Why ISPs can breathe easier after a porno decision

Internet service providers naturally are concerned about circumstances under which they potentially could be held liable for content posted by users. But after a recent decision by a Texas federal judge, ISPs can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

The judge dismissed an ISP as a defendant in the case of Doe v. Bates (PDF), even though the offending conduct at issue was alleged to be in violation of criminal law.

In that case, the plaintiffs alleged that the ISP knowingly hosted illegal child pornography on a particular e-group. An e-group is an Internet-based forum where users can engage in discussions and share files and the like. The e-group at issue was just one of a multitude of e-groups registered with this ISP.

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Apple plugs zero-day QuickTime flaw

Apple on Tuesday released a fix for a serious security hole in its QuickTime media player software.

The patch comes 23 days after details of the flaw, along with detailed attack code, were publicly released. The publication kicked off the "Month of the Apple Bugs" project, which has been publishing a new Apple software bug each day in January.

The QuickTime vulnerability relates to how the media player software handles the Real Time Streaming Protocol, or RTSP, according to an Apple alert. An attacker could exploit the flaw and commandeer a vulnerable system by placing a special RTSP string in a QuickTime file and tricking a user into opening that file, Apple said.

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Meet me in my avatar's office

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Employees of tomorrow will inhabit virtual worlds like Second Life to hold live weekly meetings with co-workers, catch up over lunch with financial advisers, and join friends on virtual shopping excursions after work.

That's if IBM's vision pans out.

"Success (in the future) will depend on how well you play the game, literally," Doug McDavid, executive research consultant at IBM's Academy of Technology, said here Monday night at an SDForum event titled "Virtual Worlds: Ready, Fire, Aim."

"A generation (has) lived in these environments, and they'll bring that perspective into the workplace. How this plays out is in the integration of work with this playful perspective," McDavid said. He added: "This is an unstoppable phenomenon."

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AMD: Go to 'Barcelona' over 'Clovertown'

When it comes to quad-core chips, good things come to those who wait, Advanced Micro Devices believes.

After years breathing AMD's dust, Intel beat its rival to the punch by releasing its quad-core Xeon 5300 "Clovertown" processor for servers in November. But AMD's "Barcelona" quad-core chip, due to arrive midway through 2007, will be a significant notch faster than the Clovertown chips expected to be on the market at that time, said Randy Allen, AMD's corporate vice president for server and workstation products.

"We expect across a wide variety of workloads for Barcelona to outperform Clovertown by 40 percent," Allen said. The quad-core chip also will outperform AMD's current dual-core Opterons on "floating point" mathematical calculations by a factor of 3.6 at the same clock rate, he said.

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Sun posts profit, gets private investment

Sun Microsystems on Tuesday posted a profit that beat Wall Street's financial expectations for its most recent quarter, and announced a $700 million investment from an arm of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

The software and server maker reported revenue of $3.57 billion, a 7 percent increase from the year-earlier period, and earnings per share of $126 million, or 3 cents per share, using generally accepted accounting principles.

Excluding $58 million of stock-based compensation, $26 million of restructuring and asset-impairment charges and a $4 million tax benefit, Sun had income of 5 cents per share for the quarter, which ended December 31. That's well above the average of 1 cent per share expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. In addition, Sun's revenue exceeded that expectation of $3.52 billion.

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Intel speeds up delivery of faster Wi-Fi

Intel has confirmed plans to ship its next-generation wireless chips ahead of its previous schedule for bringing 802.11n wireless to its Centrino program.

The Next-Gen Wireless-N product will appear in notebooks from companies such as Acer, Gateway and Toshiba by the end of this month, Dave Hofer, director of wireless marketing for the company, said Tuesday.

The new Wi-Fi chip is based on the draft 802.11n wireless standard, which is on track to be finalized later this year. It will become the newest piece of Intel's Centrino package of chips, which includes the Core 2 Duo processor, a mobile chipset and a wireless chip.

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Warner, Sony BMG invest in Chinese mobile play

Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group announced on Tuesday strategic investments in a Chinese company that makes technology to download songs on to mobile phones in China.

