Apple Bringing Safari to Windows
WWDC 2007 - In a surprise "One more thing..." announcement at its Worldwide Developer Conference Monday, Apple says it will release version 3 of its Safari Web browser with Leopard in October, as well as a version for Windows XP and Vista.
Steve Jobs noted that Safari has captured 5 percent of the browser market already, and says the company has built up expertise with iTunes for Windows. Safari 3 is faster than both IE and Firefox, Jobs said, and the update will have Google and Yahoo search built into the browser. Other new features in version 3 include drag-able tabs. A public beta of Safari 3 for Mac OS X Tiger and Windows XP/Vista is available for download from FileForum.
Steve Jobs Shows Off More of Leopard
WWDC 2007 - At its annual Worldwide Developer Conference Monday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs provided the final look at Mac OS X 10.5, code-named "Leopard," before the new operating system ships in October. He demoed 10 out of what he says are 300 new features.
22 million people are currently using Mac OS X, Jobs said, with two-thirds of that number running Tiger. Leopard will be the next major upgrade to Apple's platform, bringing a number of new and innovative features. WWDC is the first chance for developers to really sink their teeth into those changes.
Full AIM Connectivity Coming to AOL Mail
With its upgrade to Cayman complete, AOL is focusing on adding features to its web e-mail client that will help it to catch up and surpass its competitors in features.
The first of the new features is full integration with its AIM messaging product, something the first iteration of Cayman began, but only did so in a rudimentary form.
EA, Others Commit to Gaming on Macs
WWDC 2007 - For many, the biggest complaint about the Mac is it's lack of games. Apple wants to change that. The company said Monday that EA Games would return to the platform in addition to several other developers, helping to further make the Mac as a platform for gamers.
Among the games coming to the Mac would be Command & Conquer 3, Battlefield 2142, Need for Speed Carbon, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The games are expected to simultaneously release in July.
DivX Seeking Beta Testers
Video codec company DivX is seeking individuals to help beta test some "secret stuff" the company is concocting in its labs. Although it's not saying what software (or hardware) products it plans to test, DivX has built a streaming media set-top box code-named GejBox, after DivX's creator.
"We want to include a few avid DivX fanatics to help us make sure we’re building the best technology we can come up with," Gej wrote on the DivX Labs site. Applicants must have a home network with modern computer and an existing library of DivX media. Interested users must fill out a survey to apply.
Microsoft Hires Noted Linux Engineer
Microsoft quietly hired a former senior Linux engineer last week who will be tasked with running the company's joint research lab with partner Novell. Tom Hanrahan was formerly director of engineering with the Linux Foundation and also a former senior program manager at IBM's Linux Technology Center.
According to a statement from Microsoft, Hanrahan's work will primilarly center around "interoperable virtualization" between SUSE Linux Server and Windows. However, the lab will also would work on Office Open XML and ODF interoperability, WS-Management interoperability, and directory federation. Hanrahan will report to Sam Ramji, the head of Platform Technology Strategy at Microsoft.
Could Google Unravel the Microsoft + Justice Dept. Accord?
The New York Times revealed Saturday that Google was the unidentified party mentioned in a US Dept. of Justice status report last March as having lodged a "middleware-related complaint" against Microsoft. That revelation raised perhaps zero eyebrows in the technology community, who could file that fact under "D" for "Duh."
But a memo by a key antitrust enforcement official that the Times also turned up, rejecting Google's arguments and advising states' prosecutors to reject them as well, has raised some legal eyebrows over whether the relationship between the DOJ and Microsoft has grown too cozy.
Google Called 'Hostile to Privacy'
Google is being taken to task by a UK-based privacy group over its apparent lack of a commitment to the privacy of its users. However, the company is doing what it can do discredit the report.
Privacy International said Saturday that the Mountain View, Calif.-based search engine had the lowest possible grade of any of the 22 online companies it surveyed, a level which it called "comprehensive consumer surveillance and entrenched hostility to privacy."
Yahoo: We Support Freedom of Speech
Yahoo criticized the Chinese government on Monday, saying it shouldn't curtail its citizens' rights to free speech. The statement came just one day after the mother of jailed Chinese journalist Shi Tao announced she sued the company in U.S. District Court. Yahoo, along with its Chinese partner Alibaba, has been accused of leaking the information that led to Shi's arrest.
Human rights groups have criticized companies such as Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, which have all been accused of either kowtowing to questionable Internet restrictions or providing governments with information that have led to arrests and imprisonment. However, the companies have defended their actions, saying they must follow Chinese law or it would put employees at risk of legal action.
Nokia Files New Patent Suit Against Qualcomm
The legal battle between Nokia and Qualcomm further heated up on Monday as Nokia sued over patent infringement in the chipmaker's MediaFLO and BREW technologies.
Nokia's latest legal salvo is only one filing in a string of lawsuits and countersuits between the two sides. A cross-licensing deal expired on April 9, and the companies have since only intensified the fight against each other.
Report: Apple Mulling Movie Rentals
Apple is reportedly in talks to bring movie rentals to its iTunes store, with the company reportedly planning to offer rentals for $2.99 USD for 30 days.
It was not clear which studios were being asked to participate, although the Wall Street Journal reported Paramount Pictures seemed open to the idea while Universal Studios was against it.
TechEd 2007: What Did We Learn Today?
ORLANDO - It has been a long and fruitful week for us here, which was a welcome surprise. A computer convention, or any kind of convention, is a broad and complex story whose importance becomes clearer once the details are all assembled. Conventions are about the details, the parade of little events, the things you overhear, the questions that were unanswered and then unanswered again, the discoveries you didn't expect.
From Wednesday to Friday of this week in Orlando, I heard from some of our newest and some of our regular readers face-to-face, personally thanking BetaNews for sticking with the full five-day program. I heard you, and I thank you. One of my most important and most enjoyable jobs in covering a conference is listening to the everyday people, not just the program managers and the presenters and the keynotes. It's through them that I learn what's truly important to developers, administrators, architects, designers, and engineers. This week, they changed my point of view on a few interesting points.
Dell to Sell Laptops at Sam's Club
Following an announcement last month that it will sell specially-made desktops in select Wal-Mart locations, Dell announced Friday that it will sell notebook PCs in 500 stores of Wal-Mart subsidiary Sam's Club. The PCs feature Windows Vista Home Premium, including 2GB of memory, and sport AMD's Turion dual-core processors. Sales are to begin next week, the company says.
Unlike the Wal-Mart deal, the notebooks sold will be the same as what is sold on its website, the Inspiron model number 1501. Although Dell spokespeople did not immediately have retail prices available, the systems are currently selling for $549 on the Dell Web site after a $100 instant rebate.
Boot Camp 1.3 Released
Apple released an update to its Boot Camp dual-booting application on Thursday, including some new features as well as tweaks to ensure smooth operation. Among the new features is the support for the keyboard backlighting feature on MacBook Pros, and added support for Apple Remote Pairing.
Enhancements include a smoother installation process for Boot Camp drivers, which incorporates an improved graphics driver. International keyboard support is improved, and localization issues have been remedied. Apple has also provided an update to the Windows Help files for Boot Camp. According to Apple, repartitioning of the drive is not necessary, however the user would have to update the Boot Camp Assistant software and create a new drivers CD.
Microsoft Names New Mac BU Manager
Microsoft said Friday it had named Craig Eisler to head the Macintosh Business Unit, replacing Roz Ho, who had spent seven years with the division and spearheaded much of the Redmond company's recommitment to the platform.
Eisler was formerly development chief for the company's DirectX platform, however he left the company to work for mobile software developer Action Engine as its CEO and then helping AOL launch its wireless offerings in 2005.
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