BBC NEWS | Technology | Far Cry pushes Xbox to the limit

BBC NEWS | Technology | Far Cry pushes Xbox to the limit: "The PC game, Far Cry, was one of the hidden gems of 2004. It was an impressive first-person shooter, with gorgeous graphics, fluid action and an engaging story.
It set an almost impossibly high standard for the Xbox edition of the game to live up to.
Fortunately Far Cry: Instincts does a very creditable job of bringing the tropical world of the game to the Microsoft console.
It succeeds in bringing to life the luscious jungle and alluring beaches of the original, as well as a compelling storyline and ingenious gameplay."

LCD price cuts on the way- Softpedia

LCD price cuts on the way- Softpedia: "This year, LCD prices roller coasted their way more than ever before and, depending on the size of the screen, monitors were either out of stock or in oversupply.

Earlier this year, Displaysearch announced that, by 2007, the production cost for LCD panels will decrease up to 62%. As component and peripherals are set on a downwards price line there are real chances of having monitors cost as little as $150 for a 17-inch model.

However, only a few months away, rumors of cutting TFT-LCD monitor prices even more led to a situation where producers were actually selling at production cost, without making any profit. Those who managed to gain something in the end focused more on raising prices for the 17-inch monitors, increase that was sustained from April to June."

BetaNews | Motorola, Intel to Push WiMax Standard

BetaNews | Motorola, Intel to Push WiMax Standard: "Motorola has become the latest company joining Intel in order to push adoption of wireless broadband through WiMax. The two tech industry heavyweights will collaborate on the 802.16e specification within the WiMax Forum to ensure interoperability between devices.
Sprint and Nokia previously announced collaborative efforts with Intel, which makes the chips to be used in upcoming WiMax products. Motorola currently offers the MOTOwi4 line of devices for WiMax that include access points, PC cards and even in-vehicle safety devices and services. 'We believe 802.16e is going to be the way to go for both fixed and nomadic applications,' said Motorola Networks CTO Dan Coombes."

BetaNews | .NET Framework 2.0 Final Released

BetaNews | .NET Framework 2.0 Final Released
In preparation for the launch of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 on November 7, the final release of the .NET Framework 2.0 is now available for download. Version 2.0 serves at the underpinnings for next-generation Windows applications and will be integrated into Windows Vista.

According to Microsoft, the new release "improves scalability and performance of applications with improved caching, application deployment and updating with ClickOnce, support for the broadest array of browsers and devices with ASP.NET 2.0 controls and services."

BetaNews | Microsoft CRM 3.0 Beta Now Available

BetaNews | Microsoft CRM 3.0 Beta Now Available: "A public beta release of Microsoft CRM 3.0, the second major revision of the company's customer relationship management software, is now available for Microsoft registered members and partners. A final launch is scheduled for the first quarter of 2006.
MS CRM 3.0 will replace the 1.6 release as Microsoft's front line solution to battle with more established vendors including Oracle, Siebel Systems and SAP for a more sizeable share of the market. For 3.0, Microsoft will roll out a subscription-style pricing model and provide its CRM tools to customers over the Web."

Samsung samples GDDR 4 chips | The Register

Samsung samples GDDR 4 chips | The Register: "Samsung has begun providing graphics card companies with samples of GDDR 4 memory chips, the South Korean giant announced this week.
The 256Mb parts can transfer data at up to 2.5Gbps, up from the 1.6Gbps achieved by graphics memory currently on the market, but Samsung said it was already gearing up to offer samples capable of a 2.8Gbps data throughput by the end of the year."

Microsoft's 'big bang' could be its last | CNET News.com

Microsoft's 'big bang' could be its last | CNET News.com: "When Microsoft releases its SQL Server 2005 database on Nov. 7, it will have been five years since the last version debuted. If Windows Vista arrives as scheduled next fall, it too will follow its predecessor by five years.
That's a pretty long time to make customers wait for a new release. Too long, concedes Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
'We just can't make our customers wait three or four years for the things which should have been on more interim cycles,' he said at last week's Gartner Symposium/IT Expo in Orlando. "

