P-to-P users expose US government secrets

HIGHLIGHTS

News: P-to-P users expose US government secrets
News: SourceForge unveils the winners of the 'open-source Oscars'
News: Making sense of AMD's processor road map
Related Reading: AMD unveils strategy to 'Bulldoze' the competition
News: Cisco to acquire equity stake in VMware
News: BLACK HAT: With Black Hat approaching, a rush to patch iPhone
News: Microsoft describes technology behind software plus services
News: Aruba, Alcatel-Lucent deepen mobility partnership
News: AirMagnet analyzes 802.11n Wi-Fi
News: Storm worm gets smarter
News: Google, Sprint team on WiMax mobile services
ITWhirled: Geek Comic of the Week: Bag of Toast


NEWS UPDATES

P-to-P users expose US government secrets
Contractors and U.S. government employees are sharing hundreds of secret documents on peer-to-peer networks, in many cases overriding the default security settings on their P-to-P software to do so, according to a company that monitors the networks.


SourceForge unveils the winners of the 'open-source Oscars'
Popular open-source software development site SourceForge.net hosted the equivalent of the open-source Oscars on Thursday evening, billing the event as a big party, not a painfully long and formal awards ceremony.


Making sense of AMD's processor road map
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) Thursday gave journalists and analysts a peek at its road map of upcoming processors, including more details on the company's quad-core processors and plans for a family of server chips with 16 cores.

Related Reading: AMD unveils strategy to 'Bulldoze' the competition
Executives at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. are pursuing a new strategy to combine CPUs and graphics processors into one unit and put them into everything from workstations to HDTVs to wireless phones.


Cisco to acquire equity stake in VMware
Cisco Systems Inc. plans to acquire a 1.6 percent equity stake in virtualization software player VMware Inc., mirroring a step Intel Corp. took earlier this month.

BLACK HAT: With Black Hat approaching, a rush to patch iPhone
With security researchers set to reveal details of a critical security flaw in the iPhone at the Black Hat 2007 conference next week, Apple Inc. now has fewer than seven days to patch a critical vulnerability in the product.


Microsoft describes technology behind software plus services
Microsoft Corp. gave some of the clearest examples yet on Thursday of its vision for software plus services.


Aruba, Alcatel-Lucent deepen mobility partnership
Alcatel-Lucent SA plans to extend enterprise security into cellular networks through its own fixed-mobile convergence systems and Aruba Networks Inc.'s "follow-me" security technology as part of a planned joint venture.


AirMagnet analyzes 802.11n Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi management company AirMagnet has launched an 802.11n laptop analyzer, ready for the host of performance issues expected from the emerging fast wireless LAN standard.


Storm worm gets smarter
Newer variants of the widespread Storm worm have introduced a new technique for evading security experts -- detecting when they are running in a virtual environment and changing their behavior if they are.


Google, Sprint team on WiMax mobile services
As part of its strategy to increase its presence in as many Web-enabled mobile devices as possible, Google Inc. has agreed to collaborate with Sprint Nextel Corp. to offer a range of Internet services to users of the U.S. operator's planned new WiMax network.


ITWHIRLED

Geek Comic of the Week: Bag of Toast
If robots and cyborgs coexisted, would they run political campaign ads smearing one another? Is there any point to practicing with Wii controllers? Does time travel automatically involve Abe Lincoln and dinosaurs? This whimsical comic answers these questions and more.

Google Earth Enterprise data now in browsers

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Google Earth Enterprise data now in browsers
News: Web hosting outage a teachable moment on backup power
News: Identity framework moves into next phase
News: Mozilla ponders separate organization for Thunderbird
News: Lenovo opens manufacturing plants in Mexico and India
News: Nasscom wants Indian outsourcers to innovate
News: Researcher publishes attack code for Mozilla flaw
News: User pressure leads SugarCRM to adopt GPLv3
News: Cisco announces third-generation data center
News: US standards committee still undecided on Open XML
Feature: WORLDBEAT: The old man and the Internet
Feature: DIGITAL GEAR: Wireless USB makes a splash
ITWhirled: NASA makes public spelling goof


NEWS UPDATES

Google Earth Enterprise data now in browsers
Google Inc. will release on Thursday an upgrade to its Google Earth Enterprise mapping system that for the first time will let users display two-dimensional (2D) geospatial data from the product on a Web browser.


Web hosting outage a teachable moment on backup power
The Web hosting company The Planet.com Internet Services Inc. tests its backup generators monthly and some employees ask if that's really necessary, said manager Urvish Vashi. The blackout in San Francisco Tuesday explains why.


Identity framework moves into next phase
The Liberty Alliance Project has started developing technical specifications for how companies can protect sensitive personal data within their IT systems and securely share that data with other organizations.


Mozilla ponders separate organization for Thunderbird
The Mozilla Foundation is thinking about creating a separate organization to take control of its Thunderbird e-mail application, allowing it to concentrate on development of the Firefox Web browser.


Lenovo opens manufacturing plants in Mexico and India
Lenovo Group Ltd. plans to ramp up its PC production by spending US$30 million on two new manufacturing and fulfillment plants in Mexico and India, the company said on Thursday.


Nasscom wants Indian outsourcers to innovate
Indian outsourcers have typically been associated with strong processes for services delivery rather than with innovation. A trade organization now wants IT services and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies to focus on innovation to increase revenues.


Researcher publishes attack code for Mozilla flaw
Mozilla Corp. is working on patching its Firefox browser after a hacker posted details of a flaw that could let criminals run unauthorized software on a victim's machine.


User pressure leads SugarCRM to adopt GPLv3
SugarCRM Inc. is to adopt version 3 of the GNU general public license (GPLv3) for the next release of its open-source CRM (customer relationship management) software after coming under pressure from its user community to move away from its own Sugar Public License.


Cisco announces third-generation data center
Cisco has announced a platform to provision server, storage and network resources as virtualized services in the data center. It is part of its Data Center 3.0 strategy, one aimed at the real-time, dynamic orchestration of infrastructure services from shared pools of virtualized server, storage and network resources, while optimizing application service-levels, efficiency and collaboration.


