TechNews

Pre-Order Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex CDs Now!

2008-10-22T12:25:00.001-07:00

buntu 8.10, the most popular Linux distro, is just around the corner and all the Ubuntu fans are excited about it. It will include many new features like a brand new theme, new Linux kernel and Firefox 3 just to name a few.

It is officially going to release on October 30, 2008, but you can start ordering your free CDs now with Ubuntu's ShipIt service.

This is an advantage for users who don't have a fast Internet connection and would like to get their hands on the latest Ubuntu just when everyone else does. Ubuntu is accepting pre-orders so that you won't have to wait for weeks to receive your free CDs after the release date.

You can pre-order it in two editions: Ubuntu Desktop Edition and Ubuntu Server Edition.

Pre-Order Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex CDs Now!

Boost Memory with MZ RAM Booster

2008-10-20T00:22:00.001-07:00

We all know that RAM is the most important component after the CPU. The higher it will be, the faster your PC will work. And regularly optimizations is also needed for it to give you the best performance.

Mz Ram Booster is a freeware that can boost your RAM for better performance, without having you to spend on hardware tweaks and expensive applications.

It fine tunes your system by recovering memory from processes that are not in use, and unload DLLs that are not used. It quietly sits in your system tray and uses minimal resources and no CPU time. It also displays some handy information about your computer like RAM usage, virtual memory usage, CPU usage etc.

Key Features of Mz RAM Booster:

System Information
System Tweaks
Cpu Control
Tray Icon Options
Mz Ram Booster Options

This is the best RAM optimization tool I've seen so far. It comes for Windows XP, Vista, 2000 and 2003. You need to have .Net Framework 2.0 (or a higher version) to run Mz Ram Booster.

Download Mz RAM Booster

Protect your Laptop with Laptop Alarm

2008-10-18T23:08:00.001-07:00

We all know leaving our laptops alone in public areas is not a wise thing to do. But you can't always carry it everywhere. For instance, if you need to go the the bathroom while in a shopping mall, you can't take your laptop with you.

Laptop Alarm is a very interesting freeware that sounds an alarm whenever someone tries to steal your laptop.

It emits a loud alarm when:

The power cable is unplugged
The mouse is removed
The laptop is shut down
The mouse is moved

The latest version also allows you to have volume control for the alarm. It is compatible with all Windows versions and is just 200 KB in size!

Laptop Alarm is the recommended solution for anyone with a laptop on the road or in public places.

Download Laptop Alarm

Firefox 3.1 Beta Now Available

2008-10-18T04:40:00.001-07:00

by Haris

Mozilla has finally released the long-awaited, first development release of Firefox 3.1 Beta 1. Firefox 3 was released 4 months ago, back in June and now eher we have the first beta of Firefox 3.1.

They haven't added many new feaures in this release, but we sure hope they will add them by the final version comes out. Some noticiable feaures are the Ctrl + Tab (tab swicthing) feaure and TraceMonkey.

TraceMonkey is the latest Javascript performance boost, which has to be activated manually by going to about:config and changing the value of javascript.options.jit.content to true. Other features and changes in this beta milestone includes:

Web standards improvements in the Gecko layout engine
Added support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties
A new tab-switching shortcut that shows previews of the tab you're switching to
Improved control over the Smart Location Bar using special characters to restrict your search
Support for new web technologies such as the <video> and <audio> elements, the W3C Geolocation API, JavaScript query selectors, web worker threads, SVG transforms and offline applications.

We are also expecting future Firefox 3.1 betas to have private browsing. For now, download Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 from the link below in 36 languages!

Note: Your addons might not work after upgrading due to compatibility reasons.

Grab Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 [FTP link]

Post from: Sizzled Core

Firefox 3.1 Beta Now Available

Tycoon Follows Father Into Space

2008-10-12T09:49:00.001-07:00

A British-born computer game designer has gone into space on board a Russian rocket, paying around £20m for his 10-day trip.

Garriott prepares for blast off

Richard Garriott, 47, from Texas, becomes the sixth space tourist and the first offspring of a Nasa astronaut to go into orbit.

His father, retired physicist Owen Garriott, spent 60 days there in 1973 and another 10 days in 1983.

The younger Garriott dreamed of space as a child and was shattered to learn that he could never become a Nasa astronaut because of his poor eyesight.

Before blasting off from Kazakhstan, the multi-millionaire said he hoped the trip would provide a strong model for financing private space travel in the coming years.

"What I am trying to do is demonstrate that you can mount a very successful campaign to go into space and beyond because it's good business," Mr Garriott said.

Soyuz rocket takes off

Friends and family cheered as his Soyez rocket hurtled into a clear blue sky.

His father Owen Garriott, 77, said: "I'm elated, elated. He made it, he made it into orbit. It is marvellous".

His son's girlfriend, Kelly Miller, added: "This is so cool. I am very happy for him. It is one of the things he really wanted to do. I can see he is really enjoying it like a little kid in the candy shop."

His crewmates on the landmark 100th manned Soyuz flight are veteran US astronaut Mike Fincke, who spent six months on the international space station in 2004, and Russian Yuri Lonchakov.

The rocket is due to dock with the international space station on Tuesday, where Mr Garriott will spend over a week conducting experiments.

He will also photograph Earth to measure changes since his father took pictures from the US station Skylab in 1973.

Richard Garriott's father celebrates

Mr Garriott said he managed to recoup a significant slice of his trip's price through some of his experiments, involving sponsorship.

One of his most eye-catching ones has been to take the digitised DNA sequences of some of the world greatest minds and musicians - as well as athletes, video game players and others - to the space station.

The list ranges from famed physicist Stephen Hawking to comedian Stephen Colbert and Matt Morgan, best known as the "Beast" from the US television show "American Gladiators."

A shaving-free, Palin-free day

2008-10-10T23:01:00.001-07:00

A shaving-free, Palin-free day

By Tyler Brûlé

Published: October 11 2008 01:20 | Last updated: October 11 2008 02:22

On Wednesday the good people in charge of handing out Nobel Prizes awarded Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien of the US and Japan's Osamu Shimomura the chemistry prize for research that has allowed them to exploit luminosity in sea creatures. As I read this news I wondered if it might be time to add a couple of new Nobel categories. As the TV blasted rolling news about the Japanese stock market index Nikkei being down nearly 10 per cent, I thought a Nobel award for responsible banking would be somewhat timely. As I shuffled back and forth across my hotel room from bedside to a TV tucked around the corner out of view I thought that a Nobel design prize wouldn't be such a bad idea either. Then, while drying off post-shower, I mused about a prize that would combine a variety of disciplines to be given to the team of researchers who could crack the elements required to create a perfect day.

While my academic credentials are rather thin, I would venture the following 20 elements to at least provide a framework for the Nobel Prize for a Perfect Day. My day kicking off at Copenhagen's Hotel Nimb made for a good start – oddly placed TV apart.

1. A morning without Sarah Palin.
The day's already off to a stunning start if you can watch or listen to a morning news bulletin and not have to endure the folksy banter and shrill tones of Governor Palin.

2. Good hair.
A bad hair session can spoil not just your day but even the rest of your week. I've found that no matter how many days I'm behind on a haircut Shiseido's Uno hair wax can sort out the most complex hair issues.

3. No shaving.
Hitting the right day in the beard cycle (when whiskers require zero attention) buys an extra five minutes time.

4. A sure-fire look.
My failsafe ensemble, from the floor up, involves Pierre Hardy desert boots, Tabio socks, briefs from ACNE, well-worn chinos from Incotex, shirts from MCR, a cashmere cardigan from Zanone and a light loden blazer with silver buttons from Tomorrowland.

5. A coffee that works.
The people in the kitchen at the Nimb know the science of making an excellent cappuccino – not too fluffy, not too thick.

6. A big, blue, perfect sky.
What's better than a sunny autumn day when the sky is huge, the sun warm and the humidity low?

7. 16° Celsius.
This temperature allows you to bundle up but also strip down if you're more active. It also ensures people are not too frosty or crabby.

8. Elegant ladies on bikes.
In Copenhagen it's wonderful to stand back and watch well-dressed women glide by on classic bikes with big baskets and high handlebars.

9. Handsome gentlemen on bikes.
See above but replace the lady with a sharply dressed Danish man on a lean, exquisitely engineered city bike.

10. Arriving at your first meeting five minutes early.
This tends to ensure the rest of the day will run to time.

11. Arriving at your meeting and having your projector and laptop function flawlessly.
This tends to ensure you'll actually gain years by not having to endure the stress of getting the Epson, Mac and connections to all behave.

12. A perfect pitch.
I'm convinced people achieve an extra 25 per cent of bounce in their step when a pitch meeting goes to plan.

13. A second morning coffee to rival the first.
This needs no further explanation for those who have an energy lapse around 11.30.

14. Receiving a hot tip.
I'm not sure if it's only journalists who thrive on a juicy tip but the little whisper I received after a conference on Wednesday afternoon will soon be showing up on some well-designed newspaper or magazine's pages.

15. Having an attack of office envy.
Copenhagen is the ideal venue for rethinking the way you work. Why haven't more companies discovered the delights of Montana shelving systems and affiliated work stations?

16. Good lighting around the clock.
It's at this time of year that the candles come out in the afternoon and Denmark starts to get cosy as the daylight hours fade.

17. A quiet lunch of perfect proportions.
Every capital city deserves a branch of Copenhagen's Royal Café and its signature dish of smushis – think sushi meets traditional Danish smørrebrod. Washed down in silence with your favourite paper is just the way to prep for more meetings.

18. Being fully charged.
A quiet moment of relief when you gaze down at your assorted electronic devices and none are flashing red.

19. An invitation to dinner at home.
"Would you like to join us for dinner at home? We could always go to a restaurant but we thought you'd enjoy something home-cooked and easy." The most beautiful words ever spoken to a weary traveller by my friends Rud and Lo.

20. Dinner at home with business opportunities for dessert.
Just the thoughts a boy needs for an inspiring, restful sleep.

Use Multiple Google Talk Accounts Simultaneously

2008-10-09T11:24:00.001-07:00

Do you have more than one Google Talk accounts and want to use them all simultaneously without logging off from another account? However, by default Google Talk does not let you use multiple accounts at a time and you have to sign out one account in case you want to use another one.

But you can make your GTalk go multi without installing any patch or hack, by just adding a simple command in the GTalk shortcut.

Adding (/nomutex) command in the existing GTalk shortcut, or creating a new shortcut with (/nomutex) command parameter will let you use multiple GTalk applications at the same time with out conflicting with each other.

Here is the step by step guide to make your GTalk go multi.

To edit existing shortcut:

Right click on the existing Google Talk shortcut and then click Properties
Goto Shortcut Tab in Properties window
In the Target field add "/nomutex" (without quotes) at the end or replace with the following one
"C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex
Then click OK to save.

To create a new shortcut:

Right click on the Desktop or anywhere you want GTalk shortcut
Select New and then choose Shortcut
In the Location field paste the following command line
"C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex
Click Next
Give desired label to shortcut i.e. "Multi GTalk"
Then click Finish.

Now click on the GTalk shortcut and it will open a new application window, login to you account and start using it. Open as many GTalk windows you want simply by clicking on shortcut.

Facebook, MySpace reign supreme in mobile market

2008-10-06T12:33:00.001-07:00

Facebook, MySpace reign supreme in mobile market

Posted by Don Reisinger

Facebook and MySpace are the most popular social networking destinations for mobile phone users, according to a survey conducted by ABI Research.

Researchers found that 46 percent of those who use social networks have visited their favorite services on a mobile phone. Out of that group, nearly 70 percent visited MySpace on their mobile phone and 67 percent visited Facebook. No other social network was able to muster 15 percent mobile adoption.

The study also found that about 50 percent of respondents are checking comments and messages from their friends when they access social networks from their phones, while 45 percent said they usually post status updates instead.

Facebook and MySpace dominance in the mobile space shouldn't come as a surprise, considering their control over the U.S. social networking market. According to the latest figures from Hitwise, Facebook's traffic is up 50 percent since last August and commands almost 21 percent of the market, while MySpace still owns 67.5 percent of the social-networking market in the U.S.

Pak plans communications satellite by 2011

2008-10-05T01:07:00.001-07:00

Pak plans communications satellite by 2011

Islamabad, Oct 4 (PTI) Pakistan plans to have a communications satellite by 2011 as part of its National Satellite Development Programme, a top official said today.
The country currently has the leased satellite Paksat-1, and this will hopefully be replaced with the state-of-the-art Paksat-1R communications satellite in three years, said Air Commodore Arshad Hussain Siraj, Secretary of the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO).

SUPARCO is working on the National Satellite Development Programme, which includes a communications satellite, a remote sensing satellite, satellite launching vehicle and human resource development, he said.

Pakistan is also a founding member of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation, launched in collaboration with China and aimed at making regional countries self-sufficient in space technology, Siraj said. The APSCO is patterned after the European Space Agency.

The organisation is likely to become fully functional by the end of this year next year. China is contributing "major support" for the organisation, he added.

Siraj said space programmes are costly and no individual country has the capacity to complete a satellite project on its own. The APSCO will provide an opportunity for regional countries to help each other, he said. PTI

See a Pattern on Wall Street?

2008-10-05T01:06:00.001-07:00

See a Pattern on Wall Street?

By JOHN TIERNEY

Take a look at the two blurry images below. Can you see an object hidden in each one?

.
Before I give the answers, here's another question: Do you feel a certain lack of control over events right now?

These questions are not unrelated, according to a report in the new issue of Science by Jennifer Whitson and Adam Galinsky. The researchers found that when people were primed to feel out of control, they were more likely to see patterns where none exist. They would spot an object in each of the images above, even though only the image on the right contains one (the outline of Saturn and its rings). If you thought you saw something in the image on the left, don't be too hard on yourself — your feeling may be perfectly understandable given the chaos on Wall Street.

The researchers say that their experiments, which also tested people's tendency to detect conspiracies and see superstitious lessons in stories, help explain why conspiracy theories and superstitions flourish when people are feeling out of control. Previous researchers have reported, for instance, that first-year business-school students are more prone to imagine conspiracies than are second-year students, and that deep-sea fishermen have more elaborate rituals and superstitions than ones who fish in more predictable conditions near shore.

I asked the Dr. Whitson, a professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, if Wall Street traders might be behaving these days like those deep-sea fishermen.

"They may be more likely pull their lucky shirt from their closet to wear into work or avoid stepping on any cracks while walking to work," Dr. Whitson replied. "And individual investors may be looking more to astrology to determine when to buy and sell or even seeing more nefarious patterns in the actions of their family or coworkers." She noted that previous research has shown an increase in superstitious belief during times of economic uncertainty.

In the experiments by Dr. Whitson and Dr. Galinsky, people were were more likely to see nonexistent patterns after they'd been assigned frustrating tasks with nonsensical rewards and punishments, or after they'd been asked to recall situations in which they'd felt out of control. Dr. Galinsky, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, noted some historical examples of this tendency, like the reactions of Londoners during the bombing of their city in World War II.

"Even though later statistical analysis clearly demonstrated that the bombs fell randomly across the city, people were certain that parts of the city had been targeted and other parts spared," he told me. "People in those areas of the city seemingly spared came under suspicion as Nazi sympathizers, and their livelihoods and physical safety were threatened. And in those areas seemingly targeted by the bombs, people moved out, attempting to escape systematic bombing that was in fact not systematic."

The researchers noted that the delusion of order might be useful in some circumstances, if only because it eases depression and gives people confidence. Dr. Whitson told me:

Feeling in control might be one of the central animating forces for psychological and physical well-being. Not only are people who feel in control less likely to see things that aren't there and end up chasing ghosts, as our research shows, but there are also a wide variety of health and societal benefits. When people are given information about a medical procedure – and thus feel less uncertain – they recover more quickly.

Dr. Whitson pointed to an earlier study in which some people at a nursing home were given plants to care for themselves, and a control group received plants that were cared for by the staff. After six months, the people who took care of their own plants were judged by themselves and by the staff to be better off emotionally and physically than the control group. And in the course of 18 months even their mortality rate was lower.

