Armed, Autonomous Robots "A Threat to Humanity"

Noel Sharkey of the University of Sheffield said that military leaders in several countries "are

quite clear that they want autonomous robots as soon as possible, because they are more cost-effective and give a risk-free war."

Unmanned surveillance aircraft have been used for years and are currently deployed by the U.S. military in Iraq, along with 4,000 military robots on the ground. Some of these robots are armed with large-caliber machine guns. Armed robot border guards are also used by South Korea and Israel, and other robots are in use by China, India, Russia and the United Kingdom.

To date, none of these machines are able to fire without a human pushing a button or pulling the trigger in some other deliberate way. But such robots are already under development, with the U.S. planning to invest $4 billion in research by 2010 and $24 billion by 2032.

"I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies me," Sharkey said.

Even non-autonomous robots would be easy for terrorists or other unauthorized personnel to capture, reverse engineer and then use for their own purposes, Sharkey warned. Such robots could provide an attractive alternative to suicide bombers.

"I don't know why that has not happened already," he said.

Technical obstacles to the development of autonomous killer robots include imbuing a machine with the ability to properly distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate targets, especially in a changing battle situation. This does not even take into account the ethical questions posed by abdicating decisions about life and death to a machine.

According to Ronald Arkin of the Georgia Institute of Technology, the U.S. Department of Defense's $230 billion Future Combat Systems Program calls for three classes of aerial and land-based robots, "but nowhere is there any consideration of the ethical implications of the weaponization of these systems."

New Breathalyzer Technology Detects Cancer, Asthma

(NaturalNews) Researchers are working to develop ways to test for various diseases simply by having patients breathe into a machine, according to an article published in the online edition of Optics Express. "If you go to the medical literature you will see tons of studies that correlate certain diseases with particular molecules found in the breath," said researcher Jun Ye. "One common example is nitrous oxide, which is associated with asthma." Ye and colleagues have successfully created a device that can analyze the millions of molecules contained in a single human breath. They believe the machine can easily be adapted to detect for a variety of lung-diseases as well. "It's very non-invasive," Ye said. "There's nothing to be scared of. No blood test, just a breath test." The machine is analyzes the content of a breath by bouncing lasers back and forth between two curved mirrors. These lasers excite the air, causing each molecule to give off a unique light signature. These signatures are then analyzed to determine the chemical composition of the air. This composition can provide important medical clues. In preliminary tests, for example, the breath of a smoker was found to contain five times the carbon monoxide concentration of other participants. "If you have asthma, your breath will have nitrous oxide, but nitrous oxide does not necessarily mean you have asthma," said Ye. "But if you see several different molecules all at once, and they are associated with asthma, then you have found a real fingerprint of a certain disease." Ye and his colleagues are working to make the machine even more sensitive, in the hopes that it can one day be used to identify even diseases that do not involve the lungs. "Once it's mass produced, the cost could be quite low," Ye said. "It could be put into every doctor's clinic so people could walk in and do painless breath tests and then walk away. They would get results in a day or so."

Intel Xeon® 'Nehalem-EX' Processor Presented by Intel

A new Intel® Xeon® processor codenamed "Nehalem-EX" has been revealed by Intel. Being able to deliver a number of new technical advancements and boost enterprise computing performance, the processor will be running the next generation of intelligent and expandable high-end Intel server platforms.

The Nehalem-EX processor, being ready to enter production later this year, will feature up to eight cores inside a single chip supporting 16 threads and 24MB of cache. Offering the highest-ever jump from a previous generation processor, its performance increase will be dramatic.

New reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features usually found in the company's Intel® Itanium processor family, such as Machine Check Architecture (MCA) Recovery will be available with Nehalem-EX.

the new Nehalem-EX processor, being ideal for virtualized applications, server consolidation, data demanding enterprise applications and technical computing environments, will be able to boost up to nine times the memory bandwidth of the previous-generation Intel Xeon 7400 platform, also doubling the memory capacity with up to 16 memory slots per processor socket, and offering four high-bandwidth QuickPath Interconnect links. Without the need for third-party chips to "glue" the platform together, Nehalem-EX will provide tremendous scalability, from large-memory two-socket systems through eight-socket systems capable of processing 128 threads simultaneously, while, with third-party solutions, additional scalability options including greater sockets counts will also be possible.

Some of the main advantages of Nehalem-EX are:

* Intel Nehalem Architecture built on Intel's unique 45nm high-k metal gate technology process
* Up to 8 cores per processor
* Up to 16 threads per processor with Intel® Hyper-threading
* Scalability up to eight sockets via Quick Path Interconnects and greater with third-party node controllers
* QuickPath Architecture with four high-bandwidth links
* Integrated memory controllers
* 24MB of shared cache
* Intel Turbo Boost Technology
* Intel scalable memory buffer and scalable memory interconnects
* Support for up to 16 memory slots per processor socket
* Up to 9x the memory bandwidth of previous generation
* 2.3 billion transistors
* Advanced RAS capabilities including MCA Recovery

Nehalem-EX, having new RAS capabilities for high-end enterprises, will be able to accelerate IT adoption of Intel-based platforms over RISC-based platforms by delivering a lower total cost of ownership, higher performance, lower electricity bills and the ability to standardize on a flexible IT environment.

LED light bulbs yield big savings in energy

August 13th, 2009 By Renee Schoof

LED Lamp with E27 Edison screw. Image: Wikipedia.

One way the United States could slash its electricity use, dependence on fossil fuels and emissions of heat-trapping gases is really quite simple: better light bulbs.

Ads by Google

Pulse Smart Home Systems - Advanced KNX/EIB and Z-Wave automation for homes and hotels. - www.pulseliving.com

LED Lighting Design - LED Lighting Control System AD. & Interior LED Lighting - www.humanlitech.com

The Department of Energy is backing research and development aimed at getting light-emitting diodes into common use in homes and businesses at a price that saves money. Hurdles remain: Costs are still high, the quality of what's on the market varies and not all the technical issues have been worked out. Energy experts are confident, however, that this new lighting is the future and that energy savings will be enormous.

Lighting consumes 22 percent of electricity in the United States. The DOE predicts that solid-state lighting -- which uses semiconducting materials to convert electricity into light, and includes LEDs -- has the potential to reduce energy use for lighting by one-third by 2030. That's the equivalent of saving the output of 40 large (1,000-megawatt) power plants, the greenhouse gas emissions of 47 million cars and $30 billion.

