News For Wednesday Oct 8, 2008 News For Wednesday Oct 8, 2008

Science  & Technology Science  & Technology

Swedish government to soften eavesdropping law - Added 1 week ago

The Swedish government says it is proposing measures to soften an eavesdropping law after widespread public protests. The proposed changes include requiring a court order for eavesdropping on international phone calls,...

EBay gets conditional OK for stake in Korean site - Added 1 week ago

EBay Inc. said Thursday it received preliminary conditional approval from South Korean regulators for its potential purchase of a stake in Gmarket Inc., operator of an online marketplace in that country. EBay shares...

Visa develops payment software for Google phone - Added 1 week ago

Visa Inc. said Thursday it's developing mobile payment software for the new wireless phone powered by Google Inc.'s Android system. San Francisco-based Visa said Android users will be able to receive near real-time...

Latest China orbital mission to feature spacewalk - Added 1 week ago

China launched a three-man crew into space Thursday, including one who will make the country's first spacewalk _ its most challenging mission since its first orbital flight in 2003. The Shenzhou 7 spacecraft, China's...

BYOC: Company gives workers unusual laptop leeway - Added 1 week ago

In a nod to how finicky people have become about the gadgets they use, software company Citrix Systems Inc. is rolling out a new program for its workers: BYOC _ Bring Your Own Computer. Employees get a $2,100 stipend...

T-Mobile uncaps data plan ahead of Google phone - Added 1 week ago

In advance of the new Google phone, T-Mobile USA has changed the wording of the user agreement for its wireless data network and no longer claims the right to slow surfing to a crawl once a subscriber goes over a...

Iran to launch satellite with own rocket to space - Added 1 week ago

Iran plans to launch a satellite into space soon using an Iranian-made rocket, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. Iran has in the past launched satellites using rockets built by other nations, but this was the first...

Cell phone popularity growing in Europe - Added 1 week ago

A growing number of Europeans don't bother to buy landline telephone service in their homes, relying instead on their cell phones, the European Commission said Thursday. Cell phones, which first outnumbered human...

Troubled Dell still expects to outpace PC rivals - Added 1 week ago

Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell said Thursday he expects his company's sales to outpace those of its rival computer makers, despite a slowing global economy. Dell told reporters that "our expectation is that Dell will...

NASA delays Hubble mission by 5 days, Ike blamed - Added 1 week ago

NASA is delaying next month's shuttle launch to the Hubble Space Telescope because of problems stemming from Hurricane Ike and replacement parts for the observatory. Space shuttle Atlantis is now set to blast off late...

MySpace tries to strike new chord in digital music - Added 1 week ago

Make room, iTunes. MySpace is hoping to shake up the digital music scene. In a bid to spruce up its popular online hangout, MySpace plans to flip the switch Thursday on a much-anticipated service that will give its...

University of Ill. virtual campus flounders - Added 1 week ago

An $8.9 million online campus launched by the University of Illinois nine months ago has had disappointing enrollment and fewer course offerings than expected, but the man who created it isn't giving up. Instead,...

Judge grants new trial in music downloading case - Added 1 week ago

A federal judge granted a new trial to a Minnesota woman convicted of pirating music files in the nation's first file-sharing trial, ruling Wednesday he made an error in the jury instructions that "substantially...

Yahoo launches major upgrade to display ad system - Added 1 week ago

Yahoo Inc. launched a much-anticipated upgrade to its online advertising system Wednesday as it tries to bring to graphical display ads some of the innovations that powered Google Inc.'s rapid rise in search marketing. ...

Oracle to sell computer hardware for first time - Added 1 week ago

Oracle Corp. is selling computer hardware for the first time in its 31-year history, signaling an ambition to become more than a one-stop shop for business software. The expansion announced Wednesday by Chief Executive...

Sun Microsystems CEO gets $11M 2008 pay package - Added 1 week ago

Sun Microsystems Inc. Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz received an $11.1 million pay package in the server and software maker's most recent fiscal year. The amount represents a 44 percent bump over the previous year's...

Sony brings visual add-on to PlayStation 3 - Added 1 week ago

Sony Corp.'s U.S. video game division is adding a slick visual program to the PlayStation 3 game system that delivers news headlines, weather reports and webcam views from around the globe. The new touches come as an...

