The Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park covers some 800 square kilometers in the centre of East Java. It is the largest volcanic region in the province and there stands Mt. Semeru, which rises 3676 meters above sea level. At its northern end is the spectacular Tengger Caldera, Java's largest, with its 10 km barren desert-like sea of sand. Within the caldera rise the deeply fissured volcanic cones of Batok and Bromo, the latter is still active with a cavernous crater from which smoke blows skyward. Temperatures at the top of mount Bromo range about 5 to 18 degrees Celcius . To the south is a rolling upland plateau dissected by valleys and dotted with several small scenic lakes, extending to the foot of Mount Semeru, a towering grey forest-skirted cone dominating the southern landscape.
Tengger sandy area has been protected since 1919, and its believed to be the only conservation
area in Indonesia, even probably in the world possessing a unique ocean and sand at the attitude about 2000 m above sea level. There are several mountains inside the calderas namely: Mt Watangan (2,661 m asl)., Mt Batok (2,470 m asl), Mt Kursi (2,581 asl), Mt Watangan (2,661 m asl), and Mt Widadaren (2,650 m asl).
On the fourteenth day of the Month Kasada, the inhabitants of Tengger Mountain range gather at the rim of Mount Bromo's active crater to present annual offerings of rice, fruit, vegetables, flowers, live stock and other local produce to the God of the Mountain, as adherents of religion combining elements of Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism the Tenggerese ask for blessing from the supreme God, Sang Hyang Widi Wasa. This ceremony called Kesodo Ceremony.
While the Great Mountain or Semeru offer a wonderful place to 3 days hike. Serenity of small lakes and large meadows, a three hours struggling through loose screw to the peak and breathtaking views from peak Semeru explodes every half hour and sends billowing smoke upwards. These gases and belching lava make Semeru dangerous " stay well away from the vent. The fine scenery and bracing climate, easy access and reasonably visitor-oriented facilities make this one of the most popular reserves in Java.
Bromo Tengger Semeru can be reached by private and public vehicle. There are four gates to access the place, Probolinggo, Wonokitri, Ngadas and Lumajang. Probolinggo approach is the easiest and by fat the most popular route, especially if you go by public bus, Wonokitri is the closes and the easiest one if you go by private vehicle from Surabaya (5 hours journey). To get closer to Mt. Bromo you must rent 4x4 vehicles (there are many 4x4 vehicles rental there).
There are a few options that you can choose to stay. You can stay at The Bromo Guest House which is located at Ngadisari that lies 3 km from the crater rim. Or you can choose other hotels at Cemoro Lawang because it this situated at the crater rim.
Walking on the sea of sand and stepping up on the 249 steps to rim is worth to try. Enjoying the unique crater in crater, watching the dawn at Bromo is the main attractions in the area.
Its kindly hard to find some food at night, because mostly of warung are closed after 7.30 pm. If
youre in Wonokitri area, theres some warung in Tosari market, which still open at 7-9 pm.
There are many souvenir shops around Mount Bromo viewpoints who are selling T-shirts, scarf that are made from wool and others. There are also street hawkers who are selling these things too at the caldera area.
You can moving around on foot and normally it will takes 2 hours, or you can ride a horse or even rent a jeep (for this two, you are suggested to ask first and make a negotiation)
(taken from : here)
[...]
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Mt. Bromo and Semeru, a spectacular volcanic landscape in East Java
Food labelling & food packaging
Companies put a lot of work into researching and producing food labelling and food packaging of everything from biscuits to fruit or meat. It is often the key between the product and the buyer.
The food packaging will need to be practical as a form of storage, while at the same time selling the product to a consumer. If food was sold by itself it would no doubt be considerably cheaper. As a result, packaging is big business and is estimated at the moment as a £55 billion per year industry.
Food labelling of products offers information, legal or otherwise, that the consumer needs in order to help understand the food, it's ingredients and what it can be used for. The current Traffic Light system is in the news due to certain large supermarkets doing their own thing.
Despite this, Food labelling has legal rules. These stringent guidelines will determine what is written and will prevent companies from describing products as something they are not. It is, however, important to realise that although some information may not essentially be false, language can be manipulated leaving things open to interpretation.
Although there are many essential areas to pay attention to, if you are responsible for the production, it is imperative that care is taken in outlining the date, cooking and storage instructions. It's equally as important for the consumer as these are the factors which can lead to, or prevent bacterial growth and food poisoning.
The ‘best before' and ‘use by' dates are the indicators of when to consume the product by, whereas the ‘display until' is purely for the shops use.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Gerrard wants Barry at Liverpool
Steven Gerrard has said he is "desperate" for Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry to join him at Liverpool.
Barry, who is expected to lead England against Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday, will talk about his future after he returns from international duty.
"I want Gareth Barry to become a Liverpool player. I am desperate for us to sign him," said Gerrard.
"He's a good player. I want Liverpool to be as strong as possible and Gareth Barry will certainly make us stronger."
Gerrard's comments are likely to rile Villa manager Martin O'Neill who has already criticised Liverpool's handling of the situation.
O'Neill is determined to keep hold of his captain and earlier this month claimed Liverpool's £10m cash plus player bid undervalued the midfielder.
But Gerrard, a good friend of the 27-year-old, believed Barry, who has two years remaining on his contract, needed to play Champions League football.
"Gareth Barry is someone who will improve Liverpool. We can't be disrespectful to Villa. He is still their player and we will see what happens," said Gerrard.
"Naturally, they are going to try and keep hold of him, and rightly so because he is one of their star men. He has been a fantastic servant for them over many years.
"I know all about Gareth, I am good friends with him off the pitch and I am desperate for us to sign him.
"You talk about improving the team, the starting XI and the squad, and Gareth will certainly help Liverpool to become a better team.
"It is easy to play with good players. I've been asked a lot of questions this season about Fernando Torres and the simple answer is 'it's easier playing with quality players' - and Gareth comes into that category."
Barry has only ever played for Villa and is due a testimonial, having signed professional forms with the club in February 1998.
Gerrard added: "I am sure Gareth will find it hard to leave Villa. He has been fantastic for them but, in football, sometimes opportunities come along where you can better your career.
"I think Gareth is 27 now and he needs to play Champions League football. In my opinion, he needs that now.
"I've enjoyed playing with him for England. He is quite an easy player to play with. He keeps it simple, he is easy to read and I certainly enjoy playing with him because I've got a good relationship on and off the pitch."
(taken from : here)
[...]
Friday, May 30, 2008
Boldly Going Back
As early as next year, Red Rover, a prototype robotic vehicle being built at Carnegie Mellon University, may be sending back stunning images and video from the moon. William Whittaker, the CMU professor whose driverless SUV triumphed on a course of urban and suburban roads in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Urban Challenge last year, is using the same technologies in the one-meter-wide moon-bot (left, at a CMU test site).
