Pc News

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Amazon Sues IBM for Patent Infringement

In a strongly worded rebuttal, Amazon.com on Thursday countersued IBM. The companies have charged each other with patent infringement.

The countersuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, denies that Amazon.com infringes IBM patents, seeks to invalidate some IBM patents and charges IBM with infringing on some Amazon.com patents.

Illegal Use of Amazon Tech
IBM illegally uses Amazon.com technology in WebSphere, a widely deployed application server, as well as in IBM information management services and products, Amazon.com claims. IBM and its customers thus infringe on Amazon.com patents, the Web retailer said.

The Amazon.com patents enable a Web site to recommend products to customers based on their browsing and buying histories.

Amazon.com made the claims in response to a patent infringement suit that IBM filed in October.

IBM Invented The Internet
In addition to the counterclaims, Amazon.com argues that some of the patents that IBM charges it with infringing are unenforceable. "IBM's broad allegations of infringement amount to a claim that IBM invented the Internet," the suit reads. "If IBM's claims are believed, then not only must Amazon.com pay IBM, but everyone conducting electronic commerce over the World Wide Web (indeed, every Website and potentially everyone who uses a Web browser to surf the Web) must pay IBM a toll for the right to do so." The suit calls that idea "nonsense."

Amazon.com also refutes IBM's accusations that it dragged its feet replying to IBM's initial attempts to negotiate over use of the patents. In reality, Amazon.com has already proved that some of IBM's claims are without merit, it says. After IBM first approached Amazon.com in 2002, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) found that IBM was concealing prior art, which can invalidate a patent. The USPTO then told IBM that the patents were not infringed, were not valid and did not require a license, Amazon.com said.

Seven Year Wait
Amazon.com also pointed out that IBM waited until 2002, seven years after Amazon.com started up and just as Amazon.com became profitable, to ask for payment for using the patented technology. This shows that "IBM simply wants to siphon off the profits that Amazon.com has only recently earned through the professional risks and human efforts, ingenuity, and investment expended by Amazon.com as it charted a new path in the Internet age," the lawsuit reads.

Amazon.com asks the court for compensation for IBM's infringement as well as damages and legal costs.

At the time of IBM's initial filing in October, patent experts observed that such infringement suits are risky because of the potential for judges to rule that a patent is invalid. They also said that the delay in making initial contact -- seven years after Amazon.com launched -- could work against IBM.

[Rasputin]

China Readies DVD Rival Format Push

Electronics manufacturers in China may be gearing up for another attempt to establish a proprietary optical disc format, although some analysts said such a move is unlikely to succeed.

The DVD player makers plan to switch to EVD (enhanced versatile disc) in an attempt to avoid paying patent royalties on the DVD format, according to published reports. The world's largest producers of DVD players, Chinese electronics companies would use the format instead of standards such as MPEG-4.

Uphill Battle
Last week, 20 top manufacturers including Haier announced their plans to switch from DVD to EVD entirely by 2008, according to a report in China Economic News.

Getting foreign entertainment companies to adopt the new standard would be an uphill battle, however. China has attempted to introduce its own standards before, including S-VCD (Super Video Compact Disc) in the mid-1990s, and its own advanced telecommunications standard, TD-SCDMA. Both faced foreign resistance and a lack of broad support even within China.

Consumer Acceptance Difficult
The move is most likely an attempt at reducing the royalties, according to industry observers. Chinese DVD manufacturers first made a push with EVD in 2003, but months later no players had appeared on the market in China or abroad. Consumer acceptance of an entirely new format will be difficult in both China and overseas.

"Unless Chinese DVD manufacturers are prepared to sacrifice the global market and the Chinese market to manufacturers in India and elsewhere, they cannot afford to make a wholesale shift to EVD production at this time," David Wolf, chief executive officer, Wolf Group Asia. "For that reason, it's unlikely to take place."

Kristian Kender, editor of China Media Monitor, a Beijing-based industry publication, said: "It'll be pretty hard on a global scale, because the DVD format is so entrenched. On the other hand, they can make a good argument that it makes it much harder to pirate material."

