Tech Newsic :: hear the techiness

Canonical takes on Windows 7 with latest Ubuntu release candidate

2009-10-23T12:59:00.025-07:00

Canonical made available on Thursday the Release Candidate of its latest Linux-based operating system, Ubuntu 9.10, on the same day Microsoft launched the long-awaited Windows 7.

Google's Sergey Brin laments Yahoo's Microsoft search deal

2009-10-23T12:59:00.023-07:00

Google cofounder and President of Technology Sergey Brin made a surprise appearance at the Web 2.0 Summit on Thursday, answering a variety of questions on hot-button issues affecting the search company.

Interviewed on stage by conference chairman John Battelle, Brin lamented Yahoo's decision to enter into a search outsourcing deal with Microsoft.

Apple must upgrade Boot Camp to support Windows 7

2009-10-23T12:59:00.021-07:00

Apple today announced that it will update its Boot Camp utility before the end of the year to support Microsoft's just-launched Windows 7 .

In a short support document posted to the Apple site, the company said it would soon revise Boot Camp, a utility that lets users run Windows and its applications in a separate disk partition on an Intel-based Mac.

Apple must upgrade Boot Camp to support Windows 7

2009-10-23T12:59:00.019-07:00

Apple today announced that it will update its Boot Camp utility before the end of the year to support Microsoft's just-launched Windows 7 .

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz

2009-10-23T12:59:00.017-07:00

This week was so chock-full of news we really needed two quizzes to cover it all. Apple unveiled heaps of new hardware, not quite 48 hours before Microsoft officially served up Windows 7 -- a sorbet of an OS designed to help users lose the bitter aftertaste of Windows Vista. But wait, there's more. With new e-book readers, new "iPhone killers," and new music services, our holiday wish list overfloweth. Your task: Navigate our knotty questions on your way to a perfect score. Award yourself 10 points for each correct answer. Now begin.

Microsoft releases major update to Hyper-V R2, closes feature gap with VMware

2009-10-23T12:59:00.015-07:00

Competition between VMware and Microsoft got a little tighter on Thursday with the release of Windows Server 2008 R2, which includes a major update to Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization software.

VMware dominates the server virtualization market, but Microsoft hopes to change that with its new offering, Hyper-V R2. The update adds important capabilities that help Microsoft close the functionality gap with VMware and other rivals. But analysts still see the product falling short in a few areas required for running enterprise-class applications.

WiMax to go on sale in Chicago next month

2009-10-23T12:59:00.013-07:00

WiMax will finally go on sale next month in Chicago, a city that was to have been one of the first places where the high-speed wireless service was offered in the U.S.

Lack of information makes it hard to know if the federal stimulus is creating tech jobs

2009-10-23T12:59:00.011-07:00

WASHINGTON -- One obvious follow-up question to the U.S. government's announcement this month that the federal stimulus has created or saved 30,000 jobs so far is this: How many were IT and engineering jobs?

Unfortunately, there isn't an answer.

[ Keep up on the day's tech news headlines with InfoWorld's Today's Headlines: Wrap Up newsletter. ]

AOL hard at work on Internet 'content platform'

2009-10-23T12:59:00.009-07:00

As it braces to be spun off and struggles with revenue, Time Warner's AOL Internet unit is busy crafting a new strategy focused around content creation that represents a shift in its focus, AOL's CEO Tim Armstrong said Thursday.

"We're focused on growing a large platform around content and monetizing that content," Armstrong said on stage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

Microsoft seeks ISO security certification for its cloud services

2009-10-23T12:59:00.007-07:00

Microsoft Corp. wants to get its suite of hosted messaging and collaboration products certified to the ISO 27001 international information security standard, part of an effort to try and assure customers about the security of its cloud computing services. It comes amid broad and continuing doubts about the ability of cloud vendors in general to properly secure their services.

U.S. man to serve prison term for selling counterfeit software on eBay

2009-10-23T12:59:00.005-07:00

A 46-year-old Falls Church, Virginia, man has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for selling counterfeit software on eBay, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Gregory William Fair was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In addition to the prison term, Judge R.W. Roberts ordered Fair to pay US$743,098 in restitution.

