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At last the long awaited replacement for the discontinued Windows OneCare suite.
Microsoft Security Essentials is Microsoft’s free anti-virus and anti-spyware solution. It is aimed at home users and small businesses and will be available for Genuine Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 users and will be available in 32bit and 64bit editions for Vista and 7.
Below are the download links.
The first major version of Firefox since 3.0 was released today as predicted by Neowin.net
So what’s new in 3.5? According to the release notes they are
You can download the the new version from Mozilla’s website
According to Neowin.net the successor to Windows Live OneCare known as Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is due to hit Beta form next week starting on June 23rd.
The free anti-virus / anti-spyware solution will begin with a limited beta and will release an updated build over the Summer. Microsoft is initially targeting the first 75,000 US, Israel and Brazil based customers with a Chinese Beta available in mid-July.
Neowin have also learned that Microsoft is targeting September or at the latest to have the anti-virus software available for the October 22 Windows 7 launch.
Similar to the Windows 7 beta it is likely the company will expand the offering to meet demand.
Below is a screenshot of the MSE Beta.
The country of Iran recently held elections that many are saying were rigged and that their votes did not count. The current winner and previous term president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who acts more as a dictator than a freely elected politician has been brought to Internet justice with the photoshopped picture below.
What you clearly see is that someone in Ahmadinejad’s regime altered the picture below to make a crowd supporting the outcome look much larger thus showing greater support for his following.
This is not the first time Ahmadinejad has been caught Photoshopping either. In July of 2008 a missile test in Iran was Photoshopped to show that four missiles were successfully launched when it was actually three or possibly two missiles.
It’s a sad state of affairs for Iran that it must go to these lengths to try and persuade the world that this was a true election. Despite the fact that millions of votes were supposedly counted in two hours and a fake photo showing support of the "winner" are signs of forgery the people of Iran are the ones who lost the most.
Source: Neowin.net
About three million homes in the UK have broadband speeds of less than two megabits per second (2Mbps) according to research commissioned by the BBC.
The government has promised to provide all homes in the UK with speeds of at least 2Mbps by 2012.
The research revealed that so-called notspots are not limited to rural communities, with many in suburban areas and even streets in major towns.
The government has pledged a range of technologies to fill the gaps.
"We had assumed that these notspots were in remote parts of the countryside. That may be where the most vocal campaigners are but there is a high incidence of them in commuter belts," said Alex Salter, co-founder of broadband website SamKnows.
The SamKnows map offers an insight into where the homes are that the government needs to reach out to and connect to faster broadband.
It was created by comparing a sample of UK postcodes with a database of information about which providers offered services in the 5,500 telephone exchanges around the UK.
By working out how far properties were from a particular exchange, a picture of the speed of services can be determined as line length is a crucial factor in determining how fast broadband services will operate.
To get speeds of 2Mbps or more homes need to be 4km or less from an exchange.
Article continues on the BBC News website
According to an article by the BBC, the UK Government has announced that it will be supporting plans meaning everyone in the UK will have access to at least 2Mbps broadband, by 2012. The plans, proposed by Lord Carter earlier in the year, have been backed by the government. The chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, said "I am allocating extra funding for digital investment, to help to extend the broadband network to almost every community."
The extra funding was announced as part of the new budget for the UK today. Money not spent from the BBC Digital Switch-over scheme may be used to partially pay for the service. Part of the cost of making the service more widely available may be pushed over to Internet Service Providers.
There has been much debate about broadband availability in the UK recently, with various different plans announced. Some argue that money should be spent on making broadband widely available, whilst others argue the money should be spent on making the already existing broadband faster, in order to keep up with other countries.
The final report, named the "Digital Britain" report, is due this Summer, which will reveal more details about how the UK will keep up with technology
News source: Neowin.net
Sun Microsystems and Oracle Corporation announced today they have entered into an agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, with Oracle purchasing Sun stock with cash for $9.50 per share, a premium of nearly $3 per share over previous market value.
Sun’s stock (JAVA) jumped nearly 33% after news of the purchase was released.
Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chief executive, described Java as "the single most important software asset we have ever acquired."
By purchasing Sun, Oracle is elevated into the ranks of Dell, HP and IBM, giving them the ability to sell hardware as well as more fully exploit some important Sun software. It also puts them in a better position to compete with Microsoft by giving them control of both a major server operating system and some major business software begin run on it.
