House votes to delay DTV transition, President likely to sign
By a vote of 264 - 158 at 4:12 pm ET, with official time to vote having been closed, it appears Congress has moved to extend the transition date for the DTV transition to June 12.
The final legislative hurdle came at about 3:30, when Rep. Joe Barton (R - Texas) offered a motion to recommit -- a move to have the bill sent back to the Energy and Commerce Committee. There, it would have considered an amendment compelling broadcasters to vacate the VHF/UHF spectrum anyway, if police, fire, or other public safety officials in their broadcast area had expressed plans to use the vacated spectrum for their own purposes.
Explanation for Windows 7 'clear choices' for SKUs murkier than ever
There will be a client version of Windows 7 geared for everyday consumers, and another client version for businesses other than those that would normally purchase volume licenses. The reasons why are growing fewer in number.
The official explanation for Microsoft's choice of product SKUs for Windows 7 later this year -- which follows an almost identical pattern to the current breakdown for Windows Vista -- could be more befuddling than the existing explanation for Vista. Yesterday's prepared Q&A with Windows General Manager Mike Ybarra states in great detail that his company's choices give consumers a broad array of choices, while at the same time acknowledging that there's only one choice they should make anyway.
In-Stat: Blu-ray will create more 'connected homes'
In-Stat released a study today that measured the penetration of permanently connected electronics devices in the consumer home. The analysis firm has been doing these studies for years, and it always seems like the public lags behind what experts predicted. With the advent of 802.11b in 2002, the group predicted that "You'll mass-market smart home networks five years down the road." Things still aren't what they expected as it turns out, but video game consoles have provided the best inroad so far.
Joyce Putscher, In-Stat analyst said, "The primary reasons that more devices are not connected to home networks are: consumer awareness/knowledge, availability of network-capable CE products on retail shelves, prices of network-capable CE products, competition with non-network-capable CE products (like docking stations), and lack of perceived need by some consumers."
Ericsson completes ST-NXP joint venture
Ericsson and STMicroelectronics have completed their mobile platform merger agreement and will be combining Ericsson Mobile Platforms with mobile semiconductor company ST-NXP Wireless into a 50/50 joint venture. Hardware from the two companies is used in nearly 80% of all handsets globally, and the joint venture will be a supplier to four of the five largest mobile phone companies in the world. These are two companies that have also pledged support for LTE as the next generation communications protocol.
Paul's Boutique returns in lossless audio
20 years later, Paul's Boutique is still breaking ground. The album that secured The Beastie Boys a position in the pantheon of "credible" musicians has been re-released in a method that's unconventional even by today's music standards. Sure, it could have been remastered and put up for sale on the front page of iTunes, or be used to launch a viral video campaign, but that just wouldn't seem befitting.
With the help of Topspin and Prod4ever, Paul's Boutique has been made available as a 1.6GB download, remastered in both DRM-free 320Kbps .MP3, and the user's choice of FLAC or Apple Lossless. It comes with interactive 3D digital album art, five music videos, and a full album video commentary track with the Beastie Boys themselves. This package costs $15.99, less than (just randomly selecting something from the iTunes front page) the The Fray's self-titled album "deluxe edition" which was released yesterday for $16.99.
Panasonic fights recession and yen in Q3
As expected, Panasonic on Wednesday announced job cuts, plant closures and a third-quarter loss of ¥380 billion ($709 million) due to onerous currency-exchange rates, higher raw materials costs, and the continuing consumer paralysis.
Operating profit for the Osaka-based company declined to ¥26.4 billion ($297 million), a drop of 84% from the same period last year.
Spring Wireless bounces into Seattle
A Brazilian mobile-software company with an eye on worldwide expansion announced this week that it'll set up its US headquarters in downtown Seattle. The advent of Spring Wireless could mean 35 new jobs for Rain City.
TechFlash reports that the company, which focuses on the enterprise space and counts Coca-Cola, McDonald's, ExxonMobil, Visa and Motorola among its customers, will add mainly marketing and sales jobs to the region. It has already picked up several former Microsoft folk to get things rolling.
