Each week, we highlight the most relevant stories Wired News has covered. To find out what's coming up, jump to The Week Ahead.
Viva Las Vegas: Much of the tech world shifted its attention from Washington to Las Vegas this week. Comdex has lost a bit of its luster, with IBM and Intel both electing to do without the well-crafted spontaneity and solemn hucksterism. Still, a fair bit of actual news did waft out of the convention center.
Bill Gates had barely finished his Sunday night keynoter when Larry Ellison grabbed the spotlight with a plan to cut Windows NT out of the server picture with his "microkernel." Replied analysts: "Huh?"
Scott Blum ventured to Vegas to announce that his freshly minted company Buy.com owns 3,000 domain names that contain the word "buy." Buybooks.com, buyvideos.com, buygames.com, buymusic.com.... Lots of stuff and low prices, that's the plan.
That mirage in the Nevada desert may have been the shimmer of vaporware. Iomega heralded its Clik drive for the third Comdex in a row, which induced just a bit of skepticism. But the alleged 2-inch-square, 40 MB storage device is now just a few months from market. Really. We swear.
And finally: A company called Uni-Verse introduced real-time chat translation; Compaq said it would push high-speed connections; and Panasonic promoted a new "digital convergence appliance" -- a device that will take what's on your PC screen and broadcast it to any TV in the house.
Legal briefs: Judicial news of a digital bent popped up from coast to coast and back again. In Philadelphia, US District Judge Lowell Reed tried hard to avoid overturning a new law that would restrict sexually explicit material online. He failed in that attempt, saying that the law likely violates the First Amendment. Reed put off enforcement of CDA II until 4 December, when the court will hold another hearing on a preliminary injunction.
In San Jose, California, Sun scored with its claim that Microsoft, fearing for its OS monopoly, has tried to muddy the Java waters with incompatibilities. A judge agreed this week, and ordered Microsoft to stop shipping jive Java within 90 days. Redmondites squawked for a day, then decided, heck, no big deal.
And in Washington, it was week five of US v. Microsoft, with the customary mixed bag of goodies: Gates used the term "market share" without referencing other companies, baffling all; the government said bundling Explorer with Windows didn't benefit consumers; and an economist testified that Microsoft did the kinds of things that monopolies do -- choke off competition, raise prices above competitive levels ... maybe even charge an annual fee for use of the operating system.
Open and shut: In response to orders from the Commerce Department that they be more accessible, directors of the proposed new Internet governing body met their critics and lived to tell the tale. Barely. Complaints centered on the board's openness, or lack thereof. Further, the White House remained unimpressed.
As the Web grows: NewHoo's calling card in the Web-directory game is scalability. Now, after being acquired by Netscape, the work of its 4,700 volunteer editors will land on a high-profile platform -- Netcenter.
Coopetition fails again: In July, RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser accused Microsoft of jiggering the Windows OS to disable RealSystemG2. Microsoft's retort: the streaming media software was bug-ridden. Now comes the logical conclusion to this pair's stormy relationship -- Microsoft will immediately unload its 10 percent stake in RealNetworks.
Movin' on: Network Solutions is headed from the friendly territory of monopoly into the hostile wilderness of free market domain-name registration. So president Gabriel Battista is out finding something else to do.
Speculation central: Since jumping online, K-tel has been the quintessential bouncing Internet offering. It's been up, it's been down, and now it may be gone from Nasdaq, which says the company needs more assets to keep its listing.
Planned Y2K ignorance: The government knows how your bank is faring with Y2K compliance, but it won't tell you. Hey, don't worry, it's for your own good! As the wise official put it, you're liable to "misinterpret" these ratings.
The force be hyped: We're tempted to say, "It's only a movie." But it's not even that. So: It's only a trailer. THE WEEK AHEAD
24 November: Nintendo's new "Legends of Zelda" hits US stores. The company is counting on the game to boost flat sales.
25 November, Brussels, Belgium: The European Commission hosts the second open meeting of the ICANN board. Based on early reaction, it figures to be a friendlier gathering than last week's Cambridge dustup.
26 November, Shanghai, China: Can a society stay closed in the digital age? That's the larger question as Lin Hai, a 30-year-old computer engineer, goes on trial, accused of sending thousands of Chinese email addresses to the United States.
26 November: George Washington proclaimed it 209 years ago, and Thanksgiving is still a pretty cool holiday. (Er, unless you're a turkey.)
27 November: The worldwide holiday spendorama begins, and so does the industry-backed "National Shopping Online Week."
