- January 31, 2007 5:01 PM
- By Ian Johnson
posted by Ian Johnson, CBC News Online
It's usually easy to tell when a photo was snapped with a cellphone camera – just look for images that are grainy, blurry and poorly lit. A team of engineers at the University of California, San Diego, has been focusing on the problem, and after a flash of brilliance, says it has developed — OK, OK, no more weak photography references — a high-powered but compact imager that can fit into everything from cellphones to small aerial surveillance drones.
Click the link below to read more.
- January 30, 2007 6:40 PM
- By Saleem Khan
by Saleem Khan, CBC News Online
Everyone has a great idea that can make them wealthy and help people solve a problem, including ones they don't know they have. Just ask the entrepreneurs and inventors featured on Dragons' Den.
For anyone in the internet, software or technology sectors in particular who has ever thought of The Next Big Thing but didn't know how to turn it into a success, there's hope.
Click the link below to find your economic salvation.
- January 30, 2007 12:57 PM
- By Saleem Khan
by Saleem Khan, CBC News Online
The big day has finally arrived and the consumer versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista are available to everyone, much to the joy of personal computer makers who had seen sales slumping.
Most people will end up adopting Vista when they buy a new computer [Windows Media streaming video runs 2:32 minutes] according to most industry experts, observers and Microsoft itself — but that may not be a good thing.
Click through the link below for a window into the controversy.
- January 29, 2007 2:19 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
It has been over two years since Microsoft first started offering its Physics Illustrator, based on research done alongside scientists at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology. But since Tablet PCs haven't exactly taken off like Bill Gates had hoped, few people have had a chance to see the software in action.
Thankfully, a couple of people on YouTube have posted a demonstration of what MIT calls the Assist Sketch Understanding System. It's very cool.
- January 26, 2007 2:03 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
It wasn't too long ago that typing in the search words "miserable failure" in Google would lead you to a biography of George W. Bush as the top entry. The trick, known as Google bombing, took advantage of Google's search algorithms which count how often a site is linked to and with what words. Google bombers would link to the U.S. President's page from a multitude of sites containing the terms "miserable failure" to skew the results in one site's favour.
Evidently, Google has finally put a stop to these pranks, changing their algorithms to produce different results.
Click the link below to read more.
- January 25, 2007 7:48 PM
- By Saleem Khan
by Saleem Khan, CBC News Online
About 83 per cent of Canadian households have a computer and one-third have at least two computers. Such is life in the internet age. That's what makes figures from a new study of children's online safety habits by Microsoft Canada and Ipsos Reid so disturbing.
Click below for more.
- January 25, 2007 7:11 PM
- By Saleem Khan
by Saleem Khan, CBC News Online
According to Wired's Autopia blog, a University of California professor thinks automakers are on the cusp of being hit with a rash of lawsuits for infringing on patents related to hybrid vehicles.
Drive through the link below to read more.
- January 25, 2007 12:55 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
The popularity of massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft owes much of its popularity to the swords and sorcery fantasy first popularized in the paper-based roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons. But D & D itself owes an even greater debt to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, which is why it should come as no surprise that someone has come up with the bright idea of turning Middle Earth into its own massively multiplayer online game.
Hit the link below to continue reading.
- January 24, 2007 8:23 PM
- By Saleem Khan
by Saleem Khan, CBC News Online
Apple Inc. may need to make a lot of money on its iPhone to pay for legal fees and lawsuit settlements — and if estimates of the device's cost are right, they probably will.
Apple will make a 50.7 to 53.1 per cent gross profit on the iPhone according to market research firm iSuppli Corp. of El Segundo, Calif.
Hit the link below for more.
- January 24, 2007 5:52 PM
- By Saleem Khan
by Saleem Khan, CBC News Online
There's no denying the internet has transformed the way in which we do a lot of things, including how we find and listen to music. Those changes have won fans (usually music lovers both outside and inside the industry) and detractors (usually recording copyright holders and lobbyists) in a struggle to determine how people are allowed to listen to their music.
University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist highlights in his blog what he describes as the unparalleled access to federal Heritage Minister Bev Oda recording industry lobbyists enjoy while she fails to meet with Canadian artists who would be affected by proposed copyright legislation reforms.
More through the link below.
