Western Digital Settles Capacity Suit
Western Digital will provide free backup software to around 1 million customers as part of a class action settlement relating to how the company marketed the size of its hard drives. Western Digital was sued last year for advertising a drive as 80GB when it only physically stored 74.4GB.
The capacity difference is caused by computers using a binary system that defines 1GB as 1,073,741,824 bytes. Western Digital labeled its hard drives using a decimal definition in which 1GB was 1,000,000,000 bytes. The lawsuit alleged that the disk maker misled customers and violated the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act.
Apple Updates Mac OS X to 10.4.7
Apple has released the seventh major update to Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, adding a slew of improvements to Mail, iChat, Safari and a number of other applications. Also on the long list of changes are networking enhancements, along with bug fixes for Finder, Aperture and iTunes.
Mac OS X 10.4.7 additionally brings support for addition image formats in Automator, compatibility with more RAW image formats, and native support for Sierra Wireless and Novatel cards used for EVDO and other high-speed wireless services. The update can be downloaded through the operating system's built in Software Update feature or from Apple Downloads.
Microsoft: Please Don't Disable UAC
At Windows Vista lab in Redmond before the release of Beta 2, Microsoft developers showed off the new OS to a room full of MVPs and enthusiasts. But even the company's most loyal fan base turned ugly when User Account Control took the stage. Now, Microsoft is begging users not to disable the controversial feature.
User Account Control, or UAC, is a fundamental security change coming in Windows Vista and one of the most important additions to protect users from threats, Microsoft says. But the company is struggling to find a balance between security and usability.
Google Desktop 4 Gets Gadgets
Google on Tuesday released the final version of Google Desktop 4, the search engine's desktop search utility and sidebar application. The new release brings tighter integration with Google services, and new "Google Gadgets," which expand the capabilities of previous sidebar plug-ins.
Like the gadgets supported by the Windows Sidebar in Vista and those offered in Apple's Mac OS X dashboard, Google Gadgets are mini-applications that range from games to system utilities. Google has provided a new SDK and Gadget Designer application to aide development.
Microsoft Source Code Site Exits Beta
Microsoft officially launched CodePlex on Tuesday, a software development portal designed to host projects by third parties and share source code. In beta testing since May, CodePlex offers code under a variety of licenses, including Microsoft Shared Source and the GPL, among others.
The site is currently home to more than 30 collaborate development projects, Microsoft says, including the company's own "Atlas" Control Toolkit, IronPython 1.01 Beta 1 and Power Toys for Visual Studio. "CodePlex provides a forum to bring together developers from around the world and gives them tools, source code and an advanced platform for designing and building software," said Jon Rosenberg, director of Community Source Programs at Microsoft.
Microsoft Launches Piracy Reminders
Microsoft on Tuesday said it had completed the pilot phase for WGA Notifications, officially rolling out the anti-piracy reminders to Windows XP users worldwide. The company has made minor changes to the program in response to customer concern regarding its "phone home" functionality.
WGA Notifications is a component of Windows Genuine Advantage, an anti-piracy program implemented to detect counterfeit copies of Windows XP. The first piece of this initiative, WGA Validation, was launched in July 2005.
Microsoft Puts Up Office 2007 Preview
With 2.5 million downloads of Office 2007 Beta 2 already counted, Microsoft has put up a Web-based preview of its new office suite to reach even more potential customers. The online "test drive" features 18 product-specific tutorials and covers most Office system client applications and servers.
The preview allows users to try out Office 2007 components directly, or be guided through walk-through tours of the various new features of each product. Additionally, pre-populated data enables users to test new server functionality from SharePoint and Project Server.
Take-Two Subpoenaed by Grand Jury
Although it reached a very lenient settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Take-Two's troubles over the "Hot Coffee" mod are not over yet. The company announced Monday afternoon that it has received subpoenas from a grand jury in New York.
