EarthLink to Cities: Pay for Wi-Fi Setup
Plans for municipal Wi-Fi in a dozen cities currently in negotiations with EarthLink may be in jeopardy as the company is imposing new demands on how the networks are to be paid for. Until this point, the ISP was willing to pay for the setup costs: now it is asking the cities to foot that bill. This includes the proposed network in San Francisco.
The move is yet another cost cutting measure for EarthLink, which is struggling to get its financial house in order. Earlier in the week, it announced it is laying off approximately half its workforce and closing four offices.
Google News Strikes Deals with News Wires
Google News has signed a deal which it says is aimed at cutting down on multiple copies of the same story, and will give the original authors credit over those who redistribute it.
The deals are with the Press Association of Britain, Agence France-Presse, Canadian Press, and the Associated Press. Google News will host the stories on its own server and co-brand the pages that the stories appear on.
Three Cellular Carriers Fined Over 911
The US Government is losing patience with some wireless operators, and has said it plans to fine at least three carriers for not meeting its standards for locating customers in 911 emergencies. Fines that total $2.825 million have been proposed against Sprint, US Cellular and Alltel. These companies have not met the requirement of having 95 percent of their customers equipped with cell phones that allow first responders to locate them in the event of an emergency.
This requirement was supposed to be fulfilled by the end of 2005. The three companies "failed to meet this critical deadline by a significant margin, despite the clear requirements of the Commission and the needs of their consumers," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement.
Thailand Lifts Ban on YouTube
A four-month ban on YouTube in Thailand was lifted on Friday, its government said. The prohibition on the Web site was lifted after the site's officials agreed to monitor and remove any videos that may be against the country's laws or found offensive by Thais. The issue started in April when YouTube refused to remove videos that were derogatory toward King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
A Thai spokesperson said that the video site had created a program that prevents offensive clips from being displayed to Thai users. Google said that it respected the King, and "likewise respect Thailand's law and tradition and hope that we will be able to reach a mutually acceptable resolution to the current controversy."
NBC Universal Pulls Out of iTunes
UPDATE - 3:00pm ET, August 31, 2007: After staying silent most of the day, Apple fired back against NBC Universal by deciding to pull the company's content at the beginning of the new television season. Additionally, it disclosed that Universal was attempting to get Apple to pay more than double the wholesale price for content. If Apple would have agreed, pricing of videos would have jumped to $4.99.
The Cupertino company also said that more than 50 networks had already agreed to sell their programs at $1.99 for the upcoming season, meaning NBC was essentially the lone holdout.
Swedish Standards Vote on OOXML Declared Invalid, SIS to Abstain
After considerable suspicion was cast on the reasons why, and the methods how, 23 extra members joined the Swedish international standards body SIS as recently as the day before it was to vote on recommending Microsoft's Office Open XML to the ISO, the SIS has decided to invalidate its "Yes, with comments" vote, and to cast an abstention in next week's ISO proceedings.
There are three conflicting accounts as to why. Two days ago, Microsoft's corporate standards director Jason Matusow responded to inquiries by BetaNews and others with a blog post that attempted to explain the problem as having been caused by a single Microsoft Sweden employee acting out of bounds.
Bertelsmann Settles Again Over Napster
German media conglomerate Bertlesman AG has settled yet another lawsuit surrounding its involvement in the original Napster, which brought music sharing into the mainstream. The National Music Publishers' Association alleged that Bertlesman encouraged copyright infringement.
Bertlesman previously settled with Warner Music for $110 million in April, along with EMI and Universal before that. In all cases, Bertlesman admitted no wrongdoing. The company invested in Napster when the service was struggling to stay afloat in 2000 amidst litigation and lack of a revenue model.
Dell Q2 2008 Earnings Report Paints an Incomplete Picture
It's difficult enough to judge how fast or how well a company is growing when you already know the record of its past results are incorrect. But the question investors and shareholders are asking of Dell today is, are the company's once-and-future CEO and its very highly esteemed new CFO patching the massive leaks left behind by their predecessors? Yesterday's release of very preliminary earnings numbers for its previous fiscal quarter - which at least were not seriously delayed this time - answers that question with a firm, definitive maybe.
