A few days ago I noticed that the Yahoo home page had changed:
If you notice, suddenly there’s a “Start on Yahoo” link to the left of their logo. Put this in combination with the news about the Yahoo Instant Messenger “upgrade” which takes a page straight out of the spyware creators, and forces the installation of the Yahoo search bar, changes the default search and home page, and scans your IM
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With the launch of Google Talk, Google has simultaneously jumped into the instant messaging and VOIP marketplace.
With a slick, simple signature Google style interface - it is a nice-looking, unobtrusive piece of software. It even includes the GMail notifier, which means that you aren’t adding another program to your start-up list so much as switching one for another.
The one feature I can’t
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Google has rethought their desktop search tool and attempted to create an all-around useful tool, called Google Sidebar.
The new Sidebar integrates a RSS reader, new mail notifier (works with Gmail and Outlook), custom weather, custom news headlines, custom stocks, image search, and Quick view - a list of frequently viewed documents and files, and, perhaps, the handiest feature - a little scratch
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Google definitely seems to be shuffling out a new index, and some of the changes seen in Google Update Bourbon seem to have been rolled back.
The main thing I’ve noticed so far is that one of my sites that has had a double listing for years, and lost it in Bourbon has suddenly shown up in its serps with a double listing again.
Since this is the 3rd Google update of 2005, (the previous two were
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Recently Yahoo announced that their index now contained over 20 billion “web objects”, specifically 19.2 billion web documents, 1.6 billion images, and over 50 million audio and video files.
At first this number was blithely accepted, but within hours, the impact began to sink in… 20 billion is a lot, and far outstrips Google’s current claim of 8,168,684,336 web pages. Google pushed past the 8
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Advanced Micro Devices hopes that game enthusiasts will soon be snatching up laptops built on two new mobile processors that the chipmaker introduced Monday.
The Turion MT-40 and MT-37 chips are available to PC makers for $359 and $268, respectively, in bulk amounts. Longtime AMD supporter VoodooPC has already pledged to use the two chips in a pair of laptops outfitted specially for people who take their video games seriously. Other notebook manufacturers that favor AMD, such as Acer, are expected to follow suit.
AMD now has 12 64-bit Turion processors available for thinner and lighter notebooks, including three ML-series and seven MT-series chips. AMD designed the Turion series to use less battery power than its Athlon Mobile series, which the chipmaker reserves for desktop replacement models.
Read The Rest Here
more…Remixed versions of Windows abound on file-sharing networks, supercharged with the latest security patches, tools and applications.
Pirated copies of Microsoft’s operating system have existed as long as chintzy PC owners themselves. But now pirates are doing more than just cracking Windows — they claim to be improving it.
There’s a lot of extra space on a standard Windows XP CD, especially if the downloadable disc images (the standard format for distributing pirated operating systems) are designed to be burned to DVD. That leaves room to add a whole library of complementary software — even multiple versions of Windows.
Read The Rest Here Wired News
Celebrating the dawn of a new era in entertainment, millions of game fanatics around the globe came together tonight for the televised unveiling of the Xbox 360⢠future-generation game and entertainment system from Microsoft. An audience of millions watched âMTV Presents: The Next-Generation Xbox Revealedâ as celebrities, professional athletes, musicians and Xbox officials took the wraps off the much-anticipated system, ending months of intense speculation and satiating consumers worldwide.
The new Xbox 360 system places players at the center of powerful next-generation games and entertainment experiences. The elegant design features a breakthrough wireless controller and an array of Faces, interchangeable faceplates that let gamers personalize their console. The unveiling spotlighted some of the groundbreaking games in development for the new Xbox 360 system, advancements for the Xbox Live⢠service â the only unified console gaming serviceâ and new digital media experiences that only Xbox 360 can deliver.
Read The Rest Here
NEW YORK (AP) — A computer problem at an unidentified stock trader caused erroneous, exaggerated prices — some as high as $950 per share — to be posted to the Nasdaq Stock Market Friday morning for 1,680 different stocks, a spokeswoman for the Nasdaq said.
The Nasdaq said trades using possibly incorrect occurred in 184 stocks between 9:19 a.m. and 9:40 a.m., when the problem occurred. Those transactions, which were made 15 percent above or below the previous day’s closing price, will be “broken” — the buyer will get his or her money back, and the stock will revert to the seller.
