News : Cyborg beetle flies by wireless

Scientists in the U.S. have unveiled a major advance in cyborg technology -- using wireless radio controls they can now completely control the flight of a living beetle.

Rob Muir reports.

News : Next up, mind-controlled gadgets?

A wheelchair operated by brainwaves is just the first step toward a future where electrical appliances are turned on and operated through our thoughts.

Julie Gordon reports.

News : Russians take the most snaps of themselves

LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly half of all the photographs Europeans take end up online, according to a survey, with Russians the keenest on taking snaps of themselves, just ahead of the Austrians.

The Nikon poll of 12,259 people in 12 European countries showed 46.8 percent of the pictures taken by Europeans are posted on the Internet.

Britons are more reserved: only 33 percent of their snaps are posted and just 5.6 percent of them take self-portraits.

By contrast, 34.2 percent of Russians take pictures of themselves, just ahead of the Austrians on 24.9 percent.

Russians also top the poll for taking intimate snaps of themselves, with Greeks not far behind, the poll found.

Some people have also become choosy about how they are projected online, the survey found.

For example, 16.8 percent would ask friends to remove photos that they don't like and some even insist on approving any image of themselves before it gets anywhere near the Internet.

"The photographs that many of us take, especially younger generations, are no longer kept safe within the family or personal album, to be got out only in the presence of close friends and relatives," said photography scholar Martin Lister.

"Now, once online, our photographs enter a semi-public space. Here it is not the family that is the consuming and viewing unit but extended peer groups and networks of loosely connected people."

Nikon and etiquette experts Debrett's offered this advice to those posting pictures on the Web:

* Don't post embarrassing pictures of other people without their permission.

* Ensure that you are happy for the pictures you choose to be on the web for all to see.

* Remember that your boss, family and friends may look at your pictures, so don't post any inappropriate images.

* Don't endlessly post pictures of yourself -- you'll come across as self-obsessed, rather than interesting.

* Think about the impact your photos will have on other people before you share or project them.

(Reporting by Stephen Addison; editing by Paul Casciato)

News : Apple passes 2 billion app downloads

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc said on Monday that downloads from its iTunes applications store had passed 2 billion and that it now has more than 85,000 apps available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

It did not say how many of the applications delivered were sold and how many were free. The store has inspired rival stores and helped boost iPhone sales since the summer of 2008.

Apple said it has sold more than 50 million iPhones and iPod Touch devices in 77 countries. AT&T Inc is the exclusive U.S. provider for iPhone.

Google Inc also runs an app store for its Android mobile platform but has fewer apps than Apple.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew)

News : Warner, YouTube near deal for music videos

By Paul Thomasch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warner Music Group and YouTube are finalizing an agreement that would allow music videos from artists such as Madonna and Green Day to once again be featured on the popular web site, according to sources close to the deal.

The deal, which one source described as imminent, would resolve a dispute over licensing rights that caused Warner Music to pull music videos by its artists from Google Inc's YouTube in December.

YouTube and Warner, the third largest music company, declined comment on the deal, first reported by AdAge on Monday.

A deal would mean that Warner Music's stable of artists would once again appear on the world's most popular video sharing site, joining those from EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, all of which have renewed deals.

Financial details are unclear; but Warner Music Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman has made known his desire to improve terms of his previous deal with YouTube. Like other industry executives, he faces a music market that has been stung by tumbling CD sales and slowing digital music growth.

The deal would also open the door to a possible role for Warner in a new music video website called Vevo, which is backed by Universal and Sony and will be supported by YouTube's technology platform.

At the moment, talks about Warner joining Vevo are still in "early stages" and could break down over a range of issues, one source said. The source declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.

Music industry insiders say that Web videos are catching up with radio and music television as one of the most important music discovery tools for fans.

They say Vevo would create a more sophisticated way to experience music on the web, describing a site that would be the music industry's version of Hulu, the popular U.S.-based online TV service backed by NBC Universal, News Corp and Walt Disney Co.

Former Universal Music digital chief Rio Caraeff was appointed as Vevo's top executive earlier this summer. The venture has held talks with major advertisers and deals with at least four big brand names are expected to be ready in time for its debut later this year.

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

News : 3D holograms go tactile

Researchers in Japan are using science to bounce elephants in the palms of their hands -- only these elephants are a new type of hologram you not only see, but you can also feel.

Julie Gordon reports.

News : Judge delays hearing on Google books deal

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A judge delayed a hearing on a $125 million deal that would allow Google Inc to create a massive digital library.

In a two-page order on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin postponed the fairness hearing scheduled for October 7 regarding a controversial settlement between Google and groups representing authors and publishers.

The settlement, which would allow Google to distribute and sell digital versions of out-of-print, copyrighted books, was criticized by the U.S. Justice Department on Friday. The DOJ urged the parties to modify the settlement, which it said appeared to pose antitrust issues.

