T-Mobile unlocks iPhone in Germany ... E-mail flaw found in Leopard ... New project aims to end online stupidity

In this issue:
- Under pressure, T-Mobile unlocks iPhone in Germany
- Philips reeled into CRT 'cartel' investigation
- Group pushing for open data portability stack
- OpenSocial targets social apps API 'balkanization'
- E-mail flaw comes back from the dead in Leopard
- Hackers jack Monster.com, infect job hunters
- New project aims to end online stupidity
- Win a Wi-Fi Detector T-Shirt!


TODAY'S NEWS

Under pressure, T-Mobile unlocks iPhone in Germany
T-Mobile will sell an unlocked version of Apple's popular iPhone in Germany while it fights a legal challenge from rival Vodafone, the company said on Wednesday.

Philips reeled into CRT 'cartel' investigation
Koninklijke Philips Electronics became the latest company named in a worldwide investigation into possible price-fixing in the market for cathode-ray tubes used in TVs and computer monitors.

Group pushing for open data portability stack
A new workgroup says the social networking-Web 2.0 boom has created a conundrum: How to securely deliver sets of personal data across the ever-growing flock of such applications and Web sites with a minimum of pain and complexity.

OpenSocial targets social apps API 'balkanization'
Google's OpenSocial initiative to establish common, standard APIs for creating social-networking applications is still in its early days. But its impact for end users, developers, Web site owners, social-network operators and even business application vendors could be huge in the long run. In this interview, Scott McMullan, Google Apps partner lead in Google's Enterprise division, described OpenSocial as an attempt to simplify the lives of developers by addressing what the vendor considers is a 'balkanization' of social-networking APIs.

Firefox adds security, search with 3.0 beta release
Mozilla has released a beta version of Firefox 3.0, moving its next-generation browser one step closer to general release.

E-mail flaw comes back from the dead in Leopard
A serious security flaw in Apple Mail, patched more than a year ago in 'Tiger,' also known as Mac OS X 10.4, has reared its head again in the latest version of the operating system, according to Heise Security.

Hackers jack Monster.com, infect job hunters
Monster.com confirmed Tuesday that it took down a portion of its online job search service after attackers hacked the site and used it to feed exploits to visitors.


ITWHIRLED

New project aims to end online stupidity
A pair of developers are working on an open source filtering project that aims to eliminate stupidity in online communication, employing the same kind of Bayesian filtering methods that email programs use to eliminate spam. The obvious question: If perfected, won't such a system shut down the Internet entirely?

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NEW GIVEAWAY

Win a Wi-Fi Detector T-Shirt!

More than just a T-shirt; it's a public service. This fantastically functional shirt displays loud and proud the current wi-fi signal strength. Enter for a chance to win!


POLL

Gentlemen: What facial hair do you sport?

- Mustache alone
- Soul patch
- Sideburns
- Goatee (with mustache)
- Goatee (without mustache)
- Goatee plus sideburns
- Full beard (neatly trimmed)
- Full beard (somewhat unruly)
- Full beard (mountain man style)
- None -- a clean face is a sign of a clean soul

Vote now!

TomorrowNow execs resign ... Red Hat 4 gets a facelift ... Tesla finally victorious over Edison

In this issue:
- Swatters tricked AT&T while making fake 911 calls
- TomorrowNow CEO resigns; SAP might sell subsidiary
- HP records quarterly profit
- Red Hat 4 gets a facelift
- AT&T buys pay-per-call advertising company
- Vendors, analyst ponder Microsoft's enterprise search play
- Study: Internet could run out of capacity in two years
- Amazon finds a new use for 3G with Kindle
- Tesla finally victorious over Edison
- Win a Wi-Fi Detector T-Shirt!


TODAY'S NEWS

Swatters tricked AT&T while making fake 911 calls
Criminals have been using social engineering skills to gain access to AT&T networks and place fake 911 calls, a practice called 'swatting.'

TomorrowNow CEO resigns; SAP might sell subsidiary
SAP said Monday that the CEO and other top executives of its TomorrowNow subsidiary have resigned and that the enterprise software maker may sell the business.

HP records quarterly profit
Buoyed by a sharp improvement in its software business, Hewlett-Packard Co. reported a quarterly profit on Monday.

Lust, virus: film fans in China hit with virus attack
Lust seems to be prevailing over caution for computer users in China who download certain unauthorized copies of Ang Lee's latest film: some of them are receiving dozens of viruses instead.

Red Hat 4 gets a facelift
Red Hat has followed up its release of release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.1 two weeks ago with an update to its older RHEL 4 line of operating systems, including kernel updates and hardware tweaks.

AT&T buys pay-per-call advertising company
AT&T plans to buy online advertising company Ingenio for an undisclosed sum, in a move that puts the telephone company in competition with Google and other online advertisement leaders.

Vendors, analyst ponder Microsoft's enterprise search play
Microsoft's recent announcement of a pair of enterprise search products came as the market is at a 'tipping point' in the words of one spokesman.

Study: Internet could run out of capacity in two years
Consumer and corporate use of the Internet could overload the current capacity and lead to brown-outs in two years unless backbone providers invest billions of dollars in new infrastructure, according to a study released Monday.

