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Sony says it has fixed a bug that halted play for millions of gamers on older models of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) gaming console for more than a day.
It said the problem had been caused by a bug in the console’s clock, which recognised 2010 “as a leap year”.
On Monday, Sony urged owners of the “Fat” model to stop using the machine as it could result in errors in some functionality or the loss of data.
The issue did not affect newer PS3 Slim systems sold since September last year.
“Having the internal clock date change from 29 February to 1 March (both GMT), we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally,” Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold said on the PlayStation blog.
The Japanese electronics giant advised PS3 owners to adjust the clock settings manually if they still had problems connecting to the internet or playing games.
The PlayStation Network is used by millions around the world.

This really is the future of augemented reality. If you dont know what that is, think overlaying real time digital information on a real world stream, viewed from a viewfinder on a camera, mobile phone, pair of spectacles etc.

Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

One of the most controversial measures in the Digital Economy Bill, which is now working its way through Parliament, is the proposal to disconnect the internet accounts of those accused of persistent file sharing. ISPs, most notably Talk Talk have opposed the proposal and even started a petition to have it removed from the Bill.

Has victory been achieved? The Guardian reported this evening: Plans to cut off internet connections of illegal filesharers dumped. Fearing “the effect of the plans on its popularity”, the Guardian says, the Government has “backed away” from plans to cut filesharers off in a reply to a petition on the Number 10 website.

However, the victory may not be so clear cut. The article concludes: “Now the Government is retreating from the idea of termination – although it is still retaining the idea of ‘temporary’ suspension ‘as a last resort’.”

It could be a semantic issue then. In a comment on the article, Jim Killock of the Open Rights Group says that the Government is simply choosing a term that sounds “more reasonable”. He points to an ORG post that says:

“Please do not be confused by the government’s semantics. BIS and DCMS decided in the summer that they would not refer to ‘disconnecting’ users, because that sounds harsh and over the top. ‘Temporary account suspension’ sounds much more reasonable.”

The ORG could be right. The Goverment replied to the petition on Friday. A month ago in Oxford, Stephen Timms, the minister for Digital Britain, gave a speech in which he referred to “temporary account suspension – as a last resort”. The was no mention of disconnection.

The ORG concludes: “What journalist is going to run a story on ‘temporary account suspension’ (yawn)? This is why the government has chosen these disingenuous terms: it‘s just more spin. What we still don’t know is how long a family’s internet might be disconnected for.”

Very true. And we won’t for a while yet. The Bill doesn’t specify exactly how the anti-piracy measures will work. The Bill sets the framework and the details will be filled in later.

What’s clear is that the Government’s language still leaves open the options that the Downing Street petitioners were worried about.

Where are we? In life, evolutionary, and progressivley, over the last twenty years our social landscape has changed completley. Traditonally, and through the dawn of time before the Internet, we have been and believed to be, linear, in both our brain capacity as evolutionary species,  and the way our brains themselves function, and consume information.

Since the birth of the Internet, and the inhererent hyperlinked associative nature of information, have our brains evolved to learn and consume information differentley than of those of our forfathers? Is it true that in fact, people have no capacity for indepth consumption of a single subject matter, instead allowing their brain to be bombarded by snippets of information from a wealth of related and unrelated topics. We get bored, we move on. We read a headline, watch the first 30 seconds of a video, and then move on, to the next headline, the next video, the next page, and the next link.

It is said Korea now leads the way in both Science and Mathamatics. Education officials suggest one reason is the early exposure to technology, the children their, for them, the Internet is all they have known.

All this leads me to ask how our ability to pair-bond, and form friendships and relationships, have changed over time with one of the biggest inventions born through the Internet, Social networking. This is in recent light of a interesting documentary I watched on the BBC about such a thing.

