Microsoft to End the Distribution of Windows Vista Digital Product Keys

Windows Anytime Upgrade is a default feature of some of the Windows Vista editions. Because the latest Windows client ships in a variety of editions, with no less than four focused on the general consumers, Microsoft worked to streamline the process permitting users to upgrade from a lower-cost, less feature-rich versions
to a higher-end version. The move is facilitated via the presence of Windows Anytime Upgrades. But as of February 20, the Redmond company is introducing some changes into the process.

So far, end users wanting to upgrade from one edition of Vista to another, just to get a little more kick, could have easily ordered a digital product key for the higher-end edition of the operating system and use the Windows Anytime Upgrade capabilities of the Vista DVD, if the media indeed featured them. Alternatively, they had the opportunity to order a Windows Vista Anytime upgrade media with the operating system version they wanted and also receive the product key. Starting with February 20, Microsoft will disallow digital product keys for Windows Anytime Upgrade, and users will have to obtain an Upgrade kit.

"In an effort to streamline the Windows Anytime Upgrade experience for our customers and open the program to additional markets worldwide, Microsoft and its partners have decided to end digital product key distribution on February 20, 2008. We will continue to make full Windows Anytime Upgrade kits—which include a DVD and license that allows customers to upgrade their existing edition of Windows Vista to a premium edition—available directly from Microsoft (except in Japan) as well as local retailers throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. All digital keys purchased through February 20, 2008 will remain valid for upgrade," Microsoft stated.

Follow Super Tuesday results live with Google

Google is pulling out all of the stops in its coverage of Super Tuesday. As 24 states hold primaries today to help determine the Republican and Demoratic nominees for President of the United States, Google has created a Super Tuesday Map to help users follow what is happening in real time.

By utilizing services such as Twitter and YouTube, Google has created a way to better integrate citizens into election coverage than any television network has ever done. What you have here is a truly interactive way to explore the election process.

This specialized Google map has each of the states broken down into its counties and will feature live election results as they start rolling in later in the day. Google’s partnership with Twitter on this maps will provide live updates from Twitter users about their Super Tuesday experiences from around the country.

Interestingly, although the Google LatLong blog does claim to only offer “Twitter updates from around the country”, the map is clearly picking up data from around the world. These global tweets (Twitter updates) do appear to all be Super Tuesday related however as Google is utilizing the 3rd party application Twittervision to filter the messages it shows.

Google also plans to roll out a layer for this new map later in the day that includes Super Tuesday related YouTube videos. They will also allow for this Super Tuesday map to be embedded on anyone’s site.

As you wait for the polls to begin closing you can read the latest news via Google’s special election news-filtered Google News page or pick up their new Follow the Candidates widget.

IFPI Forces Danish ISP to Block The Pirate Bay

The battle between the IFPI and the Pirate Bay continues. A Danish court ruled in favor of the IFPI, and ordered the Danish ISP “Tele2″ (DMT2-Tele2) to block all access to the popular BitTorrent tracker. The Pirate Bay, currently ranked 28th in the list of most visited sites in Denmark, is working on countermeasures.

The court case was initiated by the IFPI - the infamous anti-piracy organization that represents the recording industry - and plans to force other ISPs to do the same. However, The Pirate Bay is determined to fight back, as usual.

The Pirate Bay team has already asked other BitTorrent admins to stand up against the IFPI lobby, and arranged a meeting with Tele2 to discuss the current events. Pirate Bay co-founder Brokep told TorrentFreak in a response: “I hope the torrent community understands what this will do to Danish people. It will also act as a very bad precedent for the European Union, and I hope everybody will fight this.”

At the moment, The Pirate Bay team is registering new (Danish) domains, to make sure people can still download .torrent files from the Bay when the ban is activated later today tomorrow. In addition the Pirate Bay will launch a campaign website, together with the Danish pro-piracy lobby “Piratgruppen”.

Sebastian Gjerding, spokesperson for Piratgruppen, a pro-piracy lobby whose goals are to reform current copyright law and protect consumers’ rights, is not pleased with the news. He told TorrentFreak: “The verdict is absurd. It will block access for danish users to the worlds largest distributor of culture and knowledge - copyrighted or not. It’s true that you can access copyrighted material through The Pirate Bay, as you can with Google or Rapidshare. Should they be blocked as well?”

“It’s very frightening that IFPI can get through the courts with something like this. In Turkey and China its the state that decides what information the people can access and what should be censored. In Denmark its apparently the record industry,” Sebastian adds.

This is not the first time a Danish ISP has been ordered to censor the Internet. In December 2006 A Danish court ruled against Tele2 in a similar case, and ordered the ISP to block all access to Allofmp3.com. According to the ruling, the ISP was willingly infringing copyright if their customers use AllofMP3 to download music.

IFPI has announced it will continue it’s battle against BitTorrent sites in Europe. Last month they tried to convince European lawmakers that ISPs should block access to websites such as The Pirate Bay, and block filesharing protocols, no matter what they’re being used for. Luckily, these proposals were rejected.

We will follow this campaign, and the response from Denmark closely.

iSkin Revo & Revo Clip for Apple iPhone

When we covered this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year, we were on the go 24/7 barely taking time out to eat and sleep. One of the companies that featured products for us on-the-go types was iSkin. iSkin has been protecting iPods and other electronic devices since 2002 and with the huge number of iPods and now, iPhones, the company is producing some really versatile products.

