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Google Buzz: Another attempt to harness the content firehose
Similar to how Google successfully remolded RSS into a Google tool, the company now wants to remold Gmail into one big Google party
Success: Google's Nexus One shipping support line takes tech support questions
UPDATED Though the support line had been set up for shipping, it now appears Google personnel are happy to hear technical concerns.
Goodnight, moon: What I learned from a space shuttle
Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: Can the tech sector learn a few lessons from the space program? Certainly, if you believe in learning from someone else's mistakes.
Netflix to FCC: NBCU + Comcast could bypass net neutrality
Weaning itself from the post office as its main means of video transfer, Netflix would like someone to ensure the Internet remains just as unencumbered.
Rhapsody to become an independent company
RealNetworks and Viacom subsidiary MTV Networks have begun the process of spinning off music service Rhapsody into an independent company.
Nvidia debuts new dynamically-switched graphics card technology
Today, Nvidia announced that its Optimus technology for GPU switching will soon be available in a handful of Asus notebooks.
Google lowers 'unusually high' early termination fee on Nexus One
Google has lowered the Nexus One's early termination fees which were twice as high as the norm.
Netgear and Ericsson introduce a mobile broadband hotspot with a twist
It's a mobile broadband hotspot, but it's for use in the home.
Report: Streaming video drove 72% global increase in mobile data consumption
A new study says streaming video is "the single most influential factor driving the need for increased mobile network capacity."
Stymied by continuing Nexus One 3G issues, Google blames the environment
If you're still afflicted with the 3G flip-flop trouble, then you might consider moving. That appears to be the only suggestion Google can give for now.
Wolfram|Alpha makes a strong argument for virtual keyboards
"Answer engine" Wolfram|Alpha has updated its iPhone/iPod Touch app, harnessing the strength of the virtual keyboard.
Wolfram|Alpha makes a strong argument for virtual keyboards
By Tim Conneally on February 5, 2010, 7:01 PM
10 Comments
I don't keep my personal preference for mobile devices with physical keyboards a secret; the sensation of hitting real keys is an indivisible part of the text entry experience for me, and it's not likely to change any time soon.
But there is one area where physical keyboards are woefully inferior to virtual ones: adaptability. A virtual keyboard can represent any alphabet or be arranged in any configuration the user or software needs, and a physical keyboard simply can't keep up with that.
Continue reading Wolfram|Alpha makes a strong argument for virtual keyboards...
DOJ: Google can't leverage class action to settle with future authors
By Scott M. Fulton, III on February 5, 2010, 5:39 PM
3 Comments
Last September, the US Justice Dept. objected to the proposed terms of a settlement between Google and the Authors' Guild, which would have enabled Google to publish out-of-print titles in its Google Books catalog. The theory of the settlement at the time was, if authors or rights holders are given enough time to respond to a request to stand up for their rights -- say, at least several months -- and they don't do so, then that's as good as acquiescence.
Since that time, on orders of US District Judge Denny Chin, the two disputing groups have worked on a revised settlement. But yesterday, the Justice Dept. -- representing the United States' interests in the matter -- filed a second objection to the settlement. Although Google and the Authors' Guild made progress, US attorneys say, Google still appears to take the position not only that it can strike bargains on behalf of copyright holders, but that only Google can do so -- a position which they say the law does not allow them to take.
Continue reading DOJ: Google can't leverage class action to settle with future authors...
Apple asks developer to remove Android mention from App Store
By Tim Conneally on February 5, 2010, 12:37 PM
15 Comments
Apple has asked one mobile app developer to refrain from mentioning Google's Android mobile operating system in its iTunes App store descriptions, or face rejection.
The description of the 99ยข "Flash of Genius" flash card app included the text: "Finalist in Google's Android Developer's Challenge!"
Continue reading Apple asks developer to remove Android mention from App Store...
MPEG LA won't charge free streamers to use H.264, will charge for selling codec
By Scott M. Fulton, III on February 4, 2010, 6:05 PM
5 Comments
While Google, Vimeo, and others continue to experiment with H.264 as the codec of choice for HTML5 Web browser-embedded video, there's still considerable debate over whether W3C -- the caretakers of HTML and other Web standards -- should allow Web proprietors to embrace standards that are not essentially free. MPEG LA, the rights holder for H.264 technology and its licensing agent for the Internet Broadcast AVC Video portfolio, recently said it will not charge royalties for the use of H.264 encoding in video that's delivered free -- specifically, for any video for which the creators or servers are not compensated -- at least until the end of 2015 (a date corrected from the end of 2016, which the licensing agency originally announced).