Read The Rest Here
Intel unveils some architectural details of the upcoming dual core processors. The new processor looks a lot like two Pentium 4’s in a single package, but with some important differences.
Read The Rest Here
NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s mobile phone giant, said Friday that it has achieved a 1 Gbps download rate for mobile phone data on a laboratory 4G (or fourth generation) network. The company says it will take the technology into field trials next year.
Figures like this are a little misleading, but still somewhere in the realm of jaw-dropping. Most United States phone operators have yet to reach 3G network speeds of a few hundred kilobits per second. For that matter, most U.S. DSL and cable operators only offer a few megabits per second over their broadband services, as compared to 10 mbps, 25 mpbs, or even 100 mbps common in Japan and Korea.
Japanese regulators are paving the way for commercial 4G service by 2010. If this kind of technology becomes feasible, we can say goodbye to wired broadband.
Taken From News.Com
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SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp on Monday unveiled a new, preliminary version of its search tool for finding documents, e-mail and other files stored on personal computer hard drives.
The roll-out by the world’s largest software maker comes as its rivals in the search arena, Google Inc and Yahoo Inc. are also introducing desktop search tools to attract more users to their search-related services.
“Our ambition for search is to provide the ultimate information tool that can find anything you’re looking for,” Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president at the software giant’s MSN Internet division, told reporters.
Microsoft is deploying its new desktop search tool through a set of different toolbars that can be installed on the Windows desktop, the Internet Explorer browser and within Office Outlook, the e-mail, contacts and scheduling program.
The toolbar suite, which was launched in beta, or test, mode on Monday, can be downloaded from beta.toolbar.msn.com.
Read The Rest Here Yahoo News
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Both companies said they will begin shipping microprocessors that use the technology, called dual-stress strained silicon, early next year. The advance costs little to install in factories and boosts transistor performance by about 12 percent, compared with current straining technologies, they said.
In the process, silicon is chemically stretched or strained, which improves the flow of electrons.
“We have succeeded in building a better mousetrap, but doing it by innovating with the conventional materials,” said Nick Kepler, the vice president of logic technology development at AMD.
Chip makers have turned to more exotic materials and processes to keep up with Moore’s Law, the industry tenet which holds that chip performance increases exponentially because the number of transistors on a chip doubles every 18 months.
Read The Rest Here Yahoo News
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Well for the past 2 days i have been playing the hell out of Halo 2, It launched at 12:01 AM EST On November 9 2004.
I was in line at a EB Store waiting to get my hands on one (Check Out The Pictures From The Launch at MidNight Madness At EB).
It was all worth the wait. Great game play, Awesome Graphics, And the online Play is fantastic.
Don’t Just Take My Word For It, Look at what other people have been saying.
Get ready for the ride of your life, the greatest Xbox game of all time has arrived. (IGN.COM)
From the opening cutscene, all the way through to the end of the game, the folks at Bungie have crafted a tale that grabs you by throat and never lets go. (GameSpy.Com)
Halo 2 takes a formidable action legacy and adds a new arsenal, extended storylines, and a multiplayer online challenge. (GamePro.Com)
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LONDON (Reuters) - A file-sharing program called BitTorrent has become a behemoth, devouring more than a third of the Internet’s bandwidth, and Hollywood’s copyright cops are taking notice.
For those who know where to look, there’s a wealth of content, both legal such as hip-hop from the Beastie Boys and video game promos and illicit, including a wide range of TV shows, computer games and movies.
Average users are taking advantage of the software’s ability to cheaply spread files around the Internet. For example, when comedian Jon Stewart made an incendiary appearance on CNN’s political talk show “Crossfire,” thousands used BitTorrent to share the much-discussed video segment.
Even as lawsuits from music companies have driven people away from peer-to-peer programs like KaZaa, BitTorrent has thus far avoided the ire of groups such as the Motion Picture Association of America. But as BitTorrent’s popularity grows, the service could become a target for copyright lawsuits.
According to British Web analysis firm CacheLogic, BitTorrent accounts for an astounding 35 percent of all the traffic on the Internet more than all other peer-to-peer programs combined and dwarfs mainstream traffic like Web pages.
My Take On This —- THEY CAN ONLY SLOW UP DOWN!!! — THEY CAN NEVER STOP US!!!!
