Latest Technology News

Linux-based video game console EVO from Envizions is available for pre-order today. The system is based on a 2.4GHz Athlon 64x2 4850E+ CPU with 2GB of DDR2 expandable to 4GB, an ATI HD3200 graphics processor, a 120GB HDD, and other customizing options.

Unfortunately, the company has rather messily publicized the console's pricing. The "Beta" version of EVO is listed on Envizions' site for $379 (Linux) and $479 (Windows), but is also listed as costing $799.99 for the EVO Smart Console HD (Vista), and $499.99 for the EVO Smart Console (Mirrors Evolution) on the console's dedicated site.

Continue reading →

Consumer and technology advocacy groups in both the United States and Europe are asking for governmental intervention to stop wireless carriers from selectively blocking applications from running on phones. The moves came after carriers in the US prevented Skype from running on 3G data networks, and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile unit in Germany said it may even ban Skype usage over Wi-Fi.

T-Mobile claims that allowing consumers to make voice over IP calls would lead to high bandwidth usage and slow down the network, an assertion that many reject.

Continue reading →

Two days ago, the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) passed in Sweden. The law requires that Internet service providers turn over the IP addresses of file sharers to authorities in cases of suspected copyright infringement.

The chilling effect this law has had on Swedish Internet traffic is palpable. Traffic metric site Netnod Internet Exchange shows that since IPRED was passed on Wednesday, traffic has dropped by around 40%.

Continue reading →

Ah, the life of a security reporter: You ask Microsoft's communcations managers if the new PowerPoint vulnerability announced Thursday evening is a zero-day vulnerability, currently being exploited in the wild with no patch to shield us, and a spokesperson responds that "At this time, Microsoft is only aware of limited and targeted attacks that attempt to use this vulnerability." In other words, yes.

Security Advisory 969136 describes the new problem as one that can allow remote code execution if the file recipient opens an infected file. The Microsoft Security Research & Defense blog is rather more useful (not to mention straightforward -- yes, they're seeing it out in the wild, used in targeted attacks), recommending several defensive maneuvers while we await a patch. Those include using PowerPoint's newer version of XML, temporarily disabling the binary file format if your organization's using PPTX, and forcing legacy PowerPoint files to open in MOICE. Bloggers Bruce Dang and Jonathan Ness note that this is the first time Office 2003 SP3 (fully patched) has been successfully attacked in the wild since its release in September 2007.

Continue reading →

If Apple announced tomorrow that its long-rumored tablet computer was going to be released as an e-book reader, fans of that platform would be lining up outside the stores and squeaking with joy about how the iRead would totally change, like, everything. If Microsoft or Google unveiled a reader, the bickering about monopolies and long-term implications for publishers and libraries would be deafening.

But is there a less high-profile name that can get the general public interested in electronic readers?

Continue reading →

Tell your boss the University of Melbourne says it's probably a good thing for you to hang out on Facebook (or in our comments threads!) today. A study released on Thursday found that people who spend part of their workday surfing the fun stuff online are actually more productive than employees whose networks (or habits) are too buttoned-down.

The survey by the Department of Management and Marketing examined the productivity and habits of 300 workers, 70% of whom said they spend at least some time each day engaging in "Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing" (news, YouTube, social networking, shopping and the like). The study found that workers who spent some amount of time doing so -- up to around 20% of their day -- displayed as much as 9% greater productivity.

Continue reading →

Skype blogger Peter Parkes posted a quick update today announcing that within two days of availability, Skype is now one of the fastest-downloaded apps of all time in the iTunes app store at around six downloads each second.

This in no way is a gauge of the usage the app will get, since it has been shown that most iPhone apps that are featured, free, and downloaded at least a million times do not get used at all after one month, and 80% don't even use the app after the first day.

Continue reading →

With only two official deployments in the United States and flagging interest from hardware providers such as Nokia, WiMAX needs a strategic deployment. Where better than Silicon Valley?

Clearwire is shooting for a 20 square mile area of coverage in the San Francisco Bay area, and giving 4G developers there free access to the network.

Continue reading →

It may have cooled its heels for over a year in preview limbo, but Microsoft's ASP.NET MVC made the open-source leap rather quickly -- rolled out as 1.0 last month at MIX'09 after a quick RC2 in early March, the code is now open-source as per the Microsoft Public License (MS-PL).

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural framework isn't in very common use yet, but the philosophy's good, allowing programmers to maintain separation between data, interface and applications logic aspects of their projects. (That can make coding faster -- and the results both more elegant and more reusable, leading to faster coding -- a non-vicious circle, if you like.) And if the MS-PL is also news to you, Microsoft's Scott Guthrie (corporate VP for .NET)-- who describes the new release as "a 'closer to the metal' web programming option for ASP.NET" -- has a fast summation on his blog: "contains no platform restrictions and provides broad rights to modify and redistribute the source code."

Continue reading →

It's not law yet, but the French Parliament has moved one step closer to adopting harsh penalties for those caught downloading pirated content more than twice. Lawmakers voted Thursday on a provision that would essentially give citizens of France three strikes before their Internet access is cut off entirely for up to one year.

Once the rest of the "Creation and Internet Law" is approved, it will go to the National Assembly for a final vote. France's President Nicolas Sarkozy came out in support of the bill, and it's likely no coincidence that his wife, Carla Bruni, released her third album last year.

Continue reading →

"If you go with virtualization, you could be paying more than you need to pay," said Librato CEO Fred van den Bosch, in a briefing for Betanews at Cloud Computing Expo in New York City.

Furthermore, the hypervisors typically used in virtualization can produce performance hits of their own, he contended.

Continue reading →

iPhone who?, Research in Motion's Q4 2009 earnings report seemed to say on Thursday, as the Canadian firm's forth-quarter earnings report showed that the time is now for sales of its BlackBerry smartphones. The 50 millionth BlackBerry handset, in fact, shipped during the 2009 fiscal year just ended.

Not just to the usual business suspects, either. Co-CEO Jim Balsillie said on Thursday's earnings call that 70% of the 3.9 million new BlackBerry subscriber accounts launched in Q4 were non-enterprise accounts, and that 50% of all accounts now are held by consumers. In turn, he said, the company is changing to offer the sort of things consumers find appealing: social networking, e-commerce, music and the like.

Continue reading →

Already supporting Amazon EC2, GoGrid, and FlexiScale clouds, RightScale is now working on integrating RackSpace and Eucalyptus into its environment for managing hybrid clouds, said Thorsten von Eicken, the company's founder and CTO, in a meeting with Betanews at Cloud Computing Expo in New York City.

Available in free as well as other versions, RightScale's platform is aimed at organizations looking to administer private and public cloud spaces at the same time, acording to von Eicken.

Continue reading →

Software company Opera announced that its Web browser will be included in the Sprint 3G-connected Ford Work Soutions in-vehicle computer systems, and as a download for the Nintendo DSi that will be released in Europe tomorrow, and in the U.S. this Sunday.

In announcing the company's placement in the first 3G in-dash computer, Opera Americas' Software's Senior Vice President, Rod Hamlin said, "Opera's vision has always been about giving people access to the full Web anytime, anywhere. No example showcases this better than delivering a fast, feature-rich Web browser to a vehicle."

Continue reading →

Would you find it more surprising to hear that even teens are spending less during the economic downturn, or to hear that even teens are kind of nonplussed by the current music scene?

A report out this week from The NPD Group says that the 13-to-17 crowd acquired 19% less music in 2008 than they did the previous year. That's acquisition by any means -- CD purchases (down 26%), digital downloads (down 13%), peer-to-peer sharing (down 6%), even borrowing (down 28%).

Continue reading →