Major wireless companies want old cell phone tax abolished
Last June, the IRS began to investigate the 20-year old tax law that treats work-issued mobile phones as a fringe benefit that is subject to income tax. IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman called the law "Obsolete...burdensome, poorly understood by taxpayers, and difficult for the IRS to administer consistently."
At the time of the Listed Property rule's enactment in 1989, it was seen as "a tax on CEOs and rich people." But now that workplace communication has evolved to the point where practically everyone has a cellular phone, the law needs to be updated and simplified.
Nintendo Wii's Opera browser gets update, too
Opera 10 isn't the only news today from Norwegian company Opera Software. Today, the Nintendo Wii's "Internet Channel" browser based upon Opera 9 received a couple of serious updates: It has gone from Adobe Flash 7 to Adobe Flash Lite 3.1, and now it is totally free to download.
Early adopters got a crack at the Internet Channel had access to a trial version from December 2006 to April 2007, and then a free full version from April to June 2007, but after that period, it has cost 500 Wii Points (5 USD). For users who actually purchased the browser, Nintendo will be offering "refunds" in the form of a free game at the end of October.
Sony Vaio: first to come with Google Chrome
Google representatives confirmed yesterday that Sony will be bundling the Chrome browser into its Vaio line of notebook computers along with Microsoft's Internet Explorer. This is the browser's first bundling partnership, and follows earlier statements from Google which said that a leading computer manufacturer would ship Chrome.
Sony, however has not made any confirmatory remarks.
Napster: no streaming to mobile just yet
Hoping to capitalize on the media frenzy surrounding the Federal Communications Commission's investigation into the iTunes app store approval policies, RealNetworks announced that it had submitted a Rhapsody iPhone app to Apple for review.
The Rhapsody app has not yet been approved, but one of its principal competitors in the subscription music space, Napster today discussed the difficulty of bringing a streaming music app to the iPhone, as it unveiled the beta of a new mobile Web interface at m.napster.com where its subscribers can browse, search, preview and buy songs, but not stream them.
eBay sells 65% of Skype for $1.9 billion
eBay has announced that it has sold most of its stake in VoIP messaging software platform Skype for $1.9 billion in cash plus a $125 million note. eBay will retain a 35% stake in Skype, and the transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.
The investor group which bought out eBay's share is being led by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, and includes venture capital firms Andreesen Horowitz, Index Ventures, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Opera 10 Final released, bringing back 'turbo' mode
Download Opera 10 for Windows from FileForum now.
Debuting in a rather comprehensive alpha nine months ago, and in beta at the beginning of the summer, Opera 10's final version has been officially released today.
Windows Phones are coming October 6th
Microsoft has at last announced the availability of Windows Phones with Windows Mobile 6.5.
Though the precise phone models were not announced today, Microsoft announced the carriers and handset manufacturers we can expect to find on October 6.
China Mobile launches 'OPhone' to counter China Unicom's iPhone
At an event today in Beijing, China Mobile officially launched its "OPhone" platform, the mobile carrier's answer to China Unicom's recently acquired Apple iPhone.
OPhones run OMS (Open Mobile System), a China Mobile-branded fork of Google's Android, and they will be made by a number of prominent manufacturers, including Dell, HTC, Lenovo. China Mobile showed off devices by all three manufacturers today, and said it expects companies such as Samsung, ZTE, Phillips, Motorola, and LG to support the platform.
Mobile gaming proves to be a huge growth market
French video game publisher Gameloft established an early lead in download-only gaming and is seriously reaping the rewards.
Today, Gameloft published its results for the first half of 2009, showing sales that have reached €60.1 million so far. This constitutes a 20% year over year increase, and Gameloft says 95% of that growth is coming from the mobile gaming sector.
Apple's annual iPod Refresh event confirmed
Reports from "music industry executives" earlier in August which predicted a September 9 iPod refresh have been confirmed today, making 2009's iPod unveiling exactly like 2008's.
Today, Apple sent out invitations for its annual iPod event, where the year's lineup of personal media players will be unveiled. The event will take place at the Yerba Buena Cetner for the Arts Theater in San Francisco.
Samsung announces mobile app store
It's amazing what can happen in one year. Before Apple launched the iTunes App store, there was no such thing as the "mobile app store economy." It was limited to a few vendors such as Handango, who controlled the small mobile software distribution market.
Now, most mobile operating systems have their own app store, and phone manufacturers are attempting to open stores with their own devices in mind. Today, Samsung announced it will launch an on-device smartphone app store in Europe on September 14. The company has already put up a placeholder for its app store, and downloads will be available to the Omnia and the I8910 HD. Samsung says support will be added on the Omnia II and OmniaLITE at a later date.
'Macs don't get viruses' myth dissolves before public's eyes
Apple never said OS X was invulnerable to viruses. Well, not in so many words.
It's just one of those things that the media hungry --but security disinterested-- public has turned into an axiom.
AT&T announces tentative wireline union deal
AT&T announced details of its tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America who began contract re-negotiations in April.
The CWA represents 7,000 of AT&T's legacy wireline workers, whose contracts expired in the spring. Today, AT&T announced it has tentatively arrived at a three-year agreement upon wages, pension band increases, and health care. CWA workers were threatening to strike if AT&T changed their health care benefits, which included an HMO with 100% of the premiums covered by AT&T.
Financial institutions vulnerable to phishing-by-CD, says security report
The National Credit Union Administration this week issued an alert warning credit unions of an innovative form of scareware that utilizes traditional postal mail and a piece of malware that the user actively installs.
Some NCUA member credit unions have reportedly received letters that claimed to be from the NCUA which contained CDs of important "training materials" that would help inform users about phishing scams. Running the discs, naturally, loaded up credit union computers with a bunch of malware.
'Up-to-Date' Snow Leopard customers aren't getting what they paid for
The Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date program promised users who bought a qualifying Mac or Xserve on or after June 8th of this year an automatic upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard for only $9.95.
However, it appears that Apple is only shipping out full versions of the operating system upgrade today, and not the Up-to-Date versions. As to be expected, customers who put in their orders months ago are expressing 140 characters worth of displeasure all over Twitter this afternoon.
Tim's Bio
Tim Conneally was born into dumpster tech. His father was an ARPANET research pioneer and equipped his kids with discarded tech gear, second-hand musical instruments, and government issue foreign language instruction tapes. After years of building Frankenstein computers from rubbish and playing raucous music in clubs across the country (and briefly on MTV) Tim grew into an adult with deep, twisted roots and an eye on the future. He most passionately covers mobile technology, user interfaces and applications, the science and policy of the wireless world, and watching different technologies shrink and converge.
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.