EU says had worries on Vista

The European Commission said on Wednesday it told Microsoft that it had competition worries about the firm's new operating system Vista, another antitrust concern that the software giant must answer in Europe.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (29 March) that Microsoft is already embroiled in a long-running battle with Europe's top anti-trust body after the Commission decided in 2004 that the company had abused the dominance of its Windows system and fined it half a billion euros.

``We are concerned about the possibility that the next Vista operating system will include various elements which are currently available separately from Microsoft or other companies,'' Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said.

Reuters reports that the Commission spokesman said although there was no formal investigation into this issue, the Commission expected Microsoft to react. The EU executive will open separate proceedings against the company should it find that the operating system broke competition laws.

{mospagebreaktitle=Microsoft hires EU legal dream team for anti-trust aid - report}Microsoft hires EU legal dream team for anti-trust aid - report

The Register reports (29 March) that Microsoft's legal team has been picking the brains of three former European Union judges in preparation for next month's showdown with the Commission.

According to the publication, having failed to sway the European Commission by invoking the court of public opinion over a potential two-million-a-day euro fine, Microsoft reportedly recruited the judge trio to conduct a mock trial.

The Register says that Microsoft apparently hoped to get its legal team up to speed ahead of this week's grilling. Microsoft must go before the Commission in a final attempt to persuade officials it has complied with a 2004 ruling that ordered it to publish Windows communications protocols as compensation for damage it had caused to competitors.

Nearly two-years after that ruling, Microsoft announced earlier this year it was opening the source code behind the Windows communications protocols.

{mospagebreaktitle=Bluetooth adopts new radio technology}Bluetooth adopts new radio technology

The Bluetooth wireless standard used in cell phones and other small devices will take a leap in transmission speed, broadening its scope to enable high-definition video and files for digital music players like the iPod.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (28 March) that the industry group behind Bluetooth has said that it would boost transfer speeds in the next few years by incorporating a new radio technology, known as ultra-wideband, or UWB.

According to the AP report, currently Bluetooth works only for low-speed uses like headsets and wireless keyboards. UWB, which has yet to appear in consumer devices, enables wireless transmissions at speeds equivalent to USB or FireWire cables at distances up to 10 feet.

AP reports that the first products with high-speed Bluetooth may show up late next year, with wider availability in 2008, said Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

UWB is developed by another industry group, the WiMedia Alliance, which includes Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft.

{mospagebreaktitle=US retakes lead in IT rankings}US retakes lead in IT rankings

The United States has overtaken Singapore and regained the lead in exploiting information and communication technology, according to a study released this week.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times that it is the third time in five years that the United States has topped the rankings in the World Economic Forum's ''networked readiness index,'' based on such factors as quality of math and science education and low telephone and internet pricing.

According to AP.,the US performance was also helped by extensive cooperation between research bodies and business and the ready availability of venture capital, added Soumitra Dutta, another co-editor, working with the French-based international business school INSEAD.

Singapore, which dropped to second place, still performed well largely because of its excellent regulatory environment and world-class levels of education and training, the report said. It is Singapore's fourth consecutive year in the top three.

Reuters reports that Nordic countries maintained their positions near the top of the rankings, with Denmark in third place, followed by Iceland and Finland. Sweden was 8th.

Canada was sixth and Taiwan seventh. Switzerland and the United Kingdom rounded up the top 10. The report covered 115 economies, with Guyana, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Chad and Ethiopia at the bottom.

{mospagebreaktitle=Red Hat profit more than doubles}Red Hat profit more than doubles

Red Hat, a major distributor of open-source Linux software, said yesterday that its quarterly profit more than doubled on the strength of subscription sales from corporate customers.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (29 March) that Red Hat's net profit rose to US$28.7 million, or 13 cents a diluted share, in the fourth quarter, ended 28 Feb., versus US$13.4 million, or 6 cents a share, a year earlier. Fourth-quarter sales totaled US$78.7 million versus US$57.5 million last year.

Analysts, on average, had forecast earnings per share of 12 cents on revenue of US$78.4 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Reuters says that Red Hat provides services for its version of Linux, which can be copied and modified freely, unlike proprietary software like the Windows operating system from Microsoft.

{mospagebreaktitle=US arrests 7 on charges of credit data trading}US arrests 7 on charges of credit data trading

In the US., the Secret Service yesterday announced seven arrests in five states and the District of Columbia as part of a continuing crackdown on online forums where credit card data and other stolen consumer information is routinely traded.

