Tuesday, January 9

Followup stories

Christmas is over. Are you still interested in the PlayStation 2?

Two senior editors left APBnews after the site again failed to make payroll.

Mark Simeon Jakob plead guilty in the Emulex stock hoax. He was required to pay restitution of $54,000, which he paid in cash. That'll learn him.

Free ISP shakeout continues

Free ISP infrastructure provider 1stup went out of business, taking offline the free access offered by AltaVista, Excite and others.

Spinway was going out of business, leaving Kmart's Bluelight.com without an ISP infrastructure, prompting Kmart to buy Spinway. Kmart is weighing its options, and may provide free service only to customers who buy a minimum amount each month.

ZipLink went out of business, following a default in payments by Spinway, its second-largest customer.

Forbes.com looks at the new map of which free ISPs are still standing.

NetZero is suing Juno for infringing its patent for a floating advertising banner window. A judge has issued a temporary restraining order. 

Now DSL going through shakeout period

Four DSL ISPS - FastPoint, FlashCom Communications, Relay Point and Zyan Communications - have filed for bankruptcy protection.

Two more DSL ISPs - Planet Systems Network and Jato Communications - have shut their doors.

Forbes explains why DSL ISPS can charge twice as much for DSL as regular Internet service and still lose money, and why competition with the telcos may be insurmountable for many ISPs.

The Wall Street Journal reports on problems in the infrastructure industry as a whole, with declining bandwidth prices as a primary reason for the industry slump. Surprising factoid: the average Internet user spend about 20% less time online this year than last.

The BBC reports that five UK companies - Global Crossing, KPNQuest, NTL, Telewest and Worldcom  - are dropping their plans for high speed DSL access.

Even before these industry troubles, The Standard was asking "What Broadband Revolution?"

Cell phones

Attorney Peter Angelos is filing lawsuits against cell phone makers, cell network operators and fixed-line phone companies, charging that their products are responsible for brain tumors in his clients.

In this month's Alertbox, "Mobile Phones: Europe's Next Minitel?," Jakob Nielsen explains that Europe's mobile phone service is better than that of the US, and that may hurt Europe in the long run. If you've never heard of Minitel, read the article.

CNET reviews candy-bar (non-flip) mobile phones.

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Friday, January 12

A new study by the Center for Research in Electronic Commerce shows continued growth in the Internet-based economy, 90% of which is non-dot-com companies.

MacInTouch has a Macworld San Francisco 2001 report. Steve Jobs announced that Mac OS X will ship March 24 at a retail price of $129. Jobs also announced new titanium-shelled PowerBooks, 733 MHz G4s, and a new Super Drive that reads and writes both DVDs and CDs.

If you haven't had enough of the Grinch this holiday, read WebVoid's "How the Grinch Captured the Flag."

3D user interfaces are usually disappointing, but this cubist browser shows one page in the center and four other pages on the periphery.

ISP news

The FCC has approved the AOL-Time Warner merger, the biggest in history. The FCC gained several key concessions before granting approval. AOL must grant open access to its cable modem network, and will make the next generation of Instant Messenger interoperable with messaging software from at least three competitors.

If you're like us, you probably didn't know who the largest ISP in the Philippines is. Would you have guessed it's the Catholic Church?

DirecTV and DirecPC maker Hughes Network Systems has shipped its first two-way satellite system.

Pulitzer, Inc. sold its Postnet dialup ISP service to EarthLink for an undisclosed amount. Postnet had as many as 14,000 customers at one point.

PC Magazine's Bill Machrone has a beef with cable company ComCast's TOS (Terms of Service), particularly the provision against the use of Virtual Private Networking.

Slashdot discusses the TOS for Sprint's Wireless Broadband service, which prohibits port scanning among many other things.

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