Computer Consultant

Microsoft Certification: free Second Shot offer

2010-04-28T09:56:00.002+04:00

Take a Second Shot at certification and advance your career
Whether you are currently unemployed, looking for a promotion, or trying to become indispensable in your existing role, Microsoft Certifications can help validate that you have the skills needed to work in the top IT professional and developer jobs in the industry.
Take advantage of our Second Shot offer and get a free retake if you do not pass an IT professional or developer Microsoft Certification exam the first time. You must take both the first and (if necessary) the retake exam before June 30, 2010.
Offer details:
• Dates: January 13, 2010 – June 30, 2010.
• Details: You must register, obtain a voucher code, schedule, pay, and take the first and (if necessary) the retake exam before June 30, 2010.
• Applicable exams: This offer applies to all Microsoft Learning IT professional, developer, project management, and Microsoft Dynamics exams, including academic exams.
• Eligible countries and regions: This is a worldwide offer that is available at Prometric test centers only.
Note Only one Second Shot voucher is available per purchased exam.

For vouchers Contact: saleempc@gmail.com

Are You Frustrated The Law of Attraction is Not Working For You Especially in the Area of Attracting Money?

2010-03-18T09:40:00.000+04:00

I don’t know about you, but I seem to get the feeling that people are generally frustrated the Law of Attraction is not working consistently for them, ESPECIALLY in the area of wealth.

Sure, people have used the Law of Attraction to help them in many areas of life, from love and relationships to career to health. But wealth seems to be the area of priority for most people, and ironically, it also seems to be the area most people find least success in. It almost feels like there’s a correlation…

I’m curious to see if I’ve somehow hit the nail on the head with this observed correlation, so I’ll be interested to know on a scale of 1-10, how much focus have you put into expanding your wealth by using the Law of Attraction? And, on a scale of 1-10, how successful have you been with the Law of Attraction to attract money into your life?

Just let me know in the comments. Cheers.

Information Security Management System (ISMS) – ISO 27001

2010-02-16T15:48:00.000+04:00

Information Security Management System (ISMS) is a management system based on a systematic business risk approach, to establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain, and improve information security. It is an organizational approach to information security. ISO/IEC 27001 is a standard for information security that focuses on an organization's ISMS.

Objective of ISMS

Information security is the protection of information to ensure:
• Confidentiality: ensuring that the information is accessible only to those authorised to access it.
• Integrity: ensuring that the information is accurate and complete and that the information is not modified without authorization.
• Availability: ensuring that the information is accessible to authorized users when required.

Why should I implement ISO 27001 ISMS?

• Certification of a management system brings several advantages. It gives an independent assessment of your organization's conformity to an international standard that contains best practices from experts for ISMS.
• Meeting legislative and regulatory requirements
• As a measure and independent evidence that industry best practices are being followed.
• As part of a corporate governance program

Process for implementing ISO 27001
1. Define an information security policy
2. Define scope of the information security management system
3. Perform a security risk assessment
4. Manage the identified risk
5. Select controls to be implemented and applied
6. Prepare as SoA (a "statement of applicability")

The Certification Process
 Guidelines - ISO/IEC 27002:2007
 Certification - ISO/IEC 27001:2005
 Stage 1 : Documentation Review & evaluate client's readiness
 Stage 2 : Implementation audit & evaluate effectiveness of client's systems
 Lead Auditor's recommendation to certify
 Certificate issued by certification/registration body
 Surveillance
 Periodic review audits (6 months interval)
 Re-certification (after 3 years)

Penetration Testing

2010-02-16T15:47:00.000+04:00

Penetration testing (also called pen testing) is the practice of testing a computer system, network or Web application to find vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit.
Pen tests can be automated with software applications or they can be performed manually. Either way, the process includes gathering information about the target before the test (reconnaissance), identifying possible entry points, attempting to break in (either virtually or for real) and reporting back the findings.
The main objective of penetration testing is to determine security weaknesses. A pen test can also be used to test an organization's security policy compliance, its employees' security awareness and the organization's ability to identify and respond to security incidents.
Penetration tests are sometimes called white hat attacks because in a pen test, the good guys are attempting to break in.
Pen test strategies include: -

Targeted testing

Targeted testing is performed by the organization's IT team and the penetration testing team working together. It's sometimes referred to as a "lights-turned-on" approach because everyone can see the test being carried out.

External testing

This type of pen test targets a company's externally visible servers or devices including domain name servers (DNS), e-mail servers, Web servers or firewalls. The objective is to find out if an outside attacker can get in and how far they can get in once they've gained access.

Internal testing

This test mimics an inside attack behind the firewall by an authorized user with standard access privileges. This kind of test is useful for estimating how much damage a disgruntled employee could cause.

Blind testing

A blind test strategy simulates the actions and procedures of a real attacker by severely limiting the information given to the person or team that's performing the test beforehand. Typically, they may only be given the name of the company. Because this type of test can require a considerable amount of time for reconnaissance, it can be expensive.

Double blind testing

Double blind testing takes the blind test and carries it a step further. In this type of pen test, only one or two people within the organization might be aware a test is being conducted. Double-blind tests can be useful for testing an organization's security monitoring and incident identification as well as its response procedures.
Penetration Testing Tools
1) Nmap - Worlds Best Port Scanner
2) Nessus - Vulnerability Scanner
3) Metasploit - Exploit framework
4) Pass-The-Hash - Who needs passwords?
5) Hydra - Brute force password guessing
6) Cain & Abel - The ultimate MITM utility
7) Wireshark - network protocol analyzer
8) Snort - traffic analysis and packet logging on IP networks
9) Netcat - reads and writes data across TCP or UDP network connections
10) Nikto - web server scanner which performs comprehensive tests against web servers

Technology Trends 2010

2010-02-16T15:46:00.000+04:00

1. Unified Communication
2. Information Security
3. Cloud Computing
4. Virtualisation
5. Mobile application
6. Data Centre Management
7. Mobility & GPS
8. Business Intelligence
9. Gaming Application & Animation
10. Bar-coding & RFID

Cyberoam Net-to-Net Connection

2009-06-10T14:49:00.003+04:00

Cyberoam UTM device allows configuring IPSec VPN tunnels over ADSL link. The configuration based on DYN DNS service. Both the head office and branch office use ADSL link. Configure a DYN DNS address for both the sites. The configuration is very simple and straight forward.

The advantage of this type of connection is:-
a) Speed
b) Less expensive
c) Easy to get ADSL link
d) Easy of deployment
e) Good for branch office / small office connections
f) Easy to manage

Storage

2007-12-19T17:31:00.000+04:00

As data keeps growing exponentially, the need for more advanced storage technologies has increased. We take a look at the upcoming technologies that will make storage simpler in future

Data growth in any organization is an irreversible process. You can control and manage data, but you can't reduce it. Hence, there will always be the need for efficient ways of storing and managing data. Since data is generated by umpteen types of applications in zillions of formats, some pretty innovative ways are required for storing it. That's why storage has always remained such a hot topic, and it will continue to remain so as long as there's growing data.

Market drivers
The ever increasing amount of data brings with it not only requirements for more storage capacity, but also issues of security, physical space for hosting more storage devices, concerns of managing them, the speed of accessing data, and much more. So much so that storage has become the driver for innovation across so many industries. It has provided an opportunity to the software development world for creating applications to store, back up, retrieve, index, and search data. It has given the security industry an opportunity to find new ways of securing the growing volumes of data. The storage industry itself is coping with the challenge of cramming higher storage capacity in smaller form factors. The growing volume of data is also creating opportunities in the storage management and virtualization space.

Even the consumer electronics industry is banking on storage, because most consumer appliances and even digital gadgets require lots of it.

MP3 players, smartphones, digital cameras and camcorders, Digital Video Recorders, are just a few examples that require storage.Plus, storage is also driving niche markets like IP Surveillance.

Glimpses 2007
1) Hard drive capacities hit the 1 Terabyte mark.
2) Tiny personal NAS boxes became ubiquitous this year. New security standards emerged for encrypting data at rest, like the IEEE 1619.3.
3) Email archival solutions became widespread
4) USB based flash drive capacities exceeded 4 GB.
5) NAS boxes, ILM, Continuous Data Protection, Document and Content Management Systems were on the purchase list.

Hot trends this year
We've had a pretty eventful year as far as storage goes. Several foundation stones have been laid this year that will set the tone for things to come in the future.

While the trend of increasing capacities and reducing costs in hard drives has been around for a long time now, this year they finally hit the 1 TB mark. In fact, the competition to bring out higher capacity drives has become very similar to the GHz wars of the past in microprocessors, which continued until they reached the limit. Thankfully, hard drive capacities have not yet reached their limits. We'll see capacities beyond 1 TB in a single hard drive in the coming years.

Solid State storage drives also hit the market this year, and many laptop vendors launched their models with them. So imagine a laptop with no magnetic hard drive-just a single solid state drive with flash memory inside and a SATA interface. The technology behind high capacity solid state drives is NAND, which stands for 'Not AND'. In the digital world, NAND is a kind of logic gate.

Jargon Buster
Storage Terms you should know for next year

1) ILM (Information Lifecycle Management): A comprehensive approach for administering Storage systems on computing devices. The information system's data and associated metadata are effectively managed right from its creation and initial storage, till the time it becomes obsolete and is deleted.
2) CDP (Continuous Data Protection): It is nothing in line with traditional back up or RAID/replication/mirroring. It refers to backup of data in such a manner that every change made to the data is automatically saved. Essentially it captures every version of the data that the user saves. You can restore data to any point in time.
3) Storage Virtualization: Commonly used in Storage Area Network, it is mainly the pooling of all physical storage from various network devices into what appears to be a single storage device which is managed from a central console.
4) VTL (Virtual Tape Library): It's mainly a virtualization technology for data storage used primarily for data backup and recovery purposes. It presents a storage component as a tape drive or library for use with existing backup software.
5) SSD (Solid State Drives): A data storage device which uses solid-state memory to store persistent data. SSDs comprise of NAND flash which is non-volatile or SDRAM which is volatile. They are already available as 32GB SSD and 64GB SSD from various vendors and 128GB will be available soon. Super Computers.

So in effect, storage has become even more ubiquitous than before. Just about every industry demands it today for different applications. In enterprises, branch office automation led to the need for anytime anywhere access to data, which made the concept of Wide Area File Services more popular. Data center consolidation and infrastructure centralization led to greater demands for more storage and backup. The need to standardize and comply led to the popularity of email archival solutions, and even new data encryption technologies.

Network Attached Storage, or NAS for short, saw terrific growth this year. In fact, the interesting thing about this market was that NAS boxes became available for everyone, right from personal users to data centers. Interestingly, 1 TB NAS for personal use or for small offices became commonplace this year.

Information Lifecycle Management solutions were also on top of the storage purchase chart for many enterprises. Likewise, several other storage terms were pretty common place this year. There was a lot of interest in Continuous Data Protection or CDP for instance. With growing amount of content, organizations started considering content and document management solutions.

Key Predictions for the future
Now we come to the exciting part. What all can you expect in the storage arena next year. So here's our list of predictions to help you be prepared for next year:

Storage Virtualization implementations will rise
This is one of the most talked about areas in storage for a long time, and has not been able to take off as well as its cousin in the server world. This year saw some traction in storage virtualization, with vendors introducing many new products and early bird implementations. So the momentum has just started, and we're likely to see a lot more action in storage virtualization next year. While considering storage virtualization, don't get blinded by its benefits. Look at the other side as well. That's because it's not as easy as adding an abstraction layer on top of your existing heterogeneous storage infrastructure and have a virtualized storage environment. Be prepared to add more storage equipment to manage your existing ones. Likewise, there are many different ways of doing storage virtualization, and choosing the right one requires a discussion in itself.
Solid State drives will become more commonplace
We all know that solid state memory is much faster than magnetic memory. It has no moving parts, runs at much higher speed, and is not affected by wear and tear. That's why RAM is faster than a hard drive. However, solid state memory is also much more expensive, which is why we don't see everyone rushing to replace all magnetic storage with it. But there are quite a few interesting developments in this area. Many notebooks vendors this year started shipping their products with solid state drives inside. A race has started amongst memory manufacturers to introduce higher capacity solid state drives, with the latest being A-Data's 128 GB SSD.

Currently, if you were to buy a laptop with a SSD inside, then you have to shell out at least 40-50K extra for it. But the growing competition amongst flash drive manufacturers and economies of scale will eventually bring down prices, and you might find lots of SSD based notebooks in the market next year. The advantages are many. SSDs are thinner, lighter, and faster, which should improve system performance, make notebooks lighter and perhaps more power friendly as well.

A peek into the future
1) Storage virtualization will become widespread.
2) Solid State drives in notebooks will become common place.
3) Hard drive capacities will reach 2 TB+ range for desktops.
4) Virtual Tape Libraries will become more common.
5) Full Disk Encryption or FDE based drives will hit the market for data centers.

Full disk encryption based drives will emerge for storage security
One of the biggest challenges most organizations are facing today is securing their ever growing volumes of data. This is becoming even a bigger concern with so many laptops being used amongst organizations. Plus of course there's all the data being backed up to tape drives. All this data in computers, which is not travelling across a network is known as data at rest. The answer to doing this is to encrypt it. There are many ways of doing this, and we've seen many attempts at it over the past few years with vendors introducing various types of solutions for doing so. There are software programs that encrypt data on the fly, and even appliances that encrypt data before backing it up. This year however, another technology has started gaining ground, which aims to build encryption capabilities within the hard drive itself, a concept known as Full-Disk Encryption or FDE. This is currently being backed up by Seagate, IBM, and LSI, and even IEEE is creating a management standard, called 1619.3, to ensure interoperability.

If everything goes well, then you should see FDE based drives shipping next year. The logic behind having FDE based drives is also quite strong. If the logic of encrypting all data lies within the hard drive controller itself, it will improve performance. Moreover, even as more drives get added, the performance won't degrade because each drive will be handling its own encryption.

VTLs will grow in popularity
This is one area that's becoming strong competitor to tape based backup. Virtual Tape Libraries will become more popular next year, as vendors gear up with more offerings.

Storage has become so ubiquitous and there have been so many developments around it that one can go on and on talking about them. But we'll end the discussion here and bring you more news on it in our forthcoming issues.

Laptop Security Basics

2007-04-30T08:06:00.000+04:00

Laptop security basics

There are some rudimentary steps that you can take to prevent your laptop from being stolen.

Use the features of your operating system

If you have chosen an operating system that has in-built security features (Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional are examples) then do not be afraid to use them. Features may include secure logon, file level security, and the ability to encrypt data.

Use the BIOS password

It would be unwise not to protect the BIOS. Find out whether the BIOS will also protect the hard disk drive to stop it from being used in another machine. Another tip is to find out what the procedure is for resetting the BIOS password. If it has to be sent back to the manufacturer, so much the better, as that will afford some protection, as a thief is unlikely to do that. Some will offer an in-the-field work around, which might make it attractive to a thief.

Your laptop's serial numbers

It is written down, right? And stored in a safe place? Good. That will help the police return it to you should it ever be recovered by them.

Use some form of permanent marking on the laptop

Engraving your company name on the case of the laptop with an address or contact number, or both, may increase the likelihood of getting the laptop returned to you if it is stolen and recovered (or, if by some accident, you forget it). Commercial asset tags are also a great aid to the police to return the laptop to you. It may also serve as a deterrent to the casual thief if the choice is between stealing a marked laptop or an unmarked laptop. Why? They cannot sell it using an online auction so easily. Also, travelling through airport security means that someone is also less likely to pick up your laptop accidentally. Information freely available on the Web suggests that 97% of stolen laptops are never recovered.

Use the manufacturer's registration scheme

Most people ignore registration because they think that it is likely to lead to spam. However, remembering that thieves are usually not smart, one might be unintelligent enough to send it in for service or to reset the BIOS, so having it registered with the manufacturer might prove valuable if you alert them to the fact that it is stolen.

Cable lock

Most laptops have a Universal Security Slot (USS), also known as a Kensington Security Slot (sometimes referred to as a K-slot or Kensington Slot). Will it stop bolt cutters? Unlikely. Will it stop a casual thief that just happened to be walking past your hotel room while room service had propped the door open, and then gone off to get more towels? Probably. And make sure to secure it around a strong, immovable, indestructible object. Also use it in the office. What percentage of laptop thefts occur in the office? (See below for answer).

Docking station

Use a docking station that is securely fastened to your desk. If it also allows you to lock the laptop in place, so much the better. This is especially important if you are leaving the laptop overnight, or longer. Better still, lock it in a strong cabinet if at all possible.

Personal firewall

Use a third-party firewall to prevent hackers from hacking into your laptop, and maybe into the company network. If you do disable it for any reason, do not forget to turn it back on.

Biometrics

If your laptop has this capability, then familiarize yourself with them and then use them. Your fingerprint can be your logon ID in place of a password.

Tracking software

There are companies that offer tracking software, allowing your laptop to regularly ping a tracking center with a signal that allows it to be traced. If the laptop is stolen the company will work with law enforcement to trace your laptop.

Laptop case

It might look chic to have the latest designer laptop case or manufacturers case, but nothing sends out a better signal to a thief than an ostentatious display, which may include your company logo, elite looking luggage tags, your business card embossed in plastic that gives a thief a clue as to the likely worth of the contents. There are nondescript backpacks that have padded sleeves to hold a laptop safely. A backpack is useful for going to the restroom without having to put your case down. For the ultra-security conscious, buy little padlocks to lock the zips so that no-one can get into the backpack quickly, steal the laptop, and then zip it back up again.

Passwords

Make them a combination of numbers and letters so that they are harder to crack. Do not leave the password on a Post-It on the laptop (it does happen).

Encryption

Always encrypt sensitive, personal, confidential data and leave the password with a trusted source if you need to. If you do not know how to encrypt files, then learn.

Back up your hard drive

At the very least, back up your hard disk drive before you travel.

Web 3.0

2007-04-12T07:48:00.000+04:00

Just in case you missed it, the web now has version numbers. Nearly three years ago, amid continued hand-wringing over the dot-com crash, a man named Dale Dougherty dreamed up something called Web 2.0, and the idea soon took on a life of its own. In the beginning, it was little more than a rallying cry, a belief that the Internet would rise again. But as Dougherty's O'Reilly Media put together the first Web 2.0 Conference in late 2005, the term seemed to trumpet a particular kind of online revolution, a World Wide Web of the people.

Web 2.0 came to describe almost any site, service, or technology that promoted sharing and collaboration right down to the Net's grass roots. That includes blogs and wikis, tags and RSS feeds, del.icio.us and Flickr, MySpace and YouTube. Because the concept blankets so many disparate ideas, some have questioned how meaningful—and how useful—it really is, but there's little doubt it owns a spot in our collective consciousness. Whether or not it makes sense, we now break the history of the Web into two distinct stages: Today we have Web 2.0, and before that there was Web 1.0.
Which raises the question: What will Web 3.0 look like?
Yes, it's too early to say for sure. In many ways, even Web 2.0 is a work in progress. But it goes without saying that new Net technologies are always under development—inside universities, think tanks, and big corporations, as much as Silicon Valley start-ups—and blogs are already abuzz with talk of the Web's next generation.

The problem is that a complete reannotation of the Web is a massive undertaking. "The Semantic Web is a good-news, bad-news thing," says R. David Lankes, an associate professor at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. "You get the ability to do all these very complex queries, but it takes a tremendous amount of time and metadata to make that happen."
To many, Web 3.0 is something called the Semantic Web, a term coined by Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the (first) World Wide Web. In essence, the Semantic Web is a place where machines can read Web pages much as we humans read them, a place where search engines and software agents can better troll the Net and find what we're looking for. "It's a set of standards that turns the Web into one big database," says Nova Spivack, CEO of Radar Networks, one of the leading voices of this new-age Internet.
But some are skeptical about whether the Semantic Web—or at least, Berners-Lee's view of it—will actually take hold. They point to other technologies capable of reinventing the online world as we know it, from 3D virtual worlds to Web-connected bathroom mirrors. Web 3.0 could mean many things, and for Netheads, every single one is a breathtaking proposition.

Tim, Lucy, and The Semantic Web The Semantic Web isn't a new idea. This notion of a Web where machines can better read, understand, and process all that data floating through cyberspace—a concept many refer to as Web 3.0—first entered the public consciousness in 2001, when a story appeared in Scientific American. Coauthored by Berners-Lee, the article describes a world in which software "agents" perform Web-based tasks we often struggle to complete on our own.

The article begins with an imaginary girl named Lucy, whose mother has just been told by her doctor that she needs to see a specialist. "At the doctor's office, Lucy instructed her Semantic Web agent through her handheld Web browser," we read. "The agent promptly retrieved information about Mom's prescribed treatment from the doctor's agent, looked up several lists of providers, and checked for the ones in-plan for Mom's insurance within a 20-mile radius of her home and with a rating of excellent on trusted rating services."
That's quite a mouthful, but it only begins to describe Berners-Lee's vision of a future Web. Lucy's Semantic Web agent can also check potential appointment times against her mother's busy schedule, reschedule other appointments if need be, and more—all on its own, without help from Lucy. And Lucy is just one example. A Semantic Web agent could be programmed to do almost anything, from automatically booking your next vacation to researching a term paper.
How will this actually work? In Berners-Lee's view, it involves a reannotation of the Web, adding all sorts of machine-readable metadata to the human-readable Web pages we use today (see "Questions of Semantics," opposite). Six years after the Scientific American article, official standards describing this metadata are in place—including the Recourse Description Framework (RDF) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL)—and they're already trickling into real-world sites, services, and other tools. -Semantic Web metadata underpins Yahoo!'s new food site. Spivack's Radar Networks is building a kind of Semantic Web portal. A development platform, Jena, is in the works at HP. And you'll find Semantic Web structures in Oracle's Spatial database tool.

The Vista brute force keygen

2007-03-05T07:30:00.000+04:00

The Vista brute force keygen - Updated by ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes -- UPDATED Over on KezNews.com a brute force method for acquiring a usable product key for Microsoft's Vista platform has been released. I can confirm that this method works (for now at any rate), but I don't think that Microsoft has much to worry about.

