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TECH
NEWS page sponsored by: 
The mobile phone will be your credit card in the future . . . has a chip inside so why have another piece of plastic?
Mike Smith, CEO ANZ Bank, Interblack Dec 2009 |
| Bill Gates rules out returning to the helm of Microsoft |
Bill Gates attention is on his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which he will be doing for the rest of his life and only part-time with Microsoft. Commenting on Steve Jobs he described him as brilliant and especially kinder in recent years given that the latter had said Gates was "unimaginative" and hadn't invented anything. Whilst Jobs controlled his wares from top to bottom Gates' approach is to be more open - and vulnerable considering the unstableness of Windows, but it makes Gates a very rich man.
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| Small is Beautiful |
For most phototaking a compact camera will often be the ideal solution to the feature rich but bulky SLRs. Canon's compact IXUS range has been very popular due to its high quality and reliability. With the latest's release, IXUS 1100 HS, Canon has increased the optical zoom to 12x and added a 28mm wide angle len to satisfy the unconverted who still lug along an SLR. How about a 3.2" touch LCD to make the decision lots simpler?
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| Kiwi's NBN matches Aussie's in delivery speed but at a fraction of the costs |
NBN Australia will be the single largest public capital expenditure but the benefits and the new monopoly it created are causing concern. Fast changing technology put the original justification for a government-control NBN into question. |
| What's a name worth? |
Once again a holder of a domain name struck gold. Apple paid $US4.5 million to a Swidish company not for its technology but simply because it had registered its domain with an 'i' on 'cloud', the current IT's hottest topic. Cloud computing refers to the storage and processing capabilities via the internet.
There is a Name that is above all names. The name of Jesus. It is given freely, however, it is can become a foundation stone to build one's life on or it can cause one to stumble (Romans 9:33).
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iMusic transformation
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This is super cool video done by North Point Community Church—a full band performs some Christmas favorites without any “real” instruments. |
| The FluCard |
After a holiday with his family in China some years ago was ruined when Henn Tan lost a camera. "You can't be going back to the places to retake the photos, and I felt lousy there wasn't any data backup," said Tan. Mr Tan is the inventor of ThumbDrive in 2000 that started the USB flash card revolution now come up with an intelligent flash card that automatically transmitt information onto the Web. Particularly useful for photographers this device is now marketed through the joint-partner, Toshiba. |
| Google Mapping Caused Border Disputes |
A mistake in the demarkation of the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica resulted in the former to make an incursion to claim its 'rightful' territory. Google acknowledged the error but the Nicaraguans are not withdrawing their troops which were sent to claim the Google-given territory. A similar border conflict caused by Google mapping error occured between the Thai and Cambodia borders.
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| Sin-free Search Engines |
SeekFind.org is a unique “Christian-content-only” search engine. The major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask often produce quality results for searches related to Christian terms. However, mixed in with these search results will be results from pages attacking the Christian faith and/or presenting unbiblical views. |
| Built-in Tracking Capability proves capable of tracking loss phones |
Built-in Tracking Capability almost landed a taxi-driver in court after he denied keeping an iPhone inadvertantly left behind by a passenger. Thanks to this feature the passenger was able to track the phone to an address and even following the phone as the taxi-driver tried to move it to another location.<The Age> |
| Telstra's Next Generation Data Network Has A Clear Winner |
Telstra's LTE trial, which pitches three of the world's largest networking companies against each other in a proof-of-concept for a next generation data network, has racked up some impressive results, pushing a 100 Mbps wireless downlink to the edges of a 75 kilometre cell.
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), vying for Telstra business against Next G incumbent Ericsson and Chinese manufacturer Huawei, impressed Telstra with a trial of a mobile cell based between Mount Hope and Mount Burrumboot in central Victoria.