Does that mean H.264 is free for streamers? In a clarification for Betanews this afternoon, MPEG LA spokesperson Tom O'Reilly said it may very well be free...for those who use the codec for that purpose. But not for those who sell the encoding software that utilizes the codec.
Continue reading MPEG LA won't charge free streamers to use H.264, will charge for selling codec...
Symbian now 100% open source, and looking for developers to fill in the gaps
By Tim Conneally on February 4, 2010, 11:31 AM
8 Comments
The world's most widely-used smartphone platform is now completely free and open. Today, the Symbian Foundation announced that the entire 33 million lines of Symbian^3 code is now free under the Eclipse Public License.
The platform was only sort of open source before...sort of. When the Symbian Foundation launched in 2009, parts of the source code were made available to members of the foundation under a transitional license. But now, all of the third-party intellectual property has been removed from Symbian^3 and it can be downloaded and used freely by anyone.
Continue reading Symbian now 100% open source, and looking for developers to fill in the gaps...
Tetris TV: A look at the weird places we've stuck Tetris
By Tim Conneally on February 3, 2010, 7:56 PM
2 Comments
True story: When I was a freshman in college in the late '90s, my roommate and I had an NES in our dorm room that people would come over and play with. Though we had just reached the 64-bit era of consoles at that point, people loved to come play games from our formative years and socialize.
Everything was fine and fun until somebody gave us a Tetris cartridge.
Continue reading Tetris TV: A look at the weird places we've stuck Tetris...
H.264 licensing body won't charge royalties for HTML5, other Web streams
By Scott M. Fulton, III on February 3, 2010, 6:05 PM
98 Comments
One of the key objections Mozilla and its supporters have had to the use of H.264 codecs for HTML5 video -- the built-in decoding system being developed for the next edition of HTML -- is that it's proprietary technology. As such, there are no guarantees against the rights holders to that technology staking claims to it, and charging money for it...and there may not be much protection against others who believe they have claims on it, to test their theories in a full-scale patent infringement trial.
Up to now, the MPEG Licensing Authority (MPEG LA) has not been charging royalties to anyone, including streamers and the viewers of streamed content, for the use of H.264 encoding and decoding for the specific purpose of delivering free streams. That way, for example, the participants in YouTube's and Vimeo's current tests of H.264 in HTML5 -- Web browser-based video without any plug-ins -- can proceed without incurring charges.
Continue reading H.264 licensing body won't charge royalties for HTML5, other Web streams...
Free project management beta community launches for iPhone and iPad developers (and users)
By Nate Mook on February 3, 2010, 4:45 PM
3 Comments
iPadBeta.com is a new free service that connects iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch developers with beta testers for their Apps, offering the tools and help needed to easily run a great beta test. The aim is to help developers create Apps with less bugs, better reviews, and higher sales.
App developers are each given their own private projects, which include bug and feature tracking, custom surveys, discussion forums, custom wikis, build distribution, tester participation monitoring, reporting, and other features. iPadBeta.com will also recruit App testers matching the developer's market; or they can invite their own friends and customers.
Beta test a new massively-multiplayer online game
By Nate Mook on February 3, 2010, 4:33 PM
4 Comments
Centercode is accepting applications for a new online game and world beta test. Inspired by a successful film franchise, and based on the timeless art of kung fu, the game is designed for the whole family. This new MMO includes character customization and the ability to battle others. Centercode notes that it is "an engaging and exciting environment with beautiful music, excellent scenery and fun yet challenging games."
The next testing stage of this project will be conducted on: Wednesday February 3, 2010 - 3PM and 6PM PST (6PM to 9PM EST), however testing will continue over the next few weeks and even if you do not get into todays event, there will be many more opportunities to participate.
Continue reading Beta test a new massively-multiplayer online game...
It's a three-way race: Opera preview clings to lead over Safari 4, Chrome 5
By Scott M. Fulton, III on February 2, 2010, 5:34 PM
50 Comments
Download Opera 10.5 "Pre-alpha" for Windows from Fileforum now.
