China's fast-growing population of Internet users has soared to 221 million, tying the United States for the largest number of people online, according to government data reported... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 10:20 am
The concept FRAME TELE from Tao Ma is both a picture frame and a phone that shows pictures of your family or firends continuously on the screen. When the phone rings, the frame can display a previously... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 10:00 am
Apple on Wednesday offered its most in-depth explanation yet for the current shortage of iPhones for sale, which it blamed both on buyers' desire for unlocked iPhones and on the company's underestimating... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 9:34 am
A company, called Confident, markets a cell phone-based system that allows people to monitor and track their vital statistics. Switched by engadget reports. "Diabetics can check their glucose levels via... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 9:26 am
urbanriot writes "Despite a growing number of complaints on the popular North American consumer broadband site BroadbandReports, employees working for the Canadian cable internet provider Cogeco have publicly denied interfering with torrents on their network. However, a recent plugin put out by the Vuze team exposed Cogeco of being the second worst ISP globally, of those tested. So far, Cogeco has failed to respond to these findings, but recent coverage from the mainstream media and Michael Geist may prompt them to finally admit to their controversial practices." The report by the Vuze team has some interesting information about other ISPs from around the world as well. Prior to this, Bell Canada was taking most of the flak in Canada for traffic management.
LONDON (Reuters) - British mobile phone group Vodafone said on Thursday it was linking up with China Mobile and Softbank to help accelerate the commercial deployment of mobile Internet... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 8:18 am
The planned launch of a Zenit rocket carrying an Israeli AMOS-3 communications satellite was postponed on Thursday by 24 hours, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, citing the Baikonur... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 8:09 am
WUXI, China, April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- At an awards ceremony held this week, Xilinx, Inc. announced the winners of its inaugural Open Source Hardware Innovation Contest, launched in June 2007 for engineering students at Chinese universities. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 24 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
By Jerry Siebenmark, The Wichita Eagle, Kan. Apr. 24--There are thousands of people working in information technology jobs in the Wichita area. Some work for area companies that manufacture, develop or test computers, computer components and software. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 24 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
By Steve Cahalan, La Crosse Tribune, Wis. Apr. 24--Miguel Guerrero has opened his third Tequila Mexican Restaurant in the former Hardee's restaurant at 425 Second Ave. S., along Hwy. 35 in Onalaska, Wis. He and brother Luis Guerrero own this new restaurant, which opened April 12. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 24 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
Evidently a number of U.S. Rep. Paul Broun's constituents are turned off on his campaign for re-election to the congressional seat he won after the death of U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 24 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
WASHINGTON - When the polls close in Pennsylvania tonight, network television viewers will have a choice: They can watch Kristi Yamaguchi on ABC's Dancing With The Stars, see whether Sharon gets kicked out of the house on CBS' Big Brother or stare at old Saturday Night Live skits on NBC. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 24 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
YouTube is a popular site to share and watch videos, but a recently posted video showed the dark side to the Web site. Eight teenagers from the Lakeland, Fla., area were involved in a taped beating of another female classmate, which was posted on YouTube. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 24 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
increase the flow of technology to developing countries to help them fight climate change. Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said developed nations "need to establish a... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 7:58 am
Imagine: you’ve found the next hit video on the web. Having just laughed yourself to tears, you regain your composure long enough to send a link of the video to your best friend, expecting to be... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 7:56 am
Some VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) and mobile phone service providers are riding free when connecting to the traditional telephone network in the U.S., potentially costing carriers billions of dollars,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 7:56 am
Not to econo-geek out or anything, but I'm pumped about the Milken Global Conference in L.A. the first part of next week. Sure, I'm on a panel with Felix and others on Monday, which will be good fun, but... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 7:43 am
