IT Business Elsewhere is a collection of unusual technology stories from around the world.
The economics of piracy, by Steve BallmerThe Register
In
which Register wag John Lettice tries to unravel the logic of the Microsoft honcho’s claim that the cure for piracy is a $100 computer for developing markets. Confusion alert: This may make your head spin.
Fake Plastic Brains
Wired News
A University of Southern California professor is developing a silicon chip implant that mimics the area of the brain associated with memory. It could result in a brain prosthesis for those with memory problems.
A quantum fundamental
New Scientist
Scientists have constructed a memory register from caesium atoms, a laser beam and microwave radiation. Experts suggest this is a more reliable route to a quantum computer. Confusion alert: This is more complicated than Ballmer’s economics.
‘Cuz they drove it like a rental
News.com
Car company Avis Europe is blaming $50 million ding to its bottom line on a botched ERP deployment. Of course — it’s always IT’s fault, isn’t it?
And his radio’s ordering pizzas
Corvallis Gazette Times
An American student’s TV sent out a cry for help — which was received by a search and rescue satellite.
What’s Japanese for “”sushi””?
Ananova
Electronics company NEC has developed a gadget that translates spoken English into spoken Japanese, and vice-versa. An absolute necessity for your next trip to Tokyo. Unless you speak Japanese. In which case … well, carry on.
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