- January 24, 2007 11:14 AM
- By Saleem Khan
by Saleem Khan, CBC News Online
Quick on the heels of the X-rated video industry's forced adoption of HD-DVD blue-laser disc format comes word from the New York Times that high-definition video is posing problems for pornographers.
Update: Businessweek suggests there's new hope for Blu-ray in the DVD format war.
More on this through the link below.
- January 23, 2007 6:58 PM
- By Saleem Khan
by Saleem Khan, CBC News Online
Apple's been enjoying a lot of buzz on news of its iPhone but it has been silent about a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Quantum Research Group of Southampton, U.K. in December 2005 that could affect the much-hyped device.
More on this through the link below.
- January 22, 2007 3:15 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
Monday, January 22, is the 15th anniversary of Roberta Bondar's flight aboard the space shuttle Discovery. I had a chance to speak to Dr. Bondar on Monday about her journey and her thoughts on the state of space exploration, and I'll post a link to that story soon.
But we wanted to give you an opportunity to have Dr. Bondar answer one of your questions. Let us know what you'd like to ask her here and stay tuned for her responses.
- January 18, 2007 4:28 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
Canada is the cheapest place to buy an iPod Nano, according to a study by one of Australia's biggest banks.
The Commonwealth Bank used the latest iPod music player to compare global currencies and purchasing power in 26 countries, and Canada was the cheapest place to buy a Nano at $144.20 US.
- January 17, 2007 4:53 PM
- By Ian Johnson
by Dan Westell, CBC News Online
Police nabbed thoroughly modern poker players cheating casinos in London when a casino manager noticed they were beating the odds too often. The three gamblers cheated the casinos out of more than (pounds) 250,000, the Daily Telegraph reported.
- January 16, 2007 1:22 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
The Canadian inventor whose bear-protection suit was immortalized in the documentary Project Grizzly has created a new set of body armour to deflect bullets and bombs, according to the Hamilton Spectator.
- January 16, 2007 1:08 PM
- By Tod Maffin
by Tod Maffin
One of radio’s strengths has always been its portability. You could carry a small radio from room to room or take it on a walk with you.
Until recently, though, the satellite radio offerings in Canada have been tethered devices -- mostly intended for the car, though with an optional “home kit” you could position the radio in one place in your home.
- January 16, 2007 12:45 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
People who thought products by LG Electronics and Warner to provide dual-format DVD players and discs would cool the war over rival high-definition DVD formats appear to be mistaken.
- January 16, 2007 12:42 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
The long-awaited World of Warcraft expansion, dubbed The Burning Crusade, officially went on sale on Tuesday, and as expected, there were long lines everywhere.
The massive multiplayer online game, set in a 3D swords-and-sorcery fantasy setting, has been hugely popular since it launched in 2004. Blizzard Entertainment, which runs the game, said it has more than eight million subscribers.
- January 15, 2007 7:56 PM
- By Ian Johnson
by Dan Westell, CBC News Online
The prices for many consumer electronics products plunged in 2006, the New York Times reported in the wake of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. Citing Consumer Electronics Association economists, the paper said big-screen plasma TVs were down 32 per cent, notebook computers fell 35 per cent and video players for cars dropped by 65 per cent.
- January 12, 2007 3:32 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
A notorious group of internet pirates looking for a base of operations to avoid lawsuits has focused its attention on buying a tiny island off the coast of Britain.
- January 12, 2007 1:11 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
You have to hand it to the people at Electronic Arts. Every year they put out a new version of the same game and every year they knock one out of the park. Well, not the baseball video games. We're talking about the Madden franchise, which once again topped 2006 for total sales.
- January 12, 2007 12:47 AM
- By Tod Maffin
by Tod Maffin
I had the opportunity the other day to play with LG's Fusic cellphone (fronted by Bell) which, at first glance, appears to be your average cameraphone. The Fusic, though, comes with a FM transmitter - LG claims it's the first phone with an FM transmitter. A nice touch, but a killer app when it's paired with the on-board EVDO high-speed data, which lets you download songs right from the phone, though you're limited to a selection of songs from Bell's library.
- January 12, 2007 12:24 AM
- By Tod Maffin
by Tod Maffin
Now that it's clear Vancouver's weather is official screwed up, I've become quite addicted to various weather sites. That is, until I found WeatherBonk.com -- it's a mashup between various weather services and Google Maps.
