Google demonstrates phone that translates text

Google Inc. is working on software that translates text captured by a phone camera, reports the Associated Press. At a demonstration Feb. 16 at Mobile World Congress, a cell-phone trade show in Barcelona, an engineer shot a picture of a German dinner menu with a phone running Google’s Android software. An application on the phone sent the shot to Google’s servers, which sent a translation back to the phone. There was no word on when the software would be available. Software that translates text from pictures is already available for some phones, but it generally does the processing on the phone. By sending the image to its servers for processing, Google can apply a lot more computing power for faster, more accurate results. The demonstration was part of Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s keynote speech at the trade show, the largest for the wireless industry. He said phone applications that take advantage of “cloud computing”—servers accessible through the wireless network—will bring powerful changes to the industry…

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Google tweaks Buzz social hub after privacy woes

As it introduced a new social hub, Google quickly learned that people’s most frequent e-mail contacts are not necessarily their best friends, the Associated Press reports. Rather, they could be business associates, or even lovers, and the groups don’t necessarily mix well. It’s one reason many people keep those worlds separate by using Facebook for friends and LinkedIn for professional contacts, or by keeping some people completely off either social circle despite frequent e-mails with them. Google Inc. drew privacy complaints this week when it introduced Buzz and automatically created circles of friends based on users’ most frequent contacts on Gmail. Just days later, Google responded by giving users more control over what others see about them. Google introduced Buzz on Tuesday as part of its existing Gmail service. The service includes many of the features that have turned Facebook into the Web’s top spot for fraternizing with friends and family. Like Facebook, Buzz lets Gmail users post updates about what they are doing or thinking. Gmail users can also track other people’s updates and instantly comment on them for everyone else in the social circle to see. But while Facebook requires both sides to confirm that they are friends before making that relationship public, Google automatically does so by analyzing how often they’ve communicated in the past. Those frequent contacts become part of the circle of people you follow and who follow you.

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Google’s eMail gets social in Facebook face-off

Google Inc. opened a new social hub in its e-mail service on Tuesday, leaving little doubt that the Internet search leader is girding for a face-off with Facebook, reports the Associated Press. The new Gmail channel, called Google Buzz, includes many of the features that have turned Facebook into the Web’s top spot for fraternizing with friends and family. It comes less than a week after Facebook made changes of its own. Among other things, Facebook now shows a list of friends available for chatting on the left side of the page, similar to where Gmail now displays its chat feature. The Google Buzz features won’t reach all of Gmail’s estimated 176 million users worldwide for several more days. A link to the service will appear on the top left of the page, in a prominent position just under Gmail’s inbox tab…

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Security chip that does encryption in PCs hacked

Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer-security specialist has devised a way to break those locks, the Associated Press reports.

The attack can force heavily secured computers to spill documents that likely were presumed to be safe. This discovery shows one way that spies and other richly financed attackers can acquire military and trade secrets, and comes as worries about state-sponsored computer espionage intensify, underscored by recent hacking attacks on Google Inc.

The new attack discovered by Christopher Tarnovsky is difficult to pull off, partly because it requires physical access to a computer. But laptops and smart phones get lost and stolen all the time. And the data that the most dangerous computer criminals would seek likely would be worth the expense of an elaborate espionage operation.…Read More

Congressional Democrats challenge Comcast, NBC on merger

Congressional Democrats on Feb. 4 challenged executives from Comcast Corp. and NBC Universal to show that the cable TV operator’s plan to take control of the entertainment company won’t hurt consumers and rivals, reports the Associated Press. In back-to-back hearings, members of House and Senate subcommittees expressed concern that the transaction could lead to such competitive harms as higher cable TV rates and fewer video programming choices. Comcast is seeking federal approval to acquire a 51-percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co. The Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission are expected to sign off, but likely with conditions—and input from Congress could sway the outcome of those regulatory reviews. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told lawmakers that the combination would produce “a more creative and innovative company that will meet consumer demands” and drive more innovation among competitors. But Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said he is worried about the dangers of allowing the nation’s largest cable and broadband provider to take control of NBC Universal’s vast media empire. “When the same company produces the programs and runs the pipes that bring us those programs, we have a reason to be nervous,” said Franken, a former comedian who spent nearly two decades as a writer and performer for NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”…

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University fundraising falls 12 percent in 2009

Charitable contributions to colleges and universities plummeted an average 11.9 percent nationwide in 2009, the steepest drop in at least three decades, reports the Associated Press. Individual giving dropped in both dollars and participation numbers, and gifts for endowments and new buildings saw the biggest decreases, according to the Council for Aid to Education, which released its 2009 fiscal report on Feb. 3. Donation declines piled on top of endowment drops averaging 22 percent, plus state budget cuts for public colleges. “We knew that this was going to be a bad year,” said Ann E. Kaplan, director of the survey. One area of giving that did not decline as much was gifts from organizations, including corporations, foundations, religious organizations, and other nonprofits. Stanford University took in $640.1 million and was at the top of the fiscal 2009 fundraising list, followed by Harvard, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania. Stanford held onto its top spot, despite a drop in fundraising income of $175 million, because most of the other universities on the Top 20 list also saw dramatic decreases. A few saw changes in the opposite direction, including Cornell University, with a fundraising increase of $38 million, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an increase of about $7 million. Kaplan said many universities are expecting 2010 to be a better year for fundraising, because some donors were waiting to see the stock market improve before making some planned gifts. But she did not expect the improvement to bring donations back up to 2008 levels…

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Apple’s approach to eBooks could be problematic

 

Even as Apple’s iPad is poised energize electronic reading, the new device is undermining a painstakingly constructed effort by the publishing industry to make it possible to move eBooks between different electronic readers, reports the Associated Press. The iPad will be linked to Apple’s first eBook store when it goes on sale in a few months. The books, however, will not be compatible with Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle or with the major alternative eBook system. Apple’s creation of a third choice is likely to further frustrate and confuse consumers if they accumulate eBooks for one device, then try to go back to read them later on a different one. The effect could be akin to having to buy a new set of CDs every time you get a new stereo system. It also could keep people from buying new eReaders as better models come out, if they aren’t compatible with the books they already have. This could cool consumers’ enthusiasm for eBooks, the way sales of digital music downloads were hampered by a variety of copy-protection schemes…

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Minnesota song-sharing case heads for third trial

A trade group representing the major music labels on Jan. 27 said it will reject a reduced penalty for a central Minnesota woman found guilty of sharing 24 songs over the internet and instead will begin preparing for another trial to determine new damages, reports the Associated Press. The Recording Industry Association of America made the decision after attorneys for Jammie Thomas-Rasset rejected an offer from RIAA attorneys to settle for $25,000. It will be the third time the case, which dates back to 2006, will go to trial. Last year, a federal jury ruled Thomas-Rasset, a mother of four, willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs. She was ordered to pay $1.92 million in damages, or $80,000 per song. Last week, Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis reduced the verdict to about $54,000 in damages, calling the jury’s penalty “monstrous and shocking.” The RIAA has until Feb. 8 to either accept or reject the reduced penalty. The group said it would do the latter, meaning a new trial will be scheduled to determine damages. The RIAA says that while a third trial is not in anyone’s best interest, the group is pursuing the case to show that Thomas-Rasset was responsible for copyright infringements and that serious damage was caused. “It is a shame that Ms. Thomas-Rasset continues to deny any responsibility for her actions, rather than accept a reasonable settlement offer and put this case behind her,” said RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth…

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