U.S. commuters spend an average of 50 minutes in their car each day, and that leaves a lot of room for improvement. Make the most of your commute with these 10 tips.

Photo by mattlemmon.

10. Adjust Your Mirrors for Better Vision

Most people set up their car's mirrors in a way that keeps the edge of their own car in their vision, mostly to provide a sense of perspective. This limits the amount of "blind spot" coverage provided by your mirrors. Car and Driver suggests a new alignment technique supported by the Society of Automotive Engineers that covers more angles with your side and rear view mirrors. When we first highlighted this tip, several commenters asked what's wrong with just looking over your shoulder as you change lanes—technically, nothing. But if you're willing to commit a little practice time to a new mirror setup, you might find yourself more in control of what's happening as you're speeding down the highway. (Original post)

9. Make Your Commute with Pre-Tax Money

The Frugal Dad blog suggests taking a second look for commuting discounts, including asking around your firm's HR types to see if any discounts or even pre-tax buy-ins are offered for public transportation, parking, or other commuting costs. If you happen to live in San Francisco, commenter JeffK suggests seeing if your employer might reimburse you for your bicycle commute. Photo by 91RS. (Original post)

8. Plan Around Traffic

Those estimates of driving time that online maps provide? They don't always know your commute like you know your commute. If you must be on time, avoid stress, or maybe just want to try a different route, check out Google's traffic mapping on desktop, iPhones, and Android units, give Bing's experimental maps a go, or, in larger cities, try a service like Commuter Feed, or simply run a Twitter search to see if drivers at a stand-still have shared their misery with the wider world. (Original posts: Google traffic maps, Commuter Feed)

7. Make Smart Use of Your "Down" Time

Blogger and web PR thinker Steve Rubel likes to make otherwise unusable time useful, primarily by listening to audiobooks relevant to his trade and queuing up articles for reading with the Instapaper service. If you're similarly willing to give up drive-time radio for something a bit more, well, mind-expanding, we've explored a few options cheaper than forking over bucks to Audible or iTunes. BooksShouldBeFree neatly organizes the public domain offerings, BooksFree offers a Netflix-like rental service, and you might be surprised to learn that iTunes can make any audio file you find into an audiobook. Keep in mind, too, that your local library likely has a good selection of audiobooks available. (Original posts: BooksShouldBeFree, BooksFree, iTunes/audiobooks).

6. Ride Your Bike to Work

It's the best fuel economy you can get, and the side effects aren't that bad, either. The Sietch Blog answers all the basic questions and gripes about bike commuting to work, and Paul Dorn offers smart tips on planning your route. Feel like you're devastatingly disconnected from your date life? It's fairly cheap to mount your smartphone to your bike—just be safe! Photo by richardmasoner. (Original posts: riding 101, route planning).

5. Avoid or Manage Getting Pulled Over

Nobody's ever planning to be pulled over, but you can be prepared. Stewart Rutledge schooled us on some techniques for beating a ticket, or at least upping your chance of a smooth transaction. Car and Driver interviewed state troopers on how to behave when pulled over, and a traffic attorney from the state of very serious traffic offenses, Virginia, offered his own debunking of ticket myths. If you've got a lead foot or a rolling stop style, they're all worth a read. Finally, you could try out a service like Trapster to get a heads up on common speed traps. (Original posts: Debunking myths, Trapster)

4. Manage Your Commuting Stress

Managing your commuter stress isn't about a zen state of mind or leaving five hours early. Avoiding minor cases of road rage every time you hop in the car can be accomplished by stepping back from your drive and examining it objectively, suggests auto writer Tom Vanderbilt. Don't change lanes in slow traffic, because it almost never matters. Make eye contact with other drivers when you can, look ahead down the road, and try to avoid a sense of personal entitlement to your lane merge, says Vanderbilt. Mixed with a good audiobook or other good use of down time, your commute might just become a lot less stressful, or even better—something you look forward to. Photo by DannyBen. (Original post)

3. Have a Stash for Your Stuff

No, not that kind of stash. We're talking about a pad for your gadgets, DIY car consoles, a clever dashboard camera mount, and makeshift mounts for your iPhone/iPod touch or $2 adjustable multi-gadget mount. Your priority is keeping your eyes on the road, of course, but these tiny projects make it less likely you'll have to dig around underneath a seat for your stuff while driving. (Original posts: sticky pad, console, dash camera, iPhone dock, adjustable dock).

