Soon, recharge laptops and phones with vegetable oil

Ever thought of “recharging” your cell phones, laptops and other portable electronics with a sugar fix from a shared sip of soda pop or even a dose of vegetable oil? Well, this could soon be reality, all thanks to a newly developed battery-like device.

Researchers have described the device as the first fuel cell that produces electricity with technology borrowed from the biological powerhouses that energise people and other living things on Earth.

"This is the first demonstration of a new class of biofuel cells. When further developed, these devices have the potential for replacing disposable and rechargeable batteries in a wide variety of consumer electronics and other products. It is the first such device based on one of the microscopic parts of the billions upon billions of cells that make up the body," said Dr Shelley Minteer, who presented the report.

For the new biofuel cell, researchers chose one of the most amazing organelles — the mitochondria.

Sometimes called the cell's own powerhouses, mitochondria transform the calories in food into chemical energy that the body needs to sustain life. Mitochondria use a chemical formed from the digestion of sugar and fats, called pyruvate, to make another substance called ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which stores energy until needed.

Each day the mitochondria in a typical person produce and recycle an amount of ATP equal to the person's body weight.

This energy-producing system powered by sugar or fats opens the possibility of refueling a laptop or cell phone with vegetable fats or common oils, said Minteer, a chemist with Saint Louis University in Missouri.

Researchers described the development and successful lab testing of the first mitochondria fuel cell.

The device consists of a thin layer of mitochondria sandwiched between two electrodes, including a gas-permeable electrode.

Tests showed that it produced electricity using sugar or cooking oil byproducts as fuel.

Other potential applications of mitochondria fuel cells include their use as power sources in wireless sensors for temperature monitoring, motion detection, and monitoring the location of vehicles in a fleet.

The new biofuel cells also could serve as a power-source for stamp-sized sensors designed to detect hidden explosives, the scientists said.

The study was presented at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Gmail allows phone calls from computers

Google Inc. on Wednesday said its Gmail service will add a feature that allows users to call any phone directly from their computers.

"Starting on Thursday, you can call any phone right from Gmail," Mr Robin Schriebman, a software engineer at Google, wrote on the company's blog.

"We've been testing this feature internally and have found it to be useful in a lot of situations, ranging from making a quick call to a restaurant, to placing a call when you're in an area with bad reception," Schriebman wrote.

Google will roll out the new feature to US-based Gmail users over the next few days and is working on making it available globally, Xinhua reported.

Users can call any phone in the US and Canada for free for at least the rest of the year, while Google also promised cheap international calls.

Calls to Britain, France, Germany, China, Japan and many other countries will be billed as low as two cents per minute, Google said.

Gmail already has a voice and video chat that allows users to talk to each other.

Green car made of cannabis on its way

More than a dozen Canadian companies have joined hands to produce a 'green' car made of hemp.

To be run on electricity, the prototype design of the car - to be called Kestrel - will be unveiled at the Electric Mobility Show here next month.



A consortium of 15 Canadian companies will design the green under Project Eve which aims to build environmental friendly cars on the long-term basis. The four-seater will have bio-composite body made of hemp - which is the name for cannabis (bhang) plant. It will run on batteries with 4.5 to 17.3 kilowatt hours of energy. The car will reach a top speed of 90 kilometres per hour.



It will have a range of 40 to 160 kilometres before needing to be recharged, depending on the type of battery, it was reported here Monday.



The first 20 cars will be delivered next year.



Hemp-fibre is said to be as strong as fibre-glass - used currently to make car bodies - but much lighter and less expensive. Henry Ford had built his first car made of hemp fibre and resin more than half a century ago.



"It's not an original idea (to use hemp-fibre)," Nathan Armstrong, president of Calgary-based Motive Industries which will test the prototype, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on Monday. He said the the idea wasn't developed much further as car manufacturers favoured steel. In subsequent decades, fibre-glass and carbon fibre-based composites gained popularity as they are strong.



But producing these composite is very energy intensive whereas hemp-fibre grows in a field using the energy of the sun. Further, it is twice as strong as any other plant fibre, he said.



"As a structural material, hemp is about the best. Plus, it's illegal to grow it in the US, so it actually gives Canada a bit of a market advantage,'' Armstrong told the network.



The Canadian auto industry is the eighth largest in the world, with major US and Japanese automakers having assembly plants in Ontario province.

Thought activated computers planned

Researchers are working on futuristic, thought activated computers that would help you dictate letters and browse the net.




Preliminary tests by Intel's researchers have shown that the computer can figure out words you are thinking by matching them with the brain patterns they evoke.



Dean Pomerleau, senior researcher at Intel Lab, said that the devices required to get sufficient detail of brain activity were bulky, expensive magnetic resonance scanners found in hospitals, reports the Telegraph.