Oracle password system comes under fire | CNET News.com

Oracle password system comes under fire | CNET News.com: "Attackers could easily uncover Oracle database users' passwords because of a weak protection mechanism, putting corporate data at risk of exposure, experts have warned.
In the latest critique of Oracle's security practices, experts are calling on the software maker to improve the mechanism used to secure passwords for database users. Researchers say they have found a way to recover the plain text password from even very strong, well-written Oracle database passwords within minutes. "

Intel moves into volume with new chips | CNET News.com

Intel moves into volume with new chips | CNET News.com: "Intel has begun to produce chips made on the 65-nanometer process, adding an optimistic note to what has been a somewhat tough month for the chip giant.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker started to produce Presler desktop chips in volume a few weeks ago and is shipping them to PC makers, said spokesman John Casey. Presler is a dual-core processor sporting a new design. Computers containing Presler will come out next year.
Yonah, a 65-nanometer dual-core notebook chip, will go into volume production by the end of the year, he added. By the third quarter of 2006, more chips will be produced on the 65-nanometer process than on the 90-nanometer process, the so-called crossover point."

BetaNews | AOL to Choose: Microsoft or Google

BetaNews | AOL to Choose: Microsoft or Google: "According to reports, Time Warner's board of directors is hunkering down Thursday for discussions on the future of AOL, and is expected to choose between partnering with Microsoft's MSN division or Google. However, a final decision is not expected for a few weeks, says the Financial Times.
AOL currently utilizes Google for its Web search service, bringing a moderate percentage of revenue to the world's biggest search engine. But MSN has reportedly come to the table trying to unseat Google in order to grow its own share of the search market, which it has struggled to do organically."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft aims to trounce Google

BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft aims to trounce Google: "People are underestimating what Microsoft is doing with search technology, says Bill Gates.
The head of the software giant told the BBC that its ambition is to be bigger than Google in search.
He said that competition had ultimately been good for web users because it had pushed search technology. This meant search would be 'far better' in a year. "

Google Tests its eBay Killer?

Google Tests its eBay Killer?: "Search giant Google, Inc. tipped its hand this week to Google Base, it's much-rumored auction service that many people believe is meant to compete against auction sites like eBay or CraigsList.
Screen shots of 'Google Base,' available on several different Web logs, explain that the service-to-be is a database consisting of 'your content' that's free to contribute.
Items in the database include a party invite or a 'listing of your used car for sale.' There is also a tie-in mentioned to Google's comparison shopping site Froogle, and Google Local, the combination Google mapping and localized search results. "

BetaNews | IE7 to Beef Up Secure Web Surfing

BetaNews | IE7 to Beef Up Secure Web Surfing: "Internet Explorer 7 will come with several security enhancements to HTTPS connections, a Microsoft program manager said on the IE Blog over the weekend. Chief among the changes is the disabling of the SSLv2 protocol by default in favor of the stronger-encryption available through TSLv1.
'Generally, IE users will not notice any difference in the user-experience due to this change; it's a silent improvement in security,' program manager Eric Lawrence wrote. He said that few sites still require SSLv2, and upgrading to SSLv3 or TSLv1 is generally a simple migration on most sites."

BetaNews | Google to Offer Giant Web Database

BetaNews | Google to Offer Giant Web Database: "Let the 'All your base' jokes begin. Google is preparing to unveil a new service that will serve as a giant Web database for miscellaneous content submitted by users. Called Google Base, the site will host all types of items and make them searchable through the use of 'attributes,' or tags.
Google says examples of items that could be added include a description of your party planning service, listing of your used car for sale or a database of protein structures. Standard Google searches, including Froogle, could even include Google Base items if their relevance is high. Google is expected to launch the service today at its invite-only Zeitgeist conference."

BetaNews | MySQL 5.0 Ready for Primetime

BetaNews | MySQL 5.0 Ready for Primetime: "The long-awaited 5.0 release of MySQL has arrived to bring the free open source database up to par with its pricey enterprise rivals. New features include stored procedures, triggers and views, along with support for the ANSI SQL standard to ensure compatibility with other database systems.
Such features were once limited to expensive offerings from Oracle and IBM. Stored procedures enable administrators to embed business logic directly into the database to improve performance. Trigers enforce rules at the database level, while Views secure protected information"

Google Blamed for Splogs- Softpedia

Google Blamed for Splogs- Softpedia: "Spam is evolving and blogs had little chance to escape one of the major nuisances the Internet has to offer. As blogs started getting more and more attention and, especially, as Google started indexing blogs, a new trend surfaced the Net and splogs came into place.
Of course, as all parasites, splogs' first order of business was to have a very negative impact on the reputation of blogs, their authors and this entire system of communication.

