Wednesday, September 4, 2013

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Japan to build ice wall under Fukushima plant

Posted: 04 Sep 2013 06:06 AM PDT

The Japanese government is once again being forced to deal with TEPCO's mess. As if the company's handling of the Fukushima disaster wasn't bad enough already, the government is now forced to step in and foot the bill for a £300 million plan to construct a giant ice wall under the plant to stop Japan from becoming the world's leading exporter of three-eyed green fin tuna.

It has recently emerged that up to 400 tonnes of radioactive water leaks from the wrecked nuke station out to sea every single day. Rather than changing all the menus in the country, the government decided radical measures are called for. Although the idea may sound radical, it is nothing new.

The Soviets also tried to place a huge cryogenic plant under the Chernobyl plant, but eventually they just decided to fill the excavated cavity with concrete. For some reason, people who opposed the cunning plan and didn't agree with the cover-up were usually found dangling from ceiling fixtures and wooden beams. As Stalin once put it: "Death solves all problems - no man, no problem."

Freezing the ground works, and the approach has been applied in many tunnel and mining projects around the world. But this time it is a bit different, as the patch of frozen ground will have to be quite a bit bigger than what engineers usually do when building tunnels or mineshafts, reports Gizmodo.

Some punters believe the announcement was timed to coincide with the Olympic Committee's decision on Tokyo's candidacy to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

We're wondering where all the water will go once the "ice wall" is constructed? 

HDMI 2.0 is official with 4K support, insane audio

Posted: 04 Sep 2013 04:25 AM PDT

The HDMI 2.0 spec has been in the works for years but as of today it is finally official and very impressive to say the least. 

Just a few years ago the HDMI 2.0 feature list would have looked like science fiction. The bandwidth capacity is a massive 18Gbps, hence it can cope with 3840x2160 video at up to 60fps, handling eight times as much data as 1080p at 30fps. 

But it’s not all about pixels, either. HDMI 2.0 also supports 32 audio channels. It also features dynamic auto lip-sync and extensions to CEC. 

The new spec does not define any new cables or connectors, which means it will be backwards compatible with existing HDMI gear. 

The downside? Well, 4K displays still cost a fortune and they won’t replace 1080p monitors or tellies anytime soon.

However, people are being spoiled by ultra-sharp tablet screens, so we wouldn’t be surprised if we see faster development on this front over the next couple of years.

UK parliament accessed porn 300,000+ times in just one year

Posted: 04 Sep 2013 03:13 AM PDT

A Freedom of Information request has revealed there were over 300,000 attempts to access pornography on the Parliamentary Network in the last year alone.

Roughly 5,000 people work in parliament - among them MPs, peers, and plenty of staff - but the number is still very high considering.

Responding to a Freedom of Information request from the Huffington Post UK, the House of Commons said users of the Parliamentary Network - including MPs and staff - repeatedly tried to access websites classed as pornographic. 

The numbers fluctuated wildly, but at their highest, there were 114,844 attempts in November 2012 and 55,552 in April 2013. This May, there were 18,436 attempts.

A spokesperson for the Commons was quick to say the figures do not prove access was intentional - because a user could have accessed a site that contains "optional or automatic links to others" or other "pop-up" arrangements, recorded as requests.

Generally speaking, the sort of websites that throw up such dodgy adverts are grey-area legal themselves, such as dating websites or ad-packed content streaming.

The spokesperson added the Commons had no intention of restricting Parliament's "ability to carry out research".

The dodgy figures were revealed just months after British PM David Cameron decided to begin a moral crusade against pornography by introducing a blanket opt-out option for all major internet service providers.

300,000 attempts is certainly a fair amount of research to discover  "content tagged as violent, extremist, terrorist, anorexia and eating disorders, suicide, alcohol, smoking, web forums, esoteric material and web-blocking circumvention tools" or pornography which is "so extreme it can't even be purchased in a licensed sex shop".

Low cost Android spurs 208 percent tablet growth in Middle East, Africa

Posted: 03 Sep 2013 07:48 AM PDT

Tablets have passed PC growth for the first time in the Middle East and Africa region, according to IDC data.

Tablet shipments for the quarter were up an enormous 208 percent year on year - managing 2.79 million units. By vendor, Apple was on top, but the Android OS was to thank for the most growth - grabbing 2 million of the total. Windows OS did not gain much traction.

IDC Middle East, Africa and Turkey analyst Victoria Mendes said Apple's iPad mini launch did not stop the company losing share to Android, particularly as customers in the region were cost conscious. But this could be somewhat offset by an expected Apple launch before the end of 2013.

Apple's market share for the second quarter, 2013, was 24.44 percent - with Samsung not far behind at 22.48 percent. Next of the typical big brands were Lenovo, Asustek, and Acer, although other brannd tablets took a formidable 40.82 percent of the whole market.

This is in line with Mendes' insistence that low cost tablets are spurring demand in the region - whether they're from the expected multinationals or from other APAC brands. 

"The main focus of every vendor now is to secure its position in the market by grabbing the biggest share possible from the two tablet giants of Apple and Samsung," Mendes said.

EU's Neelie Kroes to urge telcos cooperate on roaming packages

Posted: 03 Sep 2013 07:08 AM PDT

EU telco head honcho Neelie Kroes' office is set to tell operators they should take advantage of upcoming roaming restrictions, by forming alliances to offer call, text, and data packages across all of Europe.

The Wall Street Journal has seen draft papers which encourage companies to pal up with international peers so customers can use allowances on the same tarrif, rather than incur hefty roaming charges. Kroes is expected to tell companies if they don't take this approach, they'll be left with roaming price caps made under EU legislation.

A roaming agreement will need participating networks in a minimum of 21 EU states, or 85 percent of the EU, as well as making at least one retail package available where roaming rates cost the same as the home country. 

But encouraging voluntary alliances may not be enough. The industry - like any - doesn't enjoy being bound by restrictions, and it will be argued these proposals will hand a monopoly to often previously state owned companies that tend to be the largest. 

Any traveller will tell you phoning home from abroad is a costly business. Some companies have tried to capitalise on this by offering customers their normal rates for a fee per day.

Existing legislation says businesses are no longer allowed to charge roaming fees for received calls in the EU. But wholesale price caps have now been removed.

A spokesperson from Kroes' office told the Wall Street Journal that there is no running commentary, but a method for ending roaming charges will be proposed.

However, it is perfectly possible for companies to form such inter-country alliances right now - though none have. It's currently easier and more profitable to offer daily deals to travellers, suggesting Europe will need to show its teeth if it hopes to get the ball rolling on ending excessive roaming costs.
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