346277
submission
Nrbelex writes:
The New York Times is reporting that "Microsoft has won a high-profile technology industry battle with Google and Yahoo to invest in the social networking upstart Facebook. Microsoft will invest $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in the company, said Adam Sohn, a director in Microsoft's online services group. The investment values the three-year-old Facebook, which will bring in about $150 million in revenue this year, at $15 billion. "
314519
submission
Bob Wehadababyitsabo writes:
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog writes about a fascinating medical case involving a jogger, his iPod, and a thunderstorm. "[...] witnesses said the poor guy was thrown eight feet by the electrical discharge. Both his eardrums were ruptured, and his jaw was broken. The first letter [to the New England Journal of Medicine], by doctors who treated the man at the hospital, argued that 'the combination of sweat and metal earphones directed the current to, and through, the patient's head.'" However, a letter in NEJM's Thursday issue disputes the original findings, instead suggesting the iPod earbuds served as a lighting rod, directing electricity away from the patients ears and head and toward his torso. The verdict from the second letter? "A final note on jogging in thunderstorms: much of the very interesting debate that has followed the publication of this case report would perhaps be unnecessary if common sense were as ubiquitous as the iPod."
283057
submission
Nrbelex writes:
Stuart S. P. Parkin, an I.B.M. research fellow largely unknown outside a small fraternity of physicists, thinks he is poised to bring about a breakthrough that could increase the amount of data stored on a chip or a hard drive by a factor of a hundred. If he proves successful in his quest, he will create a "universal" computer memory, one that can potentially replace dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, and flash memory chips, and even make a "disk drive on a chip" possible. It could begin to replace flash memory in three to five years, scientists say.
239311
submission
Nrbelex writes:
The Federal Communications Commission moved cautiously Tuesday toward creating a more open national wireless broadband network , handing a partial victory to Google, which was pushing for more competition in cellphone services. The agency approved rules for an auction of broadcast spectrum that its chairman, Kevin J. Martin, said would promote new consumer services. The rules will let customers use any phone and software they want on networks using about one-third of the spectrum to be auctioned.
228177
submission
Nrbelex writes:
The Associated Press (via the New York Times) is reporting that "Google said today that it would bid at least $4.6 billion on wireless airwaves being auctioned off by the federal government — if certain conditions are met. The Internet search company wants the Federal Communications Commission to mandate that any winners lease a certain portion of the airwaves to other companies seeking to offer high-speed Internet and other services. Such a provision, Google argues, will give consumers — who traditionally get high-speed Internet access via cable or telephone lines — a third option for service."
211577
submission
Nrbelex writes:
Bloomberg News via the New York Times is reporting that Google has purchased GrandCentral. 'Google said yesterday that it had bought GrandCentral Communications, acquiring a service that lets people use a single number for all their phones.... GrandCentral users can.. create a single mailbox, accessible over the Internet, for all their phone messages, Google said on its Web site.... GrandCentral, based in Fremont, Calif., was founded in 2005 by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet, two executives who worked for Dialpad Communications, a Web phone company that was acquired by Yahoo in 2005.'
191717
submission
Nrbelex writes:
The New York Times is reporting that the Bush administration has repeatedly defended Microsoft against charges of anticompetitive conduct, including a recent complaint by Google. 'Nearly a decade after the government began its landmark effort to break up Microsoft, the Bush administration has sharply changed course by repeatedly defending the company both in the United States and abroad against accusations of anticompetitive conduct, including the recent rejection of a complaint by Google.'
188933
submission
Nrbelex writes:
The New York Times is reporting that 'In a surprising advance that sidesteps the ethical debates surrounding stem cell biology, researchers have come much closer to a major goal of regenerative medicine, the conversion of a patient's cells into specialized tissues that might replace those lost to disease.
The advance is an easy-to-use technique for reprogramming a skin cell of a mouse back to the embryonic state. Embryonic cells can be induced in the laboratory to develop into many of the body's major tissues.'
135071
submission
Nrbelex writes:
The New York Times is reporting that 'Google will begin selling advertisements across all of the stations of Clear Channel Communications, the No. 1 radio station owner in the United States, at the end of June, the companies will announce today. Google has been working for months to expand its ad sales operation into traditional media like newspapers, radio and television.'
87308
submission
Disoriented writes:
Steve's thoughts on iTunes, the music industry, and DRM. From the article:
Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.