The exact definition of splogs is a classic Web Log (or 'blog') which the author uses only for promoting affiliated websites. This is how the author manages to raise the PageRank for these sites and get ad impressions from visitors or use the blog as a link outlet to get new sites indexed. The content of these websites isn't relevant, most of the time being either nonsense or content stolen from other sites. The main thing is just to contain as many links as possible, which lead to affiliate sites."

Quake 4 Is Ready to Rock Linux Also- Softpedia

Quake 4 Is Ready to Rock Linux Also- Softpedia: "Gamers of all kinds will be pleased to find that one of the biggest titles available can now be played on Linux platforms as well.
id Software has published the necessary tools which allow users to install and play Quake 4 on Linux running systems.

Quake 4 (the PC version) is only sold for Windows platforms, but id Software has offered gamers the possibility to run this title on Linux. For this to happen, you only need to download and install about 20 MB of files."

Start-up plans new energy-efficient processor | CNET News.com

Start-up plans new energy-efficient processor | CNET News.com: "P.A. Semi is working on a low-power Power chip.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based start-up this week is set to unveil its plans for a microprocessor based around the Power architecture--the same architecture behind chips in IBM servers and current Macs--that consumes only a fraction of the energy of existing chips.
The company's first so-called PWRficient chip will feature two processing cores, run at 2GHz and consume on average about 5 watts, thanks to an emphasis on integration and circuit design. At a maximum, it will consume 25 watts, far less than the single-core Power chips that can hit 90 watts found on the market today. "

UK graphics firm takes on Microsoft - vnunet.com

UK graphics firm takes on Microsoft - vnunet.com: " small UK graphics software house is desperately trying to fight its corner against Microsoft by giving away its software to any Linux user prepared to help the company.
Xara received some good news and some bad news in September. First Adobe acquired Macromedia, eliminating one of Xara's rivals and elevating the firm to number three in the UK vector graphics software league table.
Then came the bad news, when Microsoft decided to muscle in on this increasingly important technology sector."

Office 12: Is that your spreadsheet on my server? | CNET News.com

Office 12: Is that your spreadsheet on my server? | CNET News.com: "With the next version of Office, Microsoft is trying to help inspire smarter cubicle dwellers.
The notion of 'business intelligence,' or easy access to critical company data, is one of the key areas for improvement that the company has identified for the next version of its flagship desktop software. On Monday, the company will share some of its plans in that area, including the outlines of a new server-based system for managing Excel spreadsheets.
As part of Office 12, Microsoft will add the ability to store and manage spreadsheets from a central server, allowing companies to create business rules around how different workers can access the data. Microsoft remains vague on how it will sell the new ability. The company has said the server-based 'Excel Services' abilities will come as part of a future version of the company's SharePoint technology. "

Nokia Announced New Models of WiFi and BlackBerry Devices - Softpedia

Nokia Announced New Models of WiFi and BlackBerry Devices - Softpedia: "Although mainly focused on the individual user, Nokia is coming now with an offer aimed at the corporate segment. The three new models, E60, E61 and E70, are compatible with the Wi-Fi, VoIP and Blackberry technologies.

The E series will support the mobile e-mail services offered by cell phone operators (Research In Motion, Good Technology, Seven Mobile Mail, Visto Mobile), but also the VoIP services.

The Nokia E60, Nokia E61 and Nokia E70 also feature superior voice functionality and quality when compared to other devices that combine PDA-like features with a mobile phone.

The devices support advanced voice services, such as Internet (Voice over IP) phone calls, Push to talk, and other SIP-based rich call services giving businesses a variety of ways to make it easier for employees to collaborate or respond rapidly, in or out of the office. Companies deploying an Avaya or Cisco IP PBX can connect the new Nokia devices directly to their corporate phone networks, enabling functions employees have come to expect from a corporate network, like four-digit dialing and assisted call answering."

