Report: Gmail Germany May Shut Down
With a law that would force Google and other Internet service providers to disclose the identity of consumers using its services within Germany now moving through the German parliament, the Mountain View, Calif. company is threatening to shut down its Gmail service within the country, German magazine Spiegel reported on Monday.
If the law passes as is, starting next year, anonymous e-mail accounts would become illegal, as would anonymizing services like Tor. Additionally, information on connection data for Internet, phone calls, and SMS usage would also be saved for a period of six months. Google takes issue with the law, saying it cuts into user privacy and would also force the company to go against its own practice of allowing anonymous e-mail accounts.
Google Moves Vista Desktop Search Complaint to New Venue
In what could be the company's only option for prolonging its complaint about Microsoft's deployment of its Windows Desktop Search component in Windows Vista, Google - which many believed had actually won a concession from Microsoft last week - has filed an amicus brief with the US district court overseeing Microsoft's compliance in its antitrust settlement with the US Justice Dept.
As first discovered by Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Todd Bishop, Google's brief asks the court to effectively compel the Justice Dept. -- which is charged with overseeing Microsoft's conduct with regard to compliance with court order -- to reveal more information about what Microsoft agreed to do.
Apple 4th in Retail Notebook Sales
Apple's share of the retail notebook marked jumped to 14.3 percent in May from 12.5 the month before, as the company placed fourth in a list compiled by NPD Group. Apple now trails only HP, Toshiba and Gateway, although Dell is not included in retail sales counts.
According to NPD, sales of Windows based laptops increased 37 percent, while Apple say growth of 65 percent when compared with a year ago. Aiding the company is Apple's growing exposure in the marketplace due to the iPod and upcoming iPhone, as well as positive reception of its new Intel based Macs, which are now in their third revision and offer a new LED backlit display that increases battery life.
Blogger Ethics Questioned Over Microsoft Ad
The recent discovery that Microsoft paid some high-profile Web pundits to talk up how their businesses became "people ready" in an advertisement has stirred quite a bit of controversy and divided the so-called blogosphere.
Some of those involved include individuals who regularly report on Microsoft in a supposedly non-biased format, including Om Malik from GigaOm, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, and even Federated Media's own John Battelle, who runs the ad network that deals with many of the sites caught up in the issue.
Samsung Boosts Solid-State Disk Capacity to 64 GB
A little over a year after it premiered the first commercially available solid-state hard disk drives at about 32 GB capacity, Samsung said it's now mass-producing a package announced last March at an electronics show in Taiwan, that clusters eight 8 GB flash components together, while still maintaining the 1.8-inch form factor needed for portable devices.
The announcement shows Samsung is marching right in lockstep with its solid-state roadmap outlined in May of last year, which it reiterated at CES last January.
Motorola Debuts Good Mobile Messaging 5
Motorola said Monday it had released Good Mobile Messaging 5, the first new version of the software since its acquisition of the company in November of last year.
Among the enhancements in the latest version of the product are enhancements to improve ease of use, increased personalization, and better security, which includes security functionality previously available separately through another Good product.
Plaxo Wants to Sync Your Digital Life
Aiming to become 'the Switzerland of personal information,' Plaxo has debuted the newest version of its syncing application. It allows a user to federate their information across a variety of services, although not everybody's having a good experience.
For example, a user could ensure their Apple Mail address book is the same as what is on their Windows-based Microsoft Outlook contacts list, and so forth. The same can be done for calendar information as well.
Microsoft VP: Interoperability, Cross-Platform Efforts Go Back 30 Years
Two weeks ago, Microsoft tested its "four toolsets for interoperability" message on the public and the press, which included an interview with BetaNews. That message has apparently been given the green light, as Corporate VP for Emerging Business Dan'l Lewin fired a shot across the bow last Thursday, in a blog posting directed toward Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen.
In April, Chizen made an oft-repeated comment in response to Microsoft's debut of Silverlight, its graphical front-end tools platform that was the culmination of its WPF/E ("Everywhere") project. At that time, Chizen stated, "Microsoft, historically, has never demonstrated a commitment to maintaining a cross-platform solution."
