Consumer content

Those of you who catch your favorite movies and TV shows on Hulu.com might soon have to pay for the privilege, but you might also be able to watch them on more than just your PC.

With rumors buzzing about Hulu's plans for the future, sources cited by Reuters said that the video site will soon unveil a subscription-based service and jump onto other consumer devices, including Microsoft's Xbox and Apple's iPad.

Two sources and another person familiar with the matter said that Hulu would launch these new services in the next month or two, though … Read more

With China requiring online maps providers to operate under licenses this month, crowd-sourced maps and Google's own online product may soon face elimination in the market, says an analyst.

According to reports, the country's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping announced last month that it would start issuing licenses to Internet maps providers in the country.

Charice Wang, an analyst with Ovum's telecom regulation team, noted that the maps are also expected to be hosted on servers based in China. This means Google, which provides a maps service in the country but which recently moved its search service to Hong Kong … Read more

Google has changed a single search page to prepare us all for the FIFA World Cup, which is slated to begin in just two days.

When users type "World Cup" into Google Search, they will find a different header at the bottom of the page where Google allows users to click on the desired page in results. Instead of the familiar "Goooooogle," the page says, "Goooooooal!."

Wondering if the change occurred on every search page related to the World Cup, I started trying other queries out, like "soccer," "world cup soccer,&… Read more

By teaming up with the Symbian Foundation, Chinese search engine Baidu is hoping to bring its vision of box computing to the mobile market.

On Tuesday, the two companies announced a joint venture in which they would develop a wireless box computing system to work with the Symbian mobile platform. First presented by Baidu last year, box computing bypasses a PC's traditional boot-up and operating system and instead offers users a search box as their starting point.

The goal of the new venture will be to provide mobile phone users with a single screen from which they can search … Read more

Ford owners with Sync-equipped vehicles will be able tap into Google Maps to download directions to their cars before month's end.

The free Send to Sync feature, announced Tuesday by Ford, will let drivers send Google Maps data from their Bluetooth-enabled computers or mobile phones to their in-car Sync systems. The electronic directions are downloaded directly into Sync and converted into audible turn-by-turn steps. The route is then calculated on the spot using the latest traffic information.

Ford is touting the service as a way for drivers to keep their eyes on the road by eliminating the need to … Read more

The music industry has asked a federal court in New York to order a shutdown of the LimeWire service, according to documents obtained by CNET.

Lawyers working for the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the four top record companies, filed documents on Friday requesting that a U.S. District Court in Manhattan grant them a permanent injunction against the country's largest commercial file-sharing service.

"Every day that Lime Wire's conduct continues unabated guarantees harm to plaintiffs that money damages cannot and will not compensate," RIAA lawyers wrote to U.S. District Judge … Read more

In the wake of Google's acquisition and temporary burial of Simplify, Seattle-based HomePipe has launched a similar free service that lets users stream their full iTunes library over the air to their iPhone or Android phone.

HomePipe launched in March with a new take on remote computer access. While consumer services such as LogMeIn or corporate technologies like Microsoft's Remote Desktop Services offer full keyboard-video-mouse, or KVM, access to your computer, HomePipe reasoned that mobile-phone users mainly want their data--for example, to show pictures or read documents locked away on a home PC.

On Thursday, HomePipe updated its … Read more

The developer's build of Google's Chrome browser now includes WebM, the open-source and royalty-free video technology that allows browsers to use cutting-edge streaming-video features without publishers paying a dime.

In the new Chrome dev released Thursday for Windows, Mac, and Linux, Google has baked in support for the VP8- and Ogg Vorbis-powered, next-generation WebM codec.

The developer's build of Chrome is now the third major browser to support WebM, along with versions of Firefox and Opera that are still in development. Chromium, the open-source fountainhead of Chrome, added rudimentary support in mid-May. Google has yet to indicate … Read more

Ford CEO Alan Mulally has come to D8 to take the hot seat, a position he should be used to after steering Ford through the recent financial crisis. Ford shunned the bailout money that carried GM through a restructuring and sustained Chrysler through its sale to Italian automaker Fiat.

Ford recently released Sync, a voice-activation package on some models that integrates the content and functionality of mobile devices with the car itself. Sync also adds apps to the car, though it's not clear what these features will mean for the future of American automakers.

Mulally appears onstage … Read more