SCO Delisted From Nasdaq!

Ha Ha Ha! Ho Ho HO!
The SCO Group, Inc. ("SCO") , a leading provider of UNIX(R) software technology and mobile services, today announced that it received a Nasdaq Staff Determination letter on December 21, 2007 indicating that as a result of having filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel has determined to delist the company's securities from the Nasdaq Stock Market and will suspend trading of the securities effective at the open of business on Thursday, December 27, 2007.
But there is more to this. I hope they finish those court cases before going under completely. PJ at Groklaw posted a really grim picture of SCO financials! You can also Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tags: sco, bankrupt, bankruptcy

Sony Flogs Marketing with a Fake Blog and FTC about Being "a little too clever."

NEW YORK, Dec 23, 2006 (AFP) - The curtain has been pulled on a deceptive new advertising tactic in which companies camouflage ads as product praise in online postings masquerading as independent blogs.
Several companies have been exposed for launching fake blogs -- known as "flogs" -- in a practice that coincides with an increase in the number of real bloggers secretly paid to endorse products.
Blogs, a term derived from "Web logs," are rampant on the Internet and are considered online journals in which people post personal opinions, musings, rants and more.
Online firm Technorati reported on Thursday it was tracking more than 63 suspicious blogs.
Wily marketers have infiltrated the blogging world, paying for favorable commentary on products.
However posting product commentary without alerting readers that bloggers were compensated for their opinions is unethical and potential illegal, according to US Federal Trade Commission rules.
Sony Computer Entertainment America, a subsidiary of Japan-based Sony, admitted last week that it created a bogus blog baptized "All I want for Christmas is a PlayStation Portable."
The blog was passed off as the work of an amateur hip-hop musician named "Charlie," who enthusiastically praised the PlayStation.
In a short message on the Charlie blog, Sony apologized for being "a little too clever."
The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, came under fire in October for a blog portrayed as an online journal kept by a typical US couple, named Laura and Jim, as they traveled across the country in a motor home.
The couple's blog praised Wal-Mart for letting them park their hulking recreational vehicle overnight in store parking lots and told of encountering Wal-Mart workers nationwide that praised their jobs and their employer.
Business Week magazine revealed that the couple's cross-country trip was sponsored by Wal-Mart -- a fact unmentioned in the online postings.
Companies such as PayPerPost and ReviewMe, which link bloggers and advertisers, are fueling the phenomenon.

PayPerPost, a five-month-old pioneer in the practice, is true to its name regarding favorable online blog postings.
On ReviewMe, bloggers in any language can offer to post their thoughts on products for 500 dollars a review.
ReviewMe explains on its site that it cannot guarantee favorable reviews, but that most of the posted opinions are positive.
"We do not allow advertisers to require a positive review," the company said in a statement. "The vast majority of reviews are measurably positive, although many do contain constructive criticism."
Blog-for-hire publicity campaigns can be comprised of thousands of postings, according to a PayPerPost spokesman that wished not to be identified.
Fake "independent" blogs by companies or secretly manipulated by advertisers break US law by misleading consumers, according to federal regulators.
The FTC warned this month that "such connection must be fully disclosed" and that its staff "will determine on a case by case basis whether to recommend law enforcement actions to the commission."
Faced with the FTC threat, PayPerPost announced this week it would change it service agreement to require bloggers who were being paid to say so in their postings.
Previously they had left it to the blogger's discretion.
Many PayPerPost competitors have yet to adopt such a rule, and the torrent of user-generated videos, images, and text flooding the Internet has aspiring advertisers navigating uncharted waters.
Attention seekers from fledgling music bands to major corporations have seen clever online content "go viral" -- lingo for being spread for free worldwide by people using e-mail and online links.
Both video-sharing website YouTube and teen-oriented social networking MySpace, for example, have become venues for companies to establish promotional pages.

Tags: Technorati,Geemodo,Charlie,Flogs,Sony,Pay Per Post

Have A wonderful XMAS!

And You may Track Santa Here!
VOIP IP Telephony: Track Santa OnLine As NORAD Follows Santa,!
Tags: Track Santa, The Worlds Fastest Flying Object, XMAS,

Free Calls For Holidays From Jajah

Do not forget to take advantage of generous offer from Jajah to make local and international calls free up to 60 minutes. Follow the link for instructions. Free Calls For Holidays From Jajah
VOIP IP Telephony: Free Calls, Free International Calls, From Jajah For The Holiday Season

tags: jajah,free calls, Free international calls, christmas,hanukka, kwanza, holiday, jajah direct, voip, voice 2.0

GNU Octave Version 3.0 released.

11 Years in the making since previous version, GNU Octave 3.0 has been released to public. Unlike other free mathematical programs, Octave make strides in making Matlab compatibility. Matlab is a commercial Mathematical software package popular among academics. I have used it together with Mathematica for decades.
Octave has extensive tools for solving common numerical linear algebra problems, finding the roots of nonlinear equations, integrating ordinary functions, manipulating polynomials, and integrating ordinary differential and differential-algebraic equations. It is easily extensible and customizable via user-defined functions written in Octave's own language, or using dynamically loaded modules written in C++, C, Fortran, or other languages.
You can get details about the release in this news post.
octave.sourceforge.net
octaviz.sourceforge.net
octplot.sourceforge.net
The above sites have supporting scripts, plotting and graphing information and more. Individual sites have their own specialties.
Octave Forge, the first link above also carries the windows binaries, Mac OS X versions of Octave.
If Octave is your your call, read, learn more and download from GNU Octave site.
Tags: GNU, MATLAB, Octave,mathematica,

New XMAS Villian Comes From Apple, Is It Jobs Or Is It The Fake One?

These damn lawyers are making a bunch of money out of morons in Cupertino. Guess it is ok to get paranoid in old age. Who is going to start Fake Ellison Blog?
The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: First carrot, now stick

RIAA Gets opposition From Student Lawyers

According to this slashdot discussion and the original post, RIAA seems to be getting opposition to it's boilerplate lawsuits.
"A student law clinic is about to cause a revolution in the P2P filesharing war launched by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG.

In what’s probably a world’s first, not lawyers, but student attorneys at the University of Maine School of Law’s Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic have themselves taken up the fight on behalf of fellow students.

Hannah Ames and Lisa Chmelecki from the Cumberland clinic are now officially representing two Maine students.

Ames and Chmelecki are being guided by clinic director and U of M assistant professor Deirdre Smith."
Tags: RIAA, RIAA LosesMaine School of Law

RIAA Sues USENET!

Wired is reporting that RIAA is stalking again. This time it has targeted a service provider. But I think this time RIAA has made a mistake. To most regular users, usenet is not a regular place to hang out. There are thousands of news groups that provide whole plethora of news services. But it is not very popular and mostly academics use the service. Usenet is one of the oldest Internet service. Usenet (User Network) is a global, decentralized, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name. It existed since 1979! As the description goes, no body runs it. So who is RIAA sueing? Usenet.com, of Fargo, North Dakota, is one company that redistributes the usenet feed for a subscription fee.

