VERY,VERY HOT READS, I Would Read The News In This Thread This Thead Is To post Any Thing Ye Want About The News,,NEWS WAS MOVED,READ MY FIRST POS...

Latest Photo Kiosk and Gallery-Quality Printers Debut

HP and Canon announce new professional photo printers, and HP also introduces its photo kiosk.

Danny Allen
Wednesday, March 08, 2006

The big annual Photo Marketing Association (PMA) convention just wrapped up, and my colleague Eric Butterfield reported on new consumer digital cameras and photo printing accessories for our Today @ PC World blog. However, PMA also saw the introduction of some interesting photo printing solutions that cater to business markets. These include new high-end photo printers targeting professional photographers, graphics artists, and advanced amateurs.

I'll discuss those after I tell you about a new commercial product from HP.

HP's New Photo Kiosk

Click for enlarged view. If HP has its way, you won't be able to go into a supermarket or drugstore without bumping into its new Photosmart Express Station. This kiosk can deliver 4-by-6-inch photo prints from your own memory cards or from a Snapfish online photo-sharing account.

In these kiosks, HP will use its new six-ink inkjet technology, which is based on the company's scalable printing technology. Competing kiosks use either dye-sublimation or silver halide processes.

HP claims that this technology should help the Photosmart Express Station be up to 40 percent more profitable per square foot through greater efficiency, lower maintenance requirements, detailed remote monitoring tools, and up to 10 times the supply capacity of current competing kiosks. Consumers can expect an easy-to-use interface that will deliver waterfast 4-by-6-inch prints that, according to HP, should last for "long over 50 years"--and will produce each one in about 5 seconds.

Click for enlarged view. HP has looked to the retail market before: You might remember its Phogenix Imaging partnership with Kodak, which dissolved back in May 2003. It will be interesting to see how the new kiosk venture competes with existing competitors, including its old ally.

See this post at PC World's staff blog for further information on the Photosmart Express Station and HP's new Photosmart Studio, which will allow retail stores to create albums, calendars, posters, and greeting cards with customer's photos.

HP's Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo Printer

Let's move on to printers. HP's B9180 is touted as producing true monochrome (black-and-white) reproductions and vibrant color/fine art prints thanks to its individual Vivera pigment-based inks: Matte black, photo black, light gray, light cyan, cyan, light magenta, magenta, and yellow. It can produce output on various media (including photo paper, stiff pre-matted paper or canvas) at sizes up to 13 by 19 inches.

HP Photosmart Pro B9180.Photos printed with the B9180 are rated to last for more than 200 years. The B9180 supports both PCs and Macs, and HP supplies an Adobe Photoshop plug-in for color management in addition to other utilities. HP should begin taking orders for the $699 Photosmart Pro B9180 sometime in late May or early June.

Canon PIXMA Pro9500 and PIXMA Pro9000

Canon Pixma Pro9500 or Pixma Pro9000? On the outside, the two printers look identical. For its part, Canon last month unveiled its own models capable of producing detailed, gallery-level color or black-and-white prints. The company's new Pixma Pro9500 and Pixma Pro9000 can print on a number of different media types (such as cotton fine-art paper) at sizes up to 13 by 19 inches; the two printers have a maximum resolution of 4800 by 2400 dots per inch and outwardly appear identical, but they use different printing technologies.

The Pixma Pro9500 is a ten-color Lucia pigment-based inkjet printer, while the Pixma Pro9000 uses eight dye-based inks. Both devices are PC- and Mac-compatible and ship with Easy-PhotoPrint Pro, a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop that simplifies configuration and color management. Pricing and availability weren't confirmed at press time.

Canon imagePrograf iPF5000 Wide Format Printer

Canon imagePrograf iPF5000.Late last month Canon also announced its new imagePrograf iPF5000, a large-format inkjet printer that uses dual print heads to create professional prints up to 17 inches wide. The device features a maximum resolution of 2400 by 1200 dpi, has a 4-picoliter droplet size, and uses 12 Lucia pigment-based inks--red, blue, green, gray, photo gray, cyan, photo cyan, magenta, photo magenta, yellow, regular black, and matte black--to produce striking images rated to last for over 100 years. The imagePrograf iPF5000 is scheduled to become available in April for $1945.

Got a Question for a Printer Vendor?

Got a bone to pick with a printer manufacturer? Have some functionality suggestions, or wonder what happened to your favorite feature, accessory, or model line? Here's your chance! I'm currently accepting questions to ask printer manufacturers on your behalf for a future column. You can e-mail me at Danny Allen.
http://pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124928,00.asp

 

How to Buy a Laptop

« Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/bguide/0,guid,13,00.asp
Introduction

The most highly evolved species of computer, the laptop (aka notebook) computer allows you to work without being tethered to an office. Portability and good performance make notebook PCs an essential part of the daily lives of millions, from college students to business travelers. Even the least-expensive of today's laptops are better equipped than they have ever been, and may be all you need for everyday work.

The Big Picture
There are more laptop choices than ever. We'll guide you through the available options--including screen size, weight, battery life, and communications ports. more

The Specs Explained
Do you need a superfast CPU? Or a huge hard drive? We'll guide you through the choices and tell you which features are most critical. more

Notebook Shopping Tips
Looking for a powerful, versatile notebook at a reasonable price? Our advice will help you find the right laptop. more


Next page: The Big Picture

The Big Picture

If you've ever shopped for a notebook, you know that the factors to consider go far beyond performance and connections. Notebook buyers also have to mull such variables as size, weight, screen dimensions, battery life, and keyboard quality--not to mention options such as built-in wireless.


Key Features

Processor: Intel's Pentium M processor has helped notebooks gain new ground in the power department. In our tests, notebooks using the Pentium M performed considerably faster than those using the Mobile Pentium 4. Pentium M processors also allow for long battery life. You can still opt for a Mobile Pentium 4 processor, such as one at 3.0 GHz, but most notebook vendors are moving to incorporate the Pentium M in all classes of notebooks.

Some notebooks use AMD's Athlon Turion 64 processor or Intel's ULV (ultra-low voltage) Pentium M CPU, which also allow for improved battery life and performance. A few notebooks use Intel Pentium 4 or AMD's Athlon 64 desktop processors, which can give them a performance advantage as long as they're built to withstand--and you can tolerate--the extra heat they generate.

Low-end notebooks offer Intel's cheaper Celeron M processor, which is generally not as speedy as the Pentium M processor, and which does not include Intel's Centrino Mobile technology.

System memory: Unless you're buying on the cheap, a new notebook generally includes 512MB of system memory. Don't settle for anything less than 256MB if you want to do more than word processing and e-mail, because Windows XP and newer applications need at least that much memory.

Many notebooks are now available with 1GB of RAM. Buying up to 1GB of RAM at the same time you purchase your notebook will help extend its useful lifetime.

Graphics memory: You'll want 64MB or 128MB of dedicated video RAM, or VRAM, if you plan to use your laptop to drive external monitors for presentations. Make sure the memory is dedicated for graphic use, rather than pulled from main memory; this is sometimes referred to as a universal (UMA) or shared (SMA) memory architecture, or as dynamic video memory technology. Gamers should look for advanced 3D graphics chips, such as nVidia's GeForce Go 6800 Ultra, and 256MB of dedicated graphics memory.

Screen: Notebook screens continue to get bigger--and most have gone wide, enabling you to view spreadsheets or movies with ease. Even budget shoppers can afford the luxury of high-resolution color: Portables with 14.1-inch and 15.4-inch wide-screens now cost as little as $1200. Most notebook manufacturers are also offer laptops with 17-inch wide-screens. Frequent business fliers can choose among the many laptops that have the more-compact screen sizes of 12.1 and 13.3 inches--some of which are wide-screen, as well.

Notebooks with standard aspect 14.1- and 15-inch screens can still be found, but they're not as plentiful as wide-screen models.

Battery: Notebook battery life took a step forward with the introduction of the Pentium M. In our tests, battery life in units equipped with that processor have averaged roughly 3.5 hours on one battery. Some notebooks can run for up to 7 hours. Many vendors also offer supplemental batteries to boost battery life.

