The news beat: H-1B visas hit their cap limit on the first day, April 2, thereby demonstrating, in one lawyer’s words, that “demand is way out of sync with the quota” and that the system is a disaster. Ephraim Schwartz concurs, adding that “a lot of people will agree, but they have far different reasons for saying so.” Related: Let’s call Gates’ bluff on H-1B. Columnist’s corner: After ignoring it for some time, Oliver Rist took a look at Windows Meeting Space, the new collaboration tool. “Armed with my phone, a shot of Knob Creek, and my Groove Server as backup, I gave it a try,” Rist explains in this week’s installment of Enterprise Windows. While an effective load beyond about 10 users doesn’t seem realistic, configuration was easy. Security, of course, could be a concern, though Rist adds that, “unless Microsoft inexplicably built a supersecret credential-less Meeting Space access engine that can run without local knowledge, I think we’re safe.” Security: Microsoft issues an emergency patch to fix seven vulnerabilities, including one that impacts .ani files and ranks as critical. Security vendor eEye Digital’s CEO leaves the company. And German researchers who found a faster way to crack WEP suggest that anyone using Wi-Fi should switch to a safer encryption protocol if they need to protect sensitive information. Hardware: Sun gives its UltraSparc a performance boost and injects the new chips into Sun Fire servers. Intel looks to bury AMD’s Barcelona chip with what it hopes are superior speed to market and chip design, and it debuts a pair of new quad-core processors of its own. Special Report: Chip wars: the gloves come off. Technology Industry