Read The Rest Of The Story Here Yahoo News
more…DALLAS - Advance copies of the aliens-versus-space marines video game “Halo 2″ have already fetched as much as $265 on Internet auction site eBay, days before the official launch.
The $50 Xbox game, Microsoft Corp.’s flagship title, doesn’t officially go on sale until Tuesday.
But in one eBay auction, an in-hand copy of the $55 special edition “Halo 2″, which includes special packaging and a bonus DVD, sold Thursday for $265.
In a statement, Microsoft would only say it has been “working really hard to keep the ‘Halo 2′ plot twists a secret so everyone can have an equal opportunity to enjoy them. That will happen when the game officially goes on sale at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, November 9.”
In the game, players once again assume the role of super soldier Master Chief as he and fellow combatants try to thwart an alien invasion of earth.
Reports that copies had been sold at a few stores owned by Midwest retail chain Meijer Inc. were denied by company spokesman John Zimmerman. “There is absolutely no truth to that at all,” he said.
Last month, a pirated, French-language version of “Halo 2″ appeared on file-sharing networks and news groups. Microsoft said it continues to investigate that case and is working with authorities to track down those responsible. It’s unclear how the breach occurred.
The problems apparently haven’t affected sales: more than 1.5 million copies of the game have been pre-ordered.
Taken From Yahoo News
If You Would Like To Also Bid On The Halo 2 Game Click Here EBay
more…Here Is The Top 15
01. Tiesto02. Paul van Dyk03. Armin van Buuren04. Sasha05. Ferry Corsten06. Hernan Cattaneo07. Christopher Lawrence08. John Digweed09. Paul Oakenfold10. Deep Dish11. Carl Cox12. Sander Kleinenberg13. ATB14. Judge Jules15. James Zabiela
If You Want To See 16-100 Click Here DJ Mag
Music lovers checking into fine hotels may want to ask the front desk about the latest trend in upscale amenities: in-room iPods.
Dream, a new Manhattan four-star, is one of the latest boutique hotels to offer guests the use of Apple’s popular music gadget during their stay. The iPods come preloaded with as many as 2,000 songs and are available for each of the Dream’s 200 rooms, said Dream spokesman Andy Patrizia.
The music players, available from the concierge, come with a special cable that plugs into the Bose speakers in each room, he said. The rooms also feature 37-inch plasma televisions, digital cable and 300-count Egyptian cotton sheets. The luxuries don’t come cheap of course. The Dream’s rates range from $275 to $575 a night. A 20GB iPod costs $299.
Out West, The Crescent in Beverly Hills features an iPod Music Minibar in each room. The 40-room hotel, which has a lounge-bar theme, introduced the gadgets, and installed speakers, last year. The devices there also come preloaded with music, with a focus on jazz, lounge and electronica.
Read The Rest of The Story Here CNET News
SEATTLE - Criticized for a program that only provided some of its largest customers with warnings on security problems in its products, Microsoft Corp. now says it will give all computer users early word on such issues
Beginning this month, the Redmond software giant will make public in advance how many security fixes it plans to release in its regular monthly bulletin, how severe the problems are and what products are affected.
Microsoft typically releases security patches on the second Tuesday of each month, with the early warnings posted on its security Web site the previous Thursday.
Beginning in December, Microsoft also will let people sign up to receive e-mail notifications.
On the Net:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/default.mspx
Taken From Yahoo News
“If you, like most of us, enjoy making smart comments about security practices, someone inevitably replies with, “Yes, but what’s the threat model?”" more…
“Colossus was arguably* the first computer ever built…” more…
“Coming soon to your inbox: email authentication” more…
“Creating Automagical Encryption with New PGP Products” more…
“coming soon: passports to broadcast personal data” more…
“Cryptographers Serge Mister and Robert Zuccherato from Entrust released a paper outlining an attack on the way OpenPGP does symmetric cryptography” more…
“Those wonderful folks at Google have a knack for coming up with
useful things that bring to light security situations that existed before,
but we might not have been aware of, ignored, or just lived with…” more…
“At this year’s Crypto conference (held at the University of California
, Santa Barbara), there was a good deal of excitement about mathematical
functions called hash functions.” more…
“One of the fundamental changes the PGP Universal architecture brings to
email security is the ability to work without plug-ins.” more…
“The U.S. District Court in Boston recently ruled that just about anyone
can read your email for just about any reason with impunity.” more…
Wired News: India Emerges as Innovation Hub: “Generations of Indians have grown up recounting jokes about how the only contribution their nation has made to the world is the invention of zero. Innovation was something other people did.
