NEW NET Issues List for 13 March 2007

Below is the final list of issues for the TUESDAY, 13 March 02007, NEW NET (Northeast Wisconsin Network for Economy and Technology) 6:45 - 9:00 pm weekly gathering upstairs at Tom's Drive In, 501 N Westhill Blvd, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA.

Top Two Tech Issues and One Interesting One From The Past Seven Days

1. The Verizon patent verdict over Vonage is a potentially huge court decision for VoIP providers. Time will tell if the old guard telecoms will now license and litigate stand-alone VoIP providers like Vonage and Skype out of business. Two of the three upheld patents were just related to billing, and the jury decided Vonage wasn’t infringing on four other patents which Verizon included in the suit. But the smell of blood in the water is likely to result in the sharks circling hungrily.
2. Tempest in a teapot, or sea change? There were a number of article this week talking about Windows Vista’s impact. Is Vista creating an opening for Mac and Linux to capture a significantly larger market share? Or is it just the usual dire predictions and Windows OS problems seen with the introduction of any major software update, similar to that seen with the Win 98, Win ME and Win XP roll-outs? The less-than-spectacular OS upgrade from Microsoft will also provide the purpose-driven browser environment and online applications a golden opportunity to steal market share and gain significant traction. Lastly, if people hold off from Vista upgrades more than expected, the hardware companies may find Vista hurting them rather than generating the huge hoped-for hardware refresh cycle.
3. Interesting Issue: It’s amazing the major online mapping providers haven’t already provided what Ask Local Search just implemented (The ‘net, Item 2). Ask came out with some cool search enabled drawing tools. If Mapquest, Gmaps and the others have this feature, I was unaware of it. No longer will I have to copy the map image, put it in Paint, then add my custom-drawn features. Let’s hope the big players catch up to Ask quickly with these features or even better ones for modifying maps with your info.

The ‘net

1. Purpose-driven browsers drive next wave of Web applications http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=3748
2. The New Shape of Local Search http://blog.ask.com/2007/03/the_new_shape_o.html
3. Twitter Tips the Tuna http://ross.typepad.com/blog/2007/03/twitter_tips_th.html
4. Alternatives To Second Life http://slgames.wordpress.com/2007/03/05/alternatives-to-second-life/
5. Web Analytics: Easy Answers, Hard Lessons http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625165
6. Vonage found guilty of infringing three Verizon patents http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070308-verizon-asks-for-197-million-in-damages-from-vonage.html
7. Demo Day: Y Combinator’s Spring Chicks http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/09/demo-day-y-combinators-spring-chicks/
8. Three Web-Based Mind Mapping Tools Reviewed http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/03/08/three-web-based-mind-mapping-tools-reviewed/
9. Software Developer Challenges Microsoft And Google With Free Operating System http://www.informationweek.com/software/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197801331&subSection=Operating+Systems
10. MIT to offer its courses free online by year end http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070310/wr_nm/mit_online_dc
11. Co-Pilot Remote Assistance https://www.copilot.com/
12. Viacom sues Google, YouTube for $1 billion http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17592285/

Security, Privacy & Digital Controls

1. Microsoft takes a 'Patch Tuesday' break http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6165647.html
2. FBI chief admits misuse of Patriot Act http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/38784.html
3. House bill looks to expand government transparency http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070309-house-set-to-vote-on-freedom-of-information-act-revisions-next-week.html
4. Universities a wretched hive of scum and villainy (Ken’s comment at the end of this post was too good to pass up…) http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070309-senator-hollywood-universities-a-wretched-hive-of-scum-and-villainy.html
5. Why Sweden's Plan To Spy On Emails Does More Harm Than Good http://techdirt.com/articles/20070308/175922.shtml
6. OneCare Deletes Users' Outlook Files http://www.betanews.com/article/OneCare_Deletes_Users_Outlook_Files/1173474996
7. Arizona Politicians Realize The Unintended Consequences Of Tracking Technologies And Data Retention http://techdirt.com/articles/20070308/181842.shtml
8. New Jersey Says People Are Allowed To Videotape Government Meetings http://techdirt.com/articles/20070308/182751.shtml

Mobile Computing & Communicating

1. Palm Responds to the iPhone http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/09/technology/09palm.html?ref=business
2. FON Gets Another $13 Million From Investors http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20070310/tc_cmp/197801702

Open Source

1. FAA May Ditch Microsoft's Windows Vista And Office For Google And Linux Combo http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197800480
2. Time to start casting the Linux "Switch" commercials http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2007/03/time_to_start_c.html
3. Sun Opens Darkstar to Win Over Online Game Developers http://www.technewsworld.com/story/56191.html
4. Framing Open Source Architecture http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72902-0.html?tw=wn_culture_4

SkyNet

1. Google Updates Desktop Search http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070307/tc_pcworld/129664
2. Google is hiring phone developers http://www.myiphone.com/google-is-hiring-phone-developers-10562.php
3. Google's Local Business Center: Solving the "Last Block Problem" http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/070309-185430
4. When will Google Local reap $39 billion local ad sales opportunity? http://blogs.zdnet.com/micro-markets/?p=1086
5. Web-based office suite that bests Google and Microsoft http://www.slate.com/id/2161519/

General Technology

1. 42 Reasons to switch to Mac http://valleywag.com/tech/apple/42-reasons-normal-people-can-switch-to-macs-242430.php
2. Toshiba Adds E-cycling Options http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20070306/tc_zd/202499
3. Views mixed about Seagate versus flash memory http://tinyurl.com/38xgzb
4. JPEG Photo Format on Its Way Out? http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129676/article.html
5. Is Vista the Beginning of the End? http://markevanstech.com/2007/03/10/is-vista-the-beginning-of-the-end/
6. Forced software upgrades can add up for Vista users http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012140&source=rss_topic18
7. Seagate Ships Super-Secure Hard Disk Drive http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129734-c,harddrives/article.html

Leisure & Entertainment

1. GDC: MMOs, past, present and future http://www.wonderlandblog.com/wonderland/2007/03/gdc_mmos_past_p.html
2. Gears of War triumphs in GDC awards http://www.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=13600
3. Sony Gives Gamers a 'Home' of Their Own http://www.technewsworld.com/story/56170.html

Economy and Technology

1. Connecture's Maynard finds IT business opportunity in adversity http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=3754
2. GE unveils digital camera family http://www.tgdaily.com/2007/03/09/ge_cameras/
3. Information Technology Solution Providers’ Association http://www.itspa.net/join/join.asp
4. No E-Mail Fridays Transform Office http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2939232&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
5. The Trouble With India http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_12/b4026001.htm
6. Networking takes giant strides online http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2007-03-11-networking_N.htm

Civilian Aerospace

1. Would-be Kuwaiti astronaut finds new niche ... among stars in space http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=960104
2. Space tourism targets adventurers who seeking other worldly thrills http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070310/NEWS/703100339/1051

Supercomputing & GPUs

1. UniversityTech: NCSU Launches ‘Cluster’ of PS3s http://www.wral.com/business/local_tech_wire/news/story/1228833/
2. UB Supercomputer aids WNY businesses http://masshightech.bizjournals.com/masshightech/othercities/buffalo/stories/2007/03/05/story7.html?b=1173070800%5E1424960
3. Peakstream bets farm on CPU/GPU fusion http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070311-peakstream-bets-farm-on-cpugpu-fusion.html

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