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- Volume 5, Issue 29 Atari Online News, Etc. July 18, 2003
-
-
- Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2003
- All Rights Reserved
-
- Atari Online News, Etc.
- A-ONE Online Magazine
- Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
- Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
- Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
-
-
- Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
-
- Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
- Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
- Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
- Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
- Rob Mahlert -- Web site
- Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
-
-
- With Contributions by:
-
- Kevin Savetz
-
-
-
- To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
- log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
- and click on "Subscriptions".
- OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org
- and your address will be added to the distribution list.
- To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
- Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
- subscribe from.
-
- To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
- following sites:
-
- http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
- http://www.icwhen.com/aone/
- http://a1mag.atari.org
- Now available:
- http://www.atarinews.org
-
-
- Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
- http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- A-ONE #0529 07/18/03
-
- ~ Computers Get Smarter? ~ People Are Talking! ~ Jail File-Swappers?
- ~ Net Sales Tax Is Dead? ~ Macworld NY Opening! ~ Hatari Update News!
- ~ Mozilla Out From Ashes ~ New Eudora Beta Out! ~ New MSN Messenger!
- ~ EU Joins To Fight Spam ~ Atari Has Smaller Loss ~ RIAA-Blockers?
-
- -* Commodore 64 Makes Comeback? *-
- -* File-Sharing Dips After Suit Threat *-
- -* Massachusetts Will Go It Alone vs Microsoft *-
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- ->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
- """"""""""""""""""""""""""
-
-
-
- Finally, we're starting to rack up some continuous beautiful summer days!
- Not too hot, and the humidity has been down - at least here in New England.
- In the rest of the country, it's been brutal. Let it stay there! <grin> I
- hope that the next couple of weeks are just as nice - I'm on vacation. It's
- definitely going to be a time to unwind; I'm looking forward to the time
- off. No definite plans yet, but we'll think of something. So, with that in
- mind, I think I'll let this week's comments go at that, and start the
- vacation early!
-
- Until next time...
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- Hatari version 0.40 Released
-
-
- Hatari version 0.40 has been released.
-
- A lot of bugs have been fixed and some of the most important changes are
- that Hatari now features support for ZIP and GZIP compressed disk images
- and you can now also store your emulator settings in an ASCII configuration
- file.
-
- Please visit the official web site of Hatari for more information.
-
- http://hatari.sourceforge.net/
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- PEOPLE ARE TALKING
- compiled by Joe Mirando
- joe@atarinews.org
-
-
-
- People Are Talking will be back next week!
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- ->In This Week's Gaming Section - Commodore 64 Makes A Comeback!
- """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" Atari Reports Smaller Loss!
- Video Game Industry Probe!
-
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- ->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
- """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
-
-
-
- Commodore 64 Makes a Comeback
-
-
- Tulip Computers, which owns the Commodore brand name, plans to relaunch the
- brand to take advantage in an upsurge of interest in the obsolete Commodore
- 64 (C64) computer and its 1980s-era games, the company said in a statement
- Friday.
-
- Tulip estimates that there are still 6 million Commodore users, who can
- choose from a range of 6,000 games which were developed for the system.
-
- Tulip is working with Ironstone Partners, which will handle all sales of
- Commodore 64-related products worldwide and take over the main C64 Web
- portal. Enthusiasts have made over 10 million game downloads, the site
- owners have said.
-
- Unauthorized use of the Commodore name by other organizations will be
- stopped, Tulip said in the statement.
-
- Even if the Commodore 64 hardware is obsolete, enthusiasts have written
- emulators for Windows PCs, Apple Macintoshes, and now PocketPC-based PDAs
- to enable original Commodore games to run on those systems.
-
- Commodore was one of the pioneers of the PC industry, entering the market
- in 1977 with its 8-bit PET (Personal Electronic Transactor). The C64 was
- launched in 1982, followed a few years later by the Amiga.
-
- Slowly, the crucial graphics edge that these systems enjoyed was eroded by
- successive improvements in Microsoft's Windows OS, and Commodore went into
- liquidation in 1994. Tulip, based in Amersfoort, Netherlands, bought the
- Commodore brand name and other assets in 1997.
-
-
-
- Regulators Launch Probe Into Video Game Industry
-
-
- Two video game publishers on Friday said they were part of an apparently
- wide-ranging probe opened by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- into the game industry.
-
- Both Acclaim Entertainment Inc. and Activision Inc. said they had received
- requests for information from the SEC with regard to a formal investigation
- into video game manufacturers and distributors.
-
- Acclaim, in an SEC filing, said it was notified of the probe on July 11.
