2005-December-15

The One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) board of directors reviewed bids from Quanta, Compal Computer Inc, Inventec Co and Wistron Corp before deciding to go with Qanta as the original design manufacturer (ODM) for the ambitious USD100 laptop project.

The first notebooks are expected to hit the market during the fourth quarter of next year. Pricing of the Linux-based notebooks is expected to start "near $100" and decrease over time.

One Laptop Per Child said trials of the notebook are planned for China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, and Thailand, with 1 million notebooks to be shipped to each of these countries. In addition, the group expects "an additional modest allocation" of the notebooks to be shipped to developers in other countries.

The 500MHz laptop will have a two-mode screen, so it can be viewed in color and then by pushing a button or activating software switch to a black-and-white display, which can be viewed in bright sunlight at four times normal resolution.

The laptop can be powered either with an AC adapter or via a wind-up crank, which is stored in the housing of the laptop where the hinge is located. The laptops will have a 10-to-1 crank rate, so that a child will crank the handle for one minute to get ten minutes of power and use. When closed, the hinge forms a handle and the AC cord can function as a carrying strap. The laptops will be rugged. They will have four USB ports, be Wi-Fi- and cell phone-enabled, and come with 1GB of memory.

Each laptop will act as a node in a mesh peer-to-peer ad hoc network, meaning that if one laptop is directly accessing the Internet, when other machines power on, they can share that single online connection.

2005-December-10

Yahoo! is offering free PC-to-PC calls in new version of its Yahoo Messenger. PC-to-phone or phone-to-PC calls will be available with low per-minute charges, ranging from USD 0.01 to USD 0.02 per minute.

2005-November-30

Mozilla releases the latest version of its "Lite" Web browser. The free, open source FireFox is the second most popular browser with 15% market share.

New features in Firefox 1.5 include automatic updates, extra pop-up ad blocking, and a Google tool bar.

Head on to our Download Section for the link to download FireFox 1.5.

2005-November-10

Telekom Malaysia is moving to block unauthorized VoIP traffic on its network. It is experimenting with routers to introduce delay to VoIP traffic. Unfortunately the equipment is also interfering other net services.

Expect intermittent Internet connection difficulties in the coming weeks, especially for VoIP services such as Skype.

2005-November-2

In response to Google and SUN's alliance, Microsoft is rapidly transforming itself to offer comprehensive web-based application services.

Microsoft Windows Live and Microsoft Office Live, two new Internet-based software services for individuals and small businesses, were previewed on Tuesday. The new offerings are in beta and can be accessed at ideas.live.com.

Windows Live will primarily be delivered free to users and supported by advertising, but subscription and transaction-based services also will be available. As it is available separately from the Microsoft Windows product, users will be able to run Windows with or without the Windows Live services.

Microsoft Office Live is a new set of Internet-based services for growing and managing a business online. It is designed to help small businesses worldwide with less than 10 employees to establish an online presence, automate key internal and external business tasks, and collaborate with employees, partners and customers.

The services can be used independently or integrated with Microsoft Office programs, including Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office Live Meeting and Microsoft Office Small Business Edition. The company said it would expand the scope of Office Live services over time.

2005-October-29

The Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), an alliance of software companies, security firms and consumer groups, finalised its definitions of spyware on Thursday.

The group defined spyware and other potentially unwanted technologies as those deployed without appropriate user consent and/or implemented in ways that impair user control over: material changes that affect their user experience, privacy, or system security; use of their system resources, including what programs are installed on their computers; and/or collection, use, and distribution of their personal or other sensitive information.

In another related news, in an investigation Microsoft conducted, it found an intentionally created zombie computer accessed 5 million times by its remote controllers and used to send out 18 million spam messages advertising more than 13,000 Web sites over a three-week period.

These and other related events prompted the FTC, Microsoft and Consumer Action to issue a "Zombie Alert" in an awareness event on Thursday. "Zombies" are computers that have been infected with malicious code so that they can be controlled remotely, usually to send spam or launch phishing campaigns.

Prevention methods highlighted were firewall usage, installing computer security updates, using antivirus and antispyware software, and showing caution when opening e-mail attachments.

2005-October-26

IBM announced today that Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor will be the second source to make the PowerPC microprocessors for Microsoft Xbox 360.

For the younger generation, the irony in this new IBM-Microsoft alliance may need a little explaining.

In 1981, when the world largest computer company IBM decided to enter the personal computer market with its IBM PC, IBM asked Intel and Microsoft to provide the microprocessors and the software. IBM was not too concern with the software supply since finished codes were easily replicable, so the tiny Microsoft was able to become the sole provider of the operating system. On the hardware side, to guarantee supply, IBM asked Intel to find a second source for manufacturing its microprocessors. Intel gave its processor design to Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and asked AMD to be the second source.

