CNET News.com:
Netscape next month is expected to release a test version of a Web browser designed to resist phishing schemes, taking aim at recent security vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Web browser.
Netscape, a unit of Time Warner subsidiary America Online, has been recharging its browser activity in recent months, prodded by the success of its open-source spin-off, the Mozilla Foundation, and by the prospects of increased revenue through browser-based search queries.
On Feb. 17, Netscape is expected to release both the second test, or “beta,” version of Netscape 8 and a redesigned Netscape.com portal site.
Perhaps we’ll have a reason to look at Netscape again, but I’ll doubt it.
[posted with ecto]
CNN.com:
The government on Monday added 17 substances to the official list of cancer-causing agents, including the first viruses: hepatitis B and C and some human papillomaviruses that cause common sexually transmitted diseases.
Lead and lead compounds, X-rays, compounds found in grilled meats and various substances used in textile dyes, paints and inks are among the other new listings, the Department of Health and Human Services said in releasing the 11th edition of the federal Report on Carcinogens.
The additions bring to 246 the total number of substances that either are “known to be human carcinogens” or “reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens.” The report now lists 58 “known” — including the viruses — and 188 “reasonably anticipated” substances.
Lovely — so the question then is, is there anything that we cannot get cancer from?
[posted with ecto]
ZDNet.com:
Over in England, Nick McGrath, who heads the local platform strategy group for Windows, is dismissing Linux by saying that it has “just” hundreds of developers and that no one is taking responsibility for it.
Does Red Hat take responsibility for it, he asks? No, they just take responsibility for one distribution.
Well, for those who worry about such things, there’s an easy answer to McGrath’s FUD attack.
IBM.
If you demand that some big outfit take responsibility for your kernel and your problems, the folks at IBM are happy to oblige.
This is not an IBM ad. There are many other large companies out there who are willing and able to take full responsibility for your Linux development and maintenance, if that is what you need.
But if you want and need someone really big to make you feel comfortable with Linux, IBM is still bigger than Microsoft. About two-and-a-half times bigger.
And if you don’t want IBM, there are many, many other choices available. Choice is not a word you hear much in the Windows world.
Comment on this from userfriendly.org:
[posted with ecto]
ZDNet:
It’s not the G5 laptop some were hoping for, but Apple Computer’s latest PowerBooks do come with faster G4 processors, lower prices and a couple of new tricks.
The Mac maker on Monday offered updates to its models with 12-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch screens, including a new scrolling TrackPad designed to make it easier to get through long documents. Another new feature is the Sudden Motion Sensor, which helps protect the computer’s hard drive if a machine is accidentally dropped. IBM has offered a similar feature on its ThinkPads for some time, while Apple applied for a patent in June 2003 for its method of detecting falls.
They’re faster, have a new scrolling trackpad, hard drive protection, and they cost less - what’s not to like? 
Get them at www.apple.com. Apple says about getting the G5 in a Powerbook:
“It is fair to say that incorporating a G5 into a notebook as thin and light as the PowerBook is extremely difficult,” said David Moody, Apple’s vice president of worldwide Mac product marketing, in an interview.
It would be lovely with a G5 Powerbook 
[posted with ecto]
The Wall Street Journal.:
Q: Last week, you wrote that Windows users who bought Apple’s new Mac mini computer could just unplug their monitor, keyboard and mouse from the Windows PC and plug them into the Mac. But is there a way to share a single monitor, keyboard and mouse between a Mac mini and a Windows PC?
A: Yes. It’s called a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch, and it allows you to run two or more different computers from the same monitor, keyboard and mouse, switching between or among the computers at will. It not only works with a Mac mini (and some other Mac models) and a Windows PC, but it also allows you to hook multiple Windows machines, or multiple Macs, to the same screen, keyboard and mouse. One big maker of KVM switches is Belkin, at www.belkin.com.
A two-computer KVM switch has three sets of plugs, usually labeled Console, Computer 1 and Computer 2. You plug the monitor, keyboard and mouse into the Console plugs. Then, you connect the video, keyboard and mouse connectors of one of your computers into the Computer 1 plugs, and the ports from the second computer into the Computer 2 plugs on the KVM. After that, you just use a switch or button on the KVM to select which computer will be active on the central monitor, keyboard and mouse.
If you buy a KVM switch, make sure it has the right kind of plugs for your monitor, keyboard and mouse. Some use modern USB mouse and keyboard connectors (required on a Mac mini); others use older PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors. Some mix the two types of plugs. Most use standard VGA monitor ports, but some use the more modern DVI video connectors. Some KVM switches can also control audio, or allow the sharing of USB peripheral devices. Some come with cables, others treat them as an extra expense.
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International Herald Tribune:
Last Monday, Google representatives called analysts and reporters to trumpet a new service that searches transcripts of television broadcasts. Yahoo, Google’s archrival, got wind of the announcement, and within hours, Yahoo’s publicity machine had bolted into action to say it had a similar service in the works.
Hardly a week passes without an announcement heralding an Internet search innovation by one of the big sites - Google, Yahoo or Microsoft, which is testing the search engine that it will soon promote on its MSN service. Even the smaller players, like Acoona.com and A9, the search engine run by Amazon.com, are trying to get in on the act.
So far, the fruits of thousands of computer scientists’ labor have not seemed to shake Google from its perch at the top of the search market.
Google, which is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter earnings on Monday, and is expected to report that revenue doubled from a year earlier, has continued to increase its share of searches conducted over the past year, according to research by comScore Networks. In November, 51.9 percent of searches were on sites owned by Google, up from 46.6 percent a year earlier. Searches on Yahoo sites rose more slowly, to 29.3 percent in November from 28.2 percent a year earlier.
But behind those numbers, Yahoo is making significant gains, particularly in the United States with features that it has yet to introduce to international users. And while Google has stalled in getting new products to the market, Yahoo has been methodically working on a master list of projects: first, core Internet search, then shopping search, local search and then travel search, according to Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch, an Internet news site.
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Business 2.0 has released their annual review.
PC Magazine:
The Sony VAIO VGN-U750P looks remarkably similar to the tiny OQO 01 handheld PC. Sony jams a fully functional Microsoft Windows XP operating system into a miniature PC that weighs just 1.2 pounds and measures 6.6 by 4.3 by 1 inches. The U750P handles well as an entertainment system, but certain business tasks, like e-mail, might be a problem; unlike the OQO, it lacks an integrated keyboard.
PC makers seem to go mini like Apple with their Mac mini, but they are going in a different direction than Apple. I don’t quite get the purpose of devices like this Sony. It’s kind of positioned between the smallest notebooks and the most-powerful PDAs, and I am not sure there’s enough room in that space. Personally I’d much rater go for a high-end PDA, if I really wanted the small device, or the smallest notebook if I needed a fully-featured computer to take with me.
[posted with ecto]
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