August 1, 2001 - Recordable
DVD standards go head-to-head - by Barry Fox. Three rival DVD consortia have given up all
hope of agreeing a single standard for recordable DVD and are
unveiling three slightly different and completely incompatible
home recorders at IFA, the giant consumer electronics show
being held in Berlin...
August 29, 2001 -
Microsoft.Net:
a new monopoly? - By Gary Hein, Special to ZDNet, COMMENTARY
-
"Microsoft.Net can be summarized in one simple statement:
Microsoft is building an Internet monopoly. Does the very nature of
the Internet prevent one company from monopolizing the Internet? In
a perfect world, market forces and open standards would prevail. But
this isn't a perfect world. Never underestimate Microsoft. It is
poised for success given its broad market penetration, current
business practices and deep pockets. But Microsoft's trump card is
the desktop monopoly that governs how over 96 percent of people
access the Internet. Tie the desktop monopoly to Microsoft-held
Internet properties and watch Internet.Net grow..."
August 30, 2001 - Bill
Gates: Hero or fool? - By Andrew Leonard. Never
mind, for now, the niggling little fact that Microsoft's
actions in previous years (for example, illegally abusing
monopoly power to crush other companies) might have a rather
significant impact on just how much competition will exist a
few years later. There is still a basic truth buried in the
somewhat disingenuous argument: High-tech markets change
really fast, and court proceedings are a cumbersome way to
deal with that problem...
August 29, 2001 - Voice
of America considers anti-censorship tech - By Ann
Kellan, CNN Science and Technology. WASHINGTON (CNN) --
Voice of America is considering new technology to allow
Chinese citizens access to Web sites now banned by their
government. Currently, Chinese government firewalls block many
Western Web sites, including some Voice of America sites.
Software, called Triangle Boy, will act as a deflector for
Chinese citizens who want to access banned Internet sites. The
technology attempts to fool the government by sending the
signal outside the government's firewall to a
"friends" site, then bounces that signal to the
"banned" site and back to your computer...
August 29, 2001 - Rescuers
to Save Excite@Home? - By Mylene Mangalindan, Wall Street Journal Online. Former White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty and associates
have expressed serious interest in investing in Excite@Home,
according to people familiar with the situation. No formal offer has
been made, and no financial terms were available. But McLarty and
Ranch C. Kimball, an adviser to McLarty's consulting firm, Kissinger
McLarty Associates, have connections with private equity partners
and have notified Excite@Home of
their interest in gaining a minority or majority stake, depending on
the arrangement, these people say...
August 28, 2001 - U.S
indicts Russian programmer - U.S. officials indicted a
Russian software programmer and his Moscow-based employer
Tuesday on charges of violating a controversial new U.S.
copyright law, signaling the collapse of plea-bargain talks in
a case that has sparked international protests. Dmitry
Sklyarov, 26, and ElcomSoft were named in the five-count
indictment filed in San Jose, Calif., federal district court,
prosecutors said...
August 2, 2001 - AA
Confession Ruled Confidential - A
man's confession to fellow Alcoholics Anonymous members to two
killings was constitutionally protected and shouldn't have
been used against him, a federal judge in New York ruled in
overturning a 1995 manslaughter verdict...
August 27, 2001 - Borders
Books kills face-scanning plan amid criticism - By
RICK PERERA, IDG NEWS SERVICE. Bookstore chain Borders
Group Inc. has temporarily suspended a trial plan to implement
FaceIt face recognition software in two stores in the city,
pending a review of legal and human rights issues, spokeswoman
Jenny Carlen said...
August 29, 2001 - Web
pioneer Dertouzos dies at 64 - By Eric Auchard. NEW
YORK - Computer scientist Michael Dertouzos, who was
central in establishing the World Wide Web as an international
standard, has died in a Boston hospital, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology said Wednesday...
August 28, 2001 - Court
Slaps Fees on CD Burners - By IDG.
A German legal ruling demands that Hewlett-Packard pay
intellectual-property fees on all the CD burners it has sold over the
past three years. Hewlett-Packard GmbH must pay intellectual-property
fees on CD burners retroactively for three years, a German court ruled
on Thursday. HP said it will appeal the ruling...
August
23, 2001 - The
U.S. of e - The feds are online, and they've got the confiscated
goods--just name your price.
By DAVID COLKER, TIMES STAFF WRITER. Pssst. Want to buy a donkey? No? How about a helicopter, 3-carat
diamond, pickup truck, four-bedroom house in Burbank, Lamborghini,
Texas convenience store or Coast Guard cutter? All can be had for the
right bid on the Internet, but not on EBay or Yahoo Auctions. These
items and thousands more have been put up for electronic auction by
the U.S. government...
August
23, 2001 - Welcome
to the Always-On World -
By Philip E. Agre, University of California, Los Angeles. These
days our culture is trying to digest several new
technologies at the same time. The controversy over cell-phone
etiquette is part of this process, and it portends much
greater controversies to come. How can we think about it? You
are sitting in the theater and your cell phone rings. The
theater performance has been disrupted, but the caller is
innocent. Instead, everyone is mad at you: you could have
turned your phone off or switched it to vibrate instead of
ringing. It's your fault...
August
20, 2001 - Wall
Street waits for another rate cut - By
Christopher Byron MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR. Does all this sound
familiar? It was a Monday, toward the end of the month. A
report released the previous week had been unexpectedly upbeat
about the mood of consumers, building permits had also proved
strong, and inflation actually looked to be declining. But
corporate profits were plunging and the stock market had been
sliding for months. Meanwhile, all eyes were focused on the
next day's Federal Reserve meeting, with everyone wondering
just how much more the Fed would actually cut short-term
interest rates to revive the markets. The prevailing fear:
that the Fed wouldn't go far enough, and the slide would
continue...
August
20, 2001 - Super-sizing
of America - By
Jim Avila, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT. As portions become
larger, so do our waistlines. Restaurant portions have gotten
so big, many can't remember what's normal. America: Big cars,
big buildings, big food and now, a nation of big waistlines
where 25 percent of American adults are obese, compared to
only 7 percent of Europeans. One reason, nutritionists say, is
that portion sizes in the United States are ballooning...
August
21, 2001 - 36
Dead, 14 Missing in Ukraine Mine Horror
- A horrific gas explosion in a Ukrainian coal mine
killed 36 miners yesterday, and 14 others are still missing.
The Emergencies Ministry said the methane-gas blast tore
through a shaft of the Zasyadko mine near the center of the
eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk in mid-morning...