Partnering with IBM, Microsoft went on to become the largest software company in the world. Microsoft was so flushed with cash, it expanded into the console game business and built the first Xbox around Intel Pentium 3 733MHz processor. Years later, Microsoft decided to base its second generation Xbox on IBM's processor, but this time around, it's Microsoft who asked IBM to find a second source for its microprocessor to guarantee supply.

As for Intel, it released a revised microprocessor roadmap today, cancelling serveral processors.

Years ago, to differentiate from its rival AMD, Intel convinced the world that Pentium 3 was an evolutionary deadend, and to move ahead with Pentium 4, a radically different architecture from Pentium 3 on which the AMD's processors closely resemble. Intel then throwed the Pentium 3 design to its lab in Israel.

Meanwhile, AMD had made such signficant advances that its processors now performed better than Intel's on both the desktop and the server segments.

To counter the AMD threat, Intel had dropped many technology that evolved from Pentium 4. It replaces the cancelled processors with those that evolved from Pentium M. Pentium M is the corner stone of its heavily promoted Centrino and Viv platforms. Where did the Pentium M come from? It came from the improved Pentium 3 core designed by Intel's Isreali lab.

2005-October-21

The free productivity suite OpenOffice.org 2.0 has been released. Version 2.0 is a major overhaul to an open-source software suite that has recently become a more serious rival to Microsoft Office.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation creator and a database.

OpenOffice's roots lie in Sun's $73.5 million acquisition in 1999 of Star Division, a German company that built an office suite called StarOffice. Sun kept the StarOffice product line, but in 2000 also released it as the open-source OpenOffice.org project.

We have provided the link to OpenOffice.org 2.0 in our download section.

2005-October-20

To curb the creation of fake currency, almost all colour laser printers today have built-in anti-counterfeiting measures in the form of hidden code embeded on the printed pages. The content of the coded information was supposed to be available only to agencies looking for counterfeiters.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a consumer privacy and digital rights organization in the United States, says that it has managed to crack one of these codes, and that the code could have serious implications for consumer privacy.

The code cracked by the EFF was an invisible bar code that contained the serial number of the printer for tracking users as well as the date and time a page was printed. The dots are yellow, less than one millimeter in diameter, and are typically repeated over each page of a document. The pattern is visible under blue light with the help of a magnifying glass or a microscope.

The EFF said it has identified similar coding on pages printed from nearly every major printer manufacturer, including Hewlett-Packard Co., though its team has so far cracked the codes for only one Fuji Xerox model.

2005-October-19

Malaysia's land-line broadband service Streamyx suffered a massive disruption this morning. Starting from around 6:45AM, October 19, Internet services were unavailable until approximately 10:15AM.

The service interruption affected Penang, Selangor, and Johor Bahru.

2005-September-26

Palm announced a Windows-based Treo in San Francisco, ending months of speculation that the PDA maker was ditching its Palm OS for Windows.

The PDA market is evolving into a smart phone market. Palm OS simply could not keep up with modern demands for multimedia, multitasking, and high-speed networking. PalmSource, which makes the Palm OS, hasn't turned out a usable new operating system in years. PalmSource has pushed the old Palm OS 5.4 and is currently promising a Linux-based OS at some point in the future.

As a result, Palm OS market share dropped from 42% in 2004 to less than 19% in 2005.

While Palm said the company is still committed to the Palm OS, new connected Palm devices will likely based on the Windows OS.

2005-September-21

The Opera web browser has been made free.

A free version has been available for some time, but this carried banner advertising to cover the costs of generating the code. The Norwegian company has decided to remove the banner ads from its browser and make the program altogether free.

Banner ads and user fees are estimated to have accounted for more than half of Opera's revenues in 2004, but the company said it hopes to make that up through revenue-sharing arrangements with online giants like Google, eBay, and Amazon.

In one of these arrangements, Opera has built in a Google search toolbar into its browser. Every time an Opera user does a Google search and clicks on advertising posted by Google, Opera will get a percentage of the ad revenue.

"We believe that the revenue from third-party offerings will increase in proportion to desktop revenue as more users adopt Opera," said Mr. von Tetzchner.

About 20 million people use the Opera desktop browser worldwide, a figure it wants to triple. "Our goal is to become the number two browser," said Mr. von Tetzchner, "It's going to be tough to get the number one spot from Microsoft."

The company is hoping that by making the browser free the increase in take-up will cover the lost subscription revenue. Opera users can still pay for enhanced email support for the browser.

The latest build, version 8.5, is available for download from the Opera web site.

2005-August-25

Following the success of its "Centrino" marketing campaign, Intel will repackage the same basic technology used in its Centrino mobile platform as part of a new home-entertainment platform that will be branded as "Viiv".

