The Return of the C:\ Prompt?

Microsoft has big plans for the trusty old C:\ prompt. For its upcoming Windows Vista operating system, the company is developing a new command-line interface, or shell--the text-based controls typically accessed by clicking Command Prompt (under Start Menu, Programs, Accessories) in Windows XP.

Code-named Monad, the new shell will enable a host of new programs known as scripts--something at which rival Unix operating systems have historically excelled. While these new commands and scripts will interest primarily administrators and power users, less-technical types may benefit from Monad scripts that could circulate on the Internet as Unix scripts do. For example, a Monad script might quickly reorganize files and directories based on their name or creation date--a task that can take a fair bit of manual labor in Windows Explorer.

A beta version of Monad for Windows XP is available as a free download. Registration is required, and you will also need to have .Net Framework 2.0 (available at the same page) installed.

Opera chooses Google

Norwegian Opera Software has agreed that Google will be the default partner for its mobile Internet browsers, Opera said on Thursday.

"Google will be the default search partner for the mobile browsers: Opera Mobile and Opera Mini," Opera said in a statement. "Under the one-year contract, Opera will make Google Search a major part of the browsers home screen." Oslo-based Opera Software is a tiny competitor of Microsoft in the Internet browser market, but the fast-growing part of its business is in browsers for mobile phones and other mobile electronic devices.

Intel unveils new logo

Intel said Thursday that it would scrap its 37-year-old logo as part of a major rebranding that will emphasize the chipmaker's shift away from its core PC business into consumer products.

The original Intel logo featuring a lowered "e" will be replaced with one showing an oval swirl surrounding the company's name.

The phrase "Leap ahead" will supplant "Intel inside," which helped bring the company into the public awareness during the PC boom of the 1990s.

Intel said CEO Paul Otellini is set to unveil details of the campaign during next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Its not MSN Messenger beta

A virus masquerading as a new beta version of Microsoft's MSN Messenger has begun circulating, antivirus company F-Secure said on its blog Tuesday.

The virus, which F-Secure calls Virkel.F, comes as a file called BETA8WEBINSTALL.EXE that can be downloaded from a Web site. Running the program installs not a new MSN Messenger beta, but rather a virus that sends download links to a computer user's MSN Messenger buddies. The virus falsely labels the link as "MSN Messenger 8 Working BETA."

"It also connects your machine to a botnet server," F-Secure warned, meaning that a person's computer can be controlled remotely to attack other machines or send spam.

Malicious software that uses instant messenger programs is growing more common. A November study by Akonix Systems identified 62 examples. And Microsoft's instant-messenger infrastructure is the most popular conduit for attack, IMlogic said in an October study.

Its all about GPS

While LG Electronics in Korea has licensed two patents from Honeywell that describe how to improve accuracy of satellite-based Global Positioning System navigation systems by augmenting GPS data with inertial measurements about how a vehicle is moving, Europe launched its first satellite of Galileo network which will challenge United States monopoly over GPS which is run by US military.

