Web Shorts

Aiming at Microsoft, Apple debuts new products
Apple introduced a wide-screen laptop, faster wireless technology and a new web browser at the Macworld exposition this week in a partial attempt to hack away at Microsoft’s market dominance. The web browser Safari is designed as an alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. The new laptop has a 17-inch screen, which Apple says is the largest ever for a notebook. The company also introduced a laptop with a 12-inch screen, which it claims is the smallest full-featured notebook on the market. The new wireless technology is being advertised as five times faster than what’s currently standard. But none of the innovations come cheap. The 17-inch Titanium PowerBook hits stores in February with a $3,299 price tag, and the 12-inch version is $1,799. There had been rumors that the company would also unveil an iPod music player with video or mobile phone capacity, but apparently that product is still in the works.

Xbox Live tallies initial sales of 250,000
About 250,000 Xbox Live kits have been sold in the two months since Microsoft introduced the online gaming device, the company reports. The equipment, an add-on to the Xbox game console, went on sale in November. Soon after, the Redmond, Wash.-based company said that 150,000 units had been sold in just one week. That means that sales were nowhere near as brisk during the holiday shopping season, but Microsoft was still pleased. The company charges $50 for its Xbox Live equipment, $10 more than competitor Sony gets for its similar PlayStation 2 online adapter. Sony remains the market gaming leader by a large margin, but Microsoft has upped its competitive efforts over the past few months as part of a $2 billion initiative to make Xbox the center of a networked home entertainment system.

Charges dropped against school-dissing teen
A teenager who used his web site to refer to his former principal as the town drunk and accuse classmates of having loose morals will not face defamation of character charges. Ian Lake, arrested in 2000 for allegedly defaming his Milford High School compatriots in Beaver, Utah, attracted national attention during the freedom-of-
speech case. In November, the state supreme court ruled unconstitutional the law under which Lake was charged. That forced the district judge to dismiss the charges against Lake, since prosecutors no longer had a basis to continue. Lake, 19, had since relocated to California, where he graduated from a different high school. His case drew widespread attention as a test of how far individuals can carry the right to free speech on the internet. Since the case was filed, most of the allegedly defamed administrators and students have graduated from Milford, retired or moved to a different city.

For long trips and quiet kids, it's DirecTV for cars
Parents sick of hearing the mantra “Are we there yet?” from bored children on long car trips, take heart. Soon you can mesmerize them into silence with a satellite TV antenna for cars. Today KVH Industries will introduce a DirecTV feed with more than 300 channels designed for backseat entertainment systems in SUVs, minivans and luxury cars. The system will cost about $2,000 to $2,500 to install, although programming then will run less than $10 per month. TV screens will measure 4.5 inches. DVD and video players already have been introduced as in-car entertainment systems, but this will be the first live TV feed to be offered. KVH cites data that says that of the many drivers who have CD players in their cars, 70 percent still listen to the radio most of the time. The company says that means that there is a strong market for live in-car entertainment.

Holiday-connected internet use increases
Holiday-connected internet use rose slightly this December versus last, according to new numbers from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. More than three-quarters of all internet users either shopped for holiday presents, looked for Christmas church services or sent seasonal e-greetings. Twenty-eight percent bought gifts online, and an additional 20-plus said they looked for potential presents. Average spending reported per person rose from $392 last year to $407 this year. Church searches rose from 25 percent last year to more than 30 percent this year. PIALP said that more Americans also used email to make holiday plans this year compared to last.

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