FCC to consider MPAA proposal to lift DVR control ban
A new round of petitioning by movie studios to the FCC has triggered a renewed debate over whether studios and content providers have the right to send signals to consumers' DVRs, disabling their ability to record certain programs.
As a result of public debate that took place in early 2004, the US Federal Communications Commission under then-Chairman Michael Powell adopted a set of rules that prohibited the carriers of digital TV programming from adopting any kind of control over viewers' rights to record those programs, or to reduce the quality of programs they might happen to have the ability or means to record. Now those regulations are under review as the result of a petition from the Motion Picture Association of America, which argues that such controls would be vitally necessary to the existence of the successor service to "premium cable."
Zell expects a social network platform to save the newspaper industry
Part of the plan for rediscovering profitability for the troubled Tribune Co. of Chicago involves fishing for revenue -- somehow -- from a thus-far-undeveloped social networking platform, according to a memo to employees from their new CEO.
The dismally performing US economy is but one of many factors threatening the future of this country's print media industry, which nearly everyone directly involved believes must transform its business model if it is to survive unscathed.
Silverlight 2.0 Beta 2 goes live, just in time
Intel subpoenaed by FTC over CPU business practices
Though the US Federal Trade Commission has yet to issue a statement as of 1:30 pm EDT, Intel has acknowledged it has received a subpoena from the FTC, effectively formalizing its inquiry into Intel's US business practices in the CPU market.
Intel received the subpoena on Wednesday, the company said. The subject of that subpoena is not likely to be related to a small fine issued Wednesday by the Korean Fair Trade Commission, as that matter was related to rebates the company gave Korean customers.
Microsoft confirms more details on Windows for small devices
The development suite that will come with the new XP kernel-based Windows Embedded standard -- which entered beta on Wednesday -- will indeed allow virtual OS instances to run as virtual machines on developers' desktops.
A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to BetaNews yesterday evening more details about the roadmap the company announced in April concerning future editions of Windows for embedded devices. On Wednesday, the company announced Windows Embedded Standard, which will give small device manufacturers a way to enable Internet Explorer 7 and Terminal Services-based implementations of applications such as the Office suite, implemented on thin handhelds and even the consoles of printers.
EC approves Nokia's acquisition of Qt platform producer Trolltech
It was widely reported today that the European Commission approved the buyout of "widget maker" Trolltech, by Nokia. What isn't widely known is that Nokia has acquired something of real substance...and maybe even Nokia doesn't know it.
A statement from Brussels this morning indicates that the European Commission has completed its review of the proposed acquisition of embedded Linux development tools provider Trolltech by wireless device giant Nokia, a deal announced last January. It's clearing the acquisition, under the theory that should Nokia decide to limit Trolltech to producing tools only for Nokia equipment, one less tools provider in the market won't be much of a loss.
IBM's Lotus Symphony 1.0 emerges from beta
Emerging from a public beta process which began last September, the Lotus brand once again represents a suite of general purpose applications...and it doesn't look to make much money from that just yet.
The game is officially joined. Up to now, the leading full-release application suites supporting OpenDocument Format have been the open source OpenOffice, Sun's commercial StarOffice, and Corel's commercial WordPerfect Office. We know the next version of Microsoft Office, currently code-named "Office 14," will support ODF optionally the way WordPerfect Office does now.
Icahn's war of words forebodes an ugly August for Yahoo
Last month's shareholders lawsuit filed against Yahoo has revealed the existence of a poison pill to defend the company against hostile takeover -- one which investor Carl Icahn is now publicly working to have extricated.
There is little question that, over Microsoft's history, fortune has smiled upon it, and it's often ended up getting its way anyway, sometimes despite itself. If Microsoft's intention by even considering a Yahoo deal was to eliminate one major roadblock between it and Google in the online advertising and search space, walking away from the deal last month may end up achieving the same objective, if investor Carl Icahn has his way.
Mozilla provides more details on Firefox 3.0 RC2
The official release notes are now live on Mozilla's servers, along with Release Candidate 2 of the organization's next Web browser, which was published yesterday.
Download Mozilla Firefox 3.0 RC2 for Windows from FileForum now.
Microsoft's Search 4.0 for desktops emerges from beta
No, it's not WinFS, the file system that was supposed to revolutionize the way files and documents are stored in Windows. But if it gives users tools that accomplish the same things WinFS was supposed to provide, does Search 4.0 come close?
Download Windows Search 4.0 for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 from FileForum now.
Windows XP lives on in the next embedded OS upgrade
The versatility of Microsoft's previous generation of operating system is about to be shown off some more, with a new edition that will be customizable for various embedded devices, using a special version of Visual Studio.
It's no secret that the Windows XP kernel is better suited for small devices than the Vista kernel, whose new architecture -- including such features as Address Space Layout Randomization -- requires a larger memory footprint. What may be a surprise is how much Microsoft has managed to compress into the next edition of Windows for embedded devices, now called Windows Embedded Standard, including .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Media Player 11, Silverlight, and Internet Explorer 7.
Mozilla issues Release Candidate 2 of Firefox 3.0
Download Mozilla Firefox 3.0 RC2 for Windows from FileForum now.
While Web users everywhere have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the final edition of Firefox 3.0 -- an event which some thought could happen this very week -- late yesterday, Release Candidate 2 of the browser appeared on Mozilla's FTP site.
Newest Windows Installer will enable multiple package installs
Managing a massive Windows installation has already been likened to administering a colossal database. Today, Microsoft added new functions to its Installer for setup packages, that really does start treating Windows like one.
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 now slated for August
Citing heavy customer feedback, Microsoft officials as high up as Bill Gates himself revealed today that the next public beta of IE8 won't be going home with Tech·Ed attendees this year.
Though the beta roadmap for Microsoft's next release of Internet Explorer has never been quite clear, one of the key "takeaways" from Bill Gates' keynote address at Tech·Ed 2008 in Orlando this morning -- other than this week's pending release of Silverlight 2.0 Beta 2 -- is the fact that testers and developers won't get a chance to see the next public beta of IE8 until late this summer, at the earliest.
Live Search to become the latest to try 404 redirects
In its scramble to avoid sliding to as low as fifth on the scale of search engine providers this year, Microsoft today has begun grabbing misspelled URLs pointing to its own hosted domains, and redirecting those users to Live Search.
A Microsoft spokesperson has informed BetaNews that customers of Microsoft-hosted domains -- which should include subscribers to its Office Live Small Business Web hosting service -- will notice changes in how their sites behave. Specifically, when a user types in a URL for a non-existent page, rather than the 404 message she would expect to receive from her Web browser (or her add-on toolbar), she'll be redirected to a page on Microsoft's Live Search.
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