Today we look at one of iSkin’s most popular products, the iSkin Revo and Revo Clip which is specifically designed to protect your Apple iPhone. Of course there are a bunch of ways you can protect your favorite mobile device: The normal “soft cases” like the one that comes out of the box with your phone; a hard, clam-shell-type cover like the OtterBox, or even something more custom.

Like the name implies, iSkin is made up of silicone material that is very comfortable to touch and “grippy” to hold. It is designed to protect all vulnerable surfaces, prots, and controls on the iPhone without compromising the functionality of the device. Since the silicone material is very thin, the iSkin doesn’t really add that much more weight overall to the phone.

The iSkin Revo is available in 6 different colors to match your mood and your outfit. iSkin gives the colors some very hip names like: Rah, Zahra, Nighthawk, Mojave, and Diablo. The “Bluish” colored Revo that we field tested was called Blade. Blade...Nice!

Priced at $40, iSkin includes the silicon protector, a privacy film that is compatible with either the iPhone or iPod Touch, and a ViSOR – an ultra-clear polycarbonate scratch resistant screen guard. The Revo’s silicon protector even has an anti-microbial agent (Microban) that protects the iPhone and its user from bacteria that can congregate. I can certainly appreciate this as it is really disgusting to use a phone after someone has been sweating and breathing heavy on your device. Yuck.

Monster Motorbike: the 13 tonne car crushing colossus

Almost thirty feet (9 metres) long, ten feet (3 metres) high and weighing as much as a school bus, the name emblazoned along the side of this menacing two-wheeled beast says it all - it's the "Monster Motorbike from Hell". Designed and built in Perth, Australia, by stunt driver Ray Baumann where it's been wowing fans with its car and caravan crushing capabilities, the Monster Motorbike is powered by a Detroit Diesel truck engine and six-speed Allison automatic and uses a two-speed Eaton differential from a road train to drive a massive chain on each side of the one-metre wide rear wheel.

Taken from a Caterpillar 80 tonne front end loader, the wheels and tyres alone are almost 10 feet (3 metres) high.

Weighing in at 13.6 tonnes (picture 10 family cars or a school bus), the Monster Motorbike is heading to Australia's east coast where it's sure to be a star attraction at the Melbourne Motor Show beginning in late February.

Baumann, a road train driver turned record setting stunt-jumper, spent three years developing the Monster with a small team of collaborators.

"We did stunt driving for quite a few years, broke a few records and broke my back a few times, so this is a way of taking a bit more care," he said.

"Now we crush things, which is definitely less risky than jumping them - we still do jump things, but not at the Melbourne Motor Show."

The 2008 Melbourne International Motor Show runs from 5pm on 29 February until 6pm on 10 March.

Apple’s US$1800 MacBook Air becomes the World’s thinnest Notebook

Apple’s Steve Jobs unveiled the world’s thinnest notebook (0.16 inches at its thinnest point, 0.76 inches at its thickest) at MacWorld today. The new US$1800 MacBook Air is powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processors running at 1.6 GHz or 1.8 Ghz, has a full-size, back-lit keyboard, a 13.3-inch display, five hours of battery life, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and a large trackpad designed for multi-touch gesture support. It comes standard with 2GB of memory and an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, with an optional 64GB solid state drive. Countless features make the MacBook Air a compelling proposition for road warriors, including its 3 pound (1.36 kg) weight and "instant on" start-up

As the Air doesn’t have an optical drive, users can buy the companion US$100 SuperDrive, or wirelessly access the optical drives on remote PCs or Macs to install software applications.

The MacBook Air SuperDrive is powered by MacBook Air’s USB port, eliminating the need to carry a separate power adapter.

Every MacBook Air includes a micro-DVI port so users can connect to Apple’s 20-inch or 23-inch Cinema Displays to extend their desktop or connect to projectors and other displays via DVI, VGA, Composite and S-video adapters. MacBook Air includes USB 2.0 for plugging in peripherals or charging an iPod or iPhone, a headphone jack and Apple’s acclaimed MagSafe Power Adapter designed especially for mobile users.

Every MacBook Air comes with iLife ‘08, the most significant update ever to Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications, featuring a major new version of iPhoto and a completely reinvented iMovie, both seamlessly integrated with the new .Mac Web Gallery for online photo and video sharing. The new MacBook Air also comes with Leopard, the sixth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system. Leopard introduces Time Machine™, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; and major enhancements to Mail and iChat. .Mac members can use the new Back to My Mac feature to browse and access files on their home computer from a MacBook Air over the Internet while out on the road.

The new MacBook Air embodies Apple’s continuing environmental progress with its aluminum enclosure, a material highly desired by recyclers; Apple’s first mercury-free LCD display with arsenic-free glass; and brominated flame retardant-free material for the majority of circuit boards as well as PVC-free internal cables. In addition, MacBook Air consumes the least amount of power of any Mac, and its retail box, made primarily from 100 percent post-consumer recycled material, is 56 percent smaller by volume than the previously smallest MacBook packaging.

The new MacBook Air will be shipping in two weeks at a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US), and includes:

* 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with 1280x800 resolution; * 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache; * 800 MHz front-side bus; * 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM; * 80GB hard disk drive with Sudden Motion Sensor; * Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100; * Micro-DVI port (includes Micro-DVI to VGA and Micro-DVI to DVI Adapters); * built-in iSight video camera; * built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; * one USB 2.0 port; * one headphone port; * multi-touch TrackPad with support for advanced multi-touch gestures including tap, scroll, pinch, rotate and swipe; and * 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options and accessories include the ability to upgrade to a 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor; 64GB solid state drive, MacBook Air SuperDrive, Apple USB Ethernet Adapter, Apple USB Modem, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter, Apple Remote and the AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional build-to-order options also include pre-installed copies of iWork ‘08, Logic Express 8, Final Cut Express 4 and Aperture™ 1.5.

Zero-ink printing revolution brings us the first pocket-sized full colour printer

Zink zero-ink printing technology is a significant and far-reaching advance in printing technology that seems set to take the world by storm. Using advanced heat-reactive crystals impregnated into the paper, Zink allows you to produce durable, full-color, high-resolution prints from printers so small they can literally fit in your pocket or be integrated into mobile imaging devices. The digital Polaroid camera is about to hit the shelves featuring this fantastic new technology, and you'll be relieved to hear that the mobile printing revolution is refreshingly inexpensive.

Camera-phones and mini digital cameras have given the average person a very quick and easy way to capture the world around them and share it with friends – but printing these images is a different matter. Inkjet and color laser printing requires bulky, expensive equipment – not to mention annoyingly pricey toner and ink cartridges. The vast majority of digital images never make it to print – not because people don't want prints, but because it's too much of a hassle and an expense to get them done. This is where Zink's inkless, excellent-quality, ultra-compact and high-speed printing technology looks certain to cause a big upheaval in the market.

The concept is fairly simple – instead of storing ink or toner in the printer, the Zink paper itself is impregnated with dye crystals that are colorless until treated with heat. The Zink printer is nothing but a thermal transfer engine that stimulates the crystals into the correct colors to produce a full color print.

The Zink paper has four layers – a base (which can currently be white or clear, paper, card or adhesive), three color layers (cyan, magenta and yellow) and a protective polymer overcoat on top. The color crystals, which Zink has trademarked under the name Amorphocromic crystals, respond to precisely targeted heat pulses of specific duration and temperature to become visible. Through this technique, it's possible to produce millions of colors with excellent accuracy, delivering exceptionally vibrant and clean prints that are durable, waterproof and heat-resistant.

The Zink printers themselves will be somewhat of a revolution. All they need to do is pass Zink paper under a thermal transfer head, meaning that very few moving parts are required and it's possible to make exceptionally compact printers. One of the first Zink printing products to be released is a Bluetooth pocket printer the size of an iPod and priced at around US$100. The Polarooid Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer will run off 2x3 inch full-color pictures and stickers from a mobile phone or camera in seconds. There's also a digital compact camera in development with a built-in Zink printer – just like your old Polaroid camera, but with the ability to run off unlimited prints of your favorite images.

Due to the nature of the print technology, size isn't an issue, and commercial Zink printers will be easily able to reel off banners and posters of any length. As for cost, Zink paper is expected to cost around 20 cents per small print upon its initial release – already a very attractive price point but one that will surely come down with volume. We look forward to seeing the doors this fantastic technology is about to open.

Pulse Smartpen: merging the mobile computer with the humble pen

Efforts to combine the sheer convenience of the pen as an input device with the benefits of digital technology continue to evolve with Livescribe's launch of the Pulse Smartpen. Based on licensed technology from pioneering digital pen developer Anoto, the Pulse is a computer in the shape of a pen that not only digitally captures handwriting, but simultaneously records audio and synchronizes it to the writing. Working in conjunction with a special Dot Paper Notebook, the system promises incredible benefits for students, professionals or anyone in a note taking situation... and that's just the beginning. By simply tapping the pen on the paper, the system will replay audio coinciding with the moment those notes were taken and using navigation controls printed on the bottom of each page, users can fast forward, rewind, jump ahead, pause, and even speed up or slow down their audio recordings. In short - everything you hear, speak or write is captured by the Pulse.

"Pulse is a new type of mobile computer that supports the four basic modes of human communication – reading, writing, speaking and listening," said Livescribe, Inc. Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jim Marggraff. "Using an embedded speaker and display for audio/visual input, and microphones and a pen for audio/visual output, Pulse advances the power and flexibility of mobile computing – it's the missing link that now connects the paper and digital worlds."

Due for release in March, the Pulse Smartpen will be available in two models. The 1GB model (USD$149) that provides storage for around 100 hours of recorded audio, 16,000 pages of digital notes or add-on applications while the 2GB (USD$199) provides more flexibility for downloading future applications.

Housed in anodized aluminum, the Pulse Smartpen weighs 1.3 ounces (36 grams) and measures 6.1 inches (155mm). The device features a Samsung ARM 9 (32-bit, 150 MHz) processo,r high speed infrared camera (over 70 images per second) incorporating Dot Positioning System (DPS) technology, a rechargeable lithium battery, a high contrast 96x18 OLED display, dual microphones with noise cancellation and an embedded speaker and an audio jack for Livescribe's 3D Recording Headset, itself optimized for capturing audio in noisy environments.

Recharging and transfer of data to computer is via a light weight USB Mobile Charging Cradle and the included Desktop Software allows storage, replay, and searching for words within handwritten notes after they are transferred to PC. The package will also give users access to the Livescribe Online Community which includes 250MB of online storage to upload and share notes and audio as interactive Flash movies or PDF files.

The Dot Paper Notebook works via a series of nearly-invisible micro dots printed each page that communicate with the smartpen so that it knows where you are writing or tapping. TIn addition to the navigation functionality this allows, the Dot Positioning System also facilitates a full-function calculator on the inside front cover of every notebook. According to Livescribe, additional notebooks will be comparable in price to ordinary paper notebooks and from April, the technology will become available on qualified laser jet printers so that you can print your own Dot Paper.

