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Archived News
October 6, 2000- Friday - NAPSTER KEEPS GROWING Digital
media measurement company MediaMetrix announced that controversial
MP3-swapping site Napster is the fastest-growing application it
ever tracked on the Web. Napster had 6.7 million unique users in
August, up from 1.1 million in February.
FORGET THE PAPERLESS OFFICE Key
speakers at the 20/20 Vision on Print conference believe technology
will kill off telcos and PDAs, but paper is here to stay -- for
at least the next 20 years. The conference speakers said broadband
will be the next killer app. Intelligent "blue boxes" personal networks
will become ubiquitous, eliminating the need for the phone companies.
They also touted the death of the PDA as it is absorbed into the
cell phone. But paper use shows no sign of slowing down with the
advent of technologies such as digital photography. The speakers
also believe paper has a psychologically comforting affect on people.
MORE TROUBLES FOR PRICELINE WebHouse
Club, an affiliate of the name-your-own-price Web site Priceline.com,
will go out of business in 90 days. WebHouse's name-your-price grocery
and gasoline site said it did not have enough cash to "complete
its business plan and achieve profitability." This has been a bad
year for Priceline. Another one of its affiliates, Perfect Yardsale,
collapsed earlier; it issued a profit warning last month; and the
Connecticut Attorney General's office is investigating complaints
against the company.
October 5, 2000- Thursday - AMD STALKS INTEL Underdog
chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) is hot on the trail of
rival Intel Corp. AMD will introduce a 1.2 GHz Athlon chip later this
month. CEO Jerry Sanders said it was his goal to release a 1.5 GHz
Athlon for the desktop in January. The company is also working to
better overall performance for desktop PCs, including a faster system
bus and support for higher-bandwidth Double Data Rate SDRAM.
REPORT: SONY TO WIN GAMING RACE Sony will
be the winner against Microsoft, Sega and others in the fight over
the hearts, minds and joysticks of gamers, a new report says. Chalk
up the victory to Sony's experience in the console market and presence
in the entertainment industry. Sony's Playstation 2 is due to hit
the market next month where it will face Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's
Xbox.
FINAL NETSCAPE 6 BETA RELEASED Netscape
released the third and final beta version of its Netscape 6 browser,
which is available for free download. The release was timed with the
launch of a redesigned Web site. Both events were designed to attract
modern, professional Internet users (Read: AOL users). Nestscape aggregated
shopping, technology and entertainment on the new site, which is designed
with six tabs going horizontally across the bottom of the page, each
with links to content from partners.
October 4, 2000- Wednesday - AOL WANTS YOU TO 'OPT
OUT' America Online urged lawmakers considering
new privacy bills to not mandate an "opt-in" policy for consumers
transacting business online. When consumers "opt in," they review
a Web site's policies and determine whether or not they want their
personal information used for other purposes. AOL prefers the "opt-out"
method, wherein a consumer wades through a convoluted process to curb
third-party use. Privacy advocates say "opt in" is more democratic.
SENATE APPROVES VISA INCREASE The U.S. Senate
passed a bill to increase the number of H-1B visas for skilled foreign
workers. The increase is aimed at accommodating high-tech companies
facing a shortage of skilled workers. The vote was an overwhelming
96-1. Backers of the bill hope the strong showing will speed the legislation
through the House of Representatives. President Clinton is expected
to sign the legislation. C
MS BAILS OUT COREL Microsoft purchased $135 million worth of
stock in struggling Corel. A move the companies say will bolster Microsoft's
.Net strategy. The two companies sidestepped the issue of Linux, which
Corel has optimized for the desktop. Rather, they said Microsoft invested
in Corel in exchange for Corel's commitment to back the Redmond giant's
.Net strategy.
October 3, 2000- Tuesday- NAPSTER STILL UP -- FOR
NOW The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals left
in place an earlier order allowing Napster to continue doing business
after the judges heard arguments from both sides of the digital music
controversy. Lawyers for each side were questioned by judges on copyright
infringement and fair-use doctrines. The question at hand is whether
Napster should be allowed to continue operating while the case is
heard. The judges will rule on that issue in as little as a few days
or possibly in a few months.
RAMBUS DELAYS P4 LAUNCH Intel pushed back
the launch of the Pentium 4, originally planned for Oct. 30, because
of troubles with the Rambus-based chip set. Intel says the delay is
due to a glitch involving the new Rambus-based 850 chip set packaged
with the P4. The new Pentium now has a target release date of Nov.
20. This isn't the first time the Rambus technology has plagued Intel,
having also affected the 820 and 840 chip sets as well.
RELIABILITY ISSUES PLAGUE MS SERVERS Microsoft
is making a big push with Enterprise 2000 to take on Sun in a bid
to dominate the high-end server market. But the Redmond giant has
many obstacles to overcome, including proving to a skeptical customer
base that its server can meet the scalability, manageability and reliability
challenges necessary in mission-critical application environments.
A research report from the Aberdeen Group shows that IS managers say
that the greatest challenge to Microsoft in the server space is reliability.
Its report says: "Due to the potential for system failure, many IS
organizations shied away from using Windows NT in mission-critical
application environments."
October 2, 2000- Monday- APPEALS COURT HEARS NAPSTER
CASE Napster gets another chance in court
today to argue that the music-sharing company should not be shut down.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether to uphold
a lower-court ruling that would have shut Napster down at the urging
of the Recording Industry Association of America. Both Napster and
RIAA attorneys will have 20 minutes to state their case. The court
may take a few days or a few months to make the decision.
PUTTING UNCLE SAM ONLINE Most Americans
say putting government functions online would increase people's ability
to interact with leaders and hold public officials more accountable,
a new survey says. Those polled also supported spending tax dollars
to implement the technology. But the respondents drew the line at
online voting. Surveyors speculated that concern about security was
the reason for opposition to the Web voting.
INTEL SAYS GOODBYE TO TIMNA CHIP The long-awaited,
problem-plagued Timna processor finally bit the dust late last week
when Intel Corp. killed the project. The chip was originally designed
for low-cost desktop PCs and was supposed to come out in early 2001.
