TechLuver.com

October 31, ‘07 — Sydney Morning Herald reporting on Newsweek busting MySpace co-founder & CEO, Tom Anderson, for faking his age.

SMH further reports, “The thirtysomething millionaire who co-founded the popular social networking site MySpace has been outed as an age-faker. Newsweek magazine reports that Tom Anderson was lying about his age since launching the site in 2003.

Anderson’s MySpace profile lists his age as 32. But according to Newsweek, he will in fact turn 37 next week. And that would have made him a 32-year-old when the site launched, not a 27-year-old wunderkind.

The magazine obtained driving licence information, voter registration and telephone service applications which showed Anderson’s birthday as November 8, 1970.”

Jessica Bennett of Newsweek reports, “But it turns out that Tom, who, along with cofounder Chris DeWolfe, made a fortune when News Corp. bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005, may have a secret: his real age. According to public documents obtained by NEWSWEEK—including professional license information, voter registration and utility and telephone service applications—Anderson is five years older than he claims. His online profile currently lists his age as 32, but it appears he was actually born on Nov. 8, 1970, meaning he’ll turn 37 next week, not 33. (Happy birthday, Tom!)

Is it a big deal? Anderson, who has said he was 27 when MySpace launched, built an empire by tapping into the youth market. History might’ve unfolded differently if those first few users had known that the site’s hipster co-architect was already well into his 30s. “Young people don’t want someone their dad’s age running a site they think is cool,” says Pete Cashmore, the founder and editor of Mashable.com, a blog that covers social networking.”

More at SMH, Newsweek.

Santa Ana, CA–BUSINESS WIRE– V7, the exclusive house brand for Ingram Micro Inc, and the maker of world class IT and CE global solutions, today launched two advanced functionality Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs), redefining value and utility for GPS customers.

The NAV730 and NAV740 GPS PNDs are targeted at value-conscious GPS consumers and commercial fleets. Both are portable navigation devices featuring V7 Navigation Software with turn-by-turn, text-to-speech capabilities that allow users to see and hear where they are and how to get to their destination.

The NAV730 and NAV740 come with many features typically available only in higher-end priced models, including a 3.5-inch 320×240 TFT-LCD high resolution display (NAV730) or 4.3-inch 480×272 TFT-LCD high resolution display (NAV740). Both models are touch-screen enabled with an easy-to-use, intuitive graphical user interface and turn-by-turn voice instruction including text-to-speech. Featuring an attractive, lightweight and slim (only 19.8mm thin) design, the NAV730 and NAV740 can easily slip into your pocket, making them truly portable navigation devices.

The new V7 NAV730 and NAV740 feature 400MHz CPUs for faster map redraws and enhanced AV capabilities, SD card technology for expandable storage, preloaded maps, and a built-in high performance multimedia (audio and video) player that supports the most popular audio, video, and digital picture formats (MP3, WMA, OGG, MPEG4, AVI, WMV, GIF, JPG, TIFF). Easy-to-install mounting hardware and auto adapters are included as standard products. Both units carry a two-year warranty. Suggested retail price is $199 for the NAV730 and $299 for the NAV740. More at V7 – NAV740, NAV730.

Oct 31, ‘07 — Adding a quality DVI or VGA high resolution display through your USB port used to be science fiction, but is now science fact with the USB to DVI-A adapter.

It used to be that you could add a display via a USB port, but the refresh rate and video quality lacked. With this USB to DVI display adapter, complete with VGA adapter, you can add either a DVI or VGA display that behaves just like a monitor connected to a standard video card, operating at a high resolution of 1600 x 1200.

The secret is the 256 MB of onboard RAM inside this little power house. The adapter essentially acts as an external video card carrying a heavy payload of RAM that most mid to high range standard video cards these days carry. The large amount of memory allows the adapter to perform like a standard video card, and the USB pipeline (maxing out at around 480 mbps) is more than enough bandwidth to provide top-notch video connectivity.

Tested In-House

As excited as we were for the release of this model, we tested it right when they came in. The unit performed with flying colors while using two simultaneously. Tested on an unimpressive Dell Latitude D520 Centrino Duo with 512 RAM, it easily handled 2 (probably could handle a couple more) USB to DVI adapters, driving 19 inch flat screens, while also using the auxiliary display port on the laptop’s docking station, for a total of 4 simultaneous beautful displays, including the laptop’s built-in display.

