It’s no wonder we need to upgrade our computers on a regular basis. Not only are chip companies regularly releasing ever-faster microprocessors, but new research has revealed that modern CPUs actually lose megahertz over time.

This startling conclusion follows a five-year research programme carried out by the Illyria University’s Information Technology department.

“Five years ago, we activated a dozen new, freshly-purchased systems,” said Computer Science Professor Asteio Artikolos. “Since then we have measured, on average, a 10-15 per cent reduction in the machines’ clock speeds over that time. It’s as if each machine’s stock of megahertz were somehow leaking away.

“Each year, we have added new, faster machines. Not only have these seen a similar reduction over time in the number of processing cycles available each second, but the rate of decrease is greater than older, slower microprocessors.”

Intel was unavailable for comment. AMD, however, claimed to be well aware of the problem and to be already designing processors capable of working beyond the limits of Einsteinian mathematics - with a negative temporal displacement facility built in.

How much money could you make from a technology that replaces electrical wires? A startup called Powercast, along with the more than 100 companies that have inked agreements with it, is about to start finding out. Powercast and its first major partner, electronics giant Philips, are set to launch their first device powered by electricity broadcast through the air.

It may sound futuristic, but Powercast’s platform uses nothing more complex than a radio–and is cheap enough for just about any company to incorporate into a product. A transmitter plugs into the wall, and a dime-size receiver (the real innovation, costing about $5 to make) can be embedded into any low-voltage device. The receiver turns radio waves into DC electricity, recharging the device’s battery at a distance of up to 3 feet.

Picture your cell phone charging up the second you sit down at your desk, and you start to get a sense of the opportunity. How big can it get? “The sky’s the limit,” says John Shearer, Powercast’s founder and CEO. He estimates shipping “many millions of units” by the end of 2008.

Technology giant, IBM, is soon to launch a multimedia browser to make audio and video content accessible to people with vision impairments.

Codenamed the Accessibility Browser - or A-Browser - the software was created by a blind employee in Japan.

The A-Browser will give blind and partially-sighted people the same control over multimedia content that sighted people have using a mouse.

IBM says it will be available later this year and hopes it will be free.

Its time to start mixing things up and experimenting in YouTube land. Google has officially opened the TestTube where engineers and developers can test recipes and concoctions for new YouTube initiatives.

The TestTube incubator welcomes all user feedback on new services that get cooked up in the lab, with the first two being AudioSwap and Streams.

Plextor unveiled a new mini digital HDTV receiver on Wednesday that the company says will transform a user’s laptop into a wireless personal video recorder.

According to the digital media manufacturer, the PX-HDTV500U can be ordered now and will take the form of a stick-sized USB device that customers can use to watch, pause, and record high-definition TV on most Windows-based laptops—all without a subscription fees or recurring charges.
px-hdtv500uimage-product

The high-speed USB 2.0 receiver comes bundled with software that automatically scans for free air-to-air digital and HD signals in a given area and will subsequently pull them in with a flat digital antenna. Users can then watch and record live TV with standard definition TV and HDTV video resolution in the basic configuration, Plextor said.

The receiver also converts recorded TV into MPEG-2 files in real-time and stores them on the user’s hard drive. Once there, they can be easily burned directly onto a DVD, according to Michael Arbisi, vice president of channel sales for Plextor.

Plextor says the receiver supports automatic channel scanning, picture-in-picture, aspect ratios of 4:3 and 16:9, full-screen or scalable screen views, and still-picture capturing.

The PX-HDTV500U is set to ship to distributors in North America in April and have a MSRP of $99, according to Plextor. The device supports the DTV Standard ATSC protocol for free air-to-air digital terrestrial TV and audio program playing as well.

TJX: It’s the target of the largest known customer record theft of all time, and it’s a case in point that encryption is not a silver bullet.

This is the heart of the encryption problem, quoted from the 10-K filing The TJX Companies made to the Securities and Exchange Commission:

“Despite our masking and encryption practices on our Framingham system in 2006, the technology utilized in the Computer Intrusion during 2006 could have enabled the Intruder to steal payment card data from our Framingham system during the payment card issuer’s approval process, in which data (including the track 2 data) is transmitted to payment card issuer’s without encryption. Further, we believe that the Intruder had access to the decryption tool for the encryption software utilized by TJX.”

Encryption has no value when data isn’t encrypted, obviously, but credit cards can’t be processed when their numbers are encrypted. Hence, a smart crook will seek a way to get the data during that window of time when it’s in that state of being “in the clear”—that is, unencrypted.

TJX’s intruder also had a backup plan if data in the clear wasn’t attainable: namely, the decryption key.

Thinking of sending your band’s demo CD to a music label in the hope of landing a deal? Don’t try SonyBMG, who want to sample your music online instead.

SonyBMG, the world’s second-biggest music company, said that from Monday it would no longer accept hard copy formats.

