Mereja

Author: Serkadis

  • Qualcomm Breaks the Gigahertz Barrier on Smartphones

    Qualcomm has just released a new chip family focused on smartphones, including one that breaks the gigahertz barrier. The chips’ capabilities make clear that the line between phones and low-end notebooks are blurring. They’re based on the Scorpion CPU that is at the heart of Snapdragon chipsets and uses an 800 MHz to 1 GHz custom ARM-based CPU.

    This new chip family, the horribly named MSM7×30, can do 720p HD video (encode/decode), 2-D and 3-D graphics, and has surround sound, integrated GPS and a 12-Megapixel camera as well as all the usual trimmings like Bluetooth and Wi-fi and FM Radio 3G (both flavors). On the multimedia front, Qualcomm is playing catch-up Texas Instruments and Nvidia. The new chips work with all smartphone operating systems except Apple’s iPhone OS. They will be launched sometime next year and are optimized for the web experience.

  • Fox News debates video game violence

    Fox News held a fair and balanced debate over Modern Warfare 2, the popular new FPS that lets you play a CIA operative tasked with helping Russian agents clear terrorists out of an airport. In the game, it turns out that the Russian had turned on you and forced you to kill innocents in the airport. It’s a depiction of USA-funded terrorism. It is not a murder simulator.

    The debate here, if it can be called that, seems to rotate around the correlation between video game violence and real violence. The old man in this debate mentioned an American Association of Pediatrics statement. Here it is:

    VIOLENT VIDEO GAME CONTENT MORE ATTRACTIVE TO YOUTH

    Restrictive age and violent-content labels increased the attractiveness of video games for boys and girls of all age groups, according to a new study. In “Age and Violent-Content Labels Make Video Games Forbidden Fruits for Youth,” researchers tested 310 Dutch children in three groups: 7 to 8, 12 to 13 and 16 to 17 years of age. Participants read fictitious video game descriptions and rated how much or how little they wanted to play each game. An important finding for parents, pediatricians and policy-makers is that age and violent-content labels do not prevent young children from playing games with objectionable content. In fact, they have the opposite effect. Study authors suggest that video games should not be forbidden in Europe or the United States because that will only make the games more attractive, and parents should help in selecting appropriate games for their children to play.

    This amazing bit of news – kids like stuff they can’t have – is an obvious by-product of our neophilic instincts and does very little to correlate events like the shooting at Fort Hood and 9/11 to violent video games.

    Violence stems from a lack of human interaction in a nurturing and mental health context. To ascribe any sort of behavior to media is a cop out for the pundits and for the aggressor. That said, I would recommend children not watch Fox News because it encourages damn fools to come to presidential speeches wearing guns, but that’s neither here nor there.

    Sadly, Jon Cristensen at SlashGamer was too tongue-tied to respond to this criticism and it’s rarely the gamer that comes out ahead in these sorts of ambushes. The bottom line: violent games are not for young kids just as pornography, beer, cigarettes, handguns, lighters, spray paint, and knives are not for kids. There is a time and a context for each of those things and to rail against them shows a lack of judgment and clarity.

    UPDATE – A cool response:


  • Apple patents some kind of pen-based digital ink thing

    Apple-pen-aware-tabletClearly this is either an old patent or a Macguffin because whatever this thing is it’s not the iPad. Basically you’ve got some sort of tablet app for recognizing pen input in phrases instead of in “chunks.”

    UnwiredReview found the patent and shared it with the whole wide world.


  • Intel and AMD Kiss and Make Up

    Intel and AMD today settled all of their various patent and antitrust disputes, with the top chipmaker paying out $1.25 billion to settle more than two decades of litigation. The two companies will also cross-license their technology over the next five years. The move helps Intel far more than AMD, as Intel is likely to retain its dominant position in the chip market. But Intel will continue to face government antitrust investigations over its pricing practices, and there’s still an intellectual property suit with Nvidia to deal with.

