Future of open Web video may change with Google acquisition of On2
Google announced today that it will be acquiring video compression company On2 Technologies for an estimated $106.5 million, pending stockholder approval and regulatory consent.
"Today video is an essential part of the Web experience, and we believe high-quality video compression technology should be a part of the Web platform," Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president for product management, said this morning. "We are committed to innovation in video quality on the Web, and we believe that On2's team and technology will help us further that goal."
Digeo introduces new components, software for Moxi HD DVRs
Digeo today unveiled a new addition to its Moxi product line as well as a feature-enhancing software update to its flagship Moxi HD DVR.
Digeo's Moxi HD DVR is a cableCARD-ready digital media recorder that does not require a monthly subscription fee. Today's new add-on is called the Moxi Mate and adds multi-room functionality to the HD DVR at less than half the price of a new standalone unit. The Moxi Mate carries a retail price of $399, while the HD DVR costs $799.
Patent office rejects TiVo's claims against EchoStar's software workaround
The almost four-year long battle between TiVo and former sister companies Dish Network and EchoStar over DVR timeshifting technology rages on. The US Patent and Trademark Office has given a preliminary rejection to TiVo's software claims that could be used to find EchoStar in contempt of court and thus responsible for a billion dollar payout.
In the short term, EchoStar may be on course to avoid the contempt of court suit that would earn it huge legal penalties for allegedly disregarding the court's order to change its DVRs so they no longer infringed upon TiVo's patents.
GPU-enriched 3D for Web browsers targeted for H1 2010
A coalition that includes three of the four leading alternative Web browser manufacturers -- Mozilla, Google, and Opera Software -- along with graphics processor leaders AMD (ATI) and Nvidia, announced this morning their intention to produce a royalty-free mechanism for producing hardware-assisted 3D graphics using JavaScript-enabled Web pages, for initial distribution during the first half of next year.
Based on OpenGL ES, the WebGL language could conceivably open up the field of Web applications to classes of software traditionally reserved for local, on-system installation, including computer-aided design and engineering, rich visualization, and of course, gaming. While the <CANVAS> element in HTML 5 is already geared for 3D geometry, what WebGL would enable is the ability for JavaScript developers to utilize the GPU to produce fast, fluid, rendered scenes, effectively extending the already proven OpenGL ES system used by Sony's PlayStation 3, to the realm of Web apps.
U.S. Marine Corps bans social networks
Claiming that sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter pose a "haven for malicious actors and content," the United States Marine Corps has instituted an immediate ban on social networking sites for soldiers and officers using the Marines' internal network.
According to a notification issued yesterday, the Marine Corps says social networking sites put the military at risk of "information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries" and that they "expose unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts [Operational Security], [communications security], personnel, and [The Marine Corps Enterprise Network] at an elevated risk of compromise."
Domain name theft could become a felony
Even though domain theft has occurred for years, it has never been treated as a criminal offense until now.
The $160,000 domain name P2P.com was allegedly stolen in 2006 by Daniel Gonclaves, a 25-year old computer tech from New Jersey. Gonclaves then sold the domain on eBay for $110,000 to professional basketball player Mark Madsen. Gonclaves claimed he had purchased the domain for $1,500 from its owners Albert and Lesli Angel.
Obama's cybersecurity chief resigns, signals disarray
The White House acknowledged this afternoon that Melissa Hathaway -- chosen by the President last February to lead the nation's cybersecurity review, and the person seen as most likely to be appointed to the "Cybersecurity czar" post -- will instead resign her appointment on August 21, letting someone else fill the post.
In an e-mail obtained yesterday by Federal Computer Week, White House spokesperson Nick Shapiro credited Hathaway for her contribution to the federal cybersecurity effort, including spearheading the 60-day review of the nation's security status ordered by President Obama. Hathaway, previously a Bush administration appointee, had been reporting to the Director of National Intelligence, though she was expected to be elevated to a "czar" style post (the term having originally been coined by then-Senator Joe Biden) that would report to Mr. Obama, by way of both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council.
Mozilla releases second round of Firefox 3.5 bug fixes
Download Mozilla Firefox 3.5.2 for Windows from Fileforum now.
