Up front: Will Windows get 'smart' with ARM chips?
Three years ago, there was some talk about whether Microsoft would help define the small, portable device category by making a version of Windows for it. That's when we learned that devices at that level will not -- perhaps ever -- be defined by their operating systems. When Microsoft started marketing a concept called "Origami" by answering consumers' questions with a question, "What Am I?" customers in large numbers resoundingly responded, "We don't care." Now, there's yet another new class of small devices supposedly in the works, and reporters this morning are asking, will it be defined by a new version of Windows? Time once again to wake up and smell the history.
Windows for smartbooks?
Opera 10 beta sports a new look, 23% boosted performance
Download Opera 10 for Windows Build 1551 Beta 1 from Fileforum now.
The developers at Opera Software have been publicly working with version 2.2 of the Presto rendering engine for its premier Web browser since last December. Their goal has been to implement Web fonts for Scalable Vector Graphics without sacrificing performance or other standards support. Conceivably, this could allow sites to deploy both TrueType and SVG fonts in user-scalable sizes scaled to fit the current window size, as this recent Opera test pattern demonstrates. (Right now, Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 supports some scalable TrueType, but not to the degree that Opera does.)
Court slaps injunction on Dish Network 'Time Warp' DVRs in another TiVo victory
Litigation between TiVo and EchoStar over DVR patents in US courts recently entered its third year. In October 2008, EchoStar was ordered to pay TiVo $104 million plus interest for the "Time Warp" technology used in Dish Network's DVRs during the time it was an EchoStar subsidiary.
A subsequent hearing in February of this year in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas took EchoStar to task for the "software workaround" it implemented to prevent a permanent injunction on Dish Network DVRs. Now, a court has ruled in TiVo's favor yet again, awarding TiVo a permanent injunction on the infringing Dish boxes, along with a further $103 million plus interest. And on top of it all, EchoStar was found to be in contempt of court.
Nokia N97 to ship this month
Today, Nokia announced that the N97, the newest handset in its flagship N-series, will go on sale in 75 countries this month. The device was first unveiled six months ago complete with its full spec list, and a €550 suggested retail price tag.
The 3.5-inch touchscreen N97 will be the first of Nokia's mobile phones to ship with the Ovi Store app natively installed. Nokia's mobile applications store opened for business last week, but faced harsh criticism for its frequent inaccessibility, and overall lack of captivating content.
Sony's PSP Go! upstaged by PS3 Motion Controller
A new smaller PlayStation Portable was intended to be Sony's bombshell E3 announcement, but it was defused prematurely by Sony's own online magazine, Qore, which leaked official shots of the device only a matter of days ago. However, Sony's bag of tricks was not exhausted.
Called the PSP Go!, or as Sony Computer Entertainment's President and CEO Kaz Hirai called it, "The worst kept secret of E3," it is a 50% smaller, 40% lighter version of the PlayStation Portable. Equipped with 16 GB of internal storage expandable with m2 memory, no optical (UMD) drive, and built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, it bears a staggering resemblance to Sony's Mylo in size and form.
Windows 7 to be released October 22
The news comes in advance of comments being planned for the Computex conference in Taiwan early tomorrow morning, by Microsoft Corporate Vice President for OEMs Steve Guggenheimer. There he is scheduled to officially deliver the news that Windows 7 general availability worldwide will begin on Thursday, October 22.
Microsoft's spokesperson gave Betanews a heads-up to expect comments from Guggenheimer concerning a program being called Windows Upgrade Option. That's precisely the title of an FAQ that was leaked to the public last month by the technology blog TechARP. That FAQ, which appeared to contain language directly from Microsoft, spoke about a low- or no-cost upgrade option for recent purchasers of consumer SKUs of Windows Vista.
New Wii gaming concept could literally put you to sleep
Nintendo's current approach to video gaming isn't in supplying the most powerful hardware or the most massive gaming worlds. It's about thinking outside the box. The company successfully took gaming out of the controller and into the space around the gamer, and started a trend in the gaming industry. With this approach, Nintendo went from being on the trailing edge of gaming technology in the fifth and sixth generation consoles to the pinnacle of innovation in the seventh.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata continues to inspect the video game industry, looking for new approaches to the same business. At the company's E3 presentation today, Iwata gave the public a look at what could be next for Nintendo, an "entirely different way of thinking about games."
Bing vs. Google face-off, round 2
The way we left things yesterday, we gave Microsoft's newly revamped Bing search engine some moderately tough, everyday search tests, and gave Google the same treatment. After three heats, the score thus far is Bing 2, Google 1, with Bing performing quite admirably in the computer parts shopping department.
