Google pulls Mac OS X tribute
by brian_turnerGoogle has pulled a page that re-presents Google’s products in the form of the Mac OS X dock.
The release was announced by Software Engineer Chikai Ohazama on the Google Blog in Google goes X:
Today is an amazing day: A small idea – a fun late-night coding jaunt to help me learn Javascript & DHTML – [...]
March 16, 2005
IE7 “Rincon” – details leaked
by brian_turnerRincon, the Microsoft code-word for IE7, has had details of its development released.
According to the Microsoft-Watch article, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 Details Begin to Leak:
IE 7.0 will feature international domain name (IDN) support; transparent Portable Network Graphics (PNG) support, which will allow for the display of overlayed images in the browser; and new functionality that [...]
New AdSense changes come into force
by brian_turnerGoogle has updated it’s Terms of Use (TOU) for AdSense publishing, and additionally added a new publishing option, as well as offering new payment options for internation publishers.
The most significant changes to its TOU are as follows:
A big change is that publishers are now allowed to disclose accurate information on earnings – something previously prohibited
If [...]
MSN adCenter enters paid-listing testing
by brian_turnerMSN is expected to announce tonight that the first stage of their online advertising and publishing network is undergoing live trials.
Known internally at Microsoft as “Moonshot”, the paid listings program is Microsoft’s answer to Gooogle AdWords, and is set to go live in France and Singapore, where markets are more tightly focussed for monitoring purposes.
Moonshot [...]
iTunes phone delayed
by brian_turnerMotorola and Apple defied expectation by failing to showcase the new iTunes phone at the CeBit show.
The two companies had publicly stated their working partnership last July, as the Register announced in Apple licenses iTunes to Motorola, in a deal that would see Apple adapt iTunes jukebox software for Motorola handsets.
However, although expected to be [...]
Manpower: candidates market
by brian_turnerEmpliyment company Manpower has claimed that companies are optimistic about employing more staff over the coming three months.
Manpower also suggested that a skills shortage means that it is a candidates market, and that higher wages may be required to hire the best staff, leading to wage inflation.
The labour market is “positive and stable”, with 76% [...]
Bernie Ebbers convicted of WorldCom fraud
by brian_turnerBernie Ebbers was last night convicted of fraud in the collapse of Worldcom by a jury in the United States.
Formerly a bouncer, a basketball coach and a milkman, he then in 1983 became an early investor in Long Distance Discount Service. Under Bernie Ebbers’ direction, the company turned itself from a regional Mississippi telecoms firm [...]
Budget: March 16th 2005
by brian_turnerGordon Brown unveiled his budget today, amidst concerns that the presentation would be more about providing short-term sweeteners ahead of a general election, while putting off longer-term needs.
While Gordon Brown was happy to declare that he had overseen 50 consecutive quarters of economic growth – the longest growth apparently since records began in 1701 – [...]
March 15, 2005
Phishing scripting vulnerabilities increase
by brian_turnerNetcraft report in Online Banking Industry Very Vulnerable to Cross-Site Scripting Frauds that phishing attacks are becoming sophisticated enough to overcome some banking protection.
Well known banks have created an infestation of application bugs and vulnerabilities across the Internet, allowing fraudsters to insert their data collection forms into bona fide banking sites, creating convincing frauds that [...]
Amazon settles securities class action
by brian_turnerAmazon have filed a report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, stating that the company has now settled a class-action lawsuit that alleged false statements about the company’s finances.
Although Amazon disputes class-action allegations that the company was in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, it has apparently paid out a $27.5 million [...]
Zombie networks and cyber wars
by brian_turnerThe HoneyNet Project has reported that massive networks of zombie computers are being used for identity theft, installation of spyware – and for attacking each other.
The findings are published in the paper KYE: Tracking Botnets, which summarises the findings of German research into 100 different bot nets, which found that some networks comrpised of more [...]
Storage software market worth nealry $8 billion a year
by brian_turnerAccording to IDC, the market for storage software was up over 16% last year, with revenues in data storage software applications reaching over $7.9 billion in 2004
In the report Worldwide Storage Software Market Posts Record Revenue of More Than $2 Billion in the Fourth Quarter of 2004, IDC Says, the company outlines key areas of [...]
Firefox counter to Google Autolink
by brian_turnerGoogle, which has so far staunchly defended its implementation of its Autolink toolbar feature, faces a major challenge as a new Firefox extension has been released which adds similar links to Google’s own pages.
The news was widely reported at Threadwatch in Google gets a taste of it’s own Autolink Medicine. The website has led a [...]
March 14, 2005
Microsoft MVP’s call for stay on Visual Basic
by brian_turnerOver 100 Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) developers have signed a petition calling for the company to continue support for Visual Basic.
Microsoft have already announced that after this month, it will no longer offer free incident support and critical updates for Visual Basic 6. Fee-based support will run for another 3 years before VB6 is [...]
Michael Eisner forced from Disney
by brian_turnerMichael Eisner will leave Disney a year earlier than expected, in the face of continued shareholder hostility.
Robert Iger, the existing company president, will replace him.
Walt Disney’s nephew, Roy Disney, led a shreholder revolt in 2004 to oust him and received over 45% of the vote, leading to Michael Eisner to offer to leave in October [...]
Factory gate price rise squeezes manufacturers
by brian_turnerThe price of manufactured goods rose faster than expected in February, but companies are still holding off from passing continued manufacturing costs on to the public.
According the Office for National Statistics (ONS) own report, Factory gate inflation rises to 2.8%:
In February, output price annual inflation for all manufactured products rose to 2.8 per [...]
Refugee skills wasted
by brian_turnerAccording to the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (Cara), Britain is wasting valuable skills, by not developing the right skills training for refugees.
The charity has now published a handbook, backed by the government and trade unions, urging refugees to seek funding for training.
CARA claims that there are up to 4,000 refugees living in Britain that [...]
FDA joins Unions pension strike row
by brian_turnerThe First Division Association (FDA) has voted to go on strike, over proposed changes in pensions that would see their retirement age increased from 60 to 65.
The FDA comprises of permanent secretaries, crown prosecutors, diplomats and other senior figures running government departments and agencies, and if action goes ahead, it will be the first time [...]
DRC initiative on disability
by brian_turnerThe Disability Rights Commission (DRC) today launched a report, to try and quell fears that workers who develop disabilities have no place in former employment.
Citing a study Mori, which found that nearly a third of workers in the UK fear they would lose their job if they became disabled.
However, the DRC counters that the implementation [...]
SCO group pushes on OpenServer 6
by brian_turnerThe SCO group is pushing OpenServer 6 into beta testing, amid a backdrop of steep declining revenues.
The company gained notoriety in 2003, when it launched a $5 billion lawsuit against IBM, claiming that proprietary Unix code had been built into Linux by the company.
The move originally sent shockwaves through the computing industry, and has [...]