Panasonic recalls laptop batteries ... Microsoft nets phishing filter technology

Today's IT News Audio Update
IPod maker drops lawsuit against Chinese journalists ... MySpace tests music download service ... China's broadband market to overtake the U.S. next year

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Panasonic recalls laptop batteries in Japan
News: Microsoft nets phishing filter technology
News: No show for SanDisk MP3 players
News: Record sales highlight DRAM price rise
News: Google, sex keys to blogging success
ITwhirled: The Office Values

NEWS UPDATES

Panasonic recalls laptop batteries in Japan
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) is recalling several thousand laptop computer battery packs because mechanical problems with the pack's latch could lead to overheating of the battery.

Microsoft nets phishing filter technology
Microsoft Corp. is using data-mining techniques from a third party in its Internet browsers to guard against "phishing" attacks, where dubious Web sites try to harvest personal information from unknowing victims.

No show for SanDisk MP3 players
Music lovers hoping to see the latest MP3 music players from SanDisk Corp. at the IFA consumer electronics show in Germany will have to find an alternative venue outside the country. SanDisk was forced to remove the MP3 music players after an Italian patents company won a legal ruling in a local court.

Record sales highlight DRAM price rise
Some of Taiwan's DRAM makers have reported record monthly sales for August, highlighting an increase in DRAM prices that could continue in the months ahead.

Google, sex keys to blogging success in China
Two China-based bloggers have found the secret to generating more page views: sex sells, and Google helps readers find it.

Study: Apple iPod mobile may be sales challenge
Apple may be unwise to assume consumers want an iPod that is also a mobile phone, new research warns.

Symbian-to-PC worm on the loose
A worm that can move from a Symbian phone to a PC has been reported by security experts F-Secure.

DOS lives! Open source reinvents past
Twelve years after Microsoft announced it would stop development of DOS, an open source replacement -- FreeDOS -- has hit its 1.0 release.

Browzar no more than advertising platform
A new, free browser that claims it can safeguard privacy has been hit with accusations that it is really a platform for advertising and -- worse still -- is insecure.

ITWHIRLED

The Office Values
Microsoft is apparently pretty peeved that these internal spoof "training" videos, made by the team behind the original UK version of The Office, have found their way onto Google Video, but we don't know why. Doesn't the world's largest corporation, which has a somewhat sinister reputation, want to show its human side? At any rate, the videos, as fans of Ricky Gervais will guess, are hilarious.