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May 17, 2012
4:13
Bits Blog: In TV Race, Microsoft Has Lead, Forrester Says
» ‎ NYT > Technology

When it comes to the underlying technology providers that matter for mobile app developers, there's Google and Apple, with Microsoft as an also-ran. But as television begins to resemble the mobile business, Microsoft is in the lead with the Xbox, according to a new report out Wednesday from Forrester Research.
4:05
A Facebook Co-Founder Reflects on the Path Forward
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Eduardo Saverin, who left the company after two years, has settled in Singapore and is assessing how best to manage the extraordinary wealth that will come his way in Facebook’s initial public offering.
3:38
DealBook: Ahead of Facebook I.P.O., a Skeptical Madison Ave.
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Despite the overwhelming level of interest in its I.P.O., Facebook is facing fresh concerns over its ability to attract enough advertising revenue. Will the social network reach its advertising potential?
3:31
State of the Art: SoundLink and Big Jambox Speakers Go Wherever You Go - State of the Art
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Pump up the volume with either of two high-end wireless room speakers: Bose’s SoundLink Wireless Mobile Speaker or Jawbone’s Big Jambox.
2:07
Paralyzed, Moving a Robot With Their Minds
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Scientists said a tiny brain implant allowed two people who are virtually paralyzed below the neck to manipulate a robotic arm.
1:50
A Computer User’s Guide to Cloud Storage
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Cloud storage, now offered by a number of companies in different price ranges, offers a substitute for physical storage, with the additional ability to synchronize across multiple devices.
1:25
App Smart: Digital Guardians That Help Ease the Fears of Parents
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Two apps, FBI Child ID and Footprints, are worth downloading for any parent — even those who can’t imagine ever losing their children.
0:48
Gadgetwise Blog: App Smart Extra: Don't Let Me Squint Too Long
» ‎ NYT > Technology

"George Harrison: Living in the Material World," the new e-book by Olivia Harrison, has generated good reviews from iTunes users, and the content is excellent. Whether it's worth downloading, though, depends on your tolerance for tiny text.

May 16, 2012
23:07
Government to miss cookie cut-off
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Most government websites will miss the UK's deadline for complying with EU regulations over cookies, the Cabinet Office tells the BBC.

20:11
Gadgetwise Blog: Now on Pinterest: Scams
» ‎ NYT > Technology

It wasn't long before scammers and phishers found their way onto Pinterest, the growing social-network site.
20:08
DealBook: Facebook Increases Number of Shares for I.P.O.
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Facebook will offer 421 million shares, 25 percent more than it had planned to offer, in response to high demand.

20:05
Google makes search 'more human'
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Google revamps its search engine in an attempt to offer instant answers to search questions with a new function, the Knowledge Graph.

19:57
Gadgetwise Blog: A Pocket-Size Recording Studio
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Olympus's new LS-100 recorder may look like a piece of military machinery, but it is actually an eight-track recorder you can slip into your pocket.
19:36
G.M. to Quit Facebook Ad Campaign Worth $10 Million a Year
» ‎ NYT > Technology

The loss of $10 million in ad dollars does not represent a financial disaster for Facebook, but it is a public relations headache so close to the company’s initial stock offering this week.
19:26
A Russian Facebook Bet Pays Off Big
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Alisher B. Usmanov’s investments in the social media giant could be worth at least $6 billion when the company goes public.

17:16
The Pirate Bay hit by hack attack
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

File-sharing website The Pirate Bay appears to have been hit by a coordinated hack attack.

16:29
Mobile sales drop for the first time in two years
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

According to the latest figures from Gartner, retail sales of mobile phones have dropped for the first time in almost two years.

Sales for the first quarter of 2012 totalled 419.1 million units, down two percent year-on-year.

Now the analysts think they will have to adjust their forecasts for the whole of 2012 down by around 20 million units.

Smartphones are doing well, it is just that no one seems to want to buy a phone to send SMS messages or call people any more.

At the moment the best place to try to sell a mobile is China and this period is normally strong for sales because of the Chinese New Year.

Gartner's figures make Samsung the top handset vendor, selling 86.6 million devices and overtaking Nokia which was at 83.2 million.

Smartphone sales up 44.7 percent year-on-year, with Android-based phones accounted for 56.1 percent of all smartphone sales during the quarter.

But the percentage of smartphones to ordinary phones is still small. Samsung was the number one seller of smartphones but it only sold 38 million worldwide which compared to 419.1 million mobile units in total.

Nokia's sales slid 22.7 percent year-on-year. But 44 percent of Samsung's sales were higher earning smartphones, while the devices accounted for just 16 percent of Nokia's sales.
16:24
Brian Krzanich likely to be Intel Otellini replacement
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini appears to have received a mess of pottage from Chief Operating Officer Brian Krzanich and given him his blessing as his heir.

Otellini said Chipzilla will continue a tradition of filling the top position from within its own ranks.

Talking to Bloomberg from the company's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, Otellini talked about his possible successors.

Otellini, 61, as well as his two predecessors, Craig Barrett and Andy Grove, was chief operating officer before taking on the CEO role at Intel.

Otellini said his job is to groom a number of candidates for the board to choose from. It would seem that he has been picking fleas from the coat of Krzanich although he did not mention him by name.

He said that it made a lot of sense for most companies, particularly given the track record in the Valley lately, to hire leaders within the company.

16:23
Facebook to sell 25% more shares
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Facebook says it will sell 25% more shares than first planned in its forthcoming flotation in response to strong demand.

16:06
Samsung slumps as Apple props up Elpida
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

After failing to do any serious harm to its old chum Samsung in the court room, Apple has done more damage by walking away and propping up Elpida.

Shares in Samsung slumped more than six percent costing the company $10 billion on the back of news that Apple had placed huge orders with Elpida.

The source of the news was DigiTimes, but it appears to have been believed, perhaps because no one believed that Apple would stay with Samsung after its court battles..

The orders were for mobile DRAM and were with Elpida's 12-inch plant in Hiroshima, Japan. Basically the move will provide half the facility's total chip production.

Hynix shares also dropped by nine percent. Samsung is the world's biggest DRAM maker and its shares fell.

Choi Do-yeon, an analyst at LIG Investment & Securities, told Reuters that it was more about Apple not wanting Samsung and Hynix to dominate the chip market, so it wants to keep the bankrupt Elpida running.

Micron is in talks to acquire Elpida's business as the Japanese firm, so a merged Micron-Elpida could put the fear of god into the South Korean memory chip makers.

15:32
Virgin Atlantic allows air calls
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Passengers flying Virgin Atlantic from London to New York will soon be able to make in-flight phone calls using personal devices.
14:33
Jury out in Google Oracle dispute
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

A jury has retired to consider claims that Google wilfully infringed patents belonging to Java developer Oracle.
13:25
AUDIO: Could you be a Facebook 'addict'?
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

The BBC's Gareth Mitchell discusses whether it is possible to be addicted to social networks like Facebook with psychologist Dr Cecilie Andreassen.

