Pc News

[Rasputin]

MSN Works to Pacify Publishers

Looking to avoid the kind of legal tangle that Google has found itself in, Microsoft's MSN division in Belgium is in talks with a group of newspaper publishers over the rights to publish their content on its Web site.

The newspaper group, called Copiepresse, wrote a letter to MSN Belgium earlier this week, asking it to stop posting Belgian newspaper articles to its Web site without permission, said Margaret Boribon, the group's secretary general.

Copyright Suit
Copiepresse argues that search engine companies are profiting unfairly by posting content from its members' newspapers on their sites, where they often sell advertising. The search sites, such as Google News, typically post the first paragraph or two from the newspaper article and then a link to the publication's own Web site.

Copiepresse took Google to court over the matter. In September it won a ruling that required Google to remove the French and German language newspapers published in Belgium from its Web sites. Google complied, but has also appealed the ruling and is set to argue its case November 24.

MSN is being more cooperative than Google, according to Boribon. Representatives from MSN Belgium met with a lawyer from Copiepresse this week to discuss a compromise that would allow MSN to keep publishing the Belgian newspaper content, she said.

"MSN doesn't want to have a court case, that's for sure," she said. "We have met with them and they understand our point of view. We have to find a compromise ... that is a win-win situation for both sides."

Copiepresse has asked MSN to come up with some proposals for a compromise and will meet with the company again next week, Boribon said. Meanwhile, MSN has started to remove some Belgian newspaper content from its site, she said.

Nothing has been decided, but one possible solution would be for MSN Belgium to share a portion of its advertising revenue with the publishers. "That is one option we are hoping for," Boribon said.

Newspapers Watch Progress
MSN, through its public relations agency in Europe, confirmed that it received a "cease and desist" letter from Copiepresse, which it is in the process of reviewing. It said it could not comment further on the matter.

The group, which represents some of Belgium's best known newspapers, including Le Soir and Le Libre, has been gathering more support for its cause. It was joined this week by separate groups that represent Belgian photographers, journalists, scientific authors and multimedia publishers, who plan to back its efforts.

Meanwhile, Copiepresse complains that Google is not complying fully with the court's order. Some stories by the Belgian publications still appear in cached pages of its Web site, Boribon said.

Google countered that it has completely complied with the court's order, going as far as to remove the Belgian newspaper stories from its Google News site worldwide, not just in Belgium. Google News does not have a separate cache, and the Google search engine will not provide links to cached pages if they have been removed from its search results, said a spokeswoman for Google in the U.K.

The moves by Copiepresse have been closely watched because of the wider implication they may have for the ability of Web sites to aggregate content from third parties. Critics have noted that search engines publish only a small portion of the publishers' contents, and that Google can help to drive substantial traffic to Web sites.

"That's true, and what we intend to do is to remain on Google and other search engines," Boribon said. "But it must be done in a way that is fair."

[Rasputin]

Microsoft opens virtual drives for free

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Microsoft said on Tuesday it would allow anyone to use its specifications for "virtual" drives, which enable one computer to run several operating systems, with the promise never to sue for infringement of its legal rights.

The Microsoft virtualisation software has been available for more than two years, but as computers become more powerful the use of virtualisation is expected to mushroom, the company said at a news conference.

The software permits the easy use of several operating systems on one machine. So, for example, dangerous software could be installed on a virtual machine without affecting the host computer.

The company's specifications will be made available to anyone who wants to use them under an "Open Specification Promise," introduced last month.

The company said the license was "an irrevocable promise from Microsoft to every individual and organization in the world to make use of this patented technology for free, now and forever when implementing specified open standards."

Earlier this year, Microsoft said it would team up with Linux supplier XenSource to supply the virtual specifications to permit Windows and Linux to run on the same machines.

Such virtual software is also made by VMWare, a unit of EMC Corp., which helped pioneer the market.

The question of making software open to others has been at issue in Brussels, where the European Commission has ordered Microsoft to share protocols with rival makers of servers.

[Rasputin]

Tokyo Edge: The Nintendo Wii, PlayStation Portable Add-Ons, and Blu-Ray Burners

TOKYO-- Gamers all over Japan are preparing for the launch of the PlayStation 3 on November 11. The highly anticipated game console is sure to sell out on the first day, partly because of PlayStation's popularity and partly because Sony is supplying only 100,000 units for the launch.


Adding to the competition is the Nintendo Wii, which launches on December 2 in Japan and on November 19 in the United States.


