Sun finalizes Open Document Format translator

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Sun finalizes Open Document Format translator
News: Security company launches eBay for bugs
News: Solar Web hosting company powers Live Earth sites
News: iPhone, new iPods to spur flash prices
News: UK company says it's close to unlocking iPhones
News: Talking Trojan says 'bye bye' to victims' data
News: Microsoft to release six security updates next week
News: Alfresco rolls Web 2.0 features into CMS upgrade
News: Lasers could make disk drives a hundred times faster
News: Lenovo promises safe hard drive wiping
Go Figure: Businesses allow 'shadow IT culture'
ITWhirled: Geek Comic of the Week: Transformers: Roommates In Disguise


NEWS UPDATES

Sun finalizes Open Document Format translator
Sun has released the final version of its Open Document Format (ODF) plug-in for Microsoft Office, designed to allow the ODF standard to better compete with Microsoft's dominant Office formats.


Security company launches eBay for bugs
Psst. Want to buy a zero-day? A Swiss startup called WabiSabiLabi Ltd. has some for sale, but to qualified buyers only.


Solar Web hosting company powers Live Earth sites
The Web hosting company chosen to power the Web sites for this weekend's Live Earth concerts adopts an environmentally friendly business plan: Let the sunshine in.


iPhone, new iPods to spur flash prices
Sales of Apple Inc.'s iPhone and new iPods slated for release later this year will mark the end of cheap flash memory for a time, and that means users may see fewer bargains on older digital music players or bundled flash memory cards.

UK company says it's close to unlocking iPhones
A company that unlocks cell phones in Europe said it is close to having an application that will allow customers to unlock their Apple iPhones so they can use SIM cards from carriers other than AT&T Inc. to activate the phones.


Talking Trojan says 'bye bye' to victims' data
A newly identified malicious program not only messes up its victims' computers, it taunts them too.


Microsoft to release six security updates next week
Microsoft Corp. will release six groups of security patches next week including three critical updates for Windows and Excel users.


Alfresco rolls Web 2.0 features into CMS upgrade
Alfresco Software Inc. is taking cues from the so-called Web 2.0 craze with the release of the latest version of its open-source content management software (CMS).


Lasers could make disk drives a hundred times faster
Researchers have demonstrated disk write speeds one hundred times faster than current hard drives. The method uses a laser to heat the recording surface and alter its magnetic field. There is no equivalent read speed increase though.


Lenovo promises safe hard drive wiping
Lenovo has launched software to comprehensively delete data on PC hard drives, after surveys revealed a widespread failure to remove sensitive data from hard drives on PCs slated for disposal.


GO FIGURE

67%
The share of IT managers who reported rogue behavior among end-users, including "users installing software, or tampering with existing software or macros, without the IT department's consent," according to a survey by Blue Prism, an integration specialist. Most IT departments accept this "shadow IT culture"; only 10 percent of survey respondents said they favor measures to eradicate it.
SOURCE: Techworld.com


ITWHIRLED

Geek Comic of the Week: Transformers: Roommates In Disguise
What with the upcoming release of the big movie, you've no doubt got Transformers fever! So if you've ever wanted to see what the Transformers do between epic battles for world domination in their San Francisco apartments, this photo-based comic's for you.

Euro consumer group questions Google-Doubleclick deal

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Euro consumer group questions Google-Doubleclick deal
News: China will be top destination for off-shoring, says IDC
News: Court holds Belgian ISP responsible for file-sharing
News: Toshiba files suit against German DVD maker
News: Denmark to test Open XML, ODF next year
Feature: WORLDBEAT: In India, bands and elephants at work
Feature: UK National Archives seeks to unlock file formats
Feature: Wireless drives vending machines to the high end
Feature: Public-sector CIOs debate: One vendor or many?
ITWhirled: How to make Palm's Foleo a winner, in ten easy steps


NEWS UPDATES

Euro consumer group questions Google-Doubleclick deal
A European consumer group has complained that Google Inc.'s proposed acquisition of online ad broker DoubleClick Inc. could hurt privacy rights due to the massive amount of data the companies would hold.


China will be top destination for off-shoring, says IDC
Chinese cities are expected to unseat Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi in India, and Manila in the Philippines, as the most popular offshore delivery centers by 2011, according to IDC.


Court holds Belgian ISP responsible for file-sharing
A court has ruled that the Belgian ISP Scarlet Extended SA is responsible for blocking illegal file-sharing on its network, setting a precedent that could affect other ISPs in Europe, according to a recording industry group.


Toshiba files suit against German DVD maker
Toshiba Corp. has filed a lawsuit against German DVD replicator EDD Bizz GmbH over the alleged infringement of DVD patents.

Denmark to test Open XML, ODF next year
Denmark's government agencies will be required to handle two competing document format standards, the Open Document Format (ODF) and Microsoft Corp.'s Open XML, during a one-year test period that will begin next year.

FEATURES

WORLDBEAT: In India, bands and elephants at work
New recruits to Aditi Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a vendor of product development services in Bangalore, were on their first day of work given a traditional Indian welcome fit for a Maharajah, to the beating of drums, the blowing of traditional trumpets, and even an elephant saluting them.

UK National Archives seeks to unlock file formats
The U.K. has embarked on a plan to make terabytes of government data locked up in mostly Microsoft Corp. proprietary file formats viewable to the public in their original form.

Wireless drives vending machines to the high end
Vending machines are not just about soda and candy and chips anymore.


Public-sector CIOs debate: One vendor or many?
Keenly aware of staff and budget constraints, government IT departments wrestle with their mix of applications. Is it best to take as much enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) functionality as you can from one software vendor, or opt for a best-of-breed approach? This question came to prominence again recently when in May mid-market vendor Infor Global Solutions announced it will pay US$92 million to acquire Hansen Information Technologies, a public-sector applications provider.


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10
Open source's ten hottest apps ... How to make Palm's Foleo a winner, in ten easy steps

Unlocked iPhones coming in one week or less, hacker says

Happy Fourth of July!


HIGHLIGHTS

News: Unlocked iPhones coming in one week or less, hacker says
News: Google argues for right to comment on Microsoft case
News: After attacks, US government sending team to Estonia
News: T-Mobile to sell iPhone in Germany on Nov. 1, report says
News: LG sues world's largest laptop PC maker over DVD patents
News: Autonomy buys e-discovery firm Zantaz for $375 million
News: Developer annoys open-source faithful over code release
News: Networking execs sentenced for accounting fraud
News: Dell delays filing 401(k) statement as audit drags on
Go Figure: Beijing scores number one spot for malware
ITWhirled: Everybody hates cookies, blogs


NEWS UPDATES

Unlocked iPhones coming in one week or less, hacker says
Hackers may successfully unlock an iPhone in as soon as three to seven days, according to a representative of one effort that aims to unlock Apple Inc.'s new handset.


Google argues for right to comment on Microsoft case
Google Inc. still hopes to influence changes that Microsoft Corp. plans to make in Vista's desktop search function, even after the parties involved in Microsoft's 2002 antitrust settlement agreed to alterations to the search system.


After attacks, US government sending team to Estonia
Two months after much of Estonia's online infrastructure was targeted by an online attack, the U.S government is sending cyberinvestigators to help the Baltic state better understand what happened.


T-Mobile to sell iPhone in Germany on Nov. 1, report says
Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile division has won a deal to sell Apple Inc.'s iPhone in Germany starting Nov. 1, according to a report in a German regional newspaper.

LG sues world's largest laptop PC maker over DVD patents
LG Electronics Inc. has filed a lawsuit against the world's largest contract manufacturer of laptop PCs over the infringement of four patents related to DVD (digital video disc) technology, the company said Wednesday.


Autonomy buys e-discovery firm Zantaz for $375 million
Autonomy Corp. PLC is acquiring Zantaz Inc., a provider of e-discovery and content archiving software, for US$375 million in cash, the companies announced Tuesday.


Developer annoys open-source faithful over code release
Open-source developer Parallels finally released the source code for the Wine software used by Parallels Desktop 3.0 on Monday -- but only after weeks of prodding by Wine developers and negative publicity on the IT forum Slashdot.


Networking execs sentenced for accounting fraud
Four former executives with computer networking and security vendor Enterasys Networks Inc. have been sentenced to prison terms for their roles in accounting fraud at the company that cost investors millions of dollars, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.


Dell delays filing 401(k) statement as audit drags on
Dell Inc. told government regulators on Monday that it cannot file a financial statement for its 401(k) plan, as the company continues to struggle with investigations of its accounting practices.


GO FIGURE

40%
The share of malware distributed worldwide in June that originated from Beijing, according to research from security vendor Network Box Corp. That's nearly double Beijing's stats in May, when 21 percent of malicious software originated in the Chinese capital.
SOURCE: IDG News Service


ITWHIRLED

Everybody hates cookies, blogs
A group of British pollsters tried to discover what bits of tech jargon made Internet users want to "wince, shudder or want to bang your head on the keyboard." Many were the sort of overused buzzwords you might expect -- "wiki," "cookies," and both "blog" and "blogosphere" -- but there were also some dark horses, like "me-media" and "godcast."

SAP admits to 'inappropriate downloads' in Oracle case

HIGHLIGHTS

News: SAP admits to 'inappropriate downloads' in Oracle case
News: Hackers make progress towards unlocking iPhone
News: YouTube coming to LG cell phones
News: Sony patents liquid airbag
News: AOL's AIM update alert bothers upgrade holdouts
News: Massachusetts adds Open XML to open formats list
News: EU, US passenger data sharing deal under scrutiny
News: BSA raises reward to $1 million for reports of piracy
iPhone Watch: Report: Parallel importers promise iPhone coming to China
iPhone Watch: Two days after iPhone launch, AT&T EDGE goes down
iPhone Watch: Hopeful iPhone users suffer delays
ITWhirled: Hacker jerk threatens to ruin Harry Potter fun for everyone


NEWS UPDATES

SAP admits to 'inappropriate downloads' in Oracle case
Responding to a lawsuit filed by Oracle Corp. earlier this year, SAP AG admitted on Tuesday that its TomorrowNow division in the U.S. made some "inappropriate downloads" from an Oracle Web site but said SAP never had access to the material.


Hackers make progress towards unlocking iPhone
Efforts to unlock Apple Inc.'s iPhone continued on Monday, with hackers claiming "very significant progress."

For more iPhone news, see iPHONE WATCH below.


YouTube coming to LG cell phones
The ability to view and upload videos to YouTube is coming to some LG Electronics Inc. cell phones later this year.


Sony patents liquid airbag
Sony has filed for a U.S. patent on a liquid airbag for electronics - in particular, for hard disks. The idea is that the electronics will be wrapped in a fluid-filled bag so if the outer case suffers a shock, the liquid acts as a cushion.


AOL's AIM update alert bothers upgrade holdouts
Some AIM users are angry about a recent alert message AOL LLC displays on their screens urging them to upgrade to the newest version of the instant messaging software.


Massachusetts adds Open XML to open formats list
Microsoft Corp. has achieved a small victory in its effort to make Open XML an open technology standard. Massachusetts, the U.S. state that has mandated the use of open technology formats in its government agencies, has put the specification on its list of possible standards that can be used for documents, according to a document on its Web site.


EU, US passenger data sharing deal under scrutiny
Critics of last week's agreement allowing European passengers' personal data to be shared with U.S. authorities have just under a month to reshape the accord before it comes into force, said Stavros Lambrinidis, vice president of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee Monday.


BSA raises reward to $1 million for reports of piracy
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has temporarily raised the reward that's part of controversial program encouraging people to report software piracy from US$200,000 to $1 million, the trade group announced Monday.


iPHONE WATCH

Report: Parallel importers promise iPhone coming to China
Parallel importers have promised a small quantity of Apple Inc.'s iPhone is headed to China, likely arriving in the next day or two, according to an online report.


Two days after iPhone launch, AT&T EDGE goes down
IPhone users across the U.S. were complaining Monday that AT&T Inc.'s wireless data network was down.


Hopeful iPhone users suffer delays
After standing in line for hours on Friday to buy the new Apple Inc. iPhone, some users were forced to wait even longer to activate the phones, while others found the store shelves empty and will have to wait another week for their phones to arrive in the mail.


