July 2001 Technology Updates
1. Napster gets licensing deal
Napster, the popular online filing sharing service, entered into a licensing deal with three of the five major record labels on June 5, 2001. Under the agreement Napster will become an affiliate of MusicNet. Warner Music, BMG, and EMI created MusicNet as means of providing digital music online in a legal manner. Napster will be able to use the labels' song catalog when it creates a new secure pay site later this summer.
In an interesting twist to the agreement, the music labels are suing Napster for billions of dollars in lost royalties due to copyright violations. In addition, Bertelsmann, BMG's parent company, has invested millions in Napster. Since a court ruled that Napster must filter copyrighted songs from its service the number of songs traded via Napster has fallen about 90 percent.
For more information click on the links below:
2. PC Tips - Connecting your computer to your stereo
If you enjoy listening to CDs or .mp3 files on your computer, but don't like the way your small computer speakers sound, try connecting your computer to your stereo. Just follow these steps:
- You will need either a 1/8" stereo (male) to RCA (male) cable or a 1/8" stereo to RCA cable adapter and extra RCA cable. You can purchase these at your local electronics store (e.g., Radio Shack).
- On the back of your computer locate the plugs for your sound card and identify the output plug.
- Plug the 1/8" jack into the output plug.
- On the back of your stereo receiver find a set of input plugs that are not in use (plus labeled either line in or aux are good choices). If you do not have an empty set of plugs you will need to unplug one of your stereo components.
- Plus the RCA type plugs into the back of your stereo.
- To listen to a CD, place the CD in your CD-ROM drive. Then click Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Entertainment -> CD player. Be sure your stereo receiver is on and you have selected the correct device.
3. Internet phones get virus
A virus has struck Internet-enabled mobile phones in Japan. The virus targets users of DoCoMo's i-mode service, which provides Web access and e-mail via an always-on wireless connection. The virus is delivered as an e-mail which can take over the phone's basic functions when opened. On most phones the virus dials 110 (Japan's emergency number, equivalent to 911 in the U.S.). In other variations of the virus the phone may start dialing random number or just freeze up. Unlike many traditional e-mail viruses, the DoCoMo virus does not come attached to the e-mail. Instead it is embedded in the e-mail's text. Therefore, merely reading the message will cause the virus to trigger.
The problem is a security hole in as many as 13 million DoCoMo phones. The hole is well known, as a similar virus was spread last year in the same manner. During that incident Japanese police arrested a number of students, accusing them of making false 110 calls. At that time DoCoMo assured authorities and consumers that all new phones would have the security hole plugged. In response to this new incident, the company has stated that all phones sold after July 2001 would contain more secure software.
For more information click on the links below:
4. Profs go to court
A group of professors who were prevented from presenting a paper at an academic conference in April 2001 (see June 2001 technology updates) has gone to court - seeking to present their paper at a conference in August. The professors were joined in their legal action by the Usenix Association, which is planning the August conference, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). They are seeking a declaratory judgment, blocking the Justice Department from prosecuting the authors or the conference organizers under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
If the authors present their paper, which describes a means for removing the Secure Digital Music Initiative's (SDMI) digital watermark, they (and the conference organizers) could be found in violation of the DMCA. Penalties for violating the DMCA run up to $500,000 and five years in prison. One of the authors, Min Wu, is asking for a judgment that would enable her to publish her complete Ph.D. thesis. Chapter 10, which describes her work on the SDMI watermark is currently unavailable from her Web site.
For more information click on the link below:
5. Supreme Court rules for free-lancers
In what is seen as a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2001 that free-lance writers are entitled to royalties when their work is published in electronic form. The case, Tasini et al. v. The New York Times et al., argued that under the Copyright Act of 1976 publishers did not have the right to republish free-lance work in electronic form. The publishing industry, including The New York Times, Time Magazine, and Lexis/Nexus, argued that the contracts that free-lancers signed gave the companies the right to republish their work in virtually any form. The main problem is that many of the contracts were signed long before the Internet or article databases became commonplace.
