January 2008

We know, it's not like the nüvifone is a total surprise any longer, but just in case you tend to rest easier after digesting information straight from the source, here goes. Garmin's recently (and abruptly) announced handset obviously marks the firm's first solo foray into the cellphone arena, and according to Cliff Pemble, the firm's president and COO, it's the "breakthrough product that cellphone and GPS users around the world have been longing for." That being said, the unit will feature a 3.5-inch touchscreen with a trio of primary icons -- Call, Search and View Map -- along with an internet browser, HSDPA support and preloaded maps of North America and / or Eastern and Western Europe. Furthermore, it houses "millions" of POIs, doles out turn-by-turn, voice-prompted directions and becomes Garmin's first device to include Google's local search capability. As for pricing and availability? We're looking at a Q3 2008 release, but we'll have to wait things out before finding out a price and who exactly will be carrying it. Check out the gallery below for shots of the device and its UI

This grommet is just a design, but we wonder why it took someone this long to come up with such a genius (and obvious) idea. Like a regular desk grommet, it's a big hole that lets cables through. Unlike a regular desk grommet, it's got notches on the side of different sizes to grasp and hold your cables so they don't fall on the ground, making you breath in dust for a few seconds as you fish it back out. Again, design for now, but we'd love to see this thing be standard in every desk.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday that it might have to write off all of the $30.7 billion goodwill value from its purchase of Nextel Communications and smaller deals as it struggles with customer losses.

The No. 3 U.S. mobile service provider said in a regulatory filing that it found in an annual goodwill review that the mobile unit's net book value exceeded fair value.

Sprint said that in a second review it would measure the resulting fourth-quarter impairment charge, which could represent "a substantial portion or potentially all" of the $30.7 billion goodwill on its balance sheet.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - You may know actor Keith David for starring opposite Kurt Russell in the 1982 horror film 'The Thing', or for his Tony Award-winning role in the 1992 production of 'Jelly's Last Jam'.

Videogamers, however, will more likely recognize David for his role as the Arbiter, the deep-voiced alien "co-star" in Microsoft's best-selling "Halo" videogames.

"I'm not a big videogame player," David said. "But once I was on the set of a film and one of the grips came up to me and said 'I know you're the voice of the Arbiter, can I have your autograph'?"

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Online retailer Amazon.com Inc said on Thursday it reached a deal to buy digital audio books provider Audible Inc for about $300 million, aiming to bolster its audio download offerings.

Amazon has been building a digital music store to compete with Apple Inc's iTunes, and has signed deals with major music companies like Vivendi's Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group Corp.

As is common place with enthusiast motherboards, the P5E3 Premium is a feature complete solution in box, requiring a minimal number of components to be operational: an Intel LGA 775 processor; DDR3 memory; a video card; drives; and a PSU. ASUS designed the following features directly in to the P5E3 Premium: 6 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 capable) on the Intel ICH9R controller; 1 ATA-133 IDE port and 2 eSATA ports (RAID 0 and 1 capable) on the JMicron controller; 10 USB 2.0 capable ports (6 in rear panel, and 2 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 IEEE 1394 capable ports (1 in rear panel, and 1 onboard header); a Realtek GigE Ethernet port and a Marvell Yukon GigE Ethernet port, both in the rear panel; ASUS 802.11n wireless Ethernet port 2-in-1 solution in the rear panel; ADI 8-channel HD audio codec featuring an S/PDIF RCA component and optical output ports; and PS/2 keyboard port support in the rear panel.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell said on Wednesday it would close all of its 140 U.S. kiosks, a concept it launched in 2002 to showcase computers, as it expands sales of PCs in retail stores.

Dell, the world's second-largest personal computer maker will shut the kiosks, mostly in shopping malls, today -- a decision the company said fits with its new retail strategy.

Customers could test Dell PCs at the kiosks and order the products, but they could not take delivery of them there.

The concept has become largely obsolete as Dell last year departed from a 23-year strategy of direct-only sales and its computers are now available in about 10,000 store outlets and online.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Size matters in pornography, except when it comes to tiny mobile phone screens, the next frontier for erotica.

If the adult entertainment industry has its way, Americans will soon get a choice of free porn on cell phones -- or at least some photographs of good-looking girls in bikinis.

Unlike in Europe, mobile porn has yet to take off in North America as carriers have been afraid of offending political and religious groups and parents concerned about children being exposed to adult content.

That may change this year as phone companies plan to loosen control on their networks to allow a wider variety of gadgets and services, while introducing new tools to shield minors. More advanced phones with better Web browsers like Apple Inc's iPhone also offer higher quality pictures and video.

