Senator Skeptical About Permanent Internet Tax Break
The chairman of a key Senate committee Wednesday expressed reservations about a proposal to permanently ban state taxes on Internet access.

HP and Internet2 Build Enhanced Net 'Observatory'
The goal is to provide real time data analysis on the Internet2 optical- and IP-based network.

Royalty Proposal Divides Webcasters, Musicians, And Labels
The plan includes overturning the Copyright Royalty Board to establish below-market royalty rates in an effort to "subsidize small webcasters."

Online Ad Revenue Sets Record
U.S. Internet advertising revenue approached $17 billion in 2006, a 35% gain over the prior year.

Microsoft Denies It's Attacking Open Source
Senior VP Bob Muglia tells an Interop crowd the "new Microsoft" wants interoperability between its products and other business apps.

Joost Teams With Creative Artists Agency To Develop Internet TV Programming
The Joost service offers more than 100 television channels of programming ranging from sports and cartoons to documentaries.

The Enterprise 2.0 Conference: Change Is On The Way
Key attributes of Enterprise 2.0 technologies are search, links, authoring, tags, extensions, and signals.

American Idol Winner Predicted From Search Patterns
Will Blake Lewis or Jordin Sparks be the next American Idol? A Web traffic analyst group says it knows.

Nortel Promotes 'Hyperconnectivity' To Interop Crowd
The voice/data strategy includes converging the core, extending the enterprise, mobilizing employees, accelerating applications, and managing the infrastructure.

Google Launches Test Of AdSense For Video
The system lets publishers insert streaming video ads in online video content on their Web sites.

McAfee To Take On Data-Loss Prevention
With news of lost data becoming common, the security company's new CEO said at Interop that McAfee can help solve the problem.

Jangl To Use E-Mail To Bypass Global Phone Charges
Jangl is introducing a way to call over the Internet that bypasses traditional phone networks and uses e-mail to provide privacy from unknown callers.

Google Takes Stake In Genomics Info Startup
Google has taken a small stake in a biotech company that was co-founded by the wife of one of Google's founders, Sergey Brin, Google said in a U.S. regulatory filing Tuesday.

New McAfee CEO Bullish On Evolving Security Threats
Dave DeWalt tells an Interop audience that McAfee is in a position to take on the growing business market that is springing up around cyber crime.

Wrestling With Malware, Google Launches Security Blog
Google said it began tackling online security in a public manner last year.

MapLight.org Shines Light On Congressional Votes, Campaign Contributions
The site combines official records from the Library of Congress and the Center for Responsive Politics' Web site into a free public database of bills, voting records, and campaign contributions.

SIIA Settles Symantec Copyright Infringement Suit
The Software & Information Industry Association says that eBay's fraud-prevention protocols aren't enough.

Motorola: WiMax Not Good for Backhaul
While WiMax can do voice, video, and data well, it is less effective when used for a single high-throughput application such as backhaul.

Verizon To Build Modern Emergency 911 System For New York City
The system will let the city's Police and Fire Departments and its Emergency Medical Services division share dedicated communications switches for the first time to process 911 calls.

Samsung Enters Into Cisco's Networking Ring
The company said its new networking products have the capabilities to support fixed-mobile convergence, a big buzzword at this year's Interop show.

Microsoft, Partners Take VoIP And Unified Communications To PBX Systems
By combining technologies from Microsoft and its partners, businesses won't need to rip out and replace an existing phone system to add new capabilities.

IBM Targets Threats Against Web 2.0 Systems
The company rolls out a new network intrusion prevention system to coincide with Interop in Las Vegas.

LANDesk Delivers Virtual Applications
The company's new product lets IT administrators distribute software remotely, or stream it, without the need to test every new application for conflicts.

Asking For Trouble: Most Companies Don't Have Plans To Handle Data Breach
Among companies that have suffered a data breach, 74% reported a loss of customers and 59% faced potential litigation, the Ponemon survey shows.

SAP Labs U.S.'s Managing Director Resigns
Aliza Peleg, an ally of former SAP CEO heir apparent Shai Agassi, is leaving to "pursue career opportunities outside of SAP."

Social Networking Sites Drive Traffic To Each Other, Figures Show
Nearly a quarter of upstream clicks to the top 19 social sites originated from one place on the Web, according to a report from Hitwise.

