The W890 Walkman® phone is designed for entertainment – music, video, 3D games and high-speed web access – and includes the Walkman features TrackID™ and SensMe™, a new way to browse music files using tempo and style.

This slimline UMTS/HSDPA phone includes a 320x240 pixel 262K TFT QVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, Memory Stick Micro™ removable storage, picture & video blogging, media browser and Media Manager content transfer software.

The W890 will be available during Q1 2008. The W898c is a GSM variant specifically for the Chinese market where 3G services are not established.

Technical Specifications:

Phone Models

W890i for selected markets W898c for mainland China

Radio Bands:

W890i UMTS/HSDPA 2100, GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 W898c GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900

Screen Display:

240x320 pixels 262K TFT, QVGA

Memory:

Heap size: Dynamic depending on available memory Internal memory for storage: 28MB user free memory External memory: Up to 4GB with Memory Stick Micro (M2) Max JAR size: Unlimited (but depending on available storage)

Java Technology: more>>

Java 2, Micro Edition, Java MIDP 2.1 PDA Optional Packages for J2ME Platform (JSR 75) Java API for Bluetooth™ (JSR 82) Wireless Messaging API (JSR 120/205) Mobile Media API (JSR 135) Web Services (JSR 172) Advanced Multimedia Supplements API (JSR 234) Java Technology for the Wireless Industry (JSR 185) MIDP 2.0 (JSR 118) CLDC 1.1 (JSR 139) Mobile Services Architecture (MSA) umbrella standard JSR 248: Security & Trust Services API (JSR 177 Location API (JSR 179) SIP API for Java ME (JSR 180) Mobile 3D Graphics API (JSR 184 1.1) Content Handler API (JSR 211) Scalable 2D Vector Graphics API for Java ME (JSR 226) Payment API (JSR 229) Mobile Internationalization API (JSR 238) Sony Ericsson additions; not mandated in MSA: Java Binding for the OpenGL® ES API (JSR 239) Java 3D 1.1 Mascot Capsule Micro3D Version 3 Mobile 3D Graphics API for Java ME (JSR 184 1.1)

Browser: more>>

WAP 2.0 XHTML Access NetFront™ 3.4

Messaging: more>>

EMS/SMS/MMS Email (POP3 and IMAP4) Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync

Digital Rights Mgmt.: more>>

OMA DRM v2.0

Multimedia Support: more>>

Video: 3GPP (H.263, H.264), MP4, RealVideo 8, WMV Image: GIF, JPEG, BMP, WBMP, PNG, SVG Tiny 1.2 Sound: MP4 (AAC, AAC+, E-AAC+), MP3, M4A, 3GPP™ (AAC, AMR), AMR-NB, AMR-WB, WAV, G-MIDI 1, SP-MIDI, RealAudio 8, iMelody, XMF, WMA, Extension WMA Animation: SVG Tiny 1.2, GIF, Adobe® Flash Lite™ 2.0 Streaming: RTSP according to 3GPP™

Local Connectivity: more>>

USB 2.0 Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP)

Extra features:

3.2 Megapixel camera with 3.2x digital zoom and fixed focus Walkman player 3.0 with SensMe Video recorder/player and video streaming Video telephony Photo and video blogging PhotoDJ™ VideoDJ™ PictBridge™ MusicDJ™ TrackID™ PlayNow™ RSS feed support with web feed ticker Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync Chinese input methods and lunar calendar FM radio with RDS Flight mode

Read more at Sony Ericsson, New Mobile Centre

More than 50 percent of U.S. households now own a digital television (DTV), according to new research released today by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®. As the nation transitions to digital television, consumers are adding DTV to their homes at a record pace.

“I am proud to announce our nation has hit this digital milestone. With 50 percent of U.S. homes able to experience the reality of digital television, we have crossed a critical threshold,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA. “2008 will continue to demonstrate the growth and success of DTV, with nearly 32 million units forecasted to ship. Consumers are particularly keen to add HDTV to their homes, with high definition expected to account for 79 percent of total DTV shipments in the U.S in 2008.”

According to new CEA sales projections, manufacturers will post 11 percent revenue growth, to over $25 billion, from sales of digital televisions in 2007. CEA also forecasts 13 percent revenue and 17 percent unit sales growth for digital television in 2008.

Read more at CEA

Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it filed a complaint with American authorities over alleged unfair trade practices by Japanese rival Sharp Corp., fueling an intensifying legal battle over flat panel technology.

Samsung said in a statement that it filed the complaint with the United States International Trade Commission on Dec. 21, claiming that Sharp and two U.S. subsidiaries imported and sold liquid crystal display products that infringe on four of Samsung's U.S. patents.

The complaint came after Sharp earlier this month sued Samsung in a South Korean court, also alleging patent violations for LCDs. It demanded damages and a halt to manufacturing and sales of affected TVs and display panels.

In August, Sharp filed a similar lawsuit against Samsung in federal court in the U.S. state of Texas. Samsung said Thursday it was pursuing federal lawsuits in Texas and Delaware against Sharp.

The string of lawsuits between the two companies — two of the world's biggest makers of LCD panels — highlight the bruising competition to develop better technology for products like hot-selling flat screen TVs.

Read more at Time

Netscape, the Web browser once used in 80 percent of all Internet sessions, will be shut down by AOL after failing to regain market share from Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer.

Netscape users should switch to Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser, Netscape director Tom Drapeau wrote on his blog. America Online Inc. paid $9.8 billion in 1999 for Netscape, which by then had been crippled by Microsoft.

