What patent dispute is about; what it means for BlackBerry users

Worried about Blackberry service and the lawsuits? A straigtforward Q & A below. This may easy your worries...

What patent dispute is about; what it means for BlackBerry users

By Jessie Seyfer
Mercury News

Worried your thumbs won't get their exercise if a patent fight over your BlackBerry shuts down the device's e-mail service? Stay calm. Most experts don't expect an outright shutdown. Here are some frequently asked questions about the Research In Motion-NTP dispute and how it could affect the more than 3 million BlackBerry owners in the United States.

Q So, what's this brouhaha about?
A In 2001, NTP, a company that owns mobile e-mail-related patents, sued Canadian company Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry device, in Virginia federal court. NTP accused RIM of using its patents in the hugely popular BlackBerrys without giving it any money or credit. In 2002, a jury found in favor of NTP. RIM appealed, and the appellate court sided mainly with the lower court's ruling in favor of NTP.

Q So what's the latest?
A The companies continue to argue about what RIM should pay NTP for using its patents. In September, the U.S. Patent Office said it may reject NTP's patents. But in November, a Virginia federal judge said he would like to end the matter soon -- no matter what the Patent Office decides -- by either approving a settlement between the companies or issuing an injunction to block RIM's business in the United States. Even if the judge were to order a shutdown, many believe there would be some period -- 30 to 60 days -- for people to switch to other devices, or for RIM to come up with a technical solution that would not violate NTP patents. Last weekend, NTP rejected another settlement offer by RIM.
Gartner, an industry research group, said earlier this month that it was highly probable that the companies would reach a settlement by the end of the year.

Q If I own a BlackBerry, why does it matter whether a Canadian company gets blocked in the United States?
A Because when you send an e-mail from your BlackBerry, it goes to RIM's computer servers in Canada before being routed to its destination. This process is central to the patent dispute, so if RIM is not allowed to route e-mail from the United States in this way, it could affect your service.

Q If I own a BlackBerry and the judge blocks RIM from routing e-mails, what's going to happen to my service?
A The judge will probably give RIM a period of time to implement a ``work-around'' solution. Experts say that for the past year RIM has most likely been developing a way to route e-mail so as not to infringe on NTP's patents. Yet even if it works, there will probably be some disruption in BlackBerry service, such as delayed or lost messages, as the system is changed over. The phone functions of BlackBerry devices are not expected to be affected under any scenario.

Spyware: 79% Say It's A Problem

79% Said They Have Had Problems With Spyware

ComputerWorld just did an interesting survey over 577 IT people with security responsibilities. Some highlights: "Spyware is an insidious problem. Using confusing or illegal methods, spyware embeds itself on desktops and can be directed to steal personal information of users, display pop-up advertisements, monitor Web- browsing activity or redirect browsers to other sites.

-79% of the respondents said they have had problems with spyware in the past 12 months.
-71% said they see spyware as a threat to their organizations.
-99% expressed concern that spyware might be used for identity theft
-96% said they were concerned it could be used for industrial espionage.

Here is a link to the Executive http://www.wservernews.com/D8XBC8/051212-ComputerWorldpdf

Gartner: Predicts 30% of Homes to be Cellular or VoIP-Only

30% Of Homes To Be Cellular Or VoIP-Only: Gartner
By Mobile Pipeline Staff

Courtesy of Mobile Pipeline

By 2010, 30 percent of homes in the U.S. will exclusively use either cellular phones or voice-over-IP, according to a report released Tuesday by market research firm Gartner.

"It only took more than 125 years but POTS (plain old telephony service) is now on the decline in the U.S.," Ken Dulaney, a Gartner vice president, said in a statement. "The emergence of VoIP and the phenomenal rise of the mobile phone now represent the 'dial tone' for the future."
The study noted that the trend is already well underway. It said that, in 2004, about 90 percent of all new telephone connections worldwide were mobile.

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I guess we'll see. We've got 5 years to wait and see.

New Firefox 1.5 Browser, Released

Firefox 1.5 Release Imminent
(Update... it's released!)

By Gregg Keizer, Courtesy of TechWeb News

Mozilla Corp. will release the latest version of its open-source Firefox browser Tuesday afternoon, the company said.

Firefox 1.5, which has been in beta since August and has gone through three release candidates this month, will be available for free download in editions for Windows, the Mac OS X, and Linux later Tuesday from the Mozilla site.

The first major upgrade since the Nov. 9, 2004, debut of the browser, 1.5 includes a new automatic update feature, faster back and forward page viewing, drag-and-drop tab reordering, and new support for Web standards, including JavaScript 1.6 and cascading style sheets CSS2 and CSS3.

Firefox 1.5 also sports a new tool, dubbed "Clear Private Data," that lets users remove personal data such as the browser history, saved passwords, cookies, and authenticated sessions with a single click or menu pick.

Entire article here.