archives

o Sirius Satellite Radio Raising $158 Million in Stock Offering
o Popular File-Sharing Programs Distributing "Spyware" to Monitor Users
o Entertainment Network EUniverse to Acquire Online Ad Firm L90
o Jupiter Changes Reporting Standards to Exclude "Pop-Up" Ads
o Freed Russian Programmer Sklyarov Returns Home
o RioPort Enables Secure Transfer of "Rented" Tracks to Portable Devices
o SportsLine.com Issues Stock to Viacom's CBS Broadcasting
o Briefly Noted: Morpheus - Mac - Gnutella, iTV - local TV portals, Media
Grok, TheStreet.com - MarketWatch.com, Acclaim Entertainment, Rearden
Steel
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o Sirius Satellite Radio Raising $158 Million in Stock Offering

New York -- Sirius Satellite Radio, provider of a satellite-delivered
digital radio service, announced on Thursday that it plans to raise about
$158 million through a public offering of 16 million shares of its stock.
"This is an important transaction for Sirius. It funds our efforts well
into the second quarter of 2003," said Sirius CEO Joseph Clayton. "We look
forward to unveiling our marketing programs and launch strategy at the
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week." New York-based Sirius's
oft-delayed service launch is scheduled to take place on Feb. 14; the
company faces a number of shareholder class action lawsuits related to the
delay of its launch, originally planned in 2000. Rival XM Satellite
Radio's service was launched in September of last year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020103/nyth041_1.html
http://www.siriusradio.com
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o Popular File-Sharing Programs Distributing "Spyware" to Monitor Users

Cupertino, Calif. -- Several popular file-sharing programs, including the
BearShare, LimeWire, Kazaa and Grokster applications, have been including
"spyware," or software that monitors the behavior of its users without
their knowledge, according to computer security firm Symantec. The
file-sharing programs were found to contain a Trojan horse known as
"W32.Dlder.Trojan" hidden in advertising software called "ClickTillUWin,"
which is automatically included when a user installs Kazaa or one of the
other programs. Once on a user's computer, the Trojan sends information
such as the IP address and which websites the user visits to another
website, according to Symantec. The file-sharing software distributors
claim they were unaware of the spyware and did not intend to distribute
it, and are taking steps to remove the program from their installation
bundles. "We were told that this installer just created the icons and
shortcuts for the ClickTillUWin promotion," Limewire CTO Greg Bildson told
Wired News. "We did not and would not knowingly and deliberately insert a
virus into our program install. As soon as we understood the nature of the
problem, we removed it," said Henry Wilson, a spokesman for Grokster.
http://www.sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.dlder.trojan.html
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,49430,00.html
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8335745.html?tag=cd_mh
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o Entertainment Network EUniverse to Acquire Online Ad Firm L90

Los Angeles -- EUniverse, a network of entertainment-related newsletters
and websites, said on Thursday that it will acquire online advertising
firm L90 for between $49 and $52 million in cash.  The companies expect the merger to increase distribution of EUniverse's properties among L90's ad clients and will give L90 access to additional advertising software tools owned by EUniverse. "EUniverse expects that the acquisition will add more than $2 million to its net
income in the first 12 months after closing," said EUniverse CEO Brad
Greenspan. Los Angeles-based EUniverse was recently served with a patent
infringement suit by content management firm Tumbleweed. The suit alleges
that EUniverse's e-greeting card service is infringing on Tumbleweed's
technology, which it licensed to providers including American Greetings
and Hallmark Cards after filing similar lawsuits. EUniverse has "referred
the case to outside counsel and will respond appropriately in due course,"
said Christopher Lipp, vice president and general counsel of EUniverse, in
a statement.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020103/lath051_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/011227/272029_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011228/sff007_1.html
http://www.l90.com
http://www.euniverse.com
_____________________________________________

o Jupiter Changes Reporting Standards to Exclude "Pop-Up" Ads

New York -- Internet analyst and measurement firm Jupiter Media Metrix has
changed the way it tallies the number of hits a website garners to leave
out some of those gained through "pop-up" advertisements. Pop-up ads open
a new browser window to a specific site containing an advertisement
without the consent of the user. Pop-ups will now be placed in their own
category, and will not be included in New York-based Jupiter's rankings of
the most-visited websites. The change means that companies such as X10,
which has for several months flooded the Web with pop-up ads for its
wireless cameras, will no longer be one of the "top" sites on the
Internet, according to Jupiter. It will also affect big companies like
Vivendi Universal, which gets 54 percent of its Web traffic from pop-up
ads. Jupiter also said that it would begin reporting statistics on the
individual components at portal sites such as Yahoo, MSN and AOL, so that
information will now be available on the popularity of the news, finance
and e-cards sections of the competing portals.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011226/hsw003_1.html
http://www.jmm.com
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o Freed Russian Programmer Sklyarov Returns Home

