http://www.kentucky.com/572/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Technology - Wire 60 Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:27:07 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455755.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455755.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:50 EDT
The Mountain View-based company unveiled a free service Tuesday in which three-dimensional software enables people to congregate in electronic rooms and other computer-manufactured versions of real life. The service, called "Lively," represents Google's answer to a 5-year-old site, Second Life, where people deploy animated alter egos known as avatars to navigate through virtual reality.

Google thinks Lively will encourage even more people to dive into alternate realities because it isn't tethered to one Web site like Second Life, and it doesn't cost anything to use. After installing a small packet of software, a user can enter Lively from other Web sites, like social networking sites and blogs.

The Lively application already works on Facebook, one of the Web's hottest hangouts, and Google is working on a version suitable for an even larger online social network, News Corp.'s MySpace.

"We know people already spend a lot of time online socializing, so we just want to try to make it more enjoyable," said Niniane Wang, a Google engineering manager who oversaw Lively's creation over the past year.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455684.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455684.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:15 EDT
The studio's relationship with AMD started in 2005, back when animating animal fur was a key industry milestone.

With that achieved in the very furry "Kung Fu Panda," released last month, the animation house is following through on a commitment made last year to make all its movies in 3-D starting with "Monsters vs. Aliens," which is scheduled for release in March 2009.

The 3-D format requires twice the computing power of traditional animation because viewers' right and left eyes receive separate images, meaning it can take up to 16 hours to process a single frame, the company said.

"Our artists, to a large degree, actually work blind," DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "They send it out and have to wait overnight to actually see what they've done."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455737.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455737.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:50 EDT
NebuAd has drawn fierce criticism from privacy advocates in recent weeks for working with Internet service providers to track the online behavior of their customers and then serve up targeted banner ads based on that behavior.

According to Ari Schwartz, vice president of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a civil liberties group, NebuAd's business model raises many of the same concerns as an earlier generation of "adware" companies. Those companies developed software programs that - when downloaded to a computer - could track where a user went on the Internet and mine that information to deliver customized online ads. Several NebuAd executives in fact were once employed by Gator Corp., an adware company that later renamed itself Claria Corp.

Privacy activists say adware companies duped many Web surfers into downloading their software programs by bundling them with free screen savers, online games and other Internet applications. But NebuAd has a new twist: It works directly with Internet service providers to scan their customers' Web surfing habits and deliver ads presumed to be of interest to them.

By injecting its monitoring in between consumers and the Web sites they visit, NebuAd's technology could violate a 1986 federal wiretapping law that requires at least one party to a communication to consent to a wiretap, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the Center for Democracy & Technology. British technologists have leveled similar criticisms against a NebuAd-like system being prepared in that country by Phorm Inc.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/454397.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/454397.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:25 EDT
The unexpected endorsement gives Icahn a carrot to dangle before Yahoo shareholders as he wages an acrimonious campaign to replace Yahoo's nine directors at the company's annual meeting Aug. 1.

It marks the first time that Microsoft has publicly sided with Icahn since the billionaire investor launched his attempted coup nearly eight weeks ago.

The two sides decided they could work together after Icahn held "frequent" discussions with Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and some of his top lieutenants during the past week, according to a letter that Icahn sent Monday to Yahoo shareholders.

Industry analysts said Icahn now has more credibility with Yahoo shareholders because he has been arguing that a purge of Yahoo's board is the only way to salvage a deal with Microsoft.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455384.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455384.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:20 EDT
Former Microsoft Corp. executive Paul Maritz took over as VMware's new leader. In the past few months, Maritz had been running a division of VMware's controlling shareholder, data storage specialist EMC Corp.

VMware didn't provide any explanation for the sudden change in command. The Palo Alto-based company didn't return phone calls.

Greene, who was eligible for a $750,000 bonus to supplement her $750,000 salary, had been working under a one-year contract scheduled to expire at the end of this month. She also has had an uneasy working relationship with Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC and its CEO, Joe Tucci, who chairs VMware's board.

Given those tensions, Greene's departure was interpreted as a sign that VMware isn't faring as well as EMC had hoped in the face of increasing competition and a slowing economy. VMware fed that perception by warning its revenue growth this year will fall shy of the 50 percent increase that management had been targeting.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455702.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455702.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:10 EDT
A federal appeals court on Tuesday put off deciding on the wireless industry's challenge to the regulations until the Federal Communications Commission gets preliminary clearance for the rules.

After a panel of experts appointed by the FCC pointed out that many cell towers along the Gulf Coast stopped working when they lost power during Hurricane Katrina, the agency proposed in May 2007 that all cell towers have a minimum of eight hours of backup power that would switch on in the event a tower lost its regular energy source.

The loss of power contributed to communication breakdowns that complicated rescue and recovery efforts during the 2005 disaster.

Wireless companies have said the regulations were illegally drafted and would present a huge economic and bureaucratic burden. In particular, they said, the thousands of generators or battery packs required would be expensive and local zoning rules or structural limitations could make installation impossible in some places.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/454766.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/454766.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:50 EDT
Developers of a highly popular but unauthorized version of Scrabble for the online hangout Facebook vowed Tuesday to do just that, now that a video game maker has weighed in with an official version of the word game.

Jayant Agarwalla, co-creator of the unauthorized Scrabulous, suggested that Electronic Arts Inc. would have a tough time attracting "the attention and patronage of a large and dedicated user base," as Scrabulous has with nearly a half-million daily users.

"We strongly believe that people should have the option of playing what they like, rather than be forced by developers into using something they offer only for monetary gains," Agarwalla said in a statement.

