SAN FRANCISCO - Google founder Steve Chen said Thursday the Internet giant is testing video fingerprinting technology to guard copyrights of videos posted at YouTube.
"Today we're experimenting with video identification tools," Chen wrote in a blog posted at the Google website.
"Once accuracy is achieved, the challenge becomes speed and scale to support the millions of people who use YouTube every day."
Google-owned YouTube has been plagued with complaints and lawsuits by film and video owners that accuse it of not filtering copyright-protected works uploaded by users of the superstar video-sharing website.
"We are working with some of the major media companies to test what we have developed," Chen wrote.
"We're excited about the progress so far, and we're dedicated to making these tests successful, but as always with cutting-edge technologies, there's no guarantee of success."
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Friday, June 8, 2007
Wireless power may cut some wires, batteries: MIT
CHICAGO, United States: MIT researchers said Thursday they will soon be able to charge a computer or cell-phone battery from across a room, perhaps making the annoyance of wires or dead batteries a thing of the past.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists and their wireless energy transfer technology may soon eliminate wires that tether our machines to wall sockets, or may keep batteries topped up and ready to go.
"This invention could free us from power cables and ideally replace batteries to a good extent, at least in the context of a home or office setting," said Aristeidis Karalis, a student member of the MIT team that worked four years on the problem.
The team at MIT, a top US academic laboratory, has shown their fledgling "WiTricity" technology can power a 60 watt bulb from a power source two meters (seven feet) away.
That is enough juice to power an average laptop, said Marin Soljacic, a professor of physics at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who led the six-person research team.
"This is a major milestone," said Soljacic. "The technology is almost at the point where it could be used for a practical application."
The technology is simple and based on resonance, which causes an object to vibrate when energy of a certain frequency is applied to it, Soljacic explained.
Two resonant objects on the same resonance frequency can exchange energy efficiently, while interacting weakly with objects that are not on the same wavelength.
For the light bulb experiment, the MIT team used electromagnetic resonators in the form of copper coils.
One of the coils was attached to a power source. The other acted as a receiver.
The transmitter emitted electrical vibrations of a certain frequency which rippled across an electromagnetic field to the receiver or "resonator" two meters (seven feet) away.
In this experiment, the system was operating at 45 percent efficiency, but investigators hope to raise that to the 70-80 percent level by using different materials and tweaking the technology.
Soljacic and his team is confident the technology can be improved to the point that consumers can dispense with power cords for their laptops, PDAs or cellphones, as long as they are used in the same room as the power source.
"This won't work on a football field," said Soljacic.
Details of the experiment appear in this week's issue of the journal Science.
The technology has already piqued the interest of some big names in consumer electronics, and venture capitalists have been lining up with offers for the six MIT researchers who are now figuring how to turn their pet project into a marketable commodity.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists and their wireless energy transfer technology may soon eliminate wires that tether our machines to wall sockets, or may keep batteries topped up and ready to go.
"This invention could free us from power cables and ideally replace batteries to a good extent, at least in the context of a home or office setting," said Aristeidis Karalis, a student member of the MIT team that worked four years on the problem.
The team at MIT, a top US academic laboratory, has shown their fledgling "WiTricity" technology can power a 60 watt bulb from a power source two meters (seven feet) away.
Members of the MIT team that performed the experiment
That is enough juice to power an average laptop, said Marin Soljacic, a professor of physics at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who led the six-person research team.
"This is a major milestone," said Soljacic. "The technology is almost at the point where it could be used for a practical application."
The technology is simple and based on resonance, which causes an object to vibrate when energy of a certain frequency is applied to it, Soljacic explained.
Two resonant objects on the same resonance frequency can exchange energy efficiently, while interacting weakly with objects that are not on the same wavelength.
For the light bulb experiment, the MIT team used electromagnetic resonators in the form of copper coils.
One of the coils was attached to a power source. The other acted as a receiver.
The transmitter emitted electrical vibrations of a certain frequency which rippled across an electromagnetic field to the receiver or "resonator" two meters (seven feet) away.
In this experiment, the system was operating at 45 percent efficiency, but investigators hope to raise that to the 70-80 percent level by using different materials and tweaking the technology.
Soljacic and his team is confident the technology can be improved to the point that consumers can dispense with power cords for their laptops, PDAs or cellphones, as long as they are used in the same room as the power source.
"This won't work on a football field," said Soljacic.
Details of the experiment appear in this week's issue of the journal Science.
