Source of latest tech gadgets

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 passes FCC test again, for AT&T this time

2009-12-22T04:12:00.000-08:00

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is making a second round through the FCC testing grounds. The first time it was tested, the frequencies listed in the report indicated that it was the T-Mobile version. The new report however is about the XPERIA X10a version.

The listed 3G frequencies are 850/1900MHz, so hello AT&T and the rest that share those bands - Bell, Rogers, Telus. It's no guarantee that any of these operators will get theSony Ericsson XPERIA X10a, but their chances just raised drastically. It's still not too late for a "Dear Santa" letter.

So, there are two versions of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 that have passed through the FCC now, the first oneseemingly designed for T-Mobile. Yet there's still no info on when either of them will actually start selling.

To help pass the time, here are some shots of the X10 iFixit style (PDF link). You can also keep an eye on theSonyStyle USA website. They have the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 on sale and maybe they'll get the XPERIA X10 too, if your operator of choice doesn't. Just don't expect to get it in time for this Christmas.

[www.gsmarena.com]

Synaptics Fuse puts the squeeze on next-generation touch UIs

2009-12-18T07:51:00.000-08:00

Synaptics have ganged up with a few other companies to create the Synaptics Fuse concept full -touch phone. The concept tries to take phone interfaces to the next level by combining a touchscreen with other technologies to improve one hand usability and reduce the need to look at the screen.

The multi-touch screen is a given, but Synaptics have gone the extra mile and have covered the whole phone with a variety of sensors. Force and capacitive sensors on the sides of the Synaptics Fuse sense the users grip and control panning and scrolling.

The force sensors enable another gesture as well - squeezing the phone. The back of the phone is touch sensitive as well and can be used for 2D navigation. Yet another sense of the Synaptics Fuse is the proximity sensor.

Synaptics Fuse concept phone • the 3D UI developed by The Astonishing Tribe

But input is just half of the interaction expression. The Synaptics Fuse concept phone uses 3D graphics and "next generation" haptics to interact with the user's senses. The press release stays mum on the matter what exactly "next-generation" implies.

Still, from what we could tell from the videos below, the Synaptics Fuse uses a WVGA AMOLED screen and is powered by a Cortex A8 based processor with PowerVR SGX graphics chip.

Here goes a demo video, which demonstrates how the gestures work:

And another one, which shows off the interface. You can see the phone is social network-friendly with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogger and Skype integration.

The first video begs the question - how is the touchpad on the back "yet another mode of effective and fun single-handed control". Sure, it doesn't obstruct the display, but unless we counted wrong, the guy in the demo video used two hands. We'd need to hold the phone ourselves to judge if it's comfortable (or at all possible) to do this accurately with one hand.

The Synaptics Fuse will be demonstrated at CES in Las Vegas and the MWC in Barcelona next year.

[www.gsmarena.com]

Broadcom VideoCore IV records 1080p video, takes 20MP photos

2009-12-16T10:36:00.000-08:00

You hear a lot about camera modules on mobile phones, but not so much about the chip that does all the work of compressing the images and video. The new Broadcom BCM2763 VideoCore IV can handle photos up to 20 megapixels and record Full HD video among other things.

Of course, it would need a 20-megapixel sensor to do its 20-megapixel photo trick but the first devices using the Broadcom VideoCore IV are expected to come out in 2011. In two years, it's not unlikely some company will be pushing out its new 18MP or so camera phone. Because, you know, they already did 12MP and to the average consumer more is better.

The chip can also handle image stabilization, face and smile detection and take several images a second - we wouldn't expect anything less out of future high-end camera phones.

Even if 20MP image sensors that fit into mobile phones don't materialize, the Broadcom VideoCore IV can record 1080p video using H.264 High Profile (the codec used in Blu-ray discs).

Image capture is just part of the BCM2763 VideoCore IV repertoire - it can also play back Full HD video as well and do it over HDMI. What's left is for the phone to use the Micro HDMI connectors, which are the size of microUSB, and you get a pocketable HTPC.

The last trick that the Broadcom VideoCore IV has up its sleeve is that it works as a GPU with 128MB LPDDR2 of dedicated RAM, for rendering 3D graphics.

Since it's targeted at mobile devices, the Broadcom BCM2763 VideoCore IV is built using a 40nm process. Broadcom estimates that its reduced power consumption will lead to 4-6 hours of video recording and 8-10 hours of video playback on most mobile devices, and up 16 hours if the video is played over HDMI. If the internal memory of the device can fit those 16 hours that is.

[www.gsmarena.com]

Samsung finally unveil BadaOS, developers challengestarted

2009-12-12T23:17:00.000-08:00

Tags: Samsung, Bada
Just as promised, today Samsung showed the
world their new smartphone operating system
called Bada. At an event, held in London, the
Korean company revealed the first details about
the upcoming platform and gave the start to the
developers challenge that should create a good
application base for the future Bada users.
The new Bada OS is all touch
The Bada OS is based around on Samsung
proprietary TouchWiz User Interface - in fact the
design mockups they've presented at the event
were pretty much similar to the Samsung
Pixon12 UI.
Designed for use on full-touch handsets only,
Bada OS should help create “a smartphone for
everyone” and increase the market share of the
smartphones up to 50 percent.
Being a fully-fledged smartphone platform
though, Bada will allow developers to tap into the
various mobile phone features and sensors -
Flash UI, web control, motion sensing, vibration
control, face detection, weather, proximity, and
other activity sensors. Obviously developers
should have no problems developing immersive
and interactive applications.
Samsung Bada OS presentation
Samsung have highlighted the various service-
centric features as the Bada OS differentiator.
Those would location-based social networking
services, device synchronization, content
management, location-based services, and e-
commerce services - all supported by back-end
Bada servers.
Samsung Bada OS presentation
As you'll see from the 4-minute presentation
video below, at this point Samsung are reaching
mainly towards developers, not cellphone users.
Samsung are hoping that getting the developers
support will get a head start for their new OS.
They've setup a dedicated Bada developers
website and have already put up the Bada SDK
for download.
And the Bada Challenge is up
Today also marks the start of "The Bada
Challenge", which is what Samsung will call their
developers' contest. It gives developers a chance
to win a part of a 2,700,000 US dollars prize fund
by submitting an app for the new OS.
In an attempt to create a large applications
database for the new Bada platform, Samsung
will also have a series of Developer Days that will
take place across the world during 2010. Open to
all developers, the initial events will be held in
Seoul, London and San Francisco, with more
events following as the year progresses.
Further on, Samsung have secured the
partnership of key players in the mobile software
industry. EA Mobile, Capcom, Gameloft, Konami
were some of the bigger names mentioned at the
event. Some of them even had high-standing
representatives attending the London event to
attest their support to the Bada cause.
Samsung have secured the partnership of
some serious companies
Samsung will have a Bada application store,
which would allow even non-registered users to
buy applications and app payments with the
mobile phone bill. With the launch of the first
Bada phone, the Samsung application store will
be expanded to cover up to 50 countries. The
second half of 2010 shouild see the store expand
worldwide.
We were able to shoot a demo video of some of
the applications and games Samsung Bada OS
partners are developing for the new OS.
And the first Bada smartphone to come is...
The company seems pretty determined to make
this new platform work. We are yet to see its
implementation. Samsung are promising their
first and only handset (for now) to come in the
first half of 2010.
With the first Bada handset, Samsung will be
focusing the high performance segment and
large sale numbers to widen the user base as
quickly as possible. It's similar to what Nokia did
with their Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.
It will be their next Bada smartphones to cater for
the lower segments of the market and reaching
even further as one of the Bada slogans suggests:
"Smartphones for everyone".
And a few words for closing
Somehow we couldn't help but notice that
Samsung have been diligently taking presentation
cues from Apple. Even the slides were designed
matching some of those used by Apple when
they first announced iPhone OS 2.0 and 3.0 back
in the day. There's certainly nothing wrong about
that, Apple are among the best in business when
it comes to putting up a nice presentation.
We also really hope that Samsung will match
Apple's success in promoting the new OS and
developing its application and user base.

