Tuesday, November 14

Netscape 6 is out of beta and has been officially released.

ICANN has issued rejection notices for several proposed top-level domains, including .kids and .xxx. The top-level domains were designed, respectively as a safe haven for kids, and a clearly-marked red light district. One problem with any such system is enforcement. The original distinctions for .com, net and .org were ignored as people defaulted to .net when .com was taken. Though originally intended for non-profits, the .org domain is now used by many for-profit organizations, and has a cachet for open source-based products and organizations.

A federal court has overturned a Florida county decision that required AT&T to provide open cable access.

Conexant Spinco, a subsidiary of Conexant Systems (formerly Rockwell Semiconductor Systems), filed for an IPO , which is expected to take place in January.

Multimedia web portal iCast is up for sale . CMGI, which owns the web site, says it will close the site if a buyer isn't found by January 31, 2001.

Wireless

Michael Dell told a crowd at Comdex that he doesn't believe webpads and Internet cell phones will be popular compared to his idea of a killer access device: a three pound notebook with wireless networking.

LCG Wireless is building a business out of enhancing localized cell phone coverage in airports, stadiums, apartment buildings and other densely-populated locales.

Ric Ford's MacInTouch web site has reader reports on wireless modems and wireless networking on Macintosh .

ZDNet's Kate VanScoy reports on the delays in the Bluetooth protocol. Only two Bluetooth-enabled devices have been announced with release dates.

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Friday, November 17

Internet service provider PSINet has retained Goldman Sachs to advise the company of a possible sale or merger. PSINet stock is trading more than 95% off its 52-week high. A bank made a margin call on PSINet yesterday. The bank will sell 11.4 million shares of PSINet stock to cover a loan that was secured with company shares.

Covad revised financial results downwards after it became obvious that some of its accounts were delinquent. Fourteen of its ISP customers - representing 28 percent of Covad's revenues - are behind in their payments. Covad provides DSL infrastructure for ISPs.

AOL and Time Warner will open their cable modem lines to EarthLink, June and RMI.net in order to satisfy the FCC's anti-trust concerns.

Music-sharing service Scour will shut down its file-sharing service, though other services will remain. (We are just as surprised as you are to find out that Scour has other services.) The company has already filed for and received bankruptcy protection.

New documents released by the FBI reveal that Carnivore can intercept any kind of Internet traffic, not just email.

ICANN approved new top-level domains: "name for personal Web sites; .pro for professionals; and .museum, .aero and .coop for specialty Web sites run by museums, airlines and businesses. In addition, .info and .biz would be available for any Web sites." The UN-based World Health Organization (WHO) is upset that .health was rejected.

The latest issue of Bruce Schneier's Cryptogram explains why digital signatures are not signatures, no matter what the new law says.

Look! Up in the sky!

EarthLink and Hughes Network Systems inked a deal that will allow EarthLink to sell its Internet service over two-way DirecPC satellite systems.

The Iridium network of satellites has received a stay of de-orbiting. A US bankruptcy court approved a bid by Iridium Satellite LLC to purchase the flying toasters. The company plans to sell satellite communications to government and private groups. The Register speculates that the U.S. government has been paying to keep the satellites afloat.

Iridium has been saved, but space station Mir will be de-orbited in February.

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