The Power User's Guide to Google Chrome
ExitReality launches 3D browsing for 'the entire Web' - Internet - iTnews Australia
Melbourne-based company ExitReality today launched software that renders two dimensional webpages into three dimensional scenes – like something out of a computer game.
Developers say that ExitReality is compatible with ‘the entire Web’, working inside browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox to display a 3D depiction of each page’s contents.
Some websites already have special designs for use with ExitReality. Major companies such as eBay and MSN are depicted as buildings which act as hyperlinks.
YouTube appears as a movie theatre, while social networking site MySpace appears as a virtual lounge.
Other websites are displayed as a grid of content that users can walk through.
“It is the entire web in 3D – making 40 billion virtual worlds – and it will instantly transform 2D content into 3D,” said ExitReality founder Danny Stefanic.
Users can search for websites using the software and instantly switch between 2D and 3D views.
EFF sues Bush, Cheney et al for AT&T spying - Telecommunications - iTnews Australia
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of AT&T’s business and personal customers over the US government’s wiretapping of private telephone and internet records.
The organisation alleges that a secret National Security Agency was set up in San Francisco with AT&T’s help and was used to process the data from millions of telephone conversations and internet sessions.
The suit has been filed against the National Security Agency (NSA) but also names President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney's chief of staff David Addington, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and other individuals who ordered or participated in the warrantless domestic surveillance.
"Demanding personal accountability from President Bush, Vice President Cheney and others responsible for the NSA's dragnet surveillance of ordinary Americans' communications is the best way to guarantee that such blatantly illegal spying will not be authorized in the future," said EFF legal director Cindy Cohn.
Nokia 'free' music phone sales to start Oct 17 - Telecommunications - iTnews Australia
Nokia's first phone model with free access to music is scheduled to go on sale on October 17 in Britain, retailer Carphone Warehouse said on its Web page.
Nokia's "Comes with Music" bundle of phone and music service could help the music industry make up for falling CD sales, while challenging dominance of Apple's iTunes in the digital music market.
The package will differ from other bundles on the market as users can keep all the music they have downloaded during the 12 month subscription period.
Vodafone launches unlimited music downloads - Telecommunications - iTnews Australia
Vodafone today launched an unlimited music downloads service, allowing users to download thousands of songs to their mobile phones for a fixed price per month.
MusicStation will cost $11.95 per month, with no extra data download costs, and will give users access to a database of over a million songs.
Mandriva unveils Linux for netbooks - Operating Systems - iTnews Australia
Linux publisher Mandriva has unveiled a version of its platform designed specifically for the new breed of mini laptops.
Mandriva Mini is aimed primarily at vendors of so-called 'netbooks', and is customised for this category of small form factor device, Mandriva said.
It features a fast boot-up, comprehensive connectivity support and multimedia codecs, and is adapted to work on key netbook platforms such as Intel's Atom.
Unlike Windows, which powers many mini laptops, Linux versions such as Mandriva Mini are customised for a small footprint and efficient power management, and have user interfaces adapted to smaller display screens.
Open Source makes historic UK breakthrough - Software - iTnews Australia
Open Source companies have been granted official permission to supply software to the UK public sector for the first time in British history.
At least two Open Source software suppliers have been awarded places on the £80 million Software for Educational Institutions Framework, making them official suppliers to UK schools and scoring a victory in what has been a long and frustrating battle against favouritism shown to conventional commercial software companies in UK politics and procurement.
Mark Taylor, president of the Sirius Corporation, one of the winning Open Source suppliers, said "We were utterly stunned. We are delighted. It's a significant breakthrough for Open Source software."
The UK's procurement frameworks, a fast-track process for public sector purchasers, handled £4.4bn of business in the year to April 2008. They are not meant to prevent companies not on the lists from selling to the public sector but, said Taylor, this had not been the experience of the Open Source community.
Telstra 'a disgrace' to Aussie R&D, NICTA CEO says - Business - iTnews Australia
NICTA CEO David Skellern said that Telstra is 'a disgrace' and called on the federal government to give more support to the ICT industry.
“If Australia’s ICT sector was a national swim team, there’d be a huge outcry at its current state. We’d be throwing everything at it to make it go faster – special diets, training, coaches, the lot.
“We would bother, because we’d understand that the team had the talent – it just needed the support. So I’d like to let us bother about ICT innovation too.
“I have a deep conviction that it can flourish in this country, if it can attract the support it requires. You can rest assured that NICTA will be doing its part to bring home the gold.”
Delivering the keynote address at the Influence Forum 2008 in the Hunter Valley this weekend, Skellern condemned Telstra’s historical record as a poor investor in R&D.
“Companies like Telstra are a disgrace when it comes to research and development,” he said.
BBC NEWS | UK | Google climbdown on abortion ads
Google is to change its policy on adverts about abortion following a legal challenge from a Christian pressure group.
It had refused a Christian Institute advert, saying it did not allow the advertising of websites with "abortion and religion-related content".
The institute threatened to use British equality laws to contest the decision.
