Pc News

[Rasputin]

Siemens Zaps More Data Down Home Fiber Link

Researchers from Siemens have successfully tested technology that not only increases the speed of passive optical broadband connections to the home or office but also the radius of coverage.

The team of researchers, sponsored by the European Union, achieved downstream transmission rate of 10 gigabits per second and upstream speed of 2.5Gbps over a passive optical access network, Siemens said Monday.

Longer Reach, Too
By comparison, current gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology supports downstream data rates of 2.5Gbps and upstream rates of 1.2Gbps.

In addition, the researchers were able to extend the distance between the hub and subscribers, the equivalent of the "local loop" in copper networks, from 12.5 miles to 62 miles. The number of subscriber lines per splitter, where the optical signal is divided up to serve more destinations, was also expanded from 64 to 512.

Numerous operators are keen to deploy high-speed broadband access systems that offer far greater speed than DSL technology, which uses existing copper twisted pairs to provide data rates of up to 50Mbps, Siemens said. Services such as video on demand and HDTV perform best when delivered over fiber-optic subscriber lines.

At the same, new GPON systems eliminate the need for aggregation devices commonly used to collect and distribute data traffic locally. In the future, operators will be able to connect subscribers directly to the core network, Siemens said.

Milestone Reached
Earlier this year, Siemens researchers achieved a transmission speed of 107G bps over a single optical fiber.

The speed, which the company claims sets a record for electrical processing of data through a fiber-optic cable, was reached over a 100-mile route.

Siemens has developed a new transmission and receiving system that is able to process data directly before and after its conversion into optical signals using electrical processing only. Current systems handling very high data rates have to split signals into multiple lower data-rate signals and later reconvert them from optical to electrical, a process that adds to costs and reduces network capacity.

[Rasputin]

Critical IE Graphics Flaw Resurfaces

It's bad enough when crooks exploit bugs to ruin a home computer, but the consequences of a successful attack can be much worse. A substitute teacher in Norwich, Connecticut, found that out when a computer she was using in her classroom suddenly started showing pornographic pop-up ads to everyone in the class. She now faces up to 40 years in prison after being convicted of willfully showing her students the images. A security expert hired by her defense, however, says he found malicious software on the PC.

As you certainly know, Internet attacks often attempt to install porn-popping adware by exploiting the more dangerous types of bugs.

Last October I told you about one such problem in Internet Explorer involving Vector Markup Language, a rarely used, Microsoft-only Internet graphics format. Criminals launched multiple attacks exploiting the hole before Microsoft released a patch. And now, a second, very similar VML flaw is under fire.

Like its predecessor, this bug allows an attacker to take control of--or download porn-popping adware to--a PC running Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows 2000 SP 4 if the victim simply views a poisoned image within IE. Both IE 6 and 7 are affected, but IE 7 in Windows Vista is not.

You can obtain the patch through Automatic Updates, or you can download it from Microsoft TechNet.

Office Fixes
Microsoft also patched critical security holes in Excel and in Outlook (Outlook Express is not affected). Both vulnerabilities are rated "critical" for the Office 2000 versions of the programs, but are downgraded to "important" (the second-highest severity rating on Microsoft's scale) for Office XP and 2003. The Excel holes are present in Works Suite 2004 and 2005, too. As usual, either flaw can be exploited if you open a tainted file (.oss for Outlook or .xls for Excel) as an attachment or Web download.

Again, if you have Automatic Updates turned on, you should be protected. If not, get the Excel patches, and grab the Outlook patch, from Microsoft. At press time no attacks against these holes were yet circulating.

[Rasputin]

Motion Computing Launches Tablet PC for Doctors

Promising to save doctors and nurses from as much as 60 minutes of paperwork per day, Motion Computing Inc. announced a tablet PC for hospital workers.

The C5 is a mobile clinical assistant (MCA) computer based on Intel Corp.'s Centrino wireless notebook platform and Core Solo processor. The three-pound computer runs Microsoft Corp.'s Vista or XP operating system and has built-in 802.11 wireless connectivity. It has five features added specifically for the medical market: it is disinfectable and rugged, and has a barcode scanner, a digital camera and an RFID (radio frequency identification) reader for user log-on.

