Pc News

[Rasputin]

2006 PC World Innovations Awards

Audio Mobile and Wireless
Apple iPod Nano Airgo True MIMO Gen3
JVC RX-D702B Avvenu
Sonos Digital Music System Fujitsu LifeBook P1510D
Yamaha RX-V4600 Google Earth
Yamaha YSP-1000 Nokia N91
Cameras and Camcorders Panasonic Oxyride
JVC Everio GZ-MG70 Video
Kodak EasyShare V570 Maxtor Shared Storage Plus
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1 Mitsubishi HC3000U
Sony Handycam HDR-HC1 NEC MultiSync LCD2180WG-LED
Entertainment Sling Media Slingbox
Creative Zen Vision Sony DVDirect VRD-MC1
Microsoft Xbox 360 Toshiba RD-XS54
Nintendo Nintendogs for Nintendo DS
TiVoToGo

[Rasputin]

The Return of the C:\ Prompt?

Microsoft has big plans for the trusty old C:\ prompt. For its upcoming Windows Vista operating system, the company is developing a new command-line interface, or shell--the text-based controls typically accessed by clicking Command Prompt (under Start Menu, Programs, Accessories) in Windows XP.

Code-named Monad, the new shell will enable a host of new programs known as scripts--something at which rival Unix operating systems have historically excelled. While these new commands and scripts will interest primarily administrators and power users, less-technical types may benefit from Monad scripts that could circulate on the Internet as Unix scripts do. For example, a Monad script might quickly reorganize files and directories based on their name or creation date--a task that can take a fair bit of manual labor in Windows Explorer.


A beta version of Monad for Windows XP is available as a free download. Registration is required, and you will also need to have.Net Framework 2.0 (available at the same page) installed.

[Rasputin]

Online Shopping Hit New Highs in 2005

Holiday shoppers spent more online in 2005 than they did in 2004, continuing to steadily steal market share from brick-and-mortar shops, according to a report released last week by Goldman Sachs, Nielsen/NetRatings, and Harris Interactive.

Holiday shoppers in the U.S. spent $30.1 billion from late October until December 23, a 30 percent increase over the 2004 holiday season, according to the report, which surveyed 8600 shoppers in the U.S.


Online spending made up 27 percent of total spending during the holidays, up from 16 percent four years ago.


Brick-and-mortar shops attracted 68 percent of holiday spending this year, down from 72 percent last year, the report found.

[Rasputin]

Motorola unveils iRadio, new home products

NEW YORK - Motorola Inc., the world's No. 2 cell-phone maker, on Tuesday revealed details of its plans for iRadio, a subscription music service that will go on sale this year. It also unveiled a new home phone that consumers could link with cell-phone and Web phone services.

The new offers come as mobile network operators are developing services such as mobile music downloads and seeking to improve wireless coverage at home by adding short-range home network links to cellular phones.

The iRadio service, in some respects, puts Motorola in competition with XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., which sell radio subscriptions for car and home radios. Sirius also sends music to Sprint Nextel phones.

[jsmith]

telephonaye jadide motorola ke mikhan bian biroon kheili bahalan....

[Rasputin]

Starz to launch movie downloads service .

NEW YORK- Cable network Starz Entertainment Group LLC said it plans to launch an Internet movie download service on Tuesday, backed by partnerships with Microsoft and Sony, amid a race to offer more videos over high-speed Internet connections.

The service, called Vongo, follows the debut of Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes video service, which ignited interest across the media sector to make more video programming available at any time and anywhere outside of the living room.

Vongo is not the first movie download service -- CinemaNow Inc. and the Hollywood studios-backed Movielink have been around for about five years.

But it is one of the first to offer a rotating slate of feature films, which currently play on its cable channel, on PCs and portable media devices for a monthly fee.

[Rasputin]

Yahoo, Google to square off at CES

LAS VEGAS- Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) CEO Terry Semel and Google Inc. co-founder Larry Page will square off on Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show with dueling keynote speeches as they race to develop Internet services that lure more users.

Yahoo's chief executive will unveil Yahoo Go, which will allow users to easily send and share digital content, such as photos, instantly with phones, media center personal computers and other devices. Google's Page will follow later in the day with news of his own.

Portable digital media and myriad devices connected to the Internet have emerged as dominant themes of the industry's biggest annual show.

Consumers now more than ever control how, when and where they want to view video or listen to music, which increasingly is carried on portable devices such as MP3 players.

[Rasputin]

Cell Phone Includes Internet Telephony Capability

LAS VEGAS-A new cell phone about to debut could drastically reduce your cell phone bill by splitting calls between cell networks and less-expensive VoIP over WiFi.

UTStarcom's new GF200 cell phone, previewed here at CES, combines GSM and VoIP over WiFi. GSM is one of two main types of cell networks used in the U.S., while VoIP is Voice over IP or Internet telephony. The GF200 should become available in the second quarter of this year, although the company hasn't yet said how much the phone might cost.


WiFi VoIP phones aren't anything new. We previewed some early models in 2004. But those phones are more cordless phone replacements for home use than cell phone competitors, says Michael Tribolet, executive vice president of Vonage, because people probably don't want to carry two phones just to have both cell and VoIP access.

