San Francisco city computer hijacker faces fewer charges
It was last February when Terry Childs, a former employee of the City of San Francisco's IT department, sat down with InfoWorld's Paul Venezia in a jailhouse interview about his bizarre case. He was a high-level administrator of his division's computers, but after learning in July 2008 he would be reassigned to a different department, he sent those systems into a state of lockdown that only he could undo.
There's no doubt it was Childs who held city services in a virtual cryogenic state. Upon his surrender to authorities, he gave the Mayor the keys needed to unlock city systems. Childs faced four counts of tampering with city property and shutting down access. But last Friday, a judge tossed out the three tampering charges, reported the San Francisco Chronicle, leaving only the single count pertaining to the lockdown.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard due August 28
Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the incremental update to which has been a topic of discussion for more than a year will finally be available on August 28, The Apple Store now says.
As an incremental upgrade for Leopard users, Snow Leopard will only cost $29.99 for a single user license and $49.99 for the family pack (five licenses.) Also, any Mac purchased after June 8th is eligible for a $9.95 upgrade. Pre-ordering is open today for delivery on Friday.
Nokia introduces its first notebook PC
Today, Finnish mobile phone leader Nokia introduced its first notebook PC, the Nokia Booklet 3G.
Mobility is still the name of the game for the 25-year cellular phone pioneer, as the 10" Booklet 3G is designed for portability, with an aluminum chassis only .79" (2 cm) thick that weighs only 2.75 lbs (1.25kg). Naturally, it will also feature built-in 3G, HSPA, A-GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.
Apple 'has not rejected Google Voice application,' says it rejects 20% of submitted apps
Like clockwork, the FCC has released the statements from AT&T, Apple, and Google which respond to the Commission's inquiries into why the Google Voice app was rejected from the iTunes App store.
Since AT&T denied any involvement early on, we have been eagerly awaiting Apple's take on the situation. Cupertino replied with a six-page letter.
AT&T further denies involvement in iPhone app rejections
We already knew that AT&T claimed it had no involvement in the rejection of the Google Voice app for the iPhone that triggered an FCC investigation. Today, AT&T released a more complete and loquacious denial.
"We appreciate the opportunity to clear up misconceptions related to an application Google submitted to Apple for inclusion in the Apple App Store. We fully support the FCC's goal of getting the facts and data necessary to inform its policymaking," said Jim Cicconi, Senior Executive Vice President of external and legislative affairs for AT&T.
DMCA-based appeal fails, Yahoo's Launchcast prevails in royalties row
In a summary judgment this morning, a three-judge panel of the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that Yahoo's Launchcast music service does not have to pay performance royalties in addition to licensing fees, on account of the fact that like terrestrial radio, the service is not interactive.
Today's finding may set precedent for both online and broadcast radio, for having affirmed the legal notion that in order for a presentation of music to count as a performance, it must be directly requested by the listener. While Congress remains split over whether conventional broadcast stations should be responsible for performance royalties to the same degree as Internet providers such as Last.fm and Pandora, US law presently states that the distinction between the two classes deals specifically with interactivity -- the degree to which the listener has explicit control over what she's hearing. If no such control exists, the judges affirmed today, then there's no "performance," thus no royalties for performance apply.
Pirate Bay acquisition looks rockier than ever
Swedish stock market regulators have suspended the trading of Global Gaming Factory X's stock in the Aktietorget marketplace today on the suspicion that the company's reported assets and actual assets may differ.
In June, Global Gaming Factory X made a $7.7 million bid for The Pirate Bay, but authorities today would like assurance that GGF has enough money to complete the transaction.
Google's Rubin: Android isn't blocking VoIP, despite claims
This morning a USA Today article discussed the FCC's investigation into why the Google Voice App was banned from the iPhone. The article goes on to say that Google could "soon find itself in the hot seat" because Android cannot use Skype, proposing that Google itself blocks VoIP to force users into traditional voice calls.
Andy Rubin, Google's Vice President of Mobile Platforms, had to step forward and call USA Today out.
Yahoo, Microsoft team with rival trustbuster against Google Books settlement
An attorney who was at the heart of the US Dept. of Justice's original 1994 antitrust case against Microsoft, arising from its proposed takeover of Quicken manufacturer Intuit, will find himself spearheading a coalition against Google's book scanning policies that includes both Microsoft and Yahoo, spokespersons from both companies confirmed to Betanews this morning.