- Activision, in its SEC filing, did not say when it was notified.
-
- "The investigation appears to be focused on certain accounting practices
- common to the interactive entertainment industry, with specific emphasis
- on revenue recognition," Activision said in its filing.
-
- "The SEC has advised Activision that this request for information should
- not be construed as an indication from the SEC or its staff that any
- violation of the law has occurred, nor should it reflect negatively on any
- person, entity or security," Activision said.
-
- Both companies said they are cooperating fully with the probe. An Acclaim
- spokesman declined further comment, while an Activision spokeswoman was not
- immediately available for comment.
-
- Activision shares fell sharply in after-hours trade, slipping to $11.25
- from a Nasdaq close of $12.46. Acclaim was off slightly to 67 cents in
- after-hours trade from a Nasdaq close of 68 cents.
-
- "I think the SEC is very likely trying to understand what industry
- practices are and see if these guys have the potential to manipulate
- earnings," analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities told
- Reuters.
-
- A spokeswoman for game publisher THQ Inc. declined to comment on the probe.
- Spokesmen for leading publishers Electronic Arts Inc. and Take-Two
- Interactive Software Inc. were not immediately available for comment.
-
- An SEC spokesman declined to comment on the investigation. Representatives
- for other listed video game publishers such as Atari Inc., Midway Games
- Inc. either were not immediately available or could not immediately comment
- on the probe.
-
-
-
- Atari Reports Smaller Quarterly Loss
-
-
- Video game publisher Atari Inc., formerly known as Infogrames Inc., on
- Tuesday reported a smaller quarterly loss on stronger-than-usual game
- sales.
-
- Atari, mostly owned by French publisher Infogrames Entertainment, reported
- a loss of $12.7 million, or 18 cents per share, for the period ended in
- March, compared with a loss of $22.9 million, or 33 cents. Revenue rose to
- $84.7 million from $50.5 million a year ago.
-
- Atari recently changed its fiscal year, and the March quarter marked the
- end of its fiscal 2003.
-
- The company was thinly traded and drew little attention from the investment
- community until earlier this year, when it completed and released a video
- game, "Enter the Matrix," based on the "Matrix" science-fiction movies.
-
- Atari shares have jumped nearly 200 percent in about 3 weeks due to the
- "Enter the Matrix" game before settling back down as the game was released
- in mid-May.
-
- Atari shares closed up 2.3 percent at $4.92 on Nasdaq.
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- A-ONE's Headline News
- The Latest in Computer Technology News
- Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
-
-
-
- File-Sharing Dips After Threat to Sue
-
-
- The number of people using several Internet file-sharing services declined
- by several thousand the week after the music industry threatened to sue
- online music swappers, an Internet tracking firm said Monday.
-
- Kazaa and Morpheus - two popular file-swapping services - had 15 percent
- fewer users during the week ending July 6, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
- The firm tracks only weekly use by people who sign on to the services from
- home, regardless of whether they use the services multiple times.
-
- The decline translates to about 1 million fewer users on Kazaa. About
- 41,000 fewer users signed on to Morpheus and the iMesh file-sharing service
- that week.
-
- "With the negative publicity and threat of steep fines, some surfers appear
- to be backing off," said Greg Bloom, a senior Internet analyst with the
- firm. "However, with millions of loyal users, these applications aren't
- likely to go off-line in the near future."
-
- The Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the major
- recording companies, said last month it would soon begin suing individuals
- engaging in online music file-swapping.
-
- The industry blames music downloading and CD burning for lagging sales in
- recent years and hopes that by going after users directly, it can curb
- traffic to the sites.
-
- Messages left with representatives of StreamCast Networks, the company
- behind Morpheus, and Sharman Networks, who owns Kazaa, were not immediately
- returned.
-
-
-
- Bill Would Put Net Song Swappers in Jail
-
-
- Internet users who allow others to copy songs from their hard drives could
- face prison time under legislation introduced by two Democratic lawmakers
- on Wednesday.
-
- The bill is the strongest attempt yet to deter the widespread online song
- copying that recording companies say has led to a decline in CD sales.
-
- Sponsored by Michigan Rep. John Conyers and California Rep. Howard Berman,
- the bill would make it easier to slap criminal charges on Internet users
- who copy music, movies and other copyrighted files over "peer-to-peer"
- networks.
-
- The recording industry has aggressively pursued Napster, Kazaa and other
- peer-to-peer networks in court and recently announced it planned to sue
- individual users as well.
