Spammers use new technique to evade filters

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Spammers use new technique to evade filters
News: Microsoft buys mobile advertising company ScreenTonic
News: TI plans $1 billion expansion in the Philippines
News: Mozilla releases eBay add-on for Firefox
News: Google home page bug strikes again
News: AMD aims to pre-empt Intel's Santa Rosa launch
News: VeriSign to use one-time passwords for bank cards
ITwhirled: Top ten favorite Guitar Hero II songs


NEWS UPDATES

Spammers use new technique to evade filters
Spammers have stepped up efforts to use encrypted attachments to evade filtering systems, service provider Email Systems has reported.


Microsoft buys mobile advertising company ScreenTonic
Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday it will buy ScreenTonic SA, a company that specializes in delivering localation-based ads to mobile devices.


TI plans $1 billion expansion in the Philippines
Texas Instruments Inc. plans to invest US$1 billion in the Philippines over the next ten years to expand its chip assembly operations there, it announced Thursday.


Mozilla releases eBay add-on for Firefox
Mozilla Corp. is asking users to test a new add-on for the Firefox browser that lets users monitor their deals on eBay Inc.'s auction site in real time.


Google home page bug strikes again
Google Inc. renamed and upgraded its Personalized Home Page this week, but one thing the update couldn't shake was a bug that began upsetting many users last Thursday and persisted until Wednesday.


AMD aims to pre-empt Intel's Santa Rosa launch
Advanced Micro Systems Inc. introduced a new chipset for mobile computing on wireless networks Wednesday in an attempt to get ahead of similar news expected soon from rival Intel Corp.


VeriSign to use one-time passwords for bank cards
VeriSign Inc. is looking to offer bank cards with an integrated one-time password generator, a slimmer way than key chains to implement two-factor authentication.


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
Top ten favorite Guitar Hero II songs ... Ten things to know before submitting to Google ... The top 10 Air Jordans of all time ... Top 10 movie one-liners

Google urges shareholders to permit censorship

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Google urges shareholders to permit censorship
News: CEO: SMB to become IBM's 'largest industry'
News: Dell hopes to earn good will with Linux PC
News: Microsoft fails to impress during Bach's keynote
News: First WiMax laptop card approved by FCC, Clearwire says
News: Users force Digg to stand firm over AACS encryption key
ITwhirled: Ten things to know before submitting to Google


NEWS UPDATES

Google urges shareholders to permit censorship
Google Inc.'s board of directors has recommended shareholders next week vote down a proposal that would require the company to legally resist government censorship efforts and to notify users when the company is required by governments to censor search results.


CEO: SMB to become IBM's 'largest industry'
The head of IBM Corp. expects the company's small to midsize business (SMB) operation to become the vendor's biggest industry focus within a couple of years.


Dell hopes to earn good will with Linux PC
Dell Inc. may have won applause from customers Tuesday by announcing it will sell commercial PCs running the Ubuntu distribution of Linux, but if the experience of competitors is a guide, it faces challenges translating the move into financial success.


Microsoft fails to impress during Bach's keynote
The last thing a company wants to do at a keynote speech is clear a room. But that's just what Microsoft Corp. succeeded in doing during Tuesday's keynote at MIX 07 in Las Vegas.


First WiMax laptop card approved by FCC, Clearwire says
Regulators have approved the first WiMax wireless broadband laptop PC card to be offered by Clearwire Corp., and it should be available to users later this year, the company said Tuesday.


Users force Digg to stand firm over AACS encryption key
Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg Inc., threw in the towel on Tuesday night.



ITWHIRLED

Ten things to know before submitting to Google
Top ten favorite Guitar Hero II songs ... Ten things to know before submitting to Google ... The top 10 Air Jordans of all time ... Top 10 movie one-liners

Microsoft adds .Net to give Silverlight a shine ... Dell memo hints at layoffs, acquisitions

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Microsoft adds .Net to give Silverlight a shine
News: Verio to shut off controversial Web site
News: Supreme Court favors Microsoft in AT&T case
News: Search Wikia hires Jabber founder, expands concept
News: Dell memo hints at layoffs, acquisitions
Storage Tip: iSCSI is doing just fine thank you
ITwhirled: Text messaging to render Irish children illiterate


NEWS UPDATES

Microsoft adds .Net to give Silverlight a shine
Microsoft Corp. is integrating the .Net framework into its new Silverlight browser technology for running multimedia applications on the Web, the company revealed Monday. The move is part of an expanded effort to build a significant developer base so Microsoft can catch up to Adobe Systems Inc. in providing a revenue-generating business in the rich Internet applications (RIAs) market.

Verio to shut off controversial Web site
Privacy advocates are concerned that a move by Verio to stop hosting a controversial Web site points to a growing control of the Web by big business and governments.

Supreme Court favors Microsoft in AT&T case
The Supreme Court today ruled that Microsoft Corp. is not liable for using patented AT&T Inc. technology in copies of Windows running on computers outside the U.S. The 7-to-1 ruling relieves the software giant from paying what could have been enormous damages and changes how the software industry looks at patent rights.

Search Wikia hires Jabber founder, expands concept
Jabber creator Jeremie Miller is joining Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia and Wikia Inc., in building an open-source, community-driven search service.

Dell memo hints at layoffs, acquisitions
Michael Dell is considering layoffs and acquisitions at Dell Inc., according to a corporate memo that was leaked to the press on Saturday.

