All you need to know about Computers

GMAIL USERS TRIAL 13 NEW FEATURES

2008-06-10T18:37:00.001+05:30

Google is inviting Gmail users to test out 13 new features it's considering adding to the Webmail service. Available via the 'labs' function in Gmail's settings, the services include a quick-link tool that allows users to bookmark specific messages, the ability to assign mouse gestures to various actions, and customizable keyboard shortcuts. The most popular features will then become standard within Gmail.

NEW CRYPTO VIRUS A LOOMING THREAT

2008-06-10T18:36:00.000+05:30

The emergence of a variant on a virus that encrypts the victim's data with a strong 1,024-bit algorithm so the victim can't unscramble it without paying a ransom has begun to spread, potentially posing a major threat, according to the antimalware firm which discovered it.Kaspersky Lab says the new variant of the Windows-based encryptor virus Gpcode, which hasn't been spotted for about 1 ½ years, is more of a threat than it was in the past.

APPLE BRINGS IPHONE 3G TO MUCH FANFARE INCLUDING INDIA

2008-06-10T18:35:00.000+05:30

With anticipation at a fever pitch, Apple unveiled the iPhone 3G to an appreciative global audience. The new iPhone, sporting a thinner and sleeker look, will support faster 3G broadband wireless networks and come with built-in GPS capabilities. The iPhone 3G has a 3.5-inch screen and a higher battery life of up to five hours talk time and stand-by time of 300 hours. Apple has cut the price of the iPhone by half. Apple also announced that iPhone 3G is being brought to customers in India later this year through Bharti Airtel.

LOGITECH UNVIELS CORDLESS LASER MOUSE FOR NOTEBOOKS

2008-06-10T18:34:00.000+05:30

Logitech announced the launch of V470 Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks with Bluetooth Technology. It has a range of up to 30 feet. The mouse's laser tracking technology delivers smooth cursor control on most surfaces. With its Side-to-Side Scrolling Plus Zoom, users can instantly zoom in and out, or scroll horizontally or vertically.

YAHOO RELEASES ADDRESS BOOK API

2008-06-06T17:58:00.002+05:30

Yahoo opened up API to its Address Book service, so that external developers can build applications that use Yahoo members' lists of contacts.The Address Book API is Yahoo's second major step in its long-range and ambitious Open Strategy (Y OS) initiative to open all Yahoo sites, online services and Web applications to outside developers, and give users a "social profile" dashboard to unify and manage their Yahoo services.

AMD PLANS EXTERNAL GRAPHICS MODULE FOR PUMA NOTEBOOKS

2008-06-06T17:58:00.001+05:30

Add-on graphics cards for laptops is set to become a reality with AMD and Fujitsu Siemens Computers developing an external graphics module to boost the graphics performance of laptops AMD's Puma chip platform. The external graphics module is basically a graphics card with its own power supply. Plugging it into the laptop gives the user a big boost in graphics performance while sitting at a desk, without compromising the slim design or battery life of the machine.

WD INTROS HARD DRIVES FOR NOTEBOOKS

2008-06-03T20:44:00.001+05:30

Western Digital announced it is now shipping its new line of WD Scorpio Black 7200 RPM 2.5-inch SATA (Serial ATA) hard drives for high-performance notebook computers and portable storage devices. These are available in capacities up to 320GB and are designed for ruggedity, reliability, and they have data-protection features. If the drive is dropped while in use, the free-fall sensor detects the fall and in less than 200 milliseconds, parks the head off the disks to help prevent damage and data loss.

ASUSTEK OFFERS WEB-BASED STORAGE FOR EEE PCS

2008-06-03T20:43:00.005+05:30

Buyers of the Eee PC 901 will be able to use 20GB of online storage to complement their laptop's internal storage. Most Eee PCs come with small flash memory-based storage space, a limitation for people who like to carry around music, photos and other data. Data will be stored on servers owned by Asustek and managed by Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's largest phone company. Users will be able to use Asustek's Web storage free for one year.

ASUSTEK OFFERS WEB-BASED STORAGE FOR EEE PCS

2008-06-03T20:43:00.003+05:30

ADOBE OPENS ONLINE OFFICE

2008-06-03T20:43:00.001+05:30

After its recent launch of Photoshop Express, Adobe is going all out on Web 2.0 - that company has made its move into online office suites. Online office suites are a fashionable talking point at the moment with web-based programs such as Google Docs or Zoho gaining in popularity. Strengths include the ability to access programs from anywhere and on any device with connectivity, inherent collaborative support, and low cost.

SANDISK LAUNCHES SOLID-STATE DRIVES FOR ULTRA LOW-COST PCS

2008-06-03T20:42:00.001+05:30

Giving a boost to the low-cost ultra-compact notebooks in the near future, SanDisk introduced a line of flash memory-based Solid-State Drives (SSDs) that are designed for such devcies. SSDs (already used in some models like the Asus Eee PC). The new SSD modules are being made available in 4, 8 and 16GB capacities. SanDisk's solid state drives are being shown this week at Computex in Taipei

NVIDIA TAKES SWING AT INTEL WITH NEW TEGRA CHIPS

2008-06-03T20:41:00.000+05:30

The hardware market for Mobile Internet Devices (MID) just heated up with the unveiling of Nvidia's Tegra family of processors, whose models contain chips for multiple functions. The Tegra chips directly compete with Intel's much awaited Atom processor line, which was announced in early April this year.

SAFARI FLAW WORSE THAN FIRST THOUGHT, MICROSOFT WARNS

2008-06-02T19:40:00.000+05:30

Microsoft is warning that a previously disclosed flaw in Apple's Safari browser could have dire consequences for Windows users.The Safari bug, originally disclosed on May 15 allows attackers to litter a victim's desktop with executable files, an attack known as "carpet bombing."

TRANSCEND LAUNCHES 8GB T.SONIC 840 MP3 PLAYER

2008-05-31T18:03:00.001+05:30

The Transcend T.Sonic 840 MP3 player is now available with 8GB memory and comes with a new burgundy red casing. The player has a sleek all-metal body with a mirrored faceplate and is complemented by a bright 1.8-inch high resolution full-color TFT-LCD screen. Users can view photos, watch videos, and listen to music while on the go. It supports popular audio and video formats like JPG, BMP, MTV, MP3, WMA, DRM10, and WAV. On a full charge, it supports up to 30 hours of continuous audio playback.

ASUSTEK GIVES SNEAK PEEK OF DESKTOP EEE PC

2008-05-31T18:02:00.003+05:30

Asus's popluar Eee PC mini laptop is set to take on a desktop form once the company releases it globally coming July. The new desktop, dubbed Eee Box, is a white mini-PC about the size of a hardback book and will come with either a Linux or Windows XP OS in a range of configurations. The most basic version will come with an 80GB hard disk and run a Linux OS. The Eee PC has become popular for its low price, small size and weight, which is less than 1 kilogram.

