Sony decides to dump money-losing rear-projection TVs
The technology that spurred the big-screen television phenomenon among consumers took another step towards oblivion on Thursday.
Sony has been losing money on rear-projection televisions for quite a while, as consumers opt for the smaller form factors of LCD and plasma sets. In a statement this morning, the company said it would focus on LCD and OLED televisions from here on out.
Google Toolbar back in court after partial remand
While it looked like Google could walk away from a potentially damaging infringement case against its browser-based Toolbar, a district court judge found the reasoning behind a full Google victory may have been flawed.
On the day after Christmas, a Wisconsin appeals court judge ruled that a portion of a patent infringement decision in favor of defendant Google may be in error. At issue is an interpretation of how the underlying database technology should work when an add-in application enables extra hyperlinks in a Web page other than those already hard-coded into the page.
FT: Fox, Apple sign movie rental deal
In a breakthrough agreement, another major movie studio will add its feature films to the iTunes lineup, but this time under unusual and potentially groundbreaking terms.
According to the Financial Times, sources are indicating that in order to secure 20th Century-Fox's wide range of feature films for Apple's iTunes service, the Cupertino company has apparently agreed to a rental model.
Scotland plans in-game public service ads
The Scottish government recently announced that its anti-drinking and driving campaign will utilize video game ad space.
Public Service Announcements (PSAs) in the past have had a very low impact on behavior. An estimate of the size of the audience for the US Ad Council's drunk driving campaign earlier in the decade detailed just how limited the influence was. 902 television ads were shown in 30 markets, and data showed that an average of only 11.2% of households watched even a single PSA.
Russia launches GPS-like satellites on Christmas Day
As an unusual Christmas present to the world, Russia sent the last three of its GPS-compatible GLONASS satellites into space on Tuesday, whose missions range from global military tracking to keeping an eye on civilian-owned pet dogs and cats.
While most nations sat practically still during the traditional late December lull, Russia sent the rest of the world a present on Christmas Day by shooting the last three of its GPS (Global Position System)-compatible GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) satellites into space.
Vonage and AT&T settled one suit early last month
The two parties in one of the most recent patent lawsuits concerning Vonage's VoIP technology waited almost two months to tell the public they had actually settled their dispute just days after it was filed.
Last November 7, just over three weeks after AT&T jumped on the patent suit bandwagon, filing a claim against voice-over-IP provider Vonage, the two companies settled AT&T's claim for an undisclosed amount. The admission of that settlement came just before Christmas, when fewer folks would have been paying attention.
Unusually apathetic response from Google to 'sharing' complaints
An experiment started two weeks ago by Google to leverage its Talk application as a way of sharing news feeds from Google Reader, has been met with some derision. What may be more surprising, though, is the company's response.
On the surface, it might seem pretty straightforward: If you've opted to share portions of your Google Reader feeds list with selected friends, then friends on your Google Talk and Gmail chat will be able to receive what you're sharing. That was the intention of the company's introduction on December 14 of an interoperability feature that links shared friends on one Google application to shared friends on another.
Sharp looks to Toshiba to strengthen LCD TV business
With competition ever more fierce in the LCD TV market, some retailers are finding the most viable option is to join forces.
Toshiba and Sharp this morning announced the expansion of their pre-existing accord in production, in a further effort to advance their market positions in the sector. As one example, Toshiba will use Sharp's LCD panels in its 32 inch and larger sets, while Sharp will use Toshiba's computer chips in its own televisions.
Red Hat CEO replaces himself with Delta Airlines exec
In a shocking turn of events, Matthew Szulik suddenly stepped down this week as the head of Red Hat. With his company in solid financial shape, will its new CEO -- a former top exec at Delta Airlines -- change course in mid-flight?
Red Hat's long-time guiding light Matthew Szulik this week unexpectedly stepped down from the top spot at open source software company Red Hat, announcing that James Whitehurst -- a former Delta Airlines executive but also a computer programmer and Linux hobbyist -- will fill his shoes.
New Chinese law finds Yahoo in copyright violation
Chinese courts handed the world's recording industry a significant victory Thursday, finding the search giant's Chinese music service was committing copyright infringement.
Under new laws passed by the country last year, a Beijing court found that Yahoo China violated copyright by allowing users to search, download, and play pirated music from its Web site.
Cisco's crown prince exits, triggering an unexpected reorg
The man seen by many as representing the future of Cisco has announced a Christmas shocker: He's leaving the company, apparently having spotted a brighter opportunity for himself on the other side of the revolving door.
Network equipment edifice Cisco Systems seems to be melting down from the friction coming from its more and more revolving door this year. Charles H. Giancarlo, once widely seen as the top choice for Cisco's next CEO, abruptly announced that he is leaving his job as chief development officer.
Microsoft makes good on EU protocol delivery promise
It's the start of a new era for the company that once argued that giving away the keys to its protocols would somehow reveal the secret of Windows itself: Microsoft has made its first obligatory agreement with a key open source provider.
Complying with its European Union obligations to make Windows interoperability information completely available to companies and organizations that it might otherwise consider to be competitors, Microsoft yesterday executed an historically important agreement with Samba, a major provider of open source interop tools for network administrators.
Blockbuster raises its online rental rates
Essentially ceding its battle for subscribers to Netflix, the company said it planned to raise rates as much as 40 percent.
While it had been performing adequately by some estimates for at least a few years against its larger competitor in the online movie rental space, storefront giant Blockbuster has fallen onto hard times financially, recently overhauling its leadership.
How much will Oracle put up to regain its database stronghold?
Oracle may be willing to spend a record sum -- over $6 billion -- to acquire a middleware provider it believes will give it a permanent leg up on Microsoft's SQL Server. Does it still take a huge M&A like this to stay on par with Microsoft?
Database and applications software giant Oracle is trying hard to buy BEA Systems, a big-time middleware maker -- and Oracle is willing to shell out $6.6 billion for the privilege. Business customers could stand to gain by getting a robust and integrated alternative to the Microsoft SQL Server environment.
Patch to a patch of a Microsoft patch needs patching
In the latest incident of a now-chronic problem that has been bugging Microsoft all year, a recent security patch now causes IE6 to crash in Windows XP...again.
In a classic Tim Conway comedy sketch, he plays a corpse being prepared for a funeral by mortician Harvey Korman. But one limb of Conway's body simply insists on sticking up in the air, and whenever Korman finally retracts it, another one pops up elsewhere.
Most Commented Stories
BetaNews, your source for breaking tech news, reviews, and in-depth reporting since 1998.
Regional iGaming Content
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.