Google rejects Viacom's copyright claims
Google Inc. has rejected claims that it enables copyright infringement on its YouTube.com Web site, its first response to entertainment giant Viacom Inc.'s $1 billion lawsuit filed in March.

Microsoft adds open-source twist to Silverlight
Microsoft Corp. Monday broadened the developer base and programming capabilities for Silverlight by adding dynamic language support to an alpha version of the browser plug-in technology.

Nokia eyes scalability with new security appliance
In the booming market for network security, Nokia Corp. is driving up performance for both large enterprises and small and branch offices with new appliances.

Qualcomm inks OFDM deal, bolsters IP claim
Qualcomm Inc. may have gained another small weapon for what could become a huge battle over essential patents on next-generation wireless networks. In a deal announced Monday, Qualcomm agreed to license its OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) and OFDMA (OFDM Access) technology to 4G Systems GmbH, a Hamburg, Germany, manufacturer of broadband wireless products.

After Sony, Kutaragi looks to the network
Ken Kutaragi, the former head of Sony Corp.'s game division and the man who brought the world the PlayStation, will look to harness the power of the network to tie together content in his next endeavor.


STORAGE TIP

iSCSI is doing just fine thank you
By David Hill, Mesabi Group

As an analyst, I tend to forget that not everyone is familiar with storage technologies even though they have been around for awhile and talked about extensively in the media. So it is with iSCSI. You may or may not be familiar with iSCSI, but you should know about the future of iSCSI -- especially in relationship to the other major storage networking protocol -- Fibre Channel.

Here's what you need to know.

Subscribe to Storage Strategies - Tips for effective storage management, technology updates and best practices.


ITWHIRLED

Text messaging to render Irish children illiterate
The next generation of Irishmen and Irishwomen could grow up with only rudimentary writing skills, and Ireland's Department of Education says cell phones and text messaging are to blame, obviously. A report notes that kids are "choosing to answer sparingly, even minimally, rather than seeing questions as invitations to explore the territory they had studied and to express the breadth and depth of their learning and understanding."

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Dell looks beyond direct model ... Sony sparks outrage with decapitated goat

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Dell looks beyond direct model
News: Yahoo buys remainder of Right Media for $680 million
News: Sony sparks outrage with decapitated goat
News: Microsoft to open source some of Silverlight
Unix Tip: Remounting root
ITwhirled: Only the highlights
Podcast: Acer hires lawyer to defend against HP suit ... Vodafone gets approval for Hutchison Essar bid ... China's Alibaba reportedly plans IPO


NEWS UPDATES

Dell looks beyond direct model
In a leaked internal memo to staff, Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell listed several key steps the company would need to take in order to retain a dominant position in the PC market. One of these was to pursue new opportunities outside of its direct sales strategy.

Yahoo buys remainder of Right Media for $680 million
Yahoo Inc. will buy the remainder of online advertising exchange Right Media Inc. for $680 million in stock and cash, Yahoo said on Monday. The portal giant bought a 20 percent stake of Right Media in October for $45 million and now plans to acquire the remaining 80 percent.

Sony sparks outrage with decapitated goat
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. has launched an internal inquiry following an event in Athens last month that featured a decapitated goat and topless models to promote its new game "God of War II."

Microsoft to open source some of Silverlight
Microsoft Corp.is expected to show a new friendliness to the open-source community by unveiling plans to release the source code to a part of its Silverlight technology at MIX 07, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.

Oracle releases first ECM product since buying Stellent
Less than two weeks after unveiling a road map for its enterprise content management (ECM) software, Oracle Corp. released the first of the revamped products laid out in that strategy.

XO laptop is fun for child's play
The hardest thing about learning to use the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project's XO notebook PC is finding the right way to twist its antenna ears and open the display. Once you can see the screen, just follow the icons to write a note, snap a photo or compose a tune.

New Zune players will face tough market
More types of Microsoft Corp. Zune music players are in the works, but some analysts are unsure whether new form factors or functions will significantly boost Zune's popularity.

EarthLink scales back, focuses muni Wi-Fi effort
EarthLink Inc. is pulling in the reins on its municipal Wi-Fi business, focusing on existing deals and big cities for the rest of this year, in a move that raises questions about the growing trend of city-wide wireless networks.


UNIX TIP

Unix Tip: Remounting root
By Sandra Henry-Stocker

During the booting of Solaris, both the / and /usr file systems are
mounted read-only and then later, before the boot process is fully
complete, remounted read-write. This is all part of the normal boot
process and no reason for concern. Disruptions to the normal boot
sequence, however, can leave you with a file system that is mounted
read-only and requiring repair with no obvious way to fix the
problem. Do situations such as this require you to boot from CD, DVD
or from a boot server before you can edit the files or scripts that
are sabotaging your boot process? No, you can make use of the mount
command's handy remount option and save yourself a lot of time and
trouble.

Let's say that you are booting a system and you run into these errors:

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


ITWHIRLED

Only the highlights
Love Sumo wrestling but don't have three hours to devote to watching it? MagicSports, an auto-editing program from Taiwan-based Cyberlink, may be just what you're looking for. The software cuts out the pomp and ceremony and leaves you with 20 action-packed minutes of wrestling. MagicSports also works with soccer and baseball, and support for tennis and American football is in the works.