Firefox 2, Internet Explorer 7

2006-10-25T14:38:00.000+04:00

OK, it's official: With today's release of Firefox 2, we have final shipping versions of the two biggest browsers for Windows. My colleague Erik Larkin's extensive review of both Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 7 has been one of the most popular stories on our site over the past week, and I'm not going to duplicate it here. But after having spent months running beta versions of both--when it comes to browsers, I've always been pretty transient--I do feel like thinking out loud briefly about where the browser war stands.
(I apologize, Opera fans, for leaving Opera 9 out of this discussion-and promise I'll come back to it before too long.)
For the first time since the bygone days when IE 4 battled with Firefox granddaddy Netscape Navigator 4, we have a real battle. (For years, IE didn't face truly serious competition--then Firefox 1.0 came along, and suddenly there was no question that it was the best browser for most people.)
In Internet Explorer 7, we have a Microsoft browser that has no glaring deficiencies--which doesn't sound like much of a compliment, but it's more than you could say about IE 6. But here's a compliment that really is complimentary: It's inched ahead of Firefox in a few respects. It's got a better printing engine. Its zoom feature lets you resize Web pages onscreen, while Firefox can only resize text, not graphics. And I like how IE now lets you see thumbnails of all the pages in all your open tabs at once. I wish Firefox 2 had all these items built in.
But the funny thing is, Firefox 1.5 already has some of these features--and dozens more that neither Microsoft nor Mozilla has gotten around to implementing--courtesy of the array of amazing extensions that let you customize the browser to a fare-thee-well. (My current fave: Google Browser Sync, which lets you turn all your copies of Firefox on all your computers into clones of each other with the same bookmarks, cookies, and other settings. It alone is a compelling argument for choosing Firefox over IE 7.)
While some extensions aren't yet compatible with Firefox 2, they're the single biggest reason to opt for Firefox over IE 7. There are IE 7 add-ins out there, too, and Microsoft is cultivating the development of more. But for now, Firefox is easily the more vibrant development platform, and it does all its good stuff not only in Windows, but in OS X and Linux, too.
As my Computerworld colleague Scot Finnie says in his Firefox 2 first look, the Mozilla upgrade is no giant step beyond Firefox 1.5. Is it a must for 1.5 users? Yeah, as long as you're not dependent on any extensions that don't work yet. Features like search suggestions that appear as you type in the search box, spell checking, better RSS support, and additional tab-related conveniences aren't life-changing, but I use most of 'em almost every day, and they all make my time online more productive and happy.
Which isn't, sad to say, true of every change in IE 7. Why did Microsoft turn off menus by default (without replicating all of their functions with toolbars), put the menu bar under the address window even when you do turn it on, and move the refresh button from its traditional location to the left of the address bar over to the right? I've asked multiple Microsoft executives about these changes, and the answers, which have ranged from, essentially, "I can't remember" to "For consistency with Windows Vista," have never been entirely satisfactory.
Change for the sake of change is par for the course with a Microsoft upgrade. And there's a fair amount of it in IE 7, while things that cry out for fixing, like the browser's convoluted configuration settings, haven't gotten the attention they deserve.
(Side note: If you use IE 6 and decide that you'd prefer for menus to live under the address bar, it's easy to drag them there. But this customization feature, along with other interface-tweaking options, is gone in IE 7; there's no way to move the menus back to where they sit in 99.9% of the planet's other applications.)
So do I have a personal answer to the question "What's the best browser?" Ultimately, I agree with Erik's take: Overall, Firefox maintains a lead, even though it's not gigantic and isn't there in every aspect of the browser. Like Erik, I think it's a good idea for anyone who's moving from IE 6 to try both IE 7 and Firefox 2.
And I'm still fascinated by one question: If Firefox had never cut sharply into IE’s market share, would Microsoft ever have gotten around to bringing its browser into the modern age?
Comments
You talk about how IE is for the user, but Nothing about if Microsoft has finally decided to follow internet standards of Cascading Style Sheets, HTML or just continue to bully the webdesigners to design for IE.
Firefox follows standards and for that reason alone I chose FF. I truly despise Internet Explorer for the vulnerabilities and for it's interpretations of webpages.
You say IE has a fighting chance? I doubt it. I'm installing Firefox on every client PC I'm selling and removing all traces of IE. When I tell my clients it's because IE causes too much problems (spyware etc) they are more then happy enough. And they also love the Tabbed browsing.
Bye bye IE.
Fable
October 24, 2006
10:42 PM PT
I can think of one huge reason not to use IE 7: It has the worst implementation of tabs of ANY of the major browsers available (for any OS).
1) They are huge in size (is MS officially endorsed by Fisher Price?). I use a browser to view web pages, not to view chrome.2) The bar is too small, not only are the tabs huge but the annoying buttons steal a quarter of the tab bar.3) You can not open multiple tabs from the tab tool bar (and I am not using the left panel and arrow).
All in all, I feel that IE 7 has the worst user interface of any software that I have seen in years. I think that a lot of users will be mad when Windows Update automatically pulls this one down. I have recommended that my office hold off to deploy this so that we are prepared for the training issues. This GUI is just bad.
jdawgnoonan
October 24, 2006
10:43 PM PT
I think one of the key differences is that you can use IE7 ONLY on the most recent releases of Windows (XP Service pack 2, and some releases of Windows 2003). Surprisingly, Windows 2000 is not supported. As usual, if you want to use the latest Microsoft software, you need to upgrade your operating system (ie: spend some $$).
pmundkur
October 25, 2006
2:11 AM PT
I have abandoned IE on my entire network in favor of Firefox for about a year now with no regrets. My clients, after minimal training, appreciate the customization that Firefox provides them. I appreciate not having to logging in to find yet another IE vulnerability needing another patch. Slowly, Microsoft is losing it’s desirability as users become more technically savvy.

IBM goes public to collect ideas

2006-10-01T17:38:00.000+04:00

Company narrows 37,000 concepts from global brainstorming session to 30 marketable plansBY JON VANPublished October 1, 2006
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. -- Don't tell Sam Palmisano that old saw about too many cooks spoiling the broth.Last spring, after having seen an array of IBM's cutting edge research, IBM's top executive ordered a high-tech brainstorming session stretching across 77 countries and involving 53,000 people.IBM employees are still analyzing the fruit of Palmisano's session, 37,000 ideas. But by November, they expect to launch some new products, businesses or services stemming from the exercise, which Palmisano dubbed InnovationJam.Over the next two years IBM expects to spend as much as $100 million taking InnovationJam ideas to market."Innovation today is changing radically," said Palmisano, who noted that using conventional methods IBM regularly wins more new patents than any other U.S.-based company. But even so, the company probably isn't keeping up with competitive pressures, Palmisano decided."So, I thought, let's expose these advanced projects to all of our employees around the world, and some clients and business partners, too--even our own families--and see what they come up with."IBM managers, scrambling to come up with a context for the discussion, built several Web sites to give participants information about technologies in the company's pipeline--things like supercomputing, real-time foreign language translation and advanced water filtration based on nanotechnology.Here they comeBy July, the jam's first phase was on. Ideas flowed in online from around the globe as well as from employees at 67 companies allied with IBM and some spouses and offspring of IBM employees.IBM managers then used automation to winnow the 37,000 offerings down to 300 defined ideas. Finally, more than 50 employees came to IBM's Watson Research Center to work in teams for most of a week to further combine and trim ideas to around 30."The majority of ideas contributed in any brainstorming situation aren't all that good," said Edward Bevan, IBM communications vice president and a jam leader. "They're either naive or misinformed or they failed before with good reason."Without advanced technology to help toss out bad ideas, a global-scale project such as this would be impossible, said Cathy Lasser, IBM vice president for industry solutions and emerging technologies. "Especially working in this time frame required automation," she said.In mid-September, the jam's second phase commenced. Participants scrutinized the 30 proposals, wrote business plans and suggested market strategies."It won't take long for them to declare this a success," said Marc Knez, a clinical professor of strategic management at the University of Chicago's graduate business school. "How many products do you need to get to market to call it a success?"IBM isn't alone in seeking to tap knowledge from workers throughout its sphere, said Knez. "It's a common problem for large tech companies," he said. "They want to leverage knowledge within and at the edge of the organization."Still, IBM's effort is unprecedented in its scope and scale, Knez said, and it has the support necessary to succeed since the firm's chief executive initiated it.A key part of the jam was that ideas came from people working at all levels and that the ideas stood on their own merits."There's no hierarchy to this kind of creative collaboration," said Palmisano. "Whether you're a senior executive, a scientist, a business consultant or even a 13-year-old child of an IBMer, everyone gets to be heard."A veteran of corporate brainstorming agrees."Our experience is that good ideas can come from just about anywhere within the organization," said Charles Holland, president of QualPro, a business consultancy based in Knoxville, Tenn., that regularly employs brainstorming. "We keep coming up with instances where the best ideas come from people low in an organization, the ones doing the actual work."This can offend the graduate-level engineers and technical people, but we've seen it again and again."`Great morale builder'Another upside, Holland said, is that "it's a great morale builder. People feel part of the team and support the work, even when their ideas don't get adopted, because they got to supply their ideas."There may be some downside to IBM's project, said Scott Stern an associate professor of management and strategy at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management."You can't get 53,000 people to sign nondisclosure agreements," Stern said. "So there's a danger that by revealing your emerging technologies and possible applications to so many people, someone else could take the ideas and develop them.

Press your lips to your cellphone, send your lover a kiss

2006-08-22T18:29:00.000+04:00

Touch screen developer Synaptics and industrial design house Pilotfish have teamed up to demonstrate a new touch-sensitive cellphone user interface able to recognise pointing, tapping, complex gestures and proximity to the user's cheek.This, they say "creates new possibilities such as assigning functions to two-finger taps, closing tasks by swiping an 'X' over them, sending messages by swiping them off the screen, or answering a phone by holding it up to your cheek."They suggest that their 'concept device', dubbed Onyx, will enable cellphone manufacturers to "visualise a fundamentally new form of user interface for mobile phones."For example, a phone using the technology could, they say, recognise rough shapes and be capable of sending "an emoticon style kiss message" in which the recipient would see an image of the sender's lips kissing the phone!The key to Onyx is Synaptics' ClearPad, an optically clear, capacitive touch screen 0.5 m thick that would be overlaid above the display screen of the phone. This would completely replace mechanical input keys and, the developers claim, be "more intelligent than conventional touch screens." According to Clark Foy, vice president of Synaptics, "The Onyx phone is a breakthrough illustration of how advances in interface technology and collaborative design will drive the future of mobile interactions and services."

Microsoft Fixes 23 Security Flaws

2006-08-10T08:16:00.000+04:00

Microsoft Corp. today released free software updates to fix nearly two dozen security holes in its Windows operating system and Microsoft Office products. At least 17 of the 23 flaws could be exploited by attackers to hijack vulnerable systems or to install malicious code, the company warned.
Dig through the details of the advisories and you will see that instructions showing would-be attackers how to exploit at least nine of the flaws have already been posted online. Microsoft also said it has seen at least three of the flaws being actively exploited in the wild. As usual, updates are available via Microsoft Update (Internet Explorer required) or through automatic updates.
Microsoft typically lists its security advisories each month in the order of most to least severe, and the first flaw detailed in today's patch bundle fixes a problem in the Windows "server service," which facilitates file-sharing among Windows systems that reside on the same network. This highly "wormable" bug is mainly a big deal for businesses, since it is most severe on Windows 2000 systems (most common in corporate environments). Also, many Internet service providers filter file-sharing requests between customers, but file-sharing is almost always turned on inside corporate networks.
The SANS Internet Storm Center, which was credited in part with the discovery of this flaw, reported evidence of it being exploited publicly as early as June 30. According to SANS, Microsoft replied that it was already aware of the flaw at that time. I understand the Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is set to release more information about this flaw later today. Of course, Security Fix will update this blog in the event that the DHS advisory adds any new wrinkles.
The next most serious advisory details two very dangerous vulnerabilities resident in Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 that attackers could exploit merely by inducing a user to visit a malicious Web site. Microsoft said these flaws also could be exploited when a user opens a specially crafted e-mail or views one in the e-mail preview pane.
It wouldn't be a Patch Tuesday without a huge rollup for Microsoft's default Web browser. The IE patch fixes a total of eight vulnerabilities, five of which are especially serious -- depending on which version of the browser you're using and which version of Windows. One of the IE glitches, a problem with the way file transfers work, was originally reported to Microsoft in 2004.
Microsoft also fixed three critical vulnerabilities in versions of its Office software, including two that are actively being exploited to break into and steal information from vulnerable computers. One fixes Office 2000, Office XP and Office 2003, as well Microsoft Office and Powerpoint versions for Mac OS X (see the advisory for Mac Office download links). The second update addresses flaws in Office 2000 and XP, as well as Microsoft Project, Visio, Works and Visual Basic (see the advisory for links to those individual products).
Keep in mind that if you are using Office 2000 you will not be able to get those fixes through Microsoft Updates or through automatic updates. Office 2000 users will need to visit Microsoft's Office site and click on the "check for updates" link in the upper right corner of the screen. Office 2000 users who do not have their installation CD handy should be able to install the updates by choosing "no" at the "Do you have your Office product CD?" prompt.

Microsoft Patches Newest 'Dirty Dozen'

2006-08-10T08:10:00.000+04:00

Microsoft (Quote, Chart)released 12 patches aimed at resolving multiple security risks discovered in its operating system and popular Office suite.
Nine of the 12 security updates were deemed "critical," affecting various Windows components, as well as two Office applications previously known to be vulnerable.
The remaining three patches involved "important" security issues, such as remote code execution or elevated user privileges.
Several critical patches revisited flaws previously discovered in applications, such as PowerPoint, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer.
Another patch addressed flaws in a core Windows component already exploited in the "wild," according to a security researcher.
Steve Manzuik, research manager of eEye Digital Security, called MS06-40 important because the flaw in the Windows Services could allow attackers to take control of systems running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000.
Internet Explorer was the subject of a cumulative update answering eight critical flaws affecting IE 5.01 and IE 6 for Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Windows 2000.
The vulnerabilities include remote code execution, raised user privileges and information disclosure.
Today's patch MS06-42 replaces the MS06-021 security bulletin issued April 11.
The new patch re-enables ActiveX control handling disabled by the previous security bulletin.
A fix for a previously reported PowerPoint vulnerability was also part of the dozen patches released today.
Today's patch, MS06-048, replaces MS06-38, a security bulletin released in July.
The new patch is of critical importance for PowerPoint 2000 users, as well as for XP and 2003 PowerPoint systems.
Those using PowerPoint for the Mac should also download the patch, according to Microsoft.
A flaw in Outlook Express 6 for XP Pro and XP Service Pack 2, as well as Server 2003, could allow a remote attacker to run malicious code.
The MS06-043 critical patch resolves the problem, according to the software maker.
Rounding out Microsoft's "Patch Tuesday" event were two security updates ranked "important" for Windows users.
This month's dozen patches follows seven patches released in July to fix more than 10 security problems

Microsoft Invites Hackers to Test Vista

2006-08-04T14:57:00.000+04:00

LAS VEGAS (AP) - After suffering embarrassing security exploits over the past several years, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is trying a new tactic: inviting some of the world's best-known computer experts to try to poke holes in Vista, the next generation of its Windows operating system.
Microsoft made a test version of Vista available to about 3,000 security professionals Thursday as it detailed the steps it has taken to fortify the product against attacks that can compromise bank account numbers and other sensitive information.
"You need to touch it, feel it," Andrew Cushman, Microsoft's director of security outreach, said during a talk at the Black Hat computer-security conference. "We're here to show our work."
Microsoft has faced blistering criticism for security holes that have led to network outages and business disruptions for its customers. After being accused for not putting enough resources into shoring up its products, the software maker is trying to convince outsiders that it has changed.
"They're going directly to the bear in the bear's lair," says Jon Callas, the chief technology officer at PGP Corp., which makes encryption software and other security products. "They are going to people who don't like them, say nasty things and have the incentive to find the things that are wrong."
Due early next year, Vista is the first product to be designed from scratch under a Microsoft program dubbed secure development life cycle, which represents a sea change in the company's approach to bringing out new products. Instead of placing the addition of compelling new features at the top of engineers' priority list, Microsoft now requires them to first consider how code might be misused.
A security team with oversight of every Microsoft product - from its Xbox video game console to its Word program for creating documents - has broad authority to block shipments until they pass security tests. The company also hosts two internal conferences a year so some of the world's top security experts can share the latest research on computer attacks.
Cushman said the presentations have already paid off. One talk, delivered in March by a security expert named Johnny Long, detailed a new way to identify security holes using Google. Shortly after the talk, a Microsoft manager applied the technique and discovered a customer was at risk because it hadn't properly set up a computer that was running SQL, a database program that competes with business programs sold by Oracle Corp. (ORCL)
But internal conferences are one matter. Taking Vista to Black Hat, where some of the world's foremost security gurus annually make sport of ripping through programming code to find bugs, is another.
"The fact that they're releasing it here is probably a bold statement," said Mike Janosko, a security expert with Ernst & Young who has been reviewing Vista for several months

Microsoft to charge for Office beta

2006-07-29T16:58:00.000+04:00

Microsoft plans next week to charge a nominal fee for Office 2007 Beta 2 downloads, in a move that runs counter to the practice held by most software companies.
Consumers who download the 2007 Microsoft Office system Beta 2 will be charged $1.50 per download, beginning next Wednesday at 6 p.m. PDT, a Microsoft spokeswoman said.
"Since the end of May, Beta 2 has been downloaded more than 3 million times...That's 500 percent more than what was expected," the spokeswoman said. "The fee helps offset the cost of downloading from the servers."
Although Microsoft's Information Worker Product Management Group decided to initiate a fee for new users of Beta 2, the "technical refresh," or update, for current users of the software will remain free, the spokeswoman said.
Those who want to test drive Beta 2 to review how it works can access the software for free. But if they need to test it against their internal systems, a download or the CD is required.
"This is the first time Microsoft has charged for an Office beta, and it's not something that is planned for on a repeat basis," the spokeswoman said.

End in sight for Windows Vista

2006-06-01T13:56:00.000+04:00

London, (GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE): Microsoft has been through a bad patch, but with its Windows Vista finally nearing roll-out, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
The moving train wreck that is Windows Vista finally began to approach itsdestination last week with the release of another major test version: beta2. This should mean it is ``feature complete'', with only bug fixes,performance tuning and a final polish before it reaches businesses at theend of this year, and consumers at the start of next year.
Looked at objectively, from a suitable distance, through half-closedeyes, it looks good. In particular, the graphics are often stunning whenrunning the new Aero Glass user interface.
The white unpainted areas and jaggedy lines often visible in Windows XPseem to be a thing of the past. In fact, you get something closer to thegraphics performance of a good game, and for the same reason - the graphicscard is doing most of the work, instead of leaving it to the mainprocessor. As a result, Microsoft says going back to a ``lower'' version ofWindows can mean it slows down instead of speeding up, because the load isthrown back on to the CPU.
The new transparency - the Glass that has been added to the Aerointerface - looks nice but may not last. At least it's controlled from asliding scale, so you can set how much transparency you want.
But there is still a lot to do, and beta 2 desperately needs thecomputer equivalent of the house doctor Ann Maurice - a function Steve Jobsperforms at Apple - to get the dozens of programming teams to throw out thecrap, or at least get their corners, rules and spaces reasonablyconsistent.
Still, Microsoft hauled more than one hundred journalists and analystsfrom 15 countries to a Vista reviewers' workshop in Seattle, so we couldget our copies of the new beta from the fair hands of Jim Allchin, who hasrun Windows development for more than a decade. He duly appeared on stagewith the first box of beta 2's, so we got them before the PC makers atWinHEC, the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference. Not that they were anyuse until an access code appeared in our mailboxes later.
Allchin then gave a memorable goodbye speech, using words such as``naive'', ``hugely painful'' and ``humbled'' because once Vista ships,he's being replaced by Steve Sinofsky, the current head of MicrosoftOffice.
Having taken Microsoft from zero market share to a market-leadingposition in the server operating system market, Allchin has earned hiscrust. But, as he admitted, ``I was naive about how big a deal the attacks[on Windows XP] were going to be''. Being handed a PC that was so infestedwith malware, even he could not clean it up, was ``a humbling experience'',he confessed.
A lot of the work that has gone into Vista is invisible because it hasbeen devoted to cleaning out insecurities, hardening services andsandboxing applications such as Internet Explorer 7+. Vista now seems muchbetter than XP SP2, which was dramatically better than XP. Whether it'senough, only time and the attentions of thousands of criminal, commercialmalware writers will tell.
A lot more work is equally invisible, because it caters for the needs ofVista's biggest and most important market: businesses. For example, Vistanow installs as a single image, which is simply copied across, rather thanas a sequence of separate files. Big companies like to construct and deploytheir own operating system image - typically including Windows and theirmain applications - but Microsoft's system is novel in that it can installan image on an existing hard drive without destroying applications anddata. These can be picked up later.
This also explains why all the versions of Vista, from Home Basic to theUltimate kitchen sink version, appear to take up the same 15GB of harddrive space. You get the whole thing, and can upgrade from one version toanother just by entering a code, without doing another installation or along download.
It's clever, but risky. Decisions have not been taken, but I was givento understand Microsoft was unlikely to ship the full image in countrieswith a high incidence of software piracy.
Vista also uses Windows PE (pre-installation environment) and, accordingto Windows' client group product manager Stella Chernyak, it canself-repair an otherwise unbootable system about 80% of the time. Since themain costs of an enterprise operating system are installation and support,Chernyak argued, Vista could save companies money.
And from a corporate point of view, it is extremely important Microsoftis launching new versions of Windows and Office at the same time, then anew version of Windows Server. After years without a significant upgrade infunctionality, companies will be able to make one great leap forward. Thiswill obviously be very convenient, and money could pour into Microsoft'salready overflowing coffers.
For those of us who have been following this particular development fromthe storage principles that appeared in the 1990s (Cairo) through to theLonghorn ideas that Microsoft showed even before the release of Windows XP,Vista looks a bit of a disaster. If Microsoft had delivered what itpromised in, say, 2004, it would have led the market. Instead, it'soffering much less, and delivering it much later - probably after three oreven more versions of, say, Mac OS X.
But, of course, we're an insignificant number of people with littlemoney and even less influence. Vista is probably going to ship about 500mcopies in 2007-08, with more than 10,000 PC manufacturers pre-installing iton almost every machine they make, across the four corners of the earth.And paying Microsoft about $25bn in cash.
I suspect most of these naive users will find a lot to like in Vista.They will like the clean interface and the speed of Windows Media Player11, the extra security and enhanced features of Internet Explorer 7+ (quicktabs, RSS feed detection, page zooming, print-to-fit), and the vastlyimproved Start menu. They will love the way little screen images pop upfrom the taskbar, and the way they can mouse-wheel rapidly through screensin Flip 3D mode - with videos still running. Some less jaded users willenjoy the gadgets - clock, slide show, weather information etc - that showin the Vista Sidebar, as per Konfabulator, or on accessory screens.
At least the geekier ones may discover other little features, such asthe ability to link two PCs via Wi-Fi, in Vista's MeetingSpace, the abilityto use plug-in USB thumb drives to add to their PC's memory (ReadyBoost),hard drives with built in Flash memory (ReadyDrives), and support forthings like 802.11i networking and Internet Protocol IPv6.
Vista will not get people dancing in the streets - except maybe Allchin- but it will probably keep the Windows market rolling for a few moreyears. Microsoft has certainly been through a bad patch, but the worst maybe over.