With Eee PC becoming a focus of the PC market, Asustek Computer has announced it is planning to launch a family of Eee products including: E-DT (desktop PC), E-TV and E-Monitor. All the products while have low-cost as their major selling point, according to Jerry Shen, president of Asustek.

The E-DT, a desktop PC which will not be sold with a monitor, is scheduled to launch in April or May this year and will be showcased at CeBIT 2008. The first E-DT will adopt an Intel Celeron processor, while later generations will adopt Intel's Shelton'08 platform with Diamondville processors and the 945GC chipset. The company has set the price of the PC at between US$200-300 and will try to push it down to US$199.

The E-Monitor will be an all-in-one device similar to Apple's iMac and Dell's XPS One. E-Monitor will cut into the 19-21-inch market and will come with a built-in TV tuner. Pricing is set at US$499, compared to the iMac's price of US$1,199-2,299 and the XPS One's price of US$1,499-2,399. E-Monitor will also be based on Intel's Shelton'08 platform and will be launched in September this year.

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With the introduction of two new powerful desktop PCs available at retail partners nationwide, Gateway makes it easier than ever to afford and enjoy quad-core fueled gaming, entertainment and productivity based tasks.

Both the new Gateway® GM5664 and Gateway® GT5662 bring the AMD Phenom™ Processor and DirectX® 10 Technology to the GM and GT Series of desktops, turning up the performance and entertainment capabilities of each line. In addition, Gateway is introducing a new Hybrid-SuperMulti drive on the GM5664, enabling customers to watch both Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs.

“Gateway’s new retail line up marries high-performance with affordability,” said Glenn Jystad, Gateway’s senior manager of consumer desktops. “These new systems offer just about everything one could ask for in a powerful PC, delivering a great combination of features that are sure to please.”

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - More than a quarter of people who bought Apple Inc's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) iPhone are using them on wireless networks other than AT&T's, the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S., a "stunning" number that will pressure the company's business model, an analyst said on Monday.

Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said analysis of sales numbers from Apple and AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) revealed about 1.45 million phones were "missing in action" at the end of 2007.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state employee who had access to government-owned archives has been arrested on suspicion of stealing hundreds of historic documents, many of which he sold on eBay, authorities said on Monday.

Among the missing documents were an 1823 letter by Vice President John C. Calhoun and copies of the Davy Crockett Almanacs, pamphlets written by the frontiersman who died at the Alamo in Texas.

SAN FRANCISCO - EBay Inc. said Tuesday it will cut by up to 50 percent the fees it charges sellers to list their goods online, in an effort to boost listings and keep pace with other burgeoning e-commerce sites.

To balance the fee cut, the company plans to increase its commission on items that do sell, a method the company says sellers prefer because it lowers their risk if items do not sell.

The greatest fee increase will come for goods selling for less than $25. EBay's fee for those transactions will rise 67 percent, to 8.75 percent of the final sale price.

Motorola enjoyed record success in 2005 with the release of the RAZR, which went on to sell 110 million units and boost the company to the number two position in handsets behind Nokia. Since that time, Motorola has struggled to match this epic success.

Our favorite Japanese pseudo-citizen at Kotaku turns up some indsider verbiage on that hot hot black-and-blue sex machine of a DS Lite that Circuit City pre-emptively had up for pre-order. The warehouse just started slapping the clamshells together, which in person, says the source, looks more "purplish blue" and "awesome."

It is, in fact, the same unit as the red and black DS Lite. Given that it takes something like two to four weeks after packing to hit shelves, Bashcraft suggests mid-to-late Feb. for D-Day. I so wish I didn't already have a black one, which is already a slab of aesthetic satisfaction

“The kit I received was the 4GB kit, or 2x2GB PC2-6400, that runs at 800MHz and has a timing rating of 4-4-3-15. The modules will run those timings at 1.8v - 2.1v and handle up to 2.2v without voiding the EVP (Extended Voltage Protection) warranty. The 4-4-3-15 timings are really good for DDR2. With such tight timings I wouldn't expect high overclocking rates at the stock timing; but loosened up, the result might be impressive.”

The Pearl, the main product in the consumer push, looks more like a regular cellphone than the traditional BlackBerry. Launched in 2006 at around $200, some carriers now give it away as part of a long-term service contract, while declining plan prices are making the gadget more affordable.

The retail effort reached a critical milestone on November's Black Friday, the day after U.S. Thanksgiving that marks the start of the holiday shopping season. It was, for the first time, RIM's strongest single day for net subscriber additions.

