Maintenance contracts at heart of Oracle, SAP dispute ... Palm profit drops

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Maintenance contracts at heart of Oracle, SAP dispute
News: Palm profit drops despite strong smartphone sales
News: IBM finds way to keep chips running cooler
News: NBC, News Corp. team up on YouTube rival
Storage Tip: Intelligence for unstructured data
ITwhirled: MySpace finishes conquest of human social life, now set to destroy journalism
News Podcast: Oracle sues SAP for corporate theft ... NBC, News Corp. to launch YouTube rival ... Bill Gates finally gets his degree


NEWS UPDATES

Maintenance contracts at heart of Oracle, SAP dispute
Software maintenance--who provides it and at what price--is at the heart of the corporate theft lawsuit Oracle Corp. filed against arch-rival SAP AG, one expert said.

Palm profit drops despite strong smartphone sales
Amid rumors that the company could be acquired, Palm Inc. reported Thursday that its third-quarter profit was $16.5 million, down from $19.8 million for the same quarter last year.

IBM finds way to keep chips running cooler
Scientists at IBM Corp.'s Zurich Research Laboratory have developed a glue-application technique used to assemble chips that will keep them running cooler, the company said.

NBC, News Corp. team up on YouTube rival
News Corp. and NBC Universal will challenge Google Inc.'s YouTube for online eyeballs and advertising dollars by launching a video-streaming Web site by the third quarter, News Corp. announced Thursday.

FCC to examine net neutrality
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday launched an inquiry into how broadband providers manage their traffic, again getting involved in a debate over network neutrality.

Novell, Red Hat compare desktop Linux programs
Open-source rivals Novell Inc. and Red Hat Inc. are each highlighting initiatives to bring Linux-based functionality to the desktop.

Broadcom says Qualcomm violated duty to standards group
A U.S. jury ruled that a failure by Qualcomm Inc. to disclose two patents to a video standards group means the company waived its rights to enforce the patents, which are now part of the H.264 video compression standard, Broadcom Corp. said Thursday.

Belgian company loses lawsuit against Google
A Belgian court dismissed a lawsuit filed by a company that said a feature for Google Inc.'s search engine offers up password-cracking tools and serial numbers to unlock their software.

Private equity fund Blackstone Group considers IPO
Blackstone Group, a large private equity group whose shareholdings include some major IT names, is planning an initial public offering. The group's filing with the SEC didn't disclose the proposed value of the offering, but U.S. media reported the issue will raise about $4 billion.


STORAGE TIP

Intelligence for unstructured data
By David Hill, Mesabi Group

IT organizations have the skills to deal with the data growth caused by unstructured data - and deal with the growth you must. But just as with previous data revolutions (first to a focus on online transaction processing systems, which use structured data, and then to semi-structured information, such as e-mail, office productivity, and HTML documents), the heightened awareness and utility of unstructured information can only make the place of data even more central to an enterprise.

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ITWHIRLED

MySpace finishes conquest of human social life, now set to destroy journalism
Wired Magazine claims to have acquired inside documents that show that MySpace is cooking up a Digg- or Reddit-style social news site. No word yet on whether users will be able to customize their news pages with eye-searing black-text-on-pink-background layouts, or if crappy Nu metal music will start playing when you visit the site.

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PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Oracle sues SAP for corporate theft ... NBC, News Corp. to launch YouTube rival ... Bill Gates finally gets his degree

More podcasts

Nokia ships N95 phone with GPS

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Nokia ships N95 phone with GPS
News: Motorola cuts Q1 estimate, shakes up management
News: Hitachi to close HDD plant in Mexico, slash workforce
News: Online searching for PS3 bargains proves popular
News: Compatibility woes make UK firms wary of using Vista
News: Broadcom asks US to ban Qualcomm phones
ITwhirled: Top 10 myths about family vacations


NEWS UPDATES

Nokia ships N95 phone with GPS
Nokia Corp. has started shipping its N95 mobile phone in Europe and Asia, the first in an expected series of devices from the Finnish company with built-in GPS (global positioning system) capabilities.

Motorola cuts Q1 estimate, shakes up management
Motorola Inc. replaced a top executive and warned that sales would be lower than expected for the quarter and the year.

Hitachi to close HDD plant in Mexico, slash workforce
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc. plans to close a manufacturing plant in Mexico and lay off around 11 percent of its 40,000-person global workforce in a bid to shore up its hard disc drive (HDD) operations.

Online searching for PS3 bargains proves popular
Market researcher Hitwise has reported that last week the PlayStation 3 (PS3) overtook the Nintendo Wii as the most searched-for gaming console online.

Compatibility woes make UK firms wary of using Vista
U.K. firms show little enthusiasm for the Windows Vista operating system, with nearly six out of 10 businesses saying they have no plans to deploy it, research has revealed.

