Archive for August, 2005
August 31, 2005 at 3:39 am · Filed under MP3, Tech News
One of Apple’s main rivals, Creative Technology, has been awarded a patent for the interface used on many digital music players.
Creative said the patent applied to its players, as well as some competing products such as the Apple’s iPod and iPod mini.
The patent covers how files on a music player are organised.
Creative was one of the first companies to produce MP3 players but has lost out to Apple which dominates the market.
The Creative announcement is the latest salvo in its self-declared war against Apple.
In November, Creative boss Sim Wong Hoo said he aimed to out market his competitors, saying the MP3 war had started.
Apple’s iPod is estimated to account for 80% of sales of digital music players which use hard drives to store music. BBC NEWS | Technology | Creative wins MP3 player patent
August 31, 2005 at 3:32 am · Filed under Tech News
Contrary to received wisdom cameraphones are not killing off the digital camera industry and may in fact be boosting sales.
Analysts at IDC have spent the past year studying the two markets and found that those who owned cameraphones were more likely to purchase a digital camera having tried the technology.
According to IDC’s Mobile Imaging Survey the poor quality of cameraphones is driving adoption of more high quality digital cameras. Cameraphones boost digicam sales - vnunet.com
August 31, 2005 at 3:25 am · Filed under Internet, Tech News
Yahoo began offering improved email searching capabilities Tuesday as it tried to dissuade users from switching to Google’s Gmail.
Yahoo’s email users can now search through all their attachments, including the photos that make up more than 40 percent of all of Yahoo’s email attachments. Yahoo is testing its enhanced search functionality with a small cross-section of users before it rolls it out to the wider community. The media company already offers users the ability to search email content.
Email search is just a small part of a larger, grander plan. “Their big challenge is to get you to save everything on email—all your photos, videos, and everything you want to share—and ultimately solidify your relationship with them,” said Gary Stein, an analyst with JupiterResearch.
Consumers have already begun using these services as repositories, especially Gmail, due to its storage capacity and content-searching capabilities. Gmail, which launched in 2004, offers 2 GB of storage space to its users. Yahoo offers 1 GB to those that use its service for free, and 2 GB to those that dish out $19.95 for premium subscriptions. RED HERRING | Yahoo Guards Its Email Turf
August 31, 2005 at 3:18 am · Filed under Internet, Tech News
With more than eight billion pages to choose from, the web has plenty of places to visit.
Getting us to come back to any one site on a regular basis is certainly a tall order, but that is exactly what some of the web’s big players want us to do.
Google, Yahoo and MSN are just some of the companies which would love us to make them our homepage.
After a year of trying to impress us with enormous e-mail accounts - Gmail is still constantly upping the amount of storage you get with an account - the big hitters are now hoping to dazzle us with increasingly glamorous products.
It is a very exciting time, says MSN’s Stuart Anderson.
“Generally if you are someone using the internet, you’ve never seen more innovation than you’ve seen in the last year, and quite honestly the pace is not going to stop.
“We’re going to see more and more innovation in the next 12 months.” BBC NEWS | Programmes | Click Online | Search engine race gets personal
