SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – – Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on Wednesday revealed the culture-changing company’s latest must-have device, a touchscreen tablet computer annointed the “iPad.”

“We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product,” said Jobs, who underwent a liver transplant last year and was making just his second public appearance since September.

The long-awaited iPad has a 9.7-inch (24.6-centimeter) color screen and resembles an oversized iPhone. It is 0.5 inches (1.3 cms) thick, weighs 1.5 pounds (0.7 kgs) and comes with 16, 32, or 64 gigabytes of flash memory.  Read more... (210 words, estimated 50 secs reading time)

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It’s not impossible to mess with the machines that will be used in the automated elections, but the likelihood of hacking them is the same as winning the lotto five consecutive times.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials made the statement Tuesday following the hacking of five government websites since December 2009.

In an interview on dwIZ radio, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal assured that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines that will be used in the country’s first nationwide automated polls operate independently of each other and utilize 128-bit encryption —the same security strength used in banks around the world.  Read more... (210 words, estimated 50 secs reading time)

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Another government Web site was found defaced Sunday night – the fifth attack since last month.

Hackers of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) Web site, however, took on a bolder approach by leaving a message that seemed to mock the upcoming automated elections.

“Ano ba gagamitin sa Election? Blade server? Juniper Firewall (what is going to be used in the elections? Blade server? Juniper firewall)?” the message read.

HACK YOU. A screen capture of the defaced Tesda Web site as of 11:12 p.m. Sunday.

Before Tesda’s, hackers had also victimized the Web sites of the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).  Read more... (154 words, 1 image, estimated 37 secs reading time)

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The country’s top aviation body has installed a cutting edge communications system, linking the Philippines with other countries to get the latest aeronautical and other relevant information critical to flight safety.

Dubbed as the Automated Aeronautical Information Service (AIS), the new facility has brought the country closer to achieving Category 1 status, two years after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has moved the country one notch lower to Category 2.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Director General Ruben F. Ciron said the new system will automatically update information in real time, reaching subscribers without the time lag associated with the old mode.  Read more... (218 words, estimated 52 secs reading time)

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A new report by global market research firm Synovate has found that Filipinos lead the way in the use of many mobile features among 11 countries covered by the survey.

Aside from being the world’s heaviest senders of SMS or text messages, Filipinos can now claim another title in the mobile space: Most savvy users of a mobile phone.

In the study, 87 percent of the local population use the phone’s alarm clock as against the global average of 67 percent. There were 8,000 total respondents.  Read more... (296 words, estimated 1:11 mins reading time)

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YELLOW RIBBON FEVER. Netizens have come up with simple, ingenious ways of expressing support for former President Corazon Aquino in their blogs, tweets, and video tributes. GMANews.TVIt all started with yellow bows tied to trees and posts – a simple yet powerful gesture of support for former President Corazon Aquino, who is battling colon cancer.

Well-wishers were heeding the call of close friends of Mrs. Aquino led by her former appointments secretary Margie Juico, who called on the public to “tie a yellow ribbon” to manifest support for the ailing Philippine leader.  Read more... (190 words, estimated 46 secs reading time)

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LONDON (AFP) – - About 800 pages of the world’s oldest surviving Bible have been pieced together and published on the Internet for the first time, experts said on Monday.

The Codex Sinaiticus, written in Greek on parchment leaves in the fourth century, is available online in a project involving institutions in Britain, Germany, Egypt and Russia which held different parts of the ancient book.

As part of the four-year joint project, digital photographs have been taken of the reunited manuscript, allowing scholars worldwide to research in-depth the Greek text, the British Library in London said.  Read more... (129 words, estimated 31 secs reading time)

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LOS ANGELES (AFP) – – Astro Boy, the mythical Japanese cartoon character that has captivated generations of young people worldwide, will come out this year as an animated film by British director David Bowers.

“Without a doubt, this experience has been one of greater creative freedom. A lot of my robots, for example, were inspired by pre-Colombian characters,” said Luis Grane, the film’s Argentine character designer.

The animated feature is based on the popular Japanese cartoon series by Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989), known as the “god of manga” in its heyday in the 1960s.  Read more... (148 words, estimated 36 secs reading time)

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MANILA, Philippines – The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which sets cellphone rates, admitted that it failed to act on complaints submitted by mobile phone subscribers.

The agency has been prevented from setting the expiration and duration of cellphone loads, among other rules, after a Quezon City court order temporarily disallowed the implementation of its guidelines, an NTC official said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

These guidelines are contained in memorandum circular 13-06-2000 which imposes rules on billing statements, call rates, and the sale and use of prepaid cards, NTC deputy commissioner Douglas Michael Millillin said during a hearing of the Senate committees on trade and commerce and public services.  Read more... (235 words, estimated 56 secs reading time)

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NEW YORK – A political coup in New York’s statehouse can be traced back to an incident in which a top lawmaker so enraged a wealthy backer by peering at e-mails on his BlackBerry that his patron engineered his ouster.

One of the newer forms of poor office etiquette — paying more attention to a hand-held device than to a conversation or business meeting — happens so frequently that businesses are complaining it upsets workplaces, wastes time and costs money.

“It happens all the time, and it’s definitely getting worse,” said Jane Wesman, a public relations executive and author of “Dive Right In — The Sharks Won’t Bite.”  Read more... (187 words, estimated 45 secs reading time)

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