Amazon said it is the only retailer to offer DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels as well as thousands of independent labels.

Amazon MP3, launched in September 2007, offers DRM-free MP3 music downloads, which now includes more than 3.3 million songs.

The independent research by two statisticians from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business found buyers saved $7 billion that they might have otherwise been ready to pay in a study of eBay auction behavior in 2003.

Applying the same analysis to 2004 buyer data, consumers saved $8.4 billion, said Wolfgang Jank, one author of the study. A linear projection of the research findings would mean consumers saved around $19 billion during 2007, Jank said.

WASHINGTON - A large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and could hit the Earth in late February or March, government officials said Saturday.

The satellite, which no longer can be controlled, could contain hazardous materials, and it is unknown where on the planet it might come down, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified as secret.

Asustek Computer has set an internal goal to achieve revenues of NT$340 billion (US$10.5 billion) for its own-brand business in 2008, an increase of 50% compared to NT$220 billion in 2007. The notebook segment is expected to contribute over NT$170 billion, accounting for around 50% of total revenues in 2008, on a shipments growth of around 30-40%. If the targets are met the company will grab 6% of the worldwide market and become the sixth largest vendor in the world, according to Jonney Shih, chairman of Asustek, speaking at the company's end-of-year banquet.

We Are Back! and Colder Then Ever... 1.25.2008

ArcticMOD.com was acquired at the end of 2007 by a Corporation based in New York City. It has been relocated to Queens, New York and is currently running under new management. The new owners of ArcticMOD.com bring to the table over 15 years of experience in the Information Technology / Computing industries. Coming from large corporate environments, the new owners saw tremendous growth potential for ArcticMOD.com. The company will grow rapidly over the course of 2008 not only by the increasing number of products available to it's customers, but by the dedication, excellence and ingenuity of the new management team. The owners will insure that ArcticMOD.com customers will always benefit from the best sales, customer service and technical support available.

Looking into the future, the potential is limitless. A well balanced set of product offerings and services will be key to taking the company to the next level. Along with excellent customer satisfaction and a fully featured web presence, ArcticMOD.com promises to raise the bar to a new high. Please come join us on our quest to become one of the top Modding companies on the Web!

Sunnyvale, Calif.—January 24, 2008—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, components, and system builds, is pleased to announce its hardware solutions are now available at eCost.com, a top online reseller in the U.S.

By partnering with quality resellers like eCost that offer a wide range of consumer electronics, OCZ’s products will be more accessible to a greater breadth of customers with varying system requirements and budget restrictions. The eCost site will feature an online store dedicated to OCZ memory, flash, power supplies, peripherals, and cooling products, offering a complete range of products for the needs of enthusiasts, gamers, and mainstream desktop users. As the Group’s product line continues to expand into different sectors of the technology market, OCZ strives to deliver the most innovative solutions at the nation’s largest resellers for ultimate customer convenience.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - The arrival of a truly mobile Web, offering a new generation of location-based advertising, is set to unleash a "huge revolution", Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Friday.

"It's the recreation of the Internet, it's the recreation of the PC (personal computer) story and it is before us -- and it is very likely it will happen in the next year," he told a panel at the World Economic Forum.

ST. LOUIS - Charter Communications officials believe a software error during routine maintenance caused the company to delete the contents of 14,000 customer e-mail accounts.

There is no way to retrieve the messages, photos and other attachments that were erased from inboxes and archive folders across the country on Monday, said Anita Lamont, a spokeswoman for the suburban St. Louis-based company.

"We really are sincerely sorry for having had this happen and do apologize to all those folks who were affected by the error," Lamont said Thursday when the company announced the gaff.

AT&T announced today that it is boosting speeds for some of its AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet customers and offering AT&T broadband customers access to free Wi-Fi hotspots across the country. AT&T says that more than 10 million of its AT&T Broadband subscribers will soon have free unlimited access to its nationwide Wi-Fi network.

Austin, Texas, US, 24 January 2008 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of x86 silicon and platform technologies, today announced details of the VIA Isaiah Architecture, a new x86 processor architecture that will deliver significant boosts to the functionality and performance of desktop, mobile and ultra mobile PCs while minimizing power requirements, saving on battery life and enabling ultra compact system designs.

Designed from the ground up by the company's US-based processor design subsidiary, Centaur Technology Inc., the VIA Isaiah Architecture combines all the latest advances in x86 processor technology, including a 64-bit superscalar speculative out-of-order microarchitecture, high-performance multimedia computation, and a new virtual machine architecture. The first generation of Isaiah-based products will be pin-compatible with the VIA C7 processor family, enabling a smooth transition for system builders and providing them with an easy upgrade path for current designs.