50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years

1. Sony Walkman TPS-L2 (1979)
2. Apple iPod (2001)
3. ReplayTV RTV2001 and TiVo HDR110 (1999)
4. PalmPilot 1000 (1996)
5. Sony CDP-101 (1982)
6. Motorola StarTAC (1996)
7. Atari Video Computer System (1977)
8. Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera (1972)
9. M-Systems DiskOnKey (2000)
10. Regency TR-1 (1954)
11. Sony PlayStation 2 (2000)
12. Motorola Razr V3 (2004)
13. Motorola PageWriter (1996)
14. BlackBerry 850 Wireless Handheld (1998)
15. Phonemate Model 400 (1971)
16. Texas Instruments Speak and Spell (1978)
17. Texas Instruments SR-10 (1973)
18. Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300 (1998)
19. Sony Handycam DCR-VX1000 (1995)
20. Handspring Treo 600 (2003)
21. Zenith Space Command (1956)
22. Hamilton Pulsar (1972)
23. Kodak Instamatic 100 (1963)
24. MITS Altair 8800 (1975)
25. Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 (1983)
26. Nintendo Game Boy (1989)
27. Commodore 64 (1982)
28. Apple Newton MessagePad (1994)
29. Sony Betamax (1975)
30. Sanyo SCP-5300 (2002)
31. iRobot Roomba Intelligent Floorvac (2002)
32. Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer (1999)
33. Franklin Rolodex Electronics REX PC Companion (1997)
34. Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 1.0 (1998)
35. Motorola DynaTAC 8000X (1983)
36. Iomega Zip Drive (1995)
37. Magnavox Magnavision Model 8000 DiscoVision Videodisc Player (1978)
38. Milton Bradley Simon (1978)
39. Play, Inc. Snappy Video Snapshot (1996)
40. Connectix QuickCam (1994)
41. BellSouth/IBM Simon Personal Communicator (1993)
42. Motorola Handie Talkie HT-220 Slimline (1969)
43. Polaroid Swinger (1965)
44. Sony Aibo ERS-110 (1999)
45. Sony Mavica MVC-FD5 (1997)
46. Learjet Stereo-8 (1965)
47. Timex/Sinclair 1000 (1982)
48. Sharp Wizard OZ-7000 (1989)
49. Jakks Pacific TV Games (2002)
50. Poqet PC Model PQ-0164 (1990)

Google Pays $1 Billion for 5 Percent of AOL. Google will become the only shareholder in AOL other than Time Warner. Time Warner will retain management control and full strategic flexibility over AOL, while Google will have certain customary minority shareholder rights, including those associated with any future sale or public offering of AOL.

Microsoft, Mozilla: A symbol of cooperation? Thats right. Read this. A small but healthy begining.

Startup Readies Long-Lasting Fuel Cell

Medis Technologies, a U.S.-Israeli startup company, is planning to unveil at next month's Consumer Electronics Show power packs that will be able to power or recharge portable electronics gadgets.
The power packs are based on an alkaline fuel cell technology developed by the company and will be able to provide, for example, several complete recharges for dead cell phone batteries or an additional 20 hours of talk time.
The power pack is made up of two parts: a disposable fuel cell component and connector cable. The fuel cell, which measures 3.2 by 2 by 1.4 inches, will provide the raw power while the connector cable will interface between it and the gadget being charged. Cables for different gadgets, fitted with the correct charging connector and voltage regulator, will be available.
Medis envisages these battery alternatives will power cell phones, digital cameras, PDAs, MP3 players, and handheld video games like the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS. For an iPod music player a single Medis fuel cell could keep the gadget running for about 80 hours.
Medis says its technology has advantages over the methanol or hydrogen-based fuel cell technologies being pursued by many major consumer electronics companies.
Existing fuel cell technology involves diluting methanol with water and then dripping into the fuel cell to generate electricity, said Lifton. That process requires micropumps and other components which are very difficult to make and use.
Commercialization of methanol or hydrogen-based fuel cells is also difficult at present because both are potentially hazardous fuels and so their carriage onboard aircraft is currently heavy restricted. Medis' fuel cells can be carried on aircraft with no problem, the company said.

Sony "rootkit" CDs had designs on iPod

The Princeton researchers that have done much of the work deconstructing SonyBMG's recent controversial copy protection software have found an interesting new tidbit. According to their new findings, the Sony software had a hidden component that could convert songs from the CD, or other ordinary MP3s, into a file compatible with Apple's copy protected FairPlay format.

That would mean that the songs could be played on iPods, which hasn't been the case with copy protected CDs in the past. It apparently accomplishes this by using open-source, yet copyrighted code, a practice deemed a no-no in programming circles.

It's not yet clear how this came about. Record labels have hoped to establish compatibility with the iPod for their copy protected CDs for some time, and EMI Music has even said that its CDs are close to reaching that point. Apple, for its part, denied EMI's contention.

