Google labs released today Google Related Links.

Google Related Links use the power of Google to automatically bring fresh, dynamic and interesting content links to any website. Webmasters can place these units on their site to provide visitors with links to useful information related to the site’s content, including relevant news, searches, and pages.

Knock three times on the ceiling–or in this case, the keypad. Israeli company E-lock has developed a device that can open locks with a quick series of discrete mechanical knocks. Just press the gadget to the outside of the door or lock, enter a personal security code and voila, you’re in. The idea here is greater security: Since there are no keyholes or contact points, locks can’t be picked or tampered with.

Source: News.com

The Data Accountability and Trust Act (DATA) was approved by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee last week and could soon be cleared by the House of Representatives. The bill, if passed, would mean all companies have to inform customers of security breaches that affect their personal data.

Source: News.com

A federal judge has overturned a Michigan law restricting the sale of violent video games, the most recent in a series of decisions that have gutted similar laws on free-speech grounds.

U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh ruled on Friday that a state law criminalizing the sale of violent video games that might be “harmful to minors” is unconstitutional because those forms of entertainment are protected by the First Amendment’s freedom of expression clause.

Source: News.com

outh Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said on Tuesday it has delayed the U.S. launch of its next-generation DVD player for a month to late June to complete testing.

Samsung is rescheduling the launch of its Blu-ray disc player in the United States to June 25 from May 23, the company said in a statement distributed by a public relations’ agency.

Source: Reuters

AOL on Monday announced several improvements to its mobile offerings, including an enhancement to its mobile search service that would format any page for the mobile screen, an expanded relationship with Sprint, and new mobile applications.

Through a new “Surf the Web” feature included within AOL Mobile Search, users would be able to view any standard Web page through a special transcoding feature.

Source: BetaNews

Xerox Corp. is no longer in the sights of Forgent Networks, the company that has earned some $105 million enforcing a patent it holds on JPEG digital image compression technology.

Forgent, which has sued more than 30 companies for infringing its patent, announced Monday that it has dismissed a lawsuit against document imaging company Xerox Corp. on mutually agreeable and confidential terms.

Source: InformationWeek

For years, PC makers tried to shorten the length of their warranties. Now they are trying to outdo each other by lengthening them.

Dell on Monday announced that it will upgrade the limited warranty on its Inspiron notebooks for consumers from 90 days to 1 year.

Although many credit direct manufacturing as the primary reason Dell has become the largest PC maker in the world, a substantial element in Dell’s growth over the year comes from focusing on customer service. Michael Dell himself occasionally dons a headset and answers support calls.

Source: News.com

Lenox Avenue in suburban East Orange was long a hotbed of drugs and gun mayhem and one of New Jersey’s toughest streets. But Big Brother has cleaned it up.

Police here say that thanks to new technology there has not been a single violent crime in almost a year on a street where the notorious Bloods gang sold $10 hits of crack cocaine and drive-by shootings were once commonplace.

Now high-tech cameras and gunshot sensors are mounted at each end of Lenox Avenue, and on many other East Orange streets. The residential avenue of mainly multifamily homes is blocked from traffic and, with the exception of the 24-hour police presence, it looks as tranquil as most New Jersey suburbs.

“There’s no drug dealers or nothing here. They all left,” said Andre Davis, 15, riding his scooter on Lenox. “There’s no gang bangers, no drugs. The cops done a good job.”

Source: Reuters

The world’s largest fast-food company announced what it called an online casting call Monday, giving customers a chance to be featured on its packaging used daily in more than 100 countries.

As many as 25 winners will be chosen from consumers’ entries , where hopefuls must submit a personal story of what they love in 100 words or less - in any of 16 languages - and a digital photo capturing the essence of their story.

It’s all part of McDonald’s Corp.’s latest push behind its ubiquitous “I’m lovin’ it” advertising campaign.

Source: AP

It’s official: America Online Inc. is now known simply as AOL. In an expected move, Time Warner Inc.’s Internet unit said Monday it has renamed itself; it also changed from being a corporation to a limited liability company.

“Our company long ago accomplished the mission implied by our old name. We literally got America online,” said Jon Miller, chairman and chief executive of AOL LLC. “Our new corporate identity better reflects our expanded mission - to make everyone’s online experience better.”

He added that consumers already know the service by its initials.

Source: AP

Sony has signed bookstore Borders to sell its electronic book, the Reader, throughout the chain’s 200 US shops. The consumer electronics giant said it would also offer the gadget in its 30-odd Sony Style outlets. Sony didn’t say when the product will ship - it’s already missed the March deadline it set when it announced the Reader last January.

Source: The Register