Experts Offer Advice to Prevent ID Theft

2006-05-24T19:35:00.000+04:00

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Consumer advocates have some advice for the 26.5 million veterans whose personal information was stolen from the home of a Veterans Affairs employee: Don't panic.

Identity theft may be a growing problem that affected 9.3 million Americans last year, according to Javelin Strategy and Research. But consumer advocates say a few precautions can lessen the chances of becoming a victim, even for people whose personal information has been stolen.
The first thing to do if you think your Social Security number, birth date or other sensitive data has fallen into the wrong hands is to place an initial fraud alert on your credit reports. There are three major credit reporting agencies, but a call to one - for instance, Equifax at 800-525-6285 - will ensure the other two are notified.

A fraud alert entitles you to a free copy of your credit report from each of the three companies. Order one from each and scrutinize them carefully for accounts you didn't open or debts you don't recognize. Also, make sure that information such as your Social Security number and employer are correct on each report.

(AP) RETRANSMISSION; graphic shows tips on avoiding identity theft; two versions. (AP Graphic)Full ImageIf you discover accounts or transactions you didn't authorize, call and speak with someone in the fraud department of each company involved. Keep a log of each person contacted, along with the date, time and topics discussed on each call.

An initial fraud alert also requires businesses to take additional steps to confirm your identity before issuing loans or opening accounts in your name. Be prepared for loan and credit card applications to take slightly longer to be processed.

It's important to understand that an initial fraud alert, as the name implies, is only a temporary fix. That's because it remains in effect for only 90 days. To prevent becoming a victim after the three months are up, you'll need to take additional steps.

Next, fill out an identity theft report with your local, state or federal law enforcement agency. It's unclear if the mere loss or theft of personal information constitutes identity theft, but filing a report may offer additional protections. The FTC makes an affidavit available at .http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/pdf/affidavit.pdf

Ask each of the three credit reporting companies to place a freeze or extended alert on your account. Seventeen states have enacted laws that require the reporting companies to block access to your files in most instances. Check with the Consumers Union Web site or attorney general in your state to see if this is available where you live.

(AP) RETRANSMISSON; graphic shows tips on avoiding identity theft; two versions. (AP Graphic)Full ImageEven if your state doesn't offer this protection, ask Equifax, TransUnion and Experian to give you an extended alert anyway. This option will entitle you to two free credit reports per year, and it will also require the credit reporting companies to remove you from lists marketers use to send prescreened credit offers for five years.

To qualify for an extended alert, the reporting companies will require you to prove you've been the victim of identity theft, even though it is not always clear how the law defines a victim in this case. Be sure to include the FTC affidavit or other law enforcement report you filed. It is legal documentation that your personal identification has been stolen.

Finally, recognize that safeguarding your privacy is a never-ending task, even for people who have no reason to believe their personal information has been stolen. A little education and prevention, say consumer advocates, can go a long way.

"You need an ongoing vigilance," says Paul Stephens, a policy analyst with the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego. "We want people to be proactive, to be vigilant, but we also don't want

Be Careful Where You Point And Click

2006-05-20T18:49:00.000+04:00

Data Proves That Certain Web Sites Contain Viruses, Spyware, Popups

(CBS) You’ve said it a thousand times: be careful where you point your browser and what you type if you’re on an untrustworthy Web site. Some sites contain nasty stuff like spyware, viruses and malicious code. In some cases, you’ll get spam if you give them your e-mail address.

Now there’s data to back that up, albeit commissioned by a company that makes its money selling products to protect you against the Internet’s dark side. Self interest aside, the data from a study co-led by Internet anti-spyware expert Ben Edelman and commissioned by McAfee confirms what experts have been saying for years: Be careful about sites that come up in searches. In addition to selling security software and services, McAfee, this April, acquired SiteAdvisor, which helps consumers analyze the safety of sites. The researchers analyzed results of searches on Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Ask.com and found that "all of the major search engines returned risky sites in their search results for popular keywords" and that "dangerous sites soared to as much as 72 percent of results for certain popular keywords, such as 'free screensavers,' 'digital music,' 'popular software,' and 'singers.'

The report warns users to be especially cautious about sites that come up as sponsored (paid) results; these "contain two to four times as many dangerous sites" as the non-paid results, the report said. Sometimes you have to look carefully to figure it out, but the reputable search engines label sponsored results so users can distinguish them from the ones that come up based on the search engine’s actual criteria that establishes a site’s relevancy to a search term.

A Google search for "free iPods," for example, gives you a number of paid results which, according to SiteAdvisor, are potentially unsafe. The report found that "MSN search results had the lowest percentage (3.9%) of dangerous sites while Ask search results had the highest percentage (6.1%). Google was in between (5.3%)." The authors concluded that, "on the whole, we see little basis to conclude that any search engine is much safer than any other; safety rankings vary too much from search to search." The report’s authors estimated that each month consumers click on an estimated 285 million "hostile sites."

The researchers compiled 1,394 popular keywords using lists of common searches. "Adult search terms" were excluded. The results were analyzed using the database from McAfee’s SiteAdvisor Web safety database which is based on "automated tests that analyze Web sites for exploits, downloads containing spyware, adware, or other unwanted programs, pop-ups, links to dangerous sites, and e-mail submission forms," according to the report.

In addition to pop-ups, spam and adware, some sites use what are called "browser exploits" to install unwanted code on a user’s PC. In theory, these exploits can do serious damage to a PC or jeopardize a user’s privacy and safety by exploiting information for malicious or criminal purposes. The report was released to draw attention to a free McAfee product that helps consumers analyze a site before they click on it or before they submit any data to the site.

SiteAdvisor works with both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox to show you a site’s rating from within Google, MSN or Yahoo even before you click on it. With SiteAdvisor installed, when you search for a term in one of those search engines, you’ll see a "safety button" next to the listing. A green check mark means that the site was tested and there were no significant problems found.

A yellow exclamation point means that "tests revealed some issues you should know about. (Example: a site tried to change our browser defaults, or sent a lot of "non-spammy" e-mail)" and a red X means that the site found "serious issues that you'll want to carefully consider before using this site at all. (Example: The site sent us lots of spammy e-mail or bundled adware with a download.)" Once you get to a site, regardless of how you got there, there is an icon in the lower right-hand corner that gives you a color-coded assessment of that site — which, if you click on it, reports with details as to why the site was given its rating, along with rating of some sites linked from the site you’re on.

In my tests, I found the SiteAdvisor results to be pretty helpful, but it wasn’t perfect. For example, it gave a green light to the greeting card site, 123Greetings.com. While I don’t have any evidence that the site puts any malicious code on your system, I do know that it pops up a lot of ads not only when you use it to send a card, but also when you click on a card that someone else sends you. Flaws aside, SiteAdvisor generally does give users some pretty good advice when it comes to sites that should be avoided. It’s not the end-all, but it is one more tool is users’ arsenal to help protect us from online bad guys.

VoIP Device Launch: New NETGEAR Skype WiFi Phone

2006-05-03T07:48:00.000+04:00

NETGEAR today announced pricing information and pre-order availability for the new NETGEAR Skype (News - Alert) WiFi (News - Alert) phone (model SPH101). This will be the first device said to be certified to make mobile Internet telephony a reality for Skype users worldwide. The phone can be pre-ordered now exclusively online at an MSRP of $249.99.

The SPH101 is the first Skype-Certified device to allow consumers to make unlimited free domestic and international calls to other Skype users over a wireless network without having to be tied to a PC. The WiFi phone will work anywhere in the world where a user has a secured or open access to a WiFi network.

The device comes pre-loaded with Skype software and ready out-of-the-box to use with a wireless network. The device's intuitive on-screen color menu shows saved Skype contacts and their online availability for easy communications, similar to the PC experience.

"We are pleased to announce pre-order availability of NETGEAR's Skype WiFi phone to those who have been anxiously awaiting the product launch since we unveiled a prototype at the Consumer Electronics Show," said Patrick Lo, NETGEAR's chairman and chief executive officer in a statement. "Our phone combines NETGEAR's innovative wireless networking technology with the simplicity of the Skype experience, while freeing users from the PC. With tens of thousands of customers already registered for more information on the NETGEAR Skype WiFi phone via our Web site and millions of registered Skype users, we're thrilled to bring forth this market-defining product to meet the pent-up demand of such an enthusiastic user community around the globe."

The new NETGEAR Skype WiFi phone is currently available for online pre-ordering at an MSRP of $249.99, and is backed by a one-year warranty and 24/7 technical support. All customers placing pre-orders will get 30 free SkypeOut minutes to many phones worldwide as well as 30 days of free Skype Voicemail, compliments of NETGEAR and Skype, for being the first to own the phone.

"By offering NETGEAR's unique WiFi phone to our global users, we are enabling them to enjoy the same Skype experience they love, but with the freedom of mobility," said Saul Klein, vice president of global marketing for Skype. "We are committed to working with industry leaders like NETGEAR who share our dedication to connecting the world through easy-to-use, innovative technologies."

Skype announced today that it also joined forces with Polycom (News - Alert) to introduce the Polycom Communicator, a Skype-certified, co-branded USB speakerphone that integrates Polycom's Acoustic Clarity Technology to deliver hands-free, natural, two-way voice communication for Skype voice and video conversations, without echoes or feedback.

The device complements the new Skype for Business offering, providing a portable, personal speakerphone system that delivers high-fidelity wideband voice communications for individuals or small groups. In addition to the core speakerphone capabilities, the Polycom Communicator also offers a high-quality audio output for playing music and games from a laptop or desktop PC.

NETGEAR, Inc.
http://www.netgear.com
Skype
http://www.skype.com

Computer Researchers Warn of Net Attacks

2006-03-16T18:04:00.000+04:00

WASHINGTON (AP) - A new variety of unusually powerful Internet attacks can overwhelm popular Web sites and disrupt e-mails by exploiting the computers that help manage global Internet traffic, according to security researchers.

First detected late last year, the new attacks direct such massive amounts of spurious data against victim computers that even flagship technology companies could not cope. In one of the early cases examined, the unknown assailant apparently seized control of an Internet name server in South Africa and deliberately corrupted its contents.

Name servers are specialized computers that help direct Internet traffic to its destinations.

The attacker then sent falsified requests to the compromised directory computer, which unleashed overwhelming floods of amplified data aimed wherever the attacker wanted.

Experts traced at least 1,500 attacks that briefly shut down commercial Web sites, large Internet providers and leading Internet infrastructure companies during a period of weeks. The attacks were so targeted that most Internet users did not notice widespread effects.

Ken Silva, the chief security officer for VeriSign Inc., compared the scale of attacks to the damage caused in October 2002 when nine of the 13 computer "root" servers that manage global Internet traffic were crippled by a powerful electronic attack. VeriSign operates two of the 13 root server computers, but its machines were unaffected.

"This is significantly larger than what we saw in 2002, by an order of magnitude," Silva said.
Silva said the attacks earlier this year used only about 6 percent of the more than 1 million name servers across the Internet to flood victim networks. Still, the attacks in some cases exceeded 8 gigabits per second, indicating a remarkably powerful electronic assault.

"This would be the Katrina of Internet storms," Silva said.
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, a partnership with the Homeland Security Department, warned network engineers in December to properly configure their name servers to prevent hackers from using them in attacks. It called the attacks "troublesome" because name servers must operate to help direct Internet traffic.

New Google Desktop Grabs More Of Microsoft‘s Turf

2006-02-17T13:56:00.000+04:00

New Google Desktop Grabs More Of Microsoft‘s Turf
Staff and agencies
14 February, 2006

By Reuters
InternetWeek Thu Feb 9, 6:49 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - Web search leader Google Inc. is introducing an upgraded version of its software for users to organize and find information on any computer and to share it with friends, the company said on Thursday.

Google Desktop 3 poses new challenges to Microsoft Corp.‘s dominance of the way people interact with computers, but also demands users place far greater trust in Google‘s capacity to protect their privacy.

Google Desktop vacuums up data stored on a user‘s PC and makes it accessible on any other computer in regular use by the customer at home or work or even on an airplane trip, assuming users consent to storing data on Google‘s central computers.

In addition, Google said it is turning "Sidebar," a system introduced six months ago for viewing live updates of personal information, into a way to share quick notes, news, photos or other tidbits of data with friends or colleagues.

"This is starting to amount to a new operating system, though Google would never describe it as such," Gartner Inc. analyst Allen Weiner said. "It is going to be Microsoft‘s challenge to offer the same level of flexibility and power for both consumers and content creators."

Google also is opening up its mini information panels to encourage independent developers to build applications for users, borrowing a strategy first popularized by Apple Computer Inc. and Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), and which Microsoft plans to introduce in the next version of Windows for consumers.

These mini-programs can be shared in a few clicks with any user of Google Talk, which operates as a kind of background communications system.

Google has built 100 such "applets" so far -- from games such as online chess or tick-tack-toe to monitors for checking airline flight times or eBay auctions in progress, said Sundar Pichai, Google‘s director of product management.

Outside developers will be encouraged to contribute many more starting from Thursday. Customers would download these from Google‘s site at http://desktop.google.com/.

These instant-information panels are perfect also for small-screen mobile phones and other devices -- making good on its goal of giving access to information anywhere.

Still, Rob Helm, an analyst with "Directions on Microsoft," said that the world‘s largest software company had both technical and business defenses against Google.

Microsoft has far more diverse businesses than Google including not just its Windows operating system, but Office applications, server and database software and Web services. Google basically depends on advertising alone, Helm noted.

"It is a race where Google is trying to get into Microsoft‘s business before Microsoft cuts off Google‘s advertising business," Helm said.

Many Google Desktop users report a shock of realization when they become aware how much personal information about themselves is contained on their machines.

But by giving users the ability to search for text documents across their computers, Google risks angering corporate security managers who may fear the loss of corporate secrets through the openness of such systems.

Google officials said the company already offers an "enterprise" version of Google Desktop that gives network administrators control over the level of freedom users have to share files within or outside their organizations.

Individual users also have the ability to select which documents or folders are excluded from document sharing.

Another security feature allows users to lock out anyone but themselves from using Google Desktop search on their computers in order to protect PC data from prying colleagues.

Weiner said the computer industry‘s drive to deliver a wide array of personally relevant information to consumers on PCs, phones, TVs or in their cars increasingly demand trade-offs between personal privacy and convenience and personalization.

"Google is willing to proceed...even if a significant percentage of people will not use these features, at least immediately," Weiner said. Yahoo faces some of the same issues with its push to run its services on phones and TVs, he said.

By: Eric Auchard

Microsoft Releases Office 2007 Details

2006-02-17T12:58:00.000+04:00

Office 2007 to be released late 2006
Tom Sanders in California, vnunet.com 17 Feb 2006

Microsoft's forthcoming Office suite has shed its Office 12 codename and official received its new "2007 Microsoft Office" moniker.

The productivity suite is currently in beta and is slated for release by the end of this year. A second beta has been promised before June.

The most visible enhancement to the suite is the new user interface that the company first demonstrated at the Professional Developer Conference last year in Los Angeles. Menu buttons are set to change according to the task that the user is performing, eliminating the need to dive into pull down menus when searching for the appropriate item.

The launch will also see the introduction of the first major release of the Groove Virtual Office collaboration suite since the application was acquired by Microsoft last April. Since the acquisition, the Groove's founder Ray Ozzie has been appointed Chief Technical Officer and is the architect of Microsoft's Live Software initiative.

Microsoft plans to make available seven editions of the suite. Consumer and small business will see few if any changes, but the software maker has created a new version catering to enterprises called Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007.

Microsoft Amends Blog Shutdown Policies

2006-02-01T02:38:00.000+04:00

Microsoft Amends Blog Shutdown PoliciesJan

31, 4:52 PM (ET)
By ALLISON LINN

SEATTLE (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) says it is setting new policies on shutting down Web journals after its much-publicized squelching of a well-known Chinese blogger at the request of Chinese officials.

The Redmond software company, operator of a popular blogging technology called MSN Spaces, said Tuesday that it will endeavor to make blogs available to users elsewhere even if Microsoft decides it is legally obliged to block them in a particular country.

The company also pledged to provide users with a clear notice that it has shut down a Web site when the decision to do so stemmed from a legal mandate. Previously, it has simply said the content was unavailable.

Brad Smith, Microsoft's top lawyer, said in an interview that the circumstances of a shutdown will dictate whether a blog's archived content alone will continue to be available elsewhere, or whether the person can continue posting information to users outside the country that ordered the blockage.

"Some of this, I think, we just have to recognize is evolving technology and changing law," said Smith, speaking by phone from a Microsoft-sponsored government conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

MSN Spaces, which allows users to post journals, pictures and other content on the Internet, boasts 35 million users, including 3.3 million in China.

The company has maintained that it is important to be able to provide users across the globe with such tools even if local laws constrain what it can make viewable in specific countries.
"We think that blogging and similar tools are powerful vehicles for economic development and for creativity and free expression. They are tools that do good," Smith said. "We believe that it's better to make these tools available than not, but that isn't the end of the discussion, either."
Late last year, Microsoft shut down the site of a popular Chinese blogger at Beijing's request. The blog, written under the pen name An Ti by Zhao Jing, touch on sensitive topics such as China's relations with Taiwan and press freedoms in China.

Microsoft rivals, including Google Inc. (GOOG) and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), also have grappled with - and received criticism surrounding - how they censor their offerings in foreign countries.
Google said last week that it would filter sensitive topics from Web searches in China. Yahoo came under fire last year after it provided the government with e-mail account information for a

Chinese journalist who was later convicted for violating state secrecy laws.
Smith said Tuesday that Microsoft hopes to build industry and government support for more formal policies on dealing with content censorship requests from foreign governments, but he wouldn't say whether he had spoken with competitors such as Google and Yahoo directly.
John Palfrey, executive director of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, lauded Microsoft's moves as an important first step.

But he expected Microsoft to face considerable government pressure if it does start disclosing government censorship and makes good on its pledge to show censored data outside the country in question.

"Where we'll see whether the policy is meaningful or not is the first time the state comes to Microsoft ... and says, "So you're publishing to the world the subversive political statements of somebody online. Who is it?'" he said. "Does Microsoft fold or stand pat?"

Security Volunteers Reach Out To Kama Sutra-Infected PCs

2006-01-27T20:55:00.000+04:00

Security Volunteers Reach Out To Kama Sutra-Infected PCs

The goal is to notify companies and anyone who might be infected--before the worm is due to start overwriting files on February 3.

By Gregg Keizer
TechWeb News
JF' 26, 2006 06:50 E

Security experts from a volunteer task force have collaborated with the Internet Storm Center and others to contact ISPs and companies whose computers have been infected with the Kama Sutra worm before the Feb. 3 trigger when the worm begins overwriting files.
Kama Sutra, which also goes by a bewildering range of names including Nyxem.e and Blackmal.e, has been spreading for less than two weeks, and probably has infected several hundred thousand PCs, say analysts. Its most distinguishing characteristic: it will overwrite the data in a long list of document formats -- primarily those of Microsoft Office, but also some of Adobe as well as a pair of popular compression formats -- with a text string, rendering the files useless.
The worm also trips a Web site counter each time a copy infects a computer. It's this counter that led the TISF BlackWorm task force, a loose group of volunteers, to a list of affected domains.
According to Randy Vaughn, a professor of information systems at Baylor University, and a member of the task force, the counting site's host ISP provided a log of the counter page that was invaluable.
"We took the IP addresses and time stamps," said Vaughn, "and matched those to our lists of autonomous systems. We already had an automatic notification [system] running, so we sent out 2,000 notifications."
Once the notifications are received by the ISPs or companies, it's up to them to decide how to alert their users.
The task force came out of the MWP (Malicious Websites and Phishing) and DA research groups, a loose confederation of security professionals who work for anti-spam/anti-virus vendors, various nations' CERTs, universities, and ISPs. The group last mobilized publicly in August 2005 when it put out an alert warning of growing scams after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast of the U.S.
Vaughn characterized the task force and the MWP/DA as a volunteer "civil defense system," but acknowledged less kind descriptions. "We really don't like the term 'security vigilantes,'" he said.
The task force split the list with the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center to e-mail notifications to ISPs and other networks whose addresses appeared in the log. "We've had an excellent response," Vaughn said. "I've gotten hundreds of e-mails from the networks we notified.

60 Million Americans Seek Help Online: Survey

2006-01-27T20:50:00.000+04:00

60 Million Americans Seek Help Online: Survey
A new report shows a growing trend toward seeking information about major life decisions online.
By K.C. Jones TechWeb News
JF' 26, 2006 07:24 E

About 60 million Americans say the Internet played an important or crucial role in making a major decision in two years before being polled.
And, whether they're seeking investments, home improvements, medical issues or guidance on voting, Internet users are more likely to turn to help from their social networks than their counterparts who don't use the Internet.
The Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey, released this week, sheds light on correlations between Internet use, relationships and how much people turn to others to solve significant problems in their lives. It also shows a growing trend toward seeking information about major life decisions online.
"A fairly consistent pattern is that Internet users have greater access to help about a variety of things," the report states.
Far from predictions that the proliferation of technology would cut people off from each other, the report shows communications technologies make it easier for people to maintain and cultivate social networks. Those are contacts that can be called upon for help. It also concludes that, weighing all other factors, email contact is associated with greater levels of getting help while other forms of communication are not.
Thirty-nine percent of Internet users who were looking for jobs sought help from the people they know, while 21 percent of non-users consulted friends and family. Similar gaps exist between the two groups whether they're looking for housing, a new computer or financial advice.
The report, based on surveys in February and March 2004, states that newer technologies, like email and cell phones, seem to smooth more paths toward getting help than traditional means. That may be because people "show a tendency over the course of item to use email for weighty or urgent purposes."
However, the report does not conclude whether the Internet and other technologies are changing the way users behave or whether users -- who tend to be better educated, more involved in their communities, and generally more advantaged than non-users -- are more inclined to reach out to others in the first place.

