Time Warner, Viacom Settle Disputes

Time Warner and Viacom have reached a settlement over disputes over a proposed increase in fees the cable company pays to carry the channels.

Just before new years Viacom had threatened to pull 19 of its channels , including Nickelodeon, MTV, VH-1 and Comedy Central, off Time Warner Cable if the companies do not reach a deal by Jan. 1. According to the Los Angles Times, at midnight in New York Viacom granted an extension that allowed the two sides to keep talking. The New Year's Day talks avoided a blackout of Viacom's programming in 13.3 million homes in the U.S. served by Time Warner Cable Inc..

The companies have not yes provide the details of the agreement however it looks like SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and South Park are safe and sound.

"We are pleased that our customers will continue to be able to watch the programming they enjoy on MTV Networks," Glenn Britt, chief executive of Time Warner Cable, said in a statement released about 2 a.m. New York time. "We are sorry they had to endure a day of public disagreement as we worked through this negotiation."

Power Twitter, A Must Have FireFox Add-on For Twitter Users

Power Twitter, an add-on for Firefox created by Narendra Rocherolle at 83 Degrees, was released earlier this week. Power Twitter adds features direct to the Twitter Web interface including:

-search
-search scoped to a specific user
-status history peeking on mouseover
-Facebook status updates
-inline YouTube, Flickr, and TwitPic
-url expansion
-url translation to page titles, for those tinyurls
-open web update (news feed) mapping

One of the Power Twitter features I liked most was the added functionality to the @replies feature. Currently you can only see Twitter messages directed to you that begin with @[yourusername]. With Power Twitter you see all messages that contain your user name, fixing something I see as a big hole on Twitter.

Inline viewing of photos as well as url translation was also a major plus. There is no longer a need to click off site to view photos, and you don't have to blinfly click those TinyURLs to see where they go.

I did experience a few issues with testing, but nothing that would make me want to uninstall it. For one the mouseover peeking wasn't working right. The pop-up was there but it an errors message about Twitter RSS feeds showed. There was also a few issues with slower load times. This was a bit annoying as I experienced a little lag here and there but nothing serious.

Rumor: Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Maybe Not

Fudzilla has reported that Microsoft is getting ready to lay off 17% of it's staff, or nearly 15,000 employees by January 15th.

So far Fudzilla has not cited any sources, nor has there been any confirmation from any other sites around the web. Which leads to some speculation over whether or not Microsoft is actually laying anyone off.

Seattle Times technology reporter Benjamin J. Romano, says that he is skeptical of the story. In his Microsoft Pri0 blog post he states, "The author does not mention a single source for the information, anonymous or otherwise; I've not seen the site break news of this magnitude before (doesn't mean it hasn't happened); the name Fudzilla makes me think of fear, uncertainty and doubt."

According to Fudzilla MSN is expected to carrying the brunt of the layoffs. Romano says his sources have confirmed that that part of the rumor may indeed be true. According to e-mails he recieved by sources which wanted to remain anonymous, " Managers at the MSN Homepages Team were informed that all of their contract personnel were being terminated."

The decision is "due to budget cuts," the e-mail reads. The cut would impact about 180 contractors and vendors.

The Mini-Microsoft blog, which is usually a reliable source on inside-Microsoft topics, originally posted a note that substantial layoffs are coming on January 15. They have since retracted those statements now adamantly denying there are going to be any layoffs. Mini-Microsoft points to several comments from its last post which deny the rumors:

NO LAYOFFS: first, I think it's fair to give some time to comments in the last post that wanted to absolutely dismiss any sort of Microsoft layoff rumor..

For the last time folks -- THERE ARE NO LAYOFFS HAPPENINGS IN JANUARY..[...] beyond Jan...well we dont have a crystal ball -- but if the economy doesnt improve and the company misses targets -- it would get uglier for everyone -- from no raises/no bonuses to {maybe}cutbacks/layoffs... but then, those are the rules of the game in corporate America.. so for now -- enjoy your holidays, have a new year blast and then get back and work your ass off in the coming months --- for the overwhleming majority of you there -- things would be just fine!!!! PLEASE DONT PANIC!

