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Mon, 30 Jun 08
Packing It In: The Evolution of Online Video and Audio Tech, Part 2
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63609.html
The choice of particular audio-video compression technology is of vital interest to commercial and not-for-profit organizations involved in producing and delivering digital multimedia products and services. New York-based Paltalk's choice to go with industry-standard H.264/Mpeg-4 AV for video and a combination of open source Speex and Siren as the audio codecs for its eponymous live Web video-teleconferencing service is a case in point. "Our codec choice proved to be wise indeed," Paltalk founder and Chief Technical Officer Perry Scherer told LinuxInsider.
Mon, 30 Jun 08
Pushing, Pulling and Shoving Over iPhone Applications
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63601.html
Apple's presentation at WWDC of an alternate approach to background processes for the iPhone, compared to Microsoft's ActiveSync, has implications for both developers and users. It requires developers to invest in new systems and takes away some of their direct control of the iPhone, but it also improves the user experience and allows Apple to develop an enterprise revenue stream. Historically, many smartphones have used background processes to respond to external push notifications and e-mail.
Mon, 30 Jun 08
HuffPo Local: Boon or Bane to Traditional Media?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63518.html
Arianna Huffington is planting her flag -- or at least a Post -- in Chicago this summer. Reached last Friday in London, Huffington said she looked last week to finalize plans for a Chicago version of The Huffington Post Web site, the first of what the writer/Internet entrepreneur hopes will be dozens of localized news sites throughout the United States. "Chicago seemed a great city in which to test what we wanted to do [with] local around the country," Huffington said. "It has everything ... but wasn't New York or L.A."
Sun, 29 Jun 08
Tooling Around With Ajax
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63607.html
Social networks are peppering the Internet with Facebook-like interactive features. Ajax is fast becoming the defacto programming tool for Web developers. But by itself, Ajax is a daunting challenge that requires demanding coding skills. Ajax toolkits offer Web developers a shortcut method to build in the convenient and useful features that visitors of Web 2.0 sites have come to expect. However, the toolkit concept is nothing new to programming. What's newer is the proliferation of Java-based toolkits to feed the social network phenomenon.
Sun, 29 Jun 08
Packing It In: The Evolution of Online Video and Audio Tech, Part 1
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63600.html
The explosion in Web-delivered music and video we're seeing today just wouldn't be possible without the use of sophisticated encoded compression algorithms, or codecs, and the file storage formats in which compressed audio, images and data are saved. As Internet bandwidth and broadband access has expanded, so has the transmission of much denser digital audio and video files. Compression algorithms and file format development has had to keep up and in-step.
Sun, 29 Jun 08
Moving to the Mobile Web
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63559.html
Wait. Scroll. Scroll. Tap-tap. Wait. Wait. For many years, that was the typical experience of someone surfing the Web using a mobile phone or PDA, at least in the U.S. Although some content providers offered stripped-down versions of their sites specially designed for mobile users, most did not, and reading a page designed to be viewed on a PC on the small screen was about as much fun as sitting in a dark room reading a newspaper by flashlight.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
The Web Knows How
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63583.html
Terri Rossman considers herself a visual learner. So when the 52-year-old marketing professional wanted to learn a new knitting stitch, she turned to the Web. "I searched for 'knit bobble stitch' on Google and I found a video of someone doing it," said Rossman, who lives in the Detroit area. "It was perfect for me." The Web has become the place where people go to learn new tricks. Traffic to sites like eHow.comand WikiHow.com have doubled over the past year, according to figures from ComScore Networks.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
Intel: We'll Stick With XP, Thanks
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63603.html
Microsoft is facing a new wave of resistance against its Vista operating system, thanks to reports that one of its most well-known partners hasn't made the upgrade. An anonymous source -- described as having direct knowledge of the situation -- told The New York Times Intel found no compelling case to switch its own employees' computers over to Vista. The decision followed an in-depth analysis of costs and benefits by Intel engineers, according to the Times' source.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
Magnetic Zapper May Short-Circuit Migraines
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63608.html
New research has suggested that technology-based, non-invasive and drug-free techniques may be effective at relieving pain for some migraine sufferers, according to a study presented at the annual American Headache Society meeting in Boston. The treatment used in clinical trials conducted by Dr. Richard B. Lipton, a researcher in the cause and treatment of migraines, utilized a portable transcranial magnetic stimulation device to treat patients suffering from migraines with auras, perceptual disturbances that warn of oncoming episodes in some sufferers.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
ICANN Approves Dot-KitchenSink Internet Address Policy
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63599.html
The universe of Internet domains will soon experience a Big Bang, thanks to Thursday's vote by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers approving a new system for handing out Web addresses. Corporations and other public and private entities will no longer be limited to Web extensions like .com, .net or .org; for a fee that will likely start at $100,000, a company can register a more personalized top-level domain with its own brand name extension, such as .coke, .apple or .prada. Cities will be able to apply for .newyork, .berlin or .moscow.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
Microsoft's Hyper-V Finally Shows Up to Virtualization Party
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63594.html
Microsoft's new hypervisor-based server virtualization software, Hyper-V, is now available for download, and it's several weeks ahead of "schedule" -- though it's also months late. Microsoft previously wanted to deliver Hyper-V with Windows Server 2008. In any event, Hyper-V is here, and it's real. Hyper-V is a feature of some versions of Windows Server 2008, and while it's available for download now, it will hit Microsoft's Windows Update on July 8. It will also be available as a standalone solution that will sell for about $28 later this year.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
Tune-Up Software Greases the Wheels on Old PCs
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63585.html
After a few months of use, a PC never seems to run as fast as when you first opened the box and turned it on. As you install and remove programs, large quantities of unwanted files pile up. These files take up space on your hard drive and can be loaded when you start your computer. This can slow your boot process to a snail's pace. PC Tune-Up 2.0 is the newest release from Large Software. It's designed to speed up your aging computer. It focuses mainly on fixing errors and outdated entries in the registry file on your computer.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
Genomics Meets Sacramento
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63568.html
Personalized medicine is touted as the wave of the future, but recent government action points to problems for Americans looking to join the health revolution. Last week, California's Department of Public Health issued cease-and-desist letters to 13 genetic testing startups, threatening to deny service to consumers curious about their DNA. "Any laboratory offering genetic tests to California residents must be licensed as a clinical laboratory in California. The tests must be ordered by a licensed physician and validated," reads a statement on the department's Web site.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
Yahoo Makes Its Case - Again, Gamers Make New Life Forms, Android Won't Make It on Time
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63598.html
Seeking to reassure investors -- many of whom were still stinging from Yahoo's decision to walk away from a multibillion-dollar merger with Microsoft -- CEO Jerry Yang and Chairman Roy Bostock sent a letter making their case for hooking up with Google instead of inking an ad deal with Redmond. The letter argues that the Google partnership strikes the right strategic balance and gives the company more flexibility than Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo's search business.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
iPhone Swings for Big Margins and Redmond Swings for Apple Experts
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63592.html
Two particularly interesting topics caught the attention of the Apple-focused blogosphere this week. iSuppli released a projected tear-down cost list for the 3G iPhone, sparking interest in the new $199 price point that contract signing buyers will pay come July 11. Also, the Mac Business Unit at Microsoft, which is one of the world's largest Apple software development organizations, is apparently on a hiring frenzy for Apple experts. When iSuppli tore down the original 8 GB iPhone last year, it estimated that materials and manufacturing cost $226 per unit.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
Bill Gates - Boy Genius, Corporate Villain, Global Giver - Has Left the Building
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63577.html
In many ways, Monday will be like any other day at the Redmond, Wash., headquarters of the world's largest software maker. Microsoft workers will still come to work to tackle the same array of technological and business challenges facing the company. For the first time in the company's 33-year history, however, one of those employees won't be William Henry Gates III -- better known as Bill -- at the company he founded after dropping out of Harvard. Gates' last day as a full-time employee is Friday.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
10 Great Software Programs You Can Get Gratis
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63527.html
As we bring another season of The PC Guy column to a close -- I'll be off for the summer -- let's take a quick look at 10 cool and free software programs. They include Paint.net, EssentialPIM, OpenOffice.org, PDFCreator, CDBurnerXP, 7-ZIP, Stickies, WordWeb and ooVoo. Coming out of left field in an already crowded category of Photoshop competitors, Paint.net 3.08 is a beauty of a program and simply amazing. This is one of the best graphics editors you're likely to find.
Sat, 28 Jun 08
Facebook Asks Users to Pick a Gender, Any Gender
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63596.html
The online hangout Facebook is getting more serious about grammar. No more should users see jarringly incorrect declarations such as "Debbie changed their profile picture." Users who haven't specified their gender in their Facebook profiles will be asked to do so in the coming weeks. That way, Facebook doesn't have to default to "their" or the made-up word "themself," as it had been doing. While not knowing someone's gender poses grammatical challenges in English, it has created even larger headaches as Facebook expands to other languages.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
MySpace, NBC Hold Citizen Journalist Cattle Call for Convention Gigs
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63590.html
In a bid to tap into the citizen journalism movement and emphasize the interactive possibilities of social media, MySpace will team with NBC News and MSNBC.com to offer two of its millions of users the chance to attend and cover this summer's national political conventions. Starting Thursday and until July 16, members of MySpace over the age of 18 will be able to submit short video clips to the Decision '08 Convention contest answering questions such as why they feel voting is important, how they'd get convention "scoops" or why they're the right person for the citizen journalism role.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
Dell Targets Creative Types With Color, Customization
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63588.html
Dell on Thursday introduced a new, colorful laptop line aimed at artistic and creative consumers. Combining aesthetics and technology, the new Studio line launched with two distinctively styled laptops: the Dell Studio 15 and Dell Studio 17. Both offer sleek designs, striking visual color elements and personalization options with features such as standard built-in webcam, capacitive touch media control buttons, slot load drives, optional mercury-free LED displays and built-in mobile broadband.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
Sweet Science: IBM Teams With Chocolatier to Grow Better Beans
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63591.html
Candy bar maker Mars is working with IBM and the United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service to apply their scientific experience and computing resources to sequence and analyze the entire cocoa genome. This scientific inquiry is more than a simple effort to produce richer chocolate for candy lovers. The team is hoping to address issues within the cocoa industry, which has been hit with a trio of devastating fungal diseases that have cost growers an estimated $700 million in losses annually.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
Sony Gives PS3 a Shot of Adrenaline: Movies and a Twirling Globe
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63587.html
Sony's Blu-ray won the battle of high-definition DVD formats, but its PlayStation 3 gaming console has been losing the war over networked home entertainment. That will change this summer in the U.S., promised Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, during a Tokyo press conference. Sony will roll out on-demand movies and TV shows for download via the PS3's PlayStation Network. It will also launch Life With PlayStation, offering news headlines and weather information with a spinning-globe user interface reminiscent of Nintendo's Wii News.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
'09 Chrysler Models Will Be Rolling WiFi Hotspots
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63584.html
Chrysler is putting WiFi on wheels with plans for a new vehicle-based wireless Internet system. The automaker's upcoming Uconnect Web service -- announced Thursday in Detroit -- will let travelers turn their cars into moving WiFi hotspots. The service, powered by AutoNet Mobile, will cost $29 per month and will require a dealer-installed $449 mobile router. Uconnect Web will launch in a limited capacity in August, with service becoming available for all Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles by September.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
Lean, Mean Machines: Tech for the SMB, Part 2
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63573.html
The continuing growth of the SMB market is pushing vendors to adapt or lose sales. Vendors are tweaking their more costly enterprise-grade offerings to feature sets and price levels SMB customers can afford. The SMB segment makes up 34 percent of the entire notebook market, according to research firm IDC. About 35 million small and midsize businesses are operating worldwide. That number swells to an estimated 60 million if you include home-based businesses.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
The Quiet Little Pop of the Mac Security Bubble
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63574.html
A Trojan targeting Mac computers in the wild used to be a rarity, but this type of malware is now turning up with alarming frequency. The latest Trojan is rudimentary, at best, although when coupled with a Mac platform vulnerability that came to light earlier this week, it could deliver an extra wallop. The Trojan is masquerading as a program for Mac OS X called "PokerGame." All in all, it's pretty straightforward -- both in the way it installs itself and in how it's executed. It is a social engineering-designed hack attack at its most basic.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
Coverity's David Maxwell on Quality Issues in Open Source Software
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63572.html
Open source software just keeps getting better, according to a new report from Coverity, a San Francisco-based maker of source code analysis tools. Specifically, Coverity's Scan Report on Open Source Software 2008, released last month, found a 16 percent reduction in static analysis defect density in the open source software it analyzed over the past two years, reflecting the elimination of more than 8,500 individual defects. The study is part of the Department of Homeland Security's Open Source Code Hardening Project.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
Bevy of Browsers Give Firefox a Run for Its Money
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63580.html
With all the recent attention on the new Firefox 3 Internet browser, it's easy to miss two strong, innovative rivals. Add it all up, and Microsoft's market-leading Internet Explorer has some impressive challengers. Opera 9.5, for instance, lets you share bookmarked Web pages and notes among several computers. And another browser, Flock 2, brings Firefox 3's improvements to an already strong system for sharing photos and blog entries and linking friends on social-networking sites like Facebook.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
RIM: Wall Street Can Wait
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63581.html
Fighting Apple comes with a cost. Research In Motion, the Canadian maker of the popular BlackBerry devices, continues to sign up new subscribers at an impressive clip, even in the face of growing competition from Apple's snazzy iPhone and other devices. However, in a first-quarter earnings report on June 25, the company disappointed investors by saying it would sacrifice profits in the short term to improve its competitive position in the future.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
Massive Clobber Explains Mars' Lopsided Shape
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63575.html
Why is Mars two-faced? Scientists say fresh evidence supports the theory that a monster impact punched the red planet, leaving behind perhaps the largest gash on any heavenly body in the solar system. Today, the Martian surface has a split personality. The southern hemisphere of Mars is pockmarked and filled with ancient rugged highlands. By contrast, the northern hemisphere is smoother and covered by low-lying plains. Three papers in Thursday's journal Nature provide the most convincing evidence yet that an outside force was responsible.
Fri, 27 Jun 08
Greenpeace Prods Apple to Become Environmental Leader
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63578.html
In its latest survey of practices among makers of electronic gadgets, Greenpeace has raised the bar of what the environmental group believes is required for "green" corporate citizenship. The analysis of the products and procedures of 18 major electronics manufacturers, released today, ranked two Silicon Valley giants -- Hewlett-Packard and Apple -- in the middle of the pack. Handset maker Sony Ericsson topped the list, while video game company Nintendo finished last.
Thu, 26 Jun 08
Study: RFID Tags May Scramble Hospital Equipment
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63566.html
A new study is raising questions over how radio frequency identification chips could be interacting with hospital equipment. The report, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests RFID chips could cause some medical devices to fail when in close contact. RFID chips have grown in popularity for corporate inventory tracking, library management and even passport data control. They also power many cities' transit payment systems and are used for animal identification and store theft control.
Thu, 26 Jun 08
New Group Calls for Broadband in Every Pot
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63565.html
An election looms, and the candidates' talking points are being set: war, the economy, the environment. Now a new advocacy group wants the next president and lawmakers to add one more item to their to-do list: a national broadband policy that ensures high-speed Internet access for all Americans. The group, InternetForEveryone.org, features an array of high-profile technology experts such as Google's Vinton Cerf, the man who helped write the protocols for the Internet; and Jonathan Adelstein, one of the Democrats on the Federal Communications Commission.
Thu, 26 Jun 08
Racy JCPenney Ad Stripped From YouTube
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63570.html
For most companies, a corporate ad that spreads virally on YouTube is nothing short of a dream come true. Not so for JCPenney, which is protesting a racy and unauthorized ad that took the video-sharing site by storm -- until YouTube removed it. The purported ad, titled "Speed Dressing," shows two teenagers timing themselves at home as they race to put on their clothes. Next, they're shown heading down to the girl's basement to "watch TV" while her mother sits upstairs.
Thu, 26 Jun 08
Lean, Mean Machines: Tech for the SMB, Part 1
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63552.html
Regardless of its nature, even the tiniest and newest SMB requires the acquisition and deployment of the right information technology as it begins to set up shop. Vendors of that sort of equipment recognize the growing need for SMB-oriented hardware. For example, computer maker Lenovo's transaction sales, which includes SMB purchases, accounted for 35 percent of all PC sales excluding Greater China in the 2007/08 fiscal year, said company officials. In addition, recent data from research firm IDC indicates that currently the SMB segment makes up 34 percent of the entire notebook market.
Thu, 26 Jun 08
Charter Scraps User-Tracking Plan After Privacy Outcry
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63563.html
Cable and high-speed ISP Charter Communications will not move forward with plans to test a service that automatically targets users with advertising based on their online surfing activity after it sparked privacy concerns. In May, Charter announced it would launch a pilot program with partner NebuAd in which deep packet inspection technology would be utilized to serve ads that would be more likely to match a user's interests. Even though the original pilot is being put on the shelf, NebuAd will work with Charter to develop alternative solutions, noted NebuAd spokesperson Anthony Laredo.
Thu, 26 Jun 08
Alfresco CEO John Powell on the Value of Free
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63544.html
Is it possible to make money by giving something away for free? John Powell, CEO of Alfresco Software, believes that the open source software market is worth $60 billion. The value doesn't accrue from the revenue that it generates. Rather, that value is rooted in the cost savings for his customers. Looked at from this angle, open source is the largest tech industry, Powell believes. That was the basis for a decision he made when Alfresco began developing an open source alternative for enterprise content management and other tasks.
Thu, 26 Jun 08
Inside the Latest iPhone
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63542.html
Apple packed a lot of features into the latest version of the iPhone but managed to keep a tight lid on the cost of components that go into it. Manufacturing and components for the 8-gigabyte iPhone 3G set Apple back about $173 per unit, according to an estimate by Silicon Valley-based research firm iSuppli, due to be released June 24. Comparable expenses for the earlier iteration of the iPhone were about $226, iSuppli says. Analysts scour component-price estimates to gauge profit margins on Apple's best-selling products.
Thu, 26 Jun 08
Keeping an E-Commerce Site Cooking
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63535.html
The phone of Steve Bozzo, the chief information officer at 1-800-Flowers.com, does occasionally ring in the middle of the night. If all goes as planned, however, the site's customers never know about it. "We work hard with our partners to avoid those 4 a.m. phone calls," Bozzo told the E-Commerce Times. That doesn't mean Bozzo's days aren't filled with chasing technological solutions to business problems, of course. It just means that he spends more time looking ahead than putting out fires.
Thu, 26 Jun 08
Are Old Macs in for a Snow Leopard White-Out?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63560.html
Apple's Leopard operating system isn't even a year old, but its offspring, Snow Leopard, is already preparing to prowl. Earlier this month, Steve Jobs gave a hint -- and only a hint -- about Apple's next-generation operating system. A "preview" that was shown to software writers attending Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco indicated the new OS might run only on 2-year-old or newer Macintosh computers powered by Intel processors. That would leave behind millions of owners of Macs equipped with PowerPC chips.
Thu, 26 Jun 08
Homegrown Software Guides Searchers to Lost Autistic Man
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63556.html
Computer software written by St. Louis County, Minn., Sheriff's Rescue Squad Lt. Rick Slatten was instrumental in helping searchers find an autistic man who was missing for seven days in Burnett County, Minn. Slatten's program, called "Search Tracker," used the laws of probability to guide searchers who found Keith Kennedy late Sunday in a wooded area inaccessible by vehicles. He was about a mile from the Trade Lake Camp in Grantsburg, Minn., from which he vanished June 15.
Thu, 26 Jun 08
Virgin Tailors Unlimited Plan for Big Talkers
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63551.html
Virgin Mobile USA will roll out a new unlimited wireless calling plan next month in a bid to undercut similar unlimited plans from the big four wireless carriers -- AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. In a flurry of activity earlier this year, the big four in close succession announced unlimited voice calling plans for just under a $100 a month. Virgin Mobile will offer its similar "Totally Unlimited" calling plan for $79.99, which it positions as the "first unlimited nationwide calling plan without roaming charges or an annual contract that can be purchased by cash or credit."
Thu, 26 Jun 08
Microsoft Answers XP Fans' Outcry With Support Extension
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63550.html
Microsoft announced Tuesday that while it will move forward with its plans to discontinue sales of its Windows XP operating system, it will continue to provide support for the software for another six years. Microsoft announced in 2007 that it would extend the sales period for Windows XP until June 30, 2008. With that deadline set to expire in less than a week, the company had to do something to assuage the concerns of its customers, who have deluged the company with pleas to keep the OS on store shelves following the less-than-stellar rollout of Windows Vista.
Mon, 23 Jun 08
Getting Found Out, Web 2.0 Style
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63469.html
The other night I was watching a clip from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," the iconic teen movie of my generation. It's the scene where Ferris and Cameron are at the Cubs game and TV cameras pan Ferris catching a foul ball. Mr. Rooney, the obsessive high school principal who devotes his day to catching Ferris ditching, looks away from the TV just at that second. Ferris narrowly escapes. It was then I realized just how dated this movie has become. A kid cutting school these days has a whole range of ways, beyond the chance pan of a TV camera, to get caught.
Mon, 23 Jun 08
Marathon CTO Jerry Melnick: A Fault-Tolerant Approach to Virtualization
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63502.html
In March of this year, Marathon Technologies announced everRun VM, a first-of-its kind, fault-tolerant, high availability software package for server virtualization. This product picks up where its first-generation kin -- everRun -- left off in providing companies the ability to prevent outages and data loss in Citrix XenServer virtual infrastructures. The chief architect of this new software strategy, CTO Jerry Melnick, saw a void in the marketplace left open by leading vendors in the server virtualization space.
Sun, 22 Jun 08
The Attraction of Distraction in an Online Mind
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63464.html
The words are almost absurdly provocative: "Is Google Making Us Stoopid?" reads the title Atlantic Monthly has used to draw attention -- successfully -- to Nicholas Carr's new article. Yes, you suppose, it may be, especially after you read a headline like that on a piece that's a lot more subtle and thought-provoking. However, if you've ever had the feeling Carr writes about, you know that -- by whatever title -- he is onto something. Like transformative information technologies before it, the Internet just might be rewiring us.
Sun, 22 Jun 08
Slashdot Cofounder Jeff Bates on the Self-Cannibalization of Online Advertising
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63493.html
At one point in the U.S.'s development, there were 1,400 or so railroads. Today, there are three major lines. Admittedly it is a leap -- but not a big one -- for Jeff Bates, cofounder of Slashdot, to apply that history to what is happening on the Internet today. "If the Internet has taught us anything in the last 10 years, it is that the timing of a particular market's development becomes even more compressed," he tells the E-Commerce Times. Bates is referring to the online ad networks and their accompanying strategies that are proliferating by the day.
Sun, 22 Jun 08
Hot iPhone Accessories From Headsets to Hi-Fi
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63482.html
Apple's iPhone, birthed last summer, is a force to be reckoned with. Combining a mobile phone with a digital music and video player, handheld photo album and full-strength Web browser, it's a great device. A new version was announced June 9 and is likely to stoke even more "iMania," given that it has a lower price and more features than the original. Roughly 6 million iPhones are already in circulation, and Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has forecast 10 million iPhone sales for 2008; Apple says 1.7 million were sold in the first quarter.
Sun, 22 Jun 08
Britannica's Crowdsourcing Compromise
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63431.html
Join the experts! Soon you, your family, friends -- and even that nut case down the street -- can publish in the venerable Encyclopedia Britannica. Britannica is opening its online pages to the masses, inviting public postings. Save any trivia about SpongeBob SquarePants for Wikipedia. But if you want to contribute, by name, to the history of Queen Elizabeth I, Britannica is interested. "By inviting a larger range of people to contribute and collaborate, we can produce more coverage," said Britannica spokesperson Tom Panelas.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
Gamers Spawn Bizarre Beasts With 'Spore Creature Creator'
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63505.html
In the run-up to the launch of "Spore," the latest creation from "The Sims" creator Will Wright, Electronic Arts has released "Spore Creature Creator," a sort of prequel to the full game, which is set for release in September. "Spore" is a massively single-player online game that puts the power of biological evolution in the hands of its players. Developed for play on PCs and Macs, the game follows a species from single cell organisms bathed in primordial ooze to sentient beings with intelligence and a social culture to intergalactic explorers in a space-faring society.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
California Takes a Slide in Tech Rankings
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63495.html
Winning the battle for bragging rights among states -- and sometimes very real economic benefits -- Massachusetts has retained the top position in the Milken Institute's 2008 State Technology and Science Index. Maryland nabbed second, Colorado third, and California slipped to fourth, down two spots from its second place position four years ago. Regional competition for technology industries has increased since the last release of the study and rankings in 2004, according to the report.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
Tiny Trojan Trots Into Mac OS X Turf
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63504.html
With the rise in popularity of Apple's Mac computers and the OS X operating systems they run, dangerous malware, viruses and Trojans are now being targeted for the Mac, too. The most recent case in point comes courtesy of a security advisory released by SecureMac. The advisory warns that multiple variants of a new Trojan horse -- out in the wild -- is ready to run roughshod all over OS X 10.4 and 10.5. SecureMac notes that the Trojan, which is based on AppleScript and currently called "ASthtv05," is only being distributed from a hacker Web site at the moment.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
OpenSuse Rolls Out Feature-Packed Version 11.0
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63503.html
The OpenSuse project has released a new version of its Linux operating system. OpenSuse 11.0 became available for free download this week. The software -- an open source project powered by Novell -- aims to bring the Linux world to the masses. Version 11.0 builds on the original open source system developed back in 2005. The update includes dozens of new features designed to improve installation and performance. One of the most notable changes is OpenSuse's completely revamped installation utility, made to be far simpler for users.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
The Downside of Ambition: Mozilla's Crash, Teen Hacker's Arrest
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63501.html
To kick off the final version of its newest Web browser, Firefox 3, Mozilla created a lot of hoopla about its goal to set a new world record for the most copies of an application downloaded in a single 24-hour period. That really wasn't very difficult, because there was no official record for that before -- Mozilla was apparently the first outfit to call it in to Guinness. Anyway, Mozilla named the date and told the world to set its collective alarm clock for 10 a.m. Pacific time on Tuesday.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
Smartphone Operating Systems, Part 2: Change Is in the Air
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63491.html
As smartphones change, so does the landscape for developers of applications for these devices. As phones, particularly the iPhone, become more application-friendly, the marketplace is at once more competitive and more inviting to third-party application developers. Third-party applications, according to Robert Gaines, technology marketing manager for All Covered, will continue to be developed according to the needs of business people and consumers.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
Mac Bloggers Give 2 Cents on Firefox, Rub Lucky Penny for OpenCL, Watch iTunes Break the Bank
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63490.html
Things have quieted down in the Apple-focused blogosphere after the storm of news coming out of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference last week. Despite the slowdown, there's still a few notable developments. Mozilla's Firefox 3 release seemed to find a spot on most every tech blog site. Also, Apple's OpenCL has taken a solid step toward becoming an industry standard that might help make Apple CEO Steve Jobs' comments about taking advantage of multi-core processors a reality. And oh yeah, Apple announced that it has served up 5 billion songs on iTunes.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
Workplace Text-Messaging Ruling Wows Privacy Advocates
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63492.html
A ruling by a three-judge panel in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has
established new privacy rights for employees who use employer-issued cell phones, pagers and computers to send personal text messages. The judges upheld the verdict in Quon v. Arch Wireless, which determined that if an employer contracts with an outside provider for messaging -- as most do -- it does not have the right to ask the service provider for transcripts of the text messages employees send out. The same concept can be applied to e-mail communications.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
The Spread of Telepresence Tech, Part 1: Need Arises
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63488.html
Rising transportation costs and concerns about social and environmental responsibility are spurring corporate demand for videoconferencing, collaborative software and virtual telepresence technology. Wider access to broadband Internet is a key enabler. Changes in business and social attitudes toward air travel are also contributing to rising demand. One videoconferencing company, Eyenetwork, has seen its business grow about tenfold in less than five years.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
Home-Brewed Entertainment the Open Source Way
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63485.html
One of the biggest trends in consumer marketing today is to appeal to the do-it-yourself mentality. Don't think so? Just visit home improvement outlets such as Home Depot and Lowe's for some clues. Then count the number of auto parts stores on your drive to the office. Also consider the iPod and other MP3 players, along with install-it-yourself audio speakers for giant-screen high-definition televisions. All of these products entice consumers to try their hands at creating their own perfect home entertainment theaters.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
Lander Digs Up Ice in Martian Sandbox
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63499.html
Scientists believe NASA's Phoenix Mars lander exposed bits of ice while recently digging a trench in the soil of the Martian arctic, the mission's principal investigator said. Crumbs of bright material initially photographed in the trench later vanished, meaning they must have been frozen water that vaporized after being exposed, Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, said in a statement Thursday. "These little clumps completely disappearing over the course of a few days, that is perfect evidence that it's ice," Smith said.