Forty-five percent, or about 60 million Americans, said the Internet played an important or crucial role in making major life decisions regarding these topics: career training, medical conditions and health issues, education, car purchases, financial moves, housing and jobs.
About 21 million people said online information was important or crucial when they considered career training; 17 million said it was key to helping someone else with a medical condition or health issue online; another 17 million said it played heavily in decisions about education.
Of those citing the Internet as an important or crucial source of information, 34 percent said it helped find advice and support from others; 30 percent said it helped them compare options and 28 percent said it led them to professional or expert services.
Information overload did not register as significant complaint. Only 15 percent of respondents said they were overwhelmed by the amount of information they had. Of online users who relied on the Internet for one of five major decisions, only 5 percent said they obtained bad information. Seventy-one percent said they had all of the information they needed and it was manageable, and 11 percent wanted more information.
A Pew survey in March 2005, which followed up on questions about major life decisions posed in 2002, indicates that the Internet's role in assisting with major life decisions has grown. In 2002, 45 million Americans said the Internet played a crucial or important role in decision-making. The jump to 60 million people represents a one-third increase.

Business Intelligence software looks to future

2006-01-20T20:37:00.000+04:00

Business Intelligence software looks to future

Applications that actually answer questions rather than just present mounds of data is the key driver of a market set to grow 10 percent in 2006

Monday, January 16, 2006

Michael Kahn
SAN FRANCISCO: When Hewlett-Packard Co. was looking for ways to make money from its sharper image display technology, the company relied on a piece of smart software to help it find the most profitable answer.
The application quickly sifted through opportunities, in much the same way a venture capitalist might do, and calculated high margins in large-screen televisions made that the market to target, HP executive Ralph Morales said.
The program from a company called SmartOrg marks a growing trend in the estimated $7 billion business intelligence (BI) software market for applications that can predict the financial impact of future decisions. "You have all these great plans and you can only do a couple," Morales said. "You need something that is fast and quick to sort through the potentials."
Traditionally, large companies have used software from leading vendors such as Business Objects, Cognos Inc., Hyperion Solutions Corp. to mine mountains of information stored in databases and use the data to detect marketing trends and patterns.
But analysts say applications that actually answer questions rather than just present mounds of data is the key driver of a market set to grow 10 percent in 2006 or about twice the rate of the business software industry in general.
"Increasingly you are seeing applications being developed that will result in some sort of action," said Brendan Barnacle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Equities. "It is a relatively small part now, but it is clearly where the future is. That is the next stage of business intelligence."
Analysts also say as companies realize business intelligence software can churn out much more than just data, demand for the tools will grow. This will draw more attention to the market and could fuel further consolidation.
Barnacle said BI's major names may look to strengthen their positions by acquiring smaller vendors, while the biggest players like Oracle Corp. and IBM search for targets to help them compete in a specialized area. Business Objects Chief Executive John Schwarz, whose company has been the target of Oracle takeover rumors, said many big companies do not effectively exploit business intelligence tools.
This combine with the fact that very few small-or medium- sized companies make use of business intelligence software, provides plenty of opportunity.
"There is almost no penetration of business intelligence," Schwarz said of the concentrated use of such software among big companies. "As you look at the market opportunity it is a huge one going forward." Schwarz said tools that predict business trends and answer specific questions about the future represent a great area of interest but do not yet generate a large amount of revenue.
Instead, these types of applications, which are often narrow in focus, can often prove a great showcase for the technology to convince companies of the importance of business intelligence software.
"The predictive analysis is the sexy wedge of the business intelligence market, which is very useful to sell the value of business tools to the chief executive," Schwarz told Reuters.
Yet John Hagerty, who tracks BI software makers for AMR Research, sees users beginning to demand tools to help divine the future as part of an insatiable thirst for more information on their businesses.
As in the case of HP, he said, companies increasingly want more than just the capability to ask the right questions, the want technology that can do it for them.
"You are seeing this whole awakening in companies to make present decisions," Hagerty said. The mantra for many users is becoming: "'Tell me where I want to go and how to get there.'"
© Reuters

Hackers Attack U.K. Student's Web Site

2006-01-19T22:41:00.000+04:00

Hackers Attack U.K. Student's Web Site
Jan 18, 5:57 PM (ET)

LONDON (AP) - A Web site that earned an enterprising British student $1 million suffered a crippling attack by ransom-seeking hackers.
Alex Tew, 21, said Wednesday that his Million Dollar Homepage was targeted after he publicized how it had helped him raise money for his university studies.
Tew had sold 10,000 small squares of advertising space on the Web site for $100 each, achieving his target in four months. His initiative spawned several copycat sites.
But Tew said that on Jan. 7, he received a threat from an organization calling itself "The Dark Group," demanding that he pay them $50,000 within 72 hours or face having his site taken down.
"It was written in poor English, but the hackers asked for $50,000, saying that it was just 5 percent of what I had made," Tew said. "I did not reply to the e-mail. I had no intention of paying."
Tew ignored the threat. Hackers then initiated a so-called distributed denial of service, in which attackers take command of third-party computers, through a virus or other security vulnerability, and instruct them to send junk data to the target site, overwhelming servers and causing the site to crash or perform poorly.
Tew said the site now works normally.
Tew, from Wiltshire, a county in southern England, said he informed the FBI because his site is hosted in the United States.
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said the agency was investigating.
Such extortion cases targeting Web sites are occurring with greater frequency.

IPWireless launches 3G mobile TV technology

2006-01-19T22:39:00.000+04:00

IPWireless launches 3G mobile TV technology
Rupert Goodwins
ZDNet UKJanuary 18, 2006, 17:55 GMT

With questions of bandwidth, cost and spectrum availability, TV on mobiles raises a lot of issues. IPWireless says 3G standards are the answer

Another contender for mobile phone TV was unveiled in London on Wednesday, when IPWireless demonstrated its TDtv system transmitting multiple channels over the air from a cellular base station.
Based on MBMS, the Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Standard, TDtv is designed to work alongside the current 3G WCDMA standard.
Using part of the 3G spectrum put aside for data transmission, IPWireless says that it is relatively easy to adapt existing base stations and other network infrastructure to integrate TV broadcast services with existing voice, data and video. This compares with O2's trial of a mobile TV service, which used entirely independent spectrum in the UHF TV band, and BT's DAB-based experiment in the digital radio band.
By the end of 2007, IPWireless claims, the cost of adding TDtv to a handset will be around $10. "We're working on an integrated solution with a major chip manufacturer," Chris Gilbert, chief executive of IP Wireless, told journalists in London on Wednesday. "Much of the technology exists already, we're using a lot of the sophistication we've developed for the uplink, where a base station has to work hard to pick up a weak signal from a mobile, and using it on the downlink."
The company says that because all the standards involved are part of the 3GPP global standards project, the technology will work worldwide and thus be attractive to handset manufacturers and international operators who want to encourage roaming.
"We'll be trialling with Sprint in the US, IPmobile in Asia Pacific and four international operators in Europe in the first half of 2006," said Gilbert.
"We estimate that upgrading the 3G networks will cost around €10,000 [£7,000] per base station, less than HSDPA. If operators offer TV over their existing 3G service first, they can spot what channels are popular where and then upgrade by postcode as necessary. Success-driven capital expenditure is what operators want to talk about at the moment."
In the UK, there is 20 MHz of data spectrum allocated in 5MHz slots to four of the five 3G operators — only Vodafone lacks this sub-band. IPWireless says that 5MHz is sufficient for more than fifty TV channels suitable for mobile phone sized screens, fifteen channels designed for PDA/handheld video devices, or a mixture thereof.
"TDtv can support any IP datacasts", said Gilbert, "including audio and clipcasting. Operators are free to develop their own mix."
"TDtv is a very good solution for multichannel offerings", said Alastair Brydon of consultancy Sound Partners, who presented at the launch. "You can broadcast your most popular channels saving bandwidth on your WCDMA network, while using that network to offer a wide selection of minority interest content. Users need not even be aware which system is carrying their channel, and operators can reallocate content according to popularity or local demand."
More bandwidth will be available shortly, said Gilbert. "There's another three lots of 5MHz yet to be auctioned at 2.010 to 2.025 GHz. In Japan, that's already been allocated with 5MHz dedicated to MBMS. And in the next two to three years, the UMTS extension bands will become available with hundreds of extra megahertz".

Online's top 25 search engines

2006-01-19T22:35:00.000+04:00

Online's top 25 search engines

Jack Schofield and Bobbie JohnsonThursday February 24, 2005
The Guardian

Google
Google, founded in 1998 by two Stanford University graduate students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, quickly became the web's leading search engine because it was easy to use and delivered high-quality results.
Rather than relying on users to frame intelligent searches to find what they want, Google's page-rank system massages the results to push the best sites to the top. Quality is decided by the number of other good sites that link to the same content.
Now Google also provides other options on its front page to search for images, news stories, Usenet postings (under Groups), shopping sites (under Froogle) and, in the US, for local companies. PC users can also install a toolbar that adds Google to their browser, and download desktop search software that enables Google to search their hard drive.
There are further options, not on the front page, to search mail order catalogues, and computer-related topics (Apple Macintosh, BSD Unix, Linux, Microsoft), US universities and scholarly publications.
Google is now expanding beyond search and also offers email (Gmail), a blogging service (Blogger), social networking (Orkut), and photo album software (Picasa). Most are useful, but in general, are not integrated to work together.
Yahoo
Yahoo started 11 years ago as a simple directory of websites compiled by two Stanford University graduate students, David Filo and Jerry Yang. It soon became the most prominent site on the web, and expanded rapidly into a portal.
It now offers email, instant messaging, a groups system (not related to Usenet), auctions, games, online stores, photo albums, home pages on the web (through GeoCities), and too many other features to mention. Many of these have become increasingly hard to find. The hierarchical directory that used to make up the front page has disappeared, and been replaced by a Google-like search box.
Yahoo's options are: Web, Images, Video, Directory, Local, News, and Products. Yahoo used to get its web search results from Google but it has taken over a number of search engines, including AltaVista, and now supplies its own.
If you run a web search on Yahoo, the results look almost identical to Google, and many of the top sites are the same. Yahoo's advantage, as a portal, is that millions of users go there for reasons that have nothing to do with search, but if they need to look something up, they may as well use Yahoo rather than go to Google.
MSN Search
MSN, the Microsoft Network, was launched in 1995 as a rival to AOL. It added Hotmail, instant messaging, shopping and other services as it grew into a portal, and in July 2000, it became the leading web destination, with more than 200m visitors a month. Two years ago, Microsoft decided that MSN's search should be powered by Microsoft technology, and this was finally released in 21 countries in 10 languages on February 1.
Microsoft's offerings are: Web, News, Images, Desktop, and Encarta. It also has a Near Me button for local searches. The results pages look like Google's but adverts are more prominent. As with Google and Yahoo, the toolbar and desktop search software must be downloaded separately.
Unadjusted searches at MSN are rarely better than Google and sometimes much worse. Most of its usage is therefore most likely to come from people who are on the MSN site for other reasons, or are searching from Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, where it is the default.
MSN Search does have a drop-down tool, Search Builder, which includes sliders that let you adjust the settings for sites that are more popular or have been updated recently. However, these are so cumbersome to use, it seems few will bother.
Golden oldies
Ask Jeeves (http://www.ask.com/) is one of the biggest engines outside the top table, and claims to be most people's "second favourite engine". The original concept of using natural language ("where can I find bike shops in Glasgow?") still holds true, although it also caters for keyword searching. The hard work is done by the Teoma engine (http://www.teoma.com/), which Jeeves acquired in 2000. Both give clean results, including image and related search options, and Jeeves also offers MyJeeves, which remembers your searches and lets you save important ones.
Other long-standing search names are still going, though most have been bought out by larger rivals or exist in radically different forms. Pioneer AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com/) was bought out by a series of small firms until it was hoovered up by Yahoo, and it now uses Yahoo results, though it still boasts one of the web's best translators, BabelFish ( babelfish.altavista.com). Other engines including Inktomi have also been consumed by the Yahoo brand.
One of the web's earliest search successes, Lycos (http://www.lycos.com/), is still around, though it, too, has changed hands many times. It now works in tandem with Hotbot (http://www.hotbot.com/), a metasearch site that pulls results from across several engines to produce aggregated - and theoretically better - results.
Dogpile (http://www.dogpile.com/) is probably the best-known metasearch engine, and draws results from Jeeves, Google, Yahoo and others. It pulls answers from these and removes duplicates, but sometimes misses some of the more idiosyncratic results. It also searches across images, audio, video and news. If you find the results aren't quite your cup of tea, you could turn to MetaCrawler (http://www.metacrawler.com/), which is also owned by Dogpile's parent company, Infospace. Metacrawler was launched in 1994, so it has a long track record, and it produces filtered results from a familiar range of sources.
Clustering
Several of the lower league search engines use a technique known as clustering to help users filter out the best results. This intelligently divides a morass of answers into categories, to help users weed out unwanted pages - particularly useful if you get thousands of results on your keywords.
Clusty (http://www.clusty.com/) is still in beta-testing mode, but combines Google-like search functions with clustering options. A search for "Guardian Online", for example, pro duced clusters including newspapers, politics, journalism, entertainment, books and angels. You can build categories based on either topic, source or URL, and the news and image searches seem fairly accurate, even if they sometimes return fewer results than you might need.
Australian-based Mooter (http://www.mooter.com/) has a more visual approach, presenting clusters as a spider diagram, and shows a more traditional list when you click on your chosen category - but by the time you get to the results, they seem much the same as other engines.
Kartoo http://www.kartoo.com/) takes the visual option further by drawing Flash "maps" of search results. While visually interesting, it can be cumbersome and seems to throw up a lot of commercial results.
Regular and real time
Other sites have chosen different ways to change Google's search paradigm. Some have opted for more regular - or even real-time - searching, taking results from the web as they happen rather than relying on an irregularly updated library of results.
Daypop (http://www.daypop.com/) trawls news sites and weblogs at least once a day, producing good results, while Technorati.com (http://www.technorati.com/) applies itself purely to weblogs but picks up new pages within minutes of them being published. The basic search is adequate, though it sometimes suffers from time outs. The recently launched "tags" function incorporates blog categories, social bookmarking site del.icio.us and photo-sharing service Flickr to create ad-hoc keyword homepages.
Local searches
Some search firms focus on geographical niches, favouring local results to offer what could be more appropriate answers. Several target the British market, including UKWizz (http://www.ukwizz.com/), which looks quite basic and struggles to compete with Google's local search (http://www.google.co.uk/).
Newsnow (http://www.newsnow.co.uk/), a British-based news searcher, sifts through headlines on news stories and categorises them by age. It is very good for basic searches ("Beckham", for example) but you have to pay to search for multiword phrases or inside the full text of an article.
Exalead, which is still in beta, ( http://beta.exalead.com/ ) is a well-designed attempt to provide as many search options as possible, including geographically based ones. It also includes audio and video searching, limited clustering and the ability to search for different document types - all without cluttering the interface.
Honourable mentions
Blinkx (http://www.blinkx.com/) drops keyword search in favour of clever artifical intelligence to find what you're looking for. The interface is clunky, but it draws results from the web, your desktop and other sources.
Icerocket is quite similar to the big engines, but provides a screenshot of the page the result comes from, and searches both blogs and photographs within blogs - though that seems limited.
Singing Fish (http://www.singingfish.com/) focuses on audio and video search. It is not perfect and is unlikely to give you huge numbers of results (just 10 for "Eminem Mosh", for example) but it is customisable and has a parental filter.
Websbiggest (http://www.websbiggest.com/) ranks pages by the amount of traffic they get, while Looksmart (http://www.looksmart.com/), a survivor of the early days, focuses on being a portal, offering little to the search melee.
Amazon-owned A9 (http://www.a9.com/) organises and recalls searches easily (handy if you can't remember how you found that website last Saturday), but the basic results are provided by Google. It links up with Amazon.com and the Internet Movie Database, making it useful for searching across books and movies.

Microsoft to expand research in India

2006-01-13T19:01:00.000+04:00

Microsoft to expand research in India
Banana to make
By Nick Farrell : Friday 13 January 2006, 09:30

MICROSOFT is planning to expand its research operations in India over the next 18 months.
A spokesVole said that teams in existing research areas will be boosted. New teams will also be created to investigate cryptography.
Ramarathnam Venkatesan, a leading code breaker at Microsoft Research in Redmond has been named to head the new cryptography team.
The plan is to spot for new talent in India, and Vole will conduct a four-week summer school featuring lectures by leading experts in the fields of cryptography, algorithms and security in a bid to find the best.
Vole did not indicate if it was shutting down any of its operations at the Vole hill and seems to be presenting this as an expansion, rather than a shift off-shore.

Microsoft Plans Launch of Search Ad System

2006-01-13T18:48:00.000+04:00

Microsoft Plans Launch of Search Ad SystemJan 13, 12:25 AM (ET)By ALLISON LINN
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REDMOND, Wash. (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) plans to launch its system for selling advertising alongside regular search results by June in the United States, giving the company its next piece of ammunition in the battle with rivals including Google Inc. (GOOG) and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO)
Microsoft has been testing its ambitious new platform for selling all kinds of online advertising, called adCenter, since last spring. Right now, the company said about 25 percent of the sponsored links that accompany regular search results on its MSN Search site are from adCenter, but that will grow to 100 percent by the time the company's fiscal year ends in June.
Redmond-based Microsoft currently outsources the job of providing such sponsored links to a Yahoo Inc. subsidiary, Overture Services, although the contract between the two expires in June.
The move to bring that job in-house is important because competitors such as Google make most of their money selling ads placed next to search results.
The launch is also a major step toward Microsoft's broader adCenter ambitions, which executives say will eventually be a system for offering companies ways to buy online advertising space on multiple platforms, ranging from its blogging sites to its newly launched Office Live system for offering business software and services online.
For that broader effort, Microsoft's adCenter researchers and developers are finishing up a series of tools that aim to provide extremely detailed demographic information, so advertisers can more accurately target their ads to the right audience. Many of those tools are expected to be available in the next six to 12 months, said Tarek Najm, adCenter's general manager.
Much of the work is being done by Microsoft's adCenter Incubation Lab, or adLab, which was also announced Thursday.
AdLab is a joint effort between Microsoft's Redmond-based adCenter and experts in its Chinese research lab. Najm said it marks the first time that a Microsoft product group is working so closely with one of Microsoft's research labs, which are typically staffed by researchers who study far-flung, futuristic or just plain quirky technology.
Najm said his group wanted to partner with the Chinese researchers because of their expertise in fields that will provide the technical and computational backbone for getting advertising to the right viewers.
The Chinese and U.S. researchers on Thursday previewed a multitude of those tools at its Redmond campus.
Overall, they aim to give advertisers a better sense of the age, gender and other traits of people who are viewing certain information online. For example, the technology could give a car advertiser the best shot at reaching women over 45, or men under 25. A movie company, in turn, could be given a better chance of reaching people who are or have recently visited sites related to entertainment.
Microsoft said it is not using personally identifiable information to target the ads.
Forrester analyst Charlene Li said Microsoft's platform has definite potential to go head-to-head with competitors such as Google and Yahoo because of the detailed demographic information it can provide to advertisers - even though people might be more familiar with the other two brand names.
"The thing about search is that it's all about performance, not about the brand name," Li said. "As long as it performs, people are going to buy it."
Still, Li said that Microsoft and the companies who sell ads will have to be subtle in their advertising, so people don't start to feel like the advertising is so targeted that Big Brother must be watching.
"You can't bang people over the head," she said.
Microsoft has admitted that it originally missed the boat on the hot field of Internet search, preferring instead to outsource the job to others. The company, whose search engine is the third most popular after Google's and Yahoo's, is now rushing to catch up.

Google to offer personal home page for mobiles

2006-01-13T18:45:00.000+04:00

Google to offer personal home page for mobiles
Move part of race to extend information services

SAN FRANCISCO - Web search leader Google Inc. Thursday said it was now offering U.S. mobile phone users a personalized version of the Google home page tailored to work on most recently introduced mobile phones.
The Google Personalized Home page for mobile phones will allow consumers to conduct Web searches and check Gmail e-mail, news headlines, local weather reports or a list of stock prices -- all from one central page on their phones.
Google is racing with Internet rivals such as Yahoo , Microsoft, America Online and InfoSpace to extend the information services they already offer on computers to the browsers of mobile phones.
The Mountain View, California-based company plans to offer the personalized Google home page for mobile phone users in international markets in the coming weeks and months, said Deep Nishar, Google’s product manager for wireless services.

Internet Users Cut Back Because of Fears

2005-10-27T09:32:00.000+04:00

WASHINGTON (AP) - As identity theft has grown, so has fear of being victimized through high-tech means.

Nearly a third of Internet users are cutting back on time spent surfing the Internet and a quarter say they have stopped buying online altogether, according to a study from Consumer Reports WebWatch.

Some 80 percent of Internet users say they're at least somewhat concerned someone could steal their identity from personal information on the Internet. Fifty-three percent of Internet users say they've stopped giving out personal information on the Web.

Among those who shop online, 54 percent say they're now more likely to read a site's privacy policy or user agreement before buying and 29 percent have cut back on how often they buy online.

The random telephone-based survey of 1,501 Internet users aged 18 and older was conducted May 19 to June 21. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Group Seeks Unity In Mobile Linux

2005-10-19T10:26:00.000+04:00

Participants in the multi-vendor consortium plan to develop a base-level platform on which handset manufacturers can build.

Open Source Development Labs, which employs Linux creator Linus Torvalds, said Monday it has brought together Motorola Inc. and several other high-tech vendors in an effort to develop a Linux platform for advanced cellular phones and other mobile devices.

Members of the OSDL working group, called the Mobile Linux Initiative, also include MontaVista Software, PalmSource, Trolltech and Wind River. The participants plan to develop a base-level platform that handset manufacturers can build on top of, Dave Rosenberg, analyst for Beaverton, Ore.-based, OSDL, said. Requirements for the OS would include power management to increase battery life, a standard interface for connecting to the various carrier networks and other basic functions that would have to be crammed into an OS that runs in devices with limited memory.

Participants have built their own Linux-based OSes, but the idea is to collaborate on a single platform in order to make it a stronger competitor. Much like the Linux computer world, software vendors would make money on applications built on top of the OS.

