The International Digital Entertainment Festival (iDEF): http://www.idef.com.au/
Including the Digital Lifestyle Show: http://www.idef.com.au/dls_home.php
and the eGames Expo: http://www.idef.com.au/egames_home.php
Melbourne Exhibition Centre, November 14th-16th
VMware Brings Virtualization To Smartphones — Virtualization — InformationWeek
With the announcement of the Mobile Virtualization Platform on Monday, VMware is setting its sights on the mobile space.VMware’s MVP is a thin layer of software that will be embedded on mobile phones. It decouples the applications and data from the underlying hardware. The company said it will be optimized to run efficiently on low-power-consuming and memory-constrained devices.
“VMware is excited to extend the benefits of virtualization, which we pioneered for x86 hardware, to the mobile phone market,” VMware CEO Paul Maritz said in a statement. “By abstracting the applications and data from the hardware itself, we expect that virtualization will not only enable handset vendors to accelerate time to market but can also pave the way for innovative applications and services for phone users.”
For handset vendors and developers, MVP could reduce the amount of time it takes to make device-specific tweaks to applications and operating systems. With MVP a developer can build a software stack once, virtualize it over the hardware, and use the same software stack regardless of the handset’s hardware.
For the end user, the virtualization platform could potentially make it easier to migrate personal data off a phone and onto a new one. An end user also could have a handset that’s capable of running multiple operating systems or profiles. For example, a customer with embedded virtualization software could have a work profile that follows the company’s security policies, as well as an unfettered personal profile on the same handset.
Parallels Boosts Mac Virtualization Performance — Virtualization — InformationWeek
Parallels plans on Tuesday to introduce a new version of its virtualization software to run Windows and Linux on Macs, with improvements designed to increase performance by 50% over the previous version, and boost battery life by 20%.
Parallels Desktop for Mac Version 4, the first new version of the software in about year, includes new manageability features in addition to the upgrades. The new features are designed to allow users to more easily manage external storage devices, and create snapshots and backups for data protection.
One in four DNS servers still vulnerable to Kaminsky flaw, survey says – Network World
Despite industry efforts to lock down DNS servers, one in four remain vulnerable to cache poisoning due to the well-documented Kaminsky flaw identified earlier this year and another 40% could be considered a danger to themselves and others, recent research shows. (See how DNS works here.)
According to the fourth annual DNS report issued by The Measurement Factory, 25% of DNS servers in the sample group have not been upgraded to perform source port randomization, which is considered the patch for the vulnerability identified earlier this year by Dan Kaminsky, director of penetration testing at IOActive. The industry group bases its study on a sample that includes 5% of the IPv4 address space, or 80 million addresses.
“A surprising number of have not been upgraded and are very vulnerable to cache poisoning,” according to a press release from IP address management vendor Infoblox and DNS service and tools provider DNSstuff.
Net censorship plan backlash – BizTech – Technology – theage.com.au
As opposition grows against the Government’s controversial plan to censor the internet, the head of one of Australia’s largest ISPs has labelled the Communications Minister the worst we’ve had in the past 15 years.
Separately, in Senate question time today, Greens senator Scott Ludlam accused the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, of misleading the public by falsely claiming his mandatory censorship plan was similar to that already in place in Sweden, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.
Despite significant opposition from internet providers, consumers, engineers, network administrators and online rights activists, the Government is pressing ahead with its election promise of protecting people from unwanted material, this week calling for expressions of interests from ISPs keen to participate in live trials of the proposed internet filtering system.
Michael Malone, managing director iiNet, said he would sign up to be involved in the “ridiculous” trials, which are scheduled to commence by December 24 this year.
Optus and Telstra both said they were reviewing the Government’s documentation and would then decide whether to take part.
But Malone’s main purpose was to provide the Government with “hard numbers” demonstrating “how stupid it is” – specifically that the filtering system would not work, would be patently simple to bypass, would not filter peer-to-peer traffic and would significantly degrade network speeds.
