GLITCH NEWS
China Concerned Over Google Hack
Chinese
authorities are said to be concerned over the hacking
allegations made by Google. The Chinese Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology (MIIT) have stated that although they
have not
received a formal complaint from Google, they were currently
in consultations with them over the matter. If these concerns
are found to be true, and the attacks stemmed from within
China, then the Chinese government has stated that it will
take swift and decisive action against the perpetrators,
making it very clear that this type of activity is
unacceptable.
Further Graphics Boast for Netbooks
nVidia's
first attempt at a low powered graphics processor was a
resounding success with it's original 'Ion' GPU proving significantly faster than
the competition. But nVidia hasn't sat on their laurels and
have
now released an even faster chip; in fact there are reports that
their new chip is up to ten times faster than Intel's latest GMA
3150 GPU (found inside Intel's new Atom N450 processor).
This new 'Ion' GPU represents a significant step forward for Netbook
graphics,
which until now have struggled to play HD video smoothly, keep pace with
more modern gaming titles and run full versions of Windows 7.
Don't get me wrong, the 'Ion' graphics processor will not
replace full blown discrete graphics any time soon,
but nVidia have defiantly closed the gap a little.
Time Running Out For Illegal File-Sharers
The
government is committed to reducing illegal file sharing,
and is now considering a
number of different punishments, including significantly reducing
offenders internet bandwidth, imposing hefty download limits
and even the
possibility of suspending prolific offenders internet connections.
No one can defend illegal file-sharing activity, thus it is
only right that offenders are brought to account, there is
no such thing as 'something for nothing' illegal file
sharing is theft. The government hopes that these measures
(still currently being finalized) will send a clear message
to people, and if it doesn't then a few hundred annoyed
households with little or no internet connection should do
the trick. Remember if you are an illegal file-sharer and
you get caught, it could be the whole household that suffers!
Back
in April 2007 I wrote a news
article about Intel producing their first 80-core processor,
but as impressive as this was, it's inability to run
standard operating system code meant that was never going to
find it's way into a regular computer. But almost 3 years on
and much has changed with Intel
now exhibiting a prototype processor with no less than 48
true microprocessor cores, based on standard Intel
Architecture (IA). This means that this incredibly powerful
chip will be able to run standard operating system code, a
huge step forward from their previous many-core designs. The so called
Single-chip Cloud Computer (SCC) packs a massive 1.3 billion
transistors but still only uses around 125 watts of energy
at maximum performance, a true super computer on a chip!
For additional information visit:
http://techresearch.intel.com/articles/Tera-Scale/1826.htm
Back
in September 2006, four pupils from a school in Turin deemed
it OK to film themselves bulling a classmate with Autism and then uploaded
their sick escapade on YouTube. This was clearly very wrong, but
that fact that YouTube, at the time, acted swiftly to remove the content
from their site had no significance for the Milan court which
today convicted three Google employees of violating the boys privacy.
This is a bizarre outcome to say the least, none of the employees had any part
in the act of taking the images, or uploading said images to
YouTube, but were still convicted. It is the four pupils that
should have be convicted not YouTube. This sends out a very poor
message 'Upload what you like, you won't get into any real
trouble; let the site owners take the fall' ... ridiculous,
people have to be accountable for the content they post,
anything else is just idiotic!
AMD
(Advanced Micro Devices) are on the verge of releasing their
new 8 and 12 core Opteron processors, (code named
Magny-Cours). Little is know about these new processors,
other than they will be in direct competition with Intel's
latest Xeon chips. Saying this, we do know that up to four of these
new CPUs will be able to work together (48 cores in total),
each supporting up to four DDR3 memory channels. So the
specification on paper at least is impressive, but as always
we will have to wait until real world performance can be measured
before we get to excited!
Windows 'Browser Ballot' Screen
Microsoft
will soon begin to roll out it's 'Browser Ballot' screen
(via Windows Updates); initially to Windows 7 users and
then, on the 1st March, to all Windows users. The 'Browser
Ballot' screen will present users with a choice of up to a
dozen different browsers, with the top 5 most used randomly
displayed first. This addition to Windows has come about
solely to appease the European Commission over Microsoft's
antitrust lawsuit. If Internet Explorer (IE) is your default
browser you will be presented with the 'Browser Ballot'
screen, whether you want it or not; if IE is not your
default browser you will be please to know that you will not
have to go through the 'Browser Ballot' screen malarkey!
For additional information visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/oct09/10-07Statement.mspx
Wikipedia Gets Donation From Google
Bringing
information to people is at the heart of everything Google
does, so its no wonder it has a soft spot for Wikipedia.
