ZDnet News Blog

He wrote 200,000 books (but computers did some of the work)
It’s not easy to write a book. First, you have to pick a title. And then there is the table of contents. If you want the book to be categorized, either by a bookseller or a library, it has to be assigned a unique numerical code, like an ISBN, for International Standard Book Number. There have to be proper margins.

Finally, there’s the back cover. Oh, and there is all that stuff in the middle, too. The writing.

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PDAs to track Olympic VIPs in Beijing
Foreign dignitaries, guests of major sponsors, and Olympic officials alike will be given a modified PDA at this year’s Beijing Olympics, which will allow organizers to track their movements and make it easier to arrange a cab.

The device will be handed out to VIPs as a means of assisting them in navigating and negotiating the streets of Beijing, which will have swelled to an estimated population of 20 million by the time the Olympic flame is lit.

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ISO calls for end to Open XML ‘personal attacks’
The International Organization for Standardization has called for “personal attacks” to cease in the debate surrounding Microsoft’s Office Open XML standard.

The move came as an ISO committee meeting in Norway attracted protesters, who gathered to call for the retraction of Open Office XML (OOXML) from the ISO standardization process.

At the start of April, the document format won enough votes to become a fully fledged ISO standard. Many observers had been against that standardization, pointing out that the OpenDocument Format (ODF) already existed as an ISO standard, and arguing that OOXML’s documentation contained too many unanswered technical problems to be passed.

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FCC to look into firms’ use of customer data
Staff at the Federal Communications Commission are expected to recommend that it review rules on how phone and cable companies can use customer information as they try to take business from each other, an FCC official said Friday.

The FCC enforcement bureau will recommend that the commission reject a complaint by cable operators charging that Verizon Communications violated the agency’s customer privacy rules by using customer information to prevent them from switching their phone service to cable, an agency official said on condition of anonymity.

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Microsoft: Vista feature designed to ‘annoy users’
SAN FRANCISCO–A Microsoft manager has said that one of the security features in Vista was deliberately designed to “annoy users” to put pressure on third-party software makers to make their applications more secure.

David Cross, a product unit manager at Microsoft, was the group program manager in charge of designing User Account Control (UAC), which, when activated, requires people to run Vista in standard user mode rather than having administrator privileges, and offers a prompt if they try to install a program.

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Microsoft: Vista feature designed to ‘annoy users’
SAN FRANCISCO–A Microsoft manager has said that one of the security features in Vista was deliberately designed to “annoy users” to put pressure on third-party software makers to make their applications more secure.

David Cross, a product unit manager at Microsoft, was the group program manager in charge of designing User Account Control (UAC), which, when activated, requires people to run Vista in standard user mode rather than having administrator privileges, and offers a prompt if they try to install a program.

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Week in review: Psystar and the Mac minions
Capping a saga that had Apple watchers atwitter all week, the payment-processing merchant for Mac clone maker Psystar abruptly ended its relationship with the company after it discovered what was for sale on Psystar’s site.

Psystar’s Open Computer comes preinstalled with Mac OS X Leopard, a violation of Apple’s licensing agreement for its operating system.

Powerpay had been the payment processor for Psystar’s online store until Wednesday, when it yanked its services from Psystar’s Web site. That move sent the store offline midday Wednesday and it has been available only intermittently since then, halting sales of Open Computer.

FCC to look into firms’ use of customer data
Staff at the Federal Communications Commission are expected to recommend that it review rules on how phone and cable companies can use customer information as they try to take business from each other, an FCC official said Friday.

The FCC enforcement bureau will recommend that the commission reject a complaint by cable operators charging that Verizon Communications violated the agency’s customer privacy rules by using customer information to prevent them from switching their phone service to cable, an agency official said on condition of anonymity.

Microsoft: Vista feature designed to ‘annoy users’
SAN FRANCISCO–A Microsoft manager has said that one of the security features in Vista was deliberately designed to “annoy users” to put pressure on third-party software makers to make their applications more secure.

David Cross, a product unit manager at Microsoft, was the group program manager in charge of designing User Account Control (UAC), which, when activated, requires people to run Vista in standard user mode rather than having administrator privileges, and offers a prompt if they try to install a program.

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Blockbuster offers $1 billion-plus for Circuit City
Blockbuster, the No. 1 U.S. movie rental chain, on Monday said it has offered to buy electronics retailer Circuit City Stores for about $1 billion to $1.3 billion in cash.

Blockbuster said it made the unsolicited approach in February, offering $6 to $8 per share. That represents a premium of 54 percent to 105 percent over Circuit City’s closing share price of $3.90 last week, though the troubled retailer’s stock traded above $21 last year.

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