Windows Live OneCare randomly expires
Microsoft's Windows support forum found a throng of users yesterday complaining of their Windows Live OneCare subscriptions inexplicably showing up as having been terminated.
This left many scrambling to find out whether OneCare was still providing them with updates, firewall, and antivirus protection, or if Microsoft had forgotten about them.
Latest Firefox beta passes Acid2 test, IE8 claims to pass also
After a screenshot on MSDN appeared to show an IE8 beta passing an accepted Web standards test, some came to the only conclusion they could: that the test had to be broken.
A test created by the Web Standards Project advocacy group for visually gauging the compliance of Web browsers with published standards, appears to have been passed by a beta of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8, according to a recent post on the IE developer team's blog. And a test this morning by BetaNews of Mozilla's Firefox 3.0 Beta 2 for Windows Vista, released on Wednesday, clearly shows it passes as well.
Mozilla needs a few good beta testers
The company is looking to reach out to the community of users of its software by building a mailing list of those interested in beta testing software.
Mozilla is currently in the midst of testing out its next release of Firefox, however the company is apparently planning ahead for future products. Testers will be responsible with putting release candidate and developer builds through their paces before shipment.
Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google settle gambling ads charges with DOJ
The three largest Internet advertising firms will pay a total of $31 million to the US Government, settling allegations by the Justice Dept. that they provided advertising services for online gambling sites.
In the terms of their settlement released today, Microsoft has agreed to forfeit $4.5 million, and Yahoo and Google will each pay $3 million.
Think Secret settles with Apple, shuts down
Apple was handed a minor victory on Thursday as the rumor site agreed to shut down, however the company will not get the identities of Think Secret's sources.
Think Secret was run by Nick Ciarelli, who started the site at the age of 13 in 1999. When Apple sued him, he was still in college attending Harvard, and the revelation that he was actually a kid for all intents and purposes shocked the media.
FTC clears Google + DoubleClick, says privacy isn't a big problem
Perhaps this morning's FTC blessing of Google's intended merger with DoubleClick was no surprise, but a read of the final decision reveals an astonishing reason: The Commission claims it wouldn't really have the authority to stop it.
By a 4-1 vote, the US Federal Trade Commission voted this morning to approve the pending merger between contextual ad giant Google and display ad giant DoubleClick, lifting one of the major roadblocks to the deal finally taking place.
Latest AOL buy spells more ad rivalry with Microsoft
In the same week that Microsoft made a half-billion-dollar deal with Viacom, AOL has announced it's closed a merger deal in the advertising space. Could greater intrusiveness into consumer behavior, and higher ad prices, ultimately follow?
Long ago, it seems AOL was known as an Internet service provider, while Microsoft was considered a software vendor. But AOL's announcement this week of its completed buyout of Trigo, together with Microsoft's $500 million-plus pact with Viacom, signify ever intensifying rivalry between the two budding advertising and entertainment empires.
Congress to debate lifting broadcast radio's royalty exemption
Since the dawn of the musical era in radio, broadcasters have been free from paying royalties to musical performers. Radio was once the bands' ticket to the big leagues. That may change if two congressmen have their way.
In a hearing last July, Rep. Howard Berman (D - Calif.) made it extremely clear that he believed the fact that terrestrial broadcast radio doesn't compensate performers for the songs they play, and never have, is a clear and present danger to the lives and well-being of a multitude of performers who may literally lie destitute in nursing homes today.
How buying an Aquos gets you a Vudu
New video on demand service Vudu has announced that its set-top boxes will be made available for free with the purchase of select Sharp AQUOS LCD TVs.
New video on demand service Vudu, which just one week ago announced it would offer new release movie streamsday and date with DVD releases, has unveiled a special partnership with CE manufacturer Sharp.
Judge rules for MPAA in TorrentSpy case
A judge ruled against the BitTorrent site in its case against the MPAA this week, accusing it of tampering with evidence.
The court found that TorrentSpy deleted or renamed threads and categories that infringed on copyrights, and deleted the IP addresses of its users. While termination is a rarely used sanction, the court said TorrentSpy's actions were "sufficiently extraordinary" to warrant it.
Analysts: Keep cell phone games simple
In light of a recent Parks Associates analysis of mobile and portable gaming trends, a series of casual games have hit the market for cellular handsets and portable media devices.
Mobile handsets have typically been a repository for casual games, previously because of hardware limitations, but now because of the changing habits of the handset user. The Parks Associates study released yesterday, entitled "The New Frontier: Portable and Mobile Gaming," shows that even though multi-player and 3D games like those utilizing QualCOMM's BREW look impressive on new handsets, the real money is still in simple, low-investment time-wasters.
Mozilla releases Firefox 3.0 Beta 2, new features premiere
The next version of the world's most popular alternative Web browser is taking shape, with a more stable Beta 2 released yesterday. Added to the feature set are some new conveniences you may wonder how you managed to do without.
Until recently, test versions for the next edition of Firefox -- codenamed "Gran Paradiso" -- have been interesting but not altogether stable, which isn't surprising for builds that were clearly labeled "alpha." But yesterday, Mozilla sprung the trap on the Beta 2 release of Firefox 3.0, and early on, BetaNews noticed the improvements the organization had long been promising now appear to be working more solidly.
The GSM overseas wireless market heats up for US customers
AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint Nextel, look out! European companies with unfamiliar names to many Americans, now offer much cheaper and more convenient GSM cellular services to US residents traveling abroad.
NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - As AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and other major US wireless carriers move further into GSM, they're encountering some real competition from small start-ups such as Call in Europe, which offer US residents who are traveling in Europe a much better deal on cell phones that will work overseas.
Nero 8 update offers Blu-ray and HD DVD authoring
Multimedia suite Nero has received an update which enables authoring of both Blu-ray and HD DVD.
Popular multimedia management software Nero's newest version, Nero 8 has been certified for authoring and playback of writable Blu-ray Disc Multimedia Video (BDMV) in addition to HD DVD content authoring on DVD-R/W.
Verizon Wireless compensates customers for 'unlimited' usage cap fiasco
More than 13,000 former subscribers of Verizon Wireless' Internet service who found their accounts terminated due to alleged misuse, started receiving refunds for their equipment costs this week.
As first reported by BetaNews in October, the New York Attorney General's office went after the company over misleading advertising surrounding its NationalAccess and BroadbandAccess products.
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