LEDs already light universities from Miami to Anchorage, Alaska, streets in many cities and an increasing number of businesses that need lights on all the time.

"In your home, lighting may be 10 percent of your bill. But in an office building it's probably 40 percent, and so if you reduce your lighting energy consumption by a large fraction, the savings will be huge," said James Brodrick, who leads the DOE's solid-state lighting program.

A fact sheet from Brodrick's office says this about LEDs: "In the coming decade, they will become a key to affordable net-zero energy buildings, buildings that produce at least as much energy annually as they use from the grid."

The technology is advancing quickly, and costs will continue to drop, Brodrick said. The DOE tests LEDs and sets performance and efficiency guidelines under its Energy Star program.

LEDs are directional lights, used in recessed lighting and under-counter lights, for example. They're not yet available as bulbs that cast light all around and fit in ordinary sockets.

Ads by Google

Top LED Replacement Bulb - High Power LED Bulb, Lamp Head, CE & UL listed. Contact Right Now! - www.BBEled.com

Solar Street Lights - Reliable, Affordable & World Class Ready stock available from Dubai - www.solarstreetlights.net

"There's an enormous and exciting potential, but we have a long way to go before we see anything besides directional lighting," said Jeffrey P. Harris, the vice president for programs at the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit group that promotes energy efficiency.

Even so, LEDs already are used to light offices, hotels, restaurants and other businesses.

The DOE predicts that LEDs will have better performance capability than fluorescent lighting in the next few years, and that they'll continue to improve after that. They're now comparable with fluorescent fixtures in efficiency, and the DOE says its Energy Star LEDs last two to five times longer.

Cost is the biggest reason that LEDs aren't used more widely, Brodrick said.

A common PAR 38 floodlight at Home Depot, for example, costs about $35 online as an LED, about $3.70 apiece in a pack of 15 as a halogen floodlight and about $11 for a compact fluorescent.

Chuck Swoboda, the chairman and chief executive officer of Cree Inc. of Durham, N.C., a leading company in LED lighting, said that commercial use of LEDs would drive down costs, and that a lower initial cost plus the value of energy savings would make them attractive. "It's not that different from the argument of why you should put insulation in a home," he said.

LEDs have other advantages: They can be dimmed, don't emit heat, don't contain mercury -- unlike compact fluorescents -- and can produce warm-toned light.

Swoboda said that Cree was focusing on commercial sales now because that market was bigger than the residential market and commercial users got quicker paybacks from reduced energy and maintenance costs.

In April, Cree announced that it had a new LED PAR 38 bulb designed for stores and museums that uses 12 watts of power instead of 50 to 90 watts for a halogen bulb.

"What happens with LEDs is people think of them as things that go in your cell phone or things you put in the car dashboard, but they don't think of it as truly a lighting product," Swoboda said. "And so this was the latest innovation to kind of go out and show people you can pretty much do anything you can do in an incandescent bulb technology or in fluorescents with LEDs."

Home Depot, the world's biggest retailer of light bulbs, is starting to stock LED bulbs this summer and plans to have 10 kinds by September, said Jorge Fernandez, who's in charge of light bulb purchases for the company.

"There's definitely a lot of interest, but the price is high, and a lot of people say they're waiting to see when the price drops," he said.

Felicia Spagnoli, a spokeswoman for Philips Lighting Electronics North America, said commercial users could make up for the higher costs of LEDs in as little as a year or two.

"We can address environmental concerns at the same time we improve the quality and use of light," she said. "Many people when they think of doing good for the environment think it means going without or having lesser quality, but that's absolutely not the case with LEDs."

Philips is working on many kinds of LEDs, including one to replace a 40-watt incandescent bulb that's scheduled to be available next year, she said.

Derrick Hall of RE/Construct Inc. in Asheville, N.C., said that residential customers weren't asking for LEDs because of the high upfront cost. Still, he's hearing of some nonresidential customers who are looking into LEDs for the energy savings.

LEDs are much better than other lighting options, Hall said. The quality of the light is "far superior," they offer big energy savings and there's no cost to society for dealing with mercury, he said. Mercury, a neurotoxin, is found in small amounts in compact fluorescent bulbs.

Swoboda said that some of the biggest commercial users for LEDs now were fast-food restaurants, because LEDs' light makes food look appealing.

A McDonald's that opened in July in Cary, N.C., is lit almost entirely with daylight and LED lights. Ric Richards, the franchise owner, said the restaurant used 78 percent less electricity than a traditional one.

And the quality of the light?

"Awesome," he said. "The restaurant has great ambience."

Richards estimated that the upfront costs of the lighting would be paid back in two to four years with lower electricity bills.

In Washington, the Pentagon is installing LED lights in a large renovation.

Mark Buffler, an official in charge of technology in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said in a report that switching from conventional fluorescents to LEDs would conserve large amounts of energy _ 240,000 kilowatt hours annually _ and save money on maintenance and mercury disposal. Buffler also wrote that the project was meant to demonstrate the energy savings potential of LEDs for the rest of the federal government.

ON THE WEB

Department of Energy information on LEDs: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/index.html

Energy Star information on LEDs: http://tinyurl.com/mlgeqq

Online MS Office 2010: for free or not?

It was last week when Microsoft announced that they will offer a "Free" lightweight online version of Microsoft 2010, which includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote. Since then, I started to read reviews and press releases of this move from Microsoft and started to draft a post regarding this big change that the company does. But what made me changed my mind to post that said draft is because of Michael Hickins's report on the Hidden cost of Microsoft's Free online office suite.


[Microsoft Office 2010 Logo and its Applications new logos]

[Follow bugITs in Twitter]
[Add bugITs from PLURK]
[Subscribe to bugITS - technology news and updates]


Just a quote from his post, "But wait – there’s more! A Microsoft spokesperson told me that customers will need to buy a SharePoint server, which ranges from $4,400 plus CALs or $41,000, all CALs included if they want to share documents using the online version of Office 2010"
I bet its really clear that there is always a hidden agenda on that Free offerings. And as usual, at the end of the day, business is business.

