Nvidia institutes swift layoffs in the wake of lawsuits
Graphics company Nvidia is making a swift cut to its workforce, laying off 6.5% of its international staff starting immediately, and ending with the closeout of 2009's third fiscal quarter.
It's been a rough summer for Nvidia. While engaged in a price war with rival AMD, the news came out that several previous generation GPUs were failing at abnormally high rates in the field due to a weak die and material set. The cost of replacement and repairs set the company back at least $200 million and its stock value took a sharp 22% drop.
Palm hangs on for another quarter
The Treo Pro is Palm's "Hail Mary" play in slow motion. The smartphone company has limped through another quarter on the brave little legs of the Centro, and is positioned for what could be its last, best hope.
In the fourth fiscal quarter of 2008, Palm's record breaking sales of the $99 Centro were bittersweet, and the taste is lingering. Now, the latest numbers show it's sold more than a million units -- more than any other of Palm's products, fully bucking expectations. But although Centro has proven to be a formidable introductory smartphone that has grown Palm's customer base tremendously, its margins are so low that it can't pull in enough profit to keep the company moving.
Nokia tablets get 3G, company says 'software comes first!'
At Open Source in Mobile (OSIM) in Berlin this week, Nokia announced that future iterations of its Internet Tablet OS will support 3G HSPA. Are Nokia tablets becoming better PCs than 'tablet PCs?'
Worldwide mobile device leader Nokia predicted earlier this month that its dominant position in the market would soften as consumer confidence weakens. Meanwhile, the company presses ever harder into the software sector.
Imation readies a wireless USB external hard drive
Imation's upcoming high capacity Apollo Pro WX external hard drive will exchange files wirelessly with devices that include a four-port docking station from Kensington and XPS and Latitude laptop models from Dell.
NEW YORK, NY (BetaNews) -- At a holiday preview press event in New York City last night, Imation rolled out the Apollo Pro WX, the first external hard drive to be certified by USB Implementors' Forum (USB-IF) for wireless USB.
Who needs hackers? Palin e-mail hack reveals obvious vulnerability
The tell-all autobiography of the person who broke into Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo address may not have much to say. Assuming his story checks out -- and it's looking likely that it will -- the method he used was all too easy.
Of the four technical possibilities that BetaNews speculated yesterday could be linked to the means by which someone hijacked the Yahoo e-mail account of Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin this week, the actual method may have ended up being far simpler than we surmised.
Finally, we learn what the Windows ad campaign was about
Google CEO cites 'a natural fear of things getting larger'
Despite what has become international opposition to the deal, Eric Schmidt yesterday expressed his belief that Google doesn't have to receive special governmental approval to proceed with its ad-sharing arrangement with Yahoo.
In a press conference at Google's headquarters yesterday, CEO Eric Schmidt said the deal is scheduled to be completed in October, but he can't seem to get a bead on where regulators stand.
'Wave 3' of Windows Live Writer reveals some loose ends
It's the latest test of the one component in Microsoft's online applications arsenal whose code could be leveraged for a more general purpose than blog publishing. Our tests show it lacks a few things Microsoft users would expect.
One of the revised components in Microsoft's latest "Wave 3" test for its Windows Live services is something we've mentioned before here in BetaNews: Windows Live Writer. Its name sounds deceptively like a general purpose word processor -- like the Write utility that comes with Windows -- and you might think that with a little tweaking, it could be.
Yahoo tests redesign, boosts music search with Rhapsody
In what could be the most sweeping changes yet to its front page, Yahoo is testing the impact of a redesign in the US, UK, France and India, and has already added the capability to play back full songs in response to a music search.
Yahoo's forthcoming upgrade bears slight resemblance to the existent My Yahoo page, except in a couple of critical respects: Naturally, the Yahoo search field is the paramount item on screen, and the left-hand navigation pane is where the new Yahoo and the present My Yahoo are most similar. In My Yahoo (and the standard home page), a quick-links bar connects users to Yahoo's other services; in the new Yahoo home page, that component has become the "My Applications" dashboard. It links to the same services, however in the redesign, the user defines which links are shown, and contents are no longer limited to Yahoo properties.
USITC to investigate whether Wii violates month-old patent
Can a two-and-a-half-year-old game console infringe upon a company's IP portfolio that includes patents that are younger than the device itself -- including one that's only days old? A new case now tests a curious loophole.
The US International Trade Commission says it will formally investigate whether Nintendo's Wii game console violates Section 337 of the Tariff Act -- specifically, whether Nintendo is importing devices that infringe upon the intellectual property held by Hillcrest Labs. This after the licensing firm filed suit against Nintendo in US District Court in Maryland for infringing four patents, literally one day after the US Patent Office granted Hillcrest one of those patents.
Interop: 4G WiMAX and LTE to co-exist on laptops and cameras
Laptops and other consumer devices with 4G access are already on the way to widespread deployment, and some vendors will be supporting WiMAX and LTE within the same products, according to 4G experts today at the Interop conference.
NEW YORK, N.Y. (BetaNews) - Will WiMAX and LTE -- the two main flavors of future 4G networks -- be able to peacefully co-exist? Yes, but by living next to each other on consumer electronics products rather than by joining hands through standards groups, according to panelists at Interop.
What does the Sarah Palin e-mail hack say about Yahoo?
There's an underlying issue in the debate raging about the reported hack into the Yahoo e-mail account of VP nominee Sarah Palin, and it actually has very little to do with the governor: Is there an e-mail vulnerability we should know about?
Though a Fox News report from commentator Sean Hannity yesterday credited anonymous individuals who regularly post to a massive random image posting site called 4chan, with the revelation of screen shots of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's private e-mails -- including some that may play a role in an ongoing investigation -- the existence of the account's location may actually have been first publicly disclosed by, of all places, the Washington Post. A September 10 article by reporter Karl Vick reported that Palin had apparently been using one or two Yahoo e-mail accounts to conduct state business, with concern being cast upon the relative security of any private transactions that took place there.
T-Mobile readies 3G for Dream's arrival
Today T-Mobile announced that its 3G network will be available by mid-October, roughly the same time the HTC Dream Android phone is expected to go on sale.
T-Mobile will be premiering the world's first Android phone in just five days; the 3G device is presently without an official sale date and price. Unofficial reports have placed availability between October 13 and October 21, and though today's announcement from T-Mobile does not provide any further information on dates, its "mid-October" availability of 3G services is in keeping with that timetable.
'Hello, I'm a PC:' Microsoft's perception problem persists
In its third week in the wild, Microsoft's outwardly pointless advertisements will tonight be making their first statement, and it's one we're now familiar with: I'm a PC.
In the wee morning hours today, Microsoft's Steve Clayton posted a brief blog saying he'd seen the ads that will be airing tonight, and provided a link to the New York Times' fresh analysis, along with a picture of a diver in a shark cage holding up a tablet displaying the once-derisive slogan "I'm a PC."
Interop panel: Finally finalizing 802.11n
You may think the 802.11n Wi-Fi networking standard is already here. The fact is, equipment manufacturers have been relying on drafts. At last, the final draft is on its way, and an Interop panel discussed its implications Wednesday.
NEW YORK, NY (BetaNews) - The now emerging IEEE 802.11n Wi-Fi standard will add some major new twists to Wi-Fi, or in many cases, finalize some of the twists manufacturers have already begun implementing while waiting for the finalized draft. Some of the most important of these changes will include three modes of operation and two frequency ranges, speakers said at the Interop conference here Wednesday.
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