Darn that pesky euro! RSS feed problem traced to currency character
Well, as soon as we start publicizing our RSS feeds -- and we have one new one just for Betanews Alpha -- we get reports of problems with them. I'm able to corroborate some of what many Firefox users are reporting: With some Firefox installations, our RSS feeds have been coming up blank. Some, though not all.
One thing we noticed: On systems where Firefox is installed along with a separate RSS news reader, our RSS feed pages do not turn up blank in Firefox. In fact, they look fine. On systems where no separate RSS reader is installed, our feed pages do turn up blank.
Has the Firefox memory leak returned?
In the past few weeks, I've seen evidence that the memory leak that has plagued Firefox in previous versions, appears to have returned. But it's returned only in localized conditions, which leads me to believe that not the browser, but a browser plug-in may be to blame.
Unfortunately, the one I'm suspecting right now is the latest Tab Mix Plus version 0.3.7.3, which we reviewed glowingly last October when it was first re-released for Firefox 3. On browsers where this add-on has not been installed, even when we open a slew of pages (and I am a heavy page consumer), I don't see evidence of the same leak. I'll keep you apprised as to what I find in later tests.
Analysts: PC sales drop in Asia for the first time in a decade
While still viewed by IDC as a "bright spot" in the overall information technology landscape, the Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan has just shown its first decline in PC sales in the past ten years.
Sales of desktop and notebook PCs in the region amounted to 17.2 million units in the last quarter of 2008, a drop of five percent from the same quarter the previous year and 14 percent from the third quarter of 2008, IDC said, in preliminary numbers released today.
Sun VirtualBox may be the only way to test Windows Server 2008 R2
Here's a situation that's affecting more and more beta testers as the shift in operating system generations continues: You have the latest beta of Windows Server 2008 R2, a product which may ship next year but could conceivably ship sooner if Microsoft keeps it in sync with the Windows 7 roadmap. And you're used to using Virtual Server 2005 R2 (Microsoft's fond of that little add-on phrase, "R2") for testing new builds of Windows Server...but now you can't. You see, Virtual Server only works with 32-bit guest OSes, and there's no such thing as 32-bit Windows Server any more -- not with R2. What's more, you may only be running a 32-bit OS on the physical host platform.
How do you test WS2K8 R2 without installing it on a physical 64-bit platform all to itself? As of just a few weeks ago, Sun endowed its VirtualBox 2.1.0 host environment with a way to host 64-bit guests in a 32-bit system. This weekend, I put that feature to the test, with some surprisingly good results. As the photo shows above, I can run WS2K8 R2 very smoothly, without slowing down the rest of my testbed system.
Intel slashes quad-core CPU prices across the board
This morning, an Intel spokesperson confirmed to Betanews that the company has made drastic cuts in its CPU prices for 1,000-unit shipments, effective immediately. They include a 40% slash on its top-of-the-line processor.
While the company's Extreme series quad-core at the top of the line -- which blends four cores with hyperthreading -- will remain at $1,499 in 1,000-unit quantities, Intel's highest-end business-class quad-core desktop processor, the 3.0 GHz Q9650, is getting its price cropped by 40.6% today, from $530 to $316. Standard-power quad-cores (as opposed to Intel's low-power line) from the 2.83 GHz Q9550 to the 2.33 GHz Q8200 are also all being slashed in price by 16 - 20%, with the Q8200 now selling for $163.
Betanews Alpha is now on RSS
If you've been wondering why you haven't been seeing Betanews Alpha posts on your RSS feed, well today, we've solved that little problem. Now you can subscribe to Alpha. Be sure to set your RSS feed reader of choice to include this address:
https://betanews.com/alpha/rss
Obama inauguration: potentially the 'most viewed event' in history?
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.
The EC's latest objection: Is it time to unbundle IE from Windows?
For many, it's a very tired, old argument; but for politicians in Europe, it remains a rallying cry: Microsoft, says the European Commission, is using its Web browser unfairly.
At the height of the Microsoft / Netscape browser war a decade (or was it a century?) ago, Microsoft argued that so much of Windows' functionality relied upon the HTML rendering capability of Internet Explorer that it would be technically impossible to divorce the two from one another. That argument was raised in response to objections from lawmakers and judges worldwide, including in the US, that bundling IE with Windows gave Microsoft an unfair advantage -- and at the time, many saw that claim as somewhat self-serving and artificial.
Report: Verizon to launch femtocell extender this month
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 introduces its latest netbook
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.
Bill to delay DTV transition is itself delayed
In an early sign that there may not be smooth sailing ahead for even some Democrat-backed initiatives of lesser importance than, say, the long-term health of the nation's economy, Senate Republicans late Friday successfully blocked the fast-tracking of a bill introduced yesterday by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D - W.V.) to delay the nation's DTV transition date by 90 more days, to June 12. This according to the Associated Press this morning.
The measure now has the clear backing of the incoming Obama administration, whose transition team leader John Podesta had advocated more time for citizens to redeem government-backed coupons toward the purchase of DTV signal converters for their analog sets. Members of the Obama team, along with current lawmakers, are worried that too few of those coupons have been redeemed, indicating that citizens may not know they've received them. (The possibility that they may not want or need to redeem them has not been discussed.)
Openly BOSSing around the Internet
It's too soon to know what will remain standing as new CEO Carol Bartz makes her way through the the halls of Yahoo, but here's a modest proposal from one admirer: Show some love to the BOSS.
I don't mean Bartz, yahoos (though could it hurt if you're employed there?). I mean Yahoo Search BOSS (Build your Own Search Service), the company's open search Web services platform. Amidst the thicket of advertising-based this and widgetastic that, here's a Yahoo project that thrives on mashing up searches. Remember search? Yahoo used to do search...
Senate considers delaying DTV transition until June
On the theory that some two million eligible customers have yet to receive their $40 coupons toward the purchase of an over-the-air DTV signal converter, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D - W.V.) introduced a bill giving them more time.
If approved, Sen. Rockefeller's bill would extend the transition date by 90 days to June 12. Rockefeller's sentiments appear to be echoed by key members of the President-Elect's transition team, along with Federal Communications Commission members who told a crowd last week at CES 2009 in Las Vegas that they saw a lack of leadership all last year in driving the transition forward.
More AMD layoffs impact 1,100, execs to get pay cuts
The news is no better for AMD, which today confirmed it is letting go of 9% of those remaining employees who are not being transferred to The Foundry Company -- 200 by attrition, and an additional 900 by traditional termination.
This is in addition to the 600 being let go internationally announced last November (the original estimate was 500), and 1,600 whose "transitioning out" began earlier in 2008.
Censored version of e-book enters iPhone App Store
In December came the first word that the e-book version of David Carnoy's Knife Music was not allowed to be sold in the iPhone App Store because it contained "objectionable content." Now, the book is available in the store for free, but censored.
Censorship of the book was reportedly administered by the author himself to expeditiously get it approved for distribution in the popular mobile shop. Carnoy, an editor and regular contributor at CNET, wrote a column in December about DIY publishing in the information age.
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