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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The ITwhirled weekly alert covers the best in weird news, geek comics, gadgets, and all manner of offbeat items from the world of IT and beyond. Sign up today and enter our T-shirt drawing.

Microsoft tries to dazzle E.U. with Vista benefits ... Intel, Siemens team on enterprise VOIP

Today's IT News Audio Update
Microsoft touts positive impact of Vista on European economy ... Vista peripherals launched ... Mobile phones to get better TV screens


HIGHLIGHTS

News: Microsoft tries to dazzle E.U. with Vista benefits
News: Intel, Siemens team on secure VOIP for enterprises
News: Yahoo, Acer ink home page, search engine pact
News: State says it has evidence to charge HP officials
Opinion: Outsourcing the middleware layer
ITwhirled: The greatest software ever


NEWS UPDATES

Microsoft tries to dazzle E.U. with Vista benefits
Microsoft Corp. tried to dazzle the antitrust regulators in Brussels on Thursday with new research that illustrates how immense the effect of Windows Vista will be next year on Europe's IT industry and the broader economy.

Intel, Siemens team on secure VOIP for enterprises
Intel Corp. and Siemens AG have agreed to collaborate in the development of new enterprise communication systems using VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) technology.

Yahoo, Acer ink home page, search engine pact
Yahoo Inc. reached a deal for prime real estate on all Acer Inc. PCs shipped globally, with a cobranded toolbar, home page and search engine, the companies said Wednesday.

State says it has evidence to charge HP officials
A day after Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) chairman Patricia Dunn promised to step down for her role in a spy scandal, the state of California is continuing to investigate the actions of HP officials and the private investigators they used.

Microsoft takes third shot at buggy security patch
Microsoft Corp. just can't seem to shake problems with its MS06-042 update for Internet Explorer. On Tuesday, Microsoft was forced to release its third version of the update because of a new security bug discovered in the update, according to Tony Chor, a group program manager with Microsoft.

Sun, Accenture back as best buddies after a lull
Sun Microsystems Inc. views global management consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture Ltd. as one of its most important and "indispensable" partners, according to Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's president and chief executive officer.

McData bundles three storage products into one
McData has bundled three separate SAN management products into one, called Enterprise Fabric Connection Manager (EFCM) 9.0, but previously known as EFCM, SANpilot and SANavigator.


OPINION

Outsourcing the middleware layer
By Sean McGrath

Apparently (I am too young to remember) photocopier machines were greeted with suspicion in some quarters when they were first introduced. How can you know that the machine has made a perfect copy of your vital document? I'm told by someone who remembers those days that he used to proof read the copies coming off the photocopier to check for accuracy.

This sounds silly now, which isn't to say that mechanical copying no longer needs to be done with care. Rather, we are now comfortable with the idea that all we need is a quick visual inspection of the photocopied page to see if it is all there. Once we have that, we do not need to inspect the individual letters to know we have a good copy. We trust the photocopier.


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
10 best movie cars ... Greatest software ever ... The 10 best mars images ever ... The 10 most beautiful places in America ... The top ten OS X screensavers

The hard disk drive turns 50 ... HP insiders could face charges

Today's IT News Audio Update
HP insiders could face charges, California's AG says ... Business Objects buys ALG ... EC warns Microsoft on bundling security tools


HIGHLIGHTS

News: The hard disk drive turns 50
News: IBM puts its first Cell computer on sale
News: Business Objects to buy ALG Software
News: Sun, IBM launch tape encryption technology
Opinion: Deploy on your schedule, not Microsoft's Auto-Update schedule
ITwhirled: Telephone psychics scientifically proven


NEWS UPDATES

The hard disk drive turns 50
Inside the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, sits an odd-looking, refrigerator-sized contraption that could have been created by an out-of-control set designer for "Lost in Space."

IBM puts its first Cell computer on sale
IBM Corp. has started selling the first computer based on its multicore Cell processor, targeting organizations that run compute-intensive tasks like medical imaging or oil exploration.

Business Objects to buy ALG Software
Business Objects SA is stepping up its efforts in the area of corporate performance management software with an acquisition and the integration of some existing applications with its business intelligence suite.

Sun, IBM launch tape encryption technology
Sun Microsystems Inc. and IBM Corp. are both introducing data tape encryption technology this week, protecting against a security breach that can endanger or embarrass an enterprise.

Salesforce.com highlights analytics in next release
Salesforce.com Inc. is drawing particular attention to the analytics customization capabilities it plans to offer in the next version of its hosted CRM (customer relationship management) software, known as Salesforce Winter '07.

