From The Editor
By Jeff Caruso, Site Editor
- Social Security numbers can be "guessed"
- You may know that Social Security numbers historically have been based in part on geographical location. But a new study suggests that with a little number-crunching, you can figure out someone's...
- Nortel exec: Bay Networks glory can return after some "chemotherapy"
- I recently wrote about Nortel's current woes, and how they could (at least in part) be traced back to its acquisition of Bay Networks. That got the attention of Nortel's current VP and GM of its...
- This week's 10 most-read stories
- The tearing apart of Nortel was the most-read story of the week, mixed with lighter fare such as a slideshow of tech-related T-shirts and a look back at the "fathers" of the technology we use every...
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IBM software 'masks' sensitive info; EMC wins Data Domain bidding war Listen now!
- EMC distances rival NetApp
- EMC has scored another victory over storage rival NetApp by purchasing Data Domain, a merger which widens the technological gap between the companies in the fast-growing data de-duplication market.
- NTIA seeks volunteers to review broadband applications
- The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration, scheduled to distribute US$4.7 billion in broadband deployment grants over the next 15 months, will count on volunteers to review grant applications.
- Prankster admits faking Google Chrome OS screenshots
- An anonymous blogger who earlier today posted "screenshots" of an early build of Google's Chrome OS has admitted he faked the images.
- Postman iPhone 'postcard' maker improves interface, themes
- Freeverse Software on Thursday announced the release of Postman 2.0, an update to their iPhone OS 3.0 application for creating virtual "postcards." It costs $1, and is a free update for registered users.
- New MechWarrior game revealed, will reboot classic series
- A new MechWarrior video game from Piranha Games (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Need for Speed Undercover, The Strike) is coming to Xbox 360 and PC. The new MechWarrior game will be the fifth game in the series and the first official sequel since 2002's MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries. Piranha Games' MechWarrior will be a reboot of the classic PC series and has an almost Killzone/[
- First iPhone 3GS augmented reality app awaiting approval
- A new iPhone application from acrossair will be amongst the first to utilise revolutionary augmented reality technology in combination with the magnetic compass found in the iPhone 3GS.
- Emulex rejects Broadcom's $925M revised buyout offer
- Network components manufacturer Emulex Corp. today announced that its board of directors had unanimously rejected Broadcom Corp.'s revised cash offer to acquire it for $11 per share and recommended that shareholders not tender their shares into the offer. Broadcom, which had already indicated this latest offer would be its last, said it is dropping all efforts to acquire Emulex.
- Create a tab-switching gesture shortcut in Firefox 3.5
- The recently-released Firefox 3.5 supports multi-touch gestures on newer Mac laptops, at least if you believe this Firefox features page. However, these gestures don't seem to be documented in detail anywhere on the Firefox Web site--it's acknowledged that they exist, but there's no apparent documentation on which gestures do what.
- IBM to cancel final salary pensions
- IBM is set to close its final salary pension plan, affecting around 5,600 staff.
- Slimming your data down with the Symantec Diet
- Symantec Corp. announced its data deduplication strategy on Tuesday, also known as the Symantec Diet, as well as upcoming product releases which will help the company deliver on its strategy.
- FBI wants more online security education
- According to two U.S. government officials, Internet crime rates will continue to increase because end-users and enterprises lack awareness and education about the current online threat landscape.
- Igloo Software warms up to the Canadian channel
- Igloo Software, a Canadian online community and social networking software vendor, wants to increase its channel business by 55 per cent by the end of next year, and is working towards this goal by partnering with value added distributor, Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions (ECS).
- EC's Reding calls for shake-up of online copyright laws
- European laws governing the digitization of content such as books, movies and music need a major re-working in order to keep Europe relevant in the digital age, said the European Commissioner for the information society and telecoms Viviane Reding on Thursday.
- As 3 Big iPhone Troubles Surface, Apple Dinged for Secrecy
- The iPhone 3GS has been an undeniable marketplace hit since its release on June 19, and will likely continue to soar in sales despite three customer complaints that have surfaced recently. The big three gripes: the iPhone 3GS battery life is dismal, the 3GS overheats, and there's a serious SMS vulnerability.
- Will Google OS reset desktop expectations?
- With Google providing little information about its new Chrome OS, analysts are left to speculate how the search firm can create something that convinces users to switch operating systems.
- Worst Idea Ever: Another Mortal Kombat Movie
- They're apparently making a third Mortal Kombat movie, reports UK game biz news site MCV. Chris Casamassa, who played Scorpion in the 1995 original film, told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that "he's set to start filming the third Mortal Kombat film in September."
- Wise Disk Cleaner Pro Gives Your PC a Thorough Cleaning
- Obsessive about keeping every last piece of junk off your computer? Wise Disk Cleaner 4 Pro ($20, free demo) offers a robust and customizable feature set which should satisfy even the most compulsive deleters. This program searches your drives for file names and extensions of typically unnecessary files, and it suggests them for deletion. In addition to the built-in filters which target things such as temporary, index, and log files, users can create their own. This accommodates even the oddest of desires. For instance, if you think pictures aren't worth a thousand words, let alone a thousand bytes, just add "*.gif," "*.jpg," and "*image*" to the delete list.
- The botnet world is booming
- With U.S. and South Korean government Web sites hit by distributed denial-of-service attacks this week by a botnet controlled by an unidentified attacker -- North Korea is suspected, however -- the shadowy world of botnets continues to grow unabated.
- Third State Department snooper sentenced
- A former employee of the U.S. Department of State who pleaded guiltyto improperly accessing electronic passport records belonging to more than 50 high-profile individuals was sentenced today to one year of probation.
- Sprint teams with Ericsson in $5B network services deal
- Sprint Nextel Inc. today announced a seven-year deal with Ericsson for network services that is valued at up to $5 billion and can be extended.
- Ericsson signs deal to run Sprint wireless, wireline networks
- Sprint and telecom systems provider Ericsson have signed a seven-year deal that will give Ericsson day-to-day responsibilities for managing Sprint's wireline and wireless networks.
- Meet the Google Chrome OS Fanboy
- Apple has them. Microsoft too. And Linux is just teeming with them. But now Google has created its own brand of Borg that is willing to spread the gospel of Chrome OS just at the mere hint of its existence.
- Should the U.S. Brace for More Cyber Attacks?
- Yet another wave of Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) Attacks hit South Korea today, despite the country standing on high alert for more cyber attacks.
- Microsoft Puts Disciplined Sinofsky In Charge of Windows 7
- Congratulations to Steven Sinofsky, an old Microsoft hand, who having managed to avoid the Vista disaster while still delivering Office and Windows 7 on-time today finds himself President of Windows, responsible for the OS, Windows Live, and Internet Explorer.
- Oracle mysteriously halts work on green data center
- Oracle recently halted work on a green data center project in a suburb of Salt Lake City, but it is not clear why.
- EMC Heats Up Competition with Data Center Big Four
- EMC took square aim at the "big four" data center management software players-HP, IBM, CA and BMC- this week when it launched Ionix. The new Ionix business unit and brand name are designed to make more noise about what analysts call an under-appreciated set of broad capabilities in data-center management tools.
- Google’s Chrome OS: Not the first Web-based OS
- The way the news debuted yesterday with a giant splash, you might have thought that Google's newly-announced Chrome OS Web-based operating system is the first of its kind.
- Google: The World's Most Successful Failure?
- The amazing thing about Google is how a business that makes 97 percent of its revenue selling advertising has people convinced that it is a technology company. And then gets a free pass despite a series of failures outside its core competencies in search and online ad sales.
- Instant-on Linux vendors put on a brave face against Chrome
- Google Inc. says its coming Linux-based Chrome operating system will "start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds."
- France creates new national IT security agency
- France has created a new national IT systems security agency to better defend its IT networks.
- Offshore Outsourcing: Pay Attention to Exchange Rates
- There are many matters to consider when setting up an offshore outsourcing deal-scope, location, roles and responsibilities, service levels, governance plans and price, just to name a few.
- Verizon helping companies assess application vulnerabilities
- Verizon Business is now offering to help businesses analyze potential security flaws in their business applications.
- How to use electrical outlets and cheap lasers to steal data
- If attackers intent on data theft can tap into an electrical socket near a computer or if they can draw a bead on the machine with a laser, they can steal whatever is being typed into it.
