Techno-News Blog

by Maggie Shiels, BBC

It seems hard to even fathom that anybody would believe this, but the internet has been buzzing with stories alleging that on 15 March Mark Zuckerberg is going to give it all up and shut down Facebook. The story was first reported by the Weekly World News, which has been in the past responsible for stories like “Alien Spaceships to Attack Earth in 2011”, “Megan Fox is a man” and “George Clooney to Run or President”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/maggieshiels/2011/01/facebooks_death_-_greatly_exag.html

By Maggie Shiels, BBC

The digitised archive will help to humanise views of JFK, says the library’s director. The presidential library commemorating the life of US President John F Kennedy is digitising every scrap of paper, video, audio and artefact it possesses. The project is the largest undertaken by one of the 13 presidential library. Materials already digitised include secret phone conversations about the Cuban missile crisis. There are also recordings of meetings discussing Vietnam, civil rights and the space race, school report cards and letters from JFK to his mother. “We are scanning every single piece of paper, movie and audio tape we have in our possession,” Tom Putnam, JFK library director told BBC News.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12181154

by the BBC

Net growth could be slowed if the net does not move quickly to the new addressing scheme. A global trial of the net’s new addressing system is being planned for 8 June. The test is being held to raise awareness about the imminent change from version 4 of the addressing scheme to version 6. Net giants Google, Facebook, Akamai and Yahoo have committed to taking part in the “test flight” of IPv6. Net firms are being encouraged to switch to IPv6 as addresses in the old scheme will run out by November 2011.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12183098

By RIVA RICHMOND, New York Times

A holiday hiatus for spammers appears to be over. Rustock, a network of malware-infected personal computers that is the world’s No. 1 source of spam and is believed to be controlled by Russian cybercriminals, stopped sending spam on Christmas Eve, causing global spam levels to plummet. No one really knew why. But Rustock has now said Happy New Year to the world. On Sunday, at about 7 p.m. Eastern standard time, the botnet was back at work dispatching spam, mostly of the pharmaceutical variety and plugging an outfit called Pharmacy Express, according to the security firm Symantec.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/spam-is-back/

by the BBC

Does it matter if celebrities plug products on Twitter? Whether it’s Peter Andre or Henry Holland they’re all at it, publicising new fragrances, coffee brands and the latest gadgets on the social networking website. Lara O’Reilly, digital news reporter from Marketing Week, says: “The issue here is transparency.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12152587

By Clint Boulton, eWeek

Cisco Systems has long been angling to expand from its enterprise networking and infrastructure roots to make a play for more consumer-friendly services. Case in point: The company, which more than a decade ago cut its teeth making market-leading routers and switches, now owns the popular Flip video camera. Cisco CEO John Chambers popped into the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show to unveil the company’s play to bring Web content to TV, tablet and smartphone screens in the form of Videoscape, a batch of software and two media appliances.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/Cisco-Demonstrates-Videoscape-Entry-in-Cluttered-Web-TV-Arena-262990/

By Clint Boulton, eWeek

 Verizon Wireless introduced the highly anticipated, CDMA version of Apple’s iPhone 4. The device will go on sale Feb. 10 online and in stores Verizon Wireless and Apple Jan. 11 said they will launch a CDMA version of Apple’s iPhone 4, confirming what the mobile tech world has been speculating about since AT&T launched the iPhone in 2007.
The multiyear deal is non-exclusive. Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead said at a launch event here that existing Verizon Wireless customers will be able to preorder the Verizon iPhone 4 exclusively online Feb. 3. Verizon’s 3G network will power the handset. 

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Verizon-iPhone-4-Goes-on-Sale-Feb-10-for-199-171450/

By Mark Ward

In 2011, it was the place Ford chose to unveil a new car – the electric version of its Focus. It will be on sale in the US by the end of the year and Europe soon after. Debuting the Focus at CES rather than the Detroit Motor Show indicates how important in-car electronics have become to every manufacturer and car owner.”The most exciting innovations are not the ones happening in homes and offices, they are in cars,” said Audi boss Rupert Stadtler. “These changes will link the way we drive with the way we live which until now have been separate.” Anyone who has bought a new car recently knows that those innovations have been making themselves felt for a while as manufacturers swap dials for digital displays and tachometers for touch screens.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12144581

By Fiona Graham, BBC

Bring your own computer (BYOC) may not seem quite as attractive as bring your own bottle (BYOB), but could it be the future for IT provisioning? You are at work. Your computer is five years old, runs Windows XP. Your company phone has a tiny screen and doesn’t know what the internet is. Idling at home are a snazzy super-fast laptop, and your own smartphone is barred from accessing work e-mail. There’s a reason for that: IT provisioning is an expensive business. Companies can struggle to keep up with the constant rate of technological change. The devices employees have at home and in their pockets are often far more powerful than those provided for them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12181570

By the BBC

A recently observed global decline in spam e-mail could prove to be short lived, researchers say. A network of infected computers used to produce spam has sprung back to life after a lull of several weeks. The Rustock botnet – as it is known – mysteriously stopped sending spam e-mails in early December, resulting in a massive decline in spam. But according to security firm NetWitness, it restarted activity early on 10 January. Overall spam levels are still below their levels in August 2010, when Rustock began to wind down its activity.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12154118

by the BBC

A touch screen that responds to many  people using it has been revealed at the CES technology show in Las Vegas. The 3M device runs on Windows and Linux. It can be manipulated through thin gloves and responds to more than 20 simultaneous points of contact. Click’s Marc Cieslak tries it out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9345606.stm

