Clinton, Lieberman Team With ESRB
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut said Thursday they were joining forces with the Entertainment Software Rating Board in order to launch a nationwide television campaign to educate parents about video game ratings.
Although neither Senator will appear in the advertisements, they both voiced their support for the initiative.
Google Launches Radio Ads Service
Google said Thursday that it had begun testing its radio ad service with a small group of selected advertisers, confirming reports from last month which said the company had begun to hire a sales team and was preparing to launch the effort by the end of the year.
The service would allow the advertiser to select the location, type of station, and the time and day it would like its ads to run. After the ad is played, the Google AdWords system would provide online reports of when and where the ad played.
Six Patches Coming on Patch Tuesday
Microsoft will issue six security patches next Tuesday, of which at least two will have a rating of critical. Missing from this list is a patch for a recently discovered zero-day flaw in Word: no updates are scheduled for the Office suite.
All of the patches except one will fix various issues for the Windows operating system, with one of those being critical. The sixth will be a critical patch for users of Microsoft's Visual Studio programming application.
Has Xbox 360 Already Won the War?
With Microsoft executives becoming ever more eager to tout the company's sales numbers of its Xbox 360 in public, and the dramatic success of games like Gears of War, has Redmond given itself such a head start that it will be near-impossible for Sony to catch up?
Twice in the past week, Microsoft officials have mentioned the magic 10 million number. It has significance, as in each of the previous video game generations, the first to that level ended up being the best selling console overall.
Three Convicted of Software Fraud
Federal prosecutors announced the convictions of three Oregon residents on Wednesday, saying they had colluded to buy and resell some $29 million worth of Microsoft software intended for educational institutions to non-academic customers.
Keith Griffen, 55, of Oregon City, and Mirza Ali, 59, and wife Sameena, 52, were convicted in an Oregon federal court last month on conspiracy and fraud charges. The software was purchased from 1997 through 2001 through front companies and the purchase of others.
Nintendo: Be Careful With That Wiimote
Following several high-profile Internet reports of damage being caused by its Wiimote controller, Nintendo on Wednesday gave some friendly advice on how -- and how not to -- use its unique capabilities.
The motion-sensing controller is swung and waved about to direct the console to make certain actions in the game. However, some gamers are apparently swinging a little too hard, or waving a bit too much.
'Perpetual License' for Palm OS Secured
Palm handhelds with the Palm OS aren't going anywhere anytime soon. The company has signed a perpetual licensing agreement with the operating system's owner, Access Systems Americas.
The deal gives Palm access to the source code behind Palm OS Garnet, the version of the operating system used both in Treo smartphone models and Palm handheld computers. In exchange, Palm would make a $44 million payment to Access for the rights.
MS: We'll Sell 1 Million Zunes by June
Despite sales that lag market-leading Apple by a significant margin, Microsoft continues to put up a brave front in its continuing fight for relevance in the digital music player market.
Microsoft says that it expects to sell about 1 million players by the end of June 2007. While this would likely trail Apple sales by as much as a 25 to 1 margin or more, the company says that would be a great start for its first entrant into the space.
No Cell Phone-Cancer Risk, Large Study Says
In the latest study to address the issue of cellular phones and cancer, a Danish survey of more than 420,000 cell phone users who first subscribed to service in the early 1980s through the mid-1990s suggests that there is no link.
Researchers at the Danish Institute of Cancer Epidemiology followed 420,095 cell phone users who subscribed to service between 1982 and 1995, and were tracked through 2002 to spot any incidences of cancer. Compared with the general population, there was no appreciable difference.
Study: HD DVD Has Lead in Consumer Support
An independent analysis of online discussions on next generation DVD formats Blu-ray and HD DVD seem to give the early edge to HD DVD. Cited as reasons are a consumer distrust of Sony and displeasure in the company's decision to include it in the PS3.
The study, released by research firm Cymfony late Tuesday, indicates that while discussion on the two formats is pretty evenly split, positive discussion on HD DVD is 46 percent higher than that of Blu-ray. The study researched 18,000 posts from October 1 to November 30, 2006.
Microsoft Testing its Own Book Search
Microsoft launched its book search in beta form on Wednesday. However, unlike Google's project, publishers must opt-in to have their books included.
Windows Live Search Books would initially be accessed via a separate category on Live Search. But next year, Microsoft plans to integrate the service into its main search product once it exits beta. According to the company, the goal is to link all the various search products into a single interface.
Record Industry Slowly Embraces MP3
The tune seems to be changing ever so slowly at some record labels when it comes to DRM. Both out of consumer demand and to some extent necessity, some have begun to offer digital downloads in the unprotected MP3 format.
Record labels have so far resisted offering popular artists in the format, citing piracy concerns. But with the iPod and its closed DRM ecosystem becoming ever more prevalent, industry executives are looking for ways to continue the growth of digital music.
Mac Office Open XML Converters on Track
Contrary to what Microsoft calls "alarmist news stories," the company is continuing to work towards providing Open XML format converters within the Mac version of Office, although their release is not expected until Spring 2007.
Microsoft first announced that it would be providing the converters at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference this year. It said that the delay mainly had to do with a need to wait for the finished Office 2007 product, as well as the completion of the file format itself.
EV-DO to Get a New Name: UMB
Perhaps the name was getting a bit too long, but beginning with the next revision of the EV-DO data standard the technology will be referred to by the acronym "UMB," short for Ultra Mobile Broadband.
Otherwise known as CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision C, UMB promises data rates of as much as 280Mbps downstream in mobile environments. The application of the technology is still quite a ways off; the UMB standard will not be completed until next year, with commercial availability by 2009.
MySpace Looks to ID Sex Offender Profiles
In an effort to curb use of the site by sex offenders, MySpace plans to introduce technology that would identify and block those attempting to use its social networking service.
While not common, criminals have used the site to solicit sex from underage members. Along with copyright issues, the protection of users from such activity is the highest priorities for the company as it looks to continue its rapid rate of growth.
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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