Nokia To Buy Remaining Symbian Shares

Nokia will pay $410 million for the remaining shares in UK-based Symbian and make its phone operating-system software royalty-free.

HELSINKI, June 24 - Nokia (NYSE: NOK) will pay $410 million for the remaining shares in UK-based Symbian and make its software royalty-free to boost phone sales and respond to new rivals such as Google (NSDQ: GOOG).

Symbian's software is used in two-thirds of smartphones -- handsets with computer-like capabilities -- and 6 percent of all cellphones, but new platforms such as Google's Android and Apple's iPhone could challenge its dominance.

"The move's a shrewd response to growing threats from other providers of mobile phone software," said Geoff Blaber of UK-based research firm CCS Insight, citing the open-source LiMo Foundation as well as Google and Apple.

Currently, Symbian's closest rival is Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, which has just 13 percent of the market despite the U.S. software maker's efforts to gain market share.

Microsoft charges $8 to $15 per phone, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, while Symbian charges on average $4.10.

"This puts a lot of pressure on Microsoft right at a time when they are trying to really push into the consumer space," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

"Lower price points are what operators and the market need to push smartphone adoption and dropping royalty is going to help that. For operators this offers a good alternative to Android," she said.

Nokia, which makes 40 percent of all phones sold globally, will pay 264 million euros ($410 million) for the 52 percent of British-based Symbian it does not already own, it said.

As Nokia's market share is much larger than 48 percent among all Symbian phones sold, it has been paying more to its partners in Symbian in royalties on the phones it makes than it has been getting from the firm.

The Finnish company also said it and other top cellphone makers along with operators AT&T, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone and chip makers Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics had formed the Symbian Foundation to develop the software further.

"The creation of a unified operating system and a unified user-interface via the Symbian Foundation is classic Nokia. Its desire to develop global, standardised platforms is at the core of all its business operations," said Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics.

Nokia will contribute Symbian and its S60 software assets to the foundation, while other members will put in their UIQ and MOAP software to create a new joint Symbian platform in 2009.

"It offers us an opportunity to innovate faster on a bigger, united, more widely accepted platform," Kai Oistamo, head of Nokia's devices business, told Reuters. "It also enables us to deliver new products, we believe, faster to the market."

"I'm convinced we will sell more products," he told news conference.

Nokia said Sony Ericsson, Ericsson, Panasonic and Siemens had accepted the offer for their Symbian stakes, and it also expected Samsung Electronics to accept.

"The biggest surprise is that Nokia gets full ownership all at once, and at a good price," said Karri Rinta, analyst at Handelsbanken.

"This was a logical move. There was pressure for Nokia to increase its holding, especially since there were owners such as Panasonic and Siemens who were there for historic reasons."

Nokia said it expects the deal to be completed by the end of this year, and to weigh on earnings in 2009.

On reported basis, Nokia expects the acquisition to reach break even in 2010, and boost earnings in 2011. On a cash basis, it expects the earnings boost from 2010.

Shares in Nokia were up 0.1 percent at 15.70 euros at 0848 GMT, broadly in line with the DJ Stoxx European technology shares index. (Additional reporting by Sakari Suoninen and Rauli Laitinen in Helsinki, and Georgina Prodhan in Frankfurt; Editing by Quentin Bryar, Paul Bolding)

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MPAA helps land criminal conviction in P2P piracy case

The Motion Picture Association of America has helped convict an administrator for EliteTorrents.org, a peer-to-peer site, of felony copyright infringement and conspiracy, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday.

Daniel Dove, 26, of Clintwood, Va., was the first criminal conviction after jury trial for peer-to-peer copyright infringement and the eighth overall resulting from a nationwide federal crackdown called Operation D-Elite that targeted administrators and people who provided content that was distributed through the BitTorrents hub.

The case began in 2005, when federal agents raided and shut down the popular Web site that had distributed copyrighted music and movies, including Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. At that time, Homeland security agents from several divisions served search warrants on 10 people around the country suspected of being involved with the Elite Torrents site, and took over the group's main server.

According to prosecutors, EliteTorrents attracted more than 125,000 members and assisted in the illegal distribution of about 700 movies, which were downloaded more than 1.1 million times. According to the Justice Department, Dove led a group of "uploaders" that supplied pirated content to the group, as well as recruiting members with ultra-fact broadband connections to become uploaders. Prosecutors also said Dove operated a high-speed server himself.

The MPAA "provided substantial assistance" to the investigation, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Dove faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in September, the Justice Department said.

Scott McCausland, who used to be ... Read more

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Tech giants form group to buy patents

Google is part of a group of tech heavyweights going on the offensive against the threat of patent-infringement lawsuits, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Sunday evening.

The group, which calls itself the Allied Security Trust, plans to buy up key intellectual property before it is obtained by parties who might use it against them, the newspaper reported. Joining Google in the group are Verizon Communications, Cisco Systems, Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, and Hewlett-Packard, among others.

To join the group, each company will pay about $250,000 put about $5 million into escrow for future patent purchases, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter

The organization is the latest tactic for a tech industry that says it is under attack from "patent trolls" seeking to buy intellectual property to extract royalties from companies that rely on that technology. The Coalition for Patent Fairness, a lobbying group that represents tech companies, reports the number of patent-related lawsuits rose to nearly 2,500 through October of last year from 921 in 1990, the newspaper reported.

A sweeping patent law rewrite backed by seemingly every prominent hardware and software maker was part of that effort, but it stalled in the Senate last month. The so-called Patent Reform Act of 2007 would have curbed the ability of patent holders to obtain what the companies consider disproportionate damage awards, spurring the rise of so-called patent trolls who exist only to extort large payments out of deep-pocketed companies. Microsoft, Google,

... Read more

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Two steps forward, one step back: NBC's online Olympic coverage

Ever since NBC announced their very ambitious plans for online coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I have been very excited to see how well they execute it. Promising 3,500 hours of online video, with 2,200 hours of live streams, full event replays, and highlights, for free, how could they go wrong? It has recently come to light that the online coverage may not be as complete as we were hoping.

NBC will not be offering live online feeds of any events that will be broadcast on TV. The ones broadcast on TV will, of course, include the most popular events and the ones that people are most likely to tune into. The video of the events will be on NBC's site only after the events have been completed. With this in mind, it is clear that NBC views its online offering as a supplement to their TV broadcast and not as any sort of a replacement.

Many have been really quick to heavily criticize this move by NBC, but I'm not jumping on that bandwagon just yet. I am usually not one to defend old media (see my post on Why Broadcast TV Sucks), but I have some sympathy for NBC here. I applaud NBC for taking this major leap into the online distribution of this major event in the first place. It's an unfamiliar road and a departure from a model that has worked for NBC for a very long time.

Of course, we would love to see every live stream available to us, with videos and highlights that we could embed on other sites, but this may be too radical of a first step for NBC. Think of this year's Olympic webcast as testing the waters. If NBC's web offerings prove to be profitable this year, then maybe they will expand their offerings in years to come. The Olympics only happen every two years (the more popular Summer version every four) and I can understand NBC not wanting to gamble too much on this very costly venture.

An online feed of an event like the Olympics (or any sporting event for that matter) can offer all sorts of rich functionality, including realtime statistics, scores, and leaderboards. There is no doubt in my mind that rich functionality will eventually win out, whether it is viewed on your computer or through a new interface on your TV. If it doesn't look like they get it now, NBC and the other networks will eventually see the light, but these big companies may just need a little more time to make the switch at their own pace.

To view NBC's online Olympic offering, you must install Microsoft's Silverlight plug-in.

Amidst all of this, let's not forget who the potential big winner is with this year's Olympics. No, it's not all of the athletes competing for Olympic glory, it's Microsoft's Silverlight. Microsoft scored the exclusive deal with NBC for Silverlight to power all of their Olympic web offerings. Not having caught on that well yet, this will prove to be a good way to expose a lot of new people to Silverlight and get their plug-in installed on a lot more computers. While it may not be the gamebreaker, it will certainly give them a shot in the arm in their fight against Flash.

Don't believe the haters, NBC's online offering of the Olympics is a step in the right direction, just not two steps as a lot had hoped.

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Some .Mac users already getting @Me.com e-mail forwarding

While Apple's upcoming MobileMe service has yet to hit retail shelves and overtake the existing .Mac offering, it looks like some users are already getting early benefits of the updated platform including proper e-mail forwarding with the @Me.com alias. MacRumors is reporting that the transition has already begun to take place for some, but not all current .Mac subscribers, meaning if you've got a Yourname@mac.com and somebody sends an e-mail to Yourname@me.com it'll still end up in the right place.

Other MobileMe services still have yet to catch up, including the improved photo gallery and Web mail interfaces. The .Mac to MobileMe transition is expected to occur sometime around the July 11th release of the iPhone 3G, as it's a selling point for transferring data and settings between the mobile device and home computers.

MobileMe's Web mail in box is far superior to the current .Mac offerings, but in the meantime (some) .Mac users are getting @Me.com messages delivered just fine.

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Be like Hasselhoff: Mio Knight Rider GPS makes official debut

This past weekend word leaked out that Mio Technology had a Knight Rider-themed GPS in the works, and now we can officially say that it's real. Since we were bound by NDA (nondisclosure agreement) till now, we couldn't really spill the full details when the news broke (please don't get me started on this) on Friday afternoon, but the floodgates are open now.

The Knight Rider GPS will indeed feature the voice of William Daniels (aka KITT), and there will be a database of names so you can customize the device to have KITT personally greet and talk to you (provided that your name is included). As far as navigation features, the specs will be similar to the Mio Moov 310/300, minus the real-time traffic. The portable navigation system is expected to ship on August 8 for $269.

Mio actually stopped by our office with a prototype of the Knight Rider GPS and was brave enough to leave it with us for a couple of hours. The video to the right shows what ensued. For the record, this is quite possibly the most embarrassing video I have ever shot (also they didn't have "Bonnie" in the name database, so we used "Katherine" for our lovely First Look shooter and editor. On another note, how do you not have Bonnie when one of the main characters of the Knight Rider TV show was named Bonnie? Sorry, I digress.), but we were just trying to capture the fun of the device. The voice of KITT and the flashing LEDs are certainly gimmicky, but it's still a blast to use and hopefully, it'll deliver on the performance front when we get a final unit in for a road test.

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Laptop heralds Intel Centrino 2 mobile gaming

Germany-based Cizmo is offering an Intel Centrino 2-based gaming laptop that shows what's in store for mobile gamers this summer.