On Tuesday, the authors and publishers groups that struck the deal with Google last year asked the court to delay the hearing in order to resolve the DOJ's concerns.

Judge Chin said that while the proposed settlement would offer many benefits to society, it also raises significant issues, as demonstrated by the number of objections to the deal by various parties, including countries, states and nonprofit

organizations.

"Under all the circumstances, it makes no sense to conduct a hearing on the fairness and reasonableness of the current settlement agreement, as it does not appear the current settlement will be the operative one," wrote Judge Chin.

Instead of the hearing on October 7, the judge scheduled a "status conference" on that date to determine how to proceed with the case.

Google issued a statement citing the Judge's statement that the settlement would benefit society.

"If approved by the court, this settlement stands to unlock access to millions of books in the U.S., while giving authors and publishers new ways to distribute their work," said the statement.

The case is Authors Guild et al v Google Inc 05-08136 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Richard Chang)

News : EU seeks to ensure Microsoft ballot offers choices

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union antitrust regulators are seeking to ensure that an offer by U.S. software company Microsoft to give users the chance to choose rivals' Web browsers was workable for consumers and its rivals.

Microsoft proposed to the European Commission in July to install a ballot screen that would allow users to set up rival browsers on its latest Windows operating system, a move which could end a decade-long dispute with the EU executive.

The Commission, competition watchdog for the 27-country European Union, has to date slapped a total 1.68 billion euros ($2.47 billion) in fines on Microsoft for infringing EU antitrust rules.

A confidential Commission questionnaire obtained by Reuters showed regulators were concerned whether users would understand they were being offered a choice of browsers and whether they would actually use the ballot screen.

"In your view, is the proposed approach to downloading and installing competing browsers as seamless and straightforward as necessary from a user experience perspective for the ballot screen to be used effectively to exercise consumer choice between competing web browsers?" the questionnaire asked.

It also asked respondents to comment on the proposed design and implementation of the ballot screen. The questionnaire dated from July, with a late August deadline set for replies. The Commission has not disclosed when it will decide on Microsoft's offer.

In an interview with the International Herald Tribune on Wednesday, Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said she wanted to reach a deal with Microsoft before her term ends this year.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser competes with those from Google, the Mozilla Foundation, Norwegian Opera, and others.

(Editing by Dan Lalor)

News : RIM seen facing increased market-share pressure

By Wojtek Dabrowski

TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry maker Research In Motion could see its share of the smartphone market eroded by competing devices like Apple's iPhone, analysts warned on Friday as RIM's shares plunged 15 percent in wake of a disappointing profit and outlook report.

Analysts again wondered whether RIM would be able to hold its own as it fights an increasingly intense battle for retail and corporate subscribers, even as the economy seems to be stabilizing.

Such worries first surfaced ahead of the iPhone's launch in the summer of 2007, but RIM maintained it would be unshaken. It continued to post impressive subscriber gains and in late 2008 rolled out the touchscreen-based BlackBerry Storm, its answer to the iPhone.

Now, in wake of a profit and outlook report that fell short of expectations, analysts are again starting to doubt the Waterloo, Ontario-based company will be able to sustain its success.

"RIM is unlikely to maintain its over 50 percent share in North America in the face of increasing competition from Apple, Motorola, and Palm, among others," Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski wrote in a note to clients.

"Even in a still-benign competitive environment and with two newly launched products, RIM lost share for the second consecutive quarter," Jankowski added.

Goldman also cut its rating on the stock to "neutral" from "buy."

Part of RIM's strength in the smartphone market is its impressively sized distribution network. Retail consumers and corporate clients can buy the BlackBerry from more than 500 carriers and distribution partners in about 170 countries around the world.

But as the iPhone and other rivals expand their reach, RIM could find itself fighting for previously uncontested territory.

Canada, RIM's home turf, is a good example. The iPhone is currently available from only one of the country's Big Three carriers, Rogers Communications.

However, the other two big players -- BCE Inc and Telus Corp -- are working together on a network upgrade that could let them offer the iPhone as early as next year.

All three carriers currently offer the BlackBerry.

RIM has also historically reported strong growth outside North America, but Jankowski cautioned this could now be stalling.

"A second consecutive decline in international sales tempers our expectations for share gains overseas," the Goldman analyst wrote.

RIM's shares were down 15.6 percent at $70.10 on Nasdaq on Friday morning. In Toronto, the stock was down 15.4 percent at C$76.25. The company issued its latest earnings report after markets closed on Thursday.

Brokerage firm Raymond James also cut its rating on RIM to "market perform" from "outperform."

Phillip Huang, an analyst at UBS, maintained a "neutral" rating on RIM, saying the shares would likely be range-bound until the company could show stronger top line momentum.

He added that "sentiment could be muted near-term due to increasing competition (and) a potential relationship between Apple and Verizon Wireless."

($1=$1.09 Canadian)

(Additional reporting by Euan Rocha and John McCrank, editing by Rob Wilson)

News : Bloodsucker or cancer cure?