The subpoenas demand documents regarding what executives and directors of the game publisher knew about the sex scenes exposed by the modification. However, Take-Two says neither it, nor its executives, are under investigation. In response to the Hot Coffee debacle, both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have pushed for stricter game regulations, but no federals laws have been passed.
Can Intel Retain Lead with Woodcrest?
Intel on Monday rolled out its newest dual-core Xeon processor, known by its code-name "Woodcrest" and branded the 5100 series. The chip will serve to help battle increasing competition from rival AMD, which has made major strides in the server market with its Opteron processors.
Woodcrest is targeted at the server market with a design that focuses on power efficiency. The chip offers a 40 percent power reduction while providing performance improves of up to 135 percent, Intel claims. The 5100 is based on Intel's 65-nanometer process, and is compatible with the current "Bensley" Xeon platform already in use.
Microsoft Unifies its Communications
At a strategy event in San Francisco Monday, Microsoft unveiled its new "unified communications" plan, which ties together the company's server and Office products to establish a single experience for instant messaging, e-mail, VoIP, conferencing and mobile calling.
The driving idea behind unified communications is to enable businesses to stay connected 24 hours a day with an increasingly mobile workforce. "PC software makes it possible to see if someone is available before you send them an IM or an e-mail, what we call 'presence,' and calling someone can be as simple as clicking on their name," explained Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division.
Adobe Acquires Photo Software Firm
In a move to bolster its RAW capabilities, Adobe on Monday acquired the assets of Pixmantec ApS, a Danish software company that develops the RawShooter product for digital photography. RawShooter's workflow management and processing technology will be integrated into Adobe's new Lightroom software, currently in beta.
The RAW format, which provides uncompressed picture data, has become the centerpiece of digital photography, as once high-end cameras reach the consumer market. Adobe will discontinue the RawShooter products once Lightroom is ready for release. However, an upgrade path will be offered to existing Pixmantec customers. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
First Post-Beta 2 Vista Build Released
Microsoft late Friday delivered the first build of Windows Vista to follow the release of Beta 2 at WinHEC in May. Build 5456 is available to technical beta testers, and includes better user interface performance along with User Account Control tweaks to lessen the number of authentication notices.
UAC is designed to keep applications running in a reduced privilege mode, so malicious programs cannot do extensive damage to the operating system. However, many Vista beta users have found the feature frustrating, as seemingly basic operations require multiple confirmations. Microsoft will not make interim Vista beta builds available to Customer Preview Program customers, who must wait until RC1 for a new release.
Microsoft Axes WinFS, Cancels Beta 2
The lead program manager for WinFS, Quentin Clark, has announced that his product is no more -- at least in its current form. Just one week after a slew of WinFS sessions at TechEd, Microsoft has decided not to continue development on the new file system, canceling the expected Beta 2 release.
Although the status of WinFS has already changed a number of times, it seems Microsoft has finally given up on once-lofty plans to completely re-architect the way Windows stores files. The idea of WinFS, or Windows File Store, was to create a "sea of data" that abolishes the need for the standard file and folder hierarchy.
Microsoft Helps Put Phisher in Prison
Microsoft's Global Phishing Enforcement Initiative has netted its first criminal: 23 year-old Jayson Harris from Davenport, Iowa was sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay $57,000 to victims for a phishing scheme perpetrated in 2003 and 2004.
Harris created a fraudulent MSN billing Web site and sent notices to MSN customers instructing them to update their account and billing information. Harris claimed that customers would receive a 50 percent discount off their next bill for updating their credit card data, which was then transmitted to an e-mail account.
Claria Says to Uninstall its Adware
Adware company Claria this week took the unusual step of telling users to uninstall its software, following through on a promise to exit the adware business in order to focus on personalized search. Claria says it will stop sending pop-up ads to users' computers on July 1.
"Our software will continue to collect data about your web usage from your computer for research and other purposes as described in our Privacy Statement until September 30, 2006, unless you uninstall the software before this date," the company said in a statement on its Web site. "It is recommended that you uninstall all of GAIN Supported Software presently on your computer."
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