|
AP Technology NewsBrief at 4:26 p.m. EST
(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Recession to steal some glitz from gadget showThe International Consumer Electronics Show, the largest trade show in the U.S., opens this week in Las Vegas with a full slate of giant TVs and inventive gadgets, despite the pall of a recession hanging over the industry. The economic downturn will temper the normally dizzying extravaganza, and some attendees are wondering if the whole technology trade show business is past its peak.
Madoff victims selling memorabilia on eBayNEW YORK (AP) _ Did you get fleeced by Bernard Madoff? Or did you buy that Madoff Securities fleece jacket on eBay? Madoff, who was arrested last month after allegedly telling investigators he lost as much as $50 billion of investors' money in a giant Ponzi scheme, promoted his firm by putting its name on everything from T-shirts to beach towels, tote bags and umbrellas.
Digital TV subsidy program running out of moneyWASHINGTON (AP) _ The Feb. 17 transition from analog to digital television broadcasts looms and as many as 8 million households are still unprepared, but the government program that subsidizes crucial TV converter boxes is about to run out of money. People who still rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air signals _ whether it is through rabbit-ear aerials on TVs or antennas on the roof _ will see their screens go dark when the changeover happens. To avoid that, those people have to switch to cable or satellite TV, buy a television set with a digital tuner or buy a converter box that can translate digital signals from the airwaves into analog.
Wikipedia meets $6 million fundraising goalSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ The nonprofit foundation that runs Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia of user-contributed articles, said Friday it has met its $6 million fundraising goal for fiscal 2008. With about six months left in this year's campaign, the Wikimedia Foundation said it has raised $6.2 million. A flood of donations came in after the site's founder, Jimmy Wales, posted an appeal for support in late December.
Facebook nudity policy draws nursing moms' ireWeb-savvy moms who breast-feed are irate that social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace restrict photos of nursing babies. The disputes reveal how the sites' community policing techniques sometimes struggle to keep up with the booming number and diversity of their members. Facebook began as a site just for college kids, but now it is an online home for 140 million people from all over the world. Among the new faces of Facebook are women like Kelli Roman, 23, who last year posted a photo of herself nursing one of her two children.
Shhh! Gadget racket threatens pulsar researchGREEN BANK, W.Va. (AP) _ Of all the threats to scientific research Wesley Sizemore has stymied over the years, satellites and cell phone towers don't stick in his memory quite like the possessive old hound and its treasured heating pad. Sizemore is an interference hunter, vigilantly pursuing stray electromagnetic signals that bedevil researchers at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which sits on 13,000 square miles tucked away in the nation's only radio-free quiet zone.
Microsoft's Zune players freeze on New Year's EveSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Happy New Year from Microsoft Corp.: Your Zune is dead. Thousands of Microsoft's Zune media players _ the software company's answer to Apple Inc.'s iPod _ unexpectedly conked out Wednesday and showed users an error message, prompting references to "Y2K for Zunes." The problems appeared when people tried to start up their devices.
Chinese software pirates get prison sentencesSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ The alleged ringleaders of a Chinese counterfeiting gang that sold at least $2 billion worth of bogus Microsoft Corp. software were sentenced Wednesday to prison terms of up to 6 1/2 years, in what is believed to be the harshest penalties yet under China's tightened piracy laws. The punishments meted out against the 11 defendants, and announced by Microsoft Corp., could help China improve its image as a country that doesn't crack down hard enough on copyright violators, though the technology and entertainment industries still say China has a long way to go. The sentences ranged from 1 1/2 to 6 1/2 years, according to Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft.
No shoes? No problem for this college interviewRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ For her college interview, Avery Cullinan put on her best outfit but didn't bother with shoes. She sat in her living room, smiled into her computer's webcam and told an admissions officer more than 800 miles away that Wake Forest University was right for her. "It's hard to part with money for a half-hour interview," said Cullinan, who avoided a costly trip from her home in Newburyport, Mass., thanks to the pilot program at Wake Forest. She was later accepted to the Winston-Salem, N.C., school.
Review: Ditching car OK with Net transit plannersSEATTLE (AP) _ As a New Yorker, I don't own a car, and I really hate driving. So I challenged myself to avoid the driver's seat as much as possible during a recent West Coast trip, something made practical with all the online transit planners that have cropped up in recent years.
Copyright ? 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
INDUSTRIES
Activate Email 
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East, January 20-22, 2010. Miami, FL.
