So what's in a name? If you're Google, it could be litigation worth millions. The family of Prof. Edward Kasner – who, at the suggestion of a young nephew, created the word "googol" to reference the value of 10 to the 100th power– is said to be pondering whether Google the search king has gained at the expense of googol the number. "[T]hey want to become IPO insiders to put his soul to rest," said the London Inquirer. Slashdot.org, however, is mildly amused, filing the news under "ludicrous lawsuits for everyone."
That isn't the only kind of mischief attaching itself to Google these days. Consider Shamoon Rafig, a Dutch investor who has pleaded guilty to swindling New York's wealthy by promising the inside track to Google's stock. He duped numerous investors into ponying up $12 a share for Google preferred stock and then dropped about $350,000 of it in a three-month binge of high living and gambling. Rafig is looking at five years behind bars at sentencing, two less than he might have received if convicted on trial.
Two of the heaviest weights in cyberspace are giving Internet telephony a huge vote of confidence by joining up to offer Voice-over Internet Protocol service to businesses. Cisco systems will provide the telephone and network technology and IBM the software and system integration under the new partnership, which both companies called a bid to help boost Internet telephony acceptance in the corporate world. First targets, according to the New York Times: finance and retail. First customer, though: Preston Gates & Ellis in Seattle – a law firm.
Maybe this will help take a little of the sting out of something Cisco would prefer not to have happened: the possible theft of some of its core software code which runs the company's networking gear, considered all but a backbone of the Internet itself. Russian security Website SecurityLab.ru is helping Cisco investigate the possible theft after a portion of the raw source code was posted on the site last weekend. The FBI is also investigating.
Many of us get raw news updates from sources like Google and favorite newspaper or news Websites. How would you like to get raw blog updates? You can, thanks to a new Opera Web browser offering what's called an emerging technology that will deliver new blog entries and news articles automatically. The key is Really Simple Syndication (RSS), formerly available through standalone applications or plug-ins for Microsoft Internet Explorer, but now integrated into Opera – the first time a major browser maker has included RSS directly. "In some means or another," Opera vice president for engineering Christen Krough told reporters, "it's there to stay."
So, apparently, might be Internet gateway competition in Kenya, which is coming in June after "years of complaints" that state-owned monopoly Telkom Kenya compares unfavorably with other African countries where there is greater gateway competition. Kenya communications minister John Michuki announced gateway competition opening beginning in June and challenged telecom companies operating in the country. "What are you going to do with it?" he challenged at a World Telecommunications Day workshop. "Are you ready? Have you got a business that is awaiting the input called Internet because you're going to have it, next month."
A U.S. federal judge was expected to decide May 18 whether federal prosecutors will have the chance to admit more Internet evidence they believe will show a former University of Idaho student conspired with Islamic Website officials to support terror groups. The prosecution asked Judge Edward Lodge May 17 to admit this evidence in a 24-page motion answered by a 13-page response from Sami al-Hussayen's attorneys.
A group of tech heavyweights has a response to President Bush's technology policies: they plan to endorse him for re-election May 19, saying the president is more likely to continue fostering the atmosphere that equals room for high tech’s continued growth. The heavyweights include Dell chairman Michael Dell, Teledesic chairman Craig McCaw, and Microsoft executive vice president Bob Herbold. The group will make their endorsement known at a Seattle gathering set to feature a video clip touting Bush and including eBay chief executive Meg Whitman and Autodesk chairman Carol Bartz.
And, speaking of flag carriers, Germany's flagship air carrier is carrying the first flag for in-flight Internet service. Lufthansa began offering the service on select long-haul flights May 17, and it includes free access to an online portal featuring news dispatches. Using Wi-Fi technology, Flynet lets Lufthansa passengers surf the Net or use e-mail on laptop computers or other devices for a flat $29.95 rate per flight, or $9.95 for 30 minutes.