In late September, IDG News got a chance to play both the PlayStation 3 and the Wii for the first time. Our verdict: The PlayStation 3 is certainly much more powerful than the consoles that have gone before it and its graphics are amazing, but the Wii really impressed by bringing a whole new dimension to gaming with its innovative controller.

Nintendo Wii

The Nintendo Wii will cost $250 in the States and 25,000 yen in Japan. That's a good deal cheaper than the PlayStation 3, which will cost about twice as much, and less than Microsoft's Xbox 360--good news for parents. The Wii will come with a wireless controller that is a lot of fun to use. The console has motion sensors so it can be swung like a bat in a baseball game or swept like a racket in a tennis game. The video isn't high-definition, unlike the competing consoles, but the fun factor is considerable.

Sony PlayStation Portable Camera and GPS Add-On

We've been waiting for the camera and GPS (Global Positioning System) add-ons for the PlayStation Portable from Sony ever since the manufacturer promised them earlier this year. The camera and the GPS unit will cost a reasonable $42 and $50, respectively. The camera is a 1.3-megapixel model and can record both JPEG and Motion JPEG video with audio. The GPS unit will initially work with four pieces of software, one of which is a navigation guide so you can use the device to find your way around. There's no word yet on international availability.

Samsung 10MP Camera Phone

Remember that 10-megapixel camera phone that Samsung first showed at the CeBIT show in March? Well, it's finally coming on the market in South Korea. Originally due in this year's second quarter, the phone will go on sale this month. Like some of the company's previous phones, the SCH-B600 is styled to look like a conventional digital still camera from one side and a bar-type cell phone from the other side. It has a 3X optical zoom lens like those typically found in digital still cameras; it also has autofocus, manual focus, continuous and time-delay picture-taking, and a flash. Other features include a tuner for South Korea's TU Media satellite multimedia service. It will cost $950 in South Korea; Samsung says it will not be selling the device in other markets.

Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Recorders

Panasonic will arrive at the Blu-ray Disc party in November with a pair of recorders that pack hard drives and the ability to play back commercial high-definition movies. These models--the DMR-BW200 and the DMR-BR100--are mostly similar; however, the higher-spec BW200 offers more than double the hard-disk recording capacity of the BR100--a total of 500 gigabytes versus 200GB. It also offers a few extra features such as an iLink (IEEE 1394) connector, an ethernet socket, and support for AAC audio playback from memory cards. The recorders won't come cheap. In Japan, the BW200 will cost around $2550, and the BR100 will cost around $2010; both are due to go on sale November 15. Prices and launch dates for other markets were not disclosed.

Sony Blu-ray Disc Recorders

Not to be outdone in the Blu-ray Disc race, Sony followed Panasonic with the announcement of its own two recorders. The machines both feature hard-disk drives for day-to-day recording and a Blu-ray Disc drive for longer-term storage. The BDZ-V9 has a 500GB drive, and the BDZ-V7 has a 250GB drive. Each recorder has two digital tuners so that two high-definition programs can be recorded simultaneously. A major difference between the Sony and the Panasonic machines is that, while both play back 50GB dual-layer discs, only the Panasonic can record to them as well. The Sony machine will record only to 25GB single-layer discs. The higher capacity BDZ-V9 will launch on December 8, and the BDZ-V7 will follow on December 16. The recorders will cost $2541 and $2118, respectively. Launching the products internationally is possible, but nothing has been decided as yet, Sony says.

HTC Windows Mobile Phone

With e-mail and other advanced features built into every cell phone, devices such as PDAs (personal digital assistants) have never done well in Japan. However, competition in the market and the adoption of a global standard in WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) means High Tech Computer's latest Windows Mobile device will soon reach Japanese shores. The Softbank X01HT, as it is called, features HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) download speeds of up to 1.8 megabits per second and uploads of 384 kilobits per second, and wireless LAN. It runs on Windows Mobile 5.0 and has the Microsoft Office suite, as well as Explorer Mobile. The QWERTY keyboard allows users to input data or play music on Windows Media Player. No price has been announced. The phone is likely to appear in other markets through local carriers.

