iTunes 5 sports a new refined look and includes a new Search Bar to make it even easier for users to find what they’re searching for; the ability to organize playlists into folders; Smart Shuffle, which lets the user change the “randomness�? of shuffled songs; and the ability for Windows users to automatically sync contacts and calendars from Outlook onto their iPods. The iTunes Music Store has also added parental controls and album reviews and now features a catalog of over two million songs, making it the largest online music catalog in the world.

Fred Weber, the chief technology officer at Advanced Micro Devices and one of the executives often cited as being behind the company’s turnaround, is leaving to invest in start-ups.

Meanwhile, Phil Hester, who co-founded Opteron server manufacturer Newisys and spent more than two decades at IBM, will be taking over the CTO spot at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD. Hester starts Monday.

The departure is amiable, according to AMD and one analyst, and probably not much will change with AMD’s technological direction.

Source: News.com

Apple, Motorola and Cingular Wireless today announced the availability of the world’s first mobile phone with iTunes, enabling music lovers to transfer up to 100 of their favorite songs from the iTunes jukebox on their Mac or PC to their mobile phone.

Introducing iTunes for your mobile phone. With iTunes on your Motorola ROKR, you can listen to music on your mobile phone, wherever, whenever you want.

The Motorola ROKR’s handy iTunes menu interface lets you scroll through your playlists, select a song and play it — complete with any accompanying album art. You can even shuffle songs right from the main menu. And putting your music on the ROKR is as easy as syncing to Motorola ROKR iTunes.

A revolutionary full-featured iPod, iPod nano holds 1,000 songs yet is thinner than a standard #2 pencil and less than half the size of competitive players. The iPod nano features an ultra-portable, lightweight design with color screen, Apple’s Click Wheel and the ability to hold 1,000 songs or 25,000 photos, It plays for up to 14 hours between battery charges.

The iPod nano is available immediately in a 4GB or 2GB model, available in white or black designs.

Taking aim at Intuit’s QuickBooks, Microsoft on Wednesday is expected to announce new accounting software for small and midsize businesses.

The company’s Small Business Accounting 2006, which has been in the works for some time, comes in two flavors. The standalone accounting software sells for $179, though Microsoft is offering a $30 rebate at launch. And the Small Business Management product bundles the accounting software with Office components, including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. For new customers, the package costs $569, after a $100 rebate. It’s available for $399 after a $100 rebate for existing Office customers.

While there are plenty of other accounting programs in the market, Microsoft is expected to tout the deep integration of its product with its Office programs. The new software can be used to allow a salesperson to turn an opportunity into a quote and then an order, said Microsoft vice president Steve Guggenheimer, who heads the company’s small-business effort

Source: News.com

BEIJING (AP) — A French media watchdog said Tuesday that information provided by Internet powerhouse Yahoo Inc. helped Chinese authorities convict and jail a journalist who had written an e-mail about press restrictions.

The criticism from Reporters Without Borders marks the latest instance in which a prominent high-tech company has faced accusations of cooperating with Chinese authorities to gain favor in a country that’s expected to become an Internet gold mine.

Reporters Without Borders said court papers showed that Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. gave Chinese investigators information that helped them trace a personal Yahoo e-mail allegedly containing state secrets to Tao’s computer. Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. is part of Yahoo’s global network.

Shi, a former journalist for the financial publication Contemporary Business News, was sentenced in April to 10 years in prison for illegally providing state secrets to foreigners. Reporters Without Borders described Shi as a “good journalist who has paid dearly for trying to get the news out.”

Source: AP