Topics by newsguy

In 1987, Thomas Knoll developed a pixel imaging program called Display. It was a simple program to showcase grayscale images on a black-and-white monitor. However, after collaborating with his brother John Knoll, the two began adding features that made it possible to process digital image files. The program eventually caught …

Bjorn Olstad, a Microsoft Distinguished Engineer and the CTO of FAST, has revealed that beyond 2010 there will be no more Microsoft FAST enterprise search products which support Linux and UNIX search cores. In an official Microsoft Enterprise Search Blog posting, [URL="http://blogs.msdn.com/enterprisesearch/archive/2010/02/04/innovation-on-linux-and-unix.aspx"]Olstad states[/URL] that although when Microsoft acquired FAST two …

According to the latest State of Spam and Phishing [URL="http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/other_resources/b-state_of_spam_and_phishing_report_02-2010.en-us.pdf"]report[/URL] from Symantec, a truly astonishing 92% of all adult phishing scams are being conducted across social networking sites. This coincides with a newly identified trend of adult oriented phishing whereby users are being tempted to enter personal credentials in exchange …

Wow! That's a lot of display-ad sales. Google is expected to generate $1 billion in sales this year from display advertising. Although that's only a meagre 4% or so of the total Google sales expected in 2010, it's still a pretty stellar performance given the overall state of the online …

Ryanair has lost almost 60% of its visibility online since September 2009, according to search marketing agency Greenlight which has just published its research. The report, [URL="http://www.greenlightsearch.com/sectorreports/flights.html"]Flights Sector Report – Issue 4[/URL], analysed key search terms used by UK consumers looking on the Internet for a flight and profiles search …

As Safer Internet Day comes to a close, one expert in the field warns that there can be no safety without security. John Colley is managing director of [URL="http://www.isc2.org/"](ISC)2[/URL], a non profit organisation which runs a program helping volunteers visit schools, clubs and parent evenings. They also support council appointed …

According to a recent Kaspersky security research report, stolen [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story237081.html"]Twitter accounts[/URL] are being sold on the black market for as much as $1000 a time. This really should not come as any great surprise given that the rapid [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story231627.html"]evolution of social media[/URL] mirrors the rapid [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story238033.html"]evolution of cybercrime[/URL]. The price …

Recently I reported how [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story254897.html"]the US military is using a Facebook-alike social networking system[/URL], and now I can follow that up with a Facebook makes love not war message. But it's not quite the good news it seems. [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story220492.html"]Tony Blair[/URL] has not decided to post a big 'I'm Sorry' message …

I have a lot of passwords to get me onto various online sites and services, but I only need to remember one: the complex and hard to crack one that unlocks my encrypted password store. Not everyone is as paranoid as I am it seems, and many fall neatly into …

Yes there are 100,000 or so apps for the iPhone, but thanks to Apple policy if it's porn you are after there's not an app for that. The construction of an Adult App Store for Android devices, however, could soon swing this particular market segment towards the iPhone competitor. The …

The business world might still be struggling to shake off the recession but one sector has been enjoying truly extraordinary growth: the search market. What's more, according to digital metrics specialist [URL="http://www.comscore.com/"]comScore[/URL], one company has dominated this booming marketplace and unsurprisingly it is called Google. Of the 131 billion searches …

I am old enough to remember the Westworld movie which starred Yul Brynner as a malfunctioning robot cowboy. It also featured sex robots, androids which allowed paying punters to indulge their every sexual fantasy. Of course, Westworld was a big hit in 1973 and I guess it was only ever …

OK, so it might not be quite as talked about as the mythical [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story245295.html"]Apple iTablet[/URL], but the [URL="http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/11/23/239414/Google-Chrome-OS-A-threat-to-Windows-7.htm"]Google Chrome[/URL] OS-based netbook is also creating quite a stir. According to the [URL="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/20091227/google-chrome-based-netbook-tech-specs-are-out.htm"]IB Times[/URL] the Chrome OS netbook will have the following tech specs: An Nvidia Tegra chipset (given the late 2010 …

According to the British government organisation which helps UK-based companies to succeed in the wider global economy, UK Trade & Investment ([URL="http://www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk"]UKTI[/URL]), it is currently helping some 76 UK companies pitch for business with the European particle physics laboratory, CERN. Apparently, CERN spent a massive £110 million ($175.75 million) on …

Absolutely no surprise there then: Modern Warfare 2 is the all-format games Christmas Number One according to the ELSPA software charts just published here in the UK. A position, incidentally, it has held for the six weeks, ever since it was released. The Top Ten, in case you are interested, …

Thought that 2009 was [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/post975935.html"]the year that botnets died[/URL], well think again Batman, it was actually the year they bounced back. Compromised computers were responsible for distributing 83.4% of the 107 billion spam messages sent around the world, every single day, during 2009 according to a new Symantec report. Indeed, …