R&D Corner: Hitachi Maxell SVOD

Hitachi Maxell has developed a thin optical disc that could lead to data cartridges capable of storing terabytes of information. The Stacked Volumetric Optical Disc (SVOD) is less than a tenth of a millimeter thick, which would allow many of the discs to be stacked together in a cartridge. The cartridge would slot into a dedicated drive, and the discs would be pulled out of the cartridge automatically by a mechanism inside the unit and mounted into the drive. Such an SVOD system would be targeted at commercial storage applications. The company says that an SVOD system about the same size as a tower PC will be able to hold 4.7 terabytes of data, and that a 19-inch rack-mount model will be able to hold three times that amount of data. A working prototype was demonstrated at the Ceatec exhibition in Japan in October, but there's no time frame on commercialization.

[Rasputin]

Microsoft Releases Guidelines for Customer Privacy

Criticized in the past for an initiative that would require the company to collect and catalog personal information about its customers, Microsoft today released an internal document about how it protects customers' privacy. The software giant said it hopes that other companies will adopt similar practices.

The company publicly published the 49-page document, called Microsoft's Privacy Guidelines for Developing Software Products and Services, at the International Association of Privacy Professionals Privacy Academy 2006 in Toronto.


The document outlines recommendations for software developers that will help them protect customer privacy when building applications that deal with sensitive information, such as Web sites or Web-based features that send personal information over the Internet, said Peter Cullen, Microsoft's chief privacy strategist. He will speak on a panel at the show on Friday, sharing and discussing the document with attendees there.


For example, Cullen said, Microsoft has implemented a way to erase personal information in the new phishing filter it has built for its Internet Explorer browser. The filter, designed to protect users when they surf to online sites that could use phishing to steal personal information, compares sites that users visit to known phishing sites. Before going to any site to do this verification, however, the filter erases any personal information that would identify which user visited, he said.

Sometimes Insensitive?

Microsoft has not always been seen as sensitive to customer privacy. Five years ago, the company tried to implement a project code-named Hailstorm that would have stored personal and credit-card information and passwords so users could easily log in to various sites. Customers balked at the idea of Microsoft controlling their personal information, and the project never lived up to its hype.


Cullen said Microsoft has learned a lot from such experiences and wants other companies to implement the practices it has developed to protect customer privacy.


"Certainly that and other things have contributed to us thinking deeply with how we provide security and privacy, as well as respect and control with how their information is used," he said. "We think others should join in this discussion."


Microsoft also got into some hot water earlier this year when it was disclosed that a new antipiracy feature in its Windows client operating system, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), was sending information from PCs to an internal Microsoft server without users' knowledge through an automatic notification feature. The feature was checking to see if a user's copy of Microsoft Windows was legitimate, in cases where that copy had not yet been verified as authentic. After some people complained that the software was acting like spyware, Microsoft removed the offending feature.


Cullen said the uproar over WGA's notification features and Microsoft's subsequent removal of it give the company "the benefit of hindsight."


"We didn't spend enough time to make sure [the feature] met our standards," he said.


Microsoft continues to do everything it can to avoid violating customer privacy in its products, and will continue to review each product carefully to make sure it meets the internal standards made public today, he added.

[Rasputin]

Yahoo's new Web search ad system ready

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) has begun shipping its previously delayed upgrade to the Web search advertising system that will help it compete with rival Google Inc and expects to begin selling ads on the system early next year, the company's CEO said on Tuesday.

"Starting today, we've begun inviting advertisers in the U.S. to upgrade to the new campaign management application," Terry Semel told investors on a conference call following the Internet media company's third-quarter results.

Shares, which had traded down after the company cut its fourth-quarter revenue outlook, sprang higher in extended trade, gaining $1.25 to $25.40, up 5.2 percent from the stock's regular session closing price of $24.15 on Nasdaq.

Semel said the company plans to work with advertisers through the rest of this quarter and is on track to begin selling advertising on the new search system early next year.

"I also want to reaffirm that the introduction of the marketplace design in the U.S. remains on schedule for the first quarter of next year," he said of the planned introduction of the system, codenamed Project Panama.

Yahoo's top executive said that lower than expected results in the third quarter and a reduced forecast for its fourth quarter reflected a shift in the online ad market as corporate advertisers chase younger customers on new social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube.

"The market is going through a significant transition with new forms of inventory becoming available from a range of new and established competitors," he said.

[Rasputin]

Final Version of Internet Explorer 7 Now Available

Microsoft today released the long-awaited version of the Internet Explorer 7 browser for the Windows XP operating system. It is the first major new version of Internet Explorer since 2001.

IE 7 for Windows XP is available as a free download, and it also will be offered as a high-priority update via Microsoft's Automatic Updates service starting in November.

