News about the BIG internet players

A lot of changes happening in the computer world at the minute.

First in a blow to Microsofts' plan to rule the world. They have had to agree that in Europe the user will be offered a choice of browsers to use & not just given IE. The EU & Microsoft have not been the best of mates for a long time now. Basically the EU have accused MS of using their monopoly position as the supplier of the leading operating system to deliberately limit consumer choice to other products. First it was Windows Media Play and now it is Internet Explorer.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8524019.stm
I'm a little underwhelmed by all this. I actually think it is as much about the EU trying to make a political point to large Multinationals as it is about Consumer protection. I have not used either of the two products for a LONG time & Microsoft have not made life difficult for me because of that. I am not sure that the 'poor consumer' who did not realise that he had a choice before this will actually be much better off. Which of the browser options should he actually click when given the option?? If he/she has enough savvy to answer that question then they were undoubtedly aware of these options before this ruling!!

Second is a blow in favour of Microsoft. Their plan to take over Yahoo search & search advertising business has been approved by both the USA & European regulators.

Under the deal, Yahoo's website will use Microsoft's Bing search engine, and the two firms will share the revenues.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8522606.stm
Google absolutely dominate this market in Europe with 90% of the business. Microsoft are fearful that they are falling just too far behind in a very profitable & still growing marketplace. Earlier Microsoft had actually tried to buy Yahoo completely, but that bid failed so I suppose this is their next best step forward.

Thirdly still a waiting time for Google as a USA judge refuses to be rushed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8523339.stm
I am in as much of a puzzle about this one as the judge seems to be. I can see the huge benefit of having all books scanned & available on line but worry about who controls it & what do they charge & what limitations are in place.
There is already an attempt in Europe to do this through a site called Europeana ( http://www.europeana.eu/portal/ ).

Fourthly something from a small player who would like to be a very big player - Linux.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8522952.stm
I can see why the backers think that they have a large untapped market to tap into, but to me it seems a bit of an expensive way of cracking the problem.
Linux is slowly managing to make a place for itself in certain segments of the market - the small hand held computers are dominated by Linux as an operating system, simply because of its low cost & size of the application. Still really only used by enthusiasts on pcs, but if someone like, for example, Dell needed to offer a cheaper alternative to the market then it could take off very quickly.

Google bosses convicted in Italy
I'm not quite sure what to make of this one...
3 Google executives, in a trial over a video showing an autistic teenager being bullied, have been absolved of defamation but convicted of privacy violations. They have received suspended six-month sentences. A fourth defendant, product manager Arvind Desikan, was acquitted.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8533695.stm
Google have said they will appeal the case & the judge does not appear to have many supporters in Europe as to the verdict.

The verdict is likely to have ramifications for content providers around the globe.
Google said at the trial that pre-screening all YouTube content was impossible.
The video at the centre of the case was posted on Google Video in 2006 shortly before the firm acquired YouTube.
Prosecutors argued that Google broke Italian privacy law by not seeking the consent of all the parties involved before allowing it to go online.
Google's lawyers said that the video was removed as soon as it was brought to its attention and that the firm also provided information on who posted it.
As a result four students were expelled from their school in Turin, northern Italy.

If this were to be upheld on appeal it would have serious consequences - maybe only in Italy, but.....
The legality of the convictions sounds highly suspicious, even to my non-legal mind. The 3 who were found guilty appear to have been rather picked at random from Googles' ranks & do not even work in Italy. Quite interesting Blog on the subject here..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/seealso/2010 ... e_and.html

Microsoft shuts down global spam network
The other side of the legal coin!!
I think most people (other than spammers) will applaud this decision. I am not sure about the future impact this decision could make - I gather that it was American Spammers using this from an American Source so maybe that is why the judge felt he had the jurisdiction to act. Not sure what would happen if MS turns its attention to the Russian offenders!! I also wondered if MS could not have sent a message to the owners of the infected PCs telling them that they were being used & to run virus or malware killers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8537741.stm

Finally (for today )
If you like computer games but are rather overwhelmed (or under impressed ) by the high priced mega games that the big boys churn out, then it looks like there are still alternatives!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8534659.stm
I was quite surprised (& delighted) to read this piece. It is nice to know that "1 man bands" can still exist & produce games and make enough to make a reasonable living out of it too.

After Microsoft shut an American botnet, Spainish police have arrested 3 Spanish men who it claims are the masterminds behind one of the worlds largest botnets.

It is estimated that the so-called Mariposa botnet was made up of nearly 13 million computers in 190 countries.

. The figures about infected computers quoted in this piece are worrying, to say the least.

It included PCs inside more than half of Fortune 1000 companies and more than 40 major banks, investigators said.

