The company RealNames, which tried to make a buck off of the domain name gold rush by adding their own layer on top of the ICANN system, is going out of business. To review, the RealNames system is a browser plugin which redirects a user who types cookies
in the IE address bar to Nabisco.com. The reason for the closure appears to be the decision by Microsoft to not renew their agreement with RealNames which expires in June — via Slashdot
NASA needs parts no one makes any more. So to keep the shuttles flying, the space agency has begun trolling the Internet — including Yahoo and eBay — to find replacement parts for electronic gear that would strike a home computer user as primitive. Officials say the agency recently bought a load of outdated medical equipment so it could scavenge Intel 8086 chips — a variant of those chips powered IBM’s first personal computer, in 1981
Microsoft could have to make radical changes to meet European regulatory concerns, changes that go well beyond what is being demanded of it in the US
Microsoft was convicted of software piracy by a French court last year. The company was fined three million francs in damages and interest for violation of intellectual property because of the illegal inclusion of another company’s proprietary source code in SoftImage 3D, an animation package
The traditional method for trying out new consumer technologies is to get people to live with them for a while, and then ask them how they fared. Dutch electronics company Philips, however, prefers to take a family, lock them up in a home of the future
for two months and subject them to 24-hour video scrutiny
Rick Boucher, said last July that he wanted to amend the DMCA to permit certain fair uses
of digital content, such as backing up an audio CD by bypassing copy protection technology. In an interview on Thursday, Boucher said he now has sufficient support — from the tech industry, librarians, and Internet activists — to feel comfortable introducing his bill in the next month
Microsoft has come up with another novel way to make its software compulsory — an annual subscription licensing system for schools where you have to pay for all of the computers you’re using, even if you don’t want them to run the Microsoft software you’re licensing. This includes Macs and PCs running Linux
A security hole affecting old copies of some Microsoft Office applications may have left a legacy of data leaks with the potential to reveal sensitive information and weaken security on government and commercial Web sites around the world
Compaq Australia may be facing a class action lawsuit from irate customers who feel duped by the hardware manufacturer’s accidental web site promotion of Presario laptop computers costing just one cent
Microsoft planned in 1999 to bundle its media player and operating system in a bid to attack rival RealNetworks, according to a Microsoft email, even as a federal court was about to punish the company for similar efforts in the web browser market
Sony has begun developing a games console to succeed its popular PlayStation 2 after 2005, according to company sources
Industry sources have named Seiko Epson as the manufacturer that supplied Nokia with faulty components that led to a high screen failure rate amongst its handsets
Nanotechnology is getting closer with genetically engineered viruses grabbing zinc sulphide and arranging themselves into highly organised structures
Wherify’s global positioning personal locator is a bracelet that can be locked on to a child’s wrist. It plots the wearer’s precise location and transmits the data to a central database via a mobile phone connection
Software maker Adobe won its lawsuit Thursday claiming that rival Macromedia infringed on the company’s patents. Adobe filed the suit in August 2000, alleging that the user interface of Macromedia’s Flash Web animation tool infringed on Adobe’s patent for tabbed palettes
, a feature that allows users of design software to rearrange the work space on the PC screen
Hundreds of millions of songs may illegally trade hands online every month, but file swapping may actually be causing people to spend more money on music. A study by Jupiter Research reports that about 34% of veteran file swappers say they are spending more on music than they did before they started downloading files. About 14% of heavy file traders say they now spend less on music
Two Virginia congressmen, Jim Moran and Tom Davis, have proposed a $315 million program that would require biometric markers on all states’ driver’s licenses within five years, according to federal legislation the pair filed Wednesday
Australia’s broadband community is celebrating the Federal Government’s recent decision to separate the accounting practices of Telstra’s wholesale and retail arms, anticipating increased competition
A free version of Sun’s StarOffice business productivity suite is now available for download from OpenOffice.org, an open-source developer community sponsored by Sun. OpenOffice.org 1.0 provides a selection of software nearly identical to Microsoft Office’s. Both suites feature word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation programs. OpenOffice.org 1.0 is a less expensive alternative, however, and supports more operating systems
When asked why personal video recorders are bad for the industry, Turner Broadcasting CEO Jamie Kellner says; Because of the ad skips… It’s theft. Your contract with the network when you get the show is you’re going to watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn’t get the show on an ad-supported basis. Any time you skip a commercial or watch the button you’re actually stealing the programming
— via Slashdot
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