DOJ Reviewing Adobe-Macromedia Deal
The U.S. Department of Justice has asked for more information regarding the proposed $3.4 billion merger of Adobe and Macromedia, the two companies announced on Monday. The information requested by the DOJ centers around the companies' products in authoring and design, as well as vector graphics illustration.
Company officials said they are in the process of gathering the necessary information and will cooperate fully with the DOJ's investigation. "[Adobe and Macromedia] expect to hold meetings of their respective stockholders to approve the acquisition in September 2005 and still anticipate that the transaction will close in Fall 2005," the two companies said in a statement.
Good Inks Deals With Sprint, Microsoft
Blackberry competitor Good Technology turned up the heat on the market leader on Monday, announcing several new deals with Sprint PCS, IBM and Microsoft, as well as announcing support in four new languages.
The biggest announcement of the day was Good's deal with Sprint, which will allow the wireless operator to sell directly to customers rather than through a third party. The deal would allow business customers to combine their phone and GoodLink service onto a single bill.
Microsoft Denies Claria Favoritism
Microsoft took extra steps Monday to quash any talk that it is going light on Claria adware, by posting a statement on its Microsoft AntiSpyware Web site. The move comes after a researcher discovered the company had changed its recommendations on how to deal with the software.
Eric Howes at Spyware Warrior discovered the changes during a recent test and found that Dashbar, Gator, PrecisionTime and Weatherscope had all been switched from a "Quarantine" classification to "Ignore." According to further research by Alex Eckelberry, president of Sunbelt Software, the changes occurred on March 31.
In-Flight Cell Phones in Europe by 2006
Siemens and Airbus have joined forces to bring ordinary cell phone calls to airline passengers by 2006. Siemens would provide on-board GSM base stations that would not cause interference to in-flight communications. Airbus would build the systems and market it to airlines through its joint venture with SITA called OnAir.
The first airplanes equipped with the new service would show up on Airbus A320 planes flying on routes through Western Europe by the second half of 2006. Also, the technology could be installed on planes produced by Airbus rival Boeing.
New Domain Targets Mobile Phones
ICANN approved the ".mobi" suffix for domain names at a meeting in Luxemberg Monday, intended to signify Web sites that are designed for use by mobile phones. The domain had received the backing of several wireless operators and handset makers, including Ericsson, Microsoft, T-Mobile, and Vodafone. The companies hope that the new domain will spur the development of Web sites optimized for mobile phones.
"As .mobi will encourage the usage of advanced functionalities in mobile devices, the market potential for those devices will increase," the companies said in a joint statement. The idea for the domain name came from the Dutch slang term for mobile phones, "mobi." The domain should be ready for use by 2006.
EU Split Over Anti-Terror Phone Rules
The European Union is again revisiting a proposal to require telecommunications companies to log phone and Internet usage to help fight terrorism. The law was proposed by the European Commission in the wake of the London bombings, however some say the proposal would take too long to enact.
A separate deal has been proposed by Britain, which has the support of Ireland, France and Sweden. This deal would bypass the EU Commission and Parliament to allow the separate countries to pass the law themselves. This approach is expected to be much quicker than the three years it could take for the Commission's policy.
Google Wins Copycat Domain Fight
The National Arbitration Forum, a group set up by ICANN to hear domain name disputes, has ruled in favor of Google in a case where a Russian male registered Web addresses similar in spelling to the company's name.
The search giant filed the complaint on May 11, claiming it had legal rights to four addresses which Sergey Gridasov of Saint Petersburg had registered in 2000 and 2001. Gridasov registered googkle.com, ghoogle.com, gfoogle.com and gooigle.com with the site Joker.com.
Picture Sharing Sites Show London Reaction
Pictures of the devastation, reactions, and aftermath chronicling Thursday's terror bombings of the London public transportation system began to appear on the Internet late Thursday and into the day on Friday. Sites such as Flickr even contained images shot by those trapped on the trains, which quickly spread around the Internet and even were used on several television network's coverage of the event across the world.
BetaNews has assembled some of the most poignant images of the event taken by hundreds of non-professional photographers in London. This is not the first time the Internet has been used in this way - Flickr also played host to pictures of the December 25, 2004 Asian Tsunami soon after it occurred.
Report: Apple Offering $59 iPod Battery Replacement
Apple enthusiast site AppleInsider confirmed on Friday that Apple is offering some iPod owners who meet certain conditions a discounted rate on battery replacement. The company has come under fire in recent months, and was taken to court over its battery life claims by owners of first, second, and third generation iPods.
Under the conditions of that settlement, members of the class-action lawsuit were entitled to a $50 USD reimbursement towards the purchase of new Apple hardware or software. Class members who purchased a third generation iPod could extend their warranty by one year, and in some cases receive a replacement.
MS to Offer New Low-Cost Data Backup
Microsoft is offering a new solution for business data backup at a price that it hopes companies will not be able to refuse. To protect 1 terrabyte of data, it would only cost the user $5,000 versus ten times that amount for competing backup services. A beta of the software first debuted last September.
The backup solution will be disk-based rather than tape-based as most are today.
Microsoft to Reward Sasser Informants
Microsoft on Friday said it was prepared to split a $250,000 reward among two individuals that helped to identify the person who created last year's Sasser worm. The worm's author, 19-year-old Sven Jaschan, was found guilty in German court and faces a sentence of 21 months probation.
After the worm spread in May 2004, which caused infected Windows machines to crash and continuously reboot, Microsoft released a fix for the vulnerability that the worm exploited. It then offered a reward to those who could supply information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
London Attack Disrupts Phones, Web
Thursday's terrorist attacks on the public transportation system of the city of London have largely left the communications system of London intact. However, following the attacks it has been near impossible for any kind of communication to take place as networks were overloaded with calls.
All phone operators reported greatly increased activity on their networks and severe congestion. Several operators said customers were having to place calls several times in order to get a connection, although conditions improved throughout the day.
US Broadband Use Growing Briskly
The FCC on Thursday released new data that showed a 34 percent increase in the number of broadband Internet lines, from 28.2 million at the end of 2003 to 37.9 million at the end of last year.
DSL lines saw the largest growth of the two major high-speed options, increasing 45 percent year over year from 9.5 million to 13.8 million lines. The larger increase likely had to do with more of a willingness by DSL providers to offer competitive pricing for their services.
Sasser Worm Author May Face 2 Years
In closing arguments, German court officials have recommended putting 19 year-old Sven Jaschan behind bars for two years for creating the "Sasser" computer worm that spread to computers worldwide in 2004. However, the sentence would be contingent on his actions over the next three years.
If Jaschan does not run afoul of the law within that time period, he would not have to serve the two-year sentence in a youth detention center. According to the court, the defense had asked for a one-year suspended sentence.
US Inter-Carrier MMS Deals Announced
Several deals were announced on Thursday which will allow inter-carrier MMS, including an agreement to allow T-Mobile messages to and from Sprint, and also a deal to allow Cingular messages to and from Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Leap Wireless or US Cellular multimedia messaging.
While not every carrier has yet signed deals with other networks, Thursday's moves indicate full MMS interoperability may not be far off. "Making it possible for wireless users to share pictures and video messages with family and friends, regardless of carrier, is an important step in the widespread adoption of multimedia messaging," said Jim Ryan, vice president at Cingular Wireless.
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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