Internet

Dan Budiac paid $2,600 last month for a brand-new Apple IIc. That's a story in and of itself -- but it doesn't end there. Now that he has a vintage computer, what does he do with it?

Those looking for an ulterior motive in Microsoft's big Open Source push should look no further than its Yahoo takeover bid --- some believe that may be the real reason for the company seeing the light.

In the battle for IT to adopt an Internet-based application "platform," the real struggle may be between Google and Salesforce.com

It's happening. Governments are getting involved in Internet censorship, and that can't be good.

Microsoft held out the peace pipe to the Open Source community today when the company announced that is offering free access to its most important APIs and formerly proprietary protocols, and will offer more support for open standards. Why has Microsoft seen the light? I have a one-word answer: Google.

On the theory that, whether I want to or not, I'll be writing about Microsoft's acquisition of Yahoo! for the foreseeable future, I've been looking at the software giant's purchase history – 116 companies, according to Wikipedia, not including the Catholic Church. (You'd forgotten that one, hadn't you?)

This vendor is supposed to be installing its software and doing work for a local government — and things aren't going well. Actually, that's putting it mildly.

You and IT Blogwatch (in a little toy shop): in which Google may (or may not) buy a bag of wireless data balloons (with the money it's got). Not to mention setting them free (at the break of dawn)...

Amol Sharma flashes the message, "Something's out there":

Space Data Corp. ... wants to bring wireless service to millions of rural Americans ... [by] beaming it down from balloons hovering at the edge of space ... [it] already launches 10 balloons a day across the Southern U.S., providing specialized telecom services ... balloons soar 20 miles into the stratosphere, each carrying a shoebox-size ... cellphone "tower" covering thousands of square miles below ...

An AT&T spokesman confirmed for me by e-mail on Wednesday what Glenn Fleishmann at Wi-Fi Net News had already told me: that you'll be able to use two different Wi-Fi-enabled devices simultaneously during a single two-hour session at Starbucks.

The bright side is that while you are syncing your schedule and e-mail on your iPhone (AT&T, which will provide the Wi-Fi, is the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the U.S.), you can also surf the Web or compose an e-mail on your laptop at the same time.

An Atlanta-based start-up uses a multipath, P2P style architecture to boost streaming media performance

I haven't been in college for years, but apparently, a site called JuicyCampus.com is making collegiate news. Apparently people are able to post anonymously at this popular site and the threads can get downright raunchy. I guess it's the anonymity that attracts people who want to malign others. The site is a popular destination even though lots of students don't approve of the content.

This organization's IT security officer leaves and isn't replaced. A year and a half later, the organization suffers a Web page defacement and malware attack -- and no one is really surprised.

I'm always getting jokes in my email box and most of the time - my friends knowing my sense of humor - I really can get a good chuckle. Sure lots of the stuff is recycled humor I've seen before, but for a really good joke, that doesn't matter since a good laugh is always welcome.

Engage maximum IT Blogwatch, which heralds a nationwide WiMax network, courtesy of Sprint and Clearwire -- oh, and Intel's billions. Not to mention geeky music from Redmond, via Japan...

Karl Bode reports:

Last November, Sprint scrapped a deal with Clearwire that would have seen the two companies splitting the build cost of a nationwide WiMax broadband network 65/35, while allowing users to easily roam between the two networks ... [but] renewed discussions [are] underway ... the joint venture between Sprint & Clearwire should be announced in a matter of a few days, and involves a $2 billion cash injection by Intel ...

Yahoo's Chinese partner, Alibaba Group, may try to block Microsoft's hostile takeover of Yahoo, according to Reuters and a report in the Wall Street Journal. By itself, that won't block the buyout, but it certainly could force Microsoft to hand over more cash.