Nokia Will Support GSM Technology on 450 MHz Frequency Band - Softpedia

Nokia Will Support GSM Technology on 450 MHz Frequency Band - Softpedia: "Nokia underlined its interest in GSM technology on the 450 MHz frequency band. Nokia believes that a GSM450 frequency is a viable solution in providing affordable handsets and mobile voice-centered services to new growth areas with a low teledensity. For regions licensing a 450 MHz frequency band, GSM technology can provide a cost conscious alternative and thus enable mobile communications for a broad consumer base in very price sensitive markets."

Yahoo fixes Web mail security flaw | CNET News.com

Yahoo fixes Web mail security flaw | CNET News.com: "Yahoo has fixed a security flaw in its free Web-based e-mail service that opened the door to phishing scams, account hijacks and other attacks.
The flaw, known as a cross-site scripting vulnerability, existed because Yahoo's Web site did not detect certain script tags in combination with certain special characters, according to SEC Consult, which issued an advisory on the flaw Friday. "

Phone buy puts Adobe head-to-head with Microsoft | The Register

Phone buy puts Adobe head-to-head with Microsoft | The Register: "Macromedia is to acquire Mobile Innovation, a privately-held design and integration house in the UK with around 50 staff, for an undisclosed sum.
What makes this deal noteworthy is that Mobile Innovation designs phones as well as user interfaces. It's an integrator, and Tier One handset manufacturers devolve a lot of design decisions to MI. It's similar to Apple's relationship with Tony Fadell's design shop - which created the iPod - only on a larger scale. MI declines to mention which companies it works with because of confidentiality agreements with phone OEMs, and an opaque web site gives little clues as to what it really does."

39 and 31 Megapixel CCD Sensors From Kodak - Softpedia

39 and 31 Megapixel CCD Sensors From Kodak - Softpedia: "Eastman Kodak has announced new high-resolution image sensors that allow commercial, studio, and other professional photographers to capture digital images with the most life-like detail possible.

Kodak is expanding its product line with the introduction of the world's highest-resolution sensors for professional photography. The KODAK KAF-39000 Image Sensor, featuring 39 million pixels, and the KODAK KAF-31600 Image Sensor, with 31.6 million pixels, offer professional camera and camera back manufacturers resolution and image detail that was once unimaginable for digital cameras, allowing photographers to experience a new level of image quality for portrait, wedding, landscape, fashion, studio, and commercial photography."

OpenOffice challenges Microsoft on XML standards | The Register

OpenOffice challenges Microsoft on XML standards | The Register: "The open source community has taken a further step towards unseating Microsoft's Office productivity hegemony, with the release of its latest suite.
OpenOffice 2.0 has been released featuring a new interface and a standards-based XML architecture intended to tempt even more governments, companies and individuals to convert from Office.
OpenOffice 2.0 uses OpenDocument Format, from the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), as its default file format to improve the exchange of text, spreadsheets, charts and graphical documents between suites."

Nokia Launches Three Fashion Models - Softpedia

Nokia Launches Three Fashion Models - Softpedia: "Continuing to push the boundaries of mobile phone design, Nokia has introduced a collection of three trend-inspired mobile phones, the Nokia 7360, 7370 and 7380.

Each model in the L'Amour Collection offers a beautiful mix of contrasts, infusing cultural and ethnic influences with luxurious touches of the unexpected.

The sleek Nokia 7380 features an etched mirrored surface and the discreet keyless dial of the 7280. A leather cover and a mirrored display subtly mask the sophisticated technology, which includes a 2-megapixel camera and intuitive voice dialing."

