TechEye |  |
- Online crooks switch to Perfect Money
- Clover Trail to power new Galaxy Tab
- AMD issues revised roadmap
- Acer to launch Android all-in-one
- Ubuntu claims to have fixed Microsoft
- EFF growls at DRM in HTML 5
- Former Microsoft bloke turns to selling dope
- Chip sales continue to be weak
- 14 year old boy dies at Asus partner plant
| Online crooks switch to Perfect Money Posted: 31 May 2013 04:19 AM PDT The dark markets on the world wide wibble seem unharmed by the US government's shut down of the digital currency Liberty Reserve. According to TechWeek , the crooks and other shady characters have just taken their money to be laundered and pressed elsewhere. Perfect Money appears to be the best alternative at least for now. Perfect Money is based out of Panama, the home of the controversial president General Manuel Antonio Noriega. Taking out Perfect Money might be a little harder for the US short of another invasion of Panama. Several automated credit card stores, where credit card data is exchanged, have already adopted the e-currency service. Many other vendors have also started accepting it. In any event, Perfect Money appears to have distanced itself from the Land of the Free. According to a post on the company's website on 25 May revealed it would no longer accept new registrations from individuals or organisations based in the US. This leaves American crooks looking for another home and might have found it with the currency known as WMZ. Bitcoin is apparently not an option because the US government has shown an interest in regulating Bitcoin and the exchanges that help it operate. It also does not offer the full anonymity dark web dealers are looking for. The system makes it possible for police to trace users. Still, it does not look like the illegal transfer of internet cash is going away any time soon. |
| Clover Trail to power new Galaxy Tab Posted: 31 May 2013 03:35 AM PDT Intel seems to have grabbed its first major smart device Atom win courtesy of Samsung. The news is hardly surprising, as rumours of an Intel powered Galaxy tablet emerged a couple of weeks ago, but they were not confirmed. Now Reuters confirms that a Clover Trail+ chip will indeed power the upcoming Galaxy Tab 3 10.1. The exact specs of the new tablet, or chip for that matter, are still unknown. However, this seems like the first big Intel design win in a market dominated by ARM based SoCs, including Samsung’s own Exynos parts. It is a rather surprising turn of developments. At a time when Apple is pursuing custom ARM parts, Samsung is turning to Intel for mobile silicon. It wouldn’t be the first Samsung tablet powered by Intel, as the Korean outfit already uses Intel chips in ATIV Windows 8 tablets, but this is its first Android powered Intel tablet. The decision might bode well for Intel’s shiny new CEO Brian Krzanich, who is apparently planning to step up the chip maker’s mobile game. Samsung is expected to announce new ATIV tablets on 20 June, but it is still unclear when it plans to announce the third generation Galaxy Tab. Samsung tends to shy away from big events like Computex and MWC, preferring its own launch events, so it's unlikely that we will see it until Computex is over. |
| Posted: 31 May 2013 03:06 AM PDT AMD has revised its CPU/APU roadmap, which was promptly leaked to ComputerBase.de, however, there are few changes to report. Nothing is slipping, Kaveri looks like it is being brought forward, but at least some things have been confirmed. The big Jaguar rollout is finally getting underway. Temash, or A-series Elite Mobility APUs as AMD puts it, is about to replace Z-series Hondo tablet parts, which haven’t been very successful, but Temash looks a lot more promising. Kabini is gearing up to succeed C- and E-series Brazos 2.0 chips in the low-power essential notebook market, as well as E-series parts in Essential and SFF desktops. Kabini is expected to penetrate a bit deeper into the Mainstream notebook space, replacing low-end Trinity chips and squeezing out Richland based APUs. Richland itself is about to enter the desktop space, but before it does it will show up in Performance and Mainstream notebooks. In standard flavour it will feature a 35W TDP, but last week AMD announced the first low voltage versions, with a 17-25W TDP envelope. Although the numbers don’t show much of an improvement over last year’s Trinity ULV parts, AMD says it has tweaked the chips to deliver a lot more efficiency. They will also sport newer and faster graphics than Trinity. AMD will start introducing the first Kaveri A-series APUs toward the end of the year. Kaveri is the real new