But he said work was under way to reduce equipment size that can be worn as headsets and can produce similar details. "The computer uses a form of 20 questions to narrow down what the word is."



"So a noun with a physical property such as spade, which you dig with, produces activity in the motor cortex of the brain, as this is the area that controls physical movements," he said.



"A food related word like apple, however, produces activity in those parts of the brain related to hunger. So the computer can infer attributes to each word being thought about and this lets the computer zero down on what the word is pretty quickly," he said.



"We are currently mapping out the activity that an average brain produces when thinking about different words. It means you'll be able to write letters, open emails or do Google searches just by thinking," he said.



Intel already have a working prototype that can detect words such as screwdriver, house and barn, by measuring around 20,000 points in the brain.



But as brain scanning technology becomes more sophisticated, the computer's ability to distinguish thoughts will improve.



Justin Ratner, director of Intel Lab and the company's chief technology officer, said: "Mind reading is the ultimate user interface. There will be concerns about privacy with this sort of thing and we will have to overcome them."



"What is clear though is that humans are not restricted any more to just using keyboards and mouse," he said

New software that identifies unnamed faces to go public

A new software which can identify unnamed faces and then collate photographs of that individual on the net will go public soon.




The software works by scanning a person's configuration of eyes, nose and mouth and claims to be 90 per cent accurate.



It can then comb the net for more photographs of the same person and, in tests, locate untagged picture which had not previously been seen by some of the people in them, reports the Telegraph.



The managers of Face.com, which created the software, told the Sunday Times that 5,000 developers were already using it.



Gil Hirsch, the chief executive officer, said: "You can basically search for people in any photo. You could search for family members on Flickr, in newspapers, or in videos on YouTube."



Such software has previously been the preserve of official bodies such as the UK Border Agency or inside social networking platforms.



Supporters of the software said it could help families unlock their history or trace those lost in humanitarian disasters.



The Information Commissioner's Office said there were no legal restrictions on the use of facial recognition software.

Coming soon: Computers that can read human minds!

Imagine searching the Internet simply by thinking. Well, your imagination may soon turn into reality, say scientists who claim to be developing a computer which reads human minds. A team at Intel Corporation is working on a new technology which will directly interpret words as they are thought, unlike current brain-controlled computers which require users to imagine making physical movements to control a cursor on a screen. In fact, the scientists are creating detailed maps of the activity in the brain for individual words which can then be matched against the brain activity of someone using the computer, allowing the machine to determine the word they are thinking, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported. Preliminary tests of the system have shown that the computer can work out words by looking at similar brain patterns and looking for key differences that suggest what the word might be. Dean Pomerleau, a senior researcher at Intel Laboratories, said that currently, the devices required to get sufficient detail of brain activity were bulky, expensive magnetic resonance scanners, like those used in hospitals.

Coming soon at a theatre near you, a film on 'Google'

A film on everyone's favourite search engine 'Google' and its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin is in the making. Groundswell Productions, who made the Sean Penn starrer 'Milk', has acquired the rights to Ken Auletta's book 'Googled: The End Of The World As We Know It', which will be the basis for the screenplay, Deadline reported online. The film will look at the two men's ethos on how money can be made 'without doing evil'. "It's about these two young guys who created a company that changed the world, and how the world in turn changed them. The heart of the movie is their wonderful edict, don't be evil. At a certain point in the evolution of a company so big and powerful, there are a million challenges to that mandate. Can you stay true to principles like that as you become as rich and powerful as that company has become?," said producer Michael London. Sergey and Larry, often dubbed the 'Google Guys', founded the company while attending Stanford University as Ph.D candidates. From a search engine, it now hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products with over one million servers in data centers around the world and processing over one billion search requests every day. "The intention is to be sympathetic to Sergey and Larry, and hopefully the film will be as interesting as the company they created," London said.

Now, an iPhone app that will help singles hook up

Singles looking for a mate can now search for their dream partner just with the touch of a button on their iPhone or Blackberry.

A new app, called Grindr, uses GPS technology to allow anyone with a smartphone to pinpoint potential opportunities for romance as they pass by on the street.



The programme has been available for the gay community for some time, and gay icon Stephen Fry told ‘Top Gear’ very straight man Jeremy Clarkson about the relative merits when he appeared on the show.



Men around the UK turned to Grindr and downloads rocketed.



It told them how far away they were standing in feet - and perhaps even inches - from like-minded inquisitive Grindrs. Pixellated images offer a grid of potential partners, reports Sky News.



And if you have any doubts for its success in the heterosexual world, then Joel Simkhai, the founder of Grindr—Guy Finder— assures that it certainly does.



Walking into a room full of strangers and striking up a conversation with a potential suitor only to be introduced a few minutes later to their loving partner could soon be passe.



