Major beta changes summon all hands to TweetDeck
A popular Twitter client gets stronger as TweetDeck's v0.19b release makes its way to users of the AIR-based application.
One of a number of desktop clients for managing one's Twitter habit, TweetDeck lets users sort active feeds into various configurable columns -- for instance, Friends, Newsfeeds, and Fictional Characters (to recognize what often seems to be the greatest area of growth on the microblogging service). It's built on the AIR platform, and versions are available for Mac OS X, Windows XP, and Vista.
YouTube takes first steps toward an entertainment shopping mall
For the first time, video downloads generated from Google's YouTube site are no longer 100% free. Rather surprisingly, though, users have greeted the new links to fee-based music and content largely with positive comments, if any.
Google-owned YouTube yesterday abandoned its traditional business model of free content provider, adding links to paid video and audio in such a slick manner that most users either didn't mind or didn't even notice.
It's not over: Broadcom files a new suit against Qualcomm
Can a company with patent rights over a technology charge royalties to anyone who uses that technology...even as it's passed down from reseller to retailer to customer? Recently the Supreme Court said no, and that gave Broadcom an idea.
There for awhile, it really did look as though the legal disputes between the two biggest names in the field of wireless technology licensing, were finally unraveling themselves into something resembling resolution...if not just sputtering out altogether. But as it turns out, a US Supreme Court ruling in a case involving two other parties has breathed new life into Broadcom's hopes attaining full litigation superiority, in its interminable fight with Qualcomm.
Intel expresses concern about the AMD split and intellectual property
For the better part of two decades, AMD has been a producer of x86 chips, and at times sold more of them to consumers than Intel. So since x86 technology was conceived by Intel, what happens to it now that someone else will build upon it?
In an agreement between the two microprocessor manufacturers reached in the spring of 2001 and retroactive to the previous January, Intel granted AMD a license to make certain products that contain Intel's intellectual property; and AMD granted Intel a symmetrical license under that same agreement. A redacted publication of that agreement -- which is the only version that has been allowed to be made public -- clearly shows where AMD was granted "a non-exclusive, non-transferable [redacted] worldwide license, without the right to sublicense, under Intel's Patents to...make, use, sell (directly or indirectly), offer to sell, import and otherwise dispose of all AMD Licensed Products."
Motion denied: Class-action suit against Apple, AT&T continues
The class action antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple and AT&T last year for their strict control over the iPhone has withstood the companies' motions to dismiss, Northern California District Court Judge James Ware has ruled.
The original filing on behalf of Paul Holman, Lucy Rivello, and a class of complainants one year ago alleged that Apple "implemented a scheme to prohibit users from acquiring programs to run on the iPhone unless those were purchased directly from Apple." and that AT&T "will not provide the unlock code for the iPhone for international travel or otherwise. On information and belief, that is because AT&T and Apple unlawfully agreed that the iPhone would not be unlocked under any circumstances."
Yahoo's new social networking calendar enters beta
After ten years, Yahoo is finally updating its online calendar, with new capabilities ranging from Flickr-based photo integration to iCal compliance for sharing information with friends all over the Web.
Yahoo today launched the beta release of a new online calendar. While delivering its own new twists, Yahoo's revamped calendar adheres to the same iCal calendar standard used by Google, Microsoft, Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla, and IBM's Lotus.
Burst Media's 'Thought Leaders" network: Grownups wanted
When the going gets weird, the weird... grow up? That's the bet Burst Media is making with its new Thought Leaders network.
Among advertisers online, where so much can be known about individual site visitors, demographic targeting is king and A/S/L information is mapped to every group from gamers to moms to trendsetters. Within the blog-advertising ecosystem, Burst Media puts together bundles of 100-200 sites that appeal to a particular demographic and sells ad space on those sites.
AdSense ads wind their way into Flash games
After initial testing with social media game maker Playfish, Google is now launching a beta that will include Sprint and Sony as advertisers and Zynga and Konami as game creators. Is this the beginning of an ad-supported virtual world?
