[November 21, 2006] TECHBITS: Smart objects, Gaming research, Quran ringtones, Large files, Desert race, Craigslist, Australian copyright Tweet By The Associated Press The Associated Press Slow march of `smart' objects continues A new coffee maker hitting stores for the holidays can display real-time weather data, using a "smart objects" technology that Microsoft (News - Alert) Corp. has been touting for years. The $200 Melitta Smart Mill & Brew, made by Salton Inc., takes advantage of a wireless-data system built by Microsoft to automatically display current weather conditions and forecasts. This concept -- imbuing everyday objects with the ability to deliver at-a-glance information -- has been in the works at Microsoft since at least 2000. Chairman Bill Gates (News - Alert) highlighted the "Smart Personal Objects Technology" (SPOT) in his keynote at the Comdex trade show in 2002, calling it part of a seminal shift in computing that would soon make a mark. In practice, though, making SPOT run has been laborious. To shoot real-time data to household gadgets, Microsoft and partner companies had to design a mini-operating system and power-friendly microchips for them. It also set up a nationwide wireless data system using the FM radio spectrum. The first SPOT-infused products, watches from three companies that offered real-time news and other information, hit the market in 2004, followed by a home weather gadget from Oregon Scientific Inc. That makes the coffee maker just the third kind of item to deploy the technology. But Eric Lang, who manages the SPOT initiative, said the project "is on a roll now." Microsoft has simplified the process by which gadget makers can add SPOT to products, and several are due to be announced in coming months. "It's clear this is where technology is going, there's no doubt about it," Lang said. "It might be a little before its time for mainstream America, but it's absolutely where things are going." _ Brian Bergstein, AP Technology Writer. ___ Sony: Gamers can aid medical research TOKYO (AP) -- The new PlayStation 3 isn't all about entertainment. That's the message Sony Corp. is trying to convey in announcing that the new game consoles -- as powerful as supercomputers -- can help Stanford University researchers analyze complex human protein structures and perhaps find cures for cancer, Alzheimer's and other ailments. Thousands of die-hard gamers and entrepreneurs lined up last week to buy the sleek PS3 machines when they went on sale in the United States on Friday. Police had to disperse rowdy crowds at some stores, and in Connecticut, authorities said two armed men tried to rob waiting customers and shot a man who refused to give up his money. Sony Computer Entertainment says that when Cure(at)PLAYSTATION 3 is launched, PS3 owners can register their machines with Stanford, download specially designed software and leave their machines online to process data when they're not playing. It's modeled after programs where personal computers process high-volume data for signs of extraterrestrial life and other tasks. PCs already contribute to the Stanford medical research program. Sony said data processing time can be up to 20 times faster with a global network of PS3s, which are fitted with advanced Cell processors that can perform billions of calculations per second. The program will kick off after the PS3 becomes available globally. PS3s already are on sale in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States; the European launch was delayed until March because of production problems. _ Hiroko Tabuchi, AP Writer. ___ Clerics in India dismiss Quran ringtone LUCKNOW, India (AP) -- Muslim clerics at a leading seminary in India have asked people to refrain from using verses from the Quran as ringtones for their mobile phones, saying the practice was un-Islamic. Quran verses "are not meant for entertainment," said Mohammed Asumin Qazmi, an official at the Dar-ul Uloom seminary in the northern Indian town of Deoband. "Anyone who persists in using these should be ostracized from society." Ringtones with Quran verses or calls to prayers are popular among Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state. Mufti Badru-Hasan, a leading cleric in Uttar Pradesh capital of Lucknow, said he supported a ban on such ringtones. "One should hear the complete verse of the Quran with a pious mind and in silence. If it is used as a ringtone, a person is bound to switch on the mobile, thus truncating the verse halfway," he said. "This is an un-Islamic act." They are most commonly used by people in their mid-40s and 50s, said Mukesh Sinha, a mobile phone company executive. Many users consider the religious tunes a reminder of their faith. "Whenever my phone rings, I hear these verses that stress the values of hard work and honesty, and I feel closer to my religion," bank manager Faiz Siddaqui said. _ Biswajeet Banerjee, AP Writer ___ Free software bypasses attachment limits NEW YORK (AP) -- There's a new way to send large movie, music and other files without worrying about whether the e-mail systems can handle large attachments. Free software from Pando Networks Inc. automatically converts your attachments into a small file that your friend or relative can simply open to download the original file from Pando or elsewhere. Beginning Tuesday, Pando is offering plug-ins to work with most Web-based mail services. Major e-mail providers generally limit the size of files you can send or receive to 10 megabytes. That's fine for text and even small photos -- but try sending an entire photo album, music or video, and you run against the caps quickly. And even if your provider lets you send the large files, the recipient's service provider might not accept them. "Everybody has experienced problems of, `I want to send something but it's too large to send by e-mail,'" said Robert Levitan, Pando's chief executive. With Pando, files larger than a specified size are automatically converted. A copy of the file is sent to Pando's servers, and only a small attachment gets sent to the recipient, who must have or obtain the free software from Pando. Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system and Internet Explorer browser are required to send files using the Web-based plug-ins, but Mac users can get the free standalone application to open them -- as well as to send their own. Windows users can also send files with the standalone program or a plug-in for Microsoft's Outlook e-mail software. Pando accepts files of up to 1 gigabyte -- 10 times the free offering from YouSendIt.com, which isn't integrated with the Web-based mail services. Pando plans to make money from ads and a premium version with higher limits and longer retention -- files are deleted from Pando's servers after 14 days under the free plan. _ Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer. ___ Micron's Appleton wins desert road race BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Steve Appleton, the chief executive of a leading chip maker, has added desert road race champion to his moonlighting resume of stunt-plane pilot and motocross racer: He won his vehicle class in a grueling off-road race down Mexico's Baja Peninsula. Appleton won the 20-car Baja Challenge Class of the SCORE Tecate Baja 1000, completing the 1,047-mile run late Friday in 25 hours and 25 minutes -- 30 minutes ahead of his nearest competitor. "No mechanicals, no flats, and never got lost," said Appleton, who alternated driving and navigating with his brother, Chris, in the identically prepared Subaru-powered Baja touring cars, which comprise the entry-level class of desert racing's premier event. "Our intercom didn't work," he said. "We didn't have one argument. We didn't talk to each other the whole time. Hand signals. That's it." Appleton's car was one of four driven in the race by executives of Boise-based Micron Technology (News - Alert) Inc., the largest U.S manufacturer of dynamic random access memory chips for personal computers. Micron team vehicles were equipped with on-board digital image sensors to capture the entire race on a series of 8-gigabyte flash memory cards. Sensors on each car recorded both a cockpit view and a forward-looking race course view. Micron spokesman Dan Francisco said the company was still analyzing the video, but said clips from the car cameras were being provided to NBC Sports for its scheduled Dec. 10 national broadcast of the SCORE Baja 1000. Appleton originally considered equipping professional racers' cars with the Micron on-board video recorders, but then decided to have the company's own executives drive the vehicles to field-test the endurance of solid-state chips manufactured for digital cameras, cell-phone cameras and automotive back-up video systems. _ Christopher Smith, AP Writer. ___ Judge says law protects Craigslist site CHICAGO (AP) -- A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit against Craigslist, saying the online classified site is protected from liability even if the housing ads it carries are discriminatory. In dismissing the case, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve ruled that Craigslist serves as an intermediary party, not a publisher, and that federal law protects Craigslist and other sites that allow users to post unedited messages and communicate freely in forums. The Supreme Court struck down key provisions of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which criminalized putting adult-oriented material online where children can find it, but the section granting online service providers protections from liability remain intact. The protection was affirmed Monday when the California Supreme Court, citing that law, ruled that Web sites cannot be sued for libel for publishing inflammatory information written by other parties. That's not to say judges necessarily like the protections. In the California case, Associate Justice Carol A. Corrigan wrote that "the prospect of blanket immunity for those who intentionally redistribute defamatory statements on the Internet has disturbing implications." Last week, St. Eve said "near-unanimous case law" shields sites like Craigslist, even though she thought that case law has been applied too broadly. "Congress did not intend to grant a vast, limitless immunity," St. Eve wrote. A consortium of Chicago attorneys had accused Craigslist of violating federal housing laws by running more than 100 ads that excluded potential buyers or tenants on the basis of race, gender or religion. St. Eve did not rule on the merits of those charges. _ Nathaniel Hernandez, AP Writer. ___ Australian copyright proposal criticized SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Critics of a copyright proposal in Australia are warning that serious penalties could result from the use of iPod music players and video-sharing sites like YouTube, even if all you're doing is showing yourself singing along to your favorite song. Electronic Frontiers Australia, a free-speech advocacy group, said the proposal vastly extends the scope of items considered used for copyright theft. Instead of being limited to commercial machines like printing presses, the group said, the proposal would cover personal devices like video players, music players and home computers. Another section "would arguably make distribution of copyright material via the Internet a criminal offense, even where the person responsible had not intended such distribution to occur," the group said. The copyright proposal has been introduced in Parliament. Politicians and experts are debating it before a final version is put to a vote, expected next year next year. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has not responded directly to the claims, but has said the provisions are intended to catch and punish major music and movie pirates, not personal users. The proposals would make it an indictable offense -- one that must go before the justice system -- for someone to possess a device with the intention of using it to infringe copyright. Previously, such infringements have generally been dealt with by paying damages to the copyright holder, without the involvement of the courts. Brian Fitzgerald, the head of Queensland University's law school, said the changes "have the potential to make everyday Australians in homes and businesses across the country into criminals on a scale that we have not witnessed before." The proposal could potentially cover "a 14-year-old girl videoing herself lip-synching to her favorite pop tune and uploading this to a video sharing Web site like YouTube," Fitzgerald wrote in an Oct. 26 article posted on the Web site of Online Opinion. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]