"A lot of this is sort of a unification of all these (separate) efforts into a base platform that meets the needs of more than one vendor," Rosenberg said. "There really is no vendor neutral development on (mobile) Linux. There all different."

Avi Greengart, analyst for market researcher Current Analysis, said broader use of Linux has been hampered by not having a single platform. Most handset manufacturers today, have to build their own Linux-based OS in order to use the technology. Such an effort often supersedes advantages of the OS, which provides standards-based, open-source technology at no charge.
"The problem has always been there's more promise than delivery with Linux (on mobile devices)," Greengart said. "You end up doing a lot of low-level programming yourself."

Reducing development time is a key selling point for Microsoft, which is marketing Windows Mobile "very, very aggressively" in Europe and particularly in the United States, Greengart said. The advantage of Microsoft are its development tools, which help bring applications to market sooner.

Symbian is also proprietary, but it too delivers much of what's needed by a handset maker.
With the exception of Motorola, there are no major manufacturers in the OSDL group. In order for the effort to succeed, it will need to sign up companies like LG Electronics, Sony Ericsson and Samsung, Greengart said.

PalmSource, however, could give the OSDL a boost In China, a strong and growing cellular phone market. The company, which makes the Palm OS, last year bought China Mobile Ltd., which is developing a Chinese version of Linux.

Even though it uses Symbian in advanced cellular phones, also called smartphones, Nokia in May released a mobile device called the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet on Linux. The Finnish company plans to release a software update in the first half of next year that will support Internet telephony and instant messaging. Analysts have said that the tablet is an indication that Nokia could be planning a Linux-based mobile phone.

Symbian, however is expected to continue dominating the global market for smartphones, reaching 60 percent by 2009 from 55.9 percent last year, according to International Data Corp. Windows Mobile, on the other hand is expected to increase its share to 17.3 percent from 12.7 percent, and Linux is projected to grow to nearly 17 percent from 11.3 percent.

Wireless USB on its way

2005-10-11T08:25:00.000+04:00

Wipro demonstrates high definition video transfer between two laptops over Ultra Wide Band

Sunil Rajguru
Monday, October 10, 2005

BANGALORE: Imagine you reached home with your smartphone full of important messages, your pen drive full of files and your digicam crammed with pictures. Now sitting at your computer table, what if you could access the content of all of these devices and transfer them to your computer without taking them out from your pockets or bag and without using wires?
If you could do that, you'd be using wireless USB, which could be the next big thing for the personal area network (PAN). A couple of weeks back, Wipro demonstrated a high definition video transfer between two laptops over the Ultra Wide Band (UWB), a breakthrough which put it in a select band of companies and inch it towards many technologies including those like wireless USB.

UWB is a short-range wireless protocol that promises to give great throughput at short distances. It is faster and more secure than most wireless protocols. So much so that both USB and Bluetooth groups are trying to merge their existing technologies with UWB. You will be able to transfer heavy multimedia content without much effort.

Explains Donald MacDonald, Vice-President of Intel's Digital Home Group, “In ultra wide band, short pulses are transmitted over a wide spectrum. Because it transmits on several channels at once, it leads to less interference. It also makes it much easier to move content to mobile devices.”

Says Wipro Solutions Architect Vivek Wandile, “UWB is great for lesser distances and gives a much greater throughput than today's Wi-Fi at that short range. This would be good in a digital home where Bluetooth will not be able to handle high-data multimedia transfer.”
The Intel-backed WiMedia Alliance is readying to come out with UWB systems that will work as physical layer replacements for (apart from USB) FireWire (1394) and TCP/IP.

Simon Johney, Wipro's Group Head for Semiconductor IP is also very optimistic about the future of UWB. “Surveys have shown that most people do not transfer pictures from their digicam and most of them get overwritten. Wireless USB would be ideal to transfer pictures to a laptop or computer without much of a bother,” he says.

He adds that the beauty of UWB is that it will allow other technologies like USB and Bluetooth to ride over it. Both the respective committees are working together to that end. With a UWB, one antenna will be able to support all the wireless protocols.

In fact, Fractus has already launched such an antenna, which measures just 10x0.8 mm. You could put that on practically any device. Even Bangalore's MindTree is working on UWB.
That's one option that a digital home of the future could have. A UWB-powered personal network in your bedroom within a Wi-Fi powered home network within a WiMax powered city network.

However, the only competition it could get is from the 802.11n protocol, which promises to be 10 times faster than current Wi-Fi networks and the throughput will be enough even from one end of a house to another.

Flash Drives Make Any Computer 'Personal'

2005-10-08T08:31:00.000+04:00

Students at Eastside Preparatory School in Kirkland, Wash., are getting class materials in a new way this year: on a tiny flash-memory drive that plugs into a computer's USB port.

Small enough to wear on a necklace, this "digital backpack" can hold textbooks, novels, plays, study aids, the dictionary, graphing-calculator software - almost anything, really.

Falling prices in computer memory have made these little flash drives - also called pen, thumb or key drives - into enormously powerful tools that are on the verge of changing the concept of "personal" computing.

With a gigabyte of flash memory now available for less than $100, these inexpensive digital storehouses can hold not just important data but also entire software programs. The information they carry can be encrypted and accessed speedily, a benefit of faster microprocessors.
What this all means is that computer users are no longer at the mercy of the machine that happens to be nearby. Everything we need to interact with computers - even down to the appearance of our home PC's desktop - can be carried with us and used on almost any computer.
"What's your personal computer, anyways?" computing pioneer Bill Joy said in a speech that touched on the trend at a recent conference. "Your personal computer should be something that's always on your person."

A few years ago Jay Elliot was looking for a way to help doctors move medical information securely and decided that flash memory - which has no moving parts, unlike hard-disk storage - was the perfect solution.

But as memory prices kept falling, he realized there was room for more than just data. So he invented Migo, software that lets removable storage devices such as USB drives and iPods essentially function as portable computers.

Plug a Migo-enabled device into a computer and enter your password, and a secure session launches in which you can send and receive e-mail and work on documents, with the background desktop and icons from your own PC rather than the ones on the host computer.
When you're done and remove the drive, all traces of what you did are removed from that computer. The next time you plug the drive into your home computer, data on each are synchronized.

Multiple people can share one USB device, with separate password-protected profiles for each. So when Elliot recently went on vacation, he, his wife and two sons each called up personalized desktops on a hotel computer - all through a drive smaller than a cigarette lighter.
"People are carrying very expensive devices with them, but they only use 4 or 5 percent of their capability. What a waste," said Elliot, who heads Migo's maker, PowerHouse Technologies Group Inc.

Instead, he said, the model should be that "your data goes with you, in whatever form you want it. You just find a place to use it."
Another reason this flexibility is now possible is that software makers and flash-drive manufacturers relatively recently settled on technological standards that let programs be stored and run off the tiny drives.

Two hardware vendors, SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) and M-Systems Inc., formed a separate company, U3 LLC, to license and facilitate that technology.
Now a spate of U3-enabled drives have hit the market, preloaded with everything from photo-management software to the Firefox Web browser and instant-messaging programs.
Skype Technologies SA's Internet phone software is also available, meaning almost any computer can be used to make free calls over Skype, even if the computer owner never bothered to download Skype.

"The next time you go to install software that's going to be locked to the hard drive, your first reaction is going to be 'Man, I want this on my U3 so I can have this anywhere,'" said Kate Purmal, U3's CEO.

The only big missing element for now is Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) software.
Although its popular productivity programs such as Excel or Word are common on office PCs, traveling workers still might not find the programs on a home or public computer.
So the ability to launch Microsoft software from a flash drive could be a big help. Microsoft and USB companies are still discussing potential licensing arrangements.
In the meantime, though, several new devices are emerging to take advantage of this shift in computer use.

For example, by tweaking the tiny processor in its flash drives to enable copyright protections, SanDisk created a drive called the Cruzer Freedom that lets students download reams of educational materials when they plug the device into a PC. Because each drive has a particular numeric identifier, teachers can put assignments and materials online that are accessible only to members of their classes.

That enabled Eastside Prep's new flash-drive project in Washington. Mark Bach, who heads the upper school and teaches at Eastside, plans to use the drives to disseminate primary source documents and other materials he's gathered for a unit on regional history.
As the drives' memory expands even further in coming years, he expects to augment the text with video.

"It becomes very, very malleable, and very creative on the part of the teacher, because the teacher can go beyond textbooks," he said.
For the business world, startup Realm Systems Inc. soon plans to roll out its own USB-based "mobile personal servers," with several gigabytes of memory for a few hundred dollars a pop, that could be plugged into any PC to let mobile employees do their computer-related work.
The Realm device will have a fingerprint reader to restrict access. It also clears its tracks from the host PC for privacy.

Of course, any portable storage device with significant memory, whether it's a "smart" cell phone, a digital assistant or an MP3 music player with a miniature hard drive, can do this trick of making any computer personal. That's more reason to believe the PC will soon fade into the background.

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) researcher Chandra Narayanaswami offers a good illustration of how we'll know it's happened:

When you check into an average hotel room and find - alongside the alarm clock, hair dryer and DVD player that once were bring-your-own items but now are as standard as the furniture - a cheap PC for guests to plug into, as our truly personal computing environment travels with us.

Microsoft to support PDF in Office 12

2005-10-06T08:12:00.000+04:00

Microsoft will enable people to publish documents in the Adobe PDF format with Office 12, a company product manager said on Saturday.

Office 12, which is expected to be completed by the second half of 2006, will let end users take an Office document and convert it to PDF format, Brian Jones, a program manager for Microsoft Office, said in a blog posting. People will not be able to actually read PDF files from within Office applications, though -- a PDF viewer will still be required, he noted.

The PDF support will be built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, OneNote, Visio and InfoPath, Jones said.

"We've really heard the feedback that sharing documents across multiple platforms and long-term archiving are really important," Jones said in his blog. "People now have a couple of options here, with the existing support for HTML and RTF, and now the new support for open XML formats and PDF."

Microsoft's XML-based document formats that will be the default setting for Office 12. The advantage of having an XML-based format is that information from documents can be more easily shared and archived, according to Microsoft executives.

The importance of multiple document formats came into sharp focus last month when the state of Massachusetts decided to mandate the use of the OpenDocument format in desktop productivity applications used in the state's executive branch agencies. Adobe's PDF is considered an 'open format' under the state's policy. Microsoft's Office 12 does not support OpenDocument.

Even as Microsoft adds PDF support, the company is working on a document format, called Metro, that offers many of the same features as PDF. Metro will be delivered in late 2006 with Windows Vista.

Metro is designed to enable people to view Office documents without needing Office applications. The format also uses the graphics engine in Windows Vista to have a consistent way of displaying data on a screen and sending document data to printers, according to Microsoft.

At a meeting with Microsoft partners on Saturday, Microsoft's senior vice president of Microsoft Office, Steven Sinofksy, demonstrated the PDF support. A beta test version of Office 12, which will include the PDF feature, is expected to be released this fall.

Nimble Data Backup, Recovery Tools on Tap

2005-10-03T14:55:00.000+04:00

Microsoft Corp., Symantec Corp. and IBM are rolling out backup tools designed to help users recover from data losses more quickly while reducing tape management and redundant hardware costs.

Last week, Microsoft announced the availability of its Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager. The disk-based product backs up file servers in Windows-only environments and integrates with DPM-ready applications and devices from vendors including Advanced Micro Devices Inc., CommVault Systems Inc., Computer Associates International Inc., Dell Inc. and others.

On tap for next year, the next release of DPM should dispel criticism that it lacks application-level backup with key Microsoft offerings, said Radhesh Balakrishnan, group product manager, Windows Server Division for Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash.

The next version of DPM will feature integration across Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint Services and "Longhorn." Customers will also see new bare-metal recovery functionality and centralized management capabilities, Balakrishnan said.
Microsoft also announced the beta version of its Windows Server 2003 R2 product. Targeted for launch at Storage Networking World in April, the product will enable document collaboration through integration with SharePoint Services and feature full index search and Microsoft-developed quota management capabilities.

Symantec's new Backup Exec 10d for Windows Servers, available next week, features a CPS (Continuous Protection Server) to simplify and speed backup for Windows files. The product enables all file changes collected on the CPS to be managed, retrieved and played back at any point to reduce tape reliance and ease tight backup windows, said officials of Symantec, in Cupertino, Calif. Users can use Google-type searches to retrieve and access their files without IT administrator intervention.

"One of the problems I had was getting someone reliable to change the tapes for me [at remote facilities]. That's something I really struggled with," said Steve Wilson, IT manager for Cincinnati Thermal Spray, in Ohio, who plans to eliminate all tape-based backup for his company. "[Backup Exec 10d] is an opportunity to relieve a lot of pain I have."

To address enterprises' non-Windows file recovery needs, IBM is accelerating its plans to enable its IBM Tivoli CDP for Files product to support AIX file servers and Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS. The move will come in two to three months, officials said.

Steve Tringali, managing partner for Rampion Visual Productions LLC, in Watertown, Mass., tested an early Mac version of CDP for Files and said his industry's needs span far beyond Microsoft operating systems.

"In the creative world, Apple has a very strong hold. So the ability to use that cross-platform functionality is great," said Tringali. "There are these niche markets that are going to be heavily Mac on the video side, graphics side, DVD and music side. Something exclusive to backup for Microsoft will be a problem for a lot of people."

Microsoft's Office upgrade to support PDF files

2005-10-03T14:52:00.000+04:00

SEATTLE, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday that the next version of its Office program will be able to save documents in the PDF format, a popular method of sharing documents between different computers and software programs.

Being able to save Office documents as PDFs was a feature that more than 120,000 users have requested every month, said Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft's senior vice president of Office product development.

Portable Document Format, developed by Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE.O: Quote, Profile, Research) allows users to save a file and share it with anyone using Adobe's Acrobat Reader software.

Sinofsky did not say whether there would be any extra costs involved in being able to save Office documents as PDF files, but hinted that the feature could be included in Office for free.
"We don't want cost to be a barrier for any of our products," Sinofsky told Reuters, noting that many other word-processing, spreadsheet and presentation programs include the ability to save files as PDFs. "We want to be a competitor." Sinofsky said.

Microsoft is gearing up to release the next version of Office, code-named "Office 12" in the second half of 2006, within the same time frame for a major upgrade of its flagship Windows program.

The main challenge for Microsoft, as it upgrades its two cash-cow product lines that together generate more than $33 billion in yearly sales, is to convince users that the new versions offer features that make it worthwhile switching.

Sinofsky said that including PDF in Office 12 would help broaden the appeal of the program, which is a collection of different applications used for different tasks.

The Office programs that will offer the ability to save as PDFs are: Word (word-processing), Excel (spreadsheet), Power Point (presentation), Access (database), OneNote (note-taking), Publisher (publishing), InfoPath (forms) and Visio (diagrams).

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said that it developed the "save as PDF" feature in Office 12 using the open, freely available PDF standard published by Adobe. Under the open specifications, Adobe allows other software developers to create PDFs without paying a licensing free.

San Jose, California-based Adobe and Microsoft have been longtime partners in the software industry but, although they still collaborate, are increasingly competing against each other in the space for data-input forms and photo-editing software.

Cellphones are becoming portable music players

2005-10-03T10:21:00.000+04:00

Cellphones are becoming portable music playersNY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , SAN

FRANCISCO Monday, Oct 03, 2005,Page 11

The hot topic among mobile phone executives gathered here for a cellphone trade show is the push to transform handsets into portable music players. By next year, phone makers expect to market several phones that will allow people to store and listen to songs and even download them wirelessly over cellular networks.

Industry leaders said they were gearing up for a major marketing pitch in 2006 to sell consumers on the idea that music is a must-have phone feature, just like cameras and Web connections.

At the three-day trade show, which ended Thursday, the potential success of the new iTunes-compatible phone, the Rokr E1, recently introduced by Motorola and Cingular Wireless was the subject of much speculation.

Nokia, the Finnish phone manufacturer, announced this week that it would introduce a line of Xpress Music phones. And Sony Ericsson showed off the Walkman W800 phone, which it began selling in August.

Carriers like Verizon Wireless and the phone makers said they hoped to offer handsets next year that could download songs over the air. (Phones like the Rokr can only download tracks from a personal computer.)

They have ample reason to push the music feature. Competition to acquire and retain mobile customers is brutal, and the carriers are looking for new streams of revenue, like taking a cut for selling songs.

Clint Wheelock, an analyst for NPD Group, a market research firm, said the wireless carriers were hoping to follow the huge success of the Apple iPod music player. Evolving technology has made it less expensive to build music capability into a phone than in the past. Some analysts say the cost of adding music-organizing software and more memory will be as little as US$30 a phone.

Equally important to the music phone's success is having millions of consumers accustomed to downloading and listening to digital music. Some phone companies believe a music phone can become a strong competitor to a standalone music player like the iPod.
"We give you the iPod -- plus," said Brenda Boyd Raney, a spokeswoman with Verizon Wireless. "We also give you voice." Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Cingular are all developing services to sell downloads of full tracks.

Still, there are obstacles. Consumers have not always embraced new features, particularly when they absorb battery life and could detract from the phone's main use: making calls.
The handset makers also are not likely to add so much memory that the phones will be able to hold the vast music libraries that iPods can hold.

This is not the first time carriers have tried to introduce music player phones. Nokia first introduced a phone with music software in 2000, and then another such phone in 2003, said Ilkka Raiskinen, senior vice president of the company's entertainment products unit. Other carriers have had phones with the software and memory necessary to store and play back MP3 files, a popular format used for digital music, but those phones have not been aggressively marketed.

Raiskinen said the older phones had some success, but he said improved technology, consumer awareness about digital music and better cooperation from record labels would make the new phones more successful.

Edward Snyder, a wireless industry analyst with Charter Equity Research, said he was optimistic about music phones, and that listening to music, unlike watching TV or reading e-mail, could be done while the user was on the move.

Indeed, he says he believes that over time, the huge size of the cellphone market, which he said could reach 780 million new phones sold worldwide this year, gives carriers and handset makers a chance to become the main source of portable music players.
"It's a very big threat," to existing portable music companies, Snyder said.

The Motorola Rokr E1 costs US$250 with a two-year Cingular contract. The Sony Ericsson Walkman W800 phone costs US$499. Nokia's first two Xpress Music phones are due out in the first quarter next year. Verizon's latest multimedia phone the VX9800, made by LG, which includes music and television capability, sells for US$299 with a two-year service contract.

Death of the Digital Middleman

2005-10-01T08:30:00.000+04:00

After a summer-long delay, Kodak has begun shipping the first digital camera with Wi-Fi technology that will allow consumers to send photos directly to friends and family by e-mail without a computer.
Owners of the new EasyShare-One, priced at $600, can send photos through a Wi-Fi transmitter at home or work, or pay $5 a month to connect the camera with any of T-Mobile USA's 6,000 hot spots at stores, airports, hotels and other establishments.

A menu on the EasyShare-One's liquid-crystal screen gives shutterbugs the option of e-mailing pictures and video clips or posting them to Kodak's online photography site. Though the photos are actually routed through the Kodak site, users can set up their accounts so the messages appear to arrive from a personal e-mail address.
Camera-equipped cell phones already offer photo-sharing capabilities but typically produce low-resolution images. The new 4-megapixel Kodak camera has storage room for up to 1,500 photos and a 3-inch touch screen -- big enough for the camera to double as a portable album.

get it yourself: Dell will soon stop sending low-end computers to customers' homes without a shipping charge.
Starting October 10, Dell customers buying basic models have to pick up their computers at the post office, said Jennifer Davis, spokeswoman for Dell's U.S. consumer business, or pay shipping charges for home delivery.
Dell's direct sales model helped it become one of the lowest-cost computer makers as it bypassed retailers. But aggressive price-cutting caused the company to miss analysts' revenue-growth forecasts last quarter.
The new shipping option is convenient for customers who aren't at home when deliveries are scheduled, Davis added. Now they can pick up their computers at the post office after work or on Saturdays, depending on hours of operation.
Davis said the fee for home delivery had not been determined. Post-office pickup will eventually be made available on all Dell consumer computer models, including the new luxury line called XPS.
- - -
Seriously, play nice: The European Union's Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes will meet Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer next Wednesday to discuss competition issues.
The EU and Microsoft have locked horns in court over the company's Windows software. EU competition spokesman Jonathan Todd said Kroes and Ballmer would discuss "general competition issues" when they meet for breakfast on October 5. Ballmer will also attend the launch of a new periodical published by a European think tank on his visit to Brussels.
The commission said earlier this month it had received informal fresh complaints about the U.S. software giant, potentially paving the way for a new competition case against Microsoft.
- - -
The incredible, maneuverable egg: Nissan has developed a concept car featuring an egg-shaped cabin atop a wheeled platform that swivels 360 degrees, doing away with the need to reverse when emerging from narrow spaces.
The bubble-shaped, three-seater electric car, named Pivo after the word "pivot," operates on an experimental system called drive-by-wire, which eliminates the mechanical linkages between cabin and chassis to enable steering, braking and shifting through electronic signals.
At the preview this week, a driver slid the 8-foot Pivo into a tight imaginary parking spot, then rotated the cabin with the push of a button to face "backwards" to come out of the space in one motion. Shiro Nakamura, Nissan's celebrity design chief, said the real-world application of the concept could be only a decade away.
- - -
Sticks are for kids: Walt Disney said it would start selling $50 portable music MP3 players for kids, joining the digital music industry dominated by Apple.
Disney Mix Sticks, about the size of a pack of gum, hold 60 songs on an internal 128-MB storage card and can hold additional 1-GB memory cards. They also can play songs sold on small memory cards.
Apple is the biggest seller of portable digital music players but others are crowding into the market. Disney said its players, in four styles including Forever Princess and Sassy Pixie, would be available at Target, Sears, Limited Too, Wal-Mart.com and at Disney's online store in mid-October.

Windows vs Mac vs Linux

2005-09-28T08:53:00.000+04:00

Windows vs Mac vs Linux

Posted by: Edmundo Mendiola
Posted on: September 27, 2005, 7:51 PM PDT

Windows, Linux and Mac are the most prominent OSs for consumers and professionals.

Windows is the most expensive OS. Next is Mac. And the cheapest is Linux.But Mac requires an Apple hardware, which is generally an expensive PC. So Mac, in effect, is the most costly investment upfront.

Windows and Linux enjoy the popularity of branded and cloned PCs which make Windows and Linux cheaper. But since Linux is generally free, Linux is the least costly investment upfront.(However, it is an on-going debate which OS is cheapest in the long run.

