Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-358905.html
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Facebook beats the 'spam king'
Facebook won a $711 million judgegment against "spam king" Sanford Wallace for violating the Can-Spam Act, which bans "false and misleading" marketing emails. Facebook was awarded $711m in a judgement on Thursday against self-described 'spam king' Sanford Wallace. Judge Jeremy Fogel of the US District Court...
Intel seeks new 'microserver' standard
In September, Intel introduced its idea of tiny 'microservers'. Now the company wants to make the design into a standard others can use, too. In September, Intel introduced its idea of tiny 'microservers'. Now the company wants to make the design into a standard others can use, too. ...
Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-358909.html
iPhone Apps That Bloggers Need
Most bloggers are going to do the majority of their speedy writing in front of a computer. But occasionally there will be instances ? breaking-news scenarios ? where all we can rely on is our trusty phone to do our jobs.
Gadget Lab’s friends at WP Beginner, a WordPress enthusiast blog, has compiled a list of 10 must-have iPhone apps for bloggers: mobile software that could help bloggers while they’re on the run, or on an everyday basis in general. The list includes a blogging app, a Twitter client, note-taking utilities and others.
The WordPress app [iTunes] for iPhone is a good suggestion: It’s a slick app that works well with WordPress blogs in a friendly way. (Yes, Wired.com uses WordPress.) So long as you’re a decent typist with the iPhone’s virtual keyboard, posting one or two paragraphs of a breaking news story on the scene with the WrodPress app should be no sweat.
Another app mentioned is Evernote [iTunes] a popular cloud-based note-taking service ? one I’ve personally found very useful as a blogger who does his work on multiple gadgets. My contacts list, for example, is saved on Evernote, so I look up sources’ phone numbers and e-mail addresses on any computer or phone so long as I have an internet connection.
Twitterific [iTunes], a free Twitter client, also made it to the list, which makes sense: Twitter certainly helps bloggers stay plugged in to the news. However, we’re big fans of Tweetie 2, a Twitter app we think has a superior interface, so we’d suggest getting that instead. It just costs $3.
Visit WP Beginner for the full list of apps. What iPhone apps would you add to this list of must-haves for bloggers? Add your apps in the comments below. To give you some ideas, here are some more of Gadget Lab’s suggestions: News Feed, a $1 news content aggregator; and Scanner 911, a $1 police radio scanner for bloggers and journalists chasing down crime scoops.
See Also:
- 10 Most Awesome iPhone Apps of 2008
- iPhone 3.0 Wish List: Accessory-Powered Apps We Want
- 22 iPhone Apps for Science Geeks
- Apple Promotes All-Time Top iPhone Apps
Photo: johanl/Flickr
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/1KpqNCu78qI/
Review: The Motorola Droid
A few days ago we got Motrola’s Droid in the mail. The device is quite awesome. Beyond being offered on Verizon’s network (which consistently squelches AT&T in coverage and speed) the phone is forged from super-solid (and stylish) hardware. Plus it runs freaking Android 2.0 as its OS. From reviewer Priya Ganapati:
The Droid runs Android 2.0 (aka �clair) as its OS. It feels more refined than the first version of Android on T-Mobile’s G1 and it’s certainly better than the muddled interface on Motorola’s Cliq.
The Droid’s 5-megapixel camera has up to 4x digital zoom. It produces photos that aren’t too noisy and it does well even in low light, thanks to the built-in LED flash.
The most exciting feature of the phone, though, is the Google maps app — with built-in turn-by-turn, voice-guided navigation. Replete with text-to-speech features, the maps are layered with traffic data and a satellite view. But here’s the best part. It’s free! Hear that? You don’t have to pay $10 a month as subscription or buy a pricey $100 TomTom app. You can just zip around with the Droid and Google Maps.
$200, motorola.com
8/10
You can, of course read the full review of the Mottorola Droid on our reviews website.
