UPI Hi-Tech articles from October 2005

UPI Hi-Tech archives from October 2005

Networking: Home-networking boom coming.
October 3, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- New home developers -- and Silicon Valley technology companies -- are collaborating to bring consumers the "digital domicile," a completely connected home, where TVs, iPods and other...

Rally for less U.S.-centric Internet gains momentum.
October 3, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- While U.S. dominance of the Internet is clear, and the use of English prevails in cyberspace, there is increasing pressure from both industrialized and developing nations alike to break up at...

Digital music sales triple.
October 3, 2005... Byline: T.K. MALOY WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- If the recording industry had any doubts about the power of online music, they were put to rest Monday with a report from the London-based IFPI that digital sales of music tripled over last...

Japan's telecom battles claims victim.
October 4, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- For the investors of Heisei Denden, it was as if the telecommunications industry was going to return to its heyday of the late 1990s. Yet the glitter used to attract shareholders could not keep...

Nano World: Super-insulating frozen smoke.
October 4, 2005... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- The world's best thermal insulators, aerogels made of necklaces of nanometer-sized beads, are starting to find their way into flexible, lightweight sheets in everything from attack...

Blog Log: What's holding you back, Judy?
October 4, 2005... Byline: STOKELY BAKSH WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- What was the point of New York Times reporter Judith Miller's 85-day stand in refusing to identify her source and staying in an Alexandria, Va., jail? For some, Miller is a press...

The Web: Anti-phishing 'posses' hunt criminals.
October 5, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last Friday signed into law the first state legislation that penalizes fraudsters who steal online identities through "phishing" scams, but Internet...

Internet trading's risks to Japan stocks.
October 5, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Japanese investors have been euphoric over the past few weeks as the stock market continues to grow from strength to strength amid growing optimism about the country's economic outlook. Yet the...

Online journalism continues quality gains.
October 5, 2005... Byline: ANNA CARBINO WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Judging from the recent finalist announced for this year's Online Journalism Awards, the field of online news continues to become more robust and high quality, according to contest...

Va. town pioneers new broadband technology.
October 5, 2005... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ MANASSAS, Va., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- The entire city of Manassas, Va., is now online, thanks to broadband-over-powerline technology, Manassas Mayor Douglas Waldron said at a news conference Wednesday morning. ...

Japanese Internet suicide clubs targeted by police.
October 6, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Finding a soul mate is one of the great rewards of the Internet for many across the globe. Yet in Japan, cyberspace is also a convenient location for those trying to find someone to die with, as...

World of Warcraft, VoIP and dating.
October 6, 2005... Byline: CHRIS BARYLICK WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- On a cool October night, Laura Bowser, 27, returns home from her post-work run to her modest town house. She soon finds herself flopped into a high-backed leather office chair poring over...

Wireless World: Spychips invading privacy?
October 7, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Chips that track boxes on trucks and ships soon may be sophisticated enough to monitor every move of consumers, a controversial new book claims. Experts told UPI's Wireless World that...

Online copyright ruling favors newspaper.
October 7, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Using newspaper articles on the Internet without permission is against the law, or so a Japanese court officially ruled Thursday. That finding may well have long-term consequences on how the news...

Nano World: Ultra-dense circuits.
October 7, 2005... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Conventional electronics could in the future tap into the computational power of ultrahigh-density nanowire circuits via novel linking devices under development at university and corporate...

FEMA computers hampered during Katrina.
October 10, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Faulty federal computer networks may have been partly to blame for the government's lackadaisical response to major storms last summer -- and Hurricane Katrina this year, experts tell...

Electronic money making headway in Japan.
October 10, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- For Tamayo Mikitani, making sure her Suica card is in her bag has become second nature, just like she wouldn't dream of leaving home without her cell phone or her makeup bag. "First of all,...

Nano World: Nano processing looks green.
October 11, 2005... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Manufacturing techniques for five near-market nanomaterials -- including carbon nanotubes, quantum dots and buckyballs -- present fewer environmental risks than several common industrial...

System sends disaster info via wireless.
October 11, 2005... Byline: RYAN HOLEYWELL WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- A bill currently making its way through the U.S. Senate calls for development of a notification system that would use wireless and cellular technology to convey lifesaving information in...

The Web: Industry dismisses U.N. control.
October 12, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Legal experts say that despite much caterwauling, the United Nations is unlikely to emerge as the next power broker of the Internet, and U.S. companies, which created cyberspace, are...

Vidcasting market set to grow.
October 12, 2005... Byline: CHRIS BARYLICK WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- The next Internet revolution may just begin at home on an almost non-existent budget. Over the past year, vidcasting, or video-on-demand broadcasts, have gained popularity across the...

Apple unveils iPod with video capabilities.
October 12, 2005... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced Wednesday the creation of a new, improved iPod with a 2.5-inch color display and video-playback capability. The announcement came at invitation-only...