2. Telecommute the Smart Way

If you're able to telecommute on occasional sick days or with some regularity, you'll still have office etiquette, politics, and logistics to deal with. Our own Gina, who's been working over the net for more than five years, offers some tips at a Harvard Business Review post on remote email, "checking in" with video chats or teleconferences, and using smart tools to collaborate. Photo by mccun934. (Original post)

1. Save Money on Gas

Back in the summer of 2008, when automotive fuel averaged $4 a gallon, Jason wrote up a guide to the easy but verified ways of saving money on gas. Since then, gas has leveled off in price and then crept back up, but no matter where it goes from here, spending less cash on your commute is always going to make you feel better about it. Photo by FutureAtlas.

What tips, tricks, projects, or simple tactics have made your commute better, faster, or less annoying? We'd love to hear about them, and maybe post about them, if you'd leave them in the comments.

Kevin Purdy00467505118896634895143038627879331137071008643768473440204911436582081809554747139662519340944878270634475683170588018208303055801581796402166642603177092280430103696992858477298813407855821112324012090845978342234042601231989607048299198504469394733444431566005978126147212484170324084837372084718713328792674937849705146698096202776217191574893527196170412703507939113106587127009822931291599201900139104077748768927811660078272086328905146768136771537065210909894218217124963201649972735008805796054067527269176302360673479418078616774003829258951793799563116046487124865554551697000169480482045401349699395360955146010068614018853826290227374917786500899110529731950411669783092773995860612054181587842646888123323803927909844877918838164814592573204092030004764130819925716109851724590493792240052070533053317495190623132178872528463400286766824313422645113269243369633952911418339546404959549801115947099286839988135445933783469536760153714177843942201116937570405818335258053928779609488698031769344484822146215607822687702570738482112235139686712039481626600321007590105801452256926808458034099708076428090915971512376346451522030800879565357723627896152374973213944220350368299732345393117303573982994851996062122543693238839405380278027647734844820206926084609928442726174370918101054570190879036633256322293501913375174608757597159261038802005026901417708555289378403702756781971070677639155388821932403731531103955162511315114017194248715913598367165747103662834545770791818429362624795007992399772884556023072550105537913660191745816379352632650911552103821104120694080993679010688028160714529909018161776608365637926829276368170735111669796615651623428972258871603508703843517311160068013719739174152971021042207979594291802108291941363609719428103744371440439144480374043443171971226102138826466712097385182186714232992903260037255819214390252715196891652780427514140273932433119750720991103038326531025107075156356890554878035735291469807141710427731536636150934603148572391182599325

Microsoft plans to discontinue development of its Windows Essential Business Server starting in June. Although Windows EBS was originally targeted at midsize businesses, Microsoft found that those customers were gravitating to products that address cloud-based management and virtualization needs, such as Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite. Microsoft says it plans on supporting EBS for its standard support cycle.
- Microsoft announced March 5 that it will discontinue its future development of Windows Essential Business Server effective June 30. Originally designed as an IT infrastructure option for midsize businesses, EBS found itself faced with a rapidly changing landscape thanks to the advent of cloud c...

(author unknown)

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Today, Canadian enterprise smartphone leader Research in Motion announced it has released BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, a new server software solution for small BlackBerry deployments that incur no additional software or user license fees.

Starting in March, small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) will be able to download BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express for free. With it, small deployments of BlackBerry smartphones will be able to wirelessly sync e-mail, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks; remotely manage e-mail folders and search through the mail server; book meetings and appointments; check availability and forward calendar attachments; set out-of-office replies; edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files using Documents To Go; and access files stored on the company network or business systems behind the company firewall.

As a free solution, it naturally lacks a significant number of the high-end services offered through the full BlackBerry Enterprise Server software (and even Hosted BlackBerry Services), such as support for IBM Lotus, Domino, Novell and Groupwise platforms, and client-based instant messaging protocols like BB Messenger, AIM, Yahoo and Google Talk. Also, high availability, monitoring, and wireless provisioning are not available.

With BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, up to 75 users can access the e-mail server, or with dedicated servers, upwards of 2,000 users can be supported.