Without a doubt, what was most impressive was seeing a 1.8GHz CN processor running Crysis. While I am not going to go out of on a limb and say it was the best Crysis experience you might have, there is no doubt that this low power “UMPC” processor was more than up to the task that I would never ever guessed possible on a VIA/Centaur CPU. Certainly, CN is not aimed at powering the most demanding 3D shooter game in the world, and after seeing it run Crysis successfully it is certainly that the CN/Isaiah processor is more than up to the tasks that might be thrown its way in the UMPC segment.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the exclusive U.S. carrier for Apple Inc's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) iPhone said on Thursday it ended 2007 with "just at or slightly under 2 million iPhone customers."

"We had very solid sales results in October and November and we had almost double sales in December," said Chief Financial Officer Rick Lindner, referring to iPhone sales on the company's quarterly earnings call.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Popular video Web site YouTube.com is opening up its service to run on millions more phones which are capable of using high-speed wireless links, the company said on Thursday.

YouTube, a unit of Google Inc, says it is extending its service from a handful of phones to a broader range of devices used by 100 million consumers worldwide that rely on high-speed links to stream videos to mobile screens.

Today, Canon is going one step further with the Digital Rebel XSi. The XSi brings a new 12.2MP APS-C CMOS sensor, 3.0" LCD screen with Live View, a 9-point autofocus system, DIGIC III image processor, larger viewfinder, higher-capacity battery and a 3.5 FPS burst mode (53 JPEG or 6 RAW). Canon also made the move to SD/SDHC memory cards with the XSi -- it is the first Canon D-SLR with this capability.

Dell will start selling two (Red) laptops and one desktop running Microsoft Windows Vista on Friday. The two companies will donate $50 for a laptop and $80 for a desktop to the Global Fund, which finances health programs in Africa.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have shut down a Web site selling real-time porn and arrested 33 people, state media said on Wednesday, part of a campaign which led to the shut-down of 44,000 Web sites and arrest of 868 people last year.

China launched a crackdown on online pornography and "unhealthy" Web content after Chinese President Hu Jintao said the country's sprawling Internet posed a threat to social stability.

Elitegroup Computer System (ECS) will change its motherboard strategy this year to focus on more higher-end products, according to sources at motherboard makers.

Due to limited growth in the entry-level market, ECS has recently changed some of its PCB and port layouts to suit higher-end markets while also adding unique functions to its motherboards. With the changes, the company expects to grab a modest share in the mid-range and high-end markets.

Some channel vendors think that if ECS is serious about cutting into the higher-end market it will need to completely change its brand image to have a chance of competing with the other first-tier motherboard makers.

At the very least, three things need to go with you: a portable shovel, a foldable probe and an avalanche beacon/tracker/transceiver.

“You take all three or you take nothing,” said Scott Schell of Backcountry Access, one of the companies that makes the life-saving devices.

He showed me how to use the company’s $290 Tracker DTS avalanche beacon. It’s a fat (well, at 12.8 ounces, relatively fat), but sturdy, device that has been around for more than a decade and is simple to use (http://www.backcountryaccess.com/). For it to work, others you’re trekking with need to have them, too.

Sometimes, it's not easy to leave the Googleplex.

Even for the many millionaires among the search giant's pre-IPO employees, there's great appeal to a workplace that prizes creativity and rewards its employees with everything from free food to dry cleaning. Of course, there's also the cachet of working at one of the hottest tech companies in the world, a virtual Shangri-La for the geek set.

"Worldwide, people know Google, and it has an impact on their life, and being a part of it makes you feel famous," said Bonnie Brown, Google's masseuse-turned-millionaire.

“Every year, North America hosts the largest Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which is where any and everyone can go to debut their newest or best products. If you can think of any technical gizmo or gadget, chances are that it's already there. This year's event didn't quite have the amount of computer components as last year, but there was still plenty and High Definition was all the rave. Of course, there were still endless rows of iPod and music player stations. As a matter of fact, there were more of those than High Definition Televisions. I'm not sure we need more docking stations, but HD TVs advancements are always a good thing. The more new products that come out, the quicker prices drop on the current products.”

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands (Reuters) - A Dutch company has squeezed a display the size of two business cards into a gadget no bigger than other mobile phones -- by making a screen that folds up when not in use.