PHP frameworks square off

2009-10-23T12:59:00.003-07:00

Advocates of different PHP development frameworks squared off in a debate of sorts Thursday, with each touting the merits of their particular entrant.

Frameworks represented during a panel discussion at the Zend/PHP conference in San Jose include Agavi, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Symfony and Zend Framework.

[ Earlier this week, PHP 6 plans were revealed at the conference. ]

Update: Microsoft sales and earnings drop less than expected

2009-10-23T12:59:00.001-07:00

Microsoft reported revenue that was down 14 percent year-on-year for its first fiscal quarter, with net income down 17 percent -- but it still beat analyst expectations on both counts.

The figures were dragged down by deferral of revenue from sales of Windows 7 to PC manufacturers ahead of the operating system's launch on Thursday, the company said.

Update: Microsoft strikes search deals with Twitter, Facebook

2009-10-22T13:00:00.009-07:00

Microsoft has reached collaboration agreements with Twitter and Facebook to get their members' public status updates and messages indexed and presented in useful ways on the Bing search engine.

Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of Microsoft's Online Audience Business, made the announcement on stage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

[ Discover what's new in business applications with InfoWorld's Technology: Applications newsletter. ]

IBM revs up enterprise-class disk storage arrays

2009-10-22T13:00:00.007-07:00

For the first time in three years, IBM has unveiled a new high-end model in its DS8000 series enterprise-class disk storage arrays.

Based on IBM's latest Power6 processor, the new DS8700 model announced today offers up to 2.5 times the performance of IBM's current DS8300 array and is up to 50 percent more energy efficient, the company said in a statement.

Update: EU chides Oracle over lack of cooperation in probe of Sun deal

2009-10-22T13:00:00.005-07:00

Europe's head of competition has criticized Oracle for what she characterized as a lack of cooperation over the investigation of Oracle's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems, a spokesman for the European Commission said.

Can Windows 7 help PC, chip sectors rebound?

2009-10-22T13:00:00.003-07:00

The global economy may not be robust, but the PC and chip sectors are hoping to gain some ground with the help of Microsoft's Windows 7 OS, which will start shipping on Thursday.

Equinix expands datacenters through buyout

2009-10-22T13:00:00.001-07:00

Equinix has agreed to acquire Switch & Data Facilities in a $689 million deal that will bring together two of the world's largest operators of datacenters.

Equinix already operates 45 datacenters in the U.S., Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, which house infrastructure for customers including Google, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, Netflix and the Nasdaq stock exchange. With the Switch & Data acquisition, expected to close in the first quarter of next year, it will add 34 more across the U.S. and Canada.

PC makers look to cash in on Windows 7 hype

2009-10-22T12:59:00.015-07:00

PC makers will ship new laptops on Thursday to coincide with the release of Microsoft's Windows 7 in an effort to drum up excitement around the new OS.

AT&T adds 3.2 million iPhones in Q3

2009-10-22T12:59:00.013-07:00

AT&T said Thursday it activated 3.2 million iPhones in the third quarter, its best-ever for a quarter, adding that nearly 40 percent of those iPhone activations were for new subscribers to the wireless carrier.

FCC moves toward net neutrality rules despite opposition

2009-10-22T12:59:00.011-07:00

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has taken the first step toward creating formal net neutrality rules, despite a huge lobbying effort from opposing groups in recent days.

The FCC voted Thursday to open a rulemaking process and begin receiving comments on a proposal to create new net neutrality rules following a contentious debate on whether new regulations are needed.

AT&T exec implies iPhone exclusivity in U.S. ending

2009-10-22T12:59:00.009-07:00

AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega strongly implied today that the carrier's exclusive deal to sell the iPhone in the U.S. is ending, although he gave no details in a conference call with analysts.

Google-Microsoft search war heats up

2009-10-22T12:59:00.007-07:00

The ongoing search war between Google and Microsoft is intensifying as both companies battle to outpace the other in real-time search.