A federal appeals court handed an animal rights group a partial victory in a dispute over the fate of California sea lions in the Columbia River, allowing some to be trapped but none to... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 7:22 am
OSAKA (Reuters) - Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd said on Thursday its annual profit more than doubled and forecast it would grow 9 percent this year on red-hot demand for its Wii and DS game... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 7:17 am
The Union of Concerned Scientists says nearly 900 EPA scientists reported experiencing political pressure in their work. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
An official with the independent group that conducted the survey says it indicates the widespread nature of the problem. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
Linden Lab, the company that created the virtual world "Second Life," now has its second CEO: Mark Kingdon, former head of digital marketer Organic Inc. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
The mortgage broker says two former employees helped outside companies get customer information. Five Southern... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
Its earnings, powered by sales of personal computers, beat analysts' forecasts. Apple Inc. said Wednesday that... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
New Zealand's largest glacier is shrinking fast due to climate change and will eventually disappear altogether, scientists said Thursday. The 23-kilometre (14.3 mile) long... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 6:56 am
Apple Computer is set to pay $278M to buy PA Semi. Santa Clara-based PA Semi's chips are designed for the embedded computing market. PA Semi is venture backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Focus VenturesHighland... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 6:40 am
Accoroding to Reuters, has introduced brand-image ads for mobile phones. "The company said it had designed mobile images to look like standard graphical display ads for desktop computer Web pages, but... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 6:39 am
The online writing community Helium recently ended its 100 day reward-a-thon, during which contributors were rewarded with small bonuses for each article they submitted. Helium serves as both a directory... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 6:31 am
China's booming population of Internet users has soared to 221 million, tying the United States for the biggest number of people online, according to data reported Thursday. The... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 6:29 am
The methods of data collection by Web criminals are evolving from the creation of malware to buying and selling sensitive information from third party sites.Security firm Finjan announced at InfoSecurity Europe that it had seen thousands of such online services, and called for the police to step in and control the growing issue.The San Jose, Calif.-based Web security firm reported that sites were offering sensitive data such as medical information as well as corporate e-mail and pension details."All this was found on one hacker's server and we believe it was information that was collected to be sold online," said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer at Finjan."It is even being marketed on certain forums - 'We are selling this type of data and here is our price list'," he said.Credit card information was selling low, while logfiles for large companies collected bids of almost $300 from Web criminals.Founded in 1996, Finjan sells web security products, marketed under the brand name "Vital SecurityTM."Bruce Schneier, founder of network security firm BT Counterpane, says the net is a hotbed of criminal activity."The web has been discovered by criminals in a big way," Schneier said."The reality of the threat can change. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 24 Apr 2008 | 6:19 am
Sean Hollister writes "GameCyte contacted Daniel Laughlin, Project Manager of NASA Learning Technologies, to find out where that $3 million budget for their educational MMO actually went. As it turns out, NASA still has the money — they are just planning to use it differently than we thought. Meanwhile, the 'non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement' actually allows the game developer to profit where they might not have, otherwise. 'If it were a government contract, it would be illegal to be paid twice, once by the government and a second time by consumers.'"
BEIJING - China's booming population of Internet users has soared to 221 million, tying the United States for the biggest number of people online. The figure, as of the end of... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:53 am
Infectious computer programs called “trojans” were removed from computers 300 percent more in the second half (July through December) of 2007 than in the first half, according to a new report.Microsoft, who released the report in London, said that the influx reflects both the rising capabilities of security software as well as the rising popularity among Web criminals who use malicious programs to spam email accounts, steal personal data and sell rogue software."The numbers have simply exploded, it's huge," said Vinny Gullotto, general manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:50 am
Google bring image ads to mobile devices TechWhack (press release) - 5 hours ago Search engine giant Google has now launched image ads service for mobile devices. The company is already providing text based ads on this platform.
