iTunes 10: New Icon & Ping Music Social Network [Update]

Apple announced iTunes 10 Wednesday during its annual Fall media event. The new version of the company’s media management and playback software (and online music, video, and application store) gets an updated icon for the first time, and the company added a new social networking platform called Ping, as well.During the media event, Apple CEO…

Otellini: Jobs Happy with Intel’s Infineon Purchase

“The industry was abuzz that this business unit was on the market, and there were a number of competing companies for it,” Mr. Otellini said. “I think [Apple was] very happy that Intel won the bid.”Infineon builds 3G wireless chips, and Apple has been among the company’s clients. According to Intel, the Infineon Wireless Solutions…

HP Settles US Fraud Investigation for $55 Million

“Contractors must deal fairly with the government when doing business with federal agencies,” commented Department of Justice Civil Division assistant attorney general Tony West. “As this case demonstrates, we will take action against those who seek to taint the government procurement process with illegal kickbacks.”HP’s settlement was part of a larger DOJ investigation into companies…

AMD Drops ATI Name from Video Cards

ATI’s product lines will continue with the same names, according to The Tech Report, but with an AMD label. The company also has plans to roll out new products that include its own microprocessors bundled with Radeon graphics tech on a single chip.AMD plans to release Radeon and FirePro products later this year that don’t…

Back to School Edition

The source of the strobe was not Devine in nature, nor was Donna Summer mutely sympathizing with bad girls. The light came from a school bus that happened to be loitering outside my home. School is now in session here in Central Florida, and as I made my way to work (TMO Towers South) through…

Microsoft Co-founder Hits Apple, Others with Patent Suit

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Interval Research Corporation, a company that Mr. Allen co-founded in 1992 with David Liddle, by Interval Licensing. Interval Research closed its doors in 2000, but its patents are apparently still alive and kicking, and under the watchful care of Mr. Allen’s Interval Licensing.Along with Apple, Google, Facebook, Office…

Reverb Strikes FTC Deal Over Bogus iTunes Reviews

As part of the deal with the FTC, Reverb agreed to pull all of the reviews it posted to stack its clients App Store ratings, and also agreed to include proper disclosure in its client promotional efforts, according to the New York Times. The company isn’t, however, being hit with any fines or penalties.“It became…

Amazon: New Kindle Most Popular Ever; Don’t Ask How Many

“Kindle is the best-selling product on Amazon.com for two years running and our new generation Kindles are continuing that momentum,” Steven Kessel, senior vice president, Amazon Kindle, said in a statement. The Kindle is Amazon’s own ebook reader, a dedicated device for reading ebooks, newspapers, and magazines. Many see the Kindle as being in competition…

Apple Bows Out of O2’s “Green” Phone Rankings

O2 gave phone makers a list of 63 questions that it used to rank products on a scale of one to five. The questions covered the ecological impact of the device’s raw materials, how long the devices will likely last, energy efficiency, and ease of reuse or recycling.The environmental activist group Greenpeace took the opportunity…

HTC Files Answer in Apple Patent Lawsuit

The patents Apple claims HTC is infringing on relate to the iPhone interface, the device’s hardware, display technology and the underlying architecture.In its answer, HTC asserts that Apple’s infringement claims are invalid “for failure to comply with one or more of the conditions for patentability set forth in Title 35 of the United States Code,…

Porn Industry Successfully Commercializes iPhone’s FaceTime

“The happy client from the United States ordered a ten minute show with Brees Kelly but was satiated enough to hang up after just over five minutes,” the company said in a statement. FaceTime is the video call platform Apple announced with iPhone 4 that allows users to speak face-to-face with the iPhone 4’s front-facing…

Apple Manager Loaded Shoeboxes with $150K in Kickback Scheme

“He had over $150,000 stored in shoe boxes,” Department of Justice Attorney Michelle Kane said in court. “We have identified a significant number of accounts overseas and a significant amount of money.”Ms. Kane made the revelation during a hearing to decide Mr. Devine’s bail. Ultimately the court ordered Mr. Devine to transfer an undiscloded amount…

L5 Remote is the Best (So Far)

The L5 Remote from L5 Technology is the fourth* in a series of universal remote control hardware/app combinations I’m reviewing. Like the first three I tested, it can control most of your electronic entertainment devices — televisions, AV receivers, cable boxes, and such — as long as they use an infrared remote control. Compatible with…

Dropbox, TouchCalc, powerOne Calculator and More

Wireless document syncing, for example. Why don’t we have it? In fact, why don’t we have wireless everything syncing? Apple manages to sync my contacts, email, and even my browser bookmarks, so what is so hard about documents? I’ve been using Pages to write my articles on my iPad. I enjoy Pages as a word…

Mobile Flash a Lesson in Disappointment

Flash Player 10.1 comes pre-installed on the Droid 2, a new smartphone that runs Google’s Android 2.2 operating system, marking the first time what Adobe is calling a full-featured Flash Player for mobile devices is not only available, but is also ready to go without any downloads out of the box.Thanks to the Adobe Flash…

Intel Snatches McAfee for $7.68 Billion

“Today’s security approach does not fully address the billions of new Internet-ready devices connecting, including mobile and wireless devices, TVs, cars, medical devices and ATM machines as well as the accompanying surge in cyber threats,” Intel said in a statement. “Providing protection to a diverse online world requires a fundamentally new approach involving software, hardware…

RIAA Wants Radios in Portable Electronics

While record labels, radio broadcasters and the National Association of Broadcasters are on board with the idea, the Consumer Electronics Association thinks the proposal is a bad idea and said that it isn’t “in our national interest.”musicFIRST, which includes the RIAA as a member, sees the forced inclusion of FM receiver chips in electronic devices…

Kaedar Electronics Suspends Chief Over Apple Kickbacks

Despite her suspension, Pegatron executives claim the Kaedar manager wasn’t aware the money was part of a bribe. “She believed that she had paid the money for commercial purposes and not for kickbacks,” commented Pegatron finance director, Jonathan Chang.Pegatron is currently conducting an investigation to determine whether or not the Kaedar manager thought the payments…

NCSoft Releases Going Rogue Expansion for City of Heroes

This new system includes the introduction of two new in-between alignments, Rogue for Villains and Vigilante for Heroes. Players can undergo a series of missions where their moral choices take them down the path to the other side. Once the hit the midway Other major changes include a merger of the Villain (Red Side) Black…

Apple Supplier Admits to Paying Brokerage Fees; Could Relate to Bribes

A spokesperson for Pegatron acknowledged that Kaedar had made payments to the intermediary companies, but declined to say how much. Paul Shen Devine is accused of having accepted more than one million dollars over the course of a few years in exchange for giving advanced product information to potential suppliers. He pleaded not guilty to…

Apple Manager Charged with Taking Bribes Pleads Not Guilty

Bloomberg reported that federal prosecutor Michelle Kane asked the courts not to allow Mr. Devine to be released on bail, arguing that the former Apple employee was a risk flight. A bail hearing has been set for Wednesday, August 18th. The story of Mr. Devine’s arrest broke over the weekend, with Apple claiming that he…

Apple Hires Near Field Communication Expert

According to Mr. Vigier’s LinkedIn profile, he served as mFoundry’s mobile wallet, payment and NFC product manager up until July where he was responsible for Paypal Mobile, Starbucks Card Mobile and Sprint’s MyMoneyManager. He has also managed NFC solutions and embeded technologies at SanDisk and Bouygues Telecom.Assuming Apple uses Mr. Vigier’s skills to add NFC…

Apple Supply Manager Arrested on Kickback Charges

Andrew Ang of Singapore was named as a co-conspirator in the case, too. A federal Grand Jury indicted the two on 23 counts that include wire fraud and money laundering.Apparently Mr. Devine had under the table deals going with parts suppliers in several countries such as China, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.Apple doesn’t seem overly…

Wireless Micro Traveler 900LS Mouse - Designed For Notebooks

The new Genius 2.4 GHz Wireless Micro Traveler 900LS mouse is so easy to use it does everything except open the package for you, and even that is easy to do. I’m not kidding. You can actually get into this blister pack without the aid of scissors, knives, or chainsaws. Kudos to Genius for this…