IT News Digest

Archive: 09-2007

• Vulnerabilities in Gmail, Picasa, and Google Search Appliance

  The Webosphere is buzzing with news of vulnerabilities in Gmail, Google’s immensely popular Web mail service. The new vulnerabilities let hackers set up a kind of back-door entry into a...

  Posted by Arun Radhakrishnan | September 27, 2007, 10:32 AM PDT

• IBM's software for surveillance of Chicago's streets

  IBM is teaming up with Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) for analyzing the thousands of hours of video recorded by the street surveillance system. A quote...

  Posted by Arun Radhakrishnan | September 27, 2007, 10:31 AM PDT

• Security risks from Bluetooth devices

  Symantec has raised an alarm over a number of security threats propagated on mobile devices with Bluetooth technology. The cause for the alert was findings of the research firm Insight Express...

  Posted by Arun Radhakrishnan | September 27, 2007, 5:58 AM PDT

• Microsoft Office faces increasing competition from IBM, Google, Apple, and Yahoo

  IBM is the latest company to throw its hat into the ring in an effort to compete with Microsoft for a share of the lucrative desktop productivity application market. Its plans are to offer office...

  Posted by Andy Moon | September 27, 2007, 5:55 AM PDT

• Putting the desktop in the clouds

  Cloud computing is the catching on. From contact lists to online storage, the end of the spectrum marks the arrival of the Web as the next platform with desktops being independent of an underlying...

  Posted by Arun Radhakrishnan | September 27, 2007, 5:31 AM PDT

• $100 laptops to be available to the public

  A new marketing strategy being adopted by the proponents of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project may result in the XO Laptops being available in developed nations while contributing to their...

  Posted by Arun Radhakrishnan | September 27, 2007, 5:14 AM PDT

• New features may be coming to Gmail

  Rumors have surfaced that new features in Gmail are in the works, and they may be a face-lift to the popular Web mail since its arrival in 2004.

  Posted by Arun Radhakrishnan | September 27, 2007, 5:09 AM PDT

• Micro-USB to be a new phone charger standard

  CNET’s News.com has a news story about the Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP) agreeing on the micro-USB connector as the common connector of the future. The OMTP is a forum consisting...

  Posted by Paul Mah | September 26, 2007, 10:56 PM PDT

• Radio stations advocate texting while driving

  Here’s a super stupid news flash for you. Some radio stations are holding contests that require listeners to send in text messages from their mobile phones. When do people usually listen to...

  Posted by Sonja Thompson | September 26, 2007, 12:00 PM PDT

• Internet censorship becomes an explosive topic

  Internet censorship. I’ve addressed this topic before, but recent news stirs the controversial pot once again. See the story by Ars Technica: “EU considers ban on using Internet to...

  Posted by Sonja Thompson | September 26, 2007, 11:23 AM PDT

• Microsoft eyeing stake in Facebook

  Microsoft may pick up a 5% stake in the online social networking site FaceBook. And the price that Microsoft is poised to pay ranges from $300 million to $500 million, taking the estimated worth...

  Posted by Arun Radhakrishnan | September 26, 2007, 8:16 AM PDT

• IBM introduces CoScripter to automate browser-based tasks

  IBM’s CoScripter, developed at the Almaden Research Center, helps automate repetitive tasks from the Web browser, much like what batch files do for the computer.

  Posted by Arun Radhakrishnan | September 26, 2007, 7:41 AM PDT

• Intel previews Mashmaker

  Mashups combine information from several sources over the Web to present a mix of data tailored for the user. Intel’s new Mashmaker toolbar takes mash making to a wider audience by allowing...

  Posted by Arun Radhakrishnan | September 26, 2007, 7:06 AM PDT

• AirMagnet launches new WLAN monitoring system

  If you need to monitor WLAN systems at your workplace, either official ones or for detecting rogue access points, you might want to look at AirMagnet. AirMagnet has just announced the latest...

  Posted by Paul Mah | September 25, 2007, 11:58 PM PDT

• High-end Sony Vaio G2 out next month

  The next version of Sony’s high-end Vaio laptop series, the “G2″, will be out in Japan in October of 2007. It will feature a Core 2 Duo CPU, SSD (Solid State Drive), and a...

  Posted by Paul Mah | September 25, 2007, 11:07 PM PDT

• Nvidia looks to compete with Intel with GeForce chips for lower-end PCs

  Nvidia, the graphics chipset maker, is targeting a major share of graphics-based chipsets based on Intel PCs with its new line of GeForce integrated graphics chips.

  Posted by Arun Radhakrishnan | September 25, 2007, 10:45 PM PDT

• WiMAX on your mobile phone by next year

  If you’ve been one of those eagerly waiting for WiMAX, you might be interested to know that Motorola, the handset maker has announced its own WiMAX chipset on Tuesday. In facts, plans are in...

  Posted by Paul Mah | September 25, 2007, 10:35 PM PDT

• Texas Instruments creates a better battery gauge

  It appears that Texas Instruments has gone ahead and adapted its fuel gauge laptop battery technology to work with handheld devices. This technology will enable users to accurately gauge the...

  Posted by Paul Mah | September 25, 2007, 12:13 PM PDT

• ifbot? According to seniors in Japan, ifNOTbot

  Robots as companions are a novel idea, but the older generation in Japan isn’t warming up to them in nursing homes. See the Reuters’ story, “Robots turn off senior citizens in...

  Posted by Sonja Thompson | September 25, 2007, 6:44 AM PDT

• New classification for malware suggested

  Security researchers from Trend Micro are calling for a new classification system for malware that is more focused on the economical impact rather than the technical details of the malware. The...

  Posted by Arun Radhakrishnan | September 25, 2007, 6:37 AM PDT