Taipei (Taiwan) - There is a new battle brewing in Taiwan and this time it is Asus that is bringing out the big guns against its rival Gigabyte: Gigabyte claimed in a recent presentation in front of journalists that Asus is flat-out lying about power savings and power efficiency of its EPU motherboards. Asus responded saying that Gigabyte is lying and is now threatening to sue Gigabyte as well as websites "spreading" Gigabyte’s claims.

Gigabyte apparently used an event last week in Taipei to tell journalists from hardware websites what it found out about Asus’ EPU motherboards. According to Gigabyte, Asus claims that its physical Energy Processing Unit, short EPU, can achieve power savings of about 80%, while Gigabyte said that number is closer to 59%. And, Gigabyte launched a widely publicized attack on Asus, alleging that the EPU is a pure marketing term and that Asus did not change the design, firmware or packaging of these motherboards.

Asus fired back with two statements, one of them refuting the claims and one threatening with legal action. According to Asus, its P5Q series of motherboards in fact "utilizes the newest version of the EPU hardware based energy saving chip, which can detect current PC loadings in real time and automatically moderate the power supply for complete system level power savings."

The second statement reads:

"It has come to our attention that a certain Taiwanese Motherboard Manufacturer has made false claims against ASUS motherboards. These claims have given rise to false information being communicated in both the mainstream media and technology channels. ASUS wishes to clarify the issues and so avoid any further confusion.
After investigation, it is clear that this company in question made use of a sponsored gathering of local and international media to deliberately spread information that we consider both untrue and without credible verification. This "disinformation" is not only extremely damaging to ASUS but also completely misleading to the consumers.
ASUS reserves the right to take legal action against any individual, organization or corporation which creates or spreads such rumors."

Such a reaction has probably been expected by Gigabyte. You can’t accuse your key rival of lying and not expect something flying back in return. However, we are not sure, if it is the right path to threaten websites with a lawsuit as well.

The European Union’s data protection supervisor Peter Hustinx has joined the growing chorus of calls on Google to beware the pitfalls of its street-level photographic mapping service for Google Maps.

He told reporters that Street View should not be allowed to display photos of EU citizens on the site as Google faces problems in the U.S., where it is currently compiling street-level images of 30 cities and has been brought to task and even sued by people ranging from those snapped sunbathing, coming out of a sex shop, falling off their bikes and flashing the cameras.

Google has said that it is currently working on ways to automatically blur the faces of anyone their lenses snap so as to preserve their privacy (and, in some cases, their modesty); though with one couple having sued the company simply because their house was photographed it could become a more troublesome privacy area in the future.

The company has already removed certain street-level photographs at the request of the Pentagon for reasons of national security – photographs outlining approach routes to military and critical instillations, for example.

The idea of street level mapping is welcomed by many drivers however, as it adds another layer to navigation by satellite mapping that is quite useful to many drivers.

Brijit was one of numerous "web 2.0" concepts that were promising, but the paying-community concept cannot work everywhere. Almost all sites based on paying community to produce content failed during the years, and that trend is now continued with the shutdown of Brijit.

Brijit had a concept of "The World in 100 words", covering various aspects of society, from political and economy news around the world to reviews of TV shows and sport events. It was also a neat way to see what’s going on in various media around the globe while you don’t have access to physical paper.

During its existence, Brijit gathered significant community, but at the end of the day, wasn’t able to pay them all and folded. For every 100-word article, teh site paid $5. The owners of the site hope to re-launch the site sometime in future.

If you want to see how Brijit looked before it folded, check out their Archive page.

Washington DC - Former law enforcement officials are concerned about the insecurity of the upcoming Passport Card or PASS card issued by the US Department of State. The plastic card with embedded RFID-chip is about the size of a credit card and is meant for land and sea travel between the United States and Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Former chief of intelligence of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency James Hesse and former FBI agent Joel Lisker say the card can be easily copied or altered simply by replacing the photograph. They add that the embedded RFID chip is basically worthless because only 39 out of the more than 300 entry ports to the United States will have RFID scanners.

The PASS card is made by L-1 Identity Solutions and has been touted as a cheaper and more efficient version of the typical booklet type US passport. US Citizens cannot use the card for any type of air travel, but the PASS card will be accepted for border crossings from Canada and Mexico. It will also be accepted for cruise passengers traveling from the Carribeans.

But the most interesting feature of the PASS card is that it will be accepted as proof of citizenship and identity within the United States. So basically copy this card and you’re an instant citizen and fat chance that any local law enforcement officer is going to carry around an RFID scanner to verify if the card is real.

New border regulations require people to show proof of citizenship/residence and identity at border crossings. Previously US citizens could simply walk through with their driver’s licenses.

