Are there any Netscape users out there anymore? That may be somewhat facetious but the browser is a long way from the days when the Navigator was somewhat hip. Then, Netscape was hammered by IE and acquired by AOL. AOL drove Netscape even further to the fringes with a bloated, user-unfriendly upgrade that made the folks happy at IE and Opera. Well, it turns out Netscape is not only alive but also releasing a new version called Netscape 8 that will feature anti-fraud technology. The beta was going to be out by mid-February but - surprise, surprise - it was delayed due to software bugs.
It will be a major surprise if N8 gets any momentum. With Microsoft apparently intent on upgrading IE, and Firefox rolling along with more than 25 million downloads this year, Netscape will likely remain a marginal browser. Its status could be salvaged if it comes out with kick-ass features but AOL's chances of doing anything remarkably innovative seem remote.

If your appetite for Richard Branson hasn't already been sated, you may be interested in a Q&A I did with him this week during a car ride from the Virgin Mobile Canada press conference to another interview. With some time to digest the Virgin Mobile marketing wave, Virgin has two major hurdles to have success in Canada: it needs to get the CRTC to institute local number portability, and it needs to offer cooler phones.
The Q&A with Branson is below:

You're driving through city traffic in an SUV with billionaire Richard Branson, and have only 10 ...   more »

You have to love the Costa Rican's government attempt to criminalize Internet telephony. What's with that? One theory is many countries have made huge amounts of money terminating long-distance calls - in other words they apply a "tax" on calls coming into and out of the country. The Costa Rican government believes it risks losing a lucrative cash cow given 20% of LD calls in Costa Rica are being done using Internet telephony. The Costa Rican government's case is it is providing consumers with good, quality service- albeit while stifling competition. If the government goes ahead with plans to regulate Internet telephony, I wonder how they would police Internet telephony? Would they sniff every packet going into and out of the country?