IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (Digital Trends) 19/09/2009

Halo 3: ODST ??

Microsoft CEO Ballmer's Salary Up 4 Percent in '09

Microsoft Corp. says it raised CEO Steve Ballmer's salary by 4 percent in fiscal 2009 as the software maker's profit plunged 17 percent on weak personal computer sales. Ballmer's salary rose to $665,883 from $640,833, according to a preliminary filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The CEO's bonus was $700,000 last year. Microsoft didn't disclose Ballmer's bonus for fiscal 2009. In an uncommon move, the company's board proposed a "say-on-pay" measure that would give shareholders a chance to weigh in every three years on executive compensation. Microsoft's 2009 earnings fell to $14.6 billion from $17.7 billion in 2008. Sales dropped 3 percent to $58.4 billion, the first time i

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Bargains Can Be Found on Home Auction Web Sites

Sounds simple, but the difference between landing a bargain and overpaying for a property isn't quite that cut and dry. Often it comes down to how well a buyer vets a property before the auction and how they manage their bidding in the final hours of the sale. And some auction Web sites have features that make this easier to do. Some sites give users a wealth of property details, easy access to sellers and tools for managing the bidding process. Others less so, which places more of a burden on users to do their homework or risk getting a raw deal. Still, with foreclosures continuing to rise, home auctions are increasingly drawing interest from homebuyers who traditionally ceded that approach to professional investors. So

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Skype Founders File Suit Against Skype Buyer

The founders of Internet phone service Skype have filed another lawsuit that may put a wrench in eBay Inc.'s plan to sell Skype for $2 billion to a private investor group. In a lawsuit filed Friday in a Delaware state court, Joost N.V. and Joltid Ltd. sued former Joost CEO Mike Volpi, alleging he breached his legal duty to Joost by using confidential information to form a deal with eBay to buy the majority of Skype. Volpi is a former Skype board member and partner at Index Ventures, part of a group of private investors buying Skype. He stepped down as Joost CEO in July, but remained its chairman until just after eBay announced in early September that it would sell Skype. Joost and Joltid were founded by Skype foun

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Toshiba Cranks 2.5-inch HDDs to 7,200 RPM and 500 GB

Folks like gamers and serious power users who try to wring every last bit of performance from notebooks know that hard disk drives are often a week link in the chain; since they have to sip less power and take up far less space then their high-performance desktop cousins, they're often slower, less responsive, and less capacious than high-end users might like—and that makes whole systems start to feel sluggish and unresponsive. However, storage developer Toshiba is looking to bridge the gap, announcing its new MKxx56GSY series of 2,5-inch hard drives aimed at notebook systems and compact desktop form factors l

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Key DOJ Opinion Due in Google's Digital Book Deal

The U.S. Justice Department is expected to file court documents that may help determine the fate of a class-action settlement that would give Google the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books. Friday is the deadline for Justice to share its findings with U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in New York. The agency has been looking into whether the 10-month-old settlement would thwart competition in the rapidly growing digital book market. The deal already has drawn harsh criticism from opponents worried about the Internet search leader gaining a monopoly. Ardent supporters of the set

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Microsoft Sues Over Malware-bearing Ads

Although Microsoft has long put some of its fiscal resources behind combatting piracy and trying to shut down criminal enterprises using its services, the company is now using its legal muscle to go after scammers abusing its online advertising business. Microsoft has announced it has filed five suits in the King County Superior Court in Seattle target "malvertising" operations that either use online ads to distribute malware or use deceptive advertising to lure users to other Internet sites bearing malware, trojans, and other threats. The suits allege that businesses under the names Soft Sol

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Google: Apple Rejected Google Voice for iPhone

Back in July, Google attempted to launch a version of its Google Voice service for the iPhone…but the program never made it to the iTunes App Store—a move which quickly prompted in inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission asking Apple, AT&T, and Google what exactly transpired. The companies all responseed, with Apple indicating it had not rejected the Google Voice application, but merely

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Palm Pulls the Plug on Windows Mobile Handsets

Back in 2005, Palm did a bit of an about-face when it announced its then much-anticipated Treo 700 smartphone would run Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system. At the time, putting Windows Mobile on Palm hardware seemed like a good idea: it would let corporate and enterprise customers embrace Palm devices without having to step outside their Microsoft-dominated world of corporate communications (even if, in those days, that meant Windows Mobile 5) into the shaky world of the former Palm OS. Now, Palm says those days are done: in a conference call with investors discussing the company

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LaCie Brings the Burn with Portable DVD Writer

Peripheral and accessory maker LaCie has introduced updated versions of its Portable DVD±RW Drive, one aimed at both Mac and PC users and the other for Windows-only folks. The drives are designed to appeal to users of netbooks and notebook computers that have a USB port, but lack an internal optical drive: the units enable users to quickly burn CDs and DVDs, and even fancy them up with LightScribe labeling. The new drives also feature a minimalist design from long-time La Cie collaborator Sam Hecht. "With the popularity of lightweight laptop computers and netbook solutions, which o

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Zune HD: Ready For War

Zune HD: Ready For War - The Zune HD has come a long way from its meager beginnings. While the sun never seems to set on the empire of Apple's MP3 player dominance, a new challenger named Zune HD has come forward and the sleeping giant know as Microsoft has woken to back the Zune's quest. While the iPod Touch has sat fat and happy for many years as Apple citizens grow more and more smug with each updated iPod model that get released, there burns a fire in the hearts of the wizards and engineers at Microsoft who are more than ready to do battle with their latest underdog creation. The old ways of DRM past are gone now and the hearts and souls of new music and media player buyers are up for grabs. The Zune HD knows that this war cannot be won in its life time and yet it tunes in it's HD fm radio tuner, shines up it's tough ultra slim exterior shell and preps for battle. Far away the iPod asks it's self what that glimmer is that it sees off in the distance. After doing a search with it's Google neighbors, the iPod comes to learn that glimmer is the sight of a Zune HD army with their OLED screens charged up and marching a pawn the Apple empire. The media player war has begun and the line has been drawn, do you know what side you stand on?

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HP Dreamscreen

Not a photo frame, not a computer, not a television. The HP DreamScreen defies easy description, except perhaps for this: It’s like a Chumby you wouldn’t ashamed to bring to work. The 10.2-inch or 13.3-inch screen could pass for a simple photo frame, but inside the slender black frame, there’s a lot more silicon horsepower than it would need to simply rotate some JPEGs. The Dreamscreen will play full-screen videos, stream music from a connected PC, HP SmartRadio, or Pandora, and even ding you with sta

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Fall Video Game Preview 2009

The holidays are almost here, and you know what that means – we can feel our thumbs tingling already. Thank an impending deluge of high-profile fall PC and video game releases, which signal the end of the industry’s annual summer drought. Set to arrive amidst a blaze of flashing light and cheerful virtual fanfare blaring from every self-respecting player’s desktop or HDTV, what’s not to love? Apart, of course, from the impending havoc each of the following options are all but bound to wreak on your monthly budget, persona

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Saturday, September 19, 2009

IT News HeadLines (Digital Trends) 19/09/2009

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