Professor Boson, suggests that the human brain and our conciousness, typically has up to but very rarely more, can cope associativley with 150 networked relationships in life, being that of friends, colleagues, partners and others. Traditionally, this would of been much much lower, until the Internet came along.  A constant feedback loop of real time informational feeds such as Twitter, Facebook Status, and similar, encourage us to seek and cosume information about others and our friends and family indirectly, and also seek validation about what we do, where we do it, and who we do it with! We post online not only to share our thoughts, but to brag, to broadcast, and to seek validation and approval from peers we not only know, but sometimes of those we dont. Peer evaluation has become normal, and required for our very own existence.

Are we changing? Its so convienient now to egage in multi format snippets of information across a range of platforms from smart phones, to netbooks and Internet access is provided by anything and everything from tablets, slates, secondary media screens, phones, watches, public access points, digital kiosks and public service equipment. Are we losing the ability to concentrate? Is our brain becoming adapative and learning through association as oposed to lineraly as previously, we understood it to work.

The highly penatrative aspect of the Internet to share and distribute information means we cannot escape it, and nor seemingly do we want to. I receive over 3000 emails a day, now whilst 1700 or more are sent from machines as part of my job, the rest are from real people, wanting real engagement. On top of that, there’s the pleathora of websites and blogs I regulary update, my Twitter account, my Facebook status and associated page, along with my podcasts, TV channel and programming that I choose to create and distribute. When was the last time you switched off? I cant remember.

Two weeks ago, and for the first time ever, I felt the need to reboot my brain. I was thinking of so much, so quickly, from websites that needed writing, to Twitter accounts that needed reading, to small segments of information from Facebook, online databases I’d read, the digital E book I was reading on the tube, the call I was taking simultaneously, my Blackberry was going non-stop polling my several email accounts, as I furiously resonded in real time, whilst with the other hand reading the Metro, I wasnt aware exactly how much and how quick not only I, but I suspect many people, consume information now. For the next few hours, my brain just stopped. Literally stopped. I felt in a daze, objects in front of me lost their focus, my mind throbbed, my motor skills seemingly reduced to that as if I had drunk several pints. Its as if my brain just shut off.

Its at this point, I realised my brain, was more than likley different to my parents evolutionary, in the way Iconsume and the way we consume everything around us.

They say the Internet gives us a voice, helps us to level society, we have become a global brain overall. Sharing, creating and consuming shared and hyperlinked media. Linking continents, societies, and people, past future and present.

The world is very much changing, this isnt the end. Its merely the beginning.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), most powerful particle-smasher ever assembled by the human race and possible portal to other dimensions, is to fire up its beams following the Xmas break in a week’s time.

Official spokesmen for international particle-punishing science alliance CERN have thus far remained cagey about the exact date for the mighty machine’s restart, but persons familiar with the matter say that the 2010 proton billiards season is set to open on Thursday the 25th.

Sources suggest that the initial beams will be relatively gentle 450 giga-electron-volt ones, for a mild 900 GeV collision energy. The following few weeks will see the Big Knob turned gradually up until the beams are at 3.5 tera-electron-volts and particles are thus colliding at 7 TeV.

The LHC is designed to go still further to a blistering 14 TeV, but boffinry chiefs fear that cranking it up that high might lead to another electro-blast liquid helium superfluid explosion disaster of the sort which crippled the LHC following its original startup in 2008. The plan is to run it this year at half power, hopefully beating the rival US Tevatron in the race to find the coveted Higgs boson, and then carry out modifications which will allow full-poke operations.

Next week’s fire-up will also, of course, be the cue for a large cast of eccentric LHC-fearing doom prophets to clap tinfoil hat on head and dive under the bed – or, in the case of more hardline members of the anti-Collider movement, take more active measures. Our candidate for world champion heavyweight LHC-botherer, the man known simply as “Doctor Dark Energy“, says he plans to obtain a nuclear weapon from Osama bin Laden and use it to take out CERN head Rolf Heuer – “and all his bigbangers”.