Warner joins Blu-ray DVD camp | CNET News.com

Warner joins Blu-ray DVD camp | CNET News.com: "Warner Bros. Entertainment said Thursday that its home video division will release DVDs in the high-definition Blu-ray format. The move further tips the scales in an industry weighing the merits of two rival next-generation technologies.
Warner, which had decided to distribute films in the popular HD DVD format, is now the second big Hollywood company to say it will also release films in Blu-ray. However, the trend toward supporting two formats seems to be one-directional; companies dedicated to Blu-ray have not moved to add HD DVD to their mix. "

HP Asks For Blu-Ray Change in Next-Gen DVD Battle

HP Asks For Blu-Ray Change in Next-Gen DVD Battle: "Hewlett-Packard Co. on Wednesday raised the stakes in a battle between high-definition DVD formats by urging a group led by Sony Corp. to include features important to PC makers and users.
Palo Alto, Calif-based HP has long backed Sony's Blu-ray but last month Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. endorsed a competing high-definition DVD format known as HD-DVD, which is backed by Toshiba Corp. "

The World's Fastest Motion Picture Response Time (MPRT) LCDs - Softpedia

The World's Fastest Motion Picture Response Time (MPRT) LCDs - Softpedia: "NEC LCD Technologies announced the successful development of 10.4-inch (26cm diagonal), amorphous silicon thin-film-transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) modules with the world's fastest Motion Picture Response Time (MPRT), a standard promoted by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). "

Andreessen: PHP succeeding where Java isn't | CNET News.com

Andreessen: PHP succeeding where Java isn't | CNET News.com: "The simplicity of scripting language PHP means it will be more popular than Java for building Web-based applications, Internet browser pioneer Marc Andreessen predicted Wednesday in a speech here at the Zend/PHP Conference.
Java enjoyed great success when its inventor, Sun Microsystems, released it in 1995, largely because it was optimized better for programmers than for machines, making software development significantly easier, Andreessen said. Unfortunately, Java has acquired many of the unfavorable characteristics of its predecessors, he added. "

BBC NEWS | Business | Google drops Gmail address in UK

BBC NEWS | Business | Google drops Gmail address in UK: "Gmail, the free e-mail service run by internet search giant Google, will change its name for new UK users.
Following a trademark dispute the mail account will be renamed Google Mail.
London-based Independent International Investment Research says it started using the Gmail name for a web-mail application two years before Google.
Current UK users of Google's service will be unaffected, but a separate trademark dispute forced Google to drop the Gmail name in Germany in May.
Talks between both companies broke down several months ago, after they failed to agree a financial settlement."

ITP.net {News: Blu-ray drives due next month}

ITP.net {News: Blu-ray drives due next month}: "Taiwanese firm AOpen has plans to introduce its first line of internal and external PC-based Blu-ray optical drives to the Middle East by the end of November.

Compared to present dual-layer DVD writers, which can write up to 8.4GB of data to compatible media, Blu-ray drives should be able to write up to 50GB of data."

We'll index the world by 2310, says Google | The Register

We'll index the world by 2310, says Google | The Register: "Good news for people who like making lists: Google's Eric Schmidt says that it will take another three hundred years before all the information in the world is neatly indexed and searchable.
Schmidt was speaking at the US' Association of National Advertisers' annual conference in Phoenix when a member of the audience asked how long it is likely to take before Google fulfilled its mission."

Google Sun (Office) not a threat, says MS | The Register

Google Sun (Office) not a threat, says MS | The Register: "The Microsoft exec in charge of Office has dismissed last week's tie-up between Sun and Google as illusion rather than substance.
'That announcement didn't have anything,' Chris Capossela, corporate vice president,Information Worker Product Management Group of Microsoft, told a crowd of Dutch reporters last week.
'It had something about a toolbar and Java Runtime, and it alluded to a potential thing some time in the future. OpenOffice isn�t hard to get, just go to their website and download the software.'
'Of course we pay attention to what is going on elsewhere, but there was no substance to that announcement,' Capossela said. 'It is not that there is a distribution problem with OpenOffice. The product is right there. I didn't see anything that causes any change. Sun makes very expensive proprietary hardware, while Google offers free software for the masses. Is that a marriage made in heaven? I don't know.'"

BBC NEWS | Technology | Podcasts catch Yahoo's interest

BBC NEWS | Technology | Podcasts catch Yahoo's interest: "Tuning in to the latest web trend Yahoo has launched a site that lets people find and listen to podcasts.
The site lets people search for and subscribe to the personally produced audio programmes designed to be downloaded to portable music players.
It also features reviews of noteworthy podcasts and will let listeners rate the downloads they have listened to.
Yahoo said it was working towards producing its own tools to help people make their own podcasts. "

Dark Times Ahead for Microsoft Office - Softpedia

Dark Times Ahead for Microsoft Office - Softpedia: "Almost all the software products signed by the Microsoft giant have had popularity issues over the last period, and the office suites were no exception to that. We have already talked in numerous occasions about the problems Microsoft Office has in convincing users that his product is the most efficient office suite.

