Russian MS Software Piracy Case Thrown Out
A highly publicized piracy case against a schoolteacher in Russia was dismissed on Thursday, with a Russian District Court saying the case against the man was "trivial."
Alexandar Ponosov's plight was high profile enough to move former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to step in and plead with Microsoft founder Bill Gates to intercede on behalf of the man, saying he did not know he was committing a crime.
Vonage Cuts Losses, But Subs Growth Stalls
Even though its fundamentals are improving, including a narrowing loss, VoIP provider Vonage is beginning to feel the sting of competition.
For the quarter, the Holmdel, N.J. company reported a loss of $64.6 million on revenue of $181.5 billion. This was markedly better than the year ago quarter, when the company lost $72.3 million on revenues of $95.2 million.
Negligence Suit Against MySpace Dismissed
A negligence lawsuit filed by a Texas family after a 13-year-old girl was assaulted by a 19-year-old man after meeting on MySpace was dismissed Wednesday, with a U.S. District Judge saying the site was protected by the Communications Decency Act.
Under the CDA, MySpace is considered an "interactive service." With that designation, it is given immunity to lawsuits that are filed against it over third-party communications. Also, it was found that the girl lied about her age.
Novell CEO: We're Going to 'Attack' Vista
The 'alliance' between Novell and Microsoft got a bit weirder after Novell's CEO indicated that he was pleased by Vista's slow rate of adoption, and will continue to battle the company directly in the marketplace.
Ron Hovespian made the comments to reporters in Australia on Thursday. He mentioned that Vista took over five years to produce, while open source is much easier to develop for. Also, the agreement brings Novell closer to Microsoft's customers.
PSU Researchers Create Worm Speed Trap
A new method to detect and help stop worm attacks being developed by researchers at Penn State University is using the speed of connections to detect the attacks. The system also uses other algorithms to limit the number of false positives.
Current systems for detection of worms focus on signature or pattern identification in order to determine whether or not to block the traffic. However, this method is often too slow, allowing the worm to do damage long before it is stopped.
Congressional Video Games Law Push Renewed
Likely Republican presidential candidate Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas plans to reignite the Congressional movement to ban violent video games by reintroducing the Truth in Video Game Rating Act.
The bill was first introduced in September of last year along with similar legislation in the House, but nether bill made it to the floor for an actual up or down vote.
MS: IBM Standards Position Hypocritical
Microsoft is calling IBM out over its opposition to Office Open XML, saying it is attempting to create a movement to prevent ISO standardization of the format.
In an open letter posted to its Web site, Microsoft claims IBM is trying to limit choice by pushing the OpenDocument format, which it is a strong supporter of, while attempting to block Microsoft's attempts at standardizing its own format.
Study: ID Thieves Prefer NYC and LA
If you live in New York, California, or Nevada, you have the biggest chance of being an identity theft victim. However if you're a Wyoming, Vermont, or Montana resident, the opposite is the case.
A study released Wednesday by security firm ID Analytics put those that live close to New York City or Los Angeles at the highest risk. Living in the West also seemed to increase one's chances: Arizona, Oregon, and Washington all ranked in the top ten.
Microsoft Fixes Zero-Day Word Flaws
Microsoft on Tuesday released a bevy of patches, including three critical patches for the Microsoft Windows operating system, two for Office, and a critical patch for its antivirus and anti-malware software products.
Altogether, twelve patches were released, and the Redmond company finally addressed the issues within Microsoft Word and Office that were being exploited in zero-day attacks. Both Office patches dealt with code execution issues.
Yahoo Integrates IM into Web E-Mail Client
Following the lead of Google, which has integrated its instant messaging application within Gmail since February of last year, Yahoo on Monday added similar functionality to allow both functions within its web e-mail interface.
Similar to Google Talk within Gmail, conversations would take place in conversation windows within the interface. The feature would be rolled out slowly over the next several months to all users, said Ryan Kennedy, Yahoo Mail Beta Evangelist.
.NET Released for Embedded Devices
Hoping to extend the reach of its .NET application programming environment, Microsoft on Tuesday debuted a version that is intended for use in smaller embedded devices called ".NET Micro."
The platform could bring .NET into devices such as sensors, retail displays, and home automation systems. Programming for the platform would be available through Visual Studio, the company's signature programming suite.
OLPC Project Set to Ship $150 Laptops
The so-called "$100 laptop" has moved one step closer to reality, with 2,500 units set to ship later this month to eight developing nations. If the small test proves successful, mass production of the units would begin.
Dubbed the "XO" Laptop, the units actually cost $150 to produce, however within a year they expect the manufacturing costs to fall to the $100 figure first presented by supporters. By 2010, they expect the units to dip below the $100 price target.
CEO: Mobile VoIP Won't Be a Huge Hit
The CEO of one of the world's largest mobile brands said Tuesday that VoIP on mobile phones would likely be as commonplace as it will become on PCs due to what he called 'technical issues.'
Issues such as the resolution of IP addresses of mobile users have not been completely ironed out, and mobile data remains quite expensive, Hamid Askhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International, said at the 3GSM World Congress.
Bolt Nears Settlement with Universal
Representatives for social video site Bolt.com said Monday that it had agreed to pay a multi-million dollar settlement to Universal Music Group to settle charges of copyright infringement, and agreed to pay royalities on any future UMG-owned content uploaded.
UMG sued Bolt and Grouper in October of last year, accusing the two sites of hosting pirated versions of its videos. At the time, it sought $150,000 per occurrence, which was expected to total in the thousands.
Toshiba, HP, HTC Unveil WM6 Phones
With the release of Windows Mobile 6 at 3GSM, several companies have unveiled new phones based on the platform. Among them are a high end PDA phone from Toshiba, and smartphone devices from HP and HTC.
Toshiba's new G900 is aimed at the premium market segment for smartphones, and will feature tri-band HSDPA support. In addition to high-speed data, the G900 boasts an impressive list of features.
Ed's Bio
Ed Oswald is a freelance journalist from the Reading, PA area. Although he has written across a variety of subjects, Ed’s passion and focus has been on technology and gadgets. His work regularly appears on tech news sites BetaNews, PCWorld, and Technologizer, and has been syndicated to eWeek, Time’s Techland blog, VentureBeat and the New York Times.
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