FaKeeRa's World: 6/8/08

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Heavy AT&T DSL users could see additional fees

A spokesperson for AT&T says the company is mulling an additional charge atop the standard monthly rate for those who use a large amount of bandwidth.

Google goes out of its way to make Facebook roadblock obvious

After Google and Facebook could not come to terms over Google's Friend Connect service, the Mountain View-based search company has further snubbed Facebook, publicly noting Friend Connect users' incapability to access it.

Dueling streaming video services prepare for iPhone launch

Yesterday, competing services Flixwagon and Qik both announced that they will be offering their live streaming phone-cam services for Apple's iPhone.

How LG's 'Scarlet' snared a global spotlight

Just what -- or who -- is "Scarlet"? A senior LG Electronics official explained that LG wants people all over the world over to ponder the answer. Yes, Scarlet is a TV series...specifically, a series of TVs.

Facing pressure from Facebook, MySpace regroups

As competition heats up with Facebook, social network MySpace is set to launch a major redesign of its Web site next week.

Yahoo execs provide more details on Google deal

The headend of Yahoo's search results, come this October, will probably continue to look the way Yahoo always intended it would. It's the tail that will change, in a deal where Google has apparently been offered the tail first.

FCC debates regulation of wireless early termination fees

With complaints to the FCC rising over the long-held practice of fining those who end their cellular contracts early, the agency looks poised to intervene. And for the first time, all sides may be nearing some sort of agreement.

Canadian copyright reform bill to lock down digital content

A sweeping copyright reform bill officially introduced in the Canadian Parliament yesterday would impose stiff penalties on individuals circumventing DRM protection, including on TV programming, and would illegalize DRM-breaking tools.

AP sends anti-Drudge blogger a DMCA takedown notice

On June 10, the Associated Press sent Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown orders to Rogers Cadenhead's site The Drudge Retort for seven different articles the news service claims violated copyright.

GTA IV leads surge in US video game sales for May

NPD reports that US video game sales were up 37 percent over last year, with Take-Two's blockbuster title leading the charge.

Concept video from Mozilla Labs gets developers thinking, talking

A typical developer may often leave a major developers' conference thinking that most everything relating to how a graphical operating system works, has already been invented. But a new video from Mozilla Labs blows away that illusion.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Firefox 3 Being Released Tuesday

Firefox 3 is ready to jump out of Beta and onto our laptops starting Tuesday. Improved features include being able to add keywords to bookmarks to more easily sort them, as well as a new feature that allows users to add "places" and easily access websites they visit regularly but haven't bookmarked.

Firefox also has improved their download feature, allowing downloads that have been interrupted due to power or connection failure to resume where they left off. This single feature is the most relevant for me, as I often am trying to download something "heavy" and chew up my home network's wireless connection and have to start over.

Security features have also been improved, including outright blocking of phishing sites, rather than just warning about them to the user.

FF3 is also going to be a little speedier, eat up a bit less RAM when left running for long periods of time, and offer easier and more visible navigation. I'm a keyboard person myself and will not notice the difference in navigation with buttons, but I know others will.

I've been using Firefox since it first came out, and have no intention of ever using Internet Explorer again.

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Sirius + XM merger still under fire from broadcasters, legislators

A senior Republican US Senator has accused Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin of misleading Congress and the Justice Dept. about the XM + Sirius merger deal. But this round of opposition has a familiar flavor to it.

Google, Yahoo make the deal: AdSense on Yahoo Search

Late Thursday afternoon, the news came from Google that it will indeed become a full-time provider of AdSense advertising for Yahoo's search pages, and the two companies' IM protocols will become interoperable.

Physics engine could become common in future ATI cards

AMD and physics simulation tools provider Havok announced they will work together to study the benefits of optimizing the Havok Physics engine for future AMD CPUs and ATI video cards.

Opera releases version 9.5

In its plan to gain back usage share it has steadily been losing to Firefox in recent months, Opera this morning released version 9.5 of its Web browsers for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Sprint gains the Instinct, but can it 'kill' the iPhone?