The 5-inch (13-cm) display of Polymer Vision's "Readius" is the world's first that folds out when the user wants to read news, blogs or email and folds back together so that the device can fit into a pocket.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc is planning to announce cutbacks later this month that will likely lead to hundreds of job losses at the nearly 14,000 employee company, a source familiar with the plan said on Monday.

Yahoo spokeswoman Diana Wong declined to comment on a report published on the Silicon Alley Insider blog, which on Saturday said Yahoo has created a list of "1,500-2,500 jobs that may be eliminated in the next two weeks."

BRUSSELS, Belgium - IP addresses, string of numbers that identify computers on the Internet, should generally be regarded as personal information, the head of the European Union's group of data privacy regulators said Monday.

Germany's data protection commissioner, Peter Scharr, leads the EU group preparing a report on how well the privacy policies of Internet search engines operated by Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others comply with EU privacy law.

AFTER SEEING ALL the hype last week about the Macbook Air, I am left in complete awe at how stupid the mac fanbois, the general public, and sadly almost all of the IT press is. Some get it, and I think Anand was the only one to put 2 + 2 together, Apple did diddly squat here, Intel did, but it gets no credit.

Without a 3G iPhone announcement at MacWorld, Apple remains focused on increasing the penetration of their generation-one handset. True to the rumors circulating the intertubes last week, AT&T is now offering the iPhone to business customers. Plans break down as follows:

* 2 year commitment, voice service, and data plan required
* $45 per month for unlimited data, visual voicemail, and 200 SMSes; $55 ups the SMS limit to 1,500; $65 for unlimited everything
* An extra $25 per month nabs a 20MB montly data plan good for 29 countries, $60 per month ups the limit to 50MB
* Activate by 31 March and qualified accounts will receive a service credit of $25 per month good through 31 December, 2008 -- yeah, that's a sweet deal

Being an HBO subscriber is about to get a lot more appealing, as the Time Warner-owned pay channel giant is set to roll out a new service that allows subscribers to both download select content as well as view live feeds on their PC. "HBO on Broadband," as the feature is called, will give HBO on Demand customers on Time Warner's Roadrunner network access to both the live east coast feed along with numerous TV episodes and Hollywood films, although downloads expire after 12 weeks or less, and you can't natively transfer any of this video swag to a portable device. Mac support is also conspicuously absent here, but seeing how the offer is confined to Time Warner cable and broadband subscribers only in Wisconsin for now, anyway, it's quite possible that an OS X client (and 64-bit Windows one) will become available as more regions get switched on.

Thumper has seen the future.

Researchers at the University of Washington have created the prototype for a bionic contact lens — recently tested on rabbits — that includes light-emitting diodes, basic wiring for electronic circuits and even a tiny antenna. Future versions, the scientists believe, could serve as a flexible plastic platform for applications such as surfing the Internet on a virtual screen, immersing gamers in virtual worlds and monitoring patients’ medical conditions.

“Now why would AMD release an AMD Athlon X2 5000+ Black Edition Processor? Try affordability and performance on for size. At a reasonable $115.00 for 2.6GHz of power running through two cores, this processor should be very capable of providing more than enough power for today's most graphic intensive games. Of course as with any of the newest processors, it should be teamed up with a good graphics card like the NVidia 8800 or ATI's newest series. This more affordable processor is basically AMD's way of thanking all of the people who have chosen and continue to choose AMD processors.”

DENVER (Billboard) - While Apple did not introduce any significant iPhone upgrades at its annual Macworld convention, which ran January 14-18 in San Francisco, the iconic device still made waves.

Apple has sold more than 4 million iPhones since launch, according to leader Steve Jobs' Macworld keynote. But what's more interesting is what the people who bought it are doing with it.

In data provided to the New York Times, Google disclosed that it received more traffic from iPhones this Christmas than from any other mobile device, despite owning only 2 percent of the smart-phone market and less than 1 percent of the overall mobile-phone market. That means that while fewer people own iPhones, those who do possess the device use it to access the Internet much more than those with competing handsets.

The theft of a laptop containing Social Security numbers of Nashville, Tennessee, area voters is expected to cost local officials about US$1 million as they roll out identity-theft protection to those affected.

County officials say that thieves broke into Davidson County Election Commission offices on the weekend before Christmas, smashing a window with a rock and then making off with a $3,000 router, a digital camera and a pair of Dell Latitude laptops containing names and Social Security numbers of all 337,000 registered voters in the county.

You were born to rock, and to help you live dream, Shinya Kasatani has released PocketGuitar for the iPhone and iPod touch, which turns your device into a touchscreen guitar. The application looks insanely great, and we cannot believe it has taken humanity this long to realize the true destiny of the iPhone. It makes so much sense now; it is the guitar of the future, sent back to destroy enemies of rock music.