Photo by Jon Snyder for Wired.com
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/BZFDPCYG1pk/
IT should be included in Copenhagen agreement, says UN agency
Tom Young, Computing, Friday 30 October 2009 at 15:50:00
Specific mention of IT in draft agreement will commit policy makers to seek
technical solutions to reducing emissions
IT should be seen as key to reducing emissions in any successor to the Kyoto The body ? which is an agency of the UN ?says specific mention of the "Since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997, the number of ICT "If the ingenuity of technological innovation has inadvertently created A recent study estimated that more effective use of ICTs could help reduce The Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) estimates that these reductions The union says smart grids, sustainable networks, energy-efficient And intelligent transport systems such as parking guidance systems, GPS and And the unions says using satellite monitoring instead of ground-monitoring In Africa, the UN has teamed up with mobile phone companies and other A study by Gartner in 2007 found IT to be responsible for 2 per cent of
Protocol agreed in Copenhagen this December, according to the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU).
critical role of information and communication technology in the Copenhagen
draft agreement will help commit policy makers around the world to seeking
technical solutions to reducing emissions.
users has tripled worldwide, yet ICTs find no mention in the current draft
agreement," the union said in a statement.
environmental damage, the ITU believes the same drive to innovate can be
harnessed through ICTs to reduce carbon footprint across all industry sectors."
total global emissions by 15 per cent by 2020, representing carbon savings five
times higher than the estimated emissions for the whole ICT sector in 2020.
could deliver energy efficiency savings to global businesses of over ?500bn.
datacentres, teleworking, intelligent cars, smart buildings and energy-efficient
workspaces will all be key in reducing emissions.
RFID-based road pricing schemes can all help reduce journey distances.
for farming needs can reduce CO2 emissions by 97 per cent.
partners to install 5,000 new weather stations to monitor the impact of climate
change, transmitting news immediately to farmers? mobile phones via text
messages.
global emissions worldwide.
Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2252305/should-included-copenhagen
Cosmic Log: A Pluto pilgrimage
Full story at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/30/2114995.aspx
7 ghoulish archaeological discoveries
Full story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33537628/ns/technology_and_science-science/
FBI Releases Notes On CIA Leak Interview Of Cheney
The former vice president told the FBI he had no idea who leaked to the news media that Valerie Plame, wife of a Bush administration critic, worked for the CIA. In a summary of the conversation, which was released under court order Friday, Cheney repeatedly said he could not recall key events.
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Full story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114343553&ft=1&f=1001
Friday, October 30, 2009
Five reasons to deliver a virtual service, not a virtual server
What began as an interesting technological experiment has now become an opportunity for IT to shape its future, says Fortisphere's Lilac Berniker Commentary - As virtualization becomes an increasingly commonplace technology in the datacenter, the breadth of stakeholders in the virtual environment is growing. ...
Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-358529.html
Kaspersky tool detects malware in Twitter links
The "Krab Krawler" analyzes the millions of tweets posted on Twitter every day and blocks any malware associated with them. Kaspersky unveiled a new tool on Thursday called "Krab Krawler" that analyzes the millions of tweets posted on Twitter every day and blocks any malware associated with them. ...
Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-358596.html
Software Update Imbues Apple TV With New UI, iTunes LP
Apple on Thursday issued a software update for its Apple TV set-top box. The update includes a redesigned user interface and enables support for a new interactive artwork iTunes format, among other features.
With Apple TV 3.0, customers can watch iTunes LP, a format that bundles some iTunes albums with interactive elements such as videos, photos, sleeve notes and lyrics. Apple TV owners can also access iTunes Extras, a format that bundles extra content with some TV shows or movies purchased or rented through iTunes.
Apple TV 3.0 also added support for Genius Mixes, which automatically creates playlists generated from a user’s iTunes library. The update also introduces access to thousands of internet radio stations.
iTunes LP, iTunes Extra and Genius Mixes were all features that launched with iTunes 9 during Apple’s September iPod event.
Apple TV 3.0 is a free, automatic download for Apple TV customers.
Press Release [Apple]
See Also:
- Why Apple TV Must Evolve to Avoid Extinction
- What We Want in an Apple TV
- Apple TV Update Adds Remote Gesture Control
- 5 Reasons Why Apple TV Rules, 5 Reasons Why it Sucks
- Hack Apple TV With a Thumb Drive, Set It Free
Image courtesy of Apple
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/JoYOd_k-uNk/
Video: Apple Legend Jonathan Ive Talks Design
In the video above, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design Jonathan Ive offers a rare glimpse into his design process. He discusses the latest line of aluminum products; the iMac, the MacBook family, the iPhone and the iPod Nano each make appearances.
Watching the clip, you’ll understand why Apple seems obsessed with looks. Ive talks about gadget design like an artist would speak about his paintings. He’s one heck of a passionate guy.