So I won't dwell on that...)Windows enjoys its status of being the top selling OS, making it the most targetted platform for consumer and professional software products. Linux, on the other hand, is a favorite target platform for the many open-source products now available in the market. Mac, however, has fewer business partners to develop applications for its platform, though there are great applications available that are best in Mac than anywhere else.Depending on a users PC need, the best OS is the one that best serves the user's need.As a professional, if my needs require me to use Windows compatible products, then go Windows. If my needs require me to use Linux based products, then Linux it is. If my needs require Mac, then its Mac.But as a consumer, everything else are just wants.For the most part, I'd choose Mac for the eye candies if I want them. For example: Do you really need the water rippling effect when adding a dashboard item on the screen? Or does the screen really have to rotate when switching between users? But they're there and they're beautiful.Otherwise, it's Windows or Linux for me.

Intellitext Debuts MSN Search Toolbar With Privacy Protection

2005-09-24T09:55:00.000+04:00

The tool is designed to deliver information from the Web or desktop without capturing user information. The company is expanding the capabilities of Microsoft Corp.'s MSN Search Toolbar with a proactive research tool that offers users some added privacy.

By Antone Gonsalves TechWeb News

Intellext Inc. is expanding the capabilities of Microsoft Corp.'s MSN Search Toolbar with a proactive research tool that delivers information from the web or the desktop, but doesn't capture any information from the user, which has been a source of criticism against Google Inc.
The Watson 2.0 add-in, released Friday by the Chicago-based company, contains algorithms that tries to determine helpful information based on what the person is writing in Microsoft Word or Excel, or what their checking out on Web pages in Internet Explorer or the Firefox browsers.
The tool, which is meant to lessen the need to launch a separate search, delivers the information from sources selected by the user, whether Web sites or desktop files, in a small strip that can be placed anywhere. The user can decide whether the sidebar is always in view or hidden.
"We've designed Watson to be very polite," Jay Budzik, chief technology officer for Intellext, said. "Our philosophy is the user is in control."
Control over personal information is what Intellext hopes will make its product more appealing to consumers than Google's search services. Privacy advocates have criticized the latter company for gathering and storing search history and other information from users. Google, however, says it does not share the information with third parties, and uses it primarily to help improve its services.
Nevertheless, Intellext believes people are concerned enough about privacy on the Web to consider its tool, which is sold on a subscription basis and is not supported by advertising. The add-in costs $9.95 a month or $99 a year.
"We think the privacy implications are so significant that we have an imperative to protect (customers)," Alan G. Wasserberger, chief executive for Intellext, said.
Ad revenue, however, could eventually contribute to Intellext's bottom line.
"We do see a day when partners will want to put ads in the Watson client, but when we do that, we'll do it in such a way where the customer's privacy is protected," Wasserberger said.
In launching the tool, Intellext wants to tap the millions of users of Microsoft's MSN Search Toolbar, which includes desktop search and other capabilities. Rivals Yahoo Inc. and Google offer similar toolbars.
The interest in desktop search among the portal giants stems from the fact that most people looking to buy or research products on the web use multiple search engines, analysts say. Tying a person's PC to a shopping and entertainment portal through a desktop-search engine makes it more likely a shopper will start with that site.

Nokia 6630 Music

2005-09-20T07:30:00.000+04:00

Nokia 6630 Music

Due September/October 2005

19th September 2005

The Nokia 6630 Music is a repackaging of the standard Nokia 6630 handset which has been around for the best part of a year.

Nokia have enhanced the 6630 by installing an improved music player, and bundling a 256Mb RSMMC memory card, stereo jack adapter and compact card reader into the package, and have cosmetically tweaked it to come in "Rustic Red" and "Aluminium Grey" colour schemes.
It's a slightly oddball device. Many people assumed that the Nokia 6630 was an end-of-life device, having been largely replaced by the slightly better Nokia 6680 and upcoming Nokia N70. Still, the 6630 is a good hardware platform, with a decent 176x220 pixel display, Bluetooth, removable memory plus the Symbian Series 60 operating system. The Nokia 6630's attractive "hamster cheek" design is appealing too. The biggest omission with the 6630 handset is the lack of 3G video calling, as it only has one camera, although that's a pretty good 1.3 megapixel unit.
The clunky stereo jack plug adapter is offputting though (that's the large black cable). Because the Nokia 6630 music doesn't accept a direct connection from a standard headset, the adapter is a necessary but cumbersome component. The compact card reader is also an odd thing, and it's only really useful for people who don't have a multifunction card reader already.

However, the Nokia 6630 platform lends itself well to being a music player. The 256Mb memory card included is enough to be practical, and you can install up to 1Gb of memory into the phone. By our reckoning, that gives about 16 CDs worth of MP3s when recorded at the highest quality (Nokia claim that you can fit 15 CDs worth on the 256Mb card, but in our view this can only be done by recording very low quality MP3s).

Compared to the Motorola ROKR, the Nokia 6630 Music fares well. It has a better camera, larger track capacity, 3G support and an expandable operating system. It even manages to hold its own against the Sony Ericsson W800i, which is a more compact phone with a better camera, but it lacks the Nokia's 3G and smartphone capabilities.

At the same time, Nokia have announced their "Nokia Music Pack" - basically the stereo adapter, memory card and card reader components of the Nokia 6630 Music. This will be available for the 3230, 6230 & 6230i, 6260, 6630, 6680 & 6681/2, 7710, 9300, 9500, N70 and N90 handsets.

The Nokia 6630 Music should start shipping from September 2005 onwards in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Review: Mobile Payment Has Growing Pains

2005-09-18T10:54:00.000+04:00

Review: Mobile Payment Has Growing Pains

Sep 15, 8:55 PM (ET)

By BRIAN BERGSTEIN

(AP) MobileLime president & CEO Robert Wesley poses for photos holding his cell phone in front of credit...Full Image

BOSTON (AP) - The logic is solid behind MobileLime, a new service designed to let you leave your wallet at home - or at least some of the cards in it - and instead use your cell phone to buy things. Too bad the service, in my tests around town, didn't seem quite ready for the mobile masses.
As a concept, buying stuff with your cell phone - more on how you do that in a second - seems like a great idea. For one, who leaves home without their cell these days? And with identity theft a growing concern, who wants to hand their credit card over to a stranger?
The concept already has traction in Japan, where NTT DoCoMo says its mobile wallet service has 3 million users. Compared to Americans, Asian consumers are far more accustomed to using advanced phone services.
The people behind MobileLime, Watertown, Mass.-based Vayusa Inc., hope to change that.

(AP) MobileLime president & CEO Robert Wesley poses for photos holding his cell phone in front of credit...Full ImageThe service exists for now at 80 stores in the Boston area. Vayusa claims it has signed up 10,000 users, and CEO Bob Wesley says he expects that to increase dramatically in coming months with nationwide additions to the network.
MobileLime works with any cell phone, regardless of manufacturer or wireless carrier.
Here's how it operates:
_A fast and painless online registration.
_You transfer money into a MobileLime account and use it like a prepaid debit card. Or you set up the system so each transaction is charged to your credit card.

(AP) A MobileLime's sign is seen on the entrance of Angora Cafe in Boston, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005....Full Image_Once enrolled, you can use the Web site to spot coupons at participating merchants or track your progress in customer loyalty programs. For example, a store might give you $5 off when your cumulative spending there through MobileLime surpasses $75.
_When you're ready to buy something, you pull out the cell phone and call MobileLime. An automated voice greets you by name. You key in your four-digit PIN followed by the location code, a short number posted in the store. Then you give the cashier the last four digits of your cell number.
It's pretty fast - though with all those steps it's slower than cash, unless you begin the keypunching even before the clerk begins to tally your order.
Most attractive are the discounts many MobileLime merchants offer in exchange for being able to track your spending. I got two freshly made smoothies for a total of just $1.09 thanks to the combination of two such deals.
But that's about the only real advantage. It's not like you actually can leave your wallet at home.
I work in downtown Boston, and yet there was only one place nearby that accepted MobileLime: the KaBloom flower stand in South Station, the city's main train depot.
I don't really hold that against MobileLime, because it faces a classic chicken-and-egg problem: Consumers generally don't want to sign up for a technology unless it is usable in lots of locations, but merchants won't bother to adopt a new scheme unless lots of potential customers are on board.
What bothered me more were the service's growing pains.
In my first attempt with it, the sales attendant at KaBloom insisted I couldn't use MobileLime to buy things. She thought it was merely a way to record my purchases so KaBloom could grant me rewards as my spending increased. Paying with the phone? That would leave her register short at the end of the day, she said.
I persisted, and tried to explain, but she stood her ground, and quickly the situation became ridiculous. Someone behind me was waiting. Unwilling to make a flower-buying commuter late for her train, I dropped my pleas, plunked down cash, and left.
Another time, in a creperie in nearby Brookline, I called MobileLime and my PIN got rejected. Again, I ended up paying cash.
Almost certainly, I had simply forgotten my PIN. Not MobileLime's fault, of course, but a downside of the service. So I returned to the Web site and changed the PIN to one I'd be sure to remember.
Then I ventured to a coffee house in Cambridge and tried again.
I ended up making four calls to MobileLime while my cafe au lait was in the works. Each time I entered the PIN, I got silence. Without warning, the call would just drop.
Once again, cash remained king.
Later I was told that the company had made a switch in its computer systems that caused a 20-minute loss of service, which happened to coincide with my test.
From then on, MobileLime worked fine. Discounts due to me were automatically applied. Within seconds of transactions, a receipt was text-messaged to my phone and sent to my e-mail - a setting that can be turned off if you choose.
But the fact remains that the process of calling and punching in codes is too cumbersome.
The real future of mobile payments probably will entail having a radio-frequency chip embedded in the phone casing and letting users just wave the device past checkout-counter readers. Indeed, that technology is already used in Japan's phone-payment services and is beginning to emerge here, too, in new "contactless" credit cards.
To his credit, Wesley says MobileLime is exploring the technology. Until then, I'll hang on to my wallet.

New Google Search Engine Boosts 'Blogging'

2005-09-17T07:37:00.000+04:00

New Google Search Engine Boosts 'Blogging'

Sep 15, 7:51 AM (ET)

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A new Google Inc. (GOOG) specialty search engine sifts through the Internet's millions of frequently updated personal journals, a long-anticipated development expected to help propel "blogging" into the cultural mainstream.
The new tool, unveiled Wednesday at , focuses exclusively on the material contained in the journals known as Web logs, or "blogs."http://blogsearch.google.com
Mountain View-based Google, the Internet's general search engine leader, first set its sights on blogs with its 2003 acquisition of a small startup called Blogger that makes software to publish and manage the journals.
Since that deal, Google had been expected to build a blogging-focused search engine - a mission finally accomplished by a group of by developers in the company's New York office.
"There really has been a need for a world-class search product to expose this dynamic content to a worldwide audience," said Jason Goldman, who came to Google in the Blogger deal and is now the company's product manager for blogging search.
Over the past two years, blogs have become an increasingly popular vehicle for sharing opinions and information, sometimes breaking news and more often prodding the mainstream media into reconsidering how it has handled some big stories.
First word of Google's new searching tool was, in fact, disseminated by a blog.
A few people have been able to make a living largely off their blogs, or parlay them into book deals. Blogs also have been a source of embarrassment and angst, resulting in the firings of several workers, including a Google product manager, who angered their employers with revelations posted on their sites.
No one knows for certain just how big the so-called "blogosphere" has become. Technorati, the niche's top search engine so far, says it indexes 17.1 million sites spanning about 1.5 billion links.
Goldman declined to disclose the size of Google's blogging index.
Despite blogging's steady growth, its appeal has remained narrow, skewing primarily to younger audiences and technological trendsetters.
But given Google's broad reach, its specialty search engine is expected to provide blogging with additional momentum. Google said to tool would allow searches not just for blogs written in English but also in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese and other languages.
The appearance of the new Google tool, which catalogs the latest blog postings by looking at the Web feeds they generate, also makes it more likely that two other tech powerhouses and fierce rivals, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), will develop a similar feature.
Microsoft's next operating system, Vista, is supposed to feature built-in tools for Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, and Atom - the two most widely used techniques for letting people subscribe to Web feeds to keep abreast of the latest postings on blogs and news sites.
"This sort of feels like 1995 when the Web was just starting to explode. Now it feels like the same thing is happening to blogging," said Bob Wyman, chief technical officer for PubSub, which offers a Web feed subscription service.
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN already had been indexing blogs in their general search engines, but the broad approach reaps results that often buries blog links or points to outdated information.
By focusing exclusively on blog feeds, Google theoretically will be able to deliver fresher and more relevant results.
Google's expansion, coupled with the likely invasion of Yahoo and Microsoft, could spell trouble for the early specialty engines that have helped bolster blogging in its early stages. Besides Technorati, this group includes Feedster, IceRocket and DayPop.
Although the pioneers have played an important role in blogging's growth, they remain so small that only Technorati attracts enough visitors to register in the monthly Internet traffic measurements compiled by Nielsen/NetRatings.
Technorati drew 545,000 unique visitors last month, less than 1 percent of the 73.1 million that swarmed to Google's main search page, Nielsen/NetRatings said.
In a Wednesday posting on his blog, Technorati founder David Sifry welcomed Google's competition, describing it as "a validation moment for the blogosphere" and promising to counter with "some tricks up our sleeves."

Careful or they'll hear your password

2005-09-15T14:11:00.000+04:00

Careful or they'll hear your password
September 15, 2005

Computer scientists at the University of California at Berkeley have found a new way to crack computer passwords: By listening.

Professor Doug Tygar and graduate student Li Zhuang use off-the-shelf microphones to record keystroke sounds and run the noise through a modified program originally designed to recognize human speech. On its first pass, the program correctly identifies only half the typed letters. The results are then fed through software that spots spelling and grammar errors. Data from these programs are used to train the keystroke recognizer, so that it gets more accurate with each pass. By the third run, ''we get 96 percent of all the characters," said Tygar.
Tygar said that when assigned to crack a 10-digit password, the software replies with 75 possibilities. ''This means we can break into one of every 75 people's accounts, on the first try," he said.
Even more alarming, sound snoopers don't need direct access to the computer. They could aim a sensitive parabolic antenna from a building across the street. They might tap the target's telephone and collect keystroke sounds from its microphone. Many computers even have built-in microphones that ''Trojan horse" software could trick into switching on and relaying the sounds to a remote location.
Tygar said that computer users should adopt alternatives, such as ''two-factor authentication," produced by companies like RSA Security Inc. of Bedford. This method involves two passwords -- the typical kind, and a second numerical one generated by an electronic device. The second password changes once a minute.
''That sort of system would be robust against our attack," said Tygar, ''because you'd never type in the same password twice."
The research was subsidized by the US Postal Service and the National Science Foundation as part of a program to identify computer security threats.

Yahoo Launches Test of E-Mail Upgrade

2005-09-14T10:12:00.000+04:00

Yahoo Launches Test of E-Mail Upgrade

Sep 14, 12:42 AM (ET)

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) on Wednesday will begin testing a sleeker version of its free e-mail service, shifting to a more dynamic design that mimics the look and feel of a computer desktop application like Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s Outlook.
The Sunnyvale-based company plans to invite a "sizable" portion of its current e-mail accountholders to experiment with the retooled service, said Yahoo spokeswoman Karen Mahon, who declined to be more specific.
If the test goes well, all of Yahoo's e-mail users - an audience that spans tens of millions - eventually will be converted to the new system.
Yahoo imported most of the changes from Oddpost, an e-mail startup the company bought for an undisclosed amount last year.
The overhaul, described as the most extensive since Yahoo began offering free e-mail accounts eight years ago, represents the latest salvo in a technological tug-of-war for online traffic.
For the past two years, Yahoo and its main Internet rivals - Google Inc. (GOOG), AOL and Microsoft's MSN.com - have been unveiling a series of upgrades aimed at attracting and retaining their Web audiences so they remain appealing outlets for advertisers.
Google, which runs the Internet's most popular search engine, shook things up in the e-mail market last year by introducing a free service that included 250 times more storage than some of its rivals. Yahoo and MSN subsequently matched Google, which responded by more than doubling its e-mail storage limit to 2.5 gigabytes.
More recently, the major e-mail providers have been introducing other bells and whistles to keep their users happy and coming back for more ads. Yahoo's upgrade follows recent AOL improvements meant to make its e-mail service quicker and easier to use.
"Last year was the year of storage in e-mail, but now the real competition seems to be about who has the coolest user interfaces," Radicati Group analyst Marcel Nienhuis said.
Yahoo's e-mail service is currently leading the pack, with 63.6 million unique U.S. visitors during July, according to the most recent figures from comScore Media Metrix, a research firm. AOL ranked second with 48.7 million visitors followed by MSN's Hotmail (44.4 million), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)'s Webmail (5.6 million) and Google's Gmail (5.4 million).
With its changes, Yahoo's e-mail will look more like a traditional inbox that operates through a software program installed on a computer hard drive instead of being hosted on the Internet. Yet Yahoo's redesigned service still relies on a Web browser and won't require its users to install anything on their computers.
Using "dynamic" html, Yahoo's e-mail accounts will feature an inbox containing all e-mails on the top of the page with a separate pane for reading e-mail below it. The feature is meant to enable users to scroll through an e-mail folder without having to click back and forth between Web pages.
Yahoo's test audience also will use a computer mouse to "drag and drop" e-mails from one folder to another and search all the content, including attachments, stored in the inbox.
"Our competition has been doing some interesting things in e-mail, but we think we have leapfrogged them all with all these new features," said Ethan Diamond, an Oddpost co-founder who works for Yahoo as a director of product management.

Microsoft to Release New Developers Tools

2005-09-11T10:57:00.000+04:00

Microsoft to Release New Developers Tools

Sep 8, 9:00 PM (ET)

SEATTLE (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is releasing several new tools to help developers build software applications that work with its online search and communication products.
The hope is that such add-ons will draw more users to Microsoft products and help the company better compete with market leaders such as Google Inc. (GOOG) and America Online Inc. The tools will mostly be released at a Microsoft developer conference next week in Los Angeles.
Redmond-based Microsoft said Thursday the tools are for add-ons to its desktop, Internet and localized search technologies, as well as its MSN Messenger instant messaging program.
For example, one developer is working on a tool that would automatically translate instant messages from one language to another as they are being sent, said Adam Sohn, a director in the marketing group for Microsoft's MSN Internet unit.
Other tools are aimed at letting developers build specialized programs on top of its search engine, so that people could more easily conduct specialized searches from smaller data pools.
The releases include tools to build specialized products for its localized search function called Virtual Earth, which will allow results from multiple searches to be layered atop a single map. The tools will be free to some developers, in a bid to jumpstart interest in the developing technology.
Many companies, including Microsoft and Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, are working to improve localized search functions, both because they are helpful and because they have huge potential for advertising revenue.

One patch due in Microsoft's monthly security update

2005-09-10T16:53:00.000+04:00

One patch due in Microsoft's monthly security update
Fix to critical bug in OS to be released Tuesday

News Story by Robert McMillan
SEPTEMBER 09, 2005

(IDG NEWS SERVICE) - September is starting to look like a quiet month for Microsoft Corp.'s security response team. The software vendor said its monthly release of security fixes, expected Tuesday, will cover only one issue: an unidentified flaw in the Windows operating system.
The bug is rated as critical, meaning that a worm could take advantage of it without user action.
The patch for this bug, called an "update" by Microsoft, will come as part of the company's regular monthly patch release cycle. Microsoft releases most software patches on the second Tuesday of each month, a date that has come to be known as "Patch Tuesday" by security professionals.
In August, Microsoft released six updates on Patch Tuesday, and hackers wasted no time in targeting one of the problems they fixed. Within days, a number of different worm attacks that exploited a bug in the Windows Plug and Play service began taking down an estimated 250,000 computers, primarily Windows 2000 systems running in corporate environments (see "Worm wave highlights need for speedier defenses").
When Microsoft releases a large number of patches, companies can spend the entire month testing the new software to make sure it works with their applications. But with only one bug to be patched this month, it should be much easier, said Steve Manzuik, a product manager at eEye Digital Security Inc.'s research group.
"I think September will be quiet," Manzuik said. "When we get the six, seven, eight or nine patches, it gets to be a bit more difficult."

Microsoft TV-Enabled Set-Top Boxes

2005-09-10T16:49:00.000+04:00

They're Here: Microsoft TV-Enabled Set-Top Boxes
Software giant announces the availability of hardware for its IPTV technology.

John Blau, IDG News Service
Friday, September 09, 2005

After lining up several big-name telecommunication service providers to offer its new IPTV (Internet Protocol television) technology, Microsoft is now following up with a list of companies to provide optimized set-top boxes, and with a new system-on-chip component targeted at consumer electronics manufacturers.

At the International Broadcasters Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam, the U.S. software company announced on Friday the availability of the first set-top systems supporting Microsoft TV IPTV Edition. The IPM11xx products, jointly developed by Thomson and Intel, are now shipping to customers, Microsoft says. The products support a range of video codecs, including MPEG-2, Windows Media Video 9, and MPEG-4 AVC, and are equipped with a 1.4-GHz Intel 854 processor.
Also announced at IBC were two new set-top box suppliers: Linksys-KiSS (a division of Cisco Systems), which plans to have a product on the market in December; and Tatung, which provided no details on product availability.
Motorola, which announced its support for Microsoft IPTV technology in a range of IP-based video products earlier this year, says it plans to offer a hybrid IPTV-DTT (digital terrestrial television) product as well.
"This hybrid product is aimed mostly at the European market, where this is a substantial amount of free over-the-air digital service," says Ed Gracyzk, director of marketing for the Microsoft TV division.
Scientific-Atlanta, another supplier that previously announced its support for Microsoft TV IPTV Edition, says it is working on a range of products targeting both the North American and European markets.
Pricing will be down to service providers. "The manufacturers of the set-top boxes will sell their products to the telecommunication service providers, which, in turn, will most likely lease this equipment to customers as part of a service package," Gracyzk says. "So it is very difficult to say what the set-top boxes will cost."
System on a Chip
Another key announcement made by Microsoft at IBC is the availability of a new system-on-chip component, which enables the production of low-cost devices optimized for Microsoft TV IPTV Edition. The SMP8634 media processor, supplied by Sigma Designs, can be embedded in a range of consumer electronic devices, such as TV sets, PCs, and game consoles, according to Microsoft.
"This is an important product development for a couple of reasons," Gracyzk says. "First of all, the chip will help manufacturers reduce costs by integrating various functions into one chip and eliminating the need for various components. And second, the chips can be embedded into many different kinds of consumer electronic products, such as DVD players, thus eliminating the need for a separate IPTV receiver."
With IPTV set-top box products now trickling in, the next question is: When will service be available? "Our software platform is in the final stage and will be available before the end of the year," Gracyzk says.
Most of the operators that have agreed to use Microsoft's IPTV technology plan to roll out service in the course of next year. A few, such as Swisscom, which had planned service earlier, were forced to delay their commercial launches largely because of technical difficulties with the Microsoft software.
The list of operators signed up by Microsoft includes BT Group, Telecom Italia, and Deutsche Telekom in Europe, as well as BellSouth, SBC Communications, and Verizon Communications in North America.