Keyboard and pointing device: Though you can get accustomed to almost any notebook keyboard, it's best to try before you buy. Thin-and-light notebooks usually have smaller-than-average keys spaced more closely than on a desktop-replacement model, and their layouts may differ from a standard keyboard's. You probably won't be given a choice between an eraserhead or trackpad pointing device; if you have a preference, look for manufacturers that use your preferred pointing device on the majority of their products.

Optical and other drives: Most manufacturers offer notebooks with rewritable DVD drives, some of which are also dual-layer. It's still possible to get a notebook with a combination DVD-ROM and CD-RW drive. Few machines feature one or the other. If you really need a floppy drive, you can buy a USB add-on drive for less than $100.

Long predicted to go extinct, the floppy drive has outlasted its SuperDrive and Zip drive challengers and continues to appear in many full-size notebooks, though sometimes only as an option. You can buy a USB add-on floppy drive for less than $100 if you really need it.

Hard drive: You may not need the space, but notebook hard drives will continue to grow. Cheaper notebooks with 40GB hard drives are hard to find, but you can still save money by opting for a 60GB model. A top-of-the-line 120GB drive will set you back a few hundred dollars if you purchase it when you order your laptop. You can easily remove most laptop hard drives if you decide you want to upgrade or just keep your data safe.

Weight and bay design: Notebooks range from 17-pound behemoth desktop replacements to 8- or 10-pound all-in-one models, with the optical drive built in, to 3-pound ultraportables that rely on external drives. One-bay notebooks have become more prevalent because of their appealing balance of features and weight.

Many laptops offer the optical drive as a modular device, so you can swap it out for a second hard drive or a second battery.

When making a purchase, you should consider the weight not only of the notebook, but of the AC adapter, any external modules, and their cables. Ultraportable notebooks have lightweight adapters but can weigh almost as much as a full-size notebook if you have to carry their external optical and floppy drives.

When you return to your desk, you can snap most notebooks onto an extra-cost docking station or port replicator (prices range from $100 to $500). This saves you from repeatedly having to plug in and unplug an external monitor, keyboard, mouse, and other desktop peripherals.

Communications: Few notebooks come with a full set of legacy ports anymore. Serial ports are rare, and PS/2 ports (for a mouse or keyboard) and infrared ports are going the way of the dodo, as well. Most notebooks still have a parallel port and one PC Card slot, though many now also offer an ExpressCard slot. Quite a few full-size models now include a DVI port for connecting to an external digital display.

Most notebooks have at least two USB 2.0 ports; many now offer four, and some even offer up to six. A majority of notebooks include a FireWire (IEEE 1394) port for connecting an external drive, an MP3 player, or a digital-video camcorder.

Built-in ethernet now comes standard on all portables, with many models including gigabit ethernet. Notebooks using the Intel Centrino processor include Intel's 802.11b/g networking built in; those using AMD's processors have the option of 802.11b/g. Bluetooth is also catching on, but unless you have a specific need for it, don't splurge for built-in Bluetooth.

A smattering of notebooks now include built in wireless broadband wide-area networking, enabling them to access Verizon Wireless's EV-DO BroadbandAccess service, for example.

Most notebooks include one or more card slots for removable media such as CompactFlash, Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, or Smart Media.


Next page: The Specs Explained

The Specs Explained

Before shopping for a notebook, consider how you'll be using it. If your primary goal is to get some word processing or spreadsheet work done while staying on top of e-mail, a $1000 Pentium M model with a 14.1-inch screen and 40GB hard drive will be plenty fast and save you hundreds of dollars. Sexy lightweight notebooks and models with top-notch processing power and big screens cost much more.

However, keep in mind that most vendors let you custom build and price your own notebook by picking from a mind-boggling array of features, which gives you a lot of control over the final product. You may be able to afford a faster notebook by accepting a smaller, less expensive hard drive or a CD-RW drive instead of a combination DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive.

Unlike with desktop PCs, you can later upgrade only some of these components, such as memory and the hard drive; others, such as the graphics board, are permanent once they're installed at the factory. That's slowly changing, as some manufacturers are incorporating upgradable graphics. However, take your time and pick only what you need. Below is a rough breakout of some configuration options.
Feature Low End ($1300 and below) Recommended ($1300 to $2000) High End ($2000 to $3500 or more)
Installed memory 256MB 512MB 512MB to 1GB
An important consideration. The more installed memory your notebook has, the more applications you can run at once, and the better your notebook will perform. Ease of access aside, upgrading memory in a notebook is a bit trickier than with a desktop, so buy as much memory preinstalled as you can afford. (Compare prices for notebooks with 512MB or more RAM.)
Processor 1.4-GHz Celeron M 360 or 1.6-GHz Pentium M 725 1.73-GHz Pentium M 740 to 2-GHz Pentium M 760, or 1.8-GHz AMD Turion 64 ML-32 2.26-GHz Pentium M 780, 2.4-GHz AMD Turion 64 ML-44 1.6- to 1.7-GHz Pentium M, 3.0-GHz Mobile Pentium 4, or 2.0-GHz AMD Mobile Athlon 64
An important consideration. The CPU determines how quickly a notebook runs applications and performs on-screen tasks. (Check latest prices for recommended notebooks.)
Screen size 12.1 inches 14.1 inches 15 to 17 inches
An important consideration. The size of a notebook's LCD screen is quoted as a diagonal measurement. The larger the screen, the higher the maximum resolution and the more information you can view at once. At this point, most notebooks are wide-screens; if you want a notebook with a standard-aspect screen you'll have to search a bit, but those models are still available. (Compare notebooks with recommended screen sizes.)
Hard drive size 40GB 40GB to 60GB 80GB to 120GB
Somewhat important. The larger the hard drive, the more data you can keep on your notebook. Most people don't need more than 60GB. Those who work with databases, spreadsheets, or digital photo or video files should opt for a large drive.
Expansion bays 0 to 1 0 to 1 1 to 2
Somewhat important. The more expansion bays, the more options you have to switch in new optical drives or other storage drives, but switching drives takes time. Keep in mind that high-end ultraportables typically have no extra bays, but you can purchase external drives for them.
Optical drives DVD-ROM or CD-RW DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive or rewritable DVD drive Dual-layer rewritable DVD drive
Somewhat important. CD-RW drives are a cost-effective and flexible removable-storage option, while DVD-ROM drives allow you to watch DVDs on your laptop. A combination drive gives you the best of both worlds. Most manufacturers also offer laptops with rewritable DVD drives, which give you the most flexibility.


Next page: Notebook Shopping Tips

Notebook Shopping Tips

Are you ready to buy a notebook? Here are PC World's recommendations for specifications that will fit the needs of the average user.

* A 1.73-GHz Pentium M processor. For everyday work--word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail--you don't need the latest, greatest (read most expensive) Pentium processor, but thankfully, with the Pentium M, you get smooth performance and long battery life. (Check latest prices.)
* 512MB of memory or more. Anything less will slow your work. (Check latest prices for notebooks with 512MB of memory or more.)
* Supplemental battery. They usually last longer on one charge than nickel-metal hydride batteries and don't need to be replaced as often. If you want more time away from an outlet, buy a notebook with a modular bay capable of holding a supplementary power pack. Secondary batteries usually cost between $99 and $200.
* A 14.1-inch wide-screen. A screen larger than 12.1 inches eases eyestrain. Unless you're really pinching pennies, bigger is better. (Compare prices for notebooks with 14.1-inch screens.)
* A 60GB hard drive. Unless you generate multimegabyte music or database files, or install more than one office suite, 60GB is plenty big.
* Touchpad pointing device. Pointing devices are a matter of taste. However, most people find a touchpad easier to use than a pointing stick. For people who can't choose between a touchpad and an eraserhead pointing device, some notebooks include both. If you buy one of these, make sure it provides two sets of mouse buttons--one for the touchpad and the other for the eraserhead--so you don't have to stretch to reach.
* Multiple USB ports. Many notebooks now come with two or more USB 2.0 ports, useful for connecting more of the latest peripherals.
* All-in-one design. Unless you need a lightweight notebook, opt for one with an internal bay for both the optical drive. This design enables you to swap in other devices, such as an extra hard drive or second battery.

 

Is CRAP life threatening?

p2p news / p2pnet: Could CRAP be lethal?

CRAP, in its original embodiment, was short for Content Restriction, Annulment, and Protection - DRM, in other words. And the man who came up with the tag was ZDNet's David Berlind.