But what will happen is, this suit will give publicity to USENET and millions more will learn about it. So even if RIAA wins the suit, it might have already lost the game.

"The suit comes two weeks after the RIAA won its first pirating jury trial targeting an individual. A Duluth, Minnesota jury ordered Jammie Thomas to pay the RIAA $222,000 for pirating 24 songs on the Kazaa system in 2005.

The usenet.com case marks a dramatic shift in the RIAA's recent litigation strategy -- targeting an alleged facilitator of copyright theft instead of an individual pirate. The RIAA has sued more than 20,000 people on allegations of copyright theft."

Wired

Tags: Jamie Thomas, RIAA, USENET, copy right

Yahoo China Violates Chinese Copyright Laws, Court Rules.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A Beijing court has upheld a ruling that Yahoo China violates Chinese law by facilitating mass copyright infringement through music downloads, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said.

"The ruling against Yahoo China is extremely significant in clarifying copyright rules for Internet music services in China," said the IFPI, which aims to combat piracy and promote copyright laws.

Officials at Yahoo China could not be immediately reached for comments.

Early this year, music industry leaders including Warner Music Group Corp sued Yahoo China for alleged copyright infringement involving more than 200 unlicensed songs, seeking damages of 5.5 million yuan ($747,100).

Beijing's No. 2 Intermediate Court said in April that Yahoo China, part-owned by Yahoo Inc, one of the world's biggest Internet companies, should bear some responsibility for the copyright infringement, although the music was downloaded from servers of third-party Web sites.

The court ordered Yahoo China to delete links to free Web sites offering music downloads and to pay about 200,000 yuan for facilitating distribution of unlicensed songs by other sites. Yahoo China then said it would appeal against the verdict.

The Beijing Higher People's Court upheld the April ruling on Thursday, under new Chinese copyright laws which entered into force in 2006, the IFPI said in an e-mailed statement dated December 20.

Despite enormous market potential, music sales in China totaled $76 million in 2006, less than 1 per cent of the global recorded music market, the IFPI statement said.

The IFPI, which represents the world's music companies, estimates that about 85 percent of all music consumed in China is pirated.
Tags: piracy, IFPI, China, MPAA, Yahoo, Yahoo China,

Google Can DoubleClick FTC Agrees.

According to the following San Jose Mercury news article Google has won the FTC approval to purchase DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion. FTC wondered about the combination of two largest advertising and the impact on consumer privacy. But agreed that those concerns go well beyond this deal.

Google is yet to get a ruling from European regulators, expected sometime in the next three months. The European Commission has said it will complete its investigation by April 2.

Consumer advocates and Google rivals, such as Microsoft and AT&T, strongly oppose the deal, which was announced in April 2007, on the grounds that it would give Google sweeping insight into individuals' behavior on the Internet and allow the Mountain View company to dominate Internet ad sales and ad serving tools. If I were FTC then I would look into the practices of AT&T and Microsoft on the same issues. The concerns about this knowledge of user behavior could be gleamed from other sources easily, whether Double click is there or not.

Google makes money primarily from selling advertising based on specific words users type into its famous search engine, as well as from ads that are matched with the content of Web pages. DoubleClick makes money by providing software to advertisers and publishers that helps them place and track display ads. Both companies are considered leaders in their areas.

SJM Article.

Tags: google, Google Advertising, Microsoft, Doubleclick

"Leopard" Was The Best Mac OS X To Date

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The launch of Apple Inc's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) latest operating system, Leopard, was its best ever, a research group said on Monday.

When comparing the first full month of sales of Apple Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard" (November 2007) to the first full month of sales for Mac OS 10.4 "Tiger" (May 2005), dollar volume for Leopard was up 32.8 percent and unit volume up 20.5 percent, NPD Group Inc said in a statement.

Apple, maker of the Macintosh computer, the iPod digital music player and the iPhone smartphone, started selling Leopard on October 25, after a four-month delay due to the company's work on the iPhone.

The new version of Apple's OS X software costs $129 for a single user and $199 for a "family pack" that can be installed on as many as five computers in a single household.

Tags: Mac, Mac OS X, Mac Update

Mac OS X, Safari Beta Fixed, In New Update From Apple

Apple has released year-end security patches Monday, issuing 31 updates for the Apple operating system, Mac OS X, and the beta version of its Safari browser.

The Mac OS X patches fix components ranging from the Address Book and iChat software to under-the-covers operating system components such as ColorSync, the IO Storage Family, and the Perl, Python and Ruby programming languages.

If you have not done so, do the update.

Tags: Mac, Mac OS X, Mac Update

Sonic The Hedgehog Blasts You Into The Past On iPod

Sega announced the release of Sonic The Hedgehog for iPod today. ArsTechnica says that this implementation of Sonic isn't bad, either. You can use the traditional Sonic music in the background, or your own iPod music if you prefer (for posterity's sake, I'd stick with the original). You can jump with the center button and apparently the scroll wheel just isn't as annoying as it is on, say, Solitaire.

First Bittorrent Pirate In Russia Sentensed

According to torrentfreak, first person in Russia has been convicted for using BitTorrent to infringe copyright or distribute software. Sergei Avramov appeared in court in the city of Rostov-on-Don, accused of the illegal distribution of pirated software. Despite his actions being strictly not-for-profit, he was found guilty and received a 12 month suspended sentence. I think the copyright mafia is strong enough any where that it is silly to distribute or seek such software. I am sometimes wondering why people have to pirate software, when there are equally good or better software available for free in the OSS world.
Take for instance, Open Office. This piece of software can out beat Microsoft Office without any trouble. Yet people still go looking for pirated copies of those software. I wonder why.

Tags: bittorrent, piracy, Open Office

Google Knol, A Cleaner Wikipedia?

Encouraging people to contribute knowledge and to Google's own version of Wikipedia, Knol seem to be very appealing. The project Knol is by invitation only at the moment but from what I have seen sports a clean wordpress like interface.
It is almost like a group blog, wikipedia but giving prominance to people who create articles or books, not the article it self. So Geemodo will thrive to make a gee more and will have prominent place in the knol for Grid, VoIP, Medical, and social information. Perhaps I will make a knol feed at Feedotopia. Here is an excerpt from Official Google Blog post;
"The key idea behind the knol project is to highlight authors. Books have authors' names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors -- but somehow the web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors names highlighted. We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content. At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the word "knol" as the name of the project and as an instance of an article interchangeably. It is well-organized, nicely presented, and has a distinct look and feel, but it is still just a web page. Google will provide easy-to-use tools for writing, editing, and so on, and it will provide free hosting of the content. Writers only need to write; we'll do the rest."
That explains a lot. My question is why not Gnol?
Official Google Blog: Encouraging people to contribute knowledge

Tags: google, Google Knol, Google Labs, knol

Opera Goes At Microsoft For Unfair Integration Of IE to the Windows

Oslo, Norway and Brussels, Belgium — 13 December 2007

Opera Software ASA, the only company that can put the Web on any device, filed a complaint with the European Commission yesterday which is aimed at giving consumers a genuine choice of Web browsers.

