Microsoft's "Genuine Advantage" Cracked Already

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By Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing.net

AV sez, "This week, Microsoft started requiring users to verifiy their serial number before using Windows Update.

This effort to force users to either buy XP or tell them where you got the illegal copy is called 'Genuine Advantage.' It was cracked within 24 hours."

Samsung unveils 16 GB solid state drive

Samsung today announced the Korean electronics giant has developed what it claims is the first Solid State Disk (SSD) based on NAND Flash memory technology.

By Jørgen Sundgot, InfoSync World

According to Samsung, the company is capable of building SSD units with capacities of up to 16 GB whilst maintaining a power consumption rate less than five percent of current hard disk drives.

Bypass found for Windows piracy check

A tool provided by Microsoft could let people get around a check meant to prevent those with pirated copies of Windows from downloading additional software from the company, according to a security researcher.

By Joris Evers, CNET News.com

Researcher Debasis Mohanty outlined what he said was a technique to trick Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage validation check in a posting to the Full Disclosure security mailing list on Monday. WGA is a software tool that verifies whether a particular copy of the operating system is properly licensed.

Report: Apple Explores Use of Intel Chips

Report: Apple Explores Use of Chips From Intel, in What Would Be Major Shift in Computer World

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK — In what would be a major shift in the computer world, Apple reportedly is talking with Intel about using its chips in its Macintosh line.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the computer maker has been meeting with Intel, the world's largest chipmaker.

Review: Samsung NEXiO XP30

Samsung's Windows CE .NET 4.2 based NEXiO XP30 handheld, has powerful hardware merged with good software - and a poor battery.

By Jørgen Sundgot, InfoSync World

These days, innovation in the handheld category isn't what it once was; most manufacturers have settled on Windows Mobile, while PalmSource still lingers through palmOne's reliance on the once-ubiquitous platform.

Samsung Replaces Hard Drives With Flash

Company will begin offering a flash memory-based storage device for laptops.

By Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

Samsung Electronics has developed a replacement for conventional hard drives that is based on flash memory chips. The company plans to begin mass production of the device in August, it says.

The solid-state disk (SSD) uses memory chips in place of the mechanical recording system used inside hard drives, and has several advantages including lower power consumption and higher data rates.

Samsung develops flash-based disk

Disks will have a capacity of up to 16GB; first disks will target sub-notebooks and tablet PCs.

By Richard Shim, CNET News.com

Flash memory maker Samsung is trying to drive a new kind of disk for PCs.

The company announced Monday that it has developed a "solid-state disk" using flash memory for PCs, which traditionally have used hard drives. The 1.8-inch NAND flash-based disks, which will be available in August, will have a capacity of up to 16GB. The first disks will target sub-notebooks and tablet PCs.

Microsoft releases Longhorn tools

Microsoft Windows Operating systems Longhorn Software engineering/development Microsoft Corp

By Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com

Microsoft took another step toward releasing a beta version of Longhorn, the next edition of Windows, with the debut Monday of developer tools for the operating system.

The company is providing free downloads of a toolkit that will let developers write applications for Avalon and Indigo, two of the main additions to Windows due with Longhorn.

AMD releases a consumer electronics chip

The chips don't sell for a lot of money, but the company figures the market will snatch up millions of them.

By Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com

First, Advanced Micro Devices went upmarket with the Opteron chip for servers. Now, it wants to go downscale into the consumer electronics market with a new line of Geode chips for gadgets.

Ask Jeeves extends Excite deal

Ask Jeeves on Friday said it will acquire the European operations of the Excite.com portal, whose operations in the United States it purchased last year.

By Dinesh C. Sharma, CNET News.com

The takeover of Excite Europe will give Ask Jeeves ownership of Excite's Internet domains throughout Europe as well as existing portals in markets such as Spain, Italy, France, the U.K., Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, the company said. The search technology of Ask Jeeves also will be extended to users of Excite Europe.

Gates unveils MSN Virtual Earth

Feature will be integrated with user's preferred e-mail

By Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service

Microsoft's MSN division will add to its search engine in about two weeks a local search index for finding business directory listings, and later on will enhance this local index with MSN Virtual Earth, a new free service that will pinpoint places in maps and satellite images.

UK's first WiMax network rolls out

Trials are set to begin in January to test the WiMax network, which will be located in Kent

By Jo Best, Xilicon.com

The garden of England, Kent, is to see the installation of UK's first WiMax network.

Trials will begin in January 2005 with a commercial launch of business and residential customers expected before the middle of the year.

Xbox 360 aspires to break Japan

The fortunes of Microsoft's new console, the Xbox 360, in Japan rest largely with the creator of Final Fantasy.

By Alfred Hermida, BBC News Online

Hironobu Sakaguchi is a name unknown to many outside his native Japan. But he is something of a legend in his homeland, having created the original Final Fantasy games.

