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A federal judge in Los Angeles has handed a stunning court victory to file-swapping services Streamcast Networks and Grokster, dismissing much of the record industry and movie studios' lawsuit against the two companies. In an almost complete reversal of previous victories for the record labels and movie studios, federal court Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that Streamcast--parent of the Morpheus software--and Grokster were not liable for copyright infringements that took place using their software. The ruling does not directly affect Kazaa, software distributed by Sharman Networks, which has also been targeted by the entertainment industry. "Defendants distribute and support software, the...

SAN FRANCISCO, April 24 (Reuters) - Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) is developing new emulation software designed to speed the way its Itanium processor runs certain applications on server computers, an Intel spokeswoman said on Thursday. Intel has spent heavily to develop the Itanium chip in order to meet the needs of faster and more powerful software. The microchip allows servers to run both 32-bit applications, which crunch 32 bits of data at a time and comprise most of the software in use today, and newer 64-bit applications, which are faster because they process more bits of data at a time. However,...

Latest Windows XP patch can slow down PCsBy Joris Evers, IDG News ServiceAPRIL 23, 2003Microsoft Corp.'s latest security patch can cause computers running Windows XP to slow down to a crawl, affected users say. Windows XP can take up to 10 seconds to start an application after installation of the patch released April 16 with Security Bulletin MS03-013, users wrote in dozens of postings on several online discussion boards. Removing the patch brings system speed back to normal, according to those users. Microsoft is aware of the issue and is investigating, said Stephen Toulouse, a security program manager at Microsoft's...

I keep reading all these tales of woe of people having bad experiences with Linux. Sure, I've had my own bad experiences, across many an OS, but just lately I've been running a Red Hat Linux 9 desktop full-time at home and have yet to run into any major issue. What follows is an overview of my personal experiences with Linux. But first, a bit about me. Linux Just Works, Part I Editorial Notice: All opinions are those of the author and not necessarily those of osnews.com I've been involved with computers since my Dad brought home an Atari 400....

AMD Aims Long-Awaited 'Sledgehammer' at Intel Mon April 21, 2003 06:59 PM ET By Elinor Mills Abreu SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD.N on Tuesday will unveil a new microprocessor designed for powerful and pricey corporate servers, part of a bid to crack a lucrative market dominated by its larger rival, Intel Corp. INTC.O . Analysts said AMD's roll-out of its first Opteron processors was crucial to both the company's financial recovery and its effort to force the pace of innovation as both servers and desktop computers shift to faster data-processing speeds. "For the first time, AMD...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Intel Corp INTC.O , the world's largest chip maker, said on Sunday it cut the prices of its fastest microprocessors for desktop and laptop PCs by as much as 38 percent on Sunday, following its regular pattern of slashing the cost of its chips in advance of faster models. The price of Intel's Pentium 4 microprocessor running at 3 gigahertz was cut 32 percent to $401 from $589. The price of the mobile Pentium 4 chip running at 2.4 gigahertz was cut 38 percent to $348. Intel last made price cuts in February. The cuts came...

<p>Edgar F. Codd, an IBM computer pioneer who created the ``relational database model'' that underlies a $7 billion industry of storing the world's online business data, died of heart failure at home Friday in Williams Island, Fla. He was 79.</p>

<p>Web-search company LookSmart has ambitious plans to do for Web searching what SETI@Home did for the hunt for E.T.</p> <p>Last week, LookSmart released a screensaver that harnesses the spare computing power of volunteers whose machines are indexing the Web.</p> <p>Like SETI@Home, LookSmart's Grub screensaver runs in the background or when the computer is idle. But instead of searching for signs of intelligent aliens, Grub crawls the Net to build an index for Web searches.</p>

    Researchers develop 'microwave rocket'  Yomiuri Shimbun A group of Tokyo University researchers has successfully applied electromagnetic waves--normally used to heat food in microwave ovens--as the propulsion force for a "microwave rocket," the first time such an experiment has succeeded. According to the group led by Kimiya Komurasaki, an associate professor at the department of advanced energy, the development could enable cost and size reductions in rockets as they could use air in the atmosphere as a means of propulsion, rather than having to carry fuel. The group fired the microwaves at the rocket's base, rapidly heating the...

A physicist in South Africa claims to have created a new superconducting state of matter at room temperature. Johan Prins of the University of Pretoria observed the superconducting state in experiments with diamonds that had been doped with oxygen (Semiconductor Science and Technology 18 S131).Diamond is a semiconductor and Prins has long been interested in using n-type diamond as a "cold" cathode to replace the "hot" cathodes found in television tubes and many other devices. Moreover, he believes that the results of his experiments on n-type diamond surfaces - made by exposing the diamond to energetic oxygen ions - can...

