Apple seeks dismissal of Psystar's 'monopoly' counterclaims
In defending itself against antitrust allegations, Apple has filed a motion in US District Court denying counterclaims by Doral, FL-based Psystar that Apple is a "monopolistic power," and seeking a dismissal.
As previously reported in BetaNews, in the David vs. Goliath legal case, Apple has accused clone maker Psystar of copyright and trademark infringement and breach of contract. Apple charges, too, that Psystar made modifications to the Mac OS code that allowed the software to run on Psystar's hardware.
By 'Windows Cloud,' did Ballmer mean an operating system?
3:46 pm EDT October 2, 2008 - In a move reminiscent of a different CEO named Steve, Microsoft's chief Wednesday expressed the idea of a future service for deploying applications "in the cloud." But perhaps speculators are confused by the "Windows" name.
Until the Professional Developers' Conference convenes in a little over four weeks' time, Microsoft will very likely say nothing of consequence about a concept its CEO publicly called "Windows Cloud" during a developers' meeting in London yesterday. That's by design, of course; Steve Ballmer is, for once, successfully deploying a Steve Jobs tactic of tossing a new concept to the masses like fresh meat to the wolves, and occupying their attention up until the final date of revelation.
Skype admits security breach in China
Skype's Josh Silverman admitted yesterday that a security breach enabled Chinese Skype users' instant message conversations to be recorded and made accessible on public Web servers.
"It is common knowledge that censorship does exist in China and that the Chinese government has been monitoring communications in and out of the country for many years," said Silverman. He went on to cite Skype's public disclosure in 2006 of putting text filters in place to block certain words the Chinese authorities found "offensive."
Beyond Android, Motorola develops WM6 security for US Army
While Motorola is engaged in device development for the Android platform, the company's Good Technology Group software arm has now garnered US Defense Department certification on a secure e-mail system for Windows Mobile devices.
What's happening right now at Good Technology Group (GTG), the Motorola division formed through Motorola's buyout of a RIM rival called Good Technology, Inc.? For one thing, Good's Secure S/MIME technology has now jumped the last hurdle for becoming the first secure mobile message system deployed among US Army troops, said Ravi Iyer, group product manager at Good.
Copyright board leaves rates unchanged, iTunes lives for another day
The recording industry's efforts to compensate for lagging CD sales by promoting hikes in royalties rates, suffered another serious setback yesterday in the US as a panel of judges ruled mechanical royalties rates should stay put.
Apple's threat earlier this week to shut down its iTunes service cast a brighter spotlight on the Copyright Review Board's royalties review process than at any time since 1909. As of this morning, the CRB hasn't actually publicly announced its decision yesterday, although the Associated Press learned from sources who participated in the meetings with the three-judge panel that it decided not to raise the rates for mechanical reproduction royalties above the current base rate established in January 2006.
Label suit against CEO of MP3Tunes dismissed
"Big Four" music label EMI and fourteen affiliate labels sued MP3Tunes as a company and its CEO Michael Robertson personally last year for alleged copyright infringement. A judge has tossed the personal lawsuit.
On Thursday, New York Southern District Court judge William Pauley III dismissed EMI's personal suit against Robertson, who is most frequently remembered as co-founder of MP3.com.
Imeem redesigns as competition toughens
Music site Imeem has undergone a redesign that premiered yesterday evening, streamlining the service as its OpenSocial comrade MySpace chews up headlines with MySpace Music.
Imeem has been delivering social playlisting for nearly two years, and has finally reworked its site to be more friendly to the new user. To assist in the discovery of new music, a spotlight page with streams of new artists has been added. A new "Discover" page gives personal recommendations based upon browsing habits on the site, growing the lists as the user uses the site more.
NPR opens the doors on its social network
NPR's got people, as in "NPR people" -- listeners whose fondness for National Public Radio is shorthand for who they are. Now they have their own social network.
An intensely loyal fan base is a great place to start a social network, but that didn't necessarily speed up the launch process for NPR's latest venture, which appears on its Web site under the Community banner.