Engineers from NSN and Telstra achieved a peak downlink throughput of 100 Mbps (average of 88.1 Mbps) and a peak uplink throughput of 30.99 Mbps (average of 29.6 Mbps). The trial used 20MHz of the 2.6 GHz mobile spectrum and 2x2 MIMO multiple antennae technology. <itnews June 18, 2010> |
| Edit YouTube video online on-the-fly |
YouTube users can now edit their own videos online without the need for third-party desktop video editing software. The Google-owned video-sharing site added an online editing tool that allows YouTube users to combine multiple videos, shorten a video or add soundtracks from songs in the AudioSwap library. Newly created videos can then be published to YouTube directly from the editing site. To edit a video, a user drags a thumbnail of the video they want to edit into an empty timeline. The video can then be trimmed or other videos added to make it longer. YouTube users can only edit videos they have uploaded themselves and not the videos of other users. June 17, 2010 |
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For more Did Your Know? <click here> |
| Contact lens as display units |
No longer a fantasy as corporations, universities and defence agencies are gearing up to this possibility. The eyelid movement can be the prime source of control with the eye brows acting in support. Flying a fighter jet or even navigating while driving a car are applications that come to mind. Further applications can be made out for learning, security and entertainment will follow. <australian link> |
| World's biggest spammer fined $16m |
A Queensland based operation that at one time representing one-third of the world's spamming traffic was fined $16m by US Federal Trade Commission on top of the fines already imposed on the culprits in New Zealand and Australia. They sent billions of emails directing recipients to websites advertising bogus male enhancement drugs and weight loss pills shipped from India, which they falsely claimed had come from a licensed pharmacy in the US. |
| Online Church Growing |
The World Wide Web has become the hottest place to build a church. A growing number of congregations are creating Internet offshoots that go far beyond streaming weekly services. The sites are fully interactive, with a dedicated Internet pastor, live chat in an online 'lobby,' Bible study, one-on-one prayer through IM and communion. (Viewers use their own bread and wine or water from home.) On one site, viewers can click on a tab during worship to accept Christ as their savior. Flamingo Road Church, based in Cooper City, Florida, twice conducted long-distance baptisms through the Internet. <more>
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| 3.2GB photosize of the universe |
That's 150 times larger than the top DSLR cameras can put out! The new Chilean-based telescope appropriately named, Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), will be in production in 2010 thanks to fundings from Microsoft's Bill Gates and several others. But the LSST's stunning image quality won't just be suited to capturing the rich luminescence of the heavens; it's also just as good at capturing the not-so-easy to see secrets that lurk within and this includes the presence of dark matter, one of the veritable holy grails of astronomy according to press release. <more>
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| Bluetooth loses its bite |
WiFi Alliance industry group had released WiFi Direct which will allow new versions of gadgets like cameras, mobile phones and computers the ability to talk to each other using Wi-Fi without needing to connect to a wireless network first which had to date being the domain of the slower and less efficient Bluetooth. Watch out for 'WiFi Direct' labels on new gadgets in the coming months <more>.
Another new technology in smaller packaging
that fits a wristwatch and consumes only a tenth less energy had hit the
market alongside the above development. <more>
Do you know that CSIRO, Australia's leading science body, holds the patent to 802.11 Wi-Fi? <more>
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| 2000 Movies on a single DVD? |
Australian scientists have unveiled new DVD technology that stores data in five dimensions, making it possible to pack more than 2000 movies onto a single disc. Already a major manufacturer has signed on to produce this product which is expected to hit the market in five years. <more> |
MICROSOFT ENCARTA ENCYLOPEDIA CLOSED ITS BOOK
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A victim of its own success when it put the printed Brittanica Enclopedia, once dominant in this industry, to cease printing years back. With the rise and rise of Wikipedia, the online free-for-all both in downloading and uploading of information, the Microsoft outfit had obviously failed to keep up with its rival. |
| Battery Powered Vehicle's Dream |
One of the major stumbling block with battery technology is the time it takes to recharge. With new technological breakthrough the 2-minute recharge for motor vehicles relying mainly on battery power may will be the final impediment for it to replace the petrol-driven engines of most vehicles on the road today. <more>
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| Music Download made eze |
Muziic software created by 15-year-old David Nelson enables computers to mine YouTube's rich database of songs and play customised lists of tunes free of charge.
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| Google Phone |
Think of Android as an attempt to do for phones
what Windows does for the PC, or OS X does for the Mac. But unlike Microsoft
(MSFT) and Apple (AAPL), Google isn’t looking to make money off of
phone software or hardware; instead, it’s giving Android away for
free to any phonemaker and wireless carrier who will bake it into a handset.
