Critical Path Raises $18M, Critical Path Inc., 6 Jan 2005
“Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq:CPTH - News), a global provider of messaging solutions for mobile, broadband and fixed-line service providers, today announced that it has signed definitive agreements for $18 million in debt financing led by Cheung Kong Group and General Atlantic Partners in support of Critical Path's new consumer messaging strategy.�
Microsoft offers free security program, CNN.com, 6 Jan 2005
“The program, with monthly updates, is a step toward plans by Microsoft to sell full-blown antivirus software later this year. Microsoft said Thursday that consumers can download the new security program from the company's Web site www.microsoft.com and that updated versions will be offered automatically and free each month. It will be available starting Tuesday.�
Microsoft launches anti-spyware beta, Cnet News.com, 6 Jan 2005
“The beta, which is available for download on the company's Web site, was built using technology Microsoft gained through its December acquisition of Giant Software, which specialized in spyware-fighting tools. Microsoft said that in addition to loading the software with the capability to combat many known strains of spyware, the company will continue to research emerging forms of spyware and to offer automatic updates to the product to fight new threats.�
Internet resellers priced out of market, South China Morning Post, 7 Jan 2005
“Internet resellers are being priced out of the market as rivals of their own networks, such as PCCW, lower monthly subscription fees. HKNet is the latest to quit the market, notifying customers last month that it was closing down and transferring its accounts to PCCW. In September, So-net, the broadband service provider of Japan's Sony Corp, also transferred its accounts to PCCW. According to sources, iCare.com - one of the few remaining internet access resellers - has stopped signing up new residential subscribers, though it remains focused on the business market.�
Could We Actually Be Winning the Spam War?, eWeek, 5 Jan 2005
“Opinion: AOL claims that they have the spammers on the run and that their filtering and lawyers are responsible. Why isn't anyone else getting results like this? I've been a confirmed pessimist on the future of spam for some time now, so it was with a Spocklike upturned eyebrow that I read AOL's announcement last week that it has turned the corner against spam delivered to its users.�
Top ten viruses and hoaxes reported to Sophos in December 2004, Sophos, 6 Jan 2005
“Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against spam and viruses, has published a report revealing the top ten viruses and hoaxes causing problems for businesses around the world during the month of December 2004. The report, compiled from Sophos's global network of monitoring stations, shows that a new worm called Zafi-D, which appeared in mid-December, has knocked Netsky-P - 2004's most prevalent threat - from the top position.�
j2 Global's Internet Fax and Voicemail Network Continues Asian Expansion Service Now Delivered in 22 Countries Worldwide, j2 Global Communications Inc
“j2 Global Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: JCOM), the provider of outsourced, value-added messaging and communications services, today announced that it has expanded its network of local telephone numbers to Singapore and the Philippines, increasing the Company's presence in the Asian and Pacific Rim markets. In addition, the Company is pursuing local telephone numbers in Malaysia.�
“Six Apart Ltd., the small software firm founded by childhood sweethearts Ben and Mena Trott, is set to make a big splash with the acquisition of Danga Interactive Inc.'s LiveJournal blogging network. The deal, which will be announced on Thursday, involves an undisclosed amount of cash and stock, eWEEK.com has confirmed. With LiveJournal added to its portfolio of blog software products, Six Apart automatically becomes a big player. LiveJournal, which powers a network of blogs, Web forums, social networking and content aggregation, has a user base of more than 5.6 million.�
Update: Six Apart Purchase Of Live Journal, WebProNews, 5 Jan 2005
“Six Apart, the parent company behind hosted blogging service TypePad and publishing platform Movable Type, is about to acquire Live Journal for an undisclosed amount…If the deal goes through later this month, then Six Apart will become one of the largest weblog companies in the world, with nearly 6.5 million users. It also gives the company a very good fighting chance against Google's Blogger and Microsoft's MSN Spaces.�
New Year's texting breaks record, BBC News, 5 Jan 2005
“A mobile phone was as essential to the recent New Year's festivities as a party mood and Auld Lang Syne, if the number of text messages sent is anything to go by. Between midnight on 31 December and midnight on 1 January, 133m text messages were sent in the UK. It is the highest ever daily total recorded by the Mobile Data Association (MDA).�
Symantec, Veritas reach out to investors, Cnet News.com, 5 Jan 2005
“Faced with muted enthusiasm from investors, Symantec and Veritas outlined their case to shareholders Wednesday over the benefits of their pending $13.5 billion merger that will marry the security giant and a leading storage company…The CEOs--Symantec's John Thompson and Veritas' Gary Bloom--said their customers, partners and an assortment of hardware vendors have responded to the merger in a "positive fashion," but investors have yet to fall in line. Thus came Wednesday's Webcast pitch--the companies will need their investors, as well as regulators, to sign off on the deal.�
Phishing, VoIP and spam top 2005 messaging agenda, vnunet.com, 5 Jan 2005
“Phishing, regulatory compliance, voice over IP, and spam will be major themes for the messaging industry in 2005, according to analysts' predictions offered today. A report by Ferris Research suggests that 90 per cent of all mailboxes experiencing a spam problem will be protected by commercial anti-spam offerings by the end of 2005. The study also noted that phishing and spyware will be demonstrated as a problem not limited to consumer mailboxes in the coming year…Wireless access to email, instant messaging, calendar and tasks, once reserved for the 'techno-elite', will become increasingly mainstream over the coming 12 months.�
Hutchison sheds 750 telecoms workers, South China Morning Post, 6 Jan 2005
“Hutchison Whampoa has cut 750 jobs from its telecoms arm, blaming the government for creating an operating environment worse than in the 1998 financial crisis. Group managing director Canning Fok Kin-ning said the recent "unreasonable" decision by the telecoms regulator to revoke an under-used mobile frequency licence by 2008 was the main trigger for the cuts. Mr Fok said revocation of the CDMA (code division multiple access) licence held by Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd (HTIL) had cramped the company's ability to compete. He also cited intense competition in the market.�
“MailEnable offers three versions of its mail software, ranging from a free option to a full-featured Enterprise solution. MailEnable was incorporated in 2002. According to Peter Fregon, MailEnable's Product Services Director, the company's first software release was the MailEnable Standard Edition, which was made available for free online. Once additional functionality like webmail and anti-virus support was added, the company began to charge for the higher-level versions of the software.�
McAfee Warns on Top Viruses, NewsFactorNetwork, 4 Jan 2005
“The number of new viruses released into the wild increased in 2004 after three consecutive years of decline, according to U.S. anti-virus software company McAfee. McAfee's Avert anti-virus and vulnerability emergency response team warned that bots and mass-mailers are expected to remain the predominant methods by which virus writers attack enterprises in 2005. In addition, Avert predicted that exploits and adware will account for over 60 percent of security problems for home users.�
Microsoft seeks $7.4M from 'spam' e-mail firm, Associated Press, 4 Jan 2005
“Microsoft Corp. wants a Tucson man to pay $7.4 million, saying his business has sent millions of "spam'' e-mails - unwanted sales pitches that clutter electronic "in'' boxes and irritate computer users. Microsoft on Dec. 21 filed notice in Pima County Superior Court saying it had won a $7.4 million civil judgment in King County, Wash., against Glenn Hannifin of Tucson…The Hannifin lawsuit is one of 88 that Microsoft has filed in the past year and a half to stop so-called "spammers,'' said Marc Lallaman, a Microsoft spokesman.�
Skype Experimenting with Voice-Mail Service, eWeek, 4 Jan 2005
“Skype, the company behind the flourishing Internet telephony network, has begun to experiment with a voicemail service, hoping to introduce new paid offerings to capitalize on its success. The Luxembourg-based start-up confirmed on Tuesday that it was testing voicemail, which a spokeswoman said was scheduled to be rolled out in the first half of the year. She declined to provide further details.�
Telecom: The Merger Is The Message, BusinessWeek Online, 10 Jan 2005
“By bulking up and bearing down, companies are sparking innovations that will transform communication. Wireless voice calls are just the start. More and more, mobile phones will be used to exchange e-mail, music clips, and even video. Likewise, Internet technology will replace old-fashioned phone gear, ushering in an era of souped-up services. Consumers will get voice mail on their PCs and all-you-can-eat phone service for under $25 a month, while businesses hand out mobile phones to road warriors so they can receive calls and e-mail just as if they were in the office. Says Randall L. Stephenson, COO at SBC Communications Inc. (SBC ): "2005 is going to be a very transformational year. You'll see the lines between services really begin to blur."
