Tech Inpho

Apple announces new Iphone 3GS--with a price cut

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:42:00 +0000

It's the "most powerful, fastest iPhone we've ever made," says Apple SVP Phil Schiller of the 3G S, now with an upgraded three-megapixel camera, voice commands, and picture messaging—all due on June 19. Also: The 8GB version of the iPhone 3G is now just $99.

The news came during Monday's keynote of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, and the announcements pretty much fell in line with earlier predictions, including a new digital compass, better battery life, laptop tethering, and MMS—although the latter two won't be supported on AT&T just yet, news that was followed by a chorus of groans in the audience.

Price and availability
Look for the iPhone 3G S to arrive in stores June 19, two days after iPhone Software update 3.0 (which adds features such as picture messaging, cut-and-paste support, and stereo Bluetooth) arrives on iTunes. Available in both black and white, the 16GB version of the 3G S will sell for $199 (the same initial price as the old 8GB iPhone 3G), while a 32GB model will go for $299. Meanwhile, we're finally getting a $99 iPhone—the old 8GB 3G, as it turns out.

Look and feel
The iPhone 3G S comes with an impressive set of new features, but you wouldn't know it from looking at the new handset, which looks exactly the same as last year's iPhone 3G.

Better camera
The iPhone's old 2-megapixel camera gets a bump up to three megapixels, at last, along with an auto-focus lens, auto exposure, improved low-light sensitivity, and—here's the big one—video recording, including on-the-fly touch editing and the ability to send video clips via MMS (more on the iPhone's picture messaging features in a moment). Still no LED flash, though.

Speedier performance
Apple claims that the 3G S runs faster than the iPhone 3G—up to twice as fact, to be exact, which means speedier app launching and Web browsing.

Voice commands
In a first for the iPhone, the 3G S will finally be able to make voice-activated calls, as well as play songs and playlists at your command—not bad, although voice commands have long been standard issue on many other existing cell phones.

Improved battery life
Poor battery life has been the bane of many an iPhone owner's existence, but Apple promises that the 3G S will get you three more hours of Web browsing (over Wi-Fi) and six more hours of audio, although talk time on AT&T's 3G network remains five hours.

Digital compass
Finding your way on Google Maps for iPhone can be a chore if you don't know what direction you're facing, but the new 3G S should fix that with it's new digital compass, which will give you your longitude, latitude, and precise direction (not to mention better controls on games that rely on the iPhone's accelerometers).

Picture messaging
As announced back in March, both the iPhone 3G S and the iPhone 3G will finally support MMS—one of the biggest missing features on the iPhone—via the iPhone Software 3.0 update, due to hit iTunes on June 17. That's the good news; the bad news is that AT&T won't support MMS on the iPhone until "later this summer." Ugh.

Laptop tethering
Also included in the iPhone Software 3.0 update: Laptop tethering, which will let you share the iPhone's 3G data connection with your laptop (via USB or Bluetooth) while you're out and about. Pretty cool … but while tethering will be available for iPhone users on several worldwide carriers, we won't be able to tether on AT&T, or at least not for now. Double-ugh.

Other upcoming features in iPhone Software 3.0
Get ready for direct downloads of TV shows and movie rentals/purchases on the iPhone (perfect for grabbing some videos before boarding a flight), stability and speed enhancements for the mobile version of Safari, and a "Find My iPhone" feature (which tracks down your lost iPhone, provided you're subscribed to Apple's MobileMe service).

Source: YahooTech

7 Failed Virtual Reality Technologies

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:40:00 +0000

There was a time when people were calling home virtual reality the wave of the future. Now most people just call it goofy and expensive. Here are 7 virtual reality technologies that didn't work, and never will.

The Sensorama

In what may be considered the first case of virtual reality reaching beyond its own limitations, Morton Heilig unveiled the Sensorama in 1962. It was a large box that enclosed the viewer's head and displayed a stereoscopic 3D movie. The seat tilted and the box unleashed wind and smells. And all of this was accomplished mechanically.

It was a costly venture, and beyond the prototype, Heilig was forced to stop development on the Sensorama. His failure then became the model for future virtual reality failures. The device was cool, but it was also large, expensive, and awkward.

Giant Headsets

There are too many examples of this particular item to pick just one. It seemed for years that hard-to-wear headsets were a prerequisite for any virtual reality technology. The earliest virtual reality headsets looked like a giant television strapped to someone's face. The technology has advanced since then, with smaller and more economical displays, but the headsets of the past made virtual reality nothing more than a passing, gawky novelty.

Nintendo Virtual Boy

The continuing pathway to the holy grail of devices marketed for home virtual reality gaming is littered with failures. One of the more reviled, more abject of these failures came from an otherwise reliable company. I'm referring to Nintendo's Virtual Boy.

Nintendo's foray into the virtual reality world promised a few things it couldn't deliver. It promised true 3D graphics on a portable console. What it delivered was a red-tinged, blurry, semi-3D picture and a clunky headset that needed a stand to operate. Games came with the option of automatically pausing every 15 minutes for a break, which sounds more like a difficult shift at work than a fun afternoon of virtual reality gaming.

The Virtual Reality Glove

Speaking of Nintendo, it seems every time the company digs into the virtual reality market, they miscalculate. You may remember the Power Glove from such cinema classics as The Wizard. The Power Glove recreated the motions of a user wearing it on screen, but the motion tracking was imprecise and the glove was clunky. The company sold about 100,000 of the gloves in the U.S. Compare that with a more successful technology descended from the Power Glove, the Wii; Nintendo has sold over 13 million of those so far.

That didn't stop other companies from trying to market similar technologies, though. The P5 glove for PC gaming required specially designed games and therefore never caught on and the CyberGlove proved too expensive for home use. As a result, the era of virtual reality gloves quietly ended.

VRML

Turning more to the tech side, VRML was billed as a 3-D alternative to HTML. The idea was that users could interact freely with 3-D worlds on the internet, described by text and interpreted by modeling software. VRML's creators envisioned virtual spaces where people could wander in and chat with each other. The reality was closer to slow-loading, blocky graphic snippets, hardly worth the dial-up bandwidth needed at the time. In time, Second Life would crop up, and while it wasn't as customizable and programmable as VRML, it did offer a similar experience, but with better graphics.

Omnidirectional Treadmills

Beyond the display, control, and coding problems of virtual reality, there's still the problem of mobility. When you virtually move forward, you also move forward in the real world, so designers had to find a way of allowing people to walk around while staying in place.

The most common solution is the omnidirectional treadmill. This device does exactly what it sounds like it would do: it lets users move in any direction on a treadmill. It's a good idea in theory, and as early as 1997 working prototypes were created. But these treadmills are also very expensive and very large. It's hard to imagine cramming something like the device pictured here into your living room.

The Virtusphere

Enter the Virtusphere. Users strap on their VR gear and enter a large translucent sphere. The experience is something like a large stationary hamster ball: as an individual wanders about, the ball freely rotates to allow the user to wander around in the virtual world. While the device clearly does what it claims to do, the average home user seems hesitant to play their games trapped inside something that looks like it just popped out of the water and is trying to bring you back to a prison village.

There have, of course, been pretty big advances in virtual reality technology since these failures, but now that the technology has caught up with the vision, it seems like people have bigger visions. Technologies like internet and personal computers survived their awkward teenage years. Virtual reality didn't.

Source: iO9

Google Releases Chrome For Mac and Linux

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:54:00 +0000

Google released Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux Thursday--but only in rough developer preview versions that the company warns are works in progress.

