Today, YouTube announced that it has doubled the current file uploading size from 1GB to 2GB to allow users to post more high definition video content on its massive servers. This is particularly useful for those users uploading 1080p content that can easily exceed over a gigabyte, even when re-encoded.

The YouTube team has also implemented embedding and direct linking to HD versions of video clips. By appending “&hd=1” to the end of the URL, a video will start playing in HD as soon as someone follows the link.

There is already speculation as to what the next update will introduce. Perhaps the maximum HD video resolution (853×805) might be expanded to fit a more conventional resolution of 1280×720, or a live broadcasting service feature similar to Justin.tv and Qik.com. Only time will tell.

Sony wants to convert its PlayStation Portable into a mobile phone and take on Apple’s iPhone.

The dark satanic rumour mill says that the electronics giant is looking into making a combination gadget that would meld its PSP gaming system with the cell phones made by Sony Ericsson. According to the Nikkei business daily Sony is pulling together a team as early as July to begin development of the new gadget.

It is the second time that such a rumour has become the “word on the streets”. In 2007, Sony filed a patent that appeared to show a PSP-like device with phone capabilities, and British Telecom said it was working with the company to bring voice and video chat to the PSP.

It will not be the next thing that Sony releases. The PSP Go, will be the next thing to grace shop shelves. It was unveiled at the E3 gaming conference, is smaller than its predecessors and has a slide-up screen.

It will go on sale in North America on October 1 for $249.

According to a Digitimes report, Intel is planning to launch a new Atom CPU no earlier than October.

Dubbed Atom N450, the new processor will replace the N270 used in most netbooks today. Unlike the N270, the N450 has some built-in northbridge functions, and the entire platform will consist of only two chips, unlike the current platform which has three. The new 45nm CPU will be coupled with the Tiger Point chipset, designated NM10.

Obviously the new two-chip design will be less power hungry, and due to its compact size it will allow manufacturers to come up with thinner, lighter netbooks, and possible even some new form factors. However, we still don’t know the clocks and don’t have any performance details.

Digitimes claims Intel will issue a last order notice for the N270 in Q1 2010, and it will cease production sometime in 1H 2010. It is still a unclear what will happen to Silverthorne and Poulsbo, or should we say Z-series Atoms and the US15W chipset.

More here.

The Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox 3.5 preview version is now available for download and we have had a few hours playing with it.

Firstly it is a bit faster than earlier versions, although all the browsers on the market these days, such as Opera, Chrome and Safari are faster than the earlier generation. But the new browser has a few things which are more interesting including the use of open-source video standards, geo-location capabilities, and a few nice graphics tricks.

With 3.5 it is possible to run a video player based on the open-source video formats Ogg Vorbis and Theora. What is cool is that by using HTML5 links and other interactive elements can easily be placed inside videos. What is interesting is that it can do things that Flash can’t, and if it is supported by websites it could send Adobe packing.

Ogg Theora is supported by Daily Motion so it is not too far from being a possibility. Have a look at the demo video here

AMD CEO Dirk Meyer says the company is working on a new low-power mobile platform which could take on Intel’s Atom. Samples should ship sometime in 2010.

However, Meyer, who believes netbooks will fade away as a separate product category, says the new chips will be used for notebooks, not netbooks. The important thing to point out is that AMD expects the new platform to end up cheaper than the Atom, and in this ultra-cheap market segment, even a slight price difference could mean a lot. Another thing AMD has going for it is its prowess in IGP design.

Meyer also said AMD is developing a new platform for thin and light notebooks, which will be positioned between Congo and Yukon. He also believes ARM-based netbooks will have a tough time penetrating the netbook market, as they lack proper software support, i.e. Microsoft won’t port Windows for such devices.

Also, AMD will soon launch a new mainstream mobile platform, codenamed Tigris.

More here. 

In light of addressing a very confused press and establishing a concrete release date for a very significant milestone in its corporate history, Microsoft has finally announced the official day that the Windows 7 operating system will be generally available to the world at large.

Without further hesitation, (What hesitation, you already have it in the header.sub.ed.) the official release date for Windows 7 is going to be Thursday, October 22nd, 2009. One detail we should note however is the fact that Microsoft has complete control over this launch and may decide to change the date at any time. To reach the milestone, Microsoft plans to wrap up development of the operating system by the middle or end of next month, Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said in an interview.

“We’re locked and loaded for the launch,” said Phil McKinney, Chief Technology Officer of HP’s computer unit. “The quality of code is just absolutely stellar.”

Microsoft has also stated that it will offer a “technology guarantee” program to those people who buy machines installed with Windows Vista within the few weeks prior to the launch of Windows 7. The few people in this situation will either receive a free or discounted copy of the new operating system. On another note, there have been hints suggesting that Microsoft might offer some sort of lower-cost upgrade to those who are already using Windows Vista.

