COMPUTER NEWS DECEMBER

Spam plummets as gang leaves net
Submitted Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 12:48 PM
news.bbc.co.uk -- The closure of a web hosting firm that is believed to have had spam gangs as clients has led to a drastic reduction in junk mail. See the complete story here.


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Google is Now an OpenID Provider
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 09:31 PM
Google company information - ( Google News )
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
readwriteweb.com -- This is turning out to be quite a good week for OpenID, an increasingly popular mechanism for creating and managing a single identity across the Internet. On Monday, Microsoft announced that it would give every Windows Live user an OpenID account, and today, Google announced a very similar plan. See the complete story here.


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Wal-Mart MP3 store relaunches
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 09:31 PM
Apple company information - ( Apple News )
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
Nokia company information - ( Nokia News )
news.cnet.com -- American retail giant Wal-Mart relaunched its online MP3 store Tuesday, and it's a worthy competitor to Amazon in the DRM-free MP3 sweepstakes. (To remind you: unlike many songs from Apple's iTunes, or Microsoft's Zune Marketplace, or Nokia's music store, every song sold on Amazon and Wal-Mart can be played an unlimited number of times on just about any portable device and in any software application out there.) See the complete story here.


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Google Releases Third Beta of Chrome: Better Security and Per...
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 09:30 PM
Google company information - ( Google News )
readwriteweb.com -- Google just released a new beta version of Chrome, Google's first web browser, which addresses a number of issues we had noticed in earlier releases. Besides improving the performance and stability of a number of plugins, including Flash, Sliverlight, and Quicktime, as well as fixing some security issues, Google also finally added the ability to add words to the built-in spell checker. See the complete story here.


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Microsoft parks "I'm a PC" recording booth outside Apple Store
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 09:25 PM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
Apple company information - ( Apple News )
appleinsider.com -- Microsoft Corp., engrossed in multi-million dollar marketing blitz to counter comical ads from rival Apple, Inc., is now using a portion of its budget to fuel guerilla retail tactics near the Mac maker's stores. See the complete story here.


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ISP Disconnects Customers with Open WiFi
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 09:18 PM
torrentfreak.com -- Open wireless networks have served as a successful defense strategy for several alleged filesharers, as it is often impossible for content owners to prove that the person they accuse, has actually distributed the files they claim they did. Unfortunately, for the customers of the UK ISP Karoo, running open WiFi might also get them disconnected - even if it’s unintentional. See the complete story here.


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Firefox hits record market share
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 09:11 PM
Firefox company information - ( Firefox News )
tgdaily.com -- Mozilla had a big month as Firefox is closing in on the 20% market share mark. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer continues to lose share. See the complete story here.


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3 Billion!
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 09:09 PM
blog.flickr.net -- Take the pinky of either your left or right hand, hold it next to the corner of your mouth and say “3 beelleeeeon photos…” That’s it above — our three billionth photo. See the complete story here.


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NComputing: The Energy-Efficient $70 PC
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 09:05 PM
cleantechnica.com -- Imagine a PC unit that costs only $70 and uses as little as 1 watt of power. Sound too good to be true? Not anymore, thanks to the innovation of a California-based company called NComputing. The company creates access devices that have no CPU, memory, or moving parts. Instead, the devices connect to a central shared computer that uses NComputing’s virtualization software to share its excess processing power. See the complete story here.


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Would You Buy This Funny-Looking Bulb?
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:57 PM
Philips company information - ( Philips News )
bits.blogs.nytimes.com -- Within the next several months, several of the world’s biggest lighting companies, including Osram Sylvania and Philips, will introduce LED replacement bulbs to various world markets, including the United States.

While the bulbs will be praised for their energy-saving characteristics and long lives, most consumers will immediately think, “These things look weird.”. See the complete story here.


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Open-Xchange nabs $9 million to fight Exchange
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:56 PM
news.cnet.com -- Open-source email company Open-Xchange has raised a $9 million Series B round in a difficult financing environment, bringing its total funding to $17.8 million. See the complete story here.


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Internet black boxes to record every email and website visit
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:55 PM
telegraph.co.uk -- Under Government plans to monitor internet traffic, raw data would be collected and stored by the black boxes before being transferred to a giant central database.

The vision was outlined at a meeting between officials from the Home Office and Internet Service Providers earlier this week. See the complete story here.


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AT&T to try limits on monthly Internet traffic
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:51 PM
news.yahoo.com -- AT&T Inc., the country's largest Internet service provider, is testing the idea of limiting the amount of data that subscribers can use each month.

AT&T will initially apply the limits in Reno, Nev., and see about extending the practice elsewhere. See the complete story here.


