rumor

Is Time Warner finally going to unload AOL?

There's been chatter on the Web (and Wall Street) for years now about whether Time Warner should spin off its AOL subsidiary. Now, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, it looks as though Time Warner's management is looking to tweak the requirements that prevent it from unloading AOL. So it finally might happen.

On the other hand, AOL's slow drift away from its parent company has been at about the speed of plate tectonics; these "fresh start for AOL" moves are nothing new. It was way back in 2003 that Time Warner … Read more

Nikon prepping new low-end SLR?

Nikon's lower-end SLR line is due for a revamp, and there are some signs that it could come soon in the form of a model featuring an articulated screen.

Photos of an SLR with a screen that pivots out and twists surfaced Sunday at the Something Awful forum and Monday at Engadget; the photos depict the production of a Nikon commercial in Eastern Europe, according to the forum posting from "indyjb" and Engadget.

Articulating screens are nothing new; some Olympus and Panasonic SLRs feature them, while some Sony models have a pivoting LCD that can be useful. … Read more

LG Banter also available from U.S. Cellular

As you might recall, the LG Banter is Alltel's version of the LG Rumor 2. Well, U.S. Cellular will also offer the phone, and we managed to take a slightly closer look at the LG Banter at CTIA 2009.

Indeed, it looks a lot like the LG Rumor 2, but it has a slightly more rectangular design, plus it has interchangeable faceplates. The faceplates are pretty easy to take on and off--just slip your finger nail in around the edge to pry it off. So far, the Banter has silver and green face plates. The Banter's keyboard … Read more

Facebook flick moves ahead, but Facebook not thrilled

I won't believe it for sure until we see grainy paparazzi shots of actor Michael Cera walking around on a movie set in a North Face fleece and Adidas flip-flops, but it looks like things are moving forward on the film based on the early days of Facebook.

And, Business Insider hears, Facebook may be warning former employees not to talk to people involved with the making of the movie.

This is consistent with something I heard last fall from an early Facebook employee who is no longer with the company. This former Facebooker said the company had told … Read more

Murdoch biographer: News Corp. should buy Twitter

So should News Corp. buy Twitter? That's what Vanity Fair columnist and pundit Michael Wolff speculated this week in an article on Newser.com, the aggregation site he founded.

"There may not be anything less than Twitter that can distract Wall Street from News Corp.'s stubborn and, at this point, unnatural newspaper fetish," Wolff wrote, "and, as well, convince it, for one last hurrah, that (CEO Rupert Murdoch) isn't...well, gone."

The catalyst for Wolff's recommendation was the recent hire of former AOL chief Jon Miller as head of News Corp.'s … Read more

MacBook Mini mockup: Fan fake or the real deal?

When it comes to anything Apple--and especially anything Mac Netbook-related--you can blog virtually anything and get a huge response from readers.

Well, Monday's Apple Netbook entry comes to us from a Russian magazine that printed up what's almost assuredly fake concept art for a MacBook mini (it's not quite April Fool's Day, but we're close). What's amusing is that it all looks pretty real on the surface, with a price tag ($899), a release date (sometime this year), and detailed specs that have some folks drooling:

10.4-inch WXGA display 1280x768-pixel resolution with LED backlighting Nvidia MCP79 chipset Intel Atom Z740 1.83GHz CPU with 1MB L2 cache 2GB DDR3-800 memory Nvidia GeForce 9400M GPU 64GB solid-state drive Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n connectivity 1 USB 2.0 socket 1 Mini Display Port Lithium ion 5100mA battery

Looks too good to be true. Or does it?

9to5 via Gizmodo.

See another photo after the jump.… Read more

Rumor: Sony PlayStation announcement 'imminent'

The rumors are flying about a possible big Sony PlayStation announcement for Tuesday. The only problem is no one is sure what the announcement involves, with speculation running from a PS3 price drop to a PS2 price drop to something about God of War 3.

Anyway, the original rumor came from an Australian publication, Smarthouse, but Kotaku says it's gotten word directly from Sony that an announcement is "imminent."

Furthermore, Kotaku thinks that we're looking at a PS2 price drop to $99.99, not the much-hoped-for PS3 price drop to $299.99. Joystiq concurs with a … Read more

Facebook launching virtual currency? Don't get too excited

On Tuesday night, a Los Angeles Times blog post pointed to an soundbite that Facebook "gaming guru" Gareth Davis produced at the GamesBeat conference in San Francisco: that the company is "looking at" offering a virtual currency to developers. The virtual goods industry, the article notes, is a $1.5 billion behemoth.

This would mean that games and other apps with a presence on Facebook could use a universal "Facebook currency" that would not only be interoperable between apps, it could also line Facebook's pockets with some extra cash. But Davis' language ("… Read more

Dialed In 72: Finally, MMS on the iPhone

Forget green beer, Apple chose St. Patrick's Day to roll out big changes to the iPhone. The new iPhone OS 3.0 promises a host of sorely-needed features, including multimedia messaging and cut and paste. In this episode of Dialed In, we tell you all about the new additions, and give our take on what they mean for Apple's phone. Nicole is grooving to the music in Austin, Texas, so News.com's Tom Krazit joins us to discuss the iPhone brouhaha. Also, Bonnie also fills you in on a very unexciting Palm Pre Webcast and I tell … Read more