Mini-Microsoft wraps things up taking the position that while there may have been cuts coming and the timing is right they feel those cuts may have been taken off the table. "do I think anything is going to happen January 15th? Well, it is after CES (we certainly don't want any bad news before that - though look carefully at the groups there and not there) and before quarterly results (no bad surprises delivered with results - check). But after the rather alarming attention the previous rumor-driven post got, even if something was going to happen January 15th I'd completely expect that's off the table now. Sorry, Oppenheimer & Co."

Wikipedia Raises $6Million Plus

Wikimedia, with the support of over 125,000 donors from around the world, raised over $6 million to sustain Wikipedia. A personal appeal from Jimmy Wales, published on the Wikimedia Foundation's website on December 23, 2008, resulted in a surge of more than 50,000 contributions in eight days, totaling $2 million and closing the gap towards the revenue goal.

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation, wrote in a thank you letter posted on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation's website: "This campaign has proven that Wikipedia matters to its users, and that our users strongly support our mission: to bring free knowledge to the planet, free of charge and free of advertising. We deeply appreciate the generosity of our supporters."

Sparkling Wine Suggestion: Dolce Vita Prosecco

I've never been much of a Champagne drinker and when I have its usually just whatever is at the store and easy to grab. Well this year for NYE I was in the mood to try something new. Not wanting to settle for what was at the store I headed over to bevmo to checkout their selection.

I looked online and saw a few varieties I hadn't tried yet, and had a couple ideas in mind. But it was last min. and when I got there they were sold out.

As I was standing there starring blankly at all the bottles on the shelves one of the employees came over with another customer. They had been looking for the same sparkling wine I was, however obviously they were out of luck. The customer then asked about recommendations for possibly a spumante or something else similar.

The first recommendation was the Dolce Vita Prosecco. After listening to a few other suggestions I decided that I'd settle for trying it out. I had never heard of a Prosecco, but figured I couldn't really go wrong.

About 10mins to Midnight we popped the cork. None of our group had ever tried a Prosecco so it was new for all of us. The wine was very pleasant with good aromas and a slightly sweet taste, not overly dry.

Prosecco is comparable to a Brut, however we found this particular wine to be a little sweeter than most bruts. There was a light finish with little to no after taste.

Everyone in the group was agreeable that this was a good selection. We all agreed that we'd definitely buy it again and add it as a recommendation to other friends.

To find out more on the Prosecco variety checkout the Prosseco Wikipedia entry.

iPhone Dev-Team Releases New iPhone 3G unlock

The iPhone Dev-Team has released the 0.9.1 beta version of their yellowsn0w iPhone 3G unlock application. The Dev-Team originally announced "yellowsnow" back in December, but they hadn't completed the application until today.

The unlock works exclusively with baseband 02.28.00. This baseband is provided by the latest firmware update (2.2) from Apple. You’ll need to upgrade to this release using iTunes and then use QuickPwn to activate etc. There are plenty of tutorials about this on iclarified, bigboss, and other established tutorial sites.

Yellowsnow is very easy to use and install, here is a pretty easy to follow guide:

1. Once your phone is Jail Borken, re-check your firmware versions to verify you are on Version 2.2 and Modem Firmware 2.28.00. If everything checks out start Cydia and add the dev teams source:

   CYDIA: http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com
   installer: http://i.yellowsn0w.com

2. Install Yellowsn0w and reboot with your SIM card installed, wait about 90 seconds for carrier lock. If you can not connect pull the SIM and try again.

Since this is a beta I suggest checking the iPhone Dev-Team blog frequently for updates. Here is a list of current know issues as reported:

1. If you are in the U.S. and are trying this with T-Mobile, you must turn off the 3G switch in Settings. Also if you are good with the command line, you can make it much easier by adding the line -q right after the /usr/bin/yellowsn0w line in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.iphone-dev.yellowsn0w.plist (that’s and advanced tip, hopefully someone will make a boosprefs type of tool for it)
2. No PIN support yet. Remember how we said this was beta? Well we’re still working out the flow for SIMs with PINs enabled. Please disable any PIN you may have on that SIM before trying yellowsn0w, for now.
3. The unlock will silently quit on anything other than baseband 02.28.00. It detects the wrong version and just quits to avoid any damage. Please double check your Modem Firmware setting in Settings->General->About.
4. For ankle-biters that are pointlessly reversing the application the source is here.
   