10 Highly Effective Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website

2005-09-08T14:23:00.000+04:00

10 Highly Effective Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website
Posted by Advanced Search Email Address: Your Name: Got a on: 2005-09-07 18:07:41

There are many ways to promote your website for free online. Here are 10 highly effective strategies you can use right now.

1. Write articles or free reports for other webmasters to publish and put your website address in the by-line. If you write good content, your articles will be published and many readers who like your article will go on to visit your website.

2. Arrange a Joint Venture partnership with List owners and Webmasters.

3. Add your ad or website address to your email signature. This way, every time you send an email, you'll be promoting your website.

4. Exchange Links with Other Webmasters. This is another effective strategy for generating targeted traffic to your website for free. It involves contacting other webmasters for a possible link exchange partnership.

5. Add a blog to your site and Ping weblogs.com and other search engines. Pinging your blogs to the search engines is the fastest way to get the search engine robots to visit your blog and attract new visitors to your web site.

6. Submit your blog address to blog search sites and directories. You can submit your blog's URL to websites such as Technorati, Daypop, Blogdex and Popdex. For a complete list of websites where you can submit your URL, go to http://www.guidetorss.com

7. Create RSS feeds for your site and submit the feed URLs to the major RSS feed directories online. A good place to start is http://www.guidetorss.com/ which provides a list of the top RSS directories.

8. Be an active commenter. Try to leave comments on the blogs that you regularly visit. Most comment systems also provide a way for you to leave a link back to your blog or website which begs a visit at the very least.

9. If you plan to have anything printed up, put your web address on it. You can print your URL on business cards, stickers, leaflets, etc.

10. Add your web address to your forum profile signature. Every time you post or respond to questions your ad will be displayed. If you post good content in forums, people who read your threads will also check out your website.

© Copyright 2005 Chileshe Mwape. Submit articles for free at http://www.going-platinum.co.uk/ All articles are published instantly. You can submit reports, news, press releases, stories, product reviews, opinions, editorials about your website and services and much more.

Microsoft muscles in on internet telephone market

2005-09-01T21:44:00.000+04:00

Microsoft muscles in on internet telephone market

Thursday September 01, 2005 (0139 PST)

The voice wars between the search conglomerates intensified this week when Microsoft’s MSN said it had bought VoIP provider Teleo, a move that could give the portal an edge in communications.
Microsoft Corp. acquired a San Francisco company that specializes in technology for making calls from PCs to regular telephones -- trying to give its MSN unit an edge over rivals in the increasingly crowded instant-messaging market.
The acquisition further solidifies Microsoft's "pervasive" communications strategy, says Daniel Hong, senior CRM analyst at Datamonitor. "Voice is the next killer app for PC-based messaging. Integrating Teleo's technology, Microsoft will be able to provide more intuitive and feature-rich VoIP applications to end users." The company certainly is looking to become more of a player in voice technology, says Rob Arnold, enterprise telephony analyst at Current Analysis. However, the acquisition will have less of an impact on the contact center, and "will definitely have more of an effect on the savvy multimedia user," Arnold says.
In addition to new entrant Google, Microsoft's main instant messaging competitors are Yahoo! and AOL. Yahoo!'s instant messenger had 78.8 million users in July, compared with 189.7 million for MSN Messenger and 64.4 million for Time Warner Inc.'s AOL Instant Messenger.
Yahoo! wants to let customers make calls from its messaging program to land-line phones in the coming months.
Privately held Teleo was founded in 2003. Its service let users make calls from a PC to mobile phones, regular phones and other PCs.

Libraries Offering Audiobook Downloads

2005-08-29T07:30:00.000+04:00

Libraries Offering Audiobook Downloads

Aug 26, 8:38 AM (ET)

By MICHAEL HILL

GUILDERLAND, N.Y. (AP) - A new way to borrow audiobooks from the library involves no CDs, no car trips, no fines and no risk of being shushed. Rather, public libraries from New York City to Alameda, Calif., are letting patrons download Tom Clancy techno-thrillers, Arabic tutorials and other titles to which they can listen on their computers or portable music players - all without leaving home.
Librarians say such offerings help libraries stay relevant in the digital age.
Barbara Nichols Randall, director of the Guilderland Public Library in suburban Albany, said the library considered the needs of younger readers and those too busy to visit.
"This is a way for us to have library access 24/7," she said.

(AP) Barbara Nichols Randall, director of the Guilderland Public Library holds an audiobook in the books...Full ImageThere's still one big hitch, though: The leading library services offer Windows-friendly audiobook files that can't be played on Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL)'s massively popular iPod player.
Vendors such as OverDrive Inc. and OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc.'s NetLibrary have licensing deals with publishers and provide digital books using Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s Windows Media Audio format, which includes copyright protections designed to help audiobooks stand apart from the often lawless world of song swapping.
A patron with a valid library card visits a library Web site to borrow a title for, say, three weeks. When the audiobook is due, the patron must renew it or find it automatically "returned" in a virtual sense: The file still sits on the patron's computer, but encryption makes it unplayable beyond the borrowing period.
"The patron doesn't have to do anything after the lending period," said Steve Potash, chief executive of OverDrive. "The file expires. It checks itself back into the collection. There's no parts to lose. It's never damaged. It can never be late."
Potash said about 1,000 libraries have signed up for OverDrive's audiobook service since its debut late last year. NetLibrary, teaming up with Recorded Books, launched a similar service in January and counts 200 library customers.

(AP) Visitors to the audiobook section of the Guilderland Public Library in Guilderland, N.Y., on...Full ImageLibraries offering audiobook downloads range from large institutions in New York and Los Angeles to smaller ones for Cleveland, Ohio, Maricopa County, Ariz., North Little Rock, Ark. and Omaha, Neb. The Hawaii State Public Library System signed up earlier this month.
Guilderland pays NetLibrary about $6,000 a year for more than 850 titles. Randall considers that a good deal, noting that a single audiobook can cost the library up to $80 when bought on CD.
Under the NetLibrary program, Guilderland gets a set number of downloads for all titles each year, and a single title can be borrowed by multiple patrons simultaneously as long as the cap hasn't been reached. Downloads over the cap cost extra. Patrons must provide their own audio players, although they may listen on their home computers if they do not have one.
Other libraries make different arrangements. OverDrive, for example, generally takes a more traditional approach. When a copy is checked out, no other patron may download it until the borrowing period ends.
It's still unclear what impact such services will have on audiobook download sales from companies such as Audible Inc. (ADBL), although one analyst suggested it could inspire more sales as patrons buy for keeps a title they had borrowed.
"It's certainly smart for the publishers to do this," said Phil Leigh, a senior analyst with Inside Digital Media.
Digital downloads are a part of a natural progression for libraries, which have evolved from lending books to cassettes and videotapes to CDs and DVDs. OverDrive recently launched a video download service for libraries.
Librarians say they had little interest in audiobook downloads just a few years ago, but they have since noticed what everyone else has: the ubiquity of people sporting earbuds on streets, buses and malls.
Nearly 28 million portable audio players were sold last year, according to In-Stat, a technology research company. With more than 21 million sold, the iPod remains the signature portable player. But it uses the Advanced Audio Coding format with FairPlay, its own digital rights management system and one incompatible with Windows' technology.
Just as the lack of a standard digital audio format has fragmented the music download market, it affects audiobooks.
Users of iPods can still listen to books purchased through sources such as audible.com or Apple's own iTunes Music Store, but the library services, for now, are geared toward computers and devices that support Windows Media Audio files. OverDrive files can be burned to CDs and converted to iPod friendly formats, but NetLibrary's cannot.
Marge Gammon of NetLibrary said that despite iPod's cache, the company wanted a product that could be played on a range of devices. OverDrive's Potash notes there's a growing market of portable audio players, some priced lower then $50 (Regular iPod models start at $299, though the Minis start at $199 and Shuffles at $99).
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said the company has no plans to change its copy-protection formats and would not comment on the incompatibility issue.
Librarians say they have heard complaints from iPod users, but there's little they can do beyond waiting for the industry to sort out its differences.
One California library shunned the download services completely, largely because of iPod's popularity. Instead, Newport Beach Public Library bought 15 iPod Shuffles and loaded them up with audiobooks from iTunes to loan out. Patrons are liable for any loss or damage, though librarian Genesis Hansen said there's been no problems so far.

Google warms up for online voice calls

2005-08-25T07:17:00.000+04:00

Google warms up for online voice calls

By David Litterick in New York and Dominic White (Filed: 25/08/2005)

Google yesterday opened a new front in the internet turf war with the launch of an instant messaging system that will allow users to make voice calls over the net.
The company is striving to expand its services beyond its search engine and hopes "Google Talk" will enable it to do so.
It will take on AOL, currently the US market leader in instant messaging with 41m people signed up, and Skype, tops in internet phone calls with 51m users worldwide.
Google dominates search - a position it hopes to translate into success in messaging and internet telephony.
However, analysts cautioned yesterday that persuading users to switch to Google from their current messaging system could meet inertia.
Users of Google Talk must have a Gmail account - Google's email service which marked its first foray into communications when it was launched last year. The service is only available through referrals from friends but Google yesterday said it would make it simpler to sign up.
Crucial to Google Talk's potential success is the boast that its "open model" will trump the closed systems of its rivals by enabling users to message the networks of other companies. Skype responded quickly yesterday by announcing it, too, was opening up its platform to others. Skype also retains the advantage that it allows users to make calls from PCs to land lines and mobile phones. Google Talk will initially only enable PC-to-PC communication.
Nevertheless, it backs up the assertion of Google chief Eric Schmidt who said "the only things that will matter on the internet are search and communication".
The launch of Google Talk, which will initially be free of adverts, is expected to drive adoption of Gmail, where Google makes money through the placing of ads targeted at the subject matter of an email.
The company announced last week that it planned to raise $4billion (£2.2billion) through a secondary share offering, prompting rumours it intended to buy its way into the market through the acquisition of a firm such as Skype.
Yahoo has also been in talks with the Luxembourg-based internet telephony leader which boasts 51m unique users, although talks broke down a month ago. Jerrome Buvat, strategic business consultant at CapGemini, said: "It is not surprising that Google is launching a voice over internet (VoIP) service given the very high growth of this market.
''The number of VoIP minutes is currently growing at a rate of 50pc a year."
In a timely reminder of the growth potential, the OECD yesterday said the growing popularity of internet telephony was posing a threat to the revenues of fixed-line and mobile operators.
The organisation said the number of fixed lines fell for the first time ever in 2003, and said Skype subscribers could make savings of 80pc on their telephone calls over users of traditional carriers.
Google has recently embarked on a blitz of new product launches as it attempts to win the PR battle with rivals and create a "one-stop-shop" on the net enabling users to manage their entire computer system from one website platform.

Speed of cars 'will be limited by computer'

2005-08-22T07:14:00.000+04:00

Speed of cars 'will be limited by computer'

By David Millward, Transport Correspondent
(Filed: 22/08/2005)

Cars of the future could have their speed controlled by a computer, with drivers denied even the option of breaking the limit.
The Government is examining the results of research into "intelligent speed adaptation technology" carried out by the Institute for Transport Studies at Leeds University.
The system builds on devices already well known to road users: speed-limiters, such as those already fitted on coaches and heavy lorries, and satellite positioning, as found in anti-theft trackers and in-car navigation.
By combining the two technologies, cars can be controlled remotely.
The institute installed the system on 20 cars, and programmed speed limits on to an in-car digital map.
For the first month, drivers were told of the speed limit, but were left to decide whether to observe it.
For the following four months, the car was forced to slow down as the technology took over control of the accelerator pedal.
Then, for a final month, the driver was given full control of the car again.
The purpose of the research, according to the Department of Transport, was to examine how the technology affected driver behaviour.
There are no plans to make it compulsory. For the time being, at least, transport officials have ruled out another version of the system which could use roadside beacons - already in operation for some road-charging systems - to send signals to a passing car and ensure that it remained within the speed limit.
However, companies such as Siemens are experimenting with a consumer version of the product which, it is believed, may appeal to motorists. One potential market would be the driver who has amassed a number of penalty points on his or her licence and wants to avoid disqualification.
By adding speed limit data to existing satellite navigation systems, the driver could be told of the limit and then be forced to stick to it as the flow of fuel to the accelerator was controlled.
An alternative use would be to link the speed-limiter to an anti-theft tracker. Thus it would not only be possible to locate a stolen car, but also make it impossible for the thief to take it above a pre-set speed, such as 20 mph.
In its simplest form, a driver would need only a speed-limiter and a receiver, normally a small black box similar in size to a mobile phone, capable of picking up the satellite signal.
"It just needs the box to know where you are," said Andy Reeves, a product manager with Siemens. If the system was produced on a large scale, it could cost as little as £100, he added.

Infection Rates in New Windows Worm Low

2005-08-21T07:23:00.000+04:00

Infection Rates in New Windows Worm Low

Aug 18, 9:38 PM (ET)

By MATTHEW FORDAHL

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Malicious hackers unleashed new variants of a computer worm that attacks a vulnerability in Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s Windows 2000 operating system, but infection rates appeared to be relatively low and damage minor Wednesday.
The latest "War of the Worms" stands in contrast to previous outbreaks that brought networks and millions of PCs to a crawl in recent years.
It's a sign, security experts say, that computer users are heeding warnings to quickly install patches as they're released. It also indicates that Microsoft's efforts to batten down the hatches of its ubiquitous software is paying off.
"Customers who have been impacted are feeling pain and we're working with them to make sure they get through the recovery process as soon as possible," said Debby Fry Wilson, director of Microsoft's Security Response Center. "But in terms of the numbers of customers impacted, it is relatively low."
Still, administrators of infected computers scrambled Wednesday to clean their machines. In Massachusetts, the worm blocked e-mails and slowed Internet connections at state government offices and caused delays at the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Across the country, San Diego County officials said 12,000 computers needed to be "fixed" after the outbreak.
Boeing Co. (BA) computers in St. Louis and Long Beach, Calif., also were hit, said spokesman Robert Jorgensen. Infected machines were isolated and patched, creating an "inconvenience" but not affecting critical operations, he said.
Several media outlets - including The New York Times, CNN and ABC - reported that the worms had invaded their networks. San Diego County was cleaning the bug from 12,000 computers. The worm blocked e-mails and slowed Internet connections in Massachusetts state government and caused delays at the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Besides sluggish network connections caused by their spread, the worms - Rbot, Zotob and variants - also opened a backdoor that could be used to install additional programs. Some infected PCs also reboot repeatedly without warning.
On Wednesday, four new variants of the worm had been detected by F-Secure Corp. in Finland, bringing the total to 11, said Mikko Hypponen, the company's manager of antivirus research. He said the variations apparently had been programmed to compete with each other - one automated "bot" pushing the worm will remove another from an infected computer.
"We seem to have a botwar on our hands," Hypponen said. "There appears to be three different virus-writing gangs turning out new worms at an alarming rate - as if they would be competing who would build the biggest network of infected machines."
The latest worm targets a vulnerability that was publicly disclosed Aug. 9 by Microsoft, which also released a free fix. The problem involves the "Plug and Play" service that lets users easily install hardware on their PCs.
By Aug. 12, someone had posted code that could be used to build a worm - a piece of malicious software that replicates over networks. By Sunday, the first worm was released into the wild, continuing the trend of hackers increasing the speed with which they develop exploits.
From the start, the number of potential victims was limited by the fact that only a vulnerability in Windows 2000 was remotely exploitable. The operating system was never marketed as a consumer product.
The damage was further reduced by the fact that businesses have become more aware of the risks of not maintaining tight security.
"Businesses in general are doing a much better job at putting patches in place," said Martha Stuart, a researcher at the computer security firm Sophos Inc.
At the same time, Microsoft has reworked later versions of Windows to limit a computer's exposure to nasty software from the Internet.
Last summer, the company released a security update to Windows XP. By default, it recommends switching on automatic updates and installs a firewall that blocks the traffic used by the worm to propagate.
But even if those measures had been turned off, users of the latest Windows operating system were not affected. Microsoft reworked the software to ensure that it was less exposed to remote attacks.
"Compared to earlier versions of Windows, there are a third less vulnerabilities because of the security development work we have done - and half the number of critical vulnerabilities," Wilson said.
Microsoft will further ratchet up security with its next-generation operating system, Windows Vista, which is set for release next year.
Still, few expect the number of attacks to diminish. Running on an estimated 90 percent of PCs, Windows offers malicious programmers the opportunity of wide exposure and the potential of great damage should an attack succeed.

Turf war erupts as hackers send viruses to hijack PCs

2005-08-18T07:58:00.000+04:00

Turf war erupts as hackers send viruses to hijack PCs

Richard Wray
Thursday August 18, 2005
The Guardian

A turf war has erupted on the internet between competing hackers trying to hijack computers running Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system to turn them into "zombie PCs".
Variants of a "worm" that installs itself on computers connected to the internet so they can be accessed by hackers to send spam or disrupt networks hit several high-profile US companies early on Wednesday morning.
US broadcasting networks ABC and CNN were affected as well as the New York Times and Californian bulldozer manufacturer Caterpillar.

This side of the Atlantic, printing of Tuesday's edition of the Financial Times was also affected as systems went haywire.
Patrick Runald, senior anti-virus consultant at Finnish software security specialist F-Secure said the worms, also known as bots, are part of a new and growing trend among hackers to create zombie PCs. These infected computers can be controlled by hackers, and their computing power sold to the highest bidder for illicit purposes such as sending spam or directing network attacks.
"Over the last 18 months or so the virus writing world has changed. In the past, people just wanted to disrupt a lot of machines because it was fun. Now it is about making money, where people try and infect a lot of machines and make them into zombies," he said.
The current set of worms has been developed to take advantage of a vulnerability within Windows 2000 that Microsoft made public last week. While most home users still use Windows 98 or have switched to XP, analysts reckon half of corporations with more than 250 computers still run Windows 2000.
With IT professionals racing to patch the hole in Windows 2000's "plug and play" hardware recognition feature, hackers have to move fast to take advantage of the situation. This has led some hackers to create worms that kill other worms that may already have infected a PC.
"Essentially, we have a bot war going on," said Mr Runald. "There is a small window of opportunity from now until the majority of PCs are patched when hackers can turn them into zombies."
Even when patched, an infected PC will remain infected and users will have to install anti-virus software such as that available free on f-secure.com to remove the worms.

Employers Fill 2006 High-Tech Visa Quotas

2005-08-13T14:01:00.000+04:00

Employers Fill 2006 High-Tech Visa Quotas

Aug 12, 6:56 PM (ET)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Immigration officials said Friday they are no longer accepting applications for H1-B visas for high-tech and specialty workers because they have enough to meet the 2006 quota.
Citizenship and Immigration Services, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, received enough applications by Wednesday to meet the quota, agency said. The cutoff of applications comes a little more than a month earlier than last year.
Federal law provides 65,000 H1-B visas every fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Of those, 6,800 are set aside for workers from Chile and Singapore under terms of U.S. trade agreements with those countries.
The visas are granted to foreigners in specialty professions such as scientists, engineers and computer programmers. H1-B visas are good for up to six years. Under the program, employers must pay foreign workers the prevailing wage for their job fields and show that qualified U.S. workers are not being passed over.
The visas are controversial. High-tech and other employers say too few such visas are available and more are needed, but groups representing labor unions and high-tech workers say Americans are being replaced by foreign workers who work for less money.
Visas are still available for some of the additional 20,000 H1-B visas Congress provided for foreigners with a U.S.-earned master's degree or higher U.S. degree. Foreigners who work at higher education institutions or a nonprofit or government research organization on H1-B visas are not counted in the annual cap. The agency still is accepting applications in those categories.
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On the Net:
Department of Homeland Security: http://www.dhs.gov

2006 Need for High-Tech Workers Nearly Met

2005-08-10T11:12:00.000+04:00

2006 Need for High-Tech Workers Nearly Met

Aug 8, 6:36 PM (ET)
By SUZANNE GAMBOA

WASHINGTON (AP) - Employers are closing in on the limit for hiring foreign high-tech workers for jobs next year, roughly two months before the start of the 2006 fiscal year, an immigration official said Monday.
The number of applications for the jobs, many of them in high-tech companies, was nearly 52,000 as of Thursday, with 22,383 applications for H1-B visas approved and 29,556 pending.
"The cap will definitely be hit before Oct. 1, which was when it was hit last year," said Chris Bentley, spokesman for the agency that is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
H1-B visas are granted to foreigners in specialty professions such as computer programming. Under the program, employers must pay foreign workers the prevailing wage for their job fields and show that qualified U.S. workers are not being passed over.
Federal law provides 65,000 H1-B visas every fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Of those, 6,800 are set aside for workers from Chile and Singapore.
Bentley said he could not predict when the cap would be hit because a flood of applications could come in on a single day or be submitted over several days.
Employers, particularly high-tech companies, have long argued that not enough H1-B visas are available.
Congress temporarily raised the number to 195,000 during the high-tech boom. In April, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, in a rare visit to Washington, lobbied the Bush administration to lift the limit on H1-B visas, saying anyone with good computer science training is not unemployed. Unions and other critics say the program allows businesses to fill jobs with cheaper foreign labor.
Meanwhile, employers have used about half of the H1-B visas available this year for foreign workers with advanced degrees in math and science. Congress provided another 20,000 for foreigners with master's degrees or doctorates in those fields, although the visas didn't become available until May. About 8,200 applications for those visas for the 2006 fiscal year have been approved or are pending.

