World Tech Update

Thanks for joining us here on World Tech Update. I'm Nick Barber.

We'll start this week in Europe where the European Commission is getting tough on cybercrime. What they're not targeting though is illeagal filesharing. The commission wants to set up a European Cybercrime Center in the Netherlands. It would identify organized cybercriminal networks and provide operational support.

Cecilia Malmström

European Commissioner for Home Affairs

Research found that cyber attacks accounted for 38 percent of all economic crime incidents that finance companies experienced in 2011.

Amazon's Kindle Touch 3G e-reader will start shipping to 175 countries starting April 27. The reader comers with free 3G wirless access and will cost around $250 dollars depending on the market. The Kindle Touch 3G has a 6 inch screen, can hold 3000 books and has a battery life up to two months.

Dell has stopped selling smart phones in the US as it tweaks its mobile strategy to focus more on emerging markets and higher margin products. Dell has nixed its last standing Venue and Venue Pro smartphones and no replacements have been announced. The smartphones had run their course, a Dell spokesman said. Ending the Venue sales means Dell has discontinued all its U.S. smartphone brands, after entering the market in August 2010 with the Aero smartphone and Streak 5 combined tablet/smartphone. Dell continues to sell smartphones outside the U.S.

Agam Shah

AT&T will starting selling the Lumia 900 and Titan 2 starting in April. Those are the first two Windows Phones with LTE. It'll be the first real test for Nokia in North America, when they go on sale on April 8. The Lumia 900 will cost 100 dollars.The Titan 2 will be $200. It comes with a 4.7 inch screen and a 16 megapixel camera.

Subway riders in Tokyo will soon be able to use their mobile phones underground. Japan's three largest carriers NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank said that the first section to go live will be a stretch that runs from Shinkiju, a central business and shopping district. Tokyo's miles of subways, some of which run several stories underground, have long been a rare gap in the city's blanket cellular coverage.

Robots took over Boston and battled it out playing a basketball like game under control of high school students from around the world.

Mikell Taylor

President, FIRST Planning Committee

There are actually two ways to win here.  The first way is the straightforward robots compete and someone gets the most points and they win, but we also have judges going around and interviewing each team.  So they interview about attributes of the robot, like who has the coolest control system? Who has the neatest mechanism? Who has the best industrial design and reliability?

The robots, that were built by the teams from scratch, competed in 2-minute rounds. All this hard work pays off. Starting as young as fourteen, these students are learning more than just how to build a functioning robot.  They’re gaining basic engineering skills that will prepare them for life after high school.

(Carlos Ortiz :50:00)

“Since I’m a Freshman I was taught the basics of robotics like how different motors work, how two motors can interact with each other to make a robot faster or stronger.”

The championship event is next month in St. Louis.

Angry Birds space has been flying off virtual shelves. The latest series in the bird hurling game was downloaded 10 million times in the first three days after it launched. Angry Birds Space offers 60 levels and costs between 99 cents and 6 dollars depending on the platform. Game maker Rovio is promising new, free levels soon.

It's like OpenTable for Babysitting. UrbanSitter.com has expanded more cities in hopes of connecting parents and caretakers reliably, safely and easily. What you're seeing here is an in person meeting for the online marketplace. They do these in communities so that parents can get to know the babysitters before booking them. The site uses a Facebook Connect feature that lets you see if sitters parents are considering have ever work with friends.

The site launched last summer after Lynn found 40 sitters and 40 families willing to sign up in the San Francisco Bay area. The app for UrbanSitter is currently being designed. The site just spread to other cities in the U.S. last month, opening in Seattle, San Diego, Denver, St. Louis, Chicago and New York City.

Well that's our show for this week thanks for joining us here on World Tech Update. To find out what's coming up on every week's show be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. As we head out this week we'll leave you with more for the FIRST robotics competition. I'm Nick Barber and for all of us here at the IDG News Service thanks for watching and we hope to see you next week.