Bigger Might Be Better For Apple iPod Touch

According to Tech Crunch, three independent sources "close to Apple" have confirmed that a large screen iPod Touch will be released in the fall of 2009.

Sources say the new prototypes, which have been "handled", will be over twice the size of the current iPod touch, with a 7-9 inch screen. Other details remain pretty sketchy and as always with Apple rumors you should hold your breath on any solid details coming from Cupertino.

30 GB Microsoft Zune's Hit With "Zune 2K9 Bug"

Owners of 30 GB versions of Microsoft's Zune media player have been reporting serious issues, in what is being called by many the "Zune 2K9 Bug" or "Z2K9".

Update: Microsoft has posted the following information to the Zune support site.We have identified an issue with the Zune 30 gig not starting and have a full explanation and guidance located here.

Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used). The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.

According to Gizmodo and reports on various Zune support and fan forums, about 2 a.m. 30GB Zune's that were reset or were turned off failed when they were started back up. The failure is described by those affected as a freeze at the load screen.

Microsoft has confirmed that its 30-GB Zunes are crashing but there is no word yet on any specifics or potential workarounds. The Zune service status says, "Customers with 30-GB Zune devices may experience issues when booting their Zune hardware," Microsoft said on its Zune support site. "We're aware of the problem and are working to correct it. The Zune Social might be slow or inaccessible. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience!"

Gizmodo has posted a potential DIY work around "How to Revive Dead Zunes 30s" which requires some slight disassembly.

Follow Rapid Repair's guide to taking your Zune apart to step 4, so you have access to the hard drive and the battery. Disconnect BOTH the battery and hard drive, and then plug 'em back in. This apparently resets the Zune's internal clock, which brings it back to life. Put it back together, and it should be 100 percent again. (Assuming you don't screw it up.)

Disclaimer: Opening the case of your Zune will void your warranty, there is also the potential of bricking your already dead Zune and making matter worse. I strongly recommend waiting for an official fix. Proceed at your own risk!

---

Time Warner And Bright House Cable Dropping 18 Viacom Channels

Disputes between Time Warner, Bright House cable and Viacom over carriage fee hikes could mean that Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and about 15 other channels will go dark on Time Warner Cable Inc. at 12:01 a.m. Thursday if a new carriage fee deal is not agreed upon by then.

Viacom has asked for fee increases of between 22 percent and 36 percent per channel, an amount that could increase customers' cable bills, Dudley said. Viacom spokeswoman Kelly McAndrew said the requested increase was in the very low double-digit percentage range.

"The issue is that they have asked for an exorbitant increase in their carriage fees and their network ratings are sagging," he said. "Basically we're trying to hold the line for our customer."

Viacom said the increases would cost an extra 23 cents a month per subscriber — which works out to $35.9 million more in total. It said that Americans spend a fifth of their TV time watching Viacom shows but its fees make up less than 2.5 percent of the Time Warner cable bill.

A scroll was placed on many of the Channel last night by Viacom asking viewers for their support by calling their cable operators and requesting they keep those channels alive. For those interested in contacting the involved companies:

Bright House corporate offices: regional numbers
Time Warner corporate headquarters: 212-484-8000
Viacom corporate headquarters: 212-258-6000

The channels that would be affected are: Comedy Central, CMT: Pure Country, Logo, Palladia, MTV, MTV 2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, MTV Tr3s, Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nick 2, Nicktoons, Spike, The N, TV Land, VH1, VH1 Classic, and VH1 Soul.

Source: Associated Press

Windows 7 Torrent Growing In Popularity

If the popularity of the leaked Windows 7 Beta 1 torrent means anything then Microsoft's newest OS promises to be a big hit. Since the OS hit torrents sites on Monday the number of seeders has grown from 2,000 to nearly 4,000, while the number of leechers has been steady ranging anywhere from 7,500 to 10,000.

