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Facebook on Tuesday proposed a new version of its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities document, which acts as a terms of service for its users.

One of the larger changes is clearer language of Facebook's share to everyone feature, which is now an integral part of the social network's updated search engine. The new wording makes it pretty clear that anything users post with the "everyone" designation can be seen by the entire world, not just users on the service.

The company also added a new section which details proper use of its pages features, including … Read more

In the legal dispute over heavy metal action game Brutal Legend, Activision and Double Fine Productions have reportedly buried the hatchet. Or more appropriately, the ax.

A scheduled Los Angeles Superior Court hearing in which Activision was to argue for a judge to block the release of Brutal Legend was canceled Thursday, the Associated Press is reporting. The publisher's attorneys said a settlement was reached, negating the need for the hearing, a representative of the court told the AP.

No notice of settlement has been filed in the case, and there are no details as to the terms of … Read more

The 10-megapixel Fujifilm FinePix Z30 is, for the most part, a fairly basic ultracompact camera with a 3x optical zoom and a 2.7-inch LCD. But along with its interesting looks there are a couple other extras to make it stand out from other youth-oriented models.

For example, you get face detection and automatic scene recognition to help with fast shooting, but there's also a Blog Mode (a carryover from the Z20fd), which preps shots and video so they can go right online for sharing.

There are separate buttons for the still photo shutter release and movie record taking … Read more

While a lot of the exciting new features and designs come to point-and-shoots above $200, most of the buying happens at and below that price points. So while these four new models from Fujifilm aren't exciting, they are inexpensive, look decent, and have the requisite specs and features for their class.

The A170 and A220 are 10- and 12-megapixel cameras, respectively, each featuring a 3x zoom lens, 2.7-inch LCD, and are AA-battery powered. They have Fujifilm's brand of auto scene recognition called SR Auto as well as face detection and panorama shooting with in-camera stitching. There's … Read more

The 10-megapixel Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR is only 1.1 inches thick when closed, but tucked in its belly is a long-and-wide 10x f3.3-F5.6 27-270mm lens. And as its name implies, it features the company's Super CCD EXR sensor that debuted in the FinePix F200EXR.

With that sensor comes some unique shooting modes for improving low-light shooting and dynamic range, as well as traditional Scene, Program AE, Aperture Priority AE, and Manual modes.

This model, as well as the S200EXR announced Wednesday, include new Super CCD EXR modes using Multi Frame Technology. One of the modes, Pro Focus, … Read more

The Intel-Advanced Micro Devices rivalry spans decades. But in a phone interview last week, the top lawyer at AMD discussed critical moments when the competition with Intel got particularly nasty.

Tom McCoy, AMD's senior vice president of legal affairs, cited two critical junctures in the Intel-AMD rivalry when Intel turned up the heat and, he claims, violated the law.

McCoy said the first major assault from Intel came in 1999, when AMD launched the Athlon architecture. "When we go back and we look at all the anecdotal incidents of Intel violating the law, they always center on when … Read more

An Advanced Micro Devices executive claims that Intel and Apple cut a deal in 2005 that made Intel an exclusive supplier of processors to Apple, preventing AMD from gaining Apple business.

The claim, made in a phone interview with Tom McCoy, AMD's senior vice president of legal affairs, earlier this week, holds that Intel has had a longstanding deal to be Apple's sole supplier of microprocessors. To date, Apple has not used an AMD central processing unit (CPU) in any of its products. Currently, only Intel CPUs populate Apple's laptop, desktop, and server lineups.

This assertion by AMD comes in the wake of the EU decision last week to fine Intel $1.45 billion for violating antitrust legislation. Last week's EU decision centered on whether Intel used illegal tactics to deny processor business to AMD at PC makers.

McCoy said that a deal was struck when Apple moved from the PowerPC (IBM-Motorola) chip architecture to the x86 (Intel-AMD) architecture. The transition was announced by Steve Jobs at the Worldwide Developers Conference in 2005.

"They made a deal when they were porting over from PowerPC to x86 as to how much Intel was willing to pay for that port. My guess is that Intel asked for and won exclusivity in return for the help that they gave Apple to port," McCoy said.

McCoy continued: "That deal will not be exclusive forever and when that exclusivity is over, I'm sure they (Apple) will choose on the merits. We'll have a chance to compete for Apple's business when Apple is ready," he said. Intel denies this allegation.

Though McCoy did not make any direct charge of illegal activity regarding such a deal, the assertion is not that far removed from charges made in the July 2005 AMD complaint against Intel. AMD, in that filing, cited Dell, among other examples of exclusive Intel deals with PC makers. "In its history, Dell has not purchased a single AMD x86 microprocessor despite acknowledging Intel shortcomings and customer clamor for AMD solutions, principally in the server sector...Dell has been and remains Intel-exclusive. According to industry reports, Intel has bought Dell's exclusivity with outright payments and favorable discriminatory pricing and service." (Note: Dell, in 2005, offered no AMD-based products, though it does today.)

Whether the deal is exclusive doesn't in itself constitute a legal argument, according to Joshua D. Wright of the George Mason University School of Law, who has written about the EU decision in a blog, "Truth on the Market." "Under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, a plaintiff must show that the exclusive dealing arrangement harmed competition in the form of higher prices, lower output, or reduced innovation," Wright said, responding to an e-mail query. … Read more