(Read PC World's extensive review of IE 7's features compared to those in the latest version of Mozilla's popular Firefox 2.0 browser.)

The IE 7, which shares roughly 50 percent of IE 6's code, runs on Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP 64-bit Edition, and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1. Initially available only in English, it will be available in other languages in the coming weeks, Microsoft said.

It is a "subset" of the version of IE 7 that will be included as part of <link type="internal" src="/ link type="internal" src="/article/id,127446/article.html">Windows Vista</link>, the next version of Microsoft's client OS. Vista's version of IE 7 will contain two additional security features--protected mode and parental controls--than the version of the browser that runs on XP. Vista is on track to ship to business customers in November and to the general public in January 2007, according to Microsoft.

New Features
Some of the new features available in IE 7 include built-in support for RSS (really simple syndication) feeds, tabbed browsing and improved security, including an antiphishing filter that helps ensure users are not providing personal information to known phishing sites. The antiphishing feature also includes site analysis to try and warn about previously unknown phishing sites.

With IE 7, Microsoft hopes to win back some browser market share it's lost to Mozilla's open-source Firefox browser, and according to the latest figures from OneStat.com, an Web analytics company, early releases of IE 7 seem to be doing just that.

According to OneStat.com figures published earlier this month, IE globally has 85.85 percent market share, an increase in share of 2.8 percent since July 2006. Firefox's market share is currently 11.49 percent, according to the firm, a decrease of 1.44 percent since July.

For the United States, IE currently enjoys a 80.77 percent share with Firefox at 14.88 percent. This is compared to measurements made in July by OneStat.com, which showed IE with a 79.7 percent share compared to Firefox with 15.82 percent of the market.

[Rasputin]

Digital Gear: Chilling Out With PlayStation 3

In anticipation of the highly touted November launch of Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) gaming console, peripheral announcements are trickling in. Logitech's ChillStream controller for PlayStation 3 includes a fan to cool down sweaty palms. Nyko Technologies announced its inexpensive Intercooler system to cool the PlayStation 3 console, whose advanced chips and components are likely to generate a lot of heat. Meanwhile, ViewSonic has launched its latest pair of ViewDock monitors, which have iPod docking stations and speakers to play songs from an iPod.

Logitech's Cooling Machine
Hoping to make a big splash in the PlayStation 3 market,Logitech is focusing on introducing accessories that users need. The first product it announced is the ChillStream for PlayStation 3, a controller with a fan to keep it cool. The built-in fan circulates air in the direction of the user's palm and of the four fingers most frequently used in game play. A user can set the fan at high, low, or off. Though most fans tend to be noisy, Logitech spokesperson Pamela McCracken says the tiny fans in the Chillstream will be silent.

Logitech's device addresses a long-standing gamer complaint about sweaty hands during game play, McCracken said. Controllers can heat up easily because of their heavy power consumption.

The $40 controller plugs into the PS3's USB port. Logitech plans to release it simultaneously with the arrival of the PlayStation 3, McCracken said. Sony has slated the PS3's launch for November 11 in Japan and November 17 in the United States.

Nyko's Cool, Too
Los Angeles-based Nyko already has the Intercooler for Xbox 360, an external cooling device with multiple fans that lowers the temperature on those hot Xbox 360 consoles. Nyko recently announced a corresponding Intercooler system for PlayStation 3; like the version for Xbox 360, this external system will attach to the back of the console and use multiple fans to send air through a vent for cooling.

Running additional fans reduces the internal temperature of the gaming boxes, and Nyko marketing manager Chris Arbogast says that the Intercooler will lower the PS3's internal temperature by up to 10 Fahrenheit degrees (5.5 Celsius degrees). With advanced microprocessors and cramped components, today's gaming boxes generate a lot of heat, and cooling them could significantly lengthen their lifespan, Arbogast said.

First you plug a PS3 into an Intercooler, and then you plug that into a wall socket. With the Intercooler attached to the PS3's back, you can orient the PS3 vertically or horizontally.

Like Nyko's Intercooler for Xbox 360, the PS3 cooling system will sell for between $20 and $30. The system will be available--first in the United States, and then worldwide--by the end of the year, Arbogast said.

ViewSonic Goes iPod
ViewSonic's latest ViewDock monitors have built-in iPod boom boxes. The 19-inch ViewDock VX1945WM and 22-inch ViewDock VX2245WM monitors come with iPod docking stations that can play songs from an iPod on the monitors' speakers and subwoofers. The docking station can also recharge the iPod's battery.

