Virgin has announced an October launch for its Lobster 700TV handset, which can receive video and radio over the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) network.

BT has been trying to generate interest in broadcasting video to mobile phones over DAB for a few years now, but the logistics of designing a compatible handset and negotiating for content have put off most network operators; until now.

DAB is a technology well-suited to integration into a phone: it was designed for low power consumption and for use on mobile devices, and while it does need an external antenna, the use of the headset wire makes the experience the same as using an FM radio on a normal handset.

Read More : The Register - BT and Virgin announce broadcast TV over DAB

“Tzero Technologies and Analog Devices announced that they have created a wireless HDMI interface for HDTVs, next-gen DVD players, and set-top boxes. The backbone for the technology is ultrawideband, also used as a future replacement for wired USB. The Analog Device compresses data with the [lossy] JPEG2000 video codec, which is then packetized and encrypted, and transmitted via the Tzero MAC and PHY chip.”

Source : Slashdot - Wireless HDMI Prototype Announced

The most powerful supercomputer available for general scientific research in the United States has undergone an upgrade that’s doubled its peak performance. The Cray XT3 supercomputer at Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory can now perform up to 54 trillion calculations per second, up from its previous peak of 25 trillion calculations. ‘It is probably the fifth-fastest machine’ in the world, said Thomas Zacharia, associate laboratory director. ‘It is clearly the fastest open-science machine in the U.S. today.

Source: Slashdot
Source: North Florida Daily News

Ever get annoyed when looking at photos and you just can’t remember where it was taken? Well soon that will be a thing of the past. It’s almost September, the second month of the year when Sony changes its product range. This September sees the release of the GPS-CS1, a 9cm GPS receiver. The idea behind the CS1 is to allow photographers to overlay their images onto the Google maps framework. It does this by synchronising the GPS log file with the timestamp found in your photo’s EXIF metadata.

Updating every 15 seconds, the CS1 records your position via GPS to a plain text log file. Using this data, the photograph’s timestamp and the bundled Picture Motion Browser web software, you can view the exact location where you took the picture, along with a thumbnail of the image itself. Example here: http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/Peripheral/GPS/GPS-CS1K/TryMapView/try.html (Internet Explorer Only)

Sony has guaranteed that the unit will work with all Sony cameras released after August, perhaps as the software will start to come in the box. However, providing your camera supports the EXIF 2.1 metadata standard, there is no reason that the software wouldn’t work with your camera.

Sony GPS-CS1 Specification

Of course there are certain privacy issues that come into play when dealing with GPS, and the CS1 is no exception. Get hold of one and you have a full history of where the owners been. Drop one in a bag and you have a relatively cheap surveillance device - perfect for stalking that desired girl or unfaithful partner. The software works with Google maps, meaning the data is being sent over the Internet and available for snoopers to get a hold of and if Google logs, then its trivial for the government to find out where you’ve been and at what time.

The BBC are reporting on the latest advancement in technology - A 110Ghz silicon transistor. By adding flourine to the silicon transisitors, researchers at the University of Southampton managed to greatly improve the speed at which the common transistor is capable of running, making the result a new world record. From the article:

“It just takes a standard technology and adds one extra step……This is a really cheap method.”

The new process is said to be very cheap and easy to impliment, meaning that we should see the new technology in the not too distant future. Ideal implications are in the mobile computing world, with mobile phones and PDA’s at the forefront.

“Complete circuits usually operate at about a tenth of the speed of the component transistors meaning the new devices could allow engineers to build chips that operate at a speed of about 11GHz.”

More Information: BBC News - Speedy silicon sets world record

Irish telecoms regulator, ComReg, recently came under fire from one of the countries biggest cinema groups after it decided that cinemas wishing to implement mobile phone blocking technology would have to acquire the consent of the network operators. Talking on the issue, director of the Irish Cellular Industry Association (ICIA), Tommy McCabe said:

“The use of interceptors would generate significantly greater concerns for users, venues and operators - particularly where public safety is concerned.”

Adding that the issue of mobile phone use in cinemas is one of behavioural rather than regulatory, and should be addressed through education. Further pointing out that nearly all phones have a built in silent mode option that would enable patrons to stay in contact without ruining the experience for others.

With all the hype of the new 802.11n wireless spec floating around, it would appear that a number of manufacturers are starting to put out the required hardware. Unfortunately for the consumer, the 802.11n spec is still in the draft 1.0 phase, with a second draft not being planned until early next year.

802.11n, the upgrade from 802.11g, will give speeds of upto 600mbps, a vast improvement in wireless transmission speed. The current problems arise as the spec has not been fully resolved, meaning that many devices currently available will, likely, be incompatible with the final draft. Furthermore, initial testing has shown a very bad inter-manufacturer compatibilty.

More Information : 5150 at IBM.com
Further Spec : Old-Computers.com

With the new regulations being introduced in the UK allowing mobile network operators to block access to phones by invalidating its IMEI, the BBC are reporting on the relative ease of which the IMEI can be manually changed by the average user using , soon to be outlawed but publically available software.

The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is a 15 digit number that contains information about the device and is only used on GSM networks. Currently O2 and Vodaphone, operating the older networks, are unable to block via IMEI, but that will change when the new laws are passed into effect.

Your phones IMEI number can often be found on the inside cover of you device or displayed on screen by keying *#06# into your phone.

Blackberry devices are under scrutiny once again as, director of research for Germany’s Praetorian Global, Jesse D’Aguanno demonstrates its effectiveness as a hacking tool at this years DefCon. D’Aguanno plans to release a software suite later this month that will allow an attacker to penetrate a companies Intranet with veritable ease. The vunerability occurs as there is little to no segmentation between the Blackberry device and the internal network.

More Information : http://www.praetoriang.net/presentations/blackjack.html