TECHBiTE with David Schellenberg

The latest in tech news every weekday morning at 7:10.....

Monday, February 8

Final Shuttle Flight

Endeavour has made its final night launch.

iTablet Announced

Since iPad name was taken, the UK company X2 announces that they will release the iTablet.

Facebook E-Mail

Rumours say that Facebook is close to launching their own free e-mail service.  It would be accessed through the web or even in POP/IMAP.  Your e-mail address would be the same as your Facebook Vanity URL.

Gmail on Blackberry

RIM is about to launch an update for their Blackberry Internet Service.  Part of it seems to include a better default connection into Gmail.

Friday, February 5

Key Impressioner

A sensor that looks inside a lock at the tumblers and then builds a key to fit.

World War II Images

Google adds classic aerial photographs into Earth.  One set of images shows Warsaw in 1935, 1943 and present day.

Google Store Views

They seem to be working on a new tool that would push Google Street view inside of buildings.

The Sound Map

Why just look at pictures from around the world?  You can also hear the sounds.

Shuttle on Sunday

Space Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to be launched this Sunday at 4:39 AM.

Thursday, February 4

Internet in Rural Canada

The CRTC is thinking about making Canada's communications companies provide high speed Internet to more parts of the country.

Monster buys HotJobs

Yahoo! has sold off HotJobs as they continue to work on making the company more profitiable.  Yahoo! had purchased HotJobs for $436 million in 2002 - now they sold it to Monster for $225 million.

Wall Crawlers

Cornell has created a palm-sized device that could one day allow humans to crawl up the side of a wall.

Beef Tasting

Japanese researchers have developed an infrared camera system that can tell which cuts of beef will taste the best.

Wednesday, February 3

Mobilicity

More details on the new Canadian cell phone companies continue to come out.  DAVE Wireless has announced their new name and a few details.

Cyberthieves are Hiring

In a presentation at the annual Black Hat conference, a security analyst reveals how cyberthieves are finding new help.

Iran Launches Space Rocket

The Kavoshgar-3 contained a mouse, turtles and worms.

New PSPgo?

Rumours say that Sony is going to come out with a new version of the PSP in March.  Seems that consumers haven't been to wild about the PSPgo.

Body Part Sound

A new type of hearing aid can broadcast sound through teeth.

Tuesday, February 2

iPad Camera?

A couple of guys take a close look at the iPad parts and find that it is all ready to have a camera added.

iPad Version 2?

Rumours say that Apple is working on a larger version that will run OSX.  Could this be the one we really want?

Smart Dust

Digital sensors from around the globe could eventually feed information to a central computer.

Moon Chopped

The Obama administration wants to get rid of NASA's plan to go to the moon.

Monday, February 1

Steve Job's Q&A

In a town hall with employees, Steve Jobs says that Google's mantra is 'Bullshit' and Adobe is lazy.

Steady Employment

Building an iPad app could be your job.  The 'Apple App' economy generated $250 million in December.  This could be a great way to secure your future.

Yanking IE6 Support

Google Docs will stop working in IE starting on March 1.  This is the latest push to encourage users to upgrade to a newer web browser.  Even Microsoft wants you to upgrade.

Tickling Touchscreen

New technologies are making touchscreens pressure sensitive.

Friday, January 29

iPad Problems

The reviews from around the world are pretty much the same - wait for version 2.

Nexus Two

Motorola confirms they are working with Google on a phone that will be sold direct.  Hopefully it will be better than Nexus One.

Zune Phone

The endless rumours continue to point to Microsoft launching a phone in February.

Global Sun Block

A Canadian scientist says it is time for the world to use geoengineering by sending particles into the atmosphere to block some of the sun's rays and reduce global warming.

NASA Budget

Obama will release a budget next week that will contain some major changes to the way that NASA works.

3D TV on Sunday

Sky in the UK will televise the world's first live 3D TV broadcast with a Premier League Soccer match between Aresnal and Manchester United.

Thursday, January 28

Social in Search

Google is adding results from people you know to your searches.

India in Space

They will spend $2.76 billion to become the fourth country to send a person to space in 2016.

First of Five

There are only five Space Shuttle missions left.  NASA plans to send them next one up on February 7 at 4:39 AM.  This will be the last planned night launch of a Shuttle.

iPad

Steve Jobs put on his black turtleneck and jeans to announce the latest product from Apple.  Looks pretty good for a first generation - but is missing a lot of key features.  Can't wait for version 2.

Wednesday, January 27

PS3 Hack Released

Have some time to kill this weekend?  Why not hack your PS3 and write some new apps?

Spirit is Stuck

NASA announces that one of their Mars rovers is parked for good. 

Apple Announcements

The official presenation starts at 1 PM Eastern time.  Until then - it is all just guesses.

Tuesday, January 26

Mass Effect 2

A big game developed in Edmonton hits the stores today.  Early reviews say the game is already a classic.  Watch the sales this week to see how it does.

Finding 911 Callers

Calgary announces a new system that allows 911 operators to spot the location of a cell phone call to within a few metres of their actual location.

MusicDNA

A new type of music file has been released.  It is based on MP3 but adds extra content including lyrics, videos, news updates and album artwork.  This isn't the only type of file with these features - Apple launched a similar one a while ago.

New Chrome

Google officially moves Chrome into version 4.  The latest update adds extensions, tweaks to the bookmarks as well as added speed.

Monday, January 25

Easy Passwords

Hackers don't have to try very hard.  A new study reveals that many people have passwords that are so simple that it only takes a couple of tries to get in.

Outsourcing NASA

The White House has decided to use private companies for some of the basic tasks done by NASA.  This would free up the space agency to worry about long term projects.

LED Data

Researchers have figured out how to transmit data at 500Mbps using LED light.  This could be very valuable in places where RF is a problem such as hospitals.

Garmin Voice Studio

Change the voice in your GPS will this free tool.  Check the fine print before you download - it only works with certain models. 

Easier Test

A new way for diabetics to test their glucose levels.  No need to test blood anymore - this test can use breath.

Friday, January 22

Google Money

The big G reports a fourth-quarter profit of nearly $2 billion.

Online Recipies

Bing adds a new way to find the perfect meal.

Return of Rickets

Too much time indoors and a poor diet are a big problem for many kids.

Free Antivirus

From an 'Ask Dave' this morning - a good one to use right now is Microsoft Security Essentials.

Acoustic Levitation

The way that astronuats could dust a space station is with audio.

NFB 3D

The National Film Board posts some 3D movies on their website and gives away free glasses.

Firefox 3.6

The webbrowser adds new features and runs faster than ever before. 

Thursday, January 21

Apple Tablet

Wall Street Journal has a big story that reveals a bunch of details.

Live YouTube Sports

A plan to televise the Indian Cricket League around the world for free.

YouTube Video Rentals

Rent movies online from the mega video site.

Navigation App

Nokia adds free tools to their phones.

Touchless Wall of Touch

HP builds an interactive touch screen wall so large that some people won't be able to reach the corners.

Wednesday, January 20

IE Patch Coming

Microsoft announces a quick fix to address the latest round of problems with Internet Explorer.  This story is evolving as more details of an attack on Google and 30 other companies from China start to emerge.

TransferJet

Sony is ready to sell a laptop and a couple of digital cameras with a new technology.  TransferJet will automatically copy files from one device to another.  All you have to do is bring the camera within 3 cm of the laptop and the pictures will automatically be transferred.

Christmas Shopping List

Sony delays the launch of their motion controller until later in the year.  They want to make sure that there is a bunch of games ready when it is released. 

Bing from iPhone 

Apple is talking to Microsoft about making Bing the default search tool on the iPhone instead of Google.  Seems that Apple isn't happy about Google's big push into cell phones.

Tuesday, January 19

Privacy Hearings

Canada's Privacy commissioner wants to know what you think about how your personal data is used in social networking sites.

Space Cannon

A cheaper way to get satellites into space - shoot them up from the ocean.

Alo Presidente

Venezulean President Hugo Chavez calls videogames 'poison'.

Tablet Confirmed

FOX News says they know for sure that the rumoured tablet will come out on January 27.

Monday, January 18

Electric Car Test

Hydro Quebec and Mitsubishi are testing 50 all-electric vehicles in Boucherville this fall.

Cell Phone Gestures?

Rumours say that Microsoft will release Windows Mobile 7 in February.  And - it will have a killer new feature - the ability to make gestures to your phone.

Alarming Network Glitch

A strange problem where a webpage got sent to the wrong device.  Could be a major problem if it isn't fixed.

SarcMark

A company comes up wtih a new punctuation mark - this one denotes scarcasm!

Germ Free Remotes

A biodegradable bag that can cover remote controls found in hotel rooms.

Friday, January 15

Haiti Donation Scam

The bad guys are using the crisis in Haiti as a way to steal your money.  Be very careful if you decide to donate.  A safe and Canadian site to use to donate money to help is www.humanitariancoalition.ca

New Satellite Images of Port-Au-Prince

Google has updated its image banks with pictures that show the hardest-hit areas.

New Type of TV's

Plasma, LCD, LED or OLED?  Add another one to the mix: LPD.  Laser Phosphor Display promises to be cheaper, brighter and needs less power.  Still years away from getting to the stores.

Big Video Games

The numbers are in - December 2009 was the biggest month ever for video game sales.  'Modern Warfare 2' was the top selling game in 2009.

Thursday, January 14

Silence Cellphones

Help for anyone that has stumbled to silence a ringing cellphone. Give the phone a whack to send the call to voicemail or mute it.

Ask Dave - 3D TV Purchase?

E-mail from Bill Corbert asks if there is a certain type of TV to buy today that will be compatible with 3DTV when it is launched later this year.  When 3DTV is launched you will need to buy a whole new television to be able to see it.

Gmail Encryption

Google adds security to their e-mail.  Hopefully all the other ones will add it soon.

Protector Family Safety Program

Taser International launches a new tool for parents to use to monitor their kids.  Parents can allow, deny, listen or record their kids phone calls.

Wednesday, January 13

Astroid Miss

The world could have ended at 7:47 AM this morning - but the asteriod missed earth.

Google in China

The mega search engine has to decide if they want to keep doing business in China.

Nexus One Complaints

Turns out Google doesn't know much about customer support for phones.

Wet Computer

Project from the EU working on a biologically inspired computer.

Tuesday, January 12

Street View Ads?

Google has figured out how to change the posters, signs and billboards in Street View to new ads.

Real Record in Virtual Space

Erick Novak spends $300,000 US to buy a virtual space station in an online game.  He will likely make money off his purchase by earning real royalties.

Right to Forget?

France is pondering a law that would protect privacy by forcing the deletion of old data.

Airnergy

New product from RCA that can pull electrical power from Wi-Fi signals.

WiFi Lawsuit

Man sues his neighbour for not turning off WiFi and cell phone claiming that they trigger a severe illness.

Friday, January 8

CES Crazy 2.  They just keep coming

• Send Twitter messages from your Ford
• At least 6 e-readers now at CES
• More tablet computers at CES too
• Yahoo bringing widgets to TV
• Yurtopia, FLO, Ergomotion and more
• Touchscreen Laser Projection, 2D to 3D Conversion

Thursday, January 7

CES Crazy.  A ton of announcements from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas...

