Analyst: Blu-ray Macs will premiere at Macworld
AppleInsider has posted predictions from American Technology Research analyst Shawn Wu that point to new Macs with Blu-ray drives premiering at Macworld on January 15.
Since Apple has held a seat on the Blu-ray consortium for years already, and CEO Steve Jobs is on the board of directors at Blu-ray supporter Disney, it seems that if Apple was to align with a next-gen format, Blu-ray would be favored.
Are Lenovo's laptops beating Acer and Apple to the punch?
By unveiling a new line of stylish laptops ahead of both CES and Macworld, Lenovo stands alone in the limelight today. But is there still room for another large player in the laptop space?
In unveiling a trio of design-conscious "IdeaPad" laptops for the consumer market, Lenovo today beat newfound competitors such as Dell and Acer to the punch by at least three days, and Apple by a couple of weeks.
French Health Ministry warns about heavy cell phone use
France's Ministry of Health made a statement yesterday warning citizens not to use their cell phones too much, although actual data on specific health risks remains inconclusive.
The statement advised against making calls when reception is poor or during high-speed travel. It also warned that phones should be kept away from "sensitive areas of the body" by using hands-free mode whenever possible.
Hitachi debuts 500GB laptop drives, but you can't buy them
If 320GB isn't enough storage for your mobile computing needs, Hitachi has a new option that offers a whopping 500GB of space, but with one caveat: it's bigger than standard laptop hard drives.
Hard disk manufacturers have been working hard to develop new technologies to pack ever more data into the smaller hard drives used in notebooks. While standard desktop drives are hitting the long-awaited 1 terabyte milestone, more consumers are opting for laptops instead, demanding similar storage capacities.
Motorola offers sneak peek at DH01 mobile TV
Motorola announced today that it will be showing off a new mobile media player at CES 2008 in Las Vegas next week that also acts as a mobile DVR.
The 4.3 inch screened DH01 will show live television, on demand video clips and DVR programming at 25 frames per second. According to Motorola, the device has a 5-minute memory buffer that allows for pause and replay functions on live television broadcasts.
China censoring foreign video sharing sites
In an obvious effort to keep its citizens from seeing content that it hasn't already pre-approved, the Chinese government is about to block video sites it doesn't control.
The new laws in China will take effect at the end of the month. Under the policy, Web sites that offer streaming video in the country will need to obtain a permit to operate. Applicants will need to be either state-owned or controlled to qualify.
Netflix partners with LG on streaming movie device
The movie rental service has decided to abandon its plans for its own set-top box, instead opting to offer its platform through a new device to be manufactured by LG.
A networked set-top box player will make its debut at CES 2008 next week, while actual retail rollout is slated for the second half of this year. The device provides Netflix a delivery method that would allow it to move beyond the computer screen as its current streaming movie offers.
Microsoft's planned obsolescence smacks Office 2003
It seems as though the planned obsolescence that Microsoft committed so blatantly in Vista is now impacting Office 2003, too, with the arrival of Service Pack 3.
If you need to access old Microsoft file formats for early versions of Word, Excel, or Powerpoint -- but you've suddenly and dramatically found yourself unable to do so -- there's an intentional reason from Microsoft behind that conundrum, according to a bulletin put out by Microsoft last month.
US ranks poorly as global privacy situation worsens
A London-based human rights watchdog group on surveillance and privacy has released its National Privacy Ranking for 2007, ranking the U.S, Russia, China and much of Southeast Asia at the bottom.
Privacy International ranked Greece, Romania and Canada as leaders in protecting their citizens' privacy.
Sears found to be using spyware to track visitors
Security researches are criticizing retailer Sears for not adequately describing its efforts to track the behaviors of those who provide the company with their contact information.
The process begins after the customer provides Sears.com with an e-mail address. An e-mail will appear in the customer's inbox inviting them to join a program called "My SHC Community."
CES 'Better Questions' contest: Win Vista Ultimate, CS3, Zune and more
In preparation for CES 2008, which kicks off in Las Vegas on Sunday, we have decided to give away a number of products that have been gathering dust around the office. All you need to do to win is come up with a good question.
The rules are easy: leave a comment below with a question we should ask at CES. This question can be directed at a specific manufacturer or general technology. It should be something that would be interesting to other BetaNews readers and that it is possible to answer. We will post answers to the winning questions as we ask them during the event.
FCC relaxes rules for digital TV transition due to testing overlap
The FCC has posted its third periodic review of the rules and policies regarding the conversion from analog to digital television, showing a further degree of slackening in regulations.
In light of FCC commissioner Adelstein's criticism of the transition from analog to digital TV, saying that the Commission lacked a strategic plan, it appears that the FCC is now even becoming hazy on the February 17, 2009 deadline date mandated by Congress.
CES Trend #6: The rush to render the iPhone obsolete
No list of trends would be complete without a mention of Apple's iPhone, a device that many handset manufacturers will be looking to beat in 2008 in order to attract a consumer that is ever more interested in advanced wireless services. Many of those devices will debut at CES next week.
Since its launch in June of last year, iPhone sales have nearly topped 2 million. While the closed nature of Apple's business model has kept the device out of the hands of many consumers, the iPhone no doubt has sparked a revolution in the entire mobile phone industry.
High-speed cell phones get delayed by Qualcomm court ruling
In a court decision that could dampen deployment of high-speed wireless Internet in the US, Qualcomm has been banned from shipping cell phone chipsets using three technologies judged as belonging to archrival Broadcom.
Many consumers, businesses, and wireless carriers in the US desiring WCDMA or UMTA Internet phones based on Qualcomm chipsets will now need to wait a while, due to a new court ruling announced today in a patent dispute brought against Qualcomm by competing Broadcom.
Vonage settles last of patent infringement cases
The last day of 2007 brought some relief to struggling Internet telephone provider Vonage, as the company settled the last patent infringement lawsuit against it, this time with telecommunications giant Nortel.
AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Nextel had all sued Vonage earlier in the year. Verizon was the first to sue the company, and for a period left Vonage unable to accept new subscribers. In the end, Vonage was forced to pay $80 million each to Verizon and Sprint, while the cost of its AT&T settlement was not yet disclosed.
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