The decision ends AOL's almost nine-year effort to revive Netscape, the browser that helped popularize Internet use by making it easier for millions of consumers to log on. AOL bought Netscape to broaden its revenue sources as its dial-up Web- access service declined. New versions developed by AOL failed to dent Internet Explorer. AOL started offering e-mail and search services for free last year to boost advertising revenue.

Read more at Bloomberg

Top 10 Search Providers for November 2007 Ranked by Searches (U.S.):

Provider	Searches (000)	Share of Searches	Searches per Searcher
1. Google Search	4,253,794	57.7%	40.8
2. Yahoo! Search	1,317,919	17.9%	23.7
3. MSN/Windows Live Search	880,550	12.0%	27.8
4. AOL Search	332,385	4.5%	14.7
5. Ask.com Search	195,848	2.7%	10.5
6. My Web Search	87,001	1.2%	12.6
7. Comcast Search	39,257	0.5%	10.4
8. AT&T Worldnet Search	29,244	0.4%	9.2
9. NexTag Search	27,714	0.4%	3.1
10. Dogpile.com Search	18,302	0.2%	10.3

Read more at Nielsen

When you use certain programs to edit files on a home computer that uses Windows Home Server, the files may become corrupted when you save them to the home server.

Several people have reported issues after they have used the following programs to save files to their home servers:

• Windows Vista Photo Gallery
• Windows Live Photo Gallery
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
• Microsoft Money 2007
• SyncToy 2.0 Beta

Microsoft is researching this problem and will post more information when the information becomes available. Until an update for Windows Home Server is available, Microsoft recommends to not use the programs that are listed here to save or to edit program-specific files that are stored on a Windows Home Server-based system.

Read more at Microsoft

Google Inc. yesterday said it would consider tweaking a new sharing feature of its Reader service, the only concession thus far to a users' revolt that's been building on blogs and message forums for nearly two weeks.

On Dec. 14, Google announced that Reader, its RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed service, would link with contacts from Google Talk, the company's instant messenger, and Gmail, its Web-based e-mail service. Any feed tagged to "Share" in Reader would be visible to any Talk or Gmail contact.

The news brought immediate reaction from some. Danny Sullivan, search analyst and the editor-in-chief of SearchEngineLand.com, for example, said he liked the feature in general, but wasn't happy with how Google implemented it.

Read more at CW

Sony is dropping its money-losing rear-projection TV business worldwide to focus on two flat panel technologies — liquid crystal display and organic light-emitting diode, the company said Thursday.

Sales of rear-projection TVs had been declining recently as LCD TVs gain in popularity and get bigger, Sony Corp. spokesman Shinji Obana said.

In October, Sony lowered its global sales forecast for rear-projection TVs — which uses a projector to create images on large screens — to 400,000 from 700,000, which is down from 1.1 million the previous fiscal year.

By contrast, Sony expects to sell 10 million LCD TVs this fiscal year through March, up from 6.3 million the previous year.

Sony sells 85 percent of its rear-projection TVs in the U.S., and about 10 percent in Europe, according to Obana. Production at the three plants that make the rear-projection TVs in Japan, Mexico and Malaysia, will be halted, Obana said.

Read more at AP

Apple's stock rose to an intraday high of $200.96 a share before pulling back at the close to end the day at $198.95.

A spokeswoman for the Nasdaq said that it was the first time Apple's shares had been so high. She said they briefly touched $200 a share on Dec. 14.

The latest surged in Apple's shares has pushed the stock up 134% for the year and created an impression that, at least for the time being, the company is nearly invincible in the computer and consumer electronics markets.

In February 2005, Apple enacted a 2-for-1 stock split that put the company's shares at about $45 apiece. Since then, the stock has risen 347%.

Read more at Market Watch

Google has been hit by a setback in a patent row with Hyperphrase Technologies, LLC.

A federal appeals court in Wisconsin yesterday rejected part of a summary judgment that could have worked to Google's advantage in the case.

In June last year the search engine giant was slapped with a lawsuit in which Madison-based software firm Hyperphrase Technologies, LLC and Hyperphrase Inc claimed that Google had infringed four patents used to make AutoLink and AdSense.

The district court in Wisconsin later rejected the case and granted summary judgement in favour of Google.

But the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said it, in fact, partially upheld the summary judgment, partially vacated it and remanded the case for further proceedings in the district court.

The full federal appeals court ruling can be viewed here.

Read more at Register

Amazon.com and Warner Music Group today announced that DRM-free music audio downloads from Warner Music Group are now available to customers on Amazon MP3, Amazon's a la carte MP3 digital music store where every song and album is playable on virtually any personal digital music capable device. Beginning today, songs from WMG's digital audio catalog will be available for purchase and download from Amazon MP3. In addition, Amazon and WMG will make available to consumers digital music products such as album bundles containing exclusive tracks.

"Consumers want flexibility with respect to what they can do with music once they purchase it, and we want them to have that flexibility, which is why we're pleased to offer our artists' music on Amazon MP3," said Michael Nash, Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy and Business Development for Warner Music Group. "We believe that giving consumers the assurance that the music they purchase can be played on any device they own will only encourage more sales of music. Amazon shares our vision with respect to offering feature-rich music based digital products, and we look forward to making available an array of exciting new digital products over time that will transform the relationship between and among consumers, labels and artists."

Read more at Amazon

Apple and 20th Century Fox studio are to announce a deal that will allow consumers to rent the studio's films through iTunes, media reports say.

They will have a limited time to watch films downloaded from the iTunes store, a source told the Financial Times.

If the reports are true, this looks like a new assault on the video and movie market, says BBC News technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.

Apple shares traded above $200 for the first time on Wednesday.

Read more at BBC

Apparently local Samsung team had a press meet-up in Ukraine last week and there were two interesting, and previously unknown, handsets present during the event as well. They are Samsung F490 and Samsung P720 full touchscreen phones.

