Microsoft, Texas Settle with Spammer
One of the world's most prolific spammers has settled with Microsoft and the state of Texas for $1 million, including the seizure of most of his assets. Ryan Pitylak, 24, was accused of sending 25 million mails per day and was considered the fourth worst spammer in the world by Spamhaus.
Neither Microsoft nor the state of Texas had publicly announced the settlement, which came last month. Instead, the first public mention of an agreement came in Pitylak's personal web log, where he announced he was starting his own antispam consulting firm.
Starz Vongo Movie Service Goes Gold
Starz said Monday that its Vongo video download service was moving out of beta, and announced new enhancements to be made to the final version. These include a better user interface, higher encode rates, better video selection, and 600 new TV-based programs to appear throughout the year.
Consumer feedback during the beta was behind the higher encode rates, which Starz said would result in a better picture regardless of the device used. The improvement will be most noticeable on large televisions and on the PC screen, the company said.
YouTube Strikes Back at Yahoo Video
Just a day after Yahoo relaunched its video site to better compete in the viral video market, YouTube shot back Friday by introducing new features of its own. Users would now be able to create "channels," where they can aggregate either their own content, or that of others.
Other users would be able to subscribe to these channels, which can be created through the user profile feature. "Now all content creators and collectors, be it professional filmmakers, videobloggers or just people who love Chihuahuas can broadcast videos from their channel for all the world to see," YouTube's Maryrose Dunton said.
Vonage Sued Over IPO Debacle
After a disastrous initial public offering, Vonage was sued on Friday in United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of shareholders by the Atlanta-based law firm Motley Rice.
Vonage priced its stock at $17 per share when it debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on May 24. However, within the first day of trading the stock lost about 10 percent of its value. As of Monday morning, the stock was trading at $12.31, up 33 cents but down close to 30 percent from its IPO price.
OpenOffice.org: There's No Virus
OpenOffice.org responded Friday to claims in the media that the first virus had been discovered for the open source productivity suite. The group said that macro viruses are possible in any program that supports the feature.
"Macros are a useful part of any office suite, allowing users to automate repetitive tasks," OpenOffice.org's Jacqueline McNally said. "These tasks include potentially destructive actions such as modifying and deleting files, which is why macros are of interest to virus writers."
AMD to License Chip Technologies
In a surprising announcement, AMD said Friday that it had plans to allow third parties to license some of its processor technologies. The deal would allow these companies to produce chips that would add features to its own.
Intel, on the other hand, manufacturers its own accessory chips for the most part. Giving its partners more access, could aid AMD in its continuing battle for market share with Intel, analysts say. The second place chipmaker has recently made great strides to level the playing field.
Laptop Theft Exposes 243k Credit Cards
The theft of a laptop out of an Ernst & Young employee's car has turned into a massive data breach affecting hundreds of thousands of users of the travel-booking site Hotels.com. Altogether, the names and credit card data of some 243,000 customers have been compromised.
Ernst & Young is the auditor for Hotels.com, thus the company said the employee was within his rights to have possession of the data. Although it believes the incident was merely a car theft, the company is taking steps to prevent future thefts from occurring.
DOJ Wants Internet Usage Records
The Justice Department plans to ask Internet service providers to retain data for as long as two years in order to aid in criminal investigations. While the proposal is in its formative stages, a final proposal is expected to be given to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales by this summer.
Media sources have reported that both the Justice Department and FBI met with several Internet providers behind closed doors last week to discuss the program. Right now, most companies hold traffic records only for a few days, unless requested otherwise.
Adobe to Sue Microsoft for PDF Feature?
Microsoft and Adobe appear to be headed for court after talks to include PDF support in Office 2007 broke down, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The dispute has been brewing for the past four months, Microsoft's lead counsel Brad Smith disclosed.
Smith said Adobe threatened to sue in Europe, and that the company was preparing for that eventuality. Adobe wants the feature removed and offered separately, which Microsoft has done. However, it also wants Microsoft to charge for it, which the Redmond company refuses to do.
AMD Aiming to Control Third of Market
AMD debuted a new notebook chip Thursday, as well as saying it would supply one-third of the processor market by 2008. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chipmaker is looking to increase its market share after a solid 2005 where it began to chip away at rival Intel's dominance.
Intel is not taking the claim sitting down, however, and introduced new lines of chips aimed at maintaining its strong position in the industry. AMD is challenging Intel both with its LIVE! Initiative, and the new laptop chips.
Netflix to Distribute Indie Film
Netflix is set to enter the movie distribution business, beginning with the independent film "Sherrybaby." Through its newly created Red Envelope Entertainment division, Netflix would own the theatrical, DVD, television and download rights to the movie within North America.
"Sherrybaby" stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and received a lot of attention at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Gyllenhaal plays a woman struggling to keep her life on track, and follows her release from prison and struggle to maintain custody of her child.
Report: Apple, Best Buy Strengthen Ties
The partnership between Best Buy and Apple seems to be strengthening, with at least one analyst noting that MacBooks, MacBook Pro, and iMac systems have appeared in select stores. If a new strategy, it would mark Apple's largest retail expansion outside of its company-owned stores in several years.
Best Buy had already been selling the Mac Mini since April of last year. Before that, Macs had not made an appearance in the nation's largest retailer since 2003, when the previous deal was terminated. Best Buy has been selling the ubiquitous iPod music player for several years.
Sun to Cut 5,000 Jobs, Close Campuses
Sun disclosed Wednesday that it plans to cut 13 percent of its workforce over the next six months in an effort to accelerate profitability. The cuts would mean that as many as 5,000 could lose their jobs, and the closure of Sun's Newark, N.J. and Sunnyvale, Calif. campuses.
The cuts are a result of a thorough review of Sun's internals by an executive team lead by president and CEO Jonathan Schwartz. Through the changes, the company hopes to better align its expenses with its goals for the future, Sun said in a statement.
Yahoo Turns to Viral Video, Too
Yahoo joined the likes of YouTube early Thursday, relaunching Yahoo! Video to include viral video. The addition of user-created content shows that the movement is gaining steam, and traditional Internet companies are now attempting to cash in on the new phenomenon.
Users will have the option to either browse through an editorially chosen list, or search by category and tags added by the creator when the video was uploaded. Videos can be sent to friends via Yahoo! Mail or Yahoo! Messenger.
Segway Offers Financing to Push Sales
For most, the price of a Segway is too expensive to afford up front. Thus, the Bedford, N.H.-based company has teamed with General Electric to offer a financing program to buffer the "sticker shock" of buying the high-end scooter.
Instead of paying the full $4,000 to $5,000 cost of the scooter at the time of purchase, the amount could be spread out into monthly payments. For the high-end Segway HT i180 model, this would mean monthly payments could be as low as $125 per month.
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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