At first, i enjoyed comparing these two online applications; namely Microsoft office live workspace and Google Docs, but at the end i would prefer to use Google docs than any other, most especially when i used it to convert office 2007 files into 2003. The two web versions of applications, have offer lots of advantages, doing some documents online anytime and anywhere but do Microsoft risks its sells of Office Applications (as we know, Office is the company's big cash drawer) and goes with online versions?


[Google Apps VS Office Live Workspace]

Office 210: The Changes

And now, as what i am always looking forward, is the idea and inquiry what could be the changes that Microsoft can offer rather than the online version thingy?


[2007 VS 2010: Ribbon Changes]

First of all, is the revision of the Microsoft Office 2007 trade mark, the Ribbon. In the offline version, Microsoft designed the Ribbon enclosed with a circular form on which at first i thought it was just another nonfunctional design until such time i learned that it is somewhat like a functional button having there the sub menus; New, Open, Save and others.
Another offering is the photo editing tools, which can now be accessed inside the Ribbon. You just need to open a picture file, then a format tab will show and you can now do some photo enhancement.


[Office 2007: Sub Menus under the Ribbon ]

And another ribbon inclusion program (which is excluded last 2007 version) is the Outlook 2010. It do now have full marked ribbon and is offering the same overall interface except its new feature Quick Steps. Excel and Word have no lots of new features on them not like outlook and of course the PowerPoint which give a video features in it.



Just a note, to access the lightweight version of office 2010, you all need a Windows Live ID (formerly hotmail account). But not so sure if you can have a total access on that package since Microsoft has not released any news about it although they have appended the word "free".

Cyber Attack Code Starts Killing Infected PCs

By Thomas Claburn

Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

Infected computers participating in the distributed denial of service attack on U.S. government and South Korean Web sites are set to destroy their own data.

The botnet-driven cyber attack on government, financial, and media sites in the U.S and South Korea includes a newly discovered danger: The malicious code responsible for driving the distributed denial of service attack, known as W32.Dozer, is designed to delete data on infected computers and to prevent the computers from being rebooted.

"Your machine is completely hosed at this stage," said Vincent Weafer, VP at Symantec Security Response.

The malicious code includes instructions to start deleting files when the infected computer's internal clock reaches July 10, 2009. That's today.

According to Weafer, the malicious code will attempt to locate files with any of more than 30 different extensions, such as .doc, .pdf, and .xls, copy the data to an encrypted file that's inaccessible to the user, and then overwrite the data in the original files. It targets files associated with office, business, and development applications.

The malicious code is also programmed to modify infected computers' Master Boot Records. The change renders computers inoperable following any attempt to reboot.

The impact of this self-destruct sequence should be minimal, however. Weafer said that he expects only a few thousand machines will be damaged. "I don't expect this to be a major issue, except perhaps in South Korea," he said.

The cyber attack against sites in the U.S. and South Korea began on July 4 and temporarily interfered with access to the Web sites of the Treasury Department, the Transportation Department and the Federal Trade Commission.

The South Korean Intelligence Service estimated that about 20,000 compromised computers -- mostly in South Korea -- had been ordered to conduct a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on U.S. and South Korean sites.

Given the timing, which coincided with a North Korean missile test, suspicions have been raised about the involvement of hackers in North Korea or possibly China.

In a press briefing yesterday, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said, "[The attacks] are continuing, and we are taking measures to deal with this and any potential new attacks." He said he had no information about whether North Korea was involved.

It is possible to direct an attack of this sort from anywhere. According to Alan Paller, research director at The SANS Institute, the compromised computers participating in this attack are located all over the world, including the U.S. The bots that participate also vary over time, so that the source of the attack is constantly changing.

"The attacks have become increasingly sophisticated since the end of last week -- it started as a flood that was easy for network service providers to filter and then went through at least two increases in sophistication so that the flood looks more and more like legitimate traffic," said Paller in an e-mail. "Network providers have to work much harder to filter out malicious traffic that resembles legitimate traffic."

But with W32.Dozer already deleting files and crippling its hosts, the attacks should soon subside.

Google Chrome OS: Web Platform To Rule Them All

By Thomas Claburn

Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

With Chrome OS, Google aims to make the Web the primary platform for software development.

Google's plan to release its own operating system based on its Chrome browser is at once audacious and laughable. Microsoft Windows represents slightly less than 90% of the personal computer operating system market, a position it has held for years.

Google's industry ally, Apple, has managed to steal a few percentage points of market share away from Microsoft in the past twelve years under the singular leadership of CEO Steve Jobs. But Windows remains the dominant operating system, more dominant even than Google is in search.

And with the forthcoming release of Windows 7, Microsoft appears to be well-prepared to defend its empire.

It's hard to imagine a less promising business for Google to enter, especially given that Google plans to give Chrome OS away for free. And Google's grand plan to shake up the operating system market isn't made more credible by the absence of any actual programming code or substantive information about Chrome OS.

Yet, the fact that Google has partners that share its vision says something about the shakiness of Microsoft's position. Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba are all working with Google to help it re-imagine the operating system. So too is Intel, as The Register reports.

Google's decision to target the netbook market may help the prospects of Chrome OS. Although Microsoft has made a concerted effort to push Windows on netbooks to fend off low-cost Linux-based challengers, Google may find it easier to compete in the netbook market because access to cloud-based services and software is more valuable on devices with constrained resources than on high-powered desktop computers.

Steve Andriole, professor of information technologies at the Villanova School of Business, observed in an e-mail that Google's announcement comes at the right time, just as the industry is moving to smaller, more mobile devices.

He believes that both pricing and Google's vendor relationships will play major roles in determining the acceptance of Chrome OS.

The fact that Chrome OS applications will be written using open Web standards like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS might seem like a liability because Web applications still aren't as capable as applications written for specific devices and operating systems.

But Google is betting that will change and is working to effect the change on which its bet depends. Within a year or two, Web browsers will gain access to peripherals, through an infrastructure layer above the level of device drivers. Google's work with standards bodies is making that happen.

According to Matt Womer, the "ubiquitous Web activity lead" for W3C, the Web standards consortium, Web protocol groups are working to codify ways to access peripherals like digital cameras, the messaging stack, calendar data, and contact data.

