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UK gov't report calls for redundant ratings systems for software

A report released today by the British Prime Minister's office entitled "Safer Children in a Digital World," calls for reform not only by policy makers, but also schools, advertisers, parents, and "the industry."

The 215-page report by psychologist Dr. Tanya Byron, entitled "Safer Children in a Digital World," calls for reform not only by policy makers, but also schools, advertisers, parents, and "the industry."

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AMD's price/performance conundrum: Can it keep its high-end customers?

Its highest-end CPUs will be stuck behind two big barricades -- a 2.6 GHz speed cap and a 65 nm barricade -- until at least the latter half of the year. So AMD now looks to ATI to help make up the difference, with an argument that just might work.

AMD's value proposition for its updated desktop processors is based on a return to the company's remaining strengths, and a hope that it can triangulate its positions in three corners of the PC component market -- CPUs, GPUs, and chipsets -- to eke out a price/performance claim that's stronger than any of its components viewed separately.

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India's IT success can be 'replicated' in other countries

India's "amazing" use of information technology outsourcing to jump-start its entire economy is a model that can also work elsewhere in the world, according to technologists from India, who spoke this week at a conference at the UN.

UNITED NATIONS (BetaNews) - "Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, and colleagues," said one of the speakers from India, Prahbat Sharma, addressing investors and other attendees at a conference called "United Nations Meets Web 2.0 and ICT Entrepreneurs."

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NTT DoCoMo achieves 250Mbps mobile data rate

Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo, long known for pushing the mobile data envelope, reports that it attained 250Mbps speed in outdoor tests in February..

NTT DoCoMo already leads the world with mobile data rates available at 3.6Mbps to subscribers, expected to double next month through new enhancements.

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Alltel tries a social approach to mobile video

Alltel Wireless launched a new social video service, Alltel Social Video, designed to give Alltel customers with video-capable phones access to videos collected from various sources, in an environment conducive to sharing.

The new service costs $2.99 per month and lets users share and rate videos from sites such as Break.com, AtomFilms and GrindTV.com. Subscribers have the ability to share favorite videos through the "Send-to-Friend" feature. Users also have the ability to create video playlists and customize a distribution list for each video.

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New AT&T Wireless service serves up music from your own PC

AT&T today announced two new music services for its consumers to directly access their library of music directly through their phones.

The Make-UR-Tones service is designed to allow users to create and customize any ringtone, while Remix lets users access music from their home PC through a mobile phone. Napster Mobile will be available on more AT&T phones starting this summer, the company said.

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Analysts: Emerging SDV to boost HD cable TV scene

If consumers aren't that thrilled yet with the quality and quantity of high-definition TV programming, maybe an emerging technology called switched digital video (SDV) will come to the rescue, suggests In-Stat.

How might SDV help? Essentially, the technology will distribute video more efficiently over cable TV coax lines, according to a new report from industry analyst firm In-Stat.

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IPhone users take note: Nokia Siemens speeds up EDGE

Nokia Siemens Networks has announced that it can double the data speeds possible on GSM/EDGE networks with only a software update.

By the third quarter of this year, the company claims it will be able to take existing EDGE-capable GSM networks to speeds up to 592 Kbps with its Downlink Dual-Carrier EDGE software solution.

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Cox launches co-branded Rhapsody music service

Continuing its efforts to broaden the reach of its music service, Real on Thursday announced a deal with Cox, the third largest cable provider in the US.

Rhapsody already has a similar deal through Comcast, where it offers its radio service for free to their customers. Like that deal, users will also have the option to purchase plans to allow for unlimited streaming and downloads of music.

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UNICEF wiki uses open source, SMS to connect kids

In an emerging effort called UNIWIKI, UNICEF is now using technologies ranging from open source software to SMS text messaging for helping young people from throughout the world to communicate via international social networking sites.

UNITED NATIONS (BetaNews) - To broaden out access to more geographic areas, communications are taking place not just via PCs but also through mobile phones and radios, according to UNICEF's Terra Weikel, speaking at the UN in New York Wednesday afternoon.

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Adobe opens beta of Web-based Photoshop

Though it was expected before year-end 2007, Adobe has opened the public beta of Photoshop Express, a Web-based version of its photo editing tool.

Users of Photoshop Express can upload photos directly or import their libraries from Facebook, Photobucket, and Picasa. Yahoo's Flickr is notably absent, as the popular photo sharing site is partnered with Picnik for its editing features.

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Safari for Mac, Opera for Windows both claim 100% on Acid3

As the race for perfect compliance with the Web Standards Project's latest test battery heats up, the two dark horses in the race claim a neck-and-neck finish ahead of Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Screenshots of perfect 100/100 scores on the Acid3 standards compliance test for apparently the most recent daily development builds, were posted on the team blogs for both the Safari browser for Mac and Windows and the Opera browser for Windows, at the very same hour early yesterday evening. It may have been perhaps the closest photo-finish since Intel and IBM claimed they discovered the hafnium formula for high-k dielectrics on the same morning.

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Safari license says non-Apple hardware installs are prohibited

In its rush to bring Safari to the Windows platform, it looks like Apple's legal department didn't quite do its job.

Apple enthusiast site 9to5mac discovered that within both the licensing agreement presented at install and the PDF which accompanies the products, Safari's license agreement still prohibits installs on computers that aren't "Apple-labeled." While this is most definitely an oversight on Cupertino's part, for the time being, any Windows install is technically illegal.

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AMD transforms into a platform company, to release triple-core CPUs

It builds CPUs, chipsets, and now with ATI, it builds graphics processors. So beginning today, AMD is radically reforming its marketing strategy, arguing now that it takes all three components together in harmony for customers to realize value.

Between now and April 7, AMD will be releasing its first triple-core processors, announced last September, along with performance upgrades to all three of its quad-core Phenom desktop processors. The success of their release may be completely dependent upon how well the company's new value proposition is received by consumers: What their CPUs may lack in performance against Intel's top-of-the-line, may be compensated when you add an AMD chipset-based motherboard and an ATI graphics card.

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Comcast opens up negotiations with BitTorrent on bandwidth

In a surprise announcement, the BitTorrent and Comcast will partner to address issues of network management and architecture, as well as content distribution.

BitTorrent could be described as the bane of the cable industry's existence when it comes to high-speed Internet services.

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