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30 Aug 2010 01:51:31 GMT+00:00

In a bid to reverse declining market share and relevance in the smartphone space, Microsoft (MSFT) is prepping Windows Phone 7, expected to launch this fall. The new platform has taken shape like a puzzle, piece by piece over the past ...

30 Aug 2010 06:01:24 GMT+00:00

Free open-source software began with high-technology tinkerers and researchers. Sharing code and ideas was their priority, not profits. In the tech industry, they were sometimes compared to socialists and communists. ...

30 Aug 2010 06:06:30 GMT+00:00

Has the Internet finally conquered the 130-pound behemoth that it is the Oxford English Dictionary? While the venerable tome has been referenced for 126 years, its publishers are considering ceasing the printed version soon due to anemic sales figures ...

30 Aug 2010 03:42:27 GMT+00:00

An international committee reviewing the "processes and procedures" of the UN's climate science panel is set to report on Monday. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has faced mounting pressure over errors in its last major assessment ...

29 Aug 2010 05:38:38 GMT

According to the site 148Apps.biz, Apple has hit 250,000 apps available in the App Store, hitting the milestone in just over 2 years. Almost 51,000 publishers have released 252,000 apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, although only a tenth of those apps were made for the popular tablet. Books accounted for the most amount of apps, at 17 percent, followed closely by games at 14 percent. Entertainment was the third most popular category, at 11 percent, with education, lifestyle and travel all following at 6 percent, each. Royal Pingdom posted that 70 percent of App Store apps are paid, whereas in the Android Market only 36 percent are paid. The Android Market is on the verge of hitting 100,000 apps.

29 Aug 2010 05:54:08 GMT

The WSJ is reporting this weekend that Chinese electronics giant Lenovo is creating a video game console, dubbed the eBox. Lenovo has created a new subsidiary, the Beijing eedoo Technology company to build the console. The eBox will have controller-free gaming, which will likely be similar to Microsoft's upcoming Kinect motion control system. Adds Jack Luo, president of eedoo: "We are the world's second company to produce a controller-free game console, behind only Microsoft. We saw game consoles as an area with growth potential." Luo then made some comments on the market the eBox will be aimed at: "Our product is designed for family entertainment. Ebox may not have exquisite game graphics, or extensive violence, but it can inspire family members to get off the couch and get some exercise." There is certainly a large family market in China, which has also banned the import of game consoles. Lenovo plans to release the console by the end of the year to the Chinese market.

29 Aug 2010 06:20:10 GMT

According to sources close to the matter, Blockbuster is preparing to file for bankruptcy in the next month. Senior debt holders, company execs and the six major movie studios have all discussed Blockbuster's intentions to prepare a "pre-planned" bankruptcy in September. The company will use Chapter 11 to restructure $990 million in debt and break leases on over 500 stores. The company has lost over $1 billion since 2008. If the six studios decide to drop support for Blockbuster, the company will never emerge from bankruptcy, as it will lose its constant stream of DVDs and Blu-rays. Blockbuster currently has 3425 brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S., and that is after they closed almost 1000 in the last year, alone. CEO Jim Keyes, say the sources via the LATimes, wants to use the bankruptcy to close up to 800 of the worst performing stores around the nation. The company has fallen a long way from the top, with its current market value placed at around $15.31 million. Blockbuster was purchased in 1994 by Viacom for $8.4 billion.

29 Aug 2010 06:43:46 GMT

Rockchip has introduced their new 3D Android tablet this week, one that will be glasses-free while still giving owners full 3D support. The tablet will use autostereoscopic technology, the same displays that will be available in the unreleased Nintendo 3DS. Users can adjust the amount of 3D, and even disable it completely. Rockchip has dubbed their tablet the Supernova x1 but little will be known officially about the device until the IFA in September. Pictures show a 3.4-to-4-inch screen, a microSD slot, a USB port, SES Astra's 3D channel and volume controls. You can view a slideshow of pics here: Rockchip Supernova x1 via Engadget

29 Aug 2010 07:09:43 GMT

Last week, Toshiba announced they are currently developing 3D HDTVs that do not require any special glasses. Sony has made a similar announcement today, working on 3DTVs it hopes can be released by early 2011 "Seeing 3-D without glasses is more convenient," says Yoshihisa Ishida, Sony SVP. "We must take account of pricing before we can think about when to start offering them." Panasonic and Sony have already released 3D HDTVs, both the displays require special (and usually expensive) glasses. Sony says it will take the top spot in 3D TVs and Blu-ray player market share in Japan, thanks to its movie studio.