Together, those functions will allow doctors, nurses and clinicians to do less paperwork, see more patients and make fewer errors, said Scott Eckert, CEO of Motion Computing, in Austin, Texas.

"The basic thing they're looking for is more time spent with patients and less time spent with charts," Eckert said in a webcast Tuesday.

Researchers from Motion Computing and Intel spent 18 months interviewing hospital workers as they tested prototypes of the tablet ranging from a wooden block to an early version code-named "Oak City," said Louis Burns, general manager of Intel's digital health group.

Compared to the clipboard, scanner and cart-mounted computer on wheels often used in hospitals today, the MCA is more compact, portable and lightweight, allowing medical workers to match the barcode on each bottle of drugs to a patient's wrist band, Eckert said.

Motion's other products include the LE1600 and LS800 tablet PCs, used in fields like health care, life sciences, retail, hospitality, manufacturing, education and government. The company plans to launch an improved slate tablet called the LE1700 in late March.

Intel contributed its Centrino mobility platform to the project, as well as market research and technology ties with software providers. Intel sees the health market as a rich vein for future chip demand.

Motion Computing will launch the C5 in 25 countries by May, selling it for US$2,199. The basic unit has three to four hours battery life at full usage, and users can choose to buy designs with better batteries, faster processors or larger hard drives.

[Rasputin]

Verizon Continues High-Speed Wireless Data Rollout

Verizon Wireless announced Tuesday that it is upgrading its network to support faster BroadbandAccess wireless data services to customers in cities in a handful of additional states and the District of Columbia.

The wireless service provider is upgrading its network with gear based on CDMA 1x EV-DO Revision A technology to support faster transmission speeds. Verizon Wireless says Rev. A supports downstream speeds of 450K to 800Kbps and upstream speeds of 300K to 400Kbps.

Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel separately announced plans to upgrade to the faster EV-DO Rev. A last year. Sprint got a head start announcing upgrades in cities as early as October. Verizon announced its first cities earlier this month, which included Boston, Richmond, Hampton Roads, Va., Chicago and Salt Lake City .

Verizon Wireless now offers its faster EV-DO Rev. A BroadbandAccess service in these cities:

Illinois: Springfield, Decatur area

Iowa: Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Waterloo, Cedar Falls

Idaho: Boise, Nampa, Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Pocatello, Rexburg

Maryland: Montgomery, Howard, Prince Georges, Anne Arundel, Baltimore Counties

Okalahoma: Tulsa and surrounding areas

Oregon: Portland, Salem

Virginia: Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun Counties

Vermont: Burlington, South Burlington, Williston, Essex and Burlington International Airport

Washington: Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Spokane, Vancouver

Washington, D.C.

Verizon Wireless also previously announced that it is offering customers two Rev. A compatible devices -- the USB720 wireless modem or the AirCard 595 PC card.

Verizon Wireless charges US$60 to $80 per month for its BroadbandAccess service. The lesser rate is for customers that also have a wireless voice plan of at least $40 per month.

Sprint Power Vision wireless data service costs $60 per month for customers who sign a two-year contract. Sprint's EV-DO Rev. A service is available in 24 markets. The wireless service provider offers four compatible Rev. A devices which are the Sprint Mobile Broadband USB Modem from Novatel Wireless, and wireless modem cards Novatel S270, Sierra AC595 and Pantech PX-500.

Handheld devices that support EV-DO Rev 0, current EV-DO technology deployed by both Sprint and Verizon Wireless, work with Rev. A services, but the older devices will not support the faster speeds.

[Rasputin]

A Tale of Many New Cell Phones

TOKYO -- If you're interested in cell phones, you're in luck. With the spring models being announced by Japan's major carriers and South Korean makers wowing attendees at the 3GSM mobile communications congress in Barcelona earlier this month, our pick of Asia's coolest new toys is heavy on handsets.

An overview of the new phones--and there are many of them--reveals a few trends.

First of all, 2G (second-generation wireless telephony) is not dead. Carriers won't tell you that because they've all invested billions in new 3G networks and multimedia services, but look at many of the new handsets, and you'll find that they are 2G-only. Samsung's U100, discussed later in this story, is all about being thin, and adding 3G support would only bulk it up.

