3D is coming to a living room near you

Three-dimensional TV is coming to a living room near you. But will the technology spur a consumer spending spree like digital and high-definition TV did before it? Or will 3D end up being the next big flop?

One thing is clear, TV manufacturers need something new to get people buying TVs. Over the last couple of years, TV manufacturers have experienced a sales boom as consumers upgrade to digital TVs in anticipation of the government's mandated switch to digital TV broadcasts in February 2009.

Eager shoppers have also been upgrading to high-definition TVs as movie studios, cable and satellite operators, and TV broadcasters have begun offering more programming in HD.

But as the economy worsens, the forecast for the TV market is looking grim. The LCD TV market is only expected to grow about 17 percent in terms of units shipped in 2009, according to research firm DisplaySearch. This is down from growth of about 29 percent in 2008.

Plasma TV growth is also expected to suffer with the market only expected to grow by about 5 percent in 2009 compared with a 24 percent rise in 2008, DisplaySearch said.

As a result, TV makers are looking for the next hot thing to attract new consumers. And some are hoping 3D TVs could be it.

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, four of the top selling TV manufacturers - Samsung Electronics, Sony, LG Electronics and Panasonic - showed off their latest versions of 3D TVs.

Panasonic set up a mini-home theater where its 103-inch, plasma 3D screen showed clips from New Line Cinema's Journey to the Center of the Earth and Walt Disney Pictures' animated film Bolt. They also showed high-definition 3D footage from NBC's broadcast of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

While some manufacturers, such as Mitsubishi, Phillips, Samsung, and Sharp, have already begun selling 3D-ready TVs, the top four manufacturers plan to have new, advanced 3D TVs on sale toward the end of 2009 and into 2010.

But the big question is whether consumers, particularly American consumers, will be willing to upgrade to a new TV just because it has 3D. Pricing for today's 3D ready TVs is comparable to other flat screen HDTVs. Samsung and Mitsubishi currently sell their 3D-ready TVs for between $1,000 and $2,800, depending on functionality. These prices are in line with average prices for HDTVs that don't offer 3D readiness.

Keisuke Suetsugi, a manager for the audio visual center at Panasonic, believes that even the newer, more advanced 3D TVs will not cost much more than TVs without 3D. So for consumers already in the market for a TV, adding 3D readiness might not add much cost. But will 3D be enough to compel cutting edge consumers to replace their two or three year old TVs? That's what TV manufactures are hoping.

Three-dimensional movies have been around since the 1950s. And for most of its lifespan the technology has been seen more as a gimmick than something that truly enhances the movie-going experience. But newer technology and advanced special effects are helping 3D movies break into the mainstream.

TV makers believe that much of the demand for 3D will come from Hollywood, which is pushing 3D in a big way. Last year, DreamWorks announced that all its films will be produced for 3D production beginning in 2009. The company has partnered with chipmaker Intel to build processors that will help make 3D in the home a reality.

Sports leagues have also been experimenting with 3D technology. Both the National Basketball Association and the National Football League have broadcast events and games in 3D to movie theaters.

From a technical standpoint, the technology is available and mature enough today to make 3D TVs available at a reasonable cost to consumers. But there are still a few drawbacks that could prevent 3D TV from becoming the next big thing in home entertainment.

For one, to get the really cool, immersive 3D experience without getting a massive head-ache, consumers will have to wear special glasses when they're watching TV in 3D. The glasses are needed because 3D imaging requires sending a different image to each eye. And the glasses help merge the images in the mind and trick the brain into thinking that it's seeing a single 3D image.

I checked out Panasonic's home theater in 3D. I must admit, the experience was phenomenal. I felt like I was on the floor at the Olympics opening ceremonies in Beijing right along side the hundreds of dancers and drummers. But without the glasses, the image looked fuzzy.

Panasonic's Suetsugi admits that in a perfect world, consumers should be able to have the immersive 3D experience without wearing glasses. But he said that it will be at least 10 years before the technology is advanced enough to provide a similarly robust 3D experience without glasses.

"Glassless 3D would be ideal," he said. "But it's just not possible to do that now and get the same quality experience. You would need at least 50 times more pixels to get a display to provide the same 3D experience that we provide with our TV. We are still 10 years away from that kind of technology."

Taesoo Park, a chief research engineer at LG, which makes 3D display monitors for advertising and digital signage, agrees. LG plans to start selling its 3D TVs, which require glasses, late in 2009 or in the beginning of 2010. It's glassless digital signs were also on display at CES.

"Glassless 3D is available today for digital signage and advertising," Park explained. "But the technology is not ready for TVs, because it would hurt people's eyes or give them a headache to look at today's 3D displays for any length of time. It will be at least a decade before we can get the technology to make glassless TV a reality."

That said, some manufacturers claim they have developed technology that doesn't require glasses. Phillips uses a technology it calls WOWvx. 3M and Toshiba also showed off glassless 3D screens at CES. 3M has created a thin film technology that can be used to beam light selectively to the viewer's right and left eyes.

But glasses aren't the only thing that could hold back 3D adoption. Currently, there's no standard way to get 3D footage from the movie studios or from a live broadcasts to the home. Companies, such as Panasonic, are already working on developing a standard. But industry watchers fear that competing standards could emerge and spur another "format" war like the one that pits HD DVD and Blu-ray against each other.

Panasonic's Suetsugi said he is hopeful that a common standard for 3D Blu-ray hardware, software and TVs will emerge sometime this year, paving the way for 3D TV sales to pick up in 2010.

In addition to the standards issue, another hurdle for 3D TV has to do with the high production cost of shooting movies and events in 3D, as well as, the high cost of transporting the video across networks. Three-dimensional video requires multiple cameras for shooting. And it also requires multiple high-definition streams for transporting the video over carrier networks.

Regular standard definition television broadcasts consume more bandwidth capacity than other types of traffic like audio or text. High-definition video eats up even more. And it would likely take at least two full high-definition channels to broadcast live just one game in 3D.

This means that service providers, such as cable or satellite operators, would have to upgrade their infrastructure to handle the high bandwidth demands. Verizon, which is deploying fiber directly to consumers' homes for its Fios service, is already in good shape. But others such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable, are already finding it difficult to carve out enough bandwidth to regular HD video as well as Internet video on their networks.

"Transporting live high-definition 3D streams is very expensive," said Steve Hellmuth, executive vice president of technology and operations for the NBA. "So there has to be sufficient demand and a pool of content before satellite and cable operators will devote resources to delivering it. I really think that Hollywood will initially drive adoption of 3D in the home."

source: cnn.com

Read more!

Is Apple really prepping a games console?

Of all the months of the year, January is typically the one when rumours about new tech products keep the internet humming. That's probably something to do with the CES show and speculation surrounding it, both before and after.

click on image to enlarge

Among the most creative we've come across recently is a suggestion by respected technology website TG Daily that a recent Apple trademark filing suggests the company could be planning to re-enter the console gaming market.

No more Mac

That idea comes from Apple's multiple applications in various territories to have the term 'OS X' protected. That's notable because it doesn't include the word 'Mac'.

The thinking goes something like this – Apple is weakening the connection between OS X and Mac simply because the operating system powers platforms other than computers.

Play for games

That includes just the iPhone and iPod touch at the minute, but could equally apply to a future console or any other domestic device that needs an OS.

