technology

India unveils new version of ‘world’s cheapest tablet’

"The paperback-book-sized Aakash 2, developed by Indian engineers at elite IIT public universities, runs the Google operating system Android 4.0 and has a screen measuring seven inches (18 centimetres) wide. The first 100,000 devices will be sold to students at engineering colleges and universities at a subsidised price of 1,130 rupees (20 dollars) and subsequently Aakash 2 will be distributed to book stores in Indian universities. Datawind says the commercial sale price without subsidies for Aakash 2 is 3,500 rupees (64 dollars)." Continue reading →

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Sony’s credit rating heads toward junk pile

"Japanese tech mega-corporations, including Panasonic and Sony, aren’t doing too well. After Sharp posted its most recent loss, its financial rating fell to junk status, and the company is now seeking a government bailout. Panasonic was also hit with a near-junk rating by Fitch earlier this month, after it posted a loss 30 times larger than analysts had estimated. Now, Sony—the biggest of Japan’s big dogs—can’t escape the bad news either. On Friday, Moody's downgraded Sony’s long-term debt rating from Baa2 to Baa3, one notch above junk status." Continue reading →

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The Carlos Miller Case: Jury Says ‘Not Guilty’

"Carlos Miller was arrested for filming the police. Resisting the pressure to accept a 'deal,' he risked more prison time simply by insisting on his right to a jury trial. According to Miller, the prosecutor told the jury that Miller did not behave like a 'real journalist' because a 'real journalist' would have obeyed all police requests and orders." Continue reading →

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Tenn. techie denies being hacker in Romney tax returns case

"A couple of weeks later, the Secret Service, acting on a search warrant, smashed through his front door and spent the next 18 hours pulling laptops, hard drives and all manner of digital storage devices from his Franklin home. Now, almost two months since his home was searched, Brown has not been charged with a crime. Brown said he could not explain why the Secret Service is targeting him, but he noted that in 2009 the same agency came to his house looking for evidence tying him to the alleged theft of thousands of Social Security numbers held by an insurance company. He was never charged." Continue reading →

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Australia scraps plan to filter Internet

"The centre-left Labor government had pushed since 2007 for a mandatory Internet filter to protect children, to be administered by service providers, despite criticism it was impractical and set a precedent for censorship. The idea was that the filter would block access to material such as rape, drug use, bestiality and child sex abuse. But Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the government had now reached an agreement with Internet providers that they would block 'the worst of the worst', adding that about 1,400 sites monitored by Interpol would be barred." Continue reading →

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Karl Denninger: Watch for Market Dislocations

"The big picture is this: We have all lived for the last 30 years in a world where we believe that the price of certain things will always go up – houses being one of them, stocks being another. We have also lived in a time when an insane amount of monetary inflation has taken place. Most people look at the Consumer Price Index or some other government-provided thing, or they look at M1 OR M2, the growth of the money supply, for example. But what you really ought to be looking at for the growth of the monetary base is the total amount of money and credit that is in the system, and add those two together. When you do that, you find a very ugly picture." Continue reading →

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Apple pays Swiss rail $21million over clock dispute

"US tech giant Apple has dished out 20 million Swiss francs ($21 million, 17 million euros) to compensate Swiss national rail operator SBB for using its famous clock without permission, a Swiss daily reported Saturday. The company agreed in October to pay the lump sum so it could continue using SBB’s Swiss-designed station clock face on its iPads and iPhones, the Tages-Anzeiger daily reported on its website, quoting several unnamed sources." Continue reading →

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Amazon launches online wine store

"Amazon said the online shop would be 'a marketplace offering customers more than a thousand wines crafted by wineries around the country.' The online retail giant also provides international wines through external websites. Customers can ship up to six bottles of wine for $9.99. Wine sales are allowed only in states which allow it. That includes California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and the District of Columbia." Continue reading →

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How DC Is Going to Ruin the Driverless Car

"One issue is that the laws are requiring licensed drivers to sit in the driving seat, eliminating one of the main advantages of the technology. Yet there are more problems. Bizarrely, Cheh’s bill also requires that autonomous vehicles operate only on alternative fuels. Another flaw in Cheh’s bill is that it would impose a special tax on drivers of autonomous vehicles. Instead of paying fuel taxes, 'Owners of autonomous vehicles shall pay a vehicle-miles travelled (VMT) fee of 1.875 cents per mile.' Administrative details aside, a VMT tax would require drivers to install a recording device to be periodically audited by the government." Continue reading →

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The European Central Bank on Bitcoins

"I have finally had a chance to read in full the unsigned report by the European Central Bank that I mentioned earlier this week. The report is quite impressive. The report clearly states the advantages of Bitcoins versus current credit/debit cards. The anonymity feature of Bitcoin is the feature that I believe could be the driving feature behind the potential success of Bitcoin. As world governments attempt to get in the middle of more and more private transactions, more and more buyers and sellers will seek anonymity." Continue reading →

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