A federal jury ordered Microsoft to pay $1.5 billion in damages to Alcatel-Lucent in a patent dispute over MP3 audio technology used in Microsoft Windows operating systems.
“We made strong arguments supporting our view and we are pleased with the court’s decision,” said Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman Joan Campion, declining to discuss details of the decision.
After months of speculation, it appears Google has finally launched their subscription package of premium, hosted business applications, known as Google Apps. Designed to be a competitor for the market dominating Microsoft Office suite, Google Apps will provide a host of tools which are all available online. The Google Apps package includes Gmail for your domain, Google Talk, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, Google Page Creator, and Google Start Page. Many of these tools have been available for months in various beta testing variations and some of them remain free, but in a much more limited format. For example, existing accounts to these tools have a 2 GB per user limit on storage, with Google Apps, that limit is 10 GB. Is this a good move by Google, and does this package have what it take anything away from Microsoft Office and its main competitor Open Office (which is completely free) ? At the $50 per year subscription fee, it is bound to get some interest, but will it be enough?
With such huge hype behind the big G’s takeover of Youtube last year, one can’t help wonder how good a decision it really was when yet another huge partn er seems to be reconsidering it’s deal with the search engine giant. According to a person knowledgeable in the talks, CBS has decided to step away from a multi-million dollar deal due to an inability to come to an agreement on the length of the deal. Responsible for blockbuster shows such as Survivor, CSI, and The Late Show with David Letterman, CBS has been the leader in television broadcasting for several years and is definitely a big loss to the entire Youtube userbase. While an agreement is not yet ruled out, it is looking likely that a much smaller agreement is the most likely possibility. So, with last weeks news of Viacom throwing down the hammer and walking away from Youtube, did Google make a big mistake in purchasing the online video resource? I would never count Google out, and all it takes is one big application and all these broadcasters will be right back at Google’s doorstep…
It has recently been reported that Microsoft’s newest operating system, Vista, may require 4 GB of memory to operate at its best.
David Short, an IBM consultant who works in the Global Services Division and has been beta testing Vista for two years, says users should consider 4GB of RAM if they really want optimum Vista performance. With Vista’s minimum requirement of 512MB of RAM, Vista will deliver performance that’s ’sub-XP,’ he says. (Dell and others recommend 2GB.) One reason: SuperFetch, which fetches applications and data, and feeds them into RAM to make them accessible more quickly. More RAM means more caching.”
While RAM option have been steadily increasing in the big PC manufacturers, 4 GB still seems like a bit much for the average user. Good thing Microsoft was really thinking about their target market with this one…
Bill Gates has teamed up with Canada in the fight against HIV, the virus which causes AIDS. A new multimillion-dollar agreement has been signed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephan Harper and billionaire Bill Gates to produce the facility in which the battle will take place.
“HIV/AIDS is one of the most heartwrenching health crises the world has ever seen,” said Harper. “It is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our time.”
“AIDS is a very tough problem,” said Gates. “The long-term solution is a vaccine.”
This kid is truely amazing! I remember solving my rubix cube by removing the stickers…
The 2 major players in the burgeoning satellite radio industry have announced a deal to merge into a single company. The move, announced as a merger of equals, will combine the services of both companies to create a much more comprehensive lineup to subscribers. Sirius CEO, Mel Karmazin, will lead the new company with XM CEO, Hugh Panero, sticking around only until the deal is closed. While the deal has been announced, it still faces several hurdles including antitrust approval and provision with the Federal Communications Commission that specifically forbids the two companies from combining. What this move means for subscribers is still a question that can’t be answered. On one hand, subscriptions may go down, due to reduced cost and shared resources, but on the other hand may go up as a result of price fixing due to the monopolistic nature of the merge.
In an attempt to help track down parents who walk out on their families, the government of Ontario, Canada, has launched a new website designed to enlist the public’s help in tracking down dead beat parents. Good Parents Pay is very similar to the FBI most wanted list, except in this case it displays the 20-25 most wanted dead beat fathers and mothers who are still at large. From the article
“Good parents pay child support. For those who don’t, we want to make things very clear: we will find you and we will make sure your children get the support they deserve,” said Minister of Community and Social Services Madeleine Meilleur in a news release Monday.
Each profile on the site features a parents name, physical description, last known location, occupation, and of course a headshot photograph. Readers of the site can submit tips anonymously in an effort to help track down the offenders. Currently, the Ontario Family Responsibility Office has more than 180,000 active cases of deadbeat parents which totals more than $1 billion in owing child support.