In its 7-2 decision the Court upheld a lower court ruling that electronic formats are no different than other formats, such as print. The ruling leaves the publishing industry potentially liable for royalties dating back over 20 years. Some experts believe that the total amount of royalties due could reach billions of dollar. Many publishers have indicated that they will immediately remove free-lance articles from their online databases rather than pay future royalties.
For more information click on the links below:
6. IBM makes chip breakthrough
On June 8, 2001, IBM announced it has made a breakthrough in chip technology that will allow for a 35 percent increase in speed with lower power requirements. The new technology is a method of stretching silicon, called "Strained Silicon". When silicon is stretched in this manner it produces less resistance, allowing electrons to travel about 70 percent faster.
IBM has indicated that the Strained Silicon approach will work with its other chip breakthroughs, such as the use of copper and silicon-on-insulator. The company plans to bring the first Strained Silicon chips to market by 2003.
For more information click on the links below:
7. Microsoft breakup order reversed
On June 28, 2001 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled unanimously to overturn a lower court decision that Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, should be broken into two companies. The court ruled that Microsoft did not illegally attempt to monopolize the Web browser market by bundling its Internet Explorer browser with its Windows operating systems.
While the ruling is seen as a major victory for Microsoft, the court did provide the plaintiffs, which include the U.S. Justice Department and a number of states, a way forward with legal action. In its ruling the court said that Microsoft had a monopoly and behaved in an anti-competitive manner. The judges say that the company should pay for its actions. It appears that at least some of the plaintiffs will pursue further action in an effort to extract payment or behavioral remedies from Microsoft.
For more information click on the links below:
8. 3G rollout
The world's first third generation (3G) mobile phone service was launched by Japan's DoCoMo and the beginning of June 2001. 3G technology allows for very fast transmission speeds to wireless devices. Therefore 3G devices can download music and movies, along with Web sites and e-mail. 3G phones were given away to 3,300 select corporate and individual users. These users will not have to pay the monthly fee until the full commercial service becomes available in October 2001.
The main complaints about the service so far have been limited battery life and limited service area. The battery life of the 3G phones is about one day on standby. However, most Japanese consumers are used to advanced mobile phones with a 20 day battery life on standby. While DoCoMo has limited the initial trial to the city of Tokyo, many users have complained that they are out of range, even within the city.
For more information click on the links below:
9. Oracle's new database
On June 14, 2001 Oracle Corporation unveiled the latest version of its flagship database software, Oracle 9i. The new software adds about 400 usability features over the previous release. Many of these features make it easier to develop and deploy Internet based applications.
The feature Oracle is promoting as a real breakthrough is the concept of the clustered database. Instead of running on just one large computer, Oracle 9i applications can be run across a cluster of smaller, less expensive computers. This should make Oracle 9i cheaper to run, even with its expected $40,000 per processor price tag.
For more information click on the links below:
10. Nasdaq goes down
The Nasdaq Stock Market experienced two days of technical problems on June 28 and 29, 2001. On June 28 a systems failure caused problems in the market's stock quote system. The outage lasted only 18 minutes. The problem on June 29 was much worse. The system that processes certain trade orders failed completely when a WorldCom employee ran a test on the system. WorldCom runs the system under contract to Nasdaq. The failure caused the exchange to shut down for over an hour and extend its trading day by one hour to make up for the lost time.
The impact of the failure was made worse by falling on the last trading day of the quarter. Traditional money managers use the last trading day of a quarter for "window dressing". This is the process of selling losing stocks and buying winning stocks so they will look good to investors when their financial disclosure statements are released. Stock markets usually see very heavy volume on these days. For example, on the New York Stock Exchange 1.7 billion shares were traded on June 29, 2001, which is about 70 percent higher than normal.
For more information click on the links below:
|
