Each weekend we highlight the most relevant stories Wired News has covered. To find out what's coming up, jump to The Week Ahead.
Onboard: Microsoft said it will stop advertising on Web sites that don't have an official privacy policy, more or less matching the move IBM made earlier this year. Privacy advocates disagreed over whether it was a "baby step" or a "huge step" in protecting consumers, but nobody could say it was a bad thing.
In hand: Wireless Internet was the focus of New York's PCExpo. Good place, then, for 3Com and America Online to talk up their deal to deliver AOL email and content to the Palm line of personal organizers. This is a marriage of superstars -- 3Com has more than 70 percent of the handheld market, and AOL is the world's largest Internet service provider.
And if that doesn't make the Palm indispensable, how about the fact that you might soon be able to use one to get a Coke out of a vending machine?
Via satellite: Steve Case and Co. were busy on other fronts, too, pumping US$1.5 billion into Hughes Electronics and its DirecTV and DirecPC satellite services. Without access to cable modems, AOL has turned to satellite -- as well as DSL -- in search of fat pipes.
Trial ends: The government roughed up another Microsoft witness, then testimony ended in the big antitrust trial. So did David Boies and his Justice Department colleagues make their case? Review all the stories here and decide for yourself.
Taxing our patience: The Internet tax commission, controversial and contentious before it ever met, gathered for the first time. With an elementary presentation on the digital economy and a brawl over a staff appointment, it could safely be said that very little was accomplished.
All that fuss for a buck: The Net governing body ICANN caught hell from a House committee chairman, who huffed and puffed about a $1 annual domain-name "tax" being enacted "behind closed doors." ICANN sighed, said it's been very public about the proposed fee, and promised to cooperate fully when the committee holds hearings.
Diamond deals: Electronics manufacturer S3, angling to expand into the fast-growing market for audio devices like the Rio MP3 player, said it would spend $173 million in stock to buy Diamond Multimedia. A day later, Diamond announced it would spin off the RioPort platform, intended as a secure delivery architecture for digital music. (Secure enough to convince even paranoid record labels to jump aboard, the company hopes.)
Not new: Future Power introduced one-piece Windows-based machines in five "fun gemstone colors," proving again that it is the Mac's fate to be co-opted by PC competitors. BTW, Mac co-inventor Jef Raskin said he'll put more classic Macs on the auction block.
To your health: There's widespread belief the Web and medicine are a potentially lucrative combo, so the various players are scrambling furiously for position. This week's moves saw Drugstore.com sell a chunk of itself to Rite Aid and GNC, and Healtheon buy space on Yahoo.
The authorities were busy in this sector, too, ordering several sites to stop touting miracle cures for cancer and other diseases, and moving to tighten up online prescription-writing.
Still fighting: The Clinton administration isn't giving up on crypto export restrictions. Several weeks after a federal court ruled the regs unconstitutional, the Justice Department sought a new hearing. But the appeals panel is unlikely to agree to hear the case, and the matter appears headed to the Supreme Court.
The truth hurts: New findings suggested a correlation between cell-phone emissions and brain tumors and DNA breakage in rats. The study results were far from conclusive but, significantly, they came from the industry-supported Wireless Technology Research.
What now: CDNow's long-stated goal has been to dominate Net music. So why was the company's market researcher asking consumers how they feel about buying books online? Such a foray would represent a little tit-for-tat; Amazon.com, you'll recall, invaded CDNow's turf last year, slicing deeply into its business.
If I can get funding here: New York's Silicon Alley isn't anywhere near Silicon Valley when it comes to churning out tech start-ups. The problem? Weak venture-capital infrastructure. But that's beginning to change, claimed participants at NYC's Venture Capital Conference.
Watson, come here: In a deal with start-up Lipstream, Excite began Voice Chat, making it the first general-interest consumer service to move beyond the keyboard. The plug-in is not without its blips and slips, but it sure "is better than the typing thing," said one tester.
Long, winding road: Lack of consumer confidence, coupled with the industry's sluggish developmental pace, means that the digital lifestyle predicted for most Americans will be slow in coming. That was the word from the Digital Living Room conference in SoCal this week.
Like kudzu: The Pentagon embarked on a program to clean up its sprawling computer infrastructure. Years of cobbling together systems have left the military with 87 independent networks, a security nightmare in these times of cracker attacks on government sites.
Going big-time: Salon's IPO started at a low-end offer price of $10.50 per share, then actually fell on its first day of trading. That raised questions -- about the company and the OpenIPO process. Meanwhile, IPO wannabe Be didn't let quiet-period restrictions stop it from promoting its prospects.
Digitize it: An online organization of independent filmmakers proposed using inexpensive digital film to pitch movie ideas. The strategy aims to give potential investors more to look at than just a script, and give indies a better shot at gaining backing. Fine, said a Hollywood studio -- but you still need to tell a great story.
Opening doors: Stunning factoid revealed at INET 99 this week: In everyday life, Japanese women use their own names in written and formal greetings only 22 percent of the time. While communicating on the Internet, it's 92 percent of the time. Almost all you need to know about how the Net can rewire closed cultures.
Talk to the Web: Surly slugger Albert Belle doesn't like talking to sportswriters and, by now, most reporters aren't too fond of him. All parties ought to be happy, then, that Belle created a special message board so that scribes can pose questions on his Web site.
Smart pet tricks: In a breakthrough for artificial limbs, scientists said they rigged a robot arm to a lab rat's brain so the animal can translate thoughts into action. So are thought-controlled limbs are far off? "Feasible, but many, many years away," said the researcher in charge.
To: god@heaven.com: It's spam, yes, but of a different sort. These are prayers, and for 20 bucks a month a Yonkers, New York-based company will route text messages containing prayers across the Internet in a loop around the world. So far, not many takers for the service. "It smacks too much of cheesy commercial religious culture," said one scholar. THE WEEK AHEAD
Now to 3 July: Bicycle stunt riding, street luge, sportsclimbing, and massive traffic jams. Smile. The X Games are in SF.
27 June to 1 July, San Francisco: The theme for the fourth Miller Freeman Design and Development conference, aka WEB99, is "meeting consumer expectations." A business basic, but apparently something of a mystery for many Web designers. At Moscone Center.
29 June, Salt Lake City: Caldera and Microsoft are due back in court, as hearings resume after a two-week break in the other antitrust suit brought against the software superpower.
30 June, Culver City, California: Fat pipes and content -- they ought to go together well. Most of the major players will be there to talk about it at the Broadband Developers Conference. On the Wheel of Fortune soundstage at Sony Pictures Studios.
30 June: The Secure Digital Music Initiative, the consortium of software, hardware, and music industry powers looking to mold the future of digital music, is due to nail down the initial specs for portable players. A long, contentious process -- and meanwhile, MP3 flourishes.
