The Luxembourg-based Skype counts about 46.8 million users of its software that enables free phone calls from Skype-enabled computers. Since the company aired a sneak preview of its video service last month, sites have been buzzing about when the public beta would launch.

The service offers broadcast quality viewing so callers can watch each other while talking on their PC-enabled Skype service. Compression techniques by the On2 codecs are key aspects that enable broadcast quality video calls.

You could find some evidence in the quarterly numbers reported by AT&T and Level 3. Ma Bell noted that ita data revenues (long haul) business declined 10.2% from the prior-year second quarter as a result of pricing pressure and technology migration. That’s not as steep as 30% declines a few years ago. Level 3, reported communications revenue of $342 million in the second quarter. Out of that the transport business was $122 million, down only $3 million from the second quarter sales in that specific business of $119 million. Not concrete evidence, but looks like the eye of the storm might finally have passed over bandwidth providers.

The company also said Friday that the first beta, or test release, of Vista is slated for release by Aug. 3. That release will be targeted at developers and IT professionals, said Brad Goldberg, general manager of Windows product development.

A second, broader test release aimed at consumers will likely debut ahead of Vista's final release in the second half of next year, the company said.

Microsoft is also planning to begin testing a server version of the operating system by Aug. 3, with final shipment slated for 2007. The company said that version will not bear the Vista name. Instead, its name will "follow existing naming convention" for Windows Server. The current version is called Windows Server 2003.

John Wall, CEO of Vista Inc., said the company was "considering all of its options" for a potential case against Microsoft. Wall said the naming of Windows may violate a trademark his company has and potentially create confusion over the software and services Vista provides.

HotJobs is using Yahoo's Web crawling technology to search for job openings listed on employers' Web sites and other sites. It then "scrapes" those listings into its own database, where it can share them with its users for free.

The move is significant because it is the first time one of the big three leading job sites -- HotJobs, Monster and CareerBuilder -- has incorporated free listings into its database. Until now, the three have required payment from employers, and that's what keeps them in business.

HotJobs is offering the free listings partly in response to competition and to increase its market share. But analysts say the free scraping could undercut the paid business, even though some employers will still pay money for other services, deeper relationships with prospective employees and higher rankings on the page.

Mr. Lew Tucker (pun opportunity: loot chucker), the proud owner of a PhD in computer science, has had enough with viruses and adware: "I was spending time every week trying to keep the machine free of viruses and worms." According to Mr. Tucker, it was far cheaper and faster to just throw his old PC out and go buy a new one. Faster? Certainly. Cheaper? Probably not.

Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet and American Life Project - a group that researches and studies the social impact of the internet - told the New York Times that throwing out a computer is a "rational response" to pop-ups.

It's good news for the industry, though, as people like Peter Randol seem to think a horde of pop-ups and spyware leaves them "no choice but to buy a new one," thinking a new PC will be much less likely to be infected. Are you hearing this, PC manufacturers? Better get started on some spyware.

Shark is an advanced pen-based shorthand method that allows users to input words into mobile devices by tracing them letter by letter on a virtual keyboard. Instead of tapping independently on four virtual keys with a stylus to spell "word," for example, consumers would put the stylus on "w" and then carve a continuous trail all the way to "d."
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Users initially hunt for letters to write words, but the idea is that they fairly rapidly start to memorize the shape of common words and word components--and therefore, their dependence on visual guidance decreases. The computer assesses the user's final pattern, interprets it as a word from its database and turns it into text on the screen.

SenseCam is a badge-sized wearable camera that captures up to 2000 VGA images per day into 128Mbyte FLASH memory. In addition, sensor data such as movement, light level and temperature is recorded every second. This is similar to an aircraft Black Box accident recorder but miniaturised for the human body. It could help with memory recall, e.g. where did I leave my spectacles or keys? who did I meet last week? by doing a rewind of the days events. If a person has an accident, the events and images leading up to this will be recorded, and these could be useful to medical staff. It could also be used for automatic diary generation.

Sensors trigger a new recording. For example, each time the person walks into a new room, this light change transition is detected and the room image is captured with an ultra wide angle or fish-eye lens. Other triggers include, time, sudden movement, or a person nearby. A hand gesture can also manually capture an image. An accelerometer is used for image stabilisation to reduce blurred images caused by camera motion. This is an essential feature of any truly wearable camera.

The new domain name was requested by a group of powerful mobile phone operators and handset makers, which set up a joint venture to encourage companies and Web site designers to create mobile Web pages.

Member companies include Hutchison 3, GSM Association, Ericsson, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Telefonica Moviles, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

If more Web pages are optimized for handheld devices, rather than desktop or laptop computers with big screens, these companies hope more consumers will upgrade their phones.

An extraordinary statement by the US government has sent shockwaves around the internet world and thrown the future of the network into doubt.

In a worrying U-turn, the US Department of Commerce (DoC) has made it clear it intends to retain control of the internet's root servers indefinitely. It was due to relinquish that control in September 2006, when its contract with overseeing body ICANN ended.

The decision - something that people have long feared may happen - will not only make large parts of the world furious but also puts ICANN in a very difficult position. The organisation has slowly been expanding out of its California base in an effort to become an international body with overall responsibility for the internet.

The United States recognizes that governments have legitimate public policy and sovereignty concerns with respect to the management of their ccTLD. As such, the United States is committed to working with the international community to address these concerns, bearing in mind the fundamental need to ensure stability and security of the Internet's DNS.

Since more and more people are using the Internet, there are more and more diverse views about the policies and control. This is clearly making consensus more difficult and ICANN is one of the groups which is having to adapt to the increasing number of inputs in the consensus process. This is all the more reason to work harder to keep everything together. Please. Lets fight to keep the Internet and not let it turn into the internets... It is a difficult process with various flaws, but if we give up, it will be very difficult if not impossible for all of to talk again very soon.

Philips poses the following scenario: "Imagine a networked home, in which the Smart Companion is connected to the home PC and the Internet. A user says "Dimi, what will the weather be like tomorrow?" The Smart Companion initiates a search on the Internet for the latest information, retrieves it, processes it, and communicates it by voice to the user, all within seconds" A smidge more advanced than the average Robosapien then. Plus, the Smart Companion also recognises faces, and can nod smugly.

The Inview goggles rely on a compass that orients itself when a swimmer first enters the pool. This compass spots when a swimmer changes direction and logs a lap.

The Inview goggles were designed and built for a third-year project on an Industrial Design course at Brunel University.

The prototype electronics package housing compass and lap counter are the size of a small stone, and would be a bit uncomfortable to swim with, said Ms Williams.

However, the electronics on a finished product would be no bigger than a 50 pence piece and would sit unobtrusively on the goggle's rear strap.

This concept for a training bike uses two rear wheels that let a child balance at slow speeds. Speeding up moves the wheels closer, shifting the balance from bike to tyke.