The fortunes of Microsoft's new console, the Xbox 360, in Japan, rest largely on his shoulders.

AMD Unveils Geode LX CPU

AMD has announced the availability of the AMD Geode LX 800@0.9W processor that is designed to provide full-featured, desktop-style computing on a new generation of x86 architecture-based embedded and mobile devices.

Source: Techtree News

The processor, which consumes less than one watt of power, supports Microsoft Windows XP and XP Embedded operating systems.

Next for BitTorrent: Search

SAN FRANCISCO -- Whiz kid inventor Bram Cohen and a small cadre of developers and entrepreneurs are in the final stage of launching an advertising-supported search engine dedicated to cataloging and indexing the thousands of movies, music tracks, software programs and other files for download over Cohen's popular BitTorrent protocol.

By Kevin Poulsen, Wired News

The free search tool will be the first large-scale commercial offering from BitTorrent, a five-person company headed by Cohen that so far has drawn most of its revenue from T-shirt sales and PayPal donations.

Microsoft Previews Geo-Mapping Service

Microsoft Previews Layered, Geo-Mapping Service With Aerial Photographs, Satellite Images

Source: Associated Press

SEATTLE — Seeking an edge on Google Inc. in localized online search, Microsoft Corp. previewed on Monday a layered, geo-mapping service featuring aerial photographs and satellite images that it promised for later this year.

Microsoft releases InfoCard beta with developer bundle

Package includes test versions of Avalon and Indigo

By Stacy Cowley, IDG News Service

Microsoft released on Monday its first beta versions of three developer technologies that will underlie the development platform for its forthcoming Longhorn Windows update.

Included in the Beta 1 package are Microsoft's (Profile, Products, Articles) new presentation subsystem, code named Avalon; its Web services-based communication subsystem, code named Indigo; and a new technology for end-user identity management called InfoCard.

Internet pirates home in on "Sith"

WASHINGTON — Videos purported to be illegal copies of the final "Star Wars" movie are circulating across the Internet, the same week the film opened in U.S. theaters.

Source: The Associated Press

Congestion from the crush of computer users trying to obtain copies of the film, "Episode III — Revenge of the Sith," meant downloads were taking more than 40 hours even over high-speed Internet connections.

AMD, Intel fail to ignite dual core excitement

Consumers yawn over "brains of a computer"

By Esther Tigre, the Inquirer.net

A REPORT IN CRN India said that AMD and Intel have failed to ignite interest in dual core processors and have even neglected to tell resellers about their plans.

And, more damning than this, some resellers think that AMD and Intel have taken the soft option because they've failed to make their processors go faster.

Skype's 1,800 club

The Internet phone provider has 1,800 affiliates hoping to earn cash by hawking Skype premium services.

By Ben Charny, CNET News.com

Taking an increasingly pragmatic approach to its business, Internet phone provider Skype is now using affiliates to sell its voice mail service and other premium products.

Publishers Protest Google Library Project

Scholarly Publishers Protest Google's Online Library Project, Citing Financial Threat

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of academic publishers is challenging Google Inc.'s plan to scan millions of library books into its Internet search engine index, highlighting fears that the ambitious project will violate copyrights and stifle future sales.

Xbox 360 Shoots Behind the Duck

As Microsoft readies what will be the most powerful game console to date, it no doubt leaves many of its hardware partners feeling just a wee bit uncomfortable.

By Loyd Case, ExtremeTECH

As we now know, the Xbox 360 consists of a triple-core processor based on IBM's PowerPC architecture and an ATI graphics core, which was designed from scratch for the console environment. The company is also beefing up its Xbox Live online service and improving the overall user experience, as noted in Jason Cross's interview with Todd Holmdahl.

Gates Announces Office 12 Timetable

Beta set for fall; final version due next year.

By Peter Galli, eWEEK

Microsoft Corp. last week officially confirmed that Office 12, the next version of its desktop productivity suite, will go into beta testing this fall and is expected to ship in the second half of next year.

Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect, announced the expected production timetable for Office 12 in a keynote address late last week to 100 CEOs from among the top 1,000 global companies assembled at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., campus.

Exploit Allows Windows XP Piracy

A security researcher has discovered a simple weakness in Microsoft's soon-to-be-mandatory "Windows Genuine Advantage" validation initiative.

By Ryan Naraine, eWEEK

There's a major chink in Microsoft's Windows XP anti-piracy armor, although Windows users are not at risk of security attacks.

New X64 system boosts desktop applications

Munich - Microsoft is now offering its Windows XP Professional operating system in a version for 64-bit processors.

Source: Independent Online

The so-called X64 Windows is offered at the same price as the traditional 32-bit variant, the software giant reports.