Technology Briefs - Aug. 13 - Aug. 19
The Latest Headlines:
- Blackout Leads to Cell Phone Problems
- Peterbilt Taking Orders for Cat’s Acert
- Microsoft Thwarts Blaster Worm Attack
- Automakers Drop California Emissions Lawsuit
- Peterbilt Taking Orders for Cat’s Acert
Blackout Leads to Cell Phone Problems
Extremely heavy call volumes immediately following last week’s massive blackout caused service interruptions for thousands of cell phone users, Reuters reported.Cell phones are a popular device used by truckers to stay in touch while on the road.
Call volumes in the New York area spiked to two-and-a-half times normal levels after the power outage, and then ran about 20% above normal during Thursday evening. However, by late in the weekend, nearly all service around the United States and Canada had returned to normal, Reuters said.
Peterbilt Taking Orders for Cat’s Acert
Peterbilt Motors Co. said it was taking orders for Caterpillar Inc.’s C15 engine and would begin producing trucks equipped with the new engine in the fourth quarter.The C15 is the big-bore version of Caterpillar’s Acert engines. Caterpillar said the Environmental Protection Agency had approved some C15 models for sale.
The C15 engine is available with 435- to 550-horsepower ratings and can be ordered for Peterbilt models 379, 387, 385, 378 and 357, Peterbilt said. Caterpillar spokesman Carl Volz said, “we will not have all ratings offered until October.”
Peterbilt said the C7 engine with Acert technology was available in horsepower ratings of 190 to 300, and could be ordered with the medium-duty Model 330 truck and low-cab-forward Model 320. Transport Topics
This story appeared in the Aug. 18 print edition of Transport Topics.
Microsoft Thwarts Blaster Worm Attack
Microsoft Corp. thwarted an attack set for midnight on Saturday on its Web site by the Blaster worm, which has infected hundreds of thousands of Windows computers, Reuters reported.A Microsoft spokesman told Reuters the company's site had no problems as a result of the worm, which had infected about 386,000 computers. A day earlier, Microsoft said it had protected its network by eliminating the Web page with the URL used by Blaster.
Although the attack on Microsoft failed, the worm will continue to spread until computers with the Windows hole get patched, security experts have said.
The patch for the security hole, which affects Windows XP and Windows 2000, as well as Windows NT and Windows Server 2003, can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com, Reuters said. Transport Topics
Automakers Drop California Emissions Lawsuit
Three automakers said on Aug. 12 they dropped a lawsuit that had delayed California's clean-air program, saying changes in the regulations would allow them to cut tailpipe emissions by selling a wider range of vehicles than just electric cars, news services reported.General Motors Corp., DaimlerChrysler AG and Isuzu Motors Ltd. said that the changes would make it more practical to comply with the regulations.
The California Air Resources Board designed a program in the early 1990s to force automakers to sell a certain number of non-polluting electric cars or trucks, termed zero-emissions vehicles by the industry.
Last year, several automakers and dealers won an injunction in federal court delaying the mandate until 2005.
Under the new rules, car makers would have to deliver at least 250 fuel cell vehicles or larger numbers of battery-powered vehicles by 2008. The target rises to 27,500 by 2014, according to an air resources board spokesman, AP said. Transport Topics
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