New, tips, and more
From InfoWorld: I was recently helping my daughter locate French-English translations on the Internet, and we couldn’t find the information we needed through nearly a half-dozen online versions of widely used dictionaries. Where we ultimately found the translations: Google, or more specifically, Google Language Tools. Prior to this experience, I didn’t even know this service …
From CNN: Major labels Sony BMG and EMI are releasing more and more new CDs that block fans from dragging their tunes to iPods. Now, in the most bizarre turn yet in the record industry’s piracy struggles, stars Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters and Switchfoot — and even Sony BMG, when the label gets complaints …
From TechRepublic: Dell, the low-cost king, may be trying to fatten up its margins by going after the top end of the PC market. The Round Rock, Texas-based company on Wednesday unveiled its XPS brand, a luxury line of computers that will compete head-on with high-end PC makers like Alienware and even Apple Computer. Some …
From USA Today: Don’t touch that mouse. Online news and entertainment video is booming, says market tracker Forrester Research, with video traffic doubling every six to eight months on average at websites that offer sight, sound and motion. America Online next month introduces a celebrity journalism series that will offer video-on-demand stories about Paris Hilton, …
From PC Magazine: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s plan to deliver low-cost laptop computers to children in developing nations and impoverished American students is moving forward, according to Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and co-founder of the school’s Media Lab. Speaking at M.I.T.’s ongoing Emerging Technologies Conference, Negroponte confirmed that five countries—Brazil, China, Egypt, South Africa and …
From Yahoo! News: A senior U.S. official rejected calls on Thursday for a U.N. body to take over control of the main computers that direct traffic on the Internet, reiterating U.S. intentions to keep its historical role as the medium’s principal overseer. “We will not agree to the U.N. taking over the management of the …
From TechRepublic: Demand for used computers in some developing regions of the world is outstripping supplies, a new study has shown. One in every dozen computers used worldwide is a “secondary PC,” and about 152.5 million used systems were shipped in 2004, according to a study released Wednesday by market research firm Gartner. Secondary PCs …
From the Monterey County Herald: In Pacific Grove, parking meters don’t grant those magical few minutes on someone else’s dime. Each time a car pulls away from a space, the meter automatically resets to zero. And in other places where short-term parking is free, rubbing the meter maid’s chalk mark off your tires won’t save …
From IT World Canada: Something’s cooking in a forgotten corner of the province of Zheijiang, China — and it’s the perfect recipe for a health and environmental disaster. Ingredients of this toxic swill include assorted electronic circuit boards simmered in pure nitric and hydrochloric acids. For a meagre $1.50 a day, labourers in the province’s …
From Wired News: When it comes to the profit potential of blogs, Nick Denton, founder of Gawker Media, calls himself a skeptic. It’s a surprisingly pessimistic perspective coming from the Brit who has launched a network of 13 theme blogs — including Fleshbot (porn), Gawker and Defamer (gossip), Gizmodo (gadgets) and Wonkette (politics). His most …