scattered technology news

NeWs Up^2-DaTe (32) - May 7, 2006

1) As of 04/26/06 Google Maps now has BETA maps for France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Google Maps satellite imagery has also been updated with new higher resolution images. Google stated that they plan to continue to expand their coverage to many new areas. A new “Google Maps 2 API” should be available for developers soon.
Links: Google Maps | GoogleBlog Announcement

2) On 04/25/06, Yahoo! released a new free PC “Software DVR” called Yahoo Go TV. This program was re-created based off Meedio TV, a company which Yahoo acquired a week earlier. This product is intended to compete with Windows XP Media Center, TiVo, and even Apple Front Row. Yahoo Go can not only record shows, but can be used to easily access music, photos, videos, and online media. However, the DVR function will only work if you have already purchased a TV Tuner card for your machine.
Links: Yahoo Go TV | Features | Yahoo TV

3) ABC has launched a free online streaming service to watch full episodes of shows such as Desperate Housewives, Lost, Alias, and Commander In Chief. The video is played using Macromedia Flash technology and the live streaming quality is pretty impressive. Unfortunately you will need to sit through 30-second commercials and there’s no way of skipping them. This service is not permanent and is only up for BETA testing. Go ahead and try it out when it’s still free.
Links: ABC Episode Streaming | ABC Home

4) Napster’s Music Store now offers “unlimited” free music. Once registered for a free account, you can listen to any of the 2 million songs in the Napster Music Store for free. The only catch is that you can listen to each song only 5 times and you will be required to purchase the track to save, burn, transfer to portable devices, or listen to it in the future.
Links: Napster | Napster FAQs

5) On May 2, 2006, Mozilla released Firefox v1.5.0.3. The new update includes some major security fixes and a some minor bug fixes. I recommend updating your program as soon as possible. If you already have Firefox v1.5 or above, just go to [Help] -> [Check for Updates] and Firefox will automatically update itself. If you have older versions of Firefox visit Mozilla.org and download the latest version for your machine.
Links: Mozilla Firefox | Release Notes 1.5.0.3

Other News:
New Apple TV Ads Released
Yahoo! Tech Reviews Launched
TiVo Desktop For MacOSX Available
VideoLan v0.8.5 Released

Note: Sorry for the delay in new content, we have been very busy recently and are undergoing many changes. However, expect to see even more quality content from this point forward!