US standards committee still undecided on Open XML
A key U.S. standards committee remains undecided about whether it will support a document standard proposed by Microsoft Corp., even while the company asserted that the committee has already signalled its "yes" in an upcoming vote.

FEATURES

WORLDBEAT: The old man and the Internet
On a lazy June afternoon an old man with a suntanned and weather-beaten face wanders the beach introducing himself to visitors. He tells them about the beach, a little about the marine life to be found just a few meters from the shore and he makes small bracelets and necklaces from string and dead coral that he gives as souvenirs.


DIGITAL GEAR: Wireless USB makes a splash
Cables connecting USB devices to PCs may soon disappear thanks to Wireless USB, a short-range wireless communications technology developed by nonprofit USB Implementers Forum Inc. (USB-IF), which also developed the USB 2.0 standard.

ITWHIRLED

NASA makes public spelling goof
The space shuttles are named after ships that are famous for exploring the seas; that's why the most recently built shuttle is named the Endeavour, after a British ship (and thus with the British spelling). But someone at NASA forgot, or maybe just relied too much on an automatic spellchecker, with embarrassing results.

HP service helps keep data centers cool

HIGHLIGHTS

News: HP service helps keep data centers cool
News: Users urged to patch serious hole in BIND 9 DNS server
News: Google's privacy chief backs t-shirts, not ties
News: BLACK HAT: Researchers: Forensics software can be hacked
News: Power outage hits parts of San Francisco
News: Infosys expands in Europe through Philips deal
News: MySpace hosted 29,000 sex offenders
News: Intel claims breakthrough with 40Gbps optical component
News: Intuit expanding outside U.S. into emerging markets
News: Overbuilding to keep memory chips cheap
News: NXP steps up research efforts for Wireless USB chips
ITWhirled: Top 10 best ways to manage Firefox taps


NEWS UPDATES

HP service helps keep data centers cool
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) is getting more detailed in how it analyzes the energy-efficiency of its customers' data centers.

Users urged to patch serious hole in BIND 9 DNS server
A security researcher has reported a serious vulnerability in BIND 9, the software widely used in the Internet's DNS addressing system.


Google's privacy chief backs t-shirts, not ties
Google Inc.'s global privacy counsel, Peter Fleischer, wants to see t-shirts replace the tie as standard business attire, saying the tie "constricts circulation to the brain."


BLACK HAT: Researchers: Forensics software can be hacked
The software that police and enterprise security teams use to investigate wrongdoing on computers is not as secure as it should be, according to researchers with Isec Partners Inc.


Power outage hits parts of San Francisco
A power outage in parts of downtown San Francisco Tuesday affected office computers, lights and a hosting company for several Web sites.


Infosys expands in Europe through Philips deal
Indian outsourcer Infosys Technologies Ltd. has bagged a US$250 million business process outsourcing contract from Royal Philips Electronics N.V. in an unusual deal in which Infosys will also acquire Philips’ services delivery centers in India, Thailand, and Poland for US$28 million.


MySpace hosted 29,000 sex offenders
News Corp.'s popular MySpace.com social networking site hosted Web pages for at least 29,000 known sex offenders as of July 2007, North Carolina's Attorney General said Tuesday.


Intel claims breakthrough with 40Gbps optical component
Intel Corp. researchers are a step closer to creating chips that transmit data at high speeds using light instead of electrons, but products based on the technology appear to remain over the horizon.


Intuit expanding outside U.S. into emerging markets
Intuit Inc., which derives almost all of its revenue from the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., is attempting to tap new markets. The financial software company in Mountain View, California is evaluating new markets in India, China, Russia, and Brazil, said Nilesh Thakker, Intuit's director of product development, and country manager for India, on Tuesday.


Overbuilding to keep memory chips cheap
Several memory chip makers are scrambling to increase spending on new factories even as chip prices remain in the doldrums. Users stand to benefit most because as the new factories ramp up production, the fresh output should keep chip prices down.


NXP steps up research efforts for Wireless USB chips
NXP Semiconductors will invest €90 million (US$124 million) over the next five years to expand the development of Wireless USB products at its research and development (R&D) center in Singapore, the company said Tuesday.


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
Top 10 best ways to manage Firefox taps ... The top 10 things learnt at E3 2007

IBM, University of Florida team up on smart devices

HIGHLIGHTS

News: IBM, University of Florida team up on smart devices
News: Quanta mum on reported iPhone, Dell smartphone orders
News: Intel fires fresh salvo at AMD in price war
News: Strong wireless sales, including iPhone, boost AT&T earnings
News: China busts large piracy syndicate with FBI's help
News: Nokia buys Twango, plans Seattle office
News: IEEE group settles on faster Ethernet plans
News: Intel network chips get up to speed
News: P-to-P application causes police security disaster
News: Linspire agreement 'undermines GPL rights'
News: iPass offers corporate home broadband
News: UK retailer to sell wooden PC
News: DIY Trojan tool discovered for sale
News: Fox News server found unsecured
ITWhirled: Tony Blair sends first text message


NEWS UPDATES

IBM, University of Florida team up on smart devices
IBM Corp. and the University of Florida believe they've come up with middleware that will allow doctors to remotely monitor the health of their patients.


Quanta mum on reported iPhone, Dell smartphone orders
Quanta Computer Inc., the world's largest contract laptop PC maker, is reportedly gearing up to make iPhones for Apple Inc. and a new smartphone for Dell Inc., but the company isn't talking.


Intel fires fresh salvo at AMD in price war
The world's largest chip maker slashed prices on a handful of microprocessors after the company's battle to retake market share from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) took a turn for the worse.


Strong wireless sales, including iPhone, boost AT&T earnings
Profit and sales jumped in the second quarter at AT&T Inc. as the U.S. communications giant signed up more wireless customers, including new iPhone users, and sold more Internet services to enterprises.


China busts large piracy syndicate with FBI's help
A flurry of raids and arrests in China over the last two weeks have ended what is estimated to be the world's largest piracy syndicate in operation for more than six years.


