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Fri, 31 Oct 08
Happiness Is a Warm Controller
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/65002.html
All together now: The Beatles are getting their own video game. If you're of a certain age, then the idea of playing a "Rock Band"-esque game featuring the Fab Four's music will almost certainly make you twist and shout. The big question for Harmonix and MTV Networks -- the makers of "Rock Band" which on Thursday announced a partnership with Apple Corps -- is this: will younger gamers raised on Metallica and Pearl Jam want to play a '60s-based game eight days a week, or will they simply let it be?

Fri, 31 Oct 08
The Netflix Stream's New Tributary: TiVo
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/65004.html
Netflix and TiVo announced Thursday the roll out of a streaming video service for subscribers. Set for availability in early December, the service appears to be the culmination of a deal the two companies originally announced in 2004. The TiVo-Netflix venture is the latest in a series of similar partnerships Netflix has announced this year. Thus far, the movie rental company has signed on to provide streaming video content via set-top boxes built by Roku, Blu-ray players from LG and Samsung, and Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming console.

Fri, 31 Oct 08
Messenger Finds Blue Goo on Mercury
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64997.html
The results are in, and NASA's latest fly-by of Mercury is shedding new light on the solar system's smallest planet. The Messenger space probe zipped around Mercury early in October, examining parts of the planet never before explored. The latest mission is the second of three passes Messenger will take around the planet. The first occurred in January and marked Mercury's first significant exploration since the '70s. Now, we're gaining new insight into the planet that has, until now, remained a mystery.

Fri, 31 Oct 08
Cloud Computing, Part 1: Some Breaks in the Fog
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64991.html
Pity the Patent and Trademark Office examining attorney who gave Dell the green light propelling its trademark application for the term "cloud computing" toward the home stretch this summer. That particular individual was obviously unaware that the phrase had become, over the course of a year, one of the hottest buzzwords in the tech industry. Not surprisingly, the PTO quickly rescinded Dell's initial approval for the trademark -- after taking some lumps for allowing the application to get as far as it did.

Fri, 31 Oct 08
Sales 2.0: Getting Social About Selling
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64968.html
As the proliferation of online social media forums has forever changed the way customers gain information and feedback concerning a particular company's products or services, sales representatives are challenged to sell to a prospect base that potentially knows as much, if not more, about the competitive landscape than the reps themselves. This new sales challenge has caused a number of companies to implement social media solutions within the enterprise as a way to more effectively connect sales representatives to the subject matter experts they seek.

Fri, 31 Oct 08
OpenOffice 3: Useful, Compatible - and Pretty
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64981.html
The final version of OpenOffice.org 3, the open source competitor to Microsoft Office, came out two weeks ago and looks better than ever. I've been using its predecessors for years and, broadly speaking, OO3 is the most useful, widely compatible software ever. You can run it on anything: Macs, PCs, Linux, Unix workstations. It includes six full-blown applications: the Writer word processor, Calc spreadsheet, Impress presentations program, Base database program, Math equation editor, and Draw graphics program. And it doesn't cost a penny.

Fri, 31 Oct 08
Calif. Appeals Court Considers Ban on Violent Video Games
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64992.html
Children in California who want to buy or rent a violent video game without a parent's permission could have that right taken away by a federal appeals panel, which heard arguments on the case Wednesday. A state law passed in 2005 that tries to limit access to such games is under consideration by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The state law, which prohibits the sale or rental of the games to anyone under 18 and requires them to be clearly labeled, was struck down last year by a lower court.

Fri, 31 Oct 08
There and Back Again: Globetrotting With Apple
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64967.html
Traveling can be an exciting adventure, especially if that adventure takes you to a different country. Sure, there will be surprises along the way, but you can help ensure they are all good with a little extra planning ahead, especially if you plan on taking any of your tech gear with you. If you are planning a trip that takes you overseas -- or like everyone that's packing for the upcoming MacMania cruise, on the seas -- you'll need to account for safely transporting your Mac, iPod and iPhone, and you'll also need to plan for your electrical needs in the air, on the ground and on the sea.

Thu, 30 Oct 08
Netflix Brings Xbox Streaming Deal Into Higher Definition
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64989.html
Netflix subscribers who also happen to own an Xbox 360 -- and have an Xbox Live membership -- learned last summer they'd be able to access streaming video via the gaming console, but what they didn't know until recently is that some of those titles will be available in high definition. Users of the Microsoft's gaming machine will see the feature when the console's "New Xbox Experience" launches Nov. 19. The HD streaming feature is currently in a soft rollout, and Microsoft plans to formally announce the offering in a few weeks.

Thu, 30 Oct 08
With Windows 7, Can Microsoft Lift the Vista Hex?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64986.html
Microsoft gave developers their first hands-on experience with the upcoming Windows 7 operating system Tuesday. Set for release in 2010, the version of Windows 7 shown at the company's Professional Developers Conference refines certain aspects of the company's Windows Vista OS and is designed to improve on performance. "The best way to think of Windows 7 is to look at it as an improved version of Windows Vista," said Al Gillen, an IDC analyst, told TechNewsWorld.

Thu, 30 Oct 08
LinkedIn Adds New Collaboration Apps to Professionals' Toolbox
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64984.html
LinkedIn has added a bundle of new productivity tools to its network. The goal of the nine apps -- all built on the LinkedIn Intelligent Applications, or InApps, platform -- is to facilitate file-sharing, scheduling and other business-oriented activities. Applications from Amazon, Box.net, Google, Huddle, Six Apart, SlideShare, Tripit and WordPress are among those now available to LinkedIn users. Tapping third-party developers to enhance a closed network has become a common tactic among social networks.

Thu, 30 Oct 08
Will Motorola Bet the Farm on Android?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64988.html
Struggling wireless phone maker Motorola will cut more jobs and focus on designing handheld devices that run Google's new open source Android operating system. The company will pare down the number of operating systems for which it currently creates mobile phones to just three: Android, Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Motorola's proprietary P2K platform. The hoped-for effect of these moves is a streamlining of an unwieldy wireless division, which Motorola Co-CEO Sanjay Jha was hired to clean up in August.

Thu, 30 Oct 08
Picture This: Image Processing Grows Up
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64964.html
The money trail of big tech pay-offs began with voice, then moved to text and now is headed squarely to image data. No longer are businesses or individuals satisfied with words on a page peppered with flat and lifeless 2-D images. Today's big data boost is far more colorful and dynamic than that. In the beginning days of image processing, art and photographs were reproduced in shades of gray as though they were nothing more than disfigured text. Fax machines and scanners reproduced images that often looked like indistinguishable black blobs as subtleties bled together in low-resolution mimicry.

Thu, 30 Oct 08
Christian Science Monitor Stops the Presses
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64987.html
The Christian Science Monitor will cease the weekday print edition of its award-winning newspaper in April after a century of continuous publication. The plan is to move the weekday publication to an online-only format while rolling out a new weekend print magazine. The Monitor has a storied history and a unique place in the newspaper industry -- it has won seven Pulitzer Prizes and is well-known for its coverage of international news and trends. The newspaper is a nonprofit financed by the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston.

Thu, 30 Oct 08
Q&A: How to Stake Out Your Territory in the Online Ad Migration
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64974.html
Paul Martino, CEO of Aggregate Knowledge, describes three categories for online advertising: Rich media, video and traditional display. Based in San Mateo, Calif., Aggregate Knowledge provides technology for online advertising and search. In an ECT News Network exclusive interview, Martino discusses the present and future of the online advertising market. Online advertising trends that he sees developing now include a downturn in online advertising related directly to the slowdown in the U.S. economy and the movement of ad dollars from traditional media sources to online video.

Thu, 30 Oct 08
Opening the Gaming Gadget
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64965.html
When you think about portable gaming gadgets, it's hard to rattle off a hefty list of possibilities. They mostly follow a path of heavy marketing -- the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable are heavily advertised, and their sales are strong. But some hardcore gamers have become attracted to devices exclusively designed and marketed for homebrew or do-it-yourself applications. The Internet provides a clear road map to Web sites that sell homebrew games and gaming devices. However, most of what's out there is technology made to enhance mainstream devices.

Thu, 30 Oct 08
The Mac Mini: Bump It or Dump It?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64955.html
Apple's littlest and most affordable Mac, the Mac mini, appears to be the forgotten stepchild of Cuptertino's computer lineup. Apple hasn't given the Mac mini a decent update since August of 2007, though the diminutive box has so far survived despite a handful of rumors regarding its future -- or lack thereof. One recent prediction of the mini's demise held that two major retailers in Europe said they couldn't order any more minis ... and that Apple might signal the end of the line during its latest financial earnings call.

Thu, 30 Oct 08
Microsoft Office to Go the Way of the Web
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64977.html
Software behemoth Microsoft on Tuesday gave the first demonstration of its online Office suite, which is due for release in early 2010. The move comes after Google launched a set of online applications last year and the recent launch of IBM's Lotus Symphony set of free online services. Microsoft have stressed that the launch is not a reactive move but was fueled by developments in browser technology progressing to a level where online applications could be supported.

Thu, 30 Oct 08
HP Plants Both Feet Into Netbook Ring
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64976.html
Firms wanting to equip their mobile workers with mini PCs can look forward to a wider choice of devices following an announcement by HP that it will soon be offering new ultra-light systems featuring mobile internet software. The mini laptops should appeal to enterprises thanks to their portability and wealth of connectivity features. The first release, the HP Mini 1000, has a 10.2-inch display and weighs just 2.4 lbs. It is built on the Intel Atom N270 processor, comes in either an 8 GB or 16 GB version, and boasts a built-in webcam, microphone, WiFi and Bluetooth.

Wed, 29 Oct 08
Net Heavyweights Hammer Out Human Rights Guidelines
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64972.html
Several high-profile technology companies, human rights organizations, academics and investors have joined forces to launch the Global Network Initiative. Announced Tuesday, the GNI intends to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy throughout the information and communication technology industry. Companies that have signed onto the GNI include Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. They will be working with human rights organizations to avoid or minimize the impact of governmental restrictions on freedom of expression.

Wed, 29 Oct 08
Physicist Ian Appelbaum Puts New Spin on Semiconductors
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64947.html
University of Delaware's Dr. Ian Appelbaum is looking to "spin" his research on the magnetic properties of electrons to get more electronic enhancements from semiconductors. Appelbaum's research is now funded in part with a nearly half-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. Since the Fall of 2004, he has headed a research team at the University of Delaware. The spintronics phsyicist conceived, developed, and experimentally demonstrated a mechanism for hot electron injection luminescence.

Wed, 29 Oct 08
Ubuntu's Intrepid Ibex Makes the Leap
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64966.html
Just a few more days. Yes, the U.S. presidential election is a mere week away, but there's another countdown going on. Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition, the Intrepid Ibex release, is set to go live on Thursday. The beta has excited both users and potential users of the popular distro because of its rich mobility functionality, including 3G support and the ability to create a portable Linux desktop using a USB thumb drive. The latter feature, in particular, has the potential to spur the use of Linux on the desktop generally.

Wed, 29 Oct 08
Google Settles Book Search Suits for a Song
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64971.html
Search engine giant Google has settled two copyright lawsuits over its Google Book Search program for $125 million. In two separate lawsuits, the New York City-based Author's Guild and McGraw-Hill sued Google in 2005, alleging it had violated copyright laws through its scanning and online distribution of copyrighted and out-of-print books. The settlement will allow Google to make millions of books searchable and printable online. Tuesday's deal must be approved by a judge in a Manhattan federal court.

Wed, 29 Oct 08
Innovating Up the Mobile Linux Stack
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64953.html
In the past five years, the mettle of mobile Linux has been tested -- and it has deservedly earned a shining new reputation as a real technology of choice -- an embedded operating system and a flexible platform for truly open innovation. Linux has even gained the status of the de facto operating system for the growing Mobile Internet Device market and for bringing intelligent devices to market faster and more cost-effectively. There has never been such a historic moment and opportunity for Linux to shine and succeed in the market.

Wed, 29 Oct 08
The Green Supply Chain: Cutting Out Weak Links
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64948.html
As companies evaluate their carbon footprints, supply chains are one area of business that have come under increased scrutiny. Making the complex network of manufacturers, packagers, shippers, wholesalers and retailers greener protects the environment, saves energy, and ultimately reduces costs. Emerging technologies make it increasingly feasible to measure, manage, and reduce the carbon footprint of doing business. These technologies promise a greener future.

Wed, 29 Oct 08
New MacBooks Still Deliver Sticker Shock With Style
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64946.html
Plastic used to be the sexy material of the future. Now, it's the cheap, ugly material of the past. Just look at the effort Apple put into getting rid of plastic when designing its new $1,300 MacBook laptops, which went on sale this month. Apple now is machining the upper part of the chassis from a single block of aluminum, shaving it down to perhaps one-tenth of its original mass. The result is a laptop with the stark elegance of a Modernist skyscraper, all glass and metal.

Wed, 29 Oct 08
Tighter Purse Strings Could Choke Consumer Electronics Firms
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64963.html
The high-tech industry's near-term health depends on how badly you need that iPod or flat-panel television. After catering to corporations in its early days, the industry has grown increasingly reliant on consumers. Even during economic slowdowns when businesses tightened their belts, Americans kept buying bigger TVs, sleeker cell phones and faster computers. But analysts say that with people losing their jobs, home prices plummeting and retirement savings deflating, consumers won't continue to spend blithely on high-tech gear. For those who do, bargains will be more important than ever.

Wed, 29 Oct 08
Chat Rooms Harbor 'Fraud as a Service' Peddlers
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64960.html
Newly organized methods of online criminal activity are threatening to democratize fraud and undermine banks and online traders, according to security experts at this year's RSA Conference Europe. Security vendor RSA's Head of New Technologies Uri Rivner shared new data and trends spotted by the firm's Anti Fraud Command Center, which has now shut down over 100,000 phishing attacks. Rivner warned of a new trend where criminals offer fraud services in a Software as a Service model, which can be purchased from Internet chat rooms and forums.

Wed, 29 Oct 08
Intel Capital Gives Shot of Green to Chinese Solar Venture
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64959.html
Shrugging off gloom over the economic outlook, Intel Capital on Tuesday announced its first "clean-tech" initiative in China, a $20 million equity investment in Trony Solar Holdings, one of China's biggest makers of solar energy and wind power equipment. "The world economy is in a very difficult position, but innovation is the way to help the companies out of financial crisis. Intel Capital is still committed to investing in innovative companies," Cadol Cheung, managing director of Intel Capital for the Asia Pacific, told reporters. Intel Capital's parent is computer chip maker Intel Corp.

Tue, 28 Oct 08
Microsoft Builds a Stairway to the Cloud
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64958.html
Microsoft announced plans Monday at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles to launch a large-scale cloud computing initiative that could drastically change the way it develops and sells software. Cloud computing, an emerging trend in the technology industry, employs vast computer and server networks to deliver and host applications and store massive amounts of data. The advantage to cloud computing is that -- theoretically, anyway -- businesses don't have to invest heavily in their own PC, server and data-storage networks.