Search engines are fairly good for finding something you know you're searching for. In the real world, folks don't often know what or who it is they're searching for, which is why they're searching for him. So suppose someone sends you out on the Internet to find...
Acer shakes hands with Android
Acer could have an Android-based netbook ready as early as the third quarter of this year, according to statements from the company's Global President for IT Products, Jim Wong.
At a conference at the Computex trade show in Taipei, Taiwan, Wong expressed confidence in Android and its "incredibly fast wireless connection to the Internet," saying that since the OS has become more common, it has a growing network of developers supporting it.
McAfee warns of the risks, dangers, and threats posed by online song lyrics
Anne Hathaway was cute as a button with that guitar on NBC's Late Night last night, explaining to Jimmy Fallon how she was teaching herself to play by watching YouTube videos and searching for chords online. But kind friends need to warn her that one wrong step in her searches could lead to serious trouble. That's according to a recent report from security researchers at McAfee, who say that searches for some types of song information are most likely to lead to a nasty computer infection.
"The World's Most Dangerous Search Terms," released last week, says that searches on song lyrics returned, on average, one site in twenty that could (if visited) infect the guest's machine with some species of malware. In some cases, a page of search results might have an many as 25% of its results plagued with infection. That "maximum risk" number was the highest for any category the survey covered.
You can say 'netbook' now, the Supremes will look at patents, Tetris turns 25
Usually when a company coins a term or a phrase, or attempts to, it checks around to see whether someone else has thought of it first. But in the case of "netbook," it seemed to be a term that entered the popular vocabulary just before marketers got a hold of it. Or so we thought. But this story turns out all for the better, as we can all say "netbook" now with confidence.
Psion tells Intel it can use "netbook"
Apple's vulnerability patch count: 10 QuickTime, 1 iTunes, 0 Java
Is Cupertino straining at gnats while much larger objects float in the punchbowl? Security professionals might wonder, as Apple on Monday released a 7.6.2 update to QuickTime that patches ten security holes in that player. The notorious Java hole reported last year and exploited at pwn2own in February remained untouched.
Many of the patches address -- what else? -- buffering issues. A problem brought to Apple's attention by a researcher working with TippingPoint's Zero Day Initiative, in which a heap buffer overflow could be triggered by a maliciously crafted FLC file, has been addressed. Compressed PSD files could also be used to trigger a buffer overflow; that's been taken care of. (Another score for the Zero Day Initiative, by the way, which gets full or partial credit for six vulnerabilities addressed this time around.) Heap buffer overflow issues with MS ADPCM-encoded movie files, CRGN (Clipping Region) atom types in movie files, and JP2 files also met their makers.
Microsoft's 'One More Thing:' Full game downloads
After two hours of exclusive game premiers and announcements regarding Microsoft's Xbox Live platform, Microsoft pulled its own version of Apple's trademark "One More Thing" announcement, or the footnote that trumps the entire presentation.
In August, Xbox Live subscribers will be able to buy and download full Xbox 360 titles with real money (not Xbox 360 points). The service will premiere with 30 games to start with and will add new titles weekly that will coincide with retail release. Unlike Xbox Live Arcade and WiiWare, these will be "disc-sized" games, and not games designed specifically for download.
Spielberg endorses Xbox 360 motion controller
Microsoft's E3 keynote packed a lot of rumor confirmations into its celebrity-filled presentation this morning. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia and Dhani Harrison, and Yoko Ono appeared for Beatles Rock Band; and Tony Hawk discussed the new skateboard controller for Ride, but those titles aren't exclusive to Microsoft's console, and the real power in today's keynote came in the news unique to the 360.
Microsoft is working on a camera-based controller While it has been rumored for several months, Microsoft managed to make its "controller-free controller" look so exciting that legendary Hollywood director Steven Spielberg actually came out on stage to talk about how cool it is.
Panasonic debuts Tiny HD with portable Blu-ray
The Portable Blu-ray viewer/player that Panasonic showed off in its CES keynote this year was officially announced today, and will be available this month for $799.95.
Panasonic's DMP-B15 utilizes the same technologies as the company's full-sized Blu-ray players, so it can be used as a standalone player, or as a component in a home theater setup. It includes support for BD Live and Viera Cast functionality, which requires an Ethernet connection and opens the device to Amazon's Video on Demand, YouTube, Picasa Web albums, and more as services are added.
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