Apple sells over 1 million iPhone 3G S phones, offers $30 credit for delayed activations

Apple said today it sold over 1 million iPhone 3G S devices from Friday through Sunday. On top of that, it said that six million customers have now downloaded the new iPhone 3.0 software since its release on Wednesday, June 17th.

Meanwhile, Apple said it would offer a $30 credit on iTunes for some consumers who suffered long delays in activating their new phones. Apple issued warnings to some users that activations could take as … Continue Reading

LG Electronics adopts ARM processors in TVs — to help with Web 2.0 features

LG Electronics, the world’s second largest maker of televisions, has adopting ARM’s processors in its line-up of future digital TVs, one more sign of momentum for ARM (ARM.L).

ARM‘s chip designs have become popular in mobile smart phones, because they use little power, and they’ve largely killed chip giant Intel’s ambitions so far in that market.  ARM has more than 500 customers who license its microprocessor designs. So today’s announcement isn’t that surprising.

But it … Continue Reading

T-Mobile to launch successor to G1 with Google Android software

T-Mobile USA said today it’s preparing to launch a successor to the G1, the cell phone that uses Google’s Android software.

The T-Mobile myTouch 3G with Google is a big mouthful. But it’s certainly timely. It’s clear that T-Mobile needs to do release a new model in order to present some kind of counter to the launch of the iPhone 3G S and the Palm Pre.

Customers can start to pre-order the device — which … Continue Reading

Ziff Davis to shut down ExtremeTech web site

It’s time to mourn another casualty in the media world. Ziff Davis plans to shut down the ExtremeTech web site in the coming week or so. The staff will be let go, and Ziff Davis will circle its wagons around other sites such as PCMag Network, the digital version of PC Magazine, which Ziff stopped publishing in January.

The ExtremeTech.com web site will continue to operate as an archive only. Meanwhile, Jeremy Kaplan is expected … Continue Reading

Who rules real-time search? A look at 11 contenders

Real-time search engines have proliferated over the last month, with a series of launches from start-ups like Topsy, almost.at and Scoopler. The companies are hoping to edge in on a space that Google co-founder Larry Page has admitted is a weakness for the search giant. And they’re using microblogging and social bookmarking sites as tools to figure out what content is relevant up to the second.

Real-time search is valuable because it lets you know … Continue Reading

iPhone 3G S activations could take a couple of days

The usual glitches are back. Apparently it can take a couple of days to activate a new iPhone 3G S due to a heavy backlog.

Last year, customers fumed at the time it took to activate their iPhone 3G phones after launch day. Now, the same thing is happening as you plug your iPhone 3G S into a computer and try to sync it with iTunes. A message from Apple warns, “Your activation may take … Continue Reading

Apple iPhone 3G S is 11 percent faster than Palm Pre, 54 percent faster than iPhone 3G

The newest Apple iPhone 3G S model is 54 percent faster than its predecessor iPhone 3G that came out a year ago, but it’s only about 11 percent faster than the Palm Pre smartphone, according to the tech site Anandtech.

The measure is based on how fast the phone can render web pages. The speed is based on a combination of the network’s speed, the efficiency of the browser, and the performance of the hardware. … Continue Reading

Report: Steve Jobs had liver transplant, still returning this month

Some of the questions about Apple chief executive Steve Jobs’ continuing medical leave appear to be answered: Jobs received a liver transplant two months ago, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.

Jobs revealed in 2004 that he had been treated for pancreatic cancer, and a medical expert interviewed by the Journal said it’s common for that kind of tumor to spread to the liver. Perhaps more significant from a business perspective, Jobs … Continue Reading

Intel's most interesting research ideas: super efficient VoIP and more

Intel Labs showed off 45 research projects at its research day event yesterday — projects that ran the gamut from energy efficiency to digital living room applications. We’ve already written about the linked virtual worlds for scientists and the Dispute Finder plug-in that highlights disputed facts in stories. Here’s a handful of other interesting projects the company showed off.

1. Intel’s researchers in Oregon showed how they cut the amount of bandwidth consumed by voice-over-Internet … Continue Reading

Angels give EcoDog wings for yet another home energy monitor

EcoDog, maker of a so-called “watchdog” device that lets consumers patrol their home energy use, is the latest in a series of startups rolling out simple household energy management systems — with Tendril and Trilliant perhaps the most well known. A little late to the game, it just secured an undisclosed amount from angel investors toward a $4.6 million round of capital.

Notably, one of the investors is Tom Page, the former head of major … Continue Reading

Electronic Arts says it chose to replace No. 2 executive

The game industry took notice yesterday when John Pleasants left the No. 2 job at Electronic Arts to join a small social gaming startup, Playdom.