It was hyped to have integrated graphics and a memory controller,
but in the end, became a casualty of changing market conditions and
continued development problems.
September 29, 2000- Friday -SIGN ON THE DOTTED E-LINE
Even though the federal e-signature law
goes into effect Sunday, don't expect any radical changes for quite
some time. The law says a signature can't be turned down simply because
it is in electronic form. This means a click of a mouse or press of
a telephone button is binding. But with verification technology such
as biometrics in its infancy, it will be a long time until e-signatures
become the norm.
RACKS APPEARING IN APPLE'S CUBE? Apple insists
that cracks appearing in customer's G4 Cube computers are nothing
more than a superficial side effect of the production process. Owners
of the are reporting "cracks" in casing of their new G4s, particularly
around the bolts and Apple logo. Apple's VP of worldwide product marketing
said the cracks are cause by the injection molding process and have
no effect on the longevity of the model.
NEW WEBPAD MAKES SURFING MOBILE Sony launched
a portable Webpad that lets users wirelessly surf the Net, send emails
and watch TV. Sony hopes to make this new Airboard the modern-day
equivalent of its Walkman. The Airboard is a 10.4-inch touchpad monitor
that comes with a base station to receive data. The touchpad not only
acts as a keyboard, but also can be used as a remote control to run
different consumer electronics. But the Airboard won't come cheap.
The device goes on sale in Japan on Dec. 1 and will retail for roughly
$1,100.
September 28, 2000- Thursday - RADIOSHACK TO SELL
MSN'S DSL SERVICE RadioShack will start
selling Microsoft Corp.'s MSN-branded DSL service and, by the end
of October, MSN's two-way broadband satellite Internet access. Both
companies say the deal is a major milestone in the partnership between
Microsoft and the 5,800-store retail chain. Last year, RadioShack
and Microsoft cemented a partnership to provide Microsoft products
and related hardware and software inside RadioShack outlets and dealers
through a "store within a store," in the form of Microsoft Internet
Centers.
SECURITY PROBLEMS AT FAA Computer security
gaps left the U.S. aviation system open to electronic attack, the
nonpartisan General Accounting Office said Wednesday. The GAO report
found serious and persistent problems throughout the computer security,
information systems and aviation operations systems of the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA is the Transportation Department
branch that polices U.S. airlines and airports and runs the badly
strained air traffic control system. Worse, the aviation system is
still at risk, according to the report.
AIMSTER IN DEAL WITH CAPITAL RECORDS Capital
Records is singing a different song than its peers in the fight over
song swapping. While most industry heavyweights are trying to kill
song-swapping service Napster, Capital Records announced it has teamed
up with Aimster to promote a new album by Radiohead. Some other industry
sources also said music retailer Trans World Entertainment Corp. may
also announce an alliance with Aimster, which attaches a Napster-like
browser to America Online Inc.'s Instant Messenger service (AIM).
September 27, 2000- Wednesday - SUPREME COURT DENIES
DOJ After months of speculation, the U.S.
Supreme Court said it won't hear the DOJ vs. Microsoft antitrust case.
The landmark trial now goes to the appellate court, which is where
Microsoft wanted the case to go. Only Justice Stephen Breyer dissented.
TRANSMETA BOASTS FIVE-YEAR CHIP LEAD David
Ditzel, CEO of startup chip maker Transmeta said his company's technology
is at least five years ahead of rivals Intel and AMD. Transmeta's
Crusoe chip uses software to perform many of the functions previously
done by hardware. Transmeta is gaining ground as it looks to expand
the notebook and mobile devices market. Both Sony and Fujitsu will
unveil Transmeta-powered laptops.
EXPERT WARNS OF E-SIGNATURE DANGERS A leading
cryptography expert warned that the increased use of digital signatures
could lead to a future devoid of privacy. Digital signatures, or e-signatures,
give an Internet user a unique identity document protected by encryption
keys to ensure authenticity. Dr. Stefan Brands said digital signatures
could lead to a time when a user's movements online could be tracked
and could provide an outlet for wholesale online identity theft.
September 26, 2000- Tuesday - MICROSOFT LICENSES
BITE SMALL BIZ Microsoft may have relaxed
the terms of its OEM Windows license for enterprise users, but small-business
customers aren't getting the same break. Angry enterprise customers
complained when Microsoft insisted they could not re-image, or copy,
their workstations under the OEM Windows license agreement that comes
preinstalled on their PCs. So the Redmond giant relented -- but not
with smaller companies. In order to re-image new desktops, Microsoft
is making them purchase an additional upgrade license.
CHICAGO MULLS BAN ON CAR CELL PHONE USE Chicago
aldermen are considering making it illegal to talk on a cell phone
and drive at the same time. The Chicago law would fine violators $25
for the first offense and up to $100 if cell phone use contributed
to an accident. The idea of banning talking and driving is gaining
ground across the U.S. as five other U.S. municipalities have passed
similar ordinances. Even Verizon Communications broke with the cell
phone industry and agreed to support laws that would ban handheld
cell phone use while driving.
IM ROUND TWO: THE ENTERPRISE STRIKES BACK AOL
may be winning the battle for IM, but the war is far from over as
companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo evolve IM into enterprises.
These enterprise-friendly features range from wireless IM on cell
phones to personal digital assistants to selective message routing.
Unlike the chat function of IM, these new services do not need a huge
user base to make them valuable. So vendors do not have to be interoperable
with AOL.
September 25, 2000- Monday- DOTCOMS LAYOFF HOLIDAY
ADS Don't expect to see the same flood of
TV ads for dotcom retailers this holiday season. Sales of ad space
is now underway, but the number of dotcoms wanting to buy it is smaller
thanks to the tech-wreck that drove many out of business. The survivors
say they just don't have the money. Instead, some Web retailers are
channeling their money to Web advertising, where they're likely to
encounter a more receptive audience.
