Monday Intel announced a multi-year strategic collaboration with MasterCard that will combine the latter company’s PayPass payment system with Intel’s Identity Protection Technology (IPT). However the chip giant also revealed that the collaboration will allow users to make online purchases by simply tapping their PayPass-enabled card, tag, or smartphone against an Ultrabook packed with near field communication (NFC) technology.

“Our goal is to enable users of Ultrabook devices and future generations of Intel-based PCs to enjoy the convenience of e-commerce while making online payments safer from malware and hackers with the advanced security capabilities of Intel Identity Protection Technology,” said George Thangadurai, general manager of PC Client Services Division, Intel Corporation. “Online commerce is a key focus area for Intel, and through this partnership with MasterCard, we intend to deliver an innovative, personalized and safer e-commerce experience to consumers.”

Forrester Research claims that online sales reached $176.2 billion last year in the United States alone and are expected to grow at double-digit percentage rates annually for the next 5 years. The collaboration between Intel and MasterCard will provide online shoppers strong two-factor authentication and hardware-based display protection against malware not to mention a faster checkout process.

“MasterCard is constantly working to improve the shopping experience for consumers and merchants,” said Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer, MasterCard. “The collaboration with Intel will deliver enhanced security and faster checkout – with the convenience of a simple click or tap.”

Typically a PayPass transaction is made by tapping a plastic card, mobile phone or other NFC-enabled devices against a PayPass reader at local retailers. Google Wallet also takes advantage of MasterCard’s PayPass technology, but requires a device containing NFC technology and so far the only compatible Android device is the Samsung Nexus S 4G on Sprint. More NFC-enabled smartphones are on the way, however.

Ultrabooks with NFC technology are expected to arrive next year via the 1-chip dual-core Haswell 22-nm architecture. Haswell will reportedly be available in a 15W TDP and pull the Platform Controller Hub (PCH) into the same package as the CPU, making it a single-chip solution. Haswell will also sport performance-boosting features, Thunderbolt and anti-theft technology 4.0 in addition to the NFC tech.

Grooveshark has found itself in hot waters by streaming digital music some time ago and is defending itself in a lawsuit brought forward by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

However, as far as piracy is concerned, a tool that connects to Grooveshark to download media files could be of much greater concern for the music industry as it makes illegal music downloads about as simple as the long-gone original Napster client.

SciLor’s Grooveshark.com Downloader is a simple open source program with a basic, but very effective interface that offers a search, search result and download interface. Currently in beta, the interface is very fast and the downloads from Grooveshark were transferred at a rate of about 1.5 Mbps. The only downside of this particular downloader appears to be the fact that MP3 tags will have to be renamed and search results are limited to 200 tracks in each search. The music industry does not seem to be aware of streaming music downloaders at the time of this writing, the problem of such tools are clearly that, even if consumers have shown for years that they are willing to pay for music, they are convenient enough to possibly attract a decent user base.

Remember the old Napster and the feeding frenzy that resulted from the service which enabled users around the world to download virtually any song in blazing speed? It’s obvious that many users have moved on — and perhaps have accepted to pay for their music downloads. But piracy won’t die and the music industry is caught in a cat-and-mouse game to track down the latest trends in media downloads. We may actually be witnessing the new trend here people!

Mozilla said that this release will focus on HTML5 enhancements, giving us the feeling that the silent update feature will be pushed to version 11.

Aurora 10 will get WebGL anti-aliasing, support for the HTML5 Visibility API, 3D Transforms, some additions to its developer tools, web workers, DOM and Javascript functionality such as the addition of the battery API. However, we were surprised to see that Mozilla does not list the silent update as a feature for Aurora (Firefox) 10. In its feature tracker, the silent update has been marked as “at risk” and may not make it into version 10 as a result. As controversial as the silent update is among enthusiast Firefox users, there has been little doubt that the mainstream would like to make the update process more convenient, which possibly could convince more users to stay with Firefox.

Another much anticipated feature is not mentioned either – a tool that would automatically import Chrome bookmarks and settings to Firefox. It appears as if this feature will also not surface until version 11 – and is even mentioned as “at risk” for version 11. These two features, as well as a the new home tab (also marked as “at risk” for version 11) are features that Firefox would have needed need yesterday rather than tomorrow to be able to be more competitive with Chrome. At least the silent update support is a must-hit target for version 10.

Last two weeks ago, Mozilla’s Firefox browser turned seven years old. To celebrate this milestone, the company has adopted several red pandas cubs (also known as firefoxes). Named Dolly (after Dolly Parton), Bernadette and Winston, the three cubs are said to be quite happy in their new home at the Knoxville Zoo.

You might remember Mozilla adopting a couple of red panda cubs earlier this year. Dubbed Spark and Ember, the two pandas resided at the Knoxville Zoo until they were fully grown. They were then shipped off to Cleveland Metropark Zoo and Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City, Kansas, with the goal of having some cute cubs of their own next year.

During their time at the Knoxville Zoo, viewers watching the Spark and Ember via live webcam racked up half a million hours of viewing. Once again, Mozilla has set up a live feed that will allow people around the world to keep an eye on the three cubs. Check it out at www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefoxlive/.

I love this art project. It’s called 20Hz and it uses data collected by the CARISMA radio array to turn the solar wind sound into beautiful threedimensional waveforms. Mesmerizing.
SOURCE via Lighthouse