Unfortunately, video from an iPod won't play on the monitors, according to Tracy Kather, a ViewSonic spokesperson. In addition, the PC must be running for you to use the display's iPod functions.

On each monitor the subwoofer and speakers play audio at 3 watts and 2.5 watts, respectively, Kather said. Each monitor has a headphone jack; an eight-in-one smart card reader; four USB ports for input devices such as keyboards, mice, and game controllers; a microphone; and digital and analog inputs. The USB ports can also play music from other MP3 players, said Kather, and the displays are compatible with Windows and Mac OS PCs.

The $449 ViewDock VX2245WM supports a maximum resolution of 1680 by 1050 pixels, while the $329 ViewDock VX1945wm can handle up to 1440 by 900 pixels. Both monitors have a 5-millisecond response rate.

Tough Digital Camera for Paparazzini
Toddlers can get their mitts on a suitably rough-and-tumble digital camera, the KidTough, from Fisher-Price. This sturdy digicam snaps 640-by-480-pixel pictures that kids can preview on the device's 1.3-inch LCD. KidTough also has a built-in auto flash, 8MB of memory, and a Secure Digital slot for extra storage. The camera runs on four AA batteries and comes with photo software that works with Windows 2000, Me, and XP. At $70, this camera sounds like a good, affordable option for kids who might damage other digital cameras in their pursuit of the perfect shot.

[Rasputin]

Review: Radically New Internet Explorer Is a Worthwhile Upgrade

Version 7 of Microsoft's dominant Web browser packs in interface changes, many new features, and plenty of under-the-hood updates. It also arrives just before version 2 of the up-and-coming Firefox browser, which may be just days away. So which new browser is your best bet?

Firefox 2 offers no radical changes compared with version 1.5, which came out a year ago. It's a measured step, purposely non-jarring for current Firefox users. A built-in antiphishing tool makes its first appearance, but most other changes simply refine many of the same features that are new to IE 7. Version 2 polishes tabbed browsing, newsfeed support, and add-on management. Regrettably, you'll still find some sites written specifically for IE that don't look right in Firefox 2. However, you can add a plug-in that will let you view a site in IE to get around the problem; my favorite is IE View. You can download a near-final release candidate 3 today. The final version should be available at the same site within a week, and existing users of the browser will receive a notice about version 2 once Mozilla has made a minor update to version 1.5 a few weeks after version 2 is out.

Microsoft had further to go to bring IE up to par with the competition (IE 6 was released in 2001), and so IE 7 is a more thorough overhaul of its predecessor. You can't miss the new user interface, with tabbed browsing, integrated searching, and newsfeed support. Microsoft also added an antiphishing tool and boosted IE 7's security in response to seemingly never-ending IE 6 holes. Over a few months, the company will prod users to get version 7 via Automatic Updates; you can also download it at any time. (A final version for Windows Vista will ship with Vista early in 2007.)

For this story, we evaluated feature-complete release candidates of both browsers, IE7 RC1 and Firefox 2 RC2, prior to their final release.

(Use the menu dragdown below to see what PC World thinks of the features in each browser.)

[Rasputin]

Samsung Shows 70-inch HD LCD Panel

YOKOHAMA, JAPAN -- Samsung Electronics has taken the wraps off a 70-inch LCD panel that it hopes will help boost the competitiveness of LCD technology in the big-screen TV sector.

The panel refreshes the picture 120 times a second--double that of the LCD panels used in most TVs. In a demonstration at the FPD International 2006 show in Yokohama, Japan, on Wednesday, images and text scrolling across the panel appeared to move more smoothly than on existing LCD TVs.

Samsung plans to begin commercial production of the 70-inch panel early next year, and it should be available in TV sets in the months following.

Their launch will mark another step by LCD technology into a part of the market currently dominated by plasma display panels (PDPs). When flat-panel TVs first started becoming popular the division between LCDs and PDPs was at around the 42-inch mark, but LCD makers have been steadily launching larger screens.

LCDs Gain Momentum
Competition between LCD and PDP makers is fierce because so much money is at stake. The market in screens for flat-panel TVs is expected to be worth $29.6 billion this year, up 60 percent on last year, according to a report published on Tuesday by DisplaySearch.

Revenue from LCD panels is expected to account for 71 percent of that market, up from two thirds in 2005, with PDPs falling from 39 percent to 27 percent of revenue, said DisplaySearch.