• No Microsoft tablet - but some other products are coming
• HP brings out touchscreen netbooks
• 3D TV's from Sony
• A mini Sony table called the Dash
• Finally, SD cards in Sony devices
• Panasonic has the worlds first 3D camcorder
• Dell smartphone in the US
• Lenovo smartphone called 'LePhone'
• The LightSpeaker from Klipsch

Wednesday, January 6

Nexus One Launched

Google releases their phone to the world - well, some parts of the world.  Not Canada.

ESPN and Discovery 3D

Two 3D channels are announced.  ESPN 3D will sign on with the first 2010 FIFA World Cup Match on June 11.

Video Calling

Skype does a deal with LG and Panasonic to put its phone service into some TV's.

USB Plug

A home wall power outlet that has the two regular power plugs plus two USB plugs.

USB 3.0

HP has launched new laptops that include USB plugs that move data up to 10x faster.

Microsoft Tablet?

Rumours say that Steve Ballmer will reveal the Microsft tablet during a big speech at CES.

Tuesday, January 5

Waiting for Android

Google announces the details at 1 PM Eastern.  CNET is one of the sites offering live blogging from the event.  Rumours say this will not be an iPhone killer.  But watch for the media to overhype it anyway.

Growing Android Popularity

Survey's are showing that more and more consumers are looking at an Android device.  Android is now ahead of BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Palm.  iPhone is still in the lead, but its lead is shrinking.

Android Everywhere

A new module allows Android to run appliances around the house including your washer-dryer or microwave.

CES 2010

The big tech show launches tonight with a special press conference.  Expect some cool new products to be announced over the next couple of days.

Monday, January 4

3D TV Channel

DirectTV is set to use their fancy new satellite to add a channel that has all 3D shows.  Later this week, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will showcase a ton of 3D television sets.

Suing over Calling Cards

The attorney general for Washington DC has filed a lawsuite against AT&T to recover unused balances on prepaid calling cards.

Chrome Browser #3

Google's web browser has sneaked past Safari to become the third most used web browser.

Thursday, December 31

Fee-for-Carriage in the US

Fox may go dark at midnight tonight for Time Warner Cable customers in the US.  The broadcaster wants $1 a month from the cable company.

Wimpy Internet Service Provider

The Internet provider that hosts websites created by pranksters "Yes Men" removed their website, and 4500 others, after a request from the Canadian government.

Endless Apple Tablet Rumours

We think that Apple is planning to release the tablet on January 26th.  New rumours have Apple predicting that they will ship 10 million of the tablets in the first year.

Wednesday, December 30

GSM Hacked

Group publishes a way to listen to cell phone conversations to prove that the existing security is inadequate.

Nexus One

Google announces an Android event on January 5.  Speculation is the will announce the sale of their cell phone called the Nexus One.  The cost for an unlocked phone purchased directly from Google is rumuored to be $530.

Windows Mobile and Windows Live

A job ad placed by Microsoft appears to show that they are extending Live from the Xbox to mobile phones.

Trilingual Translation

Toshiba comes up with a system that translates between Japanese, Chinese and English.  You talk into the phone - it detects the language and translates in real time.

NASA Future?

The US space agency needs billions of extra dollars for big projects like landings on Mars or the Moon.  Will Obama give them the cash?

Friday, December 18

Iranian Cyber Army

Twitter is taken offline for an hour after their DNS is hacked.

Blu-Ray 3D

A standard on how to bring HD movies in 3D to the home is reached.

Google Netbook

Ok - this is getting a bit silly.  Does Google have to do it all?

iPhone Games

EA gets ready to launch some large games on the iPhone.

Thursday, December 17

Wind Mobile

The new company launches with a promise of no fine print.  Check out the fine print of the charges if you make a call outside of the Wind Mobile areas.

Samsung Galaxy

Canada gets another Android device - this time on the new Bell network.  Not a bad phone - but still not as good as some others out there.  The colour on the screen is amazing.  Too bad it isn't a little faster.

Car Apps

Ford is set to announce a new version of SYNC.  The latest version will allow apps in your car.

Audi Upgrade

Google announces that new versions of the Audi A8 will come with Google Earth.

Wednesday, December 16

Wind Mobile

Today is the day that Canadians can get a cell phone from a brand new company.  They are only in Toronto and Calgary right now.  Will probably come to Ottawa early in the new year.

Family Fitness

Study says that the Wii Fit is has little effect on family fitness.  Turns out that kids loose interest in the game after a couple of weeks.

YouTube 2009

Most watched video was Susan Boyle singing "I Dreamed a Dream".  Next was "David after Dentist" followed by "JK Wedding Entrance Dance".

Nexus One Bits

These Are The Droids has ripped apart the new Google phone.  Specs reveal a processor that is twice as fast as any other Android device and some cool features like an FM radio.

Tuesday, December 15

Filtering the Internet

Australia has been testing a system that will block some websites for the entire country.  They are set to introduce the filter laws in Parliament in August 2010 and implment them a year later.

4G is On

TeliaSonera in Sweden becomes the first company in the world to implement 4G.  The speed is anywhere from 7 to 22 times faster than 3G.

Autonet Mobile

7 GM car models will create a Wi-Fi hot spot up to 150 feet around the car.  The system uses a 3G connection to get everyone online.

Plug-In Prius

Toyota is promising a new generation of affordable cars in 2011.

Nissan Leaf

First zero-emissions vehicle is announced in Vancouver.

Monday, December 14

Wind Mobile

After approval last week - expect a new cell phone company to launch in Canada very quickly.  They will start in Toronto and Calgary first then expand to other cities including Ottawa in the new year.

Google Phone

The phone is real.  Thousands of Google employees are now roaming the streets.  Plan seems to be that Google will sell the phone directly without a cell phone company as a partner.  Customers would then go and find their own deal.

Bar Codes on Places

Some businesses are now sticking bar codes on their storefront windows.  Customers can use their smartphone to scan the barcode and then get information such as reviews, details of opening times, contact information, prices, links to their website and more.

Video Game Sales

The November numbers are in.  Nintendo DS is the top selling device and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the 360 is the top selling game.

Friday, December 11

More Tablets?

Rumours have Dell building an Android based tablet.  Best guess is that the full announcement will be at CES in Las Vegas.  2010 is really looking like the year of the tablet.

Need a job?

IBM has over 2,500 job postings for analytics-related jobs.  New jobs are about being able to look at a ton of data, find trends and analyze the data.

Sky-Mapping Mission

NASA is blasting off a new telescope that will look at stars too dim and cold to see in ordinary light.

Big Dipper Star

Turns out that the star at the bend of the 'handle' of the Big Dipper is actually a co-star.

Meteor Shower

From Sunday night through Monday morning is the peak of the Geminid shower.  But it probably will be cloudy in Ottawa that night - keep an eye on the sky all weekend.

Thursday, December 10

Apple Tablet

Rumours return on when it will hit the streets.

American Diet

Study shows that they consume 34 GB of content and 100,000 words of information in a single day.

Wireless HD Video

The Wireless Home Digital Interface Consortium announces a new spec.

Wednesday, December 9

More E-Readers

Five of the largest US newspaper and magazine publishers are creating their own e-book reader.

Chrome on a Mac

Google releases their web browser for more platforms.

Faster WiFi

A new standard is in the works - but won't be out until 2012.

Tuesday, December 8

Google Goggles

Visual search comes to Android devices.

Real-time Search

Google tweaks the results to include instant posts from sources like Twitter and Facebook.

Add-on-Con 09

A bunch of announcements are expected including adding extensions to Chrome.

BOLT Browser

A new web browser has been released for Blackberries and other devices.

Twiiter Rumours

A look back at the Twitter rumours of 2009.

Monday, December 7

Work Faster

Yet another study says that you can get work done faster (and hopefully better) if you shut off your e-mail.

Lala

Apple buys the streaming media service.  Probably trying to keep on the edge of the music game.

Games on Demand

Microsoft announces digital delivery of games will start on December 15th.

Space Based Electricity

California will start adding electricity to their grid from space solar panels in June 2016.

Space Beer

Sapporo is about to start selling beer made from Barley that was on the International Space Station.

Friday, December 4

Google Public DNS

Still waiting for Google to turn evil? 

3D LCD

LG announces they wil start mass production of a full 3D monitor.

3D World Cup

Sony will record up to 25 World Cup games in HD.

Netbook Apps

Intel launches plans to create a new type of app store.

Thursday, December 3

H1N1 Worm

Latest spam campaign going around the world poses as a message from the Centers for Disease Control.

Black Screen of Death

Turns out that there really isn't a big problem with the BLSOD.

New Bing

Mcrosoft adds a ton of new features to the maps section of Bing.

Chrome OS

Acer is determined to be the first manufacturer to sell a Chrome OS device.

Wednesday, December 2  -  For some reason, its Google day...

Google Zeitgeist

Top searches by Canadians on Google in 2009 include: yahoo, hotmail, facebook and google.

Bye Gears

Google moving away from Gears in favour of HTML5.

Free News

Google plans some changes to the workings of Google News.

Tuesday, December 1

Yahoo! Buzz

Its that time of year when all the year end lists coming out.  Yahoo! has released their buzz list of 2009.

BlackBerry Storm 2

Yup - its a real BlackBerry - even if it doesn't have a keyboard.  The device is fast, has good battery life and all the other parts of a BlackBerry that we love.  But - the touchscreen is maddening.  It just doesn't work well to try to type on it.

Cyberdisinhibition

Turns out that people complain more online than offline.  In other non news - the sky is blue and grass is green.

New iPhone

A developer has spotted the newest iPhone in the streets of San Francisco.  And - Apple looks like they are getting ready to remove Google Maps from the iPhone.

Monday, November 30

Windows 7 vs Mac OS X

A gander at a bunch of online stats shows that Windows 7 has already overtaken all versions of Mac OS X on the Internet.  This is only one stat at the moment - but interesting how fast it is growing.

AppRejections

A website is urging developers that had their App rejected by Apple to post the app, the rejection note and extra comments.

MiKandi

Porn is coming to Android.  They can't do it on the iPhone, so a company has built a portal to help bring porn to other devices.

Rogers On Demand Online

Today is launch day for a new website aimed at Rogers customers that want to watch TV shows on their computer.

Monday, November 23

ISP Watching Customers

The government is set to announce a new bill that would require Canadian ISP's to notify police if they find child porn.

PS3 Catching Pedophiles

The US goverment has found it is cheaper to use Playstations to crack passwords than computers.

HP TouchSmart 600 Review

HP has released the latest version of their all-in-one PC.  The new model features Windows 7 along with a big touchscreen and an internal TV tuner.  The whole thing works well together.  Strange how little use there really is for the touchscreen.  It is so much easier to use the mouse than lifting your hand to the monitor that the touchscreen is rarely used.  A good piece of hardware - but not sure exactly how it would be used.

More Serious iPhone Worm

Another worm for the iPhone that won't affect you is out.  This one only targets broken iPhones in the Netherlands that are doing banking with ING Direct - so you don't have to worry.  Still - interesting that another iPhone worm is out.

Bing Buying News?

Rumours say that Microsoft is about to pay Rupert Murdoch to block his websites to Google and make them excusive to Bing. 

