Microsoft Bolsters XP Wireless Security
Microsoft has released an update to Windows XP Service Pack 2 that fortifies the operating system's wireless networking security through the adoption of Wi-Fi Protected Access 2. WPA2 offers more advanced data encryption and conforms to government-mandated regulations for security, including HIPPA and FIPS 140-2.
The update also adds support for Wireless Provisioning Services Information Element, which enables ISPs to migrate to secure wireless hot spots. Specifically, WPS IE offers support for both secured and unsecured connections in a single network, easing migration.
Google Buys Texting Service Dodgeball
Dodgeball, a site that helps friends and acquaintances connect through text messaging, posted a message to its Web site on Thursday saying that it was acquired by Google on Wednesday. Google confirmed the purchase, but declined to give further details. According to the notice, two people ran the company, and they could not take the site any further on their own.
"As a two-person team, Alex and I have taken Dodgeball about a far as we can alone. Since we finished grad school, we've been trying to figure out how to grow Dodgeball and make it a better service along the way," the founders wrote. "We talked to a lot of different angel investors and venture capitalists, but no one really 'got' what we were doing - that is until we met Google."
Firefox Update Brings Security Fixes
The Mozilla Foundation has released what it calls a "security update" to its flagship Firefox Web browser, which resolves three critical vulnerabilities. The 1.0.4 update comes just three days after two exploitable flaws were uncovered by security firm Secunia that were deemed "extremely critical."
The two flaws reported Monday were given Secunia's highest rating due to exploit code that was already in the wild. The first vulnerability stemmed from a bug that enables IFRAME JavaScript URLs to be executed in the context of another URL in Firefox's history list.
Windows Media Gets Philips Backing
Windows Media is continuing its march to ubiquity. Electronics manufacturer Philips has signed a pact with Microsoft to include Windows-based digital rights management technology in its semiconductors and consumer products. Microsoft has already forged similar deals with a number of other hardware makers.
The agreement means Windows Media Video and Audio version 10 will be natively supported by hundreds of products, including digital media receivers, personal video recorders and portable audio players, which use Philips' Nexperia family of multimedia semiconductors.
Microsoft Helps Bust Mass. Spam Ring
With the investigative help of Microsoft's Internet Safety Enforcement team, Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly has filed a lawsuit against a spam ring accused of sending hundreds of millions of junk e-mails each month. Nine defendants were named in the lawsuit - seven individuals and two companies.
Microsoft says the seven spammers operated out of Russia and Boston, using domain names registered in Monaco, Australia and France and servers in China, Korea, Brazil and Taiwan.
Nintendo to Take DS Gaming Online
Nintendo doesn't plan to stand idly by while Sony's PlayStation Portable corners the wireless gaming market. The company has announced it will bring online multiplayer action to the Nintendo DS though Wi-Fi Internet connectivity. The DS currently allows up to 15 players to connect, but only if they are nearby.
The capability is expected to be rolled out later this year, but will be initially limited to small number of games. Animal Crossing DS, which will debut on November 21, will be one of the first with online multiplayer support, Nintendo said. IGN Entertainment has been tasked with building the network that will connect players.
Toshiba Developing 45GB HD-DVD Disc
Despite reports in a Japanese newspaper stating that Toshiba and Sony may be close to deal that would standardize on Blu-ray for next-generation DVDs, Toshiba has announced the development of a higher capacity disc in its competing format, HD-DVD. The 45GB capacity would eliminate Blu-ray's size advantage.
Blu-ray offers a 50-gigabyte disc capacity and proponents boast that it is intended primarily for video purposes. Original HD-DVD discs had two layers of data: one in the old DVD format and a second that holds 15 gigabytes.
Yahoo Music Service Challenges iTunes
Yahoo's online music strategy has finally taken shape after a year of development with the launch of the Yahoo! Music Engine, the company's challenger to iTunes and subscription services such as Napster. While it may be late to the party, Yahoo threatens to shake up the industry with prices 60 percent less than its rivals.
