Judges in Microsoft-i4i case question damages Reuters
Appeals court judges hearing the latest round of a long-running patent fight between Microsoft Corp and Toronto technology company i4i on Wednesday questioned a lower court’s calculation that the software giant owed $290 million in damages to the smaller firm. The appeals court made no immediate ruling on an injunction which a U.S. district court in Texas had imposed in August, that would have barred Microsoft from selling some versions of its popular Word application on the grounds that it infringed i4i’s patent relating to XML, or extensible markup language. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stayed that injunction earlier this month, meaning there is no immediate threat to Microsoft’s sales of the 2003 and 2007 versions of Word, which contain the disputed technology. Judge Kimberly Moore of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit took issue on Wednesday with the calculation in the original ruling that XML users who bought a $90 version of Windows would have paid considerably more for a substitute.

Vulcan students display Thirsk for knowledge Sun Media
Kids in Vulcan had special visitors beam into their school yesterday. County Central high school in Vulcan hosted a Canadian Space Agency downlink from the International Space Station. “I don’t fully understand what just happened,” said Zac Cookson after talking to Calgary astronaut Robert Thirsk. “It’s just wow — unbelievable,” he said, adding that the first thing he planned to do when getting home was to update his Facebook status. Along with nearly 20 other students, Cookson got about a minute on stage. “How does the artificial environment of the space station affect how plants grow?” he asked. Using some plant growth experiments on the ISS as an example, Thirsk explained that plant roots tend to go any direction in the dirt, but still manage to grow rather well.

Bank snafu sets up Gmail privacy clash Mercury News
A Wyoming bank’s wayward e-mail into the great maw of Google’s Gmail system has stirred up quite a privacy clash in San Jose federal court. The legal feud, disclosed in court papers filed in recent days, pits Rocky Mountain Bank against mighty Google, the result of a bank employee inadvertently shipping an e-mail with confidential information on more than 1,300 customers to the wrong e-mail address. After discovering the snafu, which included customer Social Security numbers, tax identification numbers and other private material, the bank tried to get Google to turn over the e-mail account information to ensure customer information isn’t misused. But Google, citing its own privacy policies, refused to assist, prompting the bank to sue the Mountain View Internet giant. The bank tried to keep the lawsuit under wraps by filing it under seal, but U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte issued an order Friday refusing to keep a lid on the documents, other than redacting the Gmail account holder’s e-mail address.

Call for French retro game museum BBC
A group of French video game enthusiasts are lobbying authorities to set up a dedicated museum of retro-gaming in the country. The group, called MO5, say the new museum should be interactive, allowing users to play the old game systems. The proposed “National Institute of Digital Sciences” would have an original working version Pong, one of the earliest games released in 1972. However, the group acknowledged it would take time to actually happen. A spokesman for the group, Philippe Dubois, told BBC News that video games are there to be played, not just looked at.

£6 broadband tax to be made law before election, minister says The Guardian
The government is pressing ahead with plans to introduce its controversial £6 a year broadband tax before the election, despite potential opposition from the Conservatives. Stephen Timms, the treasury minister in charge of implementing the Digital Britain plan, said today that a 50p a month levy on all UK phone lines will be contained in this year’s finance bill. “My aim is that we should legislate for that this side of a general election,” he said at a debate on IT and the economy in London organised by BCS, the chartered institute for IT. The levy would raise £150m to £175m a year, Timms said, for a fund to support the development of superfast broadband networks over the next seven years.

New accounting rules mean boost to Apple, others Associated Press
Regulators approved changes to accounting rules Wednesday that in the short term will make sales and profits seem higher at technology companies selling certain gadgets that blend hardware and software. Under the old rules, companies like Apple Inc. had to spread revenue from the sale of an iPhone over two years, the estimated useful life of the device. That’s because when Apple sells an iPhone, it agrees to provide software updates in the future. Existing accounting rules require many software companies to divide up sales over the length of licensing contracts; until now, companies with hybrid hardware-software products were also guided by those standards. The Financial Accounting Standards Board’s latest changes mean that Apple, plus other smart-phone makers, telecommunications equipment makers, semiconductor equipment manufacturers and a host of others, will be subject to a less onerous accounting standard.

Trucker flips his rig after masturbating while driving The Local
A German trucker suspected of driving under the influence of drugs crashed his vehicle near BorÃ¥s in western Sweden on Tuesday. He subsequently admitted to masturbating at the time of the accident. The trucker, apparently unable to reach a satisfactory climax, then proceeded to continue to pleasure himself while in the midst of a police interrogation, according to the local BorÃ¥s Tidning newspaper. “He was masturbating while the police interrogated him,” police prosecutor Åsa Askenbäck told the newspaper. “He has admitted that he was not paying full attention at the time of the accident. He was playing with himself instead of focusing on the road.” [Clearly a hand-eye coordination problem ]

Postal Worker Stole 30,000 Netflix DVDs Time
A former postal service employee has pleaded guilty to stealing more than 30,000 DVDs that moved through a western Massachusetts post office. Myles Weathers, formerly of Springfield, took DVDs that were mailed by Netflix to customers for a year beginning in January 2007. Federal prosecutors say the movie rental company alerted Springfield post office officials that a suspiciously high number of DVDs were disappearing. As many as 100 movies a week were disappearing. Weathers was arrested in February 2008 after investigators filmed him taking DVDs from packages and slipping them into his backpack.

Facebook film role for Timberlake BBC
Pop star and actor Justin Timberlake has landed a role in the forthcoming Facebook movie, according to reports. Film trade paper Variety said the singer would play Sean Parker, who became Facebook’s founding president. David Fincher is directing The Social Network, which was scripted by The West Wing’s Aaron Sorkin. Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield have also been lined up to star in the project, which starts filming next month in Boston. The movie will focus on the overnight success of Facebook, which was created in 2004 on the campus of Harvard University. [It's rumured Mad Mag's Alfred E.Neuman has been signed play Mark Zuckerman with Timberlake as his trusty side-kick.]

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September, 2009

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