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Asustek Computer will launch its Atom-based 8.9" Eee PC 901 in June and the company is planning to add more features to it in order to clearly separate it from its competitors, according to market channel sources. In addition to a Bluetooth module, Asustek will also add metal alloy parts to the keyboard and hinge, while its touchpad will also have a metallic border.

More here at Digitimes.

Philips is likely to completely get out of the PDP TV market in 2009, industry sources predict. In 2007, Philips started to lower its PDP TV shipments and quit operations in China’s PDP TV market.

More here at Digitimes.

Beaverton (OR) - The epic legal battle between the major record labels and an Oregon single mother is almost at an end. Beaverton resident Tanya Andersen has been awarded $107,883 in legal fees from her three year-long fight against the RIAA. While the amount sounds impressive, it is approximately one-third of the $298,995 that Andersen had demanded.

Federal Magistrate John Acosta reviewed the fees request after the RIAA dropped their lawsuit of illegally downloading music against Andersen. You may remember that the RIAA initially sued Andersen back in 2005. The case was dismissed with prejudice in June 2007 and Andersen countersued afterwards. Both sides have been fighting over the legal costs since then.

The RIAA said the case was a simple copyright infringement case and argued that Andersen only deserved $31,000. They also claimed that she only required a single attorney, but Andersen showed up with as many as six lawyers at some hearings.

Judge Acosta awarded Andersen’s attorney Lory Lybeck an hourly rate of $325 per hour instead of $375 that Andersen sought (No Mortons Steakhouse for you!). Acosta also disagreed with Andersen’s request of a fee multiplier of X 2 for the difficulty of mounting a unique and "high-risk" defense.

Both sides have until May 27 to object to the award and it’s a safe bet that Andersen and the RIAA aren’t happy. This could go on for several more months.

White Plains (NY) - One of the laptop thieves caught by a clever Apple store employee is back in jail. 20-year-old Ian Frias was out on bail, but broke a restraining order by phoning one of the victims. Frias is now back in jail on an additional misdemeanor charge of criminal contempt.

Frias and his accomplice Edmon Shahikian stole thousands of dollars of electronics, including a MacBook Air, from a White Plains New York apartment. One of the victims - an Apple store employee - photographed the thieves through the laptop’s webcam and then sent the pictures to the police.

Judge Barbara Leak entered a protection order that forbids the suspects from contacting any of the victims. Frias was out on bail on the burglary charges, but now is back in jail.

Read more ... The Journal News.

A federal grand jury has indicted Lori Drew, the woman accused of driving a young Missouri teenager to suicide through social networking site MySpace. The woman faces three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress, and one count of criminal conspiracy.

In October of 2006, 13-year-old Megan Meier hung herself in her bedroom closet after a friend on MySpace began to send her negative messages.

Megan began speaking to a 16-year-old boy by the name of Josh Evans through the social networking site. The boy claimed he was new to the area, was home schooled and did not yet have a phone number.

After a couple of weeks, the messages to Megan turned nasty, with the last allegedly telling the girl, “the world would be a better place without you”. Meier was found later that day hanging in her bedroom closet.

It then emerged that “Josh” was a fictional character apparently made up by a neighbour living four doors away from the Meiers. Lori Drew allegedly made up the account to see if Megan would gossip about her own daughter (a former friend of Megan’s) to her new friend on MySpace.

According to the Chicago Tribune, a former employee of Drew’s, 19-year-old Ashley Grills admitted to setting up the account and sending some of the messages to the young girl. She claimed final message was sent by her but only in an attempt to cut contact with the girl as she felt the hoax had gone too far. Grills told Good Morning America that while she sent some of the messages, Drew was also responsible, having sent several messages herself. While Drew admits she knew of the account’s existence, she denies setting it up or sending any of the messages.

Lori Drew will be summoned to appear for arraignment in federal court in Los Angeles in June and is expected to surrender to authorities in St. Louis. Each count of the indictment carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Vodafone has bought the mobile social networking service ZYB for €31.5 million ($50 million) in a move that will see the Danish company become a part of Vodafone’s Internet Services Division.

The Danish company started up in 2005 with investment of €3 million and offered a free online storage space for users to back up their mobile phone contacts. ZYB later developed into a social networking site when the company realised the potential of having all of a users mobile phone contacts stored in the same database: Users could, if they chose, link up to one another by seeing who else has the same contacts in their database.

ZYB also offers other services such as storing messages, calendar information, and a phonebook to launch later in the year that will display the real-time location of your friends and the time zone they’re currently in.

ZYB’s services, beyond the simple backing up of data, is to allow you to connect to other mobile phone users online and, increasingly, connect with them more easily on your phone using services such as the ZYB Phone Book.

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