CES 'Better Questions' contest: Win Vista Ultimate, CS3, Zune and more
In preparation for CES 2008, which kicks off in Las Vegas on Sunday, we have decided to give away a number of products that have been gathering dust around the office. All you need to do to win is come up with a good question.
The rules are easy: leave a comment below with a question we should ask at CES. This question can be directed at a specific manufacturer or general technology. It should be something that would be interesting to other BetaNews readers and that it is possible to answer. We will post answers to the winning questions as we ask them during the event.
Vonage settles last of patent infringement cases
The last day of 2007 brought some relief to struggling Internet telephone provider Vonage, as the company settled the last patent infringement lawsuit against it, this time with telecommunications giant Nortel.
AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Nextel had all sued Vonage earlier in the year. Verizon was the first to sue the company, and for a period left Vonage unable to accept new subscribers. In the end, Vonage was forced to pay $80 million each to Verizon and Sprint, while the cost of its AT&T settlement was not yet disclosed.
The end of an era as AOL officially retires Netscape
As we bid adieu to 2007 and prepare to enter the new year, AOL is also saying goodbye to memories: the company has finally killed off the Netscape Web browser - or what was left of it, anyway.
March 31, 2008 will mark 10 years since the Netscape development team opened up the source code to the browser that ushered in the Internet era. With its acquisition of Netscape in 1999, AOL continued that effort and helped launch the Mozilla Foundation into an organization that has taken on Microsoft and shaped the Web as we know it today.
Amazon Kindle selling on eBay for over $1,000
Those wishing to receive an Amazon Kindle book reader before Christmas are resorting to auction site eBay, and paying a 200 percent premium in the process.
Despite mediocre reviews from well-known technology pundits Walt Mossberg and David Pogue, consumers are eager to get their hands on the new device. The $399 Kindle has sold out from Amazon, and the company has stopped giving estimated ship dates.
Can 11 million PS3s bring Sony CE back into black?
In an interview published over the weekend in Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kazuo Hirai said he expects global PS3 sales to top 11 million by the end of March.
While hitting the 11 million mark won't put the PS3 above Nintendo and Microsoft, it does bring Sony closer to its rivals, which is important to encourage development on the platform. The company recently slashed the price of its software development kit.
Palm layoffs follow disappointing quarterly revenue
The same week it announced sharply lower revenues for its second quarter, embattled handheld device maker Palm laid off 10 percent of its workforce.
More than 100 Palm employees were given pink slips last week, according to reports, which the company later confirmed without offering a specific number. Palm counts a staff of around 1,150 worldwide, but is in the process of reorganizing its business following a tough year.
Microsoft ties high-level code to Web development with Volta
The long effort to make it technically feasible for already skilled developers to produce Web applications using high-level languages like C++, may at last be paying off.
It's no secret that Microsoft has been looking for ways to tie higher-level application programming to Web-based deployment, so that more traditional developers using the principal .NET Framework languages -- including C++, C#, and Visual Basic -- can make multi-tier applications that run in clients' browsers, without having to learn a different language like JavaScript or Python. It's the clearest indication of any still remaining that Bill Gates is still in charge of Microsoft.
MovieBeam to shut down on December 15
One of the first online movie download services is calling it quits after failing to make its business model work despite over $100 million in funding.
It hasn't even been a year since MovieBeam was sold by Disney to Hollywood Video owner Movie Gallery, but the service told customers this week that it will shut its doors on December 15. Some newer customers will be eligible for a refund on the hardware.
Microsoft PDC conference back again next year
After canceling the 2007 Professional Developer's Conference scheduled for October, Microsoft is bringing back PDC for 2008, with the event scheduled to take place October 27 to 30 in Los Angeles.
Traditionally, PDC is held every 2 years to preview major Microsoft platform advances. PDC 03 highlighted Windows Vista -- Longhorn at the time -- while PDC 05 reiterated that focus with Vista and Office 2007, as well as the recently launched Expression Suite.
New Flash player brings streaming HD video support
The final build of Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 -- or more affectionately known as "Moviestar" -- has been released, adding support for high-definition content.
It's been a long time since YouTube first brought online video to the masses, and now its users are clamoring for better quality. The last couple years have seen an uptick in broadband speeds as well, meaning it's only logical that Adobe would expand the capabilities of Flash, which has become the dominant delivery method for Web video.
Verizon launches on-demand movies and TV in high-definition
Verizon FiOS TV customers in a handful of the company's markets have received an early holiday gift: on-demand movies and television shows in high-definition.
75 HD titles will be made available initially, which includes free programs and movies that can be purchased like "Transformers" and "Surf's Up." Free HD titles range from MTV music videos to shows from Wealth TV and Golfweek Magazine, the company said.
Orange sells 30,000 French iPhones in 5 days, but is it a success?
The first official numbers are coming in from the iPhone launch in Europe, with France Telecom's wireless arm Orange announcing it sold 30,000 phones in five days.
Although the number pales in comparison to the 270,000 iPhones sold in the United States in the two days after launch, it meets expectations. Orange said it hoped to sell 100,000 iPhones by the end of the year, and it could still hit that milestone at the current sales rate.
Hamburg court re-locks iPhone in Germany
A German court has ruled that T-Mobile should not be forced to sell an unlocked version of Apple's iPhone, rejecting a complaint by rival Vodafone that led to an injunction last month.
Vodafone and smaller network Debitel had complained to the Hamburg District Court that it was not legal to tie a phone to a single carrier. Apple has built its iPhone business around selecting a single partner per country, and in exchange for the exclusivity, it receives a cut of new customer signups.
Windows Mobile gets Office 2007 format support
Version 6.1 of Office Mobile finally brings support for Microsoft's Open Office XML document formats, over a year after Office 2007 was released to businesses. The update is free of charge for existing Office Mobile users; the suite costs $49.95 and runs on Windows Mobile 5 and 6.
Along with compatibility for OOXML in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Office Mobile 6.1 includes an enhanced viewing experience for charts in Excel Mobile, ability to view SmartArt in PowerPoint Mobile, and the ability to view and extract files from compressed (.zip) folders. More information is available from Microsoft's download page.
TiVo turns into digital picture frame with Photobucket and Picasa
TiVo is continuing effort to establish its set-top boxes as full-fledged entertainment centers, but the company is facing increased pressure from Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PS3.
The race to dominate the living room is not a new one, but its been an uphill battle for many companies, and Apple's recent TV effort fell flat despite the success of its iPod and iTunes duet. But TiVo is in a unique position in that it already has its DVRs in homes -- now it just needs to expand their capabilities.
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