In a dance of timing yesterday, both companies announced major real-time search deals at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

Ballmer headlines global Windows 7 launch events

2009-10-22T12:59:00.005-07:00

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage in New York Thursday, playing the role of chief salesman in a day of worldwide launch events, executive speechmaking and sales promotions meant to persuade consumers and businesses to migrate to Windows 7.

With characteristic high energy and in his booming voice, Ballmer evoked the Windows 7 marketing mantra of "simplicity" to a crowd of about 250 journalists and analysts in a Soho loft space.

Microsoft offers second beta for Visual Studio Express

2009-10-22T12:59:00.003-07:00

Microsoft began offering this week Beta 2 releases of its free Visual Studio 2010 Express products, which are intended to enable students, hobbyists, and novices to build Windows and Web applications.

Nokia sues Apple over iPhone 'free ride'

2009-10-22T12:59:00.001-07:00

Nokia today said it has sued Apple in federal court, charging that the iPhone infringes on 10 patents owned by the Finnish mobile phone maker.

The patents have been used by the iPhone since it was introduced in June 2007, Nokia said, and relate to several technologies "fundamental to making devices which are compatible with one or more of the GSM, UMTS (3G WCDMA) and wireless LAN standards." According to a statement from Nokia, the patents cover wireless data, speed encoding and decoding, security and encryption.

Yahoo revenue down, but income up sharply

2009-10-21T13:00:00.021-07:00

Yahoo has reported revenue of $1.58 billion for the third quarter of 2009, down 12 percent from the same period a year earlier, although net income was up sharply, by 244 percent, the company said.

Yahoo's third-quarter income was $186 million, the company said Tuesday, up from $54 million for the third quarter of 2008. Earnings per share was $0.13, significantly ahead of analyst estimates of $0.07, according to those polled by Thomson Reuters.

Bridgette Chambers takes the helm of new SAP user group

2009-10-21T13:00:00.019-07:00

The Americas' SAP Users' Group announced its new CEO on Tuesday, nearly one year after parting ways with its previous chief.

Interim CEO Bridgette Chambers will take leadership of ASUG, which represents about 70,000 individuals at 2,000 member companies. Chambers assumes the role previously held by Steve Strout, who was ousted by ASUG's board in November 2008 for undisclosed reasons.

Windows 7: The essential guide

2009-10-21T13:00:00.017-07:00

The Oct. 22 official release of Windows 7 will likely be anticlimactic, given the new Microsoft OS's months-long availability as a public beta and the thousands of stories about the Windows that Microsoft hopes will make the world forget the debacle that was Vista.

Windows 7: The essential guide

2009-10-21T13:00:00.015-07:00

Windows 7: The essential guide

2009-10-21T13:00:00.013-07:00

Microsoft posts Sidekick data recovery tool

2009-10-21T13:00:00.011-07:00

Microsoft has posted a link to a data recovery tool for T-Mobile Sidekick smartphone users, the latest step in the company's effort to clean up the mobile device service outage mess.

Dell touts services offerings after Acer's PC triumph

2009-10-21T13:00:00.009-07:00

Dell's growth plans focus on pairing its hardware and IT services offerings rather than on increasing PC unit shipments, a company executive said Wednesday, dismissing rival Acer's rise past Dell in PC sales.

Zetta opens its enterprise storage cloud to all

2009-10-21T13:00:00.007-07:00

A cloud storage provider that designed its system from the ground up to meet enterprise needs is ready to offer its service to the world.

The Zetta Enterprise Storage Cloud, from Sunnyvale, Calif., startup Zetta, is set to enter general availability on Wednesday after months of beta testing, evaluations and use by a limited set of customers.

HP CEO says external clouds not secure

2009-10-21T13:00:00.005-07:00

Hewlett-Packard's CEO, Mark Hurd, is raising issues with cloud computing, on everything from its name to its ability to offer a secure environment.

Teradata: We still rule over Oracle, IBM in analytics

2009-10-21T13:00:00.003-07:00

Business intelligence vendor Teradata is unfazed by Oracle's and IBM's recent saber rattling, saying the vendors' respective technologies remain fundamentally unsuited for high-performance analytics.

