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Blowing up hard drives, stinky broadband and super cars

Photos of the month - July 2008
By silicon.com staff, Contributor
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1 of 11 silicon.com staff/ZDNET

Photos of the month - July 2008

The Tesla Roadster, a sporty variation on the electric car, was one of the many high powered and eco-friendly cars on show at the British International Motor Show in London.

Get revved up for more petrol-headed fun here.

Photo credit: Tim Ferguson

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2 of 11 silicon.com staff/ZDNET

Disposing of computer hard drives in a secure and safe way has become a hot topic, especially after the high profile data leaks in the past year.

So bearing this in mind, silicon.com picked five ways to deal with your unwanted hard drives.

One method proven to work well is to leave your old hard drive soaking in acid - apparently hydrochloric is best. Leave the hard drive soaking for a couple of hours and the metal will corrode making the device useless.

See more acts of destruction here.

Photo credit: Tim Ferguson

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3 of 11 silicon.com staff/ZDNET

It might only be the size of a briefcase but an intelligent robot is helping to protect the UK's borders from criminals and terrorists.

The modestly named Hero bot uses its spotlights and high resolution cameras to scan the underside of UK-bound lorries and coaches travelling through Calais - one of Europe's biggest ports.

The machine, seen in action here, is made by BAE Systems and is being trialled by UK Border Agency to reduce the heavy demands that searching the underside of vehicles for stowaways and smuggled materials places on staff.

See more of Hero in action here.

Photo credit: BAE Systems

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4 of 11 silicon.com staff/ZDNET

silicon.com took a trip out to the east end of London, to the Thames Water depot near Stratford, for a rare trip down London's Victorian sewer network for a look at a much more high-tech network it is now hosting - Geo's business broadband network. Here is the long descent down into the sewers.

Delve deeper under the streets of London here.

Photo credit: silicon.com

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5 of 11 silicon.com staff/ZDNET

Symantec's security operations centre analyses more than one billion logs per day, as part of a global network monitoring attacks on computer networks for 650 customers.

And the centre at Symantec's Reading HQ faces a growing threat, with a 140 per cent increase in the amount of malware being deployed online over the past six months.

Today the 24/7 centre, seen here, deals with more than 3,200 security incidents and sees 10 security incidents escalated every day.

Discover more about these guardians of the web here.

Photo credit: Nick Heath

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6 of 11 silicon.com staff/ZDNET

Networking company Cisco has been showing off some of the technologies it's working on in its R&D division.

This piece of equipment measures a patient's blood oxygen level and takes their pulse - in this case a plucky volunteer guinea pig has 98 per cent blood oxygen and a very low resting pulse rate of 47.

For a further dose of high tech healthcare look here.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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7 of 11 silicon.com staff/ZDNET

This photo story is a peek into one of the world's great supercomputer labs housed inside the US's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a leading research institution and the site of the reactor in which plutonium for the first atomic bombs was refined during World War II.

Here's a look inside one of the Cray X1E's panels. You can see just one set of the processors and control systems that run what is currently the 175th most powerful computer in the world.

Crunch through more pictures of the world's finest machines here.

Photo credit: Daniel Terdiman

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8 of 11 silicon.com staff/ZDNET

Spanish telco Telefonica has been showcasing some of the research underway at its e-health facility in Granada - one of seven R&D facilities the company has worldwide, employing more than 1,900 people.

Using webcam-based games to promote exercise can help encourage elderly people to stay mobile. This game encourages people to bounce a virtual ball by moving their arm. It works by detecting movement - as long as the patient moves their arm they can keep the ball in the air.

Find out more about the high tech route to health here.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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9 of 11 silicon.com staff/ZDNET

The NHS celebrated its 60th birthday on 5 July. BT has been providing technology to the service since 1948 and has released some photographs showcasing its efforts.

This shows a doctor using the Prestel system, which was a data service for medical professionals that used the existing telephone network. Users could also use an electronic mail service that used pre-formatted messages.

Travel back through the history of cutting edge healthcare here.

Photo credit: BT

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10 of 11 silicon.com staff/ZDNET

A quiet corner of St James' park in London was turned into an outdoor office by tourism and visitor promotion organisation, Visit London.

The outdoor office was free to use and came complete with desks, chairs, coat stands, a water cooler and of course lashings of free wi-fi. Desk space could be booked for two hours at a time - and there was also a boardroom and 'creative zone' up for grabs where office workers could indulge in a little 'blue sky thinking'.

Clear your head with more of this fresh approach to working here.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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11 of 11 silicon.com staff/ZDNET

Microsoft researcher Hrvoje Benko demonstrates the Sphere multi-touch computer at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit at the company's headquarters in Washington.

Get more touchy feely here.

Photo credit: Microsoft

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