IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (ComputerWorld) 01/01/2009

With Gaza conflict, cyberattacks come too
The conflict raging in Gaza between Israel and Palestine has spilled over to the Internet.

Zune chokes on leap-year bug
Microsoft's Zune 30GB music player just wasn't ready for a leap year.

11 in China sentenced for software piracy
A court in Shenzhen, China, sentenced 11 members of a software counterfeiting operation Wednesday, with the defendants getting between one and a half and six and half years in prison, according to Microsoft.

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Zunes spontaneously dying all over the place
A plague of sorts seems has descended upon scads of Microsoft's Zune media players. Zunes around the world have begun to freeze with full loading bars, resulting in completely unresponsive devices.

Buyer's guide: Power-line networking for your Mac-friendly home
While not as well known or widely used as Wi-Fi or Ethernet, power-line networking -- using your existing home electrical wiring to transmit data, turning every outlet in your house into a potential network connection -- can be a lifesaver when Wi-Fi won't reach or when you can't run Ethernet cabling.

Security vendors ready fix for 'Curse of Silence' SMS attack
A single malformed text message can prevent some Nokia smart phones from receiving further messages via Short Messaging Service, and the offending message can be sent from almost any Nokia phone, even non-smart-phone models, a German security researcher demonstrated Tuesday.
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Dell reorganizes business sales units
Dell will reorganize its divisions focused on selling to business customers, with the new units focused on types of customers instead of geographic regions, the company announced Wednesday.

How to secure your Vista PC in 10 easy steps
You don't necessarily need an expensive security suite to lock down Windows Vista. Here's how to do it using free software and a few easy system tweaks.

5 top tips for new iPhone users
Got a shiny new iPhone 3G? Try these tips to get the most out of your new toy -- er, tool.

Apple's 5 biggest moments in 2008
From the iPhone 3G to 'unibody' MacBooks, 2008 was a standout year for Apple. Ryan Faas names the most important products and announcements of the year.

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Opinion: Security predictions for 2009
Host-based security should make a huge comeback, and a mobile security scare may already be lurking.

U.S. holiday online sales down 3% from '07
Online sales in the U.S. during this year's full holiday season fell 3%, according to comScore, marking the first year-over-year decline since the Internet research company began tracking e-commerce in 2001.
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Do-it-yourself free Xbox 360 wireless

The words "free" and "Xbox 360" are like J.D. Salinger and a gaggle of paparazzi -- never seen together.

Turn on Vista's hidden 'Checkboxes' feature

Most tech-savvy users know how to select multiple files: Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking each individual file. Of course, that can get a little tricky if you're working with a long list and/or a lot of files: It's too easy to mis-click and "lose" all your selections. That's why I'm loving an undocumented Vista feature: checkboxes.

Keep Outlook from triggering new mail alerts

Here's how to turn off Outlook's email alerts for new messages. Plus, you can set up custom rules to generate alerts only when important people send messages.

Selectively delete some of your browsing history

Want to erase tracks that show you've visited certain web sites, but without erasing your entire surfing history? Here's how.

Control a remote PC with ease for free

I'm constantly accessing different computers, but I don't need to get up from my chair to swap PCs. Instead of walking between them, a VNC (virtual network computer) setup lets me log into remote machines that are across the room or around the world. Now I can manage software installations, see if a download is complete, or just troubleshoot from anywhere.

Delete files to prevent crashes in OS X 10.5.6

Apple has recently posted several articles that offer advice on how to prevent crashes and freezes related to the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update. The fixes all involve deleting files, most often heretofore little-known system files.

Fast fixes for common PC problems

Every computer user hits a speed bump now and then. Whether the bump is a dead power supply, a slow-booting PC, a soaking-wet cell phone, or an e-mail attachment lost in cyberspace, sometimes technology seems more trouble than it's worth. But just as flat tires can be patched, most common PC problems can be fixed--and fast!

Managing spam quarantine for Exchange Server 2007

Exchange Server 2007 includes anti-spam functionality that provides the capability to quarantine suspected spam that is received from the internet. Quarantining spam is generally done only for email with a moderate likelihood of being spam as opposed to email that has a very high likelihood of being spam which would normally be rejected entirely.

How to reformat iPod on Windows and Mac

This is a tutorial about how to reformat Windows Formatted iPod on Mac and how to reformat Mac Formatted iPod on Windows. It contains 2 parts:

Part 1. How to reformat Windows Formatted iPod on Mac
Part 2. How to reformat Mac Formatted iPod on Windows

Making code review software tools help, not hinder

Tools can certainly assist in the code review process -- particularly in ensuring that the code adheres to corporate style, collecting metrics and applying departmental programming policies -- but some caution that you shouldn't depend overmuch on them.