29 Aug 2010 21:30:24 GMT

Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, has begun a campaign of patent infringement lawsuits against companies ranging from YouTube and Facebook to eBay and Office Depot. Allen's patents were originally granted to his company, Interval Media, which shut down in 2006. The company w "We recognize that innovation has a value, and patents are the way to protect that," said a spokesman for Allen. When asked about the notable absence of Microsoft and Amazon from the suit, the spokesman wrote in an email, "This is the most recent step in a long process, but it is not necessarily the end of the process." But do the patents themselves actually have any value? If so, why wasn't Allen's company able to make money on them to begin with? The patents include 6,757,682, "Alerting Users To Items of Current Interest," which covers suggesting items from an online store based on the content of the current page. AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, Yahoo & YouTube are all accused of infringing on this patent. The first question which comes to mind is how this wouldn't be considered obvious for anyone in the online selling industry? Just because something hasn't been worked out in code already doesn't mean other developers haven't thought of it. More likely, what it means is either it's a solution for an as of yet non-existent (or at least minor) problem or it's simply not something they've decided to implement (or prioritize). Certainly the concept of suggesting products to someone based on what they appear to be interested in already isn't new. It's been done by brick and mortar merchants as long as they've existed. Even before brick or mortar themselves were invented. Is the idea that an online merchant would benefit from adopting this standard business practice anything but obvious? So what about the individual bits of the process? They could be a revolutionary approach. But really it's not. The following steps are listed in the patent. Receiving in real time from a source other than the participant an indication that the item is of current interestProcessing the indicationDetermining an intensity value to be associated with the indication and an intensity weight value, and adjusting the intensity value based on a characteristic for the item provided by the sourceInforming the participant that the item is of current interest There's nothing revolutionary, or even inobvious, about these steps. What's revolutionary is actually figuring out the metrics to use for steps two and three. In fact that step is so inobvious, Netflix gave out $1 million for helping them improve it. They could just as easily have worked out an agreement to license Allen's patent, but that wouldn't have helped them in any way. Patents are supposed to be given for finding innovative solutions but all this patent does, like the others listed in Allen's lawsuit, is list a few vague steps required to computerize every day human activities. Patents 6,034,652 & 6,788,314 are over adding audio and video content to other content for the purpose of attracting a viewer's attention. The suit alleges AOL, Apple, Google &Yahoo are infringing. Patent 6,263,507 covers automated comparison of different audio and video files, which Allen claims AOL, Apple, eBay, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo & YouTube are infringing. In both these cases the patents are, again, simply explaining the steps required for a computer to duplicate tasks already performed by humans. TV broadcasters have added information to the content they're broadcasting for decades. That information just happened to be selected by a person rather than a computer. For much longer, people have provided comparisons of music to share with other people in the form of everything from reviews to personal recommendations. Essentially all Allen's patents do is take human solutions and explain that they still apply to doing business or providing a service on the internet. Nowhere do they advance the implementation of these solutions, which is where all the value lies. Simply recognizing the vague shape of a technological implementation of an existing solution isn't inobvious, and neither is it valuable. Building a technological solution and using it to improve your operation is where the challenge is. And there's no need for the IP protection of patents as an incentive for those solutions to be developed and implemented. If selling more products, attracting more visitors or generating more pageviews doesn't justify coming up with a solution, is it really worth anything anyway? Punishing the people who come up with the answers to compensate others who merely point out the questions is completely backward.

29 Aug 2010 09:54:00 EDT

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Samsung's Galaxy Tab has once again surfaced online via unofficial channels, and this time it's carrying a sticker on one side that clearly states CDMA. The iAndroid forum goer who allegedly snapped these shots praised the device for its strong speakers, call quality (although not clear if that's over 3G or WiFi), and ability to run Flash -- but at the same time notes the GPS is just a bit slow (it does work, though). More pictures in the gallery below, right next to our ever-increasing impatience to try this little guy out ourselves. , Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Tab, in the wild and teasing CDMA

29 Aug 2010 16:17:00 EDT

, Well, this is certainly interesting -- that's HP CTO Phil McKinney pictured above in a pair of redacted shots that were posted to Twitter by HP's Mark Budgell. Described only as "early protos" by McKinney himself, the pictures show what appears to be phone-sized device, a tablet-sized device and, perhaps most curiously, something on McKinney's wrist (all mysteriously blacked out). Before you get your hopes up too much about a new wave of webOS devices, however, you might want to take a look at the second part of Budgell's tweet, which encourages folks to vote for McKinney's SXSW 2011 panel -- a panel in which McKinney promises to make some "bold predictions for the future - backed up with a number of breakthrough prototypes," and specifically talk about what the future will look like in "5 to 10 years." Now, we can't be certain of course, but that doesn't exactly suggest these are right around the corner. Head on past the break for a slightly bigger image.

