http://www.silicon.com/ en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:02:30 +0100 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:02:30 +0100 http://www.silicon.com/i/s/feeds/simple_logo.gif http://www.silicon.com 124 50 20 editorial@silicon.com The Guardian reports fears that the death of the independent bookshop is imminent - due in part, it says, to the "unrivalled range" and cut-price wares of internet booksellers such as Amazon. Read on here.

]]> silicon/39158772 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158772,00.htm Tue, 09 May 2006 12:45:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com With speculation rampant about just how much WiMax can deliver beyond hype, Intel is seemingly attempting to give WiMax a new lease of life. According to Heise Online, here, the chipmaker has got together with NDS to showcase pay TV over WiMax.

]]> silicon/39158749 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158749,00.htm Mon, 08 May 2006 16:15:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Ever wondered where your stolen mobile ended up? According to the BBC, mobile phone theft in Europe is supporting "a massively lucrative criminal business" in west Africa, where stolen mobiles from the west are being sold by local market traders. More here.

]]> silicon/39158745 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158745,00.htm Mon, 08 May 2006 15:20:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com A "£1m chip and PIN fraud" has been uncovered, The Independent reports, after the discovery that Shell customers "had their details stolen as they paid for petrol". While the chips in the cards of affected customers were not themselves compromised, card-users' details were stolen via the magnetic strip - using "an old-style skimming device". However, supposedly tamper-proof chip and PIN pads were meddled with, according to Apacs. More here.

]]> silicon/39158729 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158729,00.htm Mon, 08 May 2006 10:20:02 +0100 editorial@silicon.com For the fact fans among you - according to a newly release study which aims to calculate the number of internet users in the world, there are almost 700 million. Around 30 million live in Blighty.

]]> silicon/39158727 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158727,00.htm Mon, 08 May 2006 09:35:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Big Bill has confessed to being uncomfortable with his status as the world's richest man. "I wish I wasn't," the Guardian quotes Gates as saying: "There's nothing good that comes out of that. You get more visibility as a result of it." Aw didums!

]]> silicon/39158694 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158694,00.htm Fri, 05 May 2006 14:35:02 +0100 editorial@silicon.com The Telegraph is reporting that mobile operator Orange is planning to slash "between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs in the UK" in the wake of its Wanadoo integration. The paper reports the company as saying "the new Orange must be lean and agile". More here.

]]> silicon/39158660 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158660,00.htm Thu, 04 May 2006 16:45:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Time has issued its annual list of the 100 "people who shape our world". Tech luminaries making it into the "Builders & Titans" category include: Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, creators of myspace.com; Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, fouders of flickr.com; Google's Omid Kordestani; Nandan Nilekani, president of Indian outsourcer Infosys; and "the Skype guys", Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström.

]]> silicon/39158658 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158658,00.htm Thu, 04 May 2006 16:30:06 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Holy Klingon! A pair of mathematicians are claiming in a research paper that it might be possible to construct a Star Trek-style cloaking device by placing objects close to a "superlens" and relying "on an effect known as 'anomalous localised resonance'", the BBC reports.

]]> silicon/39158653 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158653,00.htm Thu, 04 May 2006 12:05:04 +0100 editorial@silicon.com The latest stats, provided by Sophos, show that variants of the Netsky virus remain among the most prolific viruses in the wild. Iteration P was the most virulent during April and version D joint fourth. MyDoom, Mytob and Zafi also continue to linger like a bad smell around exchange servers, though no one virus is causing any waves of real note or concern currently.

]]> silicon/39158605 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158605,00.htm Wed, 03 May 2006 14:30:01 +0100 editorial@silicon.com A cash card has been launched that enables players of online game Project Entropia to withdraw virtual money they have accrued in the game at real ATMs around the world - at an exchange rate of 10 in-game dollars to one US dollar.

]]> silicon/39158630 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158630,00.htm Wed, 03 May 2006 14:25:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Employers are being urged to encourage home working and flexible working, "to cut traffic and fend off the 'tiger economies' of India and China", Metro reports. The teleworking drive is being backed by BT - which, the paper points out, "stands to gain if more home workers communicate by email and the internet".

]]> silicon/39158628 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158628,00.htm Wed, 03 May 2006 13:45:02 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Lost and found... Tonight sees the long-awaited second series of Lost kick off in the UK but for those who can't locate a TV set, Channel 4 is offering the chance to watch episodes online - for 99 pence each. The Times has more here.

]]> silicon/39158603 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158603,00.htm Tue, 02 May 2006 16:40:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Is spam set to get smarter? An academic from the University of Calgary has demonstrated software that can mimic a person's writing style and could be used to generate more plausible junk emails. InformationWeek has the story here.