But then Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman persuaded Berlind that, "Cancellation, Restriction, and Punishment," was more apt.

To get back to the intro, however, CRAP/DRM is definitely smelly. But can it threaten life?

The RIAA, MPAA, and others, apparently think so. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

RIAA Says Future DRM Might "Threaten Critical Infrastructure and Potentially Endanger Lives"
By Ed Felten – Freedom to Tinker

We’re in the middle of the U.S. Copyright Office’s triennial DMCA exemption rulemaking. As you might expect, most of the filings are dry as dust, but buried in the latest submission by a coalition of big copyright owners (publishers, Authors’ Guild, BSA, MPAA, RIAA, etc) is an utterly astonishing argument.

Some background: In light of the Sony-BMG CD incident, Alex and I asked the Copyright Office for an exemption allowing users to remove from their computers certain DRM software that causes security and privacy harm. The CCIA and Open Source and Industry Association made an even simpler request for an exemption for DRM systems that “employ access control measures which threaten critical infrastructure and potentially endanger lives.” Who could oppose that?

The BSA, RIAA, MPAA, and friends - that’s who. Their objections to these two requests (and others) consist mostly of lawyerly parsing, but at the end of their argument about our request comes this (from pp 22-23 of the document, if you’re reading along at home):

Furthermore, the claimed beneficial impact of recognition of the exemption — that it would 'provide an incentive for the creation of protection measures that respect the security of consumers' computers while protecting the interests of the record labels' ([citation to our request]) — would be fundamentally undermined if copyright owners — and everyone else — were left in such serious doubt about which measures were or were not subject to circumvention under the exemption.

Hanging from the end of the above-quoted excerpt is a footnote:

This uncertainty would be even more severe under the formulations proposed in submissions 2 (in which the terms 'privacy or security' are left completely undefined) or 8 [ie, the CCIA request] (in which the boundaries of the proposed exemption would turn on whether access controls 'threaten critical infrastructure and potentially endanger lives').

You read that right. They’re worried that there might be “serious doubt” about whether their future DRM access control systems are covered by these exemptions, and they think the doubt “would be even more severe” if the “exemption would turn on whether access controls ‘threaten critical infrastructure and potentially endanger lives’.”

Yikes.

One would have thought they’d make awfully sure that a DRM measure didn’t threaten critical infrastructure or endanger lives, before they deployed that measure. But apparently they want to keep open the option of deploying DRM even when there are severe doubts about whether it threatens critical infrastructure and potentially endangers lives.

And here’s the really amazing part. In order to protect their ability to deploy this dangerous DRM, they want the Copyright Office to withhold from users permission to uninstall DRM software that actually does threaten critical infrastructure and endanger lives.

If past rulemakings are a good predictor, it’s more likely than not that the Copyright Office will rule in their favor.

Also See:
CRAP - Apple and its C.R.A.P., March 4, 2006

(Wednesday 8th March 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/8129

 

Backchannel: the 'see' in IRC

p2p news / p2pnet: Very cool graphic. So what is it?

Nothing less than a real-time image of a chat happening at 12:37 pm Pacific in the #etech IRC channel at O’Reilly’s Emerging Technology Conference.

Called backchannel, it was developed by Stamen Design for E-Tech 2006.

"Each participant in the backchannel is shown in a circle, with nicknames arranged alphabetically, counter-clockwise from right," says the backchannel site.

"Blue bars next to each nickname show how active each participant has been. Connections between nicknames show participants who’ve spoken around the same time. Events are marked in a narrow strip across the top, in blue. The most recent events are at right, stretching back in time about an hour to the left.

"The pointer graphic indicates 'now'. It can be dragged.

"You’ll see nicknames grow more or less opaque as you do this, which shows how close to the chosen time those participants have spoken. Clicking on an event or participant nickname will load a short excerpt of chatter from the IRC backchannel in this space."

Backchannel is represented in IRC by a bot named brodmann17bot (b.17bot), named after a part of the cerebral cortex responsible for primary visual perception, says a more detailed description here, going on:

"B.17bot is implemented in Twisted Python, and rebroadcasts all intercepted events over HTTP. PHP has a walk-on role proxying away XMLHttpRequest security concerns.

"The client software is a combination of Flash and dynamic HTML, in communication with b.17bot via XML and JSON. The initial load pulls the most recent 500 'events' (messages, action, people joining or leaving the channel) into the Backchannel Flash client, which displays all users in a circle, with a graphic indication of their participation by each name. Users who have spoken within a half-minute or so of one another are linked by threads, showing approximate conversational subgroups at any given time. A stream of events is also displayed across the top of the screen, with a slider that lets you check out the state of the conversation at any moment over the previous three hours.

"Clicking on a user or an event in the stream calls up a short, browseable transcript on the right-hand side of the screen."

(Wednesday 8th March 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/8130

 

Porn spammer ran a support site for moms

warning Talk about diversifying your online portfolio. A "fetish porn" spammer who faces jail time is also the operator of a site for work at home moms (WAHMs).

Jennifer Clason, 33, of Raymond, New Hampshire, just pleaded guilty to violating CAN-SPAM and criminal conspiracy...

...If Clason goes to jail, it's going to cut into her time as operator of a site called MommyJobs.com -- a self-proclaimed "support site" for work-at-home moms looking to make some money. Sounds pretty wholesome, but MommyJobs.com isn't completely innocent. Spam Kings Blog: Porn spammer ran a support site for moms

March 07, 2006
Porn spammer ran a support site for moms

mommyjobs logoTalk about diversifying your online portfolio. A "fetish porn" spammer who faces jail time is also the operator of a site for work-at-home moms (WAHMs).

Jennifer Clason, 33, of Raymond, New Hampshire, just pleaded guilty to violating CAN-SPAM and criminal conspiracy. As part of the plea, entered in federal court in Phoenix, Arizona on Monday, she has agreed to forfeit the profits from her crimes. She also faces up to five years in prison for each of the offenses, which included "the transmission of numerous spam e-mails containing graphic pornographic images."

If Clason goes to jail, it's going to cut into her time as operator of a site called MommyJobs.com -- a self-proclaimed "support site" for work-at-home moms looking to make some money. Sounds pretty wholesome, but MommyJobs.com isn't completely innocent. Check out the site's message board, where there are rousing discussions of get-rich schemes, including "get paid to read email" (PTR) and "auto surf" programs and HYIP (high-yield investment program) scams.

No evidence on the boards that Clason attempted to convince the WAHMs to sign up for Phatbucks.com, her affiliate program for porn spammers, or to visit her porn" thumbnail" site, or her porno webmaster content site.

Clason, who sometimes did business as Coast to Coast Cash, landed on the ROKSO list (not to mention in the cross hairs of the Department of Justice) for using spam to promote her porn biz. Her partners in porn spam included Jeffrey A. Kilbride of California and James R. Schaffer of Arizona.

But Clason seemed to avoid that type of promotion for MommyJobs.com. In fact, she did an amazing job of getting how-to articles placed in publications, with the goal of gaining publicity for MommyJobs.com. Just last month, she had a piece about Google ads published at DailyIndia.com.

jennifer clasonClason is scheduled to be sentenced June 5. In the mean time, she continues to post messages at MommyJobs.com, where members appear to be oblivious about their moderator's legal issues. Last Friday, Clason announced she was heading to Phoenix "to tend to some business." A board member replied, "Jen's finally gonna have a vacation!!!"

Posted by brian at March 7, 2006 08:06 PM
http://spamkings.oreilly.com/archives/2006/03/porn_spammer_ran_a_support_sit.html

 

iTunes unveils "Multi-Pass" purchase option

3/8/2006 12:56:11 PM, by Ken "Caesar" Fisher

There is disagreement over whether or not US$1.99 is the sweet spot for video sales online. Too high, too low, or just right, the marketplace Goldilocks is too young to draw too many firm conclusions about pricing strategies long-term. Despite this, sales are going well, and Apple suffers no notable shortage of fans willing to drop two clams on the latest episode of Lost. But almost everyone agrees that $1.99 isn't practical when it comes to pricing all TV. would you pay $1.99 for the Nightly News? SportsCenter? The Phantom Gourmet? It's clear that something had to change if more variety was to come down the pipe.

Enter the "Multi-Pass." (For bonus points, imagine Chris Tucker shrieking, m-m-m-multipass!).