The complaint describes how Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by tying its browser, Internet Explorer, to the Windows operating system and by hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards. Opera has requested the Commission to take the necessary actions to compel Microsoft to give consumers a real choice and to support open Web standards in Internet Explorer.

"We are filing this complaint on behalf of all consumers who are tired of having a monopolist make choices for them," said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera. "In addition to promoting the free choice of individual consumers, we are a champion of open Web standards and cross-platform innovation. We cannot rest until we've brought fair and equitable options to consumers worldwide."

Opera requests the Commission to implement two remedies to Microsoft’s abusive actions. First, it requests the Commission to obligate Microsoft to unbundle Internet Explorer from Windows and/or carry alternative browsers pre-installed on the desktop. Second, it asks the European Commission to require Microsoft to follow fundamental and open Web standards accepted by the Web-authoring communities. The complaint calls on Microsoft to adhere to its own public pronouncements to support these standards, instead of stifling them with its notorious "Embrace, Extend and Extinguish" strategy. Microsoft's unilateral control over standards in some markets creates a de facto standard that is more costly to support, harder to maintain, and technologically inferior and that can even expose users to security risks.

"Our complaint is necessary to get Microsoft to amend its practices," said Jason Hoida, Deputy General Counsel, Opera."The European Court of First Instance confirmed in September that Microsoft has illegally tied Windows Media Player to Windows. We are simply asking the Commission to apply these same, clear principles to the Internet Explorer tie, a tie that has even more profound effects on consumers and innovation. We are confident that the Commission understands the significance of the Internet Explorer tie and will take the necessary actions to restore competition and consumer choice in the browser market."

Opera has long held the position of innovator in the Web browser market, having introduced and pioneered features like tabbed browsing, Speed Dial, integrated search bar, mouse gestures, Opera Link™ and many others. Absent Microsoft’s abuse, Microsoft would have been forced to compete on a level playing field with Opera and other browsers. Instead of innovating, Microsoft has locked consumers to its own browser and only recently begun to offer some of the innovative features that other browsers have offered for years.

Both of Opera’s requested remedies are intended to give consumers greater freedom and flexibility while at the same time ensuring that the Web further develops into a platform for innovation. Opera believes that the remedies will help promote consumer rights worldwide and force Microsoft to begin competing with Opera and others on the merits of its browser.

Opera's product range includes its flagship desktop browser, a fast and free Web browser for mobile phones called Opera Mini, and Opera Mobile, a version of the browser designed for today's advanced smartphones. All Opera’s products support open Web standards which make the Web a home for innovation. Available completely free, Opera's desktop browser or Opera Mini can be downloaded at www.opera.com.

Tags: M$, Microsoft, Opera, EU, open Web standards, Internet Explorer, Opera Mini

Modified Google by Your ISP

Canadian ISP Rogers modifies your Internet access and put it's own stuff on the page. A post on matt cutts lead me to the original but after seeing the screen capture, It could easily have been your Grand Ma's blog page. It was a warning injected to inform that the user is reaching his/her limit for the month.
Yes Rogers could have used the email to inform. And in fact it is also evident that Rogers is spying, sort of, on it's users.
Well it is what we voted for, let big brothers watch and analyze you.

Tags: Internet, rogers, ISP Spying, Rogers ISP

Askeraser Turns On Privacy Swithch For ASK.COM

Ask.com is betting that privacy concerns will sell their wares.. The fourth-largest search engine company will introduce a new and novel service today called AskEraser, which allows users to make their searches more private, once the AskEraser is turned on. Best part of Askeraser is the easy way that one could use it. People will be able to turn AskEraser on or off with two clicks.

NY Times Bits says that it is not much that Ask erases. Even if ask erases, there are more who hordes user data. It is like swimming among thousands of sharks, and one of them being a vegetarian. So exercise care, where you roam. How you ask, well I am yet to find.

Ask.com and other major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft typically keep track of search terms typed by users and link them to a computer’s Internet address, and sometimes to the user. However, Google and Microsoft make search logs largely anonymous or discard them after 18 months. Yahoo does the same after 13 months.

Tags: privacy, ask.com, askeraser, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, search engines, SEO

Microsoft releases Office 2007 Service Pack Early.

Or is it an early Xmas gift to itself?
A service pack is usually to correct bugs, bad code, broken features, exploits, etc, or in MBut M$ service packs have been getting bigger and bigger all the time. I have seen Office 2007 in action as my girlfriend needed it for one of here classes.
But I already told her not to upgrade as there were already complains about the service pack breaking some stuff, like scanning but as I have not tested it I cannot vouch for it.
So go help M$ by downloading and installing the Office 2007 service pack so that M$ can get it all other applications working well with the other M$ suites, like exchange server, sharepoint server and all those new live products!

Tags: exchange server, share point server, spyware, l wga, oga, office 2007, office 2007 service pack 1

Microsoft releases public beta of Office Live Workspace

REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 10. 2007 - Microsoft today is beginning roll-out of the public beta of Office Live Workspace, a secure online workspace to which Office users can post Word, PowerPoint, Excel or PDF files directly from Office applications to work on remotely from virtually any web-connected PC and collaborate on with others.

To learn more about Office Live Workspace, PressPass spoke with Kirk Gregersen, Office Director of Consumer and Small Business Product Management.

PressPass: So, what are you announcing today?

Gregersen: We’re announcing that the public beta of Microsoft Office Live Workspace is going live for the first set of people in the United States who pre-registered for the service at www.officelive.com.

We’re also introducing community discussion forums on the Office Live Workspace Community site, which should provide a great way for our early beta users to share their experiences, tell us what we can improve and ask any questions they might have.

PressPass: What is Office Live Workspace and how does it try to help Office users?

Gregersen: Office Live Workspace is the first Office Live service for all Office users. It provides an easy way for people to save their Office documents and other files to the web, and then to share their work and collaborate with others. We think that Office Live Workspace will be important for our 500 million Office customers because it’s one of the first tightly integrated web-based sharing and collaboration services designed to give a seamless experience for Office users.

The service also responds to some of the top requests that we’ve gotten from Office customers, which require a combination of the web and great integration with Office on the desktop to really solve. The way that Office Live Workspace extends Office on the desktop is a good example of what Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie refer to as our “software plus services” approach.

PressPass: How will people be able to use Office Live Workspace and what will it mean for their everyday work and personal lives?

Gregersen: Customers have asked for an easy way to save their documents from Office to the web, so that they can get to their information or projects if they’re away from their PC. People also get frustrated with the confusing free-for-all that can result when multiple versions of documents circulate in e-mail attachments that then have to be manually pulled together by the original author. We’re hopeful that Office Live Workspace helps solve these challenges by providing a place online to keep a single version of a document that everyone can work on – so you’ll always know if you’re working on the latest draft.