The type of fraud to which Dell Computer admitted two weeks ago that its former executives participated in, concerns shifting expenses around between departments to make earnings look better than they actually are.
Justice Dept. Says Microsoft is Behaving, California Disagrees
In its regular progress report for Microsoft's compliance with the terms of its antitrust settlement, the US Justice Dept. stated today that it believes that since the settlement, there's significant evidence of a more competitive market unhindered by the presence or conduct of Microsoft.
Though the entire DOJ filing had not been publicly released by this afternoon, excerpts cited from a press release show the Dept. wrote, "Since the entry of the Final Judgments, there have been a number of developments in the competitive landscape relating to middleware and to PC operating systems generally that suggest that the Final Judgments are accomplishing their stated goal of fostering competitive conditions among middleware products, unimpeded by anticompetitive exclusionary obstacles erected by Microsoft."
Eolas Settles Microsoft Dispute, Was Likely Paid Cash
As first reported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Todd Bishop, the retrial of the long-running Eolas v. Microsoft case has come to an abrupt end. Eolas shareholders were notified on Monday, Bishop learned, to expect a very special dividend of between $60 and $72 per share.
Since Eolas is not a public company, it isn't possible to do the math to see how much that represents, but that still sounds like a very significant sum. It's indicative of a payout by Microsoft, though probably less than the $565 million it would have had to pay had an appeals court not overturned a judgment against it in March 2005.
Family Guy to Make Download Debut on Xbox
Fox has struck a deal with Microsoft to make episodes from the first two seasons of the popular animated television series Family Guy available through Xbox Live, the first Fox series to be offered on the platform. Family Guy's appearance on Xbox Live marks the first time anywhere -- including iTunes -- where the television show would be available for download legally.
The show is most popular among males 18 to 34, which is also the target demographic of video game consoles. Microsoft said bringing the show to the service would be a perfect fit. Each episode, plus the DVD film Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story will be available for 160 Microsoft Points. This would roughly be equivalent to $2 USD, about the same price that videos are being sold for on competing services.
Judge: Security Company Protecting Customers is Immune from Prosecution
What might have been a relatively insignificant case brought by a shareware re-distributor against security software firm Kaspersky Labs was granted a landmark dismissal on Tuesday, for reasons whose repercussions could lead to a new shield of legal security for anti-malware firms throughout the US.
Kaspersky invoked the Communications Decency Act in its own defense, saying it immunizes companies from prosecution for their attempts to give customers the means to block unwanted or offensive content.
YouTube Signs Music Royalty Deal for UK
YouTube said Thursday that it had agreed with the MCPS-PRS Alliance, the UK organization that distributes royalties to the record industry, on a system to compensate artists for music using on the UK version of the site.
About 10 million pieces of music would be licensed for an undisclosed sum, which analysts say is likely in the tens of millions of pounds. The deal would also shelter the social video site from any possible legal actions as a result of music used on its site.
Sony Kills ATRAC, Introduces Video Walkmans
Sony's Walkman entered a new era Thursday, as the company introduced two new models capable of playing not just audio, but also video. Sony also announced it would shutter its Connect music download service, effectively killing its ATRAC format in exchange for Windows Media.
The new high-end Walkman, Sony's NWZ-810 series, sports a 2-inch QVGA (320 by 240 pixels) LCD display, and offers up to 8 hours of battery life when playing video or 33 hours with audio. The slightly-cheaper NWZ-610 models come with a 1.8-inch screen and FM tuner.
TiVo Loses 145,000 Subscribers
TiVo is still struggling to add customers, and miscalculations over the popularity of its HDTV products also hurt the company's bottom line for the quarter ending in July.
The Alviso, Calif. DVR maker's continued struggles highlight the need for the company to get its cable partners moving. More than two years after Comcast announced it would put TiVo on some of its set top boxes, there has yet to be a single commercial rollout.
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