BT says 300Mbps FTTP a year away….The Fight is on
February 3rd, 2012 | 
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The super-fast broadband race continues, as BT and Virgin Media attempt to outdo each other hooking the nation – or at least the major population centres – up to very speedy pipes.
Virgin Media struck the latest blow, with the announcement of a broad doubling of the speed of its various packages at no extra charge to customers. And those on its leading edge 100Mbps package are to get a boost to 120Mbps, faster than BT’s current nippiest line (100Mbps).
But not for long, BT heralds with an announcement this morning. For its trials of FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises) on-demand technology in Cornwall have gone well.
Basically, FTTP-OD is an extension of services in FTTC enabled areas whereby the customer can pay to have an additional run of fibre directly to their home or business premise.
Previously a direct fibre line wasn’t available in FTTC areas, but BT has developed a new “fibre overlay” solution for hooking up the household with a final run of fibre.
This will offer speeds of up to 300Mbps, triple the existing top speed, in what BT has dubbed ultra-fast fibre.
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Students busted for hacking computers, changing grades
‘Very bright kids’ too bright for their own good
Three high school juniors have been arrested after they devised a sophisticated hacking scheme to up their grades and make money selling quiz answers to their classmates.
The students are accused of breaking into the janitor’s office of California’s Palos Verdes High School and making a copy of the master key, giving them access to all the classrooms. They then attached keylogging hardware to the computers of four teachers, and harvested the passwords needed to access the central files of the school network.
They then used that access to change their grades slightly, nudging them up by increments so that all three got As. At the time they were caught, keyloggers were found on three other teachers’ systems, indicating the group was expanding its efforts.
Alienware X51 mini-PC launched
Dell has announced a new machine in the Alienware range.
The X51 is a mini-PC designed to fit under the television, and it’s around the same size as an Xbox, taking care of HD gaming and movie duties.
The compact box, which is around 12 inches square and just under 4 inches thick, comes loaded up with an Intel Sandy Bridge processor, GeForce GT or GTX graphics card, wireless-N for net access, HDMI 1.4 to hook up to the TV, along with USB 3.0 ports.
Much like the Xbox, it can be stood up vertically or laid down horizontally, and indeed the base black and green colour scheme of the pictured model gives it a very Microsoft console vibe.
Norminet are introducing New Multi-Year Registations.
1st of May 2012 Nominet are introducing multi-year registration periods so that .uk domain names can be registered and renewed for between 1 and 10 years. Cracking news for Long Term Registrations and for those who specialise in Internet Marketing.
Support Update
Fantastic news, Over the weekend we have been rolling out 24×7 Workstation as standard within our Silver + Support packages. So far we have seen that:
- Serial Numbers of machines have been recorded for Insurance policies.
- Fully Audited Licenses for Microsoft Licensing
- Fully Asset Tacking
- Knowledge of all your machines within the Business.
This is just to mention a few.
RIM demos PlayBook OS2
Finally, native email… a month from now
CES 2012 PlayBook owners should be getting native email next month, but as RIM’s tablet gains independence it’s also shifting away from the infrastructure which has served RIM so well.
RIM has been demonstrating the latest version of its PlayBook OS at CES, and has finally got native PIM applications running on the tablet – including email, contacts and calendar. But the PlayBook goes a good deal further in providing a universal inbox for all one’s communications, as well as putting LinkedIn contacts on a par with business associates.
Virgin Media to push out nimble new broadband speeds
Telco to burn £110m on shoving 120Mbps through fibre
Virgin Media is planning to whip its broadband into a wild gallop in a £110m upgrade that will produce a top speed of 120Mbps.
The company won’t be charging its existing customers for the new speeds, and folks who have an old modem incapable of handling the super-fast internet – such as those on the 20Mbps package – will get a new one free.
