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Digest

Leave me alone, my PS3 is curing cancer

By TIMES WIRES
Published November 27, 2006

The new PlayStation 3 isn't all about entertainment. That's the message Sony Corp. is trying to convey in announcing that the new game consoles - as powerful as supercomputers - can help Stanford University researchers analyze complex human protein structures and perhaps find cures for cancer, Alzheimer's and other ailments. Sony Computer Entertainment says that when Cure@PLAYSTATION3 is launched, PS3 owners can register their machines with Stanford, download specially designed software and leave their machines online to process data when they're not playing. Sony said data processing time can be up to 20 times faster with a global network of PS3s, which are fitted with advanced Cell processors that can perform billions of calculations per second.

Make your big e-mail files tiny once again

There's a new way to send large movie, music and other files without worrying about whether the e-mail systems can handle large attachments. Free software from Pando Networks Inc. www.pando.com automatically converts your attachments into a small file that your friend or relative can simply open to download the original file from Pando or elsewhere. Beginning Tuesday, Pando is offering plug-ins to work with most Web-based mail services.

EA wants you to get in the game online

The space that your typical GameStop devotes to PC software is shrinking every week, so publishers are trying to sell more product online. Electronic Arts has really gotten serious about digital distribution, launching a new portal called EA Link that replaces its clunky old EA Downloader. EA Link launched with 16 PC games available for download, including Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 and FIFA 07. Future EA PC games will be released in retail stores and at EA Link at the same price and on the same day, the company said.

Share photos, store them in one place

Now there's a new company that combines photo sharing with Web-based storage into a single service called MyFabrik (www.myfabrik.com). Fabrik Inc. offers a way to "store, manage and share personal media, whether it's photos, video or documents," said Dave Tang, Fabrik's vice president. In addition to renting online storage space, MyFabrik includes multimedia functions that let you view your photos, watch your videos and listen to your tunes right on the site. You can also organize them and, if you like, view your photos as a slide show. The site's power, however, is in sharing files. MyFabrik costs about $1 for 2 gigabytes of storage space, plus about 50 cents per additional gigabyte. You can try the service for free with 1 GB of space.

Podcast audience up, but not every day

A growing number of Americans are listening to podcasts, but very few do so every day. The Pew Internet and American Life Project said Wednesday that 12 percent of Internet users have downloaded a podcast, an increase from 7 percent earlier in the year. However, only about 1 percent said they download a podcast on a typical day - unchanged from the survey earlier this year. The rest do so less frequently, perhaps only once.

Wake up to coffee, real-time weather

A new coffeemaker hitting stores for the holidays can display real-time weather data, using a "smart objects" technology that Microsoft Corp. has been touting for years. The $200 Melitta Smart Mill & Brew, made by Salton Inc., takes advantage of a wireless-data system built by Microsoft to automatically display current weather conditions and forecasts. This concept - imbuing everyday objects with the ability to deliver at-a-glance information - has been in the works at Microsoft since at least 2000, but the coffeemaker is only the third product to use it.

Parents get another tool to protect tots

Webroot Software Inc., known for its antispyware program Spy Sweeper, is bringing back a product to help parents limit where and how long their children go online. Child Safe joins Web filtering programs like Net Nanny, CYBERsitter and ContentProtect in the parental-control arena. The program is listed for $39.95 for a one-year subscription for use on up to three computers. Child Safe allows parents to create profiles for each computer user and then set what sites or types of sites each profile can visit and when. It also reports on computer users' activity.

[Last modified November 26, 2006, 20:33:46]