Technical News - 1 Dec 2011

• NATO attack could hurt war on terror: Pakistan
  December 1, 2011
  ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan, enraged by a NATO cross-border air attack that killed 24 soldiers, could withdraw its support for the U.S.-led war on militancy if its sovereignty is violated again, the foreign minister suggested in comments published on Thursday.

  

  
  
• Italian Court Rules Web Editors Not Responsible For Comments
  December 1, 2011
  
  
  itwbennett writes "Internet freedom got a boost Wednesday when Italy's highest court ruled that the editors of online publications can't be held legally responsible for defamatory comments posted by their readers. The judges said online publications could not be treated in the same way as traditional print media and could not be expected to exercise preventative editorial control over readers' comments."
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• Clinton offers Myanmar first rewards for political
  December 1, 2011
  NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered Myanmar the first rewards for reform on Thursday, saying the United States would back more aid for the reclusive country and consider returning an ambassador after an absence of some two decades.

  

  
  
• Chrome usage within striking distance of Firefox
  December 1, 2011
  Microsoft's IE is holding its lead, but Chrome is nearing Firefox. Browsers are a key way their makers try to direct the computing agenda.
  
• Researchers Print Scaffolds for New Bones...With a Friggin' Inkjet
  December 1, 2011
  If you need a bone, 3D-printed scaffold replacements may be around in the next 1-2 decades.
  
  
  
  
• Global stocks extend gains
  December 1, 2011
  LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks started the final month of the year on a positive note on Thursday as coordinated liquidity action by the major central banks raised hopes policymakers may take more drastic action to stem the euro zone debt crisis.

  

  
  
• Greeks hold first major strike under new government
  December 1, 2011
  ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek schools shut, hospitals worked with minimal staff and train and bus service ground to a halt on Thursday as unions held their first major strike since a new national unity government took power last month.

  

  
  
• SOPA's most aggressive defender: U.S. Chamber of Commerce
  November 30, 2011
  Supporters of the Stop Online Piracy Act, widely opposed by technology companies, have a secret weapon to win Republican support. It's the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
  
• HP chief aims for software revenue leap: report
  November 30, 2011
  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard wants to see a jump in revenues from its software business, the company's chief executive told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

  

  
  
• HP chief aims for software revenue leap: report (Reuters)
  November 30, 2011
  Reuters - Hewlett-Packard wants to see a jump in revenues from its software business, the company's chief executive told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
  
• Olympus ex-CEO campaigns to reclaim top job
  November 30, 2011
  NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - The former chief executive of disgraced Olympus Corp, Michael Woodford, launched a campaign on Thursday to oust the board of directors, reclaim his old job and bring in his own team to save the Japanese firm from a big accounting scandal.

  

  
  
• Olympus ex-CEO campaigns to reclaim top job
  November 30, 2011
  NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - The former chief executive of disgraced Olympus Corp, Michael Woodford, launched a campaign on Thursday to oust the board of directors, reclaim his old job and bring in his own team to save the Japanese firm from a big accounting scandal.

  

  
  
• Walmart's Shopycat Uses Facebook to Recommend Gifts
  November 30, 2011
  Walmart has launched its Shopycat application, that uses information on the interests of friends on Facebook to make recommendations on gifts for them from...
  
  
  
  
• Mobile Industry Rolls Out Game Rating System
  November 30, 2011
  
  
  alphadogg writes "Mobile telecom trade group CTIA and the Entertainment Software Rating Board will roll out a rating system for mobile applications similar to ratings on other electronic games, the groups announced Tuesday. Six mobile application storefronts will support the rating system and will roll out the ratings in the coming months, CTIA said. AT&T, Microsoft, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless are the founding members of the rating system." An opinion piece at Gamasutra points out that this initiative falls a bit flat without Apple or Google on board, since iOS and Android are so vital to the current mobile gaming industry. "In the long run, the ESRB/CTIA announcement could be another sign of shifting power in the gaming industry. Normally, the ESRB gets what it wants. But it has no leverage against Apple and Google."
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• Online Cause Marketing: Tools for Success at any Scale
  November 30, 2011
  Cause marketing is more important than ever as companies and individuals increasingly promote social good against the backdrop of a struggling capitalist economy.
  
