Differences over results of EU hearing on Microsoft

Microsoft left a two-day antitrust hearing in Brussels on Friday claiming it had reached a breakthrough with European regulators, but regulators and rivals dismissed the claim as an exaggeration.

The New York Times reports (1 April) that Microsoft was making a last-ditch attempt to avoid daily fines of up to two million euros (US$2.4 million) for failing to honor an antitrust ruling handed down by the European Commission in March 2004.

The newspaper says that the commission, Europe's top competition authority, has accused Microsoft of failing to provide adequate technical details about its Windows operating system. The information would allow rival makers of server systems to design programs that work as well with PC's running Windows as Microsoft's own server software does.

The commission ruled two years ago that by withholding this information, Microsoft was stifling competition. Microsoft maintains that it has provided the information.

{mospagebreaktitle=US asks European Union to be fair in Microsoft case}US asks European Union to be fair in Microsoft case

The United States government has intervened in Microsoft's antitrust dispute with the European Commission, urging it and the 25 national governments in the European Union to be fair to the company, American diplomats and European officials said on Thursday.

The New York Times reports (31 March) that Microsoft has complained frequently in recent months that it has been denied the right to a fair defense in the continuing antitrust case with the European Commission. It has also accused the commission of collaborating with its rivals in the software industry and denying it access to what it contends are vital documents it needs to prepare its defense.

The newspaper reports that a memo written by unidentified government officials in Washington stated that Microsoft's complaints raise "substantial concerns" about the way Microsoft is being treated, according to a person close to the commission who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the memo. The memo was distributed this week through embassies in Europe and through the United States mission to the European Union in Brussels.

United States diplomats visited the offices of three European commissioners. Jonathan Todd, the spokesman for the competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, confirmed that her close aides met American diplomats this week and received the memo. He declined to comment on its content.

{mospagebreaktitle=Long mobile phone use raises brain tumor risk}Long mobile phone use raises brain tumor risk

The use of mobile phones over a long period of time can raise the risk of brain tumors, according to a Swedish study released on Friday, contradicting the conclusions of other researchers.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (31 March) that last year, the Dutch Health Council, in an overview of research from around the world, found no evidence that radiation from mobile phones and TV towers was harmful. A four-year British survey in January also showed no link between regular, long-term use of cell phones and the most common type of tumor.

But, says Reuters, researchers at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life looked at mobile phone use of 2,200 cancer patients and an equal number of healthy control cases.

Of the cancer patients, aged between 20 and 80, 905 had a malignant brain tumor and about a tenth of them were also heavy users of mobile phones.

Published in the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, the study defines heavy use as 2,000 plus hours, which ``corresponds to 10 years' use in the work place for one hour per day,'' reports Reuters.

Early use was defined as having begun to use a mobile phone before the age of 20.

Reuters reports that there was also shown to be a marked increase in the risk of tumor on the side of the head where the telephone was generally used, said the study, which took into account factors such as smoking habits, working history and exposure to other agents.

{mospagebreaktitle=Microsoft warns against outside fixes}Microsoft warns against outside fixes

When Microsoft researchers learned recently that a software flaw had been made public and could prompt Internet attacks, the company ordered a team to devote all its time to fixing the flaw and making the repair work with other products, reports The Associated Press in The New York Times (1 April).

The AP report says that Microsoft argues that's the approach customers want and expect, but some security experts complained that the software company's traditional method, which could take days or weeks, wouldn't help people fast enough.

So for the second time in three months, outside programmers took matters into their own hands by quickly releasing their own fixes, days ahead of the official Microsoft patch for its market-dominant Internet Explorer browser, reports AP.

According to AP., Microsoft doesn't endorse such third-party fixes, warning it can't vouch for whether they will work smoothly with Microsoft products and other applications. But those providing them argue they have a responsibility to protect users from attacks.

{mospagebreaktitle=Sony goes prime-time with "LocationFree TV"}Sony goes prime-time with "LocationFree TV"

Sony's dream of freeing TV from the confines of the living room is looking more like reality with a gadget that allows you to watch local broadcasts on a PC even if you are thousands of miles from home, according to a Reuters report in The New York Times (31 March).

Reuters reports that Sony is notching up strong sales of a small black box that can do just that, providing that the airplane is Wi-Fi enabled and your hotel in the contry of your destination has a broadband connection.

The book-sized device plugs into your home TV antenna, converts the signal to the MPEG-4 digital standard, encrypts it for security and streams it over the internet to your PC.

Reuters says that it also works with Sony's PlayStation Portablehandheld video game device and compatible mobile phones will be out soon.

According to the report, Sony only has a handful of competitors, the main one being US-based Sling Media, but several new players are expected to pile into the market, which should boost competition and drive prices down.

{mospagebreaktitle=EU approves Sony, NEC JV on optical disk drives}EU approves Sony, NEC JV on optical disk drives

Japanese electronics makers Sony and NEC won permission from the European Commission on Friday to set up a joint venture for optical disk drives.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (31 March) that the two companies, seeking to cope with intense price competition, will transfer their optical drive businesses to a new entity, Sony NEC Optiarc, which will start operations on 3April. The deal was first announced last November.

According to Reuters, the venture will control some 20 percent of the global market, second only to Hitachi-LG Data Storage (HLDS), a venture between Japan's Hitachi and South Korea's LG Electronics, NEC has said previously.

Sony will hold a 55 percent stake in the venture which will design and make DVD and CD drives for personal computers and other products. The new company will have annual sales of about 220 billion yen (US$1.9 billion), NEC said.