After Apple's announcement earlier in the week regarding plans to launch iPhone 2.0 for a lower price of $199.99, Samsung announced that its Instinct smart phone will launch on June 20 with a similar $199.99 price tag...after you take those rebates into account.

Microsoft has closed the door, says Yahoo

A statement issued by Yahoo this afternoon says that all talks with Microsoft over any possible combination of their businesses has effectively concluded, and that it wants to maintain its own search business.

FTC continues to be thorn in EA's side over Take-Two bid

EA has postponed the deadline for its planned hostile takeover of Take-Two entertainment four times. Now it appears as if EA is ready to play hardball with the FTC itself.

Are Web services replacing some consumer hardware?

Will Web services fulfill the same functions found on today's CE devices? Some panelists answered "yes" and others "no," during a panel presentation at a pre-CES briefing in New York today.

Monster Cable announces a wireless HD combo system

Building upon technology from Sigma Designs Inc., renowned cabling company Monster has announced the upcoming availability of its Wireless Digital Express HD wireless HD and ultra-wideband-over coaxial system.

What do consumers want in an HDTV?

How many consumers base their HDTV purchase decisions around style? At the CEA's Digital Downtown show in New York today, panelists discussed whether consumers will still pay a premium to be fashionable, especially with gas at $4/gallon.

Palm Centro finally makes its way to Verizon Wireless

Palm and Verizon Wireless today jointly announced that the popular Palm Centro smartphone will launch for the VZW network starting tomorrow.

RIAA backs away from one file-sharing case

Court documents from late May indicate the RIAA asked for the dismissal of a case that would have argued whether simply making one's files available for download constitutes copyright infringement.

Doing the math: 3G iPhone not really cheaper in the long run

There's evidence of a lot of savvy business deals having taken place between AT&T and Apple, with both sides getting more of what they want from the new iPhone, while customers get the impression that they're getting a better deal too.

Analyst's own research contradicts his iPhone forecast

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster sent out mixed signals regarding his view of the future success of third-party apps on the iPhone.

Comcast gets a theoretical upstream speed boost

Comcast announced today that it has increased the upstream speeds nationwide for customers of two of its residential Internet packages, from 384 and 768 Kbps to 1 and 2 Mbps respectively.

House Rep claims IT breached by China, calls for trade crackdown

Yesterday, Congressman Frank R. Wolf (R - Va.) issued a belated clarion call for procedurally improving the US' data security, citing data breaches that took place two years ago believed to have been perpetrated by China.

Expert: public utilities may be at risk for hacking

Researchers with security firm Core Security Technologies are warning that flaws within the software that manages the nation's public utility systems may be vulnerable to incursion via the Internet.

On Bluetooth's horizon: high speed, ultra-low-power specs

With Bluetooth now celebrating its ten-year anniversary, a senior official with the Bluetooth SIG foresees new devices that will support emerging Ultra Low Power and High Speed specifications.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

A new alarm clock speakerphone for iPhones and iPods

Appropriately enough for the week of Apple's 3G iPhone launch, iHome Wireless today started shipping its first Bluetooth-enabled Alarm Clock Radio Speakerphone with support for iPhones.

Mozilla Firefox 3.0 to be released June 17

Late Wednesday evening, a Mozilla spokesperson confirmed to BetaNews that the day the final edition of Firefox 3.0 would be made available to the general public, will be this upcoming Tuesday, June 17.

Expect crash recovery features in new IE8 builds

Late Wednesday, a Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews that a TechEd session in Orlando today summarized some of Internet Explorer 8's key new features for administrators, one of them being crash recovery.

Analyst: Xbox 360's overheating problems began with GPU

Gartner analyst Bryan Lewis has said that in trying to save money in producing the graphics chip for the Xbox 360, Microsoft actually ended up paying much more due to repairs.

Symantec acquires 'cloud' storage company, charges buckets

Originally signing a deal in February of this year, Symantec has completed its acquisition of online backup and storage service SwapDrive and related properties for a reported $125 million.