CRIME series CSI has inspired researchers in their battle against hospital infections. They are using the chemical luminol - used by the TV show's forensic experts - to check how clean wards are at Deventer hospital in Holland. Luminol glows bright blue when it touches blood. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:00 am
A RARE opportunity to purchase an organic family farm is offered with the marketing of Aller Farm, Dolton in North Devon. It was converted to organics 20 years ago by David and Susie Ursell and their family. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:00 am
Nearly 300 farmers have already registered to open their farms for this year's Open Farm Sunday on June 1. Now in its third year, it is Britain's biggest farm open day. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:00 am
T rewithen Dairy at Greymare Farm, Lostwithiel, has begun supplying local Asda stores with local fresh milk. The dairy has previously supplied Asda under its local branded range, but this is the first time a supplier has moved to supplying Asda under the retailer's own-label product range. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:00 am
YORKSHIRE Water has been fined Pounds 10,000 for polluting the River Humber with sewage. The company has a licence to discharge treated sewage into the estuary from its waste water treatment plant at Saltend. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:00 am
By Chris Bristol By CHRIS BRISTOL YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC The Yakama Nation has "quite a few concerns" about the proposed Black Rock reservoir, including the effect the troubled irrigation project might have on the Columbia River, a spokesman for the tribe said Tuesday. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:00 am
By Jeff Mosier, The Dallas Morning News Apr. 23--ARLINGTON -- After decades of failed planning, the historic Bird's Fort area in north Arlington is finally on the verge of development. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:00 am
By Jim Macdonald And Shannon Montgomery, THE CANADIAN PRESS EDMONTON - Martha Kostuch, whose determination to block construction of an Alberta dam led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling that protects the environment, has died at 58. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:00 am
Delaware has the nation's best legal climate, while West Virginia has the worst, according to a study sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:00 am
COMPUTER games enthusiasts can turn their hobby into a career at Central College in Glasgow. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:00 am
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- IP Infusion, an ACCESS Company and provider of leading intelligent network software solutions powering communications equipment Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 5:00 am
Eagle-eyed investors are looking past Amazon.com Inc.'s double-digit growth in first-quarter earnings to spot signs that the Web retailer is not immune from broader economic uncertainty. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 4:29 am
Apple Inc.'s fiscal second quarter was another blowout, with results that easily surpassed Wall Street's expectations, but it wasn't enough for investors to warm up to the company's stock any further. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 4:29 am
Retroactive Patches For XP SP3 PC Magazine - 6 hours ago It's no less ironic for being logical: Microsoft today revised one of the most recent Patch Tuesday's bulletins to account for Windows XP SP3.
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "An ISP in Ireland has been sued by the Big Four record labels because its subscribers have engaged in P2P sharing of the record companies' song files. The record companies claim the ISP should be buying Audible Magic's CopySense, the software being peddled by the RIAA's expert witness, which supposedly would filter out copyright infringement. Of course, not everyone agrees."
Current TV is running this short intro to Maker Faire, which will be held on May 3 and 4. I'll be hanging out in the Make Pavilion and going around with the BBtv crew, so if you come, please introduce yourself. Link
NASA releases 59 new Hubble Space Telescope images of galaxies colliding to mark the 18th anniversary of the telescope's launch. We pick the 12 most beautiful images of some of the most dramatic events in space.
More than 3,000 years after Greek invaders tricked their way into Troy with a wooden horse, hackers still somehow manage to fool web users into clicks that result in stolen passwords and personal details. The more judgmental among us might say that since we've learned nothing in three millennia, we are getting exactly what we deserve.
The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency commissions three custom games to teach new recruits critical thinking skills, while the Army builds its own simulator to instruct intelligence officers in the art of interrogation. No virtual waterboarding allowed.
UPI reports that a high school in Illinois "has suspended 11 seniors involved in a prank that featured a student in a gorilla costume chasing banana-clad seniors in the hallways."
The students were suspended for 7 days. How sad to punish seniors about to graduate for doing something harmless and delightful. If I were the principal, I would have given them gold stars and a letter-grade boost in the class of their choice. Link
John sez, "A giant mechanism will park your bike for you in an underground facility in a train station in Tokyo. It packs more than 9,000 bikes tight as sardines, and when you swipe your card to pick it up, it will find your bike and spit it out in 23 seconds!"
Link
(Thanks, John!)
goombah99 writes "While on vacation, I occasionally need to check my e-mail on a public terminal. What are some good techniques for avoiding keyloggers? Most of my ideas seem to have major drawbacks. Linux LiveCD can probably avoid software keyloggers, but it requires an invasive takeover of the public terminal, and is generally not possible. Kyps.net offers a free reverse proxy that will decode your password from a one-time pad you carry around, then enter it remotely. But, of course, you are giving them your passwords when you do this. You can run Firefox off a USB stick with various plugins (e.g. RoboForm) that will automatically fill the page in some manner they claim to be invulnerable to keyloggers. If that's true, (and I can't evaluate its security) it's getting close to a solution. Unfortunately, keeping the password file up-to-date is a mild nuisance. Moreover, since it will need to be a Windows executable, it's not possible for people without a Windows machine available to fill in their passwords ahead of time. For my business, I have SecureID, which makes one-time passwords. It's a good solution for businesses, but not for personal accounts on things like Gmail, etc. So, what solutions do you use, or how do you mitigate the defects of the above processes? In particular, how do people with Mac or Linux home computers deal with this?"
