September, 2007 Issue

Looks like Google is acquiring Zingku, a site that offers a social network for mobile users. "We've entered into an agreement to have Google acquire our Zingku service," the site says.

Three days after ethical hacker Petko Petkov announced his discovery of a cross-site scripting vulnerability in Gmail, Google says it has fixed the problem.

A key Microsoft update which will let smartphone users read Office 2007 documents has been temporarily withdrawn.

Gmail can be easily hacked, allowing any past--and future e-mail messages--to be forwarded to the attacker's own in-box, a vulnerability researcher said Tuesday.

If you hacked your iPhone to run other applications or use it on other networks, the iPhone Dev Team wants you to wait before installing Apple's forthcoming software update.

Programmers who wrote free software that unlocks Apple's iPhone dispute the company's claim that their hacks can damage the device.

Rumors of Google's plans to create a virtual world that rivals that of Second Life have popped up once again over the weekend. The company could now be collaborating with Arizona State University to test the 3D social network, which may be tied into Google's current applications of Google Earth and Google Maps.

Google plans to build a fiber-optic cable under the Pacific Ocean to link its U.S. operations with Asia, according to a report in Communications Day.

Mozilla has revealed several security features planned for Firefox 3.0, the alpha 8 preview of which has just been released.

USB 3.0 should deliver more than ten times the speed of the existing USB 2.0 standard.

The hacker responsible for highlighting a number of recent security vulnerabilities has added PDF files to his list of ways to hack Windows PCs.

The long march to the release of Windows Server 2008, aka Longhorn Server, continued on Monday, as Microsoft Corp. announced that it is making the first Release Candidate version of the upcoming operating system available for public download.

A small group of testers is now putting Windows Vista Service Pack 1 through its paces.

WASHINGTON--As controversy rages over forthcoming federal Real ID requirements, state officials should be plotting public relations strategies to counteract the well-publicized rebellion, past and present state motor vehicle administrators advised their colleagues Monday.

Microsoft said Monday that it has finished a planned update to its Windows Home Server software, paving the way for Hewlett-Packard to finish its product based on the new operating system.

Paypal security chief Michael Barrett says that his company is slowly turning the tide against phishing.

First, federal regulators rejected a start-up's bid to gain exclusive access to unused radio spectrum in order to offer a partially free wireless broadband network.

Watch out Bill!

Google is launching AdSense for Mobile, which will allow marketers to place contextual ads on sites viewed via mobile devices. The company has been running mobile ads through its auction-based AdWords program since mid-2006. Now it will be automatically converting AdWords ads to text ads that will appear when someone accesses a participating Web site on a mobile device. The Web sites must be optimized for mobile browsers first.

Google has said it supports the ISO decision to reject Microsoft's Office Open XML spec as a standard.

The SCO Group has filed for bankruptcy protection, a month after essentially losing its lawsuit against rival Novell.

An executive backing Silicon Valley's wireless network expects test sites to be built this year.

A CNET News.com reader served as my personal tickler file this week, asking me if I knew when Yahoo Messenger for Windows Vista will be released.

Microsoft execs admit steep learning curve for new Internet protocol

After months talking about the notion of software plus services, Microsoft is apparently ready to get a bit more specific on the business side of things.

The Mozilla Foundation has released the first beta version, 8.0.0b1, of the revised Eudora email application since Qualcomm stopped developing it commercially and turned it over to the open-source community in 2006.

On 7 September, 1987, representatives from 13 countries sat around a table in Copenhagen and signed the Groupe Spécial Mobile memorandum of understanding. This committed them to work together to create and deploy a digital mobile-phone system across Europe. They hoped for maybe 20 million users by the end of the century; by the time 2000 arrived, they had quarter of a billion.

Microsoft, seeking to preserve the dominance of its Windows franchise, has launched a new software application that takes aim at VMware, the leader in virtualisation technology, which allows a single computer server to operate like many machines.

Nokia has released a security appliance for large businesses, building on work it has been carrying out with Intel and the security company Check Point.

Google is unlikely to launch a "Gphone" mobile device because it doesn't fit in with its business model, according to industry watchers.

Adobe Systems plans to release an upgrade of its Flash Media Server in the first quarter, the company said on Thursday.

The software giant says it will release five sets of security patches next Tuesday, including a critical update for users of Windows 2000.

Software giant releases first software designed specifically to manage virtual machines on a network.

Microsoft has failed in its attempt to have its Office Open XML document format fast-tracked straight to the status of an international standard by the International Organization for Standardization.

Redmond takes the fight to Adobe.

A security researcher has found a serious vulnerability in Bind (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) 8, forcing the software's maintainers to issue an advisory for users to upgrade to Bind 9.4, the latest version.

Sony and a technology site are using a conference to show off a confluence of next-generation, monopoly-bypassing technology: a Sony Playstation 3 videogame console running Linux and Firefox as a foundation for Web-based "Office 2.0" applications.

With new beta technology being releasing today, Microsoft is tying its Windows Live services directly to its Windows OS.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday that it is "not unreasonable" for the company to introduce a mobile phone combined with features of its Zune digital music player to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

Despite interminable delays to the forthcoming 802.11n wireless networking standard, there's a consensus it will finally materialise in March 2009. Meantime, it's being touted as a fix-all for Wi-Fi's various shortcomings.

Google may finally be preparing to re-launch wiki service Jotspot, nearly a year after it acquired the company. Jotspot has not allowed new customer registrations since the acquisition was announced, although existing customers retained access to their accounts.

Security firm Sunbelt, which recently discovered that the Bank of India's hacked website was serving dangerous malware, has said the infamous Russian Business Network — an ISP linked to child pornography and phishing — is behind the attack.

Dynamic RAM is enjoying a boost in mobile devices, which are hungry for small, cool, power-efficient chips.

It saddens me to think of all the ill advised people buying new computers running Windows Vista, when they could have chosen XP. As Mr. T was fond of saying back in the 1980s, I pity the fool.

An array of maturing technologies is poised to add a new dimension--geography--to the digital photography revolution.

Apple's iPhone could quickly find its way into businesses, with staff pushing employers to adopt the device, according to analyst house Butler Group.

A group of US state attorneys general said on Thursday that the consent decree that settled the landmark antitrust case against Microsoft has failed to reduce the company's monopoly, disagreeing with the assessment of US antitrust officials.

A Silicon Valley start-up that sought permission to build a "free, family-friendly" wireless Internet service on a stretch of unused radio spectrum has been shot down by federal regulators.

Articles from the AP, AFP, U.K. Press Association, and the Canadian Press will appear directly in Google News pages.

When last we left Microsoft's Windows Home Server software, it was off to manufacturing and we expected to see WHS-equipped hardware show up at our doorstep shortly thereafter. After a post on Microsoft's official Home Server blog, we get the company line as to why we haven't seen HP's MediaSmart Server yet. As follows:

Despite SunRocket's recent implosion, venture capitalists are hot to invest in voice over IP start-ups.