WinInsider

Broadband Intelligence analyst Cynthia Brumfield discusses why Excite@Home is close to bankruptcy and what options it has left.

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The encryption protection that stops the copying of e-books stored in Microsoft Reader formats has been broken by an anonymous programmer, according to MIT's Technology Review.

A Microsoft representative was quick to point out that the claims have not been proven and so far are "only a rumor." Penguin, which recently formed an electronic publishing arm that will use a mixture of Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Reader software to distribute its e-books, said the revelation would not affect its plans to launch its first e-books next month.

Microsoft will hit Palm with a double whammy next week when it announces two new versions of its operating system for handheld computers, sources say. The software giant will announce a low-end and high-end version of its upcoming Pocket PC 2002 OS on Sept. 6 at the Demomobile conference in La Jolla, Calif., sources familiar with company's plans say. The new versions of the OS, code-named Merlin, will resemble Microsoft's upcoming Windows XP desktop OS and add 802.11b wireless networking capabilities and security.

If you buy a new PC with Windows XP installed on it, you WON'T have to deal with Windows Product Activation (WPA)! That's because the version of XP that ships with new PCs will be tied only to that PC's BIOS, which means that you can swap out every hardware component on the system (including the motherboard, incidentally, as long as you use one the same PC maker supplies) as often as you want, and XP will never ask you to reactivate it. And if you restore the system by using the PC maker-supplied restore CD-ROMs, activation isn't required, ever. This information affects about 90 percent of the people who will eventually use XP, so it's great news.

A fast CPU is only as good as the system that surrounds it, and if you're waiting for your hard drive, USB scanner, or wireless connection, what's the point of a 3.5-GHz processor?

Intel aims to meet this challenge with a handful of different technologies, Whalley says. Priorities include wireless technologies 802.11 and Bluetooth; a new, faster I/O bus technology called Third-Generation I/O (3GIO); a faster hard drive interface called Serial ATA; an improved USB port called USB 2.0; and AGP8X, the coming upgrade to today's 4X AGP graphics interface.

It is disgraceful to see DOJ pleading like this, sending legal brief ever time against Microsoft requests.  Have same dignity DOJ, come on! DOJ is really on the run.

The U.S. Justice Department urged the Supreme Court on Friday not to reconsider an appeals court ruling that Microsoft violated U.S. antitrust laws. The department told the high court in a legal brief that there was no reason to review the case, and it disputed Microsoft's argument that a lower-court ruling against the company should be disqualified because of misconduct by a lower-court judge.

Microsoft's argument for Supreme Court review "rests squarely on a mischaracterization of the Court of Appeals' ruling," the Justice Department said.

AMD's next-generation PC I/O technology, HyperTransport, will almost certainly become a part of Intel's next-generation PC I/O technology, 3GIO, just as we predicted it would. Staffers at both companies have said they are indeed working to bring the two, rival specifications together, EBN reports today. As we reported yesterday, AMD is now a member of the Arapahoe Work Group, the consortium of companies working to define the 3GIO spec. And, as a member of the PCI Special Interest Group, AMD earlier this month voted that the body should accept 3GIO as the heir apparent to PCI and PCI-X.

Yes, it's Dell-goes-AMD rumour time again, this time courtesy of a story over at Tom's Hardware. Said story notes that Nvidia has completed its nForce integrated chipset. That sounds reasonable to us, as does the suggestion that mobo makers Asus, Gigabyte and Abit will start selling boards based on the part next month. But what's this at the end of the story? Dell and Fujitsu-Siemens will be shipping PCs based on nForce, it says.

Bluetooth has already lost the battle to become the wireless network standard, according to the head of Intel's communications strategy. Bluetooth--which lets cell phones, notebooks and other devices create wireless networks that can then link to the Web--is not going to become a mainstream technology, according to Sean Maloney, general manager of the Intel Communications Group. Maloney made the comments during a press conference Wednesday at the Intel Developer Forum here.

Lets hope that @HOME will get financially better soon. Only broadband cable provider.

Financially troubled Excite@Home said Friday that cable partners Comcast and Cox Communications have decided to end their long-term relationships with the high-speed Internet service before next summer. Under their existing pact, Cox and Comcast, two of the nation's largest cable TV companies, will exercise their rights to dissolve their partnerships June 4, 2002. Excite@Home continues to negotiate with the cable operators, a spokeswoman said.