HD Radio Programming Expands

The HD Radio Alliance said Monday that an additional 22 radio markets are ready to begin broadcasting HD2 channels, which is additional high-definition programming that piggybacks digital on the main broadcast signal.

With the new channels, 50 radio markets would now have the service, spanning over 450 new radio stations as a result. Locales to now receive HD2 programming would include Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas among others.

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Microsoft Sends Windows Live to College

Microsoft is heading to college campuses to promote its Windows Live service in a new way -- by hosting college e-mail accounts. Called Windows Live@edu, 72 colleges worldwide have signed onto the service and discussions are ongoing with almost 200 more.

The e-mail service provides a familiar interface to many students as it is patterned after Hotmail. However, students do not receive a hotmail.com or msn.com e-mail address, as the accounts it carry the domain of their respective school.

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Alltel Extends Free Calling Options

Alltel subscribers will now be able to extend the benefits of mobile-to-mobile calling to other carriers, and even landline phones, through a new program being offered by the company. Called "My Circle," the feature would be available to those with monthly calling plans of $59.99 or higher.

The customer will be allowed to pick ten numbers that they can call free of charge for an unlimited amount of time. These numbers can be changed at any time, the company says. The new feature comes as a result of market research.

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WSJ: eBay Talking with Microsoft, Yahoo

eBay reportedly is talking to both Microsoft and Yahoo on ways that either company could collaborate with the auction site to fend off Google. The search giant has long been an ally of eBay, however Google's recent moves are making the San Jose, Calif., based company nervous.

Google recently introduced Google Base, a service that eBay sees as direct competitor to its own listings. Also, the search engine has been developing an online payment system that sounds similar in concept to eBay's PayPal. Additionally, Google has hired away several engineers and staff from eBay.

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Microsoft to Patch its Security Patch

In response to problems experienced by some customers after installing the MS06-015 security update last week, Microsoft is planning to issue a new patch that includes a workaround for the compatibility issues. Only users who have not installed MS06-015 and those having trouble will receive the fix.

Microsoft explained earlier this week that the MS06-015 update installs a new executable to validate shell extensions before they are loaded into Windows. However, Hewlett Packard's Share-to-Web software, which ships with HP printers, scanners and cameras, causes this program to stop responding.

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Nokia, MIT Open Comm Research Lab

Nokia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology celebrated on Friday the opening of the cell phone maker's new research center near the Cambridge, Mass., campus.

The new research center, a partnership with the university's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), will study new communications technologies. Researchers from both MIT and Nokia will work together to jointly develop these projects.

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Apple Enhances Recycling Program

On the eve of Earth Day, Apple said on Friday it will expand its computer recycling program for new Macintosh owners beginning in June. Customers in the U.S. who buy online or through Apple's stores would be eligible for free shipping and disposal of their old system.

Apple said it had been named a "Forward Green Leader" -- a title given to the top ten environmentally progressive companies by the Sierra Club. The computer maker has been operating the recycling program since 2001, and has recycled nearly 90 percent of the electronic equipment it has collected.

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Court Denies MS Request for IBM Docs

A New York court on Thursday denied Microsoft's subpoena to obtain documents from IBM for its European Union antitrust appeal. The decision is the last of three cases the Redmond company had pending in U.S. court, and all have been denied.

As with past rulings, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon accused Microsoft of attempting to skirt European Union law, calling it a "blatant end run" around the EU Commission's authority. McMahon also said, as have previous judges, that she would not interfere in the matters of a foreign court.

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Google Local Becomes 'Maps' Again

Google early Friday announced it was responding to customer feedback and bringing back the Google Maps brand, which has been merged into a unified Google Local site last October. The company said it was trying to emphasize the wide range of local features the service offered, but most users continued to identify the site as Google Maps.

"Does this mean that local search is no longer important to Google? Absolutely not! Google Maps continues to have the killer combination of maps, driving directions, and local business search. And local search has become a fundamental part of the Google search experience," says product manager Thai Tran. A "Maps" link has replaced "Local" on the Google homepage.

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Google Opens Up Calendar API

Adding to its growing list of "GData" application programming interfaces (APIs), Google on Thursday opened up its new Calendar beta service to third party developers. The API enables external Web sites and applications to integrate directly with Google Calendar and create, edit or delete events.

Google says the Calendar data API, based on Java, can be used in a number of different ways. "You can create a web front end for your group's calendar that uses Google Calendar as a back end. Or you can generate a public calendar for Google Calendar to display, based on your organization's event database." An application or site can also search calendars and display a list of upcoming events.

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HP Recalls 15,700 Notebok Batteries

Disney isn't the only company facing a massive recall due to batteries overheating -- Hewlett-Packard on Thursday said it was recalling 15,700 HP and Compaq-branded notebook computer batteries worldwide after receiving 20 reports of overheating and one burn injury, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The recall covers lithium ion batteries manufactured in January 2005 that have barcodes starting with L3. The affected units were manufactured in China and sold in the United States through December 2005. The Commission urged users with an L3 battery to stop using it immediately and visit the HP Battery Replacement Program Web site.

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NBC Joins Affiliates for Online Video

Acknowledging the growing market for video content on the Internet, NBC and its 213 affiliates announced the creation of a new company that would be tasked with distributing the station's local content online. Tentatively called National Broadband Co., the venture would sell local news, sports, weather, and other video.

Additionally, it would offer behind-the-scenes video and other material from the NBC Universal library. The media conglomerate would own a majority stake in the new company, it said Thursday.

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Opera 9 Beta Brings Widgets, Torrents

Opera Software on Thursday made available the first beta of version 9.0 of its popular free Web browser, which has been in testing since last October. The release adds a number of major new features, including widgets and support for BitTorrent downloads.

Widgets are small mini-applications that typically run inside another program. Konfabulator, now known as Yahoo! Widget Engine, popularized the technology, and Apple included widgets as part of the Dashboard feature in Mac OS X 10.4. Stardock's DesktopX has long offered supports for widgets as well.

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Microsoft, Autodesk Fined $133 Million

A Michigan man has won a $133 million judgment against Microsoft and Autodesk in a Texas court after a jury found the two companies guilty of patent infringement. Of the total judgment, Microsoft would be responsible for $115 million and Autodesk $18 million, the Redmond company said.

David Colvin is the founder of z4 Technologies, a privately held Michigan company that offers DRM and other solutions to stop piracy. Colvin accused the two companies of infringing on his patents surrounding anti-piracy technologies.

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Firefox, Mozilla Users Told to Upgrade

Users of the Firefox Web browser are being urged to upgrade as a government computer security agency warned of multiple vulnerabilities in earlier versions of the software. The group recommends upgrading to the latest Firefox release available, which would be 1.5.0.2.

Security firm Secunia has posted an advisory mirroring the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team's warnings, which it posted April 14. Rating the issue as "highly critical," the firm says some 21 flaws currently exist in versions of the browser before 1.5.0.2.

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