Samsung F490 is a full touchscreen mobile phone with 5 megapixel camera, tactile feedback, 3.2″ 240×432 px display, HSDPA connectivity and an estimated $600 pricetag.

Samsung P720 looks to be a version of Samsung Armani P520 phone, designed for Eastern European and Asian markets. It comes with the same 2.6″ display, 3 megapixel camera, full touch screen interface with tactile feedback and other features of Armani phone.

Read more at Unwired View, New Mobile Centre

Prolink Microsystems, a manufacturer of VGA and multimedia add-on cards, has released three new PixelView products in the Indian market through its distributor Rashi Peripherals.

The new range comprises PlayTV Xpress, PlayTV Mobile and PlayTV USB 415.

According to Sanjay Aggarwal, deputy general manager of Rashi, the company is looking at targeting the laptop user segment and upcountry markets for TV tuners through the new range. "With the new range of TV tuners from PixelView, users will now have options to choose and catch their favorite TV programs with ease and straight to their laptops," he said.

Read More-Via[CT]

Content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64% of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57% of online teens in 2004.

Fueled by new technologies, websites, and social network domains such as Facebook and MySpace, large numbers of teens share and create materials online:

• 39% of online teens share their own artistic creations online such as artwork, photos stories, or videos.
• 33% of online teens create or work on webpages or blogs for others, including friends, groups they belong to or school assignments.
• 28% of online teens have created their own blog, up from 19% in 2004, and almost completely driven by the popularity of blogging among girls.
• 27% of online teens maintain their own webpage.
• 26% of online teens remix content they find online into their own creations.

Girls continue to dominate most elements of content creation. Some 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys, and 54% of wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys. Boys, however, do dominate one area – posting of video content online – online teen boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online somewhere where someone else could see it.

These findings are highlighted in a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, "Teens and Social Media."

Read more at Pew Internet & American Life Project

Epson has launched its latest PictureMate portable photo printer, PM270 4R, in India.

The new product comes complete with a carry handle and folds into a box with no protruding parts. It comes with an optional battery pack. The company claims that this compact device can produce a lab-quality photo in 37 seconds.

The new PictureMate is integrated with Epson Claria PhotoEnhance, which is an automatic scene correction function that optimises skin tones, color casts and exposure levels.

The new printer comes with an extensive card slot bay, which supports the most common type of memory cards. With a tiltable 3.6" color LCD screen, it allows PC-less printing. Alternatively, users can plug in their PictBridge devices for direct photo printing. Users can also use the optional Bluetooth toggle, which allows the PictureMate to receive images from any Bluetooth-enabled devices including mobile phones and notebooks.

Read More-Via[CT]

Model-actress Deepika Padukone unveiled LG Electronics’ latest phone, the LG Viewty (model: LG-KU990), a launch function on 24 December in the city.

The handset has a 5-mega pixel camera with a Xenon flash and also offers manual focus option for distinct shots. The built-in image stabilizer helps mitigate blur images resulting from unsteady hands. The instrument has an array of options of ISO settings —100, 200, 400 and 800 — for indoor or night shooting and records video up to 120 frames per second (fps), the highest frame speed offered by any handset camera. Videos can be directly uploaded and edited to Youtube.

The phone was awarded the 2008 iF product design.

Read More-Via[Livemint]

Technion researchers have succeeded in putting a full version of the Hebrew Bible, with vowel points, on 0.5 square millimeters – an area smaller than the size of a pinhead.

The nano-Bible was written as part of an educational program developed by the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute. The program aims to increase interest, on the part of youth, in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The idea to write the entire Bible on an area smaller than a pinhead was conceived of by Prof. Uri Sivan, head of the Nanotechnology Institute. The project was managed by physics’ doctoral student Ohad Zohar, the institute’s scientific advisor for educational programs, together with Dr. Alex Lahav, former head of the FIB laboratory in the Wolfson Microelectronics Research and Teaching Center.

The nano-Bible was written using a scientific device called FIB – Focused Ion Beam. With the aid of this device, it was possible to send focused beams of tiny particles (gallium ions) towards a specific object. When the particles hit the object, they cause the atoms of that object to bounce off of it, thus etching it. This is similar to digging a small hole in the earth using a water jet from a hose.

The nano-Bible was written on a silicon surface covered with a thin layer of gold (20 nanometers thick). “When we send the particle beam toward a point on the surface, the gold atoms bounce off of this point, thus exposing the silicon layer underneath. The diameter of the exposed point is about 40 nanometers. When we look at the written example using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), the exposed silicon point looks darker than the gold surrounding it. By sending a particle beam towards various points on the substrate, we can etch any pattern of points, especially one that represents text,” explains Ohad Zohar.

Read more at Technion

comScore has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the search marketplace. Among core search engines in November 2007, Google Sites remained the top search property with 5.9 billion core searches conducted, representing a 58.6-percent share of the search market.

November U.S. Core Search Rankings

In November, Google Sites share of core searches stood at 58.6 percent, virtually the same level as in October. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 22.4 percent, followed by Microsoft Sites (9.8 percent), Ask Network (4.6 percent) and Time Warner Network (4.5 percent), which had the largest share point gain during the month (up 0.3 points).

Americans conducted 10 billion searches at the core search engines, representing a 5-percent decline versus October. With one less day in the month, November can be a seasonally softer month for search activity. Nearly 5.9 billion core searches were conducted at Google Sites during the month, while Yahoo! Sites recorded 2.2 billion.

