March, 2008 Issue

Travellers flying with British Airways and other oneworld alliance airlines will soon be able to access wireless broadband for free in UK airport lounges.

Teens, unfamiliar with safety levels, underestimate their own exposure, studies show.

A wireless device Microsoft submitted for FCC "white spaces" testing has unexpectedly shut down and was withdrawn.

Google made an environmental gesture today by turning the lights out on the U.S. version of its search page. The black background doesn't save energy, but it's Google's way of observing Earth Hour. The global event, created by the World Wildlife Fund, encourages people around the world to turn off their lights at 8:00 PM today, March 29, for an hour.

Guest post: Editor's note: Music attorney Chris Castle is all for finding a way to boost the music industry out of its current nosedive. But bundling music charges into ISP bills is not the way to go, he says.

A million search queries have been "poisoned," at dozens of well-known Web sites over the past several weeks, according to security analyst Dancho Danchev.

Two security flaws have been found in the Windows version of Apple's Safari browser, which was released just over a week ago.

SAN FRANCISCO--When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was 16 years old, he downloaded his first copy of open-source database software MySQL, according to MySQL leader Marten Mickos.

SAN FRANCISCO--On the eve of this country's presidential election, here's a question I'd like to pose to the remaining three candidates: what would you do if other governments begin snubbing U.S. companies because of nationalistic reasons? In particular, one big software vendor comes to mind.

Google on Monday unveiled plans for a new generation of wireless devices to operate on soon-to-be-vacant US television airwaves, and sought to alleviate fears that this might interfere with TV broadcasts or wireless microphones.

Mozilla chief executive John Lilly has hit out at Apple, accusing the company of doing a disservice to Windows users everywhere by including its Safari browser as a default add-on installation in the latest iTunes update, likening the practice to the way malware is distributed.

If you're sitting on a coffee shop patio with your laptop, and you find out later that you happen to be accessing the Wi-Fi from the attorney's office upstairs by accident, should you go to prison? A Maryland legislator says no, but his bill is facing opposition.

Now that Google has acquired DoubleClick--the display advertising feather in its proverbial cap--it's time to see if the hat fits.

William Long at Moonlight Blog reports that YouTube is again accessible from his connection in China. I'm in Osaka, but a friend in Beijing, who prefers to be identified as "Hot Mama in Beijing," confirms.

When Microsoft's Brian Goldfarb talks about Silverlight, he is usually having one of two types of conversations.

Network Solutions has suspended a Web site that a Dutch lawmaker was using to promote a yet-to-be-released film critical of Islam.

Received this today and it certainly got my attention:

BOSTON (Reuters) - A new version of Mozilla's popular Firefox Web browser is ready for download with improved security and memory use as the tiny company takes a stab at Microsoft Corp's dominant Internet Explorer.

Microsoft confirmed Friday that it has started testing for a product code-named "Albany" but would not offer further details on the product, which may or may not be its ad-funded version of Works.

Microsoft is looking to an expensive new consumer advertising campaign to help improve its image.

Google is planning a conference call with journalists on Monday to discuss a company filing with the FCC regarding the use of unused portions of the TV spectrum band, known as white spaces.

Microsoft's Office suite could have plausible challenger on the desktop for the first time since Lotus gave up trying to take on Redmond a decade ago.

Adobe is attempting to allay fears over the security of video created for its Flash technology by releasing new content-protection server software to guard against misuse.

Google's share of the global web-search market dipped in February from January, even as its US share rose, internet financial analysts said on Wednesday, citing market-research data.

Apple has released the first version of its browser, Safari, for the Windows operating system.

Intel achieves this extraordinary range using off-the-shelf hardware, including parabolic antennas.

The Web site for a company whose e-voting machines have come under fire from election officials in New Jersey, apparently was hacked.

The Bureau of Indian Standards has decided to vote against recommending Office Open XML as an ISO standard.

Yahoo hopes to reinforce its contention that the company is worth much more than Microsoft has offered to pay for it.

Motorola is working on wireless handsets that connect to Wi-Fi and cellular networks and hand off calls between the two.

Google, the world's leading search engine, said on Monday it was concerned about the free flow of information on the internet if Microsoft were to succeed in acquiring Yahoo.

London has shored up its status as Wi-Fi capital of the world with usage soaring 156 percent and the average session time lasting 72 minutes.

So, when is Windows Vista Service Pack 1 coming out?

Earlier last week, we broke news of the thaw in merger negotiations between Yahoo and Microsoft. If two sides ultimately decide to tie the knot, get ready for months--maybe years--of furious debate about the wisdom of this deal. But the latest rumblings concerning Flickr speaks volumes about the problems Microsoft may be about to inherit.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese companies plan to cut off the Internet connection of anyone who illegally downloads files in one of the world's toughest measures against online piracy, a report said Saturday.

Microsoft Plans to Buy Web Advertising Analysis Company Rapt Inc.

Call of Duty 4 is a squad based tactical first person shooter. Unlike all previous installments of the series, CoD4 is set in the present day making full use of all the nifty gizmos and gadgets available to the modern combat specialist. Players alternate controlling a flashy, guns-blazing US Marine and a stealthy, ninja-like SAS while trying to regain possession of terrorist-controlled nuclear weapons. A typical level involves mowing down waves of enemies rushing at your team while attempting to dislodge entrenched enemies giving suppressive fire. In addition to the “normal” FPS style levels you are given a curveballs including an entire level where you control the gunner position in an AC-130 Gunship helicopter. Three to four dozen characters both friendly and enemy can be involved in just one fire-fight. Unfortunately this large number of active participants swiftly develops into absolute chaos as teammates run across your line of fire as you are attempting to put down cover fire for those same teammates. This is more of an issue as firing on a squadmate can instantly end the mission.

