Technology Information
2 iPods, 2 iPhones, 1 iPod and 1 iPhone, wow. So many ways to keep your Apple toys powered. Ordered and waiting patiently by the mailbox.
“Does your family own a family of iPod or iPhone models? Can you only find one charger when all of you need to recharge? Call a cease-fire with PowerDock, a charging base where every iPod and iPhone in the house can get together to charge its batteries.” (Griffin)
BenQ announced the launch of the world’s slimmest 8-mega-pixel digital camera, the T850 with 1600 ISO, 3x optical zoom and smc PENTAX lens. Sleek and compact at 14.9mm thick, the T850’s chic stainless steel casing (available in black or red) reflects the minimalist operating ease of the camera. Exceptional efficiency and user-friendliness are made possible by the highly intuitive photo taking and photo editing functions, which center around smartly organized circular touch buttons on the 3” TFT LCD screen. Furthermore, almost all camera functions can be accessed and engaged by using one of three simple finger movements: tap, circle, swipe. In fact, the T850 standouts among touch screen cameras as the only one employing a natural “swipe” gesture for viewing photos and video. A comprehensive selection of options including “Smile Catch”, Auto Face Tracking, Z Lighting, advanced photo art, scribble & scrawl and Quick Bar make the T850 a fabulously fun companion for bringing enjoyment and quality to today’s digital life. (BenQ)
Facebook is the focus of a new complaint in Canada over its privacy policies and practices. The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) filed the complaint this morning, asking the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to review what the CIPPIC believes are various violations of Canadian privacy law. There are 22 violations in all, says CIPPIC, making Facebook “a minefield of privacy invasion.”
Facebook’s policies and practices were analyzed by a “team of law students” over the winter, resulting in their discovery of what they believe to be numerous violations of the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Some of the issues raised in the complaint are a little benign: for example, CIPPIC takes issue with the fact that all of a user’s friends can see Wall posts (comments) left by other friends, and that it’s not easy to simply delete all Wall posts with a single click. Other issues, however, are more serious, like a user’s inability to easily delete his or her account and all the data associated with it. (Instead, users can choose to suspend their accounts, leaving their data dormant with Facebook—for potential reactivation—for an unspecified amount of time.) (ArsTechnica)
The New York State Supreme Court has dealt a blow against Dell by ruling that the company and its affiliate, Dell Financial Services, engaged in fraud, false advertising, deceptive business practices, and abusive debt collection practices.
Justice Joseph Teresi ruled against the companies late last week, saying that Dell repeatedly misled customers and failed to live up to promises. The monetary damages have yet to be determined, but New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said that Dell will eventually have to pay back customers. The company will also have to turn over any “unlawfully earned” profits to the state.
“For too long at Dell the promise of customer service was a bait and switch that left thousands of people paying for essentially no service at all,” Cuomo said in a statement. “We have won an important victory that will force Dell to live up to its responsibilities and pay back its customers for profits that were pocketed but not deserved. This decision sends an important message that all corporations will be held accountable for the promises they make to consumers.” (ArsTechnica)
Gaming, as an industry, has become an economic powerhouse. The growth of the industry in the US is exceeding the overall growth of the US economy, and is in fact a bright spot in an otherwise dour picture of the nation’s finances. Game developers are creating a product that is doing very well in even the worldwide market, and where these companies set up shops, jobs and cash follow. Developers in the UK are now pressuring the government to step up tax breaks for the gaming industry, and they’re wielding a very real stick: developers have already begun to flee for the greener pastures of Canada.
15 game companies have joined a lobbying group called “Games Up?” to fight for better benefits in the UK. “All our key competitors offer tax breaks and grants, putting UK developers at a disadvantage,” said Richard Wilson, a chief executive of Tiga, the UK trade organization for game developers. (ArsTechnica)
Great capacity with style to match! The Iomega® eGo™ Desktop Hard Drive USB 2.0 1TB provides a simple and stylish solution for all your storage needs. Ideal for adding capacity to your system. This plug and play drive delivers maximum performance. With EMC® Retrospect HD (PC) included (via download) for easy file backup, it’s the easiest way to save up to 4,000,000* photos, 18,500* hours of music, 1,500* hours of video and more! Iomega
Asustek Computer plans to add a desktop computer to its Eee PC family that will launch globally in July, the company revealed Thursday.
The new desktop, dubbed Eee Box, is a white mini-PC about the size of a hardback book and will come with either a Linux or Windows XP OS.
Eee Box will come in a range of configurations, including a choice of hard drives from 80G bytes to 250G bytes in size, and allow users to surf the Internet wirelessly via 802.11n Wi-Fi.
The device comes with four USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports, two each in front and back, and a slot for MMCs (Multimedia Cards), SD (Secure Digital) cards and Memory Sticks. (link)
A recently-developed 33-megapixel image sensor has helped Japanese public broadcaster Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) take the step from black and white in its Super Hi-Vision system.
The latest version of the next-generation technology was on display at NHK’s Science and Technical Research Laboratories (STRL) in Tokyo alongside a new signal processing circuit, an ultra high-resolution lens and a thinner optical cable that combine with the sensor to produce the clearest and sharpest images yet seen from Super Hi-Vision (SHV).
At 7,680 pixels by 4,320 pixels, a single SHV image is equal to 16 tiled HDTV screens. It’s exactly that enormous size that makes it difficult for the image to be captured, processed, and displayed. (link)
Viacom’s $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube “threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information” over the Web, YouTube parent Google said in a legal response to the suit.
The response, reported by the Associated Press, was filed late Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Google says the threat comes from Viacom’s attempt to make “carriers and hosting providers” liable for what people post. Google, by the way, has said this suit will only be resolved in court
Viacom originally filed its lawsuit last year and filed an amended version last month. In the more recent version, the AP reported, Viacom said video-sharing site YouTube consistently allows popular, copyrighted material to be posted to its site, including from Viacom-owned MTV and Comedy Central. Viacom said that it has identified more than 150,000 unauthorized clips on YouTube and that the site has done “little or nothing” to stop the copyright infringement, the AP reported. (CNet)
He was slightly flat, a touch blurry and a smidge taller than reality but Telstra chief technology officer Dr Hugh Bradlow made a huge impression on his Adelaide audience today.
In an Australian first, Dr Bradlow’s life-sized, real-time hologram walked, talked and interacted with business executives at an Adelaide conference while he stood in front of cameras in Telstra’s Melbourne office.
Cameras and microphones in Adelaide allowed Dr Bradlow to see and hear his subjects from 725kms away as his audience watched his high definition image projected onto a transparent screen or “foil”.
The technology created by British company Musion Eyeliner has already enabled former US vice president Al Gore to speak to the Live Earth concert’s London audience from Tokyo and retailer Target to host a model-less virtual fashion show in New York last year. (link)
