Microsoft warns of dangerous flaw in DNS server ... Apple delays Leopard, blames iPhone

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Microsoft warns of dangerous flaw in DNS server
News: Apple delays Leopard, blames iPhone
News: CBS shows coming to MSN, Joost and others
News: Samsung to launch dual Blu-ray HD DVD player
Storage Tip: Increase energy efficiency of stored data
ITwhirled: Geek Comic of the Week: Isotown
Podcast: Qualcomm refuses $20 million payment from Nokia ... Microsoft hunts source of leak ... Intel readies new ultramobile PC platform


NEWS UPDATES

Microsoft warns of dangerous flaw in DNS server
Attackers are trying to take advantage of a newly-disclosed vulnerability in several of Microsoft Corp.'s server products that could alow them to run unauthorized code on affected computers, the company has warned.

Apple delays Leopard, blames iPhone
Apple Inc. said it won't release Leopard, the next version of the Mac operating system, in early June as planned, blaming the delay on the iPhone.

CBS shows coming to MSN, Joost and others
CBS Corp. will distribute its television programs more widely over the Internet, adding new deals with Joost, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and AOL LLC to existing agreements with Apple Inc.'s iTunes and Google Inc.'s YouTube.

Samsung to launch dual Blu-ray HD DVD player
Samsung, one of the main backers of the Blu-ray Disc format, plans to release an optical disc player this year that will play both Blu-ray Disc and the rival HD DVD format, the company said Friday.

Microsoft pressures testers after software leak
Microsoft Corp. is taking tough measures to find out who leaked a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Windows Home Server to The Hotfix.net blog after the software preview was posted on the site by a user named "Richard" soon after it was released to a small group of testers.

Infosys' revenues to reach $4 billion this year
Infosys Technologies Ltd., India's second largest software and services outsourcer, announced Friday that it expected its revenue to grow by 28 to 30 percent to about $4 billion in its current fiscal year ending March 31 next year.

Nokia insists that Qualcomm is using its patents
The patent license fight between Qualcomm Inc. and Nokia Corp. has gone into another round. Just hours after Qualcomm refused to accept a $20 million payment from Nokia for royalties on patented Qualcomm technology, Nokia rejected Qualcomm's claims that it doesn't use Nokia patents.

Sun buys mobile phone software maker SavaJe
Sun Microsystems Inc. said Thursday it plans to acquire the intellectual property of SavaJe Technologies Inc., a provider of Mobile Java application development tools.

Cisco fixes wireless security holes
Cisco has patched a number of security flaws in the software used to manage its wireless networking products.

Taiwan's Via scores big win with HP
Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. may be locked in a vicious price war over desktop and mobile chips, but that hasn't stopped Taiwan's Via Technologies Inc. from gaining ground in the market with its focus on low-cost processors that don't draw much power.

IBM puts blades on a low-carb(on) diet
IBM Corp. is adding to its server lineup with new models featuring lower-wattage processors and flash memory instead of disks, all in the name of energy conservation.


STORAGE TIP

Increase energy efficiency of stored data
By David Hill, Mesabi Group

One approach to increasing energy efficiency is to get more out of the storage that you already have by increasing the utilization factor over time. One way to accomplish this is to consolidate underutilized disks into fewer, but on-average, fuller disks. You can then either idle some disks that are not used and take an immediate power savings or you can wait and fill them up over time with new data without increasing power consumption.

Here's what you need to know.

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ITWHIRLED

Geek Comic of the Week: Isotown
For everyone who's ever stayed up late playing Sim City, there's this weirdly hypnotic comic that mainly consists of an isometric city being built, one pixel at a time.

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Qualcomm refuses $20 million payment from Nokia ... Microsoft hunts source of leak ... Intel readies new ultramobile PC platform

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Vonage CEO resigns, cost-cutting moves planned ... IBM designs stackable chips

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Vonage CEO resigns, cost-cutting moves planned
News: Microsoft's top lawyer happy with Vista Ready info
News: IBM will stack chips for more efficient processing
News: Sony plans OLED TV launch this year
Windows Tip: Troubleshooting Group Policy processing on terminal servers
ITwhirled: Killjoy eggheads debunk Joan of Arc rib
Podcast: Less spam coming from China ... Microsoft doubts reported Word vulnerabilities ... IBM designs stackable chips


NEWS UPDATES

Vonage CEO resigns, cost-cutting moves planned
Vonage Holdings Corp. CEO Michael Snyder resigned, the company said Thursday, at the same time announcing plans to cut its costs by $140 million.

Microsoft's top lawyer happy with Vista Ready info
Microsoft Corp.'s top lawyer said Thursday that he is happy with the information the company provided about its Vista operating system, and its compatibility with existing PCs, ahead of the software's launch in January this year.

IBM will stack chips for more efficient processing
IBM Corp. announced plans on Thursday to build smaller, more efficient chips by stacking a processor on top of its memory or power components, then drilling holes through the chips to connect them.

Sony plans OLED TV launch this year
Sony Corp. hopes to steal a lead on its rivals this year by launching televisions that use OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays, it said Thursday.

Time is running out for Windows XP
Microsoft will force PC makers to stop selling machines running XP by the end of this year, despite ongoing compatibility problems and demand for XP from users.

Oracle announces Siebel Wireless for BlackBerry
Enterprises using Oracle Corp.'s CRM software will be able to extend the application to workers with BlackBerry smartphones.

U.S. military plans to put Internet router in space
The U.S. military plans to test an Internet router in space, in a project that could also benefit civilian broadband satellite communications.

Microsoft, Google trade barbs on enterprise search
Officials of Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. traded comparisons of their enterprise search products to their rival's during a technology conference in San Francisco Wednesday.

Sophos: China fixing spam problem; U.S. is not
The amount of spam pumping out of China dropped precipitously in the first three months of 2007, security vendor Sophos PLC reported Wednesday. A year ago, computers in China were sending out 21.1 percent of all spam messages, but that number has steadily dropped over the past year, totalling just 7.5 percent in the most-recent quarter, Sophos said.


WINDOWS TIP

Troubleshooting Group Policy processing on terminal servers
By Mitch Tulloch, MTIT Enterprises

Here's a tip concerning troubleshooting Group Policy application when you have Windows terminal servers on the back end of your Windows clients. User Configuration policy settings will usually be applied when a user logs on to a terminal server, with one main exception: when the terminal server is configured to use loopback processing with replace mode.

Subscribe to Windows in the Enterprise - Tips for how to maximize Windows safely and securely.


ITWHIRLED

Killjoy eggheads debunk Joan of Arc rib
The good news: That rib bone that's been deemed a relic of St. Joan of Arc for more than a century really is an ancient historical artifact. The bad news: according to a group of researchers, it's from a little before Joan's time -- more than 1,700 years, to be exact. The rib is actually from an ancient Egyptian mummy.

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Daily IT News Audio Update
Less spam coming from China ... Microsoft doubts reported Word vulnerabilities ... IBM designs stackable chips

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Microsoft investigates reports of new Office flaws ... Google plans worldwide developer day

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Microsoft investigates reports of new Office flaws
News: Google plans worldwide developer day
News: 37 Oracle security fixes coming next week
News: Get the iPhone look - on your Pocket PC
Opinion: April's coolest gadgets
ITwhirled: Top 10 tech uses for Girl Scout cookies
Podcast: Palm OS to run on Linux kernel ... Oracle readies security updates ... Yahoo signs ad deal with Viacom


NEWS UPDATES

Microsoft investigates reports of new Office flaws
Security experts have discovered more vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word and other software, although hackers do not appear to be exploiting them yet. The flaws have been reported just as Microsoft Corp. releases its latest round of security patches.

Google plans worldwide developer day
Google hopes to woo more developers to its Web services software platform with a 27-hour-long "Developer Day" on May 31. Topics to be covered will include developing location-based services with Google Maps, Google Earth, and SketchUp; creating mash-ups with AJAX and Google Gadgets, and developing with the Google Web Toolkit.

37 Oracle security fixes coming next week
Oracle Corp. will fix a number of products, including the Oracle Database, Application Server, and E-Business Suite, next week as it releases its quarterly batch of security patches.

Get the iPhone look - on your Pocket PC
Despite efforts by Apple Inc. to block it, a small software program that gives Microsoft Corp. Pocket PCs a user interface that looks much like the iPhone's is still available online.

HP, IBM make new plays for the SMB market
IBM Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., in separate announcements Tuesday, each used words like "simple," "reliable" and "affordable" to describe how each of their new products serves the small-to-medium business market.

Microsoft: Vista Capable site description unchanged
Despite reports to the contrary, Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday it has not changed wording at its Web site to explain more clearly how hardware with a "Windows Vista Capable" label will perform when running the OS, in light of a class-action lawsuit filed against the vendor last week.

Palm prepares Linux platform for future smartphones
Palm Inc. will unveil a platform before the end of 2007 that runs the Palm OS on top of a Linux kernel, allowing the company to improve the performance and stability of its handhelds and smartphones, CEO Ed Colligan said Tuesday.

Yahoo to serve ads to Viacom sites
Yahoo Inc.'s new search marketing system continues to gain momentum with an announcement that Viacom Inc. plans to use the system on all of its 33 Web sites.


OPINION

April's coolest gadgets
By Martyn Williams

If you're like me then no matter how many new gadgets you see some still make you say "wow" when you first see them.

This month it's an impressively small digital TV tuner that's doing the trick. It's hard to believe but the Telebit tuner card has everything you need to receive mobile digital TV all built into a little box on the end of an SDIO card.

Subscribe to Gotta Gadget - The latest gadgets, gizmos and tech toys.


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
Top 10 tech uses for Girl Scout cookies ... 10 Worst games of the past 10 years ... Top 10 computer books for the complete nerd ... Top 10 reasons people learn the piano

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Daily IT News Audio Update
Palm OS to run on Linux kernel ... Oracle readies security updates ... Yahoo signs ad deal with Viacom

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Sohu threatens to sue Google over copycat software ... Debian 'Etch' finally sees light of day

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Sohu threatens to sue Google over copycat software
News: Nokia keeps selling despite patent dispute
News: IRS head: All laptops to be encrypted in weeks
News: Salesforce.com wants to be a content management player
Unix Tip: Mail loops back to me
ITwhirled: Runaway python terrorizes Google offices
Podcast: U.S. to bring WTO complaint against China ... Google apologizes to rival Sohu ... Intel gets more time to explain missing e-mails


NEWS UPDATES

Sohu threatens to sue Google over copycat software
Sohu.com Inc. Tuesday threatened to sue Google Inc. for violating its intellectual property rights, and renewed a demand for the company to stop downloads of a Chinese software tool based, in part, on one of its own databases.

Nokia keeps selling despite patent dispute
An end to the heated patent licensing dispute between Qualcomm Inc. and Nokia Corp. is nowhere in sight, with both companies still far apart in their positions to renew terms of a licensing pact, which expired Tuesday.

IRS head: All laptops to be encrypted in weeks
After an auditor found serious security problems in the way it handled sensitive data on laptops, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service said it will have all laptops encrypted within the next few weeks.

Salesforce.com wants to be a content management player
On-demand software vendor Salesforce.com Inc. Tuesday announced plans to enter the content management market via the acquisition of Web 2.0 content collaboration startup Koral Inc.

Debian 'Etch' finally sees light of day
After several months of delays, Debian developers have released Debian 4.0, code-named "Etch."

LG, Volkswagen tie on Beetle MP3 player
LG Electronics Inc. is teaming up with car-maker Volkswagen AG on a digital media player styled along the lines of the New Beetle car.

DRAM prices continue to plunge
Prices for the most popular DRAM (dynamic RAM) chips continue to fall in the first half of April, DRAMeXchange Technology Inc. reported Tuesday, and have dropped below the cost of production for many manufacturers.

Over 2,000 sites now exploit .ani security flaw
More than 2,000 unique Web sites have been rigged to exploit the animated cursor security flaw in Microsoft's software, according to security vendor Websense Inc.

Krugle powers SourceForge search
SourceForge hopes to make it easier for developers to find existing open-source projects through an agreement with Krugle Inc. that boosts the search capabilities on SourceForge.net.

Apple offers AirPort Base Station security fix
Apple Inc. has published a firmware update for its Airport Extreme Base Station that fixes two security flaws in the Wi-Fi router.

AMD hits Intel with price uppercut
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. announced further price reductions on some of its best desktop PC microprocessors on Monday, a sign there is still no end in sight to its price war with rival Intel Corp.