Mark sez, "You guys have written before about these anti-teen noisemakers before when they were used in the UK. Well, they're being deployed in the US now and, inevitably, someone is not happy about it..."
"It's horrible, loud and irritating," said Eddie Holder, 15, who sprinted from his apartment for school one morning covering one ear with his hand to block out the noise. The device was installed outside the building to drive away loiterers. "I have to hurry out of the building because it's so annoying. It's this screeching sound that you have to get away from or it will drive you crazy.
"A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union said the organization does not have a position on the issue. But James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Boston's Northeastern University, said that putting crowd-monitoring devices in the hands of private businesses and citizens is "dangerous.""
Jake von Slatt sez, "The inexorable march of technology has rendered my 4:3 aspect ratio 19" LCD mod and my pump-less water cooled PC obsolete, so when I saw at 24" wide screen monitor on sale for $299.00 I grabbed it with the intent on making a Victorian All-in-One PC."
I connected the plastic top and bottom together with some lengths fo aluminum angle iron and then give them a coat of Krylon semi-flat black spray paint. When the paint was dry I masked off some of the trim using "FROG Tape" from Inspired Technologies - it works much better then regular painter's masking tape.
I hand painted the trim with a brush and small pot of gold paint which I then proceeded to spill into my lap. The Lady von Slatt has taken to calling me Goldmember.
Next I fabricated the back from perforated aluminum and pop-rivets.
Where is the butter? — cry Japanese consumers who have been hunting everywhere for the dairy product. The drastic reduction in raw milk production, complicated by hikes in the price of grain as well as changes in the global patterns of dairy product consumption, have caused a serious butter shortage in Japan. Empty shelves in the dairy section of grocery stores across the country have not seen a shipment of butter for days, and stores are posting signs apologizing for the shortage.
An empty shelf at a grocery store with a sign explaining that the management does not know when the next shipment of butter will come.
Wired.com readers report taking drugs usually prescribed for narcolepsy and ADHD to boost cognitive performance at work and school. Readers share their regimens and results.
David says: "Art of Bleeding put together a rather creepy remix of an ABC News interview with the polygamist mothers. I can't get it out of my head." Link (original news segment here.)
SEOUL, South Korea It was a scene that stunned South Korea. Lee Kun-hee, the reclusive chairman of the Samsung Group, the conglomerate that dominates this countrys dynamic economy, abruptly resigned amid... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 12:35 am
Who says cellphones are good only for talking? Today they are bringing together two unlikely brand names: Nokia and Spike Lee. Mr. Lee, the director, is teaming up with Nokia, the cellphone maker, to... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 12:35 am
IVE been watching the bumblebees flying around the kitchen porch of our old farmhouse in Maryland, and wondering if they have a nest nearby, maybe under the eaves. They like shady spots, protected from... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 24 Apr 2008 | 12:35 am
From heart yen: "Today I spotted this elephantine urinal cleaning robot that was demonstrated at the Kobe International Airport. Don’t you think the little yellow hat on top of this “labor-saving” 100kg (220lb) robot is precious?" Link
Stony Stevenson alerts us to comments from OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte indicating his approval of Windows' performance on the XO laptop. Negroponte said in an email, "Sugar needs a wider basis, to run on more Linux platforms and to run under Windows." The full email is available at OLPC News. He was also quoted by the Associated Press as saying that Sugar "didn't have a software architect who did it in a crisp way," and cited the lack of Flash as an example. Negroponte continued, "There are several examples like that, that we have to address without worrying about the fundamentalism in some of the open-source community. One can be an open-source advocate without being an open-source fundamentalist."
Wired.com's Noah Shachtman explains New York's security plans for lower Manhattan: A plan so sophisticated, it trumps the armor of any major urban area in the world.
