Craig Newell

America Online has completed testing of its first ever version of America Online software for Windows NT/2000. Previous 32-bit versions of America Online were not compatible with Windows NT or 2000, but 16-bit versions designed for Windows 3.1 worked to a limited extent. The new software utilizes Windows Dial-Up Networking so that the America Online connection is compatible with Windows NT/2000. The Gold Master version of AOL 5.0 for Windows NT and 2000 is available at Keyword: Beta, and the updated version for Windows 95/98 is available at Keyword: Upgrade.

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RealNetwork [NASDAQ:RNWK] users
can now download the latest version of RealPlayer with Net2Phone
[NASDAQ:NTO] software for access to penny-per-minute long
distance domestic phone calls on their computers, the companies
announced today.

"It's a really cool deal because the people that use RealPlayer are
the typical users of Net2Phone," Sarah Hofstetter of Net2Phone
told Newsbytes. "You need a multi-media computer with microphone
and speakers for Net2Phone, which is exactly what you need for
RealPlayer."

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AT&T [NYSE: T] today launched its new PocketNet
flat-rate pricing plan to provide businesses with all-you-can-use
Internet access using a wireless telephone.

PocketNet accesses corporate databases, e-mail, schedules and
contact information via the AT&T Wireless IP (Internet Protocol)
network and a new, large-screen wireless phone made by Mitsubishi.
Packet-based technology allows multiple users to share the network
at the same time. The offer is good in 3,000 US cities.

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The board of directors in charge of the organization that
runs the core functions of the Internet's address system needs to take
its time to handle its leadership elections process correctly, rather
than rushing to decide how it will be done at this week's meeting in
Cairo, Egypt, said a representative of the Center for Democracy and
Technology (CDT) today.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
board of directors is meeting in Cairo to, among other things, firm up
how it will run its elections process, to meet with its three
supporting organizations and to hear proposals about the introduction
of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and the disposition of existing
country-specific domains.

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Renegade Canadian Web site iCraveTV.com
has agreed to stop Webcasting off-the-air signals from US and
Canadian television stations in a bid to settle copyright-
infringement lawsuits in both countries.

While the out-of-court settlements reached late Thursday were
hailed as victories by motion-picture industry giants and
independent producers on both sides of the border, the end of
litigation against Toronto-based iCraveTV hasn't resolved all the
legal questions surrounding third-party retransmission of
television signals over the Internet - particularly in Canada,
where a unique twist in the country's broadcasting laws frees
Internet operations from regulatory red tape.

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America Online Inc. [NYSE:AOL] and Time Warner Inc.
officially unveiled their intent to allow competing Internet
service providers to gain access to the merged company's cable
infrastructure, but consumer group officials and at least one
senator still want more answers.

AOL and Time Warner in a memorandum of understanding released
today offered a basic framework under which the merged company
would offer consumers a choice of ISPs (Internet service providers)
on its broadband cable system.

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Xypoint has taken the wraps off a free cellular Internet
service. Known as WebWirelessNow, the service is said to be
compatible with any of the US digital networks, meaning that any of
the 40 million-plus digital phone users across the US can use the
facility.

Xypoint said that the service, which is paid for by advertising,
allows digital phones users to "pull" customized content from the
Internet, including stocks, weather, traffic, ski reports and other
content.

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HANOVER, Germany - Microsoft demonstrated the new Internet Explorer for Pocket PC today, showing off an impressive browser for handheld devices. Pocket Internet Explorer is one of the first web browsers that allow handheld devices to visit any web site, not just pre-selected content for PDAs.

Pocket Internet Explorer allows access to web sites in an offline setting with Mobile Favorites synchronization or real-time browsing via a modem or wireless Internet access device.

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America Online Inc. [NYSE:AOL], in its effort to be "everywhere" with
its content and services, has started the "AOL Wireless" division and
has appointed Dennis Patrick to lead the subsidiary.

The new division extends on the company's "AOL Anywhere" initiative
to have its content available on non-PC devices like wireless phones
and personal digital assistants (PDAs), AOL spokesperson Anne Bentley
told Washtech.com.

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Intel demonstrated the new Willamette processor capable of running at speeds of more than 1 gigahertz today at the Intel Developers Forum. Willamette is the new generation of Intel’s 32-bit chip which will eventually replace the Pentium III series. Intel Senior Vice President Albert Yu also demonstrated a production version of the Willamette chip, which will be available shortly in limited quantities. Yu said, “We will be shipping hundreds of thousands by the end of the year and millions next year.” Intel declined to give the formal brand name of the new chips at the forum.

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Dell Computer Corp. Chairman Michael Dell said today that
Windows 2000 represents "a leap forward," just five days after he told
reporters he believed businesses would warm up to the new operating
system slowly.

Last Thursday Dell said at a news conference that his company was
seeing healthy demand for the low-cost Linux operating system and
predicted businesses would migrate to Windows 2000 slowly. But today
Dell said in the keynote address at the Windows 2000 Deployment
Conference that the company is experiencing significant improvements
from the new capabilities offered in Windows 2000.

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Just having completed its Windows NT Connectivity Test, America Online is currently beta testing the first version of America Online ever to be created specifically for Windows NT/2000. In the past, AOL users who used NT had to use an unsupported 16-bit version of AOL 4.0, which was not specifically designed to work with Windows NT or 2000. The final version of AOL 5.0 for Windows NT/2000 is expected to be released this spring. AOL has also set up a special area, Keyword: Win2000, to answer members’ questions about upgrading to Windows 2000. To apply for the beta and get a sneak preview of the new version, AOL members can go to Keyword: BetaApply.

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The responsibility of reviewing the merger of America Online Inc. and Time
Warner Inc. will fall to the Federal Trade Commission rather than to the
Justice Department, FTC officials said Friday.

The decision to give the FTC the job means the already-busy agency will
have
a large task to deal with -- a proposed mega-merger with an estimated value
of $165 billion.

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The British and US governments could be in line for a lawsuit from the French, if a report in today's Times newspaper is to be believed. The daily newspaper says that the French government is considering lawsuits on privacy grounds, alleging that the international Echelon superspy network monitored French companies, diplomats, and ministers.

The news follows on from reports earlier in the week in Le Monde, the French daily newspaper, that Jean-Pierre Millet, a lawyer, is preparing a civil lawsuit against the UK and US on behalf of French civil liberty organizations.

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Internet Explorer users who install the Internet Explorer 5.5 beta will find themselves unable to access Microsoft’s Windows Update service to download software updates - at least for the time being. Instead of seeing the usual Windows Update start page, IE beta users are told to wait for the final release version of IE 5.5, which won’t be available until for at least six months.

A message posted on Windows Update, which is only shown to visitors who are running the IE 5.5 beta, reads, “You appear to be running Internet Explorer 5.5 Beta. Windows Update does not currently support beta versions of Internet Explorer.” The message on continues, “Windows Update will support the released version of Internet Explorer 5.5 once it is available.”

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