http://www.speedguide.net/ SpeedGuide.net - Everything Broadband. en-us Copyright 1998-2009 Speed Guide, Inc. All rights reserved. webmaster@speedguide.net http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2861 Details are a bit scarce at this point, but Martin alerts us to the news that The Pirate Bay has apparently been sold to a public company for 60 million SEK (about $$8 million US) -- at least according to a press release from the supposed buyer, Global Gaming Factory X (GGF). Apparently it's 30 million SEK/$$4 million in cash and another the rest in shares in GGF. The company claims the acquisition will be complete in August, and that it will "launch new business models that allow compensation to ... News Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:14:23 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2859 The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has plans to crack down on blogosphere payola with guidelines that would impose penalties on bloggers who promote products without adequate disclosure.The guidelines, expected to be released later this summer, would clarify that the FTC could pursue and penalize bloggers, as well as the companies which compensate them, for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest, according to The Associate Press.The new FTC guidelines represent the first time a ... News Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:13:49 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2858 Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 4.0 will let enterprises know if they're ready for Redmond's next OS.Microsoft has released a beta version of a toolkit for businesses mulling an upgrade of their desktop systems to the Windows 7 operating system.Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit version 4.0 is designed to analyze computers and other devices on a network to determine if they're compatible with Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and other software products, including Microsoft Office ... News Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:11:55 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2857 Hewlett-Packard is betting that the humble printer, like the computer and cell phone, can be transformed with the power of the Internet.The company on Monday introduced the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web, the first all-in-one printer to access Internet information. The machine, which also works as a scanner, copier and fax, will connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet and will access specific Web applications built by partners such as Google, Fandango, USA Today, Coupons.com and ... News Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:09:30 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2855 The developers of the Blu-ray high-definition video format may have beat HD DVD on the technology, but both are losing the war for the hearts and minds of video consumers who look to cable, satellite and the Internet for video.In a new Harris Poll, the results of which were released on Friday, only 11 percent of Americans own a HD DVD player, while only 7 percent own a Blu-ray player.About 9 percent of Americans own a Sony PlayStation 3 gaming console, which includes the ability to play Blu-ray disks, ... News Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:00:31 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2852 Norway-based Opera Software opened access Tuesday to what it described as a "revolutionary" technology that allows average computer users to set up browser-based servers to share files and photos, stream music and chat."Unite," as the service is called, is included in a beta release of the company's Opera browser, which ranks a distant third behind Internet Explorer and Firefox in user adoption worldwide. A Unite-enabled Opera browser allows users to designate the content they want ... News Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:57:27 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2851 Comcast Cable's Eastern Division today announced the donation of 7,500 cell phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers (CPFS), an organization that works to keep troops serving overseas connected with family and loved ones back home. Comcast's year-long collection effort has netted enough cell phones to provide 450,000 minutes of calling time in pre-paid calling cards toward the effort. The donations were delivered to CPFS founders, Brittany and Robbie Bergquist, during a special event hosted on the grounds of ... News Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:25:14 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2850 The price of superfast broadband is dropping, at least for Comcast customers. The cable giant launched its 50Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 "Extreme 50" service in Washington, DC and surrounding environs on Tuesday morning. At the same time, the price for the service nationwide is dropping from $$139.95 to $$99.95 for customers who subscribe to at least one other Comcast service (e.g., Digital Voice or cable TV). Read more here: http://is.gd/VcFP News Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:14:56 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2849 Statistics that show the U.S. behind many other countries in broadband deployment don't tell the whole story and may not be as important as some critics suggest, a group of broadband experts said Friday. In December, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranked the U.S. 15th among its 30 member nations in broadband adoption per capita. But the OECD statistics might give a better picture if they reflected broadband adoption for households, because families often share a ... News Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:33:04 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2848 Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that it is planning for Windows 7 to hit retail shelves and start showing up on new PCs on October 22. To reach that milestone, Microsoft plans to wrap up development of the operating system by the middle or end of next month, Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said