British buyers will pay more for iPad, but critics say wait
British consumers will have to pay around £100 more than Americans for Apple’s iPad when it goes on sale in the UK next week. Prices will start at £429 for the cheapest version of the tablet computer, nearly £90 more than the US price of $499 converted at today’s exchange rate. For the most expensive version of the iPad, a 64 GB model offering wi-fi and 3G connections, the premium is more than £130.
Rivals are invading its patch, but Nintendo is ready to go to war
Nintendo is preparing to unleash the full force of its development and marketing artillery against Apple after profits tumbled at the Japanese giant for the first time in six years. The reversal of fortunes, though flagged in advance by the company, throws the spotlight on threats to what once seemed a bulletproof business. Satoru Iwata, the Nintendo president, is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the “enemy of the future” .
Just how fragile is the internet?
In 1998, a hacker told Congress that he could bring down the Internet in 30 minutes by exploiting a certain flaw that sometimes caused online outages by misdirecting data. In 2003, the Bush administration concluded that fixing this flaw was in the nation's "vital interest." Fast forward to 2010, and very little has happened to improve the situation. The flaw still causes outages every year. Although most of the outages are innocent and fixed quickly, the problem still could be exploited by a hacker to spy on data traffic or take down websites
Big leap: Microsoft makes free version of Office, its cash cow
In the beginning, there was word processing. Then, simply, Word. Spreadsheets became Excel. Presentation software, if it was ever known by such a name, was simply PowerPoint. Long before Google's preeminence in search, Microsoft dominated business and personal software with a suite known as Office. The company launches its latest version, Office 2010, on Wednesday in New York — and the stakes couldn't be higher.
DNSSEC: the internet's International Criminal Court?
The DNSSEC protocol could have some very interesting geo-political implications, including erosion of the scope of state sovereign powers, according to policy and security experts. “We will have to handle the geo-political element of DNSSEC very carefully,” explained Peter Dengate Thrush, a New Zealand patent attorney and chairman of ICANN, at the INET conference in San Francisco.
Is Facebook about to get local services?
Facebook could be set to start the roll out location based features within weeks, according to a major advertising magazine. Advertising Age has reported that Facebook will be integrating location based information and check-ins – highly reminiscent of Foursquare, a company that some analysts have suggested could be an acquisition target for the social network. The report suggests that the likes of restaurant giant McDonalds are already showing interest in the services, and the chance to tap into Facebook's enormous user base
Sony's Vaio P Series gets a colourful upgrade
Sony has revealed a new design update to its Vaio P Series netbook, and has splashed the new range of ultra-portable laptops with both a rainbow of eye-catching colours, and a handful of new features. The tiny, 8-inch device now features an optical touchpad on the inside of the lid, so you can browse the web while holding the device in both hands, like some kind of giant, deformed Nintendo DS.
Barack Obama warns students about distractions of technology
US president Barack Obama, whose 2008 election victory has been acclaimed as the first to be "won on the internet", has warned university graduates against relying on technology for information. In a commencement speech to more than 1,000 graduates, and thousands of their family and friends gathered at Hampton University, Obama said the era of the iPod and the Xbox has not always been good for the cause of a strong education.
Apple files iTunes Live trademark
Apple has filed an application for the trademark 'iTunes Live', fuelling speculation that the IT giant will soon launch a streaming music service. The application, revealed by apple pundits PatentlyApple.com, follows the announcement last week of the company’s plan to close the steaming music service Lala at the end of the month, and the building of a $1 billion data centre in Maiden, North Carolina.
Globalfoundries eyes big hike in chip fabs
The company, which was created last year out of processor firm AMD’s foundry business, catapulted into the top rank of chip makers in January. It is currently the world's third largest chip maker. Globalfoundries' dramatic new target was revealed as it announced plans to increase production capacity at a number of its fabrication plants during the International Electronics Forum 2010 in Dresden on Friday.
Wireless bodies co-operate on multi-gigabit Wi-Fi
The Wi-Fi Alliance and the Wireless Gigabit Alliance are to co-operate on a certification programme for 60GHz Wi-Fi, in a move that could boost the development of next-generation wireless technologies. 60GHz wireless will allow devices to run at gigabit speeds, and the agreement is designed to encourage the development of products with this capability.
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