Symantec has some bad news for Macintosh and Mozilla users. According to a recent report by the security firm, neither Mac OS X nor Firefox is as secure as proponents claim.

The firm said that during the first six months of 2005, 25 vulnerabilities were discovered that affected the Mozilla family of browsers, versus only 13 for Internet Explorer. Furthermore, 18 of Mozilla's and 8 of IE's vulnerabilities were considered "high severity."

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PandaLabs has announced the emergence of a new worm that spreads via peer-to-peer networks including Shareaza and iMesh, which hijacks visits to Google.com and redirects users to a spoofed page that inserts third-party advertising. The browser's start page is also modified to show ads.

Panda says the worm attempts to spread by copying itself using the name "Knights of the Old Republic 2," which refers to a Star Wars related video game. When users run the file, an error message pops up and the computer is then infected with the worm dubbed P2Load.A.

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With the revival of Netscape earlier this year, the browser has faced one major area of criticism: it's design. While the green user interface is meant to resemble the Netscape of old, critics have said Netscape 8 looks graphically bloated. In response, Netscape has launched a new Web site for user-created themes.

The Netscape Theme Park hosts skins for the new browser that can be submitted by users. Netscape has also posted an SDK that provides a step-by-step tutorial for creating a new interface using colors, buttons, graphics and more. Currently available themes include a new modern look, and a simple Firefox-like skin.

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Nokia has plans, at least in markets outside the United States, to take on the Motorola ROKR iTunes phone. The company announced on Monday the launch of the Nokia 6630 Music Edition, a special music-enabled version the company's popular smartphone.

The upgraded 6630 will include 256MB of built-in memory to store music, with the capability to add up to 1GB through a RS-MMC card. Transfer of music can be done through an included PC software or Nokia SD/MMC reader that will be included with the phone.

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Microsoft on Monday introduced the final version of a new security tool for locking down computers that operate in shared environments. The Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP enables administrators to restrict users from changing system settings and running unauthorized software.

The toolkit, which is specifically designed for Internet cafes, school computer labs and libraries, can also keep out viruses and spyware by resetting a hard drive to a "clean" state each day. By removing advanced features, the desktop is also simplified to improve the end-user experience, Microsoft says.

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In a move to corner its rival Sprint, Verizon on Monday said it had signed deals with Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo to both market its EV-DO wireless broadband service and integrate the technology into future products from the three companies.

Dell will allow its customers to purchase the Verizon Wireless V620 PC card from retail channels starting today, with plans to directly integrate the EV-DO service into notebooks beginning next year. The card will be available for $249 USD and will require a two-year agreement, which costs $59.99 USD per month with a voice plan or $79.99 USD without.

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Several device manufacturers on Monday unveiled the first USB drives based upon the U3 standard, a method that enables users to carry, store and launch applications directly from a USB flash drive without installation.

The U3 technology was first introduced at CES 2005 in January, supported by a host of software and hardware vendors. However, missing from the list is Microsoft, which has not committed to backing the standard.

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Google is delivering new features to Google Earth users thanks to a partnership with National Geographic. The map software adds new layers that merge National Geographic stories, journals and a live webcam with Google's satellite imagery to provide an interactive exploration of Africa.

The project is part of National Geographic's September "Tracing the Human Footprint" special. For the "African Megaflyover," J. Michael Fay snapped 92,000 high-resolution photographs of the continent over a period of one year. 500 scenes were selected by Fay for annotation in Google Earth.

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Roku Labs has launched a new addition to its SoundBridge line of products, which offers networked music players that stream audio from a PC. The SoundBridge Radio takes the form of a tabletop stereo with built-in Wi-Fi for Internet radio stations and streamed music, along with AM and FM radio.

The SoundBridge Radio can stream MP3, WMA, AIFF, WAV and un-protected AAC formats, as well as Microsoft's Janus DRM format used by Napster, Real and Yahoo. The player's display is double the size of the original SoundBrdige to aid in selecting music and radio stations. The player will go on sale in November for $399 USD.

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Microsoft on Monday announced that it had acquired Alacris, a move aimed at strengthening Redmond's offerings in identity and access management solutions.

Alacris' technology uses smart cards to give users access to protected data. Microsoft hopes that the new technology will enable it to strengthen its security solutions on top of currently available technologies such as Active Directory and Microsoft Certificate Solutions.

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ICANN late last week delayed a decision on the final approval of the .xxx domain name, which was intended to create a "red light district" for the Internet. The Bush administration formally asked ICANN to stop the process last month after receiving nearly 6,000 complaints.

It's not clear when ICANN would take up the issue again, but said it was seeking changes to an agreement with the company that was selected to manage the domain's registrations. The organization did, however, approve a new .CAT domain for promoting the Catalan language. Catalonia, an area in eastern Spain that includes Barcelona and extends into France, has long pushed for independence and cultural recognition.

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Microsoft over the weekend released a beta version of its developer toolbar first mentioned at PDC 2005 last week. At a session detailing what's new within Internet Explorer 7, IE lead Chris Wilson said the toolbar was intended to assist developers in creating Web pages that adhere to standards.

The toolbar works on Internet Explorer 6 and above on Windows XP and Vista operating systems. The toolbar will allow developers to perform such functions as validating CSS and HTML code, and previewing how pages appear in various screen resolutions. No release date was given for a final version. The toolbar beta can be downloaded from FileForum.

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Mashboxx is in talks with file-sharing service Grokster over a possible puchase, a move that could be seen as an attempt to keep the embattled file-sharing service alive.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the deal likely surrounds some kind of revenue sharing model for the current owners of Grokster, as the service itself is of little financial value.

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Microsoft on Monday announced that it had filed eight lawsuits against companies distributing pirated software in five states. The suits were filed thanks to tips to Microsoft's anti-piracy hotline as well as "secret shoppers." Legal action taken against MicroCity4Less.com of Torrance, California actually relied in part on information submitted through Microsoft's new Windows Genuine Advantage program.

Microsoft says that counterfeit activity continues to be a threat, citing a study that claims $200 billion worth of software will be pirated by 2010. "Microsoft does not take legal action lightly. We remain very serious about protecting honest software resellers and consumers from the illegal activities of software counterfeiters," said Mary Jo Schrade, senior attorney at Microsoft.

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The days of waiting six months for a new Windows beta release are over, Microsoft declared at PDC 2005 in Los Angeles. Learning from its community technology preview (CTP) programs, the company will issue monthly test releases of Windows Vista moving forward.

The intention of more frequent updates is to bring beta testers "into the kitchen," Windows lead product manager Greg Sullivan explained to BetaNews. In turn, Microsoft will be able to solicit additional feedback throughout the Windows development process and more quickly address bugs that hinder ongoing testing.

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