http://TheState.com/technology-wire/index.xml News, sports and entertainment from TheState.com en-us Copyright 2008 TheState.com Technology - Wire 60 Sat, 17 May 2008 00:24:17 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench support@TheState.com http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407370.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407370.html Fri, 16 May 2008 20:40 EDT Yahoo Inc. is seeking to conceal large portions of a shareholder lawsuit alleging the Internet company's board improperly thwarted Microsoft Corp.'s $47.5 billion takeover offer, raising shareholder questions over the motives for the secrecy.<p/>In a letter sent Friday to the judge overseeing the case in Delaware, a lawyer for the shareholders argued Yahoo is trying "to whitewash embarrassing documents" because the company thinks the information will damage the board's efforts to repel a challenge by activist investor Carl Icahn.<p/>Angered by the board's handling of Microsoft bid, Icahn has nominated an alternate slate of candidates to oppose Yahoo's 10 current directors - including Chief Executive Jerry Yang - at the Sunnyvale-based company's July 3 annual meeting.<p/>Yahoo is trying "to sanitize the public record and maintain a cloak of secrecy regarding unflattering evidence of breach of fiduciary duty," shareholder attorney Joel Friedlander wrote in a letter to Chancellor William B. Chandler III.<p/>The redacted documents include information about an employee severance plan that Yahoo adopted shortly after Microsoft made its initial bid Jan. 31 and notes about a conversation between Yang and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Friedlander wrote. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407513.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407513.html Fri, 16 May 2008 19:11 EDT Classified ad Web site Craigslist is denying online auctioneer eBay's allegation that it unfairly diluted eBay's stake in it and says its board was acting to protect the company.<p/>Craigslist, based in San Francisco, filed a response in Delaware's Court of Chancery on Thursday to the lawsuit eBay filed last month.<p/>The filing says founder Craig Newmark and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster did some of the things eBay sued over, like creating a new shareholder rights agreement. But it said those moves are protected by laws that give directors discretion to act in their company's best interest.<p/>Craigslist filed a countersuit this week in state Superior Court in San Francisco alleging the online auctioneer broke state and federal antitrust laws.<p/>San Jose, Calif.-based eBay, owns a 28 percent stake in Craigslist. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407561.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407561.html Fri, 16 May 2008 20:35 EDT Cable TV, phone and Internet service provider Charter Communications drew concern Friday from two congressmen and a privacy advocate over its plan to experiment with tracking its customers' Web use in collaboration with an online advertising firm.<p/>Charter has told its high-speed Internet customers in four markets about the pilot, which will produce enough information for Web advertisers to target online advertising for individual customers based on their habits.<p/>The ads "will better reflect the interests you express through your Web-surfing activity," Charter senior vice president Joe Stackhouse told the affected subscribers in a letter. "You will not see more ads - just ads that are more relevant to you."<p/>In response to the announcement, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) asked Charter President and Chief Executive Neil Smit to put the plan on hold until the three can confer.<p/>The tracking is set to begin in June in Ft. Worth, Texas; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Oxford, Mass.; and Newtown, Conn. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406952.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406952.html Fri, 16 May 2008 19:05 EDT Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang spent months fending off Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited takeover bid. Now he may only have a few weeks to persuade the software maker to revive its last offer of $47.5 billion, or risk being fired in a shareholder mutiny led by activist investor Carl Icahn.<p/>Spurred on by outraged shareholders, Icahn notified Yahoo Thursday that he will lead a revolt to oust Yang and the rest of the Internet company's board unless they renew negotiations with Microsoft that fell apart May 3 when the two sides couldn't agree on a price.<p/>In a response late Thursday, Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock signaled that the Sunnyvale-based company is prepared to battle the New York financier.<p/>Bostock criticized Icahn for having a "significant misunderstanding of the facts" about Microsoft's offer and the Yahoo board's response. He also emphasized that Yahoo remains open to a sale "if it offers our stockholders full and certain value."<p/>To pressure Yahoo, Icahn has nominated an alternate slate of directors to replace the current board in an election scheduled July 3 at Yahoo's annual meeting. If the uprising is successful, an Icahn-led board presumably would fire Yang as CEO and try to negotiate a sale to Microsoft. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407277.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407277.html Fri, 16 May 2008 15:00 EDT A company rooted in bringing the Internet to the masses, AOL is shifting its focus toward serving niche audiences with the launch of dozens of specialty Web sites.<p/>The latest - ParentDish for parents - formally launched Friday, with The Boot for country music and The Boom Box for hip hop and R&B to follow on Tuesday.<p/>Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, branching out in hopes of doing a better job attracting crucial advertising revenue to offset its rapidly declining Internet access business, calls the niche sites "passion points."<p/>The sites reflect a growing sophistication of Internet users, who are spending less time at portals like AOL.com and Yahoo.com. and directly seeking specialized content at more focused sites. Examples outside AOL include Boing Boing, which keeps tabs on technology and the Internet; The Sartorialist, on street style; or Mom Logic, on parenting and being a mom.<p/>"The consumer market is clearly fragmenting," said Bill Wilson, AOL's executive vice president for vertical programming. "We wanted to give people many front doors, not just one front door to come in." http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407557.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407557.html Fri, 16 May 2008 20:45 EDT Three convicted sex offenders have been arrested for surfing social networking Web sites and are believed to be the first charged under the state's new law that restricts their use of the Internet, authorities said Friday.<p/>State police set up accounts on MySpace and Facebook, posing as teenagers to monitor the sex offenders, Lt. Joseph Furlong said, but he wouldn't elaborate. The suspects did not seem to be behaving improperly online, "but they are not allowed to be on there doing anything," he said.<p/>The law adopted in January restricts Internet use for convicted sex offenders who used a computer to help commit their original sex crime, such as trying to lure a potential victim with electronic correspondence. The law also may be applied to paroled sex offenders under lifetime supervision, but exempts computer work done as part of a job or search for employment. Violators can face up to 18 months in prison.<p/>Last year, the state Parole Board also adopted a rule prohibiting sex offenders under supervision them from using the Internet to socialize or use social networking sites.<p/>All three of the men charged - Pietro Parisi, 24, of Westville; Felice Black, 24, of Paterson; and Stanton Ulmer, 32, of Neptune - had underage victims in their original crimes and all are listed as moderate-risk sex offenders. Of the three, a judge had required only Parisi to be listed on the publicly available database of sex offenders. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406197.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406197.html Fri, 16 May 2008 07:31 EDT A Missouri woman was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in perpetrating a hoax on the online social network MySpace against a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide.<p/>Lori Drew, 49, of suburban St. Louis, who allegedly helped create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist to convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, was charged with conspiracy and fraudulently gaining access to someone else's computer.<p/>Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006, allegedly after receiving a dozen or more cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.<p/>Salvador Hernandez, assistant agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, called the case heart-rending.<p/>"The Internet is a world unto itself. People must know how far they can go before they must stop. They exploited a young girl's weaknesses," Hernandez said. "Whether the defendant could have foreseen the results, she's responsible for her actions." http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407018.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407018.html Fri, 16 May 2008 15:30 EDT French wireless operator Orange said Friday it has signed a deal with Apple Inc. to sell its iPhone in the Middle East, Africa and several European countries.<p/>France Telecom's Orange said in a one-sentence statement that it will sell the handset in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and African markets later this year.<p/>France Telecom spokesman Bertrand Deronchaine said Orange will be the exclusive iPhone provider in Belgium and Romania, with co-exclusive or non-exclusive deals in other countries. He declined to offer more details about the arrangement.<p/>Apple has so far struck exclusive deals for the iPhone with AT&T Inc. in the United States, O2 in Britain, T-Mobile in Germany and Orange in France.<p/>Apple plans further expansion later this year through the partnership with Mexico City-based America Movil SAB. The top mobile phone operator in Latin America said earlier this month it plans to bring the iPhone to all of its Latin American operations. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407285.