Microsoft has been told to fork over $140m because Windows XP and certain versions of Microsoft Office require more than one activation code.

You see, there are patents on the use of more than one activation code, and they're held by a clever company in Michigan that has successfully sued the bejesus out of the Redmond software giant.

On November 16, The Associated Press reports, a federal appeals court ordered Microsoft to unload $140m on the tiny z4 Technologies, upholding the decision of a lower court.

Comcast lowered its 2008 revenue perspectus by 12%.  This change comes from economic and competitive pressures.  Decline in the housing market as hurt Comcast in finding new customers.  Competition from Verizon communications has hurt Comcast as well, also from ongoing efforts from dish network companies.   This outlook sent comcast's stocks down by %10.  In the third quarter, Comcast posted a 54 percent drop in quarterly profit as it lost more basic video subscribers than expected. 

 "We believe the vast majority of the reductions are due to competition," said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Research. "Comcast simply did not expect the level of competitive marketing spend that has occurred this year."

 priovided via Reuters 

    A lot of people get out of college with a computer science degree and don't want to be a systems admin or a programmer, they ask themselves did i just waste 4 or 8 years and piled on enough debt that my grandkids will be paying it off?  What do you do then, here are 10 hot jobs right now that aren't the traditional computer career. 

1. Environmental Simulations Developer

2. Video Game Developer.

3. Bioinformatics Simulations Modeling.

4. 3D Animation Technician.

5. Internet Entrepreneur.

6. Medical Modeling Systems Developer and Technician.

8. Website Network Manager / Administrator.

9. Training Software Developer.

10. Visual and Audio Content Producers.

Check out http://www.computermajors.com/10-hot-computer-jobs for the complete article 

Comcast's traffic management practices have landed the cable giant in court. Yesterday, a California resident filed a lawsuit in state court accusing Comcast of breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and violating the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act.
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John Hart describes himself as a Comcast customer who has seen performance hits when using "Blocked Applications" targeted by Comcast's traffic management application, Sandvine. In his complaint, Hart says that Comcast severely limits "the speed of certain internet applications such as peer-to-peer file sharing and lotus notes [sic]." Comcast accomplishes this by "transmitting unauthorized hidden messages" to the PCs of those using the applications.

Check the full stoy at ars technicia