The Multi-Pass is a new way of selling content on the iTunes Music Store, but it will be much bigger than that. Multi-Pass has been unveiled alongside the availability of two new offerings from Comedy Central: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. While individual episodes are still priced at $1.99, users now have the option of buying a 16-episode pack for $9.99, which translates to roughly 62 cents per show.

"This Multi-Pass includes the most recent episode (if one is available) and the next 15 episodes of The Daily Show. The most recent episode (if available), will download immediately and future episodes will download as they become available," according to Apple's website.

There's your value proposition: three episodes for the price of one, if you're willing to sign up for the package deal and pay for episodes that haven't been released yet. It's an ideal sales format for the likes of The Daily Show, powered as it is by quotidian satire of the most laughable stories. The problem with monetizing post-broadcast versions of the show is that such content doesn't survive the passage of time well. This can already been seen in Comedy Central's decision to sell The Daily Show on DVD in a heavily edited format organized around highlights; they reworked the year's material into a collage to optimize its replayability.

A similar pricing structure could also work for other shows that are popular, if time-sensitive. $1.99 for an hour of Conan is too much to ask for, but at 50 to 75 cents per show, things start to look a little more interesting. Ditto with so many shows, including news programs, sports programs, and dare I say soap operas (I'm telling you, the first company to milk that cow...).
Pass the real à la carte

The Multi-Pass is probably best described as a subscription. In the case of The Daily Show, they are selling what amounts to a month's worth of programming for $9.99. Even if this pricing option seems ideal for this kind of content, I wouldn't be surprised to see other shows taking the subscription route either. Big shows like Lost and The Office could also harness the power of the Multi-Pass, although I wouldn't expect to see a cost-per-show similar to what is being offered for the shows of Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert.

Are cable companies getting scared yet?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060308-6342.html

 

Future laptop batteries to get boost from nanotechnology

3/8/2006 1:21:50 PM, by Jeremy Reimer

Battery life is becoming an increasingly important issue for mobile computing users. With screens getting larger and brighter and laptop CPUs getting more powerful, the strains on batteries have continued to increase, and the technology just isn't keeping pace. Five years ago, my iBook routinely got five hours from a single charge, yet new laptops struggle to achieve the same results. Some alternatives, such as fuel cells, look promising, but size and weight issues continue to limit their potential.

However, help may be at hand. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been working on (PDF file) an interesting new way of extending battery life. Their technique uses a device called an "ultracapacitor," which, unlike the time-traveling flux capacitor, actually exists as a product:

"A number of electronic devices already use commercial ultracapacitors for specialized functions," said Joel Schindall, a professor in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"For example, a clock radio may use an ultracapacitor as a keep-alive source in case of power failure, and even the old Palm III used an ultracapacitor to retain its memory while the AA batteries were changed."

A capacitor is, at its most basic level, a device for storing electrical charge. Two large, flat, metal plates are positioned a tiny distance apart from each other with a non-conducting material sandwiched in the middle. An electrical charge is applied to each end. The electrons accumulate on one plate, building up a large negative charge, while an equivalent positive charge appears on the other plate. The capacitor can later discharge this energy if needed. The amount of charge that can be stored varies with the surface area of the plates, which is why large capacitors roll up the plates into large tubes to pack more area in a smaller volume. Ultracapacitors are industrial-strength versions of capacitors, but physical constraints on electrode surface area and spacing have limited ultracapacitors to an energy storage capacity around 25 times less than a similarly sized Lithium-Ion battery.

The innovation at MIT is to use nanotechnology to increase the surface area of the plates much further. They attach millions of nanotubes, which are tiny synthesized "straws" comprised of a lattice of carbon atoms, to the capacitor plates. This increases the capacitance by a large amount, which offers huge potential increases in battery life:

"This configuration has the potential to maintain and even improve the high performance characteristics of ultracapacitors while providing energy storage densities comparable to batteries," Schindall said. "Nanotube-enhanced ultracapacitors would combine the long life and high power characteristics of a commercial ultracapacitor with the higher energy storage density normally available only from a chemical battery."

The nano-enhanced ultracapacitors are still three to five years from being ready for release in commercial products. Until these products get closer to release, there is no firm data about what kind of battery life increases can be expected, but Schindall hopes to achieve a power density of up to 100 kW/kg, which is three orders of magnitude greater than conventional Lithium-Ion batteries, with an energy density of 60 Wh/kg.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060308-6343.html

 

It's semi-official: Mozilla makes money

3/8/2006 2:59:17 PM, by Peter Pollack

Our tale begins with the blog of one Jason Calacanis, CEO of Weblogs, Inc. A few days ago, Calacanis let drop a statement in which he was told that Mozilla's Firefox browser "made US$72 million last year and is on target to have 120 employees this year." He immediately followed that statement with a disclaimer pointing out that he didn't know if the figures were true or not.

On the Internet, good things may fall through the cracks, but an item of admittedly dubious reliability in which an open-source application made US$72 million over a one-year period isn't one of them. The story was copied and passed around, resulting in a response on the blog of Christopher Blizzard, a Mozilla Corporation board member, who pointed out that although the quoted numbers were incorrect, they weren't significantly removed.

I won't comment on the dollar amount except to say that it's not correct, though not off by an order of magnitude. I also won't comment on sources of that money, except to say that some of the assertions that I've seen in the comments are pretty far off, both in terms of numbers and sources.

The original blog credited Firefox's built-in Google search box as the source of all of the revenue. When a user activates Google from the search box, a code is generated allowing Google to track the user's later clicks on their site. Clicking on a paid advertisement from the Google's results page not only brings revenue to the web site, but also the source of the search box which brought the user there.

Unsurprisingly, it appears that Mozilla has other income sources as well, although Blizzard remains mum on what those are. We do know that CDs of the software are offered for sale, although with downloads and high-speed connections it seems unlikely that there is much money to be made from such activity. Likewise, sales of the inevitable Firefox and Thunderbird swag are unlikely to produce much more than a token portion of the US$72 million, if we are to accept figure as an "in the ballpark" guess.

Curiously, Blizzard's response to the issue of Mozilla revenue seems somewhat apologetic, almost to the point of defensive. Perhaps there has been some heat generated by open-source purists who believe that no money should be made by the project beyond covering basic overhead, or maybe accusations have arisen predicting the eventual recommercialization of the Mozilla codebase. Blizzard goes to great lengths to explain the difference and symbiosis between Mozilla Corporation, which is a for-profit subsidiary, and Mozilla Foundation, which is the not-for-profit parent.

I see people talking a lot about the huge profits here, but we don't think about the excess as profits. Some of that money does roll up to the Foundation proper, but we work with them to determine when and where that happens. There's no chance of an IPO and it's not being put into anyone's bank account.

He doesn't need to convince us: revenue for Mozilla is a good thing. While a fine open-source project can be produced by engineers working in their spare time, the fact remains that—all other things being equal—a dedicated staff can work far more efficiently and produce results in a much shorter period of time. Since even engineers have to eat on alternate Fridays, panhandling will only carry you so far.

If Mozilla really is capable of generating gross revenues anywhere near US$72 million, it shows that the model is working. Mozilla and its variants have a long way to go to match Internet Explorer's market share, but many users already consider it the equal or better of the Internet's most common browser. With the release of IE7 coming later this year, Mozilla will need that revenue to keep the heat turned up on Microsoft.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060308-6344.html

 

Long-distance lovers can still drink together

* 08 March 2006
* Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition


Could glowing, Wi-Fi wine glasses let people in long-distance relationships feel more in touch with their other half? Don't scoff: researchers in Boston at MIT's Media Lab - that citadel of outside-the-box thinking - believe so. When you and your partner both raise the high-tech glasses they will glow warmly, no matter how far apart you are. The idea is to give the feeling of a shared drinking experience.

Jackie Lee and Hyemin Chung, experts in human-computer interaction, say that communal drinking is an important social interaction that helps bind friendships and relationships, but this is of course denied to people separated by geography. To give such lovebirds a chance to recreate some of the intimacy of sharing a drink, Lee and Chung have incorporated a variety of coloured LEDs, liquid sensors and wireless (GPRS or Wi-Fi) links into a pair of glass tumblers.

