Technology News

Google Friend Connect Hooks up with Twitter

Source: PC Magazine
December 17, 2008

Can't get enough of Twitter? The micro-blogging site will now be integrated with Google Friend Connect. “This means that when you join a friend connected site, you can choose to use your Twitter profile, discover people you follow on Twitter who are also members of the site, and quickly tweet that you have found a cool Web site," Mussie Shore, a Google product manager, wrote in a Monday blog post. To tweet about a site you've joined, click the “invite" ...

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Reuters Poll: 2009 Mobile Phone Market to Shrink

Source: PC Magazine
December 17, 2008

Mobile phones sales will shrink next year at their fastest pace ever as consumers cut spending, a Reuters poll showed, with analysts increasingly concerned about unsold phones piling up in stores. On average, the poll of 36 analysts shows global market volumes shrinking 6.6 percent next year and 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter—traditionally the strongest period for the industry due to holiday sales. In a similar poll in early November analysts on average forecast the market to rise 2.6 ...

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Band-in-a-Box 2009 for Windows and 101 New Realtracks

Source: All About Jazz
December 17, 2008

Victoria, December 12, 2008 PG Music Inc. has released version 2009 of its popular, award-winning Band-in-a-Box intelligent music accompaniment software for Windows. In announcing the release of Band-in-a-Box 2009, program author and creator Peter Gannon said, We are excited to offer this new version of Band-in-a-Box with 101 new RealTracks, a new MIDI Styles Set; and over 40 new features and enhancements like RealCharts (allowing you to see notation for the RealTracks), Audio Chord Wizard (figuring out the chords from ...

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Google Wants 'Fast Lane' for Its Own Content

Source: PC Magazine
December 16, 2008

Google Inc has approached Internet carriers with a proposal to create a “fast lane" for its own content, countering its previously stance of equal network access for all content providers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. One major cable operator in talks with Google said it has been reluctant to forge a deal because of concerns it might violate Federal Communications Commission guidelines on network neutrality, the newspaper said in its electronic edition. Cable and phone companies that operate ...

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Top 5 Disruptive Music-Making Technologies

Source: All About Jazz
December 16, 2008

These music creation technologies are disrupting the normal ways in which music has been made in the past.

Ever since a caveman first clacked two stones together, musicians have relied on instruments Bobby McFerrin and that guy from Police Academy notwithstanding.

1. The iPhone

When I first saw the first MP3 player, ten years ago this month, I expected that portable music players would evolve a great deal in the coming decade. But other than ...

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Virgin Rolls out 50 Mbits/S Broadband in U.K.

Source: PC Magazine
December 16, 2008

Cable operator Virgin Media became the first Internet provider to roll out a mass-market super-fast broadband service in Britain on Monday, launching a 50 megabits per second offering. The average broadband speed in Britain is between 4 and 5 MB. Virgin said the new service, which had been heavily trailed, would be almost nine times the average headline UK speed and cost 51 pounds ($76.73) per month on a standalone basis, or 35 pounds a month when taken with an ...

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Free Wireless Broadband on Hold, for Now

Source: PC Magazine
December 16, 2008

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said on Saturday it was canceling a December 18 meeting in response to a request by Democratic lawmakers that it pay more attention to a smooth transition to digital television early next year. Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Rep. Henry Waxman of California wrote FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on Friday asking him to hold off on other FCC business to focus on the mandatory switch to digital television signals due in February. In ...

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Updated: Harvard Law Rides to Rescue of Parents Whose Son Shared 7 Songs on Kazaa

Source: HypeBot
December 16, 2008

POST-TRIAL UPDATE  FROM THE STUDENTS:  “Today's hearing was just rescheduled for Jan 6 due to pro hac vice issues.  So basically, the hearing was rescheduled because Professor Charles Nesson is not admitted to argue in a RI court, further underscoring the injustice caused by the powerful Goliath infrastructure behind the RIAA against the small David defendants."“Also, the Judge denied a motion they made to prohibit any activity on Joel's parent's computer until Jan 6.  After all, they haven't ...

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