Hynix Unveils Fast Memory Chip for Games

Hynix Semiconductor, South Korea's second largest memory chip maker, has launched the speediest memory chip aimed at game consoles and PC graphics cards available so far.

The graphics double data rate 4 (GDDR4) chips are high bandwidth DRAM memory able to process heavy volumes of gaming and video images far faster than normal PC memory chips. They're a step up from the GDDR3 generation of chips currently used on the highest performing graphics cards today. Hynix said its GDDR4 chips are also ideal for 64-bit computing.

The company on Sunday announced the availability of a 512-megabit density GDDR4, an ultra high speed memory chip that Hynix says improves data processing speed by close to two times over GDDR3.

Hynix's GDDR4 chips operate at 2.9 gigabits per second and can process 11.6GB of data in one second, the company says. It will begin shipping samples to customers soon and plans to start mass production of the chips in early 2006. By the second half of next year, the company says it will improve the speed of the chips to 14.4GB.

The fastest graphics memory chips had been limited to a speed of just 1.6 gigabits per second before the launch of GDDR4.

The density and speed of Hynix's GDDR4 improves over a similar chip released by rival Samsung Electronics in late October.

At the time Samsung was able to claim first place in the race to ship GDDR4 to customers for testing. Samsung's GDDR4 is a 256-megabit chip that runs at 2.5 gigabits per second, both smaller in density and slower in speed than Hynix's offering, based on the specifications each company has released.

Samsung plans to introduce a 2.8Gbps GDDR4 chip by the end of this year. The company said it expects the high performance graphics card market to grow significantly in the second half of next year.

For its part, DDR maker Rambus has developed a technology called XDR2 that boosts data rates in and out of DRAMs. Rambus claims speeds of 8GHz, compared to 1.6GHz for GDDR3.

Overall, it has been a tough year for proponents of DDR2, who expected the new DRAM technology to take off faster than it has.

The Web sites of other major memory chip makers, including Micron Technology, Infineon Technologies, and Elpida Memory, do not carry any announcements regarding the release of GDDR4 products.

IBM makes Workplace suite ODF-ready

IBM has thrown some its weight behind the Open Document Format (ODF) for the Office Applications standard. The exact force of that support is IBM Workplace Managed Client, which will support the newly ratified standard.

Specifically, word processing, presentation graphics and spreadsheets within version 2.6 of the IBM client software, will support the import, export and rewrite of files in the ODF standard.

ODF is currently a hot topic, with Massachusetts leading the way in calling for public bodies to avoid the limitations of proprietary formats and adopt open standards. Microsoft has tried to counter this line of argument by putting its Office XML up for standardisation, but Sun has repeated its backing for current open standards.

The OpenDocument XML format is also the basis for the open source OpenOffice suite, now at version 2.0. Sun's rival to Microsoft's Office is Star Office, which itself is based on Open Office.

The Workplace Managed Client software works in conjunction with the IBM WebSphere Everyplace Deployment server and is designed to provide an interface for enterprise applications on server-managed laptop and desktop systems. It is scheduled to be available in early 2006.

Start with Microsoft

These days Microsoft's inspiration is Google. And its not recently that Microsoft started copying google. Its been going on for a while. Maybe you will remember MSN Search. When it was launched it used to look and feel just like Google. Thought it has been changed a bit, but still its nothing much different. Now Microsoft has come up with a service called start. If you check it you will won't be surprized that it also looks and feels just like My Google. Don't think of it as a conincidence. After all Microsoft is quite (in)famous for plagiarism. Earlier it was Apple and IBM; and now its Google.

... And Now Cyber Hugging

Feel like a hug when you are miles away from home... don't fret... James Teh, interaction and entertainment research centre, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, has developed a "hug suit" of sorts for poultry, and intends to extend it to humans... soon...

According to Teh, people will soon be able to touch their pets or children across cyberspace with his innovation, that seeks to transmit sensation via the Internet.

"Poultry Internet" is Teh's immediate focus, especially since he feels strongly about chickens, saying that though they are badly treated they make highly intelligent pets.

The "Hug" technology involves the pet fowl wearing a wireless, sensor-rigged "jacket", moving inside its coop in the "home" set-up, and being tracked by a video camera.

The information is transmitted via the internet to the "office" set-up, wherein a 3D model of the pet moves exactly like its live counterpart.

When the owner touches this model, the instructions are translated into data and reproduced as a series of vibrations, on the jacket worn by the hen.

Teh said that the system which is being tested, will give the chicken the feeling of being touched by its owner. Teh has been working on this project for 2 years, along with center director - Adrian David Cheok and center manager - Lee Shang Ping.

Of course with the recent alarm raised over the possibility of an "avian flu" pandemic spreading across large parts of South East Asia, one wonders as to why anyone would want to touch a chicken... whether actually or virtually...

However Teh's "Poultry Internet" technology promises to be just a fore-runner to the real thing i.e. "human-to-human virtual hugging".

Teh plans for children to wear wireless, sensor-rigged "pyjama suits", similar to the chicken "jackets". Each suit will receive signals via the internet, and interpret the data to adjust to changes in pressure and temperature. In effect, children will actually get a "hug" from their parents and vice-versa, if parents wear these suits as well.

Cheok expressed the view that there will be a huge demand for these suits, especially with parents going out frequently on business, and hugging and touching being considered inseparable parts of communication.

Netgear Settles Lawsuit on Wi-Fi Speed Claims

Netgear has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of inflating the data speeds of its Wi-Fi networking devices in advertising materials.

In a November 23 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Netgear said it has agreed to pay $700,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit initiated in June 2004. A second lawsuit, filed in February, was voluntarily dismissed in favor of the 2004 lawsuit.

Under terms of the settlement, customers who purchased Netgear wireless devices between January 1999 and this month will be eligible for a 15 percent discount on the purchase of a new wireless device. The agreement must be approved by the Santa Clara County Superior Court in California.

Netgear, based in Santa Clara, also agreed to change its advertising for Wi-Fi devices to say that the data speeds advertised are the maximum rate but that "actual throughput will vary" depending on several factors. On Netgear's Website today, advertising for its RangeMax 240 Wireless Router included a statement saying that data speeds of up to 240 mbps may vary.

Netgear will also to donate $25,000 worth of its equipment to charity as part of the settlement, dated November 17.

Toshiba Boosts Flash Memory Speed

Toshiba is planning to double the read/write speed of its NAND flash memory chips in the next year.

NAND flash memory is used as the basic storage in devices such as digital cameras, music players and memory cards and faster chips could mean faster data transfers between computers and the devices.

At present, Toshiba's flash chips can read and write data at 6MB per second but this will be doubled to 12MB per second sometime next year when the company begins producing chips on a new manufacturing line.

The company currently makes most of its NAND flash chips on a 90-nanometer production line but plans to start up a state-of-the-art 52-nanometer line in 2006 on which the chips will be made.

The nanometer measurement refers to the size of the smallest feature on the chip and is a standard gauge of the manufacturing line. Smaller numbers mean a more advanced line and these are typically capable of producing physically smaller chips that are both cheaper and use less energy.

Initial chips will have a capacity of 2GB.

Google Base Debuts for Hosting All Content

Responding to the public's seemingly insatiable appetite for information, Google has begun publicly testing Google Base, a service designed to host and make searchable "all types of online and offline content," the Mountain View, California, company announced.
Described as an extension of existing Google content collection efforts, such as Web crawl, Google Base lets large companies and individuals alike post data in the form of categorized items that Google will host and make searchable for free, according to Bindu Reddy, a company product manager, in an early-morning entry in Google's official Web log.
Google Base appears to be Google's most concrete move to date into the realm of user-generated content and tagging, popularized by services such as the Del.icio.us social-bookmarking site and Yahoo's Flickr photo-sharing site.
The range of items that users can post on Google Base encompasses such disparate things as poems, events, recipes, research papers, products, and job postings, according to information on the Google Base Web site.