    However, Intel can’t really afford to let AMD die because it then becomes a monopoly, and governments love to interfere with monopolies. So in a sense, Intel is propping AMD up only to knock it down again in the competitive market.

  • New Patent Application Suggests Apple Tablet Could Have Pen Input

    tablet_patentApple apparently isn’t exclusively devoted to the idea of finger-based multi-touch input on all its devices, a recent patent applications shows. The patent application, found by Apple Insider, describes the use of a pen-like stylus to operate an “ink information” input system, and references tablet computing applications for the new tech by name.

    “Ink information” refers to handwriting technology, specifically. The patent describes that previous attempts in this field, including in Apple’s own Newton device, have been insufficient to the task in the past. It suggests that the addition of an “ink manager,” a kind of go-between interpretive process, might reduce the occurrence of mistaken or misplaced ink detection.

    Here’s the exact wording of Apple’s description of both the problem of ink detection and its proposed solution:

    Even systems that attempt to improve this situation by using each stroke to determine the input field anew, such as the Apple Newton from Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., can suffer from failure modes that make the situation difficult for both end users and for application developers. For example, a word that accidentally spans two input fields even a tiny amount (due, for instance, to a stray ascender, descender, crossbar, or dot) may be broken up into multiple sessions, causing misrecognition and invalid data entries that must be manually corrected.

    The ink manager interfaces between a pen-based input device, one or more applications (pen-aware or not) and one or more handwriting recognition engines executing on the computer system. The ink manager acquires ink information, such as ink strokes, entered at the pen-based input device, and organizes that information into ink phrases.

    Along with the patent description, Apple included an image of the proposed system in the application. The graphic is very reminiscent of prototypes and concepts of the as-yet unannounced tablet computer that has the Apple community bubbling over with excitement. Note the bar at the bottom, which resembles the dock on the home screen of the iPhone. I’d also like to point out that the device looks a lot like a reader, given the scroll buttons at the bottom. Maybe Apple is planning to change the game by making sure its reader doubles as a writer, too.

    Ideally, the digital ink and stylus input tech described in the patent would operate alongside touch input. This application will no doubt bring a lot of hope for digital artists hoping to work with the device, for whom pen input is infinitely preferable to touch control. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait long to find out if a pen system makes it into a production device, since the tablet is rumored to be unveiled in the first quarter of 2010.

  • Word from the White House: Business Roundtable Hewitt Report "Health Care Reform: Creating a Sustainable Market"

    It’s no secret that institutions of all stripes focus their communications on certain messages day to day. We thought it would all be a little more open and transparent if we went ahead and published what our focus will be for the day, along with any related articles, documents, or reports. 

    Supporting report: "Health Care Reform: Creating a Sustainable Health Care Marketplace," Business Roundtable, November 2009 (pdf)

    Talking Points: Business Roundtable Hewitt Report "Health Care Reform: Creating a Sustainable Market"

    The BRT report confirms that the status quo is unsustainable.  The BRT report finds that without health reform, costs will continue to rise at the same trend they have for the last ten years.  The report concludes that without reform, by 2019, employment-based spending on health care for large employers will be 166% higher than today on a per-employee basis. 

    The BRT report confirms that Congress is moving in the right direction on both fiscal responsibility and cost containment.  The BRT-Hewitt report finds that many of the delivery system reform policies that are currently in health reform legislation will make important contributions to cost reduction, when implemented effectively. As the report explains, "[a] number of the proposed reforms offer real promise, not only to save federal dollars, but also to reduce the rate of increase in private sector spending if adopted and implemented appropriately."

    These policies include: value-based purchasing, a new CMS Innovation Center, "accountable care organizations" and reducing preventable hospital re-admissions.   The BRT report also notes that with additional steps such as administrative simplification, electronic medical records, and increased information transparency for better decision-making, even more savings could be reached.  Some of these additional policies were included in ARRA and many others are included in health reform legislation currently pending in Congress.
    With health reform, as much as $3,000 could be saved by 2019.  The BRT-Hewitt study finds that with many of the legislative reforms currently in the health reform bills, costs could be reduced by as much as $3,000 per employee.  