- HK hiring expectations rise
- Hiring expectations have risen for the first time since the first quarter of 2008, according to The Hudson Report.
- Organisations face rising disaster recovery pressures
- Organisations are facing rising disaster recovery (DR) pressures caused by soaring downtime costs and more stringent IT service level requirements to mitigate risk to the business.
- Dangerous security flaw likely just a hoax
- A claim of a software vulnerability in a program used to connect securely to servers across the Internet is likely a hoax, according to an analyst with the SANS Internet Storm Center.
- A third of Brits not bundling broadband with TV or phone
- Nearly a third of all Brits are losing money by not bundling their web access with their home phone or TV packages, says Broadband Choices.
- Vizioncore ships virtual backup and recovery tool
- The new version of Vizioncore's flagship backup package for virtual machines has exited its beta programme and is now available on general release.
- Recruiter flags IT opportunities amid downturn
- New research by recruitment firm Randstad indicates that while the economy is in a downturn more than half of employers believe there remains a skills shortage that will lead to job opportunities.
- Google Chrome OS: Five Big Obstacles in the Windows War
- Google announced yesterday that it has an open-source operating system for PCs in development that shares the same name as the company's browser: Chrome.
- Overland shows SMB disaster recovery box
- Overland Storage has released a disaster recovery appliance aimed particularly at small and medium businesses.
- Monster data centre heads for Scotland
- One of the world's largest data centres could be heading to Scotland with a site that will reportedly cost £1 billion ($1.6 billion), spread over 250 acres, with 3 million square feet of server space.
- How Google Chrome OS Could Beat Windows
- Google recently stated that it is developing a new Linux-based OS called Chrome to run on both netbooks and desktops. In order for Google to seriously challenge Microsoft's dominance, it needs two things. First, it needs to be seriously awesome. Second, it needs to be compatible with Windows Apps.
- Anyone Want to Buy Twitter?
- Despite Twitter's popularity and ballooning public image, the micro-blogging site may never be able to turn a profit. That was the prevailing attitude at Allen & Co's Sun Valley, Idaho media conference, where the topic du jour was Twitter. None of the old school media moguls in attendance seemed optimistic about its profitability and others flat-out said they would not be interested in buying.
- H20 rolls out sewer broadband to Sheffield
- Sheffield will be following Bournemouth as the next location in the UK to get 100Mbps broadband via the existing sewer system.
- Crime lab saves energy costs by turning up heat in the data center
- IT Roadmap speakers will share tips on green IT, virtualization and building resilient data centers.
- IT spending will fall by 6 per cent in 2009 say Gartner
- Worldwide IT spending is expected to decline by a further six percent this year, according to analyst firm Gartner.
- Microsoft takes aim at white MacBook in latest ads
- Microsoft is back with a new Laptop Hunters ad, part of an ongoing campaign, that takes a swipe at Apple's most economical laptop, the £749 13-inch MacBook.
- Microsoft to Offer Family Discount on Windows 7?
- The world may be fixated on Google's Chrome OS, but some interesting rumors about Windows 7 Family Pack pricing leaked out yesterday. It looks like Microsoft has assigned a product number and a UPC code to something called Windows 7 Family Pack/Home Premium Upgrade.
- How ending exclusivity agreements would change the telecom industry
- Can AT&T and other carriers adapt their strategies when they don't have flagship devices to market?
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- LaCie intros Rugged HD multimedia drive
- LaCie has introduced the Rugged HD, a hard disk drive operating as a "High-Definition Multimedia Player." It's priced at $350.
- New Spam Trick: Shortened URLs
- Shortened URLs, a service on many sites that turns lengthy Web addresses into shorter URLs, is rapidly becoming a popular way for spammers to reach unsuspecting readers. New analysis from Symantec's MessageLabs finds shortened URLs now account for 2 percent of all spam in inboxes (See also: Spam is More Malicious than Ever).
- iPhone 3GS limited to 384 Kbps upstream
- When the iPhone 3GS arrived last month, I explained the ins and outs of High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), the rubric that covers AT&T's two highest-speed cellular data standards: HSDPA for downstream and HSUPA for upstream. It turns out that the iPhone 3GS is more limited than what I outlined in that article.
