Yahoo is launching an open-source project that it hopes will advance the science of distributed computing, which will also leverage its work in Hadoop. The project is an open-source distributed computing effort of the Apache Software Foundation, of which the Sunnyvale, Calif. search company has lead development on. Yahoo said it also plans to allow use of its 4,000 processor supercomputer for work on the project.

The first customer of the project will be Carnegie Mellon University, which will do various types of diagnostics on the system including performance evaluations, information retrieval tests, and testing its use for large-scale computer projects. Yahoo plans to open up the supercomputer for use by other groups in the future, it said. The company says the offering of its supercomputer for such users is important as many academic researchers do not have the hardware or software necessary for Internet-scale systems software research.

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With social media becoming increasingly popular on the Web, Microsoft is looking to ensure that it does not fall behind its rivals. A job posting appeared on the company's Web site Friday -- and has since apparently disappeared -- looking for a program manager for a photo and video sharing website. The service would be part of the Live family and work across several services including Spaces, SkyDrive, Messenger, and Hotmail.

"This feature team is building a next-generation photo and video sharing service that will compete with Flickr, Smugmug and other photo web solutions today," the job posting read. "This is a 'v1' opportunity." Microsoft had attempted to compete in the space before with Soapbox, however it never seemed to take off and only received cursory attention from the Redmond company.

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AOL said Monday that it had acquired Israeli social search site Yedda, a company that focuses on linking questions to the best possible users to get answers and start discussions on topics. The technology will be integrated through AOL's properties, and in select programming areas on AOL.com. Following the acquisition, Yedda will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Incorporating Yedda's unique technology into AOL enables us to bring together our traditional search resources and an entire community of people to help users quickly find answers to questions," AOL COO Ron Grant said. The Yedda buy is the second for AOL in a week, after buying contextual ad firm Quigo for approximately $340 million to strengthen its ad division. After turning its ISP service free, AOL has turned to ads and the Internet as a way to make up for lost revenues.

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In a potentially historic milestone, the Xbox 360 has outsold the PlayStation 3 for the first time in its history in Japan, according to statistics from Media Create. Sales of Microsoft console shot up some 500 percent on the back of the Bandai release Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, which debuted at #2 on the Japanese video game charts this week.

The console sold 17,673 units during the week, up from 3,718 in the week previous. This was just enough to place it in the #2 spot ahead of the PS3, which sold 17,434 consoles. This was down week to week from 18,785 units two weeks ago. Nintendo's Wii is still outselling both by far, with 37,617 consoles sold. "Kiss your loved ones, hug your friends, because if this keeps up we've reached the end of days," Alexander Sliwinski wrote for Joystiq in reporting the news.

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Sony said Thursday that it had released version 2 of the firmware for the PS3, including the feature to remotely turn the console on and off through the remote play function. The Japanese electronics maker says that the feature now gives all users with a PSP access to content on their PS3 hard drive from anywhere, as well as the ability to create unlimited numbers of music and photo playlists. However, according to reports, the feature also requires that the cooling fan run constantly.

Other features include enhancements to the PS3 XMB interface, allowing for customization of the background and color. Additionally, an information board feature has been added that would keep users up to date on new PlayStation news, a new PlayStation Network category, and Trend Micro Web Security, which is provided free of charge until April of next year.

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Retail giant Target has pulled Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2 from its shelves following the publicity of a violence-increasing hack discovered just one day after the game's release. The hack, which only works for illegally modified PSPs, essentially rolls back superficial changes made to the game to fit ratings criteria. The result is a clearer view of killings that already take place in the game, without unlocking any deleted or hidden scenes.

ESRB President Patricia Vance feels that the existence of this hack does not alter the "M" rating given to the game. However, Target wishes to keep its customers "comfortable with the purchasing decisions they make." Given the nature of the hack, it is safe to say that PSP users will not accidentally unlock the censored content, and purchasers of the game can feel comfortable that they got all the feces flinging, neck stabbing, and sledgehammer assailing that they expected and were more than adequately warned about.

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As previously reported, sales of the $99 Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player were brisk last week, with retailers selling over 100,000 units following a price drop that started at Wal-Mart and spread to other other outlets. However, demand was so high that the HD-A2 quickly sold out, and Best Buy is now telling customers it will send them the HD-A3 for no additional cost.

In an e-mail to customers, which explained that Best Buy will not be receiving any further HD-A2 inventory, the company said: "Because we value your business, we will be fulfilling your order with the next generation Toshiba HD DVD Player (model: HD-A3) that is replacing the HD-A2 in Toshiba's lineup of HD DVD Players." The HD-A3 launched with a retail price of $299 last month, but now can be found for $199 at some stores. Those who ordered the HD-A2 after supplies ran out, however, will receive the new unit for just $99.