The fact that the state of Massachusetts and the Japanese government are planning to switch to open source solutions has shaken the Redmond cruiser, and the launching of the latest versions of OpenOffice and StarOffice has succeeded to sink some more ships of the Microsoft fleet."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Web enjoys year of biggest growth

BBC NEWS | Technology | Web enjoys year of biggest growth: "The web has grown more in 2005 than it did at the height of the dotcom boom, says a study.
In the year to October the web grew by more than 17 million sites, says monitoring firm Netcraft.
This figure exceeds the growth of 16 million sites seen in 2000 when net fever reached its most intense pitch.
Netcraft said the rise was caused by small businesses going online, firms making the most of web advertising schemes and spammers. "

Microsoft Wants AOL After All - Softpedia

Microsoft Wants AOL After All - Softpedia: "After the statement made by Richard Parsons, CEO at Time Warner, that AOL was not for sale, it seemed the transaction madness had stopped.

However, Microsoft appears to be determined to sign a deal between MSN and AOL. Citing sources close to the business, Wall Street Journal has found out that talks regarding a potential merger between the two services have been resumed."

BetaNews | Google Testing Online RSS Reader

BetaNews | Google Testing Online RSS Reader: "Google took the covers off a Web based RSS reader at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco Friday. The tool, appropriately dubbed Google Reader, serves as an aggregator for Web feeds and is designed much like the company's Gmail service with Starred favorites and keyboard shortcuts."

No Office suite from us - Google | The Register

No Office suite from us - Google | The Register: "Google co-founder Sergey Brin has quashed speculation that the giant ad broker is to introduce a web-based Office suite.
'We don't have any plans,' he told Web 2.0 conference organizer John Battelle (pictured below). However Brin left the door open a little. Documents would be easier to work with in the future, he promised, but he didn't think a fat client was the way to go."

Malware turns PSP into expensive brick | Channel Register

Malware turns PSP into expensive brick | Channel Register: "PSP users are being urged to beware of a Trojan which, once executed, turns their games gizmo into little more than an expensive book weight. The (PlayStation Portable) PSP Brick Trojan poses as a utility that allows gamers to run homebrew apps or pirated games.
The latest version 2.0 of the PSP firmware stops the execution of custom code on the device. But after the discovery of a buffer overflow in version 2.0 of the PSP firmware, a firmware downgrade to 1.50 became the 'Holy Grail' of PSP homebrew development."

VeriSign buys Weblogs for $2.3m | The Register

VeriSign buys Weblogs for $2.3m | The Register: "A main piece of the blogging infrastructure - ping service Weblogs.com - has been bought by the Net's largest company, VeriSign, for $2.3m.
The deal will see VeriSign continue to run the basic ping service for free but add charged-for services, including a blog filter, in coming months."

Sms.co.uk domain sale could be a 'record breaker' | The Register

Sms.co.uk domain sale could be a 'record breaker' | The Register: "The domain sms.co.uk is up for grabs and those behind the sale reckon it could net more than �100,000.
Sms.co.uk belongs to Manchester-based Teleport UK Limited - which trades as Satellite Media Services. But the company is in administration and is looking to flog its domain to the highest bidder."

AOL confirms Weblogs buyout | The Register

AOL confirms Weblogs buyout | The Register: "AOL has confirmed it is to acquire blog network outfit Weblogs, Inc as part of a plan to keep subscribers and advertisers locked into its content.
Financial details were not disclosed although earlier reports claim the US internet giant was prepared to shell out $25m for the company."