“They’re not listening to the experts, they’re not listening to the industry, they’re not listening to consumers, so perhaps some hard numbers will actually help,” he said.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Web 2.0 or Web 2.No?
The economic downturn will not sound the death knell for Web 2.0 firms say analysts and experts.
But, they warn, tough times are ahead and to weather the downturn Web 2.0 must grow up focus on real problems.
“You have to conclude, if you look at the focus of a lot of what you call ‘Web 2.0′, the relentless focus on advertising-based consumer models, lightweight applications, we may be living in somewhat of a bubble, and I’m not talking about an investment bubble,” said Tim O’Reilly, who coined the phrase “Web 2.0″.
“It’s a reality bubble,” he said.
Mr O’Reilly, widely regarded as an industry visionary, bemoaned the frivolous applications on Web 2.0 sites that, for instance, let people throw sheep, poke friends or send virtual drinks.
“For me, Web 2.0 is about the internet as platform and its power to harness collective intelligence,” Mr O’Reilly told the BBC.
“Areas like the smart power grid, collective action on early disease detection or disaster response, or personalised medicine are all examples of how the principles that drove the consumer internet can be applied in other areas,” he said.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Full-length MGM films on YouTube
YouTube, the largest video-sharing website, will show full-length films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s archives.
The partnership is aimed boosting advertising revenue for both YouTube and the Hollywood studio.
It will result in the launch of a video-on-demand channel called Impact, dedicated exclusively to action films, TV shows and clips.
iTunes Store finally gets a bargain bin for movies
With a new section unfortunately called “This Week’s Great Movies Under $5″ (iTunes link), a set of movies will be offered for purchase each week for… well, $5 (interestingly, they can still be rented at the regular $2.99 price). This first—and small—batch of movies is a bit older, most of them being on the action side of the store.
BBC NEWS | Technology | A hands-on preview of Windows 7
Microsoft has released an early preview copy of its new operating system, Windows 7.
The release follows in the wake of Vista, which has been subject to fierce criticism from a number of users.
When Vista launched in January 2007, many complained that it ran slowly and failed to work at all with some programs and devices.
Corporate customers have been slow to switch from Windows XP to Vista, although Microsoft said that the operating system had an unfair press, and that it enjoyed record sales.
Despite this Microsoft has extended the life of Windows XP so PC makers can continue selling it to those that do not want to upgrade.
Windows 7 desktop
Visually, Windows 7 has a lot in common with Windows VistaWindows Vista took more than five years to develop but Windows 7 is likely to arrive within a couple of years.
Microsoft’s VP, Steven Sinofsky, described Windows 7 as an “exciting new version” and claimed it would deliver a more personalised experience.
With Windows 7, Microsoft has added a range of new functions including:
* A new taskbar to give more rapid access to files and programs.
* A feature called HomeGroup, allowing users easy sharing of data across PCs and other devices in the home.
* Support for devices such as cameras, printers, and mobile phones with a product called Device Stage offering a single window to manage tasks for each device.
* Windows Touch – software for touch screen devices that enables users to use different gestures to perform tasks.
* Improvements to some applications, such as MS Paint, and Calculator.
7 Keys to Cleaning Up Windows with Windows 7 | NetworkWorld.com Community
Now, here’s the seven things Windows 7 is doing to clean up the user experience in this new Microsoft operating system:
* 1. Clean Up That Mess – Taskbar, Quick Launch are combined and simplified. No more starting up applications in the order you want them to appear in the Taskbar. Windows 7 doesn’t want apps plopping down icons all over your desktop either. And we’ll see much less frequent balloon messaging, popping up and annoying us while trying to get other stuff done. Windows 7 also de-emphasizes some of the Windows controls and replaces it with large portions of user content. Viewing picture/graphics files in the Windows Explorer is a good example.