]]> silicon/39158547 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158547,00.htm Tue, 02 May 2006 13:30:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Could Jobs be planning to give the iPod a makeover? The Times speculates that Apple is planning a radical redesign of its flagship product, "to counter slowing sales of the digital music player". The paper also airs rumours of "a new video iPod that will use wireless technology to allow users to download music and podcasts while on the move". More here.

]]> silicon/39158540 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158540,00.htm Tue, 02 May 2006 12:00:04 +0100 editorial@silicon.com News just in after the long weekend that a company in the US is claiming a breakthrough with RFID tags with a 5 cents cost. Is that really cheap enough for some, low value goods? More here.

]]> silicon/39158525 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158525,00.htm Tue, 02 May 2006 10:05:04 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Gary McKinnon has slammed the UK computer crime laws as "ridiculous" and said change is desperately needed, The Guardian reports. McKinnon was speaking at the Infosec conference in London. More here.

]]> silicon/39158500 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158500,00.htm Fri, 28 Apr 2006 18:20:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com The BBC has new details about the foreign prisoner release scandal currently rocking the Home Office, reporting that "details of more than 20 of the 80 most dangerous foreign prisoners freed without facing deportation" cannot be located on the national police computer. It adds: "They include one murderer and a rapist." The PNC was launched in 1974 and will be replaced by 2010, after the Home Office gave the go-ahead to a £367m plan to develop a national police intelligence system.

]]> silicon/39158468 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158468,00.htm Fri, 28 Apr 2006 11:35:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Skype has hit another landmark - 100 million registered users. That's pretty much a doubling in size since September last year. How many of us are on Skype at any one time...? Lots - must be over 0.1 per cent of the world's population.

]]> silicon/39158467 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158467,00.htm Fri, 28 Apr 2006 11:00:04 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Cheerful midfield maestro Ronaldinho has signed for Lenovo. He will help promote the Chinese PC-maker's wares. He is the current FIFA World Player of the Year and likely to play a major part in this summer's World Cup finals. One of the events main sponsors is Lenovo rival Toshiba.

]]> silicon/39158466 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158466,00.htm Fri, 28 Apr 2006 10:55:02 +0100 editorial@silicon.com The BBC's rivals have been kicking up a storm after Auntie unveiled a digital blueprint that includes the championing of user-generated content and a focus on online music, questioning why public money should bankroll such a radical expansion of services, with "scant regard for the concerns of the commercial sector". More via BBC News.com here.

]]> silicon/39158449 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158449,00.htm Thu, 27 Apr 2006 17:45:06 +0100 editorial@silicon.com The Elite Models modelling agency has brought out its own specially commissioned phone. You can see it here. If all of Elite models were as attractive as this phone, however, the only thing they'd be modelling is a paper bag.

]]> silicon/39158447 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158447,00.htm Thu, 27 Apr 2006 16:25:02 +0100 editorial@silicon.com News just in of a large acquisition. LANDesk has been acquired by Avocent Corp, a data centre infrastructure vendor, for a total of $416m.

]]> silicon/39158443 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158443,00.htm Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:50:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com It looks like all the eco mud-slinging has finally made Apple go a bit greener. According to the San Jose Mercury News, the iPod-maker is planning to extend its recycling services by offering customers who buy a new Mac "free shipping and recycling of their old machines".

]]> silicon/39158444 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158444,00.htm Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:50:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Ever wondered how to boost your site's Google rank? The Washington Post's tech correspondent takes a look at "the young, geeky types" involved in the controversial business of "search-engine optimisation" - or "mining the web for links and other page-tweaks that can help sites boost their Google rank and reel in more visitors". Read on here.

]]> silicon/39158442 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158442,00.htm Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:40:02 +0100 editorial@silicon.com News just in - half of GNER's fleet of trains are now wi-fi equipped. More on wi-fi on popular travel routes over coming months on silicon.com.

]]> silicon/39158403 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158403,00.htm Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:05:04 +0100 editorial@silicon.com No more Grandstanding for Auntie… Looking ahead to an on-demand world, the BBC has unveiled its 'digital blueprint' - and middle-aged shows like Grandstand are out, while user-generated content and the concept of the citizen journalist are in. Director-general Mark Thompson said: "On-demand changes everything... We should aim to deliver public service content to our audiences in whatever media and on whatever device makes sense for them." More here.

]]> silicon/39158402 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158402,00.htm Wed, 26 Apr 2006 13:45:02 +0100 editorial@silicon.com The so-called 'Nasa hacker', Gary McKinnon, will be part of a hackers' panel at this year's Infosecurity conference in London, "sharing his thoughts on how business can best avoid the threat of hacking", according to the official website.

]]> silicon/39158400 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158400,00.htm Wed, 26 Apr 2006 13:20:02 +0100 editorial@silicon.com President Chirac of France has announced funding for a "Franco-German search engine to compete with Google and Yahoo!", The Guardian reports. The search engine will be called Quaero - Latin for 'I search' - and is one of six projects aimed at raising "the global profile of French industry". The paper quotes Chirac as saying: "These big programmes will focus us on technological challenges that are essential for our future." More here.