The technology has already piqued the interest of some big names in consumer electronics, and venture capitalists have been lining up with offers for the six MIT researchers who are now figuring how to turn their pet project into a marketable commodity.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Google Maps street views a revealing candid camera
Smile, you're on Google.Street-scene photographs added to Google Maps and Earth last week capture passers-by in delicate situations and have privacy advocates accusing the world's most popular Internet search firm of breaking its "Don't be Evil" code.
Google's "Street View" feature weaves photographs into seamless panoramas of parts of San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Denver, Miami, and renowned technology Mecca Silicon Valley in northern California.
"With Street View users can virtually walk the streets of a city, check out a restaurant before arriving, and even zoom in on bus stops and street signs to make travel plans," Google said on its website.
Privacy advocates counter that it also provides offensively candid glimpses of people unwittingly photographed while going about their daily lives.
Pictures show what appears to be men urinating streetside. Young women are pictured in skimpy swimsuits sunbathing near Stanford University, the California alma mater of Google's founders.
There is a picture of a man climbing a home's security gate, hopefully without criminal intent. People are pictured going into a pornography shop.
A couple can be seen embracing on a sidewalk while another couple gets intimate on a bus stop bench. A homeless man pictured sitting with his dog on a street corner has reportedly died since the photograph was taken.
Technology-centric Wired Magazine is asking online readers to vote for "the best inadvertent urban snapshots...be they citizens flaunting the laws or hot dog vendors rocking a sweet style."
It is legal to photograph people in public places in the United States.
"What Google does is not illegal, but irresponsible," said Rebecca Jeschke of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a US non-profit group dedicated to defending Internet freedom and privacy.
"Google Street View technology has been an intrusion of privacy to many people captured in their pictures. They could have waited until they developed technology that would allow them to obscure peoples' faces."
Miami abortion clinic director Elaine Diamond is troubled by a Google Maps picture showing protesters outside the facility.
"I wish they would replace it," Diamond said. "I couldn't contact them. I tried quickly. It's not easy."
Women visiting abortion clinics are under enough stress without adding fears that Google Maps might feature pictures of them entering or leaving the facilities, Diamond said.
Operators of places such as drug, alcohol or sexual health clinics worry about protecting their clients from the stigma of being pictured in Street View.
Google said it worked with shelters for battered women and children to avoid photographs endangering their visitors.
"Everyone expects a certain level of anonymity as they move about their daily lives," EFF attorney Kevin Bankston told Agence France-Presse.
Google says photographs are taken down or replaced in response to complaints.
"Street View only features imagery taken on public property," the Mountain View, California-based Internet titan said in its defense. "This imagery is no different from what any person can readily capture or see walking down the street."
Google's Street View has fans among those eager to explore places as an adjunct or replacement to travel.
Google used a fleet of vans equipped with special cameras to amass 360-degree imagery of major US cities during the past several months and said it planned to add more urban areas to the Street View menu.
Google said it intends to update the images regularly.
"How long until this becomes live video?" technology entrepreneur and author John Batelle asked rhetorically.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Microsoft faces Vista trademark challenge
PARIS: A French television executive said Tuesday he had taken legal action against Microsoft for breaching his right to the trademark "Vista," which the US software giant uses for its new operating system.
"A writ has been served in both France and the United States," Philippe Gildas, a former presenter on French cable television channel Canal+, told AFP.
Gildas accuses Microsoft of violating his intellectual property rights after he registered the trademark "Tele Vista" for use worldwide in March 2003.
The name is to be used for a new satellite and cable television channel that Gildas is to launch in the next few weeks in France.
Microsoft launched its new "Vista" operating system in January this year amid much glitz and fanfare.
The new operating system cost about 6.0 billion dollars (4.4 billion euros) to develop and was the first new Microsoft operating system since Windows XP in 2001.
According to US advertising industry magazine Ad Age, the global branding campaign for Vista cost Microsoft about 500 million dollars.
The online register of the French trademark office, the National Institute of Intellectual Property (INPI), shows that Microsoft filed the trademark "Vista" in July 2005, two years after Gildas registered "Tele Vista."
Microsoft was not immediately available for comment.
Gildas declined to give further details of his action on the advice of his lawyers, but said the legal process would be long.
"A writ has been served in both France and the United States," Philippe Gildas, a former presenter on French cable television channel Canal+, told AFP.