Arm wards off Intel with faster, cooler smartphone chip

2009-10-21T13:00:00.001-07:00

Arm Holdings Wednesday introduced a processor for smartphones and other devices that it says will be cheaper, and more powerful and energy-efficient than the two ARM processors it will supplant. The company expects that the new chip will also help it ward off incursions from Intel's rival Atom chip.

ARM announced the chip Wednesday at its annual ARM TechCon3 conference in Santa Clara, Calif.

RIM confirms BlackBerry Bold 9700 to launch next month

2009-10-21T12:59:00.003-07:00

Research In Motion (RIM) this morning decided to acknowledge what most Web-watching gadget-enthusiasts have known was coming for months: the BlackBerry Bold 9700.

SAP, Siemens ink new support pact

2009-10-21T12:59:00.001-07:00

SAP said Wednesday that Siemens has signed a three-year renewal of its software maintenance agreement, an announcement that would seem to quell widespread speculation that the global engineering and electronics company was considering dumping vendor-provided support in favor of lower-cost alternatives.

Unused servers squander $25 billion a year

2009-10-20T12:59:00.025-07:00

Millions of servers around the world are doing little more than wasting energy, according to a new study.

At least 15 percent of servers are not doing anything useful, said a majority (72 percent) of server managers polled by Kelton Research. In addition, 83 percent said they don't have an adequate grasp of server utilization, and 72 percent rely on CPU utilization as their measure of server efficiency.

Microsoft to launch Office 2010 public beta next month

2009-10-20T12:59:00.023-07:00

Microsoft will launch the public beta of Office 2010 next month, company CEO Steve Ballmer said on Monday.

AT&T adds hosted apps to enterprise mobile suite

2009-10-20T12:59:00.021-07:00

AT&T on Monday made another grab for business mobile users, introducing two more hosted applications built on its Mobile Enterprise Applications Platform.

Citrix bows to user pressure on XenDesktop licensing

2009-10-20T12:59:00.019-07:00

Citrix Systems has added more licensing options and editions to its upcoming desktop virtualization platform XenDesktop 4, including the option to pay by the number of devices used, it said on Tuesday.

Security software protects mobile and remote Mac, Windows users

2009-10-20T12:59:00.017-07:00

DeepNines Technologies Tuesday is unveiling a desktop security agent that works in tandem with its content-filtering and anti-malware gateway to protect mobile and remote workers.

Ballmer: Sidekick outage 'not good'

2009-10-20T12:59:00.015-07:00

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer characterized the recent Sidekick data loss episode as "not good," and said he believes all the data will be recovered, but added that Microsoft will have to be more forthcoming in explaining to enterprise customers why a similar situation won't occur

AMD launches first triple-core Athlon processors

2009-10-20T12:59:00.013-07:00

Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday announced a new range of desktop microprocessors, including its first Athlon triple-core processors.

AMD launched four Athlon II X3 triple-core processors as part of a new lineup that slips in between the dual-core Athlon II X2 and quad-core Athlon II X4 processors. The processors run at speeds between 2.2GHz and 2.9GHz and draw up to 95 watts of power.

Hackers change tactics, Gumblar attacks surge again

2009-10-20T12:59:00.011-07:00

Security researchers are seeing a resurgence of Gumblar, the name for a piece of malicious code that is spread by compromising legitimate but insecure Web sites.

Zend says Code Tracing capability eases PHP problem resolution

2009-10-20T12:59:00.009-07:00

Zend Technologies on Tuesday will release a public beta version of its Zend Server 5.0 PHP Web application server, featuring Code Tracing, which the company says will slash problem resolution time by as much as 50 percent.

Richard Stallman joins call for Oracle to divest MySQL

2009-10-20T12:59:00.007-07:00

Oracle must be stopped from taking over MySQL, according to Richard Stallman, a developer and prominent activist for free software.

Server virtualization now 18% of server workload

2009-10-20T12:59:00.005-07:00

How fast is the shift to server virtualization happening? According to Gartner, 18 percent of server workloads this year run on virtualized servers; that share will grow to 28 percent next year and reach almost half by 2012.

