Sun goes open-source for single sign-on identity management

Sun is to open-source its single sign-on Java technologies for authenticating users remotely to a variety of websites and services. It will also open-source client-side software that connects and authenticates against the Sun Java System Web Server and Sun Java System Application Server. In order to drive development of these technologies, Sun has set up the Open Source Web Single Sign-On (OpenSSO) project with the goal creating an extensible infrastructure for identity services including authentication, session and logging. ...more

Virtual racing beats crisis

Being a hardened gambler, I am particularly saddened to see that the current foot and mouth crisis that's gripping this fair isle has affected the sport of kings, with most racing fixtures, including the Cheltenham Festival being called off. You can imagine my relief when I heard that that the good folk at the Racing Post have thrown fans of the sport a lifeline in the shape of a series of virtual races. Today, if you visit the Racing Post site, you'll be able to watch the action from 3. ...more

Freeview iPlayer+ box gets pre-recording facilities

Freeview box maker NetGem has added BlueDelta's Phantom+ adaptor to its iPlayer+ set top box to enable control over recording devices. The Phantom+ can hook into the iPlayer+'s 7-day programming guide so that you can set up future recordings through the iPlayer+. You then plug any recording device into the Phantom+ and it will control it by learning the signals from the device's remote control. ...more

Finns give music back to air guitarists

Students in Finland have written a computer program that can translate the hand and finger movements of an air guitarist into real music. The Virtual Air Guitar Project at the Helsinki University of Technology uses a video camera to track the movements of special gloves worn by the player. The three students, Aki Kanerva, Juha Laitinen and Teemu M?ki-Patola, created a library of guitar sounds based on the pentatonic minor scale commonly used for rock guitar solos. ...more

Survey exposes US digital divide problem

New figures from the US Census Bureau show that the digital divide is still alive and well across the Atlantic. While the figures are the most up to date released so far by the organisation, they are for the period 2003. But they throw up some interesting statistics nonetheless. ...more