Tuesday Tech News
Poster: Aron Schatz
Posted on March 8, 2005 at 5:44:59 PM
Free music and free players from Napster. As a promotion.
Microsoft slow to create interoperability code in its own products.
Ohio pushes for eBay Licensing.
VoIP Cell Phones. The already crappy cellular calling meets the crappiness of the Internet, a perfect match.
Think Secret vs Apple, Toss it out.
Quote
Napster To Go allows customers to move an unlimited number of tracks from Napster's catalog of 1 million songs to any compatible MP3 player, though the songs are playable only as long as the user keeps paying a monthly subscription fee of $14.95. The service was launched in February, as part of Napster's bid to take share away from Apple Comupter's iTunes, the market leader. The free offer will be available at venues in Austin, Texas; Los Angeles; New York; and Nashville, Tenn. The company said it will offer free music along with music players from iRiver, Creative and Dell. Click here for details on the venues and dates.
Microsoft slow to create interoperability code in its own products.
Quote
At its annual Convergence conference here on Monday, Microsoft laid out a plan that will get the company there--eventually. Befitting the event's coastal California locale, Microsoft Senior Vice President Doug Burgum laid out a plan where the commonality will come to the disparate products in a series of waves.
Ohio pushes for eBay Licensing.
Quote
Besides costing $200 and posting a $50,000 bond, the license requires a one-year apprenticeship to a licensed auctioneer, acting as a bid-caller in 12 auctions, attending an approved auction school, passing a written and oral exam. Failure to get a license could result in the seller being fined up to $1,000 and jailed for a maximum of 90 days.
VoIP Cell Phones. The already crappy cellular calling meets the crappiness of the Internet, a perfect match.
Quote
The pairing is further evidence of the collision course of cell phones and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which is software that lets a broadband connection also act as a phone line. VoIP has already replaced about a million traditional wireline home phones, and is growing at a rate of about 7 million new home lines a year, according to some analysts. For cell phone operators, VoIP is a likely add-on to wireless broadband services, another avenue of attack the Bell operators stranglehold on the home phone market.
Think Secret vs Apple, Toss it out.
Quote
Lawyers for Think Secret publisher Nick Ciarelli are asking a judge to throw out an Apple Computer lawsuit that charges the Mac enthusiast site withh violating trade secret law in reporting details about an unreleased audio device. In support of its motion to dismiss, Think Secret has filed statements from journalism professor Thomas Goldstein of the University of California at Berkeley and former San Jose Mercury News columnist Dan Gillmor, discussing the First Amendment implications of the case.