Latest news

Opera 11.60 released.

The Opera browser has been updated for the Windows, Mac and Linux. Opera v11.60 brings improvements to the HTML 5 rendering engine, using less memory and loading secure web sites faster.

It also includes updates for the built-in mail client in the browser, with a refreshed design and new group messaging added.

The address field in the browser has been updated to provide search suggestions as you type, like you see in the Google Chrome browser, and a new quick shortcut for adding websites to your "speed dial" selection in the web browser.

Download Opera v11.60 for Windows here.

Here is today's list of 10 cent apps from the Android Market.

The deals went live at 4 PM.

Yesterday, the Android Market started an excellent promotion, offering 10 days of 10 popular apps for 10 cents.

Android's promotion is in celebration of 10 billion apps being downloaded from the market.

List, available now:

Beautiful Widgets
Flick Golf!
Fruit Ninja
Reckless Racing
AirSync by doubleTwist
Christmas HD
Star Chart
Read It Later Pro
NFL Rivals
BB-Bedtime Battle

Get them here, or via your phone/tablet.

According to Reuters, Verizon will launch a standalone streaming service next year, taking on Netflix and traditional cable providers.

The company is already in talks with prospective partners, and Verizon will launch the service "outside of markets where it currently offers its broadband and TV package (FiOS)."

If accurate, that means the new streaming service will be available to 85 million households.

Unfortunately, the sources say the package will be pretty limited and be more similar to "Starz Play" and "Epix" than a full Netflix-esque offering.

Allegedly, Verizon has been weighing the offering for two years now.

The NFL is on the verge of extending its major media-rights deals this week, with the agreements bringing the league $3.2 billion per year over 8 years.

Each of deals will be an extension of prior deals with Fox, NBC and CBS and be a 60 percent increase over the prior contract details.

When completed, the deals, along with the current media-rights agreements with ESPN and DTV, will bring the league $6 billion per year for the nation's most popular sport.

Both the NFL and its partners are now exchanging terms sheets and the deal is expected to close before Christmas.

Before the new deals, the NFL brings in about $9.4 billion in revenue per year.

Starbucks is seeing a big success in their mobile initiatives.

In January, the company started its Starbucks mobile app, which allows users to pay for their coffee (and everything else) using a mobile app and a "digital Starbucks card."

How the "Starbucks Mobile Pay" works is users with Android or iOS devices load money onto their digital cards and then present a barcode to pay-by-scan at registers in 9000 different locations.

Since launch, over 26 million mobile payments have been made, says Adam Brotman, vice president and general manager of digital ventures at Starbucks, via VB.

6 million of those transactions have occurred in the last nine weeks, showing growth is strong.

Microsoft has confirmed the rumor today that its first public Windows 8 Beta will be released in February.

The company also added that the Developer Preview had been downloaded over 3 million times.

Original story:

TNW is reporting today that sources have told them the public Windows 8 beta will be released in February.

The operating system has long been rumored to have a September 2012 release date, and the new beta date still leaves that month as a very viable option.

It is unclear what will be added in the beta, as a feature set has not been released, yet.

There has been a developer preview released, and some earlier versions of the OS were leaked, but each had noticeable features missing, including the email function.

Check our guide on how to Install Windows 8 Dev Preview in VMware Workstation here.

The CEO of LightSquared will be meeting today with representatives of local governments in rural areas of the US to sell them on the benefits of their proposed wholesale 4G mobile network.

LightSquared's plan to offer 4G service using a frequency range originally allocated for satellite communications has been plagued by problems stemming from interference with high precision GPS systems which use nearby frequencies.

Their meeting with people like Charles Simmons, County Commissioner and Chairman of the Southern Lower Chattahoochee Council of Governments, Michael Evans of the Ohio Hotel and Lodging Association, Shaun Golden, Sherriff of Monmouth County, NJ, Beatrice Snowden from The University of Kentucky Agricultural Cooperative Extension Services, and Maine State Representative Diane Russell appears to be an attempt to put pressure on federal regulators to approve the delayed launch of their mobile network.

They are being assisted in these efforts by two former US Senators and a former governor of Pennsylvania. According to a company press release, topics of discussion will include, "preliminary testing results from an independent laboratory that shows LightSquared's network is compatible with high precision GPS devices."

While most of the hype in the video world continues to revolve around the ever expanding world of streaming, Blu-ray continues to gain in popularity.

Despite a poor start to the year, it looks like Blu-ray sales in the US, Europe, and worldwide are poised to grow significantly for the year as a whole.

A report from Home Media Magazine, citing industry analyst Jim Bottoms of Futuresource, says 2011 sales of Blu-ray discs will outperform last year by 35%, while European sales will be up more than 40%. Worldwide he is predicting sales of 234 million units, a 45% increase over 2010.

Bottoms lists a number of factors in Blu-ray's recent success. In Europe, he says, German Blu-ray adoption is probably the biggest factor. But worldwide he says it is more about the gradual phasing out of DVD players in favor of Blu-ray by consumer electronics manufacturers.

"We?re getting to the price point now where CE manufacturers won?t make a DVD player and a Blu-ray player," Bottoms said. "There?s no point in having double inventory."

Motorola Mobility and Verizon have announced two new Android tablets, the DROID XYBOARD 10.1 and DROID XYBOARD 8.2, featuring a 10.1 inch and 8.2 inch display respectively.

The tablets will ship with Android 3.2 (Honeycomb), but upgrades to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) are planned for some point in the future.

Both tablets feature dual core 1.2GHz processors and 1GB RAM. They also have 5 megapixel rear-facing cameras with digital zoom, autofocus and LED flash and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing cameras for video chat.

