Viacom: Scrap YouTube copyright ruling

NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for Viacom Inc. warned an appeals court panel Tuesday that there will be greater exploitation of copyright material on the Internet if the court lets YouTube get away with a business built on "rampant copyright infringement."

The lawyer, Paul Smith, told a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that a lower court judge was wrong to rule that Google Inc.'s popular video service was protected from copyright infringement claims.

"YouTube not only knew there was rampant copyright infringement on the site but welcomed it," Smith said. "These people made this kind of money on somebody else's property."

Google purchased …

Tuning TECH to Business

Aligning IT to business needs will continue as one of the top--and most vexing--challenges for IT managers for the next five to 10 years, according to new research by Ziff Davis Enterprise.

Alignment is nothing new. It's a perennial list topper, since ensuring IT organizations do what businesses need to get done is the entire reason IT organizations exist, and it doesn't happen without a concerted effort. The survey of 346 IT executives and managers provides some telling insights into how enterprises' IT leadership is going about achieving their alignment goals.

Building management's leadership and project execution skill sets is among the top priorities for the …

US, Australian Leaders Show Close Ties

New Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and President Bush are showing signs of a burgeoning diplomatic friendship: Rudd calls the president "George," while Bush describes Rudd to reporters as a "fine lad" and a "straightforward fella."

The two leaders, who met Friday at the White House, are playing down the signs that Rudd has distanced his government from some of the pro-U.S. policies of his immediate predecessor, John Howard.

Bush said he understood Rudd's decision to withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq, and he praised Rudd's commitment to the fight in Afghanistan. U.S.-Australian "friendship will strengthen and …

SARS has China, other Asian economies reeling

SINGAPORE--Asian economies might be hurt by a slowdown in Chinaafter the world's most-populous nation said it had almost a thirdmore cases of a deadly virus than previously reported.

China's growth this year might fall by half a point to 7 percentas citizens cut spending on travel and entertainment to avoid thedisease, said Pu Yonghao, a Manila-based consultant to the AsianDevelopment Bank's macroeconomic monitoring unit.

A drop in growth and consumption in China will compound the woesof a region already hurt by a slowdown in the U.S. and the spread ofthe virus, which is cutting sales at companies from SingaporeAirlines Ltd. to hotel operator Shangri-La Asia Ltd. The …

Physiology tool

Designed specifically for university laboratories by National Instruments, BioBench requires no programming. Students and researchers alike can immediately begin using this software for Windows 95/Nt PCs to gather and analyze many types of physiological data. For example, BioBench can measure the effects drugs have on blood pressure and other physiological responses, and the temperature effects of chemical reactions. Plug-in …

Review: A memoir of growing up in New York society

"A Voice From Old New York: A Memoir of My Youth" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25), by Louis Auchincloss: A prolific chronicler of New York's high society in more than 60 novels, short story collections and nonfiction works, Louis Auchincloss concluded his career with a slim memoir.

"A Voice From Old New York" addresses his own youth among the city's richest and most connected residents with the same detached amusement and keen observations of his previous work.

His voice remains both charmingly and disarmingly familiar — but elegant and easy to read. The quick disdain that one expects from a writer steeped in and fascinated by wealth and privilege is certainly here, as when …

Officials: 2 Afghan troops killed in firing

Officials say two Afghan soldiers have been killed in fighting between NATO and Afghan troops in what may have been a friendly fire incident.

A Wardak province spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, says NATO and Afghan soldiers began fighting early Saturday after a misunderstanding following an operation in the Sayed Abad district.

A NATO official …