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Ticketmaster and Apple said Wednesday that they had formed a partnership where digital albums of artists would be sold alongside concert tickets on Ticketmaster.com. About 700 artists including Kanye West, Keith Urban and Bon Jovi would be the first to take advantage of the tie-in on the ticketing site. As a promotion, albums sold at Tickmaster and redeemed through iTunes would be cheaper by $1 through December 29.

The promotion would compliment another that the two companies have launched at Target. A $50 iTunes card is available at that retailer, which gives a $25 credit towards a purchase at ticketmaster.com along with $25 in iTunes credits. This isn't the first time Apple has joined forces with the ticket seller: in 2005 it sold pre-sale tickets for a Depeche Mode concert alongside the band's newest album at that time.

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Nokia said Wednesday that it had reached a deal with Vodafone that brings some of the latest and greatest mobile phones exclusively to the carrier. The phones feature 3G connectivity, and easy access to the mobile web. Services from Vodafone are seamlessly integrated into the phone itself, such as content and instant messaging, the company said.

Wednesday's deal also carries a lot of benefit for Nokia: above and beyond the deal for the phones itself, Vodafone will also allow access to Ovi, the Finnish manufacturer's first real foray into mobile services. The phones will appear on the carrier's networks worldwide, and even on Verizon Wireless, judging by the way the company's statement announcing the deal was worded. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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After nearly 5 months of beta testing, Opera Software has released version 4 of its Opera Mini Web browser for mobile phones. The update includes iPhone-like capabilities that enable users to see a full overview of a page and zoom in to specific parts.

When zooming, Opera Mini snaps to content so scrolling is smooth. A virtual mouse cursor aids users in moving down a page and selecting links, although the software resizes text and images to reduce the amount of scrolling required. These features were originally developed for Opera's browser on the Nintendo Wii.

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A survey by research firm comScore indicates that nearly two out of every three downloaders of Radiohead's release In Rainbows did not pay for it, while the rest only forked over an average of $6 per download. The band released its album in October without digital rights management, and let fans decide how much they were willing to pay for the release, if at all. In total, some 1.2 million people visited the website set up for the album download between October 1 and 29, comScore said.

The study also showed a disparity in how much was paid for the album inside the US and overseas. Here in the US, about 40 percent chose to pay for the album, and the average selling price was $8.05. However, overseas 36 percent paid, and only were giving an average of $4.64 per download. Radiohead plans to release the album in CD format next year. The band had no comment on the study.

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Microsoft is preparing users of its Zune music player for the much-hyped upgrade to both the Zune device and desktop software. According to an e-mail sent out to users on Monday night, the updates will begin to be delivered automatically starting November 13. Among the new features that come as part of the update are: wireless sync, a new Zune Marketplace, and a social network built around the device.

"By accepting the updates, your Zune will have the same software that comes preloaded on all new devices," Microsoft says in the e-mail. As first reported by BetaNews in early October, Microsoft is pushing the update as an effort to keep its early adopters current with the latest features to be provided to Zune customers.

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ESPN said Monday that it had signed a deal with Microsoft to bring some of its programming to Xbox Live, including games and television shows. Some of the content has already appeared on the offering, including several past NCAA college sporting events, the Summer X Games, and hit shows such as the World Series of Poker and Madden Nation.

The move expands ESPN's video distribution beyond iTunes, the only other non-ESPN owned property to sell the network's videos for almost the past two years. Pricing of the TV shows will be roughly the same as iTunes at $2, while HD versions will cost 40 cents more. Sporting events will carry a $1 premium, while HD downloads will cost $4.50, ESPN said.

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Nintendo has reportedly decided to stop all repairs of the original Nintendo after 24 years of support, Agence France Presse reported on Friday. A spokesperson said that the company has decided to end support due to increasingly short supplies of replacement parts. The iconic game system was sold as the Nintendo Entertainment System in the US and Europe, and as the Famicom in Japan.

Nintendo's Ken Toyoda said that while the company is sad to turn its back on the NES, the company wanted its legions of loyal fans to focus on the Wii, currently the best selling next-generation console worldwide. Nexgenwars.com, a tracker of game console sales, says the Wii has shipped 12.26 million consoles, compared to 12.2 million for the Xbox 360 and nearly 5.08 million for the PS3.

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In a sign that peer-to-peer file sharing is still thriving in a post-Kazaa world, popular BitTorrent site Mininova has reached a milestone 3 billion downloads. With a reported 3 million daily visitors and almost 10 million torrents downloaded a day, the site has shown tremendous growth over the almost three years it has existed.

The site's blog says there were hopes of reaching 4 billion downloads this year, but that goal will take another few months to reach. Due to the loopholes that .torrent files fit through, sites like Mininova can thrive and actually become desirable locations for advertisers. Ask.com, eHarmony, and Howard Johnson hotels all currently have ads running on Mininova despite the obvious illegal filesharing that takes place around the site.

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