"It will be difficult for them to get international firms to come on board, but the Chinese DVD market is so huge on its own that even if this standard is not adopted outside of China, the home market is enough to support the rollout."

[Rasputin]

Swing Your Wii Controller Wildly Without Worry

In an effort to duck criticism that its remote controllers can fly across the room when wrist straps break, Nintendo now offers free replacements for that part of its new Wii video gaming console.

Carefully avoiding the term "recall," Nintendo made the move before any regulatory agency could step in. The replacement could affect up to 3.2 million straps, according to the Associated Press. Nintendo did not return calls for comment.

Shortly after Wii consoles began selling on November 20, North American customers started to report failures of the strap that holds Nintendo's wireless gaming controls to players' wrists. Video of the straps breaking appeared on many video sites, including YouTube and WiiHaveAProblem.

More Physical Use of Controller
A key difference between Wii and its rivals, the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, is the physical motion that is involved: Players can use Nintendo's wireless remote to, for instance, virtually roll bowling balls or swat tennis balls.

"We have received some reports that when consumers swing the Wii Remote with the original version of the wrist-strap using excessive force and accidentally let go, the cord connecting the controller to the wrist strap can break, potentially causing the Wii Remote to strike bystanders or objects," Nintendo said in a statement on its Web site.

"For example, in Wii Sports bowling, the proper way to let go of the ball while bowling is to release the "B" button on the Wii Remote--DO NOT LET GO OF THE Wii REMOTE ITSELF. If you are having so much fun that you start perspiring, take a moment to dry your hands."

Nintendo's offer does not affect all of its Wii consoles, as the company had already begun shipping them with an improved strap by early December, the company said. Nintendo posted a photo showing the difference between the two versions.

Nintendo plans to begin shipping the replacement straps by December 21, and expects customers to receive them within five to nine days, the company said. Customer who have an original version of the part can request a free replacement through Nintendo.

The company added this new warning to a list of possible dangers for Wii users. Since the Wii has added a physical dimension to virtual games, many of the precautions could relate to any real-world sport or play. For instance, Nintendo warns Wii users to clear rooms of furniture before swinging the controller, and to beware of repetitive motion injuries and of console and TV screen damage.

[Rasputin]

Bribery Investigation Sets Back Nokia-Siemens Deal

The planned merger of network infrastructure units at Nokia and Siemens won't close by the end of this year as expected because the companies will execute a compliance review of Siemens, spurred by the corruption investigation currently shaking the German technology company.

Authorities across Europe have been investigating bribery charges at Siemens. Earlier this week, the former head of Siemens' telecommunications equipment group, the one to be merged with Nokia's networks unit, was arrested as part of the investigation.

Deal Depends On Compliance Review
The companies announced plans in June to merge the groups, creating a company called Nokia Siemens Networks that would have had combined revenues in 2005 of $20.9 billion.

They said at the time that the deal would close by the end of the year and that the new company would begin operations in January. They now say they expect to close the deal and begin operations in the first quarter of 2007, meaning possibly as late as March.

Closing the deal depends in part on the result of a compliance review of the Siemens unit, which Siemens plans to conduct in the first quarter. The review will also produce a compliance program that the new company will implement.

Antitrust authorities in the U.S. and the European Union have already approved the merger, and the companies have announced many of the executives who will lead Nokia Siemens Networks. As recently as mid-November the companies were saying they expected to begin their combined operations in January.

[Rasputin]

Need to Search Patents? Try Google

If you've ever dreamed up an ingenious new invention and then wondered if someone else has already made it, Google's new patent search offering is for you.

The new site lets anyone search for U.S. patents by keyword, patent number, inventor, and filing date. Users can view a scanned image of the original patent and zoom in on pages.

The main search page displays five different random patents each time the page is visited. Recent inventions that popped up include a toy skunk, a pocket protector, a toupee, and a doll having delayed wetting and crying action.

