Take-Two settles 'Hot Coffee' sex content case

In this issue:
* Take-Two settles 'Hot Coffee' sex content case
* 17 charged in massive ID theft bust
* Consortium unleashes A$50 million worth of IT jobs
* Nigeria favors Mandriva over Microsoft once more
* Top 10 Wi-Fi boosts, tweaks, and apps


TODAY'S NEWS

Take-Two settles 'Hot Coffee' sex content case
Game developer Take-Two Interactive Thursday announced a preliminary settlement on all consumer class action lawsuits in the U.S. related to a software modification called Hot Coffee, which unlocked sex scenes on the popular game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."

Google shares fall back below $700
Shares of Internet darling Google Inc. dropped below US$700 for the first time in seven trading days Thursday, in part due to fears the U.S. housing loan mess will spill over into the wider economy.

17 charged in massive ID theft bust
The operators of a New York business have been charged with running a massive identity-theft and money-laundering operation that raked in more than US$35 million over a four-year period.

Consortium unleashes A$50 million worth of IT jobs
More than A$50 million (US$46.4 million) worth of Australian IT jobs and scholarships worth A$250,000 are on offer in the next 12 months, a consortium of ICT (information and communications technology) industry leaders including IBM, Microsoft, CSC and KPMG announced Thursday.

Nigeria favors Mandriva over Microsoft once more
Microsoft may not have beaten French Linux vendor Mandriva in a large deal to supply Nigerian elementary schools with laptop computers and software after all.


ITWHIRLED

She's a 10

> 10 reasons why software managers tend to suck
> Most notable notebooks of 2007
> Top 10 Wi-Fi boosts, tweaks, and apps

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Red Hat, Amazon deliver Linux on demand ... Android just a press release, says Ballmer ... HP zooms out of camera business

In this issue:
* AMD brings GPU technology to high-performance computing
* Trend Micro arms PlayStation against bad Web sites
* IBM gives autonomic computing a brain
* High availability and disaster recovery are not the same thing
* Red Hat, Amazon deliver Linux on demand
* Google's Android just a press release, says Ballmer
* HP zooms out of camera business
* Sam Adams takes on Sam Adams over Sam Adams-themed URL


TODAY'S NEWS

AMD brings GPU technology to high-performance computing
AMD introduced a high-performance processor that uses a technology common in graphics chips, called parallelism, for general purpose computing.

Trend Micro arms PlayStation against bad Web sites
Trend Micro has introduced a security service for Sony's PlayStation 3 that blocks access to malicious Web sites, the company's first product for gamers.

IBM gives autonomic computing a brain
To keep up with growing complexities of data center maintenance, IBM on Thursday announced a new set of self-management tools that can reduce the cost and manpower needed to run data centers

Google's Android just a press release, says Ballmer
Microsoft's Steve Ballmer declined to comment on Google's Android platform on Thursday saying it was nothing but a press release at present.

Hard drive prices drop as PC demand rises
Prices are dropping on notebook and desktop hard drives as demand for PCs and consumer electronics skyrockets.

Opposition to Google's DoubleClick deal mounting
For some privacy advocates, Google's proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick represents a major threat.

HP zooms out of camera business
HP shifts its digital camera business model, channeling investments from design and distribution to its photo printing strategy.

Red Hat, Amazon deliver Linux on demand
Red Hat Wednesday made its Enterprise Linux OS available on demand by releasing it for the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service that hosts business applications.

Washington AG goes after search engine fixer, again
The Washington State Attorney General's Office is back in court, trying again to get a company that sells search engine ranking services to change its business practices.

Fast mobile on track but faces curves
A new mobile technology offering several megabits per second is working as planned, but that doesn't guarantee that kind of speed at its launch date in 2010.


STORAGE

High availability and disaster recovery are not the same thing
By David Hill, Mesabi Group

IT organizations may confuse the terms "high availability" and "disaster recovery." You need both, but if you think that the two are synonymous you may do one or the other and think that you have done the other. And that could be a problem as the two, while interrelated, are not the same. ...Continue


NETWORKING

Netuitive 2.0
By James Gaskin, ITworld

Can you define Business Services Management without looking at the latest vendor advertising? Not looking at vendor information, I call it managing the systems your customers use to verify they are receiving the service you designed the system to deliver. Above all else, customers must be satisfied or they become ex-customers. ...Continue


ITWHIRLED

Sam Adams takes on Sam Adams over Sam Adams-themed URL
Sam Adams is running for mayor of Portland, Ore., and as you might expect, he's secured a number of URLs with his name in them, including www.samadamsformayor.com and www.mayorsamadams.com. This raised the ire of the Boston company that brews Samuel Adams beer, which promptly started sending out cease and desist letters. When Sam Adams (the candidate) pointed out that he's been Sam Adams since 1963 -- 21 years before Samuel Adams (the beer) was trademarked, the brewers finally backed down.

