Archive for June, 2010


Hulu finally comes to the TV with new $9.99 monthly subscription service

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Hulu Plus Samsung TV
True to last week’s rumors, Hulu today unveiled a new subscription tier called Hulu Plus which allows users access to Hulu across a broader spectrum of devices, not just limiting consumption to PC screens.

Select Samsung Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players can download a Hulu Plus application from the Samsung app store and start streaming Hulu Plus today, and iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch, and iPad users can download the Hulu Plus app to stream content over 3G or Wi-Fi as well.

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Unsealed court documents reveal Dell knew it sold faulty computers

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Documents recently unsealed in a three-year old court case against Dell Computer indicated that the company sold millions of computers with faulty parts, knowing full well that the components inside were faulty.

First reported by the New York Times, the computers were sold in a two-year period from 2003 to 2005, and were sold to educational institutions, large companies such as Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo, organizations such as the Mayo Clinic, and others.

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XStreamHD hooks up to EchoStar satellite services

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

XStreamHD has always looked exciting on paper, but has had difficulties existing in the real world. Since we first started watching the company in 2008, there have been some serious delays in its 1080p high def TV over fixed satellite (FSS) service, but it is finally beginning to look like it is becoming a reality this year.
XStreamHD satellite dish

Today, XStreamHD signed a long-term agreement with EchoStar Satellite Service which will let XStreamHD use some of EchoStar’s satellite transport capacity on the AMC-16 communications satellite.

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The next 4G phone is a Samsung, and it’s Epic

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Samsung Epic 4G

Sprint and Samsung today have unveiled the next 4G WiMAX-capable smartphone, the Samsung Epic 4G. The device follows the impressive (and perpetually sold out) HTC Evo 4G in Sprint’s roster of 4G devices, and is immediately differentiated by having a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

Despite recent Web chatter proclaiming the contrary, keyboards are not dead.

Epic 4G specs:

  • 1 GHz Cortex A8 Samsung Hummingbird Processor
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Salesforce strikes back against Microsoft’s May patent suit

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Last month, Microsoft sued Customer relationship management (CRM) software company Salesforce for nine counts of patent infringement in the District Court in the Western District of Washington.

The complaint appeared to be a defensive maneuver after Salesforce purchased cloud data management provider Jigsaw, a company in which Microsoft had important interests.

On Thursday, Salesforce filed a countersuit in the U.S. District Court of Delaware, accusing Microsoft of “continuing acts of infringement,” which “have caused, and are causing irreparable harm to Salesforce.com.”

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The Intel you may have never known: consumer solid state drives

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Intel alternate top story badge
Intel has announced a partnership with Best Buy to bring its line of solid state drives (SSDs) to the consumer market. The drives will be sold at retail in about 800 stores as well as online.

Two drives will be initially available for brick and mortar customers — a 40GB model which will retail for 9.99, and an 80GB version for 9.99. Best Buy will also sell a 160GB model for 9.99, but it will only be available online, representatives told Betanews.

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Hulu subscription service coming to PlayStation Network, says report

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Sony PS3 Slim, PlayStation 3

While it is no secret that Sony will launch PlayStation Plus next Tuesday –a for-pay tier for the formerly 100% free PlayStation Network online service– a Bloomerg report yesterday revealed a heretofore unknown partnership between Sony and Hulu may result in a new Hulu video service after the launch of the PlayStation Plus tier.

According to an unnamed source, the PlayStation Network’s free tier will include subscription-based access to a Hulu streaming service that makes primetime NBC, Fox, and ABC content available on demand.

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Apple and Microsoft stores are the future of technology retailing

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Microsoft Store Opening San DiegoPeople wait for the opening of the fourth Microsoft Store in San Diego

Move over Best Buy and Fry’s. Smaller, specialized, tech company shops are the future — not that this is news to retail experts. It “always has been,” said Stephen Baker, “once consumers started driving technology and not enterprise.” NPD’s vice president of industry analysis should know; he sat in the front-row watching Gateway shutter stores about the time Apple opened them (2001) through the demise of Circuit City and CompUSA and broadening of Internet retail sales.

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After more than five years, porn-centric ‘.xxx’ top level domain gets approved by ICANN

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

For more than five years, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) avoided the establishment of a top-level domain specifically for pornographic websites.

In late 2005, ICANN approved the proposal from Florida-based ICM Registry LLC to create the “.xxx” top level domain, but pressure from the Bush administration caused ICANN to delay the rollout of the domain and ultimately shelve it.

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What’s wrong with iPhone 4′s antenna?

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

iPhone 4

The rumors are true: iPhone 4 signal strength wavers when the device is held in the hand. Isn’t that like the typical position for holding a cell phone? I can confirm the behavior with the unit FedEx delivered about 3 hours ago. When the phone is flat down, I see four to five bars. When I hold the device in my left hand, the bars slowly go down until either there is one bar or “searching” appears on the screen.

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