News
- 01-12-03 Case Resigns as Chairman of AOL Time Warner (CNN)
"Steve Case will step down as chairman of AOL Time Warner in May. However, he will continue as a board member, the company said Sunday in a news release."
"Case was the driving force behind the 2001 merger of then-booming Internet portal America Online and Time Warner, the media giant that owned an array of film, TV, music and publishing companies, to form one of the world's largest media companies."
"However, the company has experienced a severe drop in its market value since the merger, which came at the peak of the Internet stock price boom, and disgruntled shareholders had directed their ire at Case." 1-03
- 01-25-03 International Internet Attack Stopped (USAToday.com)
"A fast-spreading, virus-like infection dramatically slowed Internet traffic Saturday, overwhelming the world's digital pipelines and interfering with Web browsing and e-mail delivery." 1-03
- 01-29-03 AOL Loses Turner and $99 Billion (USAToday.com)
"AOL Time Warner (AOL) rocked Wall Street on Wednesday as it reported a $99 billion loss for 2002 — the largest annual loss ever by a U.S. company — and said Ted Turner is resigning as vice chairman."
Papers
- Batteries - Paper Thin Battery Invented (ABC News)
Announces a new battery that can be used as part of a "smart card" or even printed on paper. 11-01.
- Chip Breakthrough by Intel (BusinessWeek.com)
Describes a much smaller transistor developed by Intel, making much faster and smaller computers possible. 6-01
- Chips - IBM Announces New Silicon Chip Breakthrough (CNET)
Describes a new method for making computer chips much faster and use less power. 6-01
- DNA-Based Computer (BBC News)
Describes a new nanocomputer developed at the Weizmann Institute in Israel by Professor Ehud Shapiro. A trillion of the computers will fit in a standard test tube. 11-01
- Fastest Computer Now From Japan (International Herald Tribune - Markoff)
Describes a new computer for climate monitoring that was developed in Japan.
- Law to Stop Pornography in Libraries and Schools Is Challenged (NewsFactor.com - Gill)
Describes why the American Library Association, Multnomah County Public Library (the Plaintiff), and others oppose a new law for filtering Internet content. 3-02
- Microsoft Announces Visual Studio.Net (ZDNet.com - Knorr)
Announces new Web tools from Microsoft. 2-02
- Rivals Unite to Set Web Services Standards (ZDNet.com - Wong)
"The idea is to sell software as a subscription-based service over the Web instead of through traditional methods such as boxed copies at retail stores." 2-02
- Smart Tags - New Microsoft Offering on XP Version (NewsFactorNetwork - McNeill)
Describes Microsoft's new Smart Tags, included in its XP version of Office and Windows. In Office XP, Smart Tags will be active. In Windows XP, the user will need to turn Smart Tags on. Smart Tags allow Microsoft to place its choice of links to any word it wishes on anyone's Web pages or documents, without the authors' permission. For example, Microsoft could sell the word "education" so that every time a user of XP finds the word on anyone's Web pages or documents, the word "education" would link to Microsoft's customer. 6-01
- Threats to Diversity on the Net (TomPaine.com - Chester)
"The cable industry will argue that such ubiquitous control systems and restrictive pricing structures are necessary to resolve bandwidth backups. But the fact is, this cannot be the case, because cable systems are constructed to avoid bandwidth shortages. But don't take my word for it."
"Mike LaJoie, vice president for advanced technology at AOL-Time Warner told MultiChannel News, 'The way that the HFC (hybrid fiber coaxial) architecture works, we never run out of bandwidth,' LaJoie said. 'We can always split or do other things that will give us the bandwidth that we want, so it really ends up being a desire to provide the best and highest experience for our customers.' "
"By charging a toll for every bit, the industry can simultaneously extract great profits from the new applications that it allows on its networks, as well as restrict access to those that it finds problematic, i.e. those that compete with its own content offerings. In short, the industry finally sees a way to make money online."
"Consumption-based pricing and other restrictive access controls contradict the spirit of openness and innovation that built the Internet in the first place, and will do irreparable harm to its future as a medium for small business initiatives, non-commercial users and democratic discourse. New threats to privacy are also clear, given the intrusive nature of the technology to closely monitor all online use."
"In sum, the Internet as we now know it -- and its revolutionary promise -- may soon pass into the history books. In the absence of public policy safeguards, the emerging pricing and control structures will fundamentally change the kinds of information -- and way it’s delivered -- on the Internet. The ramifications extend far beyond the quarterly reports and shareholder earnings for the nation’s telecommunications corporations."
"The consequences are cultural and will affect the pace and character of progress in the early 21st century. If the communications companies impose tolls, roadblocks and dead ends on the information ‘superhighway,’ they will be robbing public trust resources in much the same way 19th century mining companies pilfered public lands and 20th century radio and television networks privatized the public’s airwaves." 11-02
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