So should we all be tending plants until the financial crisis eases? Or have you found some other techniques for feeling in control? And, however you did on the test with the images, can you recall any instances when you saw any kind of pattern that wasn't really there?

(Credit for images: R. B. Ekstrom, J.W. French, H.H. Harman, D. Dermen.)

Nokia Dives Into Touchscreen Melee With XpressMusic Handset

2008-10-03T01:02:00.000-07:00

Nokia Dives Into Touchscreen Melee With XpressMusic Handset

By Chris Maxcer
TechNewsWorld
10/02/08 3:27 PM PT

Nokia has unveiled its latest phone, the 5800 XpressMusic. Like lots of other high-dollar handsets hitting the market recently, Nokia's device features a touchscreen. New touchscreen phones can't escape being compared with Apple's iPhone, and in terms of musical ability, the XpressMusic has a significant asset: Nokia's unlimited Comes With Music feature.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) introduced its first big touchscreen phone in London Thursday: the 5800 XpressMusic, formerly known as the "Tube." While Nokia isn't positioning the phone outright as an iPhone killer, it certainly shares some similarities of the popular Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) device -- and one that really jabs at Apple's strength: music.

While Apple has iTunes and its easy integration with iPhone and iPods, Nokia's 5800 will rock with the company's Comes With Music service, which will offer one year of unlimited access all the music in Nokia's Music Store catalog. The size of that catalog: about 5 million tracks, which come with the backing of the major music labels, including EMI, Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.

"Trying out a music recommendation is spontaneous, as customers can download without worrying about the cost of an album or a track -- the freedom and simplicity of the service is unparalleled. And Comes With Music gives you unlimited access to the millions of tracks in the Nokia Music Store and the music is all yours to keep -- because it's not a revolution unless you get to keep your music," noted Tero Ojanperä, executive vice president and head of the Nokia entertainment and communities business.

Beyond the Tunes

"It really is a more of a feature phone device, but because it's Nokia's first touchscreen device it's hard not to position it as competition to the iPhone," Chris Hazelton, research director of mobile and wireless for The 451 Group, told TechNewsWorld.

He noted that while the 5800 is not a top-of-the-line N series Nokia device, it does offer a strong set of features. "It offers the ability to multitask, it has 3G , it has a touchscreen, it has a software QWERTY keyboard like the iPhone," he explained.

First, the screen: While it doesn't support multi-touch like the iPhone, it does provide haptic feedback -- a vibration response that users can feel. Hazelton, who demoed a unit this week, noted that the performance of the touchscreen was just average for the market.

"My feeling is there is another phone that will build on Nokia's experience with building a touchscreen that will compete more with the iPhone," he said.

The 3.2-inch 640 by 360 pixel screen is bit narrower than the iPhone's, and its display has a 16x9 aspect ratio. It also features a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens as well as a flash. It's capable of recording high-quality video at 30 frames per second. It comes with 8 GB of memory card.

Text input is similar to the iPhone -- software-based keyboards on the screen -- but 5800 users can also opt to tap out messages with a stylus or or the included plectrum, a.k.a. a guitar pick, which fits with the music theme of the device.

It also can handle multimedia messaging services, e-mail , chat, video calling, and its built-in browser includes Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) Flash support. That means more Web pages will render correctly than those brought up on the iPhone, which doesn't support Flash.

"The browser is very, very good," Hazelton said.

Contacts for Your Life

"The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic turns a 'user interface' into a 'human interface' by truly putting people first. For example, we've introduced the Nokia Contacts Bar, which is like a digital RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed on your life," said Jo Harlow, vice president of Nokia,

The Contacts Bar lets consumers highlight four favorite contacts on their home screen and, through a single touch, track a digital history of recent text messages, e-mails, phone logs, photos and blog updates.

The 5800 XpressMusic will support 60 languages worldwide and ship this year, while a version featuring Comes With Music will first be available in early 2009.

Solar tax credit renewals get green light from Senate

2008-10-02T01:40:00.001-07:00

Solar tax credit renewals get green light from Senate

Posted by Charles Cooper

Hopes for renewable energy may not be a pipe dream after all.

After nearly a year of squabbling, the U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to extend solar tax credits for the next eight years and also remove the $2,000 cap on residential projects.

(Credit: CNET News)

What with all the political bickering, I was betting this wouldn't ever get done before the November elections. But the hired help in Washington provided a pleasant surprise for a change. The bill, which includes an allowance for utilities to make use of the commercial credit, now goes to the House of Representatives for approval before everyone clears out of town next week. The current tax credit was set to expire at year's end.

Doubtless there will be some ready to dun the agreement as yet another handout to an interest group. On the surface, that's true. But after the government's recent series of bailouts including--drum roll, please--Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, AIG, and the $700 billion or so the Treasury Department wants to buy illiquid mortgage-linked securities--this one should mollify the critics, according to Barry Cinnamon, CEO of Akeena Solar.

"I don't think anybody is going to look at $17 billion over 10 years going to renewable energy as a handout when you put it in the perspective of $1 trillion going to failed banks in a one-year period," said Cinnamon. He added that while he did hear the handout argument a couple of years ago, he's not encountering that line of argument, what with crude oil prices hovering north of $100 a barrel.

Cinnamon and other solar industry executives have argued that the industry is still too young and too fragile to be weaned off the investment tax credit (ITC) just yet. Solar energy lobbyists released a study by Navigant Consulting claiming that 440,000 permanent jobs and $232 billion in investment would be supported by 2016 with an eight-year extension of the ITC.

However, that argument wasn't persuading enough Senators to pledge their support to the investment tax extension. In fact, when Congress passed the 2007 energy bill, the solar industry got shut out. The ongoing debate had a lot to do with accounting. While Democrats wanted to pay for them by taking away tax credits from the oil industry, the Republicans held firm.

A couple of recent developments helped break the logjam. One was the willingness of congressional Democrats to go along with an offshore-drilling proposal. The other was a statement from the White House that it would not oppose extending the tax credits.

"The great thing about this bill is that it's going to allow people throughout the country to benefit," said Cinnamon. "It will be as much for people in Peoria as it will be for people living in Pleasanton."

Xohm Rollout Troubled by Comcast's Shadow

2008-10-02T01:36:00.001-07:00

Xohm Rollout Troubled by Comcast's Shadow

By Erika Morphy
E-Commerce Times
Part of the ECT News Network
10/01/08 1:13 PM PT

WiMax has arrived with the debut of Sprint Nextel's Xohm service in Baltimore. However, the company is finding itself immediately thrust into the midst of the Net neutrality controversy due to language in its service agreement that leaves open the question of how it intends to regulate traffic over the network.

Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) has successfully rolled out Xohm in Baltimore. The new 4G wireless WiMax network runs on 2.5 GHz and delivers downloads at 2 to 4 Mbps -- but it is clear the telecom service provider is still carefully negotiating the industry land mine that has become network management.

On the same day the company introduced its service, it was also confronted with pointed questions about how it will manage its network -- an industry-specific, arcane tech subject that was once of little concern to most consumers. That was before Comcast's (Nasdaq: CMCSK) run-in with Internet consumer advocates and the Federal Communications Commission earlier this year.

In its service agreement, Sprint Nextel includes boilerplate language reserving the right to "use various tools and techniques designed to limit the bandwidth available for certain bandwidth intensive applications or protocols, such as file sharing."

Sprint Nextel was a bit surprised to be hit with such questions on the same day that it rolled out its product, company spokesperson John Polivka told the E-Commerce Times. "We post our policies for customers to read and understand."

Sprint Nextel will not target any specific application or service in its network management activities -- even an application or service that may be in competition with something that Sprint Nextel offers, he said. "If it is on the Internet, it will be accessible by Xohm."

Furthermore, the company is offering one-day and one-month passes for users. Anyone who finds the access provided unsatisfactory can cancel without penalty, he continued.

"We want our customers to have a great experience. To that end, we don't want any one user to disproportionately use the network," said Polivka -- but he declined to provide specifics about how Sprint Nextel would handle such a scenario, other than to say the company is not planning on setting bandwidth usage caps.

Post-Comcast World

Prior to the FCC's investigation of Comcast, Sprint Nextel's assurances might well have been enough to assuage concerns of Net neutrality advocates. However, through its actions, Comcast unwittingly provided them with the perfect ammunition to argue for regulation of the Internet.

The FCC found, upon investigation of complaints from these groups, that Comcast had been engaging in management practices that were invasive and likely motivated by anticompetitive goals. The regulators also took the telco provider to task for being deceptive about its practices. Comcast has taken a dual-track in making its response: It is making its network management practices more transparent, but at the same time, it is challenging the FCC's action in court.

Much will depend on how the court ultimately rules. If it decides the agency doesn't have the authority to meddle in telco providers' network management operations, then it will be a game-changer for Net neutrality advocates.

Until then, however, service providers can expect to find their policies under a microscope -- as Sprint Nextel has.

"We are all looking at how service providers disclose network management practices," Jennifer Howard, spokesperson for Free Press told the E-Commerce Times. Free Press was one of the organizations to lodge the original complaints against Comcast. "The industry standard now is full disclosure of the product -- along with its limitations," she said.

Sprint Nextel "needs to give more disclosure about how Xohm will be limited and why those limitations are necessary," said Howard. "They are promising unfettered product, but in the terms of service agreement, it seems they are reserving the right to limit the product as they see fit."

Not a Policeman

At the very least, Sprint has absorbed the FCC's clear displeasure with providers that deceive their users, Jonathan L. Kramer, founding attorney of Kramer Telecom Law Firm, told the E-Commerce Times.

True, the Sprint statement does not reveal much detail about how it will go about ensuring that one consumer does not use an inappropriate amount of bandwidth, he acknowledged. Still, it is not necessarily clear that that is what the FCC is looking for, as it has said it will evaluate such complaints on a case-by-case basis.

Until the court rules on the FCC's power, service providers would be wise to -- at the very minimum -- tell customers there may be limits imposed on their use of the system, Kramer said.

After Shenzhou Success, China Looks to the Future

2008-09-30T20:52:00.001-07:00


	After Shenzhou Success, China Looks to the Future By Clara Moskowitz Staff Writer posted: 30 September 2008 03:48 pm ET

In the wake of the sterling success of its third manned space mission, China is sitting proud and looking ahead to its future in space.

Most experts agree the event, which included the nation's first spacewalk, went off without a hitch. Before the Shenzhou 7 mission launched Sept. 25, Chinese space officials said there were four main objectives to the mission: to conduct a spacewalk, to do tests of a solid lubricant material during the spacewalk, to deploy a new satellite to take images, and to use a new data relay satellite for communication, said Dean Cheng, China analyst with Alexandria, Va.-based think tank CNA Corp.

"From all accounts, that happened," Cheng told SPACE.com. "If I were the Chinese, I would be very, very happy that all four tasks came off without a hitch. And obviously they used the spacesuit, so that came up good across the board."

"Victory" for China

While conducting the spacewalk, astronaut Zhai Zhigang wore a new, Chinese-built spacesuit (called "Feitian," meaning "fly the sky" in Chinese). That it worked safely marks another significant technological achievement. Zhai, along with crewmates Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, returned to Earth on Sunday.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao pronounced Shenzhou 7 "a victory of the Chinese space and technological field and a monumental achievement in the socialist causes," reported official state news agency Xinhua.

In another first for the Chinese space program, the major events, including launch, landing and the spacewalk, were broadcast live. The move signals both China's growing confidence in its abilities, as well as a new willingness to be open with the press and public.

"The success of Shenzhou 7 certainly shows China's commitment to an ambitious manned space program," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on the Chinese space program at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island. "I applaud not only their technical achievements but the confidence in their program exhibited by their increasing transparency about the mission. I hope that continues and expands into all areas of their space activities."

Shenzhou 7 followed the 2005 Shenzhou 6 mission, which took two astronauts to space for five days, and the 2003 Shenzhou 5 mission, which launched China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei.

Eyes on the moon

With each new mission, China is taking steps toward its ultimate goals of establishing a more permanent presence in space through building a space laboratory, and perhaps even landing on the moon. The latter goal has been stated more explicitly after the recent success of Shenzhou 7.

"We still do not have an exact timetable for a manned mission to the moon, but I believe a Chinese (astronaut) will set foot on the moon in the not too distant future," an unnamed official told the Communist Party newspaper the People's Daily after the mission landed.

Wang Zhaoyao, spokesman for the manned space program, told reporters Sunday that it is "necessary" for China to put a man on the moon, the Agence France-Presse news service reported.

"We believe that as long as we can make further progress in science and technology, we can achieve the dream of a manned space flight to the moon in the near future," he said.

These firmer declarations of intent are significant, because China is unlikely to set a goal it doesn't believe it can accomplish.

"When you just have speculation, they're under no obligation to try it," Cheng said in a phone interview. "But when the Chinese make an official statement that they want to do something, they do it."

Near term

While moon plans may be a bit off, China's next mission is likely to put the nation on the path to a space lab. A date has not yet been set for Shenzhou 8 or 9, but there is a good chance the two missions will be launched in close succession so they can try rendezvous and docking, experts say.

"China's next step will be clearer once a next launch date is announced toward a docking," Johnson-Freese said. "Hopefully it won't be another two years."

There are also some speculations that Shenzhou 8 will carry China's first female astronaut to space. There are currently no women in China's corps of 14 spaceflyers.

However, some press reports hint that Shenzhou 8 and 9 may be unmanned missions intended to launch the capsules needed for a small space lab, and could go up in 2010. According to those reports, the next manned mission would be Shenzhou 10.China also recently announced it was capable of training foreign astronauts, meaning that it could conceivably broker a deal with another country to carry a person into space. The United States and Russia have both engaged in similar arrangements — Russia flew the first South Korean astronaut into space in April 2008, and the first Italian astronaut rode aboard the U.S. space shuttle Discovery in 2007, for example.

"Given China's diplomatic use of space, there is a very good chance they would be taking somebody from a new country," Cheng said.

China has spearheaded the founding of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization, a group intended to promote space cooperation between Asian nations. Cheng pointed out that both Iran and Pakistan are members of the group, and could be potential clients for Chinese space transport.

"I would strongly suspect that at this point in time the U.S. is probably unlikely to be taking any Iranian citizens into space," Cheng said. "But China has had successful sales of satellites to Nigeria and Venezuela, both of which are oil-producing countries, which would make Iran a candidate as someone who might send an astronaut up."

Sprint Blankets Baltimore With New WiMax Net

2008-09-30T11:29:00.003-07:00

Sprint Blankets Baltimore With New WiMax Net

By Chris Maxcer
TechNewsWorld
09/29/08 2:28 PM PT

Sprint has kicked off its new WiMax system in the city of Baltimore. Dubbed "Xohm," the WiMax network boasts download speeds of about 2 to 4 megabits per second. Pricing appears competitive with other mobile and home Internet providers. However, with a range limited to just one city -- for now -- Xohm may be in for an uphill battle.

Sprint's (NYSE: S) new 4G wireless WiMax network has finally moved from the drawing board to the city of Baltimore, where the company has just launched its so-called Xohm service.

Xohm is basically a wireless broadband service running on 2.5 GHz (gigahertz). It is designed deliver 2 to 4 Mbps (megabit per second) downloads and work with laptops, PCs, and mobile phones that already have WiMax antennas built in -- or via a handful of available WiMax cards or modems.

"This is truly an historic day with the birth of a completely new Internet-based business model that alters the dynamics of the traditional telecom industry," noted Barry West, president of Sprint's Xohm business unit.

"Wireless consumers will experience WiMax device and Xohm service innovation on multiple levels as the computer, Internet, telecom and consumer electronics industries converge to redefine wireless mobility," he added.

One Big Hot Spot

While Sprint's Xohm network is currently limited to Baltimore, the company says Chicago and Washington, D.C., are up next, followed by Dallas, Fort Worth, Boston, Providence and Philadelphia, though Sprint hasn't publicized a definite delivery timeline.

