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Microsoft pours money into undersea data cables
For many internet giants, undersea fiber optic cables are a lifeline. In some cases, it's the difference between delivering fast services overseas and watching people give up in frustration. Microsoft knows this all too well, it seems, as it just poured money into three subsea fiber projects (Aqua Comms, Hibernia and New Cross Pacific Cable Network) that should speed up connections to Asia-Pacific and Europe. The Redmond crew sees this as a small investment that could pay off big in the future. As it explains, online products like the Azure computing platform and Office 365 are booming -- it only makes sense to have those moneymakers running as smoothly as possible. This isn't really an altruistic gesture, then, but it could go a long way toward improving your internet access as a whole. [Image credit: US Pacific Fleet, Flickr]
Niveus demos its idea of TV Everywhere at the CableLabs Conference
The name Niveus should sound familiar to you if you've followed the home theater PC market for a while, but those who follow the cable industry might not be so familiar. The cable types will become more familiar if they trek to the CableLabs Summer Conference this week as the Niveus Connected Platform (project Snowbird) is among the demonstrations. NCP is currently being shopped to service providers (like cable and satellite), consumer electronics manufacturers and PC OEMs and with any luck will bring you your favorite content from your set-top-box or DVR, to your PC, tablet, phone or Smart TV by early 2012. We're sad to say that although NCP is built on industry standards like DLNA and DTCP-IP, we find it very easy to temper our excitement any time a cable company is expected to buy something for us we'd actually want. Oh, and while the three tuner HDHomerun Prime isn't shipping just yet, Niveus managed to get one to use as part of its demo.
UK traffic wardens to wield handheld camcorders
At this point, the near-daily implementations of added surveillance in England is bordering on comical, but for the residents of the country, we're sure it feels more like infuriating. Just days after introducing the British to flying all-seeing police bots comes news that traffic wardens in Salford are becoming the first in the UK to wield handheld video camera. The move was reportedly made so that attendants could have "evidence to prove beyond doubt that the penalties its wardens hand out are justified," which sounds like it could cut down on any questionable penalization that disgruntled employees had the power to administer. Additionally, video from the camcorders will be used in cases where wardens are "assaulted or abused" while on the job, and while we're sure it's not part of the plan, the UK government could have miles of footage for its own rendition of COPS should it choose to use it.[Via Inquirer]
U.K. uses license plate scanners to crack down on illegal drivers
U.K. streets are about to get a bit less welcoming for anyone driving illegally as soon as a planned fleet of vans packing license plate scanners hit the roads. The vans, operated by the NCP car-parking group, will be on the hunt for vehicles belonging to owners who haven't paid their car taxes, and will follow a zero-tolerance policy, clamping and impounding cars on sight, and crushing them if the driver doesn't cough up the £80 release fee within seven days. Ouch, couldn't they just sell 'em? At least then the owner can buy back his or her car for thousands of pounds more than the release fee, but for thousands of pounds less than what a new vehicle would set them back. Deets on the specific system being used don't seem to have been made available, but it sounds similar to the so-bad-it's-good-named Mobile Plate Hunter 900 put to use last year in California to catch stolen cars.