When either person picks up a glass, red LEDs on their partner's glass glow gently. And when either puts the glass to their lips, sensors make white LEDs on the rim of the other glass glow brightly, so you can tell when your other half takes a sip. Following tests in separate labs, Lee says the wireless glasses really do "help people feel as if they are sharing a drinking experience together".

The technology could also be used to check that hospital patients or elderly people are drinking enough water, Lee says. The glasses, dubbed lover's cups, will be unveiled at the CHI 2006 conference on computer-human interaction in Montreal in April.
From issue 2542 of New Scientist magazine, 08 March 2006, page 25
Printable version Email to a friend RSS Feed

 

Microsoft fixes can cause Windows Media Player trouble


If you've noticed your Windows Media Player acting strange, Microsoft has an explanation.

A trio of updates for the media player software, including a recent security patch, can cause the software to malfunction, the software maker said in a technical support article published on its Web site earlier this week. Microsoft late Wednesday e-mailed notices alerting customers to the support page.

The updates can cause issues when trying to seek, fast rewind or fast forward in Windows Media Player 10, Microsoft said. Playback might freeze, even though the status bar shows it is still playing. Also, the playback position slider could jump back to the start of the media file for no apparent reason, the company said.

These situations can occur after installing one of three updates, Microsoft said. One is the latest security fix for Windows Media Player, a "critical" patch released last month. The flaw could allow an attacker to gain control over a vulnerable PC by tricking a user into opening a malicious file. Examples of code that exploits the flaw was available only days after Microsoft released the patch.
The other two updates that could cause Media Player trouble are: "Update Rollup 2" for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and a fix intended to enable DirectX Video Acceleration of Windows Media Video content. Both were released last year.

Microsoft did not say how many users have reported media player trouble. A company representative was not immediately available for comment. To fix the player issues, Microsoft suggests changes on the system that's streaming the content.

In addition to the possible trouble with Windows Media Player, Microsoft on Wednesday said a patch it released February last year might cause trouble with a specific Web program known as an ActiveX control. A fix for that problem is available from Microsoft, the company said.
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+fixes...trouble/2100-1002_3-6047762.html?tag=nefd.top

 

Introducing Origami, Ultra-Mobile PC

3/9/2006 10:25:28 AM, by Ken "Caesar" Fisher

Microsoft's Origami officially unfolds today, but it does so amongst a swath of ultra-mobile PC designs. The basics are what we expected: an ultra-mobile or ultra-compact form factor, Windows XP Tablet Edition, wireless (WiFi +Bluetooth), and a touchscreen. Mark your calendar folks, because today is the day that Microsoft is trying to reinvent the PDA. The general specifications are as follows:

* Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005, with Windows Touch Pack
* Intel Celeron M, Pentium M, or possibly VIA C7-M processor
* 128MB of RAM, or more
* 800x480 (minimum) resolution
* 7" (diagonal screen)
* 30GB hard drive, or more (50GB and 60GB to be common)
* US$600-1,000 price tag
* USB inputs

As we suspected, Origami is a "form factor" or a "guideline," and not a specific product. In Microsoft's own words, the Origami design "features small, lightweight, carry-everywhere hardware designs coupled with the full functionality of a Microsoft Windows-based PC and a choice of input options, including enhanced touch-screen capabilities." The latter capabilities come at the hands of the new Windows Touch Pack, which updates the Tablet Edition to include more finger-friendly usage, including a new on-screen split keyboard that is designed for two-hand operation (dubbed DialKeys, pictured right). The Touch Pack also offers an application launcher menu optimized for big fingers and smaller screens, effectively giving the device a different feel from the desktop.

At less than 2 inches deep and about 2 lbs, Origami-based designs are small, but not super small. Their capabilities are big: as Windows PCs, they can do just about anything you can do on a PC, although performance and battery-life considerations should be taken into account. Microsoft and its partners see this device as a consumer electronics product for PC enthusiasts. Rather than try and reinvent the laptop, Origami was designed to be light enough to use casually throughout the home or office, while big enough to outshine smaller products with less capable displays. The end result is a modestly-sized tablet that most consumers will view as a mobile web browsing platform.

Currently three manufacturers are producing devices based off of the Origami design: Asus, Founder and Samsung. Others are expected to join the fray after initial products hit shelves in April, but we expect that caution will be the word of the day as manufacturers attempt to discern whether the concept has legs, or if it will be relegated to the relative obscurity already enjoyed by the likes of other attempts to bring the "PC" to a smaller form factor (e.g., OQO).

Where does Origami improve on previous attempts? The interesting thing about Origami is how similar it is to Media Center Edition. While the two serve entirely different purposes, both are essentially built on top of Windows XP. Not only that, but they both attempt to address user interface limitations in Windows XP the same way: with an application that sits on top of the standard Windows desktop. For Media Center, that meant a UI add-on designed to look good from your couch. For Origami, this means a UI design meant to overcome the problems that the XP UI experiences when it's crammed in a small space. But both products are essentially Windows XP with added ingredients. This strategy fits in nicely with where Windows is headed with Vista, and it shows Microsoft's commitment to getting the underlying technology in place.

Will Origami be a hit? The size is going to be an issue for many users, because it's just not nearly as "ultra-mobile" as its name suggests. Unless you're Shaq, Origami won't fit in your pocket, and you'll never want to travel too far from your charger on account of the relatively short battery life. The screen resolution is also a bit shallow for my tastes, especially when compared to the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, which crammed 800x480 screen into a much smaller form factor. A good laptop will do a better job of playing video, showing pictures, and displaying documents... but it's not as convenient, I suppose. For sitting around the house or hunkering down for a long flight, the UMPC looks like a decent entertainment device, but it's not without competition. When its time to spend that "disposable income" everyone's talking about, what will it be: PSP, iPod, UMPC/Origami? The list is endless.

In closing, let me just say that it's unfortunate that Origami is going to be yet another decent codename tossed into the wind. It should be embraced and utilized. A year from now "Origami" will still sound elegant, while "PXT1200" or other equally unattractive names will adorn shelves. Perhaps this time around the marketers will figure this out, but I have my doubts.

In the meantime, send review units to the Orbiting HQ.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060309-6348.html

 

Congress wants to watch your children watch TV

3/9/2006 10:44:20 AM, by Nate Anderson

The Children and Media Research Advancement Act is making its way through Congress again. The bill, introduced in an earlier form in 2003, directs the Centers for Disease Control to conduct a wide-ranging study on the effects of electronic media on children. How wide-ranging? The bill "would provide funding to investigate the cognitive, physical and socio-behavioral impact of electronic media on child and adolescent development--everything from physical coordination, diet and sleeping habits to attention span, peer relationships and aggression levels. Television, motion pictures, DVDs, interactive video games, the Internet and cell phones would all be fair game."

It's a good bet that the government will want to do more than simply warn parents about the risks of certain kinds of media use. Given that the bill is backed by Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Joe Lieberman (D-CT), and Rick Santorum (R-PA), all foes of violent video games, we can expect to see more attempts at federal regulation of the gaming industry in the future. The new study is no doubt meant to provide ammunition to such efforts.

The current state of research has not been conclusive enough to convince the judges who have struck down local videogame laws. Several judges have pointed out that any restriction on free speech must be based on evidence that such speech causes harm to children and to society, and current research is not conclusive. Research certainly does indicate, however, that indiscriminate media consumption among children has real drawbacks.

Scientists have known for some time that children who watch more TV are fatter than those who watch less, since they get less exercise. Other studies have shown that playing violent video games "increases aggressive behavior and decreases helping behavior," while a recent meta-study found that "33 of the 35 studies concluded that playing video games encouraged aggressive behavior. 7 studies concluded that playing video games enhances arousal. This analysis concluded that playing violent video games is related to increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and physiological arousal as well as to decreased prosocial behavior." Another study found that violent video games can cause short-term aggression.

The subject is a controversial one, nowhere more so than among gamers, who point to studies that show no definitive link between fantasy violence and real world aggression. Even among those who believe that violent games have negative consequences, many are unwilling to see more regulation of the industry and would prefer a voluntary approach based on parental involvement and interaction with their children. The Center on Media and Child Health at Harvard Medical School offers three common-sense ideas for helping parents control their child's gaming—none of which require additional federal regulation.

