Video service RedLasso folds under legal pressure from networks
RedLasso, a digital video re-syndication service, has closed its controversial site after threats of copyright lawsuits from NBC Universal and Fox.
The service digitized live audio and video content, which users could edit and re-arrange into embeddable clips.
Microsoft buys DATAllegro in high-end enterprise quest
In an ongoing quest to push its SQL Server database further into the high-end enterprise space, Microsoft on Thursday unveiled plans to purchase DATAllegro, a maker of business intelligence (BI)-enabled data warehouse appliances.
"DATAllegro provides a very, very high-capability scale-out data warehouse that we will move onto the SQL Server platform and Windows platform. And with this we will have a scale-out data warehouse that will scale into the hundreds of terabytes in size, and be able to compete for the highest-end enterprise data warehousing solutions. We've never been able to do that before," contended Bob Muglia, senior VP of Microsoft's Server and Tools, in a talk during Microsoft's Finacial Analysts Day on Thursday.
Any deal between Microsoft and Yahoo is probably off - so then what?
Microsoft said Thursday it's "done" trying to acquire Yahoo, but while some might be cheering yet another interruption Microsoft's relentless pursuit of its rival, others are pointing to a compelling need for the company to start making money from its online operations.
"I think the chances of our buying Yahoo [are] so small that they are essentially negligible," said Microsoft CFO Christopher Lidell, at a Microsoft analysts meeting yesterday.
Blockbuster beta testing movie download service
Blockbuster's download-on-demand service based on Movielink is approaching readiness, as the company has pushed out a beta version to select Total Access members.
500 Total Access subscribers have been chosen to beta test Blockbuster's pay-per-view movie download service that it acquired from Movielink in 2007.
Escaped spammer found dead in murder-suicide
"Spam King" Edward Davidson, who recently disappeared from the Colorado minimum security facility where he was serving 21 months for tax evasion and e-mail fraud, was found dead yesterday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Davidson ran a company called Power Promoters from 2002 to 2007 that, among other things, promoted penny stock companies by sending out thousands of spam e-mails with falsified headers. When he was indicted in June 2007, the IRS reported that Davidson had collected over $3.5 million without paying taxes.
iPhone 2.1 software beta adds better navigation, copy and paste
Apple has reportedly released a beta of its next significant release of the iPhone software, activating background push notifications, as well as enhanced GPS functionality.
iPhone 2.1 should not be confused with 2.0.1, another firmware update reportedly in testing. The latter is essentially a maintenance release intended to fix some of the more serious bugs that have appeared with iPhone 2.0.
AOL axes weak properties, halts blogs in budget emergency
A July 14 email from AOL Executive Vice President of Products and Marketing Kevin Conroy was uncovered by TechCrunch this week announcing the eventual termination of AOL Pictures, Xdrive, Bluestring, and MyMobile. Many in AOL's Blog network also report being put on hiatus as a result of budget overages.
News of AOL's recent budgeting efforts range from the equable and calculated to the panicked and slapdash. Kevin Conroy's internal email represents the logical approach being taken by AOL. At this point, Conroy says, "every product makes a direct impact on the bottom line."That is to say, AOL can no longer afford to carry the burden of products that don't "effectively contribute to the financial health of [the] company."
Verizon to announce FiOS rollout in New York City
Verizon has scheduled a webcast for Monday, where it will officially announce rollout plans and pricing for FiOS in New York City, which has over 8.2 million residents, providing a huge boost for the service that counts only 1.8 million customers.
Thus far, Verizon's FiOS television and Internet service has been largely relegated to the suburbs, where the company could more easily dig down to install fiber optic lines. Major metropolitan areas have seen only spotty FiOS coverage, making the New York City launch an important milestone for Verizon. The company was granted approval from the city last week to offer its television service. Verizon also plans to host an event at Grand Central Terminal.
Sprint hands keys for cellular towers to third-party
Operation and maintenance of Sprint's cellular network towers will be taken over by TowerCo, freeing up capital for the cash-strapped company.
TowerCo paid $670 million for about 3,300 CDMA and IDEN towers. In exchange, the company has signed a long-term lease with Sprint for their use. The deal is expected to close within 90 days.
HP ends Voodoo business unit, but not Voodoo gaming PCs
Hewlett-Packard's Voodoo business unit -- which produces HP's Blackbird, Omen, and Envy 133 gaming PCs -- is going away, although HP is expected to continue selling the Voodoo line-up.
HP said this week that the standalone business unit -- created upon HP's buyout of the Voodoo gaming PC start-up two years ago -- will now be merged with the same division within the company which also produces the Pavilion and Compaq Presario line-ups of consumer PCs.
The danger of DRM: Yahoo will remove keys for authorizing music playback
Like Microsoft before it, Yahoo is ending digital rights management (DRM) support for an old music service. Beginning on October 1, users who downloaded songs from Yahoo Music will no longer be able to play them back on new computers or operating systems.
In a recent e-mail, Yahoo alerted customers that it will stop distributing keys for unlocking DRM on Yahoo Music tunes.
Facebook to integrate Microsoft Web search, search ads
Microsoft and Facebook strengthened their existing partnership Thursday with the announcement that Microsoft would be powering the social network's Web search and sponsored links.
The announcement was made at Microsoft's annual financial analysts meeting in Redmond. Sources indicate the search services will be integrated into Facebook without many changes to the overall site design.
Hitachi introduces third-gen Blu-ray camcorder
Hitachi today announced the third version of its Blu-ray camcorder that is able to record and store video directly on a disc so it can be later viewed on any PC or TV with a Blu-ray drive -- but not a PS3.
The new Blu-ray camcorder, DZ-BD10H, has a 30GB hard drive and CMOS image sensor along with an optional 32GB SDHC memory card that is able to store up to five hours of video in 1920x1080 AVCHD resolution.
WD's new 10,000 RPM 2.5-inch drives still aren't for laptops
Despite reducing power consumption by 35 percent, Western Digital's new 10,000 RPM 2.5-inch hard drives won't be making an appearance in laptops. The updated VelociRaptor line, with capacities up to 300GB, are designed for 1U and 2U servers.
The new VelociRaptor drives sport a SATA 3 Gb/s interface with 16 MB cache, technology that optimizes the drive if there is vibration, and a reliability rating of 1.4 million hours MTBF. WD is going after a new market for smaller drives in servers, where 3.5-inch drives were previously the norm.
Scrabulous creators sued in United States by Hasbro
Game maker Hasbro, just weeks after the release of a properly licensed Scrabble Facebook beta, have filed suit against the creators of the unauthorized, and apparently too-popular Scrabulous, asking for removal of the game in addition to unspecified damages.
At the beginning of the year Facebook was contacted about Scrabulous by Hasbro, owner of the game's rights in the United States, asking that it be taken down.
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