Just Googling it is striking fear into companies: NYT

As Google increasingly becomes the starting point for finding information and buying products and services, companies that even a year ago did not see themselves as competing with Google are beginning to view the company with some angst - mixed with admiration.

The New York Times reports (6 November) that Google's recent moves have stirred concern in industries from book publishing to telecommunications. Businesses already feeling the Google effect include advertising, software and the news media. Apart from retailing, Google's disruptive presence may soon be felt in real estate and auto sales.

Google, the reigning giant of web search, could extend its economic reach in the next few years as more people get high-speed internet service and cellphones become full-fledged search tools, according to analysts. And ever-smarter software, they say, will cull and organise larger and larger digital storehouses of news, images, real estate listings and traffic reports, delivering results that are more like the advice of a trusted human expert.

The newspaper quotes one analyst who predicted such advances will bring "a huge reduction in inefficiency everywhere." That, in turn, would be an unsettling force for all sorts of industries and workers. But it would also reward consumers with lower prices and open up opportunities for new companies.

The NYT says that Google, then, may turn out to have a more far-reaching impact than earlier web winners like Amazon and eBay.

According to the newspaper, Google, to be sure, is but one company at the forefront of the continuing spread of internet technology. It has many competitors, and it could stumble. In the search market alone, Google faces formidable rivals like Microsoft and Yahoo.

Microsoft, in particular, is pushing hard to catch Google in Internet search, says the NYT. "This is hyper-competition, make no mistake," said Bill Gates, Microsoft's chief executive. "The magic moment will come when our search is demonstrably better than Google's," he said, suggesting that this could happen in a year or so.

The newsapaper reports that, apart from its front-runner status, Google is also remarkable for its pace of innovation.

The company's current lineup of offerings includes: software for searching personal computer files; an e-mail service; maps; satellite images; instant messaging; blogging tools; a service for posting and sharing digital photos; and specialized searches for news, video, shopping and local information. Google's most controversial venture, Google Print, is a project to copy and catalog millions of books; it faces lawsuits by some publishers and authors who say it violates copyright law.

The NYT says that Google, which tends to keep its plans secret, certainly has the wealth to fund ambitious ventures. Its revenues are growing by nearly 100 percent a year, and its profits are rising even faster. e imaging, maps and local search and combine them with property listings.

In telecommunications, the company has made a number of moves that have grabbed the attention of industry executives. It has been buying fiber-optic cable capacity in the United States and has invested in a company delivering high-speed internet access over power lines. And it is participating in an experiment to provide free wireless internet access in San Francisco, reports the NYT.

{mospagebreaktitle=UK online sales rocket}UK online sales rocket

Online sales in the UK are booming, according to the latest government statistics.

The Register reports (4 November) that Brits spent a whopping £71.1bn online last year - up 81 per cent on 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Much of this online spending was conducted by businesses. Even so, e-spending by households rose from £10.8bn in 2003 to £18.1bn last year.

{mospagebreaktitle=Solitary patch for MS Nov Patch Tuesday}Solitary patch for MS Nov Patch Tuesday

Microsoft plans to release a single, critical patch tomorrow (Tuesday 8 November), as part of its regular monthly patching schedule.

The Register reports (4 November) that, according to minimalist details from an advance bulletin notification from Microsoft issued Thursday, the fix is designed to address a serious Windows vulnerability. Microsoft also plans to release an update to its malicious software removal tool.

As The Register reports, last month's patch batch brought nine bulletins, two of which have been afflicted by glitches.

{mospagebreaktitle=France and China share open source middleware}France and China share open source middleware

A French consortium has reached an agreement with government representatives in China to develop a middleware stack using open source software from ObjectWeb.

The Register reports (4 November0 that ObjectWeb, a Europe-based federation of open source middleware projects, and China's Orientware will build a common open source platform that integrates code from each others' projects. Work will tackle areas of common interest, including web services, workflow, transactions, Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and grid computing.

According to The Register, the agreement follows a memorandum of understanding to be announced by the French National Institute Research for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA) - a co-founder or ObjectWeb - and China's High-Tech Research and Development Program (HTDRP).

{mospagebreaktitle=Nokia Linux-based web tablet on sale}Nokia Linux-based web tablet on sale

Nokia has begun shipping its Linux-based Nokia 770, the so-called "Internet tablet", according to the Finnish giant's direct-sales website.

The Register reports (4 November) that the device lacks the usual Nokia mobile phone technology, relying instead on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to connect it to a broadband connectivity host. The 770 is pitched at consumers who want to access the internet for emailing and web browsing anywhere in their home.

