RUPERT MURDOCH SAYS AUSTRALIAN BROADBAND IS " A DISGRACE"

[AAP, November 15, 2006] NEWS Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch has labelled broadband services in Australia a "disgrace" and called on the Federal Government and Telstra to invest up to $12 billion to improve download speeds. Mr Murdoch, who last night attended a function alongside Prime Minister John Howard and Telstra (tls.ASX:Quote,News) boss Sol Trujillo, said broadband speeds in Australia must improve. “I think it is a disgrace, I think we should be spending – the Government with Telstra should be spending – $10 billion or $12 billion on it (so it gets to) every town in Australia – they do it in Japan, they do it in South Korea, we should be able to do it here,” he said. “We are being left behind and we will pay for it.” Telstra (tls.ASX:Quote,News) last week launched a new high-speed broadband service but said regulatory constraints meant it would only be available in areas where its competitors already offered fast broadband. Media rival and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (pbl.ASX:Quote,News) executive chairman James Packer was equally critical of Australia's broadband speeds when he made a speech in Sydney last year. Mr Murdoch also said the media company was experiencing flat advertising markets in the current financial year, which would impact its newspaper business. “In our major markets of the United States, Australia and Great Britain the advertising market is pretty flat,” he said at the company's shareholder meeting in Adelaide. “In some places it is down a fraction, in other places it is up a fraction but however (you would not say) the consumer marketing economy is buoyant.” Mr Murdoch said the group's newspaper business earnings would be flat in fiscal 2007. “We feel that they are all very profitable and they will make the same sort of money that we did last year, before tax.” He also said the company believed it had “too many” television assets in the US and would look to sell four or five of the smaller ones. The company has begun testing its MySpace.com internet chat website in Japan, and will kick off a version in Italy shortly. “MySpace.com is an “extremely effective form of advertising” which is very promising.” Meanwhile, News (nws.ASX:Quote,News) has signed a content deal with China Mobile to deliver music, cartoons and other products to mobile phones. Mr Murdoch said the deal was reached on Saturday night during a visit to China. “We've just formed a joint venture worked out on Saturday night – it is a very small deal – with China Mobile. They have 300 million people – one company – it has the highest market cap in the world for a mobile company.”

APPLE without STEVE JOBS -- LOOKING to the FUTURE

[Cox News Service, March 25, 2006] THERE'S a poem on a wall at Apple Computer's headquarters that starts like this: "Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes." The poem, once part of an Apple commercial, is an ode to people who, to use Apple's term, "think different." But it could be just as much about Apple and its founders, who started the company on April Fool's Day, 1976 -- kicking off the personal computer revolution. Three decades later, founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are billionaires. Apple's sprawling campus here is a far cry from the local Homebrew Computer Club where the two hippies showed their first PC to their friends. Apple's award-winning designs for its iPods and curvy computers, of course, don't even resemble the wooden-box prototype Apple I that got it all started Apple nonetheless remains the round peg in the square hole of the computing industry, and -- to the surprise of many who once predicted its demise -- is in better shape than ever. "Today they're arguably the strongest company around in terms of their technology … their customer base and their brand name," says Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research. "They're a little bit like the new Dell for the next five years" in terms of potential growth and competitive position, he says. That said, Apple faces difficult problems. The company that can legitimately claim it invented the personal computer still only has 4 per cent of the PC market. For every computer Apple sells, market leader Dell sells almost nine. Acceptability of Apple computers may improve given its recent shift to Intel processors, the same ones that power most PCs, but nobody expects Apple to take much away from Dell, Hewlett-Packard and other market leaders. Of course, Apple's most important business today isn't computers, it's music. The explosive growth of its iPods -- in last year's fourth quarter it sold 100 per minute -- has won the company 80 per cent of the market for digital music players. But that business is maturing and rival devices pose new threats. Meanwhile, Apple's stranglehold on the digital music business faces growing scrutiny from regulators, most notably in France, which has passed a draft law aimed at forcing Apple to open its proprietary iTunes software so competitors can offer players and services based on it. Concern about future iPod growth is apparently partly to blame for the recent fall in Apple's stock price.P> But Apple's biggest problem in the future may be Jobs himself. The chief executive's control and influence over the company is legendary. Jobs is part of every major product design, and his vision and touch are on everything Apple does publicly. "Steve is the one thing no other company can duplicate," says Gartner analyst Van Baker. Yet despite Jobs's importance to the company, Apple has said little publicly about plans for a successor when he quits or dies. Increasingly, such a plan may be needed. Jobs turned 51 in February. Two years ago he survived what was first thought to be a fatal form of pancreatic cancer. And after selling his Pixar Animation Studios to Walt Disney, Jobs is Disney's biggest shareholder and a director - positions expected to take some of his attention away from Apple. "There's definitely kind of a tragedy in the brewing here," says Roger Kay, analyst and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a consulting firm. Other tech companies have clear succession pictures. But who can even name another top executive at Apple besides Jobs? Apple spokesman Steve Dowling says the company has a succession plan but it is confidential. About the only clue Apple has given publicly about who might replace its co-founder came when Jobs chose chief operations officer Tim Cook to run things for the month or so he was recovering from cancer surgery. Cook is a long-term Apple employee. Regardless of who might succeed Jobs, Apple won't be the same without him, says Rakesh Khurana, a Harvard professor who has studied CEO succession. Apple has already had a taste of life without Jobs. In 1985, top managers Jobs brought in himself forced him out. Apple was run by a succession of CEOs and occasionally flirted with bankruptcy until Jobs returned in 1997. Why haven't investors been more vocal about succession? Kay thinks it's because they remember when Jobs wasn't running the place. "How can they argue with Steve's success?" he says. "They've got the hottest company going, profits and revenues are growing, PR is beyond what anybody could expect. Who's going to second-guess this guy when somebody says, 'You don't have a succession plan, do you?"' Apple's share price has more than doubled in the past year, hitting a new high of $US86.40 in January before slipping in recent weeks. Along with the stunning iPod sales, the iTunes online store recently sold its billionth song, less than three years after opening. "A billion sold," Jobs joked last month, saying that it took McDonald's eight years to sell a billion burgers. Just like McDonald's, Apple has also become a cultural phenomenon, thanks to product design and marketing. In 1998 its iMacs brought colour to the beige PC business. And iPods and their many accessories have become fashion items. Under Jobs, Apple has transformed itself into a cultural phenomenon, says Yankee Group analyst Mike Goodman. Just as it revolutionised personal computing and digital music, many Apple watchers believe the company will try to revolutionise home entertainment. Users of iPods can already download and watch hit television shows, and the revamped Mac mini computer doubles as a home entertainment hub. But many expect Apple will soon introduce a more far-reaching approach to home entertainment, such as TV sets and wireless networks to connect TVs with stereos, computers, phones and of course, iPods. "[Apple is] really turning more into a digital entertainment company than anything," says Wu of American Technology Research. That's tipped to be one of the biggest growth areas for the tech industry. "I think we're going to see some strong years still ahead [from Apple]," he says.