Eyeing the potentially lucrative Chinese market, which has about 460 million mobile phone users, Sony BMG and Warner Music have invested in Access China Media Solutions, a partnership between U.S.-based digital content delivery company Melodeo and Japan's Access.

The record companies said they saw mobile phones as the future of the Chinese music industry, which has been hampered by rampant piracy.

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Will 'unlocked' cell phones free consumers?

The major cell phone operators' hold on which devices U.S. consumers can use on their networks may be slipping as large manufacturers like Motorola and Nokia dabble in selling "unlocked" phones.

Up until recently, unlocked phones--handsets that can be used on multiple carrier networks--have been available only in "gray" markets where Americans have bought phones from overseas. Now manufacturers are selling them on their Web sites and through certain retail channels.

"Cell phones rank just behind keys when it comes to items that Americans don't leave home without," said Albert Lin, an analyst with American Technology Research. "And as cell phones become the most important thing people carry with them through their day, they will look for products that fit their lifestyles better. And believe me, they will want more than 5 to 20 choices. They'll want hundreds of options."

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Internet usage in China hits record high

The number of Internet users in China made its highest recorded jump to reach 137 million at the end of 2006, a state information center said Tuesday.

China's Net users grew by 26 million, or 23.4 percent, year over year--the highest jump since the report began in 1997--to reach 10.5 percent of the total population, China Internet Network Information Center said in its 19th Internet development report.

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EMC profit gains on systems, software sales

EMC, the world's largest maker of data storage gear, on Tuesday said quarterly earnings rose as it sold more high-profit software.

Fourth-quarter net income climbed to $389 million, or 18 cents per share, from $148.3 million, or 6 cents per share, a year earlier, when EMC had charges for job cuts and repatriating foreign earnings. Revenue increased 19 percent to $3.22 billion from $2.71 billion.

Excluding items, EMC posted a profit of 17 cents per share, beating analyst estimates of 16 cents per share, and revenue of $3.17 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. Fourth-quarter net income included charges for cutting about 1,300 jobs by the end of 2007.

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Mitsubishi to build lithium ion car batteries

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries aims to start mass production of lithium ion batteries for cars in 2010, Japan's largest machinery maker said Tuesday.

The rechargeable batteries would be sold to automakers for use in electric and gas-electric hybrid vehicles.

The car industry is abuzz with talk of the potential for plug-in hybrid cars, and lithium ion batteries are more compact than nickel metal hydride batteries, contributing to fuel efficiency.

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Business apps giant SAP gets Web 2.0 bug

Business software companies are looking to the consumer Web for product inspiration--and potentially profit.

Business applications giant SAP this year will be rolling out enhancements meant to make end users more productive through easier collaboration, according to company executives.

These additions are being designed around so-called Web 2.0 technologies, such as shared Web pages called wikis, as well as online forums and mini applications called widgets. The goal is to make it easier for knowledge workers who use SAP products to collaborate.

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Solution to energy conundrum may be CO2

INDIAN SPRINGS, Calif.--There may be a solution to the energy problem under our feet. Unfortunately, the answer is coal.

America is the Saudi Arabia of coal, said Ira Ehrenpreis, a partner at venture capital firm Technology Partners. The coal in the United States also has less sulfur than geologists find in places like India, but it still produces tons of carbon emissions when it burns.

The solution may be to turn the CO2 waste product into a liquid or a solid and then store it underground, said panelists at the Clean Tech Investor Summit taking place this week here in Southern California.

"Carbon capture is easy," said Dan Arvisu, director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Capturing the carbon from the smokestacks from coal-burning electrical plants would add only about 20 percent to your electrical bill.

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U.S. automakers push for battery, fuel tech help

U.S.-based automakers will this week underscore their push for government help on alternative fuels and advanced battery technology, riding what is anticipated to be an updated White House prescription for greater national energy independence.

One year after declaring America's addiction to oil, President Bush is expected in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night to promote expanded use of ethanol and other alternative sources, including gas-electric hybrids, to spur energy efficiency.

At the same time, General Motors, Chrysler Group, and Ford Motor will use the Washington Auto Show to accent hybrid technologies and review energy priorities.

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