Sat, 21 Jun 08
Study: Social Networking Teens Learn 21st Century Skills
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63497.html
University of Minnesota researchers say they have discovered educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The same study also found that low-income students are in many ways just as technologically savvy as their counterparts. The university says this goes against what results from previous studies have suggested. The information was collected over six months this year from students, ages 16 to 18, in 13 urban high schools in the Midwest and released Friday by the university.
Fri, 20 Jun 08
10 Products Snag WiMax Forum Bona Fides
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63484.html
The WiMax Forum on Tuesday announced that 10 mobile WiMax products have received the organization's seal of approval for the 2.5 GHz frequency Tuesday. The designation, according to the group, indicates that each product has met the forum's interoperability and conformance standards. The four base stations and six mobile station modules, or terminals, are the first products available outside South Korea to receive the group's certification.
Fri, 20 Jun 08
Security Wonks Reveal Holes in Firefox Straight Out of the Gate
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63487.html
As Mozilla went after a Guinness World Record for the most downloads in a 24-hour period with its release of Firefox 3, it didn't take security researchers long to drop a bomb on all the browsing fun. TippingPoint's DVLabs reported that its Zero Day Initiative program received a critical vulnerability affecting Firefox 3.0 as well as prior versions of Firefox 2.0.x. Are 8 million newly minted Firefox 3 surfers taking to the Web with a broken browser? Broken, of course, is just a fancy alliteration. In reality, DVLabs and Mozilla are both keeping the details under wraps.
Fri, 20 Jun 08
Teen Hacker Could Get 38-Year Sentence for Fixing Grades
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63483.html
Two Orange County, Calif., teens have been charged with breaking into their school late at night and using stolen log-ins to hack into its computer system and change their grades. Omar Khan, 18, a student at Tesoro High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, now faces 34 felony counts of altering a public record, 11 felony counts of stealing and secreting a public record, seven felony counts of computer access and fraud, six felony counts of burglary, four felony counts of identity theft and several other felony charges for a total of 69 felony counts.
Fri, 20 Jun 08
Yahoo Fires Starting Gun in E-Mail Address Gold Rush
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63481.html
Yahoo is expanding its free e-mail service with two new domain names for Yahoo Mail users. The company has added ymail.com and rocketmail.com as options for personalized e-mail addresses. Registration opens Thursday afternoon. With 266 million active accounts, Yahoo bills itself at the world's largest e-mail service. The company hopes the added domains will give users more selections for simple and memorable addresses that might be already taken on the primary yahoo.com domain.
Fri, 20 Jun 08
Smartphone Operating Systems, Part 1: A User's Guide
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63446.html
With Apple's recent announcement of its new lower-priced and more richly featured 3G iPhone, smartphones are once again in the news. Now the iPhone will be competing with other prominent smartphone systems, particularly Research In Motion's popular BlackBerry. Many consumers might not have ever thought, however, about the fact that their smartphones have operating systems. Like a computer, a smartphone has a system that shapes the workings of the phone, the applications it can support, and the interactivity it has.
Fri, 20 Jun 08
HP's IT Lifecycle Vision
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63475.html
HP opened the second day of its Software Universe event Wednesday in Las Vegas with "product day," but the presentations seemed more about process -- the processes that usher application definitions and development into real world use. I've heard of applications lifecycle, sure, but the last few days I've heard more about data center lifecycle. So how do they come together? HP's vision is about finally allowing the operations and development stages of a full application lifecycle to more than co-exist -- to actually reinforce and refine each other.
Fri, 20 Jun 08
Linux Community Should Plant Seeds for Consumer Demand
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63453.html
Most anyone in the free and open source software realm can tell you not only that Linux is better than Windows, but also that it is an optimal alternative to the closed source and proprietary operating system from Microsoft. Anyone at a Linux-oriented event or group can assure you that you have no need or even legitimate reason to continue using commercial operating systems nowadays. Indeed, GNU and Linux have radically transformed software development and systems administration in practice and in culture.
Fri, 20 Jun 08
Dock Pack Speakers: No Bargain for Bass Fans
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63457.html
The Dock Pack is a stylish iPod speaker system and dock from European audio manufacturer Scandyna Speakers. The dock and speakers are relatively compact, with attractive modern styling. The design is strictly minimalist. Notice that neither the dock nor the speakers offer any knobs, switches or buttons -- the system is controlled exclusively with the minimalist wireless remote. The dock is also strictly minimalist with no hidden frills on its backside. All you'll find are two speaker outputs, a power connection, and a line output for the optional subwoofer.
Fri, 20 Jun 08
YouTube Puts Indies on Marquee
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63476.html
Google's YouTube is setting up a virtual screening room to bring the work of independent filmmakers to a global audience. Struggling filmmakers already use YouTube to kick-start viral marketing campaigns. The new feature, which debuts Wednesday, gives them an easy-to-find home -- and makes them partners in drawing new ad revenue. "Hopefully as they see thousands of people watching their films, it's going to be a very eye-opening experience," said Sara Pollack, YouTube's film and animation manager.
Fri, 20 Jun 08
Firefox 3.0: A Testament to the Power of the Crowd
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63478.html
After the official demise of the Netscape browser back in 2003, it seemed as if Microsoft's Internet Explorer would dominate the browser market, well, forever. It was hard to imagine how or why anyone would invest time and resources to create a new rival. However, they did. Out of the rubble of Netscape was born the Mozilla Foundation, which took the code from Netscape's browser and used it to create the Firefox browser. Tuesday, Mozilla released version 3.0 of the browser, causing such a stampede of downloads that its servers crashed.
Fri, 20 Jun 08
Verizon Aims to Blunt Cable Competition With Faster FiOS
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63474.html
Verizon Communications is boosting the speed of its FiOS fiber-optic Internet service in 10 states. The FiOS service areas of California, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington will see new plans that nearly double Internet speeds, Chief Operating Officer Denny Strigl said in remarks to be delivered at a conference Wednesday. The faster speeds were already available in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, where competition from cable is particularly fierce, and in Florida, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Thu, 19 Jun 08
IBM Roadrunner Meep-Meeps to Top of Supercomputer Rankings
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63471.html
IBM claimed bragging rights Wednesday as its Roadrunner supercomputer earned the title of the world's most powerful supercomputer. The ranking, bestowed during the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany, is a biannual event that ranks the 500 most powerful computers around the world. The Roadrunner, located at the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, achieved a peak performance of 1.026 petaFLOPS to take the top spot.
Thu, 19 Jun 08
Toshiba Crams Full-Bodied Features Into Skinny New Notebook
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63467.html
The race for the thinnest, lightest notebook in the land continued Tuesday with the debut of Toshiba's Portege R500-S5007V. The latest model adds a 128 GB solid-state drive -- the only one available on the market, according to the computer maker. "From a product perspective it is a stellar product," J.P. Gownder, principal analyst at Forrester, told TechNewsWorld. "Toshiba is trying to demonstrate their innovation by including this. Essentially it is an early move in the solid-state drive market."
Thu, 19 Jun 08
'Dream Home' Adds High-Tech Touch to Disney Magic
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63465.html
Microsoft and HP are teaming up to develop the high-tech home of the future. The two companies revealed their Innoventions Dream Home at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., this week. The home features some of the newest developments in communications technology and is now open for public tours. Located in Disneyland's Tomorrowland, the Dream Home shows off systems ranging from practical to fantastical. In true Disney form, a fictional family guides you from room to room, giving you a full tour of the high-tech toys inside.
Thu, 19 Jun 08
Security Metrics at the Grassroots Level
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63445.html
Want to try an experiment? Part 1: Get yourself a crowd of willing co-experimenters -- about 20 to 30 -- and tell them that you're going to ask them a trivia question. Tell them you're going to read the question to them and when you count to three, everyone should shout out their answer at the same time. They should all shout out a guess -- even if they have no clue what the answer is. Just yell it out. Then ask the group some really esoteric question -- one that most people are unlikely to know but that isn't so out there that it's unanswerable.
Thu, 19 Jun 08
After 15 Years Developing Wine, It's Time
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63466.html
After 15 years of development and beta testing, the first stable version of Wine is now available, its developers announced Tuesday. Wine is an open source implementation of the Windows application programming interface on top of X, OpenGL and Unix that allows Windows applications to run on other operating systems, including Linux and Mac OS, without the need to run Windows as well. The software's source code is available for free, and binary packages are in the process of being created, its developers said.
Thu, 19 Jun 08
Community Source Software: If You Build It, They Will Join
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63454.html
A partnership with the Collaborative Software Initiative and the Utah Department of Health is cementing an emerging community sourcing software model that could thrust open source development deeper into vertical markets. CSI and the state of Utah on May 19 announced the availability of a software system that resulted from a first-of-its-kind agreement to build a Web-based, open source infectious disease management system. The system will help Utah meet the CDC requirements for infectious disease tracking and reporting.
Thu, 19 Jun 08
Video Resumes: Lights, Camera, You're Hired
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63428.html
Tens of thousands of fledgling job seekers have spent a great deal of time, effort and money devising video resumes, a variation on the decades-old task of letting a potential employer know a little something about you. However, while the new approach has garnered some sizzle, it lacks substance. "Video resumes are dead because they just do not help companies in the job selection process," proclaimed Tom Schmidt, president of Resumefit, which provides companies with software to streamline the hiring process.
Thu, 19 Jun 08
Sprint Has Instinct to Beat iPhone Price
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63456.html
Sprint Nextel will be taking on the iPhone with a lower price for its own touchscreen smartphone, the Samsung Instinct. The carrier said Wednesday that the Instinct will cost $129.99 when released on Friday. That compares with $199 for the cheapest model of the new iPhone, which goes on sale July 11 with AT&T as the carrier. The Instinct shares many features with the new iPhone, including access to a fast wireless data network and a GPS receiver. Sprint was unusually involved in the phone's development, and plans to promote it heavily.
Thu, 19 Jun 08
Adobe: iPhone Flash Is in the Works
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63463.html
Just like many users, Adobe wants to see Flash on Apple's iPhone, and it looks like the company is getting closer to making that happen. Adobe has apparently been hard at work developing a version of its multimedia environment for the iPhone, but isn't ready to bring it to the public yet, according to CEO Shantanu Narayen. Narayen told analysts during the Adobe quarterly earnings report that his company is already testing an iPhone-compatible version of Flash in house. "With respect to the iPhone, we are working on it," he said. "We have a version that's working on the emulation."
Wed, 18 Jun 08
Hellish Ordeal Ends for State Worker Caught in Child Porn Malware Snare
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63450.html
Months after arresting a man for having child pornography images on a state-issued laptop, prosecutors dropped the charges when a defense-sponsored forensic investigation showed that a poorly configured laptop that had become riddled with malware was to blame. The victim -- besides the children in the images -- was Michael Fiola, a former investigator with the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents. After he was given a sloppily configured replacement laptop running Windows XP with SP2 in November of 2006, he was fired in early 2007.
Wed, 18 Jun 08
Firefox 3: Good Browsers Come to Those Who Wait
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63451.html
Tuesday was D-Day for Mozilla with the scheduled launch of the third version of Firefox, its open source Web browser. The company had billed the day as "Download Day" and aimed its sights on setting a Guinness World Record for the most downloads of an application in a 24-hour period. Over the weekend, I dutifully I pledged to download the new browser, and today I anxiously checked the site over and over and over to see if the download was ready. Finally, at 1 p.m. EST, the hour arrived ... but still no luck.
Wed, 18 Jun 08
HP Enters Media Convergence Scrap
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63444.html
HP has a new way to bring all your home media together in one central place. The company introduced the HP MediaSmart Connect system Tuesday. MediaSmart Connect is essentially a wireless server that aggregates content from various sources around your home and makes it all accessible via your high-definition television. The device enters a market that's quickly becoming competitive with the advent of the AppleTV, ZeeVee, Hulu, and other similar networking tools. HP is confident, though, its creation offers unique options that'll make it stand out from the crowd.
Wed, 18 Jun 08
ZeeVee Builds New Bridge From PC to TV
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63436.html
When startup ZeeVee launched its ZvBox last month, it entered a fray in which high-profile contenders have already found success elusive. The ZvBox aims to let consumers watch any Internet TV, online video or computer content on their home high-definition TVs, and it marks one of the latest attempts in the industry to solve the persistent problem of how to bring Internet content onto HDTVs. "Every content provider is now putting content up on the Internet, and some make it available in high definition," Vic Odryna, ZeeVee's cofounder and CEO, told TechNewsWorld.
Wed, 18 Jun 08
New Google Search Tool Saves PSP Owners Precious Keystrokes
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63448.html
Sony Computer Entertainment America announced Monday the rollout of the latest firmware update for its PlayStation Portable handheld gaming console. The system software update version 4.00 brings Google search to the XrossMediaBar interface, the result of a new partnership between the hardware heavyweight and the king of online search. The addition is part of Sony's effort to respond to consumers' desire for greater Internet functionality, John Koller, director of hardware marketing at SCEA, told TechNewsWorld.