Samsung Electronics is one of the world's largest display makers. In the quarter to September it sold LCD panels worth $3.2 billion, up 12 percent from a year earlier. Demand for panels for big-screen TVs was strong, the company said in a statement on Monday when announcing quarterly earnings. More than half of the 3 million TV panels sold by Samsung during the quarter were 40 inches or larger, according to the company.

[Rasputin]

Even Higher High-Def TV Forecast

YOKOHAMA, JAPAN -- Flat-panel maker Chi Mei Optoelectronics is looking ahead to a day when high-definition is even better than it is now.

The Taiwanese company has developed a 47-inch LCD panel that has 1440 horizontal picture lines (current high-definition TVs have 720 or 1080 picture lines) and plans to put it into production next year, company representatives said at the FPD International 2006 exhibition here today.

Support for 1440 line video is included in the new HDMI 1.3 specification.

Second Large LCD
The display, which wasn't on show in Yokohama, is one of two large-size panels the company has developed that boast higher-than-high-definition resolution. The other, which made its debut at last year's show as a prototype, has just gone into mass production, said Vivian Chen, a senior manager in the company's TV business division.

The 56-inch widescreen set has a resolution of 3840 pixels by 2160 pixels, which gives it twice as many picture lines as current HDTV. That means the display boasts four times as many pixels as a panel found in a top-of-the-line HDTV.

The display isn't destined for the TV market but for specialist applications such as medical imaging, industrial and military use, Chen said. Such users are willing to pay a premium for higher-resolution displays. Chi Mei didn't disclose a price for the display panel.

Rival Panels
While Chi Mei was first with such a large-size, high-definition panel it's not the only company pursuing the market. At the Ceatec show earlier in October, Japanese flat-panel maker Sharp unveiled a prototype 64-inch panel with a resolution of 4096 pixels by 2160 pixels.

Sharp said it developed the prototype for the motion picture industry, where the move to digital film making is creating a demand for higher resolution displays on which editors and producers can view movies.

[Rasputin]

Hackers' Project Hides Browser-Busting Code

Hackers are developing new software that will help hide browser attack code from some types of security software.

The software, called eVade o' Matic Module (VoMM), uses a variety of techniques to mix up known exploit code so as to make it unrecognizable to some types of antivirus software.

Using these techniques, VoMM "can create an endless number of variants of an exploit," said Aviv Raff, one of the developers behind the project.

"It aims to provide several techniques out of the box to make browser exploits (mostly) undetectable," according to a blog posting by one of the project's founders, a hacker going by the name of "LMH."

Delivered Via Web Site
The software users server-side scripting technology to create new versions of the exploit code, which then get delivered to browser users when they visit the attacker's Web site. By making a number of cosmetic changes to the code that do not affect its functionality, VoMM creates a new version of the malicious software that cannot be detected by "signature-based" techniques.

Signature-based antivirus products analyze known malware and then create a digital fingerprint that allows the antivirus software to identify malicious code. By adding extra components--tabs and spaces, and random comments and variable names--that are not included in known signatures, VOMM creates software that can evade detection.

The VoMM code is expected to be included in a new module for the upcoming 3.0 version of the widely-used Metasploit hacking toolkit, Raff said. Metasploit developer HD Moore is also developing the VoMM software. Raff describes the project in his blog posting.

[Rasputin]

Irked Users Seek Vista Licensing Clarification

Windows users are raising concerns about Microsoft's new licensing for Windows Vista that will allow them to transfer a Vista license to only one machine other than the computer for which it was purchased.

The new licensing has caused confusion, especially for power users who rebuild their computers with new components several times a year, or who plan to upgrade their computers more than once in the lifetime of the OS. Users are demanding clarification from Microsoft about how scenarios like these will play out under the new licensing.

A Sample Scenario
"My question about the one-time transfer is, what constitutes a machine?" asks Windows user Roger Halstead. "I have four machines and they are running legal copies of XP Pro. Those four machines are in a constant state of upgrade. I have to reactivate the OS around three or four times a year due to upgrades."

Halstead says that if he is not allowed to continuously upgrade his machine without purchasing new licenses, then "Vista will not be a viable operating system for me."

"I can stay on XP Pro, which I probably will [do] as long as I can, but what happens when MS no longer supports XP?" he asks. "If I have to do a reinstall, will I be able to get it to work?"

Unfortunately, Microsoft has so far been unable to answer these kinds of questions from users. Contacted Wednesday to clarify Vista's licensing in such an instance, by this morning Microsoft's public relations firm still did not have an answer.