November U.S. Expanded Search Rankings

In the November 2007 analysis of the Top 50 properties worldwide where search activity is observed, Google Sites led the pack with 7.3 billion searches. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 2.4 billion searches, followed by Microsoft Sites (984 million), and Time Warner Network (838 million). As a result of search activity likely related to holiday shopping, eBay and Amazon Sites both experienced an increase for the month with 489 million and 178 million queries, respectively.

Read more at comScore

Tracking Santa used to be a task that only NORAD tackled, but this year for the first time Google has signed on to help.

The two teamed up to track the big man as he hurdled across the globe delivering presents to all those on the nice list. Google Earth allowed for close up views of Santa and according to NORADsanta.org, the US military’s been tracking St. Nick since the 1950s.

Read more at PCA

A high-megapixel cameraphone from Motorola with the high-end optics could make it a true contender in the upper-echelon of cameraphones. Motorola’s X PIXL / Z12 slider cameraphone that was mentioned as part of Motorola’s 2008 roadmap (and their renewed push to regain part of their once-glory) has been caught on film. Or, at least a portion of it has been snapped/rendered by IT168.com.

Read more at New Mobile Centre

Buffalo Inc. has launched the first-ever 400GB portable external hard drive (HD-PS400U2) in the MiniStation series. The MiniStation TurboUSB 5400rpm hard drive not only helps the users to store large amounts of data on the move, but also benefits them from Buffalo’s TurboUSB technology, which is said to speed up file transfer rates and performance upto 64 per cent.

The new version of the MiniStation also comes complete with a wrap-around cable for easy storage. With the ability to draw power from the PC it is connected to, it requires no external power supply providing a lightweight storage solution that is ideal for mobile users.

Read More-Via[EfyTimes]

Apple is developing an automatic volume control device for iPods amid growing fears that its users are at risk of hearing damage from listening to loud music, according to London-based Daily Mail on Monday.

The next iPods and iPhones could automatically calculate how long a person has been listening and at what volume, before gradually reducing the sound level, a new patent said.

"Since the damaging effect on users' hearing is both gradual and cumulative, even those users who are concerned about hearing loss may not behave in a manner that would limit or minimize such damaging effects," the patent stated.

The device will also calculate the amount of "quiet time" between when the iPod is turned off and when it is restarted, allowing the volume to be increased again to a safe level.

Read more at Xinhua

Hewlett Packard (HP) has announced the launch of HP Photosmart C4388 All-in-One with the functionality of printing, scanning, copying and wireless printing.

Commenting on the new launch, Ashwini K. Aggarwal, country business manager for consumer imaging & printing products (Imaging & Printing Group) at Hewlett Packard India, said, "The new HP All-in-One C4388 provides convenience at an affordable price with wireless printing experience for the mobile consumer."

Designed to fulfil diverse printing needs, this printer is targeted at home users. C4388 features 1.5-inch color LCD screen alongside enhanced color layering technology.

Priced at Rs. 7999, the HP C4388 All-in-One printer is supported by HP’s Dial-A-Cartridge service, which enables customers to order a cartridge through a toll-free number.

Read More-Via[CT]

Transcend, a leading global manufacturer of flash memory products and peripherals, has announced the availability of its new Multi-Card Reader M5 in India. Compact size, adapter-free multi-format convenience, and attractive modern styling are the key selling points of this handy little device. Unlike other, more confusing card readers, all five of the M5's card slots are clearly labeled on the top of the reader AND in your computer browser next to the drive letter to avoid confusion and save time (software download required). The M5 supports all the latest memory cards and allows fast, easy transfer of music, videos, photos or documents through its high-speed USB 2.0 interface.

Transcend's Multi-Card Reader M5 offers a slot for almost every memory card currently on the market, including: CompactFlash® and Microdrive (for hi-end Digital SLR cameras), SD cards (the most popular storage format for mainstream consumer digital cameras), xD cards, the complete Memory Stick™ series, miniSD™ and microSD™ (for most mobile phones). With this versatile card reader, transferring data to and from memory cards in your digital camera, camcorder, cell phone, PDA, Smartphone, or GPS has never been more convenient.

Read More-Via[MoneyControl]

After its listing, Redington has seen quite a run this year. Operating in the IT sector the company, along with Ingram Micro, controls around 70% of the domestic IT distribution market, which includes selling package software, hardware and peripherals. And this market is slated to grow at a 20% rate and is expected to maintain this pace as India expands its IT infrastructure.

So for a low margin company (around 2.5% operating margins) volume growth creates the opportunity to impact its profitability. Redington is well placed to gain from these volume surges. It has an extensive distribution network in India and also in the Middle East and Africa. But it is the nature of its business, where the company buys out products from its vendors with cash and carries the inventory on its books and customers gain from the credit that makes it risky.

Read More-Via[FE]

One of Apple's major marketing themes is that Macs are less susceptible to viruses, Trojans, and other hacker attacks than Windows PCs. While that argument has yet to hold much sway with enterprise I.T. departments, it is causing the U.S. Army to add some Macs to its networks.

Lt. Col. C.J. Wallington, a division chief in the Army's office of enterprise information systems, told Forbes that the Army is adding Macs to make its networks harder to hack. Wallington said that making networks more heterogeneous might make it more difficult for attackers to compromise an entire group of computers.

These things don't just happen overnight. The Army's CIO, Gen. Steve Boutelle, called for more diverse computer networks back in August 2005. He said the Army should deal with a broader range of vendors to increase competition and harden I.T. defenses. But thus far, the Army has allowed only a trickle of Macs to enter military facilities. The Army buys only about 1,000 Macs during its twice-a-year buying seasons.

Read more at Sci-Tech Today

On Friday, VoIP Relevant Products/Services pioneer Vonage said it has settled a patent dispute with telecom giant AT&T, which had sued Vonage in October for using packed-based telephony Relevant Products/Services products based on its intellectual property.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. However, on November 7 the companies said they had tentatively agreed to a settlement in which Vonage would pay AT&T about $39 million.