* 2. Do It Here – Want to see what’s in that application window? Want to close it? Want to organize your task bar to how you work? Windows 7 cleans up the task bar and makes managing the desktop easier with jump lists, bigger window previews and close boxes just a short mouse move away.
* 3. Do It Naturally – Windows 7 adds hot spots to the desktop, so expanding a window for editing or viewing windows side-by-side is just a matter of placing the window next to the screen’s edge. Windows 7 also knows that your default printer at home is your home printer, and the default at work is the work printer. Novel idea but little touches like this make your computer work for you rather than the other way around. Windows 7 also doesn’t make you remember which computer has what music files on it; you just play the music and it streams from the device the music lives on. Same with data on multiple volumes; Windows 7 keeps those organized in libraries and still knows about them when those devices are offline so you can find that pesky to locate files that live one of the eight flash drives you’ve accumulate over the past two years.
* 4. Keep In Touch – Windows 7 is clearly positioning itself for a touch screen revolution on the PC. Though the Microsoft Surface technology is separate from Windows, there were plenty of touch demos during the PDC. I imagine this will fit into some type of Windows Mobile 7 strategy supporting touch interfaces. Windows 7 is also incorporating location aware features and support for sensors like a light sensor, or an accelerometer, like we have in some SmartPhones and the Wii game machine controllers today.
* 5. Bringing Your Devices Together – Increasingly we’re a multi-device world, with mobile phone in one hand, a laptop in another, a media PC or device somewhere else in the house and yet another fixed desktop in the office. Windows 7 wants to be the place that brings all this together and helps you manage all those devices, rather than each being a one-off unto itself.
* 6. Device Center – Like that helpful little Window that Vista shows when you first begin using it, Windows 7 puts the most important things you do with your mobile device right there in one window; view files on it, sync it, check out the device user guide, etc. And the device icon looks the like device, not something warmed over from Windows 3.1.
* 7. Less Is More – Yes, as I’ve said Windows 7 takes the attitude that if it’s not needed, don’t add it, or at least don’t constantly shove it in the user’s face all the time. Make UAC even less obtrusive. (I’d still say turn the annoying thing completely off.) We’ll see fewer pre-installed apps, in favor of directing users to cloud base Live applications with online versions of Windows Mail, Live Writer and the Photo Gallery.Now, will third-party apps take the queue from Microsoft and change from their ways of cluttering the desktop, displaying annoying balloon messages, and calling out for our attention like an unruly six year old with a hankering for a temper tantrum? Lets hope Microsoft’s good work cleaning up Windows won’t be wasted by old paradigm applications and crapware loaded on our PCs. Seems to me Microsoft Office is due for a major extreme makeover too.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Texting bug hits the Google phone
A text conversation has revealed a big problem with the G1 mobile phone – powered by Google’s Android software.
The newly discovered bug causes the phone to restart when owners type in the word “reboot” soon after starting up the device.
Google hurried to repair the problem, which causes the phone to interpret any text entered just after the phone was turned on as a command.
Google has rushed out a fix for the bug which will soon be available in the UK.
The bug was discovered when an owner of the phone typed the word “reboot” into a text message after restarting the phone.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Websites set government data free
The UK government has announced the winner of a website design contest.
“Show Us a Better Way” asked for ideas that would give the public better access to public information.
The finalists included ideas for a map site showing school catchment areas and a service telling people where to find the nearest public toilet.
More than 450 people entered the design contest, with the overall winner being “Can I Recycle It?” – where people can find out what they can recycle locally.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Web helps Obama with transition
Barack Obama is turning to the web as he prepares to become US president.
Via a website called Change.gov, the Obama campaign plans to provide a guide to the transition process.
The site also solicits suggestions from US citizens about their vision for America, and lets them apply for a post with the new administration.
On its transition website, the US governmental watchdog has listed the 13 most urgent issues that will soon confront President-elect Obama.
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