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POLL

What's your Wikipedia usage like?

- I would never use anything so notoriously unreliable
- I use it as a starting point to find out about subjects I'm unfamiliar with
- I sometimes contribute to articles on subjects I'm knowledgeable about
- I can follow from link to link for hours, and have done major surgery on a number of articles
- I'm currently engaged in at least three very heated edit wars

Vote now!

Google and Firefox: Cause for concern? ... Microsoft fires CIO ... This week in wacky auctions: Pol Pot's limo

In this issue:
* Google and Firefox: Cause for Concern?
* China's Founder agrees to preinstall Windows on more PCs
* Gphones cool, but may take time to catch on, says ARM CEO
* Microsoft's Centro becomes 'Essential' business server
* Salesforce.com falls for phishing scam, warns customers
* Microsoft fires CIO
* Facebook gives social spin to online ads
* Up for auction: Small Texas town, Pol Pot's limo


TODAY'S NEWS

China's Founder agrees to preinstall Windows on more PCs
Founder Technology Group, China's second-largest PC maker, agreed to preinstall Windows Vista on laptop computers and commercial desktops, closing a loophole in an earlier deal with Microsoft that potentially exempted commercial PCs from agreements to preinstall Windows.

Gphones cool, but may take time to catch on, says ARM CEO
Google's new mobile phone software may raise hype over possible 'Gphones,' but it may take a while to catch on , the head of ARM said Wednesday.

Microsoft's Centro becomes 'Essential' business server
Microsoft will release a public beta version of a bundle of server software products for medium-size businesses, code-named 'Centro,' in the first half of next year.

Salesforce.com falls for phishing scam, warns customers
Salesforce.com is warning customers that they may be the targets of malicious software or phishing scams, after one of its employees was tricked into divulging a corporate password.

Microsoft fires CIO
Microsoft fired its Chief Information Officer, Stuart Scott, after an investigation for violation of company policies.

Intel brings EMC to small-business storage
Intel has added processing brawn and big-name brains in its second shot at home and small-business storage.

Facebook gives social spin to online ads
Facebook presented its master plan for boosting its advertising revenue now that it has the challenge of living up to its stratospheric $15 billion valuation.


OPINION

Google and Firefox: Cause for Concern?
Dan Blacharski, ITworld.com

It's pretty clear that without Google, Mozilla would not exist. Mozilla gets 85 percent of its revenues from Google, and even though it's a non-profit (a designation that in reality is functionally meaningless), Mozilla isn't just a bunch of volunteer geeks -- it's a big business in and of itself, with an office to run and payroll to meet. ...Continue


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Yahoo blasted over involvement in Shi Tao affair ... Microsoft fires its CIO ... Salesforce.com warns customers they are targets of phishing scam

More podcasts


ITWHIRLED

This week in wacky auctions
Have you ever wanted to buy a small Texas town? How about Pol Pot's limousine? Both can be yours in the wonderland that is eBay. You've already missed your chance to buy a mailbox hit by a meteorite.

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


POLL

What's your Wikipedia usage like?

- I would never use anything so notoriously unreliable
- I use it as a starting point to find out about subjects I'm unfamiliar with
- I sometimes contribute to articles on subjects I'm knowledgeable about
- I can follow from link to link for hours, and have done major surgery on a number of articles
- I'm currently engaged in at least three very heated edit wars

Vote now!

HTC to be first with Google phone ... After crash, China won't sell Olympic tix online ... Red Hat joins open source Java project

In this issue:
- HTC already working on Google phone
- Red Hat signs on to Sun's open-source Java project
- MySpace launches self-serve ad service
- Microsoft unveils enterprise search products
- China abandons plans to sell Olympics tickets online
- Google's mobile move: awe-inspiring and terrifying
- Apple posts QuickTime security fix
- Human race to split into two species: One attractive, the other ugly


IN THE NEWS

Red Hat signs on to Sun's open-source Java project
Red Hat has signed on to contribute to Sun's open-source Java project and to align its Java development efforts for Linux with the project, OpenSDK.

Microsoft unveils enterprise search products
Microsoft is set to release a pair of low-cost enterprise search products, a move one company official said comes at a time when the market in question is 'at a tipping point.'

