Intel aims to get back on track with new chips

Intel, struggling with weak sales as it loses market share to rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), hopes to get back on track this week when it unveils faster, more efficient computer chips.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (6 March) that the world's biggest chipmaker hopes the fanfare around its twice-annual developers' forum in San Francisco will eclipse its Friday revelation that first-quarter revenue will be considerably lower than earlier thought.

According to Reuters, the event is a chance for Intel to showcase upcoming chips for business computers, laptops and desktops. It needs to prove that it too can make chips with heaps of processing horsepower but which use less power than previous designs.

AMD, once content to mimic Intel's advances, has set the technological pace in recent years with innovations such as putting two processing cores in a single chip -- moves that have helped it gobble market share from its much-larger rival.

Analysts expect Intel to focus chiefly on chips for the server computers that run corporate networks. Highlighting the importance of that segment, the event's main speech will be given by Pat Gelsinger, head of Intel's enterprise business.

Reuters says that AMD's edge has translated into more market share in every segment of the computer industry.

The company had 22 percent of the global desktop market at the end of 2005, compared with 19.6 percent a year earlier, according to market research firm Gartner. In laptops, its share rose to 10.5 percent in 2005 from 8.5 percent in 2004.

AMD's gain has been Intel's loss. After disappointing Wall Street last quarter with lower-than-expected revenue, Intel on Friday warned that revenue in its current quarter would also fall short of initial forecasts.

{mospagebreaktitle=CeBIT to unveil new range of products}CeBIT to unveil new range of products

The annual CeBIT high-tech fair in Germany is set to show off a new range of advanced mobile phones, ultra-light laptops, powerful yet compact digital cameras and -- maybe -- Microsoft's latest secret project.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (6 March) that established names such as Intel and Samsung will vie for product buzz with newcomers seeking entry into the minds and wallets of consumers at the fair beginning Thursday at the sprawling exhibition centre in Hanover.

The show focuses on how companies and countries can expand their business and promote investment, and there also is a growing emphasis on new gadgets for consumers.

AP says that while CeBIT remains an industry event at its core, it has branched out in recent years to focus on consumer products from high-powered digital cameras and gaming to the latest in wearable fashion with built-in speakers for portable MP3 players.

The most widely anticipated event is likely to come on opening day, when Microsoft may unveil its hyped Project Origami. It's expected to be the first version of paperback book-sized computers that will run Microsoft's regular Windows XP operating system.

According to AP.,Microsoft has not said how or where it will reveal the Origami project, but has said it will be unveiled on 9 March -- coinciding with the first day of the CeBIT event. The company will also be showing off Office 12, the latest version of its stalwart suite of office-related productivity software.

{mospaghebreaktitle=Cyber criminals stepping up targeted attacks: report}Cyber criminals stepping up targeted attacks: report

Cyber criminals are stepping up smaller, more targeted attacks as they seek to avoid detection and reap bigger profits by stealing personal and financial information, according to a report just issued.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (7 March) that Symantec's Internet Security Threat report said during the second half of 2005 attackers continued to move away from broad attacks seeking to breach firewalls and routers and are now taking aim at the desktop and Web applications.

The latest report from the world's biggest security software maker said threats such as viruses, worms and trojans that can unearth confidential information from a user's computer rose to 80 percent of the top 50 malicious software code threats from 74 percent in the previous six months.

According to Reuters, the report revealed that scams such as phishing attacks that trick users into revealing information such as passwords, credit card information and other financial information also rose, the report said.

Between 1 July 1 and 31 December, phishing attempts made up one in every 119 processed e-mail messages, the report said. This translates into an average 7.92 million phishing attempts per day, up from 5.70 million in the first part of the year.

Reuters reports that Vincent Weafer, senior director of Symantec Security Response, said hackers are eschewing widespread viruses or worms that deliver infected software code able to potentially devastate hundreds of thousands of computers in favor of smaller-scale attacks.

He added criminals do not want to trigger a major security response with a high-profile attack and now seek to more narrowly tailor their focus to silently slip onto a user's machine.

Reuters says that the report also cited a growing threat from robot, or ``bot'' networks used to launch attacks on computer systems. Criminals create botnets by illegally gaining control of a large number of computers, which the report said are increasingly used as tools for extortion attempts.

The number of computers infected by botnets fell slightly but on average Symantec observed 1,402 denial of service attacks per day utilising botnets, representing a 51 percent increase over the prior reporting period.

The Reuters report says that Symantec reported that China is also fast turning into a major source of botnet attacks likely due to the rapid growth in broadband Internet connections there, the report said.

During the last six months of the year, botnet attacks originating in China soared 153 percent, which is 72 percentage points above the average increase, the report said.

{mospagebreaktitle=No backdoor for Vista-Microsoft}No backdoor for Vista-Microsoft

Microsoft developers have stepped forward to dismiss suggestions that the next versions of Windows might feature backdoor features to allow police access to encrypted files which might other be impossible to access.

The Register reports (6 March) that a BBC report last month suggested the Home Office was in talks with Microsoft over ways to overcome any obstacles Windows Vista's wider use of encryption might pose to criminal investigations. Vista is due to feature hardware-based encryption, called BitLocker Drive Encryption, which acts as a repository to protect sensitive data in the event of a PC being either lost or stolen.

According to The Register, speaking before a House of Commons home affairs select committee hearing, Professor Ross Anderson reportedly urged the government "to look at establishing 'back door' ways of getting around encryptions". But, says The Register, a previously reported careful review of the rest of Anderson's comments reveal he was talking about the challenge posed to police forensic investigations by hard disk encryption, and ot too much should be read into one particular phrase.

A Microsoft spokeswoman told The Register: "Windows Vista is engineered to be the most secure version of Windows yet. It is our goal to ensure enterprise users have full control over information on their PCs Microsoft has not and will not put 'backdoors' into Windows, its BitLocker feature, or any other Microsoft Products."

{mospagebreaktitle=EU urged to back research on computers in devices}EU urged to back research on computers in devices

The European Commission will propose that EU member states and industry invest 2.7 billion euros (US$3.26 billion) to boost research into computers that control household and consumer items, the EU executive said on Monday.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (6 March) that proposals on the devices which are part of the technology used in everyday items such as mobile phones, cars and medical equipment will be put to ministers by EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding in coming weeks.

Reding revealed the Commission's new initiative at an industry event on a joint technology initiative that would be financed by industry, the European Union and the bloc's 25 member states.

Reuters says it seeks to bolster the EU's strong position in the global embedded systems sector by making sure research is coordinated on a European level so that technology can be reused in many different appliances.

The devices, known as embedded systems, refer to computers that are tailor made to control an appliance or device, performing pre-deterined tasks unlike a general computer which can handle an array of tasks.

The Reuters report says that the industry arm of the joint initiative is organised by the Artemis technology platform which groups firms such as Philips, BT and DaimlerChrysler.

{mospagebreaktitle=AT&T to become all things to all customers}AT&T to become all things to all customers

The New York Times says in a 7 March story that AT&T's planned acquisition of BellSouth for US$67 billion, and ambitions on such a grand scale, has raised questions about whether its strategy of gobbling up rivals has reached a point of diminishing returns

According to the newspaper, the company justified the deal by saying that it expected the merger to save about US$2 billion in annual costs by 2009. About 40 percent of the savings are to come from eliminating 10,000 jobs in the next three years. Much of the rest will reflect reduced advertising expenses and the economies of combining the networks of AT&T, BellSouth and the cellphone carrier Cingular Networks.

The newspaper says that analysts are skeptical, though, about those projections because AT&T already has its hands full in merging the operations of its leading component, SBC Communications, and the old AT&T, long the namesake long-distance provider, a deal that was sealed last fall. Its wireless subsidiary, Cingular, is still working through a consolidation with AT&T Wireless, which it acquired in 2004.

And now, says the NYT.,the company's managers and engineers will be asked to add BellSouth's 21 million local lines, 3 million broadband subscribers and lineup of business customers to 50 million existing local phone lines and 7 million broadband customers, most of those until recently customers of SBC.

To compete in an internet economy,however, AT&T executives say the company has to become a telecommunications supermarket so it can sell more services '” whether phone, broadband or television '” to customers everywhere.

{mospagebreaktitle=EU urged to back research on computers in devices}EU urged to back research on computers in devices

The European Commission will propose that EU member states and industry invest 2.7 billion euros (US$3.26 billion) to boost research into computers that control household and consumer items, the EU executive said on Monday.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (6 March) that proposals on the devices which are part of the technology used in everyday items such as mobile phones, cars and medical equipment will be put to ministers by EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding in coming weeks.

Reding revealed the Commission's new initiative at an industry event on a joint technology initiative that would be financed by industry, the European Union and the bloc's 25 member states.

Reuters says it seeks to bolster the EU's strong position in the global embedded systems sector by making sure research is coordinated on a European level so that technology can be reused in many different appliances.

The devices, known as embedded systems, refer to computers that are tailor made to control an appliance or device, performing pre-deterined tasks unlike a general computer which can handle an array of tasks.

The Reuters report says that the industry arm of the joint initiative is organised by the Artemis technology platform which groups firms such as Philips, BT and DaimlerChrysler.

{mospagebreaktitle=Amazon criticism from publishers}Amazon criticism from publishers

Amazon.com has came under fire from Britain's book publishing and retailing industries even as the debate raged over a perceived threat presented by Google.The chief executive of HarperCollins UK, said she feared the online book seller more than the web search leader, which has created a stir with plans to digitise every book.

``We all want to talk about Google, but personally I see Amazon as a bigger threat because Amazon has shown a lot of signs that they actually want to move into the publishing space,'' said Victoria Barnsley.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (6 March) that the HarperCollins chief cited Amazon.com's recruitment of senior executives from the publishing industry and its approaches to book agencies as evidence of the company's ambition.

HarperCollins is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

{mospagebreaktitle=NBC buys web site for women}NBC buys web site for women

In the US., IVillage, an internet company devoted to women, has just agreed to be acquired by NBC Universal for US$600 million.

The New York Times reports (7 March) that the sale of iVillage, one of the last major publicly traded internet companies based in New York, comes at a time when major media companies, recovering from their misadventures online in the internet bubble of the late 1990's, have been acquiring online companies.

Last year, the News Corporation bought MySpace, a teenage social site, and IGN, an online game site. Dow Jones bought MarketWatch, a financial news site, in late 2004. And in February 2005, The New York Times Company bought About.com, a collection of sites on specialised topics.

The newspaper says that, after those transactions, iVillage hired investment bankers and put itself up for sale.

Robert C. Wright, NBC Universal's chief executive, said that iVillage offered a way for the company to expand its exposure to the rapidly growing internet advertising market and to connect to the coverage of women's issues and health issues that NBC already creates.

{mospagebreaktitle=DeWolfe: MySpace.com safe despite reports}DeWolfe: MySpace.com safe despite reports

The popular US web hangout MySpace.com is as safe as anyplace in the offline world despite recent reports that sexual predators may be using it to find and lure young victims, the company's CEO said.

''If you go to the mall and start talking to strange people, bad things can happen,'' Chris DeWolfe, the site's co-founder, said in a telephone interview. ''You've got to take the same precautions on the internet.''

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times 6 March) that MySpace, a division of News Corp., offers a free way for users to meet any of more than 60 million members. Searching by hometown, alma mater or interest, people can make new friends, reconnect with old ones and interact in other ways.

But in the past month, authorities nationwide in the US have expressed concern that the searching options that make the site popular also put children at risk for abuse.

AP reports that last week, two men were arrested in what prosecutors said were the first federal sex charges involving MySpace. Both met the girls through their MySpace.com profiles, the FBI said.

DeWolfe said MySpace gets a lot of attention because it has so many members, but he said the site simply offers a collection of tools already widely used online: personalised home pages, instant messaging, e-mail, web logging and video sharing.

People who put themselves at risk on MySpace, DeWolfe said, would be doing so elsewhere, reports AP.

{mospagebreaktitle=Cingular launching new video service}Cingular launching new video service

US telco, Cingular Wireless, the country's largest cell-phone carrier, is set to launch a new video service for two new phones.

The Associoated Press reports in The New York Times (7 March) that subscribers will pay US$20 a month for access to clips from the Cartoon Network, Fox News, NBC and others. The service will use Cingular's high-speed data network, which is available in 16 cities.

For an extra US$5 a month, 3-5 minute clips of HBO shows like the Sopranos will be available as well.

AP reportas that two phones, from Samsung and from LG, will go on sale for the service. Each will cost US$99 with a two-year contract.

The service is similar to Verizon Wireless' US$15-a-month Vcast service, which launched in February last year in some markets.

Cingular and some other carriers already provide live TV on some handsets, using different technology called MobiTV. Cingular charges US$20 a month for that service.

AP says that Cingular is a joint venture of BellSouth and AT&T. On Sunday, AT&T announced a deal to buy BellSouth for US$67 million, which would give AT&T complete control of Cingular.

{mospagebreaktitle=TiVo to expand tv recording to cell phones}TiVo to expand tv recording to cell phones

In the US.,TiVo subscribers will soon be able to program television recordings straight from cell phones using the Verizon Wireless network.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (7 March) that an agreement with Verizon Wireless, to be announced Tuesday, expands on TiVo's strategy to bring the digital video recording pioneer's capabilities beyond its set-top-boxes and the television, and directly to cell phones for the first time.

Dubbed TiVo Mobile, it's also the latest feature the company is introducing to help differentiate itself from the growing number of rival DVR offerings from cable and satellite TV operators.

According to the AP., a DVR records TV programming onto hard disks and gives viewers the ability to pause live TV and fast-forward through commercials.

Terms of the TiVo-Verizon deal were not disclosed, but TiVo said Verizon would be the first cellular carrier to offer the remote TiVo scheduling feature on its handsets.

AP says that TiVo subscribers already can program their recordings through the TiVo web site and Yahoo's online TV guide, so users with web-enabled cell phones can schedule recordings that way.