"In order to get more feedback from developers, we have early developer channel versions of Google Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux, but whatever you do, please DON'T DOWNLOAD THEM," Google product managers Mike Smith and Karen Grunberg said in a blog post, evidently trying to employ a little reverse psychology. "Unless of course you are a developer or take great pleasure in incomplete, unpredictable, and potentially crashing software."

Until now, Google's open-source browser has been a Windows-only product, and some Mac and Linux users have been clamoring for their own version. Google coders have been working to rebuild some Chrome components, such as its graphical interface and its sandbox that isolates different processes from each other, to move beyond just Windows.

Google offers three versions of Chrome: stable, beta, and developer preview. The Mac OS X and Linux versions fall into this last, category, the most buggy and least tested and complete.

Source: Webware

LG Introduces the World's first flexible e-paper

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:28:00 +0000

LG has shown off the next generation of e-book at a conference in the US by bringing an 11.5-inch touchscreen e-paper display.

It has been on display at the Society for Information Display (SID) International Symposium, where users have been able to try out the new technology.

It only works in black and white and appears to have a limited level of flexibility, so it's not quite at the level of being able to roll it up and stick it in your pocket when not in use.

Source: TechRadar

Inside the Military’s Secret Terror-Tagging Tech

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:41:00 +0000

The story that the CIA uses tiny homing beacons to guide their drone strikes in Pakistan may sound like an urban myth. But this sort of technology does exist, and might well be used for exactly this purpose. It might even have been the “secret weapon” that Bob Woodward said helped the American military pacify Iraq.

The military has spent hundreds of millions of dollars researching, developing, and purchasing a slew of “Tagging tracking and locating” (TTL) gear — gizmos designed to keep covertly tabs from far away. Most of these technologies are highly classified. But there’s enough information in the open literature to get a sense of what the government is pursuing: laser-based reflectors, super-strength RFID tags, and homing beacons so tiny, they can be woven into fabric or into paper.

Some of the gadgets are already commercially available; if you’re carrying around a phone or some other mobile gadget, you can be tracked - either through the GPS chip embedded in the gizmo, or by triangulating the cell signal. Defense contractor EWA Government Systems, Inc. makes a radio frequency-based “Bigfoot Remote Tagging System” that’s the size of a couple of AA batteries. But the government has been working to make these terrorist tracking tags even smaller.

Sandia National Laboratories have carried out development on “Radar Responsive” tags, which are like a long-range version of the ubiquitous stick-on RFID tags used to mark items in shops. The Radar Responsive tag stays asleep until it is woken up by a radar pulse. The tags in Wal-mart have a range of a couple of meters, Sandia’s tags can light up and locate themselves from twelve miles away.

This document from 2004 describes the tags as being credit-card sized and with a “geolocation accuracy” of three feet. The radio waves penetrate buildings. Suggested application include “search and rescue, precision targeting, special operations.” The selection of aircraft used to illustrate the system includes a Predator drone.

The reports from Pakistan suggest that the CIA knew which village to strike, they just needed to locate the exact building (descriptions like “third house on the left” can be dangerously ambiguous, especially when viewing from the air). A Radar Responsive tag would be very handy for guiding a strike from a drone a few miles away.

Nor is this the only technology out there. A 2002 Defense Science Board report on counter-terrorism mentioned, among other things, the possibility of using invisible chemical dye to mark terrorists, so they could be spotted using a suitable viewer.

The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review — the Pentagon’s once-every-four-years grand strategy document — included a section on defeating terrorist networks, which mentioned the importance of tagging and tracking both terrorists and their gear. Two methods suggested are tinier-than-tiny radar tags, and dynamic optical tags. Darpa, the Pentagon’s way-out research arm, spent years developing these “small, environmentally robust, retro reflector-based tags that can be read by both handheld and airborne sensors at significant ranges.” They rely on small silicon reflectors which return a laser signal — as long as that signal can be seen from the air. “Each Dynamic Optical Tag or DOT is an inch across and based on a ‘quantum well modulator,’” the agency explains. “They are read using a laser interrogator, which can be mounted on an aircraft; the laser ‘wakes up’ the tag, which sends a return signal at over 100 kbps. This can be simply the ID of the tag, or it can be data that it has recorded - for example, details of where it has traveled since last interrogated, or recorded video or audio.”

Covert radar tags were descried in a 2004 report by the National materials Advisory Board. Inkode, a company that also provides cheap RFID tags for supermarkets, has developed a means of embedding aluminum fibers in paper and other materials. The fibers are described as 6.5 millimeters long and 1.5 micrometers in diameter.

When illuminated with radar, the backscattered fields interact to create a unique interference pattern that enables one tagged object to be identified and differentiated from other tagged objects,” the company says. “For nonmilitary applications, the reader is less than 1 meter from the tag. For military applications, the reader and tag could theoretically be separated by a kilometer or more.”

The fibers can be embedded in “paper, airline baggage tags, book bindings, clothing and other fabrics, and plastic sheet.” Eight thousand fibres can be embedded in a typical 8½ by 11 inch piece of paper, which could be seen by radar at a similar distance to a meter-square target. So even something as small as a cigarette paper could be detected through walls, uniquely identified and precisely located from a tactically-useful distance in order to direct a missile strike.

This 2007 briefing from U.S. Special Operations Command hints at research into even more exotic ways to keep tabs on a target. Technology goals include spotting a “human thermal fingerprint at long distance,” “augmentation of natural signatures: e.g. ‘perfumes’ and ’stains.’” The presentation also mentions a “bioreactive taggant” that is a “current capability.” Next to the words in a picture of a bruised arm.

We do not know if any or all of these technologies are actually in use. After all, mobile phones are also a good way of locating an individual from long range, and there are numerous other sensors that can be used to direct a strike. But technologically speaking, the miniature homing beacon calling in CIA drone strikes is not just another urban myth.

Source: Wired

9 bits of scary Terminator tech that already exist

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:27:00 +0000

If the Terminator Salvation timeline is correct, robots will be ruling the world by 2018.

What director McG and the rest of his merry crew of robot technicians fail to tell you, however, is that Terminator technology is already part of the here and the now, as TechRadar found out…

1. Military machines

Where would the Terminator franchise be without its unstoppable killing machines? Roaming what's left of Earth, terminating or harvesting every human that they see. Kyle Reese explains it best in the first movie when he describes the robots as: "Hunter-Killers. Aerial and ground patrol machines built in automated factories. Most of us were rounded up, put in camps for orderly disposal."

KILLER ROBOT: The T-600 makes its debut in Terminator Salvation

Armies around the world are taking the idea of killer robots and have been using them to best effect in a number of wars. One kind, going under the moniker of Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System (MAARS), was tried out in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007 to good effect.

The robots look similar to a Hunter Killer Tank - a familiar site in the Terminator franchise - and are radio-controlled. Most importantly, they are armed and very dangerous – attached to the machine is a M240B machine gun

MAARS has the purpose of helping injured soldiers out of a battle situation – kind of like having a strapped Metal Mickey as a wingman. Impressive and a little scary as it is, MAARS isn't autonomous, but that doesn't mean that there are robots out there that can't think for themselves.

2. Autonomous robots

There are a number of free-thinking robots around at the moment, from the mean and moody to the darn right helpful. Thankfully, instead of killing people, they actually serve a purpose, helping us in their own little way.

METAL HEAD: The autonomous T-800 sans Arnold Schwarzenegger's skin

The most famous autonomous bot of recent times was the Mars Rover. This robot has the ability to drive round terrain on its own using stereo cameras and 3D mapping software to figure out what is around it, mapping its own safe path to traverse over the Martian landscape.

This kind of technology is being used more and more, with robots like the Spyder LB1200 even cutting your grass for you, without you having to lift a finger.