Office Live Workspace also provides a seamless connection with Office on the desktop, which has been one of the most important customer requirements. For example, if I’m creating or editing a document in Word, I want to be able to save it to the web as if I’m saving to my own hard drive – no hunting around for URLs or saving and then uploading. We’ve seen that if people are working on a document and have to go to the browser to upload, many just can’t get over that hump. So we’ve learned you have to make it super easy for people to do things like get their documents from Office to the web, as well as to save work back to the web with one-click if they’re making edits.

We’re hopeful that focusing on solving this “last mile” problem – providing an on-ramp from Office on the desktop to the web and vice-versa – will make things a lot easier for people in their everyday work and personal lives.

PressPass: Do you expect enterprise customers to use the service as well?

Gregersen: There’s been significant interest from people who’d like to use Office Live Workspace at work, so we’re expecting a lot of use by people in companies who work with Office, collaborate frequently on teams and work with partners outside the corporate network.

That said, we also know that many business customers will require the added capabilities provided by products and services such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Office Groove 2007 and the new Microsoft Online services. These are collaboration platforms designed explicitly to meet the additional needs of businesses when it comes to things like regulatory compliance, extensibility, archiving and back-up, directory integration, auditing and much more.

PressPass: How does Office Live Workspace handle security and permissions issues?

Gregersen: We know that security is a key concern for our customers, so we’ve built in provisions to help keep customers documents secure and also support various sharing and collaboration scenarios. Office Live Workspace, uses Windows Live ID so only registered, trusted users will have access to a given document or set of documents. We’ve also built in virus protection for documents from Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint.

Customers have a lot of options around sharing and permissions. You can assign who can see your files so only a specific list of individuals have access. Or, the owner of the workspace can also specify that the documents are available to anyone.

PressPass: What are some of the ways you see this new service helping Office customers?

Gregersen: Today’s increasingly global and mobile workforce places a premium on the ability to manage projects across geographically-dispersed teams that often include colleagues, customers, suppliers and partners, many of whom may be outside the corporate network or behind a security firewall. At the same time, work life and home life are increasingly blurring for many people, so they want access to their home life at work and vice-versa. People are increasingly tele-working, participating in distance learning or moving from contract to contract with a variety of employers.

Office Live Workspace addresses growing demand among our customers for on-the-go access to projects and the ability to collaborate with others regardless of where they live or work.

PressPass: What has the response been to the service to date?

Gregersen: Based on feedback during initial testing and planning, we’ve received very positive feedback about Office Live Workspace. The product team worked hard to give Office users what they have been asking us for. We did a ton of usability and early alpha testing, during which people gave us great feedback that we’ve been able to incorporate into the beta you’ll see today. We’ll continue to evolve the service over the coming months, drawing heavily from things we’re hearing on the community forum and in our early adopter programs.

We’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the high level of interest and excitement we’re seeing from colleges and universities. We reached capacity almost immediately with our early adopter program, which now includes schools such as the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington and Vanderbilt University. Many students and faculty members use Office on the desktop every day, so people have been particularly excited about how Office and Office Live Workspace work together with features like the one-click save to their workspace, the Office Live Workspace add-in for Office, the high fidelity viewing experience and the Outlook and Excel synching capabilities.

PressPass: Isn’t Office Live Small Business also one of the offerings from your group? What is happening with that service?

Gregersen: Yes it is. We continue to be really excited about the customer response to Office Live Small Business, which provides everything you need to take, promote and manage a small business online. In fact, it’s become one of the fastest growing small business services online, with more than 500,000 subscribers to date. We’re committed to meeting the needs of small businesses so we’re going to continue to innovate and enhance this service. Stay tuned as we’ll have a bunch of news on this front in the coming months.

PressPass: Are there any special system requirements to use Office Live Workspace?

Gregersen: Office Live Workspace will work on most PCs and Macs with a Firefox or Internet Explorer web browser. People running Office on the desktop will be able to get the most out of the service, but you don’t need Office to access the basic parts of the service, such as roaming access to your documents and the web-based functionality like viewing, commenting, Web Lists and Web Notes. People can get more detail on www.officelive.com in the FAQ section of the site.

PressPass: How can someone get Office Live Workspace?

Gregersen: People today can sign up for the Office Live Workspace beta at www.officelive.com. As I mentioned earlier, to keep track of the latest exciting developments with Office Live Workspace, check out our community blog at www.officeliveworkspacecommunity.com.

PressPass: When will Office Live Workspace be made available to people outside the United States and in languages beyond English?

Gregersen: Office Live Workspace will be opened out to international users early next year, with additional languages - beyond the current English-language version - available later in 2008. Countries outside the U.S. are also excited about this online web service, so we are looking forward to offering this opportunity to them too.

PressPass: Where do you see Office Live Workspace going from here?

Gregersen: This is just the start of a wave of new products we’re rolling out to deliver on our vision of software plus services, bringing together the features and performance of software with the convenience and reach of services delivered over the internet. Today’s beta launch across the thousands of pre-registrants who signed up in advance for the service will enable us to gather customer feedback that we’ll use to optimize the customer experience before making it generally available next year. This is just the beginning. We’re going to continue to evolve Office Live rapidly and nothing’s off the table. Watch this space!

Tags: Office Live Workspace, Office Live

CompUSA Shuts Down

Wall Street Journal reports that one of my walk in computer shops, Compusa will be shutdown. Even though I did not like the sales people who did not know USB, from PSB, I could find what ever they offered easily on their racks, which were neatly arranged most of the time. I just got my Nokia N810 there.

"Mexican telephone and retail magnate Carlos Slim, in a rare defeat, will exit the U.S. consumer electronics market, shutting the last 100 CompUSA Inc. stores after sinking about $2 billion into the business.

Gordon Brothers Group, a Boston-based retail store liquidator, will oversee a piecemeal sale of the Dallas-based business, the company said in a statement. Financial terms were not disclosed. Stores will remain open through year-end under the supervision of Gordon Brothers, which will also negotiate the sale of real estate and other assets. Two law firms were hired to represent creditors, CompUSA said."

WSJ Report

Tags: Computer Business, compusa, Nokia N810, WSJ, Carlos Slim, Gordon Brothers Group

Western Digital Has A DRM Crippled Harddrive, Just For Your Safety

Register is reporting that Western Digital's 1TB My Book World Edition external hard drive has been crippled by DRM for your safety.
"Due to unverifiable media license authentication, the most common audio and video file types cannot be shared with different users using WD Anywhere Access."
WD's list of banned file types encompasses over 35 extensions. This includes AAC, MP3, AVI, DivX, WMV, and Quicktime files. And why not — Windows TMP files too.
So you know what drive I will not be buying, not that I have music to share, even in the house! I only listen to radio, in the car. I don't buy music anymore. WD stick to making harddrives, RIAA and MPAA is doing enough to protect Music and Media, every which way they can.
And if you are crippling the remotes access and sharing, do not call it a "Network Storage System for Remote Access and Sharing".
Register article.

