250 Discussion / Question Topics
Remove Filter  | It all started late in 1998 when the European Commission received a complaint from Sun Microsystems arguing that Microsoft had refused, perhaps understandably, to provide the information they had requested that would enable the Solaris OS to interoperate with Windows PCs. In less than 2 years the EU had charged …  |
| | American chip maker [URL="http://www.freescale.com"]Freescale Semiconductor[/URL] has today announced the development of a magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) chip which can maintain data using magnetic properties and not the traditional electrical charge methodology. Think of it in terms of storing data more like a hard drive, albeit a very small one indeed, …  |
| | Italy may have won the soccer [URL="http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/"]World Cup[/URL] in a thrilling final yesterday, but they did not even make it through to the group matches as far as the Malware World Cup is concerned. [URL="http://www.webroot.com"]Webroot Software Inc[/URL]. has just released details of global average malware infection rates during June 2006 … |
| | Although the Firefox Version 2.0 Beta is not actually released until Tuesday 11th, you can download the feature complete Windows public release candidate 1 build right now from the [URL="http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/bonecho-beta1-candidates/rc1/firefox-2.0b1.en-US.win32.installer.exe"]Mozilla FTP server[/URL]. Linux and Mac versions are also available, early reports suggesting that it works just fine with Intel based … |
| | Good question, but the answer may not be as straightforward as the announcement this week by Microsoft, and the ongoing online media coverage, suggests. The impression given is that Microsoft is supporting the Open Document Format in Office 2007 by sponsoring an open source based translator. This will take documents … |
| | Are users becoming more wary of link clicking in email? Are they getting savvy to the tricks of the email phisher? Certainly there is some evidence that the security message is starting to get through to the masses, but not nearly quickly enough to turn the phishing tide in my … |
| | [URL="http://metasploit.blogspot.com/"]H.D.Moore[/URL], he of Metasploit toolkit fame, has vowed to publish details of one browser vulnerability every day during July. Already he has been true to his word with exploit information relating to Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari but nothing that would help any would be attacker run unauthorized code on … |
| | The latest Merriam-Webster's dictionary update has ruffled a few feathers online. Not for the inclusion of Manga (noun: a Japanese comic book or graphic novel) nor ringtone (noun: the sound made by a cell phone to signal an incoming call) or even supersize (transitive verb: to increase considerably the size, …  |
| | VIA Technologies has long since been known for a small is beautiful philosophy, and there is no reason to start doubting now if the [URL="http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/v-series/vx700/"]VX700 [/URL]chipset is anything to go by. Created specifically for Ultra Mobile PCs, the UMPC Origami form factor getting publicity and hyperbole in equal measure from … |
| | If Mac enthusiasts groaned when Apple announced it was switching to Intel chips, watch out for full-scale hissy fits as they discover that OS X 10.4.7 contacts Cupertino servers on a regular basis. Just how similar to Microsoft does Apple want to be? You would have thought that the furor … |
| | Have you ever wondered if the Internet is having a good day, if it is happy or sad, or maybe feeling a little depressed? Well, probably not, but thanks to a team of information access researchers from Amsterdam University you might be able to find out. [URL="http://ilps.science.uva.nl/MoodViews/"]MoodViews [/URL]work by tapping … |
| | As from July 11th, some 70 million users of the Windows OS will be left stranded without official support, and that includes no more security updates. By withdrawing support for its Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows ME platforms, Microsoft is effectively leaving around 12.5 percent of Windows users … |
| | Just when [URL="http://www.microsoft.com"]Microsoft [/URL]had hoped things could not get any worse after the whole Windows Genuine Advantage phones home scandal, things have. Much worse, as the newly discovered Cuebot-K worm disguises itself as something called Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Notification. Intended as an anti-piracy measure, WGA has in fact been … |
| | There are not many things, it has to be said, that a Linux user would covet of his Windows using neighbor. Skype is quite possibly one of them though, but not for much longer. The first meaningful development for the Linux Skype client in almost a year has arrived in … |
| | The cost-per-click model for Google ads could soon be complimented by a cost-per-action one, if the testing for this click fraud busting technology proves successful. The concept is simple enough: advertisers would only get charged when a particular action is performed rather than simply clicking on the thing. Already a … |
| | The world of malware could be turned upon its head if the Blue Pill virtualization based rootkit due to be demonstrated at the [URL="http://syscan.org"]SyScan 06[/URL] Conference, Singapore, in a couple of weeks proves as undetectable as the security researcher who has created it claims. [URL="http://invisiblethings.org/"]Joanna Rutkowska[/URL] is a stealth malware … |
| | It’s not exactly a major advance in web browser client technology, but the release of [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.mspx"]Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 [/URL]today is a move closer to the release version, scheduled for sometime later this year. What’s changed from the Beta 2 release? Er, good question, and one that had me … |
