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Friday Fives: What's on show at Cebit 2010
CeBIT, held each March in Hannover, Germany, is one of the biggest showcases of new computer technology in the world, and this week Computeractive has been there to check out all the latest products that'll be on sale over the next six months. With thousands of exhibitors there are just too many to list, so we've boiled it all down to the the best products that represent five key trends from this year's show.
1) Loud Laptops
Laptop computers don't have a great reputation when it comes to sound quality, and with good reason: most have tiny, tinny speakers packed into the case as an afterthought. This year, though, several of the biggest computer names at Cebit have been showing portable computers that, they claim, are designed to sound great.
The Asus NX90 is certainly eye-catching: it's huge and completely covered in brushed aluminium. And, alongside some unusual features such as the two touchpads - one on either side of the keyboard - it has a powerful sound system provided by Bang and Olufsen IcePower. Its speaker enclosures have a volume of 108cc, and although it's very hard to judge the quality of sound in a busy trade show we can testify to the volume on offer.
A similar product was also on show at the stand of Asus's key rival MSI. Its GT660 gaming laptop packs a Core i7 processor, Blu-ray, two hard disks and Nvidia 285M graphics, but also a 2.1 sound system from Dynaudio - again, it's impressively thunderous.
2) Smart Storage
Network attached storage devices are to be found everywhere at the show, with the manufacturers seemingly adding new functions each and every year, but a few in particular stood out. The new Thecus N4200 has an unusual case with two displays, but there's also a lithium-ion battery in the back - if the mains power supply fails, this gives it enough power to shut down properly, saving your data.
Not to be outdone, rival Qnap was demonstrating its new QMobile tool for the iPhone and iPod Touch - this gives access to the multimedia functions of its NAS devices from any Apple mobile handset.
3) Neat Networking
Network storage aside, there are plenty of clever networking products on show. We particularly liked Devolo's new Smart+ powerline network adapters: instead of using LEDs to indicate the network status, these use an LCD display to provide far more information on the status of the network. The company was also showing this prototype of a new product due in September - this little white box will run at speeds of up to 500Mbps:
Also, good news for anyone who was tempted by our review of the AVM Fritzbox but couldn't stretch to the price: the company is launching a new, simpler model with the ISDN functions removed and a much lower price. The Fritzbox WLAN 3370 includes 802.11N networking, and should cost around £115 - it'll be available in a few months.
4) Powerful Programs
Although Cebit includes hall upon hall of new computer hardware, there are also dozens of software vendors showing off their new tools. As we reported previously, security firm Kaspersky Lab used Cebit to launch its new PURE antivirus product - read our story on that here.
Another clever new tool could be found on the Laplink stand. The company is adding a new feature to its PCMover software called the PCMover Image Assistant. This allows users to move both programs and files from a hard disk image to a new PC: so, for example, if you have an image backup of a Windows XP computer, and that fails, you can use the tool to move your programs onto a new Windows 7 PC without having to first reinstall XP. As well as appearing in future versions of PCMover, it'll be included with some disk imaging tools from O&O.
5) New and Unusual
From USB keys in every imaginable shape to foldable pianos to somewhat tasteless computer accessories (don't ask) there's all manner of odd goods on show at Cebit. Some look downright awful, but then there are a few unusual products that caught our eye. Thermaltake's Tt eSports brand may have a very strange name - that extra "t" is not a typing error - but its new keyboard might appeal to gamers or workaholics: reach around the back and there's a small fan that can be clipped onto the top of the keyboard to keep your fingers cool during frantic activities such as gaming or filling in an online self-assessment tax form at the last possible minute. The keys also illuminate in any one of 256 colours.
Also, while Asus and MSI compete to show the biggest range of unusual PCs - from 3D desktops and laptops to concept models and Asus's Bamboo range ("panda friendly", we're assured), there's one computer that really sticks out: the Eee Keyboard.
We saw a prototype at last year's Cebit, but with the finished product due in May this device finally seems to be ready for the market. It has a 5 inch capacitative touchscreen built in, runs Windows XP and can link up to your television via an ultra-wideband transmitter. It uses an Atom N270 processor, 1GB of memory and will be available with 16GB or 32GB of solid state storage - expect to see it on sale for less than £600.
McAfee and Facebook
Not a bad offer here. Get a six month subscription to McAfee Internet Security if you become a fan on Facebook. Once you’re a fan, click on the ‘Protect My PC’ tab on the McAfee page.