Instead, taking a few moments to click on to Grindr, or the heterosexual equivalent, and calling up who else in the room is single and keen not to be, at least for the evening, could save on lip service and inappropriate lust.



It is certainly a huge help in terms of meeting people instantly whether in a bar or a boardroom.



But the gay community have found a Grindr encounter almost always ends up in the bedroom.

Fake 'dislike' button spreads across Facebook

Social networking website Facebook, which offers its subscribers only a "like" button for anyone's updates, is now faced with a fake "dislike" button, which is spreading like a virus across the site.

The fake dislike button is followed with a link that takes people to a fake application. Instead of installing a dislike button, the application uses the person's network to continue spreading the fake programme.



Graham Cluley of the British security firm Sophos wrote in a blog that the fake dislike buttons "are going viral" on Facebook.



"Watch out for posts that look like this: I just got the Dislike button, so now I can dislike all of your dumb posts!" CNN quoted Cluley as writing in the blog.



"If you do give the application permission to run, it silently updates your Facebook status to promote the link that tricked you in the first place, thus spreading the message virally to your Facebook friends and online contacts," he wrote.



A message on technology blog Mashable said: "As usual, we advise you not to click on suspicious links on Facebook, especially if they promise something that sounds impossible or unlikely. Do not give away your personal information, unless you're absolutely sure why and who you're giving it to."



Cluley said the fake dislike button is part of a recent trend of Facebook scams. "It's the latest survey scam spreading virally across Facebook, using the tried-and-tested formula used in the past by other viral scams."



Such schemes are designed to steal information from internet users. That information then can be sold to other parties. The scams are also used to affect an internet user's social network contacts.



The experts give the following advice to avoid the fake button: "If you accidentally installed the fake application, click on the 'account' button at the top right of the Facebook home screen. Navigate to the option that says 'application settings' and disable the fake 'dislike' application."



"If the application is posted to your Facebook wall, go to your profile page and delete those posts to stop the scam from spreading further."



Facebook has said it is trying to block the "dislike" button.



"We're working hard to block and remove malicious applications that claim to provide dislike functionality and inadvertently update people's statuses," a Facebook spokesman said.



"There is no official dislike button. Also, don't click on strange links, even if they are from friends, and notify the person and report the link if you see something suspicious," the statement said.

Facebook raises row over revealing user's location

Controversy shrouds Facebook over revealing user's location in a new feature that it has launched.




Called Facebook Places, the application uses satellite tracking technology to permit people to ‘check in’ their current location and share it with friends.



But critics voiced concern that the facility exposes users to the risk of burglary, stalking and harassment, reports the Daily Mail.



They also asserted that many users did not fully understand the site’s privacy options and were clueless about potential dangers.



The service is currently available in the US but the company plans to extend the feature worldwide.



Eric King of Privacy International, a human rights watchdog, said though Facebook defended the feature by saying the information was only shared with friends, users often had certain ‘friends’ they knew little about.



"You are essentially telling people that you are not at home, that you are in this bar, or in this area. This could mean you end up burgled and at worst then people you don’t want knowing where you are can very easily find you," King added.



However, Facebook insisted users would have to agree to a number of clauses before the option was enabled.



The feature comes close on the heels of Google boss Eric Schimdt's warning that young people might have to change their identities in future because they are giving away their private lives on social networking sites.

How hackers can ‘snoop on private web sessions too’

London, July 26: Experts have identified how their web browser’s ‘private mode’ setting is also vulnerable to hackers.

Most web browsers offer a private mode, intended to leave no trace of surfing history on the computer.

But Collin Jackson at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and colleagues, have found ways to detect which sites were visited with the mode enabled.

Even if private browsing is enabled, details relating to the key remain stored on the computer''s hard drive, allowing a hacker to establish that a particular site had been visited.

A hacker could "guess what sites you''ve been to based on traces left behind," New Scientist quoted Jackson as saying.

These attacks on privacy "do not require a great deal of technical sophistication and could easily be built into forensics tools", he added.

However, Rik Ferguson - a UK-based security researcher at Trend Micro of Tokyo, Japan – says that any attacker with the knowledge to exploit the weaknesses would probably look to other attacks first, which may yield more detailed information.

"If someone is capable of tracking your browsing habits in this way, then they are probably also tech-savvy enough to know about commercial spyware which could much more effectively track your computer use," says Ferguson.

 

Soon, t-shirts to power your cell phone as you jog

Washington, July 24: The day could be near when you would be able to recharge your phone or music player while jogging, according to a new study.

A team from University of Southern California has produced flexible transparent carbon atom films that the researchers say have great potential for a new breed of solar cells.

"Organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells have been proposed as a means to achieve low cost energy due to their ease of manufacture, light weight, and compatibility with flexible substrates," said Chongwu Zhou, a professor of electrical engineering in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

An OPV photo-electronic device has a transparent conductive electrode through which light can couple with active materials to create electricity.