MICROSOFT MAKES DEAL WITH NOVELL

[eChannelLine, 2 November, 2006] Microsoft and Novell have announced a significant set of business and technical collaboration agreements to build, market and support a series of new solutions to make Novell and Microsoft more interoperable. The two companies also announced an agreement to provide each other's customers with patent coverage for their respective products. These agreements will be in place until at least 2012. "A number of people said it couldn't be done," said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, to a press conference announcing the agreement. "This agreement will really help bridge the divide between open source and proprietary source software. It will raise the bar in terms of interoperatibility." A key part of the deal was a patent agreement covering proprietary and open source products. Microsoft has agreed to provide a covenant not to assert its patent rights against customers who have purchased SUSE Linux Enterprise Server or other covered products from Novell, and Novell will provide an identical covenant to customers who have a licensed version of Windows or other covered products from Microsoft. "The challenge was the patent issues that were involved," said Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel of Microsoft, who noted that normal commercial cross-licensing of the kind done between two commercial companies was not possible here. "We had to be as creative as we could be to find out how to build a bridge, an intellectual property bridge, between proprietary and open source software. That's one of the really historic things for the industry, that we built a bridge that respected the needs of both." Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian told the press conference that this initiative began when he reached out in April to Microsoft COO Kevin Turner, with whom he has a long working relationship, "and suggested there is a relationship to be had there." And the deal will offer Novell some powerful advantages in an open source market in which it has not previously been able to seriously challenge the overwhelming market leader, Red Hat. The agreement relates only to Novell's SUSE Linux, not to other versions offered to the market, notably Red Hat. Moreover, as part of the deal, Microsoft will officially recommend SUSE Linux Enterprise for its customers who want Windows and Linux solutions. Microsoft will further distribute coupons for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server maintenance and support. The companies expect that this will provide Novell's Linux version with a major boost against its competition. Ballmer also stressed that Novell's Linux will also be able to offer its customers total peace of mind -- something its competitors will not be able to do. "Technical interoperability and patent piece of mind," will be assured to customers of SUSE Linux, Microsoft's ebullient CEO emphasized to his audience -- not to its competitors. "If [customers] make other choices, they have all the patent and intellectual property issues associated with that." Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will create a joint research facility at which Microsoft and Novell technical experts will architect and test new software solutions and work with customers and the community to build and support these technologies. The agreement between Microsoft and Novell focuses on three technical areas -- virtualization, Web services and document format compatibility. Microsoft and Novell will jointly develop what they say will be a compelling virtualization offering for Linux and Windows. The companies will also undertake work to make it easier for customers to use Web services to manage mixed Windows and SUSE Linux Enterprise environments and to make it easier for customers to federate Microsoft Active Directory with Novell eDirectory. And they will also work together on ways for OpenOffice and Microsoft Office system users to best share documents, and both will take steps to make translators available to improve interoperability between Open XML and OpenDocument formats. "This agreement is going to strengthen the open source community," said Jeff Jaffe, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Novell. He cited three reasons for this proposition. "Microsoft is going to work on interoperability between Windows and Linux. That in itself is a huge endorsement." The other two is Microsoft agreeing not to make patent infringement claims against open source developers, and the two companies agreeing to collaborate on open source-related projects together. Under the patent cooperation agreement, both companies will make upfront payments in exchange for a release from any potential liability for use of each other's patented intellectual property, with a net balancing payment from Microsoft to Novell reflecting the larger applicable volume of Microsoft's product shipments. Novell will also make running royalty payments based on a percentage of its revenues from open source products. Under the business collaboration agreement, the companies will pursue a variety of joint marketing activities to promote the adoption of the technologies they are collaborating on. In addition, Microsoft will purchase a quantity of coupons from Novell that entitle the recipient to a one-year subscription for maintenance and updates to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Microsoft will annually make available approximately 70,000 of these coupons to customers, with a mix of priority and standard support services. By providing its customers with these coupons, Microsoft is enabling companies to benefit from the use of the new software solutions developed through the collaborative research effort, as well as a version of Linux that is covered with respect to Microsoft's intellectual property rights. One thing the deal does not do however, is settle Novell's litigation against Microsoft over alleged damage to the WordPerfect office productivity software it once owned.

