Corporate and legal

U.S. Supreme Court hands Rambus a win

The U.S. Supreme Court handed chip designer Rambus a victory Monday, when it refused to hear an appeal by the Federal Trade Commission that alleged the chip designer violated antitrust laws under the Sherman Act.

For Rambus, it ends a seven-year battle with the Federal Trade Commission over its Sherman Act litigation, which alleged in 2002 that the chipmaker intentionally withheld its patent plans from a standards body, which later gave the green light to some of its technology that is now found in the vast majority of PCs and servers around the world.

"It's a good … Read more

Memory chipmaker's U.S. unit files for Chapter 11

Qimonda, an affiliate of Germany-based Infineon Technologies, is seeking protection under Chapter 11 for its U.S. unit, the company said Monday. Separately, a research report was released today forecasting dim prospects for chipmakers in 2009.

The U.S. unit of Qimonda AG, one of the world's largest memory chip manufacturers, said in a statement that it is seeking bankruptcy protection. "The US subsidiaries Qimonda North America Corp. and Qimonda Richmond L.L.C. filed for creditor protection under Chapter 11 on February 20, 2009," the company said in a statement Monday. "No disruptions to operations, … Read more

Citrix offers cut-down XenServer for free

Citrix on Monday upped competition in the virtualization market with the announcement that it will provide a version of its XenServer hypervisor for free.

The software will be available for download by the end of March from Citrix's Web site, the company said. Users can get a single server instance of XenServer, said Simon Crosby, chief technical officer at Citrix. The release will include multinode management, resource sharing between several servers and full live-motion features.

However, Crosby told ZDNet UK that the free edition "will not include some features that we will continue to monetize."

Not included … Read more

Defense agencies list top 20 security controls

A group of U.S. government security organizations has listed the top 20 security actions that they recommend organizations should take to improve computer security.

Called "Twenty Most Important Controls and Metrics for Effective Cyber Defense and Continuous FISMA Compliance," the list was published Monday by a conglomerate of U.S. government agencies, including the NSA, US-CERT, various U.S. Department of Defense computer security groups, and security training organization Sans Institute.

Alan Paller, director of Sans Institute, told CNET News sister site ZDNet UK in an e-mail Friday that the list, also known as the Consensus Audit … Read more

Protests stall New Zealand copyright rule

In the wake of online and in-person protests over impending copyright legislation, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has announced a month's delay in the rules to give the industry time to come up with a workable alternative.

Known as Section 92A, the amendment to the country's Copyright Act aimed to strengthen the rights of copyright holders, but New Zealand's online community was angered at provisions that it said would force ISPs to block sites simply on the demand of a copyright holder.

The legislation, due to take effect at the end of February, was inherited from … Read more

31 cities with outsourcing potential

Forget Chennai and Mumbai. The outsourcing hubs of tomorrow will be in Guadalajara and Gdansk.

An eclectic mix of 31 cities worldwide will challenge today's best-known outsourcing centers in China and India, according to a new report from professional services giant KPMG.

Faced with overburdened telecommunications infrastructure and overstretched labor markets in traditional offshore locations, these cities are among the alternatives that should be considered by companies, the report says.

The report found that the new cities in the Asia-Pacific region offer lower costs, younger populations, and government incentives such as easy work permits, while those in Europe, Middle … Read more

Microsoft aims to 'Elevate America'

Microsoft is announcing on Sunday a job training effort aimed at giving technical skills to as many as 2 million Americans over the next three years.

The most significant part of the program, in which Microsoft is offering free certification and other technical training, is being done in a phased approach, starting with Washington state. The second component of "Elevate America," available online immediately, is a Web site designed to help people with the basics such as creating a resume and send e-mail.

"Millions of individuals don't have the technology skills needed in today's economy. … Read more

Microsoft wants refund from some laid-off workers

Editor's note: Since this story was published, Microsoft has reversed its decision. You can read an updated story on its decision here.

Microsoft says it made an accounting error when it laid off some employees last month and now feels the best way to correct the error is with what will likely add up to a public relations blunder.

The software giant, which recently laid off 1,400 employees, sent letters (see image below) this week to some of those former workers letting them know that their severance payouts were a bit too "generous" and respectfully requested … Read more

EFF: Nevada bill would outlaw some RFID research

A proposed bill in the Nevada State Legislature would make it a crime to do legitimate research on security weaknesses in radio frequency identification, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said on Friday.

The bill, S.B. 125, would make it a Class 3 felony to possess, read, or capture another person's personal identifying information through RFID, subject to up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The measure is scheduled to be discussed Monday morning in the Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee in Carson City, Nev. The hearing will be Webcast.

The EFF hasn't taken a formal … Read more

Report: Andreessen launches VC fund

Marc Andreessen is adding venture capitalist to the growing list of titles he wears in the tech world, which includes serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and browser technology pioneer, according to a report in peHUB.

Andreessen is launching the venture fund with Ben Horowitz, a former Netscape veteran and co-founder of Opsware, two companies that Andreessen co-founded, the report states.

The venture fund is the latest evolution to the angel investment relationship Andreessen and Horowitz share. Last year, for example, the pair were angel investors in mobile video service Qik and virtual world company Metaplace.

And Thursday night, Andreessen made an … Read more