GOOGLE EXPANDING SEARCH CAPABILITIES

2008-05-31T18:02:00.001+05:30

The expansion of Google's core search capabilities into applications such as cross-language information retrieval and book-searching were detailed by a company official on Thursday. Things like videos, images, graphs will be stitched together as a holistic answer to a query. Personalization might include knowing where users are and knowing what they have searched on previously.

MICROSOFT EXPANDS LIST OF FORMATS SUPPORTED IN MS OFFICE 2007 SP2

2008-05-29T17:22:00.001+05:30

Microsoft is offering customers greater choice and more flexibility among document formats, as well as creating additional opportunities for developer and competitors, by expanding the range of document formats supported in its flagship Office productivity suite. The 2007 Microsoft Office system already provides support for 20 different document formats within Microsoft Office Word, Office Excel and Office PowerPoint.

WINDOWS 7 TO HAVE TOUCH-SCREEN INTERFACE

2008-05-29T17:21:00.000+05:30

Microsoft demonstrated its multitouch interface for its upcoming Windows 7 operating system. Multitouch uses Surface technology, introduced last year by Microsoft, which uses touch and multitouch capabilities to provide users with a more natural way to interact directly with computing devices. The user can drag and drop snaps, zoom in, and rotate snaps with his fingers.

INTEL DELAYS CENTRINO 2 LAUNCH OVER CHIPSET ISSUES

2008-05-29T17:20:00.001+05:30

Intel will delay the launch of its upcoming Centrino 2 platform for laptop computers by nearly two months to resolve issues related to the chipset and the antenna used with the wireless chipset. Centrino 2, also called Montevina, is the next version of Intel's popular Centrino platform for laptops and was previously slated for a June launch. Computer makers are now expected to begin shipping laptops based on new mobile processors to retail shops in Jul.

INTERNET EXPLORER 8 BETA DUE IN THIRD QUARTER

2008-05-29T17:18:00.000+05:30

A lot of attention to the forthcoming Firefox 3.0 has been given lately, but let's not forget that Microsoft has a new version of its own browser in the works, too. We can expect the next beta of Internet Explorer 8 to arrive in the third quarter of this year. And unlike the current test version, which is marked as a "developer preview," this version will be a public beta targeted at all consumers. Perhaps the most exciting thing about IE8 is that it will ship with maximum standards compatibility enabled by default.

HP TO REPLACE RAM WITH 'INTELLIGENT MEMORY'

2008-05-03T21:36:00.000+05:30

HP has developed intelligent memory that can make decisions by analyzing data it has stored in the past. Researchers at the company have developed a working unit of a memory circuit which could ultimately replace RAM and make computers more intelligent by tracking data it has retained. The technology, called memristor, requires lower voltage and less time to turn on than competitive memory like DRAM and flash.

SONY, SAMSUNG LAUNCH NEW BLU-RAY DISC PRODUCTS

2008-04-29T18:35:00.001+05:30

Sony and Samsung, two of the biggest backers of the Blu-ray Disc format during its battle with rival HD DVD, are releasing new Blu-ray Disc products. Sony's new machines, the BDZ-A70 and BDZ-T90, are both Blu-ray Disc recorders which pack a hard-disk drive. The former model has a 320GB hard disk and iLink port for hooking up to a DV camcorder while the latter, a 500GB drive that comes without the camcorder connection.

RESEARCHER FINDS NEW FLAW IN QUICKTIME FOR WINDOWS

2008-04-29T18:34:00.000+05:30

vulnerability in Apple's QuickTime player can be exploited to compromise PCs running Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP2. The exploit involves a maliciously crafted media file which when opened, allows the hacker to take complete control of the machine. QuickTime has proved to be one of the more porous applications. Apple patched the application for at least the sixth time earlier this month, fixing 11 vulnerabilities.

THREE NEW MOTHERBOARDS FROM INTEL

2008-04-28T19:08:00.000+05:30

Intel launched three new motherboards — the Intel Desktop Board DX48BT2 Extreme Series, DG35EC Classic Series and D945GCLF Essential Series. The boards are individually aimed at gaming, multimedia, and the entry-level PC use respectively. These models offer greater PC performance, clearer definition video and low-power consumption. The company claims that the DG35EC Classic Series board is built with best performing integrated graphics supported on Intel architecture.

HUGE WEB HACK ATTACK INFECTS 500,000 PAGES

2008-04-28T19:06:00.000+05:30

Attacks on legitimate Web domains, including some belonging to the United Nations that began earlier last week, have expanded dramatically, security researchers said, with hundreds of thousands of pages hacked by Friday. One anti-virus vendor said the sites might have been compromised through a "security issue" in Microsoft's Web server software that has been reported to Microsoft's engineers.

MICROSOFT MISLABELS SKYPE AS ADWARE

2008-04-25T18:28:00.001+05:30

Microsoft said that a buggy antivirus definition update had mislabeled Skype as pop-up adware program called Win32/Vundo.gen!D. The issue was fixed Monday in a signature update so users who have the latest version of Microsoft's malware signature file should be fine. Microsoft's gaffe was an annoyance for users, but security products often mistakenly report legitimate software as malware, called a "false positive," by security experts.

UBUNTU RELEASES HARDY HERON

2008-04-25T18:27:00.003+05:30

April 2008 signals the release of Ubuntu 8.04, or Hardy Heron, and follows the Feisty Fawn and Gutsy Gibbon releases of 2007 with the intention of making Linux desktop friendly. People new to Linux can use Hardy to install Ubuntu directly from a Windows desktop using Wubi. This release will bring Linux a lot closer to challenging Windows and Mac OS X on the desktop.

AMD TRIPLE-CORE PHENOM PROCESSORS RELEASED

2008-04-25T18:27:00.001+05:30

The three new triple-core CPUs from AMD fill out AMD's family of X86 triple-cores, as the new X3 8450, the X3 8650 and the X3 8750. The triple-core chips are a good option for users looking for more than a dual-core processor but aren't ready yet for quad-core. This product line is also a smart move for AMD because it allows the company to use quad-core chips coming off a manufacturing line with a damaged core.

MYSPACE LAUNCHES APPLICATIONS GALLERY

2008-04-25T18:26:00.001+05:30

MySpace announced the public launch of its MySpace Application Gallery, which is stocked with more than 1,000 new applications that its users can add to their profiles.The gallery includes applications from a wide variety of categories, including music, politics and causes, quizzes and polls and video. The MySpace home page will feature an application gallery icon at the top of the page.

AVG FREE EDITION 8.0 MERGES ANTI-VIRUS WITH ANTI-SPYWARE

2008-04-25T18:24:00.002+05:30

AVG's Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0 will be available for download from today, providing basic protection against viruses and spyware to consumers. The key difference AVG Free 8.0 boasts over the previous edition is the merging of AVG's anti-virus and spyware engine into the one product. So now it only requires one pass to do both jobs. The software also includes LinkScanner real time safe-searching technology that checks if a link the user is clicking, is safe or not.

