YouTube all set for Hollywood Partnership

According to New York Times, YouTube and the William Morris Agency are nearing a deal that would put the Hollywood talent broker's clients in YouTube productions.

The YouTube deal would reportedly give William Morris clients an ownership stake in the videos they create for the popular video Web site. William Morris represents the likes of actors Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe and producers Michael Bay and J.J. Abrams.

An agreement would give the agency's clients, which also include musicians and other celebrities, access to at least 100 million viewers, the latest figure comScore offered for YouTube traffic.

Microsoft releases Web Sandbox

Software giant Microsoft has made source code for its Live Labs Web Sandbox project for securing Web content through isolation available via open source under the Apache License 2.0s.

Web Sandbox features technology for mashing up code while maintaining process isolation, quality of service protection, and security. It is intended to address a problem in which Web gadgets, mashup components, advertisements, and other third-party content on Web sites either will run full trust alongside content or are isolated inside of IFrames. This results in many Web applications being intrinsically insecure with unpredictable service quality.

Microsoft has open-sourced the Web Sandbox framework and is partnering with industry leaders to evolve Web Sandbox into an industry-wide solution.

Microsoft is looking for developers to experiment with Web Sandbox. Web Sandbox builds upon Microsoft's experience with DHTML, Windows, Windows Live Web-based gadgets, and the Microsoft BrowserShield project, which leverages JavaScript virtualization through rewriting.

Although Microsoft is using an Apache license for the project, it is not sponsored or endorsed by the Apache Software Foundation. The company last year became a sponsor of the foundation.

$1 trillion global loss from data theft

According to a study released by security technology firm McAfee Inc. , data theft and breaches from cybercrime may have cost businesses as much as $1 trillion globally in lost intellectual property and expenditures for repairing the damage last year.

McAfee made the projection based on responses to a survey of more than 800 chief information officers in the US, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China, India, Brazil, and Dubai.

The respondents estimated that they lost data worth a total of $4.6 billion and spent about $600 million cleaning up after breaches.

The California-based company launched the survey after detecting a rapid acceleration of malicious software, last year.

According to McAfee Inc. - CEO David DeWalt, “This was a very insidious type of malware that was designed either to steal your data, steal your identity, steal your money, and in many cases the scale as well as the sophistication was very alarming”.

The survey of 800 companies in 8 countries showed that 80 percent of malware aimed to make a financial gain, in contrast to traditional viruses and worms which just had nuisance value.

Data lost accidentally or through theft can be expensive to replace and simultaneously, it can be damaging to a company's reputation or brand.

New Lumix Digital Cameras from Panasonic

Panasonic is all set to expand its line of Lumix digital cameras. All the new cameras are expected to arrive in April.

The TS1 is a new model that is waterproof, shockproof and dustproof, and also records AVCHD Lite High Definition (HD) video. It’s a 12.1-megapixel camera with 28mm lens, 4.6 optical zoom and iA mode. It’s waterproof to 10 feet, shockproof from up to five feet, and dustproof with rubber padding, reinforced glass and carbon resins inside the camera, and an airtight body. The camera also touts a 2.7-inch LCD display. Priced at $399.95, the camera will be available in silver, green or orange finishes.

The DMC-FS25 is a 12.1-megapixel camera with 5x optical zoom and 29mm wide-angle lens. It sports a 3.0-inch LCD display and shares the same slim look as other FS-series Lumix cameras. The camera’s “Intelligent Auto” mode includes Auto Focus tracking and “Intelligent Exposure” functions. It works with SD and SDHC memory cards. It’s priced at $249.95; it will be available in silver, black and gold finishes.

The FX580 also features a 12.1-megapixel sensor and touch-screen 3.0-inch display interface, paired to a 25mm lens with F2.8 brightness and 5x optical zoom lens. Optical image stabilization, the “Intelligent Auto” (iA) mode and other features come standard; it can also record 1280 x 720 video at 30 frames per second. It’s priced at $399.95 and comes in an aluminum body.

