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By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Today at Macworld, in his keynote, Steve Jobs announced a number of items, but this is what companies like Netflix were expecting - and fearing: iTunes Video Rentals. According to Jobs, they have every studio (he listed Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, New Line, Lion’s Gate, Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal and […]

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
It’s all Macworld, all day long today, right? At Macworld, in his keynote today, Steve Jobs announced the MacBook Air, the thinnest (he says, and it sure looks like it!) laptop in production.
It’s priced at $1,799 to start and will be available in two weeks.
Specs:
3.0 pounds, 0.16 -0.76″ thickness, […]

By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Like many Australians, my home is currently stuck in the land of Standard Definition, says Paul Moons of DigitalReviews Network.
When the opportunity to review a 46″ Sony Bravia XBR came along, I knew my current television wouldn’t approve, but as I got off the phone, through the corner of my eye, […]

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
Is it sufficient to say “woo-hoo”?! Many have been jonesing for an Asus Eee PC with Windows XP for some time, not just in terms of the upcoming new models, but also because the first-gen Eee PC could supposedly support it as well. Wednesday, in an emailed press release, Asus outlined […]

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
The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) has completed its report (.PDF) on Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007, and the conclusions it reached shouldn’t surprise critics of Windows Vista and Office 2007.
In January 2006, Becta announced that it would conduct a review of Microsoft’s Windows Vista and Office 2007 […]

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
If you were annoyed by the hoops Sony BMG said you had to jump through to get DRM-free downloads of their music, you can rejoice. In a major coup, Amazon.com announced Thursday that by the end of January you’ll be able to download MP3 versions of Sony BMG music from […]

By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Recently I bought a JVC Everio HDD camcorder which came bundled with some CyberLink software for editing video.
This OEM version of PowerDirector Express was easy to work with for a neophyte such as me but ultimately would be rather limited.
Subsequently I acquired the full version of PowerDirector v6 and checked it […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Just a couple of days after sending the Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC )Refresh to their private beta testers, Microsoft on Friday made an RC Refresh available to the public. Just as with the earlier public RC, the download is small, making a change to the registry to allow you […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
The rumors of Paramount dropping HD-DVD in favor of Blu-ray were dispelled - at least temporarily - earlier in the week when Paramount flatly denied it was leaving the HD-DVD camp. But a report in Daily Variety confirms that Universal’s commitment to HD DVD has expired. And with Paramount […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
To address charges by the European Union that different pricing in the U.K. violates E.U. rules, Apple has announced it will be lowering pricing in its U.K. iTunes Store to match the already standardized pricing in the rest of Europe, but … there’s that word “but” again.
The wording of the press […]

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
You’ll recall earlier that sources indicated that Sony BMG was finally going to join the rest of the major music labels to drop DRM. Today that was confirmed, but … and there’s always a but, isn’t there?
The ideal situation would have been simple downloads from say, Amazon MP3. But […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
The Financial Times has a report that if true, would send HD-DVD into the same abyss as Betamax: it states there is a clause in Paramount’s contract with the HD-DVD group that would allow it to switch sides in the event of Warner backing Blu-ray, and that Paramount is “poised” to […]

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 Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

The Y shaped EZ Yego USB flash drive stands out from the rest of the pack, not least of which because of its intriguing shape.
The unique ‘Y’ shape is indicative of its party trick: The EZ Yego not only stores up to 4GB of data, but it also acts as a […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
In a major blow to the HD-DVD camp, Warner Bros. announced Friday it will be dropping HD-DVD later this year, and will produce high-definition titles in Blu-ray only. Warner had been the only studio supporting both formats.
According to the press release, Warner Bros. will continue to release HD-DVD titles through […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
As I wrote earlier, installing Office 2003 SP3 also meant you were blocked from using some file formats. Microsoft had a workaround, but for most people this meant editing the registry. You would have thought they would have learned from the earlier IE6 mess what public reaction would be […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
According to a report, Sony BMG is about to become the last of the top four music labels - or should we say, the last holdout - to drop DRM. The first signs of this will come in the form of the Amazon/Pepsi 1 Billion Song giveaway, according to Business […]

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
You’ll recall the issues Mac QuickBooks owners had in mid-December, when a bug could cause QuickBooks 2006 owners to lose their Desktop folder when updating the product. Intuit believed they had fixed the issue with a patch issued on Dec. 29th, but it appears they missed one little thing.
According […]

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
According to Net Applications’ December 2007 market share data for operating systems, MacOS has hit a new high in terms of usage with 7.31%. At the same time, the iPhone OS hit a high of .12%. These were up from 6.80% and .09%, respectively, in November.
Check out the iPhone […]

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
Here comes another tech grinch. There seems to be an abundance of them this year. In this case a Maryland girl received a strange note rather than an iPod.
“Reclaim your mind from the media shackles. Read a book and resurrect yourself. To claim your capitalistic garbage go to your […]

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Having a New Year’s party or just want to have a little fun? The Tony-b Machine is an online synthesizer you play with your computer keyboard. Tons of beats and special effects and best of all, you can record your track and share them for free. Source: RedFerret
We Say: What else? Rock on!
Try […]

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
Wal-Mart quietly closed its video download service on 12/21, so quietly that no one noticed it — perhaps because no one used the site in the first place.
The store first opened last November, though it didn’t really get moving until early in February. Ironically, the first line of the NY […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
It’s a sad day and the end of an era. Development is to cease on the Netscape browser, which at one time held the largest market share of all browsers, and was the first browser to gain mass popularity.
However, it had been evident for a while that this move was […]

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
iTunes, Wal-Mart, and Amazon’s “Amazon MP3” service sell DRM-free music downloads, but so far only from EMI (along with a “test” by Universal Music Group). Today Amazon.com announced it has beaten Apple (!) to the punch; it’s signed a deal with Warner Music Group to sell MP3 downloads, giving customers […]

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 […]