1simple

Stolen Laptop Helps Turn Tables on Suspects

May 10, 2008 NYT
By LISA W. FODERARO

WHITE PLAINS — The thieves were voracious, filching flat-screen televisions and computer games, purloining iPods and DVDs, even making off with a box of liquor and a set of car rims in a burglary two weeks ago at an apartment three young people shared here. Luckily, they also took two laptop computers.

One of the laptops was a Macintosh belonging to Kait Duplaga, who works at the Apple store in the Westchester mall and thus knows how to use all its bells and whistles. While the police were coming up dry, Ms. Duplaga exploited the latest software applications installed on her laptop to track down the culprits and even get their photographs.

NHS IT 'at least four years late'

It will be at least 2014 - four years later than planned - before a single NHS electronic patient records system is in place in England, say auditors.

The head of the National Audit Office, Tim Burr, said the challenge was "far greater than envisaged".

But an NAO report said the project was on budget and that staff thought it would improve patient care.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, lovely Spam...

Spam - the scourge of every e-mail inbox - celebrates its 30th anniversary this weekend.

The first recognisable e-mail marketing message was sent on 3 May, 1978 to 400 people on behalf of DEC - a now-defunct computer-maker.

The message was sent via Arpanet - the internet's forerunner - and won its sender much criticism from recipients.

Thirty years on, spam has grown into an underground industry that sends out billions of messages every day.

Japan to send paper plane from space

Japan plans to launch a paper airplane from the International Space Station to Earth and study its trip for future spacecraft design.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has announced plans for four experiments in space, including the paper plane project. Up to 90 million yen (900,000 dollars) is earmarked for the three-year study.

Asus Eee PC

There has been tremendous enthusiasm for the Asus Eee PC subnotebook, mainly because of its low price - it starts at around £200. But the big question has still to be answered: is the Eee PC a one-off, or is it ushering in a new era of subnotebook use?

Guardian Technology 27/*03/08

Approval for mobiles on aircraft

Mobile phone use is currently banned onboard aircraft

The use of mobiles on planes flying in European airspace has been given approval by UK regulator Ofcom.
It has issued plans that will allow airlines to offer mobile services on UK-registered aircraft.

The decision means that mobiles could be used once a plane has reached an altitude of 3,000m or more.

But airlines keen to offer the services must still satisfy other regulators about how the hardware will be used.

Google backs 'white space' wi-fi

Google is pressing the US government to allow the unlicensed frequencies of TV "white space" to be used for wi-fi.

The firm has written an open letter to regulators saying the US spectrum was a "once in a lifetime opportunity".

White space is unused blocks of frequencies in-between channels broadcast on analogue airwaves.

Amazon Kindle - this is the future

How Flickr developed into a classic Web 2.0 success

The Observer, Sunday March 9 2008

According to some market research I read recently, the world market for digital cameras is predicted to reach 122 million units by 2010.

That seems like an underestimate to me. Everyone I know has at least one camera, and most cellphones seem to have one. Some Nokia phones now come with 5 megapixel cameras and Zeiss lenses, enabling their users to produce images of quite startling quality.

Asus Eco Book bamboo laptop

A bamboo-encased laptop made by Asus, has finally hit the market after several months of testing.   "Bamboo is the most sustainable raw material there is," said Jellent Sun, a senior director at Asus. "It grows very fast and therefore we decided to combine bamboo with metal, and leave out the plastic."