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407285.html Fri, 16 May 2008 19:11 EDT Unless you're looking carefully, you'll likely miss the fact that the new Asylum Web site for young men is a creation of Time Warner Inc.'s AOL. Same for WalletPop on personal finance, Spinner on indie music and StyleList on fashion.<p/>The AOL brand is taking a back seat as the company long associated with dial-up Internet access for the masses quietly launches dozens of sites targeted at specialized audiences.<p/>AOL figures that to grow its audiences - and draw additional advertising the company crucially needs to offset plunging revenue from its shrinking base of Internet access subscribers - it must break from a one-size-fits-all model and let its specialty sites set their own designs and editorial tone, shedding the AOL brand when necessary.<p/>Bill Wilson, AOL's executive vice president for vertical programming, said the company has been retaining the AOL name for some sites - AOL Body is one, after research showed women 25 and up respond well to the brand.<p/>And the brand isn't completely invisible even if AOL isn't part of the site's name. There's usually a small AOL logo somewhere, along with links to other AOL sites. The right mix, Wilson said, is the product of research on what makes the most sense for consumers. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407433.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407433.html Fri, 16 May 2008 17:30 EDT Cable operators are riding high heading into this year's industry trade show, which kicks off this weekend.<p/>After a dismal 2007 in which their shares took a big pounding, cable is seeing a rebound as Wall Street put more weight on their gains in high-speed Internet and digital voice rather than focusing mainly on their traditional video services.<p/>Year-to-date, industry leader Comcast Corp.'s shares are up 21 percent after falling 57 percent in 2007. The stock rose 8.6 percent the day that the Philadelphia-based company posted a 23 percent increase in first-quarter operating profit despite losing 57,000 basic video subscribers; its new Internet, phone and digital video subscribers has made up the difference, and more.<p/>Time Warner Cable Inc. shares are up 10 percent so far this year, recovering from a 33 percent freefall last year, while Cablevision Systems Corp.'s stock rose 2 percent after declining 14 percent in 2007.<p/>For the most part, the slowing economy didn't seem to take much of a bite. Cable companies added more double- and triple-play customers - people who bought two or three bundled services at lower rates than they would have paid a la carte. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406835.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406835.html Fri, 16 May 2008 15:30 EDT The One Laptop Per Child project is about to find out whether Microsoft Corp., a rival the nonprofit group once derided, is the solution to its problems in spreading inexpensive portable computers to schoolchildren.<p/>Microsoft and the laptop organization announced Thursday that the nonprofit's green-and-white "XO" computers now can run Windows in addition to their homegrown interface, which is built on the open Linux operating system. That had been anticipated for months, but it amounts to a major shift.<p/>Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the laptop project - which aims to produce $100 computers but now sells them at $188 - acknowledged that having Windows as an option could reassure education ministers who have hesitated to buy XOs with its new interface, called Sugar. Negroponte had hoped to sell several million laptops by now; instead he has gotten about 600,000 orders.<p/>Beginning in limited runs next month, XO buyers will have the option of computers loaded with or without Windows. Versions with Windows will cost $18 to $20 more; $3 of that is for Windows, and the rest covers hardware adjustments, like an additional memory-card slot, needed to make Windows run.<p/>Soon Negroponte hopes to sell just one kind of machine with a "dual-boot" mode, meaning users would have Windows and Linux and choose which to run each time. Because that will take advantage of a broader hardware redesign, the dual-boot XOs will cost about $10 more than today's versions, Negroponte said. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407276.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407276.html Fri, 16 May 2008 20:35 EDT Think twice before you sign up for an online service using a fake name or e-mail address. You could be committing a federal crime.<p/>Federal prosecutors turned to a novel interpretation of computer hacking law to indict a Missouri mother on charges connected to the suicide of a 13-year-old MySpace user.<p/>Prosecutors alleged that by helping create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist, Lori Drew, 49, violated the News Corp.-owned site's terms of service and thus illegally accessed protected computers.<p/>Legal experts warned Friday that such an interpretation could criminalize routine behavior on the Internet. After all, people regularly create accounts or post information under aliases for many legitimate reasons, including parody, spam avoidance and a desire to maintain their anonymity or privacy online or that of a child.<p/>This new interpretation also gives a business contract the force of a law: Violations of a Web site's user agreement could now lead to criminal sanction, not just civil lawsuits or ejection from a site. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407335.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407335.html Fri, 16 May 2008 16:05 EDT Sumo wrestlers were the main inspiration behind Wii Fit, Nintendo's latest attempt at getting you off the couch when you play video games.<p/>Because they are so huge, sumo wrestlers need two scales to weigh themselves. Wii Fit's balance board works kind of like two scales fused together, which, as its designers found, makes it instantly more fun than just one. The game has sold more than 2 million copies in Japan and it's been a hit in Europe. Nintendo Co. hopes to recreate that success when Wii Fit goes on sale in the U.S. on Monday.<p/>In the U.S., pre-launch buzz around the game - whose activities range from yoga to snowboarding - is reminiscent of the Wii's debut. The console, initially elusive in stores and online, is still often in short supply a year and a half after its release.<p/>Wii Fit, which costs $89.99, is currently sold out in pre-launch sales on Amazon.com and the Web sites of retailers GameStop Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., while Best Buy Co.'s Web site lists it as "coming soon."<p/>"Our main premise in creating Wii Fit was (to) create a game that allows you to check your weight," Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary game designer behind Mario and Zelda, told The Associated Press through a translator during a recent visit to the U.S. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407443.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407443.html Fri, 16 May 2008 17:36 EDT Former satellite TV provider EchoStar Corp. on Sunday will demonstrate its first product for cable companies at the industry's trade show: a unit that can tune in television and act as a cable modem.<p/>The SlingModem, made by Sling Media Inc., which is owned by EchoStar, will combine modem functions with its popular Slingbox, which lets users watch broadcast, cable or satellite TV shows on any Internet-connected device such as laptops or cell phones, even when they're away from home.<p/>For instance, it lets someone who subscribes to cable catch an HBO special on his laptop while he's on a business trip in Japan.<p/>The unit, to be sold through cable companies, at least initially, was first announced in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.<p/>EchoStar, which recently spun off satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp. to focus on its equipment sales business, plans to unveil more cable products later in the year. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407506.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/407506.html Fri, 16 May 2008 20:45 EDT Federal law gives MySpace.com immunity from a lawsuit over the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl by a man she met on the social networking Web site, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.<p/>The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that a Texas girl's family filed against MySpace and its parent company, News Corp. The family said MySpace didn't protect young users from sexual predators.<p/>The appeals court ruled that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 bars such lawsuits against Web-based services like MySpace. A federal judge in Austin, Texas, dismissed the $30 million lawsuit on the same grounds last year.<p/>"Parties complaining that they were harmed by a Web site's publication of user-generated content have recourse; they may sue the third-party user who generated the content, but not the interactive computer service that enabled them to publish the content online," Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote in the ruling.<p/>The girl's family argued in the appeal that MySpace isn't immune from liability because it partially creates the content of its profiles. The appeals court refused to consider that argument because it wasn't presented in district court. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406509.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406509.html Thu, 15 May 2008 19:50 EDT The New York Times won three accolades for its Web sites and USA Today won two as the "EPpy Awards" were announced Thursday.<p/>Also among the 13th annual EPpy Awards for media Web sites, from Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek magazines, was one for The Associated Press for its Katrina recovery coverage.<p/>The Times' DealBook won for best business blog, while the general news site NYTimes.com was lauded as the best news Web site and best overall newspaper-affiliated site among those with more than 1 million unique monthly visitors.<p/>USAToday.com was crowned best sports Web site with more than 1 million visitors and its Pop Candy was named best entertainment blog overall.<p/>Judges received more than 450 nominees in 36 categories from nearly 100 outlets. In many cases, sites with more than 1 million unique monthly visitors competed separately from less-trafficked sites. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/405661.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/405661.html Thu, 15 May 2008 05:12 EDT Sony shares jumped nearly 9 percent in Thursday trading in Tokyo, a day after the Japanese electronics and entertainment company released upbeat earnings that included a record fiscal year profit.