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Veoh lays off 20 percent of workforce
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:40 PM
news.cnet.com -- Online video-sharing Web site Veoh announced Wednesday that it was laying off 20 percent of its workforce, or about 20 employees, in the face of a softening ad market. See the complete story here.


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LinkedIn cuts 10 percent of its workforce
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:40 PM
news.cnet.com -- Business-focused social-networking site LinkedIn announced Wednesday that it is cutting 10 percent of its workforce, or about 36 jobs, as part of a restructuring to focus on its revenue-producing businesses. See the complete story here.


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AMD slashes 500 more jobs
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:40 PM
AMD company information - ( AMD News )
news.cnet.com -- Advanced Micro Devices announced Wednesday it had cut 500 employees, or about 3 percent of its workforce, in an effort to reduce expenses.

This is the second round of job cuts this year at the troubled chipmaker. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD announced in April that it would cut 10 percent of its workforce, or about 1,650 jobs at the time. See the complete story here.


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Critical vulnerability in Adobe Reader
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:38 PM
Adobe company information - ( Adobe News )
net-security.org -- Core Security Technologies issued an advisory disclosing a vulnerability that could affect millions of individuals and businesses using Adobe’s Reader PDF file viewing software. Engineers from CoreLabs determined that Adobe Reader could be exploited to gain access to vulnerable systems via the use of a specially crafted PDF file with malicious JavaScript content. Upon making the discovery, CoreLabs immediately alerted Adobe to the vulnerability and the two companies have since coordinated efforts to ensure that a patch could be created and made available to protect users of the program. See the complete story here.


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A peek into private browsing in the next Firefox 3.1 beta
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:37 PM
Firefox company information - ( Firefox News )
betanews.com -- It's a race now to be the first to implement an evidence-proofing feature in an RTM of a Web browser. The fellow in charge of making it work for Firefox made his suggestions known over the weekend, and he wants to keep things simple. See the complete story here.


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Trojan Exploits Obama Presidential Win
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:36 PM
crn.com -- President-elect Barack Obama is already targeted as the subject of a malicious malware campaign designed to steal information from infected computers. See the complete story here.


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Sony Recalls More Notebook Batteries
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:34 PM
Sony company information - ( Sony News )
dailytech.com -- Sony recalls 100,000 batteries in the U.S. and abroad

One of the most important components of a notebook is its battery, which is what allows users to roam and work without cords. In 2006 and 2007 massive battery, recalls were issued after several defective notebook batteries caught on fire.

Sony issued another battery recall this week that covers about 100,000 batteries across the world. In the U.S. 35,000, batteries are covered in the recall and an additional 65,000 batteries are under the recall abroad. See the complete story here.


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TiVo Joins Streaming Netflix Bandwagon
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:33 PM
dailytech.com -- Netflix and TiVo finally work together to offer consumers streaming content directly into the living room

Netflix gained another powerful partner when it announced its streaming service will head to TiVo DVRs before the end of the year. TiVo owners will be able to stream content from Netflix for free, while using a PC to add movies and TV episodes into their streaming queue. See the complete story here.


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Update: Circuit City Announces Plans to Close 155 Stores
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:33 PM
dailytech.com -- Circuit City to close 20% of its stores by year's end.

DailyTech reported in late October that Circuit City was on the brink of closing 150 stores and slashing more jobs. Circuit City's stock price has dropped over 90% since the start of the year and this past Thursday, the company was warned that it could be booted from the New York Stock Exchange. See the complete story here.


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Netflix cans used DVD sales
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:31 PM
betanews.com -- Online movie rental service Netflix has been evolving on an almost daily basis. Following a number of developments in its streaming video category, it announced yesterday it will soon cease selling previously viewed DVDs. See the complete story here.


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IBM looks to beat identity thieves with a USB ZTIC
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:30 PM
IBM company information - ( IBM News )
arstechnica.com -- With identity theft and online banking fraud on the rise, users are understandably nervous about which computers and networks they use to check their bank accounts or carry out money transfers. IBM's Zurich lab has come up with one possible way of attacking the problem of man-in-the-middle attacks on online banking transactions; if it works, it could prove popular with both banks and users. See the complete story here.


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The end of an era - Windows 3.x
Submitted Wednesday, November 05, 2008 @ 08:29 PM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
news.bbc.co.uk -- An application has expectedly quit.

Windows 3.x has come to the closing moments of its long life.

On 1 November Microsoft stopped issuing licences for the software that made its debut in May 1990 in the US.

The various versions of Windows 3.x (including 3.11) released in the early 1990s, were the first of Microsoft's graphical user interfaces to win huge worldwide success. See the complete story here.