Earthlink's muni Wi-Fi pain may be Houston's gain
Earthlink paid Houston $5 million after failing to meet contractual obligations to build the network last August. That money may be used to jumpstart the municipal Wi-Fi project once again.
Houston was an unfortunate casualty of Earthlink's sudden exit from municipal Wi-Fi, a initiative it once considered the future of the company. It was said that the entire network would require approximately $50 million to build out.
Mozilla addresses memory corruption issues in Firefox 2 fix
Mozilla issued its 13th update to alternative browser Firefox 2, fixing six issues, two of which the company called critical.
"Some vulnerabilities and weaknesses have been reported in Mozilla Firefox, which can be exploited by malicious people to bypass certain security restrictions, disclose potentially sensitive information, conduct cross-site scripting and phishing attacks, and potentially compromise a user's system," security firm Secunia said of the fixes.
Netflix glitch takes down site, delays deliveries
The Netflix Web site was down for 12 hours on Monday, and the company says the problem took out both its logistics and delivery systems.s.
Problems began around 7am Pacific time Monday, when customers began seeing a message stating "The Netflix Web site is temporarily unavailable." The outage continued until about 7pm Pacific time.
Sony BMG mulling digital music subscription offering
Sony is developing a music service that will be compatible with most music players, and provide unlimited access to the label's catalog.
Sony BMG's catalog includes artists such as Dido, Britney Spears, Sean Kingston, Chris Brown, and Alicia Keys. In an interview with the German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz did not provide a launch timeframe.
Justice Dept. approves XM + Sirius merger
The US Justice Department has approved the merger between XM and Sirius satellite radio services, stating that it could not find any evidence that the combination would substantially reduce competition.
In what has seemed like an eternity, the first steps towards a single satellite radio entity began Monday as the DOJ approved the $13 billion deal.
Mozilla CEO: Apple Safari update is 'just wrong'
Mozilla CEO John Lily says that Apple's decision to use its Windows software update application to push downloads of its Safari browser on iTunes users was bad for the security of the Web.
Lily's claim may strike some as a bit of sour grapes -- since Apple could viably eat into Mozilla's own market share of those looking for a alternative to Internet Explorer. However, he argues that it is a breach of user trust.
LinkedIn adds profile option for companies
What kind of personality can a corporation have? Does it deserve its own Web profile? And can corporations congregate in a mutual messaging session? Thanks to LinkedIn's latest move, we're about to find out.
Up until now, LinkedIn has relied on professionals to build its user base. Now, it's extending its social network to include profiles for corporations.
Apple pushing iTunes, QT users on Windows to download Safari
Apple has chosen to leverage its significant install base for QuickTime and iTunes in order to quickly gain market share for its Safari Web browser on Windows.
Along with iTunes or standalone QuickTime, Apple installs a small application, called Software Update. This looks very much like the program of the same name built into Mac OS X, and is used by Apple to push updates -- both security fixes and new versions -- to its products.
China moves to sanction video sites, shut down others
China has cracked down on over 50 video-sharing Web sites for distributing content it feels is pornographic, violent or subversive, by either punishing or shutting down the sites altogether.
The Chinese government had published three lists with sites that had been either found to be operating without a content license, warned, or shut down. One of the most popular video-sharing sites, Tudou.com, was on the list of those warned.
Survey: Big decline seen in US consumer tech spending
With an American economy that is becoming increasingly unstable, thanks largely to the credit crunch and the return of inflation, consumers appear to be closing their purse strings tightly when it comes to tech purchases.
Only 19% of 4,427 consumers polled late last month say they will spend more on tech gadgets in the next 90 days, versus 33% who will spend less, according to a study released Tuesday by ChangeWave Research of US consumers. While the number of consumers saying they would not spent as much has remained rather constant, those spending more has not.
Adobe to bring Flash to iPhone despite Steve Jobs
Despite a heated exchange with Apple, Adobe seems to be pressing forward with plans to bring Flash to the iPhone.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs started the battle in the media with comments to investors at a shareholders' meeting earlier this month. Essentially, his position was that the current version of Flash for mobile phones is not good enough for the device, and the standard version runs too slowly.
The Toshiba write-down for HD DVD: $1.1 billion
The company's exit from HD DVD is putting a significant drag on its bottom line, it admitted on Wednesday.
Altogether, the company will have to pay ¥45 billion ($453 million USD) in costs to exit the business. In addition, it will report a ¥65 billion ($654.2 million USD) loss in that sector, for a total cost to the company of over $1.1 billion this year alone.
Apple close to offering subscription music service?
Fresh off of a deal with the movie studios that effectively reversed the company's position on rented content, it now appears Apple may also be about to embrace a subscription-like model for music.
According to a report in the Financial Times late Tuesday, the company is currently in discussions with the major labels over licensing their content on a subscription basis. So far, it appears the biggest roadblock is price.
Blu-ray looks to spice up discs with Profile 2.0
The newest players coming out this fall will put interactivity at the forefront, putting the format on par with what HD DVD users had been enjoying for a long time.
Sony will be shipping two players that will be compatible with Profile 2.0: the BDP-S350, to be available in the summer for $399, and the BDP-S550 in the fall for $499. While the former would require a firmware update when Profile 2.0 ships, the latter would come with it preinstalled.
iAnywhere to bring Lotus Notes push e-mail to iPhone
iAnywhere has developed a way to allow users of Lotus Notes to check their email without having to wait for the iPhone SDK.
While the company did receive some guidance from Apple to ensure that its development was going in the right direction, iAnywhere's system uses the device's mail client. Contacts are accessible through the web browser.
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.
Ethics Statement© 1998-2024 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.