Since the company went public in May 2006, Vonage has been the subject of several patent suits from telecoms and other service providers. Both Sprint Nextel and Verizon targeted Vonage for patent infringement, and both companies won judgments against the young VoIP provider.

Read more at NewsFactor

The US Federal Investigation Bureau is hoarding mugshots, handprints and fingerprints to make the world's biggest database of physical characteristics for security identification, a spokesman said Saturday.

Richard Kolko confirmed a report by the Washington Post of the project, which if successfully completed would give the US government unprecedented ability to identify suspects around the world.

"We are consistently trying to update and improve the process and way to collect information," he told AFP, adding that there would be an emphasis on privacy rights, a controversial aspect of the United States' drive to gather data for security.

The report said the FBI plans to award a 10-year contract to significantly expand the amount and type of biometric information it receives, and was already storing millions of fingerprints in the database at a secure FBI complex in West Virginia.

Read more at AFP

Sharp Corporation and Toshiba Corporation announced today that the two companies have agreed to collaborate closely in LCDs, a move that is expected to enhance the companies' corporate value, profitability and global competitiveness. The alliance will allow each company to make full and effective use of its respective strengths and resources, particularly Sharp's capabilities in LCDs and Toshiba's expertise in advanced semiconductors.

Sharp and Toshiba will initiate the collaborative partnership in fiscal year 2008, starting with an expansion of reciprocal procurement – Sharp's procurement of system LSIs for LCDs from Toshiba, and Toshiba's procurement of Sharp's LCD modules for TVs of 32 inches and larger. Through the program, Sharp aims to satisfy about 50 percent of its total demand for system LSIs for TVs in fiscal year 2010, while Toshiba targets meeting 40 percent of its demand for LCD modules in the same year.

Read more at Toshiba

An industry group says it has won a new round in a court battle with Yahoo's China arm, which is accused of helping online music pirates.

A Beijing appeals court on Thursday upheld a ruling against Yahoo China over its search engine's links to outside Web sites that carried illegally copied music, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries said.

Court officials would not confirm the report. A spokesman for Alibaba.com, the local partner that manages Yahoo's China arm, said he had not seen the ruling and could not comment on it. But the spokesman, Porter Erisman, said Yahoo China hoped to reach an agreement with music companies to create a licensed download service.

China is a leading source of pirated copies of music, movies and other goods. Operators of pirate Web sites offer music, games and other services to attract users and make money from advertising or online commerce.

Industry groups have won a series of lawsuits against companies accused of profiting from piracy but say violations are growing despite increased Chinese government enforcement.

Read more at IHT

Apple Computer is in talks with Japanese telecommunications services providers NTT DoCoMo and Softbank to crack Asia’s toughest but most lucrative mobile phone market.

Apple has decided now is the time to launch its popular iPhone in Asia; preparation has been under way through negotiations with telecoms companies in China and South Korea.

The latest news about its talks with NTT DoCoMo and Softbank, reported on The Wall Street Journal’s Web site Wednesday, should not have come as a surprise. The news was subsequently confirmed by several media outlets, as NTT DoCoMo spokesman Shuichiro Ichikoshi reportedly said his company’s President Masao Nakamura met recently with Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs.

NTT DoCoMo, the industry leader with half of the market share, known for its aggressive introduction of high-end phones, appears to be the natural candidate to bring iPhones to Japan’s tech-savvy, trend-setting mobile phone users. By contrast, Softbank lags behind its two largest rivals, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI, in its lineup of advanced handset models, notwithstanding its recent push to accelerate the introduction of new phones following its acquisition of Vodafone’s operations in Japan last year.

Read more at Forbes

Red Hat, Inc. has announced financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended November 30, 2007. Red Hat's current fiscal year will end February 29, 2008.

Total revenue for the quarter was $135.4 million, an increase of 28% from the year ago quarter and 6% from the prior quarter. Subscription revenue was $115.7 million, up 30% year-over-year and 6% sequentially.

Net income for the quarter was $20.3 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, compared with $18.2 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, for the prior quarter and $14.6 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, in the year ago quarter. Non-GAAP adjusted net income for the quarter was $39.7 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, after adjusting for stock compensation and tax expense as detailed in the tables below. This compares to non-GAAP adjusted net income of $36.9 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, in the prior quarter and $30.1 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, in the year ago period.

Non-GAAP operating cash flow, as detailed in the tables below, totaled $76.7 million for the quarter, up 24% from the year ago quarter and 20% sequentially. Total cash, cash equivalents and investments as of November 30, 2007 were $1.3 billion. At quarter end, Red Hat's total deferred revenue balance was $422.6 million, an increase of 36% year-over-year and 12% sequentially.

Read more at Red Hat

Apple on Thursday put to rest the last of a series of lawsuits it brought in a losing and costly effort to put a stop to Web leaks about its product plans.

The suits raised questions about whether independent Web publishers should be accorded the same legal protections as traditional journalists. They were aimed at the gaggle of Apple enthusiasts who have made both a sport and a business out of pre-empting Steven P. Jobs’s big product announcements.

Nicholas M. Ciarelli, who operated a Web site for Apple rumors called Think Secret, was sued by Apple for publishing trade secrets in January 2005. In a brief statement Thursday on his site, Mr. Ciarelli said that he had reached a settlement with Apple and that he would stop publishing Think Secret.

Mr. Ciarelli, a senior at Harvard, would not comment on whether Apple had given him money to persuade him to cease publishing. But he said he was pleased with the outcome of the negotiations.