-
- In a series of hearings on Capitol Hill last spring, lawmakers condemned
- online song swapping and expressed concern the networks could spread
- computer viruses, create government security risks and allow children
- access to pornography.
-
- Few online copyright violators have faced criminal charges so far. A New
- Jersey man pleaded guilty to distributing a digital copy of the movie "The
- Hulk" in federal court three weeks ago, but the Justice Department has not
- taken action against Internet users who offer millions of copies of songs
- each day.
-
- The Conyers-Berman bill would operate under the assumption that each
- copyrighted work made available through a computer network was copied at
- least 10 times for a total retail value of $2,500. That would bump the
- activity from a misdemeanor to a felony, carrying a sentence of up to five
- years in jail.
-
- It would also outlaw the practice of videotaping a movie in the theater, a
- favorite illicit method of copying movies.
-
- "While existing laws have been useful in stemming this problem, they simply
- do not go far enough," said Conyers, the top Democrat on the House
- Judiciary Committee.
-
- A Conyers staffer said the bill had won the backing of many Democrats but
- Republicans had yet to endorse it.
-
- The staffer said backers hoped to discuss the bill at a hearing on Thursday
- and combine it next week with another sponsored by Texas Republican Rep.
- Lamar Smith.
-
-
-
- Kazaa Derivatives Offer RIAA-Blocking Features
-
-
- Two derivatives of the popular Kazaa peer-to-peer filesharing service now
- actively attempt to block scans by the RIAA and other agencies, escalating
- the P2P war to a new level.
-
- Both Kazaa K++ and Kazaa Lite, two very similar modifications to the Kazaa
- file-sharing system by Sharman Networks, now contain hooks to the
- PeerGuardian database of IP addresses. Both updates were published to the
- Web at the end of last week.
-
- The two versions available for download are Kazaa Lite 2.4.0, and Kazaa
- K++ 2.4.0. Although the version numbers are the same, the Kazaa Lite
- download is 2.67 Mbytes, while the K++ version is 3.11 Mbytes; both are
- bundled with different features and apparently contain slightly different
- code bases.
-
- The two developers of the program once worked together, but have decided
- to release different versions, according to postings by the two authors.
- Neither are affiliated with Sharman Networks. Freenet, another network, was
- also designed to allow anonymous, encrypted sharing of files and other
- information.
-
- Neither developer released any official statement explaining the addition
- of the new features designed to defeat the RIAA's scanning efforts, which
- the agency reportedly began at the beginning of this month in an attempt
- to discover which users are illegally sharing copyrighted files. Once the
- IP addresses are matched to individual users, the agency will begin filing
- copyright infringement lawsuits this fall.
-
- The new versions contain several features designed to foil scanning
- attempts. PeerGuardian attempts to catalog a range of IP addresses used by
- or suspected to be used by labels, the Motion Picture Association of
- America, the Recording Industry Association of America, and other agencies.
- The database is built by contributions of individual users, although the
- methodology used to determine and verify the IP addresses is unclear.
-
- Users of the latest versions of Kazaa Lite and Kazaa++ also have the option
- of disabling a function that allows remote users to see what other files
- the user has. The two P2P updates allow users to block port 1214, used by
- the Kazaa program, for additional security. In addition, the two programs
- do not save a user's search history in the registry, and Kazaa Lite also
- allows the option of erasing the search history automatically after exiting
- the program.
-
-
-
- APEC Takes Aim at Cyber Crime, Virus Writers
-
-
- Fighting computer hackers, virus writers and other "cyber criminals" will
- be a key theme of a U.S.-sponsored meeting of Asia-Pacific government
- officials in Thailand next week, organizers said on Friday.
-
- Officials of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will discuss how
- to develop cybercrime law enforcement units that work closely
- internationally and a legal framework for prosecuting cyber criminals, the
- APEC Secretariat in Singapore said.
-
- The five-day meeting from on Monday in Bangkok is organized by the Computer
- Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the United States Department of
- Justice (news - web sites) and hosted by Thailand's National Electronics
- and Computer Technology Center.
-
- APEC's members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong,
- Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea,
- Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United
- States and Vietnam.
-
- "The activities of cyber criminals have direct and harmful consequences for
- the regional economy," APEC Secretariat Executive Director Piamsak
- Milintachinda said in a statement.
-
- APEC lists cybercrime as a misuse of computer systems for illegal actions
- such as theft, fraud or terror activities.
-
-
-
- New Eudora 6.0 Beta Available
-
-
- Qualcomm on Friday released an updated beta version of the next edition of
- its veteran e-mail client, Eudora.