Whether you like Wikipedia or not, it's difficult to ignore
the sheer scale of it, with more than 14 million entries
made by over 100,000 contributors, it represents one of the
largest and most read references on the web. As Wikipedia's
revenue is almost entirely generated from donations,
Google's generous (£1.3 million) support will be most
welcomed I'm sure.
This
is just a reminder to anyone who is still using the Windows
7 Release Candidate (RC), as of 1st March 2010 any active RC
versions of Windows 7 will start to shut down every two
hours (any files you have open will not be saved). Further
to this initial behaviour, on the
1st June 2010 (when all RC versions finally expire), your
wallpaper will also be set to solid black you will get a
persistent message and additional pop-ups informing you that
your Windows isn't genuine. I will stress again, this only
applies to the free RC download (meant as a short term
evaluation version of Windows 7 only), no other versions of
Windows 7 are affected.
Visit my Operating Systems page for more information on Windows 7 products.
One
thing that seems to upset most, if not all, Apple iPhone
users, is the lack of Adobe Flash support in it's internet
browser. You may not think this is particularly irritating
issue, but when you consider that approximately 40% of all
websites contain flash, then the problem does not seem so
small. The issue stems from Apple's own terms and conditions
which state that 'no application is allowed to install or
lunch any code by any means'. So full flash support can't
happen, but Adobe should take a little of the flak for not
issuing a 'Light' version of their Flash player plug-in for
the iPhone, something that would, more than likely, be more
acceptable to Apple. Saying this I can believe that Apple
aren't too worried about having Flash support; no Flash
means, the extra graphic content won't slow the iPhone down,
or for the same reason drain the battery more quickly and of
cause it side steps any possible security issues!
Windows 7 and Laptop Batteries
Some
users have been claiming that Microsoft's new operating
system 'Windows 7' is destroying laptop batteries. The idea
that an operating system could be responsible for damaging
or destroying a laptop's battery seems a little odd, but the
fact that Windows 7 incorporates a new
feature that allows it to interrogation batteries and
report back it's condition could be the reason why people
think this is so. Basically Windows 7 interrogates the
battery to glean it's original designed power capacity and it's
current power capacity so that it can
compare the two values; it then reports back to the user the
actual, maximum capacity of the battery. If this value turns
out to be less than 40% of the designed capacity (ie. 60% of
the battery's capacity has degraded) Windows 7 informs the
user that they may want to consider replacing their battery.
This seems to me a classic case of don't shoot the messenger!
Microsoft
seem to be on track for a June release of the latest version
of their Office suite, Office 2010. In fact it has been
suggested that Microsoft will soon offer free upgrades to
anyone who purchases a qualifying Office product between
March and it's June release date, under a scheme called the
'Microsoft Office 2010 Technology Guarantee Program'. As
Microsoft is due to change the products in it's Office 2010
packages, your free upgrade path will not necessarily be
obvious, but I have no doubt that more details will be
released over the coming months!
Apple
has just released its latest product, the iPad. Some people
have already started to berate Apple for releasing such a
device, stating that this is an unnecessary product
that will not sell , but I strongly disagree. The iPad is a
true coffee table device, a product that the whole family
can dabble with, it's a web browser, an e-book reader and
digital photo-frame. It has the obligatory iPod features of
music and video playback, and the fact that it has a 9.7"LED
screen, but still manages to weigh less than 0.7kg makes it
a truly lightweight device. And if this was not enough then
the fact that all standard
Apple 'Appstore' applications should work without
modification is another nice touch, and it doesn't end
there, email, notes and calendar are all present too. In fact if you
think of the iPad as a big version of Apple's iPod touch product
you won't go too far wrong! It won't appeal to everyone,
some will not be happy unless they have a PC, but for many
this will be the next must have device!
For more information visit:
http://www.apple.com/ipad/
Windows
7 is officially the fastest selling operating system
in history. Microsoft has sold 60 million Windows 7 licenses
since it's launched back in October last year. This no doubt
helped boost Microsoft's revenue in the last quarter of 2009
to almost £12bn, of which £4bn was pure profit; showing that
Microsoft has finally got it right with Windows 7. With such
interest in Windows 7 be sure to look out for my
review
(currently work in progress) and don't forget to visit my
Software pages for the latest prices with handy price
comparisons across a number of well known suppliers.
Yet
again we hear reports of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE)
coming under attack, but yet again it's the older
versions of Internet Explorer that seem to be more
susceptible. 'Should I change my browser?'...no, not because
of this, all browsers have their vulnerabilities and IE is
no worse then Firefox or any other browser for that matter.
A change of browser would simply be a knee
jerk reaction, especially when this latest vulnerability has
been described by many security companies as a limited
threat only. A better question to ask would be 'Should I update
my browser to the latest version?', and the answer would be
a resounding yes, as the latest versions of IE are much more
secure than their predecessors.
