Information, Knowledge, Science & Technology

smh.com.au : It's long been the PC industry's dream, to take centre stage in the vast home entertainment market. Success, however, has been elusive. And so the industry will launch in 2006 its most aggressive effort yet to persuade people to buy computers for wrangling the expanding universe of digital content. Leading the charge are longtime PC collaborators Intel and Microsoft, both of which are promising better support for high-definition programming and an improved ability to send video, still pictures and music throughout the home and to portable gadgets. Macintosh maker Apple is also widely expected to join the fray and, perhaps, do for entertainment computers what it did for digital music players when it unleashed the iPod in 2001. But it's not going to be easy to overcome a chequered past, particularly given the problems that emerged in the industry's first forays. Most companies haven't taken close enough notice of what's behind Apple's iPod succes...

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington The Independent : For as long as humanity has enjoyed drinking wine, it has been thinking about ways to make it taste better, usually with trial-and-error techniques from the selection of grape varieties through consideration of the terroir to the moment when the fruit is picked. But now a scientist from Pittsburgh is using computer modelling to try to improve one of the most fundamental aspects of the winemaking process - fermentation. "We are asking what kind of performance we can get out of this," Lorenz Biegler of Carnegie Mellon University said. "We would like to come up with a reasonably good model of how this yeast cell behaves, then control this fermentation process so we can make better-quality wines." Mr Biegler has been working with scientists and winemakersfrom Chile to try to see whether the development of computer modelling can have an impact on the end product. They are trying to solve the problem of stuck batches - t...

Fair Investment Company : Brits' love for credit cards will not falter in the New Year despite predictions of more careful spending habits, Datamonitor has said. The research company predicted Brits will also be richer in 2006, with more than one million people having over £200,000 stashed away in the bank. However, people will still be spending more on credit cards amid contrasting predictions which forecast financial rearrangement and the desire to pay off debts quickly. Datamonitor has said card spending will increasingly replace cash and has predicted that UK consumers will spend more than £500 billion on plastic cards in 2006. Debit cards will make up the bulk of spending, meaning that personal debt should rise at a slower rate, according to Datamonitor. The research company says debt in 2006 will rise by only four per cent. © Adfero Ltd

Fair Investment Company : Brits fail to take basic precautions, leaving them open to credit card theft, a credit reference agency has said. Callcredit says Brits only need follow four simple steps to ensure the safety of their cards – but over a third fail to do so. The credit reference agency says Brits should: shred personal documents before discarding them; check their credit file regularly; have different passwords for financial accounts and cancel unwanted credit facilities. MyCallcredit director Alison Nicholson says: "ID theft is one of the fastest growing types of fraud in the UK yet our research shows people aren’t taking the necessary steps to protect themselves." People in the north-east are the most conscientious according to the survey while those in the south are less likely to be as vigilant at checking their credit files. Residents in Yorkshire were found to be the most careless with their PIN numbers, putting themselves at a high risk of theft. © Adfero Ltd

VoIP Article : According to blog.searchenginewatch.com Google is being sued by Rates Technology for patent infringement over the VoIP portion of the Google Talk program. Rates Technology says that two patents they hold (awarded in 1995, 2001) for minimizing the cost of long distance calls using the Internet are being infringed upon by Google Talk. The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of New York. The parties will meet with Judge E. Thomas Boyle in early February.

TMCnet.com : Chilean internet telephony provider RedVoiss has launched a free VoIP service it hopes will compete with Skype, RedVoiss CEO Alberto Mordojovich told BNamericas. The service called SippyPhone consists of software that is installed on the PC and communication is possible by a microphone or through a handset. The difference with Skype is that SippyPhone uses standard initiation protocol (SIP), while Skype uses a proprietary protocol, Mordojovich explained. While this makes SippyPhone more flexible as it can be interconnected with other IP voice services such as Vonage, the quality of Skype may be slightly better as it uses greater broadband width, Mordojovich said. "We believe that in the long run, SIP is going to be the dominant technology worldwide... Skype is going to have to compete against all the other companies similar to RedVoiss throughout the world that use SIP," the executive said. Nonetheless, the free service does not mark a move away from the paid se...

Gameshout.com : Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder has purchased $4.4 million worth of shares for VOIP and Internet-based telephone services in Japan. The purchase brings Gates' total ownership in friend and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett's company to 3,990 Class A shares, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gates paid $88,600 to $89,100 for the 50 shares bought Thursday, the filing shows. Gates, who became a Berkshire director last December, owns stock that's worth $353.5 million based on Tuesday's closing price. Microsoft, Softbank will offer telephone services in Japan. Microsoft Corp. and Softbank Corp. will jointly offer Internet-based telephone services to corporate customers in Japan. Microsoft's Japanese unit, Tokyo-based Softbank, and its Japan Telecom affiliate will sell a package that includes Internet phone, e-mail and Internet access starting in spring, the companies said in a faxed statement Monday.