Latest Technology News

Hulu is reportedly attempting to keep out the non-browser based watchers by implementing its own form of DRM with JavaScript, but the trick didn't work for long as media center applications have already been updated.

Because of the sudden popularity of solutions like Boxee and MCE, and the related displeasure they caused content providers, streaming television service Hulu has been cat-and-mousing with third parties in the way that typically ends in legal action.

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Rumors are flying at the moment that IBM and Sun are down to nickels and dimes in negotiations for the former to acquire the latter. And it really is pocket change -- the difference between $10-$11 per share and $9-$10 per share -- until you remember that it's still an eight-figure transaction.

Reports in the Wall Street Jornal, on which neither company is commenting at this time, indicate that the price-per-share reduction would come in exchange for assurances that IBM will endeavor to persevere even if the purchase gets a lot of unfriendly attention from regulators.

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At the Cloud Computing Expo in New York City this week, CA announced certification of its CA Advanced Systems Management (ASM) software as VMWare Ready Optimized. CA also teamed with VMWare and Empowered Networks to launch the CA Partner Communicty for Business Transformation Through Virtualization Management, a new community for resellers and technology partners focusing on integration, development, product, and joint marketing support.

Designed for centralized management of virtualized and clustered server environments, ASM employs user-defined business policies for dynamic resource brokering across virtualized server resources. In a demo at the expo, CA's Larry Chorowski illustrated how systems managers can use ASM's dashboard to manage policies, provisioning, and other administrative functions. A VMWare partner since 2003, CA also supports virtualization technologies from Microsoft, Red Hat, Sun and other vendors with ASM and additional systems management tools, including CA Access Control and CA Recovery Management.

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Applications that allowed Android-based phones to act as 3G modems were pulled from the Android Market earlier this week, only to be returned again to everywhere...except in the U.S. According to a report from a developer of one of the apps that was pulled earlier in the week, Google found that the applications were a violation of T-Mobile's terms of service.

But given the open nature of Android, and the operating system's availability on wireless networks other than T-Mobile, Google today brought back the tethering apps, with the proviso that T-Mobile USA users will not have access to them. Because (unlike with the iPhone) Android applications can be distributed outside of the Market, however, those users who want tethering can likely find the download elsewhere.

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In a move seen by many as a tactic to drive more sales, Sling Media has decided not to support older versions of its hardware in the forthcoming SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone. That means customers who own a classic Slingbox, Slingbox AV or Slingbox Tuner won't be able to take advantage of the company's most highly-anticipated software release.

SlingPlayer Mobile enables users to connect with their Slingbox and stream television to their phones. Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian and Palm OS based phones are currently supported, but the holy grail for the company has been the iPhone, with its large vibrant screen and powerful processing capabilities.

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Microsoft today released a new version of its free Windows Live app for Windows Mobile devices. The application, which was first debuted almost exactly one year ago, now includes Windows Live Messenger in addition to the push Hotmail syncing, Contact syncing, and Spaces upload support it previously offered. The software is available in both touch-based, and non touch-based formats.

Separately, all non-Windows Mobile devices will enjoy the upgrade to the Windows Live Mobile portal. The mobile page has been upgraded with a brushed-up UI and has received support for full HTML in Hotmail, a feature that Google's Gmail's mobile client does not yet offer.

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Representing a veritable 180 degree turn in opinion, a Nokia spokesperson told the Financial Times today that the company no longer believes WiMAX is a viable wireless mobile standard.

"I don't think [WiMAX's] future is very promising. This is a classic example of industry standards clashing, and somebody comes out as the winner and somebody has to lose," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President of New Markets at Nokia. "Betamax was there for a long time, but VHS dominated the market. I see exactly the same thing happening here."

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It took Netflix over 7 years to ship 1 billion DVDs to subscribers. It has now doubled that milestone in another two. The company announced Thursday that a Blu-ray disc of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist was its 2 billionth delivery, and to celebrate, subscriber Clay Shannon will receive a free lifetime subscription to Netflix.

