Posted 09/14/09 at 03:08:18 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The San Francisco leg of the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2009 will kick off on September 22. The chipmaker is expected to make some key announcements regarding its 32nm “Westmere” chips and the keenly anticipated Larrabee platform. According to PCMag, Intel is expected to announce that the manufacturing of the 32nm die shrink of its Core microprocessor line is underway.

Its next-generation microprocessors, which are based on its Westmere microarchitecture, are codenamed Clarkdale (desktop version) and Arrandale (notebook version). The “Dales” chips are a multi-chip solution featuring 45nm integrated graphics cores. Intel is also expected to shed light on a new system-on-chip technology, besides announcing transistor improvements. The event might also feature some updates on the company’s Larrabee platform.

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Posted 12/29/08 at 11:55:04 AM by Mark Edward Soper

Terry Childs, who locked down San Francisco's FiberWan system last summer, will get his day in court on January 13, exactly six months since he went into the slammer for allegedly hijacking the network he designed and maintained. $5 million bail stands between Childs and a 'get out of jail' card until trial.

The San Francisco Chronicle website reports:

After an eight-day preliminary hearing, Superior Court Judge Paul Alvarado ruled Wednesday that prosecutors had produced enough evidence of Terry Childs' probable guilt to hold him for trial on four felony charges of tampering with a computer network, denying other authorized users access to the network and causing more than $200,000 in losses.

How much more than $200,000? According to prosecutors, the city claims it spent almost $1.5 million in "attempts to regain control of the network and assess its vulnerability to intrusions."

Childs' attorney claims her client was trying to protect the network from other employees:

Mr. Childs had good reason to be protective of the password. His co-workers and supervisors had in the past maliciously damaged the system themselves, hindered his ability to maintain it...and shown complete indifference to maintaining it themselves...He was the only person in that department capable of running that system.

The case made our 250 Most Important Tech Products, Events, and People of 2008 list at number 232. Stay tuned to MaximumPC.com for further updates.

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Posted 07/18/08 at 11:04:28 AM by Chris Moody

Be wary of the disgruntled IT guy. No really, be wary. He most likely won’t be in to gun anyone down, but he may lock you out of the computer system. That’s just what happened to the City of San Francisco. Terry Childs a network engineer who helped create the city’s new multimillion dollar FiberWan system had reportedly faced disciplinary problems at work. He is now accused of hijacking the city FiberWan system locking out all other Admins.

While the system continues to run normally, administrators can’t make changes to the framework of the system. They’ve called in experts to get into the system but it could take several weeks.

Childs first gave up a bogus password to police. He has now clammed up and is refusing to cooperate. He is currently being held in jail in lieu of $5 million bail.

San Francisco's mayor, Gavin Newsom, described Childs as a formerly well-regarded worker who had apparently turned into a "rogue employee that got a bit maniacal", "He was very good at what he did, and sometimes that goes to people's heads".

Make the jump to see what he's facing.

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