AOL scraps Music Now in favor of Napster ... AMD warns of Q4 earnings dip

HIGHLIGHTS
News: AMD warns of significant dip in Q4 earnings
News: Avaya to buy SIP software developer
News: HD DVD gets boost from adult film industry
News: AOL scraps Music Now in favor of Napster
Unix Tip: Recovering control of a firmware password protected system
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: The 10 worst games of all time


NEWS UPDATES

AMD warns of significant dip in Q4 earnings
Tumbling microprocessor prices have prompted Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) to warn of a dip in earnings ahead of its fourth-quarter results at the end of the month.

Avaya to buy SIP software developer
In a move to beef up its Internet networking expertise, communications vendor Avaya Inc. has agreed to acquire Ubiquity Software Corp. PLC, a developer of software applications using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) technology.

CES: HD DVD gets boost from adult film industry
Early support from the adult film industry may be helping HD DVD to take an early lead over Blu-ray Disc in the battle to become the next-generation DVD format.

AOL scraps Music Now in favor of Napster
AOL LLC has named Napster LLC exclusive supplier of subscription music for its AOL Music site, and plans to migrate all 350,000 paid accounts away from the existing service, AOL Music Now, over the next 60 days.

Report: Investigator to plead guilty in HP case
A private investigator charged in connection with the HP pretexting case is expected to appear in U.S. Federal District Court Friday and, according to news reports, to plead guilty to charges filed Wednesday.

Canon buys Toshiba stake in display JV to end lawsuit
Canon Inc. will buy Toshiba Corp.'s stake in a SED Inc., a joint venture they formed to develop large-screen, low-power flat panel televisions. The companies hope the move will put an end to a patent lawsuit brought against Canon in the U.S.

AT&T to replace Cingular brand Monday
AT&T Inc. will launch a new advertising campaign to replace the Cingular brand with its own, the company announced Friday. The campaign starts on Monday and will initially feature a transitional graphic that includes elements of both the AT&T and Cingular logos.

SAP warns of Q4 sales slowdown
SAP AG's stock dropped more than 10 percent on Thursday as the business software vendor warned of lower-than-expected revenue growth for its most recent quarter.

Oracle now giving early notice of security updates
Oracle Corp. has taken a cue from Microsoft Corp. and started giving its customers an early warning of what they can expect from upcoming security patch releases. On Thursday, Oracle published its first-ever Critical Patch Update Pre-Release Announcement, detailing what it plans to fix in its next set of patches, due Tuesday.

Apple ad suggests iPhone will have Arm inside
What processor will the iPhone use? That's one of the great unanswered questions left in the wake of Apple Inc.'s launch of the iPhone this week, but a job ad on Apple's Web site may hint at the answer.

Intel files countersuit in Transmeta patent case
Intel Corp. has filed a countersuit against Transmeta Corp. in an ongoing patent infringement disagreement between the two companies. Transmeta first sued Intel in October, saying Intel's Pentium and Core PC processors violate 10 Transmeta patents. Intel, in a court document filed Tuesday, denied it had infringed any Transmeta patents, instead accusing Transmeta of infringing seven of its own patents.


UNIX TIP

Recovering control of a firmware password protected system
By Sandra Henry-Stocker

Firmware passwords can be a very useful security measure when you need to keep systems stable in spite of the fact that they may be exposed to unauthorized individuals, but they can also present a time-consuming challenge if you acquire such a system and don't know the password that was set or if you forget. Having recently purchased some used Sun systems off eBay, I quickly discovered that one of the systems had been configured with a firmware password that the seller didn't know, so I was forced to find a way to overcome this security setting before I could attempt to take control of the system and reinstall it.