Broadcom asks US to ban Qualcomm phones
Broadcom Corp. officials called on the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban the import of mobile phones containing high-speed Qualcomm Inc. processors because of patent infringement.


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
Top 10 unforgettable hoops shots ... Top 10 movie creatures ... Top 10 Ikea hacks ... 10 weird places to stash your cash ... Top 10 myths about family vacations

Dell launches low-cost PC in China

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Dell launches low-cost PC in China
News: Another Microsoft-Alcatel patent flap to be probed
News: BenQ sees mobile phone ops turning a profit in Q3
News: Liberty releases new client ID specifications
News: IDC: Acer could surpass Lenovo as No. 3 PC maker
News: Micron opens first chip plant in China
News: IBM wins contract to transform Indian mobile operator
ITwhirled: 10 weird places to stash your cash


NEWS UPDATES

Dell launches low-cost PC in China
Dell Inc. has launched a new low-cost desktop PC aimed at grabbing market share in China. Instead of Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows Vista OS, it runs Windows XP.

Another Microsoft-Alcatel patent flap to be probed
The U.S. International Trade Commission is going to investigate allegations by Microsoft Corp. of patent infringement by the French telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA.

BenQ sees mobile phone ops turning a profit in Q3
There may be a light at the end of the tunnel for BenQ Corp. and its long running mobile phone troubles. A rebound in its Taiwan mobile phone division could see it turn profitable by the third quarter of this year, the company says.

Liberty releases new client ID specifications
The Liberty Alliance released a new set of specifications aimed at protecting identity information transmitted by mobile devices during Web-based transactions.

IDC: Acer could surpass Lenovo as No. 3 PC maker
Acer Inc. could be in position to "slingshot" ahead of rival Lenovo Group Ltd. to become the world's third-largest PC maker during the first quarter, an industry analyst said Wednesday.

Micron opens first chip plant in China
Micron Technology Inc., one of the world's largest memory chip makers, opened its first chip factory in China on Tuesday, the company said in a statement.

IBM wins contract to transform Indian mobile operator
IBM Corp. has bagged a 10-year business transformation contract from a large Indian mobile services operator, Idea Cellular Ltd. The contract, awarded on a risk-reward revenue sharing model, is expected to bring to IBM revenue of between US$600 million and $800 million over 10 years, Idea said Wednesday.

ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
Top 10 unforgettable hoops shots ... Top 10 movie creatures ... Top 10 Ikea hacks ... 10 weird places to stash your cash ... Top 10 myths about family vacations

IPTV groups forms, minus Microsoft and Alcatel ... BenQ chairman offers to resign over mobile troubles

HIGHLIGHTS
News: BenQ chairman offers to resign over phone troubles
News: IBM, Cisco release crisis response service
News: IPTV groups forms, but without two key players
News: FTC stays part of Rambus case
ITwhirled: Bad idea of the week: Selling drugs on Craigslist
Unix Tip: Power outage 2007


NEWS UPDATES

BenQ chairman offers to resign over phone troubles
The chairman of BenQ Corp. offered his resignation on Tuesday over losses caused by the company's inability to make its former German mobile phone subsidiary profitable. BenQ's board of directors refused to accept the offer, however, demanding that he remain in his role and turn the company around.

IBM, Cisco release crisis response service
IBM Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. on Tuesday announced a new one-stop service designed to help businesses and government agencies respond to and recover from disasters, the companies said.

IPTV groups forms, but without two key players
Several big telecommunication carriers and equipment suppliers hope to accelerate the deployment of Internet-based television services by agreeing to a set of interoperable technology specifications. Two key suppliers of IPTV technology are absent from the group, however: Microsoft Corp. and Alcatel-Lucent SA.

FTC stays part of Rambus case
A U.S. agency has modified its own ruling, freeing Rambus Inc. to collect royalties for past uses of its memory chip technology despite charges that the company holds a monopoly in the industry, the company said Monday.

Dynamics users: Microsoft is listening more
Microsoft Corp. is spending more time soliciting and responding to feedback from users of its Dynamics business applications, according to attendees at the vendor's recent Convergence show in San Diego.

Vista's tunnelling protocol poses risk
Windows Vista's implementation of a tunnelling protocol called Teredo can be added to the list of security problems posed by the operating system, according to recent research from Symantec Advanced Threat Research.

EMC partners with NIIT to bridge storage training gap
EMC Corp. has partnered with Indian training company NIIT Ltd. to train storage professionals in 32 countries. The alliance is the first of its kind by EMC, and aims to fill a shortage of storage and information management professionals worldwide, Manoj Chugh, EMC's country manager for India, said on Tuesday.

Dell opens Chinese blog, lauds Taiwan
Dell Inc. opened its first Chinese language blog on Monday in a bid to make sure its communications keep pace with its growth and enable it to better serve customers, the head of the new blog said in the first entry.