It was attorney Gary Reback who first called Microsoft to task for using its "embrace and extend" policy in an abusive fashion against competitors, often representing those competitors in legal action, as was the case with Borland International and Sybase in the mid '90s. Currently, he is the author of a book called Free the Market! Why Only Government Can Keep the Marketplace Competitive. His latest confrontation is against Google, whose proposed settlement with book authors and publishers would give Google "non-exclusive" rights to scan their books contents and reproduce them online in the Google Books service. Already, Google has been scanning books that are available in public libraries, and making excerpts of those books available to users -- excerpts, as opposed to the books in their entirety.
Revamped FCC to initiate investigation of wireless competition, exclusivity
Similar to the inquiry it launched into the iPhone Google Voice rejection, the Federal Communications Commission today announced its intention to scrutinize the wireless telecommunications industry as a whole, to see if it encourages competition, innovation and investment, and if it is fair and open to consumers.
The Commission will take a vote on August 27 to decide whether it will proceed with the investigation, which seeks to "understand better the factors that encourage innovation and investment in wireless;" to determine "the status of competition in the mobile wireless market, including commercial mobile services;" and to "comment on whether there are opportunities to protect and empower American consumers by ensuring sufficient access to relevant information about communications services."
Facebook phishing app plague may be getting out of control
In the Internet equivalent of the old "whack-a-mole" game, Trend Micro researcher Rik Ferguson -- who helped call attention to the Conficker worm early on -- has this week been calling attention to rogue Facebook applications whose main purpose appears to be to collect users' passwords. Using the usual attention-grabbing headings to grab users (repeating the word "sex" is apparently still effective), these apps redirect users to what looks like a legitimate login page, making users believe they need to log into Facebook again.
The innocuous names lead users to think they point to real Facebook functions like "inbox," rather than third-party apps. When a user clicks on one of them thinking he's using a part of Facebook, the malicious app takes the user to a Facebook login screen, while in the meantime collecting the user's password.
Irish ISP to block Pirate Bay even as it goes 'legit'
It's not a nationwide ban like the one now in place in the Netherlands, but it may be a step in that direction. Starting September 1, Irish ISP Eircom will block its customers from accessing torrent indexing site The Pirate Bay.
Eircom started working with the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) last February to crack down on P2P music sharing, the result of an out-of-court agreement between the ISP and the "big four" major labels, in order to avoid litigation.
Will two Windows Mobiles get consumers interested?
A recent Digitimes report told us what we already sort of knew, but phrased it in such a way that the tech media did a huge double take.
It said that Microsoft will launch Windows Mobile 6.5 in October, and then Windows Mobile 7 in the fourth quarter of next year...pretty much a verbatim repeat of what Steve Ballmer said about the platform last March. However, the report goes on to say that Microsoft will be running what it calls
"a dual-platform strategy to allow Microsoft to compete with the Android-based platform using Windows Mobile 6.5 and also compete with iPhones leveraging Windows Mobile 7."
Mozilla chief: Microsoft ballot screen leaves IE 'uniquely privileged'
In the first comprehensive statement representing Mozilla's viewpoint on the issue of Microsoft's compliance with the European Commission's recent Statement of Objections, Mozilla Foundation CEO Mitchell Baker wrote earlier this week that a "ballot screen" giving Windows 7 installers the option of setting up Firefox or another browser instead, is not enough to level the playing field. Internet Explorer, Baker fears, will continue to received favored placement elsewhere in the system, including on the desktop and the taskbar.
"Choosing another browser as a 'default' does not mean that the other browser takes the place of IE," Baker writes. "For example, the IE logo ('shortcut') still remains unchanged on the desktop. The shortcut / logo of the browser the user has selected does not replace this, it is added elsewhere. As a result, the familiar location remains IE, not the user's choice."
FCC still needs a good definition for 'broadband'
In order to move ahead with the National Broadband Plan, the FCC has to first say exactly what qualifies as "broadband." Today, the Commission has issued a public notice seeking a tailored public comment on exactly what the definition of broadband should be.
Already, the FCC has what it believes to be a definition for the term, presented on its Broadband.gov site inaugurated earlier this week: "The term broadband commonly refers to high-speed Internet access that is always on and faster than the traditional dial-up access." But here's the thing: What, exactly, is "high?"
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.