VoIP In Detail

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that allows users to post neutral information, has blocked several Church of Scientology IP addresses from posting content after the group allegedly posted content pushing its agenda.

The licensing arm for the HDMI standard governing the wired transfer of high-definition multimedia content between consumer electronics devices said an upgrade to the spec will be ready for industry-wide adoption by the end of next month. Called HDMI 1.4, the upgrade represents an important milestone because of the additional enhancements to the high-definition content experience that it will bring to PCs and home consumer electronics, HDMI Licensing President Steve Venuti said.

With all the anticipation surrounding the Palm Pre smartphone, which is scheduled to be launched exclusively through Sprint Nextel on June 6, other carriers are scrambling to let potential smartphone buyers know they will eventually have the Palm Pre on hand.

President Barack Obama cited the disorganized response to the widespread Conficker worm Friday as he declared cybersecurity a priority for national security. He promised to personally select a cybersecurity coordinator to head a new White House office

The evolution of video on the Web from a curious experiment to a cornucopia of channels took another step Thursday as Hulu.com released a beta of a downloadable application that allows viewing its collection from the desktop. Eric Feng, Hulu CTO, wrote on the company blog that Hulu Desktop enables users to “find and enjoy your favorite Hulu videos in a rich, full-screen computer window that you can control with your mouse or keyboard or any six-button PC or Mac remote control.” ‘Step Outside’ of Browser Feng said the application is the result of a small engineering team asking themselves how to make it easier for users to “immerse themselves” in Hulu’s TV shows and movies.

Bing. Microsoft is calling the successor to Windows Live Search a “decision engine” that lets users move beyond search to make faster, more informed decisions. Bing does this by building on today’s search-engine technology, but offering a new user experience and tools to accomplish any one of four goals: Making a purchase, planning a trip, researching a health condition, or finding a local business

What do you get when you use e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, wikis and other collaboration tools as a starting point for an entirely new communications model? The answer is Google Wave

They built a new digital voting system, but the voters didn’t come. There was some disagreement Wednesday over why only 6.3 percent of eligible voters used a new, first-in-the-nation digital voting procedure to cast ballots for Honolulu neighborhood board seats via the Internet or by touch-tone phone. But officials at both the Neighborhood Commission, which oversees the neighborhood board elections, and the San Diego, Calif.-based company that created the voting system, insist that digital voting is probably the wave of the future

The new leaders of News Corp.’s MySpace said Wednesday they need to innovate to rejuvenate the social networking site, which has suffered from stalled user growth. Owen Van Natta didn’t detail specifics but indicated that the ability to make changes to the site was a reason he took the job of MySpace chief executive last month. “When I look at MySpace there’s just so much opportunity to build,” Van Natta said at The Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference.

Yahoo Inc.’s chief executive said Wednesday that she is open to joining forces with Microsoft Corp. so both companies can better compete in Internet search, but a deal would need a specific set of terms — including “boatloads of money.” An alliance in Internet search would have to enrich Yahoo, give Yahoo access to the “right data” and bring strong technology, Carol Bartz said at The Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference. In the past, Yahoo has insisted it needs data culled from search requests to sell the most effective ads and tailor other services to suit its users’ interests.