If you are living in Finland as of next July, you’ll legally be entitled to receiving broadband at a minimum speed of 1Mbps, or I should say “accessing” broadband at 1Mbps. The move comes thanks to Finlands Ministry of Transport and Communications who have passed the law to say that 1MB is a legal right.

However, it doesn’t stop there as this will be ultimately bumped up to 100Mb in the not too distant future. The 100Mb legal right was mentioned just over a year ago to be put in place by 2015 and this 1Mb rule seems to be a step in between. Maybe they can expect 10 Meg late next year followed by 25Meg, on to 50Mb and then by 2015 hit the big goal. [Read more…]

About a month ago, Microsoft gave out 40 pressure sensitive keyboards to international teams who were each charged with the responsibility of making something cool and useful out of them. The keyboards were to be used as part of a competition to create the most innovative use for the said keyboards.

SafeLock

The results are now in and some of the teams have come up with some fantastic results. In first place for the “Most Useful” category was the team (Jeff Allen and John Howard) who created Safelock. Safelock uses the pressure sensitive keyboard to track not only what your password is, but how you type your password. The system biometrically authenticates a user based on an eight character password but also tracks four attributes about each of the keystroke which includes, flight time, hold time, maximized pressure and a curve fit to measure pressure over time. By working this way your password gets another secure level meaning that if someone knows what your password is they are very unlikely to know exactly how you type it. Check out the video below. [Read more…]

An authoritative source informed thebookseller that the Amazon Kindle is heading to the UK and it could be as early as next week.

A few months ago it was also rumoured that an October release date for the device in the UK was happening, so as we are in October now then maybe it will happen.

“The key things they needed to tie up have been tied up. The rumours I’ve heard are all saying next week.” The source confirmed that publishers had signed non disclosure agreements so would not be able to comment on the record. But added: “I’ve heard it from multiple reliable sources. I think they want to avoid the general kerfuffle of Frankfurt.”

[Read more…]

Apple has bought a mapping service company named Placebase. This might not seem too interesting, but the thing is that Google currently provides mapping services for Apple and now that Apple own Placebase, it could mean bye bye to Google Maps on the iPhone.

There could be a few reasons for Apple making this move and more than likely it is to be less dependant on Google then they have been in the past. PlaceBase allows a lot of customisation and a lot of ways to layer multiple kinds of data sets on to maps. This all can be done through an API which could mean developers have some powerful mapping tools in their hands. [Read more…]

The Viliv X70EX navigation system is being made available to those in the US.

The satnav device comes in 2 versions with the lower one having 16GB of memory and the higher spec navigation device having a 32GB SSD to store your media on.

On the connectivity side of things the Viliv has Wireless LAN at 802.11b/g speeds along with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR for connecting your mobile phone up to it as well as a WWAN 3G connection. [Read more…]

Although Google Earth is a fantastic program allowing you to quickly zoom in and out of most of the earth with an excellent amount of detail, what it still lacks is life as everything you look at is static.

A new system being tested brings real time events to Google Earth to make an augmented reality. Examples of this working could be zooming in to a road to see cars driving and pedestrians walking. The data used to generate this information actually captures the current live traffic and current locations of pedestrians to let you know how busy a certain area is. Another example allows you to zoom in to a football stadium and actually see a clip from several angles of people playing football. [Read more…]

Researchers at MIT are currently working on a retinal implant that can bypass damaged cells and send visual input to the brain to help restore vision.

Those who use the implant will need to wear a pair of glasses which have a built in camera embedded in them. The signal from the camera will then be sent to the microchip embedded in the eye which will then forward that visual signal on to the brain.

Although vision won’t be 100% fixed with the implant the camera and chip combination will help those to navigate around a room for example. [Read more…]

After a number of years, 7 to be exact, IEEE standards have now ratified the 802.11n wireless specifications. For the last 2 – 3 years it has been known as draft-n. Making it official is a way that those companies who create products based on the n specs will now be compatible with others who follow the same guidelines.

802.11n was first planned back in 2002 but due to resistance from Atheros and Broadcom it delayed things a lot as they couldn’t agree on a common ground for the n spec. [Read more…]

This little video shows us all how Google Street View is actually made. The video was made over in Japan, but as there are no voices and just some funky music, it’s easy to follow along with.

Check out how the complaints of privacy are really handled 🙂 Video after the jump. [Read more…]

Sony have announced two new blu-ray players named the BDP-S560 and the BDP-S760. Both players are designed to give high quality 1080p picture quality along with 7.1 surround sound.

Both of the Blu-ray players are wireless at 802.11n speeds allowing you to not only grab the latest firmware updates over your network, but also connect to the web so you can utilise the BD-Live service. Also both players can receive JPG files from other DLNA devices such as Vaio laptops and PC’s even if they are not in the same room. [Read more…]

iRex have created an eBook reader that has an 8.1 inch touchscreen and uses stylus-based navigation. For connectivity the eBook will use 3G to allow you to download books wherever you are. iRex, based in the Netherlands, have partnered up with Barnes & Noble to integrate their online ebook store with the reader.

It was just a a few months ago that Barnes & Noble announced a partnership with the Plastic Logic eBook reader. By also signing up for the iRex, the book store hopes to get even more client reach for their store. [Read more…]

Apple are launching their latest OS named Mac OS X Snow Leopard version 10.6. This is an update to Macs that run Leopard. It will start shipping on August 28th with the update costing $29 in the US and costing £25 in the UK.

‘Snow Leopard builds on our most successful operating system ever and we’re happy to get it to users earlier than expected, said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. ‘For just $29, Leopard users get a smooth upgrade to the world’s most advanced operating system and the only system with built in Exchange support.

[Read more…]