Oracle to buy Hyperion for $3.3 billion ... Google fights click fraud

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Oracle will buy Hyperion for $3.3 billion
News: E.U. criticizes Microsoft interoperability efforts again
News: Google to enhance tools to fight click fraud
News: Apps not 'certified' for Vista may still work on the OS
Security Tip: Password cracking reminder
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Dutch government proposes 'knee lock' for parolees


NEWS UPDATES

Oracle will buy Hyperion for $3.3 billion
Oracle Corp. has agreed to acquire business intelligence software vendor Hyperion Solutions Corp. for $3.3 billion in cash, it said Thursday. Oracle will combine Hyperion's software with its own business intelligence and analytics tools to offer customers a broad range of performance management capabilities, including planning, budgeting and operational analytics.

E.U. criticizes Microsoft interoperability efforts again
The European Commission has again criticized Microsoft Corp.'s response to a 2004 antitrust ruling, opening up the possibility of further fines for the company. The regulator said that the software giant proposes overcharging for vital interoperability information needed by rival software makers to allow their products work properly with the Windows operating system.

Google to enhance tools to fight click fraud
Google Inc. will provide more data and tools to help its advertisers assess and combat click fraud, a controversial practice that is the biggest enemy of the otherwise highly popular and profitable online advertising model known as pay per click.

Apps not 'certified' for Vista may still work on the OS
Major applications from Symantec Corp., Adobe Systems Inc., Apple Inc. and IBM Corp. aren't included on an official Microsoft list of applications that qualify for a "Certified for Windows Vista" or "Works with Windows Vista" logo. However, chances are they could currently be involved in the testing process to achieve those logos, Microsoft and its partners said.

Deutsche Telekom to expand int'l mobile phone business
The T-Mobile brand could soon be coming to a market near you. As part of a strategy to revive profits, Deutsche Telekom AG intends to expand its T-Mobile cellular business in markets in which the German telecommunications group is already offering fixed-line services and possibly in entirely new markets, the company said Thursday.

Nokia venture pushes phone payments
Nokia Corp., one of the first handset makers outside Japan to turn a phone into a wallet, now wants to sell services that will make these kinds of devices useful.

War of words erupts between figures in HP scandal
The attorney for ousted Hewlett-Packard Co. chairman Patricia Dunn fired back Wednesday at public comments made by board rival Thomas Perkins about the HP pretexting scandal. In an appearance at the VentureOne Outlook Conference, a gathering of venture capitalists, Perkins said the HP dispute about how to control leaks of board deliberations to the media was really a fight for control of the board, which Dunn won, according to media reports of his speech.

Toshiba says 51GB HD DVD still under development
A three-layer HD DVD disc with enough room for about 7 hours of high-definition video is still under development and hasn't been submitted for approval to the DVD Forum, the standard's governing body, despite reports to the contrary, Toshiba Corp. said Thursday.

Download DVD specification gets approval
A technology that allows movies to be downloaded and burned to blank DVDs using the same content-protection system as commercial discs received official approval on Thursday.


SECURITY TIP

Password cracking reminder
By Brent Huston, MicroSolved, Inc.

Attackers have made a quantum leap in password cracking in the last few years. Time is no longer on our side. In many cases, it is faster to crack the password than to change it across an enterprise, especially if politics, change controls and cross-platforms are involved. Quite simply, we must checkmate attackers before they get the password hashes.

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PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
RFID vulnerabilities spark debate at Black Hat ... Symantec sees holes in Vista ... Microsoft revamps antipiracy tool

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ITWHIRLED

Dutch government proposes 'knee lock' for parolees
Most of us are familiar with shopping carts whose wheels lock up when pushed too far from the supermarket. The government of the Netherlands is now proposing a similar technology to restrict the movements of criminals on parole.

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