World Tech Update #5, March 21, 2008
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YouTube is blacked out in China; Intel dreams of future mobile devices; and the world loses Arthur C Clarke. All that news and more on IDG�s World Tech Update.
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Thanks for joining us on World Tech Update, I�m Martyn Williams in Tokyo. Topping our news this week�. The heavy hand of government censorship came down again in China early in the week when the government shut-off access to YouTube and Google News. The move was apparently intended to stop the spread of video footage like this related to the rioting in several cities in Tibet.
The degree to which foreign Internet companies cooperate with governments on Internet censorship has been a hot issue for seveal years.
Now a code of conduct addressing how major Internet service providers and portal operators should deal with Internet censorship in China is in the final stages of preparation by Human Rights Watch and the companies, the head of the pressure group said Tuesday.
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A couple of weeks ago at Cebit in Germany we saw prototype mobile Internet devices running Intel's new Atom platform. This week at the Von.x show in San Jose Anand Chandrasekher, who heads Intel's Ultra Mobility Group, looked further into the future and the Moorestown chip, which makes up the base of Intel's second-generation Atom platorm.
First generation Atom devices are designed to be portable whereas Moorestown will make devices pocketable. The chip is the next step down in size with 10 times less power consumption at idle than Atom Centrino. The prototypes shown by Chandresekher weren't actual devices but Intel mocks of what products might look like. Moorestown should be available sometime next year.
The world lost Arthur C Clarke this week, who died on Tuesday at his home in Sri Lanka.
Clarke was best known in popular culture as the author of the story that inspired Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey," but perhaps his greatest contribution to technology was his proposal for geostationary co
mmunications satellites. It was made in 1945 -- twenty years before the launch of the first satellite.
Clarke celebrated his 90th birthday in December at which time he spoke about his life, technology and the world.
Arthur C Clarke:
"The mobile phone has revolutionized human communications, and is turning humanity into an endlessly chattering global family! What does this mean for us as a species? Communication technologies are necessary, but not sufficient, for us humans to get along with each other. This is why we still have many disputes and conflicts in the world. Technology tools help us to gather and disseminate information, but we also need qualities like tolerance and compassion to achieve greater understanding between peoples and nations."
Arthur C Clarke, who died this week.
News in brief and Intel plans to offer its Classmate PC, originally envisaged for developing markets, to companies that want to sell it to consumers in richer developed countries. It should be available later this year and cost between US$250 and $300. Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the first major update to the Windows Vista operating system, became available on Tuesday but you have to manually download it through Windows Update. Automatic downloads start next month. And Britain is under increased threat from state-sponsored cyberattacks, according to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. On Wednesday the UK published its first National Security Strategy and the government said it will "modernize its interception capability."
Japan's biggest camera makers gathered in Tokyo this week for the annual Photo Imaging Expo. At the show Panasonic unveiled a couple of new cameras with notable features.
The Lumix DMC-FX500 has a touch screen that makes it easier to control the camera. For example, users can keep a focus lock on objects in the shot by just selecting the object with a finger. In a demo the camera managed to successfully track several objects although was sometimes confused. The touchscreen can also be used for such things as manual aperture and shutter settings.
And the Lumix DMC-TZ50 packs Wi-Fi so pictures can be automatically be uploaded to the Web. The feature would be more useful is it could access sites other than Panasonic's own photo hosting site but for people who don't mind where their pictures end up it could be a neat feature. That's because the Panasonic site, called Lumix Club, is available in PC, cell phone and TV versions.
Image tracking is also a feature on Nikon's Coolpix S600. Called Kids Mode, it's been developed to help keep a focus on subjects that just won't keep still - like kids and pets.
Sony showed off the prototype of its upcoming flagship model in the Alpha digital SLR range but, as at the recent PMA show, was tight lipped on the product. What we know is that the camera has a full-frame sensor -- that's one the same size as a 35mm film frame -- and will be launched at a major event this year. We're betting September's Photokina show in Germany.
That�s all for this week�s World Tech Update. Next week my colleague Nick Barber is back in Boston. We�ll have video for you from the photo imaging expo in Tokyo along with, of course, all of the major technology news. As we head out this week we�ll leave you with some of the sights and sounds of the Photo Imaging Expo. For all of us here at the IDG News Service, I�m Martyn Williams. Thanks for watching, we�ll see you next week.
Produced by
IDG News Service
Nick Barber
Martyn Williams
Reporting
Nancy Gohring
Stephen Lawson
Sumner Lemon
Dan Nystedt
Steven Schwankert
Siobhan Chapman, Computerworld UK
Video:
IDG News Service
TVE Asia Pacific
� 2008 IDG
Lower thirds:
Martyn Williams
IDG News Service, Tokyo
YouTube blocked in China
Censorship code of conduct
Second-generation Atom
Arthur C Clarke, 1917-2008
Classmate goes wider
Vista SP1 available
Cyber attack threat
Photo Imaging Expo
World Tech Update
IDG News Service, Tokyo