| | At [URL="http://www.supercomp.de/"]ISC2006[/URL], the 21st International Supercomputer Conference, in Dresden, Germany today an interesting announcement was made by [URL="http://www.tyan.com"]Tyan Computer[/URL]: the launch of the Personal Supercomputer. Not quite a desktop machine, it is being marketed as a deskside unit, the [URL="http://www.tyan.com/products/html/clusterservers.html"]Typhoon PSC[/URL] certainly promises to pack quite a punch. The 8 … |
| | Last week, via the official [URL="http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/"]MSDN WinFS blog[/URL] rather than the usual Microsoft PR channels, it was announced that WinFS is effectively dead. There was much talk of the great many technical innovations the WinFS project has created and how those innovations may find their way into a broader Data …  |
| | According to just released research from Michigan based [URL="http://www.onlymyemail.com"]OnlyMyEmail [/URL]Inc it would appear that Sender ID is ineffective as an anti-spam solution. Despite the high profile, and frankly somewhat aggressive PR campaign by [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/safety/technologies/senderid/default.mspx"]Microsoft[/URL], the 60 day statistical analysis certainly suggests that it isn’t the Holy Grail of anti-spam that … |
| | What started off as a show of political defiance, with thousands of file-sharing downloader’s joining forces and planning to field 140 candidates in the September Swedish elections, has spread to the US. The trigger in Sweden was the May 31st police raid on a community of a million BitTorrent users … |
| | [URL="http://www.microsoft.com"]Microsoft [/URL]has, at last, shown its hand when it comes to answering the online services challenge from the likes of [URL="http://www.google.com"]Google [/URL]and [URL="http://www.yahoo.com"]Yahoo![/URL]; both of whom currently trounce the Seattle OS champions in both audience reach and earnings in the online sphere. [URL="http://www.live.com"]Windows Live[/URL] is moving out of Beta at … |
| | I’ve just returned from the [URL="http://www.symantec.com"]Symantec [/URL]Threat Response Center in Dublin, Ireland where a select handful of European security software reviewers witnessed the first public demonstration of Norton Confidential: the Symantec response to what it refers to as the CrimeWare explosion. Symantec acquired anti-phishing specialist [URL="http://www.wholesecurity.com"]WholeSecurity [/URL]towards the end of … |
| | The growing acceptance of IM in the workplace has, eventually, made an impression on [URL="http://www.aol.com"]AOL [/URL]which has started a public test of AIM Pro PE (Professional Edition). Although not expected to actually launch until the autumn, one has to wonder how much weight the consumer oriented AOL brand carries in … |
| | [URL="http://www.nintendo.com"]Nintendo[/URL] has been granted a broad stroke patent covering a “messaging service for video game systems with buddy list that displays game being played.” [URL="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7056217.PN.&OS=PN/7056217&RS=PN/7056217"]Patent number 7056217[/URL] was originally filed way back in 2000, a whole year before the [URL="http://www.xbox.com"]Xbox [/URL]was launched, and two years before [URL="http://www.xbox.com/live"]Xbox Live[/URL] became a … |
| | The triple-gate transistor is not new, almost exactly three years ago on June 12th 2003 at the [URL="http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20030612tech.htm"]Symposia of VLSI Technology and Circuits in Kyoto[/URL], Japan, [URL="http://www.intel.com"]Intel [/URL]was heralding it as the future of chip design. However, the fact that at the same [URL="http://www.vlsisymposium.org/index.html"]Symposium this week in Hawaii[/URL], Intel reveals … |
| | As the battle to become the next [URL="http://www.microsoft.com"]Microsoft [/URL]heats up, this week I’ve been struck by the online maneuvering from both [URL="http://www.ebay.com"]eBay [/URL]and [URL="http://www.google.com"]Google[/URL]. The auction company is looking to tread on Google toes with its own contextual advertising service, named using devilish cunning ‘AdContext.’ Google, meanwhile, is keeping very … |
| | Get ready for [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/security"]Patch Tuesday[/URL]. July 13th will be the biggest update for 18 months, with no less than 12 security bulletins: 9 for the Windows OS, 2 for Office and 1 for Exchange. Of these, both Windows and Office updates include one flagged as critical, the highest Microsoft threat …  |
| | Last month it was revealed that the [URL="http://www.nsa.gov"]National Security Agency[/URL] had been logging telephone calls since 9/11. This month, the right to privacy debate is set to ignite even further after a report in the [URL="http://www.newscientisttech.com"]New Scientist[/URL] claims that the NSA is funding research into the harvesting of personal information … |
| | On May 23rd I predicted that Microsoft would start the Windows Vista Customer Preview Program (CPP) within a few weeks, and I have been proven right. Microsoft today announced public availability of Vista Beta 2, the same build (5384) as was made available to developers at WinHEC. If you don't …  |
| | Network design can certainly be innovative, and to those of a technical persuasion even considered a thing of beauty. But is it art? That was the question posed by a handful of senior Microsoft folk, the editor of an IT magazine and an Emeritus Professor at an art gallery in … |
| | Reports of the death of PDF support within Office 2007 and Vista are not only presumptuous but wrong. Despite the high profile publicity given to a spat between Adobe and Microsoft over the ‘Save as PDF’ function seen in the [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/getthebeta.mspx?showIntro=n"]Office 2007 Beta[/URL], there is no doubting that users will … |
