FAA computer glitch briefly snarls flights across US
The Federal Aviation Administration's computer that manages flight plans failed early Tuesday afternoon, causing some airlines to delay departures.
According to spokespersons with the US Federal Aviation Administration, the problem lasted roughly from 1:30 pm to 6:00 pm Eastern time. The issue centered around a communications failure at the agency's Atlanta location.
Time may be running out for a 64-bit Vista-based ZoneAlarm
Download ZoneAlarm Pro Beta 8.0.020.000 for Windows XP and 32-bit Vista from FileForum now.
The difficulty for third-party developers to produce security software for the most feature-rich Vista kernel continues to this day, and a lack of news from ZoneAlarm suggests it could persist well into next year.
Worldwide iPhone 3G problems may lie with the network
Although Apple's iPhone 3G is getting some plaudits in the world press, people are also complaining about wireless connectivity speeds, price, and other issues, depending in part on where they live.
In the US, iPhone 3G users with AT&T have reported average download speeds of about 990 Kbps, the same as for Softbank in Japan and Telia in Sweden. Canadian carrier Rogers Communications did much better with an average download speed of about 1,330 Kbps.
Google drops Bluetooth and GTalk APIs from Android SDK 0.9
In a blog post yesterday, a Google developer advocate detailed just why the latest SDK for the emerging Android phone OS isn't exactly the same as Google first intended -- in other words, why Bluetooth and GTalk are missing.
Why didn't Google's Android SDK version 0.9, released into beta earlier this week, include originally planned APIs for Bluetooth and Google's own P2P-enabled GTalkService? According to Dan Morrill, a Google developer advocate, Google drew the conclusion that neither its Bluetooth API nor the GTalkService would be ready for prime time prior to the final release of the SDK for the first Android phones.
Leaked HTC 'G1' specifications reach critical mass
How long could an "open" system effectively been kept in the dark? The facts are stacking up, and HTC's "Dream" G1 Android phone has all but been completely revealed.
AndroidGuys, a blog dedicated to what else but Google's Android and its related handsets, has published a design drawing and compiled a list of specs for the highly anticipated HTC/T-Mobile/Google handset.
More indications of Apple iPod refresh September 9
The buzz from analysts who have begun to speak out about what they expect to see during an Apple event that for now has only been rumored, lends new credence to the theory that iPods could be revamped as soon as 9/9.
JupiterResearch analyst Mark Mulligan says he would like to see Apple start to offer pre-loaded content, and like many analysts, continued to beat the drum for an iTunes subscription offering.
Microsoft, Andreessen, finance separate mobile video ventures
In separate announcements today, Microsoft and its former nemesis, Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, are said to be making investments of undisclosed amounts into development firms that are active in the mobile video space.
Microsoft is now putting money into Move Networks, an already heavily backed provider of high-definition video that claims an ability to eliminate the need for video buffering. Move's customers so far include the likes of ABC, ESPN, and Disney.
Raskin's next Mozilla experiment: an even smarter address bar
Shouldn't a Web browser eventually be capable of responding to natural-language commands -- not the Web site, but the browser? Today, the son of legendary developer Jef Raskin launches a project to explore that question.
One of the most lauded additions to the latest edition of Firefox is how its new "smart" address bar (called the "awesome bar" in early betas) can resolve some incomplete or indirectly descriptive entries into URLs. Sometimes, it even throws the text over to Google when it can't quite resolve the text into a history entry or a URL that Firefox has seen before.
Google adds suggestion ability to its Web site query line
Google has launched Suggest, a search feature that offers query suggestions as the user types in the search field.
A full year after Yahoo's Search Assist was launched, Google has its own brand for a very similarly behaving predictive text search tool. Granted, the Google Toolbar already had a similar feature, and it has existed in Google Labs for a considerable period of time, but it is now a default feature on Google's main page.
Nokia launches N-series phones for US and Europe
The new N85 and N79 smartphones for European high-speed mobile networks will be followed by a North American edition of the N96. Each will offer a 5 Mp camera with Zeiss optics, integrated turn-by-turn GPS navigation, and N-Gage gaming.
Nokia today rolled out three high-end multimedia and gaming smartphones: the Nokia N85 and N79, slated for release for European 3.5G mobile networks this October; and a new North American edition of the existing N96, retooled to run on 3G networks in the US and Canada starting in the fourth quarter.
Psystar plans to use antitrust defense against Apple
Attorneys for the makers of Mac OS X-compatible computers told reporters Tuesday they plan to argue that Apple's EULA violates provisions of the Sherman and Clayton antitrust laws.
Lead Psystar counsel Colby Springer of Carr & Ferrell said at a press conference this afternoon that his firm plans to raise questions of improperly tying Mac OS X to Apple-labeled hardware under the Sherman Antitrust Act, and claims of attempted monopoly and exclusive dealings under the Clayton Antitrust Act.
Adobe to unleash new Elements products, emphasizes Web
Adobe has launched Photoshop Elements 7 and Premiere Elements 7, the company's hobbyist-level photo and video editing suites which are now more closely tied into the company's growing online toolkit.
The major innovation in these releases in their tie-in with a soon-to-be-revised Photoshop.com, that is expected to divide its service into basic, "plus," and mobile tiers. In fact, the announcements regarding Adobe's online service alone practically outnumber the new features in Elements series 7.
Opentape keeps the Muxtape ethic alive
Not one week after music sharing site Muxtape was pulled down at the request of the RIAA, a clone service called Opentape has arisen in its place, with a single pivotal change: Users must host their own tapes.
Muxtape let its users upload as many as twelve MP3s to a user-assigned Muxtape subdomain ("username.muxtape.com") that was publicly searchable and "tradable." In hosting all the MP3s, Muxtape established itself as the responsible party if artists, labels, or the RIAA had complaints.
Could Obama's VP pick have triggered millions in SMS traffic?
If you do the math, using the best estimates available to you about text messaging (SMS) usage in the US, the results could be staggering: A single news announcement may mean a small windfall for telcos.
If Sprint's early estimates are accurate and if they're reflective of other carriers' traffic on the day Sen. Barack Obama announced his running mate, the resulting flow of text message traffic on the nation's networks could theoretically have generated more than $118 million in extra revenue for the nation's cell phone carriers.
Amazon buys Shelfari, despite astroturfing accusations
Amid charges from LibraryThing of planting blog comments, social networking site Shelfari now belongs 100 percent to Amazon.com. Yet so, too, does AbeBooks, a partial owner of LibraryThing.
Amazon.com today acquired Shelfari, a social networking site for book lovers, less than a month after buying AbeBooks, an online retailer of used and rare books. AbeBooks holds an equity stake in LibraryThing, Shelfari's chief rival.
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