Week ahead, the week that was
Another big test for Napster comes on Monday when its lawyers must provide evidence the service is blocking copyrighted songs from being traded. The company received some breathing room--but not much--this past week after a San Francisco federal judge denied the recording industry's demand for a broader preliminary injunction against the file-swapping site. The big labels must shoulder part of the burden of identifying the uploaded songs said to be in violation of copyright agreements. And that lets Napster survive for the time being. But the company still faces the specter of paying billions of dollars in damages to the record companies.
It's been some time since handheld device owners had compelling reasons to upgrade but that may be about to change. On Monday, Handspring unveils a new Visor, one expected to pack a smaller expansion slot as well as the ability to use modules designed for older Visors. In doing so, the company beats rival Palm to the punch by a week. Palm also has a couple of new models on tap that are also getting thumbs up from analysts.
Is Amazon.com's controversial 1-Click patent about to get its comeuppance? That's the carrot being dangled by BountyQuest, which is holding a shindig to announce the results of a $10,000 bounty to come up with evidence to challenge Amazon's claim. To be sure, this is a publicity stunt. Still, if they actually come up with something that undermines Amazon's patently stupid claim, then more power to them.
In the blast from the past category, check this: Wolfram Research--they of Mathematica fame--is set to introduce its first product since 1988.
Oracle becomes the next big tech company to report earnings. The company already issued a profit warning--but will management be able to offer some glimmer of hope about the future to battered tech investors? Probably not, though hope springs eternal.
Tech investors will probably be more affected by the release of government stats on retail sales and the Producer Price index. And of course, they're hoping that Crazy Al decides it's time for the Fed to step in and cut interest rates again.
Speaking about timing: It's purely happenstance but Spring Internet World kicks off in Los Angeles just as this sector is beyond being bruised, bloody and battered. Judging from the newly prevailing conventional wisdom, one would conclude that it's all a chimera, that the Internet is built on plywood stilts. But the current spell of doom and gloom is as accurate a barometer of what's going on in high tech as was the irrational exuberance of yesteryear. Barring a tumble into a global depression or the outbreak of World War 3, the business will bounce back. More to the point, this is gut-check time.
Meanwhile, what's shaping up to be a very cool conference hosted by the Association for Computing Machinery takes place in San Jose, Calif. where the theme will be "Beyond Cyberspace." See you there.
The week that was
Gotta love the way the press and analyst communities have suddenly turned against Yahoo. This rates as one of the more astounding volte-faces in recent memory, considering all the suck-up jobs about this Internet bellwether in the last couple of years.
While on the subject of Yahoo, the fact that the board decided not to consider Jeff Mallett as a replacement for Tim Koogle, who is stepping aside, is a massive vote of no-confidence in the company's bench strength--or more precisely, lack of bench strength. But let's be charitable: Koogle's taking the rap for the company's earnings shortfall but remember that he's also the one chiefly responsible for driving the company to the heights it reached. Do you think Jerry Yang or David Filo would have done as well? Don't make me laugh.
Word leaked that Microsoft is considering a plan to charge for several MSN services. Hardly as daffy as it sounds, especially with the software company looking to adopt a "software-as-services" model where the company derives revenues from areas beyond its traditional application business.
Hand it to the virus writer who came up with the come on, "My wife never looked like that :)", for finding a way to induce clueless computer users to open up files infected with the NakedWife virus.
Advanced Micro Devices cut prices on its Athlon and Duron chips by around 20 percent a couple of days after Intel took the knife to prices on its processor lines. To a large degree, the reductions are meant to clear out old inventory in advance of the introduction of a 1.3GHz desktop version of Athlon at the CeBit show later this month.
Gateway says it's reevaluating its plans to sell a Web tablet device. If I read Ted Waitt correctly, the returning CEO is going to concentrate on PC products and quietly phase out Internet appliances--or at least until he can get the company back on a growth trajectory.
Hard to believe but Bill Gross' Idealab was once valued by the market at a breathtaking $7.9 billion. Idealab, which you may recall launched such stunning successes as eToys (now bankrupt), has decided to no longer fund new ventures in Silicon Valley. Gross' company is now being depicted as the epitome of dopey dotcom excess but you shouldn't blame him too much. Try instead the sundry investment moguls who dumped big bucks into Idealab hoping for a quick score.
Loudcloud's IPO went off with a whimper, inching up a whopping 15 cents from its $6 offering price. Not exactly the second coming of Netscape, though the timing of the offering couldn't have been worse. Still, you have to wonder why lead underwriters Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs were so eager to push this one out the door just now.
Hand it to TBWA Chiat/Day for finding a way to cash in on users' fears about Internet privacy. The cheesy "They are watching you" ad campaign it dreamed up for EarthLink promises more than the client can deliver. The sad fact is that neither EarthLink nor any other ISP can stand behind a guarantee of genuine online anonymity.
In the news
Corporate networks exposed to "NakedWife" virus
Napster's fate appears sealed
Loudcloud IPO gets off to slow start
Gateway turns off Net appliances
Net incubator IdeaLabs runs out of ideas
Yahoo: What went wrong
Intel, Cisco join the pink slip parade
In the forecast: Microsoft's "Hailstorm"
Mac users sing Opera's praises
DVD code again broken