     

  • Palm Pre Sales in “Substantial Decline”: Analyst

    palm-prePalm’s bet on webOS isn’t paying many dividends, according to a research note issued by Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar this morning. Domestic sell-through checks point to a “substantial decline” in recent sales of the Pre, Kumar said, and slashing the price to $99 hasn’t helped much. Nor is the upcoming launch of the Pixi likely to reverse the trend.

    Those slowing sales are whittling away at the prospects for webOS, which Palm had positioned as a worthy competitor to the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry platforms. From the note:

    “As a fading brand, carriers are likely to see better returns on their promotional and advertising dollars with other vendors…WebOS has negligible smartphone OS share, 0.2 percent per Gartner estimates, and is unlikely to attract any meaningful third-party application support. Palm has bet the farm on webOS and there is a real possibility that they may not achieve critical mass.”

    The Pre failed to live up to expectations out of the gate — thanks largely to Sprint’s unwillingness to heavily market the gadget (GigaOM Pro, subscription req.) — and Palm’s next best hope for webOS appeared to be an upcoming launch with Verizon Wireless early next year. But as Verizon’s Droid initiative demonstrates, the Google OS has captured the attention of the nation’s largest carrier. If it overlooks the Pre in favor of the Droid, that could put one more nail in Palm’s coffin.

  • Activision has sold many copies of Modern Warfare 2

    mw2saless

    Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 racked up $310 million in sales across the U.S. and UK during the first 24 hours of availability. That makes it the biggest video game launch ever. Hooray for war simulators!

    It works out to 4.7 million units sold across the two countries. These are Activison’s own numbers, by the way, not some wacky Wall Street analyst or anything like that. (Official worldwide numbers aren’t available yet.)

    That said, an anylsyt for the Cowen Group said that he expects to see the final worldwide number to clock in at around 7 million.

    That really is ridiculous when you think about it: 7 million copies (maybe) of that game sold within 24 hours. That’s just under 300,000 copies sold per hour.

    In other words, it’s a good time to be an Activision stockholder right now.


  • Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Hands-on Video

    At the beginning of the month Sony Ericsson officially announced their first Android powered handset, the XPERIA X10.

    Whilst the full specs and features of the X10 have already been announced, there’s been very little hands-on video footage of both the device and the Rachael user interface.

    The 8 minute hands-on video below runs through the X10’s impressive custom Android user interface, highlighting the devices Timescape, Mediascape, and browser map features and functionality.

    The Xperia X10 features a 1GHz Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm, 4-inch capacitive touchscreen display, an 8.1 mega-pixel camera, and is expected to be available from early 2010.

    [via softpedia.com]

    If you’re looking for more info on the new Verizon Android phones, then be sure to check out Droid Forums & Droid Eris Forums

    Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Hands-on Video

  • Vodafone UK now serving up the HTC HD2

    vodafone-uk-htc-hd2

    We hate to tease our American readers who are holding their breath until it arrives on American shores, but Vodafone UK has begun selling the HTC HD2. Free on all tariffs over £35 on a 24 month contract or free on all tariffs over £40 on an 18 month contract, the HTC HD2 is a monster of a smartphone with a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 4.3″ WVGA capacitive touchscreen display. Plus most users will hardly realize that the HD2 is running Windows Mobile 6.5 thanks in part to HTC’s Sense UI. Just watch out for a sharp bezel around the 5 megapixel camera. It scratched the hell out of our desk.

    Read

  • Can A Moron Driving A Porsche Recognize The Difference Between The Car And A Pair Of Crocs?

    Reader Sceptic alerts us to a new lawsuit that seems perfect (on various levels) for the old “moron in a hurry” trademark test. Automaker Porsche — for drivers in a hurry — has sent a cease-and-desist letter to footwear maker Crocs, claiming that the company’s use of “Cayman” for one of its shoes is a violation of Porche’s trademark on the same term. As the folks at Footnoted point out:


    Now few people would probably confuse Crocs Cayman sandal for the Porsche Cayman. After all, one sells for $29.99 and the other starts at $51,000.

