UPI Hi-Tech articles from February 2006

UPI Hi-Tech archives from February 2006

The Web: Traffic 'toll' contentious.
February 1, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- The surviving Baby Bells -- Verizon, Bell South and AT&T/SBC -- have disclosed that they may someday charge new fees to digital businesses, sites like Google and Yahoo!, that generate...

High hopes for Bush's tech initiative.
February 1, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- It may not be easy to win support for his plans for Iraq or for healthcare reform, but President Bush's proposal to beef up U.S. strength in science and technology could well be one of the...

Outsourcing becoming knowledge outsourcing.
February 1, 2006... Byline: BRANDON THURNER WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Embracing technology as a driving force, knowledge and transaction outsourcing is changing the way businesses conduct themselves in the global marketplace. "KPO (knowledge process...

Green Up Journals: Game time.
February 2, 2006... Byline: CHRIS BARYLICK GUERSNEY, Wyo., Feb. 2 (UPI) -- It is late January and the development team of "America's Army" -- the U.S. Army's free video game for the Mac OS X, Windows and Linux operating systems -- has arrived in Camp Guernsey...

Super Bowl an annual ritual of online bets.
February 2, 2006... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Here's how big the NFL's Super Bowl is: When else could a person go online to bet up to $1,000 on a coin toss? A bettor can place a wager on just that, as well as many of the small...

Eyes on Huawei-Nortel broadband deal.
February 2, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Nortel's decision to tie up with China's Huawei Technologies to develop broadband access is seen as a good deal for the Canadian telecommunications group. Yet some industry analysts are...

'Competitive' initiative may lack steam.
February 2, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- To revive America's leadership in technology and innovation, President Bush in his State of the Union address proposed multibillion-dollar funding in science and tech research and...

China's 12 billion New Year messages.
February 3, 2006... Byline: EDWARD LANFRANCO BEIJING, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Telecom officials in Beijing forecast 12 billion text messages were sent over the weeklong Chinese New Year holiday. The estimate was made public by China's Ministry of Information...

Nano World: Carbon nanotube capacitors.
February 3, 2006... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Carbon nanotubes could help release and hold electrical energy, for potential use in everything from microchips to hybrid cars, experts told UPI's Nano World. The nanotube devices are...

Wireless World: Real-time Head & Shoulders.
February 3, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A customer at a retail store picks a bottle of shampoo off the shelf, heads to the cashier, and pays for the product. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tag on the item sends a notice...

Globe Talk: Students meet innovation needs.
February 3, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Summer may seem an eternity away for those still struggling to weather the bleak winter season, but for college students, the race to snag a spot with some of the hottest internships around...

Green Up: Game time, Day 2.
February 3, 2006... Byline: CHRIS BARYLICK GUERNSEY, Wyo., Feb. 3 (UPI) -- In late January the development team of "America's Army," the United States Army's free video game for the Mac OS X, Windows and Linux operating systems, arrived in Camp Guernsey,...

Verizon gaming services bust stereotypes.
February 3, 2006... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- The classic stereotype of the antisocial video gamer alone in his basement is due for a renovation. Though there are more gamers than ever before, they are managing to find each...

Mobile industry key to Africa's future.
February 6, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Africa will see a significant rise in mobile subscribers between 2006 and 2011, adding as many as 265 million new subscribers, according to a recent study that indicates telecommunications...

Networking: Not-so-secret documents.
February 6, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Last fall a controversy erupted when the details of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri were revealed in a United Nations report -- after a cunning reader spotted...

Green Up: Game time, Day 3.
February 6, 2006... Byline: CHRIS BARYLICK GUERNSEY, Wyo., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- In late January the development team of America's Army, the U.S. Army's free video game for the Mac OS X, Windows and Linux operating systems, arrived in Camp Guernsey for three days...

Growing Indian innovation.
February 6, 2006... Byline: AMBIKA BEHAL WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Stepping beyond the traditional barriers attributed to a developing country, India is prepared to move ahead and do what it takes to get to the top, say Indian innovators and analysts. ...

Entertainment industry fights piracy.
February 6, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Finding itself in a whirlwind battle of fighting revenue losses as a result of piracy, the entertainment industry is pushing legislation that would prevent the exploitation of a gap in...

Nano World: Microbes can make nanocatalyst.
February 7, 2006... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Bacteria can salvage precious metals from electronics and automotive waste and with them create crystals that are nanometers or billionths of a meter wide that in future could serve as...

AOL, Yahoo! step up fight against spam.
February 7, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO Spam clogging up the e-mail inbox can be annoying, if not downright threatening, for users, while the perils of phishing and online fraud are great in cyberspace. To defeat these threats, Internet service providers are...

