Pirates work around Vista's activation feature ... HP settles civil lawsuit over spying

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Security hole found in Windows Media Player
News: Oracle increases i-Flex offer
News: Pirates work around Vista's activation feature
News: HP settles civil lawsuit over spying
Opinion: Two radically different approaches to enterprise application software
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Geek Comic of the Week: Webcomic Crossover & Cameo Archive


NEWS UPDATES

Security hole found in Windows Media Player
Users are being advised to disable a certain type of file in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Player software following the discovery of a new security hole in the software.

Oracle increases i-Flex offer
Oracle Corp. has increased the price it is willing to pay for an additional stake in i-flex solutions Ltd., a vendor of financial software in Mumbai, India.

Pirates work around Vista's activation feature
Hackers are distributing a file that they say lets users of the corporate version of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista operating system get around the software's anti-piracy mechanisms.

HP settles civil lawsuit over spying
HP has agreed to a $14.5 million settlement in the California civil lawsuit related to the company's spying scandal. Under terms of the settlement with the California attorney general, HP will pay $13.5 million to create a "Privacy and Piracy Fund" for law enforcement activities related to privacy and intellectual property rights operated in the state Attorney General's Office.

Microsoft readies Windows, Visual Studio security fixes
Microsoft Corp. plans to patch its Windows and Visual Studio products next week, but it does not have a fix in the works for a widely publicized flaw in Word, which hackers are reportedly exploiting in targeted attacks.

Microsoft's Office Open XML format becomes a standard
ECMA's General Assembly voted by 20-1 in favor of Microsoft's Office Open XML document format at a meeting in Zurich on Thursday afternoon, and will now submit the format to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for its approval. The vote against came from a representative of IBM Corp.

IBM accuses mainframe company of patent infringement
IBM Corp. says a Sunnyvale, California, company has infringed its patents by creating computers that allow customers to run IBM's System z operating systems and software on mainframes from other vendors.

MySQL, Open-Xchange announce partnership
Open-source players MySQL AB and Open-Xchange Inc. announced a partnership and support agreement Thursday to optimize the interaction between MySQL databases and Open-Xchange groupware functions. Open-Xchange customers won't have to pay extra for product support for MySQL, they said.

Microsoft: 1 million Zune sales by June 2007
Microsoft Corp. has predicted it will sell 1 million Zune devices in its first six months, a figure that would be more than Zune's chief rival iPod sold in its first 14 months but a relatively slow start for the much-hyped MP3 device.

FTC launches program for victims of ChoicePoint breach
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has begun mailing claim forms to more than 1,400 identity theft victims who spent money to clear up identity-theft problems due to a security breach at data broker ChoicePoint Inc. announced in early 2005.


OPINION

Two radically different approaches to enterprise application software
By Sean McGrath

Nothing stays still for long in this business. Every day (or so it
seems) there is some new technological innovation that changes the
business environment. Competitive forces move and shape-shift all the
time. To keep up, you develop/deploy your own technologies that in
turn may change the business environment in which you operate. Around
and around the cycles of change we go...


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
HP will pay $14.5 million to resolve a civil suit in its spying scandal ... Microsoft confirmed a new security flaw in Windows Media Player ... Oracle increased its bid for i-flex solutions


ITWHIRLED

Geek Comic of the Week: Webcomic Crossover & Cameo Archive
Do you ever get the feeling that Web comics are one big running in-joke? Check out this exhaustive list of crossovers and cameos between different Web comics characters and artists.

Google to host e-mail, build portal for BSkyB ... Nintendo investigates flying Wii controllers

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Google to host e-mail, build portal for BSkyB
News: Orange lets mobile users access PC content
News: Nintendo investigates flying Wii controllers
News: Police raid IBM's Moscow office
Opinion: The virtual taxman
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: The iPhone already arrived -- in 1995!


NEWS UPDATES

Google to host e-mail, build portal for BSkyB
Broadcaster and Internet service provider British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (BSkyB) has asked Google Inc. to host e-mail and other services for its broadband customers in the U.K. Their collaboration could also lead to the creation of targeted TV ads.

Orange lets mobile users access PC content
France Télécom SA, the parent company of mobile phone operator Orange, is offering a service that lets mobile phone users access videos, music and other content from their PCs.

Nintendo investigates flying Wii controllers
Nintendo Co. Ltd. is taking a close look at the wrist-strap on the controller for its Wii console after several reports on the Internet about straps breaking, causing the controller to fly out of the hands of users, its president said Thursday.