WiMax services are typically deployed across an entire city, which can effectively turn the city into one big wireless hotspot. WiMax lets users take laptops with them out and about without having to connect to a WiFi hotspot for Internet access.

Of course, cellular service providers also offer Internet access via laptop cards or USB dongles. However, those services usually rely on networks that are slower than WiMax technology. In addition, the monthly plans for such services usually come with long-term contracts, monthly download limits, and prices that aren't competitive with cable or DSL (digital subscriber line) services, which tend to offer much faster download speeds to consumers' homes for lower prices.

New Business Model

While Xohm may be able to outpace 3G wireless technologies from other carriers in terms of download speed, Sprint doesn't seem to be positioning Xohm for a speed-based race.

Instead, the company is pushing a consumer-friendly business model that doesn't require long-term service contracts. Granted, consumers will have to shell out for the WiMax modems or laptops cards themselves, rather than get them subsidized for "free" by signing long-term contracts -- a typical practice among wireless carriers.

Plus, while most cellular-based service plans have monthly download limits of about 5 GB, Xohm doesn't have limits, making it an option for heavy media downloading customers.

At launch, the plans offer a US$10 day pass, $25 monthly home Internet service and a $30 monthly on-the-go service. To sweeten the deal, Sprint's offering a special $50 "Pick 2 for Life" monthly service option that covers two different WiMax devices.

Customers can buy the necessary hardware and activate the service online. The Xohm service also includes a customizable Web site, called "MyXohm," that focuses on local services and entertainment content and provides security services, hosted storage and interactive communications.

The Hardware

Sprint on Monday also began selling Xohm-branded Samsung Express air cards for $59.99 and ZyXEL modems for $79.99. Sprint says it will offer additional devices, like a ZTE USB WiMax modem, and that other computer-related manufacturers will offer WiMax-ready devices -- likeIntel (Nasdaq: INTC) Centrino 2 WiMax notebook PCs and the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N810 WiMAX Edition -- which Sprint says are expected to hit the market later this year.

Later this year, Sprint also plans to offer a dual-mode 3G-4G device that will work with Sprint's existing nationwide Now network, as well as the Xohm WiMax networks in Baltimore and other cities.

Not So Fast?

While Sprint is looking to make Xohm all the rage in Baltimore, it's also prepping to complete the merger of its Xohm WiMax assets with WiMax provider Clearwire. The result with be a new company that will retain the Clearwire name. Sprint says the new company will continue to deploy a nationwide mobile WiMax network, and following the transaction, Sprint will be the only national wireless carrier to sell 4G services through a mobile virtual network operator structure with the new Clearwire.

The Sprint Xohm-Clearwire merger is expected to be completed in by the end of 2008.

Just Another Internet Service Option?

"I'm pretty underwhelmed by WiMax so far ... it's taken so long for it to roll out that really, from what I've seen, the 3G networks have more than doubled their subscriber base from about 11 million to 27 million over the last year," Charles King, principal analyst for Pund-IT, told TechNewsWorld.

"The focus is a lot on the robust download and upload speeds with WiMax -- the WiMax technology is actually pretty cool -- but the potential for the market seems predicated on the idea that people will willingly pay for networks that will support robust media offerings like downloadable television or film to mobile devices, and I haven't seen a lot of evidence that suggest the demand is more than niche markets," he added.

However, King noted, "If Xoh is even marginally successful, it wouldn't surprise me if we start seeing some very aggressive price reductions byVerizon and the other 3G service providers as well."

Survey Says: Windows and Open Source Play Well Together

2008-09-30T11:29:00.001-07:00

Survey Says: Windows and Open Source Play Well Together

By Jack M. Germain
LinuxInsider
Part of the ECT News Network
09/30/08 9:07 AM PT

Through its Open Source Census initiative, OpenLogic hopes to gain a clearer picture of the OSS landscape. Now in its ninth month, the census has found a sizable presence of OSS among Windows users, European governments and the financial industry.

Open source adoption is growing rapidly, but adopters in U.S. are lagging behind European enthusiasm, according to software provider OpenLogic.

OpenLogic announced Tuesday it has discovered more than 300,000 open source package and project installations in use around the world through its Open Source Census. OpenLogic initiated the global survey last December.

The Open Source Census is a worldwide collaborative project. The goal is to collect and share quantitative data on the use of open source software. Computer users may volunteer their machines to be remotely scanned and contribute to the census' findings.

Government agencies and the financial industry are among the biggest users of open source software, the census has found. Also, among survey participants, Windows users are some of the biggest consumers of open source.

The survey also found that OpenOffice, an alternative and compatible office suite to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Office, is installed on 73 percent of all personal computers that owners volunteered for examination. However, only 28 percent of enterprise machines made available for scanning contained OpenOffice.

"The survey will be ongoing. Starting in year two, we will have enough data to show trends of changing use patterns of open source adopters," Kim Weins, senior vice president of marketing and products at OpenLogic, told LinuxInsider.

Data Points

The survey results continue to validate trends in open source usage that OpenLogic has seen over the last few years, according to Weins. This second phase -- the gathering of data from system audits contributed by voluntary participants -- began six months ago.

The Open Source Census continues to uncover interesting trends on the global use of open source software as more computers are scanned, she said.

On average, government agencies surveyed have 123 different open source packages installed per machine. By comparison, financial services companies have 117 different packages per machine.

Governments outside the U.S., especially participants from the European Union, appear generally more supportive of open source software than U.S. governmental agencies. For instance, the U.S. averages 51 open source packages per machine, while Europe averages 68.

Linux Outpolls Windows

Perhaps among the most interesting trends is the use of open source software among Windows users. Participants who volunteered Windows machines for scanning averaged 39 open source software packages.

Open source was naturally more prevalent on Linux users' machines, with 87 packages on average. But that also includes open source software that is shipped with the Linux distributions.

The most popular packages are similar for both Windows and Linux platforms, with seven of the top 10 packages in common.

Ubuntu was found to be the most prevalent Linux OS distributions. Ubuntu Hardy (24 percent) and Ubuntu Gutsy (22 percent) account for 46 percent of the installed Linux base. By comparison, Suse Linux has 12 percent, Gentoo Linux has 7 percent, Fedora Core has 6 percent and Debian has 13 percent.

Government Push

The survey shows a solid movement in foreign governments toward open source software. Similarly, the financial services industry is involved in a lot of open source development, according to Weins.

"Governments are very welcoming of open source. The EU initiative is fostering best practices for which open source is very supportive," she said.

TiVo Makes the PC Its Second Home

2008-09-29T12:37:00.001-07:00

TiVo Makes the PC Its Second Home

By JR Raphael
TechNewsWorld
09/29/08 11:26 AM PT

TiVo is migrating away from the set-top box. The television recording service provider announced a deal Monday with Nero to bring TiVo functions to PCs using Nero's LiquidTV hardware and software package. The kit will allow users to burn DVDs and carry their recorded content with them.

TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) is teaming up with Nero to bring a new video recording solution to the PC. The companies announced Nero LiquidTV/TiVo PC on Monday. The product will offer TiVo functions from a computer, without the need for a set-top box.

The system will be marketed toward both existing TiVo users and families that don't currently have digital video recording devices. It will run US$199 for the full hardware kit -- including tuner card, a TiVo remote for the PC, and an IR blaster -- or $99 for just the software by itself. You'll also have to pay $99 a year for the TiVo service.

Familiar Interface

If you've used a TiVo, the Nero LiquidTV/TiVo PC will look familiar. At a glance, it recreates the television-based interface -- just on a different platform.

"You have the full TiVo experience, which is brought over to your PC, so it really looks and feels exactly like your TiVo if you have a TiVo today," Kris Barton, senior vice president of Nero, told TechNewsWorld.

The system provides some new options, primarily geared toward portability. Most notably, it simplifies the process of saving and exporting content for on-the-go use.

"Once you've recorded shows and content, most people don't just want to leave them on their set-top box or on their DVR -- they actually want to do something with them," Barton asserted. "That's really what we try to take advantage of. With a click or two ... you can export your recorded TV shows to an iPod or PlayStation, so you can watch and enjoy the content there," he explained.

The Nero LiquidTV/TiVo PC also lets you burn fully functioning DVDs with a couple of clicks and allows content to be transferred between computers or other devices -- opening up the possibility, for example, of taking your TV shows with you on a plane trip or car ride.

"The remote and mobility standpoint is really a strong advantage of this solution," Barton said.

Expanded Options

The device is being targeted toward three main groups, Barton indicated. The first is the "road warrior," or person who's always on the go. The second is the college student who uses his laptop for everything and may not even have a TV. The third is the existing TiVo user.

"I think for people that have TiVo, it's going to be a great addition to extend their experience into their PC world, [into] their office -- to make it so you can do multiple things on the PC," Joshua Danovitz, general manager of international for TiVo, told TechNewsWorld.

Some of the concepts may not sound new to existing TiVo users, and there's a reason: TiVo users who have their DVRs connected to a home network see similar functionality already, with the ability to transfer shows between a set-top box and DVR using the TiVo Desktop software. The Nero LiquidTV/TiVo PC, however, simplifies the process, Danovitz said -- and adds new power to the platform.

"It makes it so it's very easy to get content onto your portable devices and also onto your PC -- you don't have to do transfers over your home network from your TiVo," he pointed out.

International Appeal

The LiquidTV/TiVo PC system will become available in mid-October. It will initially be offered only in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico but is expected to expand into Europe by 2009. Up until now, only the United Kingdom has had any kind of TiVo availability -- so this will mark a move into new territory.

"It's a great opportunity for people domestically and internationally to really get an easy taste of TiVo on their PCs," Danovitz said.

T-Mobile's G1 in Pictures

2008-09-27T01:00:00.001-07:00

T-Mobile's G1 in Pictures

This week T-Mobile introduced the first phone to use the open-source Android operating system. Here's our look at some of the G1's most interesting features.

PC World Staff

Friday, September 26, 2008 05:45 PM PDT

Sizing Up the G1

T-Mobile this week unveiled the first phone to use the open-source Android operating system developed by Google and its partners. The G1, based on HTC's Dream handset, will be available in the United States starting October 22.

The T-Mobile G1 design is similar to that of the iPhone, but some differences distinguish the two. The G1 is bulkier than the iPhone, nearly 30 percent thicker, and almost 20 percent heavier. Nevertheless, it's a bit narrower than the iPhone and comes with a 320-by-480 touch screen. Below the screen, the bottom juts out slightly, with five buttons and a small BlackBerry-like trackball to aid screen navigation.

G1 Does Contacts Right

The T-Mobile G1 has a visual contact list that grabs contacts associated with your Gmail and Google Talk accounts and Google Calendar. As on the iPhone, you can flick through your contacts by moving the list up or down. The G1 also uses an "online presence" feature to let you know which contacts are available for a Google Chat or Talk session.

G1 Camera Bests Most Others

On the back of the G1 is a 3.2-megapixel still camera (no video support); it's a touch higher in quality than the iPhone's 2-megapixel camera. The improved resolution will translate into slightly better pictures that will be larger in file size. That could be bad news if you aren't on T-Mobile's unlimited data plan and you like to send pics from your phone.

Hardwired for Google

Google has its fingerprints all over the G1. Besides coming preloaded with Google Gmail, the handset offers a one-touch search button on the pull-out keyboard that takes you straight to a Google search box. The phone also has a Google search box embedded into its desktop by default.

All About the G1 Web Browser

The G1's Web browser is based on the same open-source technology (WebKit) as the iPhone's browser. The big difference when using the G1's browser is that you can't employ finger gestures (such as pinching and double-tap for zooming) for page navigation. To zoom in to a portion of a page with the G1, you drag your finger across the screen. Once you do that, a virtual lens allows you to focus on parts of the Web page. You can also choose to view the entire page by zooming completely out.

A Look at the Desktop

The G1's desktop may appear similar to the iPhone's, but the G1 desktop is completely customizable. It comes with four standard application icons and a clock widget. You can move the app icons around by holding one down with your finger and dragging it. By flicking to the left or right, you open up other desktops that you can customize just as easily with shortcuts to your favorite applications.

A Keyboard, and a Black-and-White Choice

The G1 has a physical keyboard that reveals itself after you slide open the screen. The keys are flat, requiring you to reach your right thumb around the bottom portion of the G1's body to press keys. People who don't care for the iPhone's virtual keyboard should appreciate this physical QWERTY keyboard.

T-Mobile is following Apple's lead and keeping color choice for consumers simple. You'll be able to choose a black or white G1 when the models go on sale October 22 for $179 with a two-year contract. You'll have to rely on cell phone skins to liven up your device.

Customizable Desktops

T-Mobile's G1 allows for much more customization of the desktop than competitors do. On the G1 you can put application shortcut icons on the desktop along with shortcuts to a clock, a music playlist, a Web page, or a folder full of documents.

Google Tentacles

Google's tentacles extend beyond the G1's access to fast Google searches. Just as the iPhone is optimized for iTunes, the G1 is optimized for Google. Google has customized its services for the G1, going so far as embedding shortcuts for the Google home page, Gmail, Calendar, Reader, and other Google properties directly onto the phone's desktop.

The Way to a Mobile User's Heart Is Apps

The ability to add third-party applications to the G1 from the Android Marketplace is one of the most appealing aspects of the phone. The application pictured in this slide is a special version of Google Street View for Android. With it you can view a snapshot of an entire street scene from any of several U.S. cities on your G1. When you move your phone, the Street View scene moves with you. Other Android apps, such as one called Locale, use GPS technology to switch your G1's ringer to vibrate in a movie theater. Another app, BioWallet, turns the G1's camera into an iris scanner to help you lock down any sensitive information you might put on the phone.

Accelerometer Not Fully Implemented

Just like the iPhone, the G1 has an accelerometer that detects the phone's movement and changes the display accordingly when you're using apps such as Street View. Curiously, the G1 does not rotate the display from portrait to landscape when you're viewing Web pages or the desktop. You have to flip out the keyboard to get the screen to switch into landscape mode.

Short on Built-In Video Support

The G1 does not natively support video playback; you'll have to download a third-party video player from the Android Marketplace. And as mentioned before, the G1 will not capture video with its camera.

Access to Apps

Besides the applications that you can launch directly from your desktop, the bulk of your apps reside in a "virtual drawer" that you slide open via a swipe of your finger. Either flick it open with your finger or tap the bottom tab, and it expands to reveal your programs.

Chief designer says Shenzhou-7 has four tasks

2008-09-25T11:33:00.001-07:00

Chief designer says Shenzhou-7 has four tasks

www.chinaview.cn 2008-09-26 01:49:45

JIUQUAN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's third manned space mission, Shenzhou-7, shoulders four major tasks, including the country's first attempt on space walk, chief designer of the country's manned space program Zhou Jianping said here Thursday.

"The space walk is an important step of China's manned space program," Zhou told Xinhua at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China before the launch of Shenzhou-7.

Manned space program involves three basic technologies, including the launch and return of astronauts, extravehicular activities (or known as space walk) and docking of orbiters.

China has announced that its manned space program is being carried out in three stages, which eventually lead to the establishment of a permanent space station.

In the first stage of the program, China has sent unmanned spacecraft and a manned spacecraft into near-earth orbit, conducting observations of the earth and scientific experiments in space, and bringing back the astronaut safely to the earth.

The planned space walk during the Shenzhou-7 mission will be one key step of the program's second stage, which also involves the docking between capsule and space module and establishment of a space lab.

In the third stage, China will build a permanent space laboratory and a space engineering system. Astronauts and scientists will travel between the earth and the space station to conduct scientific experiments of larger scale.

Other tasks of the Shenzhou-7 mission included the test of solid lubricant and plates of solar battery in the outer space, Zhou said.

"Astronaut will take the materials placed outside the capsule back to the orbital module," Zhou said, adding that scientists hoped to improve the property and lifetime of the materials by studying the samples.

Solid lubricant is widely used in spacecraft. The test sample carried by Shenzhou-7 include 11 types of solid lubricants.

