Yahoo co-founder resigns

Yahoo co-founder resigns


Yahoo Inc co-founder Jerry Yang has quit the company he started in 1995, appeasing shareholders who had blasted the Internet pioneer for pursuing an ineffective personal vision and impeding investment deals that could have transformed the struggling company.
Yang's abrupt departure comes two weeks after Yahoo appointed Scott Thompson its new CEO, with a mandate to return the once-leading Internet portal to the heights it enjoyed in the 1990s.
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iPad imitators hope to bite into Apple's lead

HONG KONG — When Apple announced the arrival of the iPad, it said it would create and define a brand-new sector in the market for computer devices, somewhere between the smartphone and the notebook laptop.

Two months and over two million iPad sales later a string of Asian manufacturers have shown they agree -- by unveiling their own tablets which they hope will take a bite out of Apple's lead.

Over a dozen new iPad-style gadgets have now entered the fray, and more are sure to follow.

At the Computex computer trade fair in Taipei this week, beautiful models posed with shiny black slabs of clever glass -- most of which looked pretty much the same as Apple's iPad.

First out of the box was the catchily named ASUS Eee Pad 101TC. It's similar in size to the iPad, runs on Windows and will sell for 399 US dollars -- around 100 US dollars less than the US price of a basic iPad.

The MSI WindPad 100, which at 499 US dollars costs the same as the iPad, also runs on Windows and boasts a webcam -- which is conspicuously absent in the first iPad models. LG's new UX10 device also has a webcam.

Many newcomers will also use Adobe's Flash video technology, another perceived flaw in the iPad. Apple refused to allow Flash on its new gadget.

Taiwan-based chipmaker VIA believes the way forward in the tablet market is to go smaller and cheaper.

Its VIA Slate prototype has a seven-inch screen, runs on an old version of Google's Android operating system and will retail for between 100 and 200 US dollars. Several other tablet devices will also run on Android.

Right at the bottom of the market is the iPed -- which seems to be a direct copy of the iPad, even down to the packaging. It is on sale only over the Taiwan Strait in China, selling in a Shenzhen computer mall for 105 dollars.

Nancy Liu of Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute told AFP that companies launching their tablets at Computex wanted to prove "they have the capability to catch the trend set by Apple."

"I don't think the followers are capable of dethroning Apple's leadership at least in the short term," Liu said.

But it's not the gadget, it's what you can do with it that counts. And this is where Apple is also streets ahead of the pack. As Jenny Lai, a Taipei-based technology analyst for brokerage firm CLSA, says: content is king.

"Content remains a critical part of the success story for iPad," she said. "Currently, there are seven major app stores including new entrants Lenovo and Asustek.

"What?s more important for Apple and existing vendors is building up a more user-friendly interface and more choices for online-store users."

Apple has more than 100,000 downloadable applications compared to the 500 it offered for the iPhone when it first opened online less than two years ago. Google has more than 30,000 apps available for Android.

Lenovo's application download store for Lephone and other products has around 250 applications. Asustek say it is cooperating with Intel and Microsoft to launch an app store in 2010 on a Windows platform.

And it's not just computer makers watching each other's reaction to this "new" market -- the struggling old school publishing industries are also looking on in hope.

The tablet computer plus its slightly less glamorous cousin, the e-reader, have been hailed as the saviour of the book and newspaper industries.

Sony, which has an e-reader but does not have a tablet computer on the market -- yet -- predicts big changes for the publishing industry on the back of the launch of all these devices.

Steve Haber, president of Sony?s digital reading business division, believes the printed book will soon be overtaken by its electronic sister, the same pattern seen with music and photography.

"Within five years there will be more digital content sold than physical content," he told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"I have multiple meetings with publishers and tell them paradigm shifts happen. You can say fortunately or unfortunately you haven't had a paradigm shift in, what, hundreds of years.

"We in the consumer electronics area have a paradigm shift every year or two."

EU moves to phase out hazardous materials in electronics

Greenpeace welcomes move but says more work is needed

Some of the chemicals used in electronic products need to be reviewed, members of the European Parliament's Environment Committee have said.

The call comes as committee members claim they are worried about the effects that PVC, BFRs and other substances used in electronics can pose to people's health or the environment - both when they are being made and when they are disposed of.

The committee also called for a further evaluation for a number of substances that are not currently restricted, including halogenated flame retardants. Jill Evans (Greens/EFA, UK), the MEP guiding the legislation through Parliament, said: "I am glad that, despite heavy pressure from the chemical industry, the Environment Committee has today voted for certain problematic substances to be highlighted for further review and a possible ban."