Since Apple is clearly intent on making the iPhone a powerful gaming device and will therefore have both the games and an online delivery system (the App Store), why not speculate that it could try to make a play for some of the cash Nintendo and Sony are raking in?

While we like the idea that anyone would challenge the current console giants, it's hard to believe that Apple will do so anytime soon.

Pippin redux?

Anyone with an unhealthy knowledge of the history of home gaming will know that Apple has already tried and failed spectacularly with something called the Pippin in 1995.

Still, Apple rarely does exactly what we expect, so we're not ruling anything out at this stage. Just don't read too much into this little bit of speculation.

By J Mark Lytle
source: techradar

Read more!

Microsoft launches XBox 360 Gold giveaway

Even with recent news that Microsoft is planning on laying off about 17% of it's employees, the software giant launched it's Lunar New Year promotion. From now until February 15th 2009, residents of Hong Kong will have an opportunity to win some golden XBox 360's. Although these consoles are not solid gold, they are worth a lot more than what participants will have to pay to enter the competition.

To enter the competition you need to purchase a XBox 360 with a 60GB hard drive or an XBox 360 elite. The last step is sending an e-mail to Microsoft explaining why you love your XBox. There has been no word if any other regions will also have a competition like this. The winners will be announced on March 1st 2009.

source: neowin

Read more!

Obama has high hopes for keeping BlackBerry

President-elect Barack Obama checks his BlackBerry while riding on his campaign bus in Pennsylvania last March.
(Credit: Pete Souza/ Rapport Press)

President-elect Barack Obama is sure to face his share of hurdles over the course of his presidency. But when it comes to one of them--the possibility that he might have to give up his beloved BlackBerry--he is waxing optimistic that he will overcome.

In an interview with CNN Friday, Obama expressed confidence that he would be able to keep his smartphone, despite well-publicized concerns over the possibility of eavesdropping by hackers and other digital snoops. While Research In Motion offers encryption, the U.S. government has stricter requirements for communications security.

Some handheld devices, such as General Dynamics' Sectera Edge, have been officially blessed as secure enough to handle even classified documents, e-mail, and Web browsing.
But Obama seems determined to hang on to his device of choice.

"I think we're going to be able to beat this back," Obama told CNN's John King. "....I think we're going to be able to hang onto one of these. Now, my working assumption, and this is not new, is that everything I write on e-mail could end up being on CNN. So I make sure that--to think before I press 'send.'"

Obama senior adviser David Axelrod told ABC News: "He's pretty determined."

The matter of the BlackBerry has been widely discussed in the media, not only because it represents security challenges specific to the BlackBerry era, but because Obama describes it as a symbol of his desire to stay in touch with the world outside the presidential bubble.

"I applaud that (desire)," Paul Begala, a CNN political contributor and former adviser to President Bill Clinton wrote in a commentary earlier this month. "And so I'm on his side in the Battle of the BlackBerry."

Research In Motion couldn't have paid for a better ad campaign.

Of course, the BlackBerry isn't the only consumer electronics device to share a headline with the president-to-be recently. Questions over whether Obama owned a Microsoft Zune had gadget watchers all aflutter late last year.

source: cnet.com

Read more!

Windows worm hits 8.9 million PCs in past week

Security researchers are reporting that in the past four days a worm has infected 3.5 million Windows computers.

The worm, dubbed Conficker, Downadup, or Kido, spreads via a vulnerability that Microsoft patched in October 2008. Once on a machine it sets up an HTTP server and resets a machine's System Restore point to stop administrators deleting it.

"The number of Downadup infections are skyrocketing based on our calculations," said F-Secure in its blog.

"From an estimated 2.4 million infected machines to over 8.9 million during the last four days. That's just amazing."

The worm contains the usual Trojan package that allows the controller to download new files from their own server. But in an unusual twist the malware generates hundreds of seemingly random domain names to scan for updates, making it much harder to track the one used by the malware writer.

"Our advice is to block all incoming and outgoing traffic on port 445 from those computers to ensure that
(a) they aren’t hit with exploits from the internet and (b) if they somehow are exploited, they aren’t able to infect the rest of the network via file shares," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

"Furthermore, if you have a group policy in place to lock out accounts after too many unsuccessful login attempts, the worm will probably cause many of these accounts to become locked out during the worm’s password cracking attempts. This can obviously be annoying, but at the same time it is a good indicator that you may have an infected computer on the network."

Servers in the US and Europe have had fewest infections due to regular updating by IT administrators. China, Brazil and Russia have been hit hardest according to F-Secure.

Read more!

YouTube TV site for Wii and PS3 consoles

It is no longer necessary to own Apple TV or TiVo digital video recorder or VUDU box to watch YouTube clips on TV. YouTube is joining MySpace, Yahoo and others in bringing the web based features to the TV screen.

YouTube blog reports that their TV Website offers a dynamic, lean-back, 10-foot television viewing experience through a streamlined interface that enables users to discover, watch and share YouTube videos on any TV screen with just a few quick clicks of remote control.

Users can browse and play videos from their PS3 or Wii based web browser by visiting YouTube TV site. This site cannot be opened from a PC's browser without installing a browser add-on like User Agent Switcher and is not useful for Xbox gamers due to the lack of an in-built web browser in Xbox 360's dashboard.

YouTube TV is currently in Beta.

source: neowin

Read more!

BlackBerry Curve 8900 listed on T-Mobile site

The BlackBerry Curve 8900 , also known as the BlackBerry Javelin, is now listed on T-Mobile's site , but buyers wanting to get their mitts on the long-awaited smartphone still have to wait.

The carrier, which will be the first to offer the long-awaited Curve 8900, has not yet made it available to pre-order. The site simply lists the device as "coming soon." AT&T also is expected to offer the Curve 8900 sometime soon.

T-Mobile last week officially announced that it will be offering the Curve 8900 sometime in February. The exact date is unclear, but according to several industry watchers, Research In Motion's (RIM) first major BlackBerry release of 2009 will hit stores on Feb. 11.

Currently, it appears the smartphone will run $199.00 with a two-year contract, though T-Mobile has yet to confirm that price. Without a contract, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 could hit about $500.

Business users, however, won't have to wait until next month to get their hands on a Curve 8900. According to gadget blog the Boy Genius Report, T-Mobile plans to release a limited number of Curve 8900s to business customers on Monday, Jan. 19. To take advantage of the deal, buyers must be employees of a company that has a business account with T-Mobile.

Business user pricing for the Curve 8900 is in line with consumer pricing: $499.99 for contract-free devices, $249.99 with a one-year contract and $199.99 with a two-year agreement.

click on image to enlarge

The Curve 8900 packs all the punch of most modern BlackBerrys, though it lacks 3G connectivity. The Curve 8900 is billed as the lightest and thinnest BlackBerry to feature a full QWERTY keyboard, measuring in at just over a half-inch thick. It also offers all of the features and functions BlackBerry users have grown accustomed to, including phone, e-mail, text messaging, browser, instant messaging, document viewing and editing and organizer applications. It also ties in a host of multimedia functions, such as a media player.

The Curve 8900 offers EDGE support with built-in Wi-Fi and GPS, a 512MHz next-generation processor, a 2.4-inch 480-x-360 high-resolution display, a 3.2-megapixel camera and BlackBerry OS version 4.6.

source: channel web

Read more!