| | Have you heard the one about the book publishing company with a reputation built upon the back of the Open Source movement, which set its lawyers on a rival for using the term Web 2.0? Apparently [URL="http://www.oreilly.com"]O’Reilly[/URL] has applied for a ‘service mark’ to cover Web 2.0 when applied to … |
| | Multiple core processors are set to dominate the marketplace by the end of 2007, after [URL="http://www.amd.com"]AMD [/URL]follows [URL="http://www.intel.com"]Intel [/URL]down the ‘more performance for less power’ road. Having already beaten Intel to the dual-core processor punch, the announcement from AMD that it will ship four-core processors for high end desktops, servers … |
| | According to Symantec it would seem that security flaw + patch in 5 days = result. Certainly compared to the average 140 days it takes Microsoft to patch a vulnerability it’s to be applauded, but only with one hand. 5 days is 119 hours and 55 minutes too long in … |
| | The new [URL="http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html"]Apple MacBook Pro[/URL] is 17" of all new system architecture, but at what price? Every single benchmark I’ve seen rates applications using the Apple ‘Rosetta’ dynamic software translation technology as running slower than they do on PowerPC based Macs. A lot slower. How about Photoshop CS2 being 50% … |
| | There’s no denying that Microsoft has both audacity and folly in equal measure, and never was this more clearly exemplified than in the news that it is launching an ‘industry leading compression quality’ image format. Revealed in some detail at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference ([URL="http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winhec/"]WinHEC[/URL]) 2006 in Seattle, a … |
| | Inventor of the Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has been speaking out in favour of Net Neutrality at the [URL="http://www2006.org"]15th World Wide Web conference[/URL] in Edinburgh, Scotland this week. For once, my spin on the issue doesn’t matter. What the man who created the Web thinks does, so I’ll leave the … |
| | Bill Gates today announced at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference ([URL="http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winhec"]WinHEC[/URL]) 2006 the immediate availability of Beta 2 versions of the three Microsoft flagship products. This is the first time that Microsoft has released such a trio simultaneously. “The release of these three betas is a significant milestone for Microsoft … |
| | Having built an online empire around keeping the advertising simple and unobtrusive, [URL="http://www.google.com"]Google [/URL]is about to enter the video advert business. The announcement follows the [URL="http://www.aol.com"]AOL[/URL] acquisition of video search engine [URL="http://www.truveo.com"]Truveo [/URL]in January and video ad sales specialist [URL="http://www.lightningcast.com"]Lightningcast [/URL] last week, which will merge with [URL="http://www.advertising.com"]Advertising.com[/URL] which AOL … |
| | Although Vista isn’t expected to go on sale until next year, Microsoft has thoughtfully announced the minimum requirements for the new OS so you’ll have plenty of time to save for the necessary upgrades. Just to muddy the waters and confuse the public, Microsoft seems to be adopting an Xbox … |
| | In 2002, IBM scientists managed to produce a magnetic data tape capable of a storage density of 1 billion bits per square inch. This week the [URL="http://www.almaden.ibm.com"]IBM Almaden Research Center [/URL]boffins have done it again, in conjunction with Fuji, to the tune of 6.67 billion bits per square inch. That … |
| | [URL="http://www.micron.com"]Micron Technology, Inc.[/URL], has unveiled a prototype of the World’s first 8-megapixel CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor using a miniature 1.75 micron pixel design in a 1/2.5 inch optical format. As well as being small enough to bring 3-megapixel performance to your camera equipped cell phone, the new sensor … |
| | Remember this week, for it was the week that we lost the fight against spam. On May 5th I reported how militant spammer PharmaMaster had brought down the Blue Frog anti-spam vigilante service. I wondered then if it was the end of the toad for Blue Security, and sadly this …  |
| | This week [URL="http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/spry/"]Adobe [/URL]released the Spry toolkit that finally allows web designers to join the, until now, programmer led world of Ajax development. At the same time, [URL="http://www.backbase.com/"]Backbase [/URL]introduced an Ajax development tool for Java applications. But what use is an Ajax powered website when search engines such as Google … |
| | Sony used to have game. Its hold on the console market anything but inscrutable, being down to a long standing dedication to technical innovation, game play and pricing. But could that all be due to change following the debut of the PlayStation 3, dubbed PayStation, at E3 last week? Not … |
| | The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has voted against giving a green light for a proposed Internet red light domain. After a 5 year struggle to segregate online porn, the ICM Registry .xxx domain proposal was finally outvoted 9 to 5. This could be regarded as just … |
| | The news that Jeffrey Toback, a representative in the Nassau County Legislature, has filed a 16 page complaint alleging Google profits from child pornography has ignited discussion of censorship, responsibility and technology. Yet I can’t help thinking that everyone is missing the real point: why are allegations covered by 10 … |
| | “I believe the 2.6 kernel is slowly getting buggier |
| | Here’s a question for you: being a clued up Internet user which browser client do you favour when it comes to being totally safe and secure on the web? The answer I know you are shouting loudly at the screen is ‘Firefox you freakin’ idiot’. But at the risk of …  |
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