Yahoo Raising Subscription Music Price
Confirming speculation that record labels were not content with the $4.99 pricing of Yahoo! Music Unlimited, the company on Nov. 1 will raise its music subscription fee by $5 to $9.99 USD when purchased annually. Monthly fees will jump from $6.99 to $11.99 USD, bringing the service closer in cost to Napster and Real's Rhapsody.
Current monthly subscribers can opt to keep their $6.99 pricing, which is still advertised by Yahoo, but will lose the ability to transfer downloaded songs to a portable device. Those who have purchased an annual subscription, however, will receive the "To Go" feature for the duration of that year.
Microsoft to Talk Office Plans Monday
In a message sent to members of the media, Microsoft said it has scheduled a press conference on Monday to discuss "new Microsoft Office system technologies designed to help information workers access and work with business information." Jeff Raikes, Microsoft Business Division president, may finally offer more details on Office 12.
Microsoft gave developers at PDC 2005 an initial peek at the new Office 12 user interface, which does away with the suite's standard toolbars and adds task-oriented "ribbons." But the company has thus far said little about new features or slated improvements, aside from changes in SharePoint. Office 12 Beta 1 is expected to ship next month.
Warner Bros. Joins Sony's Blu-ray Camp
Hewlett-Packard may be wavering on its Blu-ray support, but Warner Bros. and its Warner Home Video division said on Thursday they will release movies in Sony's high-definition DVD format. Warner will also continue to support HD DVD as previously announced.
Warner Home Video will prepare titles, including DVDs from HBO and New Line, for the launch of Blu-ray in North America, Japan and Europe next year. In a statement, Toshiba said it was "more than confident" that Warner's support of Blu-ray will not affect its HD DVD release schedule.
Opera 9 Technology Preview Released
Opera Software isn't wasting any time in the development of its flagship Web browser after version 8.5 heralded Opera's conversion to freeware. The company on Thursday released a Technology Preview of Opera 9.0, which introduces a new storage format for e-mail and a multitude of page rendering tweaks.
Most notable on a long list of changes are an enhanced pop-up blocker and initial support for CSS3 selectors and attributes. Version 9 also now identifies itself through the UserAgent string as "Opera." Developers note the preview release should not be loaded on a primary system or over previous Opera installations. Users are asked to report problems accessing sites that worked previously.
Microsoft to Offer Education Grants
Microsoft Research is coughing up $1.2 million in order to fund academic research aimed at bringing technology to the under-privileged, focusing specifically on making computing more affordable, accessible and relevant to local culture. Two separate programs were launched Thursday.
The Digital Inclusion opportunity is directed at research to aid health, education and socioeconomic conditions worldwide using technology. Microsoft is specifically pushing for research that utilizes mobile devices and phones, as well as networking to help developing countries.
HP Backs Off Blu-ray Support Over DRM
Seemingly reversing its stance in next-generation DVD battle, Hewlett-Packard has asked Blu-ray to re-think its planned copyright protection and instead implement the "managed copy" feature found in HD DVD, which would enable consumers to copy movies to their PCs and stream them across a network.
HP additionally requested that Blu-ray implement interactive menus using iHD, also found in HD DVD. iHD -- developed by Toshiba and Microsoft -- will bring advanced interactivity to DVD movies and is slated to be natively supported by Windows Vista.
OpenOffice.org 2.0 Final Launches
After over two years in development, the final version of OpenOffice.org 2.0 has been made available for download. The productivity suite offers a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation builder and a database -- all for free and available in 36 languages for Windows and Unix based platforms.
Perhaps the most notable addition in OpenOffice.org 2.0 is support for the OASIS OpenDocument format, which could prove to be the first true rival to Microsoft's proprietary Office formats. OpenDocument is a completely open standard that has been chosen for use by several countries and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Sony Adds Memory to Holiday PSP Pack
Even with the PlayStation 3 not coming until next spring, Sony isn't letting the Xbox 360 steal its gaming thunder this holiday season. The company has put together a new bundle for its PlayStation Portable console, which adds a 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo and a new PSP stand.