The persistence of 2G--reflected in the reluctance of consumers to rush to 3G networks--is obviously irking carriers; at 3GSM, 12 carriers from both Europe and Asia disclosed plans to jointly promote the technology under the banner "3G for All." That's great, but make sure they give you a good deal when you finally decide to switch. After all, it's in their interest to get you on the new network.

Second, here comes digital TV. The launch in many countries of mobile digital TV trials or services means television will increasingly find a place alongside voice, SMS, Web, and e-mail in high-end handsets. Here, TV makers appear to have an advantage because they can use their established TV brand names to sell phones. Sharp has already been doing this with a phone that carries its Aquos LCD TV brand name, and now Sony is getting in on the act with a Bravia phone.

And finally: touch screens. Apple made headlines with its touch-screen iPhone last month, and already two heavyweights--Samsung and LG--have look-alike handsets of their own. There's some dispute as to who came up with the idea first, but obviously no one wants to miss out on this developing trend. After all, Motorola stole a lead on others with its iTunes-enabled Razr phone, and Apple has claimed more than a few scalps in the MP3 player market, so look for phones in the iPhone form factor to become common this year.

[Rasputin]

Microsoft's List of Verified Vista Applications

Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday released a list of 800 applications it has officially verified so far to run bug-free on Windows Vista.

The list is notable for both its brevity and the absence of many applications popular on Windows XP, although Microsoft and analysts said that the majority of XP software can run, albeit with hiccups, on Vista.

Popular Windows software that is conspicuously missing from Microsoft's list includes Adobe Systems's entire line of graphics and multimedia software, Symantec Corp.'s security products, as well as the Mozilla Foundation's open-source Firefox Web browser, Skype's free voice-over-IP software, and the OpenOffice.org alternative to Microsoft Office.

Software that has been tested as part of Microsoft's Vista certification program to run on all 32- and 64-bit versions of Vista include CorelDraw and WordPerfect from Corel, PowerDVD from Cyberlink, Nero 7 Premium, Trend Micro AntiVirus and PC-Cillin, AutoCad 2008, QuickBooks 2007 from Intuit, Microsoft Office 2007 and many other Microsoft applications.

In addition, Google's Desktop Search and its Toolbar for Internet Explorer have earned Microsoft's approval.

Missing From the List
Windows' extensive software ecosystem has long been one of the operating system's chief attractions. But Vista's long beta program last year allowed users to start compiling their own lists of applications that they claimed were broken or problematic on Vista.

Many of those were graphics-intensive games, which was the result of a new rendering engine, DirectX 10, introduced for Vista. But there are also a number of business and utility applications that have not been updated to ensure Vista compatibility. For instance, the latest version of Skype doesn't work on Vista. Firefox does work, though Mozilla has documented known issues.

Most of Adobe's multimedia software won't be officially supported for Vista until the middle of this year, though many applications can run today with minor problems (download Adobe's explanatory PDF).

Adobe, which will face competition from Microsoft this year when Microsoft releases its suite of graphics and multimedia design tools, did not immediately return a request to comment.

Symantec is already facing similar competition from Microsoft, which released its OneCare security suite last year.

In statements on its Web site aimed at business and home users, Symantec said some of its software, such as Norton AntiVirus 2007, already works with Vista. Other Symantec software, such as Ghost 12, won't be ready until mid-April.

Microsoft's Vista testing program, which vendors must pay to be a part of, has two levels: software that is "certified for Windows Vista" and software that "works with Windows Vista." At the moment, 108 applications have been certified, while 683 have been awarded the "works with" distinction.

ArcSoft got six of its more-popular multimedia applications certified because of demand from its hardware partners, according to Michael Downs, vice president of marketing and business development at the Fremont, Calif.-based company. Most of ArcSoft's software is bundled with DVD-ROM drives and other accessories from third-party resellers.

They "were requesting certification from us" so they could "slap that sticker on the [retail] box," said Downs. Downs said the certification process was fairly rigorous and involved filling out a lengthy application that was double-checked by a third-party service, VeriTest, on behalf of Microsoft.

The cost for testing ArcSoft's six applications was less than $10,000 each, Downs said. ArcSoft plans to have most of its applications tested. For others, ArcSoft plans to wait until the next update of the software before releasing and testing a Vista version.

