Digital Trends
The Register has looked at a number of reports and rumors that together seem to hint at the possibility of Apple releasing a 4GB model of the iPhone next week at its Worldwide Developers Conference.
The first comes from Endgadget, which has a supposed leak from the PCS Type Review Certification Board, the group certifying GSM handsets, saying it has approved iPhones of 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities.
Microsoft is getting pro-active with plans to get people using its new browser, Internet Explorer 8, according to CNET. Starting next week, Windows users who have the automatic update feature turned on will be pushed to download IE8. A company representative said:
"Starting on or about the third week of April, users still running IE6 or IE7 on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server 2008 will get will get a notification through Automatic Update about IE8."
However, you can rest easy on one thing – it won’t be automatically installed. Users will have to opt in for installation, or can request a reminder for later. Businesses can block the download.
Last week Independent Security Evaluators announced a flaw in Google’s Android Web browser system that could possibly allow a hacker to access information the WebKit browser might use. However, they didn’t release details of the exploit in order to give Google a chance to patch the flaw.
Google has now done that, according to Information Week. Some users of the T-Mobile G1 phone were informed over the weekend that an update was available, and all users should have it soon.
In a sign of just how important fixed-price sales have become to the auction site, Information Week reports that eBay has reduced the seller fees for “But It Now” items to just 35 cents per item – that’s a possible reduction of 91%, as fees previously ranged from 35 cents to $4.
More than that, if a seller has multiple copies of an item, they can all be listed for just the one fee, and listing times have been extended from a week to a month, meaning sellers don’t have to renew and pay fees so regularly.
Media outlets have speculated about Grand Theft Auto IV’s spectacular first-week performance since before it even occurred, but Take-Two finally took the lid off its own data on Wednesday to reveal hard numbers. The results: GTA IV demolished not just video game but entertainment records for day one and week one sales by dollar value.
Take-Two claims it sold 3.6 million copies of the game within just one day, or roughly 41 games sold every second for 24 hours. That comes out to about $310 million in sales in one day, a monolithic number unsurpassed by any other entertainment medium. By contrast, Halo 3, the last must-have game to set records, chalked up $170 million in first-day sales, and the current opening-day king of movies, Spider-Man 3, brought in only $59.8 million on its opening day.
VH1 today announced that they’d added four new video podcasts to their line up of “multiplatform programmingâ€. These podcasts join a program the music service began last fall in conjunction with their “Hip Hop Honors†event.
The new video podcasts are, according to a VH1 press release:
“According to an international cover story in the April 25th edition of Business Week, the cell phone carriers, along with Cingular/ATT, have very different perspectives on how digital music stores should work and are expected to charge between $2 and $3 for wireless music downloads when they introduce their services.
“They figure they can charge a premium for the convenience of getting songs anytime, even though customers most likely won’t be able to listen to those songs anywhere but on their phones, at least initially,” wrote Business Week’s Roger Crockett. He cites a source close to Apple who says wireless operators are “simply being unrealistic” if they expect customers to pay $2 or $3 for a song, especially with restrictions.”
“Speaking at a media event this week, Sony VP Nishida gave the first firm impression of when consumers can expect to see Cell microprocessors in products other than the PlayStation 3, which is expected to roll out in 2006.
The powerful microprocessor, which has been designed specifically to handle media processing, will come into its own in next-generation home media products which need to process multiple streams of HD video at once, he explained, according to an EE Times report on the event.”
Read more at Gamesindustry.biz
“Within less than a week of launching in the US on November 21st, more than half a million DS units had been sold, Nintendo said today, leading to stock shortages around the country as 90 per cent of the launch allocation was snapped up by eager fans.
It took just four days to achieve the same level of sales in Japan, where the unit launched on December 2nd.”
Nintendo thinks they will be able to sell 2.8 million units total by the end of the year.
Read more at Gamesindustry.biz
“The world’s largest video rental company will still have due dates for their rental products — one week for games and two days or one week for movies, depending on whether it’s a newrelease.
But customers will be given a one-week grace period after that to return the product. After that grace period ends, the chain will automatically sell them the product, less the rental fee. If the customers don’t want to purchase the movie or game, they can return the product within 30 days for a credit, less a restocking fee. “
Read more at CNN
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