* Be very particular about the types of games you bring into the home. Just because your child has seen ads for a game and wants it doesn't mean they should have it.
* Do not allow video game systems (or televisions) in your children's rooms. By keeping the game system in a common area, you can monitor its use much more easily and be aware of games that children acquire from friends or elsewhere. Remember that it's much easier to never put a game system in your child's room than it is to remove one that's already there.
* Encourage lots of social and extracurricular activities. The amount of time that children use media is often determined by the amount of down time that they have at their home. If you think your child is spending too much time playing video games, finding other fun activities for them will probably be more effective than simply setting time limits or restricting overall use.

The bottom line is this: if you're concerned about this issue, learn more about the games your kids are playing and steer them in an age-appropriate direction. Encourage social interactions and get them involved in physical activity. Simple decrees (either from government or a parent) are unlikely to be effective on their own.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060309-6349.html

 

Photos as Passwords Foil Hackers

security5 A password that uses images instead of numbers could give some people access to secure information on personal electronic devices or at ATMs within the next year.

The image authentication system uses a pair of digital images instead of a string of numbers to make logging in simple for the legitimate user, but difficult for impersonators. Discovery Channel :: News : Photos as Passwords Foil Hackers

Photos as Passwords Foil Hackers
By Tracy Staedter, Discovery News
small text
large text

March 7, 2006— A password that uses images instead of numbers could give some people access to secure information on personal electronic devices or at ATMs within the next year.

The image authentication system uses a pair of digital images instead of a string of numbers to make logging in simple for the legitimate user, but difficult for impersonators.

"It is expected that many of the conventional user authentication systems would be able to be replaced with our scheme, since recognition of images is significantly easier for human beings than precise recall of passwords," said team leader Masakatsu Nishigaki, a professor of informatics at Shizuoka University in Japan, where the system is being developed.

According to Nishigaki, people often use four-digit number passwords or easy-to-remember passwords, such as a name or birthday, to access information on cell phones, PDAs, Web sites, and financial accounts at ATMs.

What's more, they often use the same password to gain access to several different location and rarely do they change the secret string of numbers.

That makes an otherwise secure system vulnerable to password cracking programs, which are designed to retrieve lost passwords but are also used by thieves to gain unauthorized access to accounts.

Nishigaki and his team propose a system that uses one clear and easily recognizable image and another that is a highly pixilated, unclear version of the original.

When creating a new password or changing an old one, the system provides the legitimate user with the clear image. But during the authentication phase, the system shows the user the unclear image, along with a number of decoy images.

To the user who holds the clear version, the unclear image is easy to pick out. But to an impersonator, finding the correct image becomes difficult.

Depending on the security level and to avoid an unauthorized person from clicking on the correct image by chance, the system can be designed to display a higher number of decoy images or to present the user with more than one round of image selection.

That security measure could also be a flaw in the unclear image system, said Tetsuji Takada, a researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tokyo whose team is also working on a photo-based authentication system.

"The solution significantly decreases the memorability of pass-images," said Takada. "There is a problem getting a better balance between security and usability in user authentication."

Takada's solution is to allow users to use their own photos, which would increase the chances that they would remember it. That photo is displayed among other decoy images in a group randomly selected by the computer.

For added security, the computer may display a group of photos that does not contain the pass-image. In that case, the user can answer "no pass-image."

An unauthorized person might continue to guess at the correct photo and give himself away.

Both groups are working toward an effective system. Takada's team will present new research findings at a conference this May.

Nishigaki's team recently filed for a patent and has been approached by at least one Japanese company that has expressed an interest in applying the system to their product.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060306/password_tec.html

 

some news for ye all,today my site has reached Total Members: 10,000

 

Fuel cell offers 14 hours of laptop power


By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: March 9, 2006, 10:57 AM PST
Tell us what you think about this storyTalkBack E-mail this story to a friendE-mail View this story formatted for printingPrint

SAN FRANCISCO--A start-up called UltraCell is showing a 2.2-pound fuel cell prototype at the Intel Developer Forum that can power a laptop computer for 14 hours.

Production models will be available in 2007 and cost less than $500, William Hill, vice president of marketing at the 50-person Livermore, Calif.-based company, said in an interview Wednesday at the chipmaker's twice-annual show here.

Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water and electrical power, but technology and expense have kept them away from most markets. However, many researchers are working to adapt the technology for cars, mobile phones and numerous other markets.

UltraCell's systems are fueled by methanol, and included technology called a reformer converts it into hydrogen the fuel cell itself can use, Hill said. But customers shouldn't expect to just be able to buy a few liters of methanol and fill up their fuel cells whenever they run low.


Instead, UltraCell will sell fuel cartridges for less than $4, Hill said. The cartridges can be recycled.

Intel is working to address power source issues for laptops and other mobile devices, but is cautious about fuel cells.

The chipmaker and its partners in the Mobile PC Extended Battery Life Working Group don't expect to see fuel cells in notebooks any time soon, said Kamal Shah, Intel's representative with the EBLWG. Numerous challenges, such as distribution and regulatory hurdles, will need to be cleared before fuel cells become a reality for most mainstream notebook users, and Intel isn't expecting that to happen this decade, he said.

Hill said one regulatory hurdle has been cleared, however: Approval to use the cartridges on airline flights.
CNET News.com staff writer Tom Krazit contributed to this report.
http://news.com.com/Fuel+cell+offers+14+hours+of+laptop+power/2100-1041_3-6047966.html?tag=nefd.top

 

The EFF wants to make sure Sony has to pay up

3/9/2006 12:31:49 PM, by Anders Bylund

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has set up a few web pages to help the victims of Sony's infamous rootkit CDs clean their computers and get their fair share of the class action settlement. The foundation is asking webmasters and bloggers to help spread the word through a variety of banners. It's the first time the EFF has run a campaign like this, but it makes sense for several reasons.

First up, the EFF was a party to the lawsuit itself, and this is also the first time that any action directly brought by them has lead to any kind of public settlement or restitution. Making Joe Sixpack aware that his Velvet Revolver CD may have infected his PC, and that he is entitled to some cash and/or free music is not only a nice humanitarian move on the EFF's part, but also good PR. Then there is the fact that there are security implications to using the affected products, which means that the Internet as a whole gets a little healthier for every patched rootkit. I'll let EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry finish up this list:

"In this case, there isn't a complete record of everyone who bought (or was given) an XCP or MediaMax CD, and all of those folks may have a security risk on their computers," said Ms. McSherry in an e-mail to the Orbiting HQ. "So it's important to get the word out in as many ways as possible, to as many people as possible. Besides, EFF has a unique platform as a public interest advocate. We're happy to use that platform to let music fans know that they can finally get what they thought they were buying in the first place—music that will play on their computers without restriction or security risk."

So maybe you're one of the unlucky millions who let Sahara Hotnights' Kiss and Tell or Clay Aiken's Merry Christmas open your desktop to attack (consult the list of eligible albums for more poisoned discs), and this is the first you have heard about a settlement. What next? It depends on what version of the botched DRM you were affected by. If it was MediaMax 3.0 (check your CD insert), you're good for free downloads of the music you bought to begin with. MediaMax 5.0 gives you that, plus one free album download from iTunes, Wal-Mart, FYE, or CONNECT Music. XCP protection means that you will get the free download, a replacement, DRM-free disc, and your choice of either US$7.50 plus one free album download from one of the services mentioned above, or no cash and three albums.

In return, you must submit a proof of purchase, but if you lost the original receipt, you have other options. Ms. McSherry explained that "there are a variety of proofs you can submit. For MediaMax, for example, if you don't have a copy of the receipt, you can submit the CD itself, the original UPC symbol cut out of the album artwork, a copy of a credit card or bank statement reflecting your purchase, or a copy of a cancelled check reflecting your purchase." Since you're getting that music back anyway (yes, even if it was Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook. I'm so sorry.), and particularly if it was an XCP disc that entitles you to a replacement physical CD, sending the infected merchandise back to its maker might be advisable, just to keep from accidentally reinfecting your machine if nothing else.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060309-6351.html

 

The EFF wants to make sure Sony has to pay up

The settlement process has begun in EFF's class action lawsuit
against Sony BMG for the flawed digital rights management (DRM)
that Sony BMG released in millions of CDs over the last several years.

Music fans who bought the affected CDs can submit claims for clean music.

