Dueling Interop Labs: Microsoft Opens One with Novell, Another with Sun
Yesterday, Microsoft and Novell announced they were moving in together - at least insofar as their joint development work was concerned, into a modest 2,500 square-foot laboratory in Cambridge, Mass. "The first priority for the lab team will be to ensure interoperability between Microsoft and Novell virtualization technologies," reads yesterday's statement from Microsoft.
Then comes today, with Microsoft making nice with its friends at Sun Microsystems. They too will open up an interop laboratory...or so they said during a press conference this afternoon. However, reporters who were already familiar with the Novell development yesterday wondered, where will this Sun lab be located? Will it be in Cambridge? Will it be bigger or smaller? And perhaps most importantly, why isn't there just one lab?
Sony Unveiling Four New Blu-ray Recorders in Japan
Sony is set to release four new Blu-ray disc recorders in November, along with the first to be able to record on the format's dual-layer discs.
The players range in price from 140,000 yen ($1,227 USD) to 200,000 yen ($1,752 USD). Sony will release the new models on November 8, and plans to produce about 40,000 per month for the market.
Windows Server OS to be Offered on Sun Servers
Sun Microsystems has become the latest server manufacturer to offer Windows Server operating systems pre-installed on x64 servers, as well as what Sun's EVP John Fowler described this afternoon, during a press conference call, as "the entirety of our server product line."
Solaris will be able to work in a Microsoft virtualized environment, and Windows will be able to work under a virtual machine hosted by Solaris, under a collaboration agreement announced today. Fowler said 100% of Solaris' customers also run Windows someplace in their data centers, so this agreement was vitally necessary.
Amazon Sponsoring Web Services Contest
Amazon is attempting to drum up interest among developers for its Web Services offering by sponsoring a contest which looks for the best business venture that makes use of its technologies. A first prize of $50,000 cash, $50,000 in web service credits, and a possible financing offer will be awarded to the winner, while others could receive up to $5,000 in credits for their entries. All qualifying entrants receive up to $25 in web service credits for participating.
Web Services from the retailer actually has nothing to do with e-commerce on the site: rather, the engineering and technology back end is made available for developers to use in whatever form they would like. Over 265,000 developers have signed up to use the service since it was launched in July 2002, the company said. More information on the contest can be found on the company's website.
Microsoft Tries Again in Japan With Xbox 360
E-mail Patent Holder NTP Pursues AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint
The patent holding company that successfully produced a $612.5 million patent infringement settlement with BlackBerry producer Research In Motion even while the US Patent and Trademark Office was doubting the validity of its patents, has filed suit against the US' four leading wireless carriers for infringement of what are believed to include some of the same disputed patents.
As first reported this morning by The Wall Street Journal, NTP Inc.'s contention is that the four wireless carriers - AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and Sprint Nextel - are selling e-mail services to customers that utilize "push" technologies whose basic concepts are protected by patent. During the famous 2005 lawsuit between NTP and RIM, the USPTO declared two of the five disputed patents invalid, and was actively considering the other three.
Apple Debuts Logic Studio
Apple unveiled a major upgrade to its Logic Pro professional audio program called Logic Studio, which includes several applications for under $500 aimed at helping create musicians audio projects.
Central to the suite is Logic Pro 8, which includes several enhancements over previous versions to simplify the audio creation process. A single-window interface is now central to the application, which will allow fast access to commonly used features.
Microsoft, Sun to Announce Expanded Agreement
Korea FTC Files Objection Statement Against Intel
The South Korean business daily Maeil has confirmed that the country's Fair Trade Commission has not only concluded its antitrust investigation against Intel, but has filed a statement of objections against the CPU maker. This after some US press sources had taken the headline of Korea's story, "Korea Closes Intel Investigation," too literally.
The bad news portion of Korea's FTC disclosures came first from Bloomberg News late this morning, then the San Jose Mercury News soon thereafter. The investigation period has indeed closed, and the charges and possible penalty phase has immediately begun.
States Petition Federal Judge to Extend Microsoft Antitrust Oversight
When the US Dept. of Justice and the New York State Attorney General's office on August 31 issued their joint status report, along with Microsoft, on the progress of its antitrust oversight, they acknowledged that period is due to expire this November. But in a statement, the DOJ said it would petition to extend its oversight period for another two years until late 2009, at least with regard to its protocol licensing operation if not the entire company. Microsoft agreed to that extension, the statement added.
Now, in a petition before US District Judge Kathleen Kollar-Kotelly, the State of California, along with five other states and the District of Columbia, said they would ask US District Judge Kollar-Kotelly to extend all the provisions of government oversight to 2012, in a status meeting scheduled for today.
AMD Clinches Quad-Core Price/Performance Lead After First SPEC Results
The first official benchmark test results for Intel's Tigerton series and AMD's Barcelona series were released by the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. From a pure prowess perspective, neither the new quad-core Xeon MPs nor the new quad-core Opterons walk away with an all-around victory, with Intel's X7350 stealing the show in integer throughput, and AMD's 8350 winning the race in floating-point throughput.
Intel tested a Lenovo R630 G7 system with four of each of its new quad-cores dropped in at some point, including its new top-of-the-line 2.93 GHz Xeon MP X7350. Though it has yet to publish results for all Tigertons across the board in the SPECfp_rate 2006 floating-point throughput test, a quartet of X7350s scored about 29% better in base rate and nearly 34% better in peak rate than four of AMD's top-of-the-line Opteron 8350s in the SPECint_rate 2006 integer throughput test.
Patch Tuesday: And Then There Were Four
Microsoft dropped one patch from its Patch Tuesday lineup, instead only releasing four patches, one of which was critical.
Based on the list provided by Microsoft last Thursday, it appears as if the company nixed the fix aimed at the company's SharePoint product. That patch would have repaired an issue concerning an elevation of privilege risk.
NAB: Say No to "White Space" Internet
Claiming to be acting on behalf of television viewers, the National Association of Broadcasters launched an effort to block measures to use so called "white space" for rural high-speed internet.
In early August, the FCC struck down a proposed device that would have utilized unused portions of TV spectrum to bring high-speed internet access to rural areas. The regulatory agency claimed that the device could not reliably find unused spectrum, and cause interference.
News Corp: We're Staying on iTunes
Ending speculation that it would follow NBC Universal's lead in pulling its programs from Apple's iTunes, News Corp president Peter Cherin said the company had no plans to do so. He did, however seem to agree with NBC on one thing: that networks should have more control over what is charged for their programming. Cherin's comments were made to Reuters during a stop in Poland, where the media conglomerate is relaunching a television channel.
"Right now, we have a perfectly good relationship with Apple," he told the news wire. Cherin's comments are no doubt good news for Apple, and may help stem the tide of content provider discontent Apple has been riding over the past several months. It began last year with Apple's insistence to keep 99 cent music pricing, which may have led to Universal's canceling of its long-term contract. This was soon followed by NBC Universal's announcement that it would pull its television programming from the service.
Vodafone Looks to Take On iPhone in UK
Preparing itself for the eventual release of Apple's iPhone in the UK, Vodafone on Tuesday unveiled a new music store that allows the unlimited download of tracks to compatible phones. While the British cell phone carrier was thought to be an early favorite, it now appears that O2 has won the contract for the country. Vodafone's service includes about one million tracks and is available for $4 per week.
According to the carrier, most users will not need to upgrade their phones in order to take advantage of the service. However, it features new phones in its store including Nokia's N81 and N95 devices. Other devices will also be offered from Samsung and Sony Ericsson, and most will support the music store and other interactive features such as eBay, MySpace, and YouTube access.
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