<p/>Sony stock closed at 5,270 yen ($50) midday, up 8.7 percent from the previous day, as the market welcomed the strongest sign in years of the Tokyo manufacturer's path to recovery. Sony has taken a beating in recent years after falling behind rivals in digital music players and flat-panel TVs.<p/>A global plunge in gadget prices and the enormous startup costs for the struggling PlayStation 3 video game console have also taken their toll on Sony's performance.<p/>"The report underlines Sony's confidence in the steady progress of its reforms," Nomura Securities Co. said in a report, noting that it was "positive" that the company is promising better operating profit for the fiscal year through March 2009 despite a strong yen.<p/>Sony said it is expecting the dollar to trade at about 100 yen during the current fiscal year. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/405859.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/405859.html Fri, 16 May 2008 11:01 EDT CBS Corp. is acquiring a big online reach with its acquisition of CNet Networks Inc. but also a company that's faced heavy criticism from investors. Those concerns as well as the hefty $1.8 billion price tag helped send CBS's shares down after the deal was announced Thursday.<p/>CNet was an early player in the dot-com boom and survived the subsequent crash with a steady focus on technology news, reviews and entertainment. But its stock, which once traded as high as $79 during the bubble, has slumped over the last two years, leading to an investor rebellion that was gathering steam just as the CBS deal was announced.<p/>The $11.50 per-share price CBS is paying represents a huge premium of 45 percent over CNet's stock price the day before and seemed likely to resolve a looming proxy battle with its biggest investor, the hedge fund Jana Partners LLC, which has pressed for action to raise CNet's stock price. Jana declined to comment.<p/>Like other media companies CBS has been working quickly to expand its online audience as more viewers and advertisers go there. The CNet acquisition is the largest since the company brought on the technology executive Quincy Smith in late 2006 to lead its digital strategy. Last year CBS bought the music-focused online social network Last.fm for $280 million.<p/>Speaking on a conference call with reporters, CBS's chief executive, Leslie Moonves, said acquiring CNet would lift CBS into the top 10 online audience companies in the United States, giving CBS new ways to distribute its news, entertainment and other programming. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406059.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406059.html Thu, 15 May 2008 12:58 EDT Some games have difficulty curves that resemble plateaus. Others ramp up the challenge in a slope befitting a hill or mountain.<p/>"Iron Man," on the other hand, prefers the Saguenay Fjord method.<p/>Oh, it starts off pleasantly enough. "Iron Man's" opening missions are rather bland in both the objectives and eye candy department, but they give you a chance to acclimate yourself with your arsenal. The control scheme leans a bit on the complicated side, but it allows Secret Level to map Iron Man's many abilities to the controller. A number of attacks and maneuvers sit at your disposal right from the start, and a nice upgrade system lets you cater your suit's special abilities - maneuverability, armor, firepower, speed - to match your own strengths.<p/>Ostensibly, "Iron Man" seems equipped to deliver the goods once the handholding ends and the real action begins. And like an asylum inmate who suddenly stops taking his meds, that's precisely what it does.<p/>Somewhere between missions four and five, Secret Level decided to increase enemy resistance to an exponential degree that far outstrips your suit's increased abilities. The result is a barrage of choppers, missile turrets and other enemies simultaneously pounding on you with an almost comical excess of bullets and rockets that seem magnetically attracted to your suit no matter how expertly you try to dodge them. The game allows you to catch and throw back missiles, which is a fun trick until you realize that every time you catch one missile, it leaves you vulnerable to nine more flying at you from seven other directions. http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406110.html http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/406110.html Thu, 15 May 2008 13:40 EDT Deutsche Telekom chief executive Rene Obermann said Thursday the company has so far sold more than 100,000 of Apple Inc.'s iPhones since the device's November debut in Germany.<p/>At Telekom's annual general meeting in Cologne, Obermann said the iPhone was the most popular multimedia device sold by the company's T-Mobile cell phone division.<p/>IPhone customers use the Internet 30 times more on average than other mobile telephone customers and that one-third of iPhone customers bought the most expensive service plans, Obermann said.<p/>Company spokesman Alexander von Schmettow declined to specify the sales figure beyond 100,000 or forecast future sales but said the iPhone was "meeting expectations."<p/>Deutsche Telekom advertises 8-gigabyte iPhones for $153.45 and monthly service plans at $153.45 to $385.95 on its Web site. Deutsche Telekom is the exclusive service provider for the iPhone in Germany.