China Hits Back at US Senator’s Spying Claims (PC World)
PC World - China brushed off accusations that authorities are forcing foreign hotel chains to install Internet eavesdropping devices…
Archive for July, 2008
Apple releases patch for critical DNS flaw
Apple releases a security update for its Tiger and Leopard operating systems to patch a critical Domain Name System flaw, along with a dozen other updates.
First Stars Were Brutes, but Died Young, Astronomers Say
The first stars in the universe were short-lived brutish monsters that changed the nature of the cosmos forever, new computer simulations suggest.
NetShare briefly offers iPhone tether at App Store
NetShare, Nullriver’s iPhone tethering app, was available for $9.99 in the iTunes App Store briefly Thursday, before being pulled by Apple.
NetShare momentarily tethers iPhones, gets yanked from the App Store
(Credit: Mac-Addict)
One of the most requested features for the iPhone is the ability to tether the phone, in order to feed 3G or EDGE network data to your computer. That feature was briefly a reality today, thanks to Nullriver’s NetShare application. MacRumors reports that, priced at $9.99, the application seems to have, somehow, slipped below Apple’s radar, but was pulled down after about 20 minutes of availability in the App Store.
The application basically turns your iPhone into a portable WiFi hotspot, giving all of your WiFi enabled devices internet, wherever you have a cell signal. There are similar solutions available for iPhone users who have jailbroken their handsets, but they are significantly more complicated than Nullriver’s offering, and since they require a hacked phone, don’t hold mainstream appeal.
Briefly available, NetShare allowed iPhone users to take advantage of tethering their 3G and EDGE connections to their computers.
(Credit: MacRumors.com)
Wireless carriers have almost always been opposed to tethering smartphones with unlimited data plans. Many telcos even state in your contract that if you tether your phone, you may be responsible for additional fees associated with the data that you use. Of course, for an additional cost, you can tether some phones, such as a Blackberry, but Apple’s iPhone doesn’t offer legitimate tethering at any cost.
Those of us who were not quick enough to grab the app while it was available on the App Store seem to be out of luck for now. Links to the application now pop up an error message that reads, “The item you’ve requested is not currently available in the US store.” It’s not exactly clear what happened with NetShare, how it slipped through the cracks, or why it was pulled. The app may have accidentally gotten through in the avalanche of new applications that are being added to the store, however it seems unlikely that someone at Apple would have signed off on this app, not knowing what it did. It would appear that either Apple, AT&T, or both had cleared the application, then quickly reconsidered. Apple has not yet responded to a request for a comment on the issue.
CBS Expects to Sell Some Radio Assets
The CBS Corporation reported a 1 percent increase in profit and said it would sell 50 of its 140 radio stations as it shifts its asset mix toward Internet properties.
What If You Owned Your Own Fiber Connection?
Almost five years ago, we wrote about a project in Burlington, Vermont to bring fiber optics to residents there. The idea was that, rather than a traditional “municipally-owned” network, this would actually be owned by the residents themselves. The article focused on the work of economist Alan McAdams, who (it needs to be admitted) was the guy who not only sent me down the path of better understanding the economics of information over a dozen years ago, but also convinced me to start Techdirt in the first place. McAdams has been pushing for the idea that if the end users actually owned the network itself, you would end up with much greater broadband, in part because you might still end up with a single fiber network, but there would be significant competition of service providers on that network. And, indeed, it appears that’s where the Burlington fiber project has gone. A more recent case study on the project suggests that, with a slow and deliberate pace, thousands of residents in Burlington now have access to the fiber network, and can choose their own ISP, if they want.
Tim Lee has now written about another example as well, where there’s an effort underway in Ottawa (which is only about 170 miles from Burlington), to string up 400 homes with fiber, but where the individual home owners will pay for and own the “last mile” connection to their homes. This is definitely a test on a small scale, but it’s a similar situation to what McAdams has been pushing for all along. Let the customer own the connection itself, and then get to choose the service provider. In the Ottawa case, once again, service providers would no longer have to worry about wiring up your home (the most expensive part), but just need to offer service at various peering points, and each individual could choose who to get service from.
In this manner, you still get real competition, which is sorely lacking in the telco arena, and you get the benefits of higher speed networks. It’s not as crazy as it might sound, either. As Lee points out, the telephone company used to own not just the wiring in your house, but the actual telephone as well. Over the years, that’s been pushed back. Now you own your own phone — and the wiring inside your house. So is it so crazy to think that you should own the wires outside of your house out to the main network as well? There are still plenty of practical issues that need to be resolved — and the initial economics may be a bit daunting for many (the idea of paying, say, $3,000, to own your own fiber drop may freak some people out). But, it’s experiments like these that are a real step in the right direction towards adding real competition, rather than the faux duopoly we all deal with today.
Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
Leaf rolls out wide frame AFi 10 camera system
Filed under: Digital Cameras
It looks like those that found Phase One’s 60-megapixel P65+ camera a bit too much for them but Hasselblad’s 50-megapixel H3DII-50 somehow lacking may now finally have the answer they’ve been looking for, as Leaf has just introduced its new 56-megapixel AFi 10 camera system. This one’s main selling point is its 56mm true wide frame sensor that Leaf designed with DALSA, which promises to “take you to the edge of the medium-format frame.” Apart from that, you can expect a one frame per second capture time, exposure times up to a minute, light sensitivity from ISO 50 to 800 and, of course, some 171MB file sizes to impress your friends with. No word on a price and, quite frankly, we’re a little hesitant to ask.
[Via 1001 Noisy Cameras]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Leaf rolls out wide frame AFi 10 camera system
Filed under: Digital Cameras
It looks like those that found Phase One’s 60-megapixel P65+ camera a bit too much for them but Hasselblad’s 50-megapixel H3DII-50 somehow lacking may now finally have the answer they’ve been looking for, as Leaf has just introduced its new 56-megapixel AFi 10 camera system. This one’s main selling point is its 56mm true wide frame sensor that Leaf designed with DALSA, which promises to “take you to the edge of the medium-format frame.” Apart from that, you can expect a one frame per second capture time, exposure times up to a minute, light sensitivity from ISO 50 to 800 and, of course, some 171MB file sizes to impress your friends with. No word on a price and, quite frankly, we’re a little hesitant to ask.
[Via 1001 Noisy Cameras]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments