Google late Wednesday fixed a security flaw in its Google Reader RSS feed aggregation tool, which opened the door for a cross-site scripting attack. The vulnerability was disclosed in detail on Tuesday, and enabled an attacker to steal personal data from Google users.

"What are the implications of this attack for Google? Well, for starters, I can put a phishing site on Google. “Sign up for Google World Beta.” I can steal cookies to log in as the user in question, I can use the credentials of the user to screen scrape any of the content off of the www cname, including changing options like adding my RSS feed to your page, or deleting them," read a post on the ha.ckers.org blog.

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Intel and Motorola said Wednesday that they would invest $900 million in Kirkland, Wash. based Clearwire, a company that sells wireless access based on an early version of WIMAX technology In 26 markets. Intel will invest $600 million, while Motorola would purchase the company's hardware business, as well as contribute part of the remaining $300 million.

Clearwire owns the second biggest chunk of necessary frequencies for WiMAX next to Sprint Nextel. The technology is expected to offer a much longer range than currently available wireless technologies. Whereas Wi-Fi is limited to several hundred feet at most, WiMAX has a range of several miles.

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Merchants looking to sell their goods through eBay may not use Google Checkout as a payment method, the auction site now says in an updated Acceptable Payments Policy. Google's new service has launched as a potential competitor to eBay's own PayPal.

Although it does not offer person-to-person payments, Google Checkout does overlap when it comes to purchases from online stores, where PayPal makes a bulk of its revenue. "Sellers may not request payment through online payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy," eBay says, adding that it only supports established and safe payment services. Those who violate the policy can end up suspended from eBay.

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In a surprise move, Microsoft is bending to pressure from governments and will sponsor an open source project to build tools that enable conversion between its Open XML formats in Office 2007 and OpenDocument (ODF). The forthcoming Office suite will also support an add-in for saving directly to ODF.

The Open XML Translator project will be hosted on SourceForge.net, and is available under the BSD open source license. Microsoft says anyone can submit bugs and contribute to the project. A beta of the Open XML translator for Word 2007 will be made available Thursday, which can convert .docx Word documents to .odf and vice versa.

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Google said Tuesday that it was prepared to take the legal route if it felt telecommunications companies were abusing their market position, a sign that the net neutrality fight may extend beyond the halls of Congress and into the courts.

Attempts o have some type of net neutrality provision added to a broad communications law reform bill making its way through Congress have so far failed. The closest supporters have come was in late June, when a Democratic amendment failed in a Senate Committee in an 11-to-11 tie.

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Delivering the first fruits of its February partnership with AOL, WebEx has released a beta version of the AIM Pro Business Edition service. The software, designed for large corporations, follows AOL's release of the standard AIM Pro beta that is targeted at small to mid-size businesses.

WebEx AIM Pro Business Edition enables corporations to deploy and manage a company-wide IM infrastructure based upon AOL's Triton platform. It supports the standard AIM communication features, while adding online meetings and live demonstrations with desktop sharing using technology from WebEx.

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Record label Universal plans to refresh its compact disc offerings by offering three different types of packaging in Europe. The simplest packaging would come in a cardboard sleeve intended to compete with online sales, while the deluxe version would come with additional content, such as video.

Both the standard and deluxe releases would come with a redesigned "Super Jewel Box." The new case is designed to be more rugged and has rounded edges, stronger hinges, and a clasp that can be used to lock the case. Overall, the case is said to break less easily.

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The city of Paris is considering a plan that would blanket the city with wireless Internet access by the end of 2007, its Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said Tuesday. Additionally, tax breaks are planned for companies who install fiber-optic cables in the city. Paris hopes to have 80 percent of the city covered by a fiber network by the end of the decade.

Access to the wireless network would be free, and would be maintained by private companies. Access points would be located in public areas and libraries, according to the plan. The final plans will be submitted for approval next week.

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Two Washington state businesses and three Seattle residents have filed a second lawsuit against Microsoft over its Windows Genuine Advantage program. The suit alleges that legitimate customers are receiving non-licensed notifications every hour, and seeks class-action status.

According to a copy of the court filing published by the

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A record industry group said Tuesday that it planned to sue Yahoo China over copyright infringement, saying the service was making pirated copies of music available for download from its Web site. The site is a partnership between Yahoo and Chinese-owned company Alibaba.com.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said it wrote to the site in April 2006 asking it to take steps to curb the problem. It claims that Yahoo China never responded, thus it has begun the process required in the country to file a lawsuit.

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Microsoft learned of bad news on two antitrust fronts Tuesday. European Union officials voted in Brussels to unanimously accept the European Commission's plans to fine the company 2 million euros per day, while in South Korea Microsoft's injunction appeal was rejected.

Of the two, the EU decision carries the most consequences for Microsoft, and could mean that the company may owe hundreds of millions of euros in backdated fines, potentially doubling the already 497 million euro antitrust settlement.

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Replacing its aging eMac educational computer line, Apple on Thursday introduced a version of the iMac priced $400 below its counterparts. The computer is only available to education customers, and will ship immediately at a price of $899 USD.

Apple said it would continue to sell the eMac until supplies run out, however the system is no longer in production. The move by Apple to bring its educational line to the Intel platform means than only the Power Mac remains as a PowerPC-powered system.

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Taiwanese electronics manufacturer BenQ has announced plans to ship a Blu-ray Disc recorder for PCs in late August for a price of 799 euros. The estimated cost is far less than recorders coming from Blu-ray inventors Sony and Pioneer, which are aiming for $1,500 and higher price points.

If BenQ meets its deadline, it will be one of the first companies to deliver a Blu-ray drive. Samsung currently has the only Blu-ray player on the market in the United States, as both Sony and Pioneer have run into production delays. The BenQ BW1000 can write and read 25GB and 50GB Blu-ray discs at 2x speeds, and also supports writing to both DVDs and CDs by incorporating three different lasers.

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A British record industry group has been given the go ahead to sue the popular Russian music download site allofmp3.com, however it is unclear if any ruling could be enforced outside of Britain. The British High Court agreed last week to hear the case even though the company is based outside of the country.

AllofMP3 claims it has licenses from Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR). But the music industry has called the ROMS license invalid and said it would not cover users in foreign countries.

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USA Today backed off its NSA domestic spying story on Friday, saying it could not confirm the participation of either BellSouth or Verizon in the program. However, the company stood by its claim that AT&T was part of the program, saying second interviews with its sources as well as anonymous politicians confirmed the telecom's involvement.

The newspaper reported in May that the NSA has been collecting phone call records from AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth containing the phone calls of tens of millions of Americans. United States President Bush previously asserted that the spying only involved calls made to international destinations.

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