HALLOWEEN SCARES UP NEW PENTIUMS Intel will
launch the Pentium 4 processors for desktop PCs during the last week
of October, most likely Oct. 30. The chip will debut at speeds of
1.4 GHz and 1.5 GHz, and offer a faster system bus, running at 400
MHz. The P4 will also be paired with dual-channel Rambus direct RAM.
But systems with the new chip won't be cheap. Top-of-the-line models
will most likely start at $3,000.
REPORTS: U.S. LEADS E-SNOOPING PUSH Two
civil rights groups allege the U.S. has led a worldwide push to create
the groundwork for increased snooping in the digital era. The Electronic
Privacy Information Center and Privacy International say the FBI is
pushing for wiretap-friendly international communications standards.
Washington also has tried to stymie the development of strong encryption,
according to the groups' survey. Its report, "Privacy & Human Rights
2000,'' will be published next week and accuses the FBI of nudging
countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic to expand wiretapping.
September 22, 2000- Friday- IOMEGA LAUNCHES MP3
PLAYER Iomega is getting into the MP3 player
business as the company tries to revitalize itself and move beyond
its storage roots. The HipZip MP3 player uses the company's 40 MB
PocketZip storage disks -- circumnavigating the need for flash memory.
This could give the company an edge in the MP3 market because flash
memory is both expensive and scarce. The HipZip will cost between
$10 and $15, but is only capable of holding 40 minutes of music. The
HipZip will cost $299 and come with two PocketZip disks. Analysts
think this is a good move for the company, which has been down on
its luck. It's removable Zip and Jaz drive business fell on hard times
when manufacturers made hard drives bigger and cheaper.
DELL PCS GET A MAKEOVER Dell unveiled new
looks for both its corporate desktop and notebook lines. On the desktop
front, the new Optiplex GX150 has rounded edges, is 10% smaller and
midnight gray and can be opened like a clamshell to view its insides.
Dell has color-coded everything inside the machine to make servicing
easier. The new Latitude notebooks will get a curvier shape and will
include a "diversity antennae" that will let companies install 802.11
wireless local area network capabilities.
WEALTHIEST: ELLISON GAINS ON GATES Bill
Gates is still the richest man in America, but Oracle CEO Larry Ellison
is gaining ground quickly, according to Forbes magazine. Gates topped
the list with an estimated worth of $63 billion, down $22 billion
from last year. Ellison, who was 12th last year, jumped to second
with worth of $55 billion. The list, which will be published Oct.
9, shows the rich are still getting richer. Gates is now worth more
than the gross domestic product of Peru.
September 20, 2000- Wednesday- NEW PDAS TO 'SPRING'
THIS FALL Handspring will introduce two
new PDAs and a cell phone module this fall amid peak demand for handheld
devices. The Visor Prism will be Handspring's first color PDA and
will feature 16-bit color screen capable of generating 65,536 colors.
The Prism will feature a 30 MHz Motorola Drangonball chip, 8MB of
RAM and will cost $499. The second unit will be the Visor Platinum.
It will feature a monochrome display, run the same processor and will
cost $299. Handspring will also launch a new cell phone module for
its PDAs. The VisorPhone will integrate with the Visor and allow direct
dialing from the address book, and it will have caller ID. The VisorPhone
will cost $299.
OJ'S TOP ANTITRUST OFFICIAL TO RESIGN Joel
Klein, the DOJ's top antitrust official who took on Microsoft announced
he will leave his office at the end of the month. He will be replaced
by Douglas Melamed, the principal deputy assistant attorney general
in the antitrust division. Melamed has been involved with the Microsoft
trial since its beginning.
BN.COM BUMPS AMAZON OFF YAHOO Internet Portal
giant Yahoo made Barnesandnoble.com (BN.com) a featured merchant on
its site, replacing Amazon.com. In addition to appearing on every
search result page in the Yahoo directory as a link, the two will
form a free Barnes & Noble-branded Internet service. The service will
be promoted through Barnes & Noble offline stores and feature BN.com
as the start page.
September 19, 2000- Tuesday- EUROPE WARY OF AOL-TIME
WARNER Antitrust regulators in Europe may
block the proposed $113 billion acquisition of Time Warner by America
Online. The companies have until Sept. 24 to try to salvage the deal
by offering new antitrust concessions to Brussels regulators who have
been critical of the merger from the start. AOL and Time Warner have
already tried to appease European competition regulators and have
pledged to distance the merged company from German media giant Bertelsmann
AG. Commission regulators are worried that after combining a major
content company with an online powerhouse, Time Warner and AOL would
be able to cut out their competitors from their sweeping distribution
channels.
DEVELOPERS CAUTIOUS ABOUT NEW MAC OS The
first public beta version of Mac OS X got a warm welcome from users
at the Paris conference where it was released last week. But the development
community isn't being so welcoming. Developers say the new OS is so
different that traditional Mac users will have to do some adapting.
One developer said he's taking a wait-and-see approach. Others criticized
Apple for spending too much time and energy on the looks of the OS
instead of truly revolutionary change.
A POCKET FULL OF TUNES Imagine 100 hours
of music on a portable music player about the size of a CD. Nomad
Jukebox is it, and it's expected to hit the stores soon. Creative
Labs started shipping the device Monday. It's been available at select
locations and Web sites for about three weeks. Similar to many MP3
players, the new device stores and plays digital audio files. But
what really sets it apart is its capacity -- a 6 GB hard drive. The
tradeoffs are that the Jukebox is larger than other portable players
-- like the Rio 600 or the Creative Nomad II -- and significantly
more expensive. Want the Nomad? $499 please.
September 18, 2000- Monday- E-BUSINESS FLUNKING
SECURITY News last week spells risk for
your personal information. Last week hackers broke into three international
Web sites, two reports came out condemning the state of Internet privacy
standards and a study showed that close to one-third of e-businesses
don't even use firewalls. Experts say IT managers have only themselves
to blame for their lax security and unwillingness to spend the extra
time and money needed to protect thier sites.
