Does Apple Have the Backbone to License FairPlay?

Does Apple Have the Backbone to License FairPlay?Critics say Apple's digital rights management system, FairPlay, forces anyone using iTunes to use an Apple music player for the rest of their lives. Perhaps they're on to something. If Apple thinks it makes the best digital media players in the world, why lock consumers in with a tightly guarded DRM system? Licensing FairPlay would be a tremendous show of confidence from Apple.

Microsoft Offers Online Trial of Windows Vista OS

Microsoft Offers Online Trial of Windows Vista OS

Microsoft Virtual Labs launched a new Test Drive site to help give exposure to the Windows Vista operating system. The test drive site allows anyone to launch and try out various scenarios in a completely isolated, sandbox environment before they purchase and install the product on their own equipment.

In the past, many Microsoft applications have been made available on a test drive or trial basis by utilizing a Citrix client connection. The Vista OS trial is more of an "eat your own dog food" type demonstration as Microsoft is utilizing Microsoft Virtual Server to push out the trial.

In order to test drive this online trial, you must be using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, you must have JavaScript enabled, and you must install the ActiveX control "Virtual Server VRMC Advanced Control" from Microsoft. And don't forget about your popup blocking software. Mine complained numerous times as I tried to launch various scenarios within this test drive.

The Test Drive of the operating system is being powered by Microsoft Virtual Labs. In this particular test drive, Microsoft attempts to showcase four main areas of Windows Vista Business: Safe-Efficient-Connected-Collaborative. Each of these topics contains a number of videos and labs, which all-in-all total around 18.

While I personally found that the videos and step-by-step scenarios were all very helpful in learning about the product and how to use it, my experience with the actual hands-on Vista desktop interaction was quite slow. The video refresh and redraw of the graphics on this virtual machine was at times painful. But I expected that going into this demonstration, knowing how graphic intensive Windows Vista would be and combining that with the fact that I was using a remote connection over the Internet to run the test drive.

If you haven't installed or used Windows Vista yet, I invite you to try this product test drive. Visit the following Web site to begin your trial.

Intel files countersuit in Transmeta patent case

Intel files countersuit in Transmeta patent case
January 11, 2007 (IDG News Service) -- Intel Corp. has filed a countersuit against Transmeta Corp. in an ongoing patent infringement disagreement between the two companies.

Transmeta first sued Intel in October, saying Intel's Pentium and Core PC processors violate 10 Transmeta patents. Intel, in a court document filed Tuesday, denied it had infringed any Transmeta patents, instead accusing Transmeta of infringing seven of its own patents.

Intel's claims cover a variety of patents on processor functionality, including power usage and packed data. Transmeta's patents aren't legitimate, because Transmeta officials "withheld, concealed and/or mischaracterized" information about other patents and technologies in their patent applications, Intel lawyers wrote in the counterclaim, filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware.

Instead, Transmeta infringed Intel patents that came before the Transmeta patents, Intel lawyers wrote.

Transmeta won't have a comment on the Intel countersuit until it can study it further, a Transmeta spokesman said.

Nine of the 10 Transmeta patents in the October lawsuit cover basic processor functions like scheduling and addressing instructions on the chip.

Transmeta, founded in 1995, targeted Intel's market dominance in the notebook PC market. Transmeta developed software that reduced power consumption, allowing PCs to run longer, but its processors did not gain a large market share. Intel has recently focused on lowering power consumption as well.

In its first nine years of business, Transmeta, based like Intel in Santa Clara, Calif., posted $650 million in losses. In 2005, the company switched business models and now focuses on licensing its technology. In November, Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled a converged computer and mobile phone that runs on a Transmeta processor.

Tips for Protecting the Home Computer

Tips for Protecting the Home Computer

Botnet programs and other malicious software largely take aim at PCs running the Microsoft Windows operating system, because Windows’ ubiquity makes it fertile ground for network-based attacks.

Using a non-Windows-based PC may be one defense against these programs, known as malware; also, anti-malware programs and antivirus utilities for the PC are available from several vendors.

Microsoft entered the computer-security business last year and now offers a free malware-removal tool for download from its Web site. The company says the program removes about two million pieces of malware each month, of which 200,000, or about 10 percent, are botnet infections.

Like Windows, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser is also a large, convenient target for code-writing vandals. Alternative browsers, like Firefox and Opera, may insulate users. Microsoft’s most recent browser release, Internet Explorer 7, is said to offer significantly improved defenses.

Adding software to your browser like Noscript, a plug-in utility, can limit the ability of remote programs to run potentially damaging programs on your PC.

Security experts also offer these tips:

¶Don’t share your computer (on which you pay your bills) with your children (who download games).

¶Use a firewall program that warns you about outgoing connections that botnets make to communicate with control software.

¶Don’t use the same password on more than one financial site.

¶Don’t let your browser store your password for such sites.

¶Don’t buy anything offered by a spammer.

¶Don’t click if someone offers you something too good to be true. It is.

JOHN MARKOFF