Friday, November 20

Chrome OS

Google releases some details on their operating system.  One detail of note... it won't be available for a year.

Apple Tablet is Dead

Latest rumours say that Apple has pushed back their tablet to second half of 2010.

Reliable Laptops

Waranty firm SquareTrade has analyzed the failure rate of 30,000 laptops.  Asus and Toshiba laptops are the most reliable.  Sony and Apple are in the middle.  The worst are Acer, Gateway and HP.

YouTube Closed Captions

A new technology allows closed captions to be added automatically on YouTube videos.  It will appear first on some channels, but expect them to appear on more over time.

Xbox Based Alerts

New York is testing a system that will allow them to broadcast warnings over Xbox Live.

Thursday, November 19

Going Green

California starts the push to make big screen TV's more energy efficient.

Dude, Its Bamboo

Dell finds a new, environmentally friendly packing material for its netbooks.

Cat Smart

IBM builds a computer to simulate a cats brain.  It took 147,456 processors, 143 TB of RAM and an acre of floor space.

Cat Pic

An app to put cats in your pictures.

Blow App

An app that turns the speaker in the iPhone into a blower.

Finding Land Mines

Scientists have created a strain of bacteria that flows green in the presence of explosives.

Wednesday, November 18

Google News

A ton of Google updates today....

• Google is about to give us more details on their operating system called Chrome this week
• Google Phone is real - next Android device is due out soon
• Google Translate adds pronunciation
• Google Image Swirl is a funky new way to find pictures

Body Power

It may soon be possible to power gadgets using body fat.

Tuesday, November 17

Kindle in Canada

The e-book reader is now available to Canadian addresses.  They also added a couple of Canadian newspapers!

e-Reader High School

Blyth Academy is the first high school in the world to use Sony Readers in place of printed textbooks.

Xbox Update

The fall update is out for the 360.  Facebook and Twitter should now be there.

PS3 Update

Sony makes it official - you can connect to Facebook from the PS3 too.

Assassin's Creed II

The next big video game is out today.  This one was made in Montreal.

DNA Dating

A couple of websites think they can help you find love by using your DNA.

Monday, November 16

Sand Trap on Mars

Today NASA will make an attempt to get the rover Spirit moving again.  It has been stuck in the Maritan sand since April 23.

Tweetup

More NASA news - they have brought 100 Tweeters to the Johnson Space Centre to watch the space shuttle launch this afternoon.

Random Hacks of Kindness

A conference was held over the weekend to find better ways of helping emergency workers in a crisis.

App Store Problems

The developer of the much-loved Facebook App has announced that he will not make any more apps because of the Apple Approval process.

Friday, November 13

Game Sales

Call of Duty 2 sets a record - but overall game sales are down a bit.

Booting Pirates

Xbox Live bans 360s that have been hacked.

Cheap 360s

Banned Xboxs flood Craigslist and Ebay

New Stuff

Facebook appears on the 360 on Tuesday.  The PS3 isn't far behind.

3D Laptop

Acer is about to release a laptop that comes with 3D glasses.

Thursday, November 12

Project Natal Details

Rumours say that it will launch in November 2010 and sell for about $80.

Bing Updates

The search engine adds a couple of features - including results from Wolfram Alpha.

SafeSearch

New settings from Google that helps parents keep inappropriate websites away from their kids.

Movies on a Card

Blockbuster is experimenting with a machine that would put movies on to an SD card.

Wednesday, November 11

Hijacking Facebook
Online activists claim to have seized control of nearly 300 Facebook groups using a security flaw.

Google News of the Week ... Caffeine promises to make Google searches faster and more accurate ...  Go promises a new faster and easier programming languages

Blackberry Announcements
A developers conference is full of new products that are coming soon to the Blackberry.

Canada Remembers
Veterans Affairs Canada has both a YouTube channel and a Facebook group.
http://www.youtube.com/user/VeteransAffairsCa
http://www.facebook.com/CanadaRemembers

Tuesday, November 10

NASA in 2012

The US Space Agency does a rare campaign to insist that the world will not end in 2012.  Is this the truth?  Or part of a government coverup.

3D Week

Channel 4 in the UK launches a week of 3D TV!

Free Wi-Fi

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Lexus and more are offering free wi-fi to promote their services.

Elf Yourself

The website returns for year 4.  Last year, 315 million Elf Yourself cards were sent.  Since it launched in 2006 there have been 284 million visits to the site.

Monday, November 9

iPhone Worm

It probably won't affect you - but if your iPhone wallpaper is suddenly Rick Astley then something has gone wrong.

Law Enforcement Tool Leaked

Microsoft wrote some special software to help with computer foresics for the sole use of law enforcement agencies around the world.  Over the weekend - the Internet got its hands on the tool.

SSL Flaw

Hopefully it gets fixed before used in the wild.

Translator

The Cry Translator listenens to a whining baby - in 10 seconds it provides one of five translations: hungry, sleepy, stressed, annoyed or bored.

Friday, November 6

Droid Day

The latest Blackberry/iPhone killer goes on sale in the US.  Reviews sum it up as 'the second best phone out there'.

Copyright Police

Rumours say that Canada is in secret negotiations over a new copyright scheme that could bar you from the Internet if you break the rules.

Microsoft Courier Tablet

Some details of the device that doesn't officially exist are leaked.

Better Accelerometer

HP says it has been working on a more accurate accelerometer for 25 years.

Lose/Lose

A video game that explores what it means to kill in a video game.  Everytime you kill an alien, a random file on your hard drive is deleted.

Thursday, November 5

Google Dashboard

Everything that Google knows about you in one convenient, and slightly scary, location.

Crapware

New webbrowsers and antivirus are the best prevention tools to keep crap off your computer.  What is the best tool to get rid of it?   Adware - http://www.lavasoft.com/      

Build a Wi-Fi Hotspot

Free software that uses an unfinished feature in Windows 7 to share the Internet.

App Store Milestone

More than 100,000 Apps now available, but most are never used.

Wednesday, November 4

New Network

Today Bell turns on its billion dollar network - TELUS is expected tomorrow.

Digital Movies

Best Buy in the US is moving away from physical DVD's and towards digital downloads.

Apple TV?

A $30 a month service to get access to the US networks could be in the works.

New MSN

Microsoft gives the website a makeover today.

Tuesday, November 3

Microsoft Security Report

Biggest problem is rogue security software - but worms are the fastest rising.

Web Open Font

A new way to build better web pages is coming.

Download Milestone

More than 100 million people have downloaded OpenOffice3

New Flower

Toyota creates a new species to offset the CO2 created by the manufacturing process of the Prius.

Monday, November 2

Wii has stalled

President of Nintendo blames a lack of good games for the sluggish sales.

N-Gage is closing

Nokia is closing their gaming service that nobody used.

Creative E-Book Reader

This one has a touchscreen, colour - seems you just aren't cool unless you are making an e-reader.

Hot E-Books

Book related apps have overtaken game apps in the iPhone App Store.

Ask Dave (thanks Mike Murray)

RIM fixes a bug that prevented the Blackberry 8350i Mike phone from sending text messages.  Download the new version of their operating system - https://www.blackberry.com/SoftwareDownload/index.jsp?client=dB5bZddMq

Smart GPS

MIT develops a Nav that knows where you want to go before you do.

Friday, October 30

Globalive?

CRTC decides that one of the new cell phone companies isn't Canadian enough.

Bloatware

Turns out that bloatware is making new computers slower than we thought.

Examiner in Ottawa

A news website written by amateur journalists opens an Ottawa version.

Thursday, October 29

Lordy Lordy

The Internet turns 40.

Motorola Droid

Not an iPhone killer.  But getting closer.

Google Nav

New app that combines Map and Street View with traffic information and voice commands.

Babelshot

iPhone app that turns the camera into a translator.

Ubuntu Linux

Latest version features quicker boot times, cloud integration and disk encryption.

Wednesday, October 28

TELUS Wireless Charges

The string of announcements from TELUS continues - today's announcement is getting rid of extra monthly fees but increasing the basic monthly cost.

BlackBerry Spyware App

PhoneSnoop is a proof of concept app that shows how spyware could listen to your phone conversations.

More Smartphones

New study shows that 32% of Canadians now carry a smartphone.

Electric Ink

Xerox Research Toronto invents a kind of ink that can conduct electricity.

Helmet-Mounted Radar

The US Army wants to equip soliders with personal radar.

Tuesday, October 27

TELUS iPhone Details

The next Canadian iPhone carrier starts on November 5.  We are still waiting for Bell details.

Big Spenders

Shoppers have already used the E-Bay iPhone App to spend $400 milllion.

New Domain Names

The Internet is getting ready to allow domain names in more languages.

Meteor Hoax

Latvian experts say that it looks like the crater was dug out with shovels.

Memorializing

Facebook announces a way to pay tribute to deceased users.

Monday, October 26

Ontario Cell Phone Ban Begins

Ignore the grace period crap - don't use any device while driving.

Logitech Squeezebox Internet Radio

A radio that you could put in the kitchen or by the bed.  Works great as long as it can find the Internet.  Even has a built in clock radio.

BitTorrent Live

Swarmplayer is used to stream a live concert around the world.

Standard Cell Phone Charger

A UN group approves of an energy-efficient one-charger for all.

Nigeria Actually Arrests an Online Scammer

In an attempt to approve its reputation, Nigeria says they have shut down a thousand websites and arrested 18.

Friday, October 23

How many?

Facebook now accounts for 25% of all pageviews in the United States.

MySpace Changes Direction

The classic social network site wants to concentrate on music.

Fuel-Cell Charger

Toshiba is launching the Dynario in Japan.

Phone on TV

Rogers Digital TV and Home Phone customers can now see who is calling on their TV.

Thursday, October 22

Traffic Shaping

The CRTC decides that Internet providers can manipulate their networks.

Internet Billing

The CRTC needs more study for billing based on downloads.

Windows 7 is Out

Not worth upgrading from Windows XP or Vista.  But a very good operating system that should be embraced on new computers.

Meteor Shower

Look towards Orion for the next couple of nights.

Wednesday, October 21

Disney Ditching DVD?

A technology code-named Keychest could change ownership to access rights - not physical possession.

Twitter in Bing?

Sources say that Microsoft is close to striking a deal to integrate tweets in their search engine.

Magic Mouse

Apple's new multitouch mouse is a winner.

Google Audio?

They already have it in China - could soon be coming to the rest of the world.

Tuesday, October 20

New NASA Rocket

For the first time in 30 Years - a new rocket is rolled out from NASA.

3D Display

Sony is about to show off a prototype 360-degree 3D display.

New on Xbox Live

Early reviews of Facebook and Twitter on Live are ok.

Authorised Only

An upcoming update for the Xbox will block access to unauthorised memory units.

Monday, October 19

Firefox vs Microsoft

Microsoft creates a security problem in Firefox.

Logitech Performance Mouse

This new wireless mouse works on any surface - including glass.  Fits a hand very nicely.  A bit expensive at $120, but you should get a couple of computers out of it.

Microsoft's Anitvirus

Security Essentials was downloaded 1.5 million times in the first week.

AVG Free 9

The latest version of the popular free anitvirus is released.

Mobile TV

New standard adopted that will allow TV stations to broadcast to mobile devices.