The team has created ultra thin sheets of graphene OPV, a highly conductive and highly transparent form of carbon made up of atoms-thick sheets of carbon atoms.

"For every 1000 watts of sunlight that hits a one square meter area of the standard silicon solar cell, 14 watts of electricity will be generated," said Lewis Gomez De Arco, a doctoral student and a member of the team.

He thinks that it may eventually be possible to run printing presses laying extensive areas covered with inexpensive solar cells, much like newspaper presses print newspapers, or could even be hung as curtains in homes.

The study was recently published in the journal ACS Nano.

 

US allows 'jailbreaking' of iPhone

Washington, July 27: New government rules announced Monday will allow iPhone users to unlock, or "jailbreak," their phones without violating the law.

The amendments to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act will allow users to run third-party applications on their iPhones that have not been approved by Apple.

Apple had objected to the changes, stating that the running of unauthorised programmes on the popular mobile device could lead to potential problems with the smartphone. But the company will still be allowed to outlaw such actions on the terms of service agreements that users must sign when buying the phone.

The decision by the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress also allows consumers to unlock other mobile phones to run third party applications and to enable the devices to work with multiple carriers.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which pressed the Copyright Office to relax its rules on mobile phone use, welcomed the move saying that the new rulings take "unprecedented new strides towards protecting more consumers and artists."

Chinese parents forbidden to spy on kids' 'e-life'

Beijing, July 27: Parents in China can no longer secretly browse through their children's computer or mobile phones from September after a law was passed aiming to protect the privacy of children.

The new law, the first of its kind anywhere in China, was passed by the regional government in Chongqing province, and will provide children with the legal means to defend themselves against cases of "spying" by their parents, China Daily reported.

Under the law, parents will be forbidden from secretly searching through children's computers or cell phones for emails, web chats or messages.

But a survey by online portal sina.com said nearly 42 percent of some 2,500 respondents did not welcome the regulation.

Lu Yulin, a professor at the China Youth University of Political Science, says this precedent would not have much effect in reality, as most children would not bring their parents to court.

"It will bring very little change, as parents who habitually check such information won't stop due to the regulation," he said.

But he says the regulation signifies major progress in terms of laws for child privacy protection.

But Song Jingbo, a sixth grader in Xi'an city, was not worried, saying his parents have a long way to go before they can hack into his computer.

"I am far more internet savvy than they are," said the 11-year-old.

Even if Song caught his parents intruding into his privacy, he said: "I won't call the police, as I know they just want to help protect me."

By the end of 2009, the number of minors using the internet in China exceeded 126 million, with about 74 percent of them accessing the web at home, the China Internet Network Information Centre said.

Soon, iPhone to replace car key

Sydney, July 27: Ever thought about opening the door of your car from your phone just like James Bond does? Well, General Motors, Holden's parent company has now launched a new iPhone app that could replace the car key.

It can already warn of parking officers, order your groceries and boost your share portfolio.

General Motors is working on an app for the iPhone and rival Google phone for some of its cars sold in the United States.

The phone application will allow drivers to activate all of the traditional key fob features, including unlocking the doors and opening the boot.

There will also be a remote start function that could prove handy for warming up the car on those colder mornings (or cooling it down during summer), and if you forget where you parked you can set off your car''s horn and lights at the touch of a button so it can alert you to its location.

The app, which is set to be available within a few months, will also display a vehicle "health report", which will include info such as fuel range, oil life, tyre pressures as well as a lifetime breakdown of average fuel economy for the car.

However, the app will only be available in the US, Canada and China, with buyers of Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC expected to be able to control their car from their phone within a few months.

The app is run as part of an in-vehicle safety and security system called OnStar.

"Technology empowers drivers to make decisions about their travels well before they enter the vehicle, meaning their full attention can stay where it needs to be - on the road ahead," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted company spokesman Chris Preuss as saying.

World's first 3D camcorder for home movies unveiled

London, July 28: The 3D revolution has so far been all about Hollywood blockbusters and major sporting events. But now, the cutting-edge technology is coming closer to home.

Treasured moments such as a child's first steps or a university graduation can be captured in 3D with the arrival of the first camcorder - capable of filming in more than two dimensions, says the Daily Mail.

Unveiled by Panasonic Wednesday, the 1,300 pound HDC-SDT750 3D model works using a sophisticated double lens.

Company spokesman Barnaby Sykes said: "Just as we have two eyes, so the 3D camcorder has two lenses side by side. The camcorder acts like the human brain in converging the two images together to create one picture in 3D."

The images can be played back on 3D television sets. They can be watched through so-called active shutter glasses, which open and close over each eye in an alternating pattern 60 times a second.

This means that each eye sees a slightly different view of the same scene, so the brain is tricked into thinking it is seeing a single image in 3D.