Coinciding with the launch, Livescribe has also announced a Developer Program inviting developers to build innovative, paper-based computing applications for the Pulse smartpen. Examples of applications already in progress include foreign language translators, productivity tools, games, interactive books, transcription services, and specialized educational aids like applications to assist visually-impaired students.

The applications for this technology seem only limited by the imagination. One interesting example already in development through Audio Tutor is an interactive birding journal that provides visuals and information in both text and audio and lets users record their birding expeditions through handwriting, drawings and audio recordings.

Visit Livescribe for further information.

Why Google will remain the king of search

Microsoft-Yahoo will have 33% of search business; Google has 60%
The verb “googling” has become synonymous with Internet searches, a fact that speaks to Google’s dominance. But don’t expect the verb “msn-yahooing” to become part of the lexicon anytime soon.

Even with the $44.6 billion bid by Microsoft Corp. to buy Yahoo Inc., the combined company would be unable to knock Google Inc. off its web search and web advertising throne, industry watchers say.

“It’s going to be awfully hard to take two complex companies that are trailing, put them together to beat a company that has the tremendous momentum of Google,” says Bob Monroe, associate teaching professor in information technology and computer science at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, PA.

Indeed, even a merged Microsoft and Yahoo would still be dwarfed by Google. The web giant holds nearly 60 percent of the Internet search market share, compared to what would be a 33 percent stake for the combined Microsoft-Yahoo.

But the deal would go a long way in helping the two companies in their battle for the lucrative Internet advertising space that is expected to explode in the next decade. “I think this deal is a no brainer,” says Rich Munarriz, senior analyst of media and technology at The Motley Fool. They need to marry, he explains, because alone they would be unable to at least give Google a run for its money.

“Even with Yahoo on Microsoft’s shoulders, the company would still come up to Google’s belly button,” he quips.

While the deal makes sense to many technology analysts, most agree there will be challenges.

First off, is the issue of combining two very different cultures. Yahoo is seen by many as more cutting-edge and creative, compared to Microsoft’s more business-like image. Bringing together two very different workforces will be a challenge, says Andy Zaleta, a partner in the technology practice at recruiting firm Battalia Winston.

Employees at firms that are acquired – in this case Yahoo – are typically the ones whose jobs are most threatened, Zaleta says. But, he points out, Microsoft has already reached out to software developers at Yahoo, offering them retention packages if the deal goes through.

So that means, upper level management and those outside of the engineering sphere, he adds, may have the most to lose if such a deal goes through.

As far as regulatory hurdles, most analysts believe the deal will have little problem getting past a U.S. Justice Department review because even merged the company would be no where near the size of Google in the Internet search space.

But in Europe, the battle may be harder to win.

It’s hard to predict exactly what the European Community will do, but Jonathan Yarmis, an analyst with AMR Research, says it will all come down to “who the EC hates more: Microsoft or Google.”

“They hate anything that strengthens Microsoft but there is also growing concern over anything that strengthens Google,” he notes.

Microsoft shareholders might not be that happy with the prospect either.

Anant Sundaram, finance professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., says, “This is a great deal for Yahoo's shareholders, but an iffy one for Microsoft's shareholders.”

“The $31 per share offer by Microsoft for Yahoo, for a total valuation of $44.6 billion, seems like a substantial overpayment,” he explains. “While this valuation presumes revenue synergies from increased advertising and moves into newer areas such as video and mobile, as well as cost synergies from R and D efficiencies and other cost reductions, the 62 percent premium over yesterday's closing sets tough synergy goals to achieve.”

A tough economy will only make matters worse, he adds.

But Motley Fool’s Munarriz says it’s a move Microsoft had to make if the company was going to get in the Internet search and ad game with Google.

“You can’t compete with something like a Google but you can hold off the bleeding,” he explains. “Buying Yahoo is like a tourniquet for Microsoft."

The big surprise, Munarriz surmises, is if Yahoo says no to the offer.

There is no other publicly traded company that can afford the deal that Microsoft has put on the table, he says. While Google could make a bid for Yahoo, he adds, no regulator would ever go for such a combination because it would surely hinder competition in the search arena.

While all these Internet portals want people surfing the web to do searches on their websites, thus capturing the coveted eyeballs, the real money is in the advertising dollars businesses spend with Google, Microsoft and Yahoo in order to get to those eyeballs.

Google is clearly the leader in this regard. “Most people start their day out on the web by going to Google,” says Carnegie Mellon’s Monroe. Neither Yahoo nor Microsoft, he adds, “offers software or services that are significantly more compelling than Google.”

AMR’s Yarmis disagrees. He believes Microsoft has some decent technology that enables them to monetize traffic, but the problem is the software company just doesn’t have enough search traffic.

Outside of search, though, Google hasn’t been nearly as dominate.

Google’s web mail, for example, is still in beta and hasn’t been the mail powerhouse some analysts expected. Yahoo’s and Microsoft’s service, however, have done much better, Monroe says.

So if Microsoft and Yahoo can get it together and create a viable alternative to Google, companies that pay ad revenues to Google now may reap the benefits down the line when it comes to choice. “Advertisers are scared of Google’s growing power,” notes Yarmis.

Nuvifone: Garmin Drops a Phone into the GPS

Today in a surprise announcement in New York City, Garmin whipped out the nuvifone, a full-fledged GSM HSDPA smartphone built on its own operating system with GPS navigation at its core—but e-mail and web browsing close to its heart, and a camera built in too. No pricing or carrier announcement has been made yet, though its likeliest compatible network is AT&T given the technology. (When T-Mobile launches HSDPA, it too will be suitable, and possibly more attractive than AT&T.)

