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20,568 articles from Sci-Tech Today

Starbucks Giving Away 50 Million Songs

Starbucks Corp. plans to give away 50 million free digital songs to customers in all of its domestic coffee houses to promote a new wireless iTunes music service that's about to debut in select markets. From Oct. 2 to Nov. 7, baristas in the company's more than 10,000 U.S. stores will hand out about 1.5 million "Song of the Day" cards each day. The cards can be redeemed at Apple Inc.'s online...

Dell To Sell PCs Through China Retailer

Dell Inc. announced a deal Monday to launch a retail presence in China by selling computers through the country's biggest chain of electronics stores as it struggles to capture a bigger share of the booming market. The deal extends Dell's strategy of expanding beyond its traditional Internet- and phone-based sales model into retail to cope with competition from Hewlett-Packard Co. and other...

Internet Debate Attracts 1.1 Million Viewers

An experimental online "mashup" -- a build-your-own Democratic presidential debate -- attracted more than 1 million viewers in the past 10 days, many of them young people drawn to the interactivity of the Internet. But the most popular participant was not a candidate. Comedian Bill Maher, who asked one of four questions posed to each of the eight candidates, attracted viewers 42 percent...


FRIDAY 21. SEPTEMBER 2007


Tech Startups Oppose Patent Reform

As debate over the Patent Reform Act of 2007 moves from the House, which passed a bill on September 7, to the Senate, small tech companies and individual inventors descended on senators to voice their opposition. The bill will "weaken the patent system," Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway scooter, told a Senate panel. "It will devalue patents. It will be a disincentive for people to invest in...

Security Researcher Warns of Adobe PDFs

Adobe PDF documents might compromise your PC, according to a security researcher. Petko Petkov, a "creative hacker" who has previously found that Windows Media Player can harbor malicious files and that there's a critical bug in the way the Firefox browser works with QuickTime, is now reporting problems with PDFs. Petkov said he has tested the issue with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and the...

Microsoft Office in the Crosshairs

September has not been a good month for Microsoft. The bad news began when the software giant's proposal for making its Open XML file format a new global standard was soundly rejected in the first round of voting at ISO, the International Organization for Standardization. Then the European Union's Court of First Instance issued a stern rebuke of the company's competitive practices even as it...

Wi-Fi and Cellular Merge in Nokia 6301

The worlds of cellular and Wi-Fi took another step toward becoming one virtual world on Thursday, when Nokia launched its dual-mode 6301 phone. The new handset offers what the company described as "seamless" handoffs between GSM cellular and Wi-Fi networks, through the use of unlicensed mobile access (UMA) technology. Nokia Senior Vice President Peter Ropke said that the 6301 offered the kind...

MTV Launches Social Networking Activism Site

Anybody who thinks innovation in the social networking realm is tapped out should think again. MTV is getting into the game with some big-name backers. Viacom's MTV joined forces with Case Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Goldhirsh Foundation, and MCJ Amelior Foundation to launch what could become a new movement in youth activism: Think.MTV.com. MTV is not new to activism. The...

Storm Warnings Issued Along Gulf Coast

Tropical storm warnings were posted Friday for parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast as a subtropical depression formed in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. At 11 a.m. EDT, the depression had top sustained winds of about 35 mph. The warning extended from Apalachicola, Fla., west to the mouth of the Mississippi River, including New Orleans, the National Hurricane Center said. Severe weather, including a...

New Light Shed on Indonesian Hobbit

Scientists, wringing their hands over the identity of the famed "hobbit" fossil, have found a new clue in the wrist. Since the discovery of the bones in Indonesia in 2003, researchers have wrangled over whether the find was an ancient human ancestor or simply a modern human suffering from a genetic disorder. Now, a study of the bones in the creature's left wrist lends weight to the human...

Meteorite Likely Caused Crater in Peru

Peruvian astronomers said Thursday that evidence shows a meteorite crashed near Lake Titicaca over the weekend, leaving an elliptical crater and magnetic rock fragments in an impact powerful enough to register on seismic charts. As other astronomers learned more details, they too said it appears likely that a legitimate meteorite hit Earth on Saturday -- an rare occurence. The Earth is...

Neptune's Antarctic 40-Year Summer

Scientists say that Neptune, one of the coldest planets in the solar system, has a surprising warm spot -- relatively speaking. An international team of astronomers has found that Neptune's south pole is warmer than other parts of the planet. Temperatures at its south pole are about 18 degrees warmer than elsewhere on the planet -- not much for a planet with an average temperature colder than...

