Apple comes clean on MobileMe problems, marketing
In an e-mail to customers, Apple admitted it had problems with its MobileMe launch last week, and is prepared to compensate them for lost time. Marketing of the service is also set to change.
"We have recently completed the transition from .Mac to MobileMe. Unfortunately, it was a lot rockier than we had hoped," Apple said in an e-mail to customers.
First Firefox 3 patch fixes a security hole linked to Safari
12:35 pm EDT July 16, 2008 - BetaNews has confirmed users' reports of Firefox 3.0.1 download attempts being met with "550 Permission Denied" errors, off and on throughout the day today. We've already downloaded and installed v3.0.1 ourselves previously, and thus far have noted no trouble with it.
In another sign that the good guys are not only becoming more clever but are cooperating more closely with vendors, a potentially serious problem with the newest Firefox was fixed before anyone could sound the alarms of impending doom.
EU parliament to debate copyright term extension this week
To high-ranking European Commissioners, it's a matter of whether a major European industry should be given the same tools for success the US currently has. For academia, it's a debate over whether copyright benefits or hurts artists.
Almost a decade ago, the US Congress passed a copyright term extension act named for the late, popular congressman, and one-time musical superstar, Sonny Bono. It extended the term of copyright in this country to 70 years beyond the life of the author, or 95 years for anonymous works -- essentially, pieces of art copyrighted by a rights management firm or agency rather than a person.
Toshiba launches the first Cell processor-based laptop
Toshiba's new Qosmio G55-Q802 is the first laptop available with the Cell CPU, a technology heretofore known as the PS3 processing technology among consumers, developed jointly by Toshiba, Sony, and IBM.
It's not a PC based on a Cell platform, at least not completely. The Q802 has a Core 2 Duo on board, and is a Windows Vista-based system. The result of this Cell processor architecture, which Toshiba calls its Quad Core HD Processor, is a notebook not designed for gaming, but rather to be a multimedia entertainment unit.
Centrino 2 platform wipes the slate clean for vendors' midrange notebooks
Intel's official go-ahead with its new mobility and connectivity platform means vendors now can overhaul their product lines. But this time they're not starting with the luxury models, instead focusing on practicality and even savings.
The success of Intel's Centrino and Centrino Pro branding has centered around reinforcing the customer's perception of reliability, perhaps more importantly than even performance. So as the Centrino 2 platform kicks off -- albeit a few weeks late -- the changes to manufacturers' product lines, to be seen next month, are being made from the middle down.
Details on Sony's first notebook PC with a Blu-ray drive
While Sony isn't exactly the first PC vendor to integrate a Blu-ray drive within a notebook computer, you knew it had to come around sometime anyway. But does its new top-of-the-line Vaio deserve the "Z" moniker?
NEW YORK (BetaNews) -- Sony's new Vaio Z Series ultra-portable PC, launched at a media event here yesterday, offers options for Blu-ray, solid state drive (SSD), and Sprint Mobile Broadband, along with built-in features ranging from a fingerprint sensor to a "switch-on-the-fly" graphics system.
Sony, HP get behind an open format for digital audio
Hewlett-Packard and Sony announced they will work together to develop a new generation of Digital Audio Tapes, called DAT 320, which will be built on an open standard so that other companies are able to contribute.
Although the two companies are collaborating to create the Digital Data Storage (DDS) standard, they both have plans to offer DAT 320 tape drives and cartridges that will eventually compete against one another. The Sony and HP products will have the same speed and capacity, though it's likely their firmware will be different, even though the drives will be interchangeable.
Sony announces $399 80 GB PlayStation 3
When early reports said Microsoft was dropping its Xbox 360 price, fans of Sony immediately began to speculate on a sympathetic price drop for PS3. While not a price cut per se, Sony today announced something similar.
At the E3 conference in Los Angeles this afternoon, Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Jack Tretton hosted the company's press conference where he announced that in September, an 80 GB Playstation3 Core unit will be made available for $399.
Apple to face off against Psystar in court
After three months of silence following the release of the Mac clone by Psystar in April, the Cupertino company sued the company over copyright infringement.
The suit was filed July 3 in the US District Court for the district of Northern California, San Francisco. Initial filings for the case are due in October, while a case management conference is scheduled for October 22, court documents indicate. Judge James Larson has been assigned to the case.
Maybe the sixth time's the charm: Podcast syndicator Odeo relaunches again
After one roller-coaster ride of a start, online media service Odeo has once again relaunched its Web site, this time adding several new features developers hope will finally help it finds its market.
Specifically created to cater to content syndicated by RSS feeds, Odeo presents viewers with a video and audio catalog ranging from boxing and mixed martial arts, to cooking and home gardening videos.
EU looks to address cross-border texting charges
Frustrated by lack of action among Europe's cellular carriers, the European Commission said Tuesday it would move to mandate lower prices for intra-European texting.
An average of €0.29 ($0.46 USD) is charged for messages, virtually unchanged since February when the EC first asked for a voluntary price drop at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
EBay prevails in counterfeit sales dispute
Yesterday, eBay secured an important legal victory after New York District Judge Richard Sullivan ruled the online auction service actually did do enough to thwart the sale of counterfeit jewelry.
The battle between Tiffany and eBay started four years ago in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, and has ended with a decision stating it's the responsibility of manufacturers to police counterfeit goods sold through eBay.
Animal Crossing: the new Wii communications platform?
In Nintendo's E3 keynote this morning, the official announcement of Animal Crossing: City Folk brought with it some unexpected functionality that the Wii had been lacking up to now: voice chat and native SMS/e-mail interactivity.
Animal Crossing: City Folk is the third in Nintendo's series of nonviolent, task-oriented, real-time games set in a fictitious village populated by anthropomorphic animals. Nintendo expects to release it before the end of 2008.
Warner begins aggressive Blu-ray Disc pricing strategy
The home video arm of the studio will cut the prices it charges retailers to order its titles in the holiday quarter, which translates to significant savings for consumers.
With Blu-ray player prices likely to sink further in anticipation of the holiday buying season, and a weakening economy cutting down on consumer spending overall, Warner Home Video's decision to cut its wholesale prices for Blu-ray movie titles may make sense.
D-Link's DivX Connected comes home
Oftentimes, it's difficult to qualify enthusiast-class hardware when it's just plain buggy, especially early in its lifecycle. Such was the case with D-Link's DSM-330 DivX Connected box, a digital media extender with wireless HD streaming.
D-Link's DivX Connected began its life as GejBox, and evolved into what we have today. At CES earlier this year, we looked at the device, and saw a promising future in it for DivX fans.
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