They may be bloodsucking parasites, but scientists say the saliva of the common South American tick could hold the cure to several forms of cancer.

Julie Gordon reports.

News : Archaeologists find suspected Trojan war-era couple

ANKARA (Reuters) - Archaeologists in the ancient city of Troy in Turkey have found the remains of a man and a woman believed to have died in 1,200 B.C., the time of the legendary war chronicled by Homer, a leading German professor said on Tuesday.

Ernst Pernicka, a University of Tubingen professor of archaeometry who is leading excavations on the site in northwestern Turkey, said the bodies were found near a defense line within the city built in the late Bronze age.

The discovery could add to evidence that Troy's lower area was bigger in the late Bronze Age than previously thought, changing scholars' perceptions about the city of the "Iliad."

"If the remains are confirmed to be from 1,200 B.C. it would coincide with the Trojan war period. These people were buried near a moat. We are conducting radiocarbon testing, but the finding is electrifying," Pernicka told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Ancient Troy, located in the northwest of modern-day Turkey at the mouth of the Dardanelles not far south of Istanbul, was unearthed in the 1870s by Heinrich Schliemann, the German entrepreneur and pioneering archaeologist who discovered the steep and windy city described by Homer.

Pernicka said pottery found near the bodies, which had their lower parts missing, was confirmed to be from 1,200 BC, but added the couple could have been buried 400 years later in a burial site in what archaeologists call Troy VI or Troy VII, different layers of ruins at Troy.

Tens of thousands of visitors flock every year to the ruins of Troy, where a huge replica of the famous wooden horse stands along with an array of excavated ruins.

(Writing by Ibon Villelabeitia; Editing by Ralph Boulton)

News : Microsoft developing new tablet PC

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is developing a small tablet-style PC to rival a similar product that may be launched by Apple Inc, technology blog Gizmodo reported on Tuesday.

The booklet-shaped device, called Courier, is in the "late prototype" stage of development, Gizmodo reported, without identifying the source of its information.

Microsoft did not immediately answer a request for comment.

The Courier device has dual 7-inch screens that are touch sensitive and can be used in conjunction with a stylus, Gizmodo reported.

Apple has long been expected to launch its own tablet PC -- essentially a large version of its iPhone -- but has so far announced no plans to do so.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Gary Hill)

News : Apple, Eminem may face trial over music downloads

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple and rapper Eminem may be headed for trial on Thursday if they are unable to resolve a lawsuit over whether the singer's songs could be used on the popular iTunes service.

Eight Mile Style LLC, Eminem's music publisher, and another plaintiff, Martin Affiliated LLC, are claiming in a lawsuit in federal court in Detroit that Apple was never authorized to use 93 songs in a downloadable format on iTunes, court papers show.

Also being sued is Aftermath Records, which has control of Eminem recordings, and which the plaintiffs say had no right to enter agreements for digital downloads.

The plaintiffs have contended in court papers that Apple "has provided and continues to provide digital downloading of recordings of compositions which Eight Mile and Martin are owners of, or have copyright ownership interest in," without obtaining permission or providing compensation.

In contrast, the defendants have said authorization for the downloads had been granted, and that Eminem's publisher has received "substantial royalties" on the songs, court papers show.

It was not clear how much money Eminem's publisher could recover. Among the songs at issue is "Lose Yourself," a hit from Eminem's 2002 film "8 Mile".

Lawyers for the parties did not immediately return calls seeking a comment. A conference that could lead to a trial being averted was scheduled for Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia Morgan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, according to court records.

It was not clear if Eminem -- whose given name is Marshall Mathers -- would testify at a trial.

The case is Eight Mile Style LLC v. Apple Computer Inc, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit), No. 07-13164.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

News : Stun-gun maker Taser blogs to beat bad buzz

By Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty

BANGALORE (Reuters) - When the 49ers were battling the Cardinals in a National Football League game earlier this year, a Facebook update by stun gun maker Taser proclaimed that the San Francisco-based team's "Taser formation" could be the tipping factor.

The company, whose main product is a lightning rod for criticism, is increasingly using blogs and social networks to promote new products and dispel anxieties about them.

Tasers, also known as conductive energy weapons, disable people with a 50,000-volt jolt of electricity, and have become increasingly popular with police around the world.

Taser's latest X3 gun, which can shoot multiple targets simultaneously, assumes the company's Facebook persona, evangelizing about products and engaging customers with football banter.

The 49ers did go on to win the game using their Taser formation, as the Facebook update said. And that was another small step for the company in taking its much-maligned guns closer to the people.

On average, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company spends about $4 million a year in litigation-related expenses -- more than its annual net profit in 2008.

Taser currently has 46 pending lawsuits related to the use of its guns. One of the company's priorities is to reduce this burden on the company's numbers.

And this is one reason why the company has taken to blogging, Twittering, using networking sites and creating an online evidence "warehouse."