• The Net Breeds Promiscuity; Hang On To Your Customers
  November 30, 2011
  Guest post written by Keith Smith
  
• Synopsys to buy rival Magma for $507 million
  November 30, 2011
  All-cash deal for publicly held chip design software maker Magma Design Innovations is a 28 percent premium over its previous closing price.
  
• Scientists Develop Two Scenarios For Cosmic Christmas Explosion
  November 30, 2011
  Last Christmas, NASA's Swift satellite detected a large gamma-ray explosion that has left scientists puzzled as to its cause. But they may have narrowed it down to two possibilities - the collision of a neutron star with a red giant, or the collision of a comet into a neturon star.
  
• VIDEO: Robots set up home at Science Museum
  November 30, 2011
  A new exhibition at the Science Museum in London explores the rich history of robots throughout culture.
  
• VIDEO: Israeli firm saves London's water
  November 30, 2011
  Smart water technology used by an Israeli start-up, Takadu, is helping Londoners to save water and avoid costly leaks, as its co-founder and chief executive Amir Peleg explains.
  
• How The Mobile Web Changes The SEO Landscape
  November 30, 2011
  Guest post written by Duncan Heath
  
• UK Plans Space Based Radar System
  November 30, 2011
  
  
  First time accepted submitter peepster84 writes "The UK government is to kick-start an innovative project to fly radar satellites around the Earth, with an initial investment of £21m. NovaSar-S would have a number of viewing modes that could enable it to perform a wide range of roles, from flood monitoring and land cover management to disaster mapping and maritime enforcement — notably ship tracking and oil spill detection."
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• Hands on with the Asus Transformer Prime
  November 30, 2011
  CNET gets down and dirty with the Asus Transformer Prime and lives to talk about it.
  
• Cable companies mulling a 'Netflix tax' for high data usage (Digital Trends)
  November 30, 2011
  Digital Trends - According to a report from Bloomberg earlier today, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Charter Communications was looking into usage-based fees based on the amount of bandwidth consumed rather than simply a flat rate for a specific transmission speed. This modification in pricing would impose extra monthly fees on consumers that consume larger amounts of bandwidth, likely due to watching high definition video on services like Netflix, Vudu and Hulu Plus. Charlie Ergen, chairman of Dish Network, estimates that a typical fee structure could cost consumers an additional $20 a month. If a consumer was only subscribed to Netflix, it would cost a total of $335 a year to access the video streaming service with that additional $20 surcharge figured into the total yearly price.
  
• AT&T, China Telecom to Share Infrastructure
  November 30, 2011
  AT&T and China Telecom signed an agreement on Wednesday to share telecommunications infrastructure across the U.S. and China, in a move meant to help their...
  
  
  
  
• Long After The Floods Recede, Supply Chains Feel The Pain
  November 30, 2011
  Guest post written by Jim Lawton
  
• German secure.me offers parents more control over children's Facebook accounts (Digital Trends)
  November 30, 2011
  Digital Trends - A German online reputation and privacy management company, secure.me, set its sights on a global market today, announcing it will be launching in ten different languages. The company markets towards parents who want to monitor the online shenanigans of their children, as well as those who fear the social networking site they use could become an Achilles’ heel for their professional repute.
  
• Alibaba Says No Decision on Joint Yahoo Bid
  November 30, 2011
  Alibaba Group said it has not decided to be part of a bid for the whole of Yahoo, countering reports that the Chinese company is in talks with private equity...
  