DOMAIN NAMES TO ALLOW FOR NON- ENGLISH CHARACTERS

[The Age, November 27, 2006] A team of experts is working on a protocol for the internet that will allow people to type in domain names using non-Western characters. A domain name is a unique address that allows people to go to a website, for example, smh.com.au. The international domain names (IDN) protocol proposes that web addresses can use non-English characters. To date, domain names can be registered using only Western characters, which effectively prevents countries using Arabic, Chinese and other characters from registering internet addresses in their native alphabet. This limitation has sparked some controversy in non-English-speaking countries around the world, with many seeing it as extending divisions between the developed and developing world. Sydney is often regarded as one of the most multicultural cities in the world, so it's fitting that a Sydneysider is one of the driving forces behind the creation of a more multicultural web. Paul Twomey, who lives in the United States but also has a home in Sydney, is the chief executive of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit organisation whose tasks include managing the domain name system (DNS). The issue of IDN came to a head at the recent United Nations internet summit in Athens, during which there was immense political pressure on ICANN to revise the system. One source of the pressure was Adama Samassekou, president of the African Academy of Languages in Mali, who said that the Anglo-centric internet left people isolated and marginalised. "The digital divide is not as important as the linguistic divide. And that's the one we should be bridging in order to guarantee the democratic governance of the internet," Samassekou says. Viviane Reding, the EC commissioner for information society and media, also used the summit to push for more international domain names. "There is a real danger that a prolonged delay in the introduction of IDN could lead to fragmentation of the internet name space," she says. However, the process isn't as simple as adding a new dictionary. Since 2003, Twomey and his team have been investigating the pros and cons of introducing IDN, but he refuses to bow to calls to fast-track this process. He goes as far as saying that rushed introduction could "break the whole internet." "The internet is like a 15-storey building and with IDN what we're trying to do is change the bricks in the basement," he said on a recent trip to Sydney. "If we change the bricks [there are] all these layers of code above the DNS ... we have to make sure that if we change the system, the rest is all going to work." Dr Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet, agrees with Twomey, warning delegates at the Athens summit that allowing for non-English characters was "a huge technical challenge.” “A mis-step could easily and permanently break the internet," he says. Cerf, who played a key role in creating the technical protocols behind the internet, was recently hired by Google as its chief internet evangelist. Domain names now can use combinations from a possible 37 characters; if non-English letters are allowed, this would rise to 50,000 or more, Twomey says. This could create problems where, for example, a character in Urdu looks identical to one in Arabic, confusing the system and making it difficult to direct users to the correct website. "We live in multicultural Sydney ... and we all want a multicultural internet," Twomey says. "And yet, there's one big difference between human beings and computers. Human beings can deal with ambiguity, but computers can't."

FIRST CONVICTION UNDER AUSTRALIA'S ANTI-SPAMMING LAWS

[SC Magazine, Oct 27 2006] The first company to be convicted under Australia's anti-spamming laws was fined about $4.5 million today for sending 280 million spam emails. The Australian Communications and Media Authority successfully prosecuted Clarity1 and its director, Wayne Mansfield, under the Australian Spam Act 2003. The Federal Court fined the Perth-based business $4.5 million and its director $1 million for illegally sending millions of spam messages advertising seminars and other products in the year since the spam laws were introduced in April 2004. The court also banned Clarity1 from sending unsolicited emails in the future. Earlier this year, Justice Nicholson of the Federal Court rejected arguments from the marketing company that email recipients had consented to receive the messages. Complaints from users had been sent from as far as the United Kingdom. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said: "This is the first time that spammers have been successfully prosecuted under the Australian Spam Act, and represents a victory for the authorities and the man in the street pestered by nuisance email," he said. "Spam is a global problem, and robust action needs to be taken against spammers in order to send out a clear message that their activities are unacceptable. Substantial penalties must be handed out to those people who choose to spam and spam again in their hunt for a quick profit." Furthermore, Cluley said that Australia's anti-spam law is a positive step towards eradicating locally produced spam. However, he warned: "Spam is a huge, complicated problem. This case is just the tip of the iceberg."

