Microsoft and Corel Form Strategic Alliance
Corel and Microsoft today announced a strategic partnership that has the Redmond Giant purchasing 24 million non-voting convertible preferred shares at a total cost of $135 million USD. This equates to 24.6% of Corel's outstanding common shares if MS chooses to convert them. According to the press release from Corel, the two companies will be jointly developing and testing new products related to the .Net strategy, and marketing cooperation at trade shows and the like. In addition to these points, certain legal issues are going to be resolved between the competitors. Read the press release over at Corel for more information.
Whistler Beta 1 Slips
Paul Thurrott is reporting that sources close to the beta program over at Microsoft are stating Beta 1 of the much publicized Whistler operating system has slipped two weeks, from October 11th to October 25th. Most likely to be marketed as Windows .NET 1.0, Whistler is not expected to hit store shelves until third quarter 2001. Its successor, codenamed Blackcomb, will be a major upgrade to Windows 2000 with the full .NET features and capabilities. For more information read the story over at WinInformant.
SoundBlaster Live Drivers for WinMe
For all of you computer users out there waiting for SoundBlaster Live drivers for your Windows Millennium setup, wait no more. Creative Labs was a bit slow getting these out, but you can download them from the Gateway support center. You can also get them from FileForum by clicking right here. Check them out over at Gateway by clicking the left mouse button right here.
US PlayStation2 Rollout Half What Expected
Beginning on October 26th of this year, American consumers will be able to purchase the much anticipated and talked about gaming console, the PlayStation2. The new unit boasts a barrage of new features including DVD playing abilities as well as super-enhanced graphics capabilities over its predecessor. The only problem is that only half the number of those original users who wanted one will be able to get their hands on one. According to a Reuters report, PlayStation2 production is more than a month behind schedule, leaving only 500,000 units to be initially sold in the states, or half what was originally expected. This will be a major problem for gamers and parents who wanted the unit in time for the holiday season, and there is no word on when Sony will pick up production and catch up to its original mark.
Carnivore Under the Microscope
The United States Department of Justice has formed a special team to examine the security of the FBI's e-mail monitoring system they so kindly call "Carnivore". The system has been under fire recently for all sorts of privacy issues amongst other things, and the team will be looking into the security against its abuse in coming weeks. This review is not one of a legal nature however, it merely focuses on the technical side of the system, its components, and what information it yields the FBI. The full report when completed will only be released publicly to the extent the law requires it, according to the article on ZDNet. What is your take on e-mail monitoring? Many universities do the same, looking for keywords such as partying and alcohol...at least at Indiana University they do, according to members of the Greek system there.
MS Pats Themselves on the Back
Microsoft's latest ploy has them patting themselves on the back...from your mailbox. With the new beta of MSN Explorer it seems that floods of e-mails have been sent out promoting the new service attached to change-of-address e-mails sent by some users. Now, users can opt-out of sending the message, but many of those users did not even know it existed. The new message is sent out during setup when the install program asks if you would like to send out change-of-address notifications to the users in your address book. By clicking yes, the self-promoting spam is born. Is this necessarily wrong? Many companies such as Yahoo and virtually every other Web-based mail system attach something to the end of your messages you send...but did Microsoft go too far?
.Net in One Day
Interactive Software Engineering has announced that they will be holding a course in Microsoft's .Net strategy entitled ".NET IN ONE DAY A ONE DAY COURSE BY BERTRAND MEYER". The seminar is intended for managers, IT persons, project leaders, and basically everyone involved in technology aspects of their business. It is an in-depth survey of the new strategy outlined by Microsoft this past July, and will have stops all over the world. For more information about the seminar, visit Interactive Software Engineering.
Illegal MP3 Scouring Underway?
Mike Darrah from Dmusic is reporting that Internet trademark and tracking company NetRecovery Solutions will be scanning the Internet for illegal MP3 files over the course of two weeks in September. Rumors are going around that the company will be talking to the ISPs around the globe of those who have illegally obtained copyrighted music files.
The company will be using an MP3 tracking service developed there that performs the following operations:
Mechwarrior 4 Stress Test
IGN and Microsoft are giving all you Mechwarrior fans out there a chance to participate in the IGN hosted Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance multiplayer stress test. The test includes four mechs (Cougar, Loki, Madcat and Thor) and one map, and dozens of different possible games. The good news is that the MechLab is fully functional, which allows you to create a ridiculous number of variants of the four mechs given. For more information visit Mechwarrior4.com or download the stress test now (69MB).
SHOUTcast Broadcasters Convention
Shoutcast creator Tom Pepper sent over a press release regarding a third-party convention being held in Austin, Texas this weekend for personal Internet broadcasters. This includes all of you out there who are busy streaming your own collection of music across the net to users everywhere! Keynote will be Jack Moffit of Icast/Icecast and the Vorbis Project, and on-site lodging is available. The cost will be $99, or $199 the day of the show.
The full press release is below:
Supreme Court Says No to MS
The United States Supreme Court has decided not to hear the anti-trust case against the Redmond Giant today. The case will now go back down to federal appeals court, a place where Microsoft feels they may have an advantage, as appeals court has generally been favorable in overturning previous decisions for the software company. Keep checking back as the trial drags on and on...
New 3dfx Drivers Rock!
A BetaNews user sent word that the new drivers for the Voodoo 4/5 AGP/PCI cards (for Windows 95/98/ME) are awesome, improving benchmarks 40% or more depending on the game. The new drivers have added Depth Precision 16/32bpp to 3dfx Tools Advanced Feature Page to OpenGL/Glide; added AA Demo Key to 3dfx Tools Anti-Aliasing Page; and added Geometry Assist to 3dfx Tools Advanced Feature Page. A full list of the changes and improvements can be found here tomorrow. Download the new drivers (version 1.03.00) for your card from FileForum.
CBA: New Animated Graphics Format
What does CBA stand for? Core Bitmap Animation graphic. This new technology, developed by Core Logic Software, Inc. is "the evolution of animated graphics" according to the Web site. Offering better compression than the popular GIF format and 32-bit color support, CBA is free of charge for use by anyone who wants to. It's use is limited right now due to incompatability in Web browsers (except through a COM component for Internet Explorer) but the company says "We are working hard to develop a functional plug-in that will enable Netscape browsers to easily view CBAs, as well as allow web-developers to easily integrate CBAs on their websites without having to worry too much about compatibility." For more information about this new format, visit Core Logic Software on the Web.
:CueCat is a Cool Cat
There is all this fuss going around about a cool new little handheld scanner named :CueCat. Now what it can do and how it works is a question that some of you may be asking yourselves. The guys over at 3D Retreat have the answer in a lengthy review of the product and its pros and cons. You can't argue much with free products, and apparently RadioShack is just giving these things away. Just a hint about its functionality, it reads UPC barcodes, ISBN barcodes, and various other product codes, as well as it's own special cue code (basically functioning as a regular supermarket scanner). Read the rest of the review for more information.
ISS Warns Of New Denial Of Service Hacker Utilities
Internet Security Systems (ISS) has warned its customers and the IT
security industry at large of new variants of the distributed denial
of service (DDOS) utilities that brought down several major Web sites
earlier this year.
The DDOS utilities, which hackers used to down eBay, Amazon, Yahoo
and dozens of other major portals, have resurfaced in new variants of
Trinity and Stacheldraht, the two main DDOS utilities, the firm's
X-Force security alert team said.
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