Airline Industry Puts High-Speed Internet on Hold
In a true sign of how slow the economy is, a host of airline companies and manufactures are putting on hold a movement to bring high-speed Internet access to the skies.
The two leading suppliers of high-speed Internet and e-mail systems on jets, Tenzing Communications and Boeing, said they will refocus their efforts on other markets as a direct results of the slow travel market.
Until recently, such systems were being touted as the next airborne revolution, as critical as in-flight movies or ground-to-air telephones. In 2000 Boeing cited analysts' predictions that the airborne communications market would be worth $70 billion over 10 years.
After Air Canada deployed a Tenzing system on five jets, other airlines lined up. But a falloff in air travel in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America moved expensive new technology such as onboard e-mail from being a top priority to the bottom of the list.
DVD Protection Case Still in Courts
The publisher of 2600 Magazine and his supporters last week requested that a U.S. court reverse an earlier ruling prohibiting publication of the software code called DeCSS, which can be used to break the copy protection on DVDs. They said in a statement that "free speech principles should turn not upon newly minted distinctions between pen-and-ink and point-and-click."
Publisher Eric Corley asked the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a recent ruling against him in an action brought by movie studios over a link included in his Web site, 2600.com, to the software code. The code has been the subject of a number of other cases. Last week, Jon Johansen of Norway, who co-wrote the code when he was 15, was charged under his country’s anti-hacking laws.
Kodak Could See Legal Action For Not Honoring Web Prices
Kodak is being threatened with legal action after refusing to honor orders placed on its site for cameras that were offered to U.K. customers at an incorrect price. An unknown number of cameras were ordered for £100 each, instead of £300, before the error was identified.
The case is reminiscent of a similar error by Argos in 1999. In that case, televisions were offered on argos.co.uk for the sum of £2.99. The price should have been £299. The company refused to honor the orders placed and legal action was threatened--although it did not materialize.
The Kodak case differs from the Argos case in one significant respect. In the Argos case, the operation of the Web site left it unclear as to whether or not a contract had been formed between the customer and the company. In the Kodak case, according to reports, the customers received confirmation of their orders and nothing on the Web site would indicate that the contract had not been formed at this stage. However, Kodak denies that any contract was formed and has apologized to customers for "any inconvenience and disappointment caused."
eBay Raising Fee For Sellers
Two days after reporting record profits, eBay Inc. said Thursday that it will raise many of the fees it charges to sell items on its site.
Starting Jan. 31, eBay will take a commission of 5.25 percent, instead of 5 percent, on items that sell for less than $25. The rate is rising to 2.75 percent, from 2.5 percent, on items between $25 and $1,000, and to 1.50 percent, from 1.25 percent, on sales of more than $1,000.
The San Jose-based company also will begin charging five cents for all products listed with the "buy it now" feature rather than in the typical auction format. eBay said 45 percent of all items on the site are sold with that fixed-price option.
Among the other increases: It will cost $40, up from $25, to offer and to sell a car on eBay, with an extra 50 cents for motorcycles sold with the "buy it now'' option and $1 for other vehicles sold that way.
China Releases Internet Controls
China has issued its most intrusive Internet controls to date, ordering service providers to screen private e-mail for political content and holding them responsible for subversive postings on their Web sites.
The new rules, posted earlier this week on the Web site of the Ministry of Information Industry, represent Beijing's latest efforts to tighten its grip on the only major medium in China not already under state control.
The regulations also create new difficulties for a competitive industry trying to attract more overseas investment.
Foreign software makers must now guarantee in writing that their products do not contain hidden programs that would allow spying or hacking. Many in the industry had hoped for a more liberal climate following China's entry into the World Trade Organization. But the rules pointed to Beijing's resolve to keep the Web from being used to spread opposition to Communist Party rule.
Ask Jeeves Boots Technology With Purchase
Online search engine provider Ask Jeeves has acquired the technology assets of Octopus Software Inc., a developer of Web portal software tools.
Ask Jeeves also announced Monday that it has hired the majority of the engineering team that built the Octopus software.
The Emeryville-based search engine provider hopes the technology acquisition will improve the abilities of its JeevesOne product that allows users to connect to existing systems using a natural-language, self-service interface.
The JeevesOne service allows companies to access and categorize data stored in HTML and 225 other document types through an intuitive interface.
Georgia Tech Software Designed to Curb Cheating
A software program designed by Georgia Tech professors to detect cheating in students' computer programming homework turned up 186 possible violators, school officials said.
The students--who were enrolled last fall in either "Introduction to Computing'' or "Object Oriented Programming''--will be investigated by the student dean's office, Tech spokesman Bob Harty said Tuesday.
The program is designed to detect exact duplications of computer code.
Students found guilty of cheating could face expulsion but most likely will be given failing grades for the classes, Harty said.
Students were told before taking the class that the software would be used, said Kurt Eislet, director of undergraduate education for the College of Computing.
The software, developed around 1993, detected similarities in the students' work in three coding assignments, Eislet said. It's unlikely that the program detected innocent students' work, he said.
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Cable Companies
In a victory for the cable industry, the Supreme Court said Wednesday that a federal agency can control rates that cable companies pay for high-speed Internet lines. The ruling could affect the availability and cost of online services.
Cable television companies pay utilities to attach wires for high-speed Internet service to the utilities' poles.
A federal appeals panel had ruled that the Federal Communications Commission did not have the authority to regulate pole rental rates for Internet service. The Supreme Court reversed that decision.
Justices also said cellular telephone companies are entitled to pay government-limited rates for attaching their equipment to utility poles.