2008 in review: Mac developers who made news

Thanks to its size and its prominence in the Mac universe, Apple tends to dominate the discussion when it comes to chronicling the major news events hitting the platform in the past year. Thatâ€™s understandable, but it doesnâ€™t paint a full picture of the Mac market, which also features plenty of third-party developers who made headlines of their own in 2008. Here are some of the Mac developers who stood out from the crowd over the past 12 months.

New versions of Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE

When you're talking Linux, three big names always pop up: Canonical's Ubuntu, Novell's openSUSE and Red Hat's Fedora. Each of these "big three" has recently released a new version of its distribution, which means it's time to check them out and decide which is No 1. Or, more properly, which is No. 1 for what user.

Recording the Linux desktop -- the hard way

I can do many things with the greatest of ease on the Linux desktop. But, as I discovered while doing my community Linux overview, recording a Linux desktop video isn't one of them. Oh, boy, is it ever not one of them.

Securing DNS should trump budget-cutting, experts say

The discovery of a major DNS flawآ in mid-2008 landed the technology in many headlines, but with econ

The security imperative

Leslie Lambert, vice president and chief information security officer at Sun Microsystems Inc., returned from a three-week business trip to India with a few souvenirs and a whole new set of IT security priorities. In 2009, projects like server security, metrics, application security and Web security will likely take a back seat to new data-protection measures and deeper enhancement of user-access and identity management systems. "Those are the big hitters now," she says.

Microsoft downplays Windows Media Player bug

Microsoft Corp. today dismissed reports of a critical vulnerability in its Windows Media Player, saying that the researcher who claims the bug could be exploited is wrong.

Fry's Electronics VP faces criminal charges and lawsuit

A vice president at Fry's Electronics Inc. is facing the inside of two different courtrooms for allegedly running a kickback scheme that netted him tens of millions of dollars.

Amazon warns customers of infected digital photo frames

Amazon.com Inc. last week warned customers running Windows XP that a Samsung digital photo frame it sold through earlier this month might have come with malware on the driver installation CD.

Hacking Windows: Eavesdropping on Network Password Exchange

Password guessing is hard work. Why not just sniff credentials off the wire as users log in to a server and then replay them to gain access? If an attacker is able to eavesdrop on Windows login exchanges, this approach can spare a lot of random guesswork.

Downloads of pirated Windows 7 beta candidate soar

Downloads of a new build of Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming Windows 7 operating system have soared in the last two days, with thousands of systems now pulling pirated copies from BitTorrent sites.

Windows 7 may add spice to CES

Software could overshadow gadgets at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show, with Microsoft expected to shed light on its upcoming Windows 7 OS.

What future is in store for Microsoft?

Given the state of Microsoft and the clear trends emerging, InfoWorld has envisioned five futures for Microsoft, from worst to best, from the vantage point of 2018. See which you agree with:

Sales forces paying more attention to financing options

Conventional financing is hard to come by these days because of the credit crisis, and that's not just for consumer loans. Businesses are finding it hard to borrow money for capital expenditures as well. As a result, some VARs are finding it necessary to explore other options, and offer leasing options to their customers.

New Androids march into view

New vendors are lining up to deliver an Android phone in 2009, while Google is planning an update to the software

Taiwan asks Powerchip to resubmit bailout proposal

Taiwan rejected a bailout plan from its largest DRAM maker, and asked the company to submit a new application.

LG bringing YouTube videos to its Blu-ray players

LG Electronics is bringing video-on-demand to its Blu-ray DVD players through deals with Youtube and CinemaNow.

U.S. holiday online sales fell 3 percent

ComScore said U.S. online spending during this year's holiday season fell 3 percent, the first year-over-year drop since it began tracking e-commerce in 2001.

Jobs health rumor hits Apple stock

Apple's stock fell, then rebounded, after a report that CEO Steve Jobs bowed out of next week's Macworld Expo keynote because of declining health.

PlayStation 3's new problem: Censorship

Sony's PS3 has hit hard times. The company has slashed production costs by 35%, yet the console still sells at a loss. But these are not the only problems Sony is facing: Now comes a free speech issue surrounding banned words.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

IT News HeadLines (ComputerWorld) 01/01/2009

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