Windows XP sales extended through 2010 for ultra-low-cost PCs

Microsoft confirmed Thursday that it will extend the sales of Windows XP Home to OEMs beyond the current deadline of June 30, 2008, to accommodate a new class of ultra-low-cost PCs (ULCPCs) that are just beginning to pepper the market. ...continue reading 'Windows XP sales extended through 2010 for ultra-low-cost PCs'

Dell looks to emerging markets, services

Dell, the world's second largest PC seller, will move faster into emerging markets and increase its services offerings as part of a plan to reverse poor financial performance, top executives said Thursday. ...continue reading 'Dell looks to emerging markets, services'

April to be another big Microsoft security patch month

Microsoft plans to release eight security updates next Tuesday, five of which are rated critical by the software vendor. ...continue reading 'April to be another big Microsoft security patch month'

Adobe claims it knew of 'PWN 2 OWN' Flash bug

Security researchers at Adobe Systems Inc. claimed that they knew of a Flash bug before it was used to crack a Windows Vista laptop last week in the 'PWN To OWN' hacker challenge. ...continue reading 'Adobe claims it knew of 'PWN 2 OWN' Flash bug'

Google CIO changes his tune, heads for EMI

EMI Music has hired Google's Chief Information Officer Douglas Merrill to be president of its digital business division, the latest high-profile executive to seek greener pastures away from the Googleplex. ...continue reading 'Google CIO changes his tune, heads for EMI'

Symantec, Microsoft resolve spat over storage tech

Microsoft and Symantec have asked a U.S. federal court to dismiss a two-year-old lawsuit after the companies settled a dispute over storage technology. ...continue reading 'Symantec, Microsoft resolve spat over storage tech'

IBM, Linden plan to give enterprises a Second Life

IBM and Second Life creator Linden Lab are jointly building private virtual worlds designed to help employees collaborate more effectively. ...continue reading 'IBM, Linden plan to give enterprises a Second Life'

AT&T jumps on board with Android

AT&T plans to sell phones based on Google's Android operating system, after being assured by the search giant that it won't be forced to offer all-Google applications, the operator's chief executive said on Wednesday. ...continue reading 'AT&T jumps on board with Android'

Intel gives Classmate PC a makeover

Intel unveiled an updated version of its Classmate PC laptop at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in Shanghai, but changes made to the device are largely cosmetic -- at least for now. ...continue reading 'Intel gives Classmate PC a makeover'

Intel has a chip, but where are the MIDs?

For all the fanfare surrounding the launch of Intel's Centrino Atom chip package at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai, there was a notable shortage of new products based on the chips, apart from a few concept designs rolled out for the occasion. ...continue reading 'Intel has a chip, but where are the MIDs?'

Apple plugs QuickTime with 11 patches

Apple released 11 patches for its QuickTime multimedia program on Wednesday, fixing a variety of problems that could allow a hacker to execute malicious code on a machine. ...continue reading 'Apple plugs QuickTime with 11 patches'

RIM ships record number of BlackBerries in Q4

Research In Motion (RIM) shipped 14 million smartphones last year, including a record high 4.4 million in the fourth quarter, the company said Wednesday. ...continue reading 'RIM ships record number of BlackBerries in Q4'

Google to cut DoubleClick jobs, sell Performics piece

Less than a month after closing its DoubleClick acquisition, Google on Wednesday announced significant but expected changes in the ad services company that include reducing its staff and selling part of its Performics division. ...continue reading 'Google to cut DoubleClick jobs, sell Performics piece'

Scientists link laptops to detect earthquakes

The Quake-Catcher Network (QCN) harnesses seismic data from sensors on Internet-connected laptops in different locations to help capture earthquakes. When the laptop isn't being used, special software on laptops collects sensor data, which along with the laptop's location, is sent over the Internet to an earthquake data repository where the data is analyzed. ...continue reading 'Scientists link laptops to detect earthquakes'

Microsoft cofee-table PCs 'surface' at AT&T stores

AT&T will soon be the first company to use Microsoft's touch-enabled, tabletop Surface computers as customer-service kiosks in stores. ...continue reading 'Microsoft cofee-table PCs 'surface' at AT&T stores'

Mozilla launches final Firefox 3.0 beta

Mozilla unveiled the final beta of Firefox 3.0 Wednesday and will move on to the release candidate stage by freezing changes as early as next week. ...continue reading 'Mozilla launches final Firefox 3.0 beta'

Google lays off some U.S. DoubleClick employees

Google said Wednesday it is laying off some of the employees at recently acquired DoubleClick and placing others in transition roles. ...continue reading 'Google lays off some U.S. DoubleClick employees'