OPERA: One user interface (UI) on any mobile phone

2009-12-11T21:04:00.000-08:00

Opera introduces new, cross-platform UI framework.

Opera Mobile 10 now available to operators and OEMs on major mobile platforms including Android, BREW, Windows Mobile and Symbian/S60

Oslo, Norway — December 10, 2009

Opera Software today released Opera Mobile 10 to operators and OEMs. This direct-to-distributor version is available on Android, BREW, Windows Mobile and Symbian/S60 smartphones and includes Opera’s new, cross-platform UI framework. As a part of Opera’s shift to unify the look and feel of its mobile browsers, the cross-platform UI framework allows operators and OEMs to implement the same user experience quickly and cost-effectively across their entire range of handsets.

The building blocks of a great UI

Opera's cross-platform UI framework is built on top of the browser engine. This allows it to work seamlessly on all platforms running Opera Mobile or Opera Mini. This framework is tailored for efficient execution of dynamic user interfaces for Web browsers. Opera's cross-platform UI framework empowers operators and OEMs to deploy one browser UI to a wide range of devices, with minimal integration. The result is a unified, consistent Internet experience for the end users and time and cost savings for the operators or OEMs.

A unique and visually stunning experience

“Because no operator offers just one type of mobile phone, Opera has developed a new UI solution that can be deployed on multiple phones and platforms. Due to its pure versatility, the cross-platform UI framework can be customized by Opera to meet brand requirements,” said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. “Our mobile UI has already been deployed on millions of handsets, and the rave reviews we’ve received tell us that Opera has succeeded in creating a unique and visually stunning Web experience that’s easy and compelling for users across the board.”

Opera Mobile 10 is the market-ready browser of choice for smartphones and advanced feature phones, with more than 135 million shipments globally. The browser comes packed with features to make mobile Web surfing easier, including tabs, Speed Dial and password manager. Today’s release for operators and OEMS on the major platforms opens up the Opera experience to more people, on more devices.

[www.opera.com]

Hackers target Facebook and banks, says Cisco

2009-12-09T05:27:00.000-08:00

By Robert McMillan Published: 10:01 GMT, 09 December 09

What do phishing, instant messaging malware, DDoS attacks and 419 scams have in common? According to Cisco Systems, they're all has-been cybercrimes that were supplanted by slicker, more menacing forms of cybercrime over the past year.

In its 2009 Annual Security Report, due to be released Tuesday, Cisco says that the smart cyber-criminals are moving on.

"Social media and the data-theft Trojans are the things that are really in their ascent," said Patrick Peterson, a Cisco researcher. "You can see them replacing a lot of the old-school things."

Peterson is talking about attacks such as the Koobface worm, which spreads via Facebook and Twitter. Koobface asks victims to look at a fake YouTube video, which ultimately leads to a malicious download. Cisco estimates that Koobface has now infected more than 3 million computers, and security vendors such as Symantec expect social network attacks to be a major problem in 2010.

Another sneaky attack: the Zeus password-stealing Trojan. According to Cisco, Zeus variants infected almost four million computers in 2009. Eastern European gangs use Zeus to hack into bank accounts. They then use their networks of money mules to wire stolen funds out of the US. They have been linked to about $100 million in bank losses, some of which have been recovered, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said last month.

With that kind of success, older types of attacks such as instant messaging worms and phishing are now on the decline, Peterson said.

Traditional phishing is becoming harder as consumers become wary of suspicious banking sites and the banks themselves are now adept at getting these sites taken off the Internet.

Those factors make password stealing Trojans like Zeus even more popular, Peterson said. "They're focusing on other ways to basically accomplish the same thing."

One scourge that's not slowing down, however, is spam. Cisco expects spam volume to rise between 30 and 40 percent next year, even though countries such as the US have knocked some spammers offline. In fact, US spam dropped 20 percent in 2009, and the US lost its traditional position as the world's number-one source of spam. More spam now comes from Brazil, Cisco says.

[www.techworld.com]

R1CA037 update ends the Sony Ericsson Satio issues, hopefully

2009-12-07T06:16:00.000-08:00

Sony Ericsson were finally able to fix the software issues that have been plaguing the Sony Ericsson Satio with the latest firmware update R1CA037. If you've been following the story, you'd now that recently Satio was pulled out of stores due to some undisclosed software problems.

Well our sources from Carphone Warehouse share with us that they've already re-stocked a new batch of Satios and those will be ready for selling as soon as tomorrow.

We contacted Sony Ericsson representatives about the new developments and their official statement was they are quite ready with the new software update for the Sony Ericsson Satio and that they will be announcing it publicly as soon as they manage to upload all the needed files and scripts online.

Obviously, there are quite some operator specific versions of the firmware, so it may take some time before all versions are up but you should check - you might as well be among the lucky early birds. On the other hand, if you don't own a Satio and you've been holding back from buying one only due to those issues, well, you should be happy to hear they've been taken care of.

Sony Ericsson Satio Update page

[www.gsmarena.com]

The Small and Little-known Company... Bill Gates is AFRAID of!

2009-12-04T18:07:00.000-08:00

Imagine a world where the PC you buy today, will last 10 or 15 years.

And... It will NEVER need upgrading. Or even fixing.

Ridiculous?

One specifc company is already working on this exact premise. And it's technology that could bring down Microsoft.

Here's how it works:

Your computer would be connected via the internet to a computer cluster.