China abandons plans to sell Olympics tickets online
Organizers of the Beijing Olympics Monday gave up on online ticket sales after the ticketing system crashed last week.

HTC already working on Google phone
Taiwanese mobile phone maker High Tech Computer (HTC) is already working on a Google phone, and will start selling it in the second half of next year, an executive said Tuesday.

Google's mobile move: awe-inspiring and terrifying
Google's announcement on Monday of a mobile development platform that could radically alter the wireless market is yet another example of the lengths the company will go to keep its advertising business growing at a jaw-dropping rate.

Google's Android adds to mobile complexity
While Google may be pitching its new mobile software platform as a way to unify the mobile market, even members of the new alliance think differently.

Apple posts QuickTime security fix
Apple has released an update to its QuickTime media player, fixing a number of critical security bugs in the software.

MySpace launches self-serve ad service
MySpace plans to launch a self-serve advertising service targeted to small-business owners, musicians, politicians and others looking to reach MySpace users


WINDOWS TIP

Page files, system volumes, and large memory 64-bit systems
By Mitch Tulloch, MTIT Enterprises

Conventional wisdom is that your page file should be 1.5 times the size of your system's RAM. But since 64-bit Windows servers often have huge amounts of memory, do you really need to allocate a whopping 48 GB of hard drive space just to your page file on a system that has 32 GB of RAM? ...continue


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Google announces software for mobile phones ... HTC to be first with Google phone ... Organizers abandon online ticket sales for 2008 Olympics


ITWHIRLED

Human race to split into two species: One attractive, the other ugly
A British evolutionary theorist believes that our far future ancestors will be taller and have better hair and deeper voices -- if they're part of the elite. The underclass will spawn a race of stocky, goblin-like creatures. ...read more


POLL

What's your Wikipedia usage like?

- I would never use anything so notoriously unreliable
- I use it as a starting point to find out about subjects I'm unfamiliar with
- I sometimes contribute to articles on subjects I'm knowledgeable about
- I can follow from link to link for hours, and have done major surgery on a number of articles
- I'm currently engaged in at least three very heated edit wars

Vote now!

Google details 'Android' mobile platform ... MySpace launches self-serve ad service ... Dell to acquire EqualLogic

In this issue:
* Google details highly anticipated 'Android' mobile platform
* MySpace launches self-serve ad service
* Dell to acquire SAN vendor EqualLogic
* HP's Windows Home Server box goes on sale
* RIM offers BlackBerry software for small businesses
* Gartner: SAAS purchasing decisions 'are bypassing IT'
* LG's iPhone look-alike launched in Europe
* Kick-start your job search with new Yahoo social network
* Celebrity nerds outed


IN THE NEWS

Google details highly anticipated 'Android' mobile platform
Google on Monday announced a widely expected open-development platform for mobile devices backed by industry heavyweights like T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm and Motorola that could shake the wireless market to its core by simplifying and reducing the cost of developing mobile applications.

MySpace launches self-serve ad service
MySpace plans to launch a self-serve advertising service for small businesses.

Dell to acquire SAN vendor EqualLogic
Dell has entered into an agreement to acquire SAN (storage area network) vendor EqualLogic for $1.4 billion

HP's Windows Home Server box goes on sale
The first hardware boxes with Microsoft's Windows Home Server goes on sale worldwide Monday, as the company announces more partner support for its first server OS aimed specifically for home use.

RIM offers BlackBerry software for small businesses
Research in Motion has released a BlackBerry software package deigned for businesses with up to 30 wireless users.

Gartner: SAAS purchasing decisions 'are bypassing IT'
Three-quarters of all software as a service (SAAS) has been bought by business unit managers rather than IT managers, Gartner research vice-president Ben Pring has warned.

LG's iPhone look-alike launched in Europe
The iPhone-like handset that LG Electronics unveiled at August's Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) trade show is now on sale in Europe.

Kick-start your job search with new Yahoo social network
Yahoo Inc. launched a new professional social network called Y! Kickstart Sunday aimed at helping college students take the social networking skills they perfected for fun during college and use them to launch their professional lives.


OPINION

Printer Security Issues
James Gaskin, ITworld.com

I hoped the "hacked zombie printer" stories were just security company scare tactics. When someone asked me about securing printers during an Altiris ManageFusion security panel, I questioned it and said no one I knew has suffered from a hacked printer.

