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From InfoWorld: Following a warning from Microsoft that it may stop selling Windows in South Korea, Linspire President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Carmony has offered to license his company’s distribution of Linux and basic office productivity software for use on every computer in the country for $5 million. Carmony said he wrote to South …
From the New York Times: Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, often intimidates its competitors and suppliers. Makers of goods from diapers to DVD’s must cater to its whims. But there is one company that even Wal-Mart eyes warily these days: Google, a seven-year-old business in a seemingly distant industry. “We watch Google very closely at …
From the New York Times: IT hardly ranks in the annals of “gotcha!” but right-wing blogs were buzzing for at least a few days last week when an unsigned Microsoft Word document was circulated by the Democratic National Committee. The memo referred to the “anti-civil rights and anti-immigrant rulings” of Samuel A. Alito Jr., a …
From Forbes: Google wants to scan all the books in the stacks of several of the world’s major research libraries to make these books searchable online. But lawsuits are threatening to shut the project down. Should they? Called the Google Print Library Project, it has produced strong opposition, particularly from the publishing industry and writers’ …
From TechRepublic: It was an idea everyone loved: Develop a cheap PC that would let large numbers of Brazilians connect to the Internet. Literacy would rise, the economy would improve and the country’s emerging tech sector would get a boost. Unfortunately, it’s been about six years and counting.
From CNN: When Madonna takes the stage in Lisbon this week to perform her new single “Hung Up,” it will be the culmination of weeks of promotion harnessing new technology that is revolutionizing the music industry. Major artists are increasingly using the Internet, mobile phones and music appliances like Apple Computer’s iPod to generate hype …
From TechRepublic: Kicking off what he called the “live era” of software, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said on Tuesday that the company plans to launch new Internet-based complements to its core products. Gates said Microsoft is working on two products, “Windows Live” and “Office Live,” that create opportunities for the company to sell online subscriptions …
From Vnunet: The development of relatively cheap 5-megapixel compact cameras has effectively ended the long running ‘megapixel war’, leaving manufacturers to focus on features rather than resolution, industry sources have told vnunet.com. “Five to eight megapixels is already sufficient for almost all users,” said a spokesman for Premier Image Technology, one of the world’s largest …
From the New York Times: Just because a bunch of individual ingredients are delicious doesn’t mean they’ll taste good when they’re all cooked up together. Ask anyone who’s ever sampled a 5-year-old chef’s rendition of chocolate chip spaghetti with meat sauce and grape jelly. Similarly, many an electronics company has tried and failed to slap …
From the New York Times: Imagine relaxing in a tiny private cove, on a lava beach near the mists of a waterfall. The sun is shining, a tropical bird cries somewhere in the distance and the cares of the working world seem a million miles away. It’s an idyllic vacation spot, but the best thing …