Techno-News Blog

By Jane Wakefield, BBC

Does anyone know where he left his passwords? Imagine the scene. Sober solicitor, probably with half-rim glasses, surrounded by grieving relatives about to read out the last will and testament of Great-Uncle Johnny: “And to my beloved niece, I leave access to my online poker and bingo account and to my great-nephew Frankie, all my iTunes credits.” It might seem far-fetched but as more and more of us amass digital assets, it is exactly the kind of will we might need to consider drawing up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15292748

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Google’s September search share bounced back to 65.3 percent one month after a slower August in which the market leader totaled 64.8 percent of the search market, according to comScore. Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) fairly plummeted to 15.5 percent from 16.3 percent for the month, during which former CEO Carol Bartz was ousted from the struggling Internet company. Bartz was fired after failing to turn the company around following 30 months on the job. Yahoo CFO Tim Morse is the interim CEO for Yahoo, which is reportedly being shopped around after failing to revitalize itself in the face of Google, Facebook and other rivals for consumers’ attention.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Google-Search-Back-to-65-Through-September-comScore-318590/

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Facebook’s free iPad application arrived Oct. 10 after more than a year in the making and some controversy over its delay. Users who install the application, available here from Apple’s App Store, can use their fingers to scroll through their News Feed, or simply swipe to zoom through photo albums and pinch a single picture to zoom in for a closer look. Messages and notifications appear at the top of the screen, while applications, games and lists live in the left-hand rail, as they do on the desktop version of Facebook.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/Facebook-for-iPad-Finally-Blessed-by-Apple-609879/

By: Jeffrey Burt, eWeek

Hewlett-Packard executives reportedly are rethinking the controversial decision to get rid of the company’s $41 billion PC business. Rather than spin it off into its own company or sell it, HP may end up keeping the Personal Systems Group, according to an Oct. 12 story in the Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter.” New CEO Meg Whitman is reviewing the company’s recent moves under her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, who was fired in September after less than a year on the job. Among the criticisms of Apotheker were some jarring changes in strategy, and then reversals of some of those decisions.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/HP-May-End-Up-Keeping-PC-Business-Report-122034/

by Christopher Mims, Technology Review

Games, it turns out, aren’t necessarily about entertainment. Like a good book, they’re about immersion. It’s easy, when reading an account of someone else’s hard luck, such as Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, to imagine that by dint of your superior talents and fortitude, you would avoid the worst of what befell someone else. But in a game, there is no other—there’s just you, making choices and taking responsibility for them. In playing Spent, I felt lucky; I managed to make it through the month without having to ask any of my friends for money (on Facebook, naturally). But because I was fired for my collectivist leanings—i.e., that union rep I talked to in the parking lot around day 20—I made it to the end of the month with no money left over to pay next month’s rent.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27227/?p1=blogs

by David Zax, Technology Review

An innovative app developed at Stanford University over the summer shows how tablet computing has the potential to transform the ways the blind interact with the world. During a two-month summer course, an undergraduate and two mentors developed a Braille writer for a touchscreen. Braille, the alphabet for the blind built out of patterns of bumps, is the way the blind navigate the world of text. But how do blind people write Braille themselves? There exist specialized mechanical devices for the purpose, that look something like little typewriters, only with just a handful of keys. (There’s a wealth of information on the panoply of Braille writers here.) Such devices are pricey, though–$3,000 to $6,000, often. A tablet, obviously, is an order of magnitude less expensive, and has greater capabilities.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/27248/?p1=blogs

by Thomsons

Businesses and their employees could benefit from e-learning solutions, one expert has highlighted. Dr David Guralnick, president of the IELA, said that e-learning can achieve job performance improvement, employee engagement and motivation. Such improvements also have cost benefits for companies, as workers perform better and more efficiently. E-learning also saves in travel and instructor time as well as “anytime, anywhere access”. He explained that one e-learning method, simulation, provides a range of advantages when designed well.

http://www.thomsons.com/page/25846/uk/events-and-knowledge/employee-reward-and-benefits-news/articles/e-learning-benefits-businesses?fromSearch=true