"We use Facebook and Twitter not only as marketing teasers, but also as a way to influence information in terms of making it fun and making it relevant to the younger generation," Steve Tuttle, Taser's vice president for communications, said.

The company has launched Evidence.Com, a website that collects video grabs of confrontations that can be used as evidence later.

The site works in conjunction with Taser's AXON gun, which comes fitted with a camera, and it allows law enforcement agencies to create secure groups to share evidence and collaborate on cases.

Taser guns are bought not only by the police, military and correction facilities, but also by individuals, casinos and companies' corporate security chiefs.

The company's stun guns, which have been featured in films such as "Hangover," "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "Hannibal" and "Time Cop," are not considered firearms in the United States and are legal for civilian use in most states. In 2007, footage showing a University of Florida student being shot with a Taser gun surfaced on the Internet. Despite his pleas to "Don't tase me, bro," a campus police officer did just that. The phrase spread like wildfire, appearing on T-shirts and in commercials and a rap artist turned it into a song. In the same year, the death of a Polish immigrant at the Vancouver International Airport led to widespread media coverage and the setting up of a commission to study the effects of using conductive energy weapons such as Tasers.

Earlier this year, the commission noted that there had been more than 300 deaths in the United States and 25 in Canada associated with their use.

Reacting to the Canadian controversy and the commission's observations, Tuttle said, "It appears that the politics trumped the science. Most of the negativity comes from the lack of publicity about the correct use of Tasers."

Tuttle said the company disagrees with a few of the commission's recommendations and is readying a response. While traditional methods of communication were still the company's mainstay, he said, "We wanted to make sure we do not become a dinosaur, using only the traditional methods." The company said software like Evidence.Com helps it take data from devices and integrate it using advanced geospatial mapping technology to give police a real situational awareness of what is going on in their jurisdictions.

The latest post on the Taser blog talks about the delivery of the first batch of the new X3 guns to the Lee County Sheriff's office in Florida.

But what's in it for the readers of the blog? Well, they get an extra two-pack of cartridges and a free target with every purchase of the civilian C2 gun.

News : Seedcamp start ups get serious

The third edition of the technology competition aimed at fostering European technology entrepreneurs through mentoring and funding is more business-focussed than in years past.

Matt Cowan reports.

News : A cure for the color blind?

Successful gene therapy experiments in monkeys may offer clues to curing color blindness in humans.

Julie Gordon reports.

News : Chinese cyberattacks target media ahead of anniversary

By Lucy Hornby

BEIJING (Reuters) - Foreign media in China have been targeted by emails laden with malicious computer software in attacks that appear to be tied to the run-up to the National Day military parade on October 1.
While spam and viral attacks are not uncommon, the latest wave is part of a pattern of increasingly sophisticated emails tailored to tempt foreign reporters, rights activists and other targets to open infected attachments.

On Oct 1, the Communist Party is celebrating 60 years of rule over mainland China with a military parade. Beijing has tightened security ahead of the anniversary, with armed paramilitary troops at subway exits during rehearsals and neighborhood residents recruited to watch over the streets.

"There is definitely a pattern of virus attacks in the run-up to important dates on the Chinese political calendar," said Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong. He noted that non-government organizations are also favorite targets.

"Whether the government is behind it, closes its eyes to it, supports it or has nothing to with it is unclear. There are also patriotic hackers, so there is no way to know for sure who is behind it."

While poor English used to be a giveaway, new techniques include mimicking a known and trusted sender, or resending legitimate emails from activist organizations with a fake, malware-laden attachment.

The impersonating emails require more effort by the mystery senders but they are also more likely to be opened than easily identifiable, anonymous spam.

Chinese employees working for foreign news organizations in Beijing and Shanghai got identical emails on Monday, each with an attachment carrying malware meant to exploit Adobe Acrobat software, a common application used to read PDF files.

The email, which appeared to be from an economics editor named Pam Bouron, was a polite request for help lining up interviews during an upcoming visit to Beijing. It was tailored so that "Pam" appeared to work for each news organization.

The clue was that Reuters does not have an economics editor named Pam Bouron. Others who received the "Pam Bouron" email include the Straits Times, Dow Jones, Agence France Presse, and Italian news agency Ansa.

Similar emails carrying viruses, also attacking foreign news agencies and non-government organizations, were common ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games last year. In March this year, researchers at Infowar Monitor in Canada found widespread cyber-infiltration of the Tibetan government in exile.

The "Pam Bouron" emails on Monday targeted Chinese news assistants, whose names often do not appear on news reports and who must be hired through an agency that reports to the Foreign Ministry.

They were followed by two suspicious emails on Tuesday morning received by many foreign reporters in Beijing. (Editing by Jan Dahinten)

News : Silicon Valley reinvents the lowly brick

By David Lawsky

NEWARK, California (Reuters) - Forget microchips.

Silicon Valley sees a profitable future in the humble brick thanks to a low-energy production process that illustrates the greening of the U.S. technology capital.