That’s no longer the case. At research labs across the country, Indians are creating technologies specifically designed for the nation’s multilingual masses and its poor.”
more…
Tiny L.E.D.’s Grow Into Mighty Theatrical Lights
“As light-emitting diodes move toward the brightness of
incandescent light bulbs, they are developing heat buildup,
a problem that has long plagued their well-established
rival.
But this week, Lamina Ceramics will introduce an L.E.D.
array with heat-reduction technology that allows it to be
as bright as a theatrical light without risking an
electronic meltdown….
my Blog @ anduril.ca: The Willard Preacher
While I prefer preaching to be done in coordination with local churches and I prefer a balanced blend of law and gospel, I appreciate that freedom of religious speech still exists at Penn State University. The message of the Chrisitian gospel remains offensive to those unwilling to face its meaning. Despite its many existing expressions, the gospel of Jesus Christ remains the most squelched and censored message on the planet. I’m glad that freedom remains at Penn State.
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Leaders make meaning.
Heart, Mind and Story to trump Technical Craft…quoting quotes from Tom Peters…
“Leaders don’t just make products and make decisions. Leaders make meaning.”—John Seely Brown, Xerox PARC
“We are in the twilight of a society based on data. As information and intelligence become the domain of computers, society will place more value on the one human ability that cannot be automated: emotion. Imagination, myth, ritual—the language of emotion—will affect everything from our purchasing decisions to how we work with others. Companies will thrive on the basis of their stories and myths. Companies will need to understand that their products are less important than their stories.”—Rolf Jensen, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies
“The past few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind—computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind—creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people—artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers—will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.”—Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind
Google to unveil desktop search. To Google-search a keyword seems to have become a verb in the American vernacular. It looks like Google search is getting ready to take on a new reach. It remains to be seen what the impacts of Google desktop search will be on privacy and security.
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Hitachi, Toshiba Show Portable Fuel Cells - Devices to power to PDAs, cell phones, and laptops could be available next year.
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Baseline magazine has an interesting article about organizations reducing the number of their applications. Fewer applications in an organization means less cost and greater simplicity and greater integration.
A new paradigm to some is that the computer is now a peripheral device. The
heart of a system is its data storage repository. The system is where the
data is. With n-tier architectures, multiple servers and multiple clients
can point to a single data storage repository. In data storage, one logical
storage repository may consistent of multiple, physical storage devices.
This morning, I discovered a great compilation of primary sources for US history including much from western European history that provided a foundation. The compilation carries a title of The American Colonist’s Library. I had found the site by doing a Google search and being referred to George Washington’s Prayer Journal there.
Business Week - October 11, 2004 - How to Fire Up The Innovation Machine - “In the years since the magazine was founded in September, 1929, technological and scientific breakthroughs have given us jet travel, antibiotics, computers, high-yield crops, television, space exploration, the Internet, genomics, cell phones, and a host of other advances……..In what is fast becoming an era of ubiquitous invention, low-cost production, and international distribution, success increasingly goes to those companies who focus on creating better things WITH their customers, not FOR them”. (Emphasis mine)……. Creating WITH your customer…sounds like Tom Peters.
EasyReach provides a remote desktop search service that enables you to instantly find any file or e-mail on your work and home PCs using a BlackBerry, smart phone or internet browser. The company was started by John W. Stossel in April 2005, who previous founded Dry Creek Software that he sold to Intellisync. Through the company’s acquisition, he became an executive at Intellisync, ironic seeing how they are a competitor of RIM. Even though they have a HTML client, their main focus is the Blackberry.
The California company since now has been totally funded by angel investors, a testament to the investor’s confidence of the Blackberry becoming a profitable platform. Next year will be a good indicator on whether the Blackberry will entice developers to the platform. With the 8700 that comes with an Intel 312mhz processor and EDGE there are no more excuses of Blackberrys being slow.
