Apple Computer Beats Beatles in Court
Apple Computer scored a legal victory over Apple Corps, the company that represents the business interests of the Beatles, which could finally put to rest a long-running trademark dispute between the two companies. Apple Corps accused Apple of breaking a 1991 agreement by selling music online with iTunes.
Apple Corps first sued Apple in 1980 over use of the Apple name and logo. The companies settled for a small sum and Apple agreed to stay out of the music business. In 1989, Apple Corps sued again over music software that enabled Macs to play and edit tracks.
Microsoft Buys Imaging Firm Vexcel
Microsoft on Thursday announced its second acquisition related to the company's new Virtual Earth business unit, buying imaging and remote sensor specialist Vexcel Corp. Vexcel's employees will join the Redmond company and help build out its 2D and 3D mapping capabilities.
Microsoft says that Vexcel's technology will allow it to more quickly expand aerial, bird’s-eye and street-side imagery in its consumer and business applications. "Aligning Vexcel’s talent, expertise, products and services with our vision, resources and offerings will enable us to deliver on our vision better than ever before," said Virtual Earth general manager Stephen Lawler. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Opera Beefs Up 'Mini' Phone Browser
Opera Software on Wednesday released the second revision to its Opera Mini browser for mobile phones. The software brings full Web capability to non-smartphone owners, supporting any handset with Java capabilities. Opera Mini 2.0 adds a number of new features, including content downloads.
Users can now save MP3s, images and other files directly to their phones when browsing. In addition, version 2.0 adds support for mobile commerce through the user of SMS, skins, multiple search providers, and speed dial for favorite URLs. Opera Mini 2.0 can be downloaded by loading mini.opera.com in any phone's WAP browser.
Microsoft to Join Up with Yahoo?
With Google's dominance in the search market continuing to grow, Microsoft has turned to an unlikely ally with an olive branch in hand: Yahoo. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Redmond company has held discussion about acquiring a stake in Yahoo, although the talks are not currently active.
Microsoft is currently reorganizing its search business, bringing in former Ask.com CEO Steve Berkowitz to head MSN. However, sources say the two companies have discussed possible options over the past year, including a minority investment in Yahoo and even a full buyout. Microsoft had previously considered buying a stake in Time Warner's AOL division before Google offered $1 billion.
Revised Netflix Settlement Approved
A revised class-action settlement involving online DVD rental service Netflix has been approved six months after an original settlement was proposed. Netflix had been sued for promising "one day delivery" and "unlimited" rentals after it disclosed it delayed DVDs to frequent renters.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Thomas Mellon Jr. had taken issue with a number of points in the initial settlement, including a payout of $2.5 million to lawyers involved in the case. The FTC voiced its opposition in January saying, "the settlement would serve more as a promotional vehicle for Netflix."
Apple Launches New TV Commercials
For the first time since its "switcher" campaign in 2002, Apple has turned to commercials to advertise the superiority of its Macs overs PCs. The six television segments feature an older corporate suit representing a PC and a trendier 20-something as a Mac.
Each "Get a Mac" commercial discusses one aspect of why Macs are better than PCs, from being less prone to viruses and crashes, to including applications that handle music, photos and movies. The ads began airing Monday evening during primetime shows on Fox and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Intel to Invest $1B in Emerging Markets
Intel on Tuesday pledged to invest more than $1 billion over the next five years to help bridge the digital divide and bring technology to developing nations. The program, dubbed Intel World Ahead, combines and extends the chipmaker's current initiatives within emerging markets.
The World Ahead Program will focus on three areas: accessibility, connectivity and education. Unlike efforts such as the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) foundation, which rival AMD is supporting, Intel says full-featured PCs are needed. Those computers would be tailored to a specific region.
Napster.com Goes Free, But Low Quality
In an effort to attract more subscribers to its digital music service, Napster on Monday launched an ad-supported offering that allows users to listen to over two million tracks free of charge. But there is a catch: the songs are streamed in low-quality audio and can only be heard five times each.
Unlike its traditional subscription product, by making the free service Web based via Napster.com, the company can support Mac OS X, Linux and Windows users. When a user selects a track to hear, the site pops up a Flash player, which displays album art from the currently playing song and an advertisement.
Amazon Drops Google for Windows Live
Online retailer Amazon.com has dropped Google as its search result provider and selected Microsoft's new Windows Live Search instead. The change affects both Amazon's A9.com search engine and the company's Alexa toolbar and Web site.
The move is the first public show of support for Microsoft new search technology, which will eventually replace MSN Search after it leaves beta. Although neither Amazon nor Microsoft announced the switch, it follows rumors that eBay was also talking to the Redmond company in response to competition from Google Base. Amazon, like eBay, allows its users to sell their goods through the online store.
NY Times, Microsoft Build Vista App
The New York Times has joined up with Microsoft to build a new standalone application for reading the newspaper's content on a PC. The tool, called Times Reader, was unveiled Friday in prototype form and takes advantage of the Windows Presentation Foundation that will ship in Vista.
Specifically, Vista's WPF display technologies will enable Times content to be automatically adjusted for any screen size, with users able to customize font size and content relevance. The application will utilize the same font styles as the print edition of the New York Times.
Mozilla to Issue Firefox Security Fix
The Mozilla Corporation plans to rush out a minor update to Firefox, numbered 1.5.0.3, in order to address a denial-of-service vulnerability in the most recent version of the open source Web browser. The move comes despite the flaw being rated "non-critical" by security firm Secunia.
The security issue involves an error in the handling of unexpected "contentWindow.focus()" JavaScript calls. A malicious Web site could be used to "corrupt the memory and cause a crash by calling the "contentWindow.focus()" method on a container with specially crafted content," according to an advisory.
Low-Cost Windows XP Comes to Africa
Microsoft is bringing its Windows XP Starter Edition operating system to Africa, the company announced Thursday. The lower-priced version of XP drops home networking and limits the number of programs that can be opened simultaneously.
The impetus behind the move is to provide African PC users with cheaper computers, as the high technology costs often force them to run old systems brought in from other continents. But XP Starter Edition will still be only for the rich in Africa, where the majority live off less than one dollar a day.
Nintendo Revolution Named 'Wii'
Google Releases Free SketchUp Tool
Continuing its tradition of acquiring companies and releasing their software for free, Google on Thursday released Google SketchUp, a version of the popular 3D modeling tool for personal use. SketchUp can be used for creating, viewing and editing 3D designs, and attracted the attention of the search giant with a Google Earth plug-in.
"The new Google SketchUp is for the do-it-yourselfer, the hobbyist — really anyone who wants to build 3D models for use in Google Earth," said Brad Schell, Product Management Director of SketchUp. "Go ahead and model that new kitchen, or deck, landscape your virtual garden, or impress your teacher with a roller coaster or medieval castle."
Yahoo Releases DVR Software for PC
Just a week after acquiring the technology assets of television software company Meedio, Yahoo has rolled out a new DVR solution called "Go for TV." The software turns a Windows XP PC with TV tuner card into a digital video recorder, and connects the viewer with Yahoo services such as photos and music.
Yahoo! Go for TV is the latest component of Yahoo's Go platform, which is intended to bring the company's content from the PC to other devices such as mobile phones and televisions. Google and Microsoft have undertaken similar efforts as the PC continues its transition to a full-fledged entertainment device.
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