MySpace tries to root out sex offenders ... AMD shrinks desktop chips

HIGHLIGHTS
News: MySpace tries to root out sex offenders
News: Japanese rights holders send protest to YouTube
News: AMD shrinks desktop chips to 65-nm design
News: Toshiba develops 100GB 1.8-inch HDD
News: NEC launches tough laptop PC
Storage Tip: New e-discovery rules mean no more business as usual
ITwhirled: Google code search reveals hidden comment gems


NEWS UPDATES

MySpace tries to root out sex offenders
Stepping up efforts to keep sex offenders off MySpace.com, the popular social networking Web site has partnered with an online identity and background verification company to build a U.S. national sex offender database and dedicate staff to checking the database against MySpace profiles.

Japanese rights holders send protest to YouTube
A broad group of companies and associations covering most of the Japanese entertainment industry is calling on YouTube Inc. to be more proactive in policing its Web site for copyrighted material.

AMD shrinks desktop chips to 65-nm design
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) began selling its top chip for desktop PCs made with a 65-nanometer design on Tuesday, continuing its efforts to keep up with Intel Corp. as the industry migrates from 90-nm design to a faster, more efficient generation of processors.

Toshiba develops 100GB 1.8-inch HDD
Higher capacity music players and laptop computers could be on the way thanks to a new hard-disk drive from Toshiba Corp. that manages a 25 percent jump in storage space over current models.

NEC launches tough laptop PC
NEC Corp. launched its latest laptop PC on Tuesday with a splash. A bottle of water was poured over the computer while it was operating to demonstrate its toughness to harsh environmental conditions.

FCC chief pushes AT&T-BellSouth vote
Kevin Martin, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is trying to get the ball rolling toward a decision on AT&T Inc.'s proposed acquisition of BellSouth Corp.

OSDL refocuses efforts, loses CEO
Open Source Development Labs Inc., the nonprofit Linux development consortium, has laid off just under a third of its staff, with employee numbers in the U.S. and Asia falling from 28 to 19, along with the resignation of Stuart Cohen, the lab's high-profile chief executive officer.

SAP delivers first mySAP 2005 enhancements
SAP AG has delivered the first in a planned series of regular enhancements to the current version of its ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, as the vendor embarks on a new way to deliver ERP applications.

Novell to support Open XML in office suite in January
Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. have wasted little time in demonstrating there is real work being done as part of their recent Linux interoperability pact. Just a month after the historic deal between the companies, Novell said Monday it will support the proprietary document format in Microsoft Office 2007, Open XML, in its open-source version of the OpenOffice productivity suite by the end of January.

MySpace worm uses QuickTime for exploit
The social networking site MySpace.com is under what one computer security analyst calls an "amazingly virulent" attack caused by a worm that steals log-in credentials and spreads spam that promotes adware sites.


STORAGE TIP

New e-discovery rules mean no more business as usual
By David Hill, Mesabi Group

You may not have heard of the changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), but complying with them will have a significant impact on data and storage management. Why is this important? The FRCP rules govern discovery in civil litigation. Discovery means that you must provide legitimately requested company information to those who sue your company. FRCP Rule 26(a) clearly defines electronically stored information as discoverable.


ITWHIRLED

Google code search reveals hidden comment gems
Maybe you'll think twice next time about how you comment your code when you realize that it might end up on Google's code search. A Google open source specialist has found multiple instances of such gems as "you are not expected to understand this," "this shouldn't work," "your mother," and, of course, "windows sucks."