Ian Paul

Rumors emerged earlier this week that Sony would begin offering a video download service for the Playstation 3 (PS3). The company is also reportedly in talks with the major studios and television networks, providing the third incarnation of the ... service after the abysmal failures of Movielink (sold to Blockbuster) and Sony Connect (recently discontinued). Has Sony already squandered its chances? Its main competitor, Microsoft's Xbox 360, already delivers movie and television shows with its Xbox Live service. Then there are the other set-top boxes such as Apple TV and Tivo. (Source: slashdot. ... (view more)

A program originally designed to block pirated videos on YouTube will now assist tracking child predators on the web. The technology, developed by Google, will help the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in reviewing 13 ... million images of abuse. (Source: reuters.com ) A key component of the new program has been described as "finger-printing technology". Google has been advocating the measure as a standard to combat web-based video piracy. "The program uses pattern recognition and will work even if the pattern has been modified," technology analyst Larry Magid told the ... (view more)

On April 5, Microsoft sent Yahoo an ultimatum to enter buyout negotiations or suffer a prolonged proxy contest for control. Less than 48 hours later, Microsoft received a response: sweeten the offer. Refuting Microsoft's claims that Yahoo was ... avoiding a takeover offer and that shareholders were interested in an agreement with Microsoft, CEO Jerry Yang wrote, "Contrary to statements in your letter, stockholders representing a significant portion of our outstanding shares have indicated to us that your proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo." (Source: shareholder.com ) However, Yang is not ... (view more)

On Monday, regulators released plans to allow in-flight cell phone use across all 27 nations in the European Union once a flight has reached an altitude of 10,000 feet. The service will be provided for Global System for Mobile communications ... (G.S.M.) handsets only, a standard that is used by 90% of wireless users in Europe. A device called 'On Air', created by Airbus, will be used to create a small cellular network on board an aircraft and then send signals via satellite to cell towers on the ground. (Source: nytimes.com ) Despite the government's good intentions, various problems remain or ... (view more)

Microsoft's CEO Steven Ballmer sent a strongly worded letter to Yahoo's Board of Directors on Saturday declaring his frustration over the lack of progress on his company's offer to acquire the Internet portal. On Jan. 31, Microsoft made an offer to ... purchase Yahoo with a mix of cash and stocks worth $44.6 billion, 62 percent above Yahoo's market value. Since that time, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang has been busy considering alternatives to save the company including partnerships with Google, News Corp, and AOL. (Source: businessweek.com ) However, no substantive agreements have resulted and Microsoft's ... (view more)

After weeks of speculation, MySpace announced on Thursday that it would launch a retail music store. In partnership with the three biggest record labels -- Universal, Warner and Sony BMG -- the social networking site will form a new company called ... MySpace Music. EMI, the smallest of the four music companies, has yet to sign on, but is expected to in the coming months. (Source: informationweek.com ) The new company, while a separate entity, will be fully integrated into the existing online platform providing users with ad-supported audio and video streams, DRM-free downloads, and ringtones. ... (view more)

Google displayed its sense of humor Tuesday, April 1st, and avid Goolge fans unwittingly went along for the ride. As bleary-eyed computer users around the world opened their Gmail accounts that morning, they were greeted with a hyperlink in red: ... 'New! Gmail Custom Time'. The link led to a page describing how users could now change the time stamp on 10 emails per year! The limit had been decided through a bizarre formula that took into account important factors such as 'Average Life Expectancy', 'Probability that users believe the time stamp' and something called the 'Golden Ratio'. (Source: ... (view more)

When Google emerged on the web it quickly overwhelmed competitors due to a simple page layout and superior search abilities. Since that time, various companies have tried to unseat the popular search engine, but with very little luck. Now two ... different companies are trying one approach: visual search. The first new service is called SpaceTime, a desktop application currently available only for PCs (though the company promises to deliver a Mac version shortly). SpaceTime is more 3-D browsing experience than search engine; however, its ability to search is what sets it apart from Firefox or ... (view more)

Canada seems to be gearing up for a fight between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Peer-to-Peer file sharing users just as companies in the United States are negotiating common ground. Last year we reported on Bell Canada's practice of torrent ... 'throttling' -- a bandwidth management strategy where users find their file sharing programs suffer significant slow downs or are cut off altogether during peak usage. Despite some minor disapproval, the company has been continuing the practice without serious uproar. However, that was before the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's recent decision ... (view more)

Comcast recently ended hostilities with users of peer-to-peer networks (P2P) last week by agreeing to work with BitTorrent. The agreement, launched hand-in-hand with the one of the inventors of the BitTorrent protocol, is meant to find solutions to ... bandwidth management issues. Comcast and BitTorrent intend to publish their findings so that other P2P's and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can adapt their solutions. Previously, the cable company had restricted heavy usage of P2P networks using a practice known as 'torrent throttling.' Customers would find their file sharing slow or stop ... (view more)