I certainly hope he doesn’t manage it: I’m looking forward to the advent of visitors from beyond our continuum, as forecast by top CERN boffin Sergio Bertolucci. Even if they are liable to be merely sub-subatomic, ultra-briefly-existing phenomena, rather than the possible teleporting juggernaut-tyrants from the Nth dimension.

Ive been working hard on some personal websites recently for various friends, colleagues and a multi national oil giant we’ll say no more about.

Here’s something like how I kinda work the magic at the keyboard, oh, youll need sound to get the full effect. The computer keyboard isnt the only keyboard I be pimpin’

So it hit me the other day, whilst I was sitting in some
over-priced and hideously poncy wine bar in Park Lane,

I was using a Netbook (using ChromeOS, thanks to
Google for letting me BETA test that), browsing the
Internet through Google Chrome (Google’s new intergrated
high speed browser). The tabs I had open were for Google Docs
, my Google Gmail, I was looking at a map on Google Maps,
conducting several searchs through…Google….publishing
my searches through Google Wave, and Id just collected a
voicemail on my HTC running Android (yep, Googles phone OS)
which was simulataneously downloaded into Googlevoice
on my netbook. Funnily enough, one of the news articles I was
reading on Google news, was Google’s latest development to deliver
1GB a second internet to over half a million homes in the US.

Did you know Google are offering Google Health as a service now currentley in BETA, you can register all your medical information

Frightening

1: There’s no physical keyboard

There are two basic tablet form factors. The first is the “convertible,” which includes a keyboard and a swiveling screen that allows you to use it like a regular laptop or lay the screen down on top of the keyboard and use it flat. The second is the “slate,” which is a flat screen with no physical keyboard. We all knew the Apple device would fall into the latter category. Up until the unveiling ceremony, the rumor mill was calling it the iSlate. Thus the lack of a physical keyboard doesn’t come as a surprise, but it is a strike against it in my book. Some are saying the virtual keyboard is very good, but I’ve tried touch typing on them before and it’s just not the same.

If I want a compact touch screen device I can use to watch videos, surf the Web, read my email, etc., I can do all of that with my smart phone. If I need to do more than that, it’s probably going to involve touch typing. And for that, I can use my laptop or netbook. If I want to watch a movie or TV program on a screen that’s larger than my phone’s, I can do that on the laptop, too. Why would I need to buy and carry a third device?

2: This one size doesn’t fit all

If the tablet is going to fit into some gap between the phone and the netbook, the size should be somewhere in between, too. The iPad’s screen is about 10 inches, the same as most netbooks. It won’t fit into your pocket. It’s thin and light, but so are many of the netbooks on the market now. For example, the Sony VAIO X series laptop/netbooks are the same half-inch thick and virtually the same weight (1.5 lbs. vs. 1.6 lbs.). And we’re also starting to see netbooks in the convertible tablet form factor, which is really exciting.

3: It runs a phone OS

I would have been more tempted by the iPad if it ran OS X instead of the iPhone operating system. A phone OS is much more limited in what it can do, and the iPad suffers from the same limitation as the iPhone when it comes to applications: Yes, there are lots of them, but you can get them only from one source, Apple’s App Store. Can you imagine the outcry if Microsoft said you could buy Windows programs only from them?

One of the biggest limitations of the iPhone OS is that you can’t multi-task. Like it or not, we live in a multi-tasking world today. People may be satisfied with running just one app at a time on their phones — after all, the screen isn’t big enough to see multiple windows — but with a device that’s four times as big and costs quite a bit more, we expect to get a real computer. And real computers multi-task.

4: There’s not enough storage

The iPad will come with 16, 32, or 64 GB of storage. From my experiences with the early netbooks, I learned that 16 or 32 GB of storage isn’t enough for me. Granted, my needs may be greater than that of the average user. But by the time I install all the programs I want to use and put my music, photos, and a few videos on there, what once upon a time seemed like a lot of space really isn’t. The 64 GB model might be just barely enough, but the price is high — much higher than a netbook with four times the storage.