Windows Vista Compatible

The USB to DVI/VGA adapter is completely Windows Vista compatible with the included driver CD for both mirroring and extending your desktop. It also performs both mirroring and extended desktop with Windows 2000 SP4, and XP SP2 perfectly (32-bit systems only). Its available for $150 at SewellDirect.

San Francisco, CA – October 31, 2007 – Building on the success of its industry-leading video search engine, Truveo has announced plans to expand its rapidly growing service into several major markets for online video worldwide.  As the first step of this international expansion, Truveo is unveiling video search portals for France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Spain, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.  These new sites are available starting today at:

  ·         France - http://fr.truveo.com ·         Germany - http://de.truveo.com ·         India - http://in.truveo.com ·         Japan - http://jp.truveo.com ·         Korea - http://kr.truveo.com ·         Spain - http://es.truveo.com ·         Taiwan - http://tw.truveo.com ·         United Kingdom - http://uk.truveo.com  

Over the next two months, Truveo™ will continue to build on this expansion with the launch of video search sites for additional countries including Australia, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Russia and Turkey.  

The Truveo video search engine lets users search and browse through tens of millions of videos from thousands of sources across the Web.  Over the past year, Truveo’s service has experienced widespread adoption, and it currently reaches over 40 million users a month.* Truveo’s critically acclaimed flagship destination, Truveo, has received widespread praise since its August launch, establishing itself as the leader in the fast growing video search market. 

“The recent explosion of online video is a worldwide phenomenon.  All over the world, individual users as well as major media companies are making their video available on the Web,” said Timothy Tuttle, CEO and Co-Founder of Truveo and Senior Vice President of AOL Video. “Truveo’s ongoing mission is to index and organize all of the video on the Web so that users can easily find the video they want – no matter where in the world they reside.” 

With a large percentage of its traffic originating from outside of the United States, Truveo currently serves a worldwide audience. To better serve its users from around the world, each new Truveo international destination will feature popular, high-quality video of regional interest and allow users to search and discover videos in their native language. 

Truveo is a one-stop destination where consumers can search across a wide range of content from major video websites around the world.  In addition to indexing user-generated video from popular video uploading sites such as YouTube, Dailymotion, Kewego, MyVideo.de, Pandora.tv, and Tudou, Truveo also features a wide selection of high-quality, professionally produced video from many of the world’s major media brands. For example, Truveo’s video sources include: L’Equipe, Le Monde, France 24 and TF1 from France; Berlin TV, Spiegel and ZDF from Germany; NDTV, IBN Live and India Times from India; KBC from Korea; El Mundo, Telecinco and Digital+ from Spain; Taiwan Television from Taiwan; BBC, Daily Star, EuroNews, EuroSport, ITN, Skynews, The Sun, and UEFA in the United Kingdom; and thousands more. More at AOL.

Santa Clara, CA–Oct 31, ‘07–Underscoring strong momentum and industry support, Intel Corporation today unveiled Dual-Core Intel Itanium Processor 9100 series processors. Built for managing high-end applications and armed with advanced features that improve reliability and reduce power consumption, the 9100 series accentuates the ongoing shift from proprietary RISC products to the choice offered by Itanium-based servers. The 9100 series represents the sixth generation of Itanium chips, with three future generations under development.

The Itanium platform’s mission-critical support is strengthened by a new feature called Core Level Lock-Step that improves the data integrity and reliability of applications by eliminating undetected errors in the core. Core Level Lock-Step joins existing Socket Level Lock-Step technology to deliver greater reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) by guaranteeing that calculation results are consistent among the cores and sockets.

Another new feature, Demand Based Switching (DBS), reduces server power consumption during low utilization periods, which can result in energy cost savings.

The 9100 series features clock speed of up to 1.66 GHz and 667 MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) within a 104W power envelope. A three-load bus – two processors and a chipset on the same bus - provides increased bandwidth for enterprise and high-performance computing tasks.

