Only 0.5 percent of the world's data is being analyzed, according to an IDC study that also identifies opportunities for companies that can protect and extract value from the massive amounts of data being generated daily by people and machines. The EMC Corporation sponsored study shows that 2.8 zettabytes (ZB) of data would have been created and replicated in 2012 and the digital universe will reach 40 zettabytes (ZB) by 2020. Machine-generated data is set to increase 15 times by 2020 and emerging markets will oust the developed world as the main producer of the world's data by this time. The investment on the "infrastructure" of the digital universe that includes IT hardware, software, services, telecommunications, and staff will grow by 40 percent between 2012 and 2020.
Expect no major changes to the functioning of the Internet in the coming months after a controversial ending to the International Telecommunication Union's World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), but an agreement hammered out there may encourage countries to censor Web content in the longer term, participants and observers said. WCIT, which ended Friday, will have little short-term impact on the Internet because regulations outlined in the final document won't go into effect until 2015, and countries that want to sign on will need to have their governments ratify the treaty before then. Over the long term, however, there's some disagreement on the effect of the WCIT treaty, with some observers and participants in the discussions concerned that provisions on security and spam will give some countries cover to censor Web content. Those provisions, encouraging countries to work together to fight security problems and spam, could lead to several countries adopting restrictive content-filtering regulations, said Sally Wentworth, senior manager of public policy for the Internet Society. "This is talking about harmonious development of international telecommunications services," Wentworth said. "Are countries looking for common security practices across borders?"
If you're a user of Google's mobile operating system Android and concerned about your smartphone's security, expect to worry more in the coming months. ]. , and the increased use of the devices for monetary transactions. The volume of malware designed for mobile devices is a direct response to the speed at which the technology is being adopted, according to Eset's report. "If the market grows and technology is enhanced, then as long as users who use these devices to store an increasing amount of sensitive information do not adopt the necessary measures, it is logical to expect cybercriminals to create computer threats to profit from this situation."
Office productivity plummets during the holidays. Many people take extended vacations, and some businesses just plain shut down. And the employees who actually show up to work? They while away the hours playing casual games on their workstation web browsers. PCWorld does not condone absenteeism, laggardism or all-around, year-end slothfulness. But if you must play a browser game at work, you might as well zone out on a holiday-themed title. You know. Because 'tis the season. You may be familiar with Effing Worms: it’s a game about guiding a carnivorous worm underground, launching surprise attacks on unsuspecting people and animals to sate your unyielding appetite. is a holiday-themed spin on the idea, and the general idea remains the same. This time around our invertebrate hero is out for revenge, having been rebuffed by Santa, or on the receiving end of a lousy gift, or... the details are irrelevant, really. Lurk underground, eviscerate elves and reindeer and yetis, and grow progressively larger until it’s time to take out jolly old St. Nick himself. Every level charges you with taking out a set number of enemies, and things gradually get a bit more chaotic as Santa’s full military might is brought to bear. The game is short and rather silly — an excellent diversion during those holiday lulls. This one gets weird. Santa has fallen off of his sleigh into frigid water, and is trapped in an icy bubble. You’re armed with bombs, which you’ll use to detonate frozen presents and weaponry — based on my experience with Effing Worms, I presume Santa has always travelled with an arsenal. is by no means a challenging game. Most levels boil down to clicking once, and then seeing if you’ve detonated enough things on screen to free Santa from his icy prison. That said, I have to admit that I dropped quite a few hours of my day studiously unlocking every upgrade and achievement available to me. Sometimes you want a game that really pushes the boundaries of what gaming can be. Other times however you just want to blow stuff up and save Christmas. When that time comes, Icy Gifts is there for you.
Well-known American inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil is joining Google. The 64-year-old, whose work includes computer and machine intelligence, neuroscience and virtual reality, revealed the move on Friday. Kurzweil said his work at Google would focus on new projects involving machine learning and language processing. The job begins on Monday, when Kurzweil will take the title director of engineering, he wrote. "I've been interested in technology, and machine learning in particular, for a long time: when I was 14, I designed software that wrote original music, and later went on to invent the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, among other inventions. I've always worked to create practical systems that will make a difference in people's lives, which is what excites me as an inventor," he wrote.
, that will help open-source MySQL databases work more efficiently in very large-scale production environments. To write the code, they are using Google's programming language Go. YouTube already uses one Vitess component, called Vtocc, to help serve videos to all of the service's 800 million monthly users. Google acquired YouTube in 2006.
Samsung Electronics has acquired Nvelo, a Silicon Valley vendor of products for caching data on flash-based SSDs (solid-state disks). Nvelo is privately held and based in Santa Clara, California, and the terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition involves all the company's technology and personnel, Samsung said.
The clamshell laptop is finally joining the beige desktop in the museum of computer artifacts. The basic hinged design made its first appearance in a device called the way back in 1982, so no one can scoff at the clamshell's longevity. Nonetheless, times are finally changing, which means it's time for the pure clamshell laptop to ride off into the sunset. The traditional clamshell is being replaced by a wide variety of designs that merge tablets and laptops into a single physical package. These Windows 8 hybrid devices should directly appeal to PC users who might otherwise buy thin-and-light laptops. First-generation hybrids are already shipping, and most of them are flawed in some way, but they nonetheless bring new use-case scenarios to a mobile computing paradigm that hasn't changed much in 30 years. Sure, there have been attempts to upend the clamshell. Take Microsoft's during the Windows XP era. But those early efforts were hobbled by bolting touch control onto an operating system that was poorly suited for touch interfaces. Windows 8 and Windows RT, however, are designed from the ground up for the touch experience. Now that we've reviewed a good number of Windows 8 portables, it's time to step back, name the best models, and put them all in context. Given their intrinsic design compromises, none of them is a clear winner as a do-it-all system. But we can still look at five innovative designs, walk you through why you'd want one, and suggest which usage models may best apply to you.
in general, but something about it has also seemed to favor the rebirth of distros we hadn't heard from in years. after four years of silence, and just this week another very similar event happened. on Monday graduated to version 7.0. on the Slax website. “After more than three years of silence, Slax is back in action and is better than ever before.”