The DMC-FX48, another 12.1-megapixel model, features a 25mm ultra-wide-angle lens, 5x optical zoom, iA mode, image stabilization, and face recognition. It records 1280 x 720 video at 30 fps, sports a high-speed burst mode and macro zoom function, and has a 2.5-inch LCD. It’s priced at $349.95 and comes in silver and black finishes.

The new ZS series succeeds Panasonic’s TZ series. The $399.95 ZS3 sports 10.1-megapixel sensor, 25mm ultra-wide-angle lens and 12x optical zoom, and can record video in AVCHD Lite format. It features the same iA mode found on the other new Lumix models along with Face Recognition. The ZS1, priced at $299.95, comes with a 10.1-megapixel CCD, standard iA mode (no face recognition) and no movie mode.

iPhone and iPod touch dominate IGF Mobile award finalists

IGF Mobile- The Independent Games Festival Mobile, has named its finalists for its second annual competition. The iPhone and iPod touch dominate the award finalists and are the clear winner. Games made to be played on the devices dominate in every category.

IGF Mobile takes places during the Game Developers Conference (GDC) Mobile conference, at a special ceremony that is scheduled to happen during the event on March 24 in San Francisco. The winners will be honored alongside others at the IGF Awards on March 25, 2009.

iPhone-based finalists include Smiles, Fieldrunners and Edge in the IGF Mobile Best Game category; Galcon and Eliss in the Innovation In Mobile Game Design category; Fieldrunners, Dizzy Bee and Ruben & Lullaby in the Achievement In Art category; Real Racing in the Technical Achievement category; Radio Flare, Zen Bound and Edge in the Audio Achievement category; and with finalists include Edge, Dizzy Bee, Fieldrunners, Zen Bound and Frenzic in the Best iPhone Game category.

Mp3 players at risk of permanent hearing loss

An European Union body on health risks has said that up to 10 million young Europeans are in danger of damaging their hearing by playing their MP3 personal music players too loud.

The EU Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks said that listening to MP3 players and other personal music players at high volumes for long span of time can cause loss of hearing and tinnitus, a ringing sensation in the ears.

It found that 5-10 percent of MP3 users risk permanent hearing loss if they listen to a personal music player for more than one hour per day, each week at high volume settings for a period of at least 5 years.

The committee further reported that no cure is currently known for hearing loss or tinnitus.

The conference, organised by the European Commission in Brussels, discussed possible measures to prevent such health effects, ranging from warnings flashed on the devices' screens, to limits on the maximum volumes on players.

Vertu to launch mobile service in Japan

Luxury mobile phone brand Vertu, has revealed that it will begin offering mobile services in Japan. Vertu is owned by Finnish cellphone giant Nokia.

The Finnish company will become a so-called Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), thus becoming the first mobile phone maker to encroach on the Japanese service provider domain.
Vertu is known for making expensive, handcrafted handsets that are often embellished with titanium, gold, jewels and crystal.

Vertu's MVNO service will be hosted by Nokia Siemens Networks from its Singapore hosting centre which is capable of servicing customers throughout the Asia Pacific region.

It was last November when Nokia pulled out of the Japanese market due to disappointing sales, but chose to leave its high-end Vertu brand in the country.

Samsung to launch new Netbooks and new Smart Phones

Samsung Electronics plans to follow-up its NC10 netbook in the coming few months with a new model and expand its range of smart phones with models based on a number of different operating systems.

Samsung already offers phones based on the Windows Mobile, Symbian and Linux operating systems but perhaps most anticipated is an announcement from the company concerning a phone based on the Android OS developed by Google.

Samsung is a member of the Open Handset Alliance group formed around Android but has yet to show a phone running on the platform.

No other details were disclosed but a follow-up to the NC10 has been rumored for a while. It is also being reported that NC20 will be launched somewhere in February which will be based on Via Technologies' low-power Nano processor.

If true that would be a departure from most competing machines, which almost all run the same Intel Atom processor. It would also be somewhat of a coup for Via, which has struggled to gain share from Intel in the mainstream market for years.

The NC10 was launched in the latter half of 2008 and, like most netbooks. It is based on Intel's Atom processor and Windows XP. It has a 10.2-inch screen.

