One more go-round for Yahoo Video, this time in widescreen
Wal-Mart won't stock HD DVD movies, players past June
Following in the footsteps of Netflix and Best Buy publicly siding with Blu-ray in the next-generation DVD format war, Wal-Mart announced Friday it will no longer be stocking HD DVD players or movies by June.
The decision was announced on Wal-Mart's Check Out blog by retail buyer Susan Chronister who is "excited" that it will make her job easier.
Novell takes steps to harden security for shoppers
It is not an area of business where you'd normally think of Novell providing the infrastructure. But business and retail transaction security is becoming a burgeoning business for the company that helped create the PC network.
As more shoppers use their ATM debit cards for both small and large transactions, the need for tighter security to protect shoppers' identities and bank information has forced companies to scramble to develop security methods that adequately protect users. To that end yesterday, Novell announced it's upgrading its Sentinel security management platform for retailers.
iPhone users show affinity for Google searches
Maybe it's due to how easy Apple has made it to search the web via Safari on the device, but the number of search queries on the iPhone are shocking Google.
When Google first saw the results, executives actually asked its engineers to ensure that there wasn't an error in the calculations. The logs were run through again and the result was the same.
Sprint plans WiMAX soft launch, but budget finalization still looms
The products are out there for Sprint's WiMAX 4G wireless network, and the network service finally might follow, according to officials of Sprint and the WiMAX Forum.
At a press conference this week in Barcelona, Spain, WiMAX Forum President Ron Resnick counted almost 50 exhibitors as on hand at the Mobile World Congress with WiMAX products, initially ranging from modems to USB dongles.
Comcast: 42% of digital subscribers use high-def, DV-R
At CES 2008 last month, it was surprising to see Comcast as a brand being tossed around with the likes of Matsushita, Motorola, and Sony. Now it's time to see if its video-on-demand strategy is starting to pay off.
Comcast today reported substantial increases in revenue and income in 2007, crediting this growth to a combination of acquisitions and operating results. Although the cable provider's growth in broadband and digital voice subscriberships slowed at the end of the year, Comcast also saw progress in areas such as high-definition (HD) TV and video on demand (VoD), where it is making new investments, including with respect to a project dubbed Infinity.
Sun expands its catalog of pay-by-the-hour service apps
To help companies and universities looking for computing power on an as-needed basis, Sun Microsystems today added 14 new applications and services to its Network.com Application Catalog.
Network.com's Sun Grid Compute Utility is a service for companies and universities who don't have the resources or don't want to spend large amounts of money to create a new data infrastructure just for limited-use applications. Rather than force customers down that path, Sun charges users of Network.com $1 per CPU hour used, on a strictly pay-per-use basis with no long-term contract necessary.
EC commissioner proposes doubling terms of performers' copyright
"Oldies" music remains popular among many generations, which could present a window of opportunity for record companies in Europe to take advantage of royalties terms expiring after 50 years. Today, the EC may be looking to shut that window.
While US lawmakers continue to debate whether terrestrial radio stations should, for the first time in their history, pay royalties to performers of the music they play, in Europe, performers have always gotten some kind of a cut, especially from countries where public radio is subsidized through licenses. This morning, the popular European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Charlie McCreevy, proposed extending the term of copyright for performers appearing in recorded music from 50 to 95 years.
Google updates its Android SDK
Google released on Wednesday an updated version of its Android SDK, including a new user interface that separates it from Apple's iPhone, and layout animations for iPhones.
Initial betas of the SDK included a user interface that many commented was quite similar to that of the iPhone. With this update, m5-rc14, the UI is beginning to take on a look of its own.
Cell phone games could get Wii-like controls
Gesturetek, the company whose technology was licensed to make the mildly successful PlayStation EyeToy, as well as the Xbox 360 Live Camera, is expanding its controller vision (no pun intended) beyond console-based games.
The company's FunCam doesn't venture too far from territory it's covered before. Gesturetek couples a camera with a projector, resulting in a portable dedicated game which can be re-purposed to behave as an interactive advertising solution.
Macrovision's software arm to become stand-alone company
What originally appeared to be a move by Macrovision to build a rights protection empire surprisingly appears to have lost an essential element: its PC software.
Today, private equity firm Thoma Cressey Bravo has announced that it will be purchasing Macrovision's Software Business unit for approximately $200 million cash. The group owns more than 10 software companies, which specialize in enterprise management and planning solutions, supply chain software and business data systems.
VoIP phone offers WiMAX connectivity
Three companies are set to use the backdrop of the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to debut a device that can use WiMAX technology to make calls.
The device has been co-developed by Tokyo-based companies NetIndex and Kaga Electronics, and Israel company Runcom. The phone is fully complaint with WiMAX, and will provide full VoIP functionality.
Could video-on-demand overtake HD discs by 2011?
According to analysts, just three years from now, 129 million people worldwide will be subscribing to Direct-to-Home Video, most likely with high definition. Will HD optical drives plummet into a niche market along the way?
The ongoing battle between the rivaling Blu-ray and HD DVD formats for high-definition optical drives keeps capturing huge attention, even though the combined Blu-ray and HD DVD market today only consists of a few million units sold, give or take a few depending on who is doing the counting.
OSU thought it already turned over defendants' IDs to RIAA
The unfortunate combination of an attachment error and a week-long sickness by the school's attorney gave the appearance that the school was ignoring a court order, according to an admission made by a university official to BetaNews.
Multiple press and Internet sources reported throughout the week that Oklahoma State University has been attempting to stonewall the Recording Industry Association of America by refusing to turn over a list of students' names suspected of trading in unlicensed files. Those students are currently listed as anonymous "John Does" in a federal court trial brought forth by RIAA members.
Struggling Alcatel-Lucent to handle AT&T's 3G expansion
Quickly following up the announcement made earlier this month that AT&T would be expanding its 3G network by 80 cities to nearly 350 US Markets, Alcatel-Lucent announced today that it will be in charge of supplying it.
To facilitate AT&T's network growth, Alcatel-Lucent will provide its UMTS/HSDPA Distributed Node B solution, which allows less intrusive 3G radio deployments to be placed in more locations.
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