IBM and five universities are receiving funding from a government agency to build a supercomputer -- but not just any supercomputer. They've been tasked with building hardware and software that mimics the human brain. There are no computers today that can even remotely approach the robust and versatile functionality of the brain, said Dharmendra Modha of IBM Research. Cognitive computing is the quest to engineer mind-like intelligent business machines by reverse engineering the computational function of the brain and packaging it in a small, low-power chip.
So far, the testimony in the Lori Drew cyber-bullying trial, which began Wednesday in Los Angeles, has generated headlines for its inherent drama and tragedy: the mother of a teenage daughter, accused of using the MySpace social network to stage an elaborate hoax that ends with the suicide of a troubled 13-year-old classmate, Megan Meier. But the legal foundation for the prosecution's case seems like it belongs to a different court proceeding, one that doesn't involve a mother's tears and stories of teen girl gossip-mongering.
Samsung announced Thursday it has begun mass production of a 256 gigabyte solid state drive designed for use in notebook an desktop PCs. The drives round out Samsung's line of SSDs, which includes 8, 16, and 32 GB SSD models for low-density designs and 64 and 128 GB for higher densities, the company said. The significance of this launch is in that Samsung is improving SSD performance and it shows that the industry is still improving SSD technology, Jeffrey Janukowicz, an analyst at IDC, told TechNewsWorld.
NASA has announced it has successfully tested the first deep-space communications network. The new network, modeled on the Internet, was able to transmit scores of space images between Earth and a NASA science spacecraft located more than 20 million miles away. Dubbed the Interplanetary Internet, the software protocol was a joint venture between NASA and Vint Cerf, a vice president at Google, that began in 1998. However, it was a team of engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., that used Disruption-Tolerant Networking to transmit the images.
Nokia and IBM are teaming up to bring corporate e-mail, calendar, address book and messaging functions to mobile workers. Nokia's move is its latest attempt to compete with Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry e-mail device. The Finland-based phonemaker signed a similar deal with Microsoft in September. The deal with Big Blue will let Nokia smartphone owners access IBM Lotus Notes e-mail starting next month.
Everything's going open source nowadays. Why not government? That's precisely the question that some analysts and consultants are asking, along with citizens themselves. President-Elect Barack Obama has begun to implement a bit of open source thinking with his Presidential Transition Project Web site, which allows citizens to send in comments, ideas and suggestions for public policy, as well as apply for jobs within the Obama administration. And others in and around government are likely to follow his lead in enacting what might be called Legislation 2.0.
The much-anticipated BlackBerry Storm goes on sale Friday through Verizon Wireless, threatening to create some serious waves for what has been smooth sailing for the popular Apple iPhone. I've been testing an evaluation unit for the better part of a week and can say that the sleek new Storm is the most compelling rival yet, incorporating many of the iPhone's revolutionary features but adding a distinctly BlackBerry style and some new tricks of its own. Corporate types waiting for a major upgrade to the BlackBerry are going to love the Storm's brilliant display.
Microsoft is giving an early holiday gift to people who pay for all-you-can-listen access to the Zune digital music store: 10 songs to keep each month, included in the $14.99 monthly subscription fee. The decision may appeal to people who have been reluctant to test out the subscription model, preferring to own their music instead of rent it. Microsoft's Zune Pass, RealNetworks' Rhapsody and others give users unlimited access to millions of songs in exchange for a monthly fee. But as soon as the user stops paying, the music stops playing unless he or she buys each track.
Mozilla has advised Firefox customers not to try add-ons classed as experimental, such as the recently released China Channel, because they could cause computer problems. Firefox add-ons allow users to personalize their browsing and add additional features, and because Firefox is open source, many of these add-ons are thought up by third-party developers. Add-ons classed as experimental are those still being tested, although they are available for public use. However, Mozilla does not recommend users downloading such add-ons unless they are very technically minded.