Tue, 28 Oct 08
'Wii Music' Jams to the Beat of a Different Drum
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64957.html
When Nintendo announced its upcoming releases in July at the E3 Conference, one of the most intriguing games for me was "Wii Music." The game's description as something that "makes it easy for people to jam to tunes, even if they don't know anything about music" appealed to the frustrated musician in me. However, I could not see how Nintendo was going to be able to pull off a game with either the Wii remote or the nunchuk -- or both -- cast in the role of instrument. I should have known better than to doubt Nintendo.

Tue, 28 Oct 08
Army Intelligence Wonks Discover Twitter
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64952.html
The scenarios jump right out of a Brad Thor or Vince Flynn technothriller novel: Terrorists, using the microblogging service Twitter in conjunction with Google Maps, cell phone video and global positioning system technology, stage an ambush on troops in Iraq or coordinate an attack in an American city. Another terrorist uses Twitter and cell phone video to help remotely detonate a bomb. Yet another terrorist strikes up a Twitter conversation with a U.S. soldier to elicit valuable information.

Tue, 28 Oct 08
Tooling Around Town With the Magellan Maestro
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64937.html
I've never been big on global positioning satellite devices. Even though I'm a technophile, it just seemed like one gadget too many. What was wrong with using a map? Unless you're someone whose job demands you travel to locations with which you're not familiar, most people go to generally the same places daily -- work, grocery store, friends and family, mall, and other frequently visited locations. That, however, was before I had a chance to check out the Magellan Maestro 4350 Portable GPS Navigator.

Tue, 28 Oct 08
Earth to iPhone
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64949.html
Google has officially launched Google Earth for iPhone. More than just a map application, Google Earth's desktop version provides satellite views of the world with the ability to tilt, pan and zoom through three-dimensional landscapes. "Even before we introduced Google Earth back in 2005, the team had long dreamed of being able to carry the Earth around in your pocket," notes Peter Birch, Google Earth product manager, on the Official Google Blog. "It may be small, but it brings all the power of Google Earth to the palm of your hand, including all of the same global imagery and 3-D terrain."

Tue, 28 Oct 08
Why Dell Is Beating Everyone, Especially Apple, in China
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64944.html
I can remember the day, way back, when the U.S. was the most important market in the world and companies from all over fought to build a presence and establish themselves here. Our politicians have creatively fixed that advantage, and now China is the place to be. According to projections, the Chinese market will eclipse the U.S. and the European markets combined by 2015 -- and that has a lot of folks fighting to become the major technology player in that future China.

Tue, 28 Oct 08
Linux May Be Worth $10.8 Billion, but Is It for Everyone?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64942.html
Hard on the heels of Linux's 17th birthday came two more notable milestones for the operating system, both of which came to light in the past week. First, the Linux kernel surpassed 10 million lines of code -- albeit with blank lines, comments and text files included. A full 96.4 percent of that code is written in C, while 3.3 percent is written in Assembler, according to the Heise article that reported the news, attributing the counts to the SLOCCount tool.

Tue, 28 Oct 08
The Mac Doctor Is In: Slick Tools for Health Pros
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64943.html
A doctor at a California hospital, David Sperling, knows the value of having the latest information about adverse drug reactions in a mobile application. "As a physician, your pocket space gets smaller and smaller with your pager and cell phone and all the other detritus of the profession," he told MacNewsWorld. "You don't want to add a thick pocket manual as well." Back in the 1990s, Sperling began using Epocrates' integrated drug, disease and diagnostic suite on his Palm handheld and never looked back. Until, that is, Apple introduced the iPhone.

Mon, 27 Oct 08
Treating Cabin Fever in Microgravity
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64930.html
Your work is dangerous and your coworkers rely on you to stay alive. But you can never get far from those colleagues. You can't see your family for months, even years. The food isn't great. And forget stepping out for some fresh air. No wonder the adventure of space flight can also be stressful, isolating and depressing. So scientists are working on giving a computer the ability to offer some of the understanding guidance -- if not all the warmth -- of a human therapist, before psychological problems or interpersonal conflicts compromise a mission.

Mon, 27 Oct 08
Social Networks to Rein In Spendy Habits
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64945.html
Dan Hassenplug's monthly expenses used to include around $300 for lunch and three or four books bought from Amazon.com. Now he's plugged into a new breed of social network that helps him manage his finances. "When you see a graph that says you averaged $10 a day for lunch -- about $300 for the month -- well, that's a lot of money," said the 24-year-old design manager from Geneva, Ill. Now he's cut that expense in half by packing a lunch most days and buying only one book a month. "There's a library down the street," he said.

Mon, 27 Oct 08
The Great 3G Letdown
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64910.html
On Friday morning, I gave 3G wireless another chance. Maybe it was looking a gift horse in the mouth. Faster is better, and we should be grateful companies are continuing to invest in the networks we all rely upon. But after all the hype and anticipation, third-generation wireless infrastructure has been underwhelming, in my experience. It limits the potential of devices such as the iPhone and the G1 that Google and T-Mobile USA released Wednesday.

Mon, 27 Oct 08
Mystical Macworld Musings
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64903.html
I've recently returned from a trip to Japan. Compared to my home state of California, Japan is 16 hours ahead. This means, for example, when it is Wednesday morning in Tokyo, it is still Tuesday afternoon or early evening in San Francisco. As I explained to my friends, Japan lives in the future. While in Japan, I knew what the next day was going to be like, well before my friends back home! More seriously, while I was generally able to keep up with Mac news during my trip, it will likely be a few more days of recovering from jet lag before I am truly back on track.

Sun, 26 Oct 08
Buckyballs, Nanotechnology and Paper Planes
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64883.html
It's called "buckypaper" and looks a lot like ordinary carbon paper, but don't be fooled by the cute name or flimsy appearance. It could revolutionize the way everything from airplanes to TVs are made. Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity like copper or silicon, and disperses heat like steel or brass.

Sun, 26 Oct 08
The Shift to SOA: Repurposing Priceless Business Logic
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64938.html
"SOA transition" is buzz term growing in popularity among IT managers, especially when they meet with corporate boardroom residents. Businesses are transitioning into service oriented architecture by tapping into the increasing number of SOA products software makers are creating to meet this new interest. However, for the uninitiated, SOA can be just another entry in the mushrooming jumble of acronyms and alphabet soups business technology users must digest. The world of e-commerce is undergoing a transition toward greater use of SOA.

Sun, 26 Oct 08
Jilted Lover Jailed for Rubbing Out Ex's Avatar
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64916.html
A 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher's sudden divorce from her online husband in a virtual game world made her so angry that she logged on and killed his digital persona, police said Thursday. The woman, who has been jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, used his identification and password to log onto popular interactive game "Maple Story" to carry out the virtual murder in mid-May, a police official in northern Sapporo City said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

Sun, 26 Oct 08
Me, Myself and iPhone
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64882.html
The verdict has been in on Apple's iPhone. Since arriving last May, the touchscreen phone with the most advanced graphics and Internet interface has dazzled buyers. And buyers have had time to get over the honeymoon feeling. Three residents of Paducah, Ky., who splurged on one of the biggest advancements ever in the cell phone industry, have had time to truly learn all the costs and benefits of their iPhones. From using the phone's Internet access to help them on the job to learning that touch phones make plenty of unintended calls, they discovered all the ins and outs.

Sat, 25 Oct 08
Amazon's Cloud Services Move Out of Beta's Shadow
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64936.html
Amazon announced Thursday general availability of its Elastic Compute Cloud, part of the Internet retailer's Web service offerings. Launched in beta 26 months ago, the service provides a resizable compute capacity to businesses with varying server needs. "The appealing thing about EC2 is that instead of buying a server, you pay for it by the hour. That's great if your need for servers goes up and down or is temporary. If you're going to run servers steady all year, it is less appealing to have a different way of paying for it," said Frank Gillett, a Forrester Research analyst.

Sat, 25 Oct 08
Samsung Sinks on Slumping Profits
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64940.html
Samsung reported a steep drop in Q3 profits with the release of its quarterly earnings report. Profits fell 44.4 percent compared with a year earlier -- a number that, not surprisingly, sent the company's share price tumbling by 14 percent. Although some product lines performed respectably -- mobile handsets, for instance -- the company could not overcome the industry dynamics affecting its core business: Falling prices for semiconductor chips, coupled with a global glut of product have sent profits and stock prices tumbling throughout the sector.

Sat, 25 Oct 08
Twittering Grannies, STD Greetings and Triboluminescence: The Week That Was
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64931.html
Technology has become the newest foundation of family values. According to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, families that use technology tend to have better communication. Where once they gathered 'round the old Westinghouse to listen to one of FDR's fireside chats, families now bond over YouTube videos. Kids no longer have the excuse that they weren't anywhere near a phone if they come home past curfew. That was one of my favorites, actually.

Sat, 25 Oct 08
Getting Your Site to Play Well With All Browsers
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64924.html
A customer is visiting your e-commerce Web site. She's decided to do more online shopping this holiday season to save on gasoline and find the lowest prices. She's using a Mac running Safari, but your site is optimized for Internet Explorer 7 and your development budget is mainly focused on preparing for IE 8. She selects a few products and heads for the shopping cart, but the "checkout" button isn't available. Frustrated, she's off to another site. You've lost the sale.

Sat, 25 Oct 08
Mac Bloggers Rattle RIM, Nose Out Netbooks
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64923.html
This week, Apple-focused bloggers learned the company has overtaken Research In Motion with smartphone sales for the quarter, and that Apple isn't ready to jump into the netbook scene just now -- or talk publicly about any specific plans, at any rate. Meanwhile, rumors persist of a secret Apple device -- and oh yes, the Mac mini is not dead yet. "Love it or hate it ... there is no denying that Apple's iPhone is not only a game changer but a certifiable hit," wrote Om Malik on GigaOM, who came up with seven reasons why the iPhone is selling so well.

Sat, 25 Oct 08
OSS Gaming: Ready for the Big Leagues?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64919.html
Whether you're talking about the Wii, the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3, the video game industry is on a record-setting pace for revenue in 2008. Consumers have scooped up billions of dollars worth of game consoles, accessories and big-budget titles. With sales set to top $22 billion in 2008, according to The NPD Group, gaming looks as though it's weathering the ongoing economic downturn well. However, high-priced platforms and multi-million dollar games are not for everyone.

Sat, 25 Oct 08
MySpace Music Struggles to Hit the Right Pitch With Indie Labels
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64929.html
A month after irking part of the independent recording community by launching its online music service mostly with major labels, MySpace Music has made a deal to almost double the amount of indie tunes available through the service. In an agreement announced Thursday, the San Francisco-based Independent Online Distribution Alliance -- a digital distributor of tunes for several thousand labels -- will make its library of more than 1 million tracks available through MySpace Music.

Sat, 25 Oct 08
Sun Cofounder Switches Into Startup Mode
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64927.html
Andy Bechtolsheim, a revered technologist who cofounded Sun Microsystems and has been instrumental in designing the company's servers, is stepping down from his day-to-day role to help build a new networking startup. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun, which makes servers and software widely used in corporate computing centers, said Thursday that Bechtolsheim's transition to part-time work status was effective immediately. He will give up the title of chief architect but will still play an important role in product design, the company said.

Fri, 24 Oct 08
Microsoft Yells 'Fire!' - Then Bars the Doors
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64925.html
Microsoft rushed out an emergency security patch for its Windows operating system Thursday in the hope of heading off a potentially crippling hack attack to nearly a billion Windows-powered PCs. Normally, the software giant addresses bugs and security flaws through the issue of so-called software "patches" on the second Tuesday of each month. The fact that Microsoft felt compelled to issue a patch Thursday underscores the seriousness of the security flaw.

Fri, 24 Oct 08
Rackspace Ratchets Up Cloud Computing Competition
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64920.html
Rackspace Hosting has significantly expanded its cloud computing offering with the acquisition of two companies and the inking of two new partnership deals. These moves have fundamentally reshaped Rackspace's cloud computing capabilities, prompting the company to rebrand its existing hosting and storage services. Slicehost and Jungle Disk, the two companies Rackspace acquired, are providing on-demand virtualized servers and online storage software and services, respectively, to Rackspace's cloud computing offering.

Fri, 24 Oct 08
Where Are the Video Games Women Really Want?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64900.html
Ask anyone to describe a hardcore gamer and the image that comes to mind is probably that of a geeky, teenaged, socially awkward male who spends countless hours locked in his bedroom. The notion, however, that men alone rule the gaming realm is as outdated as the Atari 2600. Men, women and children alike have answered the call to play. While the gaming industry has long tailored its approach to gaming for young men and boys, women and girls have been largely left out. "A large part of it is legacy perceptions," Kimberly Unger told TechNewsWorld.

Fri, 24 Oct 08
Weird Science: Peeling Scotch Tape Produces X-Rays
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64917.html
Here's a fun fact for your cubicle-side coffee chat: That Scotch tape on your desk is good for more than just sticking together pages of a TPS report. Turns out it can also generate X-rays. Scientists at the University of California in Los Angeles have found that plain old office tape can create enough X-rays to take a hospital-style image. But before you freak out and enter a tape-purging rage, you should know that it can only happen within a vacuum. Sound strange? Read on.

Fri, 24 Oct 08
Netflix Routes Stream to Samsung Blu-ray Players
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64918.html
Netflix and Samsung announced a partnership Thursday that will bring the video rental service's streaming movies to the hardware maker's Web-connect Blu-ray disc players. Netflix subscribers can receive Blu-ray and DVD discs by mail with the added option of streaming movies and TV shows instantly from the company's online library. The companies also plan to extend the instant streaming technology into a range of other home entertainment products.

Fri, 24 Oct 08
Comcast Revs Broadband Engine
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64922.html
Comcast announced late Wednesday that it will launch faster broadband Internet service speeds over the next few weeks to more than 10 million homes and businesses. The new service will give Comcast subscribers access to speeds of up to 50 megabits per second in parts of New England, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and St. Paul, and New Jersey. The upgrade will also enable Comcast to double the broadband speeds of its entire customer base at no extra charge to subscribers.

Fri, 24 Oct 08
Wikifying Tech Support
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64905.html
In a move demonstrating its confidence in the community-based approach, Swets is to allow users of its subscription management service SwetsWise to edit its help pages. By making the SwetsWise help pages wiki-based, Swets is offering customers an easy-to-use tool to exchange their views and comments on the service with other customers. "Users want to share their views and comments on our services with other users in a structured fashion, so we decided to make our help pages part of that environment, now called the 'SwetsWise Community,'" said Daniel Belda, innovation and development manager at Swets.

Fri, 24 Oct 08
W. Va. Voters Cry Foul Over Touchscreen Switcheroos
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64914.html
West Virginia's chief elections officer is standing by the state's touchscreen voting machines after a review prompted by complaints that some of the devices had incorrectly recorded votes. Secretary of State Betty Ireland says a technician from manufacturer Election Systems & Software has checked all the iVotronic machines in Putnam and Jackson counties. A handful of residents in each alleged machines had switched their votes from Democratic to Republican candidates in several races.

Fri, 24 Oct 08
Aetna Customers Get Key to Microsoft HealthVault
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64912.html
Health insurer Aetna is becoming the first health insurer to team with Microsoft to give its customers an Internet-based vault for storing medical records they can access even if they change jobs or leave their health plan. Starting next month, Aetna will allow some customers to transfer electronic personal health records to Microsoft's HealthVault, a platform that lets care providers look at the information if they have patient permission.