5: There’s No HDMI output or camera

Today, computing is all about multimedia — both consuming it and creating it. You can watch HD movies on the iPad (although it doesn’t have the 16:9 standard aspect ratio), but you can’t output them to your HDTV because there’s no HDMI connector. And you won’t be making movies or taking pictures with your iPad, either.

One handy use for a device of this size and form factor would be video conferencing… except Apple forgot to include a camera and microphone. Most new laptops and netbooks have a built-in Web cam. Even the iPhone has a camera, albeit not a particularly good one. You could just buy a Web cam and connect it… but what do you connect it to? That brings us to the next problem.

6: There are no USB ports

Even those $299 netbooks have USB ports for expandability. Not only could it be used for a flash drive, to ameliorate the storage problem; it could also be used to plug in a standard USB keyboard when you need to touch type. But Apple chose not to build any USB ports into the device. I understand that you will be able to add USB support by buying a special dongle that connects to a dock. That’s all well and good, but it means that you have to spend more money for something every netbook already comes with. And even worse, you’ll have to carry these extras around with you if you want that functionality when you’re on the go — which sort of negates the whole idea of “thin and light and compact.”

7: There’s no flash memory slot

The saving grace for my first netbook was that I could add storage with a flash memory card. The iPad, unfortunately, doesn’t have a built-in flash memory card slot. Again, Apple is going the dongle route. More to carry around, and more to spend money on. By the time you buy everything you need to get it closer to the functional equivalent of a netbook, you may end up spending a bundle. And that brings us to the next point.

8: The price is not right

Those who love the iPad are seemingly in awe of its “aggressive pricing.” And for those used to paying Apple’s prices, I guess it does seem like a bargain. But for those who come from a PC world, not so much.

I think there is a market for a low-cost touch screen tablet device that serves as an ebook reader, Web browser, and mail client, and on which you can view photos and videos. The iPad is priced several hundred dollars too high for that market. Lots of people would pay $299 for something like that. But the iPad pricing starts at $499 for the 16 GB model with no 3G connectivity. From there, it goes up to $829 if you want 64 GB of storage and 3G. For that much money, you can buy a powerful compact laptop that runs a full-fledged operating system and multi-tasks and that has USB and SD and Ethernet connectors, 4 GB of RAM, and 250 GB of storage.

The iPad is being touted as a better ebook reader, but it costs twice as much as the Kindle and other ebook readers.

9: It’s locked in

Apple loves to lock you in, and it hasn’t broken precedent here. You have to buy your apps from the App Store, you have to buy its dongles to use standard accessories like SD cards and USB devices, and you can’t even remove and replace the battery yourself. The 10-hour battery life is impressive (although some netbooks offer comparable times), but if you were flying to Australia and wanted to bring along an extra battery for the extra-long flight, forget about it.

On the software side, you can’t run Skype to make phone calls with it, either. We wouldn’t want to cut into the iPhone market, after all. Nor can you download Flash to install on the browser, which means you won’t be watching those YouTube videos.

10: It’s all about the network

One reason I was actually thinking that Apple’s tablet might be a possibility for me was the rumor going around, pre-release, that it was going to work on the Verizon network. You could almost hear the silent groans when it was announced that the 3G versions of the device will use AT&T’s network. I know dozens of people who love the iPhone but won’t buy one because they don’t want to deal with AT&T. The company has already had network congestion problems that it blames on the popularity of the iPhone. Now it plans to add iPads to the mix?

And you’ll have to pay another $30/month for unlimited data for your iPad (or $20 for 250MB), on top of what you’re already paying for your cell phone. Or do they expect people to give up their phone data plans and just use the iPad for data? I don’t see all those iPhone users doing that. This thing is looking more expensive by the minute.

Of course, if you buy the lower priced versions of the iPad, you won’t have to worry about 3G anyway, since they don’t come with that capability. Here’s wishing you good luck on finding those wi-fi hot spots.