    Of course, this is apparently taking place in Germany, and (tragically) the moron in a hurry test (as far as we know) has still only been used in the UK, the US and Canada. But here’s a perfect opportunity for its introduction (in a hurry) in Germany.

    Permalink | Comments | Email This Story





  • Windows Marketplace for Mobile now available in browser, iTunes’ App Store still not

    By Tim Conneally, Betanews

    Sure, Apple created the most popular and well-stocked mobile app store in the market, but does Apple provide a Web-based interface to it? No. Through Apple’s official channels, you can only browse the store’s contents in iTunes or on your iPhone/iPod Touch.

    There is an unofficial site hosted on Google App Engine which provides roughly the same experience Apple provides in iTunes, but it lacks search functionality, and if you try to download something, it launches the iTunes installer.

    To prevent this problem, Windows Marketplace for Mobile, the app store for Windows Phones, launched a Web-based storefront yesterday. Users can now go to marketplace.windowsphone.com to browse, search, buy, and download Windows Mobile apps from within their browser.

    When users select an application from the site, it’s put a the download queue which will immediately run the next time the Marketplace client is run on the user’s mobile device.

    “Marketplace has been extremely active and I couldn’t be happier with the reactions from both developers and customers,” Microsoft’s senior director of mobile services, Todd Brix said. “We’ve been open for just over one month and already we can see that there’s demand for an application marketplace that doesn’t compromise on quality or experience.”

    Out of the many app stores put up in the last year, only a few storefronts have been brought to the Web browser. The Web-based Android Market, for example, provides a weak overview of what is available instead of an actual database of the more than 10,000 Android apps available. Users cannot buy directly from the official Web interface, either.

    The Web interface for BlackBerry App World, however, has a substantial catalog which can be browsed, and apps can be sent as emailed links to the user’s device.

    Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009



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  • Intellectual Property Manager — The Chinese University of Hong Kong

    Applications are invited for:
    Knowledge Transfer Unit
    The Unit is going to expand further into new initiatives of technology transfer in the areas of health, biomedical and life sciences, and applications are invited for the following post:

    Assistant Registrar II / Administrative Assistant (carrying the job title of ‘Intellectual Property Manager’)
    (Ref. 0910/013(133)/1)
    (Closing date: December 2, 2009)

    Applicants should have (i) either a PhD degree or a law degree (preference will be given to those with both qualifications); (ii) strong scientific background in one or more of the following disciplines: medicine, biomedical sciences, plant, animal, agriculture, food, Chinese medicine and environmental science; (iii) concrete knowledge and experience plus a good track record in drafting patent applications and protection of intellectual property; (iv) competence and strategic thinking in the assessment of scientific projects for patenting and technology transfer; and (v) excellent communication skills in English and Chinese. Duties include (a) working closely with professors and faculty staff in the development of patents and technology transfer opportunities; (b) assessment of scientific projects for patenting and technology transfer; (c) drafting patent applications in both English and Chinese; (d) overseeing the process of patent filing and follow-up; (e) liaising with departments/offices at the University and external partners; and (f) writing reports for internal and external stakeholders. Appointment will initially be made on contract basis for two years commencing as soon as possible, renewable subject to mutual agreement.

    Salary and Fringe Benefits
    Salary will be highly competitive, commensurate with qualifications and experience. The University offers a comprehensive fringe benefit package including medical care, plus a contract-end gratuity for an appointment of two years; and housing benefits for eligible appointee. Further information about the University and the general terms of service for appointments is available at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/personnel. The terms mentioned herein are for reference only and are subject to revision by the University.

