EU leaders clash with Google over the meaning of 'personal data'
With the EU crafting new laws governing how data collectors such as Google protect users' personal data, lawmakers there are clashing with US business leaders over how far that protection can and should extend.
A document currently being drafted by a group called the Article 29 Working Party (Art. 29) may extend the formal definition of "personal data" with regard to legal protections granted by the European Union government to its member states' citizens. Specifically, despite arguments by its own authors to the contrary, the document would extend the definition to include any kind of data that can be traced back to an individual.
Flexible e-paper displays move to mobile phones
Polymer Vision has announced the production of its Readius 3G phone with a 5-inch foldable e-paper display.
Prototypes of the device were shown in 2005, but the device is a product of over ten years of research and development. The company began working on organic flexible displays under Philips, and then continued as a spinoff company under the name Polymer Vision, partially funded by venture capital. Rollable displays became the company's specialty in 2002.
Google-funded DNA testing to launch in Europe later this week
Maybe you're related to John Lennon, Hillary Clinton, Genghis Khan, or the Iberians of ancient Spain? Beyond providing social networking, several Google-funded Web sites targeted at North Americans will test your DNA and may give you some genetic clues.
With the demo of Web-enabled DNA testing later this week at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Google's DNA Project -- the basis of a unique type of social networking -- will extend itself to Europe. There, one might locate Dr. Bryan Sykes, a DNA genetics researcher who once found a Florida accountant named Tom Robinson to be a descendant of Genghis Khan.
Layoffs at Yahoo likely to come next Tuesday
A rumor brought to light this morning by notorious financial insider and blogger Henry Blodget may this time be true, as Yahoo's response appears to warn of bad news ahead in its next restructuring move.
A Yahoo spokesperson's statement to BetaNews this morning appears to indicate that the company may be preparing to announce some tough news during its upcoming quarterly analysts' call next Tuesday. Specifically, the spokesperson declined to deny a rumor posted to Henry Blodget's Silicon Alley Insider blog yesterday evening, saying the company was preparing to dismiss as many as 2,500 employees -- about 17% of its present workforce.
Red Zune, meet pink iPod nano
Sadly, the days of showing your love for someone with a mixtape are all but gone. However, device manufacturers look to be gearing up for similar Valentine's day gifting by offering appropriately-colored portable media players.
Apple announced today a new pink iPod Nano, available with 8 GB of storage for $199. If sales of this particular iPod are not phenomenal, expect to see them repurposed as breast cancer awareness iPods.
Virtualized 3D GPUs, platform heterogeneity part of Microsoft strategy
What Microsoft characterized this morning as a "new" virtualization strategy looks curiously like its existing one, only now it has a new partner and an acquired company to help bring it about.
As BetaNews reported yesterday would be likely, today's announced acquisition of Calista Technologies by Microsoft will give a future virtualization product the capability of producing server-based 3D graphics for network clients that don't have 3D cards. And as a key Calista official confirmed today, that graphics capability will be DirectX-compatible.
TiVo-powered Comcast DVRs finally reach Boston
McAfee's 'Total Protection' includes SafeBoot technology
At long last, McAfee is catching up with its competitors in the security space in the field of data encryption, with the rollout yesterday of a new feature that the company appears to have acquired last November.
McAfee's Total Protection for Data, rolled out on Monday, includes encryption technology obtained through McAfee's recent buyout of SafeBoot. In announcing the $350 million acquisition last October, McAfee made its intentions on that score quite clear.
Sanyo offloads cell phone arm to Kyocera, but brand will survive
You'll still be able to get a cell phone with Sanyo's name on it, if that's what you want. But now, the troubled Japanese electronics manufacturer will be selling its mobile phone business to Kyocera for around $374 million.
Less than a month after amending its earnings since 2000 to show bigger losses, Sanyo announced today that it will sell its mobile phone operations to Kyocera in a deal valued at about $374 million. The Sanyo brand name will reportedly survive, however.
IBM adds support for a third Linux flavor: Ubuntu
The latest Ubuntu distribution of Linux will support an entire new Lotus office productivity suite from IBM. Red Hat said it will support part of the suite: Notes and Lotus' upcoming Symphony, which is still in beta.
As part of a product introduction today around Lotus Symphony and other members of a new desktop suite, IBM today announced first-time backing for a third Linux distribution beyond Red Hat and Novell's SuSE Linux: namely, Ubuntu, a distribution put out by Canonical, Inc. and also supported by Sun.
Maryland governor plans to drop electronic voting, buy optical scanners
Making good on a campaign promise to overhaul Maryland's suspect electronic voting system, the governor there proposed an initial outlay in the state budget toward the purchase of scanners to replace its $65 million touch-screen voting systems.
As the Baltimore Sun first reported on Saturday, in his state's budget officially submitted to the Maryland legislature this morning, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has proposed an outlay of $6.8 million toward the purchase of optical-scan voting machines which utilize hard-copy paper ballots.
Interview: Universal EVP Ken Graffeo says HD DVD is here to stay
In an exclusive interview with BetaNews, Ken Graffeo, executive vice president for Universal Studios and also the co-president of HD DVD, provided a behind-the-scenes look at the high-def industry and said that, despite the rumors, HD DVD is here to stay. But he does leave the door open to ending the format war by coming to some sort of an agreement with Blu-ray.
Nate Mook: Let's start with a little background. You work for Universal, but you are also the co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group. Does this create a conflict of interest?
Guitar Hero franchise nets a billion
NPD group has reported that American retail sales of Activision's popular Guitar Hero music simulator franchise have put it among the top-selling game franchises of all time, earning over $1 billion in 26 months. Activision has reported sales of 14 million units and 5 million additional song downloads since the title's initial release in 2005. The fiscal year of 2007 ended with the company posting $1.5 billion net revenues.
Several sources report that the Pokemon series, which consists of over 30 individual titles holds the position of "best-selling video game of all time." Other sources say the Mario Brothers series is the best-seller of all time, with a total sales figure somewhere in the neighborhood of 195 million units.
EA experiments further with free, ad-subsidized games
EA announced today that it will be releasing a free online version of its Battlefield franchise, driven by advertisements and micro-transactions called Battlefield Heroes.
The main difference between Battlefield Heroes and FIFA Online is that there is no limit to the potential for in-game advertisements in the former. Ads in the football game are limited to only those companies who already are FIFA sponsors. The ads, fortunately, will appear in the front-end and not interfere with the aesthetics of the game.
Banned Turkish YouTube visitors won't see Armenian journalist's death
The official explanation for a Turkish court once again banning citizens' access to YouTube over the weekend was the presence of new videos insulting the name of one of Turkey's founding fathers. But that video's been there awhile, and there could be another reason.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is as genuine a hero to Turkey as George Washington is to America. Considered the father of his country, Ataturk laid the foundation for Turkey's metamorphosis away from the Ottoman Empire that was the focus of World War I, to an active component of a modern European Union. As a beloved figure in his country, defacing his name or his image is illegal there, under laws similar to those being considered in the US with regard to defacing the American flag.
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