Oracle Keeps on Making Deals

Oracle may be taking smaller helpings from the smorgasbord of software companies prime for purchase, but the software giant hasn't lost its appetite. On Nov. 16 it announced the acquisition of two small, privately held security companies Thor Technologies and OctetString.
Oracle didn't disclose the price paid -- likely the equivalent of a rounding error compared with multibillion dollar acquisitions of PeopleSoft and Siebel, the latter of which was approved by the Justice Dept. on Nov. 16 Including its two latest buys, Oracle has done or announced 13 deals in 2005 -- and the year isn't over yet. Most have been focused on buttressing Oracle's defenses against German powerhouse SAP.

PalmSource Joins LiPS forum

PalmSource, Inc. has joined the Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) Forum as a founding member of the group. The LiPS Forum is a consortium of companies working together to accelerate the adoption of Linux in fixed, mobile and converged devices.

Alongside PalmSource, the founding members include France Telecom/Orange, FSM Labs, Huawei, Jaluna, MontaVista Software, MIZI Research, Open Plug, Arm, Cellon and Esmertec.

The primary goal of the LiPS Forum is to establish standards for the growing numbers of companies providing Linux-based technologies for mobile, fixed and converged telephony terminals. The LiPS Forum intends to support device manufacturers and operators in bringing to market Linux-based devices at a lower cost, while facilitating the programming and development process for software and semiconductor vendors.

New UltraSparc server chip

Sun debuted the UltraSparc T1, also known as the Niagara chip, touting that it uses only about 70 watts of electricity -- which the company claims is at least half the power of most server chips on the market. The T1 also features eight so-called processing cores on one chip to boost power.
Sun expects to have servers out that use the T1 by the end of the year. The servers, part of Sun's SunFire product line, also will run the company's own Solaris version of the Unix operating system that is common in the server marketplace.

Sony stops making anti-piracy CDs

Sony has said it will suspend the production of music CDs with anti-piracy technology which can leave computers vulnerable to viruses.
The move came after security firms said hackers were exploiting the software to hide their creations.
The software has been used by viruses to evade detection by anti-virus programs and infect computers.
Sony said it had a right to stop people illegally copying music, but added that the halt was precautionary.

Microsoft joins race for world digital library

Microsoft is the latest company to venture into the online book search arena, claiming it will not endure the same legal troubles that rival Google has faced.

The software giant has joined an alliance called the Open Content Alliance (OCA), along with Yahoo, Hewlett-Packard and Adobe, which aims to digitise books, academic materials and other publications for online publication.

Intel Slashes PC Power-up Time
Intel has unveiled a new technology on Monday that significantly reduces the time it takes for a notebook PC to power up or access programs, while improving battery life to boot.
Intel's new Robson cache technology ensured an almost immediate start-up of a Centrino-based notebook PC during a live demonstration at the Intel Developer Forum in Taipei on Monday. A laptop with identical hardware but without Robson took several seconds to boot up.
The laptop with Robson also opened Adobe Reader in 0.4 seconds, while the other notebook required 5.4 seconds. It opened Quicken in 2.9 seconds, while the laptop without Robson technology needed 8 seconds to do the job.


Cisco adds security to switches, wireless devices
Cisco Systems Inc. is adding security features to its network switches and wireless products, in the networking gear maker's latest push to sell software to help corporations combat spyware, worms and viruses.
Cisco already sells security software for its routers, which allows businesses to add a layer of security to their Web-based networks, which are often used by far-flung workforces. On Monday, Cisco said it is now selling the software for its switches, which companies often use in simpler local area networks within their own buildings.
The expansion of the security features to business' internal networks also includes wireless access points, which corporations are increasingly installing on their campuses.
The software is designed to protect corporations from computers and mobile devices which may have been infected through use outside of the office, as well as from outside attacks against the network itself.