Gildas accuses Microsoft of violating his intellectual property rights after he registered the trademark "Tele Vista" for use worldwide in March 2003.
The name is to be used for a new satellite and cable television channel that Gildas is to launch in the next few weeks in France.
Microsoft launched its new "Vista" operating system in January this year amid much glitz and fanfare.
The new operating system cost about 6.0 billion dollars (4.4 billion euros) to develop and was the first new Microsoft operating system since Windows XP in 2001.
According to US advertising industry magazine Ad Age, the global branding campaign for Vista cost Microsoft about 500 million dollars.
The online register of the French trademark office, the National Institute of Intellectual Property (INPI), shows that Microsoft filed the trademark "Vista" in July 2005, two years after Gildas registered "Tele Vista."
Microsoft was not immediately available for comment.
Gildas declined to give further details of his action on the advice of his lawyers, but said the legal process would be long.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Firefox 3.0 may Block Sites Fingered by Google
Sites that Google has determined to be housing malware would be blocked by a feature under discussion for the next major release of Firefox.
Mozilla Corp. is considering adding a tool to Firefox 3.0 that would automatically block Web sites thought to harbor malicious downloads, but the company's security chief refused to spell out details, saying Mozilla is "not ready to talk about the feature."
Even so, there are numerous details to be found on a blog by a Firefox designer and in a back-and-forth discussion of the feature in Bugzilla, the management system that Mozilla uses to track changes in its software. Together, the two offer a behind-the-scenes look into Mozilla's open-source development process.
"Similar to how Firefox 2 blocks Web sites that are potentially going to try to steal your personal information, Firefox 3 will block Web sites that we believe are going to try to install malicious programs on your computer," said Alex Faaborg, a user experience designer in a blog entry last week. "Mozilla is coordinating with Google on this feature."
And in a Bugzilla entry that offers comments from Mozilla and Google employees -- including Chris Hofmann, Mozilla's director of engineering, and Mike Shaver, its director of ecosystem development -- information is even more free-flowing about malicious site blocking in the next major update to Firefox.
The discussion centers on how Firefox 3.0 will warn or alert users to a potentially malicious site. Faaborg mocks up a warning notice, then someone else offers up another option entitled "Scarier error page". But at times the thread lingers on technical issues.
"If a site does not appear in the blacklist but the response from Google says 'this is a malware site,' will Firefox stop showing the page immediately and load this error page in its place?" asked Jesse Ruderman, a PhD student at the University of California, San Diego, and a unpaid Firefox developer.
"I think the plan for malware is to only use the local lists so we don't have to slow down page load or unload a page (which would probably be too late anyway)," replied Tony Chang, one of the Google software engineers who works full-time on Firefox.
"This is an example of how development goes on [at Mozilla]," said Window Snyder, the company's chief security officer. "This is a great example of working with the [open-source] community" in a give-and-take atmosphere where ideas are batted back and forth, she added.
Still, she wouldn't commit Mozilla to adding a malicious blocking tool to the anti-phishing filter already present in Firefox. "It's definitely one of the things we're looking at," Snyder acknowledged, while noting that the feature is currently rated P2 (Priority 2). By Mozilla's definitions, only P1 features are mandatory for Firefox 3.0.
If the security tool makes it into Firefox 3.0's final build, Mozilla will rely on long-time partner Google to provide the blocking blacklists. Google already does that for Firefox 2.0's anti-phishing feature, which is powered by the search giant's open-source "Safe Browsing" code. (Safe Browsing was offered as a separate plug-in for Firefox before Version 2.0, then baked into the Google Toolbar for Firefox.)
But comments made by developers, designers and others on Bugzilla show that Mozilla has questions about the Google technology. "Will the google malware blacklist include sites that are known to be exploiting just Firefox, or IE, or all browsers?" queried Chris Hofmann. "Do we need to make that distinction and/or communicate it to the user so we don't overstep our bounds?"
"What we are actually doing here is giving Google veto power over any web page. Hmm..." added Gervase Markham, a lead developer for Bugzilla.
Google warns its search engine users of potentially dangerous sites with an interstitial page. Google's current blacklists, and presumably those downloaded to Firefox browsers, come from StopBadware.org, a group created by Google, Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd., and Sun Microsystems Inc. that collects flagged URLs. Some Web sites, however, including one associated with a in Kansas educational service center, have complained that Google erroneously blocks their sites.
No other browser currently includes an integrated tool for blocking sites flagged for downloading malicious code. When asked if Mozilla sees this as a chance to pull away from the competition, Snyder said: "We're always looking for ways to keep our users safe."