By: Fahmida Y. Rashid, eWeek

The latest Government Accountability Office report underscored how poorly equipped federal departments and agencies are to prevent network security breaches. Security incidents at federal agencies have soared 650 percent over the past five years, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. In the past five years, the number of reported events has grown from 5,503 in 2006 to 41,776 in 2010, federal auditors wrote in a Government Accountability Office report released Oct. 3. The GAO compiled the report based on information from security-related reports and data from 24 federal agencies and departments that were collected between September 2010 and October 2011.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Federal-Network-Security-Breaches-Jump-650-in-Five-Years-898872/

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Google has acquired a small social analytics startup called SocialGrapple, but won’t disclose any other information about the deal other than that the company’s founder is joining the company. SocialGrapple was created by Andrey Petrov, who described the tool as a Twitter analytics tool that tracks changes in a user’s social graph and sends users interactive charts and email reports reflecting the data. Google runs a growing social network called Google+. Do the math and it isn’t hard to see why Google desired Petrov.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/Google-Grabs-SocialGrapple-Perhaps-to-Bring-Analytics-to-Google-504220/

By Don Reisinger, eWeek

After the Oct. 4 introduction of the iPhone 4S, Apple has been focusing much of its efforts on getting consumers to buy its latest handset. To make that sales pitch, Apple is focusing heavily on the device’s new dual-core processor and improved camera. Apple has also highlighted its new “wireless system” that should provide users with downlink speeds of 14.4M bps. Apple is hoping that the iPhone 4 will rapidly fade from buyers’ memories. The iPhone 4 smartphone that was once all the talk at Apple headquarters has now been relegated to the “obsolete” category because of the iPhone 4S. As one might expect, Apple is hoping most folks opt for its latest model, rather than the previous version of the device. But should they? Apple’s iPhone 4S certainly has a lot of attractive features. But the iPhone 4 remains a viable option for many customers. In some ways the iPhone 4 might even be a better bet for the average customer.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Buy-iPhone-4-Instead-of-Phone-4S-10-Reasons-Why-292079/

By Tom Simonite, Technology Review

Two startups in San Francisco are betting that one of Google’s most ignominious failures will be their ticket to success. They’re launching software that implements key ideas from Google Wave, a complex communication tool that the company launched in 2009; at the time, Google claimed it would displace e-mail, but the project was quietly shuttered 16 months later after few people adopted it. Wave was a complex combination of wiki, e-mail client, instant-messaging application, and more. The most technologically impressive thing about it was the way it enabled people to work on the same document, or “Wave,” simultaneously, and see the changes made by other people happening live around their own edits. This is the experience that two new startups, Stypi and LiveLoop, are betting can be a success after all.

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/38804/?p1=A2

by Stephen Cass, Technology Review

The device could mean better and faster diagnoses for patients in poor countries.

A cheap lens that enables a cell phone’s camera to discern the shapes of cells in a blood sample could make it easier to diagnose conditions such as sickle-cell anemia in places without medical infrastructure. The system was developed at the University of California, Davis, and is designed to allow field workers to photograph blood samples from patients, and then send the micrographs to doctors via the cellular network for interpretation.

http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/38793/?p1=MstRcnt

by Technology Review

Researcher says “it’s like getting continuous tweets from the cells rather than an occasional postcard.” A new prototype petri dish can create an image of what’s growing on it and send that information to a laptop, all from inside an incubator. The prototype, dubbed the ePetri, was created from Lego blocks and a cell-phone image sensor, and uses light from a Google Android smart phone. “Normally, one leaves the cells in an incubator and just checks up on them from time to time,” says Michael Elowitz, a professor of biology at Caltech, who coauthored the paper. “With ePetri, it’s like getting continuous tweets from the cells rather than an occasional postcard.”

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/38814/?p1=A1

By: Nathan Eddy, eWeek

Apple announced that preorders of its iPhone 4S have topped 1 million in a single day, surpassing the previous single-day preorder record of 600,000 held by iPhone 4. The iPhone 4S is the company’s latest smartphone and comes with new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip, an all new camera with advanced optics, full 1080p HD resolution video recording and Siri, an intelligent assistant application that helps users get things done by asking it questions. “We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. “The first-day preorders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched, and we are thrilled that customers love iPhone 4S as much as we do.”