- Kindle 2 Price Plunge Signals E-Book Reader Competition
- Amazon quietly lowered the price on its Kindle 2 e-book reader Wednesday. That didn't take long: The Kindle 2 became available only about five months ago. And the price cut is a significant one: Amazon cropped $60 off the top price of its second-generation e-book reader, which now carries a more reasonable price tag of $299.
- IBM security software masks confidential info
- IBM researchers said today they have developed software that uses optical character recognition and screen scraping to identify and cover up confidential data.
- Trojans responsible for 75% of new malware
- Trojans make up nearly three quarters of all new malware detected between April and June this year, says Panda Security.
- DDOS attack again takes down South Korean Web sites
- For the third day in a row a number of major public and private Web sites in South Korea have been taken off the Internet by a distributed denial of service attack.
- Semantic Web technology to get update
- SPARQL, the query technology for the Semantic Web, is set for improvements for application development via a proposal before the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
- Google Native Client provides hints on Chrome OS gambit
- Google Wednesday didn't reveal many specifics about its Chrome operating system project, but a technology the company introduced late last year could provide a preview of what is to come.
- Resellers reveal Windows 7 Family Pack price
- Microsoft will price a multi-license "family pack" for Windows 7 at $149.99, according to at least one online retailer that has posted pricing details prematurely.
- Sharp to increase LCD panel production on higher demand
- The economy might still be in a fragile condition but it seems consumers can't get enough of flat-panel televisions. Sharp plans to increase production of LCD panels by tens of thousands of screens per month after seeing increased demand from TV makers, it said Thursday.
- Cyber attack in South Korea set to resume, says AhnLab
- A denial of service attack that took down some of South Korea's highest profile Web sites on Wednesday is set to resume Thursday evening, according to computer security specialist AhnLab.
- Google lists HP, Acer among Chrome OS partners
- Google is already working with several companies to develop devices around the new Chrome OS, including Hewlett-Packard and Acer, the company said in a blog post late Wednesday.
- Google OS could put squeeze on other flavors of Linux
- Much of the discussion around Google's new PC operating system has focused on a looming battle with Windows, but the biggest losers could be other Linux OSes that have been enjoying some moderate success on netbooks, industry analysts said.
- Ex-Googler says Chrome OS will be a vastly different OS but won’t displace Windows
- A former high-level Google employee says a that a lightweight, browser-only operating system has been a long-time coming but it won't cause enterprises to abandon Windows.
- Google OS may force Microsoft to reinvent Windows
- Google's Chrome OS won't be an immediate threat to Windows, but it may force Microsoft to reinvent its operating system more quickly into a product that takes full advantage of the Web and can move more nimbly across devices and form factors, analysts said.
- MasterCard halts remote POS security upgrades
- In a purported second major security change in recent weeks, MasterCard has decided to disallow merchants' use of remote key injection (RKI) services to install new encryption keys on point-of-sale (POS) systems, says a Gartner analyst.
- 5 Ways Microsoft Will Bring the Hurt to Google Chrome OS
- Now that Google has shaken the tech world with its Chrome OS announcement, what's the best way for Microsoft to turn the spotlight back on itself and protect its Windows empire? Here are five ways Redmond could strike back:
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- Amazon Drops Kindle Price By $60
- Amazon's Kindle 2 electronic reader is getting a bit cheaper. Amazon dropped the cost of the Kindle by 17 percent today, adjusting the price tag from $359 to $299.
- The U.S.-South Korea Cyberattack: How Did It Happen?
- It sounds like an advanced operation: Hackers hit dozens of high-profile Web sites, knocking the Federal Trade Commission and other government groups completely offline. Days later, South Korea gets a wave of the same treatment.
- Sony on the offensive: Two execs slam PS3 price cut talk
- Looks like Sony may be just as frustrated with their current situation as gamers are, as both sides of the battle are steadfast in their beliefs over the PS3's current price tag. In terms of a price cut, gamers have loudly shouted "Yea", while Sony has clearly shouted back with a deafening "Nay." So, what's the deal here? What's keeping Sony from dropping the price, say $100?
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- Mac News: QuickerTek battery extends MacBook life by 5 hours
- QuickerTek has released a lower-cost version of its Apple Juicz external battery for MacBooks laptops. The Apple MacBook Battery and Charger Lite provides up to five hours of extra battery life for MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air models.