An Inventor's Take on the Site
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office already allows anyone to search its site for patent documents. But Google's offering may have some advantages.

"The existing Web sites have patents that you can view so it's not that the information isn't there. The problem is finding it and that's where Google's expertise comes in," said Mike Overy, secretary for the Wessex Round Table of Inventors, an inventors club in England. Overy formerly developed products for Nokia and is now a freelance inventor.

Google said that like its Web search technology, the patent search site uses a number of different signals to evaluate how relevant each patent is to a user's query and then determines results algorithmically.

The USPTO is not the only patent office to offer an online patent search facility. The European Patent Office also hosts such a service, covering patents from European countries, the U.S., Canada, and other patent authorities. Overy finds that database good but not very user friendly, he said.

Discovering existing patents is critical for inventors, whose ability to make money on an invention could be severely reduced by an existing patent, Overy said.

While Google's new offering may ease what is often an incredibly tedious job, it may not be able to fully solve the problem, he said. One issue inherent in new inventions is naming them. "If you've invented what you think is the first gizmo whatsit and you type that into a search engine, you won't find much because the other person who invented it called it something different," he said.

Database to Grow
Google's patent search covers 7 million patents. The database doesn't include patents issued in the last few months, but Google "looks forward to expanding our coverage in the future," according to the frequently asked questions section of its site.

Although Google's database only lists U.S. patents for now, the company said it hopes to expand the patent offices it includes and languages it supports.

Presumably the site will one day allow users to save and print patents too: A note at the bottom of a posting about the new service on the Google blog says that a reference to saving and printing has been removed since Google is still working on the capabilities.

[Rasputin]

Vista Could Sap Notebook PC Battery Life

Notebook PC users who upgrade to Microsoft's Windows Vista may have to disable some of the new operating system's flashy graphics features to avoid seeing a decrease in battery life compared to when running Windows XP.

The drop will come from the extra power needed to run the high-end processors, graphics cards, and memory capacity required to support Vista. Microsoft has designed the new OS to deliver novel visual effects such as the translucent "Aero" windows on the desktop interface and to offer improved performance as a digital media hub. The business version of the OS was released last month, with the consumer version due out next month.

More Power at a Price
PC and hardware vendors see Windows Vista as a windfall because it requires faster, more powerful computers. But the extra power comes at a price.

"Vista demands more computer resources for a given application than XP does. So you need a heavier battery, or you will have shorter battery life because of the greater demand for watts," said Phil Hester, chief technology officer of Advanced Micro Devices, in remarks made at the company's annual analyst day in New York last week.

Dell also said that Vista's appetite for computing resources will increase its draw on battery power.

"If Vista is run in full Aero mode, with none of the Vista-provided power management settings turned on, it is likely to demand more power, and have an impact on battery life," said Dell spokesman Ira Williams, in an e-mail interview. "That said, if you run Vista in battery-optimized mode (using a non-3D interface), we would not expect the battery life to be significantly different from XP in that scenario."

More Power at a Price
A Microsoft spokesperson confirms that Vista will allow users to disable or tune down graphics as part of a power-management package meant to keep Vista battery life on a par with Windows XP's. But she said the graphics have a smaller effect on battery life than other hardware in the PC.

"Although it is true that the Windows Vista Aero theme and components can use more resources than previous versions of Windows, the relative impact to battery life is minimal," says Microsoft spokesperson Kristin Farmer.

"Microsoft is working with device manufacturers to ensure their device drivers are optimally tuned for performance and power savings. We recognize that battery life isn't just a Microsoft issue and involves our partner's decisions as well," says Farmer.

Tweak Software Controls to Save Battery
Microsoft has designed Vista to allow notebook PC users to save battery power by turning down the screen brightness, volume, wireless networking, and other attributes, according to the company's Web site. Vista also has a power-conservation mode called sleep, similar to the "standby" and "hibernate" modes in previous versions of Windows. (Read PC World's story on testing Vista installations on three systems, including one laptop.)

