March, 2007 Issue

With Windows XP, antipiracy measures were a bit of an afterthought. But with Windows Vista, Microsoft had pirates in its sights from the get-go.

A new security vulnerability puts Windows users at risk of serious cyberattacks, Microsoft warned late Wednesday.

Firms looking to optimise their wide area networks (WANs) should make a short-term investment in external units now rather than waiting for the next version of Windows Server, an analyst has claimed.

A Canadian company on Wednesday announced a new camera that functions as both a Webcam and a security system that scans a face in three dimensions.

A Web browser that promises to help the user surf to explicit Web sites bundles malicious software, a researcher has warned.

SAN FRANCISCO--Intel on Wednesday confirmed plans to integrate critical system components and reintroduce hyperthreading technology in 2008, when it unveils a new chip blueprint.

Electronic Arts will team with Nettwerk One Music to form a full-service music label, the game publisher announced Monday. Dubbed Artwerk, the label will sign and develop new and established artists for publishing, master recording and sync deals, as well as digital and physical distribution of musical works in movies, TV shows and video games.

Yahoo will begin offering unlimited storage for its free Web-based e-mail in May, the company announced late Tuesday. The move makes Yahoo the first of the major free e-mail providers to offer unlimited storage, but it likely will not be the last.

Google is grappling with performance and availability problems in its free Gmail service for at least the third time this month

A Denver start-up has come up with a way for internet service providers to offer customers a phishing shield and make some money doing it.

Creative types everywhere are sure to take note of Adobe's release of Creative Suite 3 on Tuesday, but there's also a new component aimed specifically at mobile content creators.

Microsoft claims Windows Vista is off to a fast start, having sold more than 20 million copies since its 30 January consumer release.

Yahoo is expanding its mobile offerings so that companies can make money on the content they serve up to mobile devices and so even sites that aren't optimized for mobile browsing can be displayed on handheld devices.

A possible security vulnerability in Windows Mail could let attackers run applications on PCs running Vista.

Study finds that 80 percent of all malicious code are supplied through online ads.

Carrier names WiMax device makers, further WiMax expansion plans, and a name for its TV-phone-wireless service.

Forrester Research published a report this week with a classic good news-bad news conclusion for Web 2.0 start-ups: corporate buyers want Web 2.0 technologies, but they'd rather buy from bigger vendors.

The European Union's top antitrust official, Neelie Kroes, told the European Parliament on Thursday that Microsoft continues to gain market share through "abusive behaviour".

WASHINGTON--A security researcher at ShmooCon on Saturday demonstrated, but did not release, a tool that turns the PCs of unknowing Web surfers into hacker help.

A new variant of a well-known Trojan horse virus is spreading through Skype's instant-messaging network, a security company has warned.

WASHINGTON, DC--Software makers are at the mercy of bug hunters when it comes to flaw disclosure, Mozilla's security chief said Saturday.

Microsoft said late on Wednesday that it has inked a patent swap deal with Fuji Xerox that paves the way for the companies to use each other's technology.

Congress' efforts to muzzle pornography on the Web were dealt another serious setback on Thursday, when a federal judge ruled a 1998 law was unconstitutional and violated Americans' First Amendment rights.

Yahoo has promoted one of its staff attorneys to an executive-level position that is akin to being click fraud tsar at the second largest web search provider.

Microsoft has commissioned a report which claims the new power-management features in Vista can help companies "massively" reduce carbon emissions resulting from the use of desktop PCs.

Adobe Systems, poised to release Creative Suite 3 later this spring, said it will not support Windows Vista on the current version.

In the new model advertisers would pay only when the ad-click yeilds a specific result.

Microsoft is investigating possible fraud on its Xbox Live online gaming service, the company said Tuesday.

In a move that has shaken up parts of the Web advertising world, Google announced Tuesday that it would begin testing a new ad program that lets advertisers pay only when consumers take action, whether it's making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter or performing some other predetermined task.

The world's top mobile phone maker, Nokia, said on Monday it had filed complaints against Qualcomm patents in Germany and the Netherlands in the latest case between the two technology giants.

The world looks very different from cyberspace. We've all got our own ideas of the places where the rule of law is lopsided - America with its gun crime, China with its one-party state - but Sweden? Civilised to a fault, its only sins to date have been Abba and flat-pack furniture. Yet Symantec's latest survey of international cybercrime hotspots put Sweden in second place, behind the US and before China, as a home of compromised servers that focus online crime. Fifteen percent of the global total live in the land of lakes and pickled herring, say the numbers.

The latest Google press release isn't about a new Google Earth add-on or an advertising acquisition: rather, it sounds like it came from the Gates Foundation. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company has announced two separate partnerships with organizations in two African countries, the Rwandan Ministry of Infrastructure in Kigali, Rwanda; and the non-governmental Kenya Education Network in Nairobi, Kenya. Google's goal is to provide free access to its Google Apps software suite to students in both countries as well as to government officials in Rwanda.

Two consortia that aim to facilitate research by linking universities via high-speed networking have announced plans to merge.

Malicious documents help crack servers and steal data, according to security report.

Analysis: Rumors are in full swing, but a cell phone comes with conflicts and challenges.