Sun, Accenture team up on identity-enabled SOA
Sun Microsystems Inc. and global management consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture Ltd. are expanding their existing relationship to cover joint development work around identity-enabling, service-oriented architecture (SOA) and composite applications.

Skype launches video calling between Macs and PCs
With the latest beta of Skype for the Macintosh, released on Wednesday, Skype hopes to help bridge the barrier between Macs and PCs for video calling.

Apple offers cheaper, brighter, bigger iPods
Apple updated its iPod range Tuesday, introducing larger capacities, brighter screens and lower prices across the range.


OPINION

Deploy on your schedule, not Microsoft's Auto-Update schedule
By Joel Shore

There are probably as many holes in Windows' and Internet Explorer's security infrastructure than there once were in the poorly maintained roads of legend in Blackburn, Lancashire (4,000, according to a 1967 U.K. Daily Mail news story famously paraphrased by John Lennon).

One of the things I like about Windows XP is its ability to heal thyself, using Auto Update to download and apply patches to fill those holes as Microsoft deems necessary. Unfortunately, it needs to do that way too often. That is very likely to become a problem when Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 7.


ITWHIRLED

Telephone psychics scientifically proven
A researcher at the University of Cambridge (yes, that Cambridge) believes he has proven that people do, in fact, have the ability to guess who might be phoning them. And, yes, it works for e-mail too.

HP's Dunn steps down amid spying scandal ... Microsoft's new search engine exits beta

Today's IT News Audio Update
HP's Dunn steps down amid spying scandal ... EC expands Intel investigation ... Red Hat offers beta of Linux server OS with Xen

HIGHLIGHTS

News: HP's Dunn to step down in January
News: HP's head of global operations to leave next month
News: Microsoft's new search engine exits beta
News: Juniper, Symantec partner on enterprise security
Tip: Accept no imitation when shopping for an information lifecycle management solution
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: eBay 101

NEWS UPDATES

HP's Dunn to step down in January
Patricia Dunn, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s embattled chairman, will be relieved of those duties after the board's Jan. 18, 2007, meeting, but will continue as a director.

HP's head of global operations to leave next month
Hewlett-Packard Co.'s executive vice president of global operations, Gilles Bouchard, will leave the company at the end of October. The news came Tuesday immediately before HP announced that Chairman Patricia Dunn will step down.

Microsoft's new search engine exits beta
Microsoft Corp. is removing the beta, or test, tag from Live Search, its next-generation search engine, and making it the underlying search tool at its MSN.com portal.

Juniper, Symantec partner on enterprise security
Juniper Networks Inc. and Symantec Corp. will jointly work on unified threat management (UTM) and intrusion detection and prevention (IDP) products, and in the long term will extend their partnership to antivirus and threat detection.

EMC plans new Web content management tool
Storage giant EMC Corp. plans another foray into Web content management with the upcoming launch of a tool to handle content layout as well as management.

Red Hat users invited to test RHEL 5
Red Hat Inc. has pushed out the first public beta of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, an upgrade to its operating system that includes virtualization technologies intended to help companies get more use from their hardware.

U.S. defense department builds world's biggest SAN
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is creating the world's largest storage network by combining a number of separate networks into a gigantic 17,000-port Meta SAN monster.

Grids help eBay do big business
A massive computing grid helps eBay Inc. make changes to its auction Web site on the fly while maintaining a 99.94 percent up time, said Paul Strong, a distinguished research scientist there.

TIP

Accept no imitation when shopping for an information lifecycle management solution
By David Hill, Mesabi Group

Do not accept any simple substitutes or imitations that work only on blocks when searching for an information lifecycle management solution.

ITWHIRLED

eBay 101
Always wanted to learn how to become an eBay mogul? If you attend the UK's University of Northampton, you can take a class on it.

DOJ asks about HP spying allegations

HIGHLIGHTS

News: DOJ asking about HP spying allegations
News: McAfee apologizes for bugs in Falcon roll out
News: Dell may have to restate earnings
News: Next generation supercomputers face disk failure
Tip: Six sensible steps to keep disaster recovery real


NEWS UPDATES

DOJ asking about HP spying allegations
HP acknowledged in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday that it is cooperating with an inquiry by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California into possibly illegal tactics used by investigators hired by HP to investigate news leaks from the company's board members.

McAfee apologizes for bugs in Falcon roll out
In an e-mail sent to some users last week, McAfee Executive Vice President Bill Kerrigan acknowledged that there had been glitches in the roll out of the company's new line of client protection software, released last month. "We would like to extend our sincere apologies to anyone who may have had problems with their computers due to the upgrade," he wrote.

Dell may have to restate earnings
Dell Inc. has delayed filing its quarterly earnings report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and may have to restate past earnings statements, the company said Monday.