Friday, October 16

Ransomware

Program that looks like an antivirus will actually hold your computer for ransom.

Chrome OS

Google kicks out the media.  What are they up too?

Apple Advertising

The launch of Windows 7 is an opportunity to sell some Macs.

Air Canada Blackberry

An app that lets you book, check-in, select seats and board flights is now avaiable for both the iPhone and Blackberry.

Thursday, October 15

Storm2

Research In Motion confirms the Storm2 is coming out soon.

Solar Cellphones

Phone Samsung and LG have started selling solar powered cellphones.

Volt Production

GM invests $230 Million in four factories.

No Netbooks

Michael Dell says that a laptop owner would become dissatisfied with a netbook within 36 hours.

Wednesday, October 14

Radio.app

Apple discovers FM radio in the iPhone.

iMovie

A new video format from Apple.

Space Race

Bing puts its name on a new satellite.

Astronomers vs US Air Force

Observatories want to make it easier to shine lasers into space.

Frankencamera

A camera that is nothing but apps.

Mapathon

This weekend volunteers are heading across Atlanta to map every detail.

Got the wrong Bob?

Gmail service detects potential mistakes in group e-mails.

Tuesday, October 13

Windows Update

Microsoft releases the biggest ever security update.

Sidekick Problems

Many US owners of this cell phone have found all their contacts, calendar and everything else is gone.

Snow Leopard Bug

If you upgraded your Mac - using the guest account may cause your primary account to loose data.

Facebook Problems

150,000 users loose their data.

Avatars at Work

Predictions have avatars attending a lot of meeings by 2013.

Blackberry Storm 2

New Blackberry out by the end of the week?

Friday, October 9

Google Flu Trends

A site that monitors words being searched launches a Canadian version.

Office Starter 2010

Microsoft announces the end of Works.  Will be replaced by a free program with ads.

Multitouch Mouse?

Apple seems to be ready to release a brand new type of mouse with new iMacs that are due to ship soon.

More EBooks

Barnes & Noble ready with their own version of the Kindle.

One Drop

Tonight at 8 PM is the Guy Laliberte show from space.

Thursday, October 8

Google Street View Highlights

Van on Fire in Toronto

Tamil Protest on Parliament Hill

Kindle Goes Global

But not in Canada.

Earth Attacks

NASA is sending a rocket into the moon tomorrow morning.

360 Features

Facebook and Twitter on your Xbox by the end of October.

Bye GeoCities

Yahoo! paid $2.9 billion for it in 1999, on October 29 they will shut it off for good.

Tuesday, October 6

Hackers Hit

Huge phishing scam gets over 20,000 usernames and passwords from Hotmail, Gmail and more.

Bell and TELUS get the iPhone?

Speculation is high that Rogers will get some competition.

Windows Mobile 6.5

Microsoft releases the latest version and promises more than 30 new phones by the end of the year.

AVG 9

Updated antivirus is out.  The free version is expected soon.

PhotoSketch

Draw an outline - it creates a picture.  (Site is often overloaded.)

Monday, October 5

Windows Marketplace for Mobile

Microsoft becomes the latest to promise an app for that.

Flash on Smartphones

Adobe releases a new version that promises more content on more devices.

Generate Power

A backpack is developed that generates electricty as you walk.

E-Books Napsterized

The big Christmas gift this year could be e-books.  Lost of places to get free books online too.

Friday, October 2

PSP Go Launches

Newest portable game device goes on sale - and its expensive.

Google Chrome OS Sooner?

A Chinese manufacturer drops hints that a Chrome OS netbook could be out in October.

Micello

A free app that maps the inside of buildings.

25 Years in Space

Canada first sent an astronaut up on October 5, 2009

Thursday, October 1

Ontario Ban on Cell Phones While Driving

October 26 is the day that the law starts, but there will be a three month educational period that ends on February 1, 2010.

Fuel Cell Cell Phones

Researchers build a recharger that could let you plug in your cell phone anywhere.

Apple Maps

How long till Google Maps is kicked off the iPhone?

Will Globalive Survive?

The CRTC is looking for more details on the ownership of this new Canadian cell phone company.

Wednesday, September 30

Variety Show in Space

On October 9, Guy Laliberte will host a two hour show from the International Space Station.

Microsoft Security Essentials

Seems to be ok - small download, low system resources.  Is it actually doing anything?

iPhone Security Problem?

Developers of iPhone apps can get your cell phone number.

Wave Hello

Google sends out 100,000 invites today for its new service.

Tuesday, September 29

Wireless Laptops

Dell launches a new laptop that can recharge without wires - they call it the first part of the "wireless eco-system."

Light Peak

Apple and Intel are working on a new connector that will replace all the other ones.

Free Wi-Fi Cancelled

The first citywide free Internet service in the United States is closed.

US Secret Service and Facebook

Everyone that participated in an online poll is now being investigated.

Palm WebOS 1.2

A great update for both of the Palm Pre owners.

Free Antivirus

Microsoft Security Essentials launches today.

Monday, September 28

E-Mail Blamed for Suicides

France Telecom under public scrutiny after 22 suicides, 13 attempts since the start of 2008.

School Rolling out 240,000 Netbooks

Australian school supplying computers to students with a unique way of keeping control of them.

Backup Goes Peer-to-Peer

Symform creates a way to store backups on the computers of other users.

Mercury Closeup

NASA sends a spacecraft 143 miles over the puny planet today.

 Friday, September 25

Tokyo Game Show

Not really getting the big announcements - but some small chunks of goodness coming from the show.

Ice on Mars

More water being discovered than expected.

Ordered to Deactivate

Google forced to close a gmail account because a bank made an error.

Microsoft Screwed Up

Steve Ballmer admits that Windows Mobile 7 is as late as hell and needs a lot of work.

Thursday, September 24

Twitter Phishing

Yet another reminder of how careful we all need to be when giving a username and password online.

Wii Price Drop

On Sunday, September 27 the price of the Wii drop $60 to $219.95.

PS3 Shortage?

Price drops are making everyone buy video game consoles.  Could there be a shortage by Christmas?

New Life

Austria researchers think that life doesn't need water.

Water on the Moon

NASA announces that they have found water on the moon.

Wednesday, September 23

Microsoft Tablet

Could the Courier be better than the long waited Apple Tablet?

Free Security Software?

Look for Microsoft to release Morro in the next couple of days.

Moblin

Intel has been working on their own operating system.

Picasa 3.5

Google adds face recognition and easier geotagging.

Push Gmail on the iPhone

Cool - but when is push Gmail coming to the Blackberry?

 Tuesday, September 22

Motion-Activated Headphones

Put them in, music starts.  To pause, take out one.  To stop, take out both.

Remote Diagnoses

New technology helps techs fix a computer problem without having to load an operating system.

Dell Fail

The New York Attorney General's Office says Dell's next-day, in-home service is neither next-day nor in-home.

Project Pink

Rumours are that Microsoft is working on a cell phone and a tablet PC.

USB 3.0 Devices

Really really fast USB is coming.  Could be in stores by the end of the year.

 Monday, September 21

Google vs Apple

The battle between the two over Google Voice gets bigger every day.

iPhone Battery Problems

Many are reporting battery problems after upgrading to iPhone 3.1.  Apple releases a tool to help find the issue.

Toy Story Mania

Crappy game from Disney for the Wii.

Wii Price Drop?

Rumours say that the Wii will get $50 cheaper on September 27.

 Friday, September 18

Phone Bill Rebates?

THe Supreme Court will release their decision on what to do with money from overbilled home phone customers.

Office Web Apps

Microsoft release a technical preview of their new online applications.

DreamScreen

HP creates a new device that is always connected to the Internet.  Will anyone pay $280 for it?

Printing Keys

Take a picture of a key - and then print it.  Cool - and somewhat scary.

Thursday, September 17

Catching Spam

Websense Security Labs say that 95% of comments in blogs, chat rooms and message boards are malicious.

Overwhelming Spam

New trick to get through the spam filters - spend out a big burst quickly.

China Warning

The US government recommends weighing your laptop before and after a visit to China - and more...

FocusBoosterLive

A time management technique to get more done.

EBook First

Dan Brown's latest novel "The Lost Symbol" is selling more of the electronic version than the hardcover at Amazon.

Wednesday, September 16

Blockbuster Closing up to 960 Stores

Turns out that 18% of their stires are unprofitable.

Facebook Milestones

The huge site passes 300 million members and actually has a positive cash flow.

Data Liberation Front

A team with a plan to make it easier to move your data.

Chrome 3

Google releases the next version of its browser.

Opera Mini 5 Beta

A test version of their browser for mobile devices is released.

 Tuesday, September 15

New Zune

Microsoft releases the latest version of its MP3 player - no word yet on when it will be in Canada.

Fast Flip

Google Labs has a new way to look at news stories online.

Smartphone Webbrowsers

They need to get better - but which is the best so far?

Jupiter Grabs a Moon

From 1949 to 1961 the biggest planet had an extra moon.

Monday, September 14

Rogue Ad

The New York Times accidentally sends out a virus.

Black Market

How much would a cybercriminal pay for your identity.

Distracted Driving

Looks like Ontario is ready for the new law - are you?

It's Official

802.11n products have been around for years - but the standard just became a standard.

IBM Goes Open Office

Big Blue kicks out Microsoft Office from their desktops.

Cheap Pics

MIT students take a pic of earth from space for under $150.

Friday, September 11

Facebook Lite

Finally, a way to get rid of those dumb apps.

Playstation Porn?

Vivid video thinks they have a shot at getting adult content on the PS3.

Cell Phone Radiation

Interesting study of over 1000 cell phones showing which devices emit the highest levels of radiation.

Microsoft Event

Looks like Bing 2.0 and the latest thinnest laptop are on the way.

Thursday, September 10

Apple Announcements

New version of iTunes, camera and FM radio in iPods - but, is Apple becoming a portable gaming company?

Hubble Pics

NASA releases some amazing new pictures of space.

Open LR

TomTom introduces an open source, royalty free standard for the navigation and mapping industry. 

Life Recorders

How long until we are wearing a little device that tracks our every move.

Wednesday, September 9

TELUS buys Blacks

The cell phone business in this country is getting more and more interesting.

Monopoly City Streets

Big new online game that is free for four months.

Energy from Hair

An 18 year old in Nepal has found a way to make solar panels cheaper.

Apple Time

The announcements start at 1 PM Eastern time.  Stay tuned for more.

Tuesday, September 8

Palm Pre

Good - but not great.  The phone has done many things right such as the touchscreen and multitasking.  However, the entire device is slow.  Hopefully version 2 will be better - and then version 3 will be amazing.

Ask Dave

Evelyne Cardinal is looking for free antivirus.  A good one to try is AVG from Grisoft at www.grisoft.com

Cheap Digital Book Reader

ASUS announces plans to release a reader that will be lower priced and in full colour. 

Wednesday, September 2

Gmail Outage

World ends - then comes back.

Space Solar Project

Japan is looking at a $21 billion project to build a huge solar generator in space.

President Closes the Internets?

A new bill going through the US Senate could give the President the power to shut down the net in a crisis.

40th Birthday

A big birthday for the Internet. 

Tuesday, September 1

EBay Sells Skype

The auction company says that the two have 'limited synergies'

Oy!

Google Translate adds nine new languages including Yiddish

Fired for Fonts

Financial Officer caused disharmony in the workplace by using block capitals.

Opera 10

Faster downloads, new design and thumbnails.

Monday, August 31

Facebook Security

Turns out that many social networkers aren't using the privacy tools that they already have.

India to the Moon

Their inaugural moon mission has been cancelled.

Snow Leopard is out

Reasons to switch to it right away.

Big reason not to switch - some programs don't run.

Burning Man

The madness begins.

Friday, August 28

Carleton is Ready

The University unveils a new warning system to be used in the event of a campus emergency.

Facebook Privacy

The social network giant announces some changes after complaints from Canada.

Google Italy Problems

Their antitrust watchdog has inspected Google's office on charges of discrimination to newspapers.

WhiteFi

A way to extend wireless networks up to 1 km is under development.

Wednesday, August 26

Sony E-Reader

Looks like they may have built a better reader than the Kindle from Amazon.

Wikipedia Cleanup

The mega site makes it harder to edit certain entries.

Mars Trip

NASA invites Russia to be a part of a trip to Mars.

Growing Dinosaurs

A Montreal researcher says he has a way to grow dinosaurs.

Tuesday, August 25

Better Blackberry Browser

RIM buys the company behind many of the smartphone web browsers.

Better Yahoo!

Watch for their products to offer more social connections.

Better Space Program

The US appears to be ready to outsource the entire space program.

Better Switzerland

A Swiss official is demanding that Google remove all "Street View" images of Switzerland.

Worse Pirate Bay

The Pirate Bay is looking for a new ISP after they got kicked off their current one.

Monday, August 24

digitalagenda.ca

A website to help understand and influence Canada's proposed copywrite laws.

Open Book Alliance

Microsoft, Yahoo! and Amazon vs Google

Suancle

Oracle is getting closer to buying Sun.

Price Drops?

Rumours have the cost of the Xbox 360 Elite dropping by $100 soon.

Friday, August 21

Steve "The Woz" Wozniak - www.woz.org

 Thursday, August 20

Unmasking Bloggers

A New York judge has forced Google to reveal the identity of a blogger that posted derogatory photos and comments.

3rd Satellite Service

FreeHD Canada wants to offer another option for satellite TV in Canada.

Rogue Facebook Apps

Trend Micro warns that a handful of apps can steal your personal information.

Windows Live Music Maker

Microsoft releases a new version of its simple tool to make movies.

Wednesday, August 19

Cheaper PlayStation

Sony gets ready for Christmas by cutting $100 and introducing a new model.

iTunes Gets Bigger

Report in the US says iTunes purchased songs now account for 25% of the overall music market.

Solar Powered Bus Stops with Wi-Fi

San Francisco announces a plan to build 360 new bus stops by 2013.

09/09/09

Apple is planning an event - what will be the big news?

Windows 7

Last chance to try out the free release candidate for the new version of Windows.

Tuesday, August 18

Facebook and Canada

The social network giant has submitted something to the Privacy Commissioner - we are waiting to see what it actually says.

Wikipedia Milestone

The English verison of the huge website hits three million articles.

E-Mails from the Dead

A messaging service to send e-mails from beyond the grave.

Dell Phone

China Mobile shows off the Dell mini3i.

 Monday, August 17

Green Dam Gone

China changes its plan to install monitoring software on every computer sold.

Snow Leopard Date?

Rumours predict that August 28 will be the release date for the OS update.

Beating Malware

A study sponsored by Microsoft finds that IE 8 is the best browser to keep surfers safe.

CentMail

Yahoo! thinks that we will pay a penny to send an e-mail to prevent spam.

Facebook in Canada

Today is the day that the social-networking site is to close its privacy gaps.

Friday, August 7

Twitter Outage?

Turns out to have been an attack against one person.

Nortel on the Hill

The House of Commons Industry committee is learning about Nortel today.

Changing the results

Has Microsoft been altering the Bing results to be pro-Microsoft?

Money Money Money

Has Microsoft been accepting advertising dollars from fraudulent pharamaceuticals?

Magic

Get rid of ads in Gmail by adding this line to your signature: "I enjoy the massacre of ads.  This sentence will slaughter ads without a messy bloodbath."

Thursday, August 6

DAVE Wireless

One of the new cell phone companies plans to be up and running in early 2010.

Projector-Cam

A camera with a built in projector.  Watch for more integrated projectors to come along.

Party-Shot

Sony creates a device that spins around, automatically finds faces and takes a pic.

Texting 911

Waterloo, Iowa becomes the first 911 call centre to accept txt messages.

Wednesday, August 5

Palm Pre in Canada

Bell announces that the Pre will go on sale here on August 27.

Sin Bin

England is putting video cameras in homes to monitor children.

Smart Cane

Students develop a new tool to help the blind.

New Satellites

The Canadian Space Agency may launch two more satellites.

 Wednesday, July 29

Not MicroHoo

Microsoft and Yahoo! reach a 10 year deal.  Not the big takeover that has been speculated.

Page Hunt

A little time waster that cleverly fine-tunes search results.

Microsoft Stores

A billion people use their products - now you will be able to bitch in person.

Bill and his Three Monitors 

Interesting insight into how Bill Gates works.

Tuesday, July 28

WTF with Nortel?

Federal government has suddenly decided that they may or may not want to become involved or un-involved in the sale of Nortel.

Globalive vs TELUS

How Canadian do you have to be to own a cell phone company in this country?

Risky Texting

New study shows that texting while driving causes your risk of collision by 23 times.

Space Elevator

Canadian company wants to build a cheaper way to get to space.

Friday, July 24

Artist in Space

Guy Laliberte is ready to head to the space station.

Now with Layers

Google updates their maps app for Windows Mobile and Symbian devices.

SpeakOutOnCopyright.ca

Learn more about the proposed changes to our copyright legislation.

Touchy

Synaptics announce touch screens that react to more than 2 fingers.

Smile Meter

Employees in Japan have a computer to test their smiles.

Thursday, July 23

My Space E-Mail

They want to be known as an Entertainment Portal and think that having their own e-mail service will help.

GDrive?

Is Google getting closer to launching the mythical GDrive?

Lenses that Dispense

Cotnact lenses that release meds have been developed.

Wednesday, July 22

Globalive Back on Track

Looks like this new cell phone company will launch by the end of the year.

Microsoft gives and takes away:

• Portable Xbox is coming
• Xbox Games on Demand launch on August 11
• Popfly gets pulled
• Soapbox closes

People the Problem

The weakest link in cybersecurity is the people.

 Tuesday, July 21

RIM and Nortel

Great idea - but a bit late.

Blackberry Desktop on the Mac

Apple users are finally going to get some Blackberry software.

New Yahoo?

The Internet pioneer is planning to show off a new version of their home page today.

Monday, July 20

OS 5.0

Blackberry is working on the next version of their operating system.  The highlights?  A clock that sets itself automatically and a web browser with tabs!  How geeky.

Amazon Deletes 1984

Digital editions of some books disappear.  This never used to happen with paper books.

Wardriving Cops

Police in Queensland are driving around the city looking for unsecured networks.

Has something hit Jupiter?

It could be a meteor slamming or bad weather.

Thursday, July 16

Twittergate

More proof to never use simple passwords.

Apple vs Palm

It didn't take Apple long to cut off the abiltiy for Palm Pre's to pretend they are iPods.

Canadian Karaoke

Montreal based Stingray Digital builds a huge new channel on YouTube.

 Friday, July 10

Canadian's in Space

NASA tries again tomorrow to launch Endeavour with Canadian astronaut Julie Payette

Deep Packet Inspection

Eric the Red and Dan Murray 'Ask Dave' - what is Deep Packet Inspection?  Normally routers on the Internet only look at the the header to figure out where information needs to go.  Think of it as your mailman just reading the address on a letter.  With Deep Packet Inspection, the router reads everything.  Almost as if the mailman opened up your letter, read the whole thing and then decided what to do with the letter.

Grazing Robots

The Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot - EATR - can eat as it goes.

Photo Clothes

Fabric has been created that can detect light wavelength and direction.  Could your clothes one day be a camera?

 Thursday, July 9

Alberta Virus

Personal details on 11,582 people in the Edmonton area may have been stolen from Alberta Health.

Cyberattack

It started on July 4th and has been growing.  First was just a bunch of US government websites, now more sites are being affected.

More Google OS

Some more details about their new operating system are released.

VLC 1

Finally - after many years - VideoLAN releases version #1!

 Wednesday, July 8

Google Chome OS

They are pomising an operating system that focuses on 'speed, simplicity and secuity'.

The Internet Survives

MJ's online memorial pushes the Internet to its limits, but Obama inauguration was still bigger.

Free Hotspots

Vex Corp plans to launch free wireless hotspots across Canada.

 Monday, July 6

Traffic Cops

The CRTC starts hearings today to determine if they should get involved in shaping the flow of Internet traffic.

Pirate Party of Canada

They have made some huge jumps in Sweden and Germany - anyone in Canada interested?

Bluetooth Big Brother

University of Ghent in Belgium uses bluetooth to track the movements of thousands of people at a music festival.

 Monday, June 29

iPhone 3GS

A great device.  The new version is very fast with a long battery life.  The voice control and the ability to search the entire phone are key features.  It still misses a message waiting light and the ability to multitask.

Playstation Phone?

Sony is already partners in a cell phone company.  Why don't they build a device to compete against the iPhone?

Ditching DVDs

Rumours are that Microsoft is looking at distributing Windows 7 on USB keys.  Problem is that many netbooks don't have a DVD drive.

Ulysses going dark

NASA and the ESA are going to shut off the Ulysses space probe tomorrow.  After 19 years - it has earned some rest.

Thursday, June 25

New Eclipse

The Ottawa based Eclipse Foundation releases the latest version of their programming tool.

Underground Experiments

A lab that is 4,850 feet under the earth's surface explores dark matter.

Firmware Lockout

An update for Panasonic cameras prevents the use of third-party batteries.

Ads in Apps

Google starts a project to put ads in iPhone and Android apps.

Wednesday, June 24

Hohm

Microsoft is getting into the power management system game.

Xiant

The Outlook add-on to give features that should be built into Outlook.

MSFast

MySpace releases a free tool to help tune webpage performance.

Speed

Oddly - Google also has some advice on how to make websites faster.

 Tuesday, June 23

Image Search

Google uses 40 million photos to identify 50,000 world landmarks.

Printing without a Computer

HP announces a printer that can connect directly to the Internet.

Royalties

ASCAP takes AT&T to court arguing that a musical ringtones count as a public performance.

Want anything?

An app to figure out the office order when someone is making a donut run.

 Monday, June 22

Activision vs PS3

Is it worthwhile for some video game companies to make video games for the PS3?

Embedded Virtualization

LG creates a monitor that allows for as many as 11 users to share a single PC.

Iran Images

Google has added some brand new satellite photos of Tehran.

Google Voice Launch?

They have 1 million phone numbers ready to go.  Hit the refresh button all day today.

Friday, June 19

iPhone 3

New iPhone goes on sale today.  If you already have one, make sure you do the upgrade.

Newspaper Crowdsources

A UK paper needs some help going through 700,000 documents of MP's expenses.

