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| Sci-Tech Today http://www.sci-tech-today.com Tech News by Sci-Tech Today (http://www.sci-tech-today.com). en-us Copyright © 2008 Sci-Tech Today, Inc. editorial@sci-tech-today.com webmaster@sci-tech-today.com Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:04:07 -0500 Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:04:07 -0500 Sci-Tech Today News Sci-Tech Today http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 5 http://images.sci-tech-today.com/images/rss-logo-newsfactor-white.gif Sci-Tech Today http://www.sci-tech-today.com Google Releases Android SDK, Version 0.9 A new beta software development kit is out for Android, the open-source mobile operating system backed by Google. Version 0.9 of the SDK was announced Monday on the Android Developers Blog.
<p>
An early version was released in November and, although some developers praised it, many said they found it buggy.
<p>
<subhead>
First Step Toward 1.0
</subhead>
<p>
The goal with the early version, wrote Google Developer Advocate Dan Morrill on the Android Developers Blog, was "to give developers insight into the platform as early on as possible, and to get some initial feedback." Since that release, he added, Google has been working with the Open Handset Alliance to utilize developers' feedback and get ready for the release of the first devices, now expected in the fourth quarter.
<p>
The beta SDK, he said, is another step toward an Android 1.0 release. Morrill added that it is "pretty stable and we don't expect any major changes."
<p>
But there are changes from the first release. A new home screen, along with various user-interface changes, are included in the beta. New applications include an alarm clock, a calculator, a camera, a music player, a picture viewer, and SMS/MMS text messaging.
<p>
There are also new development tools, including a graphical preview for XML layouts for users of Eclipse, plus new APIs and what Morrill described as "tons" of bug fixes.
<p>
He also pointed to the Android Developer Roadmap, "a living document" that is continually updated with achieved and upcoming milestones. Its time line, which includes Monday's release, points to additional, pre-1.0 SDK releases in September, and the 1.0 release in the third or fourth quarter.
<p>
<subhead>
'In a Big Rush'
</subhead>
<p>
The time line includes other milestones for the fourth quarter, including the first availability at retail of Android 1.0 devices, a release of source code, and a "key announcement" on Android Developer Challenge II.
<p>
Al Hilwa,... http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61423 http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61423 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:18:53 -0500 Apple's iPhone 3G Firmware Update Bombs After lots of complaints about iPhone 3G connection issues, Apple released a firmware update Monday with hopes it would fix the issues. But early reports suggest it didn't work as planned.
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Complaints have included dropped calls, abrupt network switches, poor reception, and service interruptions.
<p>
The glitches were reportedly related to a chip inside Apple's music-playing cell phone. BusinessWeek reported last week that Apple was working on a remedy through a software upgrade.
<p>
<subhead>
Fix Causes More Problems
</subhead>
<p>
Apple declined to offer details about its iPhone 2.0.1 update, other than saying it included "bug fixes." However, comments in Apple's support forum say plenty about the latest attempt to rectify poor user experiences. In fact, the update seems to be causing new issues, apparently interfering with the GPS function, among others.
<p>
"The first thing I noticed was the really jerky scrolling in applications like looking at photos and e-mail lists. Anything that had long lists didn't like to scroll, but on the previous firmware it was very, very fast!" Demlotcrew wrote in the Apple support forum.
<p>
Other iPhone users reported having no issues with the original firmware, but now having problems with Monday's fix. One user reported the firmware turned the iPhone into a virtual brick. Many users are trying to reinstall the original firmware to avoid the new issues, opting for what they see as the lesser of two evils.
<p>
<subhead>
Still Looking for the Root
</subhead>
<p>
Richard Windsor, a financial analyst at Nomura Securities, could be right after all. In a research paper released last week, he pointed to similar complaints with 3G phones launched in Europe five years ago and speculated the culprit could be the chipset inside the iPhone 3G. The handset runs on an Infineon 3G chipset.
<p>
"We believe that these issues are typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack where we are almost certain that... http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61404 http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61404 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:34:14 -0500 AT&T Wants To Exploit Customers' Web Activity AT&T is mulling over the idea of monitoring its customers' surfing habits for those who use the company as their ISP, according to the New York Times on Thursday. While it has not yet done so, the company pointed to practices by Google in defense of its plans. However, if it does move forward, AT&T said it would do the right thing and require an "opt-in."
