Pc News

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Google Asks Surfers for Help

Google is asking surfers with time on their hands to help it categorize and label the images indexed by its search engine, building a database of knowledge about the contents of the images.

The company launched a new online game on Friday, Google Image Labeler, which it describes as "a fun way to help us organize all the images on the Web." In the game, two randomly selected players are each shown the same image, plucked at random from Google's search index, and given 90 seconds to suggest as many keywords or phrases as they can to describe it. They score points if any of their descriptions match.

Google's image search engine currently returns results based on captions and other text adjacent to images on Web pages, without reference to the content of the images themselves. The game will allow it to improve the performance of the search engine by returning results based on the players' descriptions of the images.

The game is not the first attempt to use volunteer labor to create a database of knowledge: The Wikipedia online encyclopedia and the DMoz search directory two of the better known examples.

Volunteers at Work
Google's game, based in part on technology developed at Carnegie Mellon University, is not even the first to use volunteer labor to categorize images: The ESP Game developed by Luis von Ahn and other researchers at Carnegie Mellon first put players to work tagging its image database in October 2003.

Building a database using information provided by volunteers has its risks: campaign groups or pranksters might influence or pollute the raw data by associating an insulting term with the image of a political candidate. The campaign to link the term "miserable failure" to the online biography of U.S. President George W. Bush is one example of how this can happen.

The ESP Game and Google Image Labeler limit the possibilities for such pranks, since they select players and images at random, and only associate a label with an image if both players independently suggest it.

Von Ahn and his colleagues study "human computation," or finding novel ways to put human brains to work. Their work includes Peekaboom, a game which harnesses players' brains to locate objects in images, and Phetch, which goes further than the ESP game by inviting players to create longer descriptions of images. You can also blame them for Captchas, those puzzles featuring sequences of distorted letters that are intended to distinguish between humans and computer impostors.

Google says its search engine indexes billions of images. That may make Google's goal of labeling all the images on the Web seem far-fetched, especially since players of Von Ahn's game have only attributed around 17.8 million labels to images since October 2003, according to the game's Web site.

However, computer users around the world collectively wasted 9 billion hours playing Solitaire on their computers in 2003, Von Ahn estimated in a presentation to Google staff in July. If they had spent that time playing The ESP Game or Google Image Labeler instead, they could have labeled almost 200 billion images.

[Rasputin]

Will Apple Enter Movie Download Business?

Apple's announcement of a September 12 special event has stirred rumors that the company will unveil a movie download service in the vein of its wildly popular iTunes Music Store. But to succeed in movies the way that it does in music, Apple faces three critical challenges: cost, content, delivery.

Just as Apple wrangled the 99-cent-per-song price for iTunes Music Store, it needs a similarly aggressive movie download price. Michael Greeson, founder and principal analyst of The Diffusion Group, cites other sources (such as Think Secret) as saying that the price of new movie titles on the iTunes service will be $15 per download.

But will this price be as magical? According to a study conducted by Greeson's firm, 14 percent of broadband households would be interested in a $15 per download price, while 23 percent surveyed said they would be interested in a $10 per download price, the original price rumored to be requested by Steve Jobs. The Diffusion Group surveyed 2000 U.S. residents last June. Greeson says he believes that Apple will pay $14 per title for new releases, thus grossing less than $1 for each new movie sold.

"This is consistent with Apple's general hardware/content model as embodied in iTunes--keep the prices of the content as low as possible in order to maximize hardware sales for which Apple is able to set above-market prices and draw extremely high profit margins," says Greeson.

Other Competitors
This ability to profit less from digital media could change the economics of the online movie business and has competitors watching closely. One such competitor is Starz Entertainment Vongo, a broadband video service that lets subscribers watch a certain number of movies on up to three devices for a fixed monthly subscription fee. (For a full rundown of other online video options, see PC World's story "Video Everywhere.")

"Apple is not really entering the business to further the delivery of digital media. We believe they're entering the business to further the delivery of iPod," says Bob Greene, Starz Entertainment executive vice president of advanced services. "We'd like to see them drive the prices down so long as they don't give away the wholesale business."

While Vongo is currently subscription only, Greene says that Starz plans to offer what it calls an electronic sell-through business within the next several months. And so does another competitor: Netflix.

"We're investing $5 million to $10 million in a downloading program that we'll announce next year," says Netflix's director of corporate communications Steve Swasey, who did not give further details. "Our goal is to be in the downloading arena when it's more viable."

Barriers to Entry
Swasey says that those selling online movie downloads currently face two impediments. The first is the dearth of movies available for download. Licensing agreements between Hollywood studios and traditional broadcast outlets are complex, long standing, and dependent on the type of delivery. For example, Starz Entertainment has exclusive access to make available by subscription about 40 percent of Hollywood movies from Disney, Sony, Universal, NewLine, and other independent studios, during certain time periods after first release.

The second impediment is delivery. Right now movie download services let you watch content on PCs or other portable devices. "Most people want to watch movies on their wide inch TVs," says Swasey.

Despite the challenges, Apple is well positioned to make a splash and influence pricing in the online movie market.

"Apple's entry into this market will serve to legitimize the entire online video download industry--it will bring instant credibility to business models that until now have been languished and which Hollywood studios honestly believe will grow to be a major part of consumer video sales," says The Diffusion Group's Greeson.

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Microsoft Sets Vista Pricing, Expands Tester Base

Microsoft today released the pricing for Windows Vista, about a week after online retailer Amazon.com disclosed the operating system's pricing on its Web site.

The company also expanded the tester base of Vista to about 5 million users as it begins gearing up for Windows Vista's widespread release, which is scheduled for early next year.

Microsoft's suggested retail pricing for Windows Vista is as follows: $399 for Windows Vista Ultimate, $299 for Windows Vista Business, $239 for Windows Vista Home Premium, and $199 for Windows Vista Home Basic.

Upgrades to Windows Vista from XP are $259 for Windows Vista Ultimate, $199 for Windows Vista Home Premium, and $99 for Windows Vista Home Basic.

The prices are the same as the ones listed on Amazon.com's Web site last week, except that the online retailer listed an upgrade for Vista Home Basic as $0.95 more. Amazon.com is already taking pre-orders for Vista, and lists on its Web site that the OS will be available on January 30, 2007. Microsoft has not given a firm date for Vista's release, but is targeting sometime in January for the OS's general release. The company plans to release Vista to business customers in November.

In a related blog item, PC World Associate Editor Danny Allen compares Vista's prices and features with those in Windows XP.

Vista Release Candidate 1 Available
Microsoft late last week made available Release Candidate 1 (RC1) of Windows Vista, which means that the OS is in its final testing phases. The release was initially made available to only about 20,000 users who are in Microsoft's TechBeta and Technology Adoption Program program, but today the company said that in the next few days it will expand that release to some 500,000 members of its Microsoft Developer Network and TechNet program (for developers and IT pros, respectively).

Microsoft said it will also make RC1 available to the more than 2 million members of the Windows Vista Customer Preview Program who received Beta 2, and will reopen the program to new testers. Additionally, Microsoft plans to distribute an estimated 2 million copies of RC1 on DVDs bundled with magazines. All told, some 5 million users worldwide will have access to RC1 as Windows Vista goes through its final testing, Microsoft officials said.

Feedback on RC1
Shanen Boettcher, Microsoft's general manager of Windows client product management, said the early feedback the company has received on RC1 has been positive. He said Microsoft will determine whether to make a second release candidate available based on tester feedback to RC1.

Windows XP had two release candidates before it was shipped to manufacturing. Analysts have said that if Windows Vista follows the same path, it will be a tight squeeze for Microsoft to get the OS out according to its current schedule.

Windows Vista's release has been delayed several times, and industry and financial analysts have said they think the release will slip even further into 2007. However, analysts today said that the release of RC1 and the Vista pricing announcement are positive signs that the company could be on track to release the OS on time.

[Rasputin]

Intel Announces Layoffs, Reorganization

Continuing his quest to stop a slide in profits, Intel chief executive Paul Otellini today announced layoffs of about 7500 employees. Added to previously announced layoffs of middle-management executives and the sale of two business units in recent months, the actions reduce Intel's workforce by a total of 10,500 people by 2008--about 10 percent of the entire company.

The layoffs will happen in stages. Most job losses that take effect in 2006 have already been announced, including Intel's sale of its media and signaling business in August, the cut of 1000 executives in July, and the sale of its XScale smart-phone chip division in June. Those jobs include workers in management, marketing, and IT.

More Cuts in 2007
Many more cuts will happen in 2007, when Intel chops jobs in manufacturing and product design, improves equipment use, and eliminates other redundancies, the company says.

The total impact will leave Intel with 92,000 people by the middle of 2007, down from the 102,500 it reported in the second quarter of 2006. By cutting these jobs, the company will save $2 billion in 2007 and $3 billion per year beginning in 2008, Intel says.

The cuts were a dramatic move for a company that holds a commanding 80 percent worldwide market share of PC chips and that posted a profit of $885 million in the second quarter. Still, the company could have made more money, illustrated by Otellini's recent prediction that Intel would post profits of $9.3 billion for 2006, down from $12.1 billion in 2005.

Why Cuts Are Necessary
Intel's problem came from slowing growth in the PC market, a loss of share to rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Intel's move to preserve its market share by sharply reducing prices of its chips. To address those issues, Otellini told analysts in April he would "restructure, repurpose, and resize" the company over the coming quarter.

Analysts cheered Otellini's move, saying Intel had become bloated. Otellini can use the new cuts to achieve four goals, says Ted Schadler, vice president for consumer electronics research at Forrester Research.

He can eliminate redundant jobs, simplify operations by having fewer products, get out of businesses that don't match Intel's core strengths, and get out of businesses that aren't so profitable, Schadler says.

When Otellini succeeded former CEO Craig Barrett in May 2005, he found that there was a huge competitor lurking on his left flank--AMD--and he saw in Intel a company that was no longer a lean machine, but had grown to fill every nook and cranny, Schadler says.

"So he eliminated middle management, getting rid of 1000 executives. And now he's using that as a pry-bar into the organization to say 'Who do we really need?'" says Schadler.

"They need to react faster to changing markets. Power [efficiency] is a huge issue, but it took them two years to get a product out the door that was even arguably better. Their road map looks great now, but that's too long."

CEO's Other Actions
Since meeting with analysts in April, Otellini has also pushed new chips to market faster, resulting in a raft of new chips in recent months, including the "Woodcrest" chip for servers in June, the "Conroe" Core 2 Duo chip for desktops in July, and the "Merom" Core 2 Duo chip for notebooks in August. Intel also reached for the high-end server market with the new "Tulsa" Xeon and "Montecito" Itanium chips.

And with an eye to the future, Intel accelerated the launch of its quad-core chips for desktops and servers, pledging to release them in the fourth quarter of 2006 instead of the first half of 2007.

Intel hopes this flood of new products will stop the erosion of its dominant market share. The company manufactured 77.9 percent of all CPUs sold in PCs around the world during the first quarter of 2006, according to Gartner. That number is down from 80.5 percent in the first quarter of 2005 and 81.5 percent in the first quarter of 2004.

[Rasputin]

Panasonic Recalls Laptop Batteries in Japan

Panasonic is recalling several thousand laptop computer battery packs because mechanical problems with the pack's latch could lead to overheating of the battery.

The recall applies to around 6000 battery packs that were shipped with its CF-W4G Let's Note W4 laptop computers in April and May of 2005, the company said today.

The recall only applies to machines shipped in Japan.

The problems arise if the owner sometimes drops the machine or sets it down on a table very roughly, said A***a Kadota, a spokesman for the company in Tokyo. On such occasions the small spring in the latch can penetrate the battery pack and cause a short circuit that leads to overheating, he said.

Panasonic has documented two cases to-date of this happening with the battery packs under recall.

Recent Recalls
"This is very different from the Sony case," he said, referring to recent recalls by Dell and Apple Computer of almost 6 million battery packs containing Sony-made cells.

Sony said the presence of metallic particles inside the battery meant there is a chance that the cells could overheat and catch fire under certain circumstances.

The cells in the batteries under recall were not made by Sony or Panasonic, said Kadota. He wouldn't name the battery maker.

Panasonic has posted details of the recall on its Web site in Japanese.

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Sony Expects PlayStation 3 Shortages

In what could result in a Christmas disappointment for hundreds of thousands of children, Sony Computer Entertainment has drastically decreased the number of PlayStation 3 consoles it expects to ship this year as it wrestles with shortages of key components.

The company had been planning to have 2 million consoles ready for the system's almost simultaneous launch in Japan, North America, Europe, and Australasia in November and a further 2 million available by year-end. But revised figures that were announced on Wednesday now call for only 2 million consoles being available in all of this year.

The 2006 launch of the console has been scrubbed in a number of territories including Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia and isn't expected to happen until March 2007 at the earliest.

In Japan, where the November 11 launch remains unchanged, Sony now expects to have just 100,000 consoles available on launch day. In North America, where the console is scheduled to go on sale on November 17, the company said it forecasts just 400,000 units will be available for sale on that day.

The figures mean that big shortages are likely.

Six and a half years ago when Sony launched the PlayStation 2 it shipped 720,000 consoles in Japan over its first weekend on sale. This time the hype surrounding the PlayStation 3 is even greater but it appears Sony will be fortunate to satisfy similar demand over at least the first seven weeks on sale.

Blue Laser Shortages
Sony is blaming the problems on a delay in mass production of blue laser diodes. The laser diodes are used in the optical disc drive inside the machine. Current consoles use red laser diodes, of which supply is plentiful, but the PlayStation 3 will have a Blu-ray Disc drive that requires the use of the new component.

Inclusion of Blu-ray Disc in the PlayStation 3 was seen by some analysts as a gamble from the start. Sony is keen to make the format the de facto choice for high-definition video and its use in the new console would ensure Blu-ray Disc a place in millions of homes. But its use comes with other problems. Commercial Blu-ray Disc players are only just coming onto the market so prices are still high and, as Sony said Wednesday, some components are still in short supply.

Using Blu-ray Disc already tripped up Sony once. Until March this year the company had been promising the PlayStation 3 in the "spring" of 2006 but as it became evident that a launch wasn't to take place the company revised the launch date to November. A key factor was the incomplete Blu-ray Disc format because consumer-electronics makers failed to agree on the disc's copy protection.

It's not the first time Sony has misstepped on a console's launch.

The company planned to have 1 million consoles in U.S. stores in November 2000 when it launched the PlayStation 2 but component shortages hit those plans and Sony ended up shipping 500,000 units.

[Rasputin]

The Print Shop: New Multifunction Printers

recently met with several printer vendors to preview their fall product lineups. In this column, I'll run through what's new on the multifunction-printer front from Hewlett-Packard and Canon, particularly their photo-oriented models. A future column will look at several other vendors and products, including a pretty interesting new high-end photo printer.

Canon Revamps Its User Interface
It was only late last month (on 8/24/06) that Canon officially announced its new midrange, $150 Pixma MP510, and two pricier models--the $200 Pixma MP600and the $300 Pixma MP810 printers. The two latter devices feature the company's interesting new iPod-like Easy-Scroll Wheel interface that makes moving around menus and adjusting settings very easy.

To make photo touch-ups and printing possible without a PC, each of these five-ink printers boasts media card slots, a direct-print port (to attach a digital camera), and a highly viewable color display: 3 inches in size diagonally for the MP810, 2.5 inches for the MP600, and 1.9 inches for the MP510.

The Pixma MP810 can also scan 35mm negatives and mounted slides with up to 4800-by-4800-resolution color dpi results.

Canon also announced several inexpensive photo all-in-ones this summer, including the $90 Pixma MP160, the $100 Pixma MP180, and the $130 Pixma MP460. At the same time, the company also introduced its new $200 Pixma MP530 office multifunction printer, which features printing, copying, scanning, and faxing capabilities.

The Biggest Multifunction Range in HP's History
Hewlett-Packard offers three different sub-brands for its inkjet printers, including all-in-one products. The company's Deskjet series is its entry-level consumer line that focuses on reliability; its Officejet models are geared toward home offices and businesses; and the Photosmart-branded printers are the company's premier products targeting photo enthusiasts and home users.

Now HP has launched a slew of new models to create the biggest multifunction lineup in its history. The majority of these are Photosmart units that feature media card readers. The entry-level Photosmart C3180 is a basic $100 offering; the $150 C4180 provides a 2.5-inch display and a 4-by-6-inch photo tray; and the $200 C5180 boasts a 2.4-inch LCD screen and built-in ethernet networking.

A little higher up the scale, the $300 Photosmart C6180 has a 2.5-inch color LCD, built-in Wi-Fi and ethernet networking, and office-style features such as integrated faxing and an automatic document feeder (ADF).

The closely related C7180 costs $400 and also offers a 2.5-inch display and built-in ethernet, Wi-Fi, and faxing capabilities, but it doesn't include an ADF. Instead, it has built-in Bluetooth and can scan negatives and slides.

For the home office or a small business, HP's $100 Officejet 4315 All-in-One (AiO) provides built-in ethernet, color faxing, a letter-paper-size flatbed scanner, and a 35-page-capacity ADF. The $280 Officejet 6310 AiO has many of the same features but incorporates a much faster printing engine.

Finally, HP also has an $80 Deskjet F380 AiO for the budget-minded back-to-school crowd. It may lack an LCD screen and media card slots, but it can print, scan, and copy, and it can automatically remove red-eye problems in its 4-by-6 photo prints.

Wish List
So there you have it. Lots to see, including a nifty new type of interface from Canon. I had only a brief chance to test this Easy-Scroll Wheel feature but found it simple to use.

I would still like to see photo-oriented multifunction devices come with touch-capable LCD screens, though. And while the printing speeds of multifunction printers seem to have bumped up a little, and features like color LCD screens are appearing on the cheaper models, I would also like to see vendors take more risks in innovating on the shape and look of these units.

[Rasputin]

Sony Upgrades LocationFree Platform

TOKYO -- Sony is upgrading its LocationFree platform with more efficient video compression and a receiver add-on for televisions.

The upgrade comes a year after Sony last introduced a new base station and should mean better video images for users, the company said Wednesday.

The LocationFree platform allows streaming of a live video and audio signal from a base station to client devices such as computers and the PlayStation Portable games device. Streaming to local devices can be done via wireless LAN while a connection to the Internet allows video and audio to be streamed to remote clients anywhere in the world as long as they are connected to the Internet via broadband. The system is promoted as a way to watch local TV or other content from home when traveling.

More Efficient System, Company Says
With the launch of the new base station, the LF-PK20, Sony will begin the MPEG4 AVC compression system. This is more efficient than the MPEG2 and MPEG4 systems used in the current devices and should mean that a better quality image can be transmitted across slower Internet connections.

Sony said the new system will work on connections as slow as around 200k bps (bits per second), which is half that of the previous version.

The images transmitted will still be in standard definition. A high-definition version of the LocationFree platform remains some way off, in part because of the high cost. An HDTV signal requires a lot of bandwidth and so a fast network connection would also be required, or significant processing power to transcode the signal in real time to a lower-bandwidth stream.

New Receiver
Sony is also adding a new receiver device, the LF-BOX1. Named the "LocationFree TV Box," the device connects directly to a television to allow for viewing of streamed video on a TV.

A new software player for Windows PCs with support for MPEG4 AVC will go on sale in October. Users wishing to watch on the PSP or an Apple Mac computer will have to wait until suitable software updates become available, Sony said.

The LF-PK20 base station will go on sale in Japan on Oct. 20 and will cost around $282 and the LF-BOX1 will be available from Oct. 27 for around $198. The base station will also go on sale in the U.S. as the LF-B20. It will cost $250 and the LF-BOX1 will cost $230.

[Rasputin]

Google Offers Access to News Archives

Google plans to enhance its Google News service with a feature designed to let users find articles with historical information on events and people.

Google News Archive Search is slated to go live today with an index of links to articles mostly from newspapers and magazines.

Google built the service's index with links already in its general Web search index, as well as with links it gained access to through arrangements with publishers and news aggregators, said Jim Gerber, Google's content partnerships director.

The service ranks results based on their level of relevance to the query, and preference isn't given to links from Google partners, which include The New York Times, Factiva, Time Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.

The service covers roughly the history of the past 200 years and results can be grouped in various ways, including by timelines, topics, and publishers.

News Archives Only
Google News Archive Search doesn't return links to multimedia content, nor does it include links to reference material like books and encyclopedias, said Anurag Acharya, a distinguished engineer at Google. It's not linked with Google's Book Search service.

The links lead both to free and fee-based articles. Google merely provides links and doesn't get involved in monetary transactions between users and publishers for access to the articles. There is no integration with Google's Checkout online payment system, he said.

The new service has no monetization model, and there is no financial arrangement between Google and the publishers it is partnering with, Acharya said.

Google News Archive Search is launching with a U.S. English-language interface, although it contains content in other languages. The plan is to make it more global through collaboration with international partners and to launch it for other countries.

Google News Archive Search links will surface sometimes on Google.com results.

[Rasputin]

Apple: New Core 2 Duo iMacs, Mystery

Sorry for the nightmarish mixed metaphor, but Apple plays its cards so close to the vest that you've got to be really good at reading the tea leaves to figure out its chess moves. Last week, there were rumors of an Apple press event on September 12th. Sites like ThinkSecret said it would involve new iMacs. Yesterday, the September 12th event was confirmed as happening. And today...Apple announced new iMacs.

The new machines sound neat--fast Intel Core 2 Duo chips are standard across the line, and the 17-inch model now starts at $999, bringing the starting price at retail for an iMac under a grand for the first time in awhile. And there's a new $1999 top-of-the-line version with a brighter 24-inch screen (on paper, at least, that sounds pretty spectacular--I'll have to check it out).


With the revised iMac lineup already here--these machines begin shipping today--the question of just what Apple is going to announce next week gets even more mysterious. Considering that the event invite sports the entertainment-themed prhase "It's Showtime," but the big news on consumer desktops seems to have happened this week, it doesn't seem like a wild guess to predict that Apple has something else significant up its sleeve, and that that something (or somethings) is most likely iPod-centric.

Scuttlebutt so far doesn't seem to involve a "real" video iPod with a larger screen; such a device is supposedly on its way, but maybe not until 2007. Apple could still surprise us and release a true 6G iPod tomorrow, but if it doesn't, it seems likely that any upgrade to the full-size iPod will be a very incremental one (think larger hard drives). That still leaves the iPod Nano; there are rumors of higher-capacity models with metal cases. It wouldn't be startling if they featured some sort of video-playing capability, although even a Nano with more memory wouldn't have enough to be a very serious video handheld.

There's also plenty of speculation that the September 12th announcements will include news about movie downloads from the iTunes Music Store. Could be, but you'd think that when that big annoucement happens, Apple will want to couple it with significant news about video-related hardware. Maybe that means we'll see some sort of AirPort Express-like wireless media streamer that can do movies.

That leaves the usual laundry list of Apple Products That People Would Like to See that could get announced on the 12th, including the iPhone, but that too seems more likely to show up next year. You can probably cross one potential product off the list, though--today also brought news that Apple is giving the Mac Mini a speed bump and making Core Duo chips standard across that line, so it seems unlikely that we'll see new Media Center-like Minis next week.

Okay, I'm done guessing for now. I'll be at the September 12th event and will report back here, whether the morning is relatively uneventful or involves bombshells that nobody's predicting yet. (Right now, either scenario seems equallly plausible...)

[Rasputin]

European Union Criticized for Action Against Microsoft

LONDON -- Four European Parliament members warned the European Commission that its actions toward Microsoft could endanger the competitiveness of European businesses by delaying the release of Vista, Microsoft's next operating system.

In a strongly worded letter submitted today to Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, the legislators said Microsoft regards the EU's regulatory actions as a "risk factor." Microsoft also used the terminology in its annual report filed August 25 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"This effectively means that the Commission's actions are endangering the ability of European business to compete globally," the legislators wrote.

The letter is signed by UK representatives Chris Heaton-Harris, Sharon Bowles, and Peter Skinner, plus Michal Kaminski of Poland.

Microsoft Has Same Concerns
Microsoft wrote in the SEC filing that its ongoing appeal of the European Commission's March 2004 antitrust decision means there's uncertainty over the legal principles regarding product design in the European market.

"These uncertainties could ... delay release dates for Windows or other products," the SEC filing read.

Microsoft has provided copies of Vista to the Commission along with technical information, said spokesperson Tom Brookes. The Commission, he said, has raised concerns regarding complaints from competitors.

In March, the Commission sent a letter to Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer, saying it was concerned about certain functions in Vista and how compatible the OS would be with products from other software companies.

Commission Doesn't Agree
Commission spokesperson Jonathan Todd said today that it's misleading to say the Commission is delaying Vista's European launch.

Todd disputed Microsoft's characterization of "uncertainty" in EU competition rules, saying the Commission has given guidance to the company many times regarding its antitrust decision. The Commission doesn't have to give Microsoft a "green light" before the company puts Vista on the market, he said.

The Commission sent Microsoft another detailed list of concerns in July, which the company replied to last week, Todd said. "It is up to Microsoft to accept and implement its responsibilities as a near monopolist to ensure full compliance," he said.

Business Worries
The Commission's actions have prompted concern among small to medium-size businesses in Europe worried that the EU could potentially delay Vista's release, putting them at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world, Bowles said.

"That climate of uncertainty caused through competition policy and actions already taken ... are meaning that Europe is being deprived," Bowles said.

Europe is in the middle of a ten-year plan, called the Lisbon Agenda, to increase the continent's competitiveness in technology. The legislators wrote that they are concerned the Commission's actions toward Microsoft are undermining Europe's moves to become a knowledge-driven economy.

[Rasputin]

Feds Shut Down Spyware Operation

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An operation that allegedly installed illegal spyware on computers will give more than $2 million to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission complaint.

The FTC has obtained a settlement order against Enternet Media, Conspy & Co, Lida Rohbani, Nima Hakimi, and Baback Hakimi, all based in California, the agency announced. The defendants distributed software called Search Miracle, Miracle Search, EM Toolbar, EliteBar, and Elite Toolbar, the FTC said.

In an order issued by Judge Christine Snyder of the U.S. District Court for Central California, the defendants are prohibited from interfering with computer use, such as distributing software code that tracks Internet activity, changes browser settings, and inserts new advertising toolbars onto browsers.

The defendants also are permanently prohibited from making misleading representations regarding the performance, features, and cost of any software, including misrepresenting the code as an Internet browser upgrade, other computer security software, music, a song, lyrics, or a cell phone ring tone.

False Offers Popped Up
The Web sites of the defendants and their affiliates caused installation boxes to pop up on consumers' computer screens, the FTC said in its complaint. In one variation of the scheme, the boxes offered a variety of freeware, including music files, cell phone ring tones, photographs, wallpaper, and song lyrics. In another, the boxes warned that consumers' Internet browsers were defective, and offered free browser upgrades or security patches.

Users who downloaded the supposed freeware or security upgrades did not receive what they were promised. Instead, their computers were infected with spyware that interfered with their systems and was difficult to uninstall, the FTC said.

The defendants' software tracked Internet activity, changed home-page settings, and inserted a large frame into browser windows that displayed advertisements, the FTC said. (View a PDF of the original complaint.)

Operations Frozen
At the FTC's request, the court froze the operation's assets last fall and ordered it shut down. The settlement requires the defendants to give up a little over $2 million of their spyware-related profits and includes a suspended judgment of $8.5 million.

The FTC brought the case with assistance from Microsoft, Webroot Software, and Google, the agency said.

[Rasputin]

Nasty Bug Found in 'Classic' ICQ Client

SAN FRANCISCO -- AOL is advising users of its ICQ instant messaging service to update to the latest version of the ICQ software following the discovery of a bug in an older version of the product.

Security researchers at Core Security Technologies today reported that they had discovered the flaw in ICQ Pro 2003b, a version of the ICQ client that AOL still offers for download and bills as a "veteran version" for users who prefer the earlier look and feel.

Although the bug doesn't affect more recent ICQ software like ICQ 5.1, it could mean serious problems for ICQ Pro 2003b users, according to Max Caceres, director of product management at Core, a vendor of penetration testing software.

Core researchers have developed proof-of-concept code that causes ICQ Pro 2003b to crash, and they believe that this vulnerability could eventually be exploited to run unauthorized software on a user's PC.

How It Might Work
Hackers would attack a PC by sending a maliciously encoded instant message to any ICQ Pro 2003b user connected to the service. Victims "don't have to do anything at all," Caceres says. "Just by being there, someone can send them a message, and they can be compromised."

Core has also discovered less-critical issues in AOL's ICQ Toolbar 1.3 for Internet Explorer. These flaws could allow attackers to change the toolbar's configuration settings or possibly even run scripting code by sending victims maliciously encoded RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds.

AOL says it is working to fix the bugs, but the company classifies them as "minor and low-risk," according to spokesperson Andrew Weinstein. "Any users who are concerned can simply upgrade to the latest version of ICQ or not load suspicious RSS feeds," he said via instant message.

[Rasputin]

AMD Gains Antitrust Approval to Buy ATI

Advanced Micro Devices said yesterday it has gained approval from key U.S., Canadian, and German antitrust regulators for its $5.4 billion plan to buy Canadian chip set developer ATI Technologies.

Antitrust approval for the deal, which has been billed as a major step forward for AMD in its battle against rival Intel, pushes the acquisition far closer to completion. But it still faces several smaller hurdles, including a vote of approval by ATI shareholders on October 13, and further scrutiny by regulators in Canada and Taiwan.

The companies expect the acquisition to close by November 30 of this year. ATI has to pay AMD a termination fee of $162 million if it backs out of the arrangement.

AMD said a required waiting period related to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 has expired, opening the door for its purchase of ATI as far as U.S. antitrust authorities are concerned. Canada's Commissioner of Competition has also given the deal a green light, as has the German Federal Cartel Office.

Fighting for Market Share
The world's second largest microprocessor maker hopes the ATI purchase will beef up its graphics and chip set prowess, and give it a new weapon in its fight for market share against Intel.

Until now, AMD has relied on third-party chip set makers such as ATI, Nvidia of the U.S., as well as two Taiwanese chip set vendors, Via Technologies, and Silicon Integrated Systems, for the majority of its chip sets.

Chip sets are a vital pair of chips inside a PC that regulate the flow of data between the microprocessor and other system chips, such as memory and graphics. Many chip sets integrate graphics, allowing PC makers to forego adding graphics cards to systems. Some analysts believe that in the future, chip sets will take on far more work than just graphics, one day including even the microprocessor.

[abadani69]

آمارهاي وزارت مديريت امور عمومي ژاپن نشانميدهد كه ۹۴درصد خانوادههاي ژاپني به سيستم خطوط پرشتاب "برود بند" براي پيوند به شبكه اينترنتدسترسي دارند.

بر پايه گزارش تلويزيون سراسري ژاپن (ان.اچ.كي) در روز جمعه، اين موضوع بيانگر آن است كه بيشاز ۴۷ميليون از خانوادههاي ژاپني ميتوانند از سيستم پرشتاب اينترنتي بهره ببرند.

دولت ژاپن در راستاي برنامه گسترش سراسري سيستم پرشتاب پيوند به شبكه اينترنت در كشور قصد دارد تا حدود سهسالونيم ديگر زمينه دسترسي تمامي خانوارهاي ژاپني در سراسر كشور را به سيستم خطوط پرشتاب پيوند به شبكه اينترنت فراهم كند.

در راستاي عملي كردن اين برنامه، دولتهاي محلي و بخش خصوصي ژاپن به بنياد انجمني با عنوان "انجمن زيرساختي ارتباطات اطلاعات" اقدام كردهاند.

وظيفه اين انجمن، ارائه توصيههاي لازم به دولتهاي محلي ژاپن براي تقويت زيرساختهاي اينترنتي و تبادل اطلاعات درباره اين موضوع ميان دولتهاي محلي در كشور است.

خطوط "دي .اس.ال" و فيبرنوري ازجمله خطوط پرشتاب براي پيوند به شبكه اينترنت هستند.

دادن خدمات بشكل آسان و با نرخي ارزان سبب بالا رفتن تمايل مردم ژاپن به استفاده از خطوط پرشتاب براي پيوند به شبكه اينترنت شده است.

هم اكنون هزينه اشتراك خطوط پرشتاب اينترنتي در ژاپن كه معمولا در سه ماه نخست رايگان ارايه ميشود، حدود ۳۵۰۰ين (معادل حدود ۳۳دلار) در ماه است.

اين رقم معادل دستمزد سه ساعت كار يك كارگر فاقد تخصص در اين كشور است.