Read the full article.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
U.K. schools advised to hold off on Vista ... Oracle warns of upcoming security patches .. AMD and SAP expect lower earnings .. AT&T to drop Cingular brand Monday


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
The 10 worst games of all time ... Top 10 wired colleges ... Ten CSS tricks you may not know

HP investigator faces ID-theft charge ... Sophos buys Endforce ... IBM leads in patents

HIGHLIGHTS
News: HP investigator faces identity-theft charge
News: Sophos buys Endforce for network access control
News: IBM leads year of record patent approvals
News: Google irks Web site owners over malware alerts
Tip: The legal burden of inaccessible data
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Study: Most managers' info searches are useless


NEWS UDPATES

HP investigator faces identity-theft charge
A U.S. attorney has charged Bryan Wagner, an independent investigator
who worked for Hewlett-Packard Co. while the company tried to find the
source of board leaks, with aggravated identity theft and conspiracy.

Sophos buys Endforce for network access control
Sophos PLC has bought Endforce Inc., a U.S. developer of enterprise
network access control software, for an undisclosed sum.

IBM leads year of record patent approvals
IBM Corp. was awarded a record number of U.S. patents in 2006, a year
that saw the most patents awarded ever, according to a study.

Google irks Web site owners over malware alerts
Some Web site operators are complaining that Google Inc. is flagging
their sites as containing malicious software when they believe their
sites are harmless. At issue is an "interstitial" page that appears
after a user has clicked on a link within Google's search engine
results. If Google believes a site contains malware, the page will
appear, saying "Warning - visiting this web site may harm your
computer!"

EBay buys ticket site StubHub for $310 million
EBay Inc. announced Thursday it will acquire ticket selling site StubHub
Inc. for about $310 million in cash. The auction giant said the deal is
expected to close in the first quarter of this year.

iPhone faces uncertain market
Apple Inc.'s iPhone could be a hit in the high-end phone market and work
wonders for partner Cingular's image, but the device that stunned
Macworld Expo attendees is likely to have a narrow market.

New PayPal key to help thwart phishers
Over the next few months, Ebay Inc. will be offering its PayPal users a
new tool in the fight against phishers: a US$5 security key. The key is
actually a small electronic device, designed to clip on to a keychain,
that calculates a new numeric password every 30 seconds. PayPal users
who sign up to use the device will need to enter their regular passwords
as well as the number displayed on the key whenever they log in to the
online payment service.

Cisco sues Apple over iPhone name
Cisco Systems Inc. is suing Apple Inc. to prevent it from using the name
iPhone for the new smartphone Apple introduced Tuesday at the Macworld
Conference & Expo in San Francisco. The name iPhone is a registered
trademark of Linksys, a division of Cisco.

CES: UWB, Wi-Fi and powerline vie for position
While many networking vendors, both wireless and wireline,
diplomatically agree that no single networking technology will prevail
in the connected home of the future, they are still battling over which
technology is most suitable for streaming high-definition video.


TIP

The legal burden of inaccessible data
By David Hill, Mesabi Group

When you start to understand the implications of what is necessary to
bring your company in line with the changes of the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure (FRCP) as they impact the process of e-discovery for
civil litigation in the U.S. court system, you may recognize the large
gap between what your company can do now and what it needs to do. For
example, your enterprise must ...


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Cisco sues Apple over iPhone trademark ... Adobe issues updates for
scripting vulnerability ... Infosys posts strong Q4 profit ... EBay buys
ticket sales site StubHub


ITWHIRLED

Study: Most managers' info searches are useless
A recent Accenture survey found that middle managers spend as long as
two hours a day searching for information, and more than half of the
data they find is useless. Of all the managers surveyed, IT workers are
the least likely to find valuable information and they spend the most
time (nearly 30 percent of their working hours) searching.

Microsoft nears accord with Liberty Alliance ... China criticized for 3G delays

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Liberty Alliance, Microsoft discuss identity protocols
News: Kagermann expected to stay on as SAP CEO
News: U.S. commerce secretary slaps China for 3G stance
News: TI sees under-$20 mobiles, $35 GPRS phones this year
Opinion: Windows in the home
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Checkmate for Indian chess player after cell phone ploy


NEWS UPDATES

Liberty Alliance, Microsoft discuss identity protocols
The Liberty Alliance, a consortium working on policy and technology issues for identity management, is discussing with Microsoft Corp. how to reconcile their competing sets of protocols for secure Web transactions.