Brick maker Calstar Products is heavy on PhDs and backed by venture capitalists whose vision is to create buildings less expensively and in a way that saves energy.

"We think it is time for a second industrial revolution," said Paul Holland, a partner at Foundation Capital, which invested $7 million in Calstar. EnerTech Capital led another round that raised $8 million for the business.

"We and dozens of others are trying to create green alternatives for all the things that happen in the building industry," Holland said.

Currently about 40 percent of U.S. energy use goes toward the heating, cooling and general operation of buildings.

Silicon Valley is finding high-tech ways to make age-old materials, pursuing carbon dioxide-eating concrete, windows that insulate better than walls, and wood substitutes.

The field is still new. Venture investments in green buildings have waxed and waned with the recession, but involved 45 deals worth about $350 million the past year, according to Cleantech Group LLC.

3,000-YEAR WAIT

Bricks have been made pretty much the same way for 3,000 years, until Calstar's scientists came up with their new technique, said Chief Executive Michael Kane.

Ordinary bricks are fired for 24 hours at 2,000 degrees F (1,093 C) as part of a process that can last a week, while Calstar bricks are baked at temperatures below 212 F (100 C) and take only 10 hours from start to finish, Kane said.

The recipe incorporates large amounts of fly ash -- a fluffy, powdery residue of burned coal at electric plants, that can otherwise wind up as a troublesome pollutant.

"Ours is a precise product" that relies on getting the chemistry right, said Amitabha Kumar, Calstar's director of research and development.

The process of making the bricks, which look and feel like any other brick, requires 80 to 90 percent less energy and emits 85 percent less greenhouse gas than ordinary bricks, according to Calstar.

Lower energy costs mean higher profit, allowing the company to pay for its research and compete against large companies that have economies of scale. The new bricks -- which the Brick Industry Association says are not actually bricks -- will sell for the same price as traditional clay-based ones. The Brick Industry Association says there is also no proof that products using fly ash will last as well as traditional brick.

BRICKS FOR CHINA?

The low-carbon footprint in the production process also gives the bricks a strong environmental cachet, and Calstar is targeting the "green materials" market with the goal of competing against traditional clay brick makers like Glen-Gery of Pennsylvania and Endicott of Nebraska.

The company's headquarters and research facility is based in a warehouse on the shores of San Francisco Bay but its first plant is under construction in Caledonia, Wisconsin, the heartland of brick-using country. It is near a Wisconsin Energy Corp plant that can supply calcium-rich fly ash.

The plant is to be running before year's end. At first, the company will make only "facing brick," used on the outside of buildings, a $2 billion annual U.S. market. It plans to branch out into paving stones, roofing tile and other brick markets.

The company has signed 16 distributors to sell 12 million or more bricks the first year, and plans to make 100 million bricks for sale throughout the Midwest and South, Kane said.

After that, fast-growing markets like China beckon.

(Reporting by David Lawsky, editing by Matthew Lewis)

News : EU court adviser backs Google on Net ads

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - An adviser to the European Union's top court backed Google in a row with luxury goods maker LVMH over Internet advertising, saying the Web search firm had not infringed trade mark rights.

The case centers on whether Google has the right to sell brand names for Internet search advertising -- a money-spinner for the group.

Companies such as shoe stores, for example, pay Google so their name appears alongside Internet search results for a brand of designer shoes they sell.

LVMH's Louis Vuitton fashion brand and others have been fighting such advertising after makers of imitation products piggybacked on those brands in online searches to attract customers.

But the European Court of Justice said on Tuesday that Advocate General Poiares Maduro "considers that Google has not infringed trade mark rights by allowing advertisers to buy keywords corresponding to registered trade marks."

The French courts last year referred the case to the EU tribunal, seeking guidance on whether Google's use of keywords contravened companies' rights under EU trade mark laws.

Maduro said in his opinion the use of the trade marks was limited to the selection of keywords, which concerned only Google and the advertisers.

"When selecting keywords, there is thus no product or service sold to the general public. Such a use cannot therefore be considered as being a use made in relation to goods or services covered by the trade marks," he said.

He added that Internet users' access to information concerning a trade mark should not be limited by its owner.

Google may be liable if it features content that involves trade mark infringement, the adviser said.

But trade mark owners would have to point to specific instances "giving rise to Google's liability in the context of illegal damage to their trade marks," the court statement said.

Google said it was awaiting the decision of the court, reiterating that selecting a keyword to trigger the display of an ad did not amount to trade mark infringement.

The Luxembourg-based court follows the opinion of its advocates general in a majority of cases. The judges are beginning their deliberations in this case and will give judgment at a later date, the court statement said.

News : With a fresh focus on design, laptops come of age

By Gabriel Madway

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Say goodbye to the "black brick" laptop. The era of the plain, dowdy PC is officially over.

As computer makers roll out their new notebooks and netbooks ahead of the end-year holiday shopping season, razor-thin, sleek and colorful are most definitely in, as are arresting designs in an ever-expanding array of choices.

Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc are now more likely to point to subtle etchings in the exterior shell, or a famous artist behind a new design, than to the "speeds and feeds" that PC makers used to tout when they wrestled for technological superiority.

It was only a few years ago that most laptops were some variation of a dull box that came in gray or black, with the exception of Apple Inc, which was making distinctive laptops back in the 1990s.

Now, design is permeating the PC market like never before as the increasing commoditization of machines leaves few major differentiators on performance, so a stylish case is one of the last remaining areas of competition.

Ed Boyd, vice president of design for consumer products at Dell, the world's No. 2 PC maker, arrived at the company nearly two years ago from Nike Inc. He said the PC market is transforming in the way that athletic shoes did.

Nike "took a commoditized product -- sneakers -- and made it hip and cool and relevant," he said. "What you're witnessing is the same transformation in the PC business ... this phenomenon is crossing both the enterprise and the consumer space"

As PCs have become ever more light and portable, consumers and businesses are placing a premium on the look of machines that are now more likely to travel out of the home or office.

And PC makers are using design to target different demographics, such as HP's collaboration with fashion designer Vivienne Tam on netbooks aimed at fashion-forward women.

Stacy Wolff, director of notebook product design at HP, said the world's largest maker of PCs took a "big gamble" when it began to focus on design in 2005 -- one that he said has paid off. Prior to that, HP notebooks were essentially "technology in kind of a nondescript container," he said.

Wolff said HP's new focus was immediately evident in its income statement: "Once we made it a strategic element of any development, our financials have just skyrocketed."

PLASTIC SLABS

At the dawn of personal computing in the early 1980s, the first mobile PCs began to emerge from companies like Tandy, Osborne, NEC, Epson and others. Many of the early models resembled slabs of beige plastic, bulkier than desktops today.

The early 1990s saw the launch of Apple's PowerBook line, which helped set the standard for design, along with IBM's ThinkPad. Sony's sleek Vaio notebooks followed later in the decade, along with Apple's colorful iBook line.

But PCs 10 years ago were still largely seen as vessels for technology, rather than design or fashion statements.

Jeff Barney, general manager of Toshiba America's digital products division, said the company introduced color in PCs earlier this decade, but they failed to catch on. "The consumer wasn't ready for it," he said. "We were just ahead of the trend."

As components became cheaper and lighter, PC vendors found more room to explore their creative side, bringing in new materials and finishes, and paying closer attention to design details to catch the eye of buyers.

"We think that design is one of the key buying criteria in retail for laptops," said Barney.

Thin and slick is one of the hottest trends, and the category is growing ever more competitive with Apple's MacBook Air, Dell's Adamo and HP's new Envy line.

A PC buyer today can choose from a dizzying array of colors, textures and designs. "Personalization" is the order of the day. For example, Dell offers more than 200 exterior designs.

IDC analyst Richard Shim said the market began to shift around 2005 with lower PC prices. "Consumers started to become the overriding voice in the PC industry and what they were saying is: 'Look there's enough performance here for me to do what I need to do ... but what I want is a PC that doesn't look like everyone else's,'" he said.

PC makers are first and foremost technology companies, he said, but they have realized that many buyers are more interested in what a notebook looks like than what's inside. (Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

News : Mac on auction block

In what may just be a perfect storm of technology geek gadget lust, an auction house in Southern California is preparing to auction off the first Apple Macintosh Plus ever made–a computer that was owned by “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry. The event promises to bring together two of the most famously devoted fan bases– Apple buyers and Trekkies.

Profiles in History, an auctioneer of Hollywood memorabilia, will offer the aging Mac at an auction scheduled for Oct. 8-9. (For those keeping score at home, the device bears the serial number F4200NUM0001.)

The Macintosh Plus was launched in 1986 and featured a whopping 1 megabyte of RAM (today’s comparable desktop computers come loaded with a base 1 gigabyte of RAM — a 1,000 times more). It was the third model in the Mac line and cost $2,600, according to Wikipedia. The very first Mac Plus to roll off an Apple assembly line was presented to Roddenberry as a gift. He died in 1991.

The auction house said It has an estimated sale price of $800-$1200.

Also on the auction list is Michael Jackson’s white glove that he wore on the Victory Tour. One would expect a somewhat higher price for that cultural artifact.

News : Eye-tooth restores sight

Doctors in the U.S. use a tooth to anchor a lens in the eye of a blind woman to bring back her sight.

Paul Chapman reports.

News : Microsoft files lawsuits against "malvertisers"

(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp on Thursday filed five civil lawsuits in Seattle, Washington against alleged "malvertisers."

Malvertising is the term used to describe harmful online advertising and works by camouflaging malicious code as harmless online advertisements, Microsoft's associate general counsel Tim Cranton wrote in a blog.