Zoho links project management tool with Google Apps

2009-10-20T12:59:00.003-07:00

Zoho has integrated its online project management tool, along with some other features, with Google's Apps -- a linkage Zoho thinks will benefit users of both software suites.

Zoho and Google are competitors, offering a range of Web-based office applications and collaboration features that are designed to be an alternative to desktop suites such as Microsoft's Office. Both Zoho and Google have their strengths, however, and it appears some people are opting to use both for some functions, according to Zoho.

Apple refreshes its lineup with new iMacs and revamped MacBooks and minis

2009-10-20T12:59:00.001-07:00

Apple today revamped its iMac, MacBook and Mac mini lines in a long-expected refresh that company executives hinted yesterday was imminent.

But as is Apple's custom, the company did not lower prices for the least-expensive new models.

Spring 3.0 framework for Java to debut

2009-10-19T12:59:00.023-07:00

Spring 3.0, a major upgrade to the popular open source Java development framework, is being introduced Monday by SpringSource, featuring full REST support for rich Web applications as well as an expression language.

SpringSource, which recently was acquired by VMware, also is announcing SpringSource tc Server Developer Edition, offering a runtime environment for building Spring applications. And tc Server is compatible with the Apache Tomcat Java application server.

Mozilla blocks Microsoft's sneaky Firefox plug-in

2009-10-19T12:59:00.021-07:00

Mozilla late Friday blocked the Microsoft-made software that had put Firefox users at risk from attack.

Google Chrome browser snubs Windows 7

2009-10-19T12:59:00.019-07:00

Google has scrubbed plans to fully integrate its Chrome Web browser with Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system.

Microsoft issues first Windows 7 patches

2009-10-19T12:59:00.017-07:00

Microsoft last week patched nine vulnerabilities, five marked "critical," in Windows 7, a move that will require users upgrading to the new operating system starting Thursday to download a security update to keep their PCs secure.

The patches were the first for Windows 7's final build, dubbed RTM for "release to manufacturing," that has been in some customers' hands, primarily enterprises with volume licensing agreements, since August.

IBM mainframe biz focus of U.S. antitrust probe again

2009-10-19T12:59:00.015-07:00

The U.S. Department of Justice's decision to launch an antitrust inquiry into IBM's mainframe business could reignite a legal battle that started 40 years ago.

Mozilla unblocks Microsoft add-on for Firefox

2009-10-19T12:59:00.013-07:00

Mozilla has now unblocked a Microsoft add-on thought to pose a danger due to a software vulnerability, but a second add-on remains blocked, the organization said on Sunday.

Micron boosts NAND flash endurance six-fold

2009-10-19T12:59:00.011-07:00

Micron has introduced what it claims to be the industry's highest endurance, highest capacity multi-level cell (MLC) and single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash memory.

The technology, which is used for building solid-state drive products, is aimed at enterprise-class companies that want to boost performance of I/O-hungry applications, while maintaining the longevity they get with hard disk drives.

BMC buys startup Tideway for component tracking tools

2009-10-19T12:59:00.009-07:00

BMC Software said Monday it has signed a deal to buy London startup Tideway Systems, which makes software for tracking and analyzing IT system components. Terms of the deal, which is expected to be concluded this week, were not disclosed.

Tideway’s Foundation product builds a map of a company’s applications and the underlying infrastructure that supports them. Customers can use the information to spot risks, eliminate wasted resources and recover more quickly from incidents, according to the company.

MySQL cofounder says Oracle should sell database

2009-10-19T12:59:00.007-07:00

Oracle should resolve antitrust concerns over its acquisition of Sun Microsystems by selling open-source database MySQL to a suitable third party, its cofounder and creator Michael "Monty" Widenius said in a blog post on Monday.

Microsoft to detail feature-complete SharePoint upgrade

2009-10-19T12:59:00.005-07:00

Microsoft will detail its planned SharePoint Server 2010 business collaboration platform for the enterprise and Web on Monday, emphasizing Internet, developer, and video capabilities.