This week marked Google's first release of a development build browser called Chrome 5, which contains some not-yet-fully-implemented features including the browser's first personalized security settings. In recent months, Chrome's dev build has been the standard-setter for performance in Windows, with scores in Betanews tests that rise by as much as one point -- one relative quantum of IE7/Vista horsepower -- per month.
Continue reading It's a three-way race: Opera preview clings to lead over Safari 4, Chrome 5...
First Google Chrome 5 offers a peek at future security settings
By Scott M. Fulton, III on February 1, 2010, 4:34 PM
11 Comments
Download Google Chrome for Windows Dev Channel build 5.0.301.1 from Fileforum now.
At the beginning of what will eventually be released as version 5 of Google's Web browser for Windows and other platforms, the developers of Chrome are just now taking into account what other manufacturers might have considered a fundamental aspect: the ability to turn on and off active content, such as JavaScript.
Continue reading First Google Chrome 5 offers a peek at future security settings...
Hands-on with TweetCaster for Android
By Tim Conneally on January 28, 2010, 5:31 PM
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Those who say there are no decent Twitter apps for Android simply haven't found the right one. When the Android Market first opened, you could sign in, watch the handful of new apps being uploaded every day, and generally know everything that was available on the platform. There really were only a couple of Twitter clients.
But now that the Market has been revised, and there are more than 25,000 apps by the last unofficial count from Androlib, there are plenty of Android Twitter clients to choose from.
Beyond obsolescence: What Microsoft Office can become
By Scott M. Fulton, III on January 28, 2010, 5:22 PM
29 Comments
The original reason for Microsoft Office's existence was to provide retailers with an incentive to move product that wasn't moving. The bundle created a discount deal that enabled the momentum behind Excel, which was hot, to help push Word, which was not. It had hardly a tenth of the sales volume of WordPerfect, and Word was a product that retailers had to actively work to sell. This was at a time when software consumed shelf space in stores and was sold like automobiles -- a time which is now essentially gone.
The idea that Office could be a platform came later, with Microsoft's realization -- albeit a late one, and a hard sell for a lot of us outside the company to have made -- that there was more to this multitasking thing than linked and embedded objects. I was a very early believer in the ideal that an application could be customized to suit the functions, requirements, and even tastes of the businesses that use it. I'm proud to say I've had more than just a voice in helping to bring that reality about. It would be a false statement for me to say I predicted this from my seat on the sidelines and it came about; I got off the sidelines, took my tools with me, and worked to bring it about.
Continue reading Beyond obsolescence: What Microsoft Office can become...
Google Chrome 4 goes live with extensions: How much closer to Firefox now?
By Scott M. Fulton, III on January 26, 2010, 7:16 PM
22 Comments
After a few months' development time, supporters of Google's Chrome browser -- based on the open source Chromium platform -- have had only a narrow window to produce a full library of extensions and add-ons for the grand opening of Chrome's new gallery. That apparently didn't weigh too heavily on developers' minds, as yesterday's ribbon cutting on the first stable Chrome 4 release featured a very well-stocked gallery.
As I've stated here before, it's Mozilla Firefox's adaptability that gives users who work on the Web -- as opposed to just browsing -- the functionality they need to do their jobs. In the absence of a "professional" Web browser that caters to those of us who make the Web their virtual offices, not only Firefox's extensions but its extensibility -- as a JavaScript interpreter that runs on JavaScript itself -- enables others to fill in the functionality gaps. That fact may be the only thing that binds me to Firefox, since the underlying chassis of Chrome has proven itself in my tests to not only be faster but more stable.
Continue reading Google Chrome 4 goes live with extensions: How much closer to Firefox now?...
Firefox's latest firestorm: Should the Web be made of codecs?
By Scott M. Fulton, III on January 25, 2010, 6:05 PM
33 Comments
The fabric of the original World-Wide Web is HTML, and perhaps no one now can deny that if anyone who ever wrote an HTML document owed someone a licensing fee, the Web might never have come to fruition. But as the concept of the Web broadens and becomes, even in several specific respects, cloudier, a showdown is brewing among proponents of two equally arguable trains of thought: One side believes that as the Web evolves to encompass broader forms of media, the technologies that enable that media to be shared and distributed, should themselves be shared and distributed and not bound by proprietary arrangements.