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


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Acer hires lawyer to defend against HP suit ... Vodafone gets approval for Hutchison Essar bid ... China's Alibaba reportedly plans IPO

More podcasts

ICANN releases toolkit for handling new TLDs ... OLPC raises laptop price to $175

HIGHLIGHTS
News: ICANN releases toolkit for handling new TLDs
News: Google Desktop 5 speaks 29 languages
News: OLPC raises hundred-dollar laptop price to $175
News: Deferred revenue drives Microsoft to solid Q3
Windows Tip: Drag and drop RunAs
ITwhirled: Geek comic of the week -- Pixelton!
Podcast: Ken Kutaragi steps down from Sony Computer Entertainment ... OLPC raises laptop price to $175 ... China's SMIC fails to impress


NEWS UPDATES

ICANN releases toolkit for handling new TLDs
The group that oversees the Internet's address system has released a toolkit for Web site designers and application developers to fix problems caused by recently added Internet addresses.

Google Desktop 5 speaks 29 languages
Google Inc. took a step closer on Thursday to being able to search everything: its desktop search application is now available in 29 languages, including Hindi, the company announced.

OLPC raises hundred-dollar laptop price to $175
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) group said Thursday that it had raised the price for its hundred-dollar laptop to $175, but were still confident they would collect enough orders to begin volume production by September.

Deferred revenue drives Microsoft to solid Q3
Deferred revenue from the release of Windows Vista and Office 2007 helped Microsoft Corp. increase revenue 32 percent year over year for its fiscal third quarter, with the company reporting $14.4 billion in revenue for the three months ended March 31.

Acer passes Lenovo in Q1, next up: Dell
Acer Inc. achieved its top goal for 2007 early in the year, passing Lenovo Group Ltd. as the world's third largest PC vendor in the first quarter. For the rest of the year it plans to extend its lead over Lenovo, executives said Friday, putting it in position to challenge Dell Inc.

Websense makes $400M bid for SurfControl
Security software vendor Websense Inc. on Thursday moved to acquire competitor SurfControl PLC, with a Websense subsidiary offering about $400 million in cash for SurfControl.

Falcon to be the major piece of MySQL 6.0
The most significant development in the next major release of MySQL AB's open-source database, MySQL 6.0, will be the inclusion of the vendor's homegrown Falcon storage engine, according to company CEO Marten Mickos.

Mitel calls Inter-Tel to boost its size
IP communications company Mitel Networks Corp. plans to acquire Inter-Tel Inc. for $732 million, the companies announced on Thursday.

NY teen hacks AOL, infects systems
A New York teenager broke into AOL LLC networks and databases containing customer information and infected servers with a malicious program to transfer confidential data to his computer, AOL and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office allege.


WINDOWS TIP

Windows Tip: Drag and drop RunAs
By Mitch Tulloch, ITworld.com

I'm always on the lookout for new ways of doing LUA so I can maintain
the security of my computer while still keeping things manageable.
Today I'll share a cool tip that was forwarded to me by someone inside
Microsoft.

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


ITWHIRLED

Geek comic of the week: Pixelton!
A pixel and a ... round-headed ... something have various adventures. If you're familiar with video-gaming lore, some of those adventures will look strangely familiar to you. This comic is just getting underway, so get in now while the getting's good!

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


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Ken Kutaragi steps down from Sony Computer Entertainment ... OLPC raises laptop price to $175 ... China's SMIC fails to impress

More podcasts

Microsoft releases first Longhorn public beta ... Adobe to open-source Flex SDK

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Microsoft releases first Longhorn public beta
News: Adobe to open-source Flex SDK by end of year
News: Disgruntled employees may seek IT revenge
News: Siemens reports profit growth as CEO plans departure
Opinion: Hack-A-Mac Contest and the Mac Faithful
ITwhirled: The 10 best tech products of all time
Podcast: Acer recalls 27,000 laptop batteries ... BenQ to spin off branded business ... Yahoo China to appeal piracy decision


NEWS UPDATES

Microsoft releases first Longhorn public beta
Microsoft Corp. is posting the final beta and first publicly available and feature-complete version of Windows Server "Longhorn," marking the final time the product will be available for testing and feedback before the long-awaited server update is available later this year.

Adobe to open-source Flex SDK by end of year
In an effort to build a larger community of developers for its Flex environment, Adobe Systems Inc. said Thursday it plans to open-source the Flex software development kit (SDK), designed to let developers build multimedia-rich Internet applications, by the end of the year.

Disgruntled employees may seek IT revenge
Of all the security vendors exhibiting at InfoSecurity in London this week, none claim they can detect a major threat to enterprises: unhappiness.

Siemens reports profit growth as CEO plans departure
One day after announcing his unexpected decision to step down, Siemens AG's embattled CEO Klaus Kleinfeld could put on a smile Thursday morning to discuss the company's higher sales and earnings.

BlackBerry from Verizon works worldwide
Verizon Wireless Inc. is hoping to appeal to the international business traveler -- a customer segment that it may have struggled to attract previously -- with a new BlackBerry designed to work around the world.

Nintendo sales surge, but Wii misses target by a hair
Nintendo Co. Ltd. reported a big increase in sales and profit for its financial year just ended, although sales of its smash-hit Wii console missed their target by a whisker.

CSC to buy outsourcer Covansys for $1.3 billion
Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) will spend $1.3 billion in cash to acquire outsourcing company Covansys Corp. and double its staff in India, the company said Wednesday.

Acer recalls 27,000 notebook PC batteries
Just six months after saying Acer Inc. laptop PC users would not need to replace any batteries amid a massive global recall, a company subsidiary announced a recall for 27,000 batteries in the U.S.

Apple's board defends Jobs in stock options case
The same day the company posted strong financials, the board of Apple Inc. Wednesday publicly defended CEO Steve Jobs against allegations by a former executive about Jobs' involvement in stock options backdating.

