The entertainment Industry debuts yet another DRM scheme: Ultraviolet
Today, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) announced a new consumer-facing brand for the DRM system it has been working on for more than two years: UltraViolet.
DECE has more than 60 members, and includes most of the biggest names in content distribution and consumer electronics: Best Buy, Fox, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Sony, Warner Brothers, Panasonic, Paramount Pictures, Dolby Labs, and Comcast, to name just a few.
Huge: Hybrid satellite-LTE network launches under the name LightSquared
Following yesterday's announcement that Nokia-Siemens would be acquiring Motorola's wireless infrastructure business for $1.2 billion, Nokia Siemens turns around and announces a $7 billion agreement to deploy, install, operate and maintain the U.S.' first wholesale LTE network from the newly formed company LightSquared.
LightSquared is the name of the multi-billion dollar network Harbinger Capital partners has been planning to build as an alternative for network operators who cannot afford to build an LTE network of their own, like T-Mobile USA. The company will build the network, and then lease it to operators. It will not directly offer services to consumers.
Marvell simplifies Plug Computing for developers with new installation tool
As powerful chips are being made physically smaller, cheaper, and significantly less energy consumptive than previous generations, they can be used in places where computers hadn't gone before. More tasks can be automated and measured, more systems can be networked together, and machines can generally get a lot "smarter."
This is perhaps the main idea behind Marvell's plug computing initiative, where an entire system as powerful as a netbook can be built into a housing only marginally larger than a "wall wart" style power adaptor.
Amid e-book price war, Kindle books skyrocket, outsell hardcover
In the midst of a Summertime e-reader price war, initiated by Borders, matched by Barnes and Noble, and escalated by Amazon, e-books are flying off of their virtual shelves.
Today, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos announced second quarter Kindle sales are fully accelerated, with each month outselling the last. But since cutting the price in June, sales have massively spiked.
Foursquare talking to search engines over sharing data
Social networking company Foursquare is in talks with Microsoft, Google and Yahoo over using its data to help enrich search results, UK paper The Telegraph reported on Monday. According to co-founder Dennis Crowley, the data would be anonymized and then shared.
Foursquare is one of the most rapidly growing social networking services on the Internet. Last week, it signed up its two millionth user, just three months after signing up one million. Word of mouth seems to be driving a lot of the growth, as friends sign up to follow one another.
Microsoft ships Windows Phone 7 devices to developers
Microsoft has finished the Technical Preview of Windows Phone 7, the absolute earliest build of the new mobile operating system that is ready for field testing, and is shipping it out on prototype devices from Asus, LG, and Samsung, the company reported today.
As Microsoft noted last week when it released the updated Windows Phone Developer Toolkit, devices with a pseudo-beta version of Windows Phone 7 have begun shipping to developers, carriers, and partners. The new mobile operating system is still quite a few months away from being ready for release, and there isn't yet a version for consumers to check out, but this marks the "home stretch" for platform development. The company expects the first Windows Phone 7 devices to be released in time for the holiday shopping season this year.
To improve foothold in U.S. and Japan, Nokia Siemens buys Motorola's wireless business
European telecommunications giant Nokia-Siemens announced today that it will acquire the majority of Motorola Inc's wireless network infrastructure business for $1.2 billion.
Nokia Siemens announced this morning that it will acquire Motorola's GSM and CDMA infrastructure business, while Motorola will keep its iDEN business, potentially all of its intellectual property related to the wireless network infrastructure business, and "other selected assets."
Google's retirement of Nexus One marks adulthood of the 'Superphone' generation
Today, Google sealed the fate of its former flagship Android device, the HTC Nexus One, by announcing that the smartphone will no longer be available online from the search company's own site.
This announcement finalizes Google's plan to shut down its Web-based smartphone store after it failed to live up to expectations. Customer support will still be available in the U.S., and the device will continue to be available to Android developers. Additionally, the Nexus One will be sold through carrier partners in Europe, Asia, "and possibly others based on local market conditions."
Google buys Metaweb to improve results for complex search queries
Google moved to better its search results by acquiring Metaweb, a San Francisco based company that maintains an open database of "things," and their relationships to one another. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Metaweb's database currently includes some 12 million items, including places, notable people, companies, and movies. Queries to the Google search algorithm would return more relevant results as a result of the company's technology, the company claims.
Steve Jobs shows little remorse about iPhone 4 Death Grip -- should he?
Yesterday, I recommended five things Apple should do during today's press conference about iPhone 4. Within hours of the post, Apple already had done two -- release a software update and informally deny that there would be an iPhone 4 recall.
During today's media event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs fully did two others: Offer free iPhone 4 cases and reveal number of iPhone 4 returns. For the other -- bringing out engineers -- Jobs instead personally discussed the engineering problems and showed that other phones display similar behavior, where human contact with certain areas of the phone can cause the signal bars to decline.
Xbox 360, PS3 sales improve among wider video game downturn
Data released by NPD Group Thursday indicates that among a wider slump in the video game industry in June, Microsoft was able to move back into the top spot in console sales for the first time in months. Overall revenues were down six percent year-over-year to $1.1 billion.
Software itself saw a much wider drop, as sales were off some 15 percent to $531 million. It is not exactly clear why sales of video games themselves were much lower, although it could be a lack of blockbuster titles able to buoy the sector as a whole.
Apple admits iPhone 4 drops more calls than predecessors, gives out free 'bumpers'
In a short-notice press conference today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs addressed the iPhone 4 reception issues that have been at the top of tech news for several weeks.
In short, users complained of a significant drop in wireless signal when they touched a certain area of the iPhone 4 chassis with as little as the tip of the finger. Videos were posted, opinions were aired, and in short, the typical furor around Apple products was whipped up in practically no time at all. But this time it was very negative.
Dell submits $100 million settlement proposal to SEC on fraud charges
Computer company Dell today issued a statement announcing that it has proposed settlements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission "on terms consistent with the settlement framework described in the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for its fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2010."
The company has been under investigation by the SEC for nearly five years for suspicion of negligence, fraud, and misconduct in the company's deals with Intel Corporation.
Dell's 10-Q document (.pdf here) was filed in late June. It says:
New beta file sharing client Gygan looks to take on RapidShare by allowing unlimited upload size
There is no shortage of file sharing services out there, and most offer a free tier that lets users upload and download very limited quantities of data, followed by a couple of subscription tiers for users interested in sharing more data. Typically, the first level of these subscription services runs $10 per month and charges work their way up from there.
Gygan, a new file sharing service recently launched in public beta, is challenging services like RapidShare, Megaupload, Dropbox, and YouSendIt by offering fewer limitations on sharing and hosting, and a cheaper point of entry to their subscription tiers.
Discovery sues Amazon again for patent infringement over Kindle
Discovery Communications intellectual property subsidiary Discovery Patent Holdings filed suit against Amazon Wednesday, claiming Amazon's line of Kindle e-book readers infringe on two patents held by the company. The suit is the second between the two companies over such technologies.
Amazon was originally sued by Discovery Communications in March of last year, accusing the company of violation of a comprehensive patent on e-book readers titled "Electronic Book Security and Copyright Protection System" (#7,298,851). This covered the Kindle and Kindle 2 models.
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