Four of France’s terrestrial broadcasters have announced that they will be using Dolby’s new Digital Plus and Dolby Digital on their new high-def channels. In fact, France will be the first country that will be using the new audio technology. The channels will include TF1 HD, France 2 HD, ARTE HD, Canal + HD and M6 HD. All these channels also form the new HD service from Television Numerique Terrestre.
Motorola, the makers of the popular RAZR phone line, has announced that it will be axing 3,000 people in 2009 to make savings up to US$800 million, with many of the cuts affecting two-thirds of employees in its handset division. The layouts, according to ComputerWorld, will happen across its operations around the world, and across all of its businesses.
Game publishing giant Electronic Arts (EA) will implement a cost reduction plan that will result in 600 people losing their jobs in the company, or around six percent of EA’s entire workforce. This was announced after a losses from the company increased from $195 million last year to $310 million this quarter ending on September 30.
Research in Motion (RIM) has been sued by Mformation, a maker for management software for mobile devices, for infringing on patents it owns. The infringing patents, mentioned in the lawsuit filed in the US District Court in Northern California, were Patent Numbers 6,970,917 and 7,343,408; and they say that RIM is infringing on them by making, using and selling the BlackBerry devices and their software.
It may look like any ordinary Welsh/English roadsign, but its not. According to the BBC, the Welsh translation of “No Entry for heavy good vehicles. Residential site only” is not the translation that the sign makers were looking for. Apparently, “Nid Wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch unrhym waith i’w gyfieithu” means, in English, “I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated”.
The French Senate has passed a bill that would see internet pirates and filesharers being disconnected from the internet, even though the European Parliament was opposed to the move. This new move puts it in line with New Zealand, who recently passed a similar law disconnecting internet pirates from the internet.
Today is a big day for Foxtel, Optus and Austar (all three use the same platform); as the 1st of November will see the launch of three brand new channels, thanks to a new satellite giving more space for new channels to be part of the service.
Before you chuck away that Nintendo DS, here is something you should consider (especially if you use any homebrew flashcards).
According to a member on the Chinese gaming community Hacken.cc, the new Nintendo DSi has rejected all of the ten tested homebrew slot-1 cards. The cartridges tested were the R4DS, EX Flash V, CycloDS, G6 DS Real, M3 DS Real, Supercard DS One, iTouch DS, FCard, NCard, M3 DS Simply and the U2DS.
London will be the first city in the world to introduce and test out a brand new bomb-proof garbage cans. But not only will they be protecting and collecting garbage, they will keep passes-by up to date information via its LCD screens, streaming news and travel information.
AppleInsider is reporting that Microsoft is now placing a recording booth of its massive “I’m A PC” advertising campaign outside an Apple Store in Birmingham, England. Its source also notes that a trio of staff from Microsoft will be turning people away from the Mac for the next three days. This is part of a wider campaign to clean up its image after being tarnished at the hands of Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads.
A number of executives and investors in Silicon Valley have announced that they will be opposing Proposition 8, a ballot measure (sort of like a referendum) that would add in the California’s state constitution the definition that a man and a woman are allowed to be married – eliminating any same-sex marriage taking place in the state.
Australia may still be the only developed country in the world without an adult game rating after South Australian Attorney-General rejected plans to publish results of the SCAG public consultation, announced in March of this year; effectively putting a block on the discussion process of the battle to have an adult game rating.
Computer makers Toshiba, Dell and HP have recalled over 100,000 laptops because of 40 reports saying that the laptop’s Sony 2.15Ah lithium-ion battery overheating. Some incidents, according to Sony, involved smoke or flames, with 21 of the reports saying that it damaged property, and 4 reported that they received minor burns. From the 100,000 total, some 35,000 were sold in the US, while the rest of the 65,000 laptops were sold outside of the US.
Speaking to Computerworld, Director of Firefox Mike Beltzner has said that they will consult the community for feedback if they should release two new security patches for Firefox version 2.0, prior its ‘end-of-life’ status – meaning that it won’t have any new patches or support after a certain date. The new patches would push the latest version of Firefox 2.0 to 2.0.0.19.
After using a design which we said that it was copying Yahoo’s previous design; it has now launched a new beta design based on the designs that most of its sites (except blogs) use. The new design also includes several new features, including that they can log into their social networks to view updates, while allowing you to adding links to sites that you frequently visit – if you set it as your homepage.