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By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
This was previously announced in December, but now it has a real name: “Pepsi Stuff.”
Four billion (with a b!) specially marked packages of Pepsi products will have collectible points on them that can be “banked,” starting Feb. 1, on PepsiStuff.com - and later redeemed for purchases at Amazon MP3.
This was one […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Too bad it’s today, January 15th. Today being the day of Steve Jobs’ keynote at Macworld, this is going to get missed by many. But not by me: Happy Seventh Birthday Wikipedia (all right, I’ll admit it: they emailed me about it).
Yep, Wikipedia was founded on January 15, 2001.
In […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Apple is expected to announce a movie rental service at Macworld. Hoping to reduce some of the impact, Netflix is going to expand its streaming movie service, according to AP. Formerly users could only watch a limited number of hours based on their subscription tier, but beginning Monday, […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
When California enacted its law banning 16- and 17-year olds from cell phone use while driving (it takes effect July 1st), I asked, “Why stop there?” While there is also a law on the books (starting the same day) which requires all drivers to be hands-free when using a cell […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Amazon.com has launched a software download section in their software store. While the product selection is small - meaning, limited to TurboTax products - the fact that they built a software downloader application means that this is not the end of the story.
Install the downloader (in the sidebar on […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Friday Warner Bros., the last “on the fence” studio, announced its decision to drop HD-DVD at the of end of May and focus on Blu-ray only. Fallout, as well as some crowing, and even some veiled threats, has begun.
First the HD-DVD Group issued a short, terse press release in response […]

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Anyone remember the Foleo? We do - it was Palm’s ill-fated attempt to marry an underpowered UMPC with a cell phone, and it died a very, very swift death. See our coverage “5 Reasons Why Palm’s New Foleo Device Will Fail”
Today we fond out that the Foleo concept is rising from the […]

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
OK - so it isn’t, but after all the ugly iPhone imitations, this is the first concept design that actually looks appealing. We hereby take quick a break from reality to bring you the following idea. A forum member on ZuneScene named Teccom747 dreamed up this concept phone. His specs:
The Zune 3 is […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Less than six months after Intel and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Foundation buried the hatchet, with Intel joining the OLPC board as its 11th member, the partnership is over. The reason was apparently continued friction over the Classmate PC, which was a source of friction between the two groups […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
On Wednesday Netflix announced something that has been anticipated since mid-2006: a set-top box to stream movies from the Internet to subscribers’ TVs.
The company wants to strike deals with electronics companies that will let it send movies straight to TV screens over the Internet. Its first partnership, announced Wednesday night, is […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
February 17, 2009, is the last day that broadcasters will transmit analog signals. For many of us, this will mean nothing, as those with cable or satellite TV won’t need to worry about this … only those receiving signals over-the-air (OTA) whose TVs don’t already have a digital tuner.
Those TVs […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
What’s “Naked DSL?” It’s DSL you can get without having to have phone service as well. With more people going totally wireless phone-wise, it’s a “tier” people want. And it was part of the conditions (.PDF) AT&T agreed to in order to get FCC approval of the BellSouth […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Australian Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy today announced a requirement for ISPs to provide a “clean feed” for all homes, schools and any public PCs accessible by children. This follows up on a pre-election Nov. 19th Labor Party press release which first announced a proposed Cyber-safety plan.
Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy says […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
As if your traveling experience isn’t bad enough already, here come new battery safety requirements from the DoT. The new rules ban packing of spare lithium batteries in checked baggage, and go into effect on Jan. 1, 2008.
New rules from the Transportation and Security Administration that take effect on January 1 […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
In the case Atlantic vs. Howell, husband and wife Jeffrey and Pamela Howell have been accused of file-sharing over the KaZaA network. Their defense has been that although there are plenty of MP3 files on their computer, the files were not shared but were ripped from purchased CDs for personal […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Many accuse Microsoft of copying Apple, but is the reverse now happening? Say it isn’t so!
Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), when it works (and that’s the problem; it doesn’t always) is an anti-piracy measure that currently disables functions in the OS when a pirated copy is disabled. However, due […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Privacy and Google: many people say they don’t mix, or at least, don’t mix well. Seems like every day we hear about some new Google privacy flap. Here’s still another problem, but is it somewhat overblown?
On Dec. 14th, in Google Reader Help and on the Official Google Reader […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Previously only available as a private beta to donators, a PlayStation 1 emulator for the iPhone and iPod has been released to the public. The version is 0.1.0 so it’s obviously far from done, but psx4iPhone is available now.
The developer, ZodTTD, indicates that although there will be public releases to […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Queen Elizabeth, who every year gives a Christmas Day message on television, is going to post the message on YouTube as well. Additionally, the Royal Channel has launched today on YouTube, the “Official Channel of the British Monarchy.”
While you might think someone of her age (at 81, she recently became […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Manufacturers are exploring new ways to make laptops and PCs eco-friendly, and Asus has unveiled a prototype that a panda might salivate over: the bamboo-encased Asus Eco Book laptop.
Honestly, the bamboo is laminated so a panda isn’t going to eat it, but it is an unusual material for a case, which […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Normal spider silk has a tensile strength 5x of steel. It could have many uses if it could be “farmed,” but spiders are solitary, territorial, and cannibalistic, making farming impractical.
However, Prof. Masao Nakagaki, an insect genetics researcher at Shinshu University in Japan, has developed a way of injecting spider […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
I’m sure many have not forgotten the Sony laptop battery debacle. Well, Li-ion batteries have that problematic potential of overheating and exploding or catching fire. Toshiba has developed a new design, called SCiB, or Super-Charge ion Battery which should eliminate many of the drawbacks of Li-ion batteries — and […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Remember how the U.K. government lost the data of 40% of their population? How could it get worse? It’s worse, though only by showing a pattern, as the new loss of data isn’t critical.
HM Revenue and Customs has confirmed that a further six data discs have gone missing […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Remember when George Lucas digitally remastered the original Star Wars trilogy? He said it was to “finish the film the way it was meant to be.” Most of the changes were cosmetic, enhancing the films with special effects that were not available when the films were first made. […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
In a study that produced a result that some would say “Duh!” to, China’s Internet users are much more dependent on the Web than U.S. users. However, it’s about more than just gaming.
A survey of more than 2,100 Internet users aged 16 to 25 years old in both countries […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
If a company can fire a worker via text message, then why can’t a worker “call in sick” via text message?
Apparently he can, an Edinburgh employment tribunal has ruled. Or at least, if an excuse via text message has been accepted once, it has to be accepted again, unless notice […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Amazon.com unveiled the Kindle on Monday, and despite understandable skepticism, it’s already sold out.
The Kindle is Amazon’s e-book reader, which uses cellular (specifically, EVDO) to download the books to the device. You can also subscribe and get automatic delivery of newspapers and magazines.
It’s 7.5″ x 5.3″ x 0.7″, smaller […]

COMMENTARY: Pundits like Jupiter’s David Card and blogger Bob Lefsetz want to be sure that we know that Universal and others dropping DRM (see story) won’t save the recorded music industry. They’re right of course, but they miss the point….

The entire digital music industry dodged a big bullet yesterday when a US court ruled that Microsoft does not have to pay Alcatel-Lucent $1.5B for use of mp3 technology. This overturned a previous jury verdict in a lower court. Yesterday’s…

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Pile on the bandwagon for iPhone lawsuits. I mean, Apple was sued over its battery replacement policy … now it’s being sued over its virtual keyboard. It’s been accused of violating a patent hed by SP Technologies, which describes a “method and medium for computer readable keyboard display incapable of […]