Acquisition of Adscape Media provides software and developers in interactive video game ads and statistics.

They won't divulge their real names, they call their project a "whiny, attention-seeking ploy," and they appear to take their fashion cues from Beastie Boys music videos.

Adobe Systems on Monday released an early version of Apollo, software that will let people run web applications online and offline.

Tablet PCs probably get dropped more than other computers, so Fujitsu has created two machines that store data by using flash memory rather than traditional hard drives.

Skype Ltd. has released a new version of its Internet telephony and instant messaging software that adds a feature to let users create business reviews, and another one to sell expertise, as the eBay Inc. subsidiary promotes interaction among its users.

While many investors have knocked Microsoft for not moving as quickly as Google, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer suggested that his chief rival may be trying to grow too fast.

According to Mozilla, everyone who participated in the beta process for Firefox 2 will be offered a prerelease version of the next security and stability update within the next 24 hours.

Security company Kaspersky claims that Vista's User Account Control (UAC), the system of user privileges that can be used to restrict users' administrative rights, will be so annoying that users will disable it.

Microsoft has said that its OneCare security suite has "a problem" with the underlying antivirus code, and admitted that security is just "a little part of Microsoft".

The latest software from the Luxembourg-based Internet telephony specialist, acquired by the online-auction king in 2005, enables users to offer services over the company's Internet voice and video network.

One of the big themes at CeBIT 2007 will be geographical information systems, including the controversial Galileo project — the European equivalent of the US satellite-based Global Positioning System.

Microsoft announced Wednesday that it is buying privately held speech recognition maker Tellme Networks in a deal believed to be in the range of $800 million.

One of the highlights of the European tech calendar, CeBIT, the world's largest technology fair, kicks off on Wednesday.

Software giant introduces first in a series of online communities for its Dynamics apps users.

An attack in early February on key parts of the backbone of the internet had little effect, thanks to new protection technology, according to a report released this week.

Some customers are concerned that domain registrar and hosting firm can't handle early move to Daylight Saving Time.

A problem related to a widely used open-source cryptography technology could let miscreants tamper with digitally signed and encrypted emails.

The Eclipse Foundation, an open-source consortium, on Tuesday detailed three projects designed to make Ajax-style web development easier.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--The perks of working at Google are the envy of Silicon Valley. Unlimited amounts of free chef-prepared food at all times of day. A climbing wall, a volleyball court and two lap pools. On-site car washes, oil changes and haircuts, not to mention free doctor checkups.

Adobe Systems, weeks away from delivering its Creative Suite 3 version of Photoshop, said on Wednesday that it's adding a second edition that expands the software's abilities significantly beyond its traditional role of editing static, two-dimensional images.

Internet phone provider Vonage has been ordered to pay $58m to Verizon Communications for infringing on three of the company's patents.

Internationalised domain names (IDNs) have moved a step closer to reality, after ICANN announced it had successfully completed testing.

Microsoft has admitted that its Live OneCare security suite has been accidentally deleting some users' Outlook and Outlook Express emails.

Cost and quality of service remain the top concerns for businesses using voice over IP.

Microsoft has no new security updates planned for Tuesday, despite at least five zero-day vulnerabilities that are waiting to be fixed.

The Microsoft executive in charge of closing the gap on web search leader Google is leaving the company, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

VMware president questions wisdom of integrating virtualization functionality into operating systems.

Yahoo announced Thursday a new beta version of its My Yahoo personalized start page, which it will begin gradually rolling out over the next few months.

Web search leader Google and its top rival in China, Baidu.com, are racing to build their online library services as they battle for a slice of the world's second-largest internet market.

IBM has made its Viper engine available on mainframes, and the company predicts a bright future for Viper in driving through service-oriented architecture environments.

Microsoft's Live OneCare security suite has been rated bottom of the league in the latest industry antivirus tests.

After months of anticipation, corporate customers will soon get their hands on a beta version of Microsoft's VoIP software, an event that marks an important step in the evolution of corporate communications.

SugarCRM is opening an office in Dublin as part of a push into Europe.

Microsoft has quietly released a fix for a security vulnerability that could let Xbox 360 owners run their own applications or operating systems on the console.

A security researcher has kicked off a project to put the spotlight on flaws in the widely used PHP scripting language.

If you need more evidence of the Web shaking up the packaged software business, talk to Bruce Chizen.

Google and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have been in dispute since March over "various issues" including the way in which Google accounts for income tax, the search giant revealed on Friday.

A former Intel contractor has seen his conviction for hacking into the company's systems expunged, after a battle lasting more than a decade.

he BBC said on Friday that it had started showing promotional trailers for new programs and clips from old hits on Google's YouTube video site in a bid to reach new audiences and boost sales at its commercial arm.

A vulnerability has been found in Citrix's Presentation Server Client, an application that allows remote users to access corporate servers from outside the office.

Hoping to get a jump on Google and other competitors, Adobe plans to release a hosted version of its popular Photoshop image-editing application within six months, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.

RLINGTON, Va.--Simply booting up a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop can tell people sniffing wireless network traffic a lot about your computer and about you.

Despite downplays, worm viruses are still an increasing menace, researcher says.