Features include:
• Google local search
• Garmin Online services - traffic, weather, fuel prices, hotel discounts, etc.
• nuvi-like navigation on the road or in pedestrian mode
• Email, text, IM functions
• Camera, video camera, MP3 and MPEG4/AAC

Garmin is promising to deliver it in the 3rd quarter, and says that while the PND market isn't dying, the cellphone is clearly a ripe opportunity. Only one problem, as quipster and NPD analyst Ross Rubin pointed out: "Hello and Welcome to nuvifone!" Damn, now I'll never get that voice out of my head. Have a look at all those pictures and the official press release below.

For Once, The Underdog

Microsoft not only needs the cash to buy Yahoo!; it needs permission. Yet for once, it might find facing antitrust regulators relatively easy. In both the U.S. and Europe, Google dominates online advertising and search. Some healthy competition would be welcome. But that doesn't mean approval will happen overnight.

In the U.S., the potential merger would either have to be scrutinized by the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission if Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) accepts Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) offer. The two agencies would literally sit down to decide which one would oversee the merger consideration. As of yet, it's not clear which one would do this. A Justice Department official says that the agency would be "interested" in scrutinizing the deal; FTC officials declined to comment.

The European Commission, stricter about market dominance than the Department of Justice, wouldn't comment on the deal Friday, but said that it was awaiting notification from Microsoft. It won't start an investigation until a deal is "implemented."

Microsoft is already dealing with regulatory hurdles in both America and Europe. In the U.S. a federal judge ruled earlier this week that Microsoft's compliance with a 2002 antitrust settlement would remain under court supervision until November 2009. The Justice Department has said that case is "a different matter" from the current bid for Yahoo!.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's Web browser is a sticking point in Europe. Only two weeks ago the Commission said it was launching a phase-two antitrust investigation against Microsoft that included looking into the tying of Internet Explorer into Windows, and IE's proprietary technology, which allegedly makes it incompatible with other competing browsers.

The whole idea of tying browsers and downloadable software like Media Player into Windows doesn't sit well with the European Commission, so Microsoft will have to tread carefully when it explains how it plans to create that $1 billion in synergies with Yahoo!. Bundling Yahoo!'s software into Windows--think free e-mail and instant-messaging services--would probably be a no-no.

"Linking their dominant position in the operating system market with the search engine services has been seen as abusive behavior," said Hans Friederiszick of ESMT Competition Analysis in Berlin. "If they implement this strategy, they'll get even higher fines."

U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisc., chairman of the Senate's antitrust subcommittee, says his panel will scrub the deal to ensure that it doesn't promote anticompetitive behavior. The committee doesn't have any teeth, so to speak, but it does have the ability to delay a merger by exposing problems it feels federal regulators should scrutinize.

And, at least in theory, any U.S. state could sue to block the transaction, though this would be a major commitment of resources, says Robert Lande, a law professor at the University of Baltimore who specializes in antitrust cases. A host of other international regulators could also open their books on this deal.

Microsoft's bid is not necessarily an all-or-nothing transaction. It could choose (or be forced) to divest some assets if the merger is approved. Second, if the Justice Department is to scrutinize the deal, it will likely proceed quickly, as its officials could be replaced when a new president takes office next January. Having blessed Google's (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) $3.1 billion acquisition of online advertiser DoubleClick over Microsoft's objections, it may also be hard for U.S. regulators to justify a challenge to Microsoft-Yahoo!. Late last year, the European Commission launched an in-depth investigation into that deal.

Key to the Commission's probe of a Yahoo! bid will be the online ad market, which Google also dominates along with search. In addition, it charges higher prices for its ads than Yahoo! and MSN Windows Live, in part because, being so large, there are so many advertisers bidding for space.

"Advertising is often the hidden element in whether a deal is problematic or not," said one European antitrust lawyer who wished to remain anonymous, adding that when European television companies started merging many years ago, the regulatory big concern was about what that would do to competition in the advertising market.

For the last year, Microsoft has repeatedly suffered a loss on its Internet business. During the last quarter of 2007, the company took a loss of $245 million on $863 in revenues for its “online services” segment. Although Yahoo’s revenue grew by 7% in 2007, $6.9 billion up from $6.4 billion in 2006, it took a 23% nosedive on its net income in the fourth quarter of last year. By contrast, Google’s revenue for the last quarter increase 51%, to $4.83 billion from $3.21 billion during the same period in 2006.

With Yahoo! ailing, the only tech company with enough capital to go head-to-head with Google is Microsoft, and bulking up its weak Internet business might be just the way to do it.

One other thing Microsoft has on its side: Chief Executive Steve Ballmer's experience with regulators. After more than a decade of dealing with them, expect he's learned a thing or two about getting what he wants.

NASA to Send Our Fellow Aliens a Copy of The Beatles' “Across the Universe” Song

The radio transmission will be aimed towards the Polaris star, commonly known as the North Star, which is located 431 light years away from Earth, and will have the role to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the day when The Beatles recorded the song and, at the same time, five decades since NASA launched its first satellite into space, Explorer 1, and the foundation of the Deep Space Network, representing an international collaboration between radio observatories around the world to support missions for exploring the universe.