Netbooks have become popular with consumers, who are attracted by their compact size and low price. The market was created in 2007 when Asustek Computer launched its Eee PC and grew quickly to initially attract fellow Taiwanese competitors and then major laptop brands jumped into the market.

Earlier this month Sony launched its Vaio P-series machines which are netbook-size laptops but based on the higher-specification Intel Atom Z520 chip.

Verizon launches Verizon Hub VOIP Phone

Verizon Wireless has launched a VOIP-based, Linux-powered home phone, the Verizon Hub. The Hub plugs into a home broadband line and acts as a family calendar, limited Web browser, messaging center, digital picture frame and, of course, a phone.

The Hub is based on OpenPeak's OpenFrame design. The OpenFrame or the Hub - is an 8-inch, 800x480 touchscreen device. It has a single DECT 6.0 cordless phone that snaps into the base.
The Hub's home screen shows floating, Web-based widgets such as a calendar and the weather, along with details about missed calls and visual voice mail.

Verizon dressed the OpenFrame up with their own proprietary services. The device can stream movie trailers and other video from V CAST; send directions to phones using VZ Navigator; track children's cell phones using Chaperone; view local traffic information, and send and receive text, picture, and video messages. The Hub doesn't require that you get your broadband from Verizon, though – it works with any Internet connection.

By touching buttons on the OpenFrame's panel, you can sync it with the various contact lists and calendars in your life, view TV schedules, send an IM or SMS, check the weather, surf the Web, watch streaming video, play music or do a range of other things. The devices are based on Freescale MX31 processors, with two 600-MHz ARM11 chips doing the heavy lifting.

Verizon has not announced pricing or service plans for the Verizon Hub. The product goes on sale on Feb 1.

Russia to Develop own national operating system

According to CNews, Russia is planning to develop its own national operating system. The move is designed to reduce Russia's need to rely on foreign software and licensing agreements. And the alleged "open code" solution, likely a Linux/GNU derivative, will give Russia a greater degree of customization, as well as increased control over how the potentially free OS is used and accessed.

This isn't the first time Russia has dabbled with the idea of widespread open-source software distribution. According to Russia Today, a pilot program is already underway in three Russian regions to replace Microsoft-branded operating systems in Russian schools with Linux alternatives. All Russian schools are expected to make the software switch by 2009.

Accelerated Internet Strategies offers iPhone development courses online

Accelerated Internet Strategies has launched an online training program towards iPhone development. The training program begins February 2, 2009 and costs $97 per course. They are offering five courses are in the series. One can take all the five courses for $425.

The five courses include Introduction to Object Oriented Programming and Logic; Objective-C 2.0 for iPhone Developers; Cocoa & Xcode for iPhone Developers; iPhone SDK Programming - Getting It Done; and iPhone SDK Programming - Advanced.

Each course is offered online as a “webinar.” Each course lasts one month. Each class is taught Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Classes are offered online twice a week in the evening lasting 1-2 hours. They’re also recorded and made available in the event you miss a session.

Students will need a high-speed Internet connection and a phone line to call in and listen. Voice over IP (VoIP) is also available.

For more details please visit their site.

T-Mobile takes G1 Android phone to Europe

Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile has announced that it will soon begin selling its G1 Android phone in several European countries. The phone has been available for the last few months only in the United States and Great Britain. The first countries on the list are the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and Poland.

The initial response to the G1 has been very strong, with hundreds of thousands sold in the US by the end of 2008. T-Mobile Chief Executive Hamid Akhavan describes the phone as the most successful ever sold in this country. It is also reported that the G1 will be offered for the subsidized price of $1.33 (EU1.03) in Germany, along with a two-year contract. In the US, it sells for $179 with a two-year contract.

For the Australian market, Samsung has announced that it would bring out an Android phone by the second quarter of this year.

Get ready for Cupcake
There are also reports of a major update to the Android software, code-named Cupcake. The update is expected to support video recording and video sharing.

The Android mobile platform was launched in late 2007 by Google, along with a consortium of other companies who endorsed the open-source platform. A large community of third-party developers has begun to create applications for Android, which can help drive sales. In addition to games and basic applications, developers are beginning to turn to more business-oriented software.