Wired: Top Stories (19 unread)
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FBI Arrests Six More in Citibank ATM Heists
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 11:00pm EDT by Threat Level
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Ten have been arrested so far, as the FBI engages in a cat-and-mouse game with New York-area fraudsters stealing millions in cash from Citibank ATMs. Citibank is still closed-mouthed about the computer intrusion that put an unknown number of customer PIN codes in the hands of a Russian cybercrime boss.
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FBI Visits Leaker of Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 9:30pm EDT by Listening Post
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A blogger who goes by the name "Skwerl" says two "Mulder and Scully" types from the FBI questioned him in the lobby of his workplace about the nine songs he leaked from Guns N' Roses "Chinese Democracy" album, which fans have been anticipating for over 14 years. He says he's not worried, even though distributing an unreleased album is punishable by fines, jail time or both.
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Genetic Testing Company Details Regulatory Defense Plan
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 9:00pm EDT by Wired Science
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A high-profile genetic testing company reveals how they plan to stay in business after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from California's health department. Their argument? DNA is data.
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By Open Sourcing Symbian, Nokia Kicks Off the Mobile Age
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 9:00pm EDT by Dylan Tweney
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The mobile software age is here.
Symbian co-founder Nokia announced Monday night that it is buying the 52 percent of the software maker that it doesn’t already own and releasing its mobile operating system under an open source license.
With that move, Symbian joins two other major platforms -- the Google-backed Android operating system and Apple's OS X iPhone -- that give programmers tools for creating and deploying software for smartphones.
The Symbian OS dominates the world market, with about 60 percent of the installed base among smartphones. According to Nokia, more than 200 million phones currently in use worldwide are running Symbian software. But Symbian trails in the United States, where Research in Motion, Palm, Windows Mobile -- and now the iPhone -- are the major players.
Nokia uses Symbian software across its range of mobile devices, primarily with the extremely popular S60 interface. Other handset companies also use some variety of the Symbian operating system, including Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DoCoMo.
"Nokia could, if they found inside the corporation the resolve to do so, come out with the definitive open platform," said Bruce Perens, an open source advocate and CEO of Kiloboot. "They would have a platform of the type we haven't seen since the original Palm. When that was dominant, there were 16,000 applications available to install. The question is, can they find the corporate resolve?"
The prospect of thousands of mobile apps -- instead of the few dozen typically available through most wireless carriers -- is something new in the wireless world. And the 6 million iPhones sold to date show that mobile users like having open, unfettered access to web applications and online content.
In short, what matters to handsets now is not so much features, graphics chips and innovative interfaces -- though those do help. What's critical is an easy-to-use development platform that enables programmers to create a wide range of software quickly and easily, so that they can give consumers the content and the software they demand.
Android (whose first handsets are expected later this year) is clearly aimed at that goal. And while it's not open source, Apple has built a complete developer ecosystem around the iPhone, including everything from development tools to a store (which will open next month) for selling finished applications.
That's a significant shift from just a year ago, when programming tools for handsets were specialized and difficult to use, and carriers and handset manufacturers alike kept a tight rein on mobile application deployment.
To support the new open source project, Nokia is establishing the Symbian Foundation, a collective of hardware and software companies that have pledged to donate code and resources to Symbian's development. Phone makers Motorola and Sony Ericsson are on board, contributing software from their UIQ project, a touchscreen interface for Symbian. Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has pledged support and is contributing its Symbian interface, MOAP(S). Other supporters include AT&T, Samsung and Texas Instruments.
"Establishing the foundation is one of the biggest contributions to an open community ever made," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia, somewhat hyperbolically. But it is true that Nokia has, at one stroke, created an enormous open-source ecosystem, thanks to the huge number of Symbian phones already in use.
Nokia's move is a defensive one, of course. The Symbian Foundation plan is strikingly similar to Google's plan with the Open Handset Alliance, a collective of industry players who have come together to build and nurture the Android open source mobile operating system. On the carrier side, Google has NTT DoCoMo, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile on board. On the hardware side, HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung have signed on to support Android.
Nokia says it is even taking a Google-like approach to rolling out the open source code. It will release components of its code under an open source license at first, with the full OS to follow "over the next two years." Right now, Nokia says, it intends to release Symbian under the Eclipse Public License (EPL) 1.0.
But not everyone is convinced that open source operating systems are the way to go.
"With the success of Apple's and RIM's models, we would have thought traditional handset vendors would develop and maintain similar proprietary OS models," said Tavis McCourt, a Morgan Keegan analyst. "We view this move as a long-term positive for the smartphone vendors that own their own OS (RIM, Apple and, soon, Palm)."
