As it strives to replace email, Google has open sourced two chunks of its new-age communications platform, Google Wave.
If you haven't had a look at Google's Wave technology, you should. It might not change the world, but it could improve bits of it.
Despite the continued slumping profit, the fact that ARM didn't lose itself and a leg in Q2 seems to have provided the company with some comfort.
You're right, of course - this is a monumentally boring story, but the headline itself is enough to make it worth a look. The Register might sometimes be a bit lightweight and frothy, but they can be forgiven when they come up with headlines like this. Genius.
Once smartphones with AR become common, it's only a matter of time before someone develops a device or a peripheral that layers AR over a pair of glasses.
The glasses are almost here (http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/products_wrap920av.html), so now we just need the smartphones (iPhone 3GS with 3.1, for example) and a data-entry solution, something that can be used while walking or without holding the phone.
Exclusive: After four years of meticulous developmental riddled with setbacks, Apple is now racing toward an early 2010 launch of a device that may see the electronics maker redefine the portable computing market for the second time in twice as many years.
A tablet PC from the fruit-themed toy maker? I'm not really sure what you'd use it for, but it's an interesting idea. It's supposed to include a 3G connection, so I look forward to seeing a carriage full of people, each with a 10 inch pad clamped to their ear; could be amusing.
It's been a bad week for O2: “We are aware of an issue currently affecting customers who are roaming in certain countries. We have identified the cause of the problem and are applying a fix which we hope will restore service for these affected customers as soon as possible. We are very sorry for this loss of service.”
That's a pretty weak apology, and it only covers today's roaming problems, not the data failure earlier this week.
Eric Giler, chief executive of US firm Witricity, showed mobile phones and televisions charging wirelessly at the TED Global conference in Oxford.
Two things: I want my remote controls powered wirelessly so I don't have to worry about batteries any more, and I want my phone to charge as soon as I walk through the front door. If they can do that, I'm sold.
Sun Danyong, an employee with Apple contract manufacturer Foxconn (also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.) leaped to his death following the disappearance of an iPhone prototype.
This seems like a somewhat extreme measure to defend client confidentiality.
You all recall Ray's amusing video in which he praises the 'design' of the banana, with it's pop-top for easy opening. Well, somebody watched how banana-opening experts, monkeys, peel bananas, and we've been doing it all wrong.
And it really works.
Japan’s cellphones are like the endemic species that Darwin encountered on the Galápagos Islands — fantastically evolved and divergent from their mainland cousins — explains Takeshi Natsuno, who teaches at Tokyo’s Keio University.
I quite like the idea of being able to use my phone as a credit card, but I'm not desperate to move to Japan to do it.
Ok, so it isn't as famous as Romeo and Juliet (which we saw at the Globe earlier this year) but it's an awful lot nicer; nobody dies, everyone gets married at the end and the evil Duke abidicates peacefully in favour of his deposed brother. Great fun and a good production, although the weather was a bit variable and the repeated intrusion of helicopters did occasionally drown the actor's voices.
Tips for visiting the Globe:
The first time back at the gym after three weeks away probably isn't the best time to try to set a personal best distance on the treadmill, but I gave it a go anyway and I was ahead of the clock for the first 70% of the run. After that, though, it all went a bit pear-shaped and, after a few slow minutes, I wheezed past the 20 minute mark having done only 3.72km.
Only 3.72km. Six months ago I'd have been really pleased with that distance; funny how things change.
Swedish cops are on the look-out for a quintet of tattooed girls who dragged a 50-year-old man off his bicycle, pulled down his trousers and smalls and "sexually molested" the poor bloke.
Swedish tourist board overwhelmed by enquiries about "local customs"...
On Monday, a group of companies including some very big industrial concerns - Siemens, RWE, E.On - met with representatives of the German government and other political players to sign a memorandum of understanding that could eventually see the flowering of desert power - the Desertec Industrial Initiative.
As Richard Black points out in his blog, this isn’t a new idea, but it is pretty exciting. Building a new power generation industry in a desert where environmental impact is, by definition, minimal, is a very elegant idea. It also benefits from using proven technology, making it far more practical in the medium-term than, for example, fusion power.
The Energy Saving Trust has recently completed the most comprehensive field trial of domestic scale wind turbines to date. The aim of the trials was to provide UK home owners with an indication of whether they would be able to generate electricity from the wind at their home. The data from these trials has been used as the basis for the Domestic Wind Speed Prediction tool.
I had this quaint idea that a couple of wind turbines (one at either end of the roof) might make a noticeable difference to our electricity bill but, having checked the EST's website, it looks like they would generate only enough power to light a small kitten, which isn't a lot of use.
Back to the drawing board, I suppose. Time to pull out those half-finished designs for a back-garden cold-fusion plant.
David Davis, who resigned as shadow home secretary last year to become a one-man wrecking ball for the cause of civil liberty, accused the government of “outsourcing” the torture of Rangzieb Ahmed, a British citizen held in Pakistan for 13 months between 2006 and 2007.
Rangzieb Ahmed isn't innocent (he's a self-confessed terrorist) but that does not justify assisting a foreign Government to torture a British citizen. Whatever his crimes, he should still enjoy the protection of the British state and it demeans us all when our Government allows and condones torture.
One year ago Friday, Apple launched its iTunes App Store. And it's been one hell of a wild - if famously flatulent - ride ever since.
I've lost track of the number of Apps I've downloaded. Some have been hopeless, deleted almost as soon as they finished installing. Others are just brilliant and I use them all the time. Who'd have thought Apple would hit 60,000 apps inside a year?
But it does hold out the tantalising hope that, at some point in the future, it might be possible to pop a pill and put an extra decade or two on your life.
Who wouldn't be tempted to lengthen their lifespan by 10-20 years if it were feasible (and if they were enjoying life)? Can't see the pension companies being overjoyed about this.
Google has revealed at least some of the hardware manufacturers its working with to design and build devices that run the much-discussed Google Chrome Operating System.
With a post to the official Chrome blog Wednesday afternoon, the Mountain View Chocolate Factory said its hardware partners include Acer, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba.
Would you buy this? I might, if the hardware is small and responsive, the operating system is fast and stable and the software has the right set of features. I can see a lightweight Netbook being useful as a laptop replacement on the train but none of the current crop has really caught my eye.
Google is releasing an operating system for laptops and desktops, in a direct challenge to Microsoft's money-making core business.
I bet Microsoft are really worried about this... or possibly not. Google might rule the advertising roots, but Chrome and Android haven't made as much of a splash as some people predicted. Breaking the OS market will be even tougher, I think.
Australian palaeontologists say they have discovered three new dinosaur species after examining fossils dug up in Queensland.
I'm not sure that "New" is the right word ("Unknown", maybe?) as these things have been lying around in the rocks for the last hundred million years, but apart form that it's all good stuff. I now keenly await Jurassic Park 4 - Banjo's Revenge.
The iPhone Blog is reporting what's purported to be in the next, and hopefully imminent iPhone update to version 3.1. As we've reported, developers were seeded with the beta Tuesday.
Ok, so this is all for iPhone 3G S owners, but it's interesting nonetheless. In fact, over the last week or so, I would say that I've become more keen to acquire a 3G S rather than less, mainly for the extra speed and improved camera. These improvements would also make the video camera a more attractive feature; I've never had a video camera on a phone and I think it might be fun to play with it.