generation, with Steamroller CPU cores, CGN GPUs and HSA Application support. Kaveri will also use the new FM2+ socket. If AMD doesn’t face any delays, Richland might have a relatively short shelf life. There will be no changes in the desktop performance space, it’s Vishera and more Vishera. New SKUs are possible, but there will be no proper refresh, just incremental speed bumps. It comes as no surprise, as big-core server parts won’t be updated, either. However, AMD is introducing X-series microserver parts previously codenamed Kyoto. They are based on the Jaguar core, which will be employed in embedded parts, X-series server chips, as well as the usual essential desktop, low-end notebook and hybrid/tablet flavours. Let’s not forget that Jaguar is also the basis for custom chips used in consoles. |
| Acer to launch Android all-in-one Posted: 31 May 2013 03:01 AM PDT Acer seems to be taking the road less travelled with its new all-in-one, the DA220HQL, which should cost a tad over $400 - but it’s no ordinary low-end AIO. It is based on a new Intel Haswell processor and it runs Android rather than Windows 8. That explains the relatively low price, as we don’t expect to see a lot of Haswell based gear priced at $400, at least not over the next few months. However, to get to that price point Acer had to cut some corners, so the DA220HQL has just 1GB of memory and 8GB of storage in its entry-level configuration. Although Android doesn’t have a huge footprint and it can run on tiny ARM chips and relatively little RAM, Acer went for a Core i5 4430 Haswell chip clocked at 3GHz. It sounds like overkill and it probably is, as Android simply lacks the apps to push it to its limits. However, it threatens to be a worrying development for Microsoft. People who don’t need serious productivity apps and who are just looking for a down to earth home PC might as well get an Android-based system instead of a Windows 8 box and save some serious money in the process. As CNET reports, Intel is already talking up Android laptops based on Bay Trail chips, which should be priced between $200 and $300. That’s practically low-end tablet money and it is more than likely that cheap Android notebooks and Chromebooks will replace netbooks, which are practically extinct already. |
| Ubuntu claims to have fixed Microsoft Posted: 31 May 2013 02:56 AM PDT Ubuntu has finally fixed a bug which Mark Shuttleworth claimed blighted the operating system from the first day. The first bug on Launchpad was created by Mark Shuttleworth in August 2004 and it claimed that Ubuntu's number one bug was that "Microsoft has a majority market share". Shuttleworth said that the way to reproduce the bug was to visit a local PC store and buy a machine without any proprietary software. However, Shuttleworth has now closed the bug - saying that the PC is a broader proposition than it was in 2004: phones, tablets, wearables and other devices are all part of the mix for our digital lives. He added that from a competitive perspective, the broader market has healthy competition, with IOS and Android representing a meaningful share. Shuttleworth wrote it's important to recognise that the shift has taken place. So from Ubuntu's perspective, this bug is now closed. Philosophically there are some slight problems with this statement. When he wrote bug one, he was claiming that the reason that Ubuntu was not going anywhere was because of Microsoft. Now it turns out that even without Microsoft, Ubuntu is not going anywhere. |
| Posted: 31 May 2013 02:46 AM PDT The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) watchdog has formally growled at the inclusion of digital rights management (DRM) in HTML5. The activist group argued that a draft proposal from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) could stymie web innovation and block access to content for people across the globe. The W3C's HTML working group is creating a technical standard for HTML5, an upcoming revision to the computer language that creates web pages and otherwise displays content online. The working group has accepted a draft that includes discussion of Encrypted Media Extensions (EME), which will hard-wire the requirements of DRM vendors into the HTML standard. EFF international director Danny O'Brien said that the proposal stands apart from all other aspects of HTML standardisation because it defines a new 'black box' for the entertainment industry. This black box is fenced off from control by the browser and end-user. "While this plan might soothe Hollywood content providers who are scared of technological evolution, it could also create serious impediments