Tim Conneally

Addressing security issues for both the Mac and Windows platforms, Apple has released an update to QuickTime not unlike the one released last spring, only less prolific.

Seven QuickTime vulnerabilities are addressed in the latest update, all revolving around malware movie files that cause "unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution."

The WiMAX Forum launched its Global Roaming Program today, a means for regional WiMAX network operators to interact with each other in order to implement roaming services. The program, available at Wimaxforum.org, includes a "how-to" manual for launching roaming services, spec sheets, contract templates, and a pre-launch roaming test plan.

While WiMAX deployments are still vastly spread apart, there are currently more than 407 in place across 133 countries.

South Korean Consumer Electronics maker LG posted a big loss in its fourth quarter 2008 earnings report this morning, and like Samsung last week, the company will restructure its business.

Like nearly everyone else now, LG's expectation is that market demand will remain slow and the Korean Won will hover at its 2008 value.

This morning, AOL launched its latest version of Web Mail, which gives users the ability to tailor their Web Mail window with gadgets from the myAOL Gallery, and integrate their mailboxes with third-party mail services like Yahoo and Gmail. Additionally, the AOL Mail Synchronization feature that has been in beta testing since November has been added to the completed feature list.

Rounding out today's update is the ability for users to skin their AOL Web Mail page, similar to Windows Live Home and iGoogle.

TomTom, Europe's leading provider of Personal Navigation Devices, announced a cost-cutting program and re-alignment which involves cutting around 7% of its staff, or about 115 individuals. Citing a "challenging consumer spending environment," the layoff announcement precedes the company's fourth quarter earnings report by just over one month, and is expected to save TomTom an annual €35 million.

Belkin has been receiving a lot of unfavorable attention recently for reportedly offering to pay for favorable Amazon product reviews. The company's president, Mark Reynoso, posted a letter confirming the behavior, but attributing it to a single employee.

"It was with great surprise and dismay when we discovered that one of our employees may have posted a number of queries on the Amazon Mechanical Turk Web site inviting users to post positive reviews of Belkin products in exchange for payment," Reynoso wrote.

The Google Support forum over the weekend was clogged with users complaining that their iPhone-optimized iGoogle page (google.com/ig/i) was redirecting to the standard Google mobile page (google.com/m/ig).

An iGoogle team member addressed the complaints by saying, "We've decided to direct iPhone users to the standard mobile iGoogle page. We've found that people hit iGoogle from lots of different phones -- we want to ensure you'll all see the same version. Most or all of your existing content should translate over to the standard mobile version. The only exception would be any gadgets that aren't compatible with most mobile browsers."

Steve Horowitz, one of Google's team leaders on Android mobile OS development, has been appointed Chief Technology Officer of Coupons Inc., online promotions company responsible for Coupons.com

Online retail has been seen as a growth channel for many years, but has not proven to be immune to recession spending cutbacks. ComScore showed 2008 online holiday spending to have dropped around 2% against 2007. Analysts expected the drop in sales to be much steeper, were it not for the discounts that major online retailers offered.

Processor giant AMD's continued restructuring has helped wireless specialist Qualcomm increase its intellectual property portfolio today with the acquisition of AMD's former handheld business for $65 million.

Many of the technologies Qualcomm will acquire are ones the company already licenses from AMD, including graphics, audio/video, display, and architecture-related products. As part of the acquisition, design and development teams working under AMD have been offered jobs under Qualcomm.

Telenav, which introduced its Shotgun connected PND in November has unveiled new mileage tracking and business review features which can be downloaded directly to the device over its wireless connection.

The Shotgun quickly found a home in the automobiles of business travelers, and as such, the ability to track mileage is a crucial feature upgrade. Tracking can be turned on and off mid-trip so only billable miles are recorded, and the data can then be attributed to a client, job, or other title and then be exported as Excel or .PDF files through the My Telenav portal or toolbar.

In RIAA v. Tenenbaum last week, Massachusetts District Court Judge Nancy Gertner approved the motion to allow the January 22 hearing to be webcast live this upcoming Thursday, against recent objections by the record labels.

The labels participating in the suit -- Sony BMG, Warner, Atlantic, Arista, and Universal Music Group -- elevated the affair to the US Court of Appeals (PDF available here) seeking a writ of mandamus against the District Court's allowance. Mandamus is the use of a higher court's discretion to block a lower court's action.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made "candid" comments in November that Windows Mobile 6.5 would be available in the first half of 2009, and reports are speculating that the update will be rolled out at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on February 16-19.

Ballmer is scheduled to give a keynote speech at the conference, where the revamped Mobile OS and associated services are expected to be unveiled.

Beginning tomorrow at 6:00 am EST, the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama will officially take over American airwaves. In addition to traditional television and radio coverage, the ceremony will be broadcast over streaming services such as Joost and Livestation, through news web sites, and through handsets capable of receiving mobile television broadcasts.

Verizon V Cast TV and AT&T Mobile TV will be broadcasting the event live to their respective subscribers, and cross-platform broadcaster MobiTV will be streaming live coverage all day from ABC News Now, CNBC, CSPAN, Fox News, and MSNBC.

Verizon will be the next US mobile carrier to offer signal extending femtocell services for the home, according to reports. The Verizon Wireless Network Extender is expected to be available on January 25, and offer a service nearly identical to Sprint's AIRAVE femtocell.

The femtocell device will be the same Samsung Ubicell that connects to GPS and the home WAN to generate a 5,000 square foot CDMA signal. The main difference between Sprint and Verizon will be the $249.99 the latter will charge for the unit. Reports that AT&T was testing its own femtocell solution circulated last year and tapped the UK's IP.Access Ltd. as a major hardware provider. Since that time, however, there have been no updates from AT&T.

CherryPal, which introduced a 10 oz., 400 MHz internet appliance called the C100 in July, unveiled its netbook at the Sundance Film Festival today.

Called the Bing, CherryPal's netbook runs a Linux-based operating system called GreenMaraschino with a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor. With 1 GB DDR2 RAM, a 160 GB HDD, a 10.2" (1024 x 600) TFT display, 3 USB ports, SD/MMC/MS slot, a 0.3 megapixel webcam, and built-in 802.11 b/g, the Bing is being marketed as an efficient, environmentally friendly, simple machine.