Perhaps the Mozilla organization's most valuable contributor to its Web browser's integrity is the tester who goes by the handle moz_bug_r_a4. On multiple occasions now, this developer has located and privately reported to Mozilla extremely serious issues, including a potential page hijacking exploit last December.
Yahoo piggybacks on Twitter for updated Delicious
Yahoo's social bookmarking service Delicious today has received an upgrade with a Twitter mashup component originally designed for Yahoo News.
TweetNews took Yahoo News articles (which are ordered chronologically) and compared them to Twitter's trending topics (which are based on a subject's popularity.) The result was a news search that could not only determine the freshest articles, but also those based on the most popular subject at the moment. The app also used social commentary to determine the pertinence of authoritative news sources when determining search results.
Palm Pre gets Canada launch date
Canadian mobile network operator Bell Mobility will be getting the Palm Pre on August 27.
In May, Palm Inc. announced that it would be bringing its flagship touchphone to Bell Mobility "in the second half of 2009" with no specific date.
EC undecided whether Win7/IE8 bundling is unlawful
In the European Commission's first public comment on the matter since Microsoft changed its mind last Friday, a spokesperson for the EC's Office of Competition Policy told Betanews this morning that it has yet to make up its mind on the matter of whether Microsoft's bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows is specifically unlawful. This despite the EC having sent Microsoft a formal Statement of Objections last January which, although still officially private, Microsoft publicly interpreted as saying such bundling was unlawful.
"The Commission has not taken a final view on the lawfulness of Microsoft providing Windows with Internet Explorer preinstalled," stated EC press officer Maria Javorova this morning. "This issue is the subject of pending proceedings, the outcome of which cannot be prejudged, and the fact that Microsoft has announced its intention to continue this practice in the latest version of Windows to be shipped in Europe does not change that."
FTC investigation puts one more Apple/Google board member under scrutiny
Following the resignation of Google CEO Eric Schmidt from Apple's Board of Directors, Google and Apple face further scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission for more potential problems.
The FTC first began investigating Google and Apple's relationship in May, and Schmidt's position as CEO of Google was causing an increased amount of conflict as an Apple director, especially as Google started working on the Android Operating System. Schmidt's resignation yesterday looked like it could have brought a swift end to the potentially anti-competitive relationship.
AT&T denies involvement in iPhone app rejections
Responding to the FCC's probe of the rejection of the Google Voice app for the iPhone, AT&T said it has no input in the approval or denial of applications in the iTunes app store.
"AT&T does not manage or approve applications for the App Store. We have received the letter and will, of course, respond to it," the company said in a statement today.
Microsoft works to claim its own slice of the cloud
It would appear to be the most lucrative new platform in all of computing: the "cloud" -- the space on the Internet from which applications and services can be presented to customers without the need for physical location. It was once called the "grid," but the fact that companies other than IBM managed to effectively rechristen the idea speaks to its inability -- along with everyone else's -- to build a clear and concise message around just what the cloud is.
No one really knows, at least not completely. That's the message we've seen thus far from nearly every major vendor in the cloud space, and it's the message we're seeing from Microsoft as well. Even with a full business plan for Windows Azure, the company's platform for .NET Services in the cloud, its own platform evangelist admitted to Betanews that much of the projected purpose for the service still remains a mystery. Microsoft usually undertakes a platform buildout by leveraging its resources from other platforms (Internet Explorer from Windows, SharePoint from Office, Exchange from Outlook, etc.). And it would seem, at least on paper, that Azure would be leveraged from .NET.
EC silent thus far over Microsoft's Windows 7 E tactics shift
When Microsoft originally presented its proposal to the European Commission last July 24 to offer Windows 7 to European customers without Internet Explorer 8 pre-installed as a requirement, it showed the EC a picture of how it could present customers with a choice of Web browsers, including IE8 but also Firefox 3, Safari 4, Google Chrome, and Opera. (The order of appearance may have been according to estimated usage share.)
As the company's proposal (DOC file available here) read, "Nothing in the design and implementation of the Ballot Screen and the presentation of competing web browsers will express a bias for a Microsoft web browser or any other web browser or discourage the user from downloading and installing additional web browsers via the Ballot Screen and making a web browser competing with a Microsoft web browser the default."
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