Software giant battles activation of unauthorized copies of its new Vista OS.

Microsoft today released an update to Windows Vista that will shut down unauthorized versions of the OS that allow users to skip the product's activation system.

The move comes as pirated copies of Vista are already making the rounds, mere weeks after the product was released to business customers.

Seattle, WA - Mozilla released Firefox 2.0.0.1 on Wednesday, as a precaution against security problems and to improve overall compatibility with the soon-to-hit-retail Windows Vista.

However, 100 percent compatibility with Vista appears to be more of an issue than previously thought.

London, England-A new report from computer security company McAfee suggests that organized "cybercrime" gangs are recruiting IT students to join their illegal operations-and are even helping finance the would-be hackers.

Fewer people seem inclined to pay for their news

"All the news that's fit to print" was once the newspaper man's slogan. Now, with news-junkies turning increasingly to the net for their daily fix of world events, papers are beginning to feel the pinch. Not since the internet began has there been so much free quality newspaper content on the web.

IBM System p5(TM) Servers With Linux(R) Operating System Achieve Top Spot for Eight SPEC Benchmarks(1)

ARMONK, NY - 11 Dec 2006: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that IBM System p5 servers, running the Linux OS, have achieved industry-leading benchmark results that beat HP servers in important measurements of business and scientific performance.

The IBM System p5 servers using the Linux OS surpassed HP Integrity and ProLiant systems in server speed according to recent SPECcpu performance benchmarks. SPECcpu, a software benchmark product produced by the Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC), contains two benchmark suites: SPECint for measuring and comparing compute-intensive integer performance and SPECfp for measuring and comparing compute-intensive floating point performance.

Finacle Core Banking Solution on IBM System p Unix Servers Sets a New Unparalleled Scalability Record

BANGALORE, India: IBM and Infosys today announced record-setting results of a performance benchmark for Infosys' Finacle Core Banking Solution running on IBM's System p Servers that far outperform all such published benchmarks by a wide margin. As a result, banks worldwide will be able to process rapidly growing volumes of transactions faster and more reliably at an even lower cost per transaction.

In the recent scalability benchmark, reviewed by Ernst & Young, Finacle on IBM System p servers surpassed its own previous record as the most scalable core banking solution in the world. The Finacle on IBM System p benchmark performed on a base of over 52 million accounts, delivering a transaction throughput on delivery channels at 29,010*1 effective transactions per second (ETPS) beating its own previous best of 11,180*4 ETPS. The new delivery channels transaction processing benchmark translates to a business transaction throughput of 19,288*1 business transactions per second (TPS).

Hackers are distributing a file that spoofs the KMS activation tool process

Hackers are distributing a file that they say lets users of the corporate version of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system get around the software's anti-piracy mechanisms.

Windows Vista must be "activated," or authorized by Microsoft, before it will work on a particular machine.

LONDON — Organized gangs have adopted "KGB-style" tactics to hire high-flying computer students to commit Internet crime, a report said on Friday.

Criminals are targeting universities, computer clubs and online forums to find undergraduates, according to Internet security firm McAfee.

According to an unconfirmed report on Web site Ynews, Yahoo Inc. may be in discussions to buy Israeli based Video sharing site MetaCafe for a reported $200 to $300 million. Yahoo representatives contacted by InfoWorld declined to comment on the report, which was opined about on TechCrunch, saying they don't comment on rumor and speculation.

Organised crime gangs are targeting students

The boom in cyber crime is forcing criminals to go to great lengths to recruit skilled hackers, says a report.

Some criminal gangs are paying students while they study to ensure they have a pool of tech-savvy workers to call on, says the report from McAfee.

RISK-TAKERS SAY NOW IS THE TIME TO GET IN ON THE GROUND FLOOR OF TECHNOLOGY BOOM IN INDIA

MUMBAI, India - The founders of newly launched Kreeda Entertainment come from New York City, Belgium and Bangalore.

Sony's PlayStation 3 may be getting an update to fix the currently problematic 1080p at 24fps, component out, and the ability to upscale DVDs to 1080p.
 

Sophos finds three of top 10 malware threats can bypass Vista security

Security firm Sophos says three of the top ten malware threats in November are capable of bypassing Microsoft's Windows Vista's security defences and infecting users' PCs.  The Vista-resistant malware - Stratio-Zip, Netsky-D and MyDoom-O - comprise 39.7 per cent of all malware currently circulating.

Intel expects to begin shipping more 45nm processors than 65nm chips - the so-called 'crossover point' - in 2008, a company staffer revealed this week.  Intel's D1D fab in Oregon will be the first to begin volume production of 45nm CPUs

User criticism sparks new tweaks to Windows Genuine Advantage checks.

Microsoft plans to roll out a new version of its antipiracy Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Notifications tool for Windows XP over the coming weeks and months, following a barrage of criticism from users.

The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.

The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.

What's the truth about Microsoft's controversial new antipiracy measure?

One aspect of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system that has raised users' hackles is its new antipiracy system, called Software Protection Platform (SPP). To understand SPP, it's necessary to take a few steps back. Microsoft began its aggressive campaign against software piracy in Office XP and Windows XP with functionality called Office product activation (OPA) and Windows product activation (WPA).

News of the U.S. Department of Commerce's approval Nov. 30 of the deal between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and VeriSign was met with both jubilation and disdain by those in the computer industry.

The deal will allow the agreement between ICANN, the non-profit company that oversees the Internet's technical infrastructure, and VeriSign to go forward, and gives VeriSign control over the dot-com top level domain until 2012.

STOCKHOLM - Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson will work with computer chip giant Intel on applications for mobile computers that will increase their attractiveness in the market, Ericsson said on Friday.

Ericsson said the joint effort with Intel would aim to enhance the appeal of mobile broadband and multimedia for consumers and corporations.