Instead, budding musicians will be asked to sign up to a record label Web site such as www.columbiademos.co.uk or www.rcademos.co.uk to blog their music, photos and videos.

“Blogging is clearly one of the major trends in music, media and entertainment,” said SonyBMG’s UK and Ireland Music Entertainment Chairman and Chief Executive Ged Doherty.

“100,000 new blogs go online each day at the moment, and the blogosphere is doubling every 230 days so it makes complete sense for the major labels to use the process in a creative way to encourage, discover and communicate with new artists,” he said.

With online criminals exploiting an unpatched flaw in Windows, security vendor eEye Digital Security has come forward with an unofficial fix for the problem.

The unofficial temporary patch, published early Friday, fixes a bug in the way Windows processes Animated Cursor files, which are used to create cartoon-like cursors in Windows. Security researchers at McAfee first reported the bug on Wednesday evening, saying that it has been used in Web-based attacks.

Microsoft has said that it will eventually fix the problem and it generally recommends that users avoid this type of third-party fix for its products. But in the past, similar patches from eEye and others have been downloaded by tens of thousands of Windows users, unwilling to wait for Microsoft’s updates.

Microsoft’s next set of security patches are due April 10, but the software giant has not said whether or not that release will include a fix for the Animated Cursor problem.

The agency that sets the Internet addressing guidelines influencing how people navigate the Web defeated a proposal Friday to give adult Web sites their own “.xxx” domain.

Many in the adult-entertainment industry and religious groups alike had criticized the plan, which the Canadian government also warned this week could leave the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in the tricky business of content regulation.

The 9-5 decision by ICANN’s board came nearly seven years after the proposal was first floated by ICM Registry LLC. It was the third time ICANN has rejected such a bid. Paul Twomey, ICANN’s chief executive, who had described the proposal this week as “clearly controversial, clearly polarizing” abstained from the vote but did not say why.

“We are extremely disappointed by the board’s action today,” said Stuart Lawley, ICM’s president and chief executive. “It is not supportable for any of the reasons articulated by the board, ignores the rules ICANN itself adopted for the RFP (request for proposal), and makes a mockery of ICANN bylaws’ prohibition of unjustifiable discriminatory treatment.”

A new security vulnerability puts Windows users at risk of serious cyberattacks, Microsoft warned late Wednesday.

The vulnerability affects all recent Windows versions, including Vista, which Microsoft has promoted heavily for its security. The operating system software is flawed in the way it handles animated cursors, Microsoft said in a security advisory.

An attacker could exploit the vulnerability through a Web page or e-mail message with rigged computer code, Microsoft said.

“Upon viewing a Web page, previewing or reading a specially crafted message, or opening a specially crafted e-mail attachment, the attacker could cause the affected system to execute code,” Microsoft said in its advisory.

Animated cursors allow a mouse pointer to appear animated. The animated-cursors feature is designated by the .ani suffix, but a successful attack is not constrained by this file type, Microsoft said. As a result, simply blocking such files won’t protect a PC.

The RIAA is beginning to find itself in an awkward position. A few of its many, many lawsuits don’t manage to end in success for the organization. Typically, when they decide a case isn’t worth pursuing (due to targeting the wrong person or not having sufficient evidence), they simply move to drop the case. Counterclaims are usually dropped in turn, and everyone goes separate ways.

But recently, judges have been deciding to allow the RIAA to drop the case, but still allowing the defendant’s counterclaim through. According to the Ars Technica article: ‘If Judge Miles-LaGrange issues a ruling exonerating Tallie Stubbs of infringement, it would be a worrisome trend for the RIAA. The music industry has become accustomed to having its way with those it accuses of file-sharing, quietly dropping cases it believes it can’t win.

It looks as though the courts may be ready to stop the record labels from just walking away from litigation when it doesn’t like the direction it is taking and give defendants justice by fully exonerating them of any wrongdoing.

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. will launch its backseat television service exclusively in several DaimlerChrysler cars and minivans later this year, the companies said on Thursday.

Sirius, which plans to acquire rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. in a deal that must first pass regulatory muster, said three live child-themed TV channels would be available in 2008 model year cars in the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge lines. Sales of those cars will start later this year.

The satellite radio provider has been promising such a service since 2004, but at that time it said deals with manufacturers and content providers needed to be hammered out. Last November, Chief Executive Mel Karmazin said the service would launch in 2007.

The system will cost about $470, which includes the first year of service, when packaged with Chrysler’s rear seat entertainment system in new cars. Customers must subscribe to Sirius Satellite Radio.

After that first year, TV service will be $7 a month in addition to the $13 a month for Sirius satellite radio.

Channels on the service include Viacom Inc.’s Nickelodeon, Walt Disney Co.’s Disney Channel and Time Warner Inc.’s Cartoon Network.