SAP: Kagermann expected to stay on as CEO
Henning Kagermann, CEO of business software maker SAP AG, is expected to renew his contract for another year after it expires in December 2007, according to a source familiar with the situation.

CES: U.S. commerce secretary slaps China for 3G stance
Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez Tuesday criticized China for delaying the creation of a 3G (third generation) wireless network in that country, saying it is thwarting global technology innovation by not embracing standards.

CES: TI sees under-$20 mobiles, $35 GPRS phones this year
Texas Instruments Inc. (TI), is developing a broad range of chips for low-cost handsets aimed at developing countries, and sees prices ranging from under-$20 for basic phones to $35 for GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) mobiles complete with a camera and music player on board by the end of this year.

NSA helped Microsoft make Vista secure
The U.S. agency best known for eavesdropping on telephone calls had a hand in the development of Microsoft's Vista operating system, Microsoft confirmed Tuesday.

Can Apple pick up the iPhone name?
Apple introduced its new iPhone device Tuesday without informing Cisco whether it had accepted a licensing agreement to use the name, which is a registered trademark of Linksys, a division of Cisco.

CES: OLPC updates laptop efforts, says cost at $130
The One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) has whittled down the cost of the green and white computer they hope to deliver to school children in developing countries to about $130 so far, and hope to reach the target price of $100 in 2008, a project leader said Monday.

Apple picks Cingular to sell iPhone
The Apple iPhone unveiled Tuesday, described as jaw-dropping by one analyst, will be offered exclusively in the U.S. through Cingular Wireless LLC, both companies announced at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.


OPINION

Windows in the home
By Dan Blacharski

Apple Computer has to have the most annoying television commercials
ever, with its "I'm cooler than you" campaign that features a smarmy,
casually-dressed Mac user standing next to a geeky PC user. Apple's
intent of course, is to capture the home market, by boxing Windows PCs
into the "business" category. In reality, the Windows versus Mac
battle is little more than a tempest in a teapot, and the difference
between the two is about the same as the difference between
Republicans and Democrats, which is to say, very little.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Jobs unveils the iPhone ... Microsoft issues critical patches ... China criticized for 3G delays ... Microsoft nears accord with Liberty Alliance


ITWHIRLED

Checkmate for Indian chess player after cell phone ploy
A rising Indian chess star was banned for 10 years after chess officials caught him using a mobile phone to cheat.

Apple, Cingular to team for cell phone ... HP offers touchscreen Vista on new PCs

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Apple, Cingular to team for cell phone
News: Second U.S.-German investor groups to bid on BenQ Mobile
News: HP offers touchscreen Vista on new PCs
News: Hack will help kill HD DVD copy protection
Opinion: January's coolest gadgets
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Fake or foto?


NEWS UPDATES

Report: Apple, Cingular to team for cell phone
Apple Computer Inc. may finally end the rumors and announce its own cell phone on Tuesday, with wireless service from Cingular Wireless LLC, a news report said. The device, which will combine a cell phone with Apple's popular iPod music player, is expected to be announced at the MacWorld show in San Francisco.

Second U.S.-German investor groups to bid on BenQ Mobile
A second U.S.-German group of investors, led by Sentex Sensing Technologies Inc., plans to make an offer for insolvent mobile phone maker BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co. OHG, following a bid by a rival group of American-German investors, Sentex said Monday.

CES: HP offers touchscreen Vista on new PCs
Hewlett-Packard Co. reached for the consumer market Monday with two new PCs that allow customers to control Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista OS with a touchscreen interface instead of a mouse.

Researchers: Hack will help kill HD DVD copy protection
The recent release of software that can be used to decode encrypted HD DVD and Blu-ray movies is the first step toward making the encryption standard used by these next-generation video players obsolete, Princeton University researchers said Monday.

Brocade acquires Silverback for storage chips
Storage network equipment maker Brocade Communications Systems Inc. has acquired Silverback Systems Inc. for its network acceleration processor technology.

Pegasus Mail put down
New Zealand e-mail pioneer Pegasus Mail is to cease further development of its software, which is used by millions of users worldwide. Pegasus will also cease developing its Mercury mail transport system.


