British Intelligence Agency Challenge
The GCHQ, which handles intelligence for the UK, has posted a challenge on their Web site. Hidden in various ways throughout the site there are 5 parts to a secret message. Each part contains 5 characters and is hidden in a different way. Any person who finds these parts, puts them together, and decodes the message should write to the agency. It may even give you a better chance at working for them. Unfortunately you have to be a British citizen or have special ties to the UK to apply. Visit http://www.gchq.gov.uk/challenge.html for more information.
Microsoft Allegiance Open Beta Begins
Microsoft has announced that open beta testing of the online game Allegiance began Friday night. Along with lifting the non-disclosure agreement, they have released Version 1.05 Beta of the Allegiance software.
Users who wish to participate in the open beta need to visit the Microsoft.com Game Site to download the software needed to play the game. In order to play the Training Missions, users will need to download them separately from the Beta site. They were excluded from the beta download to decrease the size and make it easier for everyone to participate in the open beta program.
Microsoft Office eServices
Microsoft has launched an eServices Web site which provides information on topics ranging from Internet postage to running a Web business. Continually innovating and improving, this site offers everything you need to run a business from your PC.
Microsoft Office eServices lets users store office documents online. Using Web folders, documents can be saved from within Office 2000 to any number of online hosting services including Tripod, Angelfire, and Talk City.
MP3.Com Announces Online CD Storage
Through My.MP3.Com users will be able to store music online and listen to it from any PC connected to the Internet via their My.MP3.Com account.
Specialized software entitled Beam-It, available from MP3.com, allows users to store a collection of digital audio on the MP3.com servers. Taking approximately 1 minute per album, users can "beam" their music directly from the CD-ROM drive to the servers.
Precision Insight to Develop 3D Linux Drivers for Matrox
Graphics card manufacturer Matrox, Inc. announced today that Precision Insight Inc. will develop the Martrox G400 xFree86 4.0 Direct Rendering Infrastructure driver to bring 3D support and performance to Linux.
Direct Rendering Infrastructure was developed by Precision Insight, Inc. to solve the problem of bringing 3D rendering to PCs that was previously only available on costly workstations. To read more about DRI and to view sketches of data control and flow, visit Precision Insight's Web site.
Gateway Goes to AMD
Gateway has announced that due to supply problems from Intel, they will begin using Advanced Micro Devices chips in addition to Intel's popular Pentium processors. It was just last year that Gateway switched from AMD to Intel due to AMD lagging behind in the processor market. However, with the announcement that the Athlon 800 MHz is available, Gateway has decided to go with AMD in addition to Intel processors. Computers with the new chipset will be available from Gateway through their online stores, Gateway Country Stores, as well as over the phone. Visit Gateway.com for more information.
Time Warner, AOL To Merge In $350 Billion Deal - Update
The conglomerate will be named AOL Time Warner Inc. and will boast combined revenues of more than $30 billion, the partners said.
The new company will provide an important new broadband distribution platform for AOL's interactive services and drive subscriber growth through cross-marketing with Time Warner's brands.
The combined branding will include AOL, Time, CNN, CompuServe, Warner Bros., Netscape, Sports Illustrated, People, HBO, ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger, AOL MovieFone, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, Digital City, Warner Music Group, Spinner, Winamp, Fortune, AOL.COM, Entertainment Weekly, and Looney Tunes.
The partners reported that under the terms of a definitive merger agreement approved by unanimous votes by both boards of directors, Time Warner and AOL stock will be converted to AOL Time Warner stock at fixed exchange ratios.
Time Warner shareholders will receive 1.5 shares of AOL Time Warner for each share of Time Warner stock they own, while AOL shareholders will receive one share of AOL Time Warner stock for each share of America Online stock. AOL shareholders expect to control about 55 percent of the company, which will continue to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AOL.
Steve Case, chairman and chief executive officer of AOL, will become chairman of the board of the new entity, while Gerald M. Levin, Time Warner's chairman and CEO, will become the conglomerate's CEO, the companies said.
In deals cut separately from the merger transaction, AOL and Time Warner also announced new marketing, commerce, content and promotional agreements that will immediately expand various relationships already in place between the two companies, including AOL featuring Time Warner's InStyle magazine, CNN.com and Entertaindom.com programming on various America Online services. AOL members also will access a wide range of Time Warner promotional music clips; Time Warner and AOL MovieFone will participate in online-offline cross-promotion of Time Warner movies and related content, including live events; and broadband CNN news will be distributed on AOL Plus when it launches this spring.
Additionally, the partners said Warner Bros. retail stores will promote the AOL service through in-store distribution of AOL disks and will include AOL disks in promotional mailings and product shipments.
Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com .
Microsoft Says China Keeps The Windows Flag Flying
Reports that official Chinese state organizations could be banned from installing the new OS began to circulate last Thursday after a report in China's Yangcheng Evening News newspaper.