Spam King In Spyware Truce with FTC, ClickZNews, 4 Jan 2005
“Alleged spyware kingpin Stanford Wallace has reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). He'll stop infecting computers with spyware until a pending federal lawsuit against him and his two companies, SmartBot.net of Richboro, Pa., and Seismic Entertainment Productions of Rochester, N.Y., is resolved. A trial date has not yet been set.�
Italian researchers turn Tomato leftovers into plastic bags, Sina.com, 4 Jan 2005
“Italian researchers said on Monday that they had found a way of converting tomato waste into non-polluting plastic bags…Researcher Barbara Nicolaus, who came up with the idea, said that she and her team had discovered how to make biodegradable plastic bags using the polysaccharides found in tomatoes.�
“Here is a sure sign that offshore outsourcing has matured: Established destinations like India, the Philippines and Mexico are themselves offshoring to China, Vietnam and Brazil in an effort to find talent and keep costs low. It is yet another step in the relentless march of globalization that raises the ire of some U.S. politicians but is an undeniable fact of business today.�
Yahoo, Google Stocks Up on Upbeat Analyst Forecast, Reuters, 3 Jan 2005
“Shares of Internet search companies Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG - news) and Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) rose on Monday after Goldman Sachs raised its fourth-quarter estimates for both companies. Google gained as much as 5.15 percent and Yahoo rose as high as 3.3 percent in Nasdaq trading after Goldman Sachs increased its forecasts, citing strong Internet advertising trends…Goldman Sachs said it was maintaining its forecast that Yahoo would record earnings of 11 cents a share, or 13 cents a share on an adjusted basis, for the fourth quarter. It said it was raising its quarterly revenue forecast to $773 million, from $747 million previously.�
Use or lose .hk domain names, South China Morning Post, 4 Jan 2005
“Companies that have bought ".hk" domain names to protect their brand but have not yet linked them with a server risk losing their virtual property. Hong Kong Domain Name Registration (HKDNR) recently sent e-mails to between 500 and 600 domain name owners saying domains not connected to at least two internet name servers for at least 90 days would be taken back. Recipients of the e-mail were told they had until December 31 to comply.�
Mobile Phone Firms Link for New High-Speed Standard, Reuters, 3 Jan 2005
“Leading wireless carriers and telecoms equipment makers have agreed to develop an advanced mobile phone standard capable of sending high-resolution video in an instant, Japan's NTT DoCoMo (news - web sites) said on Friday. Mobile phone services based on the technology will offer transmission speeds more than 10 times as fast as the current third-generation (3G) service, DoCoMo said. The unified standard is expected to create demand for cellphones with a large liquid crystal displays for playing games and watching movies, and to help handset makers cut costs through mass production, the paper said.�
One Year After Law, Spam Still Out of the Can, washingtonpost.com, 3 Jan 2005
“The nation's first law aimed at curtailing junk e-mail earned a mixed report card after a year on the books as few spammers faced legal action and recent surveys showed that spam makes up an even larger proportion of online messages. Signed into law Dec. 16, 2003, the Can-Spam Act made it illegal to falsify the "from" and "subject" lines of e-mail solicitations. It also required senders of bulk e-mail to include a working "unsubscribe" link in their messages and to honor consumers' requests to be taken off their mailing lists. The law doesn't allow individual e-mail users to sue spammers -- an omission decried by anti-spam activists -- but it did open the door for state attorneys general and ISPs to mount a legal offensive.�
Mobile SMS spam surpasses email spam in Korea, The Korea Times, 4 Jan 2005