Intel's newest crop of Centrino 2 Montevina mobile processors are slated for a July 14 rollout and will include the Extreme X9100 processor: the first Penryn-class mobile processor to break the 3.0GHz barrier.

Cizmo CX1730M packs an Extreme X9100 mobile processor

The Cizmo 17-inch CX1730M can be configured with an Intel X9100 Extreme processor running at 3.06GHz. A key feature of Intel X-class mobile processors is that they are designed to be overclocked.

The CX1730M can also take an Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX graphics chip.

Memory based on the new DDR3 standard is also offered. DDR3 SDRAM can be hooked up to Intel's faster 1066MHz front-side bus. Currently, Intel's front-side bus--which carries data between the processor and other silicon--runs at 800MHz.

Other specifications for the CX1730M include Intel's newest PM45 chipset. Intel stated last month that initially only the PM chipset--for discrete (standalone) graphics chips--would be available. The GM version with Intel integrated graphics will arrive in August.

... Read more

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How to: See real URLs in TinyURLs

Webware reader Amy wrote in to let us know one of her favorite Firefox plug-ins shortTextTinyURLs, converting them to the actual URL so you can see where the page links to. just got updated with a handy new feature. It will now automatically go through any page you're on and seek out any

If you want to accomplish a similar feat, there's also a bookmarklet called Embiggen, which will do the same thing without you having to install anything. The key difference between the two is that shortText packs in a bundle of other features like letting you write Twitter tweets that are well over the 140 character limit and link all your posts up to a centralized page where you can keep track of replies more easily than on Twitter.

Any TinyURLs on a Twitter post or elsewhere on the Web will automatically be converted with shortText.

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Surf your bookmarks by thumbnail with Bookmark Previews

While not nearly as cool as the Muxtape playlist viewer we wrote about a few months back, if you're looking to add a little extra eye candy to your bookmarks folder, it's worth checking out an extension called Bookmarks Preview. When installed, it adds two new views to your bookmarks folder that let you surf your bookmarked sites with small thumbnail previews. You can either view them in a large grid, or Apple Cover Flow-style, which will scale up each thumbnail to a maximum of about 440 pixels wide.

Each time you bookmark a new site a thumbnail will be created and stored away. It will also go back into pre-existing bookmarks and grab thumbnails the first time they're added, giving you a rather large library to look at. My collection took about five minutes to get converted and came up about 50 percent blank. There's currently no way to have it go out again and fetch newer, updated versions--something I hope is added in a later version.

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Solar power to set sail in space

On earth, people are beginning to use the sun's light to power their houses, office buildings, and even gadgets. Now, outside of our planet, the sun's energy is going to be utilized for something else--space travel.

If NASA can successfully implement solar sails, which have been referenced in some sci-fi books of the past, using the sun's energy for space exploration may become a reality this summer.

The NanoSail-D team shows off their solar sail, after a deployment test in April.

According to a report by NASA Science, the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Ames Research Center have teamed up to make history, by deploying its first solar sail, the NanoSail-D.

The solar sail, made of aluminum and space-age plastic, has the ability to harness the radiation of the sun for movement. Since outer space is frictionless, the sail could potentially accelerate forever, traveling much faster and much farther than a rocket running on fuel. Travel back to Earth would require a turn of the sail.

This technology isn't the first of its kind. In 2005, The Planetary Society launched a solar sailwas no confirmation that the craft, names Cosmos 1, had entered orbit, and the mission was deemed unsuccessful. spacecraft, hoping to be the first successful launch. However, later that day, there

If NASA's spacecraft makes it into orbit, it will unfurl the solar sail from its pod, and "use solar pressure as a primary means of attitude control ... Read more

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Yahoo ups annual domain registration fees

Starting July 1, users who have registered domains with Yahoo's small-business site will see their annual fee for the service jump from $9.95 to $34.95.

The news came in form of e-mail for anyone who has registered a domain with Yahoo Small Business, and a Yahoo representative told CNET News.com Friday that the e-mails have been sent 90 days, 60 days, and 30 days before users were set to renew their domain registration.

But some blogs are expressing dismay at the price increase, which is three and a half times what domain owners have paid in past years.

Yahoo said the $25 price increase is primarily being instituted to match the cost of doing business, and that registering domains--the process of creating a new Web address--can cost even more with other Web sites.

However, other competitors have much lower prices, including GoDaddy.com or Google Apps, both of which charge annual fees of around $10.

Since domain registration is not the core of Yahoo's small-business site, the company said its prices can not be as low as those of sites that focus on registering domains.

Low domain registration fees, though, can be a foot in the door to coax customers to upgrade to more profitable services.

According to Yahoo, new domain registrations will still only cost $9.95 and after a year, the fee will go up to $34.95.

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iPhone gets one step closer to China

Talks about how to bring the iPhone to China have moved from hard-line negotiations to the logistics phase, Reuters is reporting.

During an interview at the Worldwide Developers Conference, Jobs hinted to CNBC that Apple might soon add China to its list of countries where the iPhone will become available. But working out the details of exactly how that will happen hasn't been easy.