  
  
  
• iPhone Ends 2011 As Web's Top Search Item
  November 30, 2011
  

  see photosClick for full photo gallery: Top 10 Internet Search Items In 2011 To Apple fans it comes as no surprise.  The iPhone was the leading gadget punched into the Yahoo! search engine in 2011, Yahoo! said on Wednesday.  Not only was it the top consumer item searched for, it was
  
• Top 10 Internet Search Items In 2011
  November 30, 2011
  Yahoo! released its top 10 searches for 2011 on Dec. 1. The iPhone topped the list, making it the only gadget to do so this year. Here's a look at the people, programming, and current events that topped this year's list for Yahoo!
  
• iPhone more searched than Kardashian on Yahoo in 2011
  November 30, 2011
  The Web giant lists the most widely searched terms on its site this year, and Apple's iconic phone beat out tabloid celebrities and natural disasters to claim the top spot.
  
• Blackstone, Bain plan Yahoo bid: source
  November 30, 2011
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blackstone Group and Bain Capital are preparing a bid for all of Yahoo Inc with Asian partners in a deal that could value the Internet company at about $25 billion, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

  

  
  
• Samsung's 2GHz chip to drive new tablet displays
  November 30, 2011
  Samsung's newest chip for tablets is built to drive the high-resolution displays coming on future tablets.
  
• Micron: Thailand causing demand pick-up for SSDs
  November 30, 2011
  Demand for solid-state drives is increasing in the wake of the flooding in Thailand, which has caused a shortage of hard disk drives.
  
• Zynga to go public at $10 billion valuation, reports say
  November 30, 2011
  Game developer expected to go public next month at a value below a resent estimated value of $14 billion.
  
• Weekly Highlights #14
  November 30, 2011
  Students are busy – there is a lot of excellent stuff to highlight this week:
  Ritchie King , of NYU, in New York Times :
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• Anonymous Threatens Robin Hood Attacks Against Banks
  November 30, 2011
  
  
  gManZboy writes "Just in time for the holidays, hacktivist collective Anonymous has announced that it has teamed up with like-minded group TeaMp0isoN to donate to charity. The catch: they're using stolen credit data from big banks to make donations, in a campaign they're calling Operation Robin Hood. Is the #OpRobinHood campaign for real, or like previous threats against Wall Street and Facebook, just another hoax? Aesthetically, at least, the OpRobinHood video ticks all of the traditional Anonymous aesthetic requirements: a mashed-up 'p0isoaNoN' logo (green on black), a liberal dose of swelling choral music (via that movie trailer staple 'Europa,' by Globus), together with selected clips of Kevin Costner as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves."
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• Stanford Engineers Unveil An Optical Breakthrough
  November 30, 2011
  
  
• IT security has an important role in enabling simplicity and efficiency
  November 30, 2011
  It takes hard work to create simplicity: unless IT security is allowed to move with the rapidly changing times to enable greater efficiencies, outmoded and sometimes irrelevant rules will...
  
• Sounds like fish really is brain food
  November 30, 2011
  It may be possible to hold off the effects of Alzheimer's disease by eating fish.
  
• Facebook increases status update character limit to 63,206
  November 30, 2011
  Facebook has increased the status update box character limit to 63,206. That's more than a 12-fold increase over the last limit of 5,000 characters.
  
• 1,000 posts for ZDNet: Time to hand over the reins
  November 30, 2011
  After 3 years, 5 months, 30 days, it is time to say goodbye. Zack Whittaker's final post as ZDNet's iGeneration columnist.
  
• What would you do in 3 years, 5 months, 30 days?
  November 30, 2011
  If you had 3 years, 5 months and 30 days, what would you do?
  
• Spy centre seeking code breakers
  November 30, 2011
  GCHQ is trying to recruit new spies by asking social network users and bloggers to crack an online code.
  
• Maxim says end of chip correction unclear
  November 30, 2011
  SUNNYVALE, California (Reuters) - Short lead times from manufacturing customers are making it tough to predict end demand for microchips and hard to say whether an inventory correction is bottoming out, the chief executive of Maxim Integrated Products said.