Forbes Names Nvidia 'Company of the Year'

Nvidia has been named 'Company of the Year' by Forbes magazine. In selecting the visual computing major for its cover story, Forbes described Nvidia as leading "the breakneck, highly lucrative graphics chip business, giving high definition to Web videos, and bringing a visual kick to digital video games."

Forbes highlighted the rapid proliferation of 3D applications such as Google Earth as an area of continuing growth for the company: "As bandwidth becomes cheap and ubiquitous, people will want 3D power as much online as they do now in desktop games, and the demand for graphics processors will grow."

Referencing Nvidia’s recent entry into high-performance computing, Forbes reported that the company is focusing on "a host of new customers that will need number-crunching power: oil companies doing deep-sea seismic analysis, Wall Street banks modeling portfolio risk, and biologists visualizing molecular structures to find drug target sites.

"Pricing 150,000 equity options in a second or assessing how much crude oil sits in a pocket 6 miles below the earth's surface are massively parallel mathematical computing problems for which graphics processors are peculiarly equipped," it added.

Nvidia was selected from an initial list of over 1000 companies. Forbes editors reviewed the 'Platinum 400' list of best-managed companies in the US, considering financial performance as well as factors such as management ability, innovation, and leadership.

Trojan Found for Modded iPhones

So the iPhone has a virus. A trojan no less. F-Secure has confirmed the same, but it was a site for iPhone enthusiasts, called Modmyifone.com, that first got reports of this information. According to the site, this particular trojan masks itself as an update to Erica's Utilities and is labeled as "113 prep." It's been designed to target modded iPhones that are capable of installing third party applications, such as the one mentioned above.

F-Secure said that the trojan installation package contains false application installation information that causes legitimate third party applications to be removed if the trojan is uninstalled from the iPhone. F-Secure also reported that the website hosting the trojan has been taken offline. This application removes files from the /bin directory on the iPhone, breaking valid apps like Sendfile and Erica's Utilities.

CES 2008: Toshiba Updates U305 Range

Toshiba has updated its range of laptops to Intel’s new Penryn platform. The models that have been updated include the Qosmio F45 and the U305 range.

In the U305 range there are three models available. The first is the U305-S2804, which comes with a 1280 x 800 pixel 13.3-inch screen, 1.66GHz T5450 Core 2 Duo processor , X3100 integrated graphics, 2GB RAM, a 160GB disk, dual-layer-burner, integrated Wi-Fi, and a built-in webcam.

The second model is the U305-S2812, which sports a 1.83GHz T5550 Core 2 Duo processor and 250GB disk, and includes Bluetooth and a fingerprint reader. Other specifications are the same as in the first model.

The final model in the lineup is the U305-S2816, which sports a fairly generic configuration similar to the above, but runs on a 2.1 GHz Penryn T8100 Core 2 Duo processor.

Pricing and availability of these products are not known at the moment

CES 2008: Motorola Unveils Two New W-Series Phones

Motorola has introduced two new W-series GSM handsets at the ongoing International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2008). The new W230 and W270 handsets offer expandable memory with optional microSD card and a simplified interface for text messaging.

"These new devices offer design elements, music features and outstanding battery life that consumers don’t expect to find at this price point," said Stu Reed, president, Motorola Mobile Devices. "Whether buying your first phone or trying out a music phone for the first time, these new models from Motorola are the perfect choice."

The W230 and W270 include features a dedicated music key that activates an integrated digital audio player which supports MP3 and other popular formats. Your favorite songs can be stored using optional microSD removable memory cards up to 2GB in size.

In addition, users have access to free music and news through an FM radio with integrated Radio Data System (RDS) which displays artist, title and type of song playing on the radio. Users can also record FM radio clips to use as the phone’s alarm, share favorite stations with friends through text messaging, and listen via headphones or speaker.

Both devices offer Motorola CrystalTalk technology that helps reduce background noise, up to nine hours of talk time, the capacity to store up to 500 text messages and phone contacts, one-click access to create text messages, and the ability to access the Web.