According to Reuters, the newspaper quoted unnamed officials as saying that "the country's important government ministries will not permit the use of Microsoft Windows 2000 on their computers."
The officials suggested that government ministries were expected to switch to a new Chinese distribution of the Linux operating system.
The new distribution, Red Flag Linux, is being developed by the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a joint venture of Hong Kong's Founder Group.
Although China suffers some of the word's highest piracy rates, the report suggested that the government would save billions of dollars by choosing Linux instead of Microsoft products.
However, Reuters reported that officials in several ministries were unaware of the policy. The report also added that a Ministry of Information Industry official, who declined to be identified, said the government advocated the use of domestically-developed software. The official added that a ban on Microsoft was not very likely in the near term.
Microsoft has been accused by the mainland media of compromising the privacy and security of its users. According to the Yangchang Evening News report, the government hoped that it would get a higher standard of security from the Red Flag system.
Microsoft China denied the reports and added that a number of Chinese government departments were using beta versions of Windows 2000 in preparation for the system's official release next month.
"Microsoft has received a positive response from the Chinese government agencies testing Windows 2000," the Microsoft statement added.
"China is still all out for Windows," said the statement. "Microsoft would like to clarify that Microsoft China has not received any notification regarding such a decision. In fact, several Chinese government agencies are currently using beta versions of Windows 2000 in preparation for upgrading their systems."
However Red Flag is not the only Linux contender in China. In fact Linux software provider TurboLinux last week claimed that it outsold the upgrade version of Microsoft's Windows 98 in the last four months.
One of the reasons for this increase was government support for Linux. The other reasons were price and the exploding Internet economy. Li Ru Xiong, vice president of Federal Software Store, which has 256 outlets across China, said from mid-August to mid-December, TurboLinux outsold the Microsoft 98, NT Server and several locally developed versions of Linux.
Last July, in Japan, TurboLinux outsold Windows upgrade products for four weeks, according to a survey of 200 retail outlets by Business Computer News, a market research company.
Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com.
AOL 5.0 Connectivity Test Client
AOL has announced the AOL 5.0 Connectivity test client. Included in AOL software for Windows9x/NT/2000, this client features the ability to work with the Dial-up Networking in Windows 9x and the Remote Access Server in Windows 2000 and NT. To learn more about the new features and other testing information, go to keyword BETA.
Microsoft and Barnes & Noble Strike eBook Deal
As Microsoft CEO Bill Gates alluded to at this years Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft has joined forces with bookstore giant Barnes & Noble to offer eBooks on their Web site. This announcement comes with the availibility of new software from Microsoft entitled Microsoft Reader especially written for eBook reading.
Riding on the coat tails of the Microsoft promise that the Redmond company will pave the way to Internet becoming more integral and vital to daily life in the next century, this deal will create a new eBook super center on the barnesandnoble.com site specifically selling books that can be read via the Internet through Microsoft Reader software.
PKWARE Beta Testing
PKWARE Inc. has posted several beta test programs on their Web site. These tests include PKZIP for SGI IRIX, PKWARE Data Compression Library for BeOS, and PKWARE Data Compression Library for Java Platform, as well as PKWARE Data Compression Library for Open VMS Platform.
PKZIP is a powerful zipping utility that can compress data files up to 70% and some text files as much as 90%. The newest version has added features such as direct e-mailing capabilities from within the PKZIP application, and a new signature authentication that you can ZIP right into your archives. PKWARE has also made improvements to the self-extractor for Windows.
S.E.C. vs. 'Tokyo' Joe
Yoo Sun Oh Park, also known as 'Tokyo' Joe on the Internet, has grown quite popular as a stock advisor to customers over the Internet.
Charging them up to $200 a month to be part of his e-mail and Web updates, consumers were given tips on stock buying and target prices to sell stock at. What the Securities Exchange Commission claims, is that he profited from his actions more so than his customers.
VA Linux Ready to Premier SourceForge
Using RedHat's business model and a portal style approach to distribution, SourceForge hopes to propel itself above its competitors in the next year for open source software distribution and development.
John Hall, Vice President of Support and Professional Services, states "In getting started, we discovered that there's a real need for a service like SourceForge...most open source projects just don't have reliable ways to find their software releases."
Y2000: Beacon for Humanity
Starting 13 billion years ago and moving forward with predictions through the next millennium, http://gwin.net/beacon.htm offers a comprehensive look at the history of the human race. One prediction for the year 3000 states "death will be optional" and "governments have long since been abandoned." It also includes links to other information throughout the history to learn more about a specific topic.
Gateway Sells Amiga
For a $5 million price, former Marketing executive for Amiga, Inc. Bill McEwen has purchased the Amiga trademark and Web site, as well as its hardware and software specifications. Gateway will retain the rights to the patents it received since the purchase of Amiga however. With this move, pushers of the Campaign to Open Source Amiga (COSA) hope to gain new ground, as McEwen is a well respected member of the Amiga community.
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