Read more at NYT

Microsoft has released to the public a near-final version of a major update to its Windows XP operating system.

As of Wednesday, the 'Release Candidate' for Windows XP Service Pack 3 was available as a 336 Mbyte download from Microsoft's Web site. The software had previously been available only to participants in Microsoft's official test programs.

Software vendors usually issue a release candidate when they're close to producing a final version of a product or update. It provides a last chance for users to weigh in before a final version is released to manufacturing.

Microsoft says it considers the Release Candidate for Windows XP SP3 to be trial software and warns users to download with caution -- and at their own risk. "Microsoft does not recommend installing this software on primary or mission critical systems," the company states on its Web site.

For the adventurous, however, Windows XP SP3 Release Candidate offers a number of enhancements over the current version of the OS. It includes all updates issued since Windows XP Service Pack 2 was released in 2004, and some new elements.

Read More-Via[IW]

New Trojan software has been found picking the pockets of Google and its publishing partners, and potentially exposing Web surfers to more malware.

BitDefender, a software security company based in Bucharest, Romania, on Tuesday said that it had detected a new Trojan (Trojan.Qhost.WU) that replaces Google AdSense text ads with ads from a different, potentially malicious provider.

"This is a serious situation that damages users and Webmasters alike," said Attila-Mihaly Balazs, a BitDefender virus analyst, in a statement. "Users are affected because the advertisements and/or the linked sites may contain malicious code, which is a very likely situation, given that they are promoted using malware in the first place. Webmasters are affected because the Trojan takes away viewers and thus a possible money source from their Web sites."

Google said in an e-mailed statement that it is "committed to ensuring the safety and security of our users and our advertisers. We actively work to detect and remove sites that serve malware in both our ad network and in our search results. We have manual and automated processes in place to detect and enforce these policies. We have canceled customer accounts that display ads re-directing users to malicious sites or that advertise a product violating our software principles."

Read More-Via[IW]

Microsoft plans to release the first beta of the next version of Internet Explorer in the first half of 2008, and said that IE 8 has passed a key Web standards test that ensures the browser won't "break" the Web.

IE8 has passed the "Acid2 Browser Test" from the Web Standards Project, which shows whether a browser renders a Web site in a certain way. If the browser renders the site correctly, it means the browser supports certain accepted Web standards.

Microsoft posted a video about the browser passing the test on its Channel 9 Web site.

Microsoft developed IE before some Web standards such as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) were developed, and so older versions don't support some current standards. Developers would write applications to work with IE rather than to support Web standards, since the browser was the de facto standard for surfing the Internet for so many years. Microsoft also was lax in updating IE to meet the demands of Web standards, since there was little competition in the browser market for years.

With the release and subsequent popularity of open-source browser Mozilla Firefox three years ago, a browser's need to stay current with Web standards once again moved to the forefront. When Microsoft developed IE7, released in October 2006, the company had good intentions and decided to improved support of Web standards with the new release.

However, Web sites that were created for older versions of IE didn't work properly on IE7. Microsoft hopes to remedy this problem so the situation is not repeated with IE8, according to an IE Blog posting attributed to Dean Hachamovitch, a Microsoft general manager on the IE team.

Read More-Via[PCW]

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday approved Google's $3.1 billion purchase of advertising rival DoubleClick, saying the deal would not substantially lessen competition.

The deal, which combines Google's dominance in pay-per-click Internet advertising with DoubleClick's market-leading position in flashier display ads, is also being scrutinized by European antitrust officials.

In a 4-1 vote, the FTC decided to end its eight-month investigation of the transaction. Critics of the combination, first announced in April, had said it could give Google too much control over online advertising.

The commission's majority wrote in a statement: "After carefully reviewing the evidence, we have concluded that Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick is unlikely to substantially lessen competition."

The merger is part of a rapid consolidation within the Internet advertising industry.

Read More-Via[Reuters]

Logitech has introduced the new ClearChat Pro USB Headset that make PC-Internet calling, listening to music and gaming more comfortable, more enjoyable experiences. The ClearChat Pro headset features proprietary laser-tuned audio drivers, an audio equalizer switch and a noise-canceling microphone.

The ClearChat Pro headset connects to the PC through the USB port, producing high-quality, digital audio independent of the quality of the computer's sound card.

The company said the new USB headset is not only an ideal solution for PC-Internet calling applications, such as Skype, but its audio performance and comfortable design make it ideal for listening to music, watching movies or playing games on the PC.

For people who demand high-performance audio in addition to comfort, the versatile ClearChat Pro USB headset features proprietary laser-tuned audio drivers. The headset also includes the Logitech SoundSwitch equalizer, a headset-based switch that instantly optimizes audio performance for the three most common headset activities: PC-Internet calling, music listening and gaming.

Read More-Via[IT News Online]

A group of 30-40 students from the elite Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay (IIT-B) has designed a satellite that could be the first of its kind in the country to be launched into orbit.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has shown "its willingness" to launch the 10 kg satellite into low Earth orbit (low orbit is 800 km-1000 km above the Earth's surface), IIT-B sources confirmed.

With ISRO supporting the project, the mood at the institute is upbeat. When approached in Bangalore, ISRO officials said they support student satellite projects as it encourages young blood to be a part of the space programme.

"We are already evaluating a micro-satellite project prepared by students of the Anna University in Chennai. Both satellites would be launched with ISRO's highly proven PSLV," an ISRO official said.

IIT-B students are expecting their satellite to be ready by the end of next year.

Head of IIT Bombay's Aerospace Engineering Department, K Sudhakar said, "Students are eager on taking up issues that affect the nation rather than broad global matters. This will not be another ISRO satellite with a very broad scope. This is going to look at more locally relevant issues."

