Apple Could Be Planning Return to PDA Market
With the iPhone and iPod Touch out the door, Apple is apparently reviving an effort to develop a successor to the Newton, the device that helped spur the PDA market.
The device uses the multi-touch technology that both devices currently feature, as well an an embedded version of Mac OS X Leopard. According to AppleInsider, the project has been underway for the past year and a half, spurred by development of the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Two New Sidekicks for T-Mobile
T-Mobile's growing line of Sidekicks now includes the LX and the Slide, produced by Sharp and Motorola respectively, to be made available in coming weeks.
Sharp's LX claims to be slimmer than the Sidekick 3, though spec sheets reveal they share the .9" thickness when closed. Its weight, however, has been knocked down from the previous 7 ounces to a much more manageable 5.7. LX has a 3-inch WQVGA display that is thinner and mounted on an improved swivel joint. Its entire outer edge can be set to glow at varying colors and speeds as a status indicator. Beginning October 17th for existing customers, the LX will be available for $299 USD and a 2-year contract commitment.
Virgin Concentrates on Mobile Service
Following the recent announcement that it will be terminating its online music store. Virgin announced yesterday that it will turn its mobile phone business public with an IPO.
Virgin Mobile is a joint venture between Virgin Group and Sprint Nextel Corp that has been providing a pay-as-you-go service since 2002. The service is generally geared toward a younger consumer group, and has seen decreased competition recently with the bankruptcy of Amp'd Mobile announced in the beginning of June.
Core CTO: Highly Exploitable AIM Bug Could Lead to System Hijack
In an interview this morning from Buenos Aires with BetaNews, Core Security Chief Technology Officer Iván Arce described a scenario whereby a malicious user could be able to trigger AOL's Instant Messenger into launching Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 Web browser, and then send it commands that enable that user to wrest full remote control of the AIM user's system.
"The problem here, I think, is not with implementation," Arce told BetaNews. "It's the way this was designed from the start. It wasn't designed thinking about potential malicious inbound messages, so the mechanisms for filtering were not put in the right place."
Steve Case Looks to Revolutionize Money
After attempting to shake up the healthcare industry, AOL co-founder Steve Case is now looking to do the same to online payments.
The new venture is called Revolution Money and allows users to transfer money at no charge, as well offers a credit card for business that has lower fees for the money they get charged to accept it.
Microsoft Owns Up To Halo 3 Disc Scratching
Microsoft confirmed blog reports Wednesday that the special limited edition packaging on some Halo 3 games was scratching the disc and has offered to replace them at no charge. The reports first surfaced within hours of the game's release, and quickly spread through other gaming forums. In order to quell any discontent, Microsoft has decided to waive the $20 USD fee through its Disc Replacement Program the game through December 31.
Only one replacement per gamer will be honored, and the original disc must be sent into Microsoft. The disc will be shipped out within two weeks. The Redmond company said this only affected a "small fraction" of the total number of games shipped and apologized for any inconvenience it may have caused.
Sony's New PSP a Hit in Japan
Japanese gamers are responding positively to the new version of the PlayStation Portable, with 250,000 units sold in four days according to Japanese publisher Enterbrain. The number matches the total number of original PSPs sold in the country during July and August of this year. The new unit is intended to compete with Nintendo's DS Lite, which has been a huge hit for the company in Japan as well as worldwide.
Sony's redesigned PSP is cheaper and slimmer than its predecessor. At 19,800 yen, it is about 5 percent cheaper than the original. The DS Lite sells for 16,800 yen. Both consoles were originally launched in 2004, although Nintendo's console has always been the cheaper of the two, and has resonated more among casual gamers.
Microsoft Acknowledges Floating Point Bug in Excel 2007
It's the type of bug that, when discovered twenty years ago on the world's leading spreadsheets of the time, generated controversy and sent thousands back to their software stores for refunds: Excel 2007 has a bug with the display of floating-point values, a Microsoft developer confirmed on his team's blog yesterday. BetaNews confirmed the bug's existence, which leads to some values in floating-point multiplication to be "rounded" to incorrect values.