More Confusion
Don Smutny, a software developer for the DST Technologies division of DST Systems in Kansas City, Missouri, considers the one-license transfer a message from Microsoft that "they don't care if you ever run Vista."

He, too, says it isn't clear what, for Microsoft, constitutes a new PC that would require another Vista license purchase. With XP, it's considered a license transfer with "every motherboard, CPU or hard-drive upgrade," he says. If Microsoft follows the same tack with Vista, things could get extremely complicated and pricey for users, Smutny says.

He adds that this kind of move from Microsoft is the sort of thing that would inspire users to switch to an alternative desktop if transferring and using Windows applications on that platform was easy.

"If someone could come up with a Linux distribution that was just as easy to use as XP, and included Windows-emulation software that would allow users to play their Windows-based games without a large performance hit, then you will finally see the shift of OS use that the Linux folks have been saying is 'coming soon' for the last 10 years," Smutny says.

'Arrogant'
Smutny isn't the only user who is downright angry with Microsoft for its new licensing practice. Another Windows user, Mark Smith, who has his own business developing custom data-acquistiion and analysis packages for industrial applications, says the policy shows how "arrogant" Microsoft has become.

"It knows that governments (both the U.S. and E.U.) are essentially powerless to effect any changes to the Microsoft status quo," he wrote in an e-mail. "It also knows there are no real competitors (Apple and Linux notwithstanding). So its new attitude is 'To hell with the customer, we're going to do whatever we want because the customer has no choice but to buy Vista.'"

Like Smutny, Smith says that he, too, has been on the lookout for years for a viable alternative to Windows so that he does not have to do business with Microsoft.

"I've tried all the competitors and hoped that IBM would have stuck it out and created a viable competitor; they were close," he says. "There certainly is a huge market, so we can always hope."

[Rasputin]

Reported IE 7 Bug Not in Browser

A flaw that research firm Secunia claimed to have discovered in Internet Explorer 7 just hours after its unveiling is not a browser bug after all, Microsoft said today.

Instead, the problem lies in a component of Microsoft's Outlook Express e-mail client, which can be triggered by the browser.

The flaw could be used in phishing attacks to read sensitive information from the IE browser, Secunia said. The Danish security firm first reported the problem with the IE 6 browser in April and found that it could be reproduced on IE 7 as well.

Secunia does not consider the problem to be critical, but it was widely reported because its discovery came so soon after IE 7's launch.

Not Accurate, Says Microsoft
"These reports are technically inaccurate," wrote Christopher Budd, a security program manager with Microsoft, in a blog posting. "The issue concerned in these reports is not in Internet Explorer 7 (or any other version) at all."

One security researcher said he was surprised that Microsoft had apparently not informed Secunia of the nature of this bug back in April, when it was first disclosed.

"They reported this in ... April," said Secure Network SRL Chief Technology Officer Stefano Zanero in an instant message interview. "Microsoft should have investigated then and should have already reported the bug to be not in IE."

"How was Secunia supposed to know?" he asked.

A spokesman with Microsoft's public relations agency could not say what response Microsoft had made to Secunia's first report of the problem back in April. "All I can tell you is that the ... blog is the latest and greatest information we have to share," he said.

[Rasputin]

Semiconductor Execs Indicted for DRAM Price Fixing

A U.S. grand jury has indicted three former semiconductor vendor executives, two from Samsung Electronics and one from Hynix Semiconductor America, for their alleged roles in a "global conspiracy" to fix DRAM prices, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Indicted Wednesday were Il Ung Kim, former vice president of marketing for Samsung's memory division; Young Bae Rha, former vice president of sales and market for Samsung's memory division; and Gary Swanson, former senior vice president of memory sales and marketing for Hynix America.

They are charged with being co-conspirators in a price-fixing scheme involving multiple semiconductor vendors between April 2001 and June 2002. The three attended meetings in which the price of DRAM was discussed, agreed to fix prices, and exchanged information with competitors on the prices charged to computer makers, according to the indictment.

The three are each charged with participating in the conspiracy to suppress competition in violation of the U.S. Sherman Antitrust Act. The maximum penalty for the conviction of a Sherman Act violation occurring before June 22, 2004 is three years in prison and a $350,000 fine.

The maximum fines may be increased in certain situations.

