Latest Technology News

Sharpcast began rolling out the 1.5 version of its cross-platform synching service SugarSync today. The upgrade includes the new "shared folders" feature, which adds a document collaboration aspect to the nearly one-year old sync service.

SugarSync is a subscription cloud service that makes documents and files remotely accessible through synched Windows and Mac PCs or through mobile handsets including iPhone and BlackBerry. Current subscribers may not receive the SugarSync Manager upgrade until Monday or Tuesday, but the shared folders feature in the Web interface is available to all immediately.

Adobe Labs has made Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 and Photoshop Camera Raw 5.3 release candidates available for download. Both release candidates provide additional raw file support for the Nikon D3X and Olympus E-30 cameras. Lightroom 2.3 also fixes a memory leak that was discovered in the 2.2 release.

Yesterday, HTC officially unveiled the updated Touch Cruise that had leaked to the Web as "Lolita." Pushed more as an update rather than a full-blown new phone, the new Touch Cruise features many of the same features found in AT&T's Fuze, and the previous Cruise model.

Connectivity is WCDMA/HSPA: 900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, and then there's the requisite 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, and GPS/A-GPS. The operating system is once again Windows Mobile 6.1 with HTC's TouchFlo interface, but the noteworthy inclusion this time is the new HTC Footprints.

MSN Mobile Music, a browser-based music shop designed for mobile handsets and completely unrelated to Zune marketplace was formally launched in the UK this week. Microsoft may have taken a step backward by protecting downloads with DRM.

The store is run by VidZone Digital Media and features .WMA downloads, ringtones, and video content from three of the "big four" major labels (Universal Music Group is not yet in.) Single songs cost £1.50, videos cost £2 and ringtones go for £3.

Today, Google and YouTube announced the launch of www.youtube.com/vatican, the YouTube channel dedicated to the activities of the Pope and events in the smallest state in the world, Vatican City.

Footage on the channel comes from Centro Televisio Vaticano (CTV) and Vatican Radio (RV), so the primary language is Italian, but there will be information in Spanish, English, and German as well.

Having written three books on programming in a series that was called "By Example," I know first-hand that sometimes several hundred pages of written text doesn't really beat the ability to see something for yourself, tweak it, and find out what happens.

Not that Google has ever really been that big on documentation anyway; but this morning, it's unveiled something that's perhaps several hundred times better: Its new AJAX API playground lets JavaScript programmers not only sample all the major API calls in Google's toolbox in the context of functions, but tweak those samples and see the results live.

Like the majority of its fellow electronics companies this week, Samsung today posted a loss for the fourth quarter of 2008.

The South Korean CE maker renowned for its displays and responsible for the much of the growth in the flash memory market lost $14.4 million for the quarter ending on New Year's Eve.

Until President Obama's nominee for the next FCC chairman, replacing the departed Kevin Martin, is confirmed, current Commissioner Michael Copps will assume the temporary role of chairman of a temporarily four-member panel, the White House announced yesterday.

Copps had earlier been reported to be the only Democrat on Pres. Bush's list to replace former chairman Michael Powell. He is generally liked on both sides of the aisle, and yesterday, generally outspoken Commissioner Robert McDowell added his support for the appointment.

It has been a hard uphill battle for memory maker Qimonda ever since parent company Infineon began its plan to spin it off in 2006. Today, that battle may have come to a premature end.

If America is ever to regain its footing in the field of microprocessor production outside the CPU, it needs a leg up from international leaders in that field. Three years ago, German memory producer Infineon gambled on producing an innovative DRAM subdivision called Qimonda, with a state-of-the-art production facility in Richmond, Virginia. Infineon would gradually spin off Qimonda, and retain a minority stake as the producer came into its own.

Google's 18% revenue jump didn't come as any huge stunner, but execs revealed this evening how their company is weathering the financial crisis, through measures that include a new stock option plan aimed at employee retention.

Google's revenues for the fourth quarter of 2008 ending December 31 added up to $5.7 billion, as opposed to $4.83 billion the same period a year ago, the Google officials said in Thursday night's conference call with financial analysts.

File sharers picking up pirated copies of the newly released iWork '09 apps suite may be biting into a poisoned Apple. Various Mac-security sites and sharing sites such as BitTorrent are reporting that some versions of the file are carrying a Trojan that can phone home and install additional malware.

PC users are encouraged to console their Mac brethren about what sounds, frankly, like a rather familiar scenario. The Trojan, which Intego is calling OSX.Trojan.iService.A rides along with the pirated versions of iWork as a package called iWorkServices.pkg. It installs as a startup item during the usual installation process and gets in contact with a remote server. What happens next can vary, but considering that the Trojan gives itself read/write/execute permissions, it's capable of doing anything from grabbing more malware to turning into a botnet-style zombie under the command of a remote server.

In the first test of its strategy of divesting its foundries and concentrating on developing IP assets, AMD reveals the extent to which an historically negative chain of events is impacting the already ailing CPU manufacturer.

3:00pm PT: Call wraps up.

Its first full-year operating loss in 14 years is a scorcher: Sony on Thursday set up a last-minute analyst-and-press call to announce a 2009 forecast predicting 260 billion yen (about $2.93 billion) in operating losses.

And the tumult's just beginning.

A hotly-rumored branch of updates to the Android operating system that goes by the unusual moniker "cupcake" may not be released to the public.

AndroidTapp received a message from the T-Mobile Forums admin which was traced all the way back to Google via T-Mobile's Product Development and PR departments. In the message it said, "According to the Android team, "Cupcake," which is the code name for an Android software build, is still a work in progress that is considered to be a development branch and not for general availability."

In its latest month-by-month analysis of the relative state of readiness of US citizens for the DTV transition, still scheduled for February 17, analysis firm Nielsen now estimates that based on its analysis of 37,000 metered households, about 5% of US households remain unprepared -- down from 6.8% in December, 7.7% in November, and 8.4% in September. Nielsen's numbers were revealed this morning by Broadcasting & Cable

So the trend is positive, generally speaking. However, legislators remain concerned that some 6.5 million Americans remain unprepared. On the other side of the picture, the National Association of Broadcasters believes Nielsen's numbers may be exaggerated. An NAB spokesperson told Betanews this afternoon that it believes Nielsen's estimates "do not count customers who have yet to set up their converter boxes, or who are waiting for coupons."