Microsoft pressed partners to vote for OOXML ... AMD proposes speedier x86 instructions for multimedia ... EarthLink's deal with SF looks de

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Microsoft pressed partners in Sweden to vote for OOXML
News: AMD proposes speedier x86 instructions for multimedia
News: Current EarthLink deal with SF looks dead
News: Monster outlines antifraud measures
News: Vista SP1 due in Q1 2008, beta in September
Opinion: Network outages should spur integrators to stay in contact with customers
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Killer arm-wrestling robot recalled by human masters


NEWS UPDATES

Microsoft pressed partners in Sweden to vote for OOXML
Microsoft Sweden offered extra "marketing contributions" to its business partners to encourage them to vote for the adoption of Microsoft Corp.'s Office Open XML format as a standard at a meeting of Sweden's national standards body this week.

AMD proposes speedier x86 instructions for multimedia
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. wants developers to start thinking about how they can speed up their software using new instructions that will appear in the company's processors from 2009. The additions could simplify the way developers code the iterative calculations used to shade graphics, render photos or add spatial effects to audio.

Current EarthLink deal with SF looks dead
EarthLink Inc.'s current contract to build a municipal Wi-Fi network in San Francisco appears to be dead following a restructuring of the struggling Internet service provider.

Monster outlines antifraud measures
One week after hackers stole personal information from millions of people who had posted their resumes to the job-searching site Monster.com, the company has warned its users to be vigilant about online fraud because the breach was not an isolated incident.

Microsoft: Vista SP1 due in Q1 2008, beta in September
Microsoft Corp. has finally broken its silence on the timing of the release of the highly anticipated Windows Vista Service Pack 1, saying the software updates should be in final release in the first quarter of next year, with the company shipping off a beta next month to 10,000 to 15,000 testers.

LG unveils iPhone-like 3G handset
LG Electronics Inc.'s battle to beat the iPhone is far from over. The South Korean electronics company has unveiled its second iPhone-like handset and this one packs several important features the iPhone doesn't: 3G and high-speed cellular data networking.

HTC shows 3G version of Touch smartphone
Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) has taken the wraps off a thinner, faster version of its Touch smartphone.

Microsoft to buy enterprise chat provider Parlano
Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday it will acquire a Chicago-based provider of enterprise group chat software to bolster the messaging capabilities of its Office Communications Server and Office Communicator products.


OPINION

Network outages should spur integrators to stay in contact with customers
By Joel Shore, ITworld.com

You've to feel for the 20,000 people stranded recently at Los Angeles International Airport's Tom Bradley International Terminal and the 200 million more around the globe who lost access to Skype. Television and general-interest news organizations ascribed the woes to the ubiquitous "computer glitch." We, of course, know better. And usually the truth is a lot scarier.

Read the full article here.


PODCAST

Today's IT news audio update
Microsoft reveals Vista SP1 plans ... Monster.com warns users after privacy breach ... Microsoft buys corporate-messaging software company

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ITWHIRLED

Killer arm-wrestling robot recalled by human masters
An mechanical arm-wrestling game has been recalled from dozens of Japanese arcades because there have been complaints that it's breaking the arms of its human opponents. They've already acquired a taste for human blood, so the real question is: will the machines go quietly?

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