Nokia buys Twango, plans Seattle office
Nokia Corp. is getting into the social networking market and establishing a presence in Seattle with the acquisition of Twango Inc., the companies announced late on Monday.


IEEE group settles on faster Ethernet plans
A technical group working on the next generation of Ethernet has agreed to disagree and will now work on a single standard that covers both 40G bps (bit-per-second) and 100G bps speeds.


Intel network chips get up to speed
Intel Corp. later this year will help server network interfaces take advantage of the major recent advances in data centers: multiprocessor systems, multicore processors and virtualization.


P-to-P application causes police security disaster
A policeman in Japan has been sacked after a P2P application on his PC caused highly confidential information on criminal investigations to reach the Internet.


Linspire agreement 'undermines GPL rights'
The no-lawsuit agreement reached in June between Linspire and Microsoft earlier this year is almost useless to Linspire customers because of tight restrictions on what the deal covers, according to a high-profile open source legal commentator.


iPass offers corporate home broadband
Corporate remote access provider iPass has launched a service that bundles home broadband with its service, to make it easier for IT departments to support staff working at home.


UK retailer to sell wooden PC
A supposedly zero carbon PC is being developed by U.K. retailer PC World, featuring wood casing for keyboard, screen and mouse. Use of recycled materials and low electricity needs will reduce its carbon footprint to 85 percent of a standard PC.


DIY Trojan tool discovered for sale
A new kit for building and customizing Trojan malware has been discovered for sale on the Internet.


Fox News server found unsecured
Security analysts spotted a gaping security hole in Fox News Network LLC's Web site on Monday, revealing file directories and sensitive content, although it appears the problem has been fixed.


ITWHIRLED

Tony Blair sends first text message
Despite serving as Prime Minister during a decade when Britain became a texting-mad society, Tony Blair only acquired his first mobile phone last October, and only sent his first text message after he retired from office. Humiliatingly, his initial foray into the world of texting netted him the reply "Who are you?

Security team claims successful iPhone hack

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Security team claims successful iPhone hack
News: Microsoft, Ask.com pressure Google on privacy
News: VMware benchmark tool raises fairness questions
News: HP to acquire Opsware for $1.6 billion
News: Intel signs up vendors for Classmate PC in India
News: Acer files patent counterclaim against HP
News: New US WiMax partners aim to match 700MHz
Q&A: Google finds R&D opportunities, pitfalls abroad
ITWhirled: CEO taunts rival company online, then buys it


NEWS UPDATES

Security team claims successful iPhone hack
A team of security experts in Baltimore, Md., said it has found a flaw in Apple Inc.'s iPhone handset that can be used by attackers to access private data stored on it.


Microsoft, Ask.com pressure Google on privacy
Microsoft Corp. is joining Ask.com in offering Web surfers a way to use its search engines anonymously, and the two companies are now calling on the search and online advertising industry to develop a common set of privacy practices.


VMware benchmark tool raises fairness questions
VMware Inc. is making a free benchmarking tool available to IT professionals Monday to evaluate the performance of virtualization technology in their data centers. Meanwhile, it seeks to assure competitors that the benchmarking standards will be fair to all of them.


HP to acquire Opsware for $1.6 billion
Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to buy data center automation software vendor Opsware Inc. for about US$1.6 billion.


Intel signs up vendors for Classmate PC in India
Intel Corp. has tied with three large Indian PC vendors to assemble the Classmate PC, a PC specially designed for schools. The three vendors -- HCL Infosystems Ltd., Wipro Ltd., and Zenith Computers Ltd. -- will start shipping the product to Indian schools next month.


Acer files patent counterclaim against HP
Acer Inc. has filed a patent counterclaim against rival Hewlett-Packard Co. as part of its response to two HP lawsuits.


New US WiMax partners aim to match 700MHz
With wider national coverage than either company could have had on its own, Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. say they can achieve on their joint WiMax network some of what Google Inc. and others want to see in the prized 700MHz band.

Q&A

Google finds R&D opportunities, pitfalls abroad
Kannan Pashupathy, the director of Google Inc.'s international engineering operations, oversees the company's growing network of international R&D centers.


ITWHIRLED

CEO taunts rival company online, then buys it
Over a period of seven years, a user named "rahodeb" posted messages on Internet financial forums claiming that the stock for Wild Oats Markets was overpriced. Now, as Whole Foods is in the midst of attempting to buy Wild Oats, it has come out that rahodeb is in fact Whole Foods CEO John Mackey -- who would have a vested interest in keeping Wild Oats' share price down. Hijinks will almost certain ensue.

Dell signs deal with British mobile retailer

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Dell signs deal with British mobile retailer
News: IBM's India lab develops disaster management tool
News: Mayer: translation, universal search Google's future
News: Ask.com to let users scrub search records
News: Tomy to release tiny humanoid robot
News: Google's chief legal officer slapped with SEC fines
Q&A: Wozniak on Apple, AI and future inventions
ITWhirled: Geek Comic of the Week: "The Mighty Offenders"


NEWS UPDATES

Dell signs deal with British mobile retailer
Dell Inc. has signed a deal with a U.K. mobile phone retailer to distribute free laptops with the purchase of a broadband Internet access subscription, continuing the company's push into the retail market.


IBM's India lab develops disaster management tool
IBM Corp.’s India Research Laboratory has developed the Resiliency Maturity Index (RMI), a framework that quantitatively assesses the ability of an organization to recover from a variety of disasters such as floods, power outages, software glitches, epidemics, and terrorist attacks.


Mayer: translation, universal search Google's future
Universal search and automated translation are big parts of Google Inc.'s future, a company executive said Friday in Beijing.


Ask.com to let users scrub search records
Search portal Ask.com plans to make it easier for Web searchers to cover their tracks.


Tomy to release tiny humanoid robot
Toy robots have been in the dog house since the demise of Sony Corp.'s Aibo, but another Japanese company, Tomy Co. Ltd., hopes to change all that. In October it will start selling what it says is the world's smallest humanoid robot.


