Techno-News Blog

By Martin Patience, BBC News, Beijing

The iPad 2 went on sale in China last month. A teenager in China has sold one of his kidneys in order to buy an iPad 2, Chinese media report. The 17-year-old, identified only as Little Zheng, told a local TV station he had arranged the sale of the kidney over the internet. The story only came to light after the teenager’s mother became suspicious. The case highlights China’s black market in organ trafficking. A scarcity of organ donors has led to a flourishing trade.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13639934

by the BBC

Demonstrations of Windows 8 running on tablets, phones and desktop computers were given at separate conferences in the US and Taiwan. As expected, the software can be used via either traditional keyboard and mouse or by gestures on a gadget’s touchscreen. No date has been given for the release of Windows 8 but it is expected to be available before October 2012.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13627037

By Katia Moskvitch, BBC

Imagine googling your home to find your child’s lost toy. Or remotely turning on the tumble dryer for yet another cycle – after it has texted you that the clothes were still damp. Or your plant tweeting you to be watered. It might have been sci-fi just a decade ago, but with the internet forcing its way into every aspect of our lives, cyberspace is leaking out into the real world. In the past few months, companies ranging from giants such as Google to small start-ups have been touting the possibility of interconnecting people and objects – lightbulbs, fridges, cars, buildings – to create an internet of things.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13632206

by the BBC

The growing popularity of tablets has seen many new players enter the market. Toshiba has announced its foray into the fast-growing tablet market with its latest gadget called Thrive. The Japanese electronics maker has priced its entry level model at $429 (£262), which is cheaper than the base model of Apple’s iPad2. The company said its base model comes with wi-fi ability and is targeted at consumers who use tablets at home. The tablet will go on sale in the US on 10 July.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/13637090

by the BBC

Google is phasing out support for older browsers from 1 August. Those using IE7, Safari 3, Firefox 3.5 and their predecessors to view Gmail, Google Calendar, Talk, Docs and Sites will then lose some functions. Eventually, it warned, these web services will stop working for those sticking with older browsers. The move is part of a trend to stop the use of ageing browsers which can be insecure and not sophisticated enough to handle the latest web technologies.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13639875

By Alex Hudson, the BBC

As computers become ever more complicated, there are concerns that schools and universities are not teaching the basic programming skills that underpin some of Britain’s most successful industries. Many think that a return to the days where simpler computers filled the classroom could change things. When all computers were basic, children could understand them more easily and mess around with them from a very early age. “Even 20 years ago, the BBC Micro was in schools and was the cornerstone of computing in the classroom and when people went home from school or work, they also had their Spectrum so could also do programming,” says Livingstone.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9503255.stm

by eSchool News

Applications for the second round of i3 grants are due Aug. 2, and grants will be awarded by the end of this year. The federal government is trying to make it easier to apply for one of its grants for innovative ideas to improve education. But with budget cuts, there’s a lot less money to give away this year. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) gave out $650 million to 49 school districts, charter organization, colleges, universities, and other nonprofit organizations with entrepreneurial ideas for improving the nation’s schools. On June 3, ED announced that there’s $150 million available for the second round of Investing in Innovation, or i3, grants this year.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/06/03/new-round-of-grants-target-education-innovation/

by eSchool News

After the user answers a series of questions, the app determines the likelihood of a concussion and can eMail information to a doctor. Need to know if it’s safe for a student athlete to return to the game after suffering a blow to the head? There’s an app for that. The next tool in the campaign against concussions might be your smart phone: A doctor at the University of North Carolina has teamed with other head-trauma researchers to develop an application for mobile devices that helps determine whether someone might have suffered a concussion.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/06/03/mobile-phone-app-helps-diagnose-concussions/

by Macklin Reid, Ridgefield

The future for textbooks in Ridgefield?

Education’s future seemed on display — online textbooks with virtual manipulatives, animations and assessments, personal computer tutors available at the click of mouse. But that future isn’t now — or, if it is, Ridgefield’s not jumping all the way in. Seventh graders will be getting a new math textbook with the jazzy online presence, Math Connects: Course 2 by Glencoe McGraw-Hill. While they’ll be getting ink and paper versions of the book, and a related workbook, they’ll also be able to access the book’s online version from their home computers.

http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/theridgefieldpress/news/localnews/95297-are-school-text-beginning-move-to-electronic-books.html

By Tom Simonite, Technology Review

In a bid to enable computers to learn faster, defense company Lockheed Martin has bought a system that uses quantum mechanics to process digital data. It paid $10 million to startup D-Wave Systems for the computer and support using it. D-Wave claims this to be the first ever sale of a quantum computing system. The new system, called the D-Wave One, is not significantly more capable than a conventional computer. But it could be a step on the road to fuller implementations of quantum computing, which theoreticians have shown could easily solve problems that are impossible for other computers, such as defeating encryption systems by solving mathematical problems at incredible speed.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/37673/?p1=MstRcnt&a=f

by Kristina Grifantini, Technology Review

Cell phones are potentially carcinogenic according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of The World Health Organization. A panel of 31 scientists from across the globe did not conduct any new research before making the declaration, but assessed existing studies. The IARC has now elevated cell phone use to its Group 2B list of carcinogens, which includes many different chemicals and products, such as DDT, engine exhaust, and coffee, pickled vegetables and talcum powder. This means it the IARC considers cell phones “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” The panel evaluated a number of research studies, including the 2007 Interphone study, which indicated that the heaviest 10 percent of cell phone users had a 40 percent increased risk of developing a rare type of brain tumor called glioma. Because this cancer is so rare, the increase in risk is very slight.

http://technologyreview.com/blog/editors/26835/?p1=blogs

By Erica Naone, Technology Review

When your friend shows up with the latest “must-have” product, it’s more likely you’ll buy the same product. By exploiting this phenomenon—and harnessing the information available through online social networks—marketers hope to better target products to would-be buyers. In work presented this week at the Interdisciplinary Workshop on Information and Decision in Social Networks, researchers from the Norwegian telecom provider Telenor showed how important friend connections can be to the adoption of a product. Watching how adoption spreads within social networks could help predict whether a new product will become a viral smash, they say. The researchers looked at patterns of adoption for Apple’s iPhone and iPad, as well as for the far-less-successful Doro mobile handset.