But after an out-of-court settlement, Google will now allow religious groups to advertise about abortion.
It means when the word "abortion" is typed into the search engine, internet users will no longer just see adverts with details of abortion clinics and support groups, but could also find links to religious groups which may oppose abortion.
BBC NEWS | Technology | YouTube bans some weapons footage
YouTube is to ban footage showing weapons being used to intimidate people on its website in the UK.
The new policy was being introduced because of "particular concern" in Britain over the subject, the site's owners, Google, said.
MPs criticised video-sharing websites, including YouTube, in July, saying they should be doing more to vet content.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith welcomed the YouTube ban and called on other internet sites to follow suit.
YouTube said the introduction of the new rule on weapons and intimidation would be the first time the site had made a policy change targeted specifically at the UK.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Palin e-mail hack details emerge
Details of how an e-mail account of US Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was hacked have emerged.
Following the hack, screenshots of Mrs Palin's messages, inbox, pictures and address book were posted to the Wikileaks whistle-blowing site.
It is thought the attackers exploited the password resetting system of Yahoo's e-mail service.
Details about Mrs Palin's life pulled from public sources reportedly helped defeat security questions.
Fake popup study sadly confirms most users are idiots
For most of us, security issues happen to "other people"—we block popup ads, we carefully examine dialog boxes and, for those of us on the Mac platform, we snicker when confronted with something that attempts to mimic a Windows system warning. But everyone knows that they are exceptional—what's the behavior of a more typical user like? Some researchers have tested how college students respond to fake dialog boxes in browser popup windows and found that the students are so anxious to get the dialog out of the way, they click right through obvious warning signs.
Google's T-Mobile G1 Android phone: the first review - Tech & Web News - Times Online
The arrival of Android signals the opening round of the battle between Google and its rivals, such as Nokia and Apple, to create software for the next generation of mobile phones that allows users to connect seamlessly to the internet.
A Google spokesman said that, these days, using phones “does not just mean a phone call, but rather access to the world’s information” and that mobiles will be one of the most important ways to connect to the internet in future.
However, when The Times was granted a first glance at the new device, the phone did not seem to offer a ground-breaking feature to rival the “wow factor” of the iPhone’s touchscreen. Instead, the G1 happily adopts the best features of the iPhone and BlackBerry — two of the best smart phones on the market.
Apple's redesigned power adapters already shipping, sort of
Owners of iPhone 3G, and those who simply had to gobble up a few of Apple's cute lil' USB-to-AC power adapters, may have to wait a few weeks to swap theirs out for units that won't cause an electric shock. However, according two different reports, Apple's replacement plugs are already shipping with new iPhones, and analysts say that the company shouldn't have much backlash to worry about from the whole affair.
New royalty agreement leaves Internet radio out in the cold
This afternoon, the Digital Media Association announced a new agreement with organizations that represent musicians and songwriters that will provide a streamlined licensing procedure for many models of digital music distribution. The new agreement doesn't apply to "download to own" music, but will apply to streaming services, including subscription and ad-supported music (think Last.fm and SpiralFrog). The agreement has been submitted to the Copyright Royalty Judges for approval.
For the purposes of this agreement, musicians and songwriters were represented by he National Music Publishers' Association, the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and the Songwriters Guild of America. They negotiated the deal with the RIAA and the Digital Media Association, which includes industry heavy-hitters like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft. But the DiMA also includes a variety of companies that are doing less well under the current system, such as the recently-purchased Napster, and Internet radio services like Live365 and Pandora, which are buckling under the current royalty system.
Bad seed ISP Atrivo cut off from rest of the Internet
Malicious ISP Atrivo has lost the confidence and support of the last upstream provider willing to do business with the company. Up until last Saturday, Pacific Internet Exchange (PIE) had kept Atrivo connected to the rest of the world, but evidently felt the cost of doing business with the rot-filled ISP was too high to justify. Pacific was the last company to get the memo on that particular decision, but as of Saturday, Atrivo is offline.
The chain of events that ultimately led to Atrivo's shutdown may have been touched off by an August report from HostExploit on the company's illegal endeavors. At the time, Atrivo was a major hub of illegal activity; some 66 percent of the fake antivirus scanners and false malware-laden "codecs" were on Atrivo's network. The situation also persisted over time, a significant indication that Atrivo's disproportionate share of the malware market was no mere blip or oversight.
Windows 7: an upgrade to Vista, not an overhaul | NetworkWorld.com Community
Screenshots of Windows 7 leaked this week on the ThinkNext.net site shows Windows 7 looking more like an update to the Vista user experience and not an overhaul of Vista. That makes sense given the short timeframe to develop and release Windows 7, and Microsoft's change to shorter OS release cycles over the past mega-Windows OS releases. Balmer is saying Windows 7 should be here in 2009. Frankly, most of the screenshots show pretty minor updates to the Vista user interface: a simplified Start menu, ribbon menus (BOO!) in apps like Wordpad, and redesigns to Windows Explorer and other control panel apps. So far, not a lot to get excited about, at least in this group of leaked screenshots.
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