Valentine fire sparked by Net.
February 7, 2006... Byline: T.K. MALOY WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Gen X and Y are sparking the Valentine's Day romantic fire with some technological assistance. According to AT&T Inc., "Tech-savvy is the new suave this Valentine's Day," in a poll that...

The Web: Comparing doctors' costs online.
February 8, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Comparing the costs of different doctors -- and procedures -- can be a time-consuming affair. But a new project launched in recent months by the administration of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is...

Media executives meet in New York.
February 8, 2006... Byline: MICHELLE ALEXANDRIA NEW YORK, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A virtual who's who of media and technology executives are meeting, greeting and networking Wednesday at the Media Summit in New York. The purpose of the meeting is to bring together...

Can Japan's 3G market be up for grabs?
February 8, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- When it comes to electronics, Japanese consumers continue to vote with their wallets that home-grown still remains best. The result is the same when it comes to the popularity of...

WiFi tracking aid in mining communication.
February 8, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- In wake of recent mining tragedies, some technology companies have suggested extension of wireless real-time location technology using WiFi networks to pinpoint miners trapped underground...

Protecting the government from technology.
February 8, 2006... Byline: AMBIKA BEHAL WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- With the advent and increased usage of new technology, the law of the jungle reigns in copyright infringements through new media, and many challenges lie ahead, say leading innovators and...

Testing broadband on buses for efficiency.
February 9, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Traveling by bus can be notoriously unreliable, even in a country like Japan, where the public transportation system prides itself on efficiency and predictability. So buses have taken a back...

Net control at question.
February 9, 2006... Byline: T.K. MALOY WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Born in the United States, the Internet has long since become global -- but tensions have also grown over U.S. control of the core infrastructure and governance of the Net. The United...

Net neutrality and the regulation debate.
February 9, 2006... Byline: MEREDITH MACKENZIE WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Public-interest groups like Common Cause and the Consumer Federation of America want it; Internet service providers such as BellSouth, Verizon and AT&T, don't. Large internet...

One Laptop Project reaches critical stages.
February 9, 2006... Byline: CHRIS BARYLICK CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The One Laptop Per Child project, an effort spearheaded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Laboratory and joined by several corporate partners and international...

India a topper in average e-com deals.
February 10, 2006... Byline: INDRAJIT BASU CALCUTTA, India, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- With less than 4 percent of the total population using the Internet, Net-savvy dwellers of the World Wide Web may still be a minority in India, but when it comes to online shopping,...

NTT DoCoMo, Nippon TV bet on moile TV.
February 10, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Long train commutes are part of daily life for many Tokyo residents, so perhaps hopes are high in Japan for mobile TV to become a reality. Certainly, the country's biggest mobile carrier and...

Mobile remittance gains ground in the Philippines.
February 10, 2006... Byline: DENNIS POSADAS MANILA, Philippines, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Rod Durmiendo is a software developer in Manila, and like many Filipinos, he sends money back home to family members living outside of the capital. In Durmiendo's case, he sends...

The men behind Vcast mobile music service.
February 10, 2006... Byline: MICHELLE ALEXANDRIA NEW YORK, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- At the Third Annual Media Summit gathering Wednesday UPI had a chance to sit down with WiderThan Americas Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vern Poyner and Senior Vice President of Products...

Google Chat takes on AIM Express.
February 10, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Google has its cake and is eating to. The concept of Google Chat (soon to be released) wins best instant messenger for the workplace, in this correspondent's opinion -- hands down. ...

Wireless World: 'The Thumbdance Channel'.(Company Profile)
February 10, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- You've heard of the "Sundance Channel," the independent movie network on cable TV founded by Robert Redford. Someday you may be hearing more about the "Thumbdance Channel" and other...

Nano World: Nanotubes arrayed on sapphire.
February 10, 2006... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Crystalline sapphire could help steer carbon nanotubes into orderly rows to create transistors and flexible electronics with, experts told UPI's Nano World. For decades, chipmakers...

Bottom Line: 'India's Google'.
February 10, 2006... Byline: GREGORY FOSSEDAL SEATTLE, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- "Jim Cramer giveth," as one investor here put it, "and Jim Cramer taketh away." A number of international tech and Asia-focused funds were caught in a trading bubble recently as the...

Cable 'a la carte' gets boost.
February 10, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Consumers may find a happier ground with their cable companies now that the recent cable "a la carte" pricing report from the FCC favored allowing cable subscribers to purchase channels of...

Renesas to make LSIs for 3G mobiles.
February 13, 2006... TOKYO, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Chipmaker Renesas Technology will develop a next-generation large-scale integration circuit, a Japanese daily reported Monday. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said that the semiconductor manufacturer will collaborate with...

Japan not alone in high-tech hopes.
February 13, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Technological superiority may well be the key for a country to retain its competitive edge in coming years, and the number of governments prepared to pump more resources into boosting innovation...

