Sub-$600 Blu-ray Player Coming from Sony
In an effort to continue its momentum in next-generation DVDs, Sony said Monday that it would launch a lower-cost version of its Blu-ray player over the summer for $599 USD.
However, even at the new price the player would still be more expensive than Toshiba's HD DVD player, currently priced at $499 USD. Regardless, it does show willingness on Sony's part to cut into profits in order to accelerate adoption of the Blu-ray format.
IRS Wants Access to eBay Seller Data
If you are one of the many who now make a significant amount of income off of eBay, Uncle Sam may be interested in how much you're bringing in.
Beginning in 2008, the federal government has proposed that auction houses like eBay report any customer who carries out more than 100 transactions above $5,000 USD. The law is being proposed because many are not reporting income from such sources.
Vonage: We Are Not Going Away
According to Vonage, rumors of its demise due to its ongoing patent litigation with Verizon have been greatly exaggerated.
In a statement released Monday morning, the nation's largest VoIP provider disputed media reports that the ongoing lawsuit brought against it by Verizon may have a negative impact on the company's business.
BitTorrent Goes Legal with Download Service
In its continuing effort to move away from its roots as a popular method for the decentralized transfer of pirated content, BitTorrent said Monday it had launched a new content network with the help of several television and movie studios.
Called the BitTorrent Entertainment Network, the service will feature content from 20th Century Fox, Lions Gate, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.
Blu-ray Disc Sales Surpass HD DVD
Data from Nielsen indicates that sales of Blu-ray media for the first time has outpaced that of HD DVD; however, as expected, both camps in the high-definition format war have different ways of interpreting the data.
For the week of February 18, Blu-ray sold 100 units for every 98.71 units of HD DVD. That culminates a several week period where sales of the disc format began to catch up to HD DVD after nearly a year of slow sales.
FCC Ends Morse Code Testing for Ham Radio
Today at one past midnight, a form of communication long used by both radio amateurs and communications pioneers slipped further into the annals of history.
The FCC formally removed the requirement for ham radio operators to learn Morse code back in January, however the ruling didn't take effect until Friday. Under the new policies, those who may have not had access to what are called the "HF bands" by hams would now gain access.
Microsoft Sued Over 'Office Live' Name
2:00 pm ET February 23, 2006 - BetaNews has received comments from both Microsoft and Office Live, LLC regarding the trademark suit.
Microsoft spokesperson Jack Evans told BetaNews that it felt that Office Live had no trademark on the name, and it would seek to have its claims invalidated in “its common connotation."
Qualcomm's Legal Woes Lessen
Qualcomm received some good news on the legal front Friday, with an antitrust suit against it dismissed, and Broadcom agreeing to drop patent infringement suits over Bluetooth technology.
The settlement does not affect other suits between the two companies, and terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The case involved claims surround two patents from both companies. A trial scheduled for March 5 has been cancelled as a result.
Less Backward Compatibility for EU PS3
Sony announced some changes in the PlayStation 3 specification for the Eurasia, Africa and Australia launch set for March 23, including less backwards compatibility than its North American PS3.
The change is due to a hardware switch within the console itself. Some functionality that had previously been controlled by a dedicated chip would now be controlled by software, which would adversely affect backwards compatibility.
Microsoft Shows Off Vista Reader Apps
After much hoopla over Windows Presentation Foundation and its promise to create rich graphical user interfaces for Vista, not many of the demonstrated technologies have become reality.
Thus, the company set out this week with three media partners including Associated Newspapers, Hearst, and Forbes to leverage the power of WPF through a new digital reader application.
Wal-Mart Winds Down VHS Sales
Wal-Mart said Thursday that it plans to stock about 2,800 of its stores with a special Academy Awards section of DVDs including popular titles that many of its consumers may own on VHS. The company is clearing out the last of its inventory of the aging format and spots a new market opportunity.
"It's the right timing to have these classics highlighted and available on DVD at an even better value, so that everyone who loves movies can replenish or create a new, personal movie collection," Wal-Mart Entertainment senior vice president Gary Severson said.
Congress to Study XM, Sirius Merger
Congress plans to hold hearings into the merger of satellite radio providers XM and Sirius next Wednesday, with the House Judiciary Committee slated to ask CEO designate Mel Karmazin and others how the merger benefits consumers.
Most analysts agree that much of the political opposition will come from Democrats, and say that now is the best time to push through any merger. If Democrats take over the executive branch in next year's elections, such a merger may be near impossible.
Revver Videos Coming to Verizon DSL, FiOS
Verizon said Thursday it had penned an agreement with Revver, the user-generated video site that pays its users to submit content. Videos would be made available through the telecommunications company's broadband service by the end of March, and on FiOS TV by the end of this year.
Revver already had signed a similar deal with sister company Verizon Wireless in November of last year.
Google Treads Further on Microsoft's Turf
Although it has repeatedly denied it has any intention of taking on Microsoft Office, Google on Thursday introduced Google Apps Premier Edition, a fee-based version of its free Web-based word processing and spreadsheet applications for businesses.
For a $50 yearly fee per account, customers will receive the entire Google Apps package with additional business centric features, plus access to APIs, conference room scheduling for calendar, 10GB of e-mail storage, extended phone support, and mobile access to e-mail on BlackBerry devices.
Charter Debuts SiteFinder-like Service
Charter has apparently implemented a feature that is similar to that which both VeriSign and EarthLink have instituted in the past to redirect unused domains to a company-produced page with advertising, its customers report.
According to users of the Web site broadbandreports.com, customers are sent to a search page that includes several advertisements across the top half of the page, with a search results page powered by Yahoo! Search.
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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