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Thursday January 30, 2003

[H]ardNews 5th Edition - Blair Tech Ed

ATi Re-Elects Ho:

Beleaguered ATI Technologies chief executive K.Y. Ho, the focus of intense media attention since regulators accused him of profiting from illegal insider trading, was easily re-elected as ATI's chairman Wednesday. Ho, who has said little publicly about the allegations issued by the Ontario Securities Commission, told the annual meeting he will "vigorously defend" himself and expects to be cleared of the charges.

Ho's refusal to discuss the issue, and his public relations team's decision to bring him into the meeting through a back door, angered news photographers. At one point, a woman assigned to handle media coverage pushed a photographer as he moved in on Ho after the meeting. That provoked an angry standoff between a dozen reporters and photographers and a similar number of media handlers and bodyguards working for ATI.

Killer Toolbar:

Xupiter is an Internet Explorer toolbar program. Once active in a system, it periodically changes users' designated homepages to xupiter.com, redirects all searches to Xupiter's site, and blocks any attempts to restore the original browser settings. The program attempts to download updates each time an affected computer boots up, and has been blamed for causing system crashes.

Robot Chauffeurs:

The halcyon day of the robot chauffeur is approaching. With Australian technologies already successfully tested in Queensland and on roads near Versailles in France, you will eventually be able to sit back in your car sipping a glass of wine, reading, chatting on a mobile phone or watching TV and have the vehicle drive you smoothly, safely and automatically to your destination.

Unmanned Race:

DARPA intends to conduct a race of autonomous ground vehicles from the vicinity of Los Angeles to Las Vegas in 2004. A cash prize will be awarded to the winner. The purpose of the race is to encourage the accelerated development of autonomous vehicle technologies that could be applied to military requirements. Many of the details of the race are being developed. New details will be posted to this web site as soon as possible.

Posted by Steve 11:19 AM (CST)