Cyborg rights activist speaks out
Steve Mann, a lecturer at the University of Toronto and a pioneer in wearable computers, has become the first cyborg rights activist, reports CNet.
Mann became famous in the 1990s for roaming the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus as a graduate student outfitted with chunky glasses that augmented his vision, a bulging, hip-mounted PC that boosted his memory, and an antenna that broadcast whatever he saw to the Internet. Since then, Mann has slimmed his "eyetap" apparatus down to a more manageable size and has purchased a former Toronto nightclub to use as a home, a design laboratory and a tech-art gallery.
His cyborg activism was spurred by hostile reactions to his wearable technology at shopping malls, department stores and an airport security checkpoint.
Windows Small Business Server fees up
Microsoft has put a US price tag of $599 on the Standard Edition of its Windows Small Business Server 2003, reports IDG News Service. At the same time, the company hiked the price of client access licences for both upcoming 2003 editions of its small-business server software, from $60 to $99, the service reports.
Symantec to add activation to software
Symantec will add digital rights management (DRM) technology to its entire 2004 consumer product line, requiring customers to activate products such as Norton Antivirus 2004, reports Extreme Tech.
"The reason we`re doing product activation is that there is a huge amount of piracy in Symantec products," says Phil Weiler, a spokesman for Symantec. "Companies are offering pirated versions of our security products to protect computers and the pirated versions don`t provide protection the consumers think they`re getting."
Intel boosts clustering with acquisition
Intel has acquired the high-performance computing group of Pallas GmbH, in an effort to bolster its clustering expertise, reports Extreme Tech.
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Pallas` 23 employees will join the Software and Solutions Group of Intel`s enterprise division. According to sources close to the acquisition, four of the top five supercomputers in the Top 500 supercomputer list use the Pallas software.
Share