"The lawsuits allege that individuals using the business names "Soft Solutions," "Direct Ad," "qiweroqw.com," "ITmeter Inc" and "ote2008.info" used malvertisements to distribute malicious software or present deceptive websites that peddled scareware to unsuspecting Internet users," he said.

Cranton added that names of specific individuals behind these activities were not known and the lawsuits were being filed to help uncover the people responsible.

(Reporting by Santosh Nadgir in Bangalore; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

News : Google revamps DoubleClick exchange

By Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc announced a major overhaul of the DoubleClick ad exchange it acquired last year, an important step in the Internet search giant's plan to extend its advertising business into the market for graphical, display ads.

Google acquired DoubleClick for more than $3 billion in March 2008, in hopes of supplementing its lucrative business serving text-based ads alongside search results with the more visual display ads used in corporate branding campaigns -- a market dominated by online rivals Yahoo Inc and Time Warner's AOL.

Ad exchanges play an increasingly important role in the Internet ad industry by providing a forum for publishers to sell the unsold ad space on their websites to the highest bidding advertisers. The market for online advertising has become more fragmentary as Web users spend more time on social networks and blogs instead of relying on portals and other destination sites.

With Thursday's announcement, Google will for the first time combine the DoubleClick exchange with its own advertising system and technology.

"We want to make display advertising as accessible and open as possible, like search advertising is today," Neil Mohan, vice president of product management at Google, said in an interview with Reuters.

Mohan said the new version of the DoubleClick exchange features tools that allow brand advertisers to more precisely target the audiences their ads are shown to and to monitor the results.

And Google is linking the DoubleClick exchange to its own advertising auction systems -- AdWords and AdSense -- significantly expanding the number of marketers and Web publishers that can use the exchange.

"The way the DoubleClick exchange was set up previously, it just didn't have enough liquidity," said ThinkEquity analyst William Morrison.

According to Google, more than 40 percent of online ad inventory often goes unsold because publishers don't have an efficient way to sell the slots.

The latest changes to the DoubleClick exchange could make Google the dominant exchange for display advertising on the Internet, said ThinkEquity's Morrison, though he noted that it would not happen overnight.

Yahoo currently operates the largest ad exchange through RightMedia, a business that Yahoo purchased for $650 million in 2007.

In a statement, Yahoo said it expected the market for online display ads to be fragmented and for there to be other ad exchanges.

"We welcome these exchanges, and look forward to working with them and integrating with them for our partners," said the statement.

In July, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that display advertising is likely to be "the next billion dollar business" at Google.

Google generated nearly $22 billion in sales last year, virtually all of it from its paid search ad business, according to analysts.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing Bernard Orr)

News : Steve Jobs puts the LP into iTunes

Apple's iconic CEO Steve Jobs made his return to the public stage after a near 6-month medical leave of absence in a music-themed Apple launch event.

Matt Cowan reports.

News : Scientists say Super-Earth has rocky surface

LONDON (Reuters) - Detailed data about the smallest planet ever found outside our solar system suggest it is a rocky "super-Earth" world very like our own, European astronomers said on Wednesday.

The so-called exoplanet, whose initial discovery was announced in February, has a mass five times that of Earth, which when combined with its radius suggests it has a solid surface and a density similar to our terrestrial home.

"This is science at its thrilling and amazing best," said Swiss astronomer Didier Queloz, the leader of the team that made the observations.

About 330 exoplanets have been found orbiting other stars besides the Earth's sun, most of which are gas giants with characteristics similar to Neptune, which has a mass 17 times that of earth.

But the planet at the center of Wednesday's study -- called CoRoT-7b -- is different. It orbits only 2.5 million kilometres from its star once every 20 hours and has a high temperature between 1,000 and 1,500 Celsius, meaning no life could survive there. Its radius is about 80 percent greater than Earth's.

In a report in the Astronomy and Astrophysics journal, the scientists said their findings put CoRoT-7b into the category of "super-Earth" exoplanets.

About a dozen such "super-Earths" have been detected, but this is the first time that the density has been measured for such a small exoplanet, they said.

The findings are important because they represent the first solid evidence about the mass and density of such a small planet.

To get their measurements, the astronomers used what they dubbed "the best exoplanet-hunting device in the world," called a high accuracy radial velocity planet searcher (HARPS) -- which is a spectrograph attached to the European Southern Observatory's telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile.

"Even though HARPS is certainly unbeaten when it comes to detecting small exoplanets, the measurements of CoRoT-7b proved to be so demanding that we had to gather 70 hours of observations," said Francois Bouchy, another of the European-wide group of scientists who conducted the study.

Fellow astronomer Artie Hatzes said the work represented a "tour de force" of astronomical measurements.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; editing by Ben Hirschler)

News : Google turns scanned books back into paper

Posted by: Alexei Oreskovic

Google’s plan to digitize copyrighted books is under legal attack.

But the Internet giant is stepping up its PR offensive to convince consumers of the benefits wrought by its broader book scanning project.

Exhibit A: the Espresso Book Machine.

