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June 2, 2003
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SEC investigating IBM transactions
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating certain transactions at IBM, the company announced Monday.
The federal agency is seeking information relating to how IBM recognized revenue, and is concentrating on certain transactions in 2000 and 2001. The tech giant says it believes that the investigation relates to a relationship between its Retail Store Solutions unit, which makes cash registers and other point-of-sale products, and one of the customers of that division.
The SEC has been investigating issues concerning the unnamed customer for some time, and IBM has been cooperating in that investigation, said an IBM representative.
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TiVo service tracks viewer data
TiVo announced on Monday that it will sell limited information about the viewing habits of its subscribers to advertisers and broadcasters.
The company's new service will let broadcasters and advertisers subscribe to a quarterly audience-measurement report that will track viewing habits during prime-time shows. TiVo, which provides digital video recorder (DVR) services and devices, eventually plans to use its technology to provide data on consumer patterns for any show or commercial.
"We want to embrace the opportunity to help advertisers and broadcasters better understand the current and future impact of DVR so they can adapt content and advertising strategies to better understand this new medium," Martin J. Yudkovitz, president of TiVo, said in a statement.
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Law school serves spam as main course
Law students at Chicago's John Marshall Law School are getting a new dose of spam--on their course schedule.
The spam serving comes courtesy of John Marshall associate professor David Sorkin, who's offering what he and his peers say may be the first law school course devoted to the subject of unsolicited commercial e-mail.
"This seminar will investigate legal and policy issues raised by e-mail marketing and spam," Sorkin wrote in describing the summer seminar, titled "Current Topics in Information Technology Law: Regulation of Spam and E-mail Marketing." "Topics to be addressed include litigation and legislation involving spam and e-mail marketing; the application of tort law and other traditional doctrines to spam; concerns related to constitutionality, jurisdiction, extraterritoriality, privacy, content and public policy; regulatory perspectives; issues faced by Internet service providers and legitimate e-mail marketers; legal aspects of blacklisting and other antispam measures; and other relevant issues."
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Microsoft, VeriSign ink security deal
Microsoft and VeriSign plan to announce on Tuesday that they will work together to offer secure Web services and enhanced digital rights management.
The deal builds on technology in Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 that allows access to data using digital signatures. Digital-signature technology, which uses a variant of the mathematics behind encryption, lets people digitally sign data and verify their identity online. VeriSign, which makes server software that manages such signatures on a large scale, plans to launch a service that will take advantage of the new Windows Server 2003 features.
By working together, Microsoft and VeriSign hope to make authenticated Web services easier to use and more likely to interoperate. "It is that combination that brings (companies) a lot of the benefits," said Nico Popp, vice president of Research and Advanced Products for VeriSign.
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Apple switches on PowerBook cuts
Apple Computer on Monday cut the price of its 12-inch and 15-inch PowerBooks in a push to make notebook computers a larger part of its business.
The standard 12-inch PowerBook, which comes with a drive that can burn CDs and play DVD movies, drops in price by $200 to $1,599. A similar model with a more-capable SuperDrive, which can burn both DVDs and CDs, also takes a $200 cut to sell for $1,799.
The 15-inch PowerBook saw price drops of up to $300, depending on features. It now starts at $1,999 for the 867MHz model, rising to $2,599 for a model with a 1GHz processor. The higher-end model also includes 512MB of RAM--twice as much as the basic machine--and a larger hard drive.
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SCO actions prompt Linux warning
Analyst firm Gartner has recommended that customers minimize their use of Linux on important systems because of questions resulting from SCO Group's warnings about legal liability.
"Although Gartner has reservations on the merits of (SCO's claims), don't take them lightly," Gartner analyst George Weiss advised in a May note. "Minimize Linux in complex, mission-critical systems until the merits of SCO's claims or any resulting judgments become clear."
Two weeks ago, SCO sent 1,500 letters to the world's largest companies, warning that they could face legal action for using Linux, which SCO says includes its own proprietary source code that was copied from Unix. The move grew out of a $1 billion lawsuit against IBM that alleges Big Blue broke its contract with SCO by misappropriating trade secrets that it moved from Unix into Linux.
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Intel Revs Up Centrino
Intel Corp. is speeding up new Centrino processors while cutting the prices on existing chips.