Sneak preview: Polaroid PoGo printer for instant digital photo printouts

Today at the Bluetooth SIG press event in New York City, Polaroid previewed a pint-sized, inkless portable printer dubbed the PoGo, that can turn your digital camera into a modern equivalent of the old Polaroid Instant.

LG and Verizon Wireless preview Decoy Slider phone

LG Electronics and Verizon Wireless unveiled the LG Decoy Slider -- a 3G cell phone with a built-in detachable Bluetooth 2.1-enabled headset -- at a Bluetooth press event in New York today.

Third-party iPhone developer has an open source MobileMe alternative

For users looking for a free and open source alternative to Apple's MobileMe synchronization tool, announced Monday, Funambol will transfer personal information management data, and is based upon the iPhone 2.0 SDK.

New 160 GB 1.8-inch drives could revive HDD-based small devices

Toshiba today announced plans to launch two new 1.8-inch serial ATA hard drives that will ship as much as 160 GB -- the first in that form factor with such a high storage capacity, the manufacturer claims.

SanDisk looks to Wi-Fi music with MusicGremlin buy

SanDisk could be considering offering customers of its Wi-Fi enabled music players a method to download music directly to players, if its latest acquisition is any indication.

Firestar, Datatern settle patent claims with Red Hat

Red Hat said Wednesday that it had settled claims against it from two companies related to a method of interfacing with a database.

New York's Cuomo deals with ISPs to block child porn

Andrew Cuomo, New York's high-profile Attorney General, announced yesterday his office has made agreements with Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint to block child pornography newsgroups and known sites.

Mozilla issues Firefox 3.0 RC3 bug fix for Mac

This morning, Mozilla's FTP servers were updated once again with a new round of release candidates for its next Web browser, but curiously, we noted RC3 for Windows was identical to RC2 for Windows.

New beta of an employee salary-sharing service

Glassdoor.com, a site that allows users to anonymously share workplace information -- including salary, job satisfaction, and workplace and protocol reviews -- has opened in beta.

ZoneAlarm Pro misidentifies Yahoo Messenger as a Trojan...again

It's getting more difficult to keep track of the various stages and permutations of malware, whose definition has expanded to mean "anything you didn't ask for and don't want running." But since when did Yahoo IM become malware?

So what is 'OpenCL,' Apple's next enhancement to Mac OS X 10.6?

On Monday, Apple made mention of a curious new technology it said would help accelerate the development of CPU-to-GPU process sharing, calling it OpenCL. But the lack of information about what it is makes us all the more curious.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

WiMAX patent group formed to spur wireless consumer devices

To help get more consumer electronics (CE) devices out the door for WiMAX wireless broadband networks, Intel, Clearwire, and several other members of the WiMAX Forum today rolled out the Open Patent Alliance (OPA).

Microsoft wipes egg off face with Home Server "Power Pack" beta

Microsoft has released a public beta of the first Windows Home Server update in order to show the world it has finally fixed an embarrassing data corruption bug it discovered six months ago and has been trying to correct since.

SQL Server 2008, at last, attains Release Candidate status

Although there have already been public betas of Microsoft's new relational database, most notably one launched last February, the latest release candidate lets you reliably test the development environment's most critical new feature.

Nearly a million NEC laptops eligible for free repair

NEC is offering the remedy to an issue which causes its computers to smoke and smell as if plastic is burning.

WWDC: Dissecting the iPhone, Part 2

In this second part of BetaNews' interview with analyst Carmi Levy yesterday, he discusses the iPhone's pricing, as well as the importance of Apple's mobile synchronization service, MobileMe.

DivX to find its way to more handsets, courtesy of AMD

AMD and DivX today announced a licensing agreement in which DivX technology will be implemented into future AMD Imageon processors commonly used in mobile phones and other handheld products.

Xerox releases a 'universal print driver' for printers besides its own

The ability to plug a laptop into a network and quickly print documents on any available printer has historically been difficult, if not impossible. Now, a new Xerox software tool designed for office workers could change that equation.