The PSP Giga Pack will go on sale in November around the time of the Xbox 360 for the same price: $299 USD. Sony says it will continue to offer the PSP Value Pack for $249 USD. The new bundle will come pre-installed with Sony's latest PSP firmware, which enables Wi-Fi connectivity and Web browsing features. For current PSP owners, the 1GB Memory Stick will be available separately.
Firefox Tops 100 Million Downloads
The milestones keep coming for the little browser that could, and the Mozilla Foundation now has a new reason to celebrate: on Wednesday morning, downloads for Firefox surpassed 100 million. The second major release of Firefox, version 1.5, is due later this fall.
Although the number does not reflect actual users of the product, it does indicate continued enthusiasm for the open source Web browser that has taken on Microsoft's ubiquitous Internet Explorer and prompted Opera to turn freeware. "Our community of more than 100,000 Firefox developers, testers, and grassroots marketers, is rejuvenating Web browsing, which is why millions of new users make the jump to Firefox every week," said Mozilla developer Asa Dotzler.
Microsoft Trims Source Code Licenses
Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it was reducing the number of Shared Source licenses it offered from more than 10 to just three. The new licenses will serve as templates for product groups within Microsoft to release source code and connect with developers.
"In this way, all of Microsoft source code releases will be under consistent terms, and thus more easy to use and to understand. The licenses are each 1 page or shorter," explained Jason Matusow, Microsoft's Shared Source Manager. "They are written in simple terms that non-lawyers should be able to follow."
Google Drops 'Gmail' Name in Britain
Due to an ongoing trademark dispute in the United Kingdom, Google has changed the name of its free Web mail service from Gmail to "Google Mail." The switch was made after the company failed to come to an agreement with financial research company Independent International Investment Research (IIIR).
IIIR offers an e-mail service called G-Mail through its Pronet subsidiary, and owns the trademark for Gmail in the UK. Google said on its Web site that it attempted to resolve the dispute through negotiations, but failed to reach a compromise with IIIR.
DVD Jon Joins Robertson at MP3Tunes
Jon Lech Johansen, the 21 year-old programmer who became known as DVD Jon following his release of DeCSS to bypass the copyright protection on DVD movies, has left his Norwegian homeland to join MP3.com and Linspire founder Michael Robertson's latest venture called MP3Tunes.
In a posting to his Web log Tuesday, Robertson said, "I've known Jon for a few years as an email acquaintance. I have always admired his work and his strength to stand up for what he believes is right. He doesn't advocate piracy, but does advocate consumers' rights to manage their own purchased content."
XP Media Center to Get Hotmail Add-in
Microsoft's 10-foot Media Center interface for viewing video and pictures on the TV is not just for digital media anymore. Redmond developers have created a new add-in for the special edition of Windows XP that provides users access to their Hotmail accounts for reading e-mail between television shows.
"Email name is cached on login, however the user must enter the password on next login," explains Windows Vista product manger Sean Alexander. "An on-screen keyboard displays making it easier to tap in with a remote, but I really recommend a keyboard at this point." A preview release of the add-in, is expected to be available for download next week.
Windows Server 2003 R2 Inches Closer
Microsoft has shipped the second release candidate of Windows Sever 2003 R2, the interim server update due before the end of the year. RC1, which follows August's RC0 release, doesn't add any new features, but incorporates a number of bug fixes as Microsoft prepares for a release to manufacturing.
Rooted in Windows Server 2003 SP1, R2 delivers many enhancements and several new components, while leaving the core of the operating system unchanged to facilitate faster development. A 180-day trial of Windows Sever 2003 R2 RC1 is now available for download in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
Motorola RAZR Goes 3G in Europe, Asia
Motorola has updated its popular RAZR V3 phone, which brought the struggling telecommunications giant back to life last year. The V3x, which will initially be available only in Europe and Asia, adds a 2-megapixel camera and support for high-speed UMTS networks to enable video calling.
The RAZR V3x also boasts new entertainment features with a built-in SD memory card slot and support for Motorola's Bluetooth stereo headset. Like it's predecessor, the phone sports a slim design weighing less than 130g. Motorola has not announced pricing, which will be set by carriers, but said the V3x will be available later this year.
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