Open XML translator for MS Word available ... YouTube execs talk copyright in Japan next week

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Open XML translator for Microsoft Word available
News: CA begins simplification of product names
News: YouTube execs due in Japan next week to talk copyright
News: Tokyo ward mistakenly e-mails citizens of earthquake
Windows Tip: Daylight Savings Time fix
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Internet makes parakeet a superstar


NEWS UPDATES

Open XML translator for Microsoft Word available
Companies have completed the first phase of a Microsoft Corp.-sponsored project to create software that can convert Microsoft Word documents between Open XML and Open Document Format for Office Applications file formats.

CA begins simplification of product names
CA Inc. has unveiled plans to simplify the naming of its entire software range over the next 12 to 18 months to better brand the products and more clearly indicate their function.

YouTube execs due in Japan next week to talk copyright
Top executives from YouTube Inc. are due in Tokyo next week for talks with some of Japan's largest video content producers over copyrighted material available on the popular site.

Tokyo ward mistakenly e-mails citizens of earthquake
A routine test of an earthquake information system in Tokyo on Friday mistakenly notified citizens about an earthquake that hadn't occurred.

Verizon rolls out faster 3G
Verizon Wireless Inc. on Thursday unveiled its first deployments of a faster mobile broadband service that multiplies speeds upstream to the Internet.

CA unhappy with its storage business
While software vendor CA is pretty happy with the financial performance of three-quarters of its business, its storage management operations are not up to par, according to executives.

Oracle apps launch, short on glitz, long on reassurance
Oracle Corp.'s launch of new releases of its five application families was a surprisingly sober affair, designed to restate the vendor's May 2006 pledge to continue to enhance all of the software products.

Wall Street Beat: Google drops, but confidence high
Despite a drop in Google Inc. share price after its Wednesday earnings announcement, investor confidence in the IT sector appears to be high as earnings season winds down.


WINDOWS TIP

Daylight Savings Time fix
By Mitch Tulloch, MTIT Enterprises

There are several ways for companies still running legacy Windows platforms to address the impact of these Daylight Savings Time changes on their products.

Read the full article here.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Yahoo launches Indian portals in seven languages ... E.U. to spend heavily on tech R&D ... Lenovo sees profits rise, as sales stay flat


ITWHIRLED

Internet makes parakeet a superstar
Thanks to video-sharing sites, A.J. the basketball-dunking parakeet is now known to more people around the world than this year's Nobel laureates. Read the bird's saga, which involves the untimely death of two of his predecessors. Watch out, A.J.!

Dell takes over as CEO, Rollins out ... IBM Labs sees 5 innovations in 5 years

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Europe bolsters for battle on U.S. traveler data
News: IBM Labs sees five innovations in five years
News: Michael Dell back in charge as Rollins exits Dell
News: Microsoft ships SSL VPN software
Tip: Five Security Mistakes to Avoid
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Majority of Americans prefer computer to spouse: survey


NEWS UPDATES

Europe bolsters for battle on U.S. traveler data
The European Parliament has delayed a vote on how to react to the U.S.' growing appetite for personal information about European citizens, in order to intensify its opposition.

IBM Labs sees five innovations in five years
Real-time language translation, medical monitoring via the mobile Web and nanotechnology to purify water are some of the innovations IBM Labs thinks will be on the market within five years.

Michael Dell back in charge as Rollins exits Dell
Two and a half years after handing the chief executive title to his hand-picked successor, Kevin Rollins, Michael Dell is again running the company he founded, Dell Inc.

Microsoft ships SSL VPN software
Microsoft has introduced a new product combining the Whale Communications VPN software it bought last year with the latest version of its ISA Server, the company said Wednesday.

California police arrest 'mid-level' software pirate
California police arrested a man on Tuesday who allegedly sold illegally copied Microsoft and Adobe software on the Internet for seven years, netting him an estimated $750,000.

BT to buy services company INS for over £100M
U.K. telecommunications carrier BT Group PLC plans to extend its enterprise services offering in the U.S. with the acquisition of International Network Services Inc.

Google exceeds expectations in Q4
Google Inc. beat Wall Street's expectations for its fourth quarter, ended Dec. 31, 2006, as the company continues on a tear, selling search engine advertising much faster than its biggest rivals and than the industry average.

Research firm: Weaker voice will hold back WiMax
The GSM family of technologies will continue to dominate the mobile infrastructure business over the next five years, research company Dell'Oro Group Inc. said Wednesday. Sales of network gear for WiMax will grow by an average of 50 percent per year until 2011 but still only make up about 5 percent of the market worldwide.

Microsoft's top three Vista security features
Microsoft Corp. finally rolled its Vista operating system out the door Tuesday, billing it as its most secure operating system ever. In this interview, Russ Humphries, a senior program manager with the Vista security team, lists the three Vista features that will have the biggest effect.


TIP

Five Security Mistakes to Avoid
A security auditor shares five of the most common yet problematic mistakes companies make that substantially increase the likelihood of a security breach.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Dell takes over as CEO, Rollins out ... Microsoft executive who helped develop Zune leaves ... Turbolinux offers media player that can also boot Linux OS


ITWHIRLED

Majority of Americans prefer computer to spouse: survey
Don't say to the love of your life, "Either that computer goes or I do!" According to a new survey, you'll be packing your bags. Sixty-five percent of Americans polled said they spend more time with their home computer than their spouse or significant other, according to research by Kelton Research.

Coast Guard searches for missing Microsoft researcher ... Apple settlement boosts Creative's Q2 profits

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Coast Guard searching for missing Microsoft researcher
News: Apple settlement boosts Creative's Q2 profits
News: Turbolinux's Wizpy multimedia player coming in February
News: IBM, Cisco soft launch IPTV
Opinion: Technological (non)predictions for 2007
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Adult movie stars nervous about high definition


NEWS UPDATES

Coast Guard searching for missing Microsoft researcher
The U.S. Coast Guard is conducting an extensive search for Jim Gray, a senior manager with Microsoft Corp.'s Silicon Valley research organization, who failed to return from a sailboating trip Sunday off of San Francisco.

Apple settlement boosts Creative's Q2 profits
Creative Technology Ltd. Wednesday reported net income of $92.2 million for the second quarter of its fiscal year, largely due to a one-time licensing payment by Apple Computer Inc.

Turbolinux's Wizpy multimedia player coming in February
Japan's Turbolinux Inc. will begin selling its Wizpy Linux-based multimedia player in February. As a bonus, the device can also be used to boot a PC into the Linux OS, allowing users to access their files in their own working environment on almost any PC.

IBM, Cisco soft launch IPTV
IBM Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. have "soft launched" an IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) with HD, video-on-demand and other capabilities at a demonstration center at the IBM Industrial Solutions Center in La Gaude, outside Nice, France.

Gamers targeted by online thieves
Gamers have been warned to be more security conscious due to the increasing number of online criminals stealing virtual assets and selling them on for real money.


OPINION

Technological (non)predictions for 2007
By Sean McGrath

The early part of any new year sees its fair share of prediction lists. You know the sort of thing : 'In 2007, X will go mainstream' or 'Y will finally grind technological opponent Z into the dust'.

For grins, I have taken a different tack. Here is a list of things that I predict will not happen in 2007.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
U.S. Coast Guard searches for missing Microsoft researcher ... Intel to research health technology in Ireland ... Dreamscape offers Wi-Fi software for mobile devices


ITWHIRLED

Adult movie stars nervous about high definition
Families with new high-definition (HD) video camcorders and news anchors being broadcast in HD have already discovered just how revealing the picture quality is. But few professionals bare as much in front of the camera as adult-film stars, and many are nervous abut the new technology.

PS3 price cut pulls down Sony profits ... Google upgrades Mini workplace search device

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Gates: Vista key to multimedia computing era
News: PlayStation 3 price cut pulls down Sony profits
News: Google upgrades Mini workplace search device
News: Hitachi provides liquid-cooling system for HP machine
Opinion: RFID Chips: Not in my arm!
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Dim-witted thieves steal GPS


NEWS UPDATES

Gates: Vista key to multimedia computing era
Just as Windows 95 ushered in the Internet era, Windows Vista, which will be released to U.S. consumers at midnight on Tuesday, sets the stage for the multimedia hub the PC is set to become in the future, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Monday in New York.

PlayStation 3 price cut pulls down Sony profits
Sony Corp.'s core electronics business more than doubled profits in the last quarter of 2006, but failed to offset price cuts to its PlayStation 3 game console, leading to an overall profit decline of just over 5 percent, the company said Tuesday.

Google upgrades Mini workplace search device
Google Inc. has improved the security and search features of its Mini search device, a hardware box with Google software aimed at small and medium-sized companies and at departments within large organizations.

Hitachi provides liquid-cooling system for HP machine
Hitachi Ltd. will supply a liquid-cooling system for one of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s high-end computer models, reducing the noise generated by the machine. Hitachi's liquid-cooling system moves the fan found on the CPU heat sink in a typical computer, putting in on the computer's chassis where it can create more air flow while running slower and quieter.