Read More-Via[India edu News]

Buoyed by the need for mobility, the Indian notebook PC (laptop) market grew almost 85 per cent to cross the 500,000 shipments mark in a single quarter, according to IDC’s India Quarterly PC Tracker.

During the third quarter of 2007, the overall Indian personal computer (notebooks and desktop combined) market grew 25.1 per cent year-on-year, in terms of unit shipments, to 1.8 million. For the same period last year, desktop PC shipments showed growth of 10.9 per cent.

During the quarter, notebook PC shipments to the home and small office segments grew by 166 per cent year-on-year, contributing almost 43 per cent to the total notebook shipments. The next-largest contributors to this trend were the enterprise and education segments.

The study further revealed that between January and September this year, a total of 4.81 million client PCs were sold. Of this, 3.6 million were desktops and 1.21 million laptops.

Read More-Via[BS]

More than 260 groups are interested in bidding in the upcoming wireless spectrum auction, according to a list released Tuesday night by the Federal Communications Commission.

The list revealed a handful of anticipated players, ranging from the giant--AT&T, Cox Communications, Google and Verizon Wireless--to the not-so-giant: regional carriers Leap Wireless and MetroPCS and startup Frontier Wireless.

It also included surprise bidders that hadn't publicized their plans, such as fifth-ranked carrier Alltel , telecom R&D firm Qualcomm, Chevron and an Advance/Newhouse partnership perhaps related to Conde Nast.

Then there's Towerstream .

The tiny Middletown, R.I.-based fixed-wireless Internet provider announced earlier this month that it, too, had registered to bid in the Federal Communications Commission's auction in January, which will sell off five blocks of spectrum in the 700-megahertz band that was previously used for television broadcasts.

Towerstream's move surprised many industry watchers. But the company--which reported a third-quarter loss of $1.75 million on revenues of $1.76 million and has just embarked on a search for a new chief financial officer--"seems to be serious," says Scott Ellison, vice president of mobile and wireless communications at market research firm IDC.

Indeed, Towerstream Chief Executive Jeff Thompson takes pride in his company's scrappy nature. Founded in 2000, it regularly battles AT&T and Verizon, contending its WiMax wireless technology, which competes directly with cable and DSL, is cheaper than "in-the-ground" networks. Rather than install a physical line between buildings, Towerstream can connect corporate offices using antennae installed on building roofs. (The Empire State Building uses a Towerstream antenna, for instance.) The company also promises faster network installations with this snarky tagline: "Freedom from the Phone Company." Both Verizon and AT&T contend that wireless broadband Internet access is just one in a portfolio of connection options they offer to customers.

Towerstream found its way into the public markets last January via a reverse merger with a wholly owned subsidiary of a shell company called University Girls Calendar--a company that produced exactly what one might guess.

Read More-Via[Forbes]

The E3 Media And Business Summit will return back to its old home in the Los Angeles Convention Center for 2008, the Entertainment Software Association said today.

Looks like all that complaining about this year's ridiculous series of suite meetings sprawled amidst the freeways of Santa Monica paid off, as the industry's biggest media event has moved back into one centralized location. The show will take place July 15-17.

The ESA is quick to point out that this does not signal the return of the grand spectacular trade show environment that once filled the entire LACC. "Press events and small meetings" are the order of the day. I assume they'll be taking over one of the convention center's many halls and divvying it up into suites, then maybe turning Kentia Hall into the new "hangar" where games are set to free play.

ESA head Mike Gallagher says that this year's show will also include "industry-shaping panel discussions," which should be interesting to see.

Read More-Via[Wired]

When comparing the first full month of sales of Apple Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard" (November 2007) to the first full month of sales for Mac OS 10.4 "Tiger" (May 2005), dollar volume for Leopard was up 32.8 percent and unit volume up 20.5 percent, NPD Group Inc said in a statement.

The new version of Apple's OS X software costs $129 for a single user and $199 for a "family pack" that can be installed on as many as five computers in a single household.

New features include a file back-up feature called "Time Machine," improvements to e-mail and instant messaging, and the ability to preview documents or files without starting up a separate program, as well as quick access to other computers on a home or an office network.

While the increases in dollar and unit volume can partially be attributed to going on sale during November -- a key month for consumer shopping -- and the growth in the number of Apple retail stores, NPD said the figures show that Apple has found the right formula for rolling out new versions of Mac operating systems.

Read more at Reuters

A federal judge in Los Angeles has terminated an ongoing lawsuit against the operators of TorrentSpy.com in favor of all six of the MotionPicture Association of America’s (MPAA) member companies. The court imposed the harshest sanction against the TorrentSpy defendants because of their destruction of evidence and subversion of the judicial process. The ruling means that TorrentSpy operators are liable for copyright infringement.

In its decision, the court ruled that “although termination of a case is a harsh sanction appropriate only in extraordinary circumstance, the circumstances of this case are sufficiently extraordinary to merit such a sanction.” The court found that the evidence was “not deleted or modified negligently, but intentionally in direct response to the institution of this lawsuit.” Observing that defendants “already had been subjected to lesser sanctions in this case”, including a fine for $30,000 for violation of a court order, the court concluded that the “harsh sanction” of terminating the defendants’ case was the only appropriate remedy.

The evidence defendants destroyed included forum postings with references to copyright infringement and other incriminating statements; site directories referencing copyrighted works and subcategories clearly referring to pirated content; and user IP addresses.

The worldwide motion picture industry, including foreign and domestic producers, distributors, theaters, video stores and pay-per-view operators lose more than $18 billion annually as a result of movie theft. More than $7 billion in losses are attributed to illegal Internet distributions, while $11 billion is the result of illegal copying and bootlegging.