Microsoft to pilot a consumer health records management system

Just a few weeks after Google's release of its personal health care record tools, Microsoft has launched a pilot of its competing HealthVault platform, conducted with the help of the largest HMO in the US, Kaiser Permanente.

Here come the Caviar 1 TB drives

As more manufacturers aim for the 1 TB storage high-water mark, Western Digital pushed the pace further today with the announcement of its new 7200 rpm 3.5-inch SATA Caviar hard drives, in 750 GB and 1 TB capacities.

Disney to stream full-length films this summer

Disney Entertainment has begun streaming full-length movies on its Web Site immediately following their airing on ABC television this summer.

TWC to fight FiOS in NYC with 100 HDTV channels

Time Warner Cable now plans to boost its high-def TV line-up to 100 channels by the end of 2008 in New York City, its COO said. Yet elsewhere -- including Los Angeles, where it's currently being sued -- it has no similar plans.

Bertelsmann looks to get out of Sony BMG a year early

An agreement first signed in 2004 called for Sony and Bertelsmann music groups to continue their joint venture Sony BMG through 2009. Now media reports indicate Bertelsmann is ready to exit early.

AOL to share ad money with AIM developers

With search and social networking sites vying hard for developers' attention, AIM Money -- an incentive launched today -- is giving developers a cut of the action on ad revenues derived from their AIM-based applications.

Details surface on AT&T, Apple iPhone 3G deal

Among the changes in AT&T's updated deal with Apple are the end of revenue sharing and special plans for the iPhone, as well as a new requirement for phones be activated in-store. The data plan will also be $10 more.

Apple details Mac OS X 'Snow Leopard' at WWDC

Don't expect the next version of Cupertino's operating system to be anything new. However, it will focus on performance and quality, to "lay the foundation" for the future.

RIAA suit over XM recording device draws to a close

EMI has withdrawn from the RIAA complaint against XM Satellite Radio over the Pioneer Inno, an XM receiver that allows users to record the satellite service directly to MP3 or WMA.

Microsoft will exit the classifieds business

Users of a classified ad service running on Windows Live, called Expo, began receiving on-screen notices last week that the service will cease to exist on July 31, and that no new applications for accounts are being taken.

WWDC keynote: Some notable no-shows

With the spotlight growing every time Apple puts on a major show, many feel it would be nice if the company would leave some real estate open for some Mac-related innovations. The keynote came and went, and the Mac was absent.

In-Stat: 3G mobile TV to reach 42 million users by 2012

The 3G mobile TV market will skyrocket from 6 million subscribers worldwide to 42 million by 2012, and Europe isn't necessarily ahead of North America right now in this space, according to an analyst for In-Stat Research.

IDC: Recession or no, Internet ad sales will boom

Times might be tough on the whole, but spending on Internet advertising is growing by leaps and bounds anyway, with total revenues up 23.9 percent in the first quarter of 2008, said an IDC analyst.

WWDC: Dissecting the 3G iPhone

AR Communications Senior Vice President Carmi Levy sits down with BetaNews' Ed Oswald to make sense of Apple's announcements at WWDC 2008. In the first of two parts, the enterprise and data features of the iPhone are discussed.

DOE supercomputer broke the petaflop barrier, conference acknowledges

Though unofficial news leaked this morning, this afternoon, independent sources are acknowledging a new fact: A computer made with IBM Cell and AMD Opteron processors can process a thousand trillion operations per second.

Amazon goes down for the count twice

While Amazon is not disclosing what exactly caused its site to fail for two hours on Friday, the world's largest online retailer may find its problem comes from the site design itself.

EC's Kroes advocates mandatory enforcement of open standards

Europe's legislator and administrator for competition suggested this morning that free enterprise alone -- letting markets decide standards -- may not be an effective means of ensuring interoperability, and that penalties should apply.

Updated AOL Radio launches in beta

Today AOL opened a new version of radio.aol.com, with CBS terrestrial radio stations now available through a dramatically revised front console.

FCC to consider MPAA proposal to lift DVR control ban

A new round of petitioning by movie studios to the FCC has triggered a renewed debate over whether studios and content providers have the right to send signals to consumers' DVRs, disabling their ability to record certain programs.