PC vendors push automated management
In a bid to attract business users, improved IT-management capabilities will be a key element of Intel Corp.'s launch of Weybridge vPro desktop PCs later this year, and in the 2008 version of their Montevina Centrino notebook PCs. It's just the latest sign that desktop management is coming of age.


OPINION

Hack-A-Mac Contest and the Mac Faithful
By Dan Blacharski, ITworld.com

There is plenty of righteous indignation around the blogosphere this week in response to the CanSecWest "hack-a-Mac" contest. Of course, the inevitable happened, and a software engineer named Shane Macaulay, along with his associate Dino Dai Zovi, won the prize, hacking into a MacBook through a zero-day security flaw in Safari. The response varies from "say it ain't so!" to just plain "it ain't so." Unfortunately, regardless of platform, denial is the biggest security flaw of all.

Subscribe to Blog Insights - A weekly recap of what bloggers are saying about information technology.


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
The 10 best tech products of all time ... Top 10 tech cars ... Top 10 alternate endings to the next Harry Potter book

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


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Acer recalls 27,000 laptop batteries ... BenQ to spin off branded business ... Yahoo China to appeal piracy decision

More podcasts

'Evil twin' Wi-Fi access points proliferate ... CollabNet acquires SourceForge

HIGHLIGHTS
News: BenQ to spin off BenQ, change name
News: Orange seeks to deflect E.U. limit on roaming charges
News: 'Evil twin' Wi-Fi access points proliferate
News: Microsoft ups security stance with new labs
Storage Tip: Practicing information-centric security
ITwhirled: Bad idea of the week: Porn at work
Podcast: Beijing court rules against Yahoo China over music ... Apple execs charged over backdating ... Vonage wins permanent injunction


NEWS UPDATES

BenQ to spin off BenQ, change name
BenQ Corp. plans to spin off its brand name business, BenQ, and change its corporate identity, it said on Wednesday.

Orange seeks to deflect E.U. limit on roaming charges
French mobile phone operator Orange SA on Wednesday introduced new tariffs for the calls its customers make and receive while traveling abroad. Orange will charge its French customers as little as €0.25 ($0.34) per minute for calls they make or receive in other countries of the E.U., as long as they pay in advance for a block of at least 10 incoming minutes and 10 outgoing minutes, and consume all the prepaid minutes within 31 days.

'Evil twin' Wi-Fi access points proliferate
The next time you splurge on a double latte and sip it while browsing the Internet via the cafe's Wi-Fi, beware of the "evil twin." That's the term for a Wi-Fi access point that appears to be a legitimate one offered on the premises, but actually has been set up by a hacker to eavesdrop on wireless communications among Internet surfers. Unfortunately, experts say there is little consumers can do to protect themselves, but enterprises may be in better shape.

Microsoft ups security stance with new labs
In a move to strengthen its response to security threats, Microsoft Corp. is opening two labs to study the growing amount of malicious software circulating on the Internet, security executives announced Wednesday.

Stanford's Folding@home gets boost from PlayStation 3
Stanford University's Folding@home distributed computing project has seen its capacity more than double in the last month thanks to the addition of idle processor cycles from hundreds of thousands of PlayStation 3 consoles.

CollabNet acquires SourceForge from VA Software
CollabNet Inc. has acquired SourceForge Enterprise Edition (SFEE) from VA Software Corp., adding to its range of collaborative software development tools.

Apple SEC case to be watched closely
Legal and business experts will have a lot to learn from how the case against former Apple Inc. lawyer Nancy Heinen grinds its way through the courts.

Sun Microsystems posts Q3 profit
Sun Microsystems Inc. is continuing its profitable ways, reporting net income of $67 million, or $0.02 a share, on $3.29 billion in revenue in quarterly financial results released Tuesday.

Vonage wins permanent stay in patent case
A U.S. appeals court has granted Vonage Holdings Corp. a permanent stay against a lower court ruling barring it from providing service to new customers.

SEC charges former Apple lawyer
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged former Apple Inc. general counsel Nancy Heinen of fraudulently backdating stock options, the agency said Tuesday.

AT&T doubles profit in first quarter
AT&T Inc. on Tuesday pointed to high wireless revenue for driving the company to a $2.8 billion profit in the first quarter, twice what it earned for the same period last year.


STORAGE TIP

Practicing information-centric security
By David Hill, Mesabi Group

Information-centric security, from a data security perspective, is protecting data at its core. Not only must you prevent the wrong people from getting a key to the data vault, but you must also know how to prevent those who have a key from misusing the data.

Here's what you need to know.

Subscribe to Storage Strategies - Tips for effective storage management, technology updates and best practices.


ITWHIRLED

Bad idea of the week: Porn at work
Would you ever download dirty pictures onto your work computer? Of course not, right? Well apparently a quarter of your coworkers think otherwise.

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


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Beijing court rules against Yahoo China over music ... Apple execs charged over backdating ... Vonage wins permanent injunction

More podcasts

MS hopes for Xbox Japan boost with Live gaming ... Semiconductor industry looks to 18-inch wafers

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Microsoft hopes for Xbox Japan boost with Live gaming
News: Semiconductor industry looks ahead to 18-inch wafers
News: AMD looks to raise $2.2 billion through debt sale
News: U.S. Army team wants second chance at hacker contest
Opinion: The mashup approach to application integration
ITwhirled: eBay auction of papal Volkswagon flops
Podcast: U.S. government targets ID theft .... Number of telephones grows in India ... DoCoMo to sell motion-sensing handsets for games


NEWS UPDATES

Microsoft hopes for Xbox Japan boost with Live gaming
Microsoft Corp. hopes the launch in May of a gaming platform that ties together Windows PCs and the Xbox 360 console will give PC gaming a boost in Japan and in turn mean better business for its console.