The problem appears to be with certain kinds of pairs of values whose product is either 216 (65,536) or 216 - 1 (65,535). When one or both factors has floating-point precision but is only slightly fractional - meaning, it has perhaps one or two decimal places but is otherwise not "irrational," to borrow its mathematical meaning - Excel renders the product as 100,000 instead.
Microsoft Details Office 2008 Mac Versions
Microsoft further detailed its plans for Office 2008 for Mac on Tuesday, saying that it plans to release three versions of the product including one with a Macintosh version of its Expression suite.
All versions will be available in English and 10 other languages, for the first time in Danish, Finnish, and Norwegian. It will support the Open XML format, and is quite similar to the Windows version in terms of design.
Vonage Loses Patent Case to Sprint, Injunction May Be Next
In a blow to its fortunes that analysts feared could be fatal to the company, VoIP service provider Vonage was handed a defeat this afternoon by a federal jury in Kansas City, Kansas trying a patent infringement case brought against it by wireless carrier Sprint Nextel.
Vonage has been ordered to pay Sprint $69.5 million in damages plus 5% royalties on all future revenue, though the defeated company said this afternoon it will file an appeal. Today's decision comes six months after Vonage lost very a similar case to Verizon. There, the VoIP provider was ordered to pay Verizon $58 plus 5.5% in royalties on all future revenue.
Core Security CTO Finds Major Vulnerability in AIM, IE7
The Associated Press reported this afternoon that the chief technology officer of the company that makes Core Impact, a very well-known penetration testing product for enterprise networks, has gone public with the discovery of a new and significant vulnerability affecting AOL Instant Messenger, on systems where Internet Explorer 7 is also installed.
Core Security CTO Iván Arce told the AP that the current AIM 6.1, including the Pro and Lite versions, as well as the beta of AIM 6.2 all utilize Internet Explorer 7 for some of their rendering functions, including graphic emoticons. The interaction between AIM and IE7 apparently takes place over a link that Arce says he's proven can be exploitable, in demonstrations last month to officials of AOL's parent company, Time Warner.
Sony to Debut More Affordable VAIO NR Notebooks
Today Sony announced its newest addition to the VAIO line of notebooks: the NR, its cheapest model to date.
Historically, Sony's VAIO line has been heavy on style while remaining light in your backpack. Though at times some entries in the line do look conspicuously similar to MacBook Pros, they have a design ethic that appeals to many.
Lenovo Not Giving Up on Packard Bell Yet
Despite the announcement that Gateway will acquire Packard Bell, Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo said Tuesday that it will not completely give up on attempts to acquire the company itself. If a deal between Gateway and Packard Bell falls through, the company said it will attempt to strike its own deal with the small computer maker.
Lenovo is in the midst of attempting to expand its business globally. While its IBM acquisition helped it to gain a strong foothold in the United States, acquiring Packard Bell will help its efforts in Europe. It is unlikely that the company will take on any future large acquisitions: in comments to Reuters, the company said that it was still in the process of "digesting" the IBM merger.
Halo 3: Not Game Over, But Awful Close
The CE and tech media is billing Halo 3 as the "PS3 killer." While that may not be too far from the truth, it may also be a bit premature. Either way, time is running out.
PERSPECTIVE It's just what the doctor ordered. After a rough couple of months, the launch of Halo 3 is giving the Xbox franchise the good swift kick in the pants Microsoft needed to get itself back on track.
NVidia Moves Further Into Integrated GPUs
Today's introduction of a new set of GeForce 7 integrated graphics chips for PC motherboards marks a major push for nVidia towards a segment of the market that Intel has traditionally commanded.
For years, graphics processor manufacturer nVidia has executed a simple strategy: Introduce innovative features on the high-end first, then push yesterday's high-end features down to the mainstream. By consequence, yesterday's mainstream GPUs were pushed to the low end, where the company historically maintained it's a better choice than integrated graphics.
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