8 February 2006 Technology News

last SG · 2006-02-09T09:55:45+00:00

Lost an IPod or Wallet? Look for It Online BOSTON - Maureen Silliman felt her empty pocket and gulped: Her new $300 iPod must have bounced out as she ran t...

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QLogic acquires InfiniBand specialist

Storage networking hardware maker QLogic plans to acquire PathScale, which makes hardware and software to let computing systems use the high-speed InfiniBand networking technology, the companies said Wednesday. QLogic will pay about $109 million in cash for the Mountain View, Calif.-based company.

QLogic sells adapters to connect servers to Fibre Channel storage networks, but InfiniBand can be used as an intermediate network that carries data for both Fibre Channel and conventional Ethernet networks.

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Microsoft dishes out academic grants

Microsoft announced Thursday the recipients of approximately $1 million in academic research funding.

The software giant asked academic researchers to submit request for proposals (RFPs) on advancing Microsoft Virtual Earth technology as well as for developing curriculum projects for the company's Trustworthy Computing initiatives, which focus on the security, privacy and reliability of Microsoft software.

Twenty-three researchers were awarded the grants. Recipients represent universities from countries around the world including Belgium, India, Russia, South Korea and the United States. The eight winners of the Virtual Earth proposal process will receive a total of $300,000, while the 15 winners of the Trustworthy Computing proposals will receive a total of $750,000. The maximum individual grant amount for each proposal is $50,000.

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IBM to invest in 'info-on-demand' services

NEW YORK--IBM said Thursday that it will invest $1 billion over the next three years on information-management products and services devoted to tasks as varied as spotting criminals and serving banking customers better.

At a press conference, company executives detailed new consulting services tailored to complex information-management problems. They also introduced a software package that bundles several of IBM's existing data-management tools. The company said its global services arm will dedicate 15,000 consultants to this area and hire an additional 9,750 people.

IBM said the products stem from about 500 customer deals in which IBM software and services were used to address thorny information-management problems.

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Oracle to snap up messaging software maker

Oracle has agreed to buy communications software maker HotSip, marking the database giant's second acquisition in as many days.

The messaging technology from Stockholm, Sweden-based HotSip could potentially make it easier for Oracle business software customers to take advantage of telephone or computer instant-messaging features from within Oracle's existing applications. Oracle announced the acquisition Wednesday.

In the past two years, Oracle has spent some $19 billion buying up rivals to grab a bigger share of the market for software aimed at big businesses that helps automate everything from human resources to accounting to inventory management.

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Earnings alert: XM's losses mount

Read the latest in earnings reports and financial news from some of technology's leading players. This page is updated as new reports are filed. Keep checking back for the latest.

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Former CA chief accused of destroying evidence

Sanjay Kumar, the former chief executive of CA who was indicted in 2004 amid a $2.2 billion accounting scandal, has been accused of erasing his laptop's hard drive to effectively destroy potential evidence, according to documents released Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney's office.

In a letter filed Feb. 2 with the U.S. District Court in Eastern New York, the U.S. Attorney's office said it will submit evidence showing that Kumar reformatted his laptop to run the Linux operating system, effectively wiping out the computer's memory.

The letter states that the reformatting occurred after the commencement of the government probe and after the issuance of company memorandums directing CA employees to preserve relevant evidence.

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New worm targets OS X chat users

A malicious program that could be the first Trojan in the wild to target Apple Computer's Mac OS X operating system has been discovered, security experts confirmed Thursday.

Apple and outside analysts said the program, referred to as Leap-A, is not a "virus" per se. Rather, it "requires a user to download the application and execute the resulting file," Apple said in a statement to CNET News.com. The company provided no further comment on the nature of the program.

The malicious software, which has also been dubbed OSX/Oompa-A and the Ooompa Loompa Trojan Horse by other security experts, appears to have spread minimally so far and has achieved low-level threat classifications from McAfee and Symantec.

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Driver's license or national ID card?

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Motor vehicle agencies must link their databases together, and perhaps implant chips in driver's licenses, as necessary steps to ease the way for a national ID card, the head of a group of motor vehicle officials said Thursday.

Technology that may be used for a national ID card could take the form of a chip loaded onto a driver's license, said Linda Lewis-Pickett, chief executive of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

Lewis-Pickett was one of several panelists addressing the controversy over the National ID System, during the RSA Conference 2006 here.

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FBI wants businesses' help to fight cybercrime

SAN JOSE, Calif.--The FBI needs more help from private businesses to stay ahead of the curve in the fight on cybercrime, said FBI Director Robert Mueller.

"Those of you in the private sector are our first line of defense," Mueller said Wednesday, during a speech to attendees of the RSA Conference 2006 here. "We recognize that in certain areas we lack the expertise that you possess. We lack the specific knowledge of threats that affect individual businesses every day."

