In Episode 24 of the Digital City, we discuss new high-tech traffic cams in Chicago, the results of a major hacking competition, and new problems for the PlayStation 3.
>>Subscribe to Digital City on iTunes >>Join the Digital City Facebook fan page >>Need more? Follow Dan on Twitter!
Listen now: Download today's podcastCustomers who lost data after it had failed to be backed up properly by service provider Carbonite in 2007 may have few legal remedies, a lawyer said on Monday. Meanwhile, Carbonite is suing the hardware manufacturer and reseller for charges including breach of warranty, breach of contract, fraud, and unfair and deceptive practices.
Carbonite filed a lawsuit last week against hardware maker Promise Technology and reseller Interactive Digital Systems, alleging it was sold $3 million worth of defective equipment, which affected backups of 7,500 customers.
In its lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts' Suffolk County Superior Court, Carbonite claims it lost … Read more
Some researchers claim that Intel has a serious chip bug on its hands. But that all depends.
Security experts who are into the arcana of chip security may find "CPU cache poisoning" riveting and serious stuff. Others, however, may simply scratch their heads and move on.
But let's not move on too quickly. First, a quote from an abstract of the paper (PDF) that has some of the chip world abuzz. "In this paper we have described practical exploitation of the CPU cache poisoning...This is the third attack on SMM (system management mode) memory our … Read more
The vertical takeoff and landing tiltrotor is yet another aerial configuration the military would like to add to its unmanned-aircraft inventory.
One experimental model, the Mono Tiltrotor (MTR) by Baldwin Technology, is intended to integrate a coaxial rotor, a folding lifting wing system with a lightweight airframe and sophisticated kinematics to deliver a robotic flying box car. The U.S. Navy wants the MTR, or something similar, to deliver cargo to Marines on the ground.
The unit, referred to generically as Cargo UAS (for Cargo Unmanned Aircraft System), should be autonomous, to the extent that it can take off and … Read more
Cisco Systems' acquisition of Pure Digital Technologies, maker of the Flip camcorder, has sparked a lot of discussion about the networking giant's intentions. One theory is that Cisco is looking to compete with Apple--especially in the digital living room.
Ben Worthen at The Wall Street Journal surmises:
It isn't a big leap to see Cisco developing a home-media hub that cobbles these pieces together--some sort of device that allows people to upload and watch videos and listen to music throughout their homes. In fact, it looks like a next logical step. Apple has a similar device called Apple … Read more
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Cisco's yearly earnings.
If you haven't noticed, Cisco Systems, whose products have been used to build the Internet for 20 years, has spent the past 6 years becoming a big player in the consumer electronics market.
While Cisco still generates the bulk of its nearly $40 billion in yearly revenue from selling routers and switches to large companies and Internet service providers, the company has also been pushing into new markets, such as consumer electronics, over the past several years.
Still, most consumers probably have no idea who Cisco is or what it does. Sure, they may have seen those cute "human network" commercials on TV. But other than that, I'd guess the average Joe has no clue what Cisco does.
Some might be familiar with the Linksys brand, which has traditionally sold home networking gear. But Cisco executives say they are on a mission to make Cisco a household name. Not only is the company making a bigger effort to brand its products as Cisco, but it's also busy developing a slew of new products for the consumer market.
And on Thursday the company announced its most aggressive play in the consumer market to date with the $590 million acquisition of Pure Digital Technologies, the maker of the popular Flip Video mini camcorders.
But Pure is by no means the only major acquisition Cisco has made in the consumer market. In fact, the company so far has pretty much built this part of its business through acquisitions. In 2003, it got its start in the competitive CE market with the $500 million acquisition of the home-networking equipment maker Linksys. Then in 2005, it bought Scientific Atlanta, a quasi-consumer electronics company, for $7 billion. Scientific Atlanta makes set-top boxes that Cisco sells to subscription TV providers.… Read more
Via Technologies has released a new Netbook reference design aimed at PC manufacturers that want to start selling Netbooks for the first time.
The reference design for the Via Surfboard C855 mainboard, unveiled Tuesday, includes the Taiwanese chip company's new VX855 media system processor alongside a C7-M processor. The mainboard will provide "smooth playback" of high-bit-rate 1080p high-definition video, as well as eight-channel HD audio, according to Via.
According to Richard Brown, Via's vice president of marketing, one advantage of the Surfboard C855 design is "the head start it affords mini-notebook system developers or those … Read more
ChemicalBurn is a free, attractive screensaver that simulates a data transportation network with a colorful, fast-moving array of "self-organizing" nodes and packages. You don't need any special knowledge to enjoy this screensaver's ever-changing, high-tech display, but networking enthusiasts will appreciate the simulation's veracity (as packages attempt to find the fastest way to their destination) and they'll love tinkering with detailed settings, including control over traffic and distance weighting (for example, as linear, square, log, and exponential functions). ChemicalBurn's calculations can be CPU-intensive--proportional to the cube of the number of nodes selected--so casual users … Read more
In Episode 23 of the Digital City, we discuss high-tech plans, but a low-tech budget at the MTA; the release of Resident Evil 5; Linux on Netbooks; and the Sirius/iPhone connection.
>>Subscribe to Digital City on iTunes >>Join the Digital City Facebook fan page >>Need more? Follow Dan on Twitter!
Listen now: Download today's podcastOpSource is hosting a very timely conference in San Francisco this week on software-as-a-service. What with the meltdown in the economy and continuing concern about the cost and environmental impact of energy use, there's interest in how cloud computing will impact the IT world.
And what better way to cut through the hype over the so-called green aspects of SaaS than to assemble veteran technologists who might share their experiences with the uninitiated? That's the usual format: People ready to impart knowledge to people eager to receive knowledge.
Good idea but, well, maybe another day.
As I sat … Read more
Internet & Media
TV and Home Theater
1kFacebook Likes
432Tweets
222Google Plus Shares
Christina Milian and the gadgets she loves
Manage updates with the Download App