Ad: Manage updates with the Download App
ie8 fix

eu

EU dives into Intel antitrust specifics

European antitrust regulators on Monday published internal e-mails that detail alleged antitrust behavior by Intel.

The European Commission Monday published a "non-confidential version" of its May 13 decision against Intel, which imposed a fine of $1.45 billion against the chip giant. That decision found that Intel broke EC Treaty antitrust rules (Article 82) by engaging in illegal practices to exclude competitors from the market for "x86" central processing units (CPUs).

The EC action was based on complaints from Intel's chief rival, Advanced Micro Devices.

Intel appealed the decision in July to a European court, … Read more

Intel contests EU on $1.45 billion fine

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Intel said Europe's top antitrust regulator failed "to meet the required standard of proof" when it fined the chipmaker $1.45 billion in May for anticompetitive behavior against Advanced Micro Devices. (The news comes as Apple named Intel's top lawyer Bruce Sewell as its general counsel.)

Intel noted that it would appeal, and the company recently laid out its case against the European Commission, the administrative wing of the European Union. In a nutshell, Intel argues that the EC:

• Failed to address evidence that AMD was … Read more

EU fiddles with MySQL while Sun burns

IBM and Hewlett-Packard could not have planned it any better.

The European Union has launched an in-depth investigation into Oracle's acquisition of Sun, potentially delaying the merger by several more months. In doing so, the EU is actually guaranteeing the demise of Sun's hardware business and gifting it to Sun's competitors by misunderstanding the deal's impact on open source, generally, and on MySQL, specifically.

If you haven't been paying attention, the delay on the merger due to U.S. and EU scrutiny has already resulted in two shockingly bad quarters from Sun. Many enterprise customers … Read more

Report: EU ombudsman criticizes Intel antitrust regulators

The European Union's ombudsman has criticized the antitrust regulator in a recent case against Intel, saying the regulator did not include evidence that was potentially exculpatory for the chipmaker, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

In May, Intel was fined 1.06 billion euros ($1.45 billion) for engaging in, according to the Commission, illegal anticompetitive practices to exclude competitors from the market for computer chips based on the x86 architecture--the design that both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices use in their microprocessors.

"Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep … Read more

BOL 1032: Chat room says no

We could have talked about yet another Apple tablet rumor but the chat room vetoed it. The chat room rulez! We do discuss Google's CEO leaving the Apple board and Microsoft shipping the normal Windows 7 to Europeans. And also robots that can run. That's not a good idea. Especially if they run towards you.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1032

Google’s Schmidt resigns from Apple board http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10301612-37.html

Microsoft: No browserless Windows 7 after all http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10301299-56.html

FCC’s Speed Shockingly Fast Looking Into iPhone-Google Voice Fiasco http://www.businessinsider.com/fccs-speed-shockingly-fast-looking-into-iphone-google-voice-fiasco-2009-8

AT&T Does Not Manage or Approve Apps for the App Store http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20090803/att-does-not-manage-or-approve-apps-for-the-app-store-though-we-may-bitch-about-the-ones-we-dislike/ http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=22069

Apple tried to silence owner of exploding iPod with gagging order http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article6736587.ece

Analyst claims first hand knowledge of Apple gaming, home media center tablet http://www.9to5mac.com/apple-tablet-september-barrons

Defcon air traffic control hacker: Excuse me while I change your aircraft's flight plan http://deals.venturebeat.com/2009/08/01/defcon-hacker-excuse-me-while-i-change-your-aircrafts-flight-plan/

Verizon drops pricing on almost all existing smartphones to under $99 http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/08/02/verizon-drops-pricing-on-almost-all-existing-smartphones-to-under-99/

Radio Shack rebadged “The Shack” in mobile push http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/08/02/radio.shack.rebranding/ http://www.radioshack.com/theshack/

Robot Runs For Real http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93586-Robot-Runs-For-Real

Ask Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra a question on Buzz Out Loud http://www.cnet.com/8301-19709_1-10301736-10.html… Read more

BOL 1027: What's your major smellfunction?

On today's episode, we invent a new word that we hope will show up on a show like "The Hills" sometime soon. Plus, we get fired up, make terrible jokes about monkeys controlling computers with their brains, and actually work in a tiny bit of news. For example, Apple's doing a tablet and music labels are trying to sell some new weird digital album thing. You might like the "fired up" part better.

Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video) EPISODE 1027

Apple partners with music labels for interactive content for new netbook -- Sept

Microsoft in new EU browser offer

Confusion at Best Buy over rumors of a $99 Palm Pre

Installing Pre homebrew apps: now even easier

Netflix Prize: And the $1 Million Winner Is...?

ATandT blocks 4chan

AT&T said to block 4chan; pranksters fight back

Wi-Fi on ordinary cell phones

Aussie Net filtering trial deemed a success despite problems

Nissan's Forest AC blows wild scents through your ride, keeps you alert

Monkeys and scientists develop persistent "plug and play" control over brain-to-computer interface… Read more

Intel appeals massive antitrust fine

Intel is appealing an antitrust fine levied against it by the European Commission in May.

The chipmaker lodged its appeal Wednesday in the European Court of First Instance against the 1.06 billion euros ($1.5 billion) fine--although the company has yet reveal the precise legal basis for the appeal.

"We felt the EC decision was incorrect, and that evidence was ignored or misinterpreted," an Intel representative told ZDNet UK on Thursday. "We believe the Commission ignored the realities of the microprocessor market, which is highly competitive."

However, the Commission said Thursday that it had … Read more

EU seeks opinions on Google Books

European Union regulators want publishers and authors to weigh in on copyright issues with Google's book scanning and book search project, according to the Associated Press.

European Commission officials will meet with copyright holders on September 7 to discuss the search giant's $125 million proposed settlement with U.S. publishers and authors granting Google the right to digitize and publish books that are out of print but still protected by copyright law. The court overseeing the settlement has given authors a September 4 deadline to opt out individually if they don't not wish to participate. Google has … Read more

EU software liability law could divide open source

The world of open-source development could be divided, if the European Commission succeeds in passing a law extending consumer protection rules to software, according to experts.

The Commission proposes that software companies be held liable in the European Union for the security and efficacy of their products.

David Mitchell, senior vice president of IT Research at Ovum, thinks that this may lead to a situation boosting current open-source vendors' business models but making it more difficult for independent developers to thrive.

The proposal is likely to make vendors force customers into support and maintenance agreements upon each purchase, in order … Read more