Next Microsoft OS: Touch and operate

CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA: Microsoft Corp plans to give users of the next version of its Windows operating system touch screen controls as one option for controlling the software, its top executives said on Tuesday.

Bill Gates, chairman and chief executive Steve Ballmer showed off new Windows features based on software it calls "multi-touch" that will be part of Windows 7, the next version of Windows, which Ballmer said was due out in late 2009.

The ability to use touch to give users fingertip control of their screens could help revolutionize how computer desktops and mobile phones are controlled and would be an alternative to existing mice, keyboard and pen-based user controls.

During a joint interview that kicked off the Wall Street Journal's three-day 'All Things Digital' conference, an annual gathering of the computer industry elite taking place north of San Diego, Ballmer said touch screen controls was one example of how Microsoft would improve on existing Windows software.

Microsoft is seeking to one-up Apple Inc, which made touch-screen software central to the success of its iPhone mobile device, which combines computer, phone and Web features and has sold around 6 million units in its first 11 months.

After more than a decade of slow development, Gates said new ways of interacting with computers other than keyboards and mice have matured to the point where they are ready to go mainstream.

"We are at an interesting juncture where almost all of the interaction is with the computer and mouse, today, and, over the years to come, the role of speech, vision, ink, all of those will become huge," Gates said.

He was referring to technologies that gives users the ability to control computers with voice commands, detect and sort different kinds of images and use electronic ink instead of typing for computer input.

Surface

Multi-touch software builds on existing capabilities Microsoft has introduced in recent years including Surface, for interacting with large tabletop computer displays, TouchWall for mounted screens and Tablet PCs for touch-screen notebooks.

In a demonstration of touch-screen capabilities to be offered in Windows 7, Microsoft showed a new application called "Touchable Paint" that lets a user paint with their fingers, as well as software to organize photos or navigate maps by touch.

"It is not about complete replacement of the mouse," Julie Larson-Green, Microsoft's corporate vice president in charge of Windows Experience Program Management, said in a first-time demonstration of multi-touch features to run inside Windows 7.

Ballmer said Microsoft is trying to learn from the reaction to Windows Vista, the latest version of its operating system, which was introduced in January 2007 but faced initial criticism for being incompatible with many older applications.

He said Microsoft has sold 150 million copies of Vista, up from 140 million the company reported it had sold a month ago.

"When you read the customer research, the No. 1 people found jarring is that we changed the user interface," Ballmer said. "People take a while to get used to it."

He said Microsoft had learned lessons about making dramatic changes in the way users interact with new versions of Windows. Conference co-host Walter Mossberg asked Ballmer whether Microsoft was done changing the user interface.

"We will polish it," Ballmer replied. "We will change it, but there are ways to change it and there are times to do it."

Vista followed five years after the previous Windows upgrade and was beset by delays due to the complexity of updating a piece of software with some 50 million lines of code that runs on more than 90 percent of the world's computers.

After the problems of releasing Vista in a timely manner, Ballmer pledged to never again wait so long between releases of its Windows operating system. Microsoft has said it expected to release the new operating system code-named Windows 7 around three years after the early 2007 release of Windows Vista.

Ballmer acknowledged that Microsoft considered Apple a formidable competitor. But he said the two companies' audiences were vastly different in scale, with Apple supplying around 10 million computers this year versus the roughly 290 million machines which PC makers will sell running Microsoft Windows.

Orkut-aided credit card fraud busted

HYDERABAD, INDIA: A new case of credit card fraud has surfaced in Hyderabad with social networking sites playing a vital part in the crime.

The group stealing credit card numbers created communities on Orkut announcing heavily discounted flight tickets.

The discounts were offered to travel agents with about 30-40 per cent commission. But tickets bought were double paid first through the stolen credit card and secondly through the actual passenger.

Hyderabad's Central Crime Station (CCS) has arrested one person from Vishakapatnam following a complaint from Hyderabad.

"The gang has a database of stolen credit card numbers. We were intimated by a person who got an SMS alert from his bank on usage of his credit card to book destinations that he never traveled," said J Anyonya, investigating officer of the case at Central Crime Station.

The communities created at Orkut were under several pseudonyms changed at regular intervals.

"The person using these Orkut communities used laptops with data cards. Changing locations of the URL has confirmed this," said Anyonya.

To gain confidence of small time agents, payments were collected at a different account number after the passenger reached the destination.

