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Rachel's Daily Tech Tidbits

Wireless Renews Interest in Voice Recognition

Reuters
Surfing the Web on handheld gadgets is often difficult due to small keypads and screens, but tech suppliers aim to solve that problem with voice commands.

Intel to Launch Low-End Xeon at Developer Forum

InformationWeek
Intel is expected to launch a low-end version of its Xeon processor based on the Core 2 Duo at the fall Intel Developer Forum, which kicks off this week.

Microsoft Releases Interim Vista Build

TechWorld

Microsoft has released an interim build of Windows Vista to 100,000 Customer Preview Program (CPP) participants, and made the new build available on TechBeta, TechNet, TAP and MSDN.

New Security Group Patches Latest IE Flaw

PC World
Security researchers have taken it upon themselves to issue a path for outstanding bugs inside Microsoft's Internet browser, Internet Explorer.

Rachel's Daily Tech Tidbits

Microsoft Mulls Free Web-based Business Software

Reuters
Microsoft may set up an online version of its low-end Works productivity suite to compete with offerings from Google and a number of startup companies.

Live Search Coming to Nokia Phones

CIO Tech Informer
Nokia has struck a deal with Microsoft to embed a mobile version of its Live Search into select Nokia phones.

Scientists Develop Roll-up Computer Screen Concept

Tech News World
Scientists at Cambridge University in England are working on a computer screen that would roll up and snap into a shape small enough to put inside a briefcase.

Rachel's Daily Tech Tidbits

Facebook in Talks to Sell Itself to Yahoo

Reuters
Social-networking Web site Facebook.com is in serious talks to sell itself to Internet media company Yahoo Inc. for an amount that could approach $1 billion.

Nokia, Alcatel Tie Up to Offer Business Telephony Services

Reuters
Alcatel and Nokia announced that they have joined forces in order to extend Alcatel’s business telephony offering to the mobile workforce by way of the Nokia Eseries, a suite of business class devices.

AMD Chip Socket Makes Room for Others

CNET News.com
Licensing move will let others build specialized coprocessors that will plug into sockets tailored to Opteron or Athlon.

Browser Lets Users Surf Web Without a Trace

CIO
The Torpark browser, a modified version of Mozilla Firefox, can be stored on and run from a flash USB memory stick, which can effectively turn a PC into an anonymous terminal.

Rachel's Daily Tech Tidbits

Yahoo Teams with Current TV

San Jose Mercury News
Yahoo is teaming up with former Vice President Al Gore’s cable TV channel, Current TV, to create the Yahoo Current Network, a video-sharing site that features both user-generated videos à la YouTube, as well as professionally produced videos.

Inventors Try Single Disc for both New DVD Formats

Reuters
The battle for high-definition disc dominance has made few ripples in the non-videophile population.

Microsoft Launches YouTube Challenger

InformationWeek
Microsoft plans to integrate Soapbox, the company’s new video-sharing service, throughout its portfolio of online services.

YouTube Strikes Deal with Warner… Could Copyright Concerns Spark Similar, Future Arrangements?

On the YouTube beat….  YouTube and MySpace have been making headlines recently regarding possible copyright infringement charges from Universal involving user-uploaded content, specifically the mass availability of artist music videos and songs on the popular sites. With a business model based on user-uploaded content – much of which has to be copyrighted material – I was wondering when this issue would emerge. Consider:  A few weeks ago, after a Rick Springfield concert, I went on YouTube to see if I could locate some of his vintage videos. Sure enough, a search yielded dozens of clips – from classic videos to concert and TV clips (remember “Solid Gold”?) to footage shot by fans.

The latest development: news that YouTube has signed a deal with Warner Music Group to distribute the music company’s videos on its web site. Specific reporting software will help identify the copyrighted material on YouTube’s site and will also allow YouTube and WMG to share ad revenue generated by the videos and by user-uploaded videos that contain copyrighted content. Says Warner: “our general philosophy is, we want to lead through innovation as opposed to litigation.”

This is probably the beginning of a flood of negotiations between record labels and sites such as YouTube and the establishment of similar distribution deals (and a bridge of sorts between Hollywood and Silicon Valley). And with the Internet emerging as a key distribution point for entertainment content (and with everyone struggling to ID new revenue sources and get their piece of the monetary pie), such agreements are inevitable. Will such agreements change the face or community culture of YouTube? Time will tell.

Rachel's Daily Tech Tidbits

Motorola Picks Up Symbol

Forbes 
Motorola said it plans to acquire point-of-sale and RFID vendor Symbol Technologies in a deal valued at $3.9 billion.