The committee also said that any consideration of substances for possible restriction should be carried out under the responsibility of the European Commission, using the "delegated acts" procedure, but the European Parliament or Member States should also be able to propose substances to be examined. Furthermore, the assessment criteria should include the substance's potential health and environmental impact.
Greenpeace, which has been instrumental in pushing to phase these materials out of the electronics industry for many years, has welcomed the move.

Iza Kruszewska, Toxics Campaigner at the organisation told TechEye: "We welcome this step towards leveling the so called ´legal playing field' as it will ensure that leaders in the electronics sector that have taken voluntary action to remove these toxic chemicals are not left at a competitive disadvantage.

"However it’s time the major companies in the electronics supply chain sit up and pay attention.

“Although over 50 percent of the EU market players in computers and over 80 percent in mobile phones will be out of PVC and BFRs in the next year, this ban could address many more products. This will lead to massive demand for safer alternatives, so suppliers that invest in providing materials and components to this sector now will gain a competitive advantage”.

The committee's recommendations will be put to the vote in the European Parliament in July.

Landfills 'busting at seams' with e-waste

There is a built-in obsolescence to electronic goods, but e-waste contains hazardous materials. (ABC: Karen Barlow)

• VIDEO: Landfills swamped with e-waste (Lateline)
• MAP: Villawood 2163

In Australia, more than 17 million televisions, computers and other electronic products are thrown away every year.

The desire to keep up with the latest technologies means current models are ending up on the scrapheap in ever increasing numbers, and what is going into landfill contains dangerous toxins.

A recycling scheme was proposed a year ago to deal with this potential crisis in what is called e-waste, but it is nowhere near being implemented.

Meanwhile, Jane Castle from the Total Environment Centre says Australian landfills are busting at the seams.

"We are buying more and more every year and we're dumping more and more every year," she said.

"We have over 250 million toxic products either in landfill or on their way there every year, and there are many millions going into landfill every year."

There is a built-in obsolescence to electronic goods; they can quickly break or go out of style.

E-waste contains hazardous materials, such as lead, airborne mercury and plastics with flame retardants. The goods end up in landfill or, more rarely, go to dedicated facilities.

Australia's largest e-waste recycler was opened by Environment Minister Peter Garrett two years ago in the Sydney suburb of Villawood.

It takes 10,000 tons of e-waste a year and has the capacity to double that amount.

But Kumar Radhakrishnan from Sims Recycling Solutions says the facility is significantly under capacity, holding "less than a third" of what it could handle.

And he says some of the goods shredded there work perfectly well, or just needed light repairs.

"Sometimes it might just be a problem with a power supply or a battery and the consumer just wants to upgrade, like the digital televisions for instance now," he said.

He says more than 90 per cent of e-waste still goes to landfill, because the law permits it.

"Landfills can accept all these things," he said. "There is absolutely no law banning this stuff from going into landfill."

It is not in place yet, but last November the Federal Government said it would support a product stewardship scheme.

In exchange for a small increase in the cost of new electronic goods, companies would arrange for recycling at the end of the product's days.

John Lawson from Global Renewables says the cost would range from just a few cents to around $30, depending on the type of object and what it is made from.

"The more valuable materials that go into that object, the more it is likely to cost less to recycle," he said.

The idea of a new producer responsibility has been embraced by most, but not all, companies; it is understood two computer companies are not keen to take part.

Mr Radhakrishnan says this is where the Government needs to step in.

"Eighty per cent of the producers who are willing to pay for the product to be recycled have been requesting the Government to ensure that this is made into a level playing field, and this is why legislation is important," he said.

Depending on the parliamentary process, such a scheme may start next year, but there is no guarantee.

New waves of e-waste are coming in all the time. 3D TVs have arrived and in a month's time the digital TV changeover kicks off in Mildura.

"That means there are 5 million TVs on the chopping block as of the next coming few years," said Ms Castle.

"We have a choice here: do we send them to landfill or do we recycle them? And [Communications Minister] Steven Conroy has a lot to answer for here because he's been badgered by the industry and environment groups for over two years on this issue and nothing has been done."

The Communications Minister has reaffirmed the Government's commitment to a future e-waste recycling scheme.

In a statement, Senator Conroy says TV and computer collection and recycling schemes are expected to be operational from 2011.

But he says it is not necessary for viewers to purchase a new digital TV to access digital signals, and that 68 per cent of Australian households have already converted to digital TV.

