EA, Take-Two take talks behind closed doors
The two companies have signed a confidentiality agreement which should keep the details of the talks secret.
Take-Two would only discuss its future product plans with EA if it had some type of assurance that such discussions would be held in private. EA agreed, and took its hostile bid for its smaller rival off the table.
ITunes access returns to China following block
After having lost complete access to iTunes for nearly a week, for reasons that may have had to do with the music store featuring an album supporting Tibetan freedom, users in China report they can download music once again.
The first reports of connectivity issues surfaced on Monday, in timing that seemed to coincide with iTunes' release of a pro-Tibet album. While access to that particular album still appears to be restricted, the rest of the store returned this week.
IE8 will feature privacy envelope, Microsoft confirms
The concept of privatizing the browsing experience has been the impetus for an entire segment of the anti-malware industry. Now, Microsoft has confirmed it will be claiming that segment for itself in the next version of Internet Explorer.
In a post to the Internet Explorer development team's blog yesterday afternoon, Microsoft IE8 program manager Andy Ziegler confirmed news that reporters anticipated after last week's discovery of a series of trademark filings: The new browser will contain a prominent feature enabling users to switch off any kind of permanent or long-term storage of their history or activities.
Report: Amazon looks to substitute textbooks with Kindle
Fresh analysis indicates that Amazon's popular Kindle device may eventually serve a second purpose: as a provider of college texts and other materials for students. For that reason, Amazon may be marketing the device towards students.
For many college students, a walk between classes is the equivalent of ROTC basic training. The reason, of course, is textbooks. They're too numerous, they're too heavy, and they're too expensive.
Nokia debuts N79, N85 smart phones
The Finnish phone maker is expected Tuesday to take the lid off the two newest additions to its N-Series line of smart phones.
Nokia appears to be replacing two phones in its lineup, the earlier released N78 and N81. The N78 has been out since the 3GSM conference earlier this year, just recently making its way to the US: the N81 since late summer of last year.
Is Microsoft's Cashback putting pressure on Google Checkout?
Although Google might not have much to fear from Microsoft, on the whole, could a new promotion in Google Checkout represent a response to Microsoft's Live Search Cashback feature?
In a new back-to-school promotion, Google is now offering a $5 to $10 discount on purchases made at partner sites that use its Checkout Service.
Netbook prices approach affordability after Acer cuts
Although netbooks really only hit the market less than a year ago, the pint-sized notebooks seem to be showing signs already of commoditization, though maybe with greater differentiation on the high end.
Acer has just announced price drops of on both the Windows and Linux editions of its Aspire One netbook line. An Aspire One netbook with Windows XP Home, a 120 GB hard disk drive, 1 GB of RAM, and a three-cell battery is now list priced at $349.99.
After a few days, a mixed verdict on Microsoft Photosynth
It's a new tool from Microsoft that enables photographers to upload photos, but then let other users walk through those photos as though they showed 3D scenes. In some ways, it's close to amazing. Close.
At one level, Microsoft Live Labs' public launch of its Photosynth project is an intriguing test of a commercial software producer's ability to perform supercomputer-style computations as a service for the general public. At another level, it's a clever and somewhat effective scheme for getting more users signed onto Microsoft's Windows Live network, as well as using plentiful amounts of its online storage.
Vudu gets new CFO, hints at functionality upgrade
Vudu, a start-up streaming set top service that launched one year ago with a notably large price tag, is experiencing a shift that may move it away from its pay-per-view movie roots.
Though attention was brought to Vudu this week when reports surfaced that the company had laid off up to 30 percent of its work force (including its vice president of marketing), and that its support lines had gone down, these blurbs were only partially true. The company has, however, made announcements that show the rookie HD streamer is looking to branch out in different directions.
AMD exits the DTV business, but will it approach profitability?
First a property of ATI that became AMD's through its acquisition of the graphics company, Broadcom announced today that it will be acquiring the Xilleon system-on-a-chip (SoC), as well as the rest of AMD's family of TV-related products, a move that will aid in finally pulling AMD out of debt.
The deal, first announced by Broadcom this morning, was first thought to be part of AMD's effort to move toward profitability by eliminating non-core businesses that will put it in a position for its "Asset Smart" project. It's a move that could aid in finally pulling AMD out of debt.
FCC decision could affect Verizon-Alltel deal
The agency will not take action on revising roaming laws which allow a carrier to reject a proposal for "piggy-back" carriage, if the requesting carrier already owned spectrum in the same market.
Earlier, US Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin had proposed that the rules would be changed to allow smaller carriers that owned such spectrum a period of four years to use it, or choose to give the spectrum back and continue roaming.
More HTC Dream details revealed through FCC
The latest FCC filings indicate the HTC Dream will be roughly the same length as the iPhone 3G, although slightly thinner.
An iPhone 3G measures in at 115.2 millimeters by 61.2 millimeters: the Dream will be 115 mm by 55 mm, according to documents that were available for a time through the FCC's Web site. No doubt HTC's Dream, widely believed to soon become the first "Googlephone," will likely be thicker than the iPhone since it will include a slide out QWERTY keyboard.
Is Apple making overall headway with the iPhone 3G?
As Apple rolled out the iPhone 3G to 21 more counties last week, T-Mobile pointed to sales of 120,000 of the phones already in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, despite distribution and connectivity problems.
T-Mobile experienced delivery delays in all three countries, but customers complained about connectivity only in the Netherlands, according to Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telecom.
Facebook worm still spreading
Early in August, security firms noticed a worm spreading on Facebook through wall posts, claiming to contain a video requiring a new codec to be installed. Variants of this worm are now being spotted on a weekly basis.
The virus appears to be a slightly modified version of what Kaspersky Labs called Koobface; a worm elaborate in its design, but crude in execution.
Frontier ISP toys with 5 GB usage cap
Small regional ISP Frontier Communications has now joined Time Warner Cable in floating the idea of instituting monthly user caps even for subscribers who don't use much bandwidth, anyway.
Although Frontier has not yet decided about potential charges for monthly usage above 5 GB, the Rochester, NY-based DSL provider has now revised its usage policy for residential customers to set 5 GB as "a reasonable amount of usage [for] combined upload and download consumption," according to information on the company's Web site.
Most Commented Stories
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.