Helio brings a Korean standout slider phone to the US
Helio increased its portfolio of handsets today with its release of the Mysto, a slider-style device produced exclusively for US distribution by Samsung.
The 3G CDMA device is based upon Samsung's U600 released last year. It has a 2.22" QVGA display, 106 MB of internal memory expandable to 4 GB via MicroSD, mono and A2DP stereo Bluetooth support, and an MPEG-4 video camera.
Oracle buys BEA Systems for $7.85 billion
At an asking price of nearly $8 billion, BEA Systems was finally talked into an Oracle buyout. But with Oracle's long history of software buyouts, will it cut BEA -- and its many business customers -- enough slack?
Oracle raised its offer, and at the crack of dawn this morning in California, we learned that this time, BEA Systems simply couldn't refuse it. With a deal in the works now for the database giant to acquire the middleware vendor for a whopping $7.85 billion, pending regulatory approval, the two combined "powerful masterbrands" may now be in a better position to fend off middleware rivals IBM and Microsoft.
Copyright Board denies SoundExchange rehearing on XM, Sirius royalties
The decision of how much performers should be compensated when their works are played on radio, drew one big step closer to a workable compromise last week, though now it's the collection agency that's raising the red flag.
In a dramatic change of stance, the US Copyright Royalties Board denied a petition from performance rights organization SoundExchange last week for a rehearing on the matter of a royalties agreement between the Board and Sirius and XM Satellite Radio. This after having been perceived throughout last year to have been firmly on SoundExchange's side in its efforts to boost royalties paid by Internet, terrestrial, and satellite radio.
Microsoft, JVC agree to cross-license patents
Exact details of the patents in the agreement were not disclosed, although the two companies say it covers a "broad range" of products either company offers.
Financial terms of the deal were also not disclosed, although the companies say that the agreement results in a net financial benefit for Microsoft. The two companies had already been collaborating on certain technologies in the past.
Analyst: Retail Web sites should focus on customers, not competition
Too often, retailers' Web sites don't work right, if at all...and they keep chasing after new customers instead of trying to retain their current ones. Are some big online retailers focusing too much on the competition at the expense of their own evolution?
NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - With retail Web sites that are too glitchy and search engines that don't always turn up the right stuff, a lot of retailers trying to sell online are still missing the boat with consumers, according to an analyst at Forrester Research.
Amazon.fr keeps free shipping, for now
Sun to spend $1B to acquire MySQL, will compete with Oracle, Microsoft
One of the principal products in the LAMP open source arsenal will become a Sun Microsystems product, possibly by the end of this quarter.
When discussing enterprise database installations worldwide, as of today, it will be impossible not to consider Sun Microsystems along with Microsoft and Oracle. This morning, Sun announced it has reached an agreement with MySQL -- which by some accounts may have become the producer of the most widely installed database, under everyone's noses -- in a deal expected to be closed as soon as this March.
Verizon expands V CAST Mobile TV coverage
Verizon's V CAST Mobile TV service, which uses MediaFLO to provide television entertainment to capable handsets has received a service upgrade in the areas surrounding New York City.
Included in the expansion is the greater part of Suffolk County including Lindenhurst, West Islip, Holbrook, Centereach, and from Coram east all the way to Riverhead, All of Staten Island, portions of Essex, Union, Passiac, and Morris Counties in New Jersey. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx will also receive a service enhancement.
Office 2008 for Mac hits store shelves
After four years of waiting, Mac users are finally able to get their hands on a new version of Microsoft's productivity suite for the platform.
The suite is a major step forward for those who prefer to use the Redmond company's applications for the Mac platform. Since its last update in 2004, much has changed on the Windows side: this effectively brings Apple customers up to speed.
Mattel wants popular Scrabble game removed from Facebook
Facebook has been asked by makers of the classic word game Scrabble to remove the online version of "Scrabulous" from the popular social networking site.
In North America, the rights to the game are owned by Hasbro Inc., the company which also owns Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Risk, Clue, and Magic: The Gathering. The rights to the game in the rest of the world are covered by Mattel Inc., the world's biggest toy company, who sent the demand to Facebook.
IBM to add Lotus support for iPhone, iPod Touch
The Microsoft rival plans to announce the software at its Lotusphere conference to be held next week.
The software will either be free for those who hold a Web-access license, or $39 USD for new users. It will essentially complete the business capabilities of the iPhone, which already supports Microsoft Exchange.
Intel earns 45% more in 2007 than in 2006
It was by any measure a stellar year for the world's leading microprocessor manufacturer, but what's disappointing investors this quarter is the disheartening news that 2007 is over.
It doesn't take much to disappoint Wall Street, and in recent days, investors are looking any excuse to justify a selloff that was probably well overdue anyway. But Intel has fully recovered from its last wave of restructuring, and shows no signs of future trouble. What it does show is some reduced growth -- not a pothole ahead, but not smooth sailing, either.
New Alienware notebook looks to appease gamers
Alienware's new Area 51 m15x gaming notebook will hopefully provide some balance in today's notebook news, offering graphical processing power over a small profile.
The 15.4-inch notebook can come with either an Intel Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme mobile processor, and an NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT or 8800M GTX GPU. Alienware also includes its own BinaryGFX technology, which allows for switching between the built-in and high performance graphics processors according to the user's demands.
Perspective: On the ground with Apple's MacBook Air
PERSPECTIVE -- Love him or hate him, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has the keen ability to get people excited about anything and everything, regardless if you even care what he's talking about.
SAN FRANCISCO (BetaNews) - I've attended a lot of press conferences and keynotes over the years, and none of them compare to a Macworld keynote when it comes to fervent enthusiasm and an almost cult-like atmosphere. During the keynote, it was amusing to even hear fellow members of the press have to pick their tongues off the ground when the MacBook Air was first introduced.
Analysts: MacBook Air will score with Windows and Mac users
As some analysts see it, Apple's 'Air' has something for just about everyone: gesture recognition, a dual-boot function, a full-fledged screen and keyboard, and possibly the slimmest PC notebook form factor anywhere.
Despite rumors to the contrary, Apple rolled out the MacBook Air notebook computer instead of an ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) at Macworld today -- and some industry analysts are already predicting that the dual-bootable Air will be a hit with Microsoft Windows users in addition to long-time Mac fans.
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