]]> silicon/39158394 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158394,00.htm Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:35:01 +0100 editorial@silicon.com The sun may have set on McNealy's tenure as Sun CEO but here's his best bits - a selection of keynote clips in which he bashes "the enemy": Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Microsoft's legal team, Microsoft .NET… and then the 2004 on-stage 'truce' with Steve Ballmer. "I will do my best to be good… "

]]> silicon/39158391 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158391,00.htm Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:40:02 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Must be annual Survey Day. Apparently security firm M&A leaves gaps in product portfolios, FTSE 100 companies are rating online 'experience' higher than offline (really?), a lost laptop carries on average a cost of £8,800, phishers are great linguists and 78 per cent of European organisations fail to take action to address poor software quality. There you have it.

]]> silicon/39158390 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158390,00.htm Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:25:01 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Congrats to desktop alerts app provider Skinkers, which have walked away with a 'Global Innovator' award. It's an endorsement to the technoology, used by major media brands and internally for intra-company alerts, and the team at that young company.

]]> silicon/39158388 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158388,00.htm Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:20:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com eBay has launched eBay Express - a new site that aims to service the impulse e-buyer who just can't wait for an auction to end. eBay Express will sell new items at fixed prices and the auction giant doubtless hopes lots of quick and relatively high-value sales will sit nicely on the bottom line. UK eBay lovers will have to wait a while before getting their fix however as Express is "initially available only in the United States", says the LA Times. More here.

]]> silicon/39158369 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158369,00.htm Tue, 25 Apr 2006 16:50:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com The last full week of May (22-26 May) is Silver Surfer week. (Nothing to do with the Marvel comic character.) Says who? Well, says Age Concern and Digital Unite, with the help of their chums BT, Intel and Microsoft plus AOL, Ofcom and learndirect, who get a special 'thank you'. More nearer the time.

]]> silicon/39158357 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158357,00.htm Tue, 25 Apr 2006 14:10:01 +0100 editorial@silicon.com It looks like Auntie's after a slice of the online ad pie… The BBC is asking web visitors who don't hail from these shores whether "the international versions of its homepage and News website" should run ads. BBC.com says "banners and other branded boxes could be added to the top, bottom and side of headline and story pages on the BBC News website and BBC homepage". More here.

]]> silicon/39158353 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158353,00.htm Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:05:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com The UK is reportedly dragging its feet over EU plans to equip all new cars with a system that automatically calls the emergency services if the vehicle is involved in a crash, according to The Times. The paper says the system, which is known as eCall, tracks a car's location via satellite and, if an accident occurs, "details about the location, the car, the owner and the severity of the crash are sent via mobile phone link to a call centre". More here.

]]> silicon/39158352 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158352,00.htm Tue, 25 Apr 2006 12:55:02 +0100 editorial@silicon.com It's a wiki, wiki world - according to the NY Times which says ecommerce sites are in the grip of "wiki fever". The paper reports on the launch of ShopWiki.com - a site which hopes to compete with the likes of Shopping.com by enticing its users into editing "totally objective" product reviews (initial entries will be written by staff writers). So it's more of a call to liberate your inner editor, really. Read on here.

]]> silicon/39158311 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158311,00.htm Mon, 24 Apr 2006 16:55:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Neuro-biologist baroness Susan Greenfield has given a speech in the House of Lords setting out her concerns about the impact of new technologies on the human brain. Guardian journalist Jackie Ashley picks up Greenfield's arguments and postulates that an always-on, ever demanding digital world - "this great shift in how we learn and think" - is contributing to learning disorders such as hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder in children. Read the comment here.

]]> silicon/39158306 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158306,00.htm Mon, 24 Apr 2006 15:35:02 +0100 editorial@silicon.com Sad news from BT. It seems ex-Doctor Who Tom Baker will be dropped as the voice of text messages to landlines at the end of this month, to be replaced by a generic male and female voice. Rather takes the fun out of Dalek related text messaging.

]]> silicon/39158300 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158300,00.htm Mon, 24 Apr 2006 14:40:03 +0100 editorial@silicon.com On a trip to Silicon Valley, President Bush has been talking about the US' "dependence upon oil" - saying the issue is not only about competition but one of national security and kicking the hydrocarbon habit is something America 'must do'. He's also been talking about investment in technology R&D - risking Steve Jobs' wrath by arguing "a lot of the reason the iPod exists is because of federal research dollars". He's also talking maths and science. Watch the man in action here.

]]> silicon/39158298 http://www.silicon.com/newsdeskblog/0,3800013803,39158298,00.htm Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:30:03 +0100