Tags: My Book World Edition, DRM, MPAA, RIAA, Western Digital, AAC, MP3, AVI, DivX, WMV, Quicktime

M$ To Drop Vista Kill Switch

Apparently M$ is dropping Vista kill switch that is currently hobbling Windows Vista installations that fail the company's validation processes. It will come with microsofts forthcoming Service Pack 1 update for Vista, scheduled for next year.
Looks like Vista is not selling like M$ expected to. Well make it attractive and take out useless restrictive home calls every time a pc boots. Once validates, validate again in six months or a year. I am willing to pay for software I use, but don't ask me to sell my soul.
Information week article

Tags: M$, microsoft vista, vista kill switch, WGA

Microsoft advises how to use Linux to rescue Windows

Although a good article and good advise, I had to laugh. Is it so hard to make a live windows CD or a USB Stick? I have Such, a live Windows XP for trouble shooting Windows crashes recovery and revivals.
The Microsoft Port 25 post and the actual directions made into a PDF could be found here. Viva La Users. But I think a visit to the Port25 is better because all comments.

Tags: Windows, M$, windows recovery, Linux data recovery, Live CD

Google Gadgets For Apple Mac Dashboard

Official Google Blog: Google Gadgets on your Dashboard
If you were looking for gadgets for your Google desktop Mac, Now there's a new feature for Google Desktop, Google Gadgets for the Mac, which is ready to install. With this launch, Google is bringing hundreds of Google Gadgets to the Mac OS X platform. You can take advantage of gadgets to do things like browse YouTube videos, nurture a virtual flower pot, or even check your day's agenda in Dashboard.

Tags: Google desktop Mac, Google Gadgets for the Mac, Google Gadgets, Mac OS X, Dashboard

Open Source Contest For Pre-University Students

Google has always promoted various Open Source contests challenges like Google Summer of Code. But so far these initiatives were built around industry professionals or University Students. I have had some of my students spending a very productive summer at Google.
Today at the Open Source Developers' Conference in Brisbane, Australia Google announced a Google Highly Open Participation Contest to help introduce secondary school and high school students to open source software development.
Students can now visit http://code.google.com/opensource/ghop/2007-8/ to write code and documentation, prepare training materials, conduct user-experience research, and win prizes -- t-shirts, cash, or, for ten grand-prize winners, a chance to visit the Googleplex in Mountain View, Ca. USA.
Please spread the word to your areas high schools and students. They deserve better than just looking at the world through a window.

Tags: google, Google Summer of Code, Google Labs, Googleplex

Google Takes A Greener Path Towards more renewable energy

Mountain View, Calif. (November 27, 2007) – Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced a new strategic initiative to develop electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal. The newly created initiative, known as RE

"We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers," said Larry Page, Google Co-founder and President of Products. "We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale, and produce it cheaper than from coal."

Page added, "There has been tremendous work already on renewable energy. Technologies have been developed that can mature into industries capable of providing electricity cheaper than coal. Solar thermal technology, for example, provides a very plausible path to providing renewable energy cheaper than coal. We are also very interested in further developing other technologies that have potential to be cost-competitive and green. We are aware of several promising technologies, and believe there are many more out there."

Page continued, "With talented technologists, great partners and significant investments, we hope to rapidly push forward. Our goal is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. We are optimistic this can be done in years, not decades." (One gigawatt can power a city the size of San Francisco.)

"If we meet this goal," said Page, "and large-scale renewable deployments are cheaper than coal, the world will have the option to meet a substantial portion of electricity needs from renewable sources and significantly reduce carbon emissions. We expect this would be a good business for us as well."

Coal is the primary power source for many around the world, supplying 40% of the world's electricity. The greenhouse gases it produces are one of our greatest environmental challenges. Making electricity produced from renewable energy cheaper than coal would be a key part of reducing global greenhouse-gas emissions.

"Cheap renewable energy is not only critical for the environment but also vital for economic development in many places where there is limited affordable energy of any kind," added Sergey Brin, Google Co-founder and President of Technology.

Read Official Blog post at the following link

Official Google Blog: Towards more renewable energy

Tags: enewable energy, google

gDrive, Where do you want to store it today?

According to WSJ, Google is getting ready with their online storage service. It was dubbed "gDrive" by people who were speculating about it for a while now. It will offer two tired service, free and paid. Size and the price has not been published yet.
Google already effectively offers storage for consumers' files through Web applications such as its Docs word-processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications and its Gmail email. Users can upload photos to its Picasa Web Albums photo-hosting service, which provides one gigabyte of free storage. They can purchase from 10 gigabytes to 400 gigabytes additional storage for $20 to $500 per year. This storage can be shared by users' Gmail and Picasa accounts and soon with files for Docs. Google bring out that web OS.
The GMail drive, a shell extension to windows has been available for a long time now. This allows one to store files on ones assigned Gmail space, which is around 5GB for my account.

Tags: Google, google drive, google apps, webos, gDrive

XP Service Pack 3, May be Microsoft should repackage XP and sell it as Windows XP NT (New Technology)

After seeing that research staff, who calls themselves, exo.blog did multiple tests with Vista, and office suite and XP and same office suite.
Their first test showed all these but was rebuked by Vista followers for using 1GB of memory. So they did the same test, again with 2GB of memory. Not much of a change. If you were wondering what the benchmark test was, the testers gave following information.
"The script makes use of a variety of common application functions, including:

1. Formatting/scrolling, copy/paste, search/replace and print preview/printing (Word)

2. Scrolling/selecting and chart generation/printing (Excel)

3. Creation/formatting/slide style application, sorting and printing (PowerPoint).

The script also makes use of IE to simulate access to an online knowledge base-type site. At the end of the script you have a completed document, supporting spreadsheet and slide show suitable for conducting an internal meeting or similar business case scenario.

Note: You can learn a lot more about OfficeBench by simply downloading. It's part of the DMS Clarity Studio testing framework and is available for free through our web site: www.xpnet.com."
So Microsoft, how about that Windows XP NT?

Tags: XP, Vista, XP SP3, Windows XP NT

VOIP IP Telephony: Nokia N810 released for sale

VOIP IP Telephony: Nokia N810 released for sale

Your Right to Sell Used Goods (Patented) on the Bench

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to protect consumers' traditional right to use, repair, and resell the products they own, even if those products are patented. At stake is the enforceability of "single use" and "not for resale" labels on patented products.

The amicus brief -- submitted on behalf of EFF, Consumers Union, and Public Knowledge -- was filed in Quanta v. LG Electronics, currently pending before the Supreme Court. The case will test the vitality of the "patent exhaustion" doctrine, which entitles a consumer to use, repair, or resell patented products that they have purchased.

EFF amicus brief and Press Release.

Tags: Patents, EFF, Quanta v. LG Electronics, EFF, Consumers Union, Public Knowledge

EFF Wins Against Bogus Patent On Internet Subdomains In It's Patent Busting Project

San Francisco - San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has won reexamination from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) of a bogus patent on Internet subdomains -- the fourth successful reexamination request from EFF's Patent Busting Project.

The patent, now held by Hoshiko, LLC, claims to cover the method of automatically assigning Internet subdomains, like "action.eff.org" for the parent domain "eff.org." Previous patent owner Ideaflood used this illegitimate patent to demand payment from website hosting companies that offer such personalized domains, including Freehomepage.com, T35 Hosting, and LiveJournal, a social networking site where each of its three million users have their own subdomain.