At the center of the Yahoo! Music Engine lies Yahoo! Music Unlimited, a music download service powered by MusicNet. For a fee of $4.99 USD per month paid annually, or $6.99 USD monthly, customers can stream or download an unlimited number of songs and transfer them to portable devices supporting Microsoft's Janus digital rights management technology.
iTunes Furthers European Expansion
In conjunction with a new release of iTunes and music video downloads, Apple has expanded its online music store to four additional European countries. Consumers in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland now have access to iTunes' 1.5 million songs priced at 99-cents apiece.
The new European stores will feature exclusives from Kent, Stereophonics and The Cardigans. In Switzerland, UBS will offer every Swiss citizen a free song on iTunes through a promotion in its branches. iTunes is now available in 19 countries and holds over 70 percent of the global digital music market. 400 million songs have been purchased worldwide since its inception.
CherryOS Drama Ends, Product Retired
The drawn out saga between Macintosh emulator CherryOS and PearPC has come to an end, with CherryOS developer Arben Kryeziu announcing in his Web log that he has shut down the project. The news follows Kryeziu's claims in April that he would open up the source code of CherryOS to prove it was not stolen from PearPC.
CherryOS enabled users to run Apple's Mac OS X operating system atop Windows PCs. However, the closed product closely mimicked the functionality of PearPC, an open source project. After its initial announcement and subsequent controversy last October, CherryOS was released in trial form last March by Maui-X-Stream.
Critical Vulnerabilities Found in Firefox
Two new security vulnerabilities have been uncovered in Mozilla's latest Firefox Web browser, which could be exploited to launch cross-site scripting attacks and potentially compromise a user's system. Security firm Secunia has given the flaws its highest "extremely critical" rating and says an exploit is already in the wild.
The first vulnerability stems from a bug that enables IFRAME JavaScript URLs to be executed in the context of another URL in Firefox's history list. "This can be exploited to execute arbitrary HTML and script code in a user's browser session in context of an arbitrary site," Secunia says.
DNS Outage Takes Down Google
Search giant Google was knocked offline for a brief period over the weekend, due to what the company characterized as a DNS issue. All of Google's Web sites were temporarily inaccessible during the outage, sparking fears that the world's largest Internet property had been hacked.
Fueling the speculation were bloggers, who quickly spread word of the problem and claimed they were being redirected to SoGoSearch.com when attempting to visit Google.com.
MS Switches Gay Rights Position, Again
Microsoft has backed away from its neutral stance when it comes to anti-discrimination for gays in the workplace, once again pledging its support for legislation protecting gay rights. The neutral position sparked a flurry of media attention in late April. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the change of heart in a letter to employees.
"After looking at the question from all sides, I've concluded that diversity in the workplace is such an important issue for our business that it should be included in our legislative agenda. Since our beginning nearly 30 years ago, Microsoft has had a strong business interest in recruiting and retaining the best and brightest and most diverse workforce possible," Ballmer wrote.
Court Throws Out FCC Broadcast Flag
In an unexpected win for consumer advocates, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down a rule by the Federal Communications Commission that would have required manufacturers to support a new "broadcast flag" that prevents the copying and redistribution of television programming.
The broadcast flag was introduced in November 2003 and the FCC mandated that all devices capable of receiving television signal, including digital TV receivers and PC tuner cards, must abide by the regulation as of July 1, 2005.
Gateway Refreshes MP3 Photo Jukebox
Roughly the same size as the iPod mini, Gateway's MP3 Photo Jukebox has been refreshed to bring its storage capacity up to par with its Apple rival. Along with 6GB of space, the updated Photo Jukebox also brings an improved color screen and longer battery life - both features answering complaints about the original model.
To avoid the dead battery problems that have plagued Apple's iPod, the Gateway MP3 Photo Jukebox includes a replaceable battery, which claims to provide eight to ten hours of music playback. The newest 6GB iPod mini boasts 18 hours of battery life, but lacks a color screen and photo display capabilities.
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