February 25, 2003

MS takes sides in DVD format wars Business Week reports that Microsoft is backing the DVD+RW standard for rewritable DVDs. The DVD+RW Alliance also includes Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi Chemical/Verbatim, Philips, Ricoh, Sony, Thomson and Yamaha. In opposition in the rival DVD Forum that promotes the DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD-RW formats are Apple Computer, Hitachi, NEC, Pioneer, Samsung and Sharp. Next up – blue laser DVDs. 10:53:52 PM

Pioneer 10 - Good Bye NASA has announced that the following unsuccessful attempts to contact the Pioneer 10 space probe, the probe has been declared lost and no further attempts will be made to contact it. The last signal from the probe was received on January 10th at a distance of over 11 light-hours from the Earth. 10:42:18 PM

The Washington Post looks at possible reasons for Norah Jones’ Grammy Awards sweep, including wins over Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising". Surprisingly it reports that Jones’ "Come Away With Me" outsold Springsteen 3.6 million to 1.8 million. That fact and the fact that the members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences skew old likely explains Jones’ wins. 10:41:17 PM

The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal against a New York Appeals court ruling that struck down the state law regulating the labeling of kosher food. Now it is up to Jewish organizations to use trademark laws to protect against the misuse of symbols that mark food as kosher. 10:40:49 PM