As Facebook has blossomed into a hot Internet hangout, its users have passed countless hours playing Scrabulous, which Scrabble's owners have tried to shut down.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455080.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455080.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:26 EDT
Pioneer spokeswoman Kayoko Tanaka said the decision to enter the domestic Blu-ray market anticipated burgeoning Japanese demand for products in the next-generation video format. No decision has been made on overseas sales plans, she said.

Pioneer will develop Blu-ray DVD recorders with partner Sharp and sell them under the Pioneer brand targeting high-end consumers, Japan's top business daily The Nikkei reported earlier Tuesday. Tanaka declined comment on the details of the report.

Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, and Sharp Corp. dominate Japan's Blu-ray sector, controlling a combined 98 percent market share, according to The Nikkei.

Last year, Pioneer announced a tie-up with Sharp under which Pioneer will buy Sharp's liquid crystal displays for flat TVs. Pioneer and Sharp have also been working together on Blu-ray disc recorders and players.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455453.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455453.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:06 EDT
July 7:

Unreal Tournament 3 (X360, genre: action, rated M)

Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice (PC, genre: .adventure, rated E).

July 8: ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455726.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455726.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:10 EDT
For: Xbox 360

From: Venom Games/2K Sports

ESRB Rating: Teen (blood, drug reference, language, suggestive themes, violence)

The arrival of "Don King Presents: Prizefighter" is a welcome one, though not for the reason 2K Sports wishes it was.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455332.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/455332.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:50 EDT
With Internet-savvy rivals threatening Microsoft's usual sales model, Microsoft started offering its Exchange e-mail server software and other programs to "beta" testers in March. Under the new setup, companies including Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc. started to let some of their business software be run remotely in Microsoft's data centers, rather than buying, installing and managing it themselves.

On Tuesday, Microsoft said it will sell a package of four server products - Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Communications Online and Live Meeting - to U.S. companies by the end of the year for $15 per PC user per month, and to global businesses in the first half of 2009.

The company also plans to sell a lightweight version that gives limited e-mail and Sharepoint access to "deskless" workers like nurses, factory employees and salespeople for $3 per user per month.

Microsoft's announcements coincided with its annual conference for partner companies that resell its software to other businesses, held this year in Houston.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/453852.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/453852.html Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:29 EDT
Say it on the Internet, and you'll find that free speech and other constitutional rights are anything but guaranteed.

Companies in charge of seemingly public spaces online wipe out content that's controversial but otherwise legal. Service providers write their own rules for users worldwide and set foreign policy when they cooperate with regimes like China. They serve as prosecutor, judge and jury in handling disputes behind closed doors.

The governmental role that companies play online is taking on greater importance as their services - from online hangouts to virtual repositories of photos and video - become more central to public discourse around the world. It's a fallout of the Internet's market-driven growth, but possible remedies, including government regulation, can be worse than the symptoms.

Dutch photographer Maarten Dors met the limits of free speech at Yahoo Inc.'s photo-sharing service, Flickr, when he posted an image of an early-adolescent boy with disheveled hair and a ragged T-shirt, staring blankly with a lit cigarette in his mouth.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/454983.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/454983.html Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:41 EDT
CBS Corp.'s CBS Broadcasting subsidiary, News Corp.'s Fox network and other major network affiliate groups sued EchoStar 10 years ago in South Florida to prevent the Englewood, Co.-based company, which operates the DISH satellite network, from providing distant network signals to customers who can receive local affiliates' broadcasts through regular antennas.

The Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988 allowed carriers such as EchoStar to provide secondary transmissions of copyrighted distant network programming to "unserved households," those that could not otherwise receive the signals.

The lawsuit claimed that EchoStar was infringing on network copyrights by providing the signals to "served" households as well.

After a two-week bench trial in 2003, the district court found that EchoStar retransmitted network programs to hundreds of thousands of served homes, which it called "willful or repeated" copyright infringement. That ruling was upheld by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal in January 2007.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/454169.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/454169.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:25 EDT
Besides giving advertisers a clearer picture of how much consumers are paying attention to the games, NBC hopes its research provides a comprehensive picture of how people are supplementing TV viewership with tools such as video streaming, video on demand and mobile phones, said Alan Wurtzel, the company's research chief.

"The billion-dollar lab is an extraordinary research opportunity," he said.

NBC has scheduled 3,600 hours of Olympics programming on its main network, along with Telemundo, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC and Bravo. That's the equivalent of eight days of programming packed into each day.

In addition, the company is planning to make 2,200 hours of streaming video available on NBCOlympics.com. Consumers may also get video on demand via their computer and Olympics content through their mobile phones.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/454908.html http://www.kentucky.com/572/story/454908.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:25 EDT
The stocks of The Walt Disney Co., News Corp., CBS Corp., Time Warner Inc. and Viacom Inc. fell slightly more than the broader market by the close, with CBS falling the most, by 4.7 percent, or 87 cents, to $17.73.

"Shifts from physical to digital will disrupt the marginal economics of the TV and movie businesses, just as it did for music," analyst Anthony DiClemente said during a conference call.

DiClemente argued that the average profit the companies see from new DVDs, including higher-priced Blu-ray discs, is $10.59. Selling the same movie through Apple Inc.'s iTunes online music and video store nets them $9.29, 12 percent less, he said.

Online movie rental services offered by iTunes and Netflix Inc., with profits ranging from $1.81 to $2.44 per movie rented, will further hurt the industry as more young people choose to rent digital copies, he said.]]>