“The Itanium ecosystem continues to grow as customers choose industry standard platforms supported by leading system OEMs that provide them with the broadest choice of applications.” said Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager, Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group.

“Microsoft continues to be a committed supporter of the Itanium architecture, and with the 9100 series our enterprise customers can run even more highly scalable and reliable databases and business applications,” said Bill Laing, general manager, Windows Server Division at Microsoft. “Supporting the Demand-Based Switching feature on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems will help businesses better manage power consumption and improve the efficiency of their enterprise operations.”

Pricing and availability

Six Intel dual-core and a single-core Itanium 9100 series processors are shipping today, with prices ranging from $696 to $3,692 depending on order volume, features and performance. Parts supporting Core level Lock-Step will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2008. More at Intel

Los Angeles, CA–October 31, ‘07–A panel on Internet names voted Wednesday to conduct further studies on the databases containing names, phone numbers and other private information on domain name owners, deferring long-simmering questions over whether such details should remain public. 

The committee of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, which oversees Internet addresses, also rejected a proposal to give Internet users the ability to list third-party contacts rather than their own private data in the open, searchable databases called Whois. 

Law-enforcement officials, trademark lawyers and journalists, as well as spammers, now access the database to figure out who may be behind a Web site. But privacy advocates say individuals shouldn’t have to reveal personal information simply to have a Web site. 

A third proposal, a so-called “sunset” option that would have eliminated the requirement for domain name registration companies to make the data available through Whois, was narrowly rejected, 13-10. That measure would have likely resulted in large gaps in registration records. 

The proposal on listing third-party contacts was defeated 17-7, the same margin by which the studies measure was approved. Ross Rader, a member of ICANN’s generic names council and the sunset proposal’s chief sponsor, said after the committee meeting that he was disappointed that the committee opted for an “open-ended” study. 

The committee, the Generic Names Supporting Organization Council, set a deadline of Feb. 15 to identify what types of studies are needed. FoxNews.

Why? The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul is What does a woman want? -Sigmund Freud.

New York, NY–BUSINESS WIRE–October 31, ‘07–From the shopping capital of the world comes Gift Girl the hot new subscription-only online destination for shopping advice. Designed to help men navigate the painful maze of shopping for the women in their lives, Gift Girl eliminates any wrong choices, delivering the perfect gift selection. Tapping into the $63 billion luxury retail market, the solution-based site debuted October 25, 2007.
 

The brainchild of entrepreneur Jean Vouté Pratt, the site was founded after Pratt spent several years helping male friends find great gifts for their spouses. In the last two years she began to charge for the service, and compelling market research confirmed the need for a trusted online shopping source for men. With the help of her husband Michael Pratt, a self-proclaimed clueless gift-giver, Gift Girl was conceived. Integrating the latest technology with fashion expertise, Gift Girl is a one-stop oasis for the time- and taste-challenged male.

“Let’s be frank: most guys have a difficult time picking out gifts for their wives or girlfriends and nothing is worse than opening a box and hiding your disappointment,” said Jean Vouté Pratt. “Gift Girl was created to help men deliver chic, quality, high end items-whether a designer bag, shoes or clothes-that the women they love will love. Each item is handpicked and vetted to ensure quality and taste.”
 

From Alexander McQueen to Zac Posen, Gift Girl features thousands of designer items ranging in price from $100 to over $100,000 for a diamond Tiffany necklace. New content is added to the site daily. GiftGirl

Washington–October 31, ‘07– The Federal Reserve, confronted with surging oil prices and a slumping housing market, cut a key interest rate by a quarter-point on Wednesday, the second rate reduction this year. The move comes on the heels of a half-point reduction to the federal funds rate in September, which was also interpreted as an effort to juice the economy.

The central bank lowered the federal funds rate to 4.5 percent in an effort to stimulate economic activity and keep the country from dipping into a recession. The move will make it cheaper for consumers and businesses to borrow money.

The move was wholly expected on Wall Street - so much so that traders said the cut was already priced into their buying and selling.

The federal funds rate is the amount of interest that banks charge each other to borrow money. The fed also cut .25% off the discount rate, or the rate charged to commercial banks and other depository institutions on loans from their regional Federal Reserve Bank.