And it's still too soon to tell which mobile platform will win out. Symbian has the advantage of a large installed base; Android will benefit from the pure innovation seen when developers take a "sky's the limit" approach to building a new OS. And Apple provides a complete, turnkey approach to software sales via its iTunes App Store, which may appeal to consumers.
One thing's for sure: The floodgates are opening, and the coming year will see an explosion of mobile software for a wide range of smartphones.
Additional reporting by Betsy Schiffman.
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Ferrari Building a Smaller, Lighter, Quicker Enzo
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 8:00pm EDT by Chuck Squatriglia
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Ferrari believes smaller, lighter cars will help it cut fuel consumption by 40 percent and emissions by 25 percent, and its engineers are working on a 600-horsepower supercar that weights a scant 2,200 pounds. Look for it in 2010.
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How to Throw a Perfect High-Five
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 7:40pm EDT by How-To Wiki
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The classic high-five says a lot of things: I'm awesome, you're awesome, the moment we just shared was awesome. But there's nothing more un-awesome than a botched high-five. So the next time you get rad with your buddies, make sure you have your technique down. In Wired.com's How-To Wiki.
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Get Started With REST
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 7:10pm EDT by Webmonkey
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REST is another of those tech-savvy acronyms that make you cringe in fear. But REST assured, using it is easy. In fact, if you’ve ever filled a form out online, you are already familiar with REST. Make a few GET and POST requests using our REST tutorial.
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Inside the MPAA's Understanding of Copyright Infringement
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 6:58pm EDT by Threat Level
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Two of the leading lawyers for the Motion Picture Association of America said Tuesday that no actual transfer of copyrighted works is required to prove peer-to-peer infringement under the Copyright Act. "You don't have to prove actual distribution. You need to prove there's works in the share folder, and that is distribution," the MPAA lawyer said.
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Cheating Fans Give Avril Lavigne a YouTube Lift
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 6:10pm EDT by Underwire
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A bogus campaign pushes the Canadian singer's video toward the top of the heap.
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Six Crazy Concept Bikes You'll Never Ride
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 5:00pm EDT by Gadget Lab Blog
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Ultralight folding bikes, a bicycle made of cardboard, and a street cruiser with an infinitely variable transmission are just a few of the way-out concepts in this gallery of prototypes and high-end fringe bicycles.
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Greener Jet Engine Could Reduce Aviation's Carbon Footprint
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 4:30pm EDT by Dave Demerjian
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One of the biggest names in aviation has developed a jet engine that is more efficient, less polluting and cheaper to use than almost everything else in the sky, and it could revolutionize an industry facing skyrocketing fuel prices and mounting pressure to clean up its act.
Pratt & Whitney has spent the better part of two decades developing the geared turbofan engine that burns 12 to 15 percent less fuel than other jet engines and cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 1,500 tons per plane per year. It's being called one of the most exciting developments commercial aviation has seen in years, and it was a hot topic at the Eco-Aviation Conference, where the aviation industry spent two days charting the course to a greener future.
"It's technology like that geared turbofan that's going to drive fuel efficiency forward for this industry in the short and medium term," says Earnest Arvi of the Arvi Group. "Alternative fuels show great potential, but they're decades away."
Pratt & Whitney was just one of the heavy hitters at the conference, an unprecedented gathering that underscored the severity of the issues the industry faces. With airline passenger growth rates and aircraft emissions expected to double by 2020 and 2030, respectively, the pressure is on to address those problems quickly. The conference saw a lot of talk -- and a little green-washing -- about developing alternative fuels to replace jet fuel, easing airport pollution, and building greener aircraft to replace the industry's aging fleet. Nearly 1,000 planes flown by domestic carriers will be more than a quarter of a century old by 2015, and Boeing officials have said that more than 10,400 new planes will be needed in the coming decades and making them as green as possible will go a long way toward reducing commercial aviation's carbon footprint.
That's why Pratt & Whitney has so much to brag about with its geared turbofan, which significantly advances jet-engine technology. Current jet engines have fans that suck air into the combustion chamber, where it is compressed, mixed with fuel, and ignited. Then it's blown through a turbine, generating thrust. It works, but it's inefficient because the fan is connected to the engine and turns at the same speed as the turbine. Fans work best at low speed, while turbines work best at high speed.
Pratt & Whitney solved that problem with a gearbox that lets the fan and turbine spin independently. The fan is larger and it spins at one-third the speed of the turbine, creating a quieter, more powerful engine the company says requires less fuel, emits less C02 and costs 30 percent less to maintain. Pratt & Whitney has been torture-testing the engines, and its engineers have simulated more than 40,000 takeoffs and landings.
