Myka BitTorrent Box: Is '4 to 6 weeks' enough?
Earlier this week, TorrentFreak said the upcoming Myka BitTorrent set-top box looks like a scam after the company purported to be on schedule to ship the box in four to six weeks. Betanews sought clarification.
The Myka set-top box promises to deliver a BitTorrent experience on TV via a Linux-based OS. With 80, 160, and 500 GB HDDs, the unit features HDMI, S-Video, SPDIF and composite outs, and is slated to cost between $300 and $450.
Nokia profits drop 69% in Q4
There's not much fun in Finland either today, as mobile-phone giant Nokia turned in an earnings report reflecting glum economic outlooks worldwide.
The company's 69% drop in Q4 net profits surprised analysts, and the company also took the earnings call opportunity to warn that contingent that sales in 2009 were apt to decline more than previously predicted. The company now says that worldwide sales in '09 are likely to be down 10% year-to-year, rather than the previously predicted 5%; as CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo put it, "the macro environment is challenging and, we believe, will remain so in 2009."
Try, try again: Seagate issues a second fix for 7200.11 hard drives
Seagate Technologies spokesperson Michael L. Hall gave Betanews an update this afternoon on the company's situation with its Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives, which have been failing in record numbers. Hall acknowledged that some units manufactured up until last month do have an issue where data is rendered inaccessible after power-up, and went on to acknowledge that the company's initial fix for the problem only made matters worse.
"While we believe that the vast majority of customers will not experience any disruption related to this issue, as part of our commitment to customer satisfaction, Seagate is offering a free firmware upgrade to proactively address those with potentially affected products," Hall stated. "This new firmware upgrade corrects compatibility issues that occurred with the firmware download provided on our support Web site on Jan. 16. We regret any inconvenience that the firmware issues have caused our customers."
Apple pushes a QuickTime 7.6 security update
Addressing security issues for both the Mac and Windows platforms, Apple has released an update to QuickTime not unlike the one released last spring, only less prolific.
Seven QuickTime vulnerabilities are addressed in the latest update, all revolving around malware movie files that cause "unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution."
IBM confirms job layoffs, won't say how many
Although he wouldn't specify where or how many, an IBM spokesperson today confirmed to Betanews that IBM is sending out pink slips this week. An IBM employee union known as Alliance@IBM is predicting 16,000 job cuts.
On the Alliance Web site, IBM employees reported yesterday that the layoffs are already happening in IBM software and distribution divisions in the US and Canada.
Next step for WiMAX: Global Roaming
The WiMAX Forum launched its Global Roaming Program today, a means for regional WiMAX network operators to interact with each other in order to implement roaming services. The program, available at Wimaxforum.org, includes a "how-to" manual for launching roaming services, spec sheets, contract templates, and a pre-launch roaming test plan.
While WiMAX deployments are still vastly spread apart, there are currently more than 407 in place across 133 countries.
LG posts a big quarterly loss, plans restructuring
South Korean Consumer Electronics maker LG posted a big loss in its fourth quarter 2008 earnings report this morning, and like Samsung last week, the company will restructure its business.
Like nearly everyone else now, LG's expectation is that market demand will remain slow and the Korean Won will hover at its 2008 value.
Seagate suffers $496M loss, admits to HDD 'execution' problems
Returning to his old job, Seagate CEO Stephen Luzco reported worse than expected financial results last night, adding that job layoffs, salary cuts, and building closings announced last week will save the storage specialist $300 million.
In a conference call with analysts, Luzco admitted that Seagate's execution could have been better during the quarter, when the company's revenues fell to $2.27 billion.
Live from the Microsoft Q2 earnings conference
The lack of guidance in Microsoft's accelerated earnings report this morning triggered a selloff in stocks on the NASDAQ and NYSE exchanges, and there are indications that the company has suspended trades.
8:57am PT: Call wraps up.
AOL Web Mail gets updated
This morning, AOL launched its latest version of Web Mail, which gives users the ability to tailor their Web Mail window with gadgets from the myAOL Gallery, and integrate their mailboxes with third-party mail services like Yahoo and Gmail. Additionally, the AOL Mail Synchronization feature that has been in beta testing since November has been added to the completed feature list.
Rounding out today's update is the ability for users to skin their AOL Web Mail page, similar to Windows Live Home and iGoogle.
Windows weighs down on Microsoft, which will cut jobs now
The news from Redmond is actually worse than analysts estimated, with sharply lower revenue from the Client segment (Windows Vista) triggering one of the most substantial layoffs in its history.
Choosing not to wait until its originally planned time of 5:30 pm this afternoon, Microsoft held true to its new policy of corporate transparency, letting the world know as it informed its own employees that as many as 5,000 jobs will be cut from its payroll over the next 18 months, 1,400 of those immediately.
TomTom announces layoffs
TomTom, Europe's leading provider of Personal Navigation Devices, announced a cost-cutting program and re-alignment which involves cutting around 7% of its staff, or about 115 individuals. Citing a "challenging consumer spending environment," the layoff announcement precedes the company's fourth quarter earnings report by just over one month, and is expected to save TomTom an annual €35 million.
A blue Christmas for eBay
Slower consumer spending hurt eBay's results for its fiscal fourth quarter and depressed its forecast for Q1 2009.
The online transaction provider's earnings call on Wednesday detailed life in a climate where, as CEO John Donahoe noted glumly, e-commerce itself is trending down for the first time ever.
Intel to close some plants, thousands could be affected
In a filing with the SEC this afternoon, the company revealed it will streamline some older operations in order to focus on the 32 nm transition.
A US Securities and Exchange Commission filing this afternoon cites Intel spokesperson Chuck Mulloy as reporting that his company will shut down assembly two assembly test facilities in Malaysia and one in the Philippines, along with a once-valuable 200mm wafer production facility in Hillsboro, Oregon. Some 700 employees are currently stationed there, according to local reports.
Ads re-emerge in Pandora audio stream
Web radio service Pandora has announced plans to start playing short audio ads, now and then between songs. The ads were first introduced on Pandora's Twitter feed. The company pledged to be "prudent" and "respectful" in delivering the commercial interruptions to the personalized listening service.
In press interviews today, Pandora founder Tim Westergren made clear this may be the only way the company can afford its now-higher royalties, while avoiding layoffs or even a possible shutdown. Yesterday, the company's Twitter feed read, "So you know, we did not take on audio ads lightly. We try to be extremely respectful of your listening experience, & p romise to be prudent [sic]."
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