- January 10, 2007 4:24 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
In the movies, faking a work of art is usually a matter of pulling the ol' switcharoo, Indiana-Jones style.
But in the real world art forgery is a problem, if only because it's becoming harder and harder to prove if something is fake. So curators are looking for methods to prevent theft and verify authenticity. At the University of Palermo they've come up with a rather interesting method: Taking a sonic fingerprint of the art.
- January 10, 2007 4:19 PM
- By Ian Johnson
by Dan Westell
NASA is changing its pounds and miles for kilograms and kilometres when setting up future moon missions, a space-related website says.
- January 9, 2007 2:06 PM
- By Tod Maffin
by Tod Maffin
It was one of the most anticipated product announcements in Apple's history. And now, the computer company that makes the iPod and Mac computers has added a new product that has the gadget industry buzzing. It's only a centimeter thick. And to look at it, it doesn't seem like much. A flat screen, a bit taller than a deck of cards, and just one Power button on the front.
But don't let Apple's new iPhone fool you. Judging from how quickly the stock market pushed Apple's stock up within minutes of its announcement this morning, the iPhone could become a big player in the technology sector.
- January 9, 2007 11:29 AM
- By Ian Johnson
by Ian Johnson, CBC News Online
When you get a gut feeling, you might want to just go with it. A University College London study has found that you are more likely to perform well if you don't think too hard about something and instead trust your instincts.
- January 8, 2007 3:33 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC Online Online
Brazil's second-largest telco said on Monday it has blocked YouTube in response to a judicial order banning a steamy video of supermodel Daniela Cicarelli.
The move by Brasil Telecom comes after a Brazilian judge on Friday ordered YouTube to remove the video of Cicarelli and Brazilian banker Renato Malzoni from the popular video-sharing site.
- January 8, 2007 2:44 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
Polygraph or lie detector tests have a long history on television police shows, but the technology hasn't had much luck standing up in courts.
That hasn't prevented an Israeli company from offering downloadeable software capable of monitoring voice fluctuations. The KishKish Lie Detector was released in December and made available for use with VoIP provider Skype. And according to the latest news, it's selling like hotcakes.
Click the link below to read more.
- January 5, 2007 2:08 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
Tamper-proof terminals are supposed to take away the risk to consumers using PIN credit and debit card processing machines.
But even if software on a system is impenetrable, some decidely low-tech means can allow theives to make a terminal work for them. Security researchers Steven Murdoch and Saar Drimer demonstrated this effectively by replacing the guts of a PIN terminal with a program that can play Tetris.
Click on the link below to keep reading.
- January 4, 2007 3:33 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
When Google launched a beta version of its Patent Search, it looked like another fine way to kill time reading about monkey-shaped camera bags and the like. But who has the time? Over at Engadget they've found someone: the blogger at Ironic Sans, who used the tool to track down a list of patents by celebrities.
Click the link below to read on.
- January 4, 2007 3:26 PM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
Reuters news service is reporting the last store under the brand name of Blockbuster closed its doors in Peru a few days ago. While the spokesman didn't offer a particular reason other than competition problems, it is speculated the U.S. movie retail giant couldn't compete with the low-cost of pirated DVDs.
Read on by clicking the link below.
- January 3, 2007 12:34 PM
- By Saleem Khan
by Saleem Khan, CBC News Online
It was probably inevitable. As long-time industry watchers know, it's a virtual truism that with every new advancement or development in consumer technology, the pornography industry is either a leader or not far behind. The latest development: porn formatted for the Wii.
Follow the link below for more.
- January 2, 2007 10:25 AM
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBC News Online
The end of the holiday season brings sales galore but didn't provide much in the way of the fluffy white stuff across North america. As usual whenever a commodity is in short supply, some enterprising people tried to find a way to make a buck off it. And since this is the 21st century, the transaction occurred on eBay.
The Associated Press reported that 10 people offered to pay $25 US for snow from Colorado after a couple in the state put samples up for auction over the holidays. The undisclosed quantities of snow hail from two storms dubbed Blizzard I and Blizzard II, the sellers said. A second sale from the same owners has produced a high bid of $38.99 as this is being posted.
The resulting flurry of activity also appears to have enticed others to offer their own driveway discards. Perhaps ski-hill operators should consider purchasing it in bulk.
is a multimedia producer for CBCNews.ca.
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