Unfortunately, printer hacks do exist, according to Jesper Jurcenoks, CTO of NetVigilance. He was a panelist on my Security 2008: What You Need Now panel at the ITEC show in Chicago, and he has first hand experience.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Microsoft convinces Nigeria to switch to Windows ... Google to announce open-source mobile OS ... OLPC under pressure from commerical laptops


ITWHIRLED

Many celebrities also nerds
The worlds of the geek and the Hollywood movie star may seem to be miles apart, but many celebrities from the entertainment world have their nerdy side. For instance, Blossom's Mayim Bialik is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in neuroscience; Robin Williams is a hardcore gamer; and legendary beauty Hedy Lamarr patented spread-spectrum technology, which underlies both Ethernet and cell phone communication.


POLL

What's your Wikipedia usage like?

- I would never use anything so notoriously unreliable
- I use it as a starting point to find out about subjects I'm unfamiliar
with
- I sometimes contribute to articles on subjects I'm knowledgeable about
- I can follow from link to link for hours, and have done major surgery
on a number of articles
- I'm currently engaged in at least three very heated edit wars

Vote now!

LG launches iPhone look-alike ... Google to announce open-source mobile OS ... Cheap Linux laptops threaten OLPC

In this issue:
* LG's iPhone look-alike launched in Europe
* RIM offers BlackBerry software for small businesses
* Google to announce mobile platform on Monday
* Cheap Linux PCs may pressure One Laptop Per Child
* Mozilla offers stability update to Firefox
* Microsoft swoops in to claim Nigeria Linux deal
* Celebrity nerds outed
* Poll: What's your Wikipedia usage like?


IN THE NEWS

LG's iPhone look-alike launched in Europe
The iPhone-like handset that LG Electronics unveiled at August's Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) trade show is now on sale in Europe.

Samsung to target enterprise servers with new SSDs
Samsung Electronics is moving towards commercialization of solid-state disk drives that use the high-speed SATA II interface.

RIM offers BlackBerry software for small businesses
Research in Motion has released a BlackBerry software package deigned for businesses with up to 30 wireless users.

Google to announce mobile platform on Monday
Google negotiators this weekend continue to hammer out agreements with wireless carriers, handset makers, software developers and hardware providers, as the company prepares to announce on Monday an ambitious platform for creating mobile applications.

Cheap Linux PCs may pressure One Laptop Per Child
OLPC's XO laptop faces pricing and adoption pressure from tumbling prices of commercial laptops.

Mozilla offers stability update to Firefox
It doesn't include planned Leopard enhancements, but Firefox developers have released an update to their open-source software, fixing bugs that had been causing the browser to crash at startup, render Web pages improperly or disable add-ons for some users.

Survey: Open source gaining traction in U.S. government
A survey says more than half of all IT decision-makers in the U.S. government have implemented open-source software

Microsoft swoops in to claim Nigeria Linux deal
Linux vendor Mandriva had agreed to supply a customized Linux OS for 17,000 Intel Classmate PCs, which are rugged laptops aimed for educational use in developing countries. But Nigeria has since decided that it will strip the OS from the Classmate PCs and install Microsoft's Windows OS instead.


OPINION

I used to know what XML is. Now I am not so sure.
By Sean McGrath, ITworld.com

I used to know what XML is. With one hundred percent certainty I used to know that XML is a way of annotating text to make the structure of the text both open and explicit to machines. I have written a lot of stuff about it over the years. In the years since the acronym has crossed the chasm into, um, the chasms that follow the first chasm, there has been an enormous proliferation in the usage scenarios for XML. Not all of them wholly appropriate in my opinion but let us not go there today. For today's purposes, let us focus on two illustrative divergences in the interpretation of that humble TLA "XML". ...Continue


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Microsoft convinces Nigeria to switch to Windows ... Google to announce open-source mobile OS ... OLPC under pressure from commerical laptops


ITWHIRLED

Many celebrities also nerds
The worlds of the geek and the Hollywood movie star may seem to be miles apart, but many celebrities from the entertainment world have their nerdy side. For instance, Blossom's Mayim Bialik is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in neuroscience; Robin Williams is a hardcore gamer; and legendary beauty Hedy Lamarr patented spread-spectrum technology, which underlies both Ethernet and cell phone communication. ...Read more


POLL

What's your Wikipedia usage like?

- I would never use anything so notoriously unreliable
- I use it as a starting point to find out about subjects I'm unfamiliar with
- I sometimes contribute to articles on subjects I'm knowledgeable about
- I can follow from link to link for hours, and have done major surgery on a number of articles
- I'm currently engaged in at least three very heated edit wars

Vote now!