PRO-NAPSTER BAND DEFIES RECORD LABEL In
defiance of its record label's wishes, the punk band Offspring will
release its new album online for free. The band is betting the move
will actually boost sales of its record when it hits store shelves.
Offspring's record label, Sony, ordered the band to cancel the giveaway,
but the band refused. The band's move could affect the recording industry's
lawsuit (of which Sony is a part) against Napster.
ALTA VISTA CUTS WORK FORCE, REFOCUSES CMGI's
Alta Vista will lay off 25% of its work force as the company moves
out of the media portal business to refocus on search technologies.
Alta Vista will cut 225 jobs from its media portal business and consolidate
four offices into one. The cuts are part of a move to get back to
the company's search roots and make it profitable by January 2001.
September 15, 2000- Friday- FCC POSTPONES CABLE-ACCESS
INQUIRY The FCC delayed the formal opening
of an inquiry into Internet access over cable networks. Commissioner
Gloria Tristani requested the removal of the topic from the FCC's
open-meeting agenda. Tristani was concerned about affecting agency's
review of the AOL/Time Warner merger. The FCC isn't eager to discuss
the topic but was dragged into the debate after several courts issued
conflicting decisions as to whether Net access is a cable, telephone
or information service. The FCC needs to strike a balance between
promoting broadband services while preserving an open market.
MICROSOFT RELEASES WINDOWS ME TO YOU Microsoft
officially launched Windows ME, the latest iteration of its Windows
operating system for the home user. Windows ME is not considered a
major upgrade, but rather a stopgap in between Windows 98 SE and next
year's Whistler. Windows ME features new multimedia features, such
as a home movie editor and a System Restore feature to help save information
after system crashes.
MICROSOFT BRAIN DRAIN CONTINUES Group vice
president and 14-year Microsoft veteran Paul Maritz announced his
retirement yesterday, adding another name to the long list of high-ranking
officials departing the Redmond giant. Maritz was one of the key executives
chosen to launch Microsoft's .Net strategy.
.LINUX JOURNAL URGES SDMI BOYCOTT Members
of the Linux community are calling on hackers to reject the record
industries' Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) hacking challenge.
SDMI technology is being developed by record companies to create a
secure form of digital music and thwart privacy. The record industry
is using the challenge to make SDMI more hack-proof. Linux enthusiasts
say the industry only wants to use hackers as a "free consulting"
service so it can exert control over how people use digital music.
September 14, 2000- Thursday - APPLE UNVEILS NEW
IBOOKS Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed off the
new iBook portable computer and rolled out the public beta of Mac
OS X. The new standard iBook includes a 366 MHz PowerPC G3 chip, 64
MB of RAM and 10GB of storage. The new iBook Special Edition has a
466 MHz G3 and DVD-ROM drive. The first public beta of Mac OS X can
be purchased through the Apple online store for $29.95.
BLUETOOTH COMES TO NOTEBOOKS Toshiba will
launch its first Bluetooth PC card at the end of this month, as the
company tries to make the wireless standard ubiquitous in this country.
Bluetooth enables wireless communication between different devices
to create "personal area networks." Users can share files between
a PC and other devices such as a PDA or cell phone. The new Toshiba
card will be a Type 3 PCMCIA card for notebook computers and will
cost $200.
HANDHELDS BATTLE FOR HOLIDAYS Expect an
onslaught of advertisements for handheld devices this summer, as the
market for such devices moves into the mainstream and manufacturers
battle for dominance. Palm, Handspring, Sony and Microsoft will all
use big national campaigns to try to fill consumers' hands. Many consider
this the year the PDA and other handheld devices will cross over and
win mass acceptance with consumers. Palm stands to gain the most as
Handspring and Sony both license the Palm OS for their devices. Palm
currently dominates the market with an 80% share.
September 13, 2000- Wednesday- 5:04 pm - OS X PUBLIC
BETA TO BE RELEASED Apple CEO Steve Jobs
today rolls out a public beta of the latest version of the company's
operating system: Mac OS X. ZDNet sources who got an early look at
the system say it may be more stable, but it lacks some of the features
Mac users take for granted. Jobs is expected to unveil the latest
version at his keynote speech at the Apple Expo in Paris. What's missing,
some say, is a seamless combination of modern OS features with compatibility
and the Mac's hallmark user-friendliness.
AOL-TW TOUGH TO REGULATE A top Federal Communications
Commission regulator said yesterday that imposing restrictions on
America Online's purchase of Time Warner would be difficult. He said
the agency does not regulate AOL's instant messaging and Internet
access now, making it difficult to do so just because of the proposed
purchase. To further muddy the waters, the FCC and the Federal Trade
Commission both appear to be reviewing the proposed purchase in similar
fashion and both plan to release their decisions in October. That
could create confusion over who is imposing conditions and who is
enforcing them. The FCC must determine whether the transfer of Time
Warner's broadcast licenses is in the public interest, while the FTC
is weighing whether there are any anti-competitive factors at risk.
CALLING ALL PALMS Palm confirmed late Monday
it licensed software from SpeechWorks International to develop a calendar
and contact-management application allowing users to get to their
Palm content over the phone. Palm is the first handheld-computer manufacturer
to make content accessible from other devices such as a mobile phone.
Earlier this month, Palm said it would launch a personal digital assistant
in Japan during the first half of 2001 that will access the Net through
the nationwide mobile-telephone network of NTT DoCoMo. The new wireless
personal digital assistant will allow users to surf the Internet and
handle email.
September 12, 2000- Tuesday 3:32 pm- FTC BLASTS
VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES A new Federal Trade
Commission report found "pervasive and aggressive" marketing of violent
entertainment, including video games, to youngsters. President Clinton
ordered the report following last year's Columbine shooting. The FTC
concluded that the video game industry enticed young consumers to
buy products that were labeled inappropriate for children.
