Technology

Computer Science researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have created a computer system capable of performing tasks never thought possible. Dubbed "NELL" (short for Never-Ending Language Learning), the computer system has the ability to learn, ... read and express assumptions on a variety of topics. Researchers were provided funding from Google and DARPA agency (a research and development arm of the U.S. Department of Defense) to create a system capable of understanding the entirety of the human language. The Carnegie Mellon group programmed NELL to categorize the information it finds on the ... (view more)

When you've got as much money as Google, you can afford to try out some crazy-sounding ideas. But none are quite as wacky as the company's latest project: self-driving cars. The search engine giant has been trying out the system in California ... recently. It involves a combination of robotics, road data and processing power. Self-Driving Car Use Lasers, Radar Sensors The technology includes video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder, all of which are designed to detect the position of other vehicles and adjust the car's movement appropriately. The data was collected by Google cars ... (view more)

Verizon will issue refunds to around 15 million customers after mistakenly charging them for non-existent data use. But the company may wind up paying a bigger price for the error. Phone Users Victims of 'Technical Errors' in Billing In a statement ... attributed to deputy chief counsel Mary Coyne, the company said the mistaken bills were issued over the past several years. It said the customers did not have data plans, but were victims of technical errors, either with phone software sending and receiving "minor" data, or being billed for following web links that shouldn't have incurred data ... (view more)

Verizon has revealed it won't be stocking any handsets running Windows Phone 7 until next year. It means a big dent in Microsoft's plans to firmly establish the new mobile phone operating system this fall. Uncertainty over Windows 7 Phone Launch ... Date Brenda Raney, a spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless, said that not only will the network not carry any handsets when Windows Phone 7 launches, but that it won't have any devices until next year. Although Raney described the two companies' relationship as being solid, Bloomberg reports Verizon plans to support the system and will "probably" release a ... (view more)

Yahoo has announced the opening of a new data center that uses wind power to drastically improve its electric efficiency. The technology used is based on chicken coops and fowl smells. Data Centers Power Hungry for Electricity Data centers, which ... process information on a huge scale, are a huge problem when it comes to energy efficiency. That's because, as you'll probably have experienced by using a notebook computer on your lap or touching the case of a desktop computer after prolonged use, processors build up a lot of heat as they work. It also takes a lot of energy running fans to keep ... (view more)

Social networking giant Facebook has flatly denied a report that it is working on its own cell phone. But not everyone believes the rumors are false. Facebook Phone Story Leak by TechCrunch The first report came this past Sunday when TechCrunch ... founder and writer Michael Arrington claimed that Facebook was working on a program by which it would write the phone's operating system and software, while partnering with a manufacturer to physically build the handset. According to Arrington, two senior Facebook staff members have been working on the project. One helped create the Mozilla Firefox ... (view more)

In computing, the term "chipset" is commonly used to refer to a set of specialized chips on a computer's motherboard (or "main board"), and even expansion cards. North and South Bridges of a Mainboard Based on Intel Pentium-class microprocessors, ... the term chipset often refers to a specific pair of chips on the motherboard: the northbridge and the southbridge. The northbridge links the CPU (Central Processing Unit) to very high-speed devices, especially main memory and graphics controllers, and the southbridge connects to lower-speed peripheral buses (such as PCI or ISA). In many modern ... (view more)

Wal-Mart will soon compete with the major cellphone networks by selling its own calling plan. The world's largest retailer will offer exceptionally low rates on voice calls and texts, though its data charges may be too expensive for many users. The ... chain will be acting as a virtual operator, meaning it licenses bandwidth from a mobile network (T-Mobile in this case), and resells it to customers. Its plan, dubbed "Family Mobile", costs $45 a month for one line and $25 a month for each additional line, with unlimited US calls and texts. That's substantially lower than what major networks ... (view more)

These days we hear a lot about the sun and, more specifically, global warming. But how much do we really know about the sun? NASA plans to find out more about the sun by launching a $180 million probe into the giant star. It could help researchers ... learn more about the sun's power and its impact on our environment. NASA, which is calling the spacecraft Solar Probe Plus, plans to send the device through the sun's corona sometime between now and 2018. Its goal: to collect data regarding the sun's heat (specifically the corona), and how and why the corona generates solar winds. Solar Probe Must ... (view more)

Scareware comprises several classes of scam software with malicious payloads, or of limited or no benefit, that are sold to consumers via certain unethical marketing practices. The selling approach uses social engineering to cause shock, anxiety, or ... the perception of a threat, generally directed at an unsuspecting user. Some forms of spyware and adware also use scareware tactics. Scareware and Fake Antivirus A tactic frequently used by criminals involves convincing users that a virus has infected their computer, then suggesting that they download (and pay for) fake antivirus software to ... (view more)