"Our research indicates that people will want 3D to record important family moments. That offers a huge emotional pull," Sykes said.

The camcorder has a slot for memory cards to store the footage and create a 3D library of a family's most important moments. This can be slotted into a 3D television set for viewing.

Customers can also buy a 3D burner to copy the film footage on to DVDs, to be stored and viewed later through a Blu-ray DVD player.

In the future, the lens system could be used to allow people to make 3D video calls over the internet, making this sort of communication much more like real life.

Other functions on the 3D camcorder include face recognition, where the camera seeks out a particular person in a group shot and ensures it is focused on them.

Many of the world's technology giants have launched 3D TV sets in recent months. Sony also offers a camera to create 3D still images.

The Panasonic HDC-SDT750 will be available from September.

Most iPad owners are "over-achieving selfish elites"

Melbourne, July 28: Dubbing iPad owners as “over-achieving selfish elites,” a new survey has revealed that those who have Apple's "magical device", are six times more likely to be wealthy, highly educated and sophisticated 30-50 year olds who value power and achievement.

The survey of 20,000 people conducted by US consumer research firm MyType also claimed that they are selfish and unkind.

MyType spokesman Tim Koelkebeck gave his unflattering appraisal of iPad owners on the company's blog after the firm released the results of the survey online.

And Koelkebeck said that 96 per cent of iPad's critics don't own an iPad, but are generally independent-minded young people who "shun conformity".

They're also listed in the survey under "Geeks" - people interested in video games, computers, science and the internet.

The study was called "Prevalence of iPad Owners and Critics by Psychographic Segment" and divided the respondents into "iPad Owners" and "iPad Critics".

Among the average population, three per cent would be iPad owners compared to 11 per cent critics.

Among the "Independent Geeks", only four per cent would own Apple's "magical" device, while 33 per cent would be critics.

But when it came to "Selfish Elites", Apple is the brand of choice—only four per cent were willing to criticise the iPad, while 18 per cent owned or planned to buy one.

As for the geeks, iPad-bashing was an identity statement, but the device also had the capacity to divide geeks, said Koelbeck.

A large segment of "mainstream" geeks would actually buy an iPad, he said, whereas the bashers were more of the Linux-using variety.

"Think of them as the original, 'pure' technology geeks, before geekery gained its mainstream appeal," News.com.au quoted Koelbeck as saying.

"These guys (and some gals) are known for their strong desire to be in control of their gadgets, compelling them to learn code and tinker with hardware.

"They’re impressed by technology breakthroughs and advances in speed, storage, and other quantitative qualities. They love to be on the edge of technology,” he added.

He also has a final harsh truth on what it means to be an independent, iPad-bashing geek.

“As a mainstream, closed-platform device whose major claim to fame is ease of use and sex appeal, the iPad is everything that they are not,” he said.

Now, ''intelligent'' pot that lights up when plant needs water

London, July 29: A new "intelligent" pot, invented by a young Brit, sends out a distress signal whenever the plant needs some help.

Natalie King's "Tulipe" pot glows bright red at the base when its sensors detect that temperature, light or moisture are not at optimum levels.

Although the pot has not the hit the stores yet, Natalie, 22, hopes it will catch the imagination of an investor soon.

The invention, a part of her university project, was inspired by her green-fingered granddad.

And Natalie believes it will be equally useful for beginners, who could do with a little help and keep their plants alive.

The working prototype, which Natalie developed in eight months, contains moisture and temperature sensors in the base and a light sensor on the outside.

These can detect the conditions required for any indoor plant grown from seed.

"My grandfather had always been a keen gardener but he suffers from age-related macular degeneration, which reduces his central vision," The Daily Mail quoted Natalie, as saying.

She went on: "I found that about 50 per cent of people over the age of 75 will suffer from it, and I wanted to do something to help."

"The pot is designed to give feedback, which I hope will make gardening easier and encourage people to have a go."

"My grandfather thinks it's a great idea - he's very proud," Natalie added.

Natalie is now working as a designer for Chanel after her plant pot helped her graduate from her industrial design course at Brunel University, west London, with a first-class honours degree.

The world's first robot with conscience

Madrid, July 30: Spain has designed the world's first robot with its own "conscience" and "life", which will "entertain, teach and be a companion" to humans who purchase it.

The AISoy 1, which will go on sale in August, is the first social android developed by Spanish firm AISoy Robotics, which is now bringing its creation out of the laboratory.

"It almost seems like science fiction, but it's a reality," said Diego Garcia, one of the "fathers" of the robot and head of AISoy's product engineering and development division.

AISoy 1 was conceived to entertain and provide company to the user, but its main objective is "to live," just like any other being that "senses, has emotions and makes decisions".

