Microsoft just planted a massive flag in the ground with the debut of Windows Phone 7 Series. The company’s new mobile operating system is a radical and potent departure from the past, and there’s a lot to take in — so we’ve gathered together all our knowledge and impressions of the device so far and [...]
Archive for February, 2010
School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home
According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools’ administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to [...]
Pro-porn hackers target government websites
An internet protest group has launched an attack on Government websites in a protest against the proposed internet filter and censorship of some pornography. The attack, dubbed Operation Titstorm by the group known as Anonymous, briefly brought down a number of Government websites this morning. Anonymous claimed the attack was to highlight moves by the [...]
Google leaps language barrier with translator phone
GOOGLE is developing software for the first phone capable of translating foreign languages almost instantly — like the Babel Fish in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. By building on existing technologies in voice recognition and automatic translation, Google hopes to have a basic system ready within a couple of years. If it works, it [...]
Pranksters Attach GPS Device To Google Street View Car
Pranksters are using Google Maps to help Berliners track one of the camera-equipped vehicles Google has sent out to photograph Berlin’s streets, after they attached a GPS device the car. So whose privacy is being violated? We’re not sure. However, a group called Free Art & Technology (FAT) have created a map so Berliners can follow the [...]
Census of Files Available via BitTorrent
BitTorrent is popular because it lets anyone distribute large files at low cost. Which kinds of files are available on BitTorrent? Sauhard Sahi, a Princeton senior, decided to find out. Sauhard’s independent work last semester, under my supervision, set out to measure what was available on BitTorrent. This post, summarizing his results, was co-written by [...]
YouTube support of IPv6 seen in dramatic traffic spike
Google has quietly turned on IPv6 support for its YouTube video streaming Web site, sending a spike of IPv6 traffic across the Internet that has continued from last Thursday until Monday. Industry observers say YouTube appeared to be supporting IPv6 in production mode, as opposed to running a test of the next-generation Internet protocol. “On [...]
Hack brings Mac OS X to the Nokia N900
Have you ever wanted to run a full-blown copy of Mac OS X on your mobile device? One hacker has managed to get Apple’s operating system running on a smartphone, and it’s not the iPhone. Finnish geek Toni Nikkanen has become the first person to successfully run Mac OS X–in this case, Mac OS X [...]
Tassie govt spends $575k to recognise traffic crooks
The Tasmanian Government will spend $400,000 to purchase five Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras for the state’s police. The funding follows a successful trial of the technology which the government said helped police crackdown on traffic offenders. Tasmania Premier, David Bartlett, said the technology will be rolled out this year and is essential to policing [...]
The technology pro’s greatest enemies
IT enemy No. 1: The Ostrich The biggest enemy of many IT pros: bosses who bury their heads in the sand when it comes to technology, yet are still empowered to make critical IT decisions. Businesspeople become the enemy when they refuse to acknowledge they have a role to play in how IT operates, says [...]