Meanwhile, one of the biggest not-for-profit waste recyclers is being dragged financially under by e-waste.

Ms Mantle says it costs Reverse Garbage about $100,000 a year.

"We're on the ground, we're the ones facing it, we're the soldiers," she said.

"What are people going to do if Reverse Garbage says no? We're not only servicing the individual, we're servicing the big end of town, banks ... we're providing free services to schools, to hospitals.

"Once Kevin Rudd initiated the new computer program, we endeavoured to take all the old computers from the state school system. We nearly drowned under the weight of that."

She says Reverse Garbage cannot wait for a national e-waste program. It is poised to stop taking e-waste altogether.

"The reality is for seven years we've been doing this unassisted and something needs to happen now to help not-for-profits," she said.

"It's time that you came and gave us a hand. Because I could sit here and wait for another bill to be passed and I still hear nothing."

Microsoft's Eagle-Eyed LifeCam a Sharp Mix of Features, Price

With high-definition video popping up everywhere, it's a wonder it has taken this long for the first 720p HD webcam to hit the market. It's Microsoft's LifeCam Cinema webcam, and not only is it a honey of a webcam, but at $79.95, it's nicely priced to boot. Installation of the camera requires three steps: downloading and installing the latest software, installing Windows Live Essentials, and finally, configuring the webcam. Minimum requirements for the webcam are an Intel dual-core processor running at 1.6 MHz or better, 1 GB of RAM and 1.5 GB of hard disk space. [More...]

AI robots

The latest episode of the Robots podcast takes a closer look at the emergence of communication - and how it can be studied using robots. The first part features an interview with Sara Mitri, an interdisciplinary researcher at Switzerland's EPFL and the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Mitri and colleagues have taken an unusual approach to the problem: Using the ground-based S-Bot robots (pictured above) as a model for biological organisms, they used artificial evolution to study complex behaviors like communication. And as the broad media coverage of her recent publications in Current Biology and PNAS show, the advantages of this approach have not gone unnoticed: While retaining many of the real-world complexities present in biological systems, the robotic models allow complete access to all model parameters. And there is another key advantage: Today very little is known about the evolution of phenomena like communication, because they leave no trace in the fossil record. By conducting artificial evolution, this work allowed to reconstruct part of that missing evolutionary history and shed light on the origins of communication in all animals, from simple cells to us humans. In the second part of the podcast, Jürgen Jost, director of the "Complex Structures in Biology and Cognition" group at Leipzig's Max Planck Institute discusses the question of intentionality of robot communication. Tune in!

Portable Laptop

A laptop is a personal computer designed for mobile use and small and light enough to sit on one's lap while in use.[1] A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device (a touchpad, also known as a trackpad, and/or a pointing stick), speakers, and often including a battery, into a single small and light unit. The rechargeable battery (if present) is charged from an AC adapter and typically stores enough energy to run the laptop for two to three hours in its initial state, depending on the configuration and power management of the computer.
Laptops are usually shaped like a large notebook with thicknesses between 0.7–1.5 inches (18–38 mm) and dimensions ranging from 10x8 inches (27x22cm, 13" display) to 15x11 inches (39x28cm, 17" display) and up. Modern laptops weigh 3 to 12 pounds (1.4 to 5.4 kg); older laptops were usually heavier. Most laptops are designed in the flip form factor to protect the screen and the keyboard when closed. Modern tablet laptops have a complex joint between the keyboard housing and the display, permitting the display panel to swivel and then lie flat on the keyboard housing. They usually have a touchscreen display and some include handwriting recognition or graphics drawing capability.
Laptops were originally considered to be "a small niche market" and were thought suitable mostly for "specialized field applications" such as "the military, the Internal Revenue Service, accountants and sales representatives". But today, there are already more laptops than desktops in businesses, and laptops are becoming obligatory for student use and more popular for general use. In 2008 more laptops than desktops were sold in the US and it has been predicted that the same milestone will be reached in the worldwide market as soon as late 2009.

Portable Playstation GO

PSP®go SystemGo versatile. Go digital. Go anywhere.

Introducing the smallest and mightiest PSP® system yet. Download rich, immersive digital gaming or the best movies and TV shows saved directly to the ample 16GB hard drive. Browse the incredibly deep lineup of PSP gaming and movie content on the PlayStation® Network. Use built-in Bluetooth support to connect a wireless headset and utilize Skype to talk with friends. But best of all, show off your content via the ultra-crisp 3.8 inch LCD screen on the most portable PSP system yet.