At 25 cm in height and weighing 1.5 kg, the robot "is almost a living being. It has the same activity as a living being, it has its own autonomy and conscience", he said.

It also has a series of "basic needs, like nourishment and security, and other more advanced ones, like love, recognition, freedom and, above all, enjoying itself and getting along well".

In contrast to the available robots developed till date, its makeup does not consist of "a collection of limited actions or programmed responses. It's dynamic, it has its own life and, at times, it's unpredictable," said AISoy 1's designer.

The robot is capable of learning from experience and modifying "its behaviour, values and actions it can undertake at specific times," he said.

"If you take two AISoy 1's and leave them in two different families, within two months they will be totally different because they will have had different experiences," said Garcia.

Starting August, any family will be able to buy the robot, which is in the final phases of production, and it will be sold via the AISoy 1 website.

Although the price of the domestic robot has not yet been made public, the firm says that it will be "less costly" than alternative prototypes developed by other firms.

Hacker builds $1,500 cell-phone tapping device

A computer security researcher has built a device for just $1,500 that can intercept some kinds of cell phone calls and record everything that's said.

The attack Chris Paget showed on Saturday illustrates weaknesses in GSM, one of the world's most widely used cellular communications technologies.

His attack was benign; he showed how he could intercept a few dozen calls made by fellow hackers in the audience for his talk at the DefCon conference here.

But it illustrates that criminals could do the same thing for malicious purposes, and that consumers have few options for protecting themselves.

Paget said he hopes his research helps spur adoption of newer communications standards that are more secure.

"GSM is broken _ it's just plain broken," he said. GSM is considered 2G, or "second generation," cellular technology.

Phones that run on the newer 3G and 4G standards aren't vulnerable to his attack.

If you're using an iPhone or other smart phone and the screen shows that your call is going over a 3G network, for example, you are protected.

BlackBerry phones apply encryption to calls that foil the attack, Paget pointed out.

But if you're using a type of phone that doesn't specify which type of network it uses, those phones are often vulnerable, Paget said.

Paget's device tricks nearby cell phones into believing it is a legitimate cell phone tower and routing their calls through it.

 

Now, an iPhone app that will help singles hook up

Singles looking for a mate can now search for their dream partner just with the touch of a button on their iPhone or Blackberry.

A new app, called Grindr, uses GPS technology to allow anyone with a smartphone to pinpoint potential opportunities for romance as they pass by on the street.

The programme has been available for the gay community for some time, and gay icon Stephen Fry told ‘Top Gear’ very straight man Jeremy Clarkson about the relative merits when he appeared on the show.

Men around the UK turned to Grindr and downloads rocketed.

It told them how far away they were standing in feet - and perhaps even inches - from like-minded inquisitive Grindrs. Pixellated images offer a grid of potential partners, reports Sky News.

And if you have any doubts for its success in the heterosexual world, then Joel Simkhai, the founder of Grindr—Guy Finder— assures that it certainly does.

Walking into a room full of strangers and striking up a conversation with a potential suitor only to be introduced a few minutes later to their loving partner could soon be passe.

Instead, taking a few moments to click on to Grindr, or the heterosexual equivalent, and calling up who else in the room is single and keen not to be, at least for the evening, could save on lip service and inappropriate lust.

It is certainly a huge help in terms of meeting people instantly whether in a bar or a boardroom.

But the gay community have found a Grindr encounter almost always ends up in the bedroom.

 

Wax, soap 'clean up obstacles to better, cheaper batteries'

A little wax and soap could help build electrodes for cheaper and better lithium ion batteries, say scientists. A team at the US Department of Energy has claimed the one-step method will allow battery developers to explore lower -priced alternatives to the lithium ion-metal oxide batteries currently on the market, the 'Nano Letters' journal reported. "Paraffin provides a medium in which to grow good electrode materials. This method will help researchers investigate cathode materials based on cheaper transition metals like manganese or iron," said team leader Daiwon Choi. Consumers use long-lasting rechargeable lithium ion batteries in everything from cell phones to the latest portable gadget. Some carmakers want to use them in vehicles. Most lithium ion batteries available today are designed with an oxide of metal such as cobalt, nickel, or manganese. For their research, Choi and colleagues at State University of New York wanted to explore both cheaper metals and the more stable phosphate in place of oxide. Lithium iron phosphate batteries are commercially available in some power tools and solar products but synthesis of the electrode material is complicated. So, the scientists wanted to develop a simple method to turn lithium metal phosphate into a good electrode. Lithium manganese phosphate can theoretically store some of the highest amounts of energy of the rechargeable batteries weighing in at 171 milliAmp hours per gram material. Choi reasoned the 30 percent loss in capacity could be due to lithium and electrons having to battle their way through the metal oxide, a property called resistance. The less distance lithium and electrons have to travel out of the cathode, he thought, the less resistance and the more electricity could be stored.