. Having worked for a Fortune 100 listed company & having a more than fair understanding of its computer & server protection systems I, frankly find this an amazing figure. Sure, the system was infected (twice) as hackers are nearly always ahead of the good guys. The first time was a disaster & the whole system was done for 2 days, but a great deal was learnt from that. The second 'event' was spotted immediately, isolated nearly as soon & no system time lost. I am amazed that experts believe that individual computers within these companies systems can be infected & used in this way. My personal experiences are that this would be spotted (IF it could happen) pretty dam quickly.
The other surprise for me about these arrests are

All are Spanish citizens with no criminal records and limited hacking skills.

. That rather flies in the face of the newspaper speculation about who runs these systems.. These people tend to be shown as 'criminals' with almost 'mob' connections...
These guys do not exactly fit that profile.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8547453.stm

I posted a piece before about Microsoft, Internet Explorer, EU & choice. I thought this was the end of the matter & Microsoft had (eventually) done the decent thing. I'm now starting to have a bit of sympathy for Microsoft, note the words "starting" & "bit" . It seems some people are never happy & will always criticise & want more..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8545237.stm
Personally I think this Microsoft/EU solution is enough. People must bear some responsibility for making independent searches & decisions, this solution gives fair coverage for what most people would see as the main contenders to Internet Explorer.

Lastly a headline that will certainly come as no surprise for anyone living away from their country of birth..

Online 'more popular than newspapers' in US

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8542430.stm
The net has created more problems for the Media Giants than probably any other industry. Not that I, personally, will shed one tear over that fact. I do not think any of them have a clue how to protect their income streams, let alone take advantage of new streams. One thing is for sure, Mr. Murdoc's plan to make people pay for getting news from his interests online will NOT do it. It is the Luddite equivalent of the factory owner going into his own factory & smashing his own machines because machinery is making his competitors products are too cheap!!
News owners have to find an alternative method of making profit from on line news sites. One thing is for sure, charging viewers will have the reverse effect than that wished for...

After the success of 3D movies lately the large TV manufacturers have seen this as the next step in TV evolution.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8558152.stm
I saw the new HD sets when I went home last autumn. I thought for live sporting events & movies they certainly added something. Of course you have to have sufficient broadcasts in HD to make it worth while - unless you are a large buyer of DVDs. For this 52% more expensive seems a little over the top to me for, really, something that is little more than a gimmick. I see that Sony will supply 2 sets of glasses needed for viewing & extra glasses will be 12,000 yen each ($120). I wonder if this means the glasses will become the new '1 up over the Jones' to carry around with you when visiting others...

In light of the above & because I am sometimes critical about the media moguls & their lack of understanding about the way technology will lead them this piece amused me..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8559038.stm
I am not really sure this is the way to go, but good try!!

I hear what the headline says, but I guess it will be a few years yet before current format disks become unavailable..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8557144.stm

Hard drive evolution could hit Microsoft XP users

By contrast, Windows 7, Vista, OS X Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard and versions of the Linux kernel released after September 2009 are all 4K aware.

To help Windows XP cope, advanced format drives will be able to pretend they still use sectors 512 bytes in size.

Well, courtesy of the BBC, just about anything anyone would want to know about the net.
What it is used for & which sites are the big boys & who is making the really BIG money out of it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8562801.stm

China condemns decision by Google to lift censorship
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8582233.stm
The ongoing war between the pair....I guess Google have realised for all the size of the market in China that they started late & were well behind local grown search engines from day 1 & are never going to get the profits they expected out of the enterprise. If it was going to make a fortune then I expect we would have heard little of the secrecy verses openness arguments that are going on now. I get the feeling that Google are attempting to come out of this showing themselves in a favourable 'freedom to the people' light rather than the bad business idea ditched scenario that is probably nearer the mark!!

One of the great benefits of the world wide web is the ability for just about anyone who is interested in something to get at a source document. Prior to the web these documents had to be carefully protected against damage by overuse (or nutcases) & so only the highly placed researchers with a valid academic reason could view them.
Here is another step away from that with a project called Connected History creating a single search engine that will give users 1 access point to thousands of documents dated between 1500-1900.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8577164.stm

Google not guilty in Vuitton row
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8582404.stm
I imagine that is is a bit of a 'biggy' for Google. They were cleared in The European Court of Justice of a charge by luxury item maker Vuitton

It had claimed that Google's practice of selling keywords in advertising searches to the highest bidder damaged trademark law.

'Quantum dots' to boost performance of mobile cameras
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8580372.stm
As if mobile cameras are not good enough, it looks like they are about to get considerably better..

Nintendo unveils 3D DS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8582438.stm
I posted a bit before about TVs going the 3 D route. It now looks like games consoles are too. Nintendo have announced the launch of theirs, Sony will follow shortly. What interested me is that Nintendo say no 'special 3 D glasses' will be needed for their console - so maybe a step ahead in technology to the TV makers design...or maybe all to do with screen size..

Finally today I posted a link to the top 100 money makers on the internet a while back. Just in case that got anyone thinking how easy it is to make a fortune that way - here is a list (from the beeb) of 10 famous 'non-starters', who, despite having everything in their favour managed to sink out of existence!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8568509.stm