YAHOO TO RADICALLY OPEN PLATFORMS

2008-04-25T18:24:00.001+05:30

Yahoo is making its Web platforms open to let outside developers create applications across its network of sites, as well as stitching together its online services under the social profile concept. The idea is to let users of its Web mail, instant messaging, calendar, photo management and other online services replicate the social experience that social networks like MySpace and Facebook have made so popular.

MICROSOFT REVEALS MESH FOLDER-SHARING AND SYNC PLATFORM

2008-04-24T08:46:00.000+05:30

Microsoft revealed a Web-based service, Live Mesh, that lets people share data folders across different PCs and devices. It is both, a development platform and a folder-sharing and synchronizing service for end users. From a Web-based Live Desktop, users can set devices or PCs to have access to different folders stored both on the devices and on the Web. Users can set preferences for what machines or devices they want to make a part of the mesh..

ASUS LAUNCHES NEW WIRELESS ROUTER

2008-04-24T08:45:00.002+05:30

Asus Technology released the new WL-520gU Wireless Router which has built-in Windows Vista Wireless support with a user-friendly and secure setup. The wireless router is easy to set up. Users can 'Press & Click' to setup and protect their Wi-Fi network environment by utilizing the encryption standards (WEP, WPA, WPA2). The router can also prioritize a user's needs for Internet bandwidth with the Bandwidth-on-Demand feature.

SONY TO OFFER CONTENT FOR NOKIA'S 'COMES WITH MUSIC’ SERVICE

2008-04-24T08:45:00.001+05:30

Sony BMG said it will offer content when Nokia launches its 'Comes With Music' program in the second half of 2008. Nokia 'Comes With Music' was announced last December, and packages a mobile phone with a year of unlimited access to music. Sony BMG is the second record label to jump on board after Universal Music Group. Its roster includes artists such as Alicia Keys, Britney Spears and Bruce Springsteen.

DELL PREVIEWS ITS SMALLEST DESKTOP EVER

2008-04-24T08:44:00.000+05:30

Dell previewed the company's smallest and most environmentally-responsible consumer desktop PC, in a conference held on Earth Day. The small form-factor desktop is 81 percent smaller and uses up to 70 percent less energy than a typical desktop mini-tower. Hardware specifications, brand name or pricing are not available right now. Details will be released later this year when the desktop is released.

MCAFEE CLAIMS WORLD'S FASTEST NETWORK SECURITY SUITE

2008-04-24T08:43:00.000+05:30

McAfee announced McAfee Total Protection for Network. The suite delivers a simple end-to-end solution to protect and control a company's enterprise network. It blocks attacks, stops spam and Web threats, cleans e-mail, protects un-patched systems and offers a solution to help meet regulatory compliance, including PCI. It is available in versions for both enterprises and mid-sized businesses.

IT'S A WRAP: MICROSOFT FINISHES XP SP3

2008-04-23T13:45:00.001+05:30

Users will be able to update their XP systems to SP3 starting next week, but they will have to select the optional download in Windows Update or download a much larger-sized standalone installer from the Microsoft site. The company won't begin pushing XP SP3 to users who have Windows Update set to automatically download and install important patches or fixes until "early summer," said Chris Keroack, service pack's release manager.

INTEL SLASHES CHIP PRICES, BOOSTING PRESSURE ON AMD

2008-04-23T13:44:00.001+05:30

Intel announced that it had cut the price of about a dozen processors. Patrick Ward, a spokesman for Intel, noted that most of the processors on the price-cut list were built on 65 nanometer (nm) technology, which is being phased out in favor of its new 45nm chips. It's akin to car dealers cutting the prices on last year's models to make room for the new ones.

ASUS TO LAUNCH NEW EEE PC IN JUNE

2008-04-23T08:39:00.000+05:30

Asustek plans to launch a new version of the Eee PC armed with Intel's Atom microprocessor at the Computex trade show in Taipei this June. Atom is the name of the processor formerly called Diamondville. It was designed for low-cost laptop PCs, ultramobile PCs, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and other small devices aimed at connecting to the Internet. The processor is tiny, less than 25 square millimetres, will be priced low, and run at a battery-efficient 0.6 watts to 2.5 watts thermal design power, according to Intel.

AMD LAUNCHES NEW LOW-POWER, DUAL-CORE ATHLONS

2008-04-23T08:38:00.002+05:30

AMD has released two more 45W energy-efficient Athlon desktop processors - the Athlon X2 4450e and the Athlon X2 4050e. Both chips are dual-core processors designed to reduce power consumption and offer greater performance per watt. The release comes on the heels of AMD's early March announcement that the company was shipping the 45W, X2 4850E chip. The two new processors unveiled are designed for power users who run multiple processor-intensive applications at the same time, AMD said.

MICROSOFT DATA SHOW WEB ATTACKS TAKING OFF

2008-04-23T08:38:00.001+05:30

Criminals changed tactics in the last six months of 2007, dropping malicious e-mail in favor of Web-based attacks, according to data reported to Microsoft by Windows users. The company saw the number of Trojan downloader programs it removed from Windows machines jump by 300 percent. These programs masquerade as legitimate pieces of software, but once installed they then download malicious software such as spyware or adware onto the victim's computer. They are typically installed via the Web.

LOGITECH ROLLS OUT CLEARCHAT COMFORT USB HEADSET

2008-04-22T08:45:00.001+05:30

Logitech launched the new ClearChat Comfort USB headset featuring a padded headband and plush ear pads for comfort. The headset connects to the PC through a USB port and produces high-quality digital audio independent of the quality of the PC's sound card. The headband and microphone are adjustable for individual's preference. It is equipped with in-line volume and mute controls and rotating, noise canceling microphones.

SONY SHOWS RAZOR-THIN PROTOTYPE OLED SCREEN

2008-04-22T08:43:00.001+05:30

Sony has managed to make an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen that's just one-fifth of a millimeter thick and is the thinnest OLED screen yet developed. The panel has a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels and started out as a normal OLED screen, but Sony was able to reduce the thickness to just 0.2 millimeters. There is no word on when or if this OLED screen would be commercially available.

TRANSCEND ANNOUNCES 16GB JETFLASH 168 IN INDIA

2008-04-22T08:42:00.001+05:30

USB flash drives have gotten fashionable as well. Transcend Information announced the availability the 16GB JetFlash 168 in India, which is inspired by ancient oriental culture. It features an intricately etched lotus blossom motif. It has compact dimensions and is lightweight. This drive is a part of Transcend's High Speed line of JetFlash drives that supports Vista's ReadyBoost. The drive is currently available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities.

PAYPAL PLANS TO BLOCK SAFARI, OLD BROWSERS

2008-04-22T08:39:00.000+05:30

PayPal, eBay's payment service and the frequent target of fraudsters, plans to block browsers that don't include anti-phishing features from accessing its site. Under PayPal's plan, Apple's Safari would be banned completely, while only older versions of its rivals — Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox — would be barred. PayPal did not specify a timetable when it would switch on its browser blocking.

FIREFOX UPDATE FIXES SECURITY FLAW

2008-04-19T14:11:00.001+05:30

Mozilla has updated Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey, fixing a JavaScript security issue. According to Mozilla, a security problem in the JavaScript engine introduced a stability problem with the applications, where some users experienced crashes during JavaScript garbage collection. The Web browser developer said the fix is being issued to mainly address the stability issues.

GOOGLE APPS HIT BY SESSION-STEALING ATTACK

2008-04-18T14:23:00.001+05:30

A security researcher has uncovered a serious flaw in Google Spreadsheets, which could give an attacker access to all of a user's Google services. While the bug, a cross-site scripting (XSS) flaw, has now been fixed by Google, it is an indication of the perils that can accompany the growing popularity of Software as a Service (SaaS). Because of the way Google structures its authentication processes, a single XSS attack can deliver access to all of a user's Google services and documents.

SONY REVEALS NEW PRODUCTS INCLUDING CAMCORDER

2008-04-18T14:21:00.001+05:30

Several new products from Sony have been announced at NAB 2008 for the XDCam EX line-up. These include the PMW-EX3 camcorder, the PMW-EX30 deck, and the PHU-60K professional hard-disk unit. The new camcorder is expected to be available in autumn, 2008. The PMW-EX30 model is Sony's first solid-state memory recorder/player and can feed content to existing HD and SD editing systems.

MICROSOFT RELEASES REMAINING VISTA SP1 LANGUAGE PACKS

2008-04-18T10:34:00.001+05:30

Microsoft released the remaining 31 language editions of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) to Windows Update. The move followed the debut of the first five languages — English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish — posted by Microsoft to the Windows Update (WU). The company also plans to release Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Windows XP in two waves defined by language support, according to a report last month.

GOOGLE MAPS SET TO INCLUDE YOUTUBE VIDEOS

2008-04-18T10:32:00.002+05:30

Local business owners can now add YouTube videos to their listings in Google Maps. Users can launch videos on Google Maps from the 'Photos and Videos' tab of the information bubble that appears when a user clicks on a listing. However Google chose to make the feature only available to businesses that list on Google. Consumers are concerned, they can watch the geo-videos but not create their own.

hp technical support

2008-04-17T15:43:00.004+05:30

Caller: Hi, our printer is not working.

Customer Service: What is wrong with it?

Caller: Mouse is jammed. Customer Service:

Mouse? And how it is related to printer?

Caller: Mmmm.. Wait, I will send de picture.

click here

MICROSOFT PATCHED CRITICAL WINDOWS BUG IN XP SP3 EARLY

2008-04-17T11:54:00.000+05:30

The appearance and disappearance of a Windows XP installation snafu indicates that Microsoft patched a critical vulnerability in XP's still-unfinished Service Pack 3 (SP3) weeks before it fixed any other version of Windows. The glitch, which sent some PCs into an endless round of reboots, was strangely similar to one faced by Vista users in February. Attackers have already tried to exploit that bug, which was patched last Tuesday.

IBM BOOSTS PERFORMANCE, CUTS POWER INTAKE ON CHIPS

2008-04-17T11:53:00.001+05:30

IBM demonstrated technology that improves performance and reduces power consumption on chips used in devices from mobile phones to high-performance servers. IBM may incorporate the technology when it starts volume production of chips using the 32-nm process which it plans to start in late 2009. The technology, called high-k/metal gate, boosts performance by up to 30 percent and reduces power consumption by up to 50 percent.

AUTODESK UPGRADES FLAME, INFERNO, FLINT, SMOKE AND TOXIC

2008-04-17T11:51:00.001+05:30

Autodesk has announced the 2009 releases of the Inferno, Flame and Flint software for visual effects systems, and the Autodesk Smoke software finishing system. The company also announced Extension 1 for Autodesk Toxik 2008 software for digital compositing. Autodesk's visual effects and finishing systems have been used to create numerous blockbuster films, including all three Oscar-nominated movies for Best Visual Effects.

MICROSOFT UNROLLS DETAILS OF SILVERLIGHT DRM

2008-04-17T11:49:00.003+05:30

Microsoft unveiled details of a new DRM technology for streaming live content, called Silverlight DRM. The technology is based on Microsoft's PlayReady technology and is expected to be available later this year when Microsoft releases Silverlight 2. Silverlight DRM will be compatible with Windows Media DRM 10 content and is aimed at protecting content that is streamed live or on-demand.

PLUG-IN GIVES FACEBOOK USERS ANOTHER WAY TO DODGE BEACON

2008-04-17T11:49:00.001+05:30

A new Facebook plug-in to be released this weekend will allow users to monitor and delete cookies created by the Facebook Beacon advertising system. The cookies are used by Facebook to inform a user's friends about his or her purchases. The toolbar now works with Internet Explorer, but Flugpo said that it plans to add support for the Firefox and Safari browsers as well.

ADOBE UPDATES LIGHTROOM, CAMERA RAW

2008-04-17T11:48:00.002+05:30

Adobe Systems has released updates to Photoshop Lightroom and Camera Raw, to versions 1.4.1 and 4.4.1 respectively. The updates correct problems reported with the previous releases, which caused Adobe to pull them from circulation shortly after releasing them. Both updates are available for download. The updated versions also correct a problem with Olympus JPEG file rendering.

FIRST CENTRINO ATOM BASED COMPUTER TO COME IN JUNE

2008-04-17T11:48:00.001+05:30

The first portable computer based on Intel's Centrino Atom chip package is coming in June, although it will be bigger and more expensive than such devices were expected to be. Centrino Atom was developed for small, pocketable devices based on Linux that Intel calls Mobile Internet Devices, or MIDs. The Willcom D4 ultramobile PC is manufactured by Sharp and comes with a two-year data contract.

MICROSOFT FIXES VISTA SP1 REBOOT BUG

2008-04-13T16:30:00.000+05:30

Microsoft has fixed a Vista SP1 reboot bug that had caused some users to suspend migrations and that the revised software will again be offered via automatic distribution. Microsoft is fixing the problem by issuing a fix that installs prior to the installation of the SSU (Servicing Stack Update). The company said the original problem occurred during some "unknown and rare" instances when the SSU thought it needed to reboot when it did not.

AMD FINALLY SHIPS QUAD-CORE OPTERONS

2008-04-13T16:29:00.000+05:30

AMD announced it was shipping the quad-core Opteron chip in volume after fixing a bug, but concerns are being raised about AMD's abilities to stick to its product roadmap, analysts said.The chip, code-named Barcelona, was delayed in December because of a bug in the L3 cache that caused applications to fail. The chip created much enthusiasm 18 months ago as the first quad-core chip when it broke away from Intel's traditional multicore architecture.

