Tomorrow is school day
Linux supporters seize the day
With the economy still slowing and corporate spending tightening, many Linux backers believe they have a significant weapon in the battle for IT dollars: low cost and adaptability. But that tells just part of the story for Linux hardware and software developers, who are confident that Linux offers a solid server and client alternative to Windows at a time when XP, its latest version, which shipped to PC makers last week, is meeting some resistance from IT managers. Linux momentum will build this week at the Linux World conference in San Francisco, where IBM will announce the September availability of its WebSphere Commerce Suite on its Zseries Linux mainframe platform, at a cost of $45,000 a processor.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Sun still cool on Linux
As Linux's importance as a strategic platform grows among major server vendors, Sun Microsystems may find itself the last man standing on proprietary ground. Hewlett-Packard stepped up its Linux commitment with last week's release of HP Secure OS Software for Linux, in advance of this week's LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. The company claimed the software brings enterprise-class security to Linux for the first time. The bundle, which includes a modified version of the Linux operating system kernel 2.4 and other programs and utilities, prevents unauthorized communication between programs, networks and files; detects hacking attempts; and is able to lock programs if the system has been penetrated.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Move over USB: Here's FireWire
While Apple Computer was happy to take home an Emmy for its FireWire technology, the company must be even more pleased that the high-speed connection is moving closer to a bigger goal -- becoming standard on the majority of PCs. Apple developed the standard in the mid-1990s as a simpler and faster way for Macs to connect to peripherals, but the company has been actively licensing the technology to other computer makers. Nearly all of the big-name manufacturers now have some models with the connection, which is also known as IEEE 1394. The technology initially rose to popularity in the video-editing world, where it served as a high-speed way to move video on and off computers. It was for that contribution that Apple was honored Wednesday with an Emmy for engineering from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
IBM builds single molecule circuit
Reaching a long-sought goal in computing research, scientists have created a computer circuit based on a single molecule, which could lead one day to far smaller and faster computer chips that use less power. IBM said Sunday that its researchers have built a logic circuit -- a set of electronic components that performs a processing function -- based on a tiny cylindrical structure made up of carbon atoms that is about 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. The breakthrough is IBM's second this year using the molecules called carbon nanotubes as semiconductors, making them an increasingly viable alternative to silicon, which forms the base of current chips, IBM said.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Yahoo shines spotlight on TV network
Yahoo struck an agreement Monday to promote family-friendly TV programs, the latest result of the Web giant's push to become an online partner for traditional media companies. Yahoo will feature information about Pax TV programs on its Yahoo TV site, an online guide for the day's shows. Pax, in turn, will direct viewers to Yahoo as part of its "Watch and Win Sweepstakes," airing commercials that tell people to log on to the portal for more information about the contest. For Pax, Yahoo will become the online component of the promotional blitz surrounding its upcoming season of programs. The company also plans to use direct mail, magazines and outdoor advertising to promote its new season and sweepstakes.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd
Code Red the Dracula of worms?
A new permutation of the Code Red II worm was discovered Friday, and experts say Code Red is now unlikely to disappear. The new variant has been dubbed CodeRed.d and exploits the same flaw in Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) software as the initial Code Red. According to Roger Thompson, technical director of malicious code research at antivirus firm TruSecure, who detected the variant, the appearance of a new worm indicates that we are stuck with the Code Red problem "forever." "This is pretty much noise level for Code Red II and CodeRed.d -- it's not going to get any better or worse and will stay like this forever," said Thompson. "Those machines that have not yet been patched never will be, meaning that the worm is here to stay."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=cd_mh
Vivendi moves with the music
Vivendi Universal launched a music service for mobile phones under its Universal brand in France on Monday and said it would wrap up its purchase of online music company MP3.com later in the day. Both moves come shortly before the expected launch of Pressplay, a subscription music service started by Vivendi's Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. They give shape to Vivendi Chairman Jean-Marie Messier's plans to grow his music business by selling through varied channels such as mobiles and the Internet. Vivendi bought Universal Music, the world's biggest record label, last year. "Music, the culture of a generation, and the mobile phone, the fetish of a generation, had to meet," Messier told a news conference launching the service, Universal Music Mobile.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh
Korean site pays in file-swapping suit
A court ordered the operator of a defunct file-sharing Web site to pay $76,800 (98 million won) to two local record labels for violating copyrights. World Music Entertainment and Most Best Music had sued Seoul-based Internet Empire in November for three times that amount for operating a Web site that allowed people to share songs and music videos. The weekend ruling by a Seoul District Civil Court judge was the first against a free song-sharing Web service in South Korea, where nearly half the population of 46 million are Internet users. "We have set a precedent for other battles against song-sharing services," said Kim Dae-young, a spokesman for World Music Entertainment.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh
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