Office 14 Alpha screenshots leak

Microsoft is currently developing the successor to Office 2007, Office codenamed "14".

Russian site Wzor has leaked some screenshots of the Office 14 alpha build that was handed out to select testers this week.

Some of the screenshots are posted below

click on images to enlarge

Read more!

Scientists Create Titanium-Based Structural Metallic-Glass Composites

Pasadena, CA -- Scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a range of structural metallic-glass composites, based in titanium, that are lighter and less expensive than any the group had previously created, while still maintaining their toughness and ductility--the ability to be deformed without breaking.

A paper describing these breakthrough metallic-glass alloys is now online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Early Edition in advance of an upcoming print publication.

Earlier this year, the same Caltech group had published a paper in the journal Nature, describing new strategies for creating the liquid-metal composites. This research resulted in "alloys with unrivaled strength and toughness," notes Douglas Hofmann, visiting scientist and lead author on the PNAS paper that, along with the Nature paper, describes work he did while a graduate student at Caltech. "They are among the toughest engineering materials that currently exist."

Still, there were shortcomings to the alloys presented in Nature. Because they were created for use in the aerospace industry--among other structural applications--they needed to have very low densities. Ideally, the alloys would have had densities in or around those of crystalline titanium alloys, which fall between 4.5 and 5 grams per cubic centimeter (g/cc). The original alloys, made predominantly of zirconium, fell between 5.6 and 6.4 g/cc, putting them "in a no-man's-land of densities for aerospace structures," says Hofmann.

And so Hofmann and his colleagues--including William Johnson, Caltech's Ruben F. and Donna Mettler Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, and a pioneer in the creation of metallic glass--began tweaking the components in their composites, eventually coming up with a group of alloys with a high percentage of titanium, but which maintained the properties of the previously created zirconium alloys.

"Despite being based in titanium," Hofmann notes, "these alloys exhibit the same impressive properties as the zirconium alloys. They are still tough--in other words, they resist cracking--and they are still ductile. In fact, they are even more ductile than the alloys we'd created in the past."

This decrease in density also resulted in a reduction in cost, adds Hofmann, since zirconium is a more expensive metal than is titanium.

source: California Institute of Technology
credits: embeddedtechnology

Read more!

Photo of Hudson River plane crash downs TwitPic

The rapid-fire spread of a close-up photo of the US Airways plane that crashed in the Hudson River Thursday resulted in the service that hosted the picture going down.

TwitPic, an application that allows users to take pictures from their mobile phones and append them to Twitter posts, went down after at least 7,000 people attempted to view the photo of the airplane taken from a commuter ferry by Sarasota, Fla., resident Janis Krums.

According to Noah Everett, the founder of TwitPic, who still runs the service by himself, after the photo of the plane was re-tweeted by a large number of people and then picked up by several news sites, including Silicon Alley Insider, the resulting traffic was too much for the site's servers.

Everett called it a "snowball effect."

In fact, Everett said this wasn't the first time someone had used TwitPic to post a photo of an airplane accident. He explained that a passenger on a Continental Airlines plane that went off the runway in Denver in December used the service to post a photo. But that time, the service was able to stay up.

Perhaps because of the national interest in an airplane accident taking place in direct view of Manhattan, the traffic produced by Krums' photo was higher than in the case of the Denver accident, Everett suggested.

And while the circumstances of Thursday's accident were unfortunate--though, miraculously, no one died in the crash--Everett admitted that the fact that Krums' photo got so much attention was validation of the utility of TwitPic.

"We haven't gotten so much press coverage before," Everett said.

"It's shocking, and it's a good feeling--though (also) not a good feeling because it's bad news," Everett said.

He also said that he's got additional servers that are soon going to be in place.

"In a month's time (something like) this will not affect us anymore," he explained. "We're working to be able to handle our growth, but this is definitely a wake-up call showing the power of breaking news and TwitPic."

Everett said that there had been about 7,000 views of the picture before the site went down, and that there were about 500 additional requests to view it every 15 or 20 seconds.

He also said that while he couldn't be immediately sure, it was likely that Krums had used an Apple iPhone to take the picture, given that it was 600x800 pixels, the average size of an iPhone picture.

By 2:35 p.m. Pacific, about two hours after the photo was taken, TwitPic was back up.

Everett said, "I hope it stays up. I'll be working on this through the night."

source: news.cnet

Read more!

Vodafone hits 16Mb/sec in mobile broadband trials

Vodafone is preparing to launch mobile broadband connections with an actual speed of 16Mb/sec, following trials of the new HSPA+ standard.

HSPA+ offers a headline speed of 21Mb/sec, but Vodafone claims to have recorded actual speeds of 16Mb/sec in field trials of the technology.

The company predicts that HSPA+ will deliver a typical download speed of around 13Mb/sec in good reception areas, falling to a less impressive average of 4Mb/sec in "typical cell locations".

Nevertheless, it represents a marked improvement on today's HSDPA connections, which offer a headline speed of 7.2Mb/sec on the Vodafone network, but only achieve an average speed of around 2Mb/sec in our real-world tests.

HSPA+ achieves its higher download speeds by using the same kind of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology found on 802.11 Wi-Fi equipment. Both base stations and modems use multiple attenae to improve the chances of an uninterrupted signal reaching the user.

HSPA+ also uses a more advanced modulation technique, called 64QAM. The higher speed service will require users to upgrade their existing modem hardware.

Vodafone is continuing to test and validate hardware with its modem manufacturers, but says it "plans to make this technology available in selected commercial networks".

Barry Collins


source: pcpro.co.uk

Read more!

'Downadup' worm targets corporate networks

F-Secure has warned of a worm affecting corporate networks that is spreading rapidly. It is said to have already infected 2.5 million PCs worldwide.

F-Secure has issued alerts about new versions of the "Downadup" worm. This worm infects Windows workstations and servers, causing various problems.

The security firm has received several reports of corporate networks getting infected with variants of the worm.

Downadup (also known as Conficker) is a large family of network worms. They are unusually difficult to remove, especially in case of an internal infection inside a corporate network.

Downadup uses several different methods to spread. These include using the recently patched vulnerability in Windows Server Service, guessing network passwords and infecting USB sticks.

As an end result, once the malware gains access to the inside of a corporate network, it can be unusually hard to eradicate fully, said F-Secure.

Typical problems generated by the worm include locking network users out of their accounts. This happens because the worm tries to guess (or brute-force) network passwords, tripping the automatic lock-out of a user who has too many password failures.

Once this worm infects a machine, it protects itself very aggressively. It does this by setting itself to restart very early in the boot-up process of the computer and by setting Access Rights to the files and registry keys of the worm so that the user cannot remove or change them.

The worm downloads modified versions of itself from a long list of websites. The names of these websites are generated by an algorithm based on current date and time. As there are hundreds of different domain names that could be used by the malware, it is hard for security companies to locate and shut them all down in time.

Further technical information about the malware is available on F-Secure's blog.

What to do to avoid infection:

- Make sure latest Microsoft patches have been applied

- Make sure your organization is running the latest version of your anti-virus product

- Check that the anti-virus product has the latest updates

- Turn off AUTORUN and AUTOPLAY for USB sticks

- Make sure users domain passwords are strong

- Take extra care about the domain administrators' passwords

source: computerweekly

Read more!

