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Year-over-year broadband usage has increased by 59 percent compared to December 2001, according to a new report from Nielsen//NetRatings. The internet usage measurement firm found that 33.6 million surfers accessed the internet via broadband last month. At the same time, narrowband users showed a precipitous drop to 74.4 million, off 10 percent from 2001. As would be expected, Nielsen//NetRatings found that high-speed surfers spent more time online, made more visits online and viewed more pages than narrowband users. Broadband users viewed double the amount of pages per person, about 1,300. While dial-up users spent less than 10 hours per month online, broadband users spent 17 hours and 20 minutes. Men made up 52 percent of broadband users and 47 percent of narrowband users. Nielsen//NetRatings recorded a spike in broadband usage by older surfers, ages 65-99, of 67 percent versus 2001. Another new study, this one from Solomon-Wolff Associates, finds that Road Runner is the most common ISP for broadband customers. Although America Online is the overall ISP leader, it accounts for a much smaller proportion of broadband.
Nervous Microsoft agrees to unveil code
Worried over government defections to competing software, Microsoft this week unveiled an initiative that will uncover its source code to select outside agencies for the very first time. Government agencies in the U.S., France, Germany, Japan and China had either switched to software sold by Microsoft's competitors or considered the move. The Redmond, Wash.-based company has long compulsively protected its code as “secret intellectual property.” Russia and NATO will both review the coding free of charge in order to determine Windows operating system security. Microsoft promised also to provide those interested parties with the technical information they would need to build secure applications on top of Windows. The move was made to combat the perceived insurgence of systems such as Linux, whose underlying code for open-source code software is available for free download. Microsoft insists that it is not worried about piracy by the 60 or so countries and organizations on its approved list for coding information.
Supreme Court upholds copyright extension
Internet publishers eager to snap up rights to soon-to-expire copyrighted material will have to wait at least 20 more years. The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Congress' 1998 extension of copyright protection is lawful. Media companies and song publishers had battled opponents who said the materials should be released into the public domain. Those in favor of overturning the extension claimed that the law violated free speech. But industry leaders complained that they could lose billions of dollars if the creative works they own rights to, such as George Gershwin songs or Mickey Mouse cartoons, were opened to the public. Foes said that common culture was being withheld from the internet at a time when the medium’s expansiveness would allow even more people to enjoy the copyrighted works. The law was adopted by Congress in order to bring U.S. copyright limits into line with those of the European Union.
No parting gift, but don't cry for Steve Case
You’re not likely to see former AOL Time Warner chairman Steve Case working at McDonald’s anytime soon. The man behind America Online’s meteoric late-‘90s rise and early ‘00s crash does not have an exit package, but he does have the next best thing: tons of money. Because Case had no employment contract, the company is not obligated to pay severance. Most executives receive a parachute package of three years’ pay and various bonuses if they leave before their contract expires. But Case, who earned a $1 million salary last year, chose not to negotiate an exit package last week. Still, it’s not as if he should need the money. Corporate statements have Case making $525 million from 1996-2001 by exercising company stock options, including $200 million from 2000-‘01. No wonder AOL Time Warner insiders were so resentful – in that same span, company shareholders lost billions in the post-merger free fall. Case maintains $18.2 million in stock options.
NBA goes international with Chinese site
Basketball mania has blossomed in China, where basketball fans have been following the third Chinese player ever to play in the NBA, Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, with near-religious fervor. Now the NBA has made it a bit easier for Chinese fans to support their favorite son. A new web site (china.nba.com/index.shtml) debuted this week, featuring stats, player bios, team rankings, schedules and game roundups in Chinese. It’s the first such site to become available. China’s largest internet portal, Sohu.com, is helping to run the site. A Sohu official said that a test site had registered 1.2 million hits during a three-week trial. There are 60 million Chinese internet users. The NBA’s main site (nba.com) receives more than a third of its hits from outside of the U.S. At 7 percent, China represents the largest presence.
January 16, 2003© 2003 Media Life
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