AOL scraps Music Now in favor of Napster ... AMD warns of Q4 earnings dip

HIGHLIGHTS
News: AMD warns of significant dip in Q4 earnings
News: Avaya to buy SIP software developer
News: HD DVD gets boost from adult film industry
News: AOL scraps Music Now in favor of Napster
Unix Tip: Recovering control of a firmware password protected system
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: The 10 worst games of all time


NEWS UPDATES

AMD warns of significant dip in Q4 earnings
Tumbling microprocessor prices have prompted Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) to warn of a dip in earnings ahead of its fourth-quarter results at the end of the month.

Avaya to buy SIP software developer
In a move to beef up its Internet networking expertise, communications vendor Avaya Inc. has agreed to acquire Ubiquity Software Corp. PLC, a developer of software applications using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) technology.

CES: HD DVD gets boost from adult film industry
Early support from the adult film industry may be helping HD DVD to take an early lead over Blu-ray Disc in the battle to become the next-generation DVD format.

AOL scraps Music Now in favor of Napster
AOL LLC has named Napster LLC exclusive supplier of subscription music for its AOL Music site, and plans to migrate all 350,000 paid accounts away from the existing service, AOL Music Now, over the next 60 days.

Report: Investigator to plead guilty in HP case
A private investigator charged in connection with the HP pretexting case is expected to appear in U.S. Federal District Court Friday and, according to news reports, to plead guilty to charges filed Wednesday.

Canon buys Toshiba stake in display JV to end lawsuit
Canon Inc. will buy Toshiba Corp.'s stake in a SED Inc., a joint venture they formed to develop large-screen, low-power flat panel televisions. The companies hope the move will put an end to a patent lawsuit brought against Canon in the U.S.

AT&T to replace Cingular brand Monday
AT&T Inc. will launch a new advertising campaign to replace the Cingular brand with its own, the company announced Friday. The campaign starts on Monday and will initially feature a transitional graphic that includes elements of both the AT&T and Cingular logos.

SAP warns of Q4 sales slowdown
SAP AG's stock dropped more than 10 percent on Thursday as the business software vendor warned of lower-than-expected revenue growth for its most recent quarter.

Oracle now giving early notice of security updates
Oracle Corp. has taken a cue from Microsoft Corp. and started giving its customers an early warning of what they can expect from upcoming security patch releases. On Thursday, Oracle published its first-ever Critical Patch Update Pre-Release Announcement, detailing what it plans to fix in its next set of patches, due Tuesday.

Apple ad suggests iPhone will have Arm inside
What processor will the iPhone use? That's one of the great unanswered questions left in the wake of Apple Inc.'s launch of the iPhone this week, but a job ad on Apple's Web site may hint at the answer.

Intel files countersuit in Transmeta patent case
Intel Corp. has filed a countersuit against Transmeta Corp. in an ongoing patent infringement disagreement between the two companies. Transmeta first sued Intel in October, saying Intel's Pentium and Core PC processors violate 10 Transmeta patents. Intel, in a court document filed Tuesday, denied it had infringed any Transmeta patents, instead accusing Transmeta of infringing seven of its own patents.


UNIX TIP

Recovering control of a firmware password protected system
By Sandra Henry-Stocker

Firmware passwords can be a very useful security measure when you need to keep systems stable in spite of the fact that they may be exposed to unauthorized individuals, but they can also present a time-consuming challenge if you acquire such a system and don't know the password that was set or if you forget. Having recently purchased some used Sun systems off eBay, I quickly discovered that one of the systems had been configured with a firmware password that the seller didn't know, so I was forced to find a way to overcome this security setting before I could attempt to take control of the system and reinstall it.

Read the full article.


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U.K. schools advised to hold off on Vista ... Oracle warns of upcoming security patches .. AMD and SAP expect lower earnings .. AT&T to drop Cingular brand Monday


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