A spokesperson for Gateway agreed that Microsoft's power-conservation steps can make a difference in compensating for the extra hardware.

"We've done extensive testing, and we haven't seen [shortened battery life]," says Gateway spokesperson Kelly Odle. "While it is true that Vista has higher system requirements than XP, it also has more sophisticated mechanisms to allow for power savings."

Still, users who need to preserve battery life will face a trade-off in giving up some of the most impressive new features, says Richard Shim, an analyst with IDC.

"It's a common criticism that any new Windows OS will have a toll on battery life," Shim said. "If you look back at XP and Windows 98, it took a while for folks to learn how to optimize the hardware. And as the PC market continues to rely on notebooks to drive shipment growth, this will be a big thing."

How to Manage Your Laptop
Notebook PC users can manage power by reducing the time it takes their processors and hard drives to switch into hibernation mode, by turning off their sound and Wi-Fi, by avoiding running ten applications at once, and by turning down the brightness of their screens--the one component that consumes more battery power than any other computer part, Shim says.

Some hardware makers are also helping out, as they are striving to squeeze an extra 2 to 5 percent of efficiency out of the chip set, graphics component, and BIOS, Shim says. However, they face a limited power budget, since battery technology has not improved significantly in recent years, and PC vendors are unlikely to specify a larger cell, since that would add to the PC's size, weight, and cost.

"That can add up to savings, but it's not enough to overcome the fact that Vista is not battery-friendly," Shim says.

[Rasputin]

Google to Put NASA Data on the Web

Google and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have signed a formal collaboration agreement that calls for Google to help make NASA information readily accessible on the Web.

Google and NASA today announced the signing of the Space Act Agreement, which calls for them to collaborate on making it easy for people to find weather visualization and forecasting data, see high-resolution 3-D maps of the moon and Mars and track, in real time, the International Space Station and the space shuttle.

In short, the partnership seeks to make NASA's work "accessible to everyone," Google and NASA said in a statement. Although NASA has collected massive amounts of information about Earth and the universe, this information is scattered and hard to find and is difficult for the average person to understand, they said.

Google Earth Is One Application
Early fruits of joint Google-NASA work are already evident in the Google Earth mapping application, which now can tap into images and data from NASA, officials from the two organizations said Monday during a press conference.

Those images and data in Google Earth come from the Global Connection Project, a joint effort from Carnegie Mellon University, NASA, Google, and National Geographic. This project has contributed material for Google Earth that includes disaster relief information and National Geographic content.

The Global Connection Project is a good example of the type of material Google and NASA will try to make easily available on the Web, said Pete Worden, director of the Ames Research Center, the NASA group in charge of coordinating the joint work with Google. "This is going to bring the excitement of space travel to everyone in a way that we haven't been able to do in the past," Worden said.

Project Picks Up Steam Next Year
The public will see a steady stream of results from the Google and NASA partnership starting next year. "We're quite excited about this moving along very rapidly," Worden said. The images and information will surface throughout NASA and Google Web sites and products.

"This is a very flexible agreement that allows NASA to work with the private sector and ... make the data that NASA has collected and will collect in the future much more accessible to the public, not only in the U.S. but around the world as well," he said.

Unlocking the access to NASA images and information and making them broadly available is consistent with its mission as a public entity, he said. Currently, many images and information remain stored in NASA databases.

Chris Kemp, Ames' director of business development, said NASA's intention is not to hand over data to Google, but rather put in place the technology mechanisms that will make that data accessible to Google and others. "We're going to be publishing this data where we can, using open XML standards. This is a new way of doing business for NASA," Kemp said.

The two organizations will also tackle what they consider to be challenging technical problems in areas like large-scale data management, massively distributed computing and user interfaces.

Earlier Agreements
In September of last year, Google and NASA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on solving technical problems. That MOU also called for Google to develop up to 1 million square feet within the NASA Research Park at Moffett Field.

The building of that Google campus is still "in very preliminary planning stages" and there is no specific date for beginning construction, Google officials said during Monday's press conference.