(This "computer cluster" is just a data center full of servers)

And... Instead of doing any processing work, your computer would instead just act as a midway point between you and the cluster.

All fetching, filing and retrieving (all the hard work a computer does)... Would instead be done by a super-fast computer cluster.

Computing resources would then be a metered service, similar to public utilities like electricity, water or the telephone.

What would this mean?

Your computer would never need to be upgraded. As all the processing work your computer does, would be done by the computing cluster.

What's more... There would be far less technical problems, as any problems can be fixed by expert on-site technicians at the computer cluster.

The result is a cheaper and much faster home PC.

You may think this sounds like a pipe dream.

But... Listen up:

The technology I've described above is already fully functional, and the company is already bringing in substantial revenue from Japanese companies.

[Source]

In-wall USB charger is as cheap as it is ingenious

2009-12-03T08:43:00.000-08:00

By Vladislav Savov posted Dec 3rd 2009 7:56AM

What you'll require here is about 30 minutes' endurance, a $10 budget, and a good reason why you'd want to swap some good old versatile wall plugs in for USB-only power outlets. Once you've got all that sorted, it's a quick skip to the source link, where you'll get step-by-step instructions on converting to "the future" of power distribution. And hey, just to help you justify all that expenditure of effort, we've got a whole category devoted to the cornucopia of most awesome devices you can power via USB. Kudos gained for clever design, kudos lost for relatively redundant outcome.

SlashGear, GottaBeMobile

Instructables

Opera Mini 5 beta 2

2009-12-03T08:35:00.000-08:00

Feature details

Innovative and easy-to-use

1Living up to our vision of providing the best Internet experience on any device, Opera Mini 5 boasts a powerful new user interface. Merging the best from our desktop browser together with new innovations for mobile phones, Opera Mini is advanced, yet highly intuitive to use.

Faster

Time is precious. Opera Mini compresses pages by up to 90% before being sent to your phone, meaning faster page-load times than in other mobile Web browsers.

Full Web in your palm

2When visiting a Web page, Opera Mini displays the overview of the page and suggests where to begin your reading before you zoom in. Opera Mini also detects when you are on a Web page designed for a mobile phone and displays it optimally.

Full Web in your palm

Page zoom

Control default text size on Web sites. Depending on your mobile phone screen size, often text can be too small or too large to be viewed easily. Control the default zoom level from 60% to 200% directly in Opera Mini 5.

Built for speed

The new Opera Mini lets you search for text within a Web page, so you can get to the information you need even more quickly than before.

Innovative and easy-to-use

Speed Dial

Get your favorite Web page with just one click. Speed Dial is a set of visual bookmarks you see when you open a new tab, like a dashboard for your online life. To add a new page, simply click an empty dial, and Opera will make suggestions based on your browsing history and bookmarks.

Mobile view

Fit content to your mobile phone. Mobile view intelligently reformats Web pages into a single column eliminating the need for horizontal panning. Changing to Mobile view is accessible though the Settings menu.

Password Manager

4There is no more hassle with those hard-to-enter usernames and passwords. Opera Mini 5 will remember your credentials, and you can log on to your favorite Web sites with just a single click. The passwords are stored on your phone for your convenience.

Password Manager

Tabbed browsing

Browse several Web sites at the same time. Check your e-mail in one window, Facebook in another and, Twitter in a third, all while being able to jump easily from one tab to another. With a touchscreen phone, you can enjoy even easier tab switching with visual tabs. On keypad-style phones easily mange desktop-style tabs in the Opera Mini user interface, above the address bar.

Power scrolling

Scroll at warp speed using your phone keypad or by dragging the page on a phone with a touchscreen.

Touch and keypad

3The user interface has been designed for both touchscreen- and keypad-style mobile phones. With a touchscreen, you can enjoy even easier navigation with our new zooming and kinetic scrolling.

Touch and keypad

Adaptive zoom

On a touchscreen phone panning has become even easier with adaptive zoom. When panning quickly around a zoomed-in page the panning momentum creates a more intuitive and easier to-navigate experience.

Landscape mode

Browse in the way that is most comfortable to you. Landscape mode allows you to view Opera Mini 5 on your phone in landscape.

[www.opera.com]

Phone portable GSM evolution

2009-11-24T11:22:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Windows 8 may surface in 2012

2009-11-24T04:59:00.000-08:00

By Paul Trotter | PC Advisor
Published: 10:17 GMT, 24 November 09

Windows 8 will be with us in 2012, according to Microsoft roadmaps apparently revealed at last week's Professional Developers' Conference (PDC).

Although Microsoft has yet to officially discuss plans for Windows 8, a 2012 release would be consistent with previous Microsoft pledges to release a new desktop operating system every three years. Windows 7 was released a month ago.

The latest speculation suggesting a 2012 release has been credited to Microsoft Kitchen, a blog with the tagline 'Serving up some seriously tasty Microsoft'.

Despite showing roadmaps apparently picked up at PDC, the blog has little else to reveal about Windows 8. However, a Microsoft employee may have inadvertently spilled the beans on one key Windows 8 feature last month.

Microsoft employee Robert Morgan appeared to detail the software giant's plans to make a 128-bit version of Windows 8, and even Windows 9, on LinkedIn, where he listed his job as 'senior research and development'. His profile, which has now been removed from the business networking site, said Morgan was "working in high security department for research and development involving strategic planning for medium and longterm projects".

It went on to reveal that his R&D projects included: "128-bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan". He's also responsible for "forming relationships with major partners: Intel, AMD, HP and IBM".

Microsoft is also looking for employees to help shape Windows 8, according to reports online. Neowin.net spotted the vacancy for a Windows 7 software engineer on Microsoft's site.

"We just finished up work on Windows 7, and are pushing forth on Windows 8 planning and preparation," said the blurb in the job ad, which was replicated on the CodenameWindows website.

"As part of this team, you will help shape Windows 8. Components of our code include a core agent that runs as an NT service, an API layer and a UI application," added the advert.

[www.techworld.com]

Nokia cuts research staff by up to 330 people

2009-11-23T06:09:00.000-08:00

By Mikael Ricknäs
Published: 10:19 GMT, 23 November 09

Mobile phone giant Nokia said it will cut up to 330 people from its research and development staff. The changes are expected to affect up to 230 employees at Nokia in Finland, and about 100 employees based in Denmark.

The Finnish company has more than 17,000 people working in research and development. Nokia will begin consultations with unions, with voluntary severance packages among the things that are on the table, it said.

This isn't the first time Nokia has announced staff cuts this year. On 17 March it announced plans to cut 1,700 employees in various parts of the company.

On 30 September Nokia employed a total of 123,347 people, which are about 340 more than it employed at the same time in 2008. Almost half of those, approximately 64,000, worked for Nokia Siemens Networks. That number was up by about 4,000 from 2008.