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Apple-iPhone-4S-Preoders-Top-One-Million-in-24-Hours-824904/

By Katia Moskvitch, BBC News

The inner workings of the brain can now be read using low cost hardware. You don’t have to be a Jedi to make things move with your mind. Granted, we may not be able to lift a spaceship out of a swamp like Yoda does in The Empire Strikes Back, but it is possible to steer a model car, drive a wheelchair and control a robotic exoskeleton with just your thoughts. Some ideas, some technologies may sound like science fiction, but they are fast becoming science fact. In our eight-part series we will be exploring ideas that are the future of technology.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15200386

by the BBC

Airtime will “smash” people together so they can chat via webcam. The two founders of the original Napster music-sharing service are teaming up for another start-up. Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker have teamed up again to raise money to get a venture called Airtime off the ground. The pair first got to know each other while creating and running peer-to-peer music pioneer Napster. Details are scant but Airtime is reported to be a random video-chatting service akin to Chatroulette but that has a social network attached.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15239109

By: Nathan Eddy, eWeek

The plan will provide dedicated support to extend mobile broadband to large areas of the country that are currently shut out. Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski outlined a plan to reform and modernize the Universal Service Fund and Intercarrier Compensation system in a speech delivered at FCC headquarters. The plan would, if adopted by the Commission later this month, reform the USF/ICC to unleash a series of benefits, including expanded broadband infrastructure, for millions of Americans. The plan is designed to help deliver more value for wireless consumers, increase private investment, and spur near-term and long-term job creation. In addition, the plan will provide dedicated support to extend mobile broadband to large areas of the country that are currently shut out from the benefits of advanced mobile services.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/FCC-Unveils-Connect-America-Fund-845265/?kc=rss

By: Brian T. Horowitz, eWeek

With Steve Jobs at the helm, Apple developed the iPhone and iPad, creating a way for doctors to monitor patients remotely, e-prescribe medication and hold telehealth sessions. Just as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs played a huge role in personal computing, music, telecommunications and consumer electronics, his inventions have left a mark in health care as well. When we think of “m-health” and using mobile devices to manage chronic conditions, e-prescribe medications and track how fast you run, the first devices that come to mind are those that Jobs’ company Apple created: the iPhone, iPad and iPod. Jobs passed away on Oct. 5 at the age of 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Health-Care-IT/With-iPhone-iPad-Apples-Steve-Jobs-Changed-Course-of-Health-Care-635350/?kc=rss

By: Fahmida Y. Rashid, eWeek

The White House issued an executive order to put systems in place to protect classified government documents from a future WikiLeaks-style data breach. President Obama wants tighter information security measures to prevent another WikiLeaks-style breach. Obama signed an executive order outlining data security measures and rules for government agencies to follow to prevent further data leaks by insiders, the White House said Oct. 7. The executive order defines basic security measures to protect data as well as mandates the creation of committees to oversee the effort.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/White-House-Orders-Agencies-to-Guard-Data-to-Stop-Next-WikiLeaks-Breach-867929/?kc=rss

By Prachi Patel, Technology Review

A sheath of carbon nanotubes or conductive polymer improves the charge-storage capacity of electrodes. A simple trick could improve the ability of advanced ultracapacitors, or supercapacitors, to store charge. The technique, developed by Stanford University researchers, could enable the use of new types of nanostructured electrode materials that store more energy. While ultracapacitors provide quick bursts of power and can be recharged many more times than batteries without losing their storage capacity, they can store only a tenth as much energy as batteries, which limits their applications. To improve their energy density, researchers have focused on the use of electrode materials with greater surface area—such as graphene and carbon nanotubes—which can hold more charge-carrying ions.

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/38790/?p1=MstRcnt

By Michael Fitzgerald, Technology Review

A new foundation will promote free software as an alternative to propriety cloud-computing technologies. A new foundation, announced today, will attempt to promote a free, “open source” alternative for cloud computing. The OpenStack Foundation, announced at the OpenStack conference in Boston, will maintain a suite of free software tools for building and managing a cloud-computing platform. The OpenStack software suite includes software for computation, storage, networking, and system management. Many companies have flocked to cloud computing. It removes the need for expensive up-front investments in information technology departments, since computer power and storage can simply be leased. However, most cloud services are proprietary, and the technology used to run them is kept secret. Once a company signs up for one cloud service, it can be difficult to move to another provider.

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/38805/?p1=BI