<p>
The practice is anticipated for customers who use AT&T as their ISP, and no mention of iPhone or other AT&T smartphone web browsers was made. Given Apple's historical concern over customer privacy and location services "opt-in" actions, that may not be on AT&T's radar right away for iPhone users.
<p>
The AT&T statements were part of a response to an inquiry from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce after reports that some ISPs, including Charter Communications, was going to sell detailed logs of their customer's Web surfing activities to an advertising company called NebuAd.
<p>
Charter has put it's plans on hold. In its response to the House Committee, the company said it was going to use an "opt-out" approach -- the customer would have to actively ask not to be included. [However, those notifications are seldom put in a single postal letter and sent to the customer. The provision is often simply buried deep in the fine print of a service agreement.]
<p>
Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and AOL responded to the committee and said that they don't monitor customer activity on sites that they don't run.
<p>
Dorothy Attwood, AT&T's senior vice president for public policy, provided a spirited defense of behavioral targeting, and claimed that their potential plans would benefit customers "online experience while protecting their privacy."
<p>
Recently, the FCC has been monitoring ISPs, particularly Comcast, for adherence to Net Neutrality principles. Now, the federal government also appears to... http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61396 http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61396 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:42:32 -0500 Ancient IRS Rule May Trap Corporate Mobile Phone Users Much has been made about the readiness of the iPhone for the enterprise. Now that Gartner has declared that it is, organizations that issue that new iPhone to employees should be aware of an old IRS rule that has forced others to pay huge back taxes, according to NPR on Thursday.
<p>
The often overlooked IRS rule goes back 20 years to the days when cell phones were rare, expensive and primarily used by elite executives whose company could afford to pay thousands of dollars for brick-sized mobile phones.
<p>
The IRS rule says that it's fine for employees who are supplied a mobile phone by their employer to make personal calls. The catch is that they have to properly account for every personal call with detailed logs in order to assess the corresponding taxes.
<p>
With the iPhone's personal nature, easy access to the Internet, and many personal uses, such as location services, it's even harder to distinguish personal from corporate use.
<p>
In 2007, the University of California at Los Angeles was slapped with a back tax bill for US$240,000 because it couldn't provide such logs. Their remedy was to issue a voucher to each employee, as a job benefit, and let the employees buy their own phones. The tax burden was fully shifted to the employee.
<p>
Tax laws are slow to change, but the U.S. Congress is finally dealing with the situation. An change that would address the situation has bipartisan support, but has not yet become tax law. In the meantime, employers who are eager to rollout an iPhone, or any mobile phone to their employees, should be aware of this ancient IRS trap. http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61395 http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61395 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:42:52 -0500 Presidential Campaigns Connect Online, in Person Like a lot of 15-year-olds, Countryside High School student Mark Hettig spends time on the Internet sites MySpace and Facebook to connect with friends. Unlike a lot of 15-year-olds, he spent several weeks this summer volunteering for a presidential campaign.
<p>
Talk to Mark awhile, and it quickly becomes clear these two activities are somewhat similar. Running a presidential campaign in 2008 is starting to look a lot like Facebooking.
<p>
"We've gotten a great response from McCain Nation," he says, referring to a part of the candidate's Web site that allows supporters to create and find nearby campaign events. "I've been pleasantly surprised."
<p>
Other supporters are logging onto "McCain Space," a name that sounds inspired by "MySpace," while Barack Obama backers are creating personalized Web pages on Mybarackobama.com, or "MyBO" for short.
<p>
There's a good reason presidential campaigns are borrowing heavily from social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
<p>
These sites let people create online networks of friends so they can chat and rant among themselves, find new friends and make plans to get together.
<p>
Which just happens to be the essence of political organizing: communicating to like-minded people and mobilizing them.
<p>
"It's about checking in with your community, and people you've established relationships with," said Adrianne Marsh, Florida spokeswoman for the Obama campaign.
<p>
On a MyBO page, people can post pictures of themselves and write their profiles, explaining why they support Obama. They can start a blog. They can create online groups of Obama backers, or join existing ones like the "Tampa Bay O-Train," "Pinellas for Obama" or "Lisa's Precinct Captains." They can name other people as friends and, of course, make online contributions.
<p>
One of the founders of Facebook, Chris Hughes, is a campaign official supervising the site, which also helped Obama raise millions of dollars in online campaign contributions.