Semiconductor industry looks ahead to 18-inch wafers
The world's largest contract chip manufacturer is part of a group of companies exploring the use of 18-inch (450 millimeter) silicon wafers to drive down chip costs, but the technology faces a major hurdle: nobody can afford an 18-inch wafer factory.

AMD looks to raise $2.2 billion through debt sale
Less than one week after disclosing a $611 million first-quarter loss, chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) Monday said it hopes to raise up to $2.2 billion through the sale of convertible notes to institutional investors.

U.S. Army team wants second chance at hacker contest
A team of U.S. Army hackers will attend the Hack In The Box (HITB) Security Conference 2007 in Kuala Lumpur later this year, seeking redemption after falling short at a hacker competition in Dubai earlier this month, the conference organizer said Tuesday.

Alcatel-Lucent sales, operating profit dip in Q2
First-quarter operating profit dipped at telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA on weak sales of the company's products for wireless and core networks.

EnterpriseDB upgrade aims at Oracle
EnterpriseDB is releasing an upgrade to its database software next month, hoping to lure customers away from Oracle Corp. with the promise of lower license fees and compatibility with applications written for Oracle's database.

Report: Former Apple execs may be charged this week
Two former executives of Apple Inc. may face legal action this week by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for their roles in the stock options backdating scandal at the computer company.

Apple product hazards put to shareholder vote
Apple Inc. shareholders will vote on a resolution at the company's annual meeting May 10 on a proposal to remove certain hazardous chemicals from their products.

AT&T to target iPhone to enterprise
AT&T Inc. plans to market the iPhone to business users in addition to consumers but analysts aren't recommending that enterprises supply workers with the phones.


OPINION

I'll push and you pull. The mashup approach to application integration
By Sean McGrath, ITworld.com

The phenomenon of mashup applications on the web intrigues me. The applications themselves are fascinating enough but on top of that you have the richly painted canvas of reaction and opinion from the IT community. In a scene reminiscent of a busy Hieronymus Bosch painting, many voices speak at once. Many reactions take place all at the same time, evidencing delight, horror, exacerbation in equal measure.

Read the full article here.

Subscribe to E-business in the Enterprise - Observations about business, the Internet, and cool technologies.


ITWHIRLED

eBay auction of papal Volkswagon flops
A hatchback car that Pope Benedict XVI owned before his elevation to the papacy was auctioned off on eBay, but failed to meet the reserve price. You might be forgiven for thinking the owner was being a little greedy: That reserve price was apparently more than $204,400.

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


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
U.S. government targets ID theft .... Number of telephones grows in India ... DoCoMo to sell motion-sensing handsets for games

More podcasts

Motorola buys Terayon for $140 million ... HP files second patent lawsuit against Acer

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Motorola buys Terayon for $140 million
News: HP files second patent lawsuit against Acer
News: Court filings: Kickbacks on gov't contracts widespread
News: Microsoft hit with patent suit over .Net
Unix Tip: Taking notes the easy way
ITwhirled: Researcher records life in detail
Podcast: HP files another lawsuit against Acer ... Singapore Exchange plans new order system ... Intuit offers refunds for e-filing problems


NEWS UPDATES

Motorola buys Terayon for $140 million
Motorola Inc. will buy Terayon Communication Systems Inc., a digital video processing and networking software maker, for $140 million, the companies announced on Monday.

HP files second patent lawsuit against Acer
Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's largest PC vendor, has filed another lawsuit against its fastest growing rival, Acer Inc., as competition in the PC industry continues to heat up.

Court filings: Kickbacks on gov't contracts widespread
An alleged multi-million-dollar kickback scheme involving work on numerous U.S. government contracts touches dozens of IT vendors and systems integrators, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

Microsoft hit with patent suit over .Net
Vertical Computer Systems Inc. is suing Microsoft Corp. for patent infringement related to Microsoft's .Net framework for building Windows-based software.

Barclays merger will move 10,800 jobs to India
U.K. bank Barclays PLC will move 10,800 jobs to India following a giant merger announced Monday with ABN Amro Holding NV, part of an effort to generate billions of euros in annual savings.

Europe considers network security portal for SMBs
The European Union is considering a system that would alert small and medium-size businesses to network and information security threats.

RIM readies software client for non-Blackberry devices
New software from Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) will enable all BlackBerry wireless applications to run on smartphones from rival handset makers.

Business Objects to buy financial software vendor
Business Objects SA has agreed to buy Cartesis SA, a maker of finance and performance management software, for €225 million in cash, or about $300 million, the companies announced Monday.

Google looking to expand geo-tagged information
Google Inc. is looking to increase the range and variety of information with a geographical element that it offers, and hopes its users will play a big part in the expansion.


UNIX TIP

Taking notes the easy way
By Sandra Henry-Stocker

If you ever find yourself cutting and pasting Unix commands and their output into a file in order to create a record of some anomaly you have encountered on a system you manage or to document a procedure so that someone else can take charge while you are on vacation, you may have overlooked a handy command that takes all the fuss out of recording the content of your online session -- the script command.

Read the full article here.


