OpenSoft Communications has teamed with WebTrends to offer
a free security check of the server system that Web users are
connected to for Internet access.

The service, which requires users to tap in their e-mail details, for
example, into the OpenSoft site at http://www.opensoft.co.uk , takes
the IP (Internet Protocol) address from the Web server the user is
originating their Internet session from.

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Microsoft has released a new High Encryption Pack for those running the final version of Windows 2000, which will upgrade your system to 128-bit encryption.

128-bit encryption provides the highest security to protect your important information. Because export laws block this level of encryption from being distributed in certain countries, Microsoft provides this upgrade as a separate download.

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Microsoft Corp. and Caldera Inc. said today that they've reached a settlement in Caldera's 1996 lawsuit, just one week before a federal court trial was slated to begin.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

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Nullsoft is set to release a beta of Shoutcast 1.3 next week, with a final release set for the 20th. According to Shoutcast head honcho Tom Pepper, "What's really significant about 1.3 is a whole new model of how streams and threads are managed. It's about 10 times as stable as it was before." A Y2K bug has also been corrected within the admin section. Depending on how the beta performs, a new feature or two may slip into 1.3 before final release.

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Microsoft yesterday debuted its upcoming consumer OS, Millennium, scheduled for release in the Fall. With a huge crowd of onlookers at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft boasted new features users will find in the new OS, inlcuding a "System Restore Tool" which will "roll back" a system to when it was running smoothly. Millennium is also set to offer full Universal PnP support, instant booting, online games, and Microsoft Movie Maker. Microsoft mentioned that a new Windows Media Player and CD player will be included as well.

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As reported previously, Macromedia's Flash is an plugin for most Web
browsers that allows flash-enabled Web graphics, which can include
animation, to be viewed quickly and easily.

The Flash enhancement allows Flash-enabled Web pages to offer Web
browsers the chance to automatically download information files to
their printer while the flash animation sequence is executing on the
user's computer screen.

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America Online, Inc. and Time Warner Inc. today announced that their boards of directors have agreed to a $350 billion merger that will create what they are hailing as "the world's first fully
integrated media and communications company for the Internet Century."

The new company will be known as AOL Time Warner.

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Microsoft has posted a new installment of Ask the Dev Team, where Windows 2000 users ask important questions about the new OS. This week, the Dev team answers questions about playing DVDs, Windows Media Player, and the lack of WINIPCFG in Windows 2000. The column is a great way to learn about things you may come across when Windows 2000 hits retail shelves next month.

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Following the trend of many recent applications, namely digital audio players, Netscape Communicator 5.0 will support customization of its interface, using 'skins.' The Mozilla team is currently working on the feature and is expected to have it completed for the final release. At the moment, the user must put the images in the correct folder and edit the preferences file manually. However, the feature will eventually be an option within Navigator's preferences dialog and skins will function as a single file, much like Winamp does with WSZ.

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A flurry of announcements from digital media company RealNetworks Inc. suggest that the Seattle, Wash. based company's audio and video technology may end up playing even
more tunes and powering more entertainment devices in a frantic
race to dominate the Internet's multimedia file formats.

The company's announcements, at the Consumer Electronics Show
(CES) 2000 in Las Vegas today, included news of an alliance with
the world's largest music company, Universal Music Group (UMG),
the subsidiary of Canada's Seagram Company Ltd. [NYSE:VO] and the
stable for well-known record labels such as A&M, Geffen, MCA,
Mercury and Polydor. The deal will see the two company's market
some of UMG's hefty catalog of music titles in formats compatible
with the RealNetworks RealJukebox music-playing software.

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Researchers at Japan's NEC Corp., looking
toward a future where a home video server collects video and photographic content from diverse online and offline sources, have
developed the first experimental prototype of a powerful graphics search engine that can quickly locate the required images or video scene.

The search engine has been designed to be highly accurate
and is capable of locating digital images, photographs and
video scenes regardless of data format and with digital television
formats used in Japan, the US and EU.

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America Online wants to make the jump from your computer to your TV set. The Internet access giant said Wednesday that it's teaming with
electronics maker Philips for a set-top box that weaves the online service into TV signals.

It's not the only computer company taking up residence atop the TV.
Microsoft, which already owns WebTV, announced its collaboration with
Thomson/RCA on several projects, including a personal digital video
recorder.

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Newspaper reports today from China indicate that the Chinese
government will ban the use of Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows 2000 operating system by government offices in a bid
to support indigenous software.

However, according to a Reuters report today, an official newspaper
reported in Thursday editions that officials at several government
ministries said they were unaware of such a policy, which the
Yangcheng Evening News said would save the government billions of
dollars.

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"The year 2000 ushers in the consumer electronic-plus era, a defining moment in computing when software will enable new services and new tools for consumers, simply and easily," Gates bolstered in his flamboyant keynote yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. With a crowd that showed up over three hours in advance, Gates discussed how new technology would drastically change our lifestyle and how Microsoft would be leading the pack.

In perfect Microsoft fashion, Gates used his keynote to introduce the new name for Windows CE - Pocket PC. Previously code-named Rapier, the new OS will feature the ability to read books through the new Microsoft Reader. The software giant will be joining up with Barnes & Noble, Inc. and barnesandnoble.com to promote distribution of e-books. Pocket PC's support of Microsoft's ClearType technology will allow for easier viewing of e-book content on the device.

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The crowd on hand for a Macworld Expo keynote address by Apple boss
Steve Jobs burst into applause as the company's chief executive
officer showed off buttons sculpted in translucent colors and
application windows that cast shadows on the objects behind them.

Jobs pledged that the new version of Apple's desktop operating
system - called OS X (as in "ten") - will reach final beta testing
this spring. Copies should be available for sale later in the
summer, he said, with all new systems being shipped with the
operating system by January of 2001.

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