-
- Once the darling of the technical crowd, but long left in the dust by
- enterprise clients like Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes, Eudora's newest
- beta, version 6.0.0.12, now features message threads - all the mail about a
- single subject, for instance, or from a single sender - in a focused view.
-
- It also includes support for sending mail via specific SMTP servers,
- something many ISPs now require to ensure that their servers aren't used
- by non-subscribers.
-
- The beta is available in versions for Windows, Mac OS X, and Mac OS 9.2,
- and can be downloaded from Qualcomm's Eudora Web site.
-
-
-
- Mozilla To Rise from the Ashes
-
-
- In the wake of a major reorganization of AOL's Netscape division that
- jettisoned the company's Mozilla project, a new Mozilla foundation has been
- formed to develop and promote the open-source browser. A collaborative
- software effort on the part of many programmers, Mozilla was the foundation
- for recent versions of Netscape software.
-
- AOL laid off 58 employees in its Netscape division and announced that it
- was spinning off the Mozilla Project. AOL also said it will donate US$2
- million to the new Mozilla Foundation. With another donation for $300,000
- from Lotus founder Mitch Kapor, the fledgling group stands ready to further
- promote the Mozilla browser.
-
- Though Mozilla is a niche player, some observers see potential for market
- growth. In the browser market, "there's a war within a war," Yankee analyst
- Rob Lancaster told NewsFactor. The desktop browser war already has been won
- by IE, but there is related market struggle for the wireless and
- business-application space, he explained. While he declined to forecast
- Mozilla's level of acceptance in these markets, he noted that "there are
- more and more applications that are developed with Web interfaces."
-
- In the eyes of some industry observers, the Mozilla browser is technically
- superior to Internet Explorer. PC World magazine put the browser in its
- "Best of 2003" category, and eWeek raved that Mozilla 1.4 includes
- "remarkable improvements that enhance what was already the best browser
- option out there."
-
- Aberdeen analyst Russ Craig, who himself uses Mozilla, told NewsFactor that
- "there are a fair number of people who prefer the browser to the continual
- security issues that come with IE."
-
- Unlike IE, Mozilla supports junk-mail filtering, pop-up ad blocking and
- tabbed browsing. It was developed to support open standards across a wide
- variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, OS/2 and Solaris.
-
- The Mozilla Foundation will receive ongoing support from Red Hat and Sun
- Microsystems.
-
- By the end of July, Sun will ship Mozilla for the Solaris OS, and it will
- make Mozilla the standard browser for Mad Hatter, the company's Linux-based
- desktop software stack due later this year.
-
- Mozilla is "very near and dear to our hearts," Red Hat spokesperson Leigh
- Day told NewsFactor. She noted that Red Hat includes the open-source
- browser in all of its products, and hence is dedicated to supporting its
- development.
-
- Mozilla welcomes the support. "It has been a long-standing objective of
- the Mozilla team to create an independent organization so we can continue
- to lead and innovate," said Mitchell Baker, who will head the new
- foundation. "Going forward, we will continue to partner with developers and
- industry leaders to keep content on the Web open."
-
- Mozilla is decidedly an underdog in terms of market share. According to
- recent surveys, IE has a 95 percent market share, with Netscape holding
- approximately 3 percent, and Mozilla in the 1 to 2 percent range. Craig
- said he "expects Mozilla to continue its presence."
-
- Mozilla's tiny market share is partly the result of the browser's geeky
- image. That is, the Mozilla group, themselves programmers, targeted the
- browser at the developer community. The new Mozilla organization pledges to
- work on wider distribution.
-
- Apple recently chose the KDE code instead of the Mozilla platform as the
- basis of the Safari browser. Apple reportedly chose KDE over Mozilla
- because of the compact size of the code (less than 140,000 lines) and the
- ease of development within that code. Some observers saw this as a
- criticism of Mozilla.
-
- Three months later, Mozilla started focusing its efforts on the Phoenix
- Project, a smaller, faster version of Mozilla developed with extensible
- user interface language (XUL). This renders the browser with cross-platform
- technologies rather than with platform-specific programming language.
-
-
-
- MSN Messenger 6.0 Launched
-
-
- Microsoft released the final version of its MSN Messenger 6.0 instant
- messaging software Wednesday, touting its new animated emoticons, Webcam
- service, and expanded device integration amid a marketing campaign designed
- to elbow out rivals with cold, hard cash.
-
- The Redmond, Washington, company released a public preview release of
- Messenger 6.0 on June 18, and said that it is celebrating the release of
- the final version with a "Fast Cash Friday" offer that gives randomly
- selected U.S. entrants $1000.
-
- The contest runs each Friday between July 25 and August 15, during which
- the company will award a $1000 prize each hour for ten hours to one user
- logged onto the new software.
-
- A Microsoft spokesperson in the U.K. said that the contest is aimed at
- encouraging users to download the new version of the software.
-
- The promotion underscores the increasing rivalry between top instant
- messaging players, such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and America Online. The three
- leaders have continued to work on bolstering their IM applications as the
- market has bloomed.
-
- Some analysts have predicted that the IM market will reach $800 million by
- 2006, and the software providers have been scrambling to get as big a slice
- of this pie as possible.
-
- Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL have all introduced enterprise versions of their
- IM clients, but have found that maintaining a strong consumer application
- base is also important.
-
- Messenger 6.0 offers more than 60 new emoticons, some of which are
- animated. Users also have the ability to make personal emoticons, Microsoft
- said.
-
- New background pictures and personal display pictures have also been added
- in a move to allow more personalization of the IM client.
-
- The software has interactive features that allow users to share photos and
- files while playing online games, and an integrated Webcam service powered
- by Logitech, Microsoft said.
-
- Microsoft has also expanded the software's device integration, allowing
- users to send and receive text messages over cell phones and personal
- digital assistants, as well as send handwritten messages from Tablet PCs.
-
- The company has also launched a new MSN community site where users can
- download emoticons, images, backgrounds and tools.
-
-
-
- Libraries Cancel Meeting on Porn Filters
-
-
- The American Library Association on Friday canceled a meeting with software
- developers over how to meet new requirements to block pornography at
- libraries' Internet terminals.
-
- The Aug. 14 meeting in Washington, D.C., was supposed to have let the ALA
- outline concerns it had with pornography-filtering software, which
- libraries now have to install to receive certain federal funding.
-
- The organization gave no reason for canceling the meeting.
-
- But the ALA's immediate past president, Mitch Freedman, had raised
- objections to it Thursday in an internal e-mail discussion list. The order
- to cancel came from the group's 13-member executive board, which Freedman
- sits on, later in the day.
-
- "Simply, having any discussion whatsoever with the filtering companies
- legitimizes them, thus giving them a legitimacy that ALA has never
- recognized," Freedman wrote to fellow librarians on the ALA Council.
-
- A 2000 federal law requires libraries to block pornography or forgo
- technology grants. The ALA tried to have the law declared unconstitutional,
- saying software filters often make mistakes and block legitimate sites as
- well.
-
- The Supreme Court upheld the law last month as some justices noted that
- filters can be turned off when mistakes are made.
-
- The ALA had planned to tell software developers at the meeting that it
- wanted such filters easily turned off when needed. It also wanted to know
- more about the criteria for blocking individual sites, something the
- companies generally consider proprietary.
-
- In the e-mail, Freedman wrote that it was better for librarians to stay on
- the sidelines and let the companies "struggle with the Court's charge to
- them" to avoid appearances that the ALA thinks filters are OK.
-
- Freedman, director of the Westchester Library System in New York, was on
- vacation Friday and unavailable to comment, his assistant said. The ALA's
- executive director, Keith Michael Fiels, was also out of the office and
- unreachable, ALA officials said.
-
- David Burt, a spokesman for filtering company N2H2 Inc., said he stood
- ready to meet should the ALA reconsider.
-
- "We, the filtering companies in general, recognize that we do have a
- responsibility to build good products and be responsive to the needs of our
- customers," Burt said. "I think a meeting would have helped maybe smooth
- over some of the bad feelings."
-
-
-
- Pentagon Invests to Make Computers Smarter
-
-
- The Defense Department said Wednesday it had awarded $29 million in
- development contracts for software aimed at making computers adapt much
- better to users' needs.
-
- Such systems will become more responsible for their own maintenance, do a
- far better job of warding off computer-security threats, manage internal
- resources more effectively and have "drastically reduced development and
- deployment costs," the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said.
-
- DARPA, the Pentagon's incubator for long-range research projects and the
- cradle of what became the Internet, said technologies developed in the
- program were expected to help business and researchers as well as the
- military.
-
- Under the project, called Perceptive Assistant that Learns, or PAL, DARPA
- said it had handed out two contracts, each for the first phase of five-year
- programs that could "revolutionize how computers interact with humans."
-
- SRI International, Menlo Park, California had been given $22 million, and
- Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science in Pittsburgh,
- Pennsylvania, $7 million, the Pentagon agency said.
-
- DARPA's Information Processing Technology Office, which is managing the
- effort, aims to develop "cognitive" computing systems - ones that can
- reason, learn from experience, take advice, explain themselves and respond
- intelligently to situations never encountered before, a statement said.
-
- "If cognitive systems become a reality, we will have computer systems far
- better at adapting to their users' needs, and far better at coping with
- unexpected inputs than today's systems," DARPA added.
-
-
-
- Macworld Show Opens in New York
-
-
- In a virtual re-run of Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs' Worldwide
- Developers Conference address, Apple Vice President of Hardware Product
- Marketing Greg Joswiak opened Macworld CreativePro here today with a
- demonstration of the forthcoming generation of Apple's desktop hardware and
- Mac OS X.
-
- Besides singing the praises of the forthcoming Power Mac G5 and the
- "Panther" version of Mac OS X, Joswiak made a couple of announcements
- aimed at the media professionals that comprise the core of the show's
- audience.
-
- In response to Adobe Systems Inc.'s recent announcement that it is ceasing
- Mac development of its Premiere video-editing package, Joswiak said that
- Premiere owners will be able to switch to Apple's $299 Final Cut Express
- for free or get a $500 rebate on the Mac maker's $999 Final Cut Pro 4
- package. Buyers of new Mac models will be able to purchase Final Cut
- Express for $99.
-
- Joswiak also announced the August availability of Soundtrack, software that
- can be used to assemble background audio for videos or web sites.
- Previously available only as part of Final Cut Pro, the stand-alone
- Soundtrack package will cost $299.
-
- "Adobe has embraced it with their very best applications: Photoshop,
- InDesign and Illustrator," Joswiak said, apparently discounting the
- importance of Premiere to the market.
-
- Joswiak kicked off his presentation by addressing the state of migration to
- OS X. Claiming 7 million users of the operating system, he touted the
- recent release of QuarkXPress 6.0, the long-awaited Mac OS X-native version
- of Quark Inc.'s flagship page-layout application.
-
- The rest of Joswiak's presentation at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
- here echoed WWDC in San Francisco, where Jobs rolled out the 64-bit Power
- Mac G5, due to ship this summer, and Mac OS X 10.3, a k a Panther, which
- sources have predicted will arrive in September. Joswiak repeated Jobs'
- WWDC assertion that the new Power Macs, which will initially top off with a
- dual-2GHz configuration, will reach the 3GHz mark within the next 12
- months.
-
- This week's show marks the first domestic Macworld without a Jobs keynote
- presentation since the Apple co-founder took the helm of the company in
- summer 1997. Apple declared its intention to scale back its commitment to
- the East Coast show in late 2002, ostensibly in response to show organizer
- IDG World Expo's plans to relocate the event to Boston in 2004.
-
-
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- Internet Sales Tax Effort May Be Dead for 2003
-
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- Three dozen states seeking congressional approval for their plan to tax all
- Internet sales may have missed their chance this year.
-
- Two key congressional panels today signalled that they are not willing to
- hitch the online sales tax issue to a planned extension of the Internet
- tax moratorium, a law that bans taxes on Internet access and
- Internet-specific services.
-
- "This year, I believe we can and should keep the Internet tax moratorium
- distinct from the simplified sales tax debate," said Senate Commerce
- Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), referring to the Streamlined
- Sales Tax Project, a state-led effort to develop a national framework for
- collecting sales tax on all Internet purchases.
-
- McCain pledged to try to pass the Internet tax moratorium before Congress
- adjourns for its August recess. He indicated that his panel would hold
- separate hearings on the states' Internet sales tax plan later this year.
-
- In the House, the Judiciary Committee today approved legislation to
- permanently extend the Internet tax moratorium, which is set to expire in
- November. The online sales tax effort was not included in the House
- measure, though Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said that
- his committee may hold hearings on that later this year.
-
- Today's actions in Congress are just the latest sign that the states'
- campaign to level the sales tax playing field may be losing steam, at least
- for 2003.
-
- "I think a lot of people - including the states - are starting to
- recognize that the [Internet tax moratorium] is not a viable vehicle
- anymore" for the sales tax effort, said Scott Corley, spokesman for the
- Information Technology Industry Council. "On top of that, the states
- simply haven't made the progress they thought they would," he said.
-
- For their part, the states insist that they are making real progress. The
- state coalition already has met its goal of having 10 states representing
- 20 percent of the U.S. population ratify the Streamlined Sales Tax Project
- agreement, a threshhold the states said they would meet first before taking
- their plan to Congress, according to Neal Osten, director of commerce and
- telecommunications for the National Conference of State Legislators. NCSL
- helped shape the states' Internet sales tax plan.
-
- Osten said the states chose to unhitch the Internet sales tax agreement
- from the moratorium to avoid confusion.
-
- "It's a complicated topic that when you combine them confuses everyone,"
- Osten said. "The access tax moratorium gets into a whole nest of issues
- that outside the scope of what we want to do."
-
- Osten added that the Streamlined Sales Tax Project is crafting legislation
- to be introduced as early as next week that would call on Congress to
- recognize the states' effort. That legislation will be introduced by Rep.
- Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), he said.
-
- An Enzi spokesman confirmed the senator is working on a bill, but added
- that "it could be weeks" before the proposal is formally introduced.
- Istook's office declined to comment.
-
- Bruce Johnson, commissioner of the Utah State Tax Commission and a co-chair
- in the sales tax simplification group, said it would probably work out
- better if Congress doesn't get around to dealing with the issue until next
- year, given that many states that passed laws to bring their tax codes in
- line with the agreement have delayed the effective date until next summer.
-
- "I'm afraid that if we go to Congress before this thing is actually up and
- running that there may be a temptation for people who want to hang some
- bells and whistles on this. I think that if we had some operating history
- under our belt before Congress looked at this, we'd be in better shape
- overall," Johnson said.
-
- Meanwhile, the campaign to extend the Internet tax moratorium, perhaps
- permanently, is moving forward and could include language to close several
- loopholes.
-
- Executives from America Online and Sprint told the Senate panel today that
- many states are using creative methods to get around the access tax
- prohibition.
-
- Mark Beshears, Sprint's assistant vice president of state and local tax,
- said several states have begun taxing Internet access if it is offered in
- conjunction with traditional voice and wireless services.
-
- "This clearly violates the intent of the [access tax ban]," Beshears told
- the panel. "Some states have asserted that our service is subject to
- taxation while competing cable modem and direct satellite Internet access
- are tax exempt."
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- To date, least 18 states have found ways to collect taxes on Internet
- access, despite the current ban. Tax authorities in Alabama, Florida and
- Kentucky are assessing sales taxes on the amount consumers pay for
- high-speed digital subscriber line Internet service, commonly referred to
- as DSL. Maryland, Virginia, and 13 other states have passed laws that
- require Internet access to be taxed when it is "bundled" with other taxable
- services by a single provider, such as a telephone company. Another six
- states are poised to enact similar legislation.
-
- The lobbying campaign to close the loophole appears to be gaining ground.
- The tax moratorium measure approved today by the House Judiciary Committee
- would bar states from taxing Internet access when it is bundled with other
- communications services.
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- In the Senate, Republican staffers said Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) plans
- include a provision to prevent the taxation of bundled telecom services in
- his bill to permanently extend the Internet access ban. Sen. Ron Wyden
- (D-Ore.), who has offered a similar bill, is also considering such a
- measure, a spokeswoman said.
-
- The issue of Internet taxes, as today's news shows, is highly arcane. The
- tax moratorium applies only to Internet-specific services, such as a
- subscription for DSL or cable broadband service. It does not ban Internet
- sales taxes. Under current federal law, Internet merchants must charge
- applicable sales taxes if the buyer is located in the same state where the
- seller has a store or distribution center. But that rule captures
- relatively few Internet sales, nor does it address how state taxing
- authorities would enforce collection.
-
- Nearly 40 states joined the Streamlined Sales Tax Project in a bid to level
- the sales tax playing field, concerned that failing to tax all online sales
- would put main street stores at a disadvantage and cut into state and local
- tax receipts. The states not only need congressional approval to extend
- Internet sales taxes nationwide, but also must modify their own separate
- sales tax laws to comply with their national proposal.
-
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- EU Wants Meaty Action on Growing Email Spam
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- A global effort is needed to fight the curse of spam, junk email that clogs
- up computer systems everywhere, the European Commission said on Tuesday.
-
- It said it wanted EU states to make sure they enforce new rules against
- spam from October. It was also discussing action with the United States and
- wanted the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to
- play a role.
-
- "Spam has become a serious problem for all of us, for all individuals. It
- is extremely annoying. It takes time to find out if you have valid
- emails," European Telecoms and Information Society Commissioner Erkki
- Liikanen told a news conference.
-
- He quoted figures showing around 48 percent of global email traffic was
- spam and time wasted in clearing it out of inboxes cost firms $2.8 billion
- in productivity.
-
- Most of the nuisance mails were selling products, including financial
- services, 24 percent was pornography-related while six percent was fraud
- letters, such as a now well-known get-rich-quick scheme of mails purporting
- to be from Nigeria.