Fri, 24 Oct 08
Second Lifers Stump for Presidential Picks
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64913.html
It's not just Earthbound voters who are intensely following the U.S. presidential campaign: The race also is a hot topic in the virtual world of Second Life. John McCain supporters and Barack Obama supporters -- more accurately, the personas they have created -- meet regularly in Second Life, described on its Web site as "an online, 3-D virtual world imagined and created by its residents." They watch the presidential debates together. They make T-shirts, banners and yard signs. They hold voter registration drives and rally on Capitol Hill.

Thu, 23 Oct 08
Energy Industry a Top Target for Malware, Study Warns
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64909.html
A report released Tuesday from ScanSafe, a Software as a Service Web security provider, highlighted the energy industry as facing a high risk of exposure from Web-based malware. Companies within that sector have a 189 percent higher risk than other sectors of the economy, according to the security firm's findings. The pharmaceutical and chemicals industries have the second highest risk of exposure, and the construction and engineering sectors followed at 181 and 144 percent, respectively.

Thu, 23 Oct 08
New MMO: A Longer Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away ...
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64906.html
Game developers LucasArts and BioWare announced Tuesday they have joined forces to create a new, massively multiplayer online PC game. "Star Wars: The Old Republic" is a story-driven game based on the popular sci-fi world created by George Lucas. The two companies divulged a handful of details at a press event held at LucasArts' headquarters in San Francisco. No release date was given. However, the MMO partners did say that the game is set roughly 350 years after the time of "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic," a previously released game.

Thu, 23 Oct 08
Microsoft's Chinese Folly
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64902.html
Microsoft has angered Chinese computer users with its latest antipiracy move. On Tuesday, during its Global Anti-Piracy Day, Microsoft turned Windows Genuine Advantage loose on the Chinese people. Other users worldwide are familiar with WGA, which famously labeled legitimate users as pirates and disabled some features of their operating systems. One Chinese user complained that Microsoft had no right to hijack his computer. Another, a lawyer, actually filed an official complaint against Microsoft for hacking, and called Microsoft the biggest hacker in China.

Thu, 23 Oct 08
SanDisk Shares Dive After Samsung Pulls Offer
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64908.html
Shares of memory chip maker SanDisk plummeted nearly 31 percent to $9.91 per share after the bell on the news that Samsung has dropped its offer to acquire the troubled semiconductor company. Samsung first made its $26 per share offer six months ago in a letter to SanDisk's board of directors, which rejected it as too low. Samsung's decision to rescind its offer follows SanDisk's financial results announcement on Monday. SanDisk reported a third-quarter loss of $155 million, which was well below Wall Street expectations.

Thu, 23 Oct 08
Social Disease Networking Lets People Own Up Anonymously
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64898.html
In an era when people routinely deliver life-changing news via text and e-mail -- "I want a divorce," "I'm pregnant," "You're fired" -- it is perhaps inevitable that a service offering to automate and anonymize a personal, painful message is gaining traction. inSpot, a peer-to-peer, Web-based system, allows people to send free e-cards to sexual partners informing them that they have been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease. The site allows people to send the cards -- up to six at one time -- anonymously if they choose.

Thu, 23 Oct 08
PC Fixer Lassos Customers the Old Fashioned Way: Free Services
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64896.html
Getting reliable and reasonably priced tech support for an ailing computer is time-consuming and frustrating. PC users at home, school and work face malfunctions caused by human error, software failure and hardware configuration glitches. On top of these problems are the increasing daily threats posed by malware and virus infections. The typical home or office user has no IT support to rescue them. A recent report from research firm IDC concludes that although technology is now deeply entwined in consumers' lives, consumer support options have not kept pace with needs.

Thu, 23 Oct 08
Author David Seaman on Putting Buzz to Work
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64890.html
David Seaman defines buzz as the process of getting people to discuss you, your company, or your product ... for free. In his new book, "Dirty Little Secrets of Buzz," Seaman lays out 61 tactics for creating buzz. Seaman shares some of his general secrets for creating buzz, and also provides specific tactics for tech industry firms and executives to create and keep buzz. Buzz is an age-old concept, but the emergence of dynamic social media products such as MySpace, Digg, Reddit and others provide powerful new tools to generate buzz, Seaman said.

Thu, 23 Oct 08
RIM to Set Up Shop on App Store Row
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64899.html
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has announced new plans to expand the development and uptake of applications on its range of smartphones. The plans include a new application storefront, as well as an on-device application center designed to help developers expand their reach while giving consumers greater choice and easier management of their programs, according to RIM. The new store is due to open in March 2009, but developers will be able to submit applications starting in December.

Thu, 23 Oct 08
Flying Through the Sistine Chapel for Homework
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64869.html
A computer simulation mostly used for social networking can be a useful tool for educators. Second Life, the virtual world in which participants create alter egos that explore and interact with one another, can be a useful venue for discussions, classes, conferences and projects, said Betsy Hughes, electronic resources librarian for the Kentucky Virtual Library. Hughes demonstrated the simulation during the first day of the 16th annual Teaching/Learning Conference at Ashland Community and Technical College.

Wed, 22 Oct 08
Opera Wedges Widgets Into Mobile Browser Beta
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64895.html
Opera launched the second beta of its Mobile 9.5 Web browser Monday. The release includes Opera's new Widget feature, which provides one-click Web content access, according to the company. It's only the second 9.5 beta for Windows Mobile phones and the first to add support for UIQ-based handsets. In addition, the Norway-based company released a Software Development Kit with Opera Widget manager that supports Symbian Series 60 mobile phones. The beta release follows on the heels of Mozilla's launch of the alpha version of its Fennec mobile browser.

Wed, 22 Oct 08
The Cyber Doctor's Office: Only the Gowns Are Paper
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64877.html
The traditional doctor's office creates a forest of paperwork. Patient charts, records, bills: They're all par for the course in the medical world. Some doctors and clinics, however, are opting to go paperless, or at least almost paperless. Those who do realize numerous benefits, including greater efficiency, lower costs and heightened security. The trick lies in teaching the old dog of the medical profession new tricks, and not all doctors have wanted to make the switch to digital.

Wed, 22 Oct 08
Google Bares Android's Soul
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64897.html
As promised, search engine giant Google has released the source code for its Android platform -- the open source technology that Google hopes will be adopted by mobile application developers, phone makers and carriers alike. The move comes just a day before the first Android-powered smartphone -- the G1 -- is set to hit U.S. stores. The G1 is available only through T-Mobile. Google first announced its decision to make the Android source code public in November 2007, as part of a larger open source computing and software initiative.

Wed, 22 Oct 08
Apple's New Ads Ridicule Microsoft's New Ads
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64893.html
"Metamarketing" may not exist in Merriam-Webster's files, but for a visual definition, all one has to do is check out the latest Apple ads that are all about -- the latest Microsoft ads. If you're a fan of the "I'm a PC, and I'm a Mac" ads featuring actor/writer John Hodgman as the Microsoft whipping boy and actor Justin Long as the epitome of Apple coolness, then you may have been waiting for this latest shot across Microsoft's bow from Steve Jobs ever since the world's largest software company pulled its expensive Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates commercials out of network rotation.

Wed, 22 Oct 08
Can Merb Knock Ruby Off Its Rails?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64876.html
Engine Yard, a software developer of cloud deployment and open source tools for Ruby on Rails applications, last week released an open source framework for building fast, high-performance Ruby applications. Called "Merb," the programming tool is similar to Ruby on Rails. Merb is an MVC framework. It features a modular -- rather than monolithic -- architecture with minimal, clean core code that's simple, organized and easy to extend, according to Engine Yard. "We built Merb as a new way to do things faster," Yehuda Katz, maintainer of the Merb Project, told LinuxInsider.

Wed, 22 Oct 08
iPod Accessories for Health Nuts
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64868.html
The iPod is clearly the ultimate exercise accessory. Not only does it play music, but it also plays podcasts, videos and audio books. So if Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" won't get your heart rate up while jogging, certainly most any audio book by master of horror Stephen King will. A study from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia has confirmed that those who listened to music while going hard on an exercise bike for 10 minutes pedaled 11 percent farther than those who listened to silence or static for the same amount of time.

Wed, 22 Oct 08
Android Market Gears Up for Battle
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64889.html
Google's Android Market is seeing some changes in the final hours before the phone's debut. Many of the apps that had been added to the storefront disappeared this week, and a handful of big-name offerings popped up in their places. Imeem, Shazam and MySpace are among the services with applications now available. The first Android-powered phone, T-Mobile's G1, is set to launch Wednesday. The phone's seen plenty of hype and speculation leading up to its release, and app availability is certainly an area the industry's been watching.

Wed, 22 Oct 08
Will Opening Code Keep Symbian Out in Front?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64887.html
Users of the Symbian mobile phone operating system, meeting in London this week, hope that making the software freely available will help it regain momentum in the battle with new rivals like Apple and Google. The two-day conference is the first since Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, announced in June it would buy out its partners in UK-based Symbian for $410 million and make its software royalty-free to all phone makers. Nokia decided to set up the not-for-profit Symbian Foundation and make the 10-year old operating system open source and free from the first half of 2009.

Wed, 22 Oct 08
Flurry Sees Analytics Opportunity in Blizzard of Mobile Apps
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64881.html
As more and more consumers download smartphone applications, it's become increasingly vital for developers, phone makers and wireless carriers to have a deeper understanding of how customers interact with them. That's where a company like Flurry comes in. The San Francisco-based startup has developed software that gives demographic information about mobile application consumers -- and Flurry will offer its analytics software for free once it's ready for the market in late 2008.

Tue, 21 Oct 08
Study Underscores Family Value of Technology
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64874.html
The to-do list for the modern family: E-mail grocery list to hubby; Text oldest daughter re: pick up from soccer practice?; Call mother-in-law's cell re: Thanksgiving; Spend time on Webkins with youngest. If these items show up on your cell phone or PC calendars, congratulations. Your family is using technology to stay close and connected, according to a new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The survey of 2,252 adults breaks with the stereotype of cell phones and computers fragmenting the traditional, two-parent, one-or-two child family.

Tue, 21 Oct 08
Intel Gives a Walking Tour of Moorestown
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64873.html
Intel showed off its latest platform aimed at mobile Internet devices Sunday at the company's Developer Forum in Taipei, Taiwan. Dubbed "Moorestown," Intel said it expects to ship the platform in 2009 or 2010. "Moorestown is the first ultra mobile platform and is much, much better than Atom on current consumption," said Ian Lao, an InStat analyst. Atom offers a decent level of power consumption by itself, Lao told TechNewsWorld. The Moorestown platform consists of Intel's system-on-chip, codenamed "Lincroft."

Tue, 21 Oct 08
Security Freebies for a Shrinking Budget
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64840.html
Some people say that there's nothing worse than a sour economy. I, for one, don't agree. What could possibly be worse, you ask? Simple: a bad economy in the middle of a budget cycle. Securing funding for technology projects is hard enough nowadays, but IT security projects have it even harder. Try selling your management on an application security overhaul the day after the Dow closes down 500 points -- you'll get better traction wearing grease-bottomed shoes. It's a reality of human nature that during a downturn, belts tighten.

Tue, 21 Oct 08
Will Motorola Take Android Down Social Path?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64872.html
Motorola is reportedly working to create its first Android-based smartphone. The first phone based on Google's open mobile operating system -- T-Mobile's G1 -- will show up Oct. 22, and Motorola will apparently be joining the party at an undisclosed later date. Still, a fashionably late entrance could be just fine: Motorola seems to be betting on a slicker design and social networking features to make sure it doesn't leave the party alone. More specifically, Motorola's Android phone is expected to boast a touchscreen as well as a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

Tue, 21 Oct 08
SanDisk, Toshiba Deal Addresses Memory Chip Glut
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64871.html
Memory chip maker SanDisk announced Monday it will sell a large chunk of its business to Toshiba for about $1 billion. The deal comes at a time when the market for memory chips faces severe oversupply. This is "a multiyear partnership and reflects a couple of different joint ventures," said Ryan Donovan, a SanDisk spokesperson. "We're restructuring the joint ventures in order to sell about 30 percent of our manufacturing capacity to Toshiba."

Tue, 21 Oct 08
Linux Gains Flash, Ubuntu Gains Wikipedia - but Can They Change the World?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64864.html
It was a good week for Linux last week, as it began its 18th year with two significant coups. Generating the most excitement, perhaps, was the long-awaited release on Wednesday of Adobe Flash Player 10, now available -- for the first time ever -- in a variety of convenient packaging formats for Linux. Finally, a seat at the table! "It is great to see Adobe taking this step, which should make it easier on new Linux users," wrote Thomas Teisberg on the Linux Loop.

Tue, 21 Oct 08
Apple and Google Try to Remap Laptop, Smartphone Landscape
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64848.html
I was tempted to pick FUD as a topic and talk about how McCain's use of it killed his campaign. However, last week we had two major launches, one of which was Apple releasing its latest notebooks and embracing graphics as a defining feature but avoiding Blu-ray and HDMI. Apple works to drive the markets it occupies and is successful more often than not, but Google's Android launch is an attempt to dispute Apple's iPhone leadership and perhaps leapfrog Apple into dominance of the smartphone segment.

Tue, 21 Oct 08
The iPhone's Road to the Office
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64853.html
Kevin Willis, the retired basketball center turned entrepreneur, gave up on the BlackBerry and depends on Apple's iPhone to stay in touch with buyers, suppliers and the high-profile clients who wear his custom jeans. "It does everything I need a phone to do for me and my business," said Willis, 46, who left the National Basketball Association last year after more than two decades and now helps run Willis & Walker clothing company in Atlanta. That's just what Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs wants to hear.

Tue, 21 Oct 08
Social Networking: Still Challenged by Enterprise Complexity
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64856.html
Despite how quickly social networking is becoming integrated in enterprises, it still isn't scaling to meet the most complex problems faced today. The well-known success stories of customer service being made more accountable and responsive are emanating out of how @ComCastCares, @JetBlue, @SouthwestAir and other companies are using Twitter as a means to better solve customer problems. Before social networking, these customers would be relegated to workflows that treated customers more like cattle than people who made paychecks possible.

Mon, 20 Oct 08
OLEDs: Shedding New Light on Illumination
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64797.html
On a bank of the Mohawk River, a windowless industrial building of corrugated steel hides something that could make floor lamps, bedside lamps, wall sconces and nearly every other household lamp obsolete. It's a machine that prints lights. The size of a semitrailer, it coats an 8-inch wide plastic film with chemicals, then seals them with a layer of metal foil. Apply electric current to the resulting sheet, and it lights up with a blue-white glow. You could tack that sheet to a wall, wrap it around a pillar or even take a translucent version and tape it to your windows.

Mon, 20 Oct 08
Why We'll All Soon Forget About Google's Android
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64863.html
Jui Tan, a partner for BlueRun Ventures who is based in Beijing, happened to be in Silicon Valley for a meeting a couple of weeks ago when Google finally unveiled the first Android mobile phone. The international mobile market is a main focus for Tan and BlueRun. Which is why, when I asked him for this thoughts on Android, I was surprised that he shrugged and said: "Coming to Silicon Valley [that] week was the first time I heard about it."

