19th June 2009
As Events Unfold In Iran, Facebook And Google Translate Quickly Add Persian Versions
In response to the events surrounding the Iranian election last week, Google and Facebook have both added the Persian language Farsi to their capabilities. The Persian version of Facebook will be available starting tonight. The Facebook blog post announcing the new version is here. Facebook says the Persian version was already being developed but it decided to unveil it because of the sudden increase in activity with the Iranian elections and protests. Facebook adds the disclaimer that the translation is still in rough form.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/18/as-events-unfold-in-iran-facebook-and-google-translate-quickly-add-persian/
Brits find mobile phones too complicated
Six in 10 mobile phone users say today’s handsets have too many features, making them over-complicated and unreliable. Although a mobile phone is considered an essential gadget by most people, research from Fonebank found that over a third wanted simplicity. The mobile phone recycling company said of the 1,000 people who took part in its recent survey, three-quarters believed current handsets are less reliable and robust. While many are initially swayed by all the functions bundled into a phone, the survey found many are rarely used. For example, although the average age of the respondents was between 18 and 35, inbuilt cameras and MP3 players are considered superfluous by 30 per cent and 45 per cent respectively.
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/news/2244430/brtis-find-mobiles-complicated
Court orders Jammie Thomas to pay RIAA $1.92 million
Jammie Thomas-Rasset was found guilty of willful copyright infringement on Thursday in a Minneapolis federal court and must pay the recording industry $1.92 million. In a surprise decision, the jury imposed damages against Thomas-Rasset, who was originally accused to sharing more than 1,700 songs, at a whopping $80,000 for each of the 24 songs she was ultimately found guilty of illegally sharing. In 2007, the Recording Industry Association of America claimed in a lawsuit that Thomas-Rasset pilfered 1,700 songs. The RIAA eventually culled that number down to a representative sample of 24. Meanwhile, research shows that will piracy is affecting the music industry, it’s not affecting the creation of music.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10268199-93.html
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/06/researchers-conclude-piracy-not-stifling-content-creation.ars
EU lays out plans for the “internet of things”
The European Commission has announced plans for Europe to play a leading part in developing and managing interconnected networks formed from everyday objects with radio frequency identity (RFID) tags embedded in them – the so-called “internet of things”. The Commission has launched a 14-point action plan to address the issues raised from such widespread interconnectivity. “New examples of applications that connect objects to the internet and each other are created [everyday]: from cars connected to traffic lights that fight congestion, to home appliances connected to smart power grids and energy metering that allows people to be aware of their electricity consumption,” said EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding.
http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2244448/eu-prepares-mass-rfid
Phorm burning through £1.1m a month
Who says the dot.com days ever ended? Phorm is reducing its cash burn to a hefty £1.1m a month, after clocking up 51% higher annual operating losses of $49.8m in 2008 – all without yet having any income from anything but interest. Costs boomed in the second half of the year but the company claims to have gotten on top of things in Q4.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/jun/18/phorm-advertising
The Cheap Russian Camera That Could: Lomo Turns 25
The Lomo Compact Automat (LC-A) will be celebrated around the world on June 19, marking its first shipment from the St. Petersburg-Leningrad Optical Mechanical Organization (LOMO) factory 25 years ago. Over the camera’s lifespan, its cheapness has morphed from a liability to its killer feature. The unpredictable aberrations and vignetting of its lens have become artistic and fashionable, not to mention egalitarian — even the most inexperienced photographer can pick up a Lomo camera and get interesting results.
http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2009/06/gallery-lomo