ADOBE PATCHES 'PWN TO OWN' BUG IN FLASH PLAYER

2008-04-13T16:28:00.003+05:30

Adobe Systems plugged the Flash Player hole used by a hacker two weeks ago to take down a Windows Vista machine and claim a $5,000 prize in the "PWN To OWN" exploit challenge. Adobe's update to Flash Player patched seven vulnerabilities, including those that could be used by attackers to hijack machines running the flawed software. Users can update by manually downloading the new edition or via the auto-update feature.

SUN TO TOUT HOSTING PLATFORM

2008-04-13T16:28:00.001+05:30

Sun is slated to discuss today an R&D project intended to provide a hosting platform for delivering Internet-based services. Called Project Caroline, the technology is on the agenda of a Sun Labs Open House taking place at Sun offices in Menlo Park, California. The platform comprises a programmatically configurable pool of virtualized compute, storage, and networking resources, according to Sun.

WINDOWS 7 RELEASE SET FOR 2009

2008-04-13T16:24:00.001+05:30

Microsoft has dropped two strong hints in the past two days that the next version of its Windows operating system will arrive in 2009, shaving up to a year off previous expectations. It could also be a signal that Microsoft intends to cut its losses with Windows Vista, which has been poorly received or shunned by customers, especially large companies.

HP PAVILION DV3000 NOTEBOOK UNVEILED IN INDIA

2008-04-13T16:23:00.002+05:30

HP's latest offering - Pavilion dv3000 Entertainment Notebook PC was launched in India. The HP Pavilion dv3000 features a 13.3-inch wide-screen display based on HP BrightView technology, a built-in webcam, a full-sized keyboard and a remote control. The notebook also comes with a fingerprint reader and the HP 3D DriveGuard protects the hard drive while on the go.

YAHOO INDIA INTROS MAPS IN LOCAL LANGUAGES

2008-04-13T16:23:00.001+05:30

Yahoo! India introduced a new service for the first time in India – maps in local Indian languages and walking directions. The service is available now available in 9 local languages, Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Punjabi and can be accessed from Yahoo! India maps. After recently introducing driving directions, Yahoo! India is also offering the option of walking directions.

MYSPACE MUSIC TO OFFER DOWNLOADABLE MUSIC

2008-04-13T16:22:00.002+05:30

News Corp's MySpace has long been a haven for independent and commercial musicians alike to talk with fans and to spread the word about new music. Now the Web site is starting up a new download service called "MySpace Music" with some of the biggest names in commercial music. MySpace Music is being launched in partnership with Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.

SONY LAUNCHES WORLD'S SMALLEST HD CAMCORDER

2008-04-13T16:22:00.001+05:30

Sony has developed what it says is the world's smallest high-definition video camcorder. The Sony HDR-TG1 measures 32mm by 119mm by 63mm and weighs 300g. It's a tall and thin camcorder with a fold-out display - a design along the same lines as Sanyo's Xacti line of high-def camcorders, but the Sony camcorder is about two-thirds the volume of Sanyo's latest full high-def model.

MSI UNVEILS N9800GTX SERIES GRAPHICS CARD

2008-04-13T16:21:00.002+05:30

MSI unveiled its latest N9800GTX series graphics card. The MSI N9800 GTX series graphics card provide optimal power management with HybridPower technology. The three MSI N9800GTX series graphics cards which run in 3-way nVidia SLI mode on the new nVidia nForce 780i and 790i motherboards enable up to 2.8x performance increase over a single GPU.

INTEL GIVES ITS CLASSMATE PC A MAKEOVER

2008-04-13T16:21:00.001+05:30

Intel unveiled an updated version of its Classmate PC laptop but changes made to the device are largely cosmetic--at least for now. The new Classmate PC has a sleeker look than its predecessor, and should appeal to a broader range of users. It also offers the option of a 9-inch screen instead of a 7-inch screen, and can have a built-in video camera. In addition, the trackpad is larger, making it easier to use for adult-sized fingers.

MOZILLA LAUNCHES FINAL FIREFOX 3.0 BETA

2008-04-13T16:20:00.000+05:30

Firefox 3.0 Beta 5 landed on Mozilla's download servers. Mike Beltzner, Mozilla's interface designer, highlighted several changes to the open-source browser, including improved UI integration with the underlying operating system, performance gains from additional changes to the JavaScript engine, and an unspecified number of bug fixes and modifications for features new in Firefox 3.0, such as the full-page zoom and bookmark backup and restore.

D-LINK LAUNCHES XTREME N ROUTER

2008-04-13T16:19:00.000+05:30

D-Link launched its Xtreme N router DIR-655, using the latest Draft 802.11n wireless technology, in the Indian market. With faster speeds and further range than that found in 802.11g wireless products, the D-Link Xtreme N Router claims to be industry's first Gigabit Draft N router to incorporate Intelligent Wireless Quality of Service Technology that automatically prioritizes high-bandwidth and latency-sensitive wireless data traffic.

HACKED VISTA LAPTOP WITH ATTACK CODE ON EBAY

2008-04-02T18:32:00.002+05:30

The winner of a recent hacking contest is offering the Fujitsu U810 laptop he broke into for sale on eBay, possibly with the Microsoft Vista attack code he used, intact. His listing claims that exploit code could probably still be extracted from the machine. Although he makes no guarantees. He claims that his Adobe Flash exploit will affect 90 percent of computers worldwide.

MICROSOFT'S OOXML GETS ISO INTERNATIONAL STANDARD

2008-04-02T18:32:00.001+05:30

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has adopted an international standard based on Microsoft's Office Open XML document format. ISO has sent the ballot results to national standards bodies on Monday. Of the 87 countries taking part, 61 approved the draft standard DIS29500, 10 disapproved and 16 abstained. ISO has yet to decide who will control future development and improvement of the standard.

APRIL FOOL'S STORM WORM HITS THE WEB

2008-04-02T18:31:00.004+05:30

A new storm worm with an April Fool's Day theme is targeting the Web. The e-mail messages contain links that direct users to Websites that contain malware. Once the files are downloaded and executed on the computer it sets a firewall exception rule and then attempts to 'phone home' using various outgoing ports. Traditional AV products which use signature detection are not equipped with the behavioral technology that this worm uses and the threat is currently evading those users' defenses.

NOKIA INTRODUCES WIMAX TABLET

2008-04-02T18:31:00.003+05:30

Nokia shows off a new iteration of a WiMax version of its Internet tablet, the N810. The tablet is slightly larger than a typical smartphone, yet much smaller than a laptop. It lets users connect to the Internet over cellular networks via a Bluetooth link to their cell phones. Nokia expects users will get download rates of 2Mbps to 4Mbps, with bursts as fast as 10Mbps. The device is expected to be available only in the US initially.

MICROSOFT UPDATES WINDOWS MOBILE, IE MOBILE

2008-04-02T18:31:00.001+05:30

Microsoft on Tuesday announced improvements to Windows Mobile, including a plan to add desktop-browsing quality seen in Internet Explorer 6 for new smartphones by the end of the year. The new version of IE Mobile will make it easier to pan and zoom through Web pages. IE 6 technologies such as Adobe Flash, H. 264 video and Microsoft Silverlight will be added to the new mobile. IT managers will be able to bring greater management functions and security to Windows Mobile phones.

