Despite remark from Ballmer, Microsoft says it's not interested in Yahoo
UPDATED Microsoft was forced to issue an official statement following CEO Steve Ballmer's comments yesterday morning at Gartner ITXpo. Ballmer's remark that a Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo still makes sense caused an upward jolt in Yahoo's stock value.
The company's official word came later: "Our position hasn't changed. Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo!; there are no discussions between the companies."
TV broadcasters call for delay in FCC 'white spaces' ruling
The NAB today sharply criticized the credibility of an FCC report on white spaces. But in focusing on wireless interference issues that appeared in early field tests, the broadcasters appear to have ignored later test results.
A major TV broadcasting industry association today challenged the viability of an FCC report, calling for a period of public comment on whether devices operating in the so-called "white spaces" will interfere with broadcasting equipment if the spectrum is freed for public access.
White space devices might appear in 2009, if FCC directive is clear
By the end of next year, white space devices ranging from HDTV home video systems to self-organizing wireless meshes for rural connectivity will probably hit the market...or maybe not, WIA members said today.
White space device advocates from Motorola, Phillips, and other organizations said in a press teleconference today that if, as expected, the US Federal Communications Commission approves free access to unused spectrum on November 4, vendors will be ready with new white space devices about a year later, after a period of testing and certification.
Blog Action Day comes and goes again...Did you notice?
2008's Blog Action Day was observed on Wednesday. The eighth annual iteration of the group blogging event included 12,808 sites, all posting at least once on the day's discussion topic -- this year, poverty.
Organizers estimate that 13,498,280 visitors saw one of more of these poverty-related posts. Many blogs or blog readers also donated to charities working on the issue, and some corporate blogs at firms such as Google and Wells Fargo got involved as well. (Those numbers do not appear to include posts on Twitter and similar microblogging services.)
Inevitably, Facebook will use pizza to bring users closer
BetaNews continues its side-project of tracking of the E-pizza zeitgeist as Pizza Hut launches a Facebook app that allows users to order food through the social network.
Online media analysis firm comScore ranks Facebook as the most-trafficked social media site in the world, and the fourth most trafficked site altogether. Its application platform is an ideal place for companies to engage and intelligently target users, and has already been capitalized upon by the likes of Levi Strauss & Co., CBS, and Neutrogena.
Report: Android will also come with a kill switch
Google's Android Marketplace carries a warning that Google has the power to remotely remove applications that violate the developer distribution agreement, putting the G1 on par with the iPhone at least in the kill switch department.
In August, attention was brought to a blacklist for unauthorized applications located in the iPhone's CoreLocation API -- a blacklist that is tied to a remote "kill switch" for malicious programs. The existence of such a kill switch was later confirmed by Steve Jobs himself to The Wall Street Journal.
Appeals court tosses Broadcom win, ITC can't ban Qualcomm imports
To paraphrase Yogi Berra, "It ain't over." As the wireless industry's most significant brawl brings itself to a boil once again, the victory upon which Broadcom had pinned its hopes has been eliminated by an appeals court ruling.
In a decision that could completely even the score between long-feuding Qualcomm and Broadcom, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday threw out a December 2006 decision of the US International Trade Commission, upholding a ruling of patent infringement on Broadcom's power-saving technology by Qualcomm.
In the digital age, $1 can get you TV Guide...the company
Macrovision sells TV Guide magazine to a VC firm for $1 -- about one-third as much as the $2.99 newsstand price for a single issue -- while holding on to TV Guide Channel.
With purported dreams of profitability in publishing, OpenGate Capital has acquired TV Guide magazine for $1 from Macrovision, a company which still owns the TV Guide Channel.
Adobe Flash 'clickjacking' vulnerability fix requires admin alertness
A revised security architecture in the new version of Flash may drastically reduce malicious users' ability to "clickjack" their way into remote code execution. But it requires admins of content provider sites to take notice.
The cross-site scripting vulnerability problem with Adobe Flash has been known for some time. Since Macromedia first made it possible for Flash clients to receive content and instructions from sites outside the domain that launched them, it's been an even bet that the mechanism relied upon to maintain the integrity of Flash sessions would be the target of malicious attack.
RIAA appeals mistrial in Jammie Thomas case
Capitol v. Thomas, the infamous copyright infringement case against a Minnesota woman who made copyrighted material available on Kazaa five years ago, ended in a $222,000 victory for the RIAA...that was thrown out.
A few weeks ago, the district court Judge who presided over the Thomas case retracted the verdict and declared the case a mistrial on the grounds that the jury had been falsely instructed about the culpability of those simply "making files available", where no evidence showed that any downloads had taken place.
Radio streams toward your mobile phone...ads included
Let's not claim radio isn't a mobile medium -- after all, many of us listen to it primarily in our cars. But StreamAudio has announced technology that'll put favorite stations on certain mobile devices without wheels.
StreamAudio isn't a familiar name to most listeners. But if your favorite radio station has a streaming-audio feed, it's possible that it does business with the San Jose-based firm, which works with over 50 media groups and facilitates tech for more than 600 stations.
Gartner: Acer gains big worldwide, Apple gains in US
Research firm Gartner has released its third quarter 2008 results for the personal computer market, showing that in the US, Apple shipments exceeded Acer, the company with the biggest growth in worldwide market share.
Globally, the Acer brand, which now includes Gateway, Packard Bell, and eMachines,shipped 47.3% more hardware than last year's third quarter, growing its market share by nearly 3%, the largest improvement of the top-selling brands. Gartner research shows that Asus and Acer were the two vendors who have expanded their market share the most through the popularity of netbooks. Overall, PC shipments increased by 15%.
FileMaker Bento 2 offers a spreadsheet feel, more app integration
Leaving beta for general availability this week, Bento 2 combines new spreadsheet functionality with iPhone data sync, iTunes-like search, and Leopard effects-based themes.
Less than a year after the beta of its first personal database for Mac, Apple's FileMaker has released Bento 2, an edition that adds features in two main areas: more integration with outside applications, and the addition of sophisticated spreadsheet-like functionality.
eBay warning: A cloudy Christmas weather forecast
The company made money during the third quarter, but eBay officials warned during its quarterly earnings call on Wednesday that the outlook for the holiday season is fairly grim.
The company's making money, though, particularly in the PayPal unit, which reported 27 percent growth and $597 million in revenue. During the quarter, according to CEO John Donahoe, Paypal's volume exceeded eBay's volume. That's the first time that's happened; PayPal is now doing more non-eBay transactions than eBay transactions.
Yahoo usability tests bode ill for OpenID takeup
The OpenID digital identity management standard's long and winding road to general usage hit a pothole in recent tests by Yahoo, one of the program's most prominent identity service providers.
Started in 2005, the service has reported several gains in adoption over the past few months. Most notably, MySpace announced in July that it would be providing OpenID services -- a tremendous increase in potential users of the single-sign-in system.
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