TECH ROUNDUP: MS SMACKDOWN AND MORE!

HIGH COURT WON'T LOG ON TO MICROSOFT APPEAL
Not surprisingly, the Supreme Court has rejected without comment Microsoft's request to review its antitrust case and throw out Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's verdict against it. Jackson ruled earlier this year that Microsoft had behaved anti-competitively by using its market dominance to squelch competitors. While a federal appeals court later took issue with Jackson's conduct during the trial, removed him from the case and struck down his order that Microsoft be broken into two companies, his ruling that it had broken antitrust laws was allowed to stand. The new federal judge appointed by the appeals court, Colleen Kollar-Kotely, has ordered that Microsoft and the Justice Department and the 18-state coalition which sued the company in 1998 settle out of court. Judge Kollar Kotely may appoint a mediator, or ultimately set Microsoft's punishment herself, if the two sides don't come to terms. "This was Microsoft's long ball that didn't get completed," former Justice antitrust head Robert E. Litan told the Associated Press, invoking a tired football metaphor with a geeky awkwardness that would make Bill Gates himself proud.

BESTBUY AND BUY AND BUY AND BUY
BestBuy.com today launched a new digital download website, positioning the company as the first retailer with the ability to provide commercial downloads from all five major labels. Powered by RioPort, the site will offer downloads for sale from EMI, AOLTW and BMG at launch with content from Sony and Universal available in the near future. "BestBuy is committed to expanding our consumer offers of digital entertainment products and services," said Scott Young, VP/GM Entertainment for BestBuy.com. "Our new digital download site will provide music customers compelling digital media offers from a broad group of label sources and provide us with another tool to soak the consumer for cash—er, that is, to drive the market for new digital services."

AFTER A HARD NIGHT OF DRINKING, WE FEAR A LIQUID DOWNLOAD
Musicmaker.com—and "certain other parties"—have acquired a 6.3% stock ownership stake in Liquid Audio, Musicmaker President and CEO James Mitarotonda announced today. In related news, after a long lunch, only 6.3% of the liquid in the HITS liquor cabinet remained.

PORN? ON THE INTERNET? IT'LL NEVER WORK!
Software developer Yaga announced this week a P2P service that lets subscribers access music, video, games, adult content and software for a monthly fee. Yes, we said adult content. Founded by former NBCi execs Chris Kitze and Vijay Vaidyanathan, Yaga will charge users $19.95 to start up and $9.95 a month after that. The company has no plans to license major label music, but instead hopes to build niche communities around things like adult content. Hmmm we're not convinced there are that many fans of adult content who like to surf the Web. Oh well, they probably know what they're doing. Believe it or not, the company has raised $22 million in funding from investors including Infospace, Anthelion Capital, Beachhead Capital, Individuals Venture Fund, MeVC, Naveen Jain and the founders. See? There are still people who want to invest in online ventures!