Winners of High-performance computing project contest

Winners of high-performance computing project contest announced at Rusnanotech
(Nanowerk News)

A ceremony of awarding the winners of high-performance computing project contest held by the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) and Intel took place today. The contest was aimed at fostering the teams of scientists using the supercomputing power in their work.



The ceremony was carried out in the framework of the Nanotechnology International Forum at the Central Exhibition Complex "Expocenter". The criteria of evaluation the projects submitted to the panel of judges were using the high-performance supercomputers for scientific needs, adequacy of the level of tasks being set to the high-performance computing capacity, paralleling efficiency and scaling ability, absolute performance required to achieve the desired results, ingenuity and complexity of application implementation.

Winners of high-performance computing project contest announced at Rusnanotech
The projects had been accepted for contest until November 10. The works of 33 teams were accepted from Moscow and Moscow Region, Saint-Petersburg, Volgograd, Vladivostok, Kazan, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Yaroslavl (Russia), Lugansk and Kharkov (Ukraine), and other cities.
The panel of judges consisted of 12 representatives of research institutes and universities. The judges decided to award winners with five prizes.

The Intel Corporation is well used to popularizing the IT-industry. We hold various contests between students, young scientists and IT-professionals on a regular basis, which promote the high technologies in Russia and other CIS countries, - noted Dmitry Konash, regional director, Intel Russia & CIS. – By arranging the contest of projects in the field of high-performance computing we planned to discover the scientific teams which are able to realize effectively the potential of newest supercomputers. The panel of judges received 33 works and each one of them is worth to be represented on the international level. We consider the contest successfully completed with outstanding results. The Intel Corporation in Russia and CIS plans to hold such competitions each year.

Successful usage of the exact numerical calculations is a key tool which will allow our scientists, engineers and industrialists to earn an appropriate place on the market of nanomaterials and nanotechnologies – said Alexander Losyukov, RUSNANO deputy director general. – Due to the complexity of nanostructures all serious works require preliminary modeling and computations to evaluate the perspectives of practical implementation on further stages of the way down to mass production. We welcome the teams intensively using computational methods in their work and hope that more such crews will cooperate with our Corporation in future.

No valuable results can be expected without high-performance computing in many fields of modern science. It’s especially important in physics, chemistry, astronomy and nanotechnology – disciplines requiring in the first place processing of huge amounts of information within the multi-criteria models with unobvious cross coupling, – outlined Boris Chetverushkin, Director of Institute of Mathematical Modelling of Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). – It wasn’t an easy task to select the winners of the contest. We are glad that Russian specialists can be proud of themselves in this case – both in Russia and worldwide.

Contest results

The first prize in the amount of 250 thousand rubles, was given to the work "FPIC3D – parallel code for modeling the processes of ion beams interaction with solid-state matter", submitted to the contest by Igor Lomonosov, professor of the Institute of Chemistry Physics Problems of RAS (Chernogolovka, Moscow Region). D.A. Grigoriev, V.V. Kim, A.V. Matveichev, A.V. Ostrik, V.G. Sultanov, A.V. Shutov also took part in the project.

Four more works were awarded special prizes:
The prize for the best project in the field of high-performance computing for nanotechnology and nanoindustry in the amount of 250 thousand rubles was awarded and split between two works:

Using supercomputers in constructing the nanomagnets was submitted by an international team of authors: A.I. Lichtenstein, (professor of the University of Hamburg, Germany), E.V. Gorelov (Institut für Festkörperforschung Forschungszentrum, Jülich, Germany), Yu.N. Gornostyrev (CJSC Institute of quantum materials science», Magnitogorsk), A.I. Poteryaev (Metal Physics Institute, Ekaterinburg), A.N. Rubtsov (Moscow State University Physics Faculty); and
Modeling the properties of nanomaterials using the methods of classical and quantum dynamics, submitted by the head of laboratory of the United Institute of High-Temperature of RAS (OIVTRAN) Vladimir Stegailov. The work was co-authored by members of OIVTRAN and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) G.E. Norman, A.Yu. Kuksin, A.V. Yanilkin, S.V Starikov, P.A. Zhil’aev, V.V. Pisarev, O.V. Sergeev.

The Intel prize in amount of 250 thousand rubles was split between the two teams: A.V. Frolov, R.M. Vilfand, E.D. Astakhova, Yu.V. Alferov, V.I. Tsvetkov, T.Ya. Ponomareva with the work “Numeric modeling of atmospheric processes aimed at forecasting the weather using the spectral method” from the State Computational Centre of Hydrometeorological Centre of Russia and Yu.G. Evtushenko, I.Kh. Sigal, M.A. Posypkin, A.L.Ignat’ev with the work “Library for solving the tasks of finite-dimensional optimization on the multi-processor computational systems” from the Dorodnitsyn computational center of RAS.

Every contest winner team also received the grant for one oral presentation at the international conference for supercomputing, the Intel software certificate for development of the projects in the field of high-performance computing and access to the largest Russian supercomputing facilities in the RAS Joint Supercomputing Center, Moscow State University and the Siberian Branch of RAS.

Source: Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies

Read more!

Next big PS3 price cut set for April

No shocker: more talk of a price drop on the 80GB version of the PS3.
(Credit: Sony)

This rumor's a little dubious, but several blogs are reporting that Sony plans to cut the PlayStation's 3's price tag by $100 in April. That would put the 80GB PS3 at $300. The source: an analyst at Wedbush Morgan who's also saying that Microsoft will chop $50 off the Xbox 360 Pro around E3 2009 (in June), putting that system at $250.

When it comes to gaming systems, price drops are the equivalent of an economic stimulus plan, and breaking $300 would obviously make the PS3 attractive to a whole new batch of consumers, regardless of poor economic conditions. Price points are price points and things start getting pretty magical when you get under $300 (and in the case of the Xbox 360, $250 is even better).

Naturally, it doesn't take a rocket scientist--or an analyst at an investment firm--to figure any of this out. And giving yourself a nice four-month buffer to predict a price drop doesn't exactly impress. But people love to speculate on this sort of stuff, and with word that Sony will report a big $1.1 billion operating loss for 2007/2008 (its first operating loss in 14 years), the pressure's on Sony to rev up its Playstation 3 franchise for the health of the company and its Blu-ray platform (yes, the PS3 has a built-in Blu-ray player, lest you forgot).

The good news is Sony has a number of highly anticipated exclusive titles coming to the PS3 this year, including Killzone 2, Infamous, Heavy Rain, MAG, God of War 3, Uncharted 2, and MLB 09: The Show. Combine that with a $100 price cut and the PS3 should get a nice jumpstart--whenever it comes. But nothing's a given these days and clearly Sony has to balance taking a loss on the hardware to spur profits on the software (game) side.
Read more!

Google hopes to take on Microsoft using resellers

<People ride their bikes past Google Inc. headquarters in Mountain View, California, May 8, 2008. REUTERS/Kimberly White

By Yinka Adegoke

Web search leader Google Inc took another step on Wednesday toward direct competition with Microsoft Corp by recruiting IT resellers to market its Web-based applications to business clients.