Even though we now have a sound release date available, the Redmond-based software maker has yet to announce an official pricing strategy for its new crown jewel operating system. Hopefully there will be an update on this soon.

Since Flash obviously isn’t easy on the CPU which of course reflects on netbooks’ battery life, Nvidia and Broadcom announced full hardware Flash acceleration by upgrading Adobe’s plugin resulting in smooth playback of HD flash video and lower CPU usage.

Unfortunately, these improvements will initially run only on Nvidia’s Tegra solutions or Atom netbooks with Broadcom’s Crystal HD video acceleration add-on. This means that it’ll take a while before we see this in action and even longer before it becomes a mainstream feature.

We’re likely to see some other Flash acceleration announcements as well, but until we see this feature in action we can’t say more.

More here.

The HDMI Licensing Group unveiled HDMI 1.4, the latest specification update for the broadly adopted standard by the home-theater industry and recently the IT industry as well.

HDMI 1.4 includes many new enhancements that are set to revolutionize the way that it can be used in its respective markets. For instance, the new HDMI Ethernet Channel (HEC) feature will allow up to 100Mbps data transfers between HDMI 1.4 compatible devices. This could potentially allow broadband Ethernet or WiFi-connected HDTVs using HEC-enabled HDMI ports “to provide internet connection sharing with other HEC-enabled devices such as a game consoles or DVRs.”

Basically, there would be no need to connect both a HEC-enabled HDTV and a game console to a home network router because the display would route its internet connection to the console over HDMI. Likewise, an internet-connected gaming console might be able to provide the display with internet. The whole purpose of the technology is to get home theater setups online and ready for interactivity with Web-based content.

Another neat feature of the new spec update is Automatic Content Enhancement (ACE), which provides support for “future 3D video standards, increased resolution support (up to 4,096 x 2,160 “Quad-HD” resolution at up to 30Hz), and content recognition that promises to automatically optimize the TV’s picture settings based on content type.”

Two weeks ago we wrote about several new HDMI “mini connector” prototypes that were set to be released before the end of June. It turns out that they are confirmed to be included in the new 1.4 specification. The HDMI group has stated that the micro HDMI connector utilizes the same wire count as standard HDMI cables enabling up to 1080p video support for a variety of portable electronic devices. According to the latest news, Silicon Image is expected to ship chip samples to manufacturers this quarter, with HDMI 1.4 capable products expected to arrive in 2010.

Several representatives of the HDMI group also mentioned an Automotive Connection System (ACS) that will bring a heavy-duty version of HDMI technology to the automotive environment for in-vehicle audio and HD video distribution. The ACS is expected to provide automobile technology integrators with an inter-locking connector as well as a cable specifically designed to tolerate excessive heat, vibrations, and other environmental hazards typical of an in-car environment.

More info can be found in the press release here.

court-like body ArbCom handed down a project-wide ban of all IP addresses owned by Scientology for disruptive editing and coordinating their edits to maintain their status quo including “persistent point-of-view pushing and extensive feuding over sources on multiple articles”

This is the first time that an entire organization’s IP address

block has been banned from editing Wikipedia, despite individual IPs being blocked in the past from other organizations, such as the US DoJ in 2008.

Arbitrators voted 10 to 0 (with one abstention) in favour of the ban, however individual editors may request IP block exemption if they wish to contribute from the blocked IP addresses. The case also resulted in the restriction of a further 15 editors from Scientology-related articles or, in some cases, the entire encyclopaedia.

The decision, which comes as a French court starts a trial that could dissolve the French chapter of the organisation, was the result of the longest running arbitration case in Wikipedia’s history.

President Barack Obama says that digital security a top priority, despite the fact that many would most probably put it behind other agendas the coutry has on its plate. However according to Obama the fourth or fifth top priority is to guard the computer systems that keep the lights on in a city and direct airliners to the right runway or those protecting customers who pay their bills online.

Today, Obama is expected to lay out broad goals for dealing with cyber threats. He apparently wants to show that the US is a digital nation that needs to provide the education required to keep pace with technology and attract and retain a cyber-savvy work force. He also is expected to call for a new education campaign to raise public awareness of the challenges and threats related to cyber security.

People in the know say that today’s speech will be long on talk and short on telling the government or private industry to tighten digital defenses. However, the cyber czar will not have sufficient budgetary and policymaking authority over securing computer systems and spending and so will nominally be a figurehead.

In fact the czar will not even direct, unfettered access to the president, which is something that even the White House dog has. Instead, the official would report to senior NSC officials, a situation many say will make it difficult to make major changes within the calcified federal bureaucracy.