Daily Digest 29 August

29-08-2008

by Deirdre McArdle

Google unveils Android Market | Steve Jobs not dead

Technology from Ideas (TfI), an Irish technology commercialisation company, is to collaborate with science-based products and services company DuPont to speed up the commercialisation of its proprietary WaveProtector technology. TfI's technology is based on the application of tailored, non-linear materials to wave energy devices. TfI says its system will lower the forces to which existing devices are exposed while maximising the energy capture. The WaveProtector technology is adaptable to a wide range of wave energy devices and TfI says it expects to announce collaborations with leading wave energy companies in the near future. The technology was originally invented in the National University of Ireland, Galway, by a mechanical engineer and then further enhanced by TfI, including a proof of concept project that proved the technology through simulation and wave tank testing.

Google has announced it will release a set-up not unlike Apple's App Store for its Android smartphone platform. Android Market will allow users to buy, download and install content for the upcoming Android devices. In a blog posting by Android developer Eric Chu, he explained that developers will be able to make their content available on an open service hosted by Google that features a feedback and rating system. "Similar to YouTube, content can debut in the marketplace after only three simple steps: register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it. We also intend to provide developers with a useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings," said Chu. He also indicated that Android Market will feature in beta on the first Android handsets, which are expected to be available in the US before the end of the year.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, the man behind TV drama 'The West Wing', is to pen a screenplay about the founders of social networking site Facebook. Sorkin has said the project is a joint venture between Sony and producer Scott Rudin. Sorkin has set up a Facebook page so that he can research the social networking site effectively. Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg while he was studying at Harvard university, and the site was originally open to Harvard students only. It currently has over 100 million members worldwide. There's no indication as yet when the movie will go into production.

Networking software firm Novell has reported third fiscal quarter revenue of USD245 million, compared to revenue of USD237 million for the year-ago quarter. Losses widened year-on-year to USD15 million, or USD0.04 loss per share, compared to a loss in the third fiscal quarter of 2007 of USD4 million, or USD0.01 loss per share. Novell cited a USD15 million impairment charge related to its auction-rate securities for the widening losses. On the plus side Novell reported product revenue from Open Platform Solutions of USD33 million, of which USD31 million was from Linux Platform Products, a 30 percent year-over-year increase. For its full fiscal year Novell is expecting revenue to be between USD940 million and USD970 million.

Apple has confirmed it is working on a fix for the recently discovered hole on the iPhone that could allow access to a locked phone. The fix will be ready in September, Apple said. In the meantime the iPhone maker has issued users with some advice on protecting against the flaw: set the handset so that double-clicking the home button will take the user directly to the home screen, which, if password protection is turned on, will be the unlock screen.

Meanwhile, the Bloomberg newswire gave readers a bit of a shock this week when it mistakenly published an incomplete obituary for Apple's Steve Jobs. The story was quickly retracted; however, its publication has no doubt caused a few shudders among Apple investors as rumours regarding Jobs' health have circulated for a few years now. In 2004 he had corrective surgery for pancreatic cancer. Still, it's not unusual for news organisations to have obituaries ready to go for people in the public eye. Blog site Gawker.com has published the obituary as run, and retracted, by Bloomberg.