OPINION

January's coolest gadgets
With the new year comes a lot of buzz from the phone industry. Not only are regular cell phones improving by getting smaller, smarter and lighter but a host of new network services, like higher-speed data transmission, are making them more useful. There's also a new breed of handset packing digital TV reception, and you can find examples of these in this month's round-up of hot gadgets. Looking ahead to the rest of the year we're sure to see more advanced phones with features like VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony too.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Jobs expected to introduce cell phone at Macworld ... Chambers and Dell are next up at CES today ... Brasil Telecom blocks YouTube


ITWHIRLED

Fake or foto?
They've been predicting for years that CGI would supplant the need for real humans and sets in photography and film. Take this test to see if you can distinguish physical objects from craftily arranged pixels.

NCR to spin off Teradata ... AMD Live! goes mobile

HIGHLIGHTS
News: NCR to spin off Teradata
News: Toshiba expects to ship 1.8M HD DVD players in 2007
News: Nokia slims phone and adds a new Internet tablet
News: AMD Live! goes mobile, faces off against competition
Opinion: Inviting the barbarians in
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Zune vs. iPod: Image war goes badly for Microsoft


NEWS UPDATES

NCR to spin off Teradata
NCR Corp. and its Teradata data warehousing division will separate into two publicly-traded companies in a move designed to better focus their respective business strategies, NCR said Monday.

Toshiba expects to ship 1.8M HD DVD players in 2007
New movie releases, more market entrants, improved technology and 1.8 million HD DVD players from Toshiba Corp. are the weapons companies plan to use in the format battle against rival Blu-ray Disc this year, executives said Sunday.

Nokia slims phone and adds a new Internet tablet
Nokia Corp. unveiled a slim mobile phone, a mobile phone for bloggers, and an updated wireless Internet tablet with VOIP capabilities at the CES show in Las Vegas on Monday.

AMD Live! goes mobile, faces off against competition
Continuing to chase the grail of a media center PC, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) announced a notebook version of its AMD Live! package, which the company had launched for desktop users in mid-2006.

Oracle widens SQL Developer's scope
Oracle Corp. on Monday released the first major upgrade to SQL Developer, its free visual database development tool, with one key theme being the ability to browse non-Oracle databases.

U.S.-German investor group shows interest in BenQ Mobile
While production grinds to a halt at insolvent mobile phone maker BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co. OHG, negotiations to find a buyer continue with potential investors, one of them an undisclosed U.S.-German group of individuals with IT and telecommunications backgrounds.

Microsoft pulls four planned security patches
Microsoft Corp. has eliminated four of eight previously announced security patches scheduled to be available to system administrators Tuesday.

San Francisco, Earthlink agree on Wi-Fi terms
EarthLink Inc. and the City and County of San Francisco have agreed on the terms of a contract under which EarthLink would build a citywide Wi-Fi network. EarthLink would offer a paid service on that network while Google Inc. would provide a slower, free service.

LG unveils combo high-def disc players
LG Electronics Inc. took a big step on Sunday towards the end of the next-generation DVD format battle with the unveiling of a player and PC drive that support both the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats.

Netgear box plays YouTube, other content, on TVs
Netgear Inc. may be hoping to steal some of Apple Computer Inc.'s thunder by introducing on Sunday an appliance that lets users play Internet and other digital content on their TVs.


OPINION

Too often, the barbarians are not left at the gate, they are invited in
By Joel Shore, ITworld.com

Windows Vista. It hasn't even hit the streets yet, and the first hack is already upon us. Corporations, already reluctant to roll out any operating system upgrade until at least the first service pack is available, are no doubt becoming even more skittish. That's not a good way to start a new year.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Bill Gates opens CES ... Wi-Fi Alliance releases new security specification ... Oracle upgrades SQL Developer


ITWHIRLED

Zune vs. iPod: Image war goes badly for Microsoft
If image is everything in marketing, Redmond must be smarting from this pic: One Seattle-area Costco used a box of Zunes as an impromptu table to hold a stack of iPods.