Networking: Laggards and 'freaks'.
February 13, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Are you a laggard cubicle dweller? An early-adopting connectivity junkie? Or a PIM -- personal information management -- freak? Whatever the situation may be, developers of networks are...

Tech gifts say 'iLove you' for men.
February 13, 2006... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- For many guys, nothing says "I love you" like an iPod. According to a survey by IOGEAR Inc., 61 percent of men said they would rather receive a tech gadget of some sort than the...

Internet vid content jumps on mobile wave.
February 13, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- In the thriller recut of the romantic trailer for "Sleepless in Seattle," a needy Meg Ryan stalks her next victim, the lonely widower Tom Hanks residing in the painfully overcast, rainy...

Japan's law to favor online shoppers.
February 14, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Shopping online is not only convenient, but it also allows consumers to buy products beyond borders easily. So it is easy enough for those living in one country to buy the product of another,...

Censorship or not, U.S. Web companies need China.
February 14, 2006... Byline: INDRAJIT BASU As U.S.-based Web giants gear up for an awkward debate with the House of Representatives in Washington on Wednesday over adhering to Chinese censorship, experts believe that the hearing will end up in little but empty...

Tech huge factor in being 'cool'.
February 14, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- No longer are today's generation of cool kids defined by the brand names they wear -- now they're defined as being the "Creatives," according to a recent study. Creatives are the most...

E-money gains further ground in Japan.
February 15, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- It's been a year since East Japan Railway decided to concentrate on getting more of its riders to use an electronic money system for everything from buying commuting tickets to purchasing...

Google, Amazon to battle Apple's iTunes?
February 15, 2006... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Apple's iTunes may soon face challenges for digital music sales supremacy, if rumors of competition from Internet titans Google and Amazon are true. According to a Financial Times...

The Web: Free speech -- for Chinese admen.
February 15, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Commercial speech on the Internet -- marketing and advertising -- does not seem to be subject to the same strict censorship standards that political speech is in China, and today, most...

Company to offer 3-D navigation for 3G.
February 15, 2006... Byline: LEAH KRAUSS BINYAMINA, Israel, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- An Israeli company exhibiting at this week's 3GSM 2006 conference in Barcelona, Spain, plans to announce that its 3-D navigation technology, currently available in some Japanese cars,...

Is 2006 (finally) the year of 3G?
February 15, 2006... Byline: GEORGINA VOSS LONDON, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Massive increases in subscriptions and the introduction of new access technologies may mean that 2006 might finally be the year that third-generation, or 3G, wireless devices take off. This...

U.S. calls for fall of Great Firewall.
February 15, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Lawmakers voiced concern over U.S. Internet companies fostering censorship in China in order to secure a place in the lucrative Chinese market. But tech companies say its part of the...

'America's Army' game transformed.
February 16, 2006... Byline: CHRIS BARYLICK WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Sometimes an idea gains an unintended purpose and becomes something else entirely. Vacuum tubes, originally designed as a signal amplifier for radio technologies, became useful in the...

America's favorite pastime: Web surfing?
February 16, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Jolene Troup finds herself surfing the Web during her downtime at work, whether it be checking her online banking statement or her Myspace mail to playing games or reading up on course...

Nano World: Nanotubes dampen vibrations.
February 16, 2006... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Carbon tubes only nanometers or billionths of a meter wide could help absorb vibrations at high temperatures, for potential use in everything from stereo loudspeakers that do not buzz to...

Wireless World: $30 billion in TV phones.
February 17, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The content isn't quite up to the level of Kiefer Sutherland's anti-terrorist, noir drama "24" just yet, but mobile TV enabled telephones are nonetheless poised for massive market growth,...

Satellite radio companies post Q4 losses.
February 17, 2006... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Satellite radio competitors XM Radio and Sirius each announced heavy fourth-quarter losses this week, though both continue to add subscribers. XM announced Thursday that they lost...

Big 6 to lose clout in global outsourcing.
February 17, 2006... Byline: INDRAJIT BASU CALCUTTA, India, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The Indian IT outsourcing service sector is finally poised to challenge the dominance of the six global biggies. TPI, a large outsource consulting firm, revealed Thursday that the...

Cisco CEO to use 'holistic' security.
February 17, 2006... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Network security is evolving from a "pinpoint" system of attacking isolated threats to a large-scale "holistic" approach to security, said John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, at the...

Nano World: Nano for self-healing material.
February 20, 2006... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Nanoparticles dispersed throughout a material can migrate to cracks, potentially leading to self-healing composites in everything from cockpits to microelectronics, experts told UPI's Nano...

Japan expecting more from its academics.
February 20, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO KANAZAWA, Japan, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Small discoveries could lead to major scientific developments and even bigger economic gain, if unveiling the movement of protein molecules is any indication. Or at least that's...

Networking: The end of 'shoulder surfing?'.
February 20, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI Some hackers like to "shoulder surf," or steal unsuspecting PC users' passwords by looking over their shoulders at the Internet cafe. Others prefer to crack an account's password -- using sophisticated software...

Japan baseball teams make more use of IT.
February 20, 2006... TOKYO, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Some of Japan's newer baseball teams are using information technology to improve the game experience for fans, a local daily reported Monday. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said that the two-year-old Fukuoka Daiei Hawks...

Japan's tech park boosts industry research.
February 21, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO KANAZAWA, Japan, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- From China to Malaysia, setting up special economic zones and industrial parks that offer tax breaks, advanced telecommunications infrastructure, and other perks to businesses is...

Media experiment aims for a million hits.
February 21, 2006... Byline: LEAH KRAUSS Can a Web site attract millions of visitors in a relatively short amount of time without spending any money on advertising? Russel Mcgurk, a 22-year-old British student, decided a week ago to find out. Motivated by...

Nano World: Methanol fuel cell thru nano.
February 21, 2006... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Nanotechnological fuel cells that run on methanol could one day power everything from cell phones to cars, experts told UPI's Nano World. For laptops, cell phones and other portable...

Online gambling ban reintroduced.
February 21, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A bill reintroduced in Congress that would crack down on illegal, offshore gambling or interstate gambling via phone or Internet technologies is expected to pick up momentum, now that a...

The Web: Dialup not as dead as disco, yet.
February 22, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Is dialup Internet access, so to say, as dead as disco? Or does it still have a few smooth moves left? The conventional wisdom is that broadband is overtaking good old modems as the...

Teen bloggers overshare info -- study.
February 22, 2006... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Teenage bloggers often willingly reveal their names, ages and offline locations in their blogs, leaving them vulnerable to cyberstalking, according to a recent study. In his paper...

Robots used to keep Japan's children safe.
February 22, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Getting children safely to and from school is seemingly no easy feat these days, and some local governments in Japan are prepared to make full use of available technology to ensure that students...

Bills support broadband over TV spectrum.
February 22, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Two bills recently introduced in Congress aim to provide consumers with greater access to wireless broadband via unused broadcast television spectrum called "white spaces" or "empty...

Livedoor e-mail scandal rattles lawmakers.
February 23, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Is the e-mail real or is it a forgery? That is the question that has been the hottest topic for debate among Japanese legislators over the past week, ever since a member of the opposition...

Nano World: Making safer carbon nanotubes.
February 23, 2006... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Carbon nanotubes can get modified to help them pass apparently safely through bloodstreams, potentially easing past concerns about nanotube toxicity, experts told UPI's Nano World. ...

India eyes hi-tech manufacturing.
February 23, 2006... Byline: INDRAJIT BASU CALCUTTA, India, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- India is now finally poised to realize its dreams of moving beyond software into the very heart of hi-tech manufacturing: the microchips. SemIndia, a consortium of U.S.-based tech...

iRobot's PackBot on the front lines.
February 24, 2006... Byline: CHRIS BARYLICK WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Almost three years into the Iraq conflict and four into the Afghanistan war, the phrase "improvised explosive devices" has become one that is met with hesitation. This is a new style of...

Wireless World: Not just for nebbishes.
February 24, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A few years ago wireless data networks were a novelty, something that only nebbishes enjoyed, and no one else really understood, or cared to understand. Now they're a business necessity --...

Japan police struggle against cybercrime.
February 24, 2006... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Japan may still be one of the safest countries in the world when it comes to violent crime, but the number committed in cyberspace is on the rise, according to the National Police Agency. ...

Vodafone and Orange join messaging forces.
February 24, 2006... Byline: LEAH KRAUSS United Kingdom-based cellular providers Vodafone and Orange will soon provide their customers with instant messaging interoperability. The companies unveiled the move at last week's 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona....

Tech empowers victims' access to hotline.
February 24, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Thanks to a new technology system, more domestic-violence victims around the country will have better access to life-saving services through the National Domestic Violence Hotline. ...

Networking: Fingerprints of terrorists.
February 27, 2006... Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A Muslim terrorist places a bomb inside a mosque in Iraq. The bomb detonates, obliterating most of the building. But American military personnel, sifting through the debris, just moments...

Fiber optics may beat hackers.
February 27, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Fiber-optic communication is coming closer to becoming the next boom in worldwide communication, as researchers are using quantum physics to make it both secure and fast. This means...

Portable cocaine sensor on the cheap.
February 27, 2006... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A portable cocaine sensor made with inexpensive, off-the-shelf electronics could be the wave of the future in detecting drug trafficking. Researchers at the University of California,...

Wager on your Oscar favorites online.
February 27, 2006... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Think Brokeback Mountain is a shoo-in for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards? You can put your money where your mouth is, at a variety of online gambling sites that offer odds...