Items tagged with talk
These days, anyone unconcerned about privacy violations is probably just being blissfully ignorant. There's plenty to be aware of, and apps like this certainly fit into the category. SecureIM Free Beta just launched onto the Google Play Store, supporting extra-support communications via the Google Talk protocol. Plus, support for secure Facebook Chat is coming "soon." If you're wondering what exactly it'll add to your phone, have a look: SecureIM is the first Secure-Chat application which is built to protect you from any possible or potential leak of privacy. These days organizations spy on our chats to target ads and Governments in the name of security, however there is no excuse of not demanding...
Read more...
There's just got to be a joke that begins, "Two chatbots walk into a bar ..." because when chatbots talk, it's funny. Cornell University researchers wanted to see what would happen when two chatbots talked to one another. So they rigged up two systems that would allow instances of the chatbot Cleverbot to interact. It doesn't take long for the two to begin arguing, to hold a conversation about God and to express their wishes that they could have body. A chatbot is a computer program that memorizes phrases and snippets from conversations to simulate human interaction. When people engage it in conversation, it tries to trick humans into thinking they are actually talking to another...
Read more...
As anyone with a teenager knows, text messaging is quite popular among those in that age range. And a recent Nielsen Mobile survey has concluded that not only has text messaging become the most popular form of communication using a cell phone, the group that texts the mosts (go figure) is in the 13 - 17 year range.The study determined that in the period from Q1 2006 - Q2 2008, the number of monthly calls per user has remained stable, at around 200. But the number of text messages have skyrocketed from 65 per month in Q1 2006 to 357 per month in Q2 2008. And take a look at the distribution of text messages per age group:Average Number of Monthly Calls vs. Text Messages Among...
Read more...
Okay, we get it: Google wants to be everywhere--even on your iPhone. For ultra chic techliciousness, Google and the iPhone together, it's a perfect match--like chocolate and peanut butter. But sometimes Google misses the mark, and that's exactly what it's done with its newly released Google Talk for the iPhone. "We've just released in the US a new version of Google Talk designed specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch browsers. In addition to sending your friends Gmail messages from your iPhone, you can now chat with them while you're on the move, too! In your iPhone browser, just go to www.google.com/talk, sign in and start chatting. That's it. Google Talk runs entirely in the browser so...
Read more...
The dirty little secret that's often overlooked when we Internet pundits and newshounds discuss throttling of P2P traffic by ISPs, is that it's an indictment of the infrastructure, not the process. Why would you discuss rationing if the capacity was there? P2P is simply the thin edge of a big and growing wedge. It's easy to single it out for abuse because the vast majority of it sharing copyright infringing entertainment. But everything is going to be eating bandwith pretty soon on our beloved Intertubes. The answer is always to make the pipe bigger. Fiber-optic was the smart play, and Verizon made it. Listen to Mark Wegleitner, Verizon CTO talk sense about Filesharing:Q: Verizon is working...
Read more...
According to a report in the Financial Times, Sony is in talks with Microsoft about offering a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360. As many of you know, until recently Sony has touted Blu-ray as an advantage the PlayStation 3 holds over the Xbox 360. Microsoft had backed Toshiba’s HD-DVD format and offered an affordable, external HD-DVD drive for the 360, but by now we all know how that worked out... "A Blu-ray drive in a 360 would make Microsoft more competitive with the PS3, but it would also mean extra revenues for Sony’s electronics division. It would also add further cost to the 360, meaning a premium edition of the console could be necessary. A Blu-ray drive could be incorporated...
Read more...
All the volatility in the credit and stock markets have consumers, investors, and corporate heads nervous, but Hewlett-Packard is no indicator of any downturn. HP raised their forecast for the year after reporting excellent results for the first quarter.“In the U.S., at the end of the quarter, we saw a little more caution in the consumer segment than we’ve seen in the past,” Mr. Hurd said.Nevertheless, Mr. Hurd raised his forecast for the full year. The company estimated that second-quarter revenue would be as much as $27.9 billion, and full-year revenue would be about $114 billion — increases of about 9 percent in each case over the year-earlier period. Previously, H.P. projected sales for the...