See Also:
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/050VTQ9vsg8/
Amnesty International revamps web infrastructure
Angelica Mari, Computing, Thursday 29 October 2009 at 17:34:00
Charity moves to a hosted environment as part of major overhaul
Amnesty International has outsourced the hosting and management of its web The platform was introduced following a thorough review of the charity?s web ?A number of third parties looked after our multiple web sites and the ?It was very difficult to manage the platform, let alone make improvements to It is hoped the new tools will provide better uptime and round-the-clock According to Patel, the hosting environment and services built on top of it ?These interactions will be used to service both internal and web systems to The first phase of the service implementation covered Amnesty.org and the In the second phase of development, Amnesty plans to make further use of ?We wouldn?t be able to change [the CMS] without moving to state-of-the art The service was provided by supplier Claranet.
site as part of a wider revamp of its online setup.
strategy and the need to mitigate operational issues while introducing more
up-to-date functionality.
problem with this arrangement was that everything was done in silos,? said
Kamesh Patel, Amnesty?s head of IT.
it. We wanted to move away from separate agencies and move to a single supplier
to give us more scalability for future improvements, more efficiency and
control,? he told Computing.
monitoring and support, while generating about 10-15 per cent in annual savings
to the charity.
provide Amnesty with ?numerous methods of connection" to the internal IT
systems, with direct access through a virtual private network and secure socket
layers to the server level, plus application programming interface interactions
at the application layer.
provide us and our members with a much richer experience,? said Patel.
organisation?s central registrations system, where members are now able to log
in using a single username and password, a function that was not available
under the previous hosting environment.
social media tools and change the content management system (CMS) in which the
web site is built. The charity is now selecting a supplier, though open-source
products could be an option.
technology first, as the previous infrastructure was too old,? said Patel.
Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2252246/amnesty-international-revamps
NASA to start irradiating monkeys
Full story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33539909/ns/technology_and_science-science/
Cosmic Log: Jewels from space
Full story at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/29/2112301.aspx
Al-Qaida Agent Sentenced To 8 Years In Prison
U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm could have sentenced Ali al-Marri to as many as 15 years. But Mihm handed down the lighter sentence in consideration of what he called "very severe" conditions under which Marri was kept during the almost six years he was held without charges in a U.S. Navy brig in South Carolina.
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Full story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114304579&ft=1&f=1001
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Infected sites rising at alarming rate
More than 640,000 websites and about 5.8 million pages are infected with malware, according to Dasient - nearly double what Microsoft estimated in April. The number of websites hosting malicious software, either intentionally or unwittingly, is rising rapidly, according to statistics to be released on Tuesday from Dasient. ...
Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-357707.html
Juniper eyes midmarket, aims for Cisco
Going by a slew of announcements the company unveiled this week, Juniper Networks appears to have set its eyes on new markets. Going by a slew of announcements the company unveiled this week, Juniper Networks appears to have set its eyes on new markets, in particular, segments currently dominated...
Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-357710.html
First Look: Motorola?s Droid Is Memorable, But Won?t Make You Forget the iPhone
Like it or not, Motorola’s new Google-powered Droid smartphone will be compared to the iPhone.
The good news is that this feature-rich handset, running version 2.0 of Google’s Android OS, compares very favorably to the Goliath of the smartphone world as a utility mobile-computing device ? and, oh yeah, a phone.
The bad news is that there may be too many good things going on to make using this device the quick, intuitive, out-of-the-box experience it should be. That’s a problem, given that the iPhone has set the usability bar so high.
An embarrassment of riches shouldn’t be a negative, and it really isn’t overall on the Droid, which goes on sale Nov. 6 to Verizon customers only. The tight integration of all things Google ? maps overlaid on GPS, voice input all over the place, search that does not ask you to decide whether you are looking for something locally or on the net ? are now more fully realized in this major upgrade to the mobile operating system that the search giant first released on a single handset, the T-Mobile G1.
This is very good thing for those who have become Google citizens and are already used to entrusting their contacts, documents and discovery needs to that cloud.
If you have a Gmail, Facebook or Microsoft Exchange account, it integrates seamlessly with the e-mail app. You can also configure the Droid to work with standard POP3 or IMAP internet mail accounts.
On the down side, there is no provision for syncing to an address book (or calendar) on your desktop. Nearly everything is in the Google cloud, which — given the recent Sidekick data-loss debacle — may not be the greatest selling point just now.
