Microsoft Works on new ID system for Windows

Microsoft will build software for managing identities into Windows in order to beef up security by giving users more control over their personal information, the world's largest software maker said on Tuesday.

The New York Times and Reuters report (29 Mar.) that the ID technology called "info-cards" will give users more control over their own personal information in order to shop and access services online, said Michael Stephenson, director in Microsoft's Windows Server division.

The paper and Reuters say Microsoft is currently working on a new Internet Explorer Web browser and version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, but Stephenson declined to say whether "info-cards" would be built into the current Windows XP version or Longhorn.

The initiative is the latest effort by the software giant to improve the reliability and security of its software. Identity theft has become a growing concern in the United States as personal data is increasingly used to make purchases, and log into web sites for vital information and services, says the NYT and Reuters.

The paper and Reuters say the US government is considering greater regulation of data brokers following a rash of break-ins and other data losses that have heightened concern about identity theft -- a crime that costs consumers and businesses an estimated US$50 billion annually.

According to the paper and Reuters, the technology proposed by Microsoft is reminiscent of two software tools detailed by the Redmond, Washington-based company in 2001 called Passport and Hailstorm.

AMD to reveal 'Pacifica' processor virtualisation spec

AMD will next month detail its answer to Intel's Virtualisation Technology (VT) with the publication of its AMD64 platform's virtualisation system spec.

The Register reports 30 ar.) that Dubbed Pacifica, the technology will allow AMD's 64-bit server, desktop and mobile processors to host multiple operating systems - or many instances of the same OS - simultaneously. It's a technique well established in the 'big iron' mainframe world, but one makers of chips for low-end servers are keen to adopt, the better to eat into mid-range to high-end system sales.

The online publication says Intel has been touting such a system for the last 18 months or so, and in January this year brought VT's desktop release forward to this year from 2006. According to Intel's internal roadmap, it will ship updated Pentium 4 processors next quarter, and these are expected to sport VT.

Accordng to The Register, AMD first mentioned Pacifica last Autumn, and it's clearly chasing Intel. Now, it has said Pacifica will be implemented "by introducing a new model and features into the processor and memory controller" of its AMD64 CPUs. The first chips to incorporate them will appear in "the first half of 2006", AMD said. Pacifica will be applied to both single- and dual-core processors.

HP: break with style, not with strategy

Hewlett-Packard once went for flamboyance and style with Carleton S. Fiorina, the chairwoman and chief executive who was fired in February.

On Tuesday, the company chose to return to its traditional low-key management approach in naming Mark V. Hurd, the little-known president and chief executive of NCR, a maker of computers and automated teller machines, to succeed Ms. Fiorina, reports The New York Times (29 Mar.).

The paper says the appointment of Mr. Hurd, who led a turnaround at NCR through operational improvements and cost-cutting, underscores the Hewlett-Packard board's commitment to a growth strategy led by an expansion into consumer electronics.

According to the paper, Wall Street was enthusiastic about the choice of Mr. Hurd, 48, as a steadying influence to lead Hewlett-Packard, which experienced disappointing profits in the last four years. Its shares rose US$1.99, or 10 percent, to close at US$21.78 on Tuesday, though a formal announcement of the appointment was not made until after the markets closed.

The chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard, Patricia C. Dunn, said that the appointment of Mr. Hurd was a strong statement that the company did not intend to unravel its merger with Compaq or sell off other major pieces of its business, says the NYT.

The NYT says the challenges Mr. Hurd now faces are substantial. Hewlett-Packard is in fierce competition with IBM in the market for corporate information technology services. It is also in a bruising fight with Dell Computer in the PC market and increasingly in the printing business, one that Hewlett-Packard has long dominated.

MCI yes again as Verizon sweetens bid
 
MCI has accepted a sweetened takeover offer of about US$7.6 billion from Verizon Communications, spurning a rival bid of US$8.45 billion from Qwest Communications International.

The New York Times reports (29 mAR.) that Qwest declined to say whether it would raise its own offer, which it has already bumped up twice. Qwest's board is scheduled to meet this morning to discuss its options, including a possible counteroffer

The paper says many industry analysts said they did not expect Verizon's move, raising its original offer by roughly US$900 million, to end the competition, which has at times looked like a shouting match between the rival Bell companies.

