Senate passes surveillance reform, re-inserts telco immunity
In his State of the Union address last month, President Bush said he would sign no extension to existing surveillance laws that did not grant telcos immunity for having cooperated in the past. Today, the President got his wish.
In a move almost certain to set up a showdown between US House and Senate lawmakers in conference committee, by a vote of 68 - 29, the Senate yesterday afternoon passed the House's version of a bill granting limited warrantless surveillance powers to US intelligence and justice officials, but only after re-inserting a clause whose deletion was critical to its passage in the House: The clause grants immunity to telecommunications companies who cooperated with the government in the past in foreign intelligence operations.
Mozilla releases Firefox 3.0 Beta 3, adds several features
The Mozilla organization on Tuesday posted Beta 3 of Firefox 3.0, for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms. The beta's release notes are indicating substantial progress on new and so far unseen features.
BetaNews has yet to make extensive tests of Beta 3, though a check of the release notes indicates that this may be the build where a number of critical and long-awaited new features actually get tested for the first time.
Yahoo and video platform Maven Networks formally tie the knot
The acquisition of a new and surging startup in the video services field demonstrates that Yahoo intends to pursue its restructuring strategy, just as though February 1 never happened.
Two weeks ago might have been the dawn of Yahoo's next step in moving its multimedia platform strategy forward, had it not been for Microsoft stealing its thunder that week. Today, however, Yahoo went forward with its formal announcement that it is purchasing video and advertising platform producer Maven Networks for $160 million.
FCC re-establishes CATV market share cap at 30 percent
A rule limiting the total amount of the market a CATV provider can address, was restored yesterday after having been ruled unviable by a federal court seven years ago. But since that time, the market has changed drastically.
Almost seven years ago, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit set aside a rule that had, up to that time, been enforced by the Federal Communications Commission. That rule established a limit with regard to how many American subscribers any cable TV service operator, or any other provider of cable programming, could serve.
Intel's German offices raided in EC antitrust investigation
The European Commission has turned up the volume in its investigation of Intel's conduct, with retailers in Germany and Great Britain now confirming they've been raided -- the same retailers mentioned in AMD's civil suit against Intel.
Since AMD launched its civil antitrust suit against Intel in June 2005, the matter of whether Intel's private business dealings with Media Markt, Germany's largest technology retailer, has been a subject of debate. Now Media Markt along with UK tech retailer Dixon Services Group (DSG) International report their headquarters have been targeted by unannounced raids from the European Commission's antitrust regulators, on the same day as Intel acknowledged its corporate offices in Munich received similar visits.
Microsoft scrambles to explain prototype 'white space' device failure
It could be a single malfunctioning power supply. Or, from the other side of the glass, it could be a portent of doom for a technology that would make good use of all those TV channels that no one's broadcasting on, for wireless networking.
One of two prototype devices assembled on Microsoft's behalf for the US Federal Communications Commission for testing the ability to select wireless networking frequencies that don't interfere with TV signals, failed on account of a recurring power problem, three Microsoft sources confirmed to BetaNews today.
Now Microsoft will take its case to Yahoo's shareholders
In a statement late Monday afternoon, Microsoft responded to Yahoo's rejection of its initial takeover bid as many believed it would, and as the company itself indicated it probably might do: It will ask Yahoo shareholders to consider its proposal.
With no absolute white knight in sight, though with a few candidates for the job having been mulled around, Yahoo's executives may find themselves now pleading their case for independence with their company's own stockholders. As expected, Microsoft plans to pursue its takeover of Yahoo by way of "Plan B:" a direct offer to shareholders to override their own board of directors.
Microsoft adapts Office Live into a low-cost SMB Web host
Feeling its way through the nuances of the Web applications market, Microsoft is shifting gears yet again with its Office Live Small Business service, this time lowering the fees and adding features for businesses establishing Web presences.
What had started a few years ago as Microsoft's first steps into the unexplored (for it) territory of Web-driven consumer applications, has transformed into something altogether different than an alternative to Microsoft Office. This morning, the company's long and winding strategy for the Office Live brand took yet another turn, with Office Live Small Business now being retooled as a service to enable businesses to set up their own Web sites, buy and sell goods and services online, and track their customers' preferences and online behavior.
