Mandriva: We Won't Sign Microsoft Pact
Mandriva has become the latest Linux vendor to publicly refute speculation that it will join Novell, Xandros and Linspire in signing a patent covenant with Microsoft, in which the Redmond company agrees not to sue for potential intellectual property infringement.
The statement from Mandriva CEO Francois Bancilhon follows a similar refusal from Canonical chief executive Mark Shuttleworth; Canonical makes the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. Red Hat also said it would not sign any patent pledge with Microsoft.
Take-Two Postpones 'Manhunt' Release
The future of Take-Two's Manhunt 2 came into some doubt Thursday after the game developer decided to hold off on releasing the game.
Originally scheduled for July 10, it is now unclear when the game will be released. Both the US and British game ratings boards have given it an 'Adults Only' rating, which severely limits its potential distribution.
Nuance Buys AOL Mobile Unit Tegic
Nuance Communications has agreed to purchase Tegic Communications from AOL for $265 million, the companies reported Friday. Tegic, a little-known subsidiary of AOL, makes the T9 text input software common on mobile phones, as well as a touch input solution.
With the acquisition, Nuance will expand its portfolio of mobile offerings, which currently includes voice-enabled applications for mobile search, e-mail and text messaging. Tegic will also help Nuance improve its reach, as the company has struggled to gain traction in the marketplace. AOL acquired Tegic in 1999 as part of its "AOL Anywhere" strategy.
Fon Extends Range of Routers with 'Fontenna'
Fon said Friday it had begun offering 'La Fontenna,' a directional antenna that could be attached to the routers the company offers along with its service. A coverage gain of about 3 to 5 times the typical range of the router is realized, the company said. As an example of the new functionality, the company has outfitted the Chueca neighborhood of Madrid with the routers and antennas.
Made up of about 400,000 registered users, Fon is a network of individuals who have agreed to share their Internet connections freely. In exchange, those who share are allowed to roam on the network free of charge. Non-members can access Fon Wi-Fi access points for a small fee.
Google's Growth in Search Continues to Outpace Yahoo, MSN
When Jerry Yang stepped into the Yahoo CEO seat vacated earlier this week by Terry Semel, analysts said his goal may very well be to move Yahoo away from its all-things-media evolutionary path, and return it to its roots in search. If that's the case, then Yahoo has its work cut out for it, if today's numbers from Nielsen/NetRatings are to be taken seriously.
While the Panama search technology has indeed helped Yahoo step on the accelerator pedal, the Nielsen numbers suggest Google has already found overdrive. While Yahoo continues to command the largest number of URL destinations by many estimates, including Nielsen's, Google handled a 56.3% share of all US-based Web searches conducted during May, gaining over 22 points in market share in just one year's time, and handling 44.9% more searches now than it did in May 2006.
MusicGiants Joins DRM-free Bandwagon
Hoping to one-up Apple with its recent move away from digital rights management, high-quality music site MusicGiants began offering DRM-free music recently with the release of Paul McCartney's newest album, Memory Almost Full. In a recent interview with audio magazine Stereophile, MusicGiants CEO Scott Bahneman said the service plans to release more DRM-free albums later this year. Partners in the offering have not been announced.
MusicGiants specializes in offering high quality “lossless” tracks in Windows Media format, and launched last year. It bills itself as the only service to offer such high-quality tracks, which are the same quality as one would receive from a physical CD. McCartney’s album sells for $15.29 USD on the site, although consumers can purchase a version with a 26-minute interview with the singer on recording the album for $21.93 USD.
Pentagon Target of Cyber Attack
A cyber attack on the Pentagon Wednesday forced the Defense Department to shut down about 1,500 computers after its systems detected a possible compromise, it said Thursday. The Pentagon deals with hundreds of attacks a day, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said. This attack had no adverse effect, and he expected to have the systems back online as soon as possible.
Employees who may have a compromised system were instructed to conduct business using their Blackberries. Gates talked down the event, saying there would only be "some administrative disruptions and personal inconveniences." As for Gates' personal computer, he said he doesn't use e-mail and is a "very low-tech person."
Verizon Tries Out DNS Redirection Service, But Will It Charge?
Last week, customers of Verizon's ISPs in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin learned of an interesting alteration to their Internet service: The company is experimenting with what it's calling an "Advanced Web Search" page, which its DNS servers will distribute in response to non-resolvable or perhaps malformed URLs.
Instead of the typical error message a DNS server provides, Verizon's new page would offer users assistance for perhaps getting the URL they're actually looking for. It's a service not unlike one offered by regional phone companies to land-line users, which can interrupt "out-of-service" messages and ask users if they'd like to speak to an operator.
MS, Doritos Team on Arcade Game Contest
While it had previously called on developers to produce a game for Xbox Live Arcade, Microsoft is now turning to consumers for the next big game idea. Through a partnership with Doritos, five finalists will be selected among Doritos-theme game concept submissions, and given an opportunity to work side by side with developers to bring their concept to reality.
The winner will be announced in November after a month-long voting period. The game would then be available as a free download in Summer 2008. In addition to the grand prize of their winning game on Xbox Live, each of the five finalists will receive a prize pack worth $6,000. Entries will be accepted between now and July 29 at the promotion's Web site.
Slingbox Now Supports Windows Mobile 6
While the launch of Windows Mobile 6 has thus far largely failed to reach anyone but T-Mobile customers, developers are slowly porting their handset applications to Microsoft's new operating system. Sling Media on Thursday made available an updated version of its SlingPlayer software.
Used in conjunction with the company's popular Slingbox device, SlingPlayer enables users to view and control their television remotely over a cell phone or laptop. The application is not free, however, and pricing is set at $29.99 USD. While SlingPlayer works over EDGE, performance is much better over 3G networks from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, which have yet to release Windows Mobile 6 devices or upgrades.
AMD CEO: Intel Is a Monopoly, Microsoft Isn't
In a keynote address this morning to the American Antitrust Institute in Washington, D.C., AMD CEO Hector Ruiz gave attendees what he described as "an idea of what it's like to do business day in and day out when you are competing against an abusive monopolist." Although he also invoked the phrase "illegal monopoly," he left a convenient 846-word buffer zone between that phrase and his first invocation of the term "Intel."
"I do not need my fortune teller hat to tell you one truth about which I am absolutely certain," Ruiz told attendees, "There is no proper or defensible place for illegal monopolies in the 21st century global marketplace...My purpose is not to argue for competitive advantage - we know how to compete. My purpose is to lay out the facts so that law and economics can do their job to protect consumers."
Sri Lanka Accused of Blocking Web Site
CENSORING THE NET Sri Lanka is being criticized for apparently ordering the nation's ISPs to block a Web site that supports the Tamil Tiger rebels, a militant group that supports secession of the north and east portion of the country into a separate state.
The Web site at issue is Tamilnet.com, which is characterized as one of the most influential in reporting news from the group's perspective in the three-and-a-half decade long conflict.
Sony Goes on PS3 PR Offensive
Facing shareholder pressure to show performance, Sony executives are becoming increasingly vocal in public about their plans to correct the listing PlayStation division.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal and at a meeting of shareholders, new PlayStation head Kazuo Hirai and CEO Howard Stringer both said changes were already underway to improve the unit's performance.
Creative Soups Up Zen Stone
Creative updated its Zen Stone player on Thursday, adding a "Plus" model which doubles the capacity to 2GB for 69.99 USD, and includes a color screen and FM radio and voice recording functionality. Working much like the iPod Shuffle, it includes play and random features, and holds about 500 songs encoded at 128kbps. Its release follows the original stone last month, which went on sale for 39.99 USD.
Silicone skins allow the consumer to change the color of the player to any one of five options, and an armband and wristband option is also available. Accessories also include a portable speaker system that retails for 39.99 USD. The player will be available beginning in July from several online retailers.
Yet Another Royalties Tier for Internet Radio?
While Congress continues to back-burner the debate over whether it's fair for streaming radio services to be charged as much as ten times their revenue in performance royalties, the US Copyright Royalty Board last week met for a roundtable discussion about whether yet another class of royalties that are already part of copyright law, should apply to Internet radio as well.
The class being discussed is the "mechanical royalty" - a fee collected for the right to make a reproduction of a recording, or what the law calls a phonorecord. The basic meaning of the royalty is quite sensible: When you have a record, and you want to make records off of that master for reproduction and possible sale, you owe a mechanical royalty fee for each reproduction. Historically, that fee has been set at a flat rate of $0.09 cents per copy.
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