Archive for the ‘Tech’ Category

Apple is believed to be planning to release a mini iPad that could be on shop shelves in time for Christmas.

Details of a seven-inch version of the iPad have been reported in a Chinese newspaper that correctly predicted the specifications of the iPad months before anyone else.

The Economic Daily News claims Taiwanese companies have won several contracts to make components smaller than those used on the current 9.7-inch iPads.

“Chimei Innolux will supply seven-inch LCD screens, which use the same IPS (in-plane switching) technology found in the original iPad, which improves viewing angles and colour on LCD screens,” the newspaper reported.

“Touchscreen technology for the screens will come from Cando Corporation.”

Apple intend to launch the smaller iPad this December in time for the Christmas shopping season, according to Economic Daily News sources.

Geek.com blogger Christian Zibreg said, if the so-called iPad mini becomes the iPad nano of tablets, Apple might have a huge hit on their hands.

The rumoured new version is predicted to be 200g lighter than the standard iPad.

That model sold three million units in the 80 days following its release in April this year.

A High Court has ruled that devices that allow gamers to play pirated video games are illegal in the UK.

The ruling specifically targets a range of popular devices which can be used to store and play copied games on the Nintedo DS handheld console.

The ruling says “game copiers” are illegal to import, advertise and sell in the UK.

The defendants – Playables Limited and Wai Dat Chan – had argued that they allow gamers to play home-made games.

“The mere fact that the device can be used for a non-infringing purpose is not a defence,” read the ruling by Justice Floyd.

Nintendo said it was “pleased that the court was not persuaded by the defendant’s arguments, claiming that game copiers are lawful, as they allow for the play of ‘homebrew’ applications”.

“The court affirmed that game copiers first circumvent Nintendo’s security systems before any non-infringing application can be played on Nintendo’s handheld products,” it said in a staetment.

Playables Limited and Mr Chan did not respond to requests for comment.

This UK judgment follows a similar ruling in the Netherlands earlier in July.

The economic effect on Nintendo of the trade in these devices is substantial as each accused device can store and play copies of many Nintendo DS games”

Game copiers are designed to fit into the game cartridge of Nintendo’s DS. Games can then be loaded from memory cards.

The R4 chips circumvent the protection measures Nintendo has built into its DS consoles, enabling illegally pirated games to be downloaded online and stored on a chip.

They are sold for as little as £10.

The ruling said that the defendants had imported nine different devices on a “large scale”.

“HMRC and Trading Standards have seized more than 165,000 game copiers intended for the defendants,” it read.

“The economic effect on Nintendo of the trade in these devices is substantial as each accused device can store and play copies of many Nintendo DS games.”

No matter who you go with, you either love your ISP or you hate them, this is where we would like your help, we would like to compile a list of the ISP’s people use in the UK and send us in the information they have on them by fillin out the form below and returning it to geminiangel24@kirstieskelton.co.uk
so we can let the world know to to avoid and who to chase up!

Your ISP:

Speed you signed up for:

Monthly Cost:

Average Offpeak Speed:

Average Peak Speed:

Download Limit:

Fair use Policy limit for ‘unlimited’ use:

Bundled Items (phone, tv etc):

Did you get a free router?if yes what kind?:

Your star rating (out of 5):

A brief review on your ISP:

Cheers guys this will go to helping anyone who is after a new ISP with or without bundled calls and TV (and anything else if there is any?) and if theres anything else that should be included then please dont hesitate to comment!

Super-fast and ultra-small computers have been brought one step closer to reality with the successful test of a new penny-sized chip.

The optical quantum chip does away with traditional circuitry and instead uses particles of “whizzing” light.

Scientists asked the “photonic” chip to find the prime factors of 15 and, although it took longer to work it out than a schoolchild could have, it produced the answer – 3 x 5.

The test is a massive breakthrough because it is the first time the chip’s processing power has been condensed into such a small size.

Normally to store the same amount of processing power it would need a pack the size of a work bench sitting beside it.

The chip could eventually pave the way for “super-powerful quantum computers”.

Cherry Lewis, spokeswoman for the team at Bristol University, explained why we need this technology.

“We are almost getting to the point now where conventional computers cannot go any smaller so we need to go down a completely new route.

“We are talking nano-scale. Particles of light.”

Quantum technology aims to exploit the unique properties of quantum mechanics – the physics theory that explains how the world works at microscopic levels.

The main advantage is that unlike transistors in a traditional computer quantum particles can be in two states at the same time.

Also, photons are relatively noise-free and can transmit information at the speed of light.

In the near future the technology could eventually be applied to making internet connections secure, and to developing new materials and medicines.

PhD student Alberto Politi, who performed the experiment with colleague Jonathan Matthews, said: “Finding prime factors may seem like a mathematical abstraction, but the task lies at the heart of modern encryption schemes, including those used for secure internet communication.”

The results have been published in the magazine Science.

www.Bristol.ac.uk