (a few Motorola models top the list, with several Samsungs coming in lowest).
Source :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-10318075-247.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in cell phone, Communication, Google, Health, media, Tech | 
Tags: brain tumors, cell phone, Health | 
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Report: Antivirus feature for Snow Leopard?
The next version of Apple’s OS X, which is due out Friday, may bundle antivirus capabilities.
Mac security firm Intego said that the latest version of the operating system, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, could have an antimalware feature, according to reports, in a blog post Tuesday.
The company published a screenshot which it said was of the security feature detecting a Trojan in a download, made via Apple’s Safari Web browser.
Intego pointed out that the most recent Mac adverts compare Mac security favorably to PCs. However, security experts have historically been divided over the relative security of Microsoft and Apple code, while some point out that any comparison is further complicated by the differing market penetration of Macs and PCs.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10318201-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20