In the reexamination request, EFF and Rick Mc Leod of Klarquist Sparkman, LLP, showed that the method Ideaflood claimed to have invented was well known before the patent was issued. In fact, website developers were having public discussions about how to create these virtual subdomains on an Apache developer mailing list for more than a year before Ideaflood made its patent claim. The open source developers established a public record of the technology development, providing the linchpin to EFF's patent challenge.
EFF Post on the Subject

Tags: EFF, Patent Busting Project, Patent and Trademark Office, PTO, Hoshiko, Freehomepage.com, T35 Hosting, LiveJournal, Ideaflood

Firefox 3 Beta 1 now ready for your desktop

Note from Developers;
WE do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download the Firefox 3 Beta 1 milestone release. It is intended for testing purposes only.

Firefox 3 Beta 1 is now available for download. This is the ninth developer milestone focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3. Ongoing planning for Firefox 3 can be followed at the Firefox 3 Planning Center, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #granparadiso.

New features and changes in this milestone that require feedback include:

• Improved security features such as: better presentation of website identity and security, malware protection, stricter SSL error pages, anti-virus integration in the download manager, and version checking for insecure plugins.
• Improved ease of use through: better password management, easier add-on installation, new download manager with resumable downloading, full page zoom, animated tab strip, and better integration with Windows Vista and Mac OS X.
• Richer personalization through: one-click bookmarking, smart search bookmark folders, direct typing in location bar searches your history and bookmarks for URLs and page titles, ability to register web applications as protocol handlers, and better customization of download actions for file types.
• Improved platform features such as: new graphics and font rendering architecture, major changes to the HTML rendering engine to provide better CSS, float-, and table layout support, native web page form controls, colour profile management, and offline application support.
• Performance improvements such as: better data reliability for user profiles, architectural improvements to speed up page rendering, over 300 memory leak fixes, and a new XPCOM cycle collector to reduce entire classes of leaks.

(You can find out more about all of these features in the “What’s New” section of the release notes.)

2-2-2-2 SN-DBS Free To All PlayStation® Game Title Developers

Bristol, 12th October, 2007 – SN Systems, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) is pleased to announce SN-DBS (Distributed Build System) will be available as a license-free download, to SCEI’s licensed PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™), PlayStation®2 and PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) game title developers from today. SN-DBS significantly reduces compile times by distributing source code builds between cooperating PCs on a local area network. SN-DBS can also be used for building assets via the command line. In addition to SN-DBS being made available at no cost, developers also have the added benefit that a new version 2.0 has been launched.
Major improvements of version 2.0 include:
· Building of multiple projects in parallel.
· Faster builds compared to SN-DBS v1.4 or earlier
· Improved GUI with project view.
· Improved support for asset builds.
SN-DBS is a multi-platform product and will work with all PS3, PSP and PlayStation 2 projects when used in conjunction with a platform-specific compiler. Support fees will no longer be associated with this product, however SN Systems will continue to offer support and develop SN-DBS on an ongoing basis following feedback from game title developers.
For more information regarding SN-DBS please contact sales@snsys.com or visit
http://www.snsys.com/products/SN-DBS.asp

Tags: PS3, SN-DBS

Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 to Empower Developers

REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 19, 2007 -- Microsoft today announced that Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 have released to manufacturing (RTM) and are now available for MSDN subscribers to download. The release of these products is another important milestone on the road to the Global Launch of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 on Feb. 27, 2008, and represents the latest in a series of innovations from Microsoft targeted at developers and development teams.

Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 are also core components of the Microsoft application platform, a set of integrated capabilities, tools and infrastructure that enables organizations to build more dynamic, connected applications and ultimately deliver better business value.

PressPass spoke with S. “Soma” Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft, about these releases and how all developers – from hobbyists to smaller development shops to enterprise development teams – can benefit from the latest version of Visual Studio and the .NET Framework. Somasegar also discussed how the internal processes Microsoft used to develop Visual Studio 2008 can provide some best practices that development organizations can apply to their own processes to deliver software on budget, on target and on time.

Continue to read the interview.....

Dell to Acquire Everdream

Dell has signed an agreement to acquire privately-held Everdream, a leading provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for remote-service management.

Terms were not disclosed and the purchase will not be final until all closing conditions are met. Everdream is based in Fremont, Calif., with a second facility in Charlotte, N.C.

The planned acquisition is a key component in Dell’s strategy of enabling customers to Simplify IT. Everdream’s capabilities complement those provided by the recently acquired SilverBack Technologies, further enabling end-to-end remote management of customers’ IT environments. With this acquisition, Dell can now extend remote management of critical IT assets from servers, storage, printers, etc. to desktops, notebooks and other end-user devices globally.

“The planned Everdream acquisition is a significant step in Dell’s next-generation service offerings and provides Dell an expanded presence in the rapidly growing SaaS-enabled managed services market,” said Steve Schuckenbrock, Dell senior vice president. “Everdream has an extremely talented team that has developed industry leading technology enabling customers and partners to easily and affordably manage PCs from anywhere in the world.”

Everdream products will continue to be developed for and offered through channel partners, and will also serve as the foundation for future Dell service offerings.

For more information on Dell services, visit www.dell.com/services.

Tags: SaaS, DELL, Software-as-a-Service, Everdream

WeSeePeople: OLPC, One Laptop Per Child, is a Social PC

The OLPC that we have spoken about so much is a Social PC now, according to WeSeePeople. I hope more people will see it too.
WeSeePeople: OLPC, One Laptop Per Child, is a Social PC

Tags: Social PC, Social Computing, OLPC, One Laptop Per Child

M$ Patents on top of Embeded Linux? Another FUD drive!

I found the following on /. but after reading the story it seems it is a bit under (or over) cooked!
"An InformationWeek story points out a recent deal between Microsoft and Japanese printer maker Kyocera Mita. Under the agreement, Kyocera obtained from Microsoft a license to patents used in 'certain Linux-based embedded technologies.' The question the author asks is why Kyocera needs a patent license from Microsoft to develop its embedded Linux products."

Of all the comments. the following seem to evaporate what ever the M$ FUD machine expects!
"The GPL states that they may only distribute the code if they accompany it with the rights for any derivatives to use any patents it infringes. If they discover that they infringe some patents in Linux then they must stop distributing Linux until they have obtained a license to the patents that is compatible with the GPL (which means that anyone who is in the transitive closure of recipients of the code from them also gains the license). In summary, if they have obtained a license from Microsoft then either they are in violation of the GPL or no one else needs to obtain such a license and Microsoft's FUD evaporates in a puff of logic."

Tags: M$, Patents, GPL, Linux, Kyocera Mita, Microsoft's FUD, FUD drive

A Prince, A Web Sheriff, A Pirate Bay, All for a Song.