Zhou said the third task of the Shenzhou-7 was the release of a small monitoring satellite, which would orbit the orbital module.

"The task will test our ability to observe and control two satellites in relative motion," Zhou said.

The small satellite, weights less than 40 kilograms, will send back video images of the orbital module.

The fourth task was the trial of data relay. "The completion of the task would greatly improve the coverage and efficiency of our observation network," Zhou said.

The Shenzhou-7 spacecraft, with three astronauts on board, blasted off from the Jiuquan launch center at 9:10 p.m. Thursday.

Editor: Yan

Google unveils mobile phone, on sale in October

2008-09-24T07:19:00.001-07:00

Google unveils mobile phone, on sale in October

NEW YORK (AFP) — Internet search giant Google launched its long-awaited mobile phone on Tuesday, unveiling a handset developed with telecom carrier T-Mobile to compete with rival Apple's hot-selling iPhone.

The T-Mobile G1, the first mobile device powered by Google's open-source Android software, will be available in stores in the United States on October 22 and will cost 179 dollars, 20 dollars cheaper than the iPhone 3G.

Cole Brodman, T-Mobile chief technology and innovation officer, called the G1, built by the Taiwanese firm HTC, a "game-changing" device for Web surfing which will "power a new mobile Internet of the future."

The G1, which is a bit thicker but narrower than an iPhone and comes in three colors, black, white and brown, will go on sale in Britain in early November and in other European countries served by T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG, in early 2009.

The G1 offers many of the features of the iPhone and Research in Motion's popular BlackBerry including a touch screen similar to that of the iPhone, a trackball for navigation, high-speed Internet browsing, Wi-Fi, e-mail, instant messaging and SMS texting.

It also has a Global Positioning System (GPS), a 3.0-megapixel camera with photo-sharing capability and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a feature lacking on the iPhone. Like the iPhone, the G1 cannot shoot video.

But in a direct challenge to Apple's iTunes, the entire library of Internet retail giant Amazon's MP3 music store is available for purchase on the G1, more than six million songs.

The new phone has, unsurprisingly, been closely integrated with Google applications such as Google Maps and G-Mail and can play videos from YouTube, the video-sharing site purchased by Google in 2006.

"Google is moving into the mobile devices market not to become yet another mobile phone manufacturer but to enable a large addressable market for its services and applications," said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner Consulting.

"Google's strategy is all about broad reach for their services," added Charles Golvin, an analyst at Forrester Research. "It's just the first step in a long strategic voyage for Google."

Google hopes the free Linux-based Android software powering the G1 will eventually become the dominant operating system for mobile phones.

"Android has the potential to become the de facto operating system for Linux and we expect sales to reach around 10 per cent of the smartphone market in 2011," said Roberta Cozza, another Gartner analyst.

The open source Android software and ability of outside developers to write applications for the device is seen as a major selling point by Google and its partners.

Applications for the iPhone, for example, are tightly controlled by Apple and mobile phone operating systems such as those of Microsoft and global mobile phone market leader Nokia are proprietary.

"It's very exciting for me as a computer geek to have a phone that I can play with and modify," said Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who made a surprise appearance at the launch event with fellow co-founder Larry Page.

G1 users can access the Android Market, where they can download software applications from developers around the world.

Google announced the formation in November 2007 of a 34-member group called the "Open Handset Alliance" to develop Android, including China Mobile, HTC, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, T-Mobile, Telefonica, LG and eBay.

Google's share price soared 7.38 percent to 437.52 dollars an hour after the launch of the G1 but it ended the day down 0.2 percent at 429.27 dollars.

The Birds and the Bees: The Future of Air Force Robo-Tech

2008-09-21T12:05:00.001-07:00

The Birds and the Bees: The Future of Air Force Robo-Tech

By Aamer Madhani
Chicago Tribune
09/20/08 4:00 AM PT

The U.S. Air Force is devoting resources to the development of small, unmanned aircraft for use in combat and reconnaissance operations. The use of remote-controlled planes is already relatively common in U.S. military operations, but researchers are attempting to create drones the size of birds and even insects.

It may look like a futuristic arcade game, but it's a scene from an official Air Force animated video: Bad guys of indiscernible origin being shadowed, from a careful distance, by small robotic drones designed to resemble birds and insects.

When one of the bad guys opens his apartment door, a tiny robo-bug, looking like a garage door opener with wings, sneaks in to spy. In another scene, a bug -- the Air Force calls them "Micro Air Vehicles," or MAVs -- creeps into a sniper's roost and delivers a deadly shot to the back of his head.

It might sound far-fetched. But top Air Force officials believe that MAVs could be a significant part of the Defense Department's arsenal in the not-so-distant future.

'Could Be a Game Changer'

Civilian researchers and airmen at the Air Force Research Laboratory, based at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base just outside Dayton, Ohio, have set a 2015 deadline to roll out the first generation of MAVs. This first group, they hope, will be the size of birds and be able to operate several days without recharging.

"These are one of the assets that in the future could be a game-changer," said Mark Lewis, chief scientist of the U.S. Air Force.

For more than a decade, the Pentagon and the aerospace industry have poured tens of millions of dollars into research surrounding tiny flying machines that officials say could be an invaluable help in battle and rescue operations.

Scientists have studied the flight of fruit flies, the crawling of insects and the perching of birds as they look for ideas on how to build an aircraft that is light enough to be carried in a soldier's rucksack but durable enough to stay aloft for long periods.

U.S. forces and their allies have already used some small vehicles in the field, but nothing that compares in size and stealth to what scientists at the Air Force lab are looking to develop in coming years.

'Unobtrusive, Pervasive, Lethal'

Britain's Special Forces have tested a 28-inch-long MAV, called the "Wasp," on reconnaissance missions in Afghanistan. Last year, the U.S. Marines placed a US$19.3 million order for the small unmanned aircraft, developed by California-based AeroVironment. The Wasp can be fitted with explosives that could theoretically be used for a surprise attack.

The U.S. military relies on large unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance missions and surgical strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Air Force officials say the smaller MAVs, flying at 50 to 100 feet, would offer troops on the ground precise information that a larger drone flying at 30,000 feet cannot.

"The idea of developing very small unmanned flying vehicles has been an obsession of the Air Force for decades," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, a Washington-based think tank. "It follows the general trend toward miniaturization of almost everything the Air Force does."

The near-term goal is to create a bird-size MAV by 2015, and by 2030 the Air Force hopes to deploy a bug-size aircraft, said Maj. Gregory Parker, a team leader in the laboratory's Air Vehicles Directorate. The marketing video, created by the Air Force scientists to explain their vision, claims the drones will be "unobtrusive, pervasive, lethal."

Tough Landing

However, the Air Force and its defense industry partners face a steep climb in the development of the next generation of MAVs. The Wasp established a record for MAVs in 2002 when it stayed up for 107 minutes in a test flight -- far short of the Air Force Research Laboratory's goal of developing a vehicle that can operate for days or even weeks at a time.

Parker said the directorate is searching for ways that their conceptual MAVs could harvest energy from potential resources in an urban environment, such as power lines and sunlight. Another problem is landing.

"The biggest challenge is how do we make it able to maneuver on spot, so it can land without a runway?" Parker said. "We have to figure out how do you land on a tree limb or building's edge? How do you land on a power line?"

Air Force officials say drones as small as the ones they envision could blend into the environment, peering around the blind turn of a mountain pass or peeking into a suspected insurgent hideout to gather intelligence more safely and with greater stealth, officials say.

Researchers are also working on technology that would allow Air Force officials to launch a swarm of MAVs to provide more detailed surveillance.

"Maybe you launch a thousand of them on one city block to find one (target)," Parker said.

'Going Anywhere at Any Time'

Parker added that the use of tiny MAVs could have civilian applications. For example, small unmanned air vehicles could be dispatched into rubble after a natural disaster to search for signs of life.

Thompson, the defense analyst, said bird- and bug-size drones would be useful in the type of fighting troops have faced in Afghanistan and Iraq. But he remains skeptical that the researchers will be able to develop aircraft in the near future that can sustain missions that last weeks.

He also said significant advances would be necessary to create micro-air vehicles that could carry the weight of a small camera or a weapons system.

"There may be the know-how to create a vehicle the size of a grasshopper," Thompson said. "But if it can't carry the payload, why build a grasshopper?"

Douglas Blake, deputy director of the Air Vehicles Directorate, acknowledged that researchers face hurdles, but said his team has the brainpower to overcome them. And the payoff in the battlefield, he added, would be huge.

"This would give us the capability of going anywhere at any time," Blake said.

What happened to the Big Bang machine?

2008-09-21T04:06:00.001-07:00

What happened to the Big Bang machine?

By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

Superconducting magnets are cooled down using liquid helium

The fault that has shut down the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be hugely disappointing for scientists and engineers following the successful "start-up" of the experiment.

It is now over a week since the first beams were fired around the accelerator's 27km (16.7 miles) underground ring. The crucial next step is to collide those beams head on.

But hopes that the first trial collisions would be carried out before the machine's official inauguration on 21 October now seem to have been dashed. It even looks uncertain whether this can be achieved before 2009.

The failure on 19 September - described as a "massive" magnet quench - certainly seems dramatic: it caused the temperatures in about 100 of the LHC's super-cooled magnets to soar by as much as 100C.

The fire brigade had to be called after a tonne of liquid helium leaked out into the LHC tunnel.

If you keep an eye on the big picture, we've been building the machine for 20 years

James Gillies
Cern's director of communications

One of the LHC's eight sectors will now have to be warmed up to well above its operating temperature of 1.9 Kelvin (-271C; -456F) – which is colder than deep space – so that repairs can take place.

But the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern), which operates the LHC, maintains the setback is a relatively minor one in the grand scheme of things and poses no longer-term threat to the LHC.

"If you keep an eye on the big picture, we've been building the machine for 20 years. The switch-on was always going to be a long process," James Gillies, Cern's director of communications, told BBC News.

"A year or two down the line, this moment will be a distant memory, and we'll be running smoothly."

This incident is the latest in a line of setbacks during the construction and testing of this impossibly complicated machine built 100m beneath the French-Swiss border.

Flood threat

Serious difficulties were encountered when boring an artificial cavern designed to house the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS), one of the LHC's massive detectors - which are designed to monitor beam collisions for interesting events.

The cavern shaft had to be bored through a 50m layer of glacial deposits – including fast-flowing water – which threatened to flood the hole.

Engineers had to create a 3m-thick wall of ice around the circumference of the shaft as a barrier to the underground rivers.

In April 2007, part of a magnet ruptured suddenly during pressure testing. The incident prompted an evacuation of personnel behind the tunnel safety perimeter.

Later that year, a problem was uncovered with a handful of "plug-in modules", or PIMs, which link the beam tube of one superconducting magnet to another. Engineers found sliding parts inside the modules had buckled into the beam pipe.

Super-cooling the magnets to -271C allows them to conduct electrical current without resistance

The LHC was expected to be complete by 2006, so a further delay of two months is unlikely to faze particle physicists who are waiting to begin harvesting data once the machine begins colliding its two beams of protons together at high energies.

The machine has more than 1,200 "dipole" magnets arranged end-to-end in the underground ring. These magnets carry and steer the proton beams which will whizz around the machine at close to the speed of light.

Chilling them to -271C – where even helium gas is turned into a liquid - makes them "superconducting".

This allows the magnets to conduct electrical current without resistance, thereby generating the large magnetic fields required to steer the beams while at the same time consuming relatively little power.

A quench occurs when part of a superconducting magnet heats up and becomes resistant to electrical current; the magnet essentially starts to lose its superconducting properties.

Engineers have a system in place to deal with this issue, but in this case, the quench created a hot spot in the magnet which got out of control and damaged hardware. The current problem appears to have affected the "bus bar" – a cable that carries current between the two magnets.

'Helium leak'

"What appears to have happened... is that there was a faulty connection in the bus bar," Mr Gillies told BBC News. He described this connection as a hi-tech version of a soldering joint to link the two stretches of cable together.

"The bus bar quenched, and that connection seems to have melted. The melting appears to have caused the helium leak.

"It seems to be a badly made connection – but this all has to be confirmed once we have had the chance to take a look at it."

The incident occurred during the final test of the last of the LHC's electrical circuits to be commissioned.

Cern says such problems are par for the course considering the vast complexity of the project. However, since the official start-up on 10 September, the organisation, which is based in Geneva, has had to deal with a level of media scrutiny it has never encountered before.

The two-month halt means there will now be a much smaller window in which to try for the first low energy collisions before the LHC shuts down for the winter – which is done in part to save money on electricity.

But Mr Gillies refused to rule anything in or out, and said a more complete picture of both the impact on the schedule and the nature of the fault itself would emerge next week, after engineers have had time to carry out their analyses.

Mac Bloggers Get Leg Up on OS X Update, Scratch Heads Over ARM's Future

2008-09-19T07:22:00.000-07:00

Mac Bloggers Get Leg Up on OS X Update, Scratch Heads Over ARM's Future

By Chris Maxcer
MacNewsWorld
Part of the ECT News Network
09/19/08 4:00 AM PT

Did Apple buy PA Semi in order to make its own ARM chips? Will homemade iPhone processors put an end to jailbreaking? Is that necessarily a good thing? And what's in store for the new MacBooks everyone expects to arrive in October? Inquiring Mac bloggers want to know.

Now that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is reaching out into so many areas lately, bloggers following Cupertino's every move are looking at topics all over the map.

However, there were a few important subjects that rose to the top this week: Apple's notebook share in the U.S. has surged, speculation over the next MacBooks and MacBook Pros is heating up, Apple has dropped the OS X 10.5.5 update, and PA Semi might be working on ARM (Nasdaq: ARMHY) (Advanced RISC Machine) iPhone processors.

With a Bullet

DisplaySearch, a research organization that's part of the NPD Group, reported that Apple's North American share of the notebook PC market had jumped up to 10.6 percent in the second quarter of this year -- up from just 6.6 percent a year ago. To put this big leap in perspective, Dell's(Nasdaq: DELL) share grew just 0.3 percent, HP's (NYSE: HPQ) grew 0.2 percent, Acer's dropped 4.2 percent, Toshiba dropped 2.4 percent, and all other manufacturers picked up 2.1 percent. Apple came away with some relatively massive gains.

Mac bloggers, of course, were more than happy to share the news. Surprisingly enough, the original report from DisplaySearch barely mentioned Apple, but hey, Apple aficionados noticed anyway.

On the MacRumors.com post on the subject, G5power commented, "Just think with 'new' versions and possibly more aggressive pricing how this could trend."

The next response?

"Up, up, up, and away!" added mobilehaathi.

Noted deannnnn, "I switched from Toshiba to Apple in 2004 =) Best decision I ever made."

One key question, however, is whether this growth in market share was a tremendous yet short-lived spike or part of a broad upward trend?

"This has been a consistent trend for Apple in North America," John Jacobs, DisplaySearch's director of notebook market research, told MacNewsWorld.

Interestingly, one of the key points to Dell's difficulties in busting loose with consumer sales in North America may be something Apple used to share but has since turned into a strength -- the Apple retail stores.

"Brick and mortar is a key because many consumers want to 'look and feel' before they buy -- form factor is one of the top 5 most important things that consumers care about in a notebook PC," Jacobs added, noting that Dell has been recently growing its physical presence through a number of agreements with retailers.

MacBook Hunger

The notebook market share increases only seemed to stoke the hearts and minds of the Mac faithful looking for the next iteration of the popular MacBook and MacBook Pro, which are widely expected to hit some time in October. Some had hoped for a September roll-out, but that's less likely given Apple's very recent iTunes and iPod news.

A German Web site, T-Systems.de posted a photo of a purported new MacBook Pro. Bloggers quickly jumped on it as a likely fake, though some held out to a small measure of possibility. The photo seemed to show an iMac-like glossy black bezel around the perimeter of the screen, no latch, no obvious iSight camera, and a thinner base.

