Senate votes to consider FISA bill with telco immunity
A procedural hurdle that would have stopped debate on a controversial amendment to the FISA law failed in the US Senate early this afternoon.
By a vote of 76-10, the US Senate has voted to consider an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that contains a controversial provision granting telecommunications companies immunity from federal prosecution for having cooperated with the government in surveillance operations.
Act IV: Nortel drags Vonage back to court
The networking company says that Vonage is violating nine of its patents, including those related to emergency and information calls, as well as click-to-call functionality.
Just when it seemed Vonage might be able to spend the winter out of court, it finds itself dragged back in. Nortel filed suit against the VoIP provider last Friday in US District Court for the State of Delaware, seeking an injunction against it to prevent further use of what Nortel claims to be its technologies.
Alltel to convert voice to text messages
Alltel Wireless Corp. will launch a new feature on Friday that allows voice messages to be converted to SMS text messages.
The mobile company is using voice recognition software, much like that used in automated 411 lines and telephone bank services, with the aim being to provide a hands-free method of texting.
Amazon Kindle selling on eBay for over $1,000
Those wishing to receive an Amazon Kindle book reader before Christmas are resorting to auction site eBay, and paying a 200 percent premium in the process.
Despite mediocre reviews from well-known technology pundits Walt Mossberg and David Pogue, consumers are eager to get their hands on the new device. The $399 Kindle has sold out from Amazon, and the company has stopped giving estimated ship dates.
More Google users interested in cricket than iPhone, Paris Hilton
If the world's interests can truly be encapsulated by the end-of-year Google Zeitgeist rankings, then perhaps it's time for the media to re-evaluate its priorities as British sports appear to outrank some American celebrities.
Since 2001, Google has been releasing lists of search trends and patterns culled from aggregate search data, which it calls Zeitgeist. Friday we got to see what everyone has been asking about all year.
GameStop to offer rainchecks for Wii consoles
While it might not be as good as actually getting a Wii for Christmas, Nintendo and GameStop have joined forces to help consumers get their hand on one...eventually.
"Tens of thousands" of rain checks will be available through the video game retailer for those who agree to pay for the full $249 price of the popular gaming console up front. The rain check would be redeemable in January.
Ohio finds more vulnerabilities in voting systems
In another indictment of the reliability of electronic voting systems put in place since the 2000 federal elections debacle, a report released Friday shows some Ohio tallies could be rendered inaccurate using tools as simple as a magnet.
The integrity of electronic voting systems has been a key issue in Ohio, where the last two presidential elections have generated considerable controversy, and where many believe the real outcomes remain in doubt. In November 2006, Jennifer Brunner was elected Secretary of State there mostly on the promise of restoring voting integrity to the state.
Can 11 million PS3s bring Sony CE back into black?
In an interview published over the weekend in Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kazuo Hirai said he expects global PS3 sales to top 11 million by the end of March.
While hitting the 11 million mark won't put the PS3 above Nintendo and Microsoft, it does bring Sony closer to its rivals, which is important to encourage development on the platform. The company recently slashed the price of its software development kit.
Will powerline home networking finally sizzle at CES?
With iPod- and MP3-enabled home networked audio systems now launched by multiple vendors, and a major test by DirecTV reportedly set for early in 2008, will networking on powerlines actually start to shine at this year's CES?
With CES just a few short weeks away now, people are giving more thought to what trends we'll see. Some say that powerline -- a type of network that runs across inexpensive electrical wiring instead of cable, fiber or copper -- is finally starting to set off sparks right now.
Palm layoffs follow disappointing quarterly revenue
The same week it announced sharply lower revenues for its second quarter, embattled handheld device maker Palm laid off 10 percent of its workforce.
More than 100 Palm employees were given pink slips last week, according to reports, which the company later confirmed without offering a specific number. Palm counts a staff of around 1,150 worldwide, but is in the process of reorganizing its business following a tough year.
Perspective: I don't Knol
The problem with making democracies work is that any one point of view, way to work, or agenda for action can only garner enough support amid its multitude of alternatives that, at any one time, only a sizable minority can claim to be in favor of it. And the problem with making socialist societies work is that fairness, balance, equal distribution of wealth, and justice all require regulation, which by definition requires a regulator, which by design works against the socialist ideal.
The World-Wide Web is neither a democracy nor a social utopia. Certainly the fact that it is utilized by an astonishingly large plurality has been enough to excite people into believing it has the nature, texture, or substance of some kind of society. And time and again since its inception, individuals, institutions, and corporations have set forth some presumably historic measures to give the Web some type of perceived hierarchy, to capitalize on the wide recognition they receive by way of the Web and convert that perception into authority.
Comcast sues NFL to block slanderous emails
Comcast yesterday filed suit against the National Football League, claiming it was acting in breach of contract for encouraging Comcast subscribers to drop their service.
In e-mail blasts and on a dedicated Web site, iwantmyNFL.com, the football league attempts to rally its fans against cable companies who refuse to put the NFL Network in their basic cable packages. It has even gone so far as to encourage Comcast's subscribers to drop their service in favor of DirecTV and Dish Network satellite providers.
Is the Linux/Windows interoperability deal paying off for Novell?
The Linux vendor partners with Microsoft in one respect and takes it head-on in another. This time, the results aren't too pleasing as Novell suffers a small quarterly loss.
Major business software and services vendor Novell lost revenues during its most recent quarter -- but the company's sales rose rather substantially in the areas of identity and access management and even more markedly, Linux, a market where Novell astonished the IT industry a little over a year ago by taking Microsoft -- traditionally an arch-rival of Linux -- as a close partner.
Free remote PC access for iPhone and iPod Touch
Remote PC access software company Orb has announced support for iPhone and iPod touch, allowing users to stream their music, movies, and TV without being locked into iTunes.
To start, users must install Orb on their "always on" Windows machine, and then allow Orb to bypass any firewalls and anti-virus software. It then displays the media in the Windows default folders: My Documents, My Music, My Videos and My Photos. Other folders can be added at will by the user.
Online movie releases: the new 'straight to video?'
Jackass 2.5 from Paramount is believed to be the first studio-backed feature film to premiere online, and will be streamable for two weeks completely free of charge.
The Jackass movies essentially add a slightly larger budget to the MTV gross-out comedy clip show, stringing together a series of sketches into something of an anthology film. The 2.5 edition, which mixes new material with outtakes from the 2006 movie, reportedly cost a meager $2 million to produce.
BetaNews, your source for breaking tech news, reviews, and in-depth reporting since 1998.
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.