    Application Procedure
    Please send full resume, copies of academic credentials, together with names, addresses and fax numbers/e-mail addresses of three referees to whom the applicants’ consent has been given for their providing references (unless otherwise specified), to the Personnel Office, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong (fax: (852) 2696 1463) by the closing date. The Personal Information Collection Statement will be provided upon request. Please quote the reference number and mark ‘Application – Confidential’ on cover.

    Return to Job Listings

  • Deadly Premonition is not Xbox 360 exclusive?

    When Ignition Entertainment first announced Deadly Premonition, a new survival horror game from Access Games, they had it flagged as an Xbox 360 exclu…

  • Intel Pays AMD $1.25 Billion, Following That $1.5 Billion Fine

    Update: Intel has now updated its Fourth-quarter financial expectations:

    As a result of the legal settlement announced today with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel Corporation adjusted its fourth-quarter financial expectations to reflect the impact of the $1.25 billion settlement payment. Intel now expects spending (R&D plus MG&A) in the fourth quarter to be approximately $4.2 billion, up from $2.9 billion. In addition, the effective tax rate is expected to be approximately 20 percent, down from 26 percent. All other expectations are unchanged.

    Original Article: According to reports, technology giant Intel has agreed to pay $1.25 billion to settle multiple disputes with rival chip manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices or AMD. These two companies have been feuding for years. Actually, decades. The Wall Street Journal notes that the two companies have had disputes as far back as the 1980s.

    In 2005, AMD filed a suit against Intel, claiming that Intel was engaging in unfair competition by offering rebates to Japanese PC makers, who in turn would eliminate or limit purchases of microprocessors made by AMD or Transmeta. Here’s a little more history about the current dispute (via Wikipedia):

    Intel InsideThe complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware in June 2005. The court date, originally scheduled for April 2009, has been pushed back to February 2010. One delay was due to the Korea Fair Trade Commission issuing Intel a fine of US$25.4 million. Some of the manufacturers involved in the case are Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer, Fujitsu, Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi.

    In February 2009 it was reported that Intel had spent at least US$116 million to date on legal representation on the antitrust suit. This was inferred from a US$50 million lawsuit filed by Intel against one of its insurers; the lawsuit disclosed that Intel had already exhausted US$66 million in coverage from two other insurers while fighting the antitrust lawsuit.

    It appears that everything is now square between Intel and AMD, at least financially. The New York Times reports that the $1.25 billion settlement will resolve all of AMD’s regulatory complaints worldwide as well as suits in Delaware and Japan. In addition to the hefty sum of money, Intel has also agreed to abide by certain terms with regards to business practices.

    Earlier this year, the EU fined Intel a record $1.5 billion. According to the NYT, the EU’s commissioner says the company’s settlement with AMD will not affect the EU’s decision on that fine.

    Ouch.

    Related Articles:

    > EU Fines Intel A Record $1.45 Billion

    > NY AG Hits Intel With Antitrust Suit

    > Intel Apparently A Google Chrome OS Partner, Too

  • CDC Expected To Revise H1N1 Mortality Figures

    The New York Times: “About 4,000 Americans – rather than about 1,200 – have died of swine flu since the disease emerged in April, according to new figures being calculated by [CDC] epidemiologists” – an estimate that combines the number of “deaths from laboratory-confirmed cases of the flu and deaths that appear to be brought on by flu, even though the patient may have ultimately died of bacterial pneumonia, other infections or organ failure.” The article includes comments by several flu experts on the significance of the estimates (McNeil, 11/10).

    ABC News examines how the public might respond to the new H1N1-related deaths calculations. “The death toll from H1N1 may alarm many, but it is the population affected, rather than sheer numbers of deaths, that has had more impact. ‘I’m not sure how closely the public has been following the numbers — 4,000 seems a small fraction of the 36,000 estimated to die of seasonal influenza each year, but these deaths are in younger people so it may raise consciousness further,’ said Dr. George Rutherford, director of the University of California, San Francisco, Institute for Global Health. ‘Just because you haven’t gotten to 36,000 doesn’t mean it’s not bad’” (Brownstein, 11/12).