Questionable search ads slip by Yahoo

Yahoo recently expanded the list of products that can't be advertised on its search engine, but it appears the company could be more stringent in enforcing its ad rejection policies. ...continue reading 'Questionable search ads slip by Yahoo'

Pro baseball Web video woes continue

Major League Baseball's MLB.TV online broadcasting service encountered serious technical difficulties for the second straight day on Tuesday, as affected paying subscribers fumed about missing games. ...continue reading 'Pro baseball Web video woes continue'

Intel exec: Programming for multicore chips a challenge

Adding more cores is desirable to meet growing computing demands, but it could create more challenges for programmers writing code that enables applications to work effectively with multicore chips. ...continue reading 'Intel exec: Programming for multicore chips a challenge'

EMC dives into consumer storage -- in China

EMC, a maker of high-end storage arrays, is adding a storage device designed for consumers to its product lineup. But instead of launching the device in Europe or the U.S., the storage vendor is first releasing the product in China. ...continue reading 'EMC dives into consumer storage -- in China'

ISO confirms approval of OOXML, gives two months to appeal

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) announced that its members have approved adoption of a draft standard based on Microsoft's Office Open XML document format, a day after the company itself declared victory. ...continue reading 'ISO confirms approval of OOXML, gives two months to appeal'

Apotheker named co-CEO of SAP

SAP announced Wednesday that deputy CEO Leo Apotheker has been promoted to co-CEO and will serve along with CEO Henning Kagermann, a move that positions Apokether as Kagermann's likely successor atop the enterprise software giant. ...continue reading 'Apotheker named co-CEO of SAP'

PWN 2 PAWN: Why the Vista hacker turned to eBay

Curious about what a market price would be for a zero-day exploit, Shane Macaulay tried to sell the Fujitsu U810 laptop (complete with exploit code) that he won in a hacking contest last week. Soon after it was posted, the listing was pulled from eBay. In this interview, Macaulay explains that Adobe Systems plans to patch his Flash bug on April 8, the day his auction was set to end, and so he would have been practicing responsible disclosure, releasing details of a flaw that had already been patched. ...continue reading 'PWN 2 PAWN: Why the Vista hacker turned to eBay'

MIDs will run Windows XP and Vista, Intel says

Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) based on Intel's Centrino Atom chip package will be available with Microsoft's Windows operating system in addition to Linux, according to the chip maker. ...continue reading 'MIDs will run Windows XP and Vista, Intel says'

OOXML approval only first step in road to adoption

The International Organization for Standardization's approval of Microsoft's OOXML as an international standard is just the beginning of what could be a lengthy process before the file format can be widely and successfully implemented for exchanging documents, according to critics and supporters of OOXML. ...continue reading 'OOXML approval only first step in road to adoption'

Microsoft updates Windows Mobile, IE Mobile

Responding to increasing pressure from other mobile phone platforms, Microsoft on Tuesday planned to introduce updated versions of Windows Mobile and Internet Explorer Mobile and also make its new enterprise device management software available to all medium-size and large businesses. ...continue reading 'Microsoft updates Windows Mobile, IE Mobile'

Microsoft updates Windows Mobile, IE Mobile

Responding to increasing pressure from other mobile phone platforms, Microsoft on Tuesday planned to introduce updated versions of Windows Mobile and Internet Explorer Mobile and also make its new enterprise device management software available to all medium-size and large businesses. ...continue reading 'Microsoft updates Windows Mobile, IE Mobile'

Council of Europe, ISPs draft anti-cybercrime tactics

A set of guidelines to help European ISPs and law enforcement agencies cooperate on cybercrime investigations are close to being complete. ...continue reading 'Council of Europe, ISPs draft anti-cybercrime tactics'

Windows XP to get reprieve for low-cost laptops

Microsoft plans to extend the availability of Windows XP for low-cost laptops beyond June 30, with an announcement expected later this week, according to a source familiar with the situation. ...continue reading 'Windows XP to get reprieve for low-cost laptops'

EBay yanks sale of laptop with Vista attack code

Shane Macaulay's attempt to sell a hacked laptop complete with Windows Vista attack code did not last long. ...continue reading 'EBay yanks sale of laptop with Vista attack code'

IBM fine-tunes model for disaster management

IBM's research laboratories in the U.S. and India have fine-tuned technology to help model and manage natural disasters such as wildfires, floods, and diseases. ...continue reading 'IBM fine-tunes model for disaster management'

SaaS vendor NetSuite launches e-commerce editions

NetSuite furthered its verticalization strategy recently with the release of two new editions of its on-demand ERP platform specifically geared towards e-commerce vendors. ...continue reading 'SaaS vendor NetSuite launches e-commerce editions'

