Microsoft gives us search with a Bing
Microsoft just has improved and rebranded its search engine, which is now called Bing
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Microsoft gives us search with a Bing
Computer security: Obama to appoint ‘cybersecurity’ chief to secure US networks from attack
The White House has outlined its plans to secure US computer networks from attack President Obama has unveiled sweeping new plans to guard vital US computer networks and data from online attack, announcing a new post of "cyber-tsar" and a strategy for dealing with what he called "weapons of mass disruption". After a succession of hacking and other episodes have laid bare the gaping holes in America's online security, Obama called cybersecurity "one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face," and said he was establishing a White House office to deal with it. "Cyberspace is real, and so is the risk that comes with it," the president said, adding that the new cybersecurity chief would oversee and coordinate internet defences across government. Separately, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare. The unit would complement Obama's civilian structure in the White House, the paper said. Obama did not mention the military aspect of cyber-security. "From now on our digital infrastructure will be treated as a strategic national asset," Obama said. "Protecting this infrastructure will be a national security priority. We will deter, prevent, detect and defend against attacks and recover quickly." The decision to appoint an individual to orchestrate cyberdefence is the result of a 60-day review into the country's online security, conducted by former Bush administration adviser Melissa Hathaway. The report, which has been in the hands of White House officials for the past month, details America's weak points and suggests a series of improvements that could guard against hackers who want to bring down vital parts of the government, businesses and the communications network. "It's clear that we're not as prepared as we should be," said Obama. "Just as we failed to invest in our physical infrastructure, we have failed to invest in our digital infrastructure. No single agency has the responsibility or the authority to match the scope and scale of the challenge." The appointment of a cybersecurity coordinator is a concerted attempt to improve America's online defence capabilities, bringing together many different strands of security. Until now, different aspects of cyber-defence have been the responsibility of a string of organisations, leaving officials in the National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon battling each other for supremacy.
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Computer security: Obama to appoint 'cybersecurity' chief to secure US networks from attack
Is it time for a computer games show comeback, asks Owen Van Spall
Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe could mark the return of the computer games show to mainstream TV. Hands up who misses GamesMaster? The web was buzzing earlier this month when Charlie Brooker tweeted that he was looking for ideas from the public about the worst computer game bosses.
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Is it time for a computer games show comeback, asks Owen Van Spall
HSBC report predicts UK will become pioneer in knowledge industries
British industry is headed for the biggest shakeup since the Industrial Revolution, with the country set to be a pioneer in video games, superfoods and robotics, according to a new study. With dark Satanic mills long gone, the HSBC Future of Business report predicts that five "supercities" – Brighton, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Newcastle – will emerge as knowledge industries gain traction instead of natural resource-based businesses. The Britain mapped out by the researchers foresees factories, power stations and livestock supplanted by centres for gaming, windfarms and robotics as the economic landscape is redrawn around the "tropics of knowledge and next generation industries". The findings are based on interviews with 500 entrepreneurs and company directors. "Our panel predicted the rise of supercities and regions over the next 20 years," said Martin Raymond from the Future Laboratory, one of the report's authors. "They promise to change the traditional national and regional power bases because of their proximity to the one thing that does not depend on natural resources: knowledge." The authors say change is being accelerated by the recession. "Business used to be cyclical, rhythmic and geographically specific," said Raymond. "Now it is increasingly rootless, borderless and weightless. It is defined as much by our ability to see opportunity in ideas, knowledge and intellectual resources as it is to profit from trading in real products and tangible assets." This is forcing businesses to adopt more flexible ways of working, says the report, while spurring on technological advances and global trade. Raymond says the supercities and regions will derive their status and income from new income streams such as biotechnology and stem cell research. The research also predicts the north/south divide will shift as London's economic output wanes. The report says competition and high living costs in the south is encouraging entrepreneurs to move north. Job creation by self-employed people is also higher in the north, with northerners employing 3.5 million people on average, compared with 2.6 million in the south. With its traditional "jute, jam and journalism" now faded, the report predicts that Dundee will emerge as a hub for biotech, video gaming and nutraceuticals (foods with health and beauty benefits). The nutraceuticals industry is already worth £50bn worldwide and is expected to grow with an ageing population and rising obesity levels. Scotland's digital media and creative industries are worth an estimated £5bn, with top-selling titles such as Grand Theft Auto developed there. The research also suggests there is life outside financial services for London, which is expected to win renown for work in nanotechnology, robotics and stem cells. Robots Entrepreneurs Computing HSBC guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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HSBC report predicts UK will become pioneer in knowledge industries
