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Latest by Geoff Duncan

Orb V4S Adds Free Voice Messaging to Skype

Orb's new V4S enables Skype users to use their broadband-connected Windows machine to collect, hear, and manage voice messages via any Web browser or Internet-capable mobile phone.

Music Co.’s Subpoenaed Over Digital Prices

New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer has issued subpoenas to major music companies to investigate whether digital music services have illegally fixed prices.

CBS Streaming Two Sitcoms via Yahoo

CBS and Yahoo are streaming "Two and a Half Men" and "How I Met Your Mother" commercial-free for a week via Yahoo TV.

Nintendo DS Sales Top 5 Mln in Japan

Japanese sales of the Nintendo DS have topped 5 million units in Japan in less than 13 months, the fastest pace ever for a video game.

NetFlix Shrugs Off 2005 Blockbuster Assault

Remember when 2005 was supposed to be the year video rental titan Blockbuster squashed upstart NetFlix like a bug? Didn't quite work out that way.

Samsung May Sell NAND Flash to Sony

Samsung has said it is in talks with electronics giant Sony to sell NAND flash memory chips to the company, solidifying Samsung's dominance of the flash market.

Nokia Expects 3G Sales To Double in 2006

Mobile phone maker Nokia expects sales of 3G handsets to double during 2006 as mobile broadband availability and services become more widely available.

NBC To Take Over MSNBC Cable From Microsoft

NBC Universal says it's taking over operations of the MSNBC cable channel from Microsoft, with an option to buy out Microsoft's remaining shares in two years.

NEC Announces Yonah Laptop Plans

Funny how a company can fuel speculation while ostensibly providing information: NEC has revealed details of what might become the first Yonah-powered laptops to market.

Symantec Confirms Serious AV Security Flaw

Software developer Symantec Corporation has confirmed a high-risk buffer-overflow security vulnerability in its AntiVirus Library when scanning RAR archives.

Ratings Firm Nielsen to Measure DVR Usage

Nielsen Media Research says it will begin measuring usage of digital video recorders next week, offering three separate ratings per program and network.

Google Spends $1 Bln for 5 Pct Stake in AOL

Google has agreed to put $1 billion into America Online, shutting out Microsoft while granting AOL preferred access to Google advertising.

Google Zeitgeist for 2005

The reigning king of search engines has released its report on what we searched for in 2005. And their findings are less celebrity-obsessed than last year!

ABC Sends ‘Chief’ Episodes to iTunes

It's time for mid-season replacements! ABC is now offering commercial-free versions of "Commander In Chief" for digital download via Apple's iTunes Music Store.

California Trio Charged with Xbox Tampering

Three California men have been charged under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for modifying original Xbox consoles to circumvent copy protection and play pirated games.

FTC Says CAN-SPAM Helps Fight Spam

A new report issued by the FTC says 2003's CAN-SPAM act has helped in the fight against spam. (Um...sure.)

Lexar Jumps for Google

Lexar has announced its JumpDrive USB flash drives will ship with pre-loaded Google applications like Picasa, Google Toolbar, and Google Desktop Search.

Google Plans Graphic Ads on Search Results

Google's pending deal to buy a stake in AOL has apparently prompted the search engine company to accelerate plans to place graphical ads on its famously spartan search results pages

RIM Buoyed by USPTO Decisions, Court Delay

Beleaguered BlackBerry maker Research in Motion sees a silver lining in recent findings from the USPTO and a court delay which gives the company another month to breathe.

Blizzard: 5 Mln Play World of Warcraft

Blizzard Entertainment says its massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft has surpassed 5 million players worldwide.

Hauppauge Wing Puts Video on iPods, PSPs

Hauppauge Computer Works has announced Wing, a $24.99 add-on to the company's WinTV-PVR products which lets users record TV for playback on video iPods or the Sony PSP.

ReplayTV to Make PC DVR Software for 2006

DVR maker ReplayTV has announced a partnership with Hauppauge to bundle DVR software with Hauppauge's WinTV-PVR TV tuners in 2006.

eBay Admits Growing Fraud Problems

Even as eBay touts celebrities using its service this holiday season, the company is facing growing online fraud and complaints of foot-dragging.

DirecTV to Carry Live Music Broadcasts

DirecTV has inked a deal with Network Live to bring carry two live music programming series beginning in March 2006.

GMail Comes to Mobiles

Increasing its push into mobile applications, Google has built a version of its Gmail email service for U.S. mobile phone users.

Lyrics, Celebs, Games Top 2005 Searches

Meta-search engine Dogpile has released its tallies of top search terms for 2005: music, Internet sites, games, celebs come out on top, but the runners-up are surprising.

U.S. Govt Web Better than the Real Thing

A survey from the University of Michigan finds satisfaction with U.S. government Web sites is higher than satisfaction with the overall federal government.

Quanta to Make $100 OLPC Laptop

MIT's $100 OLPC laptop will be built by Taiwan's Quanta, which hopes to begin filling orders for as many as 15 million units by the end of 2006.

AT&T Starts Private Net Security Webcast

The reincarnated AT&T has launched a private 24/7 news Webcast featuring critical Internet security news.

Online Video Ad Spending to Triple by 2007

land's Research and Markets projects spending for Internet video advertising will nearly triple from $225 million today to $650 million in 2007.

Toshiba Delays HD DVD Launch in Japan

Electronics maker Toshiba says it's delaying the planned end-of-year launch of HD DVD players in Japan to address copy-protection issues.

Microsoft, MCI Launch Net-to-Phone Calling

Microsoft and MCI are launching computer-to-phone calling for Windows Live Messenger, offering cheap voice calling and pre-paid calling time.

DirecTV Settles for $5 Mln Plus Refunds

DirecTV has settled a multi-state investigation into its advertising and marketing practices for $5 million, plus refunds to thousands of customers.

Sprint to Offer Full-Length Mobile Movies

From the big screen to the (very) small screen: Sprint Nextel is expected to announce plans to beam full-length movies to mobile phones.

Yahoo to Offer $.01/min U.S. Voice Calling

Yahoo says a new version of Yahoo Messenger will sport a "Phone Out" feature which will enable users to place $.01/min voice calls to the U.S.

GAO Survey Finds 1 in 20 Domains Bogus

A survey by the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds 5 percent of .net, .org, and .com domain registrations are clearly fraudulent.

iSkin eVo 3 Silicone Skins Fit Video iPods

iSkin's eVo3 silicone skins offer scratch, impact, and moisture protection for Apple's video iPods.

Creative Zen Vision:M Takes on Video iPod

Creative's 30 GB answer to the video iPod can store up to 120 hours of video, play music, plus features an FM tuner, built-in mic, and a reported 14-hour battery life.