{mospagebreaktitle=Japan launches digital tv for cell phones}Japan launches digital tv for cell phones

Digital TV broadcasts for mobile phones equipped with special receivers began in Japan's major urban areas Saturday, following several months of test broadcasts.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (1 April) however, that finding new phones in stores proved hard as eager consumers have already snapped up the limited number of handsets on the market. Japan's major mobile carriers say sales are good, but have not disclosed numbers.

The AP report says that Japan's mobile TV service is not the world's first -- South Korea, Britain and several other nations offer a similar service, although with different technologies. Mobile users in some parts of the United States can also tap into digital broadcasts.

But, according to AP., the new service in Japan, which is free, will potentially reach the broadest market yet through the country's terrestrial digital broadcast system, which relays images through the air via TV towers, not satellites.

It also uses broadcasting air waves, rather than an internet connection, to relay streaming video.

{mospagebreaktitle=Apple defends use of logo on iTunes Store}Apple defends use of logo on iTunes Store

A lawyer for Apple Computer has dismissed as ridiculous a long-running trademark infringement claim by another cultural icon, the Apple Corps recording label of the Beatles.

"Even a moron in a hurry could not be mistaken about" the distinction between the computer company's iTunes online music business and a recording company like Apple Corps, a lawyer for Apple Computer, Anthony Grabiner, said, reports The Associated Press in The New York Times (31 March).

The AP report says that at the centre of the dispute are conflicting interpretations of a 1991 settlement that ended more than a decade of legal wrangling between the companies, with each of them agreeing not to tread on the other's sphere of business.

In the High Court of Britain, Mr. Grabiner rejected Apple Corps' claim that the technology company's iTunes Music Store violated that agreement. He said the computer company had paid the record company US$26.5 million as part of the settlement and in return had received "a considerably expanded field of use."

The AP report says that Mr. Grabiner said the "distribution of digital entertainment content" was permitted at Apple Computer under the agreement.

But a lawyer for Apple Corps had argued that Apple Computer's music distribution business "was flatly contradictory to the provisions of the agreement."

{mospagebreaktitle=Internet injects sweeping change into US politics}Internet injects sweeping change into US politics

The New York Times reports (2 April) that the transformation of American politics by the internet is accelerating with the approach of the 2006 Congressional and 2008 White House elections, producing far-reaching changes in the way campaigns approach advertising, fund-raising, the mobilising of supporters and even the spreading of negative information.

According to the newspaper, Democrats and Republicans are sharply increasing their use of e-mail, interactive web sites, candidate and party blogs, and text messaging to raise money, organise get-out-the-vote efforts and assemble crowds for rallies. The internet, they say, appears to be far more efficient, and less costly, than the traditional tools of politics, notably door knocking and telephone banks.

The report adds that analysts say the campaign television advertisement, already diminishing in influence with the proliferation of cable stations, faces new challenges as campaigns experiment with technology that allows direct messaging to more specific audiences and through unconventional means.

Those include podcasts featuring a daily downloaded message from a candidate and so-called viral attack videos, designed to set off peer-to-peer distribution by e-mail chains, without being associated with any candidate or campaign.

The newspaper says that campaigns are now studying popular US internet social networks, like Friendster and Facebook, as ways to reach groups of potential supporters with similar political views or cultural interests.

According to the NYT., certainly the internet was a significant factor in 2004, particularly with the early success in fund-raising and organising by Howard Dean, a Democratic presidential contender. But officials in both parties say the extent to which the parties have now recognised and rely on the internet has increased at a staggering rate over the past two years, says the newspaper.

The newspaper says that the percentage of Americans who went online for election news jumped from 13 percent in the 2002 election cycle to 29 percent in 2004, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center after the last presidential election. A Pew survey released earlier this month found that 50 million Americans go to the internet for news every day, up from 27 million people in March 2002, a reflection of the fact that the internet is now available to 70 percent of Americans.

{mospagebreaktitle=South Korea, robots & the future}South Korea, robots & the future

South Korea, the world's most wired country, is rushing to turn what sounds like science fiction into everyday life, ac cording to a 2 April report i The new York Times.

The newspaper says that t South Korean Government, which succeeded in getting broadband internet into 72 percent of all households in the last half decade, has marshaled an army of scientists and business leaders to make robots full members of society.

By 2007, networked robots that, say, relay messages to parents, teach children English and sing and dance for them when they are bored, are scheduled to enter mass production. Outside the home, they are expected to guide customers at post offices or patrol public areas, searching for intruders and transmitting images to monitoring centers, the NYT reports.

According to the newspaper, if all goes according to plan, robots will be in every South Korean household between 2015 and 2020. That, says the newspaper, is the prediction, at least, of the Ministry of Information and Communication which has grouped more than 30 companies, as well as 1,000 scientists from universities and research institutes, under its wing. Some want to move even faster.

The newspaper says that, reeling from the Asian financial crisis of 1997, South Korea decided that becoming a high-tech nation was the only way to secure its future.

South Koreans use futuristic technologies that are years away in the United States; companies like Microsoft and Motorola test products here before introducing them in the United States, says the NYT.

According to the NYT., since January, Koreans have been able to watch television broadcasts on cellphones, free, thanks to government-subsidised technology. In April, South Korea will introduce the first nationwide superfast wireless internet service, called WiBro, eventually making it possible for Koreans to remain online on the go — at 10 megabits per second, faster than most conventional broadband connections.

The ewspaper says that South Korea, perhaps more than any other country, is transforming itself through technology. About 17 million of the 48 million South Koreans belong to Cyworld, a web-based service that is a sort of parallel universe where everyone is interconnected through home pages.