Many customers are also eligible for extra downloads or a small cash settlement.
Click here to submit a claim
http://www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com/

View the list of affected CDs
http://www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com/CDList.htm

Description of benefits
https://secureweb.rustconsulting.com/sonybmgcdtechsettlement/Instructions.aspx

go here to read it all on the settlement
http://www.eff.org/sony/



Artist Title UPC
40 Below Summer The Mourning After 79301828982
A Static Lullaby Faso Latido 827969277225 or D161263
Acceptance Phantoms 696998901629 or D161429
Alicia Keys Unplugged 82876674242 or 82876731662 or D165215
Amerie Touch 827969076323 or D161365
Amici Forever Defined 82876688832 or D161495
Angie Stone Stone Love 82876562152 or D153051
Anthoney Hamilton Coming From Where I'm From 82876521072 or D150669
Art Blakey Drum Suit 827969363720 or D162083
Babyface Grown & Sexy 82876705682 or D162090
Backstreet Boys Never Gone 82876696112 or D165187
Backstreet Boys Never Gone (Target) 82876705342
Backstreet Boys Never Gone (Walmart) 82876702442
The Bad Plus Suspicious Activity? 827969474020
Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook 827969510728 or 828767481524
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Howl 8287671601 or D162369
Bob Brookmeyer Bob Brookmeyer & Friends 827969429228 or D162087
Britney Spears Hitme - Remix 82876740622
Buddy Jewell Times Like These 827969287323 or D161532
Burt Bacharach At This Time 827969773420
Cassidy I'm A Hustla 82876687072 or 82876680732
Celine Dion On Ne Change Pas 827969773628
Charlie Wilson Charlie, Last Name Wilson 82876694292 or D162168
Charlotte Martin On Your Shore 82876606762
Chayanne Cautivo 037629681921 or 37629681822 or 37629588626
The Chieftains Live From Dublin 82876671372 or D160913
Chris Botti To Love Again 827969482322
Chris Brown Chris Brown 82876733222
Citizen Cope Clarance Greenwood Recordings 82876521142 or D154185
Clay Aiken Merry Christmas 82876626222 or D161935
Cook, Dixon & Young Volume One 82876673342 or D162089
The Coral The Invisible Invasion 827969474723
Cyndi Lauper The Body Acoustic 827969456927
Dave Matthews Band Stand Up 82876687962 or D165167
David Gray Life In Slow Motion 82876710682 or D165217
The Dead 60's The Dead 60's 827969445327
Deniece Williams This Is Niecy 827969381427
Dextor Gordon Manhattan Symphonie 827969358122 or D162084
Dido Dido Live 82876658099
Dido "White Flag" W/Enhanced Features (Maxi Single) 82876603552-0
Dion The Essential Dion 827969267028 or D161439
Earl Scruggs I Saw The Light With Some Help From My Friends 827969279328 or D162399
Elkland Golden 827969203620 or D161431
Emma Roberts Unfabulous And More: Emma Roberts 827969395028 or 827969768426
Faithless Forever Faithless/ENH 82876710142 or D162102
Flatt & Scruggs Foggy Mountain Jamboree 827969280126 or D162400
Foo Fighters In Your Honor (Bb Version) 82876705282
Foo Fighters In Your Honor 82876680382 or D265002
G3 Live In Tokyo 827969768525
George Jones My Very Special Guests 827969256220 or D200250
Gerry Mulligan Jeru 074646549827 or D162086
Horace Silver Silver's Blue 827969385623 or D162082
Imogen Heap Speak For Yourself 82876725322
Jane Monheit The Season 827969772126
Jim Brickman Grace 82876679792 or D161456
Jim Brickman Grace (Provident Version) 82876687952
J-Kwon Hood Hop (Edited) 82876583672
J-Kwon Hood Hop (Ex) 82876576132 or D152470
Jon Randall Walking Among The Living 827969208328
Judd & Maggie Subjects 82876692492 or D161949
Kasabian Kasabian 82876664282 or D161062
Keith Anderson Three Chord Country 82876662942 or D161674
Kings Of Leon Aha Shake Heartbreak 82876645442 or D160912
Leo Kottke/Mike Gordon Sixty Six Steps 82876689092
Life Of Agony Broken Valley 827969351529 or D161228
Maroon 5 Live 82876709742 or 82876699522 or D200606
Mary Mary Mary Mary 000768353721 or 827969294826 or D162005
Montgomery Gentry Something To Be Proud Of: The Best of 1999-2005 828767532424 or 827969498224
My Morning Jacket Z 82876710672
Natasha Bedingfield Unwritten 827969398821 or D162095
Neil Diamond 12 Songs 827969477625 or 827969781128
Nivea Complicated 828766715620 or D161353
Nodesha Get It While It's Hot (Maxi Single) 82876566902
Our Lady Peace Healthy In Paranoid Times 827969477724
Patty Loveless Dreamin' My Dreams 827969448120
Pete Seeger The Essential Pete Seeger 827969283523 or D161441
Raheem Devaughn The Love Experience 82876537232 or D161600
Ray Charles Friendship 827969456422 or D161917
Rosanne Cash Interiors 827969365526
Rosanne Cash King's Record Shop 696998699427
Rosanne Cash Seven Year Ache 696998699724
Sahara Hotnights Kiss & Tell 82876626892 or D153473
Santana All That I Am 82876597732 or D165199
Sarah McLachlan "Fallen" W/Enhanced Features (Maxi Single) 82876601432
Sarah McLachlan Afterglow Live 82876644942 or D260346
Sarah McLachlan Afterglow Live 82876645432
Sarah McLachlan Bloom (Remix Album) 82876697982 or D162345
Shel Silverstein The Best Of Shel Silverstein 827969472224 or D162100
Shelly Fairchild Ride 827969035528 or D161531
Silvertide Show & Tell 82876644022
Silvertide Show & Tell (Ex) 82876609892 or D154573
Soundtrack Xxx: State Of The Union 82876679222 or D161437
Soundtrack Xxx: State Of The Union 82876681092
Stellastarr* Harmonies for the Haunted 82876688812 or D162194
Susie Suh Susie Suh 827969244326 or D161094
Switchfoot Nothing Is Sound 827969653425 or 827969643723 or 827969458129
Syleena Johnson Chapter 3: The Flesh 82876610932 or D162447
Teena Marie Robbery 827969381724
Tha' Rayne Didn't You Know (Maxi Single) 82876566882
T-Pain Rappa Ternt Sanga 82876734472 or 82876732002
Trey Anastasio Shine 827969642825
Van Zant Get Right With The Man 827969350027 or D161459
Various So Amazing: An All Star Tribute To Luther Vandross 82876624722
Various Songs Brown Hotel 82876714112
Various Relaxation: A Windham Hill Collection 82876629422
Velvet Revolver Contraband (Bb Version) 82876665102
Velvet Revolver Contraband (Ed) 82876605242
Velvet Revolver Contraband (Ex) 82876597942 or D153163
Vivian Green Vivian 827969076125 or D161824
Wakefield Which Side Are You On? 82876685072 or 82876681352 or D161648
YoungBloodZ Everybody Know Me 82876733402 or 82876731752
Yung Wun The Dirtest Thir(Ex) 82876607672 or D154246
Yung Wun The Dirtiest Thirstiest 82876609492

 

Apple plans India call center



By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: March 9, 2006, 11:18 AM PST
Tell us what you think about this storyTalkBack E-mail this story to a friendE-mail View this story formatted for printingPrint

Apple Computer said Thursday that it plans to open a call center in India to handle its growing business and continue to expand call centers in the U.S. as well.

The company is in the process of building a Bangalore facility to house the call center.

"Apple has gained millions of new customers in the past year, and we are building a call center in India to help meet our growing service and support needs," an Apple representative said in a statement to CNET News.com.

The company stressed that it isn't cutting any U.S. jobs, noting that its ranks are growing both in the United States and overall. "Our call centers in Austin and Sacramento also continue to grow," the Apple representative said.

The iPod and Mac maker also promised that the quality of its support will not diminish with the new effort.

"This call center will be managed and staffed by Apple employees with the same award-winning service for which Apple is known around the world," Apple said.

The news was reported earlier Thursday by the Times of India, which said that Apple would begin with 1,500 people and have 3,000 workers by the end of next year. Apple would not comment on how many workers would be at the new facility.

Apple is following the lead of many other PC and electronics firms that have set up call centers in India.