Police raid IBM's Moscow office
Speaking Thursday, IBM spokesman Jonathan Batty confirmed that the raid had taken place. However, he wouldn't say if the authorities seized documents or computer equipment.

Elpida, Powerchip to invest $13.9B in DRAM venture
Japanese memory chip maker Elpida Memory Inc. and Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. have announced a broad plan to invest US$13.9 billion over five years to build four new DRAM factories in Taiwan.

Access charges Palm $44 million for Palm OS license
Access Co. Ltd., the Japanese company that purchased PalmSource Inc. last year, has sold a perpetual license for the Palm OS to PDA-maker Palm Inc. for US$44 million, the companies said Wednesday.

Microsoft's 'Blue Dragon' debuts for Xbox 360
"Blue Dragon," one of two eagerly awaited role-playing games for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 games console, made its worldwide debut in Japan on Thursday.

YouTube 'reviewing' Japanese protest
Google Inc.'s YouTube is "reviewing" a letter sent to it on Monday by the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) and 22 others, calling on the operator of the popular Web site to do more to prevent users uploading copyrighted content.

Former telecom firm owner indicted on E-Rate fraud
The former president and owner of ATE Tel Solutions Inc. has been indicted and charged with defrauding a U.S. government program intended to help schools and libraries in poor areas connect to the Internet.


OPINION

The virtual taxman
By Dan Blacharski

I don't play online games, but a lot of people enjoy them. There are
virtual communities, entire virtual lives, filled with people who have
virtual jobs and even make virtual money. I can't imagine what it
would be like to have a virtual life—the real thing is hard enough—but
I suppose it could have advantages. Wouldn't it be great if, in real
life, when you screwed up something, you could just reboot and start
over? No such luck. But one real-life government agency wants in on
the virtual action, and it seems that a virtual taxman is going to be
taking a cut.

Read the full article here.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Nintendo investigated flying Wii controllers ... Elpida and Powerchip Semi invest $14 billion in DRAM plants ... NTT Docomo and Mitsubishi to replace 1.3 million batteries


ITWHIRLED

The iPhone already arrived -- in 1995!
Apple mobile phones and tablet computers are like the Loch Ness Monster to the Mac rumors community -- often whispered about, never seen in stores. But both of these products, and some even odder ones (like the "Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone") were produced by Apple in prototype form more than a decade ago.

ATI loses ground after AMD purchase ... Yahoo reorganizes, COO to leave

HIGHLIGHTS

News: ATI loses ground in graphics after AMD purchase
News: Wii sold estimated 372,000 units at launch in Japan
News: Yahoo reorganizes into three groups, COO to leave
News: Microsoft warns of new Word attack
Tip: Sharing DVD drives
GottaGadget: What's your biggest gadget secret?
ITwhirled: Star Wars Kid gets more downloads than Paris Hilton


NEWS UPDATES

ATI loses ground in graphics after AMD purchase
ATI Technologies Inc. lost ground in every major graphics product category during the third quarter, and its acquisition by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is likely to blame, according to Jon Peddie Research.

Wii sold estimated 372,000 units at launch in Japan
Sales of Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii games console hit 372,000 units over its first two days on the market, according to figures from Enterbrain Inc.

Yahoo reorganizes into three groups, COO to leave
Yahoo Inc. will reorganize into three new units, as part of a shake-up that will see Chief Operating Officer Dan Rosensweig leave the company, Yahoo said Tuesday.

Microsoft warns of new Word attack
Microsoft Corp. warned Tuesday of a new, unpatched memory corruption error in its word-processing software, and said that it was investigating reports of "limited" attacks that exploit the problem.

Dell, Microsoft collaborate on storage tech
Dell Inc. and Microsoft Corp. rolled out a new storage system on Wednesday for file and application data that integrates hardware and software from both vendors. The system pairs Dell's PowerVault NX1950, a serial-attached SCSI (SAS) back-end storage array that can use up to 45 drives, with Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2003, a file server and package of management tools.

Sametime links up with AIM, Google Talk
IBM Corp.'s Sametime has gained interoperability with public instant messaging networks from AOL LLC and Google Inc., and will interoperate with the one from Yahoo Inc. in a matter of weeks.

