Steve Jobs takes leave for a medical sabbatical
The Apple CEO's health problems are "more complex than [he] originally thought," so today, Tim Cook will be placed in control as Jobs takes a medical leave of absence.
Last Week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs released an uncharacteristic statement to the public regarding his health, and addressing speculation about why he would not be appearing at Macworld.
The next net neutrality showdown, on the edge of the network
The deck chairs are being shuffled all over Washington this month, but some familiar net neutrality legislation may be brought up once again. This time, one of the nation's biggest content providers is ready to face it down.
Perhaps the entire success of CE manufacturers' plans to endow their HDTV displays with built-in IPTV channels, linked directly to services such as Netflix through the Internet, is based on the notion that those displays will soon have faster access to less compressed, richer high-definition content than they do today. In fact, the content delivery networks (CDN) that enable movies and other high-bandwidth content to appear faster, if at all, are looking at ways to engineer the Internet itself to reduce the number of hops required to deliver items such as movies.
Sierra Wireless offers cash for Wavecom
Sierra Wireless, makers of 3G wireless modems for all major U.S. mobile operators has made a cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of wireless CPU and embedded technology maker Wavecom.
Wavecom is an international company headquartered in France with a specialty in machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. The company's technology is found in applications such as automotive telematics, fleet management, GSM/GPS/satellite tracking, wireless alarms, wireless POS (point of sales), WLL (fixed voice), and remote monitoring.
LG Skycharger embraces the sun, the wind, the marketing
Click here to see a slideshow of LG Skyscraper
When LG showed off the Skycharger last week, your reporter was within earshot of two other press folk. All three saw the same huge device -- and each had an utterly different idea about what to do with a 104-port charger in a tent.
Office 14 alpha enters circulation
Microsoft has provided a select group of testers early access to an alpha of Office 14 server technologies. With the recent release of Windows 7 in beta, many have begun to look for a beta of the next suite of Office products. There is currently no official word on when a first beta of Office 14 will be released. Alpha testers have reportedly been told to expect an updated release schedule later in the quarter, an initial beta release later in the year, and possibly even a full release by the end of 2009.
An inconvenient, but not new, truth
Bell Labs: Is there anything those guys didn't figure out? Transistors, the wave nature of matter, talking pictures, modern cryptography, Unix, cosmic background radiation...and global warming.
That's right. In 1958 -- when Al Gore was 10 -- Bell Labs scientists participated in the making of a short Frank Capra-directed film called "Unchained Goddess" for the Bell Telephone Hour, a variety show that ran on TV and radio and at the movies. In it, Bell scientists explained that no one was sure yet how great humankind's impact on the planet would be, but if it was greater than a certain amount, the environmental consequences would be...well, very much as scientists have predicted and documented since.
Former Yahoo exec heads to Adobe
Dan Rosensweig, who was Yahoo's chief operating officer until sweeping organizational changes in late 2006, will take a seat on Adobe's executive board.
Rosensweig departed Yahoo "to ensure a smooth transition," into a re-organized Yahoo. Not long after Rosensweig's departure, CEO Terry Semel was replaced by interim CEO Jerry Yang.
Joost streams presidential inauguration
Web video site Joost will be offering a live stream of inauguration day festivities on Tuesday when Barack Obama is sworn in as the 56th United States President.
The site already features an extensive collection of video related to the President elect on its Everything Obama channel, and inauguration day will include interviews, campaign highlights, satire, and musical entertainment.
Report: EA cuts Pandemic Studios Australia
Pandemic's Australian satellite studio opened in 2000 and is best known for creating the 2005 Xbox and PS2 title Destroy All Humans! Kotaku reports that EA, who purchased the studio in 2007, has stopped supporting it, effectively rescinding any publishing obligations it had.
While the fate of the studio is currently unclear, EA responded to the rumor by saying, "In December, EA announced a cost reduction initiative that will impact facilities and headcount. We do not expect to make any more public announcements until our earnings call in early February."
IPTV overtaking cable worldwide, analyst says, but what about the US?
Now that consumers are pinching pennies, an analyst group is predicting that high-speed broadband prices will fall to levels that will make IPTV a preferable alternative to cable and satellite TV...in some parts of the planet, at least.
According to a report by ABI Research, IPTV will grow by about 32 percent annually over the next six years to 79 million users worldwide by the end of 2014. Meanwhile, growth rates for legacy pay-TV platforms such as cable and satellite will slow.
Nortel files Chapter 11 in the US
Canadian telecommunications company Nortel announced today that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US.
"These actions are imperative so that Nortel can build on its core strengths and become the highly focused and financially sound leader in the communications industry that its people, technology and customer relationships show it ought to be," said Nortel President and CEO Mike Zafirovski.
Report: Nintendo DSi on its way April 4
Nintendo's third incarnation of its popular DS touchscreen handheld game system went on sale in Japan on November 1 with no announcement of worldwide availability. Various reports have pegged US launch for early November.
IGN says "multiple sources close to Nintendo," have pegged the DSi's release in the United States in early April, likely on the fourth.
Remaining problems with Win7 beta downloads
We're testing a theory here at Betanews: that a problem with the most recent revision of Sun's client-side Java VM may be preventing Microsoft's Download Manager app from enabling downloads of the latest Windows 7 beta for some users. Those tests are ongoing, and we'll keep you apprised of progress.
UPDATE While some testers have already found success in downloading the gargantuan Windows 7 .ISO DVD image file, others are like us and have had a truckload of problems. There may be any number of reasons why that have nothing to do with Microsoft's servers, and one we're tracking down has to do with the most recent Java 6 Update 11, which is used for the Download Center applet, used when trying to download the .ISO using both Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Is it a 2 TB WD drive on the way, or just something close?
Last month, a Czech online computer retailer -- either inadvertently or by design -- posted a listing for a 2 TB Western Digital hard drive. The price wasn't exactly stratospheric, but it's a little high, which might make you think it's some kind of scam, but it's got the right part number for what exactly such a part would be.
However, when news to the press was leaked out last December 15, the specs didn't exactly say 2 TB. Let's just say the Czech retailer rounded up. The original word said to expect this new model in the WD20EADS power-saving product line, which is why some believe it will actually end up spinning at 5400 rpm rather than 7200. But the window for any such real announcement from WD may be closing fast: Its fiscal second quarter conference call is scheduled for two weeks from today.
Sonic Solutions partnership could bring Blockbuster VoD to Wii
Blockbuster announced this morning that it has partnered with Sonic Solutions to deliver its video on demand content to a wider spectrum of connected devices.
Sonic Solutions and Blockbuster will bring the streaming video on demand service to PCs, portable media players, Blu-ray players, DVRs, set-top boxes, mobile phones, and connected televisions, including devices already supporting Sonic's CinemaNow. Earlier this month, the company announced that CinemaNow content will be available on LG's network Blu-ray players and on Fujisoft-enabled Nintendo Wiis in Japan. "Everybody's Theater" for Wii is expected to launch in Japan on January 25, and allow users to rent OVA titles for between 300-800 Wii Points.
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