The CMU team is an early entrant in a contest funded by Google and administered by the X Prize Foundation; $20 million will go to the first privately funded team whose rover reaches the moon, travels 500 meters, and returns images and data to Earth. Whittaker has formed a company, Astrobotic Technology, and is working with Raytheon and the University of Arizona on precision landing technologies. Nine other teams are also readying entries; X Prize estimates that their efforts could cost between $15 million and $100 million each. Despite the expense--and the competition--Whittaker is confident. "We have superior software for things like position estimation, route planning, and perception to sense the terrain," he boasts. But he did not elaborate on where his team will get funding.
A Robot's Giant Leap
Red Rover's planned 2009 mission
1. A conventional two-stage solid rocket will launch a lunar lander containing Red Rover on its five-day trip to the moon.
2. The lander's computer-vision system will lock on to lunar landmarks and guide the spacecraft to a soft landing.
3. The lander will touch down near the site of the historic July 20, 1969, manned Apollo landing.
4. Red Rover will detach an antenna and point it toward Earth to enable data transmission to Earth stations.
5. Red Rover will navigate the terrain, avoiding obstacles as it follows a course plotted by controllers on Earth. If it runs into trouble, the controllers can take over, piloting it remotely.
6. To be eligible for a $20 million prize, Red Rover must travel 500 meters, stopping twice to transmit high-resolution 360º photographs, normal and high-resolution videos, and self-portraits.
7. For additional prize money, the rover may drive five kilometers, search for and take pictures of old Apollo hardware, look for ice, and attempt to survive one frigid lunar night, which lasts 14.5 Earth days.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Ferguson outlines plan to retire within three years
Alex Ferguson will retire as manager of Manchester United within the next three years, British media reported on Sunday.
Ferguson, 66, who guided Manchester United to victory in the Champions League final over Chelsea on Wednesday, told newspaper reporters: "I won't be managing here any more than three years at the very, very most. Without question. I can assure you of that."
Ferguson originally hinted that he would retire six years ago but changed his mind and has since gone on to become the most successful manager of all time in English soccer.
Wednesday's success against Chelsea in Moscow earned him his 20th major trophy since he took over at Old Trafford in 1986. In all, he has won 31 trophies, first with Aberdeen and then United.
Ferguson, speaking to Sunday newspaper reporters at Manchester United's Carrington training ground after returning from Moscow, was clear about his intentions.
"I won't be managing at 70, I can assure you of that," he said.
"I won't be managing here any more than three years at the very most and that's without question."
"You have to think about time for yourself. I think my wife deserves a bit of my time, too. The older you get, the more you feel guilty about it."
"My wife, Cathy, was the one who talked me out of retiring last time but she wouldn't do that now."
Ferguson, also said he had no immediate plans to step down, adding: "I know I would find it hard to give up managing United.
"I can't do it at the moment. The big fear has always been what would I do with myself, I know I'd find it hard."
"What I would really like to do in life is travel to places I have never been to. I would love to go to the States and spend three or four months there."
"But you do that once. What you are left with is the time when you wake up at six in the morning and you go to get out of bed and you suddenly say 'Oh yeah, I am finished, I don't do that any more.' That's going to be hard."
He also said that before he left he wanted to increase the capacity of Old Trafford to 83,000 from the current figure of 76,200, ensure Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo stayed at the club and sign a new striker this year.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Beckham scores goal, Galaxy get past Wizards
David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle all scored in the second half to give the Los Angeles Galaxy a 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday night.
The victory put the Galaxy (4-3-2) into first place in the Western Conference by two points over Colorado, which lost Saturday. The Wizards (3-4-2) extended their winless streak to four games.
Donovan forced a 1-1 tie in the 54th minute by scoring his league-leading ninth goal on a penalty kick. Then, in the 74th minute, Donovan freed Buddle with a pass into the penalty area, and Buddle converted from 10 yards.
"Landon Donovan played excellent in the second half," Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit said. "That was the key factor. We needed that from him."
The Wizards had a chance to tie the score in the 81st minute, but Chris Klein cleared Scott Sealy's shot away from an open net.
"When Landon and Buddle were running at us, I think the game opened up for them," Wizards midfielder Sacha Victorine said. "We never got control of the ball back."
Beckham ended the scoring in second-half stoppage time with a 70-yard shot into an empty net for his fourth goal.
Claudio Lopez, a veteran of two World Cups for Argentina, gave the Wizards a 1-0 lead in the 40th minute. Lopez intercepted a loose ball, faked a shot to get past the Galaxy's Brandon McDonald, dribbled for 3 yards and fired a 19-yard shot inside the right post.
"The first two minutes were ridiculous," Gullit said. "We looked nervous and we were giving the ball away. Sometimes, we forget what we need to do."
Klein set a league record by making his 94th consecutive start, breaking the mark held by Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.
Carlos Ruiz made his first appearance for the Galaxy since March 29 when he entered the game in the 84th minute. Ruiz underwent knee surgery April 2 after being tackled from behind by Colorado's Ciaran O'Brien in the season opener.
(taken from : here)
[...]
FIFA step up plan to restrict foreign players
FIFA president Sepp Blatter is keen to press on with plans to restrict the number of foreign players in domestic leagues.
Blatter's plan has been unanimously agreed by FIFA's executive committee.
He intends to take his 6+5 proposal forward after getting the backing of the European confederation.
Blatter said on Tuesday that during two days of meetings in Sydney, FIFA's executive board had unanimously agreed on a resolution to take to Friday's Congress, "exploring" the implementation of the restrictive quota proposals.
"This will be more than just further talks and investigations," the FIFA president told a news conference.
A FIFA spokesman said the objectives of Blatter's 6+5 plan had been agreed unanimously by the FIFA executive committee, including UEFA president Michael Platini.
Blatter said he would be asking the congress, featuring representatives of FIFA's 208 member federations, to give the FIFA president a mandate to impose the same rules outside of Europe if required.
The plan aims to force soccer clubs by 2012 to start a match with at least six homegrown players, and limit the number of foreigners to five.
Blatter even wants other international sports federations to join the cause.
"The Congress shall request the FIFA and UEFA presidents together with the world of sport -- including the IOC -- to explore all possible means within the limits of law to implement this rule," he said.
The proposal targets some of Europe's biggest clubs and aims to restore "national identity" to the teams while reducing the drain of players from other continents.
Limits on the number of EU players in European leagues were successfully challenged under the 1995 Bosman ruling. But Blatter said having at least six players who are eligible to play for a country's national team would motivate young athletes.