    Reuters: Meanwhile, the CDC reported Tuesday on an increase in the number of H1N1 vaccines arriving in the U.S. Anne Schuchat, of the CDC, “said 41.1 million doses of H1N1 vaccines are either available or have been delivered but that state and local health officials still face logistical problems.” One of the issues in play, she said, is “the frugality of the public health infrastructure.” Schuchat was speaking at a Senate health committee hearing and said, “I can’t tell you how many times in our outreach to our counterparts that we got messages back saying ‘It’s Friday, we are furloughed’ or ‘We are out today’” (Fox , 11/10).

  • Businesses At Risk From Health Reform, Or Status Quo, Depending On Source

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Employment Policies Institute and other friends of business have joined to launch a national television ad campaign, beginning Thursday, that will warn against the health care overhaul, The Boston Globe reports. The $10 million ad blitz “features June O’Neill, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, arguing that the bill would deepen the national debt and hurt job creation.” The ads will air on Fox News, CNN and CNBC (Rhee, 10/11).

    Meanwhile, speaking to potential donors at an AIDS charity function Wednesday, Bill Clinton said that American businesses – such as General Motors – are being crushed by health care costs even without reform, Bloomberg reports. The American system for financing and delivering health services makes U.S. companies uncompetitive with counterparts abroad, he said. “One of the things that killed them was General Motors had $1,500 a car in health-care costs and Toyota had $110,” he said (McCormick, 11/11).

  • Video Unboxing: Palm Pixi for Sprint

    We’ll have our full review up in just a few hours – in the mean time, join me as I hyper-actively unbox the Palm Pixi with the help of a few pilgrim children.


  • Churchill Downs Buys Youbet.com For $126 Million

    Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI), home of the Kentucky Derby, has agreed to buy online horse wagering firm Youbet.com in a cash-and- stock deal valued at $126.8 million.

    The deal would give Churchill Downs over $700 million worth of the $1.4 billion online horse wagering market. Churchill Downs already owns online horse betting site TwinSpires.com.

    The deal will give Youbet shareholders 97 cents a share in cash for each Youbet.com share, plus 0.0598 shares of Churchill Downs stock. Based on the closing price of Churchill stock on Tuesday, the transaction represents a per-share value of Youbet stock of about $2.84. Once the deal closes, Youbet shareholders will own 16 percent of Churchill stock.

    Churchill-Downs

    Churchill says less than 14 percent of all wagering on U.S. Thoroughbred racing is estimated to be placed online, but it anticipates that percentage will continue to grow.

    "We believe this combination should enable us to accelerate the development of new technology-enabled features and services that horse racing customers who wager via the Advanced Deposit Wagering channel want, and that can attract new customers to racing, said Robert L. Evans, Churchill President and Chief Executive Officer.

    "While we expect to make many exciting improvements for customers, our existing TwinSpires.com customers will be able to continue to access their accounts and make wagers, deposits and withdrawals in the same manner they do today."

    Churchill said the deal will result in annual saving of $10 million. The transaction is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2010.

     

    Related Articles:

    >Legalized Online Gambling Would Bring In Billions

    >Kentucky Supreme Court Hears Online Gambling Case

    >Appeals Court Upholds Online Gambling Ban

     

  • Check out pics from the $26,000 Leica S2

    leica-s2

    Have you ever wondered what pictures look like from a camera that costs more than many cars? I have. I know there are a lot of professionals out there that view DSLRs like the Canon 5D and Nikon D700 as entry-level because they have flashes that cost more than those cameras. Well, DPReview got a hold of the $26,000 Leica S2 and just posted some sample pictures, but don’t expect to be blown away.

    Here’s the thing. I don’t see anything special. I mean, they are good photos and maybe I don’t know what to look for, but some of them look like they could have been taken with a $200 pocket camera. Definitely don’t take my word for it though. Click over to dpreview for the full res shots, but I think I’ll stick with a Nikon for a while.