Sun, Dell Announce Solaris 10 Distribution Agreement
During the opening keynote of Oracle OpenWorld today in San Francisco, Dell and Sun Microsystems announced a multi-year distribution agreement in which Dell will provide OEM support for Sun's Solaris 10 operating system.
Once considered an arch competitor in the hardware field, Dell will now be working more closely with Sun to provide Solaris support, as well as to give new Dell customers an intriguing alternative.
Microsoft to Sell Downloadable Full Xbox Games
To celebrate the fifth anniversary of Xbox Live, Microsoft is preparing a system update that will be delivered to users starting December 4 and bring support for downloading full versions of older Xbox titles such as "Halo," "Psychonauts" and "Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge."
While Microsoft has long offered downloads of arcade games via Xbox Live, this will be the first time it is offering full titles. The company says it is planning to sell a library of titles spanning the most popular genres in gaming. The capability is similar to that offered by Nintendo's Wii, which lets gamers buy and download games made for older Nintendo consoles.
Comcast, Microsoft Team on SMB Services
Comcast said Wednesday that it had teamed with Microsoft to offer its small and medium-sized business customers new Internet-based communications services built on the Redmond company's productivity platform.
The services include the same Microsoft Communication Services that are now mostly used by larger companies with dedicated IT staffs. Now SMBs can utilize the same e-mail, calendaring, and document sharing.
Microsoft Embedded R2 OS to Extend PC Networking to Devices
In a news conference slated for tomorrow morning, Pacific Time, Microsoft plans to introduce the R2 release of its Windows Embedded CE 6.0 operating system for embedded devices. Prominent among its new features, according to the company this afternoon, will be a new implementation of Web services on devices, whose aim will be to enable small devices to serve as networked clients in a localized PC environment driven by Windows Vista.
This part gets misinterpreted quite often, and Microsoft is withholding many details until tomorrow. But the early impression the company is giving is that small devices will act as network clients when connected to a Vista-based PC, in a miniature form of the relationship between a Vista PC and a Windows Server.
Nokia's N82 5-Megapixel Handset Launches Worldwide
Nokia is hosting a "virtual launch" of its high-end N82 handset today. So the device whose specs have been floating around since May will now actually be made available - it's just the fanfare and events that are virtual.
For approximately €450 before subsidies and taxes, the N82 supplies a 5 megapixel camera with a xenon flash and Carl Zeiss zoom, A-GPS, Wi-Fi connectivity, and standard 2 GB microSD memory. The candy bar-style handset is 112 x 50.2 x 17.33 mm and weighs 114 grams, with a 16.7 million color 240x320 screen.
Yahoo to Add Social Networking to E-Mail
Yahoo says that it plans to add aspects of social networking to its e-mail and portal in the future, according to an interview in the New York Times. Yahoo's community and communication chief Brad Garlinghouse called the new effort "Inbox 2.0." For example, instead of the typical way of displaying messages, the company is now looking into ways to decipher which messages are from people that you would most want to read.
From here, a user could find out more about the sender through a profile, and a news feed of what is happening with users, such as what they may be doing at current, when their birthdays may be and the like. Heavy users of Yahoo services would have a more extensive profile, as the feature would pull in information from around the Yahoo network "The inbox you have today is based on what people send you, not what you want to see," Mr. Garlinghouse told the NYT. "We can say, here are the messages from the people you care about most."
Company Sues 23 for Text Completion Tech
Delaware firm Autotext Technologies has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against 23 major technology companies including Apple and IBM, regarding predictive word processing.
Autotext is suing the following companies: Apple, AT&T, Helio, Hewlett-Packard, HTC America, IBM, Kyocera, LG Electronics USA, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo of America, Nokia, Nuance Communications, Palm, Qualcomm, Research In Motion, Samsung America, Sanyo North America, Sony, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and Zi Corporation.