Pop music star Prince who was honored with a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for his "visionary use of the Internet to distribute music." and long considered an Internet innovator and a friend to the culture of free file sharing. He was among the first major recording artists to sell music online. This summer, Prince distributed more than 2 million free copies of his album Planet Earth as part of a newspaper promotion in the United Kingdom.

But Prince, one of America's most successful recording artists for three decades, seems to have had a dramatic change of heart. Within the next few days, he is expected to cap an aggressive two-month legal campaign to protect his copyright by suing The Pirate Bay, a popular BitTorrent tracking site best known for helping people find unauthorized copies of music and movies.

"Prince is obliged to come up with the plan because no one else has done anything about this blatant piracy," said John Giacobbi, president of Web Sheriff, the antipiracy firm Prince hired to coordinate his copyright fights.

Yes He must be very happy, and it might be that only Web Sherrif and lawyers will end up with Green Stuff. I don't know about Pirate bay other than what read in the news but are they rich enough to pay for three court cases at the same time? Even if verdict is for Pirate Bay to pay, will they have money to pay?

News Source.

Tags: Prince, Web Sheriff, Pirate Bay

Google Sued Over search Technology.

Reuters reports that Google, the search giant, is being sued by Jarg Corp and Northwestern University. But if you dig deep, it looks like Jarg is the head, as the Chief Technical Architect and Co-Founder, Professor Ken Baclawski is the inventor of the said patented method for indexing the qualitative context of information. I have not seen the case yet but it will be interesting to see!.
I have known the Google project when it was at Stanford and I was dealing with a competitor "Hotbot" at that time, now a part of Lycos.
The complaint was filed on November 6 in Marshall, in the Eastern District of Texas (Clue lawyers ready take on your patent in the the U.S. court with a history of decisions that are highly favorable to plaintiffs in patent cases) but the case has only come to light over this weekend.
But I like the statement from Michael Belanger, president and co-founder of Jarg, who said in a phone interview that his company had become aware of the infringement several years ago, but lacked the resources to press its case until it found a law firm willing to fund the case on a contingency-fee basis then they signed on.
Reuters article Google sued over patent by Northeastern University

Tags: Patents, jarg, google, search technology

M$ gets you for the second time! with the Used PC licensing

The Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) program is an offshoot of its current Community MAR, which is designed for charities, educational institutions and nonprofits.
"Microsoft is excited to announce the availability of the new commercial Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) program. This program is tailored to the needs of large refurbishers that wish to work with Microsoft to deliver genuine Windows software licenses on systems they refurbish and sell."
But why go through all these problems, why get a used computer with OS that is .......... (fill in with your own words) when you can get;
Under all the noise, gPC Arrives in Wallmart from Google and Everex.
A complete new pc with everything you need , Operating System, Office suite, games, VoIP and most importantly, just for $199.00.
Wisen Up People!

Tags: M$, Ubuntu, gPC, gOS

Microsoft Seeks Patent on "Good Bye"

Updated for correction
Most folks have a tough time saying goodbye. And if Microsoft gets its way, communication software vendors may find it tougher to give users the ability to say goodbye online.

Microsoft wants to patent the technological mechanisms by which instant messaging, chat, and VoIP applications automatically send goodbye messages, according to a recently published patent application with the U.S. Patent Office.

Microsoft Tries To Patent Online Goodbyes

Tags: Patent, M$, VoIP, Microsoft Patents

One Laptop Per Child program Opens up Give one Get one Program

Educated world will be a much better place to live than an uneducated one. (Yes sometimes you wonder why educated people make such a big mess' in certain cases, but collectively, we will all gain, by aiding respecting and honoring each other.) Although I am a not so wealthy teacher, entrepreneur, physicist, dreamer.. et al, I have managed to donate a few laptops so far, with the support of my dear ones. Think about it this Xmas, may be your family could make a bunch of children happy somewhere! Just like the kids from a school in Cambodia in above photo.
Starting November 12, One Laptop Per Child will be offering a Give 1 Get 1 Program for a brief window of time in North America. For $399, you will be purchasing two XO laptops—one that will be sent to empower a child to learn in a developing nation, and one that will be sent to your child at home. If you're interested in Give 1 Get 1, Just sign up in the box (once you follow the link below!)to the left and you'll receive your reminder prior to the November 12 launch date.
Also if you'd like to donate an XO laptop today, simply click the donation button on the right (Agian after clicking on the link below) . A donation of $200 will pay for and deliver one XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, $400 will pay for and deliver two XO laptops, and so on.

One Laptop Per Child Give One Get One Program

Tags: OPLC, One Laptop Per Child, Give One Get One Program, Give 1 Get 1 Program

Now Google Got Gas, (Really Google at Gas Station)

Now you can get there without asking directions, thanks to Google Maps coming soon to a gas pump near you. You will be able to find offers within the Gas Station Store, Find Restaurants, hotels and Motels nearby. If you are bored attractions around the area, will also be displayed on a Google Map. Once you know what you want one can print the driving directions and be on your way.But I wonder when most vehicles get GPS with all these information and connectivity to your cell phone, will these be still attractive?
GREENSBORO, NC – November 7, 2007 – Consumers can now display maps, find local listings, and even print driving directions and money-saving coupons from Gilbarco’s Encore® dispensers with color screens and the Applause™ media system. The live internet connection means all information is in real time. The Gilbarco® Applause™ media system is the first content management system that uses Google’s world-class open content infrastructure to deliver valuable information at the pump.

Consumers can view maps on the pump’s screen and locate their desired destinations. They can also search Google’s local business listings by category (restaurant, hospital, gift shop, etc.) to find the nearest choices. Once a destination is selected, consumers can also print the driving directions at the pump. Easy-to-read instructions are printed on the receipt printer, making it convenient to take them with them in the car.

"Getting directions at the pump is safer than using internet-enabled devices from the driver’s seat and far more reliable than just asking a stranger," said Kirsten Paust, vice president of global retail systems at Gilbarco Veeder-Root. "We believe consumers will prefer convenience stores that deliver useful information and ultimate convenience. Retailers who use these tools will make themselves more valuable to consumers and gain the competitive edge."

Applause™ is an extension of Gilbarco’s existing SMART Merchandising™ System for providing promotions, advertisements, and coupons at the fuel dispenser. Current users of the SMART Merchandising system will be able to easily migrate to the enhanced functionality available from Applause™ media system.

Applause™ and Encore S dispensers with color screens are currently on exhibit at the 2007 NACS Show, November 7 – 9, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Booth 2525.
News Source

Tags: Gilbarco, Applause, Gilbarco Veeder-Root, SMART Merchandising

RadioHead Might Find That Pot of Gold "In Rainbows"

I have followed RadioHead's album release and basically happy about what they did. Today I read many news outlets talking about what is the amount of money that came to Radiohead.
The site seem to have got something like 1.2 Million and people who downloaded music on average paid $6 for the album.
My simple question is if RadioHead went with it's record producers or publishars, how much royaltes would they have received per album? my wild guess is that $2-$3. So RadioHead is making twice the amount that it is used to make!
When they release the 40 pound ($80) disk set that includes two CDs and 2 twelve inch vinyls, they will sell at least some more as not every RadioHead fan is "On the Net" and there are reasons for having a CD or record. So if they sell 100000 albums, they will make $8 Million (minus cost).
So Music Creators, you do not need RIAA controlled music Studios. Yes to start off, do not sign 20 year contracts!
Congrats RadioHead

Tags: RIAA, radiohead, RadioHead, online music

Google Analytics and Your Search Engine, Analyze That!

