Latest Technology News

The Cupertino company has launched its video store in France, while Hutchison Telecommunications will bring the iPhone to Hong Kong and Macau.

ITunes will offer local programming from several networks including TF1, France Télévisions, Arte, Dargaud TV, and Dupuis TV. In addition, MTV and Disney will offer their own programming, which means American hits like Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty will also be available.

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With a simple tweak to the JavaScript code that embeds a Google Maps control in a Web page, your site can now have a fully operational Google Earth control.

The three-dimensional, zooming and scaling 3D satellite views of Planet Earth have already become a fixture on TV and Internet news sites, giving viewers the most photo-realistic views of the world's hot points like Iraq, Afghanistan, and China. Now, Google's 3D maps are finding a new home along with most of Google's other popular tools: in the Web browser.

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At its I/O developer gathering in San Francisco this week, Google offered more details about Android and Google Web Toolkit, while also opening up access to "everyone" for its new Google App Engine hosted development environment.

Not at all surprisingly, Google is delivering at least two conference sessions specific to Android, a controversial open source platform aimed at helping developers to create mobile applications that will interoperate across handheld devices from multiple vendors.

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The newly crowned server king hopes to continue its success over IBM and Dell with a new two-in-one server aimed for the cloud.

After seeing the growing demand for cloud computing, Hewlett-Packard has thrown its hat into the ring with the announcement of the company's first two-in-one blade server, touting power reduction by pairing two servers in each blade.

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The German car manufacturer said Wednesday that it will work with Japanese electronics maker Sanyo to develop Lithium-Ion batteries for hybrid vehicles.

The two companies penned an agreement in 2006 to work on nickel metal hydride batteries, which Sanyo already supplies to Ford and Honda. That's the type of power cell most commonly used in the industry, also appearing in the most popular hybrid today, the Toyota Prius.

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The electronics maker said Tuesday that it will work with six major cable operators to include digital cable technology in its next-generation television sets.

With the new sets, consumers will no longer be required to use a set-top box in order to receive advanced services. Sony has penned an agreement with Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Charter, Cablevision, and Bright House Networks, which collectively provide service to about 82 percent of cable-receiving households. The agreement is essentially a memorandum of understanding on how channel guide and digital program delivery technology will be rolled out to the consumer.

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Sprint Nextel and NetLogic Microsystems today announced they will offer their guidance to a new nonprofit organization to aid the development and adoption of new networking platforms from 40 Gbps products up to 100 Gbps and beyond.

The Road to 100G Alliance, first introduced at NXTcomm 2007, continues its aim of developing a set of standards for interoperability in the still chaotic world of high capacity data networks.

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As details continue to emerge about Microsoft's evidently well-made plans for its next operating system, we learn that full documentation for how multi-touch capabilities will work in Windows, will be ready for demonstration by this fall.

For Microsoft's next Professional Developers' Conference currently scheduled for late October in Los Angeles, the company plans to demonstrate the use of a system developers' kit for producing multi-touch applications for Windows 7. Such applications would follow the model unveiled yesterday by executives Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer at a Wall Street Journal technology conference in Carlsbad, California yesterday.

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For several months, Indian security officials have wanted Research in Motion to decrypt BlackBerry-delivered e-mails so the government may have access to them, should the need arise. Both sides could reach a solution as soon as tomorrow.

In short, the Indian government believes BlackBerry communication is too secure, and could allow subversives a safe, untraceable method of communication unless something gets changed.

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An Amazon spokesperson has confirmed to BetaNews that it will be premiering a streaming video service in the upcoming weeks.

At the D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, California, sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos mentioned that his company has been working on an a la carte, pay-per-view streaming service.

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Security software vendor McAfee is seeking beta testers for its Total Protection suite, which combines 12 tools into one, much like Microsoft's Live OneCare and Symantec's Norton 360. Although the company doesn't specify, it's likely testing the 2009 edition of the product, which is version 3.0.

McAfee also has its Personal Vault software in beta, and those who join the company's beta program can try out both. Personal Vault, which is a new product that entered testing last year, encrypts files and folder with a password. McAfee's beta program is free and U.S. residents may be eligible to obtain rewards including gift cards or certificates and other prizes.

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Apple has released Mac OS X 10.5.3, the third major update to Leopard that brings dozens of fixes to the operating system, many of which are quite minor. The biggest changes in the 420MB upgrade involve reliability of Time Machine backups and Spaces, along with a handful of corrected issues in Mail.

No specific security fixes are mentioned on Apple's list of changes, but the company does say 10.5.3 "includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac." The update is available now from Apple's download site or through Leopard's built in Software Update feature.

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It was 2006 when Nokia and Microsoft first announced a partnership that would bring Microsoft's software to cell phones, and 2007 when it was announced a second time. At last, the results of their pairing will soon be appreciated in America.

A Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews this morning that the company's Windows Live services for Nokia's Symbian 60-based cell phones, which is already available in 25 countries, will have that number expanded to 33 by the end of the day today, with the United States being one of those new countries.

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A group in New Mexico now wants to ban the use of certain types of wireless networks in the public buildings of Santa Fe.

Self-identified EHS sufferers in New Mexico claim that that electromagnetic fields (EMFs) stemming from Wi-Fi spawn headaches and a veritable witches' brew of other ills that are forcing them out of libraries and other public places.

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While Blu-ray recorders now outsell their standard DVD counterparts, research firm NPD reports that outside of the PS3, Blu-ray players are not selling well.

Japanese research firm BCN said that revenues from sales of Blu-ray recorders in that country increased more than threefold since January, when high definition players only comprised 12.4% of all sales -- and that figure included HD DVD hardware.

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