XM Turns On New Satellite, 'Blues'
XM said Monday that it had put its fourth satellite into operation, nicknamed Blues. Combined with its previous next-generation satellite, "Rhythm," the two would provide better coverage and reliability than the first generation satellites launched in 2001, named "Rock" and "Roll." XM said they expect the satellites to be in use for at least the next 15 years.
For the time being, the deactivated older satellites would serve as spares in the event of problems, the company said. XM has had its share of problems with the older satellites. Both suffered from power degradation issues due to a design flaw in their solar arrays. The resulting power loss has caused the satellites to operate a little less effectively than the satellite radio company had hoped.
Two NEC Desktop Computer Fires Reported
Japanese manufacturer NEC disclosed Monday that at least two of its desktop computers in Japan have caught fire after the power supply units inside of the computers malfunctioned. Thus, as a safety precaution, about 14,600 units carrying the Valuestar brand would be recalled, and the power supply replaced free of charge.
The computers were produced between November 2003 and June 2004. NEC said that a third party manufactured the component, however it declined to name the manufacturer. The total cost of the recall would be released in a future statement from the company, it added.
Google to Offer Domain Registration
Google has teamed up with two Internet registrars to offer its users low-cost domain registration for the .com, .net, .org, or .info suffixes. For $10 per year, the name would be registered through either GoDaddy.com or eNom, and Google would do all the configuration work. The offering would be made part of Google Apps for Your Domain, a service introduced by the Mountain View, Calif. company in August of this year.
That service includes the e-mail service Gmail, a Web-based version of its Google Talk software, Google Calendar, and Google Page Creator, a Web site design application. All services are given away for free during the beta period. Analysts say Google's moves clearly position it be a direct competitor of Microsoft in the business software industry.
Nokia-Siemens Merger Delayed
The merger between Nokia and Siemens' networking divisions has been postponed due to an ongoing investigation at Siemens over charges of bribery. Several former Siemens executives have already been arrested as a result of the investigation, which includes the division that would become part of the new company. Nokia expressed its concern with the issues, and said it would participate a review to ensure there are no remaining issues.
"Nokia and Siemens intend to adjust their agreements in order to have Siemens conduct an appropriate compliance review prior to closing of the transaction," the company said in a statement. The results of such a review would be used to prevent the issues from occurring within the new company, it said.
Photoshop CS3 Beta Due Out Friday
Adobe customers will be able to test out the next version of Photoshop, as the company is releasing a beta on its Adobe Labs development site on Friday. The application, due in Spring 2007, will now natively support Intel Macs. Adobe said that only those with a valid serial number from Photoshop CS2 or Creative Suite 2 would be eligible to participate in the beta.
Versions will be released for the Windows platform, as well as in Universal Binary format for Mac OS X. Although all the new features have not been disclosed, CS3 will include an application aimed at assisting designers in creating content specifically for mobile devices. A beta of Adobe Bridge, which assists in the organization of files is also included.
MSN, Baidu Tie Up for Ads in China
Microsoft and Baidu announced a strategic partnership on Thursday that calls for the Chinese site to sell ads on select MSN and Live properties within China. Baidu, the top search provider in the country, disclosed the partnership in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, however.
The move is somewhat curious considering Microsoft recently launched its adCenter offering in an effort to compete on a more even keel with Yahoo and Google. Initially offered in the United States, Britain, France and Singapore, Microsoft plans to expand it to other countries in the near future. However, in China its web properties are far less popular, possibly the reason for such a deal.
Mozilla Delivers New Thunderbird Beta
Mozilla earlier this week issued a public beta of the next version of its Thunderbird e-mail client, making enhancements to the overall design of the product as well as improved support for extensions, the plug-in architecture for the application. In addition, new features including the use of tags as a way to organize e-mail, and forward and back buttons to cycle through e-mail much like web pages were also added. The beta is available for the Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms.
In separate news, Mozilla delayed an expected security release for versions 1.5 and 2.0 of its Firefox browser. Originally scheduled to be delivered automatically to users starting this Tuesday, the update has been pushed back to December 19. No reason for the delay was given.
Sony Affirms PS3 Shipment Targets
Attempting to soothe concerned consumers over a lack of PlayStation 3 shipments in the market, Sony reaffirmed its target to sell six million consoles by the end of March. Company executives said bringing manufacturing costs down and ensuring a solid line of games is also a high priority. The launch of the PS3 has been a rocky one for Sony: delays in components and last minute troubles conspired to delay the console by over a half a year.