Sparkbooth is free to try for 10 days, but the demo version places a watermark on all of your photos. To use Sparkbooth, simply install it on your Windows or Mac computer and attach your Webcam. Sparkbooth will find it automatically, and displays a large preview photo on the screen—and this preview is a lot more accurate at showing you what your photo will look like than those old mirrors you find in some photo booths. You hit the space bar to begin, and it then begins snapping four pictures in succession. The application alerts you when it's about to capture the image, and then displays the results in a sequence of images that appear on screen. Sparkbooth includes a few effects that you can add to your photos: color (which is the default), black & white, sepia, and fomomatic (which makes it look like it was shot with a toy camera). You can change these settings via Sparkbooth's menu, which is a little cumbersome, or you can add a keyboard shortcut to change them more easily. Sparkbooth's creator notes that the number of effects is limited because the software is really designed for use with guests who will want to sit for a photo and move on, not mess around with the software. In that respect, he's right: the software really is easy to use for anyone who just wants to sit for their photos and then get back to the party.
Grosse Ehre für Hans-Jakob Siber: Der Schweizer ist Namensgeber eines neu entdeckten Dinosauriers. Das Skelett des «kleinen Diplodocus von Siber» sorgt vor allem dank eines Körperteils für weltweites Aufsehen.
Beim Telekommunikationssatelliten waren auf dem Weg zur vorgesehenen Erdumlaufbahn Probleme aufgetreten. Nun erreichte Jamal-402 seinen Orbit aus eigener Kraft. Es drohen jedoch weitere Schwierigkeiten.
Eine Langzeituntersuchung der Universität Bern zeigt: 97 Prozent der Zahnimplantate halten länger als zehn Jahre. Frühere Studien gingen von hohen Komplikationsraten aus.
Vor rund tausend Jahren brachten Araber die Dattelpalme nach Mallorca. Noch heute ist sie der Stolz der Inselbewohner – doch nun droht der Zierbaum auszusterben.
Das klang verheissungsvoll: Weil es am Südpol häufiger als früher schneit, wird Wasser gebunden – und der Meeresspiegel steigt weniger stark an. Nun sind Forscher aber zu einem unerwarteten Resultat gekommen.
Wer unter ADHS leidet, hat ein höheres Risiko, straffällig zu werden. Eine neue Studie aus Schweden zeigt nun, dass mit ADHS-Medikamenten die Zahl der Verurteilungen sinkt.
Das über 100 Jahre alte Medikament hilft gegen weit mehr als Schmerzen. Jetzt fordert ein Krebsspezialist Aspirin für alle, auf dass das kränkelnde Gesundheitswesen genese.
In einem einzigartigen Seelabor bei Berlin werden unter freiem Himmel die Auswirkungen der Klimaerwärmung auf Seen erforscht. In der Schweiz liess sich das Projekt nicht realisieren.
Die CMA CGM Marco Polo ist grösser als ein US-Flugzeugträger. Nach einem schwierigen Wendemanöver legte der Gigant nun zum ersten Mal in Hamburg an.
Das US-Militär testet erneut den Raumgleiter X-37B. Das Mini-Raumschiff könnte neue Möglichkeiten bei der Spionage eröffnen.
Bei den Zügen der österreichischen Westbahn wackeln bei Zugsbegegnungen mit hoher Geschwindigkeit die Türen.
Die St. Galler Firma Akris zeigt ihre Kollektionen als einziges Label des deutschsprachigen Raums an der Pariser Fashion Week. Die Anfänge der Marke als Schürzenfabrik waren denkbar karg.
Die internationale Wirtschaftskrise hat die Kluft zwischen Männern und Frauen in Bezug auf die Arbeitslosenquoten vergrössert. Experten sehen vier Lösungsansätze, um die Situation der Frauen zu verbessern.
Forscher glauben, das wissenschaftliche Rätsel gelöst zu haben, warum Homosexualität in manchen Familien gehäuft vorkommt. Der Grund sollen bestimmte Anhängsel an der Erbsubstanz sein.
Für den Nobelpreis hatte es nicht gereicht. Nun kommt das Cern doch noch zu grossen Ehren: Das Forschungsinstitut erhält einen mit drei Millionen dotierten Preis für seine Forschung am Higgs-Teilchen.
In Stockholm sind die Nobelpreise für Literatur, Physik, Chemie, Medizin und Wirtschaft überreicht worden. Zahlreiche Ehrengäste waren zur Feier geladen.
Jährlich landen Tausende Tonnen von problematischem Asphalt auf Feld- und Wanderwegen. Jetzt wird die Forderung nach einem Moratorium laut.
Nach der Ulme ist nun offenbar die Esche dran. Ein Viertel des gesamten Waldbestandes ist von der Krankheit bedroht, die durch einen Pilz ausgelöst wird.
Der Experte Felix Hasler kritisiert die Neurowissenschaften: Spärliche Forschungsergebnisse würden überverkauft. Von einer Revolution des Menschenbildes könne keine Rede sein.
Allen Frances war einst einer der einflussreichsten Psychiater der Welt. Heute kritisiert er, seine Kollegen würden immer mehr normale Verhaltensweisen zu psychischen Störungen erklären.