More Users Kings of Their Web Domains
Domain administrator VeriSign announced this week that over five million new domain names had been registered during the third quarter of 2004 alone, with 66.3 million domain names currently registered worldwide. The quarterly and total numbers are the largest ever in Internet history, VeriSign said. The study found that a higher number of domains are "live." Also, domain name owners in the third quarter were renewing at a higher rate than in previous quarters.
Microsoft Tries to Wrap Porn Spam
Microsoft continued its battle against spam Thursday by filing seven lawsuits against spammers violating the "brown paper wrapper" provisions of the CAN-SPAM act passed in November of last year.
The term "brown paper wrapper" alludes to the wrappers covering pornographic material in stores, which are required by law. The suit alleges that the defendants are not following the online equivalent, which is to put the label "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:" in the e-mail subject and in the portion of the e-mail body first seen by the reader.
SnapStream Media Center Goes Beyond TV
In what could be seen as a direct challenge to Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition, software company SnapStream released Beyond Media Wednesday to the public.
Beyond Media will operate much like Media Center, with an on-screen menu that allows the user's music, photos, videos, and DVDs to be accessed in a simple manner. Users will be able to use a PC remote, such as SnapStream's Firefly, to navigate the program. Also available is SnapStream Spotlight, the company's video-on-demand feature.
Windows XP Embedded Finally Gets SP2
A full two years after the last major update to Microsoft's embedded version of Windows XP was released, Service Pack 2 is available to developers wishing to embed features of Windows into their electronic devices, such as point-of-sale terminals, medical systems and thin-client devices.
Windows XP Embedded SP2 has much in common with its desktop counterpart released earlier this year, such as improved security and bug fixes. However, new features in this embedded update include support for Bluetooth devices, as well as a reworked version of the original Windows Firewall.
Antispam Measure Progresses in Ohio
Ohio is one step closer to ridding its residents' inboxes of spam since the state legislature passed the nation's latest antispam bill on Tuesday. This measure, co-sponsored by Ohio Representative Kathleen Walcher and Senator Ron Amstutz, has also received backing from America Online.
If the bill is signed into law by the governor, it will be one of the toughest antispam laws in the country. Spammers could be fined, have their computer equipment confiscated, or even face jail time if convicted.
Sony Adds MP3 to Hard Drive Walkman
Sony Europe has announced another version of its hard drive based Walkman, the company's third attempt to break into a market dominated by Apple's iPod.
The 20GB NW-HD3 will feature support for both ATRAC, Sony's proprietary format, and MP3. Previous versions of the player could not play the MP3 format out of the box. As previously reported by BetaNews, Sony made its first foray into MP3 with its flash memory based Walkman models back in October.
Record Execs Go Down Under to Battle Kazaa
Opening arguments in a case which could determine the future of peer-to-peer file sharing networks got underway in Sydney on Monday. The lawsuit is the music industry's latest attempt to make P2P networks legally responsible for the actions of their users.
A court ruling in the U.S. in August sided with P2P networks claiming that they could be used for legitimate purposes. Record companies then turned to the Australian court system to take on Kazaa, as part of the company is run from that country.
Microsoft Breaks Ground on High-Tech School
Philadelphia children will soon have a glimpse into what could be the future of public education thanks to a joint project between Microsoft and the School District of Philadelphia. Microsoft representatives were on hand earlier this month to break ground on this new project, slated to open in 2006.
The "School of the Future" is being lauded by Philadelphia politicians as a way to improve quality of life for its citizens.
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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