University of Delaware Sets New Solar Efficiency Record

The University of Delaware has inched up the record for solar cell efficiency with a new device that can convert 42.8 percent of the light that strikes it into electricity.That beats the old record of 40.7 percent hit in December. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has been funding research to get efficiency up to 50 percent.The cell, created by Christina Honsberg and Allan Barnett of UD, splits incoming light into three buckets: high energy, low energy, and medium energy light. The light is then directed to different materials, which then extract electrons out of the photons that make up sunlight.The device also has an optical concentrator, sort of like a lens that directs more sunlight to the solar cell than would occur naturally and thereby increasing efficiency.  View: Full Article News source: News.com Read full story...

 


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iPhone Update Closes Some Security Holes

Apple has released an update for the iPhone. The iPhone v1.0.1 update doesn't add any new features, but does serve to plug up a few of the security holes that arose after the release of the device. iPhone users are encouraged to update as soon as possible to avoid possible security issues in the future. Worthy of note, also, is the fact that users who have used software to hack their device must restore their iPhone before updating to the latest software version. As of right now, it appears that most hacks can be reapplied once the software update is successful View: iPhone v1.0.1 Changelog News source: Engadget Read full story...

 


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iTunes Store Tops Three Billion Songs

The iTunes Store said Tuesday it had passed a milestone, selling more than 3 billion songs since launching four years ago. The milestone came just six months after iTunes, Apple Inc.'s online music download service, surpassed the 2 billion tracks-sold mark. The service launched in April 2003 and it took until February 2006 to sell its first 1 billion songs.In the first quarter of this year, it was ranked the third-biggest overall music retailer in the U.S., behind No. 1 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy Co., according to consumer surveys by The NPD Group. The ranking was based on units sold, not revenue from sales, and counted every 12 tracks purchased online as equivalent to an album in compact disc format. Apple's line of iPod portable music players has been key to iTunes' popularity. News source: SiliconValley.com View: Press Release on Apple.com Read full story...

 


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Fears Grow That Laser Printers Can Seriously Damage Health

In the age of personal computers and the internet, living without a printer can be challenging indeed. But if you have a laser printer, you might want to think again before hitting the "Print" button. In a research study in the American Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology, researchers found that some laser printers release tiny particles of toner-like material into the air; these ultrafine particles are particularly dangerous because of their microscopic size, allowing them to be inhaled into the smallest passageways of the lungs. Lida Morawska, PhD, and her colleagues in Australia classified 17 out of 62 printers as "high particle emitters." The scientists state that "One of the printers released particles into an experimental chamber at a rate comparable to the particle emissions from cigarette smoking." The particles are believed to be excess toner not fused onto the paper.Fortunately, the majority of printers aren't as bad as the one cited above. Thirty-seven of the sixty-two released no particles that diminished air quality, while six only released low levels, and two released medium levels. The study was conducted both in a typical office environment, as well as in an experimental chamber, and included popular models from Canon, HP, Ricoh, and Toshiba. "It wasn't an area we consciously decided to study," Morawska said in an interview. "We came across it by chance. Initially we were studying the efficiency of ventilation systems to protect office settings from outdoor air pollutants. We soon realized that we were seeing air pollution originating indoors, from laser printers." During work hours, indoor particle levels in the office air increased as much as five times. Scientists are now calling upon the government to consider regulating emission levels from laser printers. View: Full Story on vnunet.com Read full story...