Mobile phones set to become portable teachers

A pilot study at Howick College is examining the result of using mobile phones as a teaching aid.

The "mLearning" pilot at Howick College, which sees students use free software to convert computer files into cell phone study notes, is attracting global attention.

Students can solve a question using PowerPoint, or a video assignment to film and edit through Microsoft's MovieMaker.

The result is condensed into a format that can be transferred on to any cell phone with a media player.

"The kids love it because they have it in their pocket – it''s a psychological thing as well as a study thing because they know that help is, literally, a click away," Stuff.co.nz quoted Howick College teacher Nathan Kerr, as saying.

Kerr’s innovative method allows students to search Google for a free video converter or convert PowerPoint presentations via WonderShare freeware to get content on their phones.

“We''re a lot more innovative and part of the reason is many teachers in New Zealand are given a free hand, with guidelines, while overseas your professional development as a teacher has been worked out by experts – it''s top down," added Kerr.

Waikato University education lecturer Noeline Wright said that because children are already very comfortable using these tools, it’s a good idea implementing it in their education too.

China tests first homemade amphibious plane

China has started test flights of its first homemade amphibious plane dubbed Seagull 300, a media report said on Friday.

The plane is built by the Shijiazhuang Aircraft Industry Co Ltd in China's northern Hebei province, China Daily reported on its website. It left the assembly line August 4.

The aircraft can also take off and land on water.

"The Seagull 300 is the first amphibious plane of China that has independent intellectual property rights," said Xiong Xianpeng, in charge of the plane's design.

The four-to-six-seater aircraft costs about four million yuan ($600,000).

"We already have more than 50 orders of intent," said Xia Zhongmin, vice president of the aircraft company.

"A Hangzhou-based company has been in touch with us since we started our research and development, and they are expected to confirm their order once the trial flight succeeds," Xia added.

The plane is expected to start its official flight later this month and will take part in an air show in November in China's southern Guangdong province.

Your mobile phone can also be a credit card

Imagine swiping a mobile phone to pay for all the things that you buy! This has just been made possible by latest technology that allows bank information to be stored in your mobile phones' memory cards.

Global credit card giant Visa has entered a partnership with a Turkish bank to launch this technology, the first of its kind in Europe.

This technology is used to store bank information in memory cards placed in mobile phones and allow them to be waved in front of credit card payment points, Visa Europe, which has collaborated with Turkey's Akbank, said.

The same technology which allows a credit card to be swiped in a special reader is being used in this latest cellphone technique, it said.

The memory cards which bring Visa's new "payWave" technology to any phone with a memory card slot, have been developed by a company named DeviceFidelity, Xinhua reported.

In future, this technology will also allow transfer of money between individuals, Mary Carol Garris, head of Visa Europe's mobile technologies department, said.

Visa Europe's regional director Berna Ulman said Turkey was Europe's innovation centre for credit card technologies, saying, "the many firsts in Turkey have provided direction for the rest of Europe".

With 30,000 of these payment devices launched in Turkey, the country was at the forefront of such technology in Europe.

For security reasons, purchases over 35 Turkish lira will require a pin number, but everything under that can be swiped directly, she said.

Turkey has 85 million cellphone subscribers. It is ranked second in Europe for credit card use, Hakan Binbasgil, deputy chairman of Akbank, said.

 

We won't compromise on security, privacy: Blackberry

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) said here on Monday that it would not compromise on security and privacy of its smart phones while responding to the ban on BlackBerry by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the UAE said on Sunday that it would ban BlackBerry email, messaging and web services from October 11 as RIM smart phones send users' data to its centres overseas. Saudi Arabia has also announced it would follow the UAE in banning BlackBerry.

"As a result of how Blackberry data is managed and stored in their current form, certain Blackberry applications allow people to misuse the service, causing serious social, judicial and national security repercussions," the regulator had said last week before announcing the ban date on Sunday.

BlackBerry maker RIM, which is based at Waterloo near Toronto, said in a statement Monday that though UAE concerns are justified, it will not compromise the security and privacy of BlackBerry users.

"While RIM does not disclose confidential regulatory discussions that take place with any government, RIM assures its customers that it is committed to delivering highly secure and innovative products that satisfy the needs of both customers and governments," the statement said.

"Governments have a wide range of resources and methodologies to satisfy national security and law enforcement needs without compromising commercial security requirements."

The UAE ban will also cover foreign travellers passing through Emirate airports.

BlackBerry has over 500,000 subscribers in the UAE. But the impact of the ban will be much wider as about 100,000 foreign travellers - mostly corporate honchos and business people - pass through its Dubai airport daily. Currently, BlackBerry operations in the UAE account for 3 percent of its global business.

Analysts here said the ultra-conservative UAE and Saudi Arabia are targeting the BlackBerry as its secure technology doesn't allow these governments to see people's emails.

