Seagate has escalated its legal assault on rival micro hard drive maker Cornice by asking the US International Trade Commission to ban the import into the US of any product that contains a Cornice 1 inch drive. Seagate claims Cornice’s 1 inch drive, the Cornice Storage Element (CSE), infringes six of its patents. In June, it slapped its rival with a lawsuit seeking not only a ban on the sale of CSE in the US but the payment of damages.

Cardmedia Ltd, official UK distributor for Vosonic, has announced the availability of the X’S-Drive Pro VP3310, a new Portable Storage Device with enhanced LCD display + MP3 player, that features a blue backlight LCD display, supports long MP3 filenames, and has multiple memory card support.

A Kyocera Wireless 2325 cell phone caused fist-size flames that injured a California teenager earlier this week, a fire investigator said. Frank Huddleston, an investigator at the Ontario, Calif., fire department, suspects the phone’s battery, its original, is to blame for the accident, which occurred Thursday morning.

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s office has filed suit against a Florida man suspected of sending spam email to thousands of consumers, in what’s considered to be the first claim brought by a state under the federal Can-Spam Act.

Going along with our customer service piece in June’s Computing Unplugged, is this article from ZD Net’s Brian Cooley and his wife’s experience with Verizon’s customer service.

A growing number of police departments now have instant access via handheld wireless devices to vast commercial databases that contain details on just about anyone officers encounter on the beat. But placing a commercial database full of personal details at an officer’s fingertips also raises troubling questions for electronic privacy activists.

Judged by members of the media and other industry experts, the Handango Champion Awards honor the best in mobile software. WorldMate 2004 was recognized as being the Best Travel Application for Symbian OS and Palm OS. MobiMate was also recognized as being the Best Developer of the Year for Symbian OS.

Creative Algorithms announced sale prices on select Palm OS software. OptiSize, a 2D resize calculator, is 40% off. Serving Sizer, a recipe ingredient conversion tool, is 33% off. Quick Ohm, an Ohm’s Law calculator, is 20% off.

Today, here in the United States, we celebrate July 4th, otherwise known as Independence Day. We often don’t take the time to think of what that means, but instead live what it means. When we go off to fireworks or picnics or time with friends, we’re living that celebration. The historical reason is to celebrate independence from England, but, here in 2004, that celebration is an anachronism. Other than bad food and the somewhat disagreeable Tony Blaire, we really have nothing against our Brit friends. But what we are celebrating is our way of life, corruption, cronyism, traffic, polution, and all. As I hoist my virtual glass of bottled water to all our friends out there, here’s a fervent wish that we continue to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States for many, many more years. — DG

With common sense and a basic understanding of how wireless security works, an enterprise can keep its wireless LAN protected from intruders using the security standards and practices available today.