Google's chief legal officer slapped with SEC fines
Google Inc.'s chief legal officer was fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Thursday over accounting issues arising from when he was chief financial officer (CFO) at former company.


Q&A

Wozniak on Apple, AI and future inventions
Steve Wozniak isn't perhaps as well known as his Apple Inc. cofounder Steve Jobs, but "Woz" invented the Apple I in 1976 and the Apple II in 1977, which was one of the best-selling PCs of that time. In this interview, Wozniak, who turns 57 on Aug. 11, talks about how he met Jobs, his most cherished inventions and why he believes thinking robots and artificial intelligence will never happen.


ITWHIRLED

Geek Comic of the Week: "The Mighty Offenders"
Are you still a super-hero if your "super" powers are lame? And if you have to hold down a day job? This strip, described as "'Clerks' meets 'X-Men,' poses just those questions.

Sources: Windows Vista SP1 beta due this week

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Sources: Windows Vista SP1 beta due this week
News: IBM shakes up sales organization to target SMB market
News: Epson plans Windows Rally wireless products
News: Lenovo retakes No. 3 spot from Acer in Q2 rankings
Related Reading: Desktop PC sales not slowing as predicted, Intel says
Related Reading: PC sales slow ahead of expected Intel price cut
News: Texas state Web site leaks sensitive information
News: Micro Focus offers fast track to SOA
News: Open-Xchange and Ubuntu woo small business
News: Wal-Mart to sell $300 PC with OpenOffice
News: Firefox update fixes problem with Internet Explorer
News: Health experts: E-health records privacy rules needed
Feature: Former spammer: 'I know I'm going to hell'
ITWhirled: Terrifying sea beast emerges from murky Pacific


NEWS UPDATES

Sources: Windows Vista SP1 beta due this week
Microsoft Corp. could pull the trigger on putting out a beta of the first service pack for Windows Vista any day, with a final release by November, sources close to the company said.


IBM shakes up sales organization to target SMB market
IBM Corp. is revamping part of its sales organization to better target the small-to-medium-sized business (SMB) market.


Epson plans Windows Rally wireless products
Japan's Seiko Epson Corp. is planning to develop a range of products based on a Microsoft's Windows Rally technology for wireless networked devices.


Lenovo retakes No. 3 spot from Acer in Q2 rankings
Lenovo Group Ltd. reclaimed the number three spot among PC vendors during the second quarter, pushing rival Acer Inc. back into fourth place. But Acer's exceptionally fast growth means the company is likely to overtake Lenovo as number three for the entire year, if current trends continue.


Related Reading: Desktop PC sales not slowing as predicted, Intel says
Predictions that growing demand for notebook PCs would result in a corresponding slowdown in demand for desktops haven't come to pass, Intel Corp.'s top executive in Asia said.


Related Reading: PC sales slow ahead of expected Intel price cut
Global PC sales have slowed a tad over the past few weeks as the market waits for Intel Corp. to announce new price reductions, market researchers said.


Texas state Web site leaks sensitive information
Troy Aikman may not be happy about it, but the State of Texas has made his address and Social Security number available via the Internet.


Micro Focus offers fast track to SOA
Companies looking to get a head-start with an SOA roll-out are being offered a new service from Micro Focus. The company has launched a new product called SOA Express that provides a way for customers to convert the code for existing services.


Open-Xchange and Ubuntu woo small business
Open-Xchange has released an Outlook-compatible groupware server specifically designed for smaller businesses, and designed as a simple, open-source alternative to the likes of Microsoft Exchange.


Wal-Mart to sell $300 PC with OpenOffice
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opened its campaign for the back-to-school PC sales season on Wednesday by unveiling a US$298 desktop from Everex that combines three of the most popular industry trends -- open-source software, a power-efficient processor, and a lack of "bloatware."


Firefox update fixes problem with Internet Explorer
A new update for the Firefox browser fixes an unusual vulnerability that could cause malicious code to run if the browser is launched by Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer.


Health experts: E-health records privacy rules needed
The United States needs new medical privacy rules as the country moves toward greater use of IT to store health records, a group of health-care experts said Wednesday.


FEATURE

Former spammer: 'I know I'm going to hell'
"Ed," a retired spammer, built a considerable fortune sending e-mails that promoted pills, porn and casinos. At the peak of his power, Ed says he pulled in US$10,000 to $15,000 a week, storing the money in $20 bills in stacks of boxes.


ITWHIRLED

Terrifying sea beast emerges from murky Pacific
Scientists were baffled by the appearance of an unknown form of undersea life off the big island of Hawaii. The creature appears to be half octopus and half squid, and has been dubbed an "octosquid." Reports that the octosquids were carefully plotting to rise up and conquer the land could not be confirmed at press time.

Intel sampling Penryn chips ahead of Q4 launch

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Intel sampling Penryn chips ahead of Q4 launch
News: Government, contractors hit in targeted attack
News: Oracle adds Google Maps to Field Service
News: No plans for network operations center in Asia, RIM says
News: Sanyo restarts chip plant after earthquake
News: Rapid growth seen for India's mobile market
News: Data recorder stores 48 terabytes
News: FBI, military names being used in e-mail scams
News: Big Blue enters mid-market BI with Datamirror buy
News: Microsoft adds Ask.com ad keyword purchases to Office Live
News: DRAM market pauses in price drop, analyst says
Gadgets: TOKYO EDGE: July's coolest gadgets
Gadgets: Microsoft photo technologies aim big
Gadgets: Microsoft Research inventions are wacky and useful
ITWhirled: Top ten funny franchise names (that mean business)


NEWS UPDATES

Intel sampling Penryn chips ahead of Q4 launch
Intel Corp. is making samples of its Penryn server chips widely available to computer makers ahead of a planned product launch during the fourth quarter, a company executive said Wednesday.


Government, contractors hit in targeted attack
Computers belonging to the U.S. government, contractors and companies in the transportation industry were hit by a targeted computer attack in July that yielded password information for hundreds of Internet and intranet Web sites, a computer security vendor said Tuesday.