Astronauts vowed to double-check, even triple-check all their tethers to make sure a bag of tools is properly tied down during a spacewalk Thursday so it doesn't float away like one did earlier this week. Within two hours of waking up, lead spacewalker Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Shane Kimbrough were inside their spacesuits, ready for the second of four spacewalks planned for their mission. We're definitely not going to do it again. You're not going to see us lose another bag, Stefanyshyn-Piper said.
It's time to fire the cable guy. And the satellite guy. If you have a high-speed Internet connection, you have so many new ways to watch shows and movies on TV that you don't need those guys any more. I can connect my laptop to my TV to watch YouTube videos and network shows -- NBC, CBS, ABC -- online. And now that Netflix movies can be watched on Macs, just about any computer can download and play movies. Later, cable company.
Apple has been particularly aggressive in setting standards and showing leadership with the iPhone and new MacBooks. They've removed FireWire from the MacBook, to many people's alarm, moved to DisplayPort video technology, and, on the iPhone side, completely disrupted an industry that was asleep at the wheel. And yet when it comes to the digital living room, Apple has shown very little leadership. From time to time, we've heard rumors about all kinds of neat ideas for Apple to seize the initiative in casual home theater.
As the first touch-screen BlackBerry - and arguably the most formidable rival to Apple's iPhone so far - the BlackBerry Storm from Verizon Wireless is getting big-time attention.
This is what you call not having your witness under control. Wired’s Kim Zetter reports that the government’s star witness massively undercut the government’s case against Lori Drew, who is accused of violating federal antihacking laws by using MySpace ...
by Michael Arrington on November 20, 2008 We’d noticed an increasing number of people emailing on a large-scale bucket test (a product change tested on just a percentage of total users) that Google has been conducting for months - adding a Digg-like ...
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD Despite a tool shortage, a spacesuit carbon dioxide buildup late in the day and communications problems, spacewalkers Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Robert Shane Kimbrough accomplished the primary goals of a six-hour 45-minute ...
By Maggie Shiels Surfing the internet, playing games and hanging out on social networks are important for teen development, a large study of online use has revealed.
By Emil Protalinski | Published: November 20, 2008 - 11:12AM CT Subscription music models have always been a better solution than à la carte models, at least in theory.
(11-20) 20:18 PST -- Bay Area environmental leaders are counting on a $1 billion investment to build the nation's first electric vehicle network - with service stations to recharge batteries and garages to swap depleted batteries for fresh ones - and ...
Kozar_The_Malignant writes Scientific American is reporting that 'data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter point to vast glaciers buried beneath thin layers of crustal debris.
An intact skeleton of a woolly mammoth that is on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. By NICHOLAS WADE Scientists are talking for the first time about the old idea of resurrecting extinct species as if this staple of ...
by Scott Lowe November 20, 2008 - I am an incredible proponent of online gaming. In fact, I've developed such an affinity for online play that my purchasing of a game often hinges on whether or not it has an online multiplayer mode.
Yahoo and T-Mobile have finally consummated a deal that will bring Yahoo's search capabilities to the United States' fourth-largest cell-phone carrier.
By Julian Sanchez | Published: November 20, 2008 - 10:00PM CT If you believe author/activist Naomi Klein, there's a nefarious conservative conspiracy intent on making the world safe for capitalism by exploiting national crises to force political change ...
Vista is famous for asking unqualified users to make far too many judgment calls about security. Can Windows 7 teach the hated User Account Control to make its own decisions?
The main thing keeping SSD hard drives out of the mainstream is their high costs and low capacities. Currently 128GB SSDs sell for around $400, far more expensive than comparable traditional drives while still holding less data.
By JERRY GARRETT ACROSS the United States, the inventory of unsold new vehicles accumulating at dealerships and on storage lots topped three million earlier this month.
The Internet giant, which launched the site less than five months ago, says it wants to focus on its core search business. By Alex Pham Not all Google Inc. endeavors turn into gold.
By Joel Hruska | Published: November 20, 2008 - 07:50PM CT Yesterday, HP launched its multitouch-capable TouchSmart tx2 and dubbed it the first multitouch tablet on the market.