Wed, 18 Jun 08
Open Source Census Broadens Its Mission
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63439.html
The Open Source Census, a collaborative project initiated by OpenLogic to collect and share quantitative data on the use of open source software, has revealed more than 220,000 open source packages and project installations on business hard drives. The census now aims to take a deeper look into open source products used by enterprise adopters. The project has also revealed a new set of sponsors, among which is Microsoft. As this third phase of the ongoing open source census begins, the ranks of census membership are growing significantly, according to organizers.
Wed, 18 Jun 08
JasperSoft Debuts Web 2.0-Savvy Open Source BI
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63434.html
Open source business intelligence firm JasperSoft has announced the availability of its new JasperSoft Business Intelligence Suite v3 Professional Edition. The suite provides enterprise-class functionality delivered through interactive Web 2.0 interfaces, the company said. The new functionalities extend JasperSoft's price/performance ratio and technical support. JasperSoft v3 uses Web 2.0 technologies coupled with a metadata implementation to provide its customers with what it calls "business intelligence for everyone."
Wed, 18 Jun 08
iPhone App Store: A Beacon for Mobile Devs?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63424.html
Call it the iPhone economy. Apple's soon-to-open online App Store has triggered a scramble among software developers to write business plans aimed at making money off Apple's iPhone, a mini-computer that doubles as a phone. "I'm seeing an excitement among mobile developers that I've never seen before," said Sam Altman, chief executive and cofounder of Mountain View, Calif.-based Loopt, a location-based social networking service. "People who said they'd never start a mobile company because they didn't want to rely on the carriers are now starting companies focused only on the iPhone."
Wed, 18 Jun 08
Study: Average iPod Has 800-Plus Illegal Tunes
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63442.html
Young iPod owners are walking around with an average of 842 illegally copied songs, according to research by the University of Hertfordshire. The survey, which questioned 1,200 participants, also revealed that nearly two-thirds of young people download music tracks illegally. The average is 53 songs per month. A further 42 percent of the 14 to 24 year-olds admitted to uploading music onto file-sharing networks. BMR, which commissioned the research, is spearheading a campaign to make legal download services easier to use, and to make breaking copyright less appealing.
Wed, 18 Jun 08
Flock Releases New Test Version of Open Source Social Browser
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63438.html
Developers of a "social" Web browser called "Flock" have released a new test version. Like its predecessors, the Flock 2 beta uses building blocks from Mozilla, an open source community in which thousands of people collectively develop free products. The newest version of Flock incorporates improvements from Mozilla's Firefox 3 browser, which is scheduled for release Tuesday. Flock emphasizes the social aspects of the Web with features like better integration with news-recommendation site Digg, online hangout Facebook and group-messaging service Twitter.
Tue, 17 Jun 08
Nvidia, AMD Think Up Brainier Graphics Processors
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63432.html
The GPU universe grew Monday with releases from two major providers targeting distinct functions and markets. Nvidia announced the availability of the inaugural chips in its new Geforce GTX 200 line of graphic processors. The GTX 280 and GTX 260 have 1.4 billion transistors and 192 to 240 processor cores. AMD also unveiled its own new GPU, the FireStream 9250. Unlike multi-core central processing units, which involve connecting multiple CPUs together, GPUs are a single chip with millions -- or in the case of the GTX 200 series, more than 1 billion -- transistors on each chip.
Tue, 17 Jun 08
Ultra-Low Power Sensor Chip Really Knows How to Relax
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63430.html
A new microchip developed by researchers at the University of Michigan uses 30,000 times less power in sleep mode and 10 times less power in active mode than comparable chips now on the market, the university announced Friday. Intended for use in sensor-based devices such as medical implants, environment monitors or surveillance equipment, the new Phoenix processor consumes just 30 picowatts during sleep mode. A picowatt is one trillionth of a watt -- in theory, the energy stored in a watch battery would be enough to run the Phoenix for 263 years.
Tue, 17 Jun 08
Pew: The Web's Where the Political Action Is, and Obama Rules the Web
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63429.html
With more than five months remaining before the U.S. presidential election, the general campaign period is just dawning. Yet more Americans have already gone online to get political news this year than in all of 2004. To some extent, that fact -- reported in the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project survey -- can be attributed to a longer-than-expected and sometimes heated campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. However, it is also indicative of the Internet's growing role in politics.
Tue, 17 Jun 08
IBM Nudges Solar Cells Toward Mainstream
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63423.html
IBM is taking new steps to make greener energy generation more common. The company has unveiled plans to create more efficient and less expensive solar cell systems. It will work with Japan-based Tokyo Ohka Kogyo to build what it calls the "next generation" of CIGS -- or Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenide -- solar cell modules. The modules will use thin film -- layers of material as thin as a single nanometer in width -- to harness energy from the sun. It's a new twist on a process already deep in development.
Tue, 17 Jun 08
ESET App Girds Smartphones for Malware Battles
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63417.html
Malware has yet to plague smartphones to anywhere near the extent it has PCs, but it's only a matter of time before cyber-criminals start targeting mobile networks. ESET, developer of the NOD32 antivirus solution for PCs and computer networks, is the latest IT security specialist to enter the fray. ESET on Monday announced a free beta test release of ESET Mobile Antivirus, which the company touts as a fast and lightweight anti-malware scanner for Windows Mobile smartphones.
Tue, 17 Jun 08
Widgets and Social Apps: The Rules of Engagement
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63412.html
Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have become extremely fertile environments for product placement and branding. Marketers can reach consumers where they are spending significant amounts of time with compelling content that can potentially break through the marketing noise. Widgets are ideal for social networking venues because they pack a huge impact into a small size, providing a full-featured, sharable experience without the consumer's having to go outside the social network.
Tue, 17 Jun 08
Apple's Sizzling Release, Microsoft's Warm and Fuzzy Fest, HP's Big Bang: The Summer Heats Up
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63405.html
I started off the week with dueling events: the Apple WWDC, where they talked about Snow Leopard and the second generation iPhone, HP's massive product announcement, and Microsoft's TechEd, where I learned more about Unlimited Vista. I was taken by the fact that Apple missed with the iPhone with the product coming late, incomplete and blatantly copying Microsoft Mesh. For HP, they brought out the best non-Apple all-in-one, a better MacBook Air-like product, and the most incredible gaming desktop I've ever seen.
Tue, 17 Jun 08
The Coming of the Nerdettes and Linux's Big Chance
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63409.html
Given the heavy proportion of males in the Linux world, we here at LinuxInsider have trouble resisting any topic that brings females back into the picture. Imagine our glee, then, when we spotted mention of a recent Newsweek article titled "Revenge of the Nerdette"! Indeed, some of us fairly fell off of our pink leatherette chairs. The article, which was published last Monday, argues that it's increasingly being viewed as possible for women to be both geeky and sexy, and for attractive girls to be good at math and science.
Tue, 17 Jun 08
Zero-Emission Hondas Hit the Road
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63416.html
Honda's new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car rolled off a Japanese production line Monday and is headed to Southern California, where Hollywood is already abuzz over the latest splash in green motoring. The FCX Clarity, which runs on hydrogen and electricity, emits only water and none of the noxious fumes believed to induce global warming. It is also two times more energy efficient than a gas-electric hybrid and three times that of a standard gasoline-powered car, the company says.
Tue, 17 Jun 08
LG enV2: Below the iPhone Benchmark
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63401.html
In the geological record of cell phones, there's before the iPhone and after the iPhone. Had you placed the enV2 cell phone in my hands two years ago, during what one might call the industry's Jurassic period, I'd have been amply wowed. What's not to like about a full-blown keyboard and a big color screen tucked away neatly inside an incredibly slim handset? And with the enV2, it's clear that LG Electronics has improved dramatically on the prior two iterations of this somewhat revolutionary line of phones that it's developed for Verizon Wireless.
Mon, 16 Jun 08
MySpace: My Portal?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63404.html
Just as Yahoo gets one competitor off its back by quitting merger discussions with Microsoft, the Web portal may soon find itself going head-to-head with a new rival. Starting June 18, News Corp.'s social network MySpace is introducing design changes it hopes will make it look and feel a lot more like Yahoo. If all goes to plan, MySpace would go beyond being a site where people build personalized profile pages and hang out online with friends, and become more of a gateway to the Web, where users can read news headlines, listen to music, watch videos, and more easily communicate with pals.
Mon, 16 Jun 08
How Firefox Outran the Hounds
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63407.html
It has been a wild first decade for Mozilla. Despite having had a staff of fewer than 100 for most of its existence, the grassroots organization managed to break Microsoft's lock on the Web browser market. If not for Mozilla's popular Firefox browser, Microsoft's software might have come to dominate the Internet the way it does computers. It's an achievement that demonstrates how an open standards software project guided by an unusual mix of social and business principles can have a huge impact on the technology industry.
Sun, 15 Jun 08
Getting Smart About Real-World Spy Gadgets
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63381.html
The shoe phone on TV's "Get Smart" wasn't just a sneaky spy gadget, it was a technological marvel: a wireless, portable telephone that could be used anywhere -- though it did require a dime to make a call. Today, almost everyone has a pocket-sized version that also takes photos, shoots video, sends e-mail and surfs the Internet. About the only thing it doesn't do is protect your feet. "Get Smart" comes to the big screen next week, along with a spate of new spy gadgets to help Maxwell Smart, Agent 99 and the other spies at CONTROL.
Sun, 15 Jun 08
The Techno Sleuth and the Case of the Nabbed Mac
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63403.html
The guy who ended up with Kim Lingel's stolen MacBook and iPhone wasn't counting on Joey Carenza III. "When he gets the scent of something and it really intrigues him, he's on it," says Lingel, 25, who counts Carenza as one of her best friends. "He's tenacious." You don't want Carenza on your trail. He is a high-tech, crime-fighting superhero. The guy knows his way around Apple's operating system -- so much so that he acts as tech support for his friends. To make his life easier, he subscribes to a $99.95-a-year Apple service that allows him to access their Macs remotely.
Sun, 15 Jun 08
Virtual Space Travel, Part 2: Surfing to Mars
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63387.html
Now that NASA has entered the virtual world with its two islands in Second Life, public outreach, collaboration and space exploration may never be the same again. On its CoLab Island, outreach and collaboration are the focus, as Part One of this two-part feature explains. Its other island, called "Explorer Island," focuses on the engineering and science-visualization side of space exploration. "In the '80s and '90s, I was one of many people who took the T-square away from drafting tables and handed drafters a mouse instead," said Charles White of NASA's JPL, which manages Explorer Island.
Sun, 15 Jun 08
Make Your Web Site Work for You
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63348.html
Wherever your Web site ranks on your list of things to work on, move it up to the top. It's that critical. Your Web site isn't "about" your company, it's an extension of your company. If it's unprofessional, you're unprofessional. If it's cluttered, you're cluttered. If it's hard to work with, you're hard to work with. By contrast, if it's well put together, smart and easy to use, so is your company. At least that's what people will perceive. Most small business Web sites don't do their companies justice.
Sat, 14 Jun 08
Obama Launches Pre-Emptive Strike Against Internet Smear Campaigns
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63406.html
Hoping to blunt the impact of an expected torrent of negative campaigning, the presidential campaign of presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama has launched a Web site dedicated to dispelling rumors and myths about him. Obama's campaign launched a site it calls "FightTheSmears" on Thursday, posting several so-called smears taken from various media sources and juxtaposing those rumors with what it says is the truth. In addition to being a way to rebut rumor and innuendo, the site is also designed to use social media to spread the word about Obama.
Sat, 14 Jun 08
RAND: Foreign Talent Helps Keep US No. 1 in Science and Tech
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63408.html
A new report released by the RAND Corporation Thursday found that the U.S. has maintained its lead in the science and technology arena. The study was co-authored by Titus Galama, a management scientist at RAND, and James Hosek, a RAND senior economist. "The way this project began was that we looked at congressional testimony, expert opinions, the popular press to get a sense of what experts as well as what the general perception of the public in the United States [was] about science and technology," Galama told TechNewsWorld.
Sat, 14 Jun 08
Better Tech Support in 3 Easy Steps, Part 3
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63392.html
Now that you've done all this work to improve your technical support team, you need to let your customers know. The sales and marketing teams will do most of the work for you on this. While they may not run a campaign stating, "Hey, our support doesn't stink anymore," they do have a ton of automated messages and informal scripts that they can insert little announcements into. The most important script is the one I mentioned in my last article for the salespeople to use when a customer confronts them with a problem.
Sat, 14 Jun 08
Intel Antitrust: Trouble for All Tech Companies
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63382.html
The United States Federal Trade Commission recently began a formal antitrust investigation into Intel's business practices. This action is not simply a problem for Intel, but should serve as a wake-up call for the entire technology industry and anyone who values innovation. Some of the drivers behind the Intel inquiry are complaints by its competitor, Advanced Micro Devices. Both AMD and Intel compete to provide microprocessors for computers, with Intel holding a larger portion of the market.
Sat, 14 Jun 08
Mac Bloggers Crunch iPhone Numbers, Mull MobileMe
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63380.html
The Apple-focused blogosphere is swirling around like a hurricane this week. At the center of the storm is Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, where CEO Steve Jobs took center stage to announce the much-anticipated 3G iPhone. A wide range of other developer-focused news came out of the conference, including more details about the next version of OS X, dubbed "Snow Leopard," in which Apple will take a pause on new feature development and focus instead on improving performance.
Sat, 14 Jun 08
Microsoft and Yahoo Walk, Cyber-Terror Risk Sticks Around, China Plays Dumb
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63400.html
The battle between Yahoo and investor Carl Icahn heated up a few notches this week. After exchanging a few sharply worded letters with each other, they started writing to investors. The humanity! Though the two parties have been going back and forth for weeks, both have really been trying to make their cases to investors, obviously. Icahn has been pressing his complaint that Yahoo was foolish not to sell to Microsoft when it had the chance, while Yahoo has been insisting it can do just fine on its own, thanks.