There will also be accessories available, including a HD dock for connecting to an external display via HDMI.

Software included with the DROID XYBOARD tablets will include the Dijit app enabling their use as universal remote controls with an electronic programming guide for TVs, Blu-ray players, DVRs, and other consumer electronics.

Additionally, the 10.1 inch model has stylus support and comes with a precision tip stylus.

The DROID XYBOARD 10.1 will be available with 16GB of storage for $529.99, 32GB for $629.99 and 64GB for $729.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.

The 8.2 inch XYBOARD will be released in just two versions, a 16GB model for $429.99 or 32GB for $529.99, once again a new two-year customer agreement.

Every three years, when the US Copyright Office considers potential exemptions to the DMCA's anti-circumvention provision, the issue of DVD ripping is raised.

DVD ripping, or more accurately bypassing the CSS encryption used for DRM on most DVDs, is illegal under the DMCA. Not surprisingly, the MPAA has fought the effort to exempt bypassing CSS for fair use purposes on the grounds it would lead to more piracy.

So far the Librarian Of Congress, at the request of the Register of Copyrights, has generally rejected these requests, although limited exemptions for educational uses by college and university professors and by college and university film and media studies students, documentary filmmaking, and noncommercial videos were added last time around.

With another triennial rulemaking process underway, another request for such an exemption has been proposed. There's no particular reason to believe the result will be any different, but there are some important differences in the approach taken this time around by Public Knowledge.

In their filing to the Librarian Of Congress, Public Knowledge has framed the argument for the CSS exemption in terms of format shifting. Rather than arguing in favor of re-using content for purposes not intended by the copyright holder, they are concentrating on the simple act of watching the content, albeit on a device without a DVD drive or decryption capabilities.

A new prepaid wireless service has just debuted in the US, offering smartphone plans with unlimited 3G data for $45 per month.

PrepaYd Wireless is a subsidiary of PrepaYd Inc, who offers prepaid debit cards under the Bank Freedom brand. Their wireless offering uses Sprint's network.

In addition to unlimited data, PrepaYd's plan offers unlimited calling within the US in addition to unlimited SMS and MMS messaging.

PrepaYd Wireless also sells a small selection of smartphones for use with their service. Being a prepaid plan, phone prices are higher than US consumers are generally accustomed to since they lack the significant subsidies offered by postpaid providers.

Initial offerings include two Android phones, the LG Optimus S for $75 and the Samsung Replenish for $150. Additionally there is the Windows Phone powered HTC Arrive for $400.

You can find more information on the PrepaYd Wireless website.

Cox Communications has made TV streaming available to iPad owners , as long as you have one of their more expensive cable subscriptions.

Dubbed the Cox TV Connect app, users can log in and watch live TV from their tablets.

"A screen is a screen is a screen," added Cox VP of Video Strategy Steve Necessary.

For now, the app only has 35 live channels, compared to similar apps from rivals like Cablevision that offer all their hundreds of channels.

Cox says it will add content on a rolling basis.

Despite the obvious implications for SOPA to cause problems for tech companies, the Business Software Alliance's criticism of the bill has been muted at best. BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman initially called the introduction of SOPA, "a good step."

After it became clear his view wasn't representative of many BSA members, he revised his position, saying:

The idea behind SOPA, as Chairman Smith explained at last week's hearing, is to remove pirates' ability to profit from their theft. We think that is the right approach as long as it is done with a fine touch.

The BSA's position isn't surprising considering their focus on software piracy, including an annual report which includes claims every bit as ludicrous as the figures spouted by the RIAA and MPAA.

Last year, in a report on the veracity of piracy numbers reported by various trade groups, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) said of the BSA's report, "it uses assumptions that have raised concerns among experts we interviewed, including the assumption of a one-to-one rate of substitution."

An Apple filing in their US lawsuit against Samsung for allegedly copying protected design elements of the iPhone and iPad has been released.

As with their other design claims around the world, it basically comes down to the argument that generic and functional are actually unique and purely aesthetic. The document is a redacted version of a declaration from industrial designer Cooper C Woodring in which he makes a number of astonishing claims about what Samsung should do to avoid infringing on Apple's intellectual property.

Even as he argues that the design elements of both iDevices are purely aesthetic, he suggests changes for Samsung which would make their phones and tablets decidedly less functional.

Let's look at a few of them. First, he argues, Samsung could make the area around the display raised, rather than flush with the display. Of course that ignores the fact that it would make it nearly impossible to swipe all the way to the edge of the display.

He also says they could make the devices less rectangular. In fact it's arguable the shape of the iPhone, which is significantly wider than the display, is purely functional because the extra length is needed to make it usable as a phone.

The European Commission has launched its investigation into whether ebook publishers Lagardere, Pearson Plc, News Corp, CBS and MacMillan colluded with Apple to price-fix ebooks, making it more expensive for the end consumer.

Says the EC (via Reuters):

The Commission will in particular investigate whether these publishing groups and Apple have engaged in illegal agreements or practices that would have the object or the effect of restricting competition in the European Union or in the European Economic Area.

The Commission is also examining the character and terms of the agency agreements entered into by the above named five publishers and retailers for the sale of e-books.

News Corp. owns Harper Collins, Lagardere owns Hachette, CBS owns Simon & Schuster and Pearson owns Penguin, meaning all the big boys of the publishing world are part of the investigation.

All the companies have said they are cooperating.

In 2010, with the launch of the iPad, publishers moved to the "agency model," where they are allowed to the set the price of the ebooks, and the revenue is then shared with the retailer. Before that, publishers would sell all their books for 50 percent of retail price on a wholesale basis. Retailers were then allowed to sell at any price they chose, cutting into their own margins if necessary.