Mozilla's developers have until mid-July to add the feature to Firefox 3.0. According to Mozilla's development schedule, the browser will be feature-frozen for Beta 1 on July 17.
That urgency was communicated by at least one Bugzilla commenter. "Alex's design depends on being able to render error messages as he mocked up, which I'd love to see, but am not sure we can do," said Mozilla's Mike Beltzer. "We need to scope and determine that feasibility pretty damned quickly, IMO."
Mozilla Corp. is considering adding a tool to Firefox 3.0 that would automatically block Web sites thought to harbor malicious downloads, but the company's security chief refused to spell out details, saying Mozilla is "not ready to talk about the feature."
Even so, there are numerous details to be found on a blog by a Firefox designer and in a back-and-forth discussion of the feature in Bugzilla, the management system that Mozilla uses to track changes in its software. Together, the two offer a behind-the-scenes look into Mozilla's open-source development process.
"Similar to how Firefox 2 blocks Web sites that are potentially going to try to steal your personal information, Firefox 3 will block Web sites that we believe are going to try to install malicious programs on your computer," said Alex Faaborg, a user experience designer in a blog entry last week. "Mozilla is coordinating with Google on this feature."
And in a Bugzilla entry that offers comments from Mozilla and Google employees -- including Chris Hofmann, Mozilla's director of engineering, and Mike Shaver, its director of ecosystem development -- information is even more free-flowing about malicious site blocking in the next major update to Firefox.
The discussion centers on how Firefox 3.0 will warn or alert users to a potentially malicious site. Faaborg mocks up a warning notice, then someone else offers up another option entitled "Scarier error page". But at times the thread lingers on technical issues.
"If a site does not appear in the blacklist but the response from Google says 'this is a malware site,' will Firefox stop showing the page immediately and load this error page in its place?" asked Jesse Ruderman, a PhD student at the University of California, San Diego, and a unpaid Firefox developer.
"I think the plan for malware is to only use the local lists so we don't have to slow down page load or unload a page (which would probably be too late anyway)," replied Tony Chang, one of the Google software engineers who works full-time on Firefox.
"This is an example of how development goes on [at Mozilla]," said Window Snyder, the company's chief security officer. "This is a great example of working with the [open-source] community" in a give-and-take atmosphere where ideas are batted back and forth, she added.
Still, she wouldn't commit Mozilla to adding a malicious blocking tool to the anti-phishing filter already present in Firefox. "It's definitely one of the things we're looking at," Snyder acknowledged, while noting that the feature is currently rated P2 (Priority 2). By Mozilla's definitions, only P1 features are mandatory for Firefox 3.0.
If the security tool makes it into Firefox 3.0's final build, Mozilla will rely on long-time partner Google to provide the blocking blacklists. Google already does that for Firefox 2.0's anti-phishing feature, which is powered by the search giant's open-source "Safe Browsing" code. (Safe Browsing was offered as a separate plug-in for Firefox before Version 2.0, then baked into the Google Toolbar for Firefox.)
But comments made by developers, designers and others on Bugzilla show that Mozilla has questions about the Google technology. "Will the google malware blacklist include sites that are known to be exploiting just Firefox, or IE, or all browsers?" queried Chris Hofmann. "Do we need to make that distinction and/or communicate it to the user so we don't overstep our bounds?"
"What we are actually doing here is giving Google veto power over any web page. Hmm..." added Gervase Markham, a lead developer for Bugzilla.
Google warns its search engine users of potentially dangerous sites with an interstitial page. Google's current blacklists, and presumably those downloaded to Firefox browsers, come from StopBadware.org, a group created by Google, Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd., and Sun Microsystems Inc. that collects flagged URLs. Some Web sites, however, including one associated with a in Kansas educational service center, have complained that Google erroneously blocks their sites.
No other browser currently includes an integrated tool for blocking sites flagged for downloading malicious code. When asked if Mozilla sees this as a chance to pull away from the competition, Snyder said: "We're always looking for ways to keep our users safe."
Mozilla's developers have until mid-July to add the feature to Firefox 3.0. According to Mozilla's development schedule, the browser will be feature-frozen for Beta 1 on July 17.
That urgency was communicated by at least one Bugzilla commenter. "Alex's design depends on being able to render error messages as he mocked up, which I'd love to see, but am not sure we can do," said Mozilla's Mike Beltzer. "We need to scope and determine that feasibility pretty damned quickly, IMO."