It seemed to signal a brave new world where social game startups and iPhone game companies were actually more attractive places for top executives than the biggest video game companies. But that’s an interpretation that apparently makes some at EA say “wait a minute.”

Today, EA spokesman Jeff Brown clarified … Continue Reading

Exar absorbs semiconductor co. Galazar

Exar, a Fremont, Calif.-based maker of integrated circuits, has acquired Galazar, a Canadian semiconductor company that had fallen on hard times even before the economic downturn. No financial terms have been released, but Exar will be operated as a full subsidiary.

This is the second semiconductor firm the company has bought in as many years, purchasing FyreStorm in 2008. The deal is a far cry from Galazar’s plans to go public when it nearly became … Continue Reading

Twitter tries to make follower counts slightly less meaningless

Twitter has created a small stir with the announcement that it’s cracking down on people who use automated software to make themselves look more popular on the microblogging service.

Apparently, there was a group of users who would sign up to follow (i.e., read updates from) huge swaths of people, then use software to un-follow folks who don’t follow them back. Twitter hasn’t published any hard-and-fast rules about this, but says those who “use software … Continue Reading

Jaxtr acquisition part of Sabse's plan to offer cheap global phone service

Two weeks ago, a quiet Silicon Valley-based voice company named Sabse bought Jaxtr, a “voice-over-internet-protocol” startup that lets you make cheap calls anywhere using your computer instead of a phone. It wasn’t totally clear why. While formative web voice companies like Skype have gone on to make money, many others have struggled. In Jaxtr‘s case, it had raised more than $20 million, gained some 10 million users, but wasn’t — apparantly — seeing the sort … Continue Reading

Veodia acquires Screentoaster to expand its business video technology

Veodia, which helps businesses share high-defintion video, announced today that it has acquired screen-recording startup Screentoaster.

The acquisition makes a lot of sense for Veodia, as a way to make it stand apart from competition like Google Video for Business. Chief executive Guillaume Cohen says his customers were already using Veodia to share screen-recorded videos (such as product demos and tutorials) that they recorded using another application. With the Screentoaster acquisition, they can record and … Continue Reading

Video: DirectFix buys one of the first iPhone 3G S models — and tears it apart

Some people get their kicks from tearing apart things. Robby Stanley, owner of iPhone repair site DirectFix.com, got one of the first iPhone 3G S phones today. Then he proceeded to dismantle it and post on YouTube a “take apart repair” video.

Stanley started his Morgan Hill, Calif.-based company in his garage in 2001. He tore apart and repaired various things that Apple couldn’t or didn’t. Now he has a 4000-square-foot office and a staff … Continue Reading

Microsoft to consolidate MSN and Bing

The early reviews of Microsoft’s new Bing search engine — oh, sorry, they want me to call it a decision engine — agree that Bing is (a) pretty, and (b) a perfectly good decision engine.

Now, Microsoft plans to retrofit its MSN site to integrate better with Bing. CNET’s Ina Fried interviewed Erik Jorgensen, the MSN exec in charge of tying the two sites together. He said: “Microsoft needs to ensure that it is less … Continue Reading

NSFW: Google, not Baidu, getting punished for China porn searches

The Chinese government has disabled some search functions in Google’s China search service today, accusing the company of not providing adequate safeguards against searches for pornography. But a source in China also pointed us to a search for porn on search engine Baidu — Google’s larger search competitor in China. The search reveals the screenshot above (the uncensored, not-safe-for-work version is viewable here). Pretty strong safeguards, huh?

Meanwhile, the government has shut off Google’s associative-word … Continue Reading

PG&E reveals true color of its business model: Not green!

PG&E, California’s largest electric utility, objected yesterday to two pieces of state legislation that would encourage consumers to invest in solar energy. Its opposition is just the latest in a stream of evidence indicating poorly-structured U.S energy grid policy.

California Assembly Bill 560 would increase the amount of “net metering,” or the amount of credit given to customers who own solar panels and who transfer their surplus power back to the utility. The bill would … Continue Reading

Roundup: Your guide to the Apple iPhone 3.0 and iPhone 3G S launch

We’ve had a slew of coverage of the iPhone 3G S today and the iPhone 3.0 software launch on Wednesday. Here’s a wrap-up of the key news:

– Today’s launch of the iPhone 3G S at Apple’s San Francisco Stockton Street store went smoother than the launch of the iPhone 3G last year. The block-long line was shorter, but online pre-registration and no activation problems made it easier on fans.

We were there at 7 … Continue Reading