Says Vista's successor still in planning

Just hours after the BBC said it had fixed the iPlayer streamed TV service to prevent DRM-free file downloads, a London-based programmer has bypassed the new protection.

China has surpassed the US to become the world's largest internet market by number of users, a research firm said on Thursday.

Motorola has rejected allegations that it broke any local laws pertaining to its reinvestment plans and involvement in a government contract in the Malaysian state of Penang.

Time Warner's AOL internet division will buy social network Bebo for $850m (£418m) in cash, bolstering its consumer web offerings even as the media conglomerate mulls splitting off the business.

YouTube has released application programming interfaces allowing its content to be embedded into other websites, desktop applications, video games and mobile devices.

Google is stepping up its efforts to engage developers, with a two-day workshop called "Google I/O: Web Forward", scheduled for 28 to 29 May at the Moscone Centre in San Francisco.

Microsoft said on Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire virtualisation technology firm Kidaro for an undisclosed sum.

The U.S. drives away the world's best engineers and computer scientists by putting limits on H-1B visas, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told U.S. lawmakers.

Short-sighted staffing decisions could be damaging the future development of the UK technology industry, the body representing IT recruiters has claimed.

Google is testing a new service called Ad Manager that will give Web site publishers more control over their ad sales and ad serving, The Wall Street Journal reported late on Wednesday.

Three times faster than IE7

Google's YouTube just announced that it is expanding its API to allow more direct access to the service. The updates to the API allow developers deeper access into YouTube for video uploading, and allow "chromeless" players, or players without the traditional YouTube interface and branding associated with it.

Online auction site eBay has hit out at the lack of interest in cybercrime enforcement in countries including Romania, warning that not enough is being done to stop fraudsters targeting auction sites.

Motorola announced the "immediate" departure of the head of its troubled mobile-devices division on Friday, a day after confirming that its marketing chief was no longer with the company.

Rupert Murdoch said on Monday that News Corp would not get into a fight with Microsoft over Yahoo, confirming what most industry and Wall Street observers suspected.

Are Wi-Fi hot spots going the way of public telephone booths?

A shareholder of Take-Two Interactive Software has sued the company for rejecting Electronic Arts' $2 billion takeover bid, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday (subscription required to read entire article).

The fourth beta of the Firefox 3.0 browser was released Monday and includes more than 900 enhancements over the previous beta, Mozilla announced.

US AIRPORT security is causing a headache for Macheads who try to fly with their ironically titled Macbook Air laptops.

Four decades ago, Paul McCartney told us that all you need is love. Reportedly near the conclusion of an expensive divorce proceeding, apparently the former Beatle could also use some cash.

AOL is getting a lot of credit for "opening" its ubiquitous AIM instant messaging software "to open source." However, like Microsoft did recently by revealing documentation to its APIs and protocols, all AOL has done is open access to its OSCAR protocols necessary to create open-source implementations.

The other day I heard a radio commercial claim that more than half of all health-related Web sites are fronts for law firms trolling for potential malpractice-suit clients. I immediately doubted the ad's claim. First, it didn't cite a source for the high percentage of illegitimate health sites it stated. Second, it was an ad itself (for a law firm trolling for potential malpractice-suit clients, of all things). And third, it glossed over the actual name of the firm, but repeated its toll-free number over and over.

Print and Web publisher Ziff Davis Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, citing declining advertising revenue and subscriptions as contributing factors, according an Associated Press report Wednesday.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has claimed that more efficient use of IT is one of the company's main priorities for the future despite the fact the company has been widely criticised for producing processor-hungry software.

Microsoft asked software developers to "bet on us" as it began making test versions available of Internet Explorer 8, an upgraded version of the main software used to browse the web.

Biometric technology has slashed the time taken to process visas for people coming to the UK, the government has said.

Yahoo has extended a deadline to nominate board directors, buying the company time to pursue alternatives to Microsoft's $41.7bn offer, while giving Yahoo room to negotiate a friendly deal with Microsoft.

Microsoft still considers its takeover offer for Yahoo, currently valued at about $40.9bn (£20.6bn), to be reasonable despite Yahoo's rejection of the bid, Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer said.

REDMOND, Wash.--Microsoft showed off two social-networking projects at TechFest on Tuesday that show that the company wants to do more in this area than just invest in Facebook.

Imagine searching inside Wikipedia or Amazon.com, but on the Google search site.

Microsoft is to augment its virtualisation platform to enable IT managers to manage other vendor environments, according to Microsoft chief operations officer Kevin Turner.

Server virtualisation is over-hyped and less used than reported, according to Microsoft executives speaking at the launch of Windows Server 2008.

An 'Important Update' arrived last night via Windows Update on my Vista PC. I'm running the RC1 of Vista Service Pack 1, and since installing that I've not received any other 'Important' updates so I investigated further. The update is described in the MS Knowledge Base article 940510 and is an update that's intended to weed out illegal or cracked installations of Vista.

With Google beefing up its app business, we've been wondering when Microsoft would respond. We've been reporting on Microsoft's intention to support a mix of Web-based services and on-premise software. Now Nick Carr has word that the news may come down quite soon.