29 Aug 2010 22:12:08 GMT+00:00

The Android-based smartphones sold across the aisle from the iPhone 4 on AT&T and on T-Mobile, the nation's smallest major carrier. Samsung's Galaxy S smartphone is a blockbuster globally and recent numbers show it is poised for similar success in the ...

29 Aug 2010 20:53:07 GMT+00:00

Before Facebook entered the world of location-sharing, I wish it had given more thought and care to privacy issues. Location-sharing services allow mobile Internet users to "check in" and announce their location to members of their ...

29 Aug 2010 20:01:29 GMT+00:00

To tell the story of Apple's iPad is to tell a tale of heartache and delays. It's no question that Apple has certainly sold a lion's share of its new tablet since the device's April 3 launch?more than 3.27 million as of late July, to be exact. ...

29 Aug 2010 21:04:59 GMT+00:00

Google's YouTube video site is in negotiations with Hollywood's leading movie studios to launch a global pay-per-view video service by the end of 2010, putting it head-to-head with Apple in the race to dominate the digital distribution of film and ...

29 Aug 2010 04:28:32 GMT+00:00

Jeff Chiu/AP SAN FRANCISCO -- Lately I've been feeling self-conscious when talking on the phone in public, and it's not because I'm worried about strangers listening in on my conversations. Rather, it's because the cell phone I'm ...

29 Aug 2010 00:01:28 GMT+00:00

It's been nearly four months since Steve Jobs' missive entitled, "Thoughts on Flash," where, in addition to a fairly scathing retort at Adobe's Flash platform, the Apple CEO noted that the company's App Store carried more than 200000 applications at ...

29 Aug 2010 04:30:34 GMT+00:00

Poor Apple, I sometimes can't help but feel sorry for them. They spend millions of dollars to experiment with an idea that many initially criticize as being crazy. But of many such experiments are few that give birth to their next big thing. ...

29 Aug 2010 02:15:35 GMT+00:00

Paul Sakuma / AP 3Par CEO David Scott is in a good spot: Both HP and Dell want his company. Hewlett-Packard and Dell waged a bidding war last week for 3Par, the Fremont maker of storage products. The initial offer of about $1.15 billion had increased ...

28 Aug 2010 07:16:34 GMT

The popular online and physical movie renting service Lovefilm has signed a UK distribution deal with MGM this week, making the studio's films available online and through Internet-enabled devices with the Lovefilm Player app. Financials were not disclosed, but the deal will give Lovefilm subscribers access to 4100 MGM titles. LoveFilm has 1.4 million European subscribers. CEO Simon Calver says: "With the digital revolution underway, our opportunity for growth is huge and the addition of MGM titles is a substantial development in enhancing our digital catalog." All MGM Classics are available now, and new releases will be available "on a transactional basis."

28 Aug 2010 04:40:00 EDT

, How do you differentiate one portable HDD from the next? Well, let's see: You can bump the storage capacity up to 1TB. Or you can give the monkey a mohawk. Yep, that's pretty much it! The Rikiki Go supports USB 2.0, sports an aluminum case, and is available now (with 1TB capacity) for $150. There is also a 500GB version that's not yet in stock, but will be at some point for $90. PR after the break.

28 Aug 2010 06:35:00 EDT

, How could we resist a story involving robot-powered babies? The Ithaca College Tots on Bots project aims to mobilize infants with physical disabilities by setting them atop a "mobile robot" equipped with a Wii Balance Board to let the young operator steer by leaning -- which, it turns out, works pretty well. Additionally, the vehicle uses sonar to avoid nasty crashes and a remote control that an adult can use to take control. Further study has to be made before any long term developmental benefits can be ascertained, but in the meantime it does look like a lot of fun. See it in action after the break.