[Rasputin]

New Options for Editing, Sharing Video

LAS VEGAS-Working with video captured with a digital video camcorder can suck up incredible amounts of time, and once you're finally done with your edits, how do you share your movies distant friends and relatives? Several new options introduced at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas could make these tasks a little easier.

Share Video With Friends

StreamLoad's new MediaMax service offers online file storage, but because it imposes no limits on file size or quality, so it's ideal for video. Unlike peer-to-peer services like Avenu [link to story], which let you share video stored on your own system, you must upload movies to Streamload's servers to share them. That takes more time on your end (unless you have a broadband connection with a high upload speed), but people viewing your movies will be able to see them more quickly.

[Rasputin]

Two New Windows Metafile Bugs Found

Just days after Microsoft patched a critical vulnerability in the way the Windows operating system renders certain types of graphics files, a hacker has published details of two new flaws that affect the same part of the operating system.

The new vulnerabilities were posted to the Bugtraq security mailing list today by a hacker using the name "cocoruder."

All Three Affect WMF Format

All three flaws concern the way Windows renders images in the Windows Metafile (WMF) format used by some CAD (computer-aided design) applications, but these latest flaws are far less serious than the vulnerability that Microsoft patched last week, according to security experts. That vulnerability was serious enough to cause Microsoft to take the unusual step of releasing an early patch for the problem, ahead of its monthly security software update.

[Rasputin]

Google offers personal home page for mobile phones

SAN FRANCISCO- Web search leader Google Inc. on Thursday said it was now offering U.S. mobile phone users a personalized version of the Google home page tailored to work on most recently introduced mobile phones.

The Google Personalized Home page for mobile phones will allow consumers to conduct Web searches and check Gmail e-mail, news headlines, local weather reports or a list of stock prices -- all from one central page on their phones.

Google is racing with Internet rivals such as Yahoo, Microsoft, America Online and InfoSpace to extend the information services they already offer on computers to the browsers of mobile phones.

The Mountain View, California,-based company plans to offer the personalized Google home page for mobile phone users in international markets in the coming weeks and months, said Deep Nishar, Google's product manager for wireless services. Some international users may be able to use the service instantly.

[Rasputin]

Agencies probing sales of cellphone data

WASHINGTON- A U.S. Congressman said on Friday that federal agencies were looking into whether telephone companies were sufficiently protecting consumers' records amid concerns that Internet sites were selling cellphone call information.

Rep. Edward Markey (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat from Massachusetts, said the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) told him the agency was investigating whether phone companies were adequately protecting consumer records. He said in a statement "the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission were coordinating efforts to combat this rising fraud."

In November, Markey asked the FTC and the FCC to investigate what he said was a violation of private consumer information and to take steps to protect consumers.

The biggest U.S. mobile service, Cingular Wireless, owned by AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp., said late on Friday that it received a temporary restraining order against Data Find Solutions and 1st Source Information Specialists Inc.

[Rasputin]

Tokyo Edge: Video Disc Players, Big TVs, and Fast Phones

TOKYO-I've been writing about prototype high-definition video disc players for a long time, so it's great to finally be able to report that they're coming. At the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, three companies announced their first players along with prices. Two have even been specific about the month they'll be released, although we still don't know precise dates.

All three companies are Asian but, unlike most consumer electronics products from this region, it looks like the players will be going on sale first in the United States. Several high-definition movies were also announced at CES, so there's more than just price on which to base a decision whether to go with the HD-DVD or Blu-ray Disc format. That is, if you're going to rush out and buy a high-definition player at all. It's expected that many consumers will sit out the format battle and wait until one emerges victorious.

[Rasputin]

EBay plans instant-buying service

SAN FRANCISCO- EBay Inc. on Wednesday said it planned to offer an instant-purchase service to supplement its bid-and-wait online auctions, pitting the company directly against conventional e-commerce retailers.

Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, said in a memo to eBay users on Wednesday that the new service -- to be called eBay Express when launched this spring -- aims to broaden the range of products shoppers can expect to buy on eBay.

EBay also disclosed changes to the fees it charges in the United States for listing items on ebay.com, raising by 9 percent the percentage transaction fee that it charges on the value of goods between $25 and $975 in value. It said it would cut prices on low-priced items and other seller features.

A year ago, broad changes in pricing for eBay auctions provoked a rebellion among a vocal minority of sellers. But eBay officials stressed that last year's increases were steeper and that U.S. business growth had nonetheless accelerated.

[Rasputin]

Privacy experts condemn subpoena of Google

WASHINGTON- Right-to-privacy groups said on Friday an attempt by the Bush administration to force Google Inc. to turn over a broad range of materials from its databases set a dangerous precedent that should worry all Americans.

"This is the camel's nose under the tent for using search engines and all kinds of data aggregators as surveillance tools," said Jim Harper of the libertarian Cato Institute who also runs Privacilla.org, an Internet privacy database.

The Bush administration is already under fire from a number of rights groups over security measures it has taken since the September 11, 2001 attacks on America, including pursuing checks on library records and eavesdropping on some telephone calls.

In court papers filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, the Justice Department stated that Google had refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for one million random Web addresses from Google's databases as well as records of all searches entered on Google during any one-week period.