Technology News, Paradise
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Would Apple really shutter iTunes? Unlikely
CNET News - Apple did indeed say that if it couldn't make a profit, it "most likely" will not continue operate iTunes. You can find a copy of the statement here on page 4. Fortune magazine published a bombshell of a story on Tuesday by reporting that Apple once … Apple's digital music showdown paidContent.org – Apple Threatens To Shut Down iTunes Store … |
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Onion Radio News – with Doyle Redland
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 Wall Street Journal |
Yahoo-Google Deal Supported By Silicon Valley Lawmakers
CRN - By Stefanie Hoffman, ChannelWeb California lawmakers expressed strong support of a controversial search marketing deal that would allow Yahoo to run ads supplied by Mountain View-based Google alongside its own search results and share in the profits. Microsoft: Internet Search Battle Far From Over California Lawmakers Defend Google-Yahoo Deal |
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Sprint Nextel has promised an “open Internet business model” without restrictions on services and customer choice on its new WiMax service, but its acceptable use policy says the company may limit bandwidth for some applications and protocols, including file sharing.
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AP – New York regulators have raised the possibility of banning Verizon Communications Inc. from installing its fiber-optic FiOS service in New York City until the company makes sure it’s doing enough to provide electrical grounding for its equipment in homes.
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AFP – RealNetworks on Tuesday released software that lets people copy films on DVDs, sparking a heated legal battle with Hollywood film studios fearful of rampant piracy.
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There’s rarely ever a dull moment in computer graphics land, and 2008 has been no exception. The merged ATI/AMD seems in a constant state of flux, and NVIDIA hasn’t had quite the best run of luck lately. Even so, we’ve seen quite a few exiting developments in hardware in recent months.Until this past summer, AMD hadn’t really put out a really clearly…
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Studios Sue to Bar a DVD Copying Program
New York Times - By BRAD STONE Six major movie studios sued RealNetworks, the Seattle-based digital media company, on Tuesday over its new $30 software program that allows people to make digital copies of their DVDs. Hollywood studios sue to stop distribution of DVD-copying software Hollywood sues Real Networks |
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NewsFactor – Motorola is reportedly looking to beef up its Android development team, increasing its size from 50 to 350 people in hopes of getting in on the latest Google buzz. Motorola couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, but reports of insider leaks say the handset maker is working with a recruiter to find developers for Google’s open-source mobile operating system.
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 BusinessWeek |
The iPhone Apps Sweepstakes
BusinessWeek - Programmers are rushing to sell their own wares through Apple's App Store. But not everyone will strike gold by Olga Kharif At first, Jon Trainer had visions of retirement. More App Store tweaks expected with iPhone 2.2 Kroll game, debuted at WWDC, released for iPhone |
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That was some debate we had last week. I know Dac was really looking forward to it and…
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pgn674 writes “While the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 failed to pass in the House of Representatives, two other bills of interest to this community are currently moving through the US lawmaking process. One is the Broadband Data Improvement Act, which Communications Workers of America claims will help us towards bringing high-speed Internet access to all Americans. It will have the FCC increase their granularity in reporting the Internet accessibility of an area in the US, and redefine broadband measurements. It has passed through the House and the Senate, and differences in the passed versions are currently being resolved. The other bill is the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008. Pandora is excited for this one as it will give them time to negotiate with SoundExchange (i.e. the RIAA) for new, more affordable royalty rates. The bill is currently in the Senate, and is expected to pass with ease.”
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 MediaPost Publications |
Report: Clearspring acquires bookmarking service AddThis
CNET News - Kara Swisher at AllThingsD reported Tuesday that widget-maker Clearspring has acquired a start-up called AddThis for an undisclosed price. Clearspring buys AddThis Web sharing service Clearspring adds Web page bookmarking tools to widget offerings |
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stevedcc writes in to tell us about an interview with RMS in The Guardian, in which he gives his views on cloud computing, with a particular focus on user access to data and the sacrifices made for convenience. “‘It’s stupidity. It’s worse than stupidity: it’s a marketing hype campaign,’ he told The Guardian. ‘Somebody is saying this is inevitable — and whenever you hear somebody saying that, it’s very likely to be a set of businesses campaigning to make it true.’” Computerworld has a summary of some of the blogosphere’s reaction to RMS’s position.
