nets

iPhone rules pose Net neutrality, antitrust concerns

Apple's recent announcement of the iPhone application software development kit is drawing criticism from Net neutrality activists. While the company has previously angered many for its practice of bricking unlocked phones, it is now being accused of anticompetitive behavior.

Could Apple take Comcast's place as the poster child for the Save The Internet movement? Furthermore, by blocking competing Web browser Firefox, could Apple draw Microsoft-like antitrust lawsuits?

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Thursday, Apple released its eagerly awaited iPhone software development kit. Putting an end to hopes of user choice, Apple has declared that the only way for users to install applications … Read more

Why we should care about the spectrum debate

PALO ALTO, Calif.--If you are like me your eyes probably glaze over a bit when people start talking about wireless spectrum.

Well, maybe consumers should start paying more attention because the debate over how spectrum is managed will determine how we'll be able to use all types of devices in the future, Tim Wu, Columbia Law School professor, said at a Legal Futures Conference at Stanford University on Saturday.

Specifically, there is a "battle for platform supremacy between two different types of devices"--mobile versus computer, he said. The mobile platform has a centralized, monopoly legacy … Read more

NewsFire RSS reader now free on the Mac

I regularly visit tons of Web sites every day for the latest software updates, blog posts about cool gadgets, and other news sites. But instead of clicking through bookmarks in my Web Browser, I like the ease and convenience of a RSS reader. I recently put together a collection of RSS readers for Windows, but I just found out only a few days ago the developer of one of the best RSS readers for Mac decided to release its product for free.

NewsFire is a full-featured RSS reader with an easy-to-use interface so you can get your news just how … Read more

Storage newcomer ADrive offering up 50GB for free

I'm big on places to store a lot of files, and Web storage newcomer ADrive seems up to the challenge. The host serves up a whopping 50GB of storage for free, with the only bandwidth limitations being in the size of the files you can upload, which are capped at a reasonable 2GB. The free "beta" accounts are supplemented with ads (hence the AD in the name), which show up on the top and bottom of your file explorer.

While lacking some of the graphical beauty and familiarity of other file-hosting services like Box.net and DigitalBucket, … Read more

FCC: No plans for a Comcast-BitTorrent hearing at Stanford

WASHINGTON--You may have heard that the Federal Communications Commission is plotting a Stanford University "do-over" of a recent public Net neutrality hearing, where Comcast paid people to stand in line. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.

At a meeting with reporters at agency headquarters here, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on Tuesday dismissed those reports, saying nothing is planned. He suggested that the rumors may have spread because he's making a solo trip to Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday to speak to a law school conference.

Similarly, a Stanford representative told CNET News.com that … Read more

Netvibes Ginger goes live, still no Web drive

The latest version of customizable start page Netvibes, nicknamed "Ginger" will be open to everyone as of Tuesday morning. We gave it a thorough look back in late January, and Rafe and I have been using it on a daily basis to keep up with various feeds and use it as a Widget engine.

If you're a current Netvibes user using the "Coriander" release, the tool has gone noticeably more social, adding options to follow your friend's reading activity and recommend news items without having to use other bookmarking or sharing services. It'll … Read more

C# set to take Java's crown as Java drops 50 percent

Using book sales as surrogate tea leaves, Mike Hendrickson of the O'Reilly Radar finds life bleak for pretty much every major programming language except C#, Javascript, and Ruby. Java? It has plunged by 50 percent since 2003.

Sun Microsystems is hedging its bets on web scripting languages, recently adding Python experts to its fold. So perhaps Sun will weather the storm. Regardless, even despite its five-year slide, Java still holds the biggest share of the book-buying market, as this chart shows:… Read more

NetSuite tackles Salesforce.com with own development platform

NetSuite on Thursday is expected to fill out its online development platform, part of its strategy to deliver industry-specific applications through partners.

The newly named NetSuite Business Operating System (NS-BOS) adds to the company's existing hosted development platform, notably with an integrated code debugger called SuiteScript D-Bug, which will start to be available next month.

With the NS-BOS, NetSuite is targeting independent software vendors (ISVs) with expertise in specific industries that are looking to create a software-as-a-service offering. In particular, the company is trying to enlist client/server application providers that need to create a hosted offering.

As part … Read more