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Creative Technology may have lost to Apple Computer in the battle for global MP3 player dominance, but it could gain new markets for its speakers and headphones under a settlement deal.Apple and Creative have stunned investors Wednesday when they announced the settlement under which the US-based firm will pay Creative 100 million dollars to settle a dispute over patented technology used in its iPods and Nanos. The deal ended a budding legal battle that began earlier this month after Creative was awarded what it referred to as a "Zen patent" on technology used to select and sort songs in its Zen music player. Part of the deal allows Creative to join Apple's "Made for iPod" program. This opens up Creative to being able to produce its own range of IPOD accessory products.

Apple Computer is now recalling 1.8 million laptop batteries over reports they can overheat and cause fires or possibly explode. The same problem prompted Dell to issue a recall of 4.1 million laptops after photos of exploding a burnt dell laptops were posted on the internet.
The batteries are by Sony, and it appears that metal impurites can damage the safeguards put into place to prevent overheating. Sony expects the recall will cost them $172 to $258 million. The recall affects several iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 models sold between October 2003 and August 2006.

US scientists intend to build a supercomputing network from idle PlayStation 3 boxes sitting in homes across the world in a unique distributed computing project aimed at understanding diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer. The cell processor in PS3 consoles is not only great at graphics rendering in games but is also particularly suitable for the more serious biological graphics applications involved in the fight against diseases.

Distributed computing is where idle computers receive some information from a central computer and process it while your not using your PC or its idle. One of the projects called folding@home (FAH), has already built a large distributed network of PCs to simulate the shape of proteins and examine how the way they fold may cause specific diseases. But now it seems the scientists at FAH want to enlist the PS3 consoles in homes across the world when they're not being used. Volunteers with PS3 boxes would download a piece of software that would enable FAH to use their processors when they're idle.It is believed that a network of 10,000 PS3 boxes would enable processing

A few Fridays ago the ABC television program “The Chasers War On Everything” looked at security and video surveillance systems and especially the ones that are monitored by security guards. We have all seen them a security guard sits in a monitoring booth looking bored witless and looks at the screens for any problems. Unfortunately, it can be like staring at a road continuously the operator or observer might become hypnotized and not react quickly enough or not at all. Well the chaser team proved this happens by removing the signs warning of video surveillance on the site and almost no one reacted to such thefts.

Because humans have abilities to fail in this duty of care obligation to watch the screen and identify issues that need attention, the information technology sector is coming to the rescue with computer software like facial recognition, anti theft image comparison and other sensor analysis programs.

With facial recognition a computer can compare the features of people walking through a building to a list of photos of “known suspects” and should one of these people in it database be found alert the operator to dispatch a guard to apprehend or question the person. Image comparison technology compares the view coming through the camera with a static photo in its database. It does this frame by frame and if it suddenly notices an article has been moved or is missing immediately notifies the operator.

Unfortunately, video footage seems often to be only accessed after a crime has occurred to find the perpetrator but with these new technologies coming in it will mean it could stop crimes from occurring before the perpetrator gets a chance.

Microsoft has released the first release candidate for the Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7. A release candidate is the final stage of producing a retail software product and if often in a number of stages before the final release.

The Internet Explorer RC 1 is available from Microsoft.com

Microsoft claim that Vista will be the most secure product they have released to date but you wonder if this is the case when they are already releasing security patches for the product before it even hits the shelves. Vista, slated to be broadly available in January and it seems is the first major Microsoft product to get security updates while it is still in beta.

It not easy to develop a product like an operating system and patching is a legitimate way to correct flaws that may be discovered down the track. Once the patches have reached a certain amount often the company that has created the product will then release all these patches as a “service pack”. Effectively, when the final Vista package has been released it will probably already carry a service pack 1 but won’t be labeled as such as there will have been numerous patches between now and release date.

Two of the seven "critical" Windows updates that Microsoft delivered on Aug. 8 affect Vista, Heaton wrote. These are MS06-042, for Internet Explorer, and MS06-051, which addresses a flaw in the Windows kernel. Vista is not affected by the Windows flaw that is getting most of the attention among the Patch Tuesday bulletins. That flaw, MS06-040, affects file and printer sharing and has already been exploited in low-risk worm attacks. Updates for the security issues that affect Vista have been sent out to Windows Update and are available in the Microsoft Download Center, according to the software maker.

Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6106974.html

It interesting to note that since the invent of internet, radio has been undergoing a number of changes and it possibly for the better. Radio stations are no longer restricted by geographical boundaries. Podcasting allows people anywhere around the world to download radio programs that have been recorded and listen to them at their leisure on their mp3 player. Streaming audio allows people with broadband connections to listen to almost CD quality audio anywhere in the world.

There are allsorts of little trick you can get for your home to take advantage for this revolution. An mp3 player is the first thing you need for podcasting if you want to listen to the programs away from your PC. But one thing I use is an little USB FM transitter that plugs into my computer and takes over the sound card function of my PC this means I can listen to audio being streamed of the internet on any radio in my house.

Goes well with the internet fridge hey?

It’s a bit of wake up call when the office of Home Land Security starts warning people about vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning recommending that Microsoft Windows users download the latest security patch to protect themselves against vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to remotely take control of their computers. Without the patch, hackers can remotely install programs on a computer; view, change, and delete data; and create new user accounts with full user rights.
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=17909&hed=DHS+Warns+About+Windows

Can anyone tell me when we replaced searching the internet with the word Google? Well, a recent posting in an ABC radio program guestbook for the national interest suggested that PODcast was giving a leg up for a brand name MP3 Player like IPOD. Well I kind of agree as its interesting to note that their over thousands of different mp3 players on the market.
I think the word podcast is here to stay, now can someone pass me my biro & scribbler and I need to amke some notes!

People it would seem are celebrating, or perhaps swearing about the 25th anniversary of a piece of equipment that changed the world: the mass- market personal computer, or PC.
In 1981 — the year Ronald Reagan entered the White House and Margaret Thatcher stunned Britain by raising taxes — IBM launched the 5150. Computer analysts thought that IBM was mad working on the development of such a project and perhaps it is more than a coincidence that the police radio call sign for a person who is criminally insane is “5150”
The machine packed a hugely powerful 4.77Mhz processor and 25 years later the first processor of 4.7gb are rolling off the line.


The 5150 was a huge success. It featured an enhanced version of Microsoft’s BASIC programming language, developed by William Gates, and an 83-key adjustable keyboard. The IBM PC was not the first personal computer: the Apple II came out in 1977 and the Atari 800 in 1979, but both used proprietary components and failed to develop sales into the mass market. IBM were either smart or incredibly stupid and used an Intel processor and Microsoft software, essentially allowing rival companies to clone its product.
Edited down from original source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2309109,00.html