Oh dear, now I do not believe that was meant to happen. It appears that users of Office 2003 who also protect their documents with the Microsoft Rights Management Service (RMS) have found them so well protected that nobody can open them - not even the person who created the …

You might not think that a 12,000 square foot data center would be anything for the environmental lobby to get excited about, but this is no ordinary IT facility. The Green Data Center ([URL="http://syr.edu/greendatacenter/"]GDC[/URL]) has been built by Syracuse University in partnership with New York State and IBM in order …

There is no doubt that the current server market environment is the worse it has ever been, but a new report from IDC suggests that the worse may be over as the market posts sequential quarterly revenue growth for the first time since 2008. The [URL="http://www.idctracker.com"]IDC EMEA Quarterly Server Tracker[/URL] …

Apple has long been criticised for the way it handles iPhone App approval. [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4408.html"]Inconsistency[/URL] and [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4276.html"]mind-boggling logic[/URL] are the order of the day, or at least that's the way it appears to an increasing number of iPhone application developers. The application review process has been rigorously defended by Apple, although …

Pretty much anywhere you live, it would appear that the iPhone consumes at least 50% of all mobile data traffic. Whereas the Android has a little catching up to do with just 11% of that mobile data bandwidth consumption. Of course, the iPhone entered the restaurant first and is already …

IBM has today announced a breakthrough chip-stacking technology in a manufacturing environment that paves the way for three-dimensional chips to extend Moore’s Law way beyond traditionally expected limits. The ‘through-silicon-vias’ technology allows different chip components to be packaged much closer together, resulting in faster, smaller and lower-powered systems. This breakthrough …

Now that's what I call an Android phone. Actually, that's what I call an Android phone that might just [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3944.html"]kick some iPhone ass[/URL]. The [URL="http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/specifications/xperiax10a?lc=en&cc=us#a"]Sony Ericsson Xperia X10[/URL] social networking phone is Android powered and feature rich. How rich? Well, how does 1GB RAM plus 16Gb of flash storage and …

According to the latest McAfee Labs [URL="http://www.mcafee.com/us/local_content/reports/7315rpt_threat_1009.pdf"]Third Quarter Threats Report 2009[/URL] instances of Distributed Denial of Service attacks are growing in popularity. In the last quarter the McAfee Labs observed many new attacks demanding ransom money including those aimed at sports betting companies which were taken out of action during …

Sony Computer Entertainment America has filed a patent application, number [URL="http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=2&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=laugh&OS=laugh&RS=laugh"]20090195392[/URL], which could lead to a PlayStation controller that knows when you are happy, sad or just plain angry. The patent application is officially for a 'laugh detector and system and method for tracking an emotional response to a media …

Some people like to get their free Microsoft products by adopting the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4255.html"]eye patch and a parrot approach[/URL] via sites such as The Pirate Bay. Some of us, however, rather like the idea of getting Windows 7 totally free, totally legally, and direct from Microsoft for good measure. Yes, I …

Within the next five years, Citizen Developers will be responsible for building at least 25% of all new business applications. That is the rather startling claim being made by Gartner analysts ahead of the Gartner Symposium and ITexpo in Cannes, France next month. So what is a Citizen Developer then? …

They say it ain't over until the fat lady sings, well it looks like this particular Opera story is far from over folks no matter what some might tell you. Perhaps the most famous Norwegian export since the Vikings, [URL="http://www.opera.com"]Opera[/URL] the web browser has certainly lost favour with the technology …

Once upon a time, Usenet newsgroups were the Twitter, Facebook and forums of the online world. All the early Internet community makers were there, and important announcements such as the arrival of Mosaic by Marc Andreesen broke there first. Then the inevitable happened, and Usenet slowly imploded. That could have …

Apparently, women are more than twice as likely to go online and vent when stressed than speak to their partners. That's according to the results of a recent survey which also suggests that when stressed many women go and blog instead of turning to alcohol or chocolate. The survey, conducted …

Jon Lech Johansen is perhaps best known as DVD Jon, the chap who cracked DVD movie encryption at the tender age of just 15. He may soon have to adopt a new nickname, how about iTunes Jon, as he releases software that takes iTunes out of the iPod music equation. …

Sky, better known for news and sport television broadcasting, has today announced that it is entering the online music business with an ad-free streaming download service. All of the four million songs accessible by users of the service will be available by way of unlimited online streaming as well as …

If you are in the market for a new Apple computer, you might want to wait a few days. It would appear that new super thin iMacs, MacBooks and even a cheaper Mac Mini are on the way real soon. According to [URL="http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/10/03/apple_ads_hint_at_thinner_imacs_lighter_macbooks_cheaper_mac_minis.html"]AppleInsider[/URL] a raft of advertisements were published ahead …

Mobile developers will be pleased to learn that Recursion Software has announced the availability of a C++ Toolkits Symbian bundle. The cross-platform, mobile and embedded app development tools specialist took the opportunity at the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment Expo 2009 to announce that C++ libraries for the iPhone and …

The Microsoft Windows embedded product portfolio has just been given a hefty push into the limelight with the official release of Windows 7 technologies over to what Microsoft refers to as manufacturers of specialized devices. During an industry address at the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston yesterday, Microsoft announced the …

Continuing on its charm offensive, the music industry is apparently not satisfied with the $675,000 fine for sharing 30 songs imposed on Joel Tenenbaum or the $1.92 million Jammie Thomas-Rasset was hit with for illegally downloading 24 tunes. Now it is going after the lyrics pirates. The what? Well, exactly. …

I love a [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20193/53/"]good patent story[/URL], I love my [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1264.html"]Nintendo Wii[/URL] and I love bouncy cushions. However, it is a rare thing to be able to write a news story which covers all three. Yet it would appear that Nintendo has, indeed, filed a European patent for a bouncy cushion …

Safari 4.0.3 is out now and available for [URL="http://support.apple.com/downloads/Safari_4_0_3"]download[/URL] from Apple, for both Mac OS X and Windows operating systems. While there are the usual claims of making things more stable when using third party plugins and in particular for handling the HTML 5 video tag, it is with regards …

Mike Maser, Chief Strategy Officer at Digg, has [URL="http://blog.digg.com/?p=928"]confirmed[/URL] that Digg Ads will start rolling out in an early beta format during the next few days. So expect to start seeing sponsored Diggs mixed up with the real stuff, although the adverts will carry a 'sponsored by' title the screenshots …

According to the latest [URL="http://www.messagelabs.com/mlireport/MLIReport_2009.07_July_FINAL.pdf"]MessageLabs Intelligence Report[/URL] from Symantec, things are looking good as web malware writers have taken a sabbatical. Unfortunately the spammers have gone multi-lingual in a lazy-ass automated kind of a way with great effect. Spam levels have, say Symantec, stayed at their highest level for two …

According to a new Gartner survey, despite companies driving down overall IT budgets this year things are looking good for global software spending in 2010. Well, I say good, but perhaps I should say a teensy weensy little bit better than this year. Gartner reckons that organisations surveyed indicated that …

The High Court in the UK will this Friday decide if an appeal against the Home Office backed decision to extradite Gary McKinnon on hacking charges to the US is to be upheld or, as seems likely, not. McKinnon has been accused of what US prosecutors refer to the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2863.html"]biggest …

So Google reckons that it can provide [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/26281/53/"]the perfect operating system[/URL] in Chrome, even to the point where according to Google's Engineering Director, Linus Upson, it will herald the end of malware. That's what he went [URL="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html"]on the record[/URL] to say, promising that Google was "completely redesigning the underlying security …

With the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4487.html"]iPhone 3GS[/URL] slowly coming back into stock after [URL="http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/daveyw/2009/06/30/o2-runs-out-of-iphone-3gs/"]selling out[/URL] during the first week of release, there is more good news for potential buyers: the 3GS has been jailbroken. Yes, 19 year old George Hotz who you might remember shot to hacking fame a couple of years back …

Generally speaking I would not recommend reading a newspaper in the hot tub. If that hot tub happens to be of the spa-jet variety then that only makes it worse. If the newspaper is a rare item from the 19th century then surely only a fool would consider it. Yet …

I am probably showing my age here, but I can recall when relationships started as a result of face to face meetings. If those relationships came to an end, they ended the same way as a rule. OK, a few cowardly types might have resorted to a 'Dear John' letter …

Seems like a silly question, right? But $80,000 per track is exactly how much Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a single mother from Minneapolis, has been charged. Well, I say charged but actually she was fined this amount for each of 24 songs downloaded via a file-sharing site at the end of a …

"Opera Retakes Leadership from iPhone in Mobile Browser Market" reads the press release that arrived in my email this week. "Opera is the world's number one mobile browser, overtaking iPhone in May according to data from StatCounter Global Stats" it continues, which certainly peaked my interest. Not least because, according …

Across Europe people have been voting in the European Parliamentary elections, and it looks likely that a pirate or two will have got elected in Sweden. I voted nice and early this morning, with candidates representing the three main political parties here in the UK as well as a rather …

The Google Android OS is coming to the Acer Aspire ONE netbook, and sooner than you might imagine. As a happy ONE owner myself, and a keen observer of all things Android, the news that it could be as soon as Q3 this year really pleases me. Jim Wong, President …