Stories by Nancy Gohring

TorrentSpy suit accuses MPAA of hacking

In a tale of intrigue that's perhaps fitting for the parties involved, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has denied that it paid a hacker to steal information from TorrentSpy, as alleged in a lawsuit filed by the file-searching company this week in California.

VoIP and new ways to cut out the middle man

Voice over IP peering, which can, essentially, cut out the local telco and thus save costs, promises to be one of several hot topics at this year’s VON Europe conference in Stockholm.

Protesters try to foil UK ID card plan

A U.K. group worried about the security of personal data to be collected under a new identity card plan is calling on people to renew their passports in May to avoid being part of the identity card scheme for at least 10 years.

World banks align to fight online child pornography

A group of financial institutions, Internet companies and organizations fighting child pornography have formed a new coalition in hopes of cutting off online payment mechanisms for Web sites selling child pornography, the organizations involved announced on Thursday.

Sony Ericsson unwraps 3.2-megapixel blogging phone

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB announced several new phones on Tuesday, including two that carry Sony Corp.'s Cyber-shot brand and come with 3.2-megapixel cameras that are integrated with Google Inc.'s Blogger application.

Combined wi-fi/cellular voice services not here yet: analysts

The components necessary for combined voice-over-wi-fi and cellular services are only just becoming available and it will likely be another year or two before either consumer or enterprise customers start widely using such services, according to experts at the Fixed Mobile Convergence Conference in London late last month.

Patent office rules against NTP again

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected a patent that it previously awarded and that is central to the ongoing litigation against BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM), RIM said on Wednesday.

Study: Microsoft still leads in email

Microsoft will stay at the top of the growing corporate email market, thanks partly to its software's new wireless push capabilities, according to a new report from The Radicati Group.

Adobe releases new Flash software for mobile devices

Adobe Systems Inc. on Tuesday introduced Macromedia Flash Lite 2 and Macromedia Flash Player SDK 7, the latest versions of software products that let users of mobile phones and consumer electronics devices view Web sites that use Flash.

Chip sales break 2000 record year, says Gartner

Revenue from worldwide semiconductor sales is expected to set a new record this year, according to research released by Gartner. Revenue will reach US$235 billion in 2005, a 6.9% increase from 2004, the research firm reports. That would beat the previous revenue record, set in 2000, of US$223 billion.

Niagara code goes open source, Sun Fire taps grid

In addition to launching its new Sun Fire servers, Sun Microsystems Inc. executives in London revealed plans to get the machines connected to grid technology, as well as an initiative to offer code for its new processor as open-source software.

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