Stories by Jeff Bertolucci

Apple bans Palm Pre from iTunes: get the work-around

The latest iTunes update, version 8.2.1, may offer up a few bug fixes, but its real purpose is to prevent the Palm Pre from syncing with iTunes. The move isn't a surprise. Last month, Apple warned that future versions of iTunes probably wouldn't support syncing with non-Apple media players. Today, Tom Neumayr, an Apple spokeson, reinforced that position:

Apple: more than 1.5 billion apps served

It's no secret that iTunes' App Store has proven wildly successful--so much so that Apple's smartphone competitors are scrambling to duplicate the concept. But just to drive the point home, Apple today announced that its customers have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications since the App Store opened one year ago.

Music pirate mum deserves a new trial

Attorneys for Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a Minnesota mother of four slapped with a $1.92 million fine by a federal jury last month for illegally downloading 24 songs, have filed a request for a new trial.

World's oldest Christian Bible goes digital

Time is never kind to paper manuscripts, particular those written more than 1600 years ago. Some 800 pages remain of the Codex Sinaiticus, a version of the Christian Bible written in the fourth century, and the original text is thought to be nearly twice as long. Historians believe the book may be world's oldest Christian Bible.

Will iPhones get tactile feedback, fingerprint ID?

It's always fun to speculate about what Apple has up its sleeve, and one way to get the rumors flying is to uncover Cupertino's latest patent applications. MacRumors has done just that, and the paperwork shows Apple has its eye on some intriguing technologies that may find their way into future iPhones and iPods.

Hybrid satellite-cell pocket phone may arrive this year

Previous attempts to create a mass-market satellite phone may have failed miserably--just ask the backers of Globalstar, Iridium, and Odyssey--but a Virginia-based satellite firm believes it has a better solution that just may work this time.

Google: We've made a breakthrough in image search

Humans may excel at pattern recognition, but computers aren't very smart at identifying images. Our brains can immediately identify photos of famous landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty or Great Wall of China, but computers are typically clueless without text tags as a cheat sheet.

Five questions about Opera Unite

Opera Software lit up the blogosphere today with the debut of its Opera Unite, a collaborative technology that embeds a Web server in its Opera 10 browser, which is still in beta.

HTC Hero Android Phone Coming June 24?

This truly is turning into the Summer of Smartphones. The Palm Pre, of course, has already debuted to mostly positive reviews, and seemingly endless clues point to a next-gen iPhone launch in the very near future.

YouTube hit with service outage

YouTube users today were reporting service outages and delays with the popular video site. On Twitter, dozens of users complained that they couldn't connect to YouTube, or that they couldn't watch videos once they were on the site.

Fed up with Twitter spam? It's going to get worse

As every Twitter user knows, the popular micro-blogging site has become a hot spot for spammers intent on carpet bombing users with the usual pitches for government grants, debt-reduction services, and penile-enhancement pills.

Windows 7 will ship with very cool multi-touch software

Some see the touch interface as the next big thing in personal computing, while others view it as a gimmick that won't replace traditional input devices anytime soon. I'm split on the issue. The success of Apple's iPhone proves that touch, if done correctly, is a great way to navigate a digital device, particularly one that's handheld, petite, and portable.

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