HP extends deadline for Mercury acquisition ... Microsoft's Zune to ship before year-end

Today's IT News Audio Update
Microsoft to ship Zune player before year-end ... China's BLX to offer 1GHz Godson-2 processor ... Nintendo gets ready to ship Wii console

HIGHLIGHTS

News: HP extends deadline for Mercury acquisition
News: Code posted for new IE attack
News: Adobe Q3 income feels Macromedia hit
News: Microsoft Zune device to ship in time for Christmas
Opinion: If 80 gigs is enough, then...
ITwhirled: Geek comic of the week: Diesel Sweeties

NEWS UPDATES

HP extends deadline for Mercury acquisition
Hewlett-Packard Co. has extended the deadline for Mercury Interactive Corp. shareholders to tender their shares in favor of the companies' proposed US$4.5 billion merger.

Code posted for new IE attack
Hackers have discovered a new vulnerability in Internet Explorer, and they've released code that could be used to attack users of Microsoft Corp.'s popular browser.

Adobe Q3 income feels Macromedia hit
Adobe has reported its financial results for the third quarter ended Sept. 1, 2006, reflecting some financial impact following its December purchase of Macromedia.

Microsoft Zune device to ship in time for Christmas
The first Microsoft Corp. Zune products will hit U.S. retailers in time for the busy Christmas holiday season, with a 30G-byte digital media player and a Zune Marketplace online service the first to reach consumers, Microsoft said Thursday.

U.S. urges European regulators to lay off Apple DRM
A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official has joined the debate surrounding Apple Computer Inc.'s proprietary digital music technology by criticizing European antitrust activities, but groups attacking Apple are defending their actions.

Former Novell head Messman quits board early
Novell Inc.'s former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jack Messman, who was ousted from those positions in June, has quit the company's board of directors a month and a half earlier than had been previously announced.

OPINION

If 80 gigs is enough, then...
By Sean McGrath

I have an 80 gigabyte hard disk in my laptop and, for the first time in my career in computing, I am having difficulty filling it up with stuff that I need to do my job. Sure I can fill it with lots of audio and lots of video (given enough bandwidth and patience) but to be honest, the amount of multimedia stuff I need for my day job is limited to some podcasts and the occasional product demo video.


ITWHIRLED

Geek comic of the week: Diesel Sweeties
This very popular Web comic has a distinctive visual style, in which all characters are built out of very large pixels -- perhaps appropriate for a strip in which many characters are robots. Clango, the main character, has philosophical discussions and a surprising number of emotional exchanges with his mechanical and human friends. There's even robot-human romance in the air (leading Clango to coin the phrase "Irrational flesh-thing! Why must I love you?"). Diesel Sweeties will begin to appear in newspapers in early 2007 -- it will be interesting to see if it can make the transition.

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