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On the future, Thompson predicted three things: that malicious software will outnumber legitimate software, increasing the need for so-called white listing; that identity management will grow beyond the enterprise and start to include every customer in the world; and digital rights management will be become a reality for all content, not just music and video.

(Credit:
Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

Symantec CEO John Thompson takes the stage at RSA 2008.

He said businesses need to start thinking about these things now. “I believe this starts with a fundamental shift toward an information-centric view of security,” he said. He described this information-centric view of security as taking a risk-based approach to protecting confidential information. Instead of securing all the data, secure only the most important data, he said, adding, “Once you gain insight into how your information is being used, you can begin to set policies that help you mitigate your risks.”

“Ultimately,” Thompson concluded, “the work of protecting business information is everybody’s job–not just IT’s. It’s a challenge all of us must tackle in order for our businesses to thrive–to become more agile and high-performing–and to realize the full promise of the connected world.”

Predicting the future for technology and business is never easy, yet Symantec CEO John Thompson ventured into that Tuesday morning in his keynote speech at RSA 2008.

Thompson mentioned the growth of mobile devices and stressed the need to become content aware, that just guarding the corporate perimeter isn’t enough anymore.

The FCC had also been expected to approve the merger. But like the Justice Department, which is requiring Verizon to sell off assets in 22 states, the FCC was also expected to put its own conditions on the merger.

The FCC’s original agenda for the November 4 meeting had been packed full. But over the past two days, the FCC has managed to whittle down the agenda, approving three minor issues and tabling one controversial issue. Of the original seven agenda items, only three remain, including an item that deals with opening up “white space” spectrum for unlicensed use.

The meeting was supposed to start at 11 a.m. EST. But didn’t actually get under way until nearly 4 p.m. EST.

Verizon Wireless, which is jointly owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone, announced its plan to buy regional operator Alltel earlier this year, in a deal that will make it the largest wireless operator in the U.S. The phone company won approval for the deal from the U.S. Department of Justice last week.

The delay was attributed to discussions among commissioners and Verizon to hammer out a deal that satisfied concerns over roaming conditions put on the deal.

During the meeting, the two Democratic commissioners on the FCC, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, expressed concern that combining Verizon and Alltel will limit the number of roaming partners that smaller carriers in rural markets could work with. And as a result, they say this will limit competition and drive up prices for consumers.

In addition to keeping roaming rates the same, the FCC is also requiring Verizon to divest service in a total of 100 markets. It is also requiring e911 accuracy and Universal Service Fund contributions.

The Federal Communications Commission approved the $28 billion acquisition between Verizon Wireless and Alltel on Tuesday after a four hour delay in which commissioners negotiated terms of the deal.

For more on the FCC meeting, check back later when more updates will be posted.

As part of a compromise, Verizon agreed to keep its roaming rates the same for the next four years.

Yahoo Music is transferring customers of Yahoo Music Unlimited to RealNetworks’ Rhapsody service. These are both subscription music services, so Yahoo users who choose to make the move are unaffected. But those who purchased songs would be out of luck after September 30.

Yahoo announced last week that it would no longer issue authorization keys for the digital rights management, or DRM, software on its songs. This meant that anyone who bought songs from the service would still be able to hear their songs through its service but would be unable to move them to other devices or computers.

The question now is, has Yahoo Music raised the bar? Is it time for Microsoft to pony up with a refund for MSN users?

Yahoo Music is offering refunds to anyone who bought songs from the service. Is it time for MSN Music follow Yahoo’s lead?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group for Internet users, has called on both Yahoo and MSN to issue refunds.

MSN Music shut down and announced that it would stop issuing DRM keys, only to change its mind last month and say it would continue issuing keys for another three years. As noted by Michael Spiegelman, Yahoo’s senior director of music, Microsoft just delayed the withdrawing of support for songs.

A Microsoft representative could not be immediately reached.

This did not play well with Web users. Now Yahoo Music plans to issue refunds and is trying to go one step further. If a customer would prefer music over a refund, Yahoo is looking for a way to give the customer copies of the purchased songs in the DRM-free MP3 format, according to a Yahoo representative.

Calling the city “an exciting place, a challenging place, and perhaps most importantly, the city most welcoming to immigrants,” Bloomberg hailed the diversity of New York and its possibilities as a hub for technology in addition to fashion, entertainment, finance, and media. “We accept each other in ways that I don’t think happens anyplace else.”

There is currently $2 million in the NYC Seed coffer.

(Credit:
Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)

Referring to his experience at the helm of the finance information giant that still bears his name, he said, “My company never would have been remotely as successful if we had tried to put it in any other city.”

NYC Seed, which will provide up to $200,000 of investment into New York-based technology start-ups, is a public-private partnership between the New York City Economic Development Corp. the New York City Investment Fund, the Partnership for New York City’s economic development arm, Polytechnic University, the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology, and Innovation, and the Industrial and Technology Assistance Corp. It will be headquartered at the Brooklyn-based Polytechnic University’s start-up incubator.

