Wired News

Microsoft released a new test release of Internet Explorer, the market leadingWeb browser facing stiff competition from smaller players like Firefox & Opera lately. The new beta, available Tuesday for free download to English-language customers, includes fixes for problems that were causing Internet Explorer 7 to stop working.With the previous test version, the most common problems reported involved banking and news sites, in part because of security changes. The new beta release is targeted at technology enthusiasts, after earlier versions of the browser primarily catered towards developers of websites and online applications. Improving security can be tricky since any changes can cause legitimate Web sites to stop working, frustrating users. “We want to get them to start using the product and get us some feedback,” Margaret Cobb, group product manager for Internet Explorer at Microsoft told vnunet.com. “We still have a few months before we release publicly and we want to make thi...

Xie, a researcher for the Web Search and Mining group within Microsoft Research Asia , is working on technology called Photo2Search, which is designed to provide information on the go for users of camera phones. “As the old saying goes,” Xie says, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Maybe more, actually. Photo2Search gives users a way to search a Web-based database by using nothing more than an image captured by a cellphone equipped with a digital camera. “This technology,” Xie says, “aims to solve the problem of mapping a physical-world object to a digital-world object. You see an object in the physical world, and you want to know the corresponding information in the digital world - for example, its price on the Web, user comments, or Web sites. There are many different solutions. You can use a bar code or radio-frequency identification. But using a picture of the object is very convenient and very easy to deploy.” The easy part is the key. Camera phones are simple to use, but...

Dymeta Inc., a small security firm based in Bettendorf, in Iowa says it has discovered why Yahoo’s email is sometimes slow.An analysis of Yahoo Inc. mail servers found that they were only able to accept email about half the time on average, making it likely that email was taking longer than normal to deliver. “We’re not saying that mail isn’t going to get through, but it’s likely to take longer than normal,” Gillette said. “Normally, when you send email from one account to another, you can expect it to be delivered in minutes. With the problems they’ve got, it could take hours or even days to get through, or it could be bounced back entirely.” In testing 16 Yahoo mail servers found on average that the servers were unable to accept email 45 percent of the time, and the number of available servers ranged from as low as four to as high as 12, Aaron Gillette, chief technician for the company, said. Yahoo, among the largest Web mail providers in the world, sending more messages per qua...

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. will buy Flextronics Software Systems for around $900 million. Flextronics International Ltd. is world’s largest producer of electronics for other companies. KKR is buying 85% of the Bangalore-based India unit of Flextronics and marks its presence in the region after it opened its office in Tokyo & Hong Kong last year. Flextronics said it would retain a 15% stake in the business that would operate as an independent software and solutions company. KKR last year bought Agilent Technologies Inc.’s semiconductor unit, whose operations are mainly in Singapore. Palo Alto, California-based Agilent is the world’s biggest maker of scientific-testing equipment. “ Our investment in Flextronics’ software development and solutions business is an outstanding opportunity to create value in a high-growth sector, ‘’ Adam H. Clammer, a KKR executive said in the statement. The Indian unit was formerly Hughes Software Systems, based in New Delhi, before Flextronics...

Google Inc, the Internet Search Giant has finally launched Google Calendar , as discussed earlier . The Google Calendar service allows its users to see their friends' and family's schedules right next to their own; quickly add events mentioned in Gmail conversations or saved in other calendar applications; and add other interesting events that are found online. Calendar and Events can be shared with the public, invitations can be sent to invite concerned people, send reminders and keep track of RSVPs right inside Google Calendar. Organizations can promote events, too. You can set up automatic event reminders, including SMS notifications, and instantly bring up anything on your calendar with the built-in search tool. Google Calendar is the latest offering Google, which analysts have said is gradually replacing its search-only business model with that of a portal, or all-purpose Web site. Over the past time, Google has been catching up to rivals Yahoo Inc. and Micros...

To help increase awareness of Firefox among this target audience, Mozilla has launched Firefox Flicks. They are high-quality, innovative 30-second ad that introduces Firefox to mainstream Web users. Create a 30-second ad, in any style (live action or animated,) that brings Firefox to life for the millions of Web users who have yet to discover Firefox and the better Web experience it delivers. Watch the Latest flicks here: 1. Double Click Relief 2. DareDevil 3. Drama Queen

Novell today admitted that despite Company's efforts to internally migrate to Suse & OpenOffice.org, more than half of its workers still have dual-boot installations with Microsoft Windows. At a press event, Novell's president Ron Hovsepian told the project to migrate the remaining employees shall be completed over the next year or so. Hovsepian’s remarks indicate Novell will have only a few months’ experience as a complete Linux and open source desktop shop behind it when, according to the vendor’s predictions, the software starts taking off in the mainstream. The Novell executive said in Australia the Suse Linux implementation had been missing some of the pieces enterprises needed, but said version 10 of the software would help the market for desktop Linux pick up. Regarding his company's own Linux migration, Hovsepian said Novell had learnt a lot from the implementation, and overcome challenges involving, for example, porting macros from Microsoft Office to OpenOf...

Microsoft launched a Web site to promote its Linux and open-source interoperability work, at the LinuxWorld exhibition in Boston. Port 25 -- the site's named after the port used to listen for SMTP e-mail traffic -- is an attempt to promote conversations about Microsoft, open source, and how the twain might meet. It is aimed at creating community for businesses and developers working with mixed platforms, mainly Unix and Windows, and also Linux. Sponsored by the Redmond, Wash. developer's Open Source Software Lab, the site will offer blogs and other content on the OSSL's efforts. " This will be the place we not only blog, but also where we put analysis from our OSS labs and also where we discuss and show other parts of Microsoft that we think are just plain cool, " wrote Bill Hilf, Open Source Software Lab head. He was recently promoted, to manage all of Microsoft's open-source compatibility efforts, including its controversial " Get the Facts anti-L...