From the end of March, authorized resellers will be able to sell, customize and support premium versions of Google Apps, which includes word processing, spreadsheets, calendars and email.

Google Apps is broadly similar to Microsoft's top-selling Office package except that Apps is completely Web-based and is part of Google's push into so called 'cloud computing' or software-as-a-service. Microsoft said in October it is also looking at adding Web-based features for its Office applications.

Since it launched Google Apps in February 2007, Google has only sold directly to business users over the Web. Analysts said the move to work with third parties is necessary if Google hopes to compete seriously with Microsoft or IBM.

Microsoft, which is the world's largest software company, sells more than 95 percent of its software through more than 440,000 third party resellers, according to Gartner Research, and intends to spend around $3 billion on managing those sales channels in 2009.

By comparison Google has so far only dipped its toe in the water, but sees a great opportunity after running trials with more than 50 resellers in 25 countries. It also has a 9-month old relationship with Salesforce.com Inc.

"We feel that Google has had limited success in winning customers with a singular sales channel," said Tiffani Bova, an analyst at Gartner Research, who estimates Google has around 200,000 Premier customers.

IT resellers typically sell services such as Web hosting, setting up servers and backing up data, as well as software to hundreds of thousands of end user businesses of all sizes.

"This is a chance for those types of companies to get into the cloud computing revolution," said Dave Girouard, president of enterprise at Google.

To win over new resellers, Google said partners will buy the Premier Edition at a 20 percent discount and keep the recurring revenue for the lifetime of their customer relationship.

The search leader already offers a basic package of Google Apps for free to consumers, prompting some industry watchers to see it as a major threat to Microsoft's profitable "Office" business.

But Rebecca Wettemann, an analyst at Nucleus Research, said Google is a long way from hurting Microsoft.

"We've seen in the applications space that Google is a strong email competitor, but so far it is only a complement to Office -- not yet a replacement," she said.

Google's move to offer applications is part of a wider drive to diversify its revenue base, which has been completely dominated by hugely profitable search advertising technology.

As the advertising market comes under pressure from a slowing global economy, investors will likely be paying more attention to Google's small but growing businesses.

credits: Thomson Reuters
source: portfolio.com

Read more!

Search Google and Yahoo - SearchBoth.com

SearchBoth.com today announces the ultimate search engine for students, doctors, lawyers, researchers, and anyone that searches multiple sites.

click on image to enlarge

SearchBoth.com became popular for enabling users to search both Google and Yahoo at the same time on one split screen. The company has now taken the site to the next level by enabling users to search all of the internet's most popular sites at the same time. SearchBoth.com users can search both Google and Yahoo or any of their two favorite search engines (MSN, Ask, Live, Alta Vista, LookSmart, WebSearch), or Wikipedia and Encyclopedia, AT&T's YellowPages.com and Verizon's SuperPages.com, or Monster.com and HotJobs.com, or Dictionary.com and Answers.com at the same time side by side on one split screen.

SearchBoth.com also provides relief for users that search travel sites, apartment rental sites and comparison shopping sites as well. With an exclusive relationship powered by YELLOWPAGES.travel, users can search all of the top travel sites at the same time on one screen with a click.

Users of apartment rental sites such as Apartments.com, Rent.com, Move.com, ForRent.com, CraigsList and more can now simply search once and get the results of all of the major rental sites on one screen, one click at a time powered by an exclusive relationship with RentCompare.com.

Users of comparison shopping sites will also be relieved to know that they can search the top comparison shopping and auction sites such as Shopping.com, eBay.com, PriceGrabber.com, Amazon.com, Buy.com, Overstock.com, PriceRunner.com, Shopzilla.com, WalMart.com, Target.com and many more at the same time on one screen with a single click with an exclusive relationship with DiscountMore.com.

SearchBoth.com is the nation's ultimate search engine making life easier for all internet users. SearchBoth.com is a non-profit 501 (3) (c) charitable organization which donates the revenue generated from searches performed to multiple charities.

source: SearchBoth.com

Read more!

YouTube launches platforms for Congress

President-elect Barack Obama embraced YouTube when he started broadcasting his weekly address in both audio and video form, so it may have only been a matter of time before the Congress followed suit.

YouTube in conjunction with Congress on Monday launched two new platforms, the Senate Hub and the House Hub, that provide easy access to congressional YouTube channels.

Visitors can find their senators' YouTube pages by clicking on a map or using a drop down menu. While Washington, D.C. has no members to boast in either chamber, clicking the capital city on the map will take visitors to channels dedicated to congressional committees. While the hubs are maintained by YouTube, each individual congressperson's channel is maintained by his or her office.

The pages feature playlists like "Got a Question?" and "Behind the Scenes." Videos featured allow visitors to watch clips of floor speeches, committee hearings, and other activities on the Hill.

While some members of Congress may enjoy futzing around on the Internet as much as the next guy (in this video, Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio proves his Internet savvy on Facebook), the 111th Congress marks the first full session in which senators and representatives can officially use third-party sites like YouTube. Both chambers voted for the rule change in the fall of 2008.
"While we may not see eye-to-eye on everything," House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says in a welcome video, shown below, "one thing we can agree on is the importance of utilizing technology to communicate with constituents."

source: news.cnet

Read more!

Satyam customers warned to expect disruption

Analysts are warning Satyam's customers to prepare themselves against the risk of disruption of services from the troubled outsourcer.

It follows last week's admission by Satyam's founder and former chairman B Ramalinga Raju that its books had been inflated by nearly $1bn (£700m).

Analyst group Gartner warned that the ensuing investigation will hamper Satyam's ability to invest in client engagement, staff development and R&D and risks driving staff out of the company, limiting its attractiveness as a IT services vendor.

Gartner recommends that companies closely monitor their contracts with Satyam for disruption, prepare contingency measures and offer "retention bonuses" to keep key Satyam staff on critical projects.

The note said: "In the current economic environment, enterprises consider financial indiscretions by any business intolerable; we believe this will severely handicap Satyam when prospective customers are evaluating potential partners."

Satyam's clients include household names such as BBC Worldwide, Birds Eye Iglo Group, Fifa, General Electric and Nestlé.

A spokesman for Nestlé said it had assurances from Satyam over the continuation of its service but added it is examining its options: "Nestlé's own internal resources are in a position to provide the company with the necessary IT support.

"Alternative solutions are being considered and no disruption of Nestlé's IT operations is expected."

A spokesman for BBC Worldwide, which worked with Satyam on its BBC Blast VJ Masher video portal for young people and has an ongoing services contract with the outsourcer, said: "There is only a very small amount of work being carried out at this present time, which is reaching a natural conclusion, unconnected with recent events.

"If we were to enter into any future contract of work with Satyam we would obviously apply the appropriate due diligence and contractual terms to protect BBC Worldwide."

Fifa said it is "monitoring the situation relating to Satyam", which is the IT services provider for the 2010 and 2014 Fifa World Cups and two Confederation Cups.

Speaking from Satyam's headquarters in Hyderabad today, senior Indian banker and new Satyam board member Deepak Parekh said that on paper the company has enough money coming in to cover its debts but admitted that at the moment "nobody knows these numbers are correct".

Parekh said in the coming days the board will appoint accountants to verify the figures and go back over the firm's books for the past two or three years. "We have triple A clients and can request them to pay early rather than waiting 60 days.