Last.fm streams lose music from Warner

CBS-owned social Internet radio service Last.fm once had content from all four major labels, but now Warner Music Group, which had been licensing to Last.fm on a month-to-month basis, has pulled its catalog from the service.

Stolen PCs spur ID theft worries at Stanford, U. of SC, AT&T

In a wave of apparently unrelated PC thefts, workers at Stanford University, the University of South Carolina (USC), and AT&T have been warned by their respective employers that their personal data might have been compromised.

HP and Acer end their patent litigation

Engaged in patent-infringement lawsuits in three federal courts, and under two US International Trade Commission investigations for well over a year, HP and Acer summarily ended their battle on Sunday.

WWDC: With iPhone 2.0, the SDK is now the key element

UPDATED Apple CEO Steve Jobs began his keynote with a discussion on the new firmware for iPhones, complete with enterprise support, the final release of the SDK, and new end-user features.

WWDC: MobileMe to replace .mac, sync iPhones with Macs, PCs

UPDATED Calling it Exchange for the rest of us, Apple debuted MobileMe, which allows users to push e-mail, contacts, and calendars directly to devices.

It's official: iPhone goes 3G for $199

UPDATED Confirming months of speculation, Apple has announced that it will begin shipping two 3G versions of the iPhone. A 16 GB version will feature your choice of black or white backing, and will sell for $299 through AT&T.

Will Samsung's Omnia rival Apple's 3G iPhone?

As some see it, Samsung's forthcoming Windows Mobile 6.1-based Omnia smartphone will act as a retort of sorts to Apple's new 3G iPhone. Although the Omnia isn't slated for full rollout until June 17, Samsung prereleased some details today.

HP Blackbird 002 gaming rig finally comes to retail

HP has announced that its Blackbird 002 will be made available for the first time through select retail channels beginning June 29.

Left with the short end of the croissant, T-Mobile sues Starbucks

Left with the short end of the croissant, T-Mobile sues Starbucks

After Starbucks pleased its customers by announcing it will give away two hours of AT&T Wi-Fi access per day, former Wi-Fi partner T-Mobile took exception and has filed a lawsuit.

PGP pre-boot authentication coming to Mac OS X

Data protection company PGP says that increased usage of the Mac platform has prompted it to deliver a port of its pre-boot authentication scheme for those users.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

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Zell expects a social network platform to save the newspaper industry

Part of the plan for rediscovering profitability for the troubled Tribune Co. of Chicago involves fishing for revenue -- somehow -- from a thus-far-undeveloped social networking platform, according to a memo to employees from their new CEO.

How cool is that IBM supercomputer?

Some time over the next five to ten years, IBM expects to replace a new water cooling method for its Hydro-Cluster supercomputer -- just unveiled in April -- with an emerging approach based on 3D chip stacks.

Next round of Microsoft 'Patch Tuesday' addresses Bluetooth problem

On its next "Patch Tuesday," slated for June 10, Microsoft plans to release seven security fixes, including three critical updates.

Zell expects a social network platform to save the newspaper industry

Silverlight 2.0 Beta 2 goes live, just in time

UPDATED Just making an "end of week" deadline, Microsoft has kept its promise and has released Beta 2 of its graphical Web application development engine.

Crytek, EA confirm development of Crysis Warhead

Gamers who liked the original Crysis now can look forward to Crysis Warhead, currently in development by Crytek and Electronic Arts.

U2 band manager compares ISPs to 'shoplifters'

Speaking during a music conference in Hong Kong, the manager of U2 did not hold back, going on a public tirade against large Internet service providers, alleging they're profiting from illegal file sharing.

Comcast plans aggressive push for ultra-fast Internet

With Verizon's fiber-based FiOS product becoming more of a threat, cable provider Comcast said that by early 2010 much of its coverage area will be able to access the net at speeds of 100 Mbps.

The 'Watch Video' link in Google Search is conspicuously missing

A feature that enabled Google users watch videos hosted on either YouTube or Google Video without leaving the search results page, has been quietly removed from the search site.