OSDL pushes Linux phones
The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) have unfolded an initiative to accelerate the adoption of Linux on mobile devices.
Device manufactures hope that the open source operating system will allow them to lower development costs while create new devices at a faster rate. Linux also is expected to offer more flexibility in developing new devices and deliver more capable mobile phones.

Yahoo, MSN Messenger Collaborate
Yahoo! and Microsoft have announced a landmark agreement, to connect users of their consumer instant messaging (IM) services on a global basis. This inter-operability agreement, will give MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger users the ability to interact with each other, forming what is expected to be the largest consumer IM community in the world, estimated to be more than 275 million strong.
In addition to exchanging instant messages, consumers from both communities will be able to see their friends' online presence, share select emoticons, and add new contacts from either service to their friends' list, all as part of their free IM service.


New Video iPod
Before this week's unveiling of the new video-enabled iPod, Apple Computer's Steve Jobs was renowned in technology circles for his skepticism about video on portable devices.
His change of heart could have big implications for the media and entertainment world. In addition to announcing its new, video-enabled iPod this week, Apple introduced a departure from the TV industry's traditional business model -- generating revenue not by embedding advertising in the shows but by charging a small amount to download them.

Initial video content to be available for Apple's new iPod:

ABC's "Lost," "Desperate Housewives" and "Night Stalker"; and the Disney Channel's "That's So Raven" and "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody." Downloads: $1.99 per episode.

Music videos, about 2,000 total. Also $1.99 each.

Six short films from Pixar Animation Studios.

Amateur and professional video recordings, known as video Podcasts, generally available for free through Apple's iTunes service.

Home movies transferred to the iPod from a computer

Security Myths

Stories that list out the top myths about security seem to come out every other week or so. However, this latest one from Information Week is somewhat amusing in that it's basically a list of items saying you're not nearly as secure as you think you are, but then the last point basically says: except if you're on a wireless network. Apparently, the idea that wireless networks are insecure has been so drilled into so many minds that many people ignore the fact that you can be pretty secure on a wireless network if you know what you're doing.
A few top myths are:

• Patches fiz the security holes
• SSL is secure
• Theoritical vunerablities don't pose a danger
• Wireless networks are inherently insecure
  

Security Updates

Microsoft makes major security move
AS EXPECTED, Microsoft has just outlined plans for a range of new corporate security services and products.
CEO Steve Ballmer and security VP Mike Nash jetted in to Germany to flesh out the announcement, which covers virus, spam and spyware protection.
The most important bit of the announcement covered a new enterprise-class, subscription-based service called Client Protection, a management console that lets IT managers generate reports and alerts on spyware, viruses and other types of malware. This will be available on beta late this year with no date yet set for full rollout. It has parallels with the Windows OneCare security service for consumers that’s been in production for a while.


First Trojan for Sony PSP on the Loose
Security firm F-Secure has analyzed and confirmed the report of the PSP Trojan. Symantec refers to the exploit as Trojan.PSPBrick and labels it as a category 1 threat, the lowest level on a five-step scale.
The Trojan masquerades as a download tool that promises to downgrade the firmware on Sony's portable gaming device. Instead, however, it deletes important system files, rendering the device unbootable.

Japanese Firm Pushes Wi-Fi to 3 Miles
Maspro Denkoh, a Japanese manufacturer of wireless communications equipment, has developed a transmission system that can send Wi-Fi signals as far as three miles.
The system relies on high-gain antennas produced by the company and is compatible with standard IEEE802.11b/g communications equipment.
Wi-Fi networks use two types of antennae. One is a tube-shaped model about 40 centimeters long and the other is a much shorter and square-shaped model. Combining two of the tubular antennae--one on each end of the link--will result in a transmission distance of about three miles while one of each antenna will work on distances up to 1.2 miles and two of the compact antenna will be fine for up to a little more than half a mile, according to the company.