Sun, 19 Oct 08
Analog's Long Kiss Goodnight
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64819.html
Sometimes, in the decades after he came home from World War II, it seemed as if the movie camera was surgically attached to Christoffel Teeuwissen's hand. He carried it everywhere, trained it on everything. When they widened the street in front of his house in Florida, there he was. When a septic tank was installed in West Virginia, there he was. High school football games, construction sites, the building of a swimming pool -- there he was, camera in hand. Film ebbed into video, and he kept recording.

Sun, 19 Oct 08
Android's Somewhat Auspicious Debut
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64865.html
This year's second-most anticipated cell phone, the T-Mobile G1, is significant not because it's elegant or stylish like the most anticipated phone, the iPhone 3G, but because of what's inside. It's the first phone with Android, an open source mobile operating system largely developed by Google that will ship with other phones in the future. For that reason and the inclusion of Google's core services, some people call the G1 the "Google phone."

Sun, 19 Oct 08
Internet Congestion: ISPs Don Traffic Cop Uniforms
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64861.html
Anyone who's used popular P2P applications such as BitTorrent, Gnutella or Limewire has probably been plagued by network slowdowns that make sharing heavy media files a time-consuming endeavor. However, a consortium of technologists at the Distributed Computing Industry Association has found a way to alleviate Internet network congestion created by P2P applications. In fact, this new technology will soon exit the testing phase. There's just one problem: Broadband providers such as Comcast, Verizon and AT&T may be shy about actually implementing it.

Sun, 19 Oct 08
Backup iPhone Battery Good for Hours of Power
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64827.html
Perhaps the worst thing about my iPhone 3G -- if there is a worst thing about it -- is the abysmal battery life. Given the way I use it -- with 3G turned on, Bluetooth turned on, WiFi turned on, plus making and receiving calls all day long and often playing iPhone games or reading text between calls -- it's no surprise that even if my battery is fully charged at dawn, it is nearly depleted by mid-afternoon. I've got iPhone battery chargers everywhere -- on my desk, on my nightstand and in my car -- and I still run out of juice occasionally.

Sat, 18 Oct 08
iGoogle Limbers Up With New Flexibility Features
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64858.html
Google has rolled out a new, bigger viewing feature to its iGoogle custom home page builder app. iGoogle basically lets users select and move little gadgets -- which are miniature, modular applications that provide news feeds, comics, Gmail access, games, weather, movie listings, etc. -- anywhere they want on their iGoogle home pages. The new feature is called "canvas view," and users to take an application from a simple list or snippet to an entire page.

Sat, 18 Oct 08
Broadcasters Air White Space Grievances
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64860.html
The Federal Communications Commission continues to receive plenty of static from both sides of the television white space debate. Last month it was Google cofounder Larry Page raising allegations of rigged FCC testing of white spaces prototype devices. Now, the National Association of Broadcasters claims that FCC chairman Kevin Martin didn't correctly read his own engineers' data when he threw his support behind such devices and scheduled the issue for a Nov. 4 commission vote.

Sat, 18 Oct 08
Scooping the Competition in the Digital Age
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64841.html
One of the books that had a big impact on me during my larval stage as a journalist was Dan Rather's "The Camera Never Blinks." The memoir was of Rather's experiences as a truly trailblazing and courageous TV reporter, not Rather the lightning-rod anchor with the southern-fried election night phraseology. Here is local Houston reporter Rather clinging to a tree in the winds of Hurricane Carla and getting the attention of CBS News; here's Dallas bureau chief Rather getting a priest at Parkland Hospital to confirm that President Kennedy had died.

Sat, 18 Oct 08
No 'Halo' Effect - September Game Sales Slump
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64859.html
U.S. video games sales were down slightly in September, according to data from research firm NPD Group. Sales of hardware, software and accessories dropped 7 percent from the year-ago period to $1.27 billion. "This is the first true monthly decline the industry has experienced since March of 2006. It's important to keep in mind, however, that this month's 7 percent decline is against a month that itself was up 75 percent from the prior September," said Anita Frazier, an NPD analyst.

Sat, 18 Oct 08
Economic Gloom, Presidential Politics Collide With Tech
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64852.html
eBay came through with a profitable third quarter, but don't expect such good news in the coming months. Its earnings were almost 1 and a half billion dollars better than Q3 of last year, but the total sum of all transactions on the auction site actually went down one percent. That's a first. It's also gotten itself into a somewhat standoffish predicament with some of its smaller sellers. It increased their fees and strictly curtailed what they're allowed to say about the customers they do business with. Then there's the fact that other sites are offering increasingly noticeable competition.

Sat, 18 Oct 08
State Voting Info Web Sites Often Fail Constituents
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64854.html
It has been eight years since the 2000 presidential election revealed the many flaws that existed in the mechanics of U.S. voting systems. Despite that debacle, many states have not made even basic improvements to assist voters -- such as providing user-friendly Web sites that tell them how to register and where to go to vote. A new study has found that many state election Web sites are too difficult for voters to find and use. Few even provide such fundamental information as whether a person is registered and what will be on the ballot.

Sat, 18 Oct 08
Cheer Up: There's a Silver Lining for Tech
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64847.html
Chipmaker Intel said this week that despite its record $10.2 billion in revenue for the third quarter, the company is worried that the global economic crisis will affect future performance. Despite such a general malaise across the industry, however, there is some very good news on the tech front. Buried under the cloud of economic fears, bandwidth prices for backbone transit are declining across the globe. This means that the high-speed commercial data services that we all rely upon are getting cheaper, which may also give a boost to the growing Internet video industry.

Sat, 18 Oct 08
Investing in a Greener Future: Consumers' True Colors
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64849.html
What a difference a few years make. Back when Al Gore ran for president in 2000, experts and laypeople alike engaged in lively debates about whether climate change was real or imagined. Two elections later -- after a mammoth public education effort by that same Al Gore -- most people believe that the globe is indeed warming up. The problem remains what to do about it. Are we entering an era in which a product's green credentials will be as important as its reliability or ease of use? Not exactly.

Sat, 18 Oct 08
Bloggers Sink Their Teeth Into Apple's New MacBooks
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64845.html
The dominating Apple-focused blog traffic this week has been -- not surprisingly -- all about the new MacBook lineup. Apple introduced the new notebooks at a special event Tuesday, and while online chatter has been all over the map, Apple's new Nvidia graphics architecture, the new single-piece aluminum design, pricing, glass trackpad, and LED-backlit displays make up the high points of the conversation. Apple's new processor and graphics architecture lets the company continue to use Intel's processors for primary CPU functions.

Sat, 18 Oct 08
The Untapped Open Source Online Gaming Opportunity
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64843.html
Open source software is often an unsung hero in the online gaming universe. Game engines are complex applications with core functionalities provided by numerous modules. These include a rendering engine for 2-D or 3-D graphics and a physics engine or collision detection and response calculator. In addition, game developers have to provide for sound, scripting, animation, artificial intelligence, networking, streaming, memory management, threading and a scene graph.

Fri, 17 Oct 08
Adobe Adds 3-D Dev Tools to Flash
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64842.html
Adobe released the 10th version of its Flash Player Wednesday. Flash Player 10 includes new features and enhancements that give Web developers greater creative control when designing their interactive content and video. "This is going to be a particularly fun release for the Flash community, just because it enables such expressive capabilities that are going to really bring a lot of the 'flash' back into Flash," said Tom Barclay, senior product manager of the platform business unit at Adobe. Adobe has alternated with previous releases between adding features and functionality.

Fri, 17 Oct 08
Brain Circuitry Research Offers Hope of Paralysis Cure
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64846.html
Research conducted at the University of Washington in Seattle suggests that clinical applications that can assist people paralyzed by spinal cord injuries or neurological diseases are perhaps five years away from realization. In a study published by Nature, scientists Eberhard E. Fetz, Chet T. Moritz and Steve I. Perlmutter demonstrated for the first time that a direct artificial connection from the brain to muscles could restore voluntary movement in monkeys whose arms were temporarily anesthetized.

Fri, 17 Oct 08
Networks, Apps and Performance: Getting Data to Do Its Job
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64825.html
As more business-critical applications are being deployed, organizations are increasingly looking to gain visibility into network and application performance and, more importantly, improve usability of this information. Visibility into network and application performance has been identified as one of the top concerns for end-user organizations in the coming year, according to the September Aberdeen report, "The Value of Network and Application Visibility."

Fri, 17 Oct 08
Android: The Good, The Bad and That Pesky Kill Switch
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64838.html
Google's first Android phone has finally made its way into long-waiting hands. The T-Mobile G1 device, expected to be in stores within the coming week, is drawing mixed reviews from early users. The closest thing to a sweeping overview might be that it is a powerful device with a few flaws but plenty of positives and potential, some of which isn't yet achieved. One realization getting ample attention is the existence of a so-called "kill switch" -- an option Google retains to remotely disable any Android application on a phone at its own discretion.

Fri, 17 Oct 08
Virtualization, Cloud Computing Top Gartner's Tech Trends List
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64837.html
Gartner has released a list of the top 10 technologies that will dominate the landscape for the next three years. The release comes at a jittery time for technology stocks and early stage startups alike, with all the major market indexes on a downward spiral. The list also comes just one day after the research firm cut its 2009 outlook on growth in IT spending from 5.8 percent to 2.3 percent. Despite the turmoil, Gartner's list suggests that innovation in the technology sector never really stops.

Fri, 17 Oct 08
Devs Test Drive Firefox 3.1 Beta
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64836.html
Mozilla on Tuesday released the first beta of the next version of its browser, Firefox 3.1. The beta includes an enhanced Smart Location Bar, a new tab interface and what should be a faster JavaScript engine, dubbed "TraceMonkey." Developers also included improved Web standards in the Gecko layout engine; added support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties as well as support for new Web technologies such as video and audio elements, the W3C Geolocation API, Web worker threads, SVG transforms and offline applications, according to Mozilla.

Fri, 17 Oct 08
Nokia Q3 Earnings Slide, Market Share Dips
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64844.html
Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia reported a 30 percent decrease in third-quarter earnings and a 5 percent drop in sales on Thursday. However, the company was able to improve gross margins at a time when the global economy is faltering and spending on consumer electronics is decreasing in the United States and in Western Europe, two of Nokia's biggest markets. Nokia announced 1.09 billion euros in earnings during the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from 1.56 billion euros during the same period a year ago.

Fri, 17 Oct 08
Cloud Computing: The Dark and Stormy Side
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64831.html
A number of leading authorities have been urging caution on the adoption of Web-based services as a new wave of vendors unveil cloud initiatives. Cloud computing involves computing resources hosted in an off-premise "cloud" rather than an in-house computer room. The system offers organizations a low cost alternative to buying and maintaining a computer infrastructure and allows users to access the applications from their mobile, anywhere and anytime.

Fri, 17 Oct 08
Singin' the Blu-ray Blues
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64824.html
After Tuesday's launch of the new MacBooks, Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and Phil Schiller sat on high stools on stage to answer questions. Asked about Blu-ray, Jobs said, "You know, Blu-ray is a bag of hurt." That's probably more of a positioning statement for Apple products and strategy than a real indictment of the Blu-ray technology, and therein lies a problem. Brad Brooks, Microsoft's corporate vice president, Windows Consumer Product Marketing, made at least one good point in his "Apple tax" extravaganza.

Fri, 17 Oct 08
Google Appeals Image Search Ban in Germany
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64835.html
Google has appealed two court decisions that could ban it and other search engines from operating image searches in Germany, a spokesperson for the Internet giant said Thursday. Last month a district court in Hamburg ruled in favor of two men who claim search engines that pull pictures from their Web sites infringe on their copyrights. The complaints lodged by Michael Bernhard, a photographer, and Thomas Horn, who owns the rights to several frames of a comic called "Psykoman," resulted in a ruling that could oblige Google and three other search engines to stop displaying images.

Thu, 16 Oct 08
Researchers: Navigating the Web Boots Up Your Brain
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64830.html
Searching the Internet and reading things online are more than just a way to pass the time, according to a new study released by the University of California, Los Angeles. A research team headed by Dr. Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, found that when Web-savvy older adults surf the Internet, it can trigger key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. In short, the findings indicate that searching the Web may help stimulate and possibly improve brain function.

Thu, 16 Oct 08
New MacBooks: What's Cool and What's Conspicuously Absent
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64832.html
Apple's MacBook line had been getting a little gray around the edges, and the company's refresh Tuesday introduced a lot more than a new silver aluminum sheen with glossy black highlights. In an oxymoronic way, though, everything is different about the new MacBooks, and yet they remain remarkably similar to previous generations. Let me explain. I could start with the new design, but that's not the most important new change. What's bigger is the introduction of a new processor and graphics architecture.

Thu, 16 Oct 08
Are Web Video Providers on the Wrong Track?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64811.html
The market to distribute premium video content -- mainly TV episodes and feature-length movies -- is currently going through one of its most dynamic periods, as experimentation with business models, delivery mechanisms and consumer tastes is in full swing. In the age of online entertainment, consumers get virtually unlimited choice of content and the means to entertain themselves. They can stream their favorite episode of "Lost" from ABC.com, watch full-length movies on Hulu, or download episodes of shows like "The Office" from NBCDirect, and they can do it all for free.

Thu, 16 Oct 08
DMCA Comes Back to Bite McCain
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64828.html
YouTube has pulled some videos posted by the McCain campaign after receiving complaints from news outlets that they were violating copyright. Here's a case in which YouTube has fallen victim to its own fear -- the fear of being sued by media companies as large as itself -- and the Republican presidential candidate has fallen victim to his own votes. McCain's campaign has sent a letter to YouTube asking that its campaign videos be restored on the site.

Thu, 16 Oct 08
A Heads-Up on Headphones and Your Hearing
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64815.html
As users plug into their iPods and iPhones for more hours a day, the choice of headphones is as much about keeping your hearing in top form as it is about sound quality. That's why many are looking at features that let them pump down the volume without sacrificing the sound levels they have come to love. There is no question that your run-of-the-mill earbuds and over-the-ear headphones have been getting a lot of bad press in terms of their impact on hearing loss. The main issue around hearing loss is more about the length of exposure.

Thu, 16 Oct 08
It's Time to Hack the Economy
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64813.html
The Hacker Underground is dead. Long live the Hacker Underground! In the most recent issue of Phrack Magazine, I read an article titled "The Underground Myth," that makes a number of astute points about the demise of the hacking scene of the last few decades. The author describes a technical landscape in which the technology security industry and a diminishing number of obvious exploits conspired to destroy the scene as it existed throughout the 1980s and '90s.

Thu, 16 Oct 08
Despite Strong Q3, Market Tumult Drags Intel Down
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64826.html
Semiconductor chip giant Intel reported better-than-expected financial results for the third quarter late Tuesday, but it wasn't enough to buoy its stock or inject any new life into the broader chip market. Net income at Intel rose 12 percent year-over-year to $2.01 billion. However, top-line revenue rose just 1 percent to $10.2 billion. Intel forecast fourth-quarter sales of $10.1 billion to $10.9 billion, which is in line with Wall Street expectations of $10.77 billion. The company also forecast its gross margins would remain relatively flat at 59 percent.

