Adapter connects internal drives externally

UK computer equipment retailer Maplin Electronics is now selling an IDE-to-USB adapter that enables ATA and ATAPI internal drives to be connected externally via a USB port. The adapter has a number of potential uses, such as backing up troublesome drives, transferring data between computers or just letting you use cheaper internal drives as opposed to their more expensive external equivalents. It supports both the faster USB 2 standard and USB 1. ...more

Lucas Arts dates Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

The Star Wars saga continues in game form. Lucas Arts has dated the arrival of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and unveiled the game's website. The game is scheduled to appear in November and will run on the PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, PSP and the Nintendo DS, with the accompanying website trailing what is in store in terms of new graphics technology and gameplay features. ...more

The world signs up to 100m broadband lines

Broadband connections have topped 100 million this year, according to analysts Point Topic, beating even the phenomenal growths trends shown by the mobile industry in the 1990s. The number of connections has risen from 10 million to 100 million in little more than three years, with China rapidly becoming a major contender. All the G7 countries now feature in the top ten for the numbers of lines, but Point Topic says China is already leapfrogging these and will overtake Korea, Japan and even the USA in time. ...more

Never get lost using your PDA

Navman has launched a clip-on GPS system that turns both PalmOS and Pocket PC-based machines into navigation aids. It's a European debut for the GPS receivers that come with Smartpath, GPS-enabled software covering 90,000 towns and cities in 12 different countries. You can simply set locations as destination points and then track your progress. ...more

Microsoft makes its Black Hat stage debut

Microsoft yesterday made its stage debut at the Black Hat hacking conference to demonstrate its latest products and procedures, giving away preview copies of its flagship Vista system to several thousand security specialists with the invite to try and break in. In a first for Redmond, the company took part as a platinum sponsor and presented a series of briefings on its efforts in the security space and in particular, the new security technologies in Vista. Andrew Cushman, Director, Microsoft Security Response, Engineering and Outreach Team detailed Microsoft's security story from a historical perspective, while John Lambert, Security Group Manager, Security Engineering and Communications Group took the lid off Vista and talked up the lengths his company has gone to secure the system, including what he claimed is the world's largest commercial penetration test. ...more