TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), today announced new, simplified pricing plans that will make it easier for consumers to add TiVo to their home entertainment experience. For the first-time ever, through TiVo’s direct sales channel, customers will be able to bundle together the purchase of their TiVo(R) 80-hour Series2(R) box and service at an all-in-one price, based on a one-, two-, or three-year commitment. There will be no separate price for the TiVo unit and TiVo(R) service. The specific bundle prices that will be available at http://www.tivo.com or by calling 1-877-BUY-TIVO are:

• The price for a TiVo box and a one-year service commitment is $19.95 a month or $224 prepaid
• The price for a TiVo box and a two-year service commitment is $18.95 a month or $369 prepaid
• The price for a TiVo box and a three-year service commitment is $16.95 a month or $469 prepaid

Google Inc. has agreed to pay up to $90 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the online search engine leader overcharged thousands of advertisers who paid for bogus sales referrals generated through a ruse known as “click fraud.”

The proposed settlement, announced by the company Wednesday, would apply to all advertisers in Google’s network during the past four years. Any Web site showing improper charges dating back to 2002 will be eligible for an account credit that could be used toward future ads distributed by Google.

The total value of the credits available to advertisers will be lower than $90 million because part of that amount will be used to cover the fees of lawyers who filed the case last year in Arkansas state court. The proposed settlement still requires final court approval.

Source: AP

Hoping to regain lost momentum in the microprocessor market, Intel Corp. on Tuesday (March 7) moved to renew its x86-based chip line by disclosing details of its new and long-awaited microarchitecture technology.

Intel’s new and so-called Core microarchitecture is one of the company’s most important technologies ever. The microarchitecture will eventually replace the company’s current Pentium 4-based NetBurst architecture, which was introduced several years ago. The technology is also aimed to compete more favorably against rival chips from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).

Built around a 65-nm process technology, Intel’s new products based on the Core microarchitecture will show up in the third quarter in the Woodcrest platform for servers, Conroe for desktop PCs, and Merom for mobile PCs, according to the company’s road map. Details on these long-awaited chips have been out for some time, according to other road maps.

On Tuesday, Intel also disclosed more details about its next-generation processors for servers, including a pair of quad-core designs. It also disclosed the first details of its next-generation mobile platform.

Source: informationweek

Microsoft’s ‘Origami’ is no more than a new user interface for a tablet PC - Intel’s mini-tablet form factor Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC), to be precise. Intel showed several machines it described as prototypes and reference platforms at its developer forum this week, and we have pictures.

Wintel has been trying to make this kind of computer a success for 15 years, dating back to the WinPad, and Bill Gates hinted at a reborn Tablet almost a year ago. But small PCs have proved to be a graveyard for manufacturers.

Microsoft’s ‘Origami’ component is not a new OS, merely a layer on top of Windows. But it seems all you have to do is put up an empty teaser website to send pajama pundits into paroxysms of anticipation.

Source: The Register

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is showing the first device designed around Microsoft Corp.’s Origami project at the Cebit electronics show in Germany. It is a handheld computer that falls somewhere between a tablet PC and a PDA and runs a special edition of
Windows XP.

The device measures about 15cm by 20 cm, or half the size of a sheet of copier paper, and is known officially as an ultramobile device. Samsung’s product, called the Q1, runs on a 900MHz Intel Corp. Celeron microprocessor and has 500MB of RAM.

Source: MAC World

Panda Software and RSA Security Inc., a detected and helped to disable several websites used in a complex system for creating and selling custom designed Trojans — a threat that could be used for corporate espionage, and theft of confidential and financial data. As a result of Panda Software’s and RSA Security’s joint efforts, the Web pages that sell these Trojans are now inaccessible to hackers.

Panda Software’s TruPrevent(TM) Technologies recently detected a new Trojan, called Trj/Briz.A, which was previously unknown to security companies. PandaLabs experts conducted an in-depth analysis of this Trojan’s code, detailed to assist in scams, leading to the Trojan’s termination. Given the seriousness and sophistication of the attack, Panda Software contacted RSA Cyota’s 24/7 Anti-Fraud Command Center, which helped to disable the Web pages selling malware by contacting the ISPs hosting the site and identifying them as a source of these illicit Trojan services.

Due to this combined effort, three websites selling Trojans were shut down by the ISPs hosting them, as well as two others on which hackers find information about infections their malware cause.

Related: Malware moves up, goes commercial

Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes music and video store on Wednesday took its first step toward a monthly subscription model with a new service called Multi-Pass that lets users buy TV shows on a monthly basis.

iTunes is launching the service in partnership with Viacom Inc.’s Comedy Central Network, which is rolling out “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” on the service. Fans will be able to buy the next month’s series of 16 new episodes via Multi-Pass for $9.99, or to pay $1.99 per episode. Four episodes air each week and viewers can download each episode after it’s been broadcast.