By Maggie Shiels, BBC

Everybody is trying to grab a piece of the tablet action at the gadget geekfest known as the Consumer Electronics Show. Among them, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, whose mission is to bring low-powered, low-cost devices to the developing world. They have just launched a hybrid computer that turns into a tablet, but plan to release a dedicated device by 2012. The new $165 (about £106) XO-1.75 laptop will start shipping after the summer to countries around the world to bring school children into the computer age. Its precursor cost around $199 (about £128) and OLPC says around two million have now been distributed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12144651

By Beecher Tuttle, TMCnet

With lower budgets, limited physical space and new insight into the effectiveness of online learning, a myriad of highly regarded public and private colleges and universities have begun transitioning their curriculum to a digital world. In fact, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the most well thought-of state institutions on the East Coast, recently announced its plans to offer its prestigious MBA program completely online. The business school’s dean told Mashable that the university made the move because it did not see online learning as a lesser form of education, if delivered properly.

http://education.tmcnet.com/topics/education/articles/131254-technology-empowering-online-learning-post-secondary-level.htm

by Amanda Chan, MyHealthNewsDaily

In the winter, a mountainous region of California that the locals call the Grapevine is plagued by severe weather. The highway that winds through it is coated with snow and ice, making travel between central and southern parts of the state difficult and, sometimes, nearly impossible. During these stormy outbursts, Dr. Gregory Smith, who specializes in treating chronic pain and prescription drug abuse, can’t make it from his office in Los Angeles to his Fresno clinic. Two years ago, his only options were to reschedule appointments or cancel altogether. But now, Smith uses his computer webcam to “see” his patients. He estimates the video technology enabled him to save 350 to 500 appointments this year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110102/sc_livescience/doctorwillskypeyounowmoremdsusewebforhousecalls

By Tom Avril, Philadelphia Inquirer

Using a cane, a blind person can easily detect obstacles at ground level. But what about something at waist height or above, such as the caution tape surrounding a construction site? “It’s insidious,” said Suzanne Erb, a blind resident of Center City. “By the time you’ve reached it with your cane, it’s way too late.” Unless you happen to be wielding a one-of-a-kind electronically enhanced cane, the work of University of Pennsylvania engineering students who consulted with Erb. The cane is equipped with a device that projects a cone of ultrasonic waves in front of the user, allowing it to detect obstructions and then warn the person by making the cane vibrate.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/weekly/20110103_Haptics_offer_the_sensation_of_touch_without_touching.html

By ABBIE TUMBLESON West Yellowstone News

West Yellowstone eleventh-grade American Literature students took storytelling to the next level with the help of technology. West Yellowstone School librarian and technology teacher Jo Stevens and English teacher Sherrie Williams worked together to create a digital collaborative learning project for the American Lit class. The class has been reading letters, journals and diaries about the lives of different people including John Smith and texts from the Salem Witch Trials. The texts are rich with information on how people lived their lives in different environments. “It wasn’t leisurely reading. It was informative. They read nonfiction materials,” Williams said.

http://www.westyellowstonenews.com/news/article_478521de-167c-11e0-afa2-001cc4c03286.html

by Rebecca Cleary, Broadneck Patch

In thinking about what I was going to write for this week’s Mommy Made Easy column, I tried to envision where most of you would be right now. Because it is holiday week, I imagine that many of you are either with family or have been over the past week. When visiting parents or older relatives (or having them visit with you), there is one thing that many of us are asked to do involving today’s technology. Undoubtedly at some point during a family visit, many of us are cornered and handed a perplexing gadget that has been acquired this year or are led into the computer room to provide tech support for whatever our senior relatives can’t seem to figure out.

http://broadneck.patch.com/articles/teaching-parents-technology

by Erick Schonfeld, Tech Crunch

So here we are in a new decade, and the technologies that are now available to us continue to engage (and enthrall) in fascinating ways. The rise and collision of several trends—social, mobile, touch computing, geo, cloud—keep spitting out new products and technologies which keep propelling us forward. I highlight seven technologies that are ready to tip into the mainstream 2011. (visit the URL below)

http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/02/seven-technologies-that-will-rock-2011/

By Leslie Meredith, Standard-Examiner

The annual Consumer Electronics Show was held in Las Vegas last week, where thousands of tech companies unveiled their gadgets for 2011. With these product previews from manufacturers, and a review of 2010 headliners, get a good idea of when and what to buy when it comes to consumer electronics in 2011. Netbook prices will drop in 2011 to under $300. Asus and Acer will dominate the netbook market with what has become the standard: 1 Ghz processors and 2 GB of storage. Don’t expect innovation — manufacturers are putting their money behind tablets. When you spot a good deal later this year, it’s time to buy. Google has announced it has delayed the release of Honeycomb, which has put Android-based tablet manufacturers behind schedule. Honeycomb tablets probably won’t be available until April at the earliest, when they would be eclipsed by Apple’s anticipated release of the second generation iPad. The iPad 2 is being assembled for shipment within the next two months from China, according to reports from Taiwan. A preview won’t be available at the show. Apple doesn’t “do” CES, but a late-January unveiling is expected, with sales in April.

http://www.standard.net/topics/features/2011/01/02/buy-or-not-buy-new-technology-arrive-2011

By Dan Simmons, BBC Click

The internet has opened up worldwide communication for Zambian people. Africa may not be the first place you think of when talking about the digital revolution but many Zambian villages are looking to change all that. The village of Macha is a long way from anywhere, the nearest town is almost 50 miles away. But for the past few years it has harboured a surprising dream – to pioneer the spread of the internet to the 80% of Zambians who don’t live in cities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9346415.stm

by the BBC

Televisions which stream programmes off the internet are on display at the Consumer Entertainment Show in Las Vegas. The manufacturers hope watching programmes on the web will become a mainstream activity for most customers. But as Andrew Webb has discovered, some may prove to be a little too complicated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12138172