Sat, 14 Jun 08
Apache CXF: All Grown Up
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63388.html
More open source server components and frameworks continue to emerge from developer communities. One of the latest, Apache CXF, an open source Web services framework, graduated from incubation recently to become a full Apache Foundation project. The progeny of the previous merger of the ObjectWeb-managed Celtix project and the XFire Project at Codehaus, CXF joins a growing pool of Apache and other open source projects supporting services-oriented architect infrastructure. Many, like CXF, also enjoy commercial support and associated commercial products, such as IONA Technologies' FUSE.
Sat, 14 Jun 08
AT&T May Impose Extra Fees for Heavy Downloaders
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63395.html
AT&T, the country's largest Internet provider, is considering charging extra for customers who download large amounts of data. "A form of usage-based pricing for those customers who have abnormally high usage patterns is inevitable," spokesperson Michael Coe said this week. The top 5 percent of AT&T's DSL customers use 46 percent of the total bandwidth, Coe said. Overall bandwidth use on the network is surging, doubling every year and a half. AT&T doesn't have any specific plans or fees to announce yet, Coe said.
Sat, 14 Jun 08
Luxury Resorts Put Macs on Guests' Pillows
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63399.html
Fontainebleau Resorts plans to provide an Apple iMac computer in each of the 5,300 rooms at its soon-to-reopen, remodeled Miami flagship and $3 billion hotel-casino being built on the Las Vegas Strip. The $15 million investment in the sleek 22-inch computers is the marquee feature in an effort to add high-tech touches throughout the resorts, says Fontainebleau majority owner Jeffrey Soffer. The Macs are Apple's first major venture into the hospitality industry.
Sat, 14 Jun 08
Floating Objects Outside Shuttle Perturb NASA Engineers
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63397.html
NASA engineers were trying to identify an object that floated away from Discovery and were analyzing a protrusion found on its rudder Friday, a day before the space shuttle was scheduled to land. The two issues were noticed after a routine test of the spacecraft's flight control systems and steering jets. The astronauts reported to Mission Control that they observed a rectangular object, about 1 to 1 1/2 feet long, floating away from the tail of the shuttle around the right wing. They also reported seeing something sticking out from the left side of the shuttle's rudder.
Fri, 13 Jun 08
Verizon to Offer Starter Centro Smartphone as iPhone Alternative
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63389.html
Palm and Verizon Wireless announced a deal Thursday that brings the device maker's popular Centro smartphone to Verizon subscribers. The Centro's debut on Verizon comes some nine months after Palm launched the device on Sprint's wireless network and about five months after it became available to AT&T customers. The handset, which is available to Verizon customers on Friday, June 13, costs $99 after a rebate and with a two-year contract. Without those susidies, the phone is priced at $389.99.
Fri, 13 Jun 08
Lawmakers Bemoan China's Glib Response to Hacker Accusations
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63391.html
Two U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday accused China of hacking into their office computers, bringing a swift denial from the Chinese government the next day. U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R.-Va., a frequent advocate of human rights causes, said that in August 2006 an outside attack was made on four of his office computers that contained "information about all of the casework I have done on behalf of political dissidents and human rights activists around the world." House Information Resources and FBI officials told Wolf that the attacks came from within the People's Republic of China, he added.
Fri, 13 Jun 08
Top Layer Networks' Ken Pappas: When PCI Compliance Isn't Enough
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63373.html
High-profile data breaches continue to spotlight the growing risks consumers face of identity theft and credit card fraud. Four highly visible data breaches disclosed in the last 18 months are particularly worrisome because they show a systemic failure in the procedures that both the public and regulatory agencies expect companies to get right. One notorious incident involved retail giant TJX. In that case, hackers stole some 46 million credit and debit card numbers when they accessed the computer systems at two TJX corporate hubs over a period of several years.
Fri, 13 Jun 08
Clunky Control Takes Down 'Bourne Conspiracy'
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63386.html
Last week, a $30 million weapon made a transition from movie trilogy hero to video game star. Sierra Entertainment has now given gamers a "license to kill" with its newest release, "Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy." Action, adventure, intrigue, deception and violence litter the Bourne landscape; sadly, though, this new edition to the franchise is ultimately one more mindless regurgitation of already overused gameplay elements. There is little to distinguish it from others in the action genre besides its premise.
Fri, 13 Jun 08
NASA's Gamma Ray Scope to Chase Down Universe's Darkest Secrets
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63379.html
NASA has launched a new mission to unravel some of the universe's most intense mysteries. Scientists sent GLAST -- the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope -- into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center. A Delta 2 rocket catapulted the high-tech scope to its destination Wednesday in a meager 90 minutes. Now, the effort to answer centuries-old questions begins. The $690 million telescope will pick up the puzzle left behind by its predecessor -- the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope, or EGRET -- which was put to rest eight years ago.
Fri, 13 Jun 08
Open Source Development Is Smart Business
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63372.html
It's an interesting question: Why would large, established companies like Adobe and others embrace open source strategies? In some ways, it seems counterproductive. After all, releasing a software application's source code to the community could be viewed as letting an organization's competitive advantage walk out the door. However, as anyone involved in the open source community knows, this shortsighted view fails to acknowledge the true benefits of open source development. I've been engaged in free software -- which later became "open source" in 1998 -- for almost two decades.
Fri, 13 Jun 08
SAP's Product Communities: Taking Cues From Open Source
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63369.html
Despite repeated pleas of "Do you hear me now?" from customers the world over, few companies have done much more than turn a deaf ear. As a result, consumer frustration is at an all-time high while brand loyalty has hit an all-time low. The technologies that were supposed to open lines of communication across many channels merely cut the line on all conduits. "Customers have always provided input, via support incidents, bug reports, enhancement requests, etc., but somehow in a Web 1.0 CRM world, these were ... easily ignored," said John Ragsdale of the Service & Support Professionals Association.
Fri, 13 Jun 08
WWDC: Devs Get a Peek at the Shape of Platforms to Come
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63365.html
If you did a quick news search on Apple this week, you could easily conclude that CEO Steve Jobs took the stage Monday morning, talked for 20 minutes about a new 3G iPhone, then called it quits. But the bulk of Monday's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address, during which Jobs gave Senior VP of iPhone Software Scott Forstall plenty of stage time, was focused on -- you guessed it -- developers. Most of the opening act's attention was focused on the iPhone software development kit and the possibilities the platform has opened to developers.
Fri, 13 Jun 08
Video Game Spinoffs: A New Music Revolution?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63383.html
"Rock Band." "Guitar Hero." "SingStar." These music-oriented video games have become fixtures in popular culture, appearing in movies and on television, and sparking a new musical movement. Younger players are not only gaining exposure to a wider variety of genres and artists, but also getting a basic music education. Although no one will argue that these games truly emulate playing a real guitar or a real bass, they certainly nurture musical imaginations.
Fri, 13 Jun 08
Firefox 3 Ready to Ignite June 17
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63378.html
A new version of the Firefox Web browser is scheduled for release Tuesday with improvements in security, speed and design. Many of the enhancements in Firefox 3 involve bookmarks. The new version lets Web surfers add keywords, or tags, to sort bookmarks by topic. A new "Places" feature lets users quickly access sites they recently bookmarked or tagged and pages they visit frequently but haven't bookmarked. There's also a new star button for easily adding sites to your bookmark list -- similar to what's already available on Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser.
Fri, 13 Jun 08
Harrah's Gives Customers $10K Surfaces to Flirt and Mix Drinks
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63376.html
Microsoft and Harrah's Entertainment introduced a high-tech interactive bar table Wednesday that lets patrons order drinks, watch YouTube videos, play touchscreen games and even flirt with each other. The tables offer Harrah's a new way to track its customers' habits and behaviors, adding to its sophisticated costumer rewards program that tracks users' gambling habits. "Of all the goodies up our sleeves lately, this is one of the most dramatic," Tim Stanley, chief information officer of Harrah's, told The Associated Press. "The range of opportunities [is] fairly limitless."
Fri, 13 Jun 08
Phoenix Engineers Score Bull's-Eye With Shake-and-Bake Maneuver
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63374.html
For a beleaguered team working on one of the UA-led Phoenix Mars lander's premier experiments, the seventh time was the charm. After soil delivered from Mars' arctic surface clogged up a screen above a key instrument, delaying a planned analysis of the soil for several days, scientists and engineers tried one last time to shake some dirt into a tiny experimental oven. They'd tried the same thing six times, but each time the dirt failed to fall into an opening in the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer, or TEGA.
Thu, 12 Jun 08
Sergey's Big Adventure: Earth Isn't Enough
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63368.html
Google cofounder Sergey Brin on Wednesday became the first person to put down a deposit of $5 million toward a future orbital spaceflight through a new program from Space Adventures. Brin's reservation uses one of six spots initially created in Space Adventures' new Orbital Mission Explorers Circle, which allows individuals to reserve seats on future orbital spaceflights. Such "founding explorers" get preferential access to mission seats on upcoming trips to orbit, whether for their own use or for them to sell to another private astronaut.
Thu, 12 Jun 08
Critical Flaw Left Utilities Vulnerable to Attack for 5 Months
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63364.html
A vulnerability found in utility control software is raising serious questions over municipal security. The issue, revealed Wednesday morning, could have let attackers take control of water treatment plants, natural gas lines and potentially even nuclear power plant equipment. Security firm Core Security Technologies discovered the problem and says it notified the system manufacturer five months ago -- yet the flaw was not fixed until last week. The systems in question, created by Citect, allow remote management of machinery at various plants.
Thu, 12 Jun 08
EU Commish Hearts Open Software, Open Standards
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63370.html
A high-ranking European Union official urged the use of open standards and open source software Tuesday during a speech in Brussels at a conference Tuesday hosted by OpenForum Europe. In order for companies to compete fairly against each other in the technology industry "standards are more important than ever," said Neelie Kroes, European Union competition commissioner. "They often facilitate economies of scale, but their real impact on technology markets is with interoperability."
Thu, 12 Jun 08
The Storm Worm's Elaborate Con Game
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63357.html
Despite their discovery of a direct link to the funding sources behind the infamous Storm Virus, IronPort Systems researchers are doubtful law enforcement will ever nail the perpetrators. Still, improving technologies may help to block its continuing spread. In its latest Security Trends Report, released Wednesday, Cisco-owned IronPort exposes links between malware originators and online pharmaceutical companies selling fake and unregulated drugs.
Thu, 12 Jun 08
Sugar Labs' Walter Bender on the Sweetness of Collaborative Learning
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63354.html
Walter Bender was one of the first people to be involved in the One Laptop Per Child initiative, which seeks to make portable computers affordable and place them in the hands of children who need them across the globe. While at OLPC, Bender was president of software and content. Last month, he left OLPC to form Sugar Labs, which exists to develop and improve the Sugar user interface, an open source software layer originally designed for OLPC's XO laptop. His departure coincided with the announcement by OLPC that it would begin offering Microsoft Windows as an option for the XO.
Thu, 12 Jun 08
The 3G iPhone Unveiling: Slightly Anticlimactic
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63366.html
Even if you're an Apple devotee, you still might not know that the new iPhone -- announced a couple of days ago -- will have a minuscule power adapter, will come in white as well as black, and its headphone jack will no longer be slightly recessed. These were probably the only three features that weren't intensely speculated upon over the preceding months; the travel itinerary of CEO Steve Jobs was analyzed for tiny clues, and a couple of weeks back a queue began forming at Apple's flagship store in New York for no reason whatsoever.
Thu, 12 Jun 08
Discovery Heads Home After Delivering Kibo Science Lab
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63360.html
Space shuttle Discovery pulled away from the international space station on Wednesday and began its journey home, ending a nine-day visit highlighted by the installation of a new Japanese lab. The shuttle and its crew of seven, including a Japanese astronaut, are due back on Earth on Saturday. "We wish them the best with their expedition and we hope we left them a better, more capable space station than when we arrived. Sayonara," shuttle commander Mark Kelly told the space station crew before leaving.
Thu, 12 Jun 08
AOL Radio Adds CBS Channels in Do-or-Die Move
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63358.html
AOL is revamping its popular online radio service, adding streams from all 140 CBS-owned radio stations and upgrading its player to add more functions and expand the service's reach. Much is at stake for AOL, which is looking for new ways to boost revenues from online music streaming a year after a panel of copyright judges sharply increased the royalties that online radio providers pay to record labels and artists. Lisa Namerow, the general manager of AOL's online radio unit, said the company's music streaming business was still unprofitable.
Thu, 12 Jun 08
The Asterisk on the 3G iPhone's Price Tag
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63352.html
Apple has named the next iteration of its game-changing mobile device the "iPhone 3G," which calls attention to a feature missing from the original release -- the ability to grab information from the Internet at near-broadband speeds. However, the fact that the new iPhone will use AT&T's zippy 3G network is not its killer feature. Nor is the fact
that it will talk to the Global Positioning Satellite system. Many other smartphones already do both of those things, and have for a while. No, the most eye-opening aspect of the iPhone 3G is its price tag.
Wed, 11 Jun 08
HP Throws 50 Products at the Wall to See What Sticks
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63351.html
HP kicked off the summer with a slew of new and revamped products at its Connecting Your World conference in Berlin Tuesday. Among the 50 products that will soon make their way onto store shelves is HP's TouchSmart all-in-one desktop PC, an ultra-thin laptop from Voodoo PC, a one-billion color monitor and 16 other notebook computers. The sheer number of products HP unwrapped Tuesday is unusual in the PC industry but points to the convergence between consumer and enterprise-class systems, said Steve Kleynhans, an analyst at Gartner.
Wed, 11 Jun 08
SocialCalc Wikifies Spreadsheets
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63355.html
Wiki and social software firm Socialtext has put its own spin on the spreadsheet. The new offering, SocialCalc, is a multi-user, wiki-based spreadsheet program intended to simplfy version control, reduce errors and increase productivity, Socialtext said. SocialCalc joins offerings from Google and others as an alternative to Microsoft's Excel, aimed at users for whom collaboration is a priority. It combines the functionality of a spreadsheet with a wiki and provides linking between sheets.