REAL DUETS WITH WARNER Warner Music Group
and RealNetworks are joining forces to distribute music from Warner
artists over the Internet. Warner will offer current singles and "Internet-only"
songs on e-tailing sites such as Amazon and Walmart.com. Some of the
artists that will be available at launch are Barenaked Ladies, Collective
Soul and Paul Simon. RealNetworks will host the downloading service
and prepare the music for online distribution.
NEW CHIPS BRINGS BETTER DIGITAL PICTURES Foveon,
a closely held California company, will introduce a new chip that
could be a breakthrough for digital cameras delivering higher quality
images at a lower cost. The new chips are built using a process known
as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The new chip can
create an image with 16.8 million picture elements. Most consumer
digital cameras have image resolution of only 1.2 million to 3 million
pixels. Foveon foresees the day when CMOS digital cameras will make
film go the way of vinyl records.
September 11, 2000- Monday 4:08 pm- WHITE HOUSE
IS AGAINST NAPSTER The Clinton Administration
weighted in on the Napster debate this weekend, siding with the Recording
Industry Association of America. Filing a friend-of-the-court brief,
White House lawyers said computers were intentionally left out of
the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act -- the law Napster is using as its
defense. The landmark trial is now in the appeals process and the
court has asked for documents from both sides before making its decision.
UPC DROPS MS TV UPC, Europe's largest cable
TV operator will use digital TV software from Liberate Technologies
after eight percent shareholder Microsoft missed a deadline. UPC has
480,000 customers and will begin installing Liberate's software. Delays
from Microsoft forced the UPC to delay launch of digital services
in Amsterdam. The move comes as a blow to Microsoft who worked with
UPC for almost two years to create interactive TV services and has
invested millions in European cable companies.
NET POPULATION APPROACHES 300 MILLION The
world's Internet population is nearing 300 million people spanning
20 different countries, according to a new study from Nielsen/NetRatings.
North America has the most people accessing the Net form a home PC
with roughly 150 million. But Europe has a combined 82 million and
is catching up quickly. The U.S. has 136.9 million people over the
age of two with home Net access. Japan is second with 26.3 million.
September 8, 2000- Friday- 4:16 pm- CBS SIGNS MICROSOFT
FOR iTV CBS Television said on Thursday
it signed a deal with Microsoft's enhanced TV services unit, WebTV
Networks, to deliver interactive television programming. The companies
say their interactive TV programming will start this fall. It will
include CBS dramas, comedies, specials, variety shows, movies and
sports programming. The network says it will ante up about 500 hours
of enhanced television programming, which it will promote and make
available through WebTV Networks.
IPOs ABOUT TO SURGE At the end of last month,
there were 287 IPOs in registration, together expecting to draw $36
billion from the markets. That's jam packed in the wake of the winter
shakeout among startups. Analysts say although the upcoming season
looks strong, only a few sectors will likely walk away winners: software,
networking, telecom and anything wireless. The tech wreck scared many
away from markets. On Aug. 27 there was a backlog of 416 IPOs, according
to Hoover's statistics, which includes deals that have been withdrawn
or postponed.
CLICK AND SMELL COMPUTERS A leader is emerging
in the quest to allow computers to deliver virtual smells. DigiScents
said Wednesday it had agreed to acquire SenseIT, Israeli-based developers
of a rival scent-sensing technology. The Oakland, Calif.-based company
bought SenseIT of Herzelia, Israel, in a stock-for-stock deal for
which terms were not disclosed. The combined company will remain headquartered
in Oakland and maintain a research facility in Israel. The system
should be widely available next year. It works via a small hardware
device that connects to a PC and can blend 128 basic scents into a
theoretically unlimited number of smells.
CLARITY IS KEY A new study says Web site
clarity and navigation are more significant factors than performance
when it comes to online shopping. The study involved market leaders
Yahoo Shopping, Amazon.com and AOL Shopping, which represent 70% of
the online shopping audience. Overall results: Yahoo was first, Amazon
second and AOL a very distant third. The study was conducted by NetRaker,
a firm that analyzes the dynamics between ecommerce sites and customers.
September 7, 2000- Thursday- 4:01 pm - WHISTLER
TO INCLUDE ITV ELEMENTS Whistler, Microsoft's
successor to Windows 2000, will be the first Windows iteration to
feature enhancements that make it more of an entertainment hub. There
will actually be a consumer and a business version of Whistler when
it is released. The consumer version will include features that let
you distribute video and other interactive TV elements. Microsoft
is betting that Whistler-based home PCs will evolve into "hubs of
a home network, where set-top boxes can be connected to that network."
YOUR VOICE FINDS NEARBY BIZ Voice-portal
BeVocal's new Business Finder is a free service that directs mobile
phone users to nearby businesses. Mobile phone users can find nearby
businesses by speaking a brand name or a category. For example, if
you want coffee, you could dial the service and say "Starbucks." Business
Finder will tell you what is close and how to get there. Business
Finder has partnered with more than 1 million businesses and 2,000
brands across the country. Users can also find flight information,
driving directions and traffic reports. The services are reached through
800-4BVOCAL.
AOL: ACCESS WON'T BLOCK MERGER America Online
and Time Warner insist they can negotiate a deal that will allow their
merger to proceed even though they face scrutiny from the FTC. At
issue is access to Time Warner's high-speed cable lines. The FTC believes
AOL could transfer its dominant Internet services position to Time
Warner's cable systems. The two companies made public pledges to open
up their cable systems to ISP competition. But the FTC isn't convinced
those pledges go far enough.
September 6, 2000- Wednesday - 5:56 pm- DOS TOOL
TARGETS CHAT, LINUX A new distributed denial-of-service
(DDos) tool using Internet chat and Linux machines has been discovered
in the wild and is spreading. The "Trinity v3" has its binary code
installed on a Linux server and connects to one of 11 Undernet IRC
servers. It waits for instructions to attack either individual Trinity
agents or all agents on the channel. Trinity v3 can set eight types
of flood attacks set for any length of time. So far, no major commerce
sites have been affected.
DESKPRO REDESIGNED, PROSIGNIA RETIRES Compaq
will redesign its DeskPro PC for corporations and retire the Prosignia
line in a move to bring its commercial PC business back to profitability.
