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05/13/2008
MIT students show power of open cell phone systems
One project named GeoLife gives users a way to set to-do lists and get reminders on their phones. Walk by the market, and the device might buzz with a message that you're supposed to pick up milk. Another effort, named Flare, was designed to help small businesses like pizza shops cheaply track their drivers. Then there was Locale, which lets users configure their phones to automatically adjust their settings when the devices detect themselves in certain zones. So you might set your phone to automatically vibrate in the office and be silent at the movie theater, and ring everywhere else.
Google joins effort to make more Web sites more sociable
The service provides a framework that will enable people to interact with their friends and use favorite applications they have accumulated on social networks like Facebook and Plaxo even when they aren't visiting those sites.
Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope blasts off
WorldWide Telescope, developed by Microsoft's research arm, knits together images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and others.
05/12/2008
iPhone sellouts herald iPhone 2
The Cupertino-based company confirmed that the iPhone is out of stock online, but added that brick-and-mortar stores run by Apple and iPhone carriers including AT&T Inc. might still have units available. Apple has been known for clearing out its inventory of a certain product ahead of a major upgrade.
RIM gets Bold with new Blackberry
The Bold, or 9000, has twice the screen resolution of the current Curve model, making for a very sharp display. It matches the resolution, but not the size, of the screen on Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which has emerged as a potent competitor in the "smart phone" category. Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM, which has its U.S. headquarters in Irving, didn't announce a price for the Bold, nor agreements with specific carriers. It said the phone would be available from various carriers this summer.
EBay to Australia: Buy with PayPal only
EBay says it wants to reduce disputes and restore trust in its marketplace with the PayPal-only plan. Because eBay and PayPal can share information on each transaction, eBay says use of PayPal allows it to stop fraud more efficiently than outside payment services.
Virtual apps try to build camradiere, productivity
Technology researchers are trying to replicate old-fashioned office interactions by transforming everyday business software for the new era of work. The historically dry-as-sawdust products are borrowing elements from video games and social-networking websites.
Facebook lets users share profiles with other sites
Unlike MySpace, which has about 200 million users worldwide, Palo Alto-based Facebook plans to allow users to take their personal profiles to any website that wants to host them. For starters, MySpace is opening user profiles only to a select group of sites, including leading destinations owned by Yahoo and eBay.
05/09/2008
PhotoShop Elements 6 has all the angles
You don't need to know an f-stop from an aperture to get great pictures the first time you fire up Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.
Papa John's surpasses $1 billion in online pizza sales
The nation's third-largest pizza delivery chain trumpeted the $1 billion milestone Wednesday. Other chains in the fiercely competitive pizza industry are tapping into the technology craze to give customers ways to order pies other than through the standard phone call or trip to a restaurant.
What's next for Microsoft Live Search
First, Microsoft must do the basics — a huge search index, lots of storage in the cloud for users — very well. It must innovate in "quick waves" that force Google to play catch-up. It must "change the basic experiences" of communication and search. And it must gain scale.
MySpace to allow users to share data with Yahoo, others
Among other things, MySpace users could have their default photo and music interests appear in Yahoo Instant Messenger or enrich their eBay profiles to improve exchanges between buyers and sellers.
Tell us: Do you use technology to track your kids?
For an upcoming story, we want to hear from parents who are using or have used tools such as GPS or software programsto keep track of their kids.
05/08/2008
Facebook, states agree on new safeguards
Facebook has agreed to ban convicted sex offenders from using the service and will make it harder for older users to search online for subscribers who are under age 18. The agreement is similar to one reached in January with Facebook's larger rival, MySpace.
HP wants more help from scientists
Banerjee took over HP Labs last year and pursued an overhaul, cutting some projects to focus on fewer but bigger bets in such fields as molecular-scale circuits, content management and network-based "cloud" computing. Achieving those goals quickly, he said, will require broader input from academia.
Research firm cuts into Sony claims for super-thin TV
DisplaySearch ran two XEL-1 units for 1,000 hours, and measured the drop in brightness. Extrapolating from that, they found it would take 17,000 hours for a display to lose half its brightness, a standard measure of display life. Sony says the display lasts 30,000 hours, or 10 years of typical use. Spokesman Greg Belloni said that figure is based on years of tests and the company stands by it.