For a link to the latest Internet Explorer download visit my Browsers page.
Google Terminates China Censorship
Back
in 2006 Google setup 'Google.cn in' the hope that it could
offer a more open internet for the Chinese people.
At the time they were heavily criticised for agreeing to
censor their search results so that the Chinese government
would allow them to operate. But Google is becoming
increasingly uncomfortable, especially now that significant evidence proves phishing and hacking attacks (aimed at western
businesses and the GMail accounts of numerous human right
campaigners) are originating from the Chinese government.
This and the fact that Chinese authorities now wish to setup
an internet 'whitelist' are
putting Google in a very difficult position. So much so,
that Google have decided to only offer an 'unfiltered'
Google.cn service, something that will no doubt be
unacceptable to the Chinese authorities and could ultimately
result in the closure of the 'Google.cn' site
and possibly Google's operations in China.
Government introduces 'Home Access'
A
new scheme called 'Home Access' has been set up by the UK
government to help low-income families gain access to a
computer and broadband connection. Qualifying families (who
meet set eligibility criteria) will be given a grant to buy
a computer and/or a year's internet access. They will also
be given a year's service and support, plus all necessary
security software to keep them safe on-line. The scheme
hopes to help an additional 270,000 low-income families gain
access to the internet (something that most people take for
granted these days), and in doing so help reduce the digital
divide and unsure many more families have access to a
computer at home.
For more information visit:
http://www.homeaccess.org.uk/
Google's Nexus One Mobile Phone
Google
has finally released it's long awaited mobile phone, the
Nexus One. The specifications are impressive: Quad band (GSM/EDGE)
3G mobile phone, 1GHz Processor, High resolution 3.7" (WVGA)
800x400 screen, 5 Megapixel camera with flash (capable of
taking video with a resolution of 720x480), removable
storage using Micro SD Cards (up to 32GB), Wi-Fi b/g/n,
Bluetooth 2.1, Accelerometer, Digital compass, GPS receiver
and much more. The phone's software is based on Google's
latest 'Android Mobile' operating system, which is able to
execute multiple applications simultaneously. The system is
icon based (like the iPhone) and support is thriving for its
growing library of applications, around 20,000 at the time
of writing. Should Apple be worried by the Nexus...yes,
Nexus is probably the first real competitor to the iPhone,
it currently doesn't handle music and video quite as
seamlessly as the iPhone, but this has to be offset by the
fact it does most other tasks very well!
For more information visit:
http://www.google.com/phone
Intel will
soon extend it's current range of 'Core' processors, adding
to their existing Core i7 and i5 series of CPUs, and
introduce a new Core i3 chip. All the new CPUs (codenamed 'Westmere')
will be based on a 32nm fabrication process a reduction from
the 45nm process currently being used; they will be
dual-core based and have intergraded graphics processors (or
IGP) as standard. The IGPs will be based on Intel's new HD
graphics chip, and although an improvement on previous
incarnations, will still not worry the main-stream graphics
card manufacturers. Technologies such as Hyper-threading
(HT) and Turbo boost have been included, with all the chips
being based on the LGA1156 socket. Intel's long term plan is
that these new chips will replace their older 'Core 2 Duo' and
'Core 2 Quad' range of processors.
If you're interested in the new 'Core' range of visit my Processors page for more details.
Piracy is dead, long live 'Spotify'!
The
music industry has made some mammoth mistakes; over charging
for CDs and digital downloads, lacing said mediums with
digital rights management and generally frustrating music
lovers all over the world. But things have changed, we no
longer have to to put up with DRM and pay for every music
track we want to listen to...and I am not talking about
piracy, I'm talking about 'Spotify'. Spotify allows you to
stream pretty much any track from just about any artist you
can think of, just type in the name and away you go. The
music industry has made this possible, and has allowed
Spotify to exist in this form, for this we should be
thankful. Spotify also provides a 'Premium Service' which
carries a small monthly tariff, but in return you get access
to mobile versions of Spotify and features such as an
'offline' mode for when you are not connected to the
internet. The average music pirate can't argue with this, it
gives them everything they have been fighting for, it leaves
them with no more excuses and nothing to hide
behind...Piracy is dead, long live Spotify!
For more information visit my 'Audio
Tools' section within my Software area.
Happy
New Year, I hope 2010 is a great year for you all. During
2010 I intend to continue the optimization of the site
with the aim to have the whole site fully standards
compliant before quarter 2. I will continue to roll out my
Javascript database and convert the rest of my Hardware
pages, I also hope to form some kind of 'Glitch' forum or
social networking link at some point this year.
I hope the Glitch will prove interesting and useful to you during 2010, as I strive to continue to bring you the best products, software, sites and solutions to your problems. As always, your comments and suggestions are always welcome!