A number of high-profile Websites were knocked offline early June 15 as the result of a broad electronic attack against Akamai Technologies, which distributes and manages Web data for a number of large companies and the FBI and is believed to manage about fifteen percent of the Internet's total traffic. The attack hit Akamai servers at about 9 a.m. EDT and lasted barely an hour, but several of the sites affected stayed off line for a few hours. Akamai's data management clients also include Microsoft, Yahoo, Federal Express, and Xerox, among others…
Microsoft, as it happens, is still developing antivirus software it hopes might compete with McAfee and Norton AntiVirus in the near future. Security business unit chief Michael Nash said June 15 the company is still planning to offer its own antivirus product, though he offered no timeframe for when it might be finished and released. Microsoft acquired antivirus technology from GeCAD Software of Romania last year, a year after it launched its Trustworthy Computing campaign to boost security and reliability of its own products…
Internet telephony could end up in as many as 30 percent of American and British homes in the next three years, if the major telecoms being in services comparable in price and quality to traditional telephony, according to a new Mercer Management survey. "The companies with existing relationships with consumers have huge advantages," Mercer consultant Martin Kon said, adding that Mercer thinks the large companies like AT&T are not far from becoming the big players in Internet telephony. "It's an uphill battle for the upstarts with no customer base."
One of those big players is likely to be Bell Canada. They say they'll introduce Internet telephony service next month, in a bid to retain customers, this in the middle of a competitive push overall between BCE and rival Telus. "They're trying to aggressively establish themselves as a national player," said Frost & Sullivan analyst Jon Arnold. "They're sending a message that they're not going to be outdone [by Telus]…
Speaking of introductions, Apple has introduced iTunes to Europe, launching in Britain, France, and Germany and offering songs for $1.42 per track. Apple chief Steve Jobs said the company plans to launch a European Union version in October, but Jobs did not say which countries would be included in the launch…
Salt Lake City divorced father Michael Gough plans to spend time with his 5-year-old daughter via Webcam come Father's Day – an option the often-traveling computer consultant got when he won the right last September to such virtual visitation, with his daughter living in Wisconsin with her mother. Gough told the Washington Post the Webcam visits have made a huge difference from previous telephone conversations. "When I called my daughter up on the telephone, the conversation would last about five minutes and she would often give one-word responses to questions," he told the paper. "I had very little idea what was really going on in her life."
The Post also says other divorce cases have featured some parents offering virtual visitation as a way to ease the sting of custody battles… while others reject the idea on grounds of privacy invasion and "hardship by disrupting a child's routine." After Gough won his option in court, Utah has become the nation's first state to allow virtual visitation to be added to state child custody guidelines.