Wed, 11 Jun 08
WiMax Players Form Alliance to Host Patent Pool Party
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63347.html
Six of technology's biggest names are joining forces to make wired connections a thing of the past. Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Clearwire, Intel, Samsung Electronics and Sprint Nextel announced an agreement this week to form the Open Patent Alliance to help companies develop cutting-edge WiMax devices at a reasonable cost. The concept driving the Open Patent Alliance is the idea of open intellectual property rights. Instead of individual companies developing products and charging their own patent royalties, the newly formed alliance is designed to make patents cheap and easy for anyone to obtain.
Wed, 11 Jun 08
Apple Promises Smooth Syncing With MobileMe
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63349.html
A 3G iPhone wasn't the only new offering Apple showed off during the keynote presentation at its Worldwide Developers Conference Monday. Its new online service, MobileMe, also made its debut. Described by CEO Steve Jobs as "[Microsoft] Exchange for the rest of us," MobileMe syncs the user's push e-mail, contacts, calendar, picture gallery and data over multiple devices -- home computers, office computers, an iPhone, an iPod touch, etc. Scheduled to launch July 11, MobileMe will replace .Mac, Apple's current online service.
Wed, 11 Jun 08
Roku's Netflix Player: Nifty Box but Not Much Worth Watching
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63338.html
The Netflix Player by Roku, a television set-top box that streams play-on-demand videos and movies from mail order DVD rental titan Netflix, launched late last month to generally wide acclaim. In fact, Roku reportedly sold out two weeks after its launch, though the company has said it has shipments coming in from China weekly. So with all the fuss, how well does the Roku player actually perform? Is it really just shy of totally awesome? Can you really set it up in just a few minutes? And most importantly, is it worth $100?
Wed, 11 Jun 08
AT&T Feeling Pain From iPhone Fever
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63350.html
The release of the 3G iPhone has Apple enthusiasts pumped up, but it left AT&T investors feeling deflated over the carrier's decision to heavily subsidize the new, cheaper device in the hopes of reaping longer-term gains. While Apple shares were up about 2 percent Tuesday, AT&T's stock was down, losing just under 1 percent to close at $37.22. The drop came a day after AT&T acknowledged that the new generation of iPhone -- which will run on a faster network and feature GPS technology -- will cut into profit margins and earnings for the rest of this year and for all of 2009.
Wed, 11 Jun 08
Study Debunks IM Workplace Disruption Myth
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63345.html
Employers long have viewed instant messaging with a wary eye. Because it started as a tool primarily for personal use, the technology was slow to make its way into the workplace. Much like mobile phone text-messaging of today, IM had many detractors, who insisted that the tool created just another way for employees to waste work time on personal conversations. That myth is being dismantled, thanks in part to research that shows that instant messaging can indeed increase the productivity of workers.
Wed, 11 Jun 08
The 3G Road to the 10 Million iPhone Milestone
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63339.html
Before Monday, the arrival of a 3G iPhone at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference was more than just a rumor; it was basically a foregone conclusion. Trusted gadget blogs proclaimed confirmation from unnamed inside sources; spy photos taken from the bushes surrounding supply depots were posted on the Web, and the usual lineups of fake -- or possibly real -- photos were easy to find. It was no longer a rumor -- it was an expectation. Had Steve Jobs walked off the stage Monday morning without giving the world some firm promises, many hearts and stock portfolios would be in shambles.
Wed, 11 Jun 08
The Happy Collision of Collaboration and Competition in the Mobile World
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63336.html
Mobile innovation -- not long ago mired in a tangle of "walled-garden" business models, closed networks, proprietary technologies and fierce litigation -- is at last in high gear. Collaborative source development is lowering the barriers to participation in mobile innovation and yielding new, promising software solutions. Established, major players and young, lean entrants are working together to transform the experiences of mobile users everywhere, without sacrificing their own business objectives.
Wed, 11 Jun 08
5 Hot Tips for Navigating a Cool IT Job Market
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63253.html
An IT career is once again one with a lot of long-term potential. While the market now does not resemble the halcyon times of the dot-com boom, demand is expected to remain steady in the short term and the future looks bright. "From all of the companies that we work with, the message now is, 'full speed ahead,'" said John Estes, a vice president with Robert Half Technology. Despite present perceptions, IT professionals are on solid footing -- at least for the moment.
Wed, 11 Jun 08
Reinvented iPhone Could Bite Into BlackBerry's Market
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63343.html
The new iPhone is built for business -- and that makes it a real challenge to the BlackBerry and other corporate cell phone systems for the first time, tech analysts say. Unlike its predecessor, the 3G iPhone can connect with most corporate e-mail systems and handle Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. It also has tools that make it easier for corporate technology departments to manage. And it comes with a faster cellular Internet connection, which can better handle data-intensive business applications.
Wed, 11 Jun 08
Clumpy Soil Forces Phoenix Lander to Shake and Bake
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63341.html
Scientists troubleshooting the Phoenix lander said Monday they will try one last shake to get a scoopful of Martian dirt inside a tiny oven in hopes of jump-starting their study of Mars' north pole region. Phoenix's first science experiment to heat the permafrost soil was delayed after it was discovered that virtually none of it passed through a screen to reach a miniature oven, one of eight aboard the spacecraft that will heat soil and sniff the resulting vapors for signs of life-friendly elements.
Tue, 10 Jun 08
Samsung Promises iPhone Rival on Apple's Big Day
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63334.html
Apple's new iPhone 3G may have made the biggest splash in the smartphone pond on Monday, but it wasn't the only splash. Earlier in the day, Samsung Electronics debuted its Omnia, a device seen as an iPhone contender. Samsung's Omnia features the Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system, a wide 3.2-inch WQVGA LCD screen, a five-megapixel CMOS camera and a high-resolution touchscreen interface. Internal memory options are 8 GB or 16 GB, with an extendable slot for additions, and a GPS receiver offers navigation and geo-tagging capabilities.
Tue, 10 Jun 08
iPhone Answers 3G's Call
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63335.html
Confirming months of rumor and speculation, Apple CEO Steve Jobs marched on stage at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco Monday to unveil a new model of the iPhone. The new iPhone will run on third-generation, or 3G, networks, which offer higher data transfer speeds than the EDGE network that the original iPhone runs on. In addition, the new iPhone will sell at the bargain price of $199 when it goes on sale on July 11. When it first debuted less than a year ago, the original iPhone sold for as much as $599.
Tue, 10 Jun 08
IBM's Roadrunner Supercomputer Zooms Into Petaflop Territory
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63328.html
IBM has designed a new $100 million supercomputer, called "Roadrunnner," that's powerful enough to operate at 1 petaflop -- a cool 1 thousand trillion calculations per second. That's twice as fast as the next closest supercomputer -- the IBM Blue Gene system -- and nearly three times as fast as other top supercomputers in the world. For those who aren't sure what a thousand trillion calculations per second equates to, it's also 1 million billion calculations per second -- or 1 quadrillion calculations per second.
Tue, 10 Jun 08
GPS Mapping Shows Where the Action Is
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63327.html
A new company is working to index the real world. Sense Networks officially launched its CitySense and MacroSense activity-tracking services Monday. The services use a combination of cell phone data, WiFi activity and vehicle GPS locations to measure where crowds are -- and then put the information to use in a number of ways. Perhaps the most widely discussed feature is Sense Networks' CitySense service. The program, available so far only in San Francisco, lets you look at real-time maps to discover, for example, which nightclubs are busiest on any given evening.
Tue, 10 Jun 08
New Ransomware Making the Rounds
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63322.html
IT security provider Kaspersky Lab has issued a security alert following the detection of a particularly malicious piece of "ransomware." Kaspersky researchers were the first to detect and issue warnings that a new, stronger version of the Gpcode virus was on the loose. Even though it doesn't appear to have spread widely -- to date at least -- the new Gpcode variant poses a particularly nasty threat. If downloaded, the virus -- Virus.Win32.Gpcode.ak -- employs RSA 1024-bit encryption to lock users out of just about every common data file format found on their PCs.
Tue, 10 Jun 08
Comcast's Bandwidth-Throttling Experiment: Wave of the Future?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63331.html
Comcast has launched a trial this month in parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia to see how well its new approach to bandwidth management works. If the pilot is successful, the ISP's customers nationwide may find themselves consuming bandwidth under new business rules. Essentially, Comcast is reducing the bandwidth and speed available to customers downloading large amounts of data during peak usage times. The point is to reallocate bandwidth to ensure maximum efficiency. Comcast says users will hardly notice the change.
Tue, 10 Jun 08
Springer eBooks' Cynthia Cleto: Shaking Up the Status Quo
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63320.html
E-books are still plugging along, not quite an afterthought in the publishing industry but not the hailed champion either. Like their newspaper cousins, book publishers are at a crossroads but completely stumped as to which way to turn, so they are largely sitting around just talking about it. At some level, they all know something digital this way comes and they are OK with that -- it's the silence of the cash registers they have a problem with. The book publishing market is undeniably flat at the moment with no relief in sight. Hence, the stumped silence.
Tue, 10 Jun 08
Computex: All Things Non-iPhone
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63318.html
Last week was Computex, but today everyone is focused on the likely launch of the iPhone. Given that some of the announcements at the show will have an impact on the future of devices like this, and that some of you will likely want to read something while standing in line, let's look at Computex vs. the iPhone, and as the details of the new iPhone become public, you can compare the technology that was announced at Computex to what Apple is announcing with the iPhone.
Tue, 10 Jun 08
PGP Encryption Clamps Down Mac Data
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63317.html
PGP Corporation announced Monday it has added pre-boot authentication to the PGP Whole Disk Encryption for Mac OS X systems deployed in enterprise environments. This latest release, version 9.9, adds pre-boot authentication to the company's data encryption technology for Intel-based Mac OS X systems Tiger and Leopard, providing protection for data on desktops, laptops and removable media. The use of pre-boot authentication removes an April 7 restriction the National Institutes of Health placed on not using Mac notebooks to hold sensitive data, according to company officials.
Tue, 10 Jun 08
How to Pick a Good Gift for a Geeky Dad
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63316.html
There's nothing like a good battle to liven up the conversation on the Linux blogs, and that's just what happened last week thanks to the resurgence in the controversy over OOXML. Following appeals by South Africa, India, Brazil and Venezuela, the fate of OOXML -- and indeed standards-making in general -- is far from clear. "I think OOXML will cause the greatest wave of change to how national standards bodies conduct themselves that we have seen in the last decade or two," wrote IBM's Bob Sutor on his blog.
Tue, 10 Jun 08
Space Station's New Robotic Arm Gets a Workout
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63324.html
Astronauts on the international space station Monday flexed some of the muscles on a robotic arm attached to a new Japanese lab they delivered and helped install on the orbiting outpost. The $1 billion lab's robotic arm got its first thorough checkout during a two-hour procedure where it was fully extended, and all six of its joints were moved. The 33-foot robotic arm was first moved on Saturday, but only very slightly. "It was such a pretty view, we just wanted to share it with you guys," Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide told flight controllers near Tokyo as he operated the arm.
Sun, 8 Jun 08
Invasion of the Body Scanners
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63310.html
Body-scanning machines that show images of people underneath their clothing are being installed in 10 of the nation's busiest airports in one of the biggest public uses of security devices that reveal intimate body parts. The Transportation Security Administration recently started using body scans on randomly chosen passengers in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Denver, Albuquerque and at New York's Kennedy airport. Airports in Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas and Miami will be added this month.
Sat, 7 Jun 08
Zac: An Open Door to the Web for Autistic Kids
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63275.html
John LeSieur is in the software business, so he took particular interest when computers seemed mostly useless to his 6-year-old grandson, Zackary. The boy has autism, and the whirlwind of options presented by PCs so confounded him that he threw the mouse in frustration. LeSieur tried to find online tools that could guide autistic children around the Web, but he couldn't find anything satisfactory. So he had one built, named it the "Zac Browser for Autistic Children" in honor of his grandson, and is making it available to anyone for free.
Sat, 7 Jun 08
Cool Things You Can Do With an iPhone - or Any Phone
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63319.html
Did you know your cell phone can name that tune? Access your e-mail -- even if it's not a fancy iPhone or BlackBerry? Cut short a lousy date or boring meeting? Ah, such power. And it'll even make phone calls. We've compiled a list of cool things your cell phone can do. Some only work on specific phones, but most are applications or features you can try with any ol' model. For instance, Jott.com lets you call in messages to yourself for free; after you've dictated a 30-second message, it becomes an e-mail or text message.
Sat, 7 Jun 08
Virtual Space Travel, Part 1: One Small Step
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63312.html
For those of us old enough to remember life before the Internet, the term "virtual space travel" probably conjures memories of childhood visits to the local planetarium. Fast forward to today, and things are just a little different. In today's Internet-enabled world, ordinary citizens can explore the universe from the comfort of their own homes through the likes of Google Sky, Google Moon and Google Mars. Virtual tours are available from sites like SpaceWander and Space.com.
Sat, 7 Jun 08
Microsoft Preps 3 Critical Fixes for Patch Tuesday Release
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63308.html
Microsoft plans to issue seven security updates -- three of which are rated "critical" -- in its monthly Patch Tuesday release next week. Several of the patches deal with preventing remote code execution. Attackers could potentially take advantage of vulnerabilities by remotely running malicious code and gaining access to an unsuspecting user's computer. The listed fixes are designed to correct a variety of problems with Internet Explorer that affect Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003.
Sat, 7 Jun 08
Gmail Opens Door to All Features Great and Lame
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63309.html
Google is rolling out a new feature for Gmail users called "Gmail Labs." It promises to help Google take advantage of any esoteric Gmail idea that's hidden in the minds of Google's many engineers. Gmail Labs includes new settings in Gmail that let users select, use and effectively test the new features. At the same time, this shows Google which features people care about using. Google has a program that lets any engineer spend 20 percent of his workweek on any project of their own choosing.
Sat, 7 Jun 08
Disney Reaches New Dimension With Google Earth 3-D Experience
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63305.html
Disney World and Google are teaming up to take tourism to a new dimension. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts worked with programmers at Google Earth to create a fully three-dimensional virtual viewing experience -- said to be the most advanced rendering Google has ever created. Walt Disney World Resort in 3-D lets you zoom through all four Disney World Orlando theme parks and get detailed looks at the company's nearly two dozen accompanying hotels and resorts. You can speed down the streets, fly by the rides, and even stop to rest at a park bench.