Read more at MPAA

Square Enix has revealed its first offerings for 2008, with entries that will launch fans into a fast-paced, action-packed new year. This latest announcement brings forth four new titles for the coming year, including releases for the Nintendo DS™, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and the Wii™.

DRAGON QUEST SWORDS
The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors
Developer: Eighting Co., Ltd.
Planning: Genius Sonority, Inc.
Scenario & Game Design / General Director: Yuji Horii
Character Design: Akira Toriyama
Music: Koichi Sugiyama
Publisher: Square Enix, Inc.
Platform: Wii
Genre: Action-Adventure
ESRB: T (Teen)
Ship Date: February 26, 2008

Developed from the ground up to take advantage of the Nintendo Wii and its motion-sensing technology, DRAGON QUEST SWORDS: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors is set to slice its way onto Nintendo’s next-generation platform. Use the Wii Remote™ to slash, parry and blast your way through a land filled with trademark DRAGON QUEST foes! Developed with both long-time fans and casual players in mind, DRAGON QUEST SWORDS: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors is poised to take video gaming to an entirely new level of fun and interaction.

The official website can be found at http://na.square-enix.com/dqswords.

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: Ring of Fates
Developer: Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Publisher: Square Enix, Inc.
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Action-RPG
ESRB: E10+ (Everyone 10 and older)
Ship Date: March 11, 2008

Few titles epitomize the essence of multiplayer camaraderie like the FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES series. Released in 2004 as an innovative title that took advantage of the Nintendo GameCube™-to-Game Boy® Advance connectivity, FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES pioneered an entirely new gameplay experience that expanded the horizons of conventional RPG gaming. Primed for a release on the Nintendo DS, FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: Ring of Fates is poised to continue this tradition by providing fans with two distinctly unique games: a fully fleshed single-player RPG experience and an addictive multiplayer element for up to four players.

The official website can be found at http://na.square-enix.com/ffccnews/.

CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII-
Developer: Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Publisher: Square Enix, Inc.
Platform: PSP system
Genre: Action-RPG
ESRB: T (Teen)
Ship Date: March 25, 2008

CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII-, the highly anticipated entry in the COMPILATION of FINAL FANTASY VII, takes fans on an exciting journey through the origin of the internationally acclaimed FINAL FANTASY VII saga in an all-new action-packed experience. Developed exclusively for the PSP system, CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII- marks the return of the celebrated characters and game world that mesmerized more than 9.8 million gamers around the globe. With inspiring visuals, full 16:9 widescreen presentation and an engaging battle system, fans and newcomers alike can experience the world of FINAL FANTASY VII from an all-new perspective.

The official website can be found at http://www.crisiscore.com/.

THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU
Developer: Square Enix Co., Ltd./ Jupiter
Publisher: Square Enix, Inc.
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Action-RPG
ESRB:TBD
Ship Date: Spring 2008

THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU, is an exciting new title developed exclusively for the Nintendo DS handheld system. Previously known as Subarashiki Kono Sekai™ on its release in Japan, THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU is an innovative new title from Square Enix that fully utilizes the capabilities of the Nintendo DS, and takes major influence from Japan’s modern day culture including its people, music, clothes, food and design.

Read more at Square Enix

Facebook Inc., owner of the second- most popular Internet social-networking site, named a Canadian operator of pornographic sites as a defendant in a suit accusing it of trying to illegally obtain data about Facebook users.

The suit, originally filed in federal court in San Jose, California in June, was updated on Dec. 12, naming Slickcash.com and two Toronto men, Brian Fabian and Josh Raskin, as defendants.

Between June 1 and June 15 this year, the defendants sent 200,000 separate requests to Facebook, attempting to direct its computers to forward them information about Facebook users, the company said in the complaint.

These requests for information from Facebook generated error messages, and were detected as unauthorized attempts to access and harvest proprietary information belonging to Facebook,'' the company's lawyer, David Chiappetta, said in the complaint.

Read more at Bloomberg

A new telephony startup came out of stealth yesterday, aiming to become "Silicon Valley's first phone company." Ribbit, unveiled a new platform for developing telephony services and a new business model for serving the new global telephony market. The company also unveiled some of the first applications from its partner and 600-plus developer community, including an integration with salesforce.com.

The Ribbit Platform: Liberating Voice from Its Current Confines

At the core of Ribbit's technology offering is a sophisticated, open platform that enables developers to bridge the worlds of traditional telephony and the Web. The Ribbit SmartSwitch™ - evolved from a Lucent-tested CLASS 5 softswitch - and open Flash/Flex-based API (application programming interface) enables non-telephony developers to quickly build innovative, rich voice applications and integrate them into web sites, communities and applications. By connecting voice from any Flash-enabled browser to the PSTN (public switched telephone network) and new VoIP (voice over IP) networks, over 750 million computers become the next generation of phones with developers deciding how they work. With an assortment of back-office and service delivery infrastructure, the platform also enables developers to not only build services, but sell them as well.

The Ribbit Business Model -- Serving the Long Tail of the New Telephony Market

In the first quarter of 2008, Ribbit will open its service to consumers featuring the first innovations from its developer community. Also in the first quarter, the company will sell commercial and enterprise packages to developers selling services that utilize the Ribbit platform. Both the consumer and the enterprise markets will be key areas of focus for Ribbit as it continues to engage the developer community. One market in particular -- small-to-medium size businesses -- holds special promise.

Ribbit headquarters are located in Mountain View, CA. Ribbit has received investment from Alsop-Louie Partners, Allegis Capital and KPG Ventures. For more information about Ribbit, please visit www.ribbit.com.

Read more at Ribbit