EarthLink eyes what's left of AOL's dial-up business
Saying it is "best positioned to be the consolidator in this industry," EarthLink may be looking at acquiring AOL's dial-up business, the Wall Street Journal reports.
EarthLink CEO Rolla Huff argued that it made sense for the industry to start consolidating, especially considering there are no longer any growth prospects for the market as consumers have moved onto broadband.
Microsoft's Live Search homepage adds background image with clickable spots
While it doesn't add much to the overall function of the search engine itself, Microsoft's latest update to the Windows Live Search homepage adds a background image with "hotspots" that can be clicked.
For example, the first background appearing on Live Search shows a picture of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, with four clickable areas are included on the map. One over the trees in the distance asks "What will you see on your safari in Botswana?" with links to search results on animals on the country. Another link, over the boater's head takes users to an overhead view of the region using Live Search Maps.
Intel's low-cost Classmate PC gets boost from Portugal
Portugal will take delivery of 500,000 low-cost Intel laptops, known as the Classmate PC, a move that boosts the effort's profile as an alternative to One Laptop Per Child's XO device.
The order is Intel's biggest to date for the Classmate PC, and instantly puts it at nearly the same level as competitor OLPC. That organization, founded by MIT's Nicholas Negroponte, has only received orders for about 622,000 XO laptops.
MobileMe looks to finally be stable as Apple recovers lost e-mail
Apple said late Tuesday that mail service to customers affected by the MobileMe outage should have full access once again, ending for some what became a three week ordeal.
Since MobileMe launched on July 11, at least one percent of all users have been unable to access e-mail properly, and in some cases losing access altogether. Making matters worse, Apple said over the weekend that it lost some e-mail messages during July 18 to July 22.
T-Mobile's 'Gekko' becomes newest Sidekick
After months of speculation, T-Mobile has finally officially launched the next version of its popular Sidekick handheld device.
Code-named "Gekko," the phone will take the place of the older iD model as the entry level Sidekick. It will also drop any of the extra nomenclature and be simply known as the "Sidekick."
Real partially patches 'highly critical' RealPlayer flaws
Security firm Secunia said Tuesday that RealNetworks had fixed most of the security flaws within its RealPlayer software that were first highlighted on Friday.
Four separate issues were discovered within most versions of RealPlayer 10, 10.5, and 11 across the Linux, Mac, and Windows platforms. While the company released the patch on Monday, which Secunia noted in its advisory, the firm said the fix was not complete.
Norton answers McAfee's SiteAdvisor with Safe Web beta
Symantec is beta testing a new product called Safe Web, built on top Norton Internet Security 2009, which performs many of the same functions as competitor McAffee's SiteAdvisor.
Safe Web requires Norton Internet Security 2009 to run on the user's computer. This differs from McAfee's SiteAdvisor offering, which is a standalone plug-in for Internet Explorer, and a Firefox extension that is also compatible with the Macintosh according to BetaNews tests.
Sprint takes Airave femtocell service nationwide
9:00pm ET July 29, 2008 - It turns out Airave is not yet available nationwide. Sprint contacted BetaNews Tuesday evening to clarify that its writing, "You will be able to use your Airave at this location" actually means customers can use it at some undetermined time in the future, but not now. Sprint says it has not announced a launch date for the Airave service.
While Sprint has been testing Airave in select markets for months, the company has now begun to sell the service nationwide.
MSN Direct to connect Web sites with GPS devices over the air
Microsoft is releasing an API that allows third-party Web sites to send location information to MSN Direct-enabled GPS devices wirelessly, a first for such services that previously required a USB sync to work.
One difficulty of using GPS devices is the hassle of typing in a location, or selecting one while driving. Microsoft says the API would make entering destinations easier, as the process could be done on the computer and automatically then transferred to the device.
Jobs talks about health off the record, but questions remain
Apple CEO Steve Jobs called a reporter at the New York Times to explain his health situation, but his insistence on only talking off the record has done little to assuage the fears of investors.
To many, Steve Jobs is the driving force behind Apple, and his presence across all areas of the company is undeniable. But Jobs' recent health scares, including a previous bout with cancer, have caused many on Wall Street to question the company's insistence on staying secretive.
Apple: Oops, some MobileMe e-mail lost forever
In its recently created status blog for MobileMe, which has struggled with downtime since its launch earlier this month, Apple admits it lost some e-mails during a four-day period at the height of the outage.
A poster identifying himself as "David G." continued to stress that restoring full e-mail access to the 1% of users who had lost connectivity was Apple's first priority. Web access for 40 percent of that 1% was turned on Saturday, and feedback was said to be "positive."
Sirius+XM is official as FCC approves merger
On a 3-2 party-line vote, the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger of Sirius and XM, although the satellite radio companies had to make some key concessions.
The final commissioner to vote on the deal was Deborah Taylor Tate, who held her vote pending XM and Sirius agreeing to certain limitations. The two sides did so late last week, and Tate gave her blessing late Friday.
Microsoft cozies up to open source, donates $100,000 to Apache
As part of a renewed embrace of open source, Microsoft will contribute $100,000 annually to join the Apache Software Foundation, as well as pledging new protocols to the Open Specfication Promise and contributing a patch for ADOdb.
The annual investment in Apache will bring the company on board as a "Platinum" sponsor, the foundation's highest level. At that level, it joins competitors Yahoo and Google in supporting the effort.
Beta release of Office Outlook Connector adds calendar syncing
A beta release of Office Outlook Connector 12.1 adds syncing between Windows Live Calendar and Microsoft Outlook.
As with previous versions, the connector will sync a user's Hotmail account and contacts with Microsoft's Office productivity suite. The addition of calendar support rounds out the service, and offers functionality akin to Apple's MobileMe (although its more meant for desktops in this case, not mobile phones).
iPhone 2.1 software beta adds better navigation, copy and paste
Apple has reportedly released a beta of its next significant release of the iPhone software, activating background push notifications, as well as enhanced GPS functionality.
iPhone 2.1 should not be confused with 2.0.1, another firmware update reportedly in testing. The latter is essentially a maintenance release intended to fix some of the more serious bugs that have appeared with iPhone 2.0.
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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