Commercial banks historically follow the Fed’s lead, meaning they will cut their prime lending rate, the benchmark for millions of consumers and business loans, by a quarter point to 7.50%.

The Fed’s action came on the same day the government announced that the overall economy grew at a stronger-than-expected 3.9 percent rate in the July-September quarter. However, economists are worried that growth will be less than half that amount in the current quarter as the country struggles with a deepening housing slump.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted at Wednesday’s rate cut in a recent speech during which he suggested that the deepening housing slump could prove “a significant drag” on economic growth into 2008.

Bernanke said he would “act as needed” to keep the economy chugging along smoothly and to stave off inflation. Market observers believe Wednesday’s cut may not be the last.

“My guess is there will be more rate cuts - but I don’t think they will be meeting after meeting. They are doing this because the market needs reassurance. If in the next go round - if the market is looking better - we’ll stop cutting,” said Lee Schultheis, chief investment strategist at AIP funds. The next and final meeting of the FOMC this year is scheduled for Dec. 11.

Organizations plan to collaborate on optical networking, advanced content delivery and security initiatives.

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Oct. 31 /PRNewswire/ — Internet2, the foremost US advanced networking consortium led by the research and higher education community, has announced that Verizon Business has joined Internet2 as a corporate member. The company plans to engage the consortium in several innovative ways, including collaboration with the Internet2 community on projects involving advanced optical networking as well as in important areas of next-generation content delivery and network security.

“Verizon Business has been actively engaged with Internet2 from its inception back in 1996. As a corporate member, we look forward to collaborating with Internet2 on applications and technologies to have an impact on the research and higher education community and the commercial marketplace,” said Dennis Elwell, director for Verizon Business’ government and education organization. “Affordable optical access, wireline/wireless IP convergence, alert and notification services along with security are the hot-button issues with university chief information officers across the nation and we look forward to working with the Internet2 community on these important initiatives.”

Elwell recently was named to the Internet2 Applications, Middleware & Services Industry Advisory Council, where he will collaborate on middleware and application services for the consortium, as well as provide feedback to Industry on the trends and requirements for higher education.

One of the strongest values of the Internet2 community is its commitment to the exploration and development of leading-edge Internet technology. Internet2 thus provides an expedited life cycle path from idea to inception to research to commercialization for advanced network technologies and applications. The Internet2 community provides Verizon Business innovative partnership opportunities and a test bed for examining future network-based services and capabilities such as new network security methodologies as well as emerging technologies like IPTV.

“Internet2 relies on its corporate members like Verizon Business to play a key role in transferring technology developed within the Internet2 community into the commercial marketplace,” said Ellen Vaughan, Internet2 program manager for member and partner relations. “We are pleased to partner with Verizon Business, a leader in advanced communications and networking, on many important technology initiatives. Our shared interest in developing the latest in content distribution, security and optical technologies will provide myriad benefits to the research and education community and we believe, in the long- term, will have a long lasting impact on consumers and businesses alike.”

About Internet2

Internet2 is the foremost U.S. advanced networking consortium. Led by the research and education community since 1996, Internet2 promotes the missions of its members by providing both leading-edge network capabilities and unique partnership opportunities that together facilitate the development, deployment and use of revolutionary Internet technologies. More at Internet2. 

New York, NY–Oct 31, ‘07–It sounds like every wireless carrier in the US is in line to get ‘Google Phone’ / ‘Google Mobile Apps’. On the heels of Verizon, Sprint Nextel is also in talks to put applications from Web search leader Google on its cell phones. 

Citing “a person familier with the matter” Reuters is reporting, “Google is in talks with some of the largest U.S. wireless carriers to make a deeper move into the mobile industry, an area it views as key to future growth. While the company has not commented on its plans or potential partners, industry experts believe it will soon launch new software and services for mobile phones.” 

“While the company has not commented on its plans or potential partners, industry experts believe it will soon launch new software and services for mobile phones”. More at Reuters.

