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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

When will iTunes replace WalMart as the #1 music retailer?

Apple's iTunes will likely surpass WalMart to become the largest U.S. music retailer sometime this year.

The NPD Group issued a report Tuesday that said Apple had outpaced Best Buy and Target to become the #2 U.S. music retailer. Digital music sales were up close to 50 percent and CD sales were down 20 percent last year.

As CD sales continue to slide, retailers like WalMart, Best Buy, and Target devote less and less floor space to discs which of course serves to erode sales even further.

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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2008 to be released

Microsoft has revealed details of the next version of its Windows OS for small businesses and formally introduced a new product line aimed at small and mid size businesses.

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2008 is one of two software bundles in Microsoft's new Windows Essential Server Solutions line; it also includes Windows Essential Business Server 2008.

SBS 2008 is aimed at companies with up to 50 PCs and includes one-year trial subscriptions to Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server Small Business Edition and Windows Live OneCare for Server. Microsoft designed SBS 2008 for simplified deployment, setup and administration from one management console that administrators can access remotely.

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Sunday, February 17, 2008

Is LTE the Next Big Wireless Technology?

A high-speed wireless technology that is still in development promises to make mobile Web surfing about four times faster.Several big operators recently said they will build networks using an emerging technology known as Long Term Evolution (LTE).

LTE promises to make everything from mobile-video sharing to music downloads speedier, but it may not show a visible boost in sales for the network equipment industry any time soon as the first networks are not expected for two years and many operators will wait longer, until the technology matures.

Godfrey Chua, a network equipment analyst at research firm IDC said that even if many operators start LTE services in 2010, the technology would still only serve to help stop the industry from declining rather than create a massive growth spike.

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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Microsoft says Vista SP1 Drivers Not Malfunctioning

Microsoft has clarified that the phased rollout of Vista's first service pack was not due to malfunctioning drivers, but because of issues that arose when these device drivers were reinstalled during the SP1 update process.

Mike Nash from Microsoft's Windows product management group said that SP1 would be rolled out gradually due to a driver problem Microsoft uncovered during the testing phase. He also said it "was an issue with the way the device drivers were reinstalled during the SP1 update process, not with the drivers themselves."

Microsoft on Friday made SP1 RTM available to individuals and companies who participated in the SP1 beta program. By week's end, Microsoft will release the English version of Vista SP1 available to volume licensing customers and other languages will be added soon.

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Saturday, February 09, 2008

Apple Fixes QuickTime Bug

Apple on Thursday released an updated version of its QuickTime media software for Mac OS X and Windows that addresses a security vulnerability and restores compatibility with a third party video program.

QuickTime 7.4.1 addresses a flaw in the way earlier versions of QuickTime handled the Real-Time Streaming Protocol. By enticing a user to visit a maliciously crafted Web page, an attacker may cause an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution.

QuickTime 7.4.1 works with Mac OS X v10.3.9, Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later, Mac OS X v10.5 or later, Windows Vista, and Windows XP SP2. It's available through the Software Update control panel or from Apple's Web site.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Google and Yahoo Take on Outlook

Business software units of Yahoo and Google are introducing beefed up versions of their Web based software that compete with Microsoft Outlook, offering yet another clue why Microsoft Corp made a $45 billion unsolicited bid for Yahoo.

Yahoo's new Zimbra Collaboration Suite 5.0 allows users to read Microsoft Outlook email alongside Yahoo Mail or Google's Gmail or Zimbra's own branded email.

Google paid $625 million to acquire email security firm Postini to beef up Google Apps to make it more useful inside businesses.

Zimbra software is targeted at universities and small businesses and Internet service providers such as Comcast Corp and Indiatimes, which in turn can offer such e-mail services to millions of consumers.

Postini's services are hosted in Google's data centers, allowing Postini to offer its security services at dramatically lower cost than many existing e-mail security products.

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Friday, February 01, 2008

Microsoft Proposes Acquisition of Yahoo!

Microsoft announced that it has made a proposal to the Yahoo! Board of Directors to acquire all the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 representing a total equity value of approximately $44.6 billion.

"The combination of these two great teams would enable us to jointly deliver a broad range of new experiences to our customers that neither of us would have achieved on our own." says Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft

The online advertising market is growing at a very fast pace, from over $40 billion in 2007 to nearly $80 billion by 2010. Microsoft has developed a plan and process that will include the employees of both companies to focus on the integration of the combined business.

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