The company's VP of Technology and Environment, Alan Epstein, says the engine will not only cut CO2 emissions, but will also reduce nitrogen-oxide emissions, noise and -- ultimately -- ownership costs. "For the next generation of single-aisle aircraft, there's no question that engine performance will be key," he says. "Both economically and environmentally, this engine will deliver significant benefits."
The industry seems to agree and is lining up behind the engine, which Pratt & Whitney expects to have in regular service by 2013. It's already slated for jets currently being developed by Mitsubishi and Bombardier.
Pratt & Whitney isn't the only firm developing greener aircraft. Airbus is dabbling in alternative fuels and researching ways of recycling more than 6,000 planes slated for retirement during the next 20 years. Boeing is dabbling with hydrogen fuel cells and investing in algal fuels while pushing lighter planes like its 787 Dreamliner. Boeing says composite materials make up nearly 50 percent of the plane, which can carry as many as 330 people, making it far lighter than other planes its size. It is 20 percent more fuel-efficient and produces 20 percent fewer emissions than similarly sized aircraft, company officials say. Boeing is betting composite construction will bring huge improvements in fuel economy and emissions to commercial aviation.
Further gains could come from improving the nation's outdated air traffic control system, something nearly everyone at the conference said must happen. The current system is based on radar technology that dates to World War II, and plans to replace it with a satellite system known as NextGen are at a standstill while FAA reauthorization is stalled in Congress. But the industry has several other ideas, from allowing flights through military airspace to widespread adoption of a quieter, more efficient landing technique called continuous descent approach. Industry experts say adopting such steps could significantly reduce fuel consumptions and delays. The International Air Traffic Association says cutting just one minute from every commercial flight would save more than 1.9 million tons of fuel and 6.3 million tons of CO2 annually.
The air travel industry has taken a lot of heat for being slow to address its environmental impact, and some say parts of the eco-conference were just slick PR. But even some critics say the fact the industry is discussing environmental stewardship shows it's finally getting serious about the issue -- if only because doing so is in its best interest. "Climate change could mean fewer coastal vacation destinations, inaccessible airports and a general economic malaise that cuts travel spending," says Liz Barratt-Brown of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Looked at in that context, you could argue that the aviation sector has the most to lose from global warming."
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Charter Freezes Web Eavesdropping Plan
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 1:27pm EDT by Threat Level
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Charter Communications, the nation's fourth largest ISP, is halting a plan to test ad technology that monitors its customers' web and search engine usage. The move comes after customers complained about the proposed pilots and a powerful lawmaker questioned the legality of the eavesdropping.
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Review: Nokia E66 Is Business up Front, Party in the Back
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 1:00pm EDT by Gadget Lab
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The new Nokia E66 smartphone is out, and it comes with some goodies: a beautiful, chassis, solid web apps and a button that can switch you to two separate screen modes. Trouble is, the thing heats up hotter than the sun and tears through batteries like greased lightning.
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'Guitar Hero' for the Blind and for the Wii
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 11:56am EDT by Game|Life
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Everybody wants to be a fake ax slinger, and researcher Eelke Folmer makes the videogame accessible for those who can't see the screen.
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Hackers Crack London Tube's Ticketing System
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 11:00am EDT by Autopia
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Dutch researchers ride the Underground for free after hacking the smartcards riders use to pay their fares. The hack has huge implications because similar cards provide access to thousands of government buildings, hospitals and schools throughout Britain.
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Nokia Buys Up Symbian, Sets It Free
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 9:58am EDT by Associated Press
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Nokia said it intends to buy 52 per cent of Symbian and set the world's leading smartphone operating system free. All but one of the previous owners all previous owners of Symbian, have committed themselves to accept the offer and Nokia says it expects holdout Samsung to join them shortly.
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Facebook's Newest Friend? Visa
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 7:32am EDT by Associated Press
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Facebook is a gated community whose members make up demographics that are relatively easy to quantify -- and yet, it remains something of a barren wasteland for advertisers. Now Visa is stepping up with a $2 million ad buy that seeks to tie in with the roughly 80,000 small businesses on the social network.
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Microsoft/Yahoo Takeover Talks On Again
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 12:26am EDT by Epicenter
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The on-again, off-again Microsoft/Yahoo takeover talks are on again, Techcrunch reports, citing several anonymous sources. Word that the seemingly estranged parties might yet meet at the altar sent Yahoo shares soaring more than 7 percent.
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Global Warming Scientist: 'This Is the Last Chance'
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 12:00am EDT by Associated Press
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Global warming has become so serious a problem that the world's only hope is drastic action, the NASA scientist who first warned of the phenomenon 20 years ago tells congress. "We're toast if we don't get on a very different path,"says James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute of Space Sciences.