Spaceport America

They broke ground today on the first commercial location for trips to space.

Free Security

Microsoft announces that the beta version of their free security software will launch on Tuesday.

Thursday, June 18

Fastest Computer in Canada

The University of Toronto turns on its $50-million supercomputer.

Binging

The new search engine from Microsoft is making gains on Google and Yahoo.

Web Access in Africa

Weather balloons are being used to bring the Internet to distant parts of the world.

Big Moony Shot

NASA is planning to launch the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite today.

Wednesday, June 17

Dude - you are getting a Smartphone

Rumours continue to build that Dell is working on some kind of a new phone.

Samsung goes Android

The Galaxy is set to launch in some part of the world this month.  Hopefully we get it before Christmas.

Hey Palm - its Apple Calling

Turns out that Palm Pre owners may not be able to sync their iPods to their smartphone for long.

Burning Money

The latest guesses on how much Google looses on YouTube.

Smart Car?

BMW working on a technology that will detect if the driver has a medical emergency.  The car will automatically stop and turn on its flashers.

Tuesday, June 16

Game Changer?

The alpha version of Opera 10 is out. 

Got Yours?

More that 5.75 million people get their Facebook username in two days. 

Need answers?

Hunch.com is a crowd-sourced site that helps you make decisions.

Sneaky Viruses

Many large websites are dealing with ads that contain links to malware.

Monday, June 15

EnStream

Canada's cell phone companies create a way for you to buy things using your cell phone.

Filtering Bing

One of the best ways so far to keep porn out - if you want that sort of thing.

Portable Blu-Ray Player

Have a ton of blu-ray movies but no way to take them on the road?  Panasonic launches the first portable blu-ray player.  It plays disks on its built in LCD screen.  Not a bad player with good battery life and tons of extra's such players for DIVX, MP3's and more.  Too bad the screen wasn't visible from greater angles.  Biggest beef is the price - it is almost $1,000.

Touch of Colour

Samsung launches a new line of desktop monitors that are designed to be green with a unique aesthetic design.  They have really gone the distance to create a green monitor.  This is so green that using it instead of another monitor saves power equial to the planting of four new trees a year.  It looks amazing too, the stand gives the illusion that the screen is floating.  However, the stand needs a lot more height - it all looses its aesthic appeal when it is sitting on a bunch of old phone books.

Friday, June 12

Mac Attacks

Two new threats appear for Macs - yup - more worms and trojans for the Mac.

France Pushes Forward

Who cares about the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man - this is about preventing MP3's from being downloaded!

How to deal with a lawsuit

After paying a 1.7 billion euro fine for including a web browser in previous versions of Windows - Microsoft announces that Windows 7 in Europe will have no web browser of any kind in it.

Space Party

Canadian astronaut Julie Payette blasts off in the Space Shuttle Saturday morning at 7:17 AM. 

Go Vain

At 12:01 AM on Saturday you will be able to register a Facebook Vanity URL.

Thursday, June 11

Three Strikes Policy Setback

An attempt in France to derail illegal downloads gets derailed.

No More Money

Microsoft announces they will stop selling Money at the end of the month.  Nobody will notice.

Free Anti-Virus

Microsoft announces a free anti-virus program.  Everyone looks up.

Social Network for Cell Phones

HP is working on Friendlee - a system that will analyse your cell phone use to determine which of your contacts you actually contact.

DTV Switch

The US switches to digital TV tomorrow.  Seniors are ready to go.

Wednesday, June 10

$1B for Nortel?

Some formal Nortel execs want a billion dollars from the federal government to build the New Nortel.

Windows Update Attacks

The latest security updates from Microsoft will get rid of some fake antivirus products.

Cheaper Outlook Use

Google Apps comes out with a plug-in that lets Outlook users sync their e-mail, calendar and contacts.

Bar Codes Gone Wild

Bar codes on your fruits and veggies, electronic coupons and expiry dates.  Bar codes are evolving and we never even noticed.

Tuesday, June 9

Apple Announcements

Price drop for the current iPhone, new faster iPhone - and thats about it.

 GPS on iPhone

TomTom announces an iPhone app to turn an iPhone into a full GPS.

Gone on Vacation

Perhaps announcing your trip details on Twitter is not a good idea.

Microwave at your Desk

The Beanzawave allows you to create a warm snack or a hot drink by simply plugging in to your USB slot.

Monday, June 8

T-Mobile Hacked?

Hackers claim to have stolen all of T-Mobile's US data. 

HTC Dream

A great device at a good price.  One of the better new products in a long time.

Blind Search

Search without being influenced by the brand of search engine.  The site includes Bing, Yahoo and Google.

Pirate Party

The political wing of the Pirate Bay wins a seat in the European Parliament.

Friday, June 5

Artists Weep - Everyone else cheers

The CRTC decides that online media is not an immediate threat to traditional broadcasting - so it won't worry about Canadian content rules.

Palm Pre

Summer of Smartphone rolls on - latest device is from Palm.

Apple Rumours

The big Apple development conference is on next week.  Rumours are flying on possible announcements.

You in Movies

Yoostar lets you put yourself into the movies.

Wednesday, June 3

Controller Wars

Microsoft has the Natal, Sony has the Motion Controller and Wii adds the MotionPlus

PSP Go

Sony announces a smaller and more fun PSP.

Wiiiiiiiiiii

Nintendo has more games and a sensor to help you get healthier.

Set your Calenders

Microsoft announces that the next version of Windows will go on sale on October 22.

Tuesday, June 2

E3 Announcements

• Xbox 360 delivering movies, radio stations, Facebook and Twitter
• A human body video game controller
• Electronic Arts and Ubisoft like sports games and sequels

More Smartphones

The first Android powered 'Google Phones' go on sale in Canada.

Monday, June 1

Saving the World

Microsoft has blocked access to Messenger from Cuba to comply with a US ban.

E3 Week

Big announcements all week on the latest and greatest in games.

Vanity Landrush

Facebook is planning to allow vanity URL's later this week.

Bing

Don't use bing.ca - bing.com has more features.

Friday, May 29

Wave Hello

Google announces the latest and greatest tool yet.  Luckily they are giving us months to build up the hype.

Banned!

Wikipedia blocks all IP addresses from the Church of Scientology

More TV

Xbox 360 owners in the UK will be able to watch 20 live channels of TV through their console.

Water Fumes

Mazda keeps working on a car powered by hyrdogen.

Thursday, May 28

Google I/O

A couple of announcements coming from a big Google conference:

• Google Web Elements is a tool for webmasters to add content to their site
• Android Developer Challenge will award $250,000 to a developer that makes the best app
• 18 Google Phones coming out before the end of the year

Feeling Watched?

Toshiba has developed a computer that watches you while you watch the road.

Touching your Screen

Windows 7 will have an optional group of software with the cryptic name of the Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7.

Wednesday, May 27

New Zune

Microsoft says their new MP3 player will have an OLED touchscreen and HD radio.

Sueing Facebook

Theodore Karantsalis wanted $70.50 for being hacked by a virus.

Destroying life on Mars

Some think that NASA's rovers are burning off signs of life.

Spam Spam Spam

Symantec says there is a 5.1% increase in spam this month.

 Tuesday, May 26

Binging

Looks like Microsoft is going to call their new snazzy search engine Bing.  Also looks like they will spend somewhere between $80 to $100 million to advertise it.

Twitter TV

Some stories going around about a Twitter TV show - Twitter says there are lots of Twitter TV shows already.

Watching License Plates

Britian is building a national network of cameras and computers to fight crime.

OPhone?

China Mobile creates something called the Open Mobile System for smartphones.

 Monday, May 25

Porn Day

The guys at 4chan.org coordinate an attack on YouTube by uploading a ton of porn.

Summer of Code

Google puts some cash towards young developers working on open source projects.

Bigger Flexible OLED

NHK in Japan develops a screen that could be used for lightweigh, portable TV.

Apple App Standards

Finally - you can read the Kuma Sutra on your iPhone.

Friday, May 22

Chrome 2.0

Not much for new features - but the new version is even faster!

Apple Rumours

One rumour predicts that Apple is working on a tablet.  Another rumour has them working on a digital camera.

RunPee

Need to know there is a good break in a movie to run for a pee?

Playlists from Moods

Sony Ericsson gets a patent on creating playlists based on your facial expression.

Thursday, May 21

Toronto Turns on Smart Meters

In June, our big noisy neighbour will start charging electricity rates based on the time of day.  Google has created a tool that somehow connects into the meters to give you handy charts and graphs of your power usage.

Fancy Bus Stops

Florence, Italy are installing fancy bus stops that will provide real time bus movement in a chic environment.

New Way to Search?

Rumours are that Microsoft will show off its new search engine next week.

Protecting your Privacy

Google Street View automatically blurs faces to protect privacy - including Colonel Sanders at every KFC.

 Wednesday, May 20

Summer of Smartphone....

• Palm Pre will be out on June 6 in the US.  Will sell for $299 and then offer a $100 mail-in rebate.  Bell says the will have the Pre sometime between now and Christmas.
• iPhone 3.0 is expect will be out on June 8.
• Storm 2 from Blackberry is rumoured to be out by the end of June.  The new version gets rid of the SurePress touch screen and adds Wi-Fi.

E-Mail Translation

Google adds a translation feature to Gmail.  Change your e-mail into 41 different languages.

Virtual Wi-Fi

New feature in Windows 7 will allow wireless network cards to appear as more than one device.

Fewer Search Results

Yahoo! spends two-years studying what we really want in our search results.

Friday, May 15

Google Says Sorry

Now the third major disruption this year from Google.  This time, all Google traffic took an extra trip through Asia.

Thanks for the $210,000

Dispite the problems - Google makes a ton of cash.  Each employee brings in a profit of more than $200,000.

Hackers Hit Facebook

Phishing attack on Facebook users out trolling for passwords.

GPS Fail?

Unless those GPS satellites get replaced soon, the accuracy of your GPS device will go down.

Moon Spiders

Italian group hoping to win $20 million by sending a bunch of robots to the lunar surface.

Thursday, May 14

New Canadian Astronauts

Welcome Jeremy Hansen and David Saint-Jacques to the spotlight!

Erotic ads on Craigslist

Craigslist ditches "Erotic Services" - creates "Adult Service Providers"

Reducing Online Fraud

Visa is testing a new credit card that adds an additional layer of security with a special four figure code that is generated by the card.

Keeping Healthy

Google wants to know why you are searching for particular items.  Could it be because you are sick?

 Wednesday, May 13

Google Adds Features

A couple of new bits added to Google that let you look at results based on file type or time.

Waste some time

Take YouTube videos and mess with your mind.

Three Strikes and You Are Unplugged

French lawmakers pass a bill that attempts to reduce piracy by disconnecting downloaders from the Internet.

Falling Flat Screens

Kids are getting hurt and killed by big flat screen tv's that aren't mounted properly.

 Tuesday, May 12

Five Arrested for Pirating DVD's

After a six-month RCMP investigation aided by the York Police - five have now been charged.  If convicted they could be fined up to $1 million and spend a time in jail.

Want to help the Pirate Bay?

After being found guilty in a Swedish court, the found of the Pirate Bay said they didn't need any assistance.  Now - he suggests that you can help out by paying the fine - in really really small increments.

