An old-style SQL injection hack is the suspected culprit in a malicious attack on the RIAA's Web site. During the weekend, its framework was still going, though its content had been erased.

For well over a decade, malicious users have known how to pass unchecked SQL queries through Web forms, in what is called a SQL injection attack. With unsecured databases, it's an almost ridiculously simple hack, not really displaying any real skill or prowess on the part of the malicious user. But last weekend, one hack was notable particularly for its target.

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Some enterprise database users and industry analysts with whom BetaNews spoke today believe yesterday's announcement of Sun Microsystems' intent to purchase open source database producer MySQL could have an across-the-board effect on the entire database market, impacting IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle.

But based on what we learned today, it doesn't look as though the pricing impact will show up vividly any time soon.

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A host of research firms are saying that local ads are the next big thing, with the latest being Jupiter Research saying it will be a $9 billion business by 2012.

Jupiter is certainly not the first to address the market; others have made their predictions as well. While some are not as optimistic, a few even say that the market could potentially grow larger than that.

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British officials are set to question Facebook over its data retention methods after a user complained that personal information remained on its severs after he deactivated his account.

Facebook's current system still retains some data even after an account is deleted. So far, it has defended the practice claiming that it is in full compliance with UK privacy laws.

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Despite an admittedly poor showing from the first prototype for a wireless networking device supposedly capable of harmlessly transmitting alongside VHF and UHF TV channels, the FCC said today it's giving the device another go.

The US Federal Communications Commission announced yesterday it is proceeding with plans to conduct a second round of tests on a controversial new technology that leverages unused or under-utilized frequencies in the VHF and UHF TV spectra for low-power wireless networking devices.

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The Apple CEO was blunt that he believes the Zune is a failure, and that Blu-ray may have won the format war, but has probably lost the HD content battle.

His comments came as part of an interview with CNBC's Jim Goldman on Tuesday. While Jobs is not necessarily known for his subtlety, his statements are about the most direct on either topic so far.

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The new public face of Microsoft's enterprise information policies has a long and very accomplished history, plus what appears to be a personal need to make his mark on the world. That may be exactly what Microsoft needs after the last guy.

Last year, Microsoft made a decision that it wanted its Chief Information Officer to have a public-facing role, this time as the representative of the concept of "best practices" that's part of its sales pitch to enterprises. So it moved former CIO Ron Markezich from his old role as "chief beta tester," as it was then described, to a new role called Vice President of Managed Solutions. Then it effectively promoted someone it had hired seemingly by accident to also serve in a role called CIO, to be the one and only CIO.

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Credit card company GE Money said a computer tape has disappeared which contained personal information of consumers who hold JC Penney credit cards.

In addition to JC Penney, as many as 100 other companies could be affected. GE supplies credit cards to some of the nation's biggest retailers, including Wal-Mart, IKEA, Lowe's, Lord & Taylor, and online payment service PayPal, among others.

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A lot of AIM and ICQ instant messaging users have likely never even heard of "Jabber" yet. But they'll probably be Jabbering away in the not too distant future, after the bugs get worked out by a new AOL/ICQ test launch.

If you're an instant messaging user (and who isn't, these days?), you'll soon be able to talk to your AIM/ICQ contacts using an open standards technology loosely referred to as Jabber, assuming that a new AOL/ICQ test launch that started this week shows enough success.

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Rock Band, the music simulator for Xbox 360 and PS3 was reported by MTV yesterday to have sold 2.5 million song downloads since the game went on sale on November 20, 2007.

On the game's official site, MTV announced it had "gone double platinum."

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Investors and consumers were warned the bad news would come, and it came as predicted. AMD took a stunning charge of $1.6 billion in one quarter, to account for value from the ATI merger it now realizes may not materialize.

The term is "goodwill," and it's used in evaluating the potential value that a merged entity brings to the acquiring company, over and above its tangible assets and the present value of its current contracts. At the time AMD and ATI merged in July 2006, AMD's financial team estimated the total value of the merger at $5.4 billion. $3.2 million of that was projected to be goodwill, how much more valuable AMD is as a company just for having ATI as a division.

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In response to an increasingly difficult retail environment, Sprint Nextel says about 4,000 employees will be laid off and about one out of every eight retail stores will close.

Expecting a slowdown in both revenue and subscriber growth in 2008 amid an economic downturn, the move could be seen as a preemptive strike in order to keep the carrier profitable.

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The Wii continued to lead video game console sales in December, but the Xbox 360 wasn't far behind. Also, the PS3 showed significant improvement.

Data from NPD showed that overall software sales increased 36 percent over last year. Hardware sales gains were a little more modest at 17 percent, however that is still a significant gain considering consumers pulled back on holiday spending.

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Zhongyi Electronic Ltd., a small Chinese company, is suing Microsoft over a product which turns words typed in the Roman alphabet into Chinese characters.

The software in question is called Zhengma, and has been used by Microsoft since 1998. In a statement from the company, Zhongyi's general manager says it has received no money from Microsoft since that time. In a statement on Friday, Microsoft said that it has the full right to use Zhongyi's product since it has paid all fees that were detailed in the licensing agreements.

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Oracle is gunning to spin into a more powerful kingpin in the hotly contested content management system market, not merely in the more amorphous middleware space -- as shown by its multibillion dollar buyout of BEA Systems along with a much quieter acquisition of a small CMS company called Captovation, both on Wednesday.

The move makes sense because, at the end of the day, content management is simply a vast extension of the database technology that was Oracle's original claim to fame.

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