- Yahoo boosts Web data joiner
- Yahoo is enhancing on Wednesday its Web service API for querying and joining data across any Web source or service on the Web, with the addition of capabilities to write and modify data on Web services.
- With OS project, is Google over-extending itself?
- Google's decision to build a PC operating system could be a master stroke or a colossal blunder, depending on whether the company has the resources that such an ambitious and long-term undertaking will require.
- Report: Price hikes killing SSD sales for laptops
- A surge in NAND flash memory prices is hurting sales of solid-state disk (SSD) drives for laptops, according to market research from iSuppli.
- The big winner from Google Chrome OS: Telcos
- The coming Google Chrome Web-centric operating system could be a big boon for telecom vendors and wireless operators looking for another way to drive demand.
- EMC beats NetApp in bidding war for Data Domain
- NetApp today announced it has walked away from a deal to buy out vendor Data Domain after EMC twice outbid it for the deduplication vendor.
- Google's OS security claims called 'idiotic'
- Google, while announcing its new Chrome operating system late Tuesday, said users would no longer have to worry about viruses, malware and security updates, but security experts disagreed on whether Google can deliver on those promises.
- Microsoft promotes Sinofsky to head Windows Division
- Just months before the official release of Windows 7, Microsoft is promoting Steven Sinofsky to president of its Windows Division.
- FAQ: Google Chrome OS
- News of Google's Chrome operating system is sending waves though the tech world with some saying the OS signals the beginning of the end for Microsoft and others who say Google will fall flat on its face and fail. Without more specifics it's hard to say for sure how big of a splash the OS will really make. Google pledges to release more information regarding the OS later this summer.
- North Korea: Culprit in DDoS Attacks?
- The timing and targets in a recent wave of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks has some security experts pointing the finger at North Korea. After all, the attacks coincided with the rogue state's firing of missiles during the July 4 Independence Day Weekend and the U.S. and South Korea were the countries in the cyber crosshairs.
- CIO.com's IT Job Search Bible
- Searching for a Job in a Recession
- Recover Lost Form Data in Firefox
- Raise your hand if this has happened to you: After filling in (filling out?) a lengthy Web form, you click Next or Save or whatever, and poof: your browser crashes, the server times out, your Internet connection dies--in other words, all your hard work is gone.
- Chrome OS will push Apple to address failings, say analysts
- Apple should be nervous about Google's move into the operating system market, some analysts said today. Others, however, argued that Apple executives won't lose a second of sleep.
- Forrester expands 'software bill of rights'
- Rampant vendor consolidation, the rise of SaaS (software as a service) and other factors have prompted Forrester Research to add 11 entries to its "Enterprise Software Licensee's Bill of Rights," a list of privileges the analyst firm believes customers should be entitled to throughout the software selection, implementation and production lifecycle.
- EMC wins bidding war for Data Domain
- Storage vendor Data Domain has agreed to be acquired by EMC for US$33.50 per share, ending a bidding war that had pitted EMC against NetApp.
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- FAQ: The Google Chrome OS riddle
- Google's unveiling of its Chrome OS project was akin to opening a Pandora's box of questions. Perhaps actor Joe Pesci said it best in his role as David Ferrie in Oliver Stone's "JFK": "It's a mystery wrapped inside a riddle inside an enigma". While we know a few basics -- open source, lightweight, targeted initially at netbooks, runs on x86 and ARM processors -- there are a lot more mysteries to be solved before netbooks running the Chrome OS hit the shelves next year.
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- Safari 4.0.2 update fixes stability issues
- Apple on Wednesday updated its Safari Web browser to version 4.0.2. According to Apple's notes, the update improves the stability of the Nitro JavaScript engine and includes the latest compatibility and security fixes.
- Is Chrome OS The Future Of Computing? I Hope Not.
- Google's idea of an operating system sounds pretty cool: Lightweight. Speedy. Secure. Web-centric. But while I'm sure Chrome OS will pick up some fans, I have a hard time seeing this as the way of the future for computing.
- Analysts: Google has muscle for long-term battle with Microsoft Windows
- Analysts say that Google Inc. is one of the few -- or only -- companies in a position to take on Microsoft in the operating system business.
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