Unlike other smart phones - iPhone 4 or Nokia - whose services are handled by local wireless operators, BlackBerry doesn't send emails over the internet. BlackBerry messages are first encrypted and securely stored on the smart phone and then sent out in encrypted manner through its own highly secure Network Operation Centre or server.

Because of its secure encryption technology, BlackBerry has been a hit with global corporates, financial institutions and governments in more than 170 countries, accounting for more than 46 million subscribers worldwide as of today.

In fact, President,Mr Obama, didn't give up his BlackBerry even after assuming office because of its "security architecture".

But since BlackBerry is losing smart phone market to Apple's iPhone 4 and Google Android devices in North America and concentrating on emerging markets, analysts think RIM will reach a compromise before the UAE ban comes into force.

Handling UAE data locally by installing network nodes could be one of the solutions, they said.

Last year as well, the UAE mobile operator Etisalat had brainwashed BlackBerry users into installing a spy software in the guise of a service upgrade, forcing RIM to intervene and get it removed.

 

How long will Microsoft support XP, Vista, and Windows 7?

In an ideal world, old versions of Windows would roll off Microsoft’s list of supported products and be replaced by new ones at regular, predicable intervals. That upgrade cycle has been anything but smooth and predictable in recent years, however. Microsoft’s support policy is still returning to normal after XP was allowed to live well past its normal retirement date and then got multiple extensions to placate customers who just said no to Vista.

I was reminded of this confusion earlier today when Matt Gardenghiasked a great question via Twitter:

Where would I find a list of supported MS OS versions? Trying to determine what’s in support and what’s out of support.

Microsoft product lifecycle policy is actually quite coherent and easy to understand, at least on paper. I wrote this two years ago in How long will Microsoft support XP and Vista?:

Microsoft has a well-documented support lifecycle for its software products. It’s part of the agreement that the company makes with everyone who installs Windows, especially business customers who want some assurance that they’ll be able to get updates and support for operating systems and applications even if they choose not to upgrade to the latest and greatest.

Now that Windows 7 is firmly entrenched in the marketplace, I’m starting to get questions about its life span (and it doesn’t help when high-profile web sites and bloggers get the facts dead wrong, as they did last month with the bogus “XP in 2020″ story). To help clear the air, I’ve put together a chart listing all of Microsoft’s supported operating systems. The calculations start with the general availability (GA) date for each product. Consumer operating systems are supported for five years after their GA date, and business OSes are supported for 10 years (with the last five years classed as “extended support”). The official date of retirement for support is the second Tuesday in the first month of the quarter following that anniversary (which also happens to be Patch Tuesday), which means each support cycle typically gets a few weeks or months of extra support tacked on at the end.

For Windows 7, you can do the math yourself. The GA date for all Windows 7 editions was October 22, 2009. Five years after that date is October 22, 2014. The next calendar quarter begins in January, 2015, and the second Tuesday of that month is January 13. So, that’s when mainstream support is scheduled to end. Extended support for business editions goes an extra five years, until January 14, 2020 (the second Tuesday of the month).

For Windows XP, however, those calculations don’t work, because Microsoft has extended XP’s life artificially. To find XP’s end-of-support date, you should use the Microsoft Product Lifecycle Search page to get the official answer. Enter the name of the OS and click Search, and you get back a table that shows the general availability date, the retirement dates for mainstream and extended support, and retirement dates for service packs, which are governed by a separate set of rules.

Here’s the set of search results for Windows XP:

The one date that matters most on this chart is the one I’ve circled in red—April 8, 2014.

Service Packs 1 and 1a were retired back in 2006. Service Pack 2 rode off into the sunset last month, on July 13. And Service Pack 3 will be retired along with all editions of Windows XP on Patch Tuesday, April 8, 2014.

By that time, Windows 8 will probably be well past its first birthday, and Microsoft will (at least for a short time) be supporting four separate Windows versions. Here’s a table that summarizes the support policy for all of the current Windows desktop versions:

The point of having a predictable release cycle—a new Windows version every three years—is to encourage upgrades. That’s especially true for consumers, who can skip one version but not two. Even so, full support will be available until the beginning of 2015. For businesses, anyone considering a Windows 7 migration can take comfort in knowing it will be supported for nearly another decade more—until January 14, 2020.

Update: My Windows 7 Inside Out co-author, Carl Siechert, asks anotgher good question: “What, exactly, is ’support’?”

For the answer, I defer to the Microsoft Support Lifecycle blog:

Generally, the minimum bar for something to be considered supported is that we provide at least one type of assisted support option and no-charge security updates. This means that, at a minimum, the customer will have some avenue to contact Microsoft for assistance and Microsoft will continue to provide security updates through channels like Windows Update and the Download Center.