With Microsoft's stock prices down 20 percent since February, CEO Steve Ballmer is reorganizing and rethinking the company, and the chief architect of Microsoft's abandoned attempt to acquire Yahoo, Kevin Johnson, is leaving.
Top Stories
Amid complaints that Vista is hurting the development of solid state drives, SanDisk now says it is working with Microsoft to optimize SSDs for Windows. But the company refused to provide details of Vista's problem.
HP ends Voodoo business unit, but not Voodoo gaming PCs
July 24 - 8:00 PM ET
Hewlett-Packard's Voodoo business unit -- which produces HP's Blackbird, Omen, and Envy 133 gaming PCs -- is going away, although HP is expected to continue selling the Voodoo line-up.
The danger of DRM: Yahoo will remove keys for authorizing music playback
July 24 - 5:40 PM ET
Like Microsoft before it, Yahoo is ending digital rights management (DRM) support for an old music service. Beginning on October 1, users who downloaded songs from Yahoo Music will no longer be able to play them back on new computers or operating systems.
7 Comments...
Facebook to integrate Microsoft Web search, search ads
July 24 - 5:20 PM ET
Microsoft and Facebook strengthened their existing partnership Thursday with the announcement that Microsoft would be powering the social network's Web search and sponsored links.
1 Comment...
Hitachi introduces third-gen Blu-ray camcorder
July 24 - 5:09 PM ET
Hitachi today announced the third version of its Blu-ray camcorder that is able to record and store video directly on a disc so it can be later viewed on any PC or TV with a Blu-ray drive -- but not a PS3.
WD's new 10,000 RPM 2.5-inch drives still aren't for laptops
July 24 - 4:51 PM ET
Despite reducing power consumption by 35 percent, Western Digital's new 10,000 RPM 2.5-inch hard drives won't be making an appearance in laptops. The updated VelociRaptor line, with capacities up to 300GB, are designed for 1U and 2U servers.
Scrabulous creators sued in United States by Hasbro
July 24 - 4:50 PM ET
Game maker Hasbro, just weeks after the release of a properly licensed Scrabble Facebook beta, have filed suit against the creators of the unauthorized, and apparently too-popular Scrabulous, asking for removal of the game in addition to unspecified damages.
3 Comments...
Windows Live for Mobile updated, but still missing calendar sync
July 24 - 4:23 PM ET
Microsoft on Wednesday announced an updated version of Windows Live for Windows Mobile, the company's client software for cell phones. But some users were still lamenting the lack of calendar syncing.
1 Comment...
Sony's Reader opens support for more publishers, formats
July 24 - 4:00 PM ET
Sony announced today that its Reader e-book will support the EPUB and Adobe PDF/A formats with the device's next firmware upgrade.
1 Comment...
Internet Explorer 8 shipping this year, Windows 7 still on track
July 24 - 3:51 PM ET
At Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting Thursday, Bill Veghte, who heads up the company's Windows and online services division, said that Windows 7 is progressing well and confirmed that Internet Explorer 8 will ship before the end of the year.
29 Comments...
Brits who download music illegally to receive warning letters
July 24 - 3:25 PM ET
If you live in England and download a lot of copyrighted music, check your mailbox. The British government said Thursday that the recording industry and the country's largest ISPs have agreed on a deal to cut down on piracy through warning letters.
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Zimbra Desktop Beta 3 takes Yahoo Mail, Gmail offline
July 24 - 3:00 PM ET
In its Beta 3 release of Zimbra Desktop today, Yahoo has added free IMAP access and other new features to its crossplatform software, geared at competing against e-mail clients such as Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird.
1 Comment...
Creative adds to music player lineup with Zen Mozaic
July 24 - 2:54 PM ET
Creative expanded its music player lineup Thursday, releasing new models designed to be fashionable with a mosaic design where the buttons are located.
1 Comment...
Sophos: Google's Blogger hosts 2% of world's malware
July 24 - 1:45 PM ET
Security research and analysis firm Sophos has released its cybercrime report for the first half of 2008 and found Blogger, a property of Google, to be the prime distributer of malware today.
