Vonage Struggles in Wake of Verizon Suit
Vonage is still solvent, although its continued fight with Verizon is hurting the company's bottom line.
During the past quarter, the company only managed to add 57,000 customers, far less than the 166,000 it added in the year ago quarter. Worse yet, Comcast has overtaken it as the nation's largest VOIP provider, and still appears to be growing quickly: it ended the quarter with 3 million subscribers.
'Tabula Rasa' Beta Test Event Friday: Lord British Goes Into Hiding
It means "clean slate" in Latin, and it stands for so much in the life and work of one Richard Garriott. He is the creator of easily the most successful and pacesetting series in the history of computer games, Ultima, and is still known to his many loyal fans over the past quarter-century as Lord British. Now, after almost a decade of work, Garriott's team is ready to premiere Tabula Rasa, a networked role-playing adventure of tremendous proportions that promises to wipe the floor with World of Warcraft...or at least try.
Tomorrow from 9:00 - 11:00 pm Eastern Time, Garriott - in his newly-cast role of "General British" - will be hiding out someplace in NCsoft's expansive Tabula Rasa universe. Yes, it's hide-and-seek, but it should give beta testers incentive to explore pockets and crannies of this world they may never have seen otherwise.
Windows Live Folders Now 'SkyDrive'
Microsoft has renamed its online storage service from Windows Live Folders to Windows Live SkyDrive, concurrently adding support for those in the United Kingdom and India. The "SkyDrive" name is designed to indicate that stored files exist in the "cloud" of the Internet.
Alongside the name change, Microsoft has updated the Web-based service with a new user interface, thumbnail images, drag and drop support, and the ability to embed files and folders in other pages with some HTML code. Due to the URL change, previous links will need to be updated. Microsoft is accepting beta signups from the Windows Live SkyDrive Web site.
Perfect 10 Sues Microsoft for Infringement
Nude photography publisher Perfect 10 set its sights on Microsoft Thursday, saying it had filed suit against the company for reproducing its images in MSN Search without permission, as well as linking to other sites through its search engine that also commit copyright infringement and provide passwords to its Web site.
This lawsuit isn't a first for Perfect 10; the company has also sued both Google and Amazon for similar reasons, however both Internet companies have been successful in defeating the site's case on appeal. Neither Perfect 10 nor Microsoft were immediately available for comment.
NBC, News Corp Venture gets $100 Mil Investment
The online joint venture between News Corp and NBC Universal, while still without a name, has received a $100 million infusion of cash thanks to Providence Equity Partners.
The project has attracted its share of skeptics, who doubt that the two rivals could work successfully together. However, Providence has apparently put a $1 billion valuation on the effort, asking for a 10 percent stake in return for its investment.
Google Discovers Comments, But Commenters Can't Yet Discover Google
Tuesday's unveiling by Google of another beta feature for its Google News service has sparked a new round of ethical discussions whose tone harks back to the 1950s and '60s, when TV broadcasters debated the ethics and phraseology of the FCC's Fairness Doctrine. One of the purposes of that document was to compel broadcasters to offer free air time to parties seeking to rebut viewpoints or challenges made against them by their programs.
The initial round of Google News' comments will be limited in such a way as to give only the parties mentioned in an article whose headline is posted on Google News, an opportunity to respond using Google's space.
Blockbuster Moves Into Online Streaming Rentals
Aiming to better compete with Netflix, Blockbuster said Thursday that it had acquired Movielink, a provider of downloadable movie and television content.
Blockbuster has seen increasing success in its battle with the Netflix, adding customers to its online rental service at a faster rate than its competitor. However, Netflix until now was the only one of the two companies to offer an online download component.
Microsoft Applauds Strong Piracy Conviction
Microsoft applauded a federal court's decision Thursday to jail a man convicted of hawking faked certificates of authenticity for the company's software. Judge Orinda D. Evans of the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia sentenced Justin Harrison to 46 months in prison for his participation in the crime ring. Harrison ran Sales International, which participated in the trafficking of the certificates.
"The sentence recognizes the value of intellectual property and the threat that software piracy presents to the global economy and consumers throughout the world," Microsoft said in a statement. The case, which was investigated by the FBI, found that Sales International was distributing Microsoft software with the faked certificates.
