Watch out: this paper can contain traces of stress
HP merger: Fiorina strikes back
In her harshest attack yet, Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina blamed "lazy reporting" and Wall Street analysts who are too "focused on the short term" for many of the woes facing the computing giant. But Fiorina praised HP workers for "making extraordinary sacrifices," and she handed out a one-time bonus equal to two days of salary, despite a weak financial performance that erased the normal annual performance bonus. Fiorina and HP's top executives opted not to receive the extra money, however.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Microsoft issues patch for IE hole
Microsoft has issued a patch for a serious HTML vulnerability in Internet Explorer (IE), which would allow hackers to gain access to a user's cookies and expose the sensitive information that they contain. The exploit was discovered on November 8, and was reported publicly rather than directly to Microsoft. On the same day, the software giant advised customers to disable Active Scripting, which would protect them from the Web-hosted and mail-bourne variants of the vulnerability. Microsoft is insisting that the patch released on November 14 represents a fast turn-around by its security team.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Gateway to make house calls
Struggling PC maker Gateway said it will begin offering to install PCs, printers and Internet connections for home users on Thursday, a step toward strengthening the company's service offering amid the slump in PC sales. Under Gateway's "House Call" program, the San Diego-based company will use its 296 stores in the United States as service hubs to dispatch technicians to customers' homes. Initially, Gateway will offer free installation to buyers of its high-end 700 Series desktop PCs. The company will charge for other offerings.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Layoffs ahead as Yahoo changes tune
Yahoo offered details of its long-awaited turnaround strategy Thursday, hinging its future on advertising, exclusive paid content and revenue-sharing deals with Internet access providers. Yahoo executives gave some specifics regarding a long-expected corporate restructuring, saying that they will whittle down Yahoo's 44 business units to six: listings, commerce, communications, media, access and enterprise. In addition, the company will lay off 400 employees, or 13 percent of its work force.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
IBM: Demand for IT services still strong
International Business Machines Corp. said on Wednesday that while demand for new technology products may be waning, its industry leading services business has picked up the slack. In a bi-annual meeting with Wall Street analysts, Chief Operating Officer Sam Palmisano said that demand for outsourcing and services for the corporation's information technology is strengthening even as the economy weakens. That message conflicts with what many of Armonk-N.Y.-based IBM's rivals are saying about the current tech spending slump and indicates customers may be cutting costs by contracting out their technical needs to Big Blue amid an economic downturn.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Has Xbox transformed Microsoft?
Microsoft obviously knows how to dominate new markets -- just ask any company that used to sell Web browsers or e-mail programs. But the market the software giant will enter with Thursday's release of the Xbox video game console is different from any arena the company has played in before. After two decades of primarily relying on business customers, Microsoft is spending billions of dollars to break into the ruthless gaming business -- and it's resorted to some un-Microsoft tactics. Instead of using hard-nosed business tactics and savvy product-positioning to maintain captive markets, it must outplay two experienced and sharp competitors to pull discretionary income from finicky entertainment consumers.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-201-7862948-0.html
Trilogy Studios to offer home censor kit
Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" has a notoriously violent scene involving a bed, a movie mogul and a severed horse's head -- but with just the click of a mouse, parents may soon be able to show a cleaned-up version of the gangster classic to their children. Software maker Trilogy Studios said it plans to release a home "censorware" product that will cut scenes and language from DVDs to create PG versions of R-rated movies.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd
Game console industry on the rise
With the launch of Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube on deck, research firm Gartner expects worldwide game console shipments to jump nearly 41 percent next year. In a report published Thursday, Gartner projected console shipments will reach 49 million in 2002, up from 29 million units in 2001. While Sony and its PlayStation 2 system hold the top spot now and will likely be the dominant system for some time, the vast majority of new console sales will come from new systems from Microsoft and Nintendo, Gartner analyst Andrew Johnson said.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=mn_hd
Compaq signs "grid" computing partnership
Compaq Computer has advanced its "grid" computing effort, announcing a deal Thursday to use Platform Computing's software to join groups of computers into one collective supercomputer. Compaq will offer its Unix and Linux computers and services in combination with Platform's software, the companies said Wednesday. Previously, Compaq had offered similar services on its own, but now the company will incorporate Platform's commercial version of the open-source grid software from the Globus Project. IBM and Sun Microsystems have been warming to grid computing.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=cd_mh
Laid-off techies get the cheap seats
A Silicon Valley conference popular with tech insiders is waiving its $895 fee for unemployed workers, hoping to boost attendance as corporations slash travel and entertainment budgets. Los Gatos, Calif.-based conference producer Stardust.com announced Thursday that laid-off tech professionals would get complimentary passes to the Content Networking Event (CNE) to be held Dec. 4 to 6 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, Calif. Stardust President Karen Milne said organizers won't attempt to verify pink slips or request copies of unemployment checks, preferring to dole out tickets on an honor system for down-on-their-luck workers.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_mh
Net shopping returns to normal levels
Online consumers are beginning to set aside their worries and are heading back to the Web to shop for the holidays, a new survey indicates. Last week marked the first week since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that spending at U.S. Web sites surpassed $1 billion, according to a new study by ComScore Networks, a Reston, Va.-based market research company. During the last month, consumers have stepped up their spending on apparel and toys, and travel sales have nearly returned to the level they were at before the attacks, the survey indicates.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_mh
Burger King patrons to ring up eBay credits
In an effort to drive up sales of its Whopper sandwiches and other fast-food items, No. 2 burger chain Burger King is teaming with Internet auctioneer eBay to let customers bid on compact discs, tickets and other items with points they earn at Burger King restaurants. Under the multiyear plan due to launch early next year, customers can earn points when they buy certain items at Burger King's 8,400 U.S. stores. The points can then be deposited and tracked on a joint Burger King and eBay Web site, where bidders will compete for some 1 million prizes that Burger King will auction off through 2002.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_mh
India accepts rules in shift to private telephony
The Indian government has accepted entry rules proposed by the telecommunications industry regulator for allowing private companies into international telephony, a federal minister said Thursday. "The government has decided to accept all the recommendations of the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) in regard to international long-distance telephony," Pramod Mahajan, minister for communications and information technology, said in a news conference.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=cd_mh
Web surfers crowd onto Ellis Island site
An Ellis Island site that lets people dig into their ancestry via the Web has taken root, with the site recording 1.5 billion hits in its first six months. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation's Web site, EllisIslandRecords.org, provides access to immigration information on the 22 million people who entered the United States through the Port of New York and Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. People can also sift through the database on computers at the American Family Immigration History Center located on Ellis Island.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh
AOL tax break upsets British ISP
Freeserve, Britain's biggest Internet service provider, said Thursday that it is considering taking legal action against the U.K. government unless it resolves a tax issue that favors its rival America Online. The move comes after Freeserve, which was acquired by France's Wanadoo last year, failed to receive a reply after asking the U.K. Customs and Excise department to create a level tax playing field since last summer.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh
More news later on