 


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Wikia Details Plans for Search Rival to Google

The ever expanding, and potentially lucrative, market of search engines may soon be welcoming another player into the fray. Last Friday, at OSCON in Portland, Oregon, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales announced that his commercial startup, Wikia, had just acquired the distributed-computing web crawler Grub from LookSmart Ltd, and that he is currently putting the building blocks in place to create a community-developed search engine rivaling those of Yahoo and Google. The new search engine, thus far unnamed, will reportedly combine computer-driven algorithms with human-assisted editing, allowing for better results; for example, in the case of the word "palm," humans would be able to distinguish whether or not the word referred to the tree, the handheld computer, or the human body part, much better than any current algorithm. After indexing sites with Grub, search results from the new engine would be generated by the open source project Lucerne. "If we can get good quality search results, I think it will really change the balance of power from the search companies back to the publishers," said Wales. "I could be wrong about this, but it seems like a likely outcome." The search engine plays part in a broader push by Wikia to promote the spread of free content publishing on the web. Wales hopes to create an entirely open search engine, making explicit the editorial judgments involved in all modern search engines, whereas companies like Google hide key aspects of how their search engines work to prevent abuse. Though the engine is still in pre-conception, Wales certainly has high hopes for his new project. View: Full Story on Reuters View: Wikia Search Labs Read full story...

 


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Gartner: Windows XP A Shaky Bridge To Windows 7

Computer users that pass on Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system in favor of the company's next OS release could find themselves in the lurch given Microsoft's "poor" track record for shipping new products on time, research firm Gartner is warnings its clients.In a note, Gartner said it's been told by Microsoft that the software maker is "scoping Windows 7 development to a three-year time frame," confirming earlier new reports about Microsoft's plan for a Windows Vista successor.But Gartner warns that businesses that decide to stick with Windows XP -- Vista's predecessor -- until Windows 7 is available may be pushing their luck. "If the release date slips, enterprises will find it difficult to fully eliminate Windows XP before ISV and Microsoft support [for Windows XP] ends," Gartner analysts write in the note.A number of businesses and government agencies have indicated they may forego installing Windows Vista on their enterprise systems due to concerns about price, performance, and application compatibility. Some 30% of the 612 IT pros that responded to a recent InformationWeek survey said they have no plans to upgrade their company's computer systems to Windows Vista.  View: Full Article @ InformationWeek Read full story...

 


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Microsoft Plans Tougher Action Pack Requirements

Microsoft later this year plans to raise the bar on a popular software trial program in response to reports that some partners have been illegally selling its software.The Action Pack allows Microsoft's Registered level partners to obtain up to 10 licenses for Microsoft desktop applications and operating systems, and single server licenses with up to 10 Client Access Licenses (CALs).The Action Pack is intended for internal business testing and evaluation and also includes technical demonstration and marketing materials. However, some Microsoft partners have been breaking the rules by selling the Action Pack software to customers, according to solution providers. View: Full Article @ WinBeta Read full story...

 


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New tool enables loading of unsigned drivers in Vista

Use at your own risk.A new software tool has been released by Linchpin Labs that allows the loading of unsigned and legacy drivers on Windows XP, 2003, and most importantly Vista.One of the system management and control methods that Microsoft implemented with Windows Vista is requiring system drivers to be digitally signed before they will load properly within the system. If a user or administrator wishes to load an unsigned or legacy driver, they will either need to reboot into a limited functionality mode or just do without the functions that the driver would have provided.As others have pointed out, this step will do nothing to prevent malware authors from being able to load their drivers into the system. Either they will exploit the lax jurisdiction and corporate oversight of various countries to establish a corporate shell and gain legitimate digitally signed driver certification, or they will just exploit weaknesses in already-signed drivers. View: Full Article @ El Reg Read full story...

 


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IE7/Firefox URI Handling Bug Caused by Windows After All

An exploitable bug discovered earlier this month that was first believed to have been caused by Internet Explorer 7.0, before Mozilla was forced to admit that it afflicted Firefox as well, has apparently been traced back to a Windows API function.The discovery may have been first revealed through the US-CERT Web site of the Dept. of Homeland Security, which now classifies it as a "Microsoft Windows URI protocol handling vulnerability." The function in question is an old favorite of malware writers: ShellExecute(), which was the subject of a notorious Windows 2000 exploit four years ago.While Microsoft has yet to issue an official statement or bulletin making this discovery clear, it probably advised US-CERT with regard to its existence. The official government site this morning reads, "We are currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem." View: Full Article @ BetaNews Read full story...

