First new gTLDs added to the root

Posted on October 26, 2013 by mea

The four new gTLDs all use non-Latin scripts: شبكة (Arabic “web “), онлайн (“online” in Cyrillic), сайт (“sale” in Cyrillic) and 游戏 (“game” in Chinese). In total, the gTLD process will result in expansion of top-level domains from 22 to up to 1400.

More domains will be added to the root progressively. “ICANN’s New gTLD Program was designed to facilitate a measured rollout of new domains so as not to disrupt the Domain Name System,” ICANN said in a statement.

via First new gTLDs added to the root – gTLD, top-level domains – Computerworld.

Qualcomm hit with $173M patent verdict—but plaintiff is the real loser

Posted on October 25, 2013 by mea

Nine-digit verdicts don’t happen every day. A $173 million windfall—especially when no other revenue sources seem forthcoming—would have most investors in a small company like ParkerVision jumping up and down. But that didn’t happen. “Were Investors Set Up To Fail?” asked one writer on investment site SeekingAlpha. He quotes a JP Morgan Chase analyst telling clients that just a week ago, ParkerVision was in a position to win up to $2 billion.

via Qualcomm hit with $173M patent verdict—but plaintiff is the real loser | Ars Technica.

TR-069: Still Sexy After All These Years

Posted on October 25, 2013 by mea

Today, a quarter of all broadband lines on the planet are managed by TR-069 and its management of devices has been expanded in line with changes in the type of devices needing to be managed (many devices can be managed from gateways to VoIP devices to set-top boxes). And the complexity you now see in the connected home environment in terms of technology (and the protocols used) is just not an issue for the continually evolving TR-069, as non-TR-069 devices can be proxy managed.

via TR-069: Still Sexy After All These Years | Light Reading.

Troll-Killing Patent Reform One Step Closer

Posted on October 24, 2013 by mea

Of course, today’s discussion draft is not perfect. Compared to the Shield Act, the attorney’s fees provision is watered down. (It does not include a bond requirement, for example.) And the customer suit provision is too weak. We need stronger reform to stop the disturbing trend of patent trolls picking on customers and end users. Finally, today’s discussion draft focuses on litigation system, rather than targeting the root cause of the problem: the flood of low-quality, over-broad software patents. Despite these reservations, we are encouraged to see so many good reforms in a single package.

via Troll-Killing Patent Reform One Step Closer | Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Critical NETGEAR ReadyNAS Frontview security vulnerability

Posted on October 24, 2013 by mea

Frontview is the ReadyNAS web management interface; the vulnerability allows command injection and fails to validate or sanitize user input and can be triggered without authentication, Young said.

“The consequence is that an unauthenticated HTTP request can inject arbitrary Perl code to run on the server,” Young wrote on the Tripwire blog. “Naturally, this includes the ability to execute commands on the ReadyNAS embedded Linux in the context of the Apache web server.”

via Critical NETGEAR ReadyNAS Frontview security vulnerability | Threatpost | The First Stop For Security News.

New device stores electricity on silicon chips

Posted on October 23, 2013 by mea

When the researchers tested the coated material they found that it had chemically stabilized the silicon surface. When they used it to make supercapacitors, they found that the graphene coating improved energy densities by over two orders of magnitude compared to those made from uncoated porous silicon and significantly better than commercial supercapacitors.

via New device stores electricity on silicon chips | Research News @ Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt University.

SteamOS will “really help” Linux on desktop

Posted on October 23, 2013 by mea

Should SteamOS gain traction among gamers and developers, that could force more hardware manufacturers to extend driver support beyond Windows

via Torvalds: SteamOS will “really help” Linux on desktop | News | PC Pro.

Amen. Getting NVIDIA graphic drivers working is a mind boggling exercise and must be redone with every kernel upgrade. This is one of the reasons I rarely upgrade Fedora — it’s too complicated getting video drivers working well enough to the point a video can be played and the desktop environment looks right.

Carbon-negative energy, a reality at last — and cheap, too

Posted on October 22, 2013 by mea

Since its founding five years ago, the company has been doubling its revenues every year and now does $5 million in sales. One reason for that growth is that dense biomass is everywhere. Think about America’s heartland, where corn grows as far as the eye can see. Or California’s Central Valley, where walnuts are a major crop. All those cobs and shells can now be used as the basis for cheap energy. Similarly, startups are generating electricity with the machines in Liberia, and Italian farmers are buying them because that country offers lucrative incentives to produce renewable power. To an Italian farmer, Price said, a PowerPallet is “an ATM machine.”

via Carbon-negative energy, a reality at last — and cheap, too | Cutting Edge – CNET News.

But the PowerPallets are still relatively simple, at least as far as their users are concerned. For one, thing Price explained, much of the machine is made with plumbing fixtures that are the same everywhere in the world. That means they’re easy to repair.

BT To Trial Huawei G.FAST FTTdp Copper Broadband Technology

Posted on October 21, 2013 by mea

The new option takes the fibre to a “distribution point” closer to the customer’s permises, and makes use of the shorter distance, to apply G.FAST technology, a faster version of DSL which can offer speeds of 1Gbps over a distance of up to 250 metres using copper, and deliver faster speeds without the expense and disruption caused by FTTP deployment.

via BT To Trial Huawei G.FAST FTTdp Copper Broadband Technology.

Tellabs to be taken private for $891M