If you’re wondering why the offer is greyed out, that’s because you have to become a fan first. Once done, select your language and the McAfee download page will load automatically.
It may also be worth become a fan of the Facebook Security page.
There’s no such thing as privacy
Fascinating post on the F-Secure blog about what privacy settings in Facebook really mean. Sean added a photo to a Facebook account making sure that every option was set to private. Unfortunately Facebook still adds a public link for the image. Checking the link I realised that this isn’t just a link for anyone on Facebook, you don’t even need to logged in to view it.
Something to bear in mind before you post photos, no matter how funny they are.
Sage password advice from Lifehacker
Passwords. They keep our details and web accounts safe, but they are a real pain to remember. I have to rely on the good nature of our IT department every time I come back from holiday because I invariably forget my password.
The temptation is to try and avoid having to remember them whenever possible, but this can be a big problem, especially if your laptop is stolen.
Lifehacker gives some helpful advice in their article ‘Your passwords aren’t as secure as you think; Here’s how to fix that’.
It was something of an eye-opener for me. I hadn’t realised that the Pidgin instant messaging software stores all of the passwords as plain text. They have a good reason for doing so (not giving a false sense of security) but as I had never known this I still had the false sense of security.
Thankfully there is plenty of useful advice on how to keep your passwords safe with password managers that use encryption. Well worth a read.
Windows 7 and network file storage problems
At first glance an article about getting Windows 7 to work with the Samba file server software might seem overly techie. But this software is often used by network attached hard disks.
If you have been having problems this article from LinuxPlanet.com has some helpful hints on how to fix problems in Windows 7 by changing network settings. It seems a shame that the solution is to turn off some Windows 7 security features but, as Charlie Schluting points out, it is often not possible to upgrade the software on network attached storage devices.
Important update for Opera browser
Opera version 10.10 has been released and it’s very important that you upgrade as soon as possible. Click on the Help menu and then Check for updates.
According to ZDNet, the most serious flaw could allow an attacker to take complete control of the computer, and you don’t need me to tell you that’s a bad thing.
Updates for Firefox and Opera
Time to update your browsers again with updates released for both Firefox and Opera.
Firefox 3.5.4 fixes several security and stability problems and lets you re-submit crash reports.
The update should download automatically, but if you want to make sure, click on the Help menu and then Check for Updates.
The update for Opera (10.01) also fixes some security problems as well as some bugs including random instances of downloads not starting and problems with creating a new mail account.
Checking for updates is exactly the same as Firefox
Look closely to install AVG Free 9
AVG Free has been a valuable tool in the battle against malware offering a decent level of protection without costing people anything. It benefits everybody in the long run because fewer unprotected computers mean fewer bots, computers that have been hijacked by hackers and used in online attacks.
The trouble is that when a new version comes out, AVG Free 9 in this case, the upgrade process causes some headaches. The AVG window says that a new version is available with a large, friendly, button to upgrade. The problem is that the webpage you get taken to doesn’t appear to have any reference to the free version. Click on the image on the right to see the full page as appeared on my computer.
If you want to stick with the free version of AVG, you will need to scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen and look for the rather small text ‘update my current product only’.
I can’t blame AVG for wanting people to upgrade to the paid protection, but I don’t think it should be this hard to upgrade. At least you know now.
Network security with a sense of humour
One of the dangers of a wireless home network is neighbours using the internet connection that you pay for. The best advice is to enable WPA security on the network to make people enter a password to use the site. I also hide the SSID of the network and am considering using MAC filtering; only allowing access to specific network adapters
This is all well and good, but if you favour the philosophy of ‘Don’t get mad, get even’, you may want to consider the Upside-Down-Ternet. It’s a little technical, but the results are quite funny. If someone connects to the network without permission, all the images in web pages are run through a local webserver, flipping them upside down in the process.
It pretty much makes the web unusable. All you need is a way of hearing the reaction of the connection thieves when you turn it on! Still the idea was made into a cartoon by the ever excellent xkcd.
Firefox 3.5.3 warns of insecure Flash Player
We’re used to Firefox checking add-ons after an upgrade but the latest update has some extra advice on the webpage opened after restarting. There’s been an update to Adobe Flash for both security and stability. Keeping add-ons and such up to date on Firefox can become a confusing business so any extra help is most welcome