In their joint press release, Sun and Oracle cite "substantial long-term strategic customer advantages to Oracle owning two key Sun software assets: Java and Solaris." Sun’s Solaris operating system is the most widely utilized platform for Oracle databases, which is Oracle’s largest business sector. With the acquisition of Sun, Oracle can optimize the Oracle database for some of the unique, high-end features of Solaris.
There is some worry for proponents of the major open source projects that Sun heads up, like OpenSolaris, MySQL, VirtualBox, OpenOffice and Java itself. It will remain to be seen what Oracle intends to do with these projects and how, if at all, they’ll integrated them into their product offerings.
IBM previously expressed interest in purchasing Sun, for $7b, but withdrew the offer after reviewing Sun’s books and finding out how much they’d been paying their senior employees.
Sun’s Board of Directors has already unanimously approved the transaction and it is anticipated to close this summer, subject to stockholder and regulatory approval.
News source: Neowin.net
Angry residents in Milton Keynes blocked the driver of a Google Street View car when he started taking photographs of their homes.
Police were called to Broughton after residents staged the protest, accusing Google of invading their privacy and "facilitating crime".
Councillor John Bint told the BBC the camera mounted on a car was intrusive and people should have been consulted.
Google said it observed UK law and only filmed from public areas.
The company also said it had consulted various police forces and provided the means for residents to have their home removed from the service.
Continues at source source: BBC News
A Finnish computer programmer who lost one of his fingers in a motorcycle accident has made himself a prosthetic replacement with a USB drive attached.
Jerry Jalava uses the 2GB memory stick, accessed by peeling back the "nail", to store photos, movies and programmes.
The finger is not permanently attached to his hand, so it can be easily left plugged into a computer when in use.
Mr Jalava says he is already thinking about upgrading the finger to include more storage and wireless technology.
"I’m planning to use another prosthetic as a shell for the next version, which will have removable fingertip and RFID tag," he wrote on his blog, ProtoBlogr.net.
Half of Mr Jalava’s left ring finger had to be amputated last summer after he crashed into a deer while riding his motorbike near Helsinki.
He says he was inspired to create the unique storage device when doctors treating him joked that he should have a USB "finger drive" after finding out that he was a software developer.
News source: BBC News
News articles based on a survey indicating public opposition to Phorm’s web snooping and advertising system have been withdrawn after the firm made legal threats to their publishers.
The independent consumer watchdog Which? sent a press release to newspapers earlier this week entitled "Internet users say: Don’t sell my surfing habits". It detailed survey findings that UK internet users are opposed to plans by BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media to monitor and profile their browsing in collaboration with Phorm.
The findings contradicted market research repeatedly cited, but not published, by Phorm that the majority of people want the more "relevant" web experience it claims its "Webwise"-branded technology will provide.
BT is much further along the route to rolling out the system than rival ISPs, having conducted two secret trials without customer consent in 2006 and 2007, and a third trial with consent at the end of last year.
The Which? survey was covered yesterday by the Press Association, Channel 4 News, The Telegraph, and The Daily Mail. The press release, however, was swiftly followed by this statement:
Urgent withdrawal of press release from Which? – Internet users say: don’t sell my surfing habits
Which? has received further information and representations from Phorm about the proposed Webwise service, and it has agreed to withdraw the above press release, issued under embargo on 24 February 2008, while we consider them. Some of the information in the press release and related article is said to be inaccurate and as a consequence may be defamatory. You are strongly urged not to write an article based on the press release or the related article ‘Online privacy matters’ in Which? magazine.
The Press Association, Channel 4 News and Telegraph stories have all been removed (here, here and here). The Daily Mail has edited its story to online to remove all references to the negative survey findings. A Which? spokeswoman declined to comment on what specically in its press release had drawn Phorm’s legal attack.
Phorm said its libel lawyers, who it declined to identify, were working with Which? to "correct" the press release. In the past Phorm has employed Schillings, a well known media law firm offering "reputation management" services.
A Phorm spokesman said that the survey had been based on inaccurate information and that the press release itself contained inaccuracies. "It repeatedly stated the Webwise system collects and sells on data which is misleading. We also wouldn’t allow the creation of advertising channels on sensitive subjects such as for medical products," he said.
News Source: The Register