The new DeskPro will use Intel's 815 chip set to allow a wide range
of flexibility. The new line lets consumers customize processors and
other features. Compaq will also discontinue its Prosignia line of
desktops and notebooks. The new DeskPro EXS will be the new desktop
and the Armada S will be the re-branded notebooks.
THE WEB LAUNCHES FIRST FALL SEASON Webcasters
are launching a number of online entertainment programs this fall
in a move that mimics the TV season. The shows range from episodic
"shows" to email-based interactive fiction. The Webcasts are targeted
to college-aged students who have access to fast university Internet
connections. It's make-or-break time for many of the startups offering
the entertainment, as they are under the gun to prove to investors
they can draw in audiences. The whole sector has faced increased scrutiny
lately with the closure of the high-profile Digital Entertainment
Network and the disappointing Pop.com.
September 5, 2000- Tuesday- 5:02 pm - FTC FEARS AOL-TW BROADBAND DOMINATION
FTC attorneys are concerned about Time Warner's
domination in certain cable markets and whether its proposed merger
with AOL would harm consumer broadband choice. The FTC fears consumers
desiring high-speed access to the Net may not have a choice about
programming or content unless the merger is dependent upon certain
conditions. Time Warner and AOL already promised to keep the merged
company's cable systems open to competing ISPs.
EMAIL VIRUS CONSIDERED LOW RISK The U.S. National
Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) issued a warning over a new
computer virus that bears a resemblance to the "Love" bug that struck
last year. This new virus is a Trojan horse arriving via an email
attachment with the subject line "erap estrada" -- the nickname of
Philippine President Joseph Estrada. Once the attachment is opened,
a file called "DonaldD.trojan" is released. The NIPC says the virus
is spreading mainly in the Philippines and is of little threat to
the U.S.
DELL TRIES TO RECAPTURE SPARK In the midst of
a sharp, sudden slowdown in growth in the PC industry, the once high-flying
Dell is having to refocus its efforts beyond the desktop PC. Throughout
the '90s, Dell was the top-performing stock. But the company has fallen
short of analysts' expectations for three out of the past five quarters.
Dell's new strategy will be to move into Internet server computers
and high-end data storage. And Dell recently grabbed the lead in notebook
PCs, which should add close to $7.6 billion in new sales this year.
September 4, 2000- Monday- 6:36 am- UPDATED BROWSERS
Microsoft has released two browser updates.
One is Internet Explorer 5.5 Advanced Security Privacy Beta. The other:
MSN Explorer. The updated IE 5.5 offers better cookie management.
According to Microsoft, you can now configure IE to differentiate
between cookies that originate from a Web server you're intentionally
visiting, and cookies that originate from other Web sites that provide
advertising or services. Meantime, MSN Explorer is aimed at newbies.
It streamlines the Internet experience by offering intuitive interfaces
and integrated Web tools.
SCOUR LAYOFFS Scour has laid off all but
its top executives and engineers. But the firm vows to continue its
file-sharing fight. The company was sued in July by three entertainment
industry associations which allege the new file-swapping service violates
copyrights by allowing users to share video, audio and other files
for free. One of the groups, the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA), has filed a similar suit against Napster. Scour says
it will continue on two fronts: running its site despite the layoffs
and fighting the lawsuit. Most of the 52 job cuts were in sales and
marketing.
ALWAYS ON TRACK What's the next wireless
thing? Mobile positioning. With it, your phone becomes a personal
tracking device, allowing family, friends and even your boss to know
where you are at all times. Here's how it works: Operators calculate
where your mobile phone is based on its relative position to base
stations. In Scandinavia, where nearly everyone has a mobile phone,
a number of companies will start offering the new service this week.
One Swedish firm, MobilePosition AB, has given names like YachtPosition,
BikePosition and FriendFinder to its mobile positioning service. Comparable
services will soon be available from traditional Internet-service
providers such as Yahoo.
September 1, 2000- Friday- 2:20 pm- MSN GOES AFTER
AOL Microsoft issued a new Web browser as
the first part of a major overhaul of MSN. The company is mounting
a full offensive to pull market share away from AOL. A new beta version
of the "MSN Explorer" browser will be released next week. It blends
music and video capabilities and content from the MSN service. All
of MSN will undergo dramatic revamping, including the look and content
of such sites as MoneyCentral and WindowsMedia.com.
VALUE PCS TO GET BUS BOOST Intel will improve
the bus technology for its Celeron processors, giving value PCs a
boost. The system bus acts like a bridge for data to flow between
the processor and the chip set. A slower bus prevents users from taking
full advantage of a chip's speed. Intel will move the Celeron processor
to a 100 MHz bus starting in the first half of next year.
DOCUMENTS OPEN TO PRIVACY BUG A shortcut feature
in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint could compromise privacy by
"phoning home" to another computer how often a document is read. The
"Web bug," as it is known, exploits the ability to insert an Internet
address in a document that connects a user to an image. When victims
call up the image from the host computer, they reveal their IP addresses.
The host computer is then in a position to track when the document
is opened. The Web bug could also let a "cookie" be placed on the
reader's computer. Security experts say the problem isn't specific
to Microsoft products, but rather is an Internet issue.
August 31, 2000- Thursday- 3:28 pm- DOT-COMS PULL
BACK AD SPENDING The salad days of dot-com
ad spending are slowing as companies attempt to move toward profitability.
Dot-coms became famous last year for their outlandish spending on
advertising. A new study from Shop.org and the Boston Consulting Group
indicate that the drop in costly marketing has cut customer acquisition
costs down to $40 per customer -- down from $70 at the end of last
year. Internet companies are instead focusing their money on targeted
advertisements. However, this move will have a negative impact on
portals, which rely on the advertising revenue.
TECH GIANTS PUSH LINUX A group of high-powered tech companies
including Intel, IBM and HP are banding together to make Linux more
enterprise-friendly. The companies announced the formation of the
Open Source Development Lab (OSDL). The lab was described as a development
facility for high-end Linux application testing and development. The
OSDL will let vendors test Linux applications and OS extensions being
developed for enterprise computing systems.