To learn more about EasyReach visit their website:
http://www.easyreach.com
Today we will be examining the phone feature of the new 8700. The 8700 is the first full QWERTY Blackberry that contains a dedicated send and end call buttons. Prior to the 8700, the 7100 were the only devices that had dedicated call buttons. One other small change we’ve seen is with the conference calling, with prior phones you needed to put the first call on ‘Hold’ then place a call, now you can just place a call and the person will automatically put on hold. A feature still lacking is voice dailing, which is like a 5 year old technology but for some reason RIM thinks that people don’t need it.
Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless have jointly announced that Qualcomm and its subsidiary MediaFLO are working together to launch mobile TV services over the MediaFLO network in approximately half of the markets already covered by Verizon Wireless’ CDMA2000 1xEV-DO-based broadband network. Verizon Wireless will be the first U.S. wireless service provider to offer MediaFLO when the network is commercially available.
Following the initial launch, Qualcomm and MediaFLO will continue to expand the MediaFLO network throughout other markets that cover the Verizon Wireless’ V CAST and BroadbandAccess service areas. Verizon Wireless plans to offer mobile TV service to its subscribers through MediaFLO-enabled EV-DO handsets and use the MediaFLO network to deliver mobile TV services when the network begins commercial operation.
“MediaFLO USA’s network will allow us to provide compelling real-time multimedia services to wireless customers, complementing our industry-leading wireless voice and data services — including our successful V CAST broadband multimedia service,” said John Stratton, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “As we aggressively expand our mobile multimedia offerings, MediaFLO will help us continue providing the most innovative multimedia services in the nation.”
The nationwide network, based on Qualcomm’s FLO technology and using the MediaFLO Media Distribution System, will deliver multimedia content to mobile devices in the 700 MHz spectrum for which Qualcomm holds licenses with a nationwide footprint.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. moved a step forward in challenging one of the patents at issue in a major infringement case against the company. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a “non-final action” rejecting all the claims supporting one of five key patents in the BlackBerry dispute, according to a document posted on the patent office’s Web site.
The patents being challenged by RIM are at the center of a long-running legal battle with patent holding company NTP Inc. that could force RIM to settle the case or face a court-ordered shutdown of most U.S. BlackBerry sales and service. In the November 30 document posted on the patent office’s Web site, an examiner said NTP’s arguments in defense of one of the patents had been deemed “non-persuasive.” The examiner stopped short of a final rejection pending review of a European report.
However, patent attorneys caution that at this stage the patent office findings are only the beginning of a long appeal process that will likely stretch out months or even years.
The patents at issue cover wireless e-mail technology.
In 2003 a federal court ruled that RIM had infringed the NTP patents. Subsequent appeals by RIM have failed to stop the case, and a tentative settlement reached earlier this year broke down after the two sides failed to agree on details. On Wednesday, the presiding judge in the case refused to delay the case or enforce the failed settlement. He is expected to hold a hearing soon on a possible injunction forcing RIM to cease using NTP’s technology.
U.S. District Judge James Spencer has refused to put the case on hold pending the patent office review.
Representatives for NTP and RIM had no immediate comment on the document posted on Thursday.
Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM has welcomed earlier U.S. patent office findings against the NTP patent claims, saying they uphold its contention that the patents are not valid.
With the news of Judge Spencer refusal to enforce the previous disputed patent deal, the media has sensationalized the event with headlines of doom and gloom for RIM. The New York Daily News writes ‘Blackberry may get axe on E-mail’ and it’s even worst on the Blogosphere with less informed people exagerating the event. All this news tells us is that NTP is in for a larger pay day then the previous expected $450 million once agreed upon but later dissolved after the parties couldn’t agree on the terms.
Both RIM and NTP have reasons why there shouldn’t be a shutdown of Blackberry services in the US. First of all, NTP is a patent holding company, they have no actual real life competing product. Palm would probably have the most to gained with a Blackberry injunction, and others agree seeing how the stock rosed 5.3 percent on the news. NTP also doesn’t want to make any enemies with the Federal Government which heavily rely on Blackberrys. It was only after The U.S. Department of Justice waded into the patent case that NTP agreed that any shutdown of the BlackBerry will not affect government customers or emergency response personnel.