The New York Times reports (29 March) that a total of 21 people have been arrested in the United States and Britain in the last three months in the undercover operation, the agency said.

According to the newspaper, it is the largest federal law enforcement action taken against the thriving online trade in credit card numbers, bank accounts, passwords, personal identification numbers and other data since an earlier effort, Operation Firewall, broke up the largest black market trading board, Shadowcrew.com, in 2004.

Jonathan Cherry, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said the new crackdown, called Operation Rolling Stone, was aimed at "online criminal enterprises that threaten our financial infrastructure."

The NYT reports that the arrests were made in Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, California and Washington on a variety of state and federal charges related to online identity theft, credit card and access device fraud,according to the Secret Service..

{mospagebreaktitle=Yahoo Japan in talks with online bank}Yahoo Japan in talks with online bank

The Yahoo Japan Corporation, the country's most visited web portal, said on Wednesday that it was in talks about a possible alliance with Japan Net Bank, an online bank controlled by the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.

The Bloomberg News reports in The New York Times (29 March) that a Japan Yahoop spokesman said "we're considering an alliance," when responding to an earlier report in Nihon Keizai that Yahoo Japan will take a 30 percent stake in Japan Net.

The reports says that the company Sumitomo Mitsui and Yahoo Japan will create a venture that will buy Sumitomo Mitsui's 57 percent stake in Japan Net. Yahoo Japan will acquire about 50 percent of the company, the newspaper reported.

The two companies could announce the agreement as early as the end of this week, according to the report.

Bloomberg says that Japanese internet companies like Yahoo and Rakuten are looking to offer more financial services to make it easier for customers to buy and sell products online.

And, the report says that Yahoo may intend to offer a payment service that complements its online auctions and shopping services.

{mospagebreaktitle=Apple executive to leave}Apple executive to leave

Avadis Tevanian, former head of Apple Computer's software business, is leaving the company after nearly a decade to pursue other interests, the company said yesterday.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (29 March) that Mr. Tevanian, 44, joined Apple in February 1997 from NeXT, which the company purchased that year. He led the development of the Mac OS X operating system, which made its debut in 2001. It has undergone numerous revisions, but is still Apple's only operating system.

{mospagebreaktitle=Lucent talks raise issue of security}Lucent talks raise issue of security

As merger talks between Lucent and Alcatel continue to advance, attention is turning to the role Lucent's fast-growing work for military and intelligence agencies may play in securing government approval for the trans-Atlantic deal.

The New York Times reports (28 March) that, with a long history of contributing to military efforts like ballistic missile technology and submarine sonar, the famed Bell Labs unit of Lucent is widely expected to become a focal point when the deal is presented to regulators in Washington for approval.

According to the newspaper, though the companies have said that they are discussing a "merger of equals," experts say the deal will probably be treated as an acquisition of an American company by a foreign entity because Alcatel of France is one and a half times the size of Lucent and the combined company will probably be based in Paris.

An Alcatel spokesman said yesterday that the company's board would meet on Thursday, but declined to comment further. People close to the negotiations said the deal could be finished as early as this week, though they said a formal announcement might be pushed into the weekend.

{mospagebreaktitle=US agency exempts most of internet from campaign spending laws}US agency exempts most of internet from campaign spending laws

In the US., the Federal Election Commission ruled unanimously Monday that political communication on the internet, including web logs, setting up Web sites and e-mail, was not regulated by campaign finance laws.

The New York Times reports that the commission, in a 6-to-0 decision, also ruled that paid political advertisements placed on Web sites were covered by the 2002 campaign finance law, which includes restrictions on spending and contributions and bars corporations and unions from using their treasuries to purchase Web advertisements.

The newspaper says that the decision marked a significant step in the rapid evolution of the internet '” and, in particular, web logs '” as a force in American politics.

The commission ruling came two years after it had decided that all internet activity was exempt from the campaign finance laws, reports the NYT. That ruling was challenged by Congressional sponsors of the law, and a federal judge upheld that suit, ordering the commission to write rules to apply the 2002 law to the internet.

The NYT report says that the commission ruled that the law applied to paid political advertisements, but offered a broad exemption for all other internet political activity, conducted by individuals or groups, even in direct coordination with a candidate.