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Nokia on Tuesday said it plans to acquire Canadian mobile messaging company Oz Communications in a deal that is in line with the number-one phone maker’s recent announcement it will renew focus on consumer Internet services.
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PC Magazine – Hosted storage, like many other enterprise technologies and Web services from large data centers, is trickling down to small businesses. Western Digital has capitalized on the trend by offering ShareSpace, a four-terabyte storage system for small businesses.
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An anonymous reader writes “Cameron Freer, an instructor in pure mathematics at MIT, is working on an intriguing project called vdash.org (video from O’Reilly Ignite Boston 4): a math wiki which only allows true theorems to be added! Based on Isabelle, a free-software theorem prover, the wiki will state all of known mathematics in a machine-readable language and verify all theorems for correctness, thus providing a knowledge base for interactive proof assistants. In addition to its benefits for education and research, such a project could reveal undiscovered connections between fields of mathematics, thus advancing some fields with no further work being necessary.”
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AMD said its Shanghai processor is on track to ship in servers by the end of the year and sought to reassure customers that the problems that delayed its previous server chip, Barcelona, are a thing of the past.
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AP – From “Spider-Man 3″ to “No Country for Old Men,” Netflix Inc. is making another 2,500 movies, TV shows and concerts available for instant viewing through a deal with Starz Entertainment LLC.
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 Voice of America |
Mars Theme Song: 'Let It Snow'
Washington Post - · If you're planning on a trip to Mars anytime soon, be sure to pack your winter coat and a shovel. That's because the latest weather forecast on Mars calls for morning fog and swift-moving clouds — along with light snow. Mars Weather Forecast: Snow Snow Seen On Mars |
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Delivering on a pledge made earlier this year, Google has again improved usage metrics for YouTube videos, making it possible for account holders to measure the popularity of different parts of a clip.
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 ABC News |
SpaceX Private Rocket Blazes Post-Shuttle Trail
TechNewsWorld - By JR Raphael After three failed launches, a private company saw success in getting its rocket into orbit, paving the way for future testing of a larger model. Private Company Launches Its Rocket Into Orbit SpaceX 'Falcon 1' Marks New Era For Space Industry |
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CNET – The U.S. Senate on Tuesday afternoon passed the Webcaster Settlement Act, the legislation that lays the groundwork for Web radio stations to negotiate reduced royalty rates for the songs they stream over the Web.
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Troops from the United States exchanged gunfire with our ally Pakistan on the Afghan-Pakistani border. What do you think?
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AcidAUS sends us the story of an online poker cheating ring that netted an estimated $10M for its perpetrators over almost 4 years. The article spotlights the role of an Australian player who first performed the statistical analyses that demonstrated that cheating had to be going on. “In two separate cases, Michael Josem, from Chatswood, analyzed detailed hand history data from Absolute Poker and UltimateBet and uncovered that certain player accounts won money at a rate too fast to be legitimate. His findings led to an internal investigation by the parent company that owns both sites. It found rogue employees had defrauded players over three years via a security hole that allowed the cheats to see other player’s secret (or hole) cards.” The (Mohawk) Kahnawake Gaming Commission, which licenses the two poker companies, has released its preliminary report. MSNBC reporting from a couple of weeks back gives deep background on the scandal.
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It was an outside-the-box, some may say brilliant, marketing campaign for Honda: put grooves in a local highway that cause Honda Civic drivers to hear the William Tell Overture. Pity the neighbors.
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Prices and terms for the WiMax service that Sprint Nextel launched on Monday stand up against other wired and wireless broadband options, but a key measure — coverage — remains a question mark.