SharePoint 2010 is feature-complete and will be offered in a beta release in November along with the Office 2010 applications suite. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will discuss the upcoming SharePoint release in a keynote presentation at the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas.

Microsoft to offer second beta for Visual Studio 2010

2009-10-19T12:59:00.003-07:00

Microsoft will offer the second beta of its upcoming Visual Studio 2010 software development platform and the accompanying .Net Framework 4 programming platform on Monday and unveil consolidated packaging options for the toolset.

The beta package will be available to MSDN subscribers on Monday and to everyone else on Wednesday. The official launch of Visual Studio 2010 and .Net Framework 4 is set for March 22, 2010, with the technology expected to ship around that time.

Budget cuts could increase server failures

2009-10-19T12:59:00.001-07:00

Despite an improving economy , companies aren't moving quickly replace servers, PCs and printers, which will likely cause an increase in failure rates over the next two years, according to Gartner Inc.

Update: Google grows both revenue and profit in Q3

2009-10-17T12:59:00.025-07:00

Google grew both its revenue and profit in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, registering results its CEO called "strong" and that exceeded Wall Street expectations.

The company now considers the worst of the recession to be over so it has decided to step up its investments in areas like hiring and acquisitions.

[ Stay ahead of the key tech business news with InfoWorld's Today's Headlines: First Look newsletter. ]

Apple's 'no cheap netbooks' strategy pays off

2009-10-17T12:59:00.023-07:00

Netbooks were instrumental in the increase in PC shipments for most manufacturers during the third quarter, but Apple defied the trend despite offering standard laptops at premium prices, according to figures from analyst firm Gartner.

Mozilla complains that it doesn't get top slot in browser 'ballot'

2009-10-17T12:59:00.021-07:00

Mozilla again slammed the browser "ballot screen" proposal that Microsoft's made to European antitrust regulators, saying that the voting will be skewed Apple's way because its Safari browser will be the first choice on the list.

Mac News: Business Card Composer 5 adds map integration

2009-10-17T12:59:00.019-07:00

Business Card Composer now features Google Maps integration, as BeLight Software released a new version of its business card creation and printing application. In addition, Business Card Composer 5 features 210 re-designed business card templates as well as 140 new templates in its Retail edition.

Storage pros worry about putting data in the cloud

2009-10-17T12:59:00.017-07:00

Cloud storage platforms need to mature before they are enterprise-ready, particularly for customers in highly regulated industries, IT professionals attending Storage Networking World in Phoenix, Ariz. this week said.

Security, legal issues and portability of data are potential roadblocks cited by customers.

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz

2009-10-17T12:59:00.015-07:00

It was a weird week all right. Bonehead moves by major companies caused massive data loss for their subscribers. Entire countries dropped off the Internet. Microsoft hired an animated pitchman. And that's not all. This week's news also included Twitter wine, unicorns, post-coital tweeting, social-media-induced crimes, and dangerous lapses in punctuation. (Hey, we said it was a weird week.) Can you rise above the strangeness and ace our quiz? Correct answers earn you 10 points. Ready? Have a swig of Twitter wine and get started.

Real-world Windows usage database surpasses 20,000-user milestone

2009-10-17T12:59:00.013-07:00

More than 20,000 users have now joined the exo.repository, a publicly accessible database that anonymously tracks the configuration and performance data of Windows PCs and servers throughout the world. That database powers Windows Pulse, a set of Web widgets that provides a live snapshot of key Windows usage metrics in more than a dozen areas.

Sneaky Microsoft add-in leaves Firefox open to attack

2009-10-17T12:59:00.011-07:00

An add-on that Microsoft silently slipped into Mozilla's Firefox last February leaves that browser open to attack, Microsoft's security engineers acknowledged earlier this week.

New wave of Windows 7 portables adds touch of style to biz tech

2009-10-17T12:59:00.009-07:00

Despite its valiant attempts at creating a carnival atmosphere, when Microsoft launches a new operating system, it seldom feels like a world-changing event in the world of design. Even the considerable hoopla surrounding the introduction of Windows XP was hardly like the introduction of the bikini or the Volkswagen Beetle -- or, dare we say it, the iPhone.