Regardless of whether Verizon or Qwest ultimately wins the tug of war, MCI has obtained what it hoped for: a bidding war for a company that emerged from bankruptcy protection less than a year ago, says the NYT.

According to the NYT., Qwest's US$8.45 billion bid is still favored by some MCI shareholders, who have already filed lawsuits hoping to force MCI's board to accept the higher offer. Even without raising its offer, analysts said, Qwest may well take its case directly to MCI shareholders via a proxy vote.

But now that Verizon has raised its price so it is offering 10 percent less than Qwest instead of 20 percent, MCI's board may have an easier time justifying its decision to choose Verizon, reports the paper

The NYT says Verizon, which first agreed to buy MCI six weeks ago for US$6.75 billion, will now pay US$7.6 billion, or $23.50 a share. For each share, the offer breaks down to US$8.35 in cash, US$14.75 in stock and a 40-cent dividend MCI has already paid to its shareholders.

Stolen laptop exposes data of 100,000

A thief recently walked into a University of California, Berkeley office and swiped a computer laptop containing personal information about nearly 100,000 alumni, graduate students and past applicants, highlighting a continued lack of security that has increased society's vulnerability to identity theft.

The New York Times and Associated Press report (29 Mar.) that University officials waited until Monday to announce the 11 March crime, hoping that police would be able to catch the thief and reclaim the computer. When that didn't happen, the school publicised the theft to comply with a state law requiring consumers be notified whenever their Social Security numbers or other sensitive information have been breached.

UC Berkeley plans to advise the 98,369 people affected by the laptop theft to check their credit reports, although there has been no indication any of he personal information has been used illegally, university spokeswoman Maria Felde said, reports  the NYT.

The NYT and AP says that the UC Berkeley incident follows several other high profile instances in which businesses and schools have lost control of personal information that they kept in computer databases.

Recent breaches have occurred at: ChoicePoint, a consumer data firm duped into distributing personal information about 145,000 people; Lexis-Nexis, a data storehouse where computer hackers obtained access to the personal information of 32,000 people; and Chico State University, where a computer hacking job exposed 59,000 people to potential identity theft.

The paper and AP say that the risks of identity theft have risen in recent years as technological advances make it easier for businesses, schools and other organisations to create vast databases containing Social Security numbers, credit card account numbers and other personal information.

According to the paper and AP, all that valuable data has turned the computer storehouses into inviting targets for thieves who frequently don't have to work too hard to pull off their crimes. Computer hackers create some of the mischief by circumventing high-tech firewalls, but 58 percent of the breaches recorded by California officials have occurred after a computer or other device containing personal information is lost or stolen, McNabb said, tre paper and AP report.

The paper and AP say the security risks of these incidents could be minimised if the caretakers of the personal information encrypted the sensitive information -- a process that makes it virtually impossible to read the data without a special code.

HP sues printer-cartridge refillers

HP has sued a pair of printer cartridge refillers in a bid to protect its consumables business.

The Register reports that HP has filed a complaint with the US District Court of Northern California against RhinoTek, accusing the refiller of false advertising - it maintains RhinoTek's "packaging and promotional materials are calculated to give consumers the impression that defendants' cartridges are new".

HP's filing requests the court order RhinoTek to make it clear that the company is selling used and refilled cartridges. It also requests RhinoTek's profits from the allegedly mis-sold products be handed over as damages, The Register reports.

On Friday, the printer giant sued InkCycle for allegedly violating three of its patents. All three centre on ways of making ink dry more quickly to colours from blurring, a process that effectively reduces the resolution of the printed image. The InkCycle complaint was filed with the US District Court of Western Wisconsin. HP said InkCycle.

The Register says that both cases mark the latest stage in printer vendors' ongoing struggle against companies who take old cartridges and refill them with ink, or seek to offer alternative consumables to the vendors' own. The vendors maintain their new products are better than refilled ones.

ISPs share hacker info

Telcos, internet service providers, equipment makers, universities and hosting companies are joining forces to exchange information about attempted hack attacks. The "Fingerprint Sharing Alliance" doesn't actually share fingerprints but rather profiles of attacks.

The Register reports (29 Mar.) that Arbor Networks will collect the information automatically. For instance: a denial of service attack is launched against a customer of yours. Arbor will detect the spike in traffic, check it's not event-based, and give you information to defend against the attack.

