ITC Investigation Into Mfg. Processes Could Shut Down HDD Imports
In what could be an unprecedented patent infringement claim with the capability to shut down the imports of hard disk drives made by Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital, the US International Trade Commission announced yesterday it will take seriously a claim of patent infringement made by the inventors of a circuit board manufacturing process.
By opening a formal investigation into possible Section 337 violations, the ITC sets in motion a process that could lead to the indefinite suspension of a vast number of hard drives into this country, along with computers from Dell and HP that include them.
Verizon Revises ISP Terms of Service
Following AT&T's lead, Verizon said Wednesday it will also change its terms of service policy to remove language that would have enabled the company to disconnect those who criticized it online. AT&T was roundly criticized for adding in a provision that would have allowed them to do so earlier this month, however it decided to rephrase it to indicate that the company wouldn't disconnect service due to a customer simply expressing their opinion of the company.
"We've decided to eliminate the language from the policy," Verizon's John Czwartacki wrote on Verizon's company blog. "The intent of this provision; which, as I mentioned, has been in our policy for nearly a decade -- has always been to stop anyone who might represent themselves as Verizon in an attempt to do harm." Regardless, the company wants to avoid any criticism similar to that experienced by AT&T.
Internet2 Backbone Reaches 100Gbps
The Internet2 consortium has been pushing record data transfer speeds for the last 11 years. Yesterday it was announced to have raised its ceiling tenfold.
Unfortunately, the infrastructure will not be publicly available any time soon, but the speed is enough to make people wonder how they'd use such a resource. DVD-quality video streams with 5.1-channel audio would be just the tip of the iceberg. These speeds make even the most demanding consumer's tasks sound easy.
StopBadware Calls Malware Trends 'Worrisome'
Malware on mainstream Web sites are becoming an increasingly larger problem as hackers are finding ways to infiltrate them, and place code that infects whomever visits the site.
StopBadware.org co-director Jonathan Zittrain called the trends worrisome, especially considering many webmasters are doing little -- if anything -- to stop it.
FCC Chairman Slides 700 MHz Auction Date, Won't Budge on Rules
When the US Federal Communications Commission last week published its official rules for bidders in the 700 MHz spectrum auction, it postponed the official date of the auction by eight days to January 24, 2008, reportedly as a small concession to companies deciding whether they still wanted to bid. The move led analysts to speculate, would the FCC be willing to budge on other matters, such as mandating all bidders resell portions of their purchased spectrum to wholesale buyers?
The answer that came yesterday was a firm "no" from FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Reuters quotes Martin as having told a gathering of reporters yesterday, "I don't have any plans to try to revise our open-platform rule the way Verizon wants us to."
Australia May Restrict Plasma and LCD TVs
An Australian government-commissioned report recently said that Plasma and LCD TV's consume more power than traditional CRT displays and thus strict regulations must be placed upon them.
The study and subsequent report came in answer to the government's Equipment Energy Efficiency Committee fact sheet that said these types of televisions are contributing to skyrocketing energy consumption in the country. It is speculated that they could overtake refrigerators, air conditioning units and washing machines as the major contributors to household greenhouse gasses.
Was Wikipedia Just a Fad?
Recent data compiled by one of Wikipedia's larger contributors seems to indicate that after a long history of rapid growth, interest in contributing to the effort seems to be waning.
Unfortunately, a truer idea of how Wikipedia is doing is not possible because the statistics page has not been updated in over a year. However, one Wikipedia contributor has taken it upon himself to analyze the data to gain some perspective on the state of the project.
Madonna Leaves Record Industry in $120 Million Deal
Madonna has become the latest artist to buck the record industry by signing a $120 million record deal with concert promoter Live Nation.
While it does not involve selling records directly to the public as other bands have decided to do, it does mark the largest act yet to turn its back on the record industry. Live Nation gains exclusive rights to three new studio albums, all merchandise, tours, and licensing of the Madonna name.
Confirmed: Adobe 'PDF Flaw' Actually XP Bug, Says Microsoft
11:20 am ET October 13, 2007 - Late Friday, Microsoft Director of Security Response Mark Miller confirmed to BetaNews that the vulnerability identified in the company's latest security bulletin is identical to the one discovered by security researcher Petko D. Petkov, and originally attributed to Adobe PDF.