Ongoing Investigation
Including Wednesday's charges, four companies and 16 individuals have been charged in the Justice Department's DRAM price-fixing probe. The investigation has resulted in $731 million in fines, the second highest total obtained by the Department of Justice in a criminal antitrust investigation aimed at one industry.

DRAM is the most commonly used semiconductor memory product, used in a variety of devices including PCs, laptops, printers, hard disk drives, PDAs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and telecommunication hubs and routers. There were about $7.7 billion in U.S. DRAM sales in 2004, according to the Justice Department.

Three foreign-based Samsung executives pleaded guilty to the DRAM price-fixing conspiracy in March and August. They agreed to serve prison terms ranging from seven to eight months and to each pay a $250,000 fine. In September, a fourth Samsung executive agreed to plead guilty to the DRAM price-fixing conspiracy.

In addition, four Hynix Semiconductor executives were charged with participating in the DRAM price-fixing conspiracy and agreed to plead guilty and serve jail terms ranging from five to eight months and to each pay a $250,000 fine. In December 2004, four executives of Infineon Technologies pleaded guilty to the DRAM price-fixing conspiracy. The Infineon employees served jail terms ranging from four to six months, and each paid a $250,000 fine.

Four companies have been charged with price-fixing in the DRAM investigation. Samsung pleaded guilty to the price-fixing conspiracy and was sentenced to pay a $300 million fine in November 2005. Hynix, the world's second largest DRAM manufacturer, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $185 million fine in May 2005. Japanese manufacturer Elpida Memory pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay an $84 million fine in March. German manufacturer Infineon pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $160 million fine in October 2004.

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Samsung Develops 50-Nanometer DDR DRAM

Samsung Electronics has developed the first DDR2 DRAM chips in the world using 50-nanometer manufacturing technology, an important improvement as PC manufacturers gear up for adoption of Microsoft's Vista OS.

Although the world's largest DRAM maker won't use the 50nm technology in mass production until 2008, the development shows that memory chip makers are preparing for the transition to Vista. Market researcher Gartner, for one, expects a gradual shift to Vista by users, and memory chips are going to be a key consideration for systems makers and users.

Memory-Hungry Vista
Microsoft has already offered two sets of guidelines for hardware makers readying Vista-ready PCs and laptops. Systems with 512MB of DRAM will win a Windows Vista Capable PC logo from Microsoft. PC systems with 1GB will gain a Windows Vista Premium Ready logo, which Microsoft says means "an even better" user experience, including for example, real-time thumbnail previews; new 3-D task switching; and interface scaling.

PC vendors have already started adding more DRAM to systems to ensure they're Vista-ready, a guarantee to users that purchasing a PC right now won't mean the system will be obsolete soon after the actual launch of Vista.

"Most 'Vista-Ready' PCs have 1GB of DDR2 inside, and the 'consumer PCs' usually have 2GB," said Ben Tseng, a vice president at Taiwanese DRAM maker ProMOS Technologies. The move by PC makers to ensure new systems are Vista-capable has already increased the average amount of DRAM per PC to 800MB in the third quarter, he added, and the company expects average DRAM content-per-PC to increase to 900MB in the fourth quarter.

DRAM Shortage Looming?
DRAM is a potential fly in the ointment for a quick ramp up of Vista next year. There may not be enough to go around if users buy new Vista PCs immediately. Memory chip makers have focused on building production lines for more lucrative NAND flash memory in recent years, due to strong user demand for iPods, digital cameras, and other NAND-hungry gadgets. Rapid price increases for DDR2 in recent months has helped steer attention back to DRAM, but it's a bit late, since it usually takes more than a year to build a new DRAM factory, and costs billions of dollars.

The best way to increase chip production without an entire new factory is to shrink manufacturing technology, such as Samsung's 50nm success. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, and the term describes the size of the smallest features on a chip. In general, making the features smaller increases the number of chips a company can produce per month on one line, as well as improving chip speed and power efficiency.

Samsung says the 50nm technology will increase production efficiency by 55 percent over its 60nm production process, and lower per-chip costs. Most DRAM makers currently use 90nm technology for the bulk of their chip manufacturing these days, while some have made the transition to smaller 80nm and 70nm sizes.

The key to the vastly improved production technologies at 50nm were several chip design improvements, Samsung said, such as the use of a special 3D transistor, called a selective epitaxial growth transistor (SEG tr), that reduces chip power consumption and increases performance by optimizing the speed of each chip's electrons. Samsung also tweaked the design to increase storage capacity and improve storage reliability.