04
October
2007
|
07:09 AM
America/Los_Angeles

Newswatch 10.4.07: Whopping judgment in favor of RIAA

In RIAA case, woman found liable for $220K

[USA Today] Jurors ordered Jammie Thomas, 30, to pay record companies $220,000 — or $9,250 for each of 24 songs for which the companies sought damages. They could have awarded damages as low as $750 per song.

New name for game: Halo $300 million

[AP] Gamers around the globe dropped nearly $300 million on "Halo 3" in the week since the first-person shooter for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 console debuted, the company said Thursday. Microsoft also said that in the week after the Sept. 25 launch, Xbox 360 console sales "nearly tripled" from previous weekly average.

YHOO moves to curb phishing

[CIO Today] The Domain Keys strategy at the heart of the new technology that Yahoo, eBay, and PayPal hope will help eliminate phishing is essentially a verification process to determine that e-mail comes from its purported sender. While Domain Keys might sound like an ideal solution, it is of limited usefulness unless a majority of e-mail providers back it.

BT unwires Britain

[Forbes] Britain's BT Group has joined forces with wireless internet company FON to create "the world's largest" Wi-Fi community, adding 3 million consumers to a collective that already includes subscribers to France's NeufCegetel and Time Warner Cable in the United States.

GOOG upgrades business users to Postini mail

[Reuters] Google, the market leader in Web search and online advertising for consumers, is introducing e-mail controls and anti-spam protections resulting from the acquisition of e-mail services supplier Postini, which it closed three weeks ago.

GOOG accuses Verizon of lobbying violations

[MarketWatch] In a letter filed with the FCC Monday, Google attorney Richard Whitt cited Verizon's "improprieties" in both lobbying the FCC, while simultaneously pursuing the lawsuit. Whitt in particular cites a Sept. 17 meeting between Verizon and Chairman Martin where he claims the open-access rules were discussed, though "the actual content of [the meeting] was not disclosed until days after."

Mr. Sulu gets an asteroid

[News.com] In the latest example of real scientists paying homage to science fiction, the International Astronomical Union last week honored the actor and his character, by renaming an asteroid, formerly known as 1994 GT9. The new name will be 7307 Takei, according to a story by the Associated Press.