On Oct. 15 Nokia reported a third quarter loss of €559 million that it blamed on charges related to its Nokia Siemens business. But at the same time, it sold more phones, and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was cautiously optimistic about the future.

[www.techworld.com]

Canon EOS 500D (Digital Rebel T1i / Kiss X3 Digital) Review June 2009, by Lars Rehm and Richard Butler

2009-11-21T23:48:00.000-08:00

Review based on a production Canon EOS 500D

Just 14 months after the launch of the EOS Rebel XSi (450D), Canon has unveiled its latest model, the Rebel T1i (500D). It's the fifth generation of Rebel and enters the market at a difficult time - in the midst of a global economic downturn and against the fiercest competition we've ever seen in the entry-level DSLR sector. So what has Canon done to make this latest model in the longest-established family in the sector live up to the edgy and exciting image implied by its US naming?

The 500D/T1i doesn't quite have to be the everyman camera that its predecessors were. The introduction of the Rebel XS (1000D) in June 2008 means the T1i no longer has to appeal to everybody who doesn't want to stretch to buying into the 50D class. As a result, the 450D was able to bulk up its feature set to include a selection of features that price-conscious shoppers don't necessarily realize they want, such as a larger viewfinder and spot metering. The result was probably the most complete Rebel we'd seen.

There's a full explanation of the differences between the 500D/T1i and it predecessor on the coming pages but, in general terms, it's a gentle re-working of the 450D. So you get the 15MP sensor much like the one that appears in the 50D, helping this to become the first entry-level DSLR to feature video (and 1080p HD video at that). You also get the lovely 920,000 dot VGA monitor that has been slowly working its way down most manufacturer's DSLR line-ups. There are a handful of other specification tweaks that come from the use of the latest Digic 4 processor but essentially this is most of a 50D stuffed into the familiar 450D body.

And, if the loss of the letter 'X' from the US name seems a bit disconcerting, you can comfort yourself with the knowledge that the Japanese market will still know it by the odd-to-European-ears 'Kiss X3 Digital.' For simplicity's sake, we'll refer to the 500D/T1i/Kiss X3 by the name 500D throughout the rest of the review.

A brief history; Canon entry level digital SLR series

20/08/03: Canon EOS 300D / Digital Rebel (6 mp)
17/02/05: Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT (8 mp)
24/08/06: Canon EOS 400D / Digital Rebel XTi (10 mp)
24/01/08: Canon EOS 450D / Digital Rebel XSi (12 mp)
10/06/08: Canon EOS 1000D / Digital Rebel XS (10 mp)*
25/03/09: Canon EOS 500D / Digital Rebel T1i (15.1 mp)

* The Canon EOS 1000D represents a sub-class of the Rebel series and hence should be considered a parallel series

Compared to predecessor - key differences

Although for the time being the EOS 500D will sit alongside the 450D in the Canon DSLR line-up there is no doubt that sooner or later it will replace the older model and occupy the spot between the 1000D as and the EOS 50D on its own. The most noticeable new features on the EOS 500D are the higher resolution sensor, the new high-res LCD and the HD video mode but the camera also comes with the latest generation DIGIC imaging processor which brings a few more low-key improvements such as fine-tunable noise reduction and Highlight Tone Priority or a fresher, animated menu design with it. See the list and table below for all the spec and feature changes..

Higher resolution sensor (15.1 vs 12.2 effective megapixels)
Extended ISO range up to ISO 12800
HD video capability
New 3.0 inch 920K pixels screen
Adjustable noise reduction and highlight tone priority
Face Detection in Live View
Peripheral Illumination Correction
HDMI output
Larger buffer in continuous shooting
Digic 4 style menu design

Canon EOS 500D vs. EOS 450D feature and specification differences

	Canon EOS 500D	Canon EOS 450D
Sensor	• 15.1 million effective pixels	• 12.2 million effective pixels
Image sizes	• 4752 x 3168 • 3456 x 2304 • 2353 x 1568	• 4272 x 2848 • 3088 x 2056 • 2256 x 1504
Image processor	DIGIC 4	DIGIC III
Sensitivity	ISO 100 to 3200, extendable to(6400) and H (12800).	ISO 100 to 1600
Auto ISO	ISO 100 to 1600	ISO 100 to 800
Noise reduction	Four levels	On/Off
Auto lighting optimizer	Four levels	On/Off
Viewfinder info	Now includes Highlight Tone Priority icon
LCD monitor	• 3.0 " TFT LCD • 920,000 dots	• 3.0 " TFT LCD • 230,000 dots
Video mode	• 1080p @ 20fps • 720p @ 30fps • VGA @ 30fps • MOV (Video: H.264, Sound: Linear PCM)	No video capability
Live view AF	• Quick mode (Phase detect) • Live view mode (Contrast detect) • Face detect (Contrast detect)	• Quick mode (Phase detect) • Live view mode (Contrast detect)
Peripheral illumination correction	• Profiles of 25 lenses includes
High-speed continuous	• 3.4 fps • 170 JPEG/Fine frames • 9 RAW frames	• 3.5 fps • 53 JPEG/Fine frames • 6 RAW frames
Menu UI	Digic 4 interface	Digic III interface
Connectors	• USB 2.0 Hi-Speed • Video output (PAL/ NTSC) (integrated with USB terminal) • HDMI Type C	• USB 2.0 Hi-Speed • Video output (PAL/ NTSC) (integrated with USB terminal)
Menu languages	25	20

Conclusion - Pros

Good resolution and detailed output (but only very marginally better than 450D)
Decent (but not 'best in class') high ISO JPEG performance
Extended ISO speed up to 12800 (not great quality but it's there for emergencies)
Good quality HD video (but sound output does not match the image quality)
Currently the cheapest 1080P video capable DSLR (albeit only at 20fps)
Overall snappy and responsive performance
Very clear, high resolution 3.0 inch screen with anti-reflection coating (but still hardly usable in sunny conditions)
Brightest and largest viewfinder in class
Good number of external controls provide quick access to all important shooting parameters and the interactive quick control panel is a good alternative for those who prefer the compact camera style of controls
Intuitive menu system and customizable 'My Menu'
Good control over High ISO NR
Fairly efficient Highlight Tone Priority features preserves some additional highlight detail
Reliable flash exposure
Peripheral illumination correction
Optional battery grip
HDMI output
Comprehensive software package included
Good battery life

Conclusion - Cons

Visibly more noise in RAW files than some of the competition
Slightly less highlight range in JPGs than the competition
Relatively limited RAW headroom, channel clipping means color accuracy can often not be maintained when recovering clipped areas in RAW conversion
Metering has occasional tendencies to overexpose in very bright, contrasty conditions
Unreliable auto white balance and presets under artificial light
Still slightly plasticy appearance and surfaces
Grip is a little small for larger hands
Flash has to be raised for AF assist (although AF is good even in low light)
Limited exposure compensation range (+/- 2.0 EV)
Contrast detect AF so slow it's useless for most types of photography (it's the same for most of the competition though)
Slightly more expensive than the competition

Overall conclusion

The EOS 500D is the latest incarnation of a highly successful line of cameras and although the 'entry level' market segment is these days much more crowded than it used to be, we would be very surprised if the new model would not sell like hotcakes.