In March 2005, Dell cut the ribbon on its third Indian call center. However the company has also been hit with criticism over the quality of its customer support.

In 2003, Dell decided to reroute some corporate support calls back to U.S.-based call centers, but the company has continued to expand in India.

Apple's business has been growing significantly. In the fiscal year that ended in September, Apple posted revenue of $13.93 billion, up 68 percent from the prior year.
http://news.com.com/2100-1047_3-6047975.html?part=rss&tag=6047975&subj=news

 

Mental typewriter' controlled by thought alone

* 18:35 09 March 2006
* NewScientist.com news service
* Will Knight
A computer controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated at a major trade fair in Germany.

The device could provide a way for paralysed patients to operate computers, or for amputees to operate electronically controlled artificial limbs. But it also has non-medical applications, such as in the computer games and entertainment industries.

The Berlin Brain-Computer Interface (BBCI) – dubbed the "mental typewriter" – was created by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin and Charité, the medical school of Berlin Humboldt University in Germany. It was shown off at the CeBit electronics fair in Hanover, Germany.

The machine makes it possible to type messages onto a computer screen by mentally controlling the movement of a cursor. A user must wear a cap containing electrodes that measure electrical activity inside the brain, known as an electroencephalogram (EEG) signal, and imagine moving their left or right arm in order to manoeuvre the cursor around.

"It's a very strange sensation," says Gabriel Curio at Charité. "And you can understand from the crowds watching that the potential is huge."
Learning algorithms

Curio says users can operate the device just 20 minutes after going through 150 cursor moves in their minds. This is because the device rapidly learns to recognise activity in the area of a person's motor cortex, the area of the brain associated with movement. "The trick is the machine-learning algorithms developed at the Fraunhofer Institute," Curio says.

John Chapin, an expert in using implanted electrodes to control computers, agrees EEG sensing technology is advancing rapidly. "There's been a lot of progress on the non-invasive side in recent years," he told New Scientist.

The German researchers hope to develop a commercial version of the device as an aid for paralysed patients and amputees.

Chapin adds that brain-computer interfaces could have a range of uses beyond the medical. "Signals from the brain give you a fraction of a second advantage," he says. The device could make a novel game controller and be used in other ways. The researchers have even begun testing the machine as a driving aid, as it can sense a sudden reaction and control a vehicle's brakes before even the driver can.

The next stage is to develop a cap that does not have to be attached directly to the scalp. This should make the device easier to use and cause less skin irritation for the wearer.
Printable version Email to a friend

 

Three cosmic enigmas, one audacious answer

* 09 March 2006
* Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
* Zeeya Merali

Printable version Email to a friend RSS Feed
DARK energy and dark matter, two of the greatest mysteries confronting physicists, may be two sides of the same coin. A new and as yet undiscovered kind of star could explain both phenomena and, in turn, remove black holes from the lexicon of cosmology.

The audacious idea comes from George Chapline, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and Nobel laureate Robert Laughlin of Stanford University and their colleagues. Last week at the 22nd Pacific Coast Gravity Meeting in Santa Barbara, California, Chapline suggested that the objects that till now have been thought of as black holes could in fact be dead stars that form as a result of an obscure quantum phenomenon. These stars could explain both dark energy and dark matter.

This radical suggestion would get round some fundamental problems posed by the existence of black holes. One such problem arises from the idea that once matter crosses a black hole's event horizon - the point beyond which not even light can escape - it will be destroyed by the space-time "singularity" at the centre of the black hole. Because information about the matter is lost forever, this conflicts with the laws of quantum mechanics, which state that information can never disappear from the universe.

Another problem is that light from an object falling into a black hole is stretched so dramatically by the immense gravity there that observers outside will see time freeze: the object will appear to sit at the event horizon for ever. This freezing of time also violates quantum mechanics. "People have been vaguely uncomfortable about these problems for a while, but they figured they'd get solved someday," says Chapline. "But that hasn't happened and I'm sure when historians look back, they'll wonder why people didn't question these contradictions."
“People have been uneasy about these problems with black holes, but figured they'd get solved. That hasn't happened”

While looking for ways to avoid these physical paradoxes, Chapline and Laughlin found some answers in an unrelated phenomenon: the bizarre behaviour of superconducting crystals as they go through something called "quantum critical phase transition" (New Scientist, 28 January, p 40). During this transition, the spin of the electrons in the crystals is predicted to fluctuate wildly, but this prediction is not borne out by observation. Instead, the fluctuations appear to slow down, and even become still, as if time itself has slowed down.

"That was when we had our epiphany," Chapline says. He and Laughlin realised that if a quantum critical phase transition happened on the surface of a star, it would slow down time and the surface would behave just like a black hole's event horizon. Quantum mechanics would not be violated because in this scenario time would never freeze entirely. "We start with effects actually seen in the lab, which I think gives it more credibility than black holes," says Chapline.

With this idea in mind, they - along with Emil Mottola at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Pawel Mazur of the University of South Carolina in Columbia and colleagues - analysed the collapse of massive stars in a way that did not allow any violation of quantum mechanics. Sure enough, in place of black holes their analysis predicts a phase transition that creates a thin quantum critical shell. The size of this shell is determined by the star's mass and, crucially, does not contain a space-time singularity. Instead, the shell contains a vacuum, just like the energy-containing vacuum of free space. As the star's mass collapses through the shell, it is converted to energy that contributes to the energy of the vacuum.

The team's calculations show that the vacuum energy inside the shell has a powerful anti-gravity effect, just like the dark energy that appears to be causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. Chapline has dubbed the objects produced this way "dark energy stars".

Though this anti-gravity effect might be expected to blow the star's shell apart, calculations by Francisco Lobo of the University of Lisbon in Portugal have shown that stable dark energy stars can exist for a number of different models of vacuum energy. What's more, these stable stars would have shells that lie near the region where a black hole's event horizon would form (Classical Quantum Gravity, vol 23, p 1525).

"Dark energy stars and black holes would have identical external geometries, so it will be very difficult to tell them apart," Lobo says. "All observations used as evidence for black holes - their gravitational pull on objects and the formation of accretion discs of matter around them - could also work as evidence for dark energy stars."

That does not mean they are completely indistinguishable. While black holes supposedly swallow anything that gets past the event horizon, quantum critical shells are a two-way street, Chapline says. Matter crossing the shell decays, and the anti-gravity should spit some of the remnants back out again. Also, quark particles crossing the shell should decay by releasing positrons and gamma rays, which would pop out of the surface. This could explain the excess positrons that are seen at the centre of our galaxy, around the region that was hitherto thought to harbour a massive black hole. Conventional models cannot adequately explain these positrons, Chapline says.

He and his colleagues have also calculated the energy spectrum of the released gamma rays. "It is very similar to the spectrum observed in gamma-ray bursts," says Chapline. The team also predicts that matter falling into a dark energy star will heat up the star, causing it to emit infrared radiation. "As telescopes improve over the next decade, we'll be able to search for this light," says Chapline. "This is a theory that should be proved one way or the other in five to ten years."

Black hole expert Marek Abramowicz at Gothenburg University in Sweden agrees that the idea of dark energy stars is worth pursuing. "We really don't have proof that black holes exist," he says. "This is a very interesting alternative."

The most intriguing fallout from this idea has to do with the strength of the vacuum energy inside the dark energy star. This energy is related to the star's size, and for a star as big as our universe the calculated vacuum energy inside its shell matches the value of dark energy seen in the universe today. "It's like we are living inside a giant dark energy star," Chapline says. There is, of course, no explanation yet for how a universe-sized star could come into being.
“The vacuum inside the star has a powerful anti-gravity effect, just like the dark energy that is pulling the universe apart”

At the other end of the size scale, small versions of these stars could explain dark matter. "The big bang would have created zillions of tiny dark energy stars out of the vacuum," says Chapline, who worked on this idea with Mazur. "Our universe is pervaded by dark energy, with tiny dark energy stars peppered across it." These small dark energy stars would behave just like dark matter particles: their gravity would tug on the matter around them, but they would otherwise be invisible.

Abramowicz says we know too little about dark energy and dark matter to judge Chapline and Laughlin's idea, but he is not dismissing it out of hand. "At the very least we can say the idea isn't impossible."
From issue 2542 of New Scientist magazine, 09 March 2006, page 8
Printable version Email to a friend RSS Feed