MCAFEE LAUNCHES EXPERIMENT TO SHOW EFFECTS OF SPAM

2008-04-02T12:46:00.003+05:30

McAfee today announced the launch of its global S.P.A.M. Experiment. With a proven link between spam and cybercrime, the experiment aims to show the devastating effects of spam. For 30 days, participants ranging from homemakers, government executives, and students to retirees will surf the Web, make online purchases and register for promotions. They have been provided with a clean laptop without spam protection and a new email address.

MILLION VIRUSES TO HIT COMPUTERS AND MOBILES BY YEAR END

2008-04-02T12:46:00.001+05:30

-Secure labs are receiving an average of 25,000 malware samples every day, seven days a week. If this trend continues, the total number of viruses and Trojans will pass the one million mark by the end of 2008, warns F-Secure. In the case of Kiazha, the first smartphone ransom Trojan, you get infected by downloading a shareware lookalike program on your phone, which then drops several viruses on your phone and then asks for a ransom to clean them.

GOOGLE OFFERS DEEP SEARCH AND OFFLINE ACCESS TO HOSTED APPS

2008-04-02T12:45:00.003+05:30

Google is rolling out a much-awaited feature for its hosted applications: the ability for people to use them even when they aren't connected to the Internet. Google will turn on the feature for all word processor users, giving them the ability to view and edit documents while offline. Google as a search engine has introduced a 'deep search' function that expands the top result of its search listings.

SAHARA LAUNCHES ULTRAPORTABLE LAPTOP FOR RS.15,000

2008-04-02T12:45:00.001+05:30

Sahara Computers launched its latest entry level 8 inch laptop — Sahara- S- NB522434- EB00 in the Indian market. The company claims it is one of the smallest notebooks with a 60 GB hard drive. The 8 inch LCD TFT display screen is bright and sharp. The notebook weighs about 1.1 kg. It is Linux based and targeted at entry level users, students and frequent travelers. It comes with an AMD Geode LX 800 Processor.

Transcend Introduces 16GB JetFlash V85

2008-04-01T17:23:00.001+05:30

Transcend announced the availability of its new high-capacity USB flash drive — the 16GB JetFlash V85 in India. It has a compact zinc-alloy body and it measures 49.5mm long by 15.8mm wide, and is thin enough (7.4mm) to slide in pockets or tight-fitting stacked USB ports. The drive has up to 16GB of storage space so one can easily transfer, store, and share large number of files. It comes bundled with Transcend's handy JetFlash elite software package that includes seven useful tools specifically developed to help manage mobile data more efficiently and increase productivity. These functions include: Website AutoLogin, PC-Lock, Favorites, Secret-Zip, E-mail, DataBackup, and Online Update. The drive supports Windows 98SE/2000/Me/XP/Vista, Mac and Linux, and is now available in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities. The drive is USB 2.0 compliant, which is also compatible with USB 1.0/1.1 Easy Plug and Play operation and requires no external power or battery. It can be used as a key to lock the computer and compress and password-protect files using powerful 256-bit AES Encryption. The drive enjoys 3 years warranty and is available for Rs. 4,250. It is available through Supertron Electronics and Mediaman Infotech.

Intel's Cliffside Turns One Wi-Fi Adapter in to Two

2008-04-01T17:22:00.000+05:30

Intel on Tuesday gave a demonstration of its Cliffside technology, which allows a single Wi-Fi adapter to function like two independent adapters and maintain simultaneous connections using different networks.Cliffside, which Intel calls a "research technology," was demonstrated in Shanghai ahead of the Intel Developer Forum, which starts tomorrow.Users can maintain two simultaneous network connections with Cliffside. One connection can link the laptop to a wireless Internet connection and the other to a personal area network (PAN) of Wi-Fi devices. This would allow users to download files from the Internet while synchronizing an MP3 player or streaming a high-definition movie to a television over the PAN connection, for example.Cliffside can also link several different laptops, allowing users to create a network and share files when a Wi-Fi access point is not available.Up to eight Wi-Fi devices or laptops can be linked to a laptop's Wi-Fi adapter using a PAN connection, the chip maker said.Intel did not offer a timeframe for when Cliffside would be available in a product, suggesting the technology may still be several years away from commercialization.

Apple Releases Aperture 2.1 With Plug-In Architecture

2008-03-31T19:48:00.002+05:30

Apple has released Aperture 2.1, which introduces an open plug-in architecture that makes it possible for photographers to use specialized third party imaging software right from within Aperture.Available today as a free software update, Aperture 2.1 includes the Apple-developed plug-in, Dodge & Burn, which adds brush-based tools for dodge (lighten), burn (darken), contrast, saturation, sharpen and blur. Over the coming months, third party software developers will deliver image editing plug-ins for localized editing, filters and effects, noise analysis and reduction, fisheye lens correction and more.By clicking on one or more images within Aperture, users can choose from a menu of installed plug-ins and apply specialized imaging operations to either TIFF or RAW images.Apple is working closely with key developers to bring the most requested plug-ins to Aperture such as Nik Software's Viveza plug-in, powered by U Point technology, which provides a powerful, precise and easy way for photographers to selectively control and adjust color and light in their digital images, according to Nik. PictureCode's Noise Ninja plug-in delivers advanced high ISO noise analysis and reduction. Digital Film Tools' Power Stroke plug-in features a simple, stroke-based interface to quickly mask and intuitively perform targeted adjustments.The Tiffen Company's Dfx plug-in provides an expansive suite of creative filters and effects. dvGarage's dpMatte plug-in is a high performance chroma key tool for creating seamless composites, and the HDRtoner plug-in that enables the selection of multiple photos to create a single high dynamic range (HDR) image. Image Trends' plug-ins includes Fisheye-Hemi to quickly and effortlessly correct fisheye lens distortion, ShineOff which automatically removes shine from faces and PearlyWhites that automatically whitens and brightens teeth.Aperture 2.1 is available immediately as a free software update to current Aperture 2.0 users. Information and availability for third party imaging plug-ins can be found on Apple's Aperture resources site.

