Articles by Katherine Noyes

Google on Wednesday announced version 2.0 of Google Maps for mobile featuring a beta version of its new "My Location" service that serves as an alternative to GPS technology Rather than relying on global positioning satellites for identifying a mobile user's location, My Location uses cell tower ID information to provide users with their approximat...

There's no denying that seismic changes are afoot in the music industry. As the record labels engage in bitter battles over copyrights, artists are increasingly turning to alternative means of releasing music and reaching their fans Prince chose to give away his latest album, "Planet Earth," for free; Radiohead opted to let fans pay what they want....

Aiming to shrink its global carbon footprint, HP announced Tuesday that it has forged partnerships with two renewable energy firms to incorporate solar and wind energy into its operations Through an agreement with SunPower, HP will install its first-ever, large-scale solar power system at its San Diego facility. In Ireland, meanwhile, a contract wi...

AT&T released its new Shine phone from LG Electronics just in time for Black Friday The Shine by LG, offered exclusively through AT&T, is a sliding form-factor device that features a silver exterior and comes with video, music and camera features and a 2.2-inch mirror LCD screen. AT&T services including Video Share, Mobile Banking and Mobile Music ...

The potential health and environmental consequences of nanotechnology are a source of greater concern to scientists than to the public at large, according to a new study published Sunday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology The research, which was funded by the National Science Foundation and conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin ...

When billionaire Charles Simonyi blasted off into space for a visit to the International Space Station last month, he not only made history as the fifth private citizen to fly into orbit. He also fulfilled what for many is a lifelong dream: To explore the final frontier The prospect of traveling into space is one that has captivated people for ages...

Personal data on roughly 25 million individuals and 7.25 million families in the United Kingdom have been lost, Chancellor Alistair Darling of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office announced Tuesday The lost data includes the names, addresses, dates of birth, national insurance numbers and bank account details of all people who receive a ...

Microsoft's Visual Studio 2008 and .Net Framework 3.5 have been released to manufacturing and are now available for MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) subscribers to download, the company announced Monday Included in Visual Studio 2008 are enhancements such as visual designers for faster development with the .Net Framework 3.5, significant improvem...

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) on Monday published the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (GNU AGPLv3), a version of the GNU GPLv3 designed specifically for network-oriented free software The AGPLv3 is based on version 3 of the GPL but includes an additional terms to allow users who interact with the licensed software over a network to...

Making good on last week's rumors, Amazon on Monday officially released Amazon Kindle, its new portable reader that wirelessly downloads books, magazines, newspapers and blogs to a crisp, high-resolution electronic paper display Priced at US$399, Kindle features electronic paper that looks and reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight, Amazon ...

Dell unveiled a new consumer electronics system Monday that combines multimedia computing with high-definition television and entertainment The Dell XPS One features a 20-inch, widescreen, edge-to-edge tempered glass display, side-mount speakers and a webcam with dual-array microphone. It is built on an Intel Core2 Duo E4500 with Windows Vista Home...

Given that Google and theOpen Handset Alliance released the Android software development kit (SDK) this week, you might think that would have been the hottest topic of conversation on the Linux blogs in the ensuing days There was a great deal of discussion about it, to be sure -- but it was still overshadowed by the widespread analysis of the fact ...

When Google announced its Android cellular platform last week, some took it as a sign that it could be moving away from its previously discussed plans to bid in the upcoming Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction of 700 MHz wireless spectrum. Recent news, however, suggests otherwise It looks like the search giant still intends to make a se...

Just a few days have passed since the release of the Android software development kit (SDK), but already developers are knee-deep in application projects for the new cell phone platform Perhaps spurred by the added motivation of Google's US$10 million developer's challenge, a full 3,000 developers had joined Google's Android Developers Discussion G...

In a move designed to bolster its offerings in the mobile market, Qualcomm will acquire mobile banking provider Firethorn Holdings for US$210 million The acquisition is intended to help financial institutions promote consumer adoption of mobile banking services, Qualcomm said, such as the ability to view account balances and history, pay bills and ...

A group of researchers have successfully cloned primate embryos for the first time and used them to create stem cells, opening up the possibility that the same could be done with humans Using a technique called "somatic cell nuclear transfer," the researchers produced rhesus macaque monkey embryos from adult monkey skin cells and isolated two embry...

Marvel Comics is opening its archives to the public with the launch of the online subscription serviceMarvel Digital Comics Unlimited, the company announced Tuesday Curated by Marvel editors, the company's Super Hero adventures collection is now available in one digital location, giving fans access to thousands of titles from Marvel's historic comi...

The Open Handset Alliance (OHA) made good on its promise to deliver a software development kit (SDK) for the new Android platform Monday, and Google sweetened the offering with a new US$10 million developer's challenge The Android SDK is now available as an early look release, enabling developers to both start working on applications for the open m...

Google's search technology may infringe on a patent that was awarded in 1997, a year before the Internet giant's founding, according to a lawsuit filed last week Northeastern University and Jarg, a Massachusetts startup, which brought the action, say that Kenneth Baclawski, a Northeastern professor of computer science who cofounded Jarg, applied fo...

The holiday season may bring joy to consumers and retailers alike, but hand in hand with that joy comes the inevitable pain of post-holiday returns Gift returns can be a hassle for consumers, but for retailers they pose a daunting logistical challenge, requiring speedy adjustments throughout the pipeline as consumers are reimbursed and products are...