ROUND ROCK, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct 31, ‘07–Dell today extended its commitment to becoming the “greenest” technology company on Earth with the addition of an Energy Star 4.0-compliant desktop that helps consumers reduce their carbon footprint.
“We are committed to providing consumers a choice that helps protect the environment without sacrificing the performance needed to maintain a rich, high-definition digital experience.” said Karen Plotkin, director of consumer desktop marketing. “Consumers using this energy-efficient Inspiron 531 can reduce their carbon footprint while also reducing their electric bills.”

The specially configured Inspiron 531 is Dell’s first consumer PC to meet the Energy Star 4.0 requirements. Powered by an 80 percent efficient power supply, the system comes pre-configured to switch to a low-power sleep state after 15 minutes of inactivity and also includes a forest-friendly paperless owner’s manual. Using an energy-efficient desktop with a flat panel monitor for four years can reduce carbon dioxide (C02) emissions by approximately the same amount as not driving a car for eight weeks.1

With a starting price of $369, the Inspiron 531 is available to U.S. customers immediately. Entry-level configurations include an AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor, 1GB DDR2 memory, 160GB hard drive, CDRW / DVD combination drive, NVIDIA integrated graphics, Windows Vista Home Basic, and one year Limited Warranty with In-Home Service and support.

In addition to meeting Energy Star 4.0 requirements, the company is also advising customers on data center design to help reduce power needs. More information on Dell’s energy efficiency programs is available at www.dell.com/energy.

LAKE FOREST, Calif. - October 31, 2007 - Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) today announced it is now shipping its new WD Scorpio® 320 GB 2.5-inch SATA (Serial ATA) hard drives for notebook computers and portable storage devices.

WD uses advanced head and media technology to achieve the world’s highest capacity 2.5-inch, slim, 9.5mm form-factor hard drive and includes proprietary features that make the drive extraordinarily quiet while running at cool operating temperatures. The WD Scorpio 320 GB hard drives deliver high performance with 3 Gb/s transfer rate and are destined for use in OEM notebook platforms that offer the highest storage capacities to the worldwide market.

Key Features:

- WhisperDrive: WD’s exclusive WhisperDrive technology combines state-of-the-art seeking algorithms to yield the WD Scorpio 320 GB as one of the quietest 5400 RPM, 2.5-inch drives available
- ShockGuard: Leading-edge ShockGuard technology combines firmware and hardware advancements to protect the drive mechanics and platter surface to meet the highest combined shock tolerance specifications required for mobile and notebook applications
- IntelliSeek: Another unique WD Scorpio 320 GB feature is its IntelliSeek technology, which calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration

Availability: WD Scorpio 320 GB drives (model WD3200BEVS) are available on the company’s online store for $199.99 at ShopWD.

 Las Vegas, NV–Oct 31, ‘07– Stay in touch with your friends and colleagues without the hassle, thanks to Nokia’s newest headset, the Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-101. Revealed today at the SEMA Show, this headset is the ideal companion for people on the move who want a simple, discreet and affordable solution for their handsfree communications.

Compatible with a wide range of devices, the headset has the durability and comfort to take you through a hectic day. Its efficient power management means you can talk up to eight hours, or put the headset aside on standy mode for up to 180 hours. Compact in size, the headset comes with an easily adjustable earloop to make any long conversation comfortable.

The Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-101 is expected to hit stores globally for the Christmas season and will cost an estimated $40 USD/30 EUR without taxes.

The headset has basic call handling functions and supports Bluetooth functions up to version 2.0 with EDR and Handsfree v.1.5 and Headset v.1.1. More at Nokia.

Houston, TX–October 31, ‘07–NASA canceled a spacewalk Wednesday as it scrambled to deal with two power problems at the international space station.

The spacewalk set for Thursday was supposed to deal with a malfunctioning rotary joint for the solar wings on the right side of the space station. Instead, the astronauts were informed that their next spacewalk would be Friday –at the earliest–and involve work with the station’s ripped solar wing.

Both issues are competing for the precious little spacewalking time that’s left in Discovery’s mission, which already was extended a day after the joint problem cropped up last weekend. The problems could delay future missions and make it even harder to finish building the orbiting outpost before the space shuttles must be retired.

Five spacewalks had been scheduled for Discovery’s space station construction mission, the most ever attempted for a mission like this. In the 26-year history of space shuttle flight, five spacewalks have been performed only on Hubble Space Telescope repair missions.