First Cholera Case Confirmed in Baghdad

The World Health Organization confirmed on Thursday the first cholera case in Baghdad since 2003, raising fears the disease is spreading from the north of the country where it has struck more than 1,000 people. A 25-year-old woman from eastern Baghdad was found to have cholera after she turned up at a hospital with severe diarrhea, said Dr. Naeema al-Gasseer, the WHO's representative in Iraq....


THURSDAY 20. SEPTEMBER 2007


States Move Toward the Center on I.T.

West Virginia is part of a wave of states that are embracing data center and server consolidation in their government I.T. operations. It's replacing 85 e-mail servers that run a half-dozen different applications with four Exchange-based systems -- two for production, and two for backup. And that's just for starters. Kyle Schfer, West Virginia's chief technology officer, wants to extend the...

Ooma Offers Free Calling - For a Price

You can't argue with free, even if it costs $400. On Wednesday, VoIP startup Ooma started selling a $400 box, the Ooma Hub, that allows users to make free calls within the United States. After the initial outlay for the device, which must be connected to a broadband router, calls are free forever. "Ooma is the only company in the history of the telecom industry to offer you the opportunity to...

Toshiba Announces Cell-Based 'Stream Processor'

There's a new media processor on the block, and Toshiba thinks it's ready to knock your socks off. On Thursday, the company announced a high-performance stream processor called the SpursEngine, which uses cores from the Cell Broadband Engine. The Cell processor's best-known use to date is in Sony's PlayStation 3. On October 2, a prototype of the SpursEngine will be used in notebook PCs at...

Sony Delays PS3's Virtual World

It's another black eye for Sony. After closing its online music store in August, news comes that the entertainment giant is delaying the opening of its online community for the PlayStation 3. The online user community, known as "Home," will let PS3 owners create their own avatars and explore a real-time virtual community, as if they are playing a detailed 3D game for PS3. The free community...

Intel Targets Personal Mobile Internet

At the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) this week in San Francisco, Intel outlined a new road map that includes at least one big, new destination -- personal mobile Internet devices. "Mobile users have an insatiable appetite for and want even more mobility, connectivity, and a full Internet on their small devices," said Intel executive David Perlmutter in a statement. Intel aims to "satisfy those...

Analyst Says T-Mobile iDeal for iPhone

The iPhone's dance card in Europe is filling up this week. On Wednesday, Apple announced that T-Mobile would be the exclusive carrier for the much-publicized handset in Germany. Earlier in the week, the Cupertino, California-based company had said that O2 would be its phone company partner for the UK. France is the third country expected to be part of the initial launch, and observers expect...

NBC Sidesteps iTunes with Free TV Downloads

NBC is taking the gloves off in a blow-by-blow match against Apple's iTunes that has the digital media world on the edge of its seat. On Wednesday, the "Big Three" broadcaster announced plans to offer limited free downloads of some of its most popular television shows. Dubbed NBC Direct, the company's latest digital media initiative gives consumers access to programs such as "Heroes" and "The...

SAP Introduces Business by Design

After years of meticulous engineering, internal friction, and explanations to Wall Street about how it would justify the cost, German software giant SAP on Sept. 19 unveiled a product aimed at the smaller businesses it needs to attract for growth. SAP unveiled the software, called Business By Design, at a Sept. 19 press conference in New York featuring Chief Executive Henning Kagermann. In an...

Symantec CEO Urges Cookie Notification

The head of a leading security software vendor denounced the use of data files commonly used by Google Inc. and other Web sites to track user activity, saying such sites should seek permission ahead of time. John Thompson, chief executive of Symantec Corp. in Cupertino, Calif., said the files, known as cookies, "are just as much an invasion of privacy as someone peering in my bedroom window."...

CDC Says Ample Supply of Flu Vaccine

Come one, come all: After years of shortages and confusion, this fall promises plenty of flu vaccine to go around -- up to 132 million doses, more than the nation has ever produced. The ample supplies have the government urging vaccinations not just for people at highest risk of dying from influenza, but for anyone who wants to avoid a week of aching misery. "Flu is a formidable foe,"...

NASA Readies Gamma-Ray Telescope

A new NASA space telescope will give scientists a peek at some of the most energetic objects and events in the universe. The new Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope to be launched next spring doesn't see visible light like our eyes, but gamma rays, the most energetic photons in the electromagnetic spectrum. They are produced by black holes, supernovae, neutron stars and other phenomena....

House Passes New Drug Safety Bill

The Food and Drug Administration would gain new authority to ensure the safety of prescription drugs, including the power to mandate label changes that warn of newly emerging risks, under a bill passed Wednesday by the House. The bill, heralded as the most significant drug safety legislation in more than 40 years, passed on a 405-7 vote. The Senate was expected to pass the bill as early as...