April 14, 2003 - Ingenious new devices able to see ever tinier, fast-moving objects are providing scientists with striking, 3-D color movies of atoms, molecules and living cells in action. "We can watch the brain think, develop, age, deal with disease. We can see neurons grow inside the living brain," said Jeff Lichtman, a neurobiologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "It's like a movie camera." While biologists use their new instruments to observe cells, chemists use another new technology to track the motions of the infinitesimal particles - electrons, protons and neutrons - that make...

Robots the size of flies controlled by computers smaller than grains of salt could be with us within two years. A prototype "millibot" is being built to see if scientists can miniaturise to the scale of a nanometre – a millionth of a millimetre – to build intelligent materials and microscopic machines. James Ellenbogen of the Mitre Corporation told the association that the first insect-like robot – a motorised silicon chip with six legs – could be built by the end of 2004. "Once we decide on the right fit, I'd be pleased as punch if we had one next...

WONDER WEAPON Buck Rogers, your new rifle is ready. BY SANDRA I. ERWIN Photos by Spencer Jones The OICW will be the most versatile weapon ever built. It can kill targets hidden around corners or dug in half a mile away. American soldiers going into battle in the next century may carry a weapon so advanced it will make today's assault rifle seem as primitive as the muskets fired at Bunker Hill. Understand that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the venerable M16 rifle, its fraternal twin the M4 carbine or their trusty sidekick the M203 grenade launcher. It...

Scientists levitate gold coins Scientists have shown that levitation is not just a trick from a Harry Potter book. Researchers at the University of Nottingham have used magnetism to make solid objects such as coins float in the air. Scientists have already proven strong, varying magnetic fields could exert an upward force on objects in their path. The Nottingham team found this effect could be dramatically enhanced in cold, magnetised oxygen. Magnetic levitation occurs when the magnetic force is strong enough to overcome gravity and balance a body's weight. Cold oxygen provides extra buoyancy through the "magneto-Archimedes" effect -...

Intelligence ops in Baghdad show need for physical security back home The U.S. Central Command today declined to offer details on how U.S. military forces were tipped off to an alleged meeting of Saddam Hussein and his top aides yesterday. But sources indicated today that physical taps on telephone and fiber-optic landlines in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad may have played a role. "We have a number of methods that we use to gain information," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said during today's Central Command press briefing. "A single source is never adequate, so we have multiple sources." Bombing missions near...

It's A Nova ? It's A Supernova ? It's A HYPERNOVA ANN ARBOR, Mich. --- Two billion years ago, in a far-away galaxy, a giant star exploded, releasing almost unbelievable amounts of energy as it collapsed to a black hole. The light from that explosion finally reached Earth at 6:37 a.m. EST on March 29, igniting a frenzy of activity among astronomers worldwide. This phenomenon has been called a hypernova, playing on the name of the supernova events that mark the violent end of massive stars. With two telescopes separated by about 110 degrees longitude, the Robotic Optical Transient Search...

Z Produces Fusion Neutrons, Sandia Scientists Confirm; Huge Pulsed Power Machine Enters Fusion Arena PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (April 7, 2003) -- Throwing its hat into the ring of machines that offer the possibility of achieving controlled nuclear fusion, Sandia National Laboratories' Z machine has created a hot dense plasma that produces thermonuclear neutrons, Sandia researchers announced today at a news conference at the April meeting of the American Physical Society in Philadelphia. The neutrons emanate from fusion reactions within a BB-sized deuterium capsule placed within the target of the huge machine. Compressing hot dense plasmas that produce neutrons is an important...

PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O , the world's No. 1 software maker, on Wednesday said it is taking aim at privately held Google Inc., the Web-search company that's so popular its name is used as a verb. "We do view Google more and more as a competitor. We believe that we can provide consumers with a better product and a better user experience. That's something that we're actively looking at doing," Bob Visse, director of marketing for Microsoft's MSN Internet services division, said. Visse said the company was making some significant investments in developing a better search...

Ultra-simple Desktop Device Slows Light To A Crawl At Room Temperature Though Einstein put his foot down and demanded that nothing can move faster than light, a new device developed at the University of Rochester may let you outpace a beam by putting your foot down on the gas pedal. At 127 miles per hour, the light in the new device travels more than 5 million times slower than normal as it passes through a ruby just a few centimeters long. Instead of the complex, room-filling mechanisms previously used to slow light, the new apparatus is small and, in the...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Three-fourths of computer software security experts at major companies surveyed by Forrester Research Inc. (Nasdaq:FORR - news) do not think Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) products are secure, the technology research company said on Monday. Related Quotes FORRMSFTDJIANASDAQ^SPC 14.0924.318018.751344.56851.68 -0.02+0.10+26.62+3.39+3.50 delayed 20 mins - disclaimerQuote Data provided by Reuters   While 77 percent of respondents in the information technology (IT) field said security was a top concern when using Windows, 89 percent still use the software for sensitive applications, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Forrester said in a report titled "Can Microsoft Be Secure?" The survey polled 35 software security...