Mark Rowland, posting on Appletell, noted, "There is little chance of this being an actual leaked image, as Apple holds its secrets very closely, and it is rare that 'leaked' shots are 100% correct, especially this early in the speculation game."

Philip Elmer-DeWitt, writing for Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog, joined the fray by writing about Apple's MacBook success and possible Oct. 14 roll-out of new models. He gave a nod to Computerworld's Seth Weintraub's Apple Ink blog and echoed some of Weintraub's educated guess/wishful thinking new features, among them a rounder fame, 3G wireless technology, a multitouch glass trackpad, Blu-ray, and an HD camera, all without a movement in price points.

On Weintraub's Apple Ink post, commenter Stephen Steele noted that he agreed with most of the new features -- but is more bullish on Blu-ray.

"The most important feature which you are on the fence on is Blu-ray. Even if Apple wants you to buy content from itunes, they have to acknowledge this is the new standard, and to leave it off when every other manufacturer is including it would be a serious mistake. This Holiday season will be the Christmas of Blu-Ray in the U.S.," Steele commented.

Meanwhile, OS X 10.5.5

On Monday, Apple released a 321 MB OS X 10.5.5 update, which was primarily a batch of more than 100 bug fixes and over two dozen security enhancements. The update fixed issues with Address Book, Disk Utility, iCal, Mail, MobileMe and TimeMachine.

Some early adopters noted that 10.5.5 made Leopard feel snappier and that waking from sleep was faster, too.

"After I installed and rebooted, I opened Safari and Mail and they opened and ran very quickly. 'Snappier' indeed!" commented DCJ001 on the AppleInsider.com post on the subject.

Not all was happiness and sunshine, however. Some noted problems with their 10.5.5 Macs recognizing external displays properly.

"I'm reinstalling Mac OS 10.5.2 that came with my macbook, since the update buggered a few things up -- the main thing being that my Mac does not detect any external displays," commented atmx.

Apple Engineer Reveals Too Much?

The wonderful world of social networking brought the Apple blogosphere a great little gem this week: apparent confirmation that Apple's recently acquired semiconductor company PA Semi was bought for more than just some smart engineers.

The New York Times reported that an Apple engineer, Wei-han Lien, the senior manager of Apple's chip team, posted on his LinkedIn profile a little detail about this current job with Apple: that his job was to "Manage ARM CPU architecture team for iPhone." The profile has since been removed from the site.

The post sparked some speculation that Apple might be able to not only stop buying ARM chipsets from other suppliers but also create something entirely new and improved for the iPhone.

One person, commenting on the AppleInsider.com post on the subject, noted that custom ARM chipsets might give Apple more than just a cool new performance boost.

"Here's hoping that Apple will finally be able to put a stop to hacking and jailbreaking the iPhone. With a custom processor it would seem this is a possibility. Jailbreaking has done enormous damage to the Apple brand reputation not to mention lost revenue and profits," commented lkrupp.

Others thought lkrupp was joking, if not misdirected.

"I'd argue that Jailbreaking of the iPhone increased sales of the EDGE iPhone dramatically, has sped up the development of Apple's SDK and has made the iPhone better because of it," added solipsism.

Still, what's the key benefits of Apple going it alone?

"The benefits and risks of such a strategy are closely linked," Charles King, principal analyst for Pund-IT, told MacNewsWorld.

"On the benefit side, developing processors specifically for the iPhone would allow the company to link chip design to device capabilities. Potentially, that could lead to better performance and enhanced features in future iPhones. The risks of Apple taking processor development in-house mainly revolve around cost. Creating and updating processors is an expensive process in the best of times. So long as iPhone sales continue to grow, Apple should be able to easily defray those costs," he explained.

"But if the iPhone ever hits the skids, the benefits of processor development could erode quickly," he added.

Is Google Getting Into Gaming?

2008-09-18T07:17:00.001-07:00

Is Google Getting Into Gaming?

By Walaika Haskins
E-Commerce Times
Part of the ECT News Network
09/17/08 3:24 PM PT

One of game maker Valve's most valuable properties is Steam, on online service that works as a distribution, communication and anti-piracy platform. Steam may also be the reason Google is reportedly in talks to purchase Valve, though neither company has confirmed whether a deal is in the works.

Rumors began bubbling up Tuesday that Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) plans to acquire game maker Valve, developer of the "Half-Life" series and the Steam content distribution platform. The speculation began with a report in British technology publication The Inquirer, citing "well-placed sources" claiming Google would very soon purchase Valve.

The Internet search giant could be eying the Bellevue, Wash-based game maker in order to get its hands on the Steam content distribution technology.

Google's Jon Murchison told TechNewsWorld the company had no comment on the possible acquisition.

"We do not comment on market rumor or speculation," he said.

Valve did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Adding Valve

If Google is indeed in talks to purchase Valve, it's part of the company's effort to take on Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) on all fronts, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group.

"Google is making a broad spectrum attack against Microsoft. That means they're coming at them with applications and application platforms. One of the things I think they probably realized is that one area they haven't really addressed is games," he told TechNewsWorld.

The reason Google would go after Valve and Steam is to bring in people who can design games for their new back-end platform, Enderle continued.

"They would like games to be delivered using their back end and their Chrome-based browser front end. So undoubtedly -- if the rumors are true -- that's why they're doing this. They want hosted gaming. They want a leading company to do the hosted gaming, and they want to be able to provide this entertainment through their front end," he added.

Google's long-term goal, he said, is to make Windows obsolete and the way to do that is to create as many things as they can and put them up in their environment -- gaming being one of them.

Full Steam Ahead?

Valve's Steam digital distribution platform also serves as a digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform. The company uses the technology to distribute and manage more than 440 games over the Internet to over 15 million active users.

With functionality similar to a feed reader, Steam enables users to purchase access to games via their Steam account. Available in multiple languages including English, French, Japanese, Russian and Spanish, Steam also offers a community Web site. Through the social network , users can communicate with one another.

In addition, Steam provides users with "Friends," an instant messaging tool for public or private one-on-one and multiple user chats as well as a peer-to-peer Voice over IP service. Members can also search, filter and bookmark as well as join Internet-based an LAN (local area network) games using Steam's server browser.

"What Steam does is give [users] games on their platform. Don't forget they're doing cloud-based computing, and the games up in the cloud aren't that great. They're mostly Flash-based, nothing that would really challenge Windows," explained Enderle.

Google will want a mainstream game developer to create offerings for its cloud-based platform so people can see it will support a relatively rich gaming property, he pointed out.

"Gaming was one of those areas that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) overlooked that I doubt Google will overlook. They need to have games on Android and games on their Chrome platform, and this will do both. Eventually, Valve will probably migrate its games over to the Google platform," he concluded.

Free Software Shouldn't Mean You Can't Make a Buck

2008-09-18T07:16:00.001-07:00

Free Software Shouldn't Mean You Can't Make a Buck

By Jeremiah T. Gray
LinuxInsider
Part of the ECT News Network
09/18/08 4:00 AM PT

Why does the GNU General Public License have to be the definitive license for Free and Open Source Software? Consider the BSD license type -- a more business-friendly variety that allows for businesses to make a profit while preserving the public interest, writes columnist Jeremiah T. Gray.

Richard Stallman, the founder of the GNU Project, speaks at great lengths about preserving the ideological purity of free software, and in his vision of the future, computer software development is modeled after mathematics and science research, where all research and development is open. So far as Stallman is concerned, proprietary software production is unethical and should be avoided. As he detailed extensively in The GNU Manifesto, traditional closed source capitalism should be rejected in software development and replaced with a post-scarcity economy.

While I admire that sort of optimism and long-term vision, I take a more market-driven approach to the software and technology industries. In my last article, I wrote in general terms about using Free and Open Source Software as a platform on which to base a profitable business. I want to follow up on that article with some specific ideas and examples for how to use these tools to create a successful enterprise .

GPL vs. BSD

First of all, I don't want to get too mired in talking about licensing schemes, patents, copyrights, and/or trademarks, because I think a lot of that talk is counterproductive or at least irrelevant to Linux ubiquity. That said, I should clarify my position on BSD vs. GNU General Public Licenselicenses (subject to change as I grow older and more or less jaded). Personally, I see great value in BSD-style licensing.

Unlike the copyleft GPL , which prescribes a freedom and responsibility to share, the BSD license is basically freedom to get robbed. Under the terms of the BSD license, it is perfectly legitimate to release closed source proprietary software without providing copies of the source code. Many high dollar companies on Wall Street have used BSD-based software as substantial parts of their businesses; BIND, for instance, the popular DNS server is a widely-deployed program that makes the Internet work.

If you write proprietary programs that you license as BSD or base on existing BSD-licensed software, you can sell them without providing a copy of the source code. Obviously from a business standpoint, this is a good selling point. You will need to be careful to follow the terms of the GPL license, as well, and link to LGPL (rather than GPL) software, but being able to release proprietary software on Linux is an area where some companies like to operate. With the BSD license, you're welcome but not compelled to release your source code.

Business Reality

At some point, proprietary software outlives its usefulness as proprietary software and should naturally become open source; usually because someone else wrote a free (GPL) version of your proprietary program and you're unable to charge for it. When this time comes, you can release your source code, licensed under the same BSD license, and give other creative entrepreneurs and engineers and opportunity to use your software in their own ventures. In this way, BSD functions as a sort of GPL for business, but it would not function that way if it weren't for the GPL itself.

Whereas proprietary software is all well and good for businesses looking to profit off of end users, it's not especially hospitable to end users who just want cool free software functionality. The GPL license ensures that all associated works are also GPL; it creates a free software ecosystem that defends itself by ensuring that if you use free software licensed under the GPL in your own software, yours must also be licensed under the GPL. Moreover, it works as a counterbalance to the BSD license; when someone develops a clever proprietary application, the GPL provides a venue for developers who like the idea behind the proprietary software to work together in order to make a free version.

While the proprietary app developer is motivated by money, the free software developers are motivated by mimicking functionality. In order to remain relevant in the marketplace, the proprietary developer has to develop new features in order to not lose its users to the free software version of the original proprietary program; if a proprietary software developer wants to stay in the game, this is the least it can do.

Compensating Developers

Licensing aside, there are a number of avenues for Linux-related businesses that don't even involve running afoul of RMS's rigid moral hegemony. Whereas in The GNU Manifesto, Stallman discussed possibly paying developers through a software tax at a national level that would route funds to the National Science Foundation which could distribute them for development, I would like to throw out a few similar -- albeit more modest -- ideas to help fund free software developers. The Linux Fund is a non-profit organization that accepts tax deductible contributions that it uses to fund open source software projects.

While software development is no doubt important to the livelihood of Linux, supporting users is arguably as important. As such, I can see value in companies that help out Linux-related businesses with public relations and marketing . Whether run as regional cooperatives or non-profits where members paying dues or as straight for-profit ventures where clients pay fees, consolidating resources in order to help increase awareness of Linux-based businesses and users within the marketplace will help develop the network that connects the business ecosystem.

Obviously the software support business model is as old as (if not older than) The GNU Manifesto, but now that we're a couple decades into the Information Age, we have a better idea of things that do and don't work in the Linux business. With countless distros that can be customized in any number of ways, this is especially clear in the support sphere. If we can have auxiliary businesses that provide business development services and contacts for Linux-related entrepreneurs and organizations, those entrepreneurs and organizations can surely become more specialized. As support businesses diversify, each of them can contribute more proactively to the community software projects they use to do their jobs, helping those community-based projects to move forward as well.

Support for Dummies

Finally, we have the support resources business model, which is perhaps the most traditional of them all. O'Reilly and Wiley Publishing (for Dummies) have done gangbusters in this area, but they have no more a claim to the future of educational resources than any of the rest of us. Whereas many technical people use free information found on the Internet in order to learn and troubleshoot, this enterprising demographic makes up only a small section of the overall population. Correspondingly, there are broad markets waiting for a specific presentation method that speaks to them. Schools are probably the most obvious ideal customer, but they're by no means the only one.

At one end of the spectrum, we have individuals and businesses deploying Linux-based operating systems in all kinds of settings that need materials to help them figure out how to do the specific tasks they want to do without having to learn all the fundamentals that make those specific tasks possible, and at the other end, we have people who want to learn it all but are only 6 years old. Both of these groups, and many in between them, are under-served and ripe markets.

Obviously this is not a comprehensive list, and I welcome input any of you have on the future of Linux in business. I wanted to provide some ideas to help counter the proclamations I sometimes hear that the only available business models for Linux-based business are Software as a Service, advertising and support. I value having a platform like Linux that provides numerous implementation schemes, and I want to help it mature so that it can more handily rival the various commercial operating systems available today.

Is Apple ARMing the iPhone With Homemade Chips?

2008-09-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

Is Apple ARMing the iPhone With Homemade Chips?

By Chris Maxcer
MacNewsWorld
Part of the ECT News Network
09/17/08 4:00 AM PT

Apple secrets are usually kept under such tight wraps that it takes a guy with a camera lurking in the bushes near a delivery truck loading dock to provide even a hint of what the company's up to next. A brief and short-lived comment on a social networking site, however, may provide a little more insight as to what Apple intends to do with PA Semi, a company it bought a few months ago.

When Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) quietly bought a small semiconductor company earlier this year called "PA Semi," the move sparked a storm of speculation. Was Apple looking for new low-power processors for its iPhone? Was it aiming to develop new processors for unannounced but rumored Mac tablets? Or was Apple just buying PA Semi to snag some top-notch engineers?

It turns out that one of those engineers, reportedly Wei-han Lien, the senior manager of Apple's chip team, let the PA Semi cat out of the bag this weekend by posting details of his job on LinkedIn, a professional and career-oriented social network .

The New York Times spotted a single phrase describing Lien's current job role at Apple on Lien's LinkedIn experience page this weekend: "ManageARM (Nasdaq: ARMHY) CPU architecture team for iPhone."

The LinkedIn profile has since been removed from the site.

ARM Race?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed in June that PA Semi was "going to do system-on-chips for iPhones and iPods," but he revealed very little detail on what kinds of processors the team would work on. At the time of the acquisition, PA Semi was producing low-power processors that were used by a number of military and government agencies. After the acquisition, they leaned on Apple to ensure that a steady supply would keep on coming.

As for ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) processors, three-quarters of the world's mobile electronics market utilizes ARM-based low-power consumption processors that have been licensed via ARM Limited.

If Apple develops its own ARM processors for the iPhone, it could possibly remove the need for a outside supplier, if not gain new advantages.

"The benefit is, if these guys can design an ARM-compatible processor that has better performance and/or power characteristics than the standard ARM processors they can license directly, then Apple could have an iPhone or other device using those chips that would have superior performance or battery life compared with others using standard ARM processors, and that would be unique to Apple and not easily copied by their competitors," Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst for Insight 64, told MacNewsWorld.

"The risk is, when they are done, if the product they have designed doesn't offer that much more than the standard RISC ARM processors you can license, then Apple would have spent a lot of money pursuing something that gives them no advantage or isn't useful at all," he explained.

No Slouches

Still, the brains behind PA Semi may be formidable.

"The PA Semi guys have a history of being able to pull this off -- they did it once with ARM back at DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation), they did it with the MIPS (Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages) architecture when they started a company called 'Alchemy,' and they did it with the PowerPC processor when they were at PA Semi," Brookwood noted.

"So these guys are very very good at what they do -- they may be some of the best at what they do," he added.

SanDisk on Samsung buyout offer: Not so fast

2008-09-17T11:53:00.001-07:00

September 16, 2008 4:13 PM PDT

SanDisk on Samsung buyout offer: Not so fast

Posted by Charles Cooper

Time was when SanDisk, the world's biggest supplier of flash storage cards, was one of the hottest tech stocks this side of the Milky Way. Of course, those also were the days when companies like Lehman and Merrill Lynch were living large on Wall Street.