We must make e-books pirate-proof | Seth Freedman
Publishers must learn from the mistakes of the music industry and protect e-book copyrighted content from thieves On Monday, I said the traveller's prayer when getting on the bus, as I do every time I go on a journey out of Tel Aviv. Rather than carrying a prayer book with me, I have an e-siddur installed on my phone for just such occasions, allowing me instant access to the necessary text. Likewise, I don't bother buying a paper anymore, preferring to sit and read the news via my phone's LCD screen; over the space of the 40-minute bus ride, I'd devoured articles and op-ed columns from a plethora of publications with the greatest of ease. By using my phone in this way, I play my part in contributing to the slow death of both the media and publishing industries , not to mention all the related trades which suffer in the wake of their decline. Publishers of prayer books miss out on the revenue from potential purchasers who opt instead for free online versions; likewise, newspapers have lost control of their own content, and are paying a heavy price for their incapacity. As far as newspapers are concerned, there appears little that can be done to stop the rot, save for desperately trying to salvage some scraps of revenue from online advertising and subscription. For the publishing world, however, there is still time to address the potential catastrophe awaiting the industry, if only those at the helm of the flotilla are willing to chart a course out of earshot of the e-book sirens' song. It is no secret that the moment the music business sold its soul to the compact disc devil, the industry was in serious trouble. CDs, followed by MP3s, meant that the listening public now had access to high quality files of their favourite music, and could pirate copies at will, should their desire to save money prove more compelling than their sense of ethics. The music industry went into near-terminal decline in the Napster years, thanks to an inability to keep control over, or make money from, the copyrighted material for which the record companies had paid through the nose. The lure of forcing consumers to "upgrade" from vinyl to CD, then from CD to MP3, was financially expedient in the short term, but in the long term was a modern-day equivalent of Dorian Gray's fateful pact. The publishing world is teetering on the brink of a similarly suicidal drop today. With the advent of the Kindle , along with all manner of related new royalty systems and e-publishing deals, the industry is being lured into a trap from which it might never escape – and it's easy to see why they're tempted. Borders' latest financial results showed a 12% decline in revenue at its bookshops, largely due to the impact of the credit crisis, and in a climate where the public has less disposal money to spend, low-cost models such as e-book publications are seen as a natural way for publishers to ride out the economic storm. With resistance weakening towards the concept of e-books, Amazon reported a 24% increase in earnings in the first quarter of this year, driven in no small parts by sales of its Kindle e-reader
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We must make e-books pirate-proof | Seth Freedman
Hewlett-Packard pulls plug on Scottish factory
Hundreds of jobs to go as Hewlett-Packard switches production from Renfrewshire and Germany to Czech Republic Hundreds of jobs are to be axed after it was confirmed today that Hewlett-Packard is to cease manufacturing at a computer plant in Scotland. The work is to be transferred abroad from the factory in Erskine, Renfrewshire. As many as 850 jobs are feared to be at risk out of the 1,300-strong workforce employed by the US-based firm at Erskine. The first minister, Alex Salmond, told the Scottish parliament that an announcement would be made "in detail" to employees later today. He said: "Hewlett-Packard, after a review of their European operations, have decided to close manufacturing in Scotland and in Germany." Production would be moved to a "lower cost, outsourced site" in the Czech Republic, he told MSPs. "A substantial number of Hewlett-Packard operations will continue in Scotland in terms of supply chain management, customer support and the business group headquarters," he said. Jim Sheridan, the Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, said: "I am deeply worried that management at Hewlett-Packard are using the global downturn to their own advantage, exporting jobs from Scotland to exploit cheap labour in eastern Europe. "This will be devastating news for those workers and their families affected by the announcement who have helped to generate pretax profits of £5.2bn in 2008." Scotland's finance secretary, John Swinney, spoke to the firm's UK vice-president today about the issue. Salmond said: "Discussions will take place with Hewlett-Packard in terms of the protection and indeed the enhancement of the headquarter functions that will remain in Erskine." Earlier this year, 150 jobs were lost at the site when the manufacturing nightshift stopped. Labour MSP Trish Godman said: "This is a company which has made a profit of some £5.2bn in 2008 – due to in part to the hard work of the men and women in my constituency in Erskine." She called for