Read more...
Microsoft isn't the only party interested in acquiring Yahoo, and that shouldn't come as a surprise. What might be surprising is that CNet has allegedly already starting discussing the possibilities of a takeover.“The talks, according to the Journal are an attempt to fend off Microsoft's offer, which was initially valued at $44.6 billion.“It isn't clear at this time if Yahoo is engaged in talks with CNet in order to raise their asking price from Microsoft or if they're generally interested in joining the CNet family....
Read more...
Palm has been taking a beating recently. The smartphone market they compete in was already crowded before the iPhone appeared to steal marketshare, and their ill-starred UMPC bombed so badly that the product was withdrawn. Now Palm is laying off about 10% of their workforce of 1150. Merry Christmas. Palm's statement said the restructuring, which also included some reassignments, was part of its ongoing effort to "focus and better align resources behind core initiatives" and "to ensure that our expenses are in line with projected revenues." Palm has struggled against stiffening competition over the past year. Some missteps, including product delays and the cancellation in September of a portable...
Read more...
As rumors about the gPhone platform circulate, so do reports of Google negotiations with Sprint and Verizon. Two of the country's largest cell phone carriers are considering offering phones featuring software by Google, according to a news report Tuesday. Both Verizon Wireless, the second largest carrier by number of subscribers, and Sprint Nextel, the third largest, are said to be in "advanced talks" with Google, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site late Tuesday. Google is expected to announce new mobile software, dubbed by some the "gPhone," in mid-November. If Google can strike a deal with a U.S. carrier, phones with its software could reach American consumers by the middle of...
Read more...
It's hard not to appreciate a CEO that comes across as direct as Intel's very own Paul Otellini. Like him or not, even AMD fans have to give the man credit for being a straight shooter and calling a spade a spade, even if that means ruffling a few feathers.It looks like the latest feathers to get ruffled a bit are those of the EU who have accused Intel of predatory pricing. Mr. Otellini claims that the facts don't support that argument, but that's just the beginning of his side of the story.“He adds that he finds statements by EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes about Europe's role in regulating "dominant" companies "very troubling. If they take that position with us, or Qualcomm...
Read more...
Apple promised to release Leopard in October, but hasn't set a specific date that they're willing to share with the world. It seems likely that it'll be towards the end of October due to the sheer volume of bugs reported in recent builds of their newest OS, and the fact that nobody has been talking about the discs going gold just yet.A new pre-release version of the OS seems to have squashed a lot of bugs, and might fairly be termed a beta: “People familiar with the new release say it contains only two known issues and may be considered the first of several release candidates, the latter of which would eventually be declared Gold Master and shipped off for duplication and retail packaging. Of...
Read more...
You can bet Palm, Motorola, and any other smartphone makers broke out in a cold sweat today. This is just speculation still, but RIM shares are up $1 (at the time of this writing) over rumors that Microsoft is interested in buying the Blackberry manufacturer. "Microsoft has been mentioned as a possible buyer," said Frederic Ruffy, an analyst at options education firm Optionetics in California. "According to speculation, the software giant might be interested in RIM in response to Google's recent announcement that it is interested in making its own mobile phone operating system, which would compete with Windows Mobile," he added. Aside from the obvious impact on the...
Read more...
Tech Talk with Associate Vice President of Worldwide Marketing of GIGABYTE United GIGABYTE United, City of Industry, CA, - GIGABYTE, the leading brand of Motherboard manufacturer, has taken Intel P35 motherboard to extreme with its Ultra Durable 2 Series motherboard, aiming at those PC enthusiasts who has been craving for an ultimate solution without sacrificing features, performance and durability to pricing point. In light of its phenomenal success of Ultra Durable 2 Series in Americans Market, GIGABYTE invited media elites to Tech Talk where Mr. Tony Liao, Associate Vice President of Worldwide Marketing of GIGABYTE United, sat down with them to talk in...
Read more...
