COMPUTER NEWS

Computer News

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Saturday, December 6, 2008


Recent Top Newsletter News Stories:

11/26/2007 - U.S. Analyst Firm Warns Internet Gridlock By 2010
11/19/2007 - Google Releases "Android" SDK and Developer Challenge
11/12/2007 - Low-cost laptop production started
10/22/2007 - Comcast Blocks Some Internet Traffic

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NASA tests "deep space Internet"
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 10:42 AM
news.yahoo.com -- The US space agency NASA said it successfuly conducted a first test of a deep space communications network modeled on the Internet.

"This is the first step in creating a totally new space communications capability, an interplanetary Internet," Adrian Hooke, NASA's manager of space-networking architecture, technology and standards, said in a statement. See the complete story here.


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Microsoft chopping Zune prices
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 10:24 AM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
news.cnet.com -- The software maker plans to announce on Wednesday a price cut for its flash-based models. The 4GB version will drop to $99, the 8GB model will drop by $10 to $139, and the 16GB model will sell for $179, down from $199. See the complete story here.


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Dell and Staples Launch Computer Recycling Program
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 10:22 AM
Dell company information - ( Dell News )
en.community.dell.com -- We made an exciting announcement this morning that expands recycling options for our customers. Beginning today, any Dell-branded equipment can be dropped off for recycling at any of 1500 Staples stores in the United States for free recycling. Staples is the first and only national retailer to offer Dell customers an everyday, free drop-off recycling option for their technology products. This program is one of the largest on-going computer recycling programs to be launched in the United States. See the complete story here.


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Windows 7: One compatibility label, no confusion
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 10:20 AM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
theregister.co.uk -- Microsoft is reducing its four Windows-compatible logos, responsible for confusion and a class action lawsuit, down to a single system for consumers and partners.

Partners that want compatibility with Windows Vista's successor operating system, Windows 7, will only have to navigate a single certification program, Microsoft said Wednesday, and consumers need to look for just a single sticker on their PCs, peripherals or software. See the complete story here.


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Tech Watch: The Minority Report Computer Is Real
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 10:17 AM
Real company information - ( Real News )
fastcompany.com -- Prepare to be amazed. A group of visionaries has created a real-world, working version of the big-screen gestural interface that nerds everywhere drooled over in the 2002 Tom Cruise film. See the complete story here.


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LIFE Photo Archive available on Google Image Search
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 10:14 AM
Google company information - ( Google News )
googleblog.blogspot.com -- The Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination; The Mansell Collection from London; Dahlstrom glass plates of New York and environs from the 1880s; and the entire works left to the collection from LIFE photographers Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gjon Mili, and Nina Leen. These are just some of the things you'll see in Google Image Search today. See the complete story here.


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Thanks to gamers, the desktop supercomputer arrives
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 10:04 AM
computerworld.com -- The definition of a personal supercomputer goes something like this: It's inexpensive, can sit on a desk, plugs into a wall socket and is at least within jumping distance of the Top500 supercomputing list. By that measure, Nvidia Corp.'s new computer is one of the first arrivals in this emerging product category. See the complete story here.


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Google Offers Text Ads Linked to Malware Site
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 10:01 AM
Google company information - ( Google News )
dailytech.com -- Sale of ads to known malware site an embarrassing slip for internet giant Google

Search giant Google is known for its "do no evil" approach. It goes to great lengths to protect the environment and it blocks sites on lists of known malware sites from being searched.


However, security researchers made an alarming discovery of a major slip-up for Google. The site had allowed a known malware site to buy text ads and was placing these ads on its partner pages through its Google AdWords service. The link was listed as “Antivirus XP 2008,” which led to the URL “antivirus-world-2009.com.” (Don't go there). See the complete story here.


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Computer virus attacks 'to peak next Monday'
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 09:57 AM
guardian.co.uk -- Internet users are being warned to stay vigilant by researchers who believe that next Monday could be the worst day the year for computer attacks.

After analysing information on viruses and internet worms taken from more than 500,000 machines around the world, security experts at PC Tools have pinpointed November 24 as the potential peak of malicious software activity for 2008. See the complete story here.


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AVG slaps Trojan label on Adobe Flash
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 09:56 AM
Adobe company information - ( Adobe News )
theregister.co.uk -- AVG, the popular anti-virus package, has falsely identified Adobe Flash as potentially malicious. The snafu comes just days after AVG slapped a bogus Trojan warning on a core Windows component. See the complete story here.


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AMD launching new naming scheme in 2009
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 09:55 AM
AMD company information - ( AMD News )
Intel company information - ( Intel News )
firingsquad.com -- When Phenom II launches at CES in 2009 the CPU will sport a new naming scheme. While the company had originally planned to shift from their current four-digit scheme to a 5-digit model number, Expreview says the company now plans to use just three digits, with model numbers similar to Intel's Core i7. See the complete story here.


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Computer virus affects hospitals
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 09:51 AM
news.bbc.co.uk -- Three London hospitals have been forced to shut down their entire computer systems for at least 24 hours after being hit by a virus. See the complete story here.