The W230 is available in two interchangeable faceplate color palettes: licorice/silver, and titanium gray/mandarin. Both handsets are expected to be available in Q1 2008.

EU Reaches ITunes Deal With Apple

Apple Inc. will scrap its iTunes pricing policies across Europe and charge consumers in Britain and the rest of Europe the same for music downloads, the company and the European Union said Wednesday.

Apple charges about 9 cents more per song in Britain compared with prices in nations that use the euro. The company said it has to pay more to record companies in Britain for distribution rights.

The maker of the popular iPod media players had been under investigation since April by EU authorities after a British consumer group complained that Apple and major record companies were unfairly restricting choice and ramping up the cost of downloads.

The European Commission said it had closed an antitrust probe into iTunes ties with record labels after finding no evidence that EU laws were broken. However, the EU said some copyright issues involving Apple remain.

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes welcomed the agreement, saying it would "allow consumers to benefit from a truly single market for music downloads" across the 27-nation bloc.

Apple said it will lower prices for music on its British iTunes site within six months to match prices charged at 16 iTunes stores across Europe and "reconsider" ties with companies that do not lower wholesale prices in the UK during that same period.

"This is an important step toward a pan-European marketplace for music," said Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs in a statement.

EU regulators said Apple's distribution agreements contained territorial restrictions which violate EU competition rules because consumers can only download music from iTunes stores in their country of residence. Music buyers must provide a credit card issued by a bank with an address in the country where they live.

Downloading a single in Britain costs 79 pence compared with 99 euro cents ($1.46) in Europe, a difference of about 9 cents allowing for currency conversion.

The European Commission said it would not address the complaints of some consumer groups over copyright restrictions which Apple says it is forced to abide by.

The EU executive office said there is "no agreement" between Apple and major record companies on how iTunes stores are organized in Europe, notably on allowing consumers to download music from an iTunes store outside their country of residence.

The commission said consumers should be allowed to make purchases from iTunes "without restrictions." But it said it was aware that the licensing practices of some record companies and publishers make it "difficult for iTunes to operate stores accessible for a European consumer anywhere in the EU."

Steve Jobs said Wednesday he would continue to try to convince record companies to lift restrictions so Apple can set up a single iTunes store for all of Europe.

"We hope every major record label will take a pan-European view of pricing," Jobs said.

Online music downloads in Europe still lag behind the United States, pulling in just a fraction of revenues the record industry is losing from falling CD sales.

A report published this week by technology consultancy JupiterResearch said digital music spending last year was 401.2 million euros ($590 million), up 63 percent from 2006, but only 13 percent of lost CD sales throughout the year.

Bangladesh Gets Its First BlackBerry

Bangladesh's Grameenphone and Research In Motion (RIM) have launched the first BlackBerry solution in Bangladesh.

Available for the first time in Bangladesh, BlackBerry smartphones will provide Grameenphone's customers with access to a range of mobile applications, including email, browsing, messaging, phone, organizer, multimedia and a wide range of other business and lifestyle applications.

Grameenphone will initially offer the BlackBerry 8700g and the BlackBerry Pearl smartphones in conjunction with BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Internet Service. The BlackBerry 8700g and the BlackBerry Pearl will operate on Grameenphone’s EDGE/GPRS enabled GSM network.

Anders Jensen, CEO at Grameenphone said, "The BlackBerry platform is the gold standard in mobility for business users around the world. We are proud to be the first mobile operator launching the BlackBerry platform in Bangladesh, bringing in the next level of global connectivity for businesses."

Norm Lo, Vice President of Asia Pacific at Research In Motion said, "The BlackBerry platform, together with Grameenphone’s network, will offer an innovative and powerful mobile solution that enables users to be more productive, flexible and successful in both work and life."

The BlackBerry 8700g and the BlackBerry Pearl smartphones will be available from Grameenphone in January 2008.

For more information on the BlackBerry solution from Grameenphone, click here.