Banned Turkish YouTube visitors won't see Armenian journalist's death
The official explanation for a Turkish court once again banning citizens' access to YouTube over the weekend was the presence of new videos insulting the name of one of Turkey's founding fathers. But that video's been there awhile, and there could be another reason.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is as genuine a hero to Turkey as George Washington is to America. Considered the father of his country, Ataturk laid the foundation for Turkey's metamorphosis away from the Ottoman Empire that was the focus of World War I, to an active component of a modern European Union. As a beloved figure in his country, defacing his name or his image is illegal there, under laws similar to those being considered in the US with regard to defacing the American flag.
Microsoft's new virtualization strategy could include graphics
Press sources were not able to keep a tight lid on impending news from Microsoft tomorrow regarding a new acquisition in the virtualization space, and a change to its licensing policy regarding virtual desktops.
Leave it to The Wall Street Journal to let the news slip a day earlier than planned: At a press event scheduled for tomorrow morning Pacific Time, Microsoft will announce its intent to purchase virtualization tools provider Calista Technologies, the WSJ reported this morning.
AT&T finally announces business users' plan for iPhone
Over a year after its existence was confirmed by Apple at that historic Macworld event, US carrier AT&T has come to terms with small businesses insisting there is indeed some business value in the device.
This morning, AT&T Wireless announced at last it is making the Apple iPhone available to its business customers, under a plan requiring a two-year service agreement.
RIAA Web site apparently hacked over the weekend
An old-style SQL injection hack is the suspected culprit in a malicious attack on the RIAA's Web site. During the weekend, its framework was still going, though its content had been erased.
For well over a decade, malicious users have known how to pass unchecked SQL queries through Web forms, in what is called a SQL injection attack. With unsecured databases, it's an almost ridiculously simple hack, not really displaying any real skill or prowess on the part of the malicious user. But last weekend, one hack was notable particularly for its target.
Wireless transmitters in VHF, UHF 'white spaces' will be tested again
Despite an admittedly poor showing from the first prototype for a wireless networking device supposedly capable of harmlessly transmitting alongside VHF and UHF TV channels, the FCC said today it's giving the device another go.
The US Federal Communications Commission announced yesterday it is proceeding with plans to conduct a second round of tests on a controversial new technology that leverages unused or under-utilized frequencies in the VHF and UHF TV spectra for low-power wireless networking devices.
New Microsoft CIO has a full and diverse resume
The new public face of Microsoft's enterprise information policies has a long and very accomplished history, plus what appears to be a personal need to make his mark on the world. That may be exactly what Microsoft needs after the last guy.
Last year, Microsoft made a decision that it wanted its Chief Information Officer to have a public-facing role, this time as the representative of the concept of "best practices" that's part of its sales pitch to enterprises. So it moved former CIO Ron Markezich from his old role as "chief beta tester," as it was then described, to a new role called Vice President of Managed Solutions. Then it effectively promoted someone it had hired seemingly by accident to also serve in a role called CIO, to be the one and only CIO.
AMD comes to grips with the ATI merger fallout
Investors and consumers were warned the bad news would come, and it came as predicted. AMD took a stunning charge of $1.6 billion in one quarter, to account for value from the ATI merger it now realizes may not materialize.
The term is "goodwill," and it's used in evaluating the potential value that a merged entity brings to the acquiring company, over and above its tangible assets and the present value of its current contracts. At the time AMD and ATI merged in July 2006, AMD's financial team estimated the total value of the merger at $5.4 billion. $3.2 million of that was projected to be goodwill, how much more valuable AMD is as a company just for having ATI as a division.
Early Q4 PC sales numbers point to Dell's comeback
The Michael Dell reformation strategy evidently paid off for his company in the last quarter of the year, according to the first numbers from IDC. Market share has stopped falling, and shipment growth is finally outpacing the average.
The SEC hadn't stopped Christmas from coming for Dell Computer. It came! Somehow or other, it came just the same.
Bluster keeps the ODF / OOXML debate afloat
In anticipation of an international debate over the viability of Microsoft's OOXML document format still slated for February, the company makes a key policy adjustment while leaving third parties to take their argument outside, as it were.
It is a little over a month away from the next meeting of the International Organization for Standardization's JTC1 committee in Geneva, where the matter of whether Microsoft has adequately addressed concerns raised by 29 member countries as to whether its Office Open XML format should be granted international standard status. Some 11 of those countries were actively opposed to the measure when the question first came to a vote last September.
Yahoo to embrace OpenID standard for validating users
In a move that will apparently open up its quarter-billion-user database to cross-platform username validation across Web sites, Yahoo announced this morning it is embracing the Web's most endorsed open validation standard.
"All Yahoo IDs will be OpenIDs on January 30," a Yahoo spokesperson confirmed to BetaNews late this morning, in a change-over that may elevate the whole issue of users' online identities to a new level.
Another Excel 2003 file format exploit discovered in the wild
A new and reportedly dangerous exploit has been discovered already in the wild, and this time it affects users of Excel with the older file format.
Security firm Secunia today is classifying as extremely critical an exploit involving versions of Excel 2003 prior to Service Pack 2. Though Microsoft released a security advisory on the problem this morning, there are no available details as to the nature of the exploit.
Copyright Board denies SoundExchange rehearing on XM, Sirius royalties
The decision of how much performers should be compensated when their works are played on radio, drew one big step closer to a workable compromise last week, though now it's the collection agency that's raising the red flag.
In a dramatic change of stance, the US Copyright Royalties Board denied a petition from performance rights organization SoundExchange last week for a rehearing on the matter of a royalties agreement between the Board and Sirius and XM Satellite Radio. This after having been perceived throughout last year to have been firmly on SoundExchange's side in its efforts to boost royalties paid by Internet, terrestrial, and satellite radio.
Sun to spend $1B to acquire MySQL, will compete with Oracle, Microsoft
One of the principal products in the LAMP open source arsenal will become a Sun Microsystems product, possibly by the end of this quarter.
When discussing enterprise database installations worldwide, as of today, it will be impossible not to consider Sun Microsystems along with Microsoft and Oracle. This morning, Sun announced it has reached an agreement with MySQL -- which by some accounts may have become the producer of the most widely installed database, under everyone's noses -- in a deal expected to be closed as soon as this March.
Intel earns 45% more in 2007 than in 2006
It was by any measure a stellar year for the world's leading microprocessor manufacturer, but what's disappointing investors this quarter is the disheartening news that 2007 is over.
It doesn't take much to disappoint Wall Street, and in recent days, investors are looking any excuse to justify a selloff that was probably well overdue anyway. But Intel has fully recovered from its last wave of restructuring, and shows no signs of future trouble. What it does show is some reduced growth -- not a pothole ahead, but not smooth sailing, either.
Inside the MacBook Air: Can Apple justify its value proposition?
Apple is now in the position where it cannot hold a proper Macworld without unveiling "One More Thing." But with the iPhone being a hard act to follow, was the MacBook Air enough to keep the world's gadget haven at the top of its game?
It is not the iPhone -- that is, it isn't the game-changing device that forced an entire segment of the industry to rethink its approach to design, functionality, and service. The MacBook Air is an attempt to fill a gap, and with the iPhone now having reportedly sold 4 million units by Apple's numbers, that gap is smaller now than ever before.
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