Ex-PeopleSoft CEO lands on Salesforce.com's board | The Register

Ex-PeopleSoft CEO lands on Salesforce.com's board | The Register: "Salesforce.com has turned its boardroom into a tool for poking and prodding the egos at Oracle. The CRM company today added former PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway to its director list. Yes, Conway has turned on his old staffers apparently with revenge in mind.
Like Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Conway once served under Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. This trio hasn't had the prettiest relationship since with Salesforce looking to take PeopleSoft's business, Oracle taking PeopleSoft and now Oracle looking to take Salesforce's business. In fact, Oracle recently upped the competitive rhetoric, saying it would like 'to crush' Salesforce.com instead of just buying it. Larry loves his sport."

Nokia to inoculate phones with antivirus | CNET News.com

Nokia to inoculate phones with antivirus | CNET News.com: "Nokia has entered a pact with Symantec to help secure its mobile phones from viruses that target certain kinds of handsets.
Under the agreement, announced Wednesday, Nokia plans to arm its Series 60 smart phones with the Symantec Mobile Security antivirus program. The software is designed to ward off attacks that could compromise the extensive data, such as contact databases, that people store on their smart phones, the companies said. The devices typically have many computer-like features, including e-mail and Web browsing, which have made them vulnerable to attacks. "

The Courier-Mail: Google declares war on Microsoft [06oct05]

The Courier-Mail: Google declares war on Microsoft [06oct05]: "INTERNET search engine Google has declared war on Microsoft, announcing plans to launch free spreadsheet and word-processing software online.

Google has joined forces with US-based technology giant Sun Microsystems to allow web users to access Sun's OpenOffice from any personal computer.
Sun will offer Google's search toolbar with downloads of its free Java software, which now powers more than 2.5 billion gadgets around the globe, including 700 million PCs. "

BetaNews | Intel Wants Unified Hi-Def DVD Format

BetaNews | Intel Wants Unified Hi-Def DVD Format: "In a press conference following a speech at the Ceatec Japan 2005 conference, Intel Digital Home vice president Donald MacDonald said Intel planned to push the industry to create a unified standard for high-definition DVDs that would join Sony's Blu-ray and Toshiba's HD DVD camps."

BetaNews | Two Microsoft FAT Patents Rejected

BetaNews | Two Microsoft FAT Patents Rejected: "The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected Microsoft's patent application for its File Allocation Table (FAT) file system technology on Tuesday, however the Redmond company has put on a brave face and told BetaNews that it expects to ultimately be victorious.
In June of last year, the USPTO agreed to review the patent after questions arose surrounding its validity. A group known as the Public Patent Foundation disputed Microsoft's claims to FAT in April 2004, saying it had become ubiquitous as a format and found in many devices."

Official Details on the Metro Format - Softpedia

Official Details on the Metro Format - Softpedia: "Microsoft hopes that Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7.0 will be the applications to promote the Metro format, which, in the company's opinion, has all the chances to become a replacement for .PDF.

According to information provided by Microsoft, the Metro format should be based on XML and users would be able to create documents with any application. Microsoft outlines that their aspect will be identical to the original and that the documents saved in XML format will include all the necessary resources, such as characters and images. "

Panasonic Develops the World's Smallest 1080p Plasma Display Panel - Softpedia

Panasonic Develops the World's Smallest 1080p Plasma Display Panel - Softpedia: "Panasonic announced the company has developed a prototype of a 50-inch plasma display panel (PDP) with 1080p (progressive) resolution. The prototype is the world's smallest PDP that delivers more than two million pixels (1,920 � 1,080) and the same brightness as its current high definition (1,366 � 768) model TH-50PX500. Panasonic unveiled the prototype at CEATEC JAPAN 2005 at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo. The exhibition commenced today and will run until October 8. "

New biological robots build themselves - LiveScience - MSNBC.com

New biological robots build themselves - LiveScience - MSNBC.com: "Inspired by biological systems, scientists have developed miniature robots that can self-assemble using parts that float randomly in their environments. The robots also know when something is amiss and can correct their own mistakes."

Microsoft, Motorola eye emergency providers | CNET News.com

Microsoft, Motorola eye emergency providers | CNET News.com: "Motorola plans to enhance the reliability of its emergency services software applications by integrating them on the Microsoft platform, the companies announced Tuesday.
The effort is designed to better serve law enforcement agencies and emergency service providers by increasing the reliability of the software and allowing continuous access of data.
Under the partnership, Motorola will develop applications for law enforcement agencies, emergency response services and the criminal justice system using Microsoft's Visual Studio .Net 2003 and Microsoft Windows Server System software."