This is the second time when NASA engages in such actions, the first transmission
of this kind taking place in 2005 when it relayed a Beatles concert during the time Paul McCartney was playing the song 'Good Day Sunshine,' towards the International Space Station. In the same concert, the crew members of the ISS were also able to listen to the 'Here Comes the Sun', 'Ticket to Ride' and 'A hard Day's Night' songs.

In fact, the 4th of February was declared, by the Beatles fans, the 'Across The Universe Day' to commemorate the anniversaries. NASA has proposed the song to be played simultaneously with the transmission all over the world, in sign of participation to the event. The engineers involved in the transmission are mostly senior NASA employees, and some of the biggest fans of The Beatles in the agency. Network program executive at NASA Headquarters, Dr. Barry Geldzahler says he's been a fan of The Beatles ever since the Deep Space Network has opened, 45 years ago. "'Across the Universe' is my personal Favorite Beatles song", Geldzahler said.

"Amazing! Well done, NASA! Send my love to the aliens," said former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney. Also the widow of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, said that the transmission of the 'Across the Universe' song represents a significant event, and believes that such transmissions will eventually initiate an interstellar communication network across the Universe.

Intel to Release 3.33GHz Dual Core, Axes Pentium D

Intel is ready to go beyond its chips' current limit of 3.2 GHz with its new Core 2 Duo E8600 processor. The new CPU will be based on a 45-nanometer dual core Wolfdale architecture and seems to work at 3.33 GHz
(the stock core clock speed).

The Wolfdale processor will come with 6MB of L2 cache and will feature a thermal design power of 65 watts, which is quite impressive, given its 3.33GHz core frequency. Moreover, its low thermal envelope will allow enthusiasts to overclock it without problems in order to squeeze some 300-500 MHz using air-based cooling solutions.

The Core 2 Duo E8600 will give Intel some maneuver space, as AMD is gearing up for launching its dual- and tri-cores during the second quarter of the year. The B4 silicon revision is promising excellent AMD overclockers.

However, Intel is still keeping its 45-nanometer CPU stash hidden from the eyes of its customers. Although the company has been shipping its 45-nanometer Core 2 Extreme 9650 for some time, there will be little 45-nanometer-based parts to emerge during this quarter.

Only two percent of Intel's consumer-oriented CPUs will be based on the Intel Core 2 Quad 45-nanometer architecture, and only three percent of the chips will belong to the 45-nanometer Core 2 Duo family. The 65-nanometer dual core processor will claim their lion share on the market (about 42 percent of the total shipments), while the 65-nanometer quads will account for only 5 percent of the total shipments.

Moving along, the Dual Core E2000 series will represent 29 percent of Intel's shipments, and the Celeron 400 will only account for 14 percent of total consumer CPU shipments this quarter. The big surprise is yet to come, as 2008 seems to be the first year when Intel will not ship any Pentium-class processor. The company has successfully transitioned to the Core technology in both low- and high level products.

The chip manufacturer seems to have buried the last of the Netbursts, the dual-core Pentium D processor. Intel basically built its reputation on the Pentium brand and terminating the family surely was a tough decision. Pentium D is practically a museum rarity as of 2008, but don't worry, the Core 2 Celeron or the E1000 series give more than the Pentium D could even imagine.

Optimal Webmail Management

Email messages represent the main form of communication between you and your website visitors (customers). Disregarding the email message content, there are at least two ways
in which you could receive emails from your customers: through a web based form or due to the existence of a mailto link, like: Email Me

Every time you make available a possibility to receive emails from other people, you will be exposed to spammers. As a consequence, the handling of email accounts and general webmail settings at the web server level will play a very important role in receiving and respectively processing the email messages.

In order to minimize spam attempts, it is recommended to enable email filtering systems, which are available on any webhosting account. They will identify spam messages based on the email message content by analyzing the header, body, etc.

You can set the email filter to automatically delete the spam messages, but it is a better idea to redirect them in a certain folder because sometimes the filters could consider (by mistake) that a legal email message is spam. Another alternatives to minimize spam messages is provided by the email authentication methods.

In order to minimize the amount of email messages received from your website visitors, you can implement a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on your website based on the main requests regarding certain topics. The autoresponders could also help you in reducing the number of emails that must be processed. If you are using an email client on a local computer, it also provides various option to organize the email messages in an efficient manner so that the time of processing to be minimized.

In conclusion, when you select a certain web hosting service, it is a good idea to check the possibilities of webmail configuration and the security features offered. You can also ask your web hosting provider to suggest what could be the recommended web mail settings for your specific needs.

VMware Offers Desktop Virtualization As Next Step

Industry analyst firm IDC predicts desktop virtualization will be a fresh wave of implementing virtualization technology in the enterprise, amounting to a $2 billion market by 2011.

VMware made the second version of its virtual desktop management software available this week to customers who want to extend their virtualized environments beyond servers in the data center.

Industry analyst firm IDC predicts desktop virtualization will be a fresh wave of implementing virtualization technology in the enterprise, amounting to a $2 billion market by 2011, but so far there's been more talk about desktop virtualization than action. While many IT managers can see potential benefits, problems of managing user IDs and supplying thousands of virtual machines and concurrent connections beset poorly planned initial steps.

VMware is looking to make desktop virtualization, through the second version of its Virtual Desktop Manager, an extension of what its existing virtualization management framework, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, which in turn is linked to its general framework, Virtual Infrastructure 3.

VMware itself wanted to insure its desktop virtualization features were robust and secure before issuing the product, said Jerry Chen, senior director of enterprise desktops. Virtual Desktop Manager in its 1.0 version was not available for customers to install on their own. It was only available through VMware consulting services as VMware gained experience in the desktop market, said Chen in an interview.

