Archive for the 'Technology' Category
August 12th, 2009, 10:34 am by Jayson Peters
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a federal judge has ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word products that “that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML.”
 That’s, like, all of them, as Lifehacker points out.
The injunction takes effect in October. Microsoft will appeal the order and the $290 million in damages awarded to i4i, a Canadian firm that holds a patent on a method for reading XML.
Microsoft today announced that its Office applications — which include Word — would be made available on Nokia mobile phones. How will the court ruling affect that alliance?
The computing giant recently scored a major victory by persuading Yahoo to surrender control of the Internet’s second most popular search engine and help it take on Google.
See also:
UPDATE: Microsoft can continue selling Word as it appeals the patent ruling, a court said Sept. 3.
Posted in: Technology • Microsoft • PC • software | Post a Comment »
August 10th, 2009, 12:32 pm by Jayson Peters
 The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is joining Amazon in the digital textbook business.
CourseSmart, which provides e-book subscriptions for college students, is making its 7,000-plus library available on Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch devices. An app will allow subscribers to access full electronic textbooks, keep digital notes and search for specific words and phrases.
Textbooks Offered for iPod, iPhones — Wall Street Journal (subscriber content)
Recently, after Arizona State University launched a pilot program to provide textbooks via Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, advocates for the blind sued because the Kindle, while it has a reading function for the vision-impaired, lacks such accommodation in its navigation menus.
Apple’s iPhone, it seems, doesn’t have the same problem.
Image: Apple
Posted in: Books • Technology • Apple • e-books • iPhone | 3 Comments »
August 3rd, 2009, 11:51 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
While Marvel Comics’ Tony Stark still holds the advantage with his Iron Man suit, citizens of Japan are getting closer. Cyberdyne, Inc., a Japanese company, has unveiled a robotic suit that amplifies the strength of the wearer by up to 10 times. There’s no clumsy joystick or difficult control schemes to master. All the wearer has to do is move normally.
The “Hybrid Assistive Limb” or HAL works by detecting the trace electrical charges that are transmitted when a person moves. Once detected the robotic limb moves in concert with the real limb and prest-o: super-strength.
The system can run between two and a half and five hours on a single charge. The two-leg version is available for a $2,300 monthly fee. Which seems to be a small price to pay for superpowers, given what most comic characters have to go through. Unfortunately, the company is only offering it to Japanese residents currently.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Technology • japan • robots | Post a Comment »
July 31st, 2009, 11:26 pm by Jayson Peters
I wasn’t going to blog about this, but it just got a lot more interesting.
On Tuesday Apple rejected an iPhone app for Google Voice, a free VoIP service that lets users link their various phone numbers together. Immediately a googol of Google fans cried foul, saying the iPhone maker was stifling innovation by acting only in its own self-interest.
Now, late Friday, comes word via The Wall Street Journal that the Federal Communications Commission has sent letters to Google, Apple and iPhone carrier AT&T, wanting to know more about Apple’s practices of late.
A clash of the titans is brewing, it seems. And now the government is getting involved.
Via Gawker/LifeHacker
Posted in: Technology • Apple • Business • FCC • Google • Google Voice • Internet • iPhone • Law • VoIP | 1 Comment »
July 31st, 2009, 11:20 am by Jayson Peters
Talk about an ability to kindle up controversy.
 A high school student has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com for deleting an e-book he bought for the e-tailer’s Kindle device, according to a report by The Associated Press. The lawsuit seeks class-action status and unspecified damages for all buyers of e-books that Amazon deleted, plus a ban on future deletions.
Amazon pulled the George Orwell books Animal Farm and 1984 from its e-book inventory July 16 because the particular editions sold were basically bootlegs, and the works are not yet in the public domain here in the United States.
The lawsuit alleges that the student’s notes for a school assignment were “rendered useless” when the content disappeared.
In June, Arizona State University found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit when advocates for the blind alleged discrimination because the school was offering textbooks in the Kindle format. While the device has the ability to read to the blind, its interface has no audio or Braille functionality to let them navigate the menus.
Posted in: Books • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Technology • Amazon • Business • e-books • Kindle • lawsuit • Orwell | Post a Comment »
July 31st, 2009, 12:06 am by Jayson Peters
The latest Doctor Who special, “Planet of the Dead,” has aired on BBC America and is therefore available on iTunes for $1.99 — meaning that fans in the U.S. are now up to date with their British counterparts. At least until this fall, when the next special, “The Waters of Mars,” is expected to air in the U.K.
After that, it’s just a pair of Christmas specials and then David Tennant’s run as the ever-changing Time Lord will be over, giving way to the Matt Smith era.
“Planet of the Dead” guest stars Michelle Ryan (Merlin, Bionic Woman) and comic Lee Evans (There’s Something About Mary) for the first Doctor Who adventure shot in high definition. Ryan plays the mysterious Lady Christina de Souza, who joins the Doctor on a bus trip that takes a very unexpected detour into danger, while British comedy star Lee Evans also joins the cast as a character called Malcolm whose life becomes connected to the Doctor’s under extraordinary circumstances.