The proposal faces opposition from clubs with large numbers of foreign-born players and those who want free-market rules to apply to soccer.
But Blatter said he would meet with the president of the European parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, on June 5 in Brussels to further lobby for support.
He is proposing the stepped introduction of a 4+7 system in 2010, increasing to 5+6 in 2011 and 6+5 in 2012.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Monday, May 26, 2008
Roma gain Inter revenge in Cup
AS Roma retained the Italian Cup after a 2-1 victory over Champions Inter Milan at the Stadio Olimpico here on Saturday to gain revenge for their defeat in the Serie A title race.
Goals from French centre-back Philippe Mexes and Italy midfielder Simone Perrotta sealed a
ninth cup success, making them the most successful team in Italian cup history, alongside Juventus.
Inter substitute Vitor Pele scored a goal that even his more illustrious namesake - the Brazilian legend who won three World Cups - would have been proud of with a stunning 30-yard volley into the top corner that left Roma's Brazilian goalkeeper Doni rooted to the spot.
The two sides have contested the last four cup finals and Roma squared the recent mini-series following Inter's victories in 2005 and 2006.
The defeat, which could be Inter coach Roberto Mancini's last in charge of the nerazzurri if Italian press reports are to be believed, denied him an incredible 11th cup success as a player and coach.
Roma were clearly the more hyped of the teams from the off as they looked to make up for last weekend's Scudetto disappointment.
Inter had the first shot on target through Serbian midfielder Dejan Stankovic but most of the action happened at the other end of the field.
French winger Ludovic Giuly was wildly off target when well placed and Perrotta had a shot blocked by Romanian centre-back Cristian Chivu.
But Roma took the lead on 35 minutes through a clever corner routine that caught Inter napping.
Chile midfielder David Pizarro crossed to the near post and Mexes timed his run perfectly before flicking the ball into the roof of the net.
At this point Inter - who were being cheered on by just a few thousand of their fans, leaving an entire end almost empty in the stadium - seemed barely interested.
And they fell two behind just after the restart as Perrotta ran at the heart of a defence that was backing off and played a one-two with Montenegro striker Mirko Vucinic before slotting into an empty goal with Inter's veteran second-choice goalkeeper Francesco Toldo drawn out of position.
Inter were furious as they thought their Brazilian midfielder Cesar had been fouled in the build up.
That finally sparked them into life and Portuguese midfielder Pele's thunderbolt got them right back in the match.
Inter almost equalised moments later but Argentine centre-back Nicolas Burdisso's header came back off the post.
Inter threw everything but the kitchen sink at Roma after that but created nothing to suggest they might score. Tellingly, though, their players hardly looked upset at the finish.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Blues begin search after firing Grant
Chelsea has started its search for a new manager after sacking Avram Grant on Saturday.
Grant, who replaced Jose Mourinho last September, was expected to be removed from his post following Chelsea’s failure to win a trophy for the first time in three seasons.
The 52-year-old Israeli found it hard to come to terms with being thrust into the spotlight and although he guided Chelsea into its first Champions League final, the penalty shootout defeat to Manchester United in Moscow on Wednesday paved the way for his departure.
After two days of meetings, Chelsea confirmed its decision in a statement on the club’s official web site, www.chelseafc.com.
“Chelsea can confirm that Avram Grant has had his contract as manager terminated today,” the statement said. “This follows meetings over the last two days. Everybody at Chelsea FC would like to thank Avram for his contribution since taking over as manager last September.
“We will now be concentrating all our efforts on identifying a new manager for Chelsea and there will be no further comment until that appointment is made.”
Grant joined the club last summer from Portsmouth to take up the post of director of football. Then manager Mourinho, whose relationship with the board was already fractious, was unhappy with the appointment.
Mourinho was later dismissed after the team’s 1-1 draw with Rosenborg at Stamford Bridge in its opening Champions League game.
Grant, who had never managed a club in England, was asked to takeover and later given a four-year contract.
A close friend of the club’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, Grant’s brief reign was tainted by reports of anti-Semitic abuse but remarkably he equalled a nine-match winning run set by Mourinho’s side two years earlier.
Grant brought in Henk ten Cate as his assistant as well as new fitness and goalkeeping staff.
But his appointment was never really accepted by the fans, who steadfastly refused to chant his name until the final game of the season, and his sour-faced demeanor did him few favors.
He was also criticized for being tactically inept but guided the club to the final of the Carling Cup in February only to lose to Tottenham, 2-1.
But remarkably, Chelsea pushed Manchester United to the wire in the race for the Premier League title and earned a place in its first Champions League final against Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.
But Grant’s entire spell in charge was littered with speculation that he was just a stop-gap appointment and that he would leave in the summer.
Chelsea consistently denied it had plans to change its manager but the deafening silence from the club’s board after Wednesday’s loss to United, told its own story.
Both chief-executive Peter Kenyon and chairman Bruce Buck paved the way for change by insisting that Chelsea’s performance this season was simply ‘not good enough’.
“We have very high expectations at Chelsea and a couple of second-place finishes is just not good enough for us - so although we never would have thought in September when Jose Mourinho left that we would be able to make it into a Champions League Final as we did - and that is fantastic - Chelsea are here to win trophies,” Buck said. “So although it was an excellent season, we are still disappointed.”
A series of discussions finally resolved Grant’s future and it is understood the Israeli said his farewells to the players on Friday - telling them it had been a ‘privilege’ to manage the team.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Sunday, May 25, 2008
English village to be invaded in spybot competition
A village in south-west England will shortly be swarming with robots competing to show off their surveillance skills.
The event is the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD) answer to the US DARPA Grand Challenge that set robotic cars against one another to encourage advances in autonomous vehicles.
The MoD Grand Challenge is instead designed to boost development of teams of small robots able to scout out hidden dangers in hostile urban areas.
Over 10 days in August, 11 teams of robots will compete to locate and identify four different threats hidden around a mock East German village used for urban warfare training, at Copehill Down, Wiltshire.
The robots must find snipers, armed vehicles, armed foot soldiers, and improvised explosive devices hidden around the village, and relay a real-time picture of what is happening back to a command post.
Urban hazards
The robots will need to negotiate the complexity of an urban environment to find the threats. Hazards include unfamiliar terrain and buildings, trees, near-invisible overhead wires and other urban clutter.
Teams will earn points based on how many threats they locate in one hour, and how autonomous they are. For example, a team will lose points if they use remote control to direct their vehicles at any stage of the trial.
The teams that score highest will be rewarded with the potential of a lucrative contract with the MoD, which hopes to see the best ideas rapidly developed to the point they can be deployed by UK forces in places such as Afghanistan and southern Iraq.