There's now a JavaScript API that Web developers can use to get GPS information from mobile phones using the phone's browser, he points out. What that means is that device drivers for Chrome OS will emerge as HTML 5 and related standards mature. Without these, consumers would never use Chrome OS because devices like digital cameras wouldn't be able to transfer data.

Womer said the standardization work could move quite quickly, but won't be done until there's an actual implementation. That would be Chrome OS.

And as the long-foretold Internet of Things emerges -- allowing everyday objects to be addressed via online queries -- Chrome OS will be well positioned to help Google organize even more of the world's information than the company already handles.

Chrome OS will sell itself to developers because, as Google puts it, writing applications for the Web gives "developers the largest user base of any platform."

Iphone 3gs Lines

As you may have heard by now, AT&T has released official word that those who preordered an iPhone 3GS line will be able to pick them up from one of 2, 200 retail outlets or 211 Apple stores. However, some people won’t get theirs tomorrow but if you check your inbox you’ll find a email verification with your pickup date. In terms of pricing, new AT&T customers will pay $199 for the 16 GB version and $299 for the 32 GB. Existing customers that have fulfilled their contractual obligations will also be eligible for the same pricing while iPhone 3G customers whose contracts end in July, August or September of this year will be as well.

Existing AT&T customers who contracts aren’t up but want to upgrade early will have to pay a little bit (alot) more. In fact, it’ll be $399 for the 16 GB version and $499 for the 32 GB. Check out the press release after the cut for additional pricing plan details, what you’ll need to pick up your iPhone 3GS and a few feature explanations.

iPhone 3G S Available at AT&T Tomorrow

Locations Open Early at 7 a.m. For Customers Who Preordered In Store

DALLAS, June 18 AT&T* begins selling iPhone 3G S nationwide tomorrow morning in its more than 2,200 company-owned retail locations. In addition, AT&T today will begin shipping devices to customers who preordered online for arrival beginning tomorrow. iPhone 3G S will also be available tomorrow morning at all 211 U.S. Apple retail stores.

“The time is finally here. We’re more than ready to open our doors tomorrow and begin selling the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets. “We understand that customers are eager to get their hands on this great new device. So we’ve worked hard to make the experience as easy as possible.”

EARLY HOURS FOR PREORDER CUSTOMERS

Many customers have chosen to preorder iPhone 3G S in an AT&T store or online.

AT&T Store Preorders: Customers who preordered in AT&T stores can return to the same store beginning tomorrow morning, with their receipt, to pick up their order. Customers should be sure to check the e-mail notification they received for their actual arrival date as some preorders will arrive after June 19; dates are based on when preorders were made and available inventory. All stores will open at 7 a.m. local time to exclusively serve preorder customers whose orders are expected to arrive on June 19. Any customer is welcome to visit beginning at normal business hours, at which point all customers will be served on a “first come, first served” basis.

Virtual Smart Home Controlled By Your Thoughts

ScienceDaily (May 26, 2009) — Light switches, TV remote controls and even house keys could become a thing of the past thanks to brain-computer interface (BCI) technology being developed in Europe that lets users perform everyday tasks with thoughts alone

The technology, which was demonstrated at CeBIT in Hannover in March, provides an innovative way of controlling the interconnected electronic devices that will populate the smart homes of the future, granting increased autonomy to people with physical disabilities as well as pleasing TV channel-surfing couch potatoes.

“The BCI lets people turn on lights, change channels on the TV or open doors just by thinking about it,” explains Christoph Guger, the CEO of Austrian medical engineering company g.tec that developed the application.

g.tec teamed up with a group of international universities and research institutes as part of the EU-funded Presenccia project to incorporate its BCI technology into virtual environments. As part of the project a fully functioning smart home was created in virtual reality (VR).

“It has a kitchen, bathroom, living room… everything a normal home would have. People are able to move through it just by thinking about where they wanted to go,” Guger says.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) equipment is used to monitor electrical activity in a user’s brain via electrodes attached to their scalp. After a period of training, the system learns to identify the distinctive patterns of neuronal activity produced when they imagine walking forwards, flicking on a light switch or turning up the radio.

Liberating possibilities for people with disabilities

Being able to move and control objects in virtual reality solely by the power of thought could offer new and liberating possibilities for people with physical disabilities. It could help amputees learn how to use a prosthetic limb, for example, or allow people confined to a wheelchair to experience walking in virtual reality, as one experiment conducted by the Presenccia researchers showed.

“A virtual environment could be used to train a disabled person to control an electric wheelchair through a brain-computer interface,” explains Mel Slater, the coordinator of the Presenccia project. “It is much safer for them to learn in VR than in the real world, where mistakes could have physical consequences.”

One application developed by g.tec lets people control a small robot with their thoughts, though the same system could easily be adapted to control a wheelchair instead. Four lights on a small box set to flicker at different frequencies provided the control mechanism using a method known as Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP).

“The top light, for example, was set to flicker at 10 hertz so, when the user stared at it, the EEG equipment registered that particular frequency in the user’s brain and instructed the robot to move forward. Looking at another light flickering at a different frequency would tell the robot to go left and so on,” Guger explains.

Thought-provoking typing

g.tec has adopted a different approach to allow people to type with their thoughts. Users sit in front of a grid of letters and numbers on a computer screen which flash in sequence and are told to stare at the character they want to type. The system registers their brain activity when the letter they are looking at is illuminated.

“With experience people can learn to type quite fast. I can average about one letter every eight-tenths of a second, a rate similar to typing with one finger,” Guger says.

Better hardware, software and a deeper understanding of EEG data has now made typing by thought power a practical application, particularly for paralysed people suffering from so-called locked-in syndrome who have few means of communication.

“Just two years ago, it took up to a minute to type a single letter and a whole day to train someone to do it. Now most people can learn to use the system in five minutes,” Guger says.

The accuracy of BCI technology has also greatly improved: g.tec was involved in a study that showed 82 percent of people could achieve 100 percent accuracy. “Five years ago there was only one person in the world known to be able to do that,” Guger notes.

Where will such rapid progress lead?

