News Archive for 08/02/05
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Terra Soft today released Yellow Dog Linux 6.0 for Apple's G4 and G5 Macs, as well as the Sony Playstation 3 and IBM System p. Built on the CentOS foundation -- a popular derivative of Red Hat Enterprise Linux -- Yellow Dog Linux aims to serve as an enterprise level Linux distribution with a 'just-works' desktop experience for both PS3 and Apple PowerPC systems.
ThinkPad maker Lenovo has released a new AC/DC combo power adapter, one which differs substantially from most currently on the market. Where many power adapters are typically brick-shaped and possibly fairly heavy, Lenovo's new 90W adapter is only half an inch thick, and roughly the same in dimensions as a deck of playing cards. This makes it 33 percent smaller than Lenovo's last adapter, and crucially for travellers, 25 percent lighter as well.
The adapter is on sale now for $120, but is only shipping in three to four weeks. Accessories include a dual-charging cable, and power tips for a multitude of devices.
After considerable delay, Nokia has finally begun an initial rollout of its N-Gage gaming service. The online network allows people to download and play a variety of high-end cellphone games, rendered with both 2D and 3D graphics. The client software is now available through the company's First Access program; although it is only officially said to work with the N81, third-party sources have already managed to remove the software's protective "wrapper," and run N-Gage on phones like the N95. The service was initially slated to launch in November, but the date was then moved to late December, and finally to sometime after the holidays.
Cellphone maker HTC may be working on a previously unheard-of kind of tablet device, a Portugese site claims. Dubbed the "Magnum," the prototype tablet is distinguished by an oversized OLED touchscreen, larger than any currently on the market. It is also said to have an 80GB hard drive and 2GB of ROM, and operate using a 800MHz Marvell processor, 512MB of RAM, and a 128MB AMD graphics processor.
The accounts have engendered considerable media skepticism however, due to an incongruous feature set. Despite the size of the screen, it only supports 65,000 colors, and the system's overall battery life is said to be 30 hours -- as long as the much smaller iPod classic, and several times that of most notebooks.
The Federal Communications Commission today approved AT&T's plan to buy 700MHz spectrum from Aloha, finalizing a deal first set in motion in October. The $2.5 billion deal was given to the American carrier despite reservations by FCC commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, both of whom raised concerns that AT&T's exclusive access to this portion of the 700MHz band would potentially hurt competition and work against the public's interest in maintaining an accessible network.
Both Apple and Dell are likely to release notebooks based on Intel's Penryn 45 nanometer processors at or near the same time, according to multiple reports. While HP has been one of the quickest major PC builders to adopt the new Core 2 Duo variants for its upgraded Pavilions, a new claim by CNET suggests Dell will announce its own speed increases within a week. Exact changes were not provided, though the report suggests the updates are most likely to arrive first for high-end XPS notebooks rather than the lower-cost Inspiron line.
Finnish giant Nokia has announced the 3120 classic, an upcoming 3G phone which differs from many of its Western rivals in that it jettisons any special form factors or smartphone-like functions. Rather, the Classic comes in a standard candybar shape, and uses a two-inch QVGA screen paired with a regular numeric keypad. The phone does however have a two-megapixel still camera with flash, and another front-facing camera for video calls.
Motorola's upcoming ZINE Z12 media phone has been spotted in its first full photo just days ahead of its likely launch, says Czech site iDNES.cz. Already partly uncovered in December, the slider phone is now known to be wider than the Z8 and Z10 it replaces but also sports a very different control scheme: the familiar physical controls appear to have been replaced with touch-sensitive buttons.
The most popular search engine in China may be facing legal sanctions over music piracy, says Agence France-Presse. Three of the four major labels -- Warner, Universal and Sony BMG -- have filed a request in a Beijing court, asking that Baidu pull down links to illegal music. Specifically, the labels allege that Baidu is indexing illegal hosting sites, while simultaneously profiting from advertising. Music trade group IFPI claims that piracy in China has dramatically hurt its own profits, with over 99 percent of tracks in the country said to be distributed illegally.
Dell today provided a very early teaser for the XPS 630, its upcoming gaming desktop. Showcased in a very limited form at CES, the mid-tower is now known to bear a stronger resemblance to the range-topping XPS 720 with wide open venting for cooling high-performance parts. External colored lighting should also be present and more conspicuous than for the top-end system.
Opera today rolled out its self-titled Opera Mobile 9.5, the latest version of its browser for smartphones. The new version is built around Opera's in-house Presto web renderer and now offers panning and zooming, giving viewers an iPhone-like ability to either view a page at full size or center on content for a clearer look. The update is also said to draw sites much faster than before: even complex sites with AJAX and other Web 2.0 technologies render quickly and accurately, Opera says. Support for Flash Lite 3 also provides support for MySpace, YouTube, and other sites that are heavily dependent on Flash audio or video.
Confirming earlier leaks, Rogers Wireless today began offering its sought-after Communicate Value Pack, the first bundle plan to offer true unlimited web browsing with the Canadian provider. An improvement even on AT&T's $20 unlimited plan, the Rogers pack allows both unlimited browsing from the device itself as well as 2,500 outbound SMS text messages and 1,000 MMS sent picture or video messages. It also supplies caller ID, recent call history, and voicemail, according to Rogers.
Microsoft this morning reworked its Wireless Laser mouse options for desktop and notebook owners with a pair of mice focused on simplicity rather than sheer control. Both the Wireless Laser Mouse 7000 (pictured) for the desktop and the notebook-minded Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 connect over RF frequencies and roll with new ergonomic designs, an improved scroll wheel grip, and fewer buttons to reduce clutter. The 7000 supplies a button that can be used for Flip 3D on Windows Vista systems or assigned elsewhere on other operating systems, while the 6000 serves as a full-size mouse but includes a miniature USB transmitter that stows away inside the mouse for travel.
Canadian cell provider Rogers today said it was the first carrier on the continent to carry the Sony-Ericsson K850, one of the cellphone maker's highest-end camera phones. The candybar design centers around photography with a 5-megapixel camera and a xenon flash bright enough to capture more distant subjects than usually possible with cellphones. It also supports 3G Internet access on Rogers' HSDPA network and grants the phone access to two-way video calls as well as faster downloads and uploads.
Apple today doubled the capacity of its touchscreen media devices, releasing both a 16GB iPhone as well as a 32GB variant of the iPod touch. The new capacities allow fewer sacrifices for owners who want to carry as much media as possible. "For some users, there's never enough memory," Apple Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing VP Greg Joswiak says. On the iPod touch, the new storage level allows as many as 7,000 songs or 40 hours of nonstop video; the iPhone now holds half as much in exchange for its cellular functions, which remain unchanged from the original 8GB model.
Microsoft may need to abandon its longstanding financial independence to complete a takeover of Yahoo, the company said late yesterday. Despite its large cash reserves, the company's Chief Finance Officer Chris Liddell acknowledged that the $44.6 billion proposed deal might require that the firm borrow money and accumulate debt. While the $21 billion in reserves owned by the Windows developer would cover nearly all the cash portion of the proposed deal, a loan would help Microsoft avoid wiping out these reserves and leaving itself without options if it needs more cash in the near future, according to the executive.
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