-
- Liikanen urged EU states to apply a new law on spam which will come into
- force from October which means people have to consent to receiving mails.
- He said he would come up with new ideas on how to fight it in a
- communication in the autumn.
-
- "Member states will have to make sure the enforcement of the opt-in is a
- priority. It must be a priority for them to prosecute wrongdoers operating
- within that country," he said.
-
- But the problem went beyond the EU, he said, as much unwanted email came
- from outside the bloc. He was encouraged to see the United States
- considering anti-spam rules.
-
- "The second objective will be to cooperate effectively on enforcement...
- Multilateral forums like the OECD can also play an important role in this
- regard," he said, referring to the group which gathers top industrial
- nations.
-
- He said he had proposed the group hold a seminar on spam in Brussels in
- January next year.
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- Massachusetts Pursues Lone Battle Against Microsoft
-
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- Massachusetts, the only US state still waging an anti-trust war against
- Microsoft Corp., urged the federal court to overturn a deal between the
- government and the software titan.
-
- District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on November 1 approved a
- government-Microsoft deal to settle a four-year battle over the software
- giant's illegal squelching of competitors.
-
- The settlement forced billionaire Bill Gates' firm to disclose some
- technical information and barred it from making anti-competitive agreements
- on Microsoft products.
-
- But Massachusetts said the measure did not go far enough.
-
- "The failures of the district court's remedy are profound," said the brief
- filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly.
-
- "It fails to stop Microsoft's illegal conduct and does nothing to restore
- competition to the monopolized market or to prevent Microsoft from engaging
- in similar means to the same unlawful end," it said.
-
- Massachusetts argued that the judge's ruling reflected a "critical
- misunderstanding of the liability theory of this case."
-
- Nine states and the District of Columbia had originally held out against
- the deal but Massachusetts is now alone in pushing on with the battle for
- harsher restrictions on Microsoft.
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- The only other hold-out state, West Virginia, dropped out last month.
-
- Wednesday's filing by Massachusetts was a scheduled reply to a Microsoft
- brief filed June 18. The company has urged the appeals court to reject
- Massachusetts' appeal.
-
- Microsoft said Massachusetts was pursuing "extreme" remedies, including a
- proposal to allow computer makers and consumers to remove features bundled
- into the Windows operating system.
-
- Kollar-Kotelly's "thorough review and comprehensive rulings represent a
- fair and appropriate remedy in this case," it said.
-
- The appeals court will hear oral arguments on November 4.
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- Bertelsmann Seeks Dismissal of Napster-Related Suits
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- German media company Bertelsmann AG said on Thursday it filed a motion to
- dismiss three suits that allege it perpetuated online piracy by funding the
- Napster music-swapping service.
-
- Bertelsmann said the motion it filed in Manhattan federal court on Thursday
- argues that recent court opinions counter allegations by Vivendi Universal
- Universal Music Group, EMI Group Plc and music publishers that its entities
- were "vicarious" and "contributory" copyright infringers.
-
- Bertelsmann said in a statement that U.S. copyright law does not permit
- recovery from a third-party lender for damages the plaintiffs failed to
- recover from Napster.
-
- Lawyers and representatives for EMI, Universal Music and the music
- publishers were not immediately available.
-
- EMI in June became the second big record label to join the $17 billion
- legal fight brought by music publishers against Bertelsmann, following a
- similar suit by Universal in May.
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- All three suits accused Bertelsmann of perpetuating Napster's success by
- investing more than $100 million in the service in 2000 and 2001.
-
- The music industry has blamed services like now-idled Napster and several
- similar networks for much of the recent slump in record sales.
-
- Bertelsmann owns the BMG family of record labels, the smallest of the big
- five record companies, with artists like Elvis Presley, The Strokes and
- Aretha Franklin.
-
- Like Universal, EMI filed its copyright infringement suit in U.S. District
- Court in New York.
-
- In April, Universal and EMI Group Plc sued San Francisco-based Hummer
- Winblad Venture Partners, the venture capitalists that once backed Napster.
-
- At its peak, Napster had some 60 million users downloading songs through
- its service. But after a federal court ruled the service ran afoul of
- copyright laws, it was shut down in 2001, and it declared bankruptcy last
- June.
-
- CD-burning software company Roxio Inc. has purchased the assets of Napster
- and plans to re-establish it as a legitimate pay service.
-
- When Bertelsmann invested in Napster in 2000, it had originally said it
- wanted to build a legitimate music subscription service.
-
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