Now, talks with Chinese wireless carrier China Mobile have cleared their biggest hurdle, Apple's insistence on setting up a revenue-sharing agreement, according to Reuters. Apple has reportedly given up on that idea in favor of a model by which the carrier will subsidize the phone up-front, like the deal Apple now has with U.S. provider AT&T and the vast majority of its carrier partners around the world. That has allowed the two companies to move forward with plans and move on to working out the logistics. However, there is still no timetable for when the iPhone will be released there, a China Mobile spokeswoman told Reuters.

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EMI sues Hi5, VideoEgg over user-uploaded videos

Some people might be embarrassed if their friends found an old copy of Mr. Big's "To be with you" or Paula Abdul's "Cold hearted (snake)" stashed away in their CD collection. But not EMI. They own those songs, and they want the world to know it.

The music giant is suing social-networking site Hi5, video advertising start-up VideoEgg, and 10 unnamed defendants for allegedly infringing on the copyrights of those and hundreds of other pop throwbacks.

The lawsuit alleges that Hi5 users have uploaded and disseminated hundreds of music videos the company owns rights to. VideoEgg is on the hook because it's a former partner of Hi5, and those allegedly infringing videos were uploaded to its servers. (On May 31, VideoEgg stopped hosting videos uploaded by the public and refocused efforts on its ad network, prompting rumors that the company was on its way out.) The lawsuit doesn't say much of anything about who the 10 John Does are.

The companies had attempted to work out some kind of deal for more than a year, a source told TechCrunch, but those efforts eventually failed.

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Google gadget turns PC into media server

Google has released a software module that can turn Windows PCs into devices that streams media files to other devices.

The Google Media Server is a gadget that works on the Google Desktop software. It sends the data to other devices over a Universal Plug-and-Play connection such as a Sony PlayStation 3, according to the Google Desktop blog.

With it, people can play videos and music and view photos on a PC. In addition, it can connect to Web sites including Google's YouTube for video and Google's Picasa for photos.

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Google data-sharing gets authentication option

Google now supports the open OAuth standard for sharing data through its Google Data interface, a move that could make it easier to tap into information stored at Google property.

Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

The Google Data API (application programming interface)--GData for short--provides a conduit whereby other Web sites can slurp out data stored at Google. For personal information, such as photos at Picasa or contacts at Gmail, access to that information requires authentication. OAuth provides a standard way to perform that authentication, which means programmers at least theoretically should have an easier time writing code.

Google announced the OAuth support Thursday on its Data API blog.

Also Thursday, Google announced that Google Finance is now supported in the Google Data API. That means data could be retrieved to build, for example, a gadget with a live chart showing changing portfolio value.

And since the API permits two-way communications, it also means an outside service could update a user's information at Google Finance, for example with recent stock trades.

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Is the stand-alone toaster an endangered species?

Pity the poor toaster. Like a single person surrounded by married couples, it seems destined to be fixed up again and again, with the promise that this coupling will be the match that lasts.

The latest pairing to come to my attention: a Breakfast Set from Team Appliances, which combines a two-slot toaster with a five-cup drip coffee maker. All the expected features are here, from a removable crumb tray and adjustable darkness settings on the toaster to a reusable filter and automatic shut off on the coffee maker. What's missing? A timer to start your coffee brewing before you wake up in the morning. But it's a forgivable omission, given the product's space-saving design (hello, dorm room) and $50 price tag.

If you're not a coffee drinker, fret not: there's a toaster combo appliance for you, too. We've already seen a combination toaster and teakettle from Breville. I've long been a fan of the toaster and egg poacher that a friend acquired several years ago; it lets you prep all the ingredients for a breakfast sandwich at once. (Tefal makes a similar product.) LG makes a $140 microwave oven and toaster combo that's available in black, white, or stainless steel finishes. (So does Daewoo.)

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Canadian iPhone 3G plans lack unlimited data

It will cost you north of the border.

If you think AT&T's iPhone 3G service plans are expensive, just consider what Rogers is forcing on our Canadian friends.

Friday, the carrier announced its service plans for the iPhone 3G, none of which include unlimited data use. Instead, Rogers will cap data each month at a certain amount, which will range from 400MB for the cheapest serve plan ($60 Canadian or $59.23 U.S.) to 2GB for the most expensive plan ($115 Canadian or $113.64 U.S.).

Though 2GB is a lot of data, we're not sure how a customer is supposed to know what 2GB even means in real-world use. True, you can track your data use on the iPhone, but it's not like tracking calling minutes.

In its press release, Rogers does provide a convenient chart to gauge your data usage--apparently, 2G amounts to 16,000 Web pages (who knew?)--but we don't approve of such an arrangement at all. The iPhone's Web browser is one of its top attractions, particularly on a 3G network, and asking users to limit their data certainly isn't putting the "Internet in your pocket." Rogers is offering unlimited Wi-Fi access at all Rogers and Fido hotspots, but that in itself is limiting if you have to be in one place.

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Movies and TV shows coming to the PS3 this summer

Sony has just confirmed the rumor we all heard back in April: video downloads will be available on the PS3 this summer. Details right now are scarce, but we do know the service will first be rolled out in the United States, followed by Japan and Europe later in the year. As we mentioned before, we would like to see a service tied in with Netflix since everybody and their mother seems to use the service, or even a Hulu type service, which offers TV shows from Fox and NBC, broken up by short 15-second ads. Our best guess though: iTunes-esque pricing, the most expensive of all three choices. Rent a movie, pay a high premium, and lose it . We can't see how this will be successful, considering Sony's quirky history with digital media downloads (see: Sony Connect and ATRAC3).