[Rasputin]

Cisco Backtracks on Open Source Promise

After promising to turn the client software for its CTA (Cisco Trust Agent) into an open-source application, Bob Gleichauf, CTO of Cisco's Security Technology Group, said that the company has not made up its mind yet about the future of the software.

"Where I misspoke was speaking in terms of CTA going open source as if that's a given, and that was incorrect. That was my mistake," Gleichauf told InfoWorld last week. "It has been part of a discussion of a number of different options available to us, but it's not a viable option at this time," he said.

A more circumspect Gleichauf said that in earlier comments he was just speculating that CTA might be turned into an open-source component. "Open source was one thing that's a way of dealing with various components as work toward an integrated solution," he noted

He declined to discuss the pros and cons of going open source with the CTA client, a desktop software agent that is used to enforce security policies on machines that seek access to networks.

However, Gleichauf did say that he was concerned about the reaction of Cisco customers to comments he made to InfoWorld at the RSA Conference in early February, saying that Cisco would "open up" CTA within two months so it could devote development resources to other areas of NAC.

"We don't want partners and customers to think we're pursuing that. That was a mistake," he said. "Customers need to know how to prepare for any new initiative or technology or product. What I did a disservice to on everyone was stating something as a fact that wasn't a fact and that can affect planning, whether a funding decision or a build decision or a partner decision. "

As for the future of NAC, Gleichauf said that Cisco is looking for ways to tie Cisco's NAC appliance, formerly known as Cisco "Clean Access," with the company's NAC "framework," a larger NAC solution, which relies on Cisco routers and switches to do policy enforcement.

"Cisco's in the process of leveraging its best of breed product, which is Cisco Clean Access, and the framework product and migrating toward an integrated solution that gives customers a lot of choices. As we do that, we're going to be continually evaluating where the focus is and how we manage the investment in terms of the engineering," Gleichauf said.

Cisco's divided appliance and framework approaches are the most pressing issue for the company, not the CTA client, said Russell Rice, director of marketing in the Security Technology Unit.

"What we want to deliver to the market is the ability to have those be tied together technologically so that they use common components. That's what we don't have in the marketplace, and that's what our customers are asking us to achieve," Rice said.

Cisco is wrestling with the uncomfortable fact that adoption of the NAC framework lags far behind use of the NAC appliance, Rice said.

"We have 1,500 clients who we talk about using NAC. The majority of those have been going down the appliance route. A lot of people look at framework and say, 'There are a lot of features that are valuable, but how do you put these together?'" Rice said.

In the end, Cisco may end up throwing the CTA client open source as a way to differentiate itself from Microsoft's NAP technology, which is integrated in the Vista operating system, said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at Yankee.

"Cisco's wondering 'how do we differentiate our own client?' Allowing application developers to experiment with it is one way, and the best way to do that is open source," Kerravala said.

[Rasputin]

Mystery Cell Phone Charges

Cell phone companies and third-party vendors, eager to pry more money from subscribers' wallets, are marketing extra services like ringtones, games, music, and more. But an increasingly angry chorus of cell phone customers complain that they're getting mysterious bills for monthly services that they did not intend to sign up for, and that then take months to cancel.

Customers are also upset about paying for spam text messages to their phones. And lawsuits and consumer groups are targeting the huge early termination fees most companies charge and the seeming myriad of taxes that can make up as much as a fifth of monthly phone bills.

Photograph: Ralf-Finn HestoftPerhaps the most frustrating of the problems are the mysterious bills for extra services. Take the case of real estate agent Dorothea Cole, of Davenport, Iowa. Last spring, she discovered a monthly $34 charge she didn't recognize on one of her firm's Sprint wireless phone bills. The carrier said the charge was from a third-party service, not Sprint. But the support reps said they were unable to identify the the charge. The phone had been used by a former employee who was no longer reachable, so it was up to Cole to figure out how to stop this recurring charge.

When she asked Sprint to stop the billing, it refused and told her to contact the company herself. But since Sprint had said it couldn't name the company, Cole was stuck. She says her bill indicated only that the charge was for a "Premium Services Non-Telecom Purchase."

Charge (Finally) Goes Away
Cole turned off the phone's voice and data service, but the account remained active, and charges reappeared. For seven months she asked Sprint--to no avail--for information on who was billing her each month and how to stop the charge. In December, Sprint finally told Cole the charge came from a company called Blinko. Blinko, an American subsidiary of Italy's Buongiorno entertainment conglomerate, offers ringtones, games, SMS jokes, and wallpapers to cellular customers.