NASA generally needs at least one day in between spacewalks to allow the astronauts to rest and get the space station prepared for the outings.

The solar wing damage occurred as it was being unfurled Tuesday. The tear forced NASA to halt the process before the wing was full extended.

Until at least one of the problems is resolved, the station won’t be able to generate enough power to support new equipment, such as a European lab that is supposed to be delivered by Atlantis in December. Delaying that mission would set back other deliveries, including the planned February installation of a new Japanese lab. More at NASA

Irvine, CA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct 31, ‘07–Samsung today introduced a new series of 19 and 22-inch LCD monitors, each with built-in speakers, to its line of SyncMaster displays. The SyncMaster 920BM 19-inch monitor and the SyncMaster 920WM and 2220WM widescreen monitors were designed for both commercial users and consumers seeking enhanced multimedia capabilities.

All three monitors feature built-in multimedia speakers, allowing end-users to seamlessly participate in teleconferences or listen to videos and audio presentations without the need to incur the cost of acquiring separate speakers. The built-in speakers also prove to be an attractive option for consumers looking for a compact solution for listening to music or watching movies on their computer monitor.

The 920BM monitor, with a MSRP at $249.99, also features a resolution of 1280 x 1024 and a contrast ratio of 1000:1. MSRP at $219.99, the 920WM model, has a resolution of 1440 x 900 and a contrast ratio of 700:1, while the 2220WM has an MSRP of $349.99, features an ultra-high resolution of 1680 x 1050 and a contrast ratio of 1000:1. More at Samsung.

 ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct 31, ‘07–Porsche today announced it has launched a new “Web Cinema” on its Web site that offers Porsche sports-car fans and admirers the ability to view extraordinary Porsche films. This new Web technology gives browsers a “virtual” front-row seat to experience much of what embodies Porsche’s legendary sports car driving. The site features rare product development documentaries, inside-the-factory research and even brings the auditory passion of Porsche to life with sounds of the famous engines from the German car maker.

All of this is now live on the Company’s Web site, Porsche Web Cinema.

“We are constantly seeking ways to connect consumers to our exciting world of races, rallies and sports car driving,” said David Pryor, vice president of marketing for Porsche Cars North America. “With the new web-cinema in place, viewers can feel a part of the action anytime; and the engine sounds truly are music to the ears of a true Porsche lover.”

Washington–October 31, ‘07–FCC on Wednesday approved a rule that would ban exclusive agreements that cable television operators have with apartment buildings, opening up competition for other video providers that could eventually lead to lower prices.

The Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved the change, which Chairman Kevin Martin said would help lower cable rates for millions of subscribers who live in apartment buildings and other multi-unit dwellings, or about 25 million households. He said the move would particularly help minorities who disproportionately live in multi-unit dwellings.

The rule would prohibit cable companies, such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable from enforcing existing exclusive cable TV contracts with apartment managers and allow telecommunications companies, such as Verizon and AT&T to offer video services along with high-speed Internet access and phone service.

The cable industry, which had previously said it is unlawful for the government to invalidate existing contracts, said the deals provide apartment residents with better pricing and service.

Oct 31, ‘07 — Africa needs to embrace wireless broadband as a potential solution to the digital divide, the chairman of Intel Craig Barrett has said. “It’s cheaper, easier and more efficient to communicate wirelessly,” he told the BBC News website.

Less than 1% of Africans have access to broadband and only 4% use the net. The International Telecommunications Union has predicted that the Intel-backed WiMAX system could become the dominant mobile standard in Africa.

The continent’s geography and political barriers have made it difficult to roll out wired broadband. There is a shortage of fibre cable links between African countries and very few states have extensive copper wire networks for ADSL broadband.

Mr Barrett, who is in Africa as part of the Intel World Ahead programme, said: “In every African country, except some of the more established economies, cell phones vastly outnumber fixed line phones.

According to the ITU, WiMAX networks are currently being employed in nine countries in Africa. More at BBCNews

Oct 31, ‘07 — HTCAmerica has finally released Windows Mobile 6 ROM update version# 3.62.502.3 for AT&T 8525 after a long wait five months. Originally HTC was going to issue it in June ‘07.

