[Software News] Wrapup of entertainment quotes
[Software News] Microsoft Releasing Three Critical Patches, Other Updates
Microsoft will issue seven security updates next Tuesday, including critical sets of patches for Windows and Internet Explorer. The three critical updates are all for Windows components, Microsoft said in a note on the upcoming release. These components include Internet Explorer, the DirectX and DirectShow graphics software, and the Windows Media Format Runtime, which is used by Windows Media Player...
[Software News] Google Opens 'Mac Developer Playground'
Google on Tuesday launched the Google Mac Developer Playground, a Web site that houses open source code and projects from Google's Apple-oriented engineers. "We've always had a place to showcase our consumer products," said Amit Singh, a Google engineering manager, and Karen Grünberg, a Google product manager, in a blog post. "Today, we're unveiling the Google Mac ...
[Software News] Microsoft Pushing Windows XP for XO Laptops
Microsoft is working on a version of Windows XP for One Laptop Per Child's new XO computers, a Microsoft executive announced on a company blog Wednesday. And according to a Wall Street Journal article, the company will start testing the new software with XO laptops in the U.S., India, and Romania. "We are hard at work on the project here," wrote James Utzschneider, general manager...
[Software News] Disney launches UK kids portal, Europe to follow
LONDON (Reuters) - Entertainment group Walt Disney's Internet arm said on Thursday it was about to launch a UK portal aimed at young adults showcasing its games, films, music and social networking assets in one British Web site. The Disney.co.uk Web site will launch on Monday and follows the launch of the concept in the United States earlier this year. Similar Web portal offerings will be launc...
[Software News] Tech Stocks Rally, but Spending Concerns Linger
Upbeat economic news strengthened investor confidence in technology this week, benefitting companies as diverse as eBay, Apple, Dell and Intel, but did not entirely dispel worries about corporate IT spending trends for 2008. A mortgage-rate freeze announced Thursday by President Bush, who said his administration had reached an agreement with credit service companies and banks to maintain current int...
[Software News] JetBlue to test limited in-flight Net
NEW YORK - JetBlue Airways Corp. will start offering limited e-mail and instant messaging services for free on one of its planes next week as airlines renew efforts to offer in-flight Internet access. General Web surfing and e-mail attachments won't be permitted because of bandwidth constraints, and services on laptops and handhelds with Wi-Fi wireless access will be limited to e-mail and messaging ...
[Software News] Keith Richards reissues rare single on iTunes
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is reissuing his 1978 solo single "Run Rudolph Run" on iTunes just in time for the holidays, his spokeswoman said on Thursday. The tune, popularized by Chuck Berry, will be sold on a two-for-one basis with Richards' more-recent rendition of Toots and the Maytals' "Pressure Drop." The arrangement doe...
[Software News] Check scams thrive, especially online
Check schemes are spreading across the USA as scamsters exploit the popularity of online auction, dating and social-networking sites to find victims. The scams have grown so prevalent that the Postal Inspection Service has launched a TV and print campaign - its largest-ever anti-fraud drive - to alert consumers. Overseas investigators, working with U.S. postal inspectors, have arrested 77 people thi...
[Software News] EBay To Offer Listings Through Yahoo Japan
EBay on Tuesday launched a co-branded site with Yahoo Japan, giving the online auction site its first foothold in the Japanese market in five years. Called Sekaimon, the site was launched at 9 a.m. Tokyo time, providing visitors with access to all of eBay's listings in Japanese, as well as listings from Yahoo Japan. The latter company is separate from Yahoo based in the United States. The c...
[Software News] TomTom and Google team up on business information
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch navigation systems company TomTom (TOM2.AS) said on Wednesday it was teaming up with Internet search leader Google Inc (GOOG.O) so users can find and send business addresses to their portable devices. TomTom, which makes navigation devices for cars and mapping software for handheld computers, said in a statement its users would be able to search for business addre...
[Software News] Naming a baby is serious business in India
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Hate your name? In India, chances are your parents, neighbors, well-meaning relatives, religious tradition, and even the Internet, are all to blame. Indians love naming babies, be it their own or someone else's, with the hunt starting soon after a child is conceived. The objective, parents say, is a "refined" name that would reflect both the physical and ...
[Software News] Nintendo's Wii tops British shoppers' search list
LONDON (Reuters) - Nintendo's video game console Wii was the most searched-for product in November, according to a survey of British online shoppers released on Wednesday. With less than three weeks to go before Christmas, online search analyst Hitwise said the Wii was well ahead of rivals such as Microsoft's Xbox 360. The Wii, which features a motion-sensitive controller that play...
[Software News] Nielsen to unveil Web piracy remedy: report
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nielsen is unveiling a new service aimed at ensuring that video distributed on the Internet is done only in ways sanctioned by its owners, the Wall Street Journal said in its online edition. The service -- which Nielsen is hoping to offer to media companies such as General Electric Co's NBC Universal, or the Discovery Channel -- could be announced as early as Wednesd...
[Software News] Google unveils application for iPhone
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOG.O) is releasing a new application for Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone that combines the Web leader's services such as e-mail, search and calendar into a single interface. Google, which aims to replicate its success in desktop computer Web use on mobile phones, said on Wednesday the new application would make it easier to find, use and switch between...
[Software News] Facebook CEO apologizes for privacy snafu
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Facebook said on Wednesday it will allow members to turn off a controversial feature that monitors the Web sites they visit, and its chief executive apologized for not responding sooner to privacy complaints. In a note in his blog, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the online social network took too long to react to users' concerns about the "Facebook Beacon&quo...
[Software News] Yahoo Adds Photo-Editing Tools to Flickr
Yahoo has just added photo-editing capabilities to the popular Flickr photo-sharing service it acquired in 2005. As the result of a deal announced back in October, the new Web-based toolset from photo-editing software provider Picnik now appears right on top of the Flickr interface. "Providing the ability to edit directly within Flickr is an important step in offering our 20 million member...
[Software News] Japan network unveils hidden anti-counterfeit code
TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese public broadcaster NHK on Wednesday unveiled a new system to put hidden identifiers into films to trace counterfeit works distributed over the Internet. The system, developed with the Japanese technology company Mitsubishi Electric Corp., consists of highly detailed electronic signals which are put inside films and other visual works but invisible to the human...
[Software News] Young Europeans prefer Internet to TV: poll
PARIS (AFP) - Young Europeans prefer the Internet over television, and nearly half say they watch less TV because of surfing the web, a poll of 10 European countries showed Wednesday. More than 7,000 people were questioned as part of the survey released by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA). For the first time in the survey, the Internet came ahea...
[Software News] Newspapers hope for online growth in '08
NEW YORK - Newspaper publishers, entering 2008 with some of the worst economic conditions in many years, said Wednesday they hope to bring even more readers — and ad spending — to their Web sites with expanded offerings of news, advertising and video. The newspaper industry has been struggling as a dismal housing market weighs heavily on real estate and other types of print advertising. As...