Since torrent sites don't track the total number of downloads its impossible to tell just how many people have downloaded the Windows 7 Beta 1 torrent. So it would really be anyone's guess, however you can pretty much conclude that the number has to be relatively high.

Several top blogs and bloggers out there have downloaded the torrent, I for one still stand by my position of waiting for the official release. But for those of you that do wish to download it here are a few details of the EULA thanks to Ars Technica.

You may not:

• disclose the results of any benchmark tests of the software to any third party without Microsoft’s prior written approval;
• work around any technical limitations in the software;
• reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the software, except and only to the extent that applicable law expressly permits, despite this limitation;
• use components of the software to run applications not running on the software;
• make more copies of the software than specified in this agreement or allowed by applicable law, despite this limitation;
• publish the software for others to copy;
• rent, lease or lend the software;
• transfer the software or this agreement to any third party;
• use the Potentially Unwanted Software definitions separately from the software; or
• use the software for commercial software hosting services.

The liscense will expire on August 1, 2009, so we can assume Microsoft plans to have the full retail release ready by then. Ars also notes that there are options for Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate, of which you can only choose Ultimate. These are likely option that are leftover from Vista. I don't expect to see as many different version with Windows 7 as we saw with Vista.

For a great in-depth preview checkout Paul Thurrott's Windows 7 Beta Review.

24-inch LCD Monitor Prices Expected To Fall

According to DigiTimes several LCD monitor vendors in Taiwan are expected to lower the prices for 24-inch models in order to boost sales and make them a mainstream segment in the local market in 2009, according to market sources.

The report suggests vendors are going to reduce the prices of 24-inch LCD monitors to about NT$6,000 or $180.00 US in the first quarter of 2009, down from the current NT$8,000 ($240 US), and closer to the price level of NT$5,000 ($150 US) for 22-inch models.

That means with some luck and some good mail in rebate deals we might see a few 24" monitors priced at or around $130-$140. That would be nearly half price of current offerings from Newegg and Buy.com

---

NVIDIA Renaming The GeForce 9 Series

NVIDIA's naming schemes can be confusing to even the most seasoned geek. Rebranding of GPU's like the 8800 GT to create a new 9800 GT often times make it difficult to understand where a GPU's performance will fall into line with the rest of the series. Often times consumers mistakenly buy a card from a new series that is actually lower in terms of overall power to their current card, thinking that the new line should mean a superior product.

Unfortunately it looks like NVIDIA is at it again. The company has decided that the current GeForce 9 series will be taking on a new name and new designation. All 55 nm 9000-series GPUs will carry a new G-series name.

The 8800/9800 GT will now be branded GeForce GTS 240 while the 8800 GTS 512, 9800 GTX/GTX+ will take on the GeForce GTS 250 brand. Details on the naming and numbering of the mainstream cards such as the 9500 GT and 9600 GT are a bit speculative, as are the naming schemes for the value line of 9300 and 9400 GT.

The naming should be easy enough to follow with the cards being rebranded according to the market segment they are intended for. To be more specific, the GTX cards will be high-end/performance solutions, GT goes for mainstream, while G would mean the card is an entry-level. The number designation remains identical with, lower typically meaning slower.

LG Plans To Demonstrate Blazingly Fast 480Hz LCD TV AT CES

LG Display has announced plans to wow Vegas with its Trumotion 480Hz LCD TV. Not only does the display refresh more than 4 times faster than most of the current offerings on the market it boasts a response time of 4ms. Needless to say those are some unprecedented specs.

Seoul, Korea (December 30, 2008) - LG Display, a leading innovator of TFT-LCD technology, announced today that it has developed the world’s first “Trumotion 480Hz” LCD TV panel, which has an impressive 480 refresh rate per second, accelerating the advent of ultra high-speed images, without sacrificing picture quality.

LG Display’s ‘scanning backlight’ is the technology that enables a backlight to be repeatedly turned on and off to reduce motion blur. When combined with the company’s 240 Hz technology, the display can refresh 480 images per second.

In addition, LG Display’s “Trumotion 480Hz” display boasts an lower motion picture response time (MPRT)of 4ms, eliminating motion blurring for fast moving images and enabling a realistic, crystal clear picture. The display also makes dark images even darker and bright images far brighter — providing unparalleled, vivid picture quality. Moreover, it can reduce energy consumption by adjusting the backlight brightness.

