Google partners with Chinese P2P site ... Adobe to issue Reader patches

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Google partners with Chinese P2P site
News: Adobe to issue patches for Reader vulnerability
News: Drive makers race to be first with 1TB drives
News: VMware for Macs may have limited appeal
Unix Tip: Firmware passwords and the OpenBoot prompt
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: 10 online operating systems reviewed


NEWS UPDATES

Google partners with Chinese P2P site
Google Inc. has struck a partnership with a Chinese peer-to-peer file downloading service, Xunlei Networking Technologies Ltd. of Shenzhen that will give users of the Xunlei service easier access to Google search services and multimedia content via a search link on Xunlei's home page.

Adobe to issue patches for Reader vulnerability
Adobe Systems Inc. will issue patches next week for older versions of its Reader and Acrobat Reader software, which contain a dangerous vulnerability that could be used for phishing attacks or to remotely access files on a computer.

CES: Drive makers race to be first with 1TB drives
Two of the biggest hard-disk drive makers, Seagate Technology LLC and Hitachi Global Storage Technology Inc., both said Thursday that they plan to have drives on the market with the first half of this year that are capable of holding a terabyte (1000G bytes) of data.

VMware for Macs may have limited appeal
VMware Inc. reports strong initial interest in its virtualization software designed to run on the Mac computer platform, but skeptics doubt it will improve Apple's share of the enterprise market.

Researcher: Still risk from QuickTime bug
The QuickTime vulnerability that led to a widespread worm outbreak on MySpace.com last month could be exploited again, according to security researcher Aviv Raff, who has published software that illustrates his point.

Taiwan company sues Apple over lost sales
A Taiwanese manufacturer is suing Apple Computer Inc. for US$100 million after a court ruled it could continue producing a portable music player resembling Apple's iPod Shuffle.

CES: Toshiba readies desktop HD DVD drive
Toshiba Corp. will release a desktop PC version of its HD DVD writer next month in a move to boost support for the next-generation optical disc format. The release will follow the launch of a notebook version last year.

Wall Street Beat: Trading year starts
The New Year holiday, followed by a day of mourning for former U.S. President Gerald Ford, truncated the first trading week of the year. Even so, market events pointed to themes that are due to stay at the forefront in 2007: mergers and acquisitions and relatively strong hardware growth within moderate global IT revenue increases.

DRAM revenue growth to slow in 2007
Despite steady sales volume, DRAM (dynamic RAM) memory chip vendors will see their revenue growth slow dramatically in 2007 thanks to a slump in prices, according to a report released Thursday.

NTT DoCoMo takes stake in Nippon TV
NTT DoCoMo has acquired a 3 percent stake in Nippon Television, one of Japan's largest commercial broadcasters, the companies said Thursday. The acquisition comes 11 months after NTT DoCoMo and NTV began working together on applications that tie together broadcasting and mobile telecommunications services.


UNIX TIP

Firmware passwords and the OpenBoot prompt
By Sandra Henry-Stocker, ITworld.com

A firmware password secures a system against unauthorized changes at
the ok prompt. If you don't have a firmware password set, anyone with
access to your system's console can modify your OpenBoot parameters.
If you do have a firmware password set, be careful not to forget it or
even you may not be able to boot your system. With a restrictive
security setting, accessing a system can be very difficult.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Microsoft readies first security updates for 2007 ... Google updates search appliance ... Seagate to ship 1TB hard disk


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
Ten best geek quotes ... 10 online operating systems reviewed ... Top 10 point-and-shoot cameras ... Top 10 Web 2.0 crushes ... Top ten invented worlds