A trademark lawsuit pitting the venerable American Chemical Society against Google has quietly gone away.

ACS, which was founded in 1876 and claims to be the world’s largest scientific society, sued Google in 2004. The suit claimed that the free “Google Scholar” journal-search service unfairly competes with ACS’ “SciFinder Scholar,” which appears to be more comprehensive but charges a fee.

But the case was quietly settled out of court in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, with Google and ACS submitting a joint two-page document that says each side will pay its own attorney fees.

Source: News.com

Microsoft on Tuesday fixed two glitches related to one of its recently released security patches.

One of the problems, in security bulletin MS06-034, led some people to be repeatedly offered the same patch via Microsoft’s update delivery tools, the software company said.

“Last night we fixed a couple of issues from last week’s release,” the Microsoft Security Response Center team wrote in a posting on their blog. “One issue was that even though you installed the update, you could still be getting it reoffered to you via Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Automatic Update or WSUS.”

A second glitch affected people running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1. In this particular case, the MS06-034 patch would not be offered to users if the initial update failed to install. In certain cases, users may not have been aware that the security patch had not taken hold. Microsoft has provided information on both issues on its Web site.

Source: News.com

George W. Bush has indicated he will block the Senate’s decision to allow state cash to be used to fund research into using embryonic stem cells to tackle disease.

Despite strong public support and the Senate’s 63 to 37 backing, the Whitehouse has said Bush would swoop quickly to crush plans to loosen restrictions. Spokesman Tony Snow confirmed: “He is fulfilling a promise that he has long made and he is keeping it.”

Source: TheRegister

The European Commission on Wednesday banned a small Dutch town from building its own fiber-optic network, saying the plan would be unfair to broadband companies - a decision with potentially far-reaching consequences.

It was the first time the EU has vetoed a municipality’s plan to build a public network.

In a ruling published Wednesday, EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said that allowing the city to fund a network would be unfair since Appingedam is “already served by broadband networks and the Commission considered that the aid was not necessary to remedy either a market failure or unaffordable prices for broadband services.”

Source: AP

Microsoft pledged on Wednesday that all of its future operating systems, including Windows Vista, will abide by self-imposed rules aimed at bolstering choice and competition.

The voluntary principles will come into play after major parts of a U.S. government decree related to the landmark U.S. antitrust case against the software maker expire next year, Brad Smith, general counsel at Microsoft, said. They focus on the freedoms that users, manufacturers, and developers can expect in Windows Vista and its successors.

Under the principles, users and manufacturers will be free to change any default settings, to install any software, and to remove key Windows features as they please, Smith said. Developers will enjoy access to a broader range of application programming interfaces, or APIs, and anyone will be able to license Microsoft’s communications protocol or patents, within certain parameters.

Source: News.com

Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday said the company was adopting voluntary principles to guide development of its flagship Windows operating system, which will include allowing computer manufacturers to set Google and other non-Microsoft search engines as a default.

Brad Smith, Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel, said the company was committed to creating a transparent system that allows open competition among software developers and computer manufacturers, and wide choice for customers.

Source: Reuters

Taking a page out of a science-fiction novel, Microsoft’s research labs have come up with a way for people to navigate computer images using their hands to change their point of view.

However, borrowing in equal measure from its business handbook, Microsoft is not going to develop the technology itself, but is instead licensing the technology, known as TouchLight, to a start-up that will use it in its existing interactive products for commercial, auto, aerospace and defense industries.

With TouchLight people can use their hands to, among other things, tilt and pan an image, such a refrigerator or airplane. The technology is similar to one that has long been captured in fantasy novels and on the big screen, including “Minority Report,” in which Tom Cruise’s character is able to prevent crime by pulling up information on a glass screen using just a wave of his hands.

Unlike in that film, people using TouchLight don’t have to use special gloves, glasses or headsets.

Source: News.com

UK-based downloaders of child abuse images could lose their credit and debit card facilities under measures agreed in Parliament on Wednesday.

The Data Protection (Processing of sensitive personal data) Order 2006 will allow card issuers to hand on data on customers cautioned for, or convicted of, buying indecent images of underage children. The information, supplied by the police, would allow banks to withdraw card facilities from individuals who commit an offence. It doesn’t prevent offenders applying for credit facilities at other banks, however.

Source: TheRegister

Hollywood studio Warner Bros. is taking on the pirates in China’s film market, using lightning-fast home video release and low prices to beat DVD counterfeiters at their own game.

Warner’s China film-making joint venture released its first picture, a low-budget film called “Crazy Stone”, in cinemas on June 30, then followed with a DVD version selling for as little as 10 yuan ($1.25) just 12 days later.

The turnaround was the shortest ever for a Warner film, in an industry where three months is more typical

Source: Reuters

The NBC television network on Wednesday said it would offer a preview of two new prime-time series to subscribers of movie rental company Netflix Inc. six weeks before their actual broadcast.

NBC, owned by General Electric Co. said it hopes to drum up early interest in the shows, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” and “Kidnapped” by offering it on DVD to some 5 million Netflix subscribers.

Source: Reuters

Along with an all-new UI, Microsoft is touting an improved focus on security as one of the central features of Vista. However, security firm Symantec is not that impressed with what it has seen so far in the beta builds of Vista. Of particular concern is the networking code: in a report to be released today, the company claims that Vista’s new networking technology is “less stable” than that of Windows XP.

Source: arstechnica

Adobe on Tuesday released the first Windows beta version of Lightroom, software geared for enthusiasts and professionals who need to edit, catalog and view digital photos.

Lightroom bears similarities in form and function to Apple Computer’s Aperture, version 1.0 of which was released in October 2005. Adobe, which dominates the digital editing market, released its Mac OS X beta of Lightroom in January.

Lightroom and Aperture are designed to handle photographs taken in the “raw” formats available on higher-end digital cameras.

Source: News.com