3:10 pm ET October 11, 2007 - Adobe spokesperson John Cristofano confirmed to BetaNews this afternoon that the subject of yesterday's Microsoft security bulletin was indeed the same vulnerability affecting Adobe PDF files in Windows XP. This revelation, coupled with the technical details of the problem described by Microsoft's own security team late yesterday, means that the flaw previously attributed to Adobe software is actually being caused by Microsoft Windows XP in tandem with Internet Explorer 7.
iPhone Unlocked Once Again
For those whose iPhones became expensive "bricks" after upgrading to firmware version 1.1.1 due to running a hack that unlocks the device, a solution has arrived. iPhoneSIMFree, the first company that offered an unlocking tool, has released a paid upgrade that resolves the issue and unlocks the iPhone once again.
The new iPhoneSIMFree utility takes advantage of a TIFF image buffer overflow bug in Safari. iPhone hackers discovered they could use the flaw to once again run code on the device, managing to "jailbreak" it from Apple's lockdown. Making bricked iPhones activate again, however, requires first downgrading the firmware back to 1.0.2. Those who have yet to unlock their iPhones should be wary: Apple is likely to fix the Safari bug and re-lock the phone with a future software upgrade.
Adobe PDF Flaw Only Affects XP, IE7, Company Confirms
A Reuters story that made the rounds this afternoon picked up on information first reported by BetaNews three weeks ago, regarding a vulnerability in PDF files rendered in Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader.
But Reuters' reluctance to mention Windows until paragraph 10 on panel #2 may have been partly responsible today for some security sites reporting that the vulnerability affects Linux and Solaris users as well.
Vonage Files for Rehearing En Banc of Verizon Decision
Late this afternoon, VoIP services provider Vonage announced it had filed a motion for the entire three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to review its own decision two weeks ago upholding Verizon's infringement claims on two of three contested patents.
If the motion is granted, Vonage may be permitted to re-argue its appeal before all three judges en banc rather than just one judge individually.
Rights Group: Chinese Gov't. Suppressed iPod Foxconn Story
A report published today by the global journalists' rights group Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières), written by a Chinese technician writing under the pseudonym "Mr. Tao," reveals the existence of a government bureau there given the authority to designate which news stories are presentable to the public and which are not. The criteria for this bureau's judgment, Mr. Tao writes, are presented to look like "public opinion" played a role; but in one case, the bureau may have intervened to stop the spread of a negative story on a principal supplier of iPod parts.
In June 2006, a report first appeared in China Business Daily on the working conditions of laborers at the Foxconn facility on the Chinese mainland where iPod parts were being made. The report which was translated for the British Daily Mail told the story of a plant that hired mostly women in the mistaken belief that they're "more honest" and less likely to complain, and then forced them to work for 15 hours per day, sleep in barracks housing more than 100 per unit, for wages approximating $51 per month.
Windows Home Server OS Now on Sale
Microsoft quietly began offering its Windows Home Server in the US this week, with the operating system appearing on electronics retailer Newegg.com for $190 USD.
Microsoft released the OS to manufacturing back in July of this year, but the Windows Home Server code wasn't intended to be sold individually. Instead, devices are built around the OS, and that is how the end consumer would get their hands on the product.
Congress, President Debate Reforms to Electronic Surveillance Act
While members of the US House Intelligence Committee debated the language of a bill introduced yesterday to revise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act so that it applies, as its title implies, to foreigners, President Bush called on Congress to extend the intelligence gathering provisions of another law due to expire in February. This extension would close what the administration perceives as a surveillance gap opened when a federal judge declared key FISA provisions unconstitutional, especially as it pertains to federal investigations of American citizens.
"The problem is the threat to America is not going to expire in February," the President stated this morning from the White House rose garden. "So Congress must make a choice: Will they keep the intelligence gap closed by making this law permanent? Or will they limit our ability to collect this intelligence and keep us safe, staying a step ahead of the terrorists who want to attack us?"
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