Ballmer dispels notion that Vista is last client OS
Microsoft Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Ballmer on Monday attempted to end rumors that Windows Vista will be the last Windows client OS, claiming that Microsoft has "plenty more where that came from" at a press event to mark the consumer launch of the new OS and Office 2007 in New York.

Open-source BI player gets internationalized
Open-source business intelligence software vendor JasperSoft Corp. is set to unveil the final piece in its BI suite, JasperETL, after signing its first full-blown original equipment manufacturer (OEM) deal with French vendor Talend. At the same time, the U.S. company will commit to complete internationalization of its entire BI suite.

Virus located in TomTom GPS systems
If you've picked up a TomTom GPS (global positioning system) over the past few months, you may have bought more than you bargained for. TomTom International BV confirmed Monday that some of its latest GO 910 devices have shipped with a virus pre-installed.


OPINION

RFID Chips: Not in my arm!
By Dan Blacharski

RFID technology is here to stay, and in its most benign form, brings a lot of advantages. But there are two things to make clear: First, despite industry claims to the contrary, RFID is not a secure technology, and it should never be used to track anything sensitive. Second, it should never be used on people, or in personal identification of any type. But regrettably, our government is moving away from being one which values the privacy of its citizenry, and seems bound to push this technology into places where it has no business being.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Vista not the last client OS for Microsoft ... PC makers hope to cash in on Vista ... AT&T IPTV service delayed by software problems


ITWHIRLED

Dim-witted thieves steal GPS
Note to aspiring criminals: Stealing something that can detect its own location -- and report that location back to a central server -- is a really, really bad idea.

Nokia, Siemens to share proposed product plan ... Symantec to buy Altiris

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Nokia, Siemens to share proposed product plan
News: Verizon revenue up, but net income down
News: Symantec to buy asset management software maker Altiris
News: IBM, Intel pace each other with improved transistors
Opinion: Trapping attackers and naming names
Interview: Five things companies must do to better manage third-party data sharing
ITwhirled: Big Brother arrives -- for wasps


NEWS UPDATES

Nokia, Siemens to share proposed product plan
In another sign that Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG are confident that the merger of their network equipment divisions will go through, the companies announced they will start sharing their proposed product portfolio in early February.

Verizon revenue up, but net income down
Verizon Communications Inc. posted net income of US$1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2006, compared to $1.7 billion for the fourth quarter of 2005, the company reported Monday.

Symantec to buy asset management software maker Altiris
Symantec Corp. will acquire Altiris Inc., a maker of asset management software for mobile devices and other hardware, for $830 million, the companies said Monday.

IBM, Intel pace each other with improved transistors
IBM Corp. and Intel Corp. accelerated their horse race in semiconductors when each unveiled at midnight Saturday Eastern Time similar chip-manufacturing advances.

Vista holds clues to Microsoft's future
It's just days before the consumer launch of Windows Vista, and by now most everyone has heard about Vista's new and improved Aero user interface, desktop search, security and various multimedia enhancements. But there's far more to Vista than the features consumers will experience when they use the OS.

YouTube may share revenue with users
Video-sharing site YouTube Inc. may start paying users for their content, the company's cofounder said in a video displayed on the site.

Adobe looks to have full PDF spec become ISO standard
Adobe Systems Inc. is taking the first step towards having its entire Portable Document Format (PDF) specification recognized as a global standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

WebEx adds e-mail to hosted apps suite
WebEx Communications Inc. has developed an e-mail service for its WebOffice hosted applications suite for small businesses, which already includes a document manager, group calendar, database, task manager and Web meetings.


OPINION

Honeynets: Trapping attackers and naming names
By Brent Huston, MicroSolved, Inc.

The Web Honeynet Project, an independent group of Honeynet researchers from Securiteam and the ITOSF have decided to launch web application honeynets with a new twist. They plan to name not only the attack details, as usual, but they also plan to divulge the IP addresses and other tracking information about the attackers themselves.


INTERVIEW

New Ernst & Young survey says most organizations fail to manage risks associated with sharing data with third parties -- Jose Granado
In this interview, Jose Granado, a Principal and Service Delivery Leader at the Security and Technologies Solutions Practice for Ernst & Young shares findings from the survey, and the top five things companies must begin to do in order to better manage this data and mitigate risks.


ITWHIRLED

Big Brother arrives -- for wasps
The more privacy conscious among us have long worried that RFID tags will allow the government or big companies to track our every move. Perhaps we shouldn't tell them about this study, in which the tags helped scientists understand the family lives of paper wasps.