The CCS took the help of the cyber crime cell in Hyderabad and is on the look out for other key persons such as the one caught in Vishakapatanam.

Cyber crime on rise

The revelation however, is not even the tip of the iceberg. Cyber crime in Hyderabad city alone runs into thousands in a month say experts in the field. "Most cyber crime goes unreported as people either go back to banks and are simply too fed up to explain this crime to police who more often than not has no idea how this theft works," said Zaki Qureshey, founder and CEO E2-Labs, an Ethical Hacking school in Hyderabad.

Cyber crimes especially involving credit cards are on the rise and spare no one including the who's who of tinsel town. It is the financial institution through which such crimes come out in the open, but a lot from frivolous to very serious ones go unnoticed say experts.

"We not have laws to govern networking sites such Orkut. The headquarters of this is outside the country thus not under the purview of Indian government. India is very different from countries, which have mature cyber laws. In our situation social networking should not be allowed at all," said Qureshey.

Increasing of cyber crime cells in the city and educating the police about technology and inclusion of other civil technical experts in the process will help in resolving such crimes better, he added.

HP wants to buy EDS to take on IBM

PALO ALTO, USA: After gobbling up Compaq for $25 billion in 2001, IT giant Hewlett-Packard is looking at Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Corp for a possible buy-out.

Media reports puts the deal size could be in the range of $12 billion to $13 billion.

HP and EDS confirmed that they are engaged in advanced discussions on a possible business combination involving the two companies.

"There can be no assurances that an agreement will be reached or that a transaction will be consummated. HP does not intend to comment further until an agreement is reached or discussions are terminated," HP said in a statement.

Buying Plano, Texas-based $22.1 billion EDS would give HP more tools to compete against IBM in the lucrative field of technology consulting and customer support.

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Google boys have grown up, says CEO

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: It's official: the guys who founded Google are grown up.

That was the pronouncement on Thursday from Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, who was hired in 2001 to provide mature, traditional business savvy to the Internet search company founded by whiz kids Larry
Page and Sergey Brin.

"The boys have grown up," Schmidt told a news conference ahead of the wildly successful company's annual meeting.

Now billionaires, the two who formed the company, which has the motto "Don't Be Evil," were seen as "brilliant young founders," Schmidt said.

"They now function in the company as the senior executives with the kind of skills and experience --"

"-- We wish he had five years ago," Page said, finishing Schmidt's thought.

Page, 35, and Brin, who was born in the Soviet Union 34 years ago, made history in their 20s when they set up the Google search engine.

"Now we don't have to have the same kind of arguments," said Schmidt, who at 53 qualifies as an old man by the standards of the youthful Google campus.

"In fact, they really are running the companies that they founded at the scale and with the insights that you would expect of people who are no longer young founders but are mature business leaders," he offered.

Brin and Page ranked as number 32 and 33 on Forbes' 2008 list of billionaires, with more than $18 billion each, but on Thursday they downplayed the effects of overwhelming wealth.

"I don't think at a certain scale it matters, but I do have a pretty good toy budget now," Brin said when asked about how vast wealth had changed his life. "I just got a new monitor."

Page mentioned an even more modest benefit: "I don't have to do laundry."

To which Schmidt, who favors a more traditional coat and tie to the founders' more casual dress, replied: "I think the clothes are pretty much the same."

Brin wore a black pullover shirt. Page wore a black jacket over a gray pullover shirt.

"Those aspects of their personalities have not changed," Schmidt said. "They care a lot about the principles of the company. They don't care a lot about the other things."

No more all-nighters

Both Page and Brin got married over the past year but closely guard their personal lives. At the news conference, both said their work lives had certainly changed.

"One thing is that we have 10 or 20,000 people to help us," Brin said. "Certainly I am not pulling all-nighters all the time like we were when we were in the garage, when we were only three or four people doing everything."

"So now I have vastly more help and I think concern about using our time efficiently, having good judgment, making good decisions. That's kind of a welcome change to me."

Page highlighted the responsibilities they now carried. "Our opportunity and responsibility has continued to expand," Page said. "It doesn't feel all that different to me than it did a few years ago."

Google to launch new YouTube products soon

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Google Inc expects to launch new products for its YouTube web video service in the next few months and sees reason for closer cooperation with Yahoo Inc, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Thursday.

Schmidt has said getting the video sharing site to make money is the web search company's top priority for the year. He did not give details of the products, however, and they are not even in initial, or beta, testing.