NASA and Google also are finalizing details for additional collaborations in areas like research, products, facilities, and education.

[Rasputin]

The iPhone Is Launched ... By Linksys, Not Apple

Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, introduced two VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) handsets adding to five others the company already offers. The group of phones is now part of a Linksys family of products called iPhone.

The Linksys iPhones aren't quite what some people may have been expecting. Apple is rumored to be working on a combined cell phone and digital music player and the mythical device has been dubbed the iPhone, after the popular iPod digital music player, by Apple enthusiasts.

Skype Preloaded
Linksys' newest iPhones include the CIT400, a cordless phone with a base station that attaches directly via Ethernet to a network and comes preloaded with VOIP software from eBay's Skype Internet telephony service. The phone allows users to make and receive Skype calls without having to turn on and use their computers.

The WIP320 also comes loaded with Skype software and is compatible with Wi-Fi so that users can make and receive calls on the phone from anywhere they can connect to a wireless access point.

Users can check their Skype contact list on the phones to see if someone they want to call is available. The devices support SkypeOut and SkypeIn, the services that allow users to make and receive calls with landline phones for a fee.

Apple Out of Luck
The WIP320 costs $199.99 and the CIT400 retails for $179.99. Both are available in North America and are expected to become available in Europe, Asia and Latin America during the first quarter next year.

If Apple is indeed developing a combined mobile phone and music player, fans will have to adjust their expectations that the device will likely not be called an iPhone. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Cisco holds the registration for the "iPhone" trademark.

[Rasputin]

Panasonic Develops Battery That Won't Overheat

Panasonic said it has developed a lithium-ion battery that won't overheat even if a short circuit occurs.

The new battery includes a heat-resistive insulator inside the battery cell, next to an existing separator that insulates the anode and cathode. If that separator is punctured a short circuit occurs that typically causes the battery to overheat and in some circumstances catch fire. Panasonic said its insulation layer ensures that the battery won't overheat even in the event of a short circuit.

Panasonic's announcement responds to consumers' concern about the safety of lithium-ion batteries following a number of incidents involving them.

Recalls Over Fire
Earlier this year most major laptop computer makers started recall or exchange programs for batteries containing lithium-ion cells made by Sony after a number of batteries overheated and caught fire. Sony blamed the problem on metallic particles that got inside the battery during production, puncturing the separator layer and causing a short circuit. The replacement program covers 9.6 million batteries and will cost Sony up to $432 million.

Then on Dec. 7, Japanese mobile-carrier NTT DoCoMo and handset-maker Mitsubishi Electric recalled 1.3 million cell-phone batteries made by Sanyo Electric, saying they could overheat and catch fire.

Panasonic's new batteries are made by another company in the Matsushita group, Matsushita Battery Industrial, and are ready for mass production, said A***a Kadota, a spokesman for Panasonic in Tokyo. The batteries aren't available directly to end users but are sold in bulk to electronics product manufacturers, so Panasonic wouldn't reveal their price. Kadota said they could be more expensive than current cells but could also work out cheaper if large orders are placed.

Matsushita Battery Industrial is one of the largest battery makers in Japan.

[Rasputin]

FCC Proposes Public Safety Wireless Band

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission wants to set aside radio frequencies for a nationwide public safety network to be built in partnership with a private company.

The commission today proposed a national radio system for various public safety agencies that would be based on advanced IP (Internet Protocol) broadband technologies. Its idea is to use spectrum already set aside for public safety and set up a public-private partnership to implement the network.

Communication problems following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita focused attention on the patchwork of radio systems used by different public-safety agencies in the U.S. Not being able to communicate can hamper critical coordination among federal and local emergency responders.

New Technology
Vendors including Cisco Systems and Motorola have developed IP-based wireless systems designed for interoperability among many different devices. The FCC wants to take advantage of this new type of technology, it said in a statement. By looking into a public-private deal, it can tap into new resources to get the network built. The spectrum would be assigned to one national licensee that could offer public-safety agencies voluntary access to a broadband service for a fee.

