The One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) is toying with a novel source of power for its low-cost XO laptops: cows. We plan to drive a dynamo (taken from an old Fiat) through a system of belts and pulleys using cows/cattle,
wrote OLPC’s Arjun Sarwal, in an e-mail dated 21 October and posted to one of the group’s discussion lists. Sarwal and others are now finalising the design of the cow-powered generator
Microsoft has made progress in getting its Windows software to work on a low-cost laptop computer for poor children that currently runs on rival Linux software. The company is now working to adapt a basic version of Windows XP so it is compatible with the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child Foundation’s small green-and-white XO laptop
Dr Larry Roberts, co-founder of the ARPANET and inventor of packet switching, predicts the Internet is headed for a major crisis. Internet traffic is now growing much more quickly than the rate at which router cost is decreasing, Roberts says. At current growth levels, the cost of deploying Internet capacity to handle new services like social networking, gaming, video, VOIP, and digital entertainment will double every three years, he predicts, creating an economic crisis. Of course, Roberts has an agenda. He’s now CEO of Anagran Inc, which makes a technology called flow-based routing that, Roberts claims, will solve all of the world’s routing problems in one go — via Slashdot
The UK computer agency Becta is advising schools not to sign licensing agreements with Microsoft because of alleged anti-competitive practices. The government agency has complained to the Office of Fair Trading. It says talks with Microsoft have not resolved fundamental concerns
about academic licensing and about Office 2007 and the Vista operating system
MySQL has published their software roadmap out through 2009 and it includes an injection of code from Google. Google remains relatively secretive about how their systems work but they are one of the largest users of MySQL. Earlier this year Google signed a Contributor License Agreement which provides a framework for them to contribute code to MySQL
Microsoft has beat out Google and Yahoo for a 1.6% stake in Facebook. The investment will cost Microsoft $240 million valuing the total site at somewhere around $15 billion
A Melbourne PhD student has developed technology to make broadband internet up to 200 times faster without having to install expensive fibre optic cables. Harnessing the potential power of telephone lines and DSL broadband, the technology will deliver internet speeds up to 250 megabits per second, compared with current typical speeds of between one and 20 megabits per second. Dr John Papandriopoulos, who has patent applications for the technology being processed in the US and Australia, won one of Melbourne University’s top academic prizes yesterday, a Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the PhD
Samsung has announced that it has developed the world’s first
64Gb (8GB) NAND flash memory chip
using a 30nm production process, which opens the door for companies to produce memory cards with up to 128GB capacity
US-made censorware is being used to oppress the people in many countries, including Burma. That in itself may not be surprising, but a more interesting point is that according to lawyers it appears to be legal — in spite of all the economic sanctions against the country, and even though people know it will be used to hush up any mention of things like attacks on peaceful protesters — via Slashdot
IBM plans to announce microprocessor chipsets that can wirelessly transmit high-definition video at extremely high speeds. IBM will do this by teaming with MediaTek to launch a joint initiative to develop these ultra fast chipsets. The companies will be developing millimeter wave (mmWave) radio technology — the highest frequency portion of the radio spectrum — 60 gigahertz rather than 2.4 gigahertz — and digital chipsets that enable at least 100 times higher data rates than current Wi-Fi standards — via Slashdot
It appears that Google is working on integrating IMAP into Gmail. However, it is only appearing in select few Gmail and Google Apps for domains accounts at the moment
British and Dutch police have shut down a widely-used
source of illegally-downloaded music. A flat on Teesside and several properties in Amsterdam were raided as part of an Interpol investigation into the members-only website OiNK. The UK-run site has leaked 60 major pre-release albums this year alone, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)
The team behind Firefox 3 plans to ditch the unified cross-platform look of the browser in favor of a sexier look tailored to specific operating systems. Rather than a single look across all platforms, which is the way Firefox currently ships, Firefox 3 will feature different skins for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X and various Linux distributions
Comcast actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally. The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a US Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users. If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutella file-sharing networks. While these are mainly known as sources of copyright music, software and movies, BitTorrent in particular is emerging as a legitimate tool for quickly disseminating legal content
Canadians may soon pay a small tax on every legal music store download. This fee is the work of a measure proposed by the Copyright Board of Canada. About two cents would be added to every song downloaded, with 1.5 cents being added to album downloads. Streaming services and subscriptions would also be taxed, to the tune of about 6% of the monthly fee. Most interesting — the tax would be retroactively applied to every transaction processed since 1996 — via Slashdot
What makes the Dash device so different is that it not only receives location data from the satellites of the Global Positioning System, like other navigation units, but it also broadcasts information about its travels back to the Dash network. The continuous two-way reporting lets the system accomplish several things. It can measure how fast traffic really travels on a given road, and use that to compile a highly detailed and accurate database of traffic information. Dash units can warn each other through the network the second they hit a traffic slowdown. And because the units stay connected to the Internet, information on nearby points of interest like restaurants is instantly available and current
Flickr has chosen Seattle-based Picnik to handle the long requested photo editing feature for Flickr users. Currently, you can rotate photos on Flickr, but the editing stops there. When the new tools launch, users will be able to edit photos more extensively using the Picnik Flash based tools. The deal has been signed and implementation will occur sometime in the next few months. Users will be presented with an edit option on the photo page. Clicking it takes the user to a new Flickr photo edit page, with the Picnik tools integrated via an iframe. After editing, users can add the edited photo to their Flickr account or, if they are a Flickr pro user, overwrite the original
Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon has been released. Download options include mirrors and torrents. Wired has a review based on the release candidate: Gamers and hardcore media hounds may still feel left out… but we found playing music and watching movies in the new Ubuntu to be every bit as pleasant as it is under OS X or Windows… Wi-Fi, printing, my digital camera and even my iPod all worked immediately after installation — no drivers or other software required… I did have to install additional codecs to get MP3 and Windows Media Audio support
— via Slashdot
After years of trying, Australian power rockers AC/DC have finally obtained acdc.com from a porn company that used the site to redirect many an unwitting fan to sites offering filthy photos of bondage, water sports and other types of kink
The BBC’s online services will be made available free of charge at thousands of wi-fi hotspots around the UK. The corporation has agreed a deal with wi-fi firm The Cloud, which operates 7,500 hotspots around the country. The news website, programme sites and downloads of TV shows via the currently Windows XP only iPlayer can be accessed freely. The BBC has also confirmed that users of Apple Mac and Linux machines will be able to use its TV catch-up service from the end of the year
RSS – Posts