After reports of an on-again, off-again relationship between Apple and China's state-run telco, a government-owned business paper is reporting talks are going well.

Nearly 800,000 iPhones have already been sneaked into the country and are believed to be in use, according to analyst estimates.

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Refusing to give up on the game console market in Asia/Pacific, Microsoft has cut the price of its Xbox 360 console in Japan, and is also adding a new model.

The Xbox 360 base model has been reduced from 27,800 yen ($257 USD) to 19,800 yen ($183 USD), while the high-end model with a 120 GB hard drive will now retail for 39,800 yen ($368 USD). A mid-range model with a 60 GB HDD will be introduced for 29,800 yen ($286 USD).

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Download Google Chrome 0.2.149.27 Beta from FileForum now.

A few of the names appearing in Google's promotional "graphic novel" for the first beta of its own Web browser, may ring bells for anyone who was a beta tester of Firefox 3. So just what kind of browser war does Google plan to wage?

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Several weeks after announcing the departure of CEO Patricia Russo and Chairman of the Board Serge Tchuruk, networking technology giant Alcatel-Lucent has named their successors.

Following a two year "transitional phase" of profitless quarters, French telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent's CEO Patricia Russo announced that the company was actively seeking her replacement. Today, the company has named Ben Verwaayen as Alcatel-Lucent's new CEO.

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After its 'Murderdrome' comic book was rejected by Apple's iPhone App Store, Infurious Comics this week appealed to Web site visitors support its request to Apple for a rating system similar to one already used on iTunes.

The App Store turned down the comic book earlier this week, claiming that it violated a section of an SDK agreement which states: "Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.) or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users."

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The economy might be rocky, but one analyst says mobile device makers will still be releasing a total of over 100 new cell phone models in the second half of 2008 alone -- and about three-quarters of those will be 3G network-capable.

Vendors such as Nokia, HTC, RIM, Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Palm have been prepping the phones for the back-to-school and December holiday seasons, said Matt Thornton, an analyst at Avian Securities, in an interview with BetaNews this afternoon.

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Search giant Google signed a deal with Dulles, Va. startup GeoEye to use imagery from its newest satellite after it launches in September of this year.

This is not the first time Google has dealt with GeoEye. It already uses images from its IKONOS satellite, as well as from other sources including DigitalGlobe. As part of the new deal, GeoEye would exclusively provide its imagery to Google.

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Sony has been sued for patent infringement for its Blu-Ray technology once again, this time by California intellectual property company Orinda IP USA.

In May 2007, a company called Target Technology sued Sony, alleging that Blu-ray infringed on patents discussing the reflective materials used on optical discs. The suit from Orinda, filed on August 20, involves the method of reproducing data on "disk-shaped media," namely Blu-ray discs.

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A major problem for the development of free software is, ironically, the fact that it isn't worth anything. Not monetarily, that is, but now an open source group says its government must be forced to consider its value anyway.

Is any Quebec government agency that already has Microsoft, Novell, and IBM software installed on its networks compelled by law to consider alternative brands from Quebec-based suppliers? An association of free software publishers based in Quebec is citing a law that forbids provincial officials from entering into no-bid contracts with suppliers outside the province, in a lawsuit filed last July 15 -- but announced just yesterday -- against both Quebec and Microsoft, its key supplier.

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Android Market -- Google's upcoming content distribution system announced this week -- will operate more along the lines of YouTube, according to a revealing post on the Android Developers Blog Thursday.

In naming the distribution system that will help fuel its open source phone platform, Google has consciously avoided even choosing anything closely evocative of Apple's system.

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The expected 2.1 software update for Apple's iPhone in September will include a fix that could allow for disclosure of personal information when the device is locked, Apple said.

"The minor iPhone security issue which surfaced this week is fixed in a software update which will be released in September," Apple spokesperson Jennifer Bowcock said in a statement.

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This week, Beta 1 of Debian Live 5.0 bootable CD image was made available for download. This is the first official release of a Live 5.0 build for the OS also known as "Lenny."

The Debian Live team has been working for over two years on its initiative to create the definitive live Debian framework that runs on as many architectures as possible, consisting of unchanged and official packages and an unaltered Kernel.

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The newest Wi-Fi protocol, 802.11r, which has become the de facto "Wireless VoIP standard", is now a published standard of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards board.

802.11r has been in the works since 2004, with the express purpose of developing a Wi-Fi connection that can quickly pass between access points. A go-ahead for publishing the final draft of the standard was given by the 802.11r task group last January.

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With the BlackBerry Bold now available, Rogers, Canada's leading carrier has decided to extend its iPhone 3G promotional data plan until next month, while adjusting other plans.

Rogers Wireless' data plans came under almost immediate criticism after the iPhone 3G's launch on July 11, for what many saw as overpriced data rates. The company later adjusted those plans to appease its detractors.

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Microsoft today took another step in its strategy to beef up Live Search versus Google and Yahoo, unveiling a complicated deal to buy Greenfield Online and its subsidiary Caio, a European-based online price comparison and shopping site.

Under the agreement, Microsoft is offering $486 million for Greenfield. But in a related move, Microsoft today claimed to have secured a buyer for Greenfield Online's Internet survey solutions, the business that forms the heart of Greenfield Online.

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