Testing a website for spyware, spam, viruses and online scams
To check if a website is safe for surfing, use the McAfee Site Advisor.
Simply go to http://www.siteadvisor.com and enter the website's address. It is also available as an add-on for Internet Explorer or FireFox browsers, and it is totally free. Safe surfing, everyone!
Simply go to http://www.siteadvisor.com and enter the website's address. It is also available as an add-on for Internet Explorer or FireFox browsers, and it is totally free. Safe surfing, everyone!
Monday, June 4, 2007
Apple iPhone launch set for June 29
SAN FRANCISCO : Apple's new iPhone, a "smart" mobile phone offering music storage and Internet access, will be launched on June 29, according to television ads by the high-tech group.
The iPhone, which combines the wildly popular iPod music player with features found in other smart phones, was unveiled in January by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.
Jobs also promised that iPhones would be available in June. Apple delayed the release of its new Leopard operating system for Macintosh computers so engineers could devote their efforts to the iPhone.
A supposed internal Apple memo leaked last month indicated concerns that iPhones might not make it to market on time.
"There have been a lot of rumours of significant problems with the product," said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.
"What Apple is trying to do is put those rumours to rest and take pressure off stock prices."
The device, to sell at prices of 499 to 599 dollars, will be distributed in the US market through AT&T, the new name for the Cingular Wireless brand.
It will weigh 135 grammes and have the Apple OS X operating system and four or eight gigabytes of storage. It will be able to play videos as well as music and have a screen of nine centimetres.
Analysts are divided on whether the iPhone will be an industry-changing device or be too expensive to compete with other smart phones such as the BlackBerry.
On its website, Apple said the iPhone will include "a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device." It will also include a two-megapixel digital camera.
A second-generation iPhone is "already being rushed out," Enderle said.
Taiwan-based manufacturer Quanta Computer is reported to have a contract to build millions of next-generation iPhones that are to begin shipping before the end of the year.
"The iPhone has a number of shortcomings and now that it is in the final phase of testing Apple can pinpoint what those are and fix them in the second-generation," Enderle said.
"As a gen-one product, no one in the industry thought Apple was going to hit one out of the park. Especially with this being their first phone."
Among the flaws in iPhones are built-in batteries likely to run out of useful life in approximately a year based on common recharging patterns, according to Enderle.
AT&T has already received more than a million inquiries about iPhones.
Working with AT&T lets Apple tailor iPhones to the GSM mobile network that is common outside the United States. The iPhone is to debut in Europe by the end of this year and in Asia in 2008.
The iPhone, which combines the wildly popular iPod music player with features found in other smart phones, was unveiled in January by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.
Jobs also promised that iPhones would be available in June. Apple delayed the release of its new Leopard operating system for Macintosh computers so engineers could devote their efforts to the iPhone.
A supposed internal Apple memo leaked last month indicated concerns that iPhones might not make it to market on time.
"There have been a lot of rumours of significant problems with the product," said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.
"What Apple is trying to do is put those rumours to rest and take pressure off stock prices."
The device, to sell at prices of 499 to 599 dollars, will be distributed in the US market through AT&T, the new name for the Cingular Wireless brand.
It will weigh 135 grammes and have the Apple OS X operating system and four or eight gigabytes of storage. It will be able to play videos as well as music and have a screen of nine centimetres.
Analysts are divided on whether the iPhone will be an industry-changing device or be too expensive to compete with other smart phones such as the BlackBerry.
On its website, Apple said the iPhone will include "a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device." It will also include a two-megapixel digital camera.
A second-generation iPhone is "already being rushed out," Enderle said.
Taiwan-based manufacturer Quanta Computer is reported to have a contract to build millions of next-generation iPhones that are to begin shipping before the end of the year.
"The iPhone has a number of shortcomings and now that it is in the final phase of testing Apple can pinpoint what those are and fix them in the second-generation," Enderle said.
"As a gen-one product, no one in the industry thought Apple was going to hit one out of the park. Especially with this being their first phone."
Among the flaws in iPhones are built-in batteries likely to run out of useful life in approximately a year based on common recharging patterns, according to Enderle.
AT&T has already received more than a million inquiries about iPhones.
Working with AT&T lets Apple tailor iPhones to the GSM mobile network that is common outside the United States. The iPhone is to debut in Europe by the end of this year and in Asia in 2008.
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