Ed Oswald

Just a day after former social networking behemoth MySpace announced massive cuts to its workforce, parent company News Corp has now confirmed that it is investigating its options to divest itself of the now struggling service.

The comments came as part of a wider company-wide meeting Thursday held by CEO Mike Jones, and were confirmed by a company spokesperson in an interview with Bloomberg. Among the options being considered is a merger, spin-off, or outright sale of the unit.

Continue reading →

Select Apple, HP and Dell laptop or tablet owners who purchased their computers between November 2005 and February 2010 were alerted Thursday that they may begin to file claims to replace faulty graphics processing units produced by chipmaker Nvidia. Final approval of the settlement was reached on December 20, court documents show.

The faulty chips caused video issues with these computers, manifesting themselves in blank screen or scrambled displays. Nvidia was sued, and the suit successfully was granted class action status. As is customary with such settlements, Nvidia is not admitting wrongdoing by agreeing to its terms.

Continue reading →

Sony has filed suit against George Hotz -- more commonly known for his work in jailbreaking iPhones -- and a hacker group called "failoverfl0w," accusing both of copyright infringement and other related charges over their work to circumvent Sony's PlayStation 3 copyright protection.

The Japanese game maker is partially at fault here, having failed to use properly secure cryptography in order to ensure that pirated software can not run on the console. Hackers discovered the private key, and now can allow copied versions of games to run on the console without any issues.

Continue reading →

Some are calling the year 2011 the year of the tablet, and from the looks of what's coming out of CES this week it certainly seems the case. For much of 2010, Apple's iPad ruled the roost and sold an estimated 10 million units.

The only serious competitor to appear was Samsung's Galaxy Tab, which debuted in September and sold 600,000 units in its first month alone. The success of the Tab showed that there may be a market for an iPod competitor, which should be heartening to these new entrants.

Continue reading →

Google admitted this week that an issue with how the Android OS handles contacts and text messaging is causing phones to sometimes randomly send or misdirect SMS messages to the wrong users. The issue was first reported in late June of last year, but was not confirmed as a legitimate bug until now.

Engineers have been able to recreate the issue, and now say that they believe the problems stem from two different issues with the Android OS. That said, the company stressed occurrences of the bug are rare, and a fix for the problem has been developed and would be released soon.

Continue reading →

Just a day after Apple launched the Mac App Store to generally positive reviews, reports that the copy protection may have been hacked have begun to surface. In addition, several developers may have improperly secured their apps, making the pirator's job that much easier.

A group calling itself "Hackulous" said that it has developed a program called Kickback which circumvents the DRM methods used by Apple. However, the group is holding off public release of the application until the Mac App Store builds a larger library.

Continue reading →

Skype said Thursday that it had acquired streaming video service Qik for an undisclosed amount, believed to be around $100 million USD. The VoIP provider says it plans to use Qik's technology to enhance its own video calling functionality.

Qik was founded in 2006 and is compatible with about 200 phones across several platforms including the iOS, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile platforms. The company has also struck several partnerships to have its applications come preloaded on select devices.

Continue reading →

Aiming to provide Mac users with a one-stop shop for basic applications, Apple on Thursday launched the Mac App Store. Much like its sister App Store for the iOS platform, the offering allows users to purchase and install applications from a single place.

Currently about 1,000 apps are available for download, ranging in price from free to as much as $79.99 for Apple's Aperture 3 product. Indeed, Apple is committing itself to the product, offering the Pages, Keynote, and Numbers applications from its iWork suite and the GarageBand, iMovie, and iPhoto apps from iLife '11 for individual download.

Continue reading →

On the same day when Microsoft announced that it had sold eight million Kinects, the company is now finding itself facing criticism as consumers claim the accessory is reportedly causing "red ring of death" failures on Xbox 360 consoles.

A report from the BBC as well as posts scattered across Microsoft's Xbox support forums have highlighted the issue. The problems appear shortly after the Kinect is connected, and will render the console unusable. So named because the normally green lights of the Xbox 360's power button turn red, the "red ring of death" indicates a serious error that typically cannot be fixed without sending the console back to Microsoft.

Continue reading →

Microsoft is taking notice of industry trends, and told attendees Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that the next version of Windows would run on ARM chips. The move is an acknowledgement of the changing face of consumer electronics -- that smart phones, tablets, and portable devices are indeed the future.

The move is also significant for another reason -- up until now, Microsoft on ARM was relegated to the stripped down versions of Windows, either Windows Mobile, CE, or Embedded. Having the capability to run a full version of the operating system natively on these mobile processors opens up more possibilities for manufacturers in developing compact devices, the Redmond company believes.

Continue reading →

Toshiba feels confident enough in its 3D technology that it has introduced an HDTV display at this year's Consumer Electronics Show that no longer requires the viewer wear glasses. Instead, the effect is maintained through a sophisticated system that recognizes the viewer's face to ensure proper viewing angle and a special lens that angles images for both eyes.

What this does in effect is akin to the 3D photos first made popular years ago, those who have seen it say. In order for the effect to work, it is only turned on when a camera on the monitor detects that the eyes are properly aligned. While this means a restricted viewing angle, Toshiba says that the benefits of not needing glasses would make the new technology appealing.

Continue reading →

Sprint on Tuesday unveiled a new Novatel MiFi device with 4G compatibility, a newer version of the previous 3G-only model. Connectivity for up to five devices at once would be supported, and the unit would also include storage capability with a microSD slot that would support up to 32GB chips. Like similar devices from its subsidiary Clear, the MiFi would use WiMAX in cities where it is available, and revert back to 3G where it is not.

The new MiFi is also lighter and has a longer lasting battery, supporting four hours of use on a single charge. Service plans for the device would cost about $60, and allow for unlimited usage of WiMAX, however 3G usage would be capped at five gigabytes per month.

Continue reading →

Feeling the heat from Verizon and that company's expanding 4G rollout, AT&T said Tuesday at CES that would accelerate its LTE plans, planning to have the network complete by 2013. In addition, the company plans to start preparing customers by releasing 20 4G-capable phones during 2011.

The carrier would also move up the launch of LTE overall -- expecting to enable the higher speeds by the middle of this year. Until now, AT&T had been rather vague in its plans for LTE's launch, but it is likely Verizon's high-profile 4G push has given AT&T impetus to catch up to its biggest rival.

Continue reading →

Streaming entertainment service Netflix announced ahead of CES 2011 Tuesday that it had partnered with select manufacturers to include a Netflix "button" on remote controls. So far Blu-ray players from Dynex brand, Haier, Memorex, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba will include the button, as well as Internet connected TVs from Sharp, Sony and Toshiba.

Netflix buttons would provide one-click access to the built-in application, which the company hopes will increase usage of what has become an increasingly larger percentage of its business. The first enabled devices would appear in the spring, the company said.

Continue reading →

Reports indicate that Microsoft is prepared to show off a connected television solution of its own, and will demo a TV set top box this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The device will be similar to those already offered by competitors Apple and Google.

The Seattle Times reports that the device will come in at a price point below $200, and is expected to go on sale later in the year. In the simplest terms, it is an effort by Microsoft to bring its Windows Media Center concept to the masses.

Continue reading →