The g.tec CEO initially expects BCI technology to continue to gain ground in medical applications for the disabled and for rehabilitation, helping people who have suffered a stroke, for example, to regain use of their limbs. However, he believes it could become common in everyday environments. Having been tested in virtual reality, g.tec’s smart home application will soon be deployed in a real smart home being built as part of the SM4all project, which has received funding under the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme.

g.tec, which was founded by Christoph Guger and Günter Edlinger in 1999 as a spin-off from the Graz University of Technology, sells its award-winning technology to companies, universities and research institutes in 55 countries.

This is the second of a two-part special feature on virtual reality and the Presenccia project funded under the FET Pro-active scheme of the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme for research.

Goldman Sells $2 bln in Notes Not Govt-Guaranteed

Goldman Sachs Group Wednesday sold $2 billion of notes not backed by a government guarantee in a sign of an incipient thaw in credit markets, analysts said.

"That's a good sign for the banking sector," said William Larkin, portfolio manager with Cabot Money Management in Boston. Both Goldman and JPMorgan are starting to issue bonds that are not backed by the U.S. government after a virtual drought of such issues, he added.

Even so, with investors still wary about the fragile banking system, it is much more expensive for banks to issue debt outside the umbrella of government protection.

Goldman sold the five-year, dollar-denominated global issue at about 410 basis points over comparable government Treasury yields, according to IFR, a Thomson Reuters service. That was broadly in line with initial price talk earlier Wednesday of 412.5 basis points over Treasuries, IFR said.

Soon after the issue was priced, it was trading about 30 basis points tighter, or about 380 basis points over equivalent Treasuries, said Bob Gorham, managing director and head of investment-grade bond trading at Broadpoint Capital in New York. Gorham said demand was quite brisk for new corporate bond issues on Wednesday as the market's tone firmed.

An uptick in new debt sales after a two-week lull for earnings season is also lending support to the strong sentiment in the market, analysts said.

However, Goldman had to offer investors much higher compensation for the risk of holding its stand-alone debt by selling the Wednesday issue for much higher yields than its government-backed notes.

Goldman's FDIC-backed notes maturing in December 2012 were trading at a spread of about 47 basis points over equivalent Treasuries according to Tradeweb data, compared with about 410 basis points for the bank's Wednesday issue when it was first sold.

Since the panic in the financial markets in the fourth quarter of 2008, investors have generally shunned U.S. bank bonds that are not backed by government regulator the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Goldman's five-year senior global notes were the bank's first issue since January that were not backed by the government.

On April 16, JPMorgan made a stand-alone issue, selling $3 billion in debt without U.S. government backing for the first time since August.

Goldman's issue represents the latest inroad into a sector of the corporate bond market that investors have mostly avoided for months, hinting the market for this type of debt is starting to open up again, analysts said.

However, bond investors generally view Goldman and JPMorgan as among the strongest major U.S. banks.

Both have signaled they now have the resources to repay bailout funds which the government injected into the banking system late last year to save it from implosion. (Additional reporting by Tom Ryan, Caryn Trokie and Dan Wilchins in New York and Natalie Harrison in London; Editing by James Dalgleish)

IBM Adds Social Networking To DeveloperWorks Portal

Just as IBM's popular developerWorks site for IT professionals turns 10 years old in September, the company is sprucing it up with new social networking capabilities.

The new features being unveiled on Thursday will allow developerWorks members to create personal profiles, helping them promote their technical expertise, expand their professional networking, and create online groups for shared projects and interests.

Approximately 8 million people worldwide, including enterprise software developers and other IT professionals, are registered members of developerWorks, and about 4 million of them visit the portal at least monthly, said Stephanie Martin, IBM director of developerWorks.

DeveloperWorks is a free, online portal providing IT professionals with access to skills development and technical resources related to open standard technologies, including Linux, Java, XML, and cloud computing.

The new MydeveloperWorks site has been "retooled" by IBM on Lotus Connections enterprise networking and collaboration technology, which enables members to create "vertically" focused groups related to their interests, said Martin.

For instance, if MydeveloperWorks members are interested in beefing up their skills and knowledge related to emerging technologies that are supported by the U.S. government's stimulus programs, like electronic medical records, they can tailor their homepage to receive real time feeds and other content about healthcare IT standards. The members can also create new groups related to the subject and invite others to join.

Users can search MydeveloperWorks personal profiles by keyword, tag, location, or name, allowing users to find other individuals with shared interest or specific expertise. Members can also check out the credentials of individuals commenting on forums or participating in online groups -- as well as promote their own expertise, said Martin.

In coming months, MydeveloperWorks users will also be able to connect with their social networking profiles on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

When existing developerWorks members visit the site now, they'll be requested -- but not required -- to create a personal profile for the new MydeveloperWorks functionality, said Martin.

Apple May Be Prepping For Blu-Ray

The next version of iTunes, which has been released to developers, indicates that Apple may add support for the Blu-ray high-definition format.

ITunes version 8.2 was included with the latest update of the iPhone 3.0 beta software shipped to developers late Tuesday. Within the "About iTunes" section of the pre-release version of the software was a reference suggesting the Apple media player would support Blu-ray disc playback, according to reports.

How far Apple will take Blu-ray support is not known. As a matter of company policy, Apple does not comment on future products.

However, supporting the HD format in any of its products would be a first for Apple, which does not offer Blu-ray disc players as an option for its Mac computers. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has implied in comments that Blu-ray licensing fees are too high.

Growing adoption of Blu-ray by consumers may force Apple to change its stance. From January through March, Americans bought 9 million Blu-ray movies, nearly double the number sold in the same period a year ago, according to Adams Media Research. Helping to drive sales are lower prices for Blu-ray disc players, which are currently available for less than $150.

Apple last month started offering high-definition movies for rent or purchase on the iTunes stores. HD titles are more expensive to buy and cost a dollar more to rent. Movies and TV shows downloaded from iTunes can be played on an Apple Mac, iPhone, and some iPod models, as well as a Windows PC. The films also can be played on a digital TV through the Apple TV set-top box.

Apple isn't alone in trying to entice people with HD content. Netflix and Blockbuster also offer HD movies online.

Google Flu Tracking System Suggests Flu Is Spreading

Google has released an experimental version of Google Flu Trends to track the spread of the swine flu in Mexico. Google on Monday said flu activity remained low, as seen by its flu tracking system, but the country-specific version published on Wednesday shows a spike in flu activity.

Google said that its system detected increases in flu-related queries in Mexico City and several other Mexican states during the April 19-25 time period.