The Santa Clara, Calif., company on Monday unveiled a 1.7GHz Pentium M, a low-voltage 1.2GHz chip and an ultra-low voltage 1GHz processor.
At the same time, Intel cut the prices on existing Centrino and Pentium M offerings by as much as 34 percent. Intel also promised enhanced networking software with upgraded security capabilities.
The Pentium M is the chip that powers Centrino, Intel's mobile technology platform that includes the 855 chip set and wireless Wi-Fi module. Until this week, the fastest Pentium M ran at 1.6GHz, while the fastest low- and ultra-low voltage chips-designed for smaller notebooks and tablet PCs-had frequencies of 1GHz and 900MHz, respectively.
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Canon Unveils High-End Digicam, Projector
Due for release in June at a suggested retail price of $899, the PowerShot G5 digital camera features a 5-megapixel CCD sensor that captures 2592-by-1944-pixel images. Its 4X all-glass optical zoom lens provides a 35mm film camera equivalent range of 35mm to 140mm, a maximum aperture of f/2.0-3.0, and macro focusing down to 2 inches. The additional 4X digital zoom extends the camera's telephoto capabilities to provide photographers with 16X zoom functionality.
The PowerShot G5 boasts a Wide-Area FlexiZone AF/AE system that lets you focus on off-center subjects without repositioning the camera. It has three metering systems, including Spot Metering, and up to 10X Zoom Playback. An Intelligent Orientation Sensor automatically rotates images for proper viewing during playback. The digital camera also has a 270-degree Swivel LCD screen and a Canon EOS-style control layout.
The camera includes a three-mode built-in flash with red-eye reduction and first- or second-curtain sync; the flash can be operated manually or automatically. In addition, the PowerShot G5 is compatible with Canon's EX-series Speedlite flashes and E-TTL wireless flash accessories, as well as with Canon supplementary lenses.
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BellSouth Chooses Cisco
BellSouth Corp. said Monday it would use fiber optic telecommunications equipment from Cisco Systems Inc. to offer new and expanded services that could include private networks and video transmission. The two companies said they would also work together in developing and marketing the new services.
The companies plan to initially focus on four vertical markets: healthcare, finance, education, and government. Cisco, San Jose, Calif., will provide local and long-distance network transport, equipment, professional services, and on-site maintenance and monitoring support for both small and medium businesses and enterprise markets.
The joint marketing deal is similar to one Cisco has with another Baby Bell, SBC Communications Inc., of San Antonio. BellSouth is headquartered in Atlanta.
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Latest AOL 9.0 beta released
America Online began testing new features for an upcoming version of its proprietary service, including support for its own multimedia formats in its video and audio playback software, sources close to the company said.
The features were made available on Monday in the second beta release of a software upgrade tentatively called AOL 9.0 and code-named Blue Hawaii. They include a media player that adds support for a new streaming media format developed in-house by AOL's Nullsoft division. Other highlights include a new e-mail interface with a spam folder built in, and a Web page accelerator dubbed "Velocity."
AOL is expected to test features throughout the summer as it prepares the official release of the software, although details of those coming enhancements were not immediately available. Previously, AOL introduced a new "skin" feature that lets members alter the look and feel of the service and gives support for Apple Computer's QuickTime multimedia formats.
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Microsoft Issues 'Jupiter,' Exchange 2003 Betas
Microsoft at TechEd delivered the first beta of BizTalk Server 2004, the initial phase of Redmond's next-generation e-business platform, code-named "Jupiter." Built on the .NET Framework, BizTalk integrates with Office System and Visual Studio .NET to provide the foundation for designing business solutions.
BizTalk Server 2004 provides single sign-on functionality and process management with a graphical interface for creating business rules and policies. The release also includes support for Web Services and the Business Process Execution Language for communicating across back-end systems.
Microsoft's vision for the connected business is becoming a reality for customers today with the introduction of the BizTalk Server 2004 beta," said David Kiker, Microsoft's general manager for E-Business Servers. "BizTalk Server 2004 provides the strong foundation for 'Jupiter' to empower companies to build tailored e-business solutions that span corporate boundaries and improve business agility to capitalize on new opportunities."
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