Train Man romances Tokyo's computer geeks.
October 13, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Impoverished computer geeks are becoming hot commodities in Japan these days, thanks to one blockbusting book that originated on a weblog. Until two years ago, it was one thing to be Bill...

Nano World: Quantum Dot may be sold cheap.
October 13, 2005... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Analysts are studying last week's acquisition by Invitrogen of Quantum Dot Corp., the nanotech startup that laid claim to all key life-science applications for quantum dots, trying to...

Entrepreneur: The business plan.
October 13, 2005... Byline: CHRIS BARYLICK WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- The document's almost done and has begun to shape up nicely. Over the past several hours we worked out some bugs in the math, created adjustable formulas in the appropriate Excel...

Wireless World: Industry mum on attacks.
October 14, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Who do most IT professionals call when there has been a breach of security -- an attack by hackers seeking to steal information from mobile phones and personal digital assistants? Is it...

Internet co. rattles Japan's media.
October 14, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- The revelation that an Internet startup has become the biggest shareholder in one of Japan's most influential media outlets has delighted investors but is rattling those in the industry. ...

New iPod raises Apple stock, sparks debate.
October 14, 2005... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Feedback to Apple Computer Co.'s unveiling of the new iPod continues to flow in, both in reactions and in the market. Apple's stock rose more than 9 percent Thursday, one day after...

Networking: E-mail is the 'new telephone'.
October 17, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Ten years ago Mark J. Grossman's office was alive with the sound of ringing phones and chatter from account executives placing sales calls. "The prevailing sound today is 'click, click,...

Britain's broadband wars heat up.
October 17, 2005... LONDON, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- The broadband wars are heating up in Britain, where Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB satellite TV operation looks set to fight BT and France's Wanadoo for market share. BT is the current market leader, benefiting from its...

AOL has full dance card.
October 17, 2005... Byline: T.K. MALOY WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- America Online, whose fortunes, had run from feast to famine, looks to once again have a full dance card with possible acquisition partners reading like a list of the dot-com titans. ...

Nano World: Technique peers under surfaces.
October 18, 2005... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Scientists can now spot microscopic defects hidden inside any material and parasites within cells using a new imaging method that can peer through surfaces to see buried objects nanometers...

China telecoms feel foreign competition.
October 18, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Perhaps no other industry is as global and dynamic as the mobile telecommunications industry these days, as multinationals jostle for the top spot in providing better services to more...

Tech-sector job cuts up 20 percent.
October 18, 2005... Byline: T.K. MALOY WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Despite increased revenues and profits for the high-tech industry, the technology sector has been cutting jobs at a faster clip than last year while creating few new jobs to replace...

Feds bolstering online banking security.
October 19, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Federal banking regulators are ordering financial institutions to bolster their Internet security by the end of next year, hoping to halt identity theft. But experts tell UPI's The Web...

Realtors join podcasting craze.
October 19, 2005... Byline: RYAN HOLEYWELL WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Rock bands use them. Pornographers have made them too. Even politicians and governments are joining the craze. So while it may seem unusual at first, it's really only logical that...

Catering to the fashionista's phone needs.
October 19, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Gone are the days when the cell phone was used simply as a tool for conversation, and connectivity was the single-biggest factor in determining customer demand. For those on the go now,...

China upset with Google's Taiwan map.
October 19, 2005... Byline: EDWARD LANFRANCO BEIJING, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Mainland media control over Chinese-language content took a blow Wednesday with state press claiming rage after Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet giant Google removed referrals to...

Hurricanes not stealing mobile's thunder.
October 20, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Mobile-phone companies are enjoying something of a renaissance, with industry giant Motorola reporting record earnings in the latest quarter. But while industry analysts are broadly upbeat...

Google reports $1.6B in 3Q revenue.
October 20, 2005... Byline: T.K. MALOY WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- It is often joked lately that search titan Google Inc. may someday -- perhaps someday soon -- rule the world. It is the center of much of the Internet world in terms of the sheer number of...

Wikipedia's audience quadruples.
October 20, 2005... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- In perhaps the ultimate sign of a free and democratic Internet, the Web's most popular reference site has become one that is maintained not by a library or organization but by the...

Nano World: New nanotoxicity framework.
October 21, 2005... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- For the first time, investigators have a framework for assessing what health risks novel manmade nanomaterials might pose humans, experts told UPI's Nano World. A new report from...

Wireless World: Libraries embrace wireless.
October 21, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- A library patron ambles out the door, book in hand, without stopping by the librarian. Is this theft? No, it's the new checkout procedure, made possible by Radio Frequency Identification...

Push for telecom deregulation moves ahead.
October 21, 2005... Byline: ANNA CARBINO WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Telecom deregulation is vital to U.S. competitiveness in the global marketplace, Republican lawmakers and deregulation advocates said this week, but opponents fear monopolization and a...

Singapore cracks down on mobile-phone abuse.
October 21, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Tracing calls and going through phone logs to see where and when criminals telephoned is routine work for policemen everywhere is and used as evidence in courts worldwide as well. In recent...