"The company has a large amount of receivables due and the debt due is low so there is adequate liquidity but we need to get these figures verified."

Parekh added that the company may also ask for more time to state its third quarter results.

The company's shares jumped to end the day more than 40 percent up at 34.40 rupees (47 pence).

Parekh and two other senior figures were appointed to Satyam's board by the Indian government after it sacked the previous board on Friday.

There has also been much speculation about whether Satyam could be taken over or merge with another organisation, such as one of the other large Indian outsourcers.

But Manish Dugar, chief financial officer of one of the largest Indian outsourcers, Wipro, played down suggestions that it could be among the companies looking to take over Satyam. He said the two companies were so similar, any deal would be hampered by a doubling up of departments across the new organisation.

Dugar told ZDNet UK's sister site, silicon.com: "If you look at the business of Satyam and Wipro we are more or less comparable in service, the size, the kind of work that we do, customer base, etc. It is complementary but I don't know how synergistic it would be, because if we are out there doing something where they are then one plus one becomes 11."

Credit: Satyam customers told: Batten down the hatches from silicon.com

Read more!

Paris Hilton's website spreding Trojans

Paris Hilton's website has been hacked and is serving visitors a malicious Trojan program designed to steal sensitive information from their computers.

The hack was discovered by security vendor ScanSafe, which said that Parishilton.com (note: this site is not safe to visit as of press time) had apparently been compromised since Friday. Visitors to the site are presented with a pop-up window urging them to download software in order to enhance their viewing of the site.

Whether they click "yes" or "no" on this window, the site then tries to download a malicious program, known as Trojan-Spy.Zbot.YETH, from another website.

"The popup points to a directory on that website; that's where the malware is being loaded from," said Mary Landesman, a security researcher with ScanSafe. Once installed, the Trojan steals online information and tries to install more malicious software on the victim's computer.

Landesman believes thousands of other websites may also be serving up this variant of the attack her firm uncovered. However, Parishilton.com, the celebrity's official website, is the best-known target. "The big thing with Paris Hilton is the number of visitors that she gets," Landesman said. "It's always doubly concerning when we see a high-profile website get compromised."

To make things worse, most antivirus products are not identifying the Trojan program being served by Parishilton.com. On Monday afternoon, only 12 of the 37 vendors tested by VirusTotal identified the Trojan.


Read more!

Samsung and Yahoo link up for web TV

Yahoo has designed a new 'widget engine' linking the web with TV sets, and signed deals with electronics manufacturers including Sony and Samsung, who will install the software on some of their models.

The 'widgets' will enable TV viewers to access online services without having to launch an internet browser, and a source told the Wall Street Journal that usage rates were "through the roof" during testing.

Samsung, LG, Vizio and Toshiba have also inked agreements with Yahoo to install the 'widgets', which were developed in conjunction with computer chip manufacturer Intel.

Observers argue the system will help Yahoo develop its capacity on "three screen" – online, TV and cellphone – but that further work is required to boost the company's overall position.

Says Andrew Frank, analyst at technology research firm Gartner: "This has great long-term potential for Yahoo; it increases their reach and bolsters their claim to being a 'three screen' media company, which is the prize nowadays."

However, he also warns: "I just don't know how quickly they will achieve their goal."

Read more!

XFX Officially an AMD Partner

I have been reviewing XFX products for a long time. Traditionally XFX has been an
NVIDIA exclusive video card partner selling NVIDIA chipset motherboards and graphics cards. XFX and AMD have announced today that XFX is now an AMD partner and will be bringing XFX branded ATI video cards to market.

According to XFX, it will bring ATI Radeon HD 4000 series GPUs to market in early 2009. This is great news for gamers who like XFX's support and fantastic warranty that covers the original owner and the second owner for the lifetime of the video card. I hope this means we will see ATI overclocked video cards coming from XFX as well.

"In the world of PC gaming, XFX is synonymous with the extreme performance that enthusiasts crave," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "Their decision to partner with AMD and launch AMD GPU-based XFX graphics cards, including the ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2, widely regarded as the world’s fastest graphics card1 by technology enthusiasts around the world, speaks to the level of excellence achieved by the ATI Radeon HD 4000 series."

source: XFX

Read more!

Windows 7 beta & ways to get valid keys

Microsoft has apparently decided that it has enough server capacity and has made the code available for the Windows 7 beta.

"The Windows 7 Beta is now available for download," Microsoft said on its Web site. "Thanks for your interest and help with the beta."

The software was supposed to be made available on Friday, but the company delayed the release after a day filled with Web site problems.

Update: Microsoft offered up some recommended specifications for the beta, but cautioned those could change for the final release. It called for a 1GHz processor (either 32-bit or 64-bit), 1GB of system memory, 16Gb of disk space, support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory, as well as a DVD burner and Internet access.

The software maker also cautioned users should have some technical skills, such as the ability to "burn an ISO file to make an install DVD. (A good example of what we mean by 'technical')." It also said folks should know how to install Windows (uh, yeah) and set up a network.

Furthermore, the company cautioned that the beta is not the quality one should expect from a final release. "It can be glitchy--so don't use a PC you need every day."


Download: Windows 7 x86 (32bit) and x64 (64 bit) If you have issues with the direct links try via the Akamai Java download manager 32bit and 64bit, you will need to copy and paste the links into a new window otherwise you'll get redirected to the Windows 7 home page.


Here's the steps for a key:

1. Visit TechNet Downloads, sign in at the top right and let the page load
2. Within the same window copy and paste "https://www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/scripts/gcs.aspx?Product=tn-win7-64-ww&LCID=1033" into the address bar or "https://www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/scripts/gcs.aspx?Product=tn-win7-32-ww&LCID=1033" (64bit key but will work on 32 too, if you get an error refresh a few times)...enjoy the result below (32 bit link seems to work better), whilst stocks last. If you are still having issues try clearing your temp files and deleting all cookies.

click on image to enlarge

According to Microsoft there are 2.5 million keys to go around worldwide so plenty in other words. Microsoft is also providing a QFE patch for the MP3 corruption issues that have plagued build 7000, this should be online shortly as KB961367. It's extremely important you apply this patch as you may lose parts of your MP3s if the patch is not applied. 32bit and 64bit patches are now available.

source: news.cnet & neowin

Read more!

Firefox in Russia dumps Google for Yandex

Mozilla is set to remove Google from its lofty seat atop Firefox browsers, for Russian language users at least, in favor of rival Russian search engine Yandex. Now the default search provider for the Russian version of Firefox 3.1 (due in a matter of weeks), the move is a big win for Yandex, and a loss for Google in the Russian market.

"Over the past few months, we have listened to feedback, talked with our localizers, studied the trends of our Firefox Yandex builds, and reviewed the Yandex user experience. All this activity led us to the conclusion that our Russian users really wanted direct access to the Yandex search services in official Firefox RU builds," Anderson said.

"As a result, we're planning on setting Yandex as the default search provider for the Firefox 3. Russian locale builds," he said. Version 3.1 is due in coming weeks, after a third beta version is released and tested.

Mozilla gets the vast majority of its revenue through a partnership under which Google shares revenue from search ads. In 2007, that was $66 million of Mozilla's $75 million total revenue.