Salesforce To Host Custom SOA-Building As Well As Applications Online
Salesforce wants customers to use its application infrastructure and Apex programming language to generate custom online SOA services.

What's Hot? Google Offers Daily Updates On Trends
The art of trend-spotting is set to take a more scientific turn as Google, the world's top Web search company, Tuesday unveils a service to track the fastest-rising search queries.

Cisco Product Rollout Targets Mobile Workforce
Cisco offers the Location Solution for the health-care industry, the In-Store Mobility Solution for the retail industry, and the First Mile Wireless Solution for the oil and gas industries.

Payment Card Data Security Costs, But Not As Much As A Data Breach
The Payment Card Industry data security standard has emerged as a primary driver of IT security spending and some serious rethinking of how data and systems are secured.

Interactive Site Honors Memorial Day, Gives Vets Forum
History Channel site will include videos, battle maps, information, and features about U.S. wars from the American Revolution to the current Iraq war.

Facebook Opens Its Platform
The company is giving developers greater access to Facebook's user networks and better tools to monetize the Facebook audience.

Telecom Antitrust Suit Can't Proceed, Says Top U.S. Court
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that an antitrust lawsuit against Verizon and other regional Bell companies cannot proceed without specific allegations to back it up.

Mobility, Networking Highlight Interop Product Launches
The first batch of news announcements slated for Monday focus on several key areas: transformation of the branch office, mobility, network security, and next-generation networks.

Google, Salesforce In Talks To Form Alliance, Says WSJ
The paper said one outcome could be a Web-based offering that integrates some of Google's online services with those of Salesforce.com.

Microsoft Would Have To Pay $500 Million To Escape aQuantive Deal
If aQuantive exits the deal early, it will have to pay Microsoft $175 million.

GeoCommons Makes Citizen Cartography Social
The company's mashups use a technique called heat mapping to translate data into color on a Google Map.

High Five: Meet Steven Mandell, Senior Director Of Clinical Information Systems At Johns Hopkins Health System
As senior director of clinical information systems at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Health System, Steven Mandell and his colleagues are helping medical researchers and clinicians dig more easily into volumes of patient data for findings that could improve care everywhere. "It's extra rewarding because it means change for our patients and the world."

IT Confidential: What If Microsoft Went Door To Door To Enforce Its Patents?
How would you feel if Steve Ballmer rang your doorbell and starting asking about the software that you used? It's not so far away from what Microsoft is trying to do with its latest patent claims.

With Razr2, Motorola Returns To What's Worked Before
Functionality wins over good looks in company's new device lineup.

Expert Tells Marketers: To Be Memorable, Get Permission
Blunt instruments are no longer effective for getting messages through the clutter in today's marketplace, according to Personal Democracy Forum speaker.

Google Patent Applications Point To PageRank Changes
The key patent applications would create a Programmable Search Engine that would lead to improved media search and dynamic content.

Tech Workers Fund Drive To Block H-1B Increase
The group is critical of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates in particular for his request that Congress increase the number of so-called H-1B visas available to foreign tech workers.

Personal Democracy Forum Calls For Tech President In '08
Suggestions for the candidates include support for network neutrality, more public Wi-Fi networks, and government transparency by posting bills and votes online.

Bots Hammer Estonia In Cyber Vendetta
With nearly all DDoS attacks and spam coming from bots, infections have become a growing concern for businesses as well.

AACS Copy Protection For DVDs Defeated Again
SlySoft reportedly updated its AnyDVD HD software with a new AACS encryption code to enable the copying of ostensibly protected HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs.

Online Criminal Gangs Battle With Botnets
Criminal cybergangs are trying to steal zombie computers from rival botnets so they can boost their own numbers and raise the price they get from spammers.

Mozilla Labs Links Desktop Firefox To Mobile Phones
A Firefox user will be able to send text, images, videos, RSS content, and Live Bookmarks to his or her phone.

In Challenge To Google, Microsoft Pays $6 Billion For Online Advertising Firm
Microsoft is trying to grab a larger piece of the online advertising market, which represents a $40 billion opportunity that will grow 20% per year until 2010.

Microsoft To Buy Web Ad Firm aQuantive For $6 Billion
The all-cash deal tops a dramatic one-month consolidation spree across the online advertising market sparked when Google Inc. agreed to buy DoubleClick for $3.1 billion.