The common network would use half of a chunk of radio spectrum 24MHz wide that is already allocated to public safety. It is in the 700MHz band, a highly prized set of frequencies that is good for communicating over long distances and penetrating walls.

All five commissioners of the frequently divided commission voiced support for the plan in statements released today. By issuing its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the agency started a process of seeking outside views on the idea.

"Our proposal today talks in very broad strokes and looks to commenters to fill in many important details and specifics," wrote Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.

[Rasputin]

Tokyo Edge: HD Camcorders, Superthin LCDs

TOKYO -- Nothing's worse than delays when you're waiting for a hot new gadget. Just ask the tens of thousands of people who queued up all night for the PlayStation 3 when it made its global debut here on November 11. The console had originally been due out in the early part of the year but was held up by several problems. Judging by the lack of stock in stores, it's still difficult for people who want it to get hold of one before the end of the year.

So it's nice to see Panasonic living up to the promise it made at this fall's CEATEC electronics show with the HDC-SD1 camcorder. This small, high-definition video camera records straight to an SD (Secure Digital) card. If you hate dealing with tapes but want home movies in high-def glory, this might be just the thing--if you can afford it. By comparison, you could pick up three PlayStation 3 consoles for the price of this $1500 camcorder, assuming you could get your hands on them! What would you get for that $1500? See below.

Panasonic HD Camcorder
As noted above, the HDC-SD1 from Panasonic records AVCHD-format video directly to an SD memory card. A 4GB memory card, which costs around $200, can accommodate about 90 minutes of video when recorded at 6 megabits per second. The 1080i video (1080 horizontal lines, interlaced scanning) is just below the 1080p (progressive scanning) system judged to be the highest of several video quality levels that fall within the high-definition bracket. It also has a 3-CCD sensor behind the lens. The camcorder goes on sale in Japan in December for $1527 with a bundled 4GB card. Overseas launch plans have not been announced.

Kenwood Media Keg
Kenwood's Media Keg provides yet more evidence that music players will get smaller and smaller until we can't see them anymore. The device, which has the snappy HD10GB7 model name, contains a 10GB hard disk, measures just 1.7 inches by 2.4 inches by 0.7 inches, and weighs 2.7 ounces. It has a 1.5-inch OLED (organic light emitting diode) display on its front with a small keypad positioned directly under the display. You can play MP3, WAV and Windows Media audio files, including those with Windows Media DRM10 digital rights management. It will go on sale in Japan in early December for around $344. While no international launch plans have been announced, the on-screen menu supports Japanese, English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, and Spanish.

TurboLinux Wizpy
TurboLinux, perhaps best known for its Linux operating system, has a new MP3 player that is sure to interest geeks everywhere. The Wizpy does all the kinds of things you'd expect from a music player these days--MP3, AAC, Ogg, JPEG images, and Divx videos--and has a surprise: A partition with an install of the TurboLinux Fuji operating system. This means you can hook the device up to a PC's USB port and boot into Linux and access installed applications. TurboLinux advertises it as your own OS in the palm of your hand, and it certainly looks that way. The Wizpy will be out in Japan in February with no word yet on availability in other markets, although the Web site says, "Global release will be later in 2007." There's no word yet on price. It weighs just 2.1 ounces, which makes it lighter than most cell phones.

Toshiba 8GB SD Card
Hot on the heels of Panasonic's SD Card camcorder (see above) comes word from Toshiba that it will soon begin selling an 8GB high-speed SD memory card. The card will be available in January and supports the "class 4" high-speed data-writing specification. Toshiba's new card should be able to hold about three hours of high-definition video from the Panasonic camcorder. The card will cost about $340 in Japan. It will go on sale in Japan, North America, and Europe in early January.

