Techno-News Blog

by the BBC

Apple is being warned against trying to squeeze cash out of the newspaper industry by controlling subscriptions for iPads and iPhones. The European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) says it is concerned by the company’s plans to direct online sales through iTunes. If that happens, the ENPA warns, a large cut of their profits would go to Apple. However, the technology giant insists it wants to give customers choice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12391899

by Steven Musil, CNet news.com

Federal authorities are investigating repeated intrusions into the computer network that runs the Nasdaq stock exchange, according to a Wall Street Journal report that cited people familiar with the matter. The intrusions did not compromise the tech-heavy exchange’s trading platform, which executes investors’ trades, but it was unknown which other sections of the network were accessed, according to the report. “So far, [the perpetrators] appear to have just been looking around,” one person involved in the Nasdaq matter told the Journal.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20030775-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

by Alex Hudson, BBC

While the internet in Egypt has been re-established, the decision to cut off mobile and web networks was near-unprecedented. Does this mean that the “democracy” and “freedom” so often talked about in relation to the internet is under threat? Facebook says that “no one should be denied access to the Internet” The uprising in Egypt is “World Web War I”, says journalist Barton Gellman in Time Magazine. Cutting off nearly all internet traffic for five days created a backlash, not only from the people of Egypt but from the usually apolitical companies Google and Twitter. Google did not comment on the political situation but wanted to “go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time” by offering an internet-free way of using Twitter over the phone.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9386720.stm

by the BBC

Does sharing information about ourselves hand power to authority or put it into the hands of the people? Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur: How the Internet is killing our culture and Jeff Jarvis author of What Would Google Do? discuss the shifting concept of privacy in the internet age.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9388000/9388379.stm

By Brian Rosenthal, Grace Johnson and Sean Lavery; Daily Northwestern

NU community members received e-mails and text messages about the cancellation. Cubbage said the emergency notification system worked “very well.” Up to 10 inches of snow had accumulated at Chicago Midway Airport by 9 p.m. Tuesday and wind gusts of more than 60 miles per hour were reported. The National Weather Service has described the storm as “life-threatening.” Students rejoiced at the news, which gives them a rare snow day and the chance to study for midterms in a variety of classes, including the 600-person Human Sexuality course. Students widely expected the cancellation by Tuesday night. A Facebook group titled “No one is going to class tomorrow. Let’s be real” garnered 1,386 attendees in two hours.

http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/mobile/nu-cancels-all-wednesday-classes-closes-both-campuses-1.2454785

By Tom Simonite, Technology Review

When Apple’s iPad debuted last year, it resurrected a form of computing long thought unworkable, and created entirely new markets for book and news publishers. Attempts by others to follow that lead have lacked the iPad’s polish, but Google may have changed the equation by revealing its own take on the tablet experience yesterday.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/32253/?p1=A3

By Tyler Hamilton, Technology Review

A startup company has developed a new type of engine that could generate electricity with the efficiency of a fuel cell, but which costs only about as much as an internal combustion engine. Etalim, based in Vancouver, Canada, says its engine, roughly the size of a basketball, could improve the economics of electricity production for the cogeneration of power and heat in homes, and as a way to harness the heat produced at concentrating solar collectors.

http://technologyreview.com/energy/32267/?p1=MstRcnt&a=f

By NICK BILTON, New York Times

It’s quite strange that Apple chose the name iPad for its tablet computer as you can’t actually use it the way one would use a pad of paper, specifically when it comes to drawing or writing with a pen. The device’s touchscreen is designed to be used with a finger or two. In some instances it’s possible to use a specifically designed stylus to replicate the writing experience, but even that makes it very difficult to sit and take notes, or sketch pictures, using the iPad. That could all change soon, according to a new patent filed in 2008 by Apple that was discovered Thursday by the blog Patently Apple.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/apple-patents-a-stylus-to-reach-students/

by the BBC

Web reviewer Kate Russell compares the instant messenger applications Meebo, eBuddy and Trillian. Live streaming is now a massive part of life on the internet with many tech companies broadcasting exciting announcements and product launches online before anywhere else. Live Matrix is your portal to anything that’s available to watch through your browser. The news coming out of Egypt this week has really shown how important social media sites like Twitter have become. The Archivist is a useful tool to track and analyse the masses of tweets. And at Monitter you can specify three keywords that are being tweeted within range of a particular location. This way you can see what is managing to get to the twittersphere from those living through the experience on the ground.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9387080.stm

by the BBC

Attempts by cyber-criminals and hostile intelligence agencies to attack the British government have been outlined by the foreign secretary. William Hague told a conference in Munich how government computers had been infected by a virus last year. He also detailed an attempt to steal data from a UK defence contractor. Mr Hague claimed cyberspace was providing “rich pickings” for criminals and urged governments to move faster to counter the threat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12371056

By: Fahmida Y. Rashid, eWeek

IPv6 has a number of benefits built into its far-larger address space. But security managers will also encounter issues with securing the network from attackers as well as migrating existing security policies. With the transition to IPv6 network addresses gaining momentum, organizations are checking their infrastructure to ensure they are ready. The last blocks of IP addresses were allocated to Regional Internet Registries (RIR) in a public ceremony on Feb. 3. While each RIR has its own policies and rules for how these remaining addresses will be assigned, they are not expected to last out the year. In fact, the counter widget on IPv4 Address Report estimates the last address will be assigned sometime on Sept. 23.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/IPv6-Structure-Will-Require-New-Security-Policies-and-Tactics-624808/?kc=rss