Google, Sun plan partnership | CNET News.com

Google, Sun plan partnership | CNET News.com: "Sun Microsystems and Google plan to announce a collaborative effort that some analysts speculate could elevate the profile of the OpenOffice.org and Java software packages.
Details won't emerge publicly until Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Sun CEO Scott McNealy take the stage on Tuesday at a news conference in Mountain View, Calif. But one strong possibility is a partnership that could help shift personal computing out of Microsoft's domain and into Google's."

Google faces obstacles in S.F. Wi-Fi bid | CNET News.com

Google faces obstacles in S.F. Wi-Fi bid | CNET News.com: "Google is the celebrity runner in San Francisco's race to become the first U.S. city with affordable or free wireless access to the Internet--but any such deal faces likely lawsuits or legislation, Mayor Gavin Newsom said Monday.
Among other dissenters, phone giants SBC Communications and Verizon Communications and cable companies such as Comcast have publicly and privately criticized the city's project, calling it 'foolhardy' given that low-cost access to the Internet is already widely available to the public in San Francisco, Newsom said during a press conference at City Hall."

Worms biting harder into IM, P2P | CNET News.com

Worms biting harder into IM, P2P | CNET News.com: "Instant messaging and peer-to-peer fans are being hit with more worm and malicious code attacks than ever before, according to research reports.
The number of threats detected for IM and peer-to-peer networks rose a whopping 3,295 percent in the third quarter of 2005, compared with last year, IMlogic said in a statement Monday. That brings the total year-to-date increase for 2005 over the previous year to 2,083 percent, the security software maker said."

Yahoo Starts a Book Collection

Yahoo Starts a Book Collection: "Internet search giant Yahoo, along with several universities and two European archives, say they intend to make books available on the Internet later this year.
The entities, known collectively as the OCA (Open Content Alliance), represent how major search engines like Google, which has a similar project called Google Print, now emphasize the quantity of search results, rather than the size of the information available for searching."

Paramount backs Blu-ray | The Register

Paramount backs Blu-ray | The Register: "Paramount Home Entertainment has hopped onto the fence, committing itself this weekend to releasing content on both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD) when the next-generation optical disc formats launch.
Paramount was one of three major studios that last January publicly backed HD DVD as their high-definition home entertainment medium of choice. It was joined at an official HD DVD unveiling by Warner Bros. and Universal Studios."

Toshiba to show slim HD DVD drive for laptops | The Register

Toshiba to show slim HD DVD drive for laptops | The Register: "Toshiba will this week demo a slimline optical drive for notebook computers that will provide an HD DVD playback capability.
The TS-L802A measures 12.8 x 12.6 x 1.3cm and weighs 160g, Toshiba said. It has an 8MB buffer and connects across an ATAPI interface."

AJAX gives software a fresh look | CNET News.com

AJAX gives software a fresh look | CNET News.com: "An emerging Web development technique promises to shake up the status quo in PC software and blur the line between desktop and Web applications.
Over the years, desktop applications tied to a specific operating system have become entrenched as the main way to work on a computer. AJAX, a set of development techniques standardized over the past eight years, could change all that by bringing more sophisticated interfaces to Web applications. With that, backers are hoping it can open a crack in the dominance of desktop software like Microsoft's Office, the undisputed market leader."

Yahoo to digitize public domain books | CNET News.com

Yahoo to digitize public domain books | CNET News.com: "Yahoo is launching a library-digitization project to rival Google's controversial program.
Yahoo is working with the Internet Archive, the University of California and others on a project to digitize books in archives around the world and make them searchable through any Web search engine and downloadable for free, the group was set to announce Monday. "

Tech titans ready to brawl / Google, Microsoft look to square off on Net and desktop

Tech titans ready to brawl / Google, Microsoft look to square off on Net and desktop: "For years, Microsoft has been able to use its money and size to muscle aside its competitors.
Now it's facing a competitor it can't push around so easily -- Google.
The popular search engine is mounting what may be the most serious challenge yet to Microsoft's desktop dominance. "