Latest Technology News

With FLAG telecom now reporting damages to the FALCON undersea cable that actually occurred on January 23, one week before the four publicized cable cuts, experts are now beginning to reveal just how expansive the disruptions have been.

The severence of undersea cables FLAG Europe-Asia and SEA-ME-WE 4 about 8.3 km off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt, affected at least 60 million users in India, 12 million in Pakistan, 6 million in Egypt, and 4.7 Million in Saudi Arabia, according to DU telecom Executive Director Mahesh Jaishanker, in a statement to the United Arab Emirates-based Khaleej Times.

Continue reading →

Last November, we wondered what IBM expects to come out of its acquisition of Canadian business intelligence software provider Cognos. This morning we found out, as Big Blue enters the "business optimization" business.

NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) -- At a press conference here today, the recently combined IBM/Cognos organization put forth a fresh challenge to business software competitors SAP and Oracle, unveiling well over a dozen new products.

Continue reading →

Time Warner's new Chief Executive Officer announced the outline for AOL's restructuring, which may include divesting from the AOL access business, Time Warner cable unit, and even New Line Cinema.

In the company's quarterly earnings call this morning, newly appointed president and CEO of Time Warner Inc. Jeff Bewkes stressed the importance of increasing profitability by improving cost management across the company. In addition to a vaguely described 15% cost cut at the corporate level, Bewkes' team is working on a plan that would divide AOL's subscriber unit from its audience unit.

Continue reading →

When one vendor acquires another, does a long-term partnership beforehand help out with systems integration? In the case of IBM's buyout of Cognos, the answer is a big "yes," IBM officials said today.

In an interview with BetaNews at its Information on Demand (IoD) press conference here, IBM's Marc Andrews maintained that his company hasn't faced any challenges in integrating Cognos' business intelligence (BI) products with existing IBM software and hardware.

Continue reading →

The company silently slipped in a fix for a critical vulnerability that prevents PDF files from being used in code execution attacks, eWEEK reports.

Immunity confirmed the fix by reverse-engineering the patch, and discovered a fix for a stack overflow issue, normally afforded a "highly critical rating" by Adobe.

Continue reading →

The workhorse Nokia N82 mobile phone has been generating a lot of buzz on the Web, especially now that it's available in a steely black, but US consumers are still wondering when the phone will be available here through carriers.

US consumers will only be able to purchase an unlocked black N82 direct from Nokia for $629, but for now, the phone will only work on T-Mobile's and AT&T's EDGE networks. The black edition of the N82 will be released on Tuesday, February 12.

Continue reading →

Massive public protests last month against Nokia's decision to move one of its major manufacturing facilities from Germany to Romania did little to stir the company. But a recall of federal subsidies by a leading bank there has apparently stirred the giant.

The gulf between Germany and Finland-based cell phone maker Nokia only grew wider today, as the company has now become the epitome of that country's growing outsourcing problem. Bochum, located in the westernmost state of Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW), is where Nokia operates a key manufacturing facility that has already seen massive layoffs, and which now Nokia plans to close. One of the country's leading financial institutions for business development, NRW Bank, is also located there.

Continue reading →

Multiverse, founded by ex-Netscape employees in 2004, is one of several massively multi-player online games that seeks to develop an economic structure in virtual space. The company has created in its virtual world a version of Times Square, arguably the real-life ad space mecca.

Times Square has over 40 million unique visitors annually, who take approximately 100 million photographs. Advertising Age estimates the billboard value of Times Square alone at $69 million. Add into that the as-of-yet unquantifiable value of tourist-aggregated advertising -- Bystander videos of a Target publicity stunt in Times Square got as many as 19,300 views on YouTube -- and the New York City location becomes more of an advertising ecosystem.

Continue reading →

It's not just for short, tight Web videos anymore. LG Mobile's popular Viewty handset has just become the first mobile phone to be certified for recording video using DivX compression.

The list of DivX certified devices continues to grow, but the list of mobile phones is still decidedly brief. The other handsets certified to support DivX, both made by Samsung -- the SGH-F500 and SGH-F508 -- only support DivX playback.

Continue reading →

Vizio fell to third place in holiday quarter LCD TV shipments, while Sony jumped from fourth to first.

It marks the first time that the Japanese electronics maker has ever been on the top of the list in DisplaySearch's quarterly survey. The firm said that its lead was built upon its top showings in the 40-44", 45-49" and 50-54" categories.

Continue reading →

Although the report does not specify a specific partner, it is being viewed as an important strategic move in Google's fight for market share against Baidu.

Three global music companies will be represented, as well as dozens of smaller players. Universal is said to be confirmed to join the effort, and talks are ongoing with EMI and Sony BMG. Warner is said to also be interested, but it appears that there have been no solid talks, according to sources.

Continue reading →

While digital revenues were up 41 percent from last year, Warner Music's overall profits dropped 45 percent and revenues remained stagnant.

Digital music now accounts for 14% of Warner Music Group's total revenue, showing the continuing move by consumers from physical to digital formats. However, this also means the company is making far less money selling music.

Continue reading →

The Contacts feature in Microsoft Outlook 2007 gets a huge overhaul, with a new version released this morning that includes a Business Contact Manager. But that new feature will be an option, and for some, a costly upgrade.

Since it was introduced as part of Exchange 5.5, Microsoft Outlook has had the ability to record contacts on a simple database stored on the client's system. As time went on, that contacts list was shared with Windows...for better or worse. But the contacts system has essentially been a flat-file database, not a relational one. So while you could group contacts according to company, you couldn't exactly use that list as a way to maintain information that pertains to those contacts.

Continue reading →

CBS looks to strengthen its already substantial advertising network by adding text message ads to its portfolio.

While most associate CBS with its namesake television network, it already had a decently sized billboard advertising network. When Viacom and CBS split, the company received the advertising arm that was part of Viacom, which also was a player in the billboard space.

Continue reading →

Amazon this week began offering Microsoft's HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 for only $79.99, but those wanting to take advantage of the deal may be too late, as the online retailer is currently sold out.

The $80 price tag follows a price cut in early December that made the drive available for just $129. It's not clear if the deal was a one-time offering from Amazon, or whether other retailers will follow suit. Making it all the more enticing, Amazon's 6 free HD DVD deal is also applicable to the Xbox 360 add-on.

Continue reading →