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Onion Radio News – with Doyle Redland
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AP – Hollywood’s six major movie studios on Tuesday sued RealNetworks Inc. to prevent it from distributing DVD copying software that they said would allow consumers to “rent, rip and return” movies or even copy friends’ DVD collections outright.
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GamesIndustry.biz recently interviewed Kevin Hanna, creative director for Google Lively, about the virtual environment’s beginnings and the plans for its future. Earlier this month, he announced that Lively would open to developers, and now he says the long-term goal is for Lively to be “used as an online games platform.” Hanna goes on to say: “I’d like for it to be invisible, where, when it makes sense to have 3D aspects of the web, that everyone will have already downloaded the plug-in, it’s one of the first things you do when you install your machine, and you’re able to just jump around and play in a creative space. I feel like a big chunk of the games industry out there has a corporate mentality where you’re first to be second, and I’ve been there, where they say, ‘Make sure you include this aspect, and this aspect, and this aspect, to ensure that we have an 80 per cent market share.’ And it’s sucking the life out of what should be the most creative and innovative medium out there.”
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 WKRG-TV |
House Web site overwhelmed by e-mails
CNET News - The Web site for the House of Representatives has been overwhelmed this week by a deluge of visitors trying to e-mail their congressmen and download the financial bailout bill the House rejected Monday. ECONOMY ON EDGE House limits e-mail after vote deluge Bailout Bill Overwhelmes House Internet Servers |
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AP – Is it possible for a video game to express an anti-war viewpoint? After all, most war games revel in jaw-dropping violence, from smoothly executed head shots to massive explosions. When you’re mowing down hordes of aliens in “Halo” or “Gears of War,” there isn’t much time to reflect on the futility of the whole enterprise.
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 Game Reviews |
Tiberium terminated
GameSpot - By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot Following troubling rumors, EA confirms it has pulled the plug on the Command and Conquer-based FPS because it did not meet quality standards. EA Kills Tiberium , Cites Quality Issues EA Stops Work on Tiberium Game |
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Onion Radio News – with Doyle Redland
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NewsFactor – RealNetworks is feeling heat from the movie studios involving its just-released RealDVD software, and is firing back with a lawsuit.
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ruphus13 writes “Time-shifting via Tivo changed the way we consume television programming. Now, Open Source enters the fray. Roku, the streaming-media set-top box has decided to Open Source its software. Roku had received praise for its streaming solution, and was in the press recently for its deal with Netflix, allowing users to stream Netflix movies directly to the box. From the article, ‘Roku will release an open source version of its software by the end of the year. The CEO says he’s looking for deals with content providers to stream their products through his device, and hopes to sell a bunch of them as a result.’”
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ORLANDO, FL—Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin sought to silence those who have criticized her lack of foreign affairs…
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mcgrew writes to tell us that scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have created a new system that can test any surface for just about anything. “Their idea uses a thin layer of metal drilled with nanoscale holes, laid onto the surface being tested. When the perforated plate is zapped with laser light, the surface plasmons that form emit light with a frequency related to the materials touching the plate. A sensitive light detector is needed to measure the frequency of light given off. The team says devices using this approach can be small and portable, will work on very low power, and could detect everything from explosives to bacteria. All that needs to be done now is build a system able to decode the light signatures.”
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Kim Hawley writes “Mobile Computer has a review of another new netbook from Asus. The N10 comes from Asus’ notebook division rather than its Eee PC division, and has an impressive specification. Most notable are the ExpressCard/34 slot and switchable nVidia GeForce 9300M graphics, and the video shows the N10 playing Call of Duty 4 very smoothly. Pre-orders in the US are around $600 – about the same as the Eee PC 1000. The N10 is closer to a traditional laptop than a true netbook, though – is feature-creep killing this new market already?”
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Senate Creates Copyright Czar Controversial RIAA-backed part of …
Dslreports - The Senate has passed a piece of legislation called the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act which creates a new position in the government for a copyright czar. Senate passes intellectual property bill IP bill passes Senate, no civil enforcement power for DoJ |
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