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Google added check-in functionality to its Google Latitude application to surface-user location on Google Maps. The tool will enable Google to better compete with Foursquare and Facebook. Google Feb. 1 added check-in functionality to its Google Latitude application, allowing the service’s users to connect their location with specific places on Google Maps from their mobile phones. Google launched Latitude in February 2009 as a Google Maps feature that lets users see the approximate location of friends who opt to share their location.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Web-Services-Web-20-and-SOA/Google-Latitude-Checkins-Rival-Foursquare-Facebook-874710/?kc=rss

By: Brian T. Horowitz, eWeek

Searching for online health information was the third most popular Web activity for Internet users behind e-mail and using a search engine, according to a new study by the nonprofit research firm Pew Internet & American Life Project. Eight in 10 Internet users researched health information online, Pew reported in its Health Topics survey, conducted from Aug. 9 to Sept. 13, 2010. The California HealthCare Foundation sponsored the survey.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Health-Care-IT/Online-Health-Searches-the-Third-Most-Popular-Web-Activity-Study-718828/?kc=rss

By TAMAR LEWIN, NY Times

As the United States Department of Education gets closer to issuing its final regulations on commercial colleges’ eligibility for the federal student aid that provides the bulk of their revenue, a flurry of new reports and litigation are being filed in advance of important policy decisions for the schools. U.S. Revises Report on Commercial Colleges (December 9, 2010) “There’s obviously a great deal of political posturing and positioning taking place,” said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education. “The for-profits want to underscore the importance of the needy population they serve. Critics want to undermine the sector. It’s very hard to separate fact from fiction, given all that’s taken place.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/education/04colleges.html?_r=2&ref=education

by Dennis Carter, eCampus News

A smart-phone application has ended the days of database searches at Boston College libraries, and staff members at Eastern Illinois University’s library can take inventory in two hours instead of two days, thanks to emerging technologies that are gaining traction as higher-education budgets are slashed. Developing and maintaining these services comes with a price tag, campus library officials said, but the cost savings have been worth the investment as library operating budgets dwindle, along with those of most departments at colleges and universities struggling through the country’s economic downturn.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/campus-libraries-use-tech-to-streamline-student-searches-staff-work/

by Technology Review

 On February 3, it finally happened: the clock ran out on the Internet as we know it. That was the day that the stash of Internet protocol addresses that are used to identify and locate computers connected to the Internet—the telephone numbers of the online world—was exhausted. The problem is that the current system for IP addresses, IPv4, uses numeric addresses that are 32 bits long—giving a total of just over four billion potential numbers, which must have seemed like a lot when IPv4 was introduced in 1981. But there are now seven billion people on Earth, and more and more of them—and their devices—are going online all the time. Fortunately, engineers realized the limitations of IPv4 a long time ago and lined up a successor, called IPv6, in 1998. (IPv5 was an experimental system that never went public.)

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/32268/?p1=A3

By VERNE G. KOPYTOFF, NY Times

Computer makers have been forced to shut down some of their assembly lines because of a design flaw in chips produced by Intel. Dell and Hewlett-Packard have both stopped producing several models of personal computers to await a modified version of the chipset. Intel chipsIntel disclosed the problem in its Series 6 chipset, known as Cougar Point, on Monday after discovering that around 5 percent of the chips may fail over the typical three-to-five-year lifespan of a computer. The defect has caused a cavalcade of problems for computer makers, which have had to stop shipping several models already in production and to delay introducing some new models.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/intel-chip-flaw-cause-delays-for-pc-makers/

By NICK BILTON, NY Times

Now that Google has conquered a majority of the earth’s major streets with its Google Street View project, the company is starting to move inside. It’s creating the Google Art Project, a virtual equivalent of 17 major art museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Britain and National Gallery in London, and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, among many others.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/google-takes-street-view-into-art-museums/

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Tech Talk podcast takes a look at how technology is being used to press both for and against social and political change. Bettina Edelstein speaks to Matt Richtel, a New York Times technology reporter, about the impact and implications of the Internet shutdown in Egypt. And J.D. Biersdorfer speaks with David Perry, global director of education for the security firm Trend Micro, about how technology can be deployed as a weapon.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/tech-talk-podcast-revolution/

By Kate Greene, Technology Review

Developers use clever tricks to overcome the shortcomings of smart-phone cameras. The cameras in most mobile phones are an afterthought. This has left an opening for programmers to step in and develop software to make the images produced by smart phones much better. One roadblock to this effort has been the cameras themselves—their very design imposes limits on what a photographer can reasonably capture. Now Stanford professor Marc Levoy has created an app that changes what the iPhone’s camera is capable of.

http://technologyreview.com/computing/32235/?p1=MstRcnt&a=f

by Tom Simonite, Technology Review

Google’s results can be accessed because Bing is snooping on IE users. Microsoft started a metaphorical war with Google when it launched the Bing search engine two years ago. Yesterday it came close to becoming literal after Google told Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land that it had gathered evidence that Bing was copying its search results. However, it seems more accurate to describe users of Internet Explorer and the Bing toolbar as the targets of Bing’s snooping, not Google. At least, that’s my read on what Microsoft’s head of search engineering Harry Shum said after Google’s principal search engineer Matt Cutts rounded on him Tuesday during a panel at an event on search technology hosted by BigThink in San Francisco. “It’s not like we copy anything, we actually learn from the customer based on what they type and what they click on,” said Shum, “of course we track our users and what they do.”

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/26336/?p1=A4