Microsoft's tablet PC

Microsoft is working on a new tablet PC, codenamed "Courier." It could be here soon or might be a year or more away. And, no, Microsoft probably doesn't much care what Apple does.

Will this be Microsoft-branded, like the Zune and Xbox? It still seems unclear. Looks like they're going to debut it at their upcoming meeting. It looks pretty sweet, but I still think I'd like a keyboard. A keyboard and screen on the inside, like a regular netbook; and a second screen on the outside that works like an iphone, when you just need to touch, scroll, and go.

It feels like the whole world is holding its breath for the Apple tablet. But maybe we've all been dreaming about the wrong device. This is Courier, Microsoft's astonishing take on the tablet.Courier is a real device, and we've heard that it's in the "late prototype" stage of development. It's not a tablet, it's a booklet. The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They're connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre.
Until recently, it was a skunkworks project deep inside Microsoft, only known to the few engineers and executives working on it—Microsoft's brightest, like Entertainment & Devices tech chief and user-experience wizard J. Allard, who's spearheading the project. Currently, Courier appears to be at a stage where Microsoft is developing the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies.
Microsoft has a history of collaborating with other firms, especially in the E&D division: Zune and Xbox have both gone through similar design processes. (And plans for the Microsoft Store leaked through a third-party agency were confirmed as genuine prototype layouts and concepts.) This video is branded Pioneer Studios, a Microsoft division within E&D that specializes in this kind of work, working with another agency that's a long-time Microsoft collaborator on confidential projects.
The Courier user experience presented here is almost the exact opposite of what everyone expects the Apple tablet to be, a kung fu eagle claw to Apple's tiger style. It's complex: Two screens, a mashup of a pen-dominated interface with several types of multitouch finger gestures, and multiple graphically complex themes, modes and applications. (Our favorite UI bit? The hinge doubles as a "pocket" to hold items you want move from one page to another.) Microsoft's tablet heritage is digital ink-oriented, and this interface, while unlike anything we've seen before, clearly draws from that, its work with the Surface touch computer and even the Zune HD.
Over the next couple days we'll be diving much, much deeper into Courier, so stay tuned.

I-POD

iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple and launched on October 23, 2001 (2001-10-23). The product line-up includes the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the video-capable iPod Nano, and the compact iPod Shuffle. The iPhone can function as an iPod but is generally treated as a separate product. Former iPod models include the iPod Mini and the spin-off iPod Photo (since reintegrated into the main iPod Classic line). iPod Classic models store media on an internal hard drive, while all other models use flash memory to enable their smaller size (the discontinued Mini used a Microdrive miniature hard drive). As with many other digital music players, iPods can also serve as external data storage devices. Storage capacity varies by model.

Apple's iTunes software can be used to transfer music to the devices from computers using certain versions of Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems. For users who choose not to use Apple's software or whose computers cannot run iTunes software, several open source alternatives to iTunes are also available. iTunes and its alternatives may also transfer photos, videos, games, contact information, e-mail settings, Web bookmarks, and calendars to iPod models supporting those features. As of September 9, 2009, more than 220,000,000 iPods had been sold worldwide, making it the best-selling digital audio player series in history.

PROCESSOR

An information processor or information processing system, as its name suggests, is a system (be it electrical, mechanical or biological) which takes information (a sequence of enumerated states) in one form and processes (transforms) it into another form, e.g. to statistics, by an algorithmic process.
An information processing system is made up of four basic parts, or sub-systems:
input processor storage output An object may be considered an information processor if it receives information from another object and in some manner changes the information before transmitting it. This broadly defined term can be used to describe every change which occurs in the universe. As an example, a falling rock could be considered an information processor due to the following observable facts:
First, information in the form of gravitational force from the earth serves as input to the system we call a rock. At a particular instant the rock is a specific distance from the surface of the earth traveling at a specific speed. Both the current distance and speed properties are also forms of information which for that instant only may be considered "stored" in the rock.
In the next instant, the distance of the rock from the earth has changed due to its motion under the influence of the Earth's gravity. Any time the properties of an object change a process has occurred meaning that a processor of some kind is at work. In addition, the rock's new position and increased speed is observed by us as it falls. These changing properties of the rock are its "output."
It could be argued that[weasel words] in this example both the rock and the earth are the information processing system being observed since both objects are changing the properties of each other over time. If information is not being processed no change would occur at all.

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