Cisco to buy WebEx ... Google embraces anonymous searches ... Intel to shrink chip size

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Cisco to buy WebEx for $3.2 billion
News: Intel promises more energy-efficient chips
News: Google to make search logs anonymous
News: OpenBSD hit by second flaw in 10 years
Unix Tip: Last workday of the month: A retake
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Navy researching vomit ray


NEWS UPDATES

Cisco to buy WebEx for $3.2 billion
Cisco Systems Inc. announced Thursday it will buy the online conference provider WebEx Communications Inc. for $3.2 billion to sell collaboration tools to small and medium businesses.

Intel promises more energy-efficient chips
Intel plans to further reduce the size and power consumption of its mobile microprocessors over the next year or so, paving the way for computers that are smaller and consume substantially less power, a company executive said Thursday.

Google to make search logs anonymous
Google Inc. will start making its records about users' searches anonymous after 18 to 24 months under a policy announced Wednesday. Until now, the dominant search company has indefinitely retained a log of every search, with identifiers that can associate it with a particular computer.

OpenBSD hit by second flaw in 10 years
The security-conscious OpenBSD team has acknowledged that the operating system contains a serious security flaw in the code that handles IPv6 packets. OpenBSD is known for its strict security policies, and until this week its website boasted "Only one remote hole in the default install, in more than 10 years!"

RSA to offer Trojan take-down service
EMC Corp.'s RSA division plans to launch a new service next month that will help financial institutions take down Web sites associated with malicious Trojan Horse software. The service is planned as an extension to the FraudAction phishing takedown service already offered by RSA

Researcher: Cingular, Travelocity still in spyware net
Just weeks after reaching a settlement with New York's attorney general, AT&T Inc.'s Cingular division and Travelocity.com LP are again being accused of having ties to spyware companies.

Siemens teams with Nokia on Wi-Fi-GSM hand-over
Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG is working with Nokia Corp. to polish the hand-over of voice calls between corporate wireless LANs and public mobile phone networks, a Siemens executive said Wednesday.

SAP to offer regular updates for Business One
SAP will start releasing frequent updates to its Business One software for small businesses in the form of what it is calling "enhancement packages." The packages will include maintenance updates, new features and best-practice tools, the company announced Thursday during a news conference at the Cebit trade show.

New Red Hat OS features modular design
The newly launched Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 operating system features a modular design that counters the argument by critics that operating systems are becoming too large and complex, a Red Hat Inc. executive said at launch ceremonies Wednesday in San Francisco.

Ballmer talks up CRM Live
Microsoft demonstrated Dynamics Live CRM, its planned hosted customer relationship management software, during the closing Wednesday keynote given by CEO Steve Ballmer at its Convergence show in San Diego. CRM Live will be another member of the vendor's growing Live software-as-a-service product family, joining Windows Live and Office Live.


UNIX TIP

Last workday of the month: A retake
By Sandra Henry-Stocker

One of my articles last month described an approach to determining whether some particular weekday happens to be the last workday of the month. In response, a reader offered a version that has a particularly interesting advantage. Instead of being implemented as code which can be inserted into any script in which you want to execute certain commands only on the last workday of the month, this script is a standalone that you would use to invoke other scripts or specific commands when it's the appropriate time for them to run -- when it's the last workday of the month.

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Microsoft unveils Dynamics Live ... Google embraces anonymous searches .... Intel to shrink chip size

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ITWHIRLED

Navy researching vomit ray
Looking for new methods to incapacitate without killing, the U.S. military is researching a proposed radio-frequency weapon that would throw its target's equilibrium out of whack, resulting in dizziness and vomiting but no permanent damage. But who will clean up?

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