Ballmer Kicks Off TechEd 2005
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicked off the company's annual TechEd Conference on Monday, telling an audience of nearly 12,000 that IT has taken a central role in the success of many modern companies. He also said that Microsoft would be making moves in the future to help people leverage technology to make a bigger impact in their business.
"We're all here because we share a vision of how technology can enhance business performance and help people do great new things," Ballmer told the audience. "Microsoft's job is to help realize this vision by arming IT professionals and developers with the right tools, best-of-breed products and an unparalleled computing platform."
Reports Say Apple Switching to Intel
Reports on CNET News.com and The Wall Street Journal claim that Apple will announce a switch to Intel x86 processors on Monday at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference - a move that has been rumored for years yet never materialized. According to the report, the switch would start with Apple's low-end computers by the middle of next year, with higher end systems following in 2007.
The report has not been without questions to its validity and most analysts remain skeptical due to numerous unanswered problems that would arise from such a major architecture change. Neither News.com nor the WSJ did not address several issues, including the lack of emulation for easing the transition and necessary support from major third-party developers such as Adobe and Microsoft.
MSN Hack Targeted Gamers for Days
New information released late Friday suggested the hack that affected portions of the MSN Korea Web site was targeted at gamers, and may have gone undetected for several days. The hackers apparently attempted to steal username and password information for Lineage, an online game popular in portions of Asia.
According to Websense, a scan on May 27 found no malicious code on the site. However, a scan on Wednesday revealed portions of the site had been updated with code to install a Trojan horse automatically on vulnerable computers. This means that the hack could have been present for up to five days before it was detected. Although MSN had received no reports of problems resulting from the hack, it urged all users to run virus scans on their computers to ensure they were free from infection.
Apple: Recycle Your iPod, Save 10%
Answering calls from environmental groups about improper disposal of used and/or broken iPods, Apple announced on Friday a program where it will offer a 10 percent discount for those who decide to by a new iPod the same day they hand in their old one. The program will be run out of Apple's 100 retail stores within the US.
Several groups in recent months have called on the company to take action on what they see as a growing problem of industrial waste from unwanted electronic devices. To ease environmental concerns, Apple says that it will process all the waste domestically and not ship it overseas.
Red Hat Starts Up Fedora Foundation
Red Hat is attempting to gain more support in the open source community by spinning off its Fedora open source project into a separate group called the Fedora Foundation. As part of the deal, the development and ownership will fall under the new group, while Red Hat will still support it financially.
Fedora is the code base on which Red Hat Linux is based. The company wants to increase its visibility in the open source community, and felt spinning off Fedora was a proper first step. The move mirrors a similar approach taken by AOL with the formation of the Mozilla Foundation.
MSN Korea Hacked, Shut Down
MSN was forced to take its South Korean Web site down for ten hours on Thursday after hackers broke into the site and added code to attempt to steal user passwords. While Microsoft said the news section of the site was the only part affected, the company removed the entire site as a precaution to ensure other areas were not compromised.
It is not immediately clear if any of MSN's users were affected by the hack. The news section was down for almost a day while the site was cleaned.
Sharp to Deliver 65-Inch LCD TV
By August of this year, consumers will be able to buy 65-inch LCD widescreen televisions - although they will have to fork over quite a bit of money to get a hold of one. Sharp Electronics of Japan will begin producing the world's biggest televisions at a rate of 300 per month.
The initial retail price of the television, called the Acquos, will be about $15,500 USD. While Samsung showed off an 82-inch model in March, the Sharp version will be the first to be available to consumers. Previously, it was thought that 37-inch LCD screens were the biggest possible without distortion; however, Sharp says it has developed technology to ensure a clear picture.
Mac Office 12 to Get XML Formats, Too
Rick Shaut, a member of the Macintosh Office team, wrote in his Web log that the Macintosh version of Office 12 will also support the Office Open XML format announced Thursday for its Windows counterpart. He called the new features an "enormous undertaking" by Microsoft's Mac Business Unit, and admitted they had fallen behind on XML support within the Office Suite.
Also, for the first time in the history of Microsoft, both Windows and Mac units will be implementing major architectural changes to the software simultaneously.
Free iBook Program May Be in Jeopardy
The largest laptop program in the history of public education may be in jeopardy after a county commissioner filed suit to stop the school district from distributing more Apple iBooks. Former Cobb County, Georgia Commissioner Butch Thompson is accusing the local school district of misusing taxpayer money.
He also claims that voters were not properly informed that a new 1 percent sales tax was to be instituted in order to help start the program. Voters had approved the tax back in 2003.
New 'XXX' Domains for Adult Web Sites
Internet users looking for -- or blocking -- pornography will have a much easier time thanks to a new top-level domain name just approved by ICANN. The group responsible for overseeing the world's domain names approved the ".xxx" domain, which British company ICM Registry will be in charge of managing.
The new domains could appear as soon as the end of the year, according to ICANN. Dot-xxx was part of 9 other new domains being considered by the organization. Consumers will be able to purchase the new domains for $60 per year. ICM says it will work with companies to voluntarily move them over to the new domain in order to help protect children from seeing inappropriate content.
Sony Puts Videoconferencing Into VoIP
Sony has teamed up with IP-based video communications service provider GlowPoint to provide its customers IVE - short for Instant Video Everywhere. The new service will allow users to videoconference wherever broadband access is available.
IVE will come in three different offerings -- one for business which is now available; a mobile version that is aimed at telecommuters and business travelers; and a home service for everyday videoconferencing uses for consumers.
Nokia Launches New Low-End Handsets
Nokia launched two new low-end handsets, the 1110 and 1600 models, at a press conference in Kenya on Thursday. The new phones are aimed at developing markets and will be relatively inexpensive, allowing low-income customers to own a mobile phone.
The 1110 will be monochrome with an inverted black and white screen aimed at better visibility in sunnier climates, while the 1600 will be the color version of the 1110.
Sun Acquires StorageTek for $4.1 Billion
Just one day after the company began a rebranding effort to revitalize its public image, Sun Microsystems on Thursday announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire StorageTek in a deal worth $4.1 billion.
StorageTek shareholders will receive $37 per share in cash as part of the deal. According to Sun, it expects the deal to positively affect its bottom line by the fall of this year.
Samsung Debuts High Capacity Flash
Samsung has developed a new line of Flash memory that will not only allow manufacturers to shrink devices even further, but also provide more space and higher speed than was previously thought possible.
The new technology will allow for up to 8GB of data to be stored on a single Flash chip, meaning devices will stay the same size while their storage capacities will be vastly increased. The 4-gigabit Flash memory chip will allow for 40 percent more chips to be put on each wafer of silicon.
SBC Offers $15 Per Month Broadband
SBC Communications significantly lowered the prices of its DSL service on Wednesday, cutting the monthly fee by 25 percent. Subscribers will now be able to get broadband Internet for $14.95 per month, which is $5 lower than prior fees. The new pricing structure now makes SBC competitive with dial-up services, and one of the lowest prices for broadband in the country.
Why is SBC doing this? Company executives have said they only have another two or three years before cable companies will be able to offer similar services that could essentially replace phone companies for voice, video and data.
Ed's Bio
Ed Oswald is a freelance journalist from the Reading, PA area. Although he has written across a variety of subjects, Ed’s passion and focus has been on technology and gadgets. His work regularly appears on tech news sites BetaNews, PCWorld, and Technologizer, and has been syndicated to eWeek, Time’s Techland blog, VentureBeat and the New York Times.
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