Talk of iPhone in China begins anew
Once again, talk of bringing the iPhone to China is at the forefront, with China Mobile saying it was interested in offering the device to its customers.
Bringing the device to this region could be viewed as one of Apple's top priorities during 2008. Analysts have begun to question Apple's 10 million device goal this year based on sales in existing markets, so opening up new ones is an important next step.
Intel unveils Atom: new microarchitecture for UMPCs, MIDs
When you make smaller transistors, you can make much smaller processors, and the immediate payoff is that you use less power. The trick is to make the consumer want the smaller processor, and that may not be as easy as having invented the thing.
You know Intel's coming into this year's CeBIT conference in Hannover with a full arsenal of innovations when it makes its first announcements on Sunday just to be able to fit everything in. This morning, the latest upshot of its discovery of the high-k-plus-metal-gate (HK+MG) process takes center stage, with an entirely new 25 square-micrometer processor called Atom whose thermal design point plunges as low as 0.6 watts.
BitTorrent comes to the iPhone
The iPhone Hacker core has developed a new application that will allow users to download torrents directly to the device over EDGE.
A preview version of the client is now available for download, which was ported from the open source Transmission BitTorrent client to run on the iPhone's ARM processor. However, tests over EDGE show that downloads may not be completely stable just yet. The way data is sent seems to crash the data connection quickly, although at times testers were reportedly able to download files at higher data rates without crashing.
Double-whammy for Qualcomm as Nokia wins two rounds
Last November, trade courts effectively neutralized many of Nokia's key weapons against Qualcomm in a long-running patent dispute. In the past few days, though, the same courts have deflated Qualcomm's strategy in turn.
In the Nokia / Qualcomm intellectual property dogfight, which originally erupted over a royalties spat, suddenly it's both planes that appear smoking, leaking fuel, and headed into a tailspin. This morning, a High Court judge in the UK has thrown out all of Qualcomm's patent disputes against Nokia, in so doing rendering one of the two Qualcomm patents under examination invalid, reportedly for "lack of novelty."
Wikileaks returns after judge overturns own injunction
Whistleblower site Wikileaks has been allowed to reopen after the judge reversed his own decision to block it within the United States.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White cited First Amendment issues and legal jurisdiction questions as his reasoning for removing the injunction. This could be viewed as a win for both the site and the free speech advocates who saw it as too broad a ruling.
Dell takes more hits as its reorganization continues
Dell Inc. took a 6 percent hit in profits for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, warning that the earnings slide could continue in light of cautious consumer spending.
But in a conference call with analysts Thursday, CEO Michael Dell and other officials also pointed optimistically to a high growth rate in his company's consumer sales channel, success achieved so far in reducing head count, and expansion of activities in Dell's core business of enterprise computing.
China's Baidu again in hot seat for MP3 search
The leading search engine in China is being sued by two music industry trade groups for alleged copyright violations, once again highlighting the trouble Baidu has had stopping infringement.
Baidu saw immense growth after adding an MP3 search tool on its Web site that lets users find and download a variety of Chinese music. The site still allows users to search for and listen to song files for free.
Sprint plans further WiMAX build-up, 'push-to-talk' CDMA phones
After suffering a $29.5 billion loss in its latest quarter, a beleagured Sprint is focusing on keeping customers from drifting away from its Sprint CDMA and Nextel networks.
Sprint-Nextel is still eyeing an initially data-oriented service for its WiMAX network, known as Xohm, and the 4G network's current soft launch is now in the process of being "built up," said company CEO Dan Hesse, in an earnings call. Hesse said that Sprint is also talking with Clearwire, its former partner in Xohm, about some sort of a revamped relationship, but he declined to elaborate much further.
Justice Department sued by EFF over Google privacy official
The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently took aim at the Department of Justice, wanting all communications between Google and a former top privacy official who now works for the Mountain View-based Internet search giant.
Specifically, the EFF wants to know more about why Jane Horvath was chosen to become the company's senior privacy lawyer, and what may have influenced the decision.
YouTube: We'll have live video this year
While YouTube is best known for its work in promoting social video, the company is looking to live video as its next format. In an interview with NewTeeVee, YouTube founder Steve Chen said that the company plans to introduce a new live feature sometime this year. He said that the company had always wanted to do it, but didn't have the resources. Now that YouTube is owned by Google, Chen said the resources are now at their disposal.
Analysts say that YouTube is likely to quickly build momentum in the marketplace, which is primarily due to its already strong presence in social video. "Like video, content creators want to be on the service that gives them the most exposure, no matter how good the alternatives are," Duncan Riley wrote for TechCrunch. "YouTube already has the user base; live video streamers will flock to YouTube like a moth to a flame."
Opera Mini and Mobile dump Yahoo, go back to Google
Web browsing software company Opera today announced that its free Opera Mini and its Opera Mobile browser will once again have Google as the default search engine.
While Google has been the default search for Opera's desktop browser for nearly seven years, Yahoo was only a partner for a year, going live as the mobile software's default search in early 2007. User responses to that switch were mixed. On March 1, Opera will change back to having the default search as Google.
Baidu to launch instant messaging network for China
The leading search engine in China, Baidu, announced it will launch Baidu Hi, a new instant messaging service designed to let Internet users in the country communicate with one another.
Baidu is currently recruiting new developers and engineers to help develop the software, and hasn't said when it hopes to have a product ready for the public. The Beijing-based company stated that all aspects of Baidu Hi development will be done completely in-house, eliminating the need for jobs to be contracted out to other companies.
Nearly 3% of America became iPod converts over the holiday
With 40% of last quarter's iPod sales going to first-time buyers, Apple managed to convert a sizeable segment of the entire United States into white earbud wearers.
In analyst David Bailey's research notes to Goldman Sachs investment bank, he noted that of the Q1 2008 sales of Apple's iPod, 40 percent were to first-time buyers.
What does it take for musicians to sell you CDs and MP3s over the Web?
Big name (and long time) acts like Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson are now joining a huge barrage of newer musical artists in trying to hawk CDs and MP3 files over the Web. But what will it take for these musicians to convince you to buy?
According to speakers at this week's Digital Music Forum in New York, musicians need to keep from getting snarled up by the maze of different promotional channels for them to choose from, including: satellite Internet stations, music download sites like iTunes, social networking sites like Facebook, and ads on Google and other search sites.
eBay, MercExchange settle 'Buy it Now' patent feud
As part of the agreement, eBay will purchase from MercExchange three patents which cover search, online auction, and fixed price sales.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. "We're pleased to have been able to reach a settlement with MercExchange," eBay general counsel Mike Jacobson said in a statement.
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