Sony's own Bravia line of televisions will be getting video as well via Bravia Internet Video Link (BIVL). The film, Hancock, as mentioned in Sony's press release, will be available "exclusively to all Internet connected Bravia LCD TVs in the U.S. before it is available on DVD." We'll have a review of the BIVL system very soon.

Another interesting tidbit from the press release: Sony wants 90 percent of their electronics products network-enabled and wireless-capable by March 2011. The PSP, PS3, and a Bravia television--all connected together and sharing media? Yes, we're just as thrilled as you are of the future possibilities. Let's hope that Sony doesn't limit their content and media-sharing capabilities to a Sony-centric universe, which the BIVL system seems to be all about. We'll have more details as they roll in.

In the meantime, what do you think of Sony's direction? Will the company go down the Hulu route or will it offer time-limited DRM content?

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Another GPS device goes to the dogs

As consumers are deluged with GPS products, manufacturers are continually looking for ways to expand the market--and that includes non-humans. Tracking technologies for pets (and kids) are hardly new, but Garmin is trying to stay ahead of the pack, literally, with more powerful devices.

The company debuted its original "Astro 220" system only a few months ago, and now it's already coming out with an updated dog collar. The new "Astro DC 30" has a range of 7 miles that's displayed on the correponding handheld device's digital map, according to Gizmodo.

It can track Fido's movements every 5 seconds and operate for up to 36 hours per charge. Or, as fellow Craver Caroline McCarthy suggests, it can surreptiously be used to find out why your regular pizza delivery is always so late.

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Park your page in style with LaunchSplash

Just bought a domain and don't know what to do with it? Maybe you need to set up a blog, or are in the midst of hiring a designer. Don't just let it sit there while you get your act together--get a page to let people know what's going on. A service called LaunchSplash is offering a simple tool that does this for you.

All you have to do to get started is drop in a simple headline and description. The site provides an RSS feed people can subscribe to in order to get updates, or a simple mailing list that you can use to send out a blast when your site goes live.

Mapping the new landing page to your domain is pretty simple--you just plug in a special address provided by LaunchSplash into the management page where you bought the domain. From then on it will send visitors to your landing page instead of a blank "server not found" page. You can also plug in Google Analytics to track how many people are coming to your site before it's even up.

To make its cash the site offers a premium service that gives you more complex control over the page including four extra themes to spice up what people see (note: experts can simply tweak the CSS file).The higher plans also let you ramp up the amount of pages you can have up to 50 sites.

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Microsoft re-releases security patch for Windows XP

Microsoft on Thursday re-released a security patch from earlier this month that was supposed to fix a Bluetooth stack problem that could allow an attacker to take complete control of a computer running Windows XP.

Security patch MS08-030 was originally released June 10. The new version of the update is now available for Windows XP SP2 and SP3 customers.

"After we released MS08-030 we learned that the security updates for Windows XP SP2 and SP3 might not have been fully protecting against the issues discussed in that bulletin," Christopher Budd, security response communications lead for Microsoft, explained in a blog entry. "As soon as we learned of that possibility, we mobilized our Software Security Incident Response Process (SSIRP) to investigate the issue."

"Our investigation found that while the other security updates were providing protections for the issues discussed in the bulletin, the Windows XP SP2 and SP3 updates were not," he added.

The company is investigating the situation and believes there may have been two separate "human issues" involved," Budd wrote, without elaborating.

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Yahoo releases Delicious plug-in for IE

The Delicious plug-in makes it easier to add descriptive tags to bookmarks stored at the Delicious site.

Investors and industry watchers may have their eyes on Yahoo's executive departures and coming reorganization, but for most people involved with Yahoo are just users of the company's technology.

Which is why it's interesting that Yahoo released a version of its Delicious plug-in for Internet Explorer on Thursday.

The plug-in, which Yahoo released in beta form in May, makes it easier for people to use the Delicious "social bookmarking" site. Delicious lets people store Web page bookmarks on a central server, label them with a description and tags, and share them with others.

Delicious got its plug-in start with the open-source Firefox browser, but the site can be used by anyone with a browser without plug-ins. The Yahoo plug-in works with IE 6, IE 7 and should work with the IE 8 beta, but Yahoo isn't making any promises.

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Delicious founder leaves Yahoo

Joshua Schachter, the founder of the Delicious social-bookmarking service Yahoo acquired in 2005, is joining the executive exodus from the Internet giant.

"Just time to move on, I think," Schachter said in an e-mail, but didn't share further details.

The Internet company also confirmed on Thursday evening that Schachter will leave at the end of June; TechCrunch reported it earlier.

"Joshua Schachter has contributed greatly to Delicious' success and Yahoo's success in our social search efforts...Yahoo wishes him well in his next endeavor," the company said in a statement.

Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif.

He's one of an ever-longer list of recent Yahoo departures, which also includes the following just from recent days:

Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of the network division; Qi Lu, executive vice president of engineering for search and advertising technology; Usama Fayyad, chief data officer and executive vice president of research and strategic data solutions; Brad Garlinghouse, senior vice president of communications and community; Vish Makhijani, senior vice president of search; Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, the husband-and-wife co-founders of Flickr; Jeremy Zawodny, an open-source developer and evangelist of what's now become the Yahoo Open Strategy; and Jason Zajac, who has been general manager of social media, head of finance for the audience division, and vice president of corporate strategy.