We've seen plenty of other Eee PC mods, but an intrepid Norwegian bested everyone by building what appears to be the One Eee to Rule Them All. Not content with only one modification, this Eee modder installed ten add-ons to his diminutive subnotebook including bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and GPS.

WASHINGTON - Hackers literally turned out the lights in multiple cities after breaking into electrical utilities and demanding extortion payments before disrupting the power, a senior CIA analyst told utility engineers at a trade conference.

All the break-ins occurred outside the United States, said senior CIA analyst Tom Donahue. The U.S. government believes some of the hackers had inside knowledge to cause the outages. Donahue did not specify what countries were affected, when the outages occurred or how long the outages lasted. He said they happened in "several regions outside the United States."

"In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities," Donahue said in a statement. "We do not know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through the Internet."

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N: Quote, Profile, Research) reported deeper than expected subscriber losses on Friday and said it would cut about 4,000 jobs, sending its shares down 26 percent and raising fears that an economic slowdown would take a greater toll on the wireless industry .

The No. 3 U.S. mobile phone service has been losing ground to bigger rivals such as AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Verizon Wireless amid network and customer service problems that drove away valuable post-paid subscribers who pay monthly bills.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A small Chinese high-tech firm is suing Microsoft Corp because it says the software giant has stolen its creation that allows Internet users to type Chinese characters, but Microsoft countered the claim on Friday.

Zhongyi Electronic Ltd., a 100-employee firm, alleged that Microsoft has used its inputting technology and fonts in Windows operating systems without commercial agreement for a decade, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

NEW YORK - To plan an upcoming hike in the Alps, John Higham scoured scores of photos plotted along his route on a digital map for clues to the steepness of trails and the availability of accommodations or camp sites.

These images were just like all the other vacation photos shared by travelers and amateur photographers, except they'd been tagged with location information in an emerging practice known as "geotagging."

Armed with such data, Higham didn't have to search endless combinations of keywords and guess how photographers would describe images in captions. By zooming in on the map, he could easily find geotagged photos along the Via Alpina and gain a fresh perspective.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Hollywood writers strike looks like a boon for the DVD and video game industries.

According to a survey released Thursday from new-media consultancy company Interpret, TV viewership has suffered because of the strike, particularly for dramas and sitcoms. Interpret finds that 27% of respondents are spending less time watching network series and 12% are watching less cable and satellite series.

Conversely, 43% of respondents say they are spending more time watching DVD movies and 23% say they're watching more TV-DVDs. Another 26% say they are spending more time playing video games.

If you're like us, you feel more than a little annoyed with iPhone's speaker volume. Yes, whether you're waiting for a call, trying to have a speakerphone conversation, or just listening for sweet DTMF tones -- the thing kind of stinks. Perhaps it's time to take extreme measures, as some owners have resorted to... like sticking a needle through the holes in the speaker enclosure. Yes, according to daring "modders," it's possible to get a 40-percent increase in volume via this simple-yet-destructive trick of perforating the thin plastic which covers the speaker. Apparently, the phone gets so loud post-surgery that the volume is actually startling to some users. Feeling like you're brave enough to really void that warranty?

DirecTV's rolling out its cellphone-enabled mobile DVR scheduling for its HR20-700 units. This means that you can hop on your cellphone and queue up American Idol (just about the only new show on right now) to watch when you get home. Other DirecTV models will follow in February. Hit the jump for a list of compatible phones.

On weekends, in between the soccer games and the household chores, you can find Brian Albright and his 12 year-old-son, Caleb, playing video games together.

Over the years, the two have played through “Sly Cooper,” the “Lord of the Rings” games and “Final Fantasy” on the family PlayStation 2. These days, father and son like “Star Wars Battlefront” and racing games like “Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition.”

“He really likes pimping out the cars,” says Albright of his son.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Virtual worlds, mobile coupons and bar-code readers on cell phones are the next technology wave that U.S. chain stores must ride if they hope to stay competitive in the fast-changing world of global retail.

Retailers, gathered in New York this week for the National Retail Federation's (NRF) annual convention, were urged to go high-tech to stand out in the crowd and improve sales, especially amid a flagging U.S. economy.

"The cell phone is shifting the way consumers shop, and U.S. retailers need to get ready," said Pat Conroy, vice chairman at Deloitte & Touche USA, in a keynote speech at the convention.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Video gamers, finally emerging from the pixilated haze brought on by last year's bumper crop of best-selling titles, are now turning their attention to upcoming releases.