reassurances that everything possible would be done to secure their redeployment and that retraining for staff would be provided. Salmond said the transfer of jobs would get under way next year. A Hewlett-Packard spokesman said: "HP regularly reviews its businesses and markets to ensure they continue to offer the best possible value to our customers and to ensure that they are aligned to our growth plans and company objectives. "If we decide to make any changes or adjustments to our businesses following this regular review cycle, we will always consult with our employees and their representatives and partner organisations first before talking to any external parties." Most workers at the Erskine plant are agency staff, employed by outside organisations. The plant was opened in 1987 by Compaq and was taken over by Hewlett-Packard in 2002; at one point, it employed more than 2,500 people. Hewlett-Packard Computing Technology sector Scotland Scottish politics guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Hewlett-Packard pulls plug on Scottish factory
Capturing conversations with voice-recognition software
Jacqui Patience wants some reliable voice-recognition software to transcribe discussions Could you recommend any reliable voice-recognition software packages that can covert speech into text for use in transcribing discussions? Jacqui Patience Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 is the best speech recognition package I know, but it won't transcribe conversations. It works best when trained for a single speaker, and some people seem to have a natural aptitude for this that others lack. A good speaker could listen to the conversation on headphones and repeat the text into a PC microphone for NaturallySpeaking. However, a trained transcriber with suitable equipment (including a foot pedal) may well do the job more reliably, quickly and cheaply. Software Computing guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Capturing conversations with voice-recognition software
Technophile: Sony’s X-Series Walkman reviewed
Sony's X-Series Walkman has a lovely screen and sounds good, too – such a shame about the browser Pretty much the first thing you say when you turn on the Sony Walkman X-series is "wow". A simple Home button at the bottom illuminates a touchscreen that has a set of simple logos – only one of which, for YouTube, requires words. Touch an icon and it beeps (you can turn the beep off) and lights up and you're into the next level. The 432 x 240-dot screen, which uses OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology, is marvellous. It seems to have an inward glow, with incredible detail; the film clips come up more than pin sharp.
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Technophile: Sony's X-Series Walkman reviewed
Netbooks: Are netbooks losing their shine? Jack Schofield reports
Netbooks have been the rising stars of the PC market. But with sales slipping, and new rivals appearing, their future is looking less certain Netbooks have been the PC market's bright spot over the past nine months, but sales have slipped recently, and they now face an uncertain future. They are losing some of their price advantage over notebooks, and soon will be challenged by a new type of ultra-slim notebook PC with a long battery life. Netbooks first appeared in 2007 and have been a big success. Sales have far outstripped the predictions of analysts such as Gartner - 14m units last year, against a forecast of 5.3m - and now make up 20% of the portable PC market. The Asus marketing specialist John Swatton points to "tech novices" adopting netbooks in the way they have adopted mobile phones and MP3 players, which he says "will drive further growth in the netbook market. We are also seeing more and more users purchasing netbooks as a second, and more portable, device to provide connectivity when away from their primary laptop or PC." An affordable, everyday option "The netbook has changed the landscape for good," says Ian Fogg, an analyst with Forrester. "The netbook category has overturned the idea that users should pay a big price premium for ultraportables." Ultraportable notebook PCs have been available from companies such as IBM and Sony, but they typically cost £1,500 to £2,500. Today's netbooks cost around £200-£300, which makes them affordable enough for everyday commuters. Women like them because they can fit inside a handbag. Kids like them because they can have their own machine, and they may get one from their school - Dell has just launched a rubberised Latitude 2100 in a variety of colours for the education market
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Netbooks: Are netbooks losing their shine? Jack Schofield reports
Google: ‘We’re just at the beginning’
Vic Gundotra and Tim O'Reilly at Google I/O, used under CC license by Design By Front Google believes we are closing in on a world where software delivered through the web can be as powerful - or even more powerful - than the programs running on your desktop. That's according to Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, who told 4,000 developers in San Francisco that the true power of the internet was only just starting to become apparent. "We've been working for 20 years towards a new programming model, and we're finally there," he said. "I'm one of those people who believes that computer scientists are at the centre of the universe. Scalability and power, as evidenced by the internet, is just the beginning. We're at the beginning of this right now." To demonstrate its commitment to this vision of cloud computing, the Californian internet company took the opportunity to launch a variety of new initiatives today aimed at making it easier for people to use and build new ones
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Google: 'We're just at the beginning'