At the same time, Google cautions that Experimental Flu Trends for Mexico is, as the name suggests, an experiment and that the data should be viewed as such.

"While we would prefer to validate this data and improve its accuracy, we decided to release an early version today so that it might help public health officials and concerned individuals get an up-to-date picture of the ongoing swine flu outbreak," explained Google engineers Jeremy Ginsberg and Matt Mohebbi in a blog post. "As with our existing Flu Trends system, estimates are provided across many of Mexico's states and updated every day."

Ginsberg and Mohebbi say that flu activity in the United States remains low, as might be expected given the relatively few cases reported in the country. But Google plans to continue its monitoring to look for rising infection.

Google introduced Google Flu Trends in November 2008 as a way to visualize the correlation between flu infections and flu-related search activity. Google maintains that searches provide an early warning about the spread of the flu because search data can be gathered and analyzed almost instantly, unlike traditional epidemiological reporting methods.

Ginsberg and Mohebbi explain that Google's "model tries to filter out search queries that are more likely associated with topical searches rather than searches by those who may be experiencing symptoms." Thus the spike shown in the graph on the Experimental Flu Trends for Mexico Web page should correlate with actual flu activity rather than searches prompted by worry.

As of 11 a.m. EDT, April 29, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that 91 confirmed swine flu cases have been detected in the U.S. and that 1 person -- a child in Texas -- has died as a result of the outbreak.

Google planned to hold a media call at 11 a.m. PDT on Wednesday to field questions about its flu tracking project.

5 Things To Do With Dead PC Hardware

Sooner or later, the PC I'm typing this on is bound to drop dead. One day I'll walk in here, push the power button, and hear a scrape and a clunk that tells me my hard drive is out of commission. Or, worse, I'll get nothing at all. Failing that, it's going to end up dying a different kind of death, although one that's every bit as ignominious -- it'll be yanked out and replaced with something a little more cutting-edge, because time and technology have moved on.

Whatever my PC's exact fate, there's one thing I know won't happen: This machine will not sit at the curbside and wait to be heaved into a garbage truck. In this piece I'll talk about four possible fates for dead hardware. "Dumped into a landfill" is not one of them. That's a fate worth working to avoid, especially since so many of the electronic goods that come into our hands can still be reclaimed, no matter what they're like when we're done with them.

What's A "Dead" PC?

Let's start with a definition or three. The most common definition of "dead" is "I can't use this thing anymore." Sometimes dead means too slow or clunky for your chosen use; time and utility have passed it by.

That Pentium III 650 that used to run Windows 2000 but barely boots anymore, the range of software (and hardware) it can support has narrowed drastically? It might be useful to someone who has fewer expectations from their PC, but to you, it's dead.

Sometimes dead means you've simply outgrown what you have. The system runs fine, but you've moved on to bigger and better things. For example: my 1GB single-core Centrino notebook, which I replaced with a 4GB dual-core 64-bit model -- one which, irony of ironies, cost less than half what I paid for the previous one; such is the march of technology. (Keep reading to find out the fate of the old machine.)

And sometimes dead is just dead. Billy Crystal's character Miracle Max in The Princess Bride put it best: "There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive." In other words, even a machine that doesn't boot or power on may still be good for something -- even if it's something you can't think of.

1. Revival

Let's start with hardware that hasn't died, but has outlived its current use. Rather than deep-sixing it completely, perhaps it's worth putting that device to use in another context. The most common version of this is to give the hardware in question to another family member or a friend. Usually you'll do this after cleaning it up and making sure it's a) marginally functional and b) not likely to break in a way that will stump its new owner.

Cleaning up and resetting an existing system for re-use has gotten a lot easier in recent years, thanks to most systems shipping with either a restore / recovery partition, a set of recovery disks, or both. Sometimes the former are used to build the latter, when you first uncrate the machine.

That said, unless you're about as organized as my mom or as big a packrat as my dad, the odds of those tools surviving any number of office straighten-ups, household spring cleanings, and I-think-I-threw-out-the-wrong-thing shocks goes way down with time.

If you don't have the disks or the recovery partition anymore, call the PC manufacturer (they're still around, one hopes) and ask them for a recovery CD/DVD. They should be able to sell you one if you have the original OS license key sticker. Note that if you bought your system as a "whitebox" from a local, independent reseller, they probably gave you the CD. Lose that and you're generally out of luck.

Even if you haven't lost the original OS, you might do well to install a new one --Linux or Windows, depending on what's within your budget and what seems to work best. Bear in mind that Linux is no longer a one-size-fits-all proposition and hasn't been for some time; you want a variety of Linux distros that will complement your hardware well.

Linux Installation Guidelines

• 1-2 Years Old / Multi-Core: Any of the recent, big-name Linux distributions will do fine -- e.g., Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, CentOS, etc.

• 2-3 Years Old / Single-Core: Generally the same as the above, but if performance turns out to be an issue, you can go with a scaled-down build designed for economy of space and speed. Xubuntu is the most common example.

• Anything Older: Go with a distribution built to be minimal. Puppy Linux is a good one, but the still-in-progress Moblin is worth a look even at this stage of its development.

2. Repurposing

Another option with an older machine is to set it up as a file / print / media server -- a way to offload duties that you don't want to foist upon your existing PC. Since a file server generally doesn't need to be the fastest machine in the world as far as user interaction goes -- it just needs to have a decent network pipe -- you can get away with surprisingly minimal hardware to make this work. For my own file/print setup I used a four-year-old notebook with a USB-attached hard drive in an external cage (a 320GB drive from another machine, which I'd replaced with a 1TB drive). Streamed HD video is probably out of the question, but MP3s and print jobs all work fine.

3. Cannibalization
This means, of course, salvaging what pieces you can and using them elsewhere. Your average "dead" PC has at least two or three parts which by themselves are probably fine. They can generally be cycled over into another PC without trouble, especially if you're buying a new machine and want to save a few dollars here and there. Still, as with anything else, caveats apply.

Peripherals Keyboards, mice, headsets, USB hubs, removable-storage bays (such as those used for memory cards), and so on are the most common things that can be cycled over are.

