The Sidney Morning Herald reports that “Amazon.com, one of the world’s largest online retailers, is on the brink of losing one of its most coveted patents
In an article about the RFID market, Yahoo!News observes that “Microsoft’s release last month of its new software used to manage RFID networks should spark the field. […] [AMR Research analyst] John Fontanella calls the Microsoft news ‘a watershed moment’ that should greatly lower the cost of RFID systems and thus spark sales. ‘We expect our pre-BizTalk RFID forecast of 20% growth in (RFID) spending in 2008 to be blown away,’ he wrote in a recent research note.”
According to the Register, “[a] permanent injunction has been imposed on the distributor of the Morpheus file-sharing software. A US court ruled yesterday that StreamCast Inc. must use ‘the most effective means available to reduce the infringing capabilities of the system.’ The ruling comes less than a week after Google announced the launch of its own filter to block copyright-infringing material from its YouTube video-sharing site. Yesterday’s 83-page judgment could prove influential in Viacom’s $1bn lawsuit against Google, which accuses YouTube and its parent company of inducing infringement by users.”
The University of Arizona News writes that “University of Arizona Professor Jerzy Rozenblit has received a $2.2 million grant to design computer software that will analyze volatile political and military situations. The software will predict the actions of paramilitary groups, ethnic factions, terrorists and criminal groups, while aiding commanders in devising strategies for stabilizing areas before, during and after conflicts. It also will have many civilian applications in finance, law enforcement, epidemiology and the aftermath of natural disasters, such as hurricane Katrina.”
The New York Times has an interesting article today on taxes in developed nations. The article states that, according to the OECD, “taxes are growing again around the world. Taxes in 2005 equaled the previous peak year of 2000, the organization said, when by one measure 36.2 percent of gross domestic product in 30 industrial countries, including the United States, went to taxes at all levels of government. The organization, which is based in Paris, said that when final figures are in for 2006, they will most likely show a new peak.”