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Latest by Geoff Duncan

Australian Court OKs PlayStation Mod

The High Court of Australia ruled today that modifying PlayStations so they can play overseas games doesn't violate Australian copyright.

AOL Buying Weblogs, Inc. for $25 Mln

AOL aims to further enhance its presence in the blogosphere by spending $25 million on Weblogs, Inc., a set of several dozen blog sites devotes to niche interests.

California Passes First Anti-Phishing Law

"The Governator" has signed California legislation which making it illegal to fraudulently solicit personal information over the Internet. Do you feel safer now?

Sprint Nextel Throws Patent Suit at Vonage

A subsidiary of Sprint Nextel has filed a patent lawsuit against Vonage, alleging the VOIP company has willfully infringed on seven Sprint Nextel patents.

New Blue Book Tracks Mobiles, Providers

Mobile Research's Mobile Device Blue Book lists current and recently discontinued mobile devices, along with features, services, and capabilities. And it'll be updated every month!

Motorola Lands Universal Music for iRadio

Mobile phone maker Motorola has signed a deal with Universal Music Group for its forthcoming iRadio mobile music service.

WSJ: Microsoft Ends Talks with Music Labels

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft has called off talks with the major music labels over a subscription music service. The sticking point? Money, of course!

Digital Music Triples in First Half of ’05

The IFPI reports digital music sales tripled to 6 percent of retail music revenue in the first half of 2005, nearly offsetting the market's overall decline.

AMD’s Low-Cost Net PC at Radio Shack

Radio Shack will be selling AMD-designed Personal Internet Communicators for $299, built using Windows CE and designed to provide Internet Access and basic computing.

Disney to Sell $50 Mix Sticks MP3 Players

The House of Mouse is taking on Apple this holiday season with its new $50 Mix Sticks digital music players aimed at kids.

Dell To Stop Free Home Delivery Oct 10

In a cost-cutting move, Dell will stop free home delivery of low-end computers on October 10; instead, customers have 10 days to pick up their systems at the post office.

Cingular Taps RealNetworks for Mobile Video

Cingular has announced it will use RealNetworks' Helix OnlineTV as the technology behind the mobile video service it plans to debut by the end of 2005.

Dell Aims New XPS Systems at Luxury Users

Famous for cost-cutting and commoditizing PCs, Dell's new XPS line goes the other way, offering high-performance, high-margin systems for luxury buyers.

Apple Confirms iPod nano Screen Problems

Responding customer complaints on its forums and online sites, Apple acknowledges a "vendor quality issue" with LCD screens on the otherwise well-received iPod nano.

EA Spills Its Forthcoming Mobile Game Line

Electronic Arts has revealed its mobile game lineup for late 2005 and early 2006, and it includes entries based on the FIFA Street, Def Jam, and SimCity franchises.

Toshiba to Ship HD DVD Drive in Early 2006

Toshiba, the world's number three portable computer maker and primogenitor of the HD DVD format, announced on Tuesday it would roll out HD DVD-capable PCs in Japan in early 2006.

Star Wars & Halo Games Coming to Mobiles

Ready to give your thumbs a workout? Mobile games based on "Star Wars: Battlefront" and Microsoft's "Halo" franchise are coming mobile phones.

Future Blackberries will have Intel Inside

Intel has announced that future Blackberry mobile email devices from Canada's Research in Motion (RIM) will be powered by Intel's "Hernon" processor.

Google Says (Index) Size Doesn’t Matter

Google, the widely-used Internet search portal, turned seven years old today, and, in doing so, removed the famous statistic about the size of its search index from its home page.

Online Ad Spending Up 26 Pct over 2004

A new study finds advertisers spent nearly $3 billion on online ads in the second quarter of 2005, and spent $5.8 billion during the first half of the year.

MTV to Put Warner Music Videos on Mobiles

MTV and Warner Music Group have announced a licensing deal which will let MTV use Warner videos to create programming for mobile networks worldwide.

AMD Reveals Three New Dual-Core Opterons

Chipmaker AMD took the wraps off three new dual-core Opteron processors today, and taunted Intel for not accepting AMD's offer of a public dual-core performance challenge.

Google Loves "Everybody Hates Chris" Pilot

In a first for a broadcast television network, Google video is streaming the pilot for the new UPN sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris" for four days.

Palm Treo 700 Phone Runs Windows Mobile

Palm, Inc. has teamed up with longtime rival Microsoft to develop the new Treo 700 smartphone running Windows Mobile 5, to be available from Verizon in early 2006.

"Decaf" GTA: San Andreas Available Oct 18

Take-Two Interactive has announced it will resume sales of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PlayStation 2 on October 18 - and it'll be rated "M," not "adults only."

Jeeves’ Services are No Longer Required

After paying a whopping $1.85 billion for Ask Jeeves, IAC's CEO Barry Diller says the debonair butler is a good man, but he's going to have to let him go.

Firefox 1.0.7 Fixes Security Glitches

A new release of the Firefox Web browser fixes two widely-reported security issues; good luck trying to download it!

Report Finds U.S. Broadband Adoption Slows

A new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project suggests adoption of broadband Internet in U.S. homes is reaching a plateau.

Cingular Plans Mobile Music for 2006

Leading U.S. wireless operator Cingular plans to launch a music download service for cell phones in 2006, at a cost "slightly higher" than iTunes.

Guide to Help Cyber-Dissidents Beat Censors

Reporters Without Borders has released a multilingual Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents, showing online journalists and bloggers how to avoid oppressive censorship.

Verizon’s FiOS TV Signs Disney, Woos Fox

Verizon has inked a long-term deal with Disney to provide programming for FiOS TV, the telephone carrier's newborn video subscription service; Fox might be next.

Masttones Puts South Asia on U.S. Cells

Big media's offerings for U.S. mobile phones can be annoyingly mono-cultural; now Masttones builds some bridges by offering Bhangra, Bollywood, and South Asian fare for U.S. cells.

Opera: Now Free with No Ads

Alternative Web browser Opera has abandoned its built-in advertising and commercial licensing and is now available for free, although a paid support option is still available.

Sprint Streaming Rhapsody to Cell Phones

Sprint customers can now subscribe to Real's Rhapsody service, streaming music, podcasts, videos, and "Beats N Breaks" to their cell phones.

A Third of U.S. Net Users Have Mobile DVDs?

A study claims that despite limited niche appeal, as many as 33 percent of the U.S. population comfortable with the Internet could have portable DVD players by the end of 2005.

Nintendo Planning Single-Handed Revolution

Nintendo surprised the industry at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show by unveiling a one-handed game controller you can wave like a sword and click like a remote.

Nokia to Take On BlackBerry

Mobile phone maker Nokia is entering the mobile email market with a service-and-server model, Nokia Business Center, aimed at corporations.

Xbox 360 to Release in U.S. November 22

Mark your calendars, set your alarms: Microsoft has announced it will release the Xbox 360 gaming console in the U.S. on November 22.