Microsoft offers small-business promotions
Microsoft Corp. is offering small businesses promotions for free software trials and business tools, as long as they are willing to ensure that they are running genuine copies of Windows.

MySpace politics site: Large potential audience
MySpace launched a U.S. presidential campaign site Monday, and it has the potential of reaching millions of people who don't otherwise go to political Web sites, one analyst said.


UNIX TIP

Power outage 2007
By Sandra Henry Stocker, ITworld.com

The power was gone and the UPS was keeping the systems up, but without
air conditioning, the computer room was already heating up. "What", I
asked myself as I surveyed the computer room that morning, "are my
priorities?". I could wait for the auto-shutdown script, set to be
triggered by a low-battery event issued by the UPS, to kick in and
begin the graceful shutdown of servers. "But how hot", I
wondered, "will the room be by then?" Better to run the script
manually and the sooner the better.

Subscribe to Unix in the Enterprise - Tips and tricks for managing your Unix systems.


ITWHIRLED

Bad idea of the week: Selling drugs on Craigslist
If you were a drug dealer, you probably wouldn't advertise on TV, or in the newspaper, or in some other venue where law enforcement would be likely to see it, would you? But surely the Internet is a whole different story! A New York man decided that Craigslist would be a great way for him to sell some crack cocaine in his possession, with predictable results.

Subscribe to the ITwhirled alert - weird tech news direct to your inbox.

Salesforce.com unveiles Spring 07 update ... Google buys in-game ads company

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Hackers selling IDs for $14, Symantec says
News: Adobe releases first Apollo code to developers
News: Google buys game advertising, statistics software
News: Salesforce.com readies its take on MySpace
Opinion: Management maps
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: 10 weird places to stash your cash


NEWS UPDATES

Hackers selling IDs for $14, Symantec says
Identity thieves are offering a person's credit-card number, date of birth and other sensitive information for as little as $14 over the Internet, said a new report on online threats released Monday.

Adobe releases first Apollo code to developers
Adobe Systems Inc. is giving developers a free preview of its forthcoming runtime code-named Apollo on Monday, releasing an alpha version of the technology on its Adobe Labs site.

Google buys game advertising, statistics software
Google Inc. has acquired Adscape Media, an in-game advertising company based in San Francisco, for an undisclosed sum, Google announced Friday. Adscape offers technology for placing advertisements in video games for PCs, gaming consoles and mobile phones.

Salesforce.com readies its take on MySpace
Salesforce.com Inc. Monday joined other corporate software players trying to take the concepts behind the highly successful social networking site MySpace and apply them to the business world. AppSpace is a hosted portal which forms part of the Spring 07 release of the Salesforce hosted CRM software.

Fujitsu offers flash-based notebooks
Fujitsu Computer Systems Corp. is fortifying two models in its notebook line by offering the option of solid state drives for rugged applications like health care and aviation, the company said Monday.

Expert: Supreme Court copyright ruling invites chaos
The 2005 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Grokster v. MGM case is partly responsible for Viacom Inc.'s dispute with Google Inc. ending up in court, an expert on copyright law said in a Sunday opinion piece in The New York Times newspaper.

Hackers promise month of MySpace bugs
Two hackers going by the names of Mondo Armando and Müstaschio promise to begin disclosing security vulnerabilities in MySpace, News Corp.'s popular social networking site, every day next month.

Apple offers to re-price options for employees
Apple Inc. has offered to re-price stock options for some employees who received them at incorrect prices. In a filing Friday with the SEC, Apple said 114,695 options, issued between 1997 and 2002, were erroneously assigned grant dates that preceded the finalization of those grants.

Broadcom, Qualcomm settle more disputes
Qualcomm said on Friday that it had agreed with Broadcom to dismiss patent infringement claims and trade secret misappropriation charges asserted by the companies in two lawsuits.


OPINION

Management maps
By James Gaskin

Why do executives look so disappointed when they visit the operations center? Because the TV program 24 shows us a NOC with network maps linked to satellites able to drill down and watch Jack Bauer run around town. You've got log files, and if you're lucky, a reproduction of a router face plate with blinking LEDs.

Time to spiff up your presentation for executive eye candy as well as provide better management. Take a look at the new FireScope (.com) Dashboard now integrated with Google Maps and drill down to street level. You won't see Bauer running around, but you will see your remote locations in physical context with their environment.

Subscribe to Enterprise Networking - Strategies for designing, implementing and securing enterprise-level networks.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Salesforce.com unveiles Spring 07 update ... Google acquires in-game ads company ... ID thieves selling identities for $14 ... Adobe releases Apollo runtime

More podcasts


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
Top 10 unforgettable hoops shots ... Top 10 movie creatures ... Top 10 Ikea hacks ... 10 weird places to stash your cash ... Top 10 myths about family vacations