Paul Allen sues Apple, Google, nine others over patent infringement
Microsoft co-founder and former executive Paul Allen filed a suit against 11 tech companies on Friday, accusing them of infringement over patents he acquired from the now defunct Internal Research. While Allen had invested in the company, he never participated in the development of the patented technologies.
When Internal Research closed its doors in 2000, the rights to the patents were transferred to Interval Licensing, a company Allen owns. The technologies cover four patents -- the most notable being the 6,263,507 and 6,757,682 patents -- relating to various web technologies. The companies named in the lawsuit are AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo and Google's YouTube.
Windows Live Sync to become Windows Live Mesh after beta
Microsoft's two sync offerings --Windows Live Sync and Windows Live Mesh-- were combined into a single program called Windows Live Sync beta for the beta of Windows Live Essentials. Today, Microsoft announced it's reversing that decision, and the combined program will be called Windows Live Mesh after the beta expires.
The decision to change the name was made because Microsoft felt that since the new program will do more than just sync files, it should have a name that reflects what it does.
Where have all the PC sales gone?
It's the question to ask now that Intel has issued a third-quarter profit warning. Right, this is the same company that reported its "best quarter ever" just last month. Strong PC sales mean more chip sales for Intel, and second quarter was scrumptious-delicious. PC shipments rose 21 percent year over year, according to Gartner, beating estimates. Apple and Microsoft had record quarters, too. Everybody swayed in the mosh pit of love, singing praises to a PC market recovered from recession.
Today, Intel sang a different tune, cutting its revenue estimate to $11 billion from a previously forecast range of $11.2 billion to 12 billion. "Revenue is being affected by weaker than expected demand for consumer PCs in mature markets," according to the press release. Yeah, Happy Friday to you, too, Bud.
Mozilla updates Fennec mobile browser, strengthens its ties to Firefox 4
Still in alpha after nearly two years, Mozila on Friday released the latest version of its mobile browser, Fennec for Android 2.0 and higher and Nokia N900.
Several improvements have been made in the Android version since the "Pre-alpha" build was released last April. In addition to interface and performance tweaks, the browser's integration with the desktop version of Firefox has improved, and tools for sharing content are taking a more prominent position.
HP ups the stakes to $2 Billion in 3PAR acquisition
It seems Dell cannot make an acquisition bid for virtualized storage company 3PAR without competitor HP making a bigger bid almost immediately afterward.
Just hours after Dell announced its revised offer to acquire memory company 3PAR for $1.6 billion on Thursday, HP announced a new counter-offer for $1.8 billion. HP's last counter-offer caused Dell to raise its bid by a little under 34%, and that offer raised it by another 11%.
Hulu Plus survey hints at ad-free premium content packages, HBO, Showtime integration
According to a survey given to Hulu Plus testers, the streaming web TV service might consider offering ad-free content packages on top of the existing Hulu Plus subscription.
The options Hulu is considering include: movie packages that feature classic movies, indie and foreign fims, documentaries or "back catalog" studio films; Premium Channel add-ons like HBO or Showtime; or On-demand premium TV with the option to rent or buy like Amazon On Demand.
Netgear's NeoTV set-top box revives first-gen Blu-Ray drives
Network hardware company Netgear has taken the wraps off of a new set-top media player called the NeoTV 550 Ultimate HD, which will go on sale in North America this October for $220.
Betanews first started paying attention to Netgear's set-top boxes in 2009, when it first unveiled a BitTorrent-enabled box called Digital Entertainer Live EVA2000. That device, while useful for connecting devices within the home network to the user's television, was only capable of 720p output, and had only moderate support for streaming video services. It received pretty mediocre reviews, and didn't stand out tremendously from the crowd of similar products from Netgear's competitors.
Google deepens commitment to realtime search
Google expanded its commitment to providing real-time search results by introducing a new site devoted to searching live content, as well as new tools aimed at helping users parse the information collected more easily.
The live search would be available at www.google.com/realtime, which the company is launching on a rolling basis Thursday. It indexes content from social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Google first introduced basic realtime search last December, allowing users to more accurately search for current trending topics.
Netflix launches app for iPod touch, iPhone devices
Netflix on Thursday introduced a version of its application for the iPhone and iPod touch, allowing subscribers of the entertainment service to watch streaming content on their portable devices. The company already has a version of its application for the iPad, designed for the bigger screen of that device.
A subscription to Netflix is required, which starts at $8.99 per month. Nearly two thirds of its 15 million subscribers use some version of its online offerings, which also are available for PCs and select Blu-ray players and TV sets. It additionally gives Netflix a foothold in an increasingly competitive mobile entertainment market.
MIT lab creates giant robotic tadpoles for oil spill cleanup
The Sensable City lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is developing a solar-powered robot whose sole purpose is to clean up oil spilled into the water.
Seaswarm, as the robot design is called, is essentially a large robotic tadpole. The "head" of the robot consists of a solar collecting cell, which generates enough electricity to power the nanowire-covered conveyer belt "tail." The conveyor belt propels the robot, and the nanofabric on the surface of the belt can absorb 20 times its own weight in oil without becoming saturated with water. The oil sucked up onto the belt is then removed by heating it up and evaporating the oil into a container in the head of the robot.
Dell outbids HP for storage company 3PAR
Computer maker Dell will be acquiring virtualized storage company 3PAR for $1.6 billion, the companies announced Thursday. The announcement follows a bidding war for the company that took place between Dell and rival HP.
Dell increased its bid for 3PAR to $24.30 per share; considerably higher than the $18 per share offer it made one week prior. The bigger tender offer comes as an answer to a competing bid placed by HP just three days ago for $24 per share.
Introducing a new, more social Digg
Popular social link-sharing and bookmarking site Digg on Wednesday made its new, redesigned site available to all users after testing in an invitation-only mode for roughly four months.
"This redesign is a major revision of our platform -- front end to back end -- this is just phase one of what will be an on-going, iterative process, involving lots of input from all of you. We'll be pushing out features on a regular basis and tweaking often, "Digg founder and CEO Kevin Rose said on Wednesday. "Our goal has always been for Digg to be a place where people can discover and share content and conversations from anywhere on the web. With Digg v4, we are introducing a few things that will make discovering and discussing news a lot better."
Germany moves to ban bosses from checking your Facebook
In an age where just about anything is shared on Facebook, employers have turned to it and other social networking sites to ensure its employee's behavior is on the up and up. In Germany, that practice may become illegal.
German news outlets are reporting that Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière is working on new privacy legislation that would outlaw corporate snooping on social networking profiles. It would restrict the amount of information that current as well as prospective employers could gather and use.
Apple launching TV show rentals, new AppleTV at Sept. 1st event
Apple is in 'advanced' talks with News Corp, parent company of the Fox broadcasting network, over letting consumers rent its TV shows for 99 cents, Bloomberg has reported. CBS, NBC Universal, and Walt Disney, which owns ABC, are also said to be participating in those talks.
While the focus is expected to be how the new shows add entertainment options to Apple's preexisting line of products, the company is also likely to introduce the second generation of its AppleTV product. That would likely come with a smaller hard drive and a $99 price point, sources told the news service.
Google unveils voice calling through Gmail
Wednesday, Google officially announced that North American Gmail users can place voice calls to any phone number directly from their Gmail interface. The feature will roll out to all users in the next few days.
Users will be able to place totally free calls within the U.S. and Canada for "at least the rest of this year," and international calls for comparatively low rates. All outgoing calls originate from the user's Google Voice number, and calls can even be received within the Gmail interface.
© 1998-2026 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.