in an interview. "The feedback from the release candidate has been good," Veghte said. Microsoft made the near-final release candidate version available last month. Shortly after its release, ... News Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:33:58 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2847 Intel is launching its line of processors for thin, inexpensive laptops at the Computex tech conference in Taipei. Intel marketing chief Sean Maloney talked about this in a phone interview. "It's clear that people like devices to be thin and light," said Maloney, who was speaking from the Computex conference in Taipei where he will be giving a keynote on Tuesday. "We've really taken that to heart and come out with a complete top-to-bottom range of microprocessors that enable radically ... News Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:03:58 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2846 Berg Insight has released a report predicting that High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) European subscribers will grow to 70 million and North American subscribers will reach 35 million by 2014. Research staff at Berg Insight say that 11.6 percent of the total number of broadband connections in Europe by the end of 2008 were HSPA subscribers, and that the number of HSPA and Long Term Evolution (LTE (News - Alert)) personal and laptop computer connected individual consumers grew by 74 percent in 2008 as ... News Sun, 31 May 2009 22:50:29 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2845 Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is now available for download. The Vista SP2 update includes new support for recording Blu-ray discs straight from the Vista OS, updated support for Bluetooth v2.1, and bug fixes that address slow shutdowns and mysterious crashes.You can download Vista SP2 directly from Microsoft at its Web site (348MB) or it will be automatically delivered to your Vista system via Windows Update within a few weeks, according to Microsoft. You must have Vista SP1 installed on your system to ... News Fri, 29 May 2009 16:04:58 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2844 A judge says the South Carolina attorney general can't bring prostitution-related charges against the Craigslist online ad service for now.U.S. District Court Judge C. Weston Houck granted Craigslist's request for a temporary restraining order Friday preventing Attorney General Henry McMaster from charging it for ads soliciting prostitution among its user-generated content, CNN reported Sunday.McMaster had reportedly set a deadline of May 15 for Craigslist to take down portions of its site he says allows ... News Sun, 24 May 2009 12:59:59 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2843 Yesterday's introduction of Chrome version 2.0.172.28 was touted by Google as being up to 30 percent faster for handling JavaScript. After using the update to the stable release extensively for the past day and running it through two JavaScript tests on two computers, it's conclusively faster than the previous stable version of Chrome.http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10247900-12.html Now if only there were Linux and and OS X versions... News Sun, 24 May 2009 07:42:16 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2842 Two months after Skype announced a beta of its SIP gateway, the company's general manager has called on PBX manufacturers to get compatible, despite half a decade of refusing to play nicely with anyone. Skype resolutely refused to consider adopting the industry-standard Session Initiation Protocol, claiming that it could do things better and that compatibility was something other people needed. But now the company is trying to push into enterprise networks and SIP is back on the agenda. Speaking at ... News Fri, 22 May 2009 09:16:27 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2841 A new analysis of the global opportunity for WiMAX 802.16e by Juniper Research forecasts that up to 12% of current DSL customers will migrate to WiMax service by 2013. The Far East will lead with over one fifth of the 47m subscribers in 2013. A region by region analysis by Juniper Research found that there is a significant opportunity now for WiMAX as a DSL substitute technology. The study explored how WiMAX is well suited to rapid deployment in the many underserved areas, not only in developing ... News Fri, 22 May 2009 09:12:17 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2840 New York -- Verizon Communications plans to make some 7 million Web video clips available to FiOS TV customers within the next few weeks, but for now the biggest whales in the Internet-video ocean -- YouTube and Hulu -- won't be part of the lineup. Meanwhile, the telco has launched a closed "alpha" test of on-screen widgets for Facebook and Twitter, which let users see their friends' posts and can send updates of what someone is watching on FiOS TV to the Web. The Web-video-to-TV ... News Thu, 14 May 2009 08:42:47 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2839 THE FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION (FSF) has been one of the surprise backers of people who the RIAA thinks should pay massive fines for sharing copyrighted music files online. Joel Tenenbaum, who is being sued by RIAA member companies for copyright infringement, has appreciated receiving the support of the FSF, and that has set the RIAA to whingeing. However John Sullivan, Operations Manager at the FSF told Torrent Freak that the RIAA's antics are inimical to free software and its technology. He thinks ... News Thu, 14 May 2009 07:45:35 EST http://www.speedguide.net/read_news.php?id=2838 The state of Minnesota has handed Internet providers a 7-page blacklist of gambling Web sites that they are supposed to prevent subscribers from accessing, a move that raises First Amendment and technical concerns."We are putting site operators and Minnesota online gamblers on notice and in advance," John Willems, a Minnesota Department of Public Safety official, said in a statement. Companies that received the list of off-limits Web sites -- which was made public on Thursday -- include ... News Fri, 01 May 2009 19:49:45 EST