to interoperability and access for all," O'Brien said. DRM always fails to protect media while dragging in legal mandates that throttle free speech. It also ends up locking down technology, and violating property rights by seizing control of personal computers from their owners. Accepting EME could lead to other rights holders demanding the same privileges as Hollywood, leading to a web where images and pages cannot be saved or searched and ads cannot be blocked, O'Brien said. EFF filed this objection as its first act as a full member of W3C. EFF's goal is to broaden the discussion of the consequences of accepting DRM-based proposals like EME for the future of the web. O'Brien said that the W3C needs to develop a policy regarding DRM and similar proposals, or risk having its own work and the future of the web become buried in the demands of businesses that would rather it never existed in the first place. |
| Former Microsoft bloke turns to selling dope Posted: 31 May 2013 02:42 AM PDT A former Microsoft executive has ditched his computer credentials and is working out how to make more Americans stoned. Jamen Shively is following Bill Gates' plan of making piles of dosh screwing over the world and then finishing off your incarnation with an attempt at being nice to make up for it. Shively was a corporate strategy manager at Microsoft, which goes to explain so much of Vole's direction and why we feel hungry if we sit at a computer too long. His cunning plan is to create the first US national marijuana brand with cannabis he hopes to eventually import legally from Mexico. He has bought medical pot dispensaries in three US states. One state was completely wasted, the other was just giggling and the other one was lying on his bed watching the ceiling spin. According to a very mellow Reuters report, Shively wants to become leader in both recreational and medical cannabis. He wants emulate Starbucks as the dominant name in coffee so we guess his product will be jolly expensive. Shively quit Microsoft in 2009 and said he is now hitting investors for $10 million in hits, er start-up money. The use, sale and possession of marijuana remains illegal in the United States under federal law. Two US states have, however, legalised recreational marijuana use and there are 18 states that allow it for medical use. A 2005 United Nations report estimated the global marijuana trade to be valued at $142 billion. Shively acknowledges that his business plans conflict with US federal law and are complicated by regulations in both Washington state and Colorado. In other words he is wondering how well he is driving when he is really parked. |
| Chip sales continue to be weak Posted: 30 May 2013 07:55 PM PDT Apple and the PC market were slow in the second quarter, according to research published by Carnegie Research. |
| 14 year old boy dies at Asus partner plant Posted: 30 May 2013 08:24 AM PDT It is no secret that hiring minors and forcing migrants from rural areas to work obscenely long hours is standard procedure in many electronics companies based in mainland China, but the most recent human rights abuse is already starting to cause outrage for two reasons. First, it involves Asustek, one of the biggest names in the tech industry. Secondly, it involves the death of a 14-year-old boy who was employed by an Asus partner in China. According to human rights organisation China Labor Watch, 14-year-old Liu Fuzong was employed by Yinchuan Electronic Company in Dongguan City. The company allegedly falsified its records and reported him as one Su Longda, an 18-year-old. He reportedly worked at a factory which produces Asus motherboards. The company apparently produced some gear for Canon and Sony in the past. The standard shift was 12 hours, with a short break for lunch. On May 21 Fuzong's co-workers found him motionless in his bed and he was pronounced dead in a local hospital. Employees told the press that management simply did not care about the age of the employees. Regardless of age, the company demanded all employees to meet production targets. China Labor Watch says it witnessed about 80 other young workers "in the area" and some of them were under the age of 16. Local authorities have launched a probe to get to the bottom of the scandal, but more often than not such investigations prove futile. What's more, the management of the Asus manufacturer was willing to pay just a fraction of the compensation demanded by the boy's family. In the that was just over $16,000. Asus did not reply to our request for comment at the time of publication. |
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