With Vista Breached, Linux Unbeaten in Hacking Contest

2008-03-31T19:48:00.001+05:30

The MacBook Air went first; a tiny Fujitsu laptop running Vista was hacked on the last day of the contest; but it was Linux, running on a Sony Vaio, that remained undefeated as conference organizers ended a three-way computer hacking challenge Friday at the CanSecWest conference.Earlier this week, contest sponsors had put three laptops up for grabs to anyone who could hack into one of the systems and run their own software. A $20,000 cash prize sweetened the deal, but the payout was halved each day as contest rules were relaxed and it became easier to penetrate the computers.On day two, Independent Security Evaluators' Charlie Miller took the Mac after hitting it with a still-undisclosed exploit that targeted the Safari Web browser. After about two minutes work, Thursday, Miller took home $10,000, courtesy of 3Com's TippingPoint division, in addition to his new laptop.It took two days of work, but Shane Macaulay, finally cracked the Vista box on Friday, with a little help from his friends.Macaulay, who was a co-winner of last year's hacking contest, needed a few hacking tricks courtesy of VMware researcher Alexander Sotirov to make his bug work. That's because Macaulay hadn't been expecting to attack the Service Pack 1 version of Vista, which comes with additional security measures. He also got a little help from co-worker Derek Callaway.Under contest rules, Macaulay and Miller aren't allowed to divulge specific details about their bugs until they are patched, but Macaulay said the flaw that he exploited was a cross-platform bug that took advantage of Java to circumvent Vista's security."The flaw is in something else, but the inherent nature of Java allowed us to get around the protections that Microsoft had in place," he said in an interview shortly after he claimed his prize Friday. "This could affect Linux or Mac OS X."Macaulay said he chose to work on Vista because he had done contract work for Microsoft in the past and was more familiar with its products.Although several attendees tried to crack the Linux box, nobody could pull it off, said Terri Forslof, a manager of security response with TippingPoint. "I was surprised that it didn't go," she said.Some of the show's 400 attendees had found bugs in the Linux operating system, she said, but many of them didn't want to put the work into developing the exploit code that would be required to win the contest.Earlier, Miller said that he chose to hack the Mac because he thought it would be easiest target. Vista hacker Macaulay didn't dispute that assertion: "I think it might be," he said.

Google Calendar Outages Anger Users

2008-03-31T19:47:00.002+05:30

Google acknowledges the "performance issues" but offers no clues when reliable service may return. Users of Google Calendar are angry and frustrated that they have been unable to access the Web-based application at various times over the past two weeks. Google, in a note on its Calendar help page, said Google Calendar was "experiencing temporary performance issues" that were affecting users of Google Account and Google Apps. It gave no indication of when the problem would be fixed. Google Calendar users who are unable to access their calendars are venting their frustrations on the Google Calendar Troubleshooting Group. Most of the users trying to access their calendars said they get an error message that reads, "One or more of your selected calendars could not be loaded at this time. You can try to re-select the hidden calendars in a few moments." "I am really sick of this," one user said. "When are they going to fix this piece of garbage? I rely on this all the time and now I cannot even sync my Blackberry to my calendars. What's going on? When are they going to fix this problem?" Another user who received this error message, "Oops, we couldn't load details for your calendar, please try again," said, "I'm also angry ... Anyone know what the deal is?" One user who's been testing Google Calendar from a work environment for the past two weeks said he's experiencing intermittent problems with the application. And another said, "Please, this is painful. No calendars for our 'Google Apps Premier Edition' users since 8:30 a.m. Eastern (Saturday). Can we get some kind of update?" A Google spokesman on Friday acknowledged that some users were having problems accessing Google Calendar and that the company was working quickly to fix the problem. "We know how important Calendar is to our users, so we take issues like this very seriously, the spokesman said in an e-mail. We encourage anyone having technical difficulty to contact the Google Calendar support team through the Google Calendar Help Center."

Dell Updates Inspiron Laptop with Blu-ray Drive

2008-03-31T19:47:00.001+05:30

Dell began selling an updated version of its Inspiron laptop with a Blu-ray drive for less than $900.With Blu-ray technology the recent victor in the HD disc format wars, Dell is quick to take advantage of the move. The company announced that the Blu-ray laptops, with a starting price of $879, will be sold on its website.The Inspiron 1525 with optional Blu-ray disc playback also has an optional Blu-ray burner drive. The computer has a 15.4-inch high-definition display with 720p resolution, according to Dell. The laptop is designed to be fully backward compatible, playing and burning traditional DVDs and CDs.Optional accessories for the Inspiron 1525, which is available in the U.S., Canada and Europe, include a slim travel power adapter, noise-isolation earphones and a Dell travel remote control that goes into the ExpressCard slot.

Adobe to Patch Flash Bug Affecting Thousands of Web Sites

2008-03-31T19:46:00.000+05:30

Adobe is working on an update to its Flash Player software that will address a widespread vulnerability found on hundreds of thousands of Web sites. The issue, first reported in December by Google researcher Rich Cannings, allows attackers to use buggy Shockwave Flash (.swf) files in order to attack Web surfers. Using what is known as a cross-site scripting attack, criminals could create fake phishing pages or, much worse, gain access to online banking sessions or Web accounts of victims in some situations. After Cannings went public with his findings, Adobe and other software vendors fixed their development tools so they would no longer create the vulnerable Flash files, but there are still more than 500,000 of these files posted on different sites on the Internet, according to Cannings. Because of the amount of work it would take to clean up the mess, Cannings had been encouraging Adobe to make changes to its Player software that would nullify these cross-site scripting attacks. This fix is being developed and will be available "soon," said Adobe spokesman Matt Rozen in an e-mail message. Security experts say that Adobe's chief problem now is to work out a way of fixing this bug without making it hard for users to view older Flash files. In an interview on Friday, Cannings said that some of Adobe's early approaches to this problem had "broken" existing Flash files in the player, but that a satisfactory fix was technically possible. If Adobe could convince browser-makers to make some changes as well, it might simplify things, he added. Three months after he went public with the problem, Cannings estimates that more than 10,000 Web sites remain vulnerable to this attack.

Leopard Drubs Vista in Survey

2008-03-30T14:11:00.001+05:30

Corporate users of Apple's Leopard operating system are more than five times more likely to say that they are "very satisfied" with the OS than business users of Microsoft's Windows Vista , a research firm said Wednesday.In a February survey of 2,200 U.S. corporate computer users, 53 percent of those using Mac OS X 10.5 reported that they were very satisfied with their operating system. Of those using Windows XP or Windows Vista, however, 40 percent of the former and only 8 percent of the latter said they were very satisfied."Apple continues to set the standard for corporate customer satisfaction," said Paul Carton, director of research at ChangeWave Research. That, and the fact that corporate buying plans for Macs remain at historically high levels, indicate that users like what Apple's doing, continued Carton.According to ChangeWave’s survey, 7 percent of the corporate respondents who said their company would purchase laptops in the next 90 days were planning on buying Apple. "Apple held at 7 percent, the same as November," said Carton, referring to a similar survey late last year.Most other vendors, in fact, slipped in ChangeWave's corporate buying plans poll. Fewer companies with purchasing plans figure on buying a Dell notebook in the next three months than reported they would in November (down a percentage point). HP (down two points), Lenovo (down two points) and Toshiba (down one point) also dropped in the survey.But while Apple shows some sales strength even as the general pace of U.S. corporate computer sales looks to slow in the next quarter, it remains a minor player in the market, reported ChangeWave. More than half -- 53 percent -- of the computers companies plan to buy in the second quarter will be equipped with Windows XP, the survey said, compared to 20 percent with a version of Windows Vista and just 8 percent with Mac OS X.

