TechWorldNews

Microsoft bans 1 million Xbox Live players

"Players who find their Gamertags banned from Xbox Live have wound up in that situation due to violations of the Xbox Live Terms of Use," Major Nelson wrote.

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Secure, Real-Time UC: Safe Connections While on the Move

Unified Communications holds enormous promise as a coherent, integrated approach to incorporating the full spectrum of business communications modalities, and as direct path to cut through “communications clutter” resulting in accelerated time-to-action. It also offers a cost-effective way to more directly connect the company to its customers, employees to employees, and more tightly bind business partners and suppliers. Reducing human latency is a key benefit of UC, resulting in measurably increased efficiency and improved customer intimacy.

Microsoft Scrapes Years of Mold Off MSN Portal

White space replaces the sky-blue color scheme in MSN.com’s new redesign, which Microsoft began previewing Wednesday before it becomes an official re-launch sometime in early 2010. Content sections are streamlined down to five top-of-page links: news, entertainment, sports, money, lifestyle and “more.” Gone is the lengthy, more specific section director. The company’s well-reviewed Bing search engine — which has helped Microsoft gain some market share traction — is more prominently integrated.

Free Flow of Internet Traffic Requires Sensible Road Rules

Free marketeers’ primary argument against Net neutrality is that a government watchdog role in protecting neutrality is bound to be “political” — and that any government agency will ultimately start a slippery slide to full-bore regulation of the Internet. This all-or-nothing approach is a false choice that ignores significant factors arguing for a sensible, soft-touch rule to prohibit discrimination against content and applications on the edge of the Net.

Sony Ericsson Starts Some Early Buzz for a Late Android

Handset maker Sony Ericsson on Tuesday announced the new Xperia X10 smartphone. It will run on the Android 1.6 mobile operating system, also known as “Donut.” The Xperia X10 will begin shipping to select markets next year. In announcing the Xperia X10, Sony Ericsson named the handset as the flagship device of a family of phones coming to market during the first half of 2010. The device will have a new UX platform that will let users organize everything on the smartphone with what the company calls the “most open, human and intuitive user experience yet.”

ISF Panelists Spar Over Security vs. Anonymity

Can the Web’s big-time masters of malware really be tracked down? How risky is cloud computing to network security? And what challenges await the Obama administration’s plans to lock down the nation’s electronic infrastructure — while at the same time creating a “smart grid?” An experienced panel of computer security experts representing industry, governments and law enforcement batted around possible answers to those questions Monday during a “guru fireside” session that was a highlight of the Information Security Forum’s 20th World Congress.

Is AES Encryption Crackable?

In the field of computer technology, some topics are so frequently and fiercely disputed that they almost resemble religious feuds — Mac vs. PC, for instance, or open source vs. proprietary software. Other topics, though, don’t see nearly the same level of high-profile debate. Take the invulnerability of AES encryption, for example. Governments and businesses place a great deal of faith in the belief that AES is so secure that its security key can never be broken.

MainGear Warms Up New Line of Personal Supercomputers

Boutique gaming PC maker MainGear on Monday announced a new line of what it describes as “personal supercomputers.” The Shift, a large desktop built to user specifications, runs at up to 4 GHz and features its a liquid cooling system. Prices begin at $2,199. MainGear has designed the Shift line to exploit the natural behavior of heat, according to the company. The internal components have been rotated so that all heat is radiated through the top vents and cool air is drawn in from the bottom. The case has large ventilation grates and inlets for increased air flow.

Unblinded With Science: Technology to Restore Vision

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed technology that could help fight blindness. It’s aimed at the millions of people impacted by two of the major causes of blindness: age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. The MIT project is one of several that use a physical prosthesis — a chip implanted directly into or onto the eyeball, coupled with a pair of electronic glasses that provide assistance. Here’s a rough description of how our eyes normally work: Light enters the eyeball and stimulates an array of microscopic rod and cone formations.

For Web Search, the Time Is Now

We all contribute to the news cycle when we post timely content online, even if it’s 140 characters or fewer, and recently we learned that our little bits of information have substantive value when search giants Google and Microsoft announced that they will index our tweets and status updates. But the sheer volume of content that we produce could be a problem, and Twitter users who find day-to-day value in the service may scoff at the idea that the “information firehose” of live content can be tapped and made searchable.