The number of Napster users has soared over the past few months despite the pending lawsuit that could effectively shut it down, according to a new survey. Media Metrix found that the number of Napster users jumped from 1.1 million in February to 4.9 million in July. The market research group said the music file-sharing service now ranks as the 43rd most popular home application in the US, attracting more than six per cent of home PC users who also have a modem.
Last week Napster said major record labels were maintaining a "chokehold" on current music sales avenues. Traditional methods of developing acts and marketing them widely are firmly under the thumb of a select few companies, not including Napster, it said in the brief filed last week. The Recording Industry Association of America's copyright infringement case against Napster is scheduled for arguments on October 2nd.
GAMES GUARDIANS: Thousands of school children from all over the world will gather, in a virtual sense, at 4.30 p.m. on Thursday to take part in the largest ever live and interactive game webcast. Arthouse in Dublin's Temple Bar will be the venue for the Irish leg of the event which will be streamed live from www.theguardians.com and broadcast on a large screen at the Hanover World Fair as part of the European Commission's Education and Culture Day.
BANKING FIRST: AIB Bank has become the first bank to launch a service allowing users spend online using their Visa card without transmitting their credit card number. over the Net. With transactonline, AIB instantaneously generates and issues to the cardholder's PC, an alternative credit card number that can be used to make online purchases. The number is subsequently processed in the normal way by both the bank and the retailer.
OS X ARRIVES: Apple has released the long-awaited and eagerly anticipated beta version of OS X. "It's unlike anything you've ever experienced on a Mac before," CEO Steve Jobs said at the opening of the Apple Expo in Paris last Wednesday.
MADONNA IN REHAB ROW: A Catholic hospital in the US hopes to get the domain name madonna.com ahead of the slightly better known singer of the same name. The Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital already owns the site madonna.org while Madonna owns madonnafanclub.com. New Jersey entrepreneur Dan Parisi owns the domain name madonna.com and previously used the site for pornographic material. Now he uses it to explain his position regarding the dispute. This month, the United Nation's World Intellectual Property Organisation is expected to announce who will get the rights to the name.
NET TAXI: Taxi passengers in New York will be able to surf the Web while they are stuck in traffic under a deal between Yahoo and Medallion Financial Corporation. The first fleet of 10 taxis began operating last week with a hand-held Palm VII computer offering free Internet access. The deal follows a similar program launched last year in San Francisco.
SECURITY WEAKNESS: US government computer security is "fraught with weaknesses," placing it at risk of fraud, misuses and disruption, according to a US congressional report. The report said it found weaknesses at 24 US government agencies, including the Department of Defence. It said that weaknesses in the US military computer systems "increase the vulnerability of various military operations that support the departments war-fighting capability."
CZECH IN: Irishjobs.ie has announced that it is to launch in the Czech Republic, where it expects to be fully operational by the beginning of October. This development makes Irishjobs.ie the "first Irish recruitment website to move into the Czech market", strangely enough.
OIL CHANGE: The OPEC site was defaced by an online vandal upset about the worldwide attention being paid to the organisation over soaring oil prices. The graffiti-like attack appeared last Tuesday at the bottom of the opening screen of www.opec.org. The message urged OPEC members to get "in gear with the price of crude, we really need to focus on the poverty-stricken countries, who don't even have enough money for aspirin, let alone exorbitant (sic) prices for heating oil."
PHONE CLUBS: Eircell customers with WAP access will soon be able to view listings of club events from around the country and access news and information on dance music and club culture on a daily and weekly basis. The new service will be available to all Eircell customers.
RECLAIMING WALL STREET: The owner of the Wall Street Journal has won the rights to two Net addresses based on misspellings of the newspaper's name. A UN arbitrator ordered John Zuccarini to hand over the domain names wallstreetjounal.com and wallstreetjournel.com. Dow Jones said Zuccarini used the sites to create "unauthorised links" to the Journal's online edition.
WEB OLYMPICS: Nielsen//NetRatings is running a daily global monitor of Internet traffic to websites covering the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The service began reporting web traffic from the opening ceremony on Friday and will run until after the close of the Olympics.
WHAT DIGITAL DIVIDE?: Technological progress, which will allow for greater access to the Internet, will be the driving force in reducing the so-called digital divide, according to Microsoft's Bill Gates and other "pillars" of the new economy. Business leaders attending the Asia-Pacific economic summit in Melbourne argued that fears of a digital divide were misplaced. Gates said technological progress would continue to "create miracles" and help reduce the divide.
IN BRIEF...Brian Long, Chief Executive Officer and cofounder of Parthus Technologies, has been named Ernst & Young Technology Entrepreneur of the Year. . .