The contraption pictured here can produce bound paperback books, from hard-to-find works of literature to little-known cookbooks, in a matter of minutes.

The machine itself is not Google’s; it’s the creation of On Demand Books. On Wednesday, the companies announced a deal giving On Demand and its Espresso Machine access to Google’s digital library of 2 million public domain titles.

Until now, the works digitized by Google were available only as digital files for reading on computer screens or electronic readers. With the Espresso machine, the companies say, consumers will be able to bury their noses in old-fashioned, hardcopy versions of their desired books – many of which have been have been out of print for years.

On Demand Books says it currently has 16 of its book-making machines at bookstores, libraries and other locations and plans to have 34 of the machines (which are priced starting at $75,000) next year.

The machine will only crank out books from Google’s archive with expired copyrights, which in the United States means they were published before 1923. Google is currently seeking court approval of a settlement with groups representing publishers and authors regarding its use of scanned copyrighted books.

News : Virtual reality used for blind to map real world

By John Gaudiosi

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Virtual reality can let video game players escape from the real world but a group of researchers are using virtual reality to help the blind join the real world more, by navigating real places.

Researchers at the University of Chile and Harvard Medical School are using three audio-based PC games that allow players to navigate a labyrinth, a subway system and real-world buildings based on audio cues. "Essentially the games work by interpreting information generated by spectral sounds like footsteps and door knocks," said Lotfi B. Merabet, PhD of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School and co-author of "AER Journal: Research and Practice in Visual Impairment and Blindness."

"The player uses a keyboard to move and interact with the virtual world. By sequentially interacting within the virtual 3-D environment, the user learns to build a spatial cognitive map of their surroundings."

The goal was to develop audio-based gaming to help blind children develop spatial, cognitive and social skills.

"(We've) concentrated on developing the gaming software as a rehabilitation tool to allow blind users to survey unfamiliar buildings before actually navigating through them in real life, as well as conducting brain imaging studies to uncover how the brain of a blind individual accomplishes this task," said Merabet.

According to the World Health Organization, there are about 314 million visually impaired people worldwide and about 45 million of them are blind.

There are over 50 audio-based games for the blind currently available, according to Kelly Sapergia, who reviews games created by and for blind people for the American Council of the Blind's "Main Menu" radio program.

She said these vary from pinball to "Space Invaders"-style games to "GMA Tank Commander," which is a World War II game that lets you drive a tank and shoot various weapons at enemies.

Blind gamers also have access to the classic text-based games that preceded the video game explosion, including titles like "Zork" from Infocom. Sapergia said blind gamers can plug in an audio synthesizer and have the text-based adventure read to them.

There are even games that offer a level playing field regardless of sight. Since 2001, AllinPlay has offered subscription-based online community games like "Texas Hold-em," "Crazy Eights," and "The Anagram Game" that were designed for both blind and sighted people.

Previous research efforts have also become games for the blind. In 2005, the Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands developer a racing game called "Drive" in cooperation with the Bartimus Institute for the Blind. The game lets players drive a shuttle along a fixed track with a co-pilot named Bob. But compared to the millions of copies of PC and console games sold every week, the market for games for the blind is tiny.

"There's a community of blind gamers, but I think the main drawback has been that the big game publishers like Nintendo and Sony haven't created games that are more accessible for blind people," said Sapergia.

Merabet and fellow researcher Jaime Sanchez from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chile do not view audio-based computer games as a replacement for current rehabilitative techniques but they hope this research will provide a complementary technique.

(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

News : Turk crowned world's tallest man at 8ft 1in

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Making his first ever trip outside his native Turkey to tour London this week, Sultan Kosen is guaranteed a unique view of the English capital -- at more than eight feet tall he will tower above the crowds.

Crowned the world's tallest man Thursday, 26-year-old Kosen stands at 8 feet 1 inch, making him the first person in more than a decade to officially measure over 8 feet, and one of only 10 confirmed cases in history, according to Guinness World Records.

He takes the title from China's Bao Xi Shun who, at 7 feet 8.95 inches, regained the title last year after 8 feet 5.5 inch Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk's claim was discredited when he refused to be independently measured.

Kosen lists being able to see a long way into the distance as one of the main advantages of his height, as well as helping his mum with domestic jobs such as changing light bulbs and hanging curtains.

But he admits finding shoes to fit his 36.5 cm (14.4 inch) feet -- the world's largest -- or big enough clothes, are a disadvantage.

While being able to find a car that accommodates his size is one of Kosen's hopes after receiving the official title, his ultimate quest is romance.

"My biggest dream is to get married and have children," he told reporters. "I'm looking for love."

Kosen's trip was organized to mark the launch of the Guinness World Records 2010 edition, which also features the world's most pierced man -- 78-year-old former British bank manager John Lynch, who has 241 piercings -- and the world's youngest billionaire, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerman, who made his first billion dollars aged 23 years 296 days.

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Steve Addison)