OS X Leaker Settles, Star Wars Pirate Pleads Guilty
Apple has settled the last of three lawsuits it filed against individuals who leaked beta versions of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. The suits brought a flurry of discussion in the Mac community over whether Apple's actions were justified. In a separate case, a California man pleaded guilty to uploading a copy of "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith."
Marc Hoaglin, 36, said the movie was stolen from a post-production company and is the second person to be sued under the new Family Entertainment and Copyright Act. Another individual was sued in September for recording a film with a camcorder. The terms of Apple's settlement with David Schwartzstein were not disclosed, but he is barred from sharing any confidential Apple-related information in the future.
Yahoo Launches New Messenger Beta
Yahoo late Tuesday released a beta version of Yahoo! Messenger 7.5, which includes the new inbound and outbound calling features it detailed last week. The client now allows users to place phone calls to over 180 countries, costing a penny per minute in the US and two cents to over 30 other countries.
In order to place calls, users must first purchase prepaid credit in either $10 or $25 amounts. The account can be automatically recharged from a credit card when necessary.
Exchange 12 Enters Beta Testing
Microsoft on Wednesday delivered Beta 1 of Exchange 12 to a select group of about 1,400 beta testers. The next-gen communications server promises to bring "unified messaging" that combines e-mail, fax and voicemail into a standard inbox. But be prepared to upgrade: Exchange 12 will only run on 64-bit systems.
By bringing together disparate types of communication into a single Exchange inbox, users can access messages from anywhere, including their desktop, mobile phone and browser though Outlook Web Access. Traditional phones can also be used with the voice recognition provided by Outlook Voice Access.
Windows Live Messenger Beta 1 Ships
As expected, Microsoft has released Beta 1 of Windows Live Messenger to a limited group of testers, with plans to expand the beta in the coming weeks and months. The new IM client, which replaces MSN Messenger, includes "some elephant-sized changes," says Microsoft, including offline messages and PC-to-phone calls.
The Live Messenger development team plans to use its Spaces blog to ask for public feedback on potential new features. "We'll use pictures and descriptions so you can add your opinions whether you have the beta or not," the team says. A detailed and extensive feature list has been posted for those not lucky enough to have been selected.
Microsoft Tool Cleans Sony BMG Mess
The December release of Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool attempts to clean up the mess left behind by Sony BMG's XCP copy protection software, which entered the spotlight in November after the discovery that it installs a rootkit.
Microsoft previously labeled XCP as malware within Windows AntiSpyware, but the MSRT should reach more customers as it's delivered through Windows Update. The tool removes the cloaking and a potentially dangerous ActiveX control, but not Sony's DRM.
DirecTV Caught Violating 'Do Not Call'
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday announced a settlement with DirecTV in which the satellite television provider will pay $5.3 million for the largest violation of the Do Not Call registry ever recorded. Over 1.4 million complaints were received by the FTC.
An investigation took two years to complete and involved DirecTV and five telemarketing firms. The DNC registry currently includes 110 million phone numbers and receives about 3,000 complaints per day. "Sellers are on the hook for calls placed on their behalf and for their benefit," said FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras. "It is not named the Do Not Call Registry for nothing."
Amazon Opens Up Alexa Search Index
Amazon on Tuesday rolled out the Alexa Web Search Platform, which opens up 5 billion documents and 300 terabytes of data to anyone, along with offering computer and storage time for processing tasks. The idea is to enable the creation of new services that utilize Alexa's vast Web archive and search technology.
In its simplest form, Amazon is providing storage space and server power to users at a price of $1 per CPU hour consumed, $1 per gig of storage used, $1 per 50 gigs of data processed, and $1 per gig of data uploaded. A user will have access to the equivalent of a 3.6GHz Linux server with 4GB of memory.
MS Releases Web Based Communicator
Microsoft on Tuesday announced it had released to manufacturing Office Communicator Web Access, an AJAX based version of its new instant messaging client for businesses. Because it is built with open standards, Communicator Web Access works with IE6, Firefox, Netscape 7.2 and even Apple's Safari.
