April, 2007 Issue

LAS VEGAS--Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, on Monday introduced a video-streaming service and announced .Net development tool support for Silverlight, its cross-platform Web browser plug-in.

Google has removed paid links that advertised seemingly legitimate websites but actually tried to install nefarious programs on PCs.

Microsoft's strategy in the burgeoning world of ad-supported online software calls for aggressive new business terms to undercut rivals and a familiar game plan of cozying up to developers.

Entries for the prestigious CNET Networks UK Business Technology Awards are now open, with the call for entries going out to the best and brightest across the technology industry.

Last week, the Guitar Hero truck was on the streets of San Francisco. This Saturday, it was spotted across the country in Manhattan's crowded Union Square, outside the Virgin Megastore.

EMC subsidiary VMware could raise as much as $100 million in its initial public offering of stock, the virtualization specialist said in a regulatory filing.

Exploit code that could take advantage of a "highly critical" security flaw in the most recent versions of Adobe Photoshop has been published, a security researcher reported.

Google has released its latest version of Google Desktop, which incorporates a new look and new features.

Don't want to pay $10 to see the new John Travolta, Salma Hayek film Lonely Hearts? Just go to AOL's video portal beginning Friday and download a copy for free. The movie opened in theaters two weeks ago in New York and Los Angeles, and is distributed by Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films. A "limited supply" of downloads of the full-length feature will be available at on AOL Video and on ClickStar, a broadband entertainment venture founded by Revelations Entertainment, the production company co-headed by Morgan Freeman.

In the first quarter to include consumer sales of Windows Vista and Office 2007, Microsoft reported earnings that topped Wall Street estimates.

Eben Moglen has resigned as a director of the Free Software Foundation, a position he has held for seven years.

A bill introduced in Congress Thursday aims to overturn a controversial royalty fee increase that Internet radio advocates say threatens to cripple their services.

Microsoft plans to make some of the security improvements and features it built into Office 2007 available for Office 2003, a company representative said Thursday.

Microsoft is to "up the ante" on tackling unlicensed business software after its latest figures showed one-third of customers still run counterfeit software.

Security software maker McAfee on Thursday posted higher first-quarter profit and revenue that topped Wall Street forecasts as demand rose worldwide.

After helping lead the team that designed many of Windows Vista's key features, Tjeerd Hoek is leaving Microsoft.

San Diego-based Websense said on Thursday it had offered to buy U.K.-based rival SurfControl in a deal valued at about $400 million in cash. Both companies sell products designed to protect organizations from Internet threats, such as Web sites that attempt to install malicious software.

Microsoft plans to make some of the security improvements and features it built into Office 2007 available for Office 2003, a company representative said on Thursday.

In the first quarter to include consumer sales of Windows Vista and Office 2007, Microsoft reported earnings that topped Wall Street estimates.

Microsoft may be a desktop software powerhouse but, when it comes to security tools, it is still bulking up.

Security holes like the one that allowed the Samy worm are all too common on Web 2.0 sites.

The security flaw used to breach a MacBook in a hack-a-Mac competition last week also affects Internet Explorer on Windows PCs, according to TippingPoint.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--MySQL, purveyor of the open-source database of the same name, is on the road to becoming a publicly traded company, bolstered by $50 million in revenue in 2006.

Microsoft on Wednesday said it is releasing its first public test version of Windows Server 'Longhorn' as the company works to get the release out the door.

SAN FRANCISCO--Microsoft may be older and bigger than Google, but it's Microsoft nipping at Google's heels and not the other way around, according to two Gartner analysts who closely follow the moves of the companies.

Sun Microsystems' bread and butter is selling general-purpose servers, but on Wednesday the company began selling a product extremely specialized to cram as many streams of video onto the Internet as possible.

Adobe Systems plans to open-source Flex, its development framework for building Flash and Apollo-based applications.

Marrying technology from opposite poles of the computer industry, IBM and a multiplayer online game company are working to integrate the Cell game console processor with Big Blue's mainframe computers.

SAN FRANCISCO--By next year, Internet users can expect more cyberattacks to originate from the Web than via e-mail, security firm Trend Micro predicts.

Google long has been known to be a user of the open-source MySQL database software, but the search powerhouse this week published its own changes to the project.

SourceLabs has developed an application to bring order to corporations' thicket of open-source components.

Intel is injecting some of Google's famous ad magic into its "Intel Inside" campaign.

MySpace is teaming with reality-TV magnet, Mark Burnett, to find the next John Kennedy or Ronald Reagan.

IT security professionals, policemen and politicians will all be flocking to the largest annual security event in Europe this week. On Tuesday, Infosecurity Europe 2007 will kick off at the exhibition hall at London's Kensington Olympia. With over 330 exhibitors, 150 of whom will be showcasing new products, this year's show promises to be as lively as ever.

