Gates sets TED a-buzzing (and a-swatting)
Bill Gates certainly knows how to get one's attention when he wants to. According to a FOX News report, he did so at the latest TED conference by unleashing a jar full of mosquitoes on the crowd.
At the tech conference to discuss the Gates Foundation's progress on efforts to halt malaria, Gates spoke for a bit, then grabbed a jar full of mosquitoes, which are the transmission vector for the debilitating disease. Saying, "Here, I'll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected," Gates opened the jar and shook out the flying insects, doubtless making those in the first few rows feel much less pleased with their seating picks than they had earlier in the day.
Thai group encourages use of VPNs to bypass state censorship
In light of the Thai government's strict censorship rules, anti-censorship group Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) released information yesterday that it describes as "easy, legal tools for circumventing Internet censorship."
The government of Thailand has repeatedly come to blows with Web sites both domestic and foreign over free speech issues. YouTube, for example, was banned for four months in 2007 for hosting content deemed offensive to Thais, and a reported 4,800 sites were blocked by the Information and Communication Technology Ministry (ICT) in March 2008.
One million users already for Xbox's Watch Instantly, says Netflix
The number of Xbox 360 users downloading the Watch Instantly application from Netflix has now reached the 1 million mark, according to Microsoft and Netflix. Introduced less than three months ago, the application is designed to let Xbox Live Gold members use their TVs to watch movies and television shows streamed from Netflix to an Xbox gaming system from Microsoft.
By now, Xbox customers have used the application from Netflix to watch 1.5 billion minutes of movies and TVs, the companies maintained in a statement. Over 12,000 movies and TV episodes are available for instant viewing through Netflix, with a growing percentage available in high definition format. Beyond supporting Netflix streaming in the US, the Xbox Live Video Marketplace also offers more than 17,000 other pieces of standard and HD content.
HP creates easy-to-use Linux software for netbooks
In a move that might help boost netbook sales on the Linux side, at least for itself, Hewlett-Packard has released a custom version of Ubuntu for its own Mini 1000 Mi Edition. The new software reportedly sports a custom GUI that's geared more for media and connectivity applications than your usual PC fare.
At boot-up, Mi users are greeted with a screen presenting a Web search engine; a list of favorite Web sites; shortcuts to their music and photos; a settings manager; and a Start New Program button. If you click on the button, you'll get separate tabs for Internet, Media, Utilities, Work, Play, and "All" applications. Because the OS is based on the Hardy Herring edition of Ubuntu, it should be able to run just about any Ubuntu app.
Analysts: Online video viewing up 13% in December
Maybe the cold weather had something to do with it, and maybe the ever worsening economy. In any case, online video viewing increased a record 13% in December versus November of last year, according to analysts at comScore. During December, viewers watched 14.3 million videos online, with YouTube accounting for 49% of the incremental gain.
In fact, considerably more videos (41%) got viewed on Google Sites than anywhere else, with 99% of the viewing on those sites happening on YouTube. Fox Interactive Media took second place, at 3.1%, followed by Yahoo Sites at 2.3%, and Viacom Digital at 2.0%. Microsoft Sites and Hulu.com tied for fifth place, each with 1.7%. Also placing in the rankings were AOL with 1.4%, Turner Network, 1.3%; Disney Online, 1.0%; and ESPN, 0.7%.
Woz gets a job!
A producer of high-speed solid-state storage devices announced this morning that the legendary Steve Wozniak, the co-designer of the Apple I and II computers and the keeper of the technological spirit of that company during its formative years, has joined the company as its Chief Scientist.
A Fusion-io statement this morning quotes Woz as saying, "The technology marketplace has not seen such capacity for innovation and radical transformation since the mainframe computer was replaced by the home computer. Fusion-io's technology is extremely useful to many different applications and almost all of the world's servers."
Ceasefire called in Norway's battle over iTunes for non-iPods
Yesterday, Norway's PMP interoperability champion, Consumer Ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon, said there is no reason to continue his fight against Apple now that iTunes is DRM-free.
Thon called January 6 an "historic day for consumers of digital music," when Apple announced iTunes was going DRM-free. This action summarily ended the more than two-year-long demand for interoperability from Thon.
AP stakes a claim on 'Hope,' literally
It is perhaps the first truly iconic poster to be produced in the 21st century: the steadfast and upward-looking face of a presidential candidate, produced in a rich combination of just four colors, emblazoned with the word "HOPE." It has come to stand for the new president, Barack Obama; and its artist, poster painter Shepard Fairey, is being honored with awards and even documentary coverage from USA Network.
