Some analog TV stations have already thrown the switch
It was supposed to be a day of reduced confusion, but in many places around the US today, some major affiliate stations have gone dark on their old analog frequencies...while others go on.
Back in 1953, a family whose name would come to be synonymous in Oklahoma with two things -- broadcasting and waffle syrup -- launched a cottage television institution in what was surprisingly one of the most competitive markets in the country. For most of the time from then until now, it has been the standard-bearer for weather alerts, even to the point where its over-the-top advertising was parodied by The Daily Show's Jon Stewart. Still owned by the Griffin family today, KWTV in my old hometown of Oklahoma City has already said goodbye to Channel 9 -- what we Okies might call, "the lady that brung you."
Mufin music finder enters public beta, adds widgets
The labs that brought you the MP3 codec have moved their Mufin music-finder project into the public-beta phase, adding two widgets options to its collection.
The Mufin service, which makes tracks-like-this suggestions via algorithm, has worked on usability and bug-hunting since the last time we visited. The drawn-out process of lining up the licenses to play clips of the music seems to be progressing, though slowly; a number of tracks had clips available, but a sizable minority did not.
Office 2007 no longer measures up to OXML standard, says consultant
With the myriad changes that had to be made to DIS 29500 before it could be approved by three-fourths of the ISO subcommittee's voters, there was a very high chance that by the time Microsoft saw its offspring once again, it wouldn't recognize it.
As a consultant for conformance testing agency Griffin Brown confirmed last Thursday, indeed, Office 2007 may require an upgrade before it can say it faithfully adheres to an international standard.
AMD shows off its Puma platform beating Centrino
Although AMD didn't have a major presence at CES, the chipmaker did have a reference design of its upcoming Puma platform on hand to show how it out-performs Intel's Centrino platform.
Puma is essentially the company's new "Griffin" processor paired with an ATI graphics chipset and designed for laptops. It also adds a chip dedicated for high-definition video that sits right on the GPU. The platform will be the first to support DirectX 10.1 in a mobile environment.
Interview: AMD's Simon Solotko and the Third Core
It actually didn't seem mathematically possible. Three is not a multiple of two, and the computer industry rarely does anything that can't be bundled as a power of two. But AMD's Triple-Core Phenom processor, which will hit desktops at the beginning of next year, may be the oddball that the CPU market never expected.
Even folks inside of AMD will admit Intel has stepped up to the plate in the last 16 months, and that AMD has ground to make up in several departments. When Intel was planning its comeback two years ago, it introduced a controversial technique called hyperthreading that enabled a single-core processor to run two threads concurrently. But after tests revealed minimal performance gains - and in some categories, performance losses - many perceived Intel's move as a kind of stopgap, to buy it some time before it could launch its first dual-core series with Core Microarchitecture.
Family Guy to Make Download Debut on Xbox
Fox has struck a deal with Microsoft to make episodes from the first two seasons of the popular animated television series Family Guy available through Xbox Live, the first Fox series to be offered on the platform. Family Guy's appearance on Xbox Live marks the first time anywhere -- including iTunes -- where the television show would be available for download legally.
The show is most popular among males 18 to 34, which is also the target demographic of video game consoles. Microsoft said bringing the show to the service would be a perfect fit. Each episode, plus the DVD film Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story will be available for 160 Microsoft Points. This would roughly be equivalent to $2 USD, about the same price that videos are being sold for on competing services.
Dell Sued in Canada Over Defective Batteries
Dell has been slapped by a class action suit in Canada over its issues with Sony laptop batteries last year. An Ontario resident alleges the company continued to sell certain models even after it knew they were susceptible to overheating.
In August 2006, Dell recalled 4.1 million batteries over the issue, and the fallout damaged both the company's stock value and overall image. The company has attempted to make up for the issue, and there were rumors that the company and others would go after Sony for compensation.
NBC, Intel Partner on Content for Viiv Users
NBC Universal said Friday it had partnered with Intel to launch NBC VIP Access, a service that will provide free entertainment content to Intel Viiv desktop and Centrino laptop users. Users will have access to season premieres and other content available on the NBC networks.
Among the shows included is the entire fall season of "Heroes" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." In addition, the service will also make available the season premieres of "Friday Night Lights", "30 Rock" and "Ghost Hunters," and scenes from the new seasons of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "Battlestar Galactica."
Earthlink Testing VoIP Phone Service
Following the lead of competing Internet service providers, Earthlink is test marketing a trial of a voice over IP (VoIP) phone service with Covad, a purveyor of business communications services. Earthlink will begin the trial in October in three markets: Dallas, San Francisco and San Jose, and Seattle.
The service will be powered by Covad's Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) technology over existing "last mile" copper phone lines. It will include familiar call waiting, caller ID and voicemail capabilities associated with traditional telephone services. To address some of the safety concerns associated with IP-telephony, the service will offer e911 and will operate during power outages.
StreamCast Issues New Morpheus, Draws Harsh Criticism
File sharing giant StreamCast launched a new version of its software last weekend after millions of Morpheus users were locked out of the Kazaa-owned network it had previously accessed. The new Morpheus is instead based completely on the decentralized Gnutella network, the controversial brainchild of AOL/Nullsoft employees. But the change has not fared well for the company, as Morpheus users had grown accustomed to quick searches and reliable downloads that come with a centralized architecture and are now connecting to alternate services - namely KaZaA and Grokster.
StreamCast had been planning to add Gnutella support into its client for some time, but Kazaa BV -- the company that licenses StreamCast and Grokster its software -- refused to supply StreamCast with the required version 1.5 update claiming it had never been paid. StreamCast cried foul last week when the network upgrade rendered Morpheus inoperable and its users scratching their heads. Morpheus became much more popular than both its counterparts, because it lacks the "spyware" advertising that exists in KaZaA and Grokster.
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