Bug spotted in Symantec antivirus
A serious security flaw in part of Symantec's antivirus products puts enterprise systems running the software at risk of intrusion.
A buffer overflow flaw in the Symantec AntiVirus Scan Engine could let remote attackers run code on vulnerable machines, Symantec said in an advisory Tuesday. The problem affects various versions of the engine, which is the part of the security software that actually scans for threats. Security patches are available to correct the problem, which Symantec rates "high" on its risk impact scale.


ATI launches new family of top-end graphics chips
ATI Technologies Inc. launched its new family of high-end graphics chips on Wednesday, a move it hopes will help it win back market share in the fiercely competitive sector.
ATI's Radeon X1000 family of processors will compete with the GeForce 7800 product line designed by Nvidia Corp.
Both ATI and Nvidia are targeting high-end customers such as video game enthusiasts, who are willing to pay top dollar for chips and graphics cards that offer the highest speeds and richest detail.

HP to Ship Netscape on PCs in 2006
Starting next year, Hewlett-Packard's PC customers will be able to select the Netscape browser as their default window to the Internet, the companies have announced.
The Netscape 8 browser will ship on HP's PCs in the United States and Canada starting early next year, with links to it both in the Start menu and on the desktop of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. Users also will be able to make the browser their default choice when setting up a new HP PC.

Yahoo begins effort to bring books online for reading
Internet search giant Yahoo responded Monday to rival Google's plans to make books available for reading online by introducing its own version.
The key difference: Yahoo is not scanning copyrighted works, as Google did before publishers called foul and it temporarily stopped. Instead, Yahoo is paying for the scanning of older, out of print titles and making them searchable through the Yahoo index and a new website at opencontentalliance.org.

Microsoft to include native support for PDF in Office 12Microsoft increasingly is leveraging its MSDN Blogs to unveil news about upcoming products, especially developer tools as well as components of software such as Windows Vista and the Office suite. Program manager Brian Jones used his latest post to confirm to the community that the upcoming Office package will integrate support for Adobe PDF format in all core applications.

Skype Updates With Call Forwarding, Ring Tones

Skype Technologies has gone live with an updated version of its Internet telephony software, adding call forwarding and personalization options to its popular VoIP service.

Skype version 1.4, which launched for beta testing in August, allows users to forward incoming Skype calls to another Skype name or to landline or mobile numbers. Calls forwarded to Skype names are free; calls sent to traditional phone numbers are charged at the company's SkypeOut rates, which start at 2 cents per minute.

The new version also introduces "Personalize Skype," a customization service being managed by Qpass, a Seattle-based Skype partner. Personalize Skype offers consumers pictures to use as avatars and sound clips that can serve as ring tones or replace Skype's default sounds. A limited number of pictures and sounds are available for free.

Skype's update is currently available only for Windows users, though the company says it is working to bring the new features to its Macintosh, Linux, and Pocket PC editions.

Apple admits problem with iPod nano

SanDisk Puts Copy Controls on Flash Cards. Entertainment companies may feel more secure about releasing content on cards.

Mobile Phone Standards to Launch in 2006

The mobile phones for sale during the 2006-2007 holiday season should be a lot more secure than this year's crop, thanks to a new mobile security specification that likely to be released in the first half of 2006.

The specification is being developed by the Trusted Computing Group, an industry association backed by mobile vendors such as Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung.

The TCG has already created standards for PCs, servers, and networks designed to make computing more secure; and at this week's Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association Wireless IT and Entertainment conference in San Francisco, the group took a step toward finalizing its mobile standard.

Today, the TCG released a number of use cases defining the areas that it expects its mobile standards to cover. These documents discuss things such as locking down phones to make them harder to use when they are lost or stolen, managing software updates and patches, and supporting secure payments via mobile devices.

In a statement, the TCG said that it expects to have a publicly available mobile phone specification ready in the first half of 2006. If this happens, devices supporting the specification should begin to emerge by the end of next year.