It seems that general counsel for NBC/Universal is of the opinion that Net Neutrality should take a back seat to issues such as piracy: "Last week NBC/Universal general counsel Rick Cotton argued that law enforcement resources are "misaligned." Cotton says it's wrong to focus on real property theft and potentially deadly crimes when cops could be out enforcing intellectual property laws." People always say that until they get carjacked.Cotton goes on to suggest that ISPs should be required to take proactive measures against pirates using their network. Assuming that the actions may end up being legal, it's going to be interesting to see how open WiFi locations are handled, especially in...
Read more...
PCMag has posted an excellent article about the future of the web, or web 3.0. While this is certainly a lot of speculation, it is interesting to see what theories the movers and shakers think web 3.0 might be like: "The article begins with an imaginary girl named Lucy, whose mother has just been told by her doctor that she needs to see a specialist. "At the doctor's office, Lucy instructed her Semantic Web agent through her handheld Web browser," we read. "The agent promptly retrieved information about Mom's prescribed treatment from the doctor's agent, looked up several lists of providers, and checked for the ones in-plan for Mom's insurance...
Read more...
Netflix video rental has grown into a very big business, shipping 1.5 million DVDs a day to its subscribers. Along the way, it's spawned a luxuriant undergrowth of hackers of its service. Netflix has established a sort of symbiotic relationship with them, and takes the good (fanatical interest in the business, good ideas for features) along with the bad (gaming the service, plain stealing). Not all hacks require loads of technology know-how: One user discovered that he could view his Netflix queue through his Bank of America portfolio page, an easy-to-set-up aggregator for bank and e-mail accounts that BOA offers free to its account holders....
Read more...
ExtremeTech has an article posted with information regarding AMD's upcoming "Barcelona" processors and the future R600 family of graphics cards. The information was compiled last week during a briefing in San Francisco and includes quotes taken directly from AMD's Mario Rivas, Henri Richard, and former ATI CEO Dave Orton. "We pushed out the launch of the R600 and people thought is must be a silicon or software problem...it's got to be a bug," said Dave Orton, president and chief executiveof ATI. "In fact, our mainstream chips are in 65nm and are coming out extremely fast. Because of that configuration, we have...
Read more...
Engineers at Google have published a PDF concerning hard drives and what factors are most likely to cause them to fail. They studied 100,000 hard drives over the course of five years and had some pretty interesting findings. "It is estimated that over 90% of all new information produced in the world is being stored on magnetic media, most of it on hard disk drives. Despite their importance, there is relatively little published work on the failure patterns of disk drives, and the key factors that affect their lifetime. Most available data are either based on extrapolation from accelerated aging experiments or from relatively modest sized field...
Read more...
Are advances in camera phone picture quality and data transfer going to make digital cameras redundant for most people soon? "With camera phones and their flashes becoming increasingly powerful the phone makers have realised they have to migrate functions such as red-eye reduction onto their phones," Zarakov told ENN. "The volumes are huge. Compare around 80 million or 90 million digital cameras sold in 2006 to 500 million camera phones." The firm, which specialises in communications technology for the digital camera industry, claims its new MTP-IP connectivity solution (Media Transfer Protocol-Internet Protocol) is 10 times faster than existing Bluetooth technology, and can transfer a 3 megapixel...
Read more...
[H] has asked the question, "Two years ago, NVIDIA announced its MXM socketed initiative for the GPU mobile market. This new technology would allow for a modular GPU slot in all laptops, thus making servicing and upgrades much easier. Two years later, still nothing. Why?" "As lofty as the expectations of the MXM technology are, for the most part the hands of the integrators and the customers have first and foremost been tied by the ODMs who designed the cards, logic boards, and enclosures. In an effort to create more attractive, more innovative designs and system builds, they've taken the reigns away from NVIDIA. We found the contradicting statements between NVIDIA, who remains optimistic...
Read more...
In a weeks time, the highly anticipated release of the next version of Windows will be here. Windows Vista is the latest major overhaul of Microsoft's operating system since Windows 2000/XP, and with a revamped graphics system and security improvements, you can bet some people just can't wait to get their hands on it. Retailers understand this, however as CNET reports, many retailers won't be staying open late for the new software. "Releases of new operating systems may not have quite the same appeal as in years past, but Microsoft has a couple of things going for it this time around. First of all, a new version of Office--Office...
Read more...