Even robot toys are getting that little bit more sophisticated. For just $80, you can have yourself a WowWee Tri-Bot toy, which you can program to go wherever you want it to, or put it into Free Roam mode and let it think for itself.

3. Computer AI

Computers thinking like humans are just around the corner, according to many a futurologist. If they advance as they are doing then by 2020 we should see free-thinking computers available in our local Tesco – which would make a change from the current drones at the checkout.

For this to happen, though, computers will have to pass the Turing Test, which is based around a number of questions that are meant to differentiate robots from humans. It looks likely that one of the first companies to reach true artificial intelligence with its software programs could well be Google.

Google co-founder Larry Page has been quoted as saying: "The ultimate search engine will understand everything in the world." If this isn't eerily close to what Skynet becomes in the Terminator movies, then we don't know what is.

DO THE ROBOT: Artificial intelligence in the Terminator franchise leads to very bad things

But before we worry that Google is to become self-aware and start revolting against the very people that use it, the search engine has to get smarter. With the arrival of Bing by Microsoft and Wolfram Alpha, search on the internet is entering its semantic stage – something that would make Cyberdyne Systems, the creators of the genesis of Skynet, proud.

4. Real-life Cyberdyne Systems

Cyberdyne Systems, the company behind the inception robots in the Terminator saga, is alive and kicking in the real world but it goes under the rather unassuming name of Honda. That's right, the makers of every boy racers' favourite car, the Honda Civic, is also one of the world's biggest manufacturer of robots.

The star of Honda's robot army is ASIMO, an acronym of Advanced Step in Innovative MObility. It may not have the six-foot plus stature of a T-800 – it's four foot three and walks with a stoop like your granny – but it's a robot nonetheless.

ASIMO A-GO: Made by Honda (image copyright: Honda Motor Co)

The latest re-boot of ASIMO happened in 2004, with the robot now able to recognise gestures, objects, environment, sounds and most importantly faces. The robots are still very limited at the moment, costing up $1 million to manufacture. So don't expect one knocking on your door asking if you know Sarah Connor anytime soon.

The latest models can also be jacked up to the internet. This, according to Honda, is so that ASIMO can relay up-to-date weather information and the like. But TechRadar knows the real reason: you know, like the way Terminators are hooked into Skynet? Paranoid, us?

5. Human-machine hybrids

It seems the latest trend in this technology orientated world we live in is cyborg modification. In 2009, we have had a number of incidents of normal people modifying themselves to become one with the robot world.

One man, fed up with his fake eye, implanted an infrared one into the socket, and recently an artist exchanged her fake eye for one with a camera attached.

Perhaps the closest things us mere mortals have got to becoming real-life terminators, however, is the development of a body suit by a Japanese company. The company's name, obviously, is Cyberdyne. But instead of making robots, they make robo-suits.

SUITS YOU: HAL makes you strong (image copyright: Cyberdyne Inc)

Titled HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) the suit gives whoever wears it the power of around 10 men. Perfect for those who want to lift heavy machinery, or throw a little brat by the name of John Connor around like a rag doll.

Currently only 400 have been made and one suit will set you back $4,200 US dollars - a small price to pay for showing all those gym bunnies who really is boss.

6. Hydrobots

We all know that electricity and water don't mix, but Terminator Salvation throws the idea of hydrobots into the frame.

While the water robots in Salvation are likely to snip your head off without a moment's notice, the ones in the desert of the real are fish-shaped and made by some plucky British scientists.

LIQUID METAL: Even out of the water, the Hydrobot is pretty fearsome

Rory Doyle, Senior Researcher at engineering company BMT Group, and Essex university are the creators and apparently made the robot's fish-like as they were "building on a design created by hundreds of millions of years' worth of evolution which is incredibly energy efficient." You can't really argue with that.

Instead of the robo-fish taking over the Thames, however, the carp-shaped robots will swim round the coast of Spain in a bid to monitor the pollution in the water.

At £20,000 a piece, the shoal of five fish are equipped with chemical sensors, Wi-Fi technology and will be a massive five-feet long. Apparently, no amount of batter will make these beauties edible, but it does go to show that fish and (micro)chips will always be a perfect combination.

7. House-sized robots

Not one to do things by halves, the new Terminator flick also introduces the world to The Harvester. This machine is the size of a house and has the sole job of plucking out human specimens for the more intelligent robots to do experiments on.

THE HARVESTER: Someone wasn't happy with 7 Eleven's fuel prices

While there's nothing like that in existence – other than the Harvester chain of restaurants, which instead plucks out human specimens for unsuccessful food experiments – house-sized robots are very much a reality.

Enter the Robosaurus. Originally built in 1988, the machine was constructed by Monster Robots, Inc, and is a mainstay of motorshow events in America.

Stats-wise the Robosaurus is an impressive 40-foot tall and weighs in at around 30 tonnes.

Instead of harvesting humans, the man-controlled bot has a penchant for cars and the occasional plane. It has even starred in the movies – the probably never-watched Waking in Reno – and had a (disguised) bit-part in The Simpsons.

8. Automated motorbikes

The final Terminator Salvation exclusive robot is quite possibly the coolest machine in the whole series.

Nicknamed Moto-Terminators, these robot-hybrids double as automated motorbikes whose job it is to ram any signs of the Resistance off of the road. A bit like ordinary motorcyclists, then.

ON YER BIKE: Moto-Terminators - one step closer to Street Hawk: The Movie

The idea of non-manned bikes is an interesting one, which actually has its roots in reality. A company aptly named RoboTech has developed the ultimate boys' toy – an application that can turn a motorbike (or any sort of full-size vehicle for that matter) into an automated, self-propelling machine.

One group of Berkeley students in 2004 used the technology to produce something called the GhostRider Robot.

The vehicle was created to compete in the Grand Challenge – a 50-mile off-road race of fully self-navigating vehicles, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA), which was made to "accelerate the development of autonomous vehicle technologies."

9. Real-life Skynet

In a move that both tempted fate and proved the UK's military brains have watched too many robot-based popcorn flicks for their own good, last year the UK installed an all-powerful communication platform for armies around the world to use, called Skynet.

The £3.6 billion programme allows military personal to communicate with each other and is made up of three massive satellites currently orbiting the Earth. These are called Skynet 5A, 5B and 5C.

SKY'S THE LIMIT: The largely unseen Skynet is key to the Terminator invasion

"Skynet 5 is about two-and-a-half-times more capable than the previous system, and it also gives us the ability to use not just voice communication but also data communication," Patrick Wood from spacecraft manufacturer EADS Astrium told the BBC.

"So, computers can talk directly to computers, as well giving us pictures and real-time video images."

Reports that immediately after the interview he was kidnapped by a cocky teenager, a crazy mum and a man looking remarkably like the Governor of California are still unconfirmed.

And one that might almost exist: time travel

When the Large Hadron Collider was turned on back in September 2008, some people thought that its arrival would be the key to time travel.

To cut a long and tedious theory short, a report by the New Scientist at the front-end of last year suggested the machine could be the key to travelling through time. The reason: time travel is apparently only possible after the creation of the first time machine. And that first time machine is the subatomic particle-hunting LHC.

TIME BANDIT: The LHC may hold the key to time travel - if it ever works

We would like to prove this theory right or wrong, but the machine broke. And it's still currently being fixed and won't be turned back on till September.

So, if in the autumn you see some weird naked dude asking for your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle, then we've only got the crazy scientists in Geneva to blame.

Source: TechRadar

Study: Top 10% of Twitter users do 90% of the tweeting

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:25:00 +0000

So, signed up for Twitter, posted your first tweet, but never bothered to tweet again? You're not alone, according to a recent survey, which found that a "small contingent" of chatty Twitterers account for the vast majority of Twitter updates.

The recent Harvard Business study took a random sample of about 300,000 Twitter users and monitored their activity in May, then compared the results with findings for other big social networks. (Still not hip to Twitter? Click here for the scoop.)

Among the findings: Turns out that 55 percent of Twitters are women, compared to 45 percent men. However, it also happens that men have 15 percent more followers than women, and that both men and women are more likely to follow men rather than women. That's a "stunning" development for the Harvard Business researchers, who found that most other social networks are far more centered on content created by women.

Also interesting: The fact that the "typical" Twitter user tweets "very rarely," with the median number of "lifetime tweets" for a given Twitter user is … well, just one, while about half of all Twitters update their feeds barely once every 74 days, according to the study.

Meanwhile, the top 10 percent of Twitter busybodies are creating 90 percent of the content on Twitter, the survey found; compare that to the findings for other social networks, where the top 10 percent of users account for just 30 percent of the activity.

OK, so what's the deal? One possibility, according to the researchers: Twitter is less like a "two-way, peer-to-peer" social network (such as Facebook) and more like a "one-to-many publishing service" (such as Wikipedia).

Source: YahooTech

5 reasons why Microsoft’s new search engine will fail

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:29:00 +0000

1. Bing? Are they serious?
Branding is a big deal. You don’t search it anymore, you google it. Microsoft needed an equivalent that has the potential for brand equity. But, gee, guys, Bing? It may be a matter of taste, but binging someone just does not sound right. Microsoft CEO Ballmer said that Microsoft “needed a name that says this is all about search.” How does Bing shout search? There is no connotation to search, nothing cool or remotely popular to it.

2. Simplicity vs. complexity
Google’s search pages are light weight and fast. There is everything you need and nothing you don’t. They may not be pretty to look at, but they are practical. It seems that Microsoft is trying to reinvent the wheel with Bing. Where Google is simple, Bing seems to be complex. The front page carries a picture with random information of the day few people who are looking for specific information are interested in. Again, the design is a matter of taste, but the current layout and color scheme are a matter of taste, but the search results are fragmented into different silos, such as images and shopping, while they are unified in Google’s search results. Microsoft will have to reduce the number of clicks necessary to find information, no doubt about it.

3. Who needs a Discover engine?
Personally, I believe the entire idea behind the market positioning of Bing is screwed up. Marketers have taken big shots at the term search engine over the years. But seriously, when you visit a search engine, do you want to search or discover? And how often do you have the time and say “let’s discover something today!” Google and Bing, whether Microsoft likes it or not, are about search efficiency, not wasting someone’s time by pitching information they are not interested in.

4. Discount shopping gone wrong
So you get cash back for buying through Bing. Up to 15%. Unfortunately, the prices you see already include the cash back. Walmart, for example, sells the Zune 4GB black player for $100 on its site, but offers it for $95 on Bing. Not bad, if you want to deal with cash back within 60 days. Right now, the cash back feature may be considered a bit confusing. You still have to do your research. And just because you get cash back does not mean you get a great deal.

5. Google, cloned?
Microsoft’s motivation and strategy is clear. Take the best from Google and improve what Google has not done right yet. From a usability view, Bing may be a decent search engine, but why would you switch from Google, if you are used to it? What is so convincing about this service that makes you drop Google as your homepage? There are highlights, such as the Bing image search, but beyond that, there is no revolutionary feature that would make your search much more efficient than what Google offers today.

Source: TgDaily

The World's First Six Core Processor, Now available

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:11:00 +0000

The new six-core AMD Opteron (codenamed "Istanbul") is shipping out to OEM customers today, and the chip should be available to consumers by the end of this month. Hailed as the world’s first six-core server processor with Direct Connect Architecture for two-, four- and eight-socket servers, this chip has up to 34 percent more performance-per-watt over the previous generation quad-core processors in the exact same platform. Over the next few weeks, systems will begin to creep out from Cray, Dell, HP, IBM and Sun Microsystems, and support from motherboard and infrastructure partners will follow suit. Also of note, HE, SE and EE versions of the six-core AMD Opteron processor are planned for the second half of 2009.

For those concerned about upgrade costs, chew on this: six-core AMD Opteron processors leverage existing platform infrastructure and a low-cost, power-efficient DDR2 memory architecture.

Source: HotHardware

Throw Your Controllers Away, 'Project Natal' is here

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:33:00 +0000

Microsoft has made a bold play by announcing a 'controller free' Xbox experience called 'Project Natal' using full body motion capture and voice recognition offering a jaw-dropping concpet of the future.

Natal, which will work with all current Xbox 360s, is a revolutionary 3D motion sensor that incorporates voice recognition, ending what Microsoft termed 'the barrier of the controller.'

Steven Spielberg was on stage to support the project – which was not given a launch date.

Doing away with the controller

"I often asked how can the interactive entertainment become as approachable as any other form of entertainment," said Spielberg.

"The vast amount of people are too intimidated to pick up a games controller. 60 per cent of people do not own a video game console so the only way was to make the tech invisible and then they can shine in the spotlight.

"It's not reinventing the wheel, its about no wheel at all."

"Today with cultural visionaries at our side and controller-free gaming on our horizon, Xbox 360 authored a new page in home entertainment history," added Don Mattrick, senior vice president for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft.

"For us, this E3 is about breaking down barriers — between generations, between games and entertainment, and most important, between video game players and everyone else — in a way that only Xbox 360 can."

Games and new social networking

Microsoft showcased a whole host of functionality whilst on stage, including a dodgeball 'Ricochet' game, navigating through the Xbox live menus and collaborative painting.

"Project Natal development kits will arrive at our partners today," said Kudo Tsunoda

It was a massively impressive concept from Microsoft, backed by one of the world's most admired directors, and if it is truly as powerful as the demonstrations suggest it could be as pivotal to the gaming industry as the Wiimote proved a few years ago.

You can watch the video after the jump.

Source: TechRadar

Video Games | Project Natal | E3 09: Family Play (Cam)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Soldier of the Future

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:40:00 +0000

It's the year 2030. As a soldier enters a crowded marketplace, sensors mounted on his helmet automatically scan faces in the crowd, identifying a known insurgent; a cursor in the heads-up display highlights the target and cues the weapon, which can be set to stun or kill; a simple voice command unlocks the trigger.

Aided by "smart drugs," enhanced with prosthetics, and protected by a lightweight suit of armor, this soldier of the future possesses near super-human capabilities and weapons that would make even Iron Man jealous. He's suited up in an "exoskeleton" - essentially a Storm Trooper-esque external shell - that allows him to carry heavy loads. Electronics integrated in his outfit allow for simultaneous language translation, automatic identification of potential foes, and video-game-like targeting. If the soldier is tired, overworked, or injured, neural and physiological sensors automatically send an alert to headquarters.

It's all part of the Army's starry-eyed vision of grunts 20 years from now, and it's just one aspect of the Pentagon's ambitious thinking about technologies that will transform the way the military fights. There are also plans for advanced robotic aircraft; missiles that travel seven times the speed of sound; and ship- and aircraft-based laser weapons that could blast missiles out of the sky.

These aren't fantasy. Many of these technologies are plausible, or in development. Whether the military can afford them is an entirely different question.

Each branch of the military has its own plans, but the Army concept of tomorrow's soldier borrows heavily from nearly every genre of science fiction. Dubbed "Future Soldier 2030," the vision is the brainchild of the Natick Soldier Systems Center in Massachusetts, an Army organization responsible for researching and developing new technologies for the individual fighter.

The idea driving this vision is a "soldier as a system," a sort of man-as-machine concept that looks at soldiers as you would an aircraft or tank. "We're building an F-16 [fighter] on legs," says Natick's Dutch DeGay. Does that vision run the risk of making soldier look like some sort of science fiction villain? DeGay notes the Army is aware of this potential pitfall: "We work hard to be cognizant of what the overall ensemble looks like." While some of the technologies are already under development - prototype exoskeletons exist, for example - others, such as an elaborate, light-weight power system needed to power all these fancy gadgets, are still many years away. There are also some provocative ideas behind the plans: the Army envisions "neural prosthetics" and drugs that aid cognitive ability. Such things may be "controversial now, but perhaps ubiquitous in 2030," officials note.

With all those advanced sensors, electronics, and weapons systems, such a suit, the Army realizes, would be a potential bonanza for enemies if captured. For that possibility, the Army has another solution: If a soldier is killed, the outfit will "zeroize" itself - that is, wipe out its own electronic systems - so the equipment can't be exploited by enemy forces.

Beyond individual soldiers, the Pentagon has other big ideas: the Air Force, for example, is working on a hypersonic missile that could strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour; a prototype, dubbed the X-51 "waverider," will be flight tested later this year. Laser weapons are also popular. The Pentagon plans for a megawatt-class laser that would fit on the nose cone of a Boeing 747 and capable of blasting North Korean or Iranian ballistic missiles out of the sky. After over a decade of work, the Pentagon plans to finally test the weapon against missiles later this year. The Navy is also working on its own missile-blasting weapon that would go on ships, called the Free Electron Laser.

Another major initiative for the future is replacing manned aircraft with drones. In Pakistan, for example, armed Predator drones are conducting air strikes that would have once been carried out only by piloted aircraft. But these unmanned aircraft are still ultimately controlled by human operators. In the pipeline are armed drones that could operate with no human intervention. Northrop Grumman is working on a Navy-funded project called the X-47B, which would take off and land from carriers ships, and Boeing recently unveiled Phantom Ray, another unmanned combat aircraft that the company hopes will interest the Air Force.

This is not to say that that the future military will necessarily be equipped with the latest and greatest in weaponry. With the costs of weapons skyrocketing, and the Pentagon under pressure to fund ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of the military's big ideas have simply proved too costly. The Army's Future Combat System, a $160 billion program that included robots, sensors, drones and ground vehicles, is now slated for cancellation.

Likewise, the Navy's dreams for its future fleet have been dramatically scaled back. And the Air Force's plans for a new bomber are also on the chopping block, another victim of the latest round of cutbacks in the new Pentagon budget. Even equipment for the commander-in-chief is in jeopardy: the Navy recently canceled plans to buy a fleet of new presidential helicopters.

So how much, for example, would the outfit for the future soldier of 2030 cost and can the Army really afford it? The Army won't say. Although many of the component technologies are under development through various research efforts, the Army isn't actually putting any money into the full ensemble yet. But history may be a guide. One of the Army's more recent attempts to create a high-technology soldier outfit, called the "Land Warrior System," produced mixed results and a price tag of over $30,000 each. After spending over 10 years and half a billion dollars, the Army was forced to scale back or cancel many of the technologies.

That brings to mind an old joke that cynics use about all-ambitious technologies, be they laser weapons, hypersonic missiles, or super-human soldier suits: These are the weapons of the future - and they always will be.

Source: NYPost

Adobe beams up new Strobe video framework

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:21:00 +0000

As part of the Streaming Media East conference in New York, Adobe has unveiled "Strobe," the open-source Flash video player framework that the company first announced last month. It's expected to be available in the third quarter of this year.

Since you were probably wondering: No, Adobe is not tweaking the pronunciation of "Strobe" so that it rhymes. Thank goodness.

But here's what it is: Strobe is a product and architecture for accompanying plug-ins based on Adobe's Flash technology that lets a company build a custom video player more easily, should it want to host online videos in-house rather than relying on YouTube or its ilk.

While Adobe's ActionScript language is "very flexible," explained Jennifer Taylor, director of product management for Flash distribution, "everybody's sort of had to recreate that from scratch, and as a result it's taken people longer than they've wanted to to to get their video players up to get their video online."

The meat of Tuesday's announcement at Streaming Media East is that a host of big new partners are on board, from content delivery networks to analytics firms. The full list of supporters is Adap.tv, Akamai, Blip.tv, Brightcove, CDNetworks, Digital Smiths, Eyewonder, GlanceGuide, Grab Media, Incited Media, iStreamplanet, KickApps, Level3, Limelight Networks, Multicast, Nielsen, Omniture, Panache, PointRoll, ScanScout, Thumbplay, Visible Measures, and YuMe.

Strobe is "taking the mystery out of creating video players, and also streamlining and simplifying that process, so people can do it much faster than they could before," Taylor said. She added that ComScore statistics have said that Flash is used to serve up 80 percent of all online videos.

The Strobe framework will be free, and Adobe does not have plans to charge for it. "Our intent is to not monetize Strobe directly," Taylor said. "Obviously, we anticipate and hope that Strobe will help accelerate the adoption of Flash video, and the rising tide helps all boats: it's going to help our partners and those who provide plug-ins for the framework."

Source: Cnet

Is there only one Internet ?

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:17:00 +0000

Probably - for now. The internet is a disparate mix of interconnected computers, many of them on large networks run by universities, businesses and so on. What unites this network of networks are the communication languages known as the Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol, collectively TCP/IP.

There are also a few large networks that use different protocols and which remain largely isolated from the internet, including something called FidoNet, which links bulletin board systems via the global telephone network, as well as a handful of military networks. The main internet is the only one of any significant size, as far as we know.

Yet while a common computer language has proved a key to the internet's phenomenal success, another form of language - this time human - could eventually trigger its fragmentation into several separate regional internets. In 2007, under pressure from China and Russia, ICANN finally allowed the use of non-Latin characters in online addresses. The move will help billions of Chinese and Russian speakers use the internet, making communications easier and improving online trade within these countries. However, it could also prove to be the beginning of the end for the internet as we know it.

One possibility is that we could see the appearance of domain names that are not recognised by the rest of the network. If servers or routers aren't set up to recognise the characters in these addresses, the domain names will not be readily accessible from all parts of the world.

Worse will come if, say, the Chinese government decides to set up its own root directory of Chinese domain names, held on its own computers and independent of the existing US-based directory. This could give the Chinese authorities control over which sites its citizens access, potentially giving it the power to largely isolate them from the rest of the net. "The language changes will accelerate national fragmentation of the internet," warns Tim Wu, professor of technology and law at Columbia University in New York. He predicts this will lead us down a road towards a divided internet: one part controlled by the US, one by China, and another by Russia.

Source: NewsScientist

Windows 7 RC1 made available for download

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:43:00 +0000

Microsoft made the first release candidate of Windows 7 available for free download on Thursday. In an unprecedented move for the company, the software will run on a user's PC for more than a year.

Windows 7 RC1 can be downloaded now by MSDN, TechBeta and TechNet subscribers, and the general public will be able to download it on May 5. There is no limit to how many copies can be downloaded. The software will run until June 1, 2010, in what a Microsoft marketing manager described to ZDNet UK as a "try before you buy" scenario.

"There is no cap on the amount of downloads [of Windows 7 RC1]," Laurence Painell said in a prebriefing session on Wednesday. "However, we only recommend that people with a reasonable amount of IT knowledge use it."

Windows 7, the successor to Vista, brings new features such as multitouch interaction, a redesigned taskbar at the bottom of the desktop and an integrated search feature that allows the user to search across the client PC and corporate network at once. Power management has also been improved, as Microsoft has been keen to focus Windows 7 on portable computing.