AMERICAN BLOGGER SUED FOR $1 MILLION

[Boston Globe, April 28, 2006] A coastal Maine blogger who criticized the state's tourism office has been hit with a lawsuit seeking potentially more than $1 million in damages for allegedly making false statements and posting on his website, Maine Web Report, images from proposed tourism advertisements a New York agency prepared for Maine officials. The case raises the issue of how free speech protection will be applied in the proliferating world of weblogs, or blogs, and underscores the growing influence of bloggers on business and government. ''It's a reflection of the extent to which businesses are taking critiques from the blogosphere very seriously," said John G. Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. ''Bloggers have gained enormous power." Warren Kremer Paino Advertising LLC, an agency hired by the Maine Department of Tourism, filed suit in US District Court in Maine last week, alleging the blogger, Lance Dutson of Searsmont, Maine, outside Camden, violated the agency's copyright and defamed the agency in blog entries self-published at www.mainewebreport.com. Dutson, an independent Web designer, launched his blog last fall to comment on technology and Maine tourism issues. He has written commentaries ridiculing the state's tourism efforts and, last month, he posted a ''rough draft" advertisement pulled from Maine's Department of Economic and Community Development website showing a collage of iconic images of the Maine seacoast, woodlands, and ski slopes, with a dummy phone number that turned out to connect to a line promoting a phone sex service. The agency had inadvertently placed the phone number on the draft advertisement for a presentation made to state tourism officials. ''This is supposed to be our biggest industry," Dutson wrote on his blog yesterday, referring to tourism, ''but it's being run like a trailer park daycare on its 3rd notice from the Human Services people." In an interview yesterday, Dutson said he was served with the lawsuit Saturday by a sheriff. ''This cop car pulled up to my house," he recalled. ''It was pretty good for neighborhood gossip." The advertising agency is suing Dutson on three counts: copyright infringement, defamation, and trade libel/injurious falsehood. It seeks statutory damages of $150,000 for each of six images it alleges were infringed upon, as well as unspecified punitive damages and legal fees. Dutson is being represented by Gregory W. Herbert, an attorney with Greenberg Traurig in Orlando. Dutson said he thinks Warren Kremer Paino is trying to silence him. ''I'm basically a freelance Web designer," he said. ''I have three kids. We're just a dead-middle-of-the-road Maine family. If they succeed in this, it'll ruin us. I can't write that kind of a check." In the lawsuit, filed by the agency's attorney, Alfred C. Frawley III of Preti Flaherty in Portland, Maine, the plaintiff claims Dutson's blog ''contains numerous defamatory statements designed to blacken" the agency's reputation. As one example, the suit cites Dutson's claim that the advertising agency has been wasting Maine taxpayers' money in its work for the tourism department. Tom McCartin, president and chief operating officer at Warren Kremer Paino, said the firm decided to sue after Dutson walked out of a meeting scheduled in Augusta, Maine, specifically to address his concerns about the tourism campaign. ''I don't think his real mission here is to get answers for the taxpayers of the state," McCartin said. ''One of the things he wants to do is to get attention. He's potentially causing some real harm to our agency if people go into his blog and start reading things that aren't true." Other bloggers have rushed to Dutson's defense, portraying the matter as a clear-cut free speech and First Amendment issue. ''This is a deep-pocketed litigator trying to stop a small media outlet, a blog, for saying things that they don't like," said Robert A. Cox, a New Rochelle, N.Y., blogger and cofounder of the Media Bloggers Association. The increased scrutiny is putting bloggers on notice that they need to use their power responsibly, said Palfrey at the Berkman Center. But he said the plaintiff faces a high bar in the Maine case. ''When someone is using the Internet or any media for political speech, that's afforded very high protection," Palfrey said.

US TECHNICAL GIANTS COMPROMISE ETHICS FOR PROFIT IN CHINA

[Associated Press, Febrary 15, 2006] Lawmakers blasted four U.S. tech giants Wednesday, accusing them of willingly helping China suppress dissent in return for access to a booming internet market. Representatives from Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco Systems. and Google defended themselves at a House International Relations subcommittee hearing, but a Google official acknowledged that figuring out China's internet market "has been a difficult exercise." Lawmakers, however, were skeptical of what several saw as the companies' efforts to explain their business practices in China only after a recent crush of negative media and government attention. Rep. Tom Lantos, the full committee's top Democrat, told the company officials that they had amassed great wealth and influence "but apparently very little social responsibility. "Your abhorrent actions in China are a disgrace," Lantos said at the hearing. "I simply don't understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night." The companies, in prepared testimony, appealed for guidance on how to work in what they called a challenging marketplace. Google's Elliot Schrage said "the requirements of doing business in China include self-censorship — something that runs counter to Google's most basic values and commitments as a company." Still, he said, Google decided to enter China because it thought it "will make a meaningful, though imperfect, contribution to the overall expansion of access to information in China." The companies also said the U.S. government should play a key role in encouraging internet freedom internationally. Google urged the State Department and the U.S. trade representative to press U.S. concerns on censorship during talks with foreign governments. Yahoo's Michael Callahan testified that "these issues are larger than any one company, or any one industry. We appeal to the U.S. government to do all it can to help us provide beneficial services to Chinese citizens lawfully and in a way consistent with our shared values," he said. James Keith, the State Department's senior adviser on East Asia, told lawmakers that China's efforts to manipulate the internet have increased in the last year, "sending a chilling message to internet users." China's "effort to regulate the political and religious content of the internet is counter to our interest, to international standards and, we argue, to China's own long-term modernization goals," Keith said in prepared testimony. U.S. tech companies eyeing China face a dilemma, analysts say: while keen to tap a market that could soon eclipse America's, they must also worry about the perception they're helping China harass dissidents."They are in an extremely dicey position," said John Palfrey, a Harvard Law School professor who studies the internet. The potential for profit is great. China is estimated to have more than 110 million internet users. But to do business, U.S. companies must satisfy a government that fiercely polices internet content. Filters block objectionable foreign websites; regulations ban what the Chinese consider subversive and pornographic content and require service providers to enforce censorship. A new survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists calls China's efforts to control its media "unique in the world's history. Never have so many lines of communication in the hands of so many people been met with such obsessive resistance from a central authority." China says its aims are benign — to protect its citizens, and especially children, from "the immoral and harmful content" of the internet. Critics say the limits China imposes go further and are aided by U.S. companies. They point to a new Google search engine that censors some results. Yahoo, they say, helped police identify and convict a journalist who had criticized human rights abuses. “The companies are "enabling dictatorship. Cooperation with tyranny should not be embraced for the sake of profits," said Smith, the Republican chairman of the House subcommittee on global human rights. The businesses that have adopted Chinese internet standards say they must obey local laws. They lack the leverage, they say, to influence world governments.

