Wednesday Evening Tech News

Tech News:

Nintendo Wii: Funny name, fun system
story from CNNMoney.com

f nothing else, you have to give Nintendo points for courage. When competitors decided to zig as the next generation of video game systems came along, Nintendo zagged -- and that gutsy decision may well give it an enormous market share boost in the coming years.

The Wii, which goes on sale Sunday, Nov. 19 for $250, is not a graphical tour de force. It doesn't support high-definition graphics. And forget about HD-DVD or Blu-Ray; this thing doesn't even play current generation DVDs (for now at least - a second version will be released next year). But it does make the gaming industry more accessible to those it unintentionally excluded before. Briefly put: The Wii is one of those rare video game machines that's worth trying to pick up during its first holiday season.

That, of course, will be easier said than done. Hardcore gamers will be fighting hard to get one early. But if you do manage to find one, grab it. The price is considerably lower than what Sony (Charts) and Microsoft (Charts) are charging for their new offerings -- and the system is one the entire family will enjoy.>>>more


Two of six airlines say there's no ink on iPod deal
story from appleinsider.com

he Cupertino, Calif.-based iPod maker, whose announcement coincided precisely with rival Microsoft Corp.'s official launch of Zune, said the in-flight iPod connectivity would be available to passengers beginning in mid 2007.

"It's way too early to confirm any such details," an Air France spokeswoman, referring to the iPod seat connectivity and a mid-2007 availability date, told Reuters.

Similarly, a spokesman for KLM told the media outlet there had only been "informal contacts" between Apple and the airline leading up to the announcement.

"It's very premature what Apple are saying," he said. "We have no idea if this is technically feasible, if it's financially viable, or it customers want it.">>>more


Mozilla Claims Firefox Better At Finding Phishers
story from techweb.com

A study sponsored by Mozilla has claimed that the company's Firefox browser is 18% to 23% better at spotting fraudulent phishing sites than Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7.

The survey, which was done for Mozilla by testing company SmartWare, answers a Microsoft-backed study released in September that put IE 7 at the top of the anti-phishing list.

According to Mozilla's figures, Firefox 2.0 correctly pegged between 78.85% and 81.54% of the 1,040 phony sites culled from a PhishTank list of phishing URLs. IE 7, meanwhile, identified 66.35% of the same sites.

Firefox and IE tackle phishing differently. Mozilla's browser offers two detection options: One is based on a locally-stored blacklist that's updated from Mozilla's servers about every half hour; the other queries Mozilla's partner Google each time a URL is requested to see if the address is in the search engine's phish database. IE, on the other hand, only offers a real-time lookup to match the destination URL with Microsoft's fraud list.>>>more


Hands on with the Mac Pro: Getting started
article from macworld.com

hen I joined Macworld a little more than a year ago, the company offered to buy me a Power Mac G5 for handling my Mac OS X Hints duties. But since I already owned a fairly fast Power Mac—a dual 2GHz G5, actually—it didn’t make much sense to go through the hassle and expense of an upgrade for a slightly faster processor. I decided to wait.

This summer, my wait paid off. Apple replaced the G5 line with the Xeon-powered Mac Pro, a machine with two dual-core processors for a grand total of four individual processing units. The Power Mac G5 has gone back to being my personal machine—the Mac Pro now does my heavy-lifting.

Back when I picked up a Mac mini earlier this year, I wrote an extensive three-part report on my experience of switching over to one of the early Intel-powered Macs. Given that the mini I have is on the low-end of Apple’s desktop offerings while my new Mac Pro is at the other end of the spectrum, I thought it would be interesting to give the Mac Pro the same treatment I>>>more


Former HP chairman pleads not guilty to felonies
story from cnet.com

Patricia Dunn, the former chairman of Hewlett-Packard, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to felony charges that stemmed from her role in overseeing a probe into boardroom leaks.

At a brief arraignment hearing here in Santa Clara County Superior Court, Dunn's lawyers entered her plea and she was released on her own recognizance.

Dunn, 53, is at the center of a corporate spying scandal at HP, which the company has acknowledged involved obtaining private phone records belonging to HP board members, employees and at least nine journalists. Among the journalists were three CNET News.com reporters.

California's attorney general has charged Dunn and four other people linked to the spying with four felonies, including identity theft and conspiracy. The charges could bring a prison sentence of up to 12 years.

The criminal case also threatens to drag HP's name back into the headlines for months. Ralph Sivilla, a state deputy attorney>>>more


As Zune Goes on Sale, Microsoft Says iPod Can Be Tamed
story from washingtonpost.com

Microsoft Corp. can break the dominance of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod in the digital music market with the Zune player that went on sale yesterday, chief executive Steven A. Ballmer said.

"We can beat them, but it's not going to be easy," Ballmer said in an interview.

Zune is Microsoft's first product in the $4 billion U.S. digital music market dominated by the iPod. Microsoft marked the release with free concerts by rapper T.I. and the rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers.

"The market will have two big players for a long time, us and Apple," Ballmer said. "Obviously we're the David in this one; Apple's the Goliath."

Zune sells for $249.99 in the United States, the same price as an iPod with comparable storage space, and will compete>>>more


other news:

Get Out Now? Not So Fast, Experts Say
article from nytimes.com

One of the most resonant arguments in the debate over Iraq holds that the United States can move forward by pulling its troops back, as part of a phased withdrawal. If American troops begin to leave and the remaining forces assume a more limited role, the argument holds, it will galvanize the Iraqi government to assume more responsibility for securing and rebuilding Iraq.

This is the case now being argued by many Democrats, most notably Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who asserts that the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq should begin within four to six months.

But this argument is being challenged by a number of military officers, experts and former generals, including some who have been among the most vehement critics of the Bush administration’s Iraq policies.>>>more


Reid Pledges To Press Bush On Iraq Policy
story from washingtonpost.com

Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who was elected Senate majority leader yesterday, said last night that President Bush still has not grasped the urgent need to change course in Iraq. Reid vowed to press quickly for phased troop withdrawals, a more international approach to Iraq's problems and a rebuilding of the depleted U.S. military.

In his first extensive interview since the Senate Democrats' leadership election, Reid also said members of his party will have to think big on the nation's domestic issues. That includes tackling the budget deficit with strict new rules on spending, exploring an eventual expansion of Medicare to address the uninsured, and examining an increase in tax rates on upper-income Americans.>>>more