The Computing Technology Industry Association has launched a qualification in voice/data convergence.

Security experts have warned that password recovery tools for OpenOffice, the open-source application suite, are vulnerable to abuse.

Cloud Networks launches one of Europe's largest networks, serving more than 350,000.

Note: This story updates a previously posted version.

AT&T plans to market the iPhone to business users in addition to consumers, but analysts aren't so sure it's a good idea.

Apple shareholders will vote on a proposal to remove certain hazardous chemicals from the company's products.

The Opera Mini has infiltrated desktop browser rankings in a European country, indicating that the use of mobile browsing software may be gaining momentum overseas.

Google has knocked Microsoft off the top spot and been named the most powerful global brand of 2007.

Asia will increasingly become a source of technological innovation, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said on Saturday.

Shane Macaulay just got himself a free MacBook.

President's Identity Theft Task Force will release its findings Monday.

Pair show how they can send false alerts--amusing or dangerous--to car satellite navigation systems.

Texas software developer claims Microsoft's .Net framework infringes on its patent for SiteFlash product.

Swedish firm's software will be used internally, Google says.

Advocacy group's domain name Epic.org expired the day before it challenged Google's plan to buy DoubleClick.

Some early adopters like the price of Google's online suite over packaged bundles such as Microsoft Office.

Advanced Micro Devices has begun quietly selling new 3GHz versions of its dual-core Opteron server processor.

Following Google's announcement to buy DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, the search giant told the L.A. Times that it hopes to eventually merge the non-personally identifiable information from its own servers and those of the ad-serving giant DoubleClick. That way, Google would be able to better target ads to Web surfers, according to the search company.

VANCOUVER, B.C.--Google is looking for a few good security people and it is looking at the CanSecWest security conference.

Fort Worth, Texas-based Vertical Computer Systems said Friday that it has filed a patent infringement suit against Microsoft. Vertical filed its suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Texas, claiming Microsoft's .Net technology infringes on its patent.

Rogue and insecure Wi-Fi access points are increasingly posing a threat to the security of corporate networks.

Microsoft was out Friday helping people channel their inner Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen.

YouTube confirmed Friday that it had erroneously deleted and would restore a video of presidential candidate John McCain singing an impromptu ditty about starting a war with Iran.

Google has acquired the videoconferencing software company Marratech.

Three public interest groups are expected to file a joint complaint Friday with the Federal Trade Commission calling for an investigation into the potential threat to consumer privacy posed by Google's planned acquisition of DoubleClick.

A two-factor authentication system operated by Dutch bank ABN Amro has been compromised and money stolen from four customers who fell victim to a phishing scam.

O2 has strongly criticised rival operators Orange and Vodafone over their decision to remove VoIP functionality from Nokia's N95 handset, claiming that such a move causes a "bad customer experience".

Technology will keep getting better and better rather than plateauing out, with the humble keyboard making way for speech-recognition software as standard, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said on Thursday.

Biggest dangers to extending Web 2.0 capabilities to the enterprise are information overload and lack of information accountability, said experts at a Microsoft Town Hall event.

Most business servers should not be vulnerable to current attacks directed at an as-yet unpatched flaw.

Acknowledging that it's better to be clear than clever, Google is rebranding "Froogle" as "Google Product Search" and simplifying the interface to match the main search site, a top executive said on Wednesday.

Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers announced that it has concluded an agreement to acquire SunFlowers, owner of the Anno brand, one of the most successful strategy games with five million units sold worldwide and one of the best-selling games in the German market.

VANCOUVER, B.C.--Cybercrooks who rig Web sites to break into PCs are getting better at hiding their malicious code, a security expert said Wednesday.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is using a speech in Beijing to unveil a new low-cost bundle of Office and Windows, one of several new initiatives aimed at getting PCs into the hands of more people in emerging markets.

IBM, the world's largest technology services company, reported higher first-quarter earnings on Tuesday as sales of software and computer services increased.

Microsoft says it won't resell the fuel-cell battery rechargers it is buying from Medis Technologies.

A new coalition of Internet radio stations will take its case to Congress and the courts to stop a new royalty fee hike.

Google will add a presentations application to its free Docs & Spreadsheets package.

Why you should care--and the implications for the future.

Increasing use of Firefox throughout Europe suggests that the browser battles aren't quite over, according to a recent survey and analysts.

Web 2.0 Expo opens to discussions of simpler, more effective collaboration online.

In a century-old farming town in central Washington state, Microsoft has built a farm for the internet age.

It's the company's first desktop media player.

Medis Technologies produces Microsoft-branded rechargers for consumer electronics devices.

Incubation program help Web-hosting services support SAAS applications.