<p>
Although McCain's Web site does not have as... http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61390 http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61390 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:40:47 -0500 Taiwan Offers Comics on Mobile Phones Taiwanese mobile service providers have started a comics service on cell phones following the huge success of the business in nearby Japan.
<p>
Chunghwa Telecom, the island's largest phone company, began offering a cartoon service last month mainly about boxers and warriors, using the technology of Celsys Inc., a Japanese company that develops browser software for mobile content distributors.
<p>
Rival Taiwan Mobile Co. signed a contract with Cartoon Network to have its popular shows "Powerpuff Girls" and "Ben 10" remade into comics for handset users to download and view, the first such venture by the Time Warner Inc.-owned network. That service started last week. Other cartoons were available in July, when 10,000 cell phone users downloaded the comics.
<p>
Taiwan Mobile also offers its clients "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms," a popular Japanese comic book based on the classic Chinese story of war and revenge.
<p>
The two firms are among major mobile service providers promoting the new service at the Comic Exhibition in Taipei, a four-day trade show that has attracted tens of thousands of cartoon fans.
<p>
Industry sources said the comics-on-phone business generated US$90 million in revenues in Japan in 2006. Taiwan, with a population of 23 million compared to 127 million in Japan and less sophisticated cell phone users, hopes to reach one-fifth or one-tenth of that figure in five years, they said.
<p>
"Viewing comics on cell phones is a different experience," said Christina Hsieh, a Taiwan Mobile official. "For instance, a punch in the head would have a dramatic effect with a loud bang and vibration."
<p>
Hu Hueuh-hai, deputy head of Chunghwa Telecom's mobile service, said his company offers mainly works by Japanese authors -- popular comics featuring boxers or warriors.
<p>
"Many Japanese authors provide the cell phone versions that would spare the remake from comic books," he said.
<p>
A three-day test of the service costs 135... http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61382 http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61382 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:40:23 -0500 Analog TV Shutdown Kills Free Cell-Phone TV Picture whipping out your cell phone and catching up with "Lost" or "Jeopardy," or watching the local 11 o'clock news, all for free. You can do this with an imported Chinese phone, but you can't with any phone sold in the U.S. -- at least not without monthly charges.
<p>
This is one of the reasons the United States is behind several other countries when it comes to making television an attractive option for cell phones. Carrier business models are partly at fault, but choices about TV technology made long ago are largely to blame.
<p>
Most phones sold in Japan can tune in to free TV broadcasts, and there are tens of millions of viewers. Cell phones that can tune in to free broadcasts are also available in South Korea, Germany and China.
<p>
But only 3 percent of Americans regularly watched video on their cell phones late last year, according to a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. That figure includes people who watched short, downloaded clips rather than broadcast TV.
<p>
For starters, you can blame the impending shutdown of all full-power analog TV broadcasts on Feb. 17, a deadline set by the government. That Chinese handset, made by ZTE Corp., can only tune in to analog transmissions. Because most of them are going away, there's no real point in selling phones like that in the United States.
<p>
China is keeping its analog broadcasts until 2015, six years longer than the U.S., so the phones are viable there. Ironically, the TV reception chip inside comes from a U.S. company, Telegent Systems Inc., based in Sunnyvale, Calif.
<p>
The analog U.S. broadcasts are being replaced by digital broadcasts, but there are no phones anywhere that can tune in to those.
<p>
When the U.S. digital TV standard was laid down in the early '90s by the Advanced Television... http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61380 http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61380 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:41:34 -0500 Saturn's Geyser-Spewing Moon Stumps Science Frozen iceball or hidden ocean? NASA's Cassini spacecraft has renewed debate among planetary scientists over Saturn's geyser-spewing mystery moon, Enceladus.
<p>
Cassini mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., have begun unveiling images of a 40,000-mph pass over Enceladus last week. The flyby, which kicks off a two-year extension of the $3.3 billion spacecraft's mission to explore Saturn, passed about 29 miles above the moon's south pole.
<p>
"If there is one set of images from this mission that illustrates how skilled we have become as planetary explorers, this is it," says Cassini imaging team leader Carolyn Porco of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
<p>
Spinning around as it passed overhead to shoot the images, Cassini captured the "tiger stripe" fissures on the moon, from which geysers were first spotted in 2005.