VISTA NOT POPULAR

[Associated Press, April 20, 2007] PC maker Dell Inc. said on its website on Thursday it will once again let home PC buyers choose between Microsoft's older operating system and Windows Vista when they purchase certain new machines. Dell, like many computer makers, stopped offering XP on most home desktops and laptops soon after Vista launched at the end of January. By late March, the company said only two models aimed at home users could be configured with XP (the option still existed on many models for business users). But on Dell's IdeaStorm website, where visitors can post suggestions for the company and vote on the ones they think are important, a plea titled "Don't eliminate XP just yet" racked up more than 10,700 votes. "We heard you loud and clear on bringing the Windows XP option back to our Dell consumer PC offerings," Dell responded in a web posting Thursday. The company said it will immediately offer XP again as an option for four models of its Inspiron notebooks and two models of its Dimension desktop PCs. This comes just weeks after Dell said it is also planning to offer PCs with Linux, a free operating system that competes with Windows. "This is really odd," said Michael Silver, research vice president at Gartner. "On new PCs, consumers usually do want the latest and greatest." Microsoft countered that Dell's move was in response to a "small minority of customers" with a "specific request." Michael Burk, a product manager for Microsoft's Windows Client group, said in an emailed statement, "The vast majority of consumers want the latest and greatest technology, and that includes Windows Vista." Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director of JupiterResearch, said many consumers continue to buy XP because it is familiar, it works with their existing hardware and programs, and is overall "good enough," even though Vista boasts a prettier user interface and stronger security. "Microsoft is going to have to work hard to make sure that even if companies like Dell are offering XP, their customers don't want it," Gartenberg said. Now is the time for the company to crank up Vista marketing, but that may be harder than it sounds.

COURT RULES LINKS TO MUSIC FILES BREACH COPYRIGHT

[SMH, December 19, 2006] A court ruling has given the recording industry the green light to go after individuals who link to material from their websites, blogs or MySpace pages that is protected by copyright. A full bench of the Federal Court yesterday upheld an earlier ruling that Stephen Cooper, the operator of mp3s4free.net, as well as the internet service provider that hosted the website, were guilty of authorising copyright infringement because they provided a search engine through which a user could illegally download MP3 files. The website did not directly host any copyright-protected music, but the court held that simply providing links to the material effectively authorised copyright infringement. "Mr Cooper had power to prevent the communication of copyright sound recordings to the public in Australia via his website," the judges said. "He had that power because he was responsible for creating and maintaining his mp3s4free website." Ms Sabiene Heindl, general manager of Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI), said similar action could be taken against individuals who, like mp3s4free, used the internet to link to copyright-protected material. The case against Mr Cooper was brought by 36 parites including leading recording companies like Universal Music, Warner Music, Festival Records, EMI and BMG. Ms Heindl said that this could apply even if a person had embedded a copyright-infringing YouTube clip in their blog or MySpace page. "We don't make any distinctions between big websites or small websites", she said, adding that MIPI would consider individual blogs on a "case-by-case basis as to whether it would be appropriate to take action." Ms Heindl's message to Australians is clear: "If you are linking to copyrighted material in an unauthorised fashion, then you can be held liable for copyright infringement." In yesterday's Cooper judgment, the ISP that hosted the website, E-Talk, was also found to be guilty of authorising copyright infringement The court found that E-Talk profited from the copyright infringement of mp3s4free.net's users through advertisements on the website and took no efforts to take the site down. "E-Talk countenanced the infringing downloading by internet users who visited the website that it hosted," the court held. "The fact is that E-Talk could have prevented the infringements that actually occurred." Dale Clapperton, vice-chairman of the non-profit organisation Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA), explained the ruling as follows: "If you give someone permission to do something that infringes copyright, that in itself is infringement as if you'd done it yourself. Even if you don't do the infringing act yourself, if you more or less condone someone else doing it, that's an infringing act. This ruling could have wider implications for general search engines such as Google. "What Cooper was doing is basically the exact same thing that Google does, except Google acts as a search engine for every type of file, while this site only acts as a search engine for MP3 files," he said. But Ms Heindl said MIPI would not be going after Google in the same way it sued mp3s4free.net. "Mp3s4free was different in the sense that it actually catalogued MP3 files that were infringing copyright material -- Google doesn't do that," she said. "There is, however, action that is being taken against Google in other jurisdictions, and we're awaiting that eagerly." The full judgement can be found HERE