When Cole called Blinko, the company initially declined to issue a refund, explaining that while she paid the bill, she wasn't the one who signed up for the service. She told Blinko the phone had been deactivated for the past seven months. In the end, Blinko agreed to refund her $70.

Blinko told PC World that it grants full refunds to customers who allege that somebody else had used their phone number to sign up for a Blinko service.

When we followed up with Cole, she said she had finally received a letter confirming cancellation of the service. Sprint had also agreed to refund her $151.75.

Sprint can't explain how this happened to Cole. Sprint says it refunds disputed third-party charges, and that the billing party is supposed to be identified on account statements, especially after a recent update to its billing system. Sprint spokesperson Roni Singleton says the company is investigating Cole's case. "Something clearly went wrong here," Singleton says.

Where Did It Come From? (Case No. 2)
Glenn McDonald, a Rosedale, Maryland, software engineer who uses Verizon Wireless, had a similar problem. He says he spotted a $10 charge on his September bill that he couldn't identify. He suspected it was something his teenage son may have signed up for when he tried to download a ringtone, though his son couldn't confirm that. In any case, what McDonald ended up with was weekly trivia questions sent via text messages to his phone.

Verizon initially told him it didn't know who was responsible for the charge, then later said it was Blinko. McDonald called Blinko and, after multiple tries on its automated phone system, eventually got hold of a customer service rep who agreed to cancel the account. However, a similar charge showed up in December, McDonald says, and Verizon told him the charge had all along been from MobileSidewalk, which also delivers games, videos, ringtones, and the like to cellular users. Verizon told him it would credit him $10 for the error. McDonald then called MobileSidewalk and cancelled the account.

[Rasputin]

Super Robots Gear Up for Space

They look a little like Legos on steroids and indeed, that's how they act. Called Superbots, these robots are made up of identical modular units that plug into one another to create robots that can stand, crawl, wiggle and roll.

The robots are being developed mainly to carry out multiple complex tasks, such as assembly, inspection, maintenance, habitat construction, surface landing, and exploration in space and on planet surfaces. Perhaps their paramount feature is flexibility: The different modules can be connected to let a robot handle a variety of tasks, rather than have that robot dedicated to a single task. The traditional approach of building separate robots for separate tasks is no longer adequate for affordable space exploration, researchers said.

In a statement Thursday, one of the Superbot developers, Wei-Min Shen of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute , said, "Each module is a complete robotic system and has a power supply, microcontrollers, sensors, communication, three degrees of freedom, and six connecting faces (front, back, left, right, up and down) to dynamically connect to other modules.

"This design allows flexible bending, docking, and continuous rotation. A single module can move forward, back, left, right; flip over; and rotate as a wheel. Modules can communicate with each other for totally distributed control, and can support arbitrary module-reshuffling during their operation."

The Superbot project will be built on the first spiral of the development completed in the last decade with small-scale, earth oriented, self-reconfigurable prototype robots by the proposing team, with total support of more than US$8 million from DARPA, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the National Science Foundation and NASA.

Another goal of the Superbot is to let NASA reuse robotic components to reduce costs and simplify operations and the logistics trail. The interchangeability of the robots' components will decrease the need for redundant parts, thus reducing payload mass, and enhance mission reliability and safety by allowing robust reconfigurability in times of failure, said Shen in a white paper.

[Rasputin]

New Business Tool: Google Apps

Google Thursday unveiled the enterprise version of Google Apps , a set of communication and collaboration tools that provide an alternative to Microsoft Office for companies that are willing to sacrifice functionality for cost savings.

Available for US$50 per user, per year, Google Apps Premier Edition includes such upgrades as integration with Google Docs & Spreadsheets , support for Gmail on BlackBerry mobile devices, 10GB of e-mail storage per user, round-the-clock phone support and service-level agreements promising 99.9% uptime. Advertising is turned off in the upgraded version unless businesses want the ads to remain.

"The main reason someone would buy it is because it's cheap," says Erica Driver, a principal analyst at Forrester Research "It's $50 per user, per year, far less than Microsoft Office."