Linux kernel community grows, but elite group remains

While Linus Torvalds' name is synonymous with the Linux kernel, Al Viro's may be one day, too. Viro has contributed 1,571 changes to the kernel, which sits at the core of the Linux operating system, over the past three years. ...continue reading 'Linux kernel community grows, but elite group remains'

ISO adopts OOXML format as international standard

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has adopted an international standard based on Microsoft's Office Open XML document format, according to documents circulated by a member of a Dutch national standards committee. ...continue reading 'ISO adopts OOXML format as international standard'

Dell eyes $3 billion in cost savings in 3 years

Dell, the world's second largest PC vendor, plans to cut costs by $3 billion as it slashes the price of materials and components going into its gadgets and reduces operating expenses, including jobs, the company said Monday. ...continue reading 'Dell eyes $3 billion in cost savings in 3 years'

Microsoft signs on to MIT Kerberos Consortium

Microsoft has joined the MIT Kerberos Consortium, an organization that develops the widely-used network authentication standard. It joins Apple, Google and Sun on the consortium's executive board. ...continue reading 'Microsoft signs on to MIT Kerberos Consortium'

IBM served by US Attorney's Office, gov't contracts hit

IBM has received a grand jury summons from the U.S. Attorney's Office over possible procurement violations between employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and certain IBM employees, the company said Monday. ...continue reading 'IBM served by US Attorney's Office, gov't contracts hit'

Google brings offline access to Docs and Apps

Google is rolling out a much-awaited feature for its hosted applications: the ability for people to use them even when they aren't connected to the Internet. ...continue reading 'Google brings offline access to Docs and Apps'

The internet has a trash problem

Somewhere between 1 percent and 3 percent of all traffic on the Internet is meaningless packets of information, used in distributed denial of service attacks to knock Web sites offline. ...continue reading 'The Internet has a trash problem'

Report: Number of GPL v3 projects tops 2,000

The number of open-source projects that use the GNU General Public License Version 3 has grown to more than 2,000, according to Palamida, which sells software and services for tracking open-source code within a customer's code base. ...continue reading 'Report: Number of GPL v3 projects tops 2,000'

CAN-SPAM still gets mixed reviews

Just days after so-called spam king Robert Soloway pleaded guilty in Seattle to a number of criminal charges, the FTC announced a record $2.9 million settlement with online marketing firm ValueClick. But despite these recent court cases, some critics don't see a lot of value in CAN-SPAM. ...continue reading 'CAN-SPAM still gets mixed reviews'

Balloting ends for close OOXML ratification vote

Balloting on whether Office Open XML (OOXML) should become an international document standard closed at midnight Saturday in Geneva, in an apparently tight vote. The results have not yet been officially announced. ...continue reading 'Balloting ends for close OOXML ratification vote'

Adobe joins Linux Foundation, develops Air for Linux

Adobe Systems released an early alpha version of its rich Internet application platform AIR for Linux on Monday, and announced that it has joined the Linux Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes and standardizes Linux. ...continue reading 'Adobe joins Linux Foundation, develops Air for Linux'

With Vista breached, Linux unbeaten in hacking contest

The MacBook Air went first; a tiny Fujitsu laptop running Vista was hacked on the last day of the contest; but it was Linux, running on a Sony Vaio, that remained undefeated as conference organizers ended a three-way computer hacking challenge Friday at the CanSecWest conference. ...continue reading 'With Vista breached, Linux unbeaten in hacking contest'

Toshiba shows prototype home control robot

If you've become hostage to a clutch of remote controls in your living room, never quite sure what all the buttons do and confusing different controllers for different gadgets, then Toshiba might have the answer. It's developed a prototype robot that can act as a voice gateway to just about anything in the room that has a remote control. ...continue reading 'Toshiba shows prototype home control robot'

Sophos warns of Mac Trojan malware

Security consultant Sophos is warning of the appearance of money-grabbing Trojan Horse malware aimed at Macs. ...continue reading 'Sophos warns of Mac Trojan malware'

Apple testing Mac OS X 10.5.3

Apple has begun testing Mac OS X 10.5.3, releasing the software to its developer community for widespread testing. ...continue reading 'Apple testing Mac OS X 10.5.3'

Microsoft 'white spaces' prototype shuts down

For the second time, a device submitted by Microsoft for U.S. Federal Communications Commission testing of wireless 'white spaces' technology has stopped working and been taken out of the process. ...continue reading 'Microsoft 'white spaces' prototype shuts down'

Shell signs $4B multi-supplier outsourcing deal

Royal Dutch Shell has signed a five year, $4.0 billion (£2.04 billion) outsourcing deal with three global IT and telecommunications suppliers. ...continue reading 'Shell signs $4B multi-supplier outsourcing deal'