ITWHIRLED

Researcher records life in detail
Gordon Bell records everything about his life: He saves every e-mail and walks around with a digital camera and audio recorder. It's a bit cumbersome at the moment, but he's working on a system for Microsoft that will make it all simple!

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


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
HP files another lawsuit against Acer ... Singapore Exchange plans new order system ... Intuit offers refunds for e-filing problems

More podcasts

Protecting the Earth and the bottom line

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Protecting the Earth and the bottom line
News: RIM finally breaks silence on BlackBerry outage
News: EPIC, CDD ask FTC to block Google-DoubleClick merger
News: Mobile phone sales to slow in 2007, says IDC
News: Google buys Marratech video conferencing company
News: SAP first-quarter profit climbs 10 percent
ITwhirled: UFOs invade Canada



NEWS UPDATES

Protecting the Earth and the bottom line
As the 27th anniversary of Earth Day approaches on Sunday, more companies are realizing that embracing energy conservation is good business, not just good public relations. "It's not just about pictures of little kids holding balloons, running across green fields," said Larry Vertal, senior strategist in microprocessors at Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which hosted an energy summit at its Sunnyvale, California, headquarters on April 9.


RIM finally breaks silence on BlackBerry outage
The addition of a new software routine caused the multi-hour failure of Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry messaging service in North America earlier this week, the company said Friday.


EPIC, CDD ask FTC to block Google-DoubleClick merger
Three U.S. online civil rights groups have filed a complaint asking the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to block Google Inc.'s planned US$3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick Inc. unless the company agrees to stop tracking its users.


Mobile phone sales to slow in 2007, says IDC
Global sales of mobile phones, while still buoyant, are growing at a slower rate as the market for first-time owners shrinks, according to market research released Friday by IDC.


Google buys Marratech video conferencing company
Google Inc. has bought Marratech AB, a Stockholm-based developer of video conferencing software, taking it further into the sphere of collaborative work tools.


SAP first-quarter profit climbs 10 percent
SAP AG has posted its financial results following a turbulent quarter for the company, reporting a 10 percent jump in profit on increased sales of its software and support services.


ITWHIRLED

UFOs invade Canada
Do aliens beings from beyond our solar system have a thing for ice hockey? Poutine? Bryan Adams and/or Alanis Morissette? It's impossible to know exactly what is going on in their pulsing, veiny, oversized skulls, but 736 of their spacecraft were spotted flying above the Great White North in 2006.

Microsoft, Samsung sign patent accord ... HP expands lead over Dell ... Mozilla releases Thunderbird 2

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Yahoo sued over jailing of Chinese dissident
News: Nokia phone sales drop in Q1 as prices fall
News: Gates launches developing world tech initiative
News: Microsoft, Samsung sign broad patent accord
Windows Tip: Forcing a remote reboot
ITwhirled: Physicist needs $20K to test time-travel hypothesis
Podcast: BlackBerry services resume after outage ... HP expands lead over Dell ... Microsoft, Lenovo join forces for R&D


NEWS UPDATES

Yahoo sued over jailing of Chinese dissident
The wife of an imprisoned Chinese dissident has sued Yahoo Inc. for divulging information about her husband's Internet activity, which allegedly led to his arrest and torture.

Nokia phone sales drop in Q1 as prices fall
Sales in Nokia Corp.'s core mobile phone business dropped in the first quarter as competition intensified in the global handset market, particularly from Asian vendors.

Gates launches developing world tech initiative
Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates launched an initiative in Beijing Thursday aimed at bridging the digital divide between technologically advanced and developing countries.

Microsoft, Samsung sign broad patent accord
Microsoft Corp. entered into a broad patent licensing agreement with South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. aimed at speeding product development efforts for both companies, they said Thursday.

Mozilla releases Thunderbird 2 e-mail client
Mozilla Corp. unveiled the final version of its open-source Thunderbird 2 e-mail client on Thursday, improving how users can organize and label their messages.

HP extends market lead over Dell in PC sales
Hewlett-Packard Co. (PC) has extended its lead over Dell Inc. in personal computer sales according to two industry reports released Wednesday.

New legislation would overhaul U.S. patent system
A group of U.S. lawmakers have introduced legislation that would overhaul the U.S. patent system, earning them praise from a number of technology groups.

Next OpenOffice release to include Pentaho BI
Open-source business intelligence software vendor Pentaho Corp. is hoping a new tie-up unveiled Thursday with the OpenOffice.org community and Sun Microsystems Inc. will bring its BI offerings to the attention of many more new users.

MS Antitrust: Iowa judge approves class-action settlement
A judge in Iowa's Polk Country District Court Wednesday granted preliminary approval to a settlement in one of the last class-action lawsuits faced by Microsoft Corp. in the wake of the antitrust case brought by the U.S. government in the 1990s.

Ballmer: SAAS shouldn't threaten IT jobs
While the movement toward SAAS (software as a service) and away from client-based software may change the role of the IT professional, it shouldn't signal a widespread loss of jobs, experts speaking during Microsoft Corp.'s IT Pro Town Hall in Redmond said on Wednesday.

Red Hat creates global services center in India
Red Hat Inc. has set up a global services center in India that will assist its customers with deploying open-source technologies. The center will hire about 100 staff over the next 12 months.


WINDOWS TIP

Forcing a remote reboot
Mitch Tulloch, MTIT Enterprises

You've probably heard that old saying, "When in doubt, reboot." There
can be many reasons why you might need to reboot a system from
applications that leak memory to problems caused by patching. And
while rebooting a system to fix an issue isn't an elegant solution,
well if it works, it works. Right?