Thu, 16 Oct 08
Security Wonks Warn of Cell Phone Zombie Uprising
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64822.html
Some of the most vicious Internet predators are hackers who infect thousands of PCs with special viruses and lash the machines together into "botnets" to pump out spam or attack other computers. Now security researchers say cell phones, and not just PCs, are the next likely conscripts into the automated armies. The mobile phone as zombie computer is one possibility envisioned by security researchers from Georgia Tech in a new report coming out Wednesday. The report identifies the growing power of cell phones to open a new avenue of attack for hackers.

Thu, 16 Oct 08
Geekonomics Author David Rice: 'They're Not Trying to Make Bad Software'
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64810.html
"Geekonomics is really about the economics of a technology ... and the positive and negative impact on us." That's according to David Rice, author of "Geekonomics: The Real Cost of Insecure Software." In his book, Rice discusses how software defects severely impact the U.S. economy and national security. In an ECT News Network Podcast Series interview, Rice lays out some of the key points in his new book. One of those points is that perfection is impossible. So it's not about creating perfect software.

Thu, 16 Oct 08
NASA to Fix Hubble's Computer Hiccups via Remote Tech Support
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64821.html
NASA engineers say they know how to fix the broken Hubble Space Telescope: They have to wake up computer parts that have been sleeping in space for more than 18 years. On Wednesday, NASA will start a complicated remote-control fix of a major glitch that stopped the telescope from capturing and beaming down pictures. Hubble should be able to send stunning astronomy photos back to Earth by Friday, officials said. The abrupt failure more than two weeks ago caused NASA to postpone its Hubble upgrade mission from October to sometime next February or so.

Wed, 15 Oct 08
Motorola Looks to Touch Off Comeback With New Krave
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64814.html
Verizon and Motorola launched another touchscreen wireless phone into the market Tuesday. However, unlike other touch screen handsets, the Krave ZN4 is a flip phone with a new spin -- a transparent plastic cover. That design feature provides users with one-touch access to photos, the music player, the phone's messaging center, V Cast Mobile TV and other features regardless of whether the cell phone cover is open or closed. The Krave is an update on the Ming handset Motorola launched in Asia two years ago.

Wed, 15 Oct 08
Apple Makes Over MacBook Line Inside and Out
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64816.html
The rumors about Apple's new "brick" manufacturing process, in which the chassis for a MacBook notebook is carved out of a single slab of aluminum, are basically true. Apple's latest upgrade to its MacBook and MacBook Pro family are now stiffer and more durable than ever. "Apple has invented a whole new way of building notebooks from a single block of aluminum," noted Apple CEO Steve Jobs at a Tuesday event at which the company unveiled its new notebooks.

Wed, 15 Oct 08
Greening Data Center App Delivery
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64796.html
Even though there is much debate raging over the impact of human activities on our environment, a diverse group of industry leaders, government agencies, environmental groups and others do agree on one thing -- that energy efficiency is the most significant issue facing technology providers and their customers today. This is due to exponential increases in power and cooling costs over the past few years, and to customer demand for concentrated computing that is outpacing the availability of clean, reliable power in numerous locations worldwide.

Wed, 15 Oct 08
OpenOffice 3 Debuts to Server-Crashing Demand
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64809.html
The third full OpenOffice suite is out in the wild and attracting plenty of attention. OpenOffice.org 3.0 was released Monday -- and already, demand has been high enough to overwhelm the download servers and cause them to crash. The software suite, designed as an open source alternative to Microsoft Office, offers everything from word processing and spreadsheet creation to presentation and databasing tools. Added in the 3.0 release is a host of extensions to allow a more customized user experience.

Wed, 15 Oct 08
Notebook Mania: Has Apple Forgotten the Mini?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64804.html
On Tuesday, Apple will hold a snazzy press conference to unveil its latest line of MacBooks and MacBook Pros, with the slim possibility of some sort of new notebook model. The notebook market has indubitably taken off as consumers replace desktops with increasingly powerful portables that can fold in half. But what gives with Apple's other small computer, the Mac mini? The last time Apple updated its smallest Mac was Aug. 7, 2007 -- well over 14 months ago. If you think about it, 14 months in "computer" time without a single update is like 1 million years in geologic time.

Wed, 15 Oct 08
Cisco Stirs Up AXP Interest With Dev Contest
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64801.html
Cisco Systems announced on Tuesday the extension of its Application Extension Platform as well as a contest for developers to provide new applications. The Cisco AXP is an open, Linux-based hardware module for the Cisco Integrated Services Router. Its Linux-based integration environment comes with a downloadable software development kit. Cisco also announced two new AXP solution partners. Tiani-Spirit has developed AXP imaging formats for the healthcare industry to replace proprietary imaging formats for patient diagnosis and treatment.

Wed, 15 Oct 08
NComputing Undercuts OLPC With Thin-Client Approach
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64807.html
A Silicon Valley company is claiming a major victory in its efforts to sell computers to schools that might otherwise be enticed by low-cost laptops such as the green-and-white XO from One Laptop Per Child or Intel's Classmate PC. NComputing said Monday it would be providing computers in 5,000 schools in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Because of the particulars of NComputing's system, the company says 1.8 million students will have access to the machines to learn computing skills and productivity software.

Wed, 15 Oct 08
Joost Relaunches TV Portal, No Software Required
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64806.html
Forget about the boob tube. Places to watch TV on the Internet are proliferating, from NBC Universal and News Corp.'s Hulu to Joost -- a site that plans to relaunch Tuesday to make it a more interactive experience. Joost's relaunch, which will let users watch shows like "Friends" or "The Daily Show" directly on the Web, comes as YouTube also is beginning to offer full-length, commercial-supported television shows in addition to the shorter clips it's best known for. Previously, Joost users had to download the site's free software to be able to watch its programming.

Tue, 14 Oct 08
CBS Goes YouTubing With Full-Length TV Shows
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64800.html
YouTube and CBS have teamed up to deliver new full-length TV programming delivered via YouTube's new Theater View style, which provides a larger video image. YouTube is testing the new format, so it may see some tweaks in the near future; however, the move represents a significant departure from the short-clip, user-generated content that turned the YouTube brand into an international video sharing powerhouse. In addition to streaming proprietary, full-length TV episodes, YouTube and CBS are running in-stream advertisements, including pre-, mid-, and post-rolls.

Tue, 14 Oct 08
FCC Tosses Technical Objections to National Wireless Broadband Plan
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64802.html
While the communications industry waits for the FCC to fill in the blanks on a white spaces policy, the commissioners are going forward with another plan that would provide free wireless Internet access throughout the U.S. Late last Friday, the commission released a report showing test results on claims that opening up a narrow part of the spectrum dedicated to free wireless broadband access would interfere with existing carriers' nearby frequencies. The tests showed that didn't happen, shooting down technical arguments made by T-Mobile USA.

Tue, 14 Oct 08
AI Program Texts Its Way to Turing Test Award
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64799.html
Researchers at the University of Reading in England awarded the 18th annual Loebner Prize Sunday. The competition tests the conversational capabilities of artificial intelligence using text messages, an examination known as the "Turing Test." The winner of the bronze medal -- the highest award given to date -- was Fred Roberts of Hamburg, Germany, whose Elbot program was pegged as the best of the five participants by a panel of 12 judges. Elbot managed to convince three of the judges that they could be texting with a human, not a machine.

Tue, 14 Oct 08
MySpace Gets Up Front and Personal With Targeted Ads
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64803.html
MySpace has launched a new online display advertising tool for small businesses and individuals called "MyAds." The service is similar to the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based social network's ad platform for large businesses, HyperTargeting, which made its debut in November 2007. Like HyperTargeting, MyAds makes it possible to create ads geared toward specific audiences for placement on News Corp.-owned MySpace, as well as on other sites.

Tue, 14 Oct 08
Network Access Control: To Security and Beyond
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64730.html
For end users, Network Access Control should be transparent, as if it's not there. Depending on a company's internal security policies, systems are checked quietly in the background for their level of compliance. NAC checks for current patch levels and functioning, up-to-date antivirus and personal firewall software. Only when something is wrong should users be made aware that their systems aren't in compliance. If something is wrong, typically, users will be prompted to an intranet portal where the system is brought up to appropriate security levels.

Tue, 14 Oct 08
Can Android Blow Wireless Industry Wide Open?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64795.html
A research report is throwing more fuel on the prerelease fire surrounding T-Mobile's G1 phone using Google's Android open source operating system. "Success for Android has Little to Do with User Acceptance," claims the ABI Research headline, and director Kevin Burden writes that Android can help sell a lot of smartphones only if carriers and manufacturers "recognize the value to their own business models of using standard platforms."

Tue, 14 Oct 08
AMD, HP and How Crisis Can Drive Major Changes
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64792.html
Crisis breeds change, and given people don't like change, this can result in market shifts in months that otherwise might have taken years. This week, three things happened that I can tie back into this theme. AMD, driven by crisis, provided a strong example of how the U.S. could address its financial crisis by changing what was a going-out-of-business disadvantage into a potential competitive advantage. I attended the HP Imaging and Printing conference and became convinced that the lack of a crisis may cause HP to miss what appears to be a clear change in its industry.

Tue, 14 Oct 08
At 17, Is Linux Still Wet Behind the Ears?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64793.html
It was a big week for our favorite technology last week, as true believers no doubt already know. Not only was Linux 2.6.27 released -- causing no small amount of discussion on Slashdot -- but the operating system itself also turned 17 years old. The Linux Journal article noting that momentous day had already received well more than a thousand Diggs by Friday, in addition to nearly 300 comments in the Slashdot world and plenty more beyond.

Tue, 14 Oct 08
Can the 'Funnest iPod Ever' Take on Nintendo and Sony?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64785.html
This season, Apple has been marketing the iPod touch as "the funnest iPod ever." Instead of leading with music or even a media experience, the latest television ad shows game after game being played on the iPod's ample screen -- a motorcycle chasing game, that funky monkey in the ball, and others. The iTunes App Store has gobs of games. Plus, the multi-touch screen and accelerometer on the iPod touch allows for a wide variety of playful fun. However, can the iPod touch really play in the same league as Nintendo and Sony?

Mon, 13 Oct 08
When Digital TV Is In, Portable TV Is Out
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64769.html
In an era of dazzling battery-powered portable devices including iPods, computers and cell phones, it's hard to imagine what it's like to be unable to catch the news and entertainment anytime and anywhere we want. But millions of people who own portable televisions, including those who depend on them when they flee their homes or lose power during hurricanes and other emergencies, may soon return to the dark ages. Virtually all of the nation's 7 million battery-powered TVs receive analog signals.

Mon, 13 Oct 08
A Virtual Path Into a Once-Forbidden City
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64789.html
Rishi Patel had an epiphany when he saw "Toy Story" more than a decade ago. The Smyrna, Ga., resident has long been interested in merging science and art -- he graduated with a physics degree from the University of Georgia and enjoyed making clay models as a child -- and the Pixar movie drove the point home. "When I saw that, I really saw the potential for 3-D," he said. Now a designer at IBM, Patel headed a 12-member team that recently finished an ambitious two-year project: a virtual recreation of China's Forbidden City that opened to the public Oct. 10.

Mon, 13 Oct 08
iPhone, Frienemy Mine
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64788.html
This is the fifth time I've rewritten this article. I didn't like the first four efforts because they made me sound like either a puling Apple hater or an Apple apologist. I like to think that I'm neither. When Apple does something good then I should write about it as quickly as I might if they've done something stupid. At least, that's what I've aimed for. The reason I'm having such a hard time committing to what I want to say is that, in essence, I'm not sure what it is I want to say.

Sun, 12 Oct 08
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Vista's 'Unqualified Success'
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64723.html
As chief executive of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer heads a company that's not just a PC software giant but also a growing presence in the broader consumer electronics industry. In less than 10 years, Microsoft has become a major player in video games, mobile phones, set-top boxes and Internet search and advertising. However, the company is nowhere near as dominant in consumer electronics as it is in operating systems. It has spent billions of dollars establishing its various electronics businesses with only limited success.

Sun, 12 Oct 08
IBM Hits Its Stride in Unix Server Race
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64779.html
"It is a race, and we're not slowing down." That is how Ross A. Mauri, the general manager of IBM's Power Systems product series, describes competing against Sun Microsystems and HP for the Unix server market. IBM announced a number of new products and upgrades Tuesday to help keep its current lead in revenue -- 35 percent of the market in the second quarter of 2008 compared to Sun's 29 percent and HP's 26. The Power Systems product line is the latest generation of business computer servers that started with the AS/400 in 1988 in Rochester, Minn.

Sun, 12 Oct 08
Revenge of the Wii, Part 2
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64727.html
Seven years ago, after the release of the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox, it seemed as though Nintendo, once a market leader, would never regain its No. 1 position. The GameCube, which sold a paltry 21.74 million units worldwide, had been a relative dud for the longtime gaming champion. However, undeterred by its third-place position, Nintendo had a plan for the next generation of gaming consoles. Flash forward to 2008: Nintendo has sold some 32.64 million units of the Wii worldwide, according to video game sales tracking firm VG Chartz.

Sat, 11 Oct 08
GeoEye Starts New Earth Photo Album With High-Res Pics
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64783.html
Some five weeks after its launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, GeoEye-1, the satellite developed by aerial and geospatial information provider GeoEye, has signaled back to Earth. GeoEye-1 snapped the first location the satellite saw when the camera door was opened -- Kutztown University, located midway between Reading and Allentown, Penn. Viewed online, the image shows sharper detail than is typical of satellite work: The shot was collected at 0.41-meter ground resolution.

Sat, 11 Oct 08
iSuppli Darkens Semi Outlook
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64790.html
Semiconductor industry watcher iSuppli lowered its 2008 revenue forecast Thursday from 4 percent growth to 3.5 percent. The research firm expects revenue in the chip industry to top US$280.1 billion, roughly $10 billion more than the industry earned in 2007. "Four percent had been our forecast for a while now. Revising down our forecast to 3.5 percent we were recognizing some specific issues in the semiconductor industry that caused us to bring it down," Dale Ford, an iSuppli analyst, told the E-Commerce Times.

Sat, 11 Oct 08
Spontaneous Broken Symmetry, Secret Mac Factories and One-Click Wildebeests: One Weird Week
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64786.html
Outside of the money you pay for Internet access, it still costs nothing to watch YouTube. Technically. But if you have a problem with compulsive shopping, you may want to cut up your credit cards, because Google has figured out a new way to monetize its video-sharing site, and it's actually pretty simple -- if not outright obvious. Say you're watching a music video on YouTube -- you can now click on a link near the viewer window and be taken directly to iTunes to buy that song.

Sat, 11 Oct 08
Should Citizen Journalism Be Placed Under Citizen's Arrest?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64772.html
When does an iReport give CNN's credibility a black eye? When its citizen "journalism" about a Steve Jobs heart attack turns out to be phony. It takes a lot during this Autumn of the Economic Meltdown for an individual company's stock woes to break out from the pack, but an Oct. 3 iReport on CNN.com claiming that Apple's CEO had been rushed to a hospital after suffering a serious heart attack did the trick. Another news Web site, Silicon Alley Insider, ran with the story while waiting for callbacks from Cupertino and Atlanta.