Research in Motion told us that the main difference between BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express and BlackBerry Professional Software are that BES Express has no cost for the software or CALs and can run on any internet-enabled data plan; BlackBerry Professional Software has a cost for the software and CALs, and it requires a BlackBerry Enterprise Server data plan.

Furthermore, BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express provides some additional features not found in BlackBerry Professional Software, including: HTML email support, Flag emails for follow-up, forward calendar appointments, open attachments in calendar appointments, remote file access, support for audio (.AWE, .WAV, .MP3 and Audio WMA files), support for Open Document Text (ODT), Open Document Presentations (ODP) and Open Document Spreadsheets (ODS), and support for Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008.

To receive updates on the availability of BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, sign up on RIM's product page.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010


Tim Conneally

Virtually every Google service has a Labs section devoted to implementing experimental features. There's Gmail Labs, Google (Search) Labs, Google Calendar Labs, and now, Google Maps Labs.

So what can you expect from Google Maps Labs?

Google Maps Labs is a testing ground for experimental features that aren't quite ready for primetime. They may change, break or disappear at any time.

Current features include Drag 'n' Zoom (for quickly zooming in on a specific spot), Aerial Imagery ("gives you rotatable, high-resolution overhead imagery presented in a new perspective"), a Where in the World game (to test your geography chops), Rotatable Maps (if you're sick of North always being up), What's Around Here (always highlight top search results in a view using small blips), and several more. Just hit the link below to browse your options, turn a few on, and get experimental with your maps. Thanks dedobleve!

Google Maps Labs

Adam Pash13604185307988195288029782761160810621420123550679095124920508050475035841735760172525682586778487761388494805700861448810872140520309183697147044598956134505890489655442557163132007805644133025191958172690519150347699991840362551788589075118180696974608707274058683512665071245420333386161984426173211944892130837888051015486875215926219820552389126211053138501649972735008805796176550158100267588750980001494578284058604370831206576652387095560990844213649640796691213284444734606597785579667786280068647780916110500570387084669384326939617112231597264525647052463010274091468591212259067963731192608306621016354335099124048082965951287110665328346996981208918050981012089696313097032438937471226450117780091802526677806864194334373414600014015843271452961780893329700673440532717620543765662625331012847829655768983010945804784991792280505023279663740719495029973200201449378600541256826218419318801977480623288904267151720289653855757201726856542477669984611101001141714162588131283044028257590300825951734756557394203573982994851996062092380256300244611111586099364072319755309116694650744016878147024713928697227221222676797279819638908790366332563222935141776623294110814280062991601039666048704323244148779664183079923997728845560230088946889758226185909505877435148474660131774387271133576000788798916794915687501795872381745695845021408525187940785291258782071775549680416272368206033995651178984437107479316291023143313402423947913088963407970457632123036416582888653590041533212160442044515052857171922631618031117791594945691560029216305981409218903338637765664997500054989929105898433211264518045692124209802357079744227893304011381664040541213830893654317410019018003354556913216589843031485723911825993251706731153711500407007705677043046054471059218302053444216251617888324430972682202680470772306065494173614593530866033540725782076703102791814175258334589685607

It ain't the first HDMI-to-Mini DisplayPort adapter that we've heard of, but there's nothing like a little competition in a market that Apple's own closed mindset helped create. Bitterness aside, we're pretty stoked to hear that Kanex -- the same company responsible for that oh-so-handy Mini DisplayPort Adapter for Mac mini -- has introduced its own solution for piping Blu-ray, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 signals right onto that gorgeous 27-inch panel that resides in your iMac. Our BFFs over at TUAW stopped by the outfit's Macworld booth in order to give it a look, and they said that every pixel looked absolutely fantastic. Sadly, it looks as if you'll have to wait until April to drop your buck-fifty (not including cables), but hey, it's not like using that 13-inch CRT for a few more months will kill you. Or maybe it will, on second thought.

Kanex shows off HDMI to Mini DisplayPort adapter, your iMac celebrates originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  TUAW  | Email this | Comments

Darren Murph1744990577296459969003545964666694920486

Microsoft updates its Bing Maps application with more features, including one that integrates Flickr photos into its Streetside view, which presents an eye-level view of terrain. In the future, Microsoft plans to add real-time video, interior panoramas and constellation viewing to Bing Maps. The Bing road map for 2010 includes an increased focus on knitting together data from multiple sources for its results pages and structuring results more efficiently with help from third parties.
- Microsoft has integrated new features into its Bing Maps application as it continues to battle Google for U.S. search engine market share. The latest features continue the bulking-up of Bing Maps that has taken place over the previous few months and follow the road map for Bing that Microsoft la...

