Microsoft will soon stop the development of its new browser, Internet Explorer 9 and offer a version RTM (Release To Manufacturing).
According to rumors, Microsoft is readying the release of a version of RTM-escrow , and would solicit beta testers to find the remaining bugs.
According to inside information-the RTM escrow precedes by less than a month the RTM version. Consider leaving the launch could take place on March 14 next, which is the date of announcement of the team of IE 9 .
Apple is negotiating with major record labels to allow iTunes customers to access with more flexibility in their music.Apple is currently in discussions with record labels Universal Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music and EMI to allow iTunes customers to access more flexible and more terminals to the music they have purchased, said Bloomberg . A deal could be announced mid-year, the agency said.
Apple as the record companies are seeking in effect to maintain demand for downloading music, in a context where the popularity of streaming music services like Pandora, usable on all devices is growing. If this deal goes ahead, iTunes customers should have a permanent backup purchased music to where their originals are damaged or lost. It would also be possible to download the iPad, iPod and iPhone connected to the same iTunes account. One step closer to universal access to content stored on the Internet.
The platform blog hosting suffered the most violent storm since its inception. The founder of the reasons mentioned "political".Blow to the platform blog hosting WordPress , Automattic published by the company. Yesterday, she suffered the biggest attack by distributed denial of service (DDoS) since its inception in 2003. One immediate consequence was the unavailability of 18 million blogs hosted in three data centers (Chicago, San Antonio and Dallas), including those in the VIP WordPress.
This includes online media such as the Financial Post, National Post and TechCrunch.
According to a message published by Automattic, the assault has attained the infrastructure because of "several gigabits per second and tens of millions of packets per second. " Limit the effects of such an attack is usually complex and takes several hours. Indeed, denial of service attacks are designed to overwhelm Web sites queries, to make them available.
The attacks have dealt a level of complexity far more important to fight them, because they may come from a wider variety of networks and hosts. WordPress focused on its customers 'VIP' then its platform shared hosting (wordpress.com). Technical teams, aided by the operators used by the company, will set nearly two hours before beginning a gradual return to normal. Immediately after the attack, Matt Mullenweg, founder of the platform open source content management system, suggested in an e-mail that he suspected political motives behind these attacks.
They would be directed against blogs "non-English speakers" but would not be able to prove that.
In March 2010, the French host OverBlog who was under a similar attack. It lasted several hours before a restoration of access to blogs. A settlement of accounts was behind the attack. A complaint was filed and the case is still pending.
Google has launched a new offensive against sites "on demand" or "farm content" generated to meet the interests of users but also sometimes the only advertising, announcing that its search engine sites retrograde "poor quality
".
"We launched a sizeable improvement of the algorithm in our rankings - a change that affects 11.8% of research," said Thursday Google engineers, Amith Singhal and Matt Cutts, the official blog of the group.
"This update aims to demote poor quality sites - sites that bring little value to Internet users who copy content from other sites, or simply are not very useful," they added.
"At the same time, it will provide a better ranking for quality sites, those with original content and information such as research, detailed studies, thoughtful analysis."
This offensive responds to criticism from users who detected a deterioration in the quality of search results on Google, and extends an initiative last month.
The California group had announced a first change in its calculations to purge its search engine websites more or less containers, called "webspam.
He had also announced its intention to identify the "content farms", a derogatory term that has not used this week for copying sites scattered information answering specific questions and, according to critics, does
have the sole reason to exist than to attract advertising.
Google did not specify which sites were targeted.
At the New York Stock Exchange, the action of Demand Media Group, a company that claims to be treated "content farm", lost juqu'à 4% before recovering and finishing up 1.59
% (at 22.96 dollars), after assuring not to be concerned.
"It is impossible to speculate on what impact the changes," assured the blog of Demand Media a leading member of the company, Larry Fitzgibbon.
"But for the moment we have not seen a big impact."
The operation of Demand Media, as some subsidiaries of Yahoo and AOL internet, based on the use of armed freelancers asked to produce pages on topics sought by Internet users, but little presence on the web and
strong advertising potential: the return on advertising investment that determines the topics for writing or videos are published.
Eventually Google, whose initiative was broadly welcomed by the media, takes the risk of arbiter of quality.
"People do not like that Google has so much power and control over Internet," says Greg Sterling, an official site SearchEngineLand, told AFP.
"The contributors (the sites 'content farms') have the impression of being devalued."
WebmasterWorld on the site, many webmasters have complained of a sudden drop in traffic, as the user "rowtc2.
"For over four years that I manage a site, many hours of work, I add content and value, I get links ... and now ... a 29% drop in traffic
(...) it is rather disheartening! "he writes.
"Google is in a difficult situation", says Mr. Sterling.
"Its success has spawned an economy with freelancers who produce items designed to generate publicity and do well in the search result.
At the same time, "Google has been criticized from all sides because he has too much spam, and realizes that if he does not resolve this problem, its existence is threatened."
The manufacturer, which holds only 3% of the mobile market, introduced its Xperia Play in Barcelona. He wants to become number one of Android, the operating system from Google.
Rikko Sakaguchi discreet caresses the arch of his mobile, looking lost in the wave. "We are the only ones to have a recognizable design with closed eyes" , releases the creative director of Sony Ericsson, a Japanese Silicon Valley the sweet smile. The joint venture of the giant video game and mobile equipment manufacturer presented this week at Barcelona's gem: Xperia Play . With this device a new kind of Android, the company that holds only 3% of mobile market hopes to make a comeback. Once very strong in the upscale brands and technologies through Sony (Cybershot cameras, Walkman ...), the manufacturer has lost ground as and when the multimedia phone was supplanted by the phone "smart". "It's our big announcement in a decade. We intend to be a great actor on Android smartphones " , claims Steve Walker, marketing director of the firm. Nothing less than number one, to Samsung , and this year!
The rumored already before the release of a "PSP Phone", that is to say, a smartphone embedding a real console PlayStation Portable. After six years of study, and the opening of an innovation center in Silicon Valley, it's done, even if Sony Ericsson denies this appellation: "The Xperia is certified play Playstation, but it does is not a Sony product. It is built on an Android platform whose code is open " , says Steve Walker. Through the control panel console that slides and fits like a keyboard on the touchscreen, it can be used to play the same games on a PSP. But you can also download games designed by developers for mobile or PC. "This is the ultimate format of convergence" , said Rikko Sakaguchi, who claims to have already made agreements with a score of publishers to adapt their applications . 'We have a fifty titles in March during the marketing of the Xperia Play, then the ecosystem of games will grow at the speed of Android is to say, with news every day, " boasts Does he said.
Xperia NGP cons?
For its part, the parent company Sony is pursuing a project that is complementary, the launch of the PSP "NIM" , scheduled for the end of the year. This new version of the Playstation Portable will be connected over 3G, but instead to purchase a monthly package the user should pay money to buy a specific level of additional game or to play online. "NPM The PSP is a very terminal upscale, this is not the same kind of audience that the Xperia Play " says Rikko Sakaguchi to mark the difference. According to IHS, the game will be lost for the portable console from Sony: "On the smartphone, not only are there lots of games, but in addition it is cheap. This combination is riveting centerpiece of specialized terminals such as the NPM. " Besides it will be less convenient to call on a console, be it mobile. Therefore, IHS expects sales of 22.8 million units only after four years, while the PSP has sold 30.7 million in the same period.
Xperia Play will be launched in April in France, where Sony Ericsson is in discussions with all operators. It costs 600 euros naked and will probably sell at a price of 200 euros with a subscription. The CEO Bert Nordberg, interviewed by Le Figaro , said he considered that sell fewer than 2 million would be a failure in his eyes . If success is to go, Sony Ericsson will have to ask the network performance to meet the players with higher-end games: why not replicate some of the content servers in proximity, or negotiate with operators a stream priority for some of their subscribers? "In the future, it will in any case a better quality of service" , concludes Rikko Sakaguchi.
If Apple can study hard to create a low-cost iPhone, this is a project among others, that will not necessarily achieving, "says New York Times.
The rumor of the iPhone nano, or at least offered an iPhone at an attractive price had rebounded with an article in the Wall Street Journal arguing details which suggested that the project was well under way but said he could not yet see the day.
The New York Times returns to the subject and suggests the other hand there is a project of low-cost iPhone from Apple, but it is only a working track among others and society still has no plans to make a commercial product.
The priority now is to finalize the next version of the iPhone (iPhone 5, we had confirmation at MWC 2011 that will carry out a module NFC), expected this summer, and there would be no other launch of mobile terminal provided.
Some advantages, many problems.
As we indicated at the mention of the article in the Wall Street Journal, such a project would not necessarily be very interesting for Apple and would bring more problems than benefits. He would lose profitability and could lead to fragmentation of the platform iOS one of whose forces currently is precisely its cohesion, both software and hardware.
While a low-cost iPhone help Apple increase its market share but the company has always targeted a particular niche, that of high-end and it has not ventured to relocate elsewhere, simply lower the price older models as and when the new ones arrive.
Make volume is not necessarily a panacea for a manufacturer of terminals and examples of Sony Ericsson and Motorola are there to remind.
The second vessel ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) of the European Space Agency successfully launched by Arianespace from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou (French Guiana). Called "Johannes Kepler", in honor of the German astronomer and mathematician, the second flight model of the ATC will join the International Space Station (ISS) after eight days of autonomous flight and dock, fully automatic mode .
The ATC "Johannes Kepler" will bring experience, equipment, spare parts and propellants as well as food and oxygen for astronauts currently residing in the ISS.
Thales Alenia Space plays an important role in the development and production of this highly sophisticated vessel. Under the leadership of Astrium Space Transportation, supervisor of the ATC industry, Thales Alenia Space is responsible for the design and manufacture of integrated cargo module (ICC Integrated Cargo Carrier), the passive thermal control, unit of electrical power systems and tests of all communications equipment for telemetry, tracking and command (TTC) of the ATC. Thales Alenia Space has also taken part in the integration and testing of complete spacecraft and the campaign of preparation for the launch in Kourou.
The ICC, manufactured by Thales Alenia Space plant in Turin (Italy), is based on a cylindrical pressurized module of 4.6 meters in diameter and 4 feet long, with a weight of 4 tons. At one end, this module receives an integrated docking with the ISS and the other refueling system propellants. These two elements, derived from systems already operational on the Russian Soyuz and Progress ships, were provided by the Russian company RSC-Energia.