Sat, 11 Oct 08
Who Wants a Cheap(ish) MacBook?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64787.html
Apple has announced it will host an event next week, and the word of the day is "notebooks." Both its MacBook and MacBook Pro lines are about due for some body design tweaks and more powerful engines. Rumors have been running rampant all over the Web for weeks. The latest claims that Apple will introduce a new $800 MacBook. The $800 price point -- a $300 drop from the lowest-end existing MacBook -- is still a rumor, born out of some purported price sheets that Apple may or may not have sent to its retailers.

Sat, 11 Oct 08
RIM Starts a Storm, Spy Photos Whip Up a Hurricane, Woz Rains on iPod
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64780.html
Research In Motion kicked the week off by announcing the new BlackBerry Storm, the company's first touchscreen smartphone, which in turn jump-started the "iPhone Killer" headlines. While the mobile bloggers were busy with that one, traditional Mac lovers have been stoked into a frenzy of anticipation over the new MacBook lineup -- will they come Oct. 14? Are these spy photos real? Fortunately, Apple settled the date speculation with an official invite, so something's definitely coming Oct. 14. Then there was the Woz, who seems to think the iPod is on the way out ...

Sat, 11 Oct 08
Microsoft Aims to Spread BI Throughout the Enterprise
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64784.html
Microsoft gave audience attendees at the 2nd annual Microsoft Business Intelligence conference a sneak preview of its forthcoming SQL Server this week, code named "Kilimanjaro." It was an appropriate venue for its debut, given its increased emphasis on BI. New functional areas of emphasis in the server match Microsoft's vision for BI, which is to make it pervasive throughout the enterprise, Fausto Ibarra, director of product management for SQL Server, told CRM Buyer.

Sat, 11 Oct 08
Laying the GroundWork for Better Systems Monitoring
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64770.html
Founded in 1998, EZ Prints is an Atlanta-based provider of digital image fulfillment technology for retailers, portals, ISPs, digital content owners and professional photo services. About 500 online and offline retailers in the U.S. and Europe, including six of the top 10 online photo sites, use EZ Prints' technology platform to offer services that allow consumers and businesses to personalize digital content. Companies and individuals do this by printing photos, creating apparel, and customizing products from mugs to clocks with content-based images such as corporate logos or family pictures.

Sat, 11 Oct 08
Encrypted Flash Drives Keep Sensitive Data Under Your Thumb
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64782.html
Flash memory drives the size of your thumb are dirt cheap and offer gigabytes of storage. It's tempting to fill one of them with important computer files, clip it to a key chain and hit the road. However, what if you lose it while fumbling for change at Starbucks and the hacker in the corner finds it? This is not a good thing. That's where a new breed of flash drives comes in -- chock full of military-strength encryption and passwords and keypad combinations that must be entered before the data can be accessed.

Sat, 11 Oct 08
Phishers Use Spoofed YouTube Pages as Lures
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64781.html
Savvy Internet users know that downloading unsolicited computer programs is one of the most dangerous things you can do online. It puts you at great risk for a virus or another time bomb from a hacker. However, even some sophisticated surfers could get taken in by a sneaky new attack in which criminals create fake YouTube pages -- dead-on replicas of the real site -- to push their malicious software and make it look like it's safe stuff coming from a trusted source. A program circulating online helps hackers build those fake pages.

Fri, 10 Oct 08
Microsoft Aims for an Experience, Sony Just Wants a Home
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64776.html
Both Microsoft and Sony made news at the Tokyo Game Show Wednesday. Microsoft announced its New Xbox Experience offering, which includes game, TV and movie downloads, as well as a new virtual world for Xbox 360 owners. Sony, meanwhile, announced that Home, its much-delayed virtual world for the PlayStation 3, will be available before the end of the year. Home is currently still in private beta, but according to Abigail Murphy, PR manager of Sony Computer Entertainment America, open beta service is expected to launch within this calendar year.

Fri, 10 Oct 08
Apple Plans MacBook Event as $800 Laptop Rumors Swirl
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64777.html
For months, Apple fans have been salivating over the next generation of MacBook and MacBook Pros. Both the low and high ends of Apple's laptop line have aging designs that by typical Apple standards are in dire need of a refresh. The MacBook Air's clean, thin design may hint at the next generation consumer and workhorse models to come out of Cupertino, Calif. -- and it may be sooner than later. The company sent an invitation to journalists for an Oct. 14 announcement.

Fri, 10 Oct 08
Blacklisting and Whitelisting: Color-Coding Security
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64756.html
For many businesses, keeping computers out of harm's way is a full-time job. IT departments spend increasing amounts of resources keeping out the bad stuff or finding and removing it when malware does slip in from careless users or sloppy adherence to best practices. Viruses, spyware, Trojans and many more unwanted programs can cause serious damage to a computer, or an entire network. The most common prevention method for dealing with malware is the process known as "blacklisting."

Fri, 10 Oct 08
Sputtering Memory Market Prompts Micron to Slash Workforce
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64774.html
Memory chipmaker Micron Technology will cut its global workforce by 15 percent over the next two years due to a massive slowdown in demand for memory chip technology, the Boise, Idaho-based company said Thursday. Micron employs about 22,600 people, and said the cost of restructuring would be about $60 million. In late-day trading Thursday, Micron shares were up 0.8 percent to $3.94. One Wall Street observer said Micron is making the right move by cutting costs. At the root of the problem is a huge oversupply of memory chips, which has led to seven straight quarters of losses at Micron.

Fri, 10 Oct 08
An iPod Buyer's Guide
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64760.html
Let's get one thing straight: You can't go wrong by buying an iPod. Any iPod. But that's not to say the decisions between which iPod to buy aren't hard. In fact, it can be downright tough. The tiny iPod shuffle is awesome for working out, but it lacks a screen. The iPod nano has a screen but lacks applications. The iPod touch has applications but might be too bulky for working out and may lack storage space. The iPod classic has mega storage but no touchscreen joy. For the casual buyer, the choices are enough to drive a person batty.

Fri, 10 Oct 08
Putting Your Trust in the Cloud
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64761.html
Regardless of all its hype, security in cloud computing is not a revolution; rather it's an evolution of the age-old business model of outsourcing. The concept of cloud computing has evolved from the concepts of grid, utility, and SaaS, and these models evolved from the application service provider in the mid-early '90s. The emerging model of cloud computing allows people to tap into a vast network of computers scattered around the world using any type of connected device to analyze an abundance of information on demand.

Fri, 10 Oct 08
Study to Look at Lifestyle Choices Following DNA Discoveries
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64765.html
A Silicon Valley gene-testing startup is responding to criticism that the tests could spur bad health-care choices by teaming up for a broad study of how the results affect behavior. Navigenics charges customers $2,500 to analyze their DNA to assess their risk of developing more than 20 diseases. Several public health officials have said the science on which the tests by Navigenics and other companies are based is too new to be used for making serious medical decisions.

Fri, 10 Oct 08
Face Off: 'NHL 09' vs. 'NHL 2K9'
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64766.html
In the world of sports video games, not much can really change year to year. The game at its core is the same, but it's what video-game developers add that makes it worth spending the cash. Such is the case with season's National Hockey League video games: "NHL 09" from EA Sports and "NHL 2K9" from 2K Sports. And, just like last season, the EA franchise continues to serve as a real fan and player's dream game with intense graphics and great extra features, whereas "NHL 2K9" caters to those looking for a more pick-up-and-play, arcade-style game.

Thu, 9 Oct 08
Creepy Clickjacking Bug Lets Hackers Control Webcams
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64762.html
Software maker Adobe issued a security advisory Tuesday warning users of its Adobe Flash Player about a vulnerability that could expose them to so-called clickjacking attacks. Adobe has rated the issue as "critical." The vulnerability is pervasive, affecting all major browsers including Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox. While Adobe has not issued a patch for the bug, it has included a workaround in the advisory. The company hopes to address the vulnerability in an upcoming Flash Player update, scheduled for release by the end of October.

Thu, 9 Oct 08
RIM Storms In With New Touchscreen Smartphone
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64758.html
A Storm is coming to Verizon Wireless, and it may have the features and functionality to pose a significant challenge for Apple and the iPhone 3G. The carrier unveiled a new touchscreen smartphone Tuesday from Research In Motion, the BlackBerry Storm. "This is an important, important device. It shows how RIM is attempting to expand its market from the corporate enterprise blue pin-striped suit to focus on a larger audience that wants to take advantage of these high-end devices," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president Mobile Strategy at Jupitermedia/Mobiledevicestoday.com.

Thu, 9 Oct 08
YouTube's E-Commerce Play: Watch It, Click It, Buy It
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64757.html
Search engine giant Google has taken yet another step in its effort to monetize YouTube, the online video portal it acquired for $1.65 billion about two years ago. Now, YouTube users can click on advertisement links leading them to products offered for sale at online outlets like Apple's iTunes store and Amazon.com. Here's how it works: Say you're watching a Feist music video and get the sudden urge to own the song. Beneath the usual rate and share options, you'll find direct links to Amazon.com and iTunes where you can purchase a download.

Thu, 9 Oct 08
Cloud Storage, Part 2: The Consumer Data Closet
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64749.html
Cloud storage opportunities for consumers are increasing rapidly. Those looking to store photos, music libraries and other personal data online have a number of choices, including both free and fee-based services. Large-capacity free e-mail services such as Gmail have become personal storage vaults for some users. However, storing data on an e-mail account probably isn't a shrewd move for anyone who has security in mind, said Terrance Bush, spokesperson for Chicago-based FastServers.net.

Thu, 9 Oct 08
Better Late Than Never, Yahoo Debuts Zimbra-Powered Calendar
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64754.html
Yahoo has unveiled a new dynamic calendar service powered by open source developer Zimbra. Yahoo Calendar offers standard Web 2.0 information-sharing options along with an updated drag-and-drop interface and a handful of unique options. The program is available in beta to Yahoo users as of Wednesday. The release, somewhat ironically, marks Yahoo's first update to its online calendar system in a decade and follows Google's Calendar launch by a full two years.

Thu, 9 Oct 08
Intuit Whips Up QuickBooks Accounting 2009 for Mac
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64743.html
Intuit's small-business accounting solution, QuickBooks, has gotten more than just a pretty facelift with its new QuickBooks Accounting 2009 for Mac edition. Not only does the user interface utilize Mac OS X's Leopard look and feel, but it also it now sports handy new features that are exclusive to the Mac platform. Available now, the latest version represents a significant upgrade to the product, many versions of which are designed to let small-business owners get their accounting work done and out of the way as quickly as possible.

Thu, 9 Oct 08
Author Jeff Matsuura on Thomas Jefferson and Patent Trolls
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64742.html
In the old childhood folktales, trolls are big, mean, ugly creatures that live under bridges and exact payments in exchange for allowing travelers to pass. That, according to Jeff Matsuura, is very similar to how patent trolls operate. Matsuura is an intellectual property attorney with the Alliance Law Group, based in Falls Church, Va. He's also the author of the just released book, Jefferson vs. the Patent Trolls: A Populist Vision of Intellectual Property Rights, published by the University of Virginia Press.

Thu, 9 Oct 08
AppDeploy Community Launches Free Windows Installer Tool
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64739.html
AppDeploy, an online community for both systems management professionals and application and computer administrators has released a free software tool called "AppDeploy Repackager." The tool is the industry's first free application dedicated to the complex task of Windows Installer repackaging, according to the company. Software developers use a repackager to generate a custom, silent installer based on changes that are made to a system when installing and configuring software.

Thu, 9 Oct 08
Feds Indict Student in Palin E-Mail Hack
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64751.html
A federal grand jury has indicted the son of a Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker in connection with the hacking of the e-mail account of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. David Kernell, 20, of Knoxville, Tenn., the son of state Rep. Mike Kernell, was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Clifford Shirley, according to a statement from the Justice Department. David Kernell was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Knoxville for intentionally accessing without authorization the e-mail account of Palin, the Justice Department said.

Wed, 8 Oct 08
PC Makers Get Extension on XP Retrofit Option
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64747.html
Microsoft has given its Windows XP operating system another short reprieve. Rather than extending support for the software -- as the software company has done in the past -- this time the extension enables computer makers to continue providing XP discs with systems that are sold pre-loaded with Windows Vista Ultimate and Vista Business. The discs allow users to revert their machines back to Windows XP if they so desire. Hardware makers will also continue selling machines with operating systems that have been downgraded in the factory.

Wed, 8 Oct 08
Scientists Win Physics Nobel for Particle Theory Advances
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64738.html
An American physicist from Chicago is celebrating a Nobel Prize win for an advanced physics concept he helped formulate more than four decades ago. Yoichiro Nambu, an 87-year-old scientist with the University of Chicago, was one of three recipients of the highly esteemed honor, announced Tuesday. The prize spotlights the discovery of a particle physics process called "spontaneous broken symmetry." Nambu -- who was born in Japan but has been in the U.S. since the early '50s -- shares the Nobel with two Japanese physicists, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa.

Wed, 8 Oct 08
Chrome's Tiny Market Share Dwindles as Experimenters Head Home
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64744.html
Google's new Web browser, Chrome, is key to the company's push to connect its myriad Web offerings and become an integrated online service provider. That said, writing it off a month after its release -- based partly on figures that show a decline in downloads -- seems more Schadenfreude than sober analysis. Chrome's share of the overall market peaked on Sept. 4 at 1.16 percent, according to NetApplications. By Oct. 5, that number had dropped to 0.81 percent. Usage appears to have stabilized at about .7 percent.

Wed, 8 Oct 08
Mono 2.0 Spreads .Net to Linux and Mac
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64746.html
For developers who have fallen in love with .Net/C#, but aren't married to running their applications on Windows, the Mono Project aims to let Microsoft .Net-based apps run on Linux and Mac OS X, among several other platforms. Sponsored by Novell, the Mono Project has released Mono 2.0 of its cross-platform, open source .Net development framework. Basically, Mono 2.0 lets users run both client and server applications on Linux, and helps developers figure out which changes they may need to make to their applications for .Net-to-Linux migrations.

Wed, 8 Oct 08
RealDVD Works Great - If You Can Get It
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64722.html
RealNetworks released its controversial RealDVD movie ripping application last week but within days removed the program from its Web site due to a legal feud with the Motion Picture Association of America. RealNetworks provided TechNewsWorld with a final prelease version of the RealDVD software last week in consideration of a new product review. The app lets you save a copy of a DVD to your PC's hard drive. It only works with a DVD, not content saved to a DVR or other digital media devices.

Wed, 8 Oct 08
AMD Divides Operations to Conquer Intel
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64740.html
Advanced Micro Devices is splitting into two companies with the help of a massive cash infusion by investors in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi. AMD will continue designing semiconductor chips for computers and servers. The spinoff, called "The Foundry Company," will focus on manufacturing semiconductor chips. The corporate split will be financed with $6 billion in capital from Advanced Technology Investment Company, which is owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD will own 44.1 percent of Foundry.

Wed, 8 Oct 08
Mozy for the Mac Goes Pro
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64733.html
Apple's Time Machine is great for incremental on-site backups, but what happens if there's a theft, fire, or flood? Mac owners facing such a disaster can wave goodbye to the Time Capsule and prepare to start from scratch -- unless there's a remote backup solution in play, of course. Earlier this year, Mozy, a branch of EMC that provides online backup, launched its first backup service for Apple aficionados, MozyHome for Mac. While it's great for saving the family photo album, it wasn't exactly set up to handle the heavy payloads associated with a burgeoning Mac-based business.