5 Comments...
Study says bank Web sites leave clients vulnerable to theft
July 24 - 1:08 PM ET
When you hop on the Internet to check your online bank statement or pay some bills, do you ever wonder how secure your bank's computer network is? A new study claims most bank Web sites are vulnerable to identity theft.
5 Comments...
XM, Sirius talking to FCC about finalizing merger approval
July 24 - 12:45 PM ET
XM Radio and Sirius appear ready to accept concessions that would finally bring their 17-month merger effort to a close, according to a statement issued Thursday.
Qualcomm and Nokia end fight and settle on patents
July 24 - 12:30 PM ET
Since 2006, Finnish Cell phone producer Nokia and California chipmaker Qualcomm have been engaged in an intellectual property battle which began as a disagreement over patent licensing royalties. Just as the two companies were scheduled for a federal trial, they reached an amicable solution.
Facebook to share its logins with other sites, wants better apps
July 24 - 12:04 PM ET
At its annual F8 developer conference Wednesday, Facebook unveiled a system like OpenID where users can login to other sites with their Facebook account. It also rolled out new tools to help developers create better applications.
1 Comment...
As Olympics near, China begins crackdown by arresting blogger
July 23 - 11:35 PM ET
As the country prepares to open the 2008 Summer Olympics in three weeks, Chinese officials have arrested a writer and dissident who was already on probation after being charged a few years ago.
13 Comments...
Employee hands over passwords to hijacked San Francisco computer network
July 23 - 11:27 PM ET
Much to the delight of San Francisco computer network officials, Mayor Gavin Newsom was given the password so the city can again have access to its computer network after it was hijacked by a city employee.
17 Comments...
SanDisk won't specify Vista SSD problems, but is 'working with Microsoft'
July 23 - 9:10 PM ET
Amid complaints that Windows Vista is hurting the development of solid state drives, SanDisk now says it is working with Microsoft to optimize SSDs for "the Windows experience." But the company refused to provide details of Vista's problem, and Microsoft seemed unaware of the collaboration.
5 Comments...
Sysinternals Suite Build 07/24/08
July 24 - 6:33 PM ET
Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools. This file contains the individual troubleshooting tools and help files. It does not contain non-troubleshooting tools like the BSOD Screen Saver or NotMyFault.
Windows (All)
License: Freeware
User Rating: 4.9
License: Freeware
User Rating: 4.9
Autoruns 9.32
July 24 - 5:27 PM ET
Autoruns shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. A "show non-Microsoft only" option helps you to zoom in on third-party auto-starting images that have been added to your system. You'll probably be surprised at how many executables are launched automatically.
Windows 2000/2003/2008/Vista/XP
License: Freeware
User Rating: 4.9
License: Freeware
User Rating: 4.9
FileZilla v3 for Windows 3.1.0.1
July 24 - 4:58 PM ET
FileZilla is a fast and reliable FTP client and server with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.
FileZilla has the following other editions available: FileZilla v2, FileZilla v3 for Mac OS X and FileZilla v3 for Linux.
Windows 2000/Vista/XP
License: Open Source
User Rating: 4.5
License: Open Source
User Rating: 4.5
phpMyAdmin 2.11.8 RC1
July 24 - 4:23 PM ET
phpMyAdmin is a tool written in PHP intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the Web. Currently it can create and drop databases, create/drop/alter tables, delete/edit/add fields, execute any SQL statement, manage keys on fields.
Windows 2000/2003/9x/XP
License: Open Source
User Rating: 4.8
License: Open Source
User Rating: 4.8
Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop for Windows 0.90 Build 1249 Beta
July 24 - 3:50 PM ET
Ever forget about an important message in your other email accounts? Can't find a message in the account right in front of you? Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop is the next-generation email application that makes email easy again.
Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop has the following other editions available: Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop for Mac OS X and Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop for Linux.
Windows (All)
License: Freeware
User Rating: 3.0
License: Freeware
User Rating: 3.0
WinMount 3.0 RC2
July 24 - 2:10 PM ET
WinMount is a Windows utility which helps you manage your compressed archives impressively and conveniently. You can mount ZIP,mount RAR or ISO file to a new drive so that you can use those files inside directly. You don't need to extract them first which implies that lots of time and disk space would be saved in most cases.
