Sep 23
As Apple Inc. nears the introduction of its closely watched iPhone in Europe, it will likely face a tougher sell there than in the U.S., analysts say.
The company announced an exclusive partnership yesterday to bring the product to the United Kingdom with Telefonica SA’s O2, the U.K.’s largest mobile-phone operator by subscribers. In a news conference at Apple’s Regent Street retail store in London attended by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, the companies said the iPhone will go on sale in the U.K. Nov. 9.
Apple is expected to announce similar deals with France Télécom SA’s Orange and Deutsche … Continue reading »
Sep 23
A new weapon will soon join Nintendo’s armoury: a lightsabre.
Internet gaming sites across the web today cheered news of a new Star Wars game for the hit Wii console in which players will wield the Jedi weapon of choice using Nintendo’s motion sensitive “Wiimote” controller.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, developed by LucasArts, will also be released early next year on Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Nintendo’s handheld DS machine and Sony’s PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable. Continue reading »
Sep 23
The second largest file-sharing network on the internet has been severely disabled in a significant coup for the music industry’s fight against piracy.
Seven servers on the notorious ‘eDonkey’ network, on which millions of users illegally share music and other files, were this week shut down following orders by German courts, the International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said.
The closure would knock out about third of eDonkey’s 4 million users and cause “a major disruption” to one of the world’s “top three file-sharing networks” the IFPI said in a statement. Continue reading »
Sep 23
Apple’s new mobile phone may look fabulous but you will have to pay over the odds to purchase your tracks when it is launched in Britain by O2 in November
Consumers seduced by Apple’s iPhone have been warned they could save hundreds of pounds by downloading music to a traditional mobile instead.
Details of the iPhone, which combines an iPod with a phone, were announced in Britain last week, but consumers could save more than £500 by opting for another high-end mobile device and downloading music from rival operators, according to analysis by Uswitch, the comparison website.
The iPhone, which goes on sale in Britain in November, can only be obtained here through O2 and comes in three packages, costing £35, £45 or £55 a month. The minimum contract length is 18 months. Continue reading »
Sep 23
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Researchers in Singapore have created a handheld device that can detect the H5N1 bird flu virus from throat swab samples in under 30 minutes, raising hopes it will lead to rapid detection and containment of the virus.
Conventional laboratory tests take around 4 hours, and require machines to first isolate and amplify the virus before it is tested.
Writing in the latest issue of Nature Medicine, the scientists said the new device would allow decentralized testing of the H5N1 virus, especially in countries that lack basic public health resources.
H5N1, a disease found mostly in birds, is endemic in many parts of Asia and experts have warned for years that it could spark a pandemic, killing millions of people, if it learns to jump from person to person. Continue reading »
Sep 23
According to an article from last week at the Russian IT site CNews, Linux is slated to be installed in every Russian school by 2009. The article makes it appear that it will be going by the (unimaginative) name ‘Russian OS.’ As stated in the article: ‘The main aim of the given work is to reduce dependence on foreign commercial software and provide education institutions with the possibility to choose whether to pay for commercial items or to use the software, provided by the government.’ Initial testing installations are supposed to begin next year in select districts. Is 2008/09 the year of Linux on the (Russian) desktop? Continue reading »
Sep 23
A security researcher and self-described hacker known as “pdp” claims he has found a critical exploit in Adobe’s Acrobat software that can compromise many Windows PCs simply by viewing a maliciously-crafted PDF file. The flaw affects both Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2003; Windows Vista, OS X, and Linux users are unaffected.
The bug affects Acrobat Reader, versions 8.1, 8.0, and 7, either when run in stand-alone mode or embedded inside a web page. Some work-alike PDF readers, such as the svelte Foxit Reader, are also affected but in a lesser manner: they display a confirmation dialog before the exploit is allowed to run. Continue reading »
Sep 23
MILAN — Italian designer Giorgio Armani’s announcement that he is teaming up with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. to develop a line of high-end electronics underscores how top fashion houses are stretching the boundaries of the luxury-goods industry as they search out new products they can brand with their own imprint.
Under the new alliance, Mr. Armani will design electronics ranging from handsets to liquid crystal display televisions, manufactured by Samsung, and distribute them through … Continue reading »
Sep 23
XIAONEI.COM does not just look like Facebook, the booming social-networking website. As well as borrowing its design, it has also lifted its strategy and transplanted it to China. It is not alone. All the big “Web 2.0” sites—those that let people share information, collaborate and link up with friends—have many Chinese knockoffs. YouTube, the video-sharing site that is now part of Google, has over 200 copycats in China, about 10% of them backed by venture capital, says Isaac Mao, an internet investor and a Chinese blogging pioneer.
And no wonder, since most Web 2.0 sites do not have official Chinese versions. So enterprising start-ups simply copy the ideas and graphics, and localise them to suit Chinese tastes. The Chinese market is now so saturated that it is much harder to raise money than it was a year ago, says Gary Wang, the boss of Tudou—a site known as the “Chinese YouTube”. This is a good thing, he says, because it means investors are being much more discriminating. Continue reading »
Sep 22
mytrip pointed out a News.com story about a new Microsoft program to allow PC makers to downgrade from Vista to XP if they so choose. They’re still pushing the new version of Windows very hard, but the option now exists for PC resellers to offer the now venerable OS. This is especially interesting as the article points out that OEM licenses for XP officially run out at the end of January. “Hewlett-Packard also started a program in August for many of its business models. ‘For business desktops, workstations and select business notebooks and tablet PCs, customers can configure their systems to include the XP Pro restore disc for little or no charge,’ HP spokeswoman Tiffany Smith said in an e-mail. She said it was too soon to gauge how high customer interest has been. ‘Since we’ve only been offering (it) for about a month, we don’t really have anything to share on demand.’ A Microsoft representative confirmed there were some changes made over the summer to the options computer makers have with respect to XP, but the representative was not immediately able to elaborate on those changes.” Continue reading »
Recent Comments