"The key is, 'don't try to get too complex,'" said senior systems engineer Tony Arnett, an early adopter of Virtual Desktop Manager 2. He's virtualizing 10 desktops at a time at the Pentair Water Pool and Spa division of Pentair. He tested 10 desktops running on a single host with IT staffers before rolling out a test to 10 call center staffers. When he finishes testing with one group, he tears down their virtual machines and builds another 10 for a new group.

Early feedback indicates the virtual desktops are easier to manage and maintain with potential cost savings, but Arnett said the managers of the Pentair unit will have to review his results and determine how they wish to approach end users. For the testing, Arnett replaces a desktop machine with a Wyse thin client, a diskless Wyse V10L. But it's not been decided to replace all PCs with thin clients, he noted.

According to feedback, the virtualized Windows desktops and applications run the same, or possibly a little slower, in the virtualized environment.

VMware announced Virtual Desktop Manager 2 on Sept. 10; it became generally available yesterday.

The software is priced at $150 per concurrent user. It can be purchased in a $1,500 starter edition for 10 users or in a $15,000 package for 100 users.

Bidding reaches $18.55 bln in U.S. wireless auction

Bidding reached $18.55 billion on Friday in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's record-setting auction of government-owned wireless airwaves, but there were no new offers for two large, closely watched slices of spectrum.

The total bidding, which covers five separate blocks of spectrum in the auction, was up from $15.64 billion on Thursday.

There were no new bids on a major slice of the airwaves, known as the "C" block, which will have to be made accessible using any device or software application, under FCC rules. A bid of $4.71 billion, made on Thursday morning remained the top offer.

Nor were there any new bids Friday on a nationwide piece of the spectrum, known as the "D" block, which must be shared with public safety agencies under auction rules set by the agency. A bid of $472 million from last week still stood.

The lone $472 million bid for the D block spectrum, which came in the first round of the auction a week ago, is far below the $1.3 billion minimum price set by the FCC. If bidding fails to reach the minimum, the FCC will have to decide whether to re-auction the D block or possibly modify the network-sharing requirement.

The open-access condition on the C-block spectrum is important because U.S. wireless carriers have traditionally restricted the models of cell phones that can be used on their networks and limited the software that can be downloaded onto them, such as ring tones, music or Web browser software.

But AT&T and Verizon began moving away from that restrictive stance in recent months.

The FCC is keeping bidders' identities secret until the entire auction ends. But analysts say Verizon Wireless and Internet search leader Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) are the most likely bidders for the C block.

The 700-megahertz signals are valuable because they can go long distances and penetrate thick walls. The airwaves are being returned by television broadcasters as they move to digital from analog signals in early 2009.

In addition to the C and D blocks, the other spectrum includes more local chunks set aside in blocks designated "A" and "B". The final, "E" block, is considered less useful because it is limited to one-way data transmission.

The electronic auction will end when no more bids are submitted.

(Reporting by Peter Kaplan, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

MSFT and YHOO: Who's holding the shotgun?

And then there were two. If Microsoft's $44.6-billion (U.S.) bid for struggling Web giant Yahoo Inc. is successful -- which it almost certainly will be -- then there will be only two Web titans where once there was a triumvirate. Google and Microsoft will finally be going head-to-head for supremacy in the online advertising market, a game that Google has more or less controlled ever since it arrived on the scene several years ago, despite Microsoft and Yahoo's best efforts.

Microsoft is rumoured to have made several advances to Yahoo over the past year and a half, and has been turned down each time. But now, the software behemoth is going directly to shareholders with an offer that has to look awfully good after the year Yahoo just had. Shares of the Web company have plummeted by more than 45 per cent in just the last three months, as investors have soured on the company's chances of a rebound. Terry Semel was ousted as CEO because of a failure to deliver, and replaced by Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang -- a sentimental favourite with Yahoo fans, but a relatively unknown quantity from a management point of view.

The big question, of course, is whether this deal makes any sense or not. It clearly makes sense for Yahoo, since the company effectively gets a bye on having to come up with any kind of brilliant turnaround strategy -- and shareholders, including co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, get a nice multibillion-dollar payday. Yahoo's online advertising efforts haven't had much success in growing the company's market share, despite the fact that the company bought Overture, the firm that invented the keyword-ad market that Google later perfected. So why not sell?

For Microsoft, the question is a little murkier. Buying Yahoo has to look like a pretty sweet deal on the surface at least. Not only is the stock 60 per cent off what it was the last time Microsoft looked at buying it, but acquiring Yahoo gives the software company instant heft in its own online advertising business -- a business that has continued to be a distant third in the market, despite Microsoft spending billions of dollars in an attempt to improve its position. Yahoo also has a number of attractive media properties and relationships such as Yahoo Music that Microsoft could fold into its own MSN assets

At the same time, however, buying a company like Yahoo and trying to merge it with a gargantuan company like Microsoft is a time-consuming and expensive task -- not to mention the difficulty of blending those two corporate cultures. Microsoft is a packaged software distributor at heart, while Yahoo is a Web company, and mixing those two approaches isn't going to be easy. When Hewlett-Packard bought Compaq, it took several years for HP to actually digest the company. HP was lucky that by the time it was done, its main competitor had weakened to the point where it could get back in the game relatively easily. Google isn't likely to give Microsoft that option.

