This new move has brought some of the top U.S television network onto the negotiation the negotiation tables with Apple, as they have expressed their interest in the new service. As per the sources close to the talks, the meetings taking places between the executives of Apple and television networks are in early stages.

Some of the top television networks such as ABC and CBS are right now in consideration mode in regards to the new proposed online television service from Apple and have already expressed their interest their interest in the venture. Walt Disney Company, that owns ABC, could in theory allow two of its channels, ABC Family and the Disney Channel to be aired via the online service. On the other hand, some of the biggest television networks in America such as, News Corporation, have expressed their skepticism over the viability of the project as a television programming made through broadband internet subscriptions could very well lead to the demise of the regular television programming as we know it.

Apple had stated that, the new service could be charged at $30 a month for the users and the networks on the other will be paid on a monthly basis by Apple.

Via New York Times.

The music hardware giant, Sony Corporation has announced that, it will be launching an all new online music store, called Sony Online Service, that will be one stop store for music, videos and other multimedia entertainment files. The Sony Online Service is being viewed as a stark competitor to the Apple iTunes, that has so far led the domain of online music stores.

The all new service from Sony was announced at Sony’s management strategy meeting in Tokyo, Japan and the service is expected to have some similarities to iTunes, that has been taken as the platform on which Sony Online Service has been designed.

Sony plans to the integrate its on PlayStation network, a services that provides the PlayStation gamers with an online environment where they can play the multi player modes of their favorite titles. The PlayStation network is currently comprised of more than 33 million users world wide.

According to a report published by Sony Corporation,

“Sony will try to differentiate its service from iTunes. One example: Users will be able to upload videos shot on camcorders, save photos taken with digital cameras, and post other digital content to their personal online accounts. That’s how Google’s suite of Net-based services (such as YouTube video-sharing and Picasso photo site) works. At some point down the road, Sony would consider letting independent software developers create applications for the service, much the way Apple does for its iPhone.”

Sony has long been facing financial crunch especially in its two most prominent divisions, TVs and video games. Due to the global economic downturn and the high prices of Sony electronic appliances, the company has witnessing a substantial loss in its revenue and profits. The all new online strategy developed by Sony management is the only shot that, the company can pin its hopes on for a recovery.

Via Electric Pig.

Take an Apple iPhone 3G, Microsoft Windows 7 and Intel P55 Chipset, mix them together and what you get is a nasty dose of headache. And that is exactly what majority of iPhone 3G users running Windows 7 on an Intel P55 chipset are suffering from. Support forums on the websites of Apple and Intel have been flooded with the complaint of incompatibility of Apple iPhone 3G synchronization.

Although the new Windows 7 recognize the iPhone via Apple iTunes, yet when the users begin the sync process, their systems either show cryptic “error 0xE8000065“, that is binary jargon for iPhone connectivity failure or the computers simply freeze and become entirely unresponsive. Now, after weeks of inconvenience and scores of forum posts later, Intel Inc. has finally announced that, it is investigating the glitch and responding to iPhone users. On the other hand, Microsoft remains blame free and has stated that, the Windows 7 OS is working fine and the company hasn’t received any complaints from the users regarding the iPhone sync debacle.

According to an Intel spokesman,

“Our leading theory is a BIOS or system configuration issue, but we are still investigating.”

As of now Microsoft hasn’t contacted by any Windows 7 user in this regard, nor any such complaint has been lodged in the company’s customer support call centers. As per a statement released by a Microsoft spokesman,

“We reviewed the issue raised on the Apple Discussion Board and are currently investigating. If we determine this to be a problem specific to Windows 7, we will post an update on the Microsoft Answers site.”

Despite the investigations promised by all three companies, the fact remains that, the users are the ones suffering in the end with dissatisfaction and frustration reaching a fever pitch. The prospects of a lawsuit against Intel or either of the firms isn’t a far fetched idea and could very well lead to disastrous results for either Intel, Apple or Microsoft.

Via Computer World.

One of the most popular online music streaming services, Spotify has apparently developed an application, especially for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch devices. The Sweden based enterprise, has released a video, depicting its application in action, proving that, they have already submitted their application to Apple Inc for the company’s approval. Users could see the Spotify application in the Apple Apps Store soon. However, the company hasn’t pinned its hopes entirely on Apple iPhone. Instead, Spotify has also released a paid version of the same application for other mobile devices, where users will be required to a take paid or premium membership to use the service.

As of now, Spotify is running its operations only in the United Kingdom and Europe and has seen great amount of success in this region. Recently, Spotify struck a deal with indie labels to acquire 2 millions songs, before it launches its services in the United States of America.

Video of Spotify in action on an Apple iPhone.

Via TechCrunch.

Recently, in an effort to downsize Palm Inc’s smart-phone, Pre, Apple had released an update to the Apple iTunes software, that prohibited Pre users to synchronize their smart phones with iTunes, thereby limiting Pre’s capability to work as an iPod as well.

However, in response to such an act of monopoly, Palm, today released an update to its Pre software, that will now make this mobile device re-compatible with Apple iTunes again. According to Palm’s official blog post,

“Oh, and one more thing: Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync. That’s right — you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes (8.2.1).”

However, Apple hasn’t announced a counter move to Palm’s latest attempt to keep it up to the smart phone giant, Apple Inc. Though, in a statement, Apple spokesman said,

“As we’ve said before, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players.”

Via Reuters.

Now, this teen wiz kid has come out with yet another jailbreak for the all new Apple iPhone 3G S. This new jailbreak revolves around the apps used in the device and enables users to install and run third party applications, that are not authorized or accepted by Apple’s App Store. The jailbreak software is called ‘purplera1n‘.

As of now, purplera1n is only compatible with Microsoft Windows operating system, except the anew Windows 7 OS. To run this jailbreak program, users need to install the latest version Apple iTunes along with an Apple iPhone 3G S that should be running in 3.0 firmware. Hotz has stated that he is working on a MAC version for the jailbreak and it would be released soon. Users are advised to back up all of their phone data before using this software, as purplera1n is still in the Beta mode.

Via his own blog, George Hotz said,

“But guys, what’s up with waiting until 3.1? That isn’t how the game is played. We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn’t worth waiting because you might have the ‘last’ hole in the iPhone. What last hole…this isn’t golf. I’ll find a new one next week.”

Here is a video of the ‘purplera1n’ in action.(Courtesy: CrunchGear)

Via Cnet