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Curtains up: YouTube Screening Room makes its world premiere

YouTube has just announced the launch of the rumored YouTube Screening Room. The news broke yesterday that YouTube was going to be delving into professional films, with the possibility breaking out of their 10 minute mold and into longer form. YouTube is actively pursuing filmmakers to try and get high quality content for the site. The YouTube Screening Room has debuted with four short films, including one Academy Award winner and one nominee.

While it is not immediately clear whether or not YouTube will be pursuing longer subject films in addition to short subject ones, it is safe to assume that they are looking in that direction. Their blog post says that, "Today, we're pleased to announce the launch of the YouTube Screening Room, a platform for films from around the world to find the audiences they deserve." Given this statement, it does not appear that the site will be limited to short films.

The YouTube Screening Room could give a great break to films that were not able to find a solid audience or were not even released to the public in the first place. Other than the obvious benefit of exposure, monetary benefits to those who are making these films have not been publicly discussed by YouTube.

The videos include a "Buy Now" button, which, in some cases, directs you to the website of the filmmaker/film and in others links to a place where you can buy a DVD or digital copy. Some of the links don't exactly point to the right place yet and it's a little unclear to me why people would want to buy a short film that they just watched for free online (aside from upgraded quality), but I'm sure the kinks will get worked out. The purchasing model might work better if and when they offer feature length films.

Being a cinephile, I am excited to see the sort of films that come out of this new venture. They are off to a good start already with the four short films that they already have. YouTube Screening Room could prove to be a much needed boost to the indie film community.

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Sony intros flash-based HD camcorder

Sony Handycam HDR-CX12

As it inevitably had to do, Sony today announced the flash-memory version of its HDR-SR11CX7. A tad smaller than the CX7 by one or two tenths of an inch in every dimension, it uses the same 12x zoom lens and 5.6-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor that drives the SR11 (and its line mates, the SR10 and SR12). Since it's smaller than the SR models, it uses the same 2.7-inch LCD as its predecessor. hard-disk-based HD camcorder, replacing the older

Going head-to-head with Canon's HF10, the HF10 still looks like a slightly better deal based on specs alone. It's very similar--both are SD-based models which produce 1920x1080 AVCHD video from approximately 1/3-inch sensors, though the HF10's is lower 3.3-megapixel resolution, and sport 12x zoom lenses. But for the same $900 Sony plans to charge for the CX12, Canon includes 16GB built-in memory for the HF10 while Sony plans to bundle a smaller 4GB Memory Stick Duo Pro Mark2. The actual street price may be cheaper, of course.

According to Sony, the CX12 will be able to record 25 minutes of highest-quality HD video (16 megabits per second) on the 4GB card. Unfortunately, it will still come with the inadequate (and horribly named) Picture Motion Browser software rather than a real video-editing application, like Sony's own Vegas Video Movie Studio. You can have a party trying to find your own real editing application for the AVCHD files.

Though it doesn't sound like there's much new in its video capabilities, Sony has added its Smile Shutter technology, which pauses shooting until it detects the appropriate rictus, and child- and adult-prioritization from its Cyber-shot models, to the camcorder's still photo features.

Sony expects to start preorders on June 20 and to ship the camcorder in the beginning of August for $900.

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Intel launches visual content, game site

Intel has launched a Web site to help game and visual content developers create software for its graphics silicon and processors. Intel's next-generation Larrabee graphics chip is also slated to become part of the focus.

"Supporting the new Intel 4 Series chipset family introduced at Computex, Intel has launched the Intel Visual Computing Developer Community, a technical resource to enable developers...to create innovative graphics and video applications," Intel said in a statement.

The Intel 4 Series includes the G45 Express chipset and GMA X4500HD graphics media accelerator, which has built-in support for Blu-ray 1080p high-definition video playback. The chipset also supports Microsoft DirectX 10 and game-centric graphics technologies such as Shader Model 4.0.

Intel says these improvements deliver "everyday gameplay for the most popular game titles."

Intel Visual Developer Community Web site

Intel is clearly ratcheting up its presence in the gaming and visual computing segments. In a video posted on the site, Roger Chandler, director of marketing for the Visual Computing Software Division, said that though Intel works with developers in the digital content creation space, "We're really focused on the game industry...The big focus we have right now is the game space."

Chandler's team is focused on processors, integrated graphics products, and mobile platforms.

"We're entering this era where folks have been so focused on making games look real, (but) they're now realizing that we need to make them act real," he said. Chandler cited artificial intelligence and ... Read more

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With AIM 6.8, AOL begins revenue-sharing plan

AOL plans to launch a new program called AIM Money on Tuesday that lets programmers write applications that run in the AOL Instant Messenger buddy list--and lets programmers get a cut of any resulting revenue.

The move is made possible through use of an open interface in AIM 6.8, another new development. Version 6.8 also includes "mini-applications" that run at the bottom of the AIM buddy list window; 150 new CBS radio stations in AOL Radio; and restoration of the ability to save and import buddy lists, a feature that helps move a to a new IM identity.