These days SanDisk is hardly the high-flying company it was a couple of years ago. Against a backdrop of weakening consumer demand and with flash memory prices falling, SanDisk's stock has reflected the company's changing fortunes, plummeting from a 52-week high of $55.98 to finish at $15.04 on Tuesday. It's not just SanDisk feeling the pinch; five of the seven top flash memory producers suffered declines or flat sales during the second quarter.

But after the close of trading Tuesday, Samsung Electronics confirmedearlier rumors and disclosed it had made a unsolicited $5.8 billion cash offer to buy SanDisk after what it said were four months of inconclusive talks. SanDisk was quick to rebuff the offer as inadequate.

In after-hours trading, shares of SanDisk soared to nearly $23 a share. In a statement, SanDisk rejected the $26 a share offer, arguing that it undervalues the company. That's pretty much standard operating procedure in any negotiation, though SanDisk also charged Samsung with "an opportunistic attempt" to exploit a depressed stock price, as well as "the uncertainty resulting from the unresolved patent cross license agreement renewal with Samsung, and general equity market conditions."

The rejection of the offer also served as an opportunity for SanDisk to air dirty laundry, suggesting that Samsung's offer might be "a calculated negotiating ploy or an attempt to gain leverage in the ongoing licensing negotiations between the companies, particularly in light of the fact that the parties have met over 10 times on this issue since June 2007."

SanDisk is not closing the door to future talks with Samsung. Irwin Federman, the company's lead independent director, said SanDisk remains willing to enter into "good-faith discussions" but did not get more specific.

But now that Samsung has put SanDisk in play, other well-capitalized would-be acquirers may begin sniffing around. Speculation centered on Toshiba, which operates a 300-millimeter wafer plant with SanDisk. What's more, the executive in charge of Toshiba's semiconductor business said the company may make a move in order to prevent a rival from controlling SanDisk. "We need to take preventive steps, if (SanDisk) looks like it'll be acquired," Corporate Senior Vice President Shozo Saito told reporters at the Industry Strategy and Technology Forum in Yokohama, Japan.

It's unclear whether he was sending out a message of real intent or simply playing to the microphones. While Saito said that Toshiba "was interested" he said there were no talks with SanDisk about a possible acquisition.

Big Blue claims virtualization breakthrough

2008-09-16T03:40:00.001-07:00

Big Blue claims virtualization breakthrough

Posted by Charles Cooper

Twelve months ago, IBM Research began work on a project to develop an algorithm to help reduce the cost and requirements of virtual desktop storage.

To paraphrase Mel Brooks, it's good to be the R&D king.

Virtualization, anyone?

(Credit: IBM)

On Tuesday, IBM, claiming to be the first vendor to crack the code on virtual desktop storage, is set to debut a technology at the VMWorld conference in Las Vegas that executives say reduces storage costs by up to 80 percent. Here's the relevant portion from the announcement about the Virtual Storage Optimizer:

The new phase of "cloud computing" gives end-users access to the critical information they need remotely, from any device, anywhere. IBM helps organizations benefit from this new model with its Virtual Infrastructure Access (VIA) services that give end users with Internet-enabled PCs and other devices the ability to access applications and data through a centrally managed computing environment. Until now, virtual desktop deployments have been hampered by the cost and complexity of managing storage, one of the most expensive hardware components of any virtual desktop environment.

Available beginning today, the new IBM Virtual Storage Optimizer solution for VIA directly addresses this challenge, helping businesses further optimize their virtual desktop environments, while saving time and money on storage requirements. Based on an algorithm developed by IBM Research, VSO dramatically reduces the large physical storage requirements associated with storing virtual images. The solution also allows organizations to streamline operations by creating new desktop images in mere seconds or minutes, a process which previously could take up to 30 minutes - a 75% reduction in the time required to create and deploy new virtual machines. This represents a tremendous operational savings for clients, and allows them to realize more immediate returns on their investments."

The important takeaway is that IBM claims to have resolved one of the biggest barriers in the way of the spread of storage virtualization: the cost and complexity of dealing with storage. It's not an insignificant consideration. Storage can turn into one of the--if not the--most expensive components of any virtual desktop setup. If IBM's technology lives up to the claim, that will go a long way toward allaying some of the lingering concerns about virtualization. Fact is, however, that two-thirds to three-quarters of IBM's customers have already incorporated "some sort of virtualization" into their operations, according to Jack Magoon, a business development executive in IBM Global Technology Services.

"Customers are almost universally aware of desktop virtualization technologies that are emerging...the majority of them have some sort of pilot or have tried something in their departments or are playing with it in some fashion," said Magoon. "We're in the phase where people recognize it's out there and they're trying to figure how and when to take advantage of it."

IBM currently has no plans to break out its VSO technology on its own. Magoon said it will be sold to customers as part of the menu of services available through IBM Global Services.--

Putting Old Cell Phones Out to Pasture

2008-09-14T22:33:00.001-07:00

Putting Old Cell Phones Out to Pasture

By Wailin Wong
Chicago Tribune
09/14/08 4:00 AM PT

Cell phone users typically get new handsets every 18 to 24 months. What do they do with the old devices? Sometimes they're retired to desk drawers, never to be seen again. Even worse, sometimes they end up in landfills, bleeding toxins into the environment. Options for recycling old handsets exist. Sometimes they're disassembled for parts and scrap, other times they're sold in foreign markets.

Pity that old cell phone languishing in a drawer. It's missing out on a fascinating afterlife.

Most discarded phones in the U.S. are simply forgotten amid household clutter. A smaller number of handsets make it to a collection center for recycling or a reselling facility. For those phones, their fates can vary from being sold to consumers in developing countries to being melted down for metals like gold and copper.

But getting more consumers to think about their old phones the way they look at an empty soft drink can, as a product to be recycled, isn't so easy.

Low Recycling Rate

According to industry estimates, nearly 200 million cell phones will be sold in the U.S. this year. A large number of these buyers are already wireless subscribers with handsets, so more than 100 million phones will be retired. If improperly dumped in a landfill, they can release toxic materials from their batteries, small fluorescent lights and other parts.

These handsets also represent a lost opportunity, because discarded phones often are still functional, and parts of non-working ones are reusable. Persuading consumers to recycle their phones is part of a larger "e-waste" problem that environmental activists, governments and companies are trying to address as they grapple with a tide of unwanted consumer electronics.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates the U.S. cell phone recycling rate at 10 percent, a figure that's been flat for the last couple of years. In contrast, 2006 data show that American households recycled 51.6 percent of their paper and 45.1 percent of their aluminum cans.

Despite industry-sponsored collection programs, "most consumers still do not know where or how they can recycle their cell phone," said EPA spokesperson Latisha Petteway. "Most people hang on to their old cell phones thinking they may use them again. ... [But] the result is that many people end up with an unused cell phone that could be recycled sitting in a drawer."

In the U.S., consumers tend to replace their handsets every 18 months or two years, partly because the industry offers upgrade incentives and also because cell phones have become fashion accessories that can quickly lose their cachet. The reality is that with a little refurbishing, many phones can last another few years beyond their initial use.

"The more important issue with e-waste is resource conservation," said Jennifer Bemisderfer, a spokesperson for the Consumer Electronics Association. "Electronics contain a lot of reusable, valuable raw materials that are a benefit to everyone."

New Life Overseas

ReCellular, a Michigan-based reseller and recycler of mobile phones, expects to process more than 6 million handsets this year, said Vice President Mike Newman. That's double the 2007 amount, "but it's nowhere near where it could be."

ReCellular sends just under half of the handsets it receives to be recycled for materials. The others are resold in their current condition or passed on to refurbishing companies.

Discarded U.S. phones are often sold in overseas markets where consumers might not be able to afford a new handset. Colorado-basedCollectiveGood auctions about 55 percent of the 8,000 to 10,000 phones it receives every month to refurbishers and resellers, some of which sell the used handsets abroad.

The chain of players is long and murky, and CollectiveGood President Seth Heine acknowledges that it's a "challenge for us to find out where the phones go." But he maintains that for the same price as a basic handset produced for developing markets by companies like Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) , consumers in those countries can buy a used American cell phone with more-advanced features.

Chewed Up, Spat Out, Recycled

Those in the e-recycling business say some phones are diverted to smaller, overseas scrap operations with unsafe labor conditions and improper disposal practices. ReCellular gets "calls from people every day who want to buy our scrap," Newman said, adding that high prices for such commodities as gold have prompted increased interest in electronic waste. "You can bet it's someone who wants to send it over to China. But we're in the business of reuse first."

CollectiveGood sends its end-of-life handsets to Umicore, a Belgian company that reclaims metals from electronics. ReCellular ships its obsolete phones to Sims Recycling Solutions, an Australian conglomerate with facilities in West Chicago and Franklin Park.

The local Sims plants process about 200,000 pounds of cell phones every year. There are between four and six phones in a pound, and each pound can fetch US$2-$3 in reclaimed precious metals at current prices. Still, cell phones make up a minute portion of the 35 million pounds of electronics -- everything from TVs to bulky mainframe computers -- that the Chicago-area Sims facilities process annually.

Amanda Hale, Sims' West Chicago-based vice president of marketing , even recalls a shipment of MRI machines that had to be dismantled with blowtorches.

At West Chicago, smaller electronics such as cell phones and computer monitors are fed through a shredder that reduces the devices into tangles of copper wire and paint-chip-size pieces of aluminum and steel. The metals are later blended into alloys and sold. Bulkier items go through a much larger shredder that chomps up electronics in three stages, resulting in the same colossal piles of metal bits.

Hale said awareness of electronic recycling needs to be higher. The company will run advertisements in advance of the digital TV transition in February, encouraging consumers who are getting rid of their analog sets to bring them in for safe disposal.

CollectiveGood lets people who donate phones choose a charity to receive proceeds from the recycled handset. There are other programs, such as Verizon Wireless ' HopeLine initiative, that use proceeds from the sale of refurbished handsets to provide phones and minutes to victims of domestic violence.

Heine of CollectiveGood also runs a program that pays consumers for their old phones.

"Our mission is to protect the environment," he said. "You can recycle your phones for love or for money, and we have a little mousetrap for each of them."

Second Life Convention: Pondering the 3-D Internet

2008-09-14T22:32:00.001-07:00

Second Life Convention: Pondering the 3-D Internet

By Keith Morelli
Tampa Tribune
09/14/08 4:00 AM PT

The people behind the avatars held their fourth annual gathering in "real life" at the annual Second Life convention held recently in Tampa, Fla. The convention is a chance for Second Lifers to meet the real faces behind the idealized avatars and discuss ways to better take advantage of what the virtual world has to offer.

Distinct personalities in real and imagined worlds collided recently at the fourth annual Second Life convention in Tampa, Fla.

That was only the beginning of the confusion for those outside Second Life, the virtual online community that is anything but confusing to those immersed in the virtual world.

The phenomenon has "linked people of like minds" all over the world, said Scott Merrick, a volunteer helping stream video of the convention into the virtual world for the avatars who can't physically come to downtown Tampa.

A Different Face

Merrick, whose alter-avatar-ego is Scottmerrick Oh -- a moniker most at the convention recognized him as -- said he has been "living" in Second Life since 2005.

"I had been messing with virtual worlds before that some," he said.

A teacher from Nashville, Merrick, 58, said it's a bit strange meeting his computer acquaintances in person.

"It's a little like meeting a cousin or something," he said.

Recognizing them by sight is not easy; people who create their images often look the way they want, not as they are.

An Idea Whose Time has Come

He said the attraction of the virtual world is catching on.

"It's a chance to be with people of a like mind who are not located geographically near each other," he said.

He admitted that people not involved in Second Life, especially in Tennessee, look at him a bit strangely.

"They think I'm a nut," he said, "that I am out there."

A woman walked up and extended her hand.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Fleep."

Visual Advantage

Fleep Tugue is Chris Collins, and she instructs University of Cincinnati professors in computer technology. "Second Life" is her second life, and she's an organizer of the convention.

"We have 800 registrations today," she said. People have come from all over the world.

"People feel that this platform is the future of the Internet," she said. The key is the visuals.

"In instant messaging, you have no sense of who you are talking to," she said. "In Second Life, you feel like you are meeting that person. It's a lot more photo-realistic."

Second Lifers will attend social mixers and educational seminars designed to teach those caught up in the computer craze how to better navigate the boxy Second Life virtual 3-D landscape.

Annual Gathering

The online community's annual convention began Friday at the Tampa Marriott Waterside hotel with a welcome ceremony. Hundreds listened to speakers inside an expansive ballroom.

In front of most attendees at their tables were laptops opened to the world of Second Life. Some went about their second lives; others blogged the event.

The real-world gathering is an opportunity for those caught up in the virtual universe to meet the people behind the avatars.

Work in Progress

According to the Second Life Web site, the virtual 3-D world is created by those who participate.

"Since opening to the public in 2003," the Web site said, "it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of residents from around the globe."

The Web site says thousands of new people join each day, free to explore the world and meet others who have created computer personalities They conduct business, socialize and interact on many levels.

Previous convention venues were New York, San Francisco and Chicago.

Alter Egos

Just in from Baltimore was beladona memorial. She was operating the system through which virtual residents could attend the conference from far-flung places. She was frantically looking for an electric outlet in the main ballroom in front of the stage.

Her real name is Carol Tucker, she's 58, and she's an avid Second Lifer. Her virtual personality is nothing like her real one.

"Carol is a little more of a stick-in-the-mud," she said, "being that she is in financial services."

"Beladona memorial is part human, part dragon and part small pig," she said. "She's a mentor for newcomers, and she loves live music and she shops. She shops a lot."

Worldwide grid evaluating collider test results

2008-09-14T22:25:00.001-07:00

Worldwide grid evaluating collider test results

Sharon Gaudin

September 15, 2008 (Computerworld) The successful test run of a massive particle collider brought scientists a step closer to finding answers to a question that has haunted people for centuries: How was the universe created?

The $9 billion Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which took some 20 years to build outside of Geneva, last week shot its first beam of protons around a 17-mile, vacuum-sealed loop buried 50 to 150 meters below the ground.

The test was a critical milestone in getting to the project's ultimate goal of shooting two particle beams toward each other at 99.9% of the speed of light. Colliding the beams will create showers of new particles that could re-create conditions in the universe just moments after the big bang that many scientists think created it.

With the test completed, the team of scientists overseeing the 111-nation effort is using a worldwide grid of servers and desktops to study the results.

Ruth Pordes, executive director of the Open Science Grid, which was created in 2005 to support the project, said that the U.S. portion of the global computer and storage grid is made up of more than 25,000 mostly Linux-based computers running 43,000 processors.

The grid's machines are housed at several universities, the U.S. Department of Energyand the National Science Foundation.

Harvey Newman, a physics professor at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, added that there are about 30,000 servers and more than 100,000 processor cores around the world hooked into grids that support the LHC project.

"The distributed computing model is essential to doing the computing, storage and hosting of the many petabytes of data from the experiments," he added.

Newman said that scientists last week sent one beam around the tube and, when that was complete, sent another in the opposite direction. Each beam made one circuit around the accelerator. And they both reached 99.999998% of the speed of light, he said.

The first particle collision should come in days or weeks, said Bolek Wyslouch, a physics professor at MIT, who has been working on the project for the past seven years.

This version of the story originally appeared in Computerworld's print edition.

Got something to add? Let us know in the article comments.

Browser Battle

2008-09-14T08:02:00.001-07:00

This story appeared on Network World at
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/090908-browser-battle-firefox-31-vs.html

Browser Battle: Firefox 3.1 vs. Chrome vs. IE 8

By Jr Raphael , PC World , 09/09/2008

Mozilla's second alpha of Firefox 3.1 is upping the ante in the next-generation browser battle. So how do the main contenders stack up so far now? One thing's for sure, the Firefox team has taken note of Google's recent Chrome release and worked hard to make sure its offering can hold its own.

Mozilla had already claimed its 3.1 version could outperform Chrome when it comes to speed (and mostindependent tests show it at least tying). Now, the engineers have incorporated Chrome-initiated options such as the ability to drag and drop tabs in and out of browser windows. The second alpha release also adds support for the HTML 5 video tag, which gives Web developers expanded options for embedding video within a page. Don't forget, too, that Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 8 beta 2 -- released at the end of August and quickly eclipsed by Chrome's introduction -- is also vying for a piece of the pie.