Germany Passes New Data Retention Laws
Germany's Parliament passed new data retention laws last week that require Web and phone providers to retain their logs for up to six months, despite the opposition of privacy advocates.
According to the law, the information within those logs could be used by law enforcement if they have reason to suspect criminal activity. Supporters claim it is also an anti-terrorism measure -- aimed at preventing another attack like those in London or Madrid.
Amazon Offers Freebie Deal for Blu-ray Movies
Amazon has begun offering a promotion that would allow customers to receive one Blu-ray move free when they buy another at full price. Although the sale is said to be for a "limited time," no expiration date was given. 72 movies in all are included as part of the deal, with prices on Blu-ray movies either $19.95 or $26.95. As would be expected, the least expensive of the two discs is counted as the free movie.
There have been reports that the discount has not been applied to some purchases, although Amazon.com said that those not receiving the freebie should contact the site to have their orders adjusted. In any case, such a move is not unexpected. With HD DVD now selling their players for as low as $98, pressure is on Blu-ray to answer back. While Blu-ray cannot match HD DVD on player price, it seems to have turned to its ever-growing catalog of movie titles to drum up sales.
WSJ Opens Up Site to Digg Users
In what may end up being just the first step in Rupert Murdoch's rumored desire to open Wall Street Journal Online content to everyone by removing the subscription requirement, the publication has inked an agreement with Digg to allow free access to articles submitted to the social news site.
Although articles must be "dugg" by Journal subscribers before they can be viewed by anyone else, the deal should bring a fair bit of new traffic to the WSJ. In return, Digg receives a boost of credibility by partnering with the Journal, and "Digg This" buttons will be placed on all the publication's stories, furthering Digg's reach.
Yahoo Settles With Shi Tao, Chinese Dissidents' Families
Twenty-one months after a Yahoo senior executive admitted to Congress his company probably should not have turned over private information on one of its customers in China to the Chinese government without first having checked to see what that phrase "State Secrets" meant in the telegram, Yahoo has settled a dispute with that customer's family, along with the families of two other dissidents with claims against the company.
"Plaintiffs and defendants hereby jointly stipulate to dismissal with prejudice of all claims made in this action," reads a company statement this morning, "based on a private settlement understanding among the parties." Not much else was said other than that Yahoo also agrees to pay the families' court costs.
Sweeping EU Telecom Reforms Proposal Will Include Telco Breakup Option
As BetaNews reported yesterday, the European Commission did indeed take up the matter of the creation of a centralized European Telecom Market Authority. Though despite evidence of what was believed to be at least substantive opposition, the proposal was apparently adopted after only hours of discussion.
Included in the proposal will be the option for regulators to force large incumbent telcos within a region or member country to split their business units, if necessary, to create an environment that encourages competition among alternative providers.
What Will IBM Gain by Acquiring Cognos?
Today, IBM's newly-acquired Business Intelligence and Management group Cognos unveiled a couple of developments that were no doubt deciding factors in its recent acquisition. Among them is a new accounting reporting tool that European customers will not only need but require, in the wake of regulatory changes.
First, the company introduced its new Cognos 8 Controller Performance blueprint, which is designed to help finance departments renew and improve closing, consolidation, and reporting processes.
XM Shareholders Approve Sirius Merger
XM and Sirius' proposed merger received near-unanimous support from shareholders, as the two companies announced they had cleared the next hurdle in becoming a single entity.
According to tabulations by XM, 99.8 percent of shareholders voted in favor of the transaction. The merger agreement calls for each XM shareholder to receive 4.6 Sirius shares for each share they own.
EU Opens Formal Inquiry Into Google + DoubleClick Merger
Having concluded a preliminary review into the ramifications of search engine and contextual ad provider Google merging with display ad and campaign management system provider DoubleClick, the European Commission has decided it will now open its formal "in-depth investigation" into the matter.
In a statement this afternoon, the EC stated its preliminary review concluded the merger, proposed last April, "would raise competition concerns in the markets for intermediation and ad serving in online advertising."
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