The demise of HD-DVD

[PunchJump] Toshiba Corp. will announce an exit from the HD DVD market on Tues. The claim coincides with an earlier report from NHK Japan Broadcasting Corp. that it will end HD DVD production and close DVD factories in the Aomori prefecture in Northern Japan.

The strange journey of the iPhone

[NYT] For months, tourists, small entrepreneurs and smugglers of electronic goods have been buying iPhones in the United States and then shipping them overseas.
There the phones’ digital locks are broken so they can work on local cellular networks, and they are outfitted with localized software, essentially undermining Apple’s effort to introduce the phone with exclusive partnership deals.

RIM, Motorola declare war through patent lawsuits

[Forbes] Motorola got pistol-whipped with a Blackberry, a Blackberry Research In Motion lawsuit that is. The phone-maker was served the same day it filed a nearly identical suit against its competitor. RIM and Motorola each accuse the other of stealing technology, and are determined to fight it out in court.

MSFT-YHOO merger faces technical challenge

[NYT] Microsoft and Yahoo have drastically opposite philosophies on open-source software. While Microsoft has used some open-source code, it has generally not contributed technology to the open-source community. In contrast, Yahoo has been an extensive contributor and has built its internal computing platform almost entirely from open source.

OEMtek says it can double Prius' mileage

[Merc] For $12,500, OEMtek says it can add a bigger battery pack to your Prius and double its mileage - to 100 mpg or more. "There are people who want this right now, no matter what," said Cindi Choi, vice president of business development.

Harvard site hacked

[PCW] One of Harvard University's Web sites appeared on Monday to have been hacked, with its contents appearing on the BitTorrent file-sharing network. A compressed 125 MB file described as the database for the Web site of Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is available via the BitTorrent P-to-P (peer to peer) network.