"We are in no doubt that this is a difficult challenge," says Grand Challenge programme leader, Andy Wallace.
Software control
Of the 23 initial entries from teams made up of private companies and universities, 11 were selected to take part in the final, with six thought promising enough to receive MoD funding.
One funded team, the Stellar Consortium, uses two aerial robots and one ground-based one.
A 3m wing-span unmanned air vehicle (UAV) will fly 65 metres above the village and use cameras to gather wide-area surveillance used by software to direct a smaller, 1m UAV flying at 20 metres, and an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV).
Those two vehicles use thermal, visual, and radar sensors to make more detailed observations that can be reported back to the base station.
"Physically, the vehicles all have to be launched by someone," explains Julia Richardson, Director of Stellar Research, "but after that, the mission-planning software hosted at the ground station takes full control."
Owl swarm
A team called Swarm Systems uses more robots. "We need to gather as much sensory information as possible," says team leader Stephen Crampton, "so we're using eight vehicles. And we're going by air because it gives you more viewing angles."
Dubbed "Owls", their battery-powered, Frisbee-sized vehicles weigh under a kilogram and have four small propellers. Able to hover and dart like birds, they are GPS-guided and communicate with one another, and the base station, using Wi-Fi. Each Owl carries a trio of 5 megapixel cameras.
"Without giving too much away, the processing power on board each of these vehicles is pretty impressive," adds Crampton. "They could run full-blown Windows Vista."
User-friendly tech
A third team, Silicon Valley, has opted to rely less heavily on autonomous vehicles. They have used off-the-shelf technology for the hardware as much as possible, and focused more development onto image recognition and analysis software.
"If you can automate that part, then you have a useful tool," explains team leader, Norman Gregory. "What we intend to do is deploy various platforms, depending on what the scenario is."
The team will use a mixture of ground and air-based vehicles, although the team is not yet releasing the exact details. The main ground vehicle is the size of a ride-on lawnmower and can be GPS-guided or remotely directed by a human.
(taken from : here)
[...]
'Grasshopper' robot sets high-jump record
Taking its inspiration from the grasshopper, a tiny two-legged robot that stores elastic energy in springs has leaped 27 times its own height, smashing the record of 17 times set by a previous robot.
Its creators hope that swarms of such hopping robots could spread out to explore disaster areas, or even the surfaces of other planets.
The robot is only 5 centimetres tall, and weighs just 7 grams. A motor designed to power the vibration unit of a pager drives a system of gears that gradually wind two metal springs.
When they are fully wound and then released, they straighten two metal legs that propel the robot upwards. The jumping robot was developed by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Hop on over
Hopping provides an effective way for tiny robots to get around on rough terrain, says Dario Floreano, who worked on the robot with colleague Mirko Kovac.
Just as for insects like crickets, or animals such as frogs, small robots whether legged or wheeled find even small obstacles insurmountable barriers. Hopping can be the only way to get over them.
The new robot's motor takes 3.5 seconds to fully recharge the springs, and its 10 mAh battery is enough to power 108 jumps.
Each of its legs has two segments that attach at an angle, making a knee-like bend in the legs. Adjusting the angle of the "knees" makes the robot hop either more vertically, or further forward.
The prototype doesn't have any way to direct itself, and as yet can't even land on its feet ready for the next hop. Floreano says they are working on a number of refinements.
Just add wings
First, they want to build a wire superstructure to make the robot automatically regain its feet when it lands and add wings to let it glide like a real grasshopper while airborne.
After that they hope to add solar panels, some simple sensors and a microprocessor. These would allow the robot to control its hopping and possibly communicate with other robots in the swarm, as well as recharge its battery.
Such robots might be simple, but they could also be cheap. A group could coordinate themselves to spread across an area to, for example, trace an environmental pollutant, Floreano says.
"They have done excellent work, making this very light robot that can cover very long distance," says Umberto Scarfogliero, at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Lucca, Italy. Scarfogliero and colleagues presented a similar jumping robot called Grillo last year at the IEEE robotics conference.
Floreano and Kovac's robot will be presented today at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Pasadena, California, US.
(taken from : here)
[...]
We're Running Out of IP Addresses
Frost & Sullivan analyst says we have until 2010 before there are no more addresses to be had.
Just what we needed, another technology limitation about to put the squeeze on everyone. And we don't mean the Unix date bug.
The growing popularity of smartphones and other gadgets with Internet connectivity is sucking up all of the available IP addresses, and it's beginning to impede emerging Internet markets around the world.
Cyberspace has about four to seven years before it runs out of IP addresses totally, according to a report by market researcher Frost & Sullivan. For some countries, the problem is now, according to Sam Masud, principal analyst for carrier infrastructure at the firm.
It's been known for years that the number of IP addresses was dwindling, but there wasn't as much specificity as to when. Now Masud is predicting 2010 will be when the world runs out, based on current rates of consumption. The U.S. won't be as impacted since so many are allocated here, but emerging markets will take the hardest hit.
China, for instance, has fewer IP addresses allocated than Stanford University. And the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has more IP addresses than all of Asia.
This wasn't done to be nasty to China, he said. It's just that when IP addresses were doled out 20 years ago, the Internet was a DoD project and Stanford was heavily involved, so they kept a lot of addresses for themselves, said Masud.
With its 32-bit size, TCP/IP has room for 4.3 billion addresses. That may seem like a lot until you realize that one-third are currently accounted for and another third of that pie is claimed but not in use.
IDC said there will be 17 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2012. And obviously they will not all be using unique IPs.
TCP/IP has already extended its lifespan by 10 years, thanks to network address translation devices and classless inter-domain routing, but it only bought time. It didn't increase the pool of addresses available.
The solution is to move to IPv6, which has 128-bit addresses, said Masud. That comes out to 360,382,386,120,984,643,363,377,707,131,268,210,929 possible addresses, in case you were keeping count.
Because Asia is a relatively green field with little legacy infrastructure, he added, they are doing just that: going straight to IPv6 and only using bridge connections to IPv4.
"I haven't seen the studies, but I've read that China and Taiwan are on track to migrate to IPv6, whereas the private sector here in the U.S. is asleep on all this," he said.
The one exception is the federal government, which has mandated that all government agency network backbones have to speak IPv6 by June 2008.
The rest are, he said, asleep at the switch.
Only 30 percent of the Internet service provider networks will support IPv6 by 2010, according to a study by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The cost to migrate: around $75 billion.
Masud said IP addresses are being consumed across the board, as much by smart devices as broadband providers that offer multiple IP addresses to their customers.
Comcast, one of the largest broadband providers in the U.S., is moving to IPv6 because it saw how fast it was consuming addresses and how few were left, he said.