Driver calls Google Apps Premier Edition a "direct shot at Microsoft Office," even though she says that was not Google's intent. Although the functionality of Google Apps is less advanced than that of Office, the Google tool is extremely easy to use and will force Microsoft to improve its own product, she says.

Today's release builds on Google Apps, a free service launched in beta in August 2006 that includes e-mail, instant messaging, a calendar tool and Web page creator. The free versions of Google Apps are used by more than 100,000 small businesses and hundreds of universities.

Google is taking its expertise in the consumer realm and attempting to transfer it to the enterprise in a software-as-a-service package, says Rajen Sheth, the Google Apps product manager.

"We're seeing this consumerization of IT effect going on where we see consumer technologies starting to make their way into the enterprise world," Sheth says. "From our perspective, it suits us well."

Google Apps Premier Edition includes a personalized start page combining private, corporate and public information into one interface. For example, users' start pages might include e-mail, calendar items, their organizations' customer accounts, and public information, such as news, weather and stock prices. The premier edition includes APIs that let users connect to a variety of data feeds, Sheth says.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets will let people collaborate when building and changing documents. When someone makes a change, it can be seen in real time by others working on the document, and each version of the document is saved. This provides a more secure environment for collaborating than an e-mail thread in which a document is sent back and forth and easily could be forwarded out of the company, Google officials say.

"In many ways it's like a wiki," Sheth says. "You're able to see all the changes that have been made. Lastly, you can choose who can edit it and who can view it."

Early adopters of Google Apps Premier Edition include Salesforce.com, Chicago real estate agency Prudential Preferred Properties and SF Bay Pediatrics in San Francisco.

The pediatrics practice began using Google Apps in late December, and the doctors learned how to use the program quickly, says Andrew Johnson, CIO at SF Bay Pediatrics.

"They're not technically savvy," Johnson says. "They don't want to deal with having to worry about an IT infrastructure. . . . It just allows us to outsource things to a pretty reputable name like Google."

[Rasputin]

Apple TKOs Cisco in iPhone Bout, Analysts Say

Although Apple Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. remained mum Thursday on the details of their deal to share the "iPhone" trademark, some analysts said Cisco got the short end of the stick.

Wednesday, the two companies announced that they would both use the iPhone name on their products. They also pledged to "explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security and consumer and enterprise communications," according to a joint statement issued Wednesday night.

Cisco, in a lawsuit filed in federal court last month, claimed the iPhone trademark via a 2000 acquisition of Infogear. The San Jose, Calif., company has sold a line of Linksys VoIP devices under the iPhone label for over a year.

As part of the settlement, all legal action on both sides has been dismissed, but the rest of the arrangement's details remain confidential.

That didn't stop analysts familiar with Apple, Cisco and the iPhone brouhaha from speculating on who won and, more important, who lost at the negotiation table.

"The rule in Silicon Valley is that if Apple leaves the table smiling, the other guy got screwed," said Rob Enderle, an independent analyst and principal of the Enderle Group. "And Apple left the table smiling on this one."

Roger Kay, of Endpoint Technologies Associates, agreed. "It certainly looks like Cisco gave away the store."

Both Enderle and Kay said their take was based on the clear value of the iPhone name, and the vague interoperability promises made in the statement. "I'm not convinced that Cisco got what it wanted out of this," said Enderle. In the past, he added, Apple has made promises to partners that it didn't keep. "That's been a history of deals with Apple. The partner always regrets it."

Kay, on the other hand, assumed that some money must have changed hands. The direction: from Apple to Cisco. "It would be very odd if there wasn't some money exchanged, because Apple gets almost everything." Kay said the iPhone name could be worth as much as a "couple of hundred million."

Cisco declined to comment on the record beyond the official joint statement; Apple did not return a call for comment.

Neither Enderle nor Kay was surprised that a deal was struck. "Apple couldn't afford to go to court," said Enderle. Apple had argued publicly that its cell-phone-based iPhone was different enough from Cisco's VoIP iPhone to justify using the trademark. If that reasoning had won out, Apple would have opened itself up to similar justifications from rivals. "Others could have used the same argument with the iPod," Enderle said.

"Apple clearly got the better deal," Kay said. "Steve's [Jobs] ability to hypnotize people is legendary. He's like the Rasputin of the computer industry."