Oracle adds Google Maps to Field Service
Oracle Corp. is integrating one of its applications with Google Inc.'s mapping service to help service providers locate customers more quickly.


No plans for network operations center in Asia, RIM says
Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) has no plans to set up network operations centers outside Canada, despite growing demand for the BlackBerry in Asia and other markets.


Sanyo restarts chip plant after earthquake
Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. has restarted chip production at a factory that automatically stopped when a powerful earthquake hit on Monday.


Rapid growth seen for India's mobile market
New research has confirmed that India's mobile phone market is set for a period of fast growth, with revenue from cellular services expected to jump by more than 18 percent each year for the next five years.


Data recorder stores 48 terabytes
Network Instruments has brought out an expandable version of its GigaStor network data recorder, capable of storing up to 48 terabytes of network traffic.


FBI, military names being used in e-mail scams
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is warning of fraudulent e-mails that appear to come from the FBI and U.S. military.


Big Blue enters mid-market BI with Datamirror buy
IBM's C$170 million (US$177 million) acquisition of a Markham, Ont.-based business intelligence company may not dramatically change its product portfolio, however, the investment will fill previously lacking areas of expertise, according to an analyst.


Microsoft adds Ask.com ad keyword purchases to Office Live
Microsoft Corp. has added the ability for subscribers of its Office Live small-business hosted service to purchase paid-search advertising from Ask.com from directly within the service.


DRAM market pauses in price drop, analyst says
Struggling memory chip vendors may see a ray of hope in the near future, as prices for DRAM (dynamic RAM) chips stopped their long slide during the first half of July, according to a report released Tuesday.


GADGETS

TOKYO EDGE: July's coolest gadgets
Bringing together existing technologies can often make a new product more useful, as can be seen with a few of the gadgets coming out of East Asia this month. Casio Computer Co. Ltd. has added a YouTube function to its newest digital still camera, so you can just shoot, connect and click to upload video to the popular Web site, while Sony Corp.'s PSP is getting a mobile digital TV tuner.


Microsoft photo technologies aim big
Microsoft Corp. is working on a variety of innovative photo projects, ranging from experiments with its 3D maps offering to massive panoramic photos that users can zoom into for details.


Microsoft Research inventions are wacky and useful
Flying bikes, cell phone robots, smart walking sticks and audio speakers that defy logic are inventions all on display Tuesday at Microsoft Corp. Redmond, Washington, headquarters.

ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
Top ten funny franchise names (that mean business) ... Top 10 tips for meeting etiquette

Google offers site search for small businesses

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Google offers site search for small businesses
News: Security firm: Don't use iPhone Web dialer
News: Microsoft Research explores location technologies
Related Reading: Microsoft researchers show off wireless projects
News: Lenovo makes India its marketing hub
News: Hundreds weigh in on net neutrality
News: Vodafone denies plan to buy Verizon
News: HP recycles a billion pounds of e-waste
News: Intel improves dual-core chip to protect its notebook share
ITWhirled: $19 million a bargain for space toilet


NEWS UPDATES

Google offers site search for small businesses
Google Inc. introduced a new service for small businesses that allows visitors to search within their Web sites on a customized search page.


Security firm: Don't use iPhone Web dialer
Security researchers at SPI Labs Inc. are warning iPhone users not to use a special feature that lets them dial telephone numbers over the Web using the iPhone's Safari browser.


Microsoft Research explores location technologies
Microsoft Corp. researchers are working on a variety of location-based tools, some of which could turn into interesting commercial applications.


RELATED READING: Microsoft researchers show off wireless projects
Microsoft Research workers showed off some of their projects, including several that find new uses for mobile phones, on Monday at a summit in Redmond, Washington.


Lenovo makes India its marketing hub
Lenovo Group Ltd. has moved worldwide marketing services such as creative development to a new hub it has established in Bangalore, India, with marketing communications firm Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Inc.


Hundreds weigh in on net neutrality
Hundreds of groups and individual Internet users sounded off to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on net neutrality in comments filed Monday, the deadline for responding to the agency's inquiry into the proposed regulation.


Vodafone denies plan to buy Verizon
Vodafone Group PLC has denied a Monday report by the Financial Times that it was considering buying Verizon Communications Inc. in a huge US$160 billion deal.


HP recycles a billion pounds of e-waste
HP has recycled half a billion pounds of e-waste in three years, and plans to recycle another billion by the end of 2010 -- but is the figure just be a measure of the size of HP's ink cartridge mountain?


Intel improves dual-core chip to protect its notebook share
Intel Corp. launched a dual-core notebook chip for high-end users on Monday, continuing an effort to defend its share of the fast-growing notebook PC market against Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).


ITWHIRLED

$19 million a bargain for space toilet
NASA has agreed to pay the Russians $19 million for a new toilet for the International Space Station. That might seem like a lot, but it's apparently less than it would have cost NASA to build the thing.

Powerful earthquake disrupts Japan communications

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Powerful earthquake disrupts Japan communications
News: Symantec declares Chinese offer a success, withholds numbers
News: No breakthrough in efforts to unlock the iPhone
News: Indian Telco buys Ethernet service provider Yipes
News: Italy arrests 26 for phishing operation
News: MS WPC: Partners praise Microsoft software-plus-services plan
News: After criticism, Sun fixes Java flaw
News: Dell faces overclocking issue on quad-core desktops
Feature: Chinese sport fans embrace e-commerce for 2008 Olympics
Q&A: Steven Sprague, Trusted Computing Group
ITWhirled: Germophobes, rejoice! The no-touch toilet paper dispenser is here


NEWS UPDATES

Powerful earthquake disrupts Japan communications
A powerful earthquake that struck northern Japan Monday morning has caused disruption to communications services in the country.


Symantec declares Chinese offer a success, withholds numbers
Symantec Corp. declared its compensation offer for Chinese users who saw their computers damaged by a bad software update a success Sunday, but declined to say how many users had accepted the deal.


