World saved: There will be Scrabble on Facebook
While hundreds of thousands of Facebook users have been playing an unlicensed online version of Scrabble called Scrabulous, Electronic Arts and Hasbro will finally roll out their version of the online game to Facebook later this month.
The new, licensed version of Scrabble will be available online for browser-based play, as well as through Facebook, and other social networks, and a licensed version is available now on Pogo.com.
Major fix to DNS vulnerability impacts Windows, Debian
A very serious flaw in the Internet's DNS servers may have been ripe for a significant exploit, though a familiar security researcher might have sounded the alarm just in time. Now, Microsoft and Linux vendors are responding urgently.
In what appears to be a coordinated effort to fix a well known, though still potentially critical vulnerability to the Domain Name System (DNS) protocol, patches are being deployed today for both Windows and Linux, by both Microsoft and Debian, respectively. These patches would enable a long suggested protocol for validating the source of DNS requests.
PayPal, Google team in anti-phishing initiative
With phishing attacks and fraudulent e-mails still slipping through Google Gmail's security walls, the Mountain View-based company plans to work with eBay and its PayPal unit in an effort to protect e-mail users.
In an agreement announced today, Google and eBay will use DomainKeys and DomainKeys Identified Mail e-mail authentication technology to help stop fraudulent e-mails enter the Gmail inboxes. The DomainKey helps an ISP to determine whether or not a specific e-mail is authentic, and if it should be delivered. Developed by Yahoo, any e-mail sent with a DKIM will have a type of cryptographic signature that must be accepted by an e-mail server -- this case Gmail.com -- before being accepted.
Sprint's answer to its troubles: better customer service
With its customers increasingly churning to competitors, its executives leaving, and its reputation for poor service, Sprint needs to do something. Now, its new CEO suggests a focus on the customer.
In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse acknowledged his company is in dire straits.
Face it, mobile TV doesn't need the set any more
A recent LA Times article is already mourning the loss of battery-powered handheld mini televisions, although the future of mobile television actually appears brighter than ever.
The Los Angeles Times' Jim Puzzanghera suggested in an article yesterday that battery-operated handheld or portable TVs will be a casualty in the transition to digital broadcast television. In an almost elegiac tone, he noted that because these little TVs have not received a similarly little battery-powered DTV converter box, they will become so much junk when the switch from analog is made next February.
Dawn finally nears for JBoss AS 5.0 application server
After three years of work, Red Hat has finally completed the first -- but probably not the final -- release candidate of JBoss Application Server (AS) 5.0, a long delayed Java-based product built around a "Lego block" approach.
Initially slated for general availability (GA) during the first half of last year, JBoss Application Server Version 5.0 first entered beta back in November 2006.
Microsoft to host 'Deskless Worker' entry-level Web services
When Microsoft announced in March it would be marketing its own hosting services for Exchange and SharePoint, some wondered how the company could successfully compete with itself? Today, it provided the answer.
One under-appreciated facet of Microsoft's business is the amount of software that it sells to registered partners, who then resell that software to their clients. We're not talking about the Office suite or Visual Studio, but rather Windows installations, along with the services installed on Windows-based servers that can be licensed per user. Businesses that keep their employees connected through SharePoint sites and Exchange services often get their software through these partners.
Google adds fuel to Canada's BitTorrent throttling fracas
This week, Google jumped into the battle against Bell Canada's anti-BitTorrent practices, this time through the country's equivalent of the FCC, and on different legal grounds than privacy advocates.
In a submission this week to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC), Google urged that it take action against Bell Canada's P2P throttling activities on grounds that the ISP is violating Canada's telecommunications law.
Google continues to mete out privacy features
Another minor privacy upgrade to Google came yesterday afternoon to Gmail, the ability to check activity in the user's mailbox.
Over the weekend, Google added the "privacy" link on its main search page, bringing it up to speed with California law, and providing users with important information regarding their search data. Now, Gmail has received a minor feature upgrade that allows users to see recent activity in their mail accounts.
Television is king, although younger viewers turn to the Web
The stereotypical picture of senior citizens spending their days in front of the television is not far off from the truth, although the nation's youth is increasingly turning to the Internet, Nielsen finds.
The average American 65 and older watches nearly 178 hours of television a month, far above the national average of 127 hours a month, up 4% from the previous year, according to findings published today by the Nielsen Company. However, an increasing number of people are using timeshifting technologies.
Amazon introduces a deferred payment option
Amazon.com has rolled out deferred billing as an option to customers, realizing an agreement made with Bill Me Later in the beginning of 2008.
As the largest online retailer, Amazon's stock is not limited to items that are normally purchased in one lump sum. From a 6.21 carat diamond for $384,000 to full playground apparatus for $35,000, there is demand for financing on Amazon, and an affiliated partnership currently expedites the process.
Alcatel-Lucent looks to collect from Microsoft
The telecommunications company presented arguments at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, asking for a $1.52 judgment against Microsoft to be reinstated.
A San Diego court found the Redmond company liable in February 2007 of infringing on two patents related to MP3 technologies. That judgment came out of a case that was originally filed against Gateway and Dell in 2003, for using MP3 playing software in their computers.
Apple's .Mac to transition to MobileMe on Wednesday
Two days ahead of the release of the iPhone 2.0 software, Apple said it would debut the new online service for sychronized e-mail, calendars, and resource sharing.
.Mac subscribers began receiving e-mails over the past few days alerting them to the company's transition plans. Most of the service would become unavailable save for mail for a six-hour time frame Wednesday evening.
Google releases its data encoding format to compete with XML
In an effort to solve the bulk and time-consumption problem when encoding large databases, Google developed its own alternative to XML. Yesterday, the company began evangelizing others to use it as an alternative to the industry standard.
There's an argument that open standards are only truly useful when one standard applies to any given category of service -- an argument that was raised in the matter of application formats. Now the broader category of data encoding -- handled nowadays by XML -- is about to receive a big challenge, ironically from the group perceived as the champion of open standards in Internet communication: Google.
Sony re-releases its problematic PS3 firmware update
Last week, Sony pulled its PlayStation 3 firmware upgrade (v2.40) after users began to report that it "bricked" their consoles. An updated update has been made available.
First promising that a fix was coming some time "midweek," in Playstation.blog, the new firmware upgrade is reportedly available worldwide already.
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