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Sunday, December 13
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GO NETWORK
Infoseek and Disney are launching a preliminary version
of their highly anticipated Web search and content
aggregation site, Go Network. The new portal will feature
content channels powered by Disney-owned Web properties--including
ABC News, ESPN, Family.com, and Mr. Showbiz--as well as
Infoseek-branded channels. Go,
set to become live today, will look and “feel”
like most major portals, with the aforementioned category
channels and links to a variety or resources and services.
More
info here.
GOOD LUCK
Oracle and Sun Microsystems, in a direct
assault on their mutual archrival Microsoft, will
announce tomorrow they'll work together on a new type of
computer that needs no operating system.
Full Story here.
TRASH TALK
Sen. John McCain
plans to introduce a series of bills next year that would
rewrite key portions of the controversial 1996
Telecommunications Act. A key question will be how
the law is affecting deployment of networks capable of
transmitting data over the Internet at high speed. While
businesses have enjoyed better networks, those
improvements haven’t filtered down to the
residential market. Details here.
Thought for
the day: "If we bestow a gift or favor
and expect a return for it, it is not a gift but a trade."
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Saturday, December 12
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YOSEMITE
While much attention has been paid to the iMac,
and more recently to Apple Computer's upcoming consumer
portable, the emphasis of the upcoming Macworld Expo
trade show will be Apple's bread and butter desktop
computers, due to be replaced by new systems with faster
processors and an iMac-like curvy case design. Rumors
are flying.
WAS
OLIVE BRANCH SHORT LIVED?
Sun Microsystems' internal testing of Microsoft's
recently released Java virtual machine has turned up a
bug in the VM's handling of arithmetic functions, Sun
executives told InternetWeek. The potential bug
was found during a run of the Spec Java Benchmark, which
tests and measures Java speed and performance. The tests
were run at the same time Sun is running a battery of
compatibility tests to determine if the Microsoft VM,
released this past Monday in response to a preliminary
court injunction, is indeed Java compatible. More
info here.
OFF THE LAM
U.S. Marshals captured fugitive hacker and former
FBI informant Justin Petersen Friday night. Petersen was
arrested in a modest apartment building in Studio City,
Calif., which he had been sharing with three other people.
Details
here.
Thought for
the day: "How long does it take me to
have my hair done? I don't know--I'm never there." - Dolly Parton
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Thursday, December 10
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JUST PENNIES
The cost of computer data storage will keep falling sharply, Lucio
Stanca, IBM executive, said today.
"In the early 1980s, the standard unit of computer
storage, one megabyte, cost about $100. Today it is 10
cents and in two years it will be two cents," Stanca
told an information technology and telecommunications
seminar. Full story here.
DOUBLE WHAMMY
The judge hearing the Microsoft antitrust trial asks if a
senior Sun exec's chief complaint was that the software
giant had created a better version of Java, plus an
attorney for Microsoft charges that Sun
Microsystems unfairly tolerated behavior from Netscape
that it would not accept from Microsoft. Blow
by blow here.
GLOATING OR
OLIVE BRANCH?
Sun Microsystems is
ready to reconcile with Microsoft Corp. on Java. Alan
Baratz, president of Sun’s Java Software Division,
said he will call on Microsoft and ask the company to
rejoin the Java fold now that Sun has shipped Java 2. More details here.
Thought for
the day: "Many things can be done in a
day if you don't make that day tomorrow."
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Wednesday, December 9
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HAPPY ON BOTH SIDES
In a move to expand its services arm, AT&T yesterday
signed a deal to buy IBM's Global Network unit for $5
billion in cash. Yet the long distance spinoff of old Ma
Bell is still looking over its shoulder, as rival MCI
WorldCom gains in size and strength. What's a telco to do
in these competitive days? AT&T's answer seems clear:
Buy more. Analysis here.
ARGUING SEMANTICS
Microsoft's Computer Dictionary, published in 1997,
defines a Web browser as a "client application"
used for viewing graphical pages on the Internet. What's
more, the book defines Internet Explorer as Microsoft's
version of a Web browser. Denise De Mory, an attorney for
the Justice Department (DOJ), introduced the dictionary
into evidence during her redirect examination of David
Farber, a University of Pennsylvania Internet expert
testifying for the government in the antitrust suit being
heard in federal court. Details
here.
MOUSE TURNS 30
In 1968, Doug Engelbart was paid $10,000 by his
then-employer, Stanford Research Institute, for the first
mouse -- a block of wood with a tail-like cord and an X-Y
grid underneath. Now, with more than 350 million mice in
use today -- the concept caught on better than Engelbart
or his colleagues ever dreamed. Full
story here.
Thought for
the day: "Always remember that this whole
thing started with a mouse." - Walt Disney
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Monday, December 7
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ONE DOWN, 19 TO GO
The state of South Carolina said today it will drop out
of the antitrust lawsuit against software giant Microsoft,
saying there was sufficient competition in the Internet
market. South Carolina is the first state to pull out of
the case, brought earlier this year by the federal
government and 20 states. State Attorney General Charles
Condon said that America Online's proposed $4.2 billion
acquisition of Netscape Communications proved there was
plenty of competition among Internet companies. More info
here.
THAT WAS FAST
Apple has released an update to its Mac OS
8.5, addressing several bugs that have appeared since the
release of the latest operating system, the company
announced today. Apple OS 8.5.1 will ship "immediately,"
on all Apple hardware, including all notebooks and the
popular iMac computer, according to a company
spokesperson. Mac OS 8.5.1 is available for free on its Web
site and can be ordered on CD-ROM
for $9.95. Full
fix list here.
COMPLYING WITH ORDERS
Microsoft today released a new version of Java technology
for its Windows operating system and Web browser that it
says complies with a recent court ruling and improves
performance. The modifications are a part
of Microsoft's new Java "virtual
machine" for Windows 95, 98, NT, and for its Windows
version of the Internet Explorer 4 Web browser. A Java
virtual machine lets Java programs run on a computer that
otherwise might not be able to understand Java. Full
story here.
Thought for
the day: "A language that doesn't
affect the way you think about programming is not worth
knowing."
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