AOL to split its access and advertising businesses next year
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes confirmed yesterday that his company will split its Internet division into two components, while stopping short of spinning either off or selling them as was expected.
The split, expected to be completed by early next year, may make it easier for Time Warner to sell either or both units, or to spin off those units into separate entities. While AOL's dial-up business has been the target of most of the sell-off speculation, AOL may also get rid of its advertising business as well.
Mozilla: Tell us how you see the future of Web browsing
With new versions of Firefox adding welcome features but no radical changes to the way people live and work, its producers are wondering whether the general public may have better ideas about Firefox' future than their own engineers.
After the production of a new and not-so-fanciful proof-of-concept video for Mozilla Labs by San Francisco-based software design consultants Adaptive Path, the Mozilla organization has put out an open call for anyone and everyone to create similar videos that could offer glimpses into a future browser, unlimited by the confines of its operating system.
iPhone 2.0.1 software update seems to focus on speed
While Apple's release notes only mention "bug fixes," early updaters are noting improvements to the second major release of the iPhone software.
Many have complained that the new iPhone software overall has been slow, in some cases taking five seconds or more for applications to load. Early indications are that some of this has been addressed.
Japanese iPhone provider reduces its data plan fees
The third largest mobile phone operator in Japan, Softbank Mobile, announced it will reduce the data subscription rate for its Apple iPhone service later this month to as low as ¥2,990 ($27) per month from ¥7,280 ($67) per month.
At the minimum rate, prices for data packages will then be staggered depending how much data a user sends and receives, though Softbank will make sure subscribers cannot pass the $67 maximum data cap.
Microsoft to share more vulnerability data with select partners
In what may be becoming a semi-annual ritual, Microsoft chose the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas to unveil its latest initiative to share details about Windows vulnerabilities with outside sources who may be able to help.
Almost every year this decade, Microsoft has launched or enhanced an initiative to share security information with developers and administrators. In 2005, the company launched its Security Support Alliance, an extension of a program launched the previous year to give advance notices to Certified Gold partners.
Jobs: MobileMe launch 'not our finest hour'
In an internal e-mail sent Monday afternoon by Steve Jobs and subsequently leaked across the Internet, the Apple CEO laments the launch of the service and shakes up management to prevent it from happening again.
The biggest change announced in the e-mail, as first revealed by Jacqui Cheng of Ars Technica, would be the promotion of Eddy Cue to vice president of Internet Services. Having previously headed up the company's successful iTunes division and the new App Store, Cue's responsibilities would now expand to Mobile Me.
Search providers agree on policies regarding China, others
With politicians increasingly questioning US Internet companies' acquiescence to countries with restrictive Internet policies such as China, a 'code of conduct' is now being developed.
The agreement was struck between the big three search providers, as well as other Internet companies and human rights group. Requests for comment from Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo -- participants in the deal -- all went unanswered this afternoon. However, confirmation of the code's formation came today from Sen. Richard Durbin (D - Ill.), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law.
Can a Qualcomm veteran revive Motorola's cell phone unit?
Motorola's mobile phone division, spun off from the rest of the company, now has a new chief executive: Sanjay K. Jha, an engineer who's held a variety of roles at mobile chip maker Qualcomm over the past 14 years.
Tapped by Motorola for his knowledge of the mobile industry and his operational experience, Jha will serve as chief executive of the new mobile phone division, in addition to sharing the title of co-chief executive for all of Motorola with Greg Brown, who previously held that title alone.
YouTube to distribute Olympics videos in an IOC deal
With the Web becoming a more prevalent platform, the race to ensure broadcast rights for the Olympics means much less. Case in point: Tuesday's deal between the IOC and YouTube.
While obviously the Olympic Games cannot be broadcast live over YouTube, the move marks the first time that content will be available from a single provider on a global basis. Clips and highlights of the games will be uploaded to YouTube, and made available in 77 countries.
Enraged Canadian subscribers sue wireless providers over SMS fees
Unhappy wireless subscribers in Canada have socked Telus and Bell Mobility with class action lawsuits over their intentions to begin charging users for incoming SMS/MMS text messages, a practice already common in the US.
Up to this point, incoming text messages have been free to wireless customers in Canada. But Telus and Mobility have come under fire for saying they will begin to levy a 15 cent fee for each incoming message on customer accounts that don't have text messaging plans.
Friendster picks up key Google exec in a gamble for Asia Pacific
In an apparent refocus of the social network provider on the Asia Pacific region, today Friendster announced it had secured the services of a fellow who helped bolster Google's presence there in recent years as its new CEO.
It's the type of boast you would expect to hear in the voice of the late, great Don Adams: Would you believe that Friendster is, and has been for some time, the leading social network online in the Asia/Pacific region?
Bertlesmann bows out of Sony BMG for $1.2 billion
The German publisher has sold its 50 percent stake in the joint music publishing venture, although it plans to retain the catalog rights to certain acts within Europe.
Under Sony management, the Sony BMG publishing group will change its name to Sony Music Entertainment Inc. (SMEI), and would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony. The Japan-based company will continue to use Bertlesmann-owned Arvato Digital Services for up to six years for its distribution needs, it said this morning.
Dish Network reports losing subscribers, blames transition period
For a company that's earning 50% more as a spun-off entity than it did as a wholly-owned division of EchoStar, what could possibly go wrong? Yesterday, Dish Network actually listed 28 possible dire consequences in a filing with the SEC.
For the past year, digital satellite service provider Dish Network has reported gaining subscribers by the truckload, signing up approximately 170,000 net new customers in just the fiscal second quarter of 2007 alone. But that gain was pared down to 110,000 in the third quarter of last year, followed by 85,000 in the following quarter, then 35,000.
Cablevision's DVR does not infringe copyright, appeals court rules
If you take the recording device of a DVR off the customer's premises and place it in an upstream transmitting station, does that constitute an unauthorized duplication? Last year, a US district court said yes. Today, it's a new ballgame.
In a ruling this afternoon that is very, very likely to be appealed itself, a three-judge panel of the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously reversed a lower court ruling in March 2007 in favor of movie and cable TV studios. That ruling stated that Cablevision Systems' plan to provide cable customers with a DVR-like system using its remote servers, constituted an illegal rebroadcast of their content. This afternoon, the judges strongly disagreed.
FastBack backup service to move beyond Windows, says IBM
IBM will also offer its FastBack enterprise-class backup service not for just Windows but for other operating environments over time, according to a company product manager in an interview with BetaNews.
John Conner, an IBM product manager for both TSM and TSM FastBack, wasn't able to specify which platforms yet when talking with us. "But we're looking at Linux, Solaris, and AIX, for instance," noted Conner, who is product manager for both TSM and TSM FastBack.
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