Technology attorney Ken Dort backed up the analysts on the no-surprise front, saying that trademark disputes are usually settled before going to court -- especially when the stakes are as high as in this case.

"I think everybody's a winner here," said Dort, an attorney with McGuire Woods LLP in Richmond, Va. "Apple gets a name which really tracks into its system of [trade]marks, while Cisco gets some kind of development relationship with Apple. This does well for everybody."

[donsaeid]

دوازدهمين كنفرانس بين*المللي انجمن كامپيوتر ايران صبح امروز يكم اسفند در محل دانشكده مهندسي برق و كامپيوتر دانشگاه شهيد بهشتي آغاز به كار كرد.

دبير اين كنفرانس گفت: ۹۴۴مقاله به دبيرخانه كنفرانس ارسال شده كه از اين ميان ۲۵۱مقاله در طي سه روز برگزاري كنفرانس به صورت شفاهي ارايه مي*شود و ۱۶۳مقاله نيز به صورت پوستر ارايه مي*گردد.

"كيوان ناوي" طي سخناني در اين كنفرانس با اشاره به اينكه از ۹كشور در اين كنفرانس شركت كرده*اند، افزود: دانشگاه شهيد بهشتي و انجمن كامپيوتر ايران برگزاركنندگان اين كنفرانس هستند.

"امنيت شبكه*هاي كامپيوتري و رمزنگاري"، "عناوين پيشرفته در علوم و مهندسي كامپيوتر"، "مهندسي نرم*افزار و روش*هاي رسمي"، "شبكه*هاي عصبي" و "پردازش تصوير، بينايي ماشين و گرافيك كامپيوتري" از جمله نشست*هاي اين كنفرانس است.

"ارايه يك پايگاه داده مكاني"، "باز شناخت چهره"، "تشخيص هويت افراد از روي راه رفتن" و "ارزيابي محتواي وب ايران از منظر دولت الكترونيك" از جمله عناوين مقاله*هاي اين كنفرانس است.

ميزگرد "چالش*هاي پيش روي صنعت نرم*افزار در ايران" امروز سه*شنبه و "بررسي كاركرد پروژه*هاي طرح جامع و معماري سازماني در دستگاه*هاي كشور" پنج*شنبه سوم اسفند ماه برگزار مي*شود.

[Rasputin]

Music and Video Players Add Wi-Fi Access

Built-in Wi-Fi access hasn't done much to sell Microsoft's Zune or the less-well-known Music Gremlin. But Wi-Fi-equipped digital audio players are here to stay, and a new generation of devices from companies like AOL, Archos, iRiver, and Sandisk should expand the capabilities of these connected music players.

The Zune makes only limited use of its networking capability. Zune owners can share songs with each other, but the recipient can play the tracks just three times over a maximum of three days.

That left critics asking lots of questions: Why isn't there an online store that you could access without a PC? Where's the wireless syncing? And what about Internet radio? In coming months, connected audio players should have all of those features and capabilities, and more. As a result, Microsoft may well be forced to play a little bit of catch-up. Here, then, is a rundown of the forthcoming devices.

Connect in March
Anyone who is eager for a Zune alternative but who isn't too concerned about limited storage capacity should check out Sandisk's $250 Sansa Connect device. Arriving at the end of March, this 4GB player will work with a service called Zing to enable users to share playlists, stream Internet radio stations, and download tracks directly to the Sandisk portable as long as they have a Wi-Fi connection.

In addition to packing 4GB of flash memory, the Sansa Connect includes a microSD card slot for adding storage, and it supports PlaysForSure downloads and subscription services. Sandisk's player also permits you to view photos, though not video, on its 2.2-inch color screen.

[Rasputin]

Skype Asks FCC to Force Open Mobile Networks

Skype Ltd. is looking to a 1968 ruling by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to open up the country's mobile phone industry for "unlocked" devices and third-party applications -- such as Skype.

The eBay Inc. unit, a pioneer in peer-to-peer VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol), petitioned the FCC this week to affirm that the landmark Carterphone decision applies to the cellular world. That ruling, which involved an early type of wireless handset, said carriers couldn't stop consumers from attaching any device to the wired telecommunications network as long as it couldn't do any damage.

