Chad Hardin

Monday, February 28, 2011

Peers or not? Comcast and Level 3 slug it out at FCC's doorstep

The big headlines about the dispute between Level 3 Communications and Comcast over the latter's access charges may have subsided, but don't let that fool you. Like so many telecom wars, this one has migrated to the antechambers of the Federal Communications Commission. There, both sides are battling over whether the feud comes under the FCC's authority via its still-unofficial net neutrality rules.

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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Peers or not? Comcast and Level 3 slug it out at FCC's doorstep

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Kinect for Windows SDK to Arrive Spring 2011

Ever since the November launch of Kinect for Xbox 360, enthusiasts and academic researchers alike have expressed their excitement and intense interest in the possibilities created by the product?s ability to enable users to bring games and entertainment to life without using a controller.

Kinect for Xbox 360 and the potential seen within its core technology have captured the imaginations of the academic research and enthusiast communities. To encourage and support that creativity, on Feb. 21, Craig Mundie, Microsoft?s chief research and strategy officer, and Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft?s Interactive Entertainment Business, announced that the company plans to release a non-commercial Kinect for Windows software development kit (SDK) from Microsoft Research this spring.

?Microsoft?s investments in natural user interfaces are vital to our long-term vision of creating computers that are intuitive to use and able to do far more for us,? said Mundie. ?The fruits of these research investments are manifesting across many of our products, Kinect for Xbox 360 among them.?

While Microsoft plans to release a commercial version at a later date, this SDK will be a starter kit to make it simpler for the academic research and enthusiast communities to create rich natural user interfaces using Kinect technology. The SDK will give users access to deep Kinect system information such as audio, system application-programming interfaces, and direct control of the Kinect sensor.

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Custora Helps Online Businesses Improve Customer Retention

For any retailer that is selling goods online, it is incredibly important to be able to retain customers and identify when purchasers are about to leave a site. While many online retailers and companies develop these analytics in house, there is a need for a simple application that smaller shops can use to determine behavior of visitors. Today, Y Combinator-backed Custora is launching a SaaS that tells online retailers and web apps which of their customers are most valuable, and suggests actions to keep them. The startup is best described by its tagline: "Google brings you customers. We keep them around." For retailers, the software can analyze order logs and distinguish between customers that simply haven't ordered anything for a while, and customers who have left the site. The application also manages and optimizes email campaigns to keep customers engaged.

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Sony Vaio C series hands-on

Touchy feely with the shiny shiny
Sony Vaio C series hands-on

Unique design is something which Sony Vaio prides itself on and the laptop maker has certainly kept up part of its mission with the launch of the Sony Vaio C Series in London.

As ever, Pocket-lint was at hand with trusty camera and SD card ready to fill, while we had a little play with multicoloured hardware range. We couldn't quite make our minds up whether the garish pink and orange finishes made them look cheap or attractive but there was a definite Tron-like appeal to the green version of the 14-inch widescreen machine.

What was absolutely a stretch was the idea of the light-emitting reflecting edges of the Vaio symbol and the extremes of the chassis. They rely on the ambient light but the trouble is that any ambient light needed to make the effect work seems to be enough to mask the trick from registering with your eyes.

Either way, the laptops themselves are built nicely enough with plenty of the features you'd be after in the shape of?an HD web camera powered by the company’s "Exmor" sensor technology, HDMI out and four USB ports including one which is USB 3.0.

Other additions include backlighting on the full-pitch isolation keyboard, a multi-touch trackpad, and a Web button that will get you up and surfing the internet “in seconds” via a Linux-based mini OS. There’s also an Assist button that launches Vaio Care software, troubleshooting problems and keeping your Vaio in top condition.

Inside and you’ll get an?Intel Core i5?processor, AMD Radeon HD 6470M, and a?320GB HDD?space and?4GB RAM?with Windows 7 Home Premium powering all.

Available as an option when you order the Vaio C Series online, hybrid graphics switch automatically between performance and battery-saving modes to suit the task in hand. Other choices when you order online from Sony include CPU and storage enhancements to power up your Vaio.

The new 14-inch Vaio C Series of notebook PCs by Sony will be available for 3 weeks exclusively at John Lewis, Sony Centres and www.sony.co.uk from the week commencing 21 March 2011, and from other additional retailers after this exclusivity period.