NEC Tough Laptop
Drop it, freeze it, drench it--do whatever you want to this new laptop from NEC. Well, almost anything. The "Shield Pro" FC-N21S laptop can withstand dust, extreme temperatures (between minus-20 and 50 degrees Celsius), water, and drops of up to 3 feet--just make sure that the machine is switched off and the lid closed. The convertible-type PC has a 12.1-inch touch-panel, LED-backlit screen and runs on an Intel Core Solo processor at 1.2 GHz. It will be available in January for between $2165 and $2600. A model with an 8GB solid-state disk made up of flash memory chips will also be available.

IOData Bath-Proof Hard Drive
So, you're in the tub and have an urgent need to back up data? Not to worry, IOData Device's latest hard drives are just the thing. There's a 1-inch hard disk inside the case, which is water-resistant to 3.2 feet and impact-resistant from a 4-foot drop. Connection is via USB 2.0. There are two versions, the HDMC-U8 with an 8GB capacity and the HDMC-U12 with a 12GB capacity. Both will be available in Japan in mid-December for $133 and $177, respectively. IOData didn't announce international launch plans.

[Rasputin]

Sony Settles Rootkit Suits

Sony BMG Music Entertainment will pay $1.5 million in penalties to settle lawsuits with two U.S. states over its controversial use of copy protection software.

The settlements with the California and Texas attorneys general were announced Tuesday, seven months after the music giant settled a class-action lawsuit in the matter.

Dangerous CDs
Sony's trouble began in late 2005, when a computer science researcher disclosed that Sony was shipping CDs with a copy protection program that used dangerous "rootkit" techniques to cloak itself after installation. Sony licensed this software from First 4 Internet, based in Banbury, U.K., but problems were also found with a second copy protection program used by Sony. That software, called Media Max, was developed by SunnComm International of Phoenix.

Until Tuesday, Texas had been the only state with an outstanding lawsuit related to the rootkit fiasco, but other state's attorneys general and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had also been looking into the matter, according to Jeff McGrath, deputy district attorney, with Los Angeles County, which participated in the California lawsuit.

Sony has now reached tentative settlements with more than a dozen other states, including Massachusetts and Nebraska, as well as the FTC, McGrath said. The FTC declined to comment on the matter.

The California lawsuit was both filed and settled on Tuesday.

Compensation Offered
Sony's rootkit software shipped on an estimated 15 million CDs, bundled with music from artists such as Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion, and Earl Scruggs.

Consumers were offered refunds as part of the May class-action agreement, but Tuesday's settlements take additional steps by compensating them for damages caused by the rootkit code and "ensuring that this type of thing will not happen again," McGrath said.

California and Texas consumers who believe that their computers were damaged by Sony's software can receive up to $175 to cover repair costs. The agreements also force Sony to submit any software it ships with music CDs to third-party audits for the next five years.

Sony has created a Web site to address its rootkit settlement. That site is eventually expected to include instructions for consumers seeking refunds for their PC repairs.

These refunds will, for example, compensate users who had their CD drives trashed when AOL's antispyware software tried to remove the First 4 files, said Paco Felici, a spokesperson with the Texas Attorney General's office.

Sony Revamps Policy
Since the rootkit fiasco, Sony has stopped shipping digital rights management software with its music CDs. However, if it does add this capability to future CDs, it must make this clear to customers.

"They're requiring disclosures to consumers before sale on the CD packaging," said Corynne McSherry, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "I think that's really crucial. Part of the whole background of the rootkit fiasco was that consumers just didn't know what they were getting into."

A Sony spokesperson declined to comment on investigations by the FTC and other states. "We are pleased to have reached agreements with the offices of the California and Texas Attorneys General," he said, reading from a statement.

[Rasputin]

Windows, IE Animations Run Amok

Microsoft's "cute" animations, like the infamous Office Clippy, have aroused more ire than grateful praise, but they didn't actually do any harm--until now. The part of Windows behind the animated yellow dog helper in Windows search, called Microsoft Agent, gives malicious hackers a route into your PC for spyware or viruses transmitted via a drive-by download.