Firefox 3.0 Expected in June

2008-03-30T14:10:00.000+05:30

Mozilla on Thursday confirmed that it will release the final beta of Firefox 3.0 shortly, and that it expects to deliver the finished browser to users in June.Firefox 3.0 Beta 5 has been code-frozen, said Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla's vice president of engineering, and is working its way toward release. "That will be the last beta for Firefox 3.0," he said. Once Beta 5 is out of the way, developers will move to the Release Candidate (RC) stage.Release Candidate 1 (RC1) should be ready sometime in early May, said Schroepfer, assuming Mozilla meets its current schedule. "The release candidates will move a little slower than beta," he continued, noting that the company must make allowances for public feedback.Mozilla typically tries to dissuade most users from trying betas, calling them fit only for developers and testing, but in the past has encouraged the public to try out its RC builds.Although plans are flexible, Schroepfer said he expects version 3.0 to hold true to past Firefox form and cycle through three release candidates before Mozilla signs off on the code. The RC period is also useful to extension developers, he said, many of whom wait until the code is at that stage before tweaking their add-ons.If all goes according to plan, Firefox 3.0 will wrap up and ship in June.Mozilla released Firefox 3.0 Beta 4 about two and a half weeks ago. According to its online schedule, Beta 5 will probably hit the company's download servers sometime early next week.The open-source Firefox currently accounts for about 17.3 percent of the browser market, according to Net Applications Inc.'s most recent data. Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer rules the roost with 74.9 percent, while Apple Inc.'s Safari holds down third place with 5.7 percent.

TorrentSpy Shuts Down

2008-03-30T07:51:00.000+05:30

Expensive legal battles have caused TorrentSpy, the search engine for the BitTorrent file-sharing service, to shut down. A note on the home page of TorrentSpy's Web site said it is shutting down "not due to any court order or agreement," but because of a team decision. TorrentSpy has spent the past two years and hundreds of thousands of dollars "defending the rights of our users and ourselves" in a legal climate that was "hostile" to torrent files, according to the note, which is attributed to the TorrentSpy team. "Ultimately the Court demanded actions that in our view were inconsistent with our privacy policy, traditional court rules, and International law; therefore, we now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users -- permanent shutdown," the team said. TorrentSpy was a search engine that helped visitors find torrent files on the Web. Torrent files are often music or movie files stored in an easily shared file format. The search engine came under legal fire from the entertainment industry, which in general does not want licensed content to be distributed royalty-free.

OPENOFFICE UPDATE ARRIVES

2008-03-29T12:35:00.004+05:30

OpenOffice.org 2.4, the latest version of the free productivity application suite is now available for download for a number of OSes, including Windows, Linux and Mac. An open source project backed by Sun Microsystems, OpenOffice.org is widely regarded as the leading competitor to Microsoft Office. It is also the most prominent software to support Open Document Format, a set of open standards that challenges Microsoft's proprietary Office file formats.

GOOGLE SEARCH BEHIND MOST PHISHING SITES

2008-03-29T12:35:00.003+05:30

Three-quarters of phishing sites are built on hacked servers that have been tracked down using pre-programmed Google search terms, according to a research from brand-protection firm MarkMonitor. Researchers compiled a list of 750 Google search terms that are used to track down websites likely to have easily exploitable vulnerabilities - mostly PHP-based sites.

SHARP LAUNCHES MOBILE PHONE FOR BLOGGERS

2008-03-29T12:35:00.001+05:30

Sharp has launched a new mobile phone that features a small QWERTY keyboard and a tool allowing users to easily update their blogs. The Sharp 922SH has a 3.5-inch display that folds out to the side so the phone can be used more like a miniature laptop than a traditional clamshell phone. The widescreen VGA display has a resolution of 854 pixel by 480 pixels. The phone has an RSS reader and a PC-style web browser.

APPLE MACBOOK AIR HACKED IN TWO MINUTES

2008-03-29T12:34:00.001+05:30

Apple's MacBook Air was hacked in just two minutes at the CanSecWest security conference's PWN 2 OWN hacking contest, with former National Security Agency employee Charlie Miller walking away with a $10,000 prize. Show organizers also offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810 and the MacBook Air as prizes, saying that they could be won by anybody at the show who could find a way to hack into each of them.

YOUTUBE ROLLS OUT USAGE ANALYTICS

2008-03-29T12:33:00.000+05:30

In a move likely to appeal to the growing number of companies looking to add video their websites, YouTube rolled out a tool that can closely monitor how uploaded videos are used. The free YouTube Insight tool provides users with detailed statistics on how often their videos are viewed and where the users are located. In addition, the tool can measure how popular a video is in a specific region.

AMD INTROS NEW PHENOM CHIPS AND TRIPLE-CORE PROCESSORS

2008-03-27T22:11:00.001+05:30

Advanced Micro Devices announced new Phenom chips, including quad-core chips and its first triple-core processors for desktop PCs. The chips could be used for high-definition video playback, casual mainstream gaming and productivity applications. The company's first triple-core processors include the Phenom X3 8400, which runs at 2.1GHz, and the Phenom X3 8600, which runs at 2.3GHz. AMD also launched three Phenom quad-core processors.

MOTOROLA ANNOUNCES TOUCHSCREEN MOBILE TV DEVICE

2008-03-27T22:10:00.002+05:30

Motorola announced six new products and technology demonstrations that are designed to improve the consumer mobile media experience. The devices include a new mobile TV with a touchscreen user interface. Users of Mobile TV DH02 will be able to click, drag and scroll through icons in menus to reach mobile TV content. It has the ability to provide 25 frames per second of digital video.

MOZILLA FIXES 10 FIREFOX FLAWS, HALF SEEN AS 'CRITICAL'

2008-03-27T22:10:00.001+05:30

Mozilla patched 10 vulnerabilities, half of them marked "critical," in its open-source browser as it updated Firefox to version 2.0.0.13. Among the critical flaws were a pair that could be exploited to crash the browser or its JavaScript engine, and perhaps do more. Mozilla also patched potential identity leaks, spoofing bugs and cross-site scripting vulnerabilities.

MULTI-TOUCH TRACKPAD FOR ASUSTEK'S NEW EEE PC

2008-03-27T21:57:00.000+05:30

The next generation Eee PC laptop by Asustek Computer will come with a multi-touch trackpad in addition to the larger screen, better Webcam and increased data storage. The Eee PC 900's oversized touchpad works similar to the Macbook Air. Using two fingers, a person can zoom in and out of documents and photos, scroll up and down, and more. A few things the Eee PC 900 will not have, include a touchscreen and GPS.

ADOBE UNVEILS FREE WEB-BASED PHOTOSHOP

2008-03-27T21:56:00.000+05:30

The long-awaited, Web-based and free version of Adobe Photoshop is now available as a beta. Photoshop Express allows users to store up to 2GB of images, make edits to their photos, and share them, all online. In a few clicks, users will be able to make standard edits, such as removing blemishes and red-eye, converting to black and white, cropping and resizing. No experience is required, Adobe said.