(author unknown)

Japanese Astronaut Souichi Noguchi, in orbit on board the International Space Station, tweets images back to Earth.(author unknown)

The latest minor-point update to OpenOffice brings users faster launch speeds and better support for Microsoft Office 2007-formatted files.(author unknown)

Newest Apple version of Microsoft's classic desktop suite includes collaboration tools, .PST file support, and Outlook.

Paul McDougall

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

If you're one of the more than 25 million Comcast subscribers, the bill you get next month may be for a service called Xfinity.

Beginning February 12, Comcast will begin rebranding its cable, Internet, and digital voice services in 11 markets under the Xfinity name, which it first debuted in December when the company began the process of acquiring NBC Universal.

At the time, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told investors, "We basically are creating two Comcasts."

Today, we found out more of what that entails.

In the company's earnings call for today Roberts said, "We are not only repositioning the company technically, we are repositioning the company with consumers." So Comcast the parent company will remain, but Xfinity will be the name the customers see, divorcing the stigmatized Comcast brand from the service.

The Xfinity advertising push is expected to begin during the 2010 Winter Olympics for subscribers in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Hartford, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Chattanooga, and Augusta.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010


Tim Conneally16746313862301274905

Redmond has provided a Release Candidate build of Microsoft Office 2010 to a select group of testers. "Microsoft made a release candidate available to members in the Technology Adoption Program (TAP)," a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed with Ars. "This is one of Microsoft's planned milestones in the engineering process; however they do not have plans to make this new code set available broadly."

Microsoft uses TAP to obtain real world customer feedback on its prerelease products from its partners. These partners have the opportunity to talk to the product engineering team, get help in deploying their Microsoft solutions, get early product education, and of course use feedback to influence the product during its development. The fact that Microsoft is not considering giving this build, or some RC version, to the public is a little worrying given that the company still has four months till Office 2010 is released. Granted, the final build will likely be compiled much sooner, but generally speaking, only providing a single public beta is uncharacteristic of the company. When we asked Microsoft about more public Office 2010 builds, the company refused to reveal anything. "We have nothing additional to share at this time," the spokesperson told Ars.

The Office 2010 beta that Microsoft gave out to the public three months ago was build 14.0.4536.1000 and has already been downloaded over 2 million times. Since then, and even before then, there have been many leaks of other builds; the latest one we've seen is build 14.0.4734.1000, which leaked out only last week:

Wzor.net

Office 2010 is the first release of the productivity suite that will come in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors and on one DVD no less. It is slated to be released in June 2010 with the same requirements as Office 2007 though under a different pricing scheme.

p_emil@hotmail.com (Emil Protalinski)0101444653999860109912564306142697517519

Monday night, Microsoft released a slew of updates for Windows, the majority of which were targeted for the latest versions of the client and server operating systems. None of these are security updates: this wasn't Patch Tuesday and Microsoft is not yet ready to address the 17-year-old Windows flaw. The most important update is just like the first stability and reliability update for the OSes, but smaller: Windows 7 32-bit (1.2MB), Windows 7 64-bit (1.7MB), Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (1.7MB), and Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium (2.1MB).

The patch resolves issues that affect some computers that use the Error Reporting service or Microsoft Customer Support Services. Microsoft plans to regularly release Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 stability and reliability updates, and this one builds on those that preceded it, adding the following fixes:

• Keyboard function keys or keyboard shortcuts, such as mute or calculator, may not work correctly
• The notification icon for an application may be moved or lost when the executable application is update
• On a computer that is running Windows 7, you configure the Screen Saver Settings to display the logon screen on resume. Additionally, you configure the computer to go to sleep. However, the computer may not go to sleep after the screen saver starts. Instead, a black screen is displayed. This problem causes the operating system to stop responding. You must restart the computer by holding down the power button.

If you're experiencing the issues described, you can download the updates from the Microsoft Download Center. Otherwise you can just wait till they trickle down via Windows Update—or until Service Pack 1 arrives.