Apple enables in-app purchases from free iPhone apps

2009-10-17T12:59:00.007-07:00

Apple has introduced an in-app purchase feature for free iPhone apps that allow you to fulfill transactions within the iPhone applications themselves -- no Apple App Store required. The feature was previously available for paid applications.

Hacked Facebook apps lead users to fake anti-virus software

2009-10-17T12:59:00.005-07:00

New applications are turning up on Facebook. Unfortunately, some of them are fake anti-virus programs.

While researching Web sites that host malicious software, Roger Thompson, chief research officer of software security company AVG, noticed something funny. A Russian Web site known for hosting malware was getting lots of referrals from Facebook.

IBM plans big hardware upgrade next year

2009-10-17T12:59:00.003-07:00

IBM disclosed the plans at a time when server sales among all vendors have taken a bruising during the economic downturn, and IBM is no exception. In a third quarter earnings call yesterday, said Mark Loughridge, IBM's CFO, said that the company's third quarter mainframe revenue declined by 26 percent from the year-earlier period.

38 Oracle security patches coming next week

2009-10-17T12:59:00.001-07:00

After a record-setting week of Microsoft and Adobe security patches, Oracle is gearing up for a major update of its own next week.

Next Tuesday, the database vendor will release its quarterly Critical Patch Update, which "contains 38 security vulnerability fixes across hundreds of Oracle products," according to an advance notification posted to Oracle's Web site.

EnterpriseDB cites enterprise capabilities in open source database

2009-10-15T12:59:00.025-07:00

EnterpriseDB is touting enterprise-level capabilities of its Postgres Plus Standard Server 8.4 open source database, which was released this week. The company says the database, which is based on PostgreSQL database technology, offers enterprises cost benefits of open source, performance benefits of a community-developed product, and the reassurance of vendor support.

Collaboration tools worth the investment, survey says

2009-10-15T12:59:00.023-07:00

A recent global survey of business and IT managers found that their companies got back benefits perceived as equal to four times their investment, on average, in unified communication and collaboration technologies.

IBM boosts SAN Volume Controller performance with SSDs

2009-10-15T12:59:00.021-07:00

IBM will add support for SSDs to version 5.0 of its SAN Volume Controller and is promising a big boost in performance with or without flash storage.

Acer passes Dell as second-largest PC vendor

2009-10-15T12:59:00.019-07:00

Acer overtook Dell as the world's second-largest computer vendor during the third quarter, as the PC market showed signs of coming back to life, IDC said on Wednesday.

Global PC shipments grew 2.3 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, to 78.1 million units. It was the first quarter this year in which PC shipments have grown, IDC said.

Oracle's long-awaited Fusion Applications to launch in 2010

2009-10-15T12:59:00.017-07:00

Oracle plans to launch its long-awaited Fusion Applications in 2010, and they will be deployable both on-premises and as SaaS (software as a service), CEO Larry Ellison said Wednesday during a keynote address at the OpenWorld conference in San Francisco.

Mozilla plug-in checker boosts security

2009-10-15T12:59:00.015-07:00

Mozilla developers have launched a new online tool that tells Firefox users whether popular add-on components such as Java or QuickTime are up to date.

Six years of Patch Tuesdays yield 400 security bulletins, 745 vulnerabilities

2009-10-15T12:59:00.013-07:00

Microsoft's massive security update this week marked the completion of the sixth year of the company's move to a monthly patch release schedule.

Acer reveals details of Android-based smartphone

2009-10-15T12:59:00.011-07:00

Acer has disclosed more details about its upcoming Android-based Liquid smartphone, a thin device with a 3.5-inch touchscreen.

CollabNet boosts agile development in latest TeamForge release

2009-10-15T12:59:00.009-07:00

CollabNet is increasing focus on agile software development methodologies in a release of its CollabNet TeamForge application lifecycle management platform being announced on Thursday.

Ncomputing device adds virtual desktops over USB

2009-10-15T12:59:00.007-07:00

Ncomputing is launching a device that can be used to add a virtual client to a host PC via a USB connection.