Can online gaming and advertising co-exist, or will gamers tune out the ad-supported games at too intrusive? Google will soon find out, with the beta rollout of AdSense for Games software.
Verizon officially announces touchscreen BlackBerry
"The world's first touchscreen BlackBerry...What will it feel like?" asks Verizon's teaser page for the upcoming BlackBerry Storm that was announced today.
Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A network will carry the Storm in the US, while Europe, India, and Oceania will offer the device through Vodafone. In India last August, however, the launch of the 3G iPhone was heavily qualified with disclaimers on the 3G network's limitations. Like the complaints about AT&T's 3G in the US, Indian consumers, too expressed frustration at the unreliable service provided by Vodafone's less-than-ready 3G network.
RealDVD restraining order sticks til Nov. 17
Yesterday was the last day that U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Patel would be available for hearings until November 17, putting the case between Real Networks and the MPAA on hold.
In the meantime, Judge Patel said the temporary restraining order placed on RealDVD would remain. "I am extending the temporary restraining order because I'm not satisfied in the fact that this technology is not in violation. There are serious questions about copyright violations. There are questions about violations of the [Digital Millennium Copyright Act], and violations of these companies' agreement."
Adobe works to pre-empt a 'clickjacking' security nightmare
Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities remain the most difficult for Web browser and tool manufacturers to thwart, especially because legitimate sites may be hosted by multiple domains. Today, Adobe Flash finds itself in the crosshairs.
A relatively ancient technique for hijacking a Web page's hyperlinks by overlapping them with different, invisible hyperlinks that lead the user someplace else, has reared its ugly head again, but this time outside the realm of HTML: Recently revealed proofs-of-concept show that invisible Flash elements can maliciously lead users to mock Web pages; and now it's been revealed that Adobe was already working with security engineers to fix the problem before the latest proof-of-concept was leaked.
MySQL co-founder quits job at Sun, as open source database frays
Feeling hemmed in by the boundaries of Sun's corporate structure, MySQL co-founder David Axmark shot off a resignation letter telling Sun that he 'hates rules,' and he also 'hates breaking them.'
Complaining vividly about the corporate rules inflicted on him at Sun, MySQL co-founder David Axmark has quit his job there, leaving his own future -- and that of the Sun-acquired MySQL open source database project -- in some doubt.
Anonymous message board posters must show IDs to government
A Pennsylvania judge has ordered the owner of a Web site dedicated to Lackawanna County, PA political affairs to disclose the identity of six anonymous posters for posting defamatory remarks about the Scranton City Council President.
This is a "Lackawanna Six" of a completely different nature. In a case centering around whether anonymity protects citizens from responsibility for defamation claims, an initial complaint was filed last year by Joe Pilchesky, a Scranton resident and webmaster of DohertyDeceit.com, a journal of local political criticism. Pilchesky claimed that he and his site were the victims of harassment, retaliation, and defamation at the hands of City Council President Judy Gatelli.
The latest Mozilla Labs add-on ties presence to location
Mozilla on Tuesday launched another new experimental Firefox plug-in that adheres to the nascent W3C specification for geolocation APIs, and that's built to understand and manage users' location information.
Mozilla Labs' new Geode add-on communicates with sites that want to know where the user is, passing along as much or as little data as the user wishes to allow -- city, neighborhood, or exact location.
IBM rolls out multi-OS Power6 servers, launches 'virtual memory' beta
Tuesday, IBM added two new PowerVM servers for bringing together mixed Unix, x86 Linux, and IBM i workloads. And with IBM's PowerVM Active Memory Sharing now entering beta, virtualization moves from processors into the realm of memory.
On Tuesday afternoon, IBM launched a pair of new Power6-based servers for Unix, x86 Linux, and IBM i environments, along with hardware and systems management software enhancements.
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