CourseCast of the Week

Episode 114, 08/17/2009

Title/Description: Facebook on the Offensive, Microsoft Ordered to Stop Selling Word, and other tech headlines

Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 114, recorded Aug 15th, 2009. This is Ken Baldauf bringing you this week's technology news and information.

This CourseCast is brought to you by Course Technology. Check out www.cengage.com/coursetechnology for innovative textbooks and creative electronic learning solutions. Visit the CourseCasts Website at CourseCasts.course.com where you will find links to the full stories covered in this CourseCast, related discussion questions for use in your technology courses, and the CourseCast Archives.

And now the news…

Story 1: Facebook on the Offensive

Facebook is taking advantage of its popularity to push into new markets and challenge its rivals. This week the social networking giant purchased Twitter-rival Friend Feed, which will put Facebook in a position to act as an aggregator of social streams from other services. Facebook also announced the launch of new search functionality that will allow users to search through a history of status updates from friends, similar to services provided by Twitter. The company is also testing out a stripped down version of its service designed to boost overseas adoptions, and is working on an electronic payment system that could support e-bay style transactions.

Facebook to face off with new Web rivals [Reuters]
Facebook may become social network hub with FriendFeed buy [Computerworld]
Facebook takes search real-time [Computerworld]

Story 2: Microsoft Ordered to Stop Selling Word

In a patent infringement case against Microsoft, the software giant was ordered to pay more than $260 million to Canadian InfoTech company i4i, and ordered to cease selling Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007 beginning October 10. Microsoft was charged with knowingly stealing technology developed by i4i to store Word files in an XML custom format. It is expected that Microsoft will work out some arrangement to keep its product on store shelves.

Judge Orders $290M Judgment, Bans Sale of Word [News Factor]
Can Microsoft Keep Its Word? [Ecommerce Times]
Judge orders Microsoft to pay $300M in Word patent case [Computerworld]
'Easy work-around' could solve Microsoft Word's legal woes, says expert [Computerworld]

News Briefs

• GM has partnered with eBay to allow customers to negotiate auto purchases online. gm.ebay.com is being tested in California as an online tool for shopping, haggling, and closing the deal on new vehicles. It is hoped that GM's online car lot will help soften the impact of its having to close 3,600 GM dealerships nationwide over the next year.
  GM turns to eBay to sell cars [Reuters]
  Buying a Car? Dicker With Dealers Online [NewsFactor]
• More details have surfaced regarding the attacks that took down Twitter and impacted Facebook last week. It appears that the attacks were launched by Russian hackers and targeted a Georgian blogger who is a fierce critic of Russia and its political and military attacks against Georgia.
  Georgian blogger says will not be silenced [Reuters]
• Microsoft has formed an alliance with cell phone handset manufacturer Nokia in an effort to take on the BlackBerry. The alliance will provide Microsoft Office apps for Nokia's business class phones making the handsets more attractive to business users. Some analysts are calling the alliance a first step towards the retirement of Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system.
  Microsoft, Nokia form alliance to rival RIM [Reuters]
• Google is testing out a new search architecture it has named Caffeine which promises to improve the quality of search results.
  Google Adds Caffeine To Wake Up Search Results [NewsFactor]
• Retail giant Target has decided to go it alone online. Until now the retailer has partnered with Amazon for its online sales. Beginning in 2011 Target plans to host and manage its own online ecommerce transactions.
  Target Dumps Amazon.com, Reboots on E-Commerce [Ecommerce Times]
• Does your girlfriend's or boyfriend's online activity cause you concern? A study published in the latest issue of CyberPsychology and Behavior found that the more time people spend on Facebook the more jealous they are likely to become which leads to unhealthy relationships.
  Study: Facebook use fuels jealousy, hurts relationships [Computerworld]
• Palm has been implicated in a scandal for apparently tracking the locations of its new Palm Pre handsets using GPS. A blogger discovered that his new Pre was periodically uploading location data to Palm. When confronted Palm responded that it takes privacy very seriously and provided instructions for disabling the tracking technology.
  Palm Pre debacle highlights location privacy issues [Computerworld]
• Not surprisingly, a recent study categorized 40 percent of tweets on Twitter as "pointless babble."
  Stop the presses! 40% of tweets are 'pointless babble' [Computerworld]
• US online music purchases are expected to finally surpass CD music purchases within the next few months and in the global market by 2016.
  US digital music sales to eclipse CDs by 2010 [Ars Technica]

That's it for this week's CourseCasts. Email me with your comments and suggestions for the show at CourseCasts@gmail.com. Let me know how you use CourseCasts in your classes and I'll give you and your school a shout out on my next CourseCast. Until next time have a great week and be sure to take advantage of the Power -- of Technology!