When Windows 7 went into beta in January, an executive from the company told ZDNet UK that the beta version was "feature complete". However, Painell revealed on Wednesday that two features present in the beta — a built-in Bluetooth audio driver and the ability to have a guest account — have been dropped from the release candidate.

Painell could not explain why Windows 7 would not automatically include a Bluetooth audio driver. He suggested, however, that the omission of the guest-account feature was because Microsoft "has not seen a huge amount of uptake of it".

The omission of another feature — the ability to have thumbdrives or any media other than optical disks autorun — was announced by Microsoft on Tuesday. The company said this decision had been taken in the light of recent malware, such as the Conficker virus, that uses USB memory sticks as an attack vector.

Asked how this would affect, by way of example, Linux distributions that are designed to run from flash drives, Painell said that users "could still run that distribution from an optical disk".

The RC1 also has new features not found in the beta version, such as the ability to stream media between PCs in a Slingbox-like fashion. Another addition — that of an XP virtual machine built into the Professional and Ultimate version of Windows 7 — was announced by Microsoft on Friday.

Painell said an XP application running on Windows 7 would "look like an XP application, but you won't need a virtual PC interface running around it". He added that those applications would be able to share the clipboard and documents folder with their Windows 7 host.

Driver compatibility
It is not clear how Windows 7's XP virtual machines will handle the issue of driver compatibility. Microsoft has also conceded that there will not be 100 percent compatibility between all XP applications and Windows 7's virtual machines, and has asked software vendors and customers to test such applications in the VMs, providing feedback to Microsoft before the operating system's final release.

Painell told ZDNet UK that small businesses — the target audience for the XP virtual machines — would have to install applications to each virtual machine, without the ability to centrally install and control such applications from the server level.

Enterprise customers will be encouraged to use Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) to centrally administer their XP virtual machines. However, Microsoft said on Wednesday that the updated version of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), which will come out within three months of Windows 7's general release, will include only a beta version of MED-V.

Asked why Microsoft was introducing XP virtual machines on business versions of Windows 7, Painell said the VMs were designed to bridge compatibility issues with software. He said this may be useful where the software vendor had gone out of business, the software was bespoke, or the customer had "not purchased the most recent version" of the software.

Microsoft expects that 90 percent or more of applications and hardware that function on Vista will work on Windows 7, Painell said.

The cheapest version of Windows 7 will be the Starter Edition, which Painell said was "an entry-level edition for netbooks only". He added, however, that "any version of Windows 7 will work on a netbook with good experiences".

The Starter Edition limits the number of concurrently running applications to just three. Painell said this would "get the most out of the hardware provided" and would allow manufacturers to "differentiate their offerings".

He pointed out that an antivirus application, which tends to run constantly, would not count as one of the three running applications. In addition, multiple instances of the same application will count as one.

Final release candidate
Microsoft expects RC1 to be the only release candidate for Windows 7, Painell said. He gave no details on the final release date other than confirming the company's current estimate that it will be generally available no later than January 2010.

Gartner research director Annette Jump told ZDNet UK on Thursday that she expected the final version of Windows 7 to arrive in the third quarter of this year, possibly shipping to manufacturers even earlier. Microsoft's decision to allow users to try out the release candidate until June next year would encourage them to move to Windows 7, she said.

"In the past, very few users for Windows would upgrade on their PC," Jump said. "For Mac OS, it's a different picture — a much higher percentage of users upgrade on their machines. Microsoft is possibly trying to encourage people to do that and, with the new user interface, for many consumers it will be quite appealing."

Jump praised the XP mode in Windows 7, saying it showed Microsoft was obviously learning from the mistakes it made with Vista, where there were "major application-compatibility issues".

"I think that feature will be very helpful for business buyers, in terms of trying to encourage them to move to Windows 7 faster," she said.

The analyst said the delay in a final release for the updated MED-V would be unlikely to affect most enterprise customers, as businesses would probably not deploy Windows 7 until 12 to 18 months after it had been released.

Jump predicted, however, that the three-applications restriction in the Starter Edition would dramatically limit the usage of that version. "Personally, I only see the Starter Edition on mini-notebooks being used for education and in very selected emerging markets," she said.

On the subject of Windows 7's lack of a guest-account feature, Jump said this feature was becoming decreasingly popular because more people are carrying around notebook computers, meaning they are less likely to need to use someone else's PC.

Source: Zdnet

New LCD monitor watches you

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:52:00 +0000

Monitor-maker Eizo Nanao has announced the inclusion of a "EcoView Sense" feature into their just announced FlexScan monitors; the 20-inch EV2023W and the 23-inch EV2303W.

The EcoView feature, allows the monitors--using motion detectors--to detect if a person is sitting in front of it.

If it senses for 40 seconds that no one is there, it puts the monitor into sleep mode. It then resumes normal operation when the user returns. For example, it won't be fooled by such shenanigans as leaving a cardboard cut out of yourself in front of it. It will only resume if there is movement up to 120 centimeters in front of it.

And that brings us to ninja training. If I'm ever lucky enough to get one of these in, the first two tests I'm running are the "Can I be still enough that it thinks I'm not here?" test and the "Can I return to my chair slowly and smoothly enough, that it doesn't know I ever came back?". Yes, I have the mind of a 10-year old. So what of it?

Its benefits to would-be ninjas aside, these are two of the world's first monitors to receive the recently announced TCO Displays 5.0 Certification. Why should you care? Well, according to TCO the tests used in the 5.0 spec are just plain tougher. Also, According to Eizo these are the first Eizo products to achieve EPEAT Gold status.

The FlexScan EV2023W is equipped with a VA panel with a 1600 ? 900 native resolution, 178? viewing angles, and 3000:1 contrast ratio. The EV2303W comes with a TN panel with a 1920 ? 1080 native resolution, 160? viewing angles, and 1000:1 contrast ratio. Both monitors claim a 250 cd/m2 brightness and come with one VGA and one DVI-D input. HDMI was not mentioned as these are more business-centric displays.

According to Eizo, beginning with these models, it is introducing a more compact design for its EcoView line by reducing the number of components inside the main body. This not only makes the body thinner and lighter than the previous design, but allows both monitor to ship in smaller containers with significantly less packaging. Whether the company actually does ship the monitors with less packaging remains to be seen.

Other energy-saving features include an ambient light sensor that adjusts the display's brightness according to the amount of light in the room. And each monitor includes a power switch that allows them to turn off completely and not draw any power whatsoever.

Angering your new Eizo monitor is never a good idea. One minute you're at work, updating your Facebook status. The next, disintegrated. Without even a speck of dust left. Co workers, coming to snatch you for foosball will never suspect that your monitor just ended your existence. Meanwhile, the Eizo waits, unsuspected, for its next victim. We advice disabling this feature after unboxing the display.

This article was originally posted on CNET's Crave.

Source: ZdNet

Windows XP Comes Integrated into Windows 7

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:02:00 +0000

If you thought Microsoft was going to dump Windows XP completely, think again.

Windows 7 is approaching its official release date not too long from now, and this week Microsoft unveiled one of the "secret" technologies that will ship with Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate.

Called XP Mode or XPM for short, the new feature essentially virtualizes the legacy Windows XP operating environment within Windows 7. That is, users will be able to install all applications that were previously only fully working with Windows XP, on their Windows 7 desktop without having to resort to a dual-boot solution.

Indeed, Windows 7 comes with "compatibility mode" but XPM isn't the same. XPM is actually built on the same platform as Microsoft's Virtual PC 7 product. This isn't the same as running an XP environment through a hypervisor. It was previously believed that XPM would be a Hyper-V client for Windows 7, but it is not.