“The world’s first Trumotion 480Hz LCD TV panel is planned to hit the market in the second half of 2009. LG Display will provide its customers with unique, high-end products while delivering crisp picture quality for fast moving images.” noted Mr. Eddie Yeo, Executive Vice President and Head of LG Display TV Business Unit.

LG Display will showcase its newest cutting-edge display technologies featuring improved motion picture response time (MPRT), eco-friendly displays and more in a private room at the Bellagio Hotel during the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2009.

Rumor: New Android Based Smart Phone From OpenMoko

iMAndroid is reporting that OpenMoko will be releasing and Android based OpenMoko Neo FreeRunner. iMAnrdoid writes, "We’ve already seen many leaks on OpenMoko and the tipper reveals that OpenMoko mobile powered by Android will be on sale before the end of the year."

The site posted a follow up with some new screenshots featuring the Neo FreeRunner supposedly running Android. The images are a bit fuzzy, however the OS seen clearly looks to be Android based.



The phones reported specifications:

Connectivity: GSM Bluetooth 2.0 GPRS AGPS WiFi, USB 1.1 slave and host, 2.5-mm audio jack Media: microSD, SDHC capable,Wolfson WM8753 Codec Operating system: Andrroid, OpenMoko, Qtopia, Debian Input: touchscreen, buttons Power: 1200-mAh battery CPU: Samsung 2442 SoC @ 400 MHz Memory: 128 MB SDRAM, 256 MB NAND flash, Flash expandable upto 16 GB Display: 2.8 in. VGA (480×640) TFT, 282 pixels/in. Dimensions: 120.7 × 62 × 18.5 (mm)

Holiday Sales Decline

MasterCard Advisors' report confirm what has been expected for months, retail sales for this holiday season are down considerably, with declines as much as 27% in some areas.

Based on retail sales for November and December 1-24th, the total retail sales are down between 5.5% and 8%, respectively, though there were a few signs of relative strength, according to Michael McNamara, Vice President of Research and Analysis for SpendingPulse. Sectors that sell food, such as grocery and general merchandise stores and some sectors of the restaurant sector helped keep total declines in the single digit range; eCommerce sales remain comparatively healthy; moreover the 40% drop in the price of gasoline compared to December 2007 accounts for almost half of the decline. Excluding gasoline, total sales were down 2% to 4% this holiday season compared to the same period in 2007. Still, Mr. McNamara noted, “A difficult economic environment combined with unfavorable weather during the last week of shopping made 2008 one of the most challenging holiday shopping seasons in decades.”

SpendingPulse analyzed the Electronics, Specialty (Apparel), eCommerce and Luxury sectors. Here are the season highlights

eCommerce
eCommerce continues to be an area of relative strength. Mr. McNamara pointed to the poor weather in the final two weeks before Christmas as possibly shifting sales volume to the on-line channel, as customers had difficulty traveling to brick and mortar locations. Overall eCommerce sales declined only 2.3% compared to the 2007 holiday season

Apparel
Total apparel sales declines stabilized in the 19% to 21% range over the same period last year, only slightly higher than the 19.5% year-to-year decline through the first week in December, and the 19% decline in the first half of November.

Women’s apparel sales have been fairly consistent, with year-to-year declines of 22% to 23% for most of the season.

Men’s apparel showed some improvement toward the end of the season, with a total decline of 14.3% for the season compared to the same period in 2007, up slightly from the 16.1% decline through the midseason and a 19.1% drop for the week after Black Friday.

Footwear sales also showed relative resilience, declining 13.5% compared to the 2007 holiday season.

Electronics
The electronics and appliance category continued to have an especially difficult season, with declines of over 26% against 2007. “Sales above $1,000 have been a consistent drag on this sector throughout the season,” observed Mr. McNamara.

Luxury
Another high-ticket sector, luxury sales showed the largest year-over-year declines, with sales down by more than 34% over last year. When jewelry is excluded, luxury sales are down slightly over 21% compared with 2007.

