Michael Santo
Recent posts
A mistranslation or misinterpretation of a statement by Sony's vice president for consumer electronics, Katsumi Ihara, led many U.S. media outlets to believe that Sony was dropping all support for DVD. But in reality, that's not the case.The Japanese Agencies press service translated Ihara's statement as follows: "We plan to make all our...
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It sort of makes sense, since Google recently paid NASA $1.3 million just to be able to land their jet at NASA's Moffett Field. Google is funding a $30 million dollar prize for a privately developed moon rover.The Google Lunar X Prize, announced today by the search-engine giant and the X Prize Foundation at the Wired NextFest in Los Angeles,...
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In June Microsoft agreed to modify the built-in desktop search feature in Vista, in hopes of staving off another Justice Department battle, as well as to assuage Google. On Wednesday Microsoft outlined the upcoming changes, which will appear in Vista Service Pack 1.The primary impact of the change is giving Vista users who choose a non-Microsoft...
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To be quite honest, it's Wikipedia's two millionth English article, and it happend on Sunday. Wikipedia, the sixth most visited network of Web sites worldwide behind commercial operators Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Warner and eBay, is available in 250 languages. Combined, Wikipedia has published more than eight million articles....
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Many have expressed concern over the privacy aspects of Google's Street View. Although Google is now allowing anyone to report identifiable faces, license plates, etc., which Google will then zap, Canadian privacy law may not be satisfied by the "zap process." Canadian law obliges businesses wishing to disclose personal information...
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It seems like a never-ending debate. One study will say cellular phones do not cause cancer, another says they might. This is the latest study, and it shows a "hint" of a connection between cellular phones and possible long-term effects such as cancer. The good thing is they seem to have ruled out short-term effects.Programme chairman Professor...
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Some have suggested that the terms and conditions in the EULA for Google Docs & Spreadsheets imply that Google actually "owns" the words "held" within those documents. Looking at the clause in question carefully, it looks like the sentence simply needs rewording for clarity.The controversy centers on Google's use of the word "public"...
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Software unlocking of the iPhone has been a source of threats from AT&T. However, there is an exemption in the DMCA that allows software unlocking of phones - the question has been what will happen if that's tested against a commercial product. In this case, an open source, free product, there's no recourse, except for a ROM change that...
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Super Talent Unveils Project X DDR3 Kits The World's most Advanced DDR3 Memory San Jose, California - September 12, 2007 -- Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of DRAM memory modules and flash storage solutions, today announced immediate availability of the...
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In an interview between eWEEK Editorial Director Eric Lundquist and Staff Writer Scott Ferguson with AMD CEO Hector Ruiz, they discuss Barcelona, and AMD's plans for the future. Despite a casual, low-key demeanor, Hector Ruiz knows something about a fight.During the last several years, the chairman and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices has been...
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It's an interesting concept; an online desktop, that sort of mimics windows - or really any desktop-based OS, in Ajax. It even connects to your Gmail account (assuming you have Gmail) to allow storage of documents and files there.A web applications company is hoping to legitimize the web operating system concept with the release of ajaxWindows,...
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It appears the approval was given on August 31st, but for some reason the news is just leaking out now. In any case, there hadn't been any official announcements by Toshiba or the DVD Forum prior to the leaked information.The 51 GB derivative enables three layers to be bonded together within the same 0.6 mm substrate limitations as standard...
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And just what will HP use to eliminate hypodermic needles? Inkjet technology, that's what. "The company is licensing a medical patch it has developed to Ireland's Crospon that potentially can replace hypodermic needles or pills for delivering vaccines or other types of medication to patients. The patch contains up to 90,000...
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Ever see those cartoons where someone wakes up and smashes their alarm clock in exhaustion? That wouldn't work with "Clocky."A moving alarm clock on wheels that rolls about the room beeping and hides so users have to get up and turn it off has proved a hit in Japan following its introduction here. The...
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It's no secret that Google is eyeing the wireless auction of the 700Mhz band. But what about Apple? Sources say they are considering entering the bidding, although they are currently leaning against doing so. Not because the cost itself, but more because of the mess they could be getting into. Dubbed "beachfront property" by the...
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A little later than many had hoped, one of the two software unlocking solutions for the iPhone has gone on sale. You may recall that the other retailer, Uniquephones.com, was threatened by AT&T when they first announced their intention to sell their product. The one U.S. dealer handling iPhoneSIMFree's unlock -- which lets iPhone...
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The music industry just can't admit that the CD, although not dead, is dying. The latest attempt to save the medium, the "ringle" combines three songs with a ringtone for one price. But the price they are suggesting isn't one that is likely to grab many buyers. The original version of the song, plus a remix and an older song would...
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Apple sold a few hundred thousand iPhones in the first few days. Pshaw. That's nothing. Now, only 74 days into the life of the device, it's reached a number many cell phones never reach - one million sold. “One million iPhones in 74 days—it took almost two years to achieve this milestone with iPod,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO....
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For a long, long time Microsoft was thought of as the big bully in technology - the company you loved to hate. ComputerWorld has an interesting opinion piece that proposes Microsoft's place has been taken by Apple, and a lot of the arguments make sense. The core complaint about Microsoft in the 1990s was that its Windows market share...
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It seems to be something we will never get rid of - email spam. Right now, an estimated 60 - 150 billion spam emails, that's billion with a "b", are sent daily. That's a huge number, and one has to wonder how much time and effort is spent on stopping, or at least slowing down, the torrent. Unwanted commercial e-mail is growing by...
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Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk, a service which uses Human Intelligence to perform tasks (HITs, or Human Intelligence Tasks) that humans are best suited for, such as image identification, is joining the hunt for Steve Fossett.In an email we received this morning, Amazon.com said, On Monday, September 3, 2007, Steve Fossett, the...
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It's bad enough there are two competing HD formats. Many consumers have not bought into either format, fearing they would be stuck with a Betamax redeaux. It's late to the game, but a new company has introduced a new, cheaper HD format, but will anyone care? Next month, New Media Enterprises' 1080p set-top players, which use the...
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