However, XPM will utilize virtualization technologies in recent processors from both AMD and Intel, such as Intel's VT.

Users will be able to install a Windows XP application, and launch it seamlessly on the same Windows 7 desktop, along side Windows 7 versions of the same application, without actually affecting the core operating system. This fact alone, allows Microsoft to continue to support Windows XP in a virtualized environment, thereby giving legacy support without actually building loads of legacy code into Windows 7. This not only improves Windows 7's stability and speed, but also security.

At this time, Microsoft is claiming that XPM provides near perfect Windows XP compatibility within Windows 7.

Microsoft will include a full license of Windows XP SP3 with every copy of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate for use with XPM.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

AMD announces 16-core CPU for 2011

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:26:00 +0000

AMD updated its server processor roadmap with several surprises. The new monolithic six-core Opteron version, code-named Istanbul, will be introduced in June. We will also see a new integrated memory controller technology, 12-core processors in 2010 and a 16-core CPU in 2016.

Following Intel’s Nehalem Xeon 5500 fireworks, AMD issued a rather surprising press release that indicates an overall accelerated server roadmap. Earlier today, the company launched a new 40 watt version of its 45 nm quad-core Opteron chip. In May, the company will begin shipping a new high-end, 6-core Opteron, which the company says will deliver 30% more performance than quad-core Opterons – and maintain the same power envelope. The chips will be formally introduced in June, AMD said.

An entirely new Opteron “6000” series for 2P and 4P systems is due in 2010. The Magny-Cours processors will be available in 8-core and 12-core versions and will debut on the G34 socket and the Maranello platform. A new “4000” series will address the entry-level 1P and 2P server segment and will launch with the C32 socket and “San Marino” platform with the 4- and 6-core “Lisbon” processor.

For 2011, AMD plans to introduce the Interlagos 12- and 16-core processor, which will be based on the Bulldozer core. The 32 nm CPU will be compatible with the Maranello platform, while another variant, the 6- to 8-core “Valencia” processor will target the 1P and 2P San Marino platform.

AMD said it will also introduce its Direct Connect Architecture 2.0, which will support up to 12 cores initially and offer “near native virtualization performance, and a range of full-featured power bands that continue to place a priority on low power consumption.”

Source: TGDaily

BitTorrent Trackers Close En Masse After Pirate Bay Verdict

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:53:00 +0000

Several private BitTorrent trackers including Nordicbits, Powerbits, Piratebits, MP3nerds and Wolfbits, have closed down after the Pirate Bay verdict came in last Friday. Other trackers are set to follow this example in what could be the greatest voluntary tracker collapse ever.

Operating a BitTorrent tracker from Sweden is not as fun as it used to be, last Friday ruined all that. What was once considered a safe haven for BitTorrent sites, is now a Bermuda Triangle for some previously very active BitTorrent trackers. The harsh verdict against the four individuals involved with the largest BitTorrent tracker on the Internet led to worries among those who operate similar sites in Sweden and elsewhere.

In the days following the verdict, several large and small BitTorrent trackers have decided to close down and more are expected to follow suit in the days to come. One of the sites that has closed its doors is NordicBits, which displays a message citing the verdict as one of the reasons for the closure.

"We have to shut down the site now due all circumstances. We don’t have time to do anything to the code, we don’t have interest in it, we don’t have any more money and the biggest reason is The Pirate Bay info."

Rumors say that at least a dozen trackers will discontinue operations in the days to come including Swebits, who have already shut down their tracker but not the site itself. SeedIT, a relatively small community is another tracker that’s decided to shut - they posted their latest torrent a few hours ago, titled:

“RiP.SeedIT.We.Have.always.been.the.best.of.the.best.Love.love.love.XXX-RIP”

Several of the trackers that are now offline were operated by Swedes, who are worried that they might be facing legal troubles as well. In addition, there are many other BitTorrent trackers
hosted in Sweden run by non-Swedes - time will tell how they respond.

The Pirate Bay continues business as usual as the defendants appeal their case, but in the meantime the Swedish anti-piracy lobby will use the verdict to their advantage. Uncertain times.

Source: TorrentFreak

Pirate Bay founders sent to jail

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:17:00 +0000

A court in Sweden has jailed four men behind The Pirate Bay (TPB), the world's most high-profile file-sharing website, in a landmark case.

Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde were found guilty of breaking copyright law and were sentenced to a year in jail.

They were also ordered to pay 30m kronor (£2.4m) in damages.

In a Twitter posting, Sunde said: "Nothing will happen to TPB, this is just theatre for the media."

Sunde went on to say that he "got the news last night that we lost".

"It used to be only movies, now even verdicts are out before the official release."

The damages were awarded to a number of entertainment companies, including Warner Bros, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, and Columbia Pictures.

However, the total awarded fell short of the 117m kronor (£9m) in damages and interest the firms were seeking.

Speaking to the BBC, the chairman of industry body the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) John Kennedy said the verdict sent out a clear message.

"These guys weren't making a principled stand, they were out to line their own pockets. There was nothing meritorious about their behaviour, it was reprehensible.

"The Pirate Bay did immense harm and the damages awarded doesn't even get close to compensation, but we never claimed it did.

"There has been a perception that piracy is OK and that the music industry should just have to accept it. This verdict will change that," he said.

The four men denied the charges throughout the trial, saying that because they did not actually host any files, they were not doing anything wrong.

Speaking to the BBC earlier this week, Sunde said that there was no difference between us and Google."

"The Pirate Bay will continue. Nothing is going to happen if we lose, for a multitude for reasons, not least because we will immediately appeal," he said.

A lawyer for Carl Lundstrom, Per Samuelson told journalists he was shocked by the guilty verdict and the severity of the sentence.

"That's outrageous, in my point of view. Of course we will appeal," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. "This is the first word, not the last. The last word will be ours."

Political issue

Rickard Falkvinge, leader of The Pirate Party - which is trying to reform laws around copyright and patents in the digital age - told the BBC that the verdict was "a gross injustice".

"This wasn't a criminal trial, it was a political trial. It is just gross beyond description that you can jail four people for providing infrastructure.

"There is a lot of anger in Sweden right now. File-sharing is an institution here and while I can't encourage people to break copyright law, I'm not following it and I don't agree with it.

"Today's events make file-sharing a hot political issue and we're going to take this to the European Parliament."

The Pirate Bay is the world's most high profile file-sharing website and was set up in 2003 by anti-copyright organisation Piratbyran, but for the last five years it has been run by individuals.

Millions of files are exchanged using the service every day.

No copyright content is hosted on The Pirate Bay's web servers; instead the site hosts "torrent" links to TV, film and music files held on its users' computers.

Source: BBC

YouTube to stream full-length movies, TV shows

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:27:00 +0000

Google has announced that it will partner with major movie studios to stream a number of full-length films and TV shows for free on YouTube. The studios involved in the launch of this premium content section will include Sony, CBS, MGM, Lionsgate, Starz, and the BBC. The movies will be ad-supported, and ad revenue will be shared with the content owners. Those who love YouTube's user-generated video offerings should not fret, however, as those will remain on the site separate from the premium offerings.

So far, it looks like that premonition is coming true. The launch of the premium content section of YouTube will come with a site redesign to highlight the changes while keeping YouTube's main focus on user-generated clips. YouTube says that it plans to sprinkle video ads inside of the movie streams like Hulu (and unlike the rest of YouTube, which largely relies on ads being placed around the video on the page). Unfortunately, those outside the US will have to wait for the studios to like you again, as the premium content will be limited to US viewers only.

Source: Arstechnia

Firefox 3.5 beta 4 due next week

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:41:00 +0000

Mozilla will release Firefox 3.0.9 as a regular maintenance update for the browser next week, but the company will also roll out the fourth beta version of a much more enhanced version, which will include the TraceMonkey Javascript engine. Previously developed under the Firefox 3.1 name, version 3.5 b4 will be made available in the coming week as well.

According to Mozilla, Firefox 3.5 b4 will go into a code freeze tomorrow afternoon with QA scheduled to begin Friday morning. If everything goes to plan, users will be able to download what is generally believed to be the final beta of this browser version as early as April 22. The current release plan indicates that the browser will be made available between April 22 - 24.

Following the fourth beta, we expect at least two release candidates of Firefox 3.5, which makes us believe that the final version could be available just about one year after the initial release of Firefox 3.0, which was introduced on June 17, 2008. Users are still advised to treat Firefox 3.5 b4 with caution as there are still bugs that may impact the productivity of production-critical computers.

We expect the final version to post significant performance enhancements thanks to the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine. “Regular” Firefox users will also get a browser update next week. Version 3.0.9 is scheduled for an April 22 release.

However, if you like to look a bit further into the future, you could download the first pre-alpha release of the next-generation Firefox. Currently called version 3.6, Namoroka and Firefox.next, the browser recently surfaced in Mozilla’s download folders.

Source: TGdaily

More Zune HD Details Emerge

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:07:00 +0000

After the leaked pictures of the Zune HD appeared on Saturday, more unconfirmed technical specifications of the device have now emerged. Microsoft's new portable media player is set to go neck-to-neck with Apple's iPod Touch, as the specifications of the Zune HD make it a viable contender.

The Zune HD is set to feature a multitouch (capacitive) OLED screen in a 16:9 aspect ratio and will have a TV out port on the side (apparently HDMI). Coming in 16 and 32GB versions, the device will also support wireless syncing to your computer. Some even speculate the PMP will support 3D Xbox games, if the Zune HD will actually use Nvidia's Tegra chipset.

The new details also mention a Web browser on the Zune HD, which in turn supports multitouch. No word on what kind of browser this will be, but let's hope it won't be anything similar to Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile. As previously reported, the Zune HD is set to launch this fall (probably September) with new details of international availability in Canada, the U.K, and France.

What is Microsoft cooking?

The tech blogosphere is also talking today about Zune-themed mobile phones. AdWeek reports that Microsoft is now taking bids for an ad campaign for a Zune mobile application dubbed Pink.

While some speculate that the Zune HD is likely to run on the long-overdue Windows Mobile 6.5 (expected in Q4, same as the Zune HD), it's more likely that WM phones would just share some services and feature with the new Zune.

Source: PCWorld

iCloud virtual desktop public-beta launched

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:05:00 +0000

Swedish startup Xcerion on Tuesday launched the public beta-test of iCloud, a virtual desktop aimed at consumers and mobile workers, which it hopes to develop into an application marketplace comparable to Apple's App Store.

For end users, iCloud offers a web-based desktop available from any internet-connected PC and offering a set of productivity, developer, media and communications applications.

Microsoft and Google are the best-known providers of web-accessible applications, with projects such as Google Apps. Unlike their efforts, iCloud attempts to recreate the look and feel of a full-fledged operating system running in a browser, including a desktop, application icons, widgets and applications running simultaneously in separate windows.

iCloud applications are written in Ajax, like Google Apps, but iCloud applications run entirely in a 2MB virtual machine loaded into the user's browser.

The virtual machine offers an abstraction layer which is designed to insulate the applications from the underlying browser technology, simplify development and improve performance, Xcerion chief executive Daniel Arthursson told ZDNet UK on Thursday.

One drawback to this approach is that the virtual machine must be ported to new browsers or platforms for them to support iCloud, said Arthursson. Currently only Internet Explorer is supported, but Xcerion is planning support for browsers such as Firefox.

The company also plans to port the virtual machine (VM) to non-PC platforms such as mobile phones. Once the VM has been ported, individual apps won't need to also be ported, said Arthursson.

"As soon as we have ported the VM into another browser, or outside the browser, for instance to C++ for smartphones, iCloud can work on those devices," Arthursson said.

The applications run locally, meaning that, once loaded, they can continue to operate offline, as long as the browser remains open.

The same application can run simultaneously on different users' iCloud desktops, allowing a document to be edited by multiple users at once, with modifications passed along to the different users by a transaction coordinator in the data center, Arthursson added.

Performance has been Xcerion's main stumbling block. In a demonstration to CNET News last year, the iCloud environment proved slow to load, and a planned public beta launch at the end of 2008 was delayed until now, while the company worked on performance issues.

Xcerion said it began working with Akamai in March, giving it access to 25,000 servers worldwide, and making it more likely that the user will be working with a server geographically close to them.

"We have rewritten a lot of the code that communicates from the virtual machine to the servers, and have been able to remove a lot of bottlenecks," said Arthursson. "We are continuing to learn a lot about how to run a global internet service."

Xcerion said it plans to turn iCloud into a marketplace where developers can offer applications for a fee, or on a free, advertising-supported basis. The company plans to charge 25 percent of developers' application revenues, compared to Apple's 30 percent cut on its App Store.

The free version of iCloud gives users 3GB of storage space and a WebDAV backup feature, enabling file synchronisation across different systems. This means, for instance, that a user could synchronise files between an iCloud desktop and a physical desktop.

Xcerion was founded in 2001 and is funded by Northzone Ventures, a Swedish venture capital firm, as well as Lou Perazzoli, one of Windows NT's original architects, John Connors, a partner at Ignition Partners, and Terry Drayton, founder and former chief executive of HomeGrocer.com.

The system is available from icloud.com in English, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Swedish, and Filipino.

Other so-called "cloud operating system" efforts include Laszlo Webtop and the now-defunct YouOS, while companies such as Salesforce.com offer comparable web-based application environments.

This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.

Researchers find that those who enjoy Facebooking do less well in exams

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:36:00 +0000

Researchers at Ohio State University have delved deep into the habit that is Facebook and concluded that those who express their membership regularly do worse in school tests.

In fact, they say, the majority of those who Facebook daily do worse by as much as one whole grade.

Aryn Karpinski, one of the Ohio State education department researchers, was quoted in the Times of London as saying: "Our study shows people who spend more time on Facebook spend less time studying. "Every generation has its distractions, but I think Facebook is a unique phenomenon."

Some 68 percent of the Facebookers among the 219 young things questioned enjoyed a significantly lower GPA than those who eschewed friending and poking.

Source: Cnet

Twitter Users Get Stalked By Mikeyy Worm

noreply@blogger.com (MAK) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:09:00 +0000

Twitter, the microblogging site, has been hit by a worm infecting users' profiles and posting rogue messages.

No sensitive information was compromised, according to Twitter

The worm, called Mikeyy, spread around the popular site like wildfire as soon as members clicked onto an infected users' profile.

People's pages began posting messages promoting the site StalkDaily.com.

The speed with which it spread took the web community by surprise.

Normally worms and viruses require people to click on a link to a different site to get infected.

But this cross site scripting (XSS) attack worked by hiding code inside the "bio" section of members' pages.

Twitter news service BNO News reported StalkDaily's 17-year-old owner, Mikeyy Mooney, had claimed responsibility for the attack.

"I did it out of boredom," he told BNO.

Twitter has now closed the hole that allowed this to happen, according to a posting on the site.

"No passwords, phone numbers, or other sensitive information were compromised as part of this attack," Twitter said.

However, the StalkDaily.com worm has been followed swiftly by a new mutation, called Mikeyy.

Source: Sky