Worldwide Sony Ericsson re-org hits US

Sony Ericsson will lay off over half of the employees of its research facility in Research Triangle Park just outside of Durham, North Carolina. The cutback is a part of a wider re-structuring taking place at the joint mobile phone company.

Of the nearly 750 workers at Sony Ericsson's research and development center, some 450 will be put out. The company said the cut of approximately 2,000 jobs worldwide would represent a savings of €300 million.

By Tim Conneally -

Washington State launches anti-scareware suits with Microsoft's help

Perhaps the most malicious act that malware could possibly do -- even more than wreck your system -- is separate users from their hard-earned cash. Now, a new campaign in the state of Washington has named its first anti-hero.

If you've ever perused our FileForum looking for a Windows System Registry cleaner or an undelete utility, even if you tend to trust our posts (and you should), there's a good chance you've found yourself wondering beforehand whether what you're about to download is legitimate. There's a growing industry in fake anti-malware, and many are now saying it's capable of doing as much damage, if not more, than malicious software to begin with.

By Scott M. Fulton, III -

DivX Connected gets vital upgrade: Flash

The DivX Connected platform has received a couple of crucial upgrades, making the hardware-software hybrid system more attractive to open source developers and consumers alike.

Version 1.4 of the DivX Connected server has been released, finally granting the home server software Flash Support, and adding to its unique Wake-on-LAN tools. With the server upgrade, a host of associated plug-ins were also released, bringing the platform into a place where it is equally desirable to casual consumers as it is to the "maker" crowd.

By Tim Conneally -

Legislation looks to patch privacy protections at borders

A bill set before Congress would require DHS officials to have a reasonable level of suspicion about you, personally, before they searched or seized your laptop, cell phone, digital camera or other electronic gear at the US border.

Last Friday, Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) introduced the Travelers Privacy Protection Act on Friday to, as Cantwell put it, "strike the right balance of keeping Americans safe while protecting their right to privacy."

By Angela Gunn -

Lawsuit around Apple's first iPhone dismissed from federal court

Although the jury (and judge) might still be out on a later class action suit targeting Apple's newer iPhone 3G, a US judge has now ruled that Apple did not engage in "deceptive" practices concerning the original iPhone.

With a class action action around Apple's newer iPhone 3G still pending, a US judge has now thrown out a different lawsuit that had charged Apple with engaging in deception around batteries in the original iPhone.

By Jacqueline Emigh -

Stainless adds Chrome-like functionality to new Mac browser beta

Download Stainless 0.1 beta for Mac OS X Leopard from FileForum now.

It may not be Mr. Right, as browsers go, but for Mac users who may be craving Google Chrome and who can't wait for the port-over, Stainless makes a case for being Mr. Right Now.

By Angela Gunn -

Legislation would force all new US radios to include digital 'HD'

More digital radios, especially those installed with new automobiles, include the capability to pick up digital "HD Radio" broadcasts over the air. But should the government mandate that satellite radio sets include HD Radio capability?

Demonstrating that there actually were at least a few spare minutes for Congress after all, during the debate over the financial bailout plan, House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D - Mass.) introduced a bipartisan bill that will require all future AM/FM radios or satellite radio receivers made or sold in the US to also receive digital HD broadcasts.

By Scott M. Fulton, III -

BT to test Phorm again, this time telling customers

UK internet service provider BT, a branch of British Telecom, will be running another trial of the controversial behavioral advertising system Phorm.

Last February, British ISPs BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media announced that they had joined together to deliver a targeted advertising platform. However, this was met with public outrage when BT admitted that it had already tested such a system with secretly collected user data.

By Tim Conneally -

With an iPod rival on tap, Nokia dumps enterprise software and security

With a new touch-screen phone dubbed "The Tube" rumored for later this week, Nokia is creating a new consumer e-mail service, while dropping its in-house enterprise software development and striving to sell its security appliances arm.

In line with its intentions to turn into more of an "Internet company," mobile phone maker Nokia today announced plans to stop producing its own enterprise software, in favor of pacts with companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco. In addition, it will to sell its security appliances line-up to a financial investor, if a contemplated deal goes through.

By Jacqueline Emigh -

Tech stocks slammed amid House rejection of bailout plan

Last summer, companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Apple showed buoyancy amid a gathering economic storm in the US, giving investors confidence they could weather the storm. This afternoon, the storm was upgraded to a 'Cat-5.'"

In the clearest indication to date that the US technology industry cannot sustain its position as the fortress in the storm forever, a precipitous drop in stock values slammed values of shares in technology firms perhaps worst of all. Falling off of a cliff today are shares of Apple Inc., which at one point lost as much as 28% of its value at about 1:50 pm EDT, before recovering slightly to an 18% loss by 2:30 pm EDT at $105.48 per share -- still a 52-week low.

By Scott M. Fulton, III -

Circuit City looks to better 'customer experience' after another loss

The struggling consumer electronics retail chain today blamed its continuing financial losses on a 'weakened brand image,' together with competitive pressures and the faltering economy.

US retailer Circuit City plans to put more emphasis on "improving the customer experience" in its stores, in the wake of a $162.7 million loss for the second quarter of its 2009 fiscal year. Earlier efforts to do that haven't been "sufficient to reverse our overall business results," acknowledged Bruce H. Besanko, executive VP and CFO.

By Jacqueline Emigh -

Microsoft shares early videos, screenshots of Visual Studio 2010

With the next edition of Microsoft's development tools suite, every commercial edition will feature some type of architectural tool that competes directly with a slew of UML-based add-ons, including a major revenue center for IBM.

Though Visual Studio 2008 was only formally introduced last January, the betas of Microsoft's development environment were often found in full production use as early as late 2006. Now with Windows 7 looking to be a reality for around this time next year, Microsoft finds itself accelerating the pace of its rollouts and tightening the beta schedule.

By Scott M. Fulton, III -

Finally, Nero will let you make your PC into a real TiVo

The final step in making your PC into a TiVo is about to be bridged. Today, Nero AG -- makers of the famous desktop CD and DVD authoring software -- announced its LiquidTV TiVo-for-PC package.

The package includes a Hauppauge USB ATSC TV tuner and USB IR transceiver with paired remote control. LiquidTV offers most of the features of a standard TiVo DVR: online scheduling with the integrated Electronic Programming Guide, recording of up to two shows simultaneously to the hard drive, HD and standard image quality, and support for as many as four tuners.

By Tim Conneally -

Baltimore becomes the first Xohm WiMAX city

Sprint's Xohm WiMAX service begins this morning in Baltimore, Maryland. Customers will be able to pay for daily or monthly access to the 4G wireless service without long-term contracts or usage caps.

The expected average downlink speed for the service will be 2-4 Mbps and will cost either $10 per 24-hour block of time or $35 per month for home access and $45 per month for "on-the-go." Sprint also offers multi-device packages in anticipation of future hardware availability.

By Tim Conneally -

Apple officially sells unlocked iPhones in Hong Kong

Hong Kong gets the iPhone without the carrier obligations by which many other countries must abide.

Available officially through Apple on its Hong Kong regional site, the 3G iPhone is compatible with any carrier's SIM. However, the devices do come at a rather prohibitive price point: HK$ 5,400 ($694.75) for the 8 GB and HK$ 6,200 ($797.65) for the 16 GB.

By Tim Conneally -
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