Analysis: EU, U.S. slug it out in cyberspace.
October 21, 2005... Byline: CHRISTIANE KIRKETERP AND GARETH HARDING BRUSSELS, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- It is not every day that world leaders have either the time or inclination to discuss the finer points of Internet domain name control. But when U.S. President...

Businesses look to VoIP solutions.
October 21, 2005... Byline: CHRIS BARYLICK WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Like the party line and the Telex, the traditional phone network at your office may be next to go, as more firms adopt Voice over Internet Protocol technologies to both expand features...

Networking: R&D going global.
October 24, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- R&D in networking hardware and software is accelerating, as several new development projects have been announced this month in Bangalore and Pune, India, and at least one foreign firm has...

Apple shaken by iPod Nano lawsuit.
October 24, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Demand for iPods seems insatiable, but Apple is beginning to feel the heat of its success these days, not least in the form of lawsuits from some disgruntled customers. A class-action...

Nano World: Nano bombs kill tumors.
October 25, 2005... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Exploding carbon nanotubes could serve as bombs that kill tumors, experts told UPI's Nano World. In the last two years scientists have reported killing cancer using nanotubes and...

'Wireless Webbers' live digital lifestyle.
October 25, 2005... Byline: T.K. MALOY WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- "Wireless Webbers" are more likely to lead an entirely digital lifestyle compared to more standard Netsurfers. Research released Tuesday by market-research group Ipsos Insight reports...

The Web: Carriers dragging feet on E911?
October 26, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A number of telecom carriers may not meet next month's Federal Communications Commission deadline to implement 911 emergency call services for Internet telephony, experts tell United...

S. Korea to use APEC to show off hi-tech.
October 26, 2005... Byline: JONG-HEON LEE SEOUL, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- South Korea is poised to show off its world-class technological prowess during next month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting to be held in the country's southern port city, officials...

Gaming for a smarter America.
October 26, 2005... Byline: ANNA CARBINO WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Video games have the potential to improve learning in the United States and keep the nation at the fore of global competition, say hopeful education and technology experts. Educators...

Text messaging could make U.S. gains.
October 27, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- The United States has lagged behind Europe and Japan when it comes to text-messaging from cell phones, but that gap is closing rapidly, according to a recent report. In its study on...

Steam propels game software sales online.
October 27, 2005... Byline: CHRIS BARYLICK WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Walking into a store, snagging a piece of game software from the shelves and purchasing it at the register may be about to change in the next few years. Recently, several firms have...

Net continues making inroads in usage.
October 27, 2005... Byline: T.K. MALOY WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Home Internet usage hit 55 percent by 2003 propelling a jump in online news and e-commerce, according to a Census Bureau report released Thursday. "Computer and Internet Use in the United...

Nano World: Quantum dots for white light.
October 28, 2005... Byline: CHARLES Q. CHOI NEW YORK, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Fluorescent crystals only nanometers or billionths of a meter wide can shine white light. This advance could one day help replace the light bulb with paint containing the glowing quantum...

Wireless World: 'WiFi before you fly'.
October 28, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport this week debuted a wireless Internet system throughout all its terminals, outflanking Boston Logan and other major U.S. airports by...

Tricking or treating an iPod?
October 28, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- For some music fans, spending a day without their iPod is inconceivable, and that includes Halloween. After all, from the morning jog to a day at the office and getting around in the...

Groups battle FCC's Wiretap Act extension.
October 30, 2005... Byline: ELLIOT SMILOWITZ WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Civil liberties groups have come out strongly against the Federal Communications Commission's order to expand the Wiretap Act and force universities and public Internet networks to...

Telefonica to acquire U.K. mobile firm O2.
October 31, 2005... MADRID, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Spain's Telefonica has agreed to buy British mobile phone company O2 in a deal aimed at expanding Telefonica's European presence. Telefonica Chairman Cesar Alierta told reporters Monday the deal would open the door...

Telefonica's O2 buyout buoys outlook.
October 31, 2005... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Business hopes are high at Telefonica in acquiring O2, a deal that was officially announced Monday after weeks of speculation. The Spanish company, which is the world's fifth-largest...

AOL founder Case resigns Time Inc. board.
October 31, 2005... Byline: T.K. MALOY WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The resignation of Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, from the board of parent company Time Warner Inc. brings a symbolic end to the now-dated hopes of synergy between the two companies. ...

Kids take more online risks at home.
October 31, 2005... WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Kids are more likely to take online risk at home than at school, a new study reported Monday. While home computer use for fun, games and e-mailing friends is common among youth, it also offers kids more...

Networking: Digital doctors' records.
October 31, 2005... Byline: GENE J. KOPROWSKI CHICAGO, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Old-fashioned medical claims processing -- doctors handwriting codes for procedures on hardcopy files -- is gradually being replaced by digital physicians networks, electronic archives...