Gateway Debuts $599 Media Center PC
Gateway late Wednesday announced the availability of a low-cost PC equipped with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 through its recently acquired eMachines product line. The desktop computer, which will sell for $599 and is available now in retail stores, is the cheapest Media Center PC to date.
The company says it is targeting the back-to-school crowd with the eMachines T6520, as well as offering three other low cost non-Media Center systems starting at $339 USD.
Status of Solar Spacecraft Unknown
The status of Cosmos 1, the first solar-powered spacecraft, was unknown Wednesday afternoon following conflicting reports saying that either the ship was destroyed on liftoff, or is in a much closer orbit to Earth than planned.
Signals believed to have come from the craft have been detected in the Marshall Islands and in Russia, although confirmation was not available. U.S. Strategic Command in Nebraska is working with mission officials in an attempt to locate Cosmos 1.
Feds Begin CardSystems Investigation
The U.S. government said on Tuesday that it launched an investigation into the practices of CardSystems Solutions last week. Investigators are hoping to find out how hackers managed to get into the company's systems and download credit card information for thousands of card holders.
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, a conglomerate of several federal financial agencies is heading the investigation that is expected to take approximately two to four weeks. Seperately, the FBI has launched an investigation into the matter as well.
Telstra Says 'Not Yet' to MS Internet TV
Australian telephone company Telstra told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday that it had pulled out of a deal with Microsoft to use its Internet TV service. The company denied the decision had anything to do with the technology, but rather the company's "current state of readiness" to make the necessary upgrades to launch the service.
Telstra would not rule out that it could sign a deal with a Microsoft competitor when it is prepared to re-enter the IPTV market.
MP3 Player Market Set to Explode
The market for digital audio players is expected to nearly quadruple over the next four years, reaching 104 million units by 2009, according to research firm In-Stat. Over 27.8 million players were shipped last year alone.
A bigger selection of legitimate download sites and lower prices were cited as reasons for continuing growth in the market. Also cited were smaller disk drives and bigger Flash memory capacities, meaning units were becoming smaller yet able to hold the same or more music than their predecessors.
BBC's Radio One Comes to Sirius
Satellite radio service Sirius announced Tuesday that it had finalized a deal to simulcast the popular BBC music channel Radio One to American listeners through an agreement with BBC Radio International. The programming will be time-shifted so that the programming would play at the same local time it does in the UK.
Mostly lauded by electronic music fans as one of the premier stations in the world for dance and techno, Radio One features live music sets from DJs and events across the UK and around the world. It also features programs like Essential Mix, a weekly mix show featuring top-name DJs that has already been available in America through XM Satellite Radio.
Apple Sued Over iTunes - Again
Apple has been hit with yet another lawsuit over iTunes, according to a copy of the suit obtained by Apple enthusiast site AppleInsider. Vermont-based Contois Music Technology alleges that Apple willfully infringed on Contois' patents through the design of the iTunes software.
Contois owns the rights to a six-year-old patent (US Patent No. 5,864,868) titled "Computer Control System and User Interface for Media Playing Devices." According the company, David Contois was responsible for creating a computer interface that played music on an internal or external device, which was exhibited at two computer trade shows in 1995 and 1996.
Microsoft Completes Sybari Acquisition
Microsoft on Tuesday completed its acquisition of Sybari Software, an enterprise security provider. As a wholly owned subisidary of the Redmond company, Sybari will continue to produce enterprise security software for the Windows platform. Microsoft had announced formal plans to purchase Sybari in February.
"Customers have told us they want powerful security solutions for the enterprise to help protect their messaging and collaboration servers from viruses, worms and spam," Mike Nash, corporate vice president of the Security Business & Technology Unit at Microsoft said in a statement.
eBay, USPS Partner for Auction Mailings
eBay and the United States Postal Service are set to announce a special flat rate box for items sold through eBay regardless of weight or destination at the company's eBay Live conference this Thursday. The boxes, which will be sold for $7.70, will be treated as regular Priority Mail packages although they will carry the logos of both eBay and the USPS.
Several different shapes and sizes of the boxes will be offered to eBay auction shippers. Flat-rate boxes were already being used by the Postal Service, but Monday's announcement marks the first time the USPS has teamed up with a third-party to provide a special service for that company's customers.
Senate Republicans Start Podcasting
Residents of the state of Pennsylvania will now be able to listen to a weekly podcast on state issues thanks to a new program being launched by the state Senate Republican Caucus. The group hopes that use of the emerging technology will bring the group's issues to the forefront in the minds of voters.
"Podcasting is a great new technology, and our caucus will use it to help keep constituents informed," Erik Anderson said, chief of staff for Senate Majority Leader David Brightbill. "Podcasting will improve our ability to provide in-depth analysis, up-to- date information, and insights from individual members about crucial topics affecting people and communities around the Commonwealth."
40 Million Credit Cards Exposed
Credit card processor CardSystems Solutions may have exposed nearly 40 million credit card numbers, according to information released over the weeked by MasterCard International. On Monday, nearly 200,000 cards were confirmed stolen, after a file containing the information was accessed by a hacker.
John Perry, CEO of CardSystems, told the New York Times the numbers resided in a file being used for research regarding why certain transactions were marked as "unauthorized or uncompleted." Perry admitted that the company was not following the policies of credit card companies by storing the card numbers.
Intel Tests Adding 802.11n to Centrino
Researchers from Intel announced at a conference in Kyoto, Japan on Friday that they have successfully created a single chip that integrates 802.11a, b and g, as well as the expected specifications of 802.11n. The company plans to use the development as a way to integrate wireless into future Intel products, such as the Centrino platform, at low cost.
802.11n promises to offer better range and higher data rates than current wireless networks. While current wireless technologies only offer a maximum speed of about 54 Mbps, 802.11n will approximately double that to about 100 Mbps.
Queen Elizabeth Joins iPod Generation
Not even the Queen is immune to the allure of the iPod, according to British daily The Sun. The paper reported on Friday that Queen Elizabeth II had authorized the purchase of a 6GB silver iPod Mini. According to a royal insider, "the Queen loves music and was impressed by how small and handy the iPod is."
The paper said Prince Andrew was likely behind the purchase, having bought the Queen a cell phone in 2001. The Queen will likely not download music from iTunes onto the player, but will have one of the courtiers assist her in selecting music. "Prince Andrew will probably also help out because he's a real dab hand with gadgets."
Satellite Radio to Expand into Canada
XM and Sirius both received approval this week to market their satellite radio services directly to Canadians, thanks to a ruling handed down by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission - Canada's equivalent of the FCC.
Both companies agreed to follow certain stipulations in order to provide service in the country.
Dell: We Would License Mac OS X
Journalist David Kirkpatrick wrote in his weekly column in Fortune Magazine that Michael Dell has openly expressed interest in licensing Apple's Mac OS X if the company decides to go that route.
Other companies have reportedly been keen on the idea as well, but refused to be named publicly. According to Kirkpatrick, these companies are at the mercy of Microsoft and could face some kind of retaliation from Redmond if they make their positions public.
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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