The next update is for an issue that occurs in a very specific scenario: your Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 computer has an NVIDIA USB Enhanced Host Controller Interface (EHCI) chipset, at least 4GB of RAM, and while performing general I/O operations on an external USB device, such as copying data from the computer, either your computer stops responding or the copy operation stops abruptly. The fix is available for Windows 7 32-bit (449KB) and Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (516KB). Microsoft plans on including this update in SP1.

Microsoft also released updated versions of the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 32-bit (104.1MB), Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 64-bit (142.0MB), Windows Server 2008 Itanium (32.2MB), Windows 7 32-bit (28.9MB), Windows 64-bit (93.8MB), Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (93.8MB), and Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium (16.3MB). The tool was originally released in September 2009 to resolve certain conditions that could cause installing updates and other software not to work. Typically you do not have to manually run this tool (it is offered automatically through Windows Update to computers that have a condition that the tool could resolve). It runs a one-time scan for inconsistencies that might prevent future servicing operations and usually takes less than 15 minutes (though it has been known to appear as if it's stopped at 60 percent when run from Windows Update).

The Windows NT Backup Restore Utility has also been updated for Windows 7 32-bit (599KB), Windows 7 64-bit (669KB), Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (669KB), and Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium (1000KB). The tool was originally released in November 2009 and notably no longer included Removable Storage Manager (RSM), used for restoring backups from tape devices. Microsoft has no plans to include this update in SP1.

p_emil@hotmail.com (Emil Protalinski)098000149457828405861409849769274890955101014446539998601099

At one time or another you may have used a rented-out Windows PC, be that at business kiosks or Internet cafés. Technically speaking, though, doing so has never been legal. As of January 1, 2010, the licensing terms for Windows and Microsoft Office have been tweaked so that those that wish to rent, lease, or outsource desktop PCs to third parties with either software can do so by paying an extra fee. Microsoft license requirements for Windows and Office do not permit renting, leasing, or outsourcing the software to a third party. Redmond's solution to this piracy is outlined as the Microsoft Rental Rights Licensing:

Rental Rights are a simple way for organizations to get a waiver of these licensing restrictions through a one-time license transaction valid for the term of the underlying software license or life of the PC. Solidify your role as trusted advisor by helping your customers become compliant using an additive license that fits their business model—without requiring special tools, processes, reporting, or paperwork.

The one-time license fee must be paid for each Windows PC or Office copy that is being rented out. While the new terms were actually posted at the beginning of the year, this was done rather quietly, and was only picked up by media outlets this past Friday by Directions on Microsoft analyst Paul De Groot. According to Groot, the promotional price for Office Professional Plus is $58 versus the standard $83 and is $45 for Office Standard versus $64. Windows is offered at $23 compared to the usual price of $32. This promotional 30-percent-off discount (available until June 30, 2010) is an effort to boost initial sales of the option, though it will be difficult for small businesses to start paying for something that they were previously doing for free, albeit illegally.

p_emil@hotmail.com (Emil Protalinski)0101444653999860109913124397049399929510

Boxee.tv opens the doors to its beta software, a cross-platform program that allows users to access local and streaming media using their TV and remote control.

Originally posted at The Download Blog

Seth Rosenblatt

Mac only: Wine has always been popular among Linux users for running Windows programs, but Wine is available for Mac, too—and now, free utility WineBottler can "bottle" Windows programs into separate application bundles that run as standalone Mac apps.

To use WineBottler, just download a Windows EXE, then drag and drop it onto the WineBottler app. You can install them in a fake C: drive located by default in your home folder, just as you would on Linux, and run them from there easily. However, if you want to create a standalone application bundle (so that you can give a Windows program to a fellow Mac user, for example), WineBottler will create a separate bundle with Wine included inside, so your friend doesn't have to have Wine installed—the app acts just like any other OS X app.

Note that just like in Linux, not all Windows programs work in Wine—so you'll have to see for yourself if the program you want to convert is compatible. (Notepad++ Portable, in the screenshot above, worked great.)

WineBottler is a free download, Mac OS X only. Thanks, Tristan!