Sony launches its first laptop with a flash drive
Sony Corp. is refreshing its lightweight Vaio Type-G laptop and has begun offering a solid-state flash drive as an option.


UNIX TIP

Mail loops back to me
By Sandra Henry-Stocker, ITworld.com

Many systems administrators have run into errors in their syslog files that complain that mail is looping back, suggesting a possible MX problem. The common cause of this problem is that a server is receiving email for a domain that it doesn't recognize as its own. Then, when the server looks up the MX address for the intended target (in order to send the mail on its way), it notices that the MX record is one that identifies the mail exchanger as the system itself.


ITWHIRLED

Runaway python terrorizes Google offices
Even Google's notoriously laid back office culture got a little ruffled by a runaway giant snake. The python -- an employee's pet that managed to slither away -- roamed around the search giant's Manhattan offices for a while before being recaptured. Fortunately, nobody was eaten.

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PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
U.S. to bring WTO complaint against China ... Google apologizes to rival Sohu ... Intel gets more time to explain missing e-mails

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Google apologizes for using rival's software ... Intel launches quad-core chip for desktop gamers

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Google apologizes for using part of rival's software
News: Intel launches quad-core chip for desktop gamers
News: Google fixes security hole in Chinese software tool
News: India faces hurdles in winning chip factory investments
Security Tip: ID theft in under 15 seconds
ITwhirled: British jerk to ruin last unspoiled place on Earth with cell phone call
Podcast: Google admits it used third-party database in Chinese software ... Hacked HD video keys expired ... Intel releases quad-core desktop chip for gamers


NEWS UPDATES

Google apologizes for using part of rival's software
Google Inc. Monday issued a brief apology for using part of a software application developed by rival Sohu.com Inc. in a recently released Chinese software tool of its own.

Intel launches quad-core chip for desktop gamers
Intel Corp. is launching a quad-core chip for desktop gamers on Monday, continuing a barrage of new products the company has announced in the past week.

Google fixes security hole in Chinese software tool
Google Inc. has closed a security hole in a recently released Chinese-input software tool that lies at the heart of a dispute with Chinese Internet company Sohu.com Inc.

India faces hurdles in winning chip factory investments
A decision by Intel Corp. to build a $2.5 billion chip factory in China represents a key loss for India, which won't likely see any chip factory projects from major companies this year due to its poor infrastructure, a Gartner Inc. analyst said in a report Sunday.

SanDisk, Yahoo release Wi-Fi MP3 player
SanDisk Corp. and Yahoo Inc. are the latest companies attempting to take on Apple Inc.'s iPod, Monday releasing the Wi-Fi-enabled Sansa Connect.

PG&E extends rebate program to storage
Pacific Gas & Electric Co., a California-based energy utility, is extending an energy-savings rebate program, already available for servers, to disk storage equipment.

Microsoft releases IM for XBox 360 online
Microsoft Corp. Monday announced Windows Live Messenger instant messaging software for the XBox 360, in another step towards making the game console a home Internet access device.

Sparring begins over high-def movie hacks
A cat-and-mouse game between the guardians of the copy-protection system on next-generation DVDs and those intent on hacking it has kicked off with the first revocation of a descrambling key used in a popular software application.

Shops, including SonyStyle, drop cheaper PlayStation 3
The cheaper of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s two PlayStation 3 consoles is getting harder to find in the U.S. The 20G-byte version, which costs $500, has been taken off-sale by retailer BestBuy and Sony's own online store displays an error message when the page for the model in question is requested.


SECURITY TIP

ID theft in under 15 seconds
By Brent Huston, MicroSolved, Inc.

I just attended a conference for payment system security and identity theft, and two themes were clear. One, identity theft is easier, faster and more profitable than ever, and two, attackers are more organized, capable and technology savvy.

Subscribe to Security Strategies - Tips and technologies to protect your enterprise.


ITWHIRLED

British jerk to ruin last unspoiled place on Earth with cell phone call
The movies, the subway, fine restaurants -- it seems like there's nowhere that you can avoid the constant tinkle-tankle of cell phone rings. It's almost as if you'd have to climb the 28,000 feet to the top of Mount Everest to get away from it the annoying chatter! Oh, wait.

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PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Google admits it used third-party database in Chinese software ... Hacked HD video keys expired ... Intel releases quad-core desktop chip for gamers

More podcasts