05 Nov 09 New Web-Based Netbook From Litl — Based On Clutter, Uncluttered

cananian writes "The webbook company of Gnome's own Havoc Pennington (with a healthy dose of ex-Nokia and ex-OLPC engineers) finally shed its secrecy today, with a new web site and an article in the WSJ. Technical specs on the hardware were found by Engadget last week, and now comes a bit more information on the software behind the UI. Most of the client software is written in JavaScript with GTK/Clutter bindings, and the UI has some superficial similarities to Pentagram's designs for OLPC's Sugar."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tagi: webbook company, wsj, superficial similarities, olpc, netbook, mdash, client software, technical specs, secrecy, havoc, clutter, gnome, ui, nokia

24 Feb 10 EU launches preliminary antitrust probe against Google

Now that Microsoft's browser selection story story is all but settled, it looks like the European Union is gearing up for a new antitrust probe, with its crosshairs aimed generally in Google's direction. According to the search giant's Senior Competition Counsel Julia Holtz (via its European Public Policy Blog), complaints from three European internet companies -- legal search group EJustice.fr, price comparison site Foundem.co.uk, and German-based Microsoft subsidiary Ciao.de -- have prompted the European Commission to launch a preliminary, fact-finding probe. The charges? Anticompetitive practices stemming from unfair downranking of its competitors in search results. Google denies any wrongdoing, while adding ,"we are also the first to admit that our search is not perfect, but it's a very hard computer science problem to crack." The Microsoft connection seems particularly notable to Google; Holtz reiterates that the company had a good relationship with Ciao until the Redmond company picked it up in 2008 -- "we started receiving complaints about our standard terms and conditions." Like we said, at this point it's just a fact-finding probe that could end up going nowhere, but seriously, Google's lawyers cannot seem to get a break these days.

EU launches preliminary antitrust probe against Google originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tagi: microsoft subsidiary, antitrust probe, science problem, anticompetitive practices, google, european internet, legal search, wsj, crosshairs, holtz, computer science, european public policy, price compar, nbsp, giant, lawyers, microsoft

01 Sep 10 Businessweek says new Apple TV to include Netflix streaming, WSJ says 99-cent TV rentals from Fox and ABC

Well here's an interesting wrinkle to the next-gen iOS-based Apple TV rumors in the leadup to tomorrow's event: Bloomberg Businessweek says the new box will offer Netflix streaming, presumably in addition to whatever cheap TV content deals Apple's planning to offer through iTunes. That would be a first of sorts for Apple; although Netflix has apps for the iPhone and iPad, Steve Jobs isn't exactly in the habit of preloading services that compete with iTunes. That said, Netflix does have critical mass, and it makes a certain amount of sense for Apple to try and leverage that subscriber base to generate momentum for its own product -- a lot of people might buy a $99 Apple TV just for Netflix and wind up hooked on Apple's other offerings like apps, movie rentals, and purchased content. We'll see what happens tomorrow -- won't you join us?

P.S.- Businessweek also says a new iPod Touch with a higher-resolution screen and a revamped version of iTunes are due tomorrow, but like, duh.

Update: And just to add to tonight's rumorfest, the Wall Street Journal now says Apple will in fact announce 99-cent TV show rentals from Fox and ABC tomorrow as well. ABC seems like a obvious partner, since Jobs is on the board of corporate parent Disney, but the Fox angle is a little more interesting: the WSJ says not everyone at Fox is so happy about the deal, and the network's offerings will be limited to shows that it both produces and broadcasts. That means nothing from Fox's cable networks like FX, and no shows like American Idol to which Fox doesn't hold all the rights. So why the partnership at all? The WSJ says it's because News Corp wants Apple's help with the iPad version of the WSJ itself and other digital news projects. Clever, Rupert -- clever.

Businessweek says new Apple TV to include Netflix streaming, WSJ says 99-cent TV rentals from Fox and ABC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tagi: new ipod touch, dney, iphe, ipad, wall street journal, netflix, cheap tv, subscriber base, digital news, due tomorrow, cable networks, steve jobs, businessweek, wsj, news corp, american idol, ios, critical mass, bloomberg, itunes