Internet Week has been organized by the mayor’s Office for Film, Theater, and Broadcasting, helmed by Katherine Oliver, whose experience in pulling more TV and film companies into the city led Bloomberg to select her for Internet Week and beyond. “I challenged her to do the same thing in technology,” Bloomberg said.

New York's tech elite mingle at Gracie Mansion after a press conference by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

At a press conference Monday evening, Bloomberg–himself a veteran of tech entrepreneurship–announced the debut of NYC Seed, a venture firm for early stage technology companies in the city. The event at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence, kicked off Internet Week New York, a citywide festival of conferences, parties, and other events promoting the city’s digital industries.

NEW YORK–New York Mayor Michael P. Bloomberg wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted Gotham to be a true global technology hub, and not just because municipal broadcast station NYC TV won its very first Webby Award this year.

Ouch.

Motorola has seen its handset market share plummet, mostly due to a lack of compelling new products. In January, amid pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, the company said it would consider separating its handset business from the rest of the company in an effort to increase shareholder value and revive the struggling business. Late last month it officially announced its plan to break the company into two publicly traded entities.

Motorola took another hit Thursday in announcing, through a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that it will lay off 2,600 employees. As a result, it will take a $104 million pretax charge in the first quarter of the year for severance costs.

(Credit:
Motorola)

The $104 million is partially offset by “$9 million of reversals for accruals from prior periods that are no longer needed,” according to the filing (thanks Silicon Alley Insider). “All three of the company’s business segments, as well as various corporate functions, are impacted by these plans.”

This week’s CTIA wireless industry trade show could have been a place for Motorola to show that it’s bouncing back, by my colleague Charles Cooper noted that the “dearth of interesting product news out of Motorola” at the show “underscores its current plight.”

Thursday’s news brings to about 10,000 the number of employees the company has eliminated since early 2007, according to The Wall Street Journal. The layoffs come amid a barrage of headlines documenting the recent death spiral of the company’s cell phone business.

Apple might bring the iPhone to China with China Unicom, rather than China Mobile.

Still, China Unicom, with 130 million customers, is a definite second fiddle to China Mobile, which has 415 million customers. Apple can perhaps take a degree of solace in the fact that there are an awful lot of Chinese wireless users that are already familiar with the iPhone through various unlocking schemes, meaning it might not have to do as much advance marketing.

The talks come after an apparent breakdown in negotiations between Apple and China Mobile, China’s largest carrier, over control of the App Store: believe it or not, Apple would like to retain sole control over the App Store.

Chinese news outlets, as spotted by Apple 2.0, are reporting that Apple and China Unicom, the country’s second largest wireless carrier, are in talks to officially bring the iPhone to China and could do so as early as May 17, when China Unicom launches a 3G network.

(Credit:
CNET Networks)

The
iPhone’s slow boat to China might be moving into the fast lane.

Partnering with China Unicom would give Apple another advantage in that it wouldn’t have to modify the iPhone’s current wireless chip. China Mobile is rolling out a 3G network based on a proprietary homegrown wireless standard, while China Unicom and China Telecom–players two and three in that huge market–are using the same WCDMA technology that other GSM-based carriers like AT&T are using.

Of course, nobody put a gun to CEO Ken Lewis’ head. He decided BOA had an opportunity to build itself into a financial services superpower while his competition was failing. And so he took a shot.

Joking, of course. Here’s what the Constitution actually says: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

The Journal article notes that BOA is “now broadly exposed to the nation’s economic ills. With its recent acquisitions of troubled California mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill, the bank is now a major player in every corner of the battered U.S. financial system.”

Considering current events, that’s not a far-fetched possibility and the candidate company need not be one step away from intensive care. Take a gander at Thursday’s Wall Street Journal story reporting on on the latest holdup: In this case Bank of America is about to get another TARP bailout from Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson–not because the company’s teetering on the edge, but to help close its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

And while the printing presses are still warm, why limit the list to companies piling up red ink? For instance, Dell is not losing money but it’s no longer the powerhouse it once was. That can’t be good for the industry or the country. Michael Dell is working on that question as we speak and no doubt, could do wondrous feats if Uncle Sam offered $20 billion or so. And that would be cheap compared with the $25 billion BOA already received from the government. I’m sure some nitpickers may call for congressional scrutiny, but if we’re already betting that Rick Wagoner can revive General Motors, why is Michael Dell not an equally good risk?

No, this isn’t the start of a civics lesson. But what with the laundry list of corporations on Wall Street and Detroit lining up for government assistance, how long before a company from the technology industry decides to get in while the getting is good?

Of course, the answer is that all this borders on the insane. Then again, it fits with the ridiculous times that we inhabit. In case you missed it, Hustler magazine wants a porn industry bailout. Why not? Nothing is too crazy in Bailout Nation, folks.

Since Paulson is in such a giving mood, why shouldn’t the same privilege get extended to Advanced Micro Devices or Yahoo or Palm? Thousands of people, who depend on their livelihoods–directly or indirectly–will go on the dole if those companies continue to sink. And what would be the implications of losing such centers of technology innovation? Surely, that can’t be in the national interest?

I must have been dozing in government class when they explained the part about how the U.S Constitution grants the legislative or executive branch the power to bail out failing businesses.