The reason service providers are moving to IPv6 first is their desire to move to more IP-based networks for a variety of bandwidth-intensive applications.
British Telecom, for example, has said it wants to switch entirely to IP-based telephony by 2008. Cable providers want to offer newer interactive services and need more addresses.
That's why they are moving to IPv6 first, said Masud.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Mobile ads years away from breakthrough: execs
Advertising on mobile phones has enormous potential to become a significant platform for marketers, but any breakthrough is years away and major operators must work together to succeed, executives said.
Mobile operators increasingly see advertising as a powerful offering, given falling traditional voice revenue, as it allows brands to target consumers based on their location and at times of the day when they are otherwise hard to reach.
Executives from advertising and telecoms groups told the Reuters Technology, Media and Telecoms summit mobile advertising was inevitable and would become hard to resist.
But it was still at the experimental stage, and many brands and mobile operators were wary of alienating customers.
"It will be slow, it will take time but it will be there," Maurice Levy, chairman and chief executive of advertising group Publicis, told the summit in Paris.
"Why? Because it will be in the interest of the phone companies, consumers and advertisers. So it will be very difficult to resist."
Forecasts suggest the mobile ad market will generate revenue of anywhere from $1 billion to $24 billion within the next 4 years.
Many operators are experimenting with plans and one service, Blyk, has signed 100,000 clients in the U.K. with its offer of some free calls and text messages in return for accepting ads.
"If you look at the long horizon, I think that advertising on mobile phones is going to be very, very significant, simply because there are going to be 5 billion mobile phones and they are always with you," said Hamid Akhavan, the head of Germany's T-Mobile.
"There are people on this earth who in their life will never have a TV or a laptop but they will have a mobile phone. (So) thinking logically, there is no reason why mobile phones should not be the most powerful tool for advertisers."
All participants agreed there were many stumbling blocks.
Virgin Mobile USA told the Reuters summit in New York that it would use AOL's mobile advertising system exclusively to deliver banner ads to its customers who surf the Web on their phones. But they intended to approach the offering carefully.
"A cell phone is an intimate device," Chief Executive Dan Schulman said. "We pay a service provider to have that service and we don't want to be spammed, quite frankly."
French mobile operator SFR said there would be a market for mobile advertising and it had established a team to work on a business model, but said its customers would have to opt in.
"People will have to agree to take this service," Chief Executive Frank Esser said.
T-Mobile's Akhavan saw mobile advertising being held back by the large number of different phones and their capabilities, meaning the inventory space for advertising was very fragmented.
"By the time you say how many countries you cover and what your share of the market is, how many people have that kind of phone and how many of them are interested in Nike, you end up with an inventory of 6,000," he said.
"And are you going to go to Nike and waste their time over 6,000 potential customers?"
A cooperative model was likely the only way to succeed.
"So in Europe for instance all the big names have to work together, look at the inventory and try and figure out a way for us to share it in a very cooperative way and together go and pitch. That's the only way it is going to work," he said.
Akhavan said operators were starting to discuss this but that it was not a top priority.
(taken from : here)
[...]
HP ships USB sticks with malware
Hewlett-Packard has released a batch of USB keys for numerous Proliant server models which contain malware that could allow an attacker to take over an infected system.
The worms contained on the 256KB and 1GB USB drives have been identified as W32.Fakerecy and W32.SillyFDC. The worms spread by copying themselves to removable or mapped drives and affect systems running Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows Me, Windows NT and Windows 2000, according to AusCERT.
HP's Software Security Response Team issued a warning to AusCERT this week after discovering the worms on the USB drives and has also provided a list of affected servers to the security response organization.
To find out whether a drive is infected, HP recommends inserting it into a system with up-to-date antivirus software. Systems with up-to-date antivirus should be protected from the threat, according to HP.
John Bambenek, a researcher at the security organization Sans Internet Storm Center, has said that because the infected USBs only affect Proliant servers, a targeted attack cannot be ruled out.
However, the threat risk from the worms is considered to be low. "This is probably not going to escalate into a widepread epidemic," Nishad Herath, senior research scientist at McAfee Avert Labs, told ZDNet.com.au. "But I would most definitely urge users to perform a virus scan of any media--including any new blank drives--you receive from vendors prior to installing/using them as slip-ups like this have been known to happen in the past."
HP claims the worm-infected USBs will have only affected a small number of customers.
"HP takes all quality issues very seriously. Because the keys involved are used to install optional floppy-disk drives, this only affects the USB Floppy Drive Key kit which is a very low volume option and impacts a very small percentage of our ProLiant customer base. We've determined root cause and are fully confident that we have resolved this event. To date, no customers have reported this issue," a spokesperson for HP told ZDNet.com.au.
HP has provided an advisory page for customers with affected USB keys.
To find out whether a drive is infected, HP recommends inserting it into a system with up-to-date antivirus software. Systems with up-to-date antivirus should be protected from the threat, according to HP.
John Bambenek, a researcher at the security organization Sans Internet Storm Center, has said that because the infected USBs only affect Proliant servers, a targeted attack cannot be ruled out.
Liam Tung of ZDNet Australia reported from Sydney.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Google could pick Git to manage Android code
Releasing 8.6 million lines of source code and expecting open-source programmers to join Google in its development is a technological challenge.
But when Google does make its Android mobile phone software an open-source project later this year, it looks likely it will take a page from the Linux playbook and use a tool called Git to manage that part of the work.
Linux leader Linus Torvalds originally developed the Git source-code management software in 2005. He didn't like available open-source tools for the chore, but encountered resistance in using a proprietary tool, BitMover's BitKeeper.
Torvalds liked the distributed approach enabled by BitKeeper and Git, in which individuals could maintain their own "trees," variations of a project that branch off a main trunk. Git also can be used to track and manage software patches sent "upstream" by contributors working on code branches to the programmers responsible for maintaining various open-source projects.
Google currently uses a source-code management tool called Perforce to manage Android, but the company is moving to another code repository technology in preparation for moving Android into an open-source project, said Android leader Andy Rubin.
"We need an open-source repository. Currently we're on Perforce. That has to be moved to Git," and there's an effort now to make the transition, Rubin told me in an interview about Android.
That sounded to me like Android had settled on Git, but Rubin wasn't willing to go that far. "We have no announcements at this time," he said.
Maybe we'll hear more at the Google I/O conference next week for programmers interested in Google's work. One theme of the conference is Android.
Benjamin Lynn of Google's developer programs group offered a basic guide to Git on a Google open-source blog posting this week. And Google uses Git elsewhere, for example, to help Linux kernel programmers with support for Qualcomm mobile phone processors.
Junio C. Hamano currently maintains Git.
One choice Google won't pick for source code management is the centralized Subversion software.