Why? If people use their phones to get online, the more they’ll do
Google searches, click Google ads, and in the process, make Google money. <FortuneMag on Google Phone> |
Internet TV to hit Australia |
Making the TV a complete
family's entertainment hub. You'll be able to have stock,
news, sports and weather information streamed on your TV. <more>
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xt3.com -church answer to Facebook |
Catholic social networking site launched to coincide
with the World Youth Day Sydney 2008 is the Facebook alternative for those
who prefer to network within the ethos of no-offend, no-bully or no-insult
and that material posted are those that can be viewed by a general audience.
<more> |
| Australia's silicon breakthrough |
with a revolutionary chip that
had far wider application than been proposed. The "GiFi" chip
is one of the smartest chip around for its size with the capacity to receive
and transmit data signal with built-in amplifier and programmable logics
for multitudes of functions. <more>,
<update>
Aussie supercharged Internet traffic with an algorithm
to reduce the electromagnetic interference and improve data transfer 100x
faster. The research earns Dr John Papandriopoulos his doctorate but also
supercharged his earning capacity. <more> |
What will the television be in 2010? |
Free2air TV programs will
be incorporated into the Internet and viewers can choose to watch screened
programs whenever they chooses to without previously downloading the programs
themselves. It won't run on slow start up Windows but on Linux. The remote
control will incorporate a PC mouse with increased functionalities. Japan
is making plans for the introduction of online 'free2air' TV in 2009.
<more> |
| Cyber-Campaign determines Election Results |
becoming even
more pronounce lately during the general election in Malaysia. "We
thought that the newspapers, the print media, the television was supposed
to be important, but the young people were looking at SMS and blogs. It
was a serious misjudgement. We made the biggest mistake in thinking that
it was not important," says Malaysia's PM Abdullah Badawi. |
| SONY won this one |
after losing with Betamax in the VHS
war -their Blu-ray DVD format had finaly succeeded after the Toshiba-led
HD-DVD consortium had finally conceded defeat. <more> |
| Mine is Bigger, Panasonic Up the Ante |
with the introduction
of the biggest flat screen TV, 381cm measured diagonally (150 inches in
the old measurement). More appropriately used for commercial display but
expect a few egoistic home-owners to possess them when it hits the market.
<more> |
One Laptop per Child |
project meant well but the two biggest
players, Microsoft and Intel, opted out of it, instead, promoting a more
costly option in achieving similar aims. <more>
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| Warning: Office Printers Danger to Lungs! |
These lasers
emit fine particles that caused lung diseases not unlike those troubling
smokers. <more>
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| How much you need to retire? |
Answer to this query is now made
simpler through an Excel program released by Australian Securities &
Investment Commission. <download>
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| How to protect your Wireless Network |
now that Wi-Fi plays such
a major role in networking these days due to its convenience, practicality
and even cost savings. However, there are some housekeepings to take care
which may save you much headaches. <more>
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| Internal security threat much overlooked |
according to Microsoft's Bill Gates. "Programmers build
bigger moats and thicker fortress walls - but they don't bother to protect
the corporate crown jewels when members of their fiefdom exit the castle
and leave the drawbridge open." <more>
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| How Ctrl-Alt-Del had wiped out $US38 billion
account |
and left Alaskan's Tax officers red-faced. <more>
The lesson to learn, ensure backups are done right all the time. |
| Another Great Leap Forward in CPU technology |
when both Intel and a consortium led by IBM which also include
Sony and AMD announced a breakthrough in compacting 80 cores on a single
chip (current technology is quad-core). This microprocessor will do 1.01teraflops
per second equivalent to the fastest computer hardward ever built in 1996
except that the latter occupied 600 square metres of floor space and consumed
500KW of power. Moore's
Law is still very much alive since it was first coined in 1995 that
the power of computer will double every 18 months. <more>
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Stolen GPS gives thieves away |
as the US authorities activated
the devices and located the loot from a warehouse in New York State. The
handpieces use signals from satellites to accurately fix and relay their
positions. The thieves believed theyhad snagged mobile phones and planned
to sell them.
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