Agent can also be used by third-party programs for their own help functions. Clippy himself isn't a risk, but a flaw in the Agent ActiveX control that Internet Explorer 6 uses under Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2000 SP4 means the browser can be overwhelmed by a booby-trapped Agent file (.acf). If you browse a poisoned site that hosts such a file, the ActiveX control will crash, thereby opening the door to an attack program--and you don't need to click on any of the page's content.

IE 7 isn't vulnerable to this flaw; to protect yourself, upgrade your browser or download the critical patch from Microsoft through Automatic Updates. Or get the patch and more info at Microsoft Technet. At press time we had not seen any reports of active attacks using this hole.

Clippy's cousins aren't the only pieces of old-school animation coming back to haunt users. Two dangerous IE 6 flaws in Microsoft DirectAnimation were hit with zero-day attacks before Microsoft released a patch. Although DirectAnimation has been superseded by DirectX for showing animations in the browser, it remains in IE--a little like people's tailbones.

Again, if you just view a doctored Web page, you'll be hit by a drive-by download. An attack crashes the DirectAnimation ActiveX controls, and can let a bad guy do anything on your PC that you can do.

If you don't already have it, you can now get the patch for IE 6, a fix that basically shuts down the unnecessary DirectAnimation for good.

[Rasputin]

This Blog for Hire

Over the last six months, Ron DesGroseilliers has recommended more than 260 products on his two blogs--everything from travel sites and TV shows to laminate floors and lingerie.

The 47-year-old electronics engineer isn't a know-it-all with a short attention span. He's one of a growing legion of bloggers who get paid to write about products and services by PayPerPost, Review-Me, and similar Web sites.

The sites offer an easy way for bloggers to earn bucks and for marketers to build buzz. As traditional forms of advertising lose effectiveness, word-of-mouth services hope to fill the gap. But critics say such sites are "polluting" the blogosphere, sapping credibility from a medium where it's already in short supply.

[Rasputin]

Real-Time Traffic Info Gets You Past Jams

Imagine being able to see traffic jams miles in advance, so that you don't get stuck in them. Dash Navigation's new service promises to give you that ability by using data collected from GPS devices in thousands of cars to detect slowdowns and direct you to the fastest route on-the-fly. Dash Express is the first traffic service with the two-way connectivity necessary to obtain real-time information on how fast cars are moving, according to the company. Similar systems are on the way, however, for cell phones and for satellite-radio receivers.

How does Dash's GPS data collection improve on the traffic information that motorists get now? GPS vendors such as Garmin, Magellan, Pioneer, and TomTom offer real-time traffic reporting options on their devices through FM- or satellite-radio add-ons; but these services are based only on reports of stalled cars, accidents, and construction slowdowns from numerous government and private sources.

And though these GPS devices receive traffic information and then calculate alternate routes to avoid problem areas, they don't report details regarding current speed, location, and other data, so the system doesn't receive real-time data on the actual traffic flow occurring along a given route or along alternate routes. Often the result is unnecessary rerouting and inaccurate drive-time estimates.

Dash Navigation will soon sell a GPS navigation box that mounts on a car's dashboard. The Dash Express device, which features both cellular and Wi-Fi capabilities, will anonymously communicate back to the Dash database the vehicle's location and speed. "As you are driving, you are putting real-time information into the system," says Eric Klein, Dash's senior director of product marketing.

The arrangement assumes, of course, that a legion of Dash drivers will be hitting the road. But what happens when your specific stretch of highway has insufficient data? "In addition to these constant updates," observes Klein, "the Dash Express comes preprogrammed with historic traffic data for all major roads, so it has an idea of what the road conditions are, at any particular time of the day."

Dash uses data from Microsoft spin-off Inrix, whose proprietary technology predicts traffic delays by analyzing weather, GPS data, road sensors, construction schedules, previous accident patterns, and other information. Dash Express combines the data it collects from customers' GPS receivers with the details from these other sources to compute instantly the best three routes to your destination and the expected drive time along each. To select your preferred route, you simply press a button on the unit's touch screen, after which a voice provides turn-by-turn directions.