12:57
"Inadequate" ICO hit by Anonymous
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

A group working under the banner of Anonymous has succeeded in bringing down the ICO's website with a suspected DDoS attack.

The privacy watchdog's site was down for all of yesterday after a group identifying with the collective dealt its blow.

According to a Tumblr page, the team - calling itself Anon A Team - targeted the privacy watchdog because they believed it lacked independence and had repeatedly failed "to protect the public’s privacy from hacking or data protection breaches."

It also claimed that the law protecting privacy was "inadequate and with disproportionate measures in relation to political protests but none for the civil service or media," as well as a systematic bias in the way the press reports public interest stories - as a consequence of its failure to give sufficient weight to certain stories.

"There is zero commitment by all our regulators to protect UK citizens from data protection breaches," it continued.

The group described the Leveson inquiry as a "farce".

The sentiments were echoed in an interview at TechWeek Europe, where someone claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous said the watchdog was not "equipped, nor have the motivation to ensure that we are protected".

The attack was met with mixed feelings by the security industry with many refusing to comment.

However, one security professional did speak with TechEye under anonymity. "Hackers are far cleverer than heads of states, government bodies and companies," the source said. "No matter how much security is in place, if Anonymous wants to take you down, it will.

"Do I agree with this attack? They do have a point about privacy," the source said.

The ICO itself refused to speak beyond issuing a generic statement:

“Access to the ICO website has been disrupted over the past few days. We believe this is due to a distributed denial of service attack. The website itself has not been damaged, but people have been unable to access it. We provide a public facing website which contains no sensitive information.

“We regret this disruption to our service; however we are pleased that our website is now available.”

12:42
Sexting threat comes from peers
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

A report commissioned by the NSPCC suggests that children are coming under pressure from friends to post explicit pictures

12:21
Deal Professor: China Flexes Its Regulatory Muscle, Catching Google in Its Grip
» ‎ NYT > Technology

China is having the final word on Google’s biggest and perhaps most strategic deal to date — its proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, the American handset maker and communications company.

12:19
Google patents Project Glass design
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Search giant Google patents the design of its augmented reality glasses, known as Project Glass.

12:14
Patent Dispute Holds Up Sales of 2 HTC Phones in U.S.
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Apple scored a narrow victory against HTC in a patent lawsuit in December over the technology used in the devices.

10:35
ASA barks at TalkTalk
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

TalkTalk has been investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after a customer complained about how the company advertised its broadband speeds.

The customer approached the watchdog after viewing a speed checking service on TalkTalk's site. After he entered his postcode, he was told: "Your estimated speed 3.8 Meg Your estimated speed range is between 2.1 and 5.3meg ...".

He challenged whether the ad was misleading, because he was a TalkTalk customer and had been informed that the maximum speed available to him was less than 2.1 Mbit/s.

TalkTalk claimed that it was compliant with the Ofcom Voluntary Code of Practice on broadband speeds, which stated that internet service providers must "provide a facility (line checker) on their website so that consumers can find out, in a clear and easily accessible manner, what their estimated access line speed is".

It added that given the material differences between the network measured access line speed and the throughput speeds consumers were likely to receive, the Code of Practice also required that ISPs explain that the actual throughput speed received would be influenced by a number of factors.

TalkTalk said it provided people with a link on its site that explained how it estimated speed. It also claimed that the speed checker results were based on the methodology set out in the Code of Practice, which was based on the standard distribution of access line speeds shown across their network but limited to between the 20th and 80th percentiles.

It said it had ensured it gave consumers a clear picture with its speed checker, which "was qualified, with the prominent statement that the speed was an estimated one as well as the text "Your estimated speed range is ...", for that reason."

However, it did admit that it could implement changes to improve the consumer experience in relation to the speed checker.

The ASA said TalkTalk didn't go far enough to explain these speeds and differences - and that the ad was misleading.

It ruled that the ad must not appear again in its current form and also told TalkTalk it must ensure its speed checker results were more clearly qualified in the future.

It also told the company to ensure it was in a position to provide evidence to substantiate the impression that was likely to be taken from its future advertising.
10:21
Apple's Siri fixed to lie about 'best phone ever'
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

While Apple is unreasonably slow in issuing security patches which imprison its users into botnets, it has been jolly quick at saving itself from an embarrassing fault in Siri.

Last week it was discovered that if you asked Siri what the best phone ever is, it would tell you that it was the Nokia Lumia 900.

Siri was taking information from Wolfram Alpha, which had determined that the Lumia 900 was the best smartphone by looking at customer reviews.

Now, it is nothing but the truth and the sort of thing that Apple users need to be continuously reminded of. But it was a bit of an own goal for the cargo cult which has made a name for itself by peddling sizzle and not steak.

Apple rushed to fix "the problem" and if you ask Siri what the best phone is in the world it will confirm your previous programming that you have not wasted money on your iPhone.

Asking Siri what the best smartphone is results in such answers as: "You're holding it" and "Wait... there are other phones?"

It seems that Apple has decided that rather than present information about technology in a fair and balanced way, it is simply going to use it to fling advertising at you. It is to be expected, but still.

As you might expect, Nokia was furious. A spokesperson said that Apple claimed Siri was an intelligent system that's there to help. If Apple does not like the answer they override the software.
10:05
'G20 geek' found not guilty
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

The insecurity expert who was arrested for allegedly plotting to bomb the 2010 summit of world leaders in downtown Toronto has walked free from court after two years behind bars.

Byron Sonne, the so-called "G20 geek", lost his marriage when his wife Kristen Peterson ended the couple's eight-year marriage while Sonne was in jail.

Sonne is a hacker who was a big name in the cyber security industry. He was arrested on June 22, 2010, as the first high-profile detention of the chaotic G20 weekend.

According to the Star, he was charged with mischief, weapons possession and intimidating justice officials. But by the time the case reached trial, most of the charges were dropped.

It turned out that the weapon was a potato cannon and the other charges were chucked out.

Sonne was left with four counts of possessing explosive materials and one count of "counseling the commission of mischief."

According to the prosecution, Sonne had all the necessary ingredients to build a homemade bomb and was encouraging people, through social media, to disrupt the G20.

He had not assembled any explosive devices and police found neither bomb-making plans nor a detonator.

The prosecution claimed that since he had all the ingredients to build a bomb and was criticising the G20 through his Twitter and Flickr accounts he must have been planning to kill people.

Sonne admitted to having materials that could be made into an explosive, but said he hadn't combined them and hadn't intended to.

Justice Nancy Spies said that the Crown could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Sonne was guilty of any offence.

Out of all those arrested during the G20, Sonne was the least likely to be a terrorist.

The potentially explosive chemicals he possessed had household uses and others were part of his model rocketry hobby.

