Comcast finalizes its network management strategy
In response to an order from the US Federal Communications Commission in August, Comcast Corp. released on Friday a "protocol agnostic" network management plan that could result in poorer performance for the heaviest users.
On August 1, the FCC found the cable operator in violation of net neutrality rules, meaning that despite Comcast denials the agency believed the company was restricting point-to-point traffic such as BitTorrent. Among other things, the report that Comcast released on Friday conceded that the company had indeed done that, though by way of protocols and not content.
Could SanDisk's plans for a music format get interrupted by Samsung?
SanDisk's potential acquisition, either by hostile Samsung, white knight Toshiba, or some other vendor, is likely to have little effect on its slotMusic product, said an analyst who has been watching the potential acquisition.
"Given that the acquisition, if and when it happens, is several months out, nobody can say," said Jim Handy, the Los Gatos, Calif.-based director of Objective Analysis, a semiconductor market research firm. "If Samsung is true to their word and allows SanDisk to continue to operate as a separate entity, then the service could continue."
European tech leaders reject calls for ISP vigilance as 'scaremongering'
European ISP organizations are concerned that the cost of implementing proposals intended to reduce cybercrime could put them out of business, but a leading security vendor said the cost of not doing anything could be even higher.
As we reported yesterday, a report for the European Parliament suggests that ISPs pool together to conduct pro-active measures against systems that maliciously impact IP traffic, and that ISPs be held responsible if they fail to do so. That proposal garnered comments from European organizations and from states' government representatives.
Analyst: The future is bleak for midrange cell phones
Midrange semi-intelligent phones such as Motorola's RAZR are gradually going to be subsumed by smart phones based on industry standard operating systems, predicted Kevin Burden, director of mobile devices for ABI Research.
The midrange phone market will dwindle as smart phones with high-level operating systems get pushed down the product line, Burden said. The reason, he explained, is because it is easier for manufacturers to deal with a standard operating system than with a real-time operating system that is often homegrown and that they have to create, update, and maintain themselves.
EMI takes legal action against music video-based mashups
The other shoe -- or is it the other egg? -- has dropped on VideoEgg Inc., a company whose mission is to make it easier for advertising to be distributed by giving individuals the incentive to do it instead. Apparently they made it too easy.
In a 65-page complaint filed last Friday, EMI Music is alleging several kinds of copyright infringement and unfair competition, citing almost 80 pieces it owns that it said San Francisco-based VideoEgg and its partners had used inappropriately. The company is requesting up to $150,000 per copyright infringement, attorney fees, and both preliminary and permanent injunctions.
Xbox 360 price cuts begin down under
Microsoft confirmed today that it was dropping the price of its entry-level Xbox 360 by $50...in Australia.
As Microsoft's Australian gamers' site clearly shows today, the 360 Arcade bundle has been dropped from AU$399 to AU$349, the Xbox 360 Pro has been cut from AU$579 to AU$499, and the Elite has been cut from AU$729 to AU$649 -- on average, about 14% lower than before.
EU proposal would task ISPs with blocking infected addresses
A paper will be published later this year with far-ranging recommendations for reducing cybercrime in Europe, including a statutory scale of damages against ISPs that do not respond promptly to requests to shut out compromised machines.
A subset of the paper, entitled "Security Economics and European Policy," was presented by one of its four authors, Tyler Moore, a researcher and Ph.D student at the University of Cambridge. Other authors included Ross Anderson and Richard Clayton, also of the University of Cambridge; and Rainer Bohme, TU Dresden.
TiVo cleverly converts commercial skipping into a commercial feature
While you're watching your TiVo, your TiVo is watching you -- not only what you watch, but what you skip.
Approximately everyone who has ever used one of TiVo Inc.'s digital video recorders has skipped over commercials. However, the devices also report, anonymously, every click of a remote back to the main offices, and track that aggregated information for clients of the company's Stop||Watch service, which it has offered since 2006. This from Todd Juenger, Vice President & General Manager, TiVo Audience Research & Measurement, in an interview with BetaNews.
Microsoft may be preparing an Xbox 360 price cut
This afternoon, Microsoft is saying very little about a report in the Hollywood Reporter last Friday that it's planning to cut Xbox 360 prices this month, other than to say, "Stay tuned."
The Reporter's...uh, report is that Microsoft plans to cut the price of the 20 GB Xbox 360 Pro by $50, to $299, before the E3 video game trade show, which runs July 15-17 in Los Angeles.
DOJ silence to HP means EDS merger can proceed
The house that Ross Perot built, after he left IBM in 1962, will apparently face no opposition in being absorbed into Hewlett-Packard's services division, as the DOJ's silence can be interpreted as acquiescence.
No news is good news: Hewlett-Packard Co. said yesterday that it had not received any requests for additional information from the US Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission regarding its May 13 acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp., which clears the way for the acquisition to proceed.
Analysts play king-of-the-hill with 3G iPhone sales claims
Analysts who are normally paid to be skeptical and cynical are falling over themselves to see which one can make the biggest sales predictions for the second-generation 3G iPhone, due to be rolled out July 11 for as low as $199.
With the first models of the iPhone priced at $599 and $699 and selling between 5 and 6 million since its introduction, Apple CEO Steve Jobs' prediction that the company would sell 10 million iPhones in 2008 seemed optimistic - yet that ambitious number is looking increasingly conservative compared with more and more extravagant analyst claims.
Lenovo pushes ahead with desktop PCs for the States
On the heels of its first consumer desktop, the IdeaCentre K200, in China in May, Lenovo has now released the IdeaCentre K210, a consumer desktop machine for use globally.
Points of variation on the machine from other consumer desktop systems is Bright Vision technology, which uses a bundled Bright Eye camera to help adjust the brightness of the monitor based on where the user is sitting. Leaning one's head back or forward changes the brightness of the monitor, said spokesman Doug Bell.
Wyoming gets the nation's first active Mobile WiMAX
What the company claimed was the first commercially available WiMAX Forum-certified Mobile WiMAX network in the US has been launched in Jackson, Wyoming.
BridgeMAXX mobile service is provided by DigitalBridge Communications (DBC) Corp., based in Ashburn, Va., and uses WiMAX Forum Certified BreezeMAX 2.5 GHz equipment from Alvarion Ltd., a Tel Aviv manufacturer. DBC currently provides WiMAX service to a number of other cities in the Intermountain West, and will be upgrading those areas to mobile WiMAX over the next 12 to 18 months, said Stephanie Soscia, director of marketing.
Analysts: The chip industry is booming despite the economy
Semiconductor chip sales worldwide rose 7.5 percent in May compared to a year ago and 2.8 percent compared to last month despite drops in prices, which the Semiconductor Industry Association attributed to growth in emerging markets.
The 7.5 percent figure -- for sales of $21.8 billion in May compared to $21.2 billion in April and $20.3 billion in May 2007 -- is especially noteworthy considering that the San Jose, Calif., organization had lowered its November prediction of 7.7 percent to 4.8 percent earlier this month due to strong price pressures on memory chips, said John Greenagel, director of communications.
Motorola invests in targeted advertising for digital TV
The dream of online advertisers is to be able to reach discrete audiences by targeting them with messages tailored specifically for their tastes. But today, Motorola countered that by investing in a similar service for future television.
In its continuing efforts to find a bigger place for itself in the world, Motorola announced today it had invested an undisclosed amount in INVIDI Technologies Corp., a Princeton, N.J. company that developers addressable television advertising technology for cable and satellite operators.
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