Technical News - 02 August 2011

Internal Microsoft projects get codename love, too
August 2, 2011
The latest version of my Microsoft Codename Tracker chart is done and ready for download. The theme of the month is internal codenames at Microsoft.
Intuit launches 'Brainstorm' collaboration tool
August 2, 2011
Intuit will bring its online collaboration tool, Brainstorm, to market.
Three fixes Chromebooks need to succeed
August 2, 2011
Google Chromebooks showed solid momentum in early sales among consumers. However, in order to ultimately attract business users and consumers, three things will have to be fixed.
Verizon, Sprint tops in wireless customer service, survey says
August 2, 2011
Verizon and Sprint topped AT&T and T-Mobile in phone-based customer service in the previous three months, according to a new study.
Cost of cybercrime up 56%, HP says
August 2, 2011
Hewlett Packard's research division concludes that the cost incurred by rampant cybercrime was up 56 percent from last year. Here's a look at the data. Plus, the four most popular tactics.
ASUS to release passively-cooled Radeon HD 6770 DirectCU Silent graphics card
August 2, 2011
ASUS is to release a new passively-cooled Radeon HD 6770 graphics card called the HD 6770 DirectCU Silent featuring an enormous passive cooler that is 16% more efficient than the stock cooler.
Samsung acquires Grandis in bid for memory tech
August 2, 2011
Samsung Electronics will acquire Grandis, a Silicon Valley-based company that specializes in spin transfer torque random access memory, or STT-RAM.
Kingston SandForce-based HyperX SSDs shipping
August 2, 2011
Kingston has announced that it has started shippingÂ 2.5-inch HyperX SSD drives, which are equipped with 6Gb/s SATA Rev 3.0 and featuring the SandForce SF-2281 controller.
Nokia and the new handset naming scheme may just be shining us on
August 2, 2011
Yesterday Nokia detailed its new process for naming new handsets, and it makes me wonder if the company is just having some fun at our expense.
Review: JayBird Freedom provides wireless connectivity and sweat proof warranty
August 2, 2011
When I workout I sweat a lot and JayBird has some great solutions for headsets, including the new Freedom Bluetooth headset that provides wireless audio functionality.
Time to think about cloud governance
August 2, 2011
Lack of a proper governance strategy when adopting cloud applications and platforms is leaving enterprises with a mish-mash of SaaS silos and cloud islands, leading to poor data consistency and...
HP already offering $50 "instant rebates" on TouchPad tablet
August 2, 2011
The sales woes for any tablet not named "iPad" continue, as HP's much ballyhooed TouchPad is already being discounted mere weeks after its launch.HP is now selling both its 16GB and 32GB...
Android Trojan records conversations, can send them to bad guys
August 2, 2011
A new Android Trojan that can log calls, record whole conversations and even send them to the bad guys has been discovered by security firm CA.
Apple's iCloud pricing revealed
August 2, 2011
iCloud comes with 5GB of storage as part of the free package.
OpenStack, the battle to create open systems once again?
August 2, 2011
RackSpace's Chief Technology Officer, John Engates, took a few moments out of his busy day to bring me up to date on one of his more interesting projects, OpenStack. OpenStack is a...
Google Offers to expand with The Dealmap acquisition
August 2, 2011
Google is investing in the future of Google Offers with the acquisition of The Dealmap, a startup which charts local discounts and deals on a local map.
Russian minister calls for limits on the Internet
August 2, 2011
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's interior minister called on Tuesday for limits on the Internet to prevent a slide in traditional cultural values among young people, raising fears of controls over the vibrant Russian-language Web.
Exclusive: Nine Google complainants in EU probe
August 2, 2011
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Google faces a total of nine antitrust complaints which EU regulators are now investigating, two sources said on Tuesday, as rivals ramped up the pressure on the world No. 1 search engine.