If they're still in good shape, there's no reason to dump them as long as they still do what you need and will work with future hardware. One exception is PS/2-connected mice or keyboards, which can be connected to USB-only machines but only through specially-designed connectors. If you're hanging onto an older PS/2 keyboard for dear life (some people get very attached to their hardware -- me included!), the cost of an input dongle is negligible.

Hard Drives Any type of storage device is well worth keeping and re-using. Obviously anything with sensitive data on it needs to be wiped down first; see Darik's Boot and Nuke, for more on how to do this easily.

TIP: Always use new cabling, both data and power, when moving an old device. The cables you used with the hardware in its original setup may have developed crimps or bends that turn into full-blown shorts when moved into another machine. I've had this happen to me more than a few times; a hard drive that was working fine in one machine was "dead" in another—actually, just mostly dead, since all it took was a new SATA cable to bring it back to life.

Memory Modules These can usually move between machines that support them with little difficulty. There are two caveats here, though:

1. You might not always be getting the best possible performance on the target system.
2. Two, you may run into finicky behaviors you didn't see before. Systems that use server memory -- i.e., registered or ECC memory -- are a lot fussier with memory than regular machines.

The last computer I had in this regard refused to work reliably with two separate sets of DIMMs and finally only worked with a Compaq-branded set.

Video Cards These are worth pulling and saving, since what's old or outdated for one user is more than cutting-edge for another -- provided, of course, it's the right bus type. Also bear in mind that video cards can be a source of unexpected power consumption, something I discovered and wrote about here

Notebooks are tougher to cannibalize, since they tend to be all of a piece. About the only things that can be reliably reused are power supplies (best used in either the same variety of notebook or one with the same wattage requirements) and hard drives.

As an aside, a good many types of hardware can go bad for no visible reason, even after years of perfectly reliable service. A lot of this depends on how it was used. If the user smoked, had a dusty office or ran everything off unfiltered wall current, any one of those alone is going to shorten the lifespan of the device in question.

Sometimes it's not possible to know whether or not these things have happened, although there are giveaways: musty odors, encrustations of dust or dirt on the fan or air intakes, etc. Rule of thumb: if it looks (or smells) like it's been through a war, it probably has been.

4. Donation

If space is more important to you than anything else, take the hardware you have and donate it. The good news is that there are dozens of non-profit organizations, both local and national, that will take used computer equipment of almost every conceivable variety and make good with it.

The best place to start -- if you have working hardware in good condition -- is the Cristina Foundation, dedicated to putting computers into the hands of "people with disabilities, students at risk and economically disadvantaged persons". They may take in hardware that can be repaired and put to use, but you're best off making sure whatever they get is in decent working order (if not always cutting-edge).

Other groups have similar demands but different aims:

• The OnIt Foundation
• PCs for Schools
• Computers with Causes prefers functional hardware whenever possible.

For a massive rundown of just about every charitable group out there looking for PC hardware, check out the TechSoup site, which you can search based on needs and location.

No discussion of donations and reuse would be complete without some mention of both Freecycle and Craigslist. Craigslist we all know about, but Freecycle is less well-known; it's an aggregate of local groups, each dedicated to providing a place for people to provide things for re-use; computer hardware is just one thing they cover.

Subscribe to a local Freecycle mailing list and pay close attention to the rules about posting and soliciting, as the etiquette on these lists is crucial to getting good results. The disadvantage of both Freecycle and Craigslist is that you typically know very little about the pedigree of the people at the other end of the transaction.

5. Recycling

An old superstition goes, "Never throw away a key!" Never throw out a computer, either. There are better things to do with all that metal, copper, plastic and lead than put it into a landfill. If there doesn't seem to be any other fate left than the trash for a piece of hardware, by all means dispose of it -- but do it the right way.

Many major electronics retailers now offer programs above and beyond the usual recycling of cellphones, used CFLs, or dead batteries. Best Buy (http://www.bbycommunications.com/crnew/recycling.asp) does this routinely for appliances and TVs, and furniture-retailer IKEA regularly hosts e-cycling events albeit only in California at the moment. Many Staples outlets now also accept computer parts for recycling, albeit for a fee of $10 per system (peripherals can be thrown in for free).

On a more upscale, professional level, IBM has its own IT buyback program, and east-coast based data-erasure experts Guardian Data Destruction also offers e-cycling as an adjunct to its more conventional drive-wiping and document-shredding services. Network Liquidators is an outfit that deal specifically with used telecom and networking hardware, a lot of which can be resold fairly easily since it tends to be in strong demand, even if it's not up-to-the-second new.

A fairly comprehensive and regularly-updated list of recycling programs by U.S. region is maintained by the Telecommunications Industry Association at EIAE.org. The EPA's resource page is here. And Earth 911 also maintains similar lists, and supplies detailed information about who takes what.

Whichever one you pick, be sure the recycler can show documented proof of compliance with the EPA's R2 practices ,which minimizes the chance they're dumping waste on the sly or shipping it overseas.

InformationWeek has published an in-depth report on Windows 7. Download the report here (registration required).

Analyze Your Computer Configuration with WinAudit Analyze Your Computer Configuration with WinAudit

If you want to know about each and every component of your computer, WinAudit can do it for you and that too without any special knowledge on how to use it. WinAudit is an easy to use application and even a newbie can use it without any fuss. Continue reading ‘Analyze Your Computer Configuration with WinAudit’

Download RichCopy to Pause and Resume Copying of Files

I always wanted to resume and pause the copying of files in Windows like we do when we download any files from Internet. If we are copying large files and folders from one location to another, it certainly takes a bit of time especially if you are copying them to some external storage device. Continue reading ‘Download RichCopy to Pause and Resume Copying of Files’

Authorities in Nainital install CCTV Cameras as a Security Measure

Authorities in Nainital have decided to install Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at several crowded places as precautionary measure and to prevent untoward incidents.

About five CCTV cameras have been installed across the hill resort for keeping a watch on the everyday incidents and also to solve problems like traffic jams and pick-pocketing.

“These cameras have been really beneficial for us. We have placed the cameras in the crowded place to avoid any incident like pick pocketing or scuffle. These cameras have been very beneficial in finding out if people are facing any problem especially in crowded places,” said K S Hayanki, inspector in charge, Nainital.

Residents are also happy with the security measure taken as they believe any incident can happen anytime.