Communicator Web Access, formerly code-named Budapest, will provide real-time instant messaging coupled with presence. The interface of Communicator Web Access is a replica of the desktop client. However, it is not yet expected to have the full range of features that can be found in the desktop software.
Opera: Put Your Face in Times Square
Opera Software has been known for using offbeat marketing tactics to promote its Web browser, including company CEO Jon von Tetzchner promising to swim from Norway to the United States. Now, Tetzchner is offering to plaster one Opera user's face up on the ABC SuperSign in New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve.
"Opera owes everything to you, the millions of devoted Opera users around the world, and we have rented advertising space at the most high-profile New Year's party in the world to thank you," Tetzchner says. The Opera spot will be shown nine times a day starting December 26. To enter, users must post a photo and the reason why they should be selected to the Opera forum.
Windows Live Messenger Beta to Begin
Microsoft this week is beginning wider beta testing of Windows Live Messenger, which will succeed MSN Messenger as the company's primary communications client for consumers. Microsoft is taking the Gmail approach for the beta: invitations were sent out to a handful of testers, who can later invite their friends.
Beta versions of Windows Live Messenger have already begun surfacing on the Web, but Microsoft has learned from past leaks and is restricting login access to those who are registered for the program. Later this month, the beta will expand as users are granted invites to send out.
MCI Progresses with 40 Gbps Network
In order to bring on-demand video and other Internet based services such as VoIP to households around the world, the network infrastructure must first be in place. On Monday, MCI announced it had successfully transmitted 40 Gigabit per second over 3,040 km of fiber, moving one step closer to high-capacity Internet.
The field trial took place in October and November around the Dallas metro area and follows a test in 2004 in which MCI transmitted the world's first 40 Gbps traffic in San Jose. That feat was surpassed weeks later by MCI sending 40 Gbps 1,200 km between Sacramento and Salt Lake City.
P2P Flooder Overpeer Ceases Operation
It's a well-known secret that the RIAA and MPAA contract third parties to employ a number of methods to inhibit illicit file sharing, including denial of service attacks and hiding spyware as music. But these tactics have become less effective, forcing one such company to cease operations.
Following the shutdown of Napster, Gnutella and other decentralized services sprang to life and peer-to-peer file trading became a seemingly unstoppable phenomenon. But even though legal action couldn't stop P2P, the record industry decided to do the next best thing: disrupt it.
NTP Wants 5.7% of BlackBerry Revenue
NTP is willing to finally put to rest a long-running patent dispute with Research In Motion in exchange for 5.7 percent of all future revenue coming from BlackBerry service in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. NTP previously rejected a $450 million settlement offer from RIM and is demanding that BlackBerry be shut down over patent infringement.
RIM's revenue in the last quarter topped $490 million and NTP's patent would stay in effect until 2012. It's not clear how RIM will respond to the new offer, however the company may not have much choice. On November 30, U.S. District Judge James Spencer gave the green light for enforcement of a 2003 injunction against the BlackBerry service.
Ecma Approves MS Office Committee
International technology standards organization Ecma International voted Thursday to approve the creation of a technical committee to begin looking into standardization of Microsoft Office's Open XML document format. The effort has been backed by Apple, Intel and Toshiba.
The vote to create the committee would have been unanimous, however OpenDocument supporter IBM voted against the proposal while HP abstained. Critics outside of Ecma questioned the organization's move to standardize what they consider to be a proprietary format.
Google Offers Metro, Bus Directions
Google now offers directions for those tired of sitting in traffic through a new beta service called Google Transit. It hooks into public transportation schedules and routes to enable users to plan trips without needing their cars. Google Transit currently only supports Portland, but more cities are on the way.
"Public transportation offers a unique type of data that people use in very different ways than most of the data Google has worked with before," says Transit product manager Avichal Garg. "We really want to understand how people use Google Transit and the challenges we'll face as we cover additional cities. To that end, we'd love to hear your feedback!"
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