GATES OUTLINES FUTURE PLANS FOR MICROSOFT

[Associated Press, January 8, 2007] For more than a decade, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and others in the tech industry have touted a vision of a connected lifestyle, in which digital content can move across devices throughout the home and be taken on the go. It's been a slow march. But as Gates kicked off the International Consumer Electronics Show today, the industry has come further than ever in delivering on that concept. "Every year represents a lot of progress," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. The improvements have taken many forms: building the underlying networks; developing the technologies to get devices to communicate; creating the hardware that can handle the digital data; returning to the drawing board when there were flops; and finally, getting the backing of entertainment sources to embrace this new era of media consumption. But more work remains, Gates said. "There's still a lot to be done there, especially when you get into rights-oriented content and how simple that can be made so the creative people are happy with it and yet the flexibility (for consumers) is there," he said. In his 11th annual speech headlining the world's largest tech convention, Gates highlighted how Microsoft's latest creations and partnerships aim to make it easier for people to navigate, consume, share and manage different kinds of content, whether they are games, movies, family photos, sports or work. The keynote came as the software titan heads into one of its most significant periods of attracting consumers to its widening portfolio of computing, gaming and entertainment products. Its software has pervaded not only computers, but also cell phones, portable media players, home media centres and even cars. The consumer launch of Windows Vista later this month is the company's first major overhaul of its operating system since Windows XP was launched in 2001. Gates discussed some additional features not yet disclosed. Among them is a new "sports lounge" area so users tapped into Microsoft's MSN Soapbox online site can simultaneously view additional sports information, up-to-date fantasy sports data and the latest sports videos. Microsoft has also teamed with the Nickelodeon and Showtime television networks and Starz Entertainment's Vongo subscription movie service so their web-based content will be directly available through Vista. Movies downloaded from Vongo can also be played on the TV using Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console. Sharing the stage with Gates was Robbie Bach, head of the company's entertainment and Xbox division, to highlight how the machine is becoming a home entertainment hub that does more than just play games. More than 10.4 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold since the system launched in November 2005. The Xbox Live online marketplace now sells downloadable movies and features more than 1,000 hours of TV and movie content. During the keynote, Gates also unveiled how Microsoft's computer-making partners have designed new PCs to take advantage of Vista's software advances. Hewlett-Packard is set to have a new all-in-one computer and touch-screen display designed to fit into a kitchen nook or a family room, letting users scribble messages on the screen or watch a movie. Toshiba is debuting a high-end tablet notebook that has a secondary display on the front edge so users can read incoming e-mail or calendar alerts even while the laptop lid is closed. Sony is planning a new Windows Vista media centre that is white and round, meant to look more like an entertainment electronics device than a computer. Gates also announced Windows Home Server, a software platform that can serve as a beefy repository for a household's mushrooming collection of digital photos, videos, music and documents. The server also provides automatic data backups and allows family and friends to access some files remotely over the internet. To some, however, the most interesting announcement by Gates might be the addition of Texas Hold 'Em in its preloaded selection of games in Vista. How appropriate in Vegas.

CHINA GETS WINDOWS SOURCE CODE

Microsoft has signed a pact with the Chinese government to reveal the Windows source code, making China among the first to benefit from its program to allay the security fears of governments. In addition, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates hinted that China will be privy to all, not just part, of the source code the government wishes to inspect. The Chinese government and military have previously stated their preference for the rival Linux operating system because its source code is publicly available. Without knowing the inner workings of an operating system -- a fact revealed by its source code -- governments like China fear that backdoors may be installed to leak sensitive information. The China Information Technology Security Certification Center signed an agreement to participate in Microsoft's Government Security Program (GSP). Wu Shizhong, director of the center, reaffirmed that IT security is a key issue for the government. "Microsoft's GSP provides us with the controlled access to source code and technical information in an appropriate way. It also establishes cooperation between China and Microsoft. Microsoft has taken a step forward to let us understand its product security," he said. Gates, who was on a two-day visit to Beijing, said his company was pleased with the pact. "We are committed to providing the Chinese government with information that will help them deploy and maintain secure computing infrastructures. We see this agreement as a significant step forward in Microsoft's relations with the Chinese government," Gates said. Last year, Microsoft announced its GSP, under which it will share the source code underlying its Windows operating system with several international governments, a move designed to address concerns about the security of the OS. More recently it announced GSP agreements with Russia, NATO and the United Kingdom. Microsoft is in discussions with more than 30 countries, territories and organizations regarding the program. During Gates' visit, he also met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Jiang said China welcomes Microsoft and other global companies to invest in China and create growth. Gates briefed Jiang about Microsoft's investment in China and gave an update on how it was sharing the source code of computer software. No details were given on what specific software would be part of the information-sharing deal. In order to develop its software industry and maintain security, China has produced its own version of Linux, Red Flag Linux, as well as its own office productivity suite, RedOffice, which go head-to-head with Microsoft's Windows and Office packages. [Source: KEN GAO, CNET Asia]

MEGAPIXELS OR ZOOM?