Last year, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured high-resolution images of the Red Planet which showed many mesas, valleys, and rock debris which appeared to be (geologically speaking) recent formations. A team of scientists from Brown University analyzed the photographs and found evidence that the terrain was carved by large glaciers much more recently than they thought possible. Climate activity on Mars was thought to have quieted over 3 billion years ago, but these glaciers would have been around within the last 10-100 million years. "The finding could have implications for the life-on-Mars argument by strengthening the case for liquid water. Ice can melt two ways: by temperature or by pressure. As currently understood, the Martian climate is dominated by sublimation, the process by which solid substances are transformed directly to vapor. But ice packs can exert such strong pressure at the base to produce liquid water, which makes the thickness of past glaciers on its surface so intriguing."
bob charlton from 66 tips us to a ComputerWorld story about FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who has testified that Comcast's P2P traffic management occurred even when network congestion wasn't an issue, contrary to the ISP's claims. After defending its actions and being investigated by the FCC over the past few months, Comcast has tried to repair its image by making nice with BitTorrent and working towards a P2P Bill of Rights. Quoting: "'It does not appear that this technique was used only to occasionally delay traffic at particular nodes suffering from network congestion at that time,' Martin told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. 'Based on testimony we've received thus far, this equipment was typically deployed over a wider geographic area or system, and is not even capable of knowing when an individual ... segment of the network is congested.'
The Sinai Hotels show features photos of half-built, abandoned luxury hotels in Egypt's Sinai peninsula:
With images by Sabine Haubitz and Stefanie Zoche of Haubitz+Zoche, the show looks at "the concrete skeletons of five-star hotel complexes" abandoned on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
They are resorts that never quite happened, then, with names like Sultan's Palace and the Magic Life Imperial. This makes them "monuments to failed investment."
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf brings news that Sun Microsystems will be removing the last restrictions on Java to make it completely open source. Sun wants Java to be easily available for use in Linux distributions. We've discussed the steps Sun has taken to open-source Java over the past couple years. From Yahoo! News: "'We've been engaging with the open-source community for Java to finish off the OpenJDK project, and the specific thing that we've been working on with them is clearing the last bits that we didn't have the rights,' to distribute, Sands said. 'Over the past year, we have pretty much removed most of those encumbrances.' Work still needs to be done to offer the Java sound engine and SNMP code via open source; that effort is expected to be completed this year. Developers, though, may be able to proceed without a component like the sound engine, Sands said.
mytrip brings us a news.com story about the FBI's efforts to make records of users' activities available to law enforcement for a much longer time. Several members of Congress also lent their support to the idea that such data retention should be mandatory for a period of up to 2 years. Quoting: "Based on the statements at Wednesday's hearing and previous calls for new laws in this area, the scope of a mandatory data retention law remains fuzzy. It could mean forcing companies to store data for two years about what Internet addresses are assigned to which customers (Comcast said in 2006 that it would be retaining those records for six months). Or it could be far more intrusive. It could mean keeping track of e-mail and instant messaging correspondents and what Web pages users visit. Some Democratic politicians have called for data retention laws to extend to domain name registries and Web hosting companies and even social networking sites."
An anonymous reader points out a Los Angeles Times report that Sony is planning on making movies and TV shows available for download through the PS3 "as early as this summer." Sony hopes to make use of the roughly 4 million PS3s already sold in the US to compete with similar services such as XBox Live, which began offering video downloads over a year ago. "One of the service's greatest obstacles may be Sony's own culture. Sony Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Stringer has been battling a corporate silo mentality in which divisions within his company work in isolation, undermining new initiatives. The PlayStation group in Foster City, Calif., has been notoriously aloof. Once, a former executive said, it scuttled plans for a movie subscription service for the PlayStation Portable even though Sony Pictures had supported the initiative. What is more, the company, looking to safeguard its film, television and music holdings, has been an aggressive champion of copyright protection, often, critics suggest, at the cost of technological innovation."
Microsoft bring games to children's hospitals Neoseeker - 16 hours ago For all Microsoft's capitalistic behaviour, there's also a lot of philanthropy in the corporation too. It's quite a contradiction, one perhaps as bewildering as it is admirable.
The voice-changing Dalek helmet looks like it would be a lot of fun -- hey, hon, let's play stern Dalek and recalcitrant Time Lord!
Link
(via Gizmodo)
