Sony to Supply Advanced Student ID Cards
Blackboard Communications Systems announced Wednesday that it would be partnering with Sony to begin developing contactless identity card systems in the U.S. Blackboard designs "one-card" systems for campus transactions, bridging financial, data, access, and authentication systems into a single "network transaction environment."
The company's swipe-able card systems are in place in many academic institutions across the globe. By partnering with Sony, and utilizing its successful FeliCa system, Blackboard systems will be able to produce student identifications that work like SpeedPass and EZPay.
Ticketmaster to Sell iTunes Albums on Site
Ticketmaster and Apple said Wednesday that they had formed a partnership where digital albums of artists would be sold alongside concert tickets on Ticketmaster.com. About 700 artists including Kanye West, Keith Urban and Bon Jovi would be the first to take advantage of the tie-in on the ticketing site. As a promotion, albums sold at Tickmaster and redeemed through iTunes would be cheaper by $1 through December 29.
The promotion would compliment another that the two companies have launched at Target. A $50 iTunes card is available at that retailer, which gives a $25 credit towards a purchase at ticketmaster.com along with $25 in iTunes credits. This isn't the first time Apple has joined forces with the ticket seller: in 2005 it sold pre-sale tickets for a Depeche Mode concert alongside the band's newest album at that time.
Latest SoundExchange Royalties Offer Suggests Possible Compromise
Perhaps in anticipation of the passage of federal legislation capping the amount of performance royalties collectable from Internet and other digital audio broadcasters at 7.5% of annual revenue, the SoundExchange performance rights organization has reportedly offered one segment of that group - cable radio broadcasters - an annual royalty rate not exceeding that same amount.
Though the news has not yet formally been confirmed by SoundExchange, according to the SaveNetRadio campaign on Monday, cable radio operators were offered a performance royalties rate scale of between 7.25% and 7.5% of annual revenues, which would take effect for each year between 2008 and 2012. SoundExchange had earlier rejected a 7.5% rate when offered as a compromise to the far higher rates it suggested for Internet radio streamers last March.
Nokia, Vodafone Sign on Phone Pact
Nokia said Wednesday that it had reached a deal with Vodafone that brings some of the latest and greatest mobile phones exclusively to the carrier. The phones feature 3G connectivity, and easy access to the mobile web. Services from Vodafone are seamlessly integrated into the phone itself, such as content and instant messaging, the company said.
Wednesday's deal also carries a lot of benefit for Nokia: above and beyond the deal for the phones itself, Vodafone will also allow access to Ovi, the Finnish manufacturer's first real foray into mobile services. The phones will appear on the carrier's networks worldwide, and even on Verizon Wireless, judging by the way the company's statement announcing the deal was worded. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
New Parental Controls Limit Xbox Time
As part of a new marketing blitz to promote the Xbox 360 as a "family friendly" video game console, Microsoft on Wednesday rolled out a new feature called Family Timer, which will show up in the Family Settings Screen.
The Timer will let parents limit the number of hours their kids can play the Xbox on a daily or weekly basis. When the time limit is reached, the console will automatically shut off, ostensibly after saving the game.
Rep. Lantos to Yahoo: 'Morally, You Are Pygmies'
In a scene staged for maximum dramatic effect, complete with the mother and family of jailed dissident Shi Tao seated directly behind them, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and chief counsel Michael Callahan were grilled yesterday for over three hours by Rep. Tom Lantos (D - Calif.) and his House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"While technologically and financially you are giants," Chairman Lantos reprimanded them, with his face cast down and his eyes peering out like the famous promotional poster for A Clockwork Orange, "morally, you are pygmies."
Prince Targets Fans for Copyright Violations
Pop musician Prince continued his online content bulldozing with a series of legal notices sent to sites devoted to the artist, demanding that all images of, lyrics by, and "anything linked to the likeness of " the artist be removed.
Fan sites housequake.com,
CinemaNow and Sonic Try DVD Copying Despite CSS Headaches
Digital entertainment download service CinemaNow has announced a partnership with Sonic Solutions' QFlix, to develop a system which enables burning of protected DVDs that promise to be identical to those available off the shelf, with one very big catch.
CinemaNow holds protection of DVD copyrights high in its list of priorities. It had previously offered a download-and-burn service, though copied discs intentionally included a kind of defect that was supposed to protect against further copies. That defect defeated those copies to the extent that they did not even play on many DVD players.
OLPC Laptop Begins Mass Production
Some five years after the concept of a so-called "$100 laptop" was proposed, the first devices began rolling off a production line in China this week.
The first official order for the device came from Uruguay, which wanted 100,000 laptops. It's likely that many of the first PCs produced will be shipped to the central South American country.
LG Using Broadcom Chips in Dual HD Disc Players
LG said Wednesday that it had selected Broadcom's integrated dual HD disc format system-on-a-chip had been selected to power the company's next dual-format player.
Broadcom says that its solution continues to be the only one in the industry that can fully support the interactive features of either format -- HD DVD's HDi and Blu-ray's BD-Java -- and other mandatory requirements.
Nokia Tests on New Mobile Broadband Standard Crack 100 Mbps
Nokia announced today that the LSTI (LTE/SAE Trial Initiative) had achieved a 100 megabits-per-second data transfer speed in recent tests.
LTE/SAE is an evolved version of today's mobile phone radio access technology designed for faster data transfer with a simplified architecture, using new transmission schemes and advanced antenna technology. Initial deployment configurations are specified to have downlink rates above 100 Mbps and uplink rates above 50 Mbps.
Microsoft Steps Up Anti-Piracy Effort in China
Microsoft is trying to fight piracy in China by ensuring that more new computers in the region come with genuine copies of Windows pre-installed at the factory.
The Redmond company said Wednesday that it had come to an agreement with the nation's second largest computer manufacturer, Founder, which includes a deal to resell Microsoft hardware as well.
Opera Mini 4 Available for Phones
After nearly 5 months of beta testing, Opera Software has released version 4 of its Opera Mini Web browser for mobile phones. The update includes iPhone-like capabilities that enable users to see a full overview of a page and zoom in to specific parts.
When zooming, Opera Mini snaps to content so scrolling is smooth. A virtual mouse cursor aids users in moving down a page and selecting links, although the software resizes text and images to reduce the amount of scrolling required. These features were originally developed for Opera's browser on the Nintendo Wii.
Fired: Microsoft CIO Violated Company Policies
Without much explanation late yesterday, Microsoft notified the press that it had terminated the employment of its Chief Information Officer, Stuart Scott, for violation of its corporate policies. This after having appeared on stage just seven weeks ago to hold up Microsoft's IT department as a role model for, as he described it, stamping out "shadow IT" agents within corporations, so that they can do more with less.
Scott may have done exactly that for Microsoft during his short tenure there. In 2005, he was brought onto the CIO role from General Electric, only to find that Microsoft already had somebody called "Chief Information Officer" reporting to a different department. That person was Ron Markezich, whose role was described at the time as "chief beta tester." Since that time, Markezich has shifted to Vice President of Managed Solutions, with his awkward co-CIO role having effectively been stamped out.
How HD DVD Got its Groove Back
ANALYSIS: Sources close to retailers indicate that Toshiba sold over 90,000 $99 HD DVD players over the weekend, and that figure only represents a portion of the retailers that participated in the frenzy.
According to Video Business, the 90,000 count includes Toshiba HD-A2 players sold at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Circuit City along with a few other brick and mortar outlets. But it apparently doesn't include online retailers who also participated in the price drop, such as Amazon.com.
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