All the major manufacturers cram more and more new features into their 'budget' offerings but the EOS 500D is arguably the currently best specced camera in the segment, which lifts it some distance above pure 'entry level' territory. It comes with the highest resolution sensor (15.1 effective megapixels) in its class, an excellent 3.0 inch high resolution screen, extended sensitivity up to ISO 12800 and the arguably for many users most attractive new feature, a movie mode that records 1080P/20fps or 720P/30fps High Definition video footage.

It combines all this with decent image quality and while its appearance might be a little plasticy and the handling can be difficult with larger hands the 500D's main problem could be that it's a little pricier than most of its direct competitors which, in these times of economic turmoil, might render it less attractive to some potential buyers.

Image Quality

At base ISO the 500D produces clean and detailed output with natural colors but to make the most of the camera's 15 megapixels for big enlargements or cropping you should invest in good lenses. At least towards the edges of the frame the kit-lenses struggle to resolve all the detail in a scene.

The Canon does a decent job at higher sensitivities and up to ISO 1600 produces perfectly usable output that shows good detail but also visibly more chroma noise than the Nikon D5000 (if you're willing to sacrifice some image detail you get rid of it almost entirely by setting noise reduction to 'Strong' though). ISO 3200 gets visibly softer and the two highest settings produce a very intrusive type of color noise. They should therefore be firmly reserved for emergency situations.

When shooting in RAW the picture changes slightly to the negative. The 'extra quality' you can usually get out of RAW files compared to shooting in JPEG is relatively limited on the 500D. One reason for that is the quality of the camera's JPEG engine. It is doing a pretty good job at 'optimizing' the JPEG output when converting the RAW data. However, the 500D's RAW images are also slightly lagging behind some of the competition and surprisingly even the 450D in terms of high ISO noise and to a smaller degree in terms of pixel level detail. It's not going to be an issue when checking images at screen size but it's certainly visible up-close.

Metering is generally reliable but, like the 450D, in bright conditions the EOS 500D has a tendency to overexpose resulting in clipping of highlights. And although the JPEG dynamic range in the highlights is slightly smaller than on the predecessor there's enough headroom in raw files to pull back highlight detail in most of those shots. It's therefore recommendable, especially in bright and contrasty conditions, to always shoot JPEG + RAW. Otherwise you'd better check your exposures carefully and apply some negative exposure compensation where necessary.

Handling

We have in the past been slightly critical about the handling of the 500D's predecessors and we're still not too keen on the camera's ergonomics. The grip is comparatively small and, especially for photographers with larger hands, the camera doesn't sit as comfortably in the hand as, for example, the Nikon D5000 or Olympus E-620. The external controls give you good access to the most frequently changed shooting parameters but we'd love to see a 50D style second control wheel. Having said that we are looking at a budget camera here and the manufacturers have to draw the line somewhere.

The menu design is very intuitive and for everybody stepping up from a digital compact camera the Quick Control Screen will be a welcome alternative to changing settings via the hard buttons. All in all the EOS 500D is a camera that, after some initial adaption time, you will find easy to use. Just make sure you hold one before you buy and check if its smallish grip is suitable for you.

Like most current SLRs the live view feature is, mainly due to the very slow AF, of limited use outside the studio and while the video mode delivers excellent quality footage it offers very little manual control. None of these points are deal breakers though and Canon might even, like it did in the case of the 5D Mark II, at some point offer a new firmware to allow for more manual interference.

The final word

If you currently own an EOS 450D or another fairly recent entry-level DSLR from an image quality point of view there is not necessarily a need to upgrade to the EOS 500D. However, the HD video mode, new high-resolution screen or extended ISO range make it easier to justify the expense if you're likely to use these features. For anybody buying their first DSLR the 500D is an easy recommendation but you might want to have a look at the Nikon D5000 as well. It comes with a similar feature set to the 500D ('only' 720P video though) and performs slightly better in low light.

[www.dpreview.com]

NSA helped with work on Windows 7 security

2009-11-21T23:46:00.000-08:00

By Gregg Keizer | Computerworld US
Published: 06:48 GMT, 19 November 09

The US National Security Agency (NSA) worked with Microsoft on the development of Windows 7, according to an agency official, much to the unhappiness of privacy organisations.

"Working in partnership with Microsoft and elements of the Department of Defense, NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide without constraining the user to perform their everyday tasks, whether those tasks are being performed in the public or private sector," Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's information assurance director, told the Senate's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security yesterday.

"All this was done in coordination with the product release, not months or years later during the product lifecycle," Schaeffer added. "This will improve the adoption of security advice, as it can be implemented during installation and then later managed through the emerging SCAP standards."

Security Content Automation Protocol, or SCAP, is a set of standards for automating chores such as managing vulnerabilities and measuring security compliance. The National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) oversees the SCAP standards.

This is not the first time that the NSA has partnered with Microsoft during Windows development. In 2007, the agency confirmed that it had a hand in Windows Vista as part of an initiative to ensure that the operating system was secure from attack and would work with other government software. Before that, the NSA provided guidance on how best to secure Windows XP and Windows 2000.

According to Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronics Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the NSA's involvement with operating system development goes back even farther. "This battle goes back to at least the crypto wars of the early '90s," said Rotenberg, who remembered testifying about the agency's role in private sector computer security standards in 1989.

But when the NSA puts hands on Windows, that raises a red flag for Rotenberg, who heads the public interest research centre. "When NSA offers to help the private sector on computer security, the obvious concern is that it will also build in backdoors that enables tracking users and intercepting user communications," said Rotenberg. "And private sector firms are reluctant to oppose these 'suggestions' since the US government is also their biggest customer and opposition to the NSA could mean to loss of sales."

Rotenberg's worries stem from the NSA's reputation as the intelligence agency best known for its eavesdropping of electronic messaging, including cell phone calls and email.

Andrew Storms, the director of security operations at nCircle Security, didn't put much credence in the idea that Microsoft would allow the NSA to build a hidden entrance to Windows 7. "Would it be surprising to most people that there was a backdoor? No, not with the political agenda of prior administrations," said Storms. "My gut, though, tells me that Microsoft, as a business, would not want to do that, at least not in a secretive way."

Roger Thompson, chief research officer at AVG Technologies, agreed. "I can't imagine NSA and Microsoft would do anything deliberate because the repercussions would be enormous if they got caught," he said.

"Having said that, I think we should understand that there is every likelihood that certain foreign governments are constantly looking for vulnerabilities that they can use for targeted attacks," Thompson continued. "So if they're poking at us, I think it's reasonable to assume that we're doing something similar. But I seriously doubt an official NSA-Microsoft alliance."

The NSA's Schaeffer added that his agency is also working on engaging other major software makers, including Apple, Sun and Red Hat, on security standards for their products.

"More and more, we find that protecting national security systems demands teaming with public and private institutions to raise the information assurance level of products and services more broadly," Schaeffer said.

Microsoft was not immediately available for comment on the NSA's participation in Windows 7's development.

[www.techworld.com]

HP Touchsmart TX2

2009-11-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

This hybrid notebook lifts HP's desktop experience from its TouchSmart IQ506 and drops it into a smallish package - small in that the HP Touchsmart TX2 has a 12.1in screen; but it's a little on the big boned side, and too heavy to be truly portable, as most laptops with this size screen would be. Size and slow performance are the only drawbacks to HP's otherwise reasonably smart design.

The biggest deal about the HP Touchsmart TX2: it's a fully functional touchscreen tablet. The screen recognizes multitouch gestures (zooming in and out) within some basic Windows areas. It's not a perfect implementation - and it doesn't work across everything in Windows - but it works as advertised with or without the stylus (we were able to resize desktop icons and zoom in on web pages with pinching motions onscreen.)

Second, the HP Touchsmart TX2's 1,280x800-pixel display is sufficiently bright. Its glossy coating makes it fairly easy to see both indoors and out, despite a little glare. This stands in contrast to most other tablet PCs we've seen, which have some sort of no-nonsense matte coating.

Of course, there is one issue to using a glossy multitouchscreen: smudge city. If the CSI team dusts the screen, we'd be busted. To make matters a little worse, the HP Touchsmart TX2's display is a tad grainy compared with standard notebooks that you'll see next to the tx2 on shop shelves.

Our test HP Touchsmart TX2 had a 2.4GHz AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor ZM-86, 4GB of RAM, and a relatively meagre 64MB ATI Radeon HD 3200 GPU, a configuration that will sell for about £1,500.

That combination of parts resulted in a score of 68 on our WorldBench 6 tests - but also presents a bit of a bind for the HP Touchsmart TX2. While the 12.1in screen makes the tx2 a perfect candidate for ultraportable status, the total package also packs on the weight.

Tipping the scales at 1.9kg, the HP Touchsmart TX2 is a bit too bulky and falls in with all-purpose laptops. A score of 68, while not great, is slightly below average among ultraportable machines. In the all-purpose category, though, that's bottom-of-the barrel performance.

So how does the HP Touchsmart TX2 do otherwise? Fairly well, in our hands on evaluation. The keyboard's buttons have just the right amount of spacing, as well as give for when you start typing away.

And we really like the settings shortcut button next to the screen: it is probably the handiest button on the laptop, besides the power toggle. A quick tap and every major setting you'd likely fiddle with on your PC is in one handy window.

However, the size of the HP Touchsmart TX2 means a small keyboard where sacrifices must be made. Notably, the function keys get short shrift.

Shrunken down to pygmy size, these little buttons also host second functions. Every notebook does that to some degree, so it's not a huge shocker, but there are so many functions crammed along the top, it takes some doing to find and relearn the commands you want.

One thing that's easy to locate, however, is the recessed mousepad: little dips lead your hand to the controls, and the HP Touchsmart TX2 is plenty responsive.

We found the touchscreen laser-accurate when pressing the stylus to the screen, but it gets a little more finicky when you use your fingers. If you have big finfers you'll have to stick with the pen, change the screen settings to allow for larger icons and whatnot, or just be extremely careful with where you point your finger.

But the important thing is that you're getting a screen of reasonable size that recognises your multitouch throughout its windows. By using the familiar pinching motions you've learned to use on iPhones, you can quickly resize desktop icons or zoom into images. There's even a full digitiser - just eject the well weighted digital pen and you're ready to write.

Tablet design is a very tricky thing to get straight. Take the swing hinge that allows the screen to rotate into a tablet form. It holds firm and keeps the screen in place, but it won't work well on a bus or plane (any bump and, if you're trying to use the HP Touchsmart TX2 like a normal notebook, the screen will go bouncing around).

Also, since the HP Touchsmart TX2 is a slightly beefy tablet, this kind of machine isn't exactly ideal for one handed use. But the layout of the tablet is definitely helpful: the settings button - just above the multimedia shortcut and screen rotation keys - works very well, and a fingerprint scanner lies near the touchscreen.

As for the rest of the HP Touchsmart TX2's layout, it's a little underwhelming, but to be expected: three USB 2.0 ports, and slots - one each - for VGA-out, PC Express/34, and a 5-in-one flash-card, as well as modem and ethernet jacks.

The eight-cell battery that came with our test unit bulges out beneath the tx2 and props up the machine for a better typing tilt. You also get an integrated webcam and mic (as well as two headphone and one mic jack jutting out from below the mousepad). And you get both wireless 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth connectivity. Craftsmanship seems solid enough, although the machine did make the occasional creak. Guess we're a little too heavy-handed.

Two tiny grilles sit below the HP Touchsmart TX2's monitor promising Altec Lansing SRS Premium Sound. However, we found the audio far from premium: without any semblance of a good bottom end, you get reproduction that's decent but a little tinny. Not terrible, but other all-purpose notebooks fare much better in tests.

It's interesting how HP incorporates its TouchSmart media software into the HP Touchsmart TX2 laptop. It duplicates just about everything that Media Center already does in Vista, but adds on a reasonably finger-friendly interface. Music, for example, gets an Apple iTunes-like Cover Flow-ish treatment fanned out across your screen. Pick an album and drag it into your queue. We only wish it was possible to take as much advantage of this multitouch display in other applications. But we know that's a pipe dream for now.

Other useful software touches: the HP Advisor unobtrusively keeps an eye out for trouble and breaks it down with a easy to digest interface. MS Works comes preinstalled. Following closely on its heels: bloatware. Wild Tangent games sit on your system as do Flash ads for Slingbox. (Really? We have to delete ads from our new notebook now? We know that sometimes trial software and shareware piggyback on new PCs, but straight-up video ads are a bit much.)

[www.techworld.com]

Hacker attacks on US military jump sharply in 2009

2009-11-21T23:04:00.000-08:00

By Robert McMillan
Published: 09:51 GMT, 21 November 09

Cyberattacks on the US Department of Defense -- many of them coming from China -- have jumped sharply in 2009, a US congressional committee reported Thursday.

