TiVo is encountering increasing competition from satellite and cable companies who are developing their own DVR units. The game is changing though, because TiVo just won a lawsuit in appeals court against Echostar (Dish) for patent violations.

In this age of RIAA thug tactics and multiple questions on what is and is not legal in online music file sharing, it pays to RIAA-proof your network. According to recent statistics, 85% of college students polled say copyright pirates are criminals, yet 76% believe it is legal to share copyrighted music files with friends if the music has been purchased legally.

Google’s push for Open-Access has paid off with the $4.6 billion reserve being met in the 17th round of bidding early this morning.

Pushing Linux customization to a whole different level, Linspire just announced that it will now create unique Linux distributions for individual customers. That’s a potentially sweet deal for Linspire, as it may then be able to box customers inside an ongoing support contract.

Audible, a popular audiobook service, sold its soul yesterday, though it wasn’t it to the devil. Amazon and Audible have been partners since 2000, when the online store began selling Audible’s content, but now it belongs to Amazon despite that Audible still sells its content on iTunes.

It looks like even if HD DVD was to continue for much longer, there may start being a lack of companies to even make the discs.

If you are anything like me, your heart skips a little in cautious curiosity when a random number pops up on your private cell phone; we’ve all been disgusted by the telemarking call or unwanted stranger who somehow landed your number. Unfortunately, you can expect a lot more of that as one internet company is whoring your cell phone number to whatever low-lifes are willing to drop $15.

If you’ve gotten used to the Dell kiosks you’ve seen around the U.S., get used to seeing them gone. In what analysts see as a move to play catchup to HP, Dell is getting rid of the kiosks and concentrating on bigger chains like Wal-Mart instead.

Google’s work on Android and Dell’s recent emphasis on electronics with trendy designs make the two companies a good match for creating a new Linux-based mobile phone, and that may put the Apple iPhone in the crosshairs.

Apple launched its iPhone in the UK less than three months ago, but exclusive network provider 02 have already seen fit to lower the price of their monthly tariffs.

New York state legislative leaders, along with state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, have presented a bill that will help protect people from sexual predators on the internet.

In a major blow to communication reliability, internet access was disrupted across much of Egypt and India, along with several other Gulf Arab countries. No news agencies are reporting the incident as anything more than an accident at the moment. An international undersea cable was severed, causing the outage.

In a surprising move, the German arm of Sony has decided to give you credit on purchasing a Blu-ray player by bringing in your HD DVD player.

Wireless (WiFi) networks are convenient.  There are no cables to run, expanding it with wireless repeaters is relatively easy but let me ask you a question.  Is it secure?  If you have kept the default network name, settings, login and password on your router then most assuredly, it is not.  Any “Joe Hacker” (and it wouldn’t take much hacking) walking by could get into your network and computer to see exactly what you are doing.  Don’t let this happen to you!  Secure your router using its built-in tools.

Myspace has just announced that it will launch a developer platform on February 5th. The platform was originally mentioned in October of ‘07 at the Web 2.0 Summit.

HP has some relatively new laptops on the market like the DV6000 series which can be customized or bought in made-for-retail editions.  Two models are available for retail purchase, one of which is the subject of this review.

The world without Razrs and Krzrs sounds like a dark and deprived place.  This is exactly what we may be looking at.  Motorola has consistently lost market share to Samsung, Nokia and Sony.  After suffering a dramatic drop in mobile phone sales during the fourth quarter last year when compared with the same period in 2006, the company may exit the handset market.