"Subversion we don't think is enough of a repository to handle 11 million lines of code. If this is adopted, and there are 10,000 people checking out, it'll die," Rubin said. (Android today consists of about 8 million lines of Linux code plus 11 million lines of higher-level code; of the latter, about 8.6 million will become open-source software.)
(taken from : here)
[...]
Alonso linked with £12m Juventus move
Juventus director general Jean-Claude Blanc has flown to Liverpool to conclude a £12million deal for Xabi Alonso, according to reports in Italy.
Three of Italy's major sports newspapers insist Blanc held a meeting with Anfield boss Rafael Benitez on Tuesday.
High-level Liverpool sources have declined to comment on whether there has been contact between the two clubs.
Although Alonso, who is in Spain's squad for the Euro 2008 finals next month, has recently claimed he still sees his future at Anfield, a move to Italy would certainly interest him.
It is no secret that Benitez has been told he must sell as well as buy this summer as be re-builds his squad.
And Alonso found his senior appearances restricted last season following the £18.6million arrival of Javier Mascherano and with young Brazilian midfielder Lucas also making an impact.
With Benitez still trying to tie up the move of England international midfielder Gareth Barry to Anfield for £10million, the departure of Alonso would not be a surprise.
Alonso was one of Benitez's first signings when he took over as manager four years ago, arriving for £10.5million from Real Sociedad.
The 26-year-old has played 163 games for the club and scored 14 goals but featured little towards the end of the season.
He was only a late substitute in Liverpool's final home game of the season against Manchester City and then did not figure at all in the last match at Tottenham.
The Spaniard could be one of several players to leave the club this summer.
Benitez also left out Jermaine Pennant, John Arne Riise and Peter Crouch from the side at Spurs, along with Harry Kewell, who knew by then his contract would not be renewed.
Benitez has already been active in the transfer market having signed defender Philipp Degen from Borussia Dortmund yesterday.
The Liverpool manager is also believed to be chasing Ulrich Rame, Bordeaux's France international goalkeeper, and Italian left-back Andrea Dossena from Udinese.
But the possible departure of Alonso will disappoint Liverpool fans, the Basque-born star being a key player over recent seasons and scorer of one of the goals in the 2005 Champions League final win in Istanbul.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Flamini: Milan move not about the money
ROME, May 21 (Reuters) - Sporting reasons, not financial ones, were behind Mathieu Flamini's end-of-season move from Arsenal to AC Milan, the French midfielder said.
'I always said Milan would have been my first choice if I left Arsenal and I didn't do it for money,' Flamini told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
'I don't say it to boast, but I had lots of offers and I chose Milan because it's every player's dream. It wasn't easy to decide to leave London but I knew what I wanted.'
The 24-year-old said he was not concerned Milan will miss the Champions League next season after finishing fifth in Serie A.
'I don't mind at all,' he said. 'Those who play in the UEFA Cup with Milan know that it's the exception of one season. Milan are the team with most (international) titles in the world.
'They are a great club with a great history, a good, amiable coach, excellent players, passionate fans. When I entered the San Siro on the night of Milan-Arsenal it made me shiver.'
He added that he is confident Serie A is on the up after the 2006 match-fixing scandal.
'Serie A is returning to the top. The problems are water under the bridge, lots of great players will come to Italy.'
The Frenchman also said he was glad to have the British tabloids off his back.
'If you say that in Italy the newspapers are not so interested in player's private lives you take a weight off my heart,' he said.
'In England, where otherwise I'm fine, paparazzi chasing players with new girls are a nightmare.'
(taken from : here)
[...]
Friday, May 23, 2008
Giant 'telescope' links London, New York
LONDON, England -- As the first splinters of sunlight spread their warmth on the south bank of the River Thames this morning, it became clear that after more than a century, the vision of Victorian engineer Alexander Stanhope St. George had finally been realized.
In all its optical brilliance and brass and wood, there stood the Telectroscope -- an 11.2 meter (37 feet)long by 3.3 meter (11 feet) tall dream of a device allowing people on one side of the Atlantic to look into its person-size lens and, in real time, see those on the other side via a recently completed tunnel running under the ocean. (Think 19th century Webcam. Or maybe Victorian-age video phone.)
And all the credit goes to British artist Paul St. George. If he had not been rummaging through great-grandpa Alexander's personal effects a few years ago, the Telectroscope might still exist only on paper, hidden away deep inside some old box.
But fortunately St. George could not bear that thought -- and thus decided he should be the one to finish what his great grandfather had started. It was quite simply the right thing to do. Plus it would make a pretty cool public art exhibit.
During the twilight hours on Tuesday, massive dirt-covered metal drill bits miraculously emerged -- one by the Thames near the Tower Bridge and the other on Fulton Ferry Landing by the Brooklyn Bridge in New York -- completing the final sections of great-grandfather Alexander's transatlantic tunnel.
The drills were removed on Wednesday night and replaced with identical Telectroscopes at both ends, allowing Londoners and New Yorkers to wake up this morning, look over to the far and distant shore and stare at each other for a while (the telescope-like contraption permits visual but not vocal communication).
Of course only part of this story is true.
St. George is an artist in Britain who does have a grandfather -- minus the great prefix -- named Alexander.
And the transatlantic tunnel is really a transatlantic broadband network rounded off on each end with HD cameras, according to Tiscali, an Italian Internet provider handling the technical side of the project.
As for the Telectroscope -- well, it was a fanciful idea that, according to St. George, came about from a typo made by a 19th-century reporter who misspelled Electroscope -- a device used to measure electrostatic charges - as Telectroscope.
"The journalist also misunderstood what it was about and wrote in the article that it was a device for the suppression of absence," said St. George. "The accidental hope captured their imagination and lots of people at the end of the 19th century thought it was a great idea."
The Telectroscope captured St. George's imagination five years ago when he began pondering how to do a project on the childhood fantasy of digging a hole to the opposite side of the Earth. And because the artist also happens to have an expertise in Victorian chronophotography -- a precursor to cinematography -- he had a slight idea of where to look for the proper equipment.
"We all have that idea in our head if we could make a tunnel to the other side of the Earth," said St. George."But we are not all crazy enough to actually try and do it."
St. George was crazy enough to actually try and do it, but he realized he could not do the digging alone, so about two years ago, he pitched the idea to Artichoke, the British arts group responsible for taking the Sultan's Elephant -- a 42-ton mechanical creature -- for a stroll through central London in 2006. The company was immediately taken by St. George's idea.
"The whole thing is about seeing what is real and what isn't real and how the world is," said Nicki Webb, a co-founder of Artichoke. "Is it nighttime when we are in daytime and does it look familiar to us or not?"
