8 February 2006 Technology News

last SG · 2006-02-09T09:55:45+00:00

Lost an IPod or Wallet? Look for It Online BOSTON - Maureen Silliman felt her empty pocket and gulped: Her new $300 iPod must have bounced out as she ran t...

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Mobile market to rise on back of 3G success

The mobile market will be worth 231 billion euros in Europe, the Middle East and Africa by 2009, according to a report from analysts the Yankee Group.

That's a jump of 54 billion euros ($64.2 billion) since 2004. The growth will be driven by investment in Africa and Eastern Europe and cutting-edge mobile applications and data services.

Declan Lonergan, director of wireless research for Yankee Group, said in a statement: "Emerging markets in the region will drive customer growth, while advanced infotainment applications will fuel demand for data services in the more developed countries."

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Vodafone, Huawei sign deal for 3G handsets

Vodafone has signed a five-year deal with Huawei Technologies under which the Chinese firm will supply exclusive Vodafone-branded 3G mobile handsets, the U.K.-based mobile operator said on Wednesday.

The handsets, which will be sold by Vodafone in 21 countries, will only carry the Vodafone name.

Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile operator by revenues, anticipates offering the first Huawei-manufactured 3G handset in September 2006.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Ex-Enron chief lied about Net unit, witness says

HOUSTON--Jeffrey Skilling repeatedly lied about the state of Enron's struggling broadband business and stubbornly refused to lower earnings targets, the former head of the broadband unit has testified.

Skillings continued to lie even when it became abundantly clear that the business lacked customers and deals that could generate revenue, Kenneth Rice said, taking the stand here Tuesday.

Rice, the second witness in the criminal trial of the former Enron executives Skilling and Kenneth Lay, testified that Skilling misled analysts time and again by portraying Enron's broadband unit as surviving a meltdown in the telecommunications business.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Cisco buys slice of China game maker

Network gear maker Cisco Systems has purchased a 9.7 percent stake in China's top online game operator, Shanda Interactive Entertainment, according to a filing with U.S. regulators.

Cisco disclosed its purchase of 13.86 million ordinary shares in Shanda in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

It did not provide a purchase price for the shares, which would have a market value of about $104 million based on Shanda's last closing price on the Nasdaq.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Nintendo DS to watch TV, Opera

Japanese fans of Nintendo's dual-screen DS portable game machine may soon be able to surf the Web and watch high-definition television programs on their devices in addition to playing games.

Taking another step in its strategy to develop features that will appeal to more than just hard-core game fans, the Japanese company said on Wednesday that it plans to begin selling a Web browser in June and launch a card with a digital television receiver by the end of the year.

"These products propose a different use for the DS in entirely new fields," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told a news conference.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Lawmaker renews push against Net gambling

Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte will reintroduce a bill this week that would prohibit Internet gambling, a fast-growing industry valued at about $12 billion, a spokeswoman for Goodlatte said on Tuesday.

Goodlatte, a Republican, first introduced legislation to ban online gambling nearly a decade ago. In 2000, his bill had strong support in the House but was unexpectedly defeated due in part to efforts by Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented gambling interests, according to the spokeswoman.

Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud charges in early January and is cooperating with prosecutors in a corruption probe that could implicate lawmakers and officials across Washington.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

BlackBerry dispute may keep going and going and...

Unless you've been living on a remote island, you must be aware that Research In Motion has been grappling with a patent infringement lawsuit filed by NTP over RIM's BlackBerry service.

RIM lost at the trial court level, and there was a mixed result on appeal. The case has been sent back to the trial court for further proceedings. The Patent and Trademark Office has also invalidated some of the patents being claimed by NTP.

This makes for an interesting context as we approach Feb. 24--the date on which the trial court will consider whether to enter an injunction against RIM. Company executives have reaffirmed their bullish belief that RIM's BlackBerry service will not be enjoined. But just in case, RIM announced recently what it called a noninfringing "work-around" that would allow the BlackBerry service to continue notwithstanding an injunction based on any of NTP's remaining patents.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Power lunching with wizards and warriors

"We Know" isn't your father's country club.

Sure, it has about 100 members, some of them wealthy, a few of them wildly wealthy. On the membership roster are at least 10 people who have the letter "C" in their job titles. And members of this particular club say they've joined so they can bond with friends and other like-minded people.

But there's one big difference between "We Know" and famed clubs like San Francisco's Olympic Club and the New York Athletic Club: "We Know" exists only in the virtual world. It's one of many virtual guilds, or groups of kindred players, in the popular "World of Warcraft" online game.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Capitol Hill's fury on China

House members condemn Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and other tech companies for kowtowing to Beijing.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Congressman quizzes Net companies on shame

When the U.S. House of Representatives convened a hearing on Wednesday to talk about China and the Internet, it quickly devolved into an exercise in political speechmaking.

Not until nearly halfway through the event did any of the technology executives receive a chance to respond to a rapid-fire series of condemnations.

One exchange, though, with Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, stood out. Lantos, who is co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, quizzed executives from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco Systems not about technical or legal details--but about their view of the morality of cooperating with China's ruling Communist Party. Lantos, a Budapest-born Jew who represents the southwest quadrant of San Francisco, is the only member of Congress who is a Holocaust survivor.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Taking tech companies to task over China

House members on Wednesday condemned Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and other tech companies for kowtowing to Beijing. Watch videos of the hearing below.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Yahoo on NSA surveillance: No comment

Under cross-examination during a congressional hearing, Yahoo's top lawyer refused on Wednesday to say whether the company opens its records for government surveillance without a court order.

