Air Force attorney suggests chaining old PCs in a counter-offensive botnet
A US Air Force staff judge advocate has published a treatise suggesting the US government should build a botnet of thousands of virus-infected personal computers it can control to counter-attack foreign-based computer networks.
In an opinion piece published in the May edition of Armed Forces Journal, Col. Charles W. Williamson, III compares America's current defense against cyber threats to that of Troy when it fell after ten years of warfare, after its leaders accepted the Greek's Trojan horse inside its own walls.
Sony plans to sell 10 million PS3s this year
Sony plans to boost sales of of Blu-ray drives to 7 million units in the year ahead, from 2 million over the past fiscal year, while also selling another 10 million PS3 game machines without "drastic" price cuts.
This according to Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony Corp.'s executive VP and CFO, during his company's quarterly earnings report late yesterday.
Comcast to acquire Plaxo: social TV en route?
Plaxo, the social address book service, has announced today that it signed an agreement to be acquired by former partner Comcast for an undisclosed sum.
Last Year, Comcast partnered with Plaxo among others, to provide its "SmartZone" centralized communications portal to Comcast subscribers, set to launch later this year. Building upon that collaboration, the cable company now plans to fully integrate Plaxo's properties -- which include social networking site Pulse -- into its own Web services Comcast.net, Fancast, and Fandango.
Intel backtracks on Atom iPhone claims
After a German exec seemed to suggest that Apple would use the Atom chip in an upcoming iPhone or tablet-like device, Intel has been doing its best to stop the surrounding rumors.
The comments came from Intel Germany's Hannes Schwaderer as part of an interview with ZDNet.de. He said the device would be slightly larger than its previous version, with a larger display -- implying a tablet of some sort, possibly.
Without 'Answers,' Dictionary.com's parent will become part of Ask.com
While some analysts have already deemed online search to be a territory that Google has already won, there are still competitors looking to assemble the right formula. This morning, some new pieces fell into place for the #5 provider.
On the surface, last July's announced deal between a Wikipedia-like reference service and an online dictionary and thesaurus publisher, looked like a sweetheart deal. But it later turned south after the dowry required to make the deal work failed to materialize. Now, after would-be groom Answers.com turned out to be something of a deadbeat, the jilted Lexico -- publisher of Dictionary.com -- finds itself wedded to a much more capable provider: Ask.com, with a new chief at the helm since just last January.
Adobe Flash Player 10 public beta now open
Today Adobe Systems launched the public beta for Flash Player 10, the company's ubiquitous runtime graphics platform. Added features include 3D animation and transformation support, new effects and filters, as well as new rich text layouts.
Flash developers can download the Pixel Bender toolkit at no further charge, and run it in conjunction with Flash Player 10. These together add the ability to create custom filters and animated effects similar to those found in Adobe After Effects.
Icahn names Yahoo's dissident dream team, including Cuban, Biondi, Chapple
In the opening move of a game he plays better than anyone alive, billionaire investor Carl Icahn has named a powerhouse team of investors and executives who would be ready and willing to lead Yahoo into a big future with Microsoft.
The dissident proxy slate of Yahoo directors proposed this morning by Icahn Capital chief Carl Icahn is comprised of frequent Icahn allies associates, along with extremely accomplished executives and investors. Icahn unveiled his team this morning in an open letter to Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock.
Now a British educational agency raises alarms on OXML
A British watchdog agency has filed a complaint with the European Commission charging that Open XML -- on its way to standardization -- fails to do its stated job of supporting interoperability with software from other developers.
The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA), a non-profit organization, wants the EC to find out whether, in obtaining standards approval for OXML, Microsoft might have intentionally withheld information from its competitors. This just weeks after the ISO's approval of OXML as international standard ISO/IEC 29500.
Tele Atlas buyout by TomTom okayed by EC, putting Navteq in play
In a move that might or might not impact Google, Yahoo, and mobile providers, the European Commission has given its approval to TomTom's $4.5 billion bid to buy map maker Tele Atlas.
In confidential documents leaked this week, European regulators suggested they see a proposed $8.1 billion merger between those two companies as similar to -- but different from -- the TomTom/Tele Atlas deal just approved.
Windows Live services for WM phones emerge from testing
After two years in development, the final veil is being lifted from Microsoft's suite of online services, some of which are now being made available for Windows Mobile smartphone users.
A majority of Microsoft's free online consumer services for Windows users have now been extended into the Windows Mobile space, now that testing on the concept -which has been under way since June 2006- has apparently ended.
Miniaturized GPS paves the way for new positioning applications
A California-based surveyor's technology provider called Trimble introduced today a new GPS thumbnail-sized GPS receiver designed to work better in poor signal environments than other GPS technology.
The Trimble Copernicus II GPS receiver offers users position, velocity and time data, using a 12-channel GPS receiver that measures 19 mm x 19 mm x 2.5 mm. The ultra-thin, surface mount GPS module is ideal for any device that needs GPS capabilities, such as phones or computer devices. Its design and ability to use active and passive antennas opens up a myriad of possibilities for integration into Bluetooth devices, personal navigators for vehicles or boats, cameras, computer communication devices, portable GPS devices, and security products.
Google attempts to protect identities in Street View feature
Since the debut of Google's Street View in its mapping application, bloggers and curiosity seekers have made it somewhat of a sport to catch folks who may not have wanted their activities photographed.
These unflattering shots then make their rounds across the Internet and range from the somewhat humorous -- such as a bicycle stunt gone wrong or a man captured checking out a few ladies during a stroll at the beach -- they have also been know to catch things that might be less than legal -- including a pair of women who's business on the corner may not be sanguine.
Android faces a tougher battle, with Verizon and Mozilla backing LiMo
The road ahead for Google's Linux platform for mobile devices just got a little cloudier, with two of the companies whose allegiance it would need to ensure its success, this morning announcing they're backing its principal competitor.
If Google thought it would have a cakewalk in its efforts to advance an open mobile smartphone platform based on Linux, it's realizing now it may need more traction. This morning, the LiMo Foundation -- comprised of both hardware and software vendors with a stake in Linux on cell phones -- added several more powerhouse members to its coalition, including memory maker Infineon, major US telco Verizon, and Firefox browser maker Mozilla.
Google now offers real estate listings through Google Maps
In an effort to stay competitive against similar services used by map providers and real estate agents, Google today more easily added a new Real Estate search function for Google Maps.
A user now can go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) to retrieve information for real estate listings within the visible area. To do this, the user enters a city name in the "Search the map" field, then selects the "Real Estate" tab under "Show more search options."
RIAA demonstrates collegiate anti-piracy efforts
In a demonstration to The Chronicle, the music industry group discloses it uses the same software client as file sharers to catch pirates.
No university is singled out above another, and LimeWire is used as RIAA's software of choice. The process begins with a search on the service for song titles owned by its member organizations.
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