Bangalore to host information industry summit

2005-08-06T07:51:00.000+04:00

Bangalore to host information industry summit

Infovision 2005 to discuss means to move up the value chain in the information industry
Thursday, August 04, 2005

BANGALORE: An international summit to bring together an interface between the academia and information industry veterans would be held in Bangalore on 15-16 September.
Called Infovision 2005, the event is organized to provide a platform for all stakeholders in the information and content industry including IT, knowledge management, media, information sciences and management.
Briefing the media on the highlights of the summit, the event's co-chair Prof N Balakrishnan, chairman, division of information sciences, IISc said, “India needs to move up the value chain in the information industry. There is also no clear-cut policy on content and information management in the country. We hope that this summit would help in getting insights into this issue.”
The global information industry is estimated at $200 billion.
The program highlights include panels on IT and content management, knowledge management, e-publishing, search engines and data mining, e-learning and digital learning and intellectual property rights. The summit organisers expect 500 delegates to participate including academia, researchers, CEOs, CIOs, content managers and e-publishers.
Prominent speakers at the summit include Ajit Balakrishnan, CEO, Rediff.com; RA Mashelkar, director-general, SCIR; Derk Haank, CEO, Springer, Germany; P Anandan, MD, Microsoft Research India, S Sadagopan, director, IIITB and Nick Moore, chairman, Acumen Consulting and Research, UK.

CyberMedia News

Longhorn Beta Shows Where OS Is Headed

2005-08-04T07:35:00.000+04:00

Longhorn Beta Shows Where OS Is Headed
Aug 3, 8:41 PM (ET)

By MATTHEW FORDAHL

Known for years by the code name "Longhorn," the successor to Microsoft's Windows XP has been dubbed "Longwait" for its numerous delays. As features have been announced, it's also been accused of copying of Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL)'s Mac OS X.
And that was before most people had the chance to see - let alone use - what's now been christened Windows Vista.
Microsoft finally took some of the wraps off last week, releasing Vista's first major test version to about 500,000 programmers and tech professionals. The goal is to let them kick the tires, run their software on it and provide feedback.
Beta 1, as it's known, is far from complete but gives a taste for where the world's most widely used operating system is headed.
Yes, it does have more of a Mac-like look and feel.
And, yes, it's insanely late.
But it also gives users hope that some of Windows' most serious annoyances and dangers might be mitigated just in time for the holidays of 2006, when the final version is expected to be out.
A copy of Beta 1 arrived last week, and I installed it on a state-of-the-art PC that had been running Windows 2000. Because it's a beta - and the first one at that - I won't mention the roughest areas.
Instead, I wanted to look at Windows Vista's potential, and I found a lot to like. Beta 2, which will be more widely available, is expected to have more features and much bigger appeal.
The way Vista organizes and finds information topped my list of improvements.
In Windows XP, users often launch a program by clicking on the "Start" button and selecting from a menu that lists programs in order of how frequently they're used. If a program isn't on that short list, the user is stuck wading through a potentially long list that appears when the "All Programs" option is selected.
In Beta 1, the list of popular programs is still there but the "All Programs" link now triggers a much easier to navigate list. No more clumsy scrolling.
If you don't like that, you can search for a program by typing its name into a box built into the menu.
The search improvements do not end there.
If you want to find a document in XP, there's a search link in the start menu. Once the keywords are entered, a cartoon character - a dog, by default - does a little dance while the hard drive is scoured. Results appear in seconds - and they include not just text documents but pictures, e-mails and any other type of file.
A mini search box also appears in the upper right corner of every window, so it's no longer necessary to return to the Start menu. As well, searches can be saved as a virtual folder. When opened, such a folder will retrieve any documents that meet the saved criteria. (Files also can have keywords attached - something that will make nontext items easier to find if the time is taken to enter descriptive words.)
Mac fans are probably screaming. Yes, this is very similar to the Spotlight function in the recent update of Mac OS X. At this stage of development, Vista does bear a significant resemblance.
Mac lovers are also likely to fume once they see Vista's graphics. Green progress bars shimmer. The Minimize-Maximize-Close buttons look something like glowing Chicklets when moused over. Each window has a drop shadow while borders and title bars are slightly transparent. Folder icons now show the documents inside, such as a very small picture thumbnail for an image file. The icons also can be enlarged.
Finally, when a program is launched, its window doesn't just appear but pops open in a slick animation. When minimized, the window slides into the taskbar.
It remains to be seen whether the graphics capabilities will be turned into something more than eye candy. Apple has made great strides on this front, particularly with a technology called Expose that quickly tiles open windows with one key press.
Though improved searching and fancy graphics are nice, the biggest changes are in security.
Internet surfers will notice that the system's firewall now can block incoming and outgoing network traffic. Vista also has built-in tools for preventing viruses from being installed by infected machines on local networks. It will also have basic malware removal tools.
But the most noticeable change is in how Vista handles user privileges.
Previous versions of Windows let people designated as administrators do whatever they wanted. The rights carried over to the software they were running - something that has caused countless headaches with spyware, adware, viruses and the like.
With Windows Vista's User Account Protection, even administrators are prompted for a password whenever anything is installed or a system setting changed. It's an extra layer of protection that's long been a part Unix-style operating systems, including Mac OS X and Linux.
The protection was not turned on by default in Beta 1, and it's not clear whether it will be in the final release. The beta seemed a bit paranoid: I couldn't change the clock or even the accessibility settings without entering the password.
I also suspect that the heightened security was one of the reasons I could not install many programs, ranging from games to the software I use to log into my corporate intranet. (Another reason may simply be some installation programs check the operating system and refuse to install if it's not recognized.)
Most backward compatibility issues will likely be resolved by the final release. If not, there could be a revolt at the same time that Apple - for once copying the Windows PC industry - builds Intel Corp. (INTC) processors into its computers and updates Mac OS X yet again.
Though Microsoft is largely thought to have won the PC war, the biggest battle might just take place in 2006.

Next Version of Windows Named 'Vista'

2005-07-25T14:59:00.000+04:00

Next Version of Windows Named 'Vista'
Jul 22, 9:25 PM (ET)

(AP) Microsoft unveiled the name of its next generation operating system, Window Vista. Computer user...Full Image
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REDMOND, Wash. (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) dropped the code name Longhorn on Friday, announcing the next version of its flagship Windows operating system will be called Windows Vista.
The world's largest software maker also said it will release the first of two test versions to developers and information technology professionals by Aug. 3.
The company did not say when it expects to release a second test version to a broader audience, but said it remains on target to ship the oft-delayed update to Windows XP sometime in the second half of next year.
Microsoft gave an internal gathering of its employees in Atlanta the first word about the new name Thursday.

(AP) Brian Valentine, Senior Vice President, Windows Core Operating System Division and Kevin Johnson,...Full Image"The core idea around Windows Vista is bringing clarity to the user so they can focus on what matters most," Brad Goldberg, general manager for Windows product management said Friday.
Vista's features will include better ways to visualize data, such as seeing through windows that are stacked atop each other, more natural file organization and faster searching.
The operating system will also be designed to better protect computers against viruses and spyware.
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On the Net:
Vista: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista
moreHeadlines();

Video Game Sex Hack Puts Focus on Ratings

2005-07-19T07:27:00.000+04:00

Video Game Sex Hack Puts Focus on Ratings

Jul 18, 9:30 PM (ET)By RON HARRIS

(AP) Patricia Vance, president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, poses for a photo as a...Full Image
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Shooting. Killing. Vehicular mayhem. Sexual conquests. Teenagers can experience it all through today's almost-anything-goes breed of video games, primarily among those rated "M" for mature.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is responsible for that rating system, and this self-regulating videogame industry group has suddenly found itself on the hot seat.
Critics say the board's guidance is toothless and does little to help parents trying to protect impressionable children from questionable content.
"There is no doubting the fact that the widespread availability of sexually explicit and graphically violent video games makes the challenge of parenting much harder," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who asked the Federal Trade Commission last week to investigate one of the most violent titles, "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."
In this "M" rated game - last year's top-seller among console games - the main character seeks bloody vengeance on gang-filled streets, firing automatic weapons and picking up scantily clad women.
But what really riles family-oriented media watchdog groups are additional scenes in which nude "girlfriends" join in explicit sex acts in the PC version. The scenes become "playable" with the help of a freely available download created by a Dutch programmer.
"Grand Theft Auto" publisher Rockstar Games says the game's designers did not create that content. Not so, says the programmer, Patrick Wildenborg. He insists his "mod" merely unlocks code that was already hidden in the game's retail version.
Had such sexually explicit content been clearly a part of the retail version, it would likely have earned the game an "adults-only" rating. And that would have potentially cost Rockstar Games millions in lost sales.
The ESRB's president, Patricia Vance, cautions the public not to jump to conclusions while the board investigates the case.
"I think it is very important for people to realize that this game is rated "M" for mature," Vance said. "This game is not a game that was rated for children. Regardless of what if anything was modified, it's a game that the ESRB has made as clear as it can that it was not intended for anyone under the age of 17."
The ESRB is accustomed to pressure - it was formed 11 years ago under heat from Congress to crack down on violent videogames. The board now issues ratings for more than 1,000 game titles each year.
As part of the process, game makers must submit a lengthy form describing the most extreme content, and turn over visual samples and scripted dialogue as each game nears the final stages of development.
The ESRB then hires everyday New Yorkers to test the games and recommend ratings, from "E" for everyone to "AO" for adults only. At least three testers try each game, and recommended ratings are delivered within five days, Vance said.
"At the end of the day, what they're looking at is not how fun this game is," Vance said. "We're looking for objective, independent feedback ..."
That feedback is ultimately delivered to a board comprised of executives from the largest videogame companies, including heavyweights like Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Nintendo of America Inc. and Electronic Arts as well as Take 2 Interactive, the parent company responsible for the Grand Theft series.
Similar ratings for movies have been determined since 1968 by the Motion Picture Association of America under a system that is also voluntary.
But video games are much more complex than movies by their very design - they usually have layers of content, and sometimes there are "hidden" areas that can be unlocked with special codes. Often, software patches and add-ons available for download can modify video games - either made available by the original publisher or created by fans as modifications, or "mods."
Further complicating matters, games' final ratings can sometimes be of little use to parents and gamers deciding on a purchase.
For example, THQ Inc. (THQI) offers two versions of "The Incredibles" for PC - one rated "E" and the other "T" for teen - each described simply as containing "cartoon violence." And "Chris Moneymaker's World Poker Championship" from Valu Soft is rated "M" for its "simulated gambling," while Hoyle's "Poker Series" gets an "E," also for "simulated gambling."
Then there's Atari's "F/A-18: Operation Iraqi Freedom," which allows the player to "Kick some Ba'ath" by dropping bombs on targets deep inside Iraq. It's rated "E" for everyone, just like Her Interactive's "Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch."
Dennis McCauley, who runs GamePolitics.com and follows hot-button industry issues, says the ESRB generally does a good job of determining ratings - but only answering to itself is a problem.
"My primary issue with it is that it's not accountable to anyone. It's kind of a closed loop," McCauley said. "They need to have some kind of mechanism to interface with the public, and not necessarily the government because some people would see that as censorship."
But a good dose of government oversight is exactly what is needed, says Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif. He has been trying for three years to get legislation passed that would require the FTC to determine if the video game industry's labeling practices are unfair or deceptive.
Baca says parents are being misled - he thinks videogame publishers seek the "M" rating even when they know a game includes content that should be in "Adults Only" territory.
"They know very well that if it said "Adults Only" these would not be displayed at a Target, at a Wal-Mart or any of the other videogame (retailers), because they wouldn't be sold," Baca said in an interview.
And these games are having a real, detrimental impact on young minds, Baca said - "In a videogame, you're actually pursuing and simulating a person. You're under hypnosis. You're a person that is dramatizing, that is living the example of what is going on."

Beijing Clinic Treats Online Addicts

2005-07-04T15:03:00.000+04:00

Beijing Clinic Treats Online AddictsJul 3, 9:00 PM (ET)By AUDRA ANG

(AP) Two young Internet addicts watch television in a room at the Beijing Military Region Central...Full Image
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BEIJING (AP) - The 12 teenagers and young adults, some in ripped jeans and baggy T-shirts, sit in a circle, chewing gum and fidgeting as they shyly introduce themselves. "I'm 12 years old," one boy announces with a smile. "I love playing computer games. That's it.""It's been good to sleep" says another, a 17-year-old with spiky hair, now that he's no longer on the computer all day.
The youths are patients at China's first officially licensed clinic for Internet addiction, a downside of the online frenzy that has accompanied the nation's breathtaking economic boom.
"All the children here have left school because they are playing games or in chat rooms everyday," says the clinic's director, Dr. Tao Ran. "They are suffering from depression, nervousness, fear and unwillingness to interact with others, panic and agitation. They also have sleep disorders, the shakes and numbness in their hands."
According to government figures, China has the world's second-largest online population - 94 million - after the United States.

(AP) Chinese youth use computers at an Internet cafe in Beijing Saturday June 18, 2005. China has the...Full ImageWhile China promotes Internet use for business and education, government officials also say Internet cafes are eroding public morality. Authorities regularly shut down Internet cafes - many illegally operated - in crackdowns that also include huge fines for their operators.
State media has also highlighted cases of obsessed Internet gamers, some of whom have flunked out of school, committed suicide or murder. Nonetheless, Internet cafes continue to thrive, with outlets found in even the smallest and poorest of villages. Most are usually packed late into the night.
Dr. Kimberly Young, a Bradford, Pa., clinical psychologist whose 1998 book on Internet addiction has been translated into Chinese, says she's not surprised the Chinese would face problems with Internet overuse.
"They are catching up with a lot of our technology, and certainly at that juncture, are now able to run into some of the same difficulties," Young said.
While treatment programs were virtually nonexistent in the United States a decade ago, she said, dozens of clinics and countless individual therapists such as herself offer counseling and treatment in her country.

(AP) A Chinese youth plays a computer game at an Internet cafe in Beijing Saturday June 18, 2005. China...Full ImagePrograms are growing elsewhere, too.
Just a few years ago, Young says, she attended a conference in Switzerland where she was the only American out of some 200 academics and clinicians who gathered to address Internet addiction.
Tao's government-owned clinic, which began taking patients in March, occupies the top floor of a two-story building on a quiet, tree-lined street on the sprawling campus of the Beijing Military Region Central Hospital in the heart of the Chinese capital.
A dozen nurses and 11 doctors care for the patients, mostly youths aged 14 to 24 who have lost sleep, weight and friends after countless hours in front of the computer, often playing video games with others online.
Some come voluntarily, while others are checked in by their parents. Many say their online obsessions helped them escape day-to-day stress, especially pressure from parents to excel in school.

(AP) A Chinese youth plays a computer game at an Internet cafe in Beijing Saturday June 18, 2005. China...Full ImageSome can't stop playing games, while the older ones tend to be addicted to online chats with the opposite sex, Tao says. Others are fixated on designing violent games.
Tao, a psychiatrist for 20 years who specializes in treating addiction, estimates that up to 2.5 million Chinese suffer from Internet addiction, though others are skeptical.
"As the number of the Netizens grows, the number of the addicted people will grow as well, but we should not worry about the issue too much," says Kuang Wenbo, a professor of mass media at Beijing's Renmin University. "The young men at the age of growing up have their own problems. Even if there was no Internet they will get addicted to other things."
A reporter was allowed to talk to patients at the clinic on condition they not be identified by name.
"I wasn't normal," said a 20-year-old man from Beijing who used to spend at least 10 hours a day in front of the screen playing hack-and-slash games like Diablo.

(AP) A 12-year-old boy receives electric shock treatment for his Internet addiction at the Beijing...Full Image"In school I didn't pay attention when teachers were talking," he said. "All I could do was think about playing the next game. Playing made me happy, I forgot my problems."
The 12-year-old, a new arrival, spent four days in an Internet cafe, barely eating or sleeping.
A soft-spoken 21-year-old man from northeastern Heilongjiang province who had been in the clinic for 10 days said his addiction had helped him escape from family pressures about his studies.
"I would stay up for 24 hours. I would eat only in front of the computer," he said.
Tao's team has put together a standard diagnostic test to determine whether someone is addicted, then uses a combination of therapy sessions, medication, acupuncture and sports like swimming and basketball to ease patients back into normal lives.

(AP) A new group of Internet addicts are interviewed by nurses at the Beijing Military Region Central...Full ImageThey usually stay 10 to 15 days, at $48 a day - a high price in China, where the average city dweller's weekly income is just $20.
The routine begins around 6 a.m. and includes sessions on a machine that stimulates nerve impulses with 30-volt charges to pressure points.
Some patients receive a clear fluid through intravenous drips said to "adjust the unbalanced status of brain secretions," according to one nurse. Officials would not give any other details about the medication.
Patients also nap, write diary entries or play cards. Their rooms are sunny, each decorated with artificial flowers, Winnie the Pooh comforters and a 17-inch television.
Tao says the long-term effects of treatment are generally successful, but it's not easy to keep patients from again giving themselves over to Internet temptation.
"It would be hard to give it up completely," said the 20-year-old from Beijing. "I'll take it step-by-step."
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EDITOR'S NOTE: AP Internet Writer Anick Jesdanun in New York contributed to this report.

Cell Phones Now Playing Role of Wallet

2005-06-21T08:13:00.000+04:00

Cell Phones Now Playing Role of Wallet
Jun 18, 5:27 AM (ET)By BRUCE MEYERSON

NEW YORK (AP) - Already a device of multiple disguises, from camera to music player and mini-TV, the cell phone's next trick may be the disappearing wallet. After all, since more than a quarter of the people on the planet already carry around cell phones, and hundreds of millions are joining them every year, why should they bring along credit and debit cards when a mobile device can make payments just as well?
At the simplest level, all that's needed is to embed phones with a short-range radio chip to beam credit card information to a terminal at a store register. It's not unlike the wireless system used to pay tolls on many highways or the SpeedPass keychain wand used to buy gas at Exxon Mobile Corp. pumps.
This is already a reality in Japan, where NTT DoCoMo Inc. (DCM) says 3 million cell phone subscribers use its Mobile Wallet service to buy things at 20,000 stores and vending machines.
Similar services may be on the way in the United States and Europe. MasterCard International Inc. has been testing phone-based versions of its PayPass contactless payment technology since 2003, and may conduct a significant market trial next year.
But there also are more ambitious visions brewing that contemplate the cell phone as a new focal point for managing your personal finances. The phone would supplant not only credit and debit cards, but wallets, checkbooks, Web sites, computer programs like Quicken, and online bill payment services such as PayPal or CheckFree.
While the mightiest players in Western banking have yet to embrace that notion, and some are dubious of the appeal, the concept has drawn interest in other regions and may get a tryout here soon.
A small technology company named C-Sam Inc. recently succeeded in launching its OneWallet cell phone platform with corporations in the United Arab Emirates, India and Japan.
Executives for the Chicago-based company assert they're about to sign on one of the biggest U.S. banks and one of the nation's top issuers of store-brand credit cards to conduct trials of the platform, which can be used to manage a variety of accounts and transactions from a cell phone.
In the United Arab Emirates, OneWallet is being marketed by U.A.E. Exchange as a convenience to that nation's huge work force of expatriates from India who regularly wire money home. So far, there are about 400 users.
Alphonso Francis, a Bombay native who works for U.A.E. Exchange in Dubai, sends money three times a month to his family in India.
The process usually is a drag. "I have to spend one and a half hours in traffic, pay for my parking, and then spend another one and half hours in traffic ... all just to make a transaction which takes only two minutes at the transfer house," he said.
Now, using OneWallet on his phone, he enters his PIN number, designates which account the funds should come from, the recipient, and whether it should go to a bank account or a Western Union-type outlet in India. The order is transmitted over the cell phone's Internet connection in seconds.
Despite the logic of tying all your financial dealings to a device that many people keep by their side at all times, major credit card companies don't see the phone as a convenient nerve center for managing finances. The card companies' main goal is to drive more spending - and card transaction fees - by making the phone a quick way to pay with a single designated account.
"The benefits of having a wallet on your phone with multiple cards are overblown," said Murdo Munro, a MasterCard executive involved with PayPass. "If a consumer has to boot up an application on the phone, and then go through four or five menus, and then choose a card to make a payment, that's an awful lot slower and less convenient than just taking a card out of your wallet."
The PayPass system aims to improve even on that step. A credit card number is embedded in a chip that is activated by waving it in front of a reader, ringing up a sale quicker than handing plastic to a merchant or swiping it.
That technology is already gathering momentum without being installed in phones: In May, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) announced plans for a mass-market rollout of MasterCard and Visa cards with a radio chip, starting this summer in Atlanta with nearly 1 million of the cards going out to consumers. Likewise, major merchants led by McDonald's Corp. (MCD) and 7-Eleven Inc. (SE) are already installing radio terminals over which customers can flash these new-age plastic cards.
But C-Sam founder Sam Pitroda, a rags-to-riches telecommunications entrepreneur from India, sees the mobile wallet as a means to empower the masses in emerging markets and as a prospective boon for financial institutions, wireless companies and retailers.
"There are 1.8 billion cell phone users, but not 1.8 billion checking accounts," Pitroda said. "So there's a big potential for banks if they can get more people to open accounts, even if it's just $50 or $100."
One wild card that may bolster the case for Pitroda's wider vision - making the cell phone more than just an oddly shaped credit card - is the wireless industry, where network operators may eye new revenue streams from financial services.
Notably, the wireless payment transmitters in NTT DoCoMo's phones are not connected in any way to the circuitry of the overall device, so there's no way to integrate charge transactions with a wallet application on the handset.
But Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Motorola Inc. (MOT) are developing mobile handsets that integrate the payment chip with the rest of the phone, opening the way for more innovative applications.
Handset makers rarely invest in new technologies without interest from cellular carriers. Which means the wireless wallet could make a push even without the financial industry behind it.

ComputerConsultant

2005-03-29T14:57:00.000+04:00

Hi Friends,

"IF YOU HAVE AN APPLE AND I HAVE AN APPLE AND WE EXCHANGE APPLES THEN YOU AND I WILL STILL EACH HAVE ONE APPLE. BUT IF YOU HAVE AN IDEA AND I HAVE AN IDEA AND WE EXCHANGE THESE IDEAS, THEN EACH OF US WILL HAVE TWO IDEAS." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950))

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ComputerConsultant/

A group for Discussion, Exchange, Sharing,Studying, Helping and Knowledge. The whole areas of Computer and its Aspects. Look for entire advancement and possibility, apply as much as possible. Think, practice and Blog to Public. Nothing Impossible in this world, the word impossible itself says, I M POSSIBLE..... Utilise concepts for good means. Keep ethics of industry and follow professional ethics. Avoid using I, always use WE. Trust,Friendship, Care, and Love. Dream a good thought. Realise it with Attitude change.