Tech Giants Interested in Patent Case
With patent litigation becoming a bigger issue in the technology industry, a decision Monday by the Supreme Court to hear a case on what could be considered an obvious invention -- and thus not patentable -- could hold significant repercussions.
Several tech companies have taken interest in a patent case involving KSR International and a company called Teleflex. At issue is patents surrounding gas pedal technology that were held by Teleflex. While an initial federal court ruling threw out Teleflex's patents, calling them "obvious," an appeals court overturned that decision.
Tower to Open Digital Music Store
Music retailer Tower Records will unveil its digital music download service on Tuesday, complete with 1.2 million tracks priced at 99 cents per song. Powered by Puretracks, tracks would be provided in Windows Media Format, Reuters reports.
As with the company's brick-and-mortar stores, Tower's digital store will provide a range of music across many genres not commonly found in other retail chains. Additionally, the company plans to offer the files encoded at a higher bitrate to increase sound quality.
Sony Admits Mistakes, Looks Forward
Sony admitted Monday that it had made missteps with its Walkman line of products, while also acknowledging that it was gambling by setting the price of the PlayStation 3 so high.
However, the company remains confident that it will be able to turn its Walkman business around despite losing considerable ground to the iPod and other competitors. Similarly, it expects the "value" of the PS3 to help sell the console.
Study: Cell Phones 'Excite' the Brain
Italian researchers have released data that seems to indicate that cell phone emissions do "excite" the brain, however it's not clear if they do any damage. While the phone is in use, the area of the cortex nearest to the phone does show changes, but returns to normal within an hour.
Researchers at the Fatebenefratelli hospital in Milan, Italy performed the test on 15 young males, who made a 45-minute call on a GSM phone operating in the 900 MHz band, a common mobile frequency in Europe. In a dozen participants, a change in brain activity in the cortex was noted.
Windows Live Spaces Set for July Debut
UPDATED Microsoft said Friday that it was preparing to migrate its Spaces blogging service to its Windows Live brand, and with the change the company will add new features and tighter integration with other Windows Live services.
No specific date for the switch has been announced, but it is expected in July.
FON to Offer $5 Wi-Fi Routers
Spanish startup FON, which is aiming to set up a worldwide network of free Wi-Fi hotspots, said Sunday it would sell 1 million routers for $5 or 5 euros, as long as the purchaser promises to use it to share his Internet connection. The program will cost the company some $60 million to undertake.
Either a Linksys WRT54GL or Buffalo WHRG54S would be supplied to the user with the FON software preinstalled. Once a user shares the connection, in return the user would be able to use any FON hotspot for free. If not, a $3 daily access charge would apply.
France Unveils Google-like Map Service
France unveiled a new service Friday that would allow residents to view ultra-high resolution images of the country as well as its territories.
Called Geoportal, the site offers the ability to zoom in to as close as 20 inches off the ground, the best resolution available in Europe. 400,000 images comprise the tool along with 3,700 maps, which are updated every five years.
Study: US Not Prepared for Net Attacks
If the United States were to suffer from a catastrophic Internet disruption, it is likely that there would be a significant impact to both homeland and economic security. A report issued by the Business Roundtable Friday claims that the country is ill prepared for such an event.
The Business Roundtable is made of 160 CEOs from America's largest companies. The group says that there is too much ambiguity in what the response would be from both the public and private sectors.
New Microsoft Office Flaw Emerges
Symantec warned customers Thursday of a new flaw discovered within Microsoft Office that could potentially execute code without any evidence of a break-in. The problem centers around how the software handles embedded Flash files, according to an advisory.
Researcher Debasis Mohanty reported the vulnerability to the Full-Disclosure mailing list on Tuesday. "Malicious Flash files with explicit java scripts can be embedded within Excel spreadsheets using a "Shockwave Flash Object" which can be made to run once the file is opened by the user," he wrote.
Digg: From Cult Favorite to Mainstream
When AOL debuted the new Netscape.com last Thursday, one of the first stories to appear on the site's front page read "AOL Copies Digg." To many a fan of the popular social news site, such a headline could not have been truer.
From the capability to vote on stories and the ability to see what your friends are voting on, Netscape had hopped on the new "social news" bandwagon pioneered by Digg. Even the front page itself looked very familiar. But the folks at Digg weren't flattered.
Google Tests Cost-Per-Action Ads
In an attempt to protect its advertising partners from click fraud, Google is testing a new type of online ad that would only charge the advertiser when a user performs a certain action. This would assure advertisers that they are getting a return on their investment, while weeding out false clicks.
Click fraud occurs when a person displaying advertising on their pages either manually or automatically clicks a link repeatedly in order to generate revenue. The advertiser is then forced to pay for these false leads.
Concern as AT&T Alters Privacy Policy
In a change sure to anger some privacy advocates, AT&T has changed its privacy policy to allow the company to claim ownership of subscriber information. The change will also permit AT&T to hand over data to others if it sees fit, analysts say.
Furthermore, the company said it will track the television viewing habits of customers who subscribe to its upcoming IPTV product. The data will be used to make recommendations on other programs that the viewer may be interested in.
Nokia Calls Off Sanyo CDMA Deal
Nokia abruptly called off its planned spinoff of its CDMA phone business with Japanese manufacturer Sanyo Thursday, while also announcing that it would all but exit from the CDMA market overall by April 2007. Market conditions and disagreements were cited as reasons for the sudden decision.
The two companies originally had announced plans to spin off their CDMA businesses into a single entity in February. However, apparent disagreements over the terms and conditions, as well as the platform's continuing struggles in the emerging markets sector, seems to have doomed the partnership.
IBM Looks to Secure Java Applications
IBM released software Thursday that it says will help fight security breaches in both big and small businesses. The set of tools would help developers build security into their application using open standards, and are offered at no charge.
The tools are designed to prevent the cycle of security patches, which fix problems after attacks occur and the damage has already been done.
French DRM Law Revised for iTunes
A bill in the French legislature that could have possibly caused Apple to pull out of the country will be revised to include a loophole that would allow companies to sidestep a requirement making proprietary DRM essentially illegal, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
However, new deals would need to be negotiated with record labels and artists in order to qualify.
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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