Versizon Nets Record Setting $33 Million Lawsuit Against OnlineNIC

Verizon last week was awarded a $33.15 million default judgment in a cybersquatting case against San Francisco-based OnlineNIC.

The default judgment of $50,000 for each of 663 addresses registered by the Internet company, OnlineNIC, was issued last Friday by United States District Judge Jeremy D. Fogel in San Jose, Calif. Judge Fogel froze OnlineNic’s assets and ordered the transfer of all the domains in question to Verizon. Verizon v. OnlineNIC, No 5:2008cv02832 (N.D. Calif.)

OnlineNIC registered at least 663 domain names that were identical or very similar to Verizon trademarks, such as myverizonwireless.com, iphoneverizonplans.com, 123verizonphones.com and verizononline.com. The court concluded that OnlineNIC registered these names in bad faith in an effort to lure Verizon customers to the sites.

"This case should send a clear message and serve to deter cybersquatters who continue to run businesses for the primary purpose of misleading consumers," Sarah Deutsch, Verizon vice president and associate general counsel, said in a statement. "Verizon intends to continue to take all steps necessary to protect our brand and consumers from Internet frauds and abuses."

A default judgment was handed down as no lawyers or representatives from OnlineNIC appeared in court to defend themselves.

According to Verizon's lawsuit, OnlineNIC's employees have gone to great lengths to conceal their identities. OnlineNIC's employees have used "numerous shell-entities, fictitious business, and personal names," in addition to covering basic tracks such as withholding accurate information from the company's public WHOIS database. Verizon believes that one or more of OnlineNIC's employees conduct business with various aliases and contact information.

OnlineNIC might face a lot more trouble. The company currently holds nearly 900,000 domains that resemble popular companies such as Yahoo, Google, Adidas and MySpace, and each one has the right to take OnlineNIC to court just like Verizon did.

While the Verizon lawsuit is amongst the largest of its kind its relatively unlikely that Verizon will every receive any of its money. Winning the case is one thing and collecting another.

Dell's Macbook Air Killer

Rumors have hit the web following a short lived post on luxury products website Uptownlife.net that Dell will be creating a new ultra-light, ultra-thin, Macbook Air killer called the “Adamo Thirteen”.

The rumors all began with a NY Times BITS blog post which showed an extract from UptownLife.net which read: “Rumor has it that Dell is coming out with a computer called Adamo that will rival the MacBook Air.” Uptownlife.net has since removed its reference to Dell’s Adamo product and marketing material.

Dell spokesperson Bob Kaufman latter made a confusing confirmation that the Adamo image used in the Uptown Life article was a genuine Dell advertisement. "We did this to wake up the personal computing category and create some buzz," Kaufman said of Adamo ad. Kaufman later indicated that Dell was only confirming the “Adamo by Dell” image and not the text confirming that Dell was working on a “rival to the MacBook Air” which is quoted in this post.

Dell has recently registered the trademarks of "Adamo" and "Adamo by Dell." The company has also set up the Adamo by dell website, which currently only bears a landing page. The trademarks cover computer hardware, including possibly desktops and notebooks, which may encompass the rumored Adamo Thirteen.

Over the weekend TG Daily dug through Googles Cached pages to gather an information on what they speculate might be the specs of the new notebook.

TG Daily suggests the Adamo Thirteen will feature an ultra-thin 3.5 mm (0.14”) 13” screen anIntel 45 nm Core 2 Duo processor. Optical drive options are likely to include a 8x slot-load DVD burner or an optional 2x Blu-ray/DVD-RW drive (with SATA interface). The option list includes Displayport-to-VGA, Displayport-to-HDMI and Displayport-to-DVI converters.

It is suggested that Dell will be offering solid state disk drives (SSDs) throughout the product line. The capacity is said to be (well beyond 100 GB), which suggests that Dell will be offering either 128 GB, Intel’s 160 GB or possibly Samsung’s 256 GB drive, which went into mass-production recently. Strangely enough, Dell has not listed SSDs for the Adamo, but included (external) 2.5” 5400 rpm hard drives with 250 GB and 500 GB capacity, as well as an 8 GB USB memory key.

