WiMax Forum certifies first batch of gear

The WiMax Forum reached a long-awaited goal Thursday, putting its first four seals of approval on a batch of products that use the new wireless broadband technology.

The products include base stations, a base station reference design and a customer equipment reference design for fixed WiMax. This initial form of the technology, based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard, is designed as a wireless alternative to broadband services such as DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and cable modem for homes and businesses. It should deliver at least 1M bps (bit per second) of throughput to each subscriber. Another version of WiMax, currently envisioned for certifications by the end of this year, ultimately will allow mobile use.

Riya Photo Search

Riya, which hosts a photo search service based on face and text recognition, announced Thursday that its service will be available to the public from February 6.
The service on the company's site at Riya.com is currently available only to a few users who are testing the service.

Firefox hits 20 percent mark in Europe

A European web metrics firm reports that Firefox has more than 20 percent of the European browser market share. If the numbers are accurate, it's good news for Mozilla.

French web metrics firm XiTi says that on a recent weekend, a sample of 32.5 million web site visits showed that Firefox has passed the 20 percent market share figure in Europe. The percentage of Firefox users was highest in Linux creator Linus Torvalds' homeland of Finland, where usage hit 38.4 percent. Firefox is also popular in Slovenia (35.6 percent) and Germany (30.3 percent). In contrast, Ukraine, Belgium, and Denmark sit at the bottom with 9.5 percent, 10.2 percent, and 10.4 percent, respectively.