Here's a breakdown of the high and lowlights of each offering and where it stands as far as a full release.

Contender #1: Google Chrome

Related Content

The status:
Windows beta released September 2. Mac OS X and Linux versions still under development and said to be coming soon. No indication of targeted full release date.

The good:
* Reliability. Chrome's multiprocess architecture makes a bad Web page less likely to take down the whole browser.
* Speed. Chrome loads fast and keeps your surfing super-fast.
* Simplicity. Its clean design wastes no screen space.
* Searching. The Omnibox lets you type search terms or URLs into a single spot and figures out what you want.
* Privacy. Chrome offers an "Incognito" mode that lets you easily leave no footprints from where you've been.

The bad:
* Privacy. Chrome's taken a lot of heat for its monitoring and collection of user data, some of which happens before you even hit enter.
* Security. It didn't take long for users to discover vulnerabilities in the beta browser. Several of these have already been patched.
* Reliability. Some sites and online services still don't work with Chrome.
* Consistency. Because Chrome is build on the WebKit system, it differs from the dominant platforms that most designers focus on.
* Support. Chrome doesn't yet have any add-ons or customization options available. It's yet to be seen how these, once developed, will compare to the rich options available for Firefox.

Contender #2: Firefox 3.1

The status:
Second alpha build released September 5. Beta expected in the next month. Full release targeted for end of 2008.

The good:
* Strong foundation. Mozilla's already built a loyal following with Firefox, and it doesn't intend on letting that go. With Firefox 3.1, you know you'll have a powerful library of add-ons and support already at your fingertips, not to mention the slew of other assets unveiled in Firefox 3.0.
* Speed. Mozilla says its still-under-development TraceMonkey JavaScript platform will leave Google's V8 in the dust. The second alpha build revs things up, too, with added support for "Web workers" -- a system that lets multiple scripts run as background processes.
* Competitive edge. Mozilla's developers have good reason to watch what Chrome is doing -- and work to match it, if not one-up it.

The bad:
* Security questions. Some studies -- albeit, Microsoft-funded ones -- have suggested Firefox, with its frequent new versions, is more susceptible to threats than the other options.
* Crash potential. Unlike Chrome, Firefox does not have separate environments for each tab -- so one rogue page can still take the whole program down.
* Support. Firefox has worked hard to snag a small portion of the browser market share, and most early predictions show Chrome taking away more of its userbase than IE's.
* Google's focus on Chrome will also take away some of its previous focus on Mozilla's development efforts. Will Firefox be able to remain a key player in the browser war?

Related Content

Contender #3: Internet Explorer 8

The status:
Second beta released August 27. Full release expected before the end of 2008.

The good:
* Support. Love it or hate it, Internet Explorer is hanging on to about three-quarters of the browsing market with its default status in all Windows machines. You know developers and designers are going to cater to it.
* Security. With Microsoft at its helm, IE hangs on to a reputation of safe and reliable browsing.
* Privacy. IE 8 was the first to offer a no-record browsing mode, branded here as InPrivate Browsing.
* Searching. IE 8's Smart Address Bar offers similar functionality to Chrome's Omnibox, letting you type in URLs or search terms and taking you to the right place.
* Added add-ons. IE 8 finally catches up to Firefox with a new "Gallery" full of third-party add-on options..

The bad:
* Speed. Independent tests have found IE 8 to be significantly slower than the alternative choices. Resources. IE 8 uses a lot of memory compared to its competitors -- a factor that could considerably slow down the rest of your system.
* Crash potential. While IE 8 does use separate processes for tabs, similar to Chrome's approach, it does not do so to the same degree -- still leaving room for a total meltdown.
* Competition questions. Can IE's add-ons reach the level of Firefox's? Already, some users are complaining of problems even getting them to work.

That's the lowdown on the battle's current status. Remember, all three of these programs are still early in their development, so many of the pluses and minuses could change as things move forward. One thing's for sure, though: This battle is on, it's growing fierce, and each of its contenders will do anything it can to win.

Sony Recalls Vaio Laptops on Overheating Concern

2008-09-14T03:41:00.001-07:00

Desktops & Notebooks

Sony Recalls Vaio Laptops on Overheating Concern

By Reuters
2008-09-04

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Sony said the recall is for its VGN-TZ100, VGN-TZ200, VGN-TZ300 and VGN-TZ2000 series. Sony has been dogged in recent years by recalls of laptop computer batteries, amid concerns they would overheat and catch fire.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp. is recalling thousands of its Vaio portable computers, citing a potential hazard that could cause them to overheat or short circuit.

The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission said on Thursday the recall is for 74,000 machines in the United States, after Sony received 15 reports of overheating, including one consumer who suffered a minor burn.

The Kyodo news agency said the recall was for 440,000 units worldwide.

Sony said on its Web site that "the issue involves a small number of units which may overheat due to a wiring problem.

"Sony has initiated a voluntary program to perform a free inspection and, if necessary, a repair to ensure these units meet our high quality standards."

The company said the recall is for its VGN-TZ100, VGN-TZ200, VGN-TZ300 and VGN-TZ2000 series.

Sony has been dogged in recent years by recalls of laptop computer batteries, amid concerns they would overheat and catch fire. In 2006, Dell, Apple, Lenovo Group Ltd, Toshiba Corp. and some other PC makers recalled more than 8 million Sony batteries.

(Reporting by Franklin Paul, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

Sit tight, a bigger bang is coming

2008-09-14T03:39:00.001-07:00

From The Sunday Times

September 14, 2008

Sit tight, a bigger bang is coming

Jonathan Leake, Science Editor

THE vast new Cern particle collider has only just hummed into life, but physicists are already drawing up plans for a still larger machine to answer the questions even Albert Einstein was unable to resolve.

The International Linear Collider (ILC) would be a machine up to 31 miles long, comprising two giant "guns" that would accelerate electrons and particles of antimatter called positrons to near-light speeds before smashing them together.The results could open up some of the hottest topics in physics, such as the existence of extra dimensions, the origins of gravity and even how the big bang – the event that created the universe – happened.

"The ILC would build on the work of Cern's new Large Hadron Collider [LHC]," said Brian Foster, professor of experimental physics at Oxford University and European director of the project. "The LHC smashes protons together to discover new particles but also generates lots of debris that obscures the fine detail. The ILC would be a much cleaner machine and tell us far more about their real nature."

Physicists around the world have spent about £150m on designs for the new machine, nicknamed "Einstein's telescope", since the project was set up three years ago. About £10m has come from Britain.

This weekend 80 researchers from many countries gathered at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, to study plans for the giant detectors that would investigate the collisions. Mark Thomson, Cambridge's newly appointed professor of experimental particle physics, who was among those present, said the new machine would cost about £4 billion, with a final design expected around 2012.

"Physics theory suggests the LHC will find a subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, but if it does, this will raise many new questions," he said. "It would be a completely bizarre and new form of matter and we would need the ILC to really pin down its properties."

Such a machine would have to be huge – and very different from the circular LHC. When accelerated along a curved path, electrons and positrons lose much of their energy as they emit bursts of x-rays.

The ILC would need to be completely straight, with two huge linear accelerators pointing at each other and collisions happening at the point where their respective particle beams meet. They would at first be 11 miles long but could be extended to 15½ miles each. The accelerators would hurl 10 billion electrons and positrons at each other every second.

When matter meets antimatter, the particles annihilate each other, releasing a burst of energy that is converted into yet more particles plus radiation. The ILC's beams would generate around 14,000 such collisions each second, possibly creating new combinations of particles that could answer fundamental questions.

Physicists have dreamt of such a machine for decades but the technology needed to accelerate electrons and positrons to such high speeds has been developed only in the past few years. It works by sending massive bursts of radio waves into the tunnels. The particles can lock onto these waves and "surf" them, becoming faster with each successive wave.

Such a machine might be able to resolve some of the questions raised by Einstein's theories of relativity. The problem for Einstein, still unresolved, was that he could not reconcile the laws of the very large with the laws of the very small.

The world of atoms and particles is dominated by the three forces of electromagnetism and strong and weak nuclear forces.

On the scale of planets and stars, however, a fourth force, gravity, is in charge. Einstein's problem was that the way gravity works seemed mathematically impossible to reconcile with the other three.

Physicists believe, however, that immediately after the big bang just one force existed. As the early universe cooled, this split into the four forces seen today. The ILC team hopes to recreate the elemental single force and find how it gave rise to its four successors. It could also shed light on the nature of the mysterious dark matter thought to constitute more than 90% of the universe.

......................

Video Game Market Gets a Case of Summertime Blues

2008-09-14T03:17:00.001-07:00

Video Game Market Gets a Case of Summertime Blues

By Walaika Haskins
E-Commerce Times
Part of the ECT News Network
09/12/08 2:21 PM PT

After months of growing at breakneck speeds, the video game market showed signs of sputtering in August. The growth is still there, it's just not coming as fast. Two of the three most popular consoles are nearly two years old, and the third is even older, meaning it's up to price cuts and software to drive sales. August, however, ushered in few must-have titles.

The gains that have made 2008 a blockbuster year for the video game market continued in August; however, the rate of sales showed signs of slowing down for the month. Overall sales growth was held to single digits for the first time since 2006, according to numbers released Friday from market research firm NPD.

August industry sales remained strong and saw a 9 percent gain over last August, though the month posted the first single-digit percentage growth in 27 months, said Anita Frazier, an analyst at NPD.

The industry brought in a total of US$1.08 billion in August, some $85 million more than in August 2007. Video game hardware numbers increased to $394.53 million, a 3 percent jump. Software sales growth dipped slightly as well in August, increasing just 13 percent to $550.67 million.

Despite the smaller gains, industry sales are up 32 percent year-to-date and are on target to reach a year-end mark of between $22 billion and $24 billion.

The problem for the industry in August was that there "really [was] nothing that interesting moving sales," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group.

"The platforms are all aging, and the one exciting one, the Wii , is both constrained and doesn't really have that many games other than the ones it ships with that people seem to want to buy," he told the E-Commerce Times.

A Holiday Slowdown?

The dip in sales growth for the video game industry is largely due to "seasonality in the gaming industry," said Stephanie Ethier, an analyst at In-Stat.

"What we've been seeing in August is the back-to-school season for the younger gamers, and the post-vacation, back-to-work time period for the older gamers," she told the E-Commerce Times.

Although Ethier said she doesn't think manufacturers should abandon hope for the holiday season based on these numbers, Enderle has a more bearish outlook, as he sees no big-name gaming titles set for release this fall.

"It is a fourth-quarter business, but with aging platforms, sales will be well off prior years. Titles drive sales, and without hot titles, folks don't buy," he said.

August sales may show that the overall economic woes in the U.S. may finally be seeping into the video game market, said Ted Pollak, president of EE Fund Management.

"We're in a mini-recession, and everything gets affected by that. It is possible that the bad [economic] environment could be affecting sales," he told the E-Commerce Times.

In terms of the holiday season -- traditionally when game manufacturers experience the strongest sales -- the Wii has nothing to worry about, Pollak said. However, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 may benefit more from the digital TV transition set for February 2009. Though the most consumers will need to spend in order to adjust to the changeover will be a few dollars for a converter box, retailers will likely use the event as opportunity to push high-definition (HD) TVs at marked-down prices.

"It's possible that what will hold back sales of the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are running into HD television conversion factors. The mandatory switchover will stimulate quite a bit of third-generation console sales. A lot of people won't buy either console unless they have a [high-definition] TV. The prices on HD TVs are coming down, and there should be some sales before the transition during the holiday season," he continued.

Wii Keeps Selling

For August, Nintendo's Wii console continued its reign at the top of the console charts despite a slowdown in sales from 555,000 in July to 453,000. That brings the number of Wiis sold in the U.S. by the end of August to more than 13.9 million, according to VG Chartz.

Consumers picked up some 518,000 units of the portable Nintendo DS system, along with more than 1 million units of "Wii Fit," "Mario Kart," "Wii Play," and "Madden NFL 09" combined. The games took the fourth, fifth, sixth and ninth slots among the Top Ten gaming titles sold in August. Include accessories in the mix, and the Wii was responsible for 28 percent of total industry dollar sales in August, according to Frazier, despite the console's status as one of the least costly systems.

Both Enderle and Pollak expect the Wii to continue to outsell the Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox 360 and Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Playstation 3.

"Nintendo really could hit upwards of 50 million to 100 million units over the lifetime of the Wii," Pollak predicted.

"I think it likely it will. Nintendo is showcasing what has worked in other segments: Focus on a pure offering and provide it at an aggressive price. The other two are both complex and expensive, and that isn't a great combination," said Enderle.

The Console War Still for Second Place?

Still looking year-to-year, Sony's PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 consoles achieved the largest percentage gain, selling 253,000 units and 185,400 units, respectively. However, sales for the PS3 dropped off slightly from July 2008, when U.S. retailers moved 224,900 platforms.

Sales for the Xbox 360 dipped a little as well, dropping from just over 204,000 to 195,200 units in August. That number could increase dramatically in September, however, following Microsoft's decision to cut prices on its three Xbox 360 models -- the Arcade, Pro and Elite -- by $50 at the start of September.

"Possibly, price does move product. But I'm not sure it is enough this time, primarily because the Arcade version at the key price point may be seen as crippled by the market," said Enderle.

The '09 edition of "Madden NFL" a perennial chart-topping franchise, took the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 spots for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PlayStation 2 . Following its Aug. 8 release, gamers purchased more than 2 million copies of the game. Also ranking in the top 10 were "Soul Calibur IV" and "Too Human" on the Xbox 360 in the seventh and eighth spots, and "Guitar Hero on Tour" for the DS, which took the 10th slot. --

RIM Sweetens BlackBerry to Take On Apple

2008-09-14T03:16:00.001-07:00

RIM Sweetens BlackBerry to Take On Apple

By Jeff Meisner
E-Commerce Times
Part of the ECT News Network
09/12/08 3:49 PM PT

RIM is hoping that affection for the BlackBerry will take root among consumers, as it has among business users, and that it will become a "lifestyle device" to rival the iPhone. Toward that end, RIM has inked agreements with Ticketmaster, TiVo and MySpace -- not to mention Microsoft and Google.

Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) , maker of the ubiquitous BlackBerry handheld e-mail device, is moving deeper into the consumer market, where it is sure to run up against tough competition from Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone.

Earlier this year, RIM forged a partnership with social networking site Facebook that lets BlackBerry device owners access information from their Facebook pages.

Now, RIM has announced partnerships with a host of new companies that will give BlackBerry owners access to Windows Live Search, Google, Ticketmaster applications, MySpace, Internet radio station site Slacker, and interactive television company TiVo.

New Set of Customers

"If you look at RIM's business and how it's changed over the last few years, specifically with the Pearl handset, they're expanding from a traditional enterprise customer base to a broader consumer market," Charles Golvin, a wireless analyst with Forrester Research, told the E-Commerce Times.

The bevy of partnership announcements is just the latest move by RIM to tap into the consumer market.

"They still have their core business and value proposition built around e-mail and messaging, but they've been adding support for video, better cameras, and all the things that fit into the consumer side of the market for a while now," Golvin said.

Consumer Applications

The partnerships with Microsoft's Windows Live Search and Google have an obvious goal -- to get BlackBerry users the fastest, most relevant, location-based search results possible, Golvin said.

The partnerships with MySpace, Ticketmaster, TiVo and Slacker serve the same purpose as RIM's alliance earlier this year with Facebook -- to make the BlackBerry a "lifestyle" device.

"All of those things are cool," Golvin said. "I think what it shows is that people who use BlackBerrys are increasingly from the consumer market. These people aren't just people who care about work and e-mail. They also care about media and content."

Consumer Devices

The announcement of the new partnerships comes on the heels of RIM's introduction of a new device this past week at a trade show organized by wireless industry trade and lobbying group CTIA.