ARM is not showing an Android phone at 3GSM
Sometimes so much speculation surrounds an event that some might feel it's safe to simply presume it happened at the time predicted. But ARM confirmed to BetaNews it has not produced a portable handset prototype that runs Android.
Despite an abundance of speculation over the weekend that leading mobile processor manufacturer ARM would be demonstrating one of the first of many prototype handsets running Google's Android platform at the 3GSM Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and despite the proliferation of photographs this morning purporting to actually be of that prototype, ARM's chief US spokesperson told BetaNews this afternoon that no such demonstration took place.
AOL's behavioral ad service to premiere under 'open' mobile platform
After spending the last few years in a whirlwind of activity that, in the end, got it just as far along as if it had been in limbo, a kick in the tail by new Time Warner CEO Bewkes has AOL back in gear, with a mobile premiere for its new ad platform.
Back when Jeffrey Bewkes was being groomed to succeed Richard Parsons as CEO of Time Warner, it was plainly obvious his pet project upon assuming the helm would be AOL -- specifically, either giving it a specific mission or being done with it. At lightning speed, Bewkes has opted for the former strategy; and this morning in Barcelona, AOL is making clear it's no longer a dial-up service. It's a platform for advertising, and mobile is where the action is.
Broadcom's Android alternative: An SoC supporting Symbian, Linux, WM6
In an attempt to blockade Google's Android platform at the big Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, Broadcom is putting forth a chip with some real ammunition behind it, supporting the existing big three mobile OSes all at once.
Perhaps the least likely partners you might think you'd ever see on a joint ticket together may not end up being Google and Yahoo after all. In Barcelona this morning, Broadcom -- which makes chipsets for many brands of mobile phones and smart handsets -- threw a big lasso around Symbian, mobile Linux (LiMo), and Windows Mobile, corralling them under a collective tent it calls "OpenOS."
The answer to Microsoft is no: Yahoo holds out for more cash
Now that Yahoo is apparently in play, and talk among Wall Street Insiders touches on big names such as Google, Amazon, and AOL, Yahoo apparently feels all the talk has elevated its value high enough where it can afford to say no to Microsoft.
After its board of directors met over the weekend to discuss the takeover bid from Microsoft, Yahoo's response this morning is that Microsoft hasn't offered enough. That's not to say it won't accept another bid from Microsoft or perhaps someone else, but it's taking a big gamble that another bid is forthcoming.
Dell asserts its commitment to AMD despite reduced options
Though there may be fewer consumer notebook and desktop computers with AMD processor options available online through Dell Direct today than there were last week, an AMD spokesperson told BetaNews that Dell is not backing away.
Directly refuting a Wall Street Journal story this afternoon which featured his own quotes, AMD corporate spokesperson John Taylor told BetaNews that it is his understanding that Dell Computer is not backing away from selling AMD-based computers on its Dell Direct Web site. That said, there are indeed fewer AMD options available to consumers than just a few days ago.
Could the economic stimulus plan delay patent reform?
After warning as late as yesterday afternoon about the possible disruptive side effects that Congress' economic stimulus program might have on future legislation, a powerful trade organization is suddenly applauding its passage today.
Last night, the US Senate passed the Economic Stimulus Package of 2008, after a few moments of heated debate over cloture (the rules of debate) that threatened to kill the bill, and that even led cable news to report at one point the bill was already dead. Among its provisions is one measure that extends the cap on business deductions on assets from $150,000 to $250,000.
FCC shifts gears for 700 MHz auction
If the FCC's auction of former UHF bandwidth were to end here, it might raise over $19 billion. But with bidding activity slowing to a crawl, the Commission has one more tool in its arsenal to squeeze out some more value.
Sensing a lull in the action, the handlers for the 700 MHz auction by the US Federal Communications Commission have exercised their discretion, and have moved the auction into what the rules call "Stage Two." In this second -- and, according to the rules, final -- stage, anyone who wants to stay completely in the game must continue bidding no less than 95% of the time, to maintain its full eligibility in later rounds.
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