Ed Oswald

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) filed suit against the state of Minnesota Tuesday, saying the government is attempting to trump parental supervision. A new bill has been proposed to fine children and teens for buying or renting mature and adults-only games.

Additionally, the group argues that the law violates First Amendment rights. Over the past five years, the group has been successful in overturning six similar laws. Courts have ruled in each case that the laws violate the First Amendment rights of gamers.

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NVidia released a development kit Wednesday that will allow handheld manufacturers to add support for various multimedia functions, including digital television and 3D graphics, to Windows Media 5.0 devices. Dubbed the MobileMedia platform, the kit includes both hardware and software components.

"Handheld phones today offer great promise as digital, media-rich devices, however the broad range of platforms and standards available to manufacturers has made the development of advanced handsets that deliver compelling content, a daunting and time-prohibitive task," said Philip Carmack, senior vice president of handheld GPUs at NVidia.

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In an effort to broaden its server business, Dell released details of a plan Wednesday to overhaul its server lineup, while announcing it had signed on Google to resell the systems. The PowerEdge servers would likely be the first to use Intel's new server processor, code-named "Woodcrest."

Google would use Dell servers for its search appliances, which it sells to businesses as a way to use the Mountain View, Calif.-based company's search technologies to sift through the large stores of data that most companies have accumulated.

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TiVo announced a new service Wednesday that will bring broadband video content to the DVR boxes of approximately 400,000 subscribers. To support the service, the Alviso, Calif. company has signed agreements with the NBA and WNBA, The New York Times, Heavy, iVillage, and CNET.

The content will be located in the Showcases area of TiVo Central, and would be offered free of charge to subscribers. Customers with broadband-connected Series2 DVRs are eligible for the new service. Additionally, TiVo and its partners would be able to insert ads into the content.

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Apple has sued Creative a second time, court documents indicate. The new suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Texas on June 1, accuses the electronics maker of infringing on three more of Apple's patents, and seeks damages and an injunction.

Creative first sued Apple on May 15, accusing the company of infringement of the so-called "Zen Patent." Apple moved quickly and countersued the company on the same day, claiming infringement on four patents of its own.

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HP will recall about 679,000 digital cameras worldwide to fix an issue that causes the battery pack to overheat when connected to a docking station or AC adapter, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday. One report has been received of an HP camera catching fire, however no injuries have occurred.

The cameras were sold between August 2004 and April 2006 for between $250 and $400 USD. In the U.S., the recall involves about 224,000 cameras. The agency recommended that owners of affected cameras stop using the devices and apply a firmware update that would provide a temporary fix. In the place of the rechargeable battery, regular batteries should be used until the issue is remedied.

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Britons were warned Tuesday by the British trade association BPI that use of AllofMP3.com was illegal, although it did not plan to pursue users of the service when it files suit against the Russian company in British court. The industry claims that the site is not authorized to sell digital music.

"AllofMP3.com is illegal under UK law and it is illegal to download from it," BPI General Counsel Roz Groome said. "We are going to sue AllofMP3.com in the UK courts - we are going to seek a judgment not against the users of the site, but against the site itself."

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AirCell, winner of the recent FCC auction for air-to-ground broadband frequencies, said Monday that it planned to use the spectrum to bring affordable wireless Internet to airplanes. The company expects to roll out the services next year.

Aircraft fitted with AirCell equipment will allow for Wi-Fi access throughout the cabin using 802.11b and g technologies. The frequencies are separate from those of safety equipment, meaning airlines would be able to safely operate the equipment during flight.

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Under increasing competitive pressure, Intel is being forced to sell most of its communications business in order to focus on its core initiatives. On the chopping block is the company's unsuccessful mobile phone and networking chip businesses, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Although the company is not commenting on the situation, sources close to Intel say it has already approached potential buyers in an effort to offload the struggling parts of its overall business.

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Sony entered the digital SLR camera market Tuesday, announcing that it would begin shipping its first model in July. By the end of its current fiscal year, ending in March 2007, the company hopes to grab as much as ten percent of a market currently dominated by Canon and Nikon.

Canon has about an 53.3 percent share of the market, with Nikon garnering a 28.3 percent share, according to recent research by IDC.

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Qwest said Tuesday that it had signed a new contract with Microsoft that would make it the first company to offer co-branded Windows Live services to its customers.

Several Windows Live services would be made available, including Windows Live OneCare, and a co-branded Windows Live home page, Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Messenger. Qwest had previously offered a branded version of MSN Premium to its customers.

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In a highly anticipated keynote, Intel executive Anand Chandrasekher introduced new products and technologies to attendees of Computex Taipei on Tuesday. This includes a new processor design that saves energy while offering increased performance over its predecessors.

New processors based on this architecture are expected to begin shipping this summer. Central to the Intel Core 2 Duo is the new Intel 965 Express Chipset. The chipset includes technologies that would speed memory access times, as well as up DDR2 support speeds to 800 MHz. Support for high-definition audio and quieter operation is also included.

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Google plans to release a Web-based spreadsheet application Tuesday, which, when combined with its recent purchase of online word processor Writely, seems to indicate the company is about to mount a challenge to Microsoft's Office productivity suite.

However, Google is playing down the idea that the new beta project -- first reported by the Wall Street Journal -- is somehow a threat to Office's dominance, saying the two applications would be "complementary."

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Nokia said Monday that it was launching its N91 multimedia phone in the United States, with initial exclusive availability from the Nokia USA Web site. The phone launched in Europe in late April after Nokia delayed it last year. The N91 includes a 4GB hard drive, stereo headset jack, wireless connectivity and synchronization with Windows Media Player, and will retail for $599 USD.

As a bonus, all N91 phones shipped in the North American market would include exclusive content from the Live 8 concerts held in July 2005. "The Nokia N91 delivers on the Nokia Nseries promise in a very compelling way. Its multiple connectivity and powerful performance in all areas, truly makes it the world's best mobile connected jukebox," said Nokia America multimedia director David Watkins.

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Windows Vista will be one of the most accessible operating systems that Microsoft has ever released, the company said Monday. New features for those with disabilities take into account three years of research by Microsoft, and is being led by Rob Sinclair.

Sinclair is the new director of Microsoft's Accessible Technology Group. "Developing new ways to make technology easier for people to use has always been one of my passions," he says. "I've really been pursuing the same goals throughout my career."

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