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European Court Orders Microsoft to Comply with Sanctions

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 4, 2005 - 3:28am.
Brussels -- Judge Bo Vesterdorf, president of the European Court of First Instance, has ruled that Microsoft, in spite of the company's ongoing appeal, must comply with penalties the European Commission imposed last year. "The evidence adduced by Microsoft is not sufficient to show that implementation of the remedies imposed … might cause serious and irreparable damage," the Commission said. Microsoft must now offer a version of its Windows operating system without Media Player, as well as share more technical information with competitors. Last March, the Commission ruled that Microsoft had abused its operating systems monopoly to manipulate the European media player market. But the penalties were temporarily suspended after the software giant claimed compliance would cause it "irreparable damage" and requested an emergency stay. Microsoft said it would comply with the ruling and that it was hopeful the issues highlighted by the Court would "create an opportunity for the parties to discuss settlement."
tags: Law | Microsoft | European Court | Sanctions |

Mobile Giants Join Forces to Develop "Super 3G" Technology

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 4, 2005 - 3:25am.
London -- Some of the world's leading wireless carriers and telecommunications equipment makers, including Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo, Cingular, Siemens and Alcatel, have teamed up to develop so-called "super 3-G" technologies. Once completed, the new generation of high-speed networks will work about 10 times faster than current 3G networks, the group said. The group also said that, instead of building entirely new networks, it would be able to use existing 3G infrastructure to build the new "super 3G" standard, which, once completed, will be capable of sending high-resolution video almost instantaneously. The group said it plans to wrap up the first stage of development by 2007. No date has been given for commercial launch.
tags: Develop | Mobile Giants | Super 3G Technology |

Ford to Offer Sirius Satellite Radio as Factory-Installed Option

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 4, 2005 - 3:23am.
New York -- Sirius Satellite Radio announced on Tuesday that Ford Motor Company will offer its satellite radio receivers as a factory-installed option beginning this summer. Ford and Lincoln Mercury will offer Sirius as an option on up to 21 models, including the Ford F-150 and Explorer, Lincoln Mark LT and Mercury Mountaineer. Ford said it expects to generate up to one million Sirius subscribers over the 2006 and 2007 model year periods.
tags: Sirius Satellite Radio | Ford | Factory-Installed Option |

Orb Networks Debuts PC Media Content Streaming Service for Mobile Devices

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 4, 2005 - 3:21am.
Las Vegas -- Orb Networks on Tuesday introduced technology that allows consumers to access the video, music, photos and live TV available on their PCs from most any Internet-connected device, including cell phones, PDAs and laptop computers. Once the company's software is installed on a home PC, remote access to any multimedia file is available on mobile devices, with the software adapting for bandwidth and screen resolution differences on the fly. The company announced partnerships with Intel, Netgear, Pinnacle Systems and Creative to market and distribute its software and service, which Orb says supports current digital rights management standards. Union City, Calif.-based Orb Networks will charge $9.99 per month for the service, which is currently only available for Windows XP Media Center users but will soon expand to include Windows XP. Orb is also working on a version that can be installed directly on cable and satellite TV set-top boxes so that TV content may be streamed directly to mobile devices without the need of a PC.
tags: Orb Networks | PC Media Content Streaming | Mobile Devices |

Report: Loudeye Seeding File-Sharing Networks With Pop-Ups, Adware

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 4, 2005 - 3:19am.
San Francisco -- PCWorld.com recently reported that Overpeer, an anti-piracy firm owned by Seattle-based Loudeye, has been seeding peer-to-peer file-sharing networks with spoof music and video files that launch pop-up ads, install adware and attempt to hijack a browser's home page. When a user downloads such a Windows Media Audio or Video file on a peer-to-peer network and then attempts to open it, the file launches the ads or adware instead of playing back the expected music or video. "Remember, the people who receive something like (the ad-laden media files), in some cases, were on P-to-P, and they were trying to get illicit files," Loudeye vice president Marc Morgenstern told PCWorld.com. Microsoft said it was looking into whether the spoof files violate the terms of its Windows Media licensing. "We wouldn't want to endorse anything that involved delivery of content that appears to be one thing, and then something else is delivered," Microsoft's David Moulton told PCWorld.com. When notified that ads for its company were being launched in this fashion, one company, Kanoodle, promptly had them removed. "Upon detecting or discovering any prohibited distribution activity, we eliminate it immediately," Kanoodle president Lance Podell told PCWorld.com.
tags: Reports | Loudeye | Adware | File-Sharing Networks | Pop-Ups |

Electronic Arts Revises Proposal to Acquire Swedish Developer Digital Illusions

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 4, 2005 - 3:16am.
Redwood City, Calif. -- Video game publisher Electronic Arts has modified its proposal to acquire Swedish developer Digital Illusions CE (DICE), following the rejection of a previous offer by 28% of DICE's shareholders, GamesIndustry.biz reported. The new deal lowers EA's condition that it come out of the deal with more than 90% of DICE, settling instead for more than 50% of the company, and extended the deadline for acceptance of the deal until Jan. 20. Electronic Arts currently owns 19% of DICE and has a 15-year publishing deal with the company, which develops EA's "Battlefield" game franchise.
tags: Acquire | Electronic Arts | Swedish Developer | Digital Illusions | Revises Proposal |

Dutch PC Firm Tulip Sells Commodore Name to Media Firm Yeahronimo

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 4, 2005 - 3:14am.
Amsterdam -- Tulip Computers NV, a PC maker based in the Netherlands, recently announced that it has agreed to sell its subsidiary Commodore International BV to Yeahronimo Media Ventures Inc., a California-based media firm. Under the terms of the agreement, Yeahronimo will pay the Dutch firm approximately $38.1 million in installments until the year 2010. Yeahronimo will gain full control over the Commodore brand name "in order to further develop a worldwide entertainment concept", the company said. Tulip acquired Commodore in September 1997, after offloading the Amiga name and platform to Gateway.
tags: Commodore | Media | Yeahronimo | Dutch PC | Tulip |