News

Novell boosts desktop Linux

Security vendors bring zombie fighters to life

Botnet-infected 'zombie' computers are an ever-growing risk, and IT security vendors are taking notice and offering more ways to fight back

Bad things lurking on government sites

Several California state Web sites are still redirecting to porn sites even after California's state servers were temporarily removed from DNS listings

U.S. Net ad spending close to $10B in 2007’s first half

Growth in online ad spending is slower compared to the same period last year but is still strong, according to the Interactive Advertisng Bureau

Qualcomm explains failure to provide evidence

In its court proceedings against Broadcom, Qualcomm didn't disclose more than 200,000 e-mails showing its participation in a standards-setting process

Fon’s shared Wi-Fi network goes mainstream with BT

BT, the U.K.'s biggest broadband provider, is equipping some customers' routers with Fon technology that lets them share their bandwidth with other nearby Fon members

Microsoft schedules seven patches for next week

Latest updates will affect all versions of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express; other fixes apply to Windows, Word, and SharePoint

Wall Street Beat: Markets roar back, but shadows remain

Despite strong gains by Google, Apple, and HP, worries over possible recession keep jubilation at bay

Jajah cries foul over eBay’s block

With a click of an embedded Jajah button, buyers and sellers would've been able to call each other with questions — until eBay banned their use

Rock Phish may be using fast flux in phishing attacks

Mysterious hacker group has devised new method that obscures their tracks, deceives researchers, and prolongs life of phishing campaigns

Microsoft launches online e-health service

Microsoft's HealthVault helps users store and share their health records online, monitor their medical conditions, and search for health information

Sun patches critical Java bugs

Some of the fixes for the Windows, Linux, and Solaris versions of Java Runtime Environment and Java Web Start were rated critical by outside researchers

Code library aims to fuel easier JavaScript handling

The caretaker of jQuery, which compiles and simplifies tested JavaScript code for developers' use, hopes to establish a foundation to expand the project's reach

Battling spam revisited, again

Apple fixes year-old QuickTime flaw

QuickTime bug was overlooked when Apple patched the media player in March, critics say

Adobe readies Flex Builder for Linux

Customers upset with Google over Urchin Web analytics software

Major upgrade to Google's Urchin Web analytics server software is almost three years late and customers worry that may mean it will be discontinued

SEC suspends trading of firms susceptible to stock spam

Trading suspension of three companies is part of the SEC's antispam initiative that targets 'pump and dump' stock scams

Update: Salesforce.com eyes data-sharing service

New service would let customers share sales leads, data directly with other companies using Salesforce.com's on-demand CRM software

EU worried that not all operators have cut roaming fees

European regulators say there are no signs domestic mobile call prices are being increased to compensate for lost roaming revenues

Homeland Security e-mail server turns into spam cannon

Subscribers to a U.S. government daily e-mail bulletin were inundated with e-mails due to a glitch with its mailing list

How to ask for more money

Omron demonstrates facial-recognition technology

Okao Vision facial-recognition technology recognizes when a person is smiling and ready for their picture to be taken

Sony spinoff plans high-end FED monitors for 2009

FED technology offers faster response times, consumes less power, and produces more realistic images than other flat-panel technologies

Feds pull the domain name plug on State of California

GSA came within hours of shutting down Web access and e-mail to all state agencies using the ca.gov domain after its servers were hacked with redirects to pornographic sites

Target sued over Web access for the blind

California court extends a disabilities provision to the Internet, rules that Web sites such as Target.com are required to be accessible by the blind

Microsoft gears up for OCS launch

Office Communications Server 2007 is due this month, and in the meantime, Microsoft is trying to win over customers to its unified communications offering bit by bit

Software AG upgrades registry and repository for SOA

Infravio, webMethods legacies cited in CentraSite Governance Edition 7.1, which is a rebranding of Infravio's X-Registry

eBay: Phishers getting better organized, using Linux

Dave Cullinane, eBay's chief information and security officer, says malware developers are creating more sophisticated attacks and using Linux boxes to control botnets

Using virtualization to boost efficiency

Data centers accounted for 1.6 percent of total U.S. energy consumption in the U.S., making efficiency, which can be greatly enhanced with virtualization, a must

Microsoft updates Vista’s speed, stability, again

Four separate updates improve Vista's speed, stability, compatability, and reliability, though Microsoft says the 'incremental' fixes are independent from the SP1 update

Mozilla, Arm, others to build Linux UMPC platform

MontaVista, Texas Instruments, Samsung, Movial, and Marvell Technologies also on board to create an open source platform for new device category

Auditor: FCC leaks information to some lobbyists

GAO report finds that FCC violates rules by sharing information in advance with telecom lobby, sometimes at expense of consumer and public-interest groups

What’s the 411 on GOOG-411?

Arm saves battery life with new multicore design

Smartphones and mobile devices will benefit the most from processor update

Microsoft opening up .Net Framework libraries

By releasing the libraries under its Reference License and Shared Source Initiative, Microsoft has made the .Net source code viewable but unmodifiable

Alcatel-Lucent board pledges support for Russo

Though it is disappointed with the decline in Alcatel-Lucent's financial outlook, the company's board still supports embattled CEO Patricia Russo

The dirty little storage secret

Fraudsters jump to U.S. to cash out on U.K. cards

Fraud involving U.K. credit and debit cards overseas jumped 126 percent for the first six months of 2007; absence of 'chip-and-pin' technology in U.S. blamed

Microsoft launches enterprise antipiracy program

Get Genuine Windows Agreement aims to plug a hole in Microsoft's antipiracy efforts and targets large customers that need to 'get legal'

Is Adobe vulnerable to an AIR attack?

Adobe's support of rich Internet applications could be exposing developers and users to the threat of more Web-based malware

Malware boom puts pressure on second-tier AV labs

Security experts predict only a few of the largest labs will be able to compete in anti-virus research in the long run

Intel seeks growth in India through reference designs

As part of Intel's new strategy to create reference designs for India's fast-growing IT market, the company unveils a point-of-sale system for Indian retailers

Broadcom goes high-definition on cell phone chip

Broadcom's VideoCore III chip gives cell-phone users access to high-definition video playback, 3D gaming, 12-megapixel camera capabilities — without sacrificing battery life

Toshiba platform aims to connect Cell devices

Toshiba hopes its Open Connected Media Platform will help spur adoption of the Cell processor by electronics makers

Toshiba shows off Cell-based SpursEngine coprocessor

Prototype Qosmio notebooks include a new multimedia coprocessor that offers better video-processing capabilities and works with high-speed XDR memory from Rambus

Malicious code infects Chinese security site

Chinese Internet Security Response Team's Web site is rigged with a malicious hidden window that can allow code to run on a visitor's PC

How and why Amazon makes you lie

Apple competitors tout their phones’ openness versus the iPhone

As Apple faces mounting criticism for its measures to keep the iPhone locked, competitors step up to tout how their phones allow third-party development

StopBadware: Trusted Web sites are being hacked and don’t even know it

StopBadware report warns: In a Web 2.0 world, it's becoming easier to sneak badware onto a legitimate site, compromising trusted Web sites