News


'$100 Laptops' To Cost $175

The founder of the ambitious "$100 laptop" project, which plans to give inexpensive computers to schoolchildren in developing countries, revealed Thursday that the machine for now costs $175, and it will be able to run Windows in addition to its homegrown, open-source interface.

Open Source Slowly Gains Momentum on Wall Street

A growing number of financial services firms are embarking on open source projects, but they are moving cautiously when it comes to mission-critical applications.

Data Theft Scam Targets Google Ads

Google Inc. yanked paid advertisements linked to some 20 search terms that online criminals had hijacked to steal banking and other personal information from Web surfers looking for the Better Business Bureau and other sites.

Virtual Machine Manager Completely Revamped for Beta 2

New beta called 'quantum leap' by VMM product managers.

Telerik Already Prepping Silverlight Tools

Component vendor Telerik announced this week that it is readying a set of tools for creating applications with Microsoft's Silverlight rich media plug-in, formerly code-named Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere (WPF/E).

Lawsuit Targets 'Spam Harvesters'

An anti-spam organization filed a federal lawsuit Thursday targeting so-called spam harvesters, who facilitate the mass distribution of junk e-mail by trolling the Internet and collecting millions of e-mail addresses.

Vista, Office Sales Give Microsoft a Strong Q3

Microsoft released solid earnings figures for the third quarter that included debuts of the retail version of Windows Vista and 2007 Office System.

OpenDNS Aims for Consistent Web Browsing

A provider of Internet addressing services hopes to unify how you navigate the Web when using different browsers and computers.

South Korean Watchdog Drops Chip Probe

South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Thursday it has decided to drop a probe into whether four global computer memory chip manufacturers violated the country's fair trade law, citing insufficient evidence.

Acer Recalls 27,000 Laptop Batteries

Acer Inc., one of the largest computer makers in the world, launched a recall Wednesday of about 27,000 laptop batteries, becoming the latest company to warn of faulty Sony-made lithium-ion batteries that could overheat and cause a fire.

Indian Software Firms See Profits Surge

100,000. That's the number of new jobs that India's top five software companies plan to add this fiscal year, riding a boom in outsourcing that's fattened profits. That's on top of a record 76,500 new employees who joined these companies last year.

Adobe Takes Flex SDK Open Source

In a major salvo that ups the stakes in the emerging battle for mindshare among developers and architects building Rich Internet Applications, Adobe today said it is releasing its Flex SDK into the open source community.

Options Troubles Aren't Over for Apple

Apple Inc., on a tear with its popular iPod players and Macintosh computers, is expected to report strong quarterly results Wednesday but will face lingering worries over the role its iconic CEO played in its stock options backdating troubles.

Vonage Injunction Stayed in Patent Case

Internet phone carrier Vonage Holdings Corp. won relief Tuesday from a potentially crippling court order that would have barred it from signing up new customers as punishment for infringing on patents held by Verizon Communications Inc.

Sun Microsystems Rings Up 3Q Profit

Sun Microsystems Inc. put together its first back-to-back profitable quarters since the dot-com bust, but its shares plunged on fears its core server business is slowing.

Pre-Release Vista Versions To Expire in May

If you're still using a pre-release version of Windows Vista, you have a little more than a month to upgrade to a commercial version before you start risking data loss.

'Longhorn' Server Public Beta Arrives

The next generation Windows Server took the biggest step yet on its long and winding road toward commercial availability when Microsoft announced the release of "Longhorn" Beta 3 Wednesday night.

Researchers Break Internet Speed Records

A group of researchers led by the University of Tokyo has broken Internet speed records -- twice in two days. Operators of the high-speed Internet2 network announced Tuesday that the researchers on Dec. 30 sent data at 7.67 gigabits per second, using standard communications protocols.

IAMCP Kicks Off 'Great Americas' Initiative

The International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners (IAMCP) has launched an ambitious effort to expand its presence in Latin America.

Data Startup Wins GE, Reveals Hot Online Backup Market

A 25-employee startup in Utah has snared a multimillion-dollar contract to provide massive General Electric Co. with software that automatically backs up files on office computers, jolting a market that appears to be getting hot.