Sonne said he had published photos of the $9.4 million security fence, surveillance cameras and pictures of police officers.

Some of his headlines would not have endeared him to the police. They included disparaging headlines such as "bacon on wheels" and "stationary bacon".

But that is not a reason to arrest someone for being a terrorist - and opposing bail for two years.

Sonne said that his job was testing the vulnerabilities in online security systems and he could see flaws in the G20's security.

Other evidence suggested that Sonne was intentionally provoking police to test the limits of civil liberties.
9:45
Canada shelves C-30 cyber snooping law
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

The Canadian internet surveillance legislation, Bill C-30, is as dead in the water as a freshly clubbed harp seal.

The bill, which was sponsored by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, aimed to force ISPs to hand over any data that police wanted.

It was famous for Toews telling the world and its dog that if they did not back it, they supported child pornographers.

Federal and provincial privacy commissioners strongly objected to the bill as an unjustified violation of privacy rights.

It appears that it was Toews' child pornographers comment which killed the bill as it showed the law to be just pretty nasty and silly.

According to the Globe and Mail, the government backed down, declaring the bill needed further study, and nothing happened.

House Leader Peter Van Loan decided to send C-30 to the public safety committee first, where it is supposed to be extensively revised, before returning to the House for a second and third reading.

But before it can do that, it has to be debated for at least five hours and that requires it to be booked in for a day's shouting. So far it has not turned up on the booking list.

The Conservatives could send C-30 to the public safety committee in the autumn. But it would take months to rewrite the bill, and then weeks to get it through the second and third reading, which is unlikely to happen.

9:37
Diablo III players report game bug
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Blizzard say they are working to fix a 'game breaking' bug in Diablo III as the eagerly anticipated release is hit by more problems.

9:33
HTC suffers another blow
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Smartphone maker HTC is seeing two of its phones blocked by US Customs.

The Taiwanese company has not been doing very well lately and needs to turn around sales in what used to be its largest market.

Sadly, it looks like Apple is using its narrow victory against HTC in a patent lawsuit in December to keep the company out of the market.

HTC said in a statement that the US availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a US Customs review of shipments that is required after an International Trade Commission exclusion order.

The ruling said that HTC phones with the disputed technology would be banned from entering the US from 19 April. What is frustrating for HTC is that the new phones have a work around which does not require Apple's blessing. However, the shipments still require inspection and this has delayed everything.

Some shipments of the One X model had reached the US before the ban date, enabling the model's launch, but further shipments are being delayed.

The EVO 4G LTE, which was supposed to be launched on Friday, will also be delayed.

HTC said it believes it is "in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with customs to secure approval".

Still, it is all pretty bad news for HTC which needs to see things improve fast.

Some analysts are warning that HTC's problems could get worse. It was expected that general exclusion order from the patent infringement referred only to old HTC models, but there are some indications that all models could be at risk.
9:26
American paranoia moves online
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

The Land of the Free has found a new fear which is fast replacing terrorism and its number one bugbear.

The US is good at collective fear. It was founded by those who feared Catholics, whipped up by a fear of witches, then a fear of paying tea tax. Later on there was a fear of communists, then terrorists.

Now a security study by Unisys said that more Americans want the presidential candidates to focus on protecting the government and the electrical grid against hackers than fighting terrorist groups.

The good thing about a fear of hackers is that you do not have to suffer from extreme security arrangements at airports.

The Unisys study said that more than 74 percent wanted better protection of government computer systems against hackers and criminals.

Over 73 percent thought it was better to protect the US electric power grid, water utilities and transportation systems against computer or terrorist attacks.

The survey, based off a random phone survey of 1,000 households in America, asked: "How important is it for a candidate to emphasise the following issues in the upcoming 2012 presidential election?" - along with a set of questions about how worried Americans were about other security threats, such as identity theft and online fraud.

Unisys did not mention how may Americans wanted to see US presidents deal with witchcraft and Catholics, so we guess the Land of the Free has evolved a bit.

9:06
HTC shares dip on shipment delay
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Shares of Taiwan's HTC fall after US customs officials hold up shipments of its new smartphones over a patent dispute.
8:13
Sorkin to write Steve Jobs biopic
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is to write the script for Sony Pictures' upcoming biopic of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
7:00
Milestone for wi-fi with 'T-rays'
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Researchers smash a record for wireless data transmission in the terahertz band, an uncharted part of the electro-magnetic spectrum.
2:41
Sina swings to loss on expenses
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Sina Corp, China's largest internet portal and media website, posts a loss in the first three months of the year.
0:21
Flipboard integrates audio in app
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Flipboard, the popular social news magazine, starts integrating audio into its app for Apple's hand-held devices.
May 15, 2012
23:01
Power behind the phone: Imagination Technologies
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

The tech firm putting the smart into smartphone
21:10
Nvidia aims for fastest computer
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Nvidia unveils a new GPU which it says should help the the US overtake Japan to claim the world's fastest supercomputer.

19:30
Video Game Review: Max Payne 3 From Rockstar Games
» ‎ NYT > Technology

The newest version of this video game, by Rockstar, is set in Brazil, with the title character working as a bodyguard.The video game Max Payne 3 follows the former cop in his job as a bodyguard in Brazil.

17:59
Diablo III game finally launched
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Fans knock over maker Blizzard's servers as they rush to play the much-awaited sequel to the fantasy action role-playing game.
16:21
BT and TalkTalk lag in speed test
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Mystery shopper tests have revealed that customers are not always told what speed they can expect from broadband services.
15:18
Nokia accuses Apple of Siri bias
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

A Nokia spokeswoman criticises Apple after it appears to "override" its Siri software over the question: "What is the best smartphone?"
14:28
Baidu releases cheap smartphone
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Baidu, China's search giant, has announced the launch of its first smartphone.

13:46
It’s the Economy: Making Choices in the Age of Information Overload
» ‎ NYT > Technology

The Internet was supposed to make us smarter shoppers. So why should we still listen to the signals that brands send us?

13:45
Mobile porn filters 'censorship'
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

A report finds that 60 sites have been wrongly blocked by UK mobile filters designed to protect children.

13:14
Web censorship hurts legit sites
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

The Open Rights Group (ORG) and the LSE Media Policy Project have published a report that lists legitimate sites that have been blocked using censorship technology.

The report's author, Open Rights Group member Peter Bradwell, warned that internet censorship on mobile networks has lead to overblocking and could cause some sites major problems if similar measures are forced upon fixed-line broadband ISP subscribers.

Bradwell's report highlights 10 examples of incorrectly blocked sites between 1st January and 31st March 2012.

He said that mobile networks in the UK are more likely to suffer from mistaken blocking than deliberate abuse.

He said that blocking extends beyond adult sexual content because it is difficult to define what is appropriate.

There are two different types of over-blocking. Sites are being misclassified and filtered. Then there are disputed classifications, where deciding what material should be considered 'blockable' requires a further - subjective - judgement.