No breakthrough in efforts to unlock the iPhone
Hackers are working to unlock Apple Inc.'s iPhone, but the job appears to be more difficult than initially expected.


Indian Telco buys Ethernet service provider Yipes
India's Reliance Communications Ltd. has agreed to buy Yipes Holdings Inc. of the U.S. for $300 million in cash, with plans to extend its managed Ethernet services into additional countries, the companies announced Monday.


Italy arrests 26 for phishing operation
Italy has become the latest country to clamp down on phishing, with authorities there arresting 26 people for an alleged scam to swindle bank customers.

MS WPC: Partners praise Microsoft software-plus-services plan
Microsoft Corp. partners introduced to the company's software-plus-services strategy this week at its Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) applauded the plan, though they noted a few challenges as the company makes the transition from selling business software to offering more hosted and Web-based services.


After criticism, Sun fixes Java flaw
Just days after a security researcher blasted its Java patching system, Sun Microsystems Inc. has issued a critical update to the consumer version of its Java software.


Dell faces overclocking issue on quad-core desktops
Dell Inc. has stopped taking orders for one model of its high-end desktop PCs, citing issues related to overclocking quad-core processors from Intel Corp.


FEATURE

Chinese sport fans embrace e-commerce for 2008 Olympics
Chinese sport fans have embraced an online lottery for tickets to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.


Q&A

Steven Sprague, Trusted Computing Group
Steven Sprague is one of the original founders of the Trusted Computing Group, a nonprofit forum to develop open standards for hardware-enabled trusted computing and security technologies. Steven is a long-time advocate of securing PC platforms via hardware chips.


ITWHIRLED

Germophobes, rejoice! The no-touch toilet paper dispenser is here
Tired of making icky physical contact with anything in a public restroom? You might be interested in a new gadget that dispenses toilet paper just by detecting the proximity of a human hand. Of course, such technology has been around for years for hand towels, but apparently it took quite a bit of focus-grouping to determine just how much toilet paper should be spat out at a time.

IBM's storage virtualizer wins speed trials

HIGHLIGHTS

News: IBM's storage virtualizer wins speed trials
News: Oracle will release 46 patches next week
News: HP's India lab secures paper documents
News: NTT DoCoMo targets 300M bps in Super 3G experiment
News: Logitech gets air time with new mouse
News: Overcharging suit against Cingular goes forward
News: Spam filter costs lawyers their day in court
News: MS WPC: Microsoft puts partner muscle behind Office Live
News: NetSuite makes its apps available via iPhone
News: Itheon launches desktop network simulator
News: Work-around puts Skype on the iPhone
News: Greek spying case uncovers first phone switch rootkit
Q&A: John Chambers on collaboration, avatars and mashups
Green IT: Time to power down
ITWhirled: Geek Comic of the Week:The Non-Adventures of Wonderella


NEWS UPDATES

IBM's storage virtualizer wins speed trials
IBM's storage virtualizing SAN Volume Controller performs faster than any competing product, according to benchmarks -- and it's greener, because it uses less energy.


Oracle will release 46 patches next week
Oracle Corp. will release 46 patches on Tuesday for products including its Oracle Database 10g, Application Server and E-Business Suite.


HP's India lab secures paper documents
Hewlett-Packard Co. has developed a technology at its labs in Bangalore that secures paper documents against fraud, and integrates paper documents with electronic processes by allowing them to be used as a medium for transferring data.


NTT DoCoMo targets 300M bps in Super 3G experiment
NTT DoCoMo Inc. has embarked on a month-long experiment of a Super 3G (third-generation) cellular system.


Logitech gets air time with new mouse
Logitech fused the old with the new on Thursday, launching a wireless laser mouse that doesn't need a surface to sit on, combining features of the traditional mouse and remote control.


Overcharging suit against Cingular goes forward
Washington State's highest court on Thursday let a class-action lawsuit alleging overcharging by Cingular Wireless LLC go forward.


Spam filter costs lawyers their day in court
The trouble at Franklin D. Azar & Associates PC began with pornographic spam.


MS WPC: Microsoft puts partner muscle behind Office Live
Microsoft Corp. this week unveiled a partner program for its Office Live hosted service for small businesses, a product Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner predicted will one day be nearly as important to the company as its Windows client OS.


NetSuite makes its apps available via iPhone
NetSuite Inc.'s users can start accessing the company's hosted midmarket applications suite via their iPhones as businesses start to investigate the possibilities of using the much hyped Apple Inc. mobile device at work.


Itheon launches desktop network simulator
Itheon Networks has announced a compact network simulator which can check, on a desktop, how applications will perform over a wide area network.


Work-around puts Skype on the iPhone
A complex remote-control work around has achieved what every geek wants: running Skype on an iPhone.


Greek spying case uncovers first phone switch rootkit
A highly sophisticated spying operation that tapped into the mobile phones of Greece's prime minister and other top government officials has highlighted weaknesses in telecommunications systems that still use decades-old computer code, according to a report by two computer scientists.


Q&A

John Chambers on collaboration, avatars and mashups
John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems Inc., spoke with Computerworld Hong Hong (CWHK) about the SMB market, the company's new TelePresence high-definition video-conferencing technology, Web 2.0 and a lesson learned about avatars.


GREEN IT

Time to power down
Despite datacenters heating up as their electricity demands skyrocket, Hong Kong enterprises may find it difficult to implement "green" initiatives.


ITWHIRLED

Geek Comic of the Week:The Non-Adventures of Wonderella
Super-hero ladies! With super powers! Engaging in ... non-adventures! This funny send-up is a great read for fans of superhero comics and those who mock them.

