Latest Technology News

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Announced last week, Samsung's L870 Symbian S60 3.2 Smartphone will be the first handset other than Apple's iconic iPhone to come equipped with Safari as its native mobile browser.

The S60 default browser is based upon the same WebKit browser engine as Safari, so having Safari on board instead may not necessarily be a great technological leap. Like Safari, the S60 browser currently boasts desktop-quality browsing, and has generally been viewed as an excellent application in its own right.

Although fuller implementation of FiOS won't be easy, Verizon might soon be giving Time-Warner and Cablevision some real cable TV competition in New York City, now that a committee has given its okay to a sweeping franchise plan.

By June 30, 2014, all residents of all five boroughs of New York City will have access to FiOS cable TV, as a result of a vote taken yesterday by the city's Franchise and Concession Review Committee.

TiVo has announced that all broadband connected TiVo Series2 and Series3 users will gain Disney on-demand rentals later this year. This in the wake of a new partnership with online content distributorCinemaNow.

This partnership adds to TiVo's existing content deals with Amazon's Unbox, Music Choice, and Jaman, as well as upcoming support for YouTube and other popular Web video codecs. It looks to be part of a broader move to convert TiVo from a simple DVR into more of a media hub, offering an increased amount of on-demand content, along with access to user's personal media.

The Belgian press editors association Copiepresse has been at odds with Google since last year over the appearance of its member publications' work in Google News, and now it wants to be compensated.

In a court filing earlier this week, apparently with the Brussels federal court, Copiepresse asked for €49 million (approximately $77 million USD) in damages resulting from Google's having excerpted articles from Copiepresse's member publications without authorization.

BetaNews has confirmed this morning that a widely disseminated story first published by Financial Times Deutschland, which said the European Commission was preparing to issue sales restrictions on Intel, is false.

The FT story, which appears here in a poor translation from German, stated that the EC was preparing to issue a decision that would force Intel to refrain from giving preferred customers in Europe any kind of discounts. Allegations of Intel playing favorites with certain customers, especially for preferring Intel over AMD, has been central to AMD's worldwide antitrust battle with the market share leader.

Bill Gates is scheduled to retire from Microsoft on July 1, shifting his efforts over to his namesake foundation. But Wednesday night at the Wall Street Journal's D conference, Gates clarified what he means by "retirement."

In an informal question-and-answer session before his keynote with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer during which the Windows 7 multi-touch interface was briefly demoed, Chairman Bill Gates said that he'll continue to spend 20 percent of his time on Microsoft projects. The remaining 80 percent of his time will be dedicated to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- a swap from the 20 percent he devotes currently.

It's no secret that Windows Vista hasn't seen the warm reception Microsoft had hoped. With Windows 7, the company is placing its bets on a multi-touch interface -- like the iPhone UI for PCs. Could it change the public mood?

At The Wall Street Journal's 6th D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, California Wednesday night, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer offered up a "small snippet" of the next version of Windows after Ballmer acknowledged that he wants to "do better" than Vista. A video showed how Microsoft is bringing the touch technology from its Surface table-tops to standard laptops and desktops.

In a court filing late Friday nearly one year after Viacom's suit was brought against it, Google claimed its outcome could have a chilling effect on all online communications.

According to an Associated Press account Tuesday, Google's filing in US District Court in Manhattan alleged that Viacom's insistence that Google's YouTube unit stop allowing others to post its intellectual property "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression."

The Korean electronics maker showed off its biggest and fastest SSD in the 2.5" category, bringing its solid state hard drives ever closer to its HDDs in capacity.

Samples of the drive will go out to Samsung's clients in September, with release targeted for the end of the year. Also in development is a 1.8-inch version of the same drive, which is slated for fourth quarter 2008 availability.

In a scramble to regain position in a chaotic hardware marketplace, Via Technologies today introduced an ultra-mobile reference design based on its low-power CPU chips.

The company hopes its OpenBook computer assisted design (CAD) documents will persuade manufacturers to use Via motherboards and chips when creating new laptops. The Via framework is for a UMPC that can support up to 2 GB DDR2 DRAM and support a number of different HDDs or solid state drives.