ITWHIRLED

Hacker jerk threatens to ruin Harry Potter fun for everyone
A hacker known only as "Gabriel" claims to have acquired a copy of the final Harry Potter book; if that's true, he's posted a major spoiler on his site. He openly admits his vendetta against millions of Potter-lovers everywhere: "We make this spoiler to make reading of the upcoming book useless and boring."

iPhone launch marred by activation delays

HIGHLIGHTS

News: iPhone launch marred by activation delays
News: Hackers target C-level execs and their families
News: EU hardware disposal law could hurt small businesses
News: India’s software, services exports forecast at US$40 billion
News: 1TB optical disks now in prospect
News: SAP users seek to benchmark performance
News: Floral giant sends bouquet to EnterpriseDB
iPhone Watch: Race is on to unlock the iPhone
iPhone Watch: With iPhone launch, a hacker's to-do list
iPhone Watch: AT&T expands wireless coverage with Dobson buy
iPhone Watch: IPhone buzz reaches to Microsoft's back yard
iPhone Watch: Stores open doors for iPhone sales
ITWhirled: Buried aliens? No, just tree trunks


NEWS UPDATES

iPhone launch marred by activation delays
Apple Inc.'s iPhone launch has been marred by delays in AT&T Corp.'s phone activation system, leaving some people unable to use their new toy throughout the weekend.

For more iPhone news, see iPHONE WATCH below.


Hackers target C-level execs and their families
Hackers appear to have stepped up their efforts to trick corporate executives into downloading malicious software programs that can steal company data over the past year, according to new data released Monday.


EU hardware disposal law could hurt small businesses
Under a European Union law that went into effect recently, business users, producers and retailers of IT equipment must dispose of unwanted hardware in a regulated fashion that could add up to £30 (US$60) to the cost of a PC, says Gartner.


India’s software, services exports forecast at US$40 billion
India’s business providing software and services to companies outside its borders will grow a healthy 26 to 29 percent this year, the country's main trade association for that sector said Monday.


1TB optical disks now in prospect
Manufacturers are being offered the world's highest capacity optical storage technology to license, reportedly, leap-frogging 300GB holographic disks and offering 1TB in a DVD-size disk. But the technology has not been commercialized and product could be three to five years away.


SAP users seek to benchmark performance
One of the world's largest SAP user groups is preparing to conduct a series of surveys among its Canadian and U.S. members to establish benchmarks of how enterprises make use of the German software giant's business applications.


Floral giant sends bouquet to EnterpriseDB
EnterpriseDB has notched up international florist FTD Group as a customer in a vote of confidence for the young database company, which is trying to poach customers from Oracle Corp. with the promise of lower license fees and compatibility with Oracle applications.


iPHONE WATCH

Race is on to unlock the iPhone
Now that Apple Inc.'s iPhone is finally on sale, the race is on to see who can unlock it.


With iPhone launch, a hacker's to-do list
When Apple Inc. introduced the latest version of its Safari browser two weeks ago, it took the hacking community just hours to start reporting bugs in the beta code. On Friday, the iPhone is likely to get even closer scrutiny from many of the same security researchers. Here's a list of the top items on the typical iPhone hacker's to-do list.


AT&T expands wireless coverage with Dobson buy
The iPhone won't be just for customers living in the big cities. On the day it is introducing the hugely hyped cell phone, AT&T Inc. announced it will acquire wireless provider Dobson Communications Corp. for US$2.8 billion in cash.


IPhone buzz reaches to Microsoft's back yard
As 6:00 p.m. approached Friday, the mob in front of the Apple Inc.'s flagship San Francisco store counted down the seconds as if it was New Year's Eve.


Stores open doors for iPhone sales
Apple Inc. began selling its iPhone Friday, ending six months of waiting by consumers and rival smartphone vendors.


ITWHIRLED

Buried aliens? No, just tree trunks
Malaysian villagers were really nervous when a gravedigger told them that he and his associates were burying the corpses of extraterrestrials in the local cemetery. They were quite relieved to learn the truth: they were just burying tree trunks for "medicinal purposes" at the behest of a local witch doctor.