Hamburg court re-locks iPhone in Germany
A German court has ruled that T-Mobile should not be forced to sell an unlocked version of Apple's iPhone, rejecting a complaint by rival Vodafone that led to an injunction last month.
Vodafone and smaller network Debitel had complained to the Hamburg District Court that it was not legal to tie a phone to a single carrier. Apple has built its iPhone business around selecting a single partner per country, and in exchange for the exclusivity, it receives a cut of new customer signups.
Vista SP1 to replace 'Reduced Functionality' with nagware
A service originally designed to compel unpaid Vista users to obtain genuine licenses is apparently being scrapped in Service Pack 1, to be replaced with a more "in-your-face" approach.
In a prepared Q&A released by Microsoft this morning, corporate vice president for Windows product marketing Mike Sievert divulged that Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM) -- a service that disables certain features of Windows Vista until the user activates the system, assuming she can -- will be scrapped in Service Pack 1. In its place will be something that reduces the user's experience instead.
MySpace may compete with record labels for distributing new music
The social networking site is looking to draw users by offering exclusive video and audio content from artists, and is offering incentives for those artists to, in effect, "sign with MySpace."
Called MySpace Transmissions, the service will focus on differentiating itself from its competition through content that is not available elsewhere. Participants will be able to upload videos for viral distribution, or sell exclusive tracks directly to the consumer.
Eight-year-old Windows name resolution exploit re-emerges
Microsoft acknowledged the discovery of an exploitable bug in the way one of its services handles domain name resolution -- a bug it thought it fixed in 1999.
At a so-called "ethical hacker conference" in New Zealand last week, a programmer named Beau Butler revealed a method whereby a malicious user could intercept and re-route Internet traffic throughout a network, using a man-in-the-middle-attack. The method involved being able to masquerade as something called Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Protocol (WDAP), whose purpose is to automatically detect whether a system utilizes proxies for domains higher than the second level (e.g., fileforum.betanews.com).
Yahoo teams up with eBay on auctions in Japan
Court says LimeWire has no case against record labels
A District Judge said that the peer-to-peer network had failed to make a case that its business had been harmed by the record labels' actions.
All four major global record labels -- Universal Music, Warner Music, EMI, and Sony BMG -- had filed a motion to dismiss a September 2006 countersuit against them by defendant Limewire, the P2P file-sharing service. US District Court Judge Gerard Lynch of New York's Southern district granted that motion yesterday, along with several other claims made under state law, however without prejudice.
As SAP loses customers, some former employees make gains
While Europe's largest software maker battles to regain its customers' trust after an embarrassing admission earlier this year, some of its key current and former employees may be starting a little revolution.
As the calendar turns the corner into December, how likely is it that SAP AG will be able to meet a stated goal of selling off its embattled TomorrowNow (TN) customer support division? Much of the outcome will hinge on how well TN is able to retain its existing customer base, according to industry analysts and some key competitors, including Rimini Street, a company generally regarded as TN's chief suitor.
Microsoft expands XP SP3 beta, but not yet to public
Microsoft late Monday expanded its beta test of Windows XP Service Pack 3 to subscribers of its MSDN and TechNet programs, releasing what is being called a "near-final release candidate." The move is likely harbinger of a public beta, as the latest SP3 code will be in the hands of far more than the 15,000 who originally were given access in mid-November.
Noted Microsoft pundit Mary Jo Foley says the public release of an XP SP3 beta could come as early as next week, when a public test build of Windows Vista SP1 is said to be slated for release. A final version of both service packs are currently scheduled for the first half of next year, "based on customer feedback." Vista SP1 will likely arrive sooner than XP SP3, possibly in February.
Facebook partners send data even if user opts out of 'Beacon'
Security researchers claim the social networking site is still tracking users even if they are not logged in or have opted out of its Beacon service, a charge Facebook denies by saying it deletes the data.
Last Monday, CA researcher Stefan Berteau posted details of how Facebook seems to still be tracking users even though a user may not be logged into the site, and even if the user had already opted out of Beacon. He tested out his hypothesis by visiting a site that participates in the program, epicurious.com.
The last AT&T pay phone, as a chapter of history closes
With cellular phones becoming ever more popular, most companies in the pay phone business are deciding maybe its a good idea to get out now.
AT&T is the latest to announce its exit. In a statement Monday, it said that it would honor all customer service and contracts for the time being, but would exit completely from the market by the end of next year.
Will homeland security products ever be interoperable?
Keenly aware of users' frustration, technologists and government agency officials last week called for greater standardization among the myriad products designed for dealing with terrorist strikes, tsunamai, and other disasters.
NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - The list of products geared to protecting people from terrorist attacks and killer hurricanes keeps on growing, from nuclear bomb-sensing technology to underwater surveillance systems and airport runway cameras that can "see in the dark," to give just a few examples.
AT&T, Apple slapped with suit over visual voicemail
Klausner Technologies has sued the two companies, claiming one of the signature features of the iPhone violates two of its patents.
While many patent cases have little prior case law to work with, the firm has already litigated successfully with two other companies who later licensed the technology. Both Vonage and AOL have struck agreements with the company.
Comcast, Time Warner decline to bid in 700 MHz auction
The two largest cable television franchise holders will not participate in the FCC's auction for the old UHF channel spectrum this January, indicating it could all come down to the telcos versus Google.
However the US Federal Communications Commission's upcoming auction for wireless spectrum plays out, the nation's two largest CATV franchise operators will not be involved. A Time Warner Cable executive stated as much to a gathering of communications industry leaders in New York this morning, as covered by IP Democracy; and Comcast made its intentions known in a formal statement.
Calif. government site still serving up malware, porn
The same Web hosting provider that was found to have allowed hackers into a government Web site in California due to shoddy server security is still causing problems for that county's IT administrators.
The Marin County Transportation Authority was found to linking to sites with pornography and malware, similar to what occurred nearly two months ago.
Classical music joins the DRM-free trend
Adding to the canon of DRM-free music, a Universal Music Group subsidiary has made a large portion of its catalog of classical performances available online free from digital rights protection.
Today, a label in Universal Music Group's classical division, Deutsche Grammophon, announced that it would be making the majority of its catalog available as DRM-free downloads on DG Web Shop.
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