Details on the change can be seen in the Mozilla bug tracker, which specifically refers to "the new business arrangement between Mozilla and Yandex in Russia."

source: news.cnet

Read more!

Clearwire to introduce Clear 4G WiMAX network

Clearwire and Intel have teamed up to produce the world's first 4G network that launched on January 6, 2009, in Portland, Oregon. The network called Clear allows consumers and businesses the chance to connect wirelessly anywhere in Portland at true broadband speeds.

WiMax is the new technology used on the network, delivers speeds up to 6mbps download using a WiMax-enabled USB modem that plugs directly into their laptops, while mobile users can expect speeds up to 4mbps download. The Motorola modem retails for $49.99 either in store or online, or users can lease the WiMax-enabled USB in home modem that connects to any outlet and a USB port in either their laptop or desktop PC, for as little as $4.99 a month.

Clear™ provides solutions to everyone with no signing contracts where users can purchase the service by the day or by the month. Service plans start from as little as $20 a month for home users, while their mobile Internet plans start from $30 a month. Additional savings are available to costumer's that purchase both the mobile and home service, with a two year agreement. Customers may also purchase a day pass for $10.

Clearwire's 4G network will be available in major metropolitan areas across the U.S. Clearwire's network is currently only available in Baltimore, Maryland, and Portland, Oregon. Baltimore's network will be re-branded from XOHM to Clear in the coming months. Today marked the grand opening events at the Clear retail stores, starting at 9 am to noon.

source : clearwire

Read more!

Fake CNN site from phishing e-mail

A new e-mail that is circulating looks like it comes from CNN and links to a fake CNN Web page offering "graphic" video related to the Israel-Hamas conflict but instead hosts a Trojan that steals sensitive data, RSA said on Thursday.

When someone clicks on the video link on the fake CNN site an error message pops up urging the visitor to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player. Clicking on the download link installs an "SSL stealer" Trojan that captures financial and other sensitive information, RSA said in a blog.

The Trojan looks for encrypted communications between the computer and known financial institutions and when it sees data being sent it diverts it to a malicious third-party, said Sam Curry, vice president of product management and strategy at RSA.

The social-engineering attack is different in that the e-mail pretends to come from a media company and then tries to steal financial data, he said. "Normally when you get phished they send you an e-mail pretending to be from a bank or other financial institution," he said.

click on image to enlarge

RSA discovered the attack early on Wednesday and has worked with others to get the fake site shut down. At a peak on Thursday as many as 80,000 of the phishing e-mails were being sent out, according to Curry.


Read more!

Palm introduces Palm Pre

Palm introduced today the Palm Pre which puts everything you ever wanted into one package. This phone will be limited to Sprint initially but will spread to other carriers over time.

The impressive spec list for the Palm Pre is listed below:

• High-speed wireless (EV-DO Rev. A or HSDPA, depending on version)
• 802.11b / g WiFi
• Integrated GPS
• 3.1-inch 24-bit color 480 x 320 display
• Dedicated gesture area below display
• Slide-out portrait QWERTY keyboard
• Exchange email support in addition to POP and IMAP
• IM, MMS, and SMS messaging
• High-performance browser
• 3-megapixel camera with LED flash and "extended depth of field"
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP
• 8GB of internal storage
• USB mass storage mode
• MicroUSB connectivity with USB 2.0
• Proximity sensor for detecting when phone is near face
• Light sensor to automatically dim display
• Ringer mute switch
• Removable rechargeable battery
• 59.57 x 100.53 x 16.95mm closed
• 4.76 ounces

The OS (based on Linux) is no slouch either, a very modern, clean, and user friendly interface with all the eye candy you could ever want. The web browsing is based on Webkit and appears to work in a manor equal too, if not better than the coveted iPhone.

Palm has confirmed that an app store will be available for the new platform and an SDK will be released in the near future. While many have put Palm to rest over its defunct OS, this phone and OS package may save the company. So i would say, the first true iPhone competitor is here.

Read more!

AMD Phenom II X4 940 & 920 CPUs reviewed

The AMD we used to know is back. In the months leading up to Phenom, AMD treated it like it would be its hero. And Phenom was the biggest disappointment AMD had ever left us with.

AMD re-launched Phenom the following year, in 2008, with slightly better reception. The CPU evolved from something unsellable to an honest alternative to Intel's CPUs, just not one we'd recommend. Phenom ran too hot, didn't offer better performance, and offered some strange behavior with Cool'n'Quiet enabled.

While AMD was very excited about the first Phenom, we heard relatively little about Phenom II. The first time we heard the name was at AMD's Financial Analyst Day a couple of months ago, and then a month later we had a chip. If Phenom II was going to be good, the chip would have to prove itself without an exotic locale or delicious Texas BBQ to sweeten the deal.

AMD is launching two new 45nm Phenom II CPUs today. There's the Phenom II X4 940 at 3.0GHz and the 920 at 2.8GHz. I'll go ahead and say that although it's a little long, I like the name. The II just works. I'm also feeling a bit chipper, so I'll go ahead and give you the conclusion now too.

Here's how it breaks down. The Phenom II X4 940 is usually the same speed or faster than Intel's Core 2 Quad Q9400, and priced similarly at $275. There are some areas where the Q9400 will be faster than the Phenom II X4 940, so if you happen to use an application that runs better on Intel hardware then you've got your choice made out for you. But for the most part, if you're buying a quad-core processor at around $275 today, Phenom II will tempt you.



Similarly, the Phenom II X4 920 is generally better than or equal to Intel's Core 2 Quad Q9300, and priced less (it's more of a competitor to the slower Q8300). The same stipulations detailed above exist here as well; there are some areas where Intel is going to be faster but for the most part tests showed the Phenom II to be a better option.

After over two years of us recommending Intel's Core 2 lineup almost exclusively, AMD finally released a real alternative, one that's not just similarly priced, but actually higher performing than the price-competitive Intel part. Over the coming pages I'll explain how.

Now Intel could've spoiled the party, it still has the performance crown and it could easily drive CPU prices even lower. But out of the kindness of its heart, there are no unexpected price cuts, no new product introductions, nothing to spoil AMD's day (yet). While I'll talk about what Intel may do to restore its leadership at these price points, today is all about Phenom II. If you've been waiting for an AMD to be excited about for the past couple of years, today is your day.

Competition is back. Let's get to it.

Read more!

Blu-ray Players and Movies Off to Record Start

According to a report by the British Video Association show that Blu-ray sales were very strong this Holiday season. The surge in sales of Blu-ray discs was driven by a strong performance throughout the year, credit crunch notwithstanding. Blu-ray disc sales hit a new high in the run-up to Christmas; 1.5 million discs were sold in December alone, up almost 400% against the same period in 2007. In total the format has sold 3.7 million units in 2008, demonstrating the public's enthusiasm for high quality picture and sound in the home.

click on image to enlarge

Dark Knight (Warner Home Video) has taken the crown for best selling Blu-ray title of the year with 281,000 copies sold (including sales of the box set with Batman Begins) on the high definition format in just three weeks. Released in early December it became the best-selling Blu-ray title in history, selling more copies on Blu-ray in its first full week (178,000 copies including Batman Begins box-set) in the shops than any other movie ever released on the format.

