LightSquared’s proposed network plan under attack
The coast is not yet clear for LightSquared's hybrid satellite-LTE network despite the company's announcement on Monday that it has found a solution to interference with GPS.
The startup's new proposal, in which it would step away from the frequencies that it said cause the most interference with GPS (Global Positioning System), still needs regulatory approval and hasn't even been presented to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission yet. Meanwhile, one of the company's harshest critics slammed the plan as "bizarre."
LightSquared wants to build a hybrid network with both satellite and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) services, but some of the spectrum for its LTE network is in the MSS (Mobile Satellite Services) band, which is also used for GPS. It has to solve any interference problems before it can launch the network. Read more...
PC era giving way to ‘contextual intelligence,’ say top IT execs
When Silicon Valley's chieftains say we're entering the "post-PC era," they aren't just referring to the PC. According to the post-PC theory, tablets, smartphones and other devices are also on the verge of irrelevance.
For sure, the explosion of new types of devices will continue. People will still line up for the next big, shiny thing.
But the importance of any one type of device is already declining as personal information, contacts, photos and files move to the cloud.
"If all my data and applications are on the cloud, why do I need a PC -- why do I need a Hummer to go to a Whole Foods store?" said Tarkan Maner, president and CEO of Wyse Technology in a keynote address Monday at the Computerworld Honors Program ceremony here.
The Computerworld Honors Program recognizes visionary applications of information technology. Read more...
Elpida develops thin memory device for tablets, phones
Elpida Memory and subsidiary Akita Elpida Memory said Wednesday that they have developed technology to mass-manufacture a four-layer DRAM package just 0.8 millimeters thick that can be used to pack more memory into thinner mobile phones and tablets.
The new package shaves off 20 percent from current 1.0 mm four-layer packages.
The Japanese DRAM maker claimed that the 8-gigabit package, consisting of four low-power-consumption 2-gigabit DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) Mobile RAM chips, is the thinnest device currently in the DRAM industry.
The company's Mobile RAM is synchronous DRAM for mobile applications, and features lower power consumption and low-voltage operation. Read more...
Eclipse splashes Indigo release for Java devs
The Eclipse Foundation has released Eclipse Indigo, a beefy brace of projects that executive director Mike Milinkovich tells The Reg is the biggest release for Java developers "in quite a few years."
Spun out a decade ago by IBM as a open-source framework for connecting Java and C++ tools, Eclipse has grown beyond server-side tools to include rich clients and web apps, run-times, and business intelligence.
Purists might say that Eclipse has strayed from its original mission. Others would counter that it has instead kept up with the times. Read more...
Programmers urged to code with their tootsies
You can now employ two woefully underutilized parts of your body to speed your PC workflow: your tootsies.
Keith McMillen Instruments of Berkeley, California, has released the SoftStep KeyWorx, a USB foot-operated input device that combines the company's SoftStep USB/MIDI foot controller – a musician's stomp-pad – with KeyWorx software to, as the company's marketing blurb explains, "Get your feet in the game".
But the SoftStep KeyWorx is not only designed to give "computer gamers a competitive edge." It can also, the company claims, put to use the pedal extremities of video editors, programmers, and "data entry professionals".
Connect the SoftStep USB pad to your Mac or PC, download KeyWorx, and tiptoe your way to productivity
"Use your feet to maximize your workflow and greatly improve your efficiency," the company says, by using the KeyWorx software to assign up to 100 sets of commands that can be accessed through the SoftStep's 10 back-lit control pads – each sensitive to taps and x/y-axis pressure – and four-way controller. Read more...
Oracle buys Web management firm FatWire
US business software giant Oracle announced the acquisition on Tuesday of Web management company FatWire Software.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"Increasingly, more companies have come to rely on their websites as the most important channel for communication, marketing, customer engagement and commerce," Oracle said in a statement.
"FatWire's proven solutions provide organizations with the ability to deliver relevant customer content, build community engagement and drive site stickiness and loyalty," it said. Read more...
Nokia to transfer 2,800 staff to Accenture
Nokia Corp. said Wednesday it has completed a deal to outsource Symbian software development to Accenture, including the transfer of 2,800 workers to the global management-consulting firm.
The announcement came two months after Nokia disclosed the plan as part of its aim to cut costs by $1.5 billion (euro1 billion) by 2013, including 7,000 global layoffs, and catch up with top rivals in the tough smartphone market.
The Finland-based company faces strong competition from Research in Motion's Blackberry, Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, as it continues to see market share fall. Last month it issued a big profits warning.
Nokia's share price has plunged in recent months and was trading near multi-year lows of euro4.23 ($6.08) in early afternoon trading in Helsinki — almost unchanged from Tuesday's closing rate. Read more...
Windows 7 posts enterprise gains, but XP retains 60% share
Although enterprises are in the midst of migrating more machines to Microsoft's Windows 7, the aged Windows XP still accounts for nearly 6-in-10 PCs in corporations, according to a recent report by research firm Forrester.
Windows 7 powered nearly 21% of all business PCs used to reach Forrester's Web site in March, the most recent month for which the firm has data.
While that's more than double the 9.5% logged by Windows 7 a year before, the 10-year-old Windows XP remains the most widely-used enterprise operating system by a wide margin: In March, systems running XP accounted for 59.9% of the 400,000 machines that visited Forrester.com.
Ben Gray, a Forrester analyst who co-authored the report on operating system and browser trends, called Windows 7's adoption "accelerating," but at the same time noted that XP retains a majority. Read more...
Mozilla retires Firefox 4 from security support
Unnoticed in the Tuesday release of Firefox 5 was Mozilla's decision to retire Firefox 4, the browser it shipped just three months ago.
As part of Tuesday's Firefox 5 release, Mozilla spelled out vulnerabilities it had patched in that edition and in 2010's Firefox 3.6, but it made no mention of any bugs fixed in Firefox 4.
That's because Firefox 4 has reached what Mozilla calls EOL, for "end of life," for vulnerability patches.
Although the move may have caught users by surprise, the decision to stop supporting Firefox 4 with security updates has been discussed by Mozilla's developers and managers for weeks.
A mozilla.dev.planning mailing list thread that started May 17 evolved into a back-and-forth about the rapid-release schedule and its impact on Firefox 4. Read more...
Despite arrest, Lulzsec sails on
The hacking group known as LulzSec pledged to continue their online rampage Tuesday, a day after U.K. police arrested a man allegedly affiliated with the group.
Scotland Yard declined to name the 19-year-old man, but LulzSec and local media identified him as Ryan Cleary. According to LulzSec, he operated an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server used by the group and was not a leader.
"Ryan Cleary is not part of LulzSec; we house one of our many legitimate chatrooms on his IRC server, but that's it," the group said Tuesday in a Twitter message. "Clearly the UK police are so desperate to catch us that they've gone and arrested someone who is, at best, mildly associated with us. Lame." Read more...