After years of being decked out in monochromatic stripes, the bar code is going color.

Not content with having a dominant position in Web video, Adobe Systems on Monday is expected to launch Adobe Media Player for playing Flash videos offline.

IBM is set to introduce on Monday a new version of its free IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition enterprise search software that corporations can use to search for information stored within their organizations and across the Web.

Akamai Technologies plans to publicly offer reference designs for its new rich-media distribution system this summer.

It's been a busy time for Microsoft's Security Response Team. Last week's emergency patch was followed by five security bulletins this week, four of which were tagged "critical." Adding to the stress, several zero-day vulnerabilities in Office and Windows have surfaced, including one that cybercrooks are already using in attacks.

The folks at Google definitely have a sense of humor. Directions on Google Maps from New York City to Paris starts out innocently enough with "Head southwest on Broadway toward Warren St." But once you get on the Massachusetts Turnpike and take a few turns things get a little fishy:

Today we are presented with a remarkable underwater simulator “Diver - Deep Water Adventures” by Biart Studio LTD. Going to play the simulator, I’ve got no any experience in diving, but I’ve got a hope (judge by intro) to dive in the most beautiful seas and oceans indoor. And everything proved to be so. But! I forgot, that the game’s name includes the word “Adventures”. Tension was generated in detective-like manner so the game proved to be made in the spirit of adventure novel. So do not to run ahead - let’s tell one after another.

In its largest acquisition yet, Google has agreed to pay $3.1 billion in cash for online ad company DoubleClick, the companies announced Friday.

My early take on Google's $3.1 billion snatch of DoubleClick:

A major Linux Wi-Fi driver contains a bug that can allow an attacker to take control of a laptop--even when it is not on a Wi-Fi network.

BT will not need to degrade certain types of traffic on its network because enough bandwidth will be created, according to one of the key executives behind the telco's next-generation network.

Google has made its online payment service available to retailers in the UK.

Dell has launched two servers, one of which, the company claims, will offer substantial power saving.

Cisco has issued two sets of patches for vulnerabilities in its wireless networking software.

Microsoft has delayed an update to its current virtualisation software and the beta debut of its next-generation successor code-named Viridian.

Opera has added a "speed dial" feature to the latest version of its popular web browser, which it launched on Wednesday. The feature gives users a visual representation of their nine favourite sites through thumbnails, available in each tab.

A data centre crisis is brewing as energy supply and cooling technology struggle to keep pace with businesses' insatiable demand for computing power.

Yahoo, which has been criticized for providing information to the Chinese government that landed a journalist in prison for 10 years, is giving $1 million to Georgetown University to establish a fellowship fund to research the link between international values and Internet technologies.

Qualcomm rejected a $20 million payment from Nokia for royalties on patented Qualcomm technology.

Starting next year you won't be able to buy a new PC loaded with Windows XP, despite the lukewarm reception of Windows Vista.

Cybercrooks are using a yet-to-be-patched security flaw in certain Windows versions to attack computers running the operating systems, Microsoft warned late on Thursday.

In response to widespread chatter on blogs and forums, Microsoft has acknowledged the presence of hacks that may allow hackers to bypass the product activation security feature in its Windows Vista operating system.

Microsoft's Vista has improved security for Windows users, but "some of its choices still leave users vulnerable", writes David Marcus in McAfee's new biannual journal on security matters.

Microsoft disputes reports of new three flaws in its Office software, the company said today.

The amount of spam coming from China nosedived in 2007, says security vendor Sophos.

Microsoft says it has not changed wording at its Web site to more clearly explain "Windows Vista Capable" label for PCs.

Grisoft, maker of AVG Internet security tools, on Tuesday introduced AVG Anti-Rootkit. The new, free product detects and removes rootkits, malicious software used by cybercrooks to hide other nefarious software on PCs.

Software giant Microsoft said on Tuesday that it expects its China sales to rise more than 20 percent this year, boosted by new products and a national crackdown on unlicensed software.

The newly merged Nokia Siemens Networks is to collaborate with Pipex Wireless on its rollout of mobile WiMax in the UK.

Microsoft is showing some early signs of success with a version of Windows geared for a technical computing market that Linux dominates today.

Microsoft on Tuesday plans to push out a fix to repair problems caused by last week's emergency cursor flaw patch.

Search giant acknowledges error, revamps its Chinese character typing tool.

A weekend spam run tried to dupe recipients into downloading the infamous "Storm Trojan" by attaching files that posed as fake missile-strike videos.

Software updated, but Sohu.com still wants apology and compensation.

For those keeping an antitrust scorecard in the IT industry, it is increasingly difficult to keep track of all the players.

Analysis: Lawsuit's undisclosed settlement leaves uncertainty about how Google regards content rights.

