A regularly updated column of IT related briefs.
Archaeological dig offers online viewing
CAIRO - Egyptologist Betsy Bryan and her crew are sharing their work through an online diary. Visitors to "Hopkins in Egypt Today" at www.jhu.edu/neareast/egypttoday.html will find photos of Bryan and her students working on Johns Hopkins University's 11th annual excavation at the Mut Temple Precinct in Luxor.
Bryan said that the site is rich in finds from the Egyptian New Kingdom, known as the "golden age" of Egyptian temple building. This is the sixth year that Bryan and her team will be excavating the area behind the temple's sacred lake. The university said that the goal of the Website is to educate visitors by showing them the elements of archaeological work in progress.
Google to cooperate with Motorola in mobiles
FRANKFURT, Germany - Google, the US Internet search engine, is to cooperate with Motorola in the area of mobile phones, the head of Google Europe, Nikesh Arora, said in a German newspaper interview on January 6. "In the next two years, the Google icon will be integrated into the screens on Motorola handsets," Arora told the business daily Handelsblatt. Initially, mobile phone users will be able to use the Google search engine via their mobile phone handsets. But the service will be expanded to include mobile services with local content, such as city maps and route planners, Arora said.
Man on trial for luring girls via the Web
STOCKHOLM - The trial of a Swedish man suspected of sexually exploiting more than 100 young girls by luring them over the Internet with offers of modeling jobs opened on January 4. The 30-year-old man, whose identity was not disclosed, is facing dozens of charges of rape, aggravated sexual assault of minors and sexual coercion, Malmoe court clerk Inga Lill Kristell said.
The man is suspected of making contact with the girls on chat sites, presenting himself as "Alexandra", a woman who could help them land modeling contracts. The suspect is believed to have asked girls, some as young as 12, to pose naked or in their underwear in front of a Web camera. He allegedly then contacted some of the girls and sexually assaulted or raped them. The man has insisted that he is not "Alexandra".
Intel's new processor to run PC as a media center
LAS VEGAS, NV, USA - World computer chip leader Intel unveiled on January 5 a new processor designed to turn a personal computer into a living room multi-media center. Intel's dual-core Viiv processor will be installed in PCs to allow them to function as "a media center in the living room" offering a simple, faster and smoother way for users to access and store online content for watching or listening through other connected devices, Otellini said.
The processor will be fitted into PCs by leading producers including Dell, Sony, LG and Acer, "from today and in the coming weeks", Intel chief executive Paul Otellini announced at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Panasonic maker boasts biggest plasma TV
TOKYO - The Japanese maker of the Panasonic brand said on January 5 that it had developed the world's largest plasma-panel television set with a 103-inch (2.6 meter) screen. Matsushita Electric Industrial said that it had overcome technical difficulties posed by making large plasma screens to develop a prototype 2.3 meters wide and 1.3 meters high. Until now 102-inch plasma televisions developed by two South Korean companies were the biggest in the world.
HD DVD war hots up
TOKYO - Japanese electronics giant Toshiba announced on January 5 that it would launch its high-definition DVD players in the United States in March in an attempt to get a jump on rival Sony. The planned debut of two HD DVD players is timed to coincide with the launch of Hollywood movie titles for the new format, Toshiba said in a statement as it previewed its products at a consumer electronics show in Las Vegas.
The Hollywood studios pushed the Sony and Toshiba camps to settle their differences and develop a single format in an effort to avoid a replay of the VHS-Betamax war between two types of video cassette tapes in the late 1970s. The two sides failed, however, to reach a deal and currently plan to push ahead with their separate technologies.
Doctor posed as girl to send 'explicit e-mails'
LONDON - A renowned British doctor posed for two years as a 13-year-old girl on the Internet to exchange photographs and sexually explicit messages, medical watchdogs heard on January 3. Thomas Dent, 42, called himself "Katie Beckinsale" to fool 26 youngsters with indecent language about sex and underwear.
The married Dent, who has since resigned as a senior director at the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, was caught by chance on a train in May 2004 when he sat next to a police constable who saw him look at a picture of a teenage girl on his laptop and pose as "Katie". The medical watchdog investigation is not being accompanied by a criminal court case after the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case, saying that there was no realistic prospect of a conviction.
Indian computer sales up 38 percent
NEW DELHI - Computer sales in India rose 38 percent in the six months to September 2005 to 2.34 million units from 1.7 million a year earlier as prices dipped to 10,000 rupees ($245) for some basic models, the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT) said in a report.
MAIT said that the increased sales were being driven by services related to the telecom, banking, financial, retail and outsourcing sectors. India's IT hardware industry is aiming to replicate the success of its booming software industry though there are only an estimated 15 million computers in the country of more than 1 billion people.
Intel seeks to build chip plant in Vietnam
HANOI - Intel has asked the Vietnamese government for a license to build a chip plant worth $605 million in southern Ho Chi Minh City, a government official said on January 5. According to the daily Tuoi Tre newspaper, the plant will cover 46.7 hectares (115 acres) and employ 2,000 local workers. Last June Intel president Paul Otellini said that his company was already enjoying growing sales in the communist nation, the fastest growing PC market among the 10 members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations.
I.T. Briefs
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