Special report: In Breivik's past, few clues to troubled future
August 2, 2011
RENA, Norway (Reuters) - On a taxi ride to his farmhouse the day before he killed 77 people, Anders Behring Breivik talked easily of a future he must have known would never come.
Man arrested in News of the World phone-hacking scandal
August 2, 2011
A 71-year-old man has been arrested by the U.K. Metropolitan Police, but so far his identity has not been revealed.
Microsoft Curbs Wi-Fi Location Database
August 2, 2011
suraj.sun writes "Microsoft has ceased publishing the estimated locations of millions of laptops, cell phones, and other devices with Wi-Fi connections around the world after a CNET article on Friday highlighted privacy concerns. The decision to rework Live.com's geolocation service comes following scrutiny of the way Microsoft made available its database assembled by both Windows Phone 7 phones and what the company calls "managed driving" by Street View-like vehicles that record Wi-Fi signals accessible
Debt fight nears end; downgrade threat remains
August 2, 2011
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress was poised on Tuesday to grant final approval to a deficit-cutting package that will avert a debt default but may not be enough to prevent a damaging downgrade of the top-notch American credit rating.
Exclusive: Nine Google complainants in EU probe (Reuters)
August 2, 2011
Reuters - Google faces a total of nine antitrust complaints which EU regulators are now investigating, two sources said on Tuesday, as rivals ramped up the pressure on the world No. 1 search engine.
GM's July U.S. sales rise about 8 percent
August 2, 2011
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co on Tuesday posted a 7.6 percent sales gain in July on stronger demand for its flagship Chevrolet brand and new cars including the Cruze compact.
Government hankers for hackers
August 2, 2011
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The National Security Agency has a challenge for hackers who think they're hot stuff: prove it by working on the "hardest problems on Earth."
Italy under fire in widening euro debt crisis
August 2, 2011
ROME (Reuters) - Financial market pressure on Italy intensified on Tuesday, sucking Europe's second biggest debtor nation deeper into the euro area danger zone and prompting Italian authorities to call emergency talks.
Consumer Reports Cautions on Hidden Costs of Mobile Wallets
August 2, 2011
Paying for transactions with a smartphone sounds awesome, but Consumer Reports warns that how your mobile wallet is funded on the backend could result in more fees and less protection against fraud.
Apple's Final Cut X: right idea, appalling execution
August 2, 2011
Apple Final Cut Pro-X is not the great upgrade Apple though it would be. Here is my enterprisey take.
Syria death toll rises, Italy recalls envoy
August 2, 2011
AMMAN (Reuters) - The death toll in Syria's violent crackdown on opposition to President Bashar al-Assad in the city of Hama and elsewhere climbed on Tuesday, spurring Western efforts to pile diplomatic pressure on Damascus.
Apple's iCloud Will Cost You, But Probably Not That Much (The Atlantic Wire)
August 2, 2011
The Atlantic Wire - Yesterday, Apple revealed how much the iCloud--its shiny new product that will allow you to share music, e-books, and movies between multiple computers and mobile devices--will actually cost you. With the release of the Beta site for developers, Apple, on its site, also let potential users in on its pricing scheme. After 5GB of free storage, the next 10 GB cost $20 a year, the next 20 gigs will run $40 a year, and the next 50 (for you media freaks) will cost you $100 a year.
War to go on even if NATO bombing ends: Gaddafi camp
August 2, 2011
TRIPOLI/ZLITAN, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's camp has vowed to push on with its war against rebels whether or not NATO stops its bombing campaign, leaving little room for diplomacy to end the five-month conflict.
Cybercrime Fight Costing Companies More This Year
August 2, 2011
A study says the 56 percent increase can be blamed on malicious code, denial of service attacks, stolen devices, Web-based attacks and malicious insiders.
U.S. broadband closer to advertised speeds: study
August 2, 2011
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Broadband speeds are now significantly closer to what Internet service providers advertise than they were in 2009, a study to be released by U.S. communications regulators on Tuesday found.
Samsung to Apple: Whatever. We Weren't Going to Sell That Galaxy Tab In Australia Anyway …
August 2, 2011
Evidently Samsung's agreement not to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia until its patent lawsuit with Apple is resolved isn't quite the concession it first appeared to be. Turns out Samsung never intended to market that version of the device down under in the first place.
That's the claim, anyway.
"Apple filed a complaint with the Federal Court of Australia involving a Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 variant that Samsung Electronics had no plans of selling in Australia," Samsung said in a statement. "No injunction was issued by the court and the parties in the case reached a mutual agreement which stipulates that the variant in question will not be sold in Australia. A Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 for the Australian market will be released in the near future."
So Samsung would like us all to believe that this was an empty victory for Apple. And perhaps it would have been if the company had presented the non-infringing Australian Galaxy Tab 10.1 in court, explained why it doesn't infringe Apple's patents and provided a firm launch date. But Samsung did none of those things.
"Samsung states that "[n]o injunction was issued by the court". That doesn't mean that Apple's complaint was denied with prejudice," Florian Mueller explains over at FOSSpatents. "It just means that the court will look at this again as soon as Samsung presents the Australian version of its product, and Samsung does not explain why that one would be less likely to be found infringing than the U.S. version. Until Samsung provides that explanation, the most likely explanation is that this just delays the point in time at which the decision gets taken, but the basis for that decision won't be much different."
Use Your Car To Power Your House
August 2, 2011
itwbennett writes "Nissan has developed a system that allows a vehicle to supply electricity to power a house during a power outage or shortage. A prototype of the charging system running on a Nissan Leaf electric car was unveiled in Japan on Tuesday. A two-way charging device that would typically convert the household electricity supply to a voltage suitable for charging the car's battery can be reversed to feed power back into the household circuit."
Read more of this story at Slashdot
Analyst: iPhone 5 could double Apple's market share
August 2, 2011
A small survey of mobile phone owners by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster shows pent-up demand for the iPhone 5 and the potential for the upcoming new phone to double the iPhone's market share.
Cognizant's Revenue, Profits Rise on Outsourcing Demand
August 2, 2011
Cognizant Technology Solutions reported on Tuesday growth in revenue and profits for the quarter ended June 30, as demand grows for offshore outsourcing.
Road Trip Pic of the Day, 8/2: What is this?
August 2, 2011
If you know what today's picture is, you could be eligible to win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Day contest.
Genius Launches NX-Elite LED Notebook Mouse
August 2, 2011
Pick the colour that matches your notebook.
Android Trojan records your phone conversations
August 2, 2011
The malware is launched after a user tries to place a call. The conversation is stored in the .amr file format, research at CA say.
800Mbps Wireless Network Made With LED Light Bulbs
August 2, 2011
Mark.JUK writes "German scientists working at Berlin's Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications have set a new world record for Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology after they succeeded in using regular red, blue, green and white LED (Light-Emitting Diode) light bulbs as the basis for building a new 800Mbps (Megabits per second) capable ultrafast Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). Dr. Anagnostis Paraskevopoulos explained: 'With the aid of a special component, the modulator, we turn the
How The New 'Protecting Children' Bill Puts You At Risk
August 1, 2011
A bill now makes the online activity of every American available to authorities upon request under the guise of protecting children from pornography.
GoToMeeting Gets Videoconferencing
August 2, 2011
HDFaces will be included at no extra charge as part of a standard GoToMeeting account, which costs $49 a month or $468 a year for unlimited meetings.
PC chip shipments flat, but sales up
August 2, 2011
Global shipments of PC microprocessors in the second quarter were about flat compared with a year ago, though sales rose more than 5 percent, says IDC.
Expert-networking defendant challenges wiretap
August 2, 2011
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former expert-networking executive arrested as part of a government insider trading probe asked a New York judge on Monday to throw out wiretap evidence four weeks before his trial is to begin.