Wed, 8 Oct 08
Online Customer Service: Mixing Live Talk With Automated Tech
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64724.html
Last year's online shopping season surpassed $29 billion in sales, up a full 20 percent from the previous holiday. More consumers did their shopping online than any holiday season before, due to the convenience and increasing popularity of the Internet as a way to get too many things done in too little time. This year's online sales have already been projected to produce another solid online shopping season, with many analysts predicting another 20 percent increase in online shopping sales. How many more will make their gift-buying decisions online isn't the central issue.

Wed, 8 Oct 08
Robotic Suit Gives a Leg Up to People With Limited Mobility
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64737.html
A robotic suit that reads brain signals and helps people with mobility problems will be available to rent in Japan for $2,200 a month starting Friday -- an invention that may have far-reaching benefits for the disabled and elderly. HAL -- short for "hybrid assistive limb" -- is a computerized suit with sensors that read brain signals directing limb movement through the skin. The 22-pound battery-operated computer system is belted to the waist. It captures the brain signals and relays them to mechanical leg braces strapped to the thighs and knees.

Tue, 7 Oct 08
Ask.com Taps Semantics for Smarter Search
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64732.html
Ask.com rolled out a new version of itself Monday. The revamped search engine includes a new user interface with three new technologies -- DADs, DAFS and AnswerFarm -- that offer users the ability to search the Web using commonly spoken language. The enhancements to Ask.com will help the site retain existing users and attract new, said Caroline Dangson, an IDC analyst. Ask.com's new technologies differ from those used by competitors such as Google, Yahoo and MSN Search because they enable Web surfers to type real questions, instead of a series of keywords, according to Ask.

Tue, 7 Oct 08
Does Apple Have a Secret Factory?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64734.html
The Apple blognoscenti, having digested and discarded last week's Steve Jobs heart attack report hoax, have moved on to more pressing matters: rumors that the company's forthcoming new MacBook computers are the products of a revolutionary new manufacturing process. The speculation started on the 9-to-5 Mac blog that Apple's new notebooks -- to be introduced Oct. 14 -- may be carved out of bricks of aircraft-quality aluminum by lasers and high-powered water jets at a new state-of-the-art factory that Jobs has managed to build under the media's radar.

Tue, 7 Oct 08
Facebook's Other Founder Goes Off to Found Some More
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64726.html
One of Facebook's two cofounders is jumping ship to start his own Internet company. Dustin Moskovitz announced he'll leave the social networking site in about a month. He and colleague Justin Rosenstein, a Facebook engineering manager who previously worked at Google, will launch a new enterprise software business. Moskovitz first formed Facebook with CEO and close friend Mark Zuckerberg while the two were students and roommates at Harvard in 2004. He has been one of its biggest cheerleaders over the years and is the latest in a string of execs to part ways in the past several months.

Tue, 7 Oct 08
IBM Enlarges Sphere of Influence in the Cloud
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64735.html
IBM's considerable footprint in the cloud computing space is growing larger. The company has announced an expansion of its ISV (independent software vendor) partner network; it has also launched a beta version of Bluehouse -- a social networking and collaboration cloud service designed to connect people from different businesses. Big Blue took the opportunity of these two developments to define its rapidly growing cloud computing offerings to the market, which has watched almost in awe as the company has introduced initiative after initiative over the past several months.

Tue, 7 Oct 08
eBay Bites Bullet, Jettisons 1,000 Jobs
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64728.html
Online auctioneering pioneer eBay announced it will slash 1,000 jobs and acquire online payment processor Bill Me Later for $820 million in cash and $125 million in outstanding options. The 1,000 layoffs will cut San Jose, Calif.-based eBay's total workforce by 10 percent and will result in a pretax restructuring charge of about $70 million to $80 million, most of which will be recorded in the fourth quarter. "These reductions will help improve our operations and strengthen our ability to continue investing in growth," said eBay President and CEO John Donahoe.

Tue, 7 Oct 08
ubExact Gives Search a Little More Personality
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64706.html
Google and Yahoo are so well established in my daily Internet search routine that I wasn't expecting to find anything new with a beta engine from a start-up search company. But ubExact had more than one pleasant surprise in how it lets users search. ubExact launched its beta on Sept. 2 after spending much of its first year designing the search platform and loading a database of information and vendor links keyed to Metro Service Areas around the nation. That process will continue for some time until the end of phase one.

Tue, 7 Oct 08
Schwarzenegger for President?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64719.html
After watching the first presidential debate, one person on that stage clearly showcased the leadership, focus and bipartisan attitude the U.S. needs to turn itself around. Unfortunately, Jim Lehrer isn't actually running, so it didn't help my own decision process much, and I remain decisively undecided at the moment. In watching the bailout last week, it became clear that tech is clearly at risk, and I was struck by the reality that were the U.S. a company, the CEO, CFO and chairman of the board (Speaker of the House) would likely have all been, and should have been, fired.

Tue, 7 Oct 08
Cloud Computing: Perilous Pitfall or Panacea?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64716.html
There's never a dull moment for those of us lucky enough to be part of the technology industry, and we here at LinuxInsider are just as prone as the next tech enthusiasts to get caught up in the excitement of new innovations and ideas. Take cloud computing. It's a concept that has been grabbing an increasing portion of the digital ink on our pages and elsewhere, thanks not only to its promise but also to the growing numbers of related announcements coming from tech companies far and wide.

Tue, 7 Oct 08
Generating Leads in a Web 2.0 World
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64709.html
Marketing is going through a revolution online, thanks to the continual adoption of the Web 2.0 concepts originally defined by Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty. If you want to see some excellent graphics and analysis explaining Web 2.0, subscribe to Ross Dawson's blog, Trends in the Living Networks. Social networking has removed many of the obstacles that got in the way of better understanding prospects and customers, and serving them. Here are a few insights from trying to stay up with how Web 2.0 is changing how companies interact with prospects and customers.

Tue, 7 Oct 08
10 Days With the Sleek New iPod Touch
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64701.html
We've already seen the basic shape and function of the iPod touch -- Apple introduced the first version of the device a year ago, and its overall shape and wide touchscreen design also reflect the popular iPhone. The company could have left the iPod touch alone, at least through the rest of this holiday season, with little risk that any other media player could seriously challenge it. Instead, Apple added several nice physical refinements, some major software-focused upgrades, and then dropped the price.

Mon, 6 Oct 08
Again! Tech That Doesn't Work Won't Let Us Work
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64674.html
Yes, I am an angry guy. I yell at other drivers. I roll my eyes when I have to stand in line for more than two minutes. I complain about Wall Street's greedy executives, out-of-touch politicians, and our local newscast idiots, with their pancake makeup, chiseled cheekbones, and chirpy laughter. Stuff that doesn't work -- especially business technology -- is at the top of the list of things that make me angry. Computer equipment and software were the sixth most-complained-about category at the Federal Trade Commission in 2007.

Mon, 6 Oct 08
Mozilla CEO John Lilly: World Domination Is Overrated
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64703.html
John Lilly became chief executive of Mozilla in January, moving up from his role as chief operating officer. He's been with the company that created the open source Firefox browser since 2005, the year Firefox 1.5 was released. Before Firefox, Microsoft's Internet Explorer dominated the Web. Now Microsoft's share is down and Mozilla's share is 20 percent. The size of the organization makes Mozilla's tremendous success that much more remarkable. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., it has fewer than 200 employees.

Mon, 6 Oct 08
The iPhone Apps Sweepstakes
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64675.html
At first, Jon Trainer had visions of retirement. The software developer had created a game that could be played on the Apple iPhone and iPod touch devices, and sales were through the roof. Users of the iPhone couldn't get enough of the $7.99 "Bullfrog Touch," which pits a ravenous swampland amphibian against a swarm of invading insects. After two weeks, reality set in. "People moved on," Trainer says. The number of nifty new software-based games, tools and other pastimes came flooding into the online App Store, elbowing aside early entrants.

Sun, 5 Oct 08
This Slacker Is No Slouch
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64694.html
Would you be interested in a portable music player that does not require a subscription fee or the need to transfer digital files for new music? All you need to do is buy the gadget and plug it in to your computer to add as much music as you want for free. The Slacker G2 is a compelling alternative to traditional digital music players. It plays the music you like and can be refreshed at any time with more. Slacker calls it a "personal radio player," and I expect it to be a hit for the holidays when it goes on sale Oct. 12 at Best Buy stores.

Sun, 5 Oct 08
Revenge of the Wii, Part 1
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64708.html
In the take-no-prisoners environment of the video game console industry, Nintendo was not so long ago considered an also-ran. The video game console pioneer and one-time market leader had been outmaneuvered and outsold by video game juggernaut Sony and even upstart entrant Microsoft, as their respective PlayStation and Xbox platforms made Nintendo's offerings look like children's toys in comparison. However, Nintendo has come back strong in the current generation of gaming consoles with the Wii.

Sun, 5 Oct 08
Genius Could Use a Little More Time in Class
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64692.html
My favorite Dave Matthews Band song is "#41 -- Say Goodbye," a 12-minute track from the "Crash" album. What goes on during the dash in that song title is this: Drummer Carter Beauford connects the "#41" part of the tune with the "Say Goodbye" part by playing one of the most fluid and exciting little drum solos I've ever heard. So one of the first things I did when I downloaded the new version of iTunes -- the "Genius" version -- was click on that song to see what would happen. iTunes Genius, you see, will make playlists for you based on whatever song you select.

Sun, 5 Oct 08
Lindependence: A Low-Key Revolution in Software
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64655.html
Larry Cafiero is sitting in his cluttered office in the Santa Cruz Mountains looking nothing like a revolutionary. Friendly bearded face. Casual blue jeans. Comfy work shirt with the little penguin logo. Yeah, penguin logo. See, Cafiero is a Linux guy. Maybe you know one -- or a Linux woman. Maybe you know that to love Linux is to live Linux -- that you don't just use free and open source software, you embrace it and evangelize it. Some more than others.

Sat, 4 Oct 08
Sony Takes Swipe at Kindle With Touchscreen Reader
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64712.html
Just in time for the 2008 holiday season, Sony unveiled a new addition to its line of e-book readers Thursday. The PRS-700, which features a six-inch touchscreen, will join the PRS-505 on store shelves in November. Weighing in at about 10 ounces and capable of storing about 350 average-length digital novels, the PRS-700 also includes an expandable memory slot for Sony's Memory Stick Duo media and SD memory cards. With the added memory, the reader can hold thousands of books and documents, according to Sony.

Sat, 4 Oct 08
Jobs Rumor Monger May Have to Answer to SEC
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64718.html
A report posted on the citizen journalism section of CNN's Web site Friday morning claimed that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had been rushed to the hospital with a heart attack. The reporter cited an anonymous but "quite reliable" source who supposedly said paramedics were summoned after Jobs complained of severe pain and shortness of breath. "I haven't seen this anywhere else yet, and as of right now I have no further information, so I thought this would be a good place to start," the citizen journalist wrote.

Sat, 4 Oct 08
Attention News Networks: The Web Is Not TV
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64696.html
"No scripts, no teleprompter here, no real structure and no Britney Spears," says anchor Heather Nauert on a Sept. 25 edition of Fox News Channel's "Strategy Room." Then again, who needs Spears when you've got five stunning examples of Fox's now-famous efforts to recruit attractive females, all sitting around a table chatting with much energy about Congressional efforts to bail out the country's economy. Another point that Fox's new show has in common with the former teen pop star: It hopes to scale new heights of popularity thanks to the Internet.

Sat, 4 Oct 08
iPhone Goes to Washington: Obama Campaign Launches Mobile App
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64711.html
The Barack Obama presidential campaign has tapped Apple's iPhone to help deliver news and information about the candidate. It's also giving Obama's supporters a new way to help swing the campaign to Obama's favor: a Call Friends feature organizes and prioritizes contacts by key battleground states, making it easier to place grassroots political calls. "Not everyone can take time out of their busy schedule to go down to their local campaign office to do four hours of campaign phone duty," said Raven Zachary, project director of the Obama '08 application.

Sat, 4 Oct 08
Cupertino Lifts Gag Order, Frees Its Hostage
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64707.html
Anyone who's going to work at Apple has to come to terms with the fact that the company is generally very secretive about anything having to do with new products. Apple staffers who create the company's latest stuff are used to keeping their lips sealed tight. But then Apple tried to restrict third-party iPhone software developers by requiring them to sign off on a very strict nondisclosure agreement. What couldn't developers do? Well, they couldn't talk to anyone about anything having to do with their projects -- not even if their projects were rejected by Apple.

Sat, 4 Oct 08
Network Theory Can Explain US Credit Crunch
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64699.html
The financial crisis currently consuming the U.S. has led tech industry leaders, such as Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, to speak out in favor of quick Congressional action. Tech stocks, as well as general stocks, have plummeted, and there is confusion over why this crisis is happening and spreading so fast. One explanation that makes a lot of sense draws on network and information theory. Network theory can help us understand the current market crisis, because it can aid in identifying and understanding cascading information network failures.

Sat, 4 Oct 08
Ballmer: Microsoft Is Up-Front About Its Money Motive
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64689.html
Microsoft plans to continue charging licensing fees from handset makers for using its mobile operating system and not follow the free offerings of Google and Nokia, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday. The pressure on Microsoft's high licensing fees has increased over 2008 with Google rolling out free Android technology and Nokia offering to buy out others from Symbian and also make its software royalty-free. "We do," Ballmer told Reuters, when asked whether his firm would stick with licensing fees. "We are doing well, we believe in the value of what we are doing."

Sat, 4 Oct 08
Signposts on the US Government's Trail of IT Failures
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64704.html
"[R]ailhead may actually degrade the ability to provide intelligence data for use in the consolidated terrorist watch list," according to the U.S. House subcommittee report. This massive government IT project is failing -- and it's not an isolated case. Large IT projects in agencies from the FBI to the Census Bureau spectacularly -- and, it seems, regularly -- crash and burn, much to taxpayers' disgust. It seems there are certain aspects of government culture that make IT failure more likely. It just may be that it's built into the system.

Sat, 4 Oct 08
Building a Profitable Web 2.0 Web Site
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64690.html
Competition for building a profitable Web site is quite fierce. Yet many of us have dreams of a unique concept that will attract viewers, followed soon thereafter by advertisers. I'm not sure what percentage of aspirants succeed in this quest, but I would venture to guess that it's a very low percentage. With the evolution of the Web to the Web 2.0, the task becomes even a bit more challenging. Though the competition is fierce in the Web 2.0 space, it's encouraging to see a recently formed company quickly create critical mass.

Sat, 4 Oct 08
Mac Bloggers Bury NDA, Dig Up Dirt on New MacBooks
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64705.html
While Apple's stock price has been rocked by the frenzied selling on Wall Street, and as the United States is buffeted by wave after wave of financial uncertainty, there was one massive ray of hope and joy in the Apple world this week: The sometimes draconian company from Cupertino softened its stance on its nondisclosure agreement with Apple developers. Meanwhile, Apple threatened the possibility of shuttering iTunes, and Mac lovers continue to chase after the elusive -- but on the way -- MacBook Pros.

