Lenovo and Dell sneak Linux on to new PCs ... Microsoft drops XBox 360 price

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Sybase, HTC aim to improve Windows Mobile devices
News: Web scam: Pssst... wanna buy a house?
News: Mobile Linux group gets wider support
News: Microsoft lowers XBox 360 price
News: Google ups Linux support as OIN licensee
Opinion: The message is the message
ITwhirled: North Dakota texting contest won by an exclamation point



NEWS UPDATES

Sybase, HTC aim to improve Windows Mobile devices
IAnywhere Solutions Inc. has announced a partnership with High Tech Computer Corp. that could help smart phones based on Windows Mobile compete more effectively with the BlackBerry, according to an iAnywhere executive.

Web scam: Pssst... wanna buy a house?
Web scammers are turning to online property forums to collect personal information about users for later attempts to swindle them out of money, according to a security researcher.

LINUXWORLD: Mobile Linux group gets wider support
A nonprofit organization formed by six of the biggest names in the cell phone business to promote the use of Linux of handsets has gotten wider industry support.

Microsoft lowers XBox 360 price
Microsoft is lowering the price of its XBox 360 games console by $50, in an attempt to keep pace with rival Sony Corp.'s own price cuts and introduction of a new model of the Playstation 3.

LINUXWORLD: Google ups Linux support as OIN licensee
Google Inc. has increased its support for the open-source Linux operating system by becoming Open Invention Network's first end-user licensee. Set up in 2005, OIN is an intellectual property company focused on acquiring and pooling patents to protect Linux against patent infringement attacks.

FCC pans 'white space' device from MS, Google, others
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on July 31 said that a prototype device built by Google, archrival Microsoft Corp. and other technology companies doesn't work as promised. The devices were designed to sniff for broadcasts in spectrum before transmitting in the band, to avoid interfering with the TV signal. But the FCC found that the devices do not consistently sense or detect TV broadcast signals and in fact, sometimes could cause interference to TV broadcasts.

LINUXWORLD: Lenovo and Dell sneak Linux on to new PCs
Open source software has made further inroads into Microsoft's heartland this week as both Lenovo and Dell announced Linux-based PCs.


OPINION

The message is the message
By Sean McGrath, ITworld.com

I have been struggling for quite some time now to get to the essence of one of the biggest confusions I see in modern day enterprise application integration practice. On one hand sits the practitioners who think in terms of enterprise objects that talk to each other by means of messages sent to and fro over the wire. On the other hand sits the practitioners who think of webs of services but who also send messages to an fro over the wire to get things done.

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ITWHIRLED

North Dakota texting contest won by an exclamation point
http://www.itworld.com/jpitw/itwtodayblog/itwhirled/#news
When you're sending a text message from your mobile phone, does accuracy really count? It does if you're in a contest at the North Dakota state fair. Kevin Taylor finished typing his message first, but left out an exclamation point -- and missed out on $800 in prize money.