Executives are still not disclosing how well they expect to do during the holiday season, although analysts have said that it expects the company to sell between 500,000 and 750,000 consoles. This is less than half of the two million consoles the Japanese electronics maker originally projected to have available.
Boeing Data Leaked on Stolen Laptop
For Boeing, laptop thefts are beginning to become somewhat of an epidemic. For the third time in 13 months, one of the company's notebook computers has gone missing, the result of an employee leaving it unattended. In this instance, the laptop contained the names and social security numbers of about 382,000 workers and retirees. The location of the theft has not been disclosed.
Affected employees have not yet been notified, however Boeing plans to do so once it has the necessary infrastructure to handle victims' questions. The company also plans to offer credit-monitoring services for a period of three years to those affected. A company laptop was stolen with information on 3,600 employees and reitrees in April, and before that another system with information on 160,000 went missing.
Mac Office Users Asked to Uninstall Update
Microsoft advised users of its Mac version of Microsoft Office that a security patch inadvertently issued through its software update service was not ready for release. It advised those that may have applied the patch to uninstall the update, although it provided no guidance as to when to expect the final version of the patch.
"The updates posted in error were pre-release binaries that had been staged internally as part of our testing for an upcoming release," a Microsoft Security Response Center official wrote Wednesday in the tem Web log. Due to human error, they were accidentally published to the public websites before our full testing release process was complete." Microsoft said it was taking steps to prevent such a mistake from occurring again.
Google Offers Open Source AJAX Toolkit
Hoping to spur development of Web sites using the AJAX development platform, Google on Tuesday released the Google Web Toolkit. The offering is a software development framework that would allow developers to create Web applications much more easily. Knowledge of only the Java programming language is necessary: the GWT would convert the code to compliant JavaScript and HTML for browsers.
The project is open source, and Google is asking developers to contribute in order to improve its offerings. "We've been working hard to build great tools for AJAX development, and now we're happy to begin working with the open source community towards the same goal," product manager Dan Peterson said.
LCD Price-Fixing Probe Widens
A probe into price fixing of LCD displays is expanding, according to press reports on Tuesday. The Fair Trading Commission of Japan is investigating South Korea's LG.Philips, and inquiries have also been launched against Samsung and Sharp, as well as a joint venture between Seiko Espon and Sanyo that produces the display. LG.Philips confirmed to the press that the US Justice Department and Korean Fair Trade Commission were also investigating the company.
According to industry insiders and news reports, the agencies are investigating claims of price fixing that may have occurred during 2003 and 2004. Some believe the companies colluded to keep LCD display prices artificially high during that period. Both LG.Philips and Samsung have said they plan to cooperate fully with all inquiries.
Sony, SanDIsk Team on Faster Memory Stick
SanDisk said Monday it has developed, in conjunction with Sony, a new version of the Memory Stick Pro storage format that is built to transfer data at speeds faster than the standard version. The companies say the faster data rates will allow for real-time recording of multimedia content, and would also allow for high-speed transfer of files to and from the Memory Stick.
The Memory Stick Pro-HG supports data transfer at 480Mbps, three times faster than its predecessor. At a minimum, it will be able to write at a speed of 120Mbps, making advanced applications possible. The first devices compatible with the standard are expected later next year, and the company will begin to license the technology in January.
RIM Sues Samsung Over BlackJack
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion filed suit against Samsung in U.S. District Court on Friday, claiming the South Korean electronics manufacturer's choice of the "BlackJack" name is too close to that of its popular BlackBerry device. In the lawsuit, RIM is seeking an injunction that would prevent the sale of the phone, as well as to force Samsung to stop using the name.
RIM's BlackBerry has for quite some time been in a league of it own in the business communications device market. However, its success has prompted companies like Motorola to offer the Q, T-Mobile to produce the Dash, and Samsung the BlackJack. While it seems like RIM has no issue with its other competitors, the company argues the BlackJack name confuses customers. Both RIM and Samsung have declined to comment on the legal matter.
Dell Ships Laptop with Blu-ray Drive
Dell on Monday became the latest manufacturer to support Sony's Blu-ray discs in its notebook computers, a move that was largely expected as Dell is a founding member behind the format. A Blu-ray drive is now available on the Dell XPS M1710 laptop, but it won't come cheap.
The XPS M1710 is Dell's high-end gaming laptop, which runs $3,699 with the Blu-ray drive. The addition will enable users to watch movies in the high-definition format (after purchasing the necessary playback software), as well as burn discs containing up to 50GB of data. The battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD is expected to heat up in the coming weeks as CES 2007 kicks off the new year in Las Vegas.
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