[CNET FORUM, March 25, 2005] Question: I am ready to go from film to digital photography. What is better for taking photos of wildlife and other faraway objects, a 4-megapixel camera with a 10X zoom or a 6- or 7-megapixel camera with 3X zoom, with which I could crop and enlarge and still have a good image at a final print size of 5x7 or 8x10 ? Answer: First let me congratulate you on your decision to move into the digital world. I've been an avid photographer for more than 40 years and made the transition to digital about 2 years ago. I've never regretted it. You didn't mention your budget for buying a digital camera, so there are a couple of ways for you to go. But let's get to your primary questions and talk about megapixels first. While it is certainly true that 7 megapixels will deliver a higher-quality image than 4 megapixels, your desired output (up to 8x10) should be a consideration here. Let me explain: My primary camera is a Canon 10D, which delivers images of 6 megapixels. However, I only take advantage of this capability in 5% or fewer of my shots. I take the overwhelming majority of my shots at the MEDIUM image setting, which is probably somewhere around 3 megapixels or so. I do this for several reasons: 1. I can fit many more images on the storage card; 2. They download to my PC faster; 3. This setting delivers great results when produced as a hard copy photograph. So my point is: If you want 8 x 10 final photographs, 4 megapixels will produce terrific 8 x 10(and even larger) prints. While others may argue the point, I can’t imagine the majorityof my photographs looking appreciably better if I had used a 6 or 7 megapixel setting to capture the image. If you were going to consistently produce large format prints (16 x 20 and larger), I might reconsider this and go for the higher megapixel number. But for the size you want, I don’t think it’s needed. Also be sure to consider what 7 megapixels does to a storage card. I can only fit about 170 images on a 1 Gigabyte card using the LARGE setting on my camera. I can fit over 500 at the MEDIUM setting. If you’re going to go out and snap one or two photos and then download them, this isn’t an issue. However, if you’re going out into the woods for a week, and plan on taking a few hundred pictures, it could be a consideration. At the 7 megapixel size, you might need 2 or 3 one gigabyte cards to bring all your images home, or some other external storage device to download them to. Of course, the beauty of most digital cameras is that you can take 80 pictures at a lower megapixel setting, then switch to your highest megapixel setting to capture that glorious sunrise. But image size and storage should be a consideration. Next, let’s talk about the zoom factor. While I have more experience with landscapes, people, and sports, I have done some wildlife photography, and would definitely opt for the higher zoom factor. If you’re lucky enough to find an owl perched in a tree, or a doe and fawn in a clearing, you want the ability to zoom in as much as possible to get that nice close shot. You might not be able to get any closer physically without losing the shot altogether, so the only other way to get up close without spooking your subject is to zoom in. Using a lower zoom factor and then cropping the image will definitely have an adverse effect on the quality of your final image. I wouldn’t rely on this method to get the results you are seeking. The last piece of advice I have for you is to pay close attention to the amount of light required for the various digital cameras you are considering. The best way to describe this is to draw a comparison between digital and film cameras. If you were going to go out and shoot in low light conditions with a film camera, you would probably select film that had an ASA rating of 400 or 800. The higher the film’s ASA rating, the more sensitive it is to light. These highly sensitive film bases allow you to shoot in low light conditions and get acceptable results without a flash, and they allow you to shoot at higher shutter speeds to capture motion without blurring the image. Well, different digital cameras have a somewhat equivalent lighting requirement. With some digital cameras, the amount of light required by the image plane can be rather significant. It would be like shooting with 100 or 200 ASA film all the time. When you’re in low light conditions, there simply isn’t enough light to produce the results you want without using a flash. I think you’ll find that a lot of the lower end cameras that emphasize shooting in the Automatic mode will probably fall into this category. Other cameras (usually the more expensive ones) have an Automatic mode, but also have manual settings that would allow you to select a light sensitivity factor that would be the equivalent of shooting with ASA of 800, 1600, or even 3200 in the film world. Bear in mind that the higher you go on this scale, the more grainy your picture will become, but it is still better than getting no shot at all. When shooting wildlife, you might want to get off a half-dozen shots or so. If you need to use your flash to get the image because the light conditions aren’t that great, you might only get one shot if the flash sends your subject scurrying into the bushes. The combination of a high zoom factor and low light conditions can make it difficult to get a good shot that isn’t blurry. The more you zoom in, the more critical it becomes to hold the camera steady. You might find that a tripod is an absolute necessity with some cameras. And, if your digital camera is one of those that can’t adjust to low light conditions, it makes a burred image even more likely because the camera will slow the shutter speed way down to let more light in. If you’re serious about nature photography and can afford it, I would recommend that you consider one of the SLR digital cameras that are on the market today (the ones that allow you to change lenses) and select one that can handle low light situations. There are a number of companies that make these, and Canon and Nikon are probably the most popular. You’ll probably end up spending $1,500 to $2,000 to get into something like this with a decent telephoto lens. If this is out of your price range, then I would go for the 4 megapixel, 10x zoom camera that has the best ability to handle low light situations. Happy shooting!

ANOTHER FIRST FROM AUSTRALIA'S C.S.I.R.O.

Web users will soon be surfing video and audio content as easily as text and images thanks to some innovative Web tools being developed by CSIRO. Dr Silvia Pfeiffer of CSIRO says the development of the Continuous Media Web (CMWeb) is as significant a development as was the emergence of the World Wide Web itself. "It's the next big thing in terms of where the 'net is heading," says Dr Pfeiffer. "It's long been recognised that, while we can easily surf from text page to text page, when we want to experience rich content like video and audio we have to jump out to a separate application - and then all we get is a slower, jumpier version of linear TV or radio." Dr Pfeiffer and her colleague, Conrad Parker, envisage that the CMWeb will make rich media as interactive as the rest of the Web. "Instead of just selecting a file and viewing it, now surfers can activate links while viewing video and audio files," says Dr Pfeiffer. "Imagine you watching a video about distant galaxies and want to know more about quasars," says Conrad Parker. "In a CMWeb browser, an active link will appear which can take you to a clip in another video on quasars. You might watch it then return to the original program - or you might choose to follow further links into other subject areas - just like we do now with web pages." Annodex™ media is the term coined by the researchers to describe the crucial twin processes of indexing and annotating content, the secret to fully integrating rich media content into the Web. Indexing means that each segment of a program is uniquely identified and tagged. Annotating means that each segment is described using a combination of formal metadata and free text descriptions - which can include transcripts. Annodex™ media can contain hyperlinks to audio, video or text content - so the whole Web becomes truly seamless. CSIRO has developed conventions for inserting hyperlinks into streaming media and specified a file format for combining anchor (link), metadata and media information in a single file. They have also developed tools for creating Annodex™ format media files and created the first CMWeb browser. An important feature of the CSIRO approach is that the format in which the original media was created is preserved - so content creators can use the tools they are familiar with. "What we hope to see in the very near future is the integration of the tools to create Annodex™ media into popular audio and video editing software," says Conrad Parker. "We have developed the core CMWeb tools as an open source development kit to encourage broad uptake of the concept. We have developed a basic set of tools including the Continuous Media Browser for Apple's Mac OS X and server tools for Linux, and expect tools for other platforms will quickly start to appear." "And it won't just revolutionise your computer browser experience," says Dr Pfeiffer, "The CMWeb concept is transferable to the digital TV domain, handheld computers and even mobile phones. In a few years we will wonder why the Web stayed static for so long!" A number of companies are already exploring the use of CMWeb in their software. Among the first is Australian digital media specialist, PIVoD Technologies. PIVoD specialises in the application and use of video on demand technology and its integration for management of cultural institutions such as museums, as well as residential and corporate systems. The company has undertaken major projects throughout Australia and internationally and sees tremendous potential for the Australian-developed CMWeb technology. PIVoD executive chairman, Phillip Jenkins, says, "CMWeb addresses significant issues in improving indexing, navigation, and re-use of large collections of digital audio and video content. It's a very exciting development in the evolution of digital communications". [For more information: Dr Silvia Pfeiffer, CSIRO, 02 9325 2141, mobile: 0401 384 041 Email: silvia.pfeiffer@csiro.au Phillip Jenkins, PIVoD, 08 9284 8666, mobile: 0418 917 701 Email: phillip.jenkins@pivod.com] CONTACT CSIRO