LET THE MS LAWSUITS BEGIN File this under "We
told you so." A California judge allowed a class-action suit to proceed
against Microsoft, in what will be the first of many such suits over
Microsoft's alleged monopolistic practices. There are many suits throughout
the country charging Microsoft with using its dominant market position
to overcharge consumers. All these legal wranglings distract the company
from creating new technologies.
August 30, 2000- Wednesday- 2:48 pm- INTEL'S HIGH-SPEED
CRASH Intel's decision to recall the fastest
of its new chips, the 1.13 GHz Pentium III, shows that the chip maker's
quest for speed may be a little reckless. One analyst accused Intel
of sacrificing quality in the interest of "bragging rights." Every
time in the last year Intel released a new Pentium III and claimed
to have the fastest chip, Advanced Micros Devices was able to retake
the lead with one of its own. It's a silly battle, analysts say, because
the fastest chips are so expensive that most consumers won't be buying
them.
PICTURE FADES ON MS I-TV SOFTWARE Microsoft's
delay in getting interactive-TV software to AT&T could prompt the
telephone giant to start looking elsewhere. Long-distance giant AT&T
signed up Microsoft last year to provide software for 7.5 million
of its planned 10 million interactive TV set-top boxes. But Microsoft
this month said its interactive-TV software would not be ready for
the planned October rollout of another client, United Pan-Europe Communications,
Europe's largest cable operator. The MS software is supposed to deliver
voice, video and Internet services through the small cable boxes that
sit on top of television sets. It competes against operating systems
from companies such as Oracle, PowerTV, Liberate Technologies and
OpenTV.
PALM MEETS TROJAN HORSE A Trojan horse program
disguised as an illegal copy of a Game Boy emulator is making the
rounds of underground Palm users. And it's making them mad. Once installed,
the program can delete all of a Palm user's files. In reality, the
program is a utility created by a Swedish Palm developer as a way
to simulate the "messy" state a Palm might be in after years of use.
The developer says he doesn't know how it got released. Some angry
Palm users say he did it to get back at hackers.
August 29, 2000-Tuesday- 3:55 pm- INTEL
YANKS 1.13 GHz P3 Intel recalled all of its 1.13 GHz Pentium III
chips because the chip could cause certain applications to freeze.
Only some of the chips showed the problem, but Intel recalled all
chips that have shipped since being released on July 31. The company
will fix the problem in a future version of the chip. Customers with
the 1.13 GHz Pentium IIIs should contact their PC vendor for more
recall information.
TAKE A PEEK AT WINDOWS' NEW LOOK Microsoft posted
the latest alpha build of its successor to Windows 2000, giving developers
a peek at how the look and feel of Windows is changing. Code-named
"Whistler," the future OS is built on the NT kernel and sports a number
of new interface changes. There is a changeable interface that lets
users choose between a Personal or Classic Start Menu. The menu can
show or hide elements such as browsers, email, network connections
and My Computer and My Network Places icons. One source says Microsoft
is adding text-to-speech interface capability. Speech recognition
is a pet project of Chairman Bill Gates.Click
here to see.
MP3.COM CEO CHANGES TUNE MP3.com CEO Michael
Robertson was once the scourge of record labels, but he has since
recanted after facing a multibillion dollar lawsuit from five record
labels. When MP3.com was first charged with copyright infringement,
Robertson declared the record industry was "against new technologies."
Now that his company has settled four of the five pending multibillion
dollar lawsuits, Robertson says former enemies Sony Music Entertainment
"embraces the Internet," and EMI "demonstrated its grasp of the Internet."
August 28, 2000- Monday- 3:36 pm-DEFENDING NAPSTER…SORT
OF A decision against Napster could diminish
consumer rights and open new media companies to a flood of litigation,
say several technology trade groups. The groups are filing friend-of-the-court
briefs in the Napster case. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
is reviewing a lower court ruling that could shut down the popular
music-sharing site. The trade groups say they're not siding with Napster,
but want to make sure that U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall
Patel's decision doesn't adversely affect their members, either by
requiring them to constantly police their systems for potential copyright
violators or by preventing them from developing new products.
SATELLITE BROADBAND WARS BEGIN Internet users
living outside of cities often complain they can't get broadband access
at home. Few were attracted by the kludge-like satellite broadband,
which has been available for five years. More may be attracted to
it soon when the Microsoft Network and America Online open up a new
battlefront this fall 22,000 miles above the earth. And here's a surprise,
analysts say MSN might have a leg up on AOL.
SECURITY KINGPIN'S PATENTS TO EXPIRE We'll pass
a technology milestone when the patent to some of RSA Security's technology
expires next month. The technology is now fundamental to most Internet
Security. Observers say what comes next is the development of security
tool kits engineered for performance and specific markets, such as
wireless, and the availability of many more security products in the
United States. RSA has for 16 years closely guarded its patents covering
encryption, decryption and the initialization of public- and private-key
pairs -- all cornerstones for secure online transactions.
August 25, 2000- Friday- 4:52 pm- INTEL CHAMPIONS
PEER-TO-PEER Intel believes Napster is
paving the way for a peer-to-peer networking revolution. The chip
giant is pushing a number of similar solutions for consumers. At
the Intel Developers' Conference, the chip giant announced the creation
of a peer-to-peer working group of 18 companies, including IBM and
HP. Intel envisions peer-to-peer networking opening up smaller,
"self-organizing webs" consisting of employees at a company or family
members. They would be able to share spare system resources, such
as storage, or exchange files.
NEW ITV CHIP HANDLES SEVERAL STREAMS Continuing to move beyond
the PC, Microsoft has designed a new chip to run its WebTV interactive
television service. The new Solo2 combines Internet browsing, interactive
television and video recording on a normal TV set. The Solo2 can
also handle several streams of digital video, which would allow
users to watch or record several programs at once
NINTENDO UNVEILS GAMECUBE Nintendo unveiled its next-generation
console yesterday, dubbed GameCube. It will feature a 405 MHz copper
wire central processor, 16 MB of NEC embedded dynamic RAM and system
memory of 40 MB. It is reportedly able to display 6 million to 12
million polygons per second with textures and effects turned on.
