imnuts’ Home

Microsoft said Friday that it was going to start testing a subscription service that combines its OneCare anti-virus package, the home version of its Office suite, and some other features in one package, called Albany, to be sold by subscription. Microsoft already sells OneCare in the form of annual subscriptions, but it represents the first time it will sell Office that way.

This seems like a useful experiment, but dreadfully late. And I’m not sure it confronts the major questions of value in the marketplace. Consumers are used to getting so much free these days that I wonder what they will be willing to pay for. Microsoft won’t answer the biggest question about the bundle: how much it will cost? So let’s think about the options. Right now OneCare has a list price of $50 a year, and Microsoft Office Home and Student lists for $150 in the version you can use forever. (Amazon is currently selling a one-year OneCare subscription for $30 and the home Office version for $120.) Read more »

Opera on Thursday added Google's Android to the list of platforms that can run its mobile browser. Opera released a technical preview of its Opera Mini browser for Google's mobile OS and middleware on its Web site, the company said Thursday. The company also released a software development kit for the platform.

Developers can test the browser and share feedback about it that will be considered before Opera releases a beta version, which it will do once it collects feedback from the community. In a company blog posting, Opera's Developer Relationship Manager Chris Mills explained why the company decided to create a version of its mobile browser for Android and the particulars and challenges of writing the code. According to the post, Opera considered the "cool factor" in providing a browser for Google's much-ballyhooed mobile platform, but also wanted to give users and developers the broadest possible choice for deploying its browser. Read more »

Microsoft on Thursday plans to introduce a Web-based service for driving directions that incorporates complex software models to help users avoid traffic jams. The new service’s software technology, called Clearflow, was developed over the last five years by a group of artificial-intelligence researchers at the company’s Microsoft Research laboratories. It is an ambitious attempt to apply machine-learning techniques to the problem of traffic congestion. The system is intended to reflect the complex traffic interactions that occur as traffic backs up on freeways and spills over onto city streets.

The Clearflow system will be freely available as part of the company’s Live.com site (maps.live.com) for 72 cities in the United States. Microsoft says it will give drivers alternative route information that is more accurate and attuned to current traffic patterns on both freeways and side streets. A system for driving directions that Microsoft introduced last fall was limited, because without Clearflow there was no information available about traffic conditions on city streets adjacent to the highways. Because the system assumed that those routes would be clear, drivers were on occasion sent into areas that were more congested than the freeways. Read more »

Still reeling from the recently concluded format war? Lucky for some early adopters, the number of retailers lining up to ease your pain is growing: first Best Buy, then Wal-Mart, and now Amazon. The online retail giant is currently offering a $50 credit for every HD DVD player purchased on its site. The offer is good until April 9, 2009, for HD DVD players bought before February 23, when Toshiba said it would stop making the devices.

Gizmodo has posted the e-mail sent to some Amazon customers on Tuesday. I've excerpted the best parts: "New technologies don't always work out as planned. We at Amazon.com value our customer relationships more than anything and would like to support customers who purchased these players by offering a credit good for $50 off any products sold by Amazon.com...In addition, we'd like to share some of our top offers on Blu-ray discs, HDTVs and other high-def technology..." Read more »

Hillary Clinton unveiled a new radio ad in Pennsylvania today attacking Barack Obama for what her campaign calls "misleading television ads claiming he doesn't take money from oil companies." Obama is referring to his refusal to accept money from corporate PACs, which he argues are a corrupting force in Washington. But he does take money from oil company employees, and that's what Clinton is using to accuse him of hypocrisy. Her ad also hits Obama for voting for the Bush administration's energy bill in 2005.

Clinton is "the one who will make the oil companies pay to set up a new strategic energy fund that will cut our dependence on foreign oil, invest in new clean energy, and create five million new jobs," her ad says. "It's time for a president who takes on the oil companies in real life, not just on TV." In real life, though, it is Clinton who has taken more money from oil and gas company employees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (see below). And it is Clinton who accepts PAC funds from energy corporations.

Source: Boston Globe