House votes to tighten net child porn regulations
The US House of Representatives late Wednesday approved a measure by a vote of 409-2, to expand the responsibilities of ISPs to reign in child pornography on their servers.
Under the new law, Internet service providers will be required to preserve child pornography images as evidence, and report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children the online screen names and locations of suspected child predators, along with the times when the images in question were accessed.
New Flash player brings streaming HD video support
The final build of Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 -- or more affectionately known as "Moviestar" -- has been released, adding support for high-definition content.
It's been a long time since YouTube first brought online video to the masses, and now its users are clamoring for better quality. The last couple years have seen an uptick in broadband speeds as well, meaning it's only logical that Adobe would expand the capabilities of Flash, which has become the dominant delivery method for Web video.
XM chairman begrudgingly accepts higher royalties
At a financial analysts' conference this afternoon, the chairman of XM told BetaNews he's okay with the higher royalty rates his company and Sirius will have to pay, although in one other respect, he feels it's still not all that fair.
NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - The US Copyright Royalty Board made a "fair and balanced judgment" with regard to new performance royalties, XM Satellite Radio Chairman Gary Parsons told BetaNews this afternoon. By our estimates, both it and Sirius Satellite Radio -- its ongoing merger partner -- may pay as much as 375% of what it pays now in royalties to the SoundExchange organization, beginning with its 2007 annual payment.
Sun Microsystems offers incentives for open source developers
Sun Microsystems today unveiled a program that offers prize money as incentives for open source developers to come up with new technologies that Sun can put to use.
At an open source conference this upcoming Friday in Bangalore, Sun Microsystems will officially announce what it's calling the Open Source Community Innovation Awards Program.
PDF 1.7 on its way to ISO standard status, not there yet
Adobe's quest to establish its full PDF format as an international standard cleared a major milestone yesterday, passing a preliminary ISO ballot overwhelmingly. Now its backers have just 205 technical issues to address.
On the 100-point scale of a standard's lifecycle established by the International Organization for Standardization, the publication phase is status 60.60, and the post-review confirmation phase is status 90.93. Yesterday, according to the ISO's official itinerary, Portable Document Format version 1.7 was advanced to status 40.60 (Close of Voting).
TiVoCast adds on-demand music videos
Adding to its TiVoCast repertoire, the on-demand video service provider announced immediate availability of its new Music Choice Network.
When the broadband Series2 DVR was rolled out two years ago, TiVo included support for the Live365 internet radio community, and this year added even more music with
support for Rhapsody. Now, Series2 and Series3 users will have on-demand access to the video aspect of the music industry, just short of one year following Music Choice and TiVo's partnership announcement.
Facebook's Zuckerberg issues mea culpa on Beacon
In a post to the company's official Web log early Wednesday, the CEO of Facebook conceded his company made a lot of mistakes in building its controversial advertising platform.
"We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them," stated Jeff Zuckerberg in a post to his corporate blog this morning. "We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it. While I am disappointed with our mistakes, we appreciate all the feedback we have received from our users."
Nokia chooses to unveil music service with DRM
During a recent press event, Nokia announced its "Comes With Music" service, which provides unlimited downloads for subscribers with Nokia music phones, but with DRM.
Nokia's "Comes With Music" will initially give users access to a large catalog of Universal Music recording artists, with more major labels to be added in the future, Nokia says. Subscriptions will be offered to customers upon purchase of a new Nokia device. A deal reported to take place in the second half of 2008 will even offer one year of the service for free.
iPhone, not Britney, leads searches on Google
Following the release of Yahoo's top searches for 2007, Google released its own -- with decidedly different results.
None of Google's top ten terms were the same as Yahoo's, which were led by troubled pop starlet Britney Spears and the wrestling league WWE. Whether it was just a different formula or a totally different type of user base, Apple's iPhone led the way.
Study highlights need for better mobile Web options
JupiterResearch says better browser options would spur growth in the mobile web in a new study released Wednesday. This after a survey yesterday indicated the iPhone was already the leading mobile Web browsing tool.
Specifically, a NetApplications study yesterday revealed that Apple's iPhone has quickly eclipsed all other mobile platforms to reach the number one spot.
Verizon president indicates 4G LTE network will be 'open access'
At a financial analysts' conference in New York this afternoon, the president of VZW's parent company Verizon strongly indicated that the wireless carrier's 4G network will also be open to the customer's choice of devices and applications.
Though not quite a confirmation from the wireless carrier itself, Verizon President Denny Strigl told a UBS financial analysts' gathering that Verizon Wireless intends to "increase its competitive edge" by allowing customers to bring their own device to VZW's fourth-generation LTE wireless network.
Windows Server 2008 moves to RC1 status
The second release candidate (thus the number "1") for Windows Server 2008 is slated for availability this afternoon, and this version will finally include a new tool that Microsoft took an interest in back in 2005.
The latest RC1 for Windows Server 2008 will finally incorporate a tool Microsoft has had in its stable by way of acquisition for well over a year: What was once sold separately as PolicyMaker Standard Edition -- a tool for extending the range and function of group policy objects -- will now be incorporated into Windows Server, as Group Policy Preferences.
HDTV, PS3 top list of most wanted holiday gifts
Results of a web poll by the Computing Technology Industry Association indicate that gaming consoles are a much sought-after high-tech gift this year.
While a high-definition television led all gadgets with 15.2 percent, Sony's PlayStation 3 had a strong second place showing with 13.7 percent of all respondents. It is not exactly clear if these respondents wanted Sony's console all along, but it is a bright sign for the company.
Verizon launches on-demand movies and TV in high-definition
Verizon FiOS TV customers in a handful of the company's markets have received an early holiday gift: on-demand movies and television shows in high-definition.
75 HD titles will be made available initially, which includes free programs and movies that can be purchased like "Transformers" and "Surf's Up." Free HD titles range from MTV music videos to shows from Wealth TV and Golfweek Magazine, the company said.
TomTom GPS to accept info from Google Maps
The GPS maker says that users of its service will be able to send business information from Google Maps to its devices through its 'Send To' feature.
Google's tie-in with TomTom is not bringing the Mountain View, Calif. company's mapping software to the device, but is rather giving users an easier way of navigating rather than having to go through multiple menus on the device itself to locate a destination.
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