Office for Mac set to ship next month
The long wait for a new version of Microsoft Office for the Mac OS X platform is just about over, with development of the suite completed.
Microsoft said the code was released to manufacturing Tuesday night, and an official launch is set to occur at Macworld Expo in January. The new version of Office ends a nearly four year wait for the software.
Vista SP1 release candidate goes live
This morning, BetaNews FileForum was alerted to the availability of the latest release candidate for Windows Vista Service Pack 1, just released from Microsoft.
FileForum posted a live link immediately. In an indication that this may be the only RC release prior to SP1's final endorsement, no number has been attached. Microsoft is only describing the file as an "RC," not an "RC1."
Video search engine and indie film festival collaborate
Blinkx, a video search engine featuring over 18 million hours of searchable video with more than 200 media partnerships already, announced a new one yesterday with the Raindance Film Festival.
Under the terms of an agreement announced yesterday, Blinkx will host, transcribe, and index top independent shorts, features and documentaries from the independent Raindance Film Festival.
AT&T: 1 million U-verse subscribers by end of '08
This morning, the head of AT&T said his company expects to have attained one million U-Verse subscribers by the end of 2008, and coverage for 30 million by 2010.
At a meeting of financial analysts in New York City this morning, where he touted continued double-digit revenue growth for his company going into next year, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson made some bold predictions for his U-verse triple/quadruple-play media service. He reported AT&T was on target to attain one million U-verse subscribers by the end of this year.
OpenDocument debate resumes in the Netherlands
While Microsoft's Office Open XML format slowly makes inroads towards acceptance as an international format, the Dutch government debates whether the software behind that format must also be open-source.
A Dutch news service is reporting this afternoon that Microsoft has issued formal objections against a junior economic affairs minister's proposal last September, which would mandate that the Netherlands government restrict itself to the use of open source software that specifically uses the OpenDocument Format.
Ask.com debuts erasable searches, with stipulations
Oakland-based search engine Ask.com debuted "AskEraser" today, a feature which can mark all of a user's queries in the company's servers for deletion.
Ask.com, the fifth largest US search engine according to Nielsen Online in October, announced earlier this year that it would be making this feature available. Developed in conjunction with the Center for Democracy and Technology, an advocacy group working toward enhancing privacy and free expression, Ask.com claims it's the only search engine that affords users such control over their personal data.
Microsoft continues legal push against software fraud
Microsoft announced the filing of 52 lawsuits against sellers of pirated and fraudulent copies of its software, as well as referring another 22 cases to law enforcement.
Fifteen of the lawsuits stemmed from activity surrounding a Chinese piracy syndicate that Microsoft was successful in breaking up back in July of this year. That ring spanned five continents and 26 countries.
NBC Universal content now for SanDisk video service
The entertainment group continues to move on from its breakup with Apple and iTunes, this time signing a deal with SanDisk to provide content for "Fanfare."
Fanfare is intended to complement the company's new TakeTV video player, which allows consumers to play downloaded content on their television sets, much like how AppleTV currently works.
Canadian ISP flouts net neutrality principles again
Rogers Yahoo, which has repeatedly come under fire for traffic shaping, has now ventured even further away from neutral ground, by inserting usage messages into its users' unencrypted data streams.
Made public over the weekend through Internet activist and co-founder of nonprofit People for Internet Responsibility Lauren Weinstein, someone going by the tag of "A Concerned Reader" captured an image of a Rogers Yahoo message being displayed over a Google Canada page.
Microsoft bug deletes files instead of sharing them
The company's FolderShare application is intended to allow customers to synchronize files across multiple machines, but a bug has ended up deleting them.
According to a statement from Microsoft sent to users of the service, an issue with FolderShare deleted files that contained special characters, such as trademark signs, accents and tildas, and the like.
IDC: Fewer desktop PCs to be sold from now on
Emphasizing the declining role of the desktop PC form factor in worldwide sales, the analysts of IDC's Quarterly PC Tracker now predict portable PCs will constitute 65% of US PC sales by 2011.
The time of the desktop-bound computer has peaked in the United States, concludes Loren Loverde, Richard Shim, and the analysts of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker report this morning. In figures the team released this morning, they predict 38.2 million desktop-based PCs and x86-based servers will have been sold in the US in 2007, a decline of just over 3% from 2006.
New high-def owners may shake up format war
While Blu-ray has certainly won the opening salvos, new data suggests those new to HD seemed to have a preference for HD DVD.
Much of this switch could have to do with the changing demographic of the HD owner: whereas current owners are generally white and have higher incomes, newer owners will be younger, more ethnically diverse, and less affluent.
Sony CEO replaces gloomy predictions with rosier outlook
Buoyed by Black Friday sales plus an investment in Sony last month, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer said this morning he believes a financially stressed-out US population will stay at home this winter and use CE products...like Sony's own.
After successful Black Friday sales for Sony's PlayStation 3 and high definition Blu-ray products, along with a recent investment by a Middle East investment firm, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer has now replaced earlier projections of doom and gloom with predictions of a rosier future for Sony.
Office 2007 SP1 goes live, Windows XP SP3 RC1 follows along
As anticipated and without much fanfare, Microsoft this morning made active links for downloads of Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 1, as well as the complete Office 2007 Service Pack 1.
A Knowledgebase article detailing the contents of O2K7 SP1 had also been made available this morning, though BetaNews noticed that just before noon today, Microsoft removed that article, perhaps for editing purposes. The link to the download itself however remained active. The Office service pack is not a beta; it is a complete release.
VoIP calls on iPod Touch now closer to reality
Developers are claiming that they are close to allowing users to place VoIP calls over the iPod Touch, with initial tests proving successful.
The primary work is quite simple, with basically only communication with the SIP server possible. However, this step is important and lays the foundation for an actual VoIP call.
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