Netflix ships two million movies each day from its 58 distribution centers. Its library has grown from 2,000 titles in 1999 to over 10,000 -- 1,300 of which are on Blu-ray, leading the company to hike fees for the high-definition format. The delivery figures do not include the number of movies Netflix has streamed through its Instant-On feature, which may prove the significance of Blu-ray simply a blip in the company's timeline by the time its 3 billion milestone arrives.

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Thanks to its open API, sometimes it seems as if there are many ways to parse the Twitter tsunami as there are people actually using the service. That said, social-web search site OneRiot has turned its experienced attentions to the microblogging service, and the results -- launching today -- are promising for those seeking to track the viral spread of URLs through the Tweetosphere.

Twitter's own search capacities are becoming increasingly integral to the service, as evidenced by the new homepage design they're working on over there. Third-party sites offer search-based slices of profanity on Twitter (Twittourette, spectacularly NSFW) or mental states on Twitter (twistori) or recurring keywords on Twitter (Tinker and Sideline, both launched earlier this week) or what you will. OneRiot's unique angle is to examine which URLs people are sharing in real time, learning from their tweets what it is people are talking about from moment to moment.

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Another morning, another projects involving Hadoop and the cloud. This time, Amazon's the proprietor, announcing the beta launch on Thursday of their

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Two and a half months after the unveiling of the Pre and many, many hours after tormenting visitors to their blog with the promise of a big announcement, Palm on Wednesday fought the April Fools urge and told the world more about what to expect for the hotly anticipated handset.

Blogging from the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, where Palm's Michael Abbott (senior vice president of Applications Software and Services) and eBay's Mark Carges jointly gave the evening "High Order Bit" keynote, the company revealed that the beloved Pandora music service and Fandango will both be available for the handset. That's apt to cheer the civilians, who were nonetheless hoping for news on obscure matters such as pricing and ship date today.

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Roger Baker, a veteran of the DC merry-go-round, climbs aboard again at the request of President Obama. Baker, who served as CIO at the Department of Commerce from 1998 to 2001, now joins the Department of Veterans Affairs in the same position pending confirmation by the Senate. Baker has also held executive-level positions at Dataline, General Dynamics Information Technology, CACI International and Visa, and served on the administration's transition team. he holds BS and MBA degrees from the University of Michigan.

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Yahoo has turned to the Hadoop open source cluster framework for crunching the data from "500 million users per month and billions of interesting events per day," said Yahoo's Ajay Anand, speaking at the Cloud Computing Expo in New York City this week.

Researchers from Yahoo Mail have already used Hadoop as a platform for finding botnets that are spewing out spam. Other Yahoo researchers have collaborated on Webmap, "a gigantic table of information [showing] every Web site, page, and link that Yahoo knows about," he told a packed hotel conference room on Tuesday.

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Yesterday, the US Dept. of Homeland Security issued a statement that was intended to soothe the public's fears regarding the impending payload activation of the dreaded Conficker worm -- a piece of malware whose impact on this week's news cycle easily outweighed its impact on networks. That statement made news in itself, though, by referring to a sophisticated free tool for securing networks based on the latest research, but noting that tool was being released only for government agencies and their direct partners.

It revealed the priorities of DHS in a world that's legitimately threatened by malicious developments with far more potentially serious repercussions than Conficker. Now, a bill introduced today in Congress by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R - Maine) and Jay Rockefeller (D - W.V.) -- one which was being drafted two weeks ago -- would relieve DHS from the responsibility of reacting to Internet threats, and most likely relocate the US-CERT response team to another node of the executive branch.

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IBM has now set April 7 as the commercial launch date for LotusLive Engage, the latest addition to its new LotusLive line-up of social network-inspired business collaboration software. Engage is aimed at collaboration outside the organization's firewalls, meaning that business partners and customers can also be part of the online loop.

Major features of Engage include a Web meeting space, with desktop sharing, recording, and security; instant messaging, with photo and file sharing; online file storage and sharing; and project tracking, to-do lists, and brainstorming. Price Waterhouse Coopers, Nortel Networks, and Penn State University are a few of the early users.

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