MySpace tries to strike new chord in digital music - Added 1 week ago

Make room, iTunes. MySpace is hoping to shake up the digital music scene. In a bid to spruce up its popular online hangout, MySpace plans to flip the switch Thursday on a much-anticipated service that will give its...

FormFactor shares climb as analyst raises estimate - Added 1 week ago

Shares of FormFactor Inc. rose Wednesday after a Pacific Crest analyst increased his 2009 estimates for the chip testing equipment maker, saying competition seems to be decreasing. FormFactor shares rose 74 cents, or 4...

Review: Lifestreaming sites can organize Web lives - Added 1 week ago

Slowly but surely, my online life has spiraled out of control. Between posting photos on Flickr, updating my status on Facebook, blogging and commenting on and perusing various other sites, I'm having trouble keeping...

Illinois' top court denies appeal in Sprint case - Added 1 week ago

The Illinois Supreme Court has dealt Sprint Nextel Corp. another setback in its fight with affiliate iPCS Inc. over the Nextel network. The court on Wednesday refused to hear Sprint's appeal of a March ruling by the...

Dell to use greener LED displays for all laptops - Added 1 week ago

Dell Inc. is switching to mercury-free light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, to illuminate laptop screens starting in mid-December, a move aimed making the computers softer on the environment and easier to recycle. Dell said...

Study: Work e-mail use creeps into off hours - Added 1 week ago

Joe Soto, general manager of an advertising firm in Philadelphia, has a complicated relationship with his BlackBerry e-mail phone. He felt "awful" and out of touch when he was without a BlackBerry for two days because...

TV stands recalled because of injury risk - Added 1 week ago

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling nearly 49,000 Chinese-made TV stands sold at Best Buy stores and other locations around the country. The voluntary recall of TV stands were manufactured by King...

Appeals court sides with Broadcom in patent case - Added 1 week ago

Telecommunications chip maker Broadcom Corp. said Wednesday an appeals court upheld a May 2007 jury verdict that rival Qualcomm Inc. violated two of its patents. A third patent was found to be invalid. A jury in Santa...

NASA delays Hubble mission by 5 days, Ike blamed - Added 1 week ago

NASA is delaying next month's shuttle launch to the Hubble Space Telescope because of problems stemming from Hurricane Ike and replacement parts for the observatory. Space shuttle Atlantis is now set to blast off late...

VCs shovel another $28.7 million into Digg - Added 1 week ago

Digg Inc., an Internet startup that specializes in rating news stories, is making a little news of its own with a $28.7 million round of financing. The investment announced Wednesday should squelch recurring rumors of a...

Russian technicians to aid China's first spacewalk - Added 1 week ago

On the eve of its most ambitious manned space mission yet, Chinese officials introduced the three-man crew Wednesday and said Russian technicians will help guide one of them on China's first spacewalk. The three-man...

EU Parliament calls for telecom regulatory group - Added 1 week ago

The European Parliament called Wednesday for a new, independent telecommunications regulatory group to help open up competition for Internet and phone services across Europe. But its choice _ a group made up of...

Earnings Preview: Research in Motion to report 2Q - Added 1 week ago

Research in Motion Ltd. reports fiscal second-quarter financial results Thursday after the close of the market. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period, which ended Aug....

Cell phone can unlock car, start engine - Added 1 week ago

A new Japanese mobile phone will automatically unlock the doors of its owners' cars and let drivers start their engines without using an ignition key. The phone, built by Sharp Corp., uses a technology previously...

NYC transit added to Google's map service - Added 1 week ago

Google has added the nation's biggest public transportation system to its popular mapping service, showing travelers how to navigate New York City's mass transit system. As of Tuesday, people looking up locations in...

Lichen on Yosemite icons key to pollution studies - Added 2 weeks ago

After exploration by millions of visitors over the past 100 years, it's hard to imagine anything left to discover amid the majesty of Yosemite's glacier-cut granite cliffs and giant Sequoia groves. But, by thinking...

Now viewing: Long-lost Einstein telescope restored - Added 2 weeks ago

Albert Einstein's long-lost telescope, forgotten for decades in a Jerusalem storage shed, goes on display this week after three years and $10,000 spent restoring the relic. The old reflecting telescope is cumbersome by...