EMC Acquires Network Intelligence

CNET News.com

On the day that EMC Corp. completed its purchase of data security company RSA Security Inc. of Bedford, it also purchased another local security company, Network Intelligence Corp.

Toshiba Offers to Exchange 340K Sony-Made Batteries

CIO Tech Informer
Toshiba says it will replace about 340,000 laptop computer batteries made by Sony, the latest in a string of Sony battery woes.

New AIM Worm May Prove Tough to Exterminate

CIO Tech Informer
A sophisticated computer worm spreading via AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is setting up a botnet that may be difficult to combat.

Sony Ericsson Launches New Music Download Service

Reuters
Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said that it will launch a new service on its phones that will allow full music downloading.

PC Forum Farewell

PC Forum 2006, “Erosion of Power: Users in Charge,” was the last PC Forum: “It had a great run, from 1977 to 2006, and we decided to end it before anyone asked us to,” says Ester Dyson’s Release 1.0 website.

Would anyone really ask for it to end? Probably not. Gatherings are good, and this prestigious gathering is even better. But it does raise the question of how many gatherings we need and what forms they should take now that blogs, wikis, webinars, video conferencing, and other technologies are allowing us to participate in larger gatherings and share our ideas at a faster pace with less cost and without the discomfort of travel.

It’s no surprise that Esther Dyson is sharing her ideas for an upcoming CNET presentation before the actual presentation. It’s easy. It’s an opportunity to get feedback and refine the ideas. Will it reduce the number of attendees?

Still, sitting at a computer doesn’t feel as effective as meeting face-to-face, forming bonds, waxing visionary over a few drinks, and this seems to be true even for young adults who grew up staring at a monitor.

Terrorism and pandemics notwithstanding, events that can bring industry luminaries together, shine a light on key trends and technologies, fuel innovation at companies, and give journalists something to write about will still be popular. But over time, many will likely disappear, and others will change formats to include more online presenters and attendees.

Rachel's Daily Tech Tidbits

A Chip That Transfers Data Using Laser Light

CNET News.com 
Researchers say they have created a silicon-based chip that can produce laser beams to send data between chips.

Multiply Is In. But Will Viiv Do Fractions?

CNET News.com
Intel will unleash a multimillion-dollar ad campaign called Multiply, which is designed to promote dual-core processors and their capabilities.

New Alliance to Tackle Defense Networks

CNET News.com
IBM is expected to announce a sweeping, $135 million bi-continental alliance to develop new networking technology for military defense.

Adobe Software Creates New Links to Conferencing

San Jose Mercury News 
Adobe Systems is launching an updated version of its popular Adobe Acrobat PDF software that includes a new web conferencing function.

E-Voting Machines Pose Election Threat, Professor Says

InformationWeek 
A Princeton professor says computer viruses can easily be installed in an e-voting machine to change vote totals.

Real Designs Own Music Platform For SanDisk

PC Magazine
There’s another team entering the music player/music service game to join the iPod and iTunes duo and the Zune and Zune Marketplace twins.

Rachel's Daily Tech Tidbits

News Corp. May Swap DirecTV for Liberty's Shares

Bloomberg 
Rupert Murdoch may give control of satellite broadcaster DirecTV Group Inc. to cable television pioneer John Malone in exchange for Malone's $11 billion stake in News Corp.

Zune Revealed

PC World 
Microsoft releases more details about Zune, its new family of devices and services that will include an iPod-like player.

Samsung Announces Improvements to Blu-ray Player

Reuters

Samsung said it would make some improvements to its Blu-ray high-definition DVD players ahead of the holiday season.

Toshiba to Launch New HD DVD Players in U.S.

CIO Tech Informer

Toshiba has unveiled its second-generation HD DVD players for the U.S. market.

Rachel's Daily Tech Tidbits

Yahoo & Acer Partner: Yahoo Search Default Search Engine on Acer...

Search Engine Watch
Yahoo has partnered with Acer, the fourth largest PC manufacturer, to set Yahoo as their default search engine.

HTC Develops 1/2-Inch Thick Smart Phone for Cingular

CIO Tech Informer 
High Tech Computer (HTC), the largest maker of handsets that use Microsoft software, has developed a smart phone that is just a half-inch thick.

High Definition Throws Wrench In TiVo To Go

InformationWeek 
Because of copyright restrictions, high-definition content can be played on a monitor or TV, but it can't be put onto a mobile device.

Google Adds Multimedia Content To Earth

InformationWeek 
Google Inc. has started offering on Google Earth, which delivers satellite views of geographic locations and multimedia content from the Discovery Network and others.

Skype Connects Macs, PCs

PC World

Skype released a beta version of Skype for the Macintosh, enabling Mac users to make free Internet-based video calls to Skype users who have a Macintosh or a Windows system.