Academics get a share of $1.1 million in grants to develop applications using Microsoft's Virtual Earth and SensorMap.

Microsoft is showing some early signs of success with a version of Windows geared for a technical computing market that Linux dominates today.

Study suggests reorganizing as a private, international entity like the Olympic Committee or a sports association.

Google comments on new tool but skips addressing allegations that it bears resemblance to a rival's product.

Google has quietly launched Google Voice Local Search, an experimental service that allows people to search for local businesses over the phone. There are no ads on the service, which is available only in the U.S. To use it people can dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone and search for a business by name or category and be connected to the business at no charge. Users can also get the search results and additional details over SMS if they are on a mobile phone.

Top google executives also the lowest paid--but stock holdings make them billionaires.

Following digital music pioneer Apple Inc.'s lead yet again, Microsoft Corp. said this week it will soon sell digital music online without digital rights management (DRM) protection.

Agence France-Presse has settled its 2-year-old lawsuit against Google that alleged copyright infringement.

Prototype tool lets users tailor searches by components from different sources.

The animated cursor vulnerability in Windows could also affect those using Firefox on Windows machines, according to one of the security researchers who discovered the flaw.

Companies have been warned not to rush into adopting virtualisation technology as hurrying could leave them at risk of security threats.

Some beta testers of Microsoft's updated Windows Live Hotmail find new storage capacity is erratic.

Microsoft said Thursday it has released an early version of a development kit that software makers can use to write programs for its Windows Home Server software, which is due out later this year. The beta version of the kit was posted Thursday to Microsoft's MSDN developer site.

An online petition set up by Microsoft to fast-track the standardisation of its Office Open XML document format masks Redmond's concern over the procedure, according to a leading open-source advocate.

VeriSign on Thursday said it that it will increase the fees it charges for Internet domains ending in .com or .net.

Solyndra, a somewhat secretive developer of solar cells made from copper indium gallium selenium, or CIGS, has raised $79 million, according to London-based clean tech industry analyst New Energy Finance. Investors include CMEA Ventures and Redpoint Ventures.

Researchers say they've found a fast way to break WEP protection on Wi-Fi networks.

AMD continues its battle with Intel over multicore processing power by shipping two 3GHz versions of its dual-core Opteron chip to server vendors.

Yahoo this week released an updated version of its instant messaging application to fix a vulnerability in the audio conferencing feature. If exploited, the security hole could give an attacker full control over a Windows computer running the vulnerable software, Yahoo said on its Web site. All versions of Yahoo Messenger downloaded before March 13 are affected, the company said.

reporter's notebook Mashups that overlay any kind of data on top of an online map are all the rage. But up until now I didn't know that even I, with no coding experience whatsoever, could make a customized map of my own. I did, and it took less than an hour. And it can even be found in the Google Maps index if I want it to.

Ecma International said on Monday that Office Open XML, the document format for the latest version of Microsoft Office, has moved to the next step in the standardization process at the International Organization for Standardization.

Major record companies are forcing Apple to curtail access to iTunes online stores across borders, leading to higher prices and less choice, the European Commission said Tuesday.

SAN JOSE, Calif--Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore wants a new generation of engineers to see climate crisis as an opportunity.

Analysts expect online advertising to beat previous estimates and overtake radio next year.

Firmware upgrade gives PlayStation Portable players access to T-Mobile US HotSpots.

Microsoft on Monday said that it is taking action against groups that sold copies of Windows and Office discounted for academic use to regular users.

Microsoft is loosening the reins on Vista licensing in an effort to let businesses try out some new computing possibilities, including "diskless" PCs.

The European Commission may have decided against imposing new rules on radio frequency identification tags for now, but a top official warned on Monday that regulations are likely if future uses of the technology don't protect fundamental privacy rights.

Accused by a Democrat in the US Congress of "airbrushing history", Google said it has now replaced pre-Hurricane Katrina satellite images of the Gulf Coast region with more recent aerial photographs.

After months of speculation, Google has officially jumped into the television business.

Vlip is a new video sharing community with a twist--it fancies itself an Internet soapbox.

ITV is reporting that the U.K.'s Home Secretary, John Reid, has made the shocking and momentous decision to ban Sony's PlayStation 3...in jails. Yes, that's right. The reasoning is that the high-end gaming console, which went on sale in the U.K. last week, could be used to send or receive radio signals with its built-in Wi-Fi and connectivity features.

Google has emerged along with Microsoft as a contender to buy DoubleClick, presenting competition that stands to increase the final sale price of the online-advertising company, people familiar with the situation said in The Wall Street Journal.

Despite being guaranteed to raise blood pressures in the US, the network neutrality debate has been slow to migrate across the Atlantic.

The overseer of the Internet's addressing system again rejects the creation of a ".xxx" top-level domain.