iTunes Chugs Along, Adds Ringtone Capabilities
iTunes continues to chug along at full speed, with the service now number one in all 22 countries that it operates in, CEO Steve Jobs said at a press event on Wednesday. All of the stores include six million tracks in their libraries, and customers have bought more than 3 billion songs. With over 600 million downloads sold via iTunes, the volume of songs downloaded has been enough to propel it to the third largest music store in the US.
Wednesday brings a new version of the popular software, and Apple's first entry into the lucrative ringtone business. 500,000 songs will be available as ringtowns initially and Apple would charge 99 cents to create one from a song. The user would have control of what 30-second segment of the song would be used. At this time, it only appears that the ringtones would be compatible with Apple's iPhone.
Google PowerPoint, Wiki Software on Tap
Google could launch its online presentation and wiki tools at the Office 2.0 conference in San Francisco this week, news reports indicate. With the addition of those two products, Google is able to offer users a complete suite of productivity applications at no charge. It also puts the company into direct competition with Microsoft's Office suite.
It was at last year's Office 2.0 event where the company unveiled its Docs and Spreadsheets applications, which came out of its acquisition of Writely and its own work on an Excel-like application. The company said earlier this year that it would be using technology acquired from Tonic Systems to work on a
Opera 9.5 Alpha Gets History Search, Speed
After over a year in development, Opera Software has release the first public Alpha build of Opera 9.5, the next version of its popular alternative Web browser. The main focus of Opera 9.5 seems to be performance and compatibility with sites, and users are already reporting a big speed boost from Opera 9.23.
New features in the browser include the ability to search the browser's full history, restore closed windows, better UI integration on Mac and Linux, support for Mac OS X's VoiceOver technology, new skins and a revamped Opera Mail client. Download Opera 9.5 Alpha 1 from FileForum and tell us what you think.
Microsoft Cuts Price of European HD DVD Drive
At the IFA consumer electronics conference in Berlin over the weekend, Microsoft said it would be cutting the price of the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on by 20 euros, bringing the cost down to 180 euros. This follows a similar price drop in the United States.
Blu-ray and HD DVD were a hot topic at IFA, with both sides unveiling new products and titles to help push their respective formats. But HD DVD has taken the more aggressive approach when it comes to pricing, and in the United States the cheaper Xbox 360 add-on has surged in sales at retailers such as Amazon.com. News of the European price cut was first reported by eFlux Media.
EarthLink to Cities: Pay for Wi-Fi Setup
Plans for municipal Wi-Fi in a dozen cities currently in negotiations with EarthLink may be in jeopardy as the company is imposing new demands on how the networks are to be paid for. Until this point, the ISP was willing to pay for the setup costs: now it is asking the cities to foot that bill. This includes the proposed network in San Francisco.
The move is yet another cost cutting measure for EarthLink, which is struggling to get its financial house in order. Earlier in the week, it announced it is laying off approximately half its workforce and closing four offices.
Three Cellular Carriers Fined Over 911
The US Government is losing patience with some wireless operators, and has said it plans to fine at least three carriers for not meeting its standards for locating customers in 911 emergencies. Fines that total $2.825 million have been proposed against Sprint, US Cellular and Alltel. These companies have not met the requirement of having 95 percent of their customers equipped with cell phones that allow first responders to locate them in the event of an emergency.
This requirement was supposed to be fulfilled by the end of 2005. The three companies "failed to meet this critical deadline by a significant margin, despite the clear requirements of the Commission and the needs of their consumers," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement.
Thailand Lifts Ban on YouTube
A four-month ban on YouTube in Thailand was lifted on Friday, its government said. The prohibition on the Web site was lifted after the site's officials agreed to monitor and remove any videos that may be against the country's laws or found offensive by Thais. The issue started in April when YouTube refused to remove videos that were derogatory toward King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
A Thai spokesperson said that the video site had created a program that prevents offensive clips from being displayed to Thai users. Google said that it respected the King, and "likewise respect Thailand's law and tradition and hope that we will be able to reach a mutually acceptable resolution to the current controversy."
Bertelsmann Settles Again Over Napster
German media conglomerate Bertlesman AG has settled yet another lawsuit surrounding its involvement in the original Napster, which brought music sharing into the mainstream. The National Music Publishers' Association alleged that Bertlesman encouraged copyright infringement.
