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Reuters - The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday proposed halving the minimum opening bid on a piece of valuable wireless spectrum, but several commissioners expressed doubt that the plan would work, after an earlier auction failed to attract industry interest. The five-member FCC approved a plan devised by agency Chairman Kevin Martin, cutting to $750 million a prior $1.3 billion minimum bid and easing other requirements.

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Reuters - Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler on Wednesday sued unknown bloggers who the singer said impersonated him on the Web, writing about the death of his mother and other "intimate details" from his life. In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, Tyler, 60, said he didn't know the real names of those who have impersonated him and girlfriend Erin Brady on the Web, but he believes the same group was responsible for similar postings in 2007.

Bruce Perens: A Vertical Market Seeks Open Standards (Datamation)

Bruce Perensdiscusses open standards in vertical markets in a Datamation article."History repeats itself in interesting ways. Vertical markets are today grappling with their own need for truly Open Standards, going through all of the pain that the broader IT industry suffered two decades ago. Fortunately, the verticals can learn from the experience of the broader IT industry that has already fought these battles.So, of all the critical industries crying out for Open Standards, who is campaigning for them in their own industry today? Is it the manufacturers of voting machines, who must establish high standards to safeguard democracy? Or the medical records system vendors?Nope, it's the makers of casino slot machines."

The Android Threat: Banking on Symbian’s Maturity

Nokia is well prepared for Google's high-profile foray into the mobile phone business thanks to years of development experience and millions of phones on the market, a senior Nokia official told Reuters. Details of Google's plan to enter the mobile software market are expected on Tuesday when T-Mobile USA displays the first phone based on Google's Android platform in New York.

Video-Game Sales Slide, But Analysts Optimistic

Sales of the Nintendo Wii game console rose 37 percent in September, but the rest of the industry saw losses. It was the first time in more than two years that the market for consoles and games has seen an overall decline.In all, consumers purchased 687,000 Wii consoles, according to the NPD Group. That marks an increase from 501,000 in September 2007. But the industry's total sales fell seven percent to $1.27 billion."Last September, the industry saw the release of Halo 3, so that's probably affecting the numbers," said Michael Cai, a video-game analyst at Parks Associates. The Microsoft blockbuster sold 3.3. million titles, which boosted overall industry sales 75 percent for September 2007, according to NPD Group."With just one month of data it's difficult to generalize whether this is going to be a downward trend or not," Cai said. "Even a recession is defined by two consecutive quarters of decline. So it's difficult to make a conclusion from one month of data."Measuring Next-Gen SuccessIndeed, despite the down numbers and the economic uncertainties, NPD reports that the health of the video-game industry is strong. For example, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for Microsoft's Xbox 360, September's hottest title, sold 610,000 units.Nintendo is readying for the holiday season, the most important time of the year for the video-game industry, by upping its shipment volume 50 percent in the fourth quarter. The company hopes to avoid lost sales from any potential shortages. Nintendo has no plans to cut the Wii's already market-low $249 price for the holidays, according to the company.It's a different story for Microsoft. Redmond slashed the price of the the Xbox 360 Arcade, its low-end model, from $279.99 to $199.99 in September. The Xbox 360 is still selling well, pushing out 347,200 units in September to secure second place...

Dell: Turnaround interuptus as share grab hurts net, margins

Dell's second quarter earnings fell short of projections, but revenue was well ahead of targets. Translation: Dell is gaining share at the expense of its bottom line as price competition heats up. Dell reported fiscal second quarter earnings of 31 cents a share on revenue of $16.4 billion, up 11 percent from a year ago. Dell in its statement noted that it gained share across the board. The problem: Dell was expected to report fiscal second quarter earnings of 36 cents a share on revenue of $15.95 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. The company said it took a hit of 2 cents a share related to restructuring and acquisition charges. Even excluding those charges Dell's earnings tally is well short of expectations. Simply ...