Google Street View Halted

Greece has stopped Google from roaming their streets until some questions about security are answered.

Website that Thinks

Under development for years - this new tool can compute the answers to queries.  It officially launches later this week at www.wolframalpha.com

Monday, May 11

Botnet Bluescreens 100,000 PCs

Zeus self-destructed recently - but nobody is too sure why.

Killing Mosquitos

Thomas Kollars spent 11 years figuring out a better way to kill mosquitos.

Hubble Mission

Space Shuttle is set to blast off at 2 PM today.

Friday, May 8

Car Safety for Pedestrians

Researchers are working on a system to detect where a pedestrians head would hit a car in an accident.

Photosynth in Virtual Earth

Microsoft brings synth's to more services. 

Problems Powering Probe's

The fuel needed for NASA's deep space exploration isn't being made anymore.

Star Trek Viewscreens

Just how big is the viewscreen on the Enterprise?

Thursday, May 7

Data on old Hard Drives

A study that bought used hard drives from computer fairs and EBay found that 34% of them held sensitive data.

Need to get rid of an old hard drive?  Use this program to wipe it clean - Darik's Boot and Nuke

Cellphones for Everyone

New study shows that more and more households are getting rid of landlines and going cell phone only.

Why are text messages so short?

Blame postcards, Telex and not needing any more space anyway.

Facebook Censoring E-Mail?

Seems that Facebook is preventing e-mail's between members about torrents and the Pirate Bay.  Oddly, conversations about drugs and underage drinking are ok.

Never Trust Wikipedia

An undergrad student invents a quote from a deceased composer - quote gets picked up by the media.  Silly media.

Tuesday, May 5

Tons of announcements from a big Research in Motion conference

• Blackberry Curve is the best selling smartphone in the US.  The iPhone is #2 - followed by the Blackberry Storm, the Blackberry Curve and then the Android based G1
• A Blackberry Storm 2 is in the works.  Hopefully better than the current version.
• They are opening up their "push" technology to developers with the hope that they will make some cool new apps
• HP announces a way to print from your Blackberry to the nearest printer
• Google Apps announce a way to connect Gmail to the native Blackberry e-mail client
• Xboni hints that they are coming up with a Blackberry version

Smelling Cancer

NASA develops an electronic nose that is so sensitive that it can smell cancer.

Windows 7

Mighty Microsoft releases the Release Candidate of Windows 7.  Download it now - use it for a year.

Monday, May 4

HP TouchSmart Tablet

A very powerful laptop with a funky touchscreen.  Kind of a strange keyboard but still a good device.

Netbook from Palm

Palm looks at releasing their cancelled Foleo as a netbook running their new webOS.

Satellites Sailiing Home

It takes 100 years before satellites naturally fall from the sky.  Some scientists look at adding sails to satellites to get dead ones out of the sky quicker.

Google Goat

The mega tech company hires goats to mow the lawn.

 Friday, May 1

Ultra Secure XP

Microsoft has created an ultra secure version of Windows XP for the Air Force.  No word on if the rest of us will be able to get it.

Crazy-Fast Camera

UCLA scientists create a camera that can take 6.1 million frames in a second.

Pirate Party

The political wing of the Pirate Bay is gaining support ni Sweeden.  They could win a seat in elections later this year.

 Wife goes into labour early

 Hubby needs some help - he Googles how to deliver a baby and finds some YouTube videos.

Thursday, April 30

Trend Micro buys Third Brigade

Ottawa security company becomes the Canadian Headquarters for a huge security company.

Antivirus from the Cloud

Panda has spent three years developing a new type of antivirus.

Freesat

Bell proposes a service that would give everyone 5 free channels on satellite.

Googling the Swine Flu

People searching for flu-related search terms would have given an early warning.

Wednesday, April 29

Phishers Catch Swine Flu

A couple of e-mail scams are going around the Internet using the Swine Flu as an excuse to grab  your name, e-mail, address and more.

Breakthrough in Digital Storage

The secret?  Holograms.

Emergency Social Networking

Microsoft releases a beta version of Vine.  

Palm Pre?

A release date for the Palm Pre as the Smartphone Summer unfolds.

Tuesday, April 28

Facebook Status Update

The social networking giant announces that they are going to adopt Activity Streams and OpenID.  Coool.

Paper Speakers

They look like posters - but will soon be able to plug in a digital music player or connect to it with Bluetooth to these funky speakers.

Eco-friendly Monitors

New line of LCD screens go to sleep if nobody is around, adjust the brightness based on the room and have a full power off switch.

Kumo Countdown

Microsoft's latest big push at a search engine could be 40 days away.

 Monday, April 27

Canadian Anti-Spam Law

The government has introduced legislation that brings in million dollar fines for individuals or companies that spam.

Windows 7 Features

Stream media from your home between Internet connected PC's running Windows 7.

New TomTom GPS

Nice device, sweet new way of mounting it to your windshield.  The IQ Routes didn't make any difference in Ottawa - but it is still a good buy.

What is Facebook up too?

Announcement coming later today from Facebook to developers.

 Friday, April 24

Goodbye Geocities

Yahoo! closes underperforming services including Geocities, Yahoo Briefcase, Farechase, Yahoo Pets, Yahoo Live and Kickstart.  Geocities is still around?

April, 1999

Yahoo! bought Geocities for $3 billion in stock in 1999.  Do you remember what was hot in 1999?

Soybean Printing

A system that creates a toner product from soybean oil could change everything.  It is cheaper, more stable and greener than current toner.

Obama's Blackberry

The National Security Agency in the US is busy modifying a BlackBerry 8830 World Edition for Obama and his inner circle.

One Billion Apps

Apple has sold its one billionth iPhone App.

 Thursday, April 23

Ontario Driving Distractions

Queens Park has passed a new law that bans using hand-held devices while you are driving - no plans to ban smoking or eating while driving.

Latest Big Botnet

1.9 million computers controlled by 6 people that you can use to do your bidding.

CanTags

Launching on May 1 is a new way to figure out what is going on in your city.

YouTube RealTime

The big viral site gets even more viral.

Tuesday, April 21

Jet Fighter Plans Hacked

Computer spies break into the Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project.

iPod's in Battle

The US military now issues iPod's to soldiers.

Pirate Bay Update

The guys behind TPB don't want your money - they just want you to download more.

Mobile DTV

A new technology that lets you watch over-the-air TV broadcasts on mobile devices is set to launch this year.

Monday, April 20

Adobe Pushing to TV's

An announcement coming today from the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas that will put Flash on more devices.

Ratings from TiVO

The DVR company is selling second-by-second information on the shows that people watch.

Nintendo DSi

Cool device - but no need to throw away your current DS.

 Friday, April 17

Guilty!

Pirate Bay co-founders get a year in jail and pay a huge fine for "accessory to breaching copyright laws"

Thwarting Auto Thefts

Engineering students at the University of Saskatchewan develop a theft deterent system.  You can text-message your car to tell it that it has been stolen.

Another Social Network

Looks like Google is making another shot at building a better Facebook.

Single Women like Gadgets

A new study shows that single women rival single men as tech device owners.

Thursday, April 16

iBotnet

Symantec finds a trojan for Macs hiding in pirated versions of iWork 09 and Photoshop CS4

Warning from Police

A woman dies in a car accident because she was hit in the head by a laptop.  The RCMP in Surrey, BC warn us all to make sure that objects are secured in moving vehicles.

National IP Registry?

The CRTC is pondering the need for a location determination platform.  This would create a database that would allow 911 operators to determine the physical location of VoIP calls.

Gabble

New service from HP designed to help families privatly share their videos.

Wednesday, April 15

Summer of the Smartphone

The new Palm Pre, iPhone 3.0, new Blackberry and Andriod phones are all on their way this summer.

FamilyMap

Service by AT&T in the United States lets you track members of your family though their cell phones.

Google Latitude Stalking

Women uses Google Latitude to get her purse back from a theif.

Exchange Server 2010

Microsoft releases details on the new versions of Office and Exchange today.

Tuesday, April 14

Password Stealers

download.com used to offer up a free program that does nothing but steals passwords for instant messengers.  Once this story hit they removed the program.

Value of Stolen Data

A couple of studies from Symantec and Gartner reveal how much the black market pays for credit card numbers.

Zune - the next generation

A couple of details leak out on what Microsoft is working on for the next Zune.

Pushing IE8

Don't be surprised if one day your computer gets a new web browser.

Monday, April 13

Changes to YouTube in Korea

The Cyber Defamation Law came into effect on April 1 in Korea.  It requires that users provide their real name and national ID card number.  In response - Google disables uploads and comments from Korea.

Twitter Worm

A 17 year old in Brooklyn admits that he made the worm.  Seems he was bored one day.

New Web Address Endings

Big change coming with new top level domain names.  Soon you can register whatever you want - you just have to find the money to do it.

NASA's new node

US astronaut Sunita Williams will appear on The Colbert Report tomorrow to announce the name of the newest node for the International Space Station.

Thursday, April 9

Social Networking comes to Yahoo!

Somebody at Yahoo! realised that if they interconnect all of their odds n ends - they would have the basis of a huge social networking website

Pretty Colours

Google image search adds a filter that lets you search by the predominant colour.

200 Million

Facebook's users double in 8 months.

Dual View

The 2010 Range Rover will have a infotainment system that lets the driver and the passanger see different images.

Wednesday, April 8

US Electric Grid Penetrated by Spies

Interesting story in the Wall Street Journal that quotes officials in the US saying that cyberspies have installed software programs that could be used to disrupt the system.

New way to watch Movies?

YouTube and Sony are in talks to bring movies to the streaming video website.

The Netbook of the car world

GM and Segway show off a new two-wheeled electric vehicle.

Smart Car Doors

A car door that senses dangers.

Tuesday, April 7

Wolverine is #1

The leaked X-Men movie is the most popular BitTorrent.  The movie has now been downloaded over a million times.

New iTunes Prices

There are now three price points on iTunes.  Most of the songs are supposed to stay the same price.  But expect to pay more for the newest and most popular tracks.

Flat Flexible Speakers

The University of Warwick develops a new way of producing sound.

Facebook Elections

All 175 million members get to vote on the updated terms of use.

Monday, April 6

IBM Drops Bid for Sun

$7 Billion offer disappears when IBM finds out that Sun wants to look at other buyers.

3D Digital Camera

Fuji develops something called Real 3D.  You could be shooting 3D pics at home by the end of the year.

PS3 outsells Wii

A batch of great games for the PS3 in March allowed it to outsell the Wii in Japan.  Just a blip?

Tracking you Online

As of today, all Internet providers in the European Union start storing details such as e-mails, website visits and net phone calls for 12 months.

Friday, April 3

In Car Internet

More details from Ford on something called "Ford Work Solutions" that is set to be launched later this year.

The Virus Battery

MIT develops genetically modified viruses to create batteries made of bacteria.

ping.fm

A website that lets you do all your 'status updates' at once.

Twiggle

Will Google buy Twitter?

Thursday, April 2

End of Conficker?

Nothing happens with the big worm.  Just luck?  Or did we actually work together to prevent an attacker?

Australia Internet Censoring

The Australian Communications and Media Authority appears to be changing its mind on if it will impose ISP-based filtering of the Internet.

