Latest Technology News

Blockbuster and Netflix have been battling for home video supremacy for long enough to almost declare a winner, and the dual investor meetings held by the companies shows where the real disadvantage lies.

Blockbuster's more than 7,800 retail stores in the US are beginning to appear more of an onus than an asset.

Admins now have immediate access to any of Sysinternals utilities from any Windows computer, without having to install anything first.

There really aren't all that many EXE files that people would automatically feel are safe enough to run from a remote Internet server, directly from the command line. But probably taking up most of the spaces on that short list are the invaluable utilities of Mark Russinovich, who maintains the Sysinternals brand now for Microsoft.

Today, Yahoo is giving developers and end users an online "sneak peek" at BrowserPlus, an emerging cross-platform software platform aimed at expanding the kinds of content that run on Web browsers.

The first demos offered as part of Yahoo's browser functionality expansions include features such as drag-and-drop from the desktop, and easier acquisition of data feeds.

The next edition of Windows Server's pre-configured server operating system for small business hit the wires this morning, with both Standard and Premium packages, in 32- and 64-bit editions, available for preview.

Download Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 RC0 from FileForum now.

It's cute, it's red, it has a Dell logo, and for many, it's enough. The buzz machine has been reignited, after Michael Dell gave a prominent Gizmodo writer another peek at something small it's been cooking up in its laboratories.

It would appear that Carlsbad, California, is the place for big companies to break technology news, and that the D: conference could be the new COMDEX. There, in a move reminiscent of the Dell of old, Michael Dell gave a Gizmodo correspondent a peek at a little red laptop that has the industry abuzz this morning.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.