38607519
submission
tdog17 writes:
Computer users who download key generators that extend the life of trial software are more likely than not to suffer malware infections on their machines, according to Microsoft. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/100912-microsoft-malware-263181.html?hpg1=bn Machines with key-gen software have malicious code running on them 76% of the time, the company says.
38396225
submission
tdog17 writes:
If Windows 8 flops Microsoft will have a headache as it persists trying to get it to catch on, businesses will have to stick with Windows 7 longer and consumers will either take it as it is or move to a Mac or iPad, maybe an Android machine.
33689179
submission
tdog17 writes:
It seems strange — and it is — but Microsoft is launching an application programming system called on{X} for Android phones that make it easy for Java-savvy users to turn the phones into smart, hypervigilant assistants — something you can't do yet with Windows phones.
31818185
submission
tdog17 writes:
Microsoft has officially named the four flavors of Windows 8, including the version for tablets and other ARM devices — Windows RT. Publicly posted comments range from "yet another giant FAIL" to "Windows RT is a stupid and pointless name." The name could confuse users about what exactly Windows RT is and could slow its being recognized as a rival of the iPad.
31304135
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Major tech vendors are funding patent trolls, companies that derive the bulk of their income, if not all of it, from licensing huge libraries of patents they hold as well as by suing companies that use their patents without permission, according to an investigation by Computerworld. Tech companies — including Apple and Micron — have railed against patent 'nuisance' lawsuits, only to fund or otherwise support some of the patent trolls. Because of patent trolls, more politely called mass patent aggregators, patent litigation has in part increased by more than 230% over the past 20 years. 'Most of the major tech companies are backing a troll in some way, probably financially,' says Thomas Ewing, an attorney who has authored reports on what he calls 'patent privateering'.
31232869
submission
alphadogg writes:
For the first time ever, and probably only temporarily, Microsoft can be counted as a key contributor to Linux. The company, which once portrayed the open-source OS kernel as a form of cancer, has been ranked 17th on a tally of the largest code contributors to Linux. The Linux Foundation's Linux Development Report, released Tuesday, summarizes who has contributed to the Linux kernel, from versions 2.6.36 to 3.2. The 10 largest contributors listed in the report are familiar names: Red Hat, Intel, Novell, IBM, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Nokia, Samsung, Oracle and Google. But the appearance of Microsoft is a new one for the list, compiled annually.
31093933
submission
tdog17 writes:
Windows 8's touch capability is meant for hardware that hasn't been made yet, so running it on Windows 7 machines can be frustrating and certainly less than you might hope for.
31057031
submission
Lucas123 writes:
While magnetic tape is about as boring as technology gets, it's still the cheapest storage medium and among the fastest in sequential reads and writes. And, with the release of LTO-6 with 8TB cartridges around the corner and the relatively new open linear tape file system (LTFS) being embraced by movie and television markets, tape is taking on a new life. It may even climb out of the dusty archives that cheap disk has relegated it to. "Over the last two years, disk drives have gotten bigger, they've gone from 1TB to 3TB, but they haven't gotten faster. They're more like tape. Meanwhile, tape is going the other direction, it's getting faster," said Mark Lemmons, CTO of Thought Equity Motion, a cloud storage service for the motion picture industry.
30155545
submission
tdog17 writes:
Google Chrome was compromised by contestants in two separate browser-cracking competitions at CanSecWest, with two more days of attempts yet to go. Google has patched vulnerabilities that led to one hack but not the other.
29636249
submission
tdog17 writes:
An image of the Windows 8 logo leaked last week was hacked from the design studio’s network and posted to a Chinese Web site, and a lot of the design subtleties have been overlooked as a result. Plus the image is distorted.
28798089
submission
tdog17 writes:
If the presidential election were determined by how fast the candidates' Web pages download, President Obama would lose to any of his Republican challengers, according to a review by the president of Web optimizing vendor Strangeloop.
28121544
submission
Lucas123 writes:
IBM researchers say they've been able to shrink the number of iron atoms it takes to store a bit of data from about one million to 12, which could pave the way for storage devices with capacities that are orders of magnitude greater than today's devices. Andreas Heinrich, who lead the IBM Research team on the project for five years, said the team used the tip of scanning tunneling microscope and unconventional antiferromagnetism to change the bits from zeros to ones. By combining 96 of the atoms, the researchers were able to create bytes — spelling out the word THINK. That solved a theoretical problem of how few atoms it could take to store a bit; now comes the engineering challenge: how to make a mass storage device perform the same feat as scanning tunneling microscope.