At the company's annual shareholder meeting, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said YouTube and DoubleClick, an online advertising company bought by Google earlier this year for $3.1 billion, are still small businesses compared with its core search and advertising business.

"They both have potential, but for it to be a sizable part of our revenue, you're going to have to wait at least a couple of years," said Brin in response to a question about when those acquisitions would make a significant contribution to the company's bottom line.

Google bought YouTube for $1.6 billion in 2006.

The web search leader played a large role in the takeover battle between Microsoft Corp and Yahoo. During a two-week test, it sold search advertisements on rival Yahoo last month as part of Yahoo's attempt to find an alternative option to Microsoft's offer.

Schmidt said the trial run provided good reason for the companies to discuss cooperation, but there was no deal yet.

"We view the test as successful," he told reporters before the web company's annual meeting. "That's a good basis to talk to Yahoo some more."

The Google CEO, speaking later at the shareholder meeting, said the company will continue to growth faster outside of its home market.

Google generated 51 per cent of its revenue outside the US in the March quarter, but Schmidt said he expects that figure to grow over time.

Without giving a specific time frame, Schmidt said he expects 65 per cent of Google's revenue to come from abroad. Eventually, non-US
revenue could be even higher.

Google co-founders Brin and Larry Page also fielded a request from one shareholder who asked the pair not to split the company's stock, which closed at $583 on the Nasdaq.

"I think that's the first time we've had that request," Page said with a chuckle.

Brin played the straight man: "We have had no problem honoring that thus far and I don't expect that anything will change in that respect."

Google intros translation services

BANGALORE, INDIA: Google Labs India has launched Translate, its translation service for Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

This launch enables automated translation between five regional languages and English.

Translating English text, or web page or issuing a query in regional language can be done at: http://www.google.com/translate_t.

Google said in a statement that it is a step towards ensuring that regional language-speaking users in India benefit from the Internet, regardless of their familiarity with English language.

This launch is the latest in a series of updates that are all focused on making it easier for multi-lingual users in India, Google statement added.

Google India has introduced services such as Easier Data Entry, Express Your Views and Find Information.

Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts?

Global Warming, as we think we know it, doesn't exist. And I am not the only one trying to make people open up their eyes and see the truth. But few listen, despite the fact that I was one of the first Canadian Ph.Ds. in Climatology and I have an extensive background in climatology, especially the reconstruction of past climates and the impact of climate change on human history and the human condition. Few listen, even though I have a Ph.D, (Doctor of Science) from the University of London, England and was a climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg. For some reason (actually for many), the World is not listening. Here is why.

What would happen if tomorrow we were told that, after all, the Earth is flat? It would probably be the most important piece of news in the media and would generate a lot of debate. So why is it that when scientists who have studied the Global Warming phenomenon for years say that humans are not the cause nobody listens? Why does no one acknowledge that the Emperor has no clothes on?

Believe it or not, Global Warming is not due to human contribution of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). This in fact is the greatest deception in the history of science. We are wasting time, energy and trillions of dollars while creating unnecessary fear and consternation over an issue with no scientific justification. For example, Environment Canada brags about spending $3.7 billion in the last five years dealing with climate change almost all on propaganda trying to defend an indefensible scientific position while at the same time closing weather stations and failing to meet legislated pollution targets.

No sensible person seeks conflict, especially with governments, but if we don't pursue the truth, we are lost as individuals and as a society. That is why I insist on saying that there is no evidence that we are, or could ever cause global climate change. And, recently, Yuri A. Izrael, Vice President of the United Nations sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed this statement. So how has the world come to believe that something is wrong?

Maybe for the same reason we believed, 30 years ago, that global cooling was the biggest threat: a matter of faith. "It is a cold fact: the Global Cooling presents humankind with the most important social, political, and adaptive challenge we have had to deal with for ten thousand years. Your stake in the decisions we make concerning it is of ultimate importance; the survival of ourselves, our children, our species," wrote Lowell Ponte in 1976.

I was as opposed to the threats of impending doom global cooling engendered as I am to the threats made about Global Warming. Let me stress I am not denying the phenomenon has occurred. The world has warmed since 1680, the nadir of a cool period called the Little Ice Age (LIA) that has generally continued to the present. These climate changes are well within natural variability and explained quite easily by changes in the sun. But there is nothing unusual going on.