Fri, 3 Oct 08
Nokia Dives Into Touchscreen Melee With XpressMusic Handset
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64702.html
Nokia introduced its first big touchscreen phone in London Thursday: the 5800 XpressMusic, formerly known as the "Tube." While Nokia isn't positioning the phone outright as an iPhone killer, it certainly shares some similarities of the popular Apple device -- and one that really jabs at Apple's strength: music. While Apple has iTunes and its easy integration with iPhone and iPods, Nokia's 5800 will rock with the company's Comes With Music service, which will offer one year of unlimited access all the music in Nokia's Music Store catalog.

Fri, 3 Oct 08
Nintendo Gives Gamers a Gander at New DSi Handheld
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64700.html
Nintendo unveiled its new DSi portable game system Wednesday in Japan. The revamped portable game console reportedly sports a larger screen; not one, but two 3-megapixel cameras, and an audio player. The DSi replaces Nintendo's very popular DS and joins the DS Lite, the company's other handheld gaming device. The DSi is 12 percent slimmer than its predecessor. It features storage as well as an SD card slot for expandable memory when downloading content from the Nintendo DS Ware shop.

Fri, 3 Oct 08
NASA Craft to Make Second, Closer Swing Past Mercury
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64693.html
NASA is poised to take a closer-than-ever look at the closest planet to the sun. The space agency's Messenger spacecraft will zoom over Mercury's surface in the wee hours of the morning on Monday, coming within 124 miles of the rocky ground. The move marks NASA's second scan of the surface in its first mission to Mercury in decades. Messenger made one other swipe earlier this year, in January, coming within about 150 miles of the planet. It's expected to uncover even more new images and information in this next, closer go-round.

Fri, 3 Oct 08
Google Pushes $4.4T Dream to Green Up US Energy
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64698.html
Google said the United States has a very real opportunity to transform its economy from one running on fossil fuels to one largely based on clean energy -- and to make it happen, Google is pitching a $4.4 trillion proposal that outlines how it can be done by 2030. By spending $4.4 trillion on building clean energy production and infrastructure, Google also forecasts a net savings of $1 trillion over the 22-year life of the plan. Admittedly, the numbers sound good on paper, but they might not hold up over the course of two decades.

Fri, 3 Oct 08
Report: Skype Helped China Snoop on Users
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64697.html
Companies hoping to dial up international business with China may have yet another reason to think twice about privacy concerns, following new revelations that the Communist country has been spying on Skype-based phone calls and text messages. Citizen Lab, a University of Toronto-based security and human rights research group, partnered with several other international agencies to release a report this week detailing flaws within TOM-Skype, the Chinese version of the popular Internet protocol communications company.

Fri, 3 Oct 08
No Partners-in-Crime for Take-Two
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64695.html
Take-Two Interactive Software, maker of the immensely popular "Grand Theft Auto" video game series, has decided to remain independent after resisting Electronic Arts' persistent acquisition efforts over the past few months. Take-Two reportedly had engaged in discussions with other interested video game software makers as well. The New York-based company, which also has a popular line of sports titles such as "College Hoops 2K8," "NBA 2K9" and "NHL 2K9," announced its decision to go it alone on Thursday.

Fri, 3 Oct 08
The Digital TV Switch and You
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64677.html
D-day -- the day television broadcast signals switch from analog to digital -- is less than five months away. While the Federal Communications Commission and broadcasters like ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX have spent recent months informing the viewing public about the switch, there's still a lot of confusion about what it all means among viewers with various ways of receiving programming. U.S. viewers watch on everything from ancient, bunny-eared boxes to 60-inch high-def TVs hooked up to 800-channel satellite subscriptions.

Fri, 3 Oct 08
The Power of Crowdsourcing Consumer Reviews
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64687.html
Consumers looking for information about services, products, restaurants or destinations once had to rely on expert reviewers, who would make their site visits, conduct their research, and eventually release their findings to the masses. With the growth of user-generated content, however, everyone is now an expert, or at least an expert consumer. The opinions of this new class of reviewers are only a mouse click away. Angie's List was one of the first companies to collect and distribute consumer reviews.

Fri, 3 Oct 08
TV on the iPhone: Don't Hold Your Breath
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64680.html
It's the sharpest little screen on the sharpest-looking cell phone on the planet. Many of those who have watched a music video, TV show or full-length movie on an Apple 3G iPhone come away wide-eyed and impressed with the 3.5-inch display featuring 480-by-320 pixel resolution. Those who scoffed at the idea of watching any kind of moving images on such a small screen have become converts after one semi-private screening of "Lost," "The Office" or "The Incredibles," usually accomplished while sitting next to an iPhone owner on an airplane.

Fri, 3 Oct 08
Oracle's Hardware Gambit
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64673.html
The sidewalks were still jammed around San Francisco's Moscone Center and the wonderment of an Oracle hardware announcement was still palpable across the IT infrastructure universe late last week. I sat down with two executives, from HP and Oracle, to get the early deep-dive briefing on the duo's Exadata appliance shocker. Oracle Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison caught the Oracle OpenWorld conference audience by surprise the day before by rolling out the Exadata line of two hardware-software configurations.

Fri, 3 Oct 08
Metrolink Engineer Sent Text Message Seconds Before Fatal Crash
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64688.html
A commuter train engineer sent a cell phone text message 22 seconds before his commuter train crashed head-on into freight train in Southern California last month, killing 25 people, federal investigators said Wednesday. Cell phone records of Robert Sanchez, who was among the dead, show he received a text message a minute and 20 seconds before the crash and sent one about a minute later, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a news release.

Thu, 2 Oct 08
StumbleUpon Waltzes In With New Toolbar
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64682.html
Online discovery service StumbleUpon has changed the way its users can access the service. The company announced a new partner program Tuesday and also unveiled a new Web-based toolbar that no longer requires users to register or download the specific StumbleUpon Toolbar, a task that may have turned some would-be users away in the past. The changes are part of an effort by StumbleUpon to offer a new user experience, said Michael Buhr, general manager of StumbleUpon.

Thu, 2 Oct 08
Apple Goes a Little Less Medieval on Devs
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64683.html
In a surprise move, Apple has relented in its insistence that third-party application developers for the wildly popular iPhone sign a nondisclosure agreement before their applications can be made available for download on the iPhone App Store. The decision follows sharp criticism on developer blogs and in online technology publications from software developers who want to create applications for the iPhone. Apple dropped the NDA because it was too burdensome for developers and others, according to a statement on the company Web site.

Thu, 2 Oct 08
Cloud Storage, Part 1: The Business Data Warehouse
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64670.html
For most businesses, data security is a mission-critical undertaking, and a summer of weather calamities drove home that point. "As the recent hurricanes reminded us, off-premise backup solutions can make the difference between being out of business for good and being on hiatus for a few months," Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. The question of which Web-hosted storage system is the best choice for any particular business can be a complicated one.

Thu, 2 Oct 08
HP Pockets LeftHand to Challenge Dell in IP Storage Space
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64679.html
Computing giant HP has announced its intention to acquire storage software company LeftHand Networks for $360 million in cash. HP's move is an attempt to shore up its presence in the fast-growing IP storage segment of the data storage market. Unlike traditional storage area networks, IP storage networks allow businesses to increase the amount of data they can store without making massive investments in fiber channel switches.

Thu, 2 Oct 08
Xohm Rollout Troubled by Comcast's Shadow
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64681.html
Sprint Nextel has successfully rolled out Xohm in Baltimore. The new 4G wireless WiMax network runs on 2.5 GHz and delivers downloads at 2 to 4 Mbps -- but it is clear the telecom service provider is still carefully negotiating the industry land mine that has become network management. On the same day the company introduced its service, it was also confronted with pointed questions about how it will manage its network -- a hot-button subject since Comcast's run-in with Internet consumer advocates and the FCC earlier this year.

Thu, 2 Oct 08
Adobe Systems' Kumar Vora on Empowering Customers
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64668.html
Web 2.0 technologies offer more opportunities than just sharing information with friends and family on Facebook or uploading user-generated videos on YouTube. The tools that help enable conversations between people on the Internet can also help corporations get closer to their customers. ECT News Network interviewer Renay San Miguel talks to Kumar Vora, Adobe Systems vice president for product strategy and enterprise marketing, about cost efficiencies enabled by Web 2.0.

Thu, 2 Oct 08
iPhone 3G's Best Case Scenario
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64666.html
When it comes to iPhone cases, there are basically three camps: The outsiders who prefer naked iPhones and don't fear drops on cold, hard concrete, those who like soft rubber/silicone iPhone cases, and those who like hard cases. I've been a fan of the soft case. The first generation of iPhone 3G hard cases seemed too bulky, full of seams, odd angles ... and downright ugly. But every now and then, I catch sight of a case that seems slimmer, less plasticky, and I pause. Is it even possible for a soft case guy to switch to a hard case?

Thu, 2 Oct 08
Android: Mobile Industry at a Crossroads
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64654.html
Google showed off its new brainchild last week:a smartphone design in collaboration with its Android partners, Taiwan's handset maker HTC, and the wireless carrier T-Mobile USA. The phone specs are all over the place on the Internet. It looks quite attractive, but perhaps because of the Apple iPhone's lasting impression, many tech pundits gave only a "pass" grade on its appearance. The biggest design difference between the iPhone and Google's G1 -- by the way, an unimpressive name that sounds like a robot rather than a personal/lifestyle device -- is the keyboard.

Thu, 2 Oct 08
NPR Dials Up Web 2.0 Strategy
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64672.html
National Public Radio, already strong online with free downloads from many of its shows, is boosting its digital ambitions with Monday's introduction of social-networking features akin to Facebook. NPR also plans to overhaul its Web site and expand the tools for sharing its programs elsewhere over the next few months. And it is working to increase the flexibility of its popular "podcasts," audio downloads that have tripled in usage over the past two years. These digital initiatives are aimed at capturing and retaining audiences.

Thu, 2 Oct 08
Starz Deal Freshens Netflix's Movie Stream
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64671.html
From "Spider-Man 3" to "No Country for Old Men," Netflix is making another 2,500 movies, TV shows and concerts available for instant viewing through a deal with Starz Entertainment. The world's largest online movie rental service and Starz, a subsidiary of conglomerate Liberty Media, were planning to announce Wednesday that Starz titles were being added to the "Watch Instantly" feature of Netflix's Web site. The addition of the Starz movies means Netflix viewers will have access to streaming movies from studios like Sony and Disney earlier than they would otherwise.

Wed, 1 Oct 08
Wii 'Rock Band' Downloads: Opening Act for a Hard Drive?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64665.html
Wii gamers who felt let down by the absence of download functionality for the original "Rock Band" video game will have more than just a playlist of new songs to look forward to with the upcoming release of "Rock Band 2," expected to hit stores in November. MTV Games confirmed Tuesday that "RB2" will include online features, enabling players to download new tunes and participate in online multiplayer modes on the Wii. Versions of "RB2" for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 both offer gamers these capabilities, as was the case in the first iteration of the game.

Wed, 1 Oct 08
Intel Stands Firm as Wall Street Wobbles
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64669.html
Shares of Silicon Valley chip giant Intel closed up nearly 8.5 percent at just under $19 Tuesday on news that an equity analyst at investment bank Piper Jaffray upgraded the stock to a buy rating. The upgrade comes at a time when shares of other chipmakers such as Advanced Micro Devices and Texas Instruments are trading well below their 52-week highs. Intel's stock is also benefiting from the belief that it's a relatively safe investment at a time when Wall Street is reeling.

Wed, 1 Oct 08
RealNetworks, MPAA Cross Swords Over DVD-Ripping Tech
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64667.html
The Motion Picture Association of America has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court of Los Angeles seeking a restraining order against RealNetworks. RealDVD, which became available on Tuesday, violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the MPAA maintains. It is hardly surprising that the MPAA would take this stance. Using RealDVD, people can copy DVDs of movies and other content onto their PCs. This type of software is not new -- but RealNetworks is the first large company to attempt to legitimize it.

Wed, 1 Oct 08
SpaceX Private Rocket Blazes Post-Shuttle Trail
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64662.html
A man who made his name by founding PayPal has now made history by launching a small, low-cost rocket into space. Elon Musk, who heads up space exploration company SpaceX, successfully sent a Falcon 1 rocket into orbit over the weekend. It marked the company's fourth attempt and first success in launching the rocket. SpaceX blames design issues for its past problems, the most recent of which resulted in the loss of three government satellites and the ashes of "Star Trek" actor James Doohan.

Wed, 1 Oct 08
Cisco: IT Managers Neglect Employee Security Threat
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64658.html
While enterprises may be on top of their security practices for the most part, data leakage as a result of end user misuse and abuse is something that might very well be flying under the radar. According to a newly released global study by Cisco, "The Challenge of Data Leakage for Business and Employees Around the World," employees are taking numerous risks that could lead to the loss of corporate information. The use of corporate technology resources for personal activities is becoming increasingly prevalent as the line between people's personal and work lives continues to blur.

Wed, 1 Oct 08
Youth and the Web: The Political Campaign Game-Changer
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64643.html
It's hard to dismiss the role of the Internet in this year's elections. Both political parties are using online strategies to an extent never seen before in a political campaign. From daily candidate blogs with updates on issues, to made-for-YouTube commercials, to the use of technologies such as SMS to announce vice presidential selections, to -- perhaps most discussed -- the use of online tools for fundraising, the Internet has become a dominant force in this election.

Wed, 1 Oct 08
Survey Says: Windows and Open Source Play Well Together
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64659.html
Open source adoption is growing rapidly, but adopters in U.S. are lagging behind European enthusiasm, according to software provider OpenLogic. OpenLogic announced Tuesday it has discovered more than 300,000 open source package and project installations in use around the world through its Open Source Census. OpenLogic initiated the global survey last December. The Open Source Census is a worldwide collaborative project. The goal is to collect and share quantitative data on the use of open source software.

Wed, 1 Oct 08
Open Source to Go
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64653.html
The age of mobile computing is upon us. Small form-factor laptops, even smaller netbooks and smartphones keep us continuously connected with colleagues, family, friends and our bosses around the clock. These mobile gadgets make it possible to take all of our data with us wherever we go. Mobile technology also lets us bring our favorite entertainment outlets with us. We carry music to hear on our iPods, videos to view on our smartphones and full-length movies to play on our portable computers.

Wed, 1 Oct 08
The New Online Gaming Ad Playbook
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64646.html
Game publishers have been inserting advertisements into video games almost since games were first developed. But what began as static in-game product placements such as billboards advertising a publisher's upcoming title in the 1970s has become a much more sophisticated marketing tactic -- and a potentially lucrative revenue stream. "The medium's been growing for about six years now, and both Microsoft and Google have bought companies in this space -- Massive and Adscape, respectively," Andrew Frank, a Gartner Research analyst, told the E-Commerce Times.

Wed, 1 Oct 08
Scientists See Snow Blowing Across Martian Sky
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/64657.html
Results of weather experiments made public on Monday show that clouds recently formed above the Phoenix spacecraft have been releasing snow into the Martian atmosphere, though Phoenix has yet to see any of it hit the ground. While the latest discovery twists scientists' understanding of weather on Mars, another series of experiments has mission leaders believing that water frozen beneath the arctic soil once existed as a liquid on the surface of the region.