Napster Lays Off 10, Denies Sale Rumors
Napster said late Wednesday that it laid off ten managers worldwide as it combined its Napster subscription service with the Napster.com team. The company took great lengths in public statements to assure that these were not the beginning of a bigger round of layoffs as rumored earlier this month.
"Napster projects its headcount will actually increase over the coming year as our new Napster.com products enter the marketplace. Rumors of major or significant layoffs were misleading and greatly exaggerated, and efforts to sell the company are patently untrue," the company said in a statement. Napster also pointed to its 100 percent revenue growth and 500,000 subscribers as a sign of the company's health.
MTV Adds Programming to iTunes
MTV Networks-owned Comedy Central announced Thursday that it would offer programming through Apple's iTunes. The deal puts 56 episodes of "South Park," "Drawn Together" and "Comedy Central Stand-Up" on the service.
To promote the deal, for one week starting January 30 the network will offer the latest episode of "Drawn Together" three days before the episode is shown on February 1. TV shows on iTunes are usually offered the day after they are shown on television. Comedy Central initially stated the download would be free, but it will run $1.99 USD.
MS Forms New Internet Research Arm
Microsoft said Thursday that it was forming a new research partnership between two of its divisions, Microsoft Research and MSN. The group, to be called Live Labs, will be tasked with developing the next wave of Microsoft's Internet products.
Technical fellow Dr. Gary Flake, whom the company hired away from Yahoo last year, has been tapped to head the group. Flake praised the researchers on the team, calling them some of the best engineering and scientific talent in the world.
Creative Returns to Profitability
After three rough quarters, electronics maker Creative announced it had returned to significant profitability on Wednesday, posting a small profit of $8.2 million, including a $6.9 million investment gain. However profits fell 31 percent from the year ago quarter as Creative continued to struggle in the MP3 market dominated by Apple.
Creative chairman and CEO Sim Wong Hoo promised investors that the company would make money once again after it posted a poor showing in August of last year. Wednesday's announcement even surprised some analysts, who were expecting Creative to post a loss.
Family Guy's Stewie to Host Internet Talk Show
Stewie fans rejoice: the vocal tyke will be getting his own talk show. The show would be based on familyguy.com and other News Corp properties. While it would not be the first time an animated character has hosted some kind of talk show -- Space Ghost was first on Cartoon Network -- it has already gotten the attention of several Madison Avenue advertisers.
News Corp plans to target younger demographics with the program, the same that have become loyal weekly viewers of the television show both on Fox and in syndication. "We think that the property is perfectly suited for that audience," Fox Interactive Media president Ross Levinsohn said in a statement. The show is planned to launch as an Internet-only feature later this year.
New Group Aims to Curb 'Badware'
Google, Sun Microsystems and Lenovo have joined together to co-sponsor StopBadware.org, a Web site that aims to combat the rising tide of spyware and other deceptive programs. The project is being led by the Berkman Center at Harvard and the Oxford Internet Institute.
The site will independently evaluate the various anti-spyware applications as well as provide non-biased information on issues surrounding spyware for readers. Users of the site would also be able to submit information on spyware that they've encountered for the team to investigate.
Wash. Sues Spyware Software Scammers
The state of Washington filed its first lawsuit under its new spyware law against New York-based Secure Computer on Wednesday. The action is a result of parallel investigations involving both the state attorney general's office as well as Microsoft.
The suit accuses the company of offering software that falsely claims the user is infected with spyware. From there, it makes changes to the computer to make it even more vulnerable to attacks.
Google Censors Chinese Search Results
Google on Wednesday launched a Chinese version of its search engine, however as can be expected the company has made some concessions in order to appease the Chinese government. Searches on the topics of human rights, Tibet, the Dalai Lama, and democracy now omit certain Web sites and redirect to Chinese government Web sites.
The company defends its actions as a way to make information more accessible in China. However, the company has always prided itself on offering the most open, unadulterated results; Wednesday's move seems to contradict that philosophy.
WV Schools to Dance Obesity Away
Dance Dance Revolution has become a cult favorite in local arcades and on beach boardwalks, but it will soon have a new home in West Virginia public schools. The state, which holds the unfortunate title of one of the fattest in America, hopes it will encourage students to start exercising.
A test program was successful in 20 schools last spring. The state's 157 middle schools will be the first to get the game, with hopes that all 753 public schools would have Dance Dance Revolution in use by 2008.
Microsoft Opens Windows Source Code
Microsoft caved in Wednesday and opened up the source code of its Windows Server operating system, attempting to appease the European Union and avoid a possible 2 million euro per day fine. The company's foot dragging angered both the EU and US, and Microsoft was coming under increasing pressure to comply.
The European Commission fined Microsoft 497 million euros in March 2004, and attached stipulations for compliance. One demand was a version of Windows without the company's media player software, which it released last year, and the other was to open the source code of Windows Server networking protocols to third party developers.
Microsoft Helps Nab Bulgarian Phishers
Microsoft commended Bulgarian law enforcement on Friday after the arrest of eight individuals involved in a phishing scam. The group used spoofed e-mail messages made to look like MSN customer service representatives sent them.
The Redmond company said it provided technical and investigative assistance to the Bulgarian National Services to Combat Organized Crime (NSCOC) agency. The arrests took place last week in three cities across the country, and those involved are suspected of committing fraud and attempting to steal personal information through the Internet.
Music Sales Decline Two Percent
Even with legal music downloads taking off during 2005, it was still not enough to offset an slight decline in music sales due to lagging physical media purchases for the entire year. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry estimates that final sales data will indicate a two percent overall drop. In 2004, revenue from music sales totaled $33.6 billion.
The industry can take some positives out of the IFPI's data -- the organization indicated that in several countries, including Great Britain and Germany, legal music download numbers now surpass file sharing downloads. "We have tipped the scale on Internet piracy. Newcomers are going to legal online stores," IFPI CEO John Kennedy told an industry conference this past weekend.
Adobe Goes 3D with Acrobat
Adobe on Monday announced Acrobat 3D, a new version of the popular software that would allow users of 3D visualization programs to convert several CAD formats into PDF files. The application marks the first time Adobe has released a version of Acrobat directed at a particular industry.
Recipients of the files would not need CAD software to view the embedded images, however an upgrade to the latest version of Acrobat Reader would be required.
Tech Firms Team Up for DVB-H in U.S.
Five companies announced plans Monday to accelerate the development and deployment of DVB-H, a technology that allows digital television broadcasts on mobile devices. The companies involved include Intel, Modeo, Motorola, Nokia and Texas Instruments, which will form the Mobile DTV Alliance.
The group says it would focus on promoting best practices and standards once the technology becomes more readily available. In the near future, it will work on ensuring that consumers both know of the new technology and have access to it.
RIM Suffers Another Court Setback
The United States Supreme Court Monday denied a request by BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion to review U.S. patent law. Specifically, RIM wanted the court to focus on issues regarding the enforcement of patents outside the country.
Such reviews are very uncommon for the court to take up, so RIM's chances of success were slim from the beginning. However, the company said it believed the issue was important enough for the company and the greater international community, so it decided to press the court for a review.
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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