The first mobile phones built with the TCG's mobile security technology should be harder to use without proper authorization. As more infrastructure is built to support the TCG standards, phones will become more resistant to mobile viruses and other forms of abuse.

Farther along, when mobile phones become even more secure, they could evolve into a kind of electronic wallet that could be used to authenticate buyers and sellers in online transactions.

Yahoo Users Get Phished

A new phishing method is targeting Yahoo users by recording their user name and password while logging them into a legitimate area of the portal, according to Websense, a Web security software firm.

Users receive an instant message or e-mail purporting to be from a friend wanting to show photos from a vacation or birthday party. The message has a link to the phishing site, which records the user's ID and password while forwarding the user to the real Yahoo Photos site.

"It would be difficult for the user to know they'd actually been phished," says Ross Paul, Websense product manager for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

It appears the phishers are close to home: The actual phishing site is hosted in free Web space provided by the Yahoo Geocities service in the United States, Websense says.

Not only are the phishers using a fake logo to trick users, but they are also forwarding the person to another site, a method that has been used before but not on such a large scale, Paul says. Websense's worldwide network, which monitors Internet traffic, detected the technique.

"That leads us to believe [the phishing attack] is fairly widespread," Paul says, adding, however, "It's difficult to quantify."

The advice for users is similar to that issued in prior warnings: Be leery of unexpected e-mails and check with the sender to make sure an e-mail is authentic. Users can also always check with Yahoo to see if a specific e-mail is legitimate, Paul says.

"I think what you are seeing is criminals are getting more sophisticated in social engineering," Paul says.

In an e-mail response to a query about the warning, Yahoo spokesman David Sawday wrote: "When we learn about phishing sites on our network, we remove them as quickly as possible." He did not provide information on how Yahoo was dealing with the new phishing method.

Google Video Integrates Media Player

Google has improved its Google Video service by eliminating the need for users to download software to play back videos.

The service's videos now play within a Web browser without the need for additional software, says Peter Chane, senior business product manager for Google Video.

Moreover, the previously Windows-only playback service is now available to users whose PCs run the Linux and Mac OS operating systems.

Other enhancements to the service include a larger and resizable viewing window, and more playback controls, such as pause, skip back, skip forward, and volume. Also new is the availability of 10-second video previews that can be played on the search results page.

Google also announced that between Monday and Thursday of this week, visitors to Google Video will be able to view the series premiere of the UPN television network's show Everybody Hates Chris.

During those four days, Google Video will be the only place on the Web where the episode will be available in its entirety, Shane says. "We're working with all sorts of owners of video content to help them bring their content online," he says. "You'll see more high-quality video content on Google Video in months to come."

Google launched Google Video in January of this year, and the service was deemed underwhelming by many, in part because it didn't feature any actual videos to play back. What it did feature were transcript excerpts from TV, along with still photos from the video broadcasts, as well other complementary information about the programs. The indexed information also was limited to only certain television shows.

Google Video's lack of viewable content made it pale in comparison with existing multimedia search engines from competitors America Online, Blinkx, and Yahoo. However, Google has been improving its video service. Along the way, the company has opened the service to allow anyone, from individual amateurs to television and movie producers, to submit video for inclusion in Google Video. It has also made actual video viewable on the service.

Asian top 100

Few days back Red Ferring lunched its list of Top 100 Private Companies in Asia. China provided the most companies on the list (41), followed by India (19) and South Korea (10).
I could find only 18. Here is the list of the Indian companies which made it in the list.

Computing

• Axis Software
• Bahwan CyberTek
• Ittiam Systems
• Skelta Software

Communications

• Bharti Telesoft
• Jataayu Software
• Navin Communications
• Tejas Networks

Entertainment & Media

• DQ Entertainment
• Indiagames
• Paprikaas Animation Studios

Biotech

• Strand Genomics

Internet Services

• AppLabs Technologies
• Comat Technologies
• Pinstorm
• Pramati Technologies
• Progeon

Security

• E2Labs Information Security