Citing data provided by the US Strategic Command, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said that there were 43,785 malicious cyber incidents targeting Defense systems in the first half of the year. That's a big jump. In all of 2008, there were 54,640 such incidents. If cyber attacks maintain this pace, they will jump 60% this year.

The committee is looking into the security implications of the US' trade relationship with China. It released its annual report to Congress Thursday, concluding that a "large body of both circumstantial and forensic evidence strongly indicates Chinese state involvement in such activities."

"The quantity of malicious computer activities against he United states increased in 2008 and is rising sharply in 2009," the report states. "Much of this activity appears to originate in China."

"The cost of such attacks is significant," the report notes. Citing data from the Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations, the report says that the military spent $100 million to fend off these attacks between September 2008 and March 2009. A Defense Department spokesman did not have any immediate comment on the report's numbers Thursday.

Attacks on department systems have been rising steadily for years. In 2000, for example, only 1,415 incidents were reported. The increase is in part due to the fact that the U.S. military is simply better at identifying cyberthreats than it used to be, said Chris Poulin, the chief security officer of Q1 Labs, and formerly a manager of intelligence networks within the U.S. Air Force. The department figures are "probably more accurate now," than they were nine years ago, he said.

Security experts have long known that many computer attacks originate from Chinese IP (Internet Protocol) addresses, but due to the decentralised nature of the Internet, it is very difficult to tell when an attack is actually generated in China, instead of simply using Chinese servers as a steppingstone.

Q1's Poulin says that his company's corporate clients in the US are seeing attacks that come from China, North Korea, and the Middle East. "We do definitely see patterns coming from specific nation states."

He said that because China's government has taken steps to control Internet usage in the country, it could probably throttle attacks if it wanted to. "China's defiantly initiating attacks," he said. "State-sponsored? Who knows. But they're certainly not state-choked."

[www.techworld.com]

MS release Office Mobile 10 Beta, confirm WinMo 7 for March 2010

2009-11-20T23:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the Microsoft Office Vice President Kurt Delbene confirmed the rumors that the Windows Mobile 7 announcement is scheduled to Q1 2010 and more specifically it will take place during the Microsoft MIX 2010 conference in March.

This is really good news. It turns out the rumors for the Q1 2010 announcement are true and the Windows Mobile 7 will show its face in less than half an year. We really hope that it won't take another half an year before we see actual devices running it, but it will probably be the case with Q3 2010 rumored as a release date.

Today Microsoft also released the beta versions of both desktop and mobile Office 2010. If you own a Windows Mobile 6.5 device, you are welcomed to download the beta from the Windows Marketplace (it's free).

What's more interesting is a posted and then removed screenshot of the Office Mobile 10 on its official page. It shows a UI, we already saw a couple of months ago, claiming it is from the Windows Mobile 7. Well, nowadays it still looks outdated, but no one knows for sure if it is actually from the Windows 7 or just some mock up interface for media use.

The previously leaked Windows Mobile 7 screenshots

Anyway, we are all waiting to see the next Windows Mobile installment in March 2010.

[www.gsmarena.com]

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 preview

2009-11-20T22:21:00.000-08:00

With the X10 Sony Ericsson have gone from zero to hundred in a split second. While they may know their way around high-end devices, pulling off an undertaking such as the XPERIA X10 must have been a special challenge. And they have yet to get to the finish.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 official photos

The thing is that Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is the first Android smartphone by Sony Ericsson. It's also a Snapdragon first for the company, and they've even come up with a first of its kind proprietary Android UI. Making the X10 a reality seems like a long way full of potential pitfalls for a company that hasn't still recovered from its financial woes.

But the XPERIA X10 or Rachael, or X3, or whatever it has been called in the long months of development, seems like a device that's worth all the hard work.

Even more so, X10 will not be a solitary device but more of a high-flying start for a full-blown platform of Android devices with their own distinct interface and user experience. That kinda sounds familiar. A year and a half ago, we were again there listening to Sony Ericsson presenting the XPERIA X1 in much the similar words. Well, let's hope they'll have better luck with starting off and developing this new part of their portfolio this time.

We had the pleasure of attending a very limited press event held in London, at which Sony Ericsson presented their latest and greatest before they showcase it for the general public. Much like attending a press-only movie screener we had the opportunity to gather some first-hand impressions of what is probably going to be the Sony Ericsson flagship next year. But before making our first go at the XPERIA X10, let's recap its features.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 at a glance:

General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA, HSUPA
Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
Dimensions: 119 x 63 x 13 mm, 135 g
Display: 4" 65K-color TFT capacitive touchscreen, 854 x 480 pixels
Platform: Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz processor
OS: Android 1.6 (Donut)
Memory: 1GB storage, 256MB RAM, microSD card slot, 8GB card included in the retail box
Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash and face detection
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack
Misc: Sony Ericsson custom social networking and media UI, built-in accelerometer

There have been numerous leaks about the XPERIA X10 so chances are you already know most of those specs well enough. As to the few new ones, let us assure you that some of those came as a surprise to us as well.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 presentation for the press

Take the Android OS version, for instance. Despite all the hopes for getting the latest and greatest of the Android crop, Sony Ericsson are serving a cold meal to all the gadget lovers out there. They refused to comment any further on the matter but perhaps all is not lost. Our best guess is they'll have some hard time adjusting their proprietary UI for Android 2.0 (Eclair) so they prefer to stick to 1.6 for the time being in an effort to get the XPERIA X10 out in the market as soon as possible.

And the current plans for the X10 availability say Q1 2010. Yup, missing the holiday season and shipping the handset during the tight-pocketed January and February is certainly the last thing they'd like to do, but proper product development obviously demands it.

Speaking of which, the Sony Ericsson X10 units presented at the event were devilishly fast in all Android tasks and applications, but the proprietary UI by Sony Ericsson clearly needed a lot more work.

But let's not waste any more time and jump into the physical details of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10.

[www.gsmarena.com]

Opera Mobile 10 beta now available for Windows Mobile

2009-11-18T16:34:00.000-08:00

The latest and greatest Opera Mobile 10 beta has been around for Symbian OS for a couple of weeks now, but it's only now that it's available to the Windows Mobile crowd as well. You can download it for free as we speak.

Windows Mobile users would finally be able to download a beta version of one of the best mobile web browser (and free, too). According to the developers, with this release they are now able to offer consistent user experience across all the various platforms that support their Opera browsers (even desktop).

Meet the new Opera Mobile 10 beta for Windows Mobile

Basically, the Opera Mobile 10 beta for WinMo smartphones should be the same as the one forSymbian-based devices and similar in features to the recent Opera Mini 5 (the Opera browser for non-smartphones). So, you get the Speed Dial (which is nothing else but a list of visual bookmarks), the tabbed browsing (allowing you to browse multiple web sites at a time) and the new, more intuitive interface. There's also a login manager and an option for server-side compression Opera Turbo.