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/37672/?p1=MstRcnt&a=f

By David Talbot, Technology Review

The Pentagon will soon release a strategy that formalizes a long-articulated position: the United States reserves the right to launch conventional attacks in response to the cyber kind. But figuring out who is behind such attacks may be difficult, or impossible. “To say that cyberattacks can be acts of war, and that they can be met by kinetic responses, simply confirms a longstanding Department of Defense consensus,” says Stewart Baker, a lawyer who was policy chief at the Department of Homeland Security for part of the Bush administration. “Neither of those statements make a strategy, however.”

http://technologyreview.com/web/37692/?p1=MstRcnt

By Duncan Graham-Rowe, Technology Review

Sony has demonstrated a new augmented reality system called Smart AR that can be built into the company’s future gaming devices. Augmented reality involves mapping virtual objects onto a view of the real world, usually as seen through the screen of a smart phone. The technology has so far been used to create a handful of dazzling smart-phone apps, but has yet to take off in a big way. However, many believe that mobile gaming could prove to be an ideal platform for the technology. With Smart AR, certain real-world objects could become part of a game when viewed through a device such as the PlayStation Portable. This could allow game characters to appear on a tabletop, perhaps, or to respond to the movement of real objects.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/37637/?p1=MstRcnt&a=f

by Christopher Mims, Technology Review

“This is the new version of Windows. It’s going to run on laptops, it’s going to run on desktops, it’s going to run on PCs with a mouse and keyboard, it’s going to run on touch slates, it’s going to run on everything. Hundreds of millions of Windows PCs powered by this new interface and new platform.”

http://technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26838/?p1=blogs

By: Don Reisinger, eWeek

News Analysis: Google has unveiled its long-awaited Google Wallet with the near-field communication technology that allows people to make purchases and mobile payments with Android-based smartphones. But will it succeed? Probably not. Google has finally unveiled the long-awaited Google Wallet, a service that allows users to pay for purchases with an Android-based smartphone. The offering effectively turns the smartphone into a wallet, thanks to near-field communication technology. With the launch, Google ostensibly believes that the days of swiping credit cards are coming to an end. Going forward, wirelessly connected people around the globe will rely upon their smartphones and nothing else to quickly and efficiently pay for products.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Google-Wallet-Wont-Succeed-10-Reasons-Why-659483/?kc=rss

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Amazon.com could sell 2.4 million Android tablets in 2012, only cannibalizing the company’s Kindle e-readers a touch, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. Amazon.com has not confirmed the existence of an alleged Android tablet computer, but that isn’t stopping one analyst from modeling unit sales for the erstwhile Apple iPad rival. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said he believes Amazon could sell 2.4 million Android tablets in 2012, following a late 2011 launch in time for the holidays. Munster is basing his information on a recent report by Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin, who wrote that Amazon is aiming to release at least one tablet computer based on Google’s Android operating system in time for the holiday 2011 season.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Amazon-Tablet-Could-Ship-24M-Units-in-2012-Munster-231828/?kc=rss

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Almost one-quarter of U.S. Web users have made a phone call via the Web with Skype, Vonage or some other VOIP service, according to Pew Internet. A new report from Pew Internet sheds some light on why Microsoft felt it necessary to pay $8.5 billion for voice over IP giant Skype this month. Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of U.S. adult Web users, or 19 percent of all American adults, have made calls online using Skype, Vonage or some other VOIP service, the research organization said May 30. Some 5 percent of Web users are making calls online on any given day. Pew cobbled its findings from calling and polling 2,277 adults aged 18 and over from April 26 to May 22, 2011.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/VOIP-and-Telephony/Skype-Vonage-Calls-Made-by-24-of-Web-Users-Pew-352459/?kc=rss

by the BBC

Cyber soldiers will work alongside other troops to protect vital computer systems. ‘Cyber’ soldiers will be put alongside conventional troops as the government puts cyber attacks on an equal footing with other conflicts. The news comes as US defence firm Lockheed Martin admitted it came under a significant cyber attack last week. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it will recruit hundreds of cyber experts to shore up UK defences. It is part of a £650m fund set aside by the government for dealing with cyber security.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13599916

by Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC

Imagine if the pictures in your newspaper could come to life or that a statue in a museum could start talking to you. That is now possible through a technology called augmented reality. The advertising industry in particular is pinning great hopes on it taking off.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13607303

by Technology Review

A look at the trends that are making “big data” so big. This month, Business Impact explored how leaps in technology are enabling countless data mining possibilities. The challenge facing companies is to figure out how to crunch the numbers so they can better serve their customers. One way of trying to solve this challenge is by tapping software, such as “business intelligence” applications.

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/37650/?p1=BI