But now that it's all pretty much done, the Associated Press is claiming it is the rights holder for the photograph on which Fairey's work is based. Though it has not sued Fairey, as other sites are reporting, its attorneys have sent Fairey correspondence which apparently seeks compensation.
A private Web site tries to clean up the public DTV coupon mess
The US DTV transition debacle has become almost comical in its exposure of the failure of bureaucracy, but an announcement this morning only serves to underscore it even more: A social Web site is offering to collect unused government converter box coupons being distributed to citizens who did not actually request or need them, and distribute them to citizens who have requested coupons but did not receive them.
Retrevo, which established itself as "a matchmaking service for people and electronics," is asking folks who have extra DTV coupons that they're not going to redeem, to enable them to be donated to others using the service as a transfer medium. "Anyone with an extra coupon that they're willing to put in the mail or have someone pick up, provides Retrevo with their e-mail address and zip code and Retrevo will hook them up with someone who needs the coupon," the company said in an announcement this morning. "For people who need a coupon, they simply submit their e-mail address and zip code and Retrevo will try and connect them with someone who has an extra coupon."
Tech firms battle US job protection laws while importing workers
On the one hand, importing more foreign workers into the US for lower wages than US workers might earn, would save companies money. On the other, exporting US workers to foreign soil could save them money too.
After coming under close scrutiny by a US senator around its policies of importing employees into the US, Microsoft on Tuesday joined with IBM and several other high tech firms in fighting a "Buy American" provision -- appearing in the pending economic stimulus package -- which is designed to protect American workers.
Orange loses its iPhone exclusivity appeal in France
Yesterday, after Orange lost its appeal to retain its position as the exclusive iPhone carrier in France, complainant rival mobile operator Bouygues Télécom was reportedly ready to move on and start offering its own iPhone deals.
Apple's iPhone was made available unlocked through Orange, but at approximately double the price (€749) of a phone under contract with the mobile operator. The deal between Apple and Orange was for five years, with a three year exit provision for Apple.
Intel software engineer: Is Win7 on netbooks worth the premium?
It may be the clearest demonstration to date that the working relationship between Intel and Microsoft is about as loosely coupled today than at anytime in the companies' histories. A very frank but official blog post from Intel software engineer Josh Bancroft, dated Tuesday, warns prospective netbook buyers that one of the elements not revealed by Microsoft's not-very-revealing announcement on Windows 7 SKUs earlier this week concerns licensing fees.
"Currently, when Microsoft sells a license of Windows XP on a netbook, they're making very little money," writes Bancroft. "They would have preferred to stop selling XP altogether a long time ago. But the low cost of an XP license adds very little to the overall cost of a netbook -- important when you're selling a device for $300-$500. No one but Microsoft knows how much it will charge for the various versions of Windows 7, but it's safe to assume that it won't be much (if at all) cheaper than Windows Vista. And adding, say, $100 to the cost of a $400 netbook just to pay for Windows 7 is going to be a tough proposition all around."
Windows 7's ability to selectively elevate privileges is under scrutiny
In Microsoft's ongoing effort to alleviate users' discomfort with Windows Vista's security nags, the company may be re-introducing a potential powder keg of new problems, as researchers continue to discover.
In his continuing investigation of the UAC bypasses being tested for Windows 7, developer Rafael Rivera points out another potentially serious problem: As developer Leo Davidson noted in a recent blog post, some binaries in Windows 7 are given the ability to present XML-based manifests of themselves that give themselves a privilege called autoelevate.
New Guitar Hero record set; no music harmed
From the Okay, But Is That The Best Use Of Your Time? files, the Guinness world-records people want you to know that there's a whole new collection of gamer scores in print, ready for videogame fans to look upon and despair.
There's also a new world record to wonder at, though you are allowed to wonder about the sense of setting the record itself if you prefer. Danny Johnson, a 14-year-old from Grapevine, Texas, set a Guitar Hero record Wednesday morning for his 973,954 score -- a 99% completion rate on Expert Level -- for shredding along to "Through the Fire and Flames" by DragonForce.
Akamai profit up by double digits
Internet acceleration-and-management firm Akamai announced on Wednesday that the company's fourth-quarter profit exceeded analysts' estimates, climbing 13% year-to-year. As announced in November, the company will lay off 110.
The company reported Q4 revenues of $212.6 million, an increase of $15.3 million (8%) from Q3 and a year-to-year increase of $29.4 million (16%) year-over-year. Total revenue for fiscal year 2008 was $790.9 million. GAAP net income of $40.5 million works out to 22 cents/share, non-GAAP earnings were 44 cents/share. That beat analysts' estimates of a 40-cent EPS.
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