<p>
The discovery started a debate over whether "icequakes" grind the frozen crust of the moon enough to warm and release gases there or whether a lake is hidden within Enceladus, feeding the geysers. Liquid water is considered a crucial ingredient for life.
<p>
The geyser discovery alone on Enceladus surprised scientists, who thought that the 310-mile-wide moon was too small to harbor any significant earthquake activity or a core hot enough to power geysers. The flyby images reveal more clues to the mystery of the tiger stripes:
<p>
*They appear to be about 980 feet deep and have steep walls.
<p>
*A snowy fallout of smooth ice lines their sides.
<p>
*Ice boulders the size of houses surround them.
<p>
Most intriguing, the imaging team reports signs that the geyser vents clearly have moved up and down the tiger stripes, perhaps icing themselves shut after each eruption.
<p>
"The report that they see self-sealing and evidence for movement of the vents up and down along the fractures over time is great news," says Susan Kieffer of the University of Illinois in Urbana.... http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61379 http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61379 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:22:27 -0500 Twitter's Business Model Is Starting To Show Twitter's business model is starting to show. An early sign came in April, when the popular microblogging service launched in Japan and the home page for every Japanese user included a big banner ad in the top right corner.
<p>
Then, on Aug. 7, Twitter made another change, this time in the U.S., by limiting the number of people a single user could connect with, or "follow," to about 2,000. Most recently, on Aug. 14, Twitter made the biggest move yet to slash costs. It killed outbound message delivery to mobile phones via short message, or SMS, in all countries except the U.S., Canada, and India.
<p>
Taken together, these moves point to the trouble with Twitter. Investors and marketers have been agog over the potential for Twitter -- unlike other social media properties, such as Facebook and MySpace -- to crack the code, finally, on wringing revenue from millions of users. But the optimists better brace for disappointment.
<p>
<subhead>
Metcalfe vs. Zipf
</subhead>
<p>
To understand the limits of Twitter's value, first look inside. Robert Metcalfe, co-inventor of the Ethernet, noticed that communication networks tend to increase exponentially with each single addition, a logic that today is called Metcalfe's Law. Think of a fax machine sitting alone and unplugged in your office; it has little value by itself. But plug it into a network of fax machines around the world, and suddenly that communications tool has huge potential.
<p>
Metcalfe's logic drove a lot of the inflated company valuations of the Internet bubble in the 1990s. And today, investors have the same hopes for a lot of companies that rely on users and their networks, including Yahoo's photo site Flickr, video sharing companies YouTube and Vimeo, and human networks on Facebook, MySpace, Pownce, and Twitter. Just think how delighted marketers would be to lob a single, online message to the... http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61378 http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61378 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:23:20 -0500 Online Sharing with Creative Commons Not long after Joichi Ito uploaded a photo he had taken of Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia last year, he noticed something odd. Most of the Internet luminaries and technology gurus who had write-ups on Wikipedia had poor-quality photos or none at all. It wasn't just that. "I realized that some famous people have no free photos online," says Ito, a U.S.-educated Japanese venture capitalist and co-founder of Digital Garage, a Tokyo Net startup incubator.
<p>
Ito decided to do something about it. Last May he started turning his Leica and medium-format cameras on practically anyone he met on his travels. Ito spent half the year crisscrossing the globe for meetings and conferences, and within months he had a trove of thousands of images: from O'Reilly Media founder Tim O'Reilly, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, to film directors George Lucas and J.J. Abrams [of Cloverfield and Mission: Impossible III fame]. There were even shots of Ito's own sister Mizuko and other family members.
<p>
Now he plans to publish them in a book, titled Freesoul. But Ito doesn't expect to profit. In September, when the book goes on sale on Amazon, Ito will give away the photos online. Anyone will be able to download, re-use, republish, or remix the photos for free; Ito only asks that they credit him for the originals. He thinks more people will download the photos than buy the book. "If we sell a couple thousand copies [to recoup the costs], that's fine," says the boyish 42-year-old Ito.
<p>
<subhead>
Giving it Away on the Internet
</subhead>
<p>
Ito isn't just some amateur shutterbug with an altruistic streak. In April he took over as the head of Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that offers copyright licenses for creative works. Creative Commons is the brainchild of Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig. He started it... http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61376 http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61376 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:28:02 -0500 |
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