Latest Technology News

As Microsoft ramps up its own retail efforts, Sony will be closing its flagship PlayStation store in the Metreon Mall in San Francisco, California.

It may seem hard to believe, but the 5,500 square foot store has been open for nearly ten years, a substantial chunk of the life of many PlayStation fans. Sony representatives said the lease to the store expires on June 16, and it will not be renewed.

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The deal allows 123map -- a German-based company that delivers maps across multiple phones and other devices -- to use Microsoft technology in layering "place of interest" data on top of existing digital maps.

For its part, 123map recently launched "flosm," a tool that enables comparisons between freeware and commercial mapping data through the use of overlay technology, according to information on 123map's Web site.

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It wasn't long ago that Microsoft's "I'm a PC" campaign took the label originally intended to be a pejorative and made it a badge of honor. Now, Norway's Red (Rødt) Party is trying to do the same with "pirate."

Capitalizing on the furor surrounding the Pirate Bay trial in Sweden, Norway's Red political party has opened a site called Filesharer.org where people who illegally share media files can de-anonymize themselves in support of the Pirate Bay.

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Et tu, Baidu? The Chinese search engine showed both profit and growth during its recent fourth quarter, but it didn't meet analyst estimates. The company's struggling not only with the rough economy but with a fracas over preferential placement given to paid search results.

Baidu's numbers were hardly dismal; the firm reported year-to-year growth of 36% and profits of around 31%. Still, that's as low as it's been since that country was listed in 2005, and both Q4 profits and Q1 estimates are down -- in fourth quarter, a noticeable 6.8% lower than analysts had estimated, at 288.7 million yuan.

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Fifty-two percent of people stressing out about the economic situation are de-stressing by surfing the Web -- more than using the TV or family time to knock the edge off, according to numbers released Thursday by comScore.

On the other hand, according to statistics presented by comScore chairman Gian Fulgani, we're stressing out plenty online as well. The consumer-research firm, which tracks online and offline activities for more than 2 million Americans, notes an increase in certain search terms that appear to be a sign of the times.

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Just about one year ago, Google finalized its plug-in for Windows Mobile that brought a Google search field to the WM home screen. Now, the app has expanded to include Maps, Gmail, News, and more in the same small window.

The resulting plug-in is actually more like a Google browser toolbar than anything else, due to the Windows Mobile interface, but the functionality is no less salient.

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Where netbooks were originally thought to be a low-cost entry point for consumers, LG is proving it's just as much an entry point for manufacturers with the debut of the HSPA-connected LG-X120 netbook.

South Korean consumer electronics maker LG is known primarily for its displays, mobile phones, and household appliances. It has never had a strong angle in the global PC market, and has yet to enter the top 10 competitors in PC market share.

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Echoing iSuppli's research data published last month, NPD market analysis subdivison DisplaySearch released its quarterly report on the flat panel television market, showing its first ever decline in revenue.

With discretionary spending seriously stilted, an overall drop in retail price of TVs did not have quite a stimulative effect, and revenue for the entire TV market dropped by 3%.

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The Canadian CRTC launched hearings this week into a proposal that would force ISPs to relinquish about three percent of their subscriber revenues to fund Canadian-produced Web content.

"We must respect the principles of openness and individual choice that govern the Internet, while maintaining access to, and for, Canadian stories, opinions, and ideas," contended CRTC Chairman Konrad Von Finklestein, in opening the hearings on Tuesday.

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It is perhaps the most colossal gamble in the history of the semiconductor industry, and now, the chips are down. AMD shareholders yesterday voiced their approval for a deal that effectively spins off the crown jewel of their company -- its processor foundry operation -- to a new corporation run by the government of Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

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Though the likelihood of Microsoft's prevailing actually looks worse than it did last week, if it ends up losing, it might not be much after the judge says plaintiffs failed to prove its actions harmed a plurality.

When Microsoft decided to present consumer editions of Windows Vista with multiple versions, some of which lacked the very features the company advertised as defining the product, was it with the willful intent to defraud the public? An internal e-mail from then-president Jim Allchin to his colleagues suggests he was indeed afraid that the multiple versions could lead to consumer confusion and frustration...but that memo, made public during the discovery phase of the "Vista-capable" class-action case in Washington state district court, also appears to indicate a lack of willfulness on the part of at least one of the company's senior executives to deceive the public.

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ComScore's January 2009 numbers are out, and the most popular search site in America is...oh, that one you can easily guess. The less obvious numbers involve who's gaining ground, and which mega-funded search entity seems to be slipping.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Google leads the pack in market share, accounting for 63% of all search traffic from home, work and university locations in January. Interestingly, that's down one-half of one percent -- precisely the amount by which second-ranked Yahoo is up for the month, at 21%.

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This morning, Sprint Nextel reported its fourth quarter earnings, or more accurately, losses. The wireless operator posted a $1.2 billion loss for the quarter, a 14.4% drop in revenue, and a loss of 1.3 million customers.

"In tough economic times, we're generating substantial cash and reducing costs to ensure we remain financially sound," said Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse in a statement this morning. "We already have the cash on hand to be able to meet our debt service requirements at least through the end of 2010."

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Freeware media center Boxee is still very young, but offers a comprehensive solution for both managing a user's existent collection of movies, music, and photos, and discovering free online content. Unfortunately, it will be continuing ahead without support from Hulu.

In a blog post entitled Doing hard things, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar today announced that Hulu's content will no longer be available on boxee after this week. Done at the behest of content providers (aka Hollywood Studios), Kilar said that Hulu really had no choice but to suspend support for boxee.

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Services sparked a slight first-quarter revenue gain for Hewlett-Packard, but profits fell by 13% over the prior year, prompting the company's shares to fall 6% in after-hours trading.

In a conference call this evening, Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd told financial analysts that HP "executed well in a challenging market" by turning in a one percent revenue gain during the first quarter of this year.

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