The GameCube will be available in the U.S. in October 2001. Also
announced was the new GameBoy Advance, a 32-bit handheld game system
that can communicate with the GameCube.
August 24, 2000- Thursday- 4:20 pm - AMD SPEEDS
UP AMD will accelerate the introduction
of new processors, introducing greater clock speeds every five to
six weeks. A new 1.1 GHz CPU will appear in systems starting Monday.
AMD wants to hit 1.5 GHz by early next year. The new chips will sport
new chip sets that support faster DDR and SDRAM technology and faster
system bus speeds.
INTEL'S ITANIUM SLOWER THAN EXPECTED Intel disappointed
industry observers at its developer's conference when it announced
that the new Itanium will be first introduced at 733 MHz instead of
the originally promised 800 MHz. But the chip giant defended its decision
saying the clock speed is not as important as the flexibility and
features of the new chip. This is another in the long line of Intel
product disappointments. The Itanium has been under development since
1994.
HP CEO WANTS NET REGULATION
Going out on what could be a very lonely limb, Hewlett-Packard CEO
Carly Fiorina said she wants some form of legislation to answer growing
concerns over Internet privacy. "It cannot be every man, woman and
child out for themselves in the wild, wild west," said Fiorina. But
her view is not shared among major tech companies. Industry giants
such as Microsoft and IBM are moving towards self-regulation. Even
people within HP are divided as to the right way to go. But the industry
could be softening. The president of the Consumer Electronics Association
believes federal regulation may be inevitable.
August 23, 2000- Wednesday- 4:25 pm - INTEL SPEEDS
TO 2 GHZ Intel kicked off its Developer
Forum with a demo of a 2 GHz Pentium 4 chip. The chip giant showed
off a 1.5 GHz chip with its clock speed raised to 2 GHz. The chip
was air cooled without any special cooling technology. A 1.4 GHz P4
was also demonstrated. The new chip allowed for higher frame rates
in video and more realistic 3D images. Intel also touched on its upcoming
Itanium chip, showing off an Itanium server cluster, running on Linux.
NEW BROWSER MIXES MOZILLA AND IE The new open-source
K-Meleon browser is a cross between Microsoft IE and Mozilla's "Gecko"
rendering engine. Including installer, the full K-Meleon package is
a mere 2.85 Mb. K-Meleon features the Gecko rendering engine developed
by the Mozilla.org team. Gecko speeds up the display of Web pages.
K-Meleon also sports the Internet Explorer bookmarking system and
mimics the IE Microsoft Foundation Class interface "as much as possible."
DRKOOP.COM RESUCITATED Online health-care site
drkoop.com received a much-needed cash infusion in order to stay alive.
The company received an investment package worth $20 million from
Prime Ventures, JF Shea Ventures, Cramer-Rosenthal-McGlynn, Inc. and
RMC Capital. Dr. C. Everett Koop will remain as the chairman of the
company. Drkoop.com was one of the early victims of the "tech wreck,"
plagued by a cash shortage and class-action suits.
August 22, 2000- Tuesday- 6:01 pm- TRADE IN YOUR
OLD POWERBOOK Apple quietly kicked off a
two-week trade-in program that allows owners of vintage 5300 and 190
PowerBooks to upgrade to a 400 MHz G3 PowerBook. The old PowerBooks
don't even have to work in order to take advantage of the program.
From Aug. 17 to 31, users of the older PowerBooks can upgrade to a
400 MHz G3 PowerBook for $1,799. The offer isn't mentioned on the
Apple Web site. Interested parties should call Apple Tech Support
at (800)500-7078.
NEW SOFTWARE TARGETS PEDOPHILES A new software
aims to crack down on Internet child pornography by using a sophisticated
searching technique. The program, created by BayTSP, extracts unique
identifiers from images. Using these unique identifiers, the program
can find copies of the images anywhere on the Internet within minutes.
The program can also dramatically decrease the amount of time it takes
to scour a confiscated hard drive for illegal images.
SECURE EMAIL WITHOUT PKI A new crop of small
companies believes they have a cheaper, viable replacement to the
expensive PKI (public-key-infrastructure) to secure email messages.
These new products use simple, clever techniques to provide security
to email. For example, SafeLoop sends messages via HTTP instead of
SMTP. Email is then hidden within the billions of Web pages downloaded
at any given time.
August 21, 2000- Monday- 6:20 pm- NAPSTER
WANTS CASE THROWN OUT Defense
lawyers for Napster urged a federal appeals court to dismiss a lower
court ruling that could effectively shut down the popular online music-swapping
service. Separately, Napster's CEO told reporters the company has
tried to settle a recording industry lawsuit, but said the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) has rebuffed all offers. In
its brief submitted to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Napster
lawyers argued that the injunction ordered in July by U.S. District
Judge Marilyn Hall Patel was based on a faulty interpretation of copyright
law.
COMPAQ CEO WARNS OF PARTS SHORTAGE Compaq
CEO Michael Capellas warned that although strong demand for PCs is
a blessing, the curse will be a component shortage. Capellas said
the dearth of PC parts constitutes a "very real issue" for the coming
months. The entire computer industry has complained for months about
shortage for everything from memory to CPUs. The tight supply issues
could put constraints on the industry's growth for a while.
TRANSMETA TO PARTNER WITH AMD Mobile
chipmaker Transmeta and AMD are about to announce a relationship in
a move that could pose a problem for Intel. Officials at AMD kept
mum on the details of the relationship, but sources say the two companies
might swap patents, similar to AMD's current arrangement with Motorola.
Transmeta has its eye on AMD's Lightning Data Transfer, which provided
up to a 20-fold increase in bandwidth for input/output, co-processing
and multi-processing functions.
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