Coast Guard's Deepwater continues its voyage through deep...trouble
One of the biggest tech projects ever undertaken by the Coast Guard continues its years-long free-fall, enduring another spanking for its mismanagement of the mammoth Deepwater security program, even as parts of the program report progress.
Last Friday, the US Department of Homeland Security took the remarkable step of stripping the Coast Guard of acquisition decision authority for expensive projects, including Deepwater. The decision was made on the basis of a Government Accountability Office recommendation back in June.
Very mild Patch Tuesday ahead from Microsoft
After a series of critical out-of-band security patches were issued by Microsoft two weeks ago, most of the thunder has been squelched for next Tuesday's regular set: down to one critical and one important patch.
In keeping with Microsoft's current policy, the company no longer releases too detailed information in advance of patches' distribution. For example, if the company were to say too much about interim workarounds, it might give away clues that could make many more machines vulnerable prior to Tuesday.
Yahoo CEO: Now Microsoft should consider buying Yahoo
Even if Jerry Yang isn't sorry about not pursuing a job related to his electrical-engineering studies, he may regret not attending culinary school. Crow is one of those dishes that can use an expert's touch.
It's getting to be a regular menu item at Chez Yahoo. A day after Google turned tail on the joint advertising agreement, and a couple of hours after some joker sent around a fake resignation letter "from" the embattled CEO, a weary-sounding Yang told a crowd at Web 2.0 that "to this day, I believe the best thing for Microsoft to do is to buy Yahoo."
First signs of the Obama administration's technological aptitude
The early choices to lead the transition team for President-Elect Obama not only indicate the diversity of background that he promised during his campaign, but also a continuing attention toward comprehending modern technology.
Not quite two days after his historic election as the nation's 44th president, Barack Obama's transition team already has an active Web site. Located at change.gov, it maintains many of the templates used by the Obama campaign, though very quickly tailored for the purposes of maintaining an open forum for citizens to comment on, and contribute to, the process of transition of power in the executive branch.
Hi-fi mic producer Blue breaks into consumer electronics
Not a company frequently seen in the CE field, Blue made its reputation in the professional recording category. Today it has pulled away from its niche market, announcing an HD Webcam and a software-less microphone attachment for iPod.
Blue is widely known for its atypical mic designs, and has managed to maintain that reputation as it releases more products outside of the audio enthusiast category. Now, the company has added to its list of ultra-portable audio solutions which currently only includes its Snowflake USB podcasting mic.
Fifteen minutes to crack WPA protocol, says researcher
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is considered a superior encryption protocol to the aged and inherently flawed WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), but it is not without its vulnerability, as one researcher is preparing to demonstrate.
Security researchers are now saying they have refined an existing WPA crack, making it more efficient that earlier reports.
Theme for WinHEC is a drive toward simpler, broader device compliance
One of Vista's biggest faults in consumers' minds has been that so-called "supporting devices" don't truly seem to support the operating system -- turning them on the first time means fighting the OS. Microsoft wants that to change.
With much of the Windows 7 news actually having been divulged the week before at PDC, it was left for Microsoft corporate vice president and Windows chief Steven Sinofsky and his new partner, Core Operating System manager John DeVaan, to set a theme for WinHEC 2008 in Los Angeles that distinguished their efforts from Windows Vista while at the same time maintaining a respectable level of enthusiasm.
Adobe patches Reader, Acrobat and Flash
On Tuesday, Adobe Systems Inc. issued patches for a five-month old vulnerability in Reader and Acrobat 8.1.2, and today, six critical patches were released for Flash Player 9.
JavaScript vulnerabilities in older versions of Acrobat and Reader could allow remote code execution if not properly patched. This is the fifth update to Reader this year that addresses JavaScript issues. NCircle security expert Andrew Storms told Computerworld in June that Adobe's repeated JavaScript bugs amounted to an epidemic. "Since JavaScript has been a target for so many years, why hasn't Adobe flushed out these vulnerabilities already?" he questioned.
AMD to lay off 500 more in its streamlining effort
Yesterday, chip designer AMD said it will be continuing its re-structuring efforts by cutting 500 jobs internationally, in addition to cuts it had already announced in the spring.
Sunnyvale, California's Advanced Micro Devices is the second largest producer of x86 microprocessors worldwide, behind Intel. Since last year, the company has been going through various stages of what it called its "Asset Light/Asset Smart" move, to streamline business and return it to profitability.
Cable TV and FiOS price probe under way
Is the pricing of TV services fair to consumers? The FCC is launching a probe to find out whether the wallets of home subscribers are getting corralled in the stampede by Verizon and cable providers to HDTV.
Are US consumers being forced to pay for higher-end TV services they don't really want? The Federal Communications Commission is about to examine an emerging practice among cable providers of moving old-fashioned analog TV programming into digital tiers and pricing structures so as to make room for HDTV.
E-voting machines, registration databases have a mixed Tuesday
Though no reports of substantial problems have emerged, the tech behind Tuesday's election didn't necessarily cover itself in glory.
OurVoteLive.org blogged that it had received over 75,000 calls since Tuesday, though causes varied and only a minority of calls received concerned e-voting trouble -- 1,730 since yesterday. The VoterAction hotline reported 16,000 calls, with as many as 3,000 in just one hour, again with a fraction of those reflecting machine problems.
Nationwide 4G WiMAX gets the green light
WiMAX users in the US will be getting their 4G wireless services not from Sprint -- and not from the "old" Clearwire -- but from a combined entity known as "New Clearwire."
The long sought after FCC approval of a $14.5 billion WiMAX merger between Sprint-Nextel and Clearwire opens the door to the start of nationwide 4G services to be offered through a new provider called New Clearwire, an entity that will compete with 4G LTE services from Verizon Wireless and AT&T.
Phoenix Hyperspace firmware gets Opera-enabled
Phoenix Technologies, makers of the BIOS of the same name, announced today a partnership with Opera software that will give its Hyperspace virtual Linux environment instant-on Internet browsing.
Last week, Phoenix Technologies announced Hyperspace would be receiving Corel LinDVD, enabling systems running Hyperspace to access DVD drives while the core OS is asleep, rebooting, or even if it has failed.
A peek into private browsing in the next Firefox 3.1 beta
It's a race now to be the first to implement an evidence-proofing feature in an RTM of a Web browser. The fellow in charge of making it work for Firefox made his suggestions known over the weekend, and he wants to keep things simple.
It's rare that Mozilla Firefox finds itself in the role of playing catch-up in the feature department. But with a special private mode that suspends the recording of cache and history data already showing up in both Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and even the earliest betas of Google Chrome, the open source developers at Mozilla are stepping on the gas for a feature they've actually considered for several years.
FCC's OK of Alltel takeover makes Verizon the largest US carrier
Before sealing a $28.1B deal to buy Alltel Communications on Tuesday, Verizon needed to make concessions to both the FCC and Justice Department so as to allay the competitive concerns of other wireless providers.
Verizon is now the largest wireless carrier in the US, following hard won approval by the federal government on Tuesday of its controversial merger with Alltel.
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