Unfortunately sometimes when you try and reboot a remote system it may
not behave as expected. For example, one business I know has scheduled
reboots for one of their servers using Task Scheduler and the
shutdown /r, but from time to time the reboot fails for no apparent
reason, even when using the /f (force) command. How can you make sure
your server reboots when you tell it to?

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


ITWHIRLED

Physicist needs $20K to test time-travel hypothesis
Always wanted to meet Abraham Lincoln or James Dean? Got $20,000 burning a hole in your pocket? Talk to physics prof John Cramer, who has some interesting ideas on time travel but can't get the funding needed to test them out.

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BlackBerry services resume after outage ... HP expands lead over Dell ... Microsoft, Lenovo join forces for R&D

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BlackBerry suffers widespread outage ... Intel's Centrino to get WiMax next year

HIGHLIGHTS
News: BlackBerry suffers widespread outage
News: Intel's Centrino package to get WiMax next year
News: Oracle updates leave critical Windows flaw
News: Intel has big plans for little devices
Unix Tip: Rejecting email from outside
ITwhirled: British scientists determine formula for perfect bacon sandwich
Podcast: BlackBerry service has widespread outage ... Oracle patch delayed for Windows customers ... Intel to put WiMax in Centrino ... Via picks Intel for ultramobile PC


NEWS UPDATES

BlackBerry suffers widespread outage
The BlackBerry wireless e-mail service from Research In Motion Ltd. appears to have suffered a widespread outage starting Tuesday evening in the U.S.

IDF: Intel's Centrino package to get WiMax next year
Intel Corp. said Wednesday it plans to next year add WiMax to its Centrino platform, a long-expected move likely to boost demand for wireless broadband services.

Oracle updates leave critical Windows flaw
Some Oracle Corp. customers using the Windows operating system will have to wait another two weeks to receive a critical software update to their database software, thanks to a glitch that came up in testing the company's latest patches.

IDF: Intel has big plans for little devices
Intel Corp. Wednesday unveiled its Ultra Mobile platform, also known as McCaslin, designed for ultramobile PCs and other handheld devices, and outlined plans for increased Linux support and a new chip for ultramobile PCs due in 2008.

Virginia Tech students hit social sites after shooting
Many students at Virginia Tech on Monday turned to message boards and social networking sites to try to find out what exactly was happening on campus during a shooting spree that ended with 33 dead.

Oracle sets out content management road map
Building on its December acquisition of Stellent, Oracle Corp. Wednesday began to flesh out its content management software strategy.

SAAS is hitting its stride
Delivering software as a service (SAAS), accessed from the Internet rather than installed on a computer, is rapidly becoming the way for businesses to use software, said experts attending a conference Tuesday called SaaScon in Santa Clara, California.


UNIX TIP

Rejecting email from outside
By Sandra Henry-Stocker

If you would like to generate email on a server, but don't want to put up with email from the outside, you can configure sendmail to do this for you.

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


ITWHIRLED

British scientists determine formula for perfect bacon sandwich
Totally not wanting for cash are a group of Brits who managed to quantify the deliciousness of a bacon sandwich (or "bacon buttie" in UK parlance). The formula is N = C + {fb(cm) · fb(tc)} + fb(Ts) + fc · ta, if you're interested.

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PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
BlackBerry service has widespread outage ... Oracle patch delayed for Windows customers ... Intel to put WiMax in Centrino ... Via picks Intel for ultramobile PC

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Adobe CEO responds to Microsoft's Silverlight ... Microsoft releases Media Player plug-in for Firefox

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Adobe CEO responds to Microsoft's Silverlight
News: Microsoft releases Media Player plug-in for Firefox
News: Intel processor hits speedy 2 teraflops in demo
News: Sun, Fujitsu and Hitachi freshen server lines
Security Tip: Three inexpensive ways to increase security
ITwhirled: 10 years of blogs: An incomplete timeline
Podcast: Intel developing x86-compatible terascale chip ... New servers from Sun, Fujitsu and Hitachi ... Adobe questions Microsoft plans with Silverlight ... Oracle releases integration software


NEWS UPDATES

Adobe CEO responds to Microsoft's Silverlight
Silverlight, which is seen as Microsoft's challenger to Adobe's Flash format, was unveiled Monday at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show in Las Vegas. The head of Adobe has questioned Microsoft's commitment to keeping its new Silverlight platform compatible with other operating systems besides Windows.

Microsoft releases Media Player plug-in for Firefox
Microsoft, as part of its outreach to the open-source community, has released a new official Windows Media Player plug-in for Firefox 2.0 that resolves problems with the older one.

IDF: Intel processor hits speedy 2 teraflops in demo
Intel Corp. demonstrated its fastest multi-core processor yet at the Spring Intel Development Forum (IDF) in Beijing on Tuesday, an 80-core processor that hit a speedy 2-teraflops (trillions of floating point operations per second) in a demonstration.

Sun, Fujitsu and Hitachi freshen server lines
Sun Microsystems Inc. and Fujitsu Ltd. are introducing new servers Tuesday that they jointly developed, while another server maker, Hitachi Ltd., is unveiling new blade servers. They each aim to address buyers' dual needs for computing power and energy efficiency.

Amazon Web Services losing money
Amazon.com Inc.'s Web services business isn't profitable, but it's growing very rapidly and the company expects it to make money eventually, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said Monday.

