The US Justice Department has urged the Supreme Court to hear Microsoft's appeal of the ruling that would split the company in two quickly, on the grounds that any delay "could irreparably harm competition in a vital and rapidly evolving sector of the national economy." In a brief filed with the High Court, the US government opposed Microsoft's request that its appeal go first to the Circuit Court of Appeals before reaching the Supreme Court. The court should agree to skip the appeals court because this case "has immense importance to our national economy," the government said.
IPAQ AGE: Compaq has become the first major PC maker to launch an "Internet appliance" - a stripped-down computer that some analysts believe will replace PCs as the most common way of getting online. The iPaq Home Internet Appliance, about the size of a small VCR, comes with a built-in screen and a wireless keyboard. It runs a Microsoft operating system and can access the Web only through Microsoft's ISP.
BOOM TIME ONLINE: There has been a massive increase in online spending in Ireland, according to figures from the Bank of Ireland. Findings based on recent research carried out on Clikpay, its online credit card payments service, show a 420 per cent increase in online sales since September 1999. According to the research, the average amount spent is £70 while the highest amount using the bank's payments service has been £1,404.
ULTIMATE FANTASY: There are just five days left to register for the online Fantasy Football competition available from ireland.com. Users are given (in a virtual sense) £80 million to buy a team of 14 players plus a manager capable of coming out on top in an 18-week season running from August 26th to December 31st. The winner will collect £10,000 with a further £3,000 and £2,000 going to the second and third placed teams. The site can be accessed from www.ireland.com/sports/soccer/fantasy/
BIG BOTHER: Despite being heralded as a perfect example of media convergence, many people who tried to log onto the Channel 4 website, www.bigbrother.terra.com, to watch the Big Brother contestants hold a kangaroo court to discuss "Nasty Nick" Bateman's future were disappointed after the site repeatedly crashed. Viewers were denied the chance to see Nick's tears live and had to revert to their televisions find out what was going on. The system failed its audience at another climactic moment when, in the early hours of the morning, after fellow contestants discovered Nick's alleged double-dealing. Their anger was such that editorial staff pressed the panic button that cut transmission.
UTTER MADNESS: An American couple have won $5,000 by naming their new-born son after a music website. Iuma Dylan-Lucas - born last Friday in Kansas - was named after the Internet Underground Music Archive (Iuma) which promised $5,000 to ten newborns who adopted its unisex name.
BREAKING THE BANK: Swiss banking giant UBS AG said no damage has been reported as a result of a new strain of the "LoveLetter" virus that specifically targets its customers. Only a small proportion of online banking customers face any risk, the bank said in a statement. This new "LoveLetter" strain replicates itself using Microsoft Outlook and carries the subject line "Resume".
E-OUTLOOK GOOD: 90 per cent of Irish companies believe e-business will increase in importance to their businesses over the next three years, according to a survey carried out on behalf of Enterprise Ireland. The survey involved the participation of 630 companies and found that companies are increasingly treating e-business as a company-wide issue rather than an IT issue. Almost 75 per cent of respondents described it as an urgent priority or a priority for the next four months.
DVD ON TRIAL: A US federal judge has backed the movie industry in its battle to stop DVDs from being copied on computers. The ruling came in a case brought by eight Hollywood movie studios that sued to stop a website from providing or linking visitors to software that descrambles the code meant to prevent DVDs from being copied. US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled that the posting of the code violates federal copyright law.
MASSIVE PHONE BILLS: Six telecommunications companies have won the right to launch the next generation of mobile phone technology in Germany, bidding a total of $46.2 billion to far outstrip two earlier auctions in Britain and the Netherlands.
YAHOO CELEBRATES: Yahoo! has won the rights to 40 domain names in rulings by UN arbitrators. A three-member panel awarded it the names yahooemail.net, yahoofree.net, yahoofree.com and yahoochat.net amongst others after it found that "Internet users are actually confused" by the names as the sites had received hundreds of emails apparently intended for Yahoo!
IN BRIEF...Security and communications company Systemhouse Technology has signed a partnership with the enterprise security company Symantec. . . DCU has chosen BridgeCom/Kedington Network Systems to design, supply, and install a Cisco Systems network infrastructure in the University's new library. . . Siemens Ireland has launched HiPath, an IP based communications solution allowing customers benefit from the convergence of voice and data communications. . . Healtheon/WebMD has started laying off workers, becoming the latest big-name Net company to hand out shed staff to cut expenses. . .