At Yahoo, three weeks and a cloud of dust
Carol Bartz was a surprise pick for the top spot at Yahoo, and three weeks after the announcement the invigorating effect appears to be ongoing as she deals with both the leaking and the listing aspects of her metaphorical ship.
The leaks appear to be a genuine vexation for the former head of (quieter, stabler) Autodesk, but the battle's delightful for spectators. Bartz on arrival said that she wanted to get Yahoo's rampant memo-leaking tendencies under control, and she appears to be serious: All Things D has reported that Bartz is calling for bounties on the heads of anyone leaking internal business to the press... and she's offered to pony up $1000 to start the fund. (Naturally, that offer was leaked. Multiple times.) The Wall Street Journal's also got a bucket out, and their Digits blog
Maybe if they called it the Super-Connect-O-Fier
Call it a femtocell, call it an Access Point Base Station -- look, maybe the industry should instead try calling it something that clicks with consumers, because according to a recent study by In-Stat, the niche needs some help.
The femtocell, in case you haven't got one hanging off your own home network, is a cell base station sized down to cover a dwelling or an office. It can bring coverage into areas of a building where coverage is weak (eg., an interior office), and depending on your mobile service provider it may save you money by connecting your mobile phone to your provider's network over whatever broadband you've got at home. They can combine multiple kinds of access (eg., Wi-Fi and cellular).
Rules change approved, DTV delay may be debated Wednesday
10:30 am EST February 4, 2009: Given the House's current schedule, it appears likely that the House Resolution will pass, and debate on the delay, will begin at 11:30 am. Betanews will cover the debate live.
What a vote of the entire US House failed to accomplish a few days ago, the House Rules Committee did Tuesday evening: enabling a delay of the DTV transition date to be debated without spending time in markup.
Next Sidekick to run on NetBSD?
Fans of the Sidekick, who have fretted over the smartphone's fate since the purchase of manufacturer Danger, Inc. by Microsoft, apparently don't have Windows CE in their favorite handset's future. Instead, Microsoft's looking for... NetBSD programmers?
Danger had been rumored for years to be reworking their product line to run OpenBSD, but the status of that effort had been unclear since Microsoft's purchase of the company a year ago.
EA: Virtual people delayed, real people laid off
After an earnings spanking in its 2009 Q3, games publisher Electronic Arts announced plans to go Wii-Wii-Wii all the way home, refocusing much of its development effort to build for the console on which they're currently the #3 developer.
If anyone still doubted that the Wii is the pre-eminent console on the market, EA's clearly refurbished attitude to the former Nintendo Revolution should set her straight. In the wider marketplace, Nintendo outsold the competitive consoles from Sony and Microsoft, and EA now finds itself hustling to make headway on a platform where it holds about 5% of market share.
FinCEN gets so-so security report card from GAO
The Treasury Department bureau responsible for watching for money laundering isn't watching its security closely enough, according to GAO auditors. Worse, much of FinCEN's problems lie with the notoriously security-poor IRS.
FinCEN needs to step up its documentation efforts and its implementation of security control, according to a report from the US Government Accountability Office.
Verizon Wireless: A Vaio-P rebate may exist for some
1:45 pm ET February 4, 2009 - Verizon Wireless spokesperson Brenda Raney contacted Betanews this afternoon with a clarification: A Sony Vaio-P rebate for Verizon Wireless service does exist, she told us, for some customers, at Sony's discretion. That rebate is nationwide, but it's up to Sony to decide whether to issue those VZW-supported coupons.
Raney reiterated that since VZW does not sell netbooks in its stores, and because it leaves rebates up to resellers and partners to promote, Verizon Wireless would not be the one announcing any rebate of this nature.
T-Mobile to roll out Android update
From February 5 to February 15, G1 users will be receiving an over-the-air update to the Android operating system. This release, known as RC33, adds a number of new features, including Google Voice Search.
In November, Google made its Voice Search available to iPhone users, leaving some G1 owners scratching their heads and asking "Why?!"
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