[www.gsmarena.com]

Twitter users face new hacking attack

2009-10-29T05:56:00.000-07:00

By Robert McMillan
Published: 10:26 GMT, 29 October 09

Twitter warned users Tuesday of a new phishing scam on the social networking site.

It's the latest in a series of scams that have plagued the site over the past year, designed to trick victims into giving up their user names and passwords.

"We've seen a few phishing attempts today, if you've received a strange DM and it takes you to a Twitter login page, don't do it!," Twitter wrote on its Spam message page.

The message reads, "hi. this you on here?" and includes a link to a fake website designed to look like a Twitter login page. After entering a user name and password, victims enter an empty blogspot page belonging to someone named NetMeg99.

Neither of these pages appears to include any type of attack code, but both should be considered untrustworthy, according to Sophos Technology Consultant Graham Cluley. "It seems like this was a straightforward phishing campaign, rather than an attempt to spread virally," he said.

Victims get these direct messages only from people they follow on Twitter, so they seem more believable than other types of spam. Once a user has been phished by the attack, the criminals are then able to direct message all of the victim's contacts with the phishing spam.

"These sort of things have been happening for over a year on Twitter," Cluley said in an interview.

Hacked Twitter accounts are a great launching pad for more attacks, Cluley said. "We don't know precisely what they're going to do in this case, but often they will send spam messages to advertise a particular site."

Because about a third of users have the same passwords for all of their online activity, criminals can also use the same login information to try to get into other web services such as Gmail or Yahoo, Cluley said.

"If you've fallen for one of these traps, don't just change your Twitter password. Change your password on every website you use," Cluley siad. "Use non-dictionary words and use something that's hard to guess."

The Twitter attack comes as Facebook users are also under siege. Security researchers say that a spam botnet is has sent out hundreds of thousands of fake password reset messages. When victims try to open an attachment that supposedly contains their new password, they end up running a Trojan horse program, called Bredolab, that then installs unwanted software on their PCs.

[www.techworld.com]

Chip maker focuses on open source mobile software

2009-10-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

By Nancy Gohring
Published: 14:24 GMT, 27 October 09

Qualcomm has built a new subsidiary to better integrate its products with mobile open source software, in hopes of capitalising on the trend toward open platforms in the mobile industry.

The wholly owned subsidiary, called Qualcomm Innovation Center, currently consists of software engineers who work on hardware optimising open source mobile operating systems and applications, the company said.

The engineers will work on software including Linux and Webkit as well as operating systems including Symbian, Android and Chrome, it said.

In opening the new group, Qualcomm is following a clear trend in the mobile industry. According to a recent report from Juniper Research, 60 percent of the smartphone market is using an open source operating system. As smartphones continue to make up a growing portion of the mobile phone market, sales of open source smartphones are expected to grow. Smartphones shipped with open source operating systems will increase from 106 million in 2009 to 223 million by 2014, Juniper said.

Qualcomm did not say how many people would work in the new subsidiary.

Its website is advertising at least one open engineering position for the group. The job description said that Qualcomm Innovation Center "will concentrate on Linux and Android software code development and will actively participate in the open source community."

The company did not immediately reply to a request for additional details about the subsidiary.

[www.techworld.com]

Asus supercomputer has 960 Nvidia GPU cores

2009-10-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

By Dan Nystedt

Published: 08:17 GMT, 27 October 09

Asus unveiled its first supercomputer on Monday, the desktop computer-sized ESC 1000, which uses Nvidia graphics processors to attain speeds up to 1.1 teraflops.

One teraflop is one trillion flops (floating point operations per second), a measure of computing speed. Computers able to perform at such high speeds can be used in a variety of ways, including scientific research, image manipulation, engineering modeling or for medical purposes.

Asus's ESC 1000 comes with a 3.33GHz Intel LGA1366 Xeon W3580 microprocessor designed for servers, along with 960 graphics processing cores from Nvidia inside three Tesla c1060Computing Processors and one Quadro FX5800, according to a spec sheet from Asus. The c1060 is a dual-slot PCI card with no graphics ports on the back.

Nvidia has promoted its graphics cores as an alternative to microprocessors to build speedier computers that require less electricity.

The ESC 1000 is made for 64-bit computing and carries 24GB of DDR3 (double data rate, third generation) 1333MHz DRAM. The chassis on the supercomputer is 445mm by 217.5 mm by 545 mm.

The ESC 1000 has a 500GB SATA II hard drive on board and its power supply is rated for 1100 watts.

A note in Asus's literature said the ESC 1000 has a cost structure in software and hardware of $14,519 (£8,900) over five years, but an Asus representative declined to give a per-unit price or when the ESC 1000 would be available globally. The supercomputers are ready to ship, he said.

The ESC 1000 is the result of collaboration between Asustek, Nvidia and Taiwan's National Chao Tung University.

[www.techworld.com]

Asustek shows off new thin, light UL laptop family

2009-10-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

Opera Mini 5 beta out now

2009-09-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

Opera Mini 5 comes hot on the heels of its bigger brother - the desktop Opera 10, which was released just two weeks ago, with a revamped design and improved functionality. As a start - the tabbed browsing comes to the mobile Opera version, allowing fast jumping from one page to another.

Next is the Speed Dial, offering quick access to your favorite pages directly from the browser's start page. Similar to the desktop Google Chrome and Opera 10, the Opera Mini 5 will offer you 9 page thumbs on its home screen, which can either be selected manually or left to be filled up automatically with the most frequently visited web sites.

Speed Dial and tabbed browsing

A password manager is also onboard the Opera Mini 5, storing various passwords and user names for e-mails, social networks, online banking, etc.

Finally the Opera Mini 5 is optimized for usage on both touchscreen and regular keypad phones. Considering the great heritage its has, we are almost certain that it will deliver pretty good browsing experience.

Opera Mini 5

Here is the official demo video of Opera Mini 5:

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Canon EOS 500D (Digital Rebel T1i / Kiss X3 Digital) Review June 2009, by Lars Rehm and Richard Butler

A brief history; Canon entry level digital SLR series

Compared to predecessor - key differences

Canon EOS 500D vs. EOS 450D feature and specification differences

Conclusion - Pros

Conclusion - Cons

Overall conclusion

Image Quality

Handling

The final word

NSA helped with work on Windows 7 security

HP Touchsmart TX2

Hacker attacks on US military jump sharply in 2009

MS release Office Mobile 10 Beta, confirm WinMo 7 for March 2010

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 preview

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 at a glance:

Opera Mobile 10 beta now available for Windows Mobile

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Asus supercomputer has 960 Nvidia GPU cores

Asustek shows off new thin, light UL laptop family

Opera Mini 5 beta out now