Apple fixes serious QuickTime flaws

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Apple fixes serious QuickTime flaws
News: Nokia adds Skype to N800 tablet
News: Microsoft OOXML spec 'dangerously flawed'
News: Suspense mounts for San Francisco Wi-Fi plan
News: HP designing cheaper servers for Asia
News: 3Com pins hopes on China's low labor costs
News: Motorola sees slowdown in mobile sales
News: Vendors push quad-core desktops on wary users
News: Study: US, Japan have best IT environments
News: Oracle 11g for Linux to debut in August
News: Lawmakers: New wireless rules needed
News: Synchronica evades iPhone corporate e-mail barrier
Q&A: The future of the Web as seen by its creator
ITWhirled: Paris welcomes World Cup ... of video games


NEWS UPDATES

Apple fixes serious QuickTime flaws
With the 7.2 update, users can now view videos on the full screen with the QuickTime player, but the software also contains a number of critical security fixes. In total, Apple has addressed eight security vulnerabilities with the release, which was made public on Wednesday.


Nokia adds Skype to N800 tablet
Nokia Corp. introduced Skype Internet-calling software for its N800 Wi-Fi tablet on Wednesday, providing another alternative to using a cell phone, while a debate in the U.S. over what networks such devices may be able to use in the future heated up.


Microsoft OOXML spec 'dangerously flawed'
Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) document format specification is fatally flawed where it comes to spreadsheets, with many functions filled with careless errors, according to a critic.


Suspense mounts for San Francisco Wi-Fi plan
Two important votes concerning San Francisco's plan for citywide Wi-Fi that were set for this week have been pushed back, delaying what may be life-or-death decisions on the controversial network.


HP designing cheaper servers for Asia
Hewlett-Packard Co. introduced an entry-level rack server in India on Thursday, part of its strategy to design lower-cost servers specifically for Asian countries.


3Com pins hopes on China's low labor costs
Networking equipment vendor 3Com Corp. is counting on low labor costs in China to help the company earn better margins on its products and compete against rivals like Cisco Systems Inc., the company's chief executive officer said Wednesday.


Motorola sees slowdown in mobile sales
Amid increasing competition in a fickle cell phone market, Motorola Inc. expects to report a loss for its mobile devices business in 2007 and now estimates that second quarter sales will be lower than expected.


Vendors push quad-core desktops on wary users
PC vendors are launching more and more computers with dual-core and quad-core processors, promising users that the expensive machines can juggle more applications at work or play better games at home.


Study: US, Japan have best IT environments
The U.S. and Japan have the top national environments for their IT industries to grow and flourish, including intellectual-property protections and IT infrastructure, according to a study released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) Wednesday.


Oracle 11g for Linux to debut in August
While Wednesday marked the official unveiling of Oracle Corp.'s 11g database and a look at its new features, pricing and availability information was pretty thin on the ground. All the vendor would confirm is that the Linux version of 11g will ship this quarter, probably in August.


Lawmakers: New wireless rules needed
U.S. consumers should be allowed to take phones along with them when they switch wireless carriers, and spectrum to be auctioned through the U.S. Federal Communications Commission should include rules requiring the winning bidders to sell access to competitors at wholesale rates, some U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday.


Synchronica evades iPhone corporate e-mail barrier
Synchronica has updated its Mobile Gateway 3.0 middleware to let iPhone users synchronize email with Microsoft Exchange, the company said.


Q&A

The future of the Web as seen by its creator
According to Webster's Online Dictionary semantic means "the relationships between symbols and what they represent." Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the World Wide Web in 1989 at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, has used the term to christen the Internet of the future.

In this exclusive interview, he explains his vision of the future Semantic Web, which he says will be much more powerful than anything we have seen before.


ITWHIRLED

Paris welcomes World Cup ... of video games
Video games are moving into the mainstream, and perhaps there's no better indication than the Electronic Sports World Cup final, held in Paris this past weekend. More than 750 players -- both men and women -- competed for $200,000 in prizes in CounterStrike, Quake, World of Warcraft, Pro Evolution Soccer. 5,000 people were expected to turn out to watch the games live, for whatever "live" might mean in this context.

MS WPC: Microsoft debuts ERP for small businesses

HIGHLIGHTS

News: MS WPC: Microsoft debuts ERP for small businesses
News: Who's to blame for browser bug? IE or Firefox?
News: Google lets users customize their own maps
News: Infosys forecasts over 29 percent annual revenue growth
News: HP looks to add color to cell phones
News: EEye: Sun update system exposes users
News: Active Directory flaw patched in Microsoft's July updates
News: Dell's Vostro aims to ease PC use for small businesses
News: Samba switches to GPLv3
News: Phishing tool constructs new sites in two seconds
News: MS WPC: Ballmer gives his take on software-plus-services plan
News: MS WPC: Microsoft: Search wins tied to sales compensation
News: MS WPC: Microsoft to launch next product wave in February 2008
News: MS WPC: Microsoft sets initial pricing, rollout for CRM Live
News: MS WPC: Microsoft launches OBA partner program
Green IT: Europeans mandate public-sector Energy Star purchases
Green IT: Fujitsu Siemens launches low-carbon server
Feature: WORLDBEAT: Common sense tops SMS alert system
ITWhirled: Top 10 billboard advertisements


NEWS UPDATES

MS WPC: Microsoft debuts ERP for small businesses
Microsoft Corp. hopes to better meet the back-office needs of smaller businesses with a new take on enterprise resource planning (ERP) software called Dynamics Entrepreneur Solution.

For more news from Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), being held this week in Denver, see MS WPC, below.


Who's to blame for browser bug? IE or Firefox?
A security researcher has found a security bug that could be attacked in Internet Explorer. Mozilla Corp. said it plans to patch the problem in its next Firefox software update.


Google lets users customize their own maps
Google Inc. introduced a feature to its mapping service on Wednesday that allows people to create their own customized maps, by adding information such as the location of cheap gas stations or property for sale.


Infosys forecasts over 29 percent annual revenue growth
India’s outsourcing industry continues to do well despite the appreciation of the Indian rupee against the U.S. dollar and higher staff costs.


HP looks to add color to cell phones
Hewlett-Packard Co. could soon turn mobile phones into shopping advisors with a color-matching prototype technology it demonstrated on Wednesday.


EEye: Sun update system exposes users
Sun Microsystems Inc. is putting millions of Java users at risk by staggering the release of security patches for the software, security vendor eEye Digital Security Inc. said Monday.