At this point everything is pure speculation, however TG Daily cited sources saying that the new Adamo line is expected to be unveiled at CES. Reports on DigiTimes suggest the new Adamo could be priced upwards of $3,000.

Fry's VP Allegedly Embezzles $65M

Ausaf Umar Siddiqui, vice president of merchandising and operations at Fry's Electronics Inc., was arrested last week on charges he embezzled more than $65 million to fund a "lavish lifestyle and pay of gambling debits."

According to Business Week, Siddiqui who oversees merchandise acquisitions for Fry's is accused by the IRS of creating an incredibly profitable scheme. He cut side deals with some of Fry's suppliers, buying their goods at higher prices than they would normally get, and buying more of them than he normally would, in exchange for kickbacks of up to 31 percent of the total sales price.

The IRS claims Siddiqui started striking side deals with some of the suppliers, in which he would guarantee he'd keep their products stocked on Fry's shelves, in exchange for kickbacks in the form of steep commissions paid to a company he set up called PC International.

According to the Mercury News Siddiqui used the funds to live a lavish lifestyle which included fast cars and high dollar styakes. Siddiqui was a regular in Vegas often times tapping into the casinos' private credit lines for millions of dollars. The former executive earned $225,000 a year with an additional undisclosed compensation as an "equity holder" in a company, however it is reported he has spent more than $120 million in just three years at the MGM Grand and the Venetian on the Vegas Strip.

Siddiqui is being held on a $300,000 bond and is due in San Jose federal court next month to be formally charged with wire fraud and money laundering.

Related articles:

• Fry's embezzling suspect well known to Vegas D.A.'s office
• Fry's sues embattled former executive for unpaid loans
• Fired Fry's VP enjoyed high life in Vegas, but couldn't beat the odds

Crunchies 2008 Voting Is Open

Voting for the the finalist in the 2008 Crunchie Awards opened over the weekend. This marks the second year of the tech-start-up awards ceremony co-hosted by GigaOm, VentureBeat, Silicon Alley Insider, and TechCrunch..

Voting ends on January 5, 2009 at Midnight PST. You may vote up to once per day. The Awards Ceremony will take place at 7:30 pm, Friday, January 9 at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco.

Windows 7 Beta 1 Leaked

Reports have been confirmed that the Windows 7 Beta 1 build 7000 that has leaked to Torrent sites is the real deal. Build 7000 is what Microsoft will issue next month as Windows 7 Beta 1, according to reports by Windows bloggers who have copies.

Neowin users began posting screenshots of the new build on Friday, shortly after reports had surfaced on various Chinese and Russian forums. The files quickly hit Pirate Bay and other BitTorrent sites, including Mininova, and now have almost 2,000 seeders and nearly 10,000 leechers.

Microsoft has promised to open the beta to all users in early 2009. There has been no direct comment from Microsoft as to when we can expect the official beta to be released, however speculation suggests the first half of January.

I for one plan to hold off until the official beta release from Microsoft has been made public. The popularity of the file and sheer number of downloads would indicate that its more than likely clean, as always you should still check any torrent for viruses, I just see no reason to jump the gun.

$99 iPhone Confirmed

While previous rumors of Wal-Mart selling a $99 iPhone might have missed the mark they weren't entirely off. Wal-Mart has begun selling iPhone, just not at the discount we had originally hoped for. Currently Wal-Mart has the iPhone listed at $197, just $2 less than the AT&T store.

Thanks to AT&T the $99 iPhone does exist however. AT&T has lowered the price of its refurbished iPhones until the end of the year (December 31, for those keeping track) or until stock runs out, whichever comes first. The price has dropped by another $50, making the 8GB model a mere $99 and the 16GB models $199 (black and white).



To get your $99 iPhone 3G you'll still need to sign the typical qualifying plan which includes a 2 yr AT&T contract. The refurbished phones are previously owned devices that have been unused or lightly used and returned during the 30-day trial period. Each refurbished phone is independently quality tested and loaded with the latest software to meet current factory standards. Some refurbished iPhone 3G devices will have minor scratches.

Refurbished iPhone 3G devices carry a warranty of 90 days or more. For details about the warranty on your refurbished iPhone 3G go to www.apple.com/support/oss/.