Windows 2000/2003/Vista/XP
License: Shareware
User Rating: 3.5
License: Shareware
User Rating: 3.5
AIM Express 7.0 Beta 6
July 24 - 1:49 PM ET
Send IMs to your friends without installing any software. AIM Express service is convenient whenever you're away from your home computer: at school, the office, or a friend's house. Talk to your friends from any computer with a Web browser and access to the Internet.
Linux, Mac, Windows (All)
License: Freeware
User Rating: 4.4
License: Freeware
User Rating: 4.4
UltraISO 9.3.0.2600
July 24 - 1:28 PM ET
UltraISO is a powerful and easy-to-use utility that can extract, create, edit, and convert CD/DVD image files. It can directly edit ISO files, make images from CD/DVD-ROMs, or create new one from files and folders on your computer. You have the option to make bootable CDs. In addition, UltraISO can convert nearly all known CD/DVD images to ISO, BIN/CUE, Nero (.NRG), or CloneCD (.CCD/.IMG/.SUB) format.
Windows 2000/2003/9x/XP
License: Shareware
User Rating: 4.5
License: Shareware
User Rating: 4.5
openSUSE 11.1 Alpha 1
July 24 - 1:07 PM ET
openSUSE provides everything today's Linux user needs for home computing and computing-on-the-go. This product includes a Linux operating system plus dozens of essential integrated tools that showcase the latest that open source has to offer.
Linux
License: Open Source
User Rating: 4.2
License: Open Source
User Rating: 4.2
avast! Home 4.8.1229
July 24 - 12:46 PM ET
avast! is an antivirus set that is able to detect the presence of viruses in computers. It has a powerful antivirus kernal that has a boot-time scan, improved resident protection, heuristic analysis for email, and a script blocker. The program works great as a on-demand and/or resident virus scanner. The skinable interface is easy to use for any user.
avast! has the following other editions available: avast! Professional.
Windows 2000/2003/9x/XP
License: Freeware
User Rating: 4.6
License: Freeware
User Rating: 4.6
WinMerge 2.11.1.2 Experimental
July 24 - 12:25 PM ET
WinMerge is a tool for visual difference display and merging, for both files and directories. It has Unicode support, Flexible syntax coloring editor, and Windows Shell integration. Regexp filtering for filenames and lines. Side-by-side line difference and in-line word difference visualisation. A file map shows the overall file differences in a location pane. The user interface is translated into several languages.
Windows (All)
License: Open Source
User Rating: 4.5
License: Open Source
User Rating: 4.5
Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 8.0.0.443 Beta
July 24 - 12:04 PM ET
Kaspersky Internet Security technological prototype represents a new generation platform for creating applications specifically designated for complex protection of personal computers and workstations. Uniting the substantially improved functional abilities of version 5.0, Kaspersky Lab protection products with the latest technological innovations introduced by the company the Kaspersky Internet Security solution secures the most effective and complete protection of a computer from all sorts of electronic threats - malicious programs, hacker attacs and spam.
Windows (All)
License: Shareware
User Rating: 3.7
License: Shareware
User Rating: 3.7
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 8.0.0.443 Beta
July 24 - 11:54 AM ET
Kaspersky Anti-Virus combines reactive antivirus and spyware detection methods with the latest proactive technologies to provide your computer with the most effective protection against malicious programs. The product is simple to install and set up, while offering advanced users a range of versatile settings for fine-tuning the program.
Windows 2000/2003/9x/XP
License: Shareware
User Rating: 3.9
License: Shareware
User Rating: 3.9
Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta
July 24 - 11:33 AM ET
Microsoft Office Outlook Connector lets you use Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to access and manage your Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail or Microsoft Office Live Mail accounts, including e-mail messages and contacts for free.
Windows 2003/Vista/XP
License: Freeware
User Rating: 3.6
License: Freeware
User Rating: 3.6
WinPwn 2.0.0.1
July 24 - 11:12 AM ET
WinPwn is a Windows iPhone 3G jailbreak tool. IT supports both v1.14 and v2.0. It has custom image support, custom payload support and 3g iPhone support.
Windows (All)
License: Freeware
Not Yet Rated
License: Freeware
Not Yet Rated