Letting any device connect to cellular networks would gradually open the door to a wide range of new choices for consumers, including handsets that use VOIP for voice calls over operators' 3G (third-generation) data networks. Almost all cell phones in use on mobile networks in the U.S. are sold by the operators and locked so they can't be used on another provider's network. But Skype's proposal also would stop carriers from blocking or forbidding applications on 3G networks -- again, as long as those applications can't damage the network.

The plan cuts to the heart of mobile operators' revenue stream, which still predominantly comes from voice calls and also depends on exclusive ringtone, music, video and other services offered by the carriers. But there's no reason the earlier ruling on the wireline phone network shouldn't apply to mobile, according to Christopher Libertelli, Skype's senior director for government and regulatory affairs. In addition, preventing carriers from blocking outside applications is in keeping with the FCC's policy on network neutrality, he said.

Cellular providers have always had closed networks, but the rollout of 3G makes possible many more uses of those networks, he said.

"What we're trying to do is get in front of that trend so that policy is set in the correct way," Libertelli said. In addition to the new rules, Skype proposed an industry forum to determine what types of devices are harmful to the wireless network.

The mobile industry promptly slammed Skype's petition. It would freeze innovation, according to a statement by Steve Largent, president and CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA), an industry group.

"Skype's self-interested filing contains glaring legal flaws and a complete disregard for the vast consumer benefits provided by the competitive marketplace," Largent said.

Skype's Libertelli said the company has a big job to do in educating cellular companies and others but believes the change would help carriers by creating new uses for their networks.

It's hard to predict how the FCC may respond to Skype's petition, said Johna Till Johnson, president of Nemertes Research, in Mokena, Illinois. In recent years the agency has been alternately supportive and wary of disruptive technologies, she said. It might even drag its heels on making a ruling, not wanting to be drawn into a big political fight. It's most likely to come down somewhere in the middle, Johnson believes.

Though the cost of phone calls might fall if Skype won, there could be a downside: Without the incentive of selling their captive services, cellular companies might be less motivated to upgrade their networks, Johnson said.

Skype expects the agency to put the petition out for public comment and response, a process that would take several weeks.

[Rasputin]

First Remote Code Bug for Office 2007 Bug

EEye Digital Security said Friday that it's found the first Office 2007 remote code vulnerability and has alerted Microsoft's bug team.

The terse warning posted to eEye's Upcoming Advisories site tags Publisher 2007, the desktop and Web publishing program included with some editions of Office, as the flawed application. "A remotely exploitable flaw exists within Publisher 2007 that allows arbitrary code to be executed in the context of the logged in user," the alert read. eEye rated the vulnerability as "high," and reported it to Microsoft a week ago.

"We're still in the back-and-forth with Microsoft [Security Response Center]," said Marc Maiffret, eEye's chief technology officer.

Microsoft confirmed it is working with eEye. "Microsoft is investigating new reports of a possible vulnerability in Publisher 2007, which has been responsibly disclosed to Microsoft [and] will continue to work with eEye to further understand this report," said a Microsoft spokesperson. "[We are] not aware of any attacks attempting to use the reported vulnerability or of customer impact at this time."

Although Maiffret declined to provide details of the vulnerability, he tacitly acknowledged that it was a bug in the Publisher 2007 file format. "Ninety percent of the time, [Office] bugs are in file formats. This is basically the same."

Users of Microsoft's Office productivity suites -- going as far back as Office 2000 and including the more recent Office 2003 -- have confronted a flood of flaws in the last 14 months. During 2006, Microsoft unveiled 13 security updates for Office 2000 and 11 for Office 2003; in the first two months of 2007, it's rolled out four bulletins for Office 2000 and six for Office 2003.

"Microsoft's been talking up Office 2007 as one of the first products that went through the Security Development Lifecycle, and telling everyone how great it would be," said Maiffret. "That's interesting, but this [vulnerability] shows that there still are going to be problems.

"With both Vista and Office 2007, it doesn't seem like Microsoft is really talking about compelling functionality. Instead, they're talking about security," Maiffret said. "That's crazy. The software should already have been secure."

Among the other outstanding alerts listed by eEye is one that affects Windows Vista -- and no other Microsoft operating system -- which was reported to the developer Jan. 19.