Since I obtained my doctorate in climatology from the University of London, Queen Mary College, England my career has spanned two climate cycles. Temperatures declined from 1940 to 1980 and in the early 1970's global cooling became the consensus. This proves that consensus is not a scientific fact. By the 1990's temperatures appeared to have reversed and Global Warming became the consensus. It appears I'll witness another cycle before retiring, as the major mechanisms and the global temperature trends now indicate a cooling.

No doubt passive acceptance yields less stress, fewer personal attacks and makes career progress easier. What I have experienced in my personal life during the last years makes me understand why most people choose not to speak out; job security and fear of reprisals. Even in University, where free speech and challenge to prevailing wisdoms are supposedly encouraged, academics remain silent.

I once received a three page letter that my lawyer defined as libellous, from an academic colleague, saying I had no right to say what I was saying, especially in public lectures. Sadly, my experience is that universities are the most dogmatic and oppressive places in our society. This becomes progressively worse as they receive more and more funding from governments that demand a particular viewpoint.

In another instance, I was accused by Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki of being paid by oil companies. That is a lie. Apparently he thinks if the fossil fuel companies pay you have an agenda. So if Greenpeace, Sierra Club or governments pay there is no agenda and only truth and enlightenment?

Personal attacks are difficult and shouldn't occur in a debate in a civilized society. I can only consider them from what they imply. They usually indicate a person or group is losing the debate. In this case, they also indicate how political the entire Global Warming debate has become. Both underline the lack of or even contradictory nature of the evidence.

I am not alone in this journey against the prevalent myth. Several well-known names have also raised their voices. Michael Crichton, the scientist, writer and filmmaker is one of them. In his latest book, "State of Fear" he takes time to explain, often in surprising detail, the flawed science behind Global Warming and other imagined environmental crises.

Another cry in the wildenerness is Richard Lindzen's. He is an atmospheric physicist and a professor of meteorology at MIT, renowned for his research in dynamic meteorology - especially atmospheric waves. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has held positions at the University of Chicago, Harvard University and MIT. Linzen frequently speaks out against the notion that significant Global Warming is caused by humans. Yet nobody seems to listen.

I think it may be because most people don't understand the scientific method which Thomas Kuhn so skilfully and briefly set out in his book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions." A scientist makes certain assumptions and then produces a theory which is only as valid as the assumptions. The theory of Global Warming assumes that CO2 is an atmospheric greenhouse gas and as it increases temperatures rise. It was then theorized that since humans were producing more CO2 than before, the temperature would inevitably rise. The theory was accepted before testing had started, and effectively became a law.

As Lindzen said many years ago: "the consensus was reached before the research had even begun." Now, any scientist who dares to question the prevailing wisdom is marginalized and called a sceptic, when in fact they are simply being good scientists. This has reached frightening levels with these scientists now being called climate change denier with all the holocaust connotations of that word. The normal scientific method is effectively being thwarted.

Meanwhile, politicians are being listened to, even though most of them have no knowledge or understanding of science, especially the science of climate and climate change. Hence, they are in no position to question a policy on climate change when it threatens the entire planet. Moreover, using fear and creating hysteria makes it very difficult to make calm rational decisions about issues needing attention.

Until you have challenged the prevailing wisdom you have no idea how nasty people can be. Until you have re-examined any issue in an attempt to find out all the information, you cannot know how much misinformation exists in the supposed age of information.

I was greatly influenced several years ago by Aaron Wildavsky's book "Yes, but is it true?" The author taught political science at a New York University and realized how science was being influenced by and apparently misused by politics. He gave his graduate students an assignment to pursue the science behind a policy generated by a highly publicised environmental concern. To his and their surprise they found there was little scientific evidence, consensus and justification for the policy. You only realize the extent to which Wildavsky's findings occur when you ask the question he posed. Wildavsky's students did it in the safety of academia and with the excuse that it was an assignment. I have learned it is a difficult question to ask in the real world, however I firmly believe it is the most important question to ask if we are to advance in the right direction.

HP Discovers Potential "God Particle" of Electronics

From the Sounds Cool dept.:
...today, Hewlett Packard announced a new electrical component born of theoretical physics. The device, a nanoscale component called a "memristor," requires no power to retain data, which it can store more densely than a hard drive and access about as fast as a computer’s RAM memory—potentially allowing it to replace both components in the future.

Memristors can function in either a digital mode, in which a memory cell is “on” or “off,” or in analog mode, in which each cell holds some value in between. These values grow every time the cell receives an electrical signal, mimicking the way neurons in the brain build stronger memories the more they are stimulated.

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