When the sun illuminated the lens of the Telectroscope next to the Thames this morning, it was, of course, still nighttime in New York. So the screen inside the scope broadcast back only an empty sidewalk silently framed by the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline.
But then something miraculous occurred.
A police officer and a street cleaner walked into the frame. Stopped. And waved.
The Telectroscope will be on display and open to the public 24 hours a day in London and New York until June 15. Artichoke is arranging requests to synchronize special reunions between friends and family or, the company hopes, maybe even a marriage proposal.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Microsoft puts new Yahoo deal on the table
Microsoft said on Sunday that it has raised the possibility of a new deal with Yahoo, one that may involve buying a part of the company but not all of it.
"Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo," Microsoft said in a brief statement.
The company did not elaborate on the proposal. It said it did not plan at this time to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo, but that it was continuing to explore its options to expand its online services and advertising businesses.
Microsoft withdrew its offer to buy Yahoo on May 3 after the two sides failed to agree on a price. Since then, the activist investor Carl Icahn has said he will launch a proxy battle to replace Yahoo's board and force it back to the negotiating table with Microsoft.
Yahoo spokeswoman Diana Wong declined to comment on Microsoft's statement. Microsoft could not immediately be reached for comment, although published reports said the company is not discussing its plan further in public.
"There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions," Microsoft said in its statement. It said it reserved the right to reconsider its decision not to buy Yahoo outright, depending on any future talks with Yahoo, third parties or the shareholders of either company.
That Microsoft is discussing a new deal could be a sign that Yahoo's leadership wants to avoid the spectacle of a proxy battle ahead of its annual meeting on July 3, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Yahoo responded to Icahn's threats on Friday, arguing that its own board has given Microsoft's offer fair consideration, and that the current board, led by Chairman Roy Bostock, can best manage Yahoo's future.
It was unclear Sunday what type of alternative deal Microsoft has in mind. It said it issued its statement "in light of developments" that have taken place since it withdrew its offer.
Microsoft indicated earlier that it had moved on from the deal and that it was looking for other ways to grow its online business, internally or through smaller acquisitions.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Flexible Batteries That Never Need to Be Recharged
Mobile phones, remote controls, and other gadgets are generally convenient--that is, until their batteries go dead. For many consumers, having to routinely recharge or replace batteries remains the weakest link in portable electronics. To solve the problem, a group of European researchers say they've found a way to combine a thin-film organic solar cell with a new type of polymer battery, giving it the capability of recharging itself when exposed to natural or indoor light.
It's not only ultraslim, but also flexible enough to integrate with a wide range of low-wattage electronic devices, including flat but bendable objects like a smart card and, potentially, mobile phones with curves. The results of the research, part of the three-year, five-country European Polymer Solar Battery project, were recently published online in the journal Solar Energy.
"It's the first time that a device combining energy creation and storage shows [such] tremendous properties," says Gilles Dennler, a coauthor of the paper and a researcher at solar startup Konarka Technologies, based in Lowell, MA. Prior to joining Konarka, Dennler was a professor at the Linz Institute for Organic Solar Cells at Johannes Kepler University, in Austria. "The potential for this type of product is large, given [that] there is a growing demand for portable self-rechargeable power supplies."
Prototypes of the solar battery weigh as little as two grams and are less than one millimeter thick. "The device is meant to ensure that the battery is always charged with optimum voltage, independently of the light intensity seen by the solar cell," according to the paper. Dennler says that a single cell delivers about 0.6 volts. By shaping a module with strips connected in series, "one can add on voltages to fit the requirements of the device."
The organic solar cell used in the prototype is the same technology being developed by Konarka. (See "Solar-Cell Rollout.") It's based on a mix of electrically conducting polymers and fullerenes. The cells can be cut or produced in special shapes and can be printed on a roll-to-roll machine at low temperature, offering the potential of low-cost, high-volume production.
To preserve the life of the cells, which are vulnerable to photodegradation after only a few hours of air exposure, the researchers encapsulated them inside a flexible gas barrier. This extended their life for about 3,000 hours. Project coordinator Denis Fichou, head of the Laboratory of Organic Nanostructures and Semiconductors, near Paris, says that the second important achievement of the European project was the incorporation into the device of an extremely thin and highly flexible lithium-polymer battery developed by German company VARTA-Microbattery, a partner in the research consortium. VARTA's batteries can be as thin as 0.1 millimeter and recharged more than 1,000 times, and they have a relatively high energy density. Already on the market, the battery is being used in Apple's new iPod nano.
Dennler says that the maturity of the battery and the imminent commercial release of Konarka-style organic solar cells mean that the kind of solar-battery device designed in the project could be available as early as next year, although achieving higher performance would be an ongoing pursuit.
The paper's coauthor Toby Meyer, cofounder of Swiss-based Solaronix, says that the prototypes worked well enough under low-light conditions, such as indoor window light, to be considered as a power source for some mobile phones. Artificial light, on the other hand, may impose limitations. "Office light is probably too weak to generate enough power for the given solar-cell surface available on the phone," he says.
Watches, toys, RFID tags, smart cards, remote controls, and a variety of sensors are among the more likely applications, although the opportunity in the area of digital cameras, PDAs, and mobile phones will likely continue to drive research. "The feasibility of a polymer solar battery has been proven," the paper concludes.
Rights to the technology are held by Konarka, though the solar company says it has no plans itself to commercial the battery.
(taken from : here)
[...]
Man United wins Champions League on penalty kicks
Blame it on the rain. Or the pitch. Don't blame John Terry.
The Chelsea defender played brilliantly for 120 minutes in this Champions League Final, clearing balls away from his goal and keeping Manchester United from having more than one goal all night. His header away against Ryan Giggs' shot in extra time may have been the only thing that kept the score tied. That set up a penalty shootout, and Petr Cech's save of Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty set up John Terry with the dream scenario of every kid who plays soccer -- put one past Edwin van der Sar, and lift the European Cup.
Only the rain had been pouring down in Moscow for a half-hour, making the uneven new pitch in Luzhniki Stadium even more slippery than it should have been. And when Terry stepped forward to make his kick, the grass refused to give him a solid place to put his foot. He slipped. The ball bounced off the post. Chance gone. Two kicks later, Nicolas Anelka put his penalty right into Edwin van der Sar's chest. Cue the Dramatics.
It was as heartbreaking a finish as there could ever be for the stalwart Chelsea defender, one of the few players who gave everything he had to that club. Half these Blues seem to have one foot out the door, save for Didier Drogba, who'll have a foot in his backside as he's kicked out the door following an embarrassing red card in the 116th minute. He had no reason to reach out and slap Nemanja Vidic in the face, save a complete lack of self-control. Drogba never got closer than a shot off the post the whole game. He won't be remembered fondly in Stamford Bridge.