Analysis: HP's growth slows, Dell picks up steam in Q2
You can't keep a good Dell down. After having paid the price two years ago for surrendering its leadership position, it's now clearly rejoining the battle with HP and is inching its way back toward market leadership, according to iSuppli.
It's fair to say that the resurgence of Hewlett-Packard under the leadership of CEO Mark Hurd has been one of the more incredible success stories in the emerging annals of 21st century American business. There were other prospective leaders who could have taken the helm when Hurd did, who might not have led the company away from what seemed certain catastrophe.
IBM's Cognos intros new BI features for multiple mobile devices
Apple's iPhone isn't the only device to get new support from an IBM division this week. Enterprise users of Windows Mobile, RIM, and Symbian devices can now get more businss intelligence capabilities from IBM's Cognos division.
Two days after IBM's Lotus division rolled out new software for accessing Notes mail from Apple iPhones, IBM's Cognos division has introduced more functionality for using its business intelligence (BI) software on other devices, including Windows Mobile, RIM Blackberry, and Symbian handhelds.
LG's Renoir adapts touchscreen sensibility to picture-taking
On the same day Nokia releases its audio-centric XpressMusic 5800 touchscreen smartphone, LG sees the Finnish company's bet with its own camera-centric handset of similar styling.
Named the Renoir, this device combines an 8 megapixel xenon flash camera with unique touchscreen-enhanced features, with a result similar to a tactile viewfinder on a point and shoot camera. A special feature known as "Touch Shot" allows the user to select the area of focus by touching it on the screen, and the shutter fires upon release. It also includes 16x digital zoom, auto- and manual focus, image stabilization, face and smile detection, geotagging, and Schneider-Kreuznach optics.
Faronics' latest version of Anti-Executable heads back to the lab
It's popular with police departments, schools and other institutions where users' install rights need to be contained. But the new 3.0 version of Faronics' Anti-Executable doesn't click so well with a common touchpad driver.
Anti-Executable's page on the Faronics Web site proclaims that "PERSISTENCE IS FUTILE" -- meaning that users on Anti-Executable machines can only load programs from a carefully controlled "whitelist," no matter how badly they think they need to play Solitaire or download a file from that nice prince in Nigeria who wants to transfer some money to them. Mainly geared to enterprises, the program also comes in a single-computer version for non-enterprise installations. That's the version we tested, or began to test, at BetaNews this week.
Google's 'white spaces' bandwagon becomes a wagon train
The Google-driven WIA's efforts in advocating "white spaces" devices have been joined by two heavyweight industry coalitions: the BSA, which includes Apple; and the CCIA, which claims Linux distributor Red Hat as a member.
One week after Larry Page's FCC lobbying appearance in Washington, Google and its existing partners picked up more clout today in their fight to "unlock the unused white spaces" of the wireless spectrum. The Wireless Innovation Alliance's (WIA) campaign was officially joined by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) open systems advocacy group, and the Business Software Alliance (BSA) anti-piracy group.
The Nokia 'Tube' 5800 comes, as they say, with music
While it may be a rather late entry in the "handset*" field, today's launch of the Nokia XpressMusic 5800 (originally nicknamed the "Tube") has been timed to coincide with the availability of the "Comes with Music" service.
The 5800 is equipped with the tactility-enabled Symbian S60 interface that Nokia began showing off last year. Unlike other touchscreen handsets in this form factor, the 5800 is primarily a music phone. It has outward-facing stereo speakers (rather than ones mounted on the back of the device), a 3.5mm headphone jack, stereo Bluetooth, 81 MB of on-board memory expandable with an included 8 GB microSD card, and a quirky guitar pick stylus. Fortunately, that is not the device's main input device, and is more of a gimmick to accompany the numerous ways to interact with the touch UI.
Apple drops iPhone NDA, frustrated developers voice their joy
Under pressure from developers, Apple has dropped the controversial NDA clause previously imposed on its iPhone OS. Many developers are expressing their happiness on Twitter and elsewhere online, sometimes in pithy language.
Admitting that the non-disclosure agreement [NDA] for developers of apps for the iPhone's App Score is creating a "burden for developers," Apple is now abandoning the agreement for released software.
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