“Nainital, is a tourist town and lakhs of tourist come here, so there was requirement of such cameras. With the help of these cameras, police can keep a watch on the movement happening. We have to be vigilant always because any untoward incident can take place anytime,” said Rajesh Shah, a resident.

Deriving its name from the Naini lake around which the town is located, Nainital is a major tourist destination in the Kumaon Himalayan region of Uttarakhand.

Microsoft’s netbook-tailored Windows 7 Starter Edition a ‘gamble’, WSJ

The Wall Street Journal Monday has described Microsoft’s netbook-tailored Windows 7 Starter Edition as a ‘gamble,’ saying that the company was trying to hook netbook customers to upgrade to the new version, sans Linux-based alternatives.

Apparently, Microsoft is trying hard for Windows to remain the netbook OS of preference, more so as it is involved in a tough competition with the recent netbook-favorite operating system - Linux.

The limiting factor of the new version is that it can only run three simultaneous applications, implying that users can only keep two applications open, along with an antivirus program; and its graphical interface is also less robust than the complete version of Windows 7.

According to critics, the noticeable limitations of Windows Starter can spell problems for Microsoft, that too at a time when the Windows Vista fiasco not so far back in the past!

Nonetheless, in the opinion of John Kistler, of St. Louis-based system builder J&B Technologies, with the kind of speed and performance boosts that Microsoft has woven into Windows 7, it might entice customers to upgrade. Kistler said: “I think people will accept the application limitation. Windows 7 looks like Vista, but it runs 10 times faster, and that’s going to be a big deal for a lot of people.”

How To Completely Remove Anti-Virus Software

Which is your favorite Anti Virus application? As far as I am concerned it’s ESET NOD32 but if you had asked me this question few months back, definitely I would have been in a state of dilemma while answering it. It took me quite a bit of time to figure which Anti-virus is best suited to me. During this whole process of identifying the best, I ran across hell lot of antivirus applications, tried each one of those and finally ended up with frequent install-uninstall process. But then I found that even though you have uninstalled your antivirus through Windows Add/Remove utitlity, yet there are few files and registry entries that remain and are left untouched. Now the question is how to remove those? Continue reading ‘How To Completely Remove Anti-Virus Software’

Organize Your Windows 7 Desktop with BumpTop

Are you in a habit of keeping your desktop so clustered that at the time of need you couldn’t find the right thing at the right moment? It can happen with anybody. If you are downloading many things from the Internet or if you are installing so many softwares everyday, in a long run your desktop will look like a graveyard - a common place for many (dead) files that are seldom used. Desktop is meant to keep shortcuts of all the files that you frequently use but people use their desktop like a dustbin, when you don’t know where to keep files, just ram them into desktop. Real bad way to use your computer. But let’s not go deep into what is good or bad instead just concentrate on how to organize and reinvent your desktop. Continue reading ‘Organize Your Windows 7 Desktop with BumpTop’

Hide All Opened Windows with ClickyGone Portable

Everybody wants to have privacy when they are doing some important and personal work. But that level of privacy may not be achieved when someone suddenly knock up the door and enter your room without permission. Or, there are times when at work you do all sorts of things, except work and suddenly you get caught by your boss. So there are times when you want to hide all your windows application so that no one else can see what you are actually doing. Continue reading ‘Hide All Opened Windows with ClickyGone Portable’

Convert DVD Files to 3gp Format for FREE

If you have a mobile phone with extended memory and a good battery backup then that’s for sure you are not going to use it just like any other cell phone. It will be used as a music player and if you are a movie freak like me you can even watch movie on your mobile phone anytime when you’re free. Almost all mobile phones support video files of 3gp format and if you have DVDs of many good movies, you can easily convert them to 3gp format. Continue reading ‘Convert DVD Files to 3gp Format for FREE’

SnagIt Screen Capture Plugin for Windows Live Writer

SnagIt Screen Capture for Windows Live Writer comes to your rescue. It just adds more functionality to Writer by integrating SnagIt directly into your blogging client. Now don’t tell me you don’t know about SnagIt?

After installation a link will appear under the” Insert” section of your Writer by the name “Insert SnagIt Screen Capture…”. Clicking on that link will popup a windows wherein you can configure various SnagIt Capture options. Once you click on Capture button, it can optionally open SnagIt Preview Window where you can edit the captured image just like you do in normal SnagIt utility.

The best part about this plugin is that you need not to safe the captured image to your disk. Windows Live Writer will pick up the image and then it will be deleted automatically.

So if you like to blog frequently and love to combine articles with images, SnagIt Screen Capture plugin will come in very handy that’s for sure.

EC takes UK and Phorm to task over privacy

The European Commission has sent an infringement notice to the United Kingdom Government over privacy oversights related to the use of Internet snooping technology from UK-based Phorm.

Phorm runs a behavioural marketing service used by several UK ISP's to serve contextual advertisements to ISP subscribers based on their surfing habits.

The service has been the subject of several complaints from privacy groups which claim Phorm's interception of user web surfing traffic is unlawful.

The European Commission says it has been in "extensive" consultations with the UK authorities over the complaints. Concerns remain, its said, around "structural problems in the way the UK has implemented EU rules ensuring the confidentiality of communications."

European Union privacy rules insist its member countries ensure "the confidentiality of communications by prohibiting interception and surveillance without the user's consent."

The Commission wishes the UK to establish an 'independent national supervisory authority' to deal with communications interceptions.

"Technologies like internet behavioural advertising can be useful for businesses and consumers but they must be used in a way that complies with EU rules," said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding in a statement.

"These rules are there to protect the privacy of citizens and must be rigorously enforced by all Member States.

"We have been following the Phorm case for some time and have concluded that there are problems in the way the UK has implemented parts of EU rules on the confidentiality of communications.

"I call on the UK authorities to change their national laws and ensure that national authorities are duly empowered and have proper sanctions at their disposal to enforce EU legislation on the confidentiality of communications."

Controversy over Phorm erupted in April 2008 after BT revealed it had tested the service in 2006 and 2007 without informing its users. UK authorities also recieved a significant number of complaints after the ISP launched an invitation-based trial late last year.

The EC says it has the right to commence infringement proceedings against member states under the EC Treaty, and if unresolved can refer cases to the European Union's Court of Justice.

The UK Government has two months to respond to the infringement notice.