SEARCH ENGINES

We are all too familiar with the term "Surfing the Net." It is descriptive of the process whereby, using one or more "search engines," we look for some particular information that we need for a project, or just to answer some question that has been gnawing at us. In order to surf the net we need to use one or more "Search Engines." Most people who have had even the barest experience in using the Internet will have discovered that there are many different search engines. Some of the more familiar ones are: Altavista, Excite, Yahoo!, Google and Go. But what exactly is a search engine, and how does it work? There are actually many types of search engines, some covering only a highly specialised area of data. A search engine is defined as "Software that searches for data based on some criteria." Although search engines have been around for decades, they have been brought to the forefront since the World Wide Web (www) exploded onto the scene. Every Web search site uses a search engine that it has either developed itself or has purchased from a third party. Search engines can differ dramatically in the way they find and index material on the Web, and the way they search the indexes from the user's query. The terms "search engine" and "Web search site" are used synonymously, although the former technically describes the software and methodology used, while the latter refers to the site itself. There are various Web sites that maintain databases about the contents of other Web sites. Most sites are free and are paid for by advertising banners, while others charge for the service. Yahoo! was the first site to gain worldwide attention, and it differs from most other search sites because its content is indexed by people who create a hierachical directory by subject. As a result, Yahoo! and similar sites are technically called "directories" rather than search engines. Most other sites are highly automated, sending spider programs out on the Web around the clock to collect the text of Web pages. Spiders follow all the links on a page and put all the text into one gigantic database, which is what you search when you use the site. Sometimes, a Web site will offer both search engine and directory capabilities. There are also sites that do nothing but search other sites. These metasearch engines bring you results from multiple search engines at one time. Major search sites have evolved into the so-called "portal," which is a term meaning "We've got everything you want." Instead of just linking to other sites, they contain the information themselves. Thus, many search sites have evolved into content sites with a host of other features, including free email, chat rooms and shopping. If you are interested in learning more about search engines, you should visit SEARCH ENGINE WATCH .The site maintains a list of all major search engines and goes into details about how they work and explains their significant features. Following is a list of some of the better known search engine sites: ALTAVISTA ASK JEEVES DIRECT HIT EXCITE GO GOOGLE HOT BOT LYCOS SEARCH These are internationally based search engines, but there are others native to Australia. I won't list them here, but you can browse through them by doing a general search using the keywords "search" "engine" "Australia." A new and different kind of "search engine" is ANSWERS.COM Unlike conventional search engines, it works more like an encyclopaedia, listing the information most appropriate to the subject of the search with hyperlinks to other information.

REACH FOR THE MORTEIN !

Some time back, a friend of mine who used to work as a computer programmer told me that he had heard that, on its initial release to the public, Windows 95 had around 11,000 known "bugs," of which about 3,000 were known to be unfixable. I was quite astonished by this statement, but assumed that my friend knew what he was talking about. So I accepted the inevitable and muddled on with Windows 95, initially becoming genuinely alarmed when, accompanied by a frightening "ding" sound, I was informed that I had committed an "Illegal Act," and would be closed down, or that I had managed to create a "Fatal Error." I honestly thought that the police would knock at my door, or issue a summons. In time I came to realise that the threatening messages were computer jargon, and just did the "Ctrl-Alt-Delete" thing and restarted the computer. [A note to Mac worshippers: try restarting a Mac after it has crashed, without switching off the power]. I also learnt from experience that the more memory (RAM) the less frequent the Illegal Acts, Fatal Errors, and "crashes" (when the cursor refuses to respond, and the computer has to be restarted). However, I was reminded of my learned friend's words when an article published in The Age newspaper, by its Technology Editor Gary Barker, stated that bugs in business software were estimated to be costing Australian business about $3.7 billion a year, or 0.6 percent of national GDP. [This figure is based on a comparison with a study done in the USA, as no study has yet been done in Australia]. The American report states that software bugs, or errors, "are so prevalent and so detrimental that they cost the US economy an estimated $US 59.5 billion ($AU 106.2 billion) annually." More than half this cost is borne by software users in lost productivity and technical support. The rest is carried by software developers and vendors. Garry Barker continues: "As software becomes more complex - even relatively simple applications now involve millions of lines of code where once a few thousand sufficed - so does the chance of conflict increase. "Microsoft, the largest software company, has frequently conceded that its Windows operating systems, used by more than 85 per cent of the world's desktop computers, contain thousands of undetected bugs when they are released. It and most other software vendors issue almost daily 'fixes' as users report bugs. "Credit for the term 'bug' is generally given to the legendary US Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, a mathematics professor turned naval technologist, who found and removed ("debugged") a moth blocking a relay in Mark II, an early digital computer for calculating trajectory for naval guns."