Last year was one of the best in recent memory for the video game industry, featuring a string of A-list titles such as "Halo 3", "Call of Duty 4" and "Guitar Hero", causing some analysts to fret that 2007 will prove a tough act to follow.

"People tend to forget there was some explosive growth, driven not only by premium titles but ultra-premium titles like 'Guitar Hero', which cost $100, and 'Rock Band', which cost $170," said Jesse Divnich, an analyst with The simExchange, an online prediction market for game sales.

NEW YORK - Time Warner Cable will experiment with a new pricing structure for high-speed Internet access later this year, charging customers based on how much data they download, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

The company, the second-largest cable provider in the United States, will start a trial in Beaumont, Texas, in which it will sell new Internet customers tiered levels of service based on how much data they download per month, rather than the usual fixed-price packages with unlimited downloads.

Company spokesman Alex Dudley said the trial was aimed at improving the network performance by making it more costly for heavy users of large downloads. Dudley said that a small group of super-heavy users of downloads, around 5 percent of the customer base, can account for up to 50 percent of network capacity.

Gigabyte Technology has join the growing list of companies to jump on the low-cost PC bandwagon with plans to launch its contender for the market in June, company vice president Richard Ma, has revealed.

The low-cost PC will support Intel's Basic Platform and feature a panel size of 7- to 9-inch, Ma detailed. Prior to the launch of the low-cost PC, Ma updated that Gigabyte will roll out Menlow-based mobile Internet device (MID) and ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) products in April. Having its presence in notebooks and portable devices strengthened, Ma said Gigabyte is likely to see its notebook business unit swing to profit in 2008.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple on Tuesday launched an aluminum-clad laptop just three-quarters of an inch thick, seeking to bring a new computer to market with the same cachet as its iPod and iPhone devices.

Apple also said it would let people rent films over the Web with upgrades to its iTunes online media store, a technological challenge to a movie industry still largely focused on DVDs.

Shares of movie rental firms Netflix and Blockbuster fell sharply in response, and Apple's own stock lost 5.5 percent since the announcements were widely expected and Chief Executive Steve Jobs failed to conjure up any big surprises.

LONDON (Reuters) - The makers of word game Scrabble have asked Facebook to remove its popular online version "Scrabulous," which they say infringes their copyright.

The U.S. and Canada rights to Scrabble are owned by Hasbro Inc, the world's second-largest toy and game company, while the biggest, Mattel Inc, has the rest of the world.

"Letters have been sent to Facebook in the United States regarding the Scrabulous application," said a Mattel spokeswoman in Britain.

DALLAS - Shares of Blockbuster Inc. plunged nearly 17 percent on Tuesday after a new threat emerged to the world's largest chain of movie-rental stores: Apple Inc. announced it now offers movie downloads via iTunes.

ITunes customers can now download older movies and those just released to DVD, in regular or high-definition format, to watch on their TVs, iPods, iPhones or computers.

A spokeswoman for Blockbuster said the Dallas-based company welcomed Apple CEO Steve Jobs' announcement, made at the Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco Tuesday.

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. - Business software maker Oracle Corp. agreed Wednesday to buy BEA Systems Inc. for about $7.85 billion, a compromise price that ends a months-long dispute over the value of the company that pioneered Web services software.

The deal gives Oracle CEO Larry Ellison another trophy in his growing collection of acquisitions. This time, the addition is expected to boost Oracle's position in "middleware" — the software that helps business programs interact with underlying databases.

Multicore processors have become a major part of the consumer mainstream in the past couple years, but if a cryptographic researcher named Joseph Ashwood has his way, the next few years will see the rise of multicore memory. Ashwood's design, which he's had positively reviewed by a team at Carnegie Mellon, allows memory to actually become faster as it gets bigger, due to the way data is organized across individual memory cells. Ashwood says the ratio is almost 1:1 -- doubling size should result in a doubling of speed -- but it's all theory for now, as he's only gotten as far as the software simulation stage

Aw, PC, don't get that look on your face. You're not fat, you're just well-built. Just because the MacBook Air is incredibly thin and sexy doesn't mean I love you any less. I mean, you've got so much more personality! You've got things like a built-in ethernet, optical drive, removeable battery AND user-upgradeable RAM and hard drive. That slinky little bitch doesn't have any of that. You don't have to put yourself through this. Come on, turn off the Oprah, let's make a nice sandwich.