As the computing industry has discovered the possibilities of applications running on the Internet, companies are rushing to curry favor with programmers hoping those companies' online offerings. Other examples of the idea are Facebook, Google and other members of the OpenSocial consortium, and the Yahoo Open Strategy.

Ultimately, richer applications can mean more users, more activity, more advertising--though the more lucrative elements of the strategy is largely rhetorical than real at this stage for many. AIM, however, has a well-populated list of active users, unlike many start-ups.

AOL announced the interface in March with its Open AIM 2.0 developer program, which lets programmers write software such as the mini-applications that plug into AIM's own chat software, bots that can communicate with humans on the network, Web-based AIM interfaces, and software that show when AIM members are available online through the service.

The revenue for programmers comes through sharing money generated by an advertisement that can appear along with programs that use the new AIM features. AOL serves advertisements using its Platform-A ad network and pays developers through PayPal.

To use the AIM API (application programming interface), developers have to use two of five AIM elements. The ad is one. The other four are bundling the AIM browser toolbar; providing access to AIM Expressions that customize the AIM interface; displaying the AIM Dashboard start page; and displaying buddy info.

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The fastest way to open a local file in Google Docs

What I really want to do is add a link to Google Docs on the right-click (context) menu in Windows Explorer. That way, I could open a file in Google Docs by right-clicking it in Explorer and choosing Send To > Google Docs.

Well, I wasn't able to figure out how to do this. So instead, I created a shortcut to open Google Docs, and then I browsed to the file and opened it the old-fashioned way.

This won't save you a lot of time, but at least Google Docs makes it easy for you to transmit the file to the service as an e-mail attachment. And, of course, you can send the file to other e-mail recipients at the same time.

To create the shortcut to Google Docs, log in to the service, copy the URL in the address bar, right-click the desktop or any folder window, choose New > Shortcut, paste the URL in the Location field, click Next, type Google Docs (or the name of your choice), and press Enter (or click Finish).

Now navigate to the shortcut you just created, right-click it, and choose Properties. Click in the "Shortcut key" box, and type your preferred keyboard shortcut (I chose Ctrl-Alt-G).

Give your Google Docs shortcut a keyboard sequence to open the service in a flash.

Now you can open the service by pressing the keyboard shortcut you just entered. Once it opens, choose Upload in the top-left corner of the window, browse to and ... Read more

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Google Maps meets 'Grand Theft Auto'

Who would have believed Google's geographic Web services could actually get your adrenaline going?

Granted, these aren't real video games, but two Web sites are pushing what can be done with interactive interfaces to Google Maps and Google Earth.

The first, taking advantage of Google Maps' new ability to work with Flash applications, lets you drive a car, bus, or truck around Google Maps. It won't bat an eye if you drive through a building or into the ocean, but Katsuomi Kobayashi, the programmer from Osaka, Japan, who wrote it, was happy to note that the software can display images at 40 frames per second vs. 20 at best for JavaScript. And it uses less CPU power, too.

Another novelty is a flight simulator for the browser plug-in version of Google Earth announced at Google I/O a week and a half ago. (This is different from the flight sim that works with the Google Earth standalone software.) It works with recent versions of Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Flock, but on Windows only.

Again, the software is crude by gaming standards, but it does illustrate what can be done these days inside a browser. I'm among those who's interested to watch Google Earth abilities gradually pop up ... Read more

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Apple answers call for iPhone applications

Apple wowed the cell phone industry a year ago with the first version of the iPhone. And now its new software development kit and soon-to-be-launched application store featuring third-party applications could change the game yet again.

The big news Monday at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco was of course CEO Steve Jobs' announcement of a 3G version of the iPhone. But the company also made several software announcements that could set a new standard for getting new and innovative applications to market quickly.

There's no question that Apple's launch of the iPhone last year changed the handset market. The touchscreen device loaded with a full Web browser that allows people to shrink and enlarge Web pages set a new standard for what people can expect when surfing the Net on their phones.

But with the SDK and the soon-to-be-launched application store, Apple has shown the true power and vision of the iPhone, which goes well beyond simple Web browsing on the go. The company has created a powerful platform for developing new applications, plus a set of simple tools that can be used to quickly and easily bring new mobile applications to market. And it's created an App Store, linked with its popular iTunes music and video store, where these applications can be easily searched for and downloaded.

"A device is nothing without applications," said Ken Dulaney, an analyst with Gartner. "The one lesson you can take away from Microsoft is that once you ... Read more

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Microsoft readies revamped database, security software

Microsoft on Tuesday said it's set to release near-final versions of its key database server and other business-oriented software.

The company announced a "release candidate" of SQL Server 2008, along with test versions of security and identity management software, at its TechEd conference in Orlando, Fla.

Also on tap for later this month is a release candidate of Microsoft Application Virtualization, version 4.5, the company said. Microsoft also announced a server-virtualization validation program, which lets software developers test and validate their code running against Windows Server 2008 and previous versions of the operating system.

Microsoft Senior Vice President Bob Muglia said Identity Lifecycle Manager 2, beta 3, a tool for configuring and managing identification on corporate networks, is now available.

Also released in beta testing is Forefront Security for Office Communications Server, beta 1, a tool that helps prevent instant messaging-based malicious software, the company said. In the first half of next year, Microsoft plans to incorporate within Forefront support for virtualization.

