AMD Invests in Struggling Transmeta
AMD said Friday that it would invest $7.5 million in Transmeta in order to support its work in developing efficiency technology for microprocessors. In turn for cash infusion, AMD would receive preferred stock in the company. The move continues Transmeta's transition away from producing chips to a licenser of chip technology that it develops.
The deal also has a indirect connection to AMD's chief rival Intel. The larger chipmaker and Transmeta are currently involved in a patent dispute over energy efficiency technology. AMD is currently fighting a antitrust lawsuit against Intel as well. AMD may be hoping that aligning itself with Transmeta could end up helping it to compete better with its rival, although the eventual decision in the patent case may impact those plans.
Microsoft Adds 26 Terabytes to Virtual Earth
Microsoft on Thursday pushed its biggest update to Virtual Earth in the history of the mapping service, adding 26 terabytes of 3-D and birds-eye imagery. A large amount of the data is for a new feature the company calls "hill shaded," which displays the topography of a location.
Microsoft has additionally added new cities to its list of aerial imagery, with most featuring textured 3-D buildings and cityscapes. Canadian cities Hamilton, Quebec, Toronto have been added (Montreal will arrive next month), along with Toulouse France, Eastbourne UK in Europe. In the United States, a slew of cities have received updates, including New Orleans, Brooklyn and Nashville.
Six Fixes on Tap for Patch Tuesday
Microsoft is taking the guesswork out of Patch Tuesday by detailing the type and severity of patches in its new Advance Notification bulletins. The first of these is being used for July's Patch Tuesday. From the bulletin, it appears that Microsoft will issue six patches, three of which are be critical, two moderate, and one important. Patches will repair issues in Office, Windows, and the .NET Framework, including a specfic patch for Windows Vista.
Of the critical updates, remote code excution flaws in Excel, Windows, and the .NET Framework will be fixed. Both important patches will also fix remote code execution vulnerabilities in Publisher and Windows XP Professional. The final patch, rated moderate, will fix an information disclosure vulnerability within Windows Vista.
BlackBerry to Debut in China This Month
After eight years of attempting to break into the Chinese cellular market, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has received clearance to begin selling the popular devices in the country. Initially the company will focus on service to corporate customers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou among other large cities, with plans to expand later to other areas.
Representatives of RIM's Beijing office were quoted in the press as saying the company had already received 5,000 advance orders, and that the devices will be available by the end of this month. The move follows several other international expansions in the past few months. The Blackberry launched in Kenya at the end of June, and Kuwait in the end of May. RIM also launched the technology in Nigeria and Jordan earlier this year.
Mozilla, eBay Team on Customized Firefox
Mozilla said Thursday that it had teamed with eBay to offer a version of its Firefox browser that is optimized for use with the auction site. In addition, eBay has released an add-on for those who want to add the functionality to an existing copy of the browser. The browser and add-on are available for several European countries including the UK, France and Germany. No US version was available as of press time.
Some of the new functionality in Firefox eBay Edition include a sidebar that would allow users to follow their auctions in real time, status alerts for various events including outbid notices, integrated search, and support for eBay's Account Guard product. Financial terms of the deal between eBay and Mozilla were not disclosed.
Apple Details iPhone Battery Replacement Program
Although its iPhones won't be out of warranty for another year, Apple is attempting to stave off future bad press -- like it received when iPod batteries began exceeding their life span -- by announcing a battery replacement program. iPhone users will be able to pay $79 plus $6.95 shipping for a new battery.
Because the iPhone's battery is not removable like previous iPods, the device must be sent into Apple for repair. The service will take about three business days, Apple says, and users must back up their data beforehand - a simple process via iTunes. While some might characterize the program as expensive, Apple will still replace non-charging batteries free of cost for the first year, and batteries for other cell phones can run up to $50.
Records of 2.3 Million Consumers Stolen
The records of nearly 2.3 million consumers have been exposed including credit card, bank account, and other personal information after an employee of a Fidelity National Information Services subsidiary stole the information and then proceeded to sell it to a data broker. From there, it was sold to several direct marketing companies, although the data was not used for ID theft or fraudulent activity.
Of the records, 2.2 million contained bank account information and the remainder credit card numbers. To protect those affected, the company, Certegy Check Services Incorporated, asked a court to force the employee to return the information and order that the companies who bought the data stop using it. It has also begun the process of notifying those affected. The employee who stole the data has since been fired, Fidelity said.
LG Pens Deal to Bring YouTube to Phones
The iPhone's exclusive hold on YouTube on the mobile phone will be short-lived. LG said Tuesday that it had come to an agreement with the social video site to bring videos to its line of phones later in the year. Unlike the Apple arrangement, LG plans to offer its customers an option that allows a user to shoot video on the handset and then upload it to the site.
YouTube had already launched a version of its site formatted for use on mobile devices. However, the agreements such as the ones with Apple and LG tie the site more closely with the phone. LG had previously worked with Google to put applications such as search, maps and Gmail on the company's phones in the past.
