Facebook to share its logins with other sites, wants better apps
At its annual F8 developer conference Wednesday, Facebook unveiled a system like OpenID where users can login to other sites with their Facebook account. It also rolled out new tools to help developers create better applications.
Available in the fall, Connect will allow users of Facebook to take their identities with them across partner sites. 24 websites and applications have already announced their support for the initiative, including Digg, Six Apart, and Citysearch.
As Olympics near, China begins crackdown by arresting blogger
As the country prepares to open the 2008 Summer Olympics in three weeks, Chinese officials have arrested a writer and dissident who was already on probation after being charged a few years ago.
Du Daobin, 43, who was found guilty of charges of "incitement to subvert state power" in 2004, was scheduled to end his parole on August 4, just four days before the start of the summer games. He was initially arrested in 2003 after posting blog entries and articles talking about democracy and human rights changes the Chinese government should make in the future.
Employee hands over passwords to hijacked San Francisco computer network
Much to the delight of San Francisco computer network officials, Mayor Gavin Newsom was given the password so the city can again have access to its computer network after it was hijacked by a city employee.
Terry Childs, 43, of Pittsburg, California, manipulated the city's computer system and held it hostage for more than a week before handing over the passwords. Specifically, Childs locked city officials out of the FiberWAN network that controls the city's e-mails, law enforcement records, payroll, and other personal records.
SanDisk won't specify Vista SSD problems, but is 'working with Microsoft'
Amid complaints that Windows Vista is hurting the development of solid state drives, SanDisk now says it is working with Microsoft to optimize SSDs for "the Windows experience." But the company refused to provide details of Vista's problem, and Microsoft seemed unaware of the collaboration.
In a statement to BetaNews today, Richard Heyes, who heads up SanDisk's SSD Business Unit, didn't elaborate on the areas of optimization, although he did talk about SSD performance on "full-featured" operating systems such as Windows Vista vs. "simple" systems such as XP Starter Edition -- and he predicted that operating systems in general will become more "SSD aware" in the future.
One spammer sentenced to prison as another escapes
One Internet spammer was sentenced this week to nearly four years in prison, while another fled a correctional facility and is currently on the run.
Robert Soloway, who ran Newport Internet Marketing Corp and pled guilty to mail fraud, e-mail fraud, and tax evasion in May 2007 received his sentence yesterday: 3 years and 11 months in federal prison.
Is Apple's business health tied to that of its CEO?
Concerns over Steve Jobs' health continue to dog the company, and its attempts to quell such discussion seem to be falling mostly on deaf ears.
The issue cropped up once again during Apple's financial results call Monday when Lehman Brothers financial analyst Ben Reitzes said he was forced to ask for an official statement from the company on Jobs' health.
Knol: (n.) Google's version of Wikipedia
With initial topics ranging from "How to Backpack" to "Toilet Clogs," Knol -- Google's answer, of sorts, to Wikipedia - has now left testing and is ready for perusal and contribution by one and all.
"Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article," said Udi Manber, Google's VP of engineering, in a blog posting back in December, when Knol was first unveiled.
Sirius-XM merger approval by FCC hangs on one vote
The record-breakingly long merger of XM and Sirius satellite radio now hangs upon the vote of one final FCC Commissioner.
After approval by shareholders in both companies, then a green light by the Department of Justice, the approval of five Federal Communications Commission commissioners is one of the major remaining hurdles the companies must endure before they can join.
With Drizzle, Sun's MySQL gets skinnier, forgoing features for speed
"Drizzle," a recently announced offshoot of MySQL, is taking the open source database in a wholly different direction than the bigger, feature-full database widely foreseen since Sun's MySQL buyout.
Running only on Linux, Sun Solaris Express, and Apple's OS X, the trimmed-down Drizzle database won't be getting Windows support any time soon, if at all. It essentially component-izes the software, making it so businesses can select which features they need and leave out those they don't, much like a Linux kernel.
New wireless HD standard to compete with other proposed technologies
Hopefully it won't be another HD DVD/Blu-ray situation: Several consumer electronics companies have partnered to develop a technology that could deliver high-definition video wirelessly to television sets, but the technology will compete against another proposed standards.
Sony, Samsung, Motorola, Sharp, and Hitachi have formed a group that will focus on further developing technology known as Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI), the companies announced on Wednesday.
Thirteen record labels ask judge for ruling against LimeWire
Thirteen record labels have filed for a summary judgement to their two-year old case against peer-to-peer file swapping service LimeWire, seeking to bring a swift end to the drawn-out conflict.
In 2006, the Recording Industry Association of America sued LimeWire seeking $150,000 per occurrence of illicit music sharing, claiming the service participated in "inducement of copyright infringement, contributatory copyright infringement, and with respect to pre-1972 recordings, common law copyright infringement and state law unfair competition."
Wii Classic controller in jeopardy after Nintendo loses patent appeal
A patent infringement suit over some of Nintendo's game controllers will enter a Federal Court of Appeals following the $21 million verdict in favor of plaintiff Anascape.
In May, Texas-based Anascape won $21 million dollars from Nintendo in a patent infringement suit filed against the company for its game controller design. At the time, it was not disclosed which aspects were found to be in violation, but Nintendo said the Wiimote and nunchuck (part of its industry-leading Wii console) were safe.
Yang: Yahoo is progressing, despite lower profits
Although Yahoo on Tuesday announced second quarter financial results showing a 19 percent drop in profits, company CEO Jerry Yang contended that his company is making progress on three goals -- around Internet content, advertising, and application development -- stipulated earlier as ways of boosting Yahoo's fortunes.
"You'll recall that we identified three strategic objectives to accelerate our growth and create long-term value for Yahoo shareholders: to become the starting point for the most consumers on the Internet; to establish Yahoo as the "must buy" for the most advertisers; and to deliver industry-leading platforms that attract the most developers," said Yang, during a conference call with financial analysts.
New York Governor approves tightened video game regulations
New York Governor David Patterson yesterday approved a bill that will make ESRB video game ratings mandatory, require parental controls in consoles, and fund a study of the correlation between in-game and real-life acts of violence.
The state senate voted 61-1 in favor of the bill (A.11717 / S.6401-A) under the sponsorship of state senator Andrew Lanza (R).
Microsoft makes Games for Windows Live free, will sell game downloads
Microsoft announced late Tuesday that it would no longer charge Windows gamers to connect to one another for multiplayer gaming, and this fall will launch an online store for downloading PC games.
All users will be able to access the Games for Windows Live, which is similar to Microsoft's Xbox Live -- service at no cost. Microsoft said that the decision to remove the pay tier came after discussions with developers and fans led it to believe that multiplayer gaming should be free.
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