Muglia said the announcements are part of Microsoft's overarching Dynamic IT initiative for automating enterprise technology to make it more flexible.

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If you can't make up your mind about where to go on vacation and are comfortable buying prepackaged vacation deals, there's a new site for you: TravelMuse. You tell it where you live, what your budget is, and what you like, and it will suggest destinations and hotels.

The idea could be a very positive contributor to domestic harmony. But how's the execution?

While the "Find Inspiration" feature of TravelMuse is smart and very Web 2.0-ish, the rest of the site has a somewhat retro business model. The content on TravelMuse is all professionally created. The site pays editors to write guides to major destinations, and then it encodes and tags them so the Inspiration function can find them.

TravelMuse finds vacation packages for you based on budget, timing, and what you're interested in.

In other words, there's no user-generated content on the site, in stark contrast to other popular travel advice sites like TripAdvisor. That's not a critical stopper, but if you're, say, a long-tail traveler--if you like mushroom hunting, maybe, or traveling to small towns without Marriotts--then TravelMuse can't help you, at least not yet. CEO Kevin Fliess says UGC (user-generated content) may be added in the future.

My other issue with the site is its focus on vacations by air. It is cool that TravelMuse finds trips for you based in part on how much time you're willing to spend in a plane, but if you're up for a road trip vacation (and with the price and indignity of air travel these days, it's a good option), again, TravelMuse isn't for you. And again, Fliess says it may be added later.

The results: air/hotel packages at destination for which TravelMuse has prewritten guides.

On the plus side are several creative features. The site lets you choose from several activities and trip styles when it goes looking for packages for you. You can surf through recommended activities and restaurants in your chosen location and add them to your itinerary. You can also use a bookmarklet to flag things you find on the Web as relevant to trips you're building.

There are also collaboration features, if you're working on a getaway with friends or family members. Another domestic-harmony win.

TravelMuse, at the moment, is really an online travel magazine with some strong customized content features. And it's early for the service--I'm writing this before the public launch. With some more links into contemporary Web 2.0 events sites (Upcoming, maybe, or Fandango), and with the addition of more user content, it could become a very robust vacation planning tool.

See also my two favorite travel planning tools of late: TripIt and Offbeat Guides.

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HP settles patent suits with Acer

Hewlett-Packard announced Sunday that it has settled its patent-infringement lawsuits against rival PC maker Acer.

The confidential settlement agreement resolves three federal court lawsuits, as well as two U.S. International Trade Commission investigations between the parties.

HP sued Taiwan-based Acer in October 2007, alleging seven patent violations. The suits covered patents regarding technologies such as read/write optical drives, power management in notebooks, digital bus arrangement, thermal management and video control.

The suits sought to stop Taiwan-based Acer from exporting its PCs to the U.S. and selling them there. As a result of the settlement agreement, each action will be dismissed as to the parties.

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Firefox 3 final inches closer

For those of you waiting with bated breath for Firefox 3, Mozilla has just published Release Candidate 2 for Windows, Mac, Linux and Windows Portable. There are no new features to celebrate or examine: what we're looking at is pure, unadulterated bug fixing. Users can expect a somewhat more stable browser, with the regular mix of security tweaks and otherwise minor changes.

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Google Maps mobile gets updated in celebration of $5 gas

Google Maps updated with public transit information and routing back in mid-2007 (see story here), but missing was a way to access that same layer of information on your mobile phone. Today that's changed with the latest version of Google's mobile maps app.

The updated service now includes searchable transit maps and schedules from more than 40 cities in the U.S. and close to 20 others around the globe. It also takes advantage of the built-in location finder to help you find transportation hubs that are nearby, saving you time from having to ask directions while out and about.

In the demo video embedded below, Google employee Ryan shows us a test trip from the city of San Francisco across the bay to Berkeley, while managing to showcase one of the app's cooler features, which I'm officially coining as the "drunk button." When toggled it lets you figure out how late you can stay out with just two button presses. Twenty-somethings are going to love this.

One thing that's missing, however, is the new Street View feature that was quickly demoed as part of Steve Horowitz's (Google's engineering director) presentation of the latest build of the Android OS at Google IO last month.

Google Maps mobile is free to use as long as you've got a data plan and a phone that's capable of running it. Some of the features should be expected to carry over to the version of Google Maps that resides on the iPhone, which has historically received bits and pieces of Google's updates shortly after new Google releases.

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Live-streaming service Qik comes to Windows Mobile

Qik, the mobile phone-based video-streaming service favored by blogger Robert Scoble, is coming to the Windows Mobile platform.

Previously only available for Nokia phones like the horrendously overpriced N95 ($500 unlocked), the service will soon roll out for the millions of Windows smartphones now on the market, like the Samsung Blackjack (free with activation) according to Qik co-founder Bhaskar Roy.

While still in private beta, Qik for Windows will soon be available as an open download. Roy told me that he hopes to sign some carrier deals soon too, getting Qik preinstalled on phones.

Qik turns anyone with a capable mobile phone into an on-the-spot live reporter. The service also records its live streams so users can view events after the fact.

As VentureBeat says, don't get too excited. We're expecting a new 3G iPhone on Tuesday, and who knows what cool video capability will be built into it.

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