The new device, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip, uses a flip form factor for the BlackBerry Pearl, which RIM introduced about two years ago. A release date has not been announced for the Pearl Flip, but RIM said it will be offered through mobile operator T-Mobile USA .

RIM offers another consumer-centric device, the BlackBerry Bold, but it is only available in Europe and Canada right now. Its U.S. release is expected in October through AT&T (NYSE: T) .

"Clearly, the growth opportunity for RIM is outside of the enterprise," Scott Pope, an equity analyst with First Analysis, told the E-Commerce Times. "There are a lot of compelling offerings like the iPhone. The BlackBerry is becoming more and more intertwined with someone's life. It's becoming more of a lifestyle device."

RIM is also trying to get BlackBerry device owners to replace their older phones at a faster clip. "These apps become more and more demanding from a computing standpoint over time," Pope said. "People will need to upgrade their mobile phones in order to use those applications."

RIM Is Growing Fast

Like many of its competitors in the handheld market, RIM is growing very quickly.

In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, RIM reported earnings of US$1.7 billion on $6 billion in revenue, up from earnings of $800 million on $3 billion in revenue in the previous year.

"They're growing at a tremendous clip," Pope said. "The question is how long they will continue to grow that fast. There's no sign of any slowing. What's driving it is consumer adoption of BlackBerry devices such as the Pearl."

The Many Mad Monikers of Home WiFi Networks

2008-09-13T11:49:00.001-07:00

The Many Mad Monikers of Home WiFi Networks

By Etan Horowitz
Orlando Sentinel
09/13/08 4:00 AM PT

First, there was the funny doormat. Then came the novelty mailbox. Now we have WiFi networks. The self-expressive names people give their in-home wireless networks can be used to send messages, deter freeloaders and advertise a business.

early every time I pull out my iPhone or fire up my laptop, I get an interesting look into the people and businesses that surround me. How do I do this? By looking at the names of their wireless networks.

As the number of wireless networks and the number of portable devices that can connect to them continue to increase, naming a wireless network has become the high-tech equivalent of getting a vanity license plate, providing humor or insight into its creator.

Some people, such as Heather Whaling of Winter Park, Fla., use their WiFi network to express their love of a particular sports team. Whaling named her network "Go Bucks!" after her beloved Ohio State University Buckeyes. Soon after, another network popped up in her condo building called "Go Gators."

Others give their networks names that have specific meaning, such as a favorite nickname, word or vacation spot. Orlando Magic player Adonal Foyle has named his WiFi networks "Lucky1" and "Lucky2" after a donkey he had growing up in the Caribbean.

Don't Tread on Me

One popular method is to give your WiFi network a name that will deter others from using your network -- or others -- without permission, such as "Not Yours." This is especially popular in apartment buildings, which are typically ground zero for WiFi theft.

Last year, Alyssa Myracle set up an unsecured wireless network in her Orlando apartment and soon discovered her neighbors were mooching off her network. She could tell because she saw their Apple(Nasdaq: AAPL) iTunes libraries pop up when she had the music program open. So she protected her network with a password and called it "stealingiswrong."

Although the password prevented others from getting on her network, she hoped her network name would be a "good reminder that it's not cool to steal Internet from people who are paying for it!"

Others take a more sinister approach by giving their networks names such as "SSID Virus," "Apple Virus," "Fatal Error F01," or "Chinese Spyware."

Virtual Billboards

Lauren Mayeux said when she was a student at the University of Central Florida, she used her wireless network to send a different sort of message to her neighbors.

"I had some very rude neighbors who kept music with heavy bass blaring at all hours of the night and the complex wasn't much help," she says. "Out of much frustration, I renamed my wireless network to something like 'LoudNeighborsSuckTurnItDown.' No idea if they ever saw the message, but it made me feel better at the time."

Gavin Hall, an Orlando Internet entrepreneur, uses his wireless network as a virtual billboard for his resume and job networking Web site, Emurse.com. Hall connects an aircard to his laptop to give him Internet access and also create a WiFi network for those around him. When he goes to conferences, he leaves his laptop out so others can get online and learn about his business. His network is called "Please visit emurse.com."

Testing the Wind

What about people who don't change their WiFi network name and just keep the default of "linksys" or "netgear"? They either don't know a lot about technology or are really boring.

Besides giving you insight into a person or business, seeing what WiFi network names pop up when you are traveling can give you a feel for your new surroundings. For instance, during a recent trip to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., I got out my iPhone and saw a network name that started with "Bush is a ..." and ended with a very vulgar word. If you didn't already know that Cambridge was a pretty liberal place, this would be a good indicator.

Sometimes, a WiFi network with a certain name popping up at a certain time can seem more than just coincidence. When I was voting in the recent primary election, a network popped up called "gustav." This was a few days before the storm was dominating the news, but people were just starting to talk about it, and perhaps the appearance of this network was an indication that this Gustav would be a storm that deserved my attention.

We're from Google and we're here to help. Really?

2008-09-13T11:35:00.001-07:00

We're from Google and we're here to help. Really?

Posted by Charles Cooper

This didn't take long. Just one day into Chrome's young existence and serious privacy questions are getting raised. Sleuthing by my colleague Ina Fried turned up the following:

The auto-suggest feature of Google's new Chrome browser does more than just help users get where they are going. It will also give Google a wealth of information on what people are doing on the Internet besides searching.

Provided that users leave Chrome's auto-suggest feature on and have Google as their default search provider, Google will have access to any keystrokes that are typed into the browser's Omnibox, even before a user hits enter.

What's more, Google has every intention of retaining some of that data even after it provides the promised suggestions. A Google representative told CNET News that the company plans to store about 2 percent of that data--and plans to store it along with the Internet Protocol address of the computer that typed it.

So much for "Don't be evil"? That's probably a stretch, though I have the feeling that Google was so eager to push this product onto the Web that it failed to let its wiser heads add their two cents. Nothing here that can't be remedied as you only need to turn off the auto-suggest feature to prevent Google from getting its hands on your personal data.

Meanwhile, Google has since backed away from its initial insistence on claiming the right to display and distribute any content transmitted through the browser. In a statement released earlier Wednesday, Google said, "In order to keep things simple for our users, we try to use the same set of legal terms (our Universal Terms of Service) for many of our products. Sometimes, as in the case of Google Chrome, this means that the legal terms for a specific product may include terms that don't apply well to the use of that product. We are working quickly to remove language from Section 11 of the current Google Chrome terms of service."

I wouldn't get too excited about any of this. Truth be told, however, the privacy kerfuffle around the Chrome Web browser was entirely avoidable--and it wouldn't have slowed down its sales juggernaut either. Google can learn the lesson in advance of the next big product roll-out.

Earlier Wednesday, I sat down with Ina on our Daily Debrief segment for an extended chat about all this.

Click here for full coverage of the Google Chrome launch.

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Are you buying ultra-low-cost notebooks yet? Well, someone is

2008-09-13T08:23:00.001-07:00

Sent to you by Zeeshan Sattar via Google Reader:

Are you buying ultra-low-cost notebooks yet? Well, someone is

via Coop's Corner by Charles Cooper on 9/10/08

Writing about the Tuesday introduction of new iPods by Apple, American Technology Research's Shaw Wu observed that the product debut came smack in the midst of a lousy economic cycle where "macro headwinds are becoming more apparent."

That qualifies as more than mild understatement.

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Trustbusters divided on next move on Google

2008-09-13T08:22:00.001-07:00

Sent to you by Zeeshan Sattar via Google Reader:

Trustbusters divided on next move on Google

via Coop's Corner by Charles Cooper on 9/11/08

Go big or go small.

That's the question facing lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice investigating Google. Sources who have provided testimony to the government say a departmental debate revolves around whether antitrust regulators should challenge Google's proposed revenue-sharing deal with Yahoo, or go for the

...

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Fifty years later, IBM's inventors celebrate the 'Stretch'

2008-09-13T08:13:00.001-07:00

Fifty years later, IBM's inventors celebrate the 'Stretch'

Posted by Charles Cooper

Left to right: Stretch collaborators Fran Allen, Fred Brooks, and Harwood Kolsky, and The New York Times' Steve Lohr.

(Credit: Computer History Museum)

So how does it feel to be associated with one of Big Blue's biggest failures?

"All depends on your perspective," recalled an amused Fran Allen, not at all regretting her participation in a now-storied mid-1950s supercomputer project popularly known as "Stretch."

Even though IBM only built nine of the machines, Stretch left behind a legacy that remains a source of pride to the participants who were present at its creation.

"A lot of what went into that effort was later helpful to the rest of the industry," Allen said with the sort of understatement you'd expect from a former winner of the prestigious Turing Award. Fact is that Allen and the 300-some people who collaborated on Stretch invented many of the concepts that later became standard computer technologies. The short list includes multiprogramming, pipelining, memory protection, memory interleaving, and the eight-bit byte.

Stretch: announced April 1960 and withdrawn in 1961.

(Credit: IBM)

Many members of that original team, now grayer and more slow-of-gait than they were during the Eisenhower administration, filled an auditorium Thursday night at the Computer History Museum to reminisce and consider the legacy they bequeathed. Fred Brooks, who was a system planner for Stretch, and Harwood Kolsky, who worked on product planning, later joined Allen on stage for a panel discussion moderated by The New York Times reporter Steve Lohr.

In January 1956, work on the Stretch project formally got underway with the goal of building a supercomputer to replace IBM's 704 supercomputer. The resulting product, called the 7030, as the Stretch was officially known, could perform 100 billion computations a day and handle half a million instructions per second.

"We were about 300 people working in Poughkeepsie (New York)," said Kolsky. "Individual teams met frequently. That's why it's hard to tell who invented what. Generally, morale was high. You wouldn't know it by looking up here, but it was a young person's group...there were only two people over 40. Most members of the team were in their 20s and 30s."

But they were in for a shock. IBM's then-CEO, Thomas Watson, Jr. judged the 7030 to be a failure. Even though the machine was about 30 to 40 times faster than other systems, IBM won a bid submitted to Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory on its pledge to build a supercomputer that was at least 100 times faster than the 704.

When Stretch came along, IBM, which controlled about 70 percent of the computer market and about 90 percent of the punch-card business, was already fending off charges it exerted monopoly control. Brooks said that when Watson ordered the original price cut to $10 million, "that put it at under cost and violated antitrust...antitrust was a fact of everyday life in all our thinking."

In fact, IBM had signed off on a consent decree with the Justice Department in 1956. The company eventually shipped nine systems to customers around the world but then closed the production line forever.

Kolsky recalled the initial reaction to Watson's decision, saying that the project's engineers thought it served as a potential death knell to future supercomputer development.

The first system was developed for the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory under contract to the Atomic Energy Commission

(Credit: Computer History Museum)

Of course, it was anything but. In fact, the lessons learned from Stretch paved the way for the subsequent development of IBM's System/360, which turned out to be a smash success. Meanwhile, the innovations invented for Stretch subsequently entered the wider world of mainstream computing.

With the exception of industry cognoscenti--and the relative handful of folks responsible for engineering and managing the project--Stretch remains a footnote for most people. But maybe that's starting to change. To underscore the moment, IBM flew in one of its up-and-comers, senior VP of Development and Manufacturing Rod Adkins, to introduce the panel. Earlier in the evening, I sat down for a conversation with Adkins, who placed Stretch in its historical context.

"It's a pretty good model of a highly ambitious program that, at the time, was considered having not met its objectives," he said. "But when you look at some of the things that came out of that effort and how it's influenced the computer industry today, (Stretch) has had a profound, indirect, benefit to this industry."

Computer historians should also note the following: Stretch remained the most powerful computer in the world until 1964. Some failure.

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No sign of iPod fatigue with Nano

2008-09-13T07:57:00.001-07:00

No sign of iPod fatigue with Nano

I brought a new iPod Nano to lunch the other day, partly to see how well it carries and, yes, partly to show off..

By Jeff Carlson

Special to The Times

PAUL SAKUMA / AP

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the new iPod Nano in San Francisco on Tuesday.

I brought a new iPod Nano to lunch the other day, partly to see how well it carries and, yes, partly to show off.

The new fourth-generation model, announced this week, returns the iPod Nano to its design roots: unlike the squat design of the previous incarnation, this one is tall and thin, with a rectangular screen that occupies more than half of the front of the device.

The body is curved aluminum, and it's very thin and very light — after putting it in my pocket, I almost forgot it was there.

The Nano is available in two configurations: 8 GB of storage for $149 or 16 GB for $199. Both models come in eight colors.

But the looks weren't necessarily the attraction at lunch. Now that Apple owns 73.4 percent of the music-player market, I wondered: Are people still interested in yet another device that plays music and video? Has iPod fatigue finally set in?

Apparently not. When I played a movie on the iPod Nano's incredibly sharp screen — rotated 90 degrees to take advantage of the widescreen aspect ratio, thanks to the Nano's new built-in accelerometer — I saw that familiar sense of wonder and curiosity that accompanied the introduction of the original iPod.

The accelerometer, which is also present in the iPhone and iPod Touch, adds several capabilities to the iPod Nano. It lets you view your music library in Cover Flow mode (as if you're flipping through the panels of an old jukebox).

It displays horizontal photos full screen when the device is held sideways. Videos automatically play in the widescreen orientation.

Having the accelerometer also provides the capability to take advantage of motion actions; the included Maze game relies on tipping the iPod every which way to guide a marble through a maze.

(Oddly, when playing a game in the widescreen orientation, the click wheel's functions are also rotated: pressing the Menu button performs the actions of the Previous button, the Next button acts as the Menu button, and so on. That behavior only seems to apply to game playing.)

The Nano has other tricks up its sleeve, too. Shake the device while music is playing and it switches to shuffle mode to play songs randomly. (When the screen is inactive or the hold button is enabled, shake-to-shuffle is disabled, so your music isn't randomized as you dash for the bus.)

A preference in iTunes activates spoken menus on the iPod Nano, so people with vision difficulties can navigate the menus. It also supports Apple's new Genius playlists (which I'll get to in a moment).

iPod Touch: Also announced this week was an updated iPod Touch, which I've decided that I deeply resent because it makes my svelte first-generation iPhone look chunky.

It's available in three configurations: 8 GB ($229), 16 GB ($299) and 32 GB ($399).

This model isn't much different from the previous one. It adds the Genius feature (really, I'm almost there) and built-in support for the Nike + iPod exercise system: The iPod Touch includes the radio that communicates with the shoe sensor that tracks your pace, removing the need for a bulky plug-in adapter.

It also ships with version 2.1 of the iPhone Touch software. Owners of existing iPod Touch models can upgrade from version 2.0 to 2.1 for free; upgrading from version 1.0 to 2.1 costs $9.95.

iTunes 8: The other major announcement was iTunes 8, a free download for Mac and Windows. In addition to support for the new iPods, iTunes features Genius, an intelligent music-recommendation tool.

When you select a song in your library and click the new Genius button, iTunes builds a playlist of songs it believes play well together. In my testing, Genius did pretty well, with a few odd picks.

Building a playlist around José González's "Heartbeats," a song featuring vocals over acoustic guitar, brought up a playlist that included the more rocking "I'll Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor" by the Arctic Monkeys, for example.

You must first enable Genius, which compiles and uploads information about your library (but not any personal identifying information) to Apple, where the data is matched with millions of other users' data.

Once a week new algorithms — Apple calls them Genius Results — are downloaded to your computer to help improve the intelligence of the service.

The iPod Nano and iPod touch each contain a new Genius menu that can build a Genius playlist on the fly without connecting to iTunes.

A separate Genius Sidebar (which can be shown or hidden) provides a similar service, but uses the selected song to bring up suggestions at the iTunes Store.

Last, iTunes 8 heralds the introduction of high-definition versions of television shows, including shows from the prodigal network NBC, who pulled out of the iTunes Store last year allegedly over a pricing dispute.

--
Zeeshan Sattar
Cell# 92-333-3846551
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What keeps me going is goals
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