AP switches tech providers for Web video network - Added 2 weeks ago

The Associated Press said Tuesday it is switching technology providers for its online video network, changing from a system run by Microsoft Corp. to one from thePlatform, a video system owned by cable operator Comcast...

Sun's wind and output on extended dimmer switch - Added 2 weeks ago

The sun has dialed back its furnace to the lowest levels seen in the space age, new measurements from a space probe show. But don't worry _ it's too small a difference to change life on Earth, scientists said Tuesday....

Winter, repairs stall atom smasher until spring - Added 2 weeks ago

Scientists will have to wait until spring to use the world's biggest particle collider for groundbreaking research because repairs to damage will run into the laboratory's normal winter shutdown, the operators said...

Google phone to cost $179, debut Oct. 22 - Added 2 weeks ago

The first phone that harnesses Google Inc.'s ambition to make the Internet easy to use on the go was revealed Tuesday, and it looks a lot like an iPhone. T-Mobile USA showed off the G1, a phone that, like Apple Inc.'s...

Satellite phone carrier Iridium goes in $591M deal - Added 2 weeks ago

Iridium Holdings LLC, a satellite phone company with a tangled history and 300,000 subscribers, is being acquired by an affiliate of private equity firm Greenhill & Co. for $591 million. GHL Acquisition Corp. said...

EU says text message charges should be slashed - Added 2 weeks ago

Sending a text message home to boast about a beach vacation should cost less than half of what it does now, EU regulators said Tuesday. The European Commission wants to set a price cap for text messages of 11 euro...

WTO probes Japanese tariff on Hynix computer chips - Added 2 weeks ago

The World Trade Organization will examine whether Japan is complying with a ruling against its punitive import charge on South Korean computer chips. The WTO has twice ruled against a 27.2 percent charge Tokyo levies...

US ex-astronaut's son to be next space tourist - Added 2 weeks ago

As a computer game designer, he's made millions creating fantasy worlds. Now, Richard Garriott will live out his own fantasy of spaceflight. Garriott, 47, will become the first child of a U.S. astronaut to travel to...

Microsoft to issue debt, buy back $40B in stock - Added 2 weeks ago

Chaos in the money markets gave Microsoft Corp. an opening Monday to announce it would take on debt for the first time, launch a new $40 billion stock buyback plan and raise its dividend. The moves indicate that for...

T-Mobile set to launch first Google-powered phone - Added 2 weeks ago

Google Inc.'s announcement last year that it would give away software that could run cell phones was met by dizzy accolades from analysts who thought it would let the search engine company conquer the world of mobile...

Is the rich-hued Kodachrome era fading to black? - Added 2 weeks ago

It is an elaborately crafted photographic film, extolled for its sharpness, vivid colors and archival durability. Yet die-hard fan Alex Webb is convinced the digital age soon will take his Kodachrome away. "Part of me...

Microsoft to buy back $40 billion of stock - Added 2 weeks ago

Software giant Microsoft Corp. said Monday its board approved a plan to buy back up to another $40 billion of its shares. The program expires on Sept. 30, 2013. As of July 28, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft had about...

New Post Web section to send readers elsewhere - Added 2 weeks ago

The Washington Post is launching a new Web section linking readers to the best of political coverage _ even scoops by rival newspapers. The idea behind the Political Browser, expected to start Monday, is to brief...

McAfee to buy Secure Computing in $465M deal - Added 2 weeks ago

Security software maker McAfee says it is buying network security company Secure Computing in a deal valued at $465 million. San Jose, Calif.-based McAfee Inc. said Monday it agreed to buy Secure Computing Corp. for...

Companies joining to push music on memory cards - Added 2 weeks ago

Just as vinyl once gave way to compact discs as the main physical medium for music, could CDs be replaced now by a fingernail-sized memory card? Perhaps not entirely, but SanDisk Corp., four major record labels and...

Companies joining to push music on memory cards - Added 2 weeks ago

Just as vinyl once gave way to compact discs as the main physical medium for music, could CDs be replaced now by a fingernail-sized memory card? Perhaps not entirely, but SanDisk Corp., four major record labels and...