It will also collect enough information, a fingerprint, to identify the attack and pass that information to downstream service providers hit by the attack, reoprts The Register.

There are some big names backing the network including BT, Cisco, Earthlink, Internet2, MCI, The Planet, University of Pennslyvania and Rackspace Managed Hosting, epors The Register.

Settlement in freelance writers' suit
 
Freelance writers have agreed to a settlement worth as much as US$18 million with publishing companies, including The New York Times Company, in a copyright infringement case involving work posted online or in databases, the writers' representatives said yesterday.

Reuters and te New York Times report (29 Mar.) that a motion for approval of the settlement was filed last week in federal court in New York, said Gerard Colby, president of the National Writers Union, one of several writers' groups that brought the lawsuit.

The paper and Reuters say the lawsuit contended that articles by thousands of freelance writers appeared in online databases without their consent. The case was supported by a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that said the principles of copyright protection also applied to online distribution.

Hoya shares hit 11-month high on LCD photomasks

Shares in Japanese glass maker Hoya Corp. jumped to an 11-month high on Wednesday after several analysts issued bullish comments about the prospects for the company's liquid crystal display photomask business.

The New York Times reports (29 Mar.) that Hoya controls more than half of the market for liquid crystal display (LCD) photomasks, glass plates used to etch circuitry onto LCD panels. Its main rivals are Kyoto-based SK-Electronics and South Korea's LG Micron.

Last week, Hoya took analysts on a tour of its photomask factory in Kumamoto, southern Japan. Nomura Securities raised its rating on Hoya to "buy" from "neutral" and other analysts have also issued bullish views about Hoya's photomask operations.

Hoya is now aggressively boosting output, encouraged by the fast-growing market for LCD TVs. It started operations at a new photomask plant in Taiwan in January and plans to bring another factory in South Korea on-line by the end of this year, reports the NYT.

New fingerprint technology

Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists in the US are using a new technique to see fingerprints on surfaces that typically make them invisible.

The New York Times reports (29 Mar) that the method uses a technology called mini-X-ray fluorescence to detect chemical elements in fingerprints without altering them, said Christopher Worley, a scientist on the project.

``The conventional methods are meant to bring out fingerprint patterns with regular light -- and they have to treat those with powder, which alters them,'' Worley said. "With this you don't have to alter it or treat it at all. We can determine the elements in a fingerprint and get a pattern at the same time."

The NYT says the technology focuses a tight beam of X-rays on surfaces with fingerprints and creates a computer picture out of those scans. The equipment costs about US$175,000.

The paper says the technology for scanning the prints is widely available. What's new is the method the lab has created to see them -- which includes computer software and ways of manipulating the machinery, Worley said.

Tiscali France sale imminent

Tiscali's sale of its French operation is expected to be done and dusted shortly, the European ISP has confirmed.

The Register reports (30 Mar.) that the company has said that it has analysed the offers received for the acquisition of the French subsidiary, Liberty Surf, and has empowered the Executive Directors for its disposal which is expected to be formalised shortly.

According to The Register, Telecom Italia is favourite to snap up the business for anywhere between €250m to €300m as Tiscali looks to flog its French operation to pay-off a €250m loan due in July.

Tiscali reported that revenues for the year were up 20 per cent from €901m in 2003 to €1.08bn in the 12 months to the end of December 2004. Revenues from its internet access business (both dial-up and broadband) accounted for 68 per cent of turnover, reported The Register.

The Register says that at the end of December 2004, Tiscali had 7.4m internet users including 5.7m dial-up users and 1.65 ADSL customers - 840,000 more broadband users than the year before.

Eidos bidder wins second major backer

UK-based games publisher SCi has won a second major backer, adding weight to its £80.4m bid for rival publisher Eidos.

The Register reports (30 Mar.) that SCi has already gained Schroder's thumbs-up. The investment house owns around 20 per cent of Eidos. Now it has Merrill Lynch's backing, the Financial Times reports, and with it ML's 4.87 per cent stake in Eidos, says The Register

According to The Register, SCi said it will offer one of its own shares for every six Eidos shares held. It launched its bid last week the day after US-based Elevation Partners, the venture capital firm which lists U2 lead singer Bono and ex-Electronic Arts president John Riccitello among its partners, said it would pay £71m in cash for loss-making Eidos.