“According to the Korea Information Security Agency the number of unwanted SMS and phone calls to mobiles surpasses that of email spam. The KISA said Tuesday mobile spam reported to the state-owned institute numbered 244,151 during the first 10 months of this year, in comparison to 78,063 of unsolicited e-mail messages during the same span. Junk mail sent to mobile phones has started to outnumber e-mail spam this year and the trend is expected to continue in the foreseeable future, a KISA official projected.�
Google could be next Microsoft, Dallas Morning News, 3 Jan 2005
“Boot your GooOS, then load up the Growser. After that, head out on the Web to access the GooFiles from your primary Gdrive, check your Gmail and begin editing your daily report using the GWord part of the GooOffice suite. That's the way it's going to be in the future, if some of the wilder predictions about Google.com prove true. Google spokesman Nathan Tyler said the company would not discuss any products under development. But that doesn't discourage gossip among its fans, and there's plenty to go around.�
Blogs take on the mainstream, BBC News, 31 Dec 2004
“Web logs or blogs are everywhere, with at least an estimated five million on the web and that number is set to grow. US research think-tank Pew Internet & American Life says a blog is created every 5.8 seconds, although less than 40% of the total are updated at least once every two months. But experts agree that the phenomenon, allowing individuals to publish, share ideas, exchange information, comment on current issues, post images or video on the web easily, is here to stay.�
Blog Creation, Readership Rises in 2004, Associated Press, 2 Jan 2005
“Readership of online journals known as blogs grew significantly in 2004, driven by increased awareness of them during the presidential campaign and other major news events, according to a study released Sunday. Twenty-seven percent of online adults in the United States said in November they read blogs, compared with 17 percent in a February survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.�
2004: Year of the Cyber-Crime Pandemic, eWeek, 1 Jan 2005
“Internet crime and security have gotten a lot more complicated in the past year, with phishing and spyware constantly taking on new forms. Remember scoffing at people who didn't know any better than to click on e-mail attachments from unknown senders, thus exposing their systems to computer viruses? Boy, has Internet crime and security gotten more complicated in the past year.�
Phishers Threaten E-Commerce, TechNewsWorld, 2 Jan 2005
“The big danger of phishing, experts say, is that it could undermine confidence in the Internet and slow down the billions of dollars spent each year through online commerce. "Mass phishing will have an impact on e-commerce, very similar to how spam has lessened the impact of e-mail," said Scott Chasin, chief technology officer for the anti-spam company MX Logic.�
Man Charged in UK Tsunami Death Email Probe, Reuters, 3 Jan 2005
“British police said on Monday they had charged a man with sending hoax emails to relatives of people missing since the Asian tsunami, saying their loved ones had been confirmed dead. The hoaxer, claiming to be from the "Foreign Office Bureau" in Thailand, targeted people who had placed appeals for information about relatives and friends on the Web site of TV station Sky News.�
Softbank BB Shows Power of On-Demand Broadband Bundles, Cable Digital News, 1 Jan 2005
“No matter how pesky the Bells may be in the U.S. and Canada, North American cable operators should thank their lucky stars they're not competing for broadband customers in Japan. That's because Softbank Corp., a slick, brash Japanese Internet and telecommunications firm, has taken over the broadband market in its home territory by offering innovative services, aggressively pitching its products, undercutting its rivals on prices and snapping up other companies. In just three short years, the one-time software distributor, computer-magazine publisher and trade show producer has already transformed itself into the largest broadband provider in Japan and the biggest voice-over-IP (VoIP) operator in the world.�
New Online in 2004: The Wonderful and Wack, washingtonpost.com, 2 Jan 2005
“Internet experiments made a comeback during 2004. Here are some of the year's notable Web innovations: Gmail, A9,com, Blinkx, Kayak.com, JibJab, Fundrace2004, Flickr, Pac-Manhattan.�
