Microsoft better at patching XP than Vista

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Microsoft better at patching XP than Vista
News: Pentagon shuts down systems after cyber-attack
News: Nuance buys T9 text-input tool for mobile phones
News: Dell lets users avoid 'bloatware'
News: DIGITAL GEAR: Keeping data secure with biometrics
News: RFID trial dubbed a supply chain utopia
News: IBM pushes z9 mainframe for small business
News: Mainframe users get faster remote vaulting
News: Malicious GIF conceals PHP attack
Gadgets: SEK: Gadgets of Seoul's SEK
Gadgets: Solar jacket powers up cell phones, iPods on the fly
Gadgets: Camera phones will top 1 billion this year
ITWhirled: Geek Comic of the Week: Palindramas


NEWS UPDATES

Microsoft better at patching XP than Vista
A Microsoft Corp. security executive released data Thursday showing that, six months after shipping Windows Vista, his company has left more publicly disclosed Vista bugs unpatched than it did with Windows XP.


Pentagon shuts down systems after cyber-attack
The U.S. Department of Defense took an estimated 1,500 computers offline Wednesday after a security breach within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).


Nuance buys T9 text-input tool for mobile phones
Nuance Communications Inc. has agreed to buy the developer of the T9 predictive text input software for mobile phones from current owner AOL LLC.


Dell lets users avoid 'bloatware'
Dell Inc. is allowing its customers to decline the unwanted software applications loaded on new PCs, after hundreds of users complained about such "bloatware" on a company blog.


DIGITAL GEAR: Keeping data secure with biometrics
Fingerprint readers have been offered as PC peripherals since the late 1980s, but have never caught on, says Jim Wayman, a biometrics expert. That didn't sway Apricorn Inc. from releasing Aegis Bio, a new portable biometric hard drive that accesses encrypted data after validating a fingerprint. Also portable is Microsoft Corp.'s timeless Natural Ergonomic Keyboard, updated with radio technology to make it free of wires. Microsoft's peripheral adversary, Logitech Inc., threw a small surprise by changing gears and launching notebook accessories -- the sleek Kinetik laptop cases and Alto laptop stands -- aimed at everyday users.


RFID trial dubbed a supply chain utopia
The National EPC Network Demonstrator Project (NDP) Extension in Australia has achieved a 100 percent RFID tag identification rate, up 5 percent on last year's pilot, researchers claim.


IBM pushes z9 mainframe for small business
IBM Corp. unveiled a Web site and IT security software application Thursday as part of its effort to compete with Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc. for customers in the fast-growing small and medium business sector.


Mainframe users get faster remote vaulting
Brocade has introduced pipelining technology for transferring data from a mainframe across a WAN and FICON link to IBM and Sun virtual tape libraries -- claiming to increase backup speed up to 70 percent.


Malicious GIF conceals PHP attack
Hackers have begun circulating a PHP exploit embedding it in a seemingly harmless GIF image, according to security researchers.


GADGETS

SEK: Gadgets of Seoul's SEK
Seoul's SEK exhibition this week has the usual mix of gadgets and toys to keep attendees amused as they walk the aisles. Here's a sampling of some of those devices.


Solar jacket powers up cell phones, iPods on the fly
Heavy users of mobile phones, iPods and other portable devices may want to try on a new coat lined with solar modules and a battery to charge their gadgets on the fly.


Camera phones will top 1 billion this year
The number of mobile camera phones in use will top 1 billion this year, reflecting their tremendous growth rate since they hit the market around seven years ago, according to a new market evaluation.


ITWHIRLED

Geek Comic of the Week: Palindramas
Word mavens love palindromes -- words or phrases that read the same forward and backward. This clever strip takes some of the funnier ones and illustrates them. My personal favorites include "Purr, it's a stirrup!" and "Total L.A. tot."

'Zlob' malware hijacks YouTube

HIGHLIGHTS

News: 'Zlob' malware hijacks YouTube
News: COMMUNICASIA: DRM drags down economy, Linden CTO says
News: Lawmakers question DHS ability to protect its networks
News: United planes downed by computer glitch
News: Symantec outgrows underground nuclear bunker
News: Xerox aims to understand text to improve search results
News: Dell replaces displays on nine notebook models
News: Security concerns prompt French BlackBerry ban
Green IT: Amazon, eBay and Apple at bottom of climate change list
Green IT: HP FORUM: HP thinks green with storage array lineup
ITWhirled: Ringtones soothe the savage beast


NEWS UPDATES

'Zlob' malware hijacks YouTube
YouTube is again being used to distribute malware, this time a variant of the nuisance Zlob adware.


COMMUNICASIA: DRM drags down economy, Linden CTO says
Digital-rights management (DRM) drags down economic growth, and countries that back the technology are doomed to lag behind, a top Linden Research Inc. executive said Thursday.


Lawmakers question DHS ability to protect its networks
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's CIO was on the hot seat Wednesday on Capitol Hill after an independent audit found that a database that screens U.S. visitors lacked security controls.


United planes downed by computer glitch
United Air Lines Inc. was forced to scrap 24 domestic flights Wednesday when the computers it uses to dispatch flights failed.


Symantec outgrows underground nuclear bunker
Symantec Corp. has emerged from its bunker in the British countryside, moving its malware-fighting operations from a former U.K. military nuclear shelter to a more conventional office in Reading.


Xerox aims to understand text to improve search results
Xerox Corp. researchers have developed a search tool that tries to understand documents, rather than looking for keywords, in order to provide better results.


Dell replaces displays on nine notebook models
Dell Inc. is offering free replacements of the displays on nine popular notebook PC models, responding to customers who created a Web site to complain that some LCD screens developed a one pixel-wide vertical line.


Security concerns prompt French BlackBerry ban
French government members and their advisors have been told not to use BlackBerry smartphones, for national security reasons. The ban on BlackBerry devices is just one of the IT challenges facing new National Assembly members as they take their seats following Sunday's elections.


GREEN IT

Amazon, eBay and Apple at bottom of climate change list
Bad news for environmentally conscious people who want an iPhone: Apple Inc. is near the bottom of a new list that rates companies based on their efforts to stop climate change.


HP FORUM: HP thinks green with storage array lineup
There are two clearly emerging trends coming out of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HP Americas StorageWorks Conference this week: HP's going green, and the future is in blades.


ITWHIRLED

Ringtones soothe the savage beast
When leopards get too close to villages in India, conservation officers lure them into traps and release them back into the wild away from human habitation. Traditionally, those traps have been baited with live chickens, goats, or cows; but now, since you can just download ringtones that sound like chickens, goats, or cows to your cell phones, these animals need no longer be sacrificed to the hungry jungle cats.

California gets Microsoft to change Vista

HIGHLIGHTS

News: California gets Microsoft to change Vista
News: SEK: Mtron claims speediest solid-state disk
News: COMMUNICASIA: Samsung phone sports OLED keypad
News: COMMUNICASIA: Yahoo improves mobile suite
Related Reading: COMMUNICASIA: Yahoo says operators have nothing to fear
Related Reading: Microsoft offers redesigned MSN for mobile
News: Gateway recalls notebook batteries
Related Reading: Toshiba blames recalled battery for laptop fire
News: Palm's Hawkins tries to explain Foleo, again
News: HP FORUM: HP is its own case study with data center project
News: Microsoft flaw opened door to scammers, analysts say
News: Novell adds more Xen to virtualization
News: Mozilla exec bashes Apple 'duopoly' mindset
News: FTC looks for more victims of ChoicePoint breach
ITWhirled: Top 10 tech movies reloaded


NEWS UPDATES

California gets Microsoft to change Vista
California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Tuesday that Microsoft Corp. has agreed to make "significant changes" in its new Vista operating system to stay in compliance with a U.S. court agreement in Microsoft's antitrust case.


SEK: Mtron claims speediest solid-state disk
Solid-state disks (SSDs) are fast becoming popular as drop-in replacements for hard-disk drives but they are not all alike, said South Korea's Mtron Co. Ltd.


COMMUNICASIA: Samsung phone sports OLED keypad
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s upcoming SGH-E950 phone has a feature that stands out from other models: a 1.2-inch OLED (organic light-emitting diode) keypad that can display different icons depending on how the phone is being used.


COMMUNICASIA: Yahoo improves mobile suite
Yahoo Inc. will upgrade its free software suite for mobile phones, improving capabilities such as search, mapping, e-mail and photo management, the Sunnyvale, California, company will announce on Tuesday.

Related Reading: COMMUNICASIA: Yahoo says operators have nothing to fear
Yahoo Inc. is seeking to reassure carriers that it isn't trying to cut them out of the loop with its mobile content services, even as it rolls out new mobile services for customers.

Related Reading: Microsoft offers redesigned MSN for mobile
Microsoft Corp. launched a redesigned MSN portal for mobile phones, with improved navigation and optimized display of Web pages.


Gateway recalls notebook batteries
Gateway Inc. is recalling 14,000 batteries used in its notebook PCs after four customers reported that their computers had overheated, a similar condition to the massive battery recall that swept the industry in 2006.

Related Reading: Toshiba blames recalled battery for laptop fire
Eight months after recalling potentially flammable notebook PC batteries, Toshiba Corp. is again urging its customers to trade in the defective units, saying one of its notebooks caught fire on May 24.


Palm's Hawkins tries to explain Foleo, again
The official Palm Inc. blog has added an audio interview with Palm's founder, in what appears to be a new attempt to justify the recently announced Foleo.


HP FORUM: HP is its own case study with data center project
The US$100 million data center consolidation project being undertaken by Hewlett-Packard Co. will help it be more efficient but also informs the consulting advice it gives to client companies.


Microsoft flaw opened door to scammers, analysts say
Microsoft Corp. Tuesday fixed a bug in its Windows Live ID registration that let users deceptively register a false e-mail address.


Novell adds more Xen to virtualization
Novell is upgrading its support for virtualized operating systems running under a Xen environment, with a bundle of virtualization drivers to be released next month.


Mozilla exec bashes Apple 'duopoly' mindset
John Lilly, chief operating officer of the Mozilla Foundation, has accused Apple chief Steve Jobs of aiming for a 1980s-style "duopoly" with his plans for the Safari web browser on Windows.


FTC looks for more victims of ChoicePoint breach
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is looking for victims of a data breach at ChoicePoint Inc. announced in early 2005.


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
Top 10 Firefox extensions for the workplace ... Top 10 tech movies reloaded

Google turns on solar panels, plans $10 million in grants

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Google turns on solar panels, plans $10 million in grants
News: HP FORUM: HP brings sanity to storage
News: US FTC warns of bogus e-mail containing spyware
News: Google localizes YouTube for Europe
News: Web app security consolidation continues as HP buys SPI
Related Reading: Hurd keeps the pressure on to improve HP
News: Clusty search optimizes sites for mobile
News: 'Italian job' Web attack hits 10,000 sites
News: Google launches public policy blog
Feature: Businesses experimenting with virtual worlds
ITWhirled: Want to be an IT hero? Take advice from some villains


NEWS UPDATES

Google turns on solar panels, plans $10 million in grants
Google Inc. on Monday turned on the solar panels covering nearly all the roof space on its corporate campus and announced that its philanthropic arm plans to dole out over US$10 million in grants to support hybrid cars.


HP FORUM: HP brings sanity to storage
Hewlett-Packard Co. is developing new storage hardware that will make it easier for administrators to assign the right amount of storage to different departments in an organization.


US FTC warns of bogus e-mail containing spyware
A bogus e-mail message supposedly sent by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission contains spyware and targets corporate and banking executives as well as consumers, the FTC said Monday.


Google localizes YouTube for Europe
Google Inc. launched versions of its video sharing service YouTube in French and other languages on Tuesday. Localized versions now exist for Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.


Web app security consolidation continues as HP buys SPI
Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to buy Web application security specialist SPI Dynamics Inc., just two weeks after IBM Corp. announced plans to buy SPI's rival Watchfire Corp.

Related Reading: Hurd keeps the pressure on to improve HP
Hewlett-Packard Co. may be on track to be a US$100 billion company this year, but CEO Mark Hurd said there's a total $1.1 trillion IT market for it to pursue.


Clusty search optimizes sites for mobile
A little-known search engine has optimized its offering for mobile devices, joining an increasingly crowded market of services targeting cell phone users.


'Italian job' Web attack hits 10,000 sites
Online criminals have launched a widespread Web attack that has turned tens of thousands of legitimate Web sites into weapons, security vendors said Monday.


Google launches public policy blog
Google Inc. has launched a blog focused on U.S. government legislation and regulation, one sign of the company's growing interest in Washington, D.C., affairs.


FEATURE

Businesses experimenting with virtual worlds
Although virtual environments are still at an early stage in development and adoption, many companies are already dabbling in one or more virtual worlds or closely observing them prior to getting their feet wet.


ITWHIRLED

Want to be an IT hero? Take advice from some villains
If you're looking to get ahead in the IT business, you've probably read the case studies and taken a look at your competitors. But if you really want an edge, you need to take a walk on the wild side. Many tech advances in Web commerce and Web user interface design that we take for granted today had their start in two business areas you might find seedy: the adult entertainment industry and the gambling industry. And then there's the tech savvy demonstrated by the mafia.

Shuttleworth denies Ubuntu-Microsoft deal

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Shuttleworth denies Ubuntu-Microsoft deal
Related Reading: Microsoft interoperability team: Bring on Red Hat
News: ClearCube blade PCs work at long distance
News: Barclays exits Indian BPO joint venture
News: HP FORUM: Virtual computing can be a real hassle
News: Developer expectations run high for Google Gears
News: EBay attempts to welcome back store owners
News: Red Hat Linux gets top government security rating
News: Safari for Windows: All about the money?
Go Figure: Online crime group logs millionth complaint
ITWhirled: PowerPoint comedy


NEWS UPDATES

Shuttleworth denies Ubuntu-Microsoft deal
Canonical chief executive Mark Shuttleworth has made it clear that Ubuntu isn't interested in forming a deal with Microsoft along the lines of those recently reached by Linspire, Xandros and Novell.

Related Reading: Microsoft interoperability team: Bring on Red Hat
Leaders of Microsoft Corp.'s strategy to make its products more interoperable with competitive technologies said the company still hopes to strike a Linux pact with Red Hat Inc. similar to the partnerships it's forged with Linux vendors Novell, Xandros and Linspire.


ClearCube blade PCs work at long distance
ClearCube Technology Inc. launched a long-distance version of its thin client PC system on Monday, hoping to win over users who have complained they have to keep their desktop clients too close to the back-room PC blades.


Barclays exits Indian BPO joint venture
Barclays Bank PLC is selling off its stake in Intelenet Global Services Pvt. Ltd., a business process outsourcing (BPO) services provider that it owns jointly with India's Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd (HDFC).


HP FORUM: Virtual computing can be a real hassle
For a technology that's supposed to make computing easier, virtualization is becoming quite complicated.


Developer expectations run high for Google Gears
Developers have big plans for Gears, the Google Inc. browser plug-in designed to provide offline access to Web-hosted applications.


EBay attempts to welcome back store owners
EBay Inc. is wooing store owners after a series of decisions by the online retail giant frustrated some merchants.


Red Hat Linux gets top government security rating
Red Hat Linux has received a new level of security certification that should make the software more appealing to some government agencies.


Safari for Windows: All about the money?
The debate is still on about why Apple Inc. decided to develop a version of its Safari browser for Windows.


GO FIGURE

1,000,000
The number of complaints that Internet users have logged with watchdog group IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center).
SOURCE: IDG News Service


ITWHIRLED

PowerPoint comedy
Anyone in the corporate world has sat through one too many awful PowerPoint presentations; heck, even the good ones aren't really much of a treat. In this video, a stand-up comedian offers his opinions on what not to do in your PowerPoint presentation -- presented in PowerPoint form, of course.