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Jerry Yang to quit as Yahoo boss
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 09:51 AM
Yahoo company information - ( Yahoo News )
news.bbc.co.uk -- Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Yahoo, is to stand down as the internet portal's chief executive officer. See the complete story here.


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Microsoft to offer free security
Submitted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 09:48 AM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
news.bbc.co.uk -- In a surprise move, Microsoft has announced it will offer a free anti-virus and security solution from the second half of next year.

It will stop selling OneCare, its all-in-one security and PC management service, from the end of June 2009. See the complete story here.


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Is Apple building a search engine?
Submitted Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 01:23 PM
Apple company information - ( Apple News )
Google company information - ( Google News )
blogs.zdnet.com -- Rumor has it over at TechCrunch that Apple is working on some type of search engine.

If you think about it, the idea is not so far-fetched: Apple’s Safari browser has 6-7% market share and currently uses Google exclusively as the search engine for both the standard and mobile versions on the iPhone and iPod. Through the maligned MobileMe, Apple has a suite of personal productivity tools that bring more traffic to them on a daily basis, which means there is a lot of searching going on without a lot of monetization on Apple’s part, according to Michael Arrington. See the complete story here.


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Online game for super geeks: Build your own supercomputer
Submitted Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 01:08 PM
networkworld.com -- So you think you can build a supercomputer? Purdue today rolled out an online game that will let you test those skills.

In a nutshell, Rack-A-Node players build a cluster supercomputer using a variety of computing types to run science experiments. A player begins with a small supercomputer and receives science jobs to process. For each completed job, the player gets more funding needed to build an even bigger supercomputer, according to a Purdue release. See the complete story here.


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Survey: One DNS server in 10 is 'trivially vulnerable'
Submitted Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 01:07 PM
computerworld.com -- More than 10% of the Internet's DNS servers are still vulnerable to cache-poisoning attacks, according to a worldwide survey of public-facing Internet nameservers. See the complete story here.


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'60 Minutes' examines the business of e-waste recycling
Submitted Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 01:07 PM
news.cnet.com -- In Sunday's 60 Minutes, the CBS TV news magazine examines the lucrative but shadowy business of mining e-waste--junked computers, televisions, and other old electronic products--for valuable components, including gold. However, often illegal and hazardous activity creates toxic pollution, which in turn leads to brain damage, kidney disease, cancers, and mutations. In the segment, correspondent Scott Pelley examines the ethics of the recycling industry. (For the full 60 Minutes segment, see "The Electronic Wasteland.") See the complete story here.


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AVG update cripples some Windows XP systems
Submitted Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 01:02 PM
news.cnet.com -- On Tuesday an update for AVG 8 suggested that a Windows system file is a Trojan horse, and users who delete the file form the system could leave their Windows XP systems endlessly rebooting or unable to reboot at all. The problem only affects users of AVG 8 products running the Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish language versions of Windows XP. AVG immediately sent out a corrected update to its customers, including those using the free editions of AVG. See the complete story here.


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World without Linux
Submitted Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 01:00 PM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
Google company information - ( Google News )
AOL company information - ( AOL News )
blogs.computerworld.com -- WindowsWorld 2008: Microsoft CEO and President, Steve Ballmer was happy as a clam today at his WindowsWorld keynote in San Francisco's Gates Center. "Nothing can make me happier to tell you that, Larry Page CEO of Google," a niche AOL search engine, "has agreed to run their search engine on Windows Server 2004."

Ballmer continued, "It can only be good that even Google's customers finally have access to a real server. Unix had its place, but, come on, that old command-line driven thing? Unix hasn't been businesses' operating system of choice since NT was introduced." See the complete story here.


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Firefox updates include a dozen security fixes
Submitted Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 12:58 PM
Firefox company information - ( Firefox News )
news.cnet.com -- On Wednesday, Mozilla released Firefox 3.0.4 and Firefox 2.0.18 to address a dozen security flaws, half of which the browser maker ranks as critical. Among the critical is one that could allow an attacker privilege escalation after a session restore. Another could allow arbitrary code to execute with compromised Flash media files. See the complete story here.


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'Lich King' Chapter Of World of Warcraft Begins
Submitted Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 12:57 PM
Blizzard company information - ( Blizzard News )
informationweek.com -- Blizzard Entertainment on Thursday released an extension of the popular "War of Warcraft" PC game, unleashing a new virtual world for players to slay monsters and grab booty and power. See the complete story here.


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Microsoft Says over 11% of Vista Printer Driver Installs Fail
Submitted Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 12:52 PM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
NVIDIA company information - ( NVIDIA News )
dailytech.com -- Microsoft points the finger at drivers not 64-bit compatible for high failure rates

Anyone who used Windows Vista in the early days of its launch will likely have not so fond recollections of driver issues that often led to frequent crashes and lockups. Video cards from NVIDIA were especially difficult to get working on Vista early on thanks to drivers that didn’t work well. See the complete story here.


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Google searches track flu spread
Submitted Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 12:50 PM
Google company information - ( Google News )
news.bbc.co.uk -- Google's philanthropic arm Google.org has released a new site that tracks the incidence of flu in the US based on terms used in Google searches. See the complete story here.