Moscow -- Dmitry Sklyarov, a Russian programmer arrested on charges of
violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and recently freed
by the U.S. government has returned to his home country, Reuters reported.
Sklyarov was charged with violating a part of the DMCA because of software
he wrote that circumvents the copy-protection security of Adobe's eBook
Reader. Charges were suspended following Sklyarov's assurance that he
would testify against Elcomsoft, the Russian firm for which he wrote the
software -- which is not illegal in Russia. "Someone once said that no
single person can win a legal case against the U.S. government, that you
can only lose, that the state will wear down your nerves and it will cost
you lots of money," Sklyarov told a Russian TV station. Sklyarov agreed to
inform U.S. authorities of his whereabouts on a monthly basis. Elcomsoft
still faces charges that could result in $2.5 million in fines if it is
found guilty.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8324114.html?tag=cd_mh
http://www.elcomsoft.com
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o RioPort Enables Secure Transfer of "Rented" Tracks to Portable Devices

San Jose, Calif. -- RioPort, a provider of digital music download
distribution technology, announced on Thursday that it has added
functionality to its technology that allows "rented" or subscription-based
tracks to be transferred to portable audio players while keeping the usage
rules designated by copyright holders intact. The new feature could be
used by services such as MusicNet or Pressplay, and enforces rules on
tracks such as termination by play count, cumulative play time or
time-based expiration. "It's no secret that one of the major issues
threatening future success for online music subscription services is lack
of portability for rental downloads," said RioPort CTO Anthony J.
Schaller. "This technology meets the requirements of both the content
rights holder as well as provides consumers with much-desired music
portability."
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220032150&ticker=
http://www.rioport.com
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o SportsLine.com Issues Stock to Viacom's CBS Broadcasting

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- Online sports news and information site
SportsLine.com said on Thursday that it has issued 6.9 million shares of
its stock to Viacom subsidiary CBS Broadcasting, as part of its existing
contract with CBS. SportsLine.com operates its website in conjunction with
CBS's online sports offering, and in return the site is promoted on CBS
and other Viacom properties. CBS now owns approximately 11.4 million
shares of Florida-based SportsLine.com's stock, or about 32 percent of the
company.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020103/flth005_1.html
http://www.sportsline.com
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o Briefly Noted:

(Franklin, Tenn.) StreamCast Networks, the company that distributes the
Morpheus file-sharing software, announced that it will soon release a new
version of its software that connects to Gnutella-based file-sharing
networks, as well as a version for Mac users and those using Microsoft's
Windows XP. In its user newsletter, Tennessee-based StreamCast said that
the Mac version of Morpheus is due to be released in the spring.
http://www.musiccity.com

(Boston) According to a new report from Internet analyst firm Yankee
Group, TV portals offering local content such as news, weather, local
listings of movies and restaurants, and event information will help cable
operators to retain digital subscribers and make interactive TV more
appealing to consumers. "Early deployments of TV portals suggest that they
can reduce digital churn," said Yankee Group analyst Adi Kishore. "The
portal also offers a consistent and familiar interface for viewers,
allowing operators to introduce new interactive TV applications in the
future, while minimizing viewer confusion."
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?bw.010202/220022023
http://www.yankeegroup.com

(San Francisco) The editorial team that produced the email newsletter
Media Grok for the now-defunct Internet news site TheStandard.com will
launch a new newsletter tomorrow, according to an email sent to Media Grok
subscribers by former editor Jimmy Guterman. The newsletter will cover the
media's reporting of the Internet industry but will not be called Media
Grok, a name trademarked by former Industry Standard parent company IDG.
http://www.guterman.com

(New York) Financial news site TheStreet.com said on Thursday that it has
formed an alliance with rival financial news provider MarketWatch.com,
whereby the two sites will offer each other's premium subscription
services to try to increase revenue for both sites. Under the terms of the
agreement, MarketWatch.com will feature headlines from RealMoney.com,
TheStreet.com's subscription-based sister site, across all of its Web
properties. In return, TheStreet.com's subscription-based products will be
offered for opt-in registration in MarketWatch.com's membership area.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020103/nyth040_1.html
http://www.thestreet.com
http://www.marketwatch.com

(Glen Cove, N.Y.) Game developer and publisher Acclaim Entertainment
announced on Thursday that it has appointed Edmond Sanctis as its new
president and chief operating officer. Sanctis will oversee New York-based
Acclaim's North American operations, including product development,
marketing, sales and manufacturing. Most recently, Sanctis served as
president and COO of NBCi, where he co-led that company's $280 million
IPO.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020103/32043_1.html
http://www.acclaim.com

(San Francisco) CNET recently profiled WebTV founder Steve Perlman's new
company, Rearden Steel, which is reportedly developing hardware and
software specifications that would allow cable TV set-top boxes to record
and store digital content. Rearden Steel would not make the boxes, but
rather license its technology to cable companies and others. The company,
which raised $67 million in April 2001, plans to introduce its technology
and partnerships at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-8324400.html?tag=tp_pr
http://www.rearden.com/technologies/about/about.html
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