Source: Reuters

An anti-virus vendor warned Tuesday that two new worms spreading on Microsoft’s and America Online’s instant messaging networks delete files and leave systems open to hijacking.

Symantec posted alerts for the “Hotmatom” and “Maniccum” worms, and ranked both as a level “2″ threat. The Cupertino, Calif.-based security company uses a 1 through 5 scale to label worms, viruses, and Trojans.

Hotmatom, said Symantec, is a Spanish-language worm transmitted over Microsoft’s MSN instant messaging network. A message arrives, seemingly from a trusted IM contact, that claims a “very dangerous virus” (virus muy peligroso) has been detected, and offers a link to a free patch. Clicking on the link, however, actually installs the worm.

Once on a PC, Hotmatom deletes files at the root level of the A:/ and C:/ drives, then assigns those deleted filenames to copies of itself.

Source: informationweek

dobe Systems has released two new open-source libraries to help developers bridge Adobe Flash and Flex technology with the hot Asynchronous JavaScript and XML style of development.

Jeff Whatcott, senior director of Adobe’s Enterprise and Developer Business Unit, said San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe is making it easier for developers to use Adobe Flex, Flash Player and AJAX to create rich Internet applications, or RIAs.

The two new open-source libraries—the Flex-AJAX Bridge and the AJAX Client for Flex Data Services—will enable developers to easily add the capabilities of the Flash Player and the Flex framework to AJAX applications. And developers also can add AJAX functionality into RIAs built with Flex, company officials said.

“You can start with Flex and add a little AJAX, or start with AJAX and add a little Flex,” Whatcott said.

With more and more developers building AJAX applications for the rich client features without the page refresh issues associated with Web applications, the need for tools has grown, Whatcott said. However, what’s more is that as developers push the limits of AJAX, they tend to run into limits the browser places on AJAX applications.

The Flex-AJAX Bridge enables developers to call Flash Player Graphics APIs, and create Flex objects and other activities. In essence, the bridge enables things like passing data from an AJAX data grid to a Flex bar chart, or passing data to an AJAX widget from a Flex application, Whatcott said. The AJAX Client for Flex Data Services, which is expected to be available later this year, lets AJAX applications connect to Flex Data Services 2.0 and support publish/subscribe messaging and other data services.

Source: eWeek

Answers Corporation (NASD:ANSW), creators of Answers.com, has submitted a statement of claim with the Tel-Aviv District Court against Babylon Ltd., for infringement of Israel Patent Number 121,457.

The patent, entitled “Computerized Dictionary and Thesaurus Applications,” covers a computerized searching process of indicating a target word on a display screen and employing at least one word appearing in the vicinity of the target word in order to eliminate ambiguity in the meaning of the target word. The patent was first filed in 1997 and was granted in 2004.

Babylon is a privately held Israeli company, founded in 1997, that offers single-click information retrieval and translation services. According to its website, it has “over 30 million registered users of its software products.”

The remedies that Answers.com seeks, initially, are damages in the sum of NIS 1,000,000 (approximately $210,000), an accounting of revenues derived from the infringing use and an injunction. Following the accounting, the company may modify the sum it seeks in damages.

Bloggers are gawking at alleged screenshots of Google’s currently-under-construction calendar program.

According to Michael Arrington’s Techcrunch blog, which is running the alleged screenshots, the new calendar is tightly integrated with Gmail. Features let people integrate with other calendar applications and share data. The calendar, allegedly dubbed CL2, also has a notification service that uses SMS (Short Message Service).

CL2 also apparently lets people create events that can be viewed on their calendars, or shown to the public, even to people not using the same calendar program.

While the product is still apparently well away from a launch, bloggers are excited about the possibility and are speculating whether the service is a prelude to bigger things for the company, and for online calendars.

Source: News.com

Advanced Micro Devices has released the first hardware specifications to get its AMD Live! consumer-electronics plan up and running, although the vision will have to wait until at least 2007 to be realized.

AMD executives said this week that the technology would roll out in at least two phases, the first one of which may be delivered in 2007.

Strategically, AMD’s Live! technology also represents a counterpoint to Intel’s “Viiv” – the two words even rhyme. Both words encapsulate a grand strategy to insinuate their own technologies in front of the user, making them the entry point to the digital home. AMD. This week, Intel has crafted its stage at the Intel Developer Forum to discuss Viiv, while AMD executives discussed their Live! technology in briefings with reporters.

Source: extremetech