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Apple, RealNetworks rivalry heats up

For more than a year, Apple Computers enjoyed singular success selling songs exclusively to users of its iPod portable music player. Now, it's got rival RealNetworks trying to lure iTunes Music Store customers away.

Last month, RealNetworks of Seattle fired the first shot at Apple, announcing that it had developed technology that allows songs purchased through its online music services to be played on iPods. On Monday, the company said it would temporarily slash its price for song downloads to 49 cents, 50 cents less than iTunes.

The promotion coincides with a series of print ads meant to show iPod users they have an alternative to Apple's iTunes Music Store.

The sale, which also features full-album downloads for $4.99, or $5 less than iTunes, is to last only a limited, though unspecified, amount of time.

Then there are the ads, featuring an iPod-as-padlock with its lock in the open position and the tag line "Half the price of Apple. Welcome to freedom of choice."

Despite all that, RealNetworks claims it's not targeting Apple specifically, only pursuing its goal of making its service compatible with as many digital players as possible.

A spokeswoman for Apple of Cupertino, Calif., said Monday that the company would have no immediate comment.

RealNetworks' campaign and price promotion are likely to add to the public acrimony between the two companies.

Apple has accused RealNetworks of using the "tactics and ethics of a hacker" to circumvent the iPod's internal copy-protection software, which had limited the market-leading music player to holding songs downloaded from iTunes or in the generic MP3 music format.

The number of Americans who get on the Internet via high-speed lines now equals the number using dial-up connections.

July measurements from Nielsen/NetRatings placed the broadband audience at 51 percent of the U.S. online population at home. That's up from 38 percent a year ago.

Marc Ryan, senior director of analysis at the Internet research company, said many people are lured by deals from broadband providers. After the promotional rate ends, he said, "to go backward (to dial-up) is very difficult."

Nielsen/NetRatings found broadband penetration highest among those under 35 years old, and particularly the 18-to-20 age group, at 59 percent. Those 65 years and older have the lowest penetration, at 34 percent.

The numbers are based on the company's panel of 40,000 Internet users who report what sites they visit and what type of connections they have. The panelists were recruited randomly by telephone.

A May-June phone survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project had placed the residential broadband population at 42 percent, though its director, Lee Rainie, said the number of broadband users increased since that study was completed.

Microsoft Corp. has delayed automated distribution of a major security upgrade to its Windows XP Professional operating system, citing a desire to give companies more time to test it.

The update, dubbed Service Pack 2, won't be available to users of XP Professional until at least Wednesday, Windows product manager John Murchinson said. The rollout had been scheduled for Aug. 16.

People running Windows XP Home Edition, which has more limited networking features, started getting the update last week if their computers are set to receive automatic updates, Murchinson said.

Microsoft has told companies it's important to test the upgrade before deploying it throughout their networks, Murchinson said. Earlier, the company released a list of about 50 games and other software found to have problems working with SP2, which can be found on its Web site (support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=842242).

A survey finds that Internet users may be engaging in risky online behaviors that could make them victims of Internet fraud while avoiding actions experts say could reduce their vulnerability.

Commissioned by Wells Fargo & Co., the telephone survey was conducted in May among 644 adult Internet users and 21 industry experts, including chief technology officers and information technology managers.

Only 22 percent of consumers said that providing personal information in response to an e-mail from a financial institution is "very high risk," in contrast to 76 percent of the experts.

"The 22 percent number is very disturbing because the majority of e-mail is unencrypted, so basically anything that you're sending via e-mail can be viewed by anyone else," said Matthew Tanase, president of Qaddisin LLC, a St. Louis network security company that was not involved in the survey.

Lose the capital "I." And while you're at it, get rid of the uppercase "W."

So declares Wired News' copy-editing chief in a proclamation on the site's new style policy. "Effective with this sentence, Wired News will no longer capitalize the "I' in internet," Tony Long writes. "At the same time, Web becomes web and Net becomes net. Why? The simple answer is because there is no earthly reason to capitalize any of these words. Actually, there never was."

Similar pontificating marked the decision in 2000 by Wired magazine's revocation of the hyphen in e-mail when the magazine and the Web site were united. Wired News is now part of Terra Lycos of Spain, and the magazine is owned by Conde Nast Publications.

How much do you use the Internet for everyday activities? Has it changed your routines? Are there things you won't do online? Are there things you do only online?

We'd like to hear about your online experiences. Send e-mail to personaltech@sptimes.com and please include name, address and phone numbers.

Microsoft has released Windows XP Service Pack 2. Readers with comments or questions about it, or other tech news and issues of the day, can submit them for Times personal technology editor Dave Gussow at the Times Talkback site (www.sptimes.com/talkback)

- Compiled from staff and wire reports