While Blu-ray has increasingly established its position as the number one choice of next generation of home entertainment, DVDs have also enjoyed a solid year. Mamma Mia! - The Movie (Universal Pictures) officially became the UKs fastest-selling DVD in history, achieving sales of 3.1 million in its first full week in the shops, and 5.1 million by the end of 2008. This is an unprecedented performance by a title with just five weeks on sale. While specific figures are not available, the title was heavily pre-ordered months before release to ensure no one missed out on the Abba magic for Christmas!

While these sales are based in the British market, we'll have to wait and see if the same is true here in the U.S. but I would suspect the same results. I know I bought a new Blu-ray player and dics over the holiday's so I know I added to the sales.

Read more!

New Asus S121 Netbook with Windows 7

Asustek Computer on Tuesday debuted an ultra-thin, light netbook called the S121 with two new technologies, Microsoft's yet-to-be released Windows 7 OS and the world's largest solid state drive (SSD) at 512GB.

The S121 is just under an inch thick and is 11.7-inches by 8.3-inches, weighs about 3 lbs and carries a touchscreen that runs a specialized software Asustek developed for easy touch navigation.

The use of Asus's touch mode software on Microsoft's Windows 7 OS shows how closely the two companies are working together.

"We're deeply partnered with Asus on Windows 7," said David Fester, general marketing manager at Microsoft's OEM division, at a news conference ahead of the International Consumer Electronics Show, which opens Thursday in Las Vegas.



And although the S121 will be available about a month from now, it probably won't come with Windows 7. The new OS isn't slated to hit markets until next year, although some pundits say it could be released as early as mid-2009.

The new netbook will also "cost quite a bit," said Jonney Shih, chairman of Asus, around US$1,649 due to the 512GB SSD on board. He said Asus used its own technology to build the SSD.

SSD technology generally promises speedier software loading than HDDs (hard disk drives) and better power efficiency. But SSDs are far more expensive than HDDs and they don't last as long.

In fact, some analysts at the Storage Visions conference currently going on in Las Vegas, warned users to beware of some SSD technology because of the wide range of quality among SSD makers. Some companies may be using less expensive, but lower quality chips in their SSDs. One of the key components on an SSD to ensure smooth, fast running, is the controller chip, but high quality controller chips for SSDs are expensive, and some makers have turned to using controller chips made for USB flash sticks in their SSDs, leading to far slower write times and reliability.

Asustek's 512GB SSD announcement comes just a few weeks after Toshiba revealed its own 512GB SSD for laptops. Few other companies have announced SSDs with such large storage capacity.

The S121 will come with a 1.33GHz Intel Atom microprocessor. Few other details about the device were immediately available.

Netbooks are miniaturized notebooks about two-thirds the size of a normal laptop that have become popular for mobile computing and Internet use. The devices are designed with less powerful chips and other components so they're more battery efficient, cost less and usually weigh just a few kilograms.

Read more!

iTunes going DRM free

Apple have just announced, during the MacWorld keynote, that 10 million songs on iTunes will become DRM free by the end of Q1 2009.

On the Apple iTunes store the text reads "This is a special offer to upgrade your entire music library of previously purchased songs, albums and music videos now available in iTunes plus. You will be charged $0.30 a song, 30% of the current album price and $0.60 a music video to upgrade. Just click buy now and new versions of all your music below will be downloaded in iTunes Plus. This page updates automatically as we add more music in iTunes Plus. Please check back often!"

Tracks should sell for 69¢, 99¢, and $1.29 -- depending on their demand.

In a separate announcement, iPhone users are now able to purchase music from the iTunes store via 3G. Previously users could only download music on a Wi-Fi network.

Read more!

Pak hackers plan attack on Indian cyber networks: Intel

After the Mumbai terror strikes, anti-India elements in Pakistan are now planning an attack on Indian computer networks, intelligence agencies have warned. Already Pakistani hackers are trying out a dry run against Indian networks through popular websites registered there after the Mumbai terror strikes, Home Ministry sources told PTI here today.

"Every time the relations between the two countries dampen, Pakistanis start attacking Indian computer networks and this has increased after the Mumbai terror attacks," a Home Ministry source said. Pakistani hackers have created websites such as the songs.Pk,

which are infested with software to hack data from the targeted computers, it said.

www.Songs.pk

"The website has over 12 lakh Indian users who are downloading stuff from these websites daily," said a cyber expert in the Ministry. With these websites being highly popular, it will take only a few minutes for the hackers to take command of over 12 lakh computers in few minutes and the number of such computers can multiply in every minute, sources said.

"Instead of the existing less harmful virus, new ones such as Botnet and Zoombie can be easily released into the Indian computers, which later on replicate and make the entire server vulnerable," the expert said. "Now a days new virus and worms are detected while downloading songs from these websites, which could be just a dry run to manage a bigger attack," he said.

source:Pak hackers plan attack on Indian cyber networks: Intel - Yahoo! India News

Read more!

Keyboard shortcuts to Google.com

If you're a keyboard shortcut junkie in Google Reader, Gmail and Google Docs you might have noticed Google.com, the mother of all Google services, is a bit lacking in the keyboard shortcuts department. There is currently an official Google-sanctioned experimental keyboard shortcuts program you can opt into, although there's the slight chance that the company may one day kill it off. That and it won't remember to give you the shortcut keys the next time you search if you're not signed in to your Google account.

click on image to enlarge

If both of these things are holding you back from keyboard shortcut dominance, worth downloading is Janakan Arulkumarasan's Google Keyboard Shortcuts extension for Firefox. When installed you can simply use your arrow keys to sift through the results, which get highlighted in a lovely pallid yellow. There are two ways to open up the result links: you can either hit enter, which opens the link in a new window, or enter plus control which opens it up in a new tab. The extension trumps Google's own keyboard shortcuts program in this regard.
As with many of the other neat extensions we've blogged about recently, Google Keyboard Shortcuts is experimental, which means you have to be registered with Mozilla's add-ons site to download it.
Read more!

SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone

Six months after announcing its intention to bring SlingPlayer to the iPhone 3G, Sling Media has another announcement to make--just not the one you're wishing for.

SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone isn't ready yet, Sling said on Tuesday, but it is on its way.

Like SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, UIQ, and BlackBerry (beta) platforms, this iPhone version will let you access one or more Slingboxes from your mobile device, and watch your TV stations on-the-go.

You'll also be able to manage your DVR from the iPhone, and can synchronously add and remove favorite channels directly from the phone's interface--a first for the SlingPlayer Mobile line.

SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone

In our demo, the client streamed live, high-quality video of stations like MTV and TBS on both Wi-Fi and the iPhone's 3G network. Swiping the screen horizontally advances you through favorite stations, and flicking up and down rotates through all your home channels.

Sling Media says it will submit the file to the iTunes AppStore by the end of the first fiscal quarter. While Sling Media shared no firm price tag, it could mirror the $29.99 lifetime fee of SlingPlayer Mobile on other platforms.

Before getting too excited, just remember that Apple has been known to kill promising apps, ostensibly for the crime of a large data transfers. SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone could suffer the same fate. Assuming it doesn't, the client still faces competition from Orb, whose full version, OrbLive, delivers live TV and media stored on your PC for $10.

source: Macworld 2009

Read more!