Peru, Mexico billionaire agree to buy $188 laptops
In a minor success for the struggling One Laptop Per Child project, the Peruvian government has agreed to purchase 260,000 laptops while Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is buying 50,000 for distributing in his country.
MIT professor and OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte announced the deals over the weekend, adding that Slim is an "old friend" and has been involved in the effort since the beginning.
PS3 outsells Wii in Japan during November
For the four weeks ending November 25, the PlayStation 3 outsold Nintendo's Wii by around 15 percent in Japan, but it still has quite a bit more catching up to do.
November marks the first month the PS3 has had higher sales than the Wii, largely due to a price cut that was announced November 2. The cheaper $399 40GB model has brought the struggling console back to life in a battle with Nintendo and Microsoft's Xbox 360. Even sales in the United States are up, with PS3 purchases tripling over Thanksgiving week.
'Free' electronics claims cost advertiser $650,000
The FTC is cracking down on claims of "free" electronics, such as an Xbox 360 or an iPod, fining a major advertising company $650,000 for its deceptive marketing tactics.
You've seen them before: e-mails and online banners promising a free iPod simply by clicking an ad. But those who do take the bait quickly discover they must first wade through a series of third party promotions, and then are forced to sign up for offers before being eligible for the gift.
Microsoft shows off Windows Mobile update, but not 7.0
Two dozen invited attendees to Microsoft's Mobius event in Amsterdam this week got a first peek at the next update to Windows Mobile. It's not version 7, code-named "Photon," but the reviews are positive. Unfortunately because the presentation was under NDA, little specifics are known at this point.
"Our first impressions: very slick, and has a lot of features that just about any WinMo user will agree is way overdue," wrote Engadget editor Ryan Block. "It will be a free update given to device makers in Q1 2008. We saw it running on current hardware, it looked freaking impressive," remarked Judie Lipsett from Gear Diary. Mobius runs through tomorrow and gives Microsoft, as well as device makers, a chance to get direct feedback from Windows Mobile enthusiasts. The Redmond company paid for attendees' airfare and hotel, along with giving everyone an HTC Touch Dual handset.
Exploding cell phone didn't kill Korean man
It was a story destined for big headlines: A cell phone battery exploded and caused the death of a man in South Korea. Fortunately for handset maker LG Electronics, it just wasn't true.
After further examination, and perhaps a little common sense, it turns out the battery didn't break the man's spine and ribs.
PS3 sales triple in November, Wii shortage continues
Sales of the PlayStation 3 have rocketed 298 percent since Sony introduced its cheaper $399 40GB model on November 2, but much of that boost may be attributed to Black Friday, when such increases are typical.
The news follows a similar positive week in Japan, where the PS3 outsold Nintendo's Wii for the first time. Still, Sony has a long road ahead if it hopes to catch up to the Wii globally; Nintendo has sold twice as many consoles as its Japanese rival.
HD DVD player sales top 750,000, Blu-ray claims lead in Europe
HD DVD player sales are nearing the important 1 million milestone thanks to recent price cuts, but Blu-ray is claiming an early victory in Europe.
With current-generation players from Toshiba now under $200, the HD DVD Promotions Group saw a sharp uptake in sales in November and says over 750,000 players are now in the hands of consumers. This number includes both standalone devices and the HD DVD add-on available for Microsoft's Xbox 360.
TiVo launches in Canada, but without HD
While TiVo is pushing new high-definition models in the United States, the company has gone up north to sell its standard-definition DVRs, with an 80GB Series2 TiVo now available in Canada.
Canadians who have desired to fast-forward through commercials and pause live TV can pick up a TiVo at Best Buy, The Brick, London Drug or Future Shop for $199 CAD. This does not include TiVo serivce, which runs $12.95 per month, although is cheaper when prepaid annually.
Lightroom update brings Leopard support, Flickr upload
Photography enthusiasts have quite a few options when it comes to working with RAW files, but Adobe is betting a new SDK will make Photoshop Lightroom a favorite once third party developers start building plug-ins.
The Lightroom Export SDK is available as a technology preview and is included with Lightroom version 1.3, which was released Friday. The SDK utilizes the open source Lua language and ships with example plug-ins for Flickr and FTP uploads. The idea of the development kit is to extend the Export dialog box with additional functionality.
Microsoft wants to play doctor with your home network
With the release of version 2.0, Windows Live OneCare is no longer just for one PC; Microsoft now wants to inoculate entire home networks with its computer care service.
When it launched OneCare in May 2006, Microsoft risked alienating its close security partners such as Symantec and McAfee by entering a market it previously avoided. Now, the Redmond company is upping the ante by going after families with multiple PCs in their homes.
Microsoft takes on Intuit once more in accounting
While Microsoft dominates the enterprise, it's still struggling to gain a foothold among small businesses. But will it be able to steal market share from Intuit with Office Accounting 2008?
The new release is a minor update to the Office Accounting 2007 that adds features and the Spanish language. The previous version was downloaded almost 2 million times, according to Microsoft's tally, and it says the feedback has dictated what's new in 2008.
Leopard update fixes Finder data loss bug
Less than three weeks after its launch, the first update to Mac OS X Leopard, version 10.5.1, has arrived, bringing with it a number of bug fixes and security updates.
While Leopard's arrival was greeted with overwhelmingly positive reviews, a number of problems did hit early adopters. Most notably, some users found that when they were moving files across a network and the destination drive disappeared, Finder still deleted them from the source. Apple says it has fixed the problem, although it may be a little late for an unlucky few.
Microsoft to Sell Downloadable Full Xbox Games
To celebrate the fifth anniversary of Xbox Live, Microsoft is preparing a system update that will be delivered to users starting December 4 and bring support for downloading full versions of older Xbox titles such as "Halo," "Psychonauts" and "Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge."
While Microsoft has long offered downloads of arcade games via Xbox Live, this will be the first time it is offering full titles. The company says it is planning to sell a library of titles spanning the most popular genres in gaming. The capability is similar to that offered by Nintendo's Wii, which lets gamers buy and download games made for older Nintendo consoles.
New Parental Controls Limit Xbox Time
As part of a new marketing blitz to promote the Xbox 360 as a "family friendly" video game console, Microsoft on Wednesday rolled out a new feature called Family Timer, which will show up in the Family Settings Screen.
The Timer will let parents limit the number of hours their kids can play the Xbox on a daily or weekly basis. When the time limit is reached, the console will automatically shut off, ostensibly after saving the game.
MySpace Joins Google to Take On Facebook and Microsoft
BetaNews has learned that amidst MySpace's move to join Google's OpenSocial community, Microsoft is now in talks with Facebook to integrate Windows Live ID into the quickly growing social network.
Reliable sources tell BetaNews that the two companies have begun talks on integrating login systems following an advertising agreement that gives Microsoft a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook in exchange for $240 million.
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