Nokia's E-Series Now Available Across US
Nokia said Monday that its E-Series line of business smart phones is now broadly available in the US. Consumers could either purchase the phones online, through retail outlets such as the company's own stores, and through several wireless carriers. Among the phones available are the new E61i and E65 models, both to cost around $400 USD depending on the retailer.
The Finnish phone maker first introduced the E-Series line in November 2005, and the phones have been available in Europe for much of the last year. Analysts say the line is intended to compete with business devices from RIM and others: in fact, the device supports BlackBerry e-mail, although with GoodLink, Seven, and Visto Mobile.
eBay Ads Back on Google
eBay has resumed advertising on Google AdWords, a little over a week after it stopped advertising on the site in an apparent retaliatory move over Google's planned protest party at the eBay annual seller's conference in Boston. Its return is muted, however: the company says the pullback proved it did not need to spend as much on Google ads as it once thought.
Google's party has since been cancelled, although it successfully brought attention to eBay's attempts to shut out other payment systems. The Mountain View, Calif. company is attempting to pressure eBay into permitting Google Checkout as a form of payment. The company claims a quarter of the top 500 online retailers use the service.
New Blu-ray Discs to Expand Copy Protection, Bypass AACS Troubles
With a minimum of fanfare, the licensing body for the developers of a supplemental copy protection technology exclusively for Blu-ray Disc announced its initial specification for BD+ - which supporters had hoped would be available early last year - is finally ready for licensing to developers. 20th Century-Fox appears to be the first to board the bandwagon, having obtained a license for its developers to write for a virtual machine that will be embedded in future BD-ROM player devices.
One of the original sticking points between studios and technologists over high-definition disc formats concerned a provision of Advanced Access Copy System (AACS) copy protection that enables content providers to revoke a player's ability to decrypt new discs' content if the integrity of that content is found to be compromised for that player - in other words, if someone has hacked into the access keys and has posted them online, enabling others to copy the content.
Microsoft Squashes Longhorn OS Project
A group of Windows enthusiasts that wanted to attempt to bring back features cut out of Vista through a modified version of Longhorn code circa 2004 found out Microsoft didn't take too kindly to it.
Developers from Joejoe.org, the group that started the "Longhorn Reloaded" project, said the Redmond company had sent them a cease and desist letter demanding they kill the project.
Trade Commission Upholds Qualcomm Chip Ban
After having waited for a jury's verdict last month to withstand judicial review, the International Trade Commission this morning upheld a decision to ban the import of certain goods containing Qualcomm chipsets into the US. The banned devices are mobile handsets whose use of EV-DO and W-CDMA technology was found to have infringed upon three of Broadcom's patents.
The ITC's decision appears to draw to a close one of the largest and costliest intellectual property battles in electronics history, with Broadcom emerging as the victor.
NPD: iTunes Now #3 Music Retailer
iTunes' dominance in the music industry continues to grow, data from the NPD Group showed Friday. Apple surpassed Amazon as the third largest retailer for music sales in the first quarter of the year, with 9.8 percent of the overall market. Apple is also gaining on leaders Wal-Mart and Best Buy, who finished the quarter with 15.8 and 13.8 of the market, respectively.
Analysts at NPD say Apple's strength is surprised considering sales are down by a fifth over last year. However, they also pointed out that both Wal-Mart and Best Buy are behemoths in the music industry, and will be hard to catch.
Apple Posts 20-Minute iPhone Tour
Apple on Friday provided the most in-depth look at the iPhone, one week before the device debuts at AT&T and Apple stores across the United States. A 20-minute guided tour posted to the company's Web site showcases the various features of the iPhone and explains how to use the touch screen.
While the tour doesn't disclose anything major that hasn't been announced, it does provide the first look at the iPhone's usability and innovative features like visual voicemail and SMS text messaging that works like an iChat session. The built-in iPod functionality is also demonstrated, and the included headphones include a microphone as well. According to the video, the iPhone's built in mail client will support Microsoft Office Word and Excel documents.
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