The tide changes for Microsoft
Throughout its antitrust trial, a favorite Microsoft bogeyman was the "kid in a garage" with a computer, a modem and a good idea. What appeared to be a monopoly, the company insisted, was in fact a fragile market position that could be destroyed in a flash by the kinds of innovation that defined technology industries. The argument was laughable. Just ask Marc Andreessen. If an idea as good as Netscape Communications, backed by enormous financial and technological resources, could grab 80 percent of the market, only to be smashed within months by Microsoft's free Internet Explorer browser, what chance does the next lonely innovator or entrepreneur stand? Yet today, even as Microsoft anticipates victory in its appeal of the antitrust verdict, some very real bogeymen are lining up.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/co...779271,00.html
Judges nix Napster appeal
A federal appeals court has determined that Napster must continue to block the swapping of copyrighted music, marking the latest legal setback for the fading online service. In a terse, two-page order released Friday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied two separate requests from Napster. In one, a three-judge panel said it would not rehear issues it ruled on last February. Responding to another petition, a larger group of judges also declined to review the matter in a so-called en banc appeal.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...093216,00.html
High court rules for online freelancers
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that publishers violated freelance contributors' copyrights by putting their articles in electronic databases, extending the reach of copyright protections in an online age. The high court, by a 7-2 vote, upheld a ruling that the publishers must pay freelance writers, photographers and artists extra for work included in online and CD-ROM databases or must remove the material. The decision was a defeat for The New York Times Co.; The Tribune Co.'s Newsday; AOL Time Warner's Time Magazine Inc.; Lexis/Nexis, a unit of Anglo-Dutch publishing group Reed Elsevier; and ProQust Co.'s University Microfilms International.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...779743,00.html
E-mail ad-ons: 'It's not spam'
The marketing company behind technology that allows ISPs to intercept e-mails and wrap them in advertisements has defended its initiative, following a backlash from Internet users. ZDNet Australia reported Friday that Reva Networks was promoting new e-mail technology that enables ISPs to wrap mail with ads before sending it on to the recipient--a concept that sparked a barrage of criticism from users already fed up with being bombarded with spam. "The minute my ISP tries this I will no longer be their customer," one Internet user said. "There is so much advertising on the Net it's a joke. I am insulted to think that ISPs would make money out a service that is already making them money,"
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...779669,00.html
Open source leaders duke it out
In an interview with ZDNet Germany, Caldera chief Ransom Love hits back at free software founder Richard Stallman, denying that he is a 'greedy capitalist' or a 'parasite.' "I am not a greedy capitalist. I am only a businessman. I just do my job. I'm not quite sure whether you can call this parasitic. I am not a parasite," Caldera chief executive Ransom Love told ZDNet in Munich, Germany over the weekend. Love was defending himself and the open source movement against reproaches by Richard Stallman, the chairman of the Free Software Foundation. Back in May, Stallman was quoted as saying of Love: "He's only a parasite." But according to Love, Richard Stallman's point of view is "very... narrow" and it is wrong to call the business model of companies such as Caldera parasitic.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...779682,00.html
IBM develops fastest silcon transistor
In a move that could pave the way for faster and less power-hungry networking chips, IBM announced Monday that it has developed the world's fastest silicon transistor. IBM has refined its silicon-germanium chip-manufacturing technology to produce transistors that are far thinner than others. As a result, information can travel faster or at the same speed using far less power. The new transistor is capable of operating at 210GHz using just 1 milliamp of electrical current, or about 80 percent faster than current technology while using half as much power. IBM said the technique should pave the way for networking chips that can run at 80GHz, or twice as fast as today's fastest silicon-based chips.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...093187,00.html
Study: How cell phones can cause cancer
Researchers in Australia have reported one of the first scientific hypotheses that normal mobile phone use can lead to cancer. The research group, lead by radiation expert Dr Peter French, principal scientific officer at the Centre for Immunology Research at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, said that mobile phone frequencies well below current safety levels could stress cells in a way that has been shown to increased susceptibility to cancer. The paper, published in the June issue of the science journal Differentiation, says that repeated exposure to mobile phone radiation acts as a repetitive stress, leading to continuous manufacture of heat shock proteins within cells.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...779684,00.html
Is Microsoft's .Net ready for prime time?
Despite the anticipation caused by Microsoft's .Net strategy, many developers still are not convinced that the impending Web services platform is stable, reliable or ready for the enterprise. The Redmond, Wash., company presented several new components of .Net to developers at its TechEd conference here last week, including the second beta of Visual Studio .Net, the centerpiece tool set for building .Net applications. But while the pieces are coming together, the vision is not. "Microsoft does not appear to have a uniform platform vision," said Roger Sessions, CEO of ObjectWatch, in Austin, Texas, who attended TechEd.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...779504,00.html
Time to wash dishes...
More news later on