Comcast considers cap on Net usage
For years, Comcast directly called customers who used up several times more bandwidth than the typical subscriber's 2 gigabytes per month — for instance, by downloading hordes of movies. The big users were asked to reduce their use or have their accounts canceled.
05/07/2008
Take-Two's 'Grand Theft Auto IV' tops $500M in week 1 sales
Already, the game seems to be living up to its juicy past, which includes controversy over hidden sex scenes, sharp criticism from Hillary Rodham Clinton and a 2006 lawsuit that blames the game for three New Mexico murders committed by a 14-year-old.
Sprint and Clearwire to build national WiMax network
The new company, which will retain Clearwire's name, will continue developing a mobile network based on WiMax technology, which promises data transmission speeds several times faster than current wireless networks offer.
05/06/2008
Microsoft to bring voice control to Hyundai and Kia
Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors will be entitled to sell cars equipped with Microsoft Auto around the world starting in November, but the companies are working on new capabilities and probably won't be ready this fall.
Yahoo teams with McAfee to offer search results security
With the new security feature — slated to take effect Tuesday — people who search the Internet using Yahoo will see a red exclamation point and a warning next to links McAfee has identified as serving dangerous downloads or using visitors' e-mail addresses to send out spam.
Microsoft, chasing Apple, adds TV shows to Zune Marketplace
In a small victory over Apple, Microsoft said the Zune Marketplace will carry NBC shows including "The Office" and "Heroes." NBC Universal has said it pulled its shows from iTunes over Apple's unwillingness to set different prices for TV shows.
05/05/2008
T-Mobile brings 3G wireless to NYC; other markets to follow
Web browsing and downloading content like ringtones will be twice as fast with 3G on four phone models that T-Mobile USA started selling last year. T-Mobile will offer phones that take full advantage of the 3G network, with data speeds that are four times as fast as current non-3G models, later this year.
Cable, satellite and ... Sezmi? Startup wants in on pay TV
At its heart is a TV set-top box that receives video content in three different ways. Two are available through other means: digital over-the-air local broadcasts, the kind that are available to anyone with a digital TV and a rabbit-ear antenna; and Internet downloads through the home's broadband connection. The third delivery method would be unique to Sezmi. It plans to have local TV stations use vacant portions of their airwaves to transmit basic cable channels like Nickelodeon and Discovery.
Report: DT mulling bid for Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel is the third-biggest provider of cell phone services in the U.S. and has a market capitalization of approximately $22 billion. AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless are the top two U.S. providers.
05/02/2008
Federal regulators cap cell phone company payments
The move is bad news for rural cellular carriers who rely on such payments for a substantial part of their revenue, but it benefits big telephone companies like Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., whose customers are the largest contributors to the fund.
XtremeMac's Tango X2 has more features, lower price than many iPod speaker systems
It seems every time I turn around somebody has introduced another iPod speaker system. In fact, so many look alike it's refreshing to find one that isn't like the others.The Tango X2 from XtremeMac has a lot going for it, with a feature or two that other systems don't have.
Broadband over power lines plan is dead in Dallas
An ambitious plan for using power lines to deliver fast Internet service to 2 million Dallas-area homes collapsed Thursday, when Oncor agreed to buy the system.
05/01/2008
Analyst: HD DVD demise hasn't meant scramble for Blu-ray
Sales of Blu-ray players, excluding PlayStation 3 game consoles, dropped 40 percent from January to February in the U.S., according to NPD. Sales grew only 2 percent from February to March.
AT&T launches TV service on new phones, rivaling Verizon
The eight channels shared with Verizon Wireless are CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC 2Go, NBC News 2Go and Nickelodeon. The two channels that will be exclusive to AT&T are PIX, which screens movies from Sony Pictures, and CNN Mobile Live.
Adobe plans to give away Flash for mobile devices
With the Open Screen Project, Adobe said, it aims to improve Internet experiences on all electronics, including computers, TVs and digital video recorders. But mobile devices are a particular focus.
04/30/2008
Report:AT&T to offer $200 price cut on 3G iPhone
According to Fortune, Apple is expected to have two versions of the new iPhone, an 8-gigabyte-memory and a 16-gigabyte-memory model with price tags widely expected to be $399 and $499 before the rebate.
H-P discovery could speed up computers
The newly discovered circuit element — called a memristor — could enable cell phones that can go weeks or longer without a charge, PCs that start up instantly, and laptops that retain your session information long after the battery dies.
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