Next generation supercomputers face disk failure
The next generation of supercomputers could be crippled by hard drive failures every few minutes, the U.S. Department of Energy has warned, and so it is funding a Petascale Data Storage Institute to solve the problem.


TIP

Six sensible steps to keep disaster recovery real
Most companies shouldn't have to replicate every piece of data to protect their business from the next cataclysmic event. Nor should they necessarily have to cough up millions for a mirror site that traces every network transaction. And let's face it, catastrophes are extremely rare. Be that as it may, enterprises are increasingly being held accountable for their data and prudence points to being prepared. Three experts weigh in on the most commonly overlooked elements in today's disaster recovery plans. Just in case.

Toshiba, Memory-Tech develop 3-layer DVD, HD DVD disc ... No decision at Sunday HP board meeting

Today's IT News Audio Update
HP board doesn't reach decision at Sunday meeting ... Software pirate sentenced to 87 months in prison ... NEC in talks to sell Packard Bell PC division


HIGHLIGHTS
News: Prototype 3-layer DVD, HD DVD disc developed
News: Storage software market grows without EMC, says IDC
News: No decision at Sunday HP board meeting
News: E.U. expands Intel probe
Feature: Skype slips into business
Windows Tip: Remotely changing the default script host
ITwhirled: What hath Wiki wrought?


NEWS UPDATES

Prototype 3-layer DVD, HD DVD disc developed
A three-layer optical disc developed by Toshiba Corp. and Memory-Tech Corp. can be read by both DVD and HD DVD players, making it possible for movie companies to package both a standard definition and high-definition version of the same movie on a single disc.

Storage software market grows without EMC, says IDC
EMC Corp. and Symantec Corp. missed out on a boom in storage software sales in the second quarter, according to research by IDC. While the worldwide market for storage software grew 8.6 percent from a year earlier, to $2.5 billion, revenue from storage software dropped 3.2 percent at EMC and slipped 1.8 percent at Symantec Corp.

No decision at Sunday HP board meeting
Hewlett-Packard Co.'s board of directors took no action at a special Sunday meeting and will reconvene late Monday to continue discussions about the scandal that has occupied the company over the past week.

E.U. expands Intel probe
The European Commission has expanded an ongoing antitrust probe of computer chip maker Intel Corp. to examine claims that the company has been pressuring the Continent's largest computer retail chain not to sell computers containing chips made by archrival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd confirmed Monday.

WebMethods makes Infravio its second recent SOA buy
Business integration suite vendor WebMethods Inc. is on the acquisition trail again, this time looking to pick up expertise in SOA (service-oriented architecture) governance through the planned purchase of Infravio Inc.

E.U. and U.S. still haggling over passenger data sharing
European and U.S. security officials were locked in talks in Brussels Monday to replace a passenger data sharing agreement that was outlawed by a European court in May.

Record number of phishing sites seen for July
Cybercriminals created a record number of phishing Web sites in July and also hijacked a record number of brands to help them do their work, a consortium that monitors online fraud said Monday.

NEC selling off Packard Bell
NEC Corp. executives are negotiating the sale of the company's Packard Bell division, reportedly to eMachines founder Lap Shun "John" Hui. The move would leave NEC without a consumer PC brand, while it continues to supply the European professional market with NEC-branded computers.


FEATURE

Skype slips into business
Two years ago, Mark Ehr and a few co-workers began using Skype Ltd. to communicate between Proxima Technology's Denver headquarters and its offices in Sydney, Australia, and Windsor, England. Soon, top executives began using Skype for internal calls. "That set the tone for the rest of the company," Ehr says, and today Skype is the primary means of making intracompany calls at Proxima. Skype has also allowed Proxima to put off a planned migration to an internal VOIP telephony system.


TIP

Remotely changing the default script host
By Mitch Tulloch, MTIT Enterprises

By default, Windows computers have Wscript.exe configured as their default script host instead of Cscript. The difference between these two script hosts is mainly evident when your script generates some kind of output. For example, if Wscript.exe is your default host, then your script output is windowed and is displayed as a series of popup dialog boxes. But if Cscript.exe is your default host, then your script output is displayed within the command prompt window in which your script is running.

Now if you are an enterprise admin who has started developing your logon scripts using VBScript (.vbs files) instead of the old batch language (.bat files) you must pay attention to this matter of which default script host is configured on your users' computers. For example, say you write the following simple logon script that maps a drive....

Read the full article here


ITWHIRLED

What hath Wiki wrought?
When Jimbo Wales founded Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, he probably never imagined this: rival Milwaukee-based ferry services vandalizing each others Wikipedia entries in an attempt to woo customers.