The publication reports that the unit has a 4in, 800 x 480, 65,536-colour touch-screen, and contains 64MB of DDR RAM and 128MB of Flash storage of which at least 64MB is available to the user. There's an RS-MMS slot for extra memory, and Nokia is bundling a 64MB card. The machine contains an ARM-compatible Texas Instruments OMAP 1710 CPU.

According to The Regisater, the 770's application suite includes a web browser, email client, internet radio, news reader, PDF viewer and a variety of utilities. The browser supports a wide range of media types.

{mospagebreaktitle=Nintendo readies Euro Wi-Fi gamezone}Nintendo readies Euro Wi-Fi gamezone

Nintendo will launch a free, UK-wide wireless gaming service for owners of its DS handheld console on 25 November.

The Register reports (4 November) that the scheme, dubbed the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, comes courtesy of deals struck with Wi-Fi hotspot companies The Cloud and BT Openzone, and will ensure any DS owner within range of a participating hotspot can connect wirelessly to a similarly located player and engage in networked virtual combat.

Together the two hotspot providers run more than 7,500 Wi-Fi access points, and Nintendo pledged to increase that number by installing BT Openzone hotspots in "major video games retailers and other key outlets across the UK".

The Register says that the games company will also launch a £30 PC-connected USB Wi-Fi adaptor for the DS to allow console owners to create a wireless network from any home computer with a broadband Internet connection.

Gaming is free, attracting no fees or subscription charges, Nintendo said.

{mospagebreaktitle=Amazon.com and Google after the book reader}Amazon.com and Google after the book reader

In a race to become the iTunes of the publishing world, Amazon.com and Google are both developing systems to allow consumers to purchase online access to any page, section or chapter of a book.

The New York Times reports (4 November) that these programs would combine their already available systems of searching books online with a commercial component that could revolutionise the way that people read books.

According to the newspaper, the idea is to do for books what Apple has done for music, allowing readers to buy and download parts of individual books for their own use through their computers rather than trek to a store or receive them by mail. Consumers could purchase a single recipe from a cookbook, for example, or a chapter on rebuilding a car engine from a repair manual.

The NYT says that the initiatives are already setting off a tug of war among publishers and the potential vendors over who will do business with whom and how to split the proceeds. Random House, the biggest American publisher, has proposed a micropayment model in which readers would be charged about 5 cents a page, with 4 cents of that going to the publisher to be shared with the author. The fact that Random House has already developed such a model indicates that it supports the concept, and that other publishers are likely to follow.

The proposals could also become bargaining chips in current lawsuits against Google by trade groups representing publishers and authors.

The NYT says that these groups have charged that Google is violating copyrights by making digital copies of books from libraries for use in its book-related search engine. But if those copies of older books on library shelves that have long been absent from bookstores started to produce revenue for publishers and authors, the trade groups might drop some of their objections.

{mospagebreaktitle=Electronic Arts seals digital music distribution deal}Electronic Arts seals digital music distribution deal

Electronic Arts, the world's biggest video game publisher, has announced a partnership with Nettwerk Music Group to launch a digital music distribution label called EA Recordings.

The New York Times reports (4 November) that EA Recordings will deliver clips from EA's catalog of wholly-owned music and remixes to online download services, including Apple Computer's iTunes, RealNetworks's Rhapsody and those operated by Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN internet service.

EA said the Nettwerk partnership complements its Next Level Music joint venture with Cherry Lane Music Publishing, which signs artists and licenses EA music for television, movies and commercials. The Nettwerk agreement will focus on direct-to-consumer online music sales, reports the newspaper.

{mospagebreaktitle=EU Court hopes to rule on Microsoft by Spring}EU Court hopes to rule on Microsoft by Spring

The European Union's Court of First Instance hopes to rule on Microsoft's antitrust case by early spring, court President Bo Vesterdorf said on Friday.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (4 November) that Microsoft has gone to the EU court to challenge a 2004 decision by the European Commission, which found the US software company used near-monopoly power to muscle rivals.

``Hopefully we will have a ruling in early spring, hopefully before April,'' Vesterdorf told reporters on the margins of a competition conference.

Reuters says that Brussels found that Microsoft had violated European antitrust rules through unfair business practices. It fined Microsoft and ordered it to make available a version of its Windows operating system without Windows Media Player.

{mospagebreaktitle=Market growing for refurbished, used iPods}Market growing for refurbished, used iPods

The popular iPod Nano and the just-released video iPod are expected to lead a surge of holiday sales for Apple Computer, reports Reuters in The New York Times (4 November).

Reuters says that research firm Fulcrum Global Partners predicts Apple will sell 10 million iPods in the fourth quarter, a strong follow-up to the 7 million sold in the previous quarter. But not all of these sales will be to new iPod owners.

