Music Industry Reaches Agreement
The recording industry has reached an agreement with songwriters and music publishers about licensing music for distribution through the Internet.
The agreement announced Tuesday helps clear the way for two industry-backed music distribution services to launch later this year. Online music site Napster reached its own agreement with the music publishers last month.
The deal allows the members of the Recording Industry Association of America, which includes all five major labels, to license any song from the Harry Fox Agency, the largest agency in the industry, for online use.
Harry Fox Agency, a subsidiary of the National Music Publishers' Association, represents 27,000 music publishers who in turn represent the interests of more than 160,000 songwriters.
The licenses will cover both the streaming of music as well as limited downloads of music files that can be played only for a limited time or for a limited number of playbacks.
The rates have yet to be determined, but the RIAA will pay the agency an advance of $1 million as part of the arrangement. If the two sides do not settle on a rate during the next two years, the industry will pay monthly advances totaling $750,000 per year until a rate is set.
AMD Releases Four New Chips
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is upgrading its line of desktop computer processors with faster chips, familiar names and revised performance measurements.
The chipmaker launched four processors Tuesday, all under the name Athlon XP. AMD said "XP" stands for "extra performance,'' not "experience'' as in Microsoft's upcoming Windows XP operating system.
Athlon XP chips run at speeds ranging from 1.33 gigahertz to 1.53 gigahertz, which is still below the highest clock speed of rival Intel Corp.'s Pentium 4 processor, which now tops out at 2 gigahertz.
AMD, however, said a processor's frequency is not the best measure of performance, and that its chips outperform Intel in tests of commonly used programs.
AMD will market the chips based on performance rather than clock speed. The 1.5-gigahertz Athlon XP will be sold as the Athlon 1800+. The 1.33-gigahertz model is called the Athlon XP 1500+.
Intel Keeps Pace with New Technology
In another step toward smaller yet more powerful computer processors, Intel Corp. has developed a new packaging technology that links tiny computer chips to the rest of the world.
A silicon chip's packaging is a critical element: It delivers power and transfers data to and from the motherboard. It also protects the sensitive material from the environment and draws away heat.
The advance is a necessary step before computers running at 20 gigahertz with a billion transistors ever land in computer stores or office desktops, said Gerald Marcyk, director of Intel's Components Research Lab.
Intel was to present the technical details of Bumpless Build-Up Layer packaging at the Advanced Metallization Conference in Montreal on Monday.
Intel's current crop of chips is connected to the rest of the world with solder bumps. Electrical connections with the bumps are made through a copper-laced plastic-like substance, which itself is connected to pins.
Microsoft Backs off on New Policy
Responding to widespread customer criticism, Microsoft Corp. said Monday it would give companies until July 31 to decide whether they want to accept a controversial new software licensing program.
The plan, called Software Assurance, went into effect a week ago; customers previously had until Feb. 28 to decide whether to adopt it.
Bob Landefeld, Microsoft's vice president for worldwide volume licensing, said the company decided to extend the time frame after customers said they could not make such a major decision in just a few months.
The plan changes options for large-volume purchases of dominant software programs like Windows and Office. Rather than choosing when to upgrade, customers are encouraged to buy contracts that would give them upgrades as the new products are released.
Customers may choose to forgo the plan and continue upgrading at their own pace, but current discounts will be eliminated, making that option more expensive.
AT&T Buys TeleCorp
Calling it the single most important strategic move it could make, AT&T Wireless said Monday it would acquire the 77 percent of TeleCorp PCS it doesn't already own for $2.4 billion in stock.
AT&T Wireless, the nation's third-largest wireless carrier, also will assume $2.1 billion in debt and about $221 million in preferred securities.
The move will allow Redmond-based AT&T Wireless to have a "footprint"--a geographic area where cellular phone coverage is available--that is on par with the nation's largest wireless carriers.
TeleCorp offers service in 16 of the top 100 U.S. markets, with barely any overlap to existing AT&T Wireless coverage. That gives AT&T Wireless the ability to market to millions more potential customers and compete more aggressively with rivals such as No. 1 wireless provider Verizon.
The move also immediately expands AT&T Wireless' subscriber base to about 17.3 million people, since the company will take on Arlington, Va.-based TeleCorp's more than 900,000 existing customers.
Travelocity.com Lays off 19 Percent of Workforce
A downturn in national travel has forced Internet travel site Travelocity.com to lay off 19 percent of its work force and close a call center in Sacramento, Calif.
The announcement made Friday marked the latest in a series of layoffs since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which have depressed travel. Airlines have cut about 100,000 jobs.
Travelocity said it would cut its advertising spending, impose a hiring freeze and reduce other discretionary spending.
The company said it would give 60 days' notice before closing its Sacramento call center and rerouting calls to centers in San Antonio; Clintwood, Va.; and Plains, Pa.
Travelocity had 1,700 employees before Friday. Of those, 285 workers in Sacramento will be laid off along with 35 employees in Fort Worth, San Francisco and New York who were not directly involved in customer care, a spokeswoman said.
In two months, the layoffs will leave the company with 1,380 employees.
Ministers Agree on ECS Standards
The European Union’s Council of Ministers on Monday formally adopted a new regulation to establish a European Company Statute (ECS). The European Company Statute (to be known as an "SE," which refers to its Latin name of "Societas Europaea") was first proposed 30 years ago.
The SE will give companies operating in more than one member state the option of being established as a single company under community law. As such, a company would be able to operate throughout the EU with one set of rules and a unified management and reporting system, rather than all the different national laws of each member state where they have subsidiaries.
For companies active across the internal market, the SE therefore offers the prospect of reduced administrative costs and a legal structure adapted to the internal market as a whole.
The legislation is due to come into force in 2004. Under the European Company Statute, a European company can be set up by the creation of a holding company or a joint subsidiary or by the merger of companies located in at least two member states or by the conversion of an existing company set up under national law.
Company Sues Former Employee Over Domain Name
Belgium-based Lernout & Hauspie (L&H), a speech recognition and translation software developer, brought a lawsuit in a U.S. district court against former employee Marc Bautil for allegedly stealing a domain name.
L&H found out, to its surprise, that the iTranslator.com Web site was owned by Bautil only when the company attempted to make improvements to it.
L&H claims that Bautil registered the domain name in April 1998 after he started working at the company. It is claimed that, on discovery of the problem, Bautil wrote to L&H saying, "I’d be happy to sell you the domain name, make me an offer."
Bautil launched his own California-based Internet translation service after he stopped working for L&H in 1999 and, it is claimed, has redirected Internet traffic from L&H’s iTranslator site to this new company.
Study Shows Internet Growth Continues to Rise
Research shows that, worldwide, the Internet continues to grow at an impressive rate. According to a study by Telegeography, the telecom statistics and analysis firm, cross-border Internet links grew 174 percent from July 2000 to July 2001. The cross-border links measured by Telegeography include general Internet applications such as e-mail and Web page information requests.
Latin America was the area to see the highest level of growth. Europe followed with the second highest percentage increase.