RIM has also made public that they have a working work-around that bypasses all the NTP patents. So if the Blackberry services gets shutdown, and that’s a big if, they have a strategy. However any work around would be closely examined by NTP and it would probably instigate another patent dispute case which none of them want. Our prediction is that RIM and NTP will settle for a huge amount, possibly in the 1 billion range so that both parties can move on from the case that has latest for 5 years.
Today we’re going to look at the messaging feature for the new 8700. As you may have guessed the messaging feature hasn’t changed much seeing how it’s the most mature part of RIM’s technology. Most of the upgrades are on the BES side, including PIN and SMS messaging logs so no more insider trading via PIN to PIN messages and enterprise messaging with IBM Sametime, Windows Messenger, and Novell Groupwise Messenger.
Simply Wireless today announced it is offering consumers a free iPod Shuffle with the purchase of a BlackBerry device. This offer runs through Dec. 31, 2005. This special promotion from Simply Wireless is available to consumers through the company’s 50 retail stores in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia and online at http://www.SimplyWireless.com.
Steven Qureshi, President and CEO of Simply Wireless, said, “Simply Wireless is very pleased to be working with Research In Motion. This allows us to bring best-in-class wireless devices to our customers.”
“BlackBerry has become a necessary tool for doing business,” added Qureshi. “With the holidays upon us, this promotion could not have come at a better time for us to help consumers better equip themselves for business in the New Year.” Founded in 1997, Simply Wireless is a leading national provider of wireless technology for consumers and business, offering Cingular, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile as carrier choices.
he U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a ruling today in the patent litigation between Research In Motion Limited and NTP, Inc. The District Court ruled that the Term Sheet entered between the parties in March 2005 to settle the litigation was not an enforceable agreement. Other details of the ruling were filed under seal by the District Court, therefore RIM cannot comment further on the details of the decision. The District Court also denied RIM’s motion to stay further proceedings in the case until the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office reaches a final determination in its reexamination of the NTP patents. As a result of today’s rulings, further proceedings will continue in the District Court.
The District Court will set up a briefing schedule and hearing date at a later time for further proceedings in the case based on the remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Federal Circuit decision of August 2, 2005 vacated the injunction and damages award originally entered as a result of the District Court trial in 2002 and remanded the case to the District Court for further proceedings. The Federal Circuit decision also reversed or vacated the infringement finding on 9 of the 16 litigated patent claims.
As previously disclosed, RIM will file a request that the U.S. Supreme Court accept an appeal of the Federal Circuit’s August 2, 2005 decision in relation to its affirmation of infringement on 7 litigated patent claims. The process by which the Supreme Court will decide whether to hear the case is expected to occur over the next few months. While further review by the Supreme Court is generally uncommon, RIM continues to believe this case raises significant national and international issues warranting further appellate review.
During the upcoming proceedings, the District Court will be asked to decide a variety of matters relating to the litigation, including the impact of the Federal Circuit’s reversal of infringement findings on issues of liability and damages. RIM also expects NTP to ask the District Court to enter a new injunction prohibiting RIM from providing BlackBerry service and from using, selling, manufacturing or importing its handhelds and software in the United States. The District Court will schedule briefings and a hearing prior to deciding each of these matters. RIM maintains that an injunction is inappropriate given the specific facts of this case, including:
* the outright rejection of all NTP patent claims in rigorous initial Office Actions* already issued by the Patent Office;
* the fact that the Patent Office is expected to begin issuing its next Office Actions (which will take into account NTP’s responses to the initial Office Actions) in the coming weeks;
* RIM’s upcoming request for Supreme Court review;
* the Supreme Court’s November 28 decision to hear the appeal in the case of MercExchange v. eBay on questions relating to the propriety of injunctions in patent litigation; and
* public interest concerns relating to any potential suspension or interruption of BlackBerry service in the United States.
RIM believes these factors should hold significant weight in any decisions relating to an injunction, however it will ultimately be up to the courts to decide these matters and there can never be an assurance of a favorable outcome in any litigation.
As a contingency, RIM has also been preparing software workaround designs which it intends to implement if necessary to maintain the operation of BlackBerry services in the United States. Further details will be made available if such implementation becomes necessary.
RIM is reviewing any potential accounting implications of the latest developments and will provide a further update as soon as practicable.