When I reviewed the original N5200, it was pretty easy to be impressed at the time. Since the review, my opinion of it has only increased. Normally it just sits there happily storing all my stuff, and it’s been doing that without a hitch since the review. I’ve also taken it to Lan parties to act as the file server. Having a NAS server around just never stops being useful. The feature that I now believe is the 5200’s best, is the front LCD screen. Because of that little LCD, I’ve never had to ask myself “Now what the *&^% is the ip address for this thing?”, whenever I change network settings or plug it in at some LAN, I just look at the LCD and my search is over.

Now on to the latest iteration of the 5200. The N5200BR Pro. This is basically the original X2, twice the ram, twice the flash and more than twice the CPU. It has all the features of the older model, and then adds a batch of new ones. Externally, they are completely identical, and it’s almost impossible to tell the difference until they are opened up. Even then, you have to know what to look for to tell the differences.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer electronics maker Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it is slashing prices of its HD DVD format players by between 40 to 50 percent as major Hollywood studios move to embrace Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) Blu-ray format high definition DVDs.

Toshiba America Consumer Products said it cut prices of its HD DVD players effective January 13 to boost market adoption of its next-generation DVD players by mainstream consumers after what it said was a successful fourth quarter in unit sales.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - As the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas winds down to lackluster reviews, Apple is expected to grab the spotlight with an ultra-slim laptop computer and online movie rentals at its biggest annual show next week.

The new products are seen more as enhancements to Apple's current offerings rather than ones that pack the "wow factor" of last year's star attraction, the iPhone.

NEW YORK - Under mounting pressure from law enforcement and parents, MySpace agreed Monday to take steps to protect youngsters from online sexual predators and bullies, including searching for ways to better verify users' ages.

The hugely popular online hangout will create a task force of industry professionals to improve the safety of users, and other social-networking sites will be invited to participate. "We must keep telling children that they're not just typing into a computer. They're sharing themselves with the world," said North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper

SEATTLE - Come Super Bowl Sunday, Amazon.com will get a leg up in the digital music race it's running against Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store.

And not just any leg: Justin Timberlake's leg.

The boy band heartthrob turned Grammy-winning R&B singer will appear in a spot for Pepsi, kicking off a yearlong $1 billion giveaway of MP3s, CDs, videos, consumer electronics and other items on Amazon.

Back in 2004, PepsiCo Inc. and Apple forged a similar partnership, which started with an iTunes Super Bowl commercial promoting legal music downloads, to the tune of Green Day's version of "I Fought the Law." The companies gave away 100 million free iTunes downloads that, with rising iPod sales, helped push Apple to the forefront of the digital music industry.

“Asus offers a myriad of CPU coolers, ranging from fanned, to fans with LED's, to the silent fan-less models. Most of the coolers are universally compatible with AMD and Intel processors. So, with this many options, what type of cooler will we have in this review? Well, I'm sure you already have a pretty good idea just from the name in the title, but I will still name it fully here. The CPU cooler in the spotlight this time around is the ASUS Triton 75. The Triton 75 is a fan-less CPU cooler that helps dissipates heat away from the core roughly 10% faster than other coolers. The fan-less design allows the end user to choose whatever brand of 120mm fan they want.”

PALERMO, Sicily - When it came down to business, Cosa Nostra could always count on fear. No more. In a rebellion shaking the Sicilian Mafia to its centuries-old roots, businesses are joining forces in refusing to submit to demands for protection money called "pizzo."

And they're getting away with it, threatening to sap an already weakened crime syndicate of one of its steadiest sources of revenue.

SAN FRANCISCO - Girding for a potential threat from Apple Inc., online DVD rental service Netflix Inc. is lifting its limits on how long most subscribers can watch movies and television shows over high-speed Internet connections.

The Associated Press has learned the change will become effective Monday, on the eve of Apple's widely anticipated move into the movie rental industry. Although Apple hasn't confirmed anything yet, Chief Executive Steve Jobs is expected to make it official during a presentation Tuesday in San Francisco.

“The most promising physical technological improvements have been, and still are, the implementation of heat pipes. Manufacturers have designed heat pipe specific CPU coolers using various numbers of pipes. Some makers design theirs with only a couple heat pipes while others seem to add as many as they can fit on a CPU cooler. Some look like CPU coolers and others look like engines with copper headers. While all these variations have their own appeal, ASUS has chosen to design coolers with a more isometric feel in their lineup.

We've seen a few of their coolers here at VH before and they were always worthy of recommendations. We have a new one on hand that is actually an updated version of the original Silent Knight CPU Cooler. Today, the Silent Knight II CPU Cooler is on the work bench and looks quite promising.”