 


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Youtube promises copyright filters by September

An attorney for video-sharing site Youtube told a US district court that the company is near the final stages of deploying a system to filter out copyrighted content. According to the Associated Press, Youtube attorney Philip S. Beck told a New York court that the system would be in place "hopefully in September." The system would reportedly use digital fingerprinting technology to compare user-submitted videos to copyrighted materials and filter out violations.Youtube reportedly has been working on a filtering system since before last fall's acquisition by Google. Last February, speculation flared up again after Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said that a system would be put in place "very soon". Those rumours picked up even more steam when it was reported that the company was working with DRM firm Audible magic to develop a system to digitally "fingerprint" user-generated content. View: The full story News source: vnunet Read full story...

 


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Microsoft Confirms Windows XP SP3

Unfortunately, Microsoft is releasing few details about the service pack. According to an e-mail from a Microsoft spokesperson, "We're currently planning to deliver SP3 for Windows XP in the first half of CY2008. This date is preliminary, and we don't have any more details to share at this time." Several questions to Microsoft were left unanswered, including any timeline for beta releases, either public or private; new features, fixes or upgrades; and whether SP3 is a response to XP's continued market strength. News source: Redmond Channel Partner Online Read full story...

 


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Microsoft Plans Tougher Action Pack Requirements

Microsoft later this year plans to raise the bar on a popular software trial program in response to reports that some partners have been illegally selling its software. The Action Pack allows Microsoft's Registered level partners to obtain up to 10 licenses for Microsoft desktop applications and operating systems, and single server licenses with up to 10 Client Access Licenses (CALs). The Action Pack is intended for internal business testing and evaluation and also includes technical demonstration and marketing materials. However, some Microsoft partners have been breaking the rules by selling the Action Pack software to customers, according to solution providers. When partners sell Action Pack software in violation of their licensing agreement, it can harm other partners' businesses, says Alex Pearson, president of IS Systems, a San Antonio, Texas-based solution provider. "When I go in to see a client that has been sold an Action Pack, they're not interested in purchasing the legal licenses due to the fact that the price is so much more than the Action Pack," said Pearson.  View: The full story News source: CRN Read full story...

 


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Mercury Research: AMD Rebounds in Q2

After a rocky start, Advanced Micro Devices rebounded in the second quarter to gain back 4 percent of the market share that it lost earlier this year, according to the latest report from Mercury Research. The report, which measures the number of x86 processors shipped during the quarter, found AMD's market share stood at 22.9 percent for the second quarter of 2007, compared to 18.7 percent in the first quarter. Intel remained the dominant leader in the x86 processors market with a 76.3 percent market share in the second quarter. In the first quarter, the Santa Clara, Calif. company held an 80.5 percent share. In the second quarter of 2006, Intel held a 72.9 percent market share compared to AMD's 21.6 percent share, according to July 30 report from Mercury. Overall, the chip market had a strong second quarter. All three major segments-mobile, desktop and server-saw double digit growth. The desktops market had a particularly good showing.  View: The full story News source: eWeek Read full story...

 


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Intel 45nm CPUs to account for 50% of shipments in 2Q08

In reports similar to those for server platforms, Intel plans to ramp up its 45nm mobile processors (Penryn) and related platforms to account for over 50% of the company's total notebook shipments in the second quarter of 2008, according to sources at notebook makers. 45nm-based Penryn processors for Santa Rosa Refresh will launch in first quarter of 2008 and are expected to account for 20% of total notebook CPU shipments for the quarter. In the second quarter, CPUs supported by the Montevina platform will launch and account for 15% of shipments, while the proportion of Santa Rosa Refresh CPUs will increase to 35%.Montevina's Cantiga PM and GM chipsets will be introduced in the second quarter 2008 and combined will account for around 20% of total shipments for the quarter. Meanwhile, PM and GM 965 chipsets will both see a drop of around 10 percentage points from their first quarter shipments proportions, falling to 20% and 40%, respectively. View: The full story News source: DigiTimes Read full story...

 


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