Full credit goes to Manchester United, though, who dominated the first half and probably should have had more than the one goal, a Wes Brown cross that found Cristiano Ronaldo, who shook off Michael Essien and headed the ball into the net in the 26th minute.
19 minutes later, though, disaster would strike for the Red Devils, as Rio Ferdinand misplayed a ball in front of his own goal and left it for Frank Lampard to kick into the net. Edwin van der Sar never had a prayer. Luckily, in the second half, he didn't need a prayer, as Chelsea's relentless attack produced zero shots on goal. The Blues' finishing all but disappeared on the sloppy, slippery pitch.
Manchester United's dominance of possession in the first half, though, disappeared just as quickly. They continued a patient, deliberate attack in the second half and extra time, but their few opportunities went begging, which set up the shootout. When Cristiano Ronaldo's increasingly lame stop-and-start routine led to a Petr Cech save, though, it seemed Terry would have his storybook ending.
Alas, it was not to be. The one trophy that Roman Abramovich, Chelsea's Russian billionaire owner, wants the most was lost in a moment of bad footing in Moscow. In one moment, it all slipped away. We stopped mocking the arrogant Ronaldo, and we felt little but sympathy for the stalwart Terry. That's how quickly everything can change.
Manchester United has its double for the year. Sir Alex Ferguson has his second European Cup, and with that, his legacy as one of the great football managers in history. John Terry, meanwhile, has his wife and his twins who just turned two, and they might be the only thing to help him through a three-month offseason that will seem like an eternity and bring a thousand changes to Stamford Bridge. Still, Chelsea will be back in the Champions League next year. That counts for something, right?
(taken from : in here)
[...]
Electronic papers to replace Traditional papers very soon
Epson unveiled a 13.4-inch (A4-size) electronic paper at SID 2008, in Los Angeles, the US. Its pixel count is 3104 × 4128 and definition is as high as 385ppi. Before this the company's largest electronic paper was a 7.1-inch type. The new electronic paper was developed by combining electrophoretic electronic ink of E Ink Corp and a low-temperature polycrystal Si-TFT of Seiko Epson. The TFT was formed on a glass substrate. Its contrast ratio is 10:1 and reflectance is 40%. With this prototype, Seiko Epson considers that the company entered the final stage of replacing traditional papers with electronic papers. Epson plans to conduct a market research, aiming at commercializing the new electronic paper and is also considering selling electronic papers in the future.
[...]
Gamer anger at Nokia's 'lock in'
Gamers have hit out at Nokia after learning that N-Gage titles bought for their handsets are locked to that specific device forever.
If a gamer changes or upgrades to a different Nokia handset they have to purchase the games again if they want to continue playing.
The issue was uncovered by website All About N-Gage.
"It's a bad idea for everyone... the N-Gage platform, gamers and third party publishers," the site said.
Nokia said it had made the decision to prevent piracy and to ensure its "partners receive their rightful revenues from our platform".
Hidden catch
Nokia relaunched its N-Gage mobile gaming platform last month.
About 30 games are available on a limited range of Nokia handsets, which are bought and downloaded direct to the phone.
It is the company's second attempt at making mobile gaming a success. In 2003 it released a dedicated handset for gaming, but the device never took off.
Ahead of the latest launch, Jaakko Kaidesoja from Nokia's Play New Experience division, told BBC News: "One of the best things we learned from the original N-Gage is that you can create a community and people appreciate the connectivity."
But the new platform has provoked anger amongst gamers.
Writing on the official N-Gage forums, one gamer said: "Changes need to be made soon, and sticking one's head in the sand will not change anybody's mind."
When gamers sign up for the service they have to agree to terms and conditions, part of which explains that games cannot be transferred between devices.
It states: "Content shall be... limited to one private installation on one N-Gage compatible Nokia device only."
But gamers have complained that the detail is buried in the terms and conditions and it is not clear enough at the point of purchase.
A statement from Nokia said: "Our policy is that the N-Gage activation codes only work on the device where they were first activated.
"As with any digital media there is a potential risk of piracy and this policy is one of the ways we are dealing with piracy and ensuring our partners receive their rightful revenues from our platform.
"If users need to repair their device, the activation codes will be reissued."
(taken from : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7414323.stm)
[...]
Thursday, May 22, 2008
A Land Rover That Drives Itself
In an airplane hanger on MIT’s campus in Cambridge last week, a team of engineering students and researchers put the finishing touches on Talos, a Land Rover that drives itself. Talos is MIT’s entry in the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA) robotic car race, which will take place on November 3, in Victorville, CA.
Known as the Urban Challenge, the race will test the ability of robotic cars from 35 different teams to obey traffic laws and drive safely in a city-like environment without human assistance. The vehicles will need to find their way to a preprogrammed destination while paying attention to lane markers, other cars, and unexpected obstacles, such as potholes in the road. (See video.)
The Urban Challenge is a follow-up to DARPA’s Grand Challenge race, held in 2004 and 2005, in which cars navigated an empty desert road. The new, more complex racing environment reflects the rapid progress being made in robotic cars: while none of the teams finished the first Grand Challenge race, 5 out of 23 cars finished the second one. Stanford University’s team, which won the latter race, will enter the Urban Challenge with Junior, an upgraded version of its winning car. (See “Stanford’s New Driverless Car.”)
In order to “see” its environment, MIT’s Talos is equipped with numerous laser range finders, radar units, Global Positioning Systems, and video cameras, explains Emilio Frazzoli, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and one of the team leaders. The researchers developed novel software–which runs on 10 quad-core computers in the Land Rover’s trunk–to make sense of the incoming data and to calculate the car’s next move. The 40 processors produce so much heat that the team added an air-conditioning unit to the roof of the car. (See slide show.)
Many of the robotic cars at the Urban Challenge will be outfitted with similar collections of off-the-shelf sensors, so it’s nuances in each car’s software that will likely distinguish winners from losers. MIT’s software consists of algorithms that work with the sensors to build a picture of the environment, and algorithms that determine what the car should do with that picture, explains Frazzoli. Every second, the algorithms use data from the sensors to generate more than a thousand possible paths that the car could take. Talos then drives along the path with the highest probability of producing the most direct and safest route for a given situation.
For the MIT team, which started developing Talos about a year ago, the challenge is to make sure that the car is reliable in as many different locations as possible. “We’re testing almost every day,” says Frazzoli. When the car arrives in Victorville, the team will continue to test for about a month before the preliminary trials begin. “It’s not too hard to build a robotic car,” Frazzoli says. “But it is hard to build one that’s robust and safe in many different environments.”
(taken from : http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19471/?a=f)
[...]