WineBottler

Whitson Gordon11422489053262679286024857996643510323950597975236764471651017678532429935004192044627323576633172840987997728686824923612812045112787004969146119642839016625010910143433951743618716067911078121431314047724688123648333970062065003116364375501378362922825043920046591685447322536630233796313009292662817545175314431150025100864376847344020490537193922703755489406593593121288579772140239573785743913590455740590796223384318239151586308523107150015738670173445321242418075328002323401538553538981867223013226657861499997751216249383043417910017927919090589896180089739829316711293431762406271092361843416883942766435144245149530402013140512750457044385794719770604222833215479896820005582885769700182040706891418781166230613663179497081186995102990814309078569050052071365246904202109745267346842718664024933618644598977260797770653827990900905841958425042691603010369699285847729880429061474861552344812999466221181650263035120732810360514891170594493624414555507937500685357262374061575019810698619630560856576656820000701058726096188651751110470373132684948551543729826386063217204530814351127471728032723096614332704710023928317277932080614846313215421287081042132191637625233490338921414807593932006183717648096895637032823834700294337870169958084799293076718180696974608707274059156196573276263690124805364301959722300842867450607946617046679476949150362870725330266649848422802803813250855760845119149769839450541261557931531910881778606128482727861634623116600782720863289051393353660677986583912135813852582076897043342923983953631041321772944812287870914439597350659869888075411825932075200180992915848038863736803142441575414086608084215626764612445591091069299366378261201458803566949015797016499727350088057960028188919075176411811224466181161839182032482357268427795001348522186864163909317379080138041887580120173208436855195781302962018360038392810443345534301057683103259089985484357050402723327893286816114747471189817126247008730849163868158010386051688150212514816092704656904227521

For some head-scratching reason, Skype didn't mention a major upgrade to its recent Windows beta when it dropped in early December. That would be the ability to make 720p, HD-quality video calls if your video hardware supports it.

No word yet on a Mac (or Linux) release with HD calling yet, and PC World guesses they wanted to make the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show, next to news about HDTV integration. I discovered the video boost, in hindsight, after recording a recent TV news appearance, so I can testify to the beta being worth an early upgrade.

Skype's 4.2 beta is a free download for Windows systems only. If you're seeing HD-quality video on your Skype beta setup, tell us what camera is giving you the good stuff in the comments (I was using this Adam-recommended Logitech 9000 during my brief video interview).

Skype [via PC World]

Kevin Purdy1088836669993049610702337963130092926628083030558015817964021583544054889064534812500273773961387583180473073269444770851509605933979830952710520603126709831527168679255798584362310148404453966973190209556099084421364964160927046569042275210861297728605086426116596833186735180147184413209928005120060653059389754865912510738481211695447838160420655458523821740694750750522852757106356140570470788237158163514742153979971505974363123380961815446488699731469294078110875752475107350125925449631476377909341611389986431837151237634645152203080825951734756557394206682196928262715167091166946507440168781793251102792299856111632751218400463468124387067954423214431235822345366090854204964116866821416483008894688975822618590635669896146292518409424190308236094550083473390316235888741308896340797045763204166993636538581874180951777516477520071797161243352815635908031590662036649182

Software maker offers two sets of prices, one for those buying a full boxed copy and a lower one for those just buying a product key code.(author unknown)

Company's free online phone service will be embedded in Internet-connected HDTVs from Panasonic and LG Electronics.(author unknown)

This post is part of the IT Innovation series, sponsored by Sun & Intel. Read more at ITInnovation.com. Of course, the content of this post consists entirely of the thoughts and opinions of the author.

Ah data centers. They may seem like a rather boring concept, but Data Center Knowledge recently put together a rather long list of some of the coolest data center video tours including Google's infamous data center: As well as a "James Bond" data center buried 100 feet beneath Stockholm in a former military bunker, with backup power from submarine engines and which has waterfalls and a glass-enclosed conference room that appears to "float" above the colo floor. I have to admit, suddenly data centers seem a lot cooler. Anyway, those are just the top two. The Data Center Knowledge link has a bunch more.

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Mike Masnick15340445436466473745010737655837822881050958675035519933720802550605553760053339059244293389274689780301264173610671138315776054887436828122013159682880970390471594596530477246856116162264327367100954

Search giant issues the first beta versions of its browser for Mac OS X and Linux. Maturity could spread adoption, and the stable version is due in a month.(author unknown)