Piper Jaffray analysts say about 30 percent of the iPod purchasers are now repeat buyers who are either replacing an existing, earlier-generation iPod or adding to their range of styles (such as an iPod Shuffle and a video iPod).

Reuters says in the NYT report that analysts say most users hand down their iPods to friends or family once they purchase a new one. Some simply throw them away.

Increasingly, however, consumers are capitalising on the growing iPod phenomenon by selling their used iPods for cash or as a trade-in toward a new device.

And it is not just for bargain hunters, either, says Reuters. With the popular iPod Mini being discontinued, many fans have turned to the refurbished market to track down a favorite color in what is becoming a cult-nostalgia item, according to the news service.

Reuters reports that internet auction site eBay has literally thousands of iPod and iPod-related products for sale. The site is considered a leading resource for those seeking an inexpensive way to join the iPod revolution. So is web site Craigslist.

With 28 million iPods sold worldwide, the potential for iPod refurbishment and sales has created a cottage industry of sorts, Reuters adds.

{mospagebreaktitle=HP: storage goods will stay just as 'open' as open source}HP: storage goods will stay just as 'open' as open source

HP has reiterated plans to move forward with the "open" storage management plans it inherited in the buy of AppIQ and vowed to offer an alternative to the open source Aperi plan recently launched by IBM and others.

The Register reports (5 November) that HP has released Storage Essentials 5.0, which includes the AppIQ management software. The storage management package, as of October, works with HP's Systems Insight Manager server management products.

The publication says that the AppIQ code centres around the CMI (Common Information Model) embraced by the Storage Networking Industry Association as a management interface standard. The Register adds that This relative openness helped AppIQ secure customers such as Hitachi, Sun Microsystems and SGI before HP snatched up the company in September.

According to the Register, HP reckons that StorageEssentials now stands as the best heterogeneous management product around for handling storage attached to Unix and Windows systems. It has tools for displaying all the systems in a network, metering and chargeback, storage provisioning, performance management and linking storage boxes to servers.

The Register says that AppIQ generated a lot of buzz and support, but in the hands of HP, it poses a clear threat to storage rivals. With that in mind, IBM in late October formed the Aperi group with the likes of Cisco, Fujitsu, CA and NetApp. HP and EMC were notably missing from this open source storage management party, and many see Aperi as a direct response to HP's apparent lead with "open" storage management, claims The Register.

{mospagebreaktitle=Microsoft's attractive to US workers eyeing India return}Microsoft's attractive to US workers eyeing India return

In the battle to lure top talent back to India from Silicon Valley, Microsoft would appear to have a major edge over flashier darling of the moment Google and stalwarts such as Intel, Oracle and Dell, according to The Register (4 November).

The Register reports that at a recruiting event hosted here by Silicon India, workers stood in a line at times 30-people long, looking to drop their resumes off at Microsoft's booth. No other company could claim such an impressive showing. Intel, for example, had seven staffers collecting resumes but only a handful of prospective workers at any time. The rest of the vendors were lucky to have two or three candidates displaying interest.

The Register says that, meanwhile, the people waiting to speak to Microsoft had to wind around other booths. New people joining the line would ask if it was in fact the Microsoft lane, as you couldn't even see the desk where the Microsoft resume taker sat.

According to the publication, all of the vendors present at the event looked to convince Indian workers to move back home. The big pitch made by companies such as Informatica and Airtight Networks is that great opportunities exist in India for workers who have honed their managerial expertise after years working in Silicon Valley.

{mospagebreaktitle=CBS to acquire CSTV for US$325 million in stock}CBS to acquire CSTV for US$325 million in stock

In the US., Viacom has announced that the new CBS Corporation would acquire CSTV Networks, a cable channel and confederation of web sites that focus entirely on college sports. The purchase will be made with US$325 million in stock to be issued next year by CBS, which will be created after its split from Viacom.

The New York Times reports (4 November) that CSTV started in April 2003 largely as the cable channel College Sports TV, carrying some major sports, like basketball and football, but primarily showing sports that were seen far less frequently, like rugby, squash, wrestling, volleyball and water polo.

It expanded its initial internet presence by acquiring an operator of about 120 college sports web sites, and has since gotten the rights to operate about 130 more.

The NYT says that CSTV's internet operation appears to complement CBS Sportsline.com, the sports news web site now owned by Viacom. In September, CBS Sportsline.com and CSTV's Web sites had 11.1 million unique visits, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. ComScore Media Metrix, which also measures web site traffic, had a higher estimate. It said CSTV and Sportsline combined had 14.4 million unique hits in September.

The CSTV network, which has 15 million cable and satellite subscribers, will provide the post-split CBS with its only advertising-supported cable channel.