Xbox 360 Top Console in September
Sales of the Xbox 360 nearly doubled in September in the United States thanks to Halo 3, while the Nintendo Wii continues to post impressive sales numbers.
Research firm NPD said that Microsoft sold about 528,000 Xbox 360 consoles during the month of September, up 91 percent from the previous month. Much of this success could be pinned on sales of Halo 3, which sold 3.3 million copies during the month.
Google Profit Surges 46 Percent
Google surprised Wall Street Thursday, reporting higher than expected revenue and profits due to increased market share and cost-cutting measures.
For the third quarter, the company reported revenues of $4.23 billion and a profit of $1.07 billion, or about $3.38 per diluted share. This was better than Wall Street estimates of revenue of $4.13 billion and profits of $3.22 per share.
RIAA Sends 411 Letters to 19 Universities
RIAA continued its effort to end piracy at college campuses with a new round of 'pre-litigation' letters aimed at using the threat of a suit to settle cases out of court.
Letters were sent to the following schools: Drexel, Indiana, Northern Illinois, Occidental College, SUNY Morrisville, Texas Christian University, Tufts, the University of Alabama, UC Berkeley, University of Delaware, University of Georgia, University of Iowa, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, University of New Hampshire, University of New Mexico, University of South Florida, USC, and Vanderbilt.
Social Sites May Find Monetization Difficult
A new study by Parks Associates indicates that attempts at monetizing social networking sites may backfire, leaving providers with few options to generate revenue from their users.
The findings may also reflect a broader issue among service-based websites where consumers are increasingly turning away from fee-based services in favor of free ad-supported ones.
Western Search Engines Redirected in China
Without reason, Western search engines in China are now being redirected to Chinese search site Baidu.
Various reports indicate that YouTube, Yahoo, Google, and Windows Live Search are all being redirected to Baidu, in a possible move to block out news of the Dalai Lama's receipt of the Congressional Gold Medal.
Microsoft Launches Popfly on Silverlight
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Thursday detailed his company's progress on Web 2.0, saying the company had launched Popfly and the extension of several other Live Services.
"This is an incredible time for developers, designers, advertisers, marketers and consumers to plug into and take advantage of the opportunities to experience and grow businesses on the Web," Ballmer said in a keynote at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.
MySpace Opens Site Up to Developers
MySpace plans to open up its platform in the coming months, following similar moves by competitor Facebook in an effort to continue growing the site's user base.
Whereas current methods already allow developers to build separate applications that can then be placed on profile pages via HTML code, the new offering allows tighter integration with MySpace and its various features.
RIAA Finally Takes Aim at Newsgroups
With courtroom victories against P2P networks and individual users behind it, the Recording Industry Association of America is launching a new legal effort to take down binary newsgroup providers, which have long claimed immunity from copyright claims.
For now, the suit only targets Usenet.com. However, some worry that if the RIAA is successful, it could open the door to lawsuits against anyone who offers newsgroup services, possibly endangering the future of this nearly three decade old Internet staple.
Nokia Debuts Updated Internet Tablet
Nokia on Wednesday introduced its updated Internet Tablet device, although it still lacks phone capabilities via the cellular network.
The new N810 will include both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity as well as options to expand data storage up to 10GB, and a nearly 4 1/4" display with 800x480 resolution. The device goes on sale in November at a price of $479 USD.
Two Spammers Face Over Five Years
Two men behind a spam ring that sent millions of pornographic mails are the first to be convicted under new federal spam laws, the Justice Department said.
The law, known as CAN-SPAM, was passed in 2003 in order to criminalize the sending of unsolicited mail. Since then, many companies including AOL and Microsoft have used the law to fight back against spammers.
AT&T Decides to Prorate Termination Fee
Following a similar move by Verizon Wireless in January of last year, AT&T said Wednesday that it will change its policies to reduce early termination fees and change their contracts without penalty.
Like Verizon's new method, termination fees will be prorated and based on how much time is remaining in the contract. Additionally, fees for changing calling plans will be reduced.
Adobe: Pros Like Lightroom Better
Professional photographers are about four times as likely to use Lightroom versus Apple's competing application Aperture, Adobe's Photoshop product manager said Tuesday.
According to data compiled by research firm InfoTrends, Aperture's market share in the segment stands at about 5.5 percent. The rest are using some type of Adobe product: 66.5 percent use the PhotoShop Camera Raw plug-in, and 23.6 percent use Lightroom.
Novell-Microsoft Antitrust Suit Moves Forward
An appeals court ruled Monday that two remaining antitrust claims brought against Microsoft by Novell could go forward, upholding an earlier court decision that dismissed the company's other four claims.
Novell had originally sued Microsoft in November 2004 for monopolistic behavior in the productivity software market, which prevented it from selling its WordPerfect word processing and Quattro Pro spreadsheet applications from 1994 to 1996.
House Passes Temporary Net Tax Ban
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a four-year extension to a ban on net access taxes, however Republicans complained that Democrats blocked attempts to make it permanent.
Democratic leaders in the House used a procedural tool that prevented amendments to a bill continuing the ban. Supporters of a permanent ban had hoped to add an amendment that would have settled the argument once and for all.
Broadcasters Announce DTV Ad Campaign
Broadcasters are preparing a $700 million ad blitz to raise awareness of the switch from analog to digital television amid criticisms that too little of the public is aware of the change.
Some members of Congress claim that the government and broadcasters have done little to warn people of the switch that occurs on February 17, 2009. In what could be seen as a preemptive strike prior to hearings on the subject, the broadcast industry has announced an expansive ad campaign to promote the switch.
Ed's Bio
Ed Oswald is a freelance journalist from the Reading, PA area. Although he has written across a variety of subjects, Ed’s passion and focus has been on technology and gadgets. His work regularly appears on tech news sites BetaNews, PCWorld, and Technologizer, and has been syndicated to eWeek, Time’s Techland blog, VentureBeat and the New York Times.
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