Carlo Orlando

If you are planning a trip to Mexico in the near future and forget your mobile phone at home, try to resist the urge to purchase a replacement (no matter how inexpensive the phone plans are over there!) The Mexican government has agreed to start a ... national register filled with the fingerprints and personal information of every new mobile phone owner in the country. Why start a national register now? A disturbing trend has emerged in which criminals are extorting money via kidnappings and using their mobile phones to text their demands for ransom. In Mexico, hundreds of people are kidnapped ... (view more)

Many of us update our software or install the latest antivirus programs to reduce the chances of becoming the victims of a hacker. But is it possible for our hardware components to entice hackers as well? Hewlett-Packard recently issued a warning to ... select laser printer owners urging them to update the firmware of their devices or risk the prospect of leaving themselves open to a malicious attack. In a public advisory, HP warned that certain laser printers are confirmed to have been affected, including 10 different LaserJet models (ranging from the 2410 to the 9050 models), two Color LaserJet ... (view more)

Google recently released a location-aware mobile application (Google Latitude) allowing the friends and family of a mobile phone user to track their location at all times. Not only is the location of the mobile user featured, but the application can ... also be used to contact them via SMS, Google Talk or Gmail. Now, Privacy International, a non-profit, British-based organization acting as a watchdog for surveillance invasions by governments and corporations has publicly blasted the application, calling it an "unnecessary danger to the security and privacy of a user". (Source: computerworld.com ... (view more)

It seems as if IBM will retain its reputation as manufacturers of the most efficient supercomputers in the world. The multinational corporation revealed plans for an entirely new supercomputer concept that would shatter current speed-to-task ... records. If all goes according to plan, 2012 would be the year in which the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California boots up an IBM BlueGene machine capable of reaching 20 petaflops of performance. What can 20 petaflops of performance do? The system itself (called the Sequoia) will be able to handle a quadrillion mathematical ... (view more)

It's a bit cliche, but the message still holds true: when the President of the United States speaks, the world listens. Such was the case when President Obama laid out his recent economic stimulus plan with the desire to invest billions of dollars ... towards the expansion of broadband access across America. Now, Britain is once again following in America's footsteps, this time in the field of technology. If all goes well, the government predicts that every home in Britain could have Internet access by 2012. (Source: nytimes.com ) The U.K. government wants to make broadband a universal signal, ... (view more)

Anyone who has ever owned a computer has likely been the victim of spam . But while most of us would be quick to hit the delete button at the first sign of an unfamiliar (and potentially harmful) email, others are analyzing its components in the ... hopes of finding common traits amongst viruses in order to predict the frequency and sophistication of future attacks. Spam-haters around the world recently celebrated when San Jose-based McColo was shut down in November 2008, after it was discovered that the web hosting service provider was trafficking high levels of malware from their servers. The ... (view more)

YouTube has announced a partnership with Sony and Nintendo to create "YouTube for Television". As the name suggests, users can now watch their favorite Internet videos on their big-screen television sets. What's the catch? Since YouTube for ... Television runs over the Internet, the link needed to log onto the service is only accessible via a game console. Since the partnership is exclusive to Sony and Nintendo, the user first needs to pick up a PlayStation 3 or Wii to start watching television-displayed YouTube videos. Conspicuous by its absence in the partnership is Microsoft and its Xbox 360. ... (view more)

Television stations in 22 major U.S. cities have come together to announce that they will soon broadcast their signals in a format designed for mobile devices like cellphones, mp3 players and GPS units. The 22 stations, which include broadcasts out ... of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston, would reach over 35 percent of all U.S. households. In total, 54 commercial network affiliates have committed to launching broadcasts, while another nine PBS affiliates are considering joining the project. (Source: canoe.ca ) The difference between these broadcasts and current mobile television ... (view more)

Palm recently unveiled their response to the Apple iPhone: the Pre. Among its many features is a new operating system supporting the device (Palm WebOS) and an iPhone-like touch-screen. The Pre uses a sophisticated interface which self-charges on a ... special platform without the need to attach a cable. The device also boasts 8GB of storage, GPS navigation, WiFi networking and a sliding mini-keyboard. (Source: iht.com ) Despite always being regarded as a major contender in the smartphone industry, Palm has suffered many recent setbacks, including the 2007 cancellation of their much-anticipated ... (view more)