The Top 10 TechDigest posts from 2014

So what were you reading in 2014? It turns out you were very interested to know more about how to watch American sports in the UK and how to AirPlay without the expense of owning an Apple TV - amongst other things. Here's the top 10 2014 TechDigest posts. 1) How to watch American sports…

.tv domain name under threat with Tuvalu sinking

tvdomain.jpg

Er, we could be in a spot of bother here. Techdigest.tv is in danger of disappearing. According to internet domain bagging site Godaddy, the island of Tuvalu is sinking and it’s Tuvalu to whom we owe our .tv domain name just as we owe .co.uk to the United Kingdom.

Should any country cease to exist then, according to web law, the domain must cease to exist as well. Oh dear.

Tuvalu is only 4.5m above sea level at its highest, so with climate change on the radar, it’ll be the first place to be hit badly by rising sea levels. Worse still, the island is indeed itself sinking, as Godaddy warns. Firstly, islands sink back into the sea – that’s just what they do – and secondly, there’s a large degree of compaction cause by farming methods too.

So, when it’s being attacked at both ends like that, perhaps it’s no surprise people are now being advised away from the .tv suffix, even if it does lend itself to the video form. Time to start squatting on Techdigest.something else.

(via Boing Boing)

Computer discovers perfect game of draughts: it's a draw

draughts_board.jpgIn a tale reminiscent of “WarGames“, a computer has finally played out the 500 billion possible positions in the game of draughts (checkers). It only took Chinook 18 years to do so.

Now, computer scientists at the University of Alberta say that they have “solved” the game.

Guess what? Perfect play on both sides leads to a draw. Sounds a bit like tic-tac-toe to me – or perhaps “Global Thermonuclear War”.

Any wall's a cinema screen with Alien Tech's AL-100 TV projector

alien_tech_al_100_tv_projector.jpgAnyone in the market for some high definition projection goodness can safely skip over this fairly budget affair from Alien Tech, a budget compact projector that will turn any wall into a cinema / TV screen.

Its 960 x 240 barely qualifies it to handle standard definition content, but it’s compact and self-contained, and can throw an optimum image just 80 inches from the wall.

PocketSurfer2 handheld mobile Internet device coming to UK in August

pocketsurfer2_portable_internet_communication_device.jpg

Earlier this month we said that DataWind’s PocketSurfer2 was coming soon, and today more specifications, and a definite UK launch date and price, have been announced.

The PocketSurfer2 is an ultra-thin and portable Internet communications device featuring a built-in GPRS modem and SIM card, GPS location information, 5 hours of battery life with 5 days standby, a built-in high performance antenna, 640×240 VGA colour screen with transreflective backlighting, and a backlit QWERTY keyboard.

Steve Jobs tops Blender's chart of online music influencers

steve_jobs_ipod.jpgUS music magazine Blender has crowned Steve Jobs the most influential people involved ‘behind the scenes’ in web music.

They view Jobs as a technology trendsetter, thanks to the iPod and iTunes

“The iTunes Store and the iPod have done more to change the way people listen to music than anything since the CD, and maybe since the sound recording,” said Craig Marks, Blender’s editor-in-chief.

Survey reveals 7-year-old girls hooked on Nintendo DS, not Barbie

nintendo_ds_pink.jpgA new survey by the kids gift wish list web site Gogoblin.co.uk shows that a lot of young girls are no longer interested in the likes of Barbie – gaming technology is definitely the way to go if you want to remain a popular parent with your little darlings.

Boys tend to develop an interest in Gameboys and other hand held consoles from the age of four onwards, with girls latching onto the Nintendo DS by age seven.

From there on in, games consoles rule their lives until the teenage years, when technology had better consist of iPods, mobile phones, and computers, so that they can keep up with their hectic 21st century social life.