See also:
Posted in: Doctor Who • Technology • BBC • David Tennant • iTunes | Post a Comment »
July 28th, 2009, 8:08 pm by Jayson Peters
 The East Valley will host one of the first two Microsoft stores when the computing giant enters the retailing world this fall.
The Associated Press reported today that Microsoft announced a lease at Scottsdale Fashion Square, which does not have a competing Apple Store, and at The Shops at Mission Viejo in California, which does. Microsoft picked the locations because they’re “hot markets” with the right demographics, a spokeswoman said. The stores will sell laptop computers, Zune media players, Microsoft and third-party software and Xbox 360 games and consoles.
Posted in: Gaming • Technology • Xbox 360 • Apple • Microsoft • PC • Scottsdale | Post a Comment »
July 25th, 2009, 11:27 pm by Jayson Peters
We’ve already reported that at least one e-tailer has proved it has both the ability and the guts to snatch back content you thought you wanted (Amazon embraces the Orwellian spirit and UPDATE: Orwell e-books yanked from Kindles were bootlegs, July 17).
Now the U.S. government appears to be on the verge of establishing a squad of truth police if not Thought Police, if Tribune columnist Austin Hill is to be believed (Obama appointee wants control of web speech, July 25).
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Books • Technology • Television • Amazon • Barack Obama • Big Brother • Business • e-books • George Orwell • Hmmmmm..... • Internet • Kindle • Nerd rage • PDF • Piracy • Politics | Post a Comment »
July 21st, 2009, 9:34 pm by Jayson Peters
So, the U.S. military’s “corpse-eating robots” I blogged about in passing on Sunday (Weekend Reading) have turned out to be more like lawnmowers, as my colleague Le Templar described them earlier today. He pointed out this article, which reveals the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robots — or EATRs — to be “vegetarians” that run on leaves, grass and other non-animal organic matter.
The U.K.’s Daily Telegraph quoted Harry Schoell, CEO of Cyclone Power Technologies:
“We completely understand the public’s concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population, but that is not our mission.”
Yet?
Posted in: Technology • clarification • correction | Post a Comment »
July 21st, 2009, 1:33 pm by Jayson Peters
The headline on The Associated Press article reads: Yahoo jazzes up home page with major makeover.
Here it is, folks:
I guess that’s what they call a “soft launch.”
Updated: Of course, I’m sure this is probably more what they had in mind:
Posted in: Technology • Internet • Yahoo! | Post a Comment »
July 18th, 2009, 7:29 pm by Jayson Peters
Star Trek will beam down for DVD and Blu-ray Nov. 17. Fans can choose from a three-disc Blu-ray with digital copy, two-disc DVD with digital copy or a single DVD.
Special features on the Blu-ray and two-disc DVD include more on villain Nero’s backstory, deleted scenes featuring the Klingons and “augmented reality technology” that uses your webcam for a 3D holographic tour of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
See also:
Posted in: Technology • Blu-ray • DVDs • Star Trek | Post a Comment »
July 17th, 2009, 11:12 pm by Jayson Peters
 Image courtesy of Amazon Time for an update on the latest Kindle controversy, mentioned earlier today in this blog by Chris:
Imagine this: You go into your favorite bookstore and purchase a book. You take it home and begin reading it. That night the bookstore sneaks into your house, takes the book back and leaves the money you paid for the book in its place. That would be pretty messed up, right?
Well, that’s fairly close to what Amazon has done to Kindle users who had purchased copies of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and “1984.” After the publisher changed their minds about selling electronic versions of the books, Amazon remotely deleted the books from the electronic reading devices.
The latest information from Ars Technica sheds some light on Amazon’s motives. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Books • Technology • Amazon • Business • e-books • Internet • Kindle • Orwell | Post a Comment »
July 17th, 2009, 2:21 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
[Updated here.]
 Imagine this: You go into your favorite bookstore and purchase a book. You take it home and begin reading it. That night the bookstore sneaks into your house, takes the book back and leaves the money you paid for the book in its place. That would be pretty messed up, right?
Well, that’s fairly close to what Amazon has done to Kindle users who had purchased copies of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and “1984.” After the publisher changed their minds about selling electronic versions of the books, Amazon remotely deleted the books from the electronic reading devices.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Books • Technology • Amazon • e-books • Internet • Kindle • Orwell | 1 Comment »
July 16th, 2009, 11:06 pm by Jayson Peters
 NASA If you want to celebrate the 40th anniversary of mankind’s giant leap to the moon, you don’t have to travel the more than 230,000 miles the Apollo 11 astronauts did in 1969. You could just drive to Tucson.
That’s where the University of Arizona’s Lunar Planetary Laboratory will be hosting a public celebration packed with lectures, science activities for kids and interaction with UA scientists who worked on many Apollo missions for NASA.
Hit the jump for details — and be sure to check EastValleyTribune.com this weekend for exclusive content marking man’s first journey to the moon.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Events • Technology • Apollo 11 • Free stuff • history • moon landing • NASA • Science • Tucson | Post a Comment »
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