Japanese supercomputer becomes world's fastest

Source: AFP


TOKYO - A Japanese machine has become the fastest supercomputer in the world, making calculations three times faster than a Chinese rival, its developers said on Monday.

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Computer vs. Human

Computer crushes human 'Jeopardy!' champs

Source: AFP

An IBM computer crushed two human champions Tuesday in the second round of a man vs. machine showdown on the popular US television game show "jeopardy!"

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Second-generation iPad in production

Source: AFP

Apple has started production of a thinner, more powerful version of its popular iPad tablet computers, according to unnamed sources cited by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

The second-generation iPad will have more memory and a front-facing camera for capabilities such as a Face Time video-conferencing feature on Apple iPhone 4 smartphones, according to the Journal.

Cupertino, California-based Apple said in its latest earnings release that it sold nearly 15 million iPads in the eight months after the tablet computers were introduced in April of last year.

The device has spawned countless new apps as well as digital versions of books, magazines and newspapers.

News Corp's Rupert Murdoch who is an enthusiastic fan of the iPad recently launched "The Daily," a digital newspaper created for the Apple device.

In the latest move in a drive to get consumers to pay for news online the 79-year-old News Corp. chairman said "New times demand new journalism" as he unveiled the hotly awaited publication in New York.

Murdoch said there will be no print version of The Daily and it will only be available on Apple's touchscreen tablet computer for at least this year.

Since the arrival of the iPad, competition in tablet computing has grown.

Google which is set to provide a strong challenge, recently showed off a Honeycomb version of its Android operating system that will debut on the upcoming Motorola Xoom tablet that won rave reviews at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

"Honeycomb is tailored for the new generation of tablet-sized computers," Google mobile products director Hugo Barra said while demonstrating software features at the Internet titan's headquarters in Mountain View, California.

With the free, open-source operating system which is expected to quickly be built into an array of touchscreen tablets, Google is also intent on wooing app developers.

One of the most popular Apple apps, "Tap Tap Revenge" has been released on Android as Google announced the launch of an Android Market webstore where people can get work or play applications for devices running on the mobile operating software.

Disney's most successful mobile game, "Tap Tap" has been downloaded more than 50 million times.

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Headless Conficker worm lives in computers

Source: AFP

A unified effort has lopped the head off a treacherous Conficker computer worm but the malicious computer code lives on in infected machines.

A Conficker Working Group report available online on Tuesday said the alliance has prevented the people who released the worm from using it to command computers as an army of machines referred to as a "botnet."

"Nearly every person interviewed for this report said this aspect of the effort has been successful," the group said in a summary of its findings.

The group considered its biggest failure as "the inability to remediate infected computers and eliminate the threat of the botnet."

Despite efforts to eradicate Conficker, variations of the worm remain on more than five million computers, according to the report.

Conficker was first noticed "in the wild" in November of 2008 and spread quickly to computers around the world.

The worm, a self-replicating program, took advantage of networks or computers that weren't up to date with security patches for Windows operating software.

It was able to infect machines from the Internet or by hiding on USB memory sticks carrying data from one computer to another.

"Conficker is among the largest botnets in the past five years," the report said. "It combined a number of the best tricks and traps within malware."

Conficker was designed to let cybercriminals take control of computers, perhaps to steal valuable data or use machines to fire off spam or launch attacks on websites or other online targets.

A task force assembled by Microsoft has been working to stamp out Conficker, also referred to as DownAdUp, and the software colossus placed a bounty of 250,000 dollars on the heads of those responsible for the threat.

The author of Conficker has not been caught, but hints in the code have led some researchers to suspect the culprit lived in Eastern Europe.

The Conficker Working Group has been touted as a powerful example of the importance of having traditionally rival computer security and software firms unite to battle hackers.

The group said it thwarted the hackers behind Conficker by working with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to cut the worm off from "command and control" online domains where it could download orders.

"Some suggested that the author may never have intended to utilize Conficker and the entire botnet was a feint or a 'head-fake,' " the report said.

"It is likely that the Conficker Working Group effort to counter the spread did make it more difficult for the author to act with impunity, but the author did not seem to have tried his or her hardest."

The attention focused on Conficker might have spooked the cyber criminals, or they may have been waiting for someone to pay to use the botnet in a nefarious take on offering services in the Internet "cloud," the report said.

"In many ways, Conficker did serve as a test run for the cybersecurity community to learn where their strengths and weaknesses were," the report concluded.

The Working Group was hailed as "evidence that differences can be overcome to cooperate against a threat."

The list of group members included Microsoft, Facebook, AOL, Cisco, IBM, VeriSign, ICANN, and a host of computer security firms.

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PC sales growth slows in fourth quarter: Gartner

SOURCE: AFP

Worldwide personal computer sales grew just over three percent in the fourth quarter, less than forecast, as new tablets such as Apple's iPad and game consoles took a bite out of the market, research firm Gartner said Wednesday.

Gartner said worldwide PC shipments, which do not include sales of tablet computers, totaled 93.5 million units in the fourth quarter, up 3.1 percent from a year ago but lower than the 4.8 percent growth forecast previously.

"Holiday PC sales were weak in many key regions due to the intensifying competition in consumer spending," Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a statement.

"Media tablets, such as the iPad, as well as other consumer electronic devices, such as game consoles, all competed against PCs," Kitagawa said.

"The bright side of the PC market during the fourth quarter of 2010 was a steady growth in the professional market driven by replacement purchases," she said.

"For all 2010, the results indicate the PC market recovered from the recession, as it returned to double-digit growth, compared to low single-digit growth in 2009," she added.

Gartner said worldwide PC shipments totaled 350.9 million units in 2010, up 13.8 percent over last year.

US computer giant Hewlett-Packard held on to the top position in worldwide PC sales in the fourth quarter with an 18.8 percent share of the market followed by Taiwan's Acer with 12.7 percent and Dell with 11.6 percent.

China's Lenovo was next with a 10.1-percent market share followed by Japan's Toshiba with 5.7 percent.

Lenovo and Toshiba posted the most improved growth in the quarter. Lenovo's worldwide market share grew 21.4 percent while Toshiba's was up 12.1 percent.

Kitagawa said US holiday sales "were not fantastic for most PC vendors, but the professional market did show healthy growth during the quarter.

"Media tablets undoubtedly intensified the competition in the consumer market," she said.

"These devices do not replace primary PCs, but they are viewed as good enough devices for these who want to have a second and third connected device for content consumption usage.

"Mini-notebook shipments were hit the most by the success of media tablets," the Gartner analyst said.

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Fujitsu unveils "world's first" glasses-free 3D PC

SOURCE: AFP

TOKYO - Japanese IT services giant Fujitsu on Wednesday unveiled what it calls the world's first desktop computer with a display that enables users to see 3D images without needing special glasses.

The Esprimo FH99/CM desktop PC, included in Fujitsu's new line-up of the FMV computer series, has its liquid crystal display covered by a conversion panel enabling viewers to see three dimensional images on the screen.

The company plans to launch the 3D PC on February 25 in Japan, eyeing later overseas launches.

Fujitsu has already launched 3D desktop computers that require viewers to wear special glasses.

"Without having to wear glasses, you can enjoy watching 3D images with others," said Fujitsu engineer Toshiro Ohbitsu. "You can share the excitement with family."

The computer enables users to record and watch television and edit images.

Last month, Toshiba launched in Japan what it calls the world's first television that allows viewers to see 3D images without special glasses, amid intensifying competition in the market as the technology gains momentum.

Many in the industry say 3D television demand is being held back by consumers' resistance to wearing glasses.

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