* The rejections of NTP patents in the initial Office Actions issued by the Patent Office were based in part on prior art not considered in the District Court trial in 2002 and were derived through a recently improved Patent Office process whereby reexamination decisions now require thorough review and unanimous agreement from a panel of supervisors and senior patent examiners (see press release titled “USPTO IMPROVES PROCESS FOR REVIEWING PATENTS” at http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/speeches/05-38.htm).
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. was dealt another legal setback in a key patent infringement case on Wednesday, raising pressure to settle or face a possible shutdown of its U.S. mobile e-mail service. U.S. District Judge James Spencer rejected RIM’s request to delay the case and refused to enforce a disputed, $450 million settlement with patent holder NTP Inc.
“Valid patents would be rendered meaningless if an infringing party were allowed to circumvent the patents’ enforcement by incessantly delaying and prolonging court proceedings, which have already resulted in a finding of infringement,” Spencer said in his ruling from Richmond, Va.
Spencer said he would request briefs and set a hearing date to deal with NTP’s request for damages against RIM and an injunction that would halt U.S. sales of the BlackBerry and shut its service. RIM shares, halted for the news, reopened down as much as 7.92 percent before recovering slightly to a decline of 5.2 percent at $61.55 on Nasdaq. RIM said in a statement that it would continue efforts to get the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. The company also reiterated that it has prepared a software upgrade that can be used to work around the disputed patents.
However, Kona Shio, an analyst with research firm Conscius Capital Partners in Montreal, said the rulings increased pressure on RIM to settle the case, even though a deal with NTP could cost the company more than $1 billion at this point.
“I don’t think RIM wants to take it all the way to an injunction, so the likelihood is that they are going to settle before that happens,” Shio said.
NTP’s lawyer, James Wallace, also raised the possibility of renewing settlement talks. “We would hope today’s developments would bring the parties back to the table,” he said.
Analysts also said the uncertainty hanging over the BlackBerry could give a boost to alternative mobile e-mail devices like Palm Inc.’s (NasdaqNM:PALM - News) Treo 650 smartphone. Spencer issued an injunction against RIM in 2003 after NTP successfully sued the company in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia, but the ruling was stayed pending appeal. An appeals court in August scaled back the infringement ruling against RIM but upheld some of NTP’s patent infringement claims.
Spencer must still determine what effect, if any, the appeals court ruling should have on the injunction and damages being sought by NTP.
U.S. Cellular today announced that it is working with Research In Motion to bring BlackBerry to its customers. U.S. Cellular will offer the BlackBerry 7250 Wireless Handheld with support for both BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Internet Service. U.S. Cellular customers will be able to access their e-mail on the same seamless, high-quality network that brings them voice services today. Customers will have access to a comprehensive mobile e-mail, voice, web browsing and data communications solution with advanced security and manageability.
“We are always searching for ways to help busy customers stay connected so that they can be more productive,” said Alan D. Ferber, vice president of marketing and sales operations for U.S. Cellular. “The BlackBerry wireless solution is proven and popular, particularly among business users. And by combining BlackBerry with U.S. Cellular’s powerful digital network and unparalleled voice services, we will provide our customers with a leading wireless solution for their mobile needs.”
“BlackBerry helps people manage their personal and professional lives more effectively by turning ‘idle time’ into productive time,” said Mark Guibert, Vice President Corporate Marketing at Research In Motion. “We are very pleased to introduce the benefits of the BlackBerry solution to U.S. Cellular customers.”
The BlackBerry 7250 Wireless Handheld combines mobile text messaging and high-clarity voice calls, and gives users the ability to stay connected and remain productive in or out of the office. The device’s ergonomic design is highlighted by a large screen and full QWERTY keyboard. The 7250 also includes Bluetooth® technology, for use with wireless headsets and hands-free car kits.
For corporate customers, BlackBerry Enterprise Server tightly integrates with Microsoft® Exchange, Novell GroupWise(TM) and IBM Lotus® Domino(TM) and works with existing enterprise systems to enable secure, push-based, wireless access to e-mail and other corporate data. For individuals and smaller businesses, BlackBerry Internet Service allows users to access up to ten supported corporate and personal email accounts (including Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, and most popular ISP email accounts) from a single device.
“The combination of voice, e-mail and web technologies in a single device gives customers a powerful tool to stay connected all the time,” explained Ferber. “Whether sitting at the airport or at the soccer field, U.S. Cellular customers can now remain connected while on the go.”
