February, 2007 Issue

YouTube announced deals that will provide its users with more legitimate music video and professional basketball content.

Microsoft is investigating two recently disclosed security vulnerabilities that affect Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista, the company said on Monday.

The European Union will officially launch a crackdown on cross-border scams, including internet fraud, this week.

Telecoms operators that fail to take risks will be the first to fall in the wave of consolidation that is approaching the industry, according to Alireza Mahmoodshahi, chief technology officer of European telco Colt.

As businesses and consumers grapple with Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista, one question is increasingly being asked. Why is it so much more expensive to buy Vista in the UK than the US?

Company's major upgrade of Google Apps poses serious competition to Microsoft Office.

Skype petitioned the Federal Communications Commission earlier this week to force U.S. mobile operators to loosen controls on what kinds of hardware and software can be connected to their networks.

One of the last places you might expect to find copyright violations is on a Web site backed by Time Warner and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

Online abuses merely mirror its users' interests, says Net luminary and ICANN chief.

Plus: More Office holes, and a major Adobe problem that affects all browsers.

Microsoft is touting its free accounting application, which it debuted last October for small businesses, as a success, announcing that it has been downloaded by 1 million people in just 3 months. Office Accounting Express 2007 is Microsoft's first shot across Intuit's bow.

An analyst with Merrill Lynch says that Adobe will likely introduce Creative Suite 3 around March 27, with a ship date that would follow shortly afterwards. Most important to this refresh would be native support for Intel processors on the Macintosh platform. Up until now, users must use CS2 in emulation mode, which results in slower performance. Adobe has long said that native Intel support on the platform was a priority.

An IBM employee who was dismissed by the company for visiting an adult-themed chat room while at work has decided to sue the company for $5 million. He claims he has become addicted to the Internet.

Microsoft on Monday released Service Pack 2 for SQL Server 2005, a major upgrade that adds support for Windows Vista and Office 2007. In addition, Microsoft is now allowing unlimited virtual instances of SQL Server on severs licensed for the Enterprise Edition of the database software.

Microsoft and Mozilla are each working to tackle recently disclosed security flaws in the Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers.

The Russian government has hit out at Microsoft, claiming the software giant's overly strict and costly licensing regime is to blame for the high rates of consumer piracy in the country.

SAN FRANCISCO--Google co-founder Larry Page has a theory: your DNA is about 600 megabytes compressed, making it smaller than any modern operating system like Linux or Windows.

A new, yet-to-be-patched security hole in Word is being used in targeted cyberattacks, Microsoft has warned.

Google is finalizing the integration of Docs & Spreadsheets to enhance its free services and software offerings.

Microsoft plans to increase its operating expenses next year, but it won't reach the $2.7 billion increase inked in for 2007, CEO Steve Ballmer told financial analysts on Thursday.

If you haven't changed the default password on your home router, let this recent threat serve as a reminder.

Gary McKinnon, the UK citizen accused of hacking Nasa's computers and causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage, was taken ill as his appeal against extradition continued.

The case against a Russian schoolteacher who was accused of using unlicensed software in the classroom has been thrown out, following international attention and an intervention from former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Google has been accused of helping website operators who are being sued for helping people to find and download movies online, court documents show.

Microsoft is opening up the second beta release of its Windows Home Server software to the public, the company announced Monday.

The 3GSM World Congress began in Barcelona on Monday with Microsoft making an early bid for the limelight with its new PlayReady DRM system.

If you're putting Vista on a PC yourself, you need to read this.

Zend Technologies on Monday is expected to release an updated version of Zend Platform, its server software for running corporate Web applications written in PHP language.

After months of planning to kill off the Hotmail name, Microsoft has decided to keep the venerable brand, as it works to overhaul its free web email service.

Globalisation and increased reliance on the internet raise the risk of cyberattacks, a top US government security official warned on Thursday.

A security company has reported two new flaws in the Mozilla Firefox browser that may leave locally saved files vulnerable to outside attacks.

There are signs that hackers attacked key parts of the backbone of the internet on Tuesday, but no damage seems to have been done, experts said.

Microsoft's own antivirus software, Live OneCare, is unable to fully protect Vista users against viruses; and one of McAfee's antivirus software packages also fails to protect users, according to independent research released on Friday.

Online criminals are turning away from threatening companies with massive cyberattacks in favour of encrypting a victim's data and demanding money to release it, an antivirus expert claimed on Tuesday.

Microsoft said Friday that it is working to resolve a glitch that prevented some customers from taking advantage of the company's Vista family pack option.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--A new scientific report on global warming should remove any doubts that the climate crisis is fact and that humans are largely to blame, former Vice President Al Gore said Friday, urging Silicon Valley to take the lead in solving the problem.

Google, whose informal motto is "Do No Evil" tried to browbeat lawmakers in North Carolina into silence while the company sought millions in tax breaks, according to a newspaper in that state.

A Microsoft-sponsored open-source project is expected on Friday to release a translator that will convert file formats between Microsoft Office and rival standard OpenDocument, or ODF.

Early adopters of Windows Vista will be able to get three months' free Wi-Fi access with hotzone operator The Cloud.

Google's fourth-quarter revenue rose 67 percent and profit nearly tripled on continued strength in its paid-search business.

Skype plans to announce a partnership next week with a security company to help organisations gain control over usage of the net telephony tool at work.

As Microsoft gears up for the consumer launch of Vista, rivals slammed the new product, claiming that it breaks the very same European antitrust laws that its operating-system predecessor, Windows XP, fell foul of in 2004, and that it will be riddled with bugs.

The Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into Torex Retail, the stock exchange-listed UK software provider.

Company says new OS was changed after discussion with the European Commission; more revisions to be released in the first service pack.