AT&T's Data Network Fails
AT&T data customers across the country were reporting issues in accessing the EDGE network on Monday, although the company was able to restore service by 7pm Eastern. Technicians continue to work on the problem. The exact reason and origin of the outage was not known, but the carrier was quick to point out it was not due to the iPhone. While voice and text messaging remained unaffected, both EDGE and 3G services were down for several hours.
Blackberry users were unaffected as their services pass over a separate network, however subscribers with iPhones and other data-enabled devices reported problems. Within minutes of the outage, threads appeared across the Internet on various Mac enthusiast sites reporting issues. According to those threads, service was out in Dallas, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Hawaii, and Cincinnati among other cities.
AOL Updates Macintosh Applications
AOL pushed updates to several of its products for the Macintosh platform on Monday, including added functionality that would help its applications work more smoothly with native Mac OS X programs. The enhancements come as part of a recommitment to the Mac platform, including a new AOL Instant Messenger for the Mac platform coming in the next several months.
An update to the AOL Radio client allows users to listen to over 200 channels including XM stations, as well as providing an iChat song title indicator, and integrated screensaver that uses the cover art of currently playing songs. AOL Pictures has received an iPhoto plug-in that enables importing of photos into AOL Pictures, and an improved Service Assistant that configures various native applications to work with AOL services.
New Palm OS Delayed Until 2008
Originally slated to debut before the end of 2007, the completely revamped version of Palm OS, which is found in Palm's Treo smartphones and PDAs, has been delayed until sometime next year. The company has reportedly been running into development slowdowns building the new Linux-based platform.
Palm will continue to make devices running both Windows Mobile and the current "Garnet" version of Palm OS. The company last year introduced the Palm 680 with minor improvements to the aging operating system, which were intended to make it more friendly to consumers. By contrast, Palm pitches Treos running Windows Mobile largely to businesses, and new devices running both are due before the end of the year.
Wii Widens Lead Over PS3 in Japan
Sony's PlayStation 3 continues to fall further behind in Japan, data from Japanese gaming magazine publisher Enterbrain indicates. In June, the Nintendo Wii outsold the console by a six-to-one margin, a clear indication that Sony is having serious difficulty in convincing consumers that the PS3 is worth its high price tag.
This follows news in April that the PS3 was being outsold by a four-to-one margin, and a five-to-one margin in May. Even Microsoft's Xbox 360, for the most part a failure in the Japanese market, is being outsold by only a 2 to 1 margin against the PS3. Nintendo's success with the Wii, along with the strength of the DS platform, have propelled the company past Sony in market capitalization value and have made it one the country's top ten companies.
Adobe Creative Suite 3 Completed
Although it began shipping Creative Suite 3 in mid-April, only on Monday did Adobe officially complete the suite, shipping the pricey Production Premium and Master Collection packages. Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects took longer to finish than the company's other CS3 applications.
Priced at $1,699 USD, Production Premium includes both Premiere Pro and After Effects, along with Adobe Soundbooth, Encore and standard CS3 applications Flash, Illustrator and Photoshop Extended. The Master Collection, which runs $2,499, includes all 17 CS3 applications Adobe offers. Amazon has a ship date of July 12 for both packages.
AT&T Offers Free Wi-Fi to Broadband Customers
AT&T on Monday announced that its broadband Internet subscribers can now access any of its 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the United States free of charge. The company offers Wi-Fi at airports, McDonalds restaurants, Barnes & Noble bookstores, coffee shops and sporting venues.
While the company cited the iPhone as one of the reasons for the move, it notes that customers are increasing going mobile with laptops and PDAs. Subscribers to AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet Pro and Elite are eligible for the offer, as well as AT&T FastAccess Xtreme with either 3.0Mbps or 6.0Mbps. Customers can log on immediately to Wi-Fi hotspots using their broadband username and password. The company has also begun offering an in-home wireless router via its branded retail stores.
Photos: iPhone Launch Events Across the United States
While the masses swarmed Fifth Ave in New York, the iPhone's true success will be decided by the rest of America. Whether in rural Virginia, central Pennsylvania, small-town Indiana or sunny southern California, crowds turned out to be the first to own Apple's new device. Scroll down for some pictures from iPhone launches across the country.
Apple employee demos the iPhone to those waiting in line in Towson, Maryland Line to Apple Store circles Towson Town Center Shall I spend the $500? Local news visited the Towson Apple Store The line in Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach resident offers to sell her spot in line - for $800 Balloons adorn inside of Huntington Beach AT&T Store Waiting for hours in Ashburn, Virginia - but no iPhones would reach them The lucky few in Ashburn, Virginia, where only 14 iPhones were sold Line forms in Reading, Pennsylvania It wasn't long until the Reading line doubled Flagship Apple Store in Tysons Corner serves up hundreds of iPhones Waiting in San Diego, California Famous 1990's rapper Biz Markie gets his iPhone in San Diego iPhone lines formed even in Columbus, Indiana Staking out an iPhone at dawn in Indianapolis© 1998-2026 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.