Technology

While the Search For Extra Terrestrial Life (SETI) may not be quite as flush as it used to be, its organizers are finding new and interesting ways to continue the search for life among the stars. Their latest initiative is SETILive, a crowd-sourced web application that lets anyone join the search of the nearby universe, no advanced degrees required. The SETILive website allows registered users to scan automatically-generated images based on radio frequency scans of sections of space that SETI believes are the likeliest to contain extraterrestrial life.

Intel Capital is launching a $100m investment fund that will finance companies developing technology used in cars, such as in-car entertainment and navigation systems.

The move by the investment arm of Intel is an attempt by the PC chipmaker to ensure that its technology is adopted by carmakers, as the market for traditional PCs gradually declines. Intel’s x86 chips have dominated the consumer industry but have failed to make substantial inroads into mobile phones and tablet computers. Intel is looking to ensure that it does not suffer a similar fate with cars.

L33tdawg: This is probably one of the best inventions since sliced bread - really!

IBM Research scientists said they have achieved a major advance in quantum computing that will allow engineers to begin work on creating a full-scale quantum computer.

The breakthrough allowed scientists to reduce data error rates in elementary computations while maintaining the integrity of quantum mechanical properties in quantum bits of data, known as qubits.

Google, Microsoft and Netflix have proposed changes to the HTML5 standard that could see DRM added to HTML5 videos.

In a document titled "Encrypted Media Extensions v0.1", which was submitted to W3C's HTML Working Group, the group responsible for handling HTML5 standards, the web giants called for DRM to be added to HTML5 streaming videos, in the same way DRM is available for Flash videos.

Faster WiFi is on a lot of wish lists, and today Qualcomm announced a line of chips for all sorts of consumer electronics that the company claims will achieve 1.3 Gigabit-per-second speeds over wireless. Qualcomm's plans for mobile, desktop, and router gigabit-speed wireless chips will most likely be compliant with the brand-new 802.11ac wireless standards to be ratified by the IEEE this year.

From today, victims of street crime in London will be able to report attacks online, as part of a scheme to get more people involved in keeping communities safe.

The StreetViolence website also allows those who have suffered robbery and other crimes to post witness appeals and warn the local community by pinpointing the crime on a Google map.

It's easy to wax nostalgic about old technology--to remember fondly our first Apple IIe or marvel at the old mainframes that ran on punched cards. But no one in their right mind would use those outdated, underpowered dinosaurs to run a contemporary business, let alone a modern weapons system, right?

Wrong!

Researchers at Intel have come up with a way to make WiFi faster and more energy efficient. It’s a chip called Rosepoint, and although it’s just a research project today, it could show up in mobile phones and laptop computers by the middle of the decade.

Intel disclosed several features for the company’s next-generation communications platform, codenamed “Crystal Forest.” Building upon Intel's strong presence in communications infrastructure, the platform will handle data processing across the network more efficiently and securely, while addressing the specialized needs for handling cloud connectivity and content processing.