PS3 Firmware Update

Adds a couple of features.  Impressive one is an Instant Messenger that runs in the background so you can change games while you keep on chatting.

Get rid of Electronics

Finally - a way to safely get rid of old electronics in Ontario.  Check out www.dowhatyoucan.ca

Wednesday, April 1

Blackberry App World Launches

Tons of apps for your bb

Microsoft Mobile Marketplace in the works.

Me too!  Me too!

Android on Netbooks

HP confirms that they are exploring shipping netbooks with Android instead of other operating systems like Windows.

Mars in Moscow

Volunteers lock themselves up in a small metal capsule to see what happens.

Tuesday, March 31

High School Jams Cellphones

Principal of a BC high school buys a cell phone jammer from China to block calls at his school.  Someone should have taught him that jammers are illegal in Canada.

Gmail Labs

After 5 years of Gmail - Google opens up the labs to the rest of the world.

End of Encarta

Microsoft cuts some of their products that aren't making money.

Rockfree

A free online game similar to Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

Monday, March 30

GhostNet

Canadian researchers find a huge electronic spying operation that has infiltrated computers and stolen documents around the world.

Blackberry App World

This is the week that Blackberry will turn on their app store.  Unfortunatly you must have a PayPal account to make it work.

Skype Mobile

Watch for an announcement later this week that Skype is coming out for iPhone, Blackberry and more.

Video games sharpen eyesight

Turns out that games like Call of Duty 2 and Unreal Tournament 2004 can give you better eyesight.

Thursday, March 26

Worm Invasion

Is your computer protected?  It should be - but a worm is set to attack on April Fools Day next week that could give some problems.

Anonymous Posting?

An Ontario Superior Court Judge has ordered Free Dominion to reveal information about eight people that made anonymous posts on the website.

Nintendo's Secrets

The President of Nintendo gave a great speech at the Game Development Conference.  He revealed some of the techniques they use to come up with new games.

Video Game Awards

LittleBigPlanet on the Playstation 3, Fallout 3 and Prince of Persia from Ubisoft in Montreal are all big winners at the Game Developers Choice Awards.

Wednesday, March 25

Tapping your Blackberry

A big part of the international success of the Blackberry is that it is secure.  Criminals have started to use that security - and now the cops want a way in.

Netbook that kills Germs

Samsung has announced a 10-inch Netbook that kills germs.  The keyboard is covered with a special finish that makes it almost impossible for baceria to live and breed.

Transfer big files

New website called JetBytes lets you send large files between a couple of computers using the Internet.

Obama Online

Ask questions of the US President on Thursday through the White House website.

Tuesday, March 24

China Blocks YouTube

The Foreign Minister for China says that the Internet for 100 million Chinese is open, but needs to be regulated.  His comments came on the same day that they appear to block YouTube.

New way to buy video games

Could this be the end of video game consoles?  A new company called OnLive has a pretty cool technology they want to use to get video games into your hands.

A bigger Wayback Machine

The Internet Archive is upgrading the Wayback Machine.  Check out web pages, software, movies, books and audio clips going back to 1996.

IM in MySpace

MySpace is beta-testing an in-browser instant messaging client.  See if it becomes as annoying as the IM in Facebook.

Monday, March 23

BBC finds credit card data from Symantec customers

As a part of an investigation the BBC was able to buy names, addresses and credit card numbers that appear to have come from e4e India - a call centre for Symantec.

.tel launches on Tuesday

This new top level domain promises to become the phone book of the Internet.  Do we want a phone book for the Internet?

Fed Garage Sale

Public Works is developing an aution website modeled after E-Bay to help them get the best price as they sell off surplus equipment.

WineAlign

A new service to help you pick the right bottle on your trip to the LCBO

Friday, March 20

Another day - another credit card breach

An Australian discovers 22,000 credit card numbers - complete with expiry dates, names and addresses - deep inside Google's cache.

SpiralFrog Croaks

The site launched in August 2006 promising free music that was paid for by ads on the website.  But the limited song selection and DRM heavy technology provided to be too much for us.

More uses for Red Light Cameras

Chicago could bring in $200 million a year by using its citywide network of cameras to find uninsured drivers.

Space Station gets Bigger

Today is the day that the new $300 million solar panels get unfurled.

Thursday, March 19

New Browser Day

Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 8 to the world.  It is an optional download at the moment, but expect it to start showing up as an automatic update in a month or so.  The new browser is schedule to appear at noon Eastern.

Hacking Browsers

The annual CanSecWest conference in Vancouver gives hackers a chance to show their stuff.  This year - the first browser to be hacked was.... Safari on a Mac!  Followed by Internet Explorer 7 and then Firefox.

Fined $11,000 a day for a Hyperlink

The Australian Communications and Media Authority threatened to fine an online discussion forum $11,000 a day over a link to a blacklisted website - the website was an anti-abortion site. 

500,000 more E-Books

Google and Sony link up to provide a ton of books for the Sony Reader. 

Wednesday, March 18

IBM Buying Sun?

Reports are that IBM is set to spend $6.5 billion to buy SUN.  Wow

Sun in the Cloud

Sun is releasing a whole new set of tools to the cloud aimed at developers, students and start-ups.  Wow - two Sun stories in one day!

iPhone 3.0

Apple announced over 100 new features - including cut and paste!

MyFax Free

A cool tool that lets you send faxes to 41 countries for free!

Tuesday, March 17

iPhone 3.0

Apple will make some announcements this afternoon around 1 PM Eastern.  What will it be?  Cut-and-paste?  An iPhone tablet?  Ohhhhh - exciting

Laptops for All

Maine has a goal to provide a laptop to every public high school student in grades 7-12 by thte fall.

Super-Fast game download launch

It won't be long till you buy and download all your videogames.  A British company has developed a tool that lets you start playing the game while it is downloading.

End of an Era

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has printed its last newspaper.  The apetite for news is strong - but not from a huge daily paper.

Monday, March 16

How dirty is your cell phone?

Som researchers find that cell phones are the major carriers of superbugs in hospitals. 

Friends on Fire

Yahoo! counters Google Latitude with a Facebook application that lets people share their location with each other.

Air-Powered Car

The latest air car is the AirPod.  A couple of airlines are going to try out this new vehicle at airports in Europe this year.

Live from Mars

Well - maybe not live - but pretty close.  A new layer on Google Mars shows images that are just a couple of days, and sometimes only hours, old.

Friday, March 13

BBC goes Hacking

To show the dangers of the Internet, the BBC went lurking around some Internet chat rooms and bought a botnet that gave them access to 22,000 computers. 

Google Map Maker

Do you know of a problem with Google Maps and its directions.  You can donate your time help this huge money making organisation make its products better!

Scratch Free Cars

The University of Southern Mississippi uses a substance found in the shells of crabs and shrimp to produce a ploymer that can make scratches disappear.

New iPhone OS?

Apple has announced that they will be revealing the next version of the iPhone operating system on March 17.  Will we finally get cut and paste?

Thursday, March 12

Google Turns Voicemail into E-Mail

The latest quest for world domination from Google.  Now they want to take over phones with this free service that gives you one number for home, work and cell.  Hopefully it all comes to Canada.

Battery that charges Instantly

Engineers figure out a way to make lithium batteries smaller, stronger - and that charge in 10 to 20 seconds!  All they are doing is tinkering with exsisting materials, which means that this could actually be on the streets in a couple of yeras.

Talking iPod

Apple releases a new tiny iPod.  It tells you the names of your songs and moves all the buttons to the headphones.

Get your online news fix

Meehive will create an online newspaper just for you.

Wednesday, March 11

TV Shows on Playstation

Sony does a deal with NBC in the United States that lets you watch TV shows like "The Office" and "Heroes" on your PS3.  Pretty cool stuff and continues to change the way that we think of gaming consoles.  Hopefully it comes up to Canada soon.

3D TV Service Could Start this Year

Sky TV over in the UK announces plans to have a 3D tv station by the end of 2009.  They are already making shows!  One more step to getting 3D TV in our homes.

Shape Shifting Devices

Intel's Pitsburgh lab is working with Carnegie Mellon University to develop materials that can change their shapes.  The secret?  Transparent silicon dioxide hemisphers.

From Astronaut Diapers to Underwear

The Space Shuttle is scheduled to blast off at 9:20 tonight.  On board is a Japanese astronaut that will stay up there for 6 months.  One of the experiments he is doing is with underwear that can be worn for 3 days.  The secret?  The threads contain antibackterial material.

Tuesday, March 10

Rumours of an Apple Netbook are back

The Internet is pondering this rumour.  Could Apple be putting together a netbook just in time for Back to School?

Finding the Music

Check out Muziik.  A free program created by a 15 year old that searches YouTube for music.  You type in what you want - it finds it for you.

YouTube vs UK

Problems with licensing all that music in YouTube for Britain.  Seems that the people that actually make the music want more money.

What do you do online?

Chances are high that you are spending a lot of time with Facebook.

Monday, March 9

Norway playing with BitTorrent

Norwegian Broadcasting has set up its very own BitTorrent to distribute their very own TV shows.  Plan is to send out DRM-free files to the world

Cable Companies Targetting Ads

A huge project in New York that is targetting advertising on television.   Cable subscribers see ads based on income, ethnicity, gender plus whether or not there are pets or kids in the house.

Sidewinder X8 Mouse

A cool new mouse for gamers.  Great technology - too bad the mouse isn't a bit more ergonomic.

Shuttle Launch on Wednesday

Some of the last pieces to complete the Space Station.  Hopefuly there are no problems that would interfear with Canadian Robert Thursk's trip to the station in a couple of months. 

Friday, March 6

Spooky PDF Flaw

We have known about a problem with hackers embedding PDF documents with viruses for a while.  But, a new problem today that allows hackers to exploit this flaw without you even clicking on the document. 

A Free, Ad Supported Microsoft Office

Turns out Microsoft looses more money from pirated versions of Office than it does from many competitors.  Their solution?  Make a free version of Office 

How many megapixels do you have?

Digital camera makers have long sold their cameras based on who has the most megapixels.  Olympus wants to end the megapixel race.  They think that 12 megapixels is enough for most digital cameras.  They want to concentrate now on making the rest of the camera better. 

Are we Alone?

NASA is launching a new space telescope tonight.  The goal of this one is to look for earth like planets around the universe.

Thursday, March 5

Blackberry App World

Finally Research in Motion is getting close to launching an app store.  How long before the first fart app is released? 

Billions and Billions Served

Comscore announces that more than 100 million US viewers watched more tha 14.8 billion videos in the month of January 

Hearing through your Skin

Ryerson University develops a device that helps the deaf to hear.

Bionic Eye gives sight to the Blind

A camera mounted in sunglasses that sends images to the brain.  Just light and dark right now, but amazing. 

Wednesday, March 4

Is your boss listening?

Weird story with RIM.  Turns out that they record all of their employee's phone calls.  Everyone that works there knows that the calls are being recorded.  The bosses just figure that it is the best way to protect their intellectual property. 

Some changes to the lineup of Mac Computers

More power, same price.  Should they have cut the cost or just keep a steady hand on the wheel?

KUMO

Microsoft is building some hype for the launch of their newest search engine.  Soooo - we have gone from MSN to Live to KUMO?  Will anyone notice?