Sat, 7 Jun 08
Sandra Day O'Connor Invites Kids to Play With Jurisprudence
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63303.html
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has a new day job: game developer. The former justice's latest pursuit came to light during her keynote address Wednesday at the Games for Change Conference held at Parsons The New School For Design in New York. Designed for seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders, "Our Courts" will be an online interactive civic education project that will educate students and prepare them to participate in American representative democracy. It's scheduled to launch in September for teachers and a year later for general use.
Sat, 7 Jun 08
Yahoo's Poison Pen Pal; Free Internet but No Porn
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63302.html
Newly revealed court documents have Yahoo squirming. It now appears the company may have spurned an offer from Microsoft worth $40 a share way back in 2007 -- months before all its hand-wringing over a much-publicized, much-lower bid. Yahoo apparently also declined an earlier offer of a search advertising partnership with Google -- something it later sought out as a way to keep Microsoft at arm's length. The documents were introduced in a lawsuit that accuses Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang of refusing to negotiate in good faith and erecting roadblocks to Microsoft's offer.
Sat, 7 Jun 08
What Will Jobs Say Monday? Inquiring Mac Minds Want to Know
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63296.html
Most eyes in the Apple-focused blogosphere this week are looking forward to Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, where nearly everyone expects Apple CEO Steve Jobs to announce the iPhone App Store and iPhone 2.0 software, not to mention a new version of the iPhone itself. In still more iPhone speculation, debate over possible AT&T subsidies has been raging -- mostly on the hope that it could drive down the cost of acquiring a new iPhone. Still others are speculating that Jobs has something even more interesting up his sleeve for the conference.
Sat, 7 Jun 08
Liberating Wonk Wisdom From the Ivory Towers
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63235.html
The knowledge business is getting wikified. Last week I was at Balliol College at Oxford University with Wikipedia cofounder Larry Sanger to debate the proposition that "the Internet is the future of knowledge." And we agreed that today's open source Internet -- with its user-generated wikis and blogs -- was indeed radically democratizing the way in which knowledge is now being created and distributed. It was ironic, of course, to discuss the democratization of knowledge in medieval Oxford.
Sat, 7 Jun 08
Some Digital Pens Are Mightier Than Others
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63301.html
The pen, once mightier than the sword, has been getting trounced by the keyboard in the computer era. Now and then there's a push toward "pen-based computing" that doesn't get very far. However, in a test of the latest crop of pens that combine ink with digital technology, at least one stands out as a useful tool and a complement to the keyboard. All three pens I tested record what the user writes, and can transfer an image of those notes to a PC. The standout of the group is the LiveScribe Pulse.
Fri, 6 Jun 08
Better Tech Support in 3 Easy Steps, Part 2
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63289.html
How well does it normally work when you tell someone to do something? It depends upon your relationship to that person. A complete stranger will ignore you. An acquaintance might tell you "no" before they ignore you. A friend will probably explain to you why they aren't going to do what you told them. A sibling will hit you. Your spouse will laugh. Your kids will pretend to obey while they secretly do exactly the opposite behind your back. Or they will do it and whine incessantly.
Fri, 6 Jun 08
Scientists Study Human Movements Through Secret Cell Phone Tracking
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63293.html
A team of scientists recently conducted a study of human travel patterns by secretly tracking the whereabouts of cell phone users. Aiming to investigate the geographical patterns in which humans travel over time, the researchers studied the trajectory of 100,000 anonymized cell phone users -- randomly selected from more than 6 million users -- and tracked their locations over a six-month period via the calls and text messages they sent and received. Also included for validation purposes were data that captured the location of 206 cell phone users every two hours for an entire week.
Fri, 6 Jun 08
Google, NASA Embark on 40-Year Mission to Stars
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63288.html
A new NASA land use agreement is bringing Google -- and, ultimately, the general public -- one step closer to outer space. Google announced a 40-year plan Thursday to build a massive research and development campus within NASA's Ames Research Center. Google will pay $3.66 million a year for the 42.2 acre as-yet-undeveloped lot in Mountain View, Calif. Construction is slated to start by 2013 and go all the way through 2022. Google's deal with NASA marks a major turning point in the organizations' unusual public and private sector partnership.
Fri, 6 Jun 08
Is an OS X Snow Leopard Hiding in the Drifts?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63294.html
With Apple's legendary efforts at secrecy, much of the news surrounding the Cupertino, Calif.-based company starts with rumors ferreted out from unnamed sources and posted on blog sites -- and that's especially true when the date for a major Apple event draws closer. The latest next-generation Mac OS X rumor is no different. Apple's next version, ostensibly OS X 10.6, will reportedly be a fully 64-bit Intel-only Mac OS X. One report has identified the next version as "Snow Leopard."
Fri, 6 Jun 08
New E*Trade App Lets BlackBerry Users Wheel and Deal
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63290.html
In a move aimed at keeping its customers connected, E*Trade on Thursday launched a mobile service customized for Research in Motion's BlackBerry device. E*Trade Mobile Pro will offer the same user interface, security features and banking and trading services as the E*Trade Web site exclusively on BlackBerry smartphones. While users of high-end smartphones could access E*Trade's Web site wirelessly, the new service adds mobile-friendly features, including enhanced security, while still giving users the ability to place and confirm trades and make bank transfers to fund stock purchases.
Fri, 6 Jun 08
For a Ninja, Itagaki Makes a Pretty Noisy Exit
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63292.html
Tomonobu Itagaki, renowned producer of the "Ninja Gaiden" series and head of Tecmo's Team Ninja, has resigned effective July 1, 2008 -- obviously timing his announcement to coincide with the release of "Ninja Gaiden 2," Team Ninja's latest contribution to the action/adventure genre of the video game industry. Itagaki is currently suing Tecmo for US$1.4 million -- the amount he claims he's owed as a production bonus for "Dead or Alive 4." His parting of the ways with Tecmo has many Team Ninja fans wondering if the "Ninja Gaiden" and "Dead or Alive" series will continue or simply vanish.
Fri, 6 Jun 08
IBM Throws Cold Water on Hot Chips
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63286.html
IBM researchers, in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin, have prototyped a new method for cooling microprocessors stacked on top of each other, creating a 3-D processor that could keep Moore's Law running strong for the next decade. Key to the effort is water, which seems to be the only material that can keep the stack from burning up. 3-D chip stacks would have an aggregated heat dissipation of close to 1 kilowatt with an area of 4 square centimeters and a thickness of about 1 millimeter, IBM reported.
Fri, 6 Jun 08
Bhaskar Rao: Conquering Space and Time With MIMO
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63270.html
Bhaskar Rao is known for his discoveries in the realm of space exploration. However, he's never ventured beyond the atmosphere of Mother Earth. His space-related technology expertise lies in innovative advances in the world of signal processing. His explorations resulted in the emergence of MIMO, or multiple input multiple output. An electrical engineer from the University of California at San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering, Rao's discoveries are contributing to advances in wireless communications networks.
Fri, 6 Jun 08
When It Absolutely Has to Be Accurate, Don't Trust the Crowd
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63277.html
Computers have become more complex in recent years as demands on systems have continued to increase in size due to the amount of external devices, software, hardware and communication components. Technical professionals are depending more and more on the Internet, a blog or a peer whenever they need to research complex technologies. But in this digital age, when information is just a click away, how do you know what information can be trusted? Few developers have the time to go to the library and search volumes of printed materials. So, the next logical source is the Internet.
Fri, 6 Jun 08
University Makes Pop Quiz Prereq for P2P Access
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63283.html
A tech-savvy university near the Missouri Ozarks is resorting to an old standby to reduce illegal music downloads by students: the pop quiz. Missouri University of Science and Technology now requires students to ace a six-question quiz on digital copyright law to get six hours of access to peer-to-peer software they can use to share music and movies online. The quiz has cut copyright complaints on campus from recording industry to eight this academic year, down from 200 in 2006-07, said Tim Doty, a campus systems security analyst.
Fri, 6 Jun 08
Wobbly Communications Play Havoc With Mars Lander Schedule
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63281.html
The Phoenix lander's first dig into the Martian soil for scientific study was delayed Wednesday because of a communications glitch on a spacecraft that relays commands from Earth to the red planet. The orbiting Odyssey satellite went into safe mode and failed to send instructions to Phoenix to claw into the permafrost to search for evidence of the building blocks of life, said Chad Edwards, chief telecommunications engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Fri, 6 Jun 08
MPower CEO Randy McCabe: Open Source for Nonprofits
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63284.html
Customer relationship management is a very different animal than it used to be. Pick up an issue of any magazine from about six to eight years ago and flip through for information about CRM, and you'll wonder if you're reading about the same technology. What's different nowadays? Too many things to list right here and right now. However, two of the hottest growth areas in this new wave of CRM are solutions for niche markets and specialty functions, and open source CRM. Dallas-based Mpower provides both.
Thu, 5 Jun 08
AMD Pounces on Laptops With New Puma Platform
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63276.html
AMD has released a new mobile processor platform, its latest contender as it battles for market share with archrival Intel. Codenamed "Puma," the offering includes Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile processors with ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series Graphics and wireless networking hardware from Atheros, Broadcom and Ralink. Puma is the first major effort AMD has made to develop a mobile chip, said Nathan Brookwood, research fellow at Insight 64. "In the past, AMD took its desktop chip and just made minor tweaks."
Thu, 5 Jun 08
Microsoft Hones Windows Embedded OS, Adds Silverlight
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63278.html
In its latest salvo in the battle for platform dominance on specialized devices, Microsoft has released its newest Windows Embedded operating system to developers. Microsoft announced the availability of Windows Embedded Standard in preview or beta form on Wednesday, and said it will be rolled out to the market-at-large in the fourth quarter of 2008. Embedded Standard takes its place in a line of operating systems designed to run on a range of devices that continue to get smaller and more specialized for particular uses and locations.
Thu, 5 Jun 08
Hong Kong Tops McAfee's Riskiest Web Domains Chart
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63274.html
The Hong Kong domain (.hk) is the riskiest Internet destination for Web surfers, according to a McAfee report released Wednesday. Overall, the security firm looked at 265 domains for a variety of unwanted behaviors, and ranked the 74 most heavily trafficked top-level domains. The list includes both country domains, such as .hk, and generic domains, such as .com. McAfee gave the most dangerous Web sites within each domain red ratings; it gave yellow ratings to sites where caution should be taken.
Thu, 5 Jun 08
Facebook's Open Platform Gamble
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63263.html
The recent Facebook rumors have come true -- the social networking company is making much of its third-party application development platform open source. The company announced the change one year after it launched Facebook Platform. "On the anniversary of our platform launch, we want to give back to the developer community. As Facebook Platform continues to mature, we've been hearing from a lot of you that you'd like more tools and better information on how Facebook Platform actually works," noted Facebook's Ami Vora on the Facebook Developers News blog.
Thu, 5 Jun 08
Japan to Get iPhone - Does iPhone Get Japan?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63269.html
Apple has finally broken into the Japanese market with its seemingly unstoppable iPhone. Mobile carrier Softbank -- Japan's No. 3 wireless provider -- announced a deal to distribute the phones in a one-sentence statement Wednesday morning. The move is a big coup for Apple, which has reportedly been in talks with Japanese mobile providers for nearly two years. Apple was rumored to have been working on a deal with the nation's top mobile carrier, NTT DoCoMo, but disputes over profit division kept the discussions from going anywhere.
Thu, 5 Jun 08
What iPhones May Come
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63254.html
This is a fun time of year. The summer sun is just starting to get its groove on, beaches swarm with scantily suited bathers, theme parks hum with throngs of thrill-seekers, even the forests and national parks around the country strain to capacity as vacationers seek places to unwind and commune with nature. True enough, skyrocketing gas prices are dampening some vacation plans, but not all. Plus, everyone needs to take a break from the serious side of life. It is also a time of anticipation for Apple watchers.
Thu, 5 Jun 08
Intel Courts Netbook Crowd With Pint-Sized Processors
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63266.html
Intel on Tuesday unveiled a new processor it says will revolutionize the information technology industry by powering small laptops at low cost. Intel Asia Pacific Vice President and General Manager Navin Shenoy said the Atom processor will enable millions more people around the world to access the Internet. Shenoy's announcement at a Taiwan computer show raises the stakes in Intel's efforts to best rivals like Advanced Micro Devices and Via Technologies in supplying chips for cheap laptops.
Thu, 5 Jun 08
Blu-ray Could Still Lose the High-Def War
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63265.html
The victor in the brutal high-definition DVD format war promised it would happen. The winning Blu-ray people said prices of the players and movies would drop as soon as they beat competitor HD DVD for the hearts and minds of home video enthusiasts. However, a funny thing happened after the dust settled and Blu-ray was named the winner earlier this year. Nothing. Since Toshiba -- the main sponsor behind the losing HD DVD format -- pulled out of the race last January, the prices for Blu-ray players and movies have remained the same.
Thu, 5 Jun 08
Patents Foretell Apple's Fleet-Fingered Future
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63268.html
Apple has filed for a U.S. patent on a wide range of methods for using a device with a touchscreen display. The patent relates to one or more finger contacts and a corresponding heuristic to determine the desired command to be processed. The patent was filed on Sept. 5, 2007, and posted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on May 29. Inventors are listed as Steven P. Jobs, Scott Forstall and about two dozen others. The patent apparently seeks to extend the simple set of commands now used on the iPhone and iPod touch to include finger gestures that command.
Wed, 4 Jun 08
Social Networking: Taking It to the Streets
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63260.html
When abstract artist Gina Raphaela wants to get the word out about shows featuring her paintings in her New York loft condo, she turns to her building's social networking site, hosted by LifeAt.com. She sends messages to all of the members of her building's online community, and she reports that plenty of friends and neighbors from the building have been coming to her events. "I've met so many people through LifeAt," Raphaela told TechNewsWorld. "The turnout at my shows has been great."