'Halo 3' Sells 1 Million Copies Before Release
Microsoft said Thursday that "Halo 3" has become the fastest selling pre-ordered game in history, with over 1 million copies already paid for by customers. Microsoft hopes to further that number by launching a number of Halo ad campaigns with Mountain Dew, 7-Eleven, Pontiac, Comcast and Burger King.
"Halo 3" officially goes on sale September 25, and retailers expect to be fully sold out by the time the game arrives at stores. Microsoft says this is the first time a game has created as much buzz as a blockbuster movie, and Mountain Dew is even creating a new drink -- called "Game Fuel" -- that is Halo-themed. The game will also be featured in television commercials from Pepsi and Pontiac.
Netflix DRM Cracked with FairUse4WM
FairUse4WM, a program that strips the copyright protection from Windows Media audio and video files, continues to be a thorn in Microsoft's side. An individual has now posted detailed instructions on how to bypass the DRM in Netflix's movie streams, making it so customers can download and share the films.
With the latest update to FairUse4WM, which came in mid-July, it was only a matter of time before new targets were discovered. Last month, users of the application confirmed that it was possible to remove the latest copy protection from songs available on MTV's URGE and Yahoo! Music Unlimited.
Apple Updates Boot Camp Software
Apple on Wednesday released a new beta of its Boot Camp software, which enables Intel-based Macs to dual-boot Windows and Mac OS X. Version 1.4 Beta introduces a number of new features, including support for Apple's backlit keyboards, and the Apple Remote.
The company is further polishing the software before it arrives as a built-in option for Mac OS X "Leopard," due to be released in October. Other minor updates in Boot Camp 1.4 Beta include updated graphics drivers, a new driver installer, localization fixes, improved international keyboard support, and better help.
Xbox 360 Premium Gets HDMI Port
Microsoft has quietly updated its mid-range Xbox 360 Premium model with an HDMI output, making the game console compatible with high-definition televisions and receivers. The HDMI port had been a major selling point of the high-end Xbox 360 Elite, which costs $100 more and features a larger hard drive.
Customers began noticing the HDMI port on the latest shipments of Xbox 360 units to retail stores, and Microsoft has confirmed it is phasing in the updated model. The Redmond company has not said whether the new Xbox 360 Premium features the rumored 65-nanometer chips that run cooler or quieter DVD drive, but it is likely. Xbox 360 Premium buyers can look for an HDMI logo on the box to ensure they receive the updated version.
Analyst: After the MP3 Reversal, the IP Valuation Landscape Changes
It was perhaps the biggest "Undo" ever done on Microsoft's behalf: Monday's dramatic reversal of a $1.53 billion judgment against it in a critical patent infringement case involving the use of MP3 technologies in Windows Media Player. There were hundreds of MP3 licensees on Fraunhofer Labs' list that Alcatel-Lucent might have pursued next, including Apple and Creative, had the largest such fine in US history been demonstrated to be collected by the French telecommunications firm.
The case isn't over, but the prospects for Alcatel-Lucent salvaging some fragment of its success, either through a lower court ruling or on appeal, appear dim. But after a precedent-setting ruling that may make it more difficult for companies everywhere to capitalize on their intellectual property portfolios, what happens to the rest of the technology industry? Is there still value in IP, or will investors begin shifting their focus toward companies that produce products rather than ideas? Has an "asset light" business structure suddenly become unattractive?
Linspire Releases 2.0 Version of Free OS
Linspire on Wednesday released the second version of Freespire, the community-based operating system based on Canonical's Ubuntu Linux distribution, enhancing it with its own proprietary software, drivers, and codecs.
The San Diego company's announcement comes a little over a year after the company first announced its plans to split its Linspire efforts into a commercial and free variant. The company hopes the free version will help spur use of Linux.
Sun's New UltraSPARC T2 Has 64 Threads
Sun Microsystems' new UltraSPARC T2 processor, announced yesterday, promises to break new ground in CPU parallelism not only by offering eight cores per chip, but eight threads per core. But will this necessarily mean 64 times the processor power? The answer depends on how you define "thread."
For at least the past half-decade, Sun Microsystems has known that the key to performance improvement in the "post-megahertz" era of microprocessors is to discover how to implement parallelism without dedicating a whole processor core to each thread.
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