As per HTC:

• This ROM is available from November 1, 2007 to February 1, 2008. After this date, the ROM will be removed from the website and will no longer be available for distribution.

• This ROM update is intended for the AT&T 8525 only and users should not load or attempt to load this version on any other device as it may cause serious issues/damage.

• At this time, Good Mobile Messaging is not supported on the AT&T 8525 with Windows Mobile 6. It is recommended that Good Mobile Messaging users not upgrade their device’s firmware at this time. Please note that once the latest firmware has been loaded, it can not be undone.

• HTC strongly suggests that users create a back up copy of this ROM and keep it in a secure place as all new and refurbished 8525 devices (including those received via Warranty Exchange) will come loaded with Windows Mobile 5 rather than Windows Mobile 6.

Get your AT&T 8525 updated at HTCAmerica, if you haven’t thru XDA-Developers already.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. – October 31, 2007 – The nation’s largest retailer officially kicks off the Christmas season today by granting a valuable holiday wish to its customers – savings on the gifts they want to give.

Shoppers need not wait until after Thanksgiving for great deals. Wal-Mart will offer black-Friday prices three weeks early when the retailer unveils secret in-store specials: extraordinary prices on five of the most sought after gifts this season. Understanding that more and more consumers are using the internet to comparison shop,

Wal-Mart plans to reveal online a round of unbeatable savings on Thursday. The items will be available in stores beginning Friday morning, November 2 as the merchant officially opens special Christmas shops.

All year long, Wal-Mart saves people money so they can live better – in fact, independent research shows that Wal-Mart will save families more than $650 this Christmas season. 

“Our customers can fulfill all their holiday needs at Wal-Mart and not only save money, but buy gifts they can be proud to give,” said John Fleming, chief merchandising officer Wal-Mart Stores U.S.

Customers can sign up for email or text message alerts or go online Thursday at http://www.walmart.com/secret to be the first to learn the secrets items and these knock out prices. More at Wal-Mart

Oct 31, ‘07 — Navigation device maker Garmin has made a $3.3bn offer for digital map provider Tele Atlas, trumping a bid from rival Tom Tom.

US-based Garmin is offering 24.50 euros for each Tele Atlas share, 15% higher than the 21.25 euros-per-share offer made by Tom Tom back in July. Analysts said they expected Tom Tom to return with a fresh counterbid.

Both Tom Tom and Tele Atlas are based in the Netherlands, and Tele Atlas is Tom Tom’s main map provider. Garmin’s move comes after Tele Atlas’ only global competitor, US-based Navteq, agreed earlier this month to be bought by Finnish firm Nokia for $8.1bn.

Petercam analyst Eric de Graaf said TomTom made a strategic error not to build a stake in Tele Atlas before, but could not afford to lose out now.

“The only logical conclusion can be that TomTom takes the next step and significantly raises its bid,” De Graaf said, adding TomTom should bid at least 27 euros per share, with a knock-out bid being closer to 30 euros. Both TomTom and Tele Atlas said they would study Garmin’s proposed offer and gave no further comment.

Garmin is planning to launch its offer by December 4, the scheduled expiry date for TomTom’s offer, and has secured financing commitments. The offer will be conditional on at least 66.67 percent of Tele Atlas shares being tendered.

When Nokia unveiled its offer for Navteq, analysts said the move was most problematic for Garmin, which is mainly supplied by Navteq, as it could fall behind because TomTom or Nokia would have first access to new technology and could integrate it more tightly.

Acer, the world’s fourth-largest seller of personal computers, said on Wednesday it had sued Hewlett-Packard for patent infringement.

Acer alleged violation of seven patents in its lawsuit filed with a U.S. Distict Court in Wisconsin and the U.S. International Trade Commission, the company said in a statement with the Taiwan stock exchange.

Hewlett-Packard, the world’s top PC maker, sued Acer in March for patent infringement, aiming to stop the Taiwan firm from selling some products in the United States. In July, Acer countersued the U.S. rival for patent infringement.

Acer Press Release:

TAIPEI, TAIWAN (October 31, 2007) — Acer Inc. has filed patent infringement complaints with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin and International Trade Commission against Hewlett-Packard Development Co.