In a sense, this is a move of desperation for both companies -- a kind of shotgun wedding, but with both sides holding the gun. Microsoft needs to buy Yahoo (or thinks it does) just as much as Yahoo needs to be bought by Microsoft. But will it be a happy union? The happiest player in this particular game has to be Google: This deal means that it is dominating the market to the point where the world's biggest personal software company and one of the founding fathers of the Web have been virtually compelled to join forces.

iPhone Porn? Sure!

Good golly, no way no how! Ya' think? Porn on the iPhone? Well, of course there's going to be porn and sex and all kinds of sexy stuff available on it (such as porn) since the handheld allows for so much to run on its big screen, not to mention it uses a heck of a wireless Internet connection, too. The Mobile Adult Content Congress (in Miami Beach) is debating the issue as we speak.

So what's to stop providers in doing what they do best – provide, and in
this case, provide porn? Tons of porn for the geek who has a clever phone. Porn on the iPhone. It rhymes so well, it's good for a song. Actually you don't even need to be a geek to watch porn on your iPhone. Everyone has a peek every once in a while, they just don't admit it. That's why the web is full of it and that's why it's going to fill up the iPhone's screen pretty soon.

According to zdnet.com, this is what Gregory Piccionelli (a lawyer specializing in adult entertainment at law firm Piccionelli & Sarno) had to say about the matter: "It will be impossible to stop the adult business exploitation of mobile entertainment."

Heh! There. What did I tell you. The man says "impossible." Did we mention he's a lawyer? They know their stuff, and if Piccionelli & Sarno's man says there will be porn on iPhone, it's likely that there will be such content available on your Apple handheld.

Reuters’ Sinead Carew also reveals that Piccionelli's forecasts concern the offering of free porn to U.S. consumers on their mobile phones, just like adult dating services, or live video. Carew defines adult dates as "prearranged sex with strangers."

Reportedly, Piccionelli also said that Apple's iPhone is ideal for watching porn. Why? Because of the nifty visuals it's capable of reproducing, not to mention its Web browser "that mimics computer browsers," according to zdnet.com, while "most phones have stripped-down browsers."

I guess we don't even need to ask whether anyone thinks porn is on its way to the iPhone or not. A more appropriate question, however, would be: do you want porn on your iPhone?

ProFire 2626, the New Recording Interface From M-Audio

Definitely, the guys at M-Audio love recording interfaces more than anything in this world. Far from being a bad thing, this love has led to the development of a new and very cool recording equipment codenamed ProFire 2626, suitable for both professional and home-studio use alike and offering multiple possibilities in terms of connectivity and versatility.

Since digital recording is more and more popular among music producers, sound engineers and musicians alike, it seems like the M-Audio ProFire 2626 is really well-targeted, especially as it comes with extensive features letting the user customize the recording specs and parameters. The first big things you'll notice about the M-Audio ProFire 2626 is the 26x26 simultaneous analog/digital I/O, a perfect feature for studio projects, letting you monitor and record a lot of instruments in the same time, giving you a better idea on what's actually happening.

This interface also comes with eight preamps running on the widely-acclaimed Octane technology; even cooler, the M-Audio ProFire 2626 can also run as a standalone 8-channel microphone preamp or an 8-channel A/D-D/A converter, allowing a 24-bit/192kHz operation. And as if this was not enough, the M-Audio ProFire 2626 sports the revered JetPLL jitter elimination technology whose use will make sure that your recordings have a pristine sound and perfect synchronization.

While compatible with the industry standard set by Pro Tools and therefor easy to integrate with any recording studio running on this DAW, the M-Audio ProFire 2626 sports an on-board DSP engine, routing routines and mixer which will let you customize your experience; additionally, the master volume control is user-assignable and it will provide you with unprecedented control over your mix. The volume knob can be set up to control up to four output pairs (for a 7.1 array), it can trim any of the channel pairs or headphone outputs and it can even be operated independently. Connectivity is ensured via FireWire, optical and analog channels.

The M-Audio ProFire 2626 will be shipping in Q1 2008 for a MSRP of $899.95. For more detailed specs, check out the product's page.

Updates and Task Manager Disabled by New Windows XP Worm

The Windows functions are always under attack because disabling a vital function of the operating system automatically means an open door for the hacker, who would be able to infiltrate into the computer and conduct his malicious activities. Today, a new worm has been spotted in the wild and, according to security company Trend Micro, it affects most flavors of the operating system produced by Microsoft, including Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and Server 2003.

But what's worse is that WORM_SILLYFDC.CY has a high damage potential
and a high distribution potential, two elements that underline the worm's capability to reach your computer and harm the data stored on it. In case you're curios about how can you get infected, the process is pretty simple: all you need to do is to visit an infected page. However, the worm may also be dropped by another piece of malware, Trend Micro explains.

The main targets of the worm are two important Windows functions: the Automatic Windows Update and the Task Manager. Both features of the operating system are disabled, so the users would not be able to update their Windows version or to check the running processes in order to shut down the infection.

Just like many other recent worms, WORM_SILLYFDC.CY spreads itself through the clean removable drives connected to the computer. Every time a removable drive is plugged into the system, the worm copies an Autorun.inf file to execute itself once the device is connect to another PC.

In addition, "it infects files of certain types. It does this by adding an iFrame tag that contains a link to a malicious site. As of this writing, the iFrame tag may contain a malicious URL," Trend Micro explains.

As you know, an up-to-date antivirus is almost a must-have, so hurry up and apply the latest virus definitions in order to keep your computer secure. Also, you should avoid visiting malicious websites that may attempt to drop the worm on your computer.