Miscellaneous

Week in review: Microsoft goes to court

Microsoft's legal team got a workout this week.

Microsoft filed two separate patent infringement actions against GPS navigation company TomTom. In complaints before the U.S. District Court in Washington and the International Trade Commission, Microsoft is alleging infringement of eight patents.

In an interview, Microsoft deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez said that the software giant has been trying to start licensing talks with TomTom for more than a year.

"They basically never were prepared to have a discussion with us with respect to licensing terms," Gutierrez said.

Although Microsoft has been on the receiving end of … Read more

Analyst: OLPC won't draw global PC makers

Whitebox vendors in the Asia-Pacific region may warm up to the One Laptop Per Child's decision to open its design, according to market research analyst IDC.

Multinational PC makers, on the other hand, will continue their focus on mini-notebooks, Reuben Tan, IDC's senior manager for personal systems research in the Asia-Pacific region, told CNET News sister site ZDNet Asia in a phone interview.

Earlier this month, OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte announced the organization's intention to open-source its hardware design and invite commercial PC makers to copy it. In an e-mail interview with ZDNet Asia, Negroponte said the … Read more

Podcast: Watchdog on Facebook's democratic foray

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on February 26 that, from now on, the company will post proposed changes to its terms of service and other policies for member input.

If more than 7,000 people comment, the policy will be put to a vote, and the result "will be binding, if more than 30 percent of all active registered users vote."

Based on Facebook's current 175 million user base, that's nearly 53 million people, which makes it questionable whether the company will ever get sufficient voter turnout.

CBS News and CNET Technology analyst Larry Magid discuss … Read more

What Facebook's democratic gesture might mean

Facebook's decision to open up its policy making to user input is a very nice gesture but it's not exactly on par with the American revolution or the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Thursday that from now on the company will post proposed changes to its terms of service and other policies for member input. If more than 7,000 people comment, the policy will be put to a vote and the result "will be binding if more than 30 percent of all active registered users vote." Based on Facebook's current 175 million user base, … Read more

Hitachi turns to external storage, acquires Fabrik

When I reviewed Fabrik's SimpleTech Signature Mini and SimpleTech (re)drive external hard drives a while ago, I liked its tasteful designs. As it turns out, my taste wasn't so peculiar.

Hitachi on Monday announced its decision to acquire Fabrik, a privately held supplier of personal and professional storage solutions.

If you haven't heard of Fabrik, this is because it has been selling external storage under two better-known brands: G-Technology and SimpleTech. CNET has reviewed several products launched under each brand.

Although the financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, Hitachi made it clear that Fabrik'… Read more

Dr. Brilliant to leave Google.org's helm

Dr. Larry Brilliant, the executive director of Google.org, is stepping down to become Google's chief philanthropy evangelist.

Brilliant, who had managed Google's philanthropic unit for the past three years, will be replaced by Megan Smith, who will also continue to act as Google's vice president of new business development.

Brilliant announced the move Monday in a company blog:

I think this is the highest contribution that I can make both to Google.org and to fighting the urgent threats of our day: from climate change to emerging infectious diseases, to issues of poverty and health care. … Read more

Wealth-flaunting app arrives on Android phones

An application that did nothing beyond showing a person was willing to spend gobs of money for it didn't last long on Apple's App Store, but now we'll begin to see if Google lives up to its more laissez-faire approach to its rival Android Market.

Apple banned Armin Heinrich's "I Am Rich", which cost $1,000 and only showed a red ruby, from its App Store last August. Now the conceptually similar "I Am Richer" has arrived on the Android Market from Mike DG.

Perhaps owners of T-Mobile's G1 phone are … Read more

Worried about Facebook privacy? Use controls

All of the hoopla about Facebook's controversial user policy sidesteps the point about what social Web users really need to know about protecting their privacy and intellectual property.

The latest controversy erupted last week after a blog trumpeted an otherwise largely ignored change in Facebook's terms of service that would have granted Facebook an "irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license" to use your material and "use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising."

Needless to say, the privacy and users' rights community and a lot of bloggers … Read more

Week in review: Facebook's about-face

Facebook users take their privacy very seriously--and the social-networking site received that message loud and clear.

Facebook created a firestorm of controversy earlier this week as word spread that it had changed a longstanding but little-publicized claim to an "irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license" for promotional efforts--which would no longer expire if a member deleted his or her Facebook account.

Facebook reorganized its terms of service on February 11. In a blog post, company legal representative Suzie White provided an explanation. "We used to have several different documents that outlined what people could and … Read more