BlackBerry from U.S. Cellular® will be available for $44.95 per month (e-mail and web services only) or $39.95 per month (when combined with an eligible U.S. Cellular voice plan).
BlackBerry from U.S. Cellular is supported by the experience and service customers have come to expect from U.S. Cellular, including a new dedicated customer service troubleshooting line. For more information on U.S. Cellular’s phones, plans and accessories, visit www.uscellular.com.
Another line item on the corporate advertising budget for media has increasingly been devoted to online ad spending.
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20051202GoogleVPSaysOnlineAdSpendsBudgeted.html more…
I was on the PBS NewsHour yesterday. Transcript is here…….
http://feeds.feedburner.com/RevenewsSEMAndPPCCoverage?m=4567 more…
Behave differently, and Yahoo will serve up a different advertisement, as the company implements a heavier focus on what people visit in their network.
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20051202BehaveOneWayAndGetAYahooAd.html more…
I have been on a rampage, asking people their thoughts and gathering data on exactly how much traffic WebmasterWorld forums. You all know about WebmasterWorld Banning Search Engine Bots from Crawling its site, it was a tough decision I… more…
Technophile Japanese buyers of portable media players may have received a break as a government committee declined to support a proposed tax.
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20051202NoiPodTaxForJapan.html more…
Technically, it makes sense that if you have your AdSense account under your personal SSN and then you start a business and want to switch that account to the business - you will need to open a new account. Why?…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/RevenewsSEMAndPPCCoverage?m=4569 more…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/RevenewsAffiliateMarketingCoverage?m=887 more…
The PC desktop search utility gets another entrant to the field, as video search company Blinkx has partnered with the Times Online to present the Desktop Smart Search service.
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20051202BlinkxTimesOnlineUKOfferDesktopSearch.html more…
Remember this riff? He’s back, with a riff on the concept of the Universal Library. Honestly, I’m not as enamored of this piece, but at the core, I think Dyson is arguing that Google is, in fact, actively laying down the foundation of the first AI. Exahaaaaaaaaale. (Of course, I argue as much in my… more…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/RevenewsAffiliateMarketingCoverage?m=885 more…
Admit it, you dream about PageRank, how to improve yours, why some attempts to improve it work while others leave you wondering why your site vanished from Google for the third time in eight months.
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20051201ACollectedGooglePageRankPrimer.html more…
A couple days ago MSN blogged Come Visit the MSN Search Team where they are inviting you to fill out an application. They will review all applications submitted and then invite those who they feel most qualified, to a fully…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/RevenewsSEMAndPPCCoverage?m=4574 more…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/RevenewsAffiliateMarketingCoverage?m=886 more…
AAAAAAHHHHHH! That was my big sigh of relief. The January/February issue is finally done and on it?s way to the printer. The issue commemorates Revenue?s second anniversary by looking at the state of online marketing.
As part of that coverage I asked industry leaders, gurus, experts, affiliates… more…
Here’s something to be aware of if you are using unmanaged STL collections within .NET: Craig, a new member of our development team, found some interesting behavior when catching stack overflow exceptions from C++.
Craig was working on an managed assembly using a STL collection that had been wrapped with a C++ managed wrapper. The managed wrapper had a method which recursively navigated through all the outward bound references of the object, inserting objects into the unmanaged STL collection. As you can probably guess, deep navigations of objects with many out references could cause a stack overflow. The STL collection was throwing a StackOverflowException, and all of the TRY/CATCH blocks in managed code were being ignored, no matter how global the exception handlers were.
I would have thought that a normal exception handler could handle this scenario. However, he reports that stack overflow exceptions can only be caught by structured exception handlers. Normal C++ exception handlers or managed exception handlers will totally ignore the stack overflow exception.
There are solutions to this, such as putting structured exception handlers that either rethrow a System.StackOverflowException or attempt to handle it in the __except block.
My friend Cappy posted about how to customize the ‘Add New Item’ dialog in VS.NET 2005. This is really handy! more…
I’ve recently been looking at .NET reflection, and was not completely surprised that most of the examples out there used simple console applications. I wanted to share some examples I found which show more complex uses of reflection. Feel free to add links to your own examples to the comments on this post.