Wed, 4 Jun 08
Microsoft Aims to Outshine Flash With New Silverlight
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63255.html
Microsoft has unveiled an updated beta release of its Silverlight multimedia publishing software. Chairman Bill Gates announced the debut of Silverlight 2 beta 2 at Microsoft's TechEd conference in Orlando on Tuesday. The utility, to be made available for public download by the end of the week, lets developers write Web-based applications using Microsoft's .Net Framework. The company hopes the new beta's added functionality will be another step toward luring programmers away from the long-dominant Adobe Flash software suite.
Wed, 4 Jun 08
Sony Aims to Sell Gamers on $3 Swag Bundle
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63261.html
Qore, an interactive monthly program, will launch on Sony's PlayStation Network on June 5, Sony Computer Entertainment America announced Tuesday. Available the first Thursday of each month, Qore is the current console generation's version of the disk giveaways many PlayStation 2 owners may remember. The discs periodically accompanied issues of Official PlayStation Magazine. "It's good to have differentiated content. It's a great replacement for the thing they used to do with the discs because that probably didn't get much distribution or use," said Billy Pidgeon, an IDC analyst.
Wed, 4 Jun 08
Microsoft, Apple Spar Over Safari Security Threat
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63259.html
A flaw in Apple's Safari Web browser has caught the attention of Microsoft's security team. The software maker has released an advisory for Windows XP and Windows Vista users running Safari, informing them that Microsoft has begun investigating a vulnerability discovered two weeks earlier by Nitesh Dhanjani, a security researcher. One of three bugs Dhanjani found in connection with Safari, the flaw exposes PC users to a "carpet bomb" attack, allowing potentially malicious files to be downloaded to and run on a PC without the owners' consent.
Wed, 4 Jun 08
Everything's Big in Texas, Except Time Warner's Data Cap
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63256.html
Beaumont, Texas, has become the testing ground for a new way to charge Internet users for access. It's meant to make heavy users pay more. Time Warner will begin rolling out an experimental program that will meter users' Web usage and bill them extra if they download or upload more than a set amount of data. Data caps aren't entirely new. You'll certainly get some attention from your ISP if you start downloading in the neighborhood of 300 GB per month, especially if you get access from a cable provider.
Wed, 4 Jun 08
Wikia Search Invites Users to Stir the Pot
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63257.html
Wikia Search -- the open source search engine Wikia initially launched in January -- got a fresh start Tuesday. The refurbished version lets users edit, comment on and influence search results. After performing a search query on any major search engine, a user typically gets a static results page -- the information it contains is determined largely by an algorithm. Wikia Search claims to add a human element to the process by allowing the customization of search results. Users can delete or hide results, rank items and add new results.
Wed, 4 Jun 08
High-End Home Entertainment Heading Downstream
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63224.html
What is a high-end entertainment system? That question can be answered in a variety of ways. For some people, "high-end" means systems bought at a specialty retailer, e.g., Bang & Olufsen, Tweeter or Ultimate Electronics. For others, price determines a high-end entertainment system -- $5,000, $10,000, or more for a TV with a 5.1 surround-sound system. On the other hand, audiophiles think of a critical listening room equipped with Krell components and B&W loudspeakers when asked about high-end entertainment.
Wed, 4 Jun 08
Exergaming: A Worthy Exercise Alternative?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63249.html
Nintendo's release of the Wii Fit in May brought the up-and-coming gaming genre of exercise gaming, or exergaming, into the spotlight. Suddenly, it seemed, Nintendo was challenging the long-standing stereotype of the out-of-shape gamer sitting on the couch eating potato chips. But is this new trend a valiant attempt by gaming companies to increase public health awareness, or an unnecessary tangent to the original purpose of video games?
Wed, 4 Jun 08
Google Gives Firms Site Search Tinkering Tools
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63240.html
Seeking to further build on its hosted search and cloud computing efforts, Google on Tuesday launched an updated -- and renamed -- version of its hosted business site search solution. The updated version of Google Site Search -- the product was formerly known as "Custom Search Business Edition" -- is meant to give customers more control over what information from their site is indexed for searching and greater control over how results are returned to users, Nitin Mangtani, Lead Product Manager for Enterprise Search at Google, told the E-Commerce Times.
Wed, 4 Jun 08
Survey: Internet Plagued by Needle-in-Haystack Syndrome
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63234.html
The daily need to tap into knowledge relevant to their field is driving tech workers in all types of organizations to scour the Web for timely, up-to-date information, but making sure it's accurate can prove a challenge. A recent survey asked tech workers how they search for information, to what degree they use and share it with others, how it affects their performance and how much they would benefit from subscribing to professional information services that vet information and sources.
Wed, 4 Jun 08
Goofy-Looking Goggles Turn an iPod Into a Comfy Personal Theater
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63228.html
Portable video on iPods and other players isn't perfect, but pocket-sized sitcoms and music videos can ease the edge off long summer road trips or arduous cross-country flights. The Myvu Crystal 701 personal media viewer takes video off the tiny screens and projects it inside a wearable sunglasses-like accessory, offering convenience, comfort and privacy. The benefits are that now you don't have to worry about glare or reflections on your media player's screen, and you can sit back and watch your video from any angle hands-free.
Wed, 4 Jun 08
Acer Enters Netbook Fray With Atom-Powered Machine
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63246.html
Acer unveiled its much-anticipated Aspire One "Eee PC killer" ultra-mobile Tuesday in what was effectively also the UK launch of Intel's new Atom mobile processor. The Atom-powered Aspire looks even better value than the ground-breaking Eee PC. The entry level model comes in with the same $391 price tag but has a bigger 8.9-inch screen and more flash memory at 8 GB. Like the Eee PC, this base model is Linux powered, with 11gb Wifi, and a webcam, but you also get a choice of built-in Wimax or HSDPA 3g links.
Tue, 3 Jun 08
Nvidia ARMs for Mobile Chip Battle
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63238.html
Graphics chipmaker Nvidia has introduced a new family of processors aimed at the burgeoning industry of mobile Internet devices. "Tegra" is the name of a new line of tiny processors smaller than a dime that Nvidia is calling the world's smallest computer on a chip. More than just small in size, the Tegra processors consume very little energy, which can result in all-day media processing on MIDs -- 130 hours of audio or 30 hours of high-definition playback. "Creating Tegra was a massive challenge.
Tue, 3 Jun 08
Adobe Acrobat Swings Into Web 2.0
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63231.html
Adobe has released a new version of its flagship Acrobat product -- v. 9 -- that offers native support of Flash, as well as a beta of online tools designed to enhance collaboration. The dual releases exponentially expand the company's support of Web 2.0 technologies. By embedding Flash support for the first time since Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia, "we have expanded and redefined the meaning of an electronic document and the experience you can deliver by creating PDFs," Marion Melani, group product marketing manager for Acrobat, told TechNewsWorld.
Tue, 3 Jun 08
Facebook Embroiled in Canadian Privacy Controversy
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63237.html
The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic has accused Facebook of violating the country's privacy laws. In a 36-page complaint submitted to the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, the group outlines 22 separate alleged violations. Facebook failed to disclose to members how their personal information is released to third parties for advertising and other profit-making activities, CIPPIC claims. It also alleges that Facebook failed to obtain permission from its members to disclose their personal information for such uses.
Tue, 3 Jun 08
Your Electronics Trash Is Best Buy's Treasure
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63233.html
Electronics retail giant Best Buy has announced plans to try out a free electronics recycling program at 117 of its stores. The initiative will start in three cities and could spread to others if it succeeds. Best Buy is launching its new program in Baltimore, San Francisco and Minnesota, with up to two items a day accepted at no charge. The stores will take televisions and monitors up to 32 inches, computers, phones and cameras. Monitors larger than 32 inches, console TVs, microwaves, air conditioners, and other appliances will not be accepted.
Tue, 3 Jun 08
Countries Line Up Against OOXML as Global Standard
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63239.html
Venezuela is now the latest country to appeal the adoption of an international standard based on Microsoft's Office Open XML file format. Following news last week that the South African Bureau of Standards had sent a letter protesting the decision late last month, Brazil and India joined with their own appeals shortly thereafter. Although the deadline for appealing the March 29 decision was to be within two months, the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission have reportedly accepted Venezuela's appeal.
Tue, 3 Jun 08
Breakthroughs in Analytics, Part 3
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63211.html
The growing reliance on business analytics at the enterprise level to improve strategic operational decision making and increase corporate competitive advantage is driving what IDC estimates to be a $20 billion market for business analytics development tools and packaged intelligence applications. Oracle remains a leader of the business analytics market, according to an IDC 2007 forecast report. On top in terms of both revenue and market share, Oracle is nevertheless closely followed by SAS Institute, SAP, IBM and Microsoft, the report stated.
Tue, 3 Jun 08
Having SaaS Your Way: Configuration Sophistication
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63223.html
There was a time when customizing enterprise software was a long, drawn-out, often painful affair. Then along came Software as a Service, recalls Dan Druker, senior vice president for Intacct, an on-demand financial management and accounting application. It was really easy for Ingres -- a provider of open source database software and one of his company's early clients -- to integrate and then customize a joint Salesforce.com-Intacct implementation.
Tue, 3 Jun 08
Why Pay a Premium for Preloaded Linux?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63222.html
Well, it was a relatively quiet week on the Linux blogs last week, as schools around the country wrapped up another year and everyone began the transition -- even if just unofficially -- into summer. Perhaps it was those stimulus checks burning holes in their pockets, but the most lively discussion on Slashdot last week focused on the critical decision that any Linux geek contemplating the purchase of a new PC must face: Whether to buy it preloaded with Linux, or whether to get a Windows machine and reformat it with Linux themselves.
Tue, 3 Jun 08
Discovery to Deliver Science Lab, Potty Parts to ISS
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63226.html
Shuttle Discovery closed in on the international space station early Monday with a super-size delivery: a scientific lab that's as big as a school bus. Discovery was also ferrying up the space station's newest resident: astronaut Gregory Chamitoff. "We're having a great time up here. Today is going to be even more exciting as we get to see the space station as we approach and dock," Chamitoff said as the shuttle headed for its Monday afternoon rendezvous. Chamitoff will call the space station home for the next six months.
Tue, 3 Jun 08
Microsoft Steps Up Search Offensive With HP Deal
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63225.html
In a bid to boost its Web search traffic, Microsoft on Monday announced a deal that will make its Live Search the default on Hewlett-Packard personal computers shipped in the U.S. and Canada, starting in January. The deal also calls for HP, the world's largest PC maker, to install copies of Internet Explorer with an extra Live Search toolbar on those computers. Microsoft said the toolbar also links to HP services such as its Snapfish digital photo printing site.
Tue, 3 Jun 08
Getting a Handle on the iPhone's 3G Potential
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63193.html
Buzz about the new iPhone -- expected to be released in June -- has less to do with the phone itself than its use of AT&T's 3G network. That 3G network, which refers to a third generation of wireless networks, would dramatically improve the performance of some iPhone features, such as Web browsing. Apple's current iPhone uses AT&T's EDGE Network, a 2.5G network that undermines some of the device's most appealing technology -- such as the display of full Web pages -- because of relatively slow download speeds.
Mon, 2 Jun 08
Perception vs. Reality: Vista vs. Leopard With a White House Spin
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63212.html
Climbing to the top of the charts last week was a book titled, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception. The stated purpose of this book is to showcase how politics in Washington turned a presidency that started as revolutionary into one that was a disaster. It's also a heads-up to McCain and Obama who, with similar ideals, may be blind to the fact that the Washington machine may change them more than either can change it. It tells a story of what can happen if folks focus too much on marketing and not enough on reality.
Mon, 2 Jun 08
An iPhone Request: GPS, Please
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63208.html
If there's anything the iPhone has lacked compared with other phones in its class, it has been high-speed connectivity and the ability to determine its location accurately. Apple will address the first shortcoming in a matter of days, when it unveils the second version of the year-old iPhone on June 9. I'm hoping Apple also tackles No. 2 -- by including support for Global Positioning System navigation. For one thing, most of the handsets in the iPhone's peer group contain GPS chips by default.
Sun, 1 Jun 08
Sports Stats in the Digital Age: A Whole New Ball Game
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63185.html
During baseball season, you'll find Jon Passman in the press box at Wrigley Field or maybe U.S. Cellular Field. In the winter, when it's hockey and basketball season, you might see him at the United Center. Like any sports reporter, he goes where the action is. But Passman doesn't fret about finding the right words to lure readers into a story. He doesn't write for a newspaper, magazine or a blog. Yet, it's his account of a ballgame -- a detailed report of every pitch thrown -- that tells millions of fans all they need to know.
Sun, 1 Jun 08
New PC Purchasing: Navigating the Confusing Tech Terrain
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63150.html
Lori Jantulovich stands in the middle of Best Buy's computer section, flagging down a sales clerk. She's trying to buy a laptop for her nephew. "I have no clue," she says. Jantulovich, 51, is surrounded by displays touting the merits of dozens of similar-looking PCs. "Superior performance with 3 GB of system memory," one says. "Powerful discrete graphics," another advertises. "Blazing fast performance with a next-generation Intel Core 2 Duo Processor." "On-the-go multi-tasking." "Limitless performance and response."
Sun, 1 Jun 08
Subnotebook Blues: Lightweights in More Ways Than One
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63220.html
Those of us who carry laptops have different tastes and needs, of course, so it's unlikely computer makers will ever agree on the ideal compact. It always comes down to a balancing act over size, weight, price, features and ease of use. That's evident in the four subnotebooks I've been testing -- the Asus Eee PC 900, HP Mini-Note 2133, Intel Classmate PC, and Lenovo IdeaPad U110. None will break your back at an airport or on campus. They generally won't break your budget, either. But they'll likely have you begging for more.
Sun, 1 Jun 08
Saving Cash, Trees and Time With Digital Magazines
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/63179.html
The future of magazine publishing increasingly is appearing on a digital display -- not just a newsstand. Advancements in software and hardware are making it easier for a growing faction of consumers -- including coveted younger readers called "screen-agers" -- to read their favorite publications on the Internet or download and read them later offline. "It's not 'Jetsons.' It's real," says Richard Maggiotto, CEO of Zinio, one of a dozen or so companies that specialize in creating digital editions of magazines and newspapers.
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