The U170 can run full multimedia applications when it is connected to a host machine's USB port. Multiple U170 boxes can add extra users to a host machine, which can be cheaper than buying separate machines, said Carsten Puls, vice president of strategic marketing at Ncomputing.

Microsoft manages to recover most Sidekick data

2009-10-15T12:59:00.005-07:00

Microsoft has good news for most Sidekick users: the company says it has recovered most of the data for T-Mobile Sidekick users who saw personal information accidentally wiped from their devices earlier this week.

How Apple is trying to derail Windows 7

2009-10-15T12:59:00.003-07:00

Next week, Microsoft is supposed to be in the spotlight with the launch of Windows 7, but the way it's shaping up Apple could steal the limelight. With Microsoft's Oct. 22 Windows 7 launch only days a way, sales of Apple Macs are by far outshining those of Windows PCs, according to two leading analyst firms.

JetBrains readies open source version of its Java IDE

2009-10-15T12:59:00.001-07:00

JetBrains, which has provided its IntelliJ Idea Java IDE as a commercial product, now is offering a preview of a free, open source version of the IDE.

Some Sidekick users report data has been restored

2009-10-13T12:59:00.025-07:00

Nearly a week after what started out as a service disruption, a few users of T-Mobile’s Sidekick device are reporting that personal data feared lost forever in a back-end server failure appears to be restored.

Oracle says the no-cost 11g Xpress Edition is still at least a year away

2009-10-13T12:59:00.023-07:00

It may be "a year or two" before Oracle releases a no-cost Express Edition (XE) of its 11g database, according to Andrew Mendelsohn, the company's senior vice president of database server technologies.

That's because Oracle is going to wait until after the first patch set ships for 11g Release 2, which was launched in July, Mendelsohn said in a brief interview following a speech at Oracle's OpenWorld conference in San Francisco on Monday.

Fate of some Sun technologies still up in the air

2009-10-13T12:59:00.021-07:00

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has been fawning all over Sun Microsystems technologies lately, such as Java, the Solaris OS, the MySQL database, and the Sparc CPU platform. But it still remains to be seen how Oracle will deal with redundancies in the Java enterprise application server and IDE spaces once Sun becomes part of Oracle.

Ubuntu Linux adds private cloud backing

2009-10-13T12:59:00.019-07:00

Canonical is touting private cloud capabilities in an upgrade to its Ubuntu Linux OS being announced on Tuesday.

Available for free download on October 29, Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition introduces UEC (Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud), an open source cloud computing environment based on the same APIs as Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud). Businesses can take advantage of private clouds, Canonical said.

Ubuntu Linux adds private cloud backing

2009-10-13T12:59:00.017-07:00

Canonical is touting private cloud capabilities in an upgrade to its Ubuntu Linux OS being announced on Tuesday.

Acer recalls Aspire laptops that could overheat

2009-10-13T12:59:00.015-07:00

Acer has issued a voluntary recall of some of its Acer Aspire laptops that may overheat due to a faulty microphone cable.

The PC maker has issued a voluntary recall for some Acer Aspire models that may be affected by the issue, the company said on a European customer support page.

Microsoft offers hope Sidekick users may regain some lost data

2009-10-13T12:59:00.013-07:00

Microsoft late Monday held out a glimmer of hope to Sidekick users, saying that it may be able to recover some data previously believed lost in a massive server failure.

Microsoft extends Mac Office support in 11th-hour reprieve

2009-10-13T12:59:00.011-07:00

Just a day before Microsoft was to have retired Office 2004 for Mac by ending updates and fixes, including security patches, the company said Monday that it would instead extend the five-year-old suite's support until Jan. 10, 2012.

Perot extends Dell's global reach with purchase of China consultancy

2009-10-13T12:59:00.009-07:00

Perot Systems will buy the China unit of technology consultancy BearingPoint, bulking up its overseas business as the company is acquired by Dell.

HP laptops get power management to help cut energy costs

2009-10-13T12:59:00.007-07:00

Hewlett-Packard is bringing new power management features to laptops that can help companies measure and cut energy costs, the company said on Tuesday.