The complaints filed on October 30, 2007 involve innovations related to personal computers, servers and peripheral devices.
These complaints are part of Acer’s response to the “Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Acer Inc. and Acer America Corp.” case (No. 2:07-CV-103).

With or without a legal proceeding, Acer persists to take all necessary steps to protect and enforce its patented technologies.

More at Acer

Lake Success, NY–October 30, 2007–Canon USA has expanded its line of LCD Projectors with two new XGA-resolution models, both of which offer a wealth of advanced features designed to benefit their respective markets.

The LV-7585 features 6500 ANSI Lumens of brightness, a contrast ratio of 1600:1, an auto-winding filter system, and a standard 1.3x Genuine Canon Optical zoom lens (or a choice of four different optional high-quality interchangeable lenses). The LV-7585 is scheduled be available in mid-November at a manufacturer’s suggested list price of US$9,999.

Weighing only 7.3 lbs, the LV-7365 outputs 3000 ANSI lumens with a contrast ratio of 500:1 and can display a full 100-inch picture (measured diagonally) from only 9.2 feet away. The LV-7365 also features a DVI-I interface, 5W built-in speakers and an advanced onscreen control panel. The model is scheduled to be available in mid-November at a manufacturer’s suggested list price of US$1,499. More at Canon.

Cupertino, CA–Oct 31, ‘07 /PRNewswire/ –Web communication start-up Ccube, is today announcing the launch of Communicator Toolbox, a set of four no-dial calling tools for every Web user. Communicator Toolbox is the first Voice 2.0 solution for consumers and small-medium-businesses that enables free nationwide Instant Calls (IC) from the Web in four ways, on any landline or mobile phone, and without downloading software or using a credit card.

Headlining Toolbox are Ccube’s true two way privacy solutions (neither number or email is ever revealed). Web Communicator connects members to members and lets them connect by keywords, while the Call Me Widget, (dubbed ‘the 800 number killer’) connects visitors to members through a clickable button placed on websites, email signatures and classifieds, at no charge to either party.

My Keypad, for calling known long distance numbers free, like family and friends, and Virtual Calling Card, a giftable alternative to plastic calling cards for free nationwide calling, both debut in Toolbox.

“Our social networks continue to explode with new contacts everyday, but how we communicate online has not evolved to the level of efficiency our mobile lifestyles demand,” says Mahesh Lalwani, Ccube founder and CEO. “Ccube Instant Calling tools are changing that — by powering our phones, the way Instant Messaging powered our keyboards a decade ago.”

Anthony Bettencourt, chairman of the world’s largest video search engine, Blinkx, and Ccube advisory board member, says Web 2.0 is now about social utilities like Communicator Toolbox, bringing service value to users across all areas of their lives. Ccube.

New service provides safe and simple way to share personal videos via the Web – minus the advertising.

MINNEAPOLIS, October 30, 2007 – Best Buy today launched Best Buy Video Sharing, an online-based solution for customers to safely store and share home movies and videos via the Web.

Best Buy Video Sharing is a subscription-based service for users to upload their personal videos for sharing on web sites and blogs, with family and friends, or in e-mail messages. Unlike many other video sharing services, Best Buy Video Sharing allows the user to choose who can view their home videos, and enables the user to do so in an advertising-free environment.

Best Buy Video Sharing was created in partnership with Mydeo, a provider of quality streaming video hosting for home and business users. The service will be merchandised online and in Best Buy’s retail stores. Best Buy will also take a minority, equity stake in Mydeo.

“With the growing popularity of video, fueled in part by social networking sites, we’ve actually seen an increase in customer demand for alternative video sharing solutions. Many customers, particularly families with children, don’t want their personal memories available for anyone to see in the public domain nor do they want to share them in a cluttered environment that includes advertising,” said Kevin Winneroski, vice president, Best Buy. “Through Best Buy Video Sharing, customers can safely store their videos and share them only with the friends and family they choose.”

Base plans start at $6.97 for 100 minutes of video hosting and video lengths up to 30 minutes each. Customers can chose premium plans for extended video lengths, additional video storage capacity, and other sharing features. More info at Best Buy Videosharing.