Active Directory flaw patched in Microsoft's July updates
Microsoft Corp. released six sets of security patches Tuesday that address critical flaws in its products, including a bug in Active Directory software.


Dell's Vostro aims to ease PC use for small businesses
Dell Inc. reached for a larger share of the small business market Tuesday, launching the "Vostro" brand of notebook and desktop PCs designed to simplify tech support, an area that has attracted complaints and lawsuits for Dell in recent months.


Samba switches to GPLv3
Samba developers have definitively switched future versions of the software to the GPL v3 licence, which could have a serious impact on companies maintaining software patent covenants.


Phishing tool constructs new sites in two seconds
Software developers like to make installation of their programs simple and quick. So do hackers.


MS WPC

Ballmer gives his take on software-plus-services plan
Microsoft Corp.'s top executive Tuesday for the first time outlined the company's plan to transition from a traditional software company to offering software plus services, giving some roadmap details for how the strategy will play out in the next year.


Microsoft: Search wins tied to sales compensation
Microsoft Corp. is emphasizing areas of its business where it needs to catch up to competitors by tying partner team compensation to specific product deployments, such as enterprise search, a top executive said Tuesday.


Microsoft to launch next product wave in February 2008
Microsoft Corp. Tuesday said it would formally unveil the next wave of its enterprise products -- including the long-awaited "Longhorn" version of Windows Server -- in February 2008 at a launch event in Los Angeles.


Microsoft sets initial pricing, rollout for CRM Live
Microsoft Corp. continues to prepare for the third-quarter launch of its Dynamics Live CRM service with Tuesday's announcement of initial pricing and product information.


Microsoft launches OBA partner program
Determined to get partners on board to help transform Office 2007 from a productivity suite to a platform for business applications, Microsoft Corp. Tuesday unveiled a program to help partners add functionality to the suite by creating Office Business Applications, or OBAs.


GREEN IT

Europeans mandate public-sector Energy Star purchases
All public-sector purchasers of office equipment in Europe will in future be obliged to buy brands that carry the Energy Star logo, the environmental quality standard agreed on by the U.S. and the European Union, following a vote in the European Parliament Tuesday.


Fujitsu Siemens launches low-carbon server
Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) has launched what it claims is the smallest and quietest server with the lowest carbon footprint currently available.


FEATURE

WORLDBEAT: Common sense tops SMS alert system
After smoke was spotted billowing from a San Francisco subway tunnel on June 5, the city government swung into action, alerting citizens via SMS to not panic and to expect public transport delays.


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
Top 10 funny iPod videos ... Top 10 billboard advertisements

Cisco, Microsoft, EMC join on gov't data project

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Cisco, Microsoft, EMC join on gov't data project
News: MSN streams Live Earth to 8 million people
News: With Postini, a business case for security at Google
News: AMD cuts chip prices, Intel expected to follow
News: Laptop PC sales hit records in June after Santa Rosa lull
News: Sprint Nextel bid talk 'groundless' says SK Telecom
News: Microsoft customers sour on Software Assurance
News: TurboLinux to help translate Open XML for Asia
News: SF Wi-Fi plan faces key votes
News: CommVault's QiNetix gets new name and refresh
News: Intel Capital to buy $218.5 million share of VMware
Feature: TB case highlights e-mail archiving trend
ITWhirled: Shocker: Webcam actually helps personal security


NEWS UPDATES

Cisco, Microsoft, EMC join on gov't data project
Several technology companies will build a system to let the U.S. government share data securely among its various agencies, a goal it has struggled to achieve since the September 2001 terrorist attacks.


MSN streams Live Earth to 8 million people
Microsoft Corp. says it set a record for streaming an online event to the most customers after offering the Live Earth concerts on MSN over the weekend.


With Postini, a business case for security at Google
Google Inc. believes that its consumer-grade Web applications represent the future of enterprise IT. But while Google is quick to trumpet its products' innovative features, the search giant hasn't said much about their security. Until recently, that is.


AMD cuts chip prices, Intel expected to follow
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) announced its latest round of desktop processor price cuts on Monday, and rival Intel Corp. is expected to follow the move later this month.


Laptop PC sales hit records in June after Santa Rosa lull
Laptop PC shipments by the world's two largest contract makers surged in June, rebounding from a lull in April and part of May as system makers awaited the launch of Intel Corp.'s Santa Rosa laptop chips, an upgrade to its popular Centrino package.


Sprint Nextel bid talk 'groundless' says SK Telecom
South Korea's SK Telecom Co. Ltd. denied on Tuesday a local newspaper report that it is preparing a bid for Sprint Nextel Corp.


Microsoft customers sour on Software Assurance
IT procurement managers are finding that Microsoft Corp.'s Software Assurance maintenance program may not save them money as hoped, according to a survey by Forrester Research Inc.


TurboLinux to help translate Open XML for Asia
Microsoft Corp. is enlisting Linux distributor TurboLinux Inc. to help tailor work being done to translate documents between Open XML and ODF file formats for Japanese and Chinese users.


SF Wi-Fi plan faces key votes
San Francisco city officials could bring the city's proposed Wi-Fi network closer to reality at two meetings this week as a key leader proposes significant changes to the plan.


CommVault's QiNetix gets new name and refresh
There will be no more duplicated files in storage managed by CommVault's QiNetix data management suite. The company has added security, indexing and search too, as well as renaming it Simpana.


Intel Capital to buy $218.5 million share of VMware
Intel Corp. said Monday it plans to buy a US$218.5 million stake in the software firm VMware Inc., bolstering the companies' existing agreement to run VMware's virtualization software on Intel's processors.


FEATURE

TB case highlights e-mail archiving trend
E-mail archiving and recovery software has proved itself useful in the case of the American who flew to Europe even though he had tuberculosis (TB).


ITWHIRLED

Shocker: Webcam actually helps personal security
Remember all those Webcam ads whose text implied that they were a security measure but whose pictures all features women in bikinis for some reason? Well, a Portland man's Webcam actually helped him with the first thing, capturing images of the burglars who ransacked his house.