Adobe takes on content players

Adobe Systems has unveiled a media device to take on established content players such as RealPlayer, QuickTime and Windows Media Player, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Launched at the National Association of Broadcasters trade exhibition in Las Vegas, the application promises new features for content generators as well as viewers.

The player will allow media publishers to track, distribute and build businesses around their media content.

SanDisk and Sony are teaming up to develop the high-speed SxS memory card format targeted at professional camcorders and non-linear video editing systems, reports ITWire.

Announced at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas, the S-by-S (SxS) memory card specification uses flash memory and complies with the ExpressCard industry standard.

SxS memory cards from SanDisk and Sony are expected to be available later in 2007 and Sony will adopt the format in its XDCAM EX series professional camcorders.

A new report by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) says reports of Web sites that contain images of child abuse have continued to climb in the last year, reports BBC News.

In 2006, the IWF investigated over 31 000 reports of sites that contained alleged images, an increase of 34% since 2005.

The increase was in part due to greater awareness of the IWF and its reporting procedures, the organisation said.

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a project aiming to make a low-cost PC for the developing world, has released the software that will run on the machines when they are deployed, reports Tectonic.

The software, a Fedora-based Linux operating system, streamlined to 291MB, is designed to offer learners a simplified interface to perform tasks.

The OLPC project has released a LiveCD version of the software that anyone can use on their PCs directly from CD without the need to install anything to hard disk.

Chile is considering drawing up a law that gives citizens more say about where mobile phone companies can set up transmission antennas, reports eweek.

The country has seen explosive growth in mobile communications in recent years, giving it the highest per capita usage of the technology in Latin America, but with it has come a skyline littered with sprouting towers.

"The installation of mobile phone towers damages the urban environment," says Pablo Bello, sub-secretary of communications.