IDF: Intel plans powerful x86 chip with many cores
Intel Corp. is developing a programmable processor with many cores that is compatible with the x86 instruction set and capable of performing 1 trillion floating-point operations per second, a senior company executive said Tuesday at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing.

JotSpot chief: Google is a nerd paradise
JotSpot agreed to be acquired by Google Inc. partly because the search engine giant is "a nerd's paradise," JotSpot co-founder Joe Kraus said Monday. As a self-described nerd leading a startup of nerds, Kraus "couldn't think of a better company" to be acquired by in Silicon Valley, he said at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.

Vonage admits it has no workaround
Vonage Holdings Corp. has acknowledged it has no workaround for technology that was found to infringe Verizon Communications Inc. patents and does not know if one is feasible.

Yahoo expands ad deal with newspaper partners
In a win for its online advertising strategy, Yahoo Inc. Monday extended a deal that makes it the exclusive online distribution site for U.S. newspapers from a consortium of 12 newspaper companies, enabling the Web portal and search vendor to share and earn online advertising revenue with them.


SECURITY TIP

Three inexpensive ways to increase security
By Brent Huston, ITworld.com

Want to increase overall security of your small to mid-size business network without spending much time or money? These three inexpensive ideas will help bring more security and less hassle to your environment.

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


ITWHIRLED

10 years of blogs: An incomplete timeline
Hard to believe it, but the now-ubiquitous weblog turned 10 this month. Here are a few of the milestones -- minus any incidents of people being fired for blogging, bloggers getting people fired, or famous bloggers being fired -- needless to say, it's a short list.

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Daily IT News Audio Update
Intel developing x86-compatible terascale chip ... New servers from Sun, Fujitsu and Hitachi ... Adobe questions Microsoft plans with Silverlight ... Oracle releases integration software

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Google to sell radio ads through Clear Channel ... Microsoft unveils Silverlight as Flash killer

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Intel offers a look beyond Santa Rosa
News: Google to sell radio ads through Clear Channel
News: Microsoft unveils Silverlight as Flash killer
News: HD DVD, Blu-ray protection in question after attacks
Security Tip: Don't be seduced by penetration testing certifications
ITwhirled: 21 biggest tech flops
Podcast: Microsoft and Adobe unveil new desktop software products ... Intel will give its first demonstration of PRAM this week ... Google strikes deal Clear Channel to sell radio ads


NEWS UPDATES

Intel offers a look beyond Santa Rosa
The next version of Intel Corp.'s Centrino notebook platform, called Santa Rosa, will hit the market next month, but the company is already looking ahead to other products, including an updated "Santa Rosa refresh" and a quad-core mobile processor set for release next year.

Google to sell radio ads through Clear Channel
Google Inc. has struck a deal with Clear Channel Communications Inc. to sell 30-second audio ads on its AM and FM radio stations, reinforcing Google's advertising sales business beyond the Web.

Microsoft unveils Silverlight as Flash killer
Microsoft Corp. this week will reveal new technology to deliver rich media applications on the Web, part of a broader strategy to go head to head with Web and design tools powerhouse Adobe Systems Inc.

HD DVD, Blu-ray protection in question after attacks
Next week, new HD DVD movies will hit the shelves that won't play on some players, the first countermeasure by the content and software industries to combat intensive efforts by hackers to break copy-protection technology.

CA to pursue co-founder Wang for fraud
A special committee at CA Inc. Friday released a report blaming co-founder Charles Wang for accounting fraud at the company and recommending suing him for damages and the value of company stock he received.

Google to pay $3.1B for DoubleClick
Google Inc. has agreed to buy DoubleClick Inc. for $3.1 billion in cash, an acquisition that strengthens Google's status as an online advertising powerhouse.

Microsoft targets SAAS program
Microsoft Corp. has consolidated some of its efforts to help Web hosting companies offer software-as-a-service (SAAS) into a new program tailored for offerings to independent software vendors (ISVs).

Coming soon: a Microsoft fuel-cell charger
A New York-based company that is one of a handful developing fuel cells for consumer electronics devices says it has started commercial production of a fuel cell-based recharger for Microsoft Corp.

Adobe to show off media player
Adobe Systems Inc. has developed its first desktop media player and plans to give the industry an early peek at it at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show in Las Vegas this week.

New worm wriggles around on Skype
A worm targeting Skype Ltd.'s VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) application is harvesting e-mail addresses and directing users to a range of sites hosting other malicious software, security vendors said Monday.

IBM and Yahoo upgrade enterprise search app
IBM Corp. and Yahoo Inc. have enhanced their joint enterprise search product, a free competitor to Google Inc.'s Mini device.


SECURITY TIP

Don't be seduced by penetration testing certifications
By Brent Huston, MicroSolved, Inc.

There's been a lot of recent talk about certifications for penetration testing, but don't be swayed. You must continue to carefully vet your security partners when it comes to protecting your perimeter.

Here's why.

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


ITWHIRLED

21 biggest tech flops
There's a curious urge in the tech community to make lists of our most notable failures. Here's another batch, ranging from products too beautiful for this world (the Newton) to those killed by circumstances beyond their control (digital audio tapes) to just plain bad ideas (DIVX).

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PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Microsoft and Adobe unveil new desktop software products ... Intel will give its first demonstration of PRAM this week ... Google strikes deal Clear Channel to sell radio ads

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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.

Subscribe to Storage Strategies - Tips for effective storage management, technology updates and best practices.


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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PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
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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PODCAST

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

More podcasts

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

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


PODCAST

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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