John Lister

Legal experts believe a $1.92 million fine imposed on a Minnesota woman for illegally sharing copyrighted music files could prompt a change in the law. Even if Jammie Thomas-Rasset fails in a potential constitutional challenge, anger over the size ... of the fine may force Congress to rewrite the rules. Double Whammy: Fine Skyrockets from $222,000 to $1,920,000 Thomas-Rasset was originally found to have broken copyright laws in 2007 after a court heard she had shared more than a thousand songs on the Kazaa file sharing network, though only 24 were officially cited in the case. A jury ordered her ... (view more)

Apple is celebrating after the latest incarnation of the iPhone sold a million units in its first weekend. However, the firm has issued compensation to some customers who were unable to fully activate their handsets. The sales figures of the 3G S ... are keeping pace with the 3G, which came out last August. That's an impressive number, given that many consumers are cutting back on spending this year and that there are no revolutionary changes to the new model other than an improvement in speed. Pre Sales Figures May be Inflated It's worth remembering that Apple's counting methods are considered ... (view more)

The head of Microsoft says he isn't getting overconfident about Bing' early success. CEO Steve Ballmer says he's prepared to be patient while building Microsoft's search business and says the firm may spend almost $5 billion a year on search ... technology. Speaking to the Executives Club of Chicago, Ballmer said "In our industry, the No. 1 mistake that people make is that they quit too early. If you look back at any great technology business, it took a while to build up." A good example: according to Ballmer, MS Windows (which was introduced in 1983) didn't become a mainstream hit until around ... (view more)

Unconfirmed reports say Microsoft is charging manufacturers much more than expected for the netbook edition of Windows 7. The news comes as a major research analyst picks Google's Android operating system as having the potential to seriously ... challenge Windows on netbooks. According to reports, Microsoft is quoting prices of $45 to $55 for netbook producers to license the Starter edition of Windows 7. That's almost double the price of the equivalent edition to XP. Win7 Price Huge for Netbook OEMs The price difference is significant for low-priced machine like netbooks. In some cases it would ... (view more)

Four senators have written to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) calling for an investigation into exclusive deals between cellphone manufacturers and network carriers. Though the letter doesn't name any particular companies, it appears ... that Apple's deal with AT ... (view more)

Google is working on a way to search microblogging sites such as Twitter. But the news has led some experts to warn that such real-time searching might lead to a major flood of spam. Twitter already has its own service allowing people to search any ... term mentioned by any user. However, while these people get almost instant updates of posts from other users, messages don't appear in search results until around 20 minutes after their original posting. Google, which updates in seconds rather than minutes, sees this as a market gap. The independent site Google Operation System notes a line in some ... (view more)

According to a recent report, Microsoft's search engine ' Bing ' may be better designed for incorporating advertising than Google. The news comes amidst suggestions that the site's early success was merely the result of short term curiosity on the ... part of web users. Small Sample, Encouraging Results The ad research comes from User Centric, a Chicago-based firm which specializes in the way people interact with computers. It asked 21 people to carry out four searches both Google and Microsoft, then used eye tracking technology to see what they actually looked at. The research found that, on ... (view more)

The European Union (EU) is asking rival Internet browser manufacturers to suggest ways to prevent Microsoft acting unfairly in its promotion of Internet Explorer. The responses could help determine any punishment if the EU upholds a preliminary ... ruling that bundling the browser with Windows breaches competition rules. Officials have sent out a questionnaire, due to be returned by the end of this week, asking interested parties to comment on possible measures. The recipients aren't limited to those who've formally attached themselves to the case (such as Google and Mozilla, who are both ... (view more)

Micro-blogging site Twitter is working on a scheme to verify that "celebrities" posting on the site are the real deal. But it says it will not be settling out of court in a legal action brought by St Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. Starting ... this summer, the site will work on a beta (test) program to allow public figures to verify their identity. Once they have done so, their account will be labeled with a special logo to show it is indeed run by the claimed personality. Potential Charges for Account Verification At first the scheme will be open to celebrities, sporting stars, ... (view more)

One of the most powerful figures at Wikipedia has resigned after it was discovered he'd been editing entries under bogus names. David Boothroyd, who is also a British politician, had even used the fake account to edit the pages of political ... opponents. As well as being a registered volunteer editor, Boothroyd had been elected to the powerful Wikipedia Arbitration Committee: a group of around 15 editors which make final and binding decisions for any disputes on the site that cannot be resolved informally. In some cases, the committee could even overrule Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. ... (view more)