The other side believes that too much of the world's intellectual property is already bound to high-bandwidth digital media, particularly video; and if all video were as openly distributable as text, what's already happening now to The New York Times Company will soon happen to Sony and NBC. If Web media is too free, no one can build a business around its creation and distribution.
Continue reading Firefox's latest firestorm: Should the Web be made of codecs?...
The Internet Explorer fracas: Let's find something else worth dumping
By Scott M. Fulton, III on January 23, 2010, 2:09 PM
33 Comments
Fair warning, everyone: What follows is my opinion. Given the propensity of opinion traffic on the Web, I shouldn't have to say this: It truly is my opinion. Nothing to which I attach my byline or my face has been adjusted or colored in order to more thoroughly polarize my characterization of the subjects I cover, or to agitate your feelings so as to prompt you to post comments.
In fact, in all sincerity, I realized long ago that I'm not a very polarizing figure, I've accepted that fact, and I've come to embrace it. The art of persuasion, I was taught centuries ago, was developed with the aim of getting other people to agree with you. I'd like to get a hold of the person by the tea bags who came up with this notion that popularity must be driven by populism, which in turn can only be generated through agitation, anger, and outrage, hoist him onto a flagpole, and tell him flat out, "Rush, Americans are smarter, more sensible, wiser, and more capable than you think they are or than you would have them become."
Continue reading The Internet Explorer fracas: Let's find something else worth dumping...
EU clears Oracle + Sun: If MySQL fails, there's always PostgreSQL
By Scott M. Fulton, III on January 21, 2010, 4:41 PM
7 Comments
In green-lighting Oracle's proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems today, the European Commission says it considered whether in doing so, Oracle would effectively eliminate the "competitive constraint" of competition from the open source field by way of MySQL, the open source relational database that Sun acquired in 2008. That acquisition gave Sun its first competitive database product; but Oracle already has one of the leading commercial entries.
The conclusion the Commission reached today is a surprising one, especially from Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes just days before a planned Commission-wide job swap. Kroes had been seen as a protector of the interests of open source alternatives as a plurality. But in today's decision, the EC implied that the open source field only needed one active competitor to be relevant. If that competitor for some reason stops being MySQL, it announced, then PostgreSQL can step in and fill its shoes.
Continue reading EU clears Oracle + Sun: If MySQL fails, there's always PostgreSQL...
Firefox 3.6 RTM officially released, includes personalization
By Scott M. Fulton, III on January 21, 2010, 12:21 PM
39 Comments
Download Mozilla Firefox 3.6 for Windows from Fileforum now.
It's been said that improvements to Web browsers aren't truly improvements unless the user can both see and feel them. Mozilla's latest efforts in that area have just been finalized: a new stable version of Firefox that not only provides more control features to the new Windows 7 taskbar, but lets you paste posters on its wall.
Continue reading Firefox 3.6 RTM officially released, includes personalization...
Duarlander: Paying for Android beta testers
By Tim Conneally on January 18, 2010, 3:52 PM
4 Comments
Android fragmentation is a serious problem. Not only are there already three live versions of the mobile operating system, and more than 25 phones from over 10 different manufacturers, but a handful of different app stores and app distribution channels. The future only holds more of everything.
Now, a new community called Duarlander is forming, where beta testing is crowdsourced to all Android users registered with the service. Developers submit their Android Package files (.apk), and then pay a fee between $100-$250 which is distributed among the beta testers.
Continue reading Duarlander: Paying for Android beta testers...
The next entry in the 'Guitar Hero' genre promises to teach real guitar
By Tim Conneally on January 13, 2010, 3:30 PM
4 Comments
Video games that are popular among kids sometimes get an unfortunate makeover into educational software, and while not all conversions result in terrible rip-offs, there have been a number of exceptionally bad action-to-educational conversions. Some examples that come to mind are Sega's zombie shooting game House of the Dead, which was mashed up into a typing tutor; and Nintendo's I am a Teacher: Super Mario Sweater, which turned a kid's Famicom into a textile design machine with the aid of the company's mustachioed mascot.
But certain types of games are instructional without being aggressively labeled as such, and have been teaching kids for the last few years. Music simulators such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, for example, have helped many kids become proficient drummers before they're even enrolled in primary school.
Continue reading The next entry in the 'Guitar Hero' genre promises to teach real guitar...
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