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Indian Tech CEO: Americans are lazy and unemployable

Vineet Nayar is reported to have called Americans graduates “unemployable”; the CEO of IT services vendor HCL Technologies was speaking recently in New York.

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 Uncategorized Comments Off

UK Gets Europe’s First 3G Femtocell

judgecorp writes “Femtocells have been on the horizon for a while, but the UK just got the first 3G femtocell launch in Europe, by Vodafone. The device connects to handsets in the room and links them to the cellular network over broadband. It’s a classic win-win, because it gives the user better coverage and takes traffic off the service provider’s network. The only complaint might be from the broadband provider, who could be carrying traffic for a rival. Vodafone isn’t pushing the data angle, but since it has HSPA, the product could work just fine with laptops and dongles. Femtos have been in limbo waiting for serious launches, but judging from the list of speakers at the World Femtocell Summit in London, Vodafone might not be the only one.

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 Uncategorized Comments Off

Why You Need a Network Analyzer

In today’s world, it seems that more of the people I run across do not feel they need — or, more accurately, don’t understand why they need — a protocol analyzer for their network. A few years ago, it seemed that more people understood just how important the analyzer was. For some reason, as networks have become smarter and much more complex, this understanding seems to have dissipated. I am not sure whether it is due to the proliferation of network tools or the belief that a network can “heal” itself. Trust me, it can’t.

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 Uncategorized Comments Off

Intel And Nokia Announce Open Source Mobile Partnership

The two will work hand in hand to develop common technologies for use in the Moblin and Maemo platform projects, which will deliver Linux-based operating systems for these future mobile computing devices. The agreement also nets Intel a solid win in the IP department, as it has acquired the rights to utilize 3G/HSPA (3.6Mbps) technology.

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 Uncategorized Comments Off

On the Humble Default

Hugh Pickens sends along Kevin Kelly’s paean to the default. “One of the greatest unappreciated inventions of modern life is the default. ‘Default’ is a technical concept first used in computer science in the 1960s to indicate a preset standard. … Today the notion of a default has spread beyond computer science to the culture at large. It seems such a small thing, but the idea of the default is fundamental… It’s hard to remember a time when defaults were not part of life. But defaults only arose as computing spread; they are an attribute of complex technological systems. There were no defaults in the industrial age. … The hallmark of flexible technological systems is the ease by which they can be rewired, modified, reprogrammed, adapted, and changed to suit new uses and new users. Many (not all) of their assumptions can be altered. The upside to endless flexibility and multiple defaults lies in the genuine choice that an individual now has, if one wants it. … Choices materialize when summoned. But these abundant choices never appeared in fixed designs. … In properly designed default system, I always have my full freedoms, yet my choices are presented to me in a way that encourages taking those choices in time — in an incremental and educated manner. Defaults are a tool that tame expanding choice.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 Uncategorized Comments Off

No “3 Strikes” in Spain, Watch Out Torrent Sites

Just days after ISPs in Spain confirmed talks with the music and movie industry had ended without success, entertainment companies have now backed away from their “3 strikes” demands after it became clear the Spanish government does not support their plan. They will go after 200 BitTorrent sites instead.

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 Uncategorized Comments Off

Associated Press Tells Free Speech On Facebook To Suck It

The venerable Associated Press seems to have crossed the line by asking its employees to not only control what they say, but what their friends say. AP employee policy: It’s a good idea to monitor your profile page to make sure material posted by others doesn’t violate AP standards

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 Uncategorized Comments Off

Record Labels Target More Irish ISPs for “Three-Strikes”

The music industry, led by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA), is suing two Irish ISPs, BT Ireland and UPC Ireland, to make them take action against illegal file-sharers on their networks.

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 Uncategorized Comments Off

Hospital Confirms Steve Jobs’s Liver Transplant

CNet is reporting that the hospital where Apple’s CEO reportedly got a liver transplant two months ago has now confirmed the truth of these reports. “Steve Jobs underwent his liver transplant about two months ago at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, the hospital confirmed Tuesday. Jobs, who returned to work Apple’s campus in Cupertino, Calif., on Monday after a six-month medical leave, ‘is now recovering well and has an excellent prognosis,’ according to a statement by Dr. James D. Eason, the program director of the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute. … While Eason said the confirmation was being provided with Jobs’s approval, he cited patient confidentially in saying that he could not reveal any further information on the specifics of Jobs’s surgery.”

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 Uncategorized Comments Off

Hands-on: Google Voice dialing up for launch

Google has reportedly obtained over a million phone numbers in preparation for the public launch of its new Google Voice telephony service. Ars gives you an inside look at the closed beta.

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 Uncategorized Comments Off