The first Viiv-branded systems are expected in the first quarter of 2006, and will use the same dual-core Yonah Pentium M processor to be used in the next mobile Centrino update, which also is set for the first quarter of 2006, as well as the same supporting networking and graphics chipsets.

All Viiv systems will ship with a remote control, Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition operating system, and other software that will allow users to interact with their PC in similar fashion to using a television.

2005-July-27

Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage program has gone live worldwide, after tested successfuly in China, Norway, Czech Republic and the United States. With this program, it is now mandatory for all Windows customers to electronically submit their copy of Windows to determine its authenticity before users can download patches, update and fixes.

An ActiveX control now checks the authenticity of Windows and stores a special download key on the PC for future verification.

If Windows is determined to be counterfeit, user can:

1. file a counterfeit report with proof of purchase; send in the counterfeit CD and may get a valid copy for free; or
2. pay USD99 upgrade fee for Windows XP Home Edition; or
3. pay USD149 upgrade fee for Windows XP Professional; or
4. Do nothing and forfeit the rights to updates via Microsoft.com and Microsoft Update and other value-added materials that Microsoft provides to participants.

The program is not designed to punish end-users, but to catch distributors and systems builders that preload illegal copies of Windows on their systems, which Microsoft claims costs an estimated USD31 billion per year in economic damage.

2005-July-13

Web pages designed for mobile phones will get the ".mobi" top-level domain suffix as their own domain.

The new domain will be managed by a holding company, mTLD Top Level Domain, which was formed by member companies including Hutchison 3, GSM Association, Ericsson, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

Ameet Shah, chairman of the mTLD Top Level Domain board, said: ".mobi will enhance and improve the ease of use of internet-based mobile data services through discoverability, predictability, speed and delivery to market.

"The new .mobi domain will indicate to consumer and enterprise users that the site they are visiting is optimised for the delivery of content and services to mobile devices. This quality assurance will attract users and stimulate internet-based mobile data usage."

Since 2000, eight new top-level domains have been introduced: .aero, .biz, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, .pro, and .xxx.

Contact Us for our mobile software solutions

2005-July-11

IBM has unveiled two new PowerPC chips: a low-power version of the 970FX chip for laptop computers. and a dual-core version of the PowerPC 970FX: the new PowerPC 970MP.

PowerPC 970FX is better known as the G5 processor in Apple’s PowerMac and iMac machines.

The processor will be available in speed increments of 1.4GHz to 2.5GHz and has 1MB of L2 cache. The upcoming Xbox 360 and Nintendo Revolution are both confirmed adopters of PowerPC hardware. Beyond that the future of PowerPC seems doubtful, as the main customer for the PowerPC chips, Apple Computer Inc., had said that it is switching to Intel's; and that IBM itself is betting on the Cell chip, an evolution of the PowerPC architecture.

There is a side story that's worth telling with the expected demise of this architecture. For those of you who do not follow the history of personal computers, there was once a machine called the Amiga, which was a series of very advanced machines based on the Motorola 68000 processors.

Despite its superior technology, Amiga had never became spectacularly successful: the company was plagued by infightings, confusing marketing plans, ill-timed launches of new models, delayed productions due to inadequate supply. Industry observers called it "The Curse of Amiga".

Through the years Amiga had its ups and downs, while the Motorola 68000 evolved to become the PowerPC. Years later, Amiga tried to reinvent itself and the next Amiga was intended to run on PowerPC, a decision part based on the assumption that the chip would be widely available and cheap due to mass production for Apple.

2005-July-8

A new Internet survey by the Pew Internet & American Life project says 91% of American Internet users have changed their online behavior out of fear of falling victim to hidden spyware scams.

68% - or some 93 million Americans - had computer problems in the past year due to adware, spyware and virus infections. 25% have seen programs appear on their systems that they did not knowingly install, and 18% said their home pages changed for no apparent reason.

In response, 81% said they no longer open e-mail attachments unless they know the contents are safe. 48% said they have stopped visiting certain Web sites to avoid unwanted programs downloading onto their computers.

Although, to be fair, spyware might not have been the culprit but got the blame anyway for problems it was not even causing. In the survey, 60% never figured out what caused problems to their PCs.

Contact Us for our software and hardware firewalls

2005-June-30

Google has released Google Earth, a 3D interface to the planet earth. The program uses satellite images and also lets you see roads, buildings, and other elements of a locality including restaurants, bars, coffee houses, hotels and the like.

Some images are more highly detailed than others as Google builds up the Keyhole application.

Google's technology is free to any Web site that uses it for applications offered free to consumers. Mountain View-based Google wants the company's logo included on any maps the developers create, along with a link back to Google Maps. Google also cautions that it may show advertisements on the maps in the future.

Not to be outdone, Yahoo said Wednesday that it too will soon offer outside programmers the same sort of software information about its mapping service.