I started experimenting (actually playing, I need to justify what I do) the Google Analytics' recently introduced new features. One of the best parts was the of site search reporting, this allows you to link and analyze your website's internal search engine with Analytics account.

If you are not much familiar with Analytics site search feature or want to learn how to put it to best use, Avinash Kaushik, a web analytics evangelist, has this great post about how to use site search reporting which I leaned about at the Official Google Blog;
Official Google Enterprise Blog: Use Google Analytics with your Google Enterprise site search engine.
Even if you do not have Google Search Appliance, Google Mini and Custom Search Business Edition both are (Web Analytics and Avinash's site) still good learning tools to learn about how your site perfoms.

Google Analytics

Avinash

Tags: google analytics, Google site search, Analyze That

VOIP IP Telephony: No gPhone (Google Phone) But Open Handset Alliance and Android.

VOIP IP Telephony: No gPhone (Google Phone) But Open Handset Alliance and Android.: "No gPhone (Google Phone) But Open Handset Alliance and Android."

Tags: gPhone, Google Phone

AMD Quad Core Phenom X4, pricing revealed

I am waiting to upgrade my cluster with new AMD Processors, Quad core Phenom X4. My boards are all AM2 slots and I wonder if I could simply plug the new CPU's in. If so I will have 16 cores in my hands. If not I will have to shell out money for two motherboards.

ISA Hardware published these prices. Does not look bad for Quads.

click on image to enlarge

HD9500WCGDBOX CPU Desktop Phenom X4 9500 (4MB,95W,AM2) box $247.00
HD9600WCGDBOX CPU Desktop Phenom X4 9600 (4MB,95W,AM2) box $278.00
HD9700XAGDBOX CPU Desktop Phenom X4 9700 (4MB,125W,AM2) box $288.00

Tags: Quad core Phenom X4, Phenom X4, Phenom X4 price

EFF Will File a Amicus Brief in Jamie Thomas Trial Appeal

Although a little late in reporting, Jamie Thomas' appeal case will get assistance from EFF. According to a post on EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation;
"the outcome will likely turn on Jury Instruction #15, which equates "making available" with "distributing" a copyrighted work. If the appeals court rejects that jury instruction, the verdict against Ms. Thomas would have to be thrown out and the case re-tried."

According to the same post they will argue on "Distribution", how it is defined in the Copyright Act (might not extend to Internet!) and or actual proof of that the distribution of copy righted material took place. As INAL, please read the EFF article that describe everything in detail.

Tags: Jamie Thomas, RIAA, EFF, copy right

Most People are Unaware That They are Being Tracked on the Internet

Samuelson, Annenberg Report: Consumers Believe Privacy Policies
Prohibit Common Advertising Practices

October 31, 2007 -- In advance of the Federal Trade Commission's Town Hall on behavioral advertising, (“Ehavioral Advertising: Tracking, Targeting, and Technology.” The event will bring together consumer advocates, industry representatives, technology experts, and academics to address consumer protection issues raised by the practice of tracking consumers’ activities online to target advertising - or “behavioral advertising.”)
The Samuelson Clinic and the Annenberg Public Policy Center have released a report (PDF) showing that most consumers think privacy policies prohibit common online advertising practices.

The study shows that individuals do not understand the basics and legality of information collection techniques. In a new poll of California adults sponsored by the Samuelson Clinic and conducted by the University's Survey Research Center, 37% thought that privacy policies prohibit websites from analyzing the data they collect directly from users. When Annenberg explained the third- party network advertising model to survey respondents, 85% did not agree that a "valued" site should be able to serve clickstream advertising to them based on visits to other websites. The Annenberg survey also makes clear that many consumers do not understand or think through the privacy implications of sharing their real name and email address with a website. The report builds upon a joint paper released at the Federal Trade Commission's 2007 "Tech-Ade" event, and recommends that the Commission police the term "privacy policy," so that sites advertising the term provide protections consistent with consumer expectations.

The Behavioral Ehavioral Advertising: Tracking, Targeting, and Technology townhall meeting webcast is available and people are advised to submit a comment.

FILING A COMMENT— Deadline: COB Friday, November 16, 2007

Any person also may submit written comments on the topics to be addressed at the Town Hall. Comments may be submitted via e-mail to behavioraladvertising_comments@ftc.gov or by mail to Secretary, Federal Trade Commission, Room H-135 (Annex N), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Comments must be received by COB Friday, November 16, 2007.

Tags: Ehavioral Advertising, Tracking, Targeting, Technology, Federal Trade Commission, The Samuelson Clinic, Annenberg Public Policy Center

Oregon Attorney General Says No to RIAA; Files Motion to Quash on Behalf of University of Oregon

In Arista v. Does 1-17, a new ex parte case to get discovery from the University of Oregon about the identities of its students, the Oregon Department of Justice has made a motion, on behalf of the University of Oregon, to quash the subpoena obtained by the RIAA.
This is the first such motion of which we are aware that has been made by the university itself, rather than by the students.It is also the first instance of which we are aware of a State Attorney General bringing a motion to quash an RIAA subpoena.
complete detail at Recording Industry vs The People

Tags: RIAA, Arista v. Does 1-17, University of Oregon

Under all the noise, gPC Arrives in Wallmart from Google and Everex.

When we were all looking and searching for gPhone and OpenSocial API, which is harder to find than the gSpot, (VoIP IP Telephony suggested gSpot will be the store name that will sell Google Phone, gPhone) has released gPC, to Wallmart.
The venture is an effort between Everex (Ha! I thought they were dead and gone eons ago) and Google and perhaps Ubuntu, gOS(h!) the operating system shipped with the gPC is variant of Ubuntu desktop. gOS is accompanied by OpenOffice, GIMP photo software, the Xing DVD and video player, and Rhythmbox music management software already installed. In addition Google applications such as Documents and Spreadsheets, Calendar, News, and Maps are on the desktop. Also pre-installed is the Firefox web browser, Meebo IM, and Skype.
The "Linux for Masses" initiative by Google, OSS community and Everex has done a real good job of staying G,
Good OS or Google OS
Green as the processor, 1.5GHz Via C7-D processor, Via UniChrome Pro IGP graphics core, are very low power consumption compared to most Intel and AMD chips.
Why did not the designers look at things like Mac Mini before developing this PC? all those good things explained are stuffed into a 80s looking PC Box.
It is available at Wallmart, and the details are at Everex. I will replace my old pentium III home test server with this, which has been running for last 5-6 years.
If you are a developer, this is the place to go.

Tags: gPC, google, gOS, gPhone, VoIP IP Telephony, OpenOffice, everex