2006: The year in PCs and chips
Vendors in the PC and chip industries moved boldly in 2006, changing the marketplace map through mergers, recalls, layoffs and lawsuits. Oh, and they launched some impressive new products too, keeping Moore's Law moving as they built smaller, faster chips and cooler, more efficient computers. Here, in chronological order, we share a sampling of the biggest events of the past 12 months.


TIP

Sharing DVD drives
By Sandra Henry-Stocker

While only the newer Sun systems and higher-end PCs today are equipped
with DVD drives, application software is beginning to arrive on DVDs
because of the tremendous increase in storage capacity. Your typical
CD holds about 700 MB of data. That was a lot of data when system
disks were only a couple of gigabytes in size. DVDs, on the other
hand, may hold 4.3 or 4.7 GB -- and that's just a starting point. If
the multi-layer storage capacity of DVDs is ever fully employed, DVDs
will hold nearly 16 GB of data. With less overhead for data integrity
and more area, it's no wonder that Solaris is being shipped on DVDs
only.

So what do you do if you need to install software that is only
available on a DVD on a system which has only a CD drive? One answer
is to mount and share the DVD from a system with a DVD reader. Since
I had to do that just last week, I'll run through the steps in today's
column.


GOTTA GADGET

What's your biggest gadget secret?
Do you play games on your PDA during boring meetings? Do you have a separate account for gadget purchases that your spouse doesn't know about? Do you use your gadget in an unexpected way?

Share a secret, and enter our drawing to win an Apple iPod (with video capability).


ITWHIRLED

Star Wars Kid gets more downloads than Paris Hilton
Viral Factory, a British firm, declared the famous video of Ghyslain Raza, the Canadian teenager who swung a golf ball retriever around like a light saber, is the most commonly shared Internet video in history, with over 900 million views -- more than twice as many as Paris Hilton's infamous sex video. A decades-old film of an whale being dynamited on an Oregon beach, which was a meme from the early days of the Internet, also made the top ten.

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."

Dell unveils energy-efficient servers ... Qualcomm buys wireless chip companies

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Dell claims new servers save on electric bill
News: Sun enhances mobile delivery platform
News: Ask.com to revamp local search
News: Microsoft supports developers of mobile mashups
Interview: Beyond skill: Building a career in IT
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: 10 Products that set new standards of innovation


NEWS UPDATES

Dell claims new servers save on electric bill
Computer maker Dell Inc.'s solution to the data center energy crisis is to market more energy-efficient versions of its PowerEdge line of servers. The model 1950 and 2950 servers deliver a 25 percent improvement in performance per watt compared to the standard 1950 and 2950, the company claims.

Sun enhances mobile delivery platform
Sun Microsystems is today announcing enhancements to its Sun Java System Content Delivery Server (CDS) at the International Telecommunication Union's Telecom World show in Hong Kong. CDS provides a common infrastructure for delivering all types of content, including Java applications, games, ringtones and wallpaper.

Ask.com to revamp local search
IAC/InterActiveCorp's Ask.com has revamped and renamed its local search service, becoming the latest search engine provider to improve its offering in what is considered one of the most popular search segments for both advertisers and end users.

Microsoft supports developers of mobile mashups
Microsoft Corp. Monday took the wraps off a new service, called Connected Services Sandbox, that offers developers tools and support needed to produce Web-based applications for mobile phones that combine APIs (application programming interfaces) from different sources with telecommunication services.

Qualcomm buys WLAN and Bluetooth technologies
Qualcomm Inc. is making two acquisitions of Bluetooth and WLAN (wireless LAN) chip technologies, allowing it to further the integration of wireless networking capabilities in mobile phones.

IAnywhere beefs up RFID software
IAnywhere Solutions Inc. is adding location tracking capabilities and support for a wider range of sensor technologies in RFID Anywhere 3.0, the latest version of its sensor management software announced on Monday.


INTERVIEW

Beyond skill: Building a career in IT
The IT market and IT technology are constantly evolving, a characteristic that Steve Bjorg, Co-founder, President and CTO of MindTouch believes keeps a career in IT exciting. In this interview, Bjorg discusses the essential elements of a great career in IT.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Qualcomm buys wireless chip companies ... Microsoft mobile phone developer service ... Dell unveils energy-efficient servers ... Ask.com updates local search service


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
10 Products that set new standards of innovation ... Tiny Lisp course - Lisp in 10 bullets ... The 10 commandments of blogging ... 10 Steps you can take to guarantee failure ... 10 Useful free Windows programs