The advent of the information age has made the world smaller and smarter, but the threats have become equally more diverse and dangerous, Mueller said. "We need your help, and we c

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NASA hacker case adjourned over extradition fears

Gary McKinnon, the U.K. citizen accused of hacking into computer systems run by NASA and the U.S. military, will not be extradited across the Atlantic to face trial unless the U.S. can guarantee he won't be treated as a terrorist.

At a hearing at Bow Street Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, McKinnon's lawyers claimed that he could be detained indefinitely by the U.S. authorities. McKinnon is charged with illegally accessing 97 U.S. government computers and causing $700,000 worth of damage over a 12-month period starting in Feb. 2001.

Last year, McKinnon told ZDNet UK that he had accessed the computers because he was looking for evidence that the U.S. had found extraterrestrial life. He denied causing serious damage.

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Ending Microsoft's identity crisis

SAN JOSE, Calif.--If Microsoft needs a lesson on how to do identity management wrong, it needs only look at its past.

With Passport, Microsoft had exactly the wrong approach as the software maker needlessly stepped between businesses and their customers--so says Kim Cameron, the identity expert who leads Microsoft's current effort, known as InfoCard.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Tuesday touted InfoCards as one of the technologies that could finally help cement the death of the username and password as the means of verifying identity on the Internet.

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Locking down America's Net defenses

SAN JOSE, Calif.--How prepared is the United States to defend against a cyberattack?

We'll soon find out, says Andy Purdy, acting director of the National Cyber Security Division of the Department of Homeland Security.

Last week, Purdy oversaw the first large-scale mock cyberattack, aimed at gauging the nation's readiness to handle computer-based threats to critical infrastructure.

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Phone service partners with MySpace

Helio, a youth-oriented mobile phone service created by SK Telecom and EarthLink, said Wednesday it will launch in the spring with two branded handsets and a mobile partnership with networking Web site MySpace.

The company's first two handsets are based on popular high-end models from Korea. They are the Hero from Pantech and the Kickflip from VK Mobile. MySpace Mobile on Helio will enable members to connect to their social network with such things as e-mail, blogs and photo galleries. News Corp. owns MySpace.

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A showcase for all things wireless

Service providers and handset makers are rolling out their latest offerings at the 3GSM World Congress under way this week in Barcelona.

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Wireless world looks to China for 3G boost

China's long march to third-generation mobile phone services could be nearing an end, with the rollout of new 3G licenses seen this year as Beijing prepares to set up systems in time for the 2008 Olympics.

Participants at the 3GSM mobile trade fair in Barcelona this week were buzzing with the likelihood that China will issue 3G licenses as soon as the first half of this year, amid increasing signs of movement from Beijing.

Equipment vendors such as Siemens, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia are eagerly awaiting the development, which is expected to unleash up to $12 billion in spending on new equipment.

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Technology infiltrates toyland

Toys sure aren't what they used to be.

As an entire generation of today's kids grows up playing with their parents' cell phones and iPods, it shouldn't be shocking that they'd be just as into gadgets as mom and dad.

At the American International Toy Fair in New York City this week, the toy industry showcased their newest items for the toy buying season. Not surprisingly, many of those toys were loaded with technology. Some were fantastic, while others seemed like they'd just suck the creativity out of kids.

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Microsoft sets sail with high-seas Net access

Just the thing for the ideal boating experience? High-speed Internet access.

As part of Microsoft's attempt to make the Web omnipresent, the company announced a new service Thursday that will connect boaters to the Internet. Seafaring Web surfers can stay connected 25 miles from land thanks to a partnership struck between Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft and antenna maker KVH Industries.

KVH's Mobile Internet Receiver will connect users of MSN TV service, a customized version of the MSN TV 2 Internet and Media Player, to the Web. Under the plan, customers can access Microsoft Windows Media player, MSN Mail, MSN Messenger and MSN Radio, to name just a few applications.

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In Japan, camera-phone craze spreads to funerals

Japan's obsession with camera-equipped mobile phones has taken a bizarre twist, with mourners at funerals now using the devices to capture a final picture of the deceased.

"I get the sense that people no longer respect the dead. It's disturbing," a funeral director told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.

At one ceremony, several people gathered round the coffin and took out their phones to photograph the corpse as preparations were made to begin a cremation, she was quoted as saying.

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Sex workers call for boycott of 'Grand Theft Auto'

The Grand Theft Auto franchise is getting attacked from all angles.

Joining the ranks of politicians, policemen and attorneys in their crusade to see the game lifted from shelves are the nation's sex workers.

On its Web site, the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA, or SWOP, is asking parents to assist them in calling for a boycott of Take-Two Interactive's controversial game.

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At RadioShack, some questions (and now, answers)

Can a public company express no concern for evidence that its chief executive has falsified his educational background? For two days, RadioShack concluded that it could, but that changed last night.

It was then that the company issued statements by David Edmondson, the chief executive, admitting that "I clearly misstated my academic record, and the responsibility for these misstatements is mine alone."

The company's board, which had earlier expressed support for Edmondson, said it would retain independent legal counsel to investigate the situation.

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