Register your favorite digits now as a URL in the .NU domain

While numerically-named sites such as 123.net and 1337.com already exist, on June 10 the landrush will begin for the .NU domain, an internationalized name which is being marketed in the US as the "number domain."

Linux to land on 23% of smartphones by 2013, says ABI

Spurred by support from legions of developers -- as well as from two currently warring industry groups -- Linux will constitute 23 percent of the world smartphone market by 2013, according to analysts at ABI Research.

Microsoft confirms more details on Windows for small devices

The development suite that will come with the new XP kernel-based Windows Embedded standard -- which entered beta on Wednesday -- will indeed allow virtual OS instances to run as virtual machines on developers' desktops.

FCC delays plans for free wireless Internet

The FCC had hoped to vote on a proposal that would require the winner of a spectrum auction next year to build out a free wireless broadband network in June, but those plans have been hindered yet again.

FCC delays plans for free wireless Internet

Qik streaming video begins alpha, adds Windows Mobile support

Qik, a service that allows its users to stream video from their phones live on the site, has begun its invitation-only alpha period and extended the list of supported devices to include select Windows Mobile handsets.

Google opens up a lab for others to test new Gmail features

With Gmail finally nearing the end of its nearly four year long beta, Google is looking to test out a few new features before it goes live.

Google opens up a lab for others to test new Gmail features

With Gmail finally nearing the end of its nearly four year long beta, Google is looking to test out a few new features before it goes live.

Apple Store aims for the Paris Louvre's glass pyramid

According to French financial daily La Tribune, Apple has received approval to build one of its eponymous stores in Paris. The location? Where else but under the glass pyramid in the Carrousel du Louvre.

BlackBerrys and iPhones rise among IT buyers, Palm falls

BlackBerrys keep soaring in popularity among corporate IT spenders, while Palms continue to slide; and Apple iPhones are expected to pick up steam in the third quarter, say new survey results from analyst firm ChangeWave Research.

Intel subpoenaed by FTC over CPU business practices

Though the US Federal Trade Commission has yet to issue a statement as of 1:30 pm EDT, Intel has acknowledged it has received a subpoena from the FTC, effectively formalizing its inquiry into Intel's US business practices in the CPU market.

Facebook asks, 'How do you like this ad?'

Innumerable Web sites have been inviting readers to rate and comment about articles and blogs for ages already. Now, Facebook has added a considerably rarer function: Users can give "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" to ads.

Turkmenistan may finally join the online world

Restrictions have reportedly been loosened in the nation of Turkmenistan, the Southernmost nation of the former Soviet Union, and private citizens are gradually -- about 20 per day -- being connected to the Internet.

AMD pushes USB 3.0

USB will be getting an upgrade in 2009 as we move to the USB 3.0 standard. This will improve the speed up to ten times faster than USB 2.0. That is approximately 4.8 gigabits per second, or about 600 Megabytes per second (USB 2.0 runs up to 480 Mbit/s). It will even surpass current Firewire standards (The Firewire 800 standard can run up to 3.2 Gigabits per second).

Intel has been controlling the specification and so far is not giving the new technology to any competetor. An unofficial AMD source announced they are working on their own USB standard. It will be an "open" specification, but an Nvidia representative says it will also be "productized".

What does this mean? Simply put we might see "Intel USB" and "AMD USB" - and the remote possibility that they won't work with one another. The greatest part about the USB standard was that we could use it on any PC - whether Intel, AMD or other - on an Apple product or any other device that contains the standard.

It's items like this where universal standardization should be implemented. We don't need these standards "segregated but equal". It hurts production - especially for the independent companies that make USB peripherals. Will your Intel USB 3.0 Flash drive work properly on an AMD USB 3.0, or will it corrupt your data?

Opening the USB standard is key if we want to continue using it. No one company should be able to "hoard" the technology. After all, "Open Productization". Is that an Oxymoron, or what?

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Saturday, June 14, 2008

Friday, June 13, 2008

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Wednesday, June 11, 2008