PC Makers To Adopt Chips Used In MacBook Air

Processors specially developed by Intel for Apple’s new MacBook Air laptop will soon be used by other PC vendors in systems, possibly creating competition for what Apple calls the world’s lightest and thinnest notebook.

Two PC makers will use the miniaturized Intel Core 2 Duo processors used by Apple in MacBook Air, said a source familiar with Intel’s plans. Systems powered by the chips will be released soon, the source said.

The companies’ names weren’t revealed, but the chip could bring smaller and lighter notebooks that could compete in size and performance with the ultra-thin MacBook Air, which weighs 3 pounds (1.3 kilograms) and measures 0.16 inches (0.4 centimeters) at its thinnest part and 0.76 inches (1.93 cms) at its thickest part.

News Source: InfoWorld
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Windows Server 2008 Domain Re-Directs To Apple

A solution provider in Florida that owns the domain name windowsserver2008.com has re-directed the URL to Apple’s online store, where visitors are greeted by a giant image of the recently unveiled MacBook Air.

On Wednesday, the enthusiast blog Inside Microsoft reported the odd development and suggested that the windowsserver2008.com domain had been bought by a Mac fan and re-directed to Apple.com in order to embarrass Microsoft.

However, on its webpage, domain owner Symmetry Technical Consultants of Coral Gables, Fla., actually lists itself as a Microsoft Certified partner, which is the second highest designation within the vendor’s channel program. ChannelWeb couldn’t find any mention of Apple products on the Symmetry’s Website.

News Source: CRN
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RIAA Chief: We Don’t See A Need For Mandatory ISP Filtering

U2’s manager might love the idea of legally-mandated filtering, but the head of the RIAA says that there’s no need for such an approach in the US. The RIAA still wants to see a thousand filters bloom, of course, but it holds out hope for a “marketplace solution” to the issue.

Cary Sherman, the RIAA chief, made his comments today at a Washington, DC tech conference where he expressed his differences with U2 manager Paul McGuinness. McGuinness generated applause in Cannes this week at a music industry event by calling for mandatory content filtering at the ISP level. “Paul is European,” said Sherman, according to CNet, “and in Europe there has been much more of a regulatory approach to these issues.”

The RIAA does not support this approach in the US, opting instead to back the tradeoffs of the DMCA. That law allows ISPs a “safe harbor” for the content passing through their networks so long as they respond to takedown notices and legal requests in a timely fashion.

News Source: Ars Technica
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Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Out Next Week!

If you have been waiting for Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista, well, you can now mark your calender. We just received word that Microsoft has scheduled Windows Vista Service Pack 1 for release to manufacturer (RTM) on Monday, February 4, 2008. That’s just 3 days away! The OEMs will also receive Windows Vista Service Pack 1 during that week.

Microsoft will be deploying Service Pack 1 in two “waves”. Wave 0, which is the one released on February 4, will only include five languages - English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. The second wave, Wave 1, is scheduled for release 1-2 weeks later, and will cover all 36 basic languages, including Chinese.

News Source: Tech ARP
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Microsoft Doesn’t Recommend Creating Vista ‘Lite’

Frustrated with Vista’s sluggishness, some people have been turning to a utility called vLite, which out components of the operating system deemed unessential.

Although the move does offer frustrated Vista users an option other than going back to XP or switching to a Mac, Microsoft said Wednesday that it doesn’t endorse such changes to Vista’s setup.

“Microsoft does not recommend using any tool to strip out applications from Windows Vista prior to installing it on your system, as it may affect your ability to download future Windows updates and service packs, and may cause your system to become unstable,” the company said in an e-mail to CNET News.com.

News Source: C|Net
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FCC 700 MHz ‘C-Block’ Reserve Price Finally Met

In what will certainly come as relief to advocates of open access rules for wireless services, someone this morning placed a bid for the jewel-in-the-crown “C-block” of spectrum just above the minimum reserve trigger price.

At approximately 11:00 am Eastern Time, the FCC’s live auction database reported a bid during round 17 for the C-block of $4,713,823,000. That qualifies under FCC rules as a Potentially Winning Bid (PWB), over the $4.6 billion reserve price. This means if that ends up being the final bid, the winning bidder must promise to open any wireless services it offers on the C-block to the end user’s choice of premise or handset equipment.

News Source: BetaNews
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Microsoft To Provide Automaker Renault With Novell Linux

Microsoft said Thursday that it has reached a deal to provide French automaker Renault with service and support for a version of the Linux operating system distributed by Novell.

Under the arrangement, Microsoft will provide Renault with 1,000 “certificates” for Novell’s Suse Linux Enterprise server product. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Microsoft will also help Renault integrate its Linux-based computers with those that run the Windows operating system.

The deal also includes a controversial “IP assurance” provision under which Microsoft pledges not to sue customers who use Linux distributed by its partner Novell.

News Source: InformationWeek
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New Attack Proves Critical Windows Bug ‘Highly Exploitable’

Security researchers yesterday said they’d discredited Microsoft’s claim that the year’s first critical Windows vulnerability would be “difficult and unlikely” to be exploited by attackers.

On Tuesday, Immunity Inc. updated a working exploit for the TCP/IP flaw spelled out Jan. 8 in Microsoft’s MS08-001 security bulletin, and posted a Flash demonstration of the attack on its Web site. The exploit, which was released to customers of its CANVAS penetration testing software — but is not available to the public — was a revised version of code first issued two weeks ago.

“This demonstrates conclusively that the MS08-001 IGMPv3 vulnerability is highly exploitable,” said Dave Aitel, Immunity’s chief technology officer, in a message to his Dailydave security mailing list.

News Source: ComputerWorld
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Lackluster Bidding For 700 MHz ‘C’ And ‘D’ Blocks

With the first eleven rounds of bidding nearly complete in the FCC 700 MHz auction, the minimum bid for the prize package “C-block” that would trigger open access rules has yet to be met.

When the US Federal Communications Commission set forth its guidelines for bidders in its auction of spectrum presently occupied by UHF TV channels, it mandated that the winning high bidder open up any wireless services deployed on the prize “C-block” of that spectrum to the customer’s choice of equipment. But it also made a curious rule stating that if the minimum bid of $4.6 billion had not been met or if no one bid, the mandate would be automatically scrapped and the rules revert to the original form.

That strange trigger raised the suspicion of Commissioner Robert McDowell, who warned that its very existence could create a cap that compels companies to bid low. After the first ten rounds, Comm. McDowell’s suspicions may very well be validated. By late afternoon Tuesday, a check of the FCC Web site revealed the current high bid to be just under $3.38 billion for the nationwide license for the C-block. The identity of bidders is kept secret by the FCC.

News Source: BetaNews
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Microsoft Revises Its Opinion Of Blu-Ray

Rumors of Microsoft supporting the Blu-ray format have started to pick up again, especially since the announcement earlier this month that Warner Brothers was backing the fledging optical disc format over HD-DVD for home video. But it comes as a small surprise to read in a recent 1UP.com interview with Jeff Bell, Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business that Microsoft has been “talking to Blu-ray all along.”

While that statement sounds a tad revisionist, more surprising is that Bell calls the company’s relationship with rival Sony a “coopetition,” given the companies’ heated rivalry in the video game arena. Of course, this statement is true, because Sony relies on Microsoft’s operating systems for various devices, including computers. But does it mean that a Blu-ray drive (Sony technology) could be on its way to the Xbox 360?

News Source: Bink.nu
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