Bertlesman previously settled with Warner Music for $110 million in April, along with EMI and Universal before that. In all cases, Bertlesman admitted no wrongdoing. The company invested in Napster when the service was struggling to stay afloat in 2000 amidst litigation and lack of a revenue model.
Family Guy to Make Download Debut on Xbox
Fox has struck a deal with Microsoft to make episodes from the first two seasons of the popular animated television series Family Guy available through Xbox Live, the first Fox series to be offered on the platform. Family Guy's appearance on Xbox Live marks the first time anywhere -- including iTunes -- where the television show would be available for download legally.
The show is most popular among males 18 to 34, which is also the target demographic of video game consoles. Microsoft said bringing the show to the service would be a perfect fit. Each episode, plus the DVD film Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story will be available for 160 Microsoft Points. This would roughly be equivalent to $2 USD, about the same price that videos are being sold for on competing services.
Sony Depletes Inventory of 60GB PS3
Those hoping to get a discount on Sony's PlayStation 3 game console by snapping up the discontinued 60GB model better act fast: Sony says it has completely depleted inventory in its warehouses, which means what's on retail shelves will be the last units available.
In announcing the price drop and the new $599 80GB PS3, Sony said it expected to continue selling the $499 60GB models through the fall. It's not clear what Sony will do once no more 60GB PS3s are available, but analysts speculate the company will lower the 80GB price to $499 to keep sales up at current levels.
Sony Shipping Two New Blu-ray Players in Europe
Sony said Thursday that it will begin shipping its latest Blu-ray disc player in October, the BDP-S500 in Europe, the higher-end cousin to its BDP-S300 model which will also be shipping in the region. The S300 will retail for £399 (599 euros) while the S500 would retail for £599 (899 euros). The players come bundled with the Spiderman trilogy in the UK, Sony said.
Among the features included are 1080p upscaling, 24p True Cinema, support for the x.v.Color standard, and HDMI. The S500 adds HDMI 1.3 and Dolby and DTS-HD1 sound. " "Blu-ray is taking off, and the BDP-S300 player is designed to give many more people a way of joining the party in style," Sony Europe Home Entertainment chief Hiro Shinohara said in a statement.
Microsoft Buys Enterprise Chat Firm
Microsoft on Thursday announced plans to acquire Chicago-based Parlano, which makes the popular enterprise chat application MindAlign. The move further bolsters the Redmond company's arsenal of unified communications products.
The technology in MindAlign will be integrated into Office Communications Server and the client Office Communicator application. Although Microsoft has long offered group chat abilities, Parlano's program focuses on topic-oriented chats that can persist over multiple sessions. Further details of the agreement were not disclosed, although Microsoft is unlikely to continue developing MindAlign as a standalone product.
Vista Fix Packs Now on Windows Update
Following their public availability on Microsoft's Download Center, two hotfix packs for Windows Vista that improve performance and reliability are now available as optional downloads via Windows Update. They will not, however, be delivered automatically to Vista users.
Some of the changes offered by the updates include better file copy performance, faster boot times, improved compatibility with newer graphics cards, and better performance in games with advanced visuals. Those who do not want to install the fix packs manually can wait for Vista SP1, which is slated for public release early next year.
Microsoft: WGA Outage 'Not an Outage'
Microsoft said Tuesday that the glitch that caused Windows Genuine Advantage servers to fail this past weekend was due to human error. According to a post on the WGA blog, pre-production code was released on a production server, causing a domino effect of failures. About 12,000 Windows users were affected. The company said that it did not consider it an outage, since when the servers are down, the system is designed to default to "genuine."
"The production servers had not yet been upgraded with a recent change to enable stronger encryption/decryption of product keys during the activation and validation processes," Microsoft said. "The result of this is that the production servers declined activation and validation requests that should have passed."
New iPods Expected September 5
Apple sent out invitations to a special event it is holding on September 5, which indicate the company is preparing to launch new iPods in time for the holiday season. It is largely expected the iPods will incorporate a touch-sensitive screen and "Cover Flow" user interface found on the iPhone.
Rumors of new iPods have been circling for months, and the timing is right for a new generation of the ubiquitous portable media player. Apple is holding the event at San Francisco's Moscone Center, which indicates it will be a large gathering, further fueling speculation that a major product announcement is in the works.
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