Amazon finds a new use for 3G with Kindle
Amazon.com isn't the first company to sell an electronic book reader with an easy-on-the-eyes E-Ink display, but its method for delivering those books may have opened up a whole new use for mobile data networks.


OPINION

Where does all the time go?
Sean McGrath, ITworld

In my formative years, I was lucky enough to be exposed to JSP. No, not JSP as in Java. The other one. The previous one. The one that stands for Jackson Structured Programming. This lead me to JSD (Jackson Structured Design) and, to cut a long story short, the wiring of my brain was changed forever. ...Continue


ITWHIRLED

Tesla finally victorious over Edison
In the 1880s, America was rocked by the "War of Currents", as two great inventors waged a publicity battle to determine the nature of the electric distribution grid that would soon blanket the country: Thomas Edison was a proponent of direct current (DC), while Edison's erstwhile employee Nikola Tesla advocated alternating current (AC). While AC eventually became predominant, the New York-area utility Consolidated Edison -- the utility founded in part by and named after Edison -- still provided DC current to a few dozen customers. But that service has at last come to an end.

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


NEW GIVEAWAY

Win a Wi-Fi Detector T-Shirt!

More than just a T-shirt; it's a public service. This fantastically functional shirt displays loud and proud the current wi-fi signal strength. Enter for a chance to win!


POLL

Gentlemen: What facial hair do you sport?

*Mustache alone
*Soul patch
*Sideburns
*Goatee (with mustache)
*Goatee (without mustache)
*Goatee plus sideburns
*Full beard (neatly trimmed)
*Full beard (somewhat unruly)
*Full beard (mountain man style)
*None -- a clean face is a sign of a clean soul

Vote now!

7 ways to be a jerk about Web 2.0 ... Yahoo stock soars on Microsoft buyout rumor ... EMC gears up for consumer push

In this issue:
- AMD launches platform for multimedia users
- EMC gears up for consumer market push
- EarthLink takes hard look at muni Wi-Fi unit
- Microsoft buyout rumors resurface, send Yahoo stock rising
- Dell XPS One strips the tease
- Greatest hits of viral video
- 7 ways to be a jerk about Web 2.0
- Win a Wi-Fi Detector T-Shirt!


TODAY'S NEWS

AMD launches platform for multimedia users
Advanced Micro Devices on Monday is expected to launch the 'Spider' platform, which combines the company's next-generation quad-core processors, graphics cards and chipsets in one platform to deliver better graphics, performance-per-watt and improved high-definition video.

EMC gears up for consumer market push
As it targets the consumer market, EMC plans to ship both its own branded products and products branded and supported by partners like Intel.

EarthLink takes hard look at muni Wi-Fi unit
EarthLink Inc.'s municipal Wi-Fi signal grew weaker on Friday as the company said it may sell the business that built wireless networks in Philadelphia and other cities.

Microsoft buyout rumors resurface, send Yahoo stock rising
A blogger is making dormant rumors that Microsoft is looking to buy Yahoo active again after a Microsoft executive outlined plans this week for the company to improve its online search market share from about 10 percent to 30 percent.

Dell XPS One strips the tease
After teasing the public for a while, Dell on Friday revealed an all-in-one computer that combines the monitor and CPU in one box.

AMD could bite Intel with cash infusion
Facing severe pressure from chip rival Intel and four consecutive quarterly net losses, a cash infusion by an Abu Dhabi government investment arm could help struggling chip maker Advanced Micro Devices remain competitive.

Why pagers are stupid without SOA
Nortel Networks Corp. and IBM Corp. are providing a software toolkit and other products that would let companies provide Web services using unified communications equipment. The manufacturers are initially targeting the retail and health-care sectors but will also target telecom carriers and service providers.

Vista in danger of being bypassed by businesses
With Windows 7 due in late 2009 or 2010, Vista uptake at this point really depends whether Vista SP1 (due in Q1, 2008) will smooth over all the problems. If it doesn't, companies are much more likely to stick with XP, analysts say.

Google and Sun may butt heads over Android
There may be trouble brewing between Google and Sun. Google has written its own virtual machine for Android, 'most likely as a way to get around licensing issues with Sun.'


FEATURE

Greatest hits of viral video
Mark Sullivan, PC World

There's no formula for creating a video that millions of people will be inspired to watch and tell their friends about, but if there were, it would have to include some portion of humor (often unintentional), embarrassment, obscenity, and plain old goofiness. Since the advent of YouTube in 2005, many viral videos have been made, but few surpass the popularity of these 25, um, classics. ...Continue


ITWHIRLED

7 ways to be a jerk about Web 2.0
Really a primer on how to be a jerk about practically anything, but with a Web 2.0 twist, you'll learn how to adopt a convincing "I'm so over that" attitude. ...Read more

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


NEW GIVEAWAY

Win a Wi-Fi Detector T-Shirt!

More than just a T-shirt; it's a public service. This fantastically functional shirt displays loud and proud the current wi-fi signal strength. Enter for a chance to win!


POLL

Gentlemen: What facial hair do you sport?

*Mustache alone
*Soul patch
*Sideburns
*Goatee (with mustache)
*Goatee (without mustache)
*Goatee plus sideburns
*Full beard (neatly trimmed)
*Full beard (somewhat unruly)
*Full beard (mountain man style)
*None -- a clean face is a sign of a clean soul

Vote now!