Kaspersky on Monday announced it has been successful in patenting a hardware-based antivirus system designed primarily for fighting rootkits.

Patent No. 7,657,941 was registered earlier this month and describes a technology developed by Oleg Zaitsev, senior technology expert at Kaspersky Lab. The patent describes a device that is installed between a hard drive or SSD and the computing unit (CPU or RAM) and connected to a system bus. It can also be integrated into the disk controller. The hardware solution decides whether or not to allow or block writing data to disk.

"Antivirus solutions and malware are both types of software with similar rights," says Oleg Zaitsev, Technology Expert at Kaspersky Lab. "This is where a hardware-based antivirus solution has a distinct advantage over conventional AV solutions because it monitors all attempts to access a memory device while remaining inaccessible to malware. This is critical for fighting such sophisticated threats as rootkits and bootkits."

Kaspersky claims this solution is particularly effective since it's implemented on the hardware level and isn't dependent on the OS's configuration. It also "integrates seamlessly with other security solutions," Zaitsev added, and could find use in server software and specialized computers like ATMs.

Everything's fine over at Verizon, folks, and you can still expect 4G wireless service to materialize sometime later this year. Or so says Dick Lynch, the company's executive vice president and CTO.

Speaking during a press conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, Lynch reiterated that Verizon Wireless is on track to launch its commercial LTE (long-term evolution) service later this year. There's good chance it will come to fruition sooner rather than later, as Lynch said his company is in the final testing phase, otherwise known as "Phase 4," of its LTE technology. Within the next two months, he expects testing to be completed in Boston and Seattle.

Verizon hopes to launch its service in 25 to 30 markets throughout the U.S. by the end of the year. First-run solutions will consist of offering laptop owners USB air cards that access LTE. Later on, expect to see mobile devices with embedded LTE trickle into the market.

The biggest challenge, says Lynch, has been getting voice to work over LTE, and while more work remains to be done, he said the issue is getting resolved.

Image Credit: startupmeme.com

You're not likely to find the Solar Egg on any Denny's menu, nor would you want to put one in your mouth anyway. Feel free to toss it out into low sunlight, however, where developers XPAL and Intivation claim the Solar Egg's internal 500mAh battery can reach over 90 percent charge in just 4 hours of exposure in "average charging conditions."

"Solar power is a huge unrealized energy source particularly in the Western world which tends to have fewer hours of sunlight than developing markets," says Christian Scheder, President, XPAL. "As personal devices demand more energy and solar charging technology improves, we are making solar power available to more consumers and changing the way people power their portable devices."

The two companies are touting the Solar Egg as the world's first high performance solar charger. They say it's built to power a range of devices, from phones to MP3 players.

This one will start shipping next month in "select regions," followed by a global rollout later this year. No word yet on price.

Image Credit: XPAL via Engadget

If OLED's the future, where does the technology fit into the present? Not anywhere, according to Sony, at least when talking about high definition television sets. Sony announced plans to end sales of OLED sets in Japan until costs come down.

Probably a good idea too, considering the only model Sony released was an 11-inch set that commanded roughly $2,222. That's barely larger than most netbooks, but a whole heck of a lot more expensive, to state the obvious.

This doesn't mean that Sony is turning its back on OLED technology in general, the company just wants no part in selling obscenely overpriced displays. Instead, Sony said it will focus on research and development, and may even dabble in overseas production.

"We will continue to consider new products and applications including OLED TVs," Sony spokesman Shigenori Yoshida said.

Image Credit: oled.si