Like the iPhone and many other handsets this is a primarily a touchscreen device whose face is almost 100 percent screen ? and a bright, crisp screen it is. Rather than take sides in the virtual-vs.-hardware keyboard debate, the Droid provides both. The hardware keyboard slides out in a familiar landscape mechanism, and it includes a 5-way directional pad, the better to allow you to keep your hands on the keyboard once you have them there.
The virtual keyboard appears when appropriate, landscape or portrait. And while the software keys appear to be narrower than those on the iPhone, they seem at least as easy to use. Another familiar feature is the “reality check” of a small pop-up displaying the key being pressed. And there is a type-ahead function which displays possible words, potentially saving you keystrokes.
On-board music purchase is from Amazon (at least), but when the Droid is connected to a computer, it’s read as an SD card, and dragging any tracks onto it makes them playable within the music app. The Droid also sports a 5-MP camera with autofocus, on-demand flash and video.
The Droid goes beyond the iPhone in two key areas: Like the Palm Pre, applications can run in the background, and switching among them is a smooth process. And as a robust GPS device it accepts and gives turn-by-turn verbal instructions, making it the closest approximation yet to a total GPS solution that obviates the need for a dedicated vehicle device. One caveat: It’s necessary to be connected to the 3G data service for course correction and other dynamic route features to work (and to even plot a course), so this is not a replacement for a GPS device in locales where Verizon 3G coverage is nonexistent or spotty.
Available apps? Android only offers about a tenth of the nearly 100,000 Apple has available, but that should change as Android handsets become more common. The first app I downloaded was Google Voice which, strangely, is not preinstalled ? but then again, it isn’t available at all on the iPhone. On the Droid, you can set your Google Voice number to be the one that everyone sees when you call or text them, so you can switch to Verizon without worrying about giving everyone a new number or waiting for your old number to port over. That’s assuming you’re already using the phone-number-for-life that Google provides.
Navigation is not a touch-screen experience: Unlike the left-right/swipe metaphor there’s a hard “undo” button that takes you back step by step. In fact there are four hardware buttons to the iPhone’s one: Back, Menu (which does not activate from any given screen), Home and Search (which does).
The customizable screens can contain dozens of shortcuts ? to contacts, bookmarks, anything ? but there are only three of these screens: the “home” screen plus one to the left and one to the right, accessible by swiping. Think of these as a speed dial, with your entire collection of app icons in a sliding drawer. But these icons can be moved anywhere using touch/hold, and there is the gentlest of vibrating feedback to confirm your gesture. (This “haptic feedback” is the default and activates in too many contexts, including for every number you hit when manually entering a phone number. Fortunately, it can be turned off in the settings).
There’s one “feature” that is is sure to draw fire. On certain events (including when you connect to a power source), a computerized voice announces: “Droid.”
On version 2.1 please remove that, Google.
Check out Wired’s feature comparison chart below, and continue reading for more photos of the Droid.
- Droid
- iPhone 3G S
- Network
- Verizon/CDMA
- AT&T/GSM
- Display
- 3.7-inch touchscreen
- 3.5-inch touchscreen
- Keyboard
- Slide-out physical QWERTY, or virtual keyboard
- Virtual keyboard
- Weight
- 6 ounces
- 4.8 ounces
- Connectivity
- 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
- 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
- Operating system
- Android 2.0 (Eclair)
- iPhone 3.0
- Multitasking
- Yes. Answer e-mail and run up to 6 apps simultaneously.
- No multitasking capability. Only one app can be viewed at a time.
- Camera
- 5 megapixels, dual-LED flash
- 3 megapixels, no flash, autofocus by tapping
- Video
- Capture & playback at 720x480 pixels, capture at up to 24 fps
- Capture & playback at 640x480 pixels, 30 fps
- App store
- 10,000 apps available through Android Market
- 92,000 apps available
- Music support
- Access to Amazon MP3 store through over-the-air wireless downloads
- Syncs with iTunes
- Talk time on 3G*
- 6.4 hours*
- 5 hours*
* As claimed by manufacturer
CORRECTION: The Droid does work with POP3 and IMAP email accounts, so a Gmail, Facebook or Microsoft Exchange account is not required as we stated in an earlier version.
The edge of the Droid features a headphone jack.
5 megapixels! Take that, Cupertino!
It's black. It's rectangular. It's the bad-ass?looking Droid.
Choose your weapon: Use the touchscreen, or use the keyboard and D-pad.
Photos: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/BjfSWoRT9_8/
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