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Who would have thought of a cell phone that could double as health monitor and inspirational trainer? Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc., that's who.So what all does a cell phone/fitness trainer do for you?It's probably a shorter list of things it won't do for you:“The sensor can tell whether you're walking, running, climbing stairs, or resting,...
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Global warming is a big issue. Well, at least to many it is. Nissan wants to use auto navigation systems to keep traffic moving around snarl-ups, reducing carbon emissions and increasing MPG in the process.The Japanese automaker has launched a major effort to better exploit navigation systems--which are essentially on-board computers--and...
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It is tough enough to get tickets for a top-flight concert under normal circumstances, but when some people are using bots to cut in line, should that practice be made illegal?IAC/InterActiveCorp's Ticketmaster earlier this year filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against RMG Technologies Inc., a small Pittsburgh-based...
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The wi-fi coverage plans that several U.S. cities have been entertaining have taken hits of late with the woes of Earthlink. Meanwhile, in the U.K., a partnership between BT Group and FON has opened up a huge number of additional hotspots in that country. Now McDonald's has announced plans to add themselves to the mix.Fast food chain McDonald's...
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British Telecom and Fon, a Spanish tech firm backed by Google, are attempting to persuade British households to open up their Wi-Fi connections so that others can use them.The question is: why?The answer is actually not as surprising as the one we were hoping for:“They are hoping it will push wireless broadband access, or wi-fi, into suburban...
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YouTube users are starting to gripe about spam being sent over the messaging system. Considering that Google owns YouTube, and has had a working spam filter for their own e-mail service, G-Mail, it makes one wonder why the software hasn't been adapted to work on YouTube.After all, a message is a message, and most of the techniques for...
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Being on the bleeding edge has its pluses and minuses. You get to sample the latest stuff first, but if that same technology advances and it doesn't take your older hardware into account, you may end up with a brick. There was thus some trepidation over the latest wave of features being added to 20th Century-Fox's latest Blu-Ray...
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What do you get when you tell Hitachi engineers that they need to come up with a ridiculously large amount of storage on a single Blu-Ray disc?If your answer was a four layer disc that can hold up to 100GB of data, then you might want to look into a future as a fortune teller or psychic.But what about the player? Do consumers need to...
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There have been plenty of recalls and stories about laptop and cell phone batteries (think Sony --- ouch, and Nokia, recently) either overheating or igniting, but we've never heard of an MP3 player doing this before.Danny Williams says his 1 1/2 year old iPod nano caught fire in his pocket. A local TV station caught the news, and posted a...
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Rumor and speculation is always fun to play around with. We've seen plenty of rumors come and go in the graphics arena, many of them almost completely inaccurate and unfounded. However, when an Senior VP speaks about something in public, sort of like EF Hutton, folks key in a bit. So is this rumor or a strategic leak? ...
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Apple is gathering the faithful for a shindig that is rumored to be going down the last week of this month. It seems quite likely that this will be a launch event for Leopard, but could Apple have other product announcements up their sleeve?Still, we expect the big news to be about Leopard. Why? It's all about the timing...
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During a summit with South Korean's president the reclusive leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong Il, described himself as an Internet Expert. While the comment alone is certainly one of those things that will likely live on as a running joke after being taken out of context. A certain Al Gore comment comes to mind.So what was the context?“The...
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The case against Jammie Thomas of Minnesota is (still) over, and the restitution is still $222,000. For somebody making $36,000 a year, that might seem excessive, so what is she planning on doing to pay this off?She's made the following statement:"I'm not going to ask for financial help," she told The Associated Press on Friday. But...
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Not only is Google a young, vibrant company, apparently so are its employees, and they tend to look askance at their elders.A tech industry legend who claims Google fired him because he was too old to fit into the company "culture" has just won another shot at making his case in court.A California state appeals court in San Jose on Thursday...
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Confirming an earlier report, Microsoft today said that the creators of the uber-hit "Halo 3," Bungie, will become independent.Microsoft said it will retain a stake in the new company and will continue to publish future "Halo" games and other titles, although Bungie indicated it could also make titles for gaming devices other than Microsoft's...
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In early August Microsoft released a pair of performance and compatibility updates. Now they’ve released four (yes, four) more updates as we await Windows Vista SP1.The first, KB941649, addresses “the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista.” This type of vague description always makes me feel warm and fuzzy about an OS’s...
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Microsoft and Toshiba today announced the formation of a consortium to hype advanced HD DVD interactive technology. They mentioned "interactivity and interoperability" and said they'd "maximize consumer satisfaction," among other things. Long story short: They want to sell you things while you're watching movies. Major Hollywood...
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According to Dave Cullinane, Chief Information Officer and Security Officer for eBay, online badguys are becoming more organized and sophisticated, and some development of malicious code is being funded and directed in advance like any normal project would be. And according to eBay's analysis of its online security situation, the vast...
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Microsoft has removed the requirement for WGA validation when downloading Internet Explorer 7, meaning users of pirated copies of Windows XP can now experience tabbed browsing Microsoft-style. "IE7 was released to the public nearly a year ago, but has yet to overtake its predecessor as the most used Web browser. The removal of the WGA requirement...
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If you've been waiting for SP1 to be released before giving Vista a try, Microsoft says don't bother. There's not going to be too many new features for the home user, but many of the new features are going to be targeted at the large organizations. Perhaps the same organizations that made public comments about why they wouldn't...
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The Minnesota file-sharing case that we've been reporting on is now over, and the RIAA has won. Perhaps that's not the end of the story, however, as the odd & contradictory statements from the defendant were perhaps topped by some made by a music industry rep.One of the experts called to testify in the trial was none other than Sony...
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The RIAA has prevailed in its suit against a Minnesota woman, who they accused of uploading 1700 music files, for copyright infringement. The jury of twelve awarded the plaintiffs a whopping $222,000 dollars.The verdict, coming after two days of testimony and about five hours of deliberations, was a mixed victory for the RIAA, which has brought...
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