Some networks think that forums should always be blocked, because of concerns that young people will interact with people they don't know. But this cuts off education forums and peer support sites.

The report lists a top ten of inappropriate blocks in the UK

1. Tor (www.torproject.org).

2. La Quadrature du Net (www.laquadrature.net/en). The website of this French 'digital rights' advocacy group was reported blocked on Orange's 'Safeguard' system on 2nd February.

3. Shelfappeal.com features items that can be placed on a shelf.

4. Septicisle.info which is a personal blog featuring political opinion pieces. It does not contain any adult content.

5. The Vault Bar (www.thevaultbar.co.uk) in London.

6. St Margarets Community Website (www.stmgrts.org.uk), is a community information site 'created by a group of local residents of St Margarets, Middlesex.'

7. eHow.com is an advice and educational site. It provides tutorials on a wide range of everyday issues, from 'navigating after-school care' to 'small space garden tips'.

8. Biased-BBC (www.biased-bbc.blogspot.co.uk) is a site that challenges the BBC's impartiality. It was catogorised as a hate site.

9. Yomaraugusto.com is the home page of a graphic designer, offering a portfolio of his art and design work.

10. Equisitetweets.com allows users to create one-page threads to save or share from conversations on Twitter.

Clearly threatening stuff, then.

The report said that UK network operators fail to provide a clear path for appealing unfair blocks. This is a nightmare if you are a legitimate business - such as clothes and underwear retailers Bravissimo and Figleaves who were blocked.

The report calls for the government to "reject 'default on' network filtering" in its new consultation and instead suggests that they should "work to give parents simpler choices and better, device-based tools".
13:04
Indian IT infrastructure market set for steady growth
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

The Indian IT infrastructure market will rise by 10.3 percent this year.

According to Gartner, the industry made up of servers, storage and networking equipment, will reach $2.05 billion in 2012, and rise further by 2016 where it's predicted to reach $3.01 billion.

According to the analyst house, the reason behind the growth is down to an increasing role technology is playing in the enterprise - and IT’s closer alignment with business.

Gartner believes that soon, a time will come when IT strategy merges in with business strategy.

Gartner predicts that revenue growth will be primarily driven by ongoing data centre modernisation, as well as new data centre build outs.

It identified that servers were the largest segment of this market, forecasting revenue in this market to reach $754.5 million in 2012, and grow to $967.2 million in 2016.

Gartner signalled a positive outlook for the external controller-based storage disk market, which was reported as the fastest growing segment within the IT infrastructure market, and was expected to grow from $439.4 million in end-user spending to $842 million in 2016.

The enterprise network equipment market, which includes enterprise LAN and WAN equipment, is also expected to grow from $861 million in 2012 to $1.2 billion in 2016.

A significant driver is the cloud, which, despite being in its infancy in India, will contribute greatly in commodity type, scalable technologies, such as scale out systems and extreme low energy servers, Gartner said.
12:57
Xfactor web abuse leads to troll law lobbying
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Legal PR firm Byfield Consultancy is supporting a high profile web abuse case as part of a campaign to bring in new laws against internet trolls.

Byfield told PR Week it wants to see stronger police powers against online abuse and is working with solicitors Bains Cohen to handle a pro-bono brief on behalf of Nicola Brookes.

Brookes suffered from abuse after leaving a supportive comment on the Facebook site of The X Factor contestant Frankie Cocozza which seemed to get a little out of hand.

A day after her post, she received 100 abusive comments. Apparently 'trolls' had set up a fake profile using her name, image and personal email and were calling her Cocozza’s drug dealer, a prostitute, and a paedophile.

There were also indecent comments levelled at her daughter and she was forced to seek legal help to get the page removed. The case is going to the High Court in a bid to force Facebook to release the IP addresses of the trolls.

Byfield said that police powers to combat trolls need to be tightened after Brookes was told by the police they were unlikely to be able to arrest anyone.

The agency has launched a media campaign based on research into internet abuse showing more than half of people have received some form of abusive communication.

The company said that it will be the first private prosecution against internet trolls and Byfield wants it to be a test case to effect a change in future prosecutions.

MD of Byfield, Gus Sellitto, who is managing the campaign, said that urgent action needs to be taken to address a very serious and increasing problem of internet trolls.

There needs to be a change in how internet trolling is investigated and how victims of this kind of abuse are treated by the authorities. They will have a lot of work on their hands.

He called for a dedicated police unit to deal with internet trolls, as exist for other forms of serious abuse.

12:49
Facebook raises flotation price
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Facebook raises the price range at which it hopes to sell shares to between $34 and $38, potentially putting its total value above $100bn.
12:11
VIDEO: Creative brains imagine a smarter tomorrow
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

The creative brains imagining a smarter future
12:00
Apple releases patch for older OS
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Apple offers Flashback patch for customers who with older operating systems.

10:21
Gadgetwise Blog: Q&A: Turning Off a Social App
» ‎ NYT > Technology

If a social-reader app is getting a little too social, you can modify or remove it from your Facebook account.

10:02
US court uses "protection of the US" defence
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

While US technology companies are trying to force their patent system on the rest of the world, it seems that when it comes to losing on their home turf they really don't like it up 'em.

According to Courthouse News, German company Qimonda, which is in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings, attempted to revoke its patent licences with Samsung, IBM, Intel, Micron Technology and others.

Qimonda is desperate to sell its patent portfolio but cannot while they are being used. If this were a US company there would probably be much muttering, a few court actions and then money would change hands.

However, the US technology companies have managed to get a court order which claims that Qimonda cannot change its mind because it would "negatively impact the US economy".

So, in other words, patent law can be suspended if the technology companies can prove that the US economy would be harmed if a patent holder enforced their rights.

Qimonda designs and manufactures semiconductor products and holds "one of the largest semiconductor IP portfolios in the world" with over 10,000 patents, of which at least 4,000 are US Patents.

This is where it gets interesting. In Germany, a debtor is permitted revoke a licensee's right to use one of its patents, but this rule does not apply to the United States where a company can continue using the patent for the duration of the licensing agreement.

In 2009, the bankruptcy court applied German law to the matter of Qimonda's US patents, but the licensees appealed saying, effectively, sod German law - this will harm glorious US companies.

The court said that the application of German law would nevertheless slow the pace of innovation, to the detriment of the US economy.

But US District Judge Thomas Ellis III granted Qimonda's request for certification of an appeal. The technology companies were horrified and objected. However, the Judge said that the case raised a question of law that was a matter of public importance.

He said it was important that there needed to be a little more clarity over important issues of cross-border insolvency. This would be resolved from the resolution of any appeal.

The US Congress directly enacted legislation in 1988 denying a debtor the ability to revoke patent licences.

But this flies against Chapter 15 bankruptcy proceedings which say that the law should be governed in accordance with the bankruptcy laws of the nation in which the main case is pending. In this case it is Germany.
9:59
Apple gets another chance to troll Samsung
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

The US appeals court has given Apple another crack at slapping an immediate injunction against Samsung.

After Apple CEO Steve Jobs became convinced that Samsung stole his idea for a tablet, he decided to destroy the competition in a patent troll campaign. However, Apple did not have much luck with this after a local judge refused to give it an immediate injuction to ban the sale of Samsung's product.

According to Reuters, the District court said that Apple failed to show that it was likely to succeed on the merits of the case.

Apple has appealed and now the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the judge in a district court in California had that wrong.

It decided that Apple could press its bid for an immediate injunction to block the sale of some tablets made by Samsung Electronics based on allegations of infringement of one patent.

The patent in question has to do with the design of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. While the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California decided that the design patent should not have been given and could be challenged as "obvious", the appeals court disagreed.

It was not all good for Apple though. The appeals court also ruled that the lower court was right to deny Apple requested preliminary injunctions which would have stopped the sale of Samsung smartphones and tablets based on three other patents.

These include two patents that have to do with smartphone design and a third related to scrolling.
9:56
AMD's Trinity goes head to head with Intel's Ultrabooks
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

AMD has finally lifted the lid on its Trinity APUs, aiming to push into Intel’s Ultrabook market with its own “mainstream” devices.

The new Trinity processor moves on from the Bulldozer to Piledriver architecture, and will see AMD double the performance per watt of its previous generation Llano chips.

Crucially this means that the firm will now have 17 watt parts which can support a new generation of ultra light laptops, claiming up to 12 hours of battery life. The first of these will be the recently announced HP device which will be AMD’s first response to Intel’s much hyped Ultrabook.

“We want to make sure that Trinity is taking the thin and light, making them mainstream and really opening it up to the masses,” AMD’s head of desktop and software marketing Sasa Marinkovic said at a recent launch.

AMD will be releasing the A-10 4655M and A-6 4455M processors aimed at its ultrathin range, clocked at 2.8GHz/2.0GHz and 2.6Ghz/2.1Ghz respectively.

The quad core second generation APUs will also be available for traditional notebook form factors, with A6, A8 and A10 versions, with Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo and Samsung amongst those preparing to release devices.

Desktop processors will be also start shipping, though at a later date, with AMD also focusing on all-in-one form factors.

As usual AMD was keen to make noise about the superior graphics compared to rival Intel.
“When you are looking at the gaming experience, we were already running three times faster than Intel Sandy Bridge last year,” Marinkovic said.

“The fact that Ivy Bridge is fifty percent is faster, its still not playable. Look at the 1080p gaming - you are going to be seeing a difference,” he said.

However, central to AMD’s fightback against Intel is that graphics and the GPU are no longer only of interest to gamers.

The GPU is increasingly important for a variety of tasks which are performed by mainstream users, with browser rendering for example performed by the GPU.

“What people are doing is more multimedia, sharing photos, watching YouTube, playing games. CPUs were built to run Excel faster, Word faster, PowerPoint faster,” Marinkovic said. “That era of productivity is finished.”

With this in mind, AMD has included features which aim to make video functions as easy as possible for mainstream users, alongside elements aimed at gamers such as Eyefinity availability without the need for a discrete graphics chip.

This includes ‘Steady Video’ which automatically steadies film clips for those filming on smartphones, for example, or Quick Stream which prioritises video when downloading.
9:41
Lightsquared files for bankruptcy
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

After its plan to deliver high-speed wireless to as many as 260 million people were stuffed up by regulators, Lightsquared has filed for bankruptcy.

LightSquared has assets of $4.48 billion and debt of $2.29 billion so it might still survive in one form or another.

Creditors have requested that the company's backer, Philip Falcone, step aside although it looks like he and the current management team will remain with the company.

Some reports suggest that the bankruptcy is all a cunning plan to give LightSquared sufficient breathing room to continue working through the regulatory process.

Chief Financial Officer Marc Montagner said it could take two years before that process is complete.

Harbinger Capital Partners, Falcone's hedge fund, had invested $3 billion in LightSquared and owned about 74 percent of it.

Falcone said in a statement that bankruptcy was necessary to protect LightSquared against creditors who were looking for a quick buck. He claimed that the company will still press ahead.

Falcone's plan for LightSquared depended on winning FCC approval to convert airwaves originally designated for satellite service to spectrum for land-based radio towers.

But the FCC removed its approval after government tests found that the signals would interfere with global-positioning systems.

Falcone new plan is to get the government to swap his spectrum for that controlled by the US Defence Department.
9:37
Facebook jacks up IPO target
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Social networking site Facebook thinks that it can make piles more money out of its IPO.

Facebook has raised the price range on its initial public offering to $34 to $38 a share. This is on the back of strong demand for the shares which are already oversubscribed.

When the deal goes through, it means that Facebook will be worth more than $100 billion.

The company originally aimed for $28 to $35 a share but it is starting to look like the shares are hopelessly oversubscribed by those who think the company will be worth a bomb.

It will be Silicon Valley's largest ever IPO that eclipses Google in 2004 debut.

According to Reuters, Facebook plans to close the books on its IPO today, two days ahead of schedule. The company will price its shares on Thursday and start trading on Friday.

However, then Wall Street will mutter about how Facebook hasn't yet figured out a way to make money from an increasing number of users who access the social network on mobile devices such as smartphones.

There are some fears that the social not-working site is a bubble waiting to burst.
9:34
Sony and Panasonic to team up on OLED
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Sony and Panasonic are wining and dining each other's executives with the aim of developing the technology to mass produce next-generation OLED televisions.

The pair want to compete with South Korean rivals in the technology which will kill off current LCD TVs.

According to Reuters, the cunning plan will take on a similar alliance between Samsung and LG to sell 55-inch OLED televisions, which can be as slim as 4 millimetres, consume less power and offer sharper images.

Sony and Panasonic have to share organic light emitting diode (OLED) technologies to take on Samsung and LG.

Kyoko Ishii, senior coordinator of global corporate PR for Panasonic, is refusing to confirm any deal. He said that Panasonic will continue its development and verification of OLED based on the result of research the company has been doing at its laboratories.

It has not even thought when it would try to commercialise the technology yet, Ishii claimed.

Sony, which created the the world's first OLED TV in 2007, halted production of the $2,000 screens three years later because of the global downturn.

Currently Sony makes OLED screens costing as much as $26,000 for high-end customers. Needless to say it is not saying anything about the rumours either.

It has been predicted that shipments of OLED TVs may grow to 2.1 million sets in 2015 from just 34,000 this year, according to research firm IHS.
9:27
LulzSec member denies hacking Stratfor
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

A former LulzSec member has denied that he hacked into the servers of global intelligence company Stratfor and stole credit card data and personal details of 860,000 of its clients.

Unlike many of the LulzSec cases, Jeremy Hammond does not appear to have tried to do a deal with the Feds in return for a lower sentence.

Instead Hammond is actually pleading not guilty, which in the US is a bit like using the do or die card in the board game Escape from Colditz.

According to Associated Press, Hammond has been locked up since March after the FBI named him as a lieutenant of LulzSec ringleader Hector Xavier "Sabu" Monsegur. Hammond did not ask for bail this time either.

The Untouchables claim that Hammond stole data for about 60,000 credit cards from Stratfor servers, as well as e-mail and other information for about 860,000 of the service's clients. He was also charged with hacking servers belonging to the Arizona Department of Public Safety and stealing police details.

There are also charges of conspiracy to commit computer hacking and related offences associated with the attacks.

Hammond was identified by statements he made in online chats. In one, he allegedly revealed that a friend had been arrested during protests last August in St. Louis. In another, he said he had been arrested in New York City during the Republican National Convention in 2004. At one time he mentioned doing porridge in federal prison. FBI investigators used the details to narrow this list of suspects.

It is not clear what Hammond's defence will be at the moment but given that the police and the fairly powerful defence contractors at Statfor are miffed over the hack, he probably didn't get much clemency.

8:03
VIDEO: Ivy League education free on the web
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Click's Sumi Das reports on the Udacity project which is already causing ripples around the globe as it is making a top class education available to anyone, anywhere and for free.
7:45
In Pictures: UK engineering award
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Three finalists fight for UK's top engineering award: a multinational car firm, a small flood consultancy and a high-tech camera manufacturer
7:13
Twitter vows to 'protect' users
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Twitter tells the BBC it hopes to work more closely with government and other policymakers.
4:08
AMD unveils Trinity processors
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

AMD unveils its latest PC chip boasting more graphics power than Intel's Ivy Bridge and new 'energy recycling' tech.

2:27
DealBook: Facebook Is Said to Raise Offering Share Price
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Facebook says it will price its offering at up to $38 a share, which would value the social network at as much as $104 billion.
2:18
Facebook Needs to Turn Data Trove Into Investor Gold
» ‎ NYT > Technology

As the company goes public, it has to figure out how to use its vault of information to enrich its shareholders.
2:18
Increase in Customer Base Helps Groupon Narrow Loss
» ‎ NYT > Technology

The company’s revenue surpassed Wall Street’s expectations and Groupon’s stock rose nearly 18 percent in after-hours trading.
1:53
Chairman of Best Buy, Richard Schulze, to Step Down
» ‎ NYT > Technology

The company’s audit committee said Richard Schulze, also the chain’s founder, failed to report an inappropriate relationship between the former chief executive and an employee.

1:23
Loss widens at 'China's Facebook'
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Renren, known as China's Facebook, reports wider losses for the first three months of the year because of weak advertising revenues.
1:07
Robot can scent online activity
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

A web-connected robot that emits a puff of perfume is helping people gauge how connected they are online.

0:59
DealBook: Yahoo's New Leaders Face Stubborn Problems
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Among the highest priorities is closing a deal to sell some of Yahoo's stake in the Alibaba Group of China back to that company, in a deal that could reap billions of dollars.

May 14, 2012
23:05
VIDEO: Philippines call centre success
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

The Philippines has recently overtaken India as the country with the most call centre workers - and it is due in no small part to technology.
23:00
Tech powers Philippines call centre success
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

The technology powering the Philippines call centre revolution

18:24
Gadgetwise Blog: Pocket: The New Way to Read It Later
» ‎ NYT > Technology

The popular time-shifting service Read It Later is now called Pocket, with new apps for iOS and Android that allow a user to save text, video and images found online for later offline viewing.
18:11
Disruptions: Disruptions: Facebook's Real-Life 'Spidey Sense'
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Facebook is more tapped into the pulse of people online than any company on the planet; as a result, it has the inside track to what is becoming popular in a way that its competitors do not.
18:06
Gadgetwise Blog: A Potential Fix for iMessage Woes
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Several users of Apple's iMessage, an Internet-based messaging service, have been reporting problems with the service on Apple support forums. The problem appears to be tied to the beta version of Apple's messaging software for the Mac.

16:37
Microsoft backs torrent blocker
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

A system said to block bit torrent downloads is backed by a Microsoft fund, but experts dispute its long-term effectiveness.

16:36
The Media Equation: Audiences Now Rarely Drawn to Live Television
» ‎ NYT > Technology

When it comes to the traditional screen that families gather around, live television is competing against a growing array of self-selected content, and audiences are bolting.

16:15
Daisy Group invests in bomb proof data centre
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

A 12 tonne bomb proof door to keep the Daisy Group's data safe has been described as "a little bit extreme" by a security expert.

The comments come as the company today announced a 12 tonne bomb proof door for its Manchester data centre, as part of a £1 million investment programme in the subterranean facility, situated within a former Bank of England bullion vault.

It said this investment had been used to improve its infrastructure, increase network capacity and launch its CloudSelect, computing-on-demand offering.

In addition to being 25 feet below ground, the data centre’s security features also include two metre thick granite walls and a 60 centimetre bomb blast corridor surrounding the data storage area. It is continuously monitored by 70 CCTV cameras and access is granted only to authorised personnel.

The Telegraph predicted MP Phillip Hammond would today tell a conference that money needs to be spent on defences that “cannot be seen on the parade ground.”

He was expected by the paper to detail how electronic networks can create vulnerabilities and suggest that an enemy state could use an “E-bomb”, which, the Telegraph said, would release a destructive electromagnetic pulse and paralyse the UKs infrastructure.

The Daisy Group has this covered, claiming that its data centre has an uninterrupted power supply and three standby diesel generators, which would be triggered in the event of a power failure.

It also uses six air conditioning units to ensure the temperature is kept at an optimum level. In addition the data centre is tier III, ISO 27001 accredited and monitored 24/7 by Daisy’s engineers.

One security professional, speaking under anonymity, told TechEye: "I think a bomb proof door is a little bit extreme. I can't see this being a huge threat."

"Yes, hackers target systems like this, but a bomb proof vault as I like to call it is just showing off and asking for trouble," the source said. "If you boast about something like this, human nature dictates it makes you more of a target.

"Yes Daisy is saying that it is to prevent a data wipe in case of power failure but I think it's a way to garner more money off their clients.

"Attacks like this happen very rarely and when they do they are targeted at multinationals not at companies like this," the source said.

15:33
Best Buy Chairman Steps Down
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Richard Schulze is stepping down after an investigation found that he knew that the chief executive was having a relationship with a female employee and did not alert the audit committee.

15:29
Lenovo unleashes new servers, workstations
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Lenovo has announced a line of servers in its ThinkServer family aimed at enabling customers to deploy cloud and virtualisation services.

Built for managing complex workloads, the release of its RD530 and RD 630 rack servers will provide a reduction in power of 160 percent compared to previous server offerings.

Available direct from Lenovo or through its business partners from mid June, the RD 530 and RD 630 will cost $2,399 and $2,699 respectively.

The two-socket rack servers will be come with Intel Xeon processors, holding up to eight cores per processor. This means achieving up to 30 percent greater CPU performance that current Lenovo server platforms.

Both of the servers are sold with up to 320 GB of RAM, in 20 DIMM slots, advanced RAID controller options and memory capacity for up to 16 hard drives.

Lenovo has also announced an entry level workstation for SMBs and professionals operating on more of a budget. With this in mind, prices will kick off at around $629.

The Lenovo ThinkStation E31 comes as either a mini-tower or small form factor, and will ship with Intel Xeon or Ivy Bridge i7 chips, alongside enhanced memory and graphics capabilities. Graphics will be delivered either via Intel HD Graphics P4000 or Nvidia Quadro cards.

The tower model will feature up to 9TB of storage, or 6TB for the SFF. A wide gamut of software will be shipped with the servers, including Windows 7 Professional as well as software aimed directly at creative and financial customers.

Speaking to ChannelBiz UK, Lenovo said that the Think brand of products is vital in its push to dominate more of the PC market in Europe, with the firm intent on raising awareness of its premium brand across a wider audience.
15:14
Adobe gives in and patches CS5 for free
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Adobe, which had been heading for the title of most evil company for 2012, has changed its mind about requiring customers to pay to get recent security patches for its Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash Professional products.

The company had been up for the award because of the way it was charging an arm and a leg for its products in countries which did not follow the Americans into their silly revolution. Australia is particularly furious.

But it was a dead cert for the title when it started demanding cash from CS5 customers to fix security cock ups in its software.

The patches were intended to patch vulnerabilities in Creative Suite 5 and earlier versions of the products could let a remote intruder execute malicious code and take control of computers running the software.

Adobe's answer to the problem was that punters would have to pay to upgrade to the Creative Suite 6 versions to get the fixes. This is despite the fact that CS5.1 would have cost most clients an arm and a leg.

As one user complained to Techeye: "It is bad enough that they charge us huge amounts for software which is more or less the same as it has been for years, but insisting that we pay more because they cocked it up and let hackers in, is a bit on the nose."

Apparently Adobe is now saying that said that it is the process of resolving the vulnerabilities in Adobe Illustrator CS5.x, Adobe Photoshop CS5.x (12.x) and Adobe Flash Professional CS5.x, and will update the respective security bulletins once the patches are available.
15:10
Kodak had nuke weapons capability
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Buried among the paperwork of Kodak's bankruptcy assets was the somewhat strange information that the company had its own nuclear reactor and was capable of making weapons grade uranium.

While the photocopying company was going down the loo, it turns out it could have made a fortune flogging enriched uranium to a rogue state or two.

Fortunately for humanity the idea did not appear to have entered the Kodak accountants' heads.

Six years ago, according to Gizmodo, they had a nuclear reactor in a basement in Rochester loaded with 3.5 pounds of enriched uranium.

The thing was no one seemed to know why Kodak felt it needed to be a nuclear power, nor how they got permission to own it and install it in a basement in the middle of a densely populated city. Certainly it would have made anyone think twice about taking its Kodachrome away.

Its existence was only known about when the details were leaked by an ex-employee. It appears that only a few engineers and Federal employees really knew about the project.

According to Miles Pomper, from the Centre for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington, it was an odd situation because private companies just don't have this material.

Kodak was not planning to get anyone to ask. It was using the reactor to check materials for impurities as well as neutron radiography testing.

It was a Californium Neutron Flux multiplier (CFX) which they picked up in 1974 and pre-loaded with three and a half pounds of enriched uranium plates placed around a californium-252 core. It is ironic really because there was enough californium to lay waste to Califoria if Kodak had been so minded.

The reactor was installed in a closely guarded, two-foot-thick concrete-walled underground bunker in the company's headquarters.

No employees were ever in contact with the reactor - well, no one who was has told anyone.

After 2006 Kodak started to wonder if, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, it might be a good idea to dismantle it.

Rumours that it sold it to a wild eyed scientist who was trying to stick it onto the back of his Delorean can be safely discounted. Still it makes you wonder how many other technology companies are sitting on a nuke or two.

13:03
Light-powered bionic eye invented
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

A retinal implant - or bionic eye - which is powered by light has been invented by scientists at Stanford University in California.

12:35
Infineon CEO resigns due to ill-health
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Infineon’s CEO Peter Bauer has announced his resignation due to ongoing health problems.

Bauer has been suffering from bone disease osteoporosis for several years and has suffered numerous fractures to his vertebrae.

His situation has worsened, according to an announcement by the German chip maker, and he has taken the decision to resign.

In a statement from Bauer, he said that the decision to resign was “very difficult”, but he felt that he could no longer give his role at the helm of the organisation the due attention.

Bauer had been the CEO of Infineon since 2008, having started at the company way back in 1985.

The Supervisory Board at Infineon will now appoint a successor in Dr Reinhard Ploss, who is currently employed as Infineon’s chief technical officer and chief operations officer.

Ploss, who has been with Infineon for 25 years, will take over the role of CEO from Bauer on 1 October 2012.

Last week, Infineon announced second quarter revenues ahead of forecast, and up four percent on the previous quarter to reach €986 million ($1.26 billion).
12:21
Intel begins researching 5nm
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Intel boss Paul Otellini has said the company had begun its work on 7nm and 5mm process technologies.

According to">[http:] Xbit Labs, which got its paws on one of his slides, Otellini said that 10nm will be around in 2015 with work being done on 5nm around the same time

Intel is currently equipping Oregon, Arizona and Ireland's fabs to make chips using 14nm fabrication processes. He did not say where the more futuristic technology would be made.

He said that Intel is working on a glorious ten year research plan and he was convinced that the company is on target to make its 7nm and 5nm process technologies by 2015.

Orellini said it's all proof that Chipzilla's invention is continuing and the company will carry on delivering value to its investors and partners. Of course if it didn't, no doubt that they would be very upset, but when you are talking about future technologies it pays not to say too much but surround it with a lot of puff.

12:21
VIDEO: The challenge for Yahoo
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Yahoo has announced its Chief Executive Scott Thompson is stepping down after a controversy over a fake computer science college degree on his CV.
11:57
Apple drops '4G' from iPad ads
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Apple has stopped using '4G' in adverts for its latest iPad following complaints about which technologies the phrase stood for.
11:40
US town police ban 'walk-texting'
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Pedestrians in an American town are being fined £50 for texting while they walk.

11:38
Pirate Pay hopes to kill Pirate Bay
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

A Russian based outfit "Pirate Pay" claims to have come up with some software which can kill off the distribution of copyrighted works on BitTorrent.

Its first test project, which was carried out with Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures, successfully stopped tens of thousands of downloads.

According to TorrentFreak, the software attacks BitTorrent swarms, making it impossible for people to share files. Apparently the company was building a traffic management system for ISPs when they worked out that it could stop BitTorrent traffic if needed.

Pirate Pay CEO Andrei Klimenko said that the prototype could prevent files from being downloaded and it started to receive cash from the likes of Microsoft to develop it.

In December last year Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures hired Pirate Pay to protect the film "Vysotsky. Thanks to God, I'm alive," with moderate success.

We have not heard of it either, probably because no one talked about it.The software appears to be flooding clients with fake information, masquerading as peers. Pirate Pay sent specific traffic to confuse these clients about the real IP-addresses of other clients and to make them disconnect from each other. It claimed to have stopped 44,845 transfers with the technology.

It is not clear how many downloads slipped through. Pirate Pay charges between $12,000 and $50,000 depending on the the project.

11:12
Facebook's Saverin quits the US
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin has renounced his US citizenship, just days ahead of the company's stock flotation.

10:20
Scientists turn a virus into electricity
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have come up with a way to generate power using harmless everyday viruses.

The researchers have been working with a virus called M13 bacteriophage to convert mechanical energy into electricity, which they say one day could power gadgets such as smartphones from everyday movements such as walking.

They have been testing their work through a specially developed generator that produces enough current to operate a small liquid-crystal display.

It works by tapping a finger on a postage stamp-sized electrode coated with specially engineered viruses. The viruses convert the force of the tap into an electric charge.

Seung-Wuk Lee, a faculty scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division and a UC Berkeley associate professor of bioengineering, said in statement: “More research is needed, but our work is a promising first step toward the development of personal power generators, actuators for use in nano-devices, and other devices based on viral electronics”.

The M13 bacteriophage has a length of 880 nanometers and a diameter of 6.6 nanometers. According to the scientists it is coated with approximately 2,700 charged proteins that enable them to use the virus as a piezoelectric nanofiber.

The piezoelectric effect, found in 1880, has since been identified in crystals, ceramics, bone, proteins, and DNA. It’s also already been put to use in electric cigarette lighters and scanning probe microscopes.

However, it's not been a huge success with the materials used to make piezoelectric devices claimed as being toxic and very difficult to work with.

Lee and his team found that the M13 bacteriophage only attacks bacteria and is benign to people.

Being a virus, it replicates itself by the millions within hours, meaning that there would always be a steady supply. To ascertain whether the M13 virus was piezoelectric, Lee and his team applied an electrical field to a film of M13 viruses and watched what happened using a special microscope. Once they found a positive result they increased the virus’s piezoelectric strength through genetic engineering to add four negatively charged amino acid residues to one end of the helical proteins that coat the virus.

They then stacked 20 films composing of single layers of the virus on top of each other to achieve the maximum effect.

Finally, to test the multi-layered film, they sandwiched it between two gold-plated electrodes, which were connected by wires to a liquid-crystal display, and then tapped on it.

When this pressure was applied to the generator, it produced up to six nanoamperes of current and 400 millivolts of potential, which the scientists said was enough current to flash the number “1” on the display, and about a quarter the voltage of a triple A battery.

Scientists are now working on ways to improve this research and hope it could eventually be used.

Watch the video below to see how the idea works.

10:20
Gadgetwise Blog: Q&A: Capturing a Video Frame
» ‎ NYT > Technology

When you accidentally take a video instead of a photo on your phone, you can still salvage the situation and get your shot.

9:43
Researchers run the internet on xylophones
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

A University of California graduate researcher has transmitted internet packets by playing them on xylophones.

It is not practical for every day use, but there is proof that the idea works.

Stuart Geiger, a graduate student the Berkeley's School of Information told the Association for Computing Machinery's Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, which was held in Austin, Texas, that his experiment gave him an appreciation for how the internet was designed.

He told IDG you could really take anything and put it anywhere.

Geiger's network protocol, IP over Xylophone Players (IpoXP), provided a fully compliant IP connection between two computers. It used a pair of Arduino microcontrollers, some sensors, a pair of xylophones and two people to play them.

The Arduino was connected to a series of LEDs. Each LED corresponds to a hexadecimal character, as well as a key on a xylophone.

When the LED lights up, the human participant strikes the corresponding key on the xylophone. The Piezo sensors are attached to each xylophone, so that they are able to sense when a note is played on the other xylophone.

When the Arduino for the receiving computer senses the note, it converts it back into hexadecimal code. And when the second computer sends a return packet, the order of operations is reversed.

Transmission is fairly slow. Characters are issued one every second, giving the network a throughput of one baud. It took 15 minutes to play a single packet. That is assuming the player did not hit a duff note.
8:42
An IT worker revolted after he was fired
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

A member of the IT Crowd at a Missoula company crashed his former employer’s computer system just days after being laid off.

According to the Missoulian newspaper Vladimir Ivanovich Shved worked as an IT administrator at Edulog which provides software for school bus routing and scheduling in Missoula.

He was laid off in October and prosecutors claim that several computers crashed nearly simultaneously and when employees tried to restore the systems, they found the backup servers had been erased.

Court records say the company called Shved and offered him an hourly rate to help resolve the problem, but refused his demand of a three- to five-year contract at $100 to $150 an hour.

Edulog started to suspect that maybe Shved had a hand in trashing the network and started its own investigation.

Ironically his cunning plan might have worked if he had not asked for such a daft condition for a return to work.

He told the judge he was sorry about what happened and it was the biggest mistake in his life.

Larson seemed to believe him and sentenced Shved to three years on a felony charge of unlawful use of a computer but deferred it. A deferred sentence means Shved's record will be clean if he stays out of trouble during that time.
8:40
AMD supports Windows Compact 7
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

AMD has announced that its AMD Embedded G-Series will support Windows Embedded Compact 7 real time OS.

The plan is that it will allow AMD to get its G-Series APUs pushing feature rich applications on small, specialised devices.

The target is medical, retail and industrial automation industries.

The move means that board, module and system OEMs can come up with embedded ideas that need high performance and integrated graphics processing on a low profile, which do not need to keep their cool or use too much electricity.

By offering seamless support for Windows Embedded Compact 7 it allows AMD Embedded G-Series customers who do not like seams to support themselves take full advantage of the many benefits of the two combined technologies, AMD said.

It means that they would have a mix of AMD Radeon graphics and the "Bobcat" x86 core, AMD Embedded G-Series APUs and Windows.

Steven Bridgeland, product manager for Windows Embedded at Microsoft said that Bobcat will help push the Windows Embedded Compact platform into intelligent systems.

It means, for example, that Silverlight for Windows Embedded and multi-touch support optimised for intuitive, natural input capabilities and gesture based interactions.

Boards and modules supporting AMD Embedded G-Series APUs and Windows Embedded Compact 7 include the MSM-eO/-N PC/104-Plus SBC from Kontron, the CAPA111 3.5" SBC from Axiomtek and others.

7:29
Facebook - buy or sell?
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

The nervous questions ahead of Facebook's IPO

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