So you may or may not remember some time ago, I wrote about a crazy friend of mine who intended on cycling round Europe fastened to the saddle of some two wheeled jalopy, in the name of to be fair, some great charities. Well as of a few days ago and talking to him again, its now clear he’s actually thought about the logistics and I am pleased to power him with a brand new website which will be online very soon. Watch this space for JBD2010, we’re gonna hook him up with a proper Twitter feed, a relational Facebook page, a tech-crunch account all wrapped around a svelte web 2.0 site with some kick arse PHP and more java than you could shake a considerably large stick at. Now if your reading this Julian, please dont forget to oil you hubs, keep your tyres pumped up, and remember, be as smooth as eggs, smooth as eggs my son

So I wanted to make some predictions in not only where I see technology in the next decade, but comment and regurgitate on some things I’ve read, and agree with.

MOBILE SEARCHING

Some time in the next few years, youll simply be able to point your phone to something, almost anything, and become an expert on it in seconds. Imagine hearing a political speech, and being able to validate the truthfulness of the claims in real time. Search will be much more powerful, more real time, and more sophisticated than ever.

Computers are going smaller, storage is getting cheaper. Devices to hold every single film ever made. MP3 players to hold more music than you could ever listen to in a lifetime. Phones are becoming sensor rich, accelerometers, GPS chips, light and sound sensors, motion interpretation, camera’s, compasses and more. You can already search by voice and objects with Google Goggle.

SMART BUILDINGS

New materials such as lightweight photovoltaic fabric will soon be able to interact with the world outside and adjust the energy needed on the fly, to operate a building, heating and lighting etc. New computing power and custom software allows buildings to be fully built virtually, tested, manipulated and stressed before there even built in the real world.

BESPOKE MEDICINE

Medicine and healthcare will be fully customised. Drug companies will use genetic profiling to develop therapies which will provide much more tailored treatments for an invididual. Simpler tests will let GP’s and individials to test for and monitor medical conditions. In mental health, new computer tools will be used as an alternative to drugs, in depression, anorexia, dementia and learning difficulties. The GP’s surgery will drastically change also, new lower cost technologies are allowing the medical diganostics to be moved out of acute hospital settings to the GP practice, pharmacies, supermarkets and even the home. With the latest in IT development, data can instantly be made available for diagnosis with experts anywhere. Surgery will change, more serious medical conditions will be solved or managed through the keyhole deployment of medical devices inside the body, which could support some organ functions or deliver drugs and wirelessly provide human telemetry, reporting back to the doctors.

GOVERNMENT EVERYWHERE

Government will become fully mobile. You will discuss health diagnostics with your GP in real time, online. Childrens knowledge management will be tracked with real time data provided to parents, provided by an online portal. Behaivoural monitoring, CCTV feeds from the classroom to the parents mobile device. Chips in your car will tell the government how many carbon credits you need to purchase, your home will monitor its carbon footprint and report back to the government via real time feeds. You exceed your alotted carbon allowance, you pay extra.

The office of National Statistics will become the Data Office, continously polling the population two way, relaying employment, inflation, tax and other national metrics direct to users via handheld phones, PCs, TV and online.

MIND CONTROL TV

Gesture control plugins will be developed for your Sky box, much in the same way a Nintendo wii remote works, allowing you to pause, re-wind and forward, freeze frame and play video and live content, through hand gestures. No remote required.

Compatible programs will be televised allowing users to specify camera angles in real time by moving your head. You look up, the camera moves up. And of course, all this will be delivered in full high definition 3d.

CURE FOR CANCER

We mapped the human genome some time ago, ironically, we’ll cure cancer, but as we continue to develop evolutionary medicine to combat cancer, cancer will continue to evolve due to the heavy exposure we have to more RF as the airwaves are filled with higher frquency signals, radiation, microwaves, combined with we’re exposed to these at a much younger age, we’ll continue to chase that elusive cure.

If you want to take a look at two technological ideas that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, take a look below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4nXjuOZ1dE

http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/new-masterfs1.html