Michael Callahan, Yahoo's senior vice president and general counsel, declined five times to answer that question from Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat who was probing whether the Internet company had cooperated with the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance efforts.

"It wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment," said Callahan, who was testifying under oath. He added that Yahoo would "only turn over information if it's required by law."

ndmmxiaomayi SG

More worries about Google Desktop 3

Google Desktop's new search-across-computers feature could put sensitive data at risk and violate federal data-privacy regulations, say IT administrators at a public university and a large manufacturing company. Both are banning it from their networks.

Last week, Google unveiled Google Desktop 3, a free, downloadable program that includes an option to let users search across multiple computers for files. To do that, the application automatically stores copies of files, for up to a month, on Google servers. From there, copies are transferred to the user's other computers for archiving. The data is encrypted in transmission and while stored on Google servers.

The Electronic Privacy Foundation urged consumers to boycott the software, warning that Google could be forced to turn over the data to the government if subpoenaed, even if the data is stored on Google servers only temporarily.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Politicians lash out at tech firms over China

Politicians lashed out at U.S. Internet companies on Wednesday, accusing them of collaborating with China's "regime of repression" and pledging to enact a law soon to make such cooperation illegal.

During a House of Representatives hearing, members of Congress offered repeated condemnations of Google, Yahoo, Cisco Systems and Microsoft that were the most antagonistic so far in an ongoing dispute about how U.S.-based companies can offer services in China while protecting the free speech and privacy of Chinese users.

"This value-free excuse truly sickens me," said Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, who accused the four corporations of a "nauseating collaboration with a regime of repression."

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Dealing with China the wrong way

The U.S. government has a history of mixing politics and business when it comes to China, often placing American companies at a competitive disadvantage for doing business in China. The current goings-on are no exception.
The U.S. House Committee on International Relations meets Wednesday on the subject, "The Internet in China: A Tool for Freedom or Suppression?"

U.S. Internet companies find themselves in the middle of the argument between the proponents of free trade and those who criticize China's record on human rights and freedom of the press.

It is hard to see anything constructive that will come out of these public discussions. U.S. Internet companies will spend more on government lobbying, and the Chinese government will view this as yet another attempt by the U.S. government to extract leverage on Chinese policies.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Mozilla's Camino browser released

The Mozilla Foundation has released Version 1.0 of its Camino browser, built for the Mac. The browser supports Mac OS X 10.2.

The newest version, which is available for download, features a new tab bar, ad and pop-up blocking and enhanced security. It will run on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs, the project organizers said.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Flying car ready for takeoff?

This summer, graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will try to get an idea aloft that has intrigued people for decades: the flying car.

Terrafugia, a start-up created by Lemelson-MIT Student Prize winner Carl Dietrich and colleagues at MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, is aiming to show off what it calls the Transition Personal Air Vehicle, an SUV with retractable wings, to the EAA AirVenture Conference in Oshkosh, Wis., at the end of July.

The Transition is designed for 100- to 500-mile jumps. It will carry two people and luggage on a single tank of premium unleaded gas. It will also come with an electric calculator (to help fine-tune weight distribution), airbags, aerodynamic bumpers and of course a GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation unit.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

MIT Media Lab co-founder steps down

Nicholas Negroponte has stepped down as chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab to pursue his $100 computer initiative, and entrepreneur Frank Moss has been named the lab's new director, the university said Wednesday.

Negroponte left the Media Lab, which he co-founded in 1985, to devote his time to a nonprofit called One Laptop Per Child that is working to develop the low-cost laptops.

In September, Negroponte detailed the specifications for a $100 windup-powered laptop, meant to improve the education of children in developing countries. That plan has gained the endorsement of the United Nations.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Dell returns to form with strong quarterly results

Dell got its financial performance back on track during its fourth quarter, as corporate products such as servers and storage devices boosted the company's performance beyond analyst expectations.

Revenue for the quarter ended Feb. 3, was $15.2 billion, up 13 percent from revenue of $13.5 billion last year. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had expected the company to record $14.8 billion in revenue.

Net income was $1 billion, up 52 percent from $667 million last year. Earnings per share of 43 cents beat analyst expectations of 41 cents per share.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Microsoft driver flaw saps battery strength

Microsoft has confirmed the existence of a flaw in its USB 2.0 drivers for Windows XP Service Pack 2 that can cause a notebook to consume power at a faster-than-expected rate when using a peripheral device.

The issue, first uncovered by Tom's Hardware two weeks ago, appears to affect certain Intel-based notebooks running Windows XP Service Pack 2. When a peripheral device was connected to a USB (universal serial bus) 2.0 port, the notebook's battery life plunged at a greater rate